Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / The Bumpy Road To Better - Bishop T.D. Jakes

Transcript

The Bumpy Road To Better - Bishop T.D. Jakes · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

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  Speaker 1: But it's ministry time as we turn our attention and
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  Speaker 1: our hearts to the word of the Lord. I won't
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  Speaker 1: be pretentious. I was inspired. I was watching something that
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  Speaker 1: really got my attention and it drove me to the
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  Speaker 1: 42nd chapter of the book of Genesis. And I just
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  Speaker 1: started reading and decided to share with you. I almost
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  Speaker 1: didn't title it at all. I just wanted to go
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  Speaker 1: through the entire chapter and I'm going to move as
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  Speaker 1: quickly as I can. But if I don't get finished,
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  Speaker 1: I'll come back Wednesday night and do it. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to talk the bumpy road to better. The bumpy road
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  Speaker 1: to better. A lot of people teach about better as
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  Speaker 1: if it were magic, as if it would happen simply
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  Speaker 1: or easily. You could come up for prayer and somebody
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  Speaker 1: could anoint you with oil or lay hands on you.
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  Speaker 1: and convey their spirit upon you without going through the
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  Speaker 1: process that they went through. But in reality, it's not
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  Speaker 1: that simple. As I've traveled around the world, many of
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  Speaker 1: the times that I've had people come up and say,
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  Speaker 1: I want a double portion of your spirit. And I say,
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  Speaker 1: do you want a double portion of my trouble? Because
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  Speaker 1: you can't get a double portion of my spirit until
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  Speaker 1: you can stand a double portion of my troubles. what's
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  Speaker 1: the problem with Elijah's request he was asking for a
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  Speaker 1: simple solution to a journey long term issue that Elijah
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  Speaker 1: said if you can take this journey and see me
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  Speaker 1: when I'm taken up I'll give you the double portion
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  Speaker 1: but I can't give a double portion to somebody that's
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  Speaker 1: not going to walk this thing out say amen somebody
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  Speaker 1: So we're going tonight, last Sunday, I was talking to
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  Speaker 1: you about the patriarchs and the role that they played
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  Speaker 1: in the foundation of the Judaistic understanding of faith and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Jehovahistic understanding of faith. The Hebrew understanding of faith itself
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  Speaker 1: is built upon Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I talked quite
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  Speaker 1: a bit about Isaac as he is often underserved. And
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  Speaker 1: tonight we're going to talk about Jacob, Jacob and his family.
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  Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about it in the 42nd
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  Speaker 1: chapter of the book of Genesis. You need not stand
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  Speaker 1: because we've got too many verses to read. You'll be
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  Speaker 1: standing a long, long time. But when you have it,
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  Speaker 1: say amen. Look at somebody and say the bumpy road
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  Speaker 1: to better. Now I'm going to read straight through it
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  Speaker 1: and then I'm going to come back and pick it apart.
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  Speaker 1: I want to pay particularly close attention to certain aspects
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  Speaker 1: of it and we'll go back to the top after
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  Speaker 1: I read the whole chapter. Now when Jacob saw that
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  Speaker 1: there was no corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons,
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  Speaker 1: why do you look one upon another? And he said, behold,
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  Speaker 1: I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get
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  Speaker 1: you down there and buy for us from thence that
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  Speaker 1: we may live and not die. And Joseph's 10 brethren
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  Speaker 1: went down to buy corn in Egypt. What did they
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  Speaker 1: go for? They went to buy corn in Egypt. They
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  Speaker 1: were going to buy it. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob
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  Speaker 1: sent not with his brethren. The old man didn't send Benjamin.
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  Speaker 1: For he said, lest for adventure mischief befall him. And
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  Speaker 1: the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those
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  Speaker 1: that came for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
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  Speaker 1: And Joseph was the governor over the land and he
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  Speaker 1: it was that sold to all the people of the
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  Speaker 1: land and Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before
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  Speaker 1: him with their faces to the earth. Oh, it's getting
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  Speaker 1: prophetic now. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them,
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  Speaker 1: but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them.
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  Speaker 1: And he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said,
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  Speaker 1: From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph
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  Speaker 1: knew his brethren, but they knew him not. And Joseph
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  Speaker 1: remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said
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  Speaker 1: unto them, Ye are spies to see the nakedness of
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  Speaker 1: the land ye are come. And they said unto him, nay,
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  Speaker 1: my Lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
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  Speaker 1: We are all one man's sons. We are true men.
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  Speaker 1: Thy servants are no spies. Let's go back to this
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  Speaker 1: and take it from the top. I'm kind of confused
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  Speaker 1: because I think there's a little bit more to that
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  Speaker 1: I wanted. Did we get to the end of the chapter?
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  Speaker 1: I don't think we got to the end of the chapter.
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  Speaker 1: So let's go on down. And he said unto them, Nay,
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  Speaker 1: but to see the nakedness of the land, ye are come.
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  Speaker 1: I'll pick up there. Keep going. Verse 13. And they said,
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  Speaker 1: Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man
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  Speaker 1: in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is
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  Speaker 1: this day with our father, and one is not. Uh-huh. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't know they were standing in front of him,
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  Speaker 1: but one is not. And Joseph said unto them, that
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  Speaker 1: is it that I speak unto you, ye are spies.
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  Speaker 1: Hereby ye shall be proved by the life of Pharaoh.
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  Speaker 1: Ye shall not go forth hence except your youngest brother
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  Speaker 1: come thither. Send one of you and let him fetch
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  Speaker 1: your brother and ye shall be kept in prison that
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  Speaker 1: your words may be proved whether there be any truth
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  Speaker 1: in you or else by the life of Pharaoh surely
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  Speaker 1: ye are spies. And he put them all together into
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  Speaker 1: ward three days, locked them up in prison. And Joseph
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  Speaker 1: said unto them the third day, the third day, this
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  Speaker 1: do and live for I fear God. If ye be
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  Speaker 1: true men, let one of your brethren be bound in
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  Speaker 1: the house of your prison. Go ye carry corn for
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  Speaker 1: the famine of your houses. But bring your youngest brother
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  Speaker 1: unto me. So shall your words be verified and ye
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  Speaker 1: shall not die. And they did so. And they said
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  Speaker 1: one to another, we are barely guilty concerning our brother
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  Speaker 1: in that we saw the anguish of his soul when
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  Speaker 1: he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore is
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  Speaker 1: this distress come upon us. In other words, we're getting
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  Speaker 1: what we deserve because of the evil we had done
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  Speaker 1: when we were younger. And Reuben answered them saying, spake
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  Speaker 1: I not unto you saying do not sin against the
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  Speaker 1: child and ye would not hear. Therefore behold also his
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  Speaker 1: blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood
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  Speaker 1: them for he spake unto them by an interpreter. Uh-huh, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And he turned himself about from them and wept and
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  Speaker 1: returned to them again and communed with them and took
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  Speaker 1: from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes. Then
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  Speaker 1: Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn and to
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  Speaker 1: restore every man's money into his sack and to give
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  Speaker 1: them provisions for the way. And thus did he unto them.
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  Speaker 1: And they laid their asses with the corn and departed thence.
