When Pressure Makes Diamonds | Pastor Chris Kouba

The date was December 10th, 2011, New York City, Times Square, at the Downtown Athletic Club.

I remember it vividly because as a Baylor Bear fan, it was something that we never could have imagined we'd ever see this day happening.

It was on this day in 2011 when Robert Griffin III, known as RG3, won the coveted Heisman Trophy Award.

Now, if you are a college football fan and you're come from a team that, like you've got your team wins championships all the time, and your team regularly has folks uh that get the Heisman Trophy, that's great, okay?

Then you can appreciate the significance of this moment.

If you're not a college football fan, let me give you some context for this image right here.

Baylor was not synonymous with winning championships, okay, in 2011.

All right.

Baylor was not ever thought of and had never ever won a Heisman Trophy.

And in fact, in 2011, Baylor was not known for winning anything, much less football games.

Like it was a bad season.

I actually went to Baylor University.

I graduated in 2002, and my four years at Baylor University were the worst four-year stretch they have ever had in their history.

Like just marked by futility.

And that was the case for so long.

And it looked like that was going to be the future for us.

Yet in 2011, on December 10th, my quarterback for my team, representing all of our fan base, got to do something we could have never imagined possible, is for us to have a Heisman Trophy winner.

At that acceptance speech, he said this phrase, which has become like a war cry for the Baylor Bears.

He said this the hotter the heat, the hotter the steel.

No pressure, no diamonds.

We compete, we win.

What was so significant about that statement was the fact that we didn't care what he said.

We were going to be all about it because our guy just won the Heisman Trophy, right?

But he said something that was pretty profound.

And that single act of him winning the Heisman Trophy led a completely different trajectory for Bailey University going forward in all sports, specifically though, football.

We've since built a brand new stadium.

We've won two Big 12 championships.

We played in a major bowl game not only that year, but we have multiple years since then.

We haven't won a national championship or anything like that.

And we lost on Friday night.

I understand that.

Okay.

That being said, though, we went into the game with actual hope, okay?

And that's what every team wants.

You want to start the year feeling like, man, we could actually do something this year.

And all because of that one act, it changed everything.

And what's crazy is that the expectations for RG3, who was highly recruited, coming to Baylor were such that basically you were trying to take a program from the very bottom and do something with it.

And instead of that pressure crushing him, that pressure allowed there to be something beautiful.

Heart of the heat, heart of steel.

No pressure, no diamonds.

You got me thinking this.

What if it's possible that we've thought about pressure all wrong?

Like, what if pressure is actually what God desires to use to make us into what he wants us to be?

Let's be honest, we all try everything that we can do to avoid pressure.

We worship comfort, we worship ease, we worship the path of least resistance and the first sign of any kind of pressure in our lives, in our careers, in our family, in our finances, in our kids, in our relationships, especially in our leadership.

We try to do everything we can looking as quick as we possibly can for the exit strategy.

We want out.

We don't want to deal with that.

But what if God isn't most interested in making us comfortable?

God instead is most interested in making our life count.

We're in a sermon series called Rise from the Pit.

We're looking at the last part of the book of Genesis, looking at leadership lessons from the life of Joseph.

And I'm telling you, Joseph is a guy who likes it's a roller coaster of a life.

Like he's on really, really high one moment, and then he's really, really low another moment, and it's back and forth the entire time.

But this book, I'm telling you, I've said it many times already in the series, the greatest leadership book you will ever read is this one.

It's filled with stories and principle and wisdom that can help you as you lead in the various areas that God has placed you in so that you can be the leader that God wants you to be.

And in the midst of this story, what we see is that Joseph is constantly under pressure.

Joseph finds himself falsely accused.

Joseph finds himself mistreated.

Joseph finds himself forgotten.

Joseph finds himself many, many times misunderstood.

So if anybody knows what it's like to have pressure, it is Joseph.

And what he shows us is that that pressure makes diamonds.

Hotter the heat, hotter the steel.

No pressure, no diamonds.

Here's the main point I want you to write down on page 19 of the message today.

Leaders produce under pressure.

Leaders produce under pressure.

Not in spite of pressure, but because of pressure.

Just like diamonds are formed 60 to 120 miles deep in the earth under crushing heat over many decades.

