From the Pit to God's Plan

Good morning. The worship team just like literally saying the soundtrack to my life

in this season. It is literally just overwhelming right now as I was sitting

backstage listening to them even this morning, and I am just so excited about

being here this morning. Can we just just wonderwards time? Your goodness is

running after it's running enough to me to clear that yr good this is running

after it's running after me. With my life laid down, I surrender now,

I give you everything. Your goodness is running after it's running aft to

me. One more time, Let's just say that yr goodness is running after

it's running after me. Your goodness is running after it's running aft to me

with my life laid down. I surrender now. I give you everything.

Your goodness is running after it's running aft to me. A man, come

on, let's give God some phrase for his goodness that runs after us.

Oh man, I'm so excited this morning to be with you, and God's

goodness is indeed running after us. No matter where you are, God is

pursuing you with his goodness. This morning, I am standing here excited about

all that is going on in the life of the church. Every time I

come I get to hear the report of what God is doing here, and

I'm just thrilled to be a part of this ministry. One of the things

that I know is happening is that our Span speaking ministry is launching this summer.

But even before they've launched, we have fifty to sixty people meeting every

week already, and seventeen of them want to be baptized. Amen. I

mean they're not even out of the gate yet. And God is so good.

Also, we have several practicing Muslim parishioners who have been a part of

our Arabic services who have come into faith in Jesus. Amen. This is

good work here. And then I know all of us we felt some of

the impacts of inflation. Bread has never cost so much before, eggs.

I keep saying, I'm gonna buy me some chickens, like literally, like

you know, got to figure out the whole thing, how you do the

thing, But yeah, I need to do something. But we've all felt

it in some way or another, and some have felt it a little bit

more than others. And so I'm so glad to know that the one More

minute street has fed over the last couple of weeks, over two hundred persons

here through the church. We're doing the real work of Jesus here. Amen.

Amen, Amen. It is an honor to be a part of what

we do here, and I'm so excited to serve as your adjunct teaching pastor.

So this morning, I want us to pray as we get into the

word Father, I thank you right now. I thank you for who you

are. I thank you for what you do and what you've done and what

you're going to do. God. We've been in dialogue over the last several

weeks about this message, and I pray that even now that as I would

declare what you have spoken to me, that you will be the speaker,

that every heart in this space will hear directly from you for their own lives.

I pray this now in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So,

this morning's message is from the Pit to God's Plan. Earlier in ministry,

probably when I was just starting out, I might have entitled this from

the Pit to the Palace based upon where we're going today. But I know

that God is doing something greater than trying to get us to these high,

lofty places. But God has a plan for all of us, and it's

a plan that exists in community. So this morning I like to talk a

little bit about this big idea, and the big idea for today is the

journey of faith. The journey of faith is from faith to faith. That

means that when we first start out, there's some things that we believe,

or we believe God for certain things, and it maybe seem something small.

Maybe you believe God that your puppy will return home. But now you need

the faith to believe that your children will return home. Maybe they fight in

the military, or you're doing somewhere in the world, and you believe in

God for that. So it's from faith to faith. Our faith grows as

time goes on. My grandmother, that's my my father's mother, used to

say something that my aunt, who's eighty eight has picked up and the first

time I ever got to hear my aunt said it, but my grandmother would

say, you know where you've been, but you don't know where you're going.

And I was always like, when I first heard my aunt say that,

and then I thought about it, that's so true, and it's true

for the life of Joseph. Many of us heard the story of Joseph,

who was one of my favorite Old Testament Bible characters in Genesis, and he

literally has this whole journey with the Lord, but he knew where he was,

but he did not know where he was going. So we experienced Joseph

as this dreamer, this son who comes into this family where he has eleven

brothers, and these brothers they kind of despised him, despised him for many

reasons. But one of the reasons was because Joseph was one who was sharing

his dreams. He shared these dreams of grandeur. He had dreams about him

ruling and him leave and being in charge. And every time he would share

his dreams, his brothers just hated him all the more. And so we

draw from Joseph's life the importance of receiving what God says. The first thing

that we have to be able to do. And I'm going to go through

three points to day, but these two points are. The third point is

probably the most important today, but the first one is to be able to

receive what God says. God is always speaking concern of our lives. He's

always concerned about what's happening in our lives. He's always leading us into a

direction, and many of us we personalize the things that God is speaking to

us. So when we read the life of Joseph, we always put ourself

in the place of Joseph. I always did because I would always say things

like this, if I'm going through something, Joseph went through something. If

something is happening in my life, oh, Joseph went through that too.

