Speaker 1: If we haven't met before. My name's Chet I'm the
Speaker 1: pastor at our university city campus. You see, it's no
Speaker 1: place like it eighty one oh five. I VM job
Speaker 1: in the North side of Charlotte. I love you, I
Speaker 1: love you. I love you. And it's such an honor
Speaker 1: to be able to open up God's Word with you today.
Speaker 1: And I'm excited about it. I'm really really excited about it.
Speaker 1: God's been dealing with me over the last Really, I
Speaker 1: feel like God's been showing me this message over the
Speaker 1: last year, and to be able to have a moment
Speaker 1: to release it today, I'm full. I'm really, really, really full.
Speaker 1: And before I jump into God's Word, I just got
Speaker 1: to tell you I love my church. Do you love
Speaker 1: your church? Do you love your church? I love my church.
Speaker 1: I love my church. You know, in a week like
Speaker 1: this week, when you've all been scrolling on Instagram and
Speaker 1: watching the news seeing the devastation of Hurricane Ian this week,
Speaker 1: I got to see God move in such a powerful way.
Speaker 1: But I love the vision of our church. See what
Speaker 1: God can do through you. And so we've been praying
Speaker 1: this week as a church. We've been praying for families
Speaker 1: and praying for everybody that's been affected, but not only praying.
Speaker 1: We've been showing up. Your church has been showing up.
Speaker 1: I wanted to just share a couple of things with you.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're partnering with over nine partners across the
Speaker 1: Melbourne and Orlando area with our campus is there. Matter
Speaker 1: of fact, today is Coop's birthday our Melverne campus pastor
Speaker 1: Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday book. But when I was thinking
Speaker 1: about all that's going on, like I mean, Convoy of Hope,
Speaker 1: Samaritan's Person Mission and Hope are on the ground providing
Speaker 1: relief efforts right now. Earlier this year, maybe you packed
Speaker 1: some of these hygiene kits. I'm talking about fifty thousand
Speaker 1: hygien kits that are being distributed right now. We've given
Speaker 1: Convoy a Hope over five hundred thousand dollars in supplies
Speaker 1: in two hundred and fifty thousand to go towards disaster
Speaker 1: relief efforts. Tell your neighbors say I love, I love
Speaker 1: I love, I love my church. We don't just talk
Speaker 1: about making a difference. We are making a difference. Sit
Speaker 1: and at the beginning of October, I could not stand
Speaker 1: on this stage and not honor my pastors, Pastor Stephen
Speaker 1: and Holly and Holly Burdenson. Tell your neighbors say, I
Speaker 1: love my pastors. I love my pastors. I got to
Speaker 1: sneak in to reflect and I snuck in at U
Speaker 1: see and Hollywood was just so surgical in the way
Speaker 1: that she ministered to the women of our church. And
Speaker 1: I can't wait. I can't wait to see God continue
Speaker 1: to give her fresh revelation and continue to inspire through
Speaker 1: our Creus ministry. All that Holly's doing, it's amazing. What
Speaker 1: about Pastor Steven. It would be easy to sit and
Speaker 1: talk about the messages, the sermons, and the songs that
Speaker 1: God has used him to released into the world. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe you know like me, I sometimes here these messages
Speaker 1: like is he bugging my Phone's it been following me?
Speaker 1: But I really wanted to tell you guys about a
Speaker 1: moment that we had in a staff meeting. I was
Speaker 1: leading this staff meeting. It was a whole staff, all
Speaker 1: of our campuses, all of our central teams, the Digital team,
Speaker 1: HR team, everybody was together. Everybody was together in the room.
Speaker 1: All of our campus inside Charlotte, outside Charlotte were all
Speaker 1: together in one room. We were worshiping, We were praying,
Speaker 1: we had some updates and things to share, and I'm
Speaker 1: leading this meeting and we had some prayer time and
Speaker 1: I'm up leading and I look down and I make
Speaker 1: eye contact with pastor and he just waits for me
Speaker 1: to come off the stage. So I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: what did I do? What did I do? I walked
Speaker 1: downstage and I got next to him and he says,
Speaker 1: give LB the microphone. I said, what did I mess up?
Speaker 1: I thought I was doing a good job. He said,
Speaker 1: bow your head, and he put his hands on my
Speaker 1: shoulders and he began to pray for me. And the
Speaker 1: first thing that he said, the first thing that he
Speaker 1: said was the worder of the Lord is is rest.
Speaker 1: God says, sleep well tonight. Custer didn't know. I didn't
Speaker 1: call him and tell him that there were a few
Speaker 1: nights that I was just up laid and I couldn't sleep.
Speaker 1: Because who knows that life be life in sometimes things,
Speaker 1: things be happening sometimes, and life doesn't stop. Because I'm
Speaker 1: struggling and I'm going through something. I stepped the show up,
Speaker 1: and in that moment, he prayed for me, spoke life
Speaker 1: into me, and in that moment, I knew that he
Speaker 1: cared more about me as a man. He cared more
Speaker 1: about me as the husband that he's called me to be,
Speaker 1: the father that he's called me to be, than anything
Speaker 1: that I could ever do on a stage or in
Speaker 1: a pulpit. And for that, I'm so forever grateful. I
Speaker 1: love I love, I love my pastors. And he asked
Speaker 1: me to preach today, and that's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm gonna do. So we're gonna go to
Speaker 1: Genesis chapter forty one. We can go to Genesis chapter
Speaker 1: forty one and read a few scriptures, and I'm believing
Speaker 1: that God's gonna show up in a powerful, powerful way.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start at verse thirty eight. We're gonna start
Speaker 1: at verse thirty eight. I'm gonna spend some time with
Speaker 1: Joseph today, and this is what it says. It says,
Speaker 1: so Pharaoh asked them, can we find anyone like this man,
Speaker 1: one in whom is the spirit of God? Then Pharaoh
Speaker 1: said to Joseph, since God has made all things known
Speaker 1: to you, there is no one so discerning and wise
Speaker 1: as you. I gotta pause right there and give the
Speaker 1: wives of little heads up. This would be a good
Speaker 1: verse for you to send to your husband. Just send
Speaker 1: it from time to time. Add some hearts and some
Speaker 1: kissy faces in it. Just listen to They said, can
Speaker 1: we find anyone like this man, one in whom is
Speaker 1: the spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said it, so the
Speaker 1: six God has made all of this known to you.
