Transcription
Well, I'm excited. So, the New Year. It's the New Year, and I love, love a New Year. And you've got like two different types of people in the New Year. You've got the very optimistic person, you've got like me, and I'm just gonna be awesome, and I'm gonna get a new house, and her husband is gonna be great. It's New Year. And it's like, and then you've got the pessimist, you know, Uncle Scrooge is just like, man, I don't care about no New Year. You know what I'm saying? It's the same as last year. It's just a whole 'nother day. You know what I mean? Ain't nobody gonna change. They're just gonna get a gym membership and get fat again in two weeks. And you just got like two different people on the other side of the extreme.
But what's the significance of the New Year? What's the excitement of it? What does a New Year do? A New Year is actually a reset. It's a reset. So, what God did was, when God created the earth, God said there will be good seasons, bad seasons. There'll be rain, there'll be snow, there'll be sleet, there'll be sun. So, God said there are going to be different seasons. And what I have to do is, I have to have reset points to transition the seasons. So, God said I have to have reset. So, what happens is, that's why God said you're having a bad day. God said, "Joy comes in the morning." In other words, God said every day is a reset. Which means if yesterday was bad, you could have had a bad night. But God said it doesn't have to be a bad life. I'm gonna reset it. I could turn it around. Every day is a reset. And God said, not only is every day reset, every year is a reset. You could have had a bad year, but it's not your last year. God's gonna reset that year to give you a new opportunity to be strong, give you a new opportunity to have faith, give you a new opportunity to walk into the things of God, give you a new opportunity to start praying and reading and fasting and getting in the presence of God. Every year is a reset.
So, the significance in 2022 is you have an opportunity to have a reset. One of the prophetic words that God has given this house when we had our New Year service was, he said, "This is the year that He is about to awaken the sleeping bride." He's going to awaken the sleeping bride. The church has been asleep. The church has been checked out. The church has been disengaged. And God said, "I am about to awaken my sleeping bride." Because the church was God's solution to the problems in the earth. And the problem with the church is, we've been so concerned with having church that we forgot to serve the earth. Because God said, "Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit." And the problem is, you just want to go into the church and make disciples. But God says, "I want disciples at your job. I want disciples in your family. I want disciples all around your life." So, God said, "This is a reset, and I'm awakening my bride."
And also, the word that He's given us personally, that's the corporate word. The personal word of God has given us is, "This is a year of preparation. This is a year of preparation." Let me tell you something, child of God, daughter of God, men of God, you cannot declare for what you're not willing to prepare for. You cannot declare for what you're not willing to prepare for. God said the highest form of faith is preparation. It's the highest form of faith. And a lot of you guys want to sit and say, "I'm waiting on the Lord." And God said, "No, I'm waiting on you." I'm waiting on you to get up and get out of your comfort zone, get into the faith zone, and begin to call heaven down to the earth.
So, the New Year is about resetting. So, what is God spoken to you? What is God saying? What did God put in your heart? Who did God call you to be? Don't live this life mundane no more. You was created for a purpose. The most two, the two most important days of your life is the day you were born and the day you knew why. And the sad part is, most people live and die and between that hyphen, they accomplished nothing. And I'm not talking about being successful or having a good job. I'm talking about being who God has created you to be. What did God have in mind when He formed you? What did God have in mind when He blew into your nostrils the breath of life? Why are you here? Why did so many people die, but you're still breathing? It's because if you have a pulse, you have a purpose. You have to discover what that is, and you have to spend your life chasing it. God created you for a reason, and you have to get inside of that reason and begin to serve God.
So, what I want to do in this series, guys, I want to do something very, very powerful. I want to evoke you, and I want to unearth the, the purpose and the mandate that God has put inside of you. I want you to leave here different. I want you to leave here passionate. I want you to leave here fired up. Some of you guys up all night watching Netflix. I want you to go to Netflix and say, "Netflix, you can't take me to the next season." I want you to go to Hulu and say, "Hulu, I'm sorry, I don't have time to watch all the new shows." I'm not going to be posting saying, "Hey, what good show y'all got?" Because I got to spend time in the presence of God. I got to spend time in the word of God. I got to spend time fulfilling my destiny. Time was your gift that God gave you to walk into destiny. Time was about destiny. And a lot of you guys have wasted time. But if you would consecrate and begin to serve God and lock into the kingdom of God, God will redeem the time that the locus has stole. He will give you time back. Our God puts time back on the clock. Asked Lazarus, he was dead for four days, and our God rewound the clock. He will do the same thing for your life if you're ready for purpose. God wants you to live on purpose, for a purpose, with purpose. Come on, somebody, give Him a shout of praise. Not still ain't in my sermon, guys. I'm just, we just still in the introduction. And and I'm still not out the introduction.
So, so today, my sermon is called "Vitals to Vision." Vitals to Vision. And I love this concept of vitals. I love it because I was going to my doctorate appointment, and every time I go inside of my doctor's appointment, the first thing they do is check my vitals. And the reason why they check my vitals is, my vitals is the metric to my health. If my vitals are bad, something in my body is out of order. Something, something in my body isn't in alignment. So, they check my vitals. But I believe the same way we have vitals in the physical to make sure our body is well, I believe we have vitals in the church. But I also believe that God has vitals in your life. There are essential things in your life that you have to be checking to make sure that what God wants to be happening in your life is happening. So, I give you a vital: your prayer life. It is a vital. It's a vital. If you're not praying, something's wrong. And if you're not praying over the things of God and the vision that God has given you, your vision is dying. That's the low vital. Prayer is the heartbeat to your vision. And if your vision doesn't have prayer, the vitals are off. I'm ashamed to say that our church, um, in the morning, we just got so busy getting everything together, we went prioritizing prayer. And today was the first day where we had a reset, and we said, "God, we're coming in Your presence of God, and we are coming with prayer and intercession." And I'm telling you, service felt different. I could feel the presence of God the moment I step inside of the building. I can feel the presence of God in worship. Why? Because we got our vitals back up.
