WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:30.000 What would you do with your life that would honor God and impact people for good if you knew for sure you couldn't fail? 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.439 Think you have unlimited money? 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:36.479 Unlimited help? 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:43.280 What would you do with your life if you knew you couldn't fail? 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.840 That would really honor God and impact people for good? 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:50.479 Let me put it another way. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:57.840 What is it that's wrong in this world that when you see it and when you're up close to it, it makes you angry? 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:58.960 I mean mad. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:00.079 That's wrong. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:00.960 That's unjust. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:02.640 That shouldn't be that way. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:12.480 Or what is it that when you get close to something that's wrong and it breaks your heart, you're so sad it's hard not to cry. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:20.480 You see, those two questions tap into a dream that God has prepared just for you. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:23.519 Part of His purpose for your life. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:30.159 More than career and family and future and things that we're all going to go through. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.319 Behind all of that, God has a dream for your life. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:38.560 He has a dream to do something in you, we'll learn. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.760 And he has a dream to do something through you. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:49.439 Something actually that no one else can do quite like you because no one else grew up where you grew up. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.680 No one else was in the family that you grew up in or lack of. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.239 No one else is made exactly like you. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.959 No one else thinks exactly like you. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.000 No one else has exactly your personality. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.920 And God has prepared you, we'll learn for a good work. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:08.240 This is crazy. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:10.560 From the foundations of the earth. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:18.240 The one who spoke galaxies into existence wants to do something in you and through you. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:21.120 There's some notes if you pull them out and if you have a pen. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:22.800 Let's do a quick review. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:26.479 In case you weren't here or in case you just need the reminder like me. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:29.919 We learned last week that it's time to dream. 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:33.120 And that first God has a dream for your life. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:35.199 Ephesians 2 10. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:37.680 It's on the screen. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:46.080 From the foundations of the earth, there is a good work that God has prepared just for you to walk in. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:47.599 Second, it gets even better. 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:50.479 God's dream is better than your dream. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:03:11.840 Whatever success would look like, whatever you think would be the most awesome thing, if only this, this, this, and this would happen, God's dream is exceedingly abundantly beyond what you could ever visualize, what you could ever come up, whatever you could imagine, according to the power that mightily works within you. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:16.319 If you're a follower of Jesus, the Spirit of God lives inside of you. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:19.280 And he's working in you so he can work through you. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:31.439 And he's birthing this dream that from the foundations of the earth, God knowing everything about your family of origin, about your gifts, your talent, your personality, your struggles, that he's shaping. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:33.360 And he's dropping this dream in. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.560 And little by little it gets clearer and clearer. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:38.560 And it's better than going public. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:40.879 It's better than finding the right person. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.439 It's better than this picture of a family, if that's it. 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.039 It's better than some dreams you've had for vocation. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.360 All those things may fit in. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.520 But it's bigger. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.159 And that's why we have to dream. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:58.879 The third thing that we learned last week is God is not in a hurry. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:01.520 His timing is perfect. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:07.919 Since we live by the Spirit, Paul said to the Galatians, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:17.680 See, the fact of the matter is that for those of us in this room that have trusted Christ as our Savior, there was a day when we realized we fell short. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:19.920 We fell short, we're not the people. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:21.040 We needed Christ. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.199 We needed forgiveness, we needed new life. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:28.160 In the empty hands of faith, we turned to Jesus, we asked him to forgive us. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:29.839 The Spirit of God came into our life. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:34.000 The Bible says we were pulled out of the kingdom of darkness, placed in the kingdom of light. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:35.360 His spirit sealed us. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:39.040 He dropped inside of us spiritual gifts. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:44.959 We became sons and daughters of the living God, and he has a plan and a purpose for our life. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:52.000 And the Spirit of God living inside you manifests the personality and the power and the presence of Jesus. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.360 And so we live. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:58.160 The Apostle Paul would say, it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives within me. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:05.279 And the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.040 That's Galatians 2.20. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:14.160 And so what he really wants you and me to do is let me work in you, let me work through you. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:17.040 Because here's the crazy thing about God's dreams. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:26.480 The journey is pretty challenging, but the rewards are spectacular beyond what we could dream, both in us and then through us. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:29.600 Ryan gave us the arc of Joseph Life last week. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:32.800 His first 17 years was from a pretty dysfunctional family. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:34.319 He had a pretty big ego. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:39.759 He bragged a lot, he tattered on his brothers, and he was the, you know, the beloved child. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:42.399 He got the nicer clothes, the whole dit. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:47.199 And then after age 17, we're going to learn that he gets sold into slavery. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:53.839 And for the next 13 years, difficulty after difficulty after difficulty will shape his life. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:56.639 And it's called the formation detour. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:58.639 I mean, I got this dream, this is where I'm going to go. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:00.720 And God says, wait a second, you're not ready. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:04.319 I need to do something deeply in you before I can really use you. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:15.920 Because what we'll learn is that Joseph's life, once he matured, would save not only the nation of Israel, but all the nations in that time as this huge famine came across the land. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:23.120 And then from age 30 to uh age 110, that's a pretty long life, he fulfilled his destiny. