It’s Going To Happen Here

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.880 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.440 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:18.239 Enjoy the message. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:23.800 Glory to God. Well, we have a very very. 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:26.920 Special album that we just released this week, and. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.680 I also want to echo what Chris said that it is. 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:33.879 An amazing, amazing church to be a part of that 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.320 releases songs into the world. Have you thought about the 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.320 fact that the songs that we release from this place, 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.279 somebody say, from this place, might end up helping somebody 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.360 in the most difficult season of their life, maybe a 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:51.840 year from now, maybe in several years. They'll need those 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.320 words at just the right time. And that is what 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.480 I love about Elevation Church is that our partnership in 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.760 the Gospel enables us to take our ministry places that 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.080 we may never physically go, but the word of God goes. 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.200 And when God sends his word, healing always follows. So 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:10.520 we do pray that these songs the new album. I'm 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.200 not so much doing a promotion when when meets fire 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:17.240 available everywhere music is downloaded, stolen, or stream But I 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.160 am just making sure that you are aware that. 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:21.919 You can worship God anywhere. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.400 Oh yeah, tell your neighbor, I can worship him anywhere. 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.240 Come on, clap your hands. Look at your neighbor again 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.959 and say, I can do this anywhere. I can do 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:36.640 this anywhere. I can start clapping my hands when my 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.399 kids are acting crazy. I can do this anywhere. I 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.520 can lift my hands when the weight is too heavy. 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.039 I can do this anywhere. Put it in the chat 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.840 right now, Epham say I can do it anywhere. 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:52.760 I can do it anywhere. So that's so exciting. 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.280 And let's also thank God for all of our youth team, 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:59.720 our volunteers are sad our eGroup leaders, our security teams. 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:05.280 What an amazing week we had. And since you know 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:07.040 that I haven't preached in a few weeks. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:08.680 I want to thank everyone that stood in the pulpit 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.200 and shared God's word with you. I trust that you 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:15.919 receive exactly what you needed from God's word. Also, since 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.160 I haven't preached in a few weeks, I'm ready to 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:22.280 do it right now without further ado. I want to 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:24.600 share with you today from Genesis chapter forty one. 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:26.760 Please remain standing as. 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:31.679 I read my scripture Genesis chapter forty one. 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.080 And be patient with me. I may be a little rusty, 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.240 but I'm ready. Oh that would preach. I'm rusty, but 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:37.799 I'm ready. 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.040 Like Moses eighty years old, stretching out of staff over 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:42.680 the red Sea. 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:44.960 I'm rusted, but I'm ready. 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:47.200 How many of you have had the devil tell you're 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.320 too old to do something that God's calling you to do? 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.960 All right, Well, you just got your word. I'm rusted, 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:55.239 but I'm ready. 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:58.919 I like that. This is what I do while i'm 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:00.880 off by the way, I think of things to preach. 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.040 Well, I'm not preaching. I'm really, really, really messed up. 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:06.600 But it is great to see you. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.639 We've had a great time of rest, reflection, study, and 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:11.800 creativity with the family. 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:13.160 And thank you. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.320 You said welcome home, Thank you, thank you so much. 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.079 I wanted to make sure he said something nice before 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:22.760 I agreed with it. And what people are shouting out 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:29.200 sometimes well. In Genesis chapter forty one, verse fifty, a 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.360 very interesting moment in Joseph's life, and the Bible says, 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.800 before the years of famine came, two sons were born 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.800 to Joseph by asking that daughter of Potipherah priest avonn 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.640 and Joseph named his firstborn Manassa and said, it is 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.520 because God has made me forget. 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.320 The name Manassa in Hebrew sounds. 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.640 Like the Hebrew word for forget, so he said, it 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.160 is because God has made me forget all my trouble 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:01.800 and all my father's household verse fifty two. The second 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:06.280 son he named Ephraim and said, it is because God 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:10.520 has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.480 Now that's powerful, but let's read just a little more. 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.840 The Bible says the seven years of abundance in Egypt 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.040 came to an end, and the seven years of famine began. 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:27.679 Just as Joseph had said, there was famine in all 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.320 the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.960 there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:38.200 the people cried to Pharaoh. 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:39.680 For food. 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:45.240 Then Pharaoh told the Egyptians, go to Joseph and do 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:52.479 what he tells you. Go back to verse fifty two 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.440 for a moment. He named his second born Ephraim and said, 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:00.120 it is because God has made me fruitful in the 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.640 land of my suffering, and I want to appreach to 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:11.560 you from a subject today about increased in Egypt. Increased 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.240 in Egypt. And the subtitle for this message is is 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:20.400 going to happen here. It's going to happen here. And 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:25.120 tell your neighbor it's going to happen here, and tell them. Now, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:35.560 sit down, you may be seen him. How much would 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.240 you love it if you could go back and give 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.159 yourself a name rather than letting your parents do that. 