So, there's vitals to vision. There's vitals to being a believer. So, over the next month, I'm going to be talking about the vitals to purpose and the different things you need to do to get into the next level and get into the place and the purpose that God has for your life. I believe if you would take this message in, not just listen to it, but take it in, if you would do that, I believe God's gonna transform your life like you've never seen before. I believe you're going to step into destiny. I believe you're going to see the manifestation of the kingdom of God. You will see kingdom come. At our church right now, I'm prophesying that God's gonna explode this place. God's gonna grow this place. God's gonna grow our influence. Not for us. It has nothing to do with us. It's for people. It's for people. God wants to reach people. But God has to get our vitals in the right place so we're healthy. And I believe God is gonna do the same thing in your life if you would get the vitals to your vision up.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna show you some in the word of God. If you ever bibles, go to Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. Now, we're gonna do a little, a little Bible reading this morning. All right. Now, I'm gonna jump around a little bit, but we're gonna read our Bibles this morning. Is that cool? Some of y'all ain't read your Bible all week, all month, all year. Were you reading it this morning? If it's you, don't, don't look. Just, just don't look. If it's your husband, don't raise your head. Just blink twice. Just blink twice. I'm playing. Genesis chapter 37. We'll start at verse 3. It says, "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children." Man, ain't that messed up? See, y'all parents be trying to say y'all love y'all kids. They're saying y'all lying because it said that he left. Now, I'm playing. Israel loved Joseph more than all the others. Like God, like they're gonna read this in heaven, like, "You don't put this in the Bible?" And it was, it was because he was his son of 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, then, then all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Now, Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more. Like, it's so funny, somebody hates you, and you just want to go tell them your dream. Like, they already hate you, be quiet. So, he said to them, "Please hear this dream. Please hear this. What are you doing? So, you're going to go to haters and say, 'Please hear what God's going to do in my life?'" Like, really? "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed. There were, there were binding sheep in the field. Then, behold, my sheaf rose and also stood upright. And indeed, your sheep stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf." And then it says, "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, for his dream and for his words. So, basically, he has this dream of these sheep, and there's one that's real big, and the other ones are bowed out to him. And the way this dream was interpreted was that he would be above them. They would bow down to him. He would rule over them. "I'm the chosen one, and I'm the one that God has called." So, that was kind of the, the mandate. So, they hate him. They like, and they could kind of believe his dream because that's treating them special. He got a coat of many colors, like he got a whole Gucci coat on, you know what I'm saying? Prada boots. Like, it's, it's looking kind of, it's looking kind of true. He's the youngest, but he got favor on his life.
Then it says, "Then he'd still dreamed another dream, and he told his brothers, 'Look, I have dreamed another dream.'" And this time, "the sun, and the moon, and even the 11 stars bowed down to me." This time, he said, "Now my parents bowing down to me, not just y'all bowing. My dad bowing, my mom bowing, about everybody gonna bow to me. I'm Joseph, you know what I'm saying?" And then verse 10 says, "So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, 'What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come and bow down to the earth before you?' And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind."
Verse 26. So, Judah said to his brother, "What prophet is there?" Well, I'ma jump down a little bit to verse 26. Judah said to his brother, "What prophet is it to kill our brother and conceal his blood?" Because at this point, he's coming down from a far away. And as he's coming down from a far away, they see him walking down. And how they see him walking out is, he got his bling-bling coat. So, they can't even see him, but they see his jacket shining all the way down the field. And he said, "Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened. So, they said, "Instead of killing this little joker, we're just going to sell him into slavery."
Then the Midianite traders passed by. So, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, because they had thrown inside of a pit, first a holding place, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. Then Reuben returned to the pen. Indeed, Joseph was not in the pit. And, um, and his clothes was torn, and he returned to the presence and said, "You know, where's Joseph?" All that good stuff. I'm going on. Verse 31. So, they took Joseph's coat, killed a kid of goats, and dipped the coat in blood. Then they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, "We have found this. Do you know, rather, it is your son's coat or not?" So, basically, they got this coat, they dipped it in blood, they gave it to the dad, and he made it so he wouldn't know if it was the coat. He made, and there was blood on it to give the illusion that his son was dead.
And let me tell you something about the devil. The devil will always bring false evidence appearing real. He will always bring false evidence appearing real. And what he did was, he brought evidence because that evidence, that deception would stop the father from searching. So, he said, "If I can show him a bloody coat, after he will believe it. Because if they just said he's dead, he's going to be looking for his body. He's going to be searching for his son that he favored. But if I give him evidence, he'll believe it." And that's what the devil does to your life. He's giving you evidence that you won't be nothing. Your daddy ain't nothing. Your sister ain't none. Your cousin ain't nothing. He's telling you that you won't be nothing. You're gonna be just like your dad, just like your family. Everyone else can do it, you can't do it. But the devil is a liar. The evidence that he has is false. It's not real. You will be the one to break the back of the devil. You will be the one that changed your family tree. You will be the one that do the will of God. It's evidence, but it's false evidence. It's not real. It's not real.
And then it said, "And then he said, 'Without doubt, Joseph is torn to pieces.'" He didn't have no doubt because of his false evidence. Then Joseph, then Jacob tore his clothes, he put on a sackcloth on his wrists, and he mourned on his waist, and he mourned his son for many days. And they came, his daughter, his sons, and his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning." Thus his father wept for him.