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  Speaker 1: And as one of them opened his sack to give
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  Speaker 1: his ass provender in the end, he expired his money.
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  Speaker 1: For behold, it was in his sack's mouth. And he
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  Speaker 1: said unto his brethren, my money is restored. And lo,
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  Speaker 1: it is even in my sack. And their hearts failed him.
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  Speaker 1: And they were afraid, saying one to another, what is
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  Speaker 1: this that God hath done unto us? They had gone
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  Speaker 1: to buy. And they had got what they bought, but
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  Speaker 1: they also got their money back. Which means it could
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  Speaker 1: have looked like they stole it. And they were afraid.
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  Speaker 1: that this might be an international crisis between Egypt and Israel.
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  Speaker 1: And they came unto Jacob, their father, unto the land
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  Speaker 1: of Canaan, for it had not yet been called Israel,
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  Speaker 1: the land had not, and told him all that befell
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  Speaker 1: unto them, saying, the man who is the Lord of
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  Speaker 1: the land spake roughly to us and took us for
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  Speaker 1: spies of the country. And we said unto him, we
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  Speaker 1: are true men, we are no spies. We be 12 brethren,
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  Speaker 1: sons of our father. One is not, and the youngest
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  Speaker 1: is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
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  Speaker 1: And the man, and the man, the Lord of the
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  Speaker 1: country said unto us, hereby shall I know that ye
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  Speaker 1: are true men. Leave one of your brethren here with
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  Speaker 1: me and take for food for the famine of your
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  Speaker 1: households and be gone. And bring your youngest brother unto me,
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  Speaker 1: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but
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  Speaker 1: that ye are true men. So will I deliver you
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  Speaker 1: your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land. And
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  Speaker 1: it came to pass, and it came to pass, and
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  Speaker 1: it came to pass. As they emptied their sacks, that behold,
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  Speaker 1: every man's bundle of money was in his sacks. And
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  Speaker 1: when both they and their father saw the bundles of money,
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  Speaker 1: they were hurt. afraid and Jacob their father said unto
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  Speaker 1: them me have you bereaved of my children now I
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  Speaker 1: want you to listen closely to what Jacob says Jacob
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  Speaker 1: says me have you bereaved bereavement grieved of my children
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  Speaker 1: Joseph is not he's already dead And Simeon is not.
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  Speaker 1: You left him in Egypt and ye will take Benjamin away?
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  Speaker 1: All these things are against me. And Reuben spake unto
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  Speaker 1: his father saying, slay my two sons if I bring
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  Speaker 1: him not to thee. Deliver him into my hand and
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  Speaker 1: I will bring him to thee again. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: my son shall not go down with you for his
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  Speaker 1: brother is dead and he is left alone. If mischief
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  Speaker 1: befall him by the way in the which he go,
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  Speaker 1: then shall you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow
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  Speaker 1: to the grave. The bumpy road to better life. Now,
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  Speaker 1: we are entering into this text at a time in
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  Speaker 1: Jacob's life that this is not a comprehensive discussion of
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  Speaker 1: Jacob because we are introduced to Jacob in the womb
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  Speaker 1: of his mother. He is struggling in the womb of
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  Speaker 1: his mother. We watch him as he grows as a
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  Speaker 1: boy and cheats Esau out of his birthright. We watch
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  Speaker 1: him mature into a young man and on a mountain
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  Speaker 1: called Peniel, wrestles with God. We watch Jacob find a
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  Speaker 1: place called Bethel, the house of God, and then later
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  Speaker 1: come back and call it El Bethel, the God of
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  Speaker 1: the house. And we watch him grow, but he is now...
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  Speaker 1: An old man. His sons have grown to manhood. They
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  Speaker 1: have had a family that has withstood much sorrow. They
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  Speaker 1: have had tests and trials along the way. Jacob has
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  Speaker 1: married the love of his life and he has also
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  Speaker 1: been married to Leah. Leah was the way he was
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  Speaker 1: tricked by Laban. And he has birthed children by both
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  Speaker 1: Leah and Rachel and a concubine. And he has 12 sons.
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  Speaker 1: He has lost those women. They're gone. He has lost Rachel,
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  Speaker 1: the love of his life. He has lost Joseph. They
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  Speaker 1: have brought back the bloody coats of sin from Israel.
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  Speaker 1: The coat of many colors that he has made for
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  Speaker 1: his beloved son. And he has lost him. You don't
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  Speaker 1: get old without having suffered loss. Yeah. Every year brings
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  Speaker 1: some sort of challenge with it. There is a certain
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  Speaker 1: sobriety that comes upon you with age. Because as you
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  Speaker 1: go along the way, you gain some things later. and
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  Speaker 1: you lose some things. You win some battles and you
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  Speaker 1: lose some battles. And wisdom develops in the life of
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  Speaker 1: those who have capitalized on their pain to draw conclusions.
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  Speaker 1: And young people are amazed at your wisdom, but if
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  Speaker 1: you keep living, if you keep living, wisdom will teach
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  Speaker 1: you a few things. It will It will speak to
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  Speaker 1: you about some things. It will cause you to understand
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  Speaker 1: some things. Now, Jacob is an old man, and of
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  Speaker 1: what is left of his family, he has managed to
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  Speaker 1: hold them together. And they still respect him, though they
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  Speaker 1: are grown men with children themselves. And when we enter
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  Speaker 1: into the text, there is a famine in the land.
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  Speaker 1: and Jacob has sold his sons, you will not defeat
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  Speaker 1: the famine looking at each other. Did you hear what
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  Speaker 1: I'm saying? Watch how Jacob handles the famine. Because my
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  Speaker 1: first point is the famine. And until you can deal
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  Speaker 1: with the famine, you will never get to better. Because
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  Speaker 1: the famine is a part of your journeys. How you
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  Speaker 1: react to the famine determines whether you make it to
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  Speaker 1: the food. You've got to be aggressive. You can't just
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  Speaker 1: pray against the famine. You've got to do something. Jacob
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  Speaker 1: says you can't just pray against it. You can't just
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  Speaker 1: look at each other. You can't stay in the same
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  Speaker 1: spot and do the same things that you've always done
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  Speaker 1: and expect to get a different result because we're in
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  Speaker 1: a famine and you've got to take action. And we
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  Speaker 1: don't understand that today. We don't understand the human requirement
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  Speaker 1: in the miracles of God. As much as we have
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  Speaker 1: read about the miracles of God, we walk away with
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  Speaker 1: praise to God, but absolve ourselves of human responsibility. As
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  Speaker 1: if God were going to act outside of human effort
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  Speaker 1: when God has created us to be collaborative in the miraculous. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking already. He wants us to be collaborative in
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  Speaker 1: the miraculous, that we have a responsibility to take action
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  Speaker 1: and to be aggressive about resolving issues. Just because you're
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  Speaker 1: spiritual doesn't mean you get to pray for a job
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  Speaker 1: and stay at home. I'm just going to pray if
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  Speaker 1: the Lord wants me to have the job, he'll give
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  Speaker 1: me a job. I'm just going to watch TV and
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  Speaker 1: hit the remote control and believe God for better. You'll
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  Speaker 1: never get to better if you don't get on the road.
