Get To The Good Part

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.560 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.239 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message, 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:30.360 and now to the Word of God. Amen. Genesis chapter fifty, 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.519 What are you doing with that organ trying to provoke me? 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:51.800 Genesis chapter fifty, verse nineteen. But Joseph said to them, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.040 don't be afraid, am I in the place of God. 0:00:56.400 --> 0:01:03.120 You intended to harm me, but God intended it to 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:09.880 accomplish what is now being died, the saving of many lives. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:14.959 So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.960 and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:27.520 to them. God minute for good. The life of Joseph 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.039 is almost like an entire movie. I could even say 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:35.200 it's like a like a show with seven seasons. It 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.399 spans about fourteen chapters in the Book of Genesis. Holly 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:43.119 said one time that she doesn't like sermons about Joseph 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.160 because they try to do too much and trying to 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.280 spand that much content there's a lot you have to 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.680 track through with Joseph, all the betrayal, the hurt, the 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.840 promise God made him, the process that he went through. 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.360 But you're gonna like this one. And the reason that 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.360 you didn't like sermons about Joseph before is because they 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.280 didn't tell you the best stuff. So that's what I'm 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.120 gonna I'm not gonna skim it today. I'm gonna say 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:12.360 something that it's really going to reach you. Holly. And So, 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.120 someone was saying to me about a TV show that 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.880 I would really like a while back, and they said 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.480 it's really good. I said, I watched it. I didn't 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.560 like it. They said, how many episodes did you watch? 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:29.360 I said, like three or four? It was boring. And 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:33.640 they said, well, if you can push past the first 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:42.320 two seasons, this is like a military career. I'm not 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:46.200 trying to push through something trying to relax. They're not 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.560 paying me to watch this. I'm paying Netflix to watch this. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:52.600 Am I'm pushing through. If you can really push through 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.120 the first two seasons, you get to the good part. 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.280 I want to talk to you today about get to 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:02.920 the good part. Get to the good part. And I 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.280 want to pray for you, because this is a prophetic 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.040 word for somebody, and I don't know who. So I 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.240 pray Father, in the name of Jesus, that this word 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:16.559 would reach from eternity right into Sunday morning or Tuesday 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:22.360 afternoon or four am on Thursday. I pray that it'll 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.240 go right here from South Charlotte, North Carolina, on this 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:31.680 plastic pulpit and penetrate the hearts of those who need 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:36.000 to get to the good part, those who are holding on, 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:41.040 those who are pushing through. I declare today they're going 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:46.680 to get to the good part. In Jesus' name. Amen, 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:53.920 you may be seated. Yeah, because I was kind of like, 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:58.480 if you have to watch two seasons for the show 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.960 to get interesting, is it really good? At that point? 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.640 You violate my definition of a good show if it 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:10.880 took two seasons. If I have to invest twenty hours 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:12.960 of my life, you know how many songs I can 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.599 write in twenty hours while I'm pushing through to like 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:21.400 your stupid show just kind of tick me on made 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.800 me mad while we're at it. Not only do I 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.160 not like thumbs up emojis, I prefer fist bump. And 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:29.720 not only do I not want to push through a 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:31.479 show that I'm supposed to be enjoying. Not only do 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.600 I want to not want to endure something that's supposed 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.000 to be meant for my entertainment I'm paying a subscription for. 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:42.400 I don't even really like the word good because it's 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:50.520 kind of common. Like I played a song for somebody 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.000 one time that I had just written, and I came 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.760 out of a songwriting season. I'm still in a songwriting 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:58.640 season right now, so just put up with me if 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.680 I use analogies that are relevant to my life. I 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:05.200 played them a song, they said, that's good. I'm like, 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:10.279 I don't want good. I want goosebumps, like I want 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.320 you to make noises and stuff that aren't even worse, 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:16.800 like oh yeah, oh, I just I don't want that's good. 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.760 In fact, I don't I don't even I don't even 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.800 want you to use that word at all, Like, oh man, 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.200 that that sermon was? That was? That was good. One 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:29.240 time somebody was preaching back to me while I was 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.960 preaching and I said something. They said that's good, and 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.440 I was like, no, it's life changing because I had 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.279 studied it so much. It was like in my bones, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.080 not that I was so smart, just to me the 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.040 way I saw it in the Bible, it was so amazing, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.000 and like, that's that's a word. I like amazing. Everybody 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.719 say amazing. Put it in the chat with all caps 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:50.679 and seventeen exclamation points. Amazing. Put all the exclamation points 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.240 after it. That's amazing. You know, That's what I want 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.000 Holly to tell me when I give her a gift. 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:56.520 I don't want her to be like, oh, this is good. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.360 I want it to be terrific. Yeah. I wrote down 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.039 actually a list of words I didn't even look at 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:13.799 the source that are better than good, great, awesome, terrific, wonderful, incredible, stupendous. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:19.480 Somebody say stupendous, yeah, I'll think stupendous, mind blowing hyphenated 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.360 words still a word. Ridiculous. You could tell me that's ridiculous. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.839 Oh that was ridiculous. That song was ridiculous. But good, 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.200 I don't like good. You can say it was sick. 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.400 You can say it was glorious. You can say it 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.280 was excellent, you can say it was outstanding. You can 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.080 say that was crazy, you can say that was insane. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:45.080 In fact, I would rather don't even use an adjective, 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:51.320 use a superlative. That was the best ever since time began. 