Now, the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard. All right, guys, let's preach. So, you have Joseph, and Joseph apparently has a pretty cool gift from God. He has the gift to dream, and not only does he have the gift of dream, he has the gift to interpret dreams. So, he's dreaming, and he has the gift to interpret dreams. And he's having this dream of his brothers bowing down to him. He's having this dream of his father and his mother bowing down to him. And he's already favored. He got this coat of many colors, and he's filling himself. His brothers are envious, and they're very jealous. And one of the reasons why his brothers are jealous is because they had a blended family, which means that most of his brothers had different parents. It was a blended family. So, it was like, you know, you can just imagine that this, this brother's mom is like, "Well, we want you to be the heir. We want you to be next in line. Who is that Joseph kid?" So, I'm sure the mothers are bringing division between these boys. So, the hate is a little different. It's one thing to hate a sibling, but when it's a blended family, the hate gets a little realer because you got different parents sowing different seeds. So, we don't know what these other mothers were saying to these boys to cause hate and envy to go to a whole other level. And the reason why they hated Joseph is, Joseph was the boy of the woman that his father loved most, and she was bearing for a while. So, this was a very special son. This was a prized son. And then he had him in his old age, which means he was a miracle baby, and he was special, he was chosen, he was favored. And his brothers hated him.
And one of the things he didn't understand is, when you're in the midst of haters, you don't want to be prideful. When you're in the midst of haters, you want to be humble. You don't want to get around people that don't like you and start sharing your dreams and sharing your desires and sharing what God is going to do in your life. And sometimes the biggest haters is family members. Sometimes the biggest haters are your relatives. And the reason why they can't stand you and they hate you so much is because they decided who you are. And when they decided who you are, when you try to step out of the box, you're exposing their dysfunction. And they decided that you're just Joseph. You're just our little brother. You're a little snotty those kids. You'll never be nothing. And Joseph is having this dream that I will be king, and I will rule over you guys, and you will bow to me. And they said, "No, you won't." And at that point, they started hating him so much that they couldn't even identify him as a human. That's when he came running down the field. They said, "Here comes this dreamer." You know when the hate gets real? Because they don't even call you by your name no more. They call you by your occupation. "Here comes that nurse. Here comes that doctor. Here comes that lawyer. Here comes that preacher." They won't even call you by your name no more. They call you by your occupation because the hate is so real. And they decided who he was.
And the thing you gotta understand is, sometimes when you're getting ready to walk to destiny, you gotta detach from certain relationships because some people has decided who you are. And when they decide who you are, they don't want to let you out of the box. If you ever heard of the crab in the barrel, whenever one crab tries to get out the barrel, the crab under him always pulls them back down. And sometimes it's like that in family and friendships, that when you try to get out of the barrel of mundane and dysfunction and mediocrity, people will pull you back down to the level that they are. Because people that's going nowhere wants you to go with them. People that's doing nothing want you to do it with them. People that's not hungry for the things of God want to quench your hunger. And you got to be willing to get away from them. And sometimes what they try to do to hurt you sometimes is the blessing in disguise. Because they threw him inside of a pit. And I'm telling you, some of you guys have dreams and you have a purpose from God, and you may feel like you're in a pit. Because a pit is a dark place, and it's a lonely place. But let me tell you something about a pit. A pit is something that you're never in alone. The power of God will meet you in the pit. Let me say it again. The power of God will meet you in the pit. So, when you're down in the pit, scoot over, because God will get down in the pit with you.
And Joseph is down in a pit. And as he's down inside of this pit, he's feeling lonely, he's feeling isolated, he's feeling abandoned, he's feeling hurt. He's in a pit. Anybody that's ever called to do anything great from God will always be in the pit. Because God doesn't find His greatest servants in the palace. He finds them in the pit. Because there's things that the pit will do in you that the palace can never do. That's why when you see a lot of rich people, their kids don't have the same level of success. Because I gave you the prosperity, but I didn't give you the projects. I gave you the purpose, but I didn't give you the pain. And it's the pain that powers the purpose. It's the projects that powers the prosperity. Because you don't know what it's like to come from nothing. You don't know what it's like to not have nothing to eat. You don't know what it's like to overcome haters and backbiters and people that's against you. You don't know what it takes to go to the next level. And though you have the money, you don't have the fight. Then you have the money, you don't have the persistence. And God is saying, "You can have the position, but you don't have the posture of a king because you haven't been in the pit." That's why David can do what his brothers can do. Because his brothers were so busy living in prestige, they went in a pit. He said, "Man, I'm in the field. I'm out here fighting lions and bears. I'm out here fit for service and fit for work." And you may laugh at me out here in this pit, but I'm learning things you can never learn. Because they can't teach this at seminary. They can't teach this in the school. When we started our church, we didn't have no members and no money. They didn't teach you how to set up a service. They didn't teach you how to build a stage. They didn't teach you how to agree and serve people all day and then have to preach and tear everything down. You can't learn this at Bible school. I'm telling you, I may not have a GED, I might not have a degree, but I got a G.O.D. And that's all I need. And if God be for you, who can be against you? Praise God. I'm telling you, I am pit certified. If you're going to get to the next level in your life, you gotta be pit certified. I'm telling you, I've been through some things. But though He slayed me, yet I trust Him. Praise God. I'm gonna trust God. I'm gonna trust Him even when I can't trace His presence. I'm gonna trust Him even when I can't see His goodness. Because I'm not in the pit alone. I'm gonna trust God in the pit. If you can't overcome the pit season, you will never make it to the palace. Let me say it again. If you can't overcome the pit season, you will never make it to the palace. Because the pit is part of your preparation. The pit is part of your process. And what you got to understand is, God is not just the God of the palace, He's also the God of the pit. And He will be with you in the dark place. And sometimes the pit is very, very lonely. It's a lonely place. But lonely is necessary for destiny. Being lonely is necessary because God is saying, "I have to withdraw you from people to get the residue off of you so I can imprint My presence on you." Guys saying, "You're going to hang out in my company." I need you to be lonely. Because what they're doing is what you're doing. What they're thinking is what you're thinking. And I need to set you apart. Then I can send you back. So, everybody that's ever been used by God, Moses had to go up the mountain. David had to go on the field. Joseph had to go in the pit. Daniel had to go in the lion's den. Everyone had to be separated for a season. And God told Abraham, "Get away from your kin folks and your country." I have to isolate you so I can instill some kingdom values in you. So, the pit wasn't designed to destroy Joseph. It was actually designed to destiny Joseph. He was destined by the pit. So, what his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. The pit was a necessary season.