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  Speaker 1: You got to get on the road in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of famine. They're traveling in the middle of a famine. Now,
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  Speaker 1: traveling is not fun anytime, but traveling in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of a famine is a very difficult time because the
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  Speaker 1: famine is so severe that Jacob says, if you don't move,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to die. Now, I don't know who I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking to tonight, but there are some pressures that come
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  Speaker 1: so strong that if you don't move, you're going to die.
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  Speaker 1: How could you let me die and I'm a child
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  Speaker 1: of God? You didn't move. I told you to move.
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  Speaker 1: And when God tells you to move, you got to move.
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  Speaker 1: And don't act like God has failed you when you
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  Speaker 1: have failed to move. When God says move, you have
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  Speaker 1: to take action, whether you're the prodigal son who came
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  Speaker 1: to himself, but he still had to go home. or
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  Speaker 1: whether you're the woman with the issue of blood who
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  Speaker 1: believed that Jesus could heal her, but she still had
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  Speaker 1: to crawl, or whether you're a blind-bottomed man standing by
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  Speaker 1: the highway side begging, he still had to come out
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  Speaker 1: of his coat and go toward Jesus. There is a
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  Speaker 1: human responsibility in spite of the famine. Amen. So you
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  Speaker 1: got to move in the middle of a famine, in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of a need, in the middle of a storm,
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of a crisis. And he sends his
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  Speaker 1: boys to go from Canaan to Egypt because Jacob heard
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  Speaker 1: where there was food. Don't hate on people who have
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  Speaker 1: even when you don't have. Because he didn't hate on Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: He said, I'm going to Egypt. See, we sit back
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  Speaker 1: and hate on people as if them having is our
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  Speaker 1: demise when it's not them having that is our enemy.
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  Speaker 1: It's us not moving that is our enemy. And the
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  Speaker 1: Bible says that though they didn't have any corn, they
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  Speaker 1: had money. Yeah, and people don't quote it too much,
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  Speaker 1: but the Bible also says that money is the answer
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  Speaker 1: to all things. It's the answer to all things. If
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  Speaker 1: it's a thing, money can buy it. There are some
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  Speaker 1: issues that cannot be resolved by things, but money answers
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  Speaker 1: all things. So Jacob told the boys, he gave them
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  Speaker 1: some money and said, go down to Egypt and don't
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  Speaker 1: go down there begging. We came down here to do business. Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we're spiritual people, but we know how to do business.
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  Speaker 1: We praise Jehovah, but we still know how to do business. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: y'all not saying nothing to me tonight. See, the church
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  Speaker 1: has failed its parishioners because we have been real heavy
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  Speaker 1: on the praise and real light on the business. So
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  Speaker 1: we told them to praise your way out and dance
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  Speaker 1: your way out and spin around three times and you're
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  Speaker 1: going to come out and sow a seed and you're
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  Speaker 1: going to get out. But we don't tell them that
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  Speaker 1: blessings are transactional, that there's a business element required in it.
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  Speaker 1: And we got to go back and lay some foundation
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  Speaker 1: to understand that Jacob does not go down to Egypt
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  Speaker 1: to beg. He goes down there to do business. And
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  Speaker 1: he sends his sons down there to do business. But
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  Speaker 1: wait a minute, you have to realize as we begin
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  Speaker 1: to talk about the famine, we have to understand that
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  Speaker 1: the famine is so severe that it pushes them to Egypt. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the second thing I want you to see about the
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  Speaker 1: famine is that God will use a famine to move you.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be a famine for food. It
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  Speaker 1: can be a famine for love. It can be a
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  Speaker 1: famine for peace, but in everybody's life listening at me,
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  Speaker 1: whether online or in the room, you have experienced some
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  Speaker 1: kind of famine. The famine of fatherhood, the famine of family,
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  Speaker 1: the famine of a mother's affection, the famine of a
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  Speaker 1: good job, the famine. of a nice house. All of
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  Speaker 1: us have our famines. You might not be able to
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  Speaker 1: see it because we might dress nice and spray cologne
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  Speaker 1: over top of it, but all of us live with
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  Speaker 1: some level of famine in our lives. Famine makes you
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  Speaker 1: pray and famine makes you seek God and famine makes
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  Speaker 1: you cry out and famine will make you move and
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  Speaker 1: oftentimes God will use famine as an instrument to force
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  Speaker 1: you out of your comfort zone. It is more comfortable
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  Speaker 1: to stay in Canaan but the famine will drive you out.
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  Speaker 1: It'll make you move. It'll make you get outside of
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  Speaker 1: your comfort zone. It'll make you travel. It'll put you
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  Speaker 1: on the road. Somebody say I'm on the road. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not on the road for a field trip. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: on the road joy riding. I'm on the road to better.
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  Speaker 1: I'm on the road to better. There's something I'm after.
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  Speaker 1: There's something I want to see done in my lifetime.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm tired of sitting around assessing the same old
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  Speaker 1: troubles and crying about the same old problems and going
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  Speaker 1: through the same old things. I'm tired of complaining one
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  Speaker 1: to another back and forth. Oh, ain't it bad? Yeah, child.