Real leaders are formed in the depths of difficulty, not in the comfort zones of success.

And today we're picking up the story in Genesis chapter 41, and we're gonna see how pressure reveals three non-negotiable truths about leadership.

Genesis 41 · chapter mention

We're gonna see when pressure comes, your allegiances are revealed.

When pressure comes, your character is revealed.

When pressure comes, your skills are revealed.

Let's set the context up.

Go with me to Genesis chapter actually 40, and I want us to read the last verse of that chapter and the first part of the next verse.

It says, Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

After two whole years.

Let me catch you up to speed on what took place.

Genesis chapter 37, the beginning of our series, what we learn is at the age of 17, Joseph received two different dreams, both dreams meaning the same thing, that indicated that he was going to be elevated, and his brothers and his family and all of around him were going to actually bow down to him.

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

He was going to be promoted in such a way where people would not worship him, but certainly he would be in a position of authority that they would have to submit to.

But then we find that the brothers aren't down with this idea, and they ultimately end up selling him as an Egyptian slave, and he goes into this Egyptian captivity.

Yet while he's there, he gets promoted all the way up to the very top position in the nation of Egypt, gets a lot of leadership and influence.

But then we see that Potiphar's wife, Potiphar was the king, if you will, of the time.

His wife likes Joseph, makes advances towards Joseph.

Joseph says no to those advances, yet she falsely accuses him.

And now Joseph finds himself in prison being falsely accused for 11 years.

He's 17 years old, he's got this dream.

11 years in, he's been in prison.

This is not looking good.

He then has a moment where there's a baker who has a bad dream and a cupbearer who has a good dream, and he interprets both of those dreams, and both of those dreams come to fruition exactly the way that Joseph said that they would.

The cupbearer, the one who had the good dream, his dream suggested that he was going to be elevated and promoted.

Joseph knew this.

So right before the cupbearer got out of prison and got promoted, he says, Hey, hey, hey, make sure when you get up there, remember me down here.

And it says he forgot.

For two whole years.

You know how long two years is?

In two years, I'm gonna have my fourth teenage driver in my house.

I'm gonna have my second college student.

I'm gonna have a second senior in my house.

Like it's life's coming at you fast.

Two years, a lot can happen.

And I want you to think that 11 years was long, yes.

But those last two years must have been brutal.

Because at the end of the day, he thought, this is my way out.

This is how I'm gonna elevate.

This is what's gonna happen.

Yet for two whole years, he's completely forgotten.

He is 30 years old, 13 years away from this vision and this dream that God had given him, feeling like his life is over and there is no hope.

That's the context for what we're gonna read in Genesis chapter 41.

Genesis 41 · chapter mention

Grab your Bibles, let's go ahead and look at it.

Let's begin reading verse one.

It says, After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.

And behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass.

And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.

And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive plump cows, and Pharaoh awoke, and he fell asleep and dreamed a second time.

And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing up on one stalk.

And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump full ears.

And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today.

When Pharaoh was angry with the servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation.

A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard.

When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream.

And as he interpreted to us, so it came about.

I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit.

And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.

I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.

Then Joseph answered Pharaoh, It is not in me.

God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.

Pharaoh then tells him the dreams that we've already read about.

Skip down with me to verse 25.

It says, Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dreams of Pharaoh are one.

God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years.

The dreams are one.

The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears, blighted by the east wind, are also seven years of famine.

It is as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Here's what he says Seven years, really, really good.

Seven years of famine coming after that.

That is what you need to expect.

And Joseph, in his response, shows something very important to us about pressure.

First thing is this.

I want you to write this down on page 19.

When pressure comes, your allegiances are revealed.

When pressure comes, your allegiances are revealed.

Picture this.

Joseph's 30 years old.

You've been rotting in the cell for two years, really 13 years.

And you think your life is over.

And then suddenly the guards show up and, like, is there a Joseph here?

Yeah, yeah, that's me.

Clean up.

Here's your moment.

You're going to go before Pharaoh here in 10 minutes.

30 years of his life and all this future boiled down to five minutes.

Like this is the moment.

Now you would think he's got to be ready for this.

He's got to be thinking through what am I going to do if my moment arrives?

How am I going to respond?

He's the dream guy, right?

Like he's been studying dreams, he's interpreted dreams.

