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Speaker 1: How many have evidence in your life that God is

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Speaker 1: with you despite everything that the devil tells you. To

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Speaker 1: the contrary, God is with me. Elbow your neighbors say,

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Speaker 1: God is with me in this moment. Tell him move

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Speaker 1: over a little. You need to make room for Jesus.

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Speaker 1: Jesus is with me. Come on, let's make room for

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Speaker 1: the King of Kings, hand the Lord of lors. It's

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Speaker 1: freaking time. Let's give our attention now to the scriptures

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Speaker 1: in Genesis chapter fifty, beginning in verse fourteen. The verse

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Speaker 1: that I've heard the most from Genesis is verse twenty,

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Speaker 1: and I'm going to read that one, but I want

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Speaker 1: to give you fresh context around it to help ushered

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Speaker 1: the principle in this text into the problem that you're

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Speaker 1: facing in your life. And I believe it's going to

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Speaker 1: be very, very personal for you today. Wow. Wow. My

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Speaker 1: friend Rick Biatto does a YouTube channel and he has

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Speaker 1: a thing. He's a guitar player, musician, producer, and he

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Speaker 1: calls it what makes this song great? He takes songs

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Speaker 1: that you've heard a thousand times by worship leaders like

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Speaker 1: Pink Floyd led Zeppelin Boston, and he takes those hymns

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Speaker 1: of the faith, and he breaks it down and shows

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Speaker 1: you things that you heard but you didn't know you

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Speaker 1: were hearing them, and it's what makes the song great.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a page out of his playbook today.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you what makes this verse great in

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Speaker 1: verse twenty, where it says that God takes what others

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Speaker 1: mean for evil and uses it for good. But let

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Speaker 1: me show you what makes that verse great, all right?

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Speaker 1: And to do that, I want to get a I

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Speaker 1: want to get a start and ramp up from verse

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Speaker 1: fourteen Genesis fifty fourteen, the Bible says, after burying his father,

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Speaker 1: Joseph returned to Egypt together with his brothers and all

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Speaker 1: the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

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Speaker 1: And that's a big contingency because the chariots of Egypt

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Speaker 1: and all the officials went with Joseph, so it's a

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Speaker 1: huge traveling party, and seventy plus descendants of Jacob, so

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Speaker 1: it's a big group. But then it comes to a

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Speaker 1: personal decision verse fifteen. When Joseph's brothers saw that their

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Speaker 1: father was dead, they said, what if Joseph holds a

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Speaker 1: grudge against us and pays us back for all the

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Speaker 1: wrongs we did to him. Well, now's a fine time

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Speaker 1: to think about the consequences of your action. Right. I'm

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Speaker 1: not sorry you did it. You're just sorry you got caught.

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Speaker 1: Just scared of the consequences. So listen what they did

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Speaker 1: verse sixteen. They sent word to Joseph saying, your father

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Speaker 1: left these instructions before he died. Yeah, I'm sure he did.

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Speaker 1: When other people tell you what God said to you

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Speaker 1: as a form of manipulation. The Lord told me that

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Speaker 1: you're supposed to date me. The Lord has my direct number.

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Speaker 1: He could tell me. The Lord doesn't play the telephone game,

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Speaker 1: all right, so he'll tell me. The Lord said we

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Speaker 1: should go in business together. That's funny because he told

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Speaker 1: me you were a crook because I checked your online review.

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Speaker 1: All right, So read the scripture. Man, This is what

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Speaker 1: you are to say to Joseph. I ask you to

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Speaker 1: forgive your brothers the sins and wrongs they committed in

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Speaker 1: treating you so badly. Now, please forgive the sins of

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Speaker 1: the servants of the God of your father. That's what

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Speaker 1: his brothers said that their dead dad said, which we

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Speaker 1: know isn't true because he didn't really like them. Joseph

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Speaker 1: was his favorite, so he would have told Joseph directly,

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Speaker 1: you understand, and that's why the Bible says when their

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Speaker 1: message came to him, Joseph wept not because his dad

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Speaker 1: was dead. His dad has been dead for three months

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Speaker 1: at this point, forty days of embalming, thirty days of mourning,

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Speaker 1: and then a journey that's eleven days on each side,

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Speaker 1: so he's had time to mourn his father, Jacob. But

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Speaker 1: he is weeping because they still haven't changed, even after

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Speaker 1: all the grace that he's given them. That's what he's

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Speaker 1: crying about. This is the fifth time that he cries

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Speaker 1: between Genesis thirty seven and fifty. So in verse eighteen,

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Speaker 1: let's pick it up right here. His brothers then came

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Speaker 1: threw themselves down before him. We are your slaves, they said.

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Speaker 1: But Joseph said to them, don't be afraid. Am I

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Speaker 1: in the place of God Verse twenty You intended to

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Speaker 1: harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish

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Speaker 1: what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

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Speaker 1: So then verse twenty one, don't be afraid. I'm not

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Speaker 1: going to kill you. I could, but I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to not because of your little fabricated speech from Dad.

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Speaker 1: But because I see God's purpose in this moment and

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Speaker 1: in this season, so I will provide for you and

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Speaker 1: your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

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Speaker 1: Well back up to verse eighteen one more time. His

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Speaker 1: brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. They

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Speaker 1: bowed before the one they had betrayed. They bowed before

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Speaker 1: the one they had betrayed, and said, we're your slaves.

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Speaker 1: But Joseph said to them, don't be afraid. Am I

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Speaker 1: in the place of God. I got up here this

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Speaker 1: morning to tell you bent knees, break chains. That's the

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Speaker 1: title of this message. Say it out loud, bent knees,

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Speaker 1: break chains. And the truth that I want to communicate

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Speaker 1: to you is all in those four words that bent knees,

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Speaker 1: break chains. And Father, I thank you that the chain

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Speaker 1: breaking power of your spirit is standing up inside of

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Speaker 1: me right now to preach deliverance to every captive. Do

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Speaker 1: it God in Jesus' name, I give you thanks. Samen,

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Speaker 1: you may be seated, and I want you to start

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Speaker 1: by considering this premise that the position that we're in

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Speaker 1: influences the decisions that we make. I probably should have

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Speaker 1: put it on the screen so you could write it

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Speaker 1: down as a point. Let me just repeat it a

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Speaker 1: couple times while you fish for your pen or you

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Speaker 1: fire up your notes. App get this wisdom. Make sure

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Speaker 1: it doesn't just run off into the streets, but you

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Speaker 1: can capture it. Okay, that the position that you're in

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Speaker 1: really influences the decisions that you make. It sounds obvious,

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Speaker 1: but it's illustrated all throughout the Book of Genesis. God said,

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Speaker 1: let there be light. He was in a position to

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Speaker 1: make a decision to do something about the darkness. But

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Speaker 1: you could run around shouting let there be light all

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Speaker 1: you wanted to, And unless you have a flip to

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Speaker 1: switch and are current on the power bill, no lights

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Speaker 1: are coming on. The position that you're in determines the

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Speaker 1: decisions you make. And the sub point that this is

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Speaker 1: you are not God. You are not God. Your neighbor

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Speaker 1: doesn't look convinced, so you tell them for me, say

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Speaker 1: you're not God. No, I really want you to tell

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Speaker 1: them you're not God. So sometimes if you get confused,

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Speaker 1: just to remember the position. Put this on the comment

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Speaker 1: feed right now. The position I'm in influences the decisions

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Speaker 1: that I make. The easiest way to explain it is parenting.

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Speaker 1: When you start doing stuff as a parent that you

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Speaker 1: hated as a kid, and you turn around and every

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Speaker 1: parent in this room has had this thought. I sound

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Speaker 1: just like my mom, I sound just like my dad.

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Speaker 1: And you know it's because you now are in a

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Speaker 1: position that not only you have to provide, but protect

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Speaker 1: these lives that you treasure so much. So you're doing

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Speaker 1: things that the kids don't understand. You can't go there,

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Speaker 1: don't talk to them, and they think you don't want

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Speaker 1: me to have any friends. I do want you to

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Speaker 1: have friends, like I want to hang out with you

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Speaker 1: all the time. I'd love for you to have somebody

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Speaker 1: else to hang out with. I just don't know about

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Speaker 1: these kids, and the position that I'm in is affecting

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Speaker 1: the decisions that I made. But see, empathy is tricky

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Speaker 1: for the kid to have for the parent, because although

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Speaker 1: the parent has been a kid, the kid has never

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Speaker 1: been a parent. So that's why teaching your kids to

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Speaker 1: drive is like the scourging whip that they laid on

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Speaker 1: our Savior's back when they hung them on the cross.

