When Opportunity Knocks

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

If you've been with us, you know, we're in a study about Joseph's life.

And as we get started, open to Genesis chapter 41.

Genesis 41 · chapter mention

And the title of this message is When Opportunity Knocks.

And if you've been around, you know that Joseph has been either betrayed or in prison.

He's got 13 years of pain, difficulty, and being overlooked.

And this is the moment when opportunity locks.

Chapter 41, open it in your phone or open your Bible and follow along.

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream.

He was standing by the Nile when out of the river there came seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.

After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank.

And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek fat cows.

Then Pharaoh woke up.

He fell asleep again and had a second dream.

Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk.

And after them seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind.

Then the thin grains swallowed up the seven healthy full heads.

Then Pharaoh woke up.

It had been a dream.

In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and the wise men of Egypt.

Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

Then the chief cup bearer said to Pharaoh, Today I'm reminded of my shortcomings.

Pharaoh once was angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard.

Each of us had a dream that same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

Now a young Hebrew, say Joseph, very good, was there, a servant of the captain of the guard.

We told him our dreams and interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream.

And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them.

I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.

So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon.

And when he was brought from the dungeon, he shaved, changed his clothes, and he came before Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.

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

Pause.

Betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused of rape in the prison, where each time he kind of works hard and becomes the head of something.

And then they forget after he interprets the dreams, it's been two years.

This is his moment.

Here's the question.

How does Joseph respond when opportunity knocks?

And the second question is how will you and how will I respond when opportunity knocks?

As I was thinking about this, and by the way, we're gonna get back into the text just a minute, but I thought of seasons where you know you have an opportunity.

I had probably was a month before I graduated from college, and I was a very slow starter.

I didn't grow up as a follower of Christ, but I trusted Christ right before I went away to college.

By this time, I'm in God's Word every day.

I'm in a small group Bible study.

I really came to the point where I believed that God was good, but I didn't know what to do after college.

So opportunity, big decision.

And so uh I got to the point where, Lord, I'll do whatever you want me to do.

And you know, I was pretty idealistic and thought, how do you really help people?

You know, Jesus, help people.

So I called my sister and I majored in a bunch of different things, changed my major about five or six times.

So I had sort of the whole liberal arts side of it, and then I had the whole other side if I wanted to go into medicine or something.

And so I called my sister who's a nurse, and I said, Punky, I'm praying and thinking about being a doctor.

What do you think?

She said, Um, Chip, when I even talk about blood, you can't handle it.

You'd be a terrible doctor.

And so that was really good because I thought I don't want four more years of school and internships and all the rest.

And so I thought, you know, I'm not sure, but I know coaches are the ones that really, really influenced my life.

My dad was absent because he was an alcoholic and very functioning, but just disconnected from family.

So I thought, great.

So I became a teacher and coached basketball and loved it, and it was great, and sort of got to play all around the world.

But that idea of more schooling was like.

And yet, what I realized a little bit later, I love coaching, but I wanted to be a major college coach.

So I wanted, for some of you that are older, Bobby Knight was a famous coach in Indiana.

I wanted his job.

I grew up in Ohio, or maybe Coach Z.

Or I mean, I wanted to be a great program, be a great coach.

And I'd done it in high school, and I actually was pretty good, and our teams won, and I loved meeting with the players.

So I had to go back to school.

Two years of graduate school, West Virginia University, and uh said, okay, well, if you have to go to school to be a coach, great.

Another opportunity.

While I traveled around the world playing basketball, God tapped me on the shoulder.

He brought this beautiful woman into my life.

We got married and said, I want you to coach my team.

The only problem is that you don't really, you know, the Bible personally, but you need training.

So I went to seminary, it meant four more years.

Oh my gosh.

Well, the good news is I squeezed that four-year program into five, and uh, your lead pastor Ryan came along during that time.

And so a lot of good things came.

But what I learned was whether you have to have a lot of school or little school, because it's really different.

Some of the most successful people I know, college was even too boring, didn't go.

But whether it's a little or a lot, here's what I want to tell you.

You never graduate from God's school of faith.

You're in a school all the time, and he has certain things he wants to teach us.

So open, open your notes if you will.

I think it's gonna be real helpful.

I want to give us a context about God's school of faith because what we're gonna find out is that if you're not prepared, if you don't stay up and kind of pass his tests like Joseph passed, um, you won't respond in the right way when he brings that opportunity.

And so let me just give you an understanding of God's school.

There's four basic objectives.

Objective number one in God's school of faith is to know him personally.

