A Pit Can't Stop A Promise! - Pastor Derick Faison

Foreign. [Music] To Genesis chapter 37 and consider with me a few passages of scripture. There, Genesis chapter 37, verses 3 and 4, and then we're going to drop down to verses 18 through 20. I'm going to be reading out a New King James version of the Bible. When you have a scripture, say Amen.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. Also, he made him a tunic, or a coat of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and they could not speak peaceably to him. Now Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more. Drop down to verse 18.

Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said one to another, "Look, this dreamer is coming. Therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit. Some pit." And what we'll say is, "Some wild beast has devoured him." They lied. "And then we shall see what will become of his dreams."

I want to parse that 20th verse and just bring it into focus here. The idea was to take and put him into some pits, and then we will see. We're going to cast him into some pit, and then we will see what will become of his dream. And I want to use a short subject this morning: A pit can't stop a promise. Did you hear what I said? I said, a pit. Would you just encourage somebody sitting next to you, shaking by him, telling neighbor, "A pit can't stop a promise"? Clap your hands and give God praise. Why don't you? [Applause]

Father, over the next few moments, a decrease that you may increase. And I pray, God, that you be big in this place. Take over every corner, every pew, every row. Throw your weight around in this place. Be glorified over the next few moments in everything that we say and do. In Jesus name, somebody shout Amen. [Applause]

A pit can't stop a promise. A promise is simply this: is a commitment made by someone to somebody else to do something. And God is unique, unique in that way when it comes to making promises, in that the Bible says that all the promises of God in him are yea and amen. He is both the promisee and the promissor. He is the confirmation and he is the guarantee of everything that he promises. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. He doesn't just begin a thing, but he's also the one who ends the thing that he has begun. He's the author and the finisher. That when it comes to God, in him are both the promise and the fulfillment of a thing.

What am I saying? I'm saying that when God makes you a promise, he takes upon himself the full responsibility of making sure that that which he has promised comes to pass. That he doesn't just make idle promises. He's done this, put words out there to excite us, to elicit response out of us. But if God ever speaks a word over your life concerning anything, he has determined that he will work alongside you, work with you, even in spite of you, to make sure that that word comes to pass. He is both the promise and he is the fulfillment.

Now, somewhere between promise and fulfillment, there is a middle that we all have to contend with. It's like watching a movie sometimes, you know, you, you know that a rerun, something that you've seen before. You already know what the end is going to be. You already know what the outcomes are going to be. However certain you get, certain comfort in knowing that what the outcomes will be, that's a promise. You already know what's going to happen. God has already predestined, he's already told you what shall come to pass. But there, but there are still some things you may have to go through, some tension you may have to endure in order to get to the end. Beloved, that's the pit.

When we talk about the promises of God, we often look at God from the standpoint of mountain peaks or mountaintops. But I mean, between every mountain peak, there is a valley. There is a low period. There is a period between those two peaks that is the pit that I'm speaking of. Now, a pit is some obscure place, some sunken place. And the pit is a place so low that you think you may never come out of it. A divorce can be a pit. A bad doctor's report can be a pit. A failing business that you thought would be successful can be a pit. Losing a job, needing the money, trying to make bills covered, make bills connect, that can be a pit. Losing an opportunity, y'all can be a pit. Losing your house, losing a child, losing a parent can be a pit. These are sunken places. And these sunken places can throw you so far into depression and hopelessness that it can seem impossible to fully recover from it.

How many people know what I'm talking about? To have something hit you so hard that it knocks you to your knees, that it takes the wind out of you, that it puts you so far down into a sunken place. Somebody right now is in a sunken place. Bad news, bad information, disappointments have stuck you in a place that feels like a pit. But I've got a promise. In spite of my divorce, I've got a promise. In spite of losing my job, I've got a promise. In spite of having to stand over the coffin of a child that I've had to bury, I still have a promise. And it's that promise that keeps me going forward. Because a pit cannot stop. Now, listen. Walk with me.

