Legacy: Joseph’s Plan | Ps Miles Paludan

All right, let's jump into God's word

today. Genesis 41, verse 29. It'll be on

Genesis 41:29

the screen behind me. You can follow

along with your Bibles. Before we do

jump in, I do want to give a heart um

welcome and and and thank you and honor

to just all those people that have

helped with this legacy series. And what

you don't understand is all the behind

the scenes, all the writing, the

planning, the people involved, the

greeters, the cafe, just is a lot of

moving parts. And I [snorts] kind of

might get up here and, you know, preach

the message on Legacy Sunday, but let me

tell you that there's hours and hours

and hours of faithful hard work by so

many volunteers. And I just want to

humbly say I couldn't do it without you.

I'm amazed at at the strength of our

team, the passion for God in our team.

And I want to honor every person

involved in serving the church, and

thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Could not do this without you. And I

recognize that. I'm flawed. I'm just a

humble man up here doing my part. But

it's just the strength of the body of

believers that allows us to deliver

God's word and see God move in such a

powerful way. Let's jump into God's holy

word today. The next seven years will be

a year of great prosperity through the

land of Egypt. And so Joseph is

interpreting the dream that Pharaoh had

received. Verse 30. But afterwards there

will be seven years of famine. So great

that all the prosperity will be

forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy

the land. So Joseph interprets the dream

by the spirit of God. Now we're going to

discover that Joseph gives a strategy by

the spirit of God. Then Pharaoh should

appoint supervisors over the land. Let

them collect 1ifth of all the crops, 20%

during the seven good years. Have them

gather all the food produced in the good

years that are just ahead and bring them

to the Pharaoh's storehouse. Store it

away and guard it so it will be food in

the cities. That way, there'll be enough

to eat when the seven years of famine

come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise,

this famine will destroy the land. God

gave [snorts] Joseph the plan. and gave

him a plan to rescue the nation of

Egypt, his nation of Israel and his

family. That elevation legacy is all

about us getting a plan how we can

rescue people from hell and get them

into heaven by strategically planning

those areas of ministry in our church,

our city, our nation, and our world.

Now, legacy is not easy. Takes some

sacrifice, but it always requires

planning. Today we're going to talk

about planning in our lives and planning

in our church. Two thoughts. Number one,

giving needs a plan. So, who are the

planners in the room? Who loves to be

organized and write lists? And who's the

planners? You love your calendar. Who's

the calendar king? You got your calendar

all synced up. Who makes a list when

they go to the grocery store? They

actually write out what they need. Okay.

Uh who just sort of shows up and just

looks around and just throws something

in. Uh, who does the next level of

planning? The click and collect. You you

get online and and and do that. Or the

delivery. Who's the deliveries? You love

the delivery. Who's the sender? The

sender. That's the best planner of all.

The sender sends someone else in the

house to go to the grocery store and get

what you need. I'm Bonnie's the sender.

I go uh who rocks up at the grocery

store cuz you need something. you get

all this stuff and you get home and you

remember, man, I forgot [clears throat]

the thing that I went there in the first

place. Um, we we all uh actually plan

for something. We only plan for those

things that are actually important to

us. And we see in Isaiah 32:8 that

Isaiah 32:8

generous people, what do they do?

Generous people they plan they plan they

plan what to do uh that is generous and

they stand firm in their generosity. So

God doesn't call us only to spontaneous

generosity but intentional generosity

requires faith and planning. And so when

we plan to give we're actually making

room for God to move consistently in our

lives not just occasionally. So making a

plan forces clarity and priorities.

Proverbs affirms this in 215. The plans

of the diligent lead to profit, but

surely as haste leads to poverty. To

plan means to advise, to counsel, to

devise a plan. So here's the point.

Planning is not just a good idea.

Planning is not just symbolic. Planning

is biblical. And planning with our

finances is biblical. Now, God gives us

the free will to use our mind and get

counsel to put the plan together. But

the concept of planning is actually the

heart of God. Because remember, God has

a plan for mankind. God has a plan to

rescue mankind. That's why he sent

Jesus. That's why we're here today

fulfilling his plan to redeem mankind

back to him to extend the kingdom of

God. So, we're all actual planners. The

only difference is we choose to plan

what's important.

We choose to plan what's You all know

this. Some of you every day you plan

your day around your coffee fix. You do.

You plan your beans. You you you plan

where your machine is. You plan where

you're going to go to get your coffee.