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Speaker 1: It's because it is the punishment of their inability to

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Speaker 1: feel empathy because the position that you are in determines

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Speaker 1: the decisions that you make. That's true in parenting, that's

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Speaker 1: true with money. Yeah, and a lot of times sweet

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Speaker 1: say little cliches like money isn't everything. It is if

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Speaker 1: you don't have any it is if you don't have any.

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Speaker 1: How many of you have ever not had any money

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Speaker 1: and had to do things, And that's I'm not talking

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Speaker 1: about rob anybody. I'm not talking about anything crazy. I'm

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Speaker 1: just saying when you didn't have it, you didn't walk

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Speaker 1: around saying stuff like money isn't everything. You went around

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Speaker 1: saying stuff like can I cut your grass? Can I

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Speaker 1: wax your bald head? Can I do it? Can I

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Speaker 1: clip your fingernails? Because money isn't everything once you have money, Right,

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Speaker 1: So we get in a position where maybe we've come

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Speaker 1: to a place where we're in our life and then

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Speaker 1: we're like, well, money isn't everything. I don't do it

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Speaker 1: for the money. That's because you have some. But if

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Speaker 1: you don't have any, you gotta do what you gotta

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Speaker 1: do to catch the crumbs that fall from somebody's table.

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Speaker 1: And sometimes stop judging people for things they are doing

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Speaker 1: in desperation for situations that you haven't been in or

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Speaker 1: that you haven't been in lately. Amen. Amen, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: get my church back today. I'm gonna find my church today.

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Speaker 1: Personal confession. I was a staff member at a church

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Speaker 1: before I started this church, and I would always keep

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Speaker 1: this mental list of dumb stuff that the pastor was

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Speaker 1: doing that I would never do. And one day, when

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Speaker 1: I get a spare minute, I'm gonna write him a

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Speaker 1: whole card. It's gonna be a seventeen page card of

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Speaker 1: all the things I judged him for in his position

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Speaker 1: as a pastor, from my position as a staff member

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Speaker 1: that I now just want to say I'm sorry, especially

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Speaker 1: because I met him when he was into his tenth

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Speaker 1: year of pastoring that church, and I didn't know how

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Speaker 1: tired ten years can make you. You see all it

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Speaker 1: is Gray y'all put on me in these last sixteen years.

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Speaker 1: So now I feel different because the position that you're in.

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Speaker 1: I want to nail this down. And if I lay

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Speaker 1: this foundation right, then we can really really celebrate the

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Speaker 1: truth in the text that Mennis break chains. But first

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Speaker 1: of all, acknowledge that the position that you're in influences

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Speaker 1: the decisions you make. Now, let's flip that because the

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Speaker 1: decisions that you make influences the position that you're in,

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Speaker 1: you are very timid celebrating that truth. I have never

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Speaker 1: seen such a half hearted clap. I think he's probably right,

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Speaker 1: but I don't like it because I want to say

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Speaker 1: the devil did it. I don't really want to clap

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Speaker 1: for that. That it could be possible that not everything

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Speaker 1: that happened to me was caused by decisions I make,

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Speaker 1: but some of it, a little of it, ten percent

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Speaker 1: of it. When's the last time somebody lost their job

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Speaker 1: and told you, you know what, I just really sucked

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Speaker 1: at it. I was lazy, I talked bad about everybody,

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Speaker 1: I chewed gum with my feet up, played words seven hours,

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Speaker 1: and worked one Nobody says that. And then in church,

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Speaker 1: now this is dangerous. In church, will slap a spiritual

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Speaker 1: justification and a summary on something that happened through a

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Speaker 1: series of decisions that you actually made, thereby enabling your dysfunction,

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Speaker 1: by over spiritualizing your decisions. Goodbye, everybody. I've said enough

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Speaker 1: so I don't mean to be Yoda on you, but

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Speaker 1: those two things really go hand in hand. That the

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Speaker 1: position I'm in determine the decisions I make. Sometimes I

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Speaker 1: did something because I'm depressed, and the depression may not

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Speaker 1: be my fault. I believe there's a genetic element to depression.

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Speaker 1: But in the process of me complying with the habits

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Speaker 1: that brought me to that place, I may prolong my

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Speaker 1: stay in depression by my decisions. And when we talk

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Speaker 1: about the devil attack me, the devil attack me? The

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Speaker 1: devil attacked me, Well, the Lord gave me a word

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Speaker 1: on that a few weeks ago. He said, it is

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Speaker 1: not the attack that matters the most, it is what

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Speaker 1: you do after the attack. Because watch this New Testament verse.

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Speaker 1: I hope I get back to Genesis fifty, but I'm

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Speaker 1: annointed for this right now. The Bible says the devil

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Speaker 1: is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

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Speaker 1: It does not say he can devour whoever he wants,

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Speaker 1: but he can attack whoever he wants. And the difference

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Speaker 1: between him attacking you and devouring you will be the

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Speaker 1: decisions that you make in the attack. So, when you

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Speaker 1: feel anxious, what do you do with that anxiety? When

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Speaker 1: you feel sad, who do you speak to about your sadness?

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Speaker 1: When you feel overlooked, do you retaliate or do you

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Speaker 1: bring it to God and allow him to help you

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Speaker 1: process it. We could describe Joseph's life in terms of

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Speaker 1: a chain of events. Write that phrase down a chain

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Speaker 1: of events. In reviewing all of those scriptures this week,

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Speaker 1: I feel myself wishing that we had three days to

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Speaker 1: do this, because everything in Joseph's life, oh, is so

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Speaker 1: rich with detail, and just to boil it down to

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Speaker 1: what the enemy means for evil, God means for good.

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Speaker 1: And Rick Biatto, my YouTube guy friend, my friend Rick

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Speaker 1: byatdo he would break it down and show you the

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Speaker 1: isolated tracks. He'd be like, this is what makes the

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Speaker 1: song great. And I want to show you how the

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Speaker 1: events in Joseph's life that God did not prevent that

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Speaker 1: were painful, positioned him for the purpose of Joseph's life

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Speaker 1: that he could have never imagined. So let me do

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Speaker 1: a typical sermon about Joseph in two minutes. You got

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Speaker 1: to walk through everything that happened to him. Right, he

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Speaker 1: had a dream, he told his brothers. That's an event.

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Speaker 1: His brothers got mad about it and didn't like his

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Speaker 1: Gucci coat that his father, Jacob gave him. Now understand

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Speaker 1: when they threw him into a pit. They saw him

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Speaker 1: as a snitch because he came out to check on

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Speaker 1: them and see if they were doing their job. So

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Speaker 1: you can understand then that from their vantage point, the

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Speaker 1: position that they were in influenced the decisions that they made.

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Speaker 1: And it's easy in this passage to feel like you're Joseph,

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Speaker 1: But have you ever been his brothers? To have you

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Speaker 1: ever been jealous? Because you do things when you're in

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Speaker 1: a position comparing yourself to others. That's why the Bible says,

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Speaker 1: when you compare yourself to somebody else, you're not wise.

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Speaker 1: That's what is that. It doesn't say it's evil, it

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Speaker 1: says it's not wise because you were gonna do dumb

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Speaker 1: stuff trying to be like somebody who does not have

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Speaker 1: your same bone structure background or the same blessing on

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Speaker 1: their life. Rubin saved his life because he said, well,

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Speaker 1: let's don't kill him, let's sell him, probably get twenty

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Speaker 1: shekels for him, and they sold him to the Midianite Cara.

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Speaker 1: Event these are the events of Joseph. So if I'm

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Speaker 1: walking you through it, I'm saying, by the time you

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Speaker 1: get to Genesis fifty, verse twenty he's fifty six years old.

