WEBVTT - My Future Is My Focus 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:06.680 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, what in awesome privilege? Let 0:00:06.760 --> 0:00:09.119 us know right now in the chat. Where are you? 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:16.959 Where are you? Are you in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.440 Are you in the grocery store? Are you in the walmart? 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.200 Are you in Target? Where are you at? Where are 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.120 you at? I'm in my car, so I'm typing while 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.160 I'm driving. Stop that, Put the phone down and just listen. 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.800 We need you alive, all right, see the goodness of 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:35.760 the Lord in the land of the Living. Let me 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:39.080 tell you where I am. That's a little different. I'm 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:44.159 with my staff today. I'm with my Elevation Church staff, 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:51.519 my co laborers in the Gospel, my partners, my partners, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:58.360 my partners. You know, God is so good at his job. 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:00.000 Bible says, if you're trust in Him with all your heart, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:01.640 I lean not on your own understanding. He will direct 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.400 your past. When I got done preaching last week, I 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:11.880 preached about Joseph. It took me listen an hour to 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.440 get in the car after I preached because I couldn't 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:19.400 stop writing down what I wanted to say next. And 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.520 I was telling the Lord, You're gonna make me wait 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.600 seven days to say all of this that is cruel 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:32.440 and unusual punishment, Father, Daddy, Aba God. And then I 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:38.160 remember that we had a staff team day with all 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:45.360 of our amazing, amazing staff, and I said, y'all got 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:50.240 to turn on the cameras and I'll preach to them 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.240 for the whole church and for the whole E fam. 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.800 So that's where I'm at today. I'm not excited, I'm 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:08.040 fired off. I am, I am, I am so again. Welcome, 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.639 Welcome to every location, Welcome to the staff, Welcome to 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:17.840 the graphic designers, e kids, campus pastors, associate campus pastors, debutantes, derelics, delinquents, 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.080 and all points in between. God has a word for 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.000 you today. That's the person next to you. Do you 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:28.800 want your word, because I'll take yours too if you 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:33.560 don't want it. Like Chunks always looks at my plate 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.240 and says, you're gonna eat that. People who are hungry 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:38.960 for the word is like a you're gonna eat that, 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.360 I'll eat it at you know. But we want to 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.480 pick up today and thank you so much for your 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.520 attendance today, and thank you for the privilege of ministering 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.280 the Word of God to you. It's going to be amazing, 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.280 and y'all one reason I wanted to do it this 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.880 way because you know, normally I'm preaching the sermon live 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:03.200 on Sunday mornings, and that's great, that's great. But back 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:09.840 in the the days of the plague, right after Moses 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.440 brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai and the 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.240 plague had put it where I could only have staff 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:22.160 in the room for months and months and months. I'm 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.880 not gonna say I missed that at all because it was, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.720 you know, tough time, but there was something special about 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.800 those moments. I mean, I haven't had Larry Bryan in 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:36.200 the room with me in six months. So when you 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:41.320 when you hear this, that's that's LB. LB is back 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:48.440 and oh man, So wherever you are, I pray that 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:54.040 God would bless you in a great way today. Why 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:58.160 don't we do this. Let's go, let's go to Genesis 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:04.440 forty nine. It's hard to call this a part two 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.920 for what I shared last week about bent Knee's break chains. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:12.680 If you didn't hear it, I can give you the 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:19.000 whole message. Humility brings freedom when you stop trying to 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:24.080 control everything and manipulate everything and change everyone. But ask 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:29.280 God change me, change the way I see it. Then 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.800 it frees you in amazing ways. So that was the message. 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.120 It was a lot better than that. You can go 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.359 watch it. So now I want to back up to 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.919 Genesis forty nine and give you a picture of the 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.640 Bible character we spoke about last week. Who was Joseph 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:53.080 and what his father Jacob said to him before he died. 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:58.760 Now listen to this. Jacob has been speaking to all 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.320 of his sons, all twelve of them. You know him 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:06.039 as the tribes of Israel, because those went on to 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.919 be the patriarchs that God built his nation through. But 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.360 they were also troublemakers. And I'm telling you not only 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.360 did they push Joseph in a pit because they were 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:21.800 jealous of him, but they were crazy and so I 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:25.280 mean they attacked whole cities, whole villages. And so when 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.679 Jacob started talking to them, the Bible says something cool 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.800 that he gave them each the blessing that was appropriate 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:36.000 to them, and he went one by one, so he 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.520 gave them each a personal word, and it concerned their 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:44.440 future and their purpose. But it wasn't always this polished 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.120 kind of thing. One of his sons he called a 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:51.719 raw bone donkey. Isn't that crazy? He said, you're a 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.360 raw bone donkey. I think that was Isakar. He said 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.000 that too, you're a raw bone donkey. And one of them, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.800 he said you're a snake by thee to one of 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.800 his sons. All right, So when he gets to Joseph, 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.640 you can tell how much he likes Joseph. He liked 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.720 Joseph's mom. He loved Rachel, and Rachel is no longer. 