Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our
Speaker 2: podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 2: it gives you perspective to see God is moving.
Speaker 1: In your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: Let's go in our bibles now to Genesis chapter forty
Speaker 2: for the final week of our series. Trigger at least
Speaker 2: I think it's the final week, but we'll preach.
Speaker 1: It and see what happens.
Speaker 2: I have been preaching about taking back your mind in
Speaker 2: the age of anxiety.
Speaker 1: But looking at you, you.
Speaker 2: Seem to be completely now free of stress, and it
Speaker 2: seems as if you have gotten the message, and we
Speaker 2: can call it quits after today. But this last message
Speaker 2: that I want to bring to you, I hope will
Speaker 2: be as profound to you hearing it as it was
Speaker 2: to me as I studied for it, and ask that
Speaker 2: you consider it peerfully, because it's one of those messages
Speaker 2: where if you try to understand it with your mind,
Speaker 2: you won't get the most out of it. But if
Speaker 2: you'll listen at a different level and see what God wants.
Speaker 1: To speak to you.
Speaker 2: I believe that he will welcome to every single location.
Speaker 2: I pray that you would lean into this word wherever
Speaker 2: you are and receive something from the Lord. Genesis, chapter forty,
Speaker 2: verse five. Let's jump right into the middle of it.
Speaker 2: And one night they both dreamed, the cupbearer and the
Speaker 2: baker and the King of Egypt, who were confined in
Speaker 2: the prison, each his own dream, and each dream with
Speaker 2: its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning,
Speaker 2: he saw that they were trouble.
Speaker 1: So he asked Pharaoh's officers, who were.
Speaker 2: With him in custody in his master's house, why are
Speaker 2: your faces downcast today? And they said to him, we
Speaker 2: have had dreams and there is no one to interpret them.
Speaker 2: And Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God?
Speaker 2: That was the question that got me started on this
Speaker 2: quest to preach this message today. Do not interpretations belong
Speaker 2: to God? Please tell them to me. Now I'm going
Speaker 2: to do something kind of weird. I'm going to go
Speaker 2: to a New Testament scripture. One verse of scripture that
Speaker 2: doesn't seem to go together on the surface with the
Speaker 2: one I just read, but it does seemed like, you know,
Speaker 2: Peanut butter and mayonnaise, but it's really jelly. So go
Speaker 2: to First Corinthians fourteen three, and here Paul is giving
Speaker 2: some instructions to the Corinthian Church about orderly worship, and
Speaker 2: he says, therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray.
Speaker 1: For the power to interpret.
Speaker 2: Again, therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray
Speaker 2: for the power to interpret. I want to lift that
Speaker 2: phrase from my message title today and talk to you
Speaker 2: about the power of interpretation. Very very, very good stuff
Speaker 2: come in your way today from the word of God,
Speaker 2: not from me, but from God.
Speaker 1: And that's really the starting point for me.
Speaker 2: I realize that you come to church not to hear
Speaker 2: my opinion, but to hear a correct interpretation of the
Speaker 2: Word of God God for your life, and an application
Speaker 2: so that it is not only a historical document, but
Speaker 2: so that it becomes flesh, and so that the Spirit
Speaker 2: of God would breathe into your situation. Understanding this, I've
Speaker 2: already mentioned that many backgrounds attend church. And when I
Speaker 2: read First Corinthians fourteen, verse thirteen, and Paul is talking
Speaker 2: about speaking in tongues, you know half the church had flashbacks.
Speaker 2: And if you really want to start a good YouTube
Speaker 2: food fight, just talk about tongues in the church, because
Speaker 2: some people have a private prayer language where they speak
Speaker 2: in tongues, and it is very beautiful and helpful to
Speaker 2: many of us who believe in Jesus to pray that way.
Speaker 2: But yet other people have been told, well, if you
Speaker 2: don't speak in tongues, you're not full of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Never mind the fact that Paul here is saying that
Speaker 2: every spiritual gift is only given to build others up,
Speaker 2: not to showcase your status and how much more spiritual
Speaker 2: you are. I mean, spiritual gifts are just that there
Speaker 2: are gifts. And what's far more important to God than
Speaker 2: us going around condescending to others because of our spiritual gift,
Speaker 2: is that we would cultivate the fruit of the Spirit
Speaker 2: in our lives. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
Speaker 2: and self control. These are the graces God would have
Speaker 2: us to grow in. But right now, if I really
Speaker 2: preached on First Corinthians fourteen thirteen, the Elevation Church YouTube
Speaker 2: comment section would get busier than it ever has in
Speaker 2: the history. I don't know how you type in tongues
Speaker 2: on a YouTube comment. But Paul is saying here what
Speaker 2: really matters isn't what is said as much as the
Speaker 2: interpretation of it, because you know what's true here about
Speaker 2: this spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, where one person
Speaker 2: may speak in a heavenly language and someone needs to
Speaker 2: turnpret it so that it can be understood. It is
Speaker 2: not only true about languages, it is true about life.
Speaker 2: To really live successfully, or maybe we could say a
Speaker 2: more biblical word, faithfully for God, I need the correct interpretation.
Speaker 2: Touch somebody next to you and say I need an interpretation. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I need an interpretation to be a good husband because
Speaker 2: men and women are different. And if I don't learn
Speaker 2: to interpret, if I don't learn to understand that nothing
Speaker 2: is wrong does not mean literally on the surface, nothing
Speaker 2: is wrong. And by the way, most people when they
Speaker 2: say literally, it doesn't mean literally.
Speaker 1: I literally died. Think you mean figuratively.
Speaker 2: Touch somebody, say I need an interpretation. I need an
Speaker 2: interpretation to be able to raise my kids, you know,
Speaker 2: because I'll be thinking they're ungrateful when really they're just adolescent.
Speaker 1: And if you want to play back the tape.
Speaker 2: From when I was their age, well, let's don't do that.
Speaker 2: Touch somebody say I need an interpretation. That's what Paul
Speaker 2: is talking about. And really, no one's life illustrates this
Speaker 2: more than the Old Testament character Joseph. I mentioned him,
Speaker 2: and I read this scripture that I want to revisit
Speaker 2: now in Genesis chapter forty, concerning the power of interpretation. Well,
Speaker 2: you know, Joseph's life could be used to illustrate injustice.
Speaker 1: He was abused and actually survived, and.
Speaker 2: A near assassination from his brothers, and years later in
Speaker 2: his life he was dealing with false allegations of sexual
Speaker 2: misconduct and that landed him in prison, which is what
Speaker 2: put him in this position in Genesis chapter forty, the
Speaker 2: situation he was in. Okay, principle number one and this
Speaker 2: is not coming up on the screen, So you know,
Speaker 2: write it down if it seems like it's worth writing
Speaker 2: down to you, if you just got to write something down,
Speaker 2: write this down.