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:28.639 God transformed the relationship with his brothers, his fathers. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.959 And because of him, many people were saved, whole nations. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:38.319 But what we're gonna see is that in the early times, he feels like this dream's impossible. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.920 One young brother out of twelve. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:47.040 During the time of detour, it's confusing. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:56.240 I'm gonna read the story in just a minute, and I just have to believe as I read that story, Joseph is saying, wait a second, where's the part come where my brother's bowed out of me? 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.800 Where's the part you know gonna come soon here? 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:08.560 Like when I'm, as he's in chains, learns a new language, a new culture, and finds that nothing's working right. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:12.720 And then finally, it's pretty miraculous how God used him. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:18.160 I'm gonna talk about how God takes that dream that he puts in our heart. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:24.000 And if you're thinking, I don't know exactly what mine is, I tap into those two questions. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:32.720 And what is it that just it's so wrong or it needs to be changed, or this is what could be. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:35.759 It'll be unique to each one of us. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:46.879 But here's what I want you to know it's a very unusual way that God takes the dream that he puts in us and brings it to reality. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:08:00.639 And during the road, there's times where it feels like he has just exited your life, you're all alone, it makes no sense, and that's why the story of Joseph is in the Bible. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:05.120 Follow along from verse 12, we're gonna read the death of a dream. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:10.959 Soon after Joseph's brothers went to the past pasture their father's flocks at Shechem. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:15.839 When they'd been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.079 Get ready and I will send you to them. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:20.240 And Joseph said, I'm ready to go. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:24.399 Go now and see your brothers and flocks and see how they're getting along, Jacob said. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:26.560 Then come back and bring me a report. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:32.320 So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home into the valley of Hebron. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:40.000 When he arrived there, a man in the area noticed him wandering around the countryside, and he asked him, What are you looking for? 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:42.480 I'm looking for my brothers, Joseph replied. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.720 Do you know where they're pasturing the sheep? 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:45.919 Yes, the man said. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.600 They moved on from here, but I heard them say, Let's go to Dotham. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.000 So Joseph followed his brothers to Dotham. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:56.240 It's about another fifteen miles from where he was, and he found them there. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.600 Then Joseph's brothers saw him coming. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:01.840 They recognized him in the distance. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:05.440 As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:10.799 Here comes that dreamer, they said, Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:13.440 We can tell our father a wild animal is eaten him. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:16.000 Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:22.639 But when Reuben, it's the oldest brother, heard of their scheme, he said, uh, he came to Joseph's rescue. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.240 Let's not kill him, he said. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:25.840 Why should we shed blood? 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.039 Let's just throw him into an empty cistern here in the wilderness. 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:31.600 Then he'll die without our laying a hand on him. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:36.240 Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:40.399 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:42.639 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:45.600 Now the cistern was empty and there was no water in it. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:52.399 And then just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up, and they saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:59.519 It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin to Gilead down to Egypt. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.919 Judah said to his brothers, What will we gain by killing our brother? 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:05.840 We'd have to cover up the crime. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:09.600 Instead of hurting him, let's sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.639 After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:22.080 And his brothers agreed, so when the Ishmaelites and the traitors came by, Joseph's brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:24.399 And the traitors took him to Egypt. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:29.039 Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:33.440 When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:38.000 Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, The boy is gone, what will I do now? 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:42.000 Then the brothers killed a young goat, dipped it in Joseph's robe in his blood. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:46.799 They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message Look at what we found. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.679 Doesn't this robe belong to your son? 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:51.360 Isn't it interesting? 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:52.559 It's not our brother. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:54.320 He's your son. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:58.320 Then their father recognized it immediately. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.399 Yes, he said, It's my son's robe. 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:02.480 A wild animal must have eaten him. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:04.960 Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:08.960 Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.320 It's a sign of mourning. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:15.759 And unlike a few days, Jewish culture, he would mourn for forty days. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:21.440 He would go out from the camp and weep and mourn and sit in sackcloth. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:27.440 He mourned deeply for his son for a long time, and his family tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:32.399 I will go down to my grave mourning for my son, he would say, and then he would weep. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.639 Meanwhile, the camera shifts. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:43.200 The Midianite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:47.039 And Potiphar was captain of the palace guard. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:50.159 So you get the story. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:52.320 He has a dream. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:58.559 He's pretty immature, doesn't handle how he gets this dream in terms of relating to other people. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:02.639 But inside of his heart of hearts, he's got to think, you know, God gave me this dream. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:03.759 That's how God worked. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:08.240 I mean, they didn't have Deuteronomy, they didn't have the Bible. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:11.120 God often speaks in dreams when his word's not available. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.080 We do a lot of work at Living on the Edge in the Middle East. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:25.919 And it used to be maybe five, six, seven years ago, I would be one degree away and I would meet someone who would say, Oh, we're ministering to this guy, and he's a key guy, he's an imam, he's doing Bible studies, literally. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:30.720 And uh and he's doing Bible studies in the mosque, sharing Jesus with people. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:31.200 Why? 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:33.840 Because he had a dream, Jesus showed up at his bedside. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:40.399 In more recent days, I keep meeting individual people who, when I ask them, Well, how did you come to know Christ? 