I'm sure maybe he did it with other people along the way as well.

And so Pharaoh brings him up in front of him and says, Hey, I've heard you're the guy that can do dreams.

And you would think, heck yeah, I'm the guy that can do dreams.

I absolutely, I'm your guy.

You've been looking for all these other places.

I'm the guy that can make this happen.

But that's not what Joseph says.

You know what he says?

I can't do it.

But God can.

God can do it.

What I want you to see is that when his moment comes, he doesn't take credit for it.

When his moment comes, he shows who he actually is allegiance, has allegiances to, and that is God.

Psalm 121, verses 1 and 2 says this.

Psalms 121:1

He says, I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

Everybody asked that question, by the way.

Where does your help come from?

And here's what the psalmist says.

It's the same thing Joseph would have said.

My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

Folks, when pressure comes in your life, it's going to show what do you really rely on?

What do you really lean on?

Unfortunately, for most of us, when pressure comes, what it actually shows is that we mainly rely on ourselves, our connections, our bank account, our hustle, our work ethic, our history, our family.

None of those things I just said are bad.

But what I want you to see is that what Joseph shows is that none of those things are what he said.

He instead said, This my allegiance is to God, it's not on me.

Which bears the question, how could he get there?

And also the question for us, how do we get there?

When pressure hits, most people do one of three things.

They blame God.

God, why did you do this to me?

Why did you put me under this pressure?

Or they begin to take credit for themselves.

Look what I accomplished.

Don't care about what God did.

This is what I did.

This is what my strength and the might of my hand has accomplished.

Or they become victims and they wear their trauma like a badge, treating it like it's an identity.

Joseph, three times in Genesis chapter 41, he says this.

Genesis 41 · chapter mention

God will reveal this to you.

God will show you a favorable outcome.

God is the one who will do this for you.

What does this mean practically?

You get a promotion.

What should you say?

Man, how great am I?

No, when you get a promotion, man, thank God for what he just did.

God is the one who got me this.

Whenever you show wisdom and you be able to help some crisis situation, what do you do?

Do you flex and talk about how smart you are?

No, God gave me that wisdom.

Man, thanks for saying that, but I need you to know this.

God is the one who fills me with wisdom.

And from him come all wisdom.

What happens whenever you get praised for your strength, whether it's mental strength or whether it is physical strength?

You don't sit there and flex literally.

You instead, what do you say?

You say, Man, it's God who gives me that strength.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Am I just being kind of cheesy here?

Am I showing false humility?

No, I'm showing accurate theology.

Folks, what you need to understand is every good and perfect gift comes from above.

And because of that, we must practice in all things, giving all praise and all glory and all credit to our Maker, the one who gives us all things.

And so that when God uses us and that pressure comes, our allegiance can come and be like, I can't do it, but man, God can.

God can absolutely do it.

Folks, I feel this all the time.

Uh, you might, I don't know if you've if you ever, I sit right over there most of the time, and I did it today.

Um, I still wake up and I'm like, I can't believe I do this.

I can't believe God trusts me with this, that He allows me the opportunity to be able to do this.

And there were times right before I walk up, I've got kind of a little, a little mental rhythm and kind of a thing like that.

And one of the things I will do is I will literally take a step forward.

And it's basically my way of saying, God, I can't do this, but I'll step into your call, the calling you've given to me.

Like I'll sit under what you want to do.

And it's like a it's like a reminder to me.

Hey, bro, you ain't nothing.

Like I promise you, you are nothing.

But if you walk and you allow God to just use you, we can do something here.

God can allow there to be something where he can transform his people through someone else.

And I get the privilege of being in the middle.

That's the beauty and the blessing.

And when I want to encourage you, you start taking credit, he will gladly take you down.

And so we must live with a humility that practices right theology that says this when that pressure comes, I want to make sure my allegiances show that God is the one who is the source.

God is the point, God is the one who is to be praised.

Second thing that I want you to see, though, let's keep reading.

Skip down with me to verse 34 and see what happens.

It says, Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.

And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.

This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.

And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God?

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.

You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command.

Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.

Write this down.

The second pressure that I want you, the second thing I want you to see about pressure.

Not only when pressure comes, your allegiances are revealed.

Number two, when pressure comes, your character is revealed.

Your character is revealed.