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.400 I asked my kids the other day, if you could 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.279 rename yourself, what name would you choose? 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.400 And they all had different names. Elijah wanted to be 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.240 Justin after of course. 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:58.240 Justin Bieber from earlier fascination in his life. Everybody went 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.520 around the table shared what their name is would be. 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.000 It's an interesting thing when we read the Bible. There 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.760 is so much significance given to the names of the 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:11.480 characters culturally. And the name Joseph is a name that 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.120 was given to him by his mother, Rachel. She wanted 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.360 a baby for so long and she couldn't have a baby, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.520 and her sister was able to have babies, and when 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.560 she was having babies, she was doing it through maid servants, 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.400 and so when she had her first natural. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.159 Baby biological baby. 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.120 She named that baby Joseph, and it means he will 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.240 increase or may he add that's the meaning of the 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.400 name Joseph, because she wanted more babies. Well, a lot 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.919 has happened since the birth of Joseph, and this particular 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.520 instance in Genesis chapter forty one, and just to bring 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.880 you up to speed on some of the things that 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.400 Joseph has been through his life really reads like the 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.000 resume of somebody who does not have God involved in 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:00.000 their life. And you may take issue with that, because 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.320 obviously God was with Joseph. But I'm just saying if 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.320 you didn't assume that God was with him, you would 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.360 probably infer from the events that transpire that God was not, 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:11.400 because you. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:11.800 Know how we do. 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.800 When somebody's doing really good in life, we assume they're 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.080 blessed and God is with them and God's hand is 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.360 on them. But if someone struggles, a lot of times 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.960 will think that, well, they must be doing something wrong, 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.840 or they must be disobedient, or and sometimes it is 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:31.720 sometimes we suffer for different reasons. And I do want 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:34.720 you to know this before I go any further. Everyone 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:41.920 suffers somewhere everyone, what I just told you, those three 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:49.440 words can kill your jealousy about anybody that you envy, 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.240 because anybody that you envy in your life, there is 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.640 something in their life that if you knew about it, 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:03.120 you wouldn't trade places with them or ten minutes. And 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:05.559 this important to point out. Maybe else should do another 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.840 youth x around. This whole subject is about influence, about 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:14.000 the misery of influence in a day and age where 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:19.400 the term influencer is almost meant to sell something. Influence 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:25.960 is expensive, and so anybody who has a lot of influence, they. 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:26.640 Often pay a great cost. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.480 It has cost Joseph a lot to stand in this moment, 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.640 That's all I'm saying. And so we're reading about him 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:37.160 naming two sons that are born to him. But the 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:41.160 Bible says something really interesting, huh. It says that these 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:46.199 sons were born to him before the famine. Now, Joseph 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.480 has predicted a famine in the land. He had the 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:53.600 ability to interpret dreams, and so when Pharaoh called Joseph 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.960 to interpret his dream, Joseph said, well, you're gonna have 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.760 seven years of plenty or abundance, and then you'll have 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:06.000 seven years of famine. So wisdom would dictate that you 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:10.280 take the good years, set some aside so that you 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.920 are ready for the lean years. When you have a lot, 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:18.480 don't just consume the lot that you've got, but keep 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.199 a little so that when it gets lean, when it 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.360 gets lean. Sometimes, even in church, if we're having a 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.000 really good Sunday, I'll pull out my phone and take 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.040 a quick video to show the devil the video for. 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.240 The sundays that don't feel so good. 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.600 I want to remember this moment because the next moment 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.520 might not be as wonderful. 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.960 I want to treasure this, I want to take this in. 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.480 I want to take the good things that happen to 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.480 me and bank those blessings so that when I go 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:52.319 through a season of discouragement or defeat, I can point 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.360 back to something that I know God did for me. Now, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.480 this is a physical famine, but we could apply this 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.920 to our emotions. We could apply to our experiences. However, 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.400 Joseph has been elevated to a position where the only 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.280 person more powerful than him in all of the land 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:15.120 of Egypt is the Pharaoh. He's done this by administrating 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:16.040 the food supply. 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.200 He's taken grain from. 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.600 Each of the cities in Egypt and stationed on the 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.559 outposts in silos some grain so that when the famine hits, 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:28.240 there will be food in Egypt. And in doing this, 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:34.120 Joseph has given himself a lot of significance nationally in 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:37.880 a place called Egypt. It's hard for us to read 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:43.000 about Egypt, knowing what we know about Egypt that is 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.360 about to happen. As a matter of fact, when I 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.320 say Egypt, most of us think of the place where 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:55.920 God's people would be enslaved for four hundred and thirty years. 