You Sometimes you you sort of plan your

schedule around your coffee. Others of

you, you may plan around traffic or

school drop off or a pedicure or a

manicure or the big one. The big one.

You ready? The hair appointment. You're

not canceling that plan because you'll

never get back in. So, that is a

priority. Uh some of you plan to be

intimate.

Hey, we can talk about this. We're in

church. It's okay. We we should be

intimate as husband and wife. If you're

not intimate, maybe you need to do a bit

more planning. Put it in the calendar.

Schedule it out. Uh I may at times uh

plan around the weather. I may call an

urgent board meeting.

surfboard meet sometimes. We we all plan

what is a priority, don't we? We all

plan. We should plan when it comes to

our finances to give to the Lord. Uh

Paul wrote to Timothy, he says, "Tell

them to use their money to do good."

That they should be rich in good works

and be generous to those in need. Always

ready. What do they do? They're ready to

share with others. You're not ready

unless you plan. To be ready, you need

to be prepared. We don't just respond to

opportunities to give. We plan and

prepare for them. You know, we don't

tell the bank every week, "Oh, mate, I

don't know if I can make the mortgage

payment this week. You know, it's been a

bit rough week and, you know, I had to

buy that extra thing online and it's

just not enough." We don't tell the

electricity company, "Ah, I can't do the

the whole electricity thing really. It's

this doesn't work for me this week. I

don't feel like it." You know, I'm I'm

No, we plan we plan to make those

payments. We we plan to pay those bills.

In the same way, as followers of Christ,

we should plan to use the resources God

gives us for his kingdom, for his glory.

Why? Why does this matter? Well,

planning kind of shapes what you do and

actually impacts who you become.

Isaiah 32:8, remember said the generous

Isaiah 32:8

people, they plan to give. And what do

they do? They stand firm. They stand

firm in their generosity. Generous

people stay stand firm. They don't get

pushed around by their emotions or or or

or the or the pressures. Now, I get it.

Life changes, right? Income changes,

jobs can change. You may lose your job.

Plans can change. But we should all plan

to have a plan when it comes to our

finances.

Well, that's why in this legacy series,

and we close it out today, we have a

legacy card. You're probably sitting on

it. Why do we have a legacy card?

Because it helps you think and we ask

you to pray that you would get a plan.

Maybe you can give over and above your

normal giving a one-off gift. Pay 10

bucks. That's great. Praise the Lord.

Maybe you can see maybe I can get a plan

and do a pledge. I can give a little bit

more each month or each week. Or mainly

you can say, "Hey, I might have a bonus

coming in end of the year or tax return

or something." So you can plan. The the

reason we use these cards is to help you

plan. It actually helps you. The other

reason we use the cards is it helps us

plan as a church. We know what wages we

can pay. We know what's coming in. We

can budget where we can advance the

kingdom of God. Where we can spend. And

so it's a planning piece of equipment. I

love it because a plan helps us achieve

great things for God. Genesis 41

continues on. As predicted for seven

years, the land produced a bumper crop.

During those years, Joseph gathered all

the crops grown in the Egypt and stored

the grains from the surrounding

villages, sorry, surrounding fields in

the cities. He piled up huge amounts of

grain like sand on the seashore.

Finally, he stopped keeping records

because there was too much to measure.

Now, Joseph didn't create the abundance.

He stewarded it. The miracle was in the

planning and execution.

The miracle was he heard from the Lord

and he put actions in place to see the

plan take place. [snorts]

What we don't often realize in this

story is not only did Joseph ask for 20%

more tax from the the farmers. What

Joseph did is he actually expanded

the farming area in the years of plenty.

Her historical records and archaeology

and tradition suggest that Joseph he

spearheaded this massive infrastructure

infrastructure expansion. He built silos

and canals and dams and waterways and

places to store and even ways to get the

grain to these [snorts] big silos. in

these great years of of of surplus.

There's a photo of this ancient canal

known as Joseph's waterway. It still

exists today. So, Joseph built a canal

that was 300 kilometers long and it's

physically evident today. And it was

designed to designed to divert excess

water from the Nile into these desert

areas of the Tharium basin. And what

that allowed was irrigation to take

place in these desert lands and created

new areas of agricultural expanding the

ability to farm to get more uh crops and

and have more animals and allowed that

surplus year to just be a bumpy year.