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.080 There's never been a better one, and there never will be, 0:06:55.720 --> 0:07:00.720 you know what I'm saying. I was kind of mad 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.600 because Joseph gets kind of toward the end of this 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.880 little journey full of so many twist and turns, ups 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:13.360 and downs, and he says to his brothers, God minute 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:19.800 for good, after all he went through, and just to 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.560 use such a twenty five cent word on such an 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:28.040 expensive experience it cost him is freedom. That cost him 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.080 the better part of his life. And then the only 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:31.520 thing he can think to say about it at the 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:37.400 end is it was good. It was good. Take you 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:41.040 on a big vacation. How'd you like it? It It was good? Good. 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.080 Now I want to see you freak out if I 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.880 really do something that I put my heart into, or 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.960 I just might not do it again. You know, it 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.280 was just good. It pretty good. I guess it depens 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.440 on how you say it. You know, Ah, it's good, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.000 it's good, It's good. I guess it's all in the end, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.559 and you're like, why are you taking so much time 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.440 to waste? We feel kind of like the show you 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.520 were talking about where you hurry up and get to 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.440 the good part. I am at the good part because 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.640 the very last thing that we really hear Joseph say 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.640 is one of the very first things that we see 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:26.720 God think. Can I show you somebody say, this is good, 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:28.840 this is good, this is getting good. It's getting good. 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:30.520 I wasn't so sure when he started, but it's getting 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.679 good now. Now go to Genesis chapter one. And this 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.760 is why you didn't like stories about Joseph, because they 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.760 started in Genesis thirty seven when we started reading about Joseph. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:44.360 But Joseph's story didn't start in Genesis thirty seven. It 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.000 started in Genesis one. And can I tell you that 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.800 your story didn't start. Everybody shout your birth year outlaw, 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:51.199 what's your birth year? What's your birth year? Put it 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:52.840 in the chat. Put it in the chat. Put it 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.240 in the chat. So we all are lying God forgive them. 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.240 It didn't start then it started in Genesis one. Read 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.800 this in the again. And God created the heavens and 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:06.480 the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, and 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.600 darkness was over the surface of the deep and the 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.319 Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.319 let there be light. And there was light. And God 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.760 saw that the light was, and he separated the light 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.920 from the darkness. God saw that the light was good. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.760 Joseph is standing in a moment that he never really 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:35.080 could have anticipated. He just found out that his father died. 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.920 He's weeping over the loss of Jacob after burying him. 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.839 His brothers are very concerned that now Joseph is going 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.839 to pay them back. They didn't need to be. After 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.560 the process that Joseph had gone through. Joseph wasn't so 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.800 concerned about what his brothers thought or what his brothers did. Remember, 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:02.559 he had this understanding that God meant it for good. 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.040 So now with all of his brothers surrounding him, falling 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.880 down at his feet and saying, don't hurt us, We'll 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.520 be your slaves. The last thing Dad said, this is 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.880 what he told them. The last thing Dad said is 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:20.120 be nice to your brothers. They're still lying. After all 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.560 their lives, they haven't stopped lying. They've come to Egypt 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.560 because well there's a famine where they're from. And God 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.000 positioned Joseph in Egypt so he could take care of 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:30.839 the very ones who betrayed him, which is why I 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.480 ended up there to begin with. Anyway, this is the 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.920 good part that we love to preach where it says 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:44.760 you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:50.439 So isn't it crazy that the last thing we see 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:56.360 in the last chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.280 is the same thing we saw in the first chapter 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:08.000 of the Book of Genesis. In the last chapter of Genesis, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:14.360 Joseph says it was good. In the first chapter of Genesis, 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:20.960 God says it was good. And what's really beautiful about it, 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.880 if you want to study it, is that God's plan 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:31.160 all through the process, never stopped being good. It never 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.600 stopped being good. It never stopped out. I wonder, can 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.080 you just say that by faith it never stopped being good. 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.880 He never stopped being good. So when we get into 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.319 the concept of was it good, a lot of times 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.920 that depends on how last week I preached on what 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.600 you call small. Remember, please pretend like you remember that 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.480 made me really sad. If you didn't, Yeah, I said 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.400 what you call small. God often sees it big. And 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.680 what you see is big, like an impossible thing. God's like, 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.160 oh boop. The little devils that you stress about all 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:07.480 day long, and the things you can't get over. The 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.120 hypothetical hurdles that you make up in your mind because 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:10.360 you can't figure out how you're gonna get from here 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.600 to there. But God already knows. Boop. Come on, let's 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.400 make a sound effect. Praise right now. Boop. That's how 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:18.480 big it is to God. That's how big it is 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:20.520 to God. With a flick of his finger, with a 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.319 word from his mouth, with a breath from his nostril, 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.079 his hand is as short. Ya. Don't make me preach 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:33.960 us the introduction. But in the same way, we have 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:38.320 this tendency to get confused about what God calls small 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.560 we call big like our character that's big to God 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.800 as small to some of us. We'll compromise our character 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:49.040 to get clout. God says, I'll make your name great. 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:50.640 You don't have to take any of your clothes off. 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:59.040 On TikTok. Who am I preaching to? Like this? And 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.880 in the same way that we he can confuse what 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.120 God calls small with what we call big, and what 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:09.440 we call big and God calls small. The prophet Isaiah says, 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.000 we have this problem, and I want to give you 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.400 this verse. It's very powerful. In Isaiah five, verse twenty, 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.600 Let's call on the prophet he said, woe to those 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:27.120 who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.480 for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.360 sweet and sweet for bitter. What's he talking about here? 