Joseph does such a good job when the time comes.

Pharaoh basically says, this guy obviously has the spirit of God in him, which I love because he doesn't even believe in God.

Pharaoh had the magicians there earlier trying to figure that out.

Pharaoh's gonna believe in whatever is most convenient, but you can live and operate in such a way where people that are unbelievers are like, I don't really know what that is, but I like that.

Like I want, I want, I want more of that in our office.

I want more of that.

You don't have to necessarily wear it like a badge, you just live your life, and it's an aroma that they're like, man, I want that wisdom in our company.

I want, I want, I want that leadership on our football team.

I want to see that take place in our in our area.

And it says there that he's like, so no one seems as wise and discerning as you are, so you be in charge.

And so what you see is Joseph overnight goes from prison to second in command.

This is like going from homeless to the CEO of Amazon.

That's a big change, right?

But guess what?

That also produces pressure.

Pressure.

It's pressure whenever you're being oppressed, and it's pressure when you're being praised.

And what you see is that Joseph now has to respond, and what gets presented is his character.

I want you to know this.

Pressure doesn't build character, it reveals character.

It's like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube of toothpaste, which by the way, you don't squeeze the toothpaste in the middle, you squeeze it at the end and you work your way down.

Just, I know that'll help some of you with marital conflict from the end going forward.

That's what you do, okay?

When you do that, what happens?

Toothpaste comes out, right?

By putting the pressure at the end of the toothpaste tube, it doesn't make the toothpaste, it exposes what's inside that's already there out for everybody to see.

In the same way, pressure is what God uses to reveal what's actually already going on.

On the inside of you.

For Joseph, some pretty good stuff that was revealed.

Because he's now standing before Pharaoh and his character shows up.

The pressure showed some great things that had been developed in his life.

It showed faithfulness in all of the circumstances that he put himself in.

In Potiphar's house, he worked with excellence as a slave.

In prison, he helped other prisoners, even though he was the one that was forgotten.

When he becomes second in command, he served Egypt's needs before his own.

He showed humility despite his promotion.

One day he's prisoner number whatever, and the next day he's second in command in the most powerful nation on earth.

You'd think he uses this as an opportunity.

Okay, now I have Pharaoh's ring.

I've got all the authority, I've got power, I'm gonna get even.

I'm gonna make sure all the wrongs that have taken place to me are gonna be made right.

That's not what he does.

You know what he does?

He just gets to work.

He just does what God's called him to do.

And listen, not only does adversity cause pressure, but also prosperity does too.

It's easy to be humble when you have nothing.

It's much harder to stay humble whenever you have power.

The question becomes what does pressure reveal about you when nobody's watching?

I hope that you will allow this question and this time to be kind of an introspection in your own heart.

And I need you to know that what's gonna happen naturally is that all of a sudden when the bright light shines on you and that heat is shown to you, it's gonna begin to reveal some things that may not be always very pretty.

That may actually be kind of revealing.

Maybe you begin to see some selfishness that you didn't maybe know was there.

Maybe you begin to see some insecurity that you realize, golly, I've been operating out of that.

Maybe you begin to see some anger or some bitterness.

If you're in charge and all you want to do is make it make wrongs right, man, that's that's that's setting yourself up for be a really bad leader.

If you begin to expose these things, I don't want to judge you, I don't want you to see them as condemnation, but I do want you to see them as information.

Because you can't repent what you don't own.

You can't restore what you don't claim.

And what I want you to see is that the Holy Spirit works on us in such a way that it reveals things, just like heat towards a diamond begins to show some deformities around that precious stone that need to be melted away.

The Holy Spirit in our lives begins to reveal some of these things in our situation and in our character that are not what they should be.

But praise God, the kindness of the Lord in revealing those things can lead us to repent to the Lord so that He can do what only He can do.

Folks, don't press away from this whenever your character is exposed.

You instead see this as a God, what do you want to do in me?

Man, I'm I'm in a season right now where it's just like, God, will you just leave me alone?

Will you just stop?

Like I got plenty that I know about.

You ain't gotta bring up new stuff to me now.

Yeah, man, I'm finding though God's word is like a mirror.

And as much as I would love for God's word in that mirror to look back and to be able to see, man, you're where you need to be.

I'll look at that and say, God, I am so far away from what you desire.