I mean, he wants every single person to actually understand that he loves them, he's forgiven them, he's risen from the dead, and you can have a personal relationship.

His last prayer in John 17, he said, this is eternal life.

It's not just something that lasts a long time.

It's to know you, Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.

And that word know is a deep, personal, rich relationship.

So God's number one objective is first we come to know him, and then actually that's the big objective.

Whether you're two or 72, that we keep getting to know him better and better.

The second objective in God's school of faith is to develop our character.

In Romans 8, 29, after 28, it says that God uses all these circumstances and people for good.

The good is to conform us to the image of his son.

So, so the big program is not so much that you're religious or you don't do this, you start this.

The goal is God is about making you more and more like Jesus.

But like practically.

So you would drive your car the way Jesus would drive your car if he was inside your car, that you would use your money the way Jesus would use your money if he was inside of you, that you would treat poor people the way Jesus treated poor people, that if God gave you a lot of big things, you would treat it as a stewardship and not think it's all about you.

In other words, in every area of your life, God in this school of faith is to help you and me, little by little by little, to act and think and feel because actually Jesus lives inside of us.

So that's a big part of the agenda.

The third objective in God's school of faith is to use us to fulfill his kingdom agenda in this world.

Uh, in Ephesians 2.10, uh, after talking about this miraculous, loving, amazing grace and forgiveness of God, he says, You, each one of us, are God's workmanship or poem or masterpiece.

And that God has prepared for you and for me, every single person who knows Jesus personally, he actually has a good work.

He has a purpose, something that only you can fulfill.

Something from the foundations of the earth.

It'll take into account your family of origin, your natural talents, your spiritual gifts, circumstances.

And he has something that only you can do in a way that only you could do it.

And so he wants you to discover it and he wants to use you.

He wants his kingdom to come, right, and his will to be done on earth the way it happens in heaven.

And that's where people get loved, and people experience kindness and uh people get their needs met, and you become a conduit literally of the very life of Jesus for other people.

And then finally, uh objective number four, and I love this part of it, is to give us inexpressible joy, supernatural peace, and unconditional love in the process.

So this isn't like God has some plan and you get this job, and okay, it's gonna be really hard, and you know, just buckle up.

Jesus said, This is the very last night in John 15, he goes, guys, look, I know I'm leaving, it's gonna be better for you.

The Holy Spirit's gonna come, he's gonna live in you, and all you need to do, just stay connected to me.

Abide in me, abide in my word.

Um, just follow.

And he says, Here's the deal.

These things I've spoken to you about my relationship with you, so that my joy will be in you, and that your joy will be made full.

That it ups and downs and struggles.

I want you to know there's this connection with me.

I want you to have that joy that overcomes whatever you face.

And then in verse 12, he says, Greater love has no one than this.

That one lay down his life for his friend.

And of course, he would do that.

And then what we know of the eleven apostles who heard this at the time, 10 of them would give their life for others.

And then he went on to say, you know, about friends.

He said, No longer did I call you slaves, I call you friends.

For all things the Father has been made known to me, I've made known to you.

He didn't choose me, I choose you.

That you could be with me.

And then he gives them a command.

Now I want you to love each other the way I've loved you.

And in Jesus' mindset, loving him means obeying him, so that those first three objectives become a reality.

And so the principle that I've learned after these many decades, and I was just realizing at the last service, is I I met Jesus a little over 50 years ago.

And this agenda, this school of faith, it just keeps, you know, it keeps playing itself out.

And the principle I've learned is that God must work deeply in us before he works significantly through us.

Life is so much more than what you accomplish and what you get to do, or doing this for people.

This idea, this game plan is that God wants to work in you.

He wants to shape your character and your attitudes and your life, and most of all to have you and me connected very, very deeply.

What he longs is for a relationship.

He wants to enjoy you and love you, and then produce that as an overflow of your life.

And so Joseph is like an amazing case study of how that works.

Uh, last week uh Ryan shared sort of the journey God takes us on that is anything but a straight line, and he talked about the zigzag curriculum of God, and you can see on the on the screen here, you know, this is this was God's role.

Those four objectives were for Joseph, for Moses, for David, for you, for me, for Paul, for everyone.

God's agenda, it's exactly the same.

And this is the way it usually happens.

You know, it's you think, God, I'm following you.

You mean it's not easy?

You mean if I believe and I walk by faith and I'm obedient?

No.

For Joseph, it started at 17 and he ends up in a pit betrayed by his brothers.

Then he rises and he's a slave, and as a slave, he's faithful and obedient, and he refuses to sleep with the guy's wife, and so he gets falsely accused, and then he ends up in jail, and you know, he's he has a great attitude and uses his gifts, and pretty soon he's supervising the jail, he interprets some dreams, and then they forget him.