The promises of God are always attached to the favor of God. And when people talk about the favor of God, what they dream about is the good stuff. They dream about the lofty stuff. But might I suggest this morning, beloved, that favor can be both a blessing and a burden? [Applause] It could be both a blessing and a burden. In fact, sometimes when you think about the blessings of God, yes, it opens doors for you, it gives opportunities to you. And maybe you can enjoy some things that you wouldn't normally enjoy because you got favor. Ah, but let me tell you, that sometimes that blessing can be a burden in that it invites undeserved, unsolicited attacks and tension. So while I am enjoying the favor that God gives me and the blessing that God releases in my life, I also have to contend with those things that come as a result of that.

You do know that everybody is not glad for you. You do know that if you get a promotion, somebody over in the corner cutting their eyes at you. You do know that everybody in your family is not happy that you got a good job or you have a nice home. You do know that everybody who is behind you is not behind you because they're pushing you, but they could be behind you trying to knife you. [Applause] Not because you're a bad person, not because you're a wicked person, just because I'm a blessed person. We're all the blessed people in here. I don't know. Let me, let me, let me do a check. All the blessed people, identify yourself. All the way up there in the balcony, online, if you're blessed, I want you to type in the field, "I'm a blessed person." Make some noise if you're blessed and you know it. Ah, but there is tension when you're a blessed person. There are unusual difficulties that you deal with. Some unspeakable things sometimes that you have to contend with when you are a blessed person. There are some things you have to watch out for. Some things you can't even describe. The normal person, you don't understand what it's like to live with the burden of being favored. [Applause]

And the tension in Joseph's life revolved around a multi-colored coat that, get this, he received as a gift from his father. And it was an outward expression of his father's love for him. Now, listen. As far as we know, it was not something that Joseph either asked for or prayed for. We don't read anywhere in the text where he went to his father demanding his inheritance like the Prodigal Son. No, we didn't do that. We don't read, we don't read where, where he worked for the coat that he received. Because if he worked for it, sister Jackie, that would have been compensation. We don't read where he tried to buy back favor. Favor can't be bought. He didn't earn this coat, this multi-colored, elaborate coat, because of good behavior, because that meant it would have been deserved. The only reason he had this elaborate, multi-colored coat was because it was bestowed upon him by the father. And many people spend hours and years and money and all sorts of antics trying to grab a favor, trying to buy a favor, trying to manipulate themselves into a favor. But when you could, when you resort to those kind of antics, you rob God of the opportunity to really be God, the Father, in your life and bestow something on you that you could not get through your own efforts.

Somebody in here right now is living in something that you didn't even ask for. You're living in an opportunity that you didn't even beg for. You're walking into doors that you didn't have to buy your way into, but it was just God who picked you out of a crowd and said, "I'm gonna bestow my favor." One thing about it, if God bestows favor upon you, can't nobody stop it. Can't nobody take it. When God blesses a man, can't nobody rob him of it. All my blessed people who know that you have favor, shout and lift this room in this place. I got favor. I got, I got favor. I got, I got favor. It's like the feeling you get when you've been upgraded to first class. [Applause] Fast forward. I was prepared. That's what favor is like. It's like God, somebody picked you. I want to point to my education. I want to point to my background. I want to point to my connections. I want to point to my training. But the truth of the matter is, I'm here because he picked me. If there's anybody who knows the feeling when God picks you, he picks you out of the family, you were the worst one in the family. He picks you out of a room full of people, you shouldn't even be having it right now, but he ruled around and said, "Not you, not you, not you, you." If you know you've been picked, oh my God, oh my God, it's on me because I've been picked. I didn't even ask for this. God just opened a door for me. And doors God opens, no man can shut. If you're standing in front of an open door right now, would you holler at your boy? Sit down for me. I'm just talking. He's talking.

