Transcription
Hey, what's up YouTube family? It's Pastor KJ from Radiant Church, and I'm so excited for you to join us for today's sermon. We have such a powerful sermon and story. I believe it's going to strengthen you, challenge you, and encourage you. So get ready for this message.
Also, share this message with friends, family members, co-workers, everyone you know. I believe it would change their life. Get ready to jump into the word of God with us today. If you're taking notes, the title of my sermon is, "I Ain't Feeling It." Everyone say, "I Ain't Feeling It." I don't know if that's proper English, but it is proper preaching. Um, "I Ain't Feeling It." Have you ever woke up in the morning, you just say, "Lord, I ain't feeling it"? Have you ever been on a date before and you like, "Lord, I ain't feeling it"? Have you ever pulled up to work and you like, "Lord Jesus, I ain't feeling it"? You better not say nothing. You better not say nothing. You sure better not say nothing.
You know, sometimes in our life, we ain't feeling it. I remember one day my wife walked through the house. I can sense when she ain't feeling it. There's like a little, like, there's like something before her. I'm like, "She ain't feeling it." Jokes will subside. I'm gonna be quiet and go grab the baby and scroll my phone. She ain't feeling it.
Sometimes in life, you're not feeling it, and you would go through seasons where you're not feeling it, where emotionally you're not feeling them, mentally you're not feeling it, spiritually you're not feeling it. You've been chasing after God for years, and you've been running after God, and you've been being faithful, and you've been doing everything right. You're like, "God, I'm tired. I'm not feeling it. God, I don't want to pray. I don't want to fast. I don't want to read. I don't want to come to church. I don't want to serve. I'm not feeling it."
And the beauty of the gospel and the beauty of our God is, just because you're not feeling it doesn't mean you got to stop doing it. Just because you're not feeling it doesn't mean you have to stop doing it. Because let me tell you something about the devil. The devil's greatest attack is attacking your emotions. That's his greatest tactic. And the reason why he attacks your emotions is because your emotions have the capacity to be rogue soldiers. Your emotions could lead themselves. They'll go their own direction. They'll make their own decisions. So he targets your emotions because he knows if he can stop you emotionally, he can probably stop you physically, spiritually, mentally, and every other way.
So he wants to attack your emotions because some of you guys follow what you feel. You follow what you feel. Which means if the devil can make you feel discouraged, you follow discouragement. If he can make you feel angry, you follow anger. If he can make you feel bitter, you follow bitterness. If he can make you feel offended, you follow offense. So he's saying, "If I can get them to feel it, I can get them to do it." He wants you to feel stuff. The devil makes many of you guys sin by making you feel us. And all of a sudden, you feel lust, now you respond to sin. You feel hungry, now you respond to gluttony. You feel anxious, now you respond to gossip. You feel frustrated, now you respond to bitterness. He wants you to feel it so he can get you to do it.
Because he knows the most powerful thing in the universe, outside of the power of God, is the human will. God can't control your will. The devil can't control your will. God gave you free will, and no one can control your will but you. And the enemy wants to control your will because if he can will your life, he can turn your life in any direction he wants to. And let me tell you something, if you're going to follow God, bless God, be a Christian, be a disciple, be a believer, you got to get out of your feelings. Some of y'all are like Drake, man, "They got me in my feelings." You got to get out your feelings. No, Kiki, I don't love you. I'm not in my feelings. Some of y'all like, "What are you talking about?" The younger people know. You cannot follow what you feel. You can't follow what you feel.
And here's why: because you will feel all types of things, but in life, you can not choose your season, but you can't choose your spirit. You can't choose your season, but you can't choose your spirit. You can't choose what you go through, but you can choose how you go through. Can I, can I build this thing before I preach?
[Music]
Let's build. We're going to build a little bit. So the Bible asks us to gird our loins with the belt of truth. The belt of truth sits right here, in front of your abdomen area, right here in front of your, in front of your stomach. That's where the belt of truth sits. The reason why the Holy Spirit, in Ephesians 6, put the belt right here is because this is the place of your emotions. When you get a heartache, you get a knot right here in your stomach. When you get scared, you get a knot in your stomach. So, so right here is the place of your emotions. And God says, "I'm gonna put the belt of truth over your emotions so when you walk, you don't walk by how you feel, you walk by what God says." You don't walk based on feelings, you walk based on truth.
And too many of you guys are walking based on feelings, not based on truth. God is saying, "I'm glad you have feelings, but feelings was never designed to be leaders. That was always designed to be followers. That was never decided to, that was never designed to be dictators. That was designed to be servants." Your feelings are not to control you, they're to serve you. And when they serve you, they're beautiful. But when they control you, they are horror. Don't be led, don't be controlled by your feelings.
So God gave you the belt of truth, and He's saying, "I need you to walk by truth, not walk by your feelings." Because your feelings are stupid. Do you know that you can feel something, and be totally wrong? "I just feel like no one likes me here." Nobody thought about you. No one spoke to me today. They're mad. No one saw you today. They didn't see you. And you walk around feeling all kinds of stuff, just feelings, and let the devil lie to you, letting them whisper to you, letting them pick you off, letting them confuse you. "My husband don't think I'm cute." "Hey, thank you, cute." He took three pictures of you. Look at the devil trying to make you feel scared. Because that thing fell, we ain't scared. Devil, your feelings are liars if they're not trained by God. And just because you feel it, don't make it true. You can feel a lot. Everyone try to say you can feel a lie. You don't believe me? So let me show it to you.