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:03.840 To be enslaved in Egypt happened generations after Joseph was gone, 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.000 and God raised up a man named Moses to say 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:11.720 to Pharaoh, let my people go. Isn't it interesting that 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.680 the same place they escaped to from the famine was 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.600 the place they became enslaved in and needed to be 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.760 set free from the Truth of the matter is a 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.240 lot of the things that feed us in one season 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.000 of our life, A lot of the things that help 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:32.839 us in one season of our life. A lot of 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.559 the things that serve to shelter us in one season 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.719 of our life, will shackle us in another. Have you 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.679 ever run to something for shelter, but it turned into shackles. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.040 Just in case y'all forgot how this works, I am 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:48.840 preaching already, and y'all can talk back to me. 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:49.960 I haven't been gone that long. 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:55.679 I ran to Egypt for shelter, but I left Egypt 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.520 in shackles. In Egypt, not only would the people of 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:05.680 God experience great pain, but Joseph never wanted to go 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:10.559 to Egypt in the first place. Egypt wasn't on Joseph's 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:17.199 bucket list. Egypt wasn't on Joseph's itinerary, his travel dream 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:18.839 destination list. 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.720 Joseph was let me give you a little recap. 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.600 Pushed into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.160 picked up by the Ishmael like caravan, put in the 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.400 house of a man named Potiphar, treated as a slave 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.360 for almost a decade, rose to prominence in that house, 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.200 and then, after rising to prominence, was falsely accused of 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:45.439 a sexual offense, landing him in prison for a space not. 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.240 Less than two years. 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.640 In prison, he met a man whose dream he interpreted, 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.240 who was released because of Joseph's gift. And when that 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.400 man left prison, he was the cup bearer to the 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:58.920 king Joseph said, tell your boss about me, so I 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:02.240 don't rot in this prison. Well, the cupbearer gets out 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.120 and forgot all about Joseph. 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:05.199 Can you believe he did that? 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.120 He forgot all about the man who gave him the 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.480 prophecy of freedom. He forgot all about the man who 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.439 gave him the hope to hold on. He forgot about 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:19.880 Joseph for two years until one day Pharaoh had a 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:24.800 dream that needed Joseph, and the cup bearer remembered there 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.400 was this guy in the prison who had a special 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:34.280 ability to interpret dreams. And I wonder if we go 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.360 get him right now, could he tell you the meaning 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:38.800 of your dream? 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:40.240 And here's where I want. 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:44.280 To pause and point out that God is sovereign in 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:51.320 his scheduling of your life. Think of the two years 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.280 that Joseph sat in prison, wondering, will they ever remember me? 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:57.000 A lot of good that did? 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.640 Nobody appreciates me ever tells me thank you for washing 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:03.920 the dishes. Maybe I'm not talking about Joseph now, maybe 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:06.959 I'm talking about you. Nobody ever appreciates me for giving 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:08.760 them awry. What do they just think I'm a free 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.439 uber black? What do they just think I'm a free 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.040 Do they just think I'm a free door dash? Do 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:13.640 they just think I'm a free private chef? Did they 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.040 just think I'm a freehousekeeper? Nobody appreciates me? And yet 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:23.600 there seems to be a sense in which if Joseph 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.560 had gotten out of that prison any earlier than he did, 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.400 he wouldn't have been in position to fulfill his purpose 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.160 that he was created for. 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:39.880 I think of it in terms of food. 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.840 You know, we're talking about a famine because Holly and 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:48.640 I have different definitions of when food is too old 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:55.760 to eat. Yeah, she has a very elastic understanding of 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.600 an expiration date. She calls it an expiration recommendation, recommendation, 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:04.040 and she goes by smell and I go what it 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.280 says on the label. And especially when it comes to fruit, 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:12.800 she likes a little bit of brown. I went to 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:14.800 throw a peach away the other day, and she caught 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.000 the peach before it went in the trash can. 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:18.840 I didn't even know she was athletic. 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.240 I've never seen such hand eye coordination from this woman 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:23.000 in my life till I went to throw away a 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:26.760 peach and she caught it, and she said, put that back. 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:28.880 I said, put it back. Is brown. She said, brown 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:41.240 ain't bad because she knows the difference between when it's 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:50.760 rotten and when it's ripe. Now, if you are Joseph 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.480 sitting in a prison for a space of two years, 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:58.520 feeling as if the prime of your life is rotting away, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.760 and you're riding away and your physical strength is rotting away, 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.720 only to find out that maybe the reason that God 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:11.560 kept you in that situation for that length of time, 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.680 maybe the reason the cup bearer forgot you so you 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:19.080 stayed in there, was because if you had been released 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:24.280 from that prison one day sooner, you would have missed 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:29.400 the window of opportunity for you to demonstrate the gift 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:32.840 that God gave you. 