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  Speaker 1: It's real bad. It's so bad. I got to move
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  Speaker 1: from here. Deliver me from people who will not take
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  Speaker 1: action in the famine. And God says, action is required
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  Speaker 1: on you. You got to get on the road. And
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: that's anytime you can't rebuke it with a prayer, anytime
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: you plead the blood and it doesn't go away, anytime
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: you call on God and it still stays there, then
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: God is using the famine as an instrument to move
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: you from one place to the other. If it was
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the devil, I could rebuke it. If it were demonic warfare,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I could overcome it. But when God sends a famine
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: to make you move, it is something in his providence
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: that cannot be performed where you are, and you've got
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: to move in order to get it. And God knows
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: that some of us won't move if we're too comfortable.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Y'all aren't going to talk to me tonight. And so
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: God uses the famine to force them to move and
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: they go down to Egypt to do business. Now it
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: is interesting to note that though there is a famine
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: in Canaan, there is also a famine in this family.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: So my second point deals with the family. You have
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: to understand that this text brings out subtly, ever so
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: subtly in the text, I want to point it out
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: to you. First thing that it tells us about Jacob
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: is that Jacob sent his sons down to Egypt to buy.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: But then it mentions that he did not send Benjamin,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: lest he fall into mischief. And this is just a hidden,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: subtle reminder that Jacob doesn't totally trust his own sons. Now,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: where did this distrust come up in the culture of
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: this family? This distrust comes up into the culture of
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the family. And you can act like you don't know
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, but all of us have different
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: little things that we know about our family. That when
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: cousin so-and-so comes over, you kind of look at him
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: out the corner of your eye because you've been through
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: some things where you've learned some things. And this culture
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: has risen up in the family that the family is
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: not fruitful. And Canaan is not fruitful. And there is
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: not the comfortable loving environment of trust that would cause
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the family to be a nurturing place because Jacob remembers
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: what happened to Joseph. The last time Jacob sent one
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: of his sons out with the rest of the sons,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: he turned up missing. And there's a residue of distrust
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: in the old man with his sons that he says,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: I'm going to keep Benjamin. Now, the reason he's holding
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: on to Benjamin and he let the rest of them
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: go is that Joseph and Benjamin were born to him
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: by Rachel. And Rachel was the love of his life.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: And the reason he's holding on to Benjamin is because
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: that's all he's got left of Rachel. And he says,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: if I lose Benjamin, I'll lose all I have left
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: of the best days in my life. And sometimes we
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: hold on to things because we've been through so much
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: pain that we become possessive. Oh, y'all don't hear what
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. There's a reason you hold on to what
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: you hold on. Whether it's money or people or things,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: there's a reason you hold on to. There's a reason
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: that certain things make you mad. There's a reason that
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: you overreact in certain ways. There's a reason. That if
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: we hit certain pulse points, you respond differently than other people.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Because until you understand what I've been through back here,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: you won't understand why I'm holding on to this right here.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: What do you hold on to because of what you've
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: been through? What do you hold on to because of
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: what you've been through? For Jacob, the old man is
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: holding on to the last smell of Rachel. When he
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: holds Benjamin, it's the last reminder of a happier moment
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: in his life. And he is so afraid of losing
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Benjamin because Rachel, the barren woman, has birthed two sons
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: unto him. And one of them, Jacob, thinks is dead.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: And Benjamin is all he got left. Anytime you think
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: this is all you got left, you will hold on
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: real tightly. Whether it is true or not, you will
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: hold on real tight. If you think that this is
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the last person that will ever love you, you will
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: take stuff that you wouldn't normally take. You will go
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: through things you wouldn't normally go through. And your girlfriends
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: will tell you, if I was you, I wouldn't take that.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: And your mama told you, you need to get away
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: from there. But you keep holding on to it because
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: you've been hurt before. And anytime you've been hurt before,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: you hold on to something when you think you won't
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: get anymore. I wonder tonight how many people are holding
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: on to some sort of Benjamin in your life. holding
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: on to it out of fear, not out of love.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: He's not clutching him out of love. He's clutching him
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: out of fear. Be careful what fear will make you do.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Fear will convince you that this is your last chance,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: your last opportunity, your last moment of love, your last
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: taste and fragrance of life. Fear will make you respond
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: in disoriented ways. Fear will cause you to react in
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: a way that other people don't understand. And it is
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: the first hint that the family is dysfunctional so while
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: we have a famine on the outside there is a
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: degree of famine on the inside it has affected the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: culture of the family because there are certain incidents that
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: once they happen in the family it changes the trajectory
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of the entire family I wonder if there's anybody in
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: here who understands the words that are coming out of
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: my mouth There are certain incidents that once they happen
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: in the family, they keep coming up again. You say
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: you forgave me, but you keep bringing it up again.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: You say it's over, but you keep bringing it up again.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: You say you're not going to say nothing, but you
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: even told the kids about it. You said you weren't
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: going to do anything about it. And it comes up
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: in the way you look at me. And it comes
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: up at the dinner table. And whenever you get mad,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you reach back and get it because it has changed.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: The family has been through such a traumatic crisis that
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: it has affected the culture of Of the family itself.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: And even though they are still together, they are not together.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Have you ever been together but not been together? Have
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: you ever been with somebody but still not quite with them?
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Have you ever been with somebody you had to watch?
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Y'all not going to talk to me tonight. See, the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: old man has got his eye on him. And to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: the neighbors, it looks good. To the people across the street,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: it looks good. But if you get in the house
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and you start looking real close, you will see some
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: residue from what happened to Joseph all of those years
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: ago when they threw Joseph in the pit and they
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: came home with his bloody coat, his coat of many
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: colors and laid it out before Joseph. and told him
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: that Joseph was dead. As a father, I would rather
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: cut off my leg than lose my child. Losing a
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: child is a painful thing to do. He lost a
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: child he loved. He lost Rachel's baby. And it broke him.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: And Benjamin is all he has left. Now he gives
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: his sons, his 10 sons, because Joseph, in Jacob's mind,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: is dead. And he's holding Benjamin back in case he
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: doesn't have anything left. He says, you won't get this.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: And he sends his 10 sons down there to transact
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: business to buy corn. Now when they get down there
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: to buy corn, they have a conversation. with Joseph. Now
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Joseph's name means he will add, he will add. And
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: so when they named him, they said, Joseph, he will add.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: It's almost prophetic because Jacob has, Joseph has arisen for
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: their posterity. There are certain people that rise up out
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: of a group of people that are meant to be
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: exceptionally blessed. that through them the blessing will add to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: other people. That's why you shouldn't hate on people, because
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: you might be hating on somebody that God is going
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: to use to bless you. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: they hated on Joseph, but they did not know that
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Joseph was blessed for them. There is a greater responsibility
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: to him whom much is given, much is required. And
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Jacob has been blessed for, Joseph has been blessed for them.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: But they hated him and they almost murdered him. They
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: almost murdered him. They almost murdered him. But instead they
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: threw him in a pit and let him be sold
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: into slavery because Joseph is also a type of Christ
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: who is rejected of his own brethren. who goes into
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: a pit and rises up out of a pit like Christ,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: who was sold for 20 pieces of silver, and Christ
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: was sold for 30 pieces of silver. Joseph is an
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Old Testament shadow of Jesus Christ. Are you following what
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I'm teaching now? Now, I'm going to work this text.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Are you going to work with me? Now, Joseph means
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: he will add. But Joseph, Jacob has, Joseph has gone
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: through so much in his life. He's been in the pit.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: He's been in Potiphar's house. He's been in the prison.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: And finally, his gift, his gift was bigger than his environment.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Everything they put him in, he got out of it.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Somebody say, I'm gifted. I'm gifted. Right on the line,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: I'm gifted. You got to be careful how you handle