Speaker 1: There is no one so discerning, And so whyts sinnate senate?
Speaker 1: This week? You might get a you might get a blessing.
Speaker 1: Verse forty it says you shall be in charge of
Speaker 1: my palace, and all my people are to submit to
Speaker 1: your orders. Only with respect to the throne. Will I
Speaker 1: be greater than you? So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I
Speaker 1: hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.
Speaker 1: Then Pharaoh took his senate ring from his finger, and
Speaker 1: he put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in
Speaker 1: robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain around
Speaker 1: his neck. If I was talking to my boys or
Speaker 1: to the youth, they would say, he's Joseph's getting drippy.
Speaker 1: His drip goes hard. That's what they would have said.
Speaker 1: That's what they would have said. Verse forty three says
Speaker 1: he had him ride in a chariot, a second in command,
Speaker 1: and all the people shouted before him make way. Does
Speaker 1: he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.
Speaker 1: Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh. But without
Speaker 1: your word, no one will lift a hand or foot
Speaker 1: in Egypt. Let's pray God, we love you, We thank you.
Speaker 1: Give us ears to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 1: Open our hearts to receive whatever it is you want
Speaker 1: to speak to us. Have your way in this place.
Speaker 1: We love you, We thank you. And this in Jesus' name,
Speaker 1: I pray a man. Amen. Amen. Before you take your seat,
Speaker 1: I need you to look at your neighbor to the left,
Speaker 1: look your neighbor to the right, and I need you
Speaker 1: to give them both a compliment, Now, a real compliment.
Speaker 1: Give them a compliment. If you smell their cologne, tell
Speaker 1: them you smell good. You like their heads that make up?
Speaker 1: Say who did it? Yeah? You can be seated. You
Speaker 1: can be seated. You can be seated. It's something about
Speaker 1: encouragement that just made you smile, didn't it. You know
Speaker 1: when you released that compliment. It just does something. It
Speaker 1: just does something. It just does something. But hey, I
Speaker 1: want to start with this. You know, many of you
Speaker 1: we haven't got to meet before. And one of the
Speaker 1: things you want to know about me is I am
Speaker 1: very competitive. I'm extremely competitive. I don't care what it is.
Speaker 1: As matter of fact, we got a spades tournament coming
Speaker 1: up for the stat Do I have any real space player,
Speaker 1: any real space player in it? We'll find out this week.
Speaker 1: Now I won't say his name, but I've been getting
Speaker 1: some text that talking a little smack and and you know,
Speaker 1: you see hear me and my partner. We got some chemistry.
Speaker 1: We've been doing this for a little bit. We won
Speaker 1: some some competition, some tournaments in the past, and you know,
Speaker 1: but uh, but Chump's been texting me talking about I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go down this week and just pray, just pray.
Speaker 1: I don't get let go or anything after after I
Speaker 1: handle some business. I'm extremely competitive. I don't care what
Speaker 1: it is, even if I'm playing checkers. Like, even if
Speaker 1: I'm playing Checkers, I mean, I mean, smoke before fire.
Speaker 1: Who knows how to play flying kings, Flying kings, Flying Kings.
Speaker 1: I'm real, I'm real, I'm real. But that's a there's
Speaker 1: a moment in the game of checkers for the tables turn.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're making your way from one side
Speaker 1: of the board all the way to the other side
Speaker 1: of the board, you don't jump some pieces, some of
Speaker 1: your pieces have gotten jumped. And then you make it
Speaker 1: into that spot. You make it into that spot. And now,
Speaker 1: if you're like me, you're real competitive. When you get
Speaker 1: to that spot, you say it with swagger. You know,
Speaker 1: you say it with your chest. You step into it,
Speaker 1: and what do you say, king me? Hey? The title
Speaker 1: of my message today is king me, king me, king me,
Speaker 1: king me, because I believe that some of you are
Speaker 1: waiting until you get to a certain position, You get
Speaker 1: to a certain spot, and when you get there, you'll
Speaker 1: be able to have so much authority, so much power.
Speaker 1: The thing about the game of checkers, I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it because when I get
Speaker 1: to that spot, the other player, my opponent has to
Speaker 1: take a piece that they took from me. They have
Speaker 1: to take a piece that they took from me, place
Speaker 1: it on my piece, and say, king me, maybe you
Speaker 1: would take a moment and praise God because there's some
Speaker 1: things that's been taken from you and you're like, I
Speaker 1: need my piece back, I need my joy back. I
Speaker 1: need to be happy again. I feel like I'm losing energy.
Speaker 1: Give it back, Give it back, give it back. There's
Speaker 1: something about when you get to that spot. From that
Speaker 1: moment on, I'm talking junk the rest of the game.
Speaker 1: I'm talking junk the rest of the game. But this
Speaker 1: is where, this is where we are in Joseph's life.