I mean, imagine, let's not make this a Bible story.

Imagine having a dream in your heart, something you're sure God spoke to you about.

And it's like, really?

I'm like, when is this gonna happen?

I mean, how long?

I mean, think think of back for some of you are 17, and some of you can remember what it was like to be 17.

I mean, 17 to 30 is like I'm I'm thinking there's some days where he thought, maybe I should have just slept with his wife, things would have gone better.

You know, God, I feel lost.

I feel like you've abandoned me.

But by the grace of God, he remains faithful.

And what you're gonna find is that as you trace his life, there's certain tests that God gives to him.

And by the way, this case study of his life, every test that Joseph has, you and I following Jesus will have the same tests.

And by the way, here's what's different, right?

In in school, whether it's high school or college or graduate school, or you know, you take tests in your business and your life at work.

God's tests are different.

His desire is that everyone gets an A on every test.

In other words, he wants you to pass.

I mean, he wants to give you the answers.

I want you to pass, because as you pass, those objectives get really fulfilled in your life and through your life.

So I just I just gave you the kind of the list of tests.

And in chapter 37, Joseph has the test of the family of origin, and so will you, and so did I.

Some of you came from really great, wonderful homes, and some from really challenging homes.

Here's the deal: your dad and mom weren't Jesus.

So they weren't perfect, so that means they had issues and they passed on their issues to you, and my parents passed on my issues, as Ryan will tell you, and he will pass them on to his kids.

The family of origin test is to know your family of origin shapes you.

It doesn't have to define you.

God has a bigger plan, and he'll use even the challenges from your childhood when you turn to him and trust him to do some of the best and biggest things.

The second is the morality test, chapter 39.

He's sexually tempted and he runs.

He passes the test.

Mark this down.

Sexual purity is a prerequisite to experience God's power, to hear his voice, and to know his way.

Let me say that again.

Sexual purity is a prerequisite for experiencing God's power and for hearing his voice.

Sex outside of a marriage relationship is a false intimacy.

And whether it's through pornography or whether it's sleeping around or whatever form, God wants higher and God wants better.

And the world wants to suck us into a process and a journey.

God says, I need you to be sexually pure so that you can hear my voice.

There's nothing worse than living one foot in the world and one foot, you know, with following God and that tension and that guilt that just keeps coming up and down.

So God says, that's a test we need to pass.

The third test is the identity test.

You know, he's an entitled sort of, I'm better than anyone else with his brothers and gets rejected.

Then he becomes a slave, and then he becomes a convicted rapist.

And each time he had to pass the identity test, people will label you.

They'll label you at work, they'll label you in your community, you grow up and they'll label you, you're this, you're that.

God says the identity test is you need to see yourself the way I see you.

You are my precious son or daughter.

I love you just for you.

I bought you, I chose you, I ransomed you, I sealed you, I deposited gifts, I got a plan for you, I'm sovereign, I'm with you, and I don't care what anybody else says, that's how I see you.

And the identity test is learning to see yourself the way God sees you.

And then you have the waiting test, and Ryan talked about that last week.

And the waiting test is simply this God's timing versus your timing.

And it's hard, right?

I don't know about you.

I was talking outside to um Camellia's husband, Camilla's husband, and um I guess we both have in common.

I want it now.

I want to do it now.

I want to, you know, all those years that I spent in school, it's like, God, I don't want to be in school.

I'm gonna get out on the field, I want to make a difference, I want to go.

I didn't realize I wasn't ready.

I didn't, I needed things to learn.

My character needed to be developed.

And I didn't know that God, when we're waiting, he's not only changing you, but he's preparing places and people for you.

He's got it under control.

And then there's the preparation test, and that's what we're gonna see with Joseph.

See, what you find is that all 13 years, Joseph wasn't whining and complaining that this isn't fair.

Uh, why did you let me do this?

Why am I still here?

Uh, if you gave me that dream, why is it not happening?

How come other people are doing well?

And instead, the preparation test is wherever God has you, you positively lean in and say, I might want to be somewhere else.

I'd like this to happen sooner, but until it does, today I'm in the center of God's will, and I will be God's man or God's woman or God's student right where I am.

So do what you need to do in me and do what you want to do through me.

And when you do that, then you're ready when opportunity knocks.

And then finally, this is a spoiler alert this is the success test.

Uh, what we're gonna find as we as we read this, and some of you know the story, is that Joseph will actually interpret the dream, and then Joseph will do a number of very humble things.