So before Pastor Tish and I got together, she didn't realize that I was going to be a trophy husband. So because she didn't get the revelation yet, and she put me in the friend zone, she didn't know what she was missing out on. So one night, I decided to spit a little game, and we decided to be more than friends. But it was this weird thing. We had been friends for so long, I couldn't find out how to make the transition from being friends to romanticism. So I'm trying everything. I'm flirting. She just keeps friending me. Yeah, she's calling me "bro." I just spent $60 on this date. I don't want to be called "bro." I'll take you to Street Park. I bought you an apple. Why are you telling me "bro"? So she just keeps calling me "bro, bro, bro." And then we was, then we was getting ready to go to the mall, and she's like, "So what you want to do today, fool?"
Fool. I'm like, "I'm worse than a bro. So we had the cast of breaking up. I'm a fool." So I said, "Okay." Like I said, "Okay." So I called one of my friends. I said, "Man, I'm trying to shift from from friend zone to romanticism. What do I do?" He said, "The movies." Why didn't I think of that? You're brilliant. So I said, "We're going to the movies." So I went to my phone, I scrolled to see what was coming out, and I'm going through there. I'm seeing all these different movies. And finally, I see "Drag Me to Hell." That's the one. That is the one. This is the movie. This is gonna be gonna fix.
So me and her, we go to this movie. And I know this is bad. And I was a Christian at this point. Somebody need to pour anointing oil on me, okay? But I wanted to be married. And praise God, it worked. Um, so we go to "Drag Me to Hell." And I'm thinking, "I need this movie to be very scary because hopefully he can drag her close to me so we can shift from being friends to more." So we're sitting in "Drag Me to Hell." And unfortunately, Pastor Tish is stoic. She is sitting there, strong, courageous. Monsters jumping out the screen. She's just smiling. I'm like, "What is scared? Who is this girl?" And then all of a sudden, we get to the end of the movie. I'm mad. Cause I'm 16. She's still in her seat. I'm still in my seat. Bless you, Jesus. Bless it. And then all of a sudden, this train scene came, and the ground opened, and this woman yanked this other lady and dragged her to hell. I blinked my eyes, and Pastor Tish was on my leg. I said, "There's a God somewhere."
And then I realized the sweet art of emotions. Because ever since that day, she's been right next to my hip. And it took "Drag Me to Hell" to give her the revelation. Life is better close to me now. And all seriousness, though, everything that brought her close to me was a lie. It was all a lie. There was no lady, there was no hell, there was no three-legged kids hopping around. None of that was actually there. It was all an illusion. It was pre-recorded. It was premeditated. None of it was real. And it was designed to trick her. And though it was a lie, and though it was fake, she responded to it. She got afraid based on it. She jumped towards me based on something that wasn't really there.
And the devil has mastered the art of the movie. He is making you jump in anxiety, and nothing's there. He's making you jump in fear, and nothing's there. He's making you jump and worry, and nothing's there. He's making you jump in depression, and nothing's there. Because fear is false evidence appearing real. And the devil will make you feel like death is you're in, when death is just the beginning, because you serve the resurrection. In other words, your feelings can be wrong, and they can lie. And the devil is manipulating your feelings. Your history, your trauma, your pain has all trained you to feel a certain way. Which means if you've been cheated on, when your husband goes to the mailbox, you're gonna think he's cheating. It has nothing to do with him, but has everything to do with your feelings being programmed by pain.
Let me give you another example. If you go to a place and you feel like no one cares about you, it's because you went to places and you was in traumatic situations, and your feelings has been programmed to walk into the unfamiliar and feel rejection. So now you're walking around people you don't even know, feeling rejected, not because of anything they've done, but because how Satan twisted your emotions. And now you're living your life in false reality because your feelings haven't been sanctified. You have to control your feelings, deal with your feelings, or they'll deal with you. Lead your feelings, or they'll lead you. Change your feelings, or they'll change you. Restore your feelings, or they will destroy you. Don't be led by what you feel.
So let me show you a couple things. Why do we have emotions and feelings? The first reason why we have feelings is so we can experience pain. And so we can experience pain. And I know some of you guys hate the feeling of pain, but pain is such a beautiful feeling because what pain does is it gives you a reminder. It's like, "Oh, I did this last time, and you feel the pain in that." You're like, "Don't do that again. Don't touch it again. Don't walk there again. Don't trust those people again. Don't go into the world again. Don't go to that club again." When my daughter tests the stuff, she ain't touched this. It's hot. And so you got to walk through life, and when you touch hot things, and they begin to burn you and cause pain, that is your receptor to say, "Don't go there again."
Pain is not a bad thing because most of us would die without our pain receptors. If you can't feel pain, you would die because you wouldn't know when you're in an uncomfortable situation. Some of you guys have a broken bone, and you would walk on it until it fell off because you didn't feel pain. And God says, "I allow you to feel pain so you can pivot. You can't pivot unless you feel pain." So God is saying, "You're feeling this pain 'cause I need you to pivot. I need you to change. I need you to look at this from a different vantage point. And you need pain."
The second reason why we have feelings is to experience pleasure. You cannot experience pleasure without the dichotomy of pain and pleasure. They don't, they're two different polarities, but they're both necessary for you to feel the other. And there's a tension between the two. There's an equilibrium between the two. You need pain because the opposite of pain is pleasure. And God wants you to feel the pleasure of His love, the pleasure of His presence, the pleasure of His word, the pleasure of marriage, the pleasure of parenting, the pleasure of destiny and purpose, and helping people, and serving people, and make a difference. But you cannot experience pleasure without pain. So you have emotions for pain and pleasure.