Speaker 1: My situation is not as important as my interpretation of
Speaker 1: my situation.
Speaker 2: I don't mean to sound like doctor SEUs to you,
Speaker 2: but what I'm trying to say it is a lot
Speaker 2: of times we want an intervention from God in our
Speaker 2: situation instead of that God will often give us a
Speaker 2: different interpretation of the situation, and he won't necessarily change it.
Speaker 2: He will change us in the way we see our situation.
Speaker 2: And one of the reasons we fight in church is
Speaker 2: because we don't respect that other believers could read the
Speaker 2: same scripture that we read and have a different interpretation,
Speaker 2: and other people could watch the same news stories that
Speaker 2: we watch and have a different interpretation, because interpretation is
Speaker 2: based on many different things and filtered through the lens
Speaker 2: of your life experiences and your cultural background and even
Speaker 2: your intellectual ability, and some of us don't have as
Speaker 2: much to work with, and so you know, we see
Speaker 2: things more simple than they really are, and they're really complex.
Speaker 2: And you know, somebody says this about evolution, and somebody
Speaker 2: says this about creation.
Speaker 1: But we're reading the same story.
Speaker 2: With a different interpretation, and it doesn't necessarily mean that
Speaker 2: you're wrong and I'm right, and you're going to hell
Speaker 2: and I'm going to heaven. And we get so triggered
Speaker 2: going off on people who believe in the same God.
Speaker 2: But just because I have a different interpretation doesn't give
Speaker 2: you the right to be God and tell me that
Speaker 2: my interpretation is not valid.
Speaker 1: Come on clap like that blessed you, even though I
Speaker 1: know has stepped on your toes a little bit.
Speaker 2: All right, So Joseph is in prison and he should
Speaker 2: be in a bad mood. He should be having pity party,
Speaker 2: day number seven hundred and forty three of his pity party,
Speaker 2: since Potiphar's wife said, you know that he tried to
Speaker 2: rape her, and he should.
Speaker 1: Be reflecting on all of his brothers trying to.
Speaker 2: Kill him, and yet he had the presence of mine,
Speaker 2: like Reggie Miller in the thirty for thirty Dot where
Speaker 2: he says to these men who are in prison with him,
Speaker 2: what's wrong?
Speaker 1: You look sad? Now.
Speaker 2: Imagine you've had his life, but you still are looking
Speaker 2: at others through the lens of what's wrong with them?
Speaker 2: And imagine you have so much resentment and you're in prison,
Speaker 2: but yeah, you were able to still release empathy.
Speaker 1: Instead of living in your own resentment. Y'all. I am
Speaker 1: preaching so hard right now, and I don't even have
Speaker 1: to raise my voice to do it. He said, what's
Speaker 1: the matter with you, you man?
Speaker 2: And they said to him, we've had dreams and there's
Speaker 2: no one interpret him. Joseph said, do not interpretations belong
Speaker 2: to God.
Speaker 1: Now nose why he didn't say, I have the power
Speaker 1: of gret skul. I have the power of.
Speaker 2: Interpretation, he said, And God can make sense of this,
Speaker 2: who I believe deep down in your soul. That's why
Speaker 2: you came to church, because only God can make sense
Speaker 2: of some of the things that I feel and that
Speaker 2: I'm going through. And I need God to make sense
Speaker 2: of this. So Joseph said, look, how polite he is.
Speaker 2: Please tell them to me, please, I want to help you.
Speaker 1: And the chief.
Speaker 2: Cupbearer who used to bring Pharaoh his wine, said, well,
Speaker 2: it was weird man.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just tell you like I dreamed.
Speaker 2: It, because in the Old Testament, you know, they put
Speaker 2: a lot more stock in their dreams than we do today.
Speaker 2: And I don't think that you should necessarily think every
Speaker 2: dream that you have comes from God either.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's pizza.
Speaker 2: A lot of the times has had nothing to do
Speaker 2: with the Lord or your purpose in life. But when
Speaker 2: the man started talking, he said, it was a vine
Speaker 2: that I saw in my dream, and then there were
Speaker 2: like three branches coming off the vine, and then the
Speaker 2: they were like ripe right away, and all three of
Speaker 2: them are filled with grapes. So I started squeezing the grapes,
Speaker 2: and I was holding Pharaoh's cup and I handed it
Speaker 2: back to him. What does that mean? Joseph's like three
Speaker 2: branches three days in three days. We could preach about that,
Speaker 2: couldn't we from the perspective of something else that happened
Speaker 2: after three days.
Speaker 1: But we're not going to do that today.
Speaker 2: He said, three days, Pharaoh's going to lift your head,
Speaker 2: put you back in your rightful position.
Speaker 1: This is the interpretation.
Speaker 2: Now, I remember there were two men and they both
Speaker 2: had dreams, and the other one's standing over and he
Speaker 2: hears the interpretation that Joseph gave to the cupbearer.
Speaker 1: But he's the Pharaoh's chief baker.
Speaker 2: And apparently Pharaoh is easily triggered because he threw both
Speaker 2: of them in prison.
Speaker 1: But we don't know what for.
Speaker 2: Maybe the brought him pumper nickel and he really wanted
Speaker 2: rye or something like that. Or the Easter rolls weren't hot,
Speaker 2: and so when he brings it out the bread, maybe
Speaker 2: Pharaoh flies off the handle. And Joseph's life can be
Speaker 2: understood through many different constructs, but one way to look
Speaker 2: at it is there three major interpretations this is the
Speaker 2: first one.
Speaker 1: He tells the cupbearer three days, Pharaoh's going to put
Speaker 1: you back in your position.
Speaker 2: The baker hears this while Joseph is saying, and when
Speaker 2: you get out of here, mention me to Pharaoh because
Speaker 2: I don't deserve.
Speaker 1: To be here.
Speaker 2: So don't forget your boy who came through when you
Speaker 2: get out. And the baker now he's waiting his turn
Speaker 2: in line because he wants out of Shawshank as well.
Speaker 1: And so he says, ooh, ooh, ooh, do mine do
Speaker 1: my dream? I had a dream too, Can you do
Speaker 1: my dream? And Joseph says, tell me your dream?
Speaker 2: Do not interpretations belong to God, And so he's expecting
Speaker 2: a favorable interpretation, and he has a similar dream that's
Speaker 2: different in just a small.
Speaker 1: Tiny little way. He says, okay, I had.
Speaker 2: Three, not three branches on a vine, because I don't
Speaker 2: do the cup bear thing. I had three baskets of
Speaker 2: bread and they were all full of bread.
Speaker 1: And then some birds came in my dream.
