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 in store. 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 are taking notes, the title of my sermon is "Are We There Yet?"
"Are We There Yet?" And yes, there is a movie over that with Ice Cube. I don't know who he is. Um, and it's this movie about this guy trying to take these kids, uh, to to, uh, their parent, I believe, in Vancouver, Canada. And, uh, yeah, they were just like, "Baby kids," and they just really tore up everything. And they kept asking the question, "Are we there yet?"
Now, I have a little experience with this question because I grew up in California, and we would come to Texarkana every 4th of July, as long as I can remember. And the issue was, Mom, I know you're watching online, you, you know that, um, it's cheaper to actually fly from California to Texarkana. I just wanted to throw that out there. Um, 'cause we would drive every year. And as a kid, excited to see my cousins, excited to come to good old Texarkana and have a good time, I would have to ask the question, "Are we there yet?" a whole bunch because it was a two-day drive. And we had a dog in the car that would just drool the whole trip. And I'm like, "Please, like, I just want to see my cousins. I want to play. I got Power Ranger shoes." And, "Are we there yet?" And my mom's like, "No, we're like 30 hours away." And I'm like, "No." And we would just never, ever be there. It felt like it took forever. By the time I got to my cousins, I was just like, "Hey guys, how are you guys doing?" Like, I was already out of it. I'm not, I'm ready to go home. "Are we there yet?"
And that's a question that kids ask a ton. When you take your kids to the movies, you stop at the gas station, like, "Mom, Mom, are we there yet?" You're like, "No, we're getting gas. We'll be there in a minute." They're always asking the question, "Are we there yet?" And here's why: kids hate process. They hate journeys, but they love destinations. They don't like to go through the process. Kids do not want to drive; they want to arrive.
And though we did that in our youth, I found that we're the same way with God. That many times we go to God and we ask him the question, "God, are we there yet?" Because we don't like the drive that God has us on. We want God to cause us to arrive. We do not like the process God has taken us through. We want God to take us to the promise. We want to go to the destination. We don't want the journey. And God is telling us that the reason why I'm sending you is not so you can get to a place. I'm sending you so you can be a person and develop something on the inside.
And when we say, "Are we there yet?" there could be marriage there. There could be a pay raise. There could be a business. There could be a ministry. There could be an opportunity for somebody. There is that new truck you want. For, for, maybe it's a girl, and you like, "He's cute." That's there. Like, I don't know what your "there" is, but we all have this "there." And when we're not there, we get frustrated with God. And then we look at other people that we think is there, and we ask God, "Why are they there and we're stuck here? Why aren't we there yet?"
And the thing is, most of the time in life, the reason why we're not there yet is because God doesn't care about the location. He cares about the transformation. And if he takes you to the location without you going through the journey, you will be there, but you won't be who he's called you to be. God cares more about who than he cares about there. He wants you to be who he's called you to be. And if you're who you're called to be, "there" don't matter as much. There's some, there's some couples, and you guys got to spend a lot of money because y'all ain't the right "who." See, if you get the right "who's," you could be in the house with nothing but some noodles, and you have a time in your life because the right "who's" are in the room. But if you have the wrong "who's," you can have all the money in the world and still have a bad time. So God is saying, "I'm not concerned with there. I'm concerned with who." Who are you? You becoming. Who are you becoming? Who are you becoming?
So God is saying to the church, he's saying that your dream is more about the journey than it is about the destination. So if you say, "Hey, I'm called to preach," God is saying, "What you go through as I make you a preacher is why I called you to preach." You say, "Hey, man, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm called, I'm called to serve the next generation." And he's saying, "You grew up without a father figure so you can know what it feels like to not have a dad, so when those kids need you, you're there." See, you serve different and you lead different because sometimes your greatest pain gives power to your greatest purpose. But sometimes you got to go through pain so you can be strengthened to purpose. Sometimes you got to get knocked down to know that God can bring you back up. Sometimes you got to hit rock bottom to know that God is the rock at the bottom.
And God says, "How do you know I'm a way maker if your road didn't get blocked off? How do you know I can part the Red Sea if it wasn't standing in front of you? How do you know I can walk you through fire if you never been through none?" You can't preach about a God you didn't experience. So God is saying, "I'm allowing you to go through these things so when you get there, you will be who I destined you to be."