And I can always put myself in a parallel with Joseph. But I want

to let you know that God is doing things that are much larger than just

your personal life. Your life matters, but your life is a part of

a greater picture in the Kingdom of God. So it's important first that we

receive what God says. When we hear the story of Joseph. We know

that Joseph had a dream, and in these two dreams, actually he hears

these he sees these moments where he's in leadership. One he sees sheaves that

are bowing down to his sheaves, and then he sees the moon and the

stars of bowing down. And in these moments he's actually seeing his family members

or his family members are interpreting his dreams as they would be subservient to Joseph,

and they did not like it. At all. Joseph was the young

youngest son in the family, and so he was considered to be kind of

a rug rat. He told on his older brothers. He was the one

who was always going back to tell his father things, and his father favored

him. So they could see that there was a problem here, and so

they could not stand Joseph. But even though there was skepticism about the things

that Joseph was receiving, even from his own dad, he received what the

Lord was saying to him. What is God saying to you? What is

the message that God is speaking to you about your life, about your family,

about your community. What is He saying to you? What are the

dreams that you are having in your life. You've got to first receive what

God said. If you can't receive what God said, you can't even move

to the next point. The next point is based upon the first point.

You got to receive it, and then secondly, you've got to be able

to say what God said. That means you need to start rehearsing what God

said to you, what God has spoken to you, the promises of God,

the word of God itself. Rehearsing that I am the head and to

tell I'm above and not beneath. I am blessed when I come in and

when I go out, no matter what's going on, I am healed.

Declaring what God said to you. If you can't say it, then no

one else will know what God is doing in your life. Many of us

we are silent prayers. Amen. Some of us were praying all day long,

but we pray like this and nobody knows. Sometimes you need to pray

aloud. You need to pray in community so others can join you in prayer.

There's the peace of community that is so important. That we are praying

one for the other. And so we have to open up your mouth to

declare what's happening. Reason why it's important that you declare what's happening. So

when it happens, God can get the glory. Oh that's good right there.

See most times that we keep it in secret. So when God blesses

you and he does the thing that he said he was gonna do, and

you didn't say anything about it, when it happens, people might be deceived,

be deceived that you were the one who did it. But in right

reality, God is a one He wants a glory that He wants to see

you come from here to there. But you've got to speak it forth.

So Joseph does speak it forth. And I'll be honest. When I was

younger, a younger minister, I would always think, man, Joseph should

just shut up. If he would have just shut up, his brothers would

have left him alone. He wouldn't ended up in a pen. You know,

all these things wouldn't have happened to him. He had a big mouth.

And maybe you're that person in your family. Man, I just need

God to move. I just need God to do this. I just need

God. I need God. I need God pray with me a grievance.

And you're always saying something about God. And if you were like, man,

just shut up, No, keep talking, because God is gonna open

up the doors of your tomorrow through the words that come out of your mouth.

So receive what God says, and then say what God says. And

then, finally, and most importantly, because we can say it because a

lot of people are talkers, but it's a difference between being a talker and

a walker. Next, we have to walk in what God said. By

this, that means that when you start to unravel the life of Joseph.

Keith starts to walk out what he dreamed about. He starts to walk out

what was seen in his dreams. He starts to walk it out, but

it doesn't always seem recognizable. I want to let you know when things get

hard and when things get difficult, it doesn't mean that God is not at

work. I want to let you know that is a sign of God at

work in your life. Opposition will happen when you are going the way that

God is sending you because the enemy of your soul wants you to go the

other way. He wants you to turn around. He wants you to go

the other direction, and so he will put up barriers in opposition in order

to cause you to turn around. So the brothers, after they had been

told this dream, and one day Joseph was going to check on them.

As they were seeing him coming, they made a plan and they decided,

hey, we're gonna put him in this pit also known as a cistern.