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Speaker 1: You didn't know that, did you. You thought he was

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Speaker 1: standing there saying what the enemy means for evil, God

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Speaker 1: means for good while he's going through his testing. But

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Speaker 1: he went through forty years to get to the point

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Speaker 1: that he understood that the events of his life, all

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Speaker 1: of them, the dream that he had, the coat that

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Speaker 1: he wore, the good things, the pit that they pushed

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Speaker 1: him into. Y'all. He even ended up in prison because

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Speaker 1: he did such a good job serving this man named Potiphar.

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Speaker 1: And Potiphar's wife, Hottipher I named her, said, hey, big boy,

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Speaker 1: come to bed with me. I like your coat, I

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Speaker 1: like your character. I like the way you clean windows.

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Speaker 1: Because remember he has a menial job, but he has

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Speaker 1: a great sense of responsibility. So everything he did in

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Speaker 1: Potiphar's house drew attention because God's favor was still on him.

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Speaker 1: God's favor is still on you. God's favor is still

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Speaker 1: on you. God's favor is still on you. God's favor

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Speaker 1: is still on you. Pushing a mop, God's favor is

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Speaker 1: on you, washing dishes. God's favor is on you. Quarter

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Speaker 1: of a tank of gas and don't know how to

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Speaker 1: fell it. God's favor is on you. Oh, by the way,

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Speaker 1: when you get a promotion that puts you in a

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Speaker 1: tax bracket, you never imagine that's God's favor too. It

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Speaker 1: was your father that put the favor on you to

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Speaker 1: bring you into the position. And when you understand that

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Speaker 1: that God raised me up, it makes you two things.

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Speaker 1: It makes you humble in high circumstances and hopeful in

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Speaker 1: low circumstances. When I see that my father favored me,

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Speaker 1: and Joseph knew that early in his life, and he

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Speaker 1: saw this vision that his brothers were one day going

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Speaker 1: to bow down to him, but he didn't see everything

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Speaker 1: that would come before that. And this chain of events.

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Speaker 1: Let me say that again, this chain of events, things

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Speaker 1: that happened to Joseph that he largely could not control.

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Speaker 1: Some people say that he shouldn't have told his brothers

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Speaker 1: his dream and they wouldn't have pushed him in the pit.

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Speaker 1: I say, if he didn't go in the pit, how

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Speaker 1: could he have gotten to Egypt? So there was food

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Speaker 1: waiting for them when they came through the famine. Makes

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Speaker 1: me think that even my mistakes can become miraculous if

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Speaker 1: I give them to God and be humble about them,

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Speaker 1: but a lot more happened to Joseph, and although we

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Speaker 1: won't explore all of it today, I just want you to.

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Speaker 1: I just want you to hear some of the other

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Speaker 1: things that come before this, so you can put yourself

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Speaker 1: in this story in a way to try to figure

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Speaker 1: out in this season of my life, what decision is

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Speaker 1: God leading me to make, and the events that led

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Speaker 1: you to this point in your life, however painful they were.

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Speaker 1: I forgot to tell you this part. When he got

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Speaker 1: to prison, he started interpreting dreams for the other prisoners.

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Speaker 1: Now I wouldn't have done that because I would have

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Speaker 1: been pouting that I don't belong here, because Potiphar's wife

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Speaker 1: accused me of raping her and I was actually running

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Speaker 1: from her and she accused me of rape, and I

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Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have been able to get past my own

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Speaker 1: pity party. Pitt he was in a pity party. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So I'm just checking to see if I still have

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Speaker 1: your attention. There's a lot of background, so there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of things that happen. And eventually, when he interpreted

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Speaker 1: the cupbearer had this dream, He's like, yo, I saw

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Speaker 1: these three vines coming off of one branch grapes on it,

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Speaker 1: and I squeezed grapes. It was in a dream, and

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Speaker 1: then the cups were filled in. Joseph's like, oh, in

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Speaker 1: three days, you're going to get your position back. It's

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Speaker 1: going to be great. On Pharaoh's birthday, He's going to

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Speaker 1: put you back in the position. And the baker was like, oh, yeah, me,

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Speaker 1: to me, to me, to me too. I had a

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Speaker 1: dream too. There was baskets on my head and bread

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Speaker 1: and the baskets and the birds came and ate it.

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Speaker 1: And he's like, oh, yeah, that's because your head's going

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Speaker 1: to be cut off in three days. That's why it's

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Speaker 1: three baskets. And the birds will eat your flesh, all right.

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Speaker 1: So all of that happens just as Joseph's folking and

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Speaker 1: cut Parat gets out of prison completely forgets to mention Pharaoh. Oops.

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Speaker 1: For two years, he stays chained in a dungeon, not

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Speaker 1: because of his decision, but because of an event. But

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Speaker 1: here's what I want to show you. Within every event

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Speaker 1: is a decision. You got it. I'm not even asking

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Speaker 1: you to understand it yet, Just did you hear it?

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Speaker 1: Within the event, there's always a decision illustrate this illustration

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Speaker 1: of this. Today we are having a worship service. It's

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Speaker 1: an event. The service is an event. We sang about

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Speaker 1: four songs that was part of the event. Hopefully somebody

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Speaker 1: offered you a breath mint and a pen when you

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Speaker 1: came in the door, if you came in the door,

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Speaker 1: or you logged online. And here I am now standing

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Speaker 1: behind my pulpit with my Bible open, ready to preach

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Speaker 1: to you. Been praying about it all week. This is

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Speaker 1: the event. This is the service. But worship is a

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Speaker 1: decision that you have to make in the event. The

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Speaker 1: service is the event. Worship is the decision. Worship isn't offering.

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Speaker 1: Some of y'all didn't sing a note. You watched this

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Speaker 1: like it was some what's the show? Do they still

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Speaker 1: have American idol? You were watching this like it like

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Speaker 1: you're gonna vote whether they stay on the stage or not.

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Speaker 1: Like I don't know that you are not what was

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Speaker 1: the guy's name, Simon Cowell? You are not Simon. Why

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Speaker 1: weren't you singing? God is the star of this, God

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Speaker 1: is the audience of this. Why didn't you sing? Well, well, no, no, no, no.

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Speaker 1: Pastor Steve Pester, Steve pastor, Steve Paster, Steve Pachter, Steve Pastor, Steve,

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Speaker 1: you know I didn't sing because I can't sing that good.

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Speaker 1: That doesn't stop you in the shower. That doesn't stop

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Speaker 1: you on the shower. And then and another thing is

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Speaker 1: if the person next to you doesn't like you're singing,

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Speaker 1: you just told them ten minutes ago they're not God.

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Speaker 1: So they don't like how it sounds, is good news

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Speaker 1: because they're not the audience that you were singing to anyway.

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Speaker 1: So get this, get this, when we were singing at

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Speaker 1: the campus I'm at, I'm gonna see a victory. If

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Speaker 1: that song went by and you didn't sing it, I mean,

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Speaker 1: sing it out of tune, sing it loud, sing it bad,

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Speaker 1: sing it good, singing falsetto, sing it bass, sing it

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Speaker 1: ten or sing it out there. If you didn't sing it,

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Speaker 1: and if you didn't believe it and put your heart

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Speaker 1: in faith and say, you know, I don't feel that

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Speaker 1: right now, but I believe it in Jesus's name. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna see it with my kids. I'm gonna see it

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Speaker 1: on my job. I'm gonna see it in my body,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna see it in my mind. There is a

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Speaker 1: breakthrough with my name on it, and I don't know when,

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Speaker 1: but I have faith for it. I'm gonna see a victory.

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Speaker 1: If you didn't sing it, how can you expect to

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Speaker 1: see it? Because the song was the event, but your

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Speaker 1: worship was a decision, and I forgive you. Hearing the

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Speaker 1: sermon is an event. Sharing it with somebody who needs

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Speaker 1: it is a decision. What if they're about to give

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Speaker 1: up and you could send them a link. I'm talking

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Speaker 1: to you. I'm talking to you logging on watching a sermon.

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Speaker 1: This is an event. Wow, you can watch a lot

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Speaker 1: of things on YouTube. But what if God prompts you

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Speaker 1: to send it to somebody else? Hey man, thought about

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Speaker 1: you today. Preachers up there talking about decisions and stuff,

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Speaker 1: and I'm just thinking, how you got to make this

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Speaker 1: decision right now? And so here it is. I love you,

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Speaker 1: I see you Tuesday. You know whatever. That's a decision.