If you have your Bibles, go to Genesis 37. There's a guy on his way to "there," and "there" didn't quite look like what he expected it to look like. Uh, his name is Joseph. One of my favorite characters in the Bible. Go to Genesis 37. Genesis 37. We're going to start at verse three. Now, this is Joseph's dad. His name's Israel. It says, "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age." So it's saying he loved Joseph because Joseph, he had Joseph when he was old. And it says, "Also he made him a coat 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 peaceably to him or speak a kind word to him. Have you ever been around some people that just can't say nothing nice to you? Can't compliment nothing you do? That was kind of like that. Even when you do something good, they're like, "So why you like, got a new car?" It's like, "Quit hating 'cause yours dirty." Uh, verse five, "Just say nice car. It's okay."
Now, Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers. May sound like a lot of y'all on Facebook always telling your dream to your haters. And he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more. They're not excited to hear your dream. They're not excited. Everyone, you don't supposed to share your dream with everyone. So he said to them, "Please hear this dream which I dreamed." Sound like some of y'all. "There we were binding the 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.
Then he dreamed still another dream, and he told it to his brothers. This guy's asking for it. And said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream, and this time the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down to me." Verse 10. So he told it to his father and his brothers. And his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?" And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
We're going to jump down to verse 23. It says, "So it came to pass, and Joseph had come to his brothers." So Joseph now was sent by his dad to to to go to his brothers. His brothers was was taking care of their livestock, and he was sent to go check on them. So it said, "Candy, pastor." And Joseph had come to his brothers. They stripped Joseph of his coat. They ripped his coat off, the coat of many colors that was on, that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty. There was no water there.
Let's jump to verse 28. "The Midianite traders passed by. So the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt."
Now, uh, I want to break down a couple things for you. So Joseph is always thought in the Bible, preachers, scholars, and all this, they say this about Joseph. When you read commentaries, they say he's one of the few people in the Bible that had no character flaws. And I'm just like, "What Bible are y'all reading?" Because when I open the Bible, if you just look at it carefully, you see character flaws all over Joseph. The chapter, I didn't read this part. It started off saying he was snitching on his brothers. He was telling his his father what they did. Have you ever had a younger sibling that was just a snitch? "Mama, mama, they drinking juice. Mama, they eating chips. Mama, they got the remote. Mama, they got friends. Mama, mama, mama, mama." You're like, "Be quiet." See, I was a younger sibling, but I didn't snitch. I used to, I stayed getting Doritos from my older siblings. I'm like, "You don't never snitch." I'm like, "I don't snitch 'cause y'all choke me out every time I did. If not, I would be snitching." And I don't know what it is about my mama, but she would let them get me for snitching. There's a part of her that got snitched on, and she's just like, "Get him." I don't know what happened.
So he's a snitch. And then on top of that, he's like, ultimate little brother. Ultimate little brother. Just imagine the little brother. He goes to them, he's like, "Hey brothers, I'm having a dream. You want to hear it?" They're like, "No." He's like, "Okay, cool. So in my dream, all of you guys were like bowing down to me." And they're like, "Dude, what are you talking about?" Then after he got done with that dream, he took a little nap, woke back up, "Hey, I had another dream. And, uh, Mom, Dad, and all y'all were bowing down to me."
Now, we would ask the question, why would a little sibling's dream bother his brothers so much? The Bible doesn't say this, but when I read, when I read the life of Joseph in the future, and when I read the life of Joseph, this is just me jumping in the pages of my imagination. You can disregard it or take it. I think for his brothers to hold his dreams in high esteem where they would get envious and mad, I think that this little boy had been having a lot of little dreams that's been coming to pass. He's like, "See, your sheep's going to die tomorrow." Then they died. "Your girlfriend going to dump you." He got dumped. And all of a sudden, they're like, "Wait, just little Joker's dreams come true." So now he's having a dream, he's ruling over us. And they're like, "Every dream he has comes true. And now he's dreaming that he's ruling over us. Houston, we have a problem. We got to eliminate this little dude."
So then when he goes away from his home, and he's coming down, his classic little brother, he's been given a coat of many colors. He got a coat of favor. He had a colorful coat. He had a Gucci jacket from his daddy. And guess where he wore it to? Everywhere. Breakfast table, Gucci jacket. Went swimming, Gucci jacket. Jacuzzi, Gucci jacket. Basketball, Gucci jacket. To work, Gucci jacket. To sleep, Gucci jacket. And every time they saw this jacket, they're reminded that Dad loves him more. And the reason why Dad loves him more is because he's the child from the woman, the mother that Dad loved most. See, Joseph was from the woman that Israel loved most, and he was his youngest boy. And when he put that coat on him, he was breaking order because the firstborn was supposed to get the double portion. But when he put the coat of many colors on the baby, he was saying, "This is my heir right here." So every time he wears this coat, it's a slap before all his brothers because it's supposed to go in order from oldest to youngest. So it's saying, "You're not enough. You're not enough. You're not enough. You're not enough. You're not enough. You're not, you're not, you're not, you're not. Baby brother is." And he walked around proud to tell his dream and proud to wear his coat.