Gifting this young man with the coat was a harmless gesture. Jacob wasn't trying to start no trouble. It was just the case of a father having extraordinary love for a son that spilled over into an extravagant display of affection embodied in a coat. This was just the father being a daddy. This was just the father looking at him and saying, "I want to bless you." Let me tell you something about this coat. It wasn't cheaply made. It wasn't a hand-me-down. God's favor on you fits like a tailor-made suit. A collar is designed specifically for you. When you get a tailor-made, beloved of God, nobody else can wear it but you. Nobody can wear it like you. You might get another suit, but it won't be mine. You might get in the seat, but it won't be mine. What I'm trying to tell you is, what God has for you is for you. It is so. God is so specific about what he has for you. See, the suit fits the way it's supposed to fit. It falls the way that we're supposed to fall. It dips where it's supposed to dip. That's why you ain't got to be jealous of anybody else's blessing, because what God has for you is so tailor-made for you. If you try to put it on, it ain't gonna work for you. If you try to sit in the seat, it won't work for you. You can sit there, but it won't work for you because the suit was made for you.

How many of you know that God has something tailor-made for you? Look at somebody and say, "Favor looks good on you." Yeah, you might be sitting next to a hater, but look at somebody that's a favor looks good on you. See, when you're really a blessed person, you can't be hateful about anybody else being blessed. I can afford to appreciate you. I can afford to applaud you. I can afford to rejoice with them that do rejoice because the Father loves me too. Look at somebody else and say, "Favor looks good." Gotta take my glasses off. Favor looks good on you. We struggle with it, brother. We struggle rejoicing with them that do rejoice. We struggle with people who have opportunities that you wish you had. But everybody who knows that the same God who blessed them will bless you. Shame God. The same God that lifted you will lift me. The same God will open the door for you will open the door for me. I want every favored person in here to raise the roof of his head. I got. Stop hating. Stop being mad. Stop being jealous because the same Father who favors me will favor you. It's like being in a line at a movie theater. Every time somebody else moves up, you shouldn't be hating. That just means I'm getting closer to my blessing and closer to my blessing. Every time a door opens for somebody, I don't get mad because it means that the door is still going to be open for me. Look at somebody, say, "You're next in line." You don't believe it? Tell somebody else, "You're next in line." Oh, favor looks good on somebody in here. [Applause]

Listen, in my estimation, the problem wasn't really the coat itself. It was what the coat represented. Even Jacob, his father, did not know all the plans that God had for this young man. Though he loved him, though he fed him, though he clothed him, he still did not know. He still could not perceive. It still existed outside the realm of his imagination, all the things that God would have in store for this boy. Which is the case with a lot of people, that there's always more in you than people realize. There's always more in you than people perceive. You cannot allow the opinions of people to limit what you shall be because even the closest people are limited in what they can see that God has in store for you. Yes, I'm your father, but in reality, you have favor with the Father. So listen, the coat was prophetic in nature. It spoke to the future estate. And listen, it didn't help that this young man boasted about a dream of being in a position of prominence. It's one thing for me to see you prancing around in this fancy coat. Now you talk about God is going to put you in a place of influence and prominence. And this created, listen, y'all, this created issues for him. So the Bible says that his brothers hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

Now I'm turning a corner here. Watch this tension. The brothers suffered from a classic example of what psychologists call displaced aggression. Place aggression is when a person is angry, but they cannot direct their anger toward the source without consequences. See, so what they do is they take out their anger on somebody who poses little or no risk. [Applause] I'm really mad at you, but I have too much respect to confront you. So now I'm going to take out my anger, my aggression, my frustration on somebody I perceive as no threat to me. It's almost like what happens at your job, and your boss does something that you don't agree with. You don't take it out on the boss, not if you want to keep your job. But all that aggression and all that anger and all that attitude, you take it out on your other co-workers because that's a lower risk, that's a lower issue. It's like some of you who have children with people that you're no longer with. And what you do is because you may not be able to confront them and make them feel the pain like you want to, you take out the anger and frustration on the child. And so the child becomes the object of your aggression. But it's really a reflection of the issue that you have with the father. [Applause]