He put him in this pit that had no water, and they knew they

could not he could not sustain life long in that place, and so they

put him there. But then eventually they realized, like, hey, we

got to get him out of here. We don't want to kill him.

Some did, but the older brothers spoke up, we don't want to kill

him, and they sold him off to some merchants who were passing through.

Go with me to Genesis thirty nine to one. It says when the Ishmaelite

traders took Joseph from Egypt, he was purchased by Potiphar, the Egyptian officer

who was a captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

So his brothers sell him off and he is then taken to Egypt, and

then he's sold to Potterphar. And now he's enslaved by Potiphar and works for

Potiphar. He's a servant. I want to let you know when you hear

this, this is crazy. This kid comes from home and now he's a

servant to somebody he doesn't know. But I want to let you know.

This was part of God's plan. This was part of the purpose of God

in Joseph's life. And it wasn't all about Joseph, but this was a

part of the plan of God. And so he lands in Potiphar's house,

sold for twenty shackles of silver by his brothers. Verse two says this.

It says the Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did

as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Hold on here,

I love this right here, because he has been in conflict the old time.

When you start the story of Joseph, you hear only conflict. You.

You only hear trouble, trouble with the brothers, trouble about his dreams,

trouble, trouble, trouble. But then in verse two, the Bible

says, the Lord was with Joseph. I want to let you know that

the Lord will be with you in your most trying times and your most difficult

times. When your family isn't there with you, when your friends aren't there

with you, the Lord will be with you. He is ever present in

the time of trouble, he will be your helper. And so Joseph experiences

the presence of Lord. I want to let you know, if no one

else goes with you, if God goes with you, you're gonna be okay.

If no one else will take the journey with you, if the Lord

is with you, You're going to be all right. And so everything he

did, succeeded, He was successful. Why was he's successful because the Lord

was with him. The things he didn't know. He had never been a

servant before, but the things he didn't know, the Lord helped him to

do well. It was because of Joseph's posture to the Lord. He was

open. You never hear Joseph's complaining through the whole passage, through his whole

story. He's always in a posture of being willing to do whatever the Lord

wants him to do. But even in Potiphar's house, opposition comes. Opposition

comes in the form of Potiphar's wife. Now you know the story, and

Potiphar's wife. She comes to Joseph and she says to him, come and

lie with me. And he said, I can't lie with you because this

is not right. Not only that Potiphar has given me control and charge of

everything in this house, and I can do. I do all these things.

I'm the administrator of this house, if you would. And the one

thing I know I cannot do is touch you. And so he runs away

from her, but he leaves his garment behind. I'm sure she grabbed at

him. I always I also, like Joseph must have had have been a

real good looking guy. You notice I always said I will you know,

I put myself in the line of Joseph anyway, all right, anyway,

So she grabs after him, and all she has left is this garment,

and then she takes his garment, and she uses it as a tactic tactic

to say that this young man had tried to make spoil of her. Every

time I hear that word spoil him, like was she milk? But the

Bible says when Potiphar gets back in verse chapter thirty nine, verse nineteen,

Potterphard was furious when he heard his wife's story about how Joseph had treated her.

So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners

were held, and there he remained. I gotta stop there for a moment.

Why this is important is because Joseph was put in the king's prison.

He was put in Pharaoh's prison. I want to let you know, sometimes

we look at where we are, it's not about the place, it's about

the position. Or watch this. Sometimes you are in places that you need

to be, of course, but it's not about the place, it's the

position. He was put in Potiphar's house into his prison, and so the

prison there put him in proximity to Pharaoh. Potiphar puts him into prison,

and he's in proximity to Pharaoh. No, he's not in the palace,

but he's close enough to the place he needs to be. I want to

let you know, some of you in this place, you're close to where

God needs you to be. You're in the place your next step is the

place that God has destined for you. But right now it looks really bad.

But I want to let you know the place had to be this prison.