Speaker 2: I know it sounds weird, but they started eating the
Speaker 2: bread off my head. And Joseph said, oh no, And
Speaker 2: he said oh no, he said, yeah, it means this is.
Speaker 1: Just the interpretation, this is what it means.
Speaker 2: Three days Pharaoh's gonna lift up your head, uh huh
Speaker 2: and cut it off, and then the birds are going
Speaker 2: to eat your flesh. And then Joseph took up an offering.
Speaker 2: But see, he didn't have the power to make the dream.
Speaker 1: Mean what he wanted it to mean.
Speaker 2: What he had to do was seek God to say,
Speaker 2: what does this mean? And one meaning was you're gonna
Speaker 2: be restored to your position, that's the stuff that preaches good.
Speaker 1: And one meaning is you know.
Speaker 2: You're actually you're actually you're actually gonna be dead three
Speaker 2: days from now. But it was the same power that
Speaker 2: enabled him to interpret both dreams, and it happened just
Speaker 2: like Joseph predicted.
Speaker 1: The interpretation was accurate.
Speaker 2: Three days later, the baker was dead and the cupbearer
Speaker 2: was free. Only he forgot about Joseph, have you ever
Speaker 2: done something for somebody? Have you ever helped somebody move
Speaker 2: when they moved out of their apartment into their house,
Speaker 2: and when it came time for you to move, their
Speaker 2: truck was having some issues.
Speaker 1: Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever raised
Speaker 1: your kids?
Speaker 2: And then they got out of the house and acted
Speaker 2: like they were too busy for you and the cats
Speaker 2: in the cradle. Well, you can relate to Joseph because
Speaker 2: he was forgotten in prison until one day Pharaoh. This
Speaker 2: is the second interpretation, and there are three. This one
Speaker 2: gets more difficult. It kind of goes in stages of
Speaker 2: interpretation where Pharaoh has a dream and he gathers all
Speaker 2: of the magicians in his court to interpret his dream.
Speaker 2: We watch what the Bible says. I believe this Genesis
Speaker 2: forty one. Yeah, verse fifteen. Pharaoh said to Joseph, I
Speaker 2: have had a dream, and there is no one who
Speaker 2: can interpret it. I have heard it said of you
Speaker 2: that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Now,
Speaker 2: how did Joseph get in front of Pharaoh? I thought
Speaker 2: he was in prison. Well, here's what happened. When Pharaoh
Speaker 2: had a problem, Joseph had an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I must say that again.
Speaker 2: When Pharaoh came upon something that he could not solve
Speaker 2: with his resources, it created an opportunity for someone who
Speaker 2: knew how to interpret the times, the situation, and to bring.
Speaker 1: Forth the solution.
Speaker 2: Here's why I pointed that out, because sometimes we run
Speaker 2: from stuff that God has introduced in order to bring
Speaker 2: us into the opportunity that we were praying for. And
Speaker 2: when Pharaoh had a dream, it was a strange dream,
Speaker 2: and he brought Joseph and said, man, I heard about you.
Speaker 2: And Joseph said, it's about time that dude was supposed
Speaker 2: to tell.
Speaker 1: You about me two years ago. But see, sometimes.
Speaker 2: God will allow people to forget about you because he
Speaker 2: knows where you need to be for the moment you
Speaker 2: need to come forth.
Speaker 1: And if you don't have.
Speaker 2: A relationship with God, you won't know what to do
Speaker 2: with yourself in those times where you feel imprisoned.
Speaker 1: And confined. All right, So he said, heard about you.
Speaker 2: There's no one who can interpret my dream, but I
Speaker 2: have heard it said of you.
Speaker 1: That you are.
Speaker 2: You are really, really brilliant at this dream interpretation stuff,
Speaker 2: so give it a shot. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, it's
Speaker 2: not in me. What a way to start your opportunity.
Speaker 2: Go for a job interview, talk about I'm.
Speaker 1: Not the one.
Speaker 2: But he said something similar to what he said in
Speaker 2: verse forty. And you start to see a pattern. He said,
Speaker 2: it's not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer,
Speaker 2: so let's hear it. Because the power of interpretation is
Speaker 2: not in me.
Speaker 1: I'll get it wrong. I've learned that about myself. I'll
Speaker 1: get it wrong every time.
Speaker 2: Even preaching, I will mess the whole thing up. If
Speaker 2: I preach from the perspective of how I interpret that
Speaker 2: you are receiving the message, I start getting nervous because really,
Speaker 2: when you're listening the most you look angry.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you that about yourself.
Speaker 2: When I'm really doing good, your eyebrows start making a
Speaker 2: queue up there, and you start you start hunching forward.
Speaker 2: And even when I'm really preaching good, you cross your
Speaker 2: arms because I just offended something that you've been clinging to,
Speaker 2: that God really wanted to pry out of your heart.
Speaker 2: So when you start leaning back and stuff, start doing
Speaker 2: all this. One woman one time looked like she was
Speaker 2: sleeping in my sermon. I realized she was praying for me.
Speaker 2: He took me twenty minutes into sermon. Oh, I was
Speaker 2: so offended. And I've learned this about myself. I will
Speaker 2: interpret it wrong every time because the power of interpretation
Speaker 2: is to get into the presence of God. Watch this
Speaker 2: and say, God, what are you saying, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: What do you want to speak? And Joseph from that
Speaker 1: place of humility.
Speaker 2: Here's Pharaoh's dream, and Pharaoh starts talking about cows. He's like, oh,
Speaker 2: there were seven fat cows and seven skinny cows. I
Speaker 2: don't know why Pharaoh's talking like this. It must be
Speaker 2: southern Egypt, but he's like, the fat cows. First came
Speaker 2: the fat cows, then came to skinny cows and skinny cows.
Speaker 2: Eight the fat cows, and there were fat stalks and
Speaker 2: skinny stalks.
Speaker 1: And it's a great story you can read sometimes. But josephs, oh,
Speaker 1: that's easy.
Speaker 2: Seven years of plenty, that's the fat cows, seven years
Speaker 2: of famine, that's skinny cat.
Speaker 1: And if you save up during this fat years, you
Speaker 1: can make it in the lean years.
Speaker 2: And Pharaoh said, I need somebody smart to put in
Speaker 2: charge of saving up during the fat years. I need
Speaker 2: somebody to manage my fat cows. And Joseph said, well, hey,
Speaker 2: if you need somebody to manage the fat cows, maybe
Speaker 2: the guy who told you about the fat cows would
Speaker 2: be the one to manage the fat cows. And Pharaoh said,
Speaker 2: you're the man. And he's second in command of all
Speaker 2: of Egypt because of what the power of and if
Speaker 2: he would have given his opinion in that moment, or
Speaker 2: if he would have interpreted that opportunity through the lens
Speaker 2: of his own pain, he would not have had the
Speaker 2: clarity to see God and see what God is doing.