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:49.519 And it would be, Well, I had a dream and Jesus appeared and he explained it to me, and I got up and then I searched, and or he was at the foot of my bed. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:55.279 God speaks in dreams, especially he's more miraculous where people don't have God's word. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:00.879 And so Joseph is believing this is this is a part of the journey, this is a part of what I'm supposed to do. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:03.679 And then he's got to be thinking right about now. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:05.840 Think of just summarizing that story. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.639 He obeys his father, he did what he's supposed to do. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:12.720 That's gonna be really important when you start thinking about your dream. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:20.960 Because we're gonna see a process that when you obey God and do exactly what he wants you to do, it very often gets worse before it gets better. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.799 Second, he's betrayed by family, he's sold into slavery. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:29.919 And then think about this in terms of how it really works: a new world. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.200 He was the object of affection, now he's a slave. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:37.120 He doesn't know the language, he doesn't know the culture. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:39.759 Before he was, you know, Mr. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:41.840 Special, and now he's a nobody. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:43.919 Beyond a nobody, he's a slave. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:46.000 He's just a piece of meat. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.519 He's got to learn a language. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:14:02.559 Maybe some of you came to this country as uh as immigrants, or you have friends who came here, and how foreign it was to come to the United States is as wonderful it was all you know built up to be. 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:04.720 And now there's a language you don't know. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:08.960 And uh my my son-in-law came from Armenia when he was about eight or ten years old. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:10.879 Neither of his parents spoke the language. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.879 It's a long story of why they had to flee to get here. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:17.600 And he said, you know, 10 I was in school. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:18.960 I didn't speak English. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:32.639 His mom and dad had great business jobs in Armenia, but they came here and it was like, hey, no credentials, we don't know the language, that they found themselves working at Minnie Marts, learning the language, later educated themselves and him as well. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:38.000 But I want you to picture being alone, feeling forsaken. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.120 Um, I don't know, have any of you ever been betrayed? 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.200 Maybe by a boyfriend or a girlfriend. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:48.480 Ever been betrayed by a spouse? 00:14:49.759 --> 00:15:00.320 Ever had a really, really close friend, and then you find out they said some things or they betrayed you, or you've been in business, especially business with another Christian, and they rip you off. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:03.759 Can I get a nod here or there? 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.600 I I think it's one of the most painful things we ever experienced. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:12.000 All the things I've experienced in my life, betrayal, someone you really trust. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:15.600 So let's let's not make this a nice little Bible story. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:22.639 He's got to be discouraged, depressed, alone, alienated, and wondering, where God are you? 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:29.840 And it raises the question if God gave him a dream and we happen to know the ark of the story, guess what? 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:31.919 Joseph doesn't know the ark, does he? 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:38.639 He doesn't know that he's gonna rescue the nation of Israel and other nations and that God's gonna use him in great ways. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:42.879 All he knows is God spoke to me, and now I'm a prisoner. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:49.600 And it's gonna get worse after he after he's sold into slavery, he'll get falsely accused, he'll end up rotting in prison. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:52.559 People who promise to remember him don't remember him. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:16:01.120 And he's got 13 years of, I have this dream, but my personal experience is God abandoned me. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:04.399 It's gonna be really, really important. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:05.919 Uh think of this. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:11.679 I was this morning pondering this whole message and think Genesis is the first book of the Bible, right? 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.799 Anyone know off the top of your head how many chapters in Genesis? 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:15.440 50. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:17.039 50, all right. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.159 Way to go. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:19.919 So 50 chapters. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:21.840 It's the most important book, right? 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:22.799 It's the foundation. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:23.759 Who is God? 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:25.279 How did creation happen? 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:26.960 What has happened in the world? 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:28.720 How does God operate? 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:31.600 13 of 50 chapters, do the math. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:36.720 26% of the very first book is about one man and his story. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:37.519 Why? 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:39.039 Why is it so pivotal? 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.080 Why is it so crucial? 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.159 Why is it emphasized so much? 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:55.200 Because a good and loving God who created all that's good, once sin enters the world, the biggest question is: how does a good God watch over my life in a fallen and evil world where I get injustice? 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.000 And the answer is Joseph's story. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:09.039 A sovereign God will take the worst that comes at you and reorganize it in a way as you draw close to him to bring about the very best despite the evil that comes at you. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:15.839 When he gets to the very end of his life, his brothers still don't get the still don't get the picture. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:22.559 Says, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:28.319 As you turn the page at the very top, here's what I want you to get. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:35.759 The ark of Joseph's life is a pattern, not an exception. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:50.160 As I have been had the privilege of kind of doing college ministry as a basketball coach and then later being a pastor for many years, I meet so many Christians that get are so disillusioned with God. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:51.119 I don't get it. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:55.839 He made all these promises, and my life's a mess, and this happened to me, and they did that. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:18:01.920 And part of that sort of that prosperity teaching that you've heard, it seeps in everywhere. 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:12.480 Somehow we unconsciously think, if we obey God, you know, like I'm in his word every day, even, and I'm in a small group, you know, I'm doing community, like he said, I'm discovering my gifts. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:17.759 I even give the first portion of my money to God and I'm trying to share my life with people at work. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:20.559 I mean, how how can I be more committed than that? 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.440 Then why did I get laid off when it wasn't fair? 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:25.119 Why did my mom get cancer? 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:31.119 Why did my brother and it's like if you do those things, isn't God supposed to make your life wonderful? 