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:40.959 I think you know exactly what he's talking about. I 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:46.640 think you've experienced it, probably even in church, where people 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:53.520 can sometimes even use religion as a cover up for prejudice. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:01.040 That's what Isaiah's talking about. When you call evil good 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.360 and good evil. Christians can be some of the most 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:10.079 close minded, hateful people. And I love us. I have 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.760 no choice. I'm stuck with us. I decided to follow Jesus, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:16.960 no turning back. But I didn't know all these fools 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.280 were going to be doing it with me. And see 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:21.880 it's in my own heart. No no, no, no, no, no 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.360 no no. Before you start shouting about other people, I'm 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:28.040 really talking about you, because sometimes you use your relationship 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.440 with God as an excuse to be close minded and 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:36.040 not get another perspective. God said it, God, believe it. 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:43.000 That settles it. Is this stances awkward for you, it's 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:47.080 awkward for me. You know I'm standing on the word 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:53.920 of God. No you're not. You're stuck in tradition and 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.600 people will use the message of the Bible is an 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:01.000 excuse to be me corny joke. I didn't tell you 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.560 this one yet. This woman went to church. She hadn't 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.200 been in a long time. She didn't have any nice clothes, 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:05.960 so she was wearing clothes that was inappropriate to go 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:07.840 to church. So when she got there, the preacher talked 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:09.160 to her afterwards. He was like, hey, you need to 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:10.840 wear something different when you come to church next week. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:12.640 That is inappropriate. So you know, you just might want 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.440 to put something different on. Ask God what he wants 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:15.760 you to wear next week. She came back next week 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:21.920 wearing the exact same thing. Said preacher said. She uh, so, 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:23.320 I've said hear me the first time he met her 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.400 at the door, he said, I thought, I told you 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:26.960 before you come back to sweet asked God what you 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:28.080 should wear the church, and I want you to go 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:29.560 home before you come back next week, ask what you 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:31.200 wear church. She comes back in the same thing. That's 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:35.760 all she had. She had a rough life. She she 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.040 didn't have she didn't know what to wear to church. 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:39.920 She hadn't been to church in a long time. She 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:41.880 came back to the third week wearing the same stuff. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.920 The preacher was mad this time because the deacons were 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:46.560 mad at him, so he was mad at the lady. 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.160 It was a whole shine of condemnation that was going 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.360 on in this little fictitious church. And he looked at 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.160 her and said, I thought I told you to ask 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.840 God what to wear before you came back to this church. 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.360 She said, I did, he said, And what did God say? 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:06.360 He said? She said, he said he didn't know what 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:10.840 I should wear to this church because he never been here. 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.040 Have I ever told you that one? That's a classic, 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.880 That's a classic. How many of you knew the punchline 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.480 before I said it? And you're waiting for me to 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.840 get to the good part? Right? Tell him, pastor tell him, 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.560 tell him. We are not being you know, it's so 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:38.440 amazing church people. So what we do is we substitute 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:48.840 judgment and call it holiness. We call evil good, and 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:56.160 evil is only what others are doing. The decibel levels 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.680 are going down as I get more personal. Come on, 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.080 give to the good part. This is the good part. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.560 This is a good part of a sermon where it 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:09.639 challenges your assumptions that are keeping you from accessing the 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:18.560 blessing of God. Let me tell you another thing. The 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.200 Pharisees in the Bible, they were the religious ruling party 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:22.800 of Jesus's day, and they would come up to him 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.520 to test him. So one time they came up to him, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.120 and the man didn't have good motives. He said, Jesus, 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.679 he called him good teacher, good teacher, sucking up, you know. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.719 But really he was trying to catch Jesus in a contradiction. 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.399 So it's a bad idea. But he didn't know yet 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.040 that Jesus was the word made flesh dwell among us. 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.000 He didn't know that. So I said, good teacher, jesaid, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:45.600 why do you call me good? Only one is good. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:51.280 That's God. That verse spoke to me this week. See, 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.120 I don't know if I can call myself a good man. 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:01.560 I want to be. I try to be real, I 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:08.280 aspire to be. Holly says that I am. I got 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:14.480 some dark parts, though all I can see is your 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:19.240 halo right now. I can't tell if you're sympathetic, you're 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:32.800 judging me. Every good man has dark parts. There is 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:41.119 a part of every person that is really dark. Different 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.520 things bring it out of us in different times. Some 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:54.360 people's dark is more socially acceptable than others. And if 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.520 the people around you haven't seen your dark part. They 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:05.200 haven't got close enough yet. Even Joseph, who is held 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.840 up rightly as a hero kind of an example of 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:12.080 how to deal with life's disappointments, setbacks, and let's be honest, man, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:16.560 he went through rape charges, he went through false imprisonment 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:20.280 because of those charges. He went with being forgotten by 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.159 the people that he helped, like all the things that 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.720 we deal with just times one hundred, we deal with 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.600 little versions of these overlooks and these offenses. Well he 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.720 dealt with them, you know, on the grandest, most epic scale, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.760 and he was able to say something so powerful. God 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:44.760 intended it for good. And if you only read that, 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.359 and I think this is why that you don't like 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.280 the sermons about Joseph, because in our effort to just 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.320 skip to that and to make it all good, you know, 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.920 these little things it's all good. Romans eight twenty eight, 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.680 it's all good. Romans eight twenty eight. Doesn't say it's 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.679 all good. You remember when you were working on that sermon. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:03.800 Tim Farrell was working on a sermon. One time. We're 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:05.440 in a meeting and he goes, I want to preach 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:07.800 a sermon at the rock Hill Campus called It's All 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.520 Good Romans eight twenty eight. All things work together for good. 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.520 I'm like Timmy, I love you. You can't preach that. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.560 That's not what Paul said. He didn't say all things 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:22.840 are good. Right. You got people out there who have 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:27.640 been molested. You want to preach us all good. You've 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:29.399 got people out there who can't pay their bills. You 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.800 want to preach us all good. And I wasn't mad 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:33.960 at him. We were just studying the text together. This 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.080 is how I show love. Get it, I get in there. Yeah, 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.480 this is how I show love. I said, it's not 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:42.399 all good. If you want to preach that passage, you 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:48.119 can preach it's going to be good. And this is 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.760 what I want to preach to you about today. I 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:56.280 want to preach to you about how to get to 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:02.320 the good part. But I want to warn you you 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.119 can't get to the good part if you're not willing 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:12.720 to go through the dark part. There is a dark 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:18.000 part in every person. Even Joseph, when confronted by his brothers, 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.160 was tempted. You hear me, This great hero was tempted 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.240 to make them pay. And nobody probably put that part 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:27.760 in the sermons that Holly heard about Joseph. Where Joseph 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.000 was tricking them and putting the cup in the bag 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.359 and hiding the cup in the bag and trying to accuse, 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:36.040 he still couldn't decide what he wanted to do. Like 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:38.560 you right now, you're trying to decide how do I 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:44.240 respond to this? How do I respond to something that 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:49.600 wasn't good? That God let in my life wasn't good. 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:53.480 How my dad died it wasn't good. How your dad 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:57.560 walked out. That wasn't good. So we can't preach it's 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:02.879 all good. Because before Joseph could get this is what 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.640 blew my mind to the good part, where he could say, 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.000 I will provide for your family. You see how selfless 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:15.080 that sounds, how responsible, how mature. I'll take care of you. 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.200 Don't worry about it. It's all good. But before he 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.200 could get to the good, he had to go through 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:26.719 the dark. And so do you, and so do I, 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:33.320 so do I. I have to realize that my first 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:40.199 reaction is not always coming from my realist self. I 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:45.080 am teaching better than they are shouting. Now, kid going, 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.320 I'll move you down to the front row. So people 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:50.960 will say this, they'll just go off right, they'll just 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:53.920 go off, cuss people out, flip people off, turn stuff over, 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.359 wreck their life, all this stuff, and say, I'm just 0:22:56.480 --> 0:23:03.520 keeping it real. No, that's just your reaction. That's just 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:09.560 you letting the dark part run the show. But greater 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.719 is he that is in you, that he that is 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:17.480 in the world that verses about Jesus. And he's in 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.920 me too. But in order to get to that part, 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:23.399 you know, the part of you that's wise and kind 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:25.840 and good and yeah, and I don't have to say 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:28.639 anything back, and I'm focused. I'm good the good part. 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:34.320 Sometimes to get to that good part, you got to 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:40.800 keep your mouth shut through the dark part. We don't 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:44.119 know what to do with the dark part, so we 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:46.400 never get to the good part. So I say, get 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.320 to the good part. You'll never get to the good 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:50.679 part if you don't learn how to deal with the 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:57.439 dark part. So I guess they're right. You have to 0:23:57.440 --> 0:23:59.520 make it through a few seasons before it gets good. 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:01.960 I guess they're right. You got to get through a 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:03.840 few seasons. You got to get through some confusion, you 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:05.960 got to get through some things. You gotta put it 0:24:05.960 --> 0:24:11.440 in perspective. After all, by the time Joseph said this verse, 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:13.360 and I promise you, so many of you are new 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:15.240 to church, and I want you to know, you will 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:19.000 hear this verse preached again. It is so popular, you 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:21.760 will hear this verse preached out of context. Like Joseph 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:24.359 just said it when he woke up one morning. Will 0:24:24.400 --> 0:24:29.720 you went freevile? Don't for good? Without the setup, that 0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:37.040 punchline is empty. It has been years since Joseph's brothers 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:40.359 came back. He's had years to look back on it. 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:43.480 He's had time to reflect on what it is that 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:46.240 God was doing. And our problem is sometimes we just 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:50.800 want to spoon feed people these sugar coated answers. There's 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:55.000 a reason for everything. That's not always your job to 0:24:55.080 --> 0:25:00.639 remind somebody of that. You know, I went off on 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:02.560 somebody one time. There's a reason. Well tell me what 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:11.240 it is. Since your God, what is it? Joseph said, 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:15.800 I'm not in the place of God, But yet he 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:22.280 acted like him because he saw what was good through 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:29.400 what was dark. Isn't that what God did in Genesis? 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:43.199 I never realized that Genesis fifty twenty was just the 0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:50.119 continuation of Genesis four. Light was the first thing, you know, 0:25:50.160 --> 0:25:53.520 the seven Days of creation. God made the light, and 0:25:53.520 --> 0:25:55.440 then he made the atmosphere or the firmament, and i'd 0:25:55.480 --> 0:26:00.399 quote all seven, but we don't have time. I'll get 0:26:00.440 --> 0:26:02.879 him out of order. But there's all this stuff, you know, 0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:05.600 this is really good in the dry ground, in the plants, 0:26:05.640 --> 0:26:08.320 and then the sun. And he made the light before 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:09.959 he made the sun, which I can't figure out other 0:26:10.000 --> 0:26:14.800 than the fact that he is light. But all of it, 0:26:14.840 --> 0:26:16.400 you know, the fifth day, the birds of the air, 0:26:16.440 --> 0:26:17.920 and the fish in the sea, and then the land 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:19.359 animals on the six saying look, I got them all, 0:26:19.400 --> 0:26:20.919 got them all, I got them all right, Somebody give 0:26:20.960 --> 0:26:26.280 me that if I say, good job, pastor good job. 