So, so, so, so what was really happening here was this means that their actions was. We preach about Joseph being hated and we've got this whole culture about haters and haters hating on me and haters. But I want you to fall into that culture. I want you to realize that it was never really about Joseph. It was really about his attitude about the Father. And this was a reflection of their attitude about the Father because their issue was, "Father, you don't see me too. I mean, you love him, and I get that, but you don't see me too. You don't see the contribution that I have. I mean, Reuben was there. If anybody should have got a coat, he was the oldest. He should have got the coat, but he didn't. I mean, come on, come on, come on. Judah was there. Judah was more talented, more gifted. Judah means praise. But when God got ready to touch somebody, he didn't pick Judah. Oh, Levi was there. Come on, Levi. Out of Levi would come the priesthood, who would work in the temple. And yet, when God picked somebody, he didn't pick Levi. My God. Listen, the Bible said he was the son of his old age. But in reality, he was not the youngest son. Benjamin was the baby boy. And you know how you all about the baby boy? The baby gets all the attention, the baby gets all the gifts, the baby gets all the love. But he didn't even pick Benjamin. [Applause] People should have been and could have been hot to receive this coat, but they didn't because Joseph was chosen. Where are my chosen people in here? It should have been somebody else. It should have been somebody more qualified. It had been somebody more gifted than me. It should have been somebody better looking than me. It should have been somebody taller than me. But God chose. Oh, y'all not gonna get happy in here. [Applause]

I want to tell somebody today that you weren't picked because you were perfect. [Applause] You were picked because you were purposed. Purpose trumps gifts. Purpose trumps talent. Purpose trumps people's opinion. There may be people who don't agree that you're blessed. But your opinion does not stop God's purpose. What God has purposed in you, you're not gonna get happy. What has purposed in you trumps when anybody else has the same to say. If there's anybody that's glad that you are purposed, give God a shout right here. I just, I just. [Applause] Sit down. Let me talk about this. Talk about this. [Applause] Displaced aggression. Some more displaced aggression. Sometimes manifests itself in how we treat each other. And the church is affected with the disease that allows us to mistreat people in the name of the Lord. And the Bible says, "How can you say you love God the Father whom you have not seen and hate your brother or your sister that you see every day?" You are a liar, sir. You are an imposter. You are a fraud. How can you say that you hate me? Jesus contended with this all his life. He said, "How can you say you love the Father and yet hate me when I am from the Father? I am from the Father's loins. I am from the Father's heart." You said it's your love him, but what you are displaying is a hatred toward me, which is really some covert, hidden attitude that you have about me. You're just taking it out on my son. It is revealing the real intentions of your heart. It is revealed in the real condition of your spirituality. To say that you love God and you shout all over the church and you preach great messages, but you mistreat the people. Know you not that the holy God, my body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and that when you defile me or defame me, you're not disrespecting me, you're disrespecting the one who called me, who resides in me, who lives in me. Look at somebody, say, "You got to stop this foolishness. You got to stop." I don't believe you. And so it manifests itself in hatred towards each other.