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: people that are gifted because when somebody's gifted, I don't
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: care what kind of pit you put them in, they'll
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: get out of it. I don't care what kind of
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: lie you tell on them, they'll get out of it.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I don't care what kind of prison you put it in,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: they'll get out of it. I want to talk to
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: some people that have gotten out of some stuff. That
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: people put you in and thought you'd never get out
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: of it. But because of the level of the gift
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: that's down inside of you, I don't care how deep
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: the pit was, sooner or later God will get you
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: out of it. I don't care how the eyes that
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: have been told on you, pretty soon God will get
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: you out of it. I don't care if they put
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: you in prison, after a while you'll be running to
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: prison because you're gifted. One thing you can do, you
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: can take my coat. but you can't take my gift.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: You can take my clothes, but you can't take my gift. Here,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: you can have my watch, but you can't take my gift.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: My gift is not in my watch. My gift is
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: not in my shoes. My gift is not in my clothes.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: My gift is not in my car. This gift that
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: I have, the world didn't give it and the world
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: can't take it away. I want to talk to some
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: gifted people tonight who knows that God has kissed you
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: with a gift that no matter what hell threw at you,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: you kept getting back up again because you were gifted.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Take 30 seconds and give him a praise for the gift.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: The Bible says that your gift will bring you before
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: great men. So your gift will bring you into places
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: that you could have never been able to access if
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: you didn't have the gift. That's why you ought to
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: keep your gift, any kind of gift. I don't care
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: what it is, whether it's a speaking gift, a teaching gift,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: whether it's a gift to type, a gift to write,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: a gift to do anything, a gift to draw. I
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: don't care what it is, a gift to cook, a
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: gift to do makeup. I don't care what— God will use
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: any gift He gave you. to bring you into places
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: you couldn't get anywhere. That's why the devil tries to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: convince you that you don't have no gift. But I
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: came to tell you, just because your brothers hate you
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: don't mean you lost your gift. Just because they stripped
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: your clothes doesn't mean you lost your gift. Just because
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: they lied on you and you had to run out
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: of your coat doesn't mean you don't have your gift.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Just because you've been in prison doesn't mean you don't
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: have your gift. As long as you got your gift,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: your gift will always bring you back up again. Know
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: somebody and tell them, I'll be back. Yeah, I'll be back.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: You've not seen the last of me. I'll be back.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: I'll be back. I don't care what you said about me.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: I don't care how you said I was dead. I'll
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: be back. Because there's something down inside of me that
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I just find a way to keep getting back up again. Oh,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: you don't hear it. The words that are coming out
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: of my mouth, the powerful words that are coming out
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: of my mouth, they put him in the prison and
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: they threw away the kid, but he was still gifted
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: in prison, a gift in incarceration, a gift in intimidation.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: A gift in an embarrassing situation. A gift that is
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: stripped of royalty and majesty and honor and recognition. But
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: even in the bottom of the prison, he's still gifted.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: When you're gifted, you're just gifted. When you got it,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: you just got it. When you can do it, oh,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: let me stop. Somebody shout, I'm gifted. I'm gifted. You
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: got to start talking to yourself in the right language
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: and stop talking to yourself about what folks did to
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: you and start talking to yourself about what God put
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: in you. Because what God put in you will always
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: overcome what people do to you. Shout, I'm gifted. Oh, yeah. Yeah,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: we give too much recognition and too much of our
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: tongue is spent talking about who threw us in the pit.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: You need to use your tongue to validate your gift
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: and look yourself in the mirror and encourage yourself in
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: the Lord and say, I'm still gifted. I've been through
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: some pain, but I'm still gifted. I've buried some loved ones,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: but I'm still gifted. I've had some setbacks, but I'm
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: still gifted. When you're gifted, sometimes you'll be gifted in
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: a way that your situation hadn't caught up with your gift.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Joseph was gifted as a child and he had a
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: dream that one day his brothers were going to kneel
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: before him and they laughed and they mocked him. But
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: let me tell you, just because people laugh at your
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: prophecy doesn't mean that it's not going to come to pass.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: God will use a famine to make it come to pass.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: God will send a wind to make it come to pass.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: God will send an earthquake to make it come to pass.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Don't worry about how high they are. God will bring
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: them down to their knees. Now Joseph has come to
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: a place in the prison that his gift brought him
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: out before Pharaoh. And when he told Pharaoh what his
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: dream was, Pharaoh renamed him Zephanah Paneah. Zephanah Paneah is
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: the Egyptian name that is given to Joseph. Zephanah Paneah
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: means one who discovers hidden things. Glory to God. So
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: his brothers don't come into the room looking for Joseph.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: They come in there asking for Zophonah Paneah. And they
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: don't even recognize him because he is dressed up as
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: a prince of Egypt. Won't God turn it around? Last
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: time they saw him, he was naked and bloody in
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the pit. And this time they see him,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: he's dressed in majesty and honor. And incidentally, he's in
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: charge of the corn in Egypt and the harvest in
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Egypt and the increase in Egypt. And they can't get
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: anything till they go back to the one they cursed first.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: God is not unjust to forget your labor of love.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: You don't have to get even with people. God will
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: make them bow down and have to come back and
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: admit that they were wrong. Don't worry about it. It
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: may not happen today, but sooner or later, sooner or later,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: God will bring them down to their knees. Sooner or later,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: God will make them humble themselves. and the brothers have
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: come into the room and they run into Zaphonoth-Paneah and
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: they don't know that it's Joseph. Zaphonoth-Paneah is speaking to
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: them in Egyptian. He's speaking to them in the Egyptian
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: language and so they are talking amongst themselves in Hebrew
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: and Joseph doesn't let on that he understands what they're saying.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Because sometimes you got to feign yourself a fool. Sometimes
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: you can't let people know that you know what you know.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you can't act like you're as smart as you are.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you got to act like you don't get it.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you, see, that's where you've been messing up. Every
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: time you know something, you got to say something. But
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: sometimes you got to know something and hold your peace. Zaphonah,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Paneah held his peace and did not let on that
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: he spoke Hebrew. And as they spoke amongst themselves, they said,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: watch this. And this is important. This is very important.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: They were they were bowing down and they were having
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: difficulty getting the corn that the old man had sent
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: them to buy and they were murmuring you know how
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: brothers do they were arguing amongst themselves we brought this
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: on ourselves I told you not to do anything to
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: that boy Look at how long these brothers have carried
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: the pain of what they did. They are in pain
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: because they are guilty over what they did to Joseph.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: And they don't even know that this man is Joseph.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: And yet they are talking about Joseph because they have
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: never been able to escape this injury, this trauma The
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: colloquy of their conversation has taken on a nature that
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: lets you know that they are still reliving the guilt
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: and the agony of what they went through. This is
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: important because we often talk about Joseph as the victim,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: but we don't talk about the pain of the perpetrator.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: You need to hear this because the person who hurt
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: you didn't get away clean. Y'all don't hear what I'm
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: saying to you. You think you're the only one that
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: had any pain because you went in the pit. But
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: the one who threw you in the pit has to
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: live with the guilt that you never did a thing
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: to hurt them. And God is too just to let
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: them get away without suffering. They may not have gone
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: in a prison that you can see. But these boys
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: are in a prison as much as Joseph has ever
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: been because they have never been able to escape. How
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: in the world can you go to buy corn and
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: bring up something that happened when you were children? That
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: means that one incident has been with them all their life.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: They're still arguing about it in the palace. Amen. And
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: they said one to another, we are barely guilty concerning
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: our brother in that we saw the anguish of his