Speaker 1: The second interpretation, and here's the third one. Okay, there's
Speaker 1: a pattern.
Speaker 2: Here's three branches on the vinus, three interpretations and joseph life.
Speaker 2: And this one, this last one that I want to
Speaker 2: show you, is going to be the most difficult of all,
Speaker 2: because now Joseph has to interpret not the prisoner's dream,
Speaker 2: the cup baker, cup baker, it's new things. Cup baker
Speaker 2: bakes cups, the cup bearer, and the baker.
Speaker 1: But the second interpretation of Pharaoh's dream.
Speaker 2: Was easy in comparison to Joseph's final test, when he
Speaker 2: had to interpret his own dream, and to do that
Speaker 2: he had to face his own pain, because remember I
Speaker 2: told you when he was seventeen years old, he had
Speaker 2: a dream where he saw all these sheaves of grain
Speaker 2: that his brothers were out in the field harvesting, and
Speaker 2: his was at the middle, and they all bowed down
Speaker 2: to him. And perhaps in his immature eagerness to be important,
Speaker 2: he went and told his brothers what he saw, and
Speaker 2: that's one of the reasons they hated him.
Speaker 1: I mean many reasons.
Speaker 2: His father liked him better because he came from the
Speaker 2: wife Rachel that Jacob really loved, and his dad gave
Speaker 2: him this Gucci coat, and so many reasons why he
Speaker 2: was hated and theirs her from target. But it's crazy
Speaker 2: because you know now he's standing in front of him.
Speaker 2: READI you the passage, and you imagine how emotional this
Speaker 2: would have been. Because the famine that Joseph predicted is
Speaker 2: now in full swing. It's been seven years of plenty.
Speaker 2: Joseph has stored up all the supplies and so they're
Speaker 2: ready for it. But he won't ready for this because
Speaker 2: two years into the famine, seven years of plenty, and
Speaker 2: two years into the seven year famine, Jacob sends all
Speaker 2: of his boys, Joseph's brothers to Egypt because he heard
Speaker 2: there was grain there, and Joseph is the one who's
Speaker 2: in control of the pantry.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Sometimes God will test you by putting you in a
Speaker 2: position to see how you will deal with somebody who
Speaker 2: hurt you, and how you interpret that moment has everything
Speaker 2: to do with what happens next and how much God
Speaker 2: can trust you. And I'm gonna read it to you
Speaker 2: just like it says it in verse one. Start from
Speaker 2: verse one of Genesis forty five. He's been with his brothers.
Speaker 2: This is the second time that he's seen them. He's
Speaker 2: been dealing with a wide array I'm sure of different
Speaker 2: instincts and impulses of how.
Speaker 1: He should deal with them.
Speaker 2: He hasn't let them know yet who he is because
Speaker 2: he's dressed like an Egyptian, and so they don't recognize him.
Speaker 1: You know, some people in your.
Speaker 2: Life don't recognize the you that you are now, not
Speaker 2: only because of what you've been through in life, but
Speaker 2: because God has taken you to a different place.
Speaker 1: And what he did this very interesting.
Speaker 2: In Genesis forty two, it says he spoke to them
Speaker 2: through an interpreter, so he pretended like he couldn't understand them,
Speaker 2: and he played tricks on him. It's an epic story.
Speaker 2: We can't preach it today because this is one principle
Speaker 2: I'm trying to illustrate, but it would be well worth
Speaker 2: your time to invest about forty five minutes.
Speaker 1: And read the whole thing.
Speaker 2: But when he finally decided to reveal himself to his brothers.
Speaker 1: It triggered that trauma.
Speaker 2: Of the day when he was so hated by them
Speaker 2: that they dipped his robe in animal blood and sold
Speaker 2: him to the Ishmaelit caravan, and he ended up separated
Speaker 2: from everything that he knew.
Speaker 1: And in the Bible.
Speaker 2: Says in verse one, Joseph could not control himself before
Speaker 2: all those who stood by him, and so he cried,
Speaker 2: make everyone go out from me, so no one stayed
Speaker 2: with him. When Joseph made himself known to his brothers,
Speaker 2: he's all alone in front of the thing that hurt him,
Speaker 2: in front of the unfair situation that started this whole
Speaker 2: chain of events in his life. And now he has
Speaker 2: to decide how to interpret this encounter. And I'm preaching
Speaker 2: right to your life today, because you're standing in front
Speaker 2: of something that hurt you.
Speaker 1: You're standing in front of some things.
Speaker 2: That happened to you or didn't happen for you that
Speaker 2: should have, and standing before.
Speaker 1: His brothers, Joseph has a decision to make what is
Speaker 1: the interpretation of this?
Speaker 2: And now perhaps he remembers his dream that he had
Speaker 2: over twenty years ago where he saw all of his
Speaker 2: brothers bowing down to him, but he realized they would
Speaker 2: not be bowing down to him so that he could
Speaker 2: show off in front of them, but so that he
Speaker 2: could serve them. In this moment, he's very powerful. It's
Speaker 2: very powerful. What happens next, he's crying and he's hurting,
Speaker 2: and finally he reveals himself. In verse three, Joseph said
Speaker 2: to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?
Speaker 2: But his brothers could not answer him, for they were
Speaker 2: dismayed at his presence. And so Joseph said to his brothers,
Speaker 2: come near to me, please, because you really can't interpret
Speaker 2: what God is doing in your life from a distance.
Speaker 2: And he has to call the thing that has caused
Speaker 2: him so much pain closer in order to see what
Speaker 2: God would have him to do. And when they come closer,
Speaker 2: he identifies himself again and said, I am your brother.
Speaker 1: Joseph doesn't disassociate himself from them.
Speaker 2: He acknowledges his position before them, and then he mentions
Speaker 2: what they did to him, whom you sold into Egypt.
Speaker 1: In other words, it is your fault. I'm here verse five.
Speaker 2: And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves.
Speaker 1: Because you sold me here.
Speaker 2: For God sent me before you to preserve life.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 2: I really had to pray about that verse because it
Speaker 2: seemed like such a contradiction. He said, On one hand,
Speaker 2: please put it on the screen for just another moment.
Speaker 1: You sold me. Do you see that you sold me?
Speaker 2: So he is placing the blame for his situation on
Speaker 2: his brothers who stand before him. He's not denying their
Speaker 2: hand in bringing him into this situation, nor is he
Speaker 2: denying the dysfunction of it. You sold me, and it
Speaker 2: was wrong. You sold me out, you let me down.
Speaker 2: You are the reason. On one hand that I'm here.