He could not have gone to any other prison. It was purposeful that

he had been with Potiphar, who was a connected to Pharaoh. And because

he was connected to Pharaoh, he went to the place that Pharaoh puts his

prisoners. And because he went to the place that Pharaoh puts his prisoners,

he then was in proximity with his promise. Some of us in this room

you are in proximity of the promise of God. And for some reason,

I feel lad to say, don't blow it, don't pick up a prisoner's

mentality, don't get lost in your thoughts, don't get lost in the place

and know that God is positioning you for a purpose, that he's bringing you

into the space so that he can do something in you that he promised you

a long time ago, and so verse twenty one reads this. But the

Lord was with Joseph, Man, I want to let you know. He

was with Joseph and Potterver's house, and he's with Joseph in the prison.

I want to let you know. It doesn't matter where you go. You

go, wherever you go around the world, you go anywhere wherever you go,

the Lord can show up. He can be there. It's all about

the invitation. He had a heart that was geared towards God, open to

God, and so God is there with him in the prison. But the

Lord was with Joseph. I love the butt statan. You know why because

it means no matter what you're going through, the Lord was with you.

I'm so glad that the Lord has been with me in some of the most

trying times in my life. He was with me, and it says,

and he showed him his faithful love while in the prison. God will be

faithful. He will show you his love even in this space. And the

Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Listen, even in the

prison, Joseph has favor. Verse twenty two says, before long, the

warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened

in the prison. Listen, you're a prisoner, but you're in charge of

all the other prisoners. Check that out. You show up and like,

because you're there, and God's put faith over your life and he's shown you

his love. He's now highlighted your life, and now you're in charge of

everybody else. School's there. The warden had no worries because Joseph took care

of everything. Lord Jesus, send me somebody like that. Don't you wish

there was somebody that comes to your job and be like, hey, I'm

here, I got you, I got that email. Oh don't worry about

that. I'll take that meeting. Listen. I want somebody like that.

He shows up and he put him in charge of everything, and everything was

good because Joseph was there. I want to let you know, because we

serve a great God, we are great people. And when we walk into

atmosphere's things change because we're there. Things get better because you're there. Darkness

cannot stay because you're there. That's why Joseph is there. Prison must have

been better because Joseph was there. Now, no nobody's signing up for the

prison right now. But if I was gonna be in a prison, I

want to be in a prison with Joseph. Amen. The Lord was with

him and caused everything he did to succeed. Everything he did. So in

the course of time, two of the officials from Pharaoh's house came to the

prison. We know the story. There was baker and a cup bearer,

and the baker and the cup bearer had dreams, and they had these dreams,

and after their dreams they asked Joseph to interpret. Joseph interpreted, and

in the course of time one was restored and the other one's life was taken.

So Joseph says to the cup bearer, he says, listen, when

I get out, when you get out, please don't forget me. But

of course he forgot who he was and went on about his life until one

day Pharaoh had a dream. And Pharaoh has this dream, no one's able

to interpret, and so they're all just baffled about what to do. And

then the cup bearer remembers Joey, joe Joey, Joseph, Joseph who's in

prison. One day I had a dream and I told Joseph my dream.

He interpreted my dream, and exactly what he said happened. Also there was

the baker. He interpreted his dream. But after he interpreted his dream,

he went, and then you know, we're all here now called Joseph.

I believe he can help you with what no one has been able to help

you with. And so in the course of time, Pharaoh calls for Joseph,

and he tells him his dream, and he then responds and tells Pharaoh,

hey, the dreams that you have are one and the same. And

now I need you or you need to hire someone to put someone in charge

who will be able to take what is all of the grain and all of

food and conserve it for the years of famine that are to come, because

the people are gonna perish if they don't conserve now. And so Genesis forty

one thirty seven starts like this and says Joseph's suggestions were well received by Pharaoh

and his officials. So Pharaoh asks officials, can we find anyone else like

this man? So obviously filled with the spirit of God. Others will see.

Then, Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has revealed the meaning of

the dreams to you clearly, no one else is as intelligent or wise as

you are. You will be in charge of my court, and all my

people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on the throne,

will have the rank higher than yours. Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby

putting you in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Joseph is nobody.

They don't even know his name, but he was somebody to God. It

doesn't matter who else knows your name. But if God knows your name,

you are somebody. You are his child, and he will put you in

place. He will put you in position, And so he goes on to

say. Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on

Joseph's finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain

around his neck. Then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his

second in command. I don't know who the second in command was, but

they got fired that day. Could put your job is done, josephs here

now and where ever Joseph went, the command was shout it kneel down.