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:38.080 So tell your neighbor you're not rotten. You're right. Yeah, yeah. 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:40.640 I see people in my heart who are feeling right 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.400 now like it should have happened a long time ago, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.080 Like I'm behind all my friends, Like it's not gonna 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.280 happen for me because I'm supposed to be married by 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.800 the age of twenty four. But God said, I know 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:52.960 what ripe looks like. 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:54.560 God said, I know the. 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.520 Difference between when you're still getting ready and when you 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.600 think you're ready. God says I know how to leave 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.320 the thing in the obscure place until the opportunity has 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:09.560 reached its optimal positioning high five three people say, I'm right. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.680 I'm right. Now. 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.520 This will work against discouragement, because the enemy will tell 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.000 you that too much time has passed, Too many years 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.160 have gone, too many other people have gone ahead of you, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.520 too many experiences have eluded you. Too many things that 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.800 you should have learned you didn't learn. I feel like 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:32.960 preaching to tell somebody at just the right time, if 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:40.919 you humble yourself under his mighty hand. I'm rusty, but 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:45.760 I'm right. Mixing my metaphors. Let's get back to the text. 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:50.760 The Bible says that Joseph had two children. 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:51.359 Before the famine. 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.520 Now it's good that he had them before the famine, 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:56.399 because sometimes God will send you a blessing before a 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.560 trial to remind you of who he is, so that 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.160 you don't let the trial discourage you to the point 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:04.080 that you want to quit. 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:05.720 The Bible says that. 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.800 Two sons were born of Asanath, the daughter of Potipharah, 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.280 the priest of an In case you're wondering who that is, 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:14.200 she was really important. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:21.639 These people were royalty, but they were not Hebrews. They 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:22.520 were Egyptians. 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:30.080 Imagine Joseph's surprise when he realized God is going to 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.239 give me a family, but He's going to do it 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.240 through foreigners. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:38.840 You know how we get in. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.720 Our mind how God is going to do things in 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.919 our life. You know how you were picking out what 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:46.919 college of kids were going to go to. When they 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:51.160 were three months old. You bought them a little duke 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.199 passe and they had to be a tar heel. But 0:18:54.359 --> 0:19:00.399 you know this serves to illustreet the principle that I 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:04.000 really stood up to preach to you today, and it's this. 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:10.760 It's going to happen here. 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:16.600 Long were the days that Joseph would think, maybe one 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:17.360 day I'll get to. 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.119 Go back home to Canaan. 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.439 Maybe one day I'll get to reconcile with my brothers 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:24.159 who betrayed me. 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.679 Maybe one day they'll tell me that they're sorry and 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:29.480 that they were wrong. 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.000 Maybe one day I will again get to take in 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.520 the familiar sights and sounds of the place where I 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:43.520 came from. And imagine Joseph's surprise when, instead of God 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:49.000 taking him back to his homeland, he gave him the 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:55.200 gift of a family in the place of his hardship. 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.240 Usually when we preach about Egypt, we talk about coming 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.320 out of Egypt. In fact, the Bible says, give me 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:10.840 the scripture from Leviticus that I sent earlier, or Deuteronomy, rather, 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.080 where the Lord tells his people he brings them out 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.800 of Egypt, be careful that you do not forget the 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:21.919 Lord who brought you what out of Egypt, out of 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:25.879 the land of slavery. God's warning his people after he 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:28.879 brings them out of that place that grew to be 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:34.199 so dreadful for them, breaks without straw and forced labor 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:35.920 under the heavy whips of their. 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:37.480 Masters, who knew not of Joseph. 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:41.840 He said, be careful, don't forget when I bring you out. 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:46.680 And yet we're reading a passage today that suggests that 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:55.840 even in Egypt. Everybody say, even in Egypt, there are 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:57.840 some things that God can do. 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.040 Even though you didn't choose to go there. 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.800 I am preaching to somebody today who is in a 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:10.879 place in your life where you did not choose to 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.320 go there, dealing with the situation that you did not 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:18.600 choose to create for yourself. Joseph did not go to 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:22.160 Egypt as a traveler. He went to Egypt as a slave. 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.840 And yet the Bible says in verse fifty two, watch 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:30.959 this God has made me fruitful in the land of 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:31.800 my sufferings. 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:32.800 So now here. 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:36.240 Comes the question, how can God make you fruitful in 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.520 something that you want to be free from? We all 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:43.359 have things, and you can shake me off if you 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:44.399 want to, And you can. 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.640 Pretend like this is for the person sitting on your row, 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:47.160 if you want. 