And I want to be a pure and a holy vessel before you.

I long for that.

And I can't do that if I just ignore what he shows me.

I instead must embrace it.

When pressure comes, it's gonna show your allegiance.

When pressure comes, it's gonna show your character.

What's crazy though is what happens on this next one.

Write this down, number three.

When pressure comes, your skills are revealed.

Your skills are revealed.

Any leader will tell you, you want a Joseph on your team.

Because he didn't just come bringing problems, he came with solutions.

Right?

He walks in there, he doesn't just interpret Pharaoh's dreams, he gives them a comprehensive economic policy that was brilliant.

He tells them, Go, you need to collect 20% of the harvest during the good years, you need to build storage facilities all throughout the nation so you can store all of this stuff, and then you need to build distribution systems for all of the bad years so that you can sell all that grain to people that are needing it.

Here's what blows my mind.

For 13 years, Joseph thought that God had forgotten him.

He had no idea that every injustice was a classroom, every setback was training, every pressure was preparation.

And when his moment came, he wasn't overwhelmed, he was ready.

God had been preparing him for this exact moment, but Joseph never saw it coming.

Every pressure situation that he had been in was like graduate school for him.

His administrative skills were learned while being in Potiphar's house.

His crisis management skills were learned when he was in prison.

His people skills were learned from the injustice that he watched and experienced.

His strategic thinking happened from all of the time he had sitting there, having to process what he was going through.

And every one of those difficulties God used as training for massive responsibility.

What this shows us is we don't wait until we're ready in order to get ready.

We instead get ready long before God says it's time to be ready.

So that when God says the moment is here, we aren't having to figure it out.

We instead are ready to do what God has called us to do.

Practically, let me give you some advice on what this means.

Professionally, work on your craft, whatever your thing is that you do with excellence.

You be the best person you could possibly be.

If you're a construction, you be the best construction person out there.

If you're a teacher, you be the best teacher that has ever existed.

Who cares what your boss tells you?

You do it because you work for the Lord.

And you work on your craft because you have no idea how God may want to use your skill and your work.

If you're a pilot, if you're a flight attendant, whatever it is that you are, if you find yourself a janitor, you be the best janitor that company has ever had and ever will have.

Because you have no idea how God's gonna use that moment, that thing that you're doing, to prepare you for something else.

In your job or on your team, you get training, you get education so that you can be better.

You're like, well, I don't see any payoff on this.

This isn't gonna lead to anything.

You have no idea.

You instead be the best version of what you can be, from knowing that God may choose to use it for what you'd like them to, or God may use it for something that's even better than what you'd like them to.

You instead you try to excel in every way, challenge yourself with new skills.

Don't get stagnant, but instead, you be somebody that grows every single day.

Prepare for opportunities that you don't even see possible right now.

What this also means is spiritually, develop those disciplines that are gonna pay off when the pressure comes.

I cannot begin to plead with you enough.

Get in God's word every single day.

Like love it, read it, let the Bible speak to you.

I promise you, it is better than anything else you could invest your time into.

Get a normal rhythm and routine of daily spending time with the Lord, of praying to Him, of allowing you to be, the Bible says, four different times, be constant in prayer.

That's been my prayer.

God, let me be constant in prayer.

Like I just want it to be kind of like breathing.

Like where it's just I eat all the time, I pray all the time.

Like I want, I want to feast on you.

I'm the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall never hunger, whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Folks, I'm telling you, you establish those disciplines.

When all of a sudden that pressure comes, you just do what you've always done.

Get in a group, experience real community.

These daily habits will help you.

Let the pressure drive you towards the Lord, not away from him.

He is a God of small things, and he will allow those small things to become big opportunities.

I mentioned the very first week of the series that the God-given dream and vision that he gave me in my life happened to me in fifth grade, kind of a unique situation where I felt like God had called me to ministry.

And I specifically at that time felt like God was calling me to preach in the church.

That was what I felt like I was supposed to do.

And so after I graduated Bailey University, I went to Dallas Theological Seminary and ended up working at a large church in the Dallas area as a resident there.

And um, you know, this church, for whatever reason, I can't believe it, they weren't real big on having 22-year-olds preach on Sunday mornings.

Like this wasn't their thing.