Well, it sounds like his dream, doesn't it. So Pharaoh put Joseph

in charge of all of Egypt, and Pharaoh said to him, I am

Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand nor foot in the entire land

of Egypt without your approval. Listen, could you imagine this young man who

comes from his family into this place, who's enslaved in prison, and now

is second in charge of Egypt. Listen, I want you to know something

that all of this that's happening in Joseph's life is not for Joseph. This

famine that was about to strike was so great that it was also going to

impact his family. Eventually, we know the story. The brothers come to

Egypt to buy grain, and when he sees them, he knows who they

are, but they don't know who he is. And eventually, in time

he reveals himself and they are. His heart is filled with compassions for his

brothers, who had put him in this predicament, but he realizes that this

predicament was to save everybody. And so the Bible tells us that this had

always been a part of the plan of God. What are you talking about,

Pastor Mike, what are you talking about? Go with me to Genesis

the fifteenth chapter, thirteenth verse. One day Abram goes into this sleep and

he's made a sacrifice unto the Lord and went into the sleep. And when

he comes out of the sleep, the Lord speaks this to him. He

says, then, the Lord said to him, known for certain that four

hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, that's

Egypt, and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. This he tells

to Abram way before or Abraham is aware of what is going to happen to

his people in the course of time, and Joseph is the catalyst for his

people to be saved. I want to let you know. If they had

not come into Egypt, God's people, his reserved people, the people that

he had selected, the people he had made a promise to, they would

have died there. But because God used Joseph, his people were saved.

God will go through extensive licks in order to save his people. Look what

Jesus did for us. That's how much he loves community. It's not about

me, it's not about you. It's about the community, the reality of

it. If it had not been for the plan of God and community,

you probably wouldn't even know me. I wouldn't be standing on the stage.

I was a kid growing up in New York and that's where my whole life

was. And then through the course of time, I met this girl who

I started following. Well, she's my wife today. It's okay stalker anyway.

But because of our connection, she brought me to Anderson. And then

when I got to Anderson, I started having all these new interesting experiences because

of what God was doing. I want to let you know that God will

bring you into places that you never dreamed of, things you never thought of.

He will do those things in your life if you are open to Him.

And so it's always about community. The young people that I've been a

part of their lives not because of me. It's because of what God was

doing. He will cause you to show up to spaces in order that others

will know his name. It's not you, it's him. Philippians. Paul

writes a letter to the church at Philippi to encourage the community for what they

have been doing for him while he was in prison, and he says this

in Philippians one six. He says, and I am certain that God,

who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is

finally finished. On the day when Christ Jesus returned, I am certain that

He will continue the good work in you. He was talking to a community,

not a person. There's another scripture. While the Well God's people were

in exile. We find this and we use it all the time, and

we personalize it so much because I personalize it so much. But reality,

he was talking to his people to say, hey, just remain I'm doing

something in this Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven. We know it well, for

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord plans to pross

for you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a

future. He wasn't talking to Michael. He was talking to his people.

Friends. We need each other more than we know. We're dependent upon one

another because what God is doing in me, he's doing for us. What

God is doing in you, he's doing for us. What God is doing

in the earth is for his people, because He will go through drastic extents

to save those he loves This morning, I want to encourage you to see

the bigger picture because maybe you're going through sickness, but somebody's watching you go

through sickness. Maybe you're going through trials, maybe your family is going through

some rough stuff, some tough stuff. And I know some of us are

saying, well, how can God use that? Well? How can God

use what happened in my childhood? He can use it? How can God

use what happened in high school? He can use it? What about the

stuff when I lost my job, when I lost my marriage, when I

lost I want to let you know God can use it. There is no

circumstance nor situation that God ever wastes. But listen to what he's saying to

you, receive it, say it and walk it out. Take the journey

of faith with the Lord, and watch what He does in you and in

others this morning. Because it's always been about community, it's always been about

the family of God. We're going to share in a time that is so

precious to the body of Christ. It's something that we get to do together

as a family of God. It's something that reminds us of the lens God

will go to in order to save us, and that is communion. This

morning, Pastor James is gonna come and he's gonna lead us in the Lord's

Supper. Receive him.