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Speaker 1: The more we separate the event from the decision, the

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Speaker 1: more room it gives God to move in our situation.

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Speaker 1: I'll go a little deeper. Can I go a little deeper?

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Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm asking your permission. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: do what I want to do anyway. What God leads

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Speaker 1: me to do is here's one, here's one. I thought

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Speaker 1: of a bunch of them, but I won't give them

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Speaker 1: all to you today. Y'all won't like this. Traffic is

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Speaker 1: an event. What time you leave the house? Got him?

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Speaker 1: Got him like traffic was the Red Sea, like you

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Speaker 1: didn't know was there, Like get in there every morning.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry the traffic was bad. The traffic's always bad.

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Speaker 1: It is for eighty five. They're gonna be building it

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Speaker 1: for the next four hundred and eighty five years. And

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Speaker 1: you knew that when you pushed it to the last

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Speaker 1: minute and hit snooze for the third time. And leaving

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Speaker 1: early is a decision, and the decision to lead a

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Speaker 1: little early might affect your decision to road rage. See,

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Speaker 1: we got to stop blaming so much stuff in our life.

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Speaker 1: Joseph is a model. We got to stop blaming the

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Speaker 1: events and start making the decisions that God is calling

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Speaker 1: us to make within the events that can empower us

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Speaker 1: to move forward, or else you will always be a

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Speaker 1: slave to what happened. Joseph has a decision to make now,

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Speaker 1: and I think is such an emotional moment for him

427
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: because his father loved him a little too much because

428
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 1: he was born of Rachel, who was the wife that

429
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,120
Speaker 1: Jacob really wanted, not Leah, And because he was the

430
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,600
Speaker 1: firstborn son of Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife, Holly, you're my

431
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: favorite wife, by the way, and that gave him a

432
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: little extra status. Right. But he's going through this shift.

433
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: A lot of people will tell you Joseph's life is

434
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 1: about going from the pit to the palace. I don't

435
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 1: see it that way at all. Although that geographically describes

436
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: his position, because he ended up being promoted when he

437
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 1: interpreted Pharaoh's dream about the famine to a position of

438
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 1: responsibility where he could prepare the people for the famine,

439
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: even his own family. Although that's true, it's really not

440
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: the heart. He's really going from status to service, and

441
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 1: God brings him from a place of great status to

442
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 1: a place of great service. Or you could say see

443
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:50,080
Speaker 1: it this way too. He's going from a place where

444
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: he's got to get from pain to purpose. And the

445
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 1: position that you're in determines a lot of the decisions

446
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: that you make, and a lot of the decisions that

447
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 1: you make will determine the position you're in, because if

448
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,560
Speaker 1: at any point in Joseph's life, he would have decided,

449
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 1: this isn't fair, forget it God. If he hadn't served

450
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:17,760
Speaker 1: with excellence in small positions, he could not have been

451
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: trusted in a bigger one. All along the way, there

452
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 1: were little decisions that he was making, that you're making

453
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: to do it with your whole heart or to only

454
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 1: do it when someone else is looking. Little decisions that

455
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 1: you make, corners that you cut or you don't, words

456
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,880
Speaker 1: that you speak, and times you bite your tongue because

457
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:50,720
Speaker 1: it's not going to help anything anyway, little decisions. Where

458
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,560
Speaker 1: would you be financially if you had made little decisions

459
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 1: along the way differently? Where would you be? Well, now,

460
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,120
Speaker 1: I don't have any money and I'm doing like what

461
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,600
Speaker 1: Pastor said, I'm in a bad position, so I'm taking

462
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: desperate measures. But would you have to take desperate measures

463
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: if you made some different decisions? And could it change

464
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 1: from this point forward that your future is not chained

465
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: to your past. We talked a lot about the chain

466
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 1: of events that led to Joseph's moment of decision, But

467
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 1: how about the chain of decisions that put him in

468
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: this place? The chain of decisions? Think about that. It's

469
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,280
Speaker 1: a lot more interesting than giving me a list of

470
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: everything that life did to you. I told somebody went done.

471
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: I said, when I first got married, I got fat,

472
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:51,760
Speaker 1: and I did. I was turning into a big old boy.

473
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,200
Speaker 1: And the way I explained it was like how Adam

474
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: explained why he ate the apple in the garden. This

475
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:03,000
Speaker 1: woman you gave me, Lord, she's a wonderful cook. I

476
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 1: was actually like perverting the gift that God had given

477
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 1: her as a cook. To explain the situation of my cellulite.

478
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 1: You'll know, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Cellulites. Well,

479
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 1: they were all coming against me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they

480
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 1: were all coming against me. And somewhere in that I

481
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 1: had to own the fact that I ate what she

482
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,000
Speaker 1: put on the plate and then went and filled the

483
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,960
Speaker 1: plate three more times to get this way. So it's

484
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:34,160
Speaker 1: not exactly true to say I got fat, like it's

485
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 1: something that just crashed into the earth, like it was

486
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:48,480
Speaker 1: a meteor shower, like it was a snow day. I

487
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 1: ate food, I didn't exercise. I got fat. That's the event.

488
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: The number on the scale screamed at me. I rebuked it.

489
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:11,960
Speaker 1: It didn't change. I prayed about it. It didn't change.

490
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 1: I quoted Genesis fifty twenty. What you mean for evil

491
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 1: God means for God, I reverse the curse. It didn't change,

492
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 1: all right? And then I decided. I decided. I didn't

493
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 1: get to decide once. I got to decide daily. I

494
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: got to decide daily. Now, now, is this good to you?

495
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 1: Joseph has a decision to make in this moment because

496
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,239
Speaker 1: now his dad is dead, and the only thing that

497
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:59,040
Speaker 1: can keep him being kind to his brothers is how

498
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 1: he views his relationship with God, because his relationship with

499
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 1: them is obviously never going to change. They lied about

500
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,880
Speaker 1: him when he was seventeen, and they are lying about

501
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:17,239
Speaker 1: him as he's fifty six. He's been playing with it.

502
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 1: He's been playing with whether or not he wants to

503
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 1: pay them back. He's been doing it for decades. You know.

504
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,600
Speaker 1: When they first came to him, he was thirty nine.

505
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,160
Speaker 1: The famine had only been going on two years. And

506
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,080
Speaker 1: when they came to him, he pretended like he didn't

507
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:34,840
Speaker 1: know who they were, because I think he was trying

508
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,239
Speaker 1: to decide, how am I going to move forward? He

509
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,960
Speaker 1: was already in a position of power, He was already

510
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:42,279
Speaker 1: in a position of authority. He was already in a

511
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:47,080
Speaker 1: position of influence, and the position that you're in influences

512
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:52,879
Speaker 1: the decisions that you may So he didn't tell him

513
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 1: for a little while. He'd go cry in private, and

514
00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: then he'd come back out and be strong in public. Yeah,

515
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 1: he even stuffed their bags with silver and then send

516
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 1: his own men to arrest them and throw Simeon in prison.

517
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 1: That's how bad it felt to him. So I want

518
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,640
Speaker 1: you to think about when something bad happens to you,

519
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 1: the event. I wish I could draw this. I am

520
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 1: not a good artist. Let's just you can draw it

521
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:30,200
Speaker 1: and post it online later. Okay, something bad happens. When

522
00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:32,520
Speaker 1: Joseph says God meant it for good, he does not

523
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 1: call their abuse, neglect, and betrayal good. He's moving past that.

524
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,680
Speaker 1: But so something bad happens, Right, many bad things happen

525
00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:47,880
Speaker 1: to Joseph, And that's almost that's almost a disservice to

526
00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 1: what he's been through to call it something bad happened.

527
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,640
Speaker 1: But let's just call it that this thing happens and

528
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:58,759
Speaker 1: is bad and is bad. But now the decision that

529
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,200
Speaker 1: Joseph has to make, because from remember, the event, is

530
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:06,760
Speaker 1: not the decision. So now he says that was bad.