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.159 But I think he sees a little bit of Rachel 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.479 in Joseph's eyes because he gives him an extra long blessing. Now, 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:26.200 first point, the one who went through the most, the 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.479 one who had gone through the most, the one who 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:36.320 endured the most, was blessed the most. So listen to this. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.640 This is what he said about Joseph. Just listen, just listen, 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.479 and I'm gonna have you seated in a moment. But 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.960 he said in Genesis forty nine to twenty two, Joseph 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.839 is a fruitful vine, fruitful vine near a spring, whose 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:56.000 branches climb over a wall. With bitterness. Archers attacked him. 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:01.760 They shot at him with hostility, but his bow remain steady, 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:07.120 his strong arms stayed limber because of the hand of 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.680 the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:15.080 Rock of Israel, because of your Father's God, who helps you, 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.320 Because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:23.040 the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.600 of the breast and womb. Your father's blessings are greater. 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:31.160 Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.120 ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age old hills. 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.680 Let all these rest on the head of Joseph. Let 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.080 all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:48.000 brow of the prince among his brothers. Say, Amen, I 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:49.520 want to speak to you today. God gave me a 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.000 word for you, and you could say it out loud, 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:57.200 to say, my future is my focus. Say it again, 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:01.760 my future is my focus. Now look all around you, 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:03.560 Look all around you, look all around you, and now 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:08.200 look straight ahead. Say my future is my focus. Amen, 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:11.160 you may be seated. I'm gonna teach a little bit today, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.440 can I teach? I teach a little bit too. I 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:16.800 might preach a little too. I might preach a little teach, 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.920 a little dance, a little shout a little, I might 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:25.760 sing a little. You may hear that different than I 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.560 mean it. By the way, my future is my focus, 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:34.200 because sometimes I think we use the future as an 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:41.240 excuse to waste today. It is possible to look so 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.800 far ahead you can wreck your car looking too far 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.400 just as easily as not looking far enough. So when 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.960 I say my future is my focus, I'm not talking 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:57.640 about that that worrying spirit that tries to keep you 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.760 playing out every what if scenario, like you can think 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:05.400 of every contingency. When you get kids, you'll understand this. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.120 Those of you who are maybe hoping to have kids, 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:12.440 you'll understand that. You will begin to plan who they're 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:17.000 going to marry the moment you find out what sex 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.000 they are. When I married Holly, her mom pulled me 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.320 aside and I love you, DDI, but she said, I've 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.360 been praying for you since Holly was born. I told 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.760 the Lord what kind of man to send for my 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.840 daughter since the day she was born. And I'm like, 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:41.040 did I fit the list? I am too bad? Because 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.679 now I am, so you might have to adjust the 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:47.160 list because here I am. Send me you know anyway, 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.640 that's good, But you can take it too far. Getting 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.720 so focused on me and Holly will go on a 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.440 walk sometimes and we'll start thinking about what if our 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:00.439 kids marry somebody that we don't like. It's like, it's 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.720 all right, Abby is eleven. She's got at least fifty 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:11.079 more years before we let her date. Say it again. 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:15.680 My future is my focus, and so a lot of 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:17.400 the things that are going on in your mind. I'm 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.520 just going to be honest with you. You're trying to 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:24.319 do too much too soon. You're trying to do too 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.680 much too soon. You know that feeling you can get 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.960 in a conversation where you're talking to somebody and then 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.040 you take it a little too far and you can 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.200 kind of back up and you say too far. This 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.280 happens to me all the time because I'm a pastor 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.760 and people have a certain perception of me as a pastor, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.480 and sometimes I like to let them in on what 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.080 I really struggle with. And I'll say something about, you know, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:48.200 something that's not completely sanitized, and I'll get this sense like, oh, 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.720 too far. They can't handle that, that's too far. I 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.040 get that sometimes when I'm preaching. Sometimes when i'm preaching, 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.200 I'll start digging at something and I can tell Oh, 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.440 this is a little too too deep, too quick. This 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.080 is not a Sunday morning, This is not a Sunday morning. Point, 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.080 this is something for a Bible study. This for a 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:04.920 men's Bible study. Back it up, back it up, back 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.240 it up. This is for a men's only Bible study. 