But let me show you something else. Though he was in the pit, and we feel bad, and we mourn with him, and we grieve for him for being in the pit, but if you would be honest, he kind of deserved the pit. He kind of deserved it. We look at Joseph like he's perfect. And the reason why we look at Joseph like he's perfect is because he's different from any other Bible character we'll ever read about. Because all of the other Bible characters have external sin. You got David committed adultery. You got Moses murdering people. You got Abraham being a liar. I mean, and are worshipping false gods. But Joseph is the one guy that we don't have no visible sin of. So, we assume that he's perfect. And people preach, "Joseph should have never been in the pit. They just did it because there was haters." Joseph was prideful. Joseph was prideful. Let me, let me show you some signs of his pride. The first sign of pride we see from Joseph is his dream. His dream. He interpreted this dream, and guess what? When he talked about these sheep, his brothers, one dream interpreter. He was, he said, "This dream means you bow to me. This dream means you bow to me." Then he said, "You know what? That ain't good enough. I got another dream, which means my parents bowed to me." Then he had this coat of many colors. "You run it out in the field to fetch your brothers." Do you really have to bling-bling in the coat? You really got to bling-bling? And then here begging people, "Please, please, please, listen to how you're going to be my slave. Please listen to how you're going to serve me. Please listen to how I'm better than you. Please listen to how awesome I am and how horrible you is. Please look in my bank account when you ain't got no money. Please, please, please." Full of pride. He was full of pride. And God said, "I know you got the heart that I have, but you got to go through a process and a season so I can strip you of your pride." Because let me show you how prideful Joseph was. Joseph was so prideful that he misinterpreted the dream. He thought that the people he was called to serve was his slaves. He read the dream wrong. When he read, when he interpreted his dream, he saw them bowing, and he was like, "I'm awesome." He didn't see himself serving. He misinterpreted the dream. So, he needed to go through the process.
If you're taking notes, my first point, I just shared is, if you're going to get to the next level in your vision, you have to go through the pit, and it's necessary. And don't hate the pit, and don't despise the pit, because the pit is necessary for your development. The next point I have, Genesis chapter 39, verse 1. I'ma kind of skip to this pretty quick. It says, "Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, and Egyptian brought him from, bought him from the Israelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a very successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything he did prosper, everything under his hand." So, the master, a pagan, a pagan master, saw the presence of God. They will see it at your work. They will see it. Quit hiding the glory of God because it's actually the thing that's attractive. The glory of God is magnetic. Don't hide the presence of God. It's attractive. His master saw it, and the power of God will cause you to prosper.
Then it says, "Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had put under his authority." So, it was from the time that he had made him overseer over his house and of all he had. And it says that "the Lord blessed the Egyptian house for Joseph's sake." Is the Lord blessing your job because of your sake? Is He blessing your church because of your sake? Is He blessing your family because of your sake? Because the, the, because of the sake of Joseph, everything connected with him was blessed. When God wants to get a blessing to you, He also wants to get it through you so it can bless everything connected to you. So, it says, "And the blessing of the Lord was on everything in the house and in the field." Thus, he had left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He did not have to know anything but, but what he would eat.
And then jumping down, um, it said, "Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance." Let me stop there for a second. Joseph was handsome. It's one thing when a girl calls you handsome. It's a whole another thing when the Bible calls you handsome. Like, like this is the Bible. Like Moses is writing this book, and the Lord was like, "Bro, was handsome." Like, my God. If the Lord ever write about me, Lord, write that I'm handsome. Praise God. Like, the Lord called him, man, you had some. When the Lord said, "You handsome," my God, this, this brother looked good. It said Denzel ain't got nothing on Joseph. Praise God. It said, "And it came to pass after these things." Leonardo, you either not Thor or nobody. "And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife casting longing eyes on Joseph." Well, I can see why. Brother was handsome. And she said, "Lie with me." My God. Um, there's a couple things I, I want to show you in, in this, uh, in this body of a verse. The first thing I want you to see, and the first thing I want to show you is, Joseph was put in charge of the whole house. Everything that touched his hands prospered. All the way to the point where Potiphar didn't have to worry about nothing but what he ate. He didn't have to worry about his laundry. He didn't have to worry about his clothes. He didn't have to worry about his family, his field, his work. All he had to figure out was, "What are we having for dinner?" Everything else, Joseph handled. He was a brilliant administrator. He had the gift of administration, and he was orderly. He was organized. Everything was in place. And sometimes you read this verse and you say, "Well, God bless Joseph, and God prospered him." But sometimes what you gotta understand is, faith without works is dead. Just because God prospered him, Joseph still had to put in the work. He still had to figure out how to organize. He still had to figure out how to be orderly. Some of you guys can't show up on time. That's been one of my flaws. Some of you guys can't keep stuff in order. Some of you guys can't organize things, but you're wanting to be blessed and you're wanting to go to the next level. Joseph took care of everything. Let me ask you a question: What do your boss say about you? Does your boss only have to worry about what they eat because you're on a job, or do they got to worry about your job too? You got to understand something. If you're wanting to be fit for destiny, one of the vitals you gotta get is, you have to serve at a high capacity. Joseph served at a very, very high level. He was diligent. Do you know how many hours he put into preparation, studying, organizing, doing paperwork? He made sure that everything was smooth. Everywhere this kid went, he was put in charge because his gift was sharp. His gift was refined. Some of you guys don't have no work ethic. You want a million-dollar dream with a dollar work ethic. It's not gonna happen. God is saying, "If you want me to bless you, if you want me to prosper you, you got to begin to prepare for the destiny." Are you sharpening your gift? Everything this kid touched turned to gold. And not only did he work, he was a very humble man. And he was not humble. Never mind. He went humble. Yet, I retract. He was a very faithful man. Everything he did was done with a spirit of excellence. He had an excellent spirit. And his boss trusted him with everything.