And so, you know, I was like finding myself in a place where like I feel like God has called me to preach this church, but no one's asking me to preach to the church.

So my wife and I were looking for a couple friends, so we decided to start a small group uh there at our church.

And so we we started it up 15, 20 people or so, didn't have growing a number of different times to kind of multiplied it out.

But it really that was kind of the main thing, about 15 to 20 people or so.

And so I remember I'm in seminary, I'm supposed to be doing this kind of like for a profession.

It's like I don't want to look like I don't know what I'm doing.

So like I began this process where I began to make sure I was very prepared to teach this small group of 15 to 20 people.

And so I learned what it looked like to open up God's word and to pray and to walk with the Holy Spirit to begin to see what is it that He wants me to say.

I learned how to study the Word.

I learned how to basically put together some thoughts.

I learned how to take those thoughts and make sure they were in me long before they went and was told to somebody else.

I learned what it looked like, the skill of figuring out how to take what I had studied and presenting it in a way that was digestible to the people and was helpful for them to be able to move forward and to kind of learn.

And it became something that I really looked forward to and really loved to be able to do.

And I did it literally for years, like years and years and years.

I would literally start the same process.

I'd open up God's word and walk through this skill of preparing a message to teach my small group of 15, 20 people, let's say.

And again, and multiply out along the way, but that was the main thing was just preparing each and every week for that particular time.

And then a few years after that was there at Prestonwood, I get a call from the pastor there, and he says, Hey man, what are you doing right now?

I'm like, I don't even remember what it was.

And he says, You're up this week.

You're up what?

He says, You're preaching.

Like, like, like what I uh uh uh uh yeah, you're preaching on Sunday.

Here's the text, here's the theme.

You gonna be ready?

Uh yes, sir, I'm ready.

I'm ready.

I remember hanging at the phone being like, This is it.

This is the moment I've been waiting for.

I remember calling my wife and like, you're not gonna believe this.

I I'm up this weekend, and then all of a sudden it hit me.

I'm up this weekend.

I don't know how to do this.

I've never done this before, and then I'm just the I mean, I'm literally pacing around my house, and I'm nervous and feeling like I'm nauseous, like I don't know how I'm gonna do this.

And I mean, I'm just thinking through all the nerves and all the things that go along with this moment, and then I sat down, I opened up God's word, and you know what I realized?

I know exactly how to do this.

I've been doing this for years.

It's different, the stage is bigger, there's more people, and all those things that go along with that.

But at the end of the day, I know exactly what it looks like to open up God's word and to study his word and to pray and to seek and to prepare a message.

And I gave it everything I had of that message.

It was the worst sermon ever looking back.

But here's what I realized that skill that I was developing, that I had no idea what it was, other than me just trying to not look foolish in front of that group of small group that I was leading?

God was using that as preparation for me to live out and to walk in the calling that he gave to me for my life.

Here's my question for you What is God using?

What skill is he developing in you that he wants to prepare you for what he has for you in the future?

In your job right now.

What is it?

Is it possible that maybe God is using the challenges that you have at your workplace, not for your job, but to prepare you for what God has for you that may be outside of your job?

And God knows this is his testing pressure cooker that he wants to use to teach you those things.

Is it possible that family drama that you're dealing with and you're navigating, God is using it to give you wisdom and God is giving it to use you, give you the courage to be able to make certain tough decisions?

But the reality is it has nothing to do with your family.

God is actually using that family situation to prepare you for something that He's called you to that you may not even yet realize.

Is it possible that for some of you, the financial situation that you're dealing with, God's using it as a way to teach you resourcefulness, and God's using it as a way to teach you stewardship, and all you want to do is get out of it, and all God wants to do is use it in your life.

You see, some of you, the problem is you're trying so hard to get out of the pressure situation that you're in, and what you don't realize is that God is not most interested in getting you out of the pressure, God is interested in getting you through it.

So don't leap out of it.

Instead, God may be using these things to prepare you, just like he used Joseph to save nations.

Literally, his leadership during the famine saved Egypt and all the surrounding countries from starvation.

You have no idea what God is preparing you for.

Your current pressure could be developing the exact skills that you'll need to lead your family, to influence your workplace, to serve your community, to be a greater leader on your team, or to impact your generation.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8 30, 10, 11 30, or Espanol at 1 o'clock.