Also, you have emotions for patterns. Everyone say, "Patterns." In other words, your mind, for you to do things the way you do it, you would be overstimulated mentally. So you develop emotional patterns so you don't have to think to do everything. Some of the, some of you husbands ain't getting the memo. Your emotions are supposed to tell her she's cute, tell her she's lovely, tell her she looks nice, ask her, "Does she want food?" Don't just buy you some idiot. Your feelings are supposed to have patterns to remind you to do things. Which means you can set your heart a certain way, and then it's on autopilot. It just flows out of you. Good things, virtue, joy, love. I shouldn't, I don't have to walk through the church and say, "Encourage her, people." I walk through and I'm just naturally encouraging people. I didn't even know I did it because it's a pattern. Now make your patterns beautiful, not ugly. You can have good patterns. So God's giving you feelings for patterns.
And then the fourth one, He's giving you feelings to be perceptive. Everyone say, "Perspective." Perceptive. That's your discernment. So your discernment is your feeling saying, "Oh, that's not right. Oh, that's a spirit, but it ain't holy. Oh, shouldn't date that guy. Oh, that ain't it right there. Oh, that ain't the Lord. Oh, Jesus ain't in that." And you're perceptive through your feelings because when they're sanctified, they work for God, not against them. Oh, come on somebody, give our King a shout of praise.
So I say this about emotions, and I'll demonstrate some of this. I'll say this: So your emotions are smoke alarms. They're smoke alarms. Which simply means this. Here's what that means. It means that when you're in the house, in your sleep, you're vulnerable, you're unaware. You have these things called smoke alarms. And the smoke alarm is designed to be, when it detects smoke. And the reason why it's designed to be when it detects smoke is because if smoke is present, fire isn't too far behind. So now you start hearing these smoke alarms. All of a sudden, you're dating this guy, you hear a smoke alarm. All of a sudden, you're around these friends, you hear a smoke alarm. All of a sudden, you're at this job, you hear a smoke alarm. All of a sudden, you're walking with an attitude, you hear a smoke alarm. And you're hearing these smoke alarms because it's the Holy Spirit telling you, "You're not right. Something's not right. They're not right." Because where there is a smoke alarm, shortly after, fire will proceed.
And God has said, "Before the fire of bitterness shows up, you need to deal with the smoke alarm of offense." Because if you don't deal with this offense, this offense will turn into bitterness. Thank you. So God is saying, "I've given you these smoke alarms. I've given you these emotions so when you wake up and you're like, 'I ain't feeling it,' right away you know something's off with me. I need to go back to prayer. I need to go back to worship. I need to go back to the Bible. I need to go back to the presence. I need to go back to the King because I ain't feeling it." God has given you these smoke alarms so you can be perceptive, so you can know what you don't know. Sometimes you are in spiritual warfare and you have no idea, and you can't know it, and you can't see it, but you can sense it and feel it. So God is saying, "When you feel and sense spiritual warfare, you know it's time to war. I'm in a battle right now, praise God. I'm declaring the scripture right now, praise God. I'm the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath." And you start declaring His word because you know you're in battle. And there are times where I mentally know nothing, but I could feel the enemy. And when I feel them, immediately I know to go take authority and dominion over him. Your emotions are smoke alarms. You can clap.
So, so what are we supposed to do? I'm gonna answer this, and I'm gonna get to my sermon because I ain't even started, but I'm going pretty short today. I got two strong points, they'll be short. So what do we supposed to do with this? I'm gonna tell you what you're supposed to do. You are supposed to not follow your feelings, but follow the truth. Follow the truth. In other words, even when you're not feeling it, just do it. Even when you're not feeling it, just follow it. Even when you're not feeling it, just walk in it. God is saying, "Follow the truth." So your emotions are not designed to lead, they're designed to follow. So what you do is, when God gives you a word, you follow the word of God despite how you feel. And what happens is, if you do it long enough, your feelings will come under subjection to your obedience. And all of a sudden, you'll start feeling like doing the will of God because you obeyed it.
Okay, has anyone in here ever got on a clean diet? Now you're like, "I'm finally gonna lose weight." And I said it a thousand times, but this time I'm for real. Y'all for real, right? And you're about to finally do it. With that Twinkie in your house, just one more Twinkie, Jesus. One more Twinkie. And then I'm gonna get like a Coke and some Coca-Cola and some coffee. Then after that, I'm for real, for real, this time, right? It's me too. That's me. I went on vacation to lose weight. I came back 10 pounds. Every year, like it's me too. So then you go, and then you start finally eating clean. And when you eat clean for a period of time, when you return back to cakes and pies and a Little Debbie and juice and soda, you feel disgusting. You feel sick. Why? Because you have trained your taste buds and your stomach to want what's right. And when you have what's wrong, it's disgusting. You almost want to vomit.
And God says it's the same way with truth. When you train your emotions to want truth, when you train them to want love, when you train them to want joy, when you train them to want hope, all of a sudden, when you get next to bitterness, you're like, "Ugh, that don't taste right." When you get next to anxiety, you're like, "Ugh, that don't taste right." When you get next to the world, you're like, "Uh, that don't taste right." Because you have redeemed your feelings. So walk in truth, and then truth will sanctify your feelings. But if you walk in your feelings, your feelings will compromise the truth.
