Making Adversity Work For You | Jeremy Foster

come on let's give Jesus an ovation a worship right now God you good man it feels good in here turn to somebody next to you say it feels good and I knew that it would look well James Brown for you on this weekend I'm excited if it's your very first time here thank you so much for coming it's a hope city we're a church that's about three and a half years old and we have seen more than 19 thousand people give their lives to Jesus and three and a half years that's something to celebrate that fires me up and our heartbeat for you is to not just know God we want you to find freedom we do that in groups we want you to discover your purpose we do that through our growth track and then we want you to make a difference we do that on a dream team and we believe God has called you for purpose and when you when you realize that it will help you walk through a trial we are in a series right now called trials and trophies I hope that has blessed you it has been a blessing to me just just studying through this thing because at the end of the day every one of us is going to go through a trial each one of us is going to go through a hard time we love to celebrate the good times don't we we talked about how men it was awesome whoo I did great I did amazing but we don't we don't want to talk about how hard it was doing well he was brutal was rough was hard we don't celebrate those hard times but you cannot get to where God has called you to go without hard times now this week I'm gonna help you everybody buckle your seatbelt I'm gonna help you because sometimes sometimes trials will surprise you sometimes sometimes they'll shock you because oftentimes we we talk about trials we talk about challenges we talk about struggles but sometimes those challenges and those and those struggles and those issues are people turn to somebody next to you and say it's you now playing oh don't do that that's because some of y'all it really is you sitting next to yo trial right now you brought y'all struggled at church [Laughter] Genesis chapter 37 says and the Joseph had a dream he dreamers out there let me talk to the dreamers we're the dreamers now you got a dream you believe believe God's called you to do something well get ready dreamers buckle your seatbelts because Joseph had a dream here's what I need you understand God gave him the dream it's a god-given dream you ever had a God dream like this is awesome I believe God's called me to do this and he told it to his brothers boy you better be careful who you tell your dream to why don't you keep trying to explain your god-given dream to people who aren't God I'm already preaching right now and they they hated him even more which tells me they already hated him and now he's got a dream they hate him even more whenever you have a dream from God you will face opposition so what do you do when you realize the opposition is people and when you realize sometimes the opposition fact more often than not the opposition is people you actually love people you want to believe in you and they don't people you want to tell you you got this but they're actually jealous of you how do you how do you handle that well the first thing you have to do is you have to remember and you have to realize that God is for you somebody say he's for me he's not against me whenever I don't know that he's for me when I don't realize God is for me I'll think everybody's against me I will think everybody in the world is against me but if I don't read scriptures like first John chapter 4 verse 4 it says but you belong to God my dear children there's something powerful about knowing he is my father and he loves me you've already won a victory over those people because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world I have a father who loves me when I can't figure it out he's already got it figured out when I don't know how to deal with it he's already dealt with it when I'm fighting things I don't have to even fight I just have to stand because I'm an overcomer he's already won the victory I'm more than a conqueror there are back there are battles he has won for you that you didn't even know he fought you're living on victories you didn't even know it you're standing on a battleground right now victorious and you didn't even know there was a battle you are here at this place right now because somebody prayed you hear somebody fought for you to get here somebody believed God for a miracle some of y'all have been dead but you had a grandmother back in the day who prayed and said he will live and not die he will do great things for the king a father fights for you when you don't even know he's fighting how many y'all have kids raise your hand if you have kids you got kids awesome to have kid I love kids I got five kids not because I like kids cuz I like my wife um I'm just calm come on guys we're in church come on I got five kids because we're trying to grow the church and uh 1716 six two and one come on somebody say we done we done ahh so if we have another there'd be a miracle of God um I'm scared to be Abraham though you know what I mean I'm just saying right now my wife right now just slapped the computer she's watching I love you I love you girl um they're gonna be locked when I get home I got five kids and so whenever Gillian was about I don't know she's about three years old maybe to two or three years old and Jesse had a track meet and if you know anything about track meets track meets last god-forsaken forever they lasts all day long and they schedule your kid like like there could be four hours between I'm like can't y'all just put them like just get all the events done so we don't have to stay here for seven hours you know but we do because a team and so we didn't have babysitting for Jillian so we had to bring her with us and thankfully this track meet that we were at they had a playground for little kids and so we went out there and it was awesome and it very obviously said five years old and under and this eight-year-old kid was I guess he was eight probably seven or eight he looked big and he he was he was jumping around on a playground and Jillian was sliding down the slide and he was one of those kids who climbs up the slide and you're like I bro down okay yeah but I you know whatever and so he got off the slide so Jillian was sliding on the slice she's having a good time and she's still learning how to get off the slide at the end and so she had slid down and she's just kind of you know scooting you know you scoot like you get stuck on the slide cuz you're skiing and stuff you just like she's smiling and I noticed this little dude getting ready jump on the slide at the top and she's not off the bottom yet and so I just I was like hey look hey little buddy hey partner can you wait just a minute and he just looks at me and it was one of those like God bless his parents you know cuz he's one of those little kids he's just mm-hmm he's a trial in the waiting right there is what he is he he just looked at me anyway and jumped on the slide now I have a decision to make as a father you know as a dad I could either grab him a little kid and like pull her off the slide possibly giving her a neck injury in the process or I could deal with the opposition I could deal with the trial I could deal with the battle in her life I could deal with that thing that the enemy is sending to destroy her joy a preacher preach anything so I so I used what we in the father world we call it a scoop maneuver so as he was coming down the slide I just scooped him off the slide you know I just I helped him in before it was over you know what I mean like I just he just he's coming and I