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:28.480 You want a cookie, you want a hey flaws, you 0:26:28.480 --> 0:26:32.640 want a star on your charm. But all of that 0:26:32.840 --> 0:26:37.720 becomes more powerful when you realize that in Genesis one four, 0:26:38.240 --> 0:26:44.879 look at this, God saw that it was good. He 0:26:44.920 --> 0:26:47.000 doesn't need light to see. He is light, so he 0:26:47.119 --> 0:26:51.280 saw it was good while he was still doing it. 0:26:52.280 --> 0:26:55.639 Most important thing I've learned, like in creating a sermon, 0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:58.800 a song, really even in building a family and trying 0:26:58.800 --> 0:27:02.240 to create a great relationship, is that there's always a 0:27:02.359 --> 0:27:06.040 dark part, just like you have flesh, and I have flesh, 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:07.760 and you have memories, and I have memories, and you 0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:13.200 have temptations and tendencies and I do too. Every process, 0:27:13.920 --> 0:27:16.360 not just every person, but every process has a dark part. 0:27:18.440 --> 0:27:20.440 I can't think of a single song that I ever 0:27:20.480 --> 0:27:23.880 wrote that I didn't at one point during the song 0:27:23.960 --> 0:27:27.320 feel like Ichabod, the glory has departed. I'll never write 0:27:27.320 --> 0:27:29.719 another song. What am I trying to do? And at 0:27:29.720 --> 0:27:31.399 these moments, I don't know how to explain this to you. 0:27:32.920 --> 0:27:34.679 I know you know what I'm talking about. I'll be 0:27:34.680 --> 0:27:39.000 sitting there going Tom Petty wouldn't have liked this song. 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:42.440 Tom Petty is dead. Tom Petty never even heard of 0:27:42.480 --> 0:27:44.920 elevation worship while he was alive. I got Tom Petty 0:27:45.040 --> 0:27:47.760 looking over my shoulder, going, eh, not so sure. Where 0:27:47.760 --> 0:27:50.280 did Tom Petty come from in this? But like that's 0:27:50.320 --> 0:27:58.960 a part of the process. Is like pushing through that judgment. Hey, 0:27:58.960 --> 0:28:01.160 when y'all do that too, for you, it's not Tom 0:28:01.160 --> 0:28:10.760 Petty over your shoulder, Okay, it's your mom. Wow. There's 0:28:10.800 --> 0:28:13.160 a part when you go to do something for God, 0:28:13.600 --> 0:28:16.240 write a song, take a step, make an active service, 0:28:16.320 --> 0:28:18.040 change a habit. I don't care what it is. There 0:28:18.119 --> 0:28:24.600 is a part of every process that's dark, and it 0:28:24.640 --> 0:28:28.840 can come right, I mean right before the best part. 0:28:32.160 --> 0:28:38.440 And if you let it die in the dark, you'll 0:28:38.520 --> 0:28:43.760 never get to the Like I promise you. It's not 0:28:43.840 --> 0:28:46.360 just the caffeine and me. It's like God sent me 0:28:46.400 --> 0:28:49.400 out here to say to somebody, you've got to get 0:28:49.440 --> 0:28:55.000 through this dark part of your life, of this stage 0:28:55.040 --> 0:28:59.240 of a gouldhood. And maybe just because I've got two teenagers, 0:28:59.360 --> 0:29:03.360 I was thinking about teens who commit suicide, and it 0:29:03.440 --> 0:29:06.160 started to haunt me that, like they have no idea 0:29:06.840 --> 0:29:11.800 that high school is weird for everybody. It doesn't feel 0:29:11.840 --> 0:29:15.040 like this forever. It's not always. I mean there's still 0:29:15.160 --> 0:29:18.400 challenges and people are still people, and life is still hard, 0:29:18.760 --> 0:29:22.800 but it's not always this surge of hormones and weirdness 0:29:22.840 --> 0:29:26.440 and stuff breaking out on your face everywhere, just stuff 0:29:26.480 --> 0:29:28.680 in your mind and wonder. No, no, no, no, no no. 0:29:28.920 --> 0:29:34.560 It won't always be this dark. It won't always be 0:29:34.640 --> 0:29:41.280 the dark. You gotta live. You gotta live. Whoever you are, 0:29:41.560 --> 0:29:45.960 you gotta live, You gotta live, You gotta live. You 0:29:46.040 --> 0:29:49.200 gotta live to see it. You gotta live, You gotta 0:29:49.240 --> 0:29:54.720 live to see I will remain confident in this that 0:29:54.920 --> 0:29:59.560 I will see. I got lights, I will see the 0:29:59.720 --> 0:30:07.520 good goodness of the Lord. Goodness, goodness. It's gonna get good. 0:30:07.960 --> 0:30:11.680 It's gonna get good. It's gonna get good and gooder 0:30:11.880 --> 0:30:15.600 and gooder and better and better. And you haven't seen 0:30:15.680 --> 0:30:19.280 anything yet. You haven't even met your best self yet. 0:30:19.640 --> 0:30:23.880 You gotta get through this valley. Oh yeah, oh yeah, 0:30:24.000 --> 0:30:27.560 oh yeah, oh yeah. I gotta get through this valley. Yea, 0:30:27.720 --> 0:30:30.960 though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, 0:30:31.160 --> 0:30:34.080 I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. 0:30:34.480 --> 0:30:44.800 Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Question, is 0:30:44.840 --> 0:30:46.600 a rod and a staff a good thing or a 0:30:46.640 --> 0:30:52.160 bad thing? Depends on whether you're a wolf or a sheep. Now, 0:30:52.160 --> 0:30:56.600 when I belong to God, everything he does in my life, 0:30:57.320 --> 0:31:01.360 it might not feel good, but it is good because 0:31:01.440 --> 0:31:06.880 He's still good. Ya Awa through the valley. I gotta 0:31:06.920 --> 0:31:10.000 get through this valley so I can make it to 0:31:10.040 --> 0:31:15.000 the table. You prepare a table. That's kind of weak, 0:31:15.040 --> 0:31:18.240 eld Jane, I said, make it to the table. Make 0:31:18.320 --> 0:31:21.400 it to the table. Make it to the table. Leg 0:31:21.440 --> 0:31:24.360 it to the table, Make it to the table, make 0:31:24.440 --> 0:31:28.640 it to the I'm gonna make it to the table. 0:31:29.160 --> 0:31:32.240 I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna 0:31:32.280 --> 0:31:35.080 make it. I'm gonna make it. I gotta make it. 0:31:35.200 --> 0:31:38.120 I was for to make it. My kids need me 0:31:38.200 --> 0:31:40.760 to make it. My wife needs me to make it. 0:31:41.080 --> 0:31:46.480 My search needs me to make it. You have to 0:31:46.560 --> 0:31:49.840 make it. You have to make it. You've got to 0:31:49.920 --> 0:31:54.720 make it. It's necessary that you make it. You gotta 0:31:54.760 --> 0:31:56.920 get to the good part. You gotta get to the 0:31:56.960 --> 0:32:00.440 good part. You gotta locate Israel inside of your Jacob. 0:32:00.680 --> 0:32:04.000 Sit up, Israel, be a man, be a woman, be 0:32:04.120 --> 0:32:07.160 the one God call, stand up and do it. You 0:32:07.320 --> 0:32:17.120 gotta make it to the table. And to make it 0:32:17.160 --> 0:32:25.600 to the table, I gotta go through the shadow. Every 0:32:25.640 --> 0:32:33.720 good thing has a dark part. So James says something 0:32:33.760 --> 0:32:36.760 I thought we should think about. He said, don't need 0:32:36.800 --> 0:32:43.600 to see brothers, sisters. Every good, somebody say good, Every 0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:47.120 good and perfect gift comes from above. I think I 0:32:47.120 --> 0:32:48.920 gave him the scripture. I'd love for you to show 0:32:48.960 --> 0:32:55.880 it now, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, 0:32:55.880 --> 0:32:57.840 who does not change. Like shifting shadows. That's all any 0:32:58.240 --> 0:33:03.040 shadows gift. You see it again, see it again. The 0:33:03.080 --> 0:33:08.640 contrast that every good thing has a dark part. What 0:33:08.800 --> 0:33:11.440 concerns me is I see a lot of people who 0:33:11.480 --> 0:33:16.960 never get to the good part of their marriage, of 0:33:17.640 --> 0:33:22.160 their gift, their skill. I guarantee you there's no guitar 0:33:22.200 --> 0:33:24.400 players out here right now, but I guarantee you if 0:33:24.400 --> 0:33:27.280 we could ask them when they maybe even on bass shay. 0:33:27.640 --> 0:33:32.240 Before you first start learning how to play, there's a 0:33:32.280 --> 0:33:34.520 point where your fingers hurt so bad. When I was 0:33:34.560 --> 0:33:36.960 starting to learn to play guitar, my fingers would hurt 0:33:37.000 --> 0:33:40.200 so bad. And Harold Staley, Jack crib they both told me, 0:33:40.280 --> 0:33:42.360 these two men that were teaching me guitar, they both said, 0:33:42.600 --> 0:33:45.920 you got to build up the callouses, and every time 0:33:45.960 --> 0:33:49.400 I would go to practice, it would hurt so bad. Ah, 0:33:49.760 --> 0:33:55.920 most people quit before they get the callous, because if 0:33:55.960 --> 0:34:00.760 you keep playing long enough, eventually your finger will be 0:34:00.920 --> 0:34:04.880 able wade. Remember the before the calluses. And if you 0:34:04.880 --> 0:34:06.480 don't play for a little while now, it's not that 0:34:06.560 --> 0:34:08.239 this doesn't change. If you don't play for a while, 0:34:08.239 --> 0:34:11.840 you got to start over again. Most people quit before 0:34:11.840 --> 0:34:17.680 they get there, whether it's teenagers who in their life 0:34:17.840 --> 0:34:19.680 or let's be honest, not even in their life, but 0:34:19.760 --> 0:34:23.200 just sabotage themselves because they don't want to sit with 0:34:23.280 --> 0:34:26.560 the loneliness, and you just want to tell them, no, no, no, 0:34:26.560 --> 0:34:28.959 don't give that away. That's too important. Don't give that away. 0:34:28.960 --> 0:34:30.680 No no, no no, no, don't do that. Get to the 0:34:30.719 --> 0:34:37.000 good part, Joseph, don't throw your brothers out. That's how 0:34:37.040 --> 0:34:40.799 God is going to build a nation. Get to the 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:43.520 good part. I know you want to go off and 0:34:43.600 --> 0:34:46.840 freak out and tell them another that's just your reaction. 0:34:46.960 --> 0:34:49.120 That's not the reality. The real, you know, is better. 0:34:52.680 --> 0:34:56.560 So James says, don't be deceived. Every good gift comes 0:34:56.560 --> 0:34:58.759 from above. A few things I take from that one. 0:35:00.000 --> 0:35:02.920 If it's good, it came from God. Write that down, 0:35:02.960 --> 0:35:04.399 putting in check. If it's good, it came from God. 0:35:06.080 --> 0:35:07.960 Say it fast like the micromachine. Man. If it's good, 0:35:08.000 --> 0:35:14.840 it came from God. All right. So if God blesses 0:35:14.880 --> 0:35:17.800 me through somebody or through something, it came from him. 0:35:18.600 --> 0:35:21.239 I got a bunch of birthday gifts a few days ago, 0:35:21.320 --> 0:35:24.360 thanks to everybody sent me a gift. And hey, the 0:35:24.400 --> 0:35:31.319 greatest gift is prayer, all right, so thank you. I 0:35:31.400 --> 0:35:33.160 used to always hear a preachers say that. They'd say 0:35:33.160 --> 0:35:34.440 thank you for all of you who give to the 0:35:34.520 --> 0:35:36.680 church and all this stuff, and then, but most importantly, 0:35:36.680 --> 0:35:38.800 your prayers. I'm like, is that prayers aren't more important 0:35:38.840 --> 0:35:41.160 than the giving. We gotta feed people, we gotta help people, 0:35:41.280 --> 0:35:43.200 we gotta build the kingdom. Thank you for all of it. 0:35:43.200 --> 0:35:48.040 It's all important, you know, false dichotomy. But but uh, 0:35:48.200 --> 0:35:50.560 what was I saying? Oh? Oh, the gifts, the guests, 0:35:50.560 --> 0:35:52.920 the guests, the guests. You see this jacket I'm wearing. 