531
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,880
Speaker 1: What you did to me, that was bad. How you

532
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,200
Speaker 1: sold me that was bad, what I went through. I'm

533
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 1: not sugarcoating anything or spiritualizing your decisions. It was bad.

534
00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 1: It was bad. Sometimes the first step to getting to

535
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:26,520
Speaker 1: God is good is to say it was bad. It

536
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,840
Speaker 1: was bad. It was bad, and it hurt and it harmed,

537
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,280
Speaker 1: and it set me back, and I wish it hadn't happened.

538
00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 1: And if I got to write the script, I wouldn't

539
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 1: have put that in it. It was bad, you know,

540
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,560
Speaker 1: we do. God is good all the time, all the time.

541
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,719
Speaker 1: God is good, but it is bad a lot of

542
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 1: the times, and a lot of the times it is bad.

543
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 1: But God is good all the time and all the time.

544
00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: God is good, but it is bad. A lot of

545
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 1: the that's bad. Read the news. That's bad, that's horrible,

546
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:02,200
Speaker 1: that's unthinkable. That's you and a lot of us, a

547
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:06,200
Speaker 1: lot of us in this room. We know somebody like Joseph.

548
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 1: Everybody in this room knows that Joseph. You watched what

549
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,399
Speaker 1: happened to them, and you could not believe how they

550
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,759
Speaker 1: responded to it. My Joseph, that I think about all

551
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 1: the time is my buddy Levi Lusco. He's a pastor

552
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:27,280
Speaker 1: in Montana, foreign country. He's an international missionary to the

553
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:31,680
Speaker 1: state of Montana. And I love him for many reasons.

554
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,279
Speaker 1: But y'all, I put my hand on his chest to

555
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:38,320
Speaker 1: pray for him the other night because he turned forty

556
00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:41,680
Speaker 1: and I was praying and God annoying me, and I

557
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 1: was speaking stuff over his life that I couldn't even

558
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,640
Speaker 1: understand where it was coming from. But when Graham was

559
00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: five and his daughter was five, and his daughter died

560
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:54,719
Speaker 1: of an asthma attack while he was out of the house,

561
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:57,279
Speaker 1: and he stood over her and prayed that God would

562
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,080
Speaker 1: make the sun stand still and save his daughter's life

563
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:07,920
Speaker 1: and she died, that would have broken me. And I

564
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:09,399
Speaker 1: had a context for it because I had a boy

565
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 1: who was five, and I thought if I was in

566
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:17,040
Speaker 1: that position, I think I would be tempted to stand

567
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: up and tell y'all, I quit, because how can I

568
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:26,000
Speaker 1: speak this faith over you? How can I trust a

569
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:32,439
Speaker 1: God who would let me go through that. So now

570
00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:36,720
Speaker 1: standing on ten years later and watching him turn forty

571
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,319
Speaker 1: and seeing I hope he watches this message, Text him

572
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:42,759
Speaker 1: and tell him to watch it. He can watch it

573
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 1: right now. He's on a different time zone out there

574
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 1: in Montana. I think it's like eighteen forty three in Montana.

575
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 1: It's like a different year zone in Montana. But I

576
00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 1: prayed over him, and he's a powerful man. He wrote

577
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 1: a book. He wrote a book. It was bad. He

578
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,319
Speaker 1: wrote a book to let the devil know that my

579
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:13,200
Speaker 1: daughter Lenya will live on even if there's no breath

580
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: in her lungs. You follow me, This is my Joseph.

581
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,560
Speaker 1: I think about him all the time when I go

582
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:24,799
Speaker 1: into a pity party, because I think about if he

583
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: can decide that to keep preaching in the middle of

584
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 1: what he if he can decide that. That's why I

585
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 1: love lifting these Bible characters up to you on Sunday, right,

586
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 1: because even if you don't know somebody like that personally,

587
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,280
Speaker 1: you get to be with Joseph for a little while,

588
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:46,799
Speaker 1: and you get to think about the fact that at

589
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:49,160
Speaker 1: the moment, I mean most of us would have been

590
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:53,439
Speaker 1: waiting for this moment to pay our brothers that, oh,

591
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:57,480
Speaker 1: I'm just waiting till Jacob dies. When Jacob dies, I'm

592
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: about to let y'all have it. And to be over

593
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty do you know how long Jacob

594
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,480
Speaker 1: held on until he had put a blessing on all

595
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,640
Speaker 1: the kids, and then he dies, and they walk, they walk,

596
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,359
Speaker 1: they walk, they walk, They walk for eleven days to

597
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:17,279
Speaker 1: bury him. They walk eleven days back and then his

598
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:21,120
Speaker 1: brother sends some weak message talking about before he died,

599
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 1: Dad said, trying to relay a message, showing him the

600
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 1: evidence that there has been no change in their heart.

601
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:31,640
Speaker 1: And they bow before him, and he has to decide

602
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 1: what he's going to do because he can't control what

603
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:49,840
Speaker 1: they do. You can't change them. Stop trying. They're on

604
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,840
Speaker 1: their knees before Joseph, but not for the right reasons.

605
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 1: Forgive us, forgive us, forgive us. We are your slaves.

606
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:01,920
Speaker 1: We'll do whatever you say. We're sorry, You're not sorry.

607
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: You're still lying. And he wept, and he came out

608
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 1: and showed us something that right after he got done weeping,

609
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:15,560
Speaker 1: he still made the right decision, because your emotions don't

610
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 1: determine your decisions, not when you've seen the goodness of God.

611
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:29,120
Speaker 1: These brothers, what they did was evil, But I'm not

612
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:34,200
Speaker 1: going to let what they did be the final word

613
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:38,840
Speaker 1: on what I do, because I still had life to live.

614
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:45,960
Speaker 1: So if I look at them and I say Reuben, Simeon,

615
00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:49,160
Speaker 1: Judah and start calling them by name. And I say,

616
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:51,520
Speaker 1: this is the moment I've been waiting for. Y'all want

617
00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:53,200
Speaker 1: to throw me in a pit, Let me show you.

618
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:56,520
Speaker 1: I'm in the palace now. If I use this moment

619
00:41:56,600 --> 00:42:00,239
Speaker 1: of my power to put you in your place, than

620
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:08,439
Speaker 1: I am putting myself in God's place. That's what he said.

621
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 1: He said, He said, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no.

622
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:12,359
Speaker 1: They're on their knees. He says, wait, wait wait, wait, wait,

623
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:17,360
Speaker 1: wait wait, I'm not God. Am I in the place

624
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 1: of God? Verse nineteen? You've got to go through verse

625
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:24,360
Speaker 1: nineteen to get to verse twenty. All things work together

626
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 1: for the good. For the good, all things work together.

627
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:29,360
Speaker 1: God uses what the enemy meant for evil. You know,

628
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:31,200
Speaker 1: we kind of skip to that verse. No, no no, no,

629
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 1: get to this verse first. Am I put verse nineteen?

630
00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 1: Am I in the place of God? Not only are

631
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:49,280
Speaker 1: they on their knees, but Joseph, after everything he's been through,

632
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 1: in the moment of decision, you are at the moment

633
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:57,520
Speaker 1: of decision right now. Am I gonna stay chained to

634
00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,960
Speaker 1: my past? Am I going to live in this resentment

635
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:05,360
Speaker 1: toward others and this regret? Toward myself. Some of you

636
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:08,879
Speaker 1: are angry at yourself. You think you're God. You think

637
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,120
Speaker 1: you can make a big enough mess that God can't

638
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 1: clean you up. But it's not true. You're not God.

639
00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:17,680
Speaker 1: If he died for you, and if he calls you,

640
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 1: and if he comes for you, and if he raises you,

641
00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:27,360
Speaker 1: even you yourself can't change his mind, because the gifts

642
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:37,719
Speaker 1: of God are without retentance. And Joseph has a decision

643
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 1: to make, and he does it like this, I'm not God.

644
00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 1: And in the moment of decision, he takes a posture

645
00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:54,239
Speaker 1: as the second most powerful man in the land. He

646
00:43:54,320 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 1: takes his posture to say, God, and what it looked

647
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:05,440
Speaker 1: like for you to have this mentality, to say, God

648
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:09,320
Speaker 1: put me here for a purpose, and I'm submitting everything

649
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:15,760
Speaker 1: that's happened to me to God. I'm gonna do. I'm gonna,

650
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:20,399
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna put myself in a position on

651
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:24,520
Speaker 1: my knees before God. I've never come to preach to you.