I'm gonna go deeper here. It was a reflection of that attitude about their father. And it was their way of saying, "Daddy, you're not fair. You're not treating me fairly. You're not treating me equally." And watching you do things over there, and I'm waiting my turn, and I'm trying to be polite, but it's really getting on my nerves to watch this boy flaunt around here with this coat. And I'm trying to hide my hostility toward him, and I can't bring in myself the ability to speak peaceably to him. You know how to do when you walk in the room, they start rolling eyes. They can't even look at you. You walk on the job, they can't even say good morning to you. They, yeah, morning. [Music] [Applause] That's because you accidentally sat next to somebody that's really hating on you, don't like you, and you're in the unfortunate position of having to sit next to them. And every time the preacher said, "Turn to your neighbor and say," [Applause] somebody right now is being affected by someone else's displaced aggression. They're really mad at him, but they're taking it out on you. Can I go be just for a minute here? Sometimes the anger that you have is not towards him. It's really the anger you have towards yourself. [Applause] But sometimes the actions that we carry on to ourselves is a reflection of how you feel about yourself. And so this culture of self-hatred, self-sabotage, where you do things to yourself. Forget what your haters did. I want to talk to you about the things you're doing to yourself. [Applause] The decisions you're making about yourself, the positions, the places you're putting yourself in, the things that you're doing. You're talking about the haters and the brothers, but I know what it's like to sabotage your own success. You can't blame it on the devil. You can't blame it on your boss. You can't blame it on your spouse. You can't say, "If it wasn't for you, I would have made it." I'm talking to somebody in here who is dealing with self-sabotage. See, if it's my haters that's got me down, I can move away from my haters. I could ignore my haters. I can leave the job and never have to deal with them again. But where do you go when you're trying to get away from yourself and the decisions that you're making? You have to be honest and say, "It had nothing to do with her. This was all me." Is there anybody who can say that some things that happened, this was all me? I knew I shouldn't have been in that relationship. I knew I shouldn't have been in that situation. I knew better than what I was doing, but I did it anyway. And the consequences of my decision had nothing to do with you, but it had everything to do with how I saw myself. So that this, so the pit that I'm in today, Elder, is the one I put myself in. How many know like to put yourself in a pit? Wish I could blame it on you, but the problem is, I can't get away from me and my crazy self with myself, my little self-esteem. Put my, oh my God. [Applause] This self-defeating talk. This is not the leadership holding you down. This is not people holding you back. This is you holding you back. This is you telling yourself that you're a nobody. This is you telling yourself that you can't get up. This is you telling yourself that you're not worthy. And this self-talk, the self-defeating talk, turns into self-sabotage, and you are sitting in a pit of your own making. [Applause] Can I talk this morning? [Applause] [Music]

When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, he wasn't even there yet. They just saw him coming. And for some people, you wonder why people hate you because, in your opinion, I'm not even there yet. You mad about something that I haven't even realized yet. I'm just coming. I'm just coming down the street. I'm just starting to put my clothes together. I'm just starting to put my business together. I'm just starting to make some contacts. And you are responding to something that hasn't even happened yet. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? For you to just be coming down the road. That's because sometimes people see something on you that you may not yet see yourself. Oh my God. And you owe it to yourself to see what all the fuss is about. [Applause] All I did was pick a name for the business, and you mad. All I did was pick an office for the business. I ain't even got no customers yet, and you mad. All I did was pick out where I wanted to live. I ain't even bought the house yet, and you hate me. If you hate now, you better buckle your seat because what God's about to do is gonna knock your socks off. Into anybody in here that so yeah, somebody. [Applause] Y'all keep jumping up, but y'all got to sit down. Huh? Uh, it's talking. [Applause] For somebody here, God said, "They see you coming." You ain't got no license yet, but they see you coming. [Applause] Thank you. You ain't got no support yet, but they see you coming. You don't walk in the room, and you don't even know what to wear yet. You can't even figure out what's appropriate to wear in that kind of situation, but they see you coming. [Applause] Look at somebody, say, "I'm a comer. I am a comer." What you don't know about me is that I'm a comer. I'm somebody that if I walk in the room, trust and believe, I'm coming after something. I will never walk in the room and just be there to be there. If I walk in the room, if I come to the table, if I come to the job, if I come to the church, trust and believe, I'm coming after something. I want somebody in here who's after something. I'm not playing. I'm not trying to be seen. That's why I came to church today because I'm a comer. [Applause] I'm an overcomer. Thank you. You can throw obstacles in my way, and I'm going to step over every obstacle. Look at somebody, say, "I am an overcomer." You can't be an overcomer if you don't come over something. Slap as many people as you can and tell them, "I'm an overcomer." If you're online, type in the chat, "I'm an overcomer." That's why the enemy hates you. That's why the devil tried to get you early. That's why you tried to get you while you were still in the crib. That's why you're trying to get you in third grade because I, for some of you, the devil trying to get you earlier. I'ma knock you out the box quick because if you fool around and get in the spot, you're trying to get in, that devil, oh, I might suppose to be getting happy again. If I fool around and get in my spot, [Applause] it's gonna get me out. Somebody's so yes. [Applause] Look at somebody and say, "I'm an overcomer." Please. [Applause]