And then Joseph ran into his boss's wife, and she came and she was like, "Lie with me. Lie with me. Lie with me." This little floozy trying to lie with this man. She talking about, "Lie with me. Lie with me." And Joseph was like, "He's giving me everything. He's so good to me. I have everything. But you are the one thing he hasn't given me." And then the Bible says he wanted to stay away from her. And then finally, one day, Joseph came in looking too good. She was like, "You know what? I can't handle this." So, she went over to him and she was like, "Come live with me." And she grabbed him by his coat. When she grabbed him by his coat, Joseph ran out of his coat, and he ran outside the house. She was embarrassed. She was full of shame, rage. And at that point, she started crying out to the guards. Right, right, right. And the guards come in, and like, "What happened, Miss Potiphar?" And she's like, "Joseph tried to rape me. Look at his coat." And she's holding up Joseph's coat. He said, "He tried to rape me."
Now, let me show you something very interesting. You may not never heard this in the Bible broke down this way. Potiphar gets there, and Potiphar investigates the matter. And when Potiphar investigates the matter, the Bible says he sent Joseph to jail. And a lot of you guys thought Joseph didn't even rape her. She lied on him. Why did Potiphar send him to jail? Why? He got like, why? Why? Let me tell you, it's bigger than that, and it hurt more than that. Because you forgot who Potiphar's was. He was the king of Pharaoh's guard. He was the ex, he was the executioner of Pharaoh. Which means when Pharaoh wanted somebody killed, Potiphar got that done. He had creative, crafty ways to get you beheaded or hung. Do you think if he thought Joseph slept with his wife, Joseph would have still been living? Potiphar knew Joseph. He trusted Joseph more than he trusted his own wife. He knew Joseph didn't do it. But to save face and to save appearances, he had to put him in jail to look like he tortured him, to cover his wife. He knew if he thought Joseph tried to rape his wife, he would have had him killed. But he knew the truth because he knew Joseph was an honest man. And I'm sure he asked, "Did you do this?" And he said, "I would never do it." He said, "I believe you, but I'm still gonna have to send you to prison because I gotta cover my wife. And if I don't do nothing to you, that would let everyone know that she did it, not you. But I'm gonna spare your life." So, not only was he sent to prison, he was sent to prison by the person that knew he didn't commit the crime.
And now he's in the prison. And some of you guys are in the prison for things you didn't do. Some of you guys are being hurt for things you didn't do. Some people fired you, and they knew it wasn't your fault, to save face. And my question is, can you still have a good attitude? Can you still keep your head up? Can you still serve? Can you still bless God? Can you still show up to church on time, and you know they're not choosing you because they're hating on you? Can you still bless God? Can you still walk the purpose full of pain? Oh, can you build anxious and depressed? Because that's what it's going to take. And Joseph went to the prison, and he is hurt because he's in a place that he didn't deserve to be by somebody that knew he wasn't guilty. So, now he's inside of this prison. And just like Joseph, in a normal fashion, he gets, he gets in good with the warden, and he starts, he starts serving, he started leading. He's in good with the warden, and now he's in charge of the whole prison. You see this thing? Because he was orderly, he was organized, his gift was regimen. And so many times, you're not being blessed. You like, "Lord, start blessing me. Why is the Lord blessing them?" You got to understand something. God ain't just blessing you because you can do it. God is blessing you because you can take it. One of the things I, as God, I say, "God, I know I can preach this gospel. God, I know I spent time in Your word. Why didn't my church grow like everyone else's churches? Why am I influenced as big as some people around this world that, that has huge influence?" And the Lord spoke to me. He said, "I did not bless your church because you can preach. I didn't bless your church because you can lead." Church, one, things wasn't organized. Staff wasn't put in the proper place. God said, "You weren't orderly enough." And maybe God's not blessing you because you're dysfunctional. Maybe God's not giving you the business because your orders will be all late. And God's trying to save your reputation and prepare you in a small room so you don't get exposed in a big one. Your gift ain't there. Your heart ain't there. Your work ethic ain't there. You don't know what it takes to be great. And God said, "I can't bless you because you don't know the burden it comes with." You all covet the blessing. Everyone covets the blessing. Stop coveting the blessing because the blessing gets synonymous with the crushing.