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:13.760 Oh yeah, too far, and then there's too soon, and 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.520 so that's a real danger. It's a real danger when 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:24.320 you start trying to use today's faith to forecast tomorrow's problems. 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:28.760 Remember the hymn writer said strength for today and bright 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.240 hope for tomorrow. God will never give you strength for 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.120 tomorrow and hope for today. He will give you strength 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:39.600 for today hope for tomorrow. But a lot of us 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.959 get it backwards. So we want hope for today and 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.360 strength for tomorrow. What do I mean? We kind of 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:51.280 get in our minds that what's next will be better. 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.679 We get that in our minds. To a certain degree. 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.559 We do the opposite of Joseph in the Bible. Joseph 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.760 did not wait until he was in a position of influence, 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.640 like we talked about last week, to begin to serve 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:11.119 God with integrity. Watch this. His integrity led to his influence. 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:17.480 It wasn't a byproduct of the influence. It wasn't when 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.320 others were watching him that he started working hard. It 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.320 wasn't when a great opportunity to relieve each of the 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:28.360 famine appeared that he submitted his job application to be 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.640 the second in charge to the Pharaoh. So we see, 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.280 and we saw last week. If you saw the message 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:41.559 last week, that message last week, we covered forty years 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:45.440 of faithfulness in Joseph's life that led him to this 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.559 point of forgiveness for everything that had happened to him 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:52.480 in his past, for everything that had happened to him 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:58.680 at the hands of others, for everything that Joseph couldn't 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:05.560 necessarily let go, but God helped him get over what 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:10.560 he couldn't let go of. There's something in your life 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:15.000 right now that you can't let go of. But the 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.679 word God is going to give you today is going 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.080 to help you to get over what you can't let 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:23.959 go of. I don't necessarily mean something that somebody did 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.560 to you, although it very well could be that it 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.320 could be your idea of what somebody did to you, 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.520 But if we asked them, they would see it differently. 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.800 So we're not talking about what somebody else did we're 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.560 talking about what is happening on the inside of you say, 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:44.080 my future is my focus now. To get us to 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:48.080 this place, I want to revisit Genesis fifty from last 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.520 week and kind of take it a little bit deeper 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:54.360 than what I was able to share. Let's go beneath 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.040 the surface of this conversation, just to remind you. And 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.160 I was telling my friend. My friend said, uh, I 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.320 liked the sermon and it made me mad. I said, 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:05.560 I did it right. I did that one right. Because 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.760 if you could hear this idea that you are not 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.920 in the place of God, what Joseph said, what you're 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:13.559 going to see in a moment. If you can hear 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.800 that and it doesn't challenge you, you didn't really hear it. 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.000 If you hear you are not God. And all you 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.640 hear is so I have no responsibility because God's gonna 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:26.520 do it. Then you didn't hear the message. You didn't 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.200 hear the scripture. You turned the scripture into a sedative. 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.720 But it doesn't strengthen you if it only sedates you. Okay, 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.720 I'm not God. So I'm just gonna let God work 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:44.840 it out. I'm just gonna let God do it y'all. God, God, 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.480 God did not preach this sermon to me. Today. I 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:53.960 studied it. Lord, give me the message. You know. The 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:58.560 next thing the Lord said, open your books, you know 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.120 those big books. If you don't like to read your message, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:08.440 your blessing is in your books. So when she said 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.600 I liked it, it made me mad. I said, good, 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.600 because it's going to do you some good if it 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:16.960 If it irritated you a little bit, look at this. 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.720 I'm I'm gonna go through it slowly today. You ready, Concord, 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:25.800 Are you ready? Gaston? Are you ready? All right? Right? 