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:40.000 Aren't you supposed to be successful and happy and go public and get a lot of money and have a wonderful family and sing kumbai around the table, Thanksgiving? 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.960 That's an American prosperity myth. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.480 That's not Christianity and it's not the ways of God. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:55.599 But if you buy into that unconsciously, you can get very upset with God and very disillusioned with life. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:07.039 What you're gonna see, notice in your notes, this this process of God speaking to us and has it having a plan for our lives, and then a season where he delays, it's the pattern. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:08.240 Look at your notes. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:09.440 Abraham. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:16.559 God says to him, I'm going to make you a great nation out of your genealogy. 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:19.039 That's Genesis 12. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.000 He makes that promise to Abraham when he's 75. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:23.920 Guess when the sun comes? 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.160 125 years later. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:31.839 That 25 years, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of struggles, a lot of sin, a lot of dysfunction. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.160 God fulfilled his promise and Abraham got to know God during the journey. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:38.079 Or Moses, right? 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:42.640 He grows up in Pharaoh's house, he's got the greatest education. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:51.519 I mean, he's the prince, he's got the future in front of him, and something, you know, like he goes on Ancestry.com or something, or me 23, and he says, you know, I kind of want to know my roots. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:53.839 And he goes, Wow, I'm a Hebrew, I get that. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:57.519 And so he goes out to his Hebrew brother and he goes, Man, this is sick. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:59.839 This makes me angry, this makes me sad. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.039 They're getting beat up. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:01.920 I'm gonna help them. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:06.880 And so he kills an Egyptian, and 24 hours later, words out and he runs for his life. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.359 Right motive, maybe not the right method. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:11.279 He wants to deliver his people. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:12.720 Guess what? 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.839 It's a dream God put in his heart. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:22.799 He needed 40 years of training to become the kind of leader with the character of a leader that could deliver them. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:23.839 Or David. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:24.319 Right? 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:25.119 He's the youngest. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:27.039 God seems to take ordinary people. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:30.160 You know, the youngest, not necessarily the smartest. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:32.400 He gets anointed as king. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.920 You're the king. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:35.119 Saul blew it. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:38.000 He's all about himself, he's all about pride and arrogance. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:39.839 David, oh, me? 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:43.599 You know, I got a little slingshot and I've killed a giant, but I mean, you know, really. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:54.400 And then for the next 15 years, really, he ends up dodging spears and hiding in caves and getting his wife taken away from him. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:57.759 And after about seven and a half, he becomes the king of Judah. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:01.440 But it's 15 years before David is the king in Jerusalem. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:02.400 Why? 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:04.799 Why does it take so long? 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:06.319 The Apostle Paul, right? 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:09.519 Killing Christians, dragging them out of houses. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:10.559 Let's get rid of them. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:11.920 Men, women, children. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:12.799 I hate them all. 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:14.400 They're defying the great God. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.680 Boom! Jesus knocks him off his feet. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:22.640 He sees and meets the risen Christ. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:26.160 And so he goes to Arabia for three years. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.480 Goes back to his hometown of Tarsus for another nine or ten. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:37.519 From the time that he met Jesus to the first missionary journey, 13 years. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:39.359 What's God doing? 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:41.119 Why does he delay? 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.160 Why is it that he's made some promises to you? 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:54.720 Why is it that you have some dreams in your heart, that you've taken some steps, and right now you're saying, God doesn't feel very close, and I this doesn't look like it's working out the way I'd hoped. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:56.559 God, are you there? 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.680 A young woman after the service. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.279 Could I ask you a question or so? 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:03.039 And I said, I said, sure, you know. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:06.480 So I said, I don't can't stand up real long. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:12.240 So we sat down and really loves the Lord going to local university. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:18.720 And she goes in this journey, I'm really wanting to do what Jesus wants me to do. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:20.799 And He's put some things on my heart. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:22.400 But could I ask you something? 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:23.839 I said, Well, sure. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:28.960 She said, Did you ever go through a time where as you were doing that, you felt so alone? 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.599 I mean, just so alone. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:34.720 And I said, Yeah, I really have. 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:38.319 I think David felt really alone at times. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:40.640 I think Abraham thought. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:46.000 Is this ever gonna happen? 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.279 I think Moses probably gave up hope. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.319 It took a burning bush to get his attention. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:55.039 Here's what I want you to understand. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:59.200 There's a principle behind all of this, and actually it's in the text. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:06.240 In Psalm 105, it's interesting how sometimes a part of scripture will look back and give us a window into what God was doing. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:11.039 In verse 16, it talks about this famine that went all across the world. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:16.240 And then it says in verse 17, then he, God, sent someone to Egypt ahead of them. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:19.119 What's that mean? 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:21.759 It means the brothers didn't send him, God sent him. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:22.880 Joseph, who was what? 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.079 Sold as a slave. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:28.160 They bruised his feet with fetters and they placed his neck in an iron collar. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:29.920 Not really a good plan. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:31.599 Doesn't feel really good to Joseph. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:35.119 Until the time came to fulfill his dreams. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:39.279 The Lord tested Joseph's character. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.319 You see, God, here's the principle. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:44.559 Write this down, and I think there's a fill-in. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:50.480 God must work deeply in you before he's going to work significantly through you. 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:51.759 Say that with me. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.880 God must work deeply before he works significantly. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:03.839 If you can get that, you'll understand why it's lonely and why it seems unfair, and I don't get it. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:08.640 And I, God, if you if we're going to do these things, how can these things be happening to me? 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:19.200 Well, if they happen to Abraham and Moses and David, and we could go through church history and we could go through anybody that I've ever known that God uses in any significant way, I will tell you this. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:24.160 He had to do something very deep in them before we could do something great through them. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:32.960 Unfortunately, many, many of us, when it gets hard, we assume God doesn't care. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:40.960 And we either give in and try and find our meaning and our fulfillment elsewhere, or we give up. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:43.279 I guess I didn't hear God. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:45.279 It's probably just a dream. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:46.880 Probably just me. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:54.480 And from the foundations of the earth, that dream that God put in your heart is stillborn. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:25:08.079 And the people that could have been loved, the people that could have been delivered, the lives that could have been rescued, the companies and the neighborhoods, or whole people groups that God would have used you or me in. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:12.079 God has to figure out a different way through someone else. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:14.079 And the person who loses is us. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:21.519 We're going to do something that's a little bit crazy. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:27.519 We're going to do like a super rapid Bible study, and then I'm going to tell you two stories. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:32.160 I didn't grow up opening the Bible or reading the Bible. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:40.240 And if the principle that I call a timeless principle, if it's true, it'll change your whole perspective of your relationship with God. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:42.880 Completely. 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:47.920 So to me, it's like, I mean, you may like Ryan. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:50.799 You might think his dad, he seems like he's okay. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:52.400 I wouldn't believe me. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:55.279 How do you know what I just said is true? 00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:00.559 How do you know God does have to work in you deeply before he works through you significantly? 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:02.000 I'm glad you ask. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:02.799 Are you ready? 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:04.480 Now I'm gonna go pretty fast. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.400 And and you have all the verses. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:12.880 But I want I want you to get, as I go through it, I'm gonna go through fairly quickly, I want you to be thinking, in is it in you? 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:15.759 Is this thread, is it true? 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:24.960 Because if it's true, then you will begin to get a new set of glasses and you will look at adversity and pain and suffering and difficulty and betrayal through a whole new set of lenses. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:27.759 Like, oh, this is normal. 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:33.680 This is normal because God is in the process of making me more and more like his son. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:44.400 And the way he does that is he doesn't cause these things, but he allows them, and how I respond will create in me a very loving, kind, joyful, peaceful person. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:46.160 So Jesus teaching. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:53.759 Truly, truly I say to you, John 12, 24, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.960 But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:59.279 Jesus is speaking about his death. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:10.559 And what he's saying is, in agricultural community, if you have a seed and you can put a seed here, and if it remains by itself alone, it is a seed. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:17.759 But if you take an apple seed or seed of wheat and you put it in the ground and you water it, what happens? 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:22.160 It comes up and it becomes an apple tree with many, many, many apples. 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:24.160 There's something about nature. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:26.319 God reveals himself everywhere. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:28.480 In fact, early on, read Genesis. 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:30.079 I did a study on the word seed. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:31.039 It was so exciting. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:34.240 I mean, it was to me, maybe I haven't to you, so seed, seed, seed. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:43.279 But it was like it'll say, it'll say, and he made every crop in the land, every plant, and it bears seed after its own kind. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:52.640 And then when he talks about, when Adam and Eve have a baby, it says, out of his, doesn't say out of his baby, it says, out of Abraham or Adam's seed. 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:58.000 And all through, when you go through the genealogies, it'll be the seed, the seed, the seed. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:04.640 Something has to happen to a seed for it to bring forth much fruit. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:06.400 And it's death. 00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:08.720 We all want resurrection power. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:10.960 But the death precedes it. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:13.759 Notice what Jesus said as he was preparing the disciples. 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:15.519 This is the very last night. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:18.160 Guys, here's the goal. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:20.400 We're going to transform the whole world. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:22.319 But here's what I want you to know. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.319 These things I've spoken to you about the Spirit, these things I've spoken to you about my plan. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:30.000 These things I've spoken to you about my death and my resurrection. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:33.440 These things I've spoken to you so that in me you can have peace. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:35.519 In the world you'll have tribulation. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:38.480 But take courage of overcome the world. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:40.799 God never promised it would be easy. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:44.319 In fact, he promised you would bear a cross that would be challenging, it would be difficult. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.039 What he promised is you'll never go alone. 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:56.160 And it's in the midst of the painful, difficult times if we turn and lean in, that he begins to really manifest himself to us. 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:01.680 Paul would say to a little church in Philippi, for to you it has been granted, the word is grace. 00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:12.960 For Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here to be me. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:23.279 Have you ever thought that part of a grace gift from God is you not only get to believe, but you get to suffer? 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:30.079 I mean, we live in a world where any kind of suffering, man, you've got to have a pill for that and get rid of it as soon as possible, right? 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:34.400 Relief is what we look for in life. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:41.359 Paul says there's something about in a fallen world, Joseph's story tells us this is how it works. 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:45.200 And then the apostle Paul will give us basically the big process. 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:50.559 In the first two verses of Romans 5, he's gonna say, This is how we got right with God. 