Speaker 1: You say he's at this moment where you know he's
Speaker 1: given charge over all of Egypt. Then, and I don't
Speaker 1: know about you. Actually, I dreamed. I dreamed of being
Speaker 1: the man like I dreamed of it. I dreamed of
Speaker 1: being the captain on my basketball team. I dreamed, I
Speaker 1: dreamed of it. You know, I dreamed. I dreamed of
Speaker 1: having a beautiful wife in perfect Kids. I did hear
Speaker 1: the picture of my family, they have it up on
Speaker 1: the screens. I dreamed of this. I really did of
Speaker 1: a beautiful wife. I got a beautiful wife. She's God.
Speaker 1: God did that. He did that. I'm still praying for
Speaker 1: perfect kids. I love my boys. I love them. I
Speaker 1: love them. They are amazing. They're amazing. They're amazing. I
Speaker 1: love them. I love and I love them. You know,
Speaker 1: I dreamed, I dreamed of having, you know, a big
Speaker 1: house with a white picket fence and all that I
Speaker 1: dreamed of it I dreamed of happening one day. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing I didn't dream of. I didn't dream
Speaker 1: of painting that fence. I didn't dream of painting it.
Speaker 1: You see, sometimes sometimes what you dream of you don't
Speaker 1: picture the demand that comes with it or the responsibility
Speaker 1: that comes with it. Or sometimes sometimes you don't see
Speaker 1: that you see, sometimes what you pictured isn't even what
Speaker 1: God promised you see, I'm trying to get you to
Speaker 1: understand that sometimes we've been having a picture or dreaming
Speaker 1: of what this would be like when you got to
Speaker 1: that spot. And so God's been dealing with me about
Speaker 1: this idea of being in charge, of being in charge.
Speaker 1: You see, Joseph's story was less about him going from
Speaker 1: the pit to the palace. It was more about him
Speaker 1: going from having a respective of being in charge to
Speaker 1: being a servant. And so I want to take some
Speaker 1: time today because sometimes the way that God deals with
Speaker 1: me to show me what something is, he'll show me
Speaker 1: what it isn't first, like He'll omit some thing so
Speaker 1: then I could figure it out. And so here's what
Speaker 1: I want to do, because I do believe that you're
Speaker 1: in charge, your son, daughter of God. I believe that
Speaker 1: he puts you in positions. You have authority, you have influence,
Speaker 1: and I believe that. But we got to understand what
Speaker 1: this means. And so here's the first thing I want
Speaker 1: you to write down. Being in charge isn't a choice.
Speaker 1: Being in charge isn't a choice. Joseph's story goes from
Speaker 1: Genesis chapter thirty seven all the way to Genesis fifty.
Speaker 1: You gotta go back in your own time and read
Speaker 1: this story. There's so much in it. But when you
Speaker 1: go and you read Joseph's story, what's powerful to me
Speaker 1: is this idea that everywhere Joseph went received a promotion,
Speaker 1: but he never asked to be promoted. Going read to
Speaker 1: go and read to yourself. Fact check me, fact check me.
Speaker 1: Everywhere Joseph went, he was promoted, and he didn't ask
Speaker 1: for a promotion. I can't see in scripture where he
Speaker 1: asked his father to be his favorite son. I can't
Speaker 1: see that he asked his father. I can't see when
Speaker 1: he was at Potiphar's house, he never said make me headmaster.
Speaker 1: When he went to prison, he never went to the
Speaker 1: prison ward and said hey, I could run this side
Speaker 1: of the week, and he never went to federalh and said, please,
Speaker 1: please please make me second in command. Being in charge
Speaker 1: isn't a choice. Now, there's two ways we can look
Speaker 1: at this. One way gets me excited. I start shouting,
Speaker 1: because who knows that God will answer prayers that you
Speaker 1: don't even have the faith to pray sometimes that sometimes
Speaker 1: God will just show up in ways. He'll put you
Speaker 1: in positions, he'll work some things out, and you didn't
Speaker 1: even ask for us. Some of you are in a
Speaker 1: position right now. You got promoted for it, and you
Speaker 1: know you're not qualified for it. Some of you are
Speaker 1: in rooms that you know you shouldn't be in. Here,
Speaker 1: You're like, how did I get here? How did I
Speaker 1: find myself in this spot? Moses didn't ask to lead
Speaker 1: the children of Israel out of slavery. Peter did not
Speaker 1: ask Jesus to get into his boat. You see, being
Speaker 1: in charge isn't a choice. The Lord will make you
Speaker 1: the head and not the tell who's above and not beneath,
Speaker 1: who's a lender, not a bar? You see, God will
Speaker 1: make you make you now now this scripture, right here,
Speaker 1: the Lord will make you the head that's something normal
Speaker 1: we shot about. But when I was studying this time
Speaker 1: put it up. This is dude, und chapter chapter twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Look at this. It says, the Lord will make you
Speaker 1: the head God. What if I don't want all that responsibility?
Speaker 1: Cause what if I don't want all that that comes
Speaker 1: with being the head. What if I don't want that
Speaker 1: and you just gonna make me? You just gonna make me.
Speaker 1: The more that I thought about this, I realized, you know,
Speaker 1: I have twin boys, Carson and Carter. They are eight.
Speaker 1: They're not eight. There are eleven, there are eleven. There
Speaker 1: are eleven. There are eleven. There are eleven, there are eleven.