He will basically say, only God can interpret these dreams, um, but I'll I will do whatever he says.

And then he gives some wise counsel.

He's very administratively gifted, and he says, you know, let me let me tell you, this is how it goes.

Um, Pharaoh, uh, the two dreams are one and the same.

And when you read the text, I'm gonna narrate part of it.

The reason it's said twice is God has firmly decided that this is going to happen.

So here's what it means.

The first seven years, you're gonna have abundance like never before in Egypt.

I mean, you're gonna have more grain than you could ever imagine.

There's gonna be blessing in every area.

And then the next seven years, there's going to be one of the most severe famines that ever occur in Egypt.

That's what your dream means.

And then, because of his administrative gifts, we all we all think and flow out of how we're made.

He obviously has great administrative gifts because he keeps getting promoted to run things.

And he and so he here's your counsel.

Let Pharaoh find someone who's wise and discerning, and then it's specific.

Uh, for the next seven years, take one-fifth of all the grain that comes in and store it very specifically in all the various cities and and come up with a very clear plan.

And then once you have organized that in all those cities, one fifth, then the next seven years you'll have enough that when there's nothing, you can have this grain, it will sustain the people in the cities.

And Pharaoh, you continue to read this maybe a little bit on your own.

Pharaoh goes, Well, how can we find such a discerning man?

I'm not exactly sure where or when or how, but wow, seems like if you gave that wise counsel, maybe you're the discerning man.

And then what you see is he goes, Okay, I'm going to make you in charge of all of Egypt.

And then some of these symbols, you get a signet ring that's for power, and you're going to have a robe put upon you that tells you you have a completely new identity, and a gold thing around your neck that says you're second in command.

And then you ride in the number two chariot, and everyone's going to cheer you.

And Moses is going to experience after 13 years of I'm a slave, I'm a convicted rapist, I'm a forgotten person, I'm a guy that needs a shave to even get out in front of public.

He's going to be wealthy, he's going to be powerful, he's going to be successful, he's going to have position, and they're even going to throw in a wife, and he's going to have a couple kids, and he's going to name his kids, wow.

God actually has caused me to forget all the pain that I've been through.

And then the second kid is, God has given me favor basically beyond my wildest imagination.

Here's the deal.

Jot down in your notes, Proverbs 27, 21.

It says, The furnace, the crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the man is tested by the praises given him.

In other words, the the crucible or a furnace, what?

It's heat that brings out the impurities to see the quality of the metal.

When you receive position or power or money or great esteem, and you get a lot of praise from people, how you respond will tell you a lot about who you really are.

As one of my friends who works in a world where there's lots of money with not just millions, but with B's per billion, he said, for every hundred people that can handle adversity and still walk with God, there's on less than one hand the people that can get great success, receive a lot of money and still walk with God.

Because there's something that's seducing about power, there's something about money that it just causes you little by little, it's powerful, and you just start to wander, wander, and to drift.

And it is very, very challenging.

Jesus made it clear, it's challenging for a rich man or a rich woman to enter the kingdom of God because you're so independent.

You don't need people.

You have so many options, and it seduces us away from our love for Christ.

Notice Joseph passes the test.

Two years of waiting in verse 1, the two dreams that Pharaoh has in verses 2 through 8.

Joseph interprets the dreams in verses 15 to 24.

And then in verses 25 to 32, he tells him the advice all the way up to verse 36.

And here's something I want you to see.

I want you to actually read this.

Where I stopped, remember?

Was in verse 15.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, I had a dream, and no one can interpret it, but I have heard it said that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.

Notice his response.

Look at you, you should be looking either in your phone or your Bible rather than at me.

Are you there?

I cannot do it, Joseph replied to Pharaoh.

But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.

Now at this point, he's Joseph hasn't heard the dreams.

Who does he give the credit to?

It took 13 years.

When he was 17, who was the center of his world?

Who was arrogant?

Who was the dreamer?

Who thought he was better than other people?

After 13 years of these adversities of the zigzag line, he understood God is on the throne.

I have gifts, I have an ability, I'm only a steward of them.

Notice too, he's developed something called faith.

He hasn't even heard the dreams, and he looks Pharaoh in the eye and says, God will reveal to you what the dreams mean.

You've got to remember that, like if he's wrong, he's dead.

See, he was prepared.

His opportunity locked, and then he stepped into it.

Pharaoh then tells his dream.

Joseph interprets it, the plan seemed good to him.

In verse 37, can we find anyone in whom the Spirit of God dwells?

Then he says to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to you, therefore no one is as discerning and wise as you.