And let me tell you what Joseph's brothers didn't know. What they didn't know was this: they didn't know that God wasn't just blessing Joseph. God was blessing them. God raised Joseph up so He can feed them in the famine. In other words, God said, "I'm going to elevate your brother so he can be in position when you're in the famine so you can be blessed." God said, "I'm doing more for you than Joseph because I'm elevating him to serve you and to protect you." And the beautiful thing about it is, he's gonna take a beating that you won't ever have to take. He's going to take a crushing that you don't ever have to take. He's going to take a break in that you don't ever have to take. Yeah, his oil won't be cheap because he will be squeezed and pressed and crushed for you. And some of you guys set up and saying, "Why is he over the business? Why is he the pastor of the church? Why does she get to have this business?" Do you know the beatings he took to get in that place? Joseph was beaten and broken and imprisoned and lied on and betrayed so his brothers could eat. So now you're throwing someone in a pit that God was positioning to feed you.
So now Joseph is inside of this pit. He's diligent. He's working. I'm going to show you something in the word of God. So, he's in his pit. He's diligent. He's working. For the second time, I'm going to summarize this a little bit. So, he's in the pit. He's diligent. He's working. And there's a cupbearer inside the pit. There's a baker. And they had these dreams. And they got word that Joseph can interpret dreams. So, they go to Joseph with their dream. And they're like, "Hey, can you interpret our dream?" And the cupbearer was like, "Here's my dream." And it had a bunch of threes in there. And basically, Joseph was like, "Your dream means that in three days, you will be restored back to your position as the cupbearer of Pharaoh. You're going to be back in your position. You're going to be back serving him." And the baker was like, "Oh, you. I like your dreams. Can you interpret my dream?" And it had a bunch of threes. And then he was like, "Well, unfortunately, in three days, you're going to be executed. You will be impaled. You will be hung and killed." And he was like, "See if I ever tell you a dream again. I'm not going to him no more." "I rebuke that." And, and then the thing Joseph said something. He said something to the cupbearer. He said, "Can you just interpret your dream? I got you. Can you just do me a favor?" He said, "When you get out and you're with your Pharaoh, can you just remember me? Can you remember me? And can you tell him to get me out of here because I've been falsely in prison? I interpret the dream. I got you. But I just got one request. Can you remember me?"
And at this point, we saw him serve Potiphar. We saw him be faithful. But we're still seeing this spirit of pride. We're still seeing this self-promoting spirit. We're still seeing this kid who can't wait on the Lord. Can't wait on the Lord to bless him. Now he's asking this guy to go and put in a good word for him. We're seeing Joseph now in prison passing out business cards. I'm not against business cards. But guess what? God says, "When I want to find you, I don't need your business card, your Facebook, or your Instagram. I can find you wherever you are. I can find you right in the middle of the pit. I can find you right in the middle of the field. I can find you on the valley side or the mountaintop. I don't need your business card." And now Joseph is trying to take things into his own hands. He's trying to find a way to get himself out of prison. Don't get on them too hard because he was falsely there. But again, if you can trust God to interpret a dream, if you can trust God to anoint you, can you trust God to protect you? So, now Joseph is trying to get himself out of something that clearly God let him get into. Now Joseph is trying to remove himself from the process. Friends, don't never remove yourself from the process. Because if Joseph would have removed himself from the process, he wouldn't have been present for the promotion. If he removed himself from the process, he wouldn't be present for the promotion. Because guess what? The, the cupbearer left out. And the Bible says he forgot Joseph. How do you forget a guy that prophesied that you would be out of jail in three days? How do you forget a guy that's that, that told you you're going to go back to your position? The only way you forget a guy like that is when God, what's your mind? When he got out of prison, God wiped his mind. Because God said, "You need to sit in this prison because you're not done processing. There's still things in you that I need to get out of you. You're not leaving yet because the work is not done." And so.
Many of you guys want to lead the season before the time. God is saying, "Don't leave before the time." Because you've got to understand something about destiny. Whenever God gives you destiny, don't move up the date with destiny. Because if you move up the date with destiny, it will destroy you. Don't believe me? Let me prove it.
Story of the prodigal son. He said, "I want my inheritance now." And his inheritance crushed him and landed him in a pigpen and almost took his life. Why? Because he moved the deadline of destiny. Never move the deadline of destiny. Wait until the proper date with destiny, right into the proper time. Because under the heavens, there's a time and a season for everything God wants to do in your life. Don't move the date with destiny. Wait your season. Wait your time. Because the process is necessary. The crushing is necessary. The pruning is necessary. God is getting you fit for the kingdom. Because the crown will break your neck until you strengthen the muscles. The crown would have broke Joseph's neck. And God said, "I need to leave you in the prison to prune pride out of you so when I put you in the palace, you would do what I purposed you to do." Wake the season. Wake the time. Don't rush the process. Don't rush the season. Be patient in the process. Because God had to show Joseph something. He said, "Bro, if you're really called and you're really anointed, you're gonna have to be able to take hits you never imagined."
When you look on Instagram, that's not purpose. When you go to the conference, that's not purpose. When you go to the business meet, that's not purpose. Most of purpose is pain. And God said, "Joseph, you're not ready for what I'm trying to do in your life."
And then you fast forward. Pharaoh is having a dream. And he went to all the Magi in the city, and all the musicians, and and all the little witchcraft people. No one could interpret his dream. And then all of a sudden, the cupboard remembered. He had a eureka moment. He remembered Joseph. "Oh my gosh, I'm I'm a terrible man. I forgot all about Joseph. There's this guy named Joseph. He was in Pharaoh, he was in prison. He interpreted our dreams. He said that I would be restored back to my position and the baker would be killed." Oh my, he was the best. He was awesome, Joseph.