So when he went to find his brothers, they saw him from afar. Well, how did they see him? It's because he had his bright Gucci coat on from afar. And they said, "His dreams are accurate. Here he comes with this Gucci coat. So we have to kill him." And his big brother, Reuben, he was like, "Hold on, y'all know we can't kill him. Let's throw him in the pit." And he was planning to come back and get him out of the pit. And you know how it is, like when everybody trying to get somebody, you want to have their back. Kind of, you don't want to get too close. So he kind of had his back. And then all of a sudden, they got to Joseph, and they ripped his coat off. And when they ripped his coat off, they threw him inside of the pit.
I want to stop for a second and talk to you because some of you guys have been blessed. Some of you guys have been favored by God. Some of you guys have the anointing and the oil of God and the blessing of God on your life. And I want to tell you something: you may have a coat on you, and people are going to hate you and despise you because of your coat. But here's what Joseph's brothers needed to know: they were able to rip his coat off of him, but they couldn't rip his calling off of him. Because his calling came from God. His purpose came from God. His oil came from God. And I got news for you, they might be able to take off your coat, but they can't take off your calling. They may be able to rip off your garment, but they can't rip off your gift. I'm telling you right now, you can take it off of me, but I'm still who God has called me to be. I'm still going to be who God has called me to be. I'm still going to go where God has called me to go. You, you can take my coat, but you can't take my calling. Don't give God a shout of praise.
And when they ripped off his coat, that was their way of trying to take his calling. And they threw him in the pit. Many of you guys will go through seasons where you get stripped of your coat. Some of you guys, your parents divorced, and that was your coat being stripped. Some of you guys, you grew up without a parent, and that was your coat being stripped. Some of you guys got your heart broken, and you were betrayed, and you were stripped of your coat. You was thrown in a pit. Some of you mothers, you're single mothers because somebody left you, and you were stripped of your coat, and now you're all alone.
And then the Bible says, "The pit was dry and empty." And some of you guys are in dry places, you're in empty places, you're in places where you can't be nourished, where you're not being fed, where it's dark and it's deep. And the pit is a low place. It's a low place. And God will allow you to go to a low place when you exalt yourself high. Because the Bible says, "If you exalt yourself, God will humble you. But if you humble yourself, God will exalt you." So when Joseph started exalting himself, the Lord allowed him to be humbled in the pit.
Now, let me tell you something about your God. In the midst of the pit, even though Joseph went in the pit, and God let him in the pit, he wasn't in a pit alone. Because God was in the pit with him. I don't know what pit you're in. I don't know what storm you're in. I don't know what fire you're under. But I know you're not alone. God says, "There's another in the fire. There's another in the pit. And there's another in the waters." Oh, come on, somebody. You're not in the pit alone. God doesn't send you there alone. He accompanies you. He goes with you.
And Joseph was in the pit. He was in the dark place. And you will find seasons of your life where you are in the pit, where you're lost, when you're in despair, you're confused, you're going through dark, unreasonable seasons. And then his brothers said, "You know what? Throwing them in the pit ain't enough. We're going to sell him into slavery." They pulled him out of the pit and they sold him for shekels of silver. And when they sold him, they sold him to an Ishmaelite trader who took him to a guy named Potiphar. And Potiphar was the captain, one of, uh, Pharaoh's captain guards. And when Joseph went to Potiphar's house, he served Potiphar well. He served them, he took care of him. His wisdom started kicking in. The Bible says the presence of God was with him. Even Pharaoh was complimenting his God. Pharaoh was like, "What? Like, like, what manner of man is this? You got my house in order." The Bible says Pharaoh didn't have, I mean, the Bible says Potiphar didn't have to worry about nothing but what he ate. Joseph was so diligent, he was so wise, he was so orderly, so administrative, that Potiphar only had to wake up and say, "What shall I eat today?" Because everything else under his hand was handled because Joseph was faithful, he was good, he was hardworking, he was wise.