If you have your Bibles, if you have your Bibles, go to Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. And I want to show you this. We're gonna do some Bible reading. We're gonna read quick, though. It says, "I might do a little paraphrasing too." It says, "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children." Verse 3. "But but because he was his son of old age, also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him."
Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more. I want to pause here quickly because why do you keep telling your dreams to people that's hating on you? Why do you keep telling your dreams to people who's hating on you? And to be honest, we always have empathy for Joseph, but if you're telling your dreams as people hating on you, it seems like you're kind of provoking them a little bit. Let's continue to read. It says, "So he said to them, 'Now,' so he told them his dreams. Then he comes back and he said to them, 'Please hear this dream I have dreamed.'" So you told him your dream, now you're begging them to hear your dream again. Then it says, "There we were binding sheaves in the field, then behold my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And indeed, your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf." And his brothers said to him, "Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and his words.
So not only is he telling him his dreams, he keeps repeating his dreams. And as he's repeating his dreams, he's begging them to hear his dreams. "Please listen to my dream. I need to tell you about how I'm better than you, how I'm bigger than you, I'ma reign over you, I'ma rule over you, I'm cuter than you, how I got my money than you." And I'm just meeting you. And then all this. And then they hated him. He must have paraded. I mean, for big brothers that hate this little brother, he must have paraded his dreams so much that it just discouraged them. And the father must have had so much favor on Joseph, it discouraged the brothers. The Bible said that he loved Joseph more. How do, if the Bible said you were in trouble, you know, my parents, I love my kids equally. The Bible said Joseph was loved more. So now they hated Joseph.
So the first word to the story, all of a sudden, Joseph was going out to see them because even when a little brother mocks his big brothers, they're really his heroes. So he's running out to the field to go see his brothers, and they wanted to kill him. They thought about killing him. And then instead of killing him, one of them suggested, "Hey, let's just throw him inside of a pit." So they took him, they threw him inside of a pit. And then there are some Ishmael-like traders coming by. They put him out the pit. They said, "Let's sell him into slavery." So they threw him in a pit, they pulled him out the pit, they threw him into the hands of the Ishmael traders and sold him into slavery.
Once they sold him into slavery, he went to a guy named Potiphar's first house. He was bought by Potiphar, and he was serving there. He was a slave. He grew up in the rings that had Potiphar's house, and he became pretty powerful at Potiphar's house. But in Potiphar's house, looked at Joseph and wanted to hook up with Joseph. The Bible says Joseph looked good. It's one thing for a woman to say, "You look good," but when the Bible say, "You look good," you look good. So the Bible said he looked good. So Potiphar's wife was like, "Hold up, wait a minute." Like, you know what I'm saying? "I ain't with that." She was trying to see what's up with Joseph. So all of a sudden, she said, "Lie with me." And he was like, "Nah, I'm good, ma'am." And he ran. She grabbed his jacket, and he ran out. He was an honorable man.
When Potiphar came home, she was so embarrassed. She said, "Joseph tried to rape me," and she lied on him. Potiphar took him to prison. Joseph would go to prison for two years. So now you have this guy who was favored by his father, thrown in the pit by his brothers, sold to some Ishmael-like traders, went to a man's put named Potiphar's house to be a slave, lied on by Potiphar's wife, and thrown into prison for two years.
Now, to show you the emotion of this story, imagine being in jail for two years when you were sold into slavery. All of a sudden, every day you're thinking about who sold you. Every day you're at Potiphar's house, working as a slave, you're thinking about who sold you. Every day you're in prison, you're thinking about who put you here and who sold you. And when you think about it, it's the people that were supposed to love you most. It's the people that were supposed to protect you most. It's the people that were supposed to cover you most. Imagine the emotion of Joseph to be in the prison because of his brothers. It's one thing for an enemy to put me here. It's one thing for a stranger to put me here. It's another thing for a family member to put me here.
And some of you guys have been sitting in prisons because of family, and it is painful, and it is hurtful. And nothing will break you like being betrayed by family. Nothing leaves a bullet hole in you bigger than being wounded by who was supposed to cover you. And they use their authority over you to weaponize it to crush you and to discourage you. And this is what happened to Joseph. So imagine all these years that the emotion would fluster. It was a decade as he's going through this, never seen his father again, never seen his family again. He's 17 at the time. He knows his family. He's been stripped away everything he knows. Imagine the pain, imagine the frustration, imagine the heartbreak, imagine the bitterness. He is in agony.
So now, to to make matters worse, he's there. And as he's there inside of the prison, he's still being honorable. He's still serving. He's still rising into the leadership ranks. And then there was a cupbearer in there. And Joseph was in there interpreting dreams for everyone in the prison. And the cupbearer remembered, like, "Man, this guy can interpret dreams like no other." The cupbearer finally got out of prison. When the cupbearer got out of prison, he was in Pharaoh's court. When he was in Pharaoh's court, all of a sudden, Pharaoh started getting taunted by God. He started having these bad dreams and these bad emotions. He was tempted by God. And all he could do is have these dreams. And he would go to the magicians of the city, the Magi, the witches and warlocks and everybody, the psychics, to try to get this dream interpreted. And no one could interpret the dream.