You shall be in charge of my palace, all my people are submitted to your orders, but only with respect to the throne will it be greater than you.

When opportunity knocks, you need to be ready.

And the way we get ready is to really be prepared and understand what God is doing.

He gives advice, and then after the preparation and the humility, he ends up with position, authority, wealth, wife, children, a purpose, and another huge spoiling alert.

He saves not only the nation of Egypt, he saves the Israelites and all the known earth at the time.

The famine is so great they come.

And God uses this man in this way because for 13 years he was leaning into God's personal agenda, those objectives.

And so what I want to do with the rest of our time is take some lessons from Joseph's life that are for us.

It's on the back page of your notes.

Lesson number one is God is always working even when we can't see it.

In verse 23 of this chapter, Joseph is in prison and Pharaoh has a dream.

God's working by giving Pharaoh a dream, and he's working, and Joseph is still waiting.

Joseph doesn't know that's happening.

God is working for you right now.

He's always working.

And Romans 8.28 is that God, we know that he works all things for the good for those of you that are the call, that love him, that are walking with him.

He's going to take all the circumstance, all the people, all the ups, all the downs, all the changes in the economy, all the new technology, all the things you face.

And if you are one of those people saying, I'm in, I'm gonna stay in your school of faith, I want to follow you.

It's hard, doesn't seem fair, seems like a zigzag.

Gosh, this person broke up with me.

I I should have been promoted.

That person was promoted.

A sovereign God who knows all things, who is all wise, who has all power, and you're his child, is working for you all the time, even when you can't see it.

He's working in your character, he's developing your faith, he's developing your relationships, and he's developing circumstances.

He's doing something somewhere with some other people and some other places they're not ready for you yet.

But you just don't know that.

We lived in Atlanta for some time, and at one point, living on the edge is the nonprofit that I have the privilege of being a part of.

And we teach God's word and we train pastors, and we're reaching the next generation.

But we were in a moment where we had just kind of gotten on our own for just a few years and barely making it every month, like, oh Lord, bring in enough money to pay for our staff.

And we realized to scale, to take a big step, we needed, you know, a significant gift from somewhere.

And our chairman has a lot of faith, and he said, you know what?

God can do the impossible.

Let's pray that the Lord will bring a million-dollar gift to the ministry.

That would help us to.

So we started praying that.

Prayed it for a year.

Prayed it for another year.

And then we got, I got a message, an email from an attorney that said, so-and-so in some place has done something and you need to check it out.

And I thought, is this like fishing?

Is this a scam?

So I I sent it to the kind of people at the office, and you need to check this out.

And so they contacted that attorney, and that attorney said, This man's name.

This man has died.

He's in Las Vegas.

He was a he was a dentist, a cosmetic dentist, and and um he's left you all$1.5 million along with an airplane hanger.

And you know, like, yeah, right.

I said, We he's never given us a gift.

We don't have his name anywhere.

And we searched and we found out, and this is crazy.

Uh, I was doing an event, I don't know, seven, eight years earlier, and it was in a city, it was a weekend event, and I have a friend who works for Morgan Stanley, did at the time in the finance world, and he was his financial planner, and he was sharing Christ with this guy, and we were kind of near Las Vegas, wherever we did this event, and he said, Why don't you come with me this weekend?

And so they came, and this guy listened all weekend, and on Saturday night, he trusted Christ.

He followed Jesus.

We never heard from him, he never gave us a gift, but God did something in his heart, and while we were over here praying and waiting and needing this, God was working in his heart, and isn't that a great story?

Do you realize God's doing that right now for some of you?

He's preparing something that you can't see, but you get discouraged.

You have to remember he's always working.

The second lesson is delays don't mean you've done something wrong.

Proverbs 69 says, the mind of a man or the mind of a woman, right?

You plan your way.

You're supposed to.

Here's where I am, this is what we need to do.

I have a plan for our marriage, I have a plan for our kids, I have a plan for my work.

The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes and directs our steps.

But sometimes there's a delay, right?

God, you know, this is the plan, and and and nothing's happening.

I've had times where I would be praying, God, I'm following you.

Why am I still single?

God, why do I why am I in this dead end job?

God, I I'm spiritually stuck.

I mean, I don't get it.

Um, why are my plans so frustrated?

Why is this so slow?

God's delays, if you're not careful, you can begin to think that you did something wrong.

Or maybe you didn't really hear from God.

Uh, one of the early times for Teresa and me, uh, it was during seminary, it was my had one year of seminary left, and we were broke.

And I had this job where I was sort of managing a small uh janitorial company, which sometimes meant doing the floors myself.