But then Joseph was something else. The Bible says that he was handsome and nicely built. It's one thing when a woman says, "You look good." It's a whole another thing when the Bible says, "You look good." Now, when the Bible says, "You look good," you look good. Just imagine Joseph walking. He's like, "I look good." It's scripture. Read it. Like, "Someone like Joseph, you need to show your hair down." He's like, "You better read your Bible. I'm handsome. Life." I'm not ugly. Like, that's ultimate case closed. Like, can't debate with him. I can see why his brothers hated him. If, if the Bible said his brother looked good, he might need to be thrown in a pit a little bit, get a little dirt on his face. Okay, we ain't going to do him like that.
Um, so then Potiphar's wife was a little flirty. She saw Joseph, and he would be working while Potiphar is there. And she's like, "Hey, how you doing, Joseph?" "How you doing?" Joseph, like, "Doing my job. Praise God. Doing my job. Praise God. Doing my job. Praise God." She's like, "Hi." He's like, "So he's doing his job." And then finally, she just couldn't take it no more. She was like, "Joseph, lay with me." He's like, "No, I can't do that. Like, like, Potiphar has been too good to me, and I'm serving this house. No, I can't do that." She's like, "Lay with me." "No, I can't do that." So finally, finally the scripture fully manifests. He was just growing. One day she said, "You know what? Hold on, wait a minute. Let me put some Jesus in it." She couldn't take it no more. She said, "Lie with me." So she ran and she grabbed his coat to force herself on him. He ran up out of his coat, and he ran outside. He was a man of God. He said, "Girl, bye. Don't even try." Like, ran outside.
So then she was embarrassed. So Potiphar came. "Joseph forced himself on me." And then, first, like, well, he got to believe that because the alternative is not, it's not looking well for him. So he believed it. So now Joseph gets sent to prison. He did nothing wrong. He was faithful. He did everything right in the house. He built everything. He honored Potiphar. Now he's falsely accused and sent to prison.
But now we see this theme. We see this theme of coats. Because first, he had a coat of favor that got ripped off of him. Then he went to Potiphar's house. He worked really hard to be Potiphar's second in command. He had a coat of labor. And now the coat of labor got stripped off of him. And in life, I want you to know, you would go from coat to coat, from coat to coat, from coat to coat. He lost the coat of favor, then he lost the coat of labor. So now he lost his coat.
So now he goes to prison. And he's inside a prison. And Joseph, being the man that he is, he's full of the wisdom of God. The spirit of God is with him. The spirit of God is upon him. He begins to go to the prison. He's getting everything in order for the warden. He's getting everything in order. He's orderly. He's serving. He's taking care of everything. The warden's like, "We ain't never seen nobody like you. I want you over the whole prison."
Now, what Joseph didn't know is he was called to sit in the palace one day. But God had to allow him to go through the pit, to go to Potiphar's house, to go to the prison. Because in those different places, he will be developed. He's going through the pit so God can give him a lesson of humility. And I want to tell you something, if God's calling you to do something great, he's going to take you through the pit. You cannot be promoted without passing the pit test. And the pit test is, "Was it you, or was it God?" Because sometimes you can get so full of yourself, you can think it's you. See, I went through the pit when we were starting this church. I did everything I could, and we couldn't grow past two rows. That was my pit. So when God elevated me, I would know it's not me, it's the spirit of the Living God. And God doesn't put leaders on pedestals until he first places them in pits. He puts them in pits first. And if you find yourself in the pit, don't be afraid, because there's a lesson in the pit. The pit talks. The pit teaches. And it teaches humility. Because if, because if you exalt yourself, God will allow you to be brought down to the lowest place.
So then he goes to Potiphar's house. And what Potiphar's house is designed to do, it's designed to sharpen your gift. See, God puts you in the pit for your character. He takes you to Potiphar's house for your competence. See, some of you guys got character, but you ain't got no skills. The Bible says, "David led with the integrity of his heart and the skillfulness of his hand." God says, "I can't just bless character. I got to bless ability. Do you have competence?" So at Potiphar's house, there has to be competence. Because if you don't go through Potiphar's house, and if I send you straight to the palace, what's going to happen is I'm going to place you somewhere where your gift can't keep you. And if I take you to the palace without taking you to the pit, I'm going to place you somewhere where your character can't keep you. And now you got leaders dropping like flies because they have 10-foot gifts and two-foot integrity. So God is saying, "Now, now, now, now, now, Potiphar's house, I'm developing your competence."