Speaker 2: I would not be in Egypt. I would be back
Speaker 2: home if it were not for you. But watch the shift.
Speaker 2: This is the message that God gave me for somebody today,
Speaker 2: and I pray that you'll have ears to hear it
Speaker 2: and that God will will.
Speaker 1: Enlighten your spirit to receive it.
Speaker 2: He said, you sold me here for God sent me
Speaker 2: before you to preserve life. And what I was praying
Speaker 2: about is which one is it? Did they sell you
Speaker 2: or did God send you? And I kept praying about
Speaker 2: that because it sounds like he's talking out of both
Speaker 2: sides of his mouth, you sold me for God sent me.
Speaker 2: Notice the construct. He doesn't say you sold me, but
Speaker 2: God sent me. It's not even that he's contrasting the two.
Speaker 2: The second is a continuation of the first. God help
Speaker 2: me preach this Bible verse right now. This is the
Speaker 2: most anointed verse I've read all year. He said, you
Speaker 2: sold me, and it hurt me not but you sold me.
Speaker 1: For God sent me.
Speaker 2: Don't be mad about it, don't even punish yourself, and
Speaker 2: don't cower in my presence. You don't need to spend
Speaker 2: another day tormented by it, because now I see through it.
Speaker 2: It's been a lot of years since you pushed me
Speaker 2: in that pit. It's been a lot of years since
Speaker 2: you broke my heart. It's been a lot of years
Speaker 2: since my dad left me. It's been a lot of
Speaker 2: years since they walked out. It's been a lot of
Speaker 2: years since I went down. It's been a lot of
Speaker 2: years since.
Speaker 1: They lied on me. It's been a lot of years
Speaker 1: since they said I did it. It's been a lot
Speaker 1: of years, And now.
Speaker 2: I've got a I've got an interpretation of the event.
Speaker 2: I've been studying about this, and I realize it is
Speaker 2: not the event that determines the outcome.
Speaker 1: It is your interpretation of.
Speaker 2: The event that determines the outcome.
Speaker 1: And so watch this you'll be good. Sit down.
Speaker 2: The first one is the event you sold me. The
Speaker 2: second one is the interpretation God sent me.
Speaker 1: Which one are you going.
Speaker 2: To live in the event or the interpretation? And here's
Speaker 2: a better question. Here's a better question. Who is your interpreter?
Speaker 2: Are you interpreting your God through your life or your
Speaker 2: life through your God? Because see your interpreter. Sometimes it's
Speaker 2: not what's happening, it's how you are interpreting what's happening.
Speaker 1: Right. I thought she was sleeping, but she was really praying.
Speaker 2: I thought they didn't love me, but really they just
Speaker 2: couldn't be there for me because they were going through
Speaker 2: some of their own issues. Is not the event, it's
Speaker 2: the interpretation. I thought the fire came to kill me,
Speaker 2: but I found out God was using the fire that
Speaker 2: I thought was gonna kill me to refine me. So
Speaker 2: God will use a fire that nippechanesser started to refine.
Speaker 1: Me and bring me forth this gold.
Speaker 2: I don't just need the spirit of God to help
Speaker 2: me interpret tongues. I need God to help me interpret trauma.
Speaker 2: And trouble and trials, and so I'm praying like Paul
Speaker 2: told the church, to pray for the power to interpret.
Speaker 2: I need the power to interpret. How many of you
Speaker 2: need the power to interpret by the wisdom of the
Speaker 2: Spirit of God. You don't need the spirit of God
Speaker 2: to give you goose bumps. A lot of things can
Speaker 2: give you goosebumps. You know, if you put on Mariah Carey,
Speaker 2: I can make it through the rain right now. It's
Speaker 2: one of her lesser known hits, just off the album
Speaker 2: with the rainbow on it where she's not wearing enough clothes.
Speaker 2: So I never looked at the cover when I was
Speaker 2: a teenager. Well, anyway, the problem with that, it can
Speaker 2: give you a feeling. I don't need the spirit of
Speaker 2: God just to give me a feeling. If it's a feeling, great,
Speaker 2: But I need the Spirit of God to give me focus.
Speaker 2: The unique property of the Spirit of God. You know,
Speaker 2: you got the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: The Father that's the legislative branch of the government of God.
Speaker 1: He's the one who makes the laws.
Speaker 2: You've got the Son, who is the executive branch of
Speaker 2: the government of Heaven, who enforces the grace of God
Speaker 2: and takes the penalty of your sin because you can't
Speaker 2: keep the law.
Speaker 1: And then you've got the.
Speaker 2: Judicial branch, which is the Holy Spirit which lives inside
Speaker 2: of you. That helps you to get in a situation
Speaker 2: and say, I don't know what to do, I don't
Speaker 2: know what to say, but God, will you give me
Speaker 2: an interpretation of what the people in my life need
Speaker 2: right now this season I'm in right now, I need.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Or I'll get it wrong. I'll get it wrong. And
Speaker 2: some of us have the wrong interpreter. We are interpreting
Speaker 2: our present through our past. We are interpreting our purpose
Speaker 2: through our pain. We are interpreting our entire life through
Speaker 2: one little situation. We are interpreting our future through our flaws.
Speaker 2: When you have the wrong interpreter, messages everything up. The
Speaker 2: first time I went to speak in a country where
Speaker 2: they didn't speak English, the first international speaking trip that
Speaker 2: I remember was Australia that they speak kind of English.
Speaker 2: I have to pick on the ossis they shorten everything,
Speaker 2: kind of speak English, but they nickname everything.
Speaker 1: They call praise songs praisees, and that's weird.
Speaker 2: And when I go over there, they don't call me Steve,
Speaker 2: and they call me Steve, and there's an inn on
Speaker 2: my name for a reason my mom put it there.
Speaker 2: Would you please let my consonants come through customs and
Speaker 2: put the in on the end of my name.
Speaker 1: I love Australia. I've been there many times.
Speaker 2: But one time I went to preach in a place
Speaker 2: where they didn't speak English, and I called a wiser
Speaker 2: minister who had preached many times in international settings, and said,
Speaker 2: give me some just different things I need to know
Speaker 2: about preaching through an interpreter. Translator is for written, interpreter
Speaker 2: is for spoken. I said, I need some of your
Speaker 2: wisdom on speaking through an interpreter. He gave me a
Speaker 2: few things, but one thing he said that stood out.
Speaker 2: He said, First, pray that you get a good one.
Speaker 2: He said, because you'll think that he's saying what you said,
Speaker 2: and sometimes you can tell. I said, how will I
Speaker 2: tell if I have a bad interpreter? He said, one thing,
Speaker 2: he'll talk longer than you. When you finish your sentence,
Speaker 2: he'll say three sentences. That means he's putting something in
Speaker 2: that you didn't intend to say.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you all something?