And uh I went away on vacation and we lost a couple big accounts, and the owner was a good friend, and he came to me and said, Look, it is a very small company, there's only enough money for one person in these roles, and I own the company, so I will have the money, and you need to find something else.

And so it was like, oh wow.

So a door opened to this little church out in the country, 30 miles outside of uh Dallas, with 35 people in a super rural area in a world that if I could ever choose a world not to go to, this would be it.

And I don't mean this badly, but you know, there were guns in the back of pickup trucks, all the all the youth had a big hole, a circle in the back of their jeans, and they'd carry around Coke bottles, but instead of drinking out of them, they would spit in them.

And for some of you, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

It's called skull.

And you put it right in here, and you and you and you spit all the time, and it's tobacco.

And and the N-word was like just normal, and I just thought, what where have you brought me?

Oh God, you know, I grew up in suburbs, and this was new.

Number one, I had to learn I had prejudice against various people groups, and this was a people group, you know, the John Deere Hack guys, and and um and God wanted to do something in my heart.

And so we uh, you know, when you're broke, you know, any door is a door to walk through.

And so uh, you know, I didn't share this in the first service, but since my wife's here, we went out to visit it.

Ryan was 18 months old and he climbed up on this jungle gym, and I thought, oh my gosh, he's gonna kill himself.

But he actually did that a lot growing up.

And uh so we went to see the opportunity.

And outside of outside of the little place was a white schoolhouse with not any facilities or anything, and that was the church.

And so we drove back to Dallas and we stopped at this place to have Chinese food to talk about this opportunity.

And we sat down and Teresa looked at me and just started bawling, please don't take me there, please don't take me there.

And she was right.

I mean, it was like, are you kidding me?

And uh for the next eight years we learned um how to be a pastor, but I had to make a five-year commitment because apparently it uh they had about eight different full-time or part-time pastors in the last five years, and so they wanted a commitment.

So we committed, and then after five years, it was like, you know, the people were loving, they really helped us.

You know, we mushroomed up to like a hundred people, you know, or maybe 120 or something, you know, maybe a little bit, and it's making some progress.

And I was just, I mean, I'm putting resumes out.

I've did my five years, and God, would you open the door?

Open a door.

I was completely frustrated.

I, this is not where I want to be.

I didn't go through school, a bunch of school that I didn't want to go to, in order to end up in a rural, tiny community, and there's 16 churches within a mile, and they can hear about Jesus.

God, this, please, please.

And literally, I remember thinking, God, have you forgotten my name?

And some of the leadership literature talks about in scripture there's a test of obscurity.

There's a test where God places you someplace where He needs to do a lot of work in you that you don't see.

And um I didn't leave after year five.

God slammed every door, and I finally came to the point where I will please don't answer this prayer.

I will stay here and I will give it my very best, and I will have a positive, godly, thankful attitude until you move me, and I will learn whatever you want me to learn here.

In years six, seven, and eight, the church went in that town of 3,000 to almost 500.

The churches partnered together and we solved the whole issue of foster care.

We built a foster home.

Blacks and whites began to worship together, and we had a gymnasium and we had a place that God did more in six, seven, eight than he did in the first three.

And I learned how to be a pastor.

And Santa Cruz wasn't quite ready, but things happened there during those years that allowed the alignment.

And Santa Cruz Bible Church was not only one of the sweetest, maybe one of the best seasons of ministry, but everything I've pretty much done in all the years after, the roots of it, the core of it, got birthed.

When Teresa and I spent 12 and a half years in Santa Cruz at Santa Cruz Bible.

Delays don't mean you've done something wrong.

God is at work.

What are you doing?

And that's the next one.

The third is that faithfulness where God has you is the prerequisite for experiencing his plan for you.

Underline the word prerequisite.

Luke 16, 10.

When you are in a place that, like God, where are you?

There's two responses.

Response number one is to whine, to blame, to drift, to be anger, to compare, to lose heart, and just do the minimum to get by until God does something.

I don't like this job, I should have been promoted, this isn't fair, I can't believe it.

Right?

And then you're kind of half-hearted, you know, they were promoted, I'm smarter, he's getting more playing time, I'm a better player.

You you just name it.

That's one response.

The other response is this may not be fair, but these people don't have control of my life.

That boss, that coach, this organization does not have control.

The king of heaven who created the universe, I'm personally connected to him.

And he has me in his school of faith.

And I want to know him better.

I want my character to be developed.

I want him to greatly use me, and I want to be the man or the woman he wants me to be to fulfill the destiny he has for me.