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:49.880 We all have things that we need to be free 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:53.600 from want to be free from. We all have places 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:56.280 that we never plan to go. Some of us have 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.080 mental conditions that were passed on to us genetically. They 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.600 are not even the result necessarily of behavior. Some of 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:06.840 the demons that you're fighting are from your daddy. And 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:09.840 the demons don't leave just because you said the name 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.080 of Jesus. They still have to be fought against. 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:15.680 For the rest of your life. And you imagine a. 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.119 Day when I'll be free of this, when I no 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.560 longer desire this, when I no longer feel this way, 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:24.520 when depression will no longer show up like a dark 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:27.919 cloud over my life, when anxiety will no longer overwhelm 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:30.639 my soul. One day I'm gonna be free from this. 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:33.880 But I came to preach you can be fruitful in it. 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:36.880 Why you're waiting to be free from it? And it's 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:42.600 gonna happen the moment you'll decide to name it manassa. 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:51.400 Manassa means forget. 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:54.680 Yet, No, let's study this, say down, we gotta study it. 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:56.600 We gotta study it. Sounds good, but let's study it, 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:57.000 he said. 0:22:57.400 --> 0:22:59.760 Joseph named his first one and verse fifty one Nasa 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.760 say manassa, and said, it is because God has made 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:07.240 me forget all my trouble and all my father's household. 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:11.800 Why if you forgot it, why are we still talking 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:16.480 about it? You don't forget something like this. 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:21.600 You don't forget having your your coat of many colors 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:24.479 stripped from you, dipped in animal blood, presented to your 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:26.400 father as a proof or a token of your death 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:29.320 when you are still very much alive. You don't forget 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:34.080 being pushed in a pit, half dead and carted to 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:37.000 a foreign place to serve as a slave. You don't 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:40.840 forget any of that. And the Bible says that he 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.080 said he forgot, so is he lying? No, No, it's 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:54.439 not a lie. It's a lens. Because when he says 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:56.440 that what God gave me. 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:58.399 How many have something God gave you, God gave you, 0:23:58.400 --> 0:23:59.359 God gave you, He. 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:03.520 Says, when I consider what God gave me, and then 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:06.680 I think about what was taken from me, the years 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.240 that were stolen from me, the peace that was stolen 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:13.320 from me. I believe Joseph probably struggled with intense self 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:16.879 hatred temptation, because when you are treated this way by 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:20.920 your brothers, it makes you doubt yourself. Many people who 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:24.440 come through abuse, they take the anger that they cannot 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:27.480 bear to project outward or do not have the power 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:30.679 to project outward, and turn it inward, and then it 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:33.719 eats you alive, and it chows through all of the 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:36.880 fruit of your future because you are stuck in something 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:38.360 that someone else did. 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:43.880 But Joseph said, Joseph said, when I. 0:24:44.000 --> 0:24:47.520 See what God gave me, this baby that I'm holding 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:51.720 in a place I never chose to go to, in 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:54.480 a situation that I never thought I would have to 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:57.840 settle into, in a season of my life that I 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:04.919 never saw coming. It isn't that he stopped remembering what 0:25:05.040 --> 0:25:10.840 he went through. He just refocused what he was looking at. 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:18.360 And the word of the Lord is refocus, Refocus, Refocus. 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:21.200 I know your body is holding a lot of trauma, 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:26.280 but refocus. I know you have abandonment issues because everybody 0:25:26.320 --> 0:25:29.840 who you let in somehow let you down. But refocus. 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:34.439 There's a manassa in your arms. Refocus. I know that 0:25:34.520 --> 0:25:37.560 some things you were cheated out of were unfair, and 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:39.119 I know that if you could go back and have 0:25:39.240 --> 0:25:40.000 it happened. 0:25:39.720 --> 0:25:42.800 Differently, you would. You didn't choose it. 0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:45.560 And the things that you never chose don't mean you 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:46.680 can't grow through them. 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:50.800 Just because I didn't choose to. 0:25:50.800 --> 0:25:54.480 Go through it doesn't mean I can't choose to grow 0:25:54.560 --> 0:26:01.840 through it. So it is a mass matter a focus. 0:26:02.680 --> 0:26:05.080 LJ. You played so good on the album, don't y'all 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:05.520 love l J? 0:26:06.240 --> 0:26:06.440 L J. 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:10.600 Scottie shay Ois is over there. 0:26:10.880 --> 0:26:12.160 They played so good, y'all. 0:26:12.200 --> 0:26:14.320 When you go on YouTube and look at the songs, 0:26:14.359 --> 0:26:18.520 don't go into comments. The comments will kill your joy 0:26:19.240 --> 0:26:23.200 because we will put a song out that says, oh 0:26:23.280 --> 0:26:25.160 my God, you've been so good to me, and someone 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:27.280 will put in the comments, well, what if he hasn't 0:26:27.280 --> 0:26:28.040 been that good to me? 0:26:29.840 --> 0:26:31.320 That must be nice for you that God has been 0:26:31.320 --> 0:26:32.800 good to you. But God hasn't been that good to me, 0:26:33.680 --> 0:26:36.240 you know, and I want to One day, I'm. 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:37.680 Gonna make up a name, so I'm go on YouTube 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:38.840 and say all the stuff that I want to say 0:26:38.840 --> 0:26:40.800 back and nobody knows me, and I'm gonna have the 0:26:40.840 --> 0:26:42.920 IT department set it up real secure where nobody can 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:46.200 track it back through any kind of AI or AARP 0:26:46.440 --> 0:26:48.480 or any of that stuff, and then. 0:26:50.359 --> 0:26:53.000 I'm gonna go on there and say the goodness of 0:26:53.040 --> 0:27:02.000 God is a perspective, a perspective. 0:27:03.720 --> 0:27:08.719 The goodness of God is not freedom from problems. The 0:27:08.760 --> 0:27:13.119 goodness of God is not freedom from pain. The goodness 0:27:13.200 --> 0:27:19.320 of God is a perspective that starts with him and 0:27:19.440 --> 0:27:25.159 works its way outwards. Joseph is not saying it didn't happen. 0:27:25.840 --> 0:27:30.600 Joseph is not in denial. Joseph is not stuffing it down, 0:27:30.680 --> 0:27:33.639 so it's just gonna come out sideways. As a matter 0:27:33.640 --> 0:27:37.480 of fact, when he says I forgot my father's household, 0:27:37.720 --> 0:27:40.280 all of us who know what happens in Genesis forty three, 0:27:40.480 --> 0:27:43.000 forty four, and forty five, we kind of want to 0:27:43.080 --> 0:27:46.719 laugh because the people that he's trying to forget, his 0:27:46.800 --> 0:27:50.080 brothers who betrayed him, they are actually about to show 0:27:50.200 --> 0:27:55.280 up asking him for food. Sometimes God will call you 0:27:55.359 --> 0:28:03.480 to feed something that you wanted to forget. Sometimes God 0:28:03.520 --> 0:28:05.919 will call you to go back to a place that 0:28:06.080 --> 0:28:10.360 caused you so much pain, and from the wounds that 0:28:10.440 --> 0:28:15.960 you suffered will become a womb that birth's healing for 0:28:16.080 --> 0:28:20.560 someone else. And that's what I think Joseph is saying. 