And then Pharaoh said, "Where is this Joseph?" And guess what? He was in the place he tried to leave. He said, "Joseph is in the prison." He said, "Send for him. Get him up, that dungeon, and bring him to me." If he would have got himself out of prison, he would have missed promotion when it came to his door. Many of you guys are trying to leave a place that God's trying to promote you from. Many of you guys are trying to leave a church that God's trying to promote you from. Many of you guys are trying to leave a job that God's trying to promote you from. And if he would have left the prison, he would have missed promotion. Stay still until God moves you. Don't get frustrated and move. Don't move because ain't nobody talking to you. Don't move because you're not getting what you want. Let God move you. Because if you move yourself, you may be moving yourself from the blessing of God. And Joseph was perfectly positioned for promotion. Because guess what? If he would have got out of jail, he would have went back to his father's house, and he would have never been in position for promotion. Stay seated and stay planted until the Lord transitions you. Praise God.
So now, so now, so now Joseph, uh, goes over to Pharaoh. And he's talking about a bunch of seven, seven days, seven, nine, seven, all of this. And he's given a bunch of sevens. Basically, the translation of the dream. Go back and read the Bible. But the translation of the dream basically meant there's going to be seven years of blessing, seven years of famine. So Joseph was saying that for seven years, you're gonna see blessing like you've never seen it. I mean, the crops is gonna, I mean, the crops is gonna expand. The livestock is gonna be blessing. And then the next seven years is gonna be famine. And he's saying, "Pharaoh, this is what your dream means. And what the Lord wants you to do is find a wise, wise counselor who can come and help you store all the grain and all of the food and all the livestock. Store it all for the famine so you can be a supply center when the famine hit." So for seven years, throw up all the grain. And then when seven years of famine comes, you will be the only person that has grain. He said, "Find a wise person that can run all this for you." He wasn't even talking about himself.
And Joe, and Pharaoh looked to the left, to the right, up, down. He said, "I can't find nobody." "You want to do it?" "Because God clearly gave you the plans." And what Joseph did not know was he was trying to get himself out of prison. And God was trying to get him to the palace. He was trying to get himself out of prison. God was trying to get him to the palace. God had a bigger dream for Joseph.
Let me tell you something. A youth-sized dream would benefit you. But a God-sized dream will benefit everyone connected to you. Let me say it again. A youth-sized dream will benefit you. But a God-sized dream will benefit everybody connected to you. You get blessed. You get blessed. You get blessed. You get blessed.
And let me tell you something, church. Let me tell you something. Be careful who you hate on. Be careful who you hate on. Because I know we got this popular theology that if God want to bless you, he gonna bless you. If God want to work for you, he's gonna work you work for you. If God wants to move to you, he's going to move for you. That's true, kind of. But when you read the Bible, you actually see the principle of representation. God usually blesses a man and everyone connected to that man, he blesses. Look at Jesus. God didn't give you salvation. He gave it to Jesus. When you touch hands with Jesus, you get salvation. God didn't give Josh's brothers, he didn't give them blessing and prosperity. He gave it to Joseph. You touch Joseph, you get connected with it. He gave David the crown. You touch David, you get connected with it. He gave Moses the words. He gave he gave Moses the path. He gave Moses the ability to split the Red Sea. Israelites connect to Moses, and you get to walk on dry ground. And yes, God will do things in your life. But sometimes God will connect you to somebody with favor. He will connect with someone that's anointing. And the anointing that's on their life, where's your life? So be careful who you're hating on because you're probably cursing what God called to bless you. Be careful what you curse. Be careful that job you curse. Be careful that business you curse. Be careful cursing this church because some of you guys are talking about the church that God wants to employ you with.
And what you got to understand is the man is just a tool to promotion. The man don't matter. Joseph didn't matter. It was all about God. God just used Joseph as a vehicle to bring destiny forth. That's it. So sometimes you got to look past the people and look at the spirit of God and what the spirit of God is doing so you can be connected with the blessing that God wants to bring forth. Because sometimes God blesses you through other people. He blesses you. So so be careful you're connected with. And then also be careful on who you hate on because that person may be called to bless you. Some people in this church, you don't give because no one talked to you. Maybe that seed you're not giving is stopping you from being employed. But you can't even see the vision. And what and what happens so many times is what happens so many times is not only can you not see the vision, the enemy blinds you so much, you go and you try to stop the vision. But they didn't understand that they weren't stopping the vision. The irony in the curse is God turns it into the blessing. That's the irony. They didn't know when they threw him in a pit that was getting ready for a promotion. Potiphar didn't know when he threw him in prison that Joseph wouldn't have to serve his house no more. He will serve an even higher house.
I'm gonna get ready to close. I know I've been preaching. You guys enjoying this? The last thing I, I want to say, and I got to read this, and then I'll get ready to close. But I got to read this. I got to share this point. It says, um, Genesis 50, verse 9, verse 15 through 21. It says, "When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, 'Perhaps Joseph would hate us.'" So their father and the brothers, they came back and they met Joseph. And they saw Joseph. And Joseph didn't do anything bad to them after they threw him in a pit and saw him in slavery. But his, but their dad was alive. So they figured that, you know, Daddy gonna stop Joseph from getting us, right? So then it says, "Perhaps Joseph would hate us and may actually repay us for all the evil which we've done to him." So they sent messengers to Joseph saying, "Before your father died, he commanded saying, 'Thus you shall say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive me the trespasses of your brothers and their sins, for they did this evil to you.' Now please forgive the trespasses of the servants of God of the God of your father." And Joseph wept. And they spoke to him. Verse 18. "Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face and they said, 'Behold, we are your servants.'" Translation: "We are your slaves." The dream that Joseph had just happened. The dream just came to pass. But watch this. Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant this against me for evil, but God made it for good in order to bring it about as it is to this day, the saving of many people that's alive now. Therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. I will provide for you and your children." He was saying, and he comforted them and he spoke kindly to them.