So, Joseph needed significant planning

to pull this off. It wasn't just taxing

the people. He actually had a plan to

create more uh surplus. [snorts] Our

problem, most of us, we want to be

generous. We do. We we care. We want to

bless others. We want to help the

church. But our problem is we don't plan

for it. We have good intentions, but

without a plan, it's just not going to

happen. You can think this girl is the

most beautiful girl and she's the one

without a plan to ask her out on a date.

It's just not happening. Guys, get a

plan. Ask her out.

I think I'm joking. I'm serious. Come

on, man. Stand up. Go.

Invite a girl out. Get a plan.

Get a coffee date. So, we need a plan to

be generous. We need a plan. Okay. Well,

what's my income? You know what? Can I

put aside each week, you know, could I

give up a coffee or is there extra jobs

available? Can I get a few extra hours?

Is there a tax return coming? So, we

need a plan. Number one, giving needs a

plan. [snorts] Number two, giving it

actually helps you and your family. So,

Joseph, he named his second son

Ephereim, for he says, "God has made me

fruitful in this land of my grief." Why

is he calling it the land of his grief?

You remember the story of Joseph? His

brothers sold him into slavery. ended up

in the uh prison and then finally he was

in the palace but the whole time he's

separated from his family. He's all

alone in a foreign country. He loved his

family. He loved his mom and dad. There

was this just a focus of the Jewish um

family was everything and he was alone.

He was rejected. He he was cast out. And

so there was this sort of longing in him

yet he followed God's plan for his life.

And what we're going to see is God's

plan allowed him to be reconciled with

his family. Today you you you may even

have full of bad news and uh full of

pain and hurt and and and disruption.

You don't know what God's plan can do to

restore relationships. You don't know

how God's plan can help family. You

don't know how God's plan can use you to

benefit those around you. We can trust

in God's plan. God sees things we can't.

And God had a plan for Joseph. And God

was faithful and obedient to outwork

this plan that ultimately brought his

family back together. When Jacob heard

the grain was available in Egypt in

Genesis 42:1, Jacob's his dad and they

Genesis 42:1

were kind of starving in this famine. He

said to his sons, "Why are you standing

around here looking at one another?" I

love that verse. I I I think that's that

summarizes my boys. Like, why are you

standing around looking at each other?

Just do something. Clear the table. Just

wash the dishes. Like, there's jobs to

be done, right? I don't have to tell

you. Just stop looking at each other.

It's the pet peeve there. Just I'm

getting through I'm just processing out

loud just to get through my challenges

of having young adult boys at home. I I

have heard there is grain in Egypt. go

down there and buy enough grain to keep

us alive. Otherwise, we will die. The

famine was so bad. They're selling

everything, selling themselves to try to

survive. Please come closer,

he said to them. Finally, the boys, they

come and Joseph gets them in his palace

as they come for grain. They came closer

and he said to them, I

I want you to feel the emotion of this.

15 odd years rejected, hated, separated,

cast out, yet a longing to be home with

his family. They're there. They didn't

recognize him, but he recognized them

and they're standing before him. The

prophecy, the dream is being fulfilled.

Joseph's been obedient with his plan on

his life. He says, "I'm Joseph,

your brother." He reminded them, "I'm

I'm the one you sold into slavery."

And then he says these beautiful words,

"Don't be upset. I'm not here to rub

your nose in it. I'm not here to say,"I

told you so. I'm not here to get even,

get back to you. I don't carry

bitterness and unforgiveness. I want

restoration. I want relationship.

Don't be angry with yourselves for

selling me into this place." He gives

the honor back to a God. He says it was

God. Isn't that great that we can see a

difficult situation in our life and we

can say it's God's working? You lost

your job, divorce, whatever. You can say

God can work in this. Not that God

caused it, but God can work it out for

his glory and for I love that it's God

who does the work. He sent me here ahead

of you to preserve your lives. This

famine has ravaged the land for two

years, but we're only two years in,

boys. There's another five to go, and

there'll be neither plowing nor

harvesting. God has sent me ahead of you

to keep you and your families. Why?

What's the whole point of this plan? To

keep you alive, giving and and us

following the Lord. There's a plan that

God has in our lives to rescue those

around us, our family, our children, our

grandchildren, our parents, that that

we're part of a bigger plan. That's

God's plan to rescue mankind. He sent me

ahead to keep our families alive and to

preserve many survivors. But it wasn't

just to survive.

It wasn't just to kind of make sure we

restored. No. No. There was this plan to

thrive. And so Pharaoh said to Joseph,

"Tell your brothers, this is what you

must do. Load your pack animals, hurry

back to the land of Canaan, and then get

your father and all the family are all

together, mate. I love big families.