Speaker 1: And I love these boys. The reason I said eight
Speaker 1: because all they do is eat, and like over it's
Speaker 1: all they're doing. They're just eating everything. I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you a story about my boys. I drive home, drive home,
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't notice Carson and Carter. They love to
Speaker 1: play basketball, and they're pretty good. They're pretty good. They
Speaker 1: love playing ball. And I would drive home. I would
Speaker 1: drive home and I would notice basketballs all over all
Speaker 1: over the neighborhood. I'm talking like, so this is basketball
Speaker 1: go that all the kids come to and I drive
Speaker 1: home and I see basketballs in the yards. I see
Speaker 1: basketballs in the street. I just see basketballs all over
Speaker 1: the place. So I came into the house that day
Speaker 1: and I said, hey, hey, listen, boys, I need you
Speaker 1: to make sure when you're done playing basketball, I need
Speaker 1: you to make sure that all of the balls are
Speaker 1: put up. Put them, put them by, put them by
Speaker 1: the garage, put them next to the goal. I don't
Speaker 1: want them all in the street. I don't want them
Speaker 1: all out in the yard. Now. I want you to
Speaker 1: do this for me too. Sometimes you won't be out
Speaker 1: there playing and you'll come out there and you'll see
Speaker 1: all the balls out there, and you'll be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I didn't do it. You're responsible for picking up the basketballs,
Speaker 1: even if our neighbor doesn't, even if the boy down
Speaker 1: down the street doesn't. You're responsible for making sure the
Speaker 1: basketballs get put up. You got my back on this. Boy,
Speaker 1: Say yeah, Dad, I got you. Well. A couple days later,
Speaker 1: I'm driving home and I see basketballs in the street,
Speaker 1: in the yard, and I see basketballs all over the place.
Speaker 1: I said, hey, boys, come outside, what is this. I
Speaker 1: see basketballs in the street, I see basketballs in the yard.
Speaker 1: I told you to be responsible for making sure these
Speaker 1: basketballs get put up. The first thing out of their
Speaker 1: mouth it was Noah. It was Noah next door Dad,
Speaker 1: it was Noah Son. Do I feed Noah Son? Do
Speaker 1: I buy Noah's men's shoes that they're wearing. Now. The
Speaker 1: reason why this is so so important because some of
Speaker 1: you be like, why are you so passionate about making
Speaker 1: them pick up the basketballs? Why are you so passionate?
Speaker 1: Because I'm not so passionate about the basketballs and making
Speaker 1: them do something. I'm passionate about making them into something.
Speaker 1: You see, God's called me to raise these boys to
Speaker 1: be strong, confident, responsible men of God. Some of you
Speaker 1: have been in a season where you're like, God, why
Speaker 1: are you making me do this? Why are you making
Speaker 1: me go through this? God? Why are you making me?
Speaker 1: Why are you making me? Why are you making me?
Speaker 1: And God is like, I'm making you, I'm forming you.
Speaker 1: My hands are owing you. And so sometimes I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ask you to do some things you don't like. Sometimes
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you in positions that you're struggling with.
Speaker 1: You gotta understand that being in charge, it isn't a
Speaker 1: choice and some of you are here today because God's
Speaker 1: been making you for a long time. Some of you,
Speaker 1: some of you don't act pride forel now, don't act
Speaker 1: pride for now. If it wasn't for the hand of
Speaker 1: God making you, forming you, that no way you'd be
Speaker 1: able to take care of your family. There's no way
Speaker 1: you'd be able to keep that job. There's no way
Speaker 1: you'd be able to stay off that substance. There's no
Speaker 1: way God's been making you. Tell your neighbors, say, he's
Speaker 1: making me, He's making me, He's making me, He's making
Speaker 1: me in charge. Isn't about you, It isn't about you.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbors say, it isn't about you. Now, when
Speaker 1: you start walking in confidence, you start walking in boldness,
Speaker 1: you start making sure that you live this thing out,
Speaker 1: you can walk out this shoe. That being in charge
Speaker 1: isn't about you. Now we're gonna pick up at a
Speaker 1: moment in Joseph's life, because Joseph has gone through some things,
Speaker 1: some ups and downs, and we find ourselves where he
Speaker 1: has been sold into slavery by his brothers, and he's
Speaker 1: now in Potiphar's house. He's now in Potiphar's house, and remember,
Speaker 1: being in charge isn't about you. And so you gotta
Speaker 1: understand that wherever Joseph went, he made an impact. Wherever
Speaker 1: Joseph went, he made a difference. And I want to
Speaker 1: show you a picture of this. In Genesis chapter thirty nine,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go to verse two. This is what it says.
Speaker 1: It says the Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered,
Speaker 1: and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master
Speaker 1: when his master saw him the Lord, and that the
Speaker 1: Lord was with him, and that the Lord gave him
Speaker 1: success in everything he did. Joseph found favor in his
Speaker 1: eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge
Speaker 1: of his whole household, and he entrusted everything that he
Speaker 1: owned to his care. From the time he put him
Speaker 1: in charge of his household and all that he owned,
Speaker 1: the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because Joseph
Speaker 1: was there. The blessing of the Lord was on everything
Speaker 1: Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
Speaker 1: The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had
Speaker 1: because Joseph was there. Can the same be said about you?
Speaker 1: Is your family better because you're in it. Is your
Speaker 1: organization better because you're a part of it. Is the
Speaker 1: team that you're on better because you're on that team?
Speaker 1: Is your school better because you're a student at that
Speaker 1: high school? You See. The thing that you got to
Speaker 1: understand is that being in charge, being in high places,
Speaker 1: it's not about you. Wherever Joseph went it was better
Speaker 1: because of him. Why. That's why I told you I
Speaker 1: love my church. But you want ano the real reason
Speaker 1: I love my church is because this is a generous church,
Speaker 1: because this is a selfless church. I want to take
Speaker 1: a moment and celebrate all of the men and women
Speaker 1: that give faithfully at Elevation Church. I want to thank
Speaker 1: the men and women that serve faithfully at Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about our ee, the kids volunteers that are
Speaker 1: taking care of your crazy kids right now, that are
Speaker 1: teaching them about Jesus right now. I want to think
Speaker 1: are parking volunteers that park your car. I want to
Speaker 1: thank our users that pray for your seat so that
Speaker 1: you can come in and step into an atmosphere and
Speaker 1: feel the presence of God. When our volunteers walked in today,
Speaker 1: you know what they said, How can I make this
Speaker 1: place better? How can I make this place better? How
Speaker 1: can I make a difference. There's some people that walk
Speaker 1: in and they're just like, Hey, I want to hear
Speaker 1: a word. Where's my word? I want to hear my song. Hey.