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: soul when he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: is this distress come upon us? This is the agony
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: of the guilty. This is why you can't carry the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: pain of what they did inside of you. Because the
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: only reason for you to carry the pain is to
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: think that they got away clean. But this text teaches
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: us that when there is trauma, no one escapes its reach.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: I want that to sink real deep down in your soul.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Because the Holy Spirit is talking to you about some
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: real heavy stuff. Nobody got away clean. There is no
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: winner in this story. Joseph goes into a pit. They
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: go into a place of pain and both of them
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: are living their lives still at the place where they
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: did what they did like they did when they did it.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: And all of your life you've been thinking that they
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: got away clean. But this text comes to teach us
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: that the culture of the family has suffered tragically, that
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: these boys are sitting up having a conversation about something
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: that has happened years ago and they are living it
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: in real time as if it were happening now. You,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: if you can receive this, you can let that pain go.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: I don't care what kind of car they're driving. I
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: don't care what kind of house they're living in. They remember.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: I don't care how they live or drink or party
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: or dance. They remember. Some of the reasons that they
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: get as drunk as they do and as high as
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: they do is because They remember, oh, y'all ain't going
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: to help me. Y'all not going to help me, but
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: I know I'm on to something. I know I'm on
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: to something. You have to understand that God is a
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: just God. He's an equalizer. He will make sure the
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Bible said, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: You mess up when you try to get even. If
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: you just step back and let God get even, God
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: can get even better than you can. And the scene
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: opens up with the family. And now the boys are
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: on their knees down there. And they're down on their
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: knees in front of Joseph. And Joseph can determine whether
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: they live or die. Are you hearing what I'm saying
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: to you? Let me tell you, the tail is going
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: to become the head. The last is gonna become first.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: The stone that the builders rejected, God is gonna make
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: the chief cornerstone. Type on the line, it ain't over,
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: it ain't over. It ain't over, it ain't over. It
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: ain't over, it ain't over. I might be down right now,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: but it ain't over, it ain't over. Don't count me
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: out just yet. It ain't over, it ain't over. God's
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: gonna turn the whole thing all the way around. That's
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: why I wanna bring this text to you tonight. And
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: they don't even recognize that Joseph lives to see the
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: reverse of the curse. In your lifetime, you will see
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: the reverse of the curse. Do you hear me? In
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: your lifetime, you will see the reverse of the curse.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: I never will forget my mother-in-law telling me about the
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: young man that shot her son and how angry she
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: was and how painful she was. He killed him. He
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: killed him. And she was angry. She had so much
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: pain and so much hurt. And as the years went on,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: a few years went by, and he got cancer. And
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: mother had to go to the hospital to see him.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: And there he is, eaten up with cancer. Now, when
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: he shot her son, He died instantly. You don't understand
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: the words that are coming out of my mouth. But
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: the one who shot him, he died slowly and painfully.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: And as he's died, he has to look into the
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: eyes of the mother of the child that he had killed.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: God is a just God. God is a just God.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: God is such a just God that you'll find yourself
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: praying for the person you used to hate. Oh, y'all
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: not gonna talk to me. Y'all not gonna talk to me,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: but stay here with me. Y'all not gonna talk to me.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: You'll find yourself praying for, the Bible says that when
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: Job prayed for his friends, God restored everything that he
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: had lost. When your heart becomes soft enough that God
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: can trust you with power, Glory to God that you'll
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: be merciful and not filled with hate and envy and strife.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: You got to get your heart right because we got
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: to change the culture in this family. We got to
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: break it. God is using the famine to heal the family.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: He is using the famine to heal the family. And
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: the 10 boys have been brought to their knees. And
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: it is important that you understand that they are in
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: the presence of their brother and they do not recognize him.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Because their brother is a type of Christ who came
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: unto his own and his own received him not. And
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: they did not recognize that he was the Messiah himself.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: that they were waiting on. Are y'all following me? Can
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: I teach like this? Can I go like this? Can
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: you handle this kind of teaching? Can I drop it
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: on you? Can I drop it on you? I'm gonna
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: drop it like it's hot tonight. I'm gonna drop it
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: like it's hot tonight. Something's gonna happen in here tonight.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: A yoke is gonna break in here tonight. A breakthrough's
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: gonna happen in here tonight. Everything happens for a reason.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: And God is using what happened to Jacob's family as
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: a prophetic prediction of what he's going to do through Jesus.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: He's brought his enemies down to his knees. And every
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: is Lord to the glory of God. Oh, glory to God. Oh,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: glory to God. Oh, glory to God. You don't have
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: to bring them to their knees. God will bring them
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: to their knees. God will bring them down to their knees.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: If your heart is soft enough that you won't be glad.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: Can God trust your heart to be empty out enough
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: that when he does, bring them down, you won't be glad? See,
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: the reason that Joseph got blessed in the first place
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: is because of the pliability of his heart. He never
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: held a grudge. Later on, he will tell them when
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: he does reveal himself, you meant it for evil, but
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: God made it good. He says, don't worry about it, brothers.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: He absolves them of their guilt because he said, I
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: made it anyway. As soon as you figure out that
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: you made it anyway, then your hate will have nothing
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: to hold on to. Oh, you don't understand. In order
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: for hate to grab your heart, it needs something to
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: hold on to. And as long as you allow hate
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: to grip your heart, it means that some kind of
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: way you believe what they did stopped you. As soon
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: as you get enough faith to believe I got there anyway,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: then hate will lose its grip and have to turn
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: you loose. He said, don't worry about it. You meant
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: it for evil, but it's okay. God paid it. God
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: made it good. God paid me for my suffering. God
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: paid me for my agony. God paid me for the
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: things I've been through. Everything you did to me, God
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: made it up to me. I'm good. It was good
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: for me that I was afflicted. Had I not been afflicted,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be standing here all dressed up right now. Oh,
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you did it for me. Because had you
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: not afflicted me, I would be the one needing the
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: corn and not giving the corn. It's more blessed to
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: give than it is. Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Now the real love affair is between Joseph and his
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: father and Joseph and Benjamin. So Joseph leverages the power
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: of his position because he has not seen Benjamin, his
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: full-blooded brother or his father. So he puts him in
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: jail for three days. And then says, I tell you what,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: in order to get free, you have to bring Benjamin
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: back to me to prove that what you told me
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: was true. While in reality, the truth of the matter
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: is Joseph was blessed. Watch this. But he was in
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: a famine for his family. He was blessed, but he
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: was in a famine for his family. See, when we
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: preach about it, we make his family the enemy. But
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: the truth of the matter is, in spite of everything
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: they did to him, he still loved his family. And
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: he is using his power to get them back. Oh,
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: you have to be a big person to receive this
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: kind of message because everybody who lives on evil street
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: can't get this message. But there are some people in
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: this room that know how you can love somebody who
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: hurts you. Oh, I wish I had some people in
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: this room who had lived long enough to understand that
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: you can be hurt and love at the same time.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: that you can lay somebody out and still feed them.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna knock you upside of your head. Come on
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: in here and get something to eat. Have you ever
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: had those two contradictory things going on at the same time?
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: I want to talk to some real people tonight. I
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: want to keep it 100 tonight. I want to keep
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: it real tonight. I want you to understand that Joseph
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: creates this fallacy And he makes out that he thinks
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: that they are spies, even though he knows they are family.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: He creates this fallacy that suggests that they are spies
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: to force him to go back and bring his brother.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: And he says, I will not release you till you
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: bring my brother. So I'm holding Simeon hostage. See, I'm
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: holding him hostage. As a down payment on your deliverance.