Finally, the cupbearer came to his remembrance. I believe it was the Holy Spirit giving him a Eureka moment. And the Holy Spirit said, "You remember that boy Joseph in jail that was interpreting everybody's dreams in jail? Here's what you're going through. Here's what you're going through. Here's what you're going through. Send for Joseph." All of a sudden, Pharaoh sent for Joseph. Joseph came out. He interpreted Pharaoh's dream of famine. And he had a planned, strategic plan from the Holy Spirit of Hannah of how to handle Pharaoh's famine. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of everything, made him number two in all of Egypt, put a ring on his finger. And he went from the pit to the prison to the palace in power. Wow.
So now he's in power. But watch how God works this out. There's a famine in the whole land. There's a famine in the whole land. Watch this. Go to Genesis 50, verse 15. So there's a famine. And as their, as they're in famine, Joseph's brothers had to go to Egypt because Egypt was the only place that had grain and food because of the wisdom of Joseph. When Joseph's brothers went to Egypt, the Bible says that Joseph recognized them, but they didn't recognize him. See, I want to preach to you today because there are some people that hurt you, and those are people that wounded you, and that's the people that abused you, and that's the people that came against you. And if they walked to you now, they wouldn't even recognize you. They wouldn't recognize you because I don't look like what I've been through. And I don't smell like where I came from. I came from Hell's Kitchen. I came from backbiters and haters. I came from the valley. I came from the field. And just because I look here with a smile doesn't mean I ain't been through nothing. I've been through fires and flames. I've been through more wounds than you could imagine. Battle scars, battle tested, in season and out of season. I am here. They can recognize them because surely he who was sold into slavery couldn't be a king now.
And some of the people that abused you, if that guy saw you, he would see a powerful woman of God laying hands on people, prophesying, calling down fire. You don't look like what you've been through. He couldn't even recognize you. So all of a sudden, Joseph is around his brothers. Hey, you know who they are, but they have no idea who he is. The people that hurt you had no idea who you were and no idea what you carried. So now, as Joseph is here, and he's internalizing all this, he is literally, he is going through, he is fluttering because he's like, "Oh my gosh, like, these are my brothers." And long story short, we'll get to the story. Finally, when it was revealed who he was, he wept. And they went. And he had one biological brother, Benjamin. And what he did was, he set up a scenario to see if he could trust his brothers. Because when someone hurts you, that'll give them a right to march back into your life. I can forgive you, but I do not have to unite with you again. And I believe the Holy Spirit was saying, "I want you to reconcile." And Joseph's like, "Okay, Lord, can I test the spirit to make sure it's holy, not horror?"
So all of a sudden, what Joseph did was, with his youngest baby brother, his only biological brother, he set up a scenario for the brothers to leave his other brother into slavery. But instead of them taking the opportunity to leave the other brother in slavery, one of them said, "Take me in his place." And they actually covered his brother. And then he saw, "Okay, maybe they did change. Maybe they are different." He's wrestling. And then he ran to the room alone, and he began to weep. When he's weeping because he's like, "They hurt me. They wounded me. They should have loved me. They should have covered me. And they covered him. They didn't cover me." All these emotions are rage. Imagine seeing your abusers after years, standing before you while you're in the place of power, and they need you. Imagine how, with a snap of your finger, you can get vindication, you can get vengeance, you can get retribution for everything they've done for you. You can handle it yourself. And he's feeling all this in his body. His emotions are spiraling. They're spiraling.
But long story short, he forgave them. And his brother, his father came. He restored them. It was a beautiful story. But then his father was old age, and his father died. This is where we read into the story. You guys enjoying this? This is gonna be good. If you guys give me 15 minutes, I'll be done. Genesis 50, verse 15. It says, "When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, 'Perhaps Joseph will hate us and may actually repay us for all the evil that was done to him.'" Verse 16. "So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, 'Before your father died, he commanded, saying, Thus you say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the trespasses of your brothers and their sins, for the evil they did to you.' Some people actually did the evil to you. Now, please forgive the trespasses of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
So they came, they're like, "Hey, I will know Dad's dead. And I know we feel like we're on borrowed time while Dad was here because we feel like he was keeping us all unified. Now Dad is dead. Please forgive us." That's it. "Forgive us." And Joseph is weeping because his heart, and he's still hurting. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face. And they said, "Behold, we are your servants." Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in a place of God? Question mark. But as for you, you meant it evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring about about as it is this day, to save many people's lives. Many people alive now. Therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Check this out, church. This is going to be powerful because you're gonna, you have lived this, and you will live this.
So immediately, we see something so, so, so crazy. The first thing we see is they actually did evil and sinned against him. There are people in your life that actually did evil, actually abused you, actually sinned against you, actually came against you. They actually did the crime. And it's so hard because you have every right to be better. You have every right to be angry. You have every right to not want to forgive. You have every right to hate those people because of the calamity and the pain they put you through. But God has empowered you to love. He has empowered you to forgive. He has empowered you to let go. All the way to the point Joseph named his son Manasseh, which means forgiveness. He named his son forgiveness. He said, "I can't even just forgive. I got to name my son forgiveness. I got to live into forgiveness." Because this is hardened emotionally. "I ain't feeling it." He ain't feeling it. He ain't feeling forgiven. He ain't feeling that. He is hurt, and he is broken. And Joseph had to forgive their wrongs. And I want to tell you, church, sometimes you got to forgive people's wrongs.