We're all in it together. Come on, let's

all go. And return here with me, and

I'll give you what? Pharaoh says, "I'll

give you the best, the best land of

Egypt, and you [snorts] will eat from

the best land, the best that the land

produces." I love that our God gives us

great hope in a future. I love that

[snorts] his plan benefits us and our

families. I kind of get annoyed with

some of our young adults or some of our

anyone for that matter who says, "I'll

never own a home." That's not true.

God's bigger and greater. God can have a

plan for your life to have a place that

you own that's secure where you can

flourish and you can use it to bless

others. I don't like that negative talk.

It may take a hard work. It may take

time. But God is a God that wants to

bless you. Now, I don't believe in the

prosperity doctrine where you give to

get. God is not a coke machine, but God

has a plan to bless your family through

you. And and some people say, "I'll

never be able to retire." Well, that's

true. We never retire, right? We're

always being used by God. But we can

have finances in our security in our

older age because God can put a plan in

place that if we work on that plan and

get wisdom and get good counsel that we

can be blessed and we can bless others.

So Bonnie and I, we wanted to make a

plan uh to get ahead and we got a

financial advisor into our house. She

came in at dinnertime and she looked

around. And there's five kids that are

kind of like late teenagers at this

time. And she looked at the books and I

think she almost cried for us. She's

like, [laughter] "I don't know how you

do this." And she said just graciously,

"You're in the trenches right now." Some

of you, you're in the trenches. You know

what that's like? What does that mean,

the trenches? Money just going. It's

just going. I don't know why, but God

gifted us with this beautiful DNA of

teeth that in our kids just they they

they came out at 45 degree angle that

they would just I don't know what

happened there and I'll ask God when I

get to heaven, but every one of them

needed braces at 7K a pop. I mean,

there's just costs, right? That there's

sports there, there's private schools,

there's just that we're in the trenches.

Some of you know that. But she said,

"You can still make a plan. And if you

work faithfully and diligently and you

save, it's a it's a word we can all use,

save, and and and get some debt down,

that'll position you." So, we faithfully

worked the plan. Took us years. And and

there were times we couldn't go out to

dinner with our friends because that

wasn't in the budget. And so, we

faithfully stuck with the plan. And our

first plan was sort of to build a granny

flat. We wanted to build that for our

family. So, we sort of got a plan

together and put it through council and

I have a building background. So, here's

a photo of me putting the foundations

together. I I formed it up and poured

the concrete. I got a guy in to finish

it for me. Then I hired a chippy 65 an

hour and got him in and he put the frame

up and I organized the contractors and

we put this we worked the plan. I still

had a full-time job. I just worked uh a

day and a half on it each week on the

weekends. And look at the end result

that God has blessed us with this

beautiful granny flat that we can use

for our family stay there. My daughter

Abby comes and stays. My mother stays

there. And when I called it the granny

flat, she thought it was hers. And I'm

like, "No, that's kind of what you call

an extra building. It's not really your

No, it's the granny flat. It's mine. I'm

granny. We call it granny." So, I'm

still working through that issue, but

it's it's, you know, we it's it's a

blessing for our family. Sometimes our

boys will say, "Hey, where's mom and

dad? They're in the granny flat." What

are they doing in the granny flat? Don't

ask. Don't ask. Don't ask, Finn. Don't

ask, Finn. They're just over in the

granny flat. And we we we just have this

beautiful place now. Why? It's blessing

our family. Why? Because there's we

worked a plan. God wants to give a plan

for your life. And this is the power of

giving. It builds examples for your

children. Bonnie and I always give. We

always do this legacy thing and we talk

to our kids about it. It's an example we

set for them to trust in the Lord. We've

always been tithers. For 32 years, we've

been married. Before that, I was a

tither. I've always tithed. It's kept me

humble. It's kept me dependent. It's

kept God centered in my life. It builds

discipline in our life. That discipline

now can flow into other areas. Our

marriage, date nights, um seeing each

other, spending time. It builds

disciplines in in all sorts of areas

where we can flourish. Honestly, I look

back and say it's only because of God's

favor and blessing.