Speaker 1: Regardless if you never do anything, this will be a
Speaker 1: place where God will show up and he'll speak to
Speaker 1: you and you can get what you need. But there's
Speaker 1: something different. There's a double blessing that happens when you
Speaker 1: walk in and say, God, use me, God, show up
Speaker 1: in my life. God, I'll help here. I'll show up
Speaker 1: there because being in charge is it about you. When
Speaker 1: you really get this and you start walking it out,
Speaker 1: there's a different kind of anointing that starts to come up.
Speaker 1: I want to let you know that anointing. Anointing is attractive.
Speaker 1: Anointing is attractive, and some of you is like you
Speaker 1: thought about the good attraction. But here's the thing that
Speaker 1: I've come to find out is that it's light that
Speaker 1: attracts bugs, not darkness. You turn a light on, books
Speaker 1: start coming from everywhere at nighttime, and so when you're
Speaker 1: starting to walk in this confidence, you're starting to walk
Speaker 1: with this swagger. Sometimes some books starts showing up and
Speaker 1: you're like, get out in my face. Something. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to do what God called me to do. Sometimes anointing
Speaker 1: gets attractive, and we got a moment where Joseph actually
Speaker 1: experiences the attraction. Now, some of you Bible scholars, you
Speaker 1: know where I'm going with this. You've read this time
Speaker 1: and time again. But there's maybe something that God hadn't
Speaker 1: showed you before. Because he really spoke to me when
Speaker 1: I went back and I read it. Because being in
Speaker 1: charge isn't about you. You find this in Genesis chapter
Speaker 1: thirty nine, verses six through nine, and I want to
Speaker 1: break this down a little bit. This is what it
Speaker 1: says in verse six. So Potiphar left everything he had
Speaker 1: in Joseph's care. With Joseph in charge, he did not
Speaker 1: concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now,
Speaker 1: Joseph was well built and handsome. You know what. I think.
Speaker 1: It was hot, it was July, and Joseph was walking
Speaker 1: around the palace in houchie daddy shorts. And I think,
Speaker 1: I think, because if he was wearing baggy clothes, how
Speaker 1: would they know he was well built? I think verse
Speaker 1: seven And after a while, his master's wife took notice
Speaker 1: of Joseph, and she said, come to bed with me. Now, listen,
Speaker 1: if you hadn't had this conversation with your child that's
Speaker 1: in here, I'll let you explain that later. But in
Speaker 1: verse eight it says, but he refused. With me in charge,
Speaker 1: he told her, my master does not concern himself with
Speaker 1: anything in the house. Everything he owns he has entrusted
Speaker 1: to my care. No one is greater in this house
Speaker 1: than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me
Speaker 1: except you, because you are his wife. How then could
Speaker 1: I do such a wicked thing in sin against God?
Speaker 1: I love? I love. We can learn from Joseph's heart
Speaker 1: right here is because the more that I thought about it,
Speaker 1: even though Joseph was in charge, he was still a slave.
Speaker 1: Even though Joseph was in charge, he still was a slave.
Speaker 1: So that tells me that it was his duty to
Speaker 1: do whatever his master told him to do. I am
Speaker 1: sure Potifar's wife had told him before, hey can you
Speaker 1: go and pick up this trash. I'm sure Potifar's wife
Speaker 1: at some point said, hey, can you come here? This
Speaker 1: is broken? Can you fix it? I'm sure Potifar's wife
Speaker 1: at some point said, hey, can you come and bring
Speaker 1: me a meal. But at the moment when he said,
Speaker 1: when she says, come and sleep with me, he said, no,
Speaker 1: I can't do that. You've gone too far. You see,
Speaker 1: it was his duty to be obedient, but she asked
Speaker 1: him to do something contrary to his beliefs. What I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say is is I don't want you operating
Speaker 1: out of culture standards. I want you operating out of
Speaker 1: God's standers. What I'm trying to get you to understand
Speaker 1: is God has a higher way, a different way, and
Speaker 1: sometimes you get isolated and you feel alone, but you
Speaker 1: gotta say no, Are you willing to offend God so
Speaker 1: you won't offend another man? Are you willing? I'm talking
Speaker 1: Let me talk to the student for a second. When
Speaker 1: you're walking in school and your friends are telling you
Speaker 1: to do this or do that, and some of you
Speaker 1: there's something inside of you that says, I just need
Speaker 1: to do it because I don't want to offend them.
Speaker 1: I want you to hear my voice. How about you
Speaker 1: make a decision today and say I would rather not
Speaker 1: offend God. I'd rather hurt your feelings. I'd rather not
Speaker 1: be in the room. I'd rather not be in a circle.