But Joseph had to do something really, really powerful. The thing that Joseph had to do was weep. I want to tell you something, church. You're not weak when you weep. You're not weak when you weep because weeping is how God purifies your soul. Water was always designed to bring purification. When those tears start rolling down your face, it is the water that God is putting you to purify your soul and to remove all toxins. Weeping does it make you weak? And let me tell you something about your tears. Because a lot of you guys tried a lot of tears, but I want to tell you about your tears, and I'm going to tell you about your God. The book of Psalms says that you have never wasted a tear. They said God has caught all of your tears. Which means you have never cried one tear that the Father didn't catch. Every tear when you was in a room crying, God caught it. When he abused you, God caught it. When your dad wasn't there, God caught it. When you didn't have food on the table, God caught it. When you was homeless, God caught it. When you was lonely, God caught it. When they didn't let you in that crew, God caught it. When you was castrated and castigated, God caught it. He said, "All of your tears have been caught by Him." You will never waste a tear.
And weeping doesn't make you weak because Jesus wept. He wept over Nazareth. He wept over Lazarus. Jesus wept. God wept. There's nothing wrong with weeping. And Joseph had to weep because he had to release the pain, release the hurt, release the bitterness. And sometimes you feel like you're okay, and you feel like you're strong, but when those people show back up, all of a sudden, the Band-Aids are ripped off, the stitches are ripped off, and you feel it all over again. Have you ever been hurt before? Have you ever been wounded before? And you get around certain people, and all of a sudden you shrink back, and you go back into your old depraved state because you never truly triumphed over the pain. God catches your tears.
Now let me show you something. We go back, we go back to the beginning. And we see that all Joseph had a dream that his brothers would bow before him, and he would stand before him. And he kept repeating that dream in pride. "I'll stand, you bow. I'll stand, you bow." And he repeated that dream in pride. But here's the irony of God. His brothers said, "You know what? Based on how Dad loves you more, he may cause us to have to bow to you. Therefore, we're going to kill you, throw you in the pit, castigate you, and sell you into slavery." Now, this is funny because the irony of God. This is a destiny moment because both parties, both awaited this scene. Joseph awaited the scene so he can stand before his brothers and they can bow as slaves. And his brothers wanted to avoid the scene, so they castigated their brother and sold him into slavery. And right now, they are having this euphoric moment. They're having this nostalgic moment. They're having this foreshadowing because they're all at the place of the dream.
And the crazy thing about being at the place of the dream is the, the emotion and the feeling and the premise of the dream is different than anybody ever imagined. Because in one season, Joseph was leaping about them bound to him. And another season, he was weeping about them bowing to him. So as we're sitting here in the scene of this dream, it's not like nothing anyone ever imagined. Because Joseph thought he would be in power, glory, he would be strong. He didn't know he would be broken. He didn't know he would be weeping. And I've got news for some of you guys. You know you're ready for destiny when you start weeping about what you used to leap about. I used to leap about having an opportunity to preach. Now I weep about it. I used to leap about having the opportunity to pastor. Now I weep about it. I used to leap about having the opportunity to touch people all around the world. And now I weep about it because I know the way and the mandate and the anointing of it. And the anointing will squish you if you're not built by God.
And his brothers are bowing before him, but not from a place of slavery, but from a place of surrender to say, "We don't even know why we're still alive." They didn't, they wouldn't forced bow. They wanted to show un-reverence to the God that should kill them but won't. I got news for you, church. Our God is the God of the plot twist. He's the God of the plot twist. God is the God of the plot twist. And Joseph's brothers didn't know that when they sold him into slavery, they would position him into power. Those people that came against you, they didn't know when they rejected you, they was elevating you. Those churches that didn't accept you, they didn't know that they was powering you up to be a powerful, anointed woman of God. They didn't know. They had no idea. Our God is the God of the plot twist. That's why the Bible says, "If the princes of this world had known, they wouldn't have crucified Jesus." See, you crucified Him to get rid of them. You didn't know that when you crucified Him, you would actually give birth to all of us. He was trying to kill one son, you released billions of sons. You was trying to take one Son of God out, and now the Son of God became a man so sons of man can become sons of God. You killed Him to get rid of one, and you gave birth to a billion. Had they known, they wouldn't have touched them. Had Joseph's brothers known, they wouldn't have touched them. Perhaps if your abuser had known, they wouldn't have touched you. They didn't know because God has a funny way of bringing something full circle. And the very people that castigated you are using the very people that need you.
[Applause]
Something I try to wear well is humility because that was as a pastor, I've had so many people come against me. And time would go by, and they would come back needing me. And I have a Joseph moment every time. Because my flesh wants to ignore them. My flesh wants to castigate them. And my flesh wants to repay them the evil they paid me. Oh, but the spirit of God. God said, "You have been positioned for such a time as this. You've been anointed for such a time as this. And I prepared a table in the midst of your enemies, not so you can tease them, but for you to feed them. I bless you not so you can tease a blessing, so you can feed. I'll bless you not so you can mind, but so you can empower. I'll bless you so you can be a blessing, not a curse." And there's the synergism that takes place because somehow the plots of man and the plan of God intersects.
[Applause]
And here at the place, they're sitting at the place where the plot of man synergized with the plan of God. And I want you to know, on the devil's best day, he works for God. On the devil's best day, he works for God. And the devil may take your brokenness and your ignorance to use it against you, but God uses it for you.