Speaker 2: The devil has been putting some stuff in come on
Speaker 2: between what God has spoken to you. He puts thoughts
Speaker 2: in people's minds about you, in your mind that they
Speaker 2: weren't even thinking about you.
Speaker 1: Makes you paranoid. Oh man, look how they're looking at me.
Speaker 1: They don't like me.
Speaker 2: No, they actually don't like their husband, and they came
Speaker 2: to work in a bad mood because of something else
Speaker 2: that had nothing to do with you. But the devil
Speaker 2: will make you think that they don't like you because
Speaker 2: he's an.
Speaker 1: Interpreter that likes to add. He puts all that you have.
Speaker 2: You ever had this happen before in a situation where
Speaker 2: you start interpreting it wrong, And now all of a
Speaker 2: sudden you're thinking that they said things or thought things
Speaker 2: that they didn't say or think. He said, the other
Speaker 2: extreme you got to look out for. Sometimes they won't
Speaker 2: say everything that you just they'll cut it short, he said.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they'll leave stuff out. And that's what the enemy
Speaker 2: will do when you let him interpret your life. He'll
Speaker 2: only show you what's wrong with you. But he won't
Speaker 2: let you see how God is going to use everything
Speaker 2: that you consider to be a deficiency to bring you
Speaker 2: into your destiny. So he will only keep you confined
Speaker 2: come on church. That golf clap that's not even worth
Speaker 2: doing if you're going to brace God and worship God
Speaker 2: for what he's spoken over your life, and the fact
Speaker 2: that no man can add to it or subtract from it.
Speaker 2: If he said it, it will happen. If he said in.
Speaker 1: Three days he will rise.
Speaker 2: I might be on a cross now, baby, but resurrection
Speaker 2: power is in my god future. So before we leave
Speaker 2: this place today, I just want to give you five
Speaker 2: things to pray for. Don't get nervous where we are
Speaker 2: now approaching our initial dissent.
Speaker 1: Make sure your bibles are securely open.
Speaker 2: But I thought we would just spell out the word dream,
Speaker 2: because Joseph interpreted not only the dream of the prisoners,
Speaker 2: not only the dream of Pharaoh, but his own dream
Speaker 2: that he had at seventeen years old, not through the
Speaker 2: lens of what he had lost in his life.
Speaker 1: You know how you keep doing it? You keep get
Speaker 1: You keep focusing so much on.
Speaker 2: Who left you and the opportunity that you wasted that
Speaker 2: you keep bringing that forward with you into the next opportunity.
Speaker 2: And it's messing with you and you need the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: This is what the Holy Spirit does speak in tongues.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Shout at the top of your lungs, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Get a goosebump. I'll get one with you.
Speaker 2: We'll go, we'll goose will rub our goosebumps together.
Speaker 1: It's all wonderful.
Speaker 2: But what I really need the spirit of God for
Speaker 2: it is for those groans that words can't express.
Speaker 1: And I'll give them to you and we'll go and
Speaker 1: we'll call it a day, and we'll call it a series.
Speaker 2: But the first one that I'm praying for the power
Speaker 2: to interpret, like Paul said, because I know that interpretations
Speaker 2: belong to God. So I need God, God help me
Speaker 2: to interpret my desires. I don't sometimes know why I
Speaker 2: want what I want, and neither did Paul.
Speaker 1: He was like, what I want to do it? Don't
Speaker 1: do what I don't want to do it. Don't do
Speaker 1: that didn't make any sense. If you want to do it,
Speaker 1: you want to do it. What do you mean you
Speaker 1: want to do it? You don't do it?
Speaker 2: Like, well, there's flesh, there's the spirit. I got a
Speaker 2: new nature. I love God, and then four minutes later,
Speaker 2: I really.
Speaker 1: I really still love God, but.
Speaker 2: I love something that's the opposite of God too.
Speaker 1: And I don't know what to do, and I need
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit to show me why I want what
Speaker 1: I want, because if the Holy Spirit doesn't.
Speaker 2: Interpret my desires, I will run around my whole life
Speaker 2: trying to get what I want, and then when I
Speaker 2: get it, I won't even want what I've got. God,
Speaker 2: help me interpret my desires, because sometimes what will happen
Speaker 2: is it's not like one desire is divine and one
Speaker 2: is demonic, and you know there's no devil and no angel.
Speaker 1: Sometimes what the enemy will do to me.
Speaker 2: Is he'll take a god given desire and distort it.
Speaker 1: And what I really want is not a bad thing.
Speaker 1: It's not a bad desire.
Speaker 2: I notice a lot of people these days seem to
Speaker 2: want to be famous, famous for what famous?
Speaker 1: So I could be famous?
Speaker 2: Have you noticed that fame is like the number one
Speaker 2: cultural value now? And I was thinking about that as
Speaker 2: to why everybody wants to be famous.
Speaker 1: I mean, you think about it. Famous is kind of
Speaker 1: a weird thing.
Speaker 2: People aren't really built to receive that amount of attention.
Speaker 2: And when you see the number of famous people who
Speaker 2: are famous and don't even want to go on living,
Speaker 2: it should cause you to question what is the real
Speaker 2: thing that I want?
Speaker 1: Is it really fame? Is it really.
Speaker 2: Followers on some platform full of people who don't even
Speaker 2: know me, but only the presentation and projection that I
Speaker 2: choose to stage, the props that I put in my life?
Speaker 1: Is that really what I want? Do I really want
Speaker 1: to be noticed? Or do I really want to be known?
Speaker 2: Because I think a lot of times we're trying to
Speaker 2: be noticed and the real desires we want to be known?
Speaker 2: And the Spirit of God can show you your real
Speaker 2: desire to say, I know that you're doing all this
Speaker 2: to try to get people to notice you, but I'm
Speaker 2: the only one who really knows you. And see when
Speaker 2: people know you from a distance and they notice things
Speaker 2: about you, but they don't know the real you, and
Speaker 2: you still feel lonely. It's so important that you ask
Speaker 2: the Spirit of God things like this, What am I
Speaker 2: really spending fourteen sixteen hours a day working for?
Speaker 1: Is it really to give my kids the life that
Speaker 1: they Yeah? Is it really that?
Speaker 2: Are you really trying to prove something to somebody who's
Speaker 2: not even paying attention.
Speaker 1: Like early in Joseph's life, He's like, you were all
Speaker 1: bowing down to me.