652
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:26,279
Speaker 1: If I can help it that I don't do this,

653
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,880
Speaker 1: even if it's for ten seconds before I round the corner,

654
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:33,840
Speaker 1: because a lot of times the way that I'll preach

655
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 1: stuff will be just be coming to me to the

656
00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:41,279
Speaker 1: last minute, and I'm literally like, but I try. I

657
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:44,040
Speaker 1: try every time to take one minute by myself. I

658
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 1: say God, when I get out there today and there's

659
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:52,440
Speaker 1: there's people out there whose parents abandoned them. There's people

660
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:55,440
Speaker 1: out there who were molested. There's people out there who

661
00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:58,839
Speaker 1: are going through the most scary medical situation in their

662
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:01,279
Speaker 1: life or their kids are There's people out there who

663
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:03,560
Speaker 1: have no idea how they're going to catch up on

664
00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:05,920
Speaker 1: four months worth of mortgage. There are people out there

665
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:10,200
Speaker 1: today who need you, and I can only meet that

666
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:19,399
Speaker 1: need on my knees. And it reminds me that if

667
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:29,759
Speaker 1: I do this, I can do this because see, the

668
00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:34,560
Speaker 1: power that you need is not in me. But if

669
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:38,880
Speaker 1: I go to the one who has all power and

670
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 1: all authority, and I get down low and I say God,

671
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,840
Speaker 1: I lift my eyes to the hills, where does my

672
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:52,600
Speaker 1: help come from. My help comes from you. I know

673
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 1: big knees can break things. I know one word from

674
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:03,399
Speaker 1: Almighty Dom, one breath from the spirit of Hot. Feel

675
00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 1: chase breaking right now, Hot, feel burden flifting right now,

676
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:14,400
Speaker 1: Hot feel shackle second, my prison floors, prison doors flying

677
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:24,120
Speaker 1: open right now. Because when you do this. God does

678
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:34,439
Speaker 1: that way. Pray. What you did to me was bad.

679
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:36,160
Speaker 1: What happened to me is bad. What I'm going through

680
00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:40,560
Speaker 1: is bad. But if I blame you, then my blame

681
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:47,680
Speaker 1: will become bitterness, and my bitterness will become bondage. Not

682
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:52,680
Speaker 1: your bondage, it will be my bondage. So I either

683
00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 1: get to stay chained to the events or I get

684
00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:00,000
Speaker 1: to make a decision. This is where God brought you to.

685
00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:02,880
Speaker 1: This is why you logged on. This is why they

686
00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:05,319
Speaker 1: sent you the link. This is why you came to church.

687
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:08,480
Speaker 1: You thought you decided to come to church. You're crazy.

688
00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:12,560
Speaker 1: God sovereignly brought you to church. You had ten excuses

689
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:15,280
Speaker 1: not to come. What didn't fit and I have nothing

690
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,320
Speaker 1: to wear. But here you are. It's a size too small,

691
00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:22,120
Speaker 1: but you can't why for this moment. God wanted you

692
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: to know. You are in an important moment of your life.

693
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:33,960
Speaker 1: And if you do this, come on. Every athlete knows

694
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:36,000
Speaker 1: you can't hit a golf ball good if you don't

695
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:39,799
Speaker 1: bend your knees. That's where your power comes from. You

696
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:42,680
Speaker 1: can't shoot a basketball right if you don't bend your knees.

697
00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:46,520
Speaker 1: That's where your accuracy comes from You can't do a

698
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:50,640
Speaker 1: takedown standing up straight. There's no Division one wrestling champions

699
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:54,800
Speaker 1: that stand up straight talking about why are you fighting

700
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:58,440
Speaker 1: your battles like this? When God gave you this? This

701
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:02,360
Speaker 1: is how I fight my devil. Watch me surrendered to

702
00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:10,719
Speaker 1: God cause been knees breaks. You can't do it in

703
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:13,799
Speaker 1: your own strength. If you could, you would have by now.

704
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:18,280
Speaker 1: But God brought you to your knees. God, he's breaking.

705
00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 1: Subsiderational change up to the Holy Ghost. Come Lord, come Lord,

706
00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:29,839
Speaker 1: break those changes. Break it, break it, break it, break it,

707
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:32,799
Speaker 1: break it, break it, break it. Breaking the past has

708
00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:36,000
Speaker 1: no power over you. The blood of Jesus makes up better.

709
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:47,359
Speaker 1: I'm breaking in the name of Jesus, Ah, cause you

710
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:55,200
Speaker 1: still have so much life to live. Joseph lived to

711
00:48:55,320 --> 00:49:03,799
Speaker 1: be one hundred and ten. He was fifty six. It's

712
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:15,080
Speaker 1: only halftime. It's a huck, It's it's it's high five.

713
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:17,440
Speaker 1: Somebody say this is your halftime speech. This is your

714
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:20,479
Speaker 1: halftime speech. Come on, let's turn this into a locker room.

715
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 1: I'm down by twenty, but I got time on. Watch

716
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:27,719
Speaker 1: me ben my knees, watch me hit this song, watch me,

717
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:32,400
Speaker 1: watch me, watch me, watch me worship watch me trust God,

718
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:39,680
Speaker 1: cause I have a decision to make what to do

719
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:44,600
Speaker 1: with the time and the life I have left. And

720
00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:53,080
Speaker 1: so ben these great chains. Long as you rehearse what happened,

721
00:49:53,120 --> 00:50:01,839
Speaker 1: you can never reverse what happened. Uh huh. Will y'all

722
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:03,400
Speaker 1: drive nice? If I keep you a little long and

723
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:04,920
Speaker 1: you run into the other people that are coming in

724
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:08,719
Speaker 1: the surface, I won't do too much. What makes us

725
00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,880
Speaker 1: verse great? Genesis fifty twenty, What makes us verse grade?

726
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:15,239
Speaker 1: If Rick the otto over here, he will tell you this,

727
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:20,239
Speaker 1: It's not what you think. Verse twenty of Genesis could

728
00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:22,799
Speaker 1: be the worst verse in the Bible. It could be

729
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:26,560
Speaker 1: when it says you got it, you intended to harm me.

730
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:41,600
Speaker 1: It's what comes after the comma. God brought you here

731
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:44,800
Speaker 1: so you can make a decision. What comes after your comma.

732
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:51,280
Speaker 1: It's just halftime. This is just a comma, not a coma.

733
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:58,120
Speaker 1: A comma a comma. Put it back up. How could

734
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:01,880
Speaker 1: one comma make such a big difference? Because that's where

735
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:10,040
Speaker 1: Joseph went from the event to the decision. And I'm

736
00:51:10,120 --> 00:51:16,560
Speaker 1: choosing to do this on my knees, because if I

737
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:19,080
Speaker 1: let this whole power over me, I stay a slave,

738
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:22,800
Speaker 1: and I won't be chained to what you did, and

739
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 1: I won't be chained to what I did when I

740
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:28,480
Speaker 1: remember what God has done. He set this up in

741
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:32,200
Speaker 1: your life. You don't have to believe that, but you can.

742
00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:38,840
Speaker 1: I can decide. I can decide. Is this the moment

743
00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:43,359
Speaker 1: that you decide to own your story, the bad and

744
00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:46,319
Speaker 1: the good, and put something after the calm? I hear

745
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:54,719
Speaker 1: the spirit of God saying, finish the sentence, finish the sentence,

746
00:51:57,239 --> 00:51:59,839
Speaker 1: And in the spirit of Kanye West, I'm gonna let

747
00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:04,000
Speaker 1: you finish. Come on, come on, come on, stay with me,

748
00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:07,759
Speaker 1: Stay with me. You tried to hurt me. It hurt me.

749
00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 1: But my hope is what happens after the comma. But

750
00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:17,040
Speaker 1: God give me the scripture. But God intended it for

751
00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 1: good to accomplish what is now being done to saving

752
00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:22,680
Speaker 1: of many lives. Decision decision Verse twenty one. Decision, decision, decision, decision.