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:56.559 And then he's gonna say, Here's the process where God's will of making us like Jesus, and this is how it works. 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:03.519 Therefore, he says, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:05.119 Well, what's our new standing? 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:10.559 Through whom we also have obtained an introduction by faith into his grace in which we stand. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:18.000 We are loved, we are valued, we are forgiven, we've been adopted, we've been sealed by his spirit, we are God's sons and daughters. 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:20.720 And he says they glorify in this. 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:22.799 And not only in this, but we exalt. 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:29.039 The word is we rejoice, or literally, we boast in our, look at this process, our tribulation. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:30.400 Well, why? 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:33.039 Knowing tribulation brings perseverance. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:35.519 You don't give in, you don't give up. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:37.440 It's hard, it's difficult. 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:38.960 You hang in there. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:40.720 And perseverance does what? 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:42.559 Proven character. 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:44.799 You become more like Jesus. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:47.920 Pretty soon you you look at things the way Jesus looks at things. 00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:51.920 Pretty soon, regardless of circumstances, there's more love and there's more G. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:53.440 There's more G. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:54.960 How about that? 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:57.359 There's more of Jesus operating. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:30:59.759 There's peace, there's joy. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:05.359 Over time, as you persevere, you find that you become more patient. 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:09.920 You're good, you find yourself being kind to people that normally you wouldn't be. 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:12.559 You find that you're starting to discipline yourself. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:14.480 These are fruits of the spirit. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:18.720 Proven character, and proven character doesn't disappoint. 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:19.680 Why? 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:22.079 Because it leads to hope. 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:28.720 And hope doesn't disappoint because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.680 See, there's this thing that happens during the adversity. 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:37.920 It's like this, you know, like coal under lots of pressure over centuries become diamonds. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:41.839 God allows these challenging, difficult times. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:44.240 For Joseph, 13 years. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:51.680 13 years of being falsely accused, of being a slave, of realizing it's not fair, of being abandoned. 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:55.599 And all during that time, something was happening where what? 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:58.880 God was refining his character. 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:05.359 Because when God wants to do something great through a person, he has to do something deep in a person. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:11.119 Because if success comes too early, what he does through you, you make it about yourself. 00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:25.599 You know, uh, how many influencers or star athletes or movie stars at 20, 22, 25, 23, early 30s who get millions and millions of dollars. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:27.920 How do most of their lives play out? 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:29.839 Oh, it's wonderful, right? 00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:31.599 They all their relationships are really good. 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:33.359 They seem to have a lot of peace. 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:37.279 They they blow through tens of millions of dollars. 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:42.000 Their relationships are usually like a series of the next one, the next one, the next one. 00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:46.240 They often find themselves addicted to either alcohol or drugs or both. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:47.920 Their lives are train wrecks. 00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:50.400 Follow child actors. 00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:56.319 The number of child actors whose life comes anything but a train wreck is about this big. 00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:00.240 Or do a study on people, they've done this, people who've won the lottery. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:04.640 You'd think, it's great, I got five million dollars or ten million dollars or twenty-two million dollars. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:06.640 Fast forward five to ten years. 00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:10.240 The family's broken up, their life is a mess. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:14.000 Most of them would say, I wish I would have never got the money. 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:29.680 God cares for you so much that if he's gonna do something significant through you, he has to get something deep in you where you have character, where you have trust, where you have humility, where you can handle success. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:36.160 Um, you know, a 70 or 80-story building, you know, skyscrapers. 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:41.119 If you've ever seen when they're getting ready to build one, and you think, men, what in the world are they doing? 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:52.000 They go down anywhere from 55 to about 125 feet down in the ground until they hit bedrock to go up 70 stories. 00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:57.119 Because the higher the building, the deeper the foundation has to be. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:14.719 Some of the worst things that you're experiencing right now, the most challenging things, are really the grace of God shaping your life to help you have the kind of character that can endure how he's going to honor and bless your life and use you moving forward. 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:18.880 And so if you don't have this story, then you'd be in the dark. 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:20.159 God, what's going on? 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:22.719 By the way, Joseph didn't have the story. 00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:30.800 But as you'll read as the series goes on, there's a little phrase, and we don't know how, but it says, And the Lord was with Joseph. 00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:32.880 The Lord was with Joseph. 00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:39.519 And as lowest times, the young lady I talked to, uh, they had a good conversation. 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:42.159 I could tell her heart's really, really tender. 00:34:42.719 --> 00:35:02.400 I said, you know, she asked me about my time being lonely, and I shared a little bit, and I said, you know, of course, you know, I wanted the right relationship, and of course, but in my deepest, deepest loneliest times, I got to experience something that I didn't want. 00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:10.719 I got to experience Jesus actually becoming intimate and close to me and solve the deepest loneliness in my heart. 00:35:11.039 --> 00:35:18.639 That no person can, no success can, no great job can, no if we have kids can, no, we went public can. 00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:21.679 And here's the deal. 00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:23.280 You're human and I'm human. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:29.119 And that means when things are going great, we don't need God very much. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:31.760 We don't pursue him very much. 00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:40.719 But in our greatest need, we become very humble and dependent and hurting. 00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:44.079 And God runs to meet us. 00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:48.320 I uh I had a dream, and then God gave me a dream. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:36:02.400 And my dream growing up, my my wife and I were both kind of in that on the side of dysfunction, you know, in the ark, both came from alcoholic families, and my dad was a really great athlete in multiple things, and so I wanted to prove I was okay, so I, you know, I was undersized. 00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:06.719 So basketball became my dream, my love, and I practiced incredible hours. 