But I had to play my part. I've always

been just on an average wage, but God,

as I've just done my little bit, God has

done more with the favor. We love our

kids. five kids all in church. We we we

we gather most Sundays for lunch

together. We we we have that great. It's

just beautiful to see God's favor and

blessing. God did that for Joseph. If

God can do that for me, let me tell you,

go God wants to do it for you. And it

starts with a plan. When we seek the

Lord, Proverbs 11:25 says, "A generous

Proverbs 11:25

person will prosper. Whoever refreshes

others will be refreshed." There's

something about when you're generous and

you give, you refresh others, you get

refreshed. That that God works through

you. You're a conduit for his favor and

his blessing. And I I just praise God

for each one of you for your faithful

giving. And we've had a plan here at

Elevation to use the funds that are

given for the glory of the Lord. I want

to show a video of all six locations.

Most will have 10 or 15 areas that

they'll give to in legacy. They all just

chose one. And I want you to look at the

screen and celebrate what God has done.

Well, we're one church meeting in six

locations and our vision is to multiply

healthy local churches to transform our

city. Today, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for partnering with this

vision. Paul writes in Philippians 1:3,

Philippians 1:3

"Every time I think of you, I give

thanks to my God." Now, Philippi was one

of the first churches Paul planted. And

he writes with this genuine affection

because they stood by him from the

beginning. They stood by him in the hard

times. They prayed for him. They

supported him relationships while he was

in prison. They supported him

financially with food and supplies. Paul

saw them as true partners in the gospel.

In the [music] same way, Bonnie and I

thank God for each one of you as we

partner together spreading the gospel,

the most important, powerful message on

planet Earth. And today, we take a

moment to celebrate how your partnership

has impacted countless lives through

legacy giving. Here's just a snapshot of

all six locations.

At Elevation Mandra, we've partnered

[music] with local schools and youth

care chaplain by providing staff morning

teas, numerous free pancake breakfasts,

and bacon and egg rolls for a Mother's

Day event. One of the schools wrote in

their newsletter, "We're so fortunate to

have the support of our local church,

Elevation Church, by providing a

delicious pancake breakfast for our

staff [music]

and students."

Here at Elevation Cans, we've invested

in some new technology that is allowing

our deaf community to engage more in our

service, in our preaching, our teaching,

and our worship. It's the first step in

allowing our deaf members to become

fully immersed in our church community.

Thank you.

>> Hi guys, here at Elevation Church Castle

Hill, every week we partner with

Careavan. We give financially, but more

so every week our people from our church

go out and volunteer at Caravan. At

Caravan, we are able to feed over 100

people doing it tough, rough sleepers,

families in need, and those that are

vulnerable in our community here in

Western Sydney. So, we're able to do

over 100 people every single week. And

at the end of the year, we also put on a

lovely Christmas dinner for all of these

people so we can have fellowship and we

can come together and share the good

news of Jesus Christ.

>> Hi everybody, Pastor Mark here from

Elevation Church Gold Coast. I'd love to

highlight one of our latest initiatives

and that is our winter homelessness

packs. Here on the Gold Coast,

approximately two and a half thousand

people every night experience

homelessness and that's due to various

reasons through domestic and home

violence. It can be through financial

struggles and difficulties uh or [music]

that can be through mental illness. And

because of your generosity, we've been

able to put together 100 winter homeless

[music] packs full of beanies, gloves,

scarves, drink bottles, toothbrush,

toothpaste, and other personal items.

So, thank you so much. You've played a

massive role in [music] bringing dignity

and value to the homeless people here on

the Gold Coast. Thank you so much.

>> Through Legacy in Penri, we've had an

amazing year where, you know, we've been

able to really invest into into people,

into staff, into leadership. We've been

able to to invest into new equipment.

We've been able to actually move into a

new location in the last year which has

really been able to look at, you know,

30% growth in um attendance, more

engagement in terms of kids and youth

ministries, more engagement in terms of

setting up life groups for people, and

we just really encourage in terms of

what this is doing um and how God's

moving in our community. At Elevation

Melbourne West, we partnered with

Beautiful Crazy to deliver 293 bags to

families with loved ones in ICU wards

across Melbourne's four top trauma

hospitals. These hugs in a bag let

families know that they are seen and

cared for in some of life's hardest

moments. Wow. Oh my gosh. Talk about

partnering with the Lord. Look at the

good that we are doing. Over a million

dollars has been given over the last 11

months across our six locations.

Unbelievable.

Millions, literally millions of people

impacted because of your generosity.

Lives are being changed for eternity.

Hope is being restored in the name of

Jesus being made known. Thank you for

your partnership with the vision of

elevation to multiply healthy local

churches to transform our cities. God

bless.