[Applause]
All the way to the point where Joseph said to them, he said, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good. What you meant for evil, God meant for." In other words, what you used to be my termination was actually my transportation to my destination. Y'all didn't hear me. What you used to be my termination was actually my transportation to my destination. See, they used the pit to be Joseph's termination, but the pit was his transportation to his destination. The fish was supposed to be Jonah's termination, but it was his transportation to his destination. Oh, Goliath, where you at? Goliath was supposed to be David's termination, but he was his transportation to his destination. Oh, I got a better one for you. The cross of Jesus was supposed to be His termination, but it was His transportation to His destination. And everything the devil's trying to do to terminate you, he's just transporting you. Homelessness transported me. Heartbreak transported me. Fear transported me. If you say, "Devil, what you did, transported me." Give God a 10-second praise break in this place. What you brought to be my elimination was my transportation to my elevation. What you meant for evil, simply put, God meant it for good. When you came against me, God meant it for good. When I lost my family, God meant it for good. When I lost my job, God meant it for good. When they didn't let me in the cliques, God meant it for good. When that guy broke your heart, God meant it for good. He meant it for good. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. And sometimes God has to allow you to be treated like a very small person so you can become the bigger person.
[Applause]
And perhaps Joseph was such a great leader because the greatest leadership lessons are not learned on the mountain. They're learned in the valley. God gets His greatest leaders from the field. He gets His greatest leaders from the boat. He gets His greatest leaders from the valley because the valley would teach you things the mountaintop never could. You get a different vantage point. Perhaps what you feel like was your disadvantage was actually your advantage. I said at a conference full of pastors, and I loved them, and it was amazing, but they needed resources and money and all kind of stuff to get what they needed done. All I needed was...
A G-O-D because a G-O-D was all I had. See, you don't know that the Gates of Hell won't prevail unless you're in front of those Gates.
[Applause]
And God says, "I am pruning you in the valley. I am processing you in the valley. I am refining you in the valley. I am anointing you in the valley." God says, "My kings don't smell like cologne, they smell like sheep."
[Applause]
And if God is doing something powerful in your life, I heard a pastor say this this past weekend: God doesn't raise up great men and great women of God because He loved them. God raises up great men and women and great women of God because He loves the people. Worship team, you're not anointed because God loves you. You're anointed because He loves His bride. I can't preach because God loves me. I can preach because God loves you and He wants the word of God delivered with passion and clarity and zeal and soundness. And He has to raise me up so I can build you up. Y'all, y'all want some more? Y'all want me to close? What y'all want me to do? Y'all want a little more? Okay, come on somebody gotta say "brilliant!" And I'll keep going. Okay, I got y'all. Let's keep it moving.
There, um, so Joseph said something so powerful. The same kid that kept begging people to listen to his dream when they bow to him. Notice what he said. He said, "I'm not in the place of God." Translate: He said, "Get up. I ain't God." See, when he was young, he wanted to be God. When he got older and wiser, he realized, "I'm not God. Don't bow to me. Don't bother me. Um, not God." And then he told them something so powerful. He says, "Don't be afraid. I'll provide for you and your little ones. I'll provide for him." Then the Bible says he dealt kindly to them. Are you able to be kindly to those who dealt with you cruelly? Are you able to bless those that cursed you? Are you able to encourage those that discourage you? Are you able to build up those that broke you? Because if you want the mantle, that's the cost. That's the cost. You can't get revenge. God is your Vindicator, and He has a way of turning it all around. He's the God of the plot twist. And Joseph is sitting here feeding who starved him. He's serving who sold him. He's helping who broke him. And this is such a powerful story. And God is saying, if you're going to walk in purpose, if you're going to walk in destiny, if you're going to be delivered enough and fulfill My will, you have to have emotional buoyancy and stoicism. Emotional buoyancy means that you have the flexibility and the dexterity emotionally to be able to be pulled, squeezed, twist, turn, crush, squash, and still bounce back and bless God and also love people. Stoicism simply means that no matter how you're castigated, crushed, or reprimanded, you're still blessing God. You're still loving people. You're still being honorful. And you do not lose heart, and you do not grow bitter and sour. It is tough, and it's hard. If you can't be buoyant and if you can't have stoicism, perhaps you're not ready for the mantle. How do you think Joseph fell? He didn't feel like forgiving them. He didn't feel like letting that go. He didn't feel like blessing them. He didn't feel like letting him off the hook. But let me tell you, even when you're not feeling it, you still got to be doing it. I'm telling you, I'm not feeling like, "Oh man, you God," but I'm still going to obey. I'm not feeling like walking in faith, but I'm still going to walk in faith. I'm not feeling like choosing joy, but I'm still going to choose joy. Because even when I'm not feeling it, I'm still doing it. Even when I'm not feeling it, I'm still... Even when I'm not feeling it, I'm still. You still got to do it. Joseph didn't feel it, but he still did it.
As I get ready to close, him, my keyboard player can come up. Just a keyboard player. I'm not gonna do a a formal altar call today. Psalms 105, verse 16. When you guys are ready, say "ready." None of y'all even touch our Bibles. How you gonna feel it? How you gonna do it when you ain't feeling and you ain't even feeling on your Bible right now? Psalms 105, verse 16. What you guys are ready, say "ready." Yeah, that's because it's right here. Um, it says, "Moreover, He called a famine in the land." Look at this providential hand of God. Look at the strategicness of your God. "Moreover, He called a famine in the land. He destroyed all the provisions of bread." So God did this. He set the scene. It says, "He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sowed as a slave." They hurt his feet with leather. He was laid in iron until the time that his word came to pass. The word of the Lord testing him. The king sent and released him. The ruler of the people let him go. He made him Lord of his house, and Pharaoh did this to Joseph, ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom." My, my, my, my, my, my, my. See, that's why I'm the preacher and you're not, because you missed it and I didn't. So when you're the preacher, you're just like, "So I'm gonna read through some again because I know y'all missed it, but that's why y'all got a preacher." It says, "Moreover, He called for a famine in the land. He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sowed as a slave." Let me stop there. Is this extravagant tension that just took place in that verse? Because there's a polarity that just happened in scripture. The Bible says that He sent Joseph, who was sold into slavery. In other words, his brother sold him, but God sent him. Church, was you sold or was you sent?