Saw the young man coming, just trying to pull himself together, and they said, "Let's kill him." That was the conspiracy. "Let's kill him." But, but here, here's the mistake they made. Here's the mistake they made. What they said is, "If we kill him, then we will see what will come of his dream." In other words, they made a bet among themselves, and the challenge was, "If we do all of this to him, the dream must not be that powerful. If it's that powerful, that I can kill your dream." See, if you've got a dream from God, and your boss can kill it, it's not a dream from God. If you got a dream from God, and your family can discourage you, that's not a dream from God. God puts something down in you, and somebody talking about you can make you walk away, that's not a dream from God. But the dream God has inside of you, come on, come on, back Mason, come back faces. [Applause] "We will see with our own eyes what would become of the dream." And that's what messed God up. God rolled up his sleeves because, you know, God likes a challenge. Every time you tell him he can't do something, get back. Joseph, ain't even about you. They put my word on the line. It's not about what you think, it's about what I've called for. And they said that they're not going to see it come to pass. But I come to tell somebody on my way back to Nashville that God, your enemies are gonna live long enough to see. [Applause] They're gonna live long enough to see what God is going to do in your life. Look at somebody, "You better see this thing. You better see this thing." [Applause] [Music] You owe it to yourself to survive long enough for your enemies to see the word of God come true in your own life. God's going to preserve them long enough to see you get up, to see you get married again, to see you have a business, to see you have a family. You're about three people and say, "You better see this thing. You better see this thing. You better." What am I saying? I'm saying you're gonna live to see it happen. [Applause] You're gonna live to see it happen. Get a praise if you believe it. I believe it. I believe it. I believe it. I don't blame you, brother. I will praise him just like that because I believe it. [Applause] All right. Beautiful. To ensure that this dream would not come to pass, number one, they stripped him. [Applause] And the mistake that the brothers made was they thought if they took the coat, they could take the favor. All this fuss about a coat, that's about a position. All this fuss about an opportunity about a coat. So they stripped because they thought, "If I take his coat, they would take the favor." I come to tell somebody who is determined to take my coat. If that's the thing that's bothering you, here, make me take my coat. Here, my coat. Take my seat. Take my position. Take my opportunity. Take what's in front of me. But you can't take my favor. You can strip me of my position, but you can't strip me of my favor. [Applause] Take it. Take it. [Applause] Favor of God is on my life so strong. You can take my coat, and I'll still get up. The coat I have is so strong, it's going to look up and find me in Pharaoh's house because it's not the coat.

It's not what's on me and me. That's what the devil's mad about. You kicked me out the job, but you can't take the favor because the favor is not what I'm wearing, is what's in God. I've got to get out of here. [Applause] It reminds me. Hold on. It reminds me of what they did to Jesus when they crucified him. They stripped him and they started gambling for his garment. [Applause] So they stripped his body, but they couldn't strip him of his anointing. God said to tell somebody in here, "Stop arguing with people. Stop fighting with people. Stop being mad with people. Stop arguing about who you are and pushing your way in with your elder badge on." "I'm Elder So-and-So." Shut up. Take off the badge. But you can't take off, man. Okay. They took Jesus' garments, brother, but they couldn't take his glory. [Applause] For somebody in here, the devil's frustrated with you because I took your garments, but I couldn't take the glory. If you're really anointed, I'm anointed at church. I'm anointed in the streets. I'm anointed across town. I'm anointed in another city. I'm anointed in another state. The anointing that you have, the favor that you have, it will go with you all the days of your life. Out with somebody. They can stick you in a pit, and you'll still have them. [Applause]