Speaker 1: I'd rather be let go. I'd rather lose it all
Speaker 1: than to defend God. This is so so important because
Speaker 1: being in charge it's not about you. You gotta understand this.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're running a business right now, or maybe you're
Speaker 1: a part of an organization and you're starting to notice
Speaker 1: that there's some shady things going on. You're starting to understand,
Speaker 1: and it's wrestling when it's messing with you, because it's
Speaker 1: just like, this is going against my morals. I feel
Speaker 1: conflicted inside if I'm struggling with this. You see, you
Speaker 1: gotta understand being in charge. It's not about you. Your
Speaker 1: kids are watching you. Your kids are watching there's some
Speaker 1: people in the organization watching you because you claim to
Speaker 1: be a follower Jesus, it's not about you. You gotta
Speaker 1: make a decision today, say I'll get past this, I'll
Speaker 1: get over this, but I will not offend my God.
Speaker 1: I will not go against him. So here's the last
Speaker 1: one that I want you to write down. I want
Speaker 1: you to write this down. Being in charge isn't the
Speaker 1: same as being in control. Being in charge isn't the
Speaker 1: same as being in control. You see, when you look
Speaker 1: at Joseph's life, you see this thread that there's some
Speaker 1: things that happened to Joseph that if he was in control,
Speaker 1: he would have stopped it. If he was in control,
Speaker 1: it would have never happened. He would have stopped his
Speaker 1: brothers from selling him into slavery. He would have been
Speaker 1: able to stop Potiphar's wife from lying on him, because
Speaker 1: you know what happened after he had that encounter Potiphar White.
Speaker 1: She goes and she lies and says that that Joseph
Speaker 1: came and tried to rape her. He would have stopped
Speaker 1: that lie and would have never been thrown into prison.
Speaker 1: And as I was thinking about you, so I was
Speaker 1: thinking about this moment, I wonder what you were dealing with.
Speaker 1: I wonder what you were going through. I wonder what
Speaker 1: challenges you face, what diagnosis is that the doctors have
Speaker 1: given to you. And you're like, hey, if I was
Speaker 1: in control, this would have never happened. Now, remember earlier
Speaker 1: I told you I dreamed of having the house, but
Speaker 1: I didn't dream of painting the fence. The reason why
Speaker 1: I said that is because I'm not handy. Listen, like, seriously,
Speaker 1: I am pretty I'm pretty awful when it comes to
Speaker 1: you put a hammer in my hand. I'm just ignorant,
Speaker 1: Like I just I don't know what to do. But
Speaker 1: we got a house a few years ago and we've
Speaker 1: been trying to add some things, and there was this
Speaker 1: one moment where I was like, hey, I think in
Speaker 1: the jury way, it'd be good if we had a
Speaker 1: coat rack like that. We can hang some coats right
Speaker 1: in the entryway. Thought it was a good idea, and
Speaker 1: so we went to Ikea and stops laughing at me,
Speaker 1: stop laughing at me. We went to Ikea. We went
Speaker 1: to Ikea and it was a simple, simple ship of rock.
Speaker 1: It was white pieces, just fucked in. Looked at it.
Speaker 1: I was like, I can do this. I can do this.
Speaker 1: So I got home, I downloaded the leveler app on
Speaker 1: my iPhone. It was gonna be straight. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: I got it. And so I went in. I grabbed
Speaker 1: two nails, grab two nails, laid it out. I marked
Speaker 1: out where the holes would go. I took my hammer
Speaker 1: and I put the nail and put the nail in
Speaker 1: and nodded it up, put it on and I pushed
Speaker 1: it in. It was looking good. I'm saying it was
Speaker 1: looking good. It was looking so good. Remember I told you,
Speaker 1: I'm competitive. I start talking to it. To my wife,
Speaker 1: I said, hey, may look at that. Check that out.
Speaker 1: Matter of fact, hey, may you go get your coat first?
Speaker 1: Put your put your coat on first. Baby, put it
Speaker 1: on first. She went and got her coat. She put
Speaker 1: that thing on. That thing said whoop. So I called.
Speaker 1: I called a guy from the church. I called a
Speaker 1: god from church. I was like, hey, I tried to
Speaker 1: put up this coat rack. I even downloaded the level
Speaker 1: app on my phone. It was straight. But right when
Speaker 1: my wife put the coat on, it fell off. He said, hey, Chad.
Speaker 1: He asked me one question, did you find the stud?
Speaker 1: What is a stud? What? What did? What are you
Speaker 1: talking about? What a stud? My my wife calls me
Speaker 1: a stud sometimes, but I have no idea what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. So so so God forbid something bad actually
Speaker 1: happens that I need to fix it. And it happened.
Speaker 1: It happened, It happened, It happened, It happened. So I
Speaker 1: want to tell you a quick story about for something
Speaker 1: that happened in in our in our in our bathroom,
Speaker 1: there was this, there was this leak. This there was
Speaker 1: this leak in in our in our master bath tub.
Speaker 1: It was real, real, and I noticed it, and uh,
Speaker 1: I ain't. I ain't do nothing for a little bit.
Speaker 1: And so you know, it was a slow drip. I
Speaker 1: was like, all right, like you know, just I was
Speaker 1: cool with that. Let's go down, I was like, but
Speaker 1: then it started going a little faster. And I started
Speaker 1: noticing it going a little faster, and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, that that water bill. Let me let me
Speaker 1: go check it out. So I went down and I
Speaker 1: got I got right there by the by the tub
Speaker 1: and this handles right here, and I was looking at
Speaker 1: U seeing the drip, and I said, maybe it just
Speaker 1: needs a little bit of elbow grease. Maybe it needs
Speaker 1: a little bit elbow grease. So I got enough sense
Speaker 1: to know that it's supposed to go forward and backwards,
Speaker 1: forward and backwards. So I was like, okay, let me
Speaker 1: just turn it on. So I turned it on. Let
Speaker 1: the water start running, and I was like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put some elbow grease on it to try to get
Speaker 1: this thing tight. So I take it and it did
Speaker 1: something funny. It didn't go forward and backwards. That thing
Speaker 1: said WHOA. I knew. I know it's not supposed to
Speaker 1: do that. I know now the water is flowing out.