[Music]
Was you sold or was you sent? And some of you guys got to go back and look at what you've been through and to clearly see it for what it was. You wasn't sold, you were sent. Because before they ever sold Joseph, God was already sending him ahead of them to prepare the way. Perhaps your family didn't sell you, you was just sent by God. Perhaps that job didn't fire you, you were just sent by God. Perhaps that church then didn't reprimand you, you was just sent by God. Was you sold or was you sent? And right here in the story, Joseph had to view his narrative properly. Because if you see through the filter of being sold, you will be bitter. But if you see through the filter of being sent, you'll be better. Let me say it again: If you see through the filter of being sold, you'll be bitter. But if you see through the filter of being sent, you will be better. You'll be better. And I got news for you, ready in church? You wasn't sold, you were sent. What they meant for evil, God meant for good. God was sending you. He was sending you. And if you don't change the narrative of your story, you're going to live horror when God has called you to live harmony. He's called you to live harmony. You wasn't sold, you were sent. You wasn't sold. Joseph to be in a pit, you were sent to be in the palace. You have to change the narrative. Because here's what I had to learn in ministry. When I got started in ministry, church, I share this, and my keyboard player can start playing that nice music for me. But what I learned, what I learned when I got called in the ministry, it was a very painful call. And what made it so painful was everybody I looked up to, they just did not want to help. I just had a question. I didn't want anything. I didn't want no money. I just had questions like, "Hey, how do you write a sermon? How do you build a church? How do you do this?" I just had questions. Nobody wanted to help. Nobody wanted to help. And I started feeling so, "God, am I supposed to be doing this? Am I supposed to be pastoring? Am I supposed to be ministering? Why is it so hard? Why do I gotta start from the valley? Why do I gotta fight? Why do I feel alone? Why is this weight so heavy?" And God was showing me, "You wasn't sold, son, you were sent." And what I'm calling you to do required the path I took you through. See, you can't question your path because you don't truly know your purpose. Because God will always make sure your path is indicative of the purpose. And if you don't like your path, don't talk against it too much because it may be the only path to your purpose. Because if Joseph wasn't sold, he would have never met Potiphar. And if he never met Potiphar, Potiphar's wife would have never lied on him. And if Potiphar's wife never lied on him, he would have never went to prison. And if he would have never went to prison, he would have never interpreted the dream of the cupbearer. And if he would have never interpreted the dream of the cupbearer, Pharaoh would have never knew his name. And if Pharaoh never knew his name, he would have never been prince. And if he would have never been prince, he couldn't feed his family. And if he can feed his family, the Messiah couldn't be born.
[Applause]
I was sick. I was sent by God for this calling. I was sent by God for this purpose. I have been anointed for this call for this. And sometimes I ain't feeling it. I ain't feeling like dealing with the pain. I ain't feeling like dealing with the pressure. Oh, but when I ain't feeling it, I'm still doing it. When I ain't feeling it, I'm still obeying it. When I ain't feeling it, I'm still walking in it. Why? Because I have to submit my will. And I have to submit my will to His word. Some of you guys need to submit your feelings to His will. You need to submit your feelings to His will. You have to submit how you feel. I know it's hard. I know it's hard. I know it's tough. I know it's emotional. But you have to submit how you feel to His will. Because if you don't submit your will and give God your will, He can never turn your life. God can only turn your life when you give Him the will. No pun intended, church. It is painful. It is hard. But you have to trust God in the fire. Because your life cannot be built on flesh. It has to be built on fire. It has to be built on the Holy Spirit. It has to be built on the anointing. Because in this life, you will have many trials. People will come against you. They will desert you. They will lie on you. I've been lied on. I could never imagine that someone could actually lie on me. It was staggering. Like, "What? Who was I kidding?" They lied on Jesus. Who are you kidding? And to make you feel better, church, and I'm finna close.
[Music]
Jesus wasn't feeling it either. "Father, if there's another way, let this cup pass from me." But nevertheless, Your will be done.
[Applause]
And I believe our God is so good that if it was another way, He would let the cup pass. But unfortunately, it's probably not. And you have to submit your will to His will. You have a will so you can accept His will. And sometimes you just gotta say, "Father, nevertheless, Your will be done." Wow. I pray you was blessed by that message. I pray it spoke to you and encouraged you, challenged you, and stressed you. Share with your friends, family members, co-workers, share with everyone you know. And I pray their life will be impacted as well. If you would like to be a part of Radiant Ministry, a part of Radiant Global, or get more information about our church, text 903-201-0606. Take some more information. We will tell you all about our ministry. And also, if you would like to partner with Radiant financially, you can do that at radiantchurchtsk.com and hit the give tab. It is your generosity that fuels our mission and it empowers us to be able to do ministry all around the world. Thank you so much for your generosity and have a blessed day.