753
00:52:22,880 --> 00:52:27,360
Speaker 1: So then don't be afraid. I will decision provide. He

754
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:33,359
Speaker 1: makes this decision. If I don't feed you, it will

755
00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 1: eat me. So I'm gonna use this as food. And

756
00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:46,080
Speaker 1: he fed that family, the same family that failed him

757
00:52:46,239 --> 00:52:51,280
Speaker 1: by a decision. You have a decision to make today

758
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:53,640
Speaker 1: Are you gonna stand up and try to be so

759
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:58,240
Speaker 1: strong in your own strength? Are you gonna bend your knees?

760
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:02,880
Speaker 1: I'm talking physically. This week. I want some of y'all

761
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:05,640
Speaker 1: to pray on your knees for at least a minute

762
00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:07,560
Speaker 1: a day this week. It doesn't have to be long,

763
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:10,799
Speaker 1: but you drop on your knees just to remind yourself, Well,

764
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:12,880
Speaker 1: God doesn't need me to kneel. No, you need to

765
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:18,800
Speaker 1: kneel because the position that you're in determines the decision

766
00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:20,640
Speaker 1: that you make. So when you get up, maybe you

767
00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:22,879
Speaker 1: walk different, maybe you talk different. Maybe you remember, I'm

768
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:25,279
Speaker 1: favored by God and He has a purpose in a

769
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 1: plan for my life that needs and when you submit

770
00:53:32,600 --> 00:53:34,400
Speaker 1: it to God. How do I know when I've submitted

771
00:53:34,440 --> 00:53:36,960
Speaker 1: it to God? Other than physically? Okay, a couple things.

772
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:40,719
Speaker 1: When you stop waiting for others to change for you

773
00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:46,720
Speaker 1: to obey, you're on your knees. The way they treat

774
00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:51,480
Speaker 1: me is not going to make me toxic. That's one sign.

775
00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:55,840
Speaker 1: Another sign is you start becoming absorbed in the process

776
00:53:56,520 --> 00:53:59,359
Speaker 1: of what God tells you to do and stop being

777
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:04,239
Speaker 1: attached to the outcome. That's when you know you're on

778
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:07,239
Speaker 1: your knees. This is how I fight my battles. I

779
00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:09,360
Speaker 1: got to do what God gave me to do today.

780
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:11,680
Speaker 1: That's all I can do. You know how I know

781
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:14,520
Speaker 1: what I'm really annointed to preach. When I don't care

782
00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:17,480
Speaker 1: how you look at me while I'm doing it, that's

783
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:22,880
Speaker 1: when I'm like, oh oh, that's when I got my

784
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:26,200
Speaker 1: power up, my invincibility, mushroom. You know, remember super Mario,

785
00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:30,160
Speaker 1: all right, the star, The star was the invinciment. Look

786
00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:36,919
Speaker 1: at me, you'll quit playing. This is so important when

787
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:40,640
Speaker 1: you have given up the illusion of control, but you

788
00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:44,080
Speaker 1: have committed yourself to the process of obedience of what

789
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:46,960
Speaker 1: God spoke. Now you're on your knees and look. The

790
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:49,840
Speaker 1: Bible says in Philippians two, verse five that this is

791
00:54:49,880 --> 00:54:53,400
Speaker 1: what Jesus did. He considered it not robbery to be

792
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:56,360
Speaker 1: equal with God. And he was God in beginning words

793
00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:58,160
Speaker 1: with God, and the word was God. And he did this.

794
00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:03,799
Speaker 1: He became sinful man and humble himself to the point

795
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:06,800
Speaker 1: of death on a cross. We're not talking about Joseph.

796
00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:11,200
Speaker 1: We're talking about Jesus, and he lives in you. So

797
00:55:11,320 --> 00:55:14,880
Speaker 1: he said, when Jesus humbled himself, God has given him

798
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:17,239
Speaker 1: God will lift you up. God will lift you up.

799
00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:19,879
Speaker 1: You gotta trust God to lift you up. You gotta

800
00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:22,520
Speaker 1: trust God to position you and bring you where he

801
00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:29,759
Speaker 1: wants you. Because the scripture says in Philippians too, that

802
00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:37,760
Speaker 1: one day every knee will bow, everybody will be brought

803
00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:40,760
Speaker 1: to their knees. If life hasn't humbled you yet enough,

804
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:45,800
Speaker 1: if you're still in the dream state, that's okay. Life

805
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:50,040
Speaker 1: will eventually bring you to this point. So why not

806
00:55:50,200 --> 00:55:55,680
Speaker 1: bow now? Why not bow now? Why not do it

807
00:55:55,680 --> 00:55:59,920
Speaker 1: God's way now? If you do it his way now,

808
00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:10,520
Speaker 1: you'll be ready for whatever he has next. Joseph didn't

809
00:56:10,520 --> 00:56:13,840
Speaker 1: die in the pit. He didn't quit in the prison.

810
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:20,080
Speaker 1: You didn't either give God praise that you didn't quit

811
00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:23,239
Speaker 1: give God praise. It was his mercy that got you

812
00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:27,000
Speaker 1: through it. Quit trying to look so strong. It was

813
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:35,520
Speaker 1: his mercy. I don't understand being a self made man,

814
00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:37,440
Speaker 1: because if I'm self made, that means I can be

815
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:44,160
Speaker 1: enemy broken. I'm a God made man. Yeah, yeah, he

816
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:47,520
Speaker 1: did it for me. He was with me, and I'm

817
00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:48,920
Speaker 1: bowb befo him to give him the glory. And that's

818
00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:54,920
Speaker 1: not weakness. Bit knees aren't weak. That's where your strength

819
00:56:55,000 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 1: comes from. So Joseph goes on to raise these two kids.

820
00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:08,880
Speaker 1: You know their names. JJ. Come on, tell me you

821
00:57:08,920 --> 00:57:16,280
Speaker 1: remember in Manassa and Manassa, they both got a Joseph

822
00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:20,120
Speaker 1: got an extra ridge in the allotment of the promised land,

823
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:23,280
Speaker 1: and Manassa, the half tribe of Manassa, got property to

824
00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:29,000
Speaker 1: his kids, got blessed because of what he did. Because

825
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:32,000
Speaker 1: of what he did. Wow, there's a lot on the

826
00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:35,520
Speaker 1: line right now. Some of you are breaking generational chains

827
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:37,880
Speaker 1: and you don't even know it, but you need God's

828
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:46,040
Speaker 1: help to do it, not by power, but by his spirit.

829
00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:51,160
Speaker 1: Bent knee say it, dent knees, break chains? Yeah? Not

830
00:57:51,320 --> 00:57:54,120
Speaker 1: you proven you're right? Not you refusing to admit when

831
00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 1: you're wrong. And I love what the Bible says. Not

832
00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:02,600
Speaker 1: leave you with this thought today for what God has next.

833
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:05,520
Speaker 1: If you will bend your knees now I don't mean

834
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:08,160
Speaker 1: physically in this room. I mean if you will submit

835
00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:12,200
Speaker 1: and surrender these events, this situation to God and ask

836
00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:14,120
Speaker 1: him for his wisdom and act on what he shows you.

837
00:58:14,360 --> 00:58:16,600
Speaker 1: Ask him for his wisdom, act on what he shows you,

838
00:58:16,840 --> 00:58:22,040
Speaker 1: make the decision to turn pain into purpose. Look what

839
00:58:22,160 --> 00:58:25,680
Speaker 1: happened to Joseph. You won't believe it. Verse twenty two.

840
00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:33,800
Speaker 1: Please that Joseph stayed in Egypt along with all his

841
00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:39,800
Speaker 1: father's family. The death of Jacob was an event. Staying

842
00:58:39,840 --> 00:58:46,200
Speaker 1: in Egypt was a decision. Yeah, and he lived one

843
00:58:46,280 --> 00:58:49,120
Speaker 1: hundred and ten years. Now. I told you that already,

844
00:58:49,120 --> 00:58:52,760
Speaker 1: but I didn't tell you this next verse and saw

845
00:58:53,400 --> 00:59:02,640
Speaker 1: the third generation of Ephraim's children, y'all, that's great grandchildren,

846
00:59:04,080 --> 00:59:06,880
Speaker 1: great grandchildren. God's not through with you yet. God is

847
00:59:06,920 --> 00:59:09,680
Speaker 1: not through with you yet. God is not through. It

848
00:59:09,760 --> 00:59:14,040
Speaker 1: is too early and too soon for you to plan.