Then he takes him to the prison. And in the prison, he is serving in the prison. And then now unknown people would come, and they would need dreams interpreted. And he would need to use his gift to nobodies, to inmates in the prison. Why would God make Joseph serve inmates? Because nothing exposes character like the way you treat people you think you don't need. So when you're in the prison, you're going to assume these people can't do nothing for me. "You're an inmate. You can't help me. You can't do nothing for me." So God is looking at his heart now to see who do I really have. Because if you're after my heart, you will serve in the prison the same way you served in the palace. You will serve in the prison the same way you serve in the palace. And what you don't know is God may use the prison to promote you to the palace.
See, many of you guys are probably stuck in a place, stuck at a job, stuck in a state, because the place that God's trying to promote you from, you think it's irrelevant. So you halfway do everything. That job you hate may be the person that God, God may be calling the person that's going to promote you to that job, and they're watching you give 10% because you keep lying to yourself, saying, "If I ever got there, I will give my best." And God said, "If you can't give your best here, you'll never get there." Because if you're not faithful with little, why would I reward you with much?
So Joseph is in the prison. And as he's in the prison, I believe God is watching his heart, watching how he moves, watching how he maneuvers. So inside the prison, there is a baker and there's a cupbearer. So the cupbearer comes to Joseph, and he has this dream at night. And they've heard about Joseph interpreting dreams because that's what he does. So he comes to Joseph. He has this dream. And Joseph interprets his dream. And he says, "Hey, in three days, this is what your dream means. In three days, Pharaoh's going to come get you, and he's going to restore you back to your position." Pharaoh had put the cup, the, uh, cupbearer and the baker in prison. He was mad at him. He said, "Pharaoh's going to come and get you in three days, and what he's going to do is he's going to put you back in your position, and you would give him a cup again. You would, you would serve his drinks again."
And then the baker was like, "Oh man, you got some good prophecies. Praise God. I want one too." So then he was like, "Well, unfortunately for you, he's going to get you out, and then he's going to impale you, and he's going to behead you." He's like, "I rebuke that in Jesus name." Like, "I don't like this prophecy." Oh, y'all like, "I want a word." Don't be too careful. You probably don't want a word.
Um, so Joseph said this to the cupbearer. He said, "I have one request." He said, "When you get out of here, because I've gave you this prophetic word, and I, and I interpreted this dream for you, I got a request. I need you to tell Pharaoh that I am in prison for no reason. I'm an innocent man. I got stripped away from my family, my homeland. Can you tell him to come get me out? Tell him what I've done for you. Tell him to come get me out." And the cupbearer was like, "Got you, bro." So he leaves, and then he goes to Pharaoh, gets put back in his position. And then the Bible says he forgot everything that happened. He forgot all about Joseph. Like, totally forgot. Like, forgot about him. Have you ever, like, did something for somebody, you're like, "Hey, remember me?" Like, "I got you." Then you see them, they're like, "Who are you?" Like, he forgot everything.
So not only did he forget everything, Joseph was expecting to get out of jail that day. After three days, when he got back to Pharaoh, he's expecting to get out of jail. He forgot about him for two years. So now Joseph has been in prison for two years, and he told the guy to get him out in three days. Now, let me ask you a question. If you was in jail with a buddy, and there was a guy that interpreted you and your buddy's dream, and he said your dream meant that you would get put back in position, and your buddy would get his head beheaded, and you guys got on a three days, he got his head cut off, and you got back in position, would you forget that guy? Which means that the Holy Spirit supernaturally made him forget Joseph.
So it begs the question, why would the Holy Spirit make the cupbearer forget Joseph? It's because Joseph is still being that prideful little boy, exalting his gift and trying to make his own way instead of trusting the Lord. Joseph is sitting here and Joseph is like, "Hey, get me out of here." Because he thought that his gift could get him out of prison, not his God. He thought he had to trust in his gift, not his God. And God wants you to know something: you don't need to trust in your gift. You can trust in your God. Because your gift can't get you out of bondage, but your God can. Your gift can't get you out of prison, but your God can. Your gift can't get you out of hardship, but your God can. God said, "Don't follow your dream. You follow your God, and your God will give you your dreams."
So in other words, Joseph was in prison and he said, "Can you promote me? Can you promote me?" And a lot of you guys are trying to promote yourselves, passing out business cards, "Hey, tell this person about me. Hey, drop my name in their ear." And God says, "Promotion comes from the Lord. I, the Lord, will make it happen. I, the Lord, will promote you. You don't have to do it yourself. I'll make it happen for you." In other words, Joseph wasn't waiting on the Lord. And I want to tell you something, you got to wait on the Lord. You got to wait on the Lord. You got to wait on the Lord. Because "those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall walk and not grow weary. They shall run and not faint." That's what happens when you wait. When you wait on God, he will see you through. When you wait on God, he'll make a way out of nowhere. When you wait on God, he will set the mouth to lions. So wait on the Lord.