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:30.040 All right, all right, make it sure. Listen to Joseph 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.160 at age fifty six, in the halftime of his life, 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:37.120 making a decision about what he's going to do with 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:43.280 his brothers who betrayed him, who are now kneeling before him, 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:49.600 begging him be good to us. Remember they haven't changed, 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:56.080 because they are still lying to him, saying, your dad 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.880 wanted you to forgive us. It was Dad's idea, it was. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.840 That's like staff members who say, Pastor wants you to 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:04.600 be on time? Pastor, do I want you to be 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.800 on time? God wants you to be on time? Not 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.040 to do it pastor. But they did that, and so 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.880 have you ever been here? He is having to forgive them, 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.840 but they are still doing the thing that hurt him. 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.160 It's one thing to forgive him. And they've been dead 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.680 twenty three years. It's one thing to forgive them. And 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.680 they moved to Alabama, and now that they're living in 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.920 another country, I mean another state, you don't ever have 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.080 to see him again. But now he's having to deal 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:36.080 with it in the face of his present. He's having 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.840 to make a decision about his future. Let's go you ready. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.880 When Joseph's brothers verse fifteen saw that their father was dead, 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.760 they said, when they saw that their father was dead, 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.440 they said, come back to that in a minute. What 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.360 if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:55.360 back for all the wrongs we did to him. So 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.000 they sent word to Joseph, say it, your father left 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.920 these instructions before he died. I can't resist telling you this. 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.120 I want to save it, but I can't. He already 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:11.480 heard from his father in chapter forty nine. He doesn't 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.240 need a second hand explanation of what his father said 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:22.199 from his dysfunctional brothers. That's why I'm glad. I have 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:26.600 direct access to God. I have a direct line to Heaven. 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.399 I have a direct connection to the heart of my father. 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.679 He knipped me together, made me, stitch me, and sustains me. 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.840 So I know what he said, so I'll have to 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.880 hear it secondhand. That means you don't get to dilute 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.000 it or pollute it, or mix it up or twist it, 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:47.000 because I know what he said, because he told me. 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.200 Verse seventeen. This is what you are to say to Joseph. 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.679 I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.080 wrongs they committed in treating you so badly. Now, please 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.479 forgive the sins of the servant of the God of 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.080 your father. And he didn't even have the guts to 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.719 do it face to face. They sent a messenger, and 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:17.520 when their message came to him, Joseph wept. Remember he 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:23.480 noticed his emotions, but he was not controlled by his emotions. 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:28.440 That's where you've got to get That's where I've got 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:33.200 to get that you notice the emotions if you want 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:38.280 to be free, but you are not controlled by the emotions. 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:42.639 Being controlled by your emotions will always limit your future 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.359 to the level of your feelings. So you will only 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.600 do what's right if you feel like doing what's right. Oh, 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.879 I just wasn't feeling it today. Well, those are the 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:59.920 times to faith it all right. So I didn't place 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.800 my feelings in Christ. I placed my faith in Cross, 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:07.920 who's greater than my feelings. And Joseph said, after he 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:10.840 finished weeping, they came and said, we are your slaves. 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:13.680 And he said to them Verse nineteen, don't be afraid. 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:20.240 Am I in the place of God? Obvious answers no. 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:25.520 But now to the naked eye, he kind of is 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.119 because he's so powerful at this point in his life. 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.840 He's not the little brother that they picked on anymore. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:41.160 This boy is so blessed that they didn't even recognize him. 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.200 The first trip they made to Egypt to get food, 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:50.000 he stood right in front of them, dressed in Pharaoh's coat, 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.359 not the one his father gave him. The one that 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:55.879 they stripped from him was still in the house of 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.640 the Father. But God always has a coat for me somewhere. 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:04.600 If I I keep my character, somebody say, my future 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.760 is my focus. So if I keep my character, you 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.119 can have my coat. If I keep my sense of 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.640 who I am, I can go through things that would 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:19.680 have killed somebody else's character. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:21.520 yeah yea yeah, yea yeah yeah. This is the word. 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:24.360 This is the word. This is the word, and this 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.240 is the verse that we focused on last week. And 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.120 I'm gonna break it down again. He said, you intended 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:38.800 to harm me, but God intended it for good to 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.920 accomplish what is now being done, saving them any life. 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:43.959 All right, So I want to illustrate this, all right, 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:52.000 who can I use? I need three strong men, three 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:58.040 strong brothers. I need three. There we go, we'll do that. 