849
00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:18,080
Speaker 1: And also the children of mckure. It means in Hebrew

850
00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:21,240
Speaker 1: sold that's what happened to him. That was the event.

851
00:59:21,280 --> 00:59:24,080
Speaker 1: But the children of mckure, the son of Manassa, you

852
00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:29,760
Speaker 1: got it. The children of his child were placed at

853
00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:41,200
Speaker 1: birth where on Joseph's knees. When you bow your knees

854
00:59:41,280 --> 00:59:47,640
Speaker 1: to God and surrender your situation to him, it makes

855
00:59:47,800 --> 00:59:54,360
Speaker 1: room on your knees for the future that He has

856
00:59:54,440 --> 01:00:06,240
Speaker 1: in store for you. So I close with this thought

857
01:00:06,320 --> 01:00:09,640
Speaker 1: for everybody who has been brought to your knees by

858
01:00:09,640 --> 01:00:14,320
Speaker 1: a situation in your life, expect God to bring to

859
01:00:14,480 --> 01:00:20,480
Speaker 1: your knees a new beginning. God wants you free and

860
01:00:20,600 --> 01:00:24,480
Speaker 1: clear from all of the junk, all of the bondage,

861
01:00:24,760 --> 01:00:27,360
Speaker 1: all of the bitterness, all of the blame. And you

862
01:00:27,480 --> 01:00:29,440
Speaker 1: gotta do what you gotta do to get on your

863
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:33,160
Speaker 1: knees so you can get your knees ready for what

864
01:00:33,320 --> 01:00:37,120
Speaker 1: God wants to bring you next. And he is able.

865
01:00:37,800 --> 01:00:40,760
Speaker 1: I preach this to every nation right now to do

866
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:50,800
Speaker 1: exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what you ask or imagine.

867
01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:55,680
Speaker 1: And God wants to bring you what's next when you

868
01:00:55,720 --> 01:00:59,960
Speaker 1: get on your knees. Joseph said, I've been in prison

869
01:01:00,160 --> 01:01:03,160
Speaker 1: and before I didn't like it. I want to be

870
01:01:03,200 --> 01:01:10,960
Speaker 1: free now. So God, I'm on my knees. Lord, today

871
01:01:11,760 --> 01:01:13,919
Speaker 1: we lift our hands. Go ahead, lift them up right now,

872
01:01:15,280 --> 01:01:18,240
Speaker 1: just as a sign of our prayer and our eager

873
01:01:18,280 --> 01:01:21,600
Speaker 1: hope for the freedom that Jesus died to bring us

874
01:01:21,680 --> 01:01:25,000
Speaker 1: to be made a reality in our lives. I thank

875
01:01:25,040 --> 01:01:27,520
Speaker 1: you today, Lord, that this week is going to be different.

876
01:01:29,040 --> 01:01:30,840
Speaker 1: It's going to be different because we're not going to

877
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:34,280
Speaker 1: spend it chained to bitterness. We're not going to spend

878
01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:38,160
Speaker 1: it looking for something or someone to blame. But this

879
01:01:38,200 --> 01:01:43,000
Speaker 1: week We're starting this week right here, right now, bowing

880
01:01:43,120 --> 01:01:47,640
Speaker 1: before you, saying that Jesus Christ is Lord, and what

881
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:51,960
Speaker 1: God has planned for my life, no man can stop it.

882
01:01:52,800 --> 01:01:56,840
Speaker 1: No curse can stop it, no betrayal can stop it,

883
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:01,560
Speaker 1: No sickness can stop it. No reason session can stop it.

884
01:02:02,160 --> 01:02:06,360
Speaker 1: No virus can stuff it, no pandemic can stuff it.

885
01:02:06,760 --> 01:02:10,360
Speaker 1: When God gets ready to bless me, when God gets

886
01:02:10,400 --> 01:02:14,280
Speaker 1: ready to raise me, when God has a purpose, it

887
01:02:14,440 --> 01:02:19,640
Speaker 1: will come to pass. Let's give him sixty seconds a praise.

888
01:02:21,120 --> 01:02:27,080
Speaker 1: That bit needs break change. Come. Throw off those chains,

889
01:02:27,800 --> 01:02:32,120
Speaker 1: throw off that attitude, throw off that shame, throw off

890
01:02:32,240 --> 01:02:35,640
Speaker 1: that kill, throw it off this. Praise him, Praise him,

891
01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:39,640
Speaker 1: praise him. That's not enough, that's not enough. Who the

892
01:02:39,840 --> 01:02:50,600
Speaker 1: Son says free is free. Indeed, bow your head, Bow

893
01:02:50,680 --> 01:02:53,400
Speaker 1: your head. The scripture says that if you confess with

894
01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:55,560
Speaker 1: your mouth Jesus's Lord, and believe in your heart God

895
01:02:55,640 --> 01:02:58,680
Speaker 1: raised him from the death, you will be saved. This

896
01:02:58,840 --> 01:03:03,600
Speaker 1: is a salvation moment of decision for somebody, a salvation moment.

897
01:03:03,960 --> 01:03:07,320
Speaker 1: You are making the decision right now to place your

898
01:03:07,320 --> 01:03:11,080
Speaker 1: faith in Jesus Christ, to place your faith in his death,

899
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:14,240
Speaker 1: to place your faith in his resurrection. He died for

900
01:03:14,280 --> 01:03:17,160
Speaker 1: your forgiveness. He rose again to give you life. He

901
01:03:17,280 --> 01:03:20,400
Speaker 1: invites you to follow him. He has promised you his spirit.

902
01:03:20,640 --> 01:03:23,280
Speaker 1: All you've got to do is receive it, and the

903
01:03:23,440 --> 01:03:28,240
Speaker 1: moment you hit your knees, his forgiveness will hit your life.

904
01:03:28,440 --> 01:03:30,320
Speaker 1: And I want to lead you in a prayer right now.

905
01:03:31,280 --> 01:03:33,360
Speaker 1: We're going to pray this across all of our campuses

906
01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:36,600
Speaker 1: and our epaum around the world for the benefit of

907
01:03:36,600 --> 01:03:39,800
Speaker 1: those who are making the decision right now to place

908
01:03:39,840 --> 01:03:43,240
Speaker 1: your faith in Christ, because He has already made the

909
01:03:43,280 --> 01:03:46,520
Speaker 1: decision to save you. It's God who calls you, It's

910
01:03:46,560 --> 01:03:49,000
Speaker 1: God who's drawing you. It's God that works in you,

911
01:03:49,560 --> 01:03:52,760
Speaker 1: and He brought you to this moment. So for those

912
01:03:52,760 --> 01:03:54,040
Speaker 1: of you who need to come to Him for the

913
01:03:54,080 --> 01:03:55,480
Speaker 1: first time or come back to Him, I want you

914
01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:58,320
Speaker 1: to repeat this prayer after me as you bow your

915
01:03:58,320 --> 01:04:04,560
Speaker 1: heart before God, Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in

916
01:04:04,640 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 1: need of a savior, and today I bow my heart

917
01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:15,200
Speaker 1: to you. I give you my life, make me new.

918
01:04:16,320 --> 01:04:22,040
Speaker 1: I believe you die that I could be forgiven and

919
01:04:22,160 --> 01:04:27,800
Speaker 1: rose again that I could live. Jesus, I receive you

920
01:04:28,960 --> 01:04:33,680
Speaker 1: as my Lord and Savior. I bow my life to you.

921
01:04:34,440 --> 01:04:38,720
Speaker 1: I belong to you. This is my new beginning. Well,

922
01:04:38,760 --> 01:04:41,200
Speaker 1: if you enjoy today's podcast, there are a couple things

923
01:04:41,240 --> 01:04:44,520
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,

924
01:04:44,840 --> 01:04:47,840
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach

925
01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:51,400
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash

926
01:04:51,520 --> 01:04:54,960
Speaker 1: give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.