So I'm gonna get up today until he changes my circumstance, and I'm gonna be like Joseph.

I'm gonna lean in, I'm gonna trust God, I'm gonna have a great attitude.

And guess what?

Joseph, everywhere he went, what happened?

He got promoted.

But what was he learning?

A set of skills, yet competence, and what?

Dependency.

His character was being developed.

See, Luke 16, 10, he who is faithful in a very little thing, this is Jesus speaking, will be faithful also in much.

But he or she who is unfaithful in a very little thing will be unrighteous also in much.

Your faithfulness today in the little thing or where you are is the preparation and the prerequisite for God promoting you to the next place.

Now, do you know what the topic was when Jesus taught this?

Anybody?

You can yell it out.

Okay, good.

I'll tell you then.

The little thing in this context is money.

He's talking to Pharisees who are greedy and their money is about them.

And so he teaches about money, and then it says, if you can't be faithful in a little thing, like putting God first in money, by being generous with your money, by tracking your money, by being a good steward of your money, then you'll be faithless in big things.

And the big things are like being the conduit of changing people's life and their eternity.

How can I trust you with wisdom?

How can I trust you with a position?

How can I trust you with influence and affluence?

If you can't be faithful to me in money, you won't be faithful in big things.

And that's why the group I was around early on, they they kind of did teaching.

And I mean, I was, you know, I didn't grow up as a Christian.

I thought when I went to church, if I put 20 bucks like, you know, they used to pass a plate or something, I just thought heaven must just be going crazy and because it was better than a dollar I used to give.

And uh when I learned to give the first portion, you know, and Old New Testament, there's sort of, it's not a law anymore, but 10% is a good place to start.

And then Teresa and I graduated would we'd give more and more percentages.

Not because of o should it, it's like God owns it all.

But we wanted to be faithful in the little thing.

So a day would come where God could say, Chip, Teresa, you see the souls of these people?

You see these lives that I'm gonna entrust into your hand?

You you see that there's people in darkness that can come to light, and I'm gonna give you the stewardship and the responsibility of leading them and shepherd them.

How could I ever do that if you can't do it in a little thing like money?

And that's true of all of us.

Being faithful to the little things, where you're at.

I mean I mean, it was hard for me.

I I had a hard time getting up.

But for some of us, right?

You you don't have any problem checking your Instagram.

You don't have any problem scrolling.

You don't, you know, your your phone's in your back pocket.

And I and yet I'll tell people tell me, I don't have time to read the Bible.

I mean, I mean, by the way, this is not a guilt trip.

This is that if you don't take in God's truth, you don't hear from him.

Jesus said, man won't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

And we didn't have, you know, phones like you all have and I have now, but unlike a lot of people, I like to eat breakfast.

I mean, I love to eat breakfast.

And I was so undisciplined, I finally got to where no Bible, no breakfast.

Guess what?

I got in the Bible every day.

You know, or or think of something you really love.

And and by the way, if it's a drag at first, if you don't quite understand it at first, you know what?

God will so honor, you will learn, you will grow.

There's lots of resources here and other places.

But of all the things Teresa and I have done, and you know, yeah, I got pushed and I had to take, you know, Hebrew and Greek and theology.

I would trade all of that for what a bricklayer taught me.

And what he taught me is, Chip, God wants to meet with you.

Make an appointment every morning and meet with him, even if it's only 20 minutes, meet with him before anything.

And then say, Lord, together, let's face this day.

Let's face the test I'm gonna have, the hard meeting, let's face the challenge in my marriage.

And as you do that, God looks down from heaven and says, You know what?

This son or this daughter that I'm so proud of, they're listening to me, and their values and their priorities because of what they do, first things with their money, they actually think.

I'm more important and I'm more wise than the latest purchase.

And as they do that, the plans that I have for them are exceedingly abundantly beyond what they could ever ask or think.

And see, that's what Joseph learned.

I think for those uh those of you in the football world, there was a six-round draft choice who was behind two other quarterbacks, but apparently had an amazing work ethic.

And um he's playing, you know, back up, back up for the Patriots, and one quarterback goes down, and another quarterback goes down, and you know, he just kept working and working and working.

And then finally Tom Brady got a shot.

And once he became the quarterback and got his shot, a lowly sixth-round pick, he became the greatest quarterback of all time.

Because opportunity knocked, and he was ready.

How about you?

Are you doing the things today that prepare you to receive for the future?

The final one is where God is exalted, his favor follows.

Um here you notice that Joseph gives God the credit.

And did you notice, too, he said, you need to find a man who's wise who could pull this off?

Did you notice he didn't volunteer?