Speaker 2: It was awesome twenty years later, he's the one crumbling
Speaker 2: on his knees because he realizes that the desire God
Speaker 2: gave him was not so he could be important, but
Speaker 2: so that he could have influence, not so he could
Speaker 2: have status, but so that he could be a servant. So, God,
Speaker 2: show me my desires, Show me which ones come from you,
Speaker 2: and help me. You know, I used to always pray
Speaker 2: Some thirty seven for it says, delight yourself in the Lord,
Speaker 2: and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Speaker 2: And an immature interpretation of that is God's going to
Speaker 2: give me what I want.
Speaker 1: You know, God's just peeling them off. You know what
Speaker 1: you want, what you want? What you want?
Speaker 2: Now, I look at it like he will give me
Speaker 2: the right desires. He will give me, I part unto me,
Speaker 2: the right desires. So I don't just come up wanting
Speaker 2: to impress people. But I start asking God, how can
Speaker 2: I be a blessing? Because I cannot simultaneously be a
Speaker 2: blessing if I'm trying to be Impressif so, I want
Speaker 2: to get out of my own way and ask God
Speaker 2: to interpret my desires. God, I want you, I want
Speaker 2: your presence in my life.
Speaker 1: God.
Speaker 2: I want your pleasure, your smile. God, I want harmony
Speaker 2: and peace with you, even if it costs me sometimes
Speaker 2: position with people. God, I don't want to just be popular.
Speaker 2: I want to live a life of purpose. I want
Speaker 2: to know that this matters and means something at the
Speaker 2: end of it all. So I need the power of
Speaker 2: interpretation for my desires. And see, you can't really have
Speaker 2: that if you don't get past rejection. So the second
Speaker 2: thing is, God, will you help me interpret my rejection?
Speaker 2: Will help me look at my brothers not just through
Speaker 2: the lens of what they did to me, but through
Speaker 2: the lens of what you want to do through me.
Speaker 1: I did not expect.
Speaker 2: An amen right there, but I didn't expect that level
Speaker 2: of silence. I'll tell you that right now, that that
Speaker 2: was just over the top. Praise Lord, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
Speaker 2: all of them. Yeah, because he says two things. He says,
Speaker 2: you rejected me, but God protected me. See it, you know,
Speaker 2: see it again on the screen? Do you. I can
Speaker 2: show it to you on the screen that push a button.
Speaker 2: It'll come right up on the screen. Genesis forty five
Speaker 2: to five.
Speaker 1: You sold me.
Speaker 2: God sent me to preserve life. So when I was seventeen,
Speaker 2: it felt like rejection. But now that I've grown, and
Speaker 2: now that I've experienced the grace of God, and now
Speaker 2: that I've let go of the resentment and I refuse.
Speaker 1: To hold on to it.
Speaker 2: I see that what man calls rejection, sometimes God calls protection.
Speaker 1: Some of the.
Speaker 2: People who left you, God was removing them.
Speaker 1: God wanted to do some things for you that only.
Speaker 2: He could do, and if he had let them say yes,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Have been ready for what was match. I'm gonna come
Speaker 1: back to these and preach a whole series on them.
Speaker 2: Each one. I'm gonna preach a series on dream. I
Speaker 2: promise you I will do it. If you stay here
Speaker 2: long enough, I will do it. I might be ninety
Speaker 2: three years old, board over three.
Speaker 1: I'm APPRECIAU singer because I gotta get God to help.
Speaker 2: Me interpret what my desires and rejection, and then I
Speaker 2: gotta make sure that God filters my emotions. So God,
Speaker 2: help me interpret my emotions because I know what I feel. Well,
Speaker 2: let me be honest as a man. Sometimes I don't
Speaker 2: even know what I feel. And being married has helped
Speaker 2: me so much with interpretation. I really love my wife.
Speaker 2: I jokingly call Holly the Holly Spirit. It's only half joking.
Speaker 2: She's a great interpreter. She interprets things. One time we
Speaker 2: were fighting about a bill. I think it was like
Speaker 2: three two hundred and forty three dollars. And guess what
Speaker 2: I didn't have in the bank account three thousand, two
Speaker 2: hundred and forty whatever. I said, dollars, And I got
Speaker 2: so angry. I say, and I don't yell. I'm not
Speaker 2: the kind of guy that goes around yelling at his wife.
Speaker 1: But I was yelling at her this day. This was
Speaker 1: years ago.
Speaker 2: This was like, you know, the early stage is a marriage,
Speaker 2: and so you know, you'll forgive me for being angry.
Speaker 2: But she she, at one point in the argument, goes,
Speaker 2: why are you so angry?
Speaker 1: I said, that'sens around. You know what I was telling
Speaker 1: the truth. I wasn't really angry.
Speaker 2: I was afraid, and it was expressing itself as anger.
Speaker 1: But she was able to interpret the fear that was
Speaker 1: driving my anger. And when she realized that I wasn't
Speaker 1: mad at her.
Speaker 2: I was mad at the attorney who sent that bill,
Speaker 2: and mad at BB and T for not having enough
Speaker 2: money in my bank account to pay the attorney who
Speaker 2: sent the bill.
Speaker 1: See how an interpretation can change everything.
Speaker 2: She was able to realize, it's not me versus you
Speaker 2: in this moment, it's us versus this bill, and let's
Speaker 2: figure it out together. But if you don't pray for
Speaker 2: the power to interpret, you will just live at the
Speaker 2: level of the emotion and never know what is beneath
Speaker 2: the surface. And you will repeat the emotion on the
Speaker 2: next person who steps into the line of fire of
Speaker 2: your unfiltered experiences.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna download this podcast myself.
Speaker 2: I think, all right, so God help me interpret my emotion.
Speaker 1: So I say, I'm depressed. I'm in depression right now.
Speaker 2: Well, maybe maybe you are depressed or maybe you know
Speaker 2: sometimes it's just it's just Monday. You always feel this
Speaker 2: way on Monday.
Speaker 1: This hasn't been outside yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But if you don't ask God, God, see, do
Speaker 2: not interpretations belong to God.
Speaker 1: That's what Joseph knew.
Speaker 2: That's what Joseph knew because on one hand, emotionally, he's angry,
Speaker 2: he's crying, and he sends everybody out of his presence.
Speaker 2: But then beneath the emotion, he realized the reason now
Speaker 2: here's a good question, are you living at the level
Speaker 2: of reaction or reason? Because if you always just react, react, react, but.
Speaker 1: Never ask God, what is the reason I'm.
Speaker 2: Reacting this way, you will fix the wrong factors.
Speaker 1: And this is where a.
Speaker 2: Lot of preaching gets so mean and hateful and impossible,
Speaker 2: because we're correcting behaviors but not addressing the beliefs that
Speaker 2: drive the behaviors. So you'll hear a preacher sometimes preach
Speaker 2: against addiction, but why is she drinking six classes?
Speaker 1: Or you'll hear it preached.