0:35:53.080 --> 0:35:57.000 Wade gave me this. And the funny thing was when 0:35:57.040 --> 0:35:59.680 I saw his handwriting on the envelope. He's given me 0:35:59.719 --> 0:36:01.600 so many gifts through the years. I said that one 0:36:01.640 --> 0:36:08.239 was from Wade. It's gonna be good. I hadn't even 0:36:08.280 --> 0:36:19.640 unwrapped the gift. I knew who gave it. When I 0:36:19.640 --> 0:36:21.279 shook the box, I knew it was something I could wear. 0:36:21.320 --> 0:36:24.000 I said, I got my preaching clothes for next week 0:36:24.680 --> 0:36:28.360 because it came from Wade. Somebody said it came from Wade. 0:36:28.920 --> 0:36:32.720 Wade knows what I like to wear. He knows blackest, slimming, 0:36:33.200 --> 0:36:38.359 flattering to my body type. Came from Wade. It's good. 0:36:38.400 --> 0:36:40.400 I'm good this week. I got something to wear this 0:36:41.040 --> 0:36:45.440 because it came from Wade. If it comes from God, 0:36:46.440 --> 0:36:52.319 it's gonna be good. So if it's good, it comes 0:36:52.320 --> 0:36:53.880 from God, even if God does it through somebody else. 0:36:53.920 --> 0:37:00.359 I didn't hug the postman for delivering Wade's gift. It's 0:37:00.440 --> 0:37:03.560 kind of deep, right, we get dependent on people. We 0:37:03.600 --> 0:37:05.080 think people have to be good to us for God 0:37:05.120 --> 0:37:07.560 to be good to us. No they don't. No, they 0:37:07.600 --> 0:37:13.960 don't question who got Jesus to the cross, which disciple 0:37:15.120 --> 0:37:18.200 John the one he loved, or Judas the one who 0:37:18.200 --> 0:37:24.000 betrayed him. And now you're seeing my theme of my message, right, 0:37:24.880 --> 0:37:29.000 get to the good part. The part that feels good 0:37:29.760 --> 0:37:37.279 isn't always the part that is good. You only know 0:37:37.320 --> 0:37:40.760 that when you reflect on it. Because I was thinking, 0:37:40.800 --> 0:37:42.359 if it's good, it came from God. If it came 0:37:42.360 --> 0:37:46.440 from God, it's good. What if it didn't, it's going 0:37:46.520 --> 0:37:50.080 to be good anyway. And that's where you can preach 0:37:50.160 --> 0:37:57.040 Romans eight twenty eight. In all things God works for 0:37:57.120 --> 0:38:00.839 the good. Now, I always heard that verse. They read 0:38:00.840 --> 0:38:03.799 that much, and then it was confusing to people. All 0:38:03.840 --> 0:38:06.960 things worked together for the good. They didn't even get 0:38:07.000 --> 0:38:08.680 to the good part of the verse. They stopped on 0:38:08.719 --> 0:38:12.440 the word good. The good part is what it says 0:38:12.480 --> 0:38:17.640 next to those who love the Lord and are called 0:38:17.840 --> 0:38:23.799 according to His purpose. So real quick, Divie, earlier I 0:38:23.840 --> 0:38:26.560 saw you out here. You've had two tools that I've 0:38:26.560 --> 0:38:29.480 seen since you came out, not counting your notebook. You 0:38:29.560 --> 0:38:34.319 had this real quick and you had this. When we 0:38:34.360 --> 0:38:36.800 talk about what God calls good, we have to understand 0:38:36.840 --> 0:38:41.040 something about God. God doesn't call something good based on 0:38:41.080 --> 0:38:45.560 how it made you feel while it was happening. God 0:38:45.560 --> 0:38:49.120 doesn't call something good based on whether how much you 0:38:49.200 --> 0:38:54.600 expected it and how much it matched your preference. God 0:38:54.640 --> 0:39:04.440 calls it good when it serves its purpose. David, you 0:39:04.520 --> 0:39:10.920 were singing on this. You were sitting on this. I 0:39:10.920 --> 0:39:15.359 have a feeling if you tried to sing on this 0:39:21.320 --> 0:39:30.480 it wouldn't work. It wouldn't work. It's a good store, 0:39:30.560 --> 0:39:33.719 but you can't sing into it. It's a good mic, 0:39:33.840 --> 0:39:37.279 but you can't sit on it. Quit thinking you're not 0:39:37.520 --> 0:39:40.960 good because you can't do what it wasn't even in 0:39:41.000 --> 0:39:46.640 your function or your purpose to do. When God made 0:39:46.760 --> 0:39:50.960 man on the sixth day, he said, it's very good. 0:39:51.160 --> 0:39:55.040 It's very good. It's real good. It's in my image, 0:39:55.280 --> 0:40:02.680 it's according to my likeness. It's good. It's good. It's good. 0:40:03.080 --> 0:40:07.560 It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good, 0:40:07.680 --> 0:40:09.960 it's good, it's good. Why are you saying that? Somebody 0:40:10.040 --> 0:40:11.800 told me the other day I had a good workout. 0:40:11.960 --> 0:40:14.239 I said, how is it good? Said I was throwing up. 0:40:14.280 --> 0:40:28.080 After I said huh, he said, I know it worked. 0:40:28.560 --> 0:40:34.279 Come get this stuff to be Joseph said, am I 0:40:34.320 --> 0:40:36.400 in the place of God? No, you're not in the 0:40:36.400 --> 0:40:38.840 place of God. But he had the same thought process 0:40:39.120 --> 0:40:42.360 as God. He knew that the darkness doesn't have to 0:40:42.360 --> 0:40:51.120 go away for the light to be effective. So when 0:40:51.160 --> 0:40:53.160 you say how are you doing it, and you say 0:40:53.200 --> 0:41:01.080 I'm good, you're not lying. You're just focusing. Wow. Sometimes 0:41:01.320 --> 0:41:06.240 before you can get to the good part in your life, 0:41:06.440 --> 0:41:09.480 you have to get to the good part in your mind. 0:41:14.600 --> 0:41:17.759 So then you start saying things like lb Skinner when 0:41:17.800 --> 0:41:21.000 it rained at our first church service, where there was 0:41:21.080 --> 0:41:24.200 rain and the attendant suffered, and I was depressed, and 0:41:24.239 --> 0:41:27.480 I said, it rained. Almost nobody came. He was smiling. 0:41:27.680 --> 0:41:30.600 I said, what are you smiling about? It was rainy 0:41:30.640 --> 0:41:34.279 and nobody came. He said, ah, But Pastor, it gave 0:41:34.320 --> 0:41:37.600 our greeter teams a chance to shine. See he had 0:41:37.600 --> 0:41:41.600 had these custom elevation umbrellas made, and he was waiting 0:41:41.640 --> 0:41:46.520 for a chance to use somebody. He saw the rain, 0:41:46.640 --> 0:41:50.160 he said it's good. I saw the rain and said, 0:41:50.160 --> 0:41:53.680 oh God. He saw the rain and said it's good. 0:41:53.880 --> 0:41:56.600 And I wonder are you waiting for it to get 0:41:56.640 --> 0:42:00.000 good in your life? And God is waiting for you 0:42:00.120 --> 0:42:09.240 to get good in your mind. For everybody who's struggling 0:42:09.280 --> 0:42:14.840 with comparison and envy? What are you good at? The 0:42:14.920 --> 0:42:19.719 darkness doesn't want you to see that you only see 0:42:19.719 --> 0:42:22.640 without form and void. God said, let there be light. 0:42:24.360 --> 0:42:27.799 I'm just asking God over our congregation, look, shine the 0:42:27.880 --> 0:42:31.560 light on the good part. This way, the good part. 0:42:31.920 --> 0:42:33.959 Turn your flashlight on your phone right now and start 0:42:34.000 --> 0:42:36.520 shining it around. And when the people that are sitting 0:42:36.560 --> 0:42:38.879 in your apartment start asking you, what in the world 0:42:38.920 --> 0:42:40.759 are you doing, say, I'm looking for the good part. 0:42:40.840 --> 0:42:42.640 I'm looking for the good part. I'm looking I need 0:42:42.680 --> 0:42:45.439 some light. I need some light. I need some light. 0:42:45.680 --> 0:42:47.360 I need the word of God. I need worship, I 0:42:47.400 --> 0:42:52.200 need the presence of God. And that is why my 0:42:52.360 --> 0:42:55.720 consumption becomes important, and why every week I say something 0:42:55.760 --> 0:42:59.440 to you about your phone your social media, your twenty 0:42:59.440 --> 0:43:03.160 four seven Then what do they call it? Twenty four seven? 0:43:03.920 --> 0:43:08.360 News cyclone cycle, new cycle. It's like people will say, 0:43:08.520 --> 0:43:11.640 I've got to be informed. I gotta like it is 0:43:11.719 --> 0:43:13.560 good to be informed. But if you have to dig 0:43:13.640 --> 0:43:16.520 through that much garbage to get something good, is it 0:43:16.640 --> 0:43:23.600 really good? We're confused. Like Adam and Eve, they weren't 0:43:23.600 --> 0:43:28.879 in trouble because they ate an apple. The Bible says 0:43:28.920 --> 0:43:30.640 that they ate from the tree of the knowledge of 0:43:30.680 --> 0:43:33.000 good and evil, and they thought they were like God, 0:43:34.880 --> 0:43:38.480 I know it's good. We always get in trouble when 0:43:38.480 --> 0:43:42.680 we try to do God's job. God said it was good. 0:43:43.440 --> 0:43:46.799 God said it was good. God said it was good. 0:43:47.960 --> 0:43:51.640 And Joseph is such a great picture. All the way 0:43:51.680 --> 0:43:56.520 across forty nine chapters of Genesis, he echoes back what 0:43:56.600 --> 0:44:03.120 God said when he spoke the world into existence. That good. 0:44:03.120 --> 0:44:04.680 But I don't even really want to show you this 0:44:04.719 --> 0:44:08.200 from Joseph's life. I want to show you one thing 0:44:08.239 --> 0:44:10.759 that Jesus said before I let you go. And this 0:44:10.800 --> 0:44:15.600 is where the real power is because remember, Joseph said 0:44:16.320 --> 0:44:19.960 it was good. That's what he said when he was 0:44:19.960 --> 0:44:25.359 looking back, and that's powerful, and that really takes from 0:44:25.360 --> 0:44:29.480 ature perspective to say, oh, man, I guess this is 0:44:29.520 --> 0:44:33.040 what God. You know, it's I probably could have got 0:44:33.080 --> 0:44:37.040 there an easier way, but I guess this is what God. Okay, Lord, 0:44:37.080 --> 0:44:40.399 I accept it. Let me tell you something Jesus did. 0:44:40.440 --> 0:44:47.000 He's he's getting ready to leave his disciples. They're sad. 0:44:47.760 --> 0:44:52.799 They are what he calls grieving, and grieving doesn't just 0:44:52.840 --> 0:44:56.919 have to be over a death. You can grieve an opportunity. 0:44:57.040 --> 0:45:00.520 You can grieve a schedule that was lost, dicta billy, 0:45:00.560 --> 0:45:04.160 you could grieve a lot of things. Jesus is dealing 0:45:04.200 --> 0:45:07.600 with grieving disciples who are going to miss his physical presence. 