Let me talk about the sinking. They said, "Let us throw him in a some, some pit." And can I be honest with you? Everything looks different from a sunken place. Everything looks different from the position of a pit. My problem is, I'm in this low place, and, and I've gone lower than I ever thought I would be. I know that life can get hard. If you live life at all, you're gonna go through something. But I'm talking to somebody in here who's in something, and you're going lower than you ever thought you could be. I'm in a, I'm in a sunken place, and it doesn't look like what I saw in my dream. Oh God. It doesn't look like I'm going forward. I'm going backwards. I want to talk to somebody in here that God has given you a glimpse of your future, and instead of you moving towards that future, it looks as if you're going backwards from their future. Instead of you making steps up the ladder, you're taking steps down the ladder, and you're now in a low, sunken place, too steep to climb out of, too deep to get out of. And somebody's in something that's so steep and so deep that it's starting to make you doubt the dream that God gave you in the first place. What do you do when the thing that God told you is not realized in your life? I'm going to tell you, hold on. [Applause] Why am I holding on, preacher? Because Joseph had no idea how far his life was gonna go. He was going to go further than his father's reach. I was born in a good family. I was born at a good church, but I'm going to go further than even my father's reach. I'm going to go further than my brother's reach. Your hands put me in a pit, but where God has taken me is so far beyond your reach that what you said is not going to even matter. I'm coming to tell somebody, you got to stop arguing with petty people because where God's taking you, it's going to be so much further. [Applause] He was going to go as far as being on the throne of Pharaoh. You got to hold on because from a pit, from a sunken place, Joseph never saw an Ephraim and a Manasseh. [Applause] From the pit, gonna have two kids, two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which means forgetful and fruitful. That God's gonna push you into a place that you're gonna forget everything that happened in your father's house. You're gonna forget everything they try to do. Oh God. [Applause] God is going to make you for God's gonna bless you so well, you're gonna forget. "I don't remember what they said. I don't remember what they did. I don't remember the argument. I don't remember the conversation. What'd you say?" Paul, forgetting those things [Applause] which are behind me. You know you're in a spot where God gives you the power to forget. [Applause] I can let go of my anger because I forgot what you did anyway. I can let go of what you said about me because I don't remember anyway. I could forget the fact that you left me. I can't even call your name back again. God will bless you so good, you won't even remember. Oh my God. I'm forgetting some stuff. Some of you can't go forward because you're trying to carry issues and attitudes forward. And if you're going to go forward, you gotta leave some stuff behind. You gotta let some stuff go. You can't be big when petty has got you. You got to let some stuff go. You got to let some people go. You got to let some situations. I know you want revenge, and I know you want some get back. But God said, "If you didn't let it go, I've got more in your future than your brothers can ever even imagine." If I'm talking to somebody here, would you make some noise? If I'm talking to anybody, talking about free people. Yourself forgetting. I'm forgetting. I'm forgetting. I'm forgetting. Sometimes, sometimes the blessing is just in letting it go. It's just forget it. It's just getting past it. But there's more. I'm not just going to let you forget. I'm gonna cause you to be fruitful. Where are you gonna do that at, God? I'm gonna make you fruitful right in the land of your affliction. That means the thing you're standing in right now, God said, "Right here, stop your foot. Right here, in this spot, in this place, in this city, in this church, in this position." God's gonna cause me to be fruitful. [Applause] I'm in a pit now, but I'm gonna be fruitful later. [Applause] I will say that, Lord. What you saw as a pit, God saw as a launching pad. Somebody's crying right now because their life is in a pit. I'm in a financial pit. I'm in a relational pit. I'm in an emotional pit. My business is in a pit. I can't see my way out of this. I don't know how God is going to accomplish what he did, what he's talking about doing in my life. I don't know how this is going to ever come to pass. I've run out of resources. I run out of my, uh, connections. I run out of opportunity. How am I going to make this happen? And you're sitting in a pit right now, being all disoriented. And God said, "You have to change your perspective because what you think is a pit is really a launching pad." It's like a bow on an arrow. It's like a string on a boat. And the further back I pull you, [Applause] sturdy. I'm gonna pull your name out of people's mouths. I'm gonna put, they're not going to invite you to a lot of stuff. They're not going to ask you to come to the party. They're not going to ask you to come to the cantata. They're not going to ask you to come to the event. They're going to accidentally, intentionally