I got a couple things I want to show you. The first thing, they came and when they came, they bowed before him. He comforted them. And he was intentional to make sure he spoke kindly to them. The reason why he was so intentional to make sure he spoke kindly to them is because if you go back to the beginning of this chapter, when I read, put emphasis on they couldn't say a kind word to Joseph. So when Joseph was in a position of power, he made sure he spoke kindly to them. Because the ultimate kiss of death isn't revenge. The ultimate kiss of death is blessing. And though you curse me, I will bless you. And I'm not gonna let what you did to me cause me to do it to you. Because if I let what you did to me cause me to do it to you, that means you changed me and you affected me. I'm not gonna treat you how you treated me. I'm gonna treat you how God blessed me.
And then the reason why he had to go through the pit, the reason why he had to go through the prison was for this one point. Don't miss it. Here's the revelation. Here's the point you take home in the sermon. Forget everything else I said. Get this. The reason he went through the pit and the reason why he went to the prison is when they bowed to him, he said, "Why are you bowing to me? I'm not God." In the beginning, he wanted them to bow to him like he was God. But then when the time came, he said, "Get up. Quit bowing to me. I'm not God." And let me tell you something. God ain't elevating you so people can bow to you. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. No one's bowing to you because they're to bow to God. And what you got to understand is there are some preaching that's talking about God's going to make enemies bow to you. No, God's going to make your enemies bow to Him. They're not here to bow to you. You're actually here to serve them, not to enslave them. And he got it. He finally got it. The vision was, Joseph, you misinterpreted the dream. Joseph, here was the dream. Your brothers would try to bow to you, and you would stand them up, and you would feed them and their family. It was never about them bowing to you. You missed the vision in your immaturity and in your pride. You were blinded. And now I've got you to the place where you can really see. And now all he can see so clearly, all the way to the point where he was like, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." In other words, what you tried to bring to be my elimination was actually my transportation to my elevation. What you brought to be my elimination was my transformation to my elevation. You brought it to eliminate me. God used it to elevate me. You brought it to stop me. God used it to process me. It drove me. Joseph's brothers was a vehicle. They drove him to the palace. They drove him to to dropping pride and having a humble heart. They drove him. Let me tell you, that hurt drove you. That rape drove you. Drove you. Them lying on you drove you. You not being picked drove you. The reason they didn't put you in place, it drove you. And you got to understand that your enemies are necessary. Your enemies are necessary. You got to understand something. Judas. Judas didn't betray Jesus. He didn't betray Jesus. Judas drove Jesus. He didn't betray him. He drove him. Do you know that Judas did more for Jesus's destiny than Peter ever did at first? Okay, you look, you don't believe me? Let me prove it to you. Peter, when found out that Jesus will be crucified, he said, "Lord, truly you won't be crucified." Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Judas sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, and Jesus let Judas kiss him. Peter tried to protect him. Sometimes family will because they don't know the vision and the call of God on your life. Jesus rebuked them. Judas sold him out. Jesus let him kiss him. Why? Because Judas was actually driving him to destiny. Judas didn't know. The Bible says, "Had the rulers of this earth known, they wouldn't have crucified him." They didn't know that they was fulfilling prophecy. It was prophesied that he would be sold out. It was prophesied that he would be kissed. What Judas meant for evil, God meant for good. What Judas brought to eliminate Jesus, God used it to elevate Jesus. And I'm telling you, what the enemy has done against you, what people has done against you, it's not here to eliminate you. It's here to elevate you. Judas was necessary. Your adversary is necessary for the next dimension. Your adversary is necessary for the next dimension of your life. He's necessary.
And let me tell you something. So you got to make sure that you begin to serve God and get with God and get in the place of God because God has a plan for your life. And as you go through the purpose and go through the plan of life, you will experience many coats. The first coat Joseph had, the first coat he had was ripped off in disgust. The coat that he had at Potiphar's house was ripped off in lust. But the coat that God gave him in the palace had a divine trust with all the blessing and all the provision that he would ever need. And as God takes you from coat to coat to coat, he's going to get you in a coat that he puts on you and no one can strip it off.
So all I will say to you and getting ready to close, church, I will say this to you. Live your vision. Live your purpose. Live the dream. Have the vitals for vision. Because one of the vitals is overcoming the pit in the lonely season. Another vital is overcoming the pain of the prison. Another vital is being lied on by the Potiphar's of life. And another vital is remembering why you were purposed. Because he was in a powerful position to get revenge, but he remembered what they meant for evil, God meant for good. And I'm in this place to save you. You're not my slave. God used me to be your savior. You're not. I love this story of Joseph. And what I love about Joseph is Joseph was beloved by his father. He's starting to look like somebody. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. He's starting to look like somebody. Joseph was thrown in a pit or a grave. He's starting to look like somebody. Joseph was in prison. Jesus was in Hades. He's starting to look like somebody. Joseph came back to save his brothers and to restore them. He's starting to look like somebody. I want to tell you something. Joseph's not the hero of this story. Jesus is. And Jesus said, "I am your Joseph." And Jesus said, "I went through the pit for you. I went into prison for you. And I rose at the right hand of all power so I can be here to give you salvation when you need it." Jesus said, "I am here for you. I'm for you. Don't grow weary in well doing. Have the vitals for vision."