Joseph wasn't waiting on God. So what God showed him was, "Hey, if you don't wait on me, I'm going to make you wait on me." And how, why I'm going to make you wait on me is because you're myopic. Myopic just means short-sighted. You like, "Vision." See, you still are missing it. Joseph, you're trying to get there, but you're not there yet because you think your dream is about you. Do you know that when God gives you a dream, it intersects with another person's dream, and it intersects with another person's dream, and it intersects with another person's dream? Your dream is not an island. It's not an island.
So God is saying, "Joseph, you're missing it. You're trying to promote yourself. You're trying to make a way. You're trying to make your dream come to pass. You're not trusting me and waiting on me." Then two years ago, but I don't know what happened. But whatever, whatever lesson that God was trying to get to Joseph in the prison, he got it to him. Because after two years, Pharaoh kept having these dreams. And when Pharaoh was having these dreams, the Bible says he said, "Go get me the wise men, the magicians to interpret my dreams." I want to tell you something: whenever the pharaohs, the people in power in this world, your bosses, the government officials, when they hit calamity and trouble, they will be looking for wise men, wise men of God, wise women of God to come and interpret the situations. Because the spirit of God is going to give you insight into the world that they don't have. So when famine comes, the people of God are necessary because God is going to give you divine insight into the times.
So at this particular point, finally, the cupbearer remembered. He said, "Oh my gosh, I've done an awful thing. I forgot. But I remember now." He said, "There's a guy named Joseph in the prison. He told me that I'll be restored to my position, and I was. He said that you would impale the head of the baker, and you did." He was like, "Everyone said he was always right. You got to go get Joseph." Pharaoh, Pharaoh, he can interpret your dream. And Pharaoh said, "Send for Joseph."
So then he sends for Joseph, and he says, "Joseph, interpret my dream." And this is how we know Joseph got it. Guess what Joseph said? He said, "Only God can interpret your dream. Only God can interpret your dream." See, the last time we saw him, he was saying, "Get me out of jail because I interpret dreams." Now he's saying, "Only God can interpret your dream." He finally realized it's not my gift, it's my God. And though I'm interpreting a dream, it's God telling me what these dreams mean. It's not me, it's God. I want you to know something: God will not bless an idea he didn't come up with, and he will not bless something he don't get credit for.
So then the Pharaoh's dream was simple. He had a dream, there was seven fat cows and seven skinny ones. And in his dream, the skinny cows ate the fat cows. And then there was heads, heads of wheat. There were plump, fat heads of wheat, there were seven of them. And then there were seven skinny ones, and the skinny ones ate the fat heads of wheat. So basically, the wheat, the grain was eating, the skinny ones ate the fat ones. And then the skinny cows ate the fat cows. And it was seven, seven, seven. So Joseph said, "Let me tell you what the dream means. He said, "There will be seven years of prosperity and seven years of poverty." That's what your dream meant. He said, "You had two of these dreams to validate that your dreams are from God." See, whenever God gives a dream, he confirms it. If you think you got a dream from God, he will always bring confirmation to his dream. Even in the beginning, when Joseph had dreams, he had two dreams because God was confirming his dream. Joseph said, "You know a dream is from God because he gives confirmation."
So Pharaoh's dream was, there will be seven years of prosperity where there will be grain, the land will be fruitful, the land will will produce fruit. Then there will be seven years where everything will be barren and there will be no fruit. And Joseph said, "Here's what you're supposed to do during the fruitful years." He said, "Take one-fifth of your grain and store it away." And then when you're in the years of famine, you have grain. You have grain of your choice to use to get you through the seven years of famine. He said, "Find a wise man to oversee all this for you." And Pharaoh was like, "Well, since God gave you all this insight, you're the wise man that I need to have over this." Immediately, he promoted Joseph. He gave him a ring, he gave him a gold chain, and then the Bible says he put linen on him, or he put a coat on him. Coat, coat, coat, coat, coat.