0:45:07.760 --> 0:45:10.160 I guess if we're going to tie it into Genesis, right, like, 0:45:10.480 --> 0:45:13.520 Jesus is the light of the world, so they're losing 0:45:13.560 --> 0:45:17.160 their light. He was what they walked by. He's the 0:45:17.200 --> 0:45:20.600 only way that his presence, his words, his actions, his example, 0:45:20.680 --> 0:45:23.160 his encouragement. They're going to lose that. Have you lost 0:45:23.160 --> 0:45:27.640 something lately? Have you lost your light? Here's what he says. 0:45:29.160 --> 0:45:32.480 Absolutely amazing how God's word works in concert with each other. 0:45:33.800 --> 0:45:37.200 Because way after Joseph said it was good, now that 0:45:37.239 --> 0:45:40.399 I look back on it, Jesus was saying this, John 0:45:40.440 --> 0:45:48.120 chapter sixteen. But now I'm going to him who sent me. 0:45:48.160 --> 0:45:50.319 None of you asked me where are you going? Watch this? 0:45:50.400 --> 0:45:53.239 Watch this? No, no, no, Jesus knew where he was going. 0:45:53.280 --> 0:45:58.479 They didn't know where they were going, right, So he's 0:45:58.520 --> 0:46:00.560 trying to convince them of something and that they're not 0:46:00.600 --> 0:46:04.480 so sure of. Here's what he says. Rather, you are 0:46:04.480 --> 0:46:09.200 filled with grief because I have said these things. He's 0:46:09.239 --> 0:46:12.000 going to the cross. And this is the assurance that 0:46:12.040 --> 0:46:17.560 he gives us. He tells them verse seven, it is 0:46:18.480 --> 0:46:28.520 for your good that I am going away. Unless I 0:46:28.920 --> 0:46:34.839 go away, the advocate the Holy Spirit will not come 0:46:34.880 --> 0:46:39.560 to you. So here's the here's the upgrade. I was 0:46:39.600 --> 0:46:43.319 with you. Now my spirit will be in you. But 0:46:43.360 --> 0:46:51.600 first I gotta go. That's the dark part. The good 0:46:51.640 --> 0:46:54.680 part is you're gonna have the spirit. He's gonna convince love, joy, peace, 0:46:54.719 --> 0:46:57.000 page Kid's gonna say those general self control Galatian five 0:46:57.040 --> 0:47:01.160 two twenty three. We're not there yet. We got to 0:47:01.200 --> 0:47:04.200 the good part yet, this is the dark part. He 0:47:04.360 --> 0:47:09.400 knows what they're about to go through, and he also 0:47:09.640 --> 0:47:15.480 knows what they are going to get to, so he 0:47:15.640 --> 0:47:19.759 is giving them something. So that while you go through 0:47:19.960 --> 0:47:24.239 this painful moment, this first season, this second season, these 0:47:24.280 --> 0:47:27.839 winter months, this dark part, this hard part of your day, 0:47:28.160 --> 0:47:30.320 this hard part of your life, this hard part of 0:47:30.400 --> 0:47:33.400 your marriage, your ministry. If you don't go through the 0:47:33.520 --> 0:47:36.760 dark part, you won't get to the good part unless 0:47:36.800 --> 0:47:40.560 I go away. Yeah, it's gonna feel different, it's gonna 0:47:40.560 --> 0:47:43.200 be confusing, you're not gonna know. This is where people 0:47:43.239 --> 0:47:45.960 give up on God. They start reading the Bible and 0:47:45.960 --> 0:47:48.280 they read it like a fortune cookie, and the first 0:47:48.280 --> 0:47:50.439 thing that makes them confused, they say, God's not real. 0:47:50.719 --> 0:47:53.080 This stuff doesn't work. I'll really believe it. I pray 0:47:53.120 --> 0:47:55.399 and it didn't happen. But you didn't get to the 0:47:55.800 --> 0:47:59.600 good part where you find out that it is not 0:47:59.800 --> 0:48:05.120 in the answers that God becomes real. It is in 0:48:05.239 --> 0:48:09.399 wrestling with the questions that you'll find out that there 0:48:09.520 --> 0:48:16.880 is a kingdom within you, within you. That's the good part. 0:48:17.880 --> 0:48:20.080 Thank God for all the good things around me. But 0:48:20.200 --> 0:48:22.759 it's what He does and that's the good part. And 0:48:22.800 --> 0:48:24.640 you will never get to that if you keep changing 0:48:24.680 --> 0:48:33.040 what's around you never get to the good part because 0:48:33.080 --> 0:48:37.080 you won't go through the dark part. Take a pill, 0:48:37.080 --> 0:48:40.440 get out, the dark part, blow up the relationship. Many 0:48:40.520 --> 0:48:44.440 people never get to intimacy in relationships. I'm gonna tell 0:48:44.480 --> 0:48:53.239 you why, because they won't push through the insecurity to 0:48:53.360 --> 0:48:58.680 get to real intimacy. You've got to go through insecurity 0:48:58.840 --> 0:49:00.759 because I gotta be willing to let you see me. 0:49:03.640 --> 0:49:08.000 If we're gonna have one guy said into me, see intimacy, 0:49:08.160 --> 0:49:14.960 that's scary. I want you to see into me. So 0:49:15.040 --> 0:49:19.160 we never get to intimacy because we won't work through 0:49:19.160 --> 0:49:24.080 the insecurity of saying, yeah, I am flawed. And even 0:49:24.080 --> 0:49:28.920 in our relationship with God, Jacob spent his whole life 0:49:29.960 --> 0:49:34.840 pretending to be somebody else. But God said no, I 0:49:34.840 --> 0:49:36.600 want to get to the good part, the true part, 0:49:37.640 --> 0:49:41.400 the real part. Many people never get to their destiny 0:49:41.440 --> 0:49:45.960 because they won't work through the disappointment, never get to 0:49:46.000 --> 0:49:53.319 the wisdom because they won't work through the bitterness. To 0:49:53.360 --> 0:49:56.319 get to the good part, you got to go through 0:49:56.320 --> 0:50:01.840 the dark part. But he's with me, He's with me. 0:50:03.320 --> 0:50:05.960 Jesus said, I'm going away, what I'll be with you. 0:50:07.719 --> 0:50:13.320 I'll be with you. It is good for you. Joseph 0:50:13.320 --> 0:50:17.000 had it right, he said it was good. Jesus took 0:50:17.040 --> 0:50:20.120 it to another level. Give me the verse. He didn't 0:50:20.120 --> 0:50:23.680 say it was good after it happened. He said, it 0:50:23.800 --> 0:50:33.040 is good. God give us the faith, not just to 0:50:33.080 --> 0:50:36.000 look back on our life and say, ah, it all 0:50:36.000 --> 0:50:41.080 worked out. But what if you could stand in the 0:50:41.160 --> 0:50:44.680 darkest place where you don't know what's two feet ahead. 0:50:46.560 --> 0:50:48.399 What if you could stand in the darkest place where 0:50:48.400 --> 0:50:49.839 you don't know how God's going to do. What if 0:50:49.840 --> 0:50:53.560 you could stand in the darkest place where you don't 0:50:53.560 --> 0:50:55.160 know who's going to be with you. What if you 0:50:55.160 --> 0:50:57.720 could stand in the darkest place where you can't predict 0:50:57.719 --> 0:51:00.359 how He's going to provide. What if if you could 0:51:00.400 --> 0:51:04.799 be like Jesus and say it is good for me, 0:51:06.520 --> 0:51:10.000 and if it's not good right now, it's going to 0:51:10.080 --> 0:51:13.839 be it is good. Put it up. It is good. 0:51:14.440 --> 0:51:20.040 It is good. It is good. It is for my good. 0:51:21.440 --> 0:51:29.160 And so I'm thankful that what God started doing, Thank 0:51:29.200 --> 0:51:33.799 you Lord in Genesis one when he said on the 0:51:33.840 --> 0:51:38.560 first day of creation that the light is good, he 0:51:38.640 --> 0:51:43.920 is still doing. In Genesis fifty, where Joseph looked back 0:51:43.960 --> 0:51:45.839 on everything he'd been through, I said it was good. 0:51:47.120 --> 0:51:52.600 I need the faith, and you need the faith to 0:51:52.640 --> 0:51:56.520 be able to say if it came from God is good. 0:51:58.280 --> 0:52:02.080 If it's good it came from God. It is not 0:52:02.120 --> 0:52:05.960 good right now. It's gonna be when he gets done 0:52:05.960 --> 0:52:17.000 with it. Yet, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh, God, help 0:52:17.040 --> 0:52:20.880 me appreciate the gifts that you put in my life. 0:52:21.200 --> 0:52:23.399 Some of us don't know how good it was until 0:52:23.440 --> 0:52:28.800 it's gone. I don't want to be like that. I 0:52:28.800 --> 0:52:31.319 don't want to just survive seasons of my life and 0:52:31.320 --> 0:52:32.960 then look back and say that was good. And I 0:52:33.000 --> 0:52:37.279 didn't even know that was so good, that that was 0:52:37.360 --> 0:52:39.360 so good. I didn't even know how good it was 0:52:39.480 --> 0:52:42.920 until it was gone. We don't know it's good. Sometimes 0:52:42.920 --> 0:52:46.560 still it's gone. But what if God right now sent 0:52:46.600 --> 0:52:49.840 me to preach this word to you, to let you 0:52:49.920 --> 0:52:55.920 know that even in the valley, there's a table, and 0:52:55.960 --> 0:52:59.120 you've got to You've got to. You've got to, you've 0:52:59.200 --> 0:53:03.279 got to, you've got to go through the dark part 0:53:05.320 --> 0:53:11.760 to get to the good part. Almost forgotten, I promise, 0:53:11.840 --> 0:53:15.200 I almost forgot. I'm not playing with you all. Almost forgot. 0:53:15.200 --> 0:53:19.040 Genesis fifty twenty two. This is why you never liked 0:53:19.080 --> 0:53:23.239 sermons about Joseph. They stopped reading at the verse twenty one. 0:53:23.440 --> 0:53:26.719 Look at twenty two Joseph stayed in Egypt along with 0:53:26.760 --> 0:53:30.319 his father's family. He lived one hundred and ten years. 0:53:31.320 --> 0:53:35.680 Every sermon I ever heard about Joseph was about the 0:53:35.719 --> 0:53:41.680 first thirty years of his life. Oh, he didn't even 0:53:41.760 --> 0:53:45.719 get to the good part yet. I came to prophesy, 0:53:46.280 --> 0:53:49.800 You've got more life to live, You'll got more things 0:53:49.840 --> 0:53:53.839 to do, You've got more love to give, You got more, 0:53:54.120 --> 0:54:01.880 You'll got more. Joseph's state, it is up. And he 0:54:02.040 --> 0:54:05.799 lived to be one hundred and ten. He didn't die 0:54:05.880 --> 0:54:09.960 at the pit, he didn't die at the prison. He 0:54:10.040 --> 0:54:15.840 didn't die at that life. He lived one ten And 0:54:16.000 --> 0:54:24.279 I believe that I will see the goodness, goodness, the goodness, 0:54:24.880 --> 0:54:27.360 the goodness. Give me the next verse. That's not the 0:54:27.400 --> 0:54:30.160 best part either, here's the best part. You can have 0:54:30.239 --> 0:54:33.040 Genesis fifty twenty. That's not the good part. This is 0:54:33.040 --> 0:54:37.360 the good part. And saw the third generation of Ephraim's 0:54:37.440 --> 0:54:41.359 children and the children of Makir, son of Manassa, were 0:54:41.400 --> 0:54:46.760 placed at burn on Joseph's knees. His grandbabies were sitting 0:54:46.840 --> 0:54:50.960 on his knees in the same land of his suffering. 