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:02.600 One two three, perfect, perfect perfect. Now I want you'll 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:04.200 you'll come on up here and help me. This will 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:06.000 be fun. This will be fun because I want you 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.960 to see it like last week when I got on 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:12.359 my knees in that sermon that wasn't for a show, 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.639 that was so that the word of God, that you 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:18.760 could carry it forward so that it would have an 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.280 imprint in your life and you could ask the question, 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:25.000 am I in the position to make the decision? Or 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:26.600 am I letting my pain get the best of me? 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.520 So okay, So y'all line up from strongest to weakest, 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:33.040 Come on, now, come on out, coming it right here, 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:35.359 from strongest to weakest. Come on, come on, come in, 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:41.800 come here, from strongest to weakest. All these campus fasters now, 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.280 all right, so so stand up. I'm done with that, im. 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:46.600 It's just a different image. I did that last week. 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:49.920 That was last week. Y'all watch it online YouTube dot com. 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:54.440 Put put the strongest. I want the strongest one on 0:21:54.480 --> 0:22:01.640 that side and the weakest one on this side. That's 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:07.120 how you want it, weakest, strongest, weakest. What did I say, 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:12.560 which one on which side? Huh, you're the strongest, You're strongest. 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:16.240 I want. I think I want the strongest, the close. Well, no, 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:20.479 you're the strongest. I'm mixed up weakest. All right, we'll 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.920 start with you. We're gonna call him I did this 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.960 last week, but now let me illustrate it. Let's call 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:38.720 him bad bad Jeff Bates. Let's call him bad to 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:42.160 represent not that he's bad, the bad things that happened 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:45.840 in Joseph's life. Remember, you meant it to harm me, 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:50.760 You intended it for evil. So let's say he's the 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:53.959 bad thing. What I endeavor for you to see today 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.440 is that, at this point in Joseph's life, when something 0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:00.960 bad happens to you, when's thing bad is done to 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:09.600 you when the bad thing is because of you, all 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:11.800 of it, all of it. I'm trying to get you 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:16.080 to see that all things fall under the sovereignty of God. 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.040 Say sovereignty. You don't have to spell it, put it 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:24.000 in the chat, just say it, sovereignty. The sovereignty eye 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:28.480 before you had sovereignty, got a g in it. Sovereignty. 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:34.159 It means that God uses sinful men to accomplish saving purposes. 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:38.080 That's the whole book of Genesis in a nutshell, that 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:43.720 God uses sinful women to accomplish saving purposes. You intended 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:47.080 to harm me. God intended it for good, for the 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:53.560 saving salvation of many lives. So sovereignty salvation. But it 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:55.880 was bad, and we said last week that that's so important. 0:23:56.080 --> 0:23:59.119 It was bad. Now, if Joseph spends the rest of 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:02.000 his life, he says fifty twenty. If he spends the 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:07.320 rest of his life in the first part of this sentence, 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:13.080 if he spends the rest of his life, I'm looking 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:15.120 for you. There, there you are. If he spends the 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:18.000 rest of his life in the first part of this sentence, 0:24:18.720 --> 0:24:22.520 you intended to harm me, Then the bad thing that 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:29.800 happened becomes just link arms becomes a chain to who 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:34.359 he blames for it. Check your blame, you intended to 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:37.960 harm me. And then he starts name checking him, Ruben Simeon, 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:42.240 Isa Car, you rob bone donkey. He starts calling the names. 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:44.920 He didn't call is a raw bone donkey. And I'm 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:46.440 not one hundred percent sure it was Isa Car that 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:48.600 he called a rob boone donkey. So somebody's fact checking 0:24:48.640 --> 0:24:50.440 me right now. But he didn't. He didn't call any 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:52.879 of them it was good. It was is Car. He 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:57.720 didn't call him that good app He could have spent 0:24:57.840 --> 0:24:59.840 the rest of his life put it back up p 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:05.920 describing how they harmed him. Such a small thing to say, 0:25:06.160 --> 0:25:12.120 harm me? How much? How much time do you get 0:25:12.160 --> 0:25:14.479 to that? Because I'm telling you keep your arms light. 0:25:15.080 --> 0:25:18.120 Some of us would have spent the next fifty five 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:24.120 years describing the first part of that sentence. And let 0:25:24.160 --> 0:25:27.120 me tell you what it was like. First, I had 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:29.800 to go down to I had to go down and 0:25:29.840 --> 0:25:32.600 be enslaved by the Midianites. I was picked up by 0:25:32.600 --> 0:25:34.680 the caravan. I was shoved in the back. He would 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:36.840 have spent the rest of his life if he would, 0:25:36.880 --> 0:25:38.760 because if you start there, then you got to talk 0:25:38.760 --> 0:25:41.720 about and then I excelled in the house of Potterphar, 0:25:41.760 --> 0:25:45.160 who I served, But then his wife was crazy and 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:47.159 his wife was kept on trying to get with me. 0:25:47.520 --> 0:25:49.680 And I mean, who can blame her? I am well 0:25:49.680 --> 0:25:52.000 built and handsome. The Bible says that The Bible says 0:25:52.040 --> 0:25:54.400 that he was well built and handsome. He was well 0:25:54.440 --> 0:25:57.200 built and handsome, but he he didn't go into any 0:25:57.280 --> 0:26:00.440 details about Potterphar's house. He didn't go into any details 0:26:00.440 --> 0:26:04.159 about what happened after Potiphar's house, which was prison. He 0:26:04.160 --> 0:26:07.280 didn't go into any details about being forgotten in prison 0:26:07.480 --> 0:26:12.119 when he was the key to one man's freedom. He 0:26:12.160 --> 0:26:15.119