So the first time we have a coat of favor. Then we have a coat of labor. Now we have a coat of honor because now God is honoring him, God is blessing him, God is promoting him. And Joseph's first coat was torn off in disgust. His second coat was torn off in lust. And his third coat came with a divine trust from the spirit of God and from the hand of God. So Joseph went from coat to coat to coat. The first coat came from his family. The second coat came from his employer. The third coat came from God. It came through Pharaoh, but it came from God. And when God puts a coat on you, not a devil, not a witch, not a warlock, not a human, not a person can take off the coat that God has placed on you. You want a coat from God because when God places it on you, no man can strip it off of you. You want a mantle from God. A coat is just a symbol of a mantle. And God says, "There's coats I have for you. There's mantles I have for you. There's coats that your daddy dropped, and your mama dropped, and your grandparents dropped, and I'm going to put those coats on you, and nobody can strip them off of you." Oh, give them a 10-second praise break in this place.
So, so, so, so, so, we see that Joseph went from the pit to Potiphar's house to the prison, and now he's at the palace. Now, this is very unique because the pit is about 10 feet underground, and they said the Pharaoh would have his palace would have balconies 20 feet high. So he went from 10 feet underground to a balcony 20 feet high. I want you to know something: just because you're in a pit doesn't mean God can't exalt you. Just because you're in a pit doesn't mean God can't elevate you. Just because you're in a pit doesn't mean God can't process you. I want you to know something: God says, "I can't promote you in the pit." But what we have to learn how to do is we have to learn how to do it God's way, not man's way. Because we live in an elevator society where everybody wants to push a button and go to the next level. And the spirit of God says, "You're going to have to take the stairs with me. You're going to have to take the long road with me. You're going to have to take the long walk with me." You're not pushing a button to elevation. No, you're walking up the stairs of development. You can't just push a button for this. No, no. You got to pray for this. You got to fast for this. You got to be crushed for this. You got to be pruned for this. You got to be hurt for this. Woman of God, son of God, your oil ain't cheap. God said, "I allowed you to be crushed. I allowed them to come against you. I allowed them to talk about you so you can know your oil ain't cheap. It cost you something." The process cost you something. The pit cost you something. The prison cost you something. And God said, "I will trade your mourning for oil. I would trade your mourning for oil. I'm going to give you oil for that mourning. It cost you something."
Now, why did God allow it to cost Joseph something? Why? Usually, the person who gets the dream isn't the person who receives the dream. The person who gets the dream isn't the person who receives the dream. Because if you look at Joseph in the beginning of the story, he saw the dream as his brothers, his mother, his father bowing before him, and him ruling and lording over them. And you know you're not ready for "there" when you see power for ruling, not serving. See, that position isn't so you can rule. It's for you to serve. I had to learn that pastoring doesn't mean I'm the most important person. Pastoring means I'm the number one servant. I'm the number one foot washer. I'm the number one greeter. Like, like, it, it, it's not a position of ruling. It's a position of service. And if you see your title as a means to lord it over people, you missed it. Because Jesus said, "In the kingdom, we don't operate like the world operates. He said, 'The greatest will be the least. You will be a servant. You will be humble.'" And if you're not humble, I'm not saying you can't get there, but God won't take you there.
So, so, so, so, so, so, so, Joseph, he's at this place. And the guy that started the journey isn't the guy that finished the journey. Let me prove to you. We're going to read, and I'm going to get ready to close. We're going to read, and I'm going to show you the difference between the guy that started the journey and the guy that's going to end it. Genesis 50, verse 19. When you guys are there, say, "Ready." Okay, at least y'all honest. You guys are there, say, "Ready." Okay, we got five Christians in the room. What? What? No, I'm playing. Genesis 50. It says, "When Joseph's brothers..." So again, Joseph's brothers, they threw him in the pit, they sold him into slavery. So to them, Joseph is dead. Like, this isn't like a little small joke. Like, like, they never saw him again. Like, he's not on Facebook or Instagram. He's not iMessaging them or anything like that. They sold him into slavery, and they took his coat, they dipped it in blood, they gave it to their dad, and their dad thought that a wild beast devoured Joseph. He thought Joseph was dead. They never saw him again. This is it. This is final. And the only thing they know is they sold him into slavery. They don't know anything else.
So it says, "When Joseph's brothers..." So his brothers came. The dream is coming to pass. So Joseph's brothers is coming to Egypt now because they need grain because of Pharaoh's dream. There's seven years of poverty. There's no food in the world, but only in Pharaoh's kingdom because Joseph saved 1/5th of everything. He was a wise man. He was the only place on the planet that had food. So when Joseph's brothers saw that their father, so, so they came to him, and they came back to him. So this is at the end of the story. So it says, "Now, so, so Joseph's brothers, they came to him, and they bowed before him." And when they bowed before him, um, the dream kind of came to pass. And then they brought their father back, and then their dad was living there, and then he ended up dying. So they was like, "Okay, Dad's dead now, and and Joseph is going to get us. He's probably going to kill us for what we did to him. And Dad is gone."