0:54:51.360 --> 0:54:54.200 You hadn't even got to the good part yet. You 0:54:54.239 --> 0:54:58.600 hadn't even seen God's best yet. You haven't even experienced 0:54:58.680 --> 0:55:03.880 life yet. Oh it's getting good now, it's getting good. Now, 0:55:04.160 --> 0:55:11.520 it's getting good. It's getting good. It's getting good. It's 0:55:11.560 --> 0:55:14.840 getting good. It's getting good. It's getting good in my life. 0:55:15.000 --> 0:55:18.120 It's getting dark because it's getting good. It's getting dark 0:55:18.280 --> 0:55:21.120 because it's getting good. There's something on the other side. 0:55:21.360 --> 0:55:24.360 That's why I've been in this fight. It's getting good, 0:55:26.200 --> 0:55:30.440 that's getting good. It's getting good. It's getting good. Can 0:55:30.480 --> 0:55:32.200 you at least say that. If you can't say it 0:55:32.239 --> 0:55:34.399 is good, he say it's getting good. It's getting good. 0:55:34.480 --> 0:55:37.399 It's getting good. It's getting good. It's getting good. It's 0:55:37.440 --> 0:55:40.400 getting good. It's getting hard, it's getting good. It's getting awkward. 0:55:40.440 --> 0:55:42.839 It's getting good. It's getting rough. It's getting good. It's 0:55:42.840 --> 0:55:49.359 getting scary. It's getting good. Oh God, sir, it's good. 0:55:50.160 --> 0:55:51.960 And there was give me Genesis one. For give me 0:55:52.000 --> 0:55:54.080 Genesis one, for give me Genesis one for this? How 0:55:54.080 --> 0:55:55.399 it started this, How it is this, How the book 0:55:55.520 --> 0:55:56.799 is this, How your life end is this, How your 0:55:56.800 --> 0:55:59.120 life starts. It's good, it's good, it's good. It's always good. 0:55:59.200 --> 0:56:01.400 It's always good. It's not always good. But it's gonna 0:56:01.400 --> 0:56:03.960 be good. It's getting good. It's getting good. It's getting good. 0:56:04.120 --> 0:56:06.560 And God, God saw that the light was good, and 0:56:06.560 --> 0:56:08.880 then verse five cents separate the light from the durness. 0:56:08.920 --> 0:56:10.880 And God called the light day and dartniss calle night, 0:56:11.880 --> 0:56:20.000 and there was evening and morning first day. God's not 0:56:20.120 --> 0:56:26.000 done yet, but it's good. And then you gotta ask yourself, 0:56:27.120 --> 0:56:34.040 why put it back up? Why evening and morning not 0:56:34.239 --> 0:56:41.279 mourning and evening? Come on, it's getting good. It's getting good. 0:56:41.480 --> 0:56:43.439 This a God. I feels so bad for everybody who 0:56:43.480 --> 0:56:45.840 locked off. That's serving. I feel so bad if you 0:56:45.920 --> 0:56:48.600 love golf, because it's just getting gold. It's just I 0:56:48.680 --> 0:56:51.319 feel so bad for everybody who quit because it's just 0:56:51.360 --> 0:56:57.400 getting good. Watch watch live. Why evening and then morning? 0:56:58.760 --> 0:57:04.120 In that backwards No, no, you gotta remember how it started. 0:57:05.160 --> 0:57:09.200 Genesis one, verse one, Genesis one, verse one. In the beginning, 0:57:09.200 --> 0:57:10.719 God created the heavens in the art. Give me the 0:57:10.760 --> 0:57:13.040 next one. It's getting good now the earth was formless 0:57:13.040 --> 0:57:20.920 and empty darkness. So I want you to know that 0:57:21.200 --> 0:57:30.160 God starts good in the dark. Woo, it's getting good, 0:57:30.560 --> 0:57:40.520 it's getting good. I'm clapping, I'm clapping. I'm clapping. You're 0:57:40.560 --> 0:57:44.800 in the dark part right now. That's where it starts 0:57:44.800 --> 0:57:50.200 with God. You're confused, right now, that's where it starts 0:57:50.240 --> 0:57:58.120 with God. That dark part, that's just a preview of 0:57:58.200 --> 0:58:06.600 how big the purpose really is. So when I tell 0:58:06.600 --> 0:58:09.560 you you got to get to the good part, that's 0:58:09.600 --> 0:58:14.240 what I'm talking about. It's a process. There's a part 0:58:14.240 --> 0:58:16.200 of every process that'll make you want to quit. There's 0:58:16.200 --> 0:58:17.800 a part of every person that will make you want 0:58:17.800 --> 0:58:26.200 to murder. But I never would have preached a sermon 0:58:26.200 --> 0:58:29.760 if I would have stopped in the dark part. That 0:58:29.880 --> 0:58:35.320 part where my interior gallery of critics is saying, you 0:58:35.360 --> 0:58:39.560 call this a sermon. Yes, you already said that before. 0:58:39.560 --> 0:58:41.959 I don't want to hear that. That's the dark part. 0:58:44.720 --> 0:58:50.120 That means it's kidding God. The evening is the prelude 0:58:50.160 --> 0:58:54.840 to the morning and the economy of God. You meant 0:58:54.880 --> 0:59:02.840 him for evil, but he took the enemy man for evil. 0:59:05.640 --> 0:59:09.640 You gotta get to the good part. If you die 0:59:09.640 --> 0:59:12.560 in the dark part, it will be a miscarriage of 0:59:13.000 --> 0:59:19.920 your calling. It's gonna get good man. You're like, I 0:59:19.960 --> 0:59:21.760 don't believe that right now. That's fine. You don't have 0:59:21.840 --> 0:59:29.480 to borrow my confidence. You're like, can I do that? 0:59:29.880 --> 0:59:34.840 Oh yeah, Philippians one six. Paul was talking to the 0:59:34.920 --> 0:59:38.600 church at Philip I said, I am confident of this now. 0:59:38.640 --> 0:59:40.800 The reason he's saying that maybe they're not confident of 0:59:40.840 --> 0:59:44.320 this right now, Paul said, I am that he who 0:59:44.400 --> 0:59:49.640 began what kind of work? Come on, talk to me online, 0:59:49.760 --> 0:59:52.880 He who began a talk to me Columbia, talk to 0:59:52.920 --> 0:59:55.000 me River Walk. Come on, talk to he who began 0:59:55.120 --> 0:59:57.960 a talk to me Lake Norman, He who began a 1:00:01.000 --> 1:00:05.400 If it's good, it came from God, and if it 1:00:05.520 --> 1:00:11.600 started with God, it doesn't end with people. I don't 1:00:11.600 --> 1:00:13.880 care what they did to you, saw in you, didn't 1:00:13.920 --> 1:00:16.439 see in you. You're gonna get to the good part. 1:00:17.520 --> 1:00:19.120 You're not gonna die. No no, no, no no, no no 1:00:19.120 --> 1:00:21.560 no no no no, no, no no, You're not gonna 1:00:21.720 --> 1:00:27.080 I am confident in this that he who began a 1:00:27.120 --> 1:00:28.840 good work and you will be faithful to complete it 1:00:28.840 --> 1:00:32.040 to the day of Christ. This is the partnership of 1:00:32.120 --> 1:00:35.920 the Gospel. So let's take a moment. Let's come into partnership. 1:00:35.960 --> 1:00:38.919 Let's come into agreement together. Lift your hands, close your eyes, 1:00:39.000 --> 1:00:45.560 bow your head. You got to get to the good part. 1:00:47.800 --> 1:00:49.720 You got to get to the good part. That's not death, 1:00:49.720 --> 1:00:51.280 it's just a shadow of You got to get to 1:00:51.320 --> 1:01:00.240 the good part. Lord, in this moment of ministry, that 1:01:01.760 --> 1:01:07.080 may determine whether someone makes it or lays down and 1:01:07.120 --> 1:01:14.640 dies in a valley. I declare in decree on the 1:01:14.720 --> 1:01:19.000 authority of your word. What the apostle Paul prophesied over 1:01:19.040 --> 1:01:27.439 the church at Philippi, I declared over Elevation Church, You're 1:01:27.440 --> 1:01:31.000 gonna go through the dark part, but you're gonna get 1:01:31.000 --> 1:01:37.680 to the good part. You're gonna be an amazing, amazing, 1:01:38.120 --> 1:01:41.880 amazing mother, and an amazing life, an amazing man, an 1:01:41.920 --> 1:01:44.960 amazing provider. You're gonna be. There are gifts in you, 1:01:45.240 --> 1:01:48.760 there are skill sets in you. They haven't been recognized yet. 1:01:48.880 --> 1:01:52.240 That's all right. It starts in the dark. It starts 1:01:52.240 --> 1:01:57.000 in the dark. Lord. I thank you. Then, when it's 1:01:57.000 --> 1:02:00.439 two am and we can't find a friend, you are there. 1:02:03.160 --> 1:02:04.919 I thank you that when we trip and fall over 1:02:04.960 --> 1:02:07.080 our own misgivings and can't get a get a get 1:02:07.080 --> 1:02:09.520 a get a get a leg up, and we can't, 1:02:09.600 --> 1:02:12.040 we can't even find a strength to stand again, you 1:02:12.080 --> 1:02:18.360 are there. I'm gonna make it to the table. My 1:02:18.520 --> 1:02:21.160 enemies will still be there, but I'm gonna eat. I'm 1:02:21.160 --> 1:02:24.360 gonna see, I'm gonna taste the goodness of the Lord 1:02:27.520 --> 1:02:33.840 in the land of the living. May we not live 1:02:33.840 --> 1:02:42.160 our lives worshiping the idol of tomorrow or clinging to 1:02:42.200 --> 1:02:46.960 a relic of the past. May we push past the 1:02:47.040 --> 1:02:53.920 religion so we can get to the friendship. You are good. 1:02:55.120 --> 1:03:01.480 It is good. It is so in Jesus' name. Amen, 1:03:06.920 --> 1:03:16.960 excuse it's good. It's good. Surely goodness and mercy will 1:03:16.960 --> 1:03:20.600 follow me all the days of my life, even in 1:03:20.640 --> 1:03:25.400 the valley, even in the shadow. You are good. You 1:03:25.440 --> 1:03:29.959 are with me. You're Rod and staff. They comfort. I'm 1:03:29.960 --> 1:03:34.840 not sure about the valley. I'm not sure about the enemies. 1:03:35.960 --> 1:03:42.160 But surely goodness will follow me wherever God leads me. 1:03:43.000 --> 1:03:45.160 Clap your hands and give God praise for this word. 1:03:46.680 --> 1:03:48.680 Come on, if you receive this word but I receive 1:03:48.720 --> 1:03:51.960 it in the chatter, borrow my confidence and say, I'm 1:03:51.960 --> 1:03:55.920 gonna make it. I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make it. 1:03:56.360 --> 1:03:59.960 I didn't fight this hard to die, I didn't come 1:04:00.000 --> 1:04:07.000 this far to turn back. The grace of God is 1:04:07.000 --> 1:04:10.520 on your life. May grace and peace be multiplied to 1:04:10.560 --> 1:04:13.240 you through God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1:04:13.520 --> 1:04:15.680 Everyone who receives us wor a clap your hands and 1:04:15.720 --> 1:04:22.080 say an't no. Well, maybe now it'll have a little 1:04:22.080 --> 1:04:24.560 different meaning when I tell you it was so good 1:04:24.560 --> 1:04:27.760 to have you with us today. Really, I appreciate you 1:04:28.280 --> 1:04:31.080 making the time, and I'm believing Romans eight twenty eight 1:04:31.160 --> 1:04:33.760 for each of our lives that God's purpose will be fulfilled. 1:04:34.280 --> 1:04:36.560 We're believing God with you for the better things that 1:04:36.600 --> 1:04:38.840 are ahead. And we're believing that God is going to 1:04:38.880 --> 1:04:41.640 be with you even those shadows and enemies surround you. 1:04:41.640 --> 1:04:44.080 You already heard the summer. I could go on and on. 1:04:44.120 --> 1:04:46.560 I had many more scriptures. Maybe I'll do a part 1:04:46.560 --> 1:04:49.440 two of this message sometime. Just now. In the meantime, 1:04:49.440 --> 1:04:52.080 we love you. We're praying for you now, and to 1:04:52.160 --> 1:04:54.840 Him who is able to do immeasurably more than you 1:04:54.880 --> 1:04:57.240 ask her, imagine according to His power that works mightily 1:04:57.280 --> 1:04:59.160 in you, to be gloried through Christ Jesus in the 1:04:59.240 --> 1:05:02.720 Church out forever. It's gonna be good. I'll see you 1:05:02.800 --> 1:05:07.600 next time. H