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:27.040 He caused me to forget, to refocus, to see what 0:28:27.119 --> 0:28:32.040 God is doing right here in Egypt. I never thought 0:28:32.040 --> 0:28:35.240 I would have an Egyptian wife. I never thought i'd 0:28:35.280 --> 0:28:39.680 had these have Egyptian kids. I definitely never thought that 0:28:39.800 --> 0:28:43.000 I'd be overseeing all of the grain in a time 0:28:43.040 --> 0:28:45.479 of the famine. I never thought people would be asking 0:28:45.520 --> 0:28:47.440 me what to do. People been telling me what to 0:28:47.480 --> 0:28:50.800 do my whole life. My big brothers told me what 0:28:50.920 --> 0:28:53.400 to do. Potiphard told me what to do. The jailer 0:28:53.440 --> 0:28:55.440 told me what to do. And now all of a sudden, 0:28:55.480 --> 0:28:58.880 I find myself in a position where God has given 0:28:58.920 --> 0:29:02.960 me the ability to make a decision. And he realizes 0:29:04.560 --> 0:29:09.600 that while I was enslaved in Egypt, God was increasing 0:29:09.680 --> 0:29:11.280 me in. 0:29:11.400 --> 0:29:15.120 The very place where I was enslaved. 0:29:16.360 --> 0:29:18.760 And now he can look at his other child Ephraim 0:29:19.800 --> 0:29:22.719 and say something so powerful that I don't know if 0:29:22.720 --> 0:29:26.920 we truly understand the meaning of it. He says, God 0:29:27.000 --> 0:29:32.000 has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. 0:29:33.360 --> 0:29:37.920 Don't you wish God would just keep you from the suffering? 0:29:39.000 --> 0:29:41.600 He doesn't do that. And right now I think we 0:29:41.640 --> 0:29:46.320 need an illustration. So bring out my bring out my 0:29:46.600 --> 0:29:51.120 illustration devices. Boys, y'all, give them a hand as they come. 0:29:51.880 --> 0:29:59.480 This is gonna be good. Thank you so much. Appreciate 0:29:59.520 --> 0:30:04.360 you very much for that, y'all. I got two things 0:30:04.400 --> 0:30:05.880 that I have on my person right now. I was 0:30:05.920 --> 0:30:08.240 praying about how to bring this message home because I thought, man, 0:30:08.280 --> 0:30:09.840 I don't just want them to feel like today. I 0:30:09.920 --> 0:30:11.280 just told them a bunch of stuff about a guy 0:30:11.280 --> 0:30:13.440 who lived thousands of years ago, and they just talked 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:16.640 about these metaphors and abstract analogies, and you know, with 0:30:16.680 --> 0:30:18.520 the things that people are going through in their life today, 0:30:18.520 --> 0:30:20.400 I really want them to understand what it means for 0:30:20.400 --> 0:30:22.400 God to make you fruitful in the land of your suffering. 0:30:22.440 --> 0:30:24.920 Because the thing about fruit in the land of suffering 0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:28.080 is that the earth makes whatever is inside the thing grow. 0:30:30.800 --> 0:30:34.920 The earth is neutral, The earth is not good or 0:30:34.960 --> 0:30:37.760 bad until somebody works it, then it can become fertile. 0:30:39.720 --> 0:30:42.240 But all that the earth can do is pull out 0:30:42.360 --> 0:30:45.320 what's inside of the sea. Now we live in a 0:30:45.400 --> 0:30:47.800 time where we respect a whole lot more about the 0:30:47.960 --> 0:30:52.000 external appearance than the internal reality. 0:30:52.600 --> 0:30:53.440 Oh yes we do. 0:30:54.440 --> 0:30:57.000 If you do bicep curls for the next year every day, 0:30:57.040 --> 0:30:59.920 get some big muscles or something like that. Where you 0:31:00.200 --> 0:31:02.000 go people talk about sons out and guns out and 0:31:02.040 --> 0:31:03.840 put those away, and you have license to carry those 0:31:03.840 --> 0:31:04.640 and everything like that. 0:31:04.960 --> 0:31:05.480 You read the. 0:31:05.440 --> 0:31:07.560 Bible for one hundred days or a year or something 0:31:07.600 --> 0:31:09.239 like that, Nobody's go walk around being like, man, your 0:31:09.240 --> 0:31:12.440 Philippians knowledge is really like you know what I'm saying, 0:31:13.240 --> 0:31:15.520 sons out, son of God. 0:31:17.880 --> 0:31:22.880 Therefore, I want to illustrate what I think we don't. 0:31:22.760 --> 0:31:29.800 Understand about suffering, because everybody suffers somewhere, but not everybody 0:31:29.880 --> 0:31:31.760 gets something out of it. 0:31:33.120 --> 0:31:35.920 Not all suffering is productive. 0:31:39.560 --> 0:31:45.240 There is a difference between the suffering that brings forth 0:31:45.360 --> 0:31:51.720 fruit and the suffering that increases fear and shame. 0:31:53.000 --> 0:31:54.680 And the issue comes down to. 0:31:56.680 --> 0:32:01.440 What was in Joseph when Joseph went into Egypt. 0:32:02.600 --> 0:32:04.440 That's the issue. 0:32:05.200 --> 0:32:09.480 When Joseph went to Egypt, he already had his integrity. 0:32:10.320 --> 0:32:14.040 So when they took his coat, it didn't matter because 0:32:14.040 --> 0:32:17.800 it wasn't about what was on him, it was about 0:32:17.800 --> 0:32:23.560 what was in him. When Joseph was accused, they tried 0:32:23.600 --> 0:32:27.200 to throw dirt on his name. But even though they 0:32:27.200 --> 0:32:31.320 put dirt on his name, it didn't change his nature 0:32:32.800 --> 0:32:37.560 because Joseph went into Egypt fruitful. And the Bible says 0:32:37.600 --> 0:32:40.680 that when the whole world was suffering from a famine, 0:32:40.800 --> 0:32:43.959 there was food in Egypt. And I suggest that the 0:32:44.000 --> 0:32:47.640 only reason there was food in Egypt was because there 0:32:47.720 --> 0:32:52.440 was Joseph in Egypt. Sometimes God will put you in 0:32:52.480 --> 0:32:56.520 a situation because He puts something in you that that 0:32:56.600 --> 0:33:01.280 situation needs. So all the prayer, so if God get 0:33:01.320 --> 0:33:04.840 me out of this, God get me through this. There 0:33:04.840 --> 0:33:07.760 are things that God wants to do as you go 0:33:07.920 --> 0:33:10.760 through them that if you don't do those things, you. 0:33:10.720 --> 0:33:13.160 Can't be fruitful. 0:33:13.280 --> 0:33:15.680 And I will demonstrate why some of the stuff that 0:33:15.760 --> 0:33:18.600 is happening in your life right now that you feel 0:33:18.680 --> 0:33:22.440 is shameful and embarrassing and terrible, and it may be. 0:33:22.640 --> 0:33:25.120 I will show you why it might not be what 0:33:25.160 --> 0:33:27.480 you think it is. And I'm gonna use two objects 0:33:27.480 --> 0:33:31.320 to illustrate one I have in my pocket and one 0:33:31.360 --> 0:33:36.360 I'm wearing on my feet. So I'm gonna show you 0:33:37.520 --> 0:33:41.080 two items and then you can decide what you think 0:33:41.080 --> 0:33:45.800 about my illustration. These items seem to have not much 0:33:45.840 --> 0:33:49.200 in common, but I promise you they do. 0:33:50.920 --> 0:33:58.040 This is a sneaker. This is a seed. 0:33:59.520 --> 0:34:06.960 Technically it's a peach pit, but inside the pit is 0:34:07.000 --> 0:34:08.200 the seed, so it's a seed. 0:34:09.040 --> 0:34:14.080 Now look, what does a sneaker and a seed have 0:34:14.200 --> 0:34:14.720 in common? 0:34:16.920 --> 0:34:17.040 Uh? 0:34:18.080 --> 0:34:19.040 Answer class. 0:34:21.400 --> 0:34:26.360 Both of them have to get dirty sometimes, but one 0:34:26.400 --> 0:34:26.920 was made to. 0:34:30.040 --> 0:34:32.960 Follow me, this seed. 0:34:34.360 --> 0:34:38.560 If I take this seed, this peach pit and put 0:34:38.600 --> 0:34:52.840 it in this dirt, in the dirt, and then yeah, 0:34:52.960 --> 0:35:00.319 I should use to headset Mike today. The there was 0:35:00.360 --> 0:35:04.040 no part of you that found any of that tragic. 0:35:07.640 --> 0:35:14.400 Nobody winced, nobody cringed. But if. 0:35:16.360 --> 0:35:21.720 What's wrong with y'all? I just did it to the sea. 0:35:23.239 --> 0:35:27.880 But if don't do it, don't do it. Don't do it? 0:35:29.239 --> 0:35:32.560 Why oh oh? 0:35:32.600 --> 0:35:35.919 Because this only has value externally. 0:35:38.520 --> 0:35:45.840 So if I do this to these, it ruins them. 0:35:46.239 --> 0:35:55.919 If I do this to these, I just. 0:35:56.000 --> 0:36:03.640 Decreased the value. Because the value of the sneakers was 0:36:03.680 --> 0:36:06.359 how clean the sneakers were. 0:36:08.280 --> 0:36:11.920 But if I have a seed, and I take the seed. 0:36:12.280 --> 0:36:14.560 I just put the seed in. 0:36:14.600 --> 0:36:17.279 The same stuff up put the sneakers in. 0:36:18.040 --> 0:36:23.680 And when I did this, you didn't say no. 0:36:24.680 --> 0:36:30.120 You realized that what ruined the value of the sneakers 0:36:30.600 --> 0:36:35.279 revealed the potential of the seed. And I came to 0:36:35.360 --> 0:36:37.600 declare that you're one of these. 0:36:41.200 --> 0:36:47.040 You're one of these, kam No, one of these. 0:36:48.800 --> 0:37:01.240 What the seed of Abraham? How the seed of Abraham? 