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: Now the boys have gone back home to tell their
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: father about the fallacy and what befell them when they
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: went to have a transactional relationship. See, the problem with
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: this age is that all we know how to do
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: is have transactional relationships. If you give me this, I'll
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: give you that. If you do this for me, I'll
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: do that for you. And as long as you have
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: transactional relationships, those aren't real relationships. And they went up
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: there to transactional, to do a transactional relationship. And some
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: of you don't even know what I'm talking about because
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: all you've ever seen was these swap shop relationships. You
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: don't do nothing for me, I don't do nothing for you.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: If you help me, I'll help you. If you give
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: me this, I'll give you that. You don't know how
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: to love beyond transaction. But every now and then, you
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: gotta test the love. to see if it's just transactional.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: Do you love me as long as I put you
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: in the house? Do you love me as long as
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: I let you drive the car? If I take the car,
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: will I lose you? Because transactional relationships do not last.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: They have gone up there to do a transaction, but
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: Joseph hungers for relationship. So when they gave Joseph the money,
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: he told the servants, give him the corn, and the money.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: That's a powerful man right there. He said, give them
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: the coin and the money. He was so good to
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: them that it scared them. He was so good to
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: them that they thought it was a trick. Evil people
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: always think evil. Unto the pure, all things are pure.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: But unto the evil, all things are evil. And they
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: were suspicious. There ain't no way he could have blessed
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: us like this. And so when they got down to
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: feed the oxen and the cattle and so forth, they
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: opened up the bag to get the corn and they
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: ran into the money and the boy dropped the bag
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: and it scared him so bad because he wasn't used
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: to getting it all. See, in a transactional relationship, you
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: have to always earn everything. But in a real relationship,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: I don't love you because you do this. I just
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: love you because I love you. I just love you
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: if you don't do it. I love you if you
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: can't do it. I love you if you got an
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: oxygen tank. I love you if you're on a kidney machine.
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: I love you if you got one eye. I love
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: you if you lose your layer. See, y'all don't know
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. That's why you've been married four times.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: But if you get to the point that you get
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: beyond transactional... Swap it out, pawn shop relationships and learn
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: how to love people irregardless. Now you're setting yourself up
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: for real power. God don't give real power to people
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: who are just transactional. God doesn't give real authority to
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: people who are just swapping out. You come to my anniversary,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: I'll come to your anniversary. You give $ 100, I'll give $ 100.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Transactional relationship, well, we're just even. The blessing comes when
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: you bless somebody who has nothing to give you back.
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: And you got to study this because I want you
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: to see why Joseph was preferred. Because God could trust
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: him God won't give favor to people he can't trust.
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: And God cannot trust people who are always transactional. Can
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: I teach this thing tonight? Some of you, all you've
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: ever seen in your family, in your friends, in your church,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: in your life, in your business, is transaction. And that's
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: all you know. In the moment you meet somebody, you
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: got your scales out trying to see how you can
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: get something. And that's why you always end up miserable.
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: Because you're not having a relationship, you're doing business. Jacob
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: gave him the corn. Joseph gave him the corn and
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: the money. And they come back and they tell Jacob.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: Now they have to go back and tell Jacob. And
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at it. Jacob is an old man and
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: the older you get the more precious everything becomes. And
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: Jacob is holding on to Benjamin and he's saying Joseph
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: is not. And now Simeon is not. You ain't taking
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: my Benjamin. I'm wondering what you're Squeezing too tight. What
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: are you squeezing out of fear? See, Jacob isn't squeezing
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: Benjamin out of faith. He's squeezing him out of fear.
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: He's squeezing him like it's the last thing he's going
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: to ever get. You can't grow when you squeeze something
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: like it's the last thing you're going to ever get.
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: Even if it's squeezing money. Like it's the last you'll
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: ever get. Then you have prophesied against yourself. You have
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: used faith in reverse. Fear is faith in reverse to
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: have confidence that that thing that you don't want is
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: going to happen to you. He's holding the boy out
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: of fear. And God is manipulating all of these circumstances
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: to bring this family back together. He is wooing them
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: back to a place so he can heal them. And
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: wouldn't it be better to be healed than to be mad?
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: And Jacob says to him, if I lose Benjamin, Let
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: me quote it just like he said it. And he said,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: my son shall not go down with you for his
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: brother is dead and he is left alone. And if
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: mischief befall him by the way, see how Jacob is
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: still in a place where he don't trust them. They're
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: his children and he don't trust them and he has
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: good reason not to trust them. He said, you're not
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: going to get him. Let's mischief befall him, by the way,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: into which he go. He says, if I go through
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: with Benjamin what I went through with Joseph, my gray
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: hairs are going to turn into sorrow and bring me
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: to the grave. See, you get to a point in
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: life that you've reached an age that you can't take
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: no more pain. And he says, I can't afford to
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: live through this again. And God is really behind it
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: all trying to pry Benjamin out of Jacob's hands because
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: what Jacob doesn't understand, yes, the road's been bumpy and yes,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: the road's been tough and yes, the road's been difficult
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: and yes, you've shed some tears and yes, you've endured
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: some pain But it is the bumpy road to better.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: It is the bumpy road to better. I know a
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: lot of people that are doing better than me and
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: have more stuff and more money and more recognition and
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: more fame and more whatever you want to count it
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: by than me. But none of them that I know
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: have got there without a bumpy road. The road to
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: better is bumpy. So if you're on a bumpy road,
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, you're headed to better. Do you hear
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: the words that are coming out of my mouth? You
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: can't get to better without bumping. You can't get to
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: better without pain. You can't get to better without tears.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: You can't be all buff if you don't work out.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: You can't lose weight if you don't push the food away.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: You can't get to better without bumping. There is no
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: pill you can take. There is no simple solution. It
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: is the bumpiness of the road that leads you to better. Ultimately,
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: Jacob will end up having to go to Egypt and
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: And when Joseph sees his father, when Joseph sees his father,
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: all of these years he's been living without the touch
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: of his father. And all of a sudden he reveals himself.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: And he shows him who he is. The Bible says
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: that one day those who rejected Jesus are going to
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: look on him whom they have pierced. And a nation
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: shall be saved in a day. This day in the
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: life of Joseph is a prophetic prediction of what will
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: happen between Jesus and Israel. When all of a sudden
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: they will look on him whom they have pierced and
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: finally recognize he was the Messiah. He is the Lamb
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: of God. He is the I Am. He is the
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: true vine. He is the living bread. He is the
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: manna that came down out of heaven. He is. It
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: wasn't a lie. It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a fallacy.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: And the family will be reunited again. And all of
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: a sudden they beheld him whom they had thrown away.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: And they fell down and said, oh, Joseph. And they
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: now realize that Joseph, everything he went through was to
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: position him to bless him. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: The reason God doesn't bless some people because you're selfish.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: The reason God doesn't bless some people is because you're
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: only interested in you. Because you hate too long and
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: you're too angry and you're too bitter to be trusted
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: with that much power. God blesses people whose hearts are tender.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: And it was only when I saw Joseph's heart that
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: I understood Joseph's blessing because Joseph was the son that
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: could be trusted with favor because he would not use
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: his favor to get even. He would not use his
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: favor for revenge. He would use his favor to bring
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: them into better. And so Joseph brings the family to better.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: The whole family dwells together in better. And not only
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: does he bring them to better, he releases the guilt
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: from the guilty. It's one thing to absolve the innocent.