00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:13.039 And uh basketball scholarship was all that I wanted to prove to my dad, and so I did, got a basketball scholarship. 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:17.760 And then as I was there, then it was like, okay, I'm I'm really gonna show him and I'm gonna show everyone else. 00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:24.960 And basketball became just an object that really I learned later it was it was an idol because it wasn't about basketball, it was about me. 00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:39.199 But I mean, I eight, nine hours a day and all those drills, and so as a freshman, it was the the rules changed where freshmen could play on the varsity team, and I got some time even as a freshman, and things are really looking good, and so as a sophomore, I'm I'm really, really ready. 00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:48.000 And then I was I played baseball as well, and I came out of the batter's box and I tore uh from my hip all the way down uh my quad, and that pretty much ruined that year. 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:55.840 And so the next year I really worked hard because I was gonna show my dad and I was gonna show everyone, and in my mind, it was I'm gonna score 25 a game, and it's all Jesus, it's all Jesus. 00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:59.679 No, no, it was really all chip, all chip, but you know, we're all deceived. 00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:07.360 And so uh third year, I'm I'm gonna stay at campus and I'll I'll take a couple classes, but I'm gonna play in the league, I'm gonna lift. 00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:16.400 I had these ply metrics, I'm gonna get my my jump higher, and I mean I gained wear a weighted vest, and I ran the stadium stairs, and man, this is my year. 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:19.039 I'm a junior, it's my turn, here we go. 00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:21.599 Ingram, ingram, ingram, you know. 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:28.320 And so uh a week before the season starts, I get in a crazy flu. 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:33.840 It spent all summer gaining 10, 15 pounds, I lost 12 pounds, never came back. 00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:46.000 And uh then in the middle of that season I broke my fifth metatarsal, and it was like the velvet vice of God. 00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:55.599 By my senior year, we had six different coaches, we had a big blow-up, we had a drug problem, people were getting rested off of our team, guys on the team were selling drugs. 00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:57.760 It was it was like a soap opera. 00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:08.639 And uh, got into the middle of it after a guy tackled me in the middle of a practice because he thought I had snitched to the coach, and apparently it was someone else. 00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:20.880 And I remember coming to the point finally where, Lord, if I never pick up a ball, if I never play again, uh, I want your agenda for my life. 00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:22.480 It's an idol. 00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:24.960 I want to do what you want me to do. 00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:30.239 And after all the coaches and all the stuff in the middle of the year, and it was just chaos. 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:33.280 Well, all that resulted in a great record. 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:34.880 We were six and twenty-six. 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:37.599 That means six wins, twenty six losses. 00:38:37.760 --> 00:38:40.639 So when we go to the year-end tournament, we're the lowest team. 00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:44.880 We play the number one team, not in our league, the number one team in the nation. 00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:48.079 And it was just like, whatever, Lord. 00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:50.320 Coach comes to me and says, You're starting tonight. 00:38:50.480 --> 00:38:51.679 Oh, great. 00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:54.800 That's what I wanted the whole time. 00:38:55.840 --> 00:38:57.440 Played the best game of my life. 00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:06.559 We, until the very end, we were we were down two points, and I got fouled with one second left on the clock, and I had a one-on-one. 00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:10.159 And in my arrogance, the coach came and said, Aim for the back of the rim. 00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:11.440 Your legs are tired, trust me. 00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:12.559 Aim for the back of the rim. 00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:15.920 And I still remember walking over and going, you didn't know what he's talking about. 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:18.159 I I visualized, I put it right over the top. 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:20.480 And I'd done this in my driveway a thousand times. 00:39:20.559 --> 00:39:21.360 This is it, baby. 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:22.159 Here we go. 00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:23.039 You know? 00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:25.840 Perfect, it felt great. 00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:30.559 Hits the very front of the rim, drops off, we lose. 00:39:31.599 --> 00:39:33.119 Still very arrogant. 00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:36.559 And then God did something unusual. 00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:48.320 Two weeks later, I got a letter from some group that said, we're putting a basketball team together, we're gonna play all the Olympic teams in all the countries of South America and all the selection teams, and we'd like you to join us. 00:39:52.480 --> 00:39:59.519 So I ended up two different summers, and then later with a team from Australia throughout the Southeast Asia. 00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:07.599 And God's just like chip, I wanna I want to work through you, but you weren't ready. 00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:10.480 You had to come to the end of yourself. 00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:14.480 And for some of you, that's a relationship right now. 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:25.519 Or it's your job, or it's a sport, or it's or it's a it's a dream that really what is driving you is not God, what do you want to do in me and what do you want to do through me? 00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:27.519 See, he always has two agendas. 00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:37.679 God wants to do something in you, make you like Jesus, and then he wants you to be a part of this plan of his to love people in radical, powerful ways. 00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:50.800 And when I finally said, you know, okay, I played more basketball games with better competition in one summer than I did in four years, and then did it the next year. 00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:57.119 And then an Australian team needed a point guard, and of all things, I'm the point guard, and they got an NBA guy to be the center. 00:40:57.360 --> 00:40:58.480 And and guess what? 00:40:58.639 --> 00:40:59.920 God's saying, guess what? 00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:01.360 Basketball's not the issue. 00:41:01.519 --> 00:41:04.239 Your job's not the issue, the relationship isn't the issue. 00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:06.159 I have to work deeply in you. 00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:10.880 Are you gonna draw near to me and be a son or a daughter that's really all in? 00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:19.360 And during that time, you know, I apparently God had worked enough that he was ready to do something that really surprised me. 00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:23.039 I mean, I got finally took me about a year and a half to ever get in the Bible regularly. 00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:23.920 I just couldn't get up. 00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:24.480 Anybody? 00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:25.760 Anyone in that? 00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:27.920 You know, I promised myself I'll read tomorrow. 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:29.039 And then the alarm would go off. 00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:31.039 And well, I promise I'll do that next film, right? 00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:41.920 And I finally did, and then I finally got in a small group, and then finally got him one and I started leading one, and then I could struggled with sin, and then I started memorizing scripture, and that for me was like a turning point. 00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:44.400 God gave me victory in some key areas. 00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:46.719 So now we fast forward, I'm on this team. 00:41:46.800 --> 00:42:00.960 It's the second team, second summer, and we're playing an outdoor stadium in uh Argentina, about 10,000 people playing against their Olympic team or selection team or whatever, and we're doing Bible studies with the guys, and there's this missionary. 