Did you notice he didn't promote himself?

I mean, I I don't know about you, but after 13 years, if I got in front of the most powerful person in the world and I said, hey, this is the dream.

And by the way, I have a candidate, and I think he's really good.

And have I told you what I did, you know, like like in the prison system?

And did I let me tell you, get Potiphar in here a little testimony?

I'm really good at this, and what see, he's learned.

Leave those big decisions to God.

Let God promote you.

Psalm 75, 5 through 7 says, Do not lift up your horn on high.

Don't be arrogant, for not from the east or the west or from the desert.

But God puts down one and promotes another.

The sovereign hand of an all-wise, all-knowing God knows the right time, the right place to put you exactly where he is.

But he's looking for a humble, godly, sensitive, Christ-centered follower so that when he gives you the success that would bless others, you would be the kind of steward that would handle it well.

But everywhere his favor comes and where he's exalted, um, the Lord works.

God wants, are you ready?

The disposition of God, you know, the definition of his goodness is that God, not because of something we've done, the definition of the goodness of God is that in his nature, he has a predisposition to long to bless, exalt, and help, just, you know, like a father on his very best day, who'd want to give the very best to his children.

We get that from God.

And he says, the psalmist in Psalm 84 says, The Lord is a son and a shield.

The Lord gives grace and glory.

That means I want to come underneath of you, I want to help you, I want to multiply it, I want you to have great favor.

He says, No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

And what I would say as we close is that uh you never graduate from God's school of faith.

Uh final word here.

This was seven years ago, and uh I had a chance, it was called a Blue Med Conference, and it was all the um I I didn't go for a couple years because it just sounded like a weird name, but apparently Malta was a safe place for Arab leaders, mission organizations, pastors, whole denominations.

All the Arab leaders and all the Middle East would come to Malta for some training that were Christians, because it was illegal and a lot of their countries were very, very dangerous.

And I got asked to be the speaker, and we had some information for them and Romans that was translated, and and when I was preparing, Teresa did something unusual.

She says, I was praying, I'm supposed to go with you.

I said, Well, this is, you know, we're gonna go to Egypt afterwards, and if you think I mean it was really dangerous then, and then Jordan, and I said, I, you know, I don't think this is a really good idea.

She goes, Well, God spoke to me, so I've learned to say, okay.

And so I taught there, and then we went out in the kind of boom docks and did a thing for pastors in Egypt.

And you know, there's a SUV behind you and one in front of you, and a guy in the front seat that had a briefcase with a machine gun in it, and it was like, you know.

And um out of that trip we came back, and you know, Teresa's very kind.

She says, You know, I've listened, you speak a lot, and I still, you know, after 40 some years, still appreciate that, which is really good if you're the husband.

But she goes, I've never seen God use you the way he did there.

I think he's up to something.

And I said, Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm gonna, I was 64 at the time, and I thought, you know, probably in a few years, um, I'll talk with the elders.

We have a transition plan, and being the bold, loving wife, she says, Well, in our 40s, you could say in a few years, we're in our sixth decade.

If God's up to something, I think you better act.

And I'm thinking, oh, wait, look, I'm I'm 64.

I'm not sure this is, you know, I said, you know, that church, venture church, they actually pay me a salary.

And if I leave, guess what?

They don't pay that salary anymore, you know, like and again, you know, God and the Holy Spirit sound a lot like Teresa at times.

And she said, When have we ever taken a great step of faith?

And God not provide.

See, some of you that are plus fifty, or even plus sixty, and you think, well, you know, I've kind of done my deal.

Um Harvard study says the most impactful decade of your life will be your 60s, the second most impactful is your 70s, and the third most impactful is your 50s.

And that was when we left Venture Christian to be full-time with living on the edge and follow what God showed us to do.

And honestly, the first three or four years, it was not very easy.

It was very challenging.

And um, I just got a had a big board meeting, and I found out over the last five years that we uh have had the privilege in country of training 500,000 pastors throughout all of India, Africa, Latin America, Malaysia.

And we would have missed that.

And God has provided.

If you could get just a snapshot of the exceedingly abundantly amazing things that your heavenly father wants to do, um that you would be so all in.

And Joseph says be prepared.

There's some questions on the back that I encourage you, especially if you have a friend or a mate or if you're in a small group, to ask yourself, which of these tests have I passed?

Which of these am I in?

And which of these am I kind of struggling with?

And maybe I maybe I get connected and maybe here so that I pass.

Lord, thank you that you want us all to get an A, and that your plans are better than our wildest and best dreams.

We help us trust you.

Amen.

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