Sermon

God Knows What's In You Steven Furtick - Steven Furtick

S. F | Elevation Church

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  1. But God says, I see people using you, but they

  2. don't know what's in you. And I'm going to bless

  3. you in this season, even though you have told yourself

  4. this is all it can ever be. I mean, do

  5. you know how powerful that is, that this is the

  6. plot of ground that Jacob gave Joseph? It wasn't even

  7. supposed to be Jacob that the nation of.

  8. Israel came through. Plot twist. You didn't even get a

  9. high school degree. Plot twist. God doesn't need you to

  10. be educated, just available, just open, just humble, just a disciple,

  11. just committed. Plot twist.

  12. Put it in the chat right now. He's the God

  13. of the plot twist. And I'm going to tell you

  14. how I know that he is. Not only does God

  15. bless the wrong people from an earthly perspective, like a

  16. woman at a well or like a trickster named Jacob.

  17. Not only does he bring forth nations from people whose

  18. names carry baggage, or in the case of the.

  19. Woman at the well, people whose names we don't even know.

  20. You ever thought about that? That wasn't on her birth certificate,

  21. woman at the well.

  22. But God said, I'm going to take characters that other

  23. people think are just props, and I am going to

  24. use them for a purpose that nobody can understand.

  25. Amen. You better get excited.

  26. About this word because God is using people in this

  27. season that we walk past. Now, I don't know if

  28. you want to hear this message or not because we

  29. get pretty settled into our story, don't we? And we

  30. get pretty settled into our situation and our system. And

  31. we just want a burger. And we just want a drink.

  32. And we just want to survive it. And here we

  33. are in a year where most of us just want

  34. to go back to how it was. And how it

  35. is is not how it's supposed to be. And yet

  36. Jacob gave Joseph this plot of ground in Sychar near Samaria.

  37. Let me stop here for a minute. This is the

  38. area that everyone else avoided. It is the area that

  39. Jesus intended to go through. Jacob was the second born.

  40. Esau was the first born. God blessed the second before

  41. the first. And the last shall be first. And the

  42. first shall be last. You killed him by hanging him

  43. on a cross.

  44. But God raised him from the dead. Plot twist. That's

  45. all the gospel is. Let the weak say, I am strong.

  46. Plot twist. I love it.

  47. It may be helpful for me to remind you at

  48. this point that the reason I look like I'm about

  49. to bust out of.

  50. This suit with excitement, not with fat cells, not with.

  51. Cellulite, with excitement and enthusiasm, the reason I'm about to

  52. come unglued off this stage is because for 22 years, Jacob.

  53. Thought Joseph was dead. So do you realize that the

  54. miracle happened through somebody that was as good as dead

  55. for 22 years?

  56. I mean, you got to get in this mindset, not

  57. for 22 hours, not for 22 days, not for 22 weeks,

  58. not for 22 months for 22 years.

  59. Jacob thought I've lost Joseph and Joseph was his favorite.

  60. Oh yeah.

  61. Every parent has their favorite. It might change from moment

  62. to moment, but you have a favorite. You have a favorite.

  63. You have a favorite. My favorite is whichever one I'm

  64. talking to at that moment, telling them that they're my favorite.

  65. But Joseph had a coat. Joseph was the favorite.

  66. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and left for dead.

  67. And when they went back and told.

  68. Jacob that Joseph was dead, who was the first child

  69. of Rachel who he really loved, Joseph is gone, meant

  70. to Jacob, I may as well die too. He said,

  71. you will bring my gray head down to the grave.

  72. So now do you understand that? The plot twist in

  73. John chapter 4 wasn't just about a woman who came

    John 4 chapter mention

  74. for a drink.

  75. It's about a God who takes things that you thought

  76. were dead.

  77. And things that you thought were over.

  78. And things that you thought didn't matter. And things that you.

  79. Thought people betrayed you. And people forgot about you. And

  80. people left you. And people ignored you. And people abandoned you.

  81. They betrayed Joseph. And so when it said that it

  82. was Jacob's well. And that it was the well, the

  83. plot of ground. That Jacob gave his son Joseph. After

  84. 22 years. Can we visit the scene for a moment?

  85. It's in Genesis 48. It's really beautiful, man. Because you've

  86. got to think, like, God sent Joseph to Egypt, and

  87. on one hand, his brothers betrayed him, and they sold him.

  88. But on the other hand, Joseph saw, after 13 years of.

  89. What seemed to be like a setback.

  90. And the reason I'm preaching it is because I think

  91. a lot of people are feeling like life is just

  92. one giant setback right now. and things have stalled out

  93. for you, and it's not moving forward, and it's not happening,

  94. and the plans that you made all got canceled and

  95. all got interrupted, God said to tell you that he's

  96. the God of a plot twist. That just about the

  97. time you are ready to turn the movie off, don't

  98. turn it off. Just about the time that you are

  99. ready to stop believing in God, don't stop believing in

  100. God yet. Just about the time you're ready to say,

  101. I will never see Joseph again. It was a famine

  102. that hit Canaan that made Jacob's sons go and find Joseph.