00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:02.960 And the game's over. 00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:08.480 We've shared our testimony, sang a song, and they can fill out a little thing to get a gospel of John if they want to. 00:42:08.639 --> 00:42:19.039 This guy grabs my arm, this missionary takes one of those plastic uh milk carton type things, puts it over, lifts me up, sips me on it, gives me a microphone, and says, Preach to him. 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:22.079 I'm a school teacher and a basketball coach. 00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:22.639 What? 00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:24.000 I said, What do you want me to say? 00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:25.760 He said, I see you reading the Bible every morning. 00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:27.199 Whatever you read, tell him. 00:42:27.360 --> 00:42:29.920 I happen to have read Psalm 19 that morning. 00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:32.079 It was a beautiful starry night. 00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:34.719 You know, you're in another country, you just do what they say. 00:42:35.039 --> 00:42:40.239 Stop! Look up at the stars, the heavens declare the glory of God. 00:42:40.480 --> 00:42:41.519 Come down here. 00:42:41.679 --> 00:42:44.960 I will introduce you to the one who made all those stars and made you. 00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:46.000 Right now. 00:42:46.880 --> 00:42:48.320 Little boldness I didn't know I had. 00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:49.760 A couple hundred people come down. 00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:50.800 Give them the gospel. 00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:52.800 So he kind of coached me, gave him the gospel. 00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:54.400 Like 50 people come to Christ. 00:42:54.559 --> 00:42:57.679 Well, then each night he he starts putting me on this little thing. 00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:03.920 Well, I go back to coaching, and pretty soon they're asking me to speak at a youth group or this or that. 00:43:05.280 --> 00:43:08.639 I needed a stress fracture. 00:43:09.039 --> 00:43:12.960 I needed my quad to be pulled. 00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:15.280 I needed to be betrayed. 00:43:15.519 --> 00:43:24.559 I needed to have four, almost five years of college for God to do something in me to prepare what he wanted to do through me. 00:43:24.800 --> 00:43:28.320 And by the way, that that that was just the beginning of that journey. 00:43:30.239 --> 00:43:31.119 How about you? 00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:33.519 Where are you at? 00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:39.840 Little by little, uh one of my dreams was to have a woman. 00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:42.719 The thing I prayed, I shared with the gal I sat down with. 00:43:42.880 --> 00:43:49.760 I said, you know, I got to the point where I prayed God would give me a girlfriend and later a wife who loved Jesus more than me. 00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:54.079 Because I'd been through all the dating ups and downs. 00:43:54.800 --> 00:43:55.760 And he did. 00:43:57.199 --> 00:43:59.280 And she came from an alcoholic family. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:01.599 And she had a lot of pressure. 00:44:01.760 --> 00:44:02.880 She had two kids. 00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:06.800 She had two kids, and her husband left with some other woman. 00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:14.800 And she spent lots of hours in a closet crying out to God and asking, What do you want to do in me? 00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:16.400 What do you want to do through me? 00:44:17.519 --> 00:44:18.800 And then we met. 00:44:19.039 --> 00:44:21.679 And then we got married 47 years ago. 00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:28.000 And you know, sometimes I meet people and they, you know, they have this really distorted view. 00:44:28.159 --> 00:44:38.159 I was just with an organization this last weekend, and you know, a couple people came up to me and like, oh, I've been listening for all these years, and you wrote all these books, and you know, you know, I just laughed. 00:44:38.559 --> 00:44:39.199 No, no, no. 00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:40.159 Here's what you understand. 00:44:41.280 --> 00:44:51.360 Um, this is a broken basketball coach who was hard-headed, that God had to humble, and he uh he just uses regular ordinary people. 00:44:51.519 --> 00:44:57.280 And I found a woman who loved Jesus more than me, and we got together and said, Would you teach us how to be parents? 00:44:57.519 --> 00:44:59.280 Would you teach us how to raise our kids? 00:44:59.519 --> 00:45:05.199 And no matter what, we're not going to make decisions based on money, and we're not gonna make decisions based on circumstances. 00:45:05.519 --> 00:45:07.760 We want you to use our life. 00:45:08.079 --> 00:45:16.079 God loves to do extraordinary things through ordinary people to extend exceeding grace to undeserving recipients. 00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:19.199 There are no superstars in the body of Christ. 00:45:20.639 --> 00:45:22.559 There's no real superstars in business. 00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:25.119 I don't care if they're worth billions or what. 00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:27.280 You get to know real people. 00:45:27.519 --> 00:45:35.199 Everyone is insecure, everyone has fallen, everyone has struggles, and you are on a Joseph journey. 00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:44.960 You'll notice the very last line is adversity and suffering are God's tools to develop the character needed to steward his blessing and fulfill his promises. 00:45:46.639 --> 00:45:53.519 You see, if God gives us success and there's no foundation, you will just think it's about you. 00:45:53.920 --> 00:46:02.159 And you'll be blind and you'll be seduced, and you'll just be one of those many, many people who started well and don't finish well. 00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:04.960 And so don't despise the pain. 00:46:05.280 --> 00:46:07.519 Don't despise the journey. 00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:09.840 I hope it's not 13 years for you. 00:46:09.920 --> 00:46:36.800 I I did the math and I realized that when I was 25, I had to start career completely over, give up my dream of being a major college basketball coach, forget that I'd already been to grad school, start over with a wife and two little kids, moved to Dallas at 25, and I was 40 years old when a businessman took some of the messages and threw them on the radio that changed the trajectory of my life. 00:46:37.199 --> 00:46:39.039 And I needed all 15 years. 00:46:39.119 --> 00:46:48.880 And what I can tell you, if God has done anything through my wife and me, we are deeply aware that it has nothing to do with anything special that we bring. 00:46:49.519 --> 00:46:52.639 Other than we're not gonna bail out of the process. 00:46:53.119 --> 00:47:01.440 We're gonna take the Lord's Supper now, and I would remind you that the person who modeled this perfectly, remember, he was human. 00:47:01.599 --> 00:47:03.920 He learned obedience by what he suffered. 00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:13.280 Um, he did not, if there was any other way, not my will but yours, I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes and bow your head, and the band's gonna come. 00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:19.360 And then just say, Lord, I want to cooperate with what you're doing in me. 00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:22.320 I want to believe some dreams. 00:47:23.199 --> 00:47:25.280 I want my life to count. 00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:38.880 Lord, before I take this bread that represents your body and I dip it in this wine that represents your blood given for me, I want to repent of life being all about me. 00:47:39.920 --> 00:47:40.880 You're a good God. 00:47:40.960 --> 00:47:43.119 You want to do great things, you love me. 00:47:43.840 --> 00:47:50.719 Lord, help me to sign up for the work that comes in me before you do the big things through me. 00:47:52.960 --> 00:48:07.199 And so as you ponder with that piece of uh cracker or bread in your hands, and you think of the wine that it's it's dipped in. 00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:22.159 Thank Jesus that he was willing to model for us to die to himself, to be resurrected that we might have eternal life with him now and forever. 00:48:24.079 --> 00:48:28.239 May you never forget how kind and how good God is. 00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:30.960 He wants the very, very, very best. 00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:34.719 But the path is narrow and sometimes painful. 00:48:36.639 --> 00:48:40.639 Lord Jesus, thank you for walking that narrow road. 00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:52.639 Thank you for dying in our place, and thank you that you have been raised from the dead, and that when we believed on you, we were raised with you, with power to walk in newness of life. 00:48:53.360 --> 00:49:01.599 Just take a moment before you take some time to get up and take the Lord's Supper, and the band will lead us. 00:49:05.360 --> 00:49:07.599 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:12.239 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:49:12.400 --> 00:49:14.480 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:49:14.639 --> 00:49:20.480 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.