leave your name off the VIP list. And God said, "I'm pulling you back." But while I'm pulling you back, the further back I pull you, the further you're gonna fly. Everybody that believes you're about to fly, would you give God? [Applause] Somebody do this. He pulled me back as far as I can go. He's pulled me back as far as I can reach. But it's just a minute. I have a bottom. You ain't gonna fly. You ain't gonna fly. [Music] Pull on somebody and tell them, "Pull on your string. Let God pull on your string. Let God pull on your string." He's pulling you back for a reason. He's about to let you. [Applause] Oh my God. I sense in this room that God's about to let somebody fly. Oh my God. Is that you? I'm about to fly. [Music] You won't even know me. [Music] Somebody show you. [Applause] [Music] I'ma take you so far, Joseph. They're not gonna recognize you. I'ma take you so far, they're not gonna be able to touch you. But it's on somebody. And say, "You're not gonna be able to touch me. Can't touch this. Can't touch this." You thought that the pit was gonna kill me, but I'm [Music] I come this morning like a person who came out of the pit, and I came to testify that a pit can't stop. [Music] [Applause] Lift your hands and say, "God, I praise you for my pit. God, I praise you for pulling me back. God, I praise you for pruning me. God, I praise you by pulling me back. God, I praise him for holding me down. God, I praise you for putting me in the back, joining me for a little while, because I would have never gone as far as I could go." You've been crying about your disadvantages, but God said, "Your disadvantages was the thing I used to propel you to great heights." Oh my God. If you're in a pit right now, but you sense that you're about to have great heights, you've got a shout right here. [Applause] Oh, I got to go. I got to go. But I gotta tell you this one last thing. I want to tell you about the saving. Because here's the issue, we don't know how long Joseph was in the pit. All we know is that his brothers went to get something to eat. We don't know how long it was there. And I'm talking to somebody who's in something right now, and you're thinking, "I'm in this longer than I should have been. I'm in this situation longer than I thought I would be. I'm in this relationship longer than I thought I would be. I've been nursing this broken heart and her have to. I've been dealing with unemployment longer than I thought I would. I've been trying to get this business off the ground longer it should have been there by now." When I first got in the pit, I thought it would be maybe a few hours, but a few hours have turned into a few weeks, and weeks have turned into months, and months have turned into years. And I'm talking to somebody who's been living in a pit for years. I come to tell you, help is coming. [Applause] Let me tell you how insensitive people are when you're in a pit, brother. When you're in a pit, people start saying really insensitive, mean things. They look at you and say, "Why are you in here this long? Why are you still here? Why don't you just will yourself out of this pit? Why don't you just will? Why don't you just pull yourself together? Want to just practice some positive thinking, some positive mantra? Why don't you just get yourself, pull yourself up by your bootstraps?" But I'm gonna tell you, there are some pits that are so deep and that are so steep that you can't get yourself out of it. There are some things you can fall in so far that you're all the positive thinking you can muster up still won't get you out of it. There are some things you can get in so far that that all the things that you're trying to do to pull yourself up by your bootstraps still won't work. But there's a turning point about to happen. And what happened was the Midianites came by. And when the Midianites came by, his brothers took him out the pit to sell him to the Midianites. I come to tell somebody that help is coming. But it may not come from the hands of the ones that put you in. You gotta stop going back to people that hurt you and people that broke you expecting to get help for what God's about to do in your life. God's about to touch somebody. You may not even know help is coming. Look as I say, "Help is coming." It's coming from unexpected places. It's coming from unusual places. It's coming from people that's not in your culture. It's coming from people that's not of your background. How many know when you need help, you don't care what it look like. It could be black, it could be white, it could be Asian, it could be a man, it could be a woman. All I know that I need help. I've been waiting in a pit for a long time, waiting on my brothers to behave, waiting for somebody to grow a conscience, wait for somebody suddenly feel sorry for what they said or what they did. And you may not ever get an apology, and you may not ever get them to come back and acknowledge they were wrong. But don't worry about it because God's got some people. And this is going to be a turning point in your life. Somebody look inside, "It's a turning point." This is a turning point. And in this turn, God's about to launch you into everything that he promised you.

They're going to reach down and pull you out of a pit. But this is just the beginning of what God's about to do in your life. Look at us. If I say, "I thank God for beginnings." [Music]