  103. Do you remember this?

  104. When they went and saw Joseph, they didn't even know

  105. it was him at first. But then eventually Joseph revealed

  106. himself to his brothers and said, It's me.

  107. It's me, the one that you left for dead. I'm

  108. the one that God is going to use to provide

  109. for you. Plot twist.

  110. You remember his most famous verse in Genesis 50, 20?

  111. You meant it for evil. God meant it for good.

  112. What does that mean?

  113. That means he's the God of a plot twist. Yes.

  114. That means he takes.

  115. What the enemy meant for evil and uses it for

  116. good in your life, in your bloodline, in your generation,

  117. in our church, in our families, in our nation, in our.

  118. World, on this continent. God is a generational God.

  119. And he goes through some area and he takes us

  120. through some areas and he does some things in our

  121. lives in disappointed places. And when Jacob was getting ready

  122. to die, he called Joseph to his bedside. It's a

  123. really beautiful scene. This is great for Father's Day, okay?

  124. Genesis chapter 48. He said, Joseph, come in the room.

    Genesis 48 chapter mention

  125. I want to give a blessing to my grandchildren. Now,

  126. Genesis 48, 11 is the one I want to focus your.

  127. Heart on for a moment.

  128. Israel said to Joseph, you're like, wait a minute. I

  129. thought you were talking about Jacob.

  130. I am.

  131. The one named Jacob was also called Israel. Jacob means

  132. heel grabber plot twist. Israel means Prince with God. I'm

  133. telling you, man, Jesus looked at that woman and he

  134. didn't see a whore.

  135. He saw a worshiper. He looked at Jacob and he

  136. didn't see a heel grabber. He saw a prince. I

  137. love him for that.

  138. I love him for all the times that he could

  139. have just given up on me. I love him for

  140. all the ways, you know, I'm screwing up things left

  141. and right as a pastor, as a parent, as a husband.

  142. I know I get it so wrong, but go ahead

  143. and clap your hands and praise hand emoji. If you

  144. know you serve the God of the plot twist, if

  145. you know that he knows your real name, your real

  146. righteousness is in Christ. Wow.

  147. Wow. So Israel also called Jacob said to.

  148. Joseph, the one he never thought he'd see again, the

  149. dream that he thought had died.

  150. The thing that he thought was over. What is your Joseph?

  151. What is the thing that you have given up on

  152. in your life and you've said the story is over

  153. and this is the way it's going to be and

  154. I'm just always going to struggle with this and I'm

  155. always going to deal with this and I'm never going

  156. to get over this and I'm never going to get

  157. victory and I'm going to sing the words to the

  158. song but I don't really mean them or believe them

  159. anymore because I'm just going through the motions and I'm

  160. just going through this.

  161. What is your Joseph? Now watch this.

  162. Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your

  163. face again and now God has allowed me to see

  164. your children too.

  165. He's the God of the plot twist. not only did

  166. he let him.

  167. See joseph but he used everything that joseph had been.

  168. Through to save the whole family because he's the god

  169. of the plot twist.

  170. Not only did he minister to the woman He sent

  171. the woman to go get the whole town.

  172. Plot twist. He skipped a meal, but he reaped the harvest.

  173. God is the God of the plot twist. Now, who

  174. is this for? If this is for you, just tell

  175. me right now. Say, this is for me. This is

  176. for me. This is for me. This is bread from

  177. heaven for me.

  178. God said to tell you that there's a plot twist happening.

  179. In your life right now. He said to tell you

  180. that the things about you that you.

  181. Don't like, he's going to leverage them for greater grace

  182. to be released in your life.

  183. And I speak by the spirit of the Lord into

  184. your life. He is turning things around right now.

  185. .

  186. .

  187. Thought.

  188. I'd never see you again. Israel said to Joseph.

  189. It was the plot of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph.

  190. Never thought it would happen, but it did.

  191. God said, get ready for unexpected blessings in unlikely places

  192. through weakness.

  193. He is strong in your crushing. Oil comes forth.

  194. I know this is from God because he gave it

  195. to me so heavy I had.

  196. To preach it early. I didn't want to forget how

  197. I felt when I read it.

  198. Jacob said to Joseph, I never expect it to even

  199. see you again. And now I get to see your

  200. children too. God said, get ready for exceeding abundantly above

  201. all that you ever asked or imagined. And y'all, just

  202. in case you're new here, I'm not necessarily talking about

  203. cars or raises or bonuses.

  204. God is much bigger than any of that.

  205. I'm talking about how God is renovating your heart in

  206. this season.

  207. It's a plot twist. God is setting me free from

  208. being so selfish. It's a plot twist. I thought it

  209. was about me.