Speaker 1: So I said, okay, maybe let me just see if
Speaker 1: I can get it back in place. So I took it.
Speaker 1: I turned it back in place, and it pops off.
Speaker 1: Now I'm a little claustrophobic, so I'm filling it right now.
Speaker 1: Water was everywhere. It was in my face, it was
Speaker 1: I was drowning. I said, help me, God, within me,
Speaker 1: cross the carter, help me. The boys come into the room.
Speaker 1: They got their arms crossed like this, just looking at me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, help me, I'm about to die. I finally,
Speaker 1: I finally grab a towel and I cover it up.
Speaker 1: And I cover it up. I'm like, what am I
Speaker 1: gonna do? What am I gonna do? And I remembered
Speaker 1: my neighbor. His name's Mike. So Mike, Mike's retired. His
Speaker 1: garage is always open, He's always working on something. So
Speaker 1: I was like, I know, I know, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: I know Mike can fixed this. Mike confixed this. God
Speaker 1: told me to tell you something right here, because some
Speaker 1: of you are still praying to God for something. He
Speaker 1: told you to go to a neighbor for I got
Speaker 1: a pause right here. I got a pause right here.
Speaker 1: Some of you you're struggling in your marriage, and you're like, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: we talk about e groups all the time, and you
Speaker 1: won't take that step to get some married couples around
Speaker 1: you to help you, to support you. Some of you
Speaker 1: still struggling in your finances and there's somebody that knows
Speaker 1: how to do a budget, and you're like, God, le's
Speaker 1: my finances. God's like, go to Mike. So that's what
Speaker 1: I did. That's what I did. Now, mind you, I'm
Speaker 1: soaking wet. I'm looking crazy. You know when you get
Speaker 1: water in your shoes and it starts quishing. I'm running
Speaker 1: across the street and I get to Mike. I get
Speaker 1: to Mike. I'm out of breath and I'm like, hey, Mike, Hey, Mike,
Speaker 1: Hey Mike. I'm like, hey, listen, listen, I broke this
Speaker 1: knob off, my off, my fox. I need you to come.
Speaker 1: I need you to come. I'm like, I'm thinking that
Speaker 1: water's gonna be coming through the ceiling. I'm thinking. I'm
Speaker 1: like my mind is going down. And said, Mike, come
Speaker 1: help me. He asked me one question. What he asked,
Speaker 1: how do you do that? Mike? I don't know how
Speaker 1: to turn the water out. Just come help me. So Mike,
Speaker 1: someboke comes out. Mike comes up, We go in to
Speaker 1: the garage. He shoed to be coming to the garage.
Speaker 1: Mike's amazing. Mike ran across the street barefoot, barefoot, barefoot, barefoot.
Speaker 1: And we get into the garage and he shows me this.
Speaker 1: He shows me this. This is the main water valve
Speaker 1: that's connected to the water main. You see, Mike taught
Speaker 1: me some things. And so so I'm in the I'm
Speaker 1: in the garage and I'm seeing this white the water main,
Speaker 1: and he says, check, this is the main valve controls
Speaker 1: the water to the whole house. And so he turns
Speaker 1: and he turns it a few times, and he turns
Speaker 1: it off, and he says, now there's no water that's
Speaker 1: flowing anywhere in the house, and so you can go
Speaker 1: upstairs and we can go ahead and we can fix that.
Speaker 1: NOD for you. God really spoke to me in that
Speaker 1: moment about our relationship with him, because being in charge
Speaker 1: isn't the same thing as being in control. I saw
Speaker 1: that God is in control. If he opens the door,
Speaker 1: nobody can shut it. If he's on it's flowing to me.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Some of us we get stuck there.
Speaker 1: God's in control, but we forget that we're in charge.
Speaker 1: You see, He's in charge. He turns it on. But
Speaker 1: my job is to release it. My job is to
Speaker 1: release it. I don't know what you're going through. I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened. But I'm telling you God still
Speaker 1: in his seat, He's still on the throne. He's still
Speaker 1: sending peace, he's still sending joy. But what are you
Speaker 1: released today? What are you releasing today? Trying to get
Speaker 1: you to understand this because this was so so pivotal
Speaker 1: to me, and I wanted to tell you guys something
Speaker 1: about this last year and a half in my life.
Speaker 1: It's been it's been a hard year for me and
Speaker 1: my family. My mother was in an accident about a
Speaker 1: year and a half ago and she's still in the
Speaker 1: hospital today. We are still praying and believing that God
Speaker 1: will just show up in a mighty way. But I'd
Speaker 1: be lying to you if I say my faith my
Speaker 1: face wasn't tested. I'd be lying to you if I
Speaker 1: if I didn't tell you that I've struggled. I've cried
Speaker 1: a lot of tears, more tears than I could count
Speaker 1: thinking about this, and I was like, God, if you've
Speaker 1: given me all of this authority, I'm leading all of
Speaker 1: this and I couldn't stop that. I couldn't stop that
Speaker 1: from happening. I don't I don't know what that is
Speaker 1: for you, that you're like, I wish I could stop it,
Speaker 1: but you couldn't. I'm not saying God forced it to happen,
Speaker 1: but here's what I'm understanding. That God is still in
Speaker 1: control in the midst of whatever it is that I'm
Speaker 1: dealing with, whatever it is that I'm going through. And
Speaker 1: when I saw this picture of my relationship with God,
Speaker 1: the idea that he's still flowing his presence, he's still
Speaker 1: flowing his peace, he's still showing up, He's still there.