Speaker 2: Against, you know, pornography or sexual addiction, and the preacher
Speaker 2: will never address the fact that you're reaching out for God.
Speaker 1: When you log on that site, you just don't know.
Speaker 2: It's God that you're reaching out for, so you're trying
Speaker 2: to fill it with something that leaves you more empty.
Speaker 2: But you're really reaching out for God. But what you
Speaker 2: really want isn't sex, it's connection. So you run around
Speaker 2: for sex, but you don't get connection because it's empty
Speaker 2: because you never ask God why. And this takes reflection,
Speaker 2: and this takes sitting alone with God and even other
Speaker 2: people that you trust, and joining an e group and
Speaker 2: sharing some stuff that makes you uncomfortable, shameless plug. Today
Speaker 2: there's tenths outside join any group. She again interpret Pharaoh said,
Speaker 2: I need someone interpret my drink. The prisoner said, someone
Speaker 2: interpreted the dream. But really I need God to help
Speaker 2: me interpret not only the hard things I've been through.
Speaker 1: But look at Joseph. Now he's in a position of power.
Speaker 2: Not only does have the power of interpretation that God
Speaker 2: has given him, but he has the power to punish
Speaker 2: his brothers or provide for them.
Speaker 1: And what's he going to do with his advantage? That's
Speaker 1: the fourth one.
Speaker 2: God, show me the advantages that you've given me, and
Speaker 2: show me why you gave.
Speaker 1: Them to me.
Speaker 2: Because when people receive advantages, but they think that the
Speaker 2: purpose for the advantage so that they can call attention
Speaker 2: to themselves, that's when leaders become toxic. That's when rich
Speaker 2: people become oppressive. The hard thing is sometimes recognizing the advantage.
Speaker 1: Because remember when David.
Speaker 2: Killed Goliath, and Bible says that after he killed him,
Speaker 2: he took his sword. I always thought that was an
Speaker 2: illustration of how today's attack can become tomorrow's advantage.
Speaker 1: You sold me for God sent me, and the.
Speaker 2: Whole time that people were pushing me in a pit.
Speaker 2: God was preparing me so that I could provide with
Speaker 2: the power that He's given me.
Speaker 1: And maybe the reason that you went through.
Speaker 2: The attack is so that you could have an advantage.
Speaker 2: Do you hear me, Just forget I'm talking. Hear this
Speaker 2: from God. He wanted to say this to you, and
Speaker 2: he's just using me to do it. Quit calling it
Speaker 2: an attack. It's an advantage. Quit calling it a weakness
Speaker 2: because it is in your weakness that.
Speaker 1: He is strong. Quit being ashamed of it.
Speaker 2: Quit trying to run from it, hide it and numb
Speaker 2: it and cover it up. The attack is the advantage.
Speaker 2: And you know what Paul said. He said, I am
Speaker 2: convinced that the sufferings of this present time are not
Speaker 2: even worthy to be compared with the glory that will
Speaker 2: be revealed.
Speaker 1: So I interpret my.
Speaker 2: Pain through the lens of God's purpose and my feelings
Speaker 2: through my faith. So God give me the power to interpret.
Speaker 2: Not just to interpret when I get there, not just
Speaker 2: to interpret when it's all better. But God, help me
Speaker 2: to interpret when I'm in the middle. I'm in the middle.
Speaker 2: Joseph spent twenty years with a dream they contradicted everything
Speaker 2: he was facing in his situation. And yet the most
Speaker 2: frequent line that is repeated in the account of his
Speaker 2: life is this, the Lord was with.
Speaker 1: Joseph.
Speaker 2: You know, that's not something you always feel. That's not
Speaker 2: something that you can always prove. That's not something that
Speaker 2: you always have facts to back it up. But I
Speaker 2: don't need facts. I got faith. I don't need feelings.
Speaker 2: I've got faith God. I want to interpret my life
Speaker 2: as it unfolds through the lens that you love me
Speaker 2: and that you're with me. And I need a faith
Speaker 2: interpretation because you know, Church, the world is trying to
Speaker 2: give us a fear interpretation every single day, and if
Speaker 2: you read the paper, it's a fear interpretation. But when
Speaker 2: I come to God, I can look at everything in
Speaker 2: my life and look at it through the lens of
Speaker 2: what He's spoken to me. And the power of interpretation
Speaker 2: is to confess the presence of God in every situation,
Speaker 2: whether you feel it or not. And if you need
Speaker 2: God to show you something right now in your life,
Speaker 2: stand to your feet so I can pray for you.
Speaker 2: Because this message was not meant for those who just
Speaker 2: want to live by your five senses. And this message
Speaker 2: was not intended for those who just want to spend
Speaker 2: the rest of their life blaming people. And this message
Speaker 2: was not for those who everything is easy and you
Speaker 2: can always explain it and you understand it all. This
Speaker 2: message is for someone who needs an interpretation.
Speaker 1: God. I don't need you to explain everything to me.
Speaker 1: You're God and I'm not. But I need to know God,
Speaker 1: what you are doing in this moment of my life.
Speaker 1: I don't want to spend the.
Speaker 2: Rest of my life projecting stuff. I need an interpretation,
Speaker 2: Paul said, pray for the power of interpretation. You can't
Speaker 2: get this on your own. You can't get this by logic.
Speaker 2: You can't see this on a spreadsheet. You cannot consult
Speaker 2: bank accounts and other people and books in a library.
Speaker 2: This only comes from God.
Speaker 1: God. I need an interpretation.
Speaker 2: I need to know why my kids are acting crazy
Speaker 2: right now. I need to know God, why my money
Speaker 2: is acting funny right now.
Speaker 1: I need to know why they said no.
Speaker 2: I need to know why this keeps happening. I need
Speaker 2: to know why this pattern keeps submerging.
Speaker 1: And I need to know more than anything.
Speaker 3: That you are with me in this moment, even when
Speaker 3: I don't feel it. I need an interpretation. Do not
Speaker 3: interpretations belong to God. Doesn't he have the power to
Speaker 3: show you why I made you? Doesn't he have the
Speaker 3: power to comfort you in all of your trouble. Doesn't
Speaker 3: he have the power to assure you of His presence
Speaker 3: in this moment? Father, thank you for your word, and
Speaker 3: thank you for your people. And I pray that today
Speaker 3: I have been a faithful interpreter of what you said
Speaker 3: through Joseph, and what you said through Paul, and what
Speaker 3: you're saying to each life represented in this place. Today
Speaker 3: I asked God that you would interpret the message exactly
Speaker 3: as each hearer needs to receive it. In fact, if
Speaker 3: you would just lift your hands right now and show
Speaker 3: the Lord that you're listening, we'll receive from you in
Speaker 3: this moment.
Speaker 1: As you speak to us. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.