  210. But Joseph was still alive. Joseph is still alive. Yes,

  211. crazy thing Jacob said. I didn't think I'd ever see

  212. you again. But bring me my grandchildren.

  213. Manasseh and Ephraim.

  214. Bring me those boys. And bring them over here so

  215. I can bless them. Bring them here so I can

  216. bless them. You know that's what God likes to do, right?

  217. Come here so I can bless you. Come here so

  218. I can bless you. Come here so I can bless you.

  219. That woman at the well. Come here so I can

  220. bless you. He asked her for a drink, but he

  221. really just wanted to.

  222. Give her one. Come here so I can bless you.

  223. If you knew who you were talking to, you would

  224. ask me and I would give you the water that

  225. never runs dry and it would become within you a source,

  226. a spring of living water. Bring them here so I

  227. can bless them. And then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees.

  228. bowed down with his face to the ground and Joseph

  229. took both of them Ephraim on his right hand toward

  230. Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's

  231. right hand.

  232. And brought them close to him.

  233. All of this I saw when I saw it happened

  234. on the plot of ground that Jacob gave his son

  235. Joseph and I thought about on father's day and every

  236. every day what am I giving to my children What

  237. am I giving to the others in my life? I

  238. wonder what you're carrying. I wonder what the enemy is

  239. trying to convince you to give up on because what

  240. you carry.

  241. Is so significant. I wonder. I wonder what's in your well.

  242. I wonder what wells you're digging in your life right

  243. now through your worship, through your praise, through your prayers,

  244. through your study, through your commitment, through your openness, through

  245. the change.

  246. That God is doing in your life. Watch this. He said,

  247. bring them here. I want to bless them.

  248. Joseph lined them up so that the oldest would get

  249. the right hand, Manasseh. The younger would get the left hand.

  250. They're both going to get blessed, but the oldest gets

  251. the bigger blessing. And watch what Israel does. Verse 14,

  252. but Israel, but Israel, but God. But Israel, but God,

  253. reached out his right hand and put his right hand

  254. on Ephraim's head. Though he was the younger, though he

  255. didn't deserve it, though he wasn't supposed to be blessed first,

  256. though he wasn't expecting it, though it didn't make any sense,

  257. though it defied logic and customs and traditions, he had

  258. to go through Samaria.

  259. He had to keep you alive. You had to survive.

  260. You had to make it. You had to rise up.

  261. And he put his right hand on Ephraim's head, and

  262. he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh.

  263. Was the firstborn. And then he blessed Joseph.

  264. And said, may the God before whom my fathers, Abraham

  265. and Isaac.

  266. Somebody shout is generational.

  267. It's generational.

  268. It's generational. There's a bigger picture. I will not die here.

  269. I will not quit here.

  270. I will not become arrogant or discouraged or dismayed. I

  271. will not stop here.

  272. I got to go through Samaria.

  273. Because the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God who

  274. has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

  275. the angel who has delivered me from all harm, may

  276. he bless these boys. You want your Father's Day message?

  277. Here's your Father's Day message.

  278. Get ready for a plot twist.

  279. You didn't have a dad? You're going to be an

  280. amazing dad. Get ready for a plot twist. You got

  281. a hurt in your heart that feels unhealed. God's going

  282. to turn you into a healer. Get ready for a

  283. plot twist. You got some reasons why you don't feel

  284. like a very good person.

  285. Get ready for a plot twist. God loves Jacob. God

  286. loves Jacob. God loves Jacob. Jesus loved that woman. God

  287. loves people just like you.

  288. And I know he's the God of the plot twist because.

  289. His hands look like this. Because his hands look like this.

  290. And when joseph verse 17 saw his father placing his

  291. right hand on ephraim's head he was displeased i don't

  292. like this you're not supposed to be doing this god

  293. i'm supposed to be still have my job i'm supposed

  294. to still god this is not but look what his

  295. father said verse 19. i know my son i know

  296. he too will become a people He too will become great.

  297. God's going to use it all. God's going to use

  298. it all.

  299. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he. And

  300. his descendants will become a group of nations. And he

  301. blessed them that day. And he blessed them that day.

  302. I pray that today would be a day.

  303. Of unexpected blessing in your soul because you never know, man.

  304. You never know. Some of y'all are breaking curses and

  305. you don't even know it. You never know. You can't die, Joseph.

  306. You can't die.

  307. There's supposed to be a well with your name on

  308. it for a future generation. Yeah, I want to quit sometimes,

  309. but I can't. Yeah, I want to quit sometimes, but

  310. I can't. Yes, sometimes I hide under the covers, but

  311. I got to get out at some point because this

  312. is bigger than me.

  313. This is bigger than me. It's bigger than a burger.

  314. It's about a harvest. Joseph was betrayed, abandoned. He said,

  315. you intended it for evil. It's all right. God used

  316. it for good. Hey, thank you for watching.

  317. Make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don't

  318. miss a single one.