Speaker 1: You see, here's the thing right now, He's in control.
Speaker 1: Right so at your house, the water main it's on,
Speaker 1: but nothing's flowing out. But it made me realize, is
Speaker 1: that maybe in the midst of what I'm dealing with,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta remember because here's the thing, the
Speaker 1: water main. It's in the garage. I don't see that
Speaker 1: a lot. I don't, so I forget that it's there.
Speaker 1: I have to walk from my room downstairs into the
Speaker 1: garage to notice that it's on. And there was times
Speaker 1: in this last year where I was just shrug I
Speaker 1: felt empty, I felt dry, and my mom, from a
Speaker 1: hospital bed, started to minister to me because I started
Speaker 1: to remember some of the darkest moments in our home,
Speaker 1: and my mom, in the middle of chaos, would start singing.
Speaker 1: She would start singing praises to God. She showed me
Speaker 1: what it fit. She showed me what what it meant
Speaker 1: to release, because when I release praise, I get to
Speaker 1: experience his presence. Wherever you are today. I want to
Speaker 1: give you a second to release a praise into the
Speaker 1: atmosphere wherever you at right now. Let it out. He's
Speaker 1: still in control. He's still in control. He's still in control,
Speaker 1: he's still in his seat. When you're released surpraise, you
Speaker 1: get enter into his presence. Everybody's standing. There's one thing,
Speaker 1: one more thing I need to show you. There's one
Speaker 1: more thing I need to show you. I want to
Speaker 1: go back to where we started. Genes is chapter forty one.
Speaker 1: I wanna go back to where we started. Everyone's standing,
Speaker 1: every campus on line, wherever you are, everyone's standing. Genesis
Speaker 1: is forty one. Remember this is the moment where Joseph.
Speaker 1: Where Joseph, He stepped into his seat. He's now in charge.
Speaker 1: And this is what it says. You shall be in
Speaker 1: charge of my palace, and all my people are to
Speaker 1: submit to your orders only with respect to the throne.
Speaker 1: Will I be greater than you? So Pharaoh said to Joseph,
Speaker 1: I hereby put you in charge of the whole land
Speaker 1: of Egypt. Watch this, so Pharaoh. He took his senate ring,
Speaker 1: he put it on his finger. He dressed him in
Speaker 1: fine robes of linen, and put a gold chain around
Speaker 1: his neck. He had him ride in chariots a second
Speaker 1: in command, and all the people shouted around him. Make way.
Speaker 1: He put him in charge of everything. He put a
Speaker 1: ring on his finger. He gave him a new robe,
Speaker 1: gold chain, even a new car. Well, when you play
Speaker 1: in the game Checkers and you get all the way
Speaker 1: to the other side of the board, what do you say,
Speaker 1: he said, King me, there's a piece that goes on
Speaker 1: another piece that's a crown, and it's crowning that piece.
Speaker 1: King Joseph got a ring, he got a rope, he
Speaker 1: got a new car, got a gold chain, but he
Speaker 1: didn't get a crown. Maybe the message is to get
Speaker 1: you to stop telling the world to king you, and
Speaker 1: that Jesus is speaking to you right now saying, make
Speaker 1: me king, King me, King, king me, Make me king
Speaker 1: of your heart, Make me king of your family, Make
Speaker 1: me king of your life. Put me in charge, Put
Speaker 1: me in control of your finances, king me, put me
Speaker 1: in my seat. When Jesus was going to the cross
Speaker 1: to die for me and you, the enemy took a
Speaker 1: crown of thorns and he placed it on his head,
Speaker 1: and they wrote King of the Jews. Jesus said, King me. Everyone,
Speaker 1: bow your head, close your eyes. Maybe you're here today
Speaker 1: and you've been trying to operate in your own strength,
Speaker 1: trying to operate in your own control. And tell you
Speaker 1: today that you just need to submit to God. You
Speaker 1: just need to give it over to him. You need
Speaker 1: to release it to him. And for some of you,
Speaker 1: you're here today and you don't have a relationship with Jesus.
Speaker 1: You used to talk with God, You used to speak
Speaker 1: with God, spend time with them, but you walked away
Speaker 1: because of the pressures of life. What we're gonna do
Speaker 1: right now, We're gonna say a prayer of salvation. We're
Speaker 1: gonna say a prayer of surrender. We're gonna give you
Speaker 1: a chance to give your life to Christ, to King Him,
Speaker 1: to make him Lord and savior of your life. And
Speaker 1: we say a prayer together as a church family for
Speaker 1: the benefit of those that are coming to him. So
Speaker 1: every room, bow your head, close your eyes online. God's
Speaker 1: been whispering to you this whole experience, and King be
Speaker 1: make me lord your life. Here's your chance. Repeat after me, say,
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God,
Speaker 1: and that he died on the cross and rose from
Speaker 1: the grave to forgive me of my sins. So I'll
Speaker 1: give you my sins. I give you my shame, and
Speaker 1: from this day forward I'll follow you now with all
Speaker 1: heads bowed and all I was closed. If you just
Speaker 1: said that prayer and you meant to making good decision
Speaker 1: to put your faith in Jesus, I'm gonna count the three,
Speaker 1: and when I get to three, I want you to
Speaker 1: shoot your hand up boldly so we can celebrate this
Speaker 1: moment with you. Here we go, one, two, three, shoots
Speaker 1: your hand up. You're making decisions to put your faith. Hey, Jesus,
Speaker 1: tomorrow to lift up a set of praise. Let's get
Speaker 1: god BD, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, cut you down well.
Speaker 1: If you enjoy today's podcast, there are a couple of
Speaker 1: things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash GiB
Speaker 1: and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.