So here's where we're picking up in the story. It says, "When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, 'Perhaps Joseph would hate us because they sold him into slavery. They threw him in a pit, and maybe, and then he went to prison, and he was going through this for 13 years.'" And it says, "And maybe actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him. So they sent messengers to Joseph saying, 'Before your father died, he commanded us saying, thus you shall say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the trespasses of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.' Now, please forgive the trespasses of the servants of the God of your fathers." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. So they said this to Joseph. Joseph is weeping. He's crying. Verse 18. "Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face." And they said, "Behold, we are your servants."
So now they're bowing before him. It's looking a lot like this vision. They're bowing before him. They're they're all crying, and they're saying, "We are your servants." And look what Joseph said. You remember earlier in the Bible, he said, "Your sheaves are going to bow to my sheaves," and "I saw the sun and the moon bowing before me." Look what he said now. Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?" See, at first, he thought he was in the place of God. Now he says, "Am I in the place of God?" But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring about, about as it is to this day, in order to bring about the good it is to this day, to save many people's lives. Now, therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. My, my, my, my. Look, look, look, look, look, church. Look, look, look.
In the beginning of the book, he was bragging about how they would bow before him. Then when he finally gets to the place where they bow before him, he says, "Get up. I ain't God." Which means that that process changed something. Wow. Now, when Joseph would ask the question, metaphorically speaking, "Are we there yet?" "There" for him would have been the palace. But this moment where he said, "Get up, I'm not God," there would have been "there" for God. See, see, see, God wanted him to get to a place where he knew that they wasn't bowing to him, and he's not a God, and he's not lording over them. He's a humble servant.
You need to know something, church. When the Lord prepares a table for you in the midst of your enemies, it's not for you to tease them. It's for you to feed them. And many of you guys will never get a table prepared by God in the midst of your enemies because he's not going to make a table so you can vindicate your bitterness on people. See, if he gave some of y'all a table, you would be throwing plates at folks. And you know what y'all did to me? Now look at me. Look what I got. And God said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. What you meant for evil, God meant for good."
Everything bad that happened to me, what they meant for evil, God meant for good. The churches that wouldn't accept me, if they didn't accept me, because God didn't want me to get comfortable, 'cause he was calling me to pastor. He was calling me to leave. He was calling me to preach this gospel. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. That God that broke your heart is because God got a real man of God for you. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. Judas, I know you tried to tell Jesus how, oh no, no, no. But you wasn't taking him to crucifixion. You was taking him through crucifixion to resurrection.
And Joseph said this in the Bible. He says, "God sent me ahead of y'all." In other words, you didn't sell me. God sent me. I got news for you, Radiant Church. They didn't sell you. God sent you. You wasn't sold. You were sent. You wasn't sold. You were sent. You were sent by God to go before them. So when they didn't have nothing to eat, you can feed them. You can serve them. You could love them. What they meant for evil, God meant for good. In other words, what they tried to bring to be his termination was actually his transportation to his destination. See, David and Goliath was supposed to be your termination. No, he was just your transportation to your destination. See, Daniel and the lions' den was supposed to be your termination. It was just your transportation to your destination. See, Moses, the Red Sea was supposed to be your termination. It was just your transportation to your destination. See, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace was supposed to be your termination. It was just your transportation to your destination. Maybe you've been divorced. It was supposed to be your termination, but it was just your transportation to your destination.
God said, "What they tried to use to terminate you, I'm transporting you." Because when I purposed you, I factored in their plotting. Yeah. [Music] Let me tell you how cold your God is. And then I'll close. Imagine how it must feel to be the devil to know every brick you threw built a house for God. Every sword you swung pruned the man of God for the purpose of God. Devil, everything you did, we need to give you a royalty. Because all of the pit made him humble. Potiphar's house made him competent. The prison got his heart right. Everything the devil did to destroy him, everything the devil meant for evil, God meant for good. And I want you to know something. I don't know the evil that's came against you. Some of you guys have been hurt. Some of you guys have been molested, lied on, betrayed, hurt, rejected by family members. And I'm not saying any of that is good. But what I'm saying is, our God says he works all things together for the good of those that love him. He's saying, "It may not be good, but when I work it all together, it will be for your good." Oh, give him a shout of praise in this place.
Wow. I pray you were 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 903-201-0166. Text "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.