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: But it's another thing to acquit the guilty. He absolved
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: the guilty because he was big enough. to be blessed
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: like that. He was big enough to be blessed like that.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: He was strong enough to be blessed like that. That's
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: why he was chosen from the very beginning. God trusted
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: him with trouble. God trusted him with rejection. God trusted
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: him with pain. God trusted him with agony because God
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: knew his heart. that when push came to shove, that
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: love would always win out over revenge. God knew his heart,
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: that there was something down inside of him that was
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: better than that. And if you want the favor of
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: God in your life, you have to be prepared to
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: ask yourself, can God trust you with favor? Can God
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: trust you with power? Can God trust you with honor?
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: Because until that answer is a resounding yes, the doors
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: of your blessing will be closed. They're closed because you
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: are too angry and too bitter and too vindictive and
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: God can't give you favor because you'll use it like
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: witchcraft to bring curses on those who hurt you. And
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: you'll know you're getting bigger when you start getting better.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: You've been praying to be bigger. You should have been
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: praying to be better. There's somebody watching me right now.
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: There's no reason in the world that somebody as talented
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: to you as you are shouldn't be further than you are.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: You have the talent to go all the way to
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: the top. But every time you try to go to
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: the top, something blocks you. And God sent me to
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: tell you it's not what's on the outside that's blocking you.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: It's the stuff you carry on the inside that always
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: blocks you because you're so slick. And God has to keep...
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: showing you that you ain't as slick as you think
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: you are and your blessing has been delayed and you
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: wandered in the wilderness of almost getting there and never
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: being able to get there because you've never been able
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: to get your heart to the place that you could
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: be trusted God gives favor to people he can trust.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: But you are so transactional. Everything is a way for
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: you to manipulate. And so you never get better. The
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: Bible says none but the pure in heart shall see God.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: The word pure in the Greek is where we get
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: the word catheter. And there is no way for you
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: to see God until you put a catheter into your
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: heart and get rid of the bitterness that is blocking
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: you from your blessing. I'm still talking about the bumpy road.
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: to better as I close tonight. I challenge you to
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: look at Genesis 42 and even go on into Genesis
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: 43 and watch God bring Jacob and his boys into
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: a state of blessings that does not fade away. And
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: they lived their lives out in abundance. And all their
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: needs were met. And Joseph never went through another downturn
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: again because God had reconciled the family. And what really
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: mattered was better. You got to fix this stuff in
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: your family. You got to forgive. You got to love.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: Even when you were right, you can be right and
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: still be wrong. And I am telling you there is
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: a wholeness that you will not capture. until you stop
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: holding your father hostage. Until you drop the charges on
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: your mother. The curse will pass from generation to generation
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: until your heart gets big enough to accept the imperfections
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: in other people. Then you'll never be able to accept
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: the imperfections in yourself. Some people would call Joseph a fool,
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: but I think he was a wise, wise man because
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: he used the bumps in the road to make him better.
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: And I'm wondering tonight if there's anybody listening at me
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: in this room or in your house Are you going
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: to use the bumpy road to be more bumpy? To
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: make you feel with more trickery? To make you more cynical?
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: More vindictive and more spiteful? Can you be trusted with access?
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: Can you be trusted with With capital, can you be
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: trusted with advantage? If the bumpy road doesn't make you better,
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: then you will die in the wilderness and God will
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: raise up yet another generation and try it again. The
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: reason Israel stayed in the wilderness so long in a
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: journey that was so short that their ancestors had gone
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: back and forth to Egypt like it was going up
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: and down the street. Why did their children wander in
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: the wilderness 40 years? It's because they could not get
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: over themselves. You're going to make your life harder than
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: it should be and longer than it was supposed to
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: be if you don't use the bumpy road To be better.
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: Stand on your feet, I'm closing. I took you from
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: the famine and showed you how the famine was used
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: to pull the family through the fallacy and past the fear.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: And finally, God put them in the place where the
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: food was. And they sat down at the table. Tonight
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you that God is preparing a table before you.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: In the presence of your enemies. That God has set
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: a table before you. in spite of what you went through,
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: in spite of your pain and your trauma and your
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: agony and your injustice. And Jacob, I'm telling you, you
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: can't become so fearful that you squeeze Benjamin to death.
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: I found outstanding people are not evil. They're scared. They've
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: been so traumatized that they think that if they give
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: without getting transaction, that they're never going to get any more.
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: Or they'll spend money as long as they get something back.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: but they won't give to ministry because they don't see
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: a quick return. They won't make investments because they don't
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: see a return. They'll spend their money in perishable assets.
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter that it's losing value while I'm driving
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: it off the parking lot. I just need to get
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: something back. Because I'm scared that if I give anything away,
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: it won't come back. I found out that people who
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: don't love are not evil. They're scared. That if I
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: let you know that I love you like I love you,
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: that maybe you won't react the way I thought you
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: would react. And so... I would rather hate you and
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: love you than love you at the risk of being
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: at a disadvantage of being vulnerable. Because I'm scared of
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: my own emotions and I'm holding Benjamin even though I
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: know you need him. And I'm challenging you tonight to
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: let go of what you've been holding on to And
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: I know you have good reason to hold on to it.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: Even if you're holding on to your gift or your
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: ministry or your friend or your compassion. There are people
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: in this room that are really loving people that hate
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: that they are loving people. There are people in here
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: that have the gift of giving, but they hate that
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: they have it because they have given and been hurt.
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: And now they are scared to give again. But as
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: long as you expect to get it back from where
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: you gave it, you're going to always get hurt. God
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: did not promise to give it back to you where
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: you gave it. He only promised to give it back
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: to you Give and it shall be given unto you.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: men give unto thy bosom. But he didn't say which one.
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: You don't get to control who God uses to bless you.
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: So if you didn't get it back from where you
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: thought you should get it back from, that doesn't mean
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: you're not going to get it back. Bow your heads
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: with me. It's been a bumpy road. Somebody watching me
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: right now, it's been a bumpy road. And God is
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: trying to get you to better, but you took a
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: detour into bitter. And tonight the Holy Spirit is wooing
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: you back. And I just want to pray with you
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: on this Wednesday night before we close that you would
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: get a catheter and put it in your heart and
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: let bitter start draining out. Let you die in the wilderness.
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: I want you to trust God to take you to better.
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: And it begins with getting rid of your cynical ways.
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: Because God blesses people he can trust. And he can't
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: trust you because you're slick. You're a player. And you're
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: slick because you've been hurt. But your being hurt is
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: God's business. And God knows how to handle your hurt.
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: And I want you to give it to him right now.
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus. Father, as I pray over
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: this room and pray over people I don't know and
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: pray over people in different time zones and pray over
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and children. The
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: enemy is trying to to trick us out of better
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: and give us bitter. But the devil is alive. This
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: road has been too bumpy for me to settle for bitter.
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: When you call me the better. I know what you
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: told me at the house, Lord. You told me at
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: the house that the good old days are ahead of us.
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: And I pray that somebody tonight would receive that their
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: best days are ahead of them and not behind them.
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: That the power of the Holy Ghost would move in
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: a supernatural way and touch and heal and deliver It's
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: been a many a winding road and lots of hills
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: to climb. But the closer we get to home, the
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: more we recognize that you've been God all the while
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: in every bumpy place. Father, as I close tonight, let
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: the words of our mouth and the meditations of our
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: heart Be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: and my redeemer. Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, the
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: bumpy road to better. God bless you. Amen.