0:37:00.840 --> 0:37:05.520 So so when the devil does this, realize I'm one 0:37:05.560 --> 0:37:09.000 of these. And it didn't ruin you what you went through, 0:37:09.520 --> 0:37:12.279 And it didn't ruin you that they rejected you, and 0:37:12.360 --> 0:37:15.000 it didn't ruin you that you made a mistake, and 0:37:15.040 --> 0:37:18.439 it didn't ruin you because the value of you has 0:37:18.600 --> 0:37:21.719 never been the shoe were increased. The value of you 0:37:21.800 --> 0:37:25.840 has never been that you were squeaky clean. The value 0:37:25.920 --> 0:37:29.600 of you is that Christ is in you. And if 0:37:29.680 --> 0:37:33.280 Christ is in you, and I'm preaching in my socks 0:37:33.760 --> 0:37:37.640 to let you know, the seed is still good, the 0:37:37.880 --> 0:37:41.799 seed is still clean, the seed can still. 0:37:41.560 --> 0:37:51.759 Work high five three people say is in you? Is 0:37:51.840 --> 0:38:00.120 in you? The value is in you? So now I hear. 0:38:00.160 --> 0:38:06.120 Joseph saying he made me fruitful in my suffering, y'all 0:38:06.200 --> 0:38:11.840 missed it. He made me fruitful in my suffering. My 0:38:12.080 --> 0:38:18.880 faith turns suffering to soil. My faith turns suffering to soil. 0:38:19.440 --> 0:38:22.360 Jesus didn't resurrect till they put him in the soil. 0:38:23.080 --> 0:38:25.120 Jesus didn't get up until they put. 0:38:25.040 --> 0:38:25.800 Him in the ground. 0:38:26.160 --> 0:38:31.759 And some of the fruit that God has produced in 0:38:31.880 --> 0:38:37.160 my life happened when I was in a place that 0:38:37.280 --> 0:38:40.040 I never wanted to go. 0:38:40.640 --> 0:38:43.360 I can't believe you were so worried about my sneakers, 0:38:43.360 --> 0:38:47.000 and you're not worried about your mind, your soul, your purpose, 0:38:47.400 --> 0:38:52.520 your destiny, your gratitude, your kids, your integrity, your habits, 0:38:52.760 --> 0:38:56.600 your prayer life, your discipline. You see what I'm saying. 0:38:58.760 --> 0:39:04.000 That dirt did not hurt that seed. It turned it 0:39:04.280 --> 0:39:16.200 to a harvest. That's why you came to church today 0:39:18.360 --> 0:39:22.120 because some of the things that you have been through 0:39:22.120 --> 0:39:27.120 in your life. If your value were external, it ruined you. 0:39:29.960 --> 0:39:35.120 But if your value is internal, it did not ruin you. 0:39:36.480 --> 0:39:55.000 It revealed you. So that this can become this, So 0:39:55.239 --> 0:39:55.640 that this. 0:39:58.880 --> 0:40:05.720 Can become this, so that Joseph can stand before his family. 0:40:05.880 --> 0:40:07.759 He was ready for the famine, but he wasn't ready 0:40:07.760 --> 0:40:08.960 for his family, because that's. 0:40:08.840 --> 0:40:11.240 Where he really hurt. 0:40:12.120 --> 0:40:17.560 But understanding that you are fruitful in the place of 0:40:17.560 --> 0:40:21.960 your suffering, well, it makes you look at It makes 0:40:22.000 --> 0:40:23.680 you look at bad things people say about you a 0:40:23.680 --> 0:40:27.000 little differently. It makes you look at the things that 0:40:27.040 --> 0:40:28.240 you don't like a little differently. 0:40:29.360 --> 0:40:31.000 You go, wait a minute. 0:40:31.600 --> 0:40:37.399 If if this goes in this and I'm a lot 0:40:37.400 --> 0:40:41.480 of seats now that was my last one. If this 0:40:41.600 --> 0:40:46.320 goes in this, then it will begin to absorb the moisture. 0:40:47.239 --> 0:40:50.920 If this goes into this, it will begin to spread 0:40:50.960 --> 0:40:51.840 apart and shatter. 0:40:52.120 --> 0:40:55.440 If it starts to shatter, then it can start to sprout. 0:40:55.480 --> 0:40:57.880 If it starts to sprout, it can grow down to 0:40:57.920 --> 0:41:00.520 get the nutrients and the minerals and reach to get 0:41:00.520 --> 0:41:08.080 the light. But it starts, Joseph said, in the place 0:41:09.320 --> 0:41:12.920 of my suffering. And this is why it's really important 0:41:13.960 --> 0:41:18.440 that you don't get stuck in what you suffered. Because 0:41:18.480 --> 0:41:22.960 you've already suffered enough. Don't you want to have something 0:41:23.000 --> 0:41:29.719 to show for it. We'll say that again, you have 0:41:29.920 --> 0:41:31.320 already suffered enough. 0:41:32.560 --> 0:41:33.840 Don't you want to have something to show for it? 0:41:33.880 --> 0:41:35.680 And I'm applying this to every type of suffering, even 0:41:35.719 --> 0:41:38.800 if your suffering was caused by your sin. You've suffered enough, 0:41:39.920 --> 0:41:41.840 don't you want to learn from it and repent and 0:41:41.880 --> 0:41:44.279 cling the blood of Jesus and get clean so you 0:41:44.320 --> 0:41:48.239 can help somebody else not fall into the same pit. Ooh, 0:41:49.120 --> 0:41:51.319 I wish I had another peach pit, I thought, Oh, 0:41:51.360 --> 0:41:53.280 I got one, I got one more. I thank you, Lauren. 0:41:53.880 --> 0:41:58.319 Joseph was put into a pit, and the seed is 0:41:58.400 --> 0:42:06.880 in the pit. Help me, where's your sern? And the 0:42:06.920 --> 0:42:13.000 pit represented potential because God was keeping him there to 0:42:13.040 --> 0:42:20.680 get him to Egypt. Your life is not random. God 0:42:20.719 --> 0:42:28.040 is sovereign. Your life is not rotting, it's ripe. Everything 0:42:28.080 --> 0:42:30.879 you've been through is for this moment. If Joseph had 0:42:30.920 --> 0:42:33.440 met his family one year earlier, he wouldn't have been 0:42:33.440 --> 0:42:35.040 ready to embrace them. 0:42:35.560 --> 0:42:36.719 He would have retaliated. 0:42:37.840 --> 0:42:40.160 So stop telling God when he needs to do stuff 0:42:40.280 --> 0:42:41.160 and be a seed. 0:42:44.120 --> 0:42:44.880 Be a seed. 0:42:48.200 --> 0:42:50.440 And when you are a seed and you are in soil, 0:42:50.480 --> 0:42:52.879 and you are in darkness and you are in obscurity, 0:42:53.040 --> 0:42:54.960 it can begin to feel like nothing is happening. But 0:42:55.000 --> 0:42:56.960 anybody who's ever planned and anything can tell you the 0:42:57.000 --> 0:42:59.560 most activity is happening once the seed is no longer visible. 0:43:01.400 --> 0:43:03.480 So do not let the absence of visible activity in 0:43:03.520 --> 0:43:05.360 your life confuse you to think that the presence of 0:43:05.360 --> 0:43:11.239 God has weakened or taken a day off. That seat 0:43:11.400 --> 0:43:13.680 is doing stuff, not that one that I just put in. 0:43:13.760 --> 0:43:15.400 It would have to be taken care of. But you 0:43:15.480 --> 0:43:20.919 get the analogy, right, it's breaking so that it can 0:43:21.880 --> 0:43:28.719 but blossom. And so was Joseph, and so are you. 0:43:30.360 --> 0:43:33.520 And he was in a place that he never wanted 0:43:33.560 --> 0:43:36.839 to go. Are you there right now you're like, yes, 0:43:37.000 --> 0:43:38.160 I didn't want to come to church. 0:43:38.239 --> 0:43:41.040 My mom made me come. I'm not talking about church. 0:43:41.120 --> 0:43:43.640 You wanted to be here. You love to hear me preach, 0:43:43.640 --> 0:43:45.120 It's one of your favorite things in the world. To do. 0:43:51.960 --> 0:43:53.920 That response was so weak. Y'all made me want to 0:43:53.920 --> 0:43:59.400 take another vacation. And then some of y'all didn't even 0:43:59.400 --> 0:44:00.000 want to be in Charpe. 0:44:01.920 --> 0:44:03.240 Some of you didn't want to live in a city 0:44:04.360 --> 0:44:06.840 or Rono, Goorli or wherever you want to put this camera. 0:44:07.200 --> 0:44:08.600 You know, we could, we could, We could go around 0:44:08.600 --> 0:44:10.919 the world and say I didn't want to I didn't 0:44:10.960 --> 0:44:21.680 want to be here in this soil. Soil isn't sexy. 0:44:21.719 --> 0:44:27.120 But that's where it happens, that's where the heart shell 0:44:27.280 --> 0:44:31.600 breaks off, so that what is inside then grab on 0:44:32.640 --> 0:44:37.759 and shoot forth and fill the world with fruit. Now, 0:44:37.800 --> 0:44:41.600 the beauty of this message is that we can apply 0:44:41.800 --> 0:44:46.200 what I have just said to any situation in your life, 0:44:47.320 --> 0:44:50.600 because I just told you about a God who can 0:44:50.800 --> 0:44:55.880 increase you in Egypt, a place that God's people would 0:44:55.920 --> 0:45:00.319 celebrate coming out of, and Joseph said, he increas me 0:45:00.719 --> 0:45:05.239 in the very place where I was dragged, kicking and screaming. 0:45:05.680 --> 0:45:08.120 It doesn't have to be a situation that you chose 0:45:08.160 --> 0:45:10.320 for you to grow through it. 0:45:10.320 --> 0:45:12.440 It doesn't have to be a situation that you like 0:45:12.680 --> 0:45:15.400 for you to stay in it. It doesn't have to 0:45:15.400 --> 0:45:17.520 be a state of mind that you enjoy for it 0:45:17.560 --> 0:45:18.440 to be productive. 0:45:19.640 --> 0:45:21.560 Every time I get ready to preach, not. 0:45:21.640 --> 0:45:23.680 Nine out of ten times, not ninety nine out of 0:45:23.680 --> 0:45:27.920 one hundred times. Every time I prepare to preach to you, 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:32.080 just before the breakthrough of the word comes mounting anxiety. 0:45:32.719 --> 0:45:35.680 Almost it feels like the flu. I want to go 0:45:35.719 --> 0:45:38.520 to bed, I want to call in sick. I have 0:45:38.719 --> 0:45:41.799 learned that that is a sign that I'm in. 0:45:41.760 --> 0:45:42.760 The rich soil. 0:45:42.880 --> 0:45:48.520 Now that I have broken through the surface and I'm 0:45:48.560 --> 0:45:49.560 in the soil. 0:45:51.360 --> 0:45:51.640 And now. 0:45:51.640 --> 0:45:55.240 If you don't ever sit with your anxiety and process 0:45:55.280 --> 0:45:58.400 it with God, but you just run straight to pills, 0:45:58.800 --> 0:46:02.040 You just run straight porn. You just run straight to 0:46:02.200 --> 0:46:04.839 people who will say what you want to hear. If 0:46:04.840 --> 0:46:06.920 you don't ever sit with it and work through it, 0:46:07.000 --> 0:46:08.719 you will never see what was in you that was 0:46:08.760 --> 0:46:15.320 designed to be broken away in the soil of your fruitful. 0:46:16.160 --> 0:46:16.480 Place. 0:46:17.960 --> 0:46:21.439 I thought Canaan was the land with fruit. I thought 0:46:21.520 --> 0:46:23.680 the Promised Land was the land of fruit. 0:46:24.239 --> 0:46:26.719 I thought that was the land God was taking them to. 0:46:27.239 --> 0:46:29.560 Joseph said, I have a god who. 0:46:29.360 --> 0:46:32.440 If the land doesn't have fruit, he'll bring fruit out 0:46:32.480 --> 0:46:32.839 of you. 0:46:33.280 --> 0:46:36.279 He'll do it in your school. If every kid in. 0:46:36.280 --> 0:46:39.680 Your school is crazy, you'll be the sane one. Just 0:46:39.800 --> 0:46:42.320 so am out a walk in the ways of God. 0:46:45.200 --> 0:46:50.920 That's what the seed was made for. I see some 0:46:50.960 --> 0:46:53.680 of our kids going back to school in August and saying, 0:46:53.920 --> 0:46:57.080 it's gonna happen here. There's gonna be a revival here, 0:46:57.480 --> 0:47:00.239 there's gonna be an outpouring here, there's gonna be a 0:47:00.320 --> 0:47:03.879 day of Pentecost. Fully come here, I'm gonna do it here. 0:47:04.160 --> 0:47:07.520 It's gonna happen on YouTube. It's gonna happen here. It's 0:47:07.560 --> 0:47:10.919 gonna happen in my family. It's gonna happen here. It's 0:47:10.920 --> 0:47:13.960 gonna happen in my mid life. It's gonna happen here. 0:47:14.239 --> 0:47:17.560 It's gonna happen in my old age. It's gonna happen here. 0:47:17.800 --> 0:47:21.040 It's gonna happen in my failure. It's gonna happen here. 0:47:23.840 --> 0:47:26.399 It's gonna happen here. Tell the person next Year's gonna 0:47:26.400 --> 0:47:31.760 happen here, here, here, here. I read about a God 0:47:31.880 --> 0:47:34.239 who would give me a land with fruit in it, 0:47:34.440 --> 0:47:38.359 But I also have a God who put fruit inside 0:47:38.480 --> 0:47:45.880 of me. This is for those difficult situations that you 0:47:45.960 --> 0:47:49.160 can't change. This is for those decisions that others made 0:47:49.160 --> 0:47:51.719 that set you back. This is for those times where 0:47:51.719 --> 0:47:54.560 you can't reverse course. This is for those things that 0:47:54.600 --> 0:47:56.360 you can't see how God is working. 0:47:56.640 --> 0:47:57.560 This is for. 0:47:57.640 --> 0:48:09.240 Those things you are not this, you are. 0:48:13.480 --> 0:48:14.120 One of these. 0:48:16.480 --> 0:48:20.080 Get your hands sturdy, Come on, get your hands sturdy. 0:48:22.040 --> 0:48:24.600 Dig till you find what you were designed to do. 0:48:25.040 --> 0:48:27.320 Dig till you find the source of the pain. 0:48:27.719 --> 0:48:30.800 Dig till you find the will and resolved to forgive 0:48:31.040 --> 0:48:39.480 what you can't forget Dick till you get it, and 0:48:39.560 --> 0:48:41.839 everything you've been through, even what broke you, was only 0:48:41.880 --> 0:48:44.200 designed to show you what was in you and the 0:48:44.280 --> 0:48:46.600 God who put you there. 0:48:47.000 --> 0:48:48.120 I believe every. 0:48:47.840 --> 0:48:49.799 Place in your life you walk into you can have 0:48:49.840 --> 0:48:56.759 the confidence God put me here. Now, don't be an 0:48:56.760 --> 0:48:58.759 alcoholic and go to the bar and say, God put 0:48:58.800 --> 0:49:01.080 me here. Don't take my words, make something stupid out 0:49:01.120 --> 0:49:01.399 of it. 0:49:02.600 --> 0:49:03.640 Don't twist my sermon. 0:49:05.760 --> 0:49:09.319 But the state in life that you are in is 0:49:09.480 --> 0:49:18.720 the soil. God changed things. No, God change me, God 0:49:18.800 --> 0:49:26.439 change me. Let me tell you something in my sock 0:49:26.480 --> 0:49:29.880 feet with my dirty right hand that I hope you 0:49:29.920 --> 0:49:35.040 never forget this picture. That man looks at the outward appearance, 0:49:36.760 --> 0:49:43.560 God looks at the heart. And my Bible says in 0:49:43.680 --> 0:49:51.200 Romans eighteen that the sufferings of this present time are 0:49:51.239 --> 0:49:56.680 not worthy to be compared with the glory that will 0:49:56.680 --> 0:49:57.360 be revealed. 0:49:59.000 --> 0:50:03.959 It will be revealed. Is happening here. 0:50:05.200 --> 0:50:10.120 Let God have it. Let God have it. Your surrender 0:50:10.960 --> 0:50:17.640 turns soil into a place of new beginnings. 0:50:20.440 --> 0:50:21.879 Or maybe I should say it the way I wrote 0:50:21.920 --> 0:50:22.799 it in my notes before. 0:50:22.840 --> 0:50:25.080 I just messed it up because that didn't make a 0:50:25.120 --> 0:50:31.360 bit of sense. Your surrender turns your suffering into soil. 0:50:32.320 --> 0:50:35.520 That's what I meant to say. That's what I want 0:50:35.520 --> 0:50:38.120 to say. 0:50:39.160 --> 0:50:43.440 So stand up on your feet, lift your hands to 0:50:43.520 --> 0:50:48.600 your Father in heaven, who knows what he put in you. 0:50:52.400 --> 0:50:54.200 Thousand lives can be put on you. 0:50:54.840 --> 0:50:57.759 If the truth is in you, what does it matter 0:50:59.200 --> 0:51:03.000 the weight of others that expectations maybe put on you. 0:51:03.960 --> 0:51:05.560 But if God's approval is in you, this is my 0:51:05.600 --> 0:51:06.440 beloved son with him. 0:51:06.440 --> 0:51:07.200 I'm well pleased. 0:51:08.520 --> 0:51:13.279 Even Jesus went to Egypt and he's with you in 0:51:13.320 --> 0:51:13.880 your Egypt. 0:51:13.880 --> 0:51:14.240 Today. 0:51:14.480 --> 0:51:19.720 You are increasing in Egypt. Things are going to happen 0:51:19.800 --> 0:51:21.359 here that are going to blow your mind. 0:51:21.840 --> 0:51:22.719 I need you to. 0:51:22.600 --> 0:51:26.240 Stop delaying the idea that God has to do everything 0:51:26.320 --> 0:51:28.640 you want him to do before he can use you, 0:51:29.560 --> 0:51:34.799 before you can be happy. Eat your lunch today with gratitude, 0:51:34.840 --> 0:51:37.360 and every bite you to thank God that you have 0:51:37.480 --> 0:51:38.960 something to put in your mouth. 0:51:40.280 --> 0:51:42.279 I don't care what the four ol one k is. 0:51:43.960 --> 0:51:47.879 Be grateful is God in you. 0:51:50.040 --> 0:51:53.440 It is God in you, willing and acting to his 0:51:53.480 --> 0:51:57.240 good pleasure. Father, I thank you for all of these seeds. 0:51:58.920 --> 0:52:05.560 Who knows what Joseph's are increasing even under the water 0:52:05.640 --> 0:52:12.000 of this word. Today, Father, as we confess that the 0:52:12.040 --> 0:52:14.239 dirt that was meant to hurt us actually produced to 0:52:14.320 --> 0:52:17.440 harvest from what is inside of us, I pray that 0:52:17.480 --> 0:52:19.719 this would be rayma and flesh to everyone who hears it, 0:52:19.760 --> 0:52:22.759 that they would know exactly what it is that they 0:52:22.800 --> 0:52:25.400 were meant to see and what they were meant to 0:52:25.440 --> 0:52:32.040 release and refocus. For Father, if we stay mentally in 0:52:32.080 --> 0:52:35.560 our father's household and do not release those things, we 0:52:35.600 --> 0:52:41.879 can't hold Manassa, we cannot hold e from I want 0:52:41.880 --> 0:52:43.960 you to turn your palms up to Heaven now, just 0:52:44.000 --> 0:52:49.560 like you're offering something to God, and like you're receiving 0:52:49.640 --> 0:52:55.839 something from God. I want you to first give him 0:52:56.040 --> 0:53:03.000 what happened. Give him what happened, hard as it was, 0:53:04.440 --> 0:53:12.600 awful as it was, give him what happened. And now 0:53:12.600 --> 0:53:15.920 I want to tell you that in his presence, there 0:53:15.920 --> 0:53:18.240 are some things he wants to put in those empty hands, 0:53:19.560 --> 0:53:20.640 and it's going to happen. 0:53:20.680 --> 0:53:28.200 Here, is going to happen here. This is a place 0:53:28.239 --> 0:53:31.279 of healing, This is. 0:53:31.239 --> 0:53:34.720 A place of newness of life, This is a place 0:53:34.719 --> 0:53:37.479 of salvation, and this is a place of freedom right here. 0:53:40.520 --> 0:53:43.319 I know you don't want to be in Egypt. But 0:53:43.440 --> 0:53:47.760 let's get Egypt out of you. He called it Manassa. 0:53:47.840 --> 0:53:49.880 That's a Hebrew name. He called it Ephraim, that's a 0:53:49.920 --> 0:53:53.240 Hebrew name. I will not let where I am defind 0:53:53.440 --> 0:53:57.120 who I am. I am a child of God. Oh yeah, 0:53:57.239 --> 0:54:02.920 begin to celebrate. That's good. That means you're receiving. That 0:54:03.000 --> 0:54:03.920 means your receiving. 0:54:07.239 --> 0:54:12.239 Oh how great the love of the Father. Oh how 0:54:12.320 --> 0:54:18.280 great the gift of the Sun. Oh how great the power? 0:54:18.960 --> 0:54:25.960 Jeez? What a save? What a save? I was lost 0:54:26.280 --> 0:54:32.400 in sin and you found me, Hollliah, you save my soul. 0:54:33.680 --> 0:54:38.799 I was saying money, raise what I mean? 0:54:40.040 --> 0:54:40.120 What? 0:54:40.760 --> 0:54:47.160 Oh? How great? Thank you for joining us. 0:54:47.480 --> 0:54:49.920 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:54:50.000 --> 0:54:53.480 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:54:53.920 --> 0:54:56.120 You can click the link in the description to give 0:54:56.239 --> 0:55:00.200 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:55:00.239 --> 0:55:03.359 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast. 0:55:03.080 --> 0:55:05.800 You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. 0:55:06.080 --> 0:55:08.360 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:55:08.400 --> 0:55:10.520 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:55:10.560 --> 0:55:11.399 Elevation Church. 0:55:11.480 --> 0:55:18.160 Thanks again for listening. God bless you