just an easy just hit the ground and I was like he wasn't because he was like and I looked over and his daddy was a big old man I was like all right baby girl let's go let's G zhis gonna get you bro you come over here 45 we're gonna help you uh the reason I did this because I'm a father I couldn't see any other way around it there's no way I'm gonna let this thing hit my kid she's learning you you have a Heavenly Father who's watching over you who's helping you who's scooping things off a slide you didn't even know we're coming if you don't understand that God is for you then you will have him a misconception of who he is somebody needs to hear this this weekend he's he's not mad at you he's mad about you he gives you chance after chance after chance time and time again grace is so good you can't even understand it you punch me in the face once I'm gonna try I'm gonna be like oh my god I love you god bless you Bible says turn the other cheek I'm glad you hit me again no it's gonna be on you no but God we hit him time and time and time again and his mercy endures forever and he loves us God is for you somebody say God is for me and if God is for me then you have to realize Satan is against you Satan is against you if he can't stop you he'll try to make you quit and he will use anger and fear and frustration and anxiety and depression he will use people in your life to mess up your day you ever been having a good day and then one person just takes is just one person you know some of y'all are you sitting right next to him you know they just miss y'all whole day I was on a plane one time and I was flying somewhere where I was going my wife working with me and I'm and I'd gotten an exit road which was super fired up about it's one of those planes that had two seats and then one seat and I'm sitting there and you know I can sleep your boy can sleep on a plane okay I'm talking about open mouth snore like I don't even care who try to stop me from snoring I don't care y'all lay my people it don't matter picture tag me I don't even care you know I'm a I'm gonna relax I'm asleep so I'm sleeping I got my headphones on my noise counselors and I got my little eye mask up my wife makes fun of me but I got my little bougie eye mask on you know I'm laid-back and you know I'm just kind of I'm just kind of chilling I'm trying to go to sleep and all of a sudden I felt I mean ah see I felt a hand on your boy leg all right now male or female this ain't a good thing you know I mean like it don't even matter like I unless it's the pilot like sir we need you to pray you know it's just not like I know and I can see under I could this all happens in a split second I can see under my little bougie mouse and I look down and I can see that it's it's a lady's hand I might like this all got some like you don't even know my wife ma'am well you you you don't even know you you fixin to die cuz somewhere in the spirit right now somewhere wherever Jennifer was she was like saying like she gonna meet us at the airport and put you down lady like you ain't goin wherever you thought you was goin everybody meet Jesus whether you ready or not you know so I pulled my headphones off and I I'm asking I look at her and she looks so mad she's so angry and she says stop tapping your foot I'm a foot 10-4 okay we're anybody else here a foot I'm like you're like this you're like all the time like my legs all the time how many of our hate but you hate the foot tapper like that god bless y'all pray for your spirit right now the Lord to help you bring you through apparently you feel if you boys tapping his foot and it was driving her insane she's like I'm on my way to do the work of the Lord I'll rebuke your spirit right now Jeff I didn't say that I was like I'll do my best and then I look at him it happen in it listen there are gonna be people in your life who are gonna throw off they're gonna throw off your good day as ridiculous as that is there are some things that are way worse than somebody you don't know trying to stop you from tapping your foot sometimes it comes from people that you love dearly and I would submit to you this weekend how you handle a trial will determine how God can use it either he'll be able to propel you forward to the next thing or he'll have to prepare you to take it all over again here's what I want you to understand when God gives you a dream and you have a dream that dream will be tested and pressure has a purpose pressure has a purpose it does it has a purpose if I can talk you out of your dream you probably wouldn't have done it anyway I have I have every now and then somebody will tell me um yeah I believe God's called me to launch a church like you did like plan a church like you did and I'm telling you about 99% of the time I look at him saying no he didn't when they go this dudes system God's call me to plant a church I said nope his wife looked at him like are you sure I was like nah I probably didn't cuz it could destroy your marriage you could destroy your family everybody's gonna think you do good and you don't do good what you gonna do in six months when you're trying to pick yourself up off the kitchen floor you better I hope your wife knows that you're called because she's glad to tell you you are either way whether she believes it or not you better hope she believes it because you don't want her in six months cuz you're gonna be on the floor either way you're gonna be on the ground either way doesn't matter how good or bad it's going you're gonna be on the ground either way feeling the pressure of it you better hope you called he walked out like because because if I can talk if if I can talk to you out of it you might not have been called to it anyway God uses people sometimes that are the closest to us to put pressure on us because if your dream can't survive the people you love you'll never survive the enemy who's trying to kill your destiny and destroy your purpose so you'd better know what God has called you to but here's the interesting piece here's the interesting piece none of y'all ready for this none of you ain't ready for this turn to somebody said get ready you're not ready you still ain't ready even though they just told you to get ready here's why because not only will that dream be be tested by people and by Satan it be tested by God listen to this Psalm 105 19 nobody preaches about this until the time came to fulfill his dreams the Lord tested Joseph's character sometimes people that you think are creating a problem for you or actually pushing you towards your destiny and the Lord's trying to build your character just to see if when he gets you to the palace you'll be able to actually handle it and fulfill the purpose that he brought you therefore now if you're taking notes write this down God can take you to the top but your character will decide if you stay there or not character is a is a is a is a built-in safety net to protect you from your own success sometimes you need a trial I I can't have deliverance if I never have a disaster I can't say look what the Lord has done if I've never been through anything for him to do God will never give you a life that makes him unnecessary and that's what a bunch of us wants just give me a blessed life it just make it perfect no he says he said it book of John he said you're gonna have trouble in this world period that's a promise as much as the peace of God as a promise as much as take heart because I have overcome the world as a promise you don't have trouble as a promise we hadn't put it on a t-shirt yet maybe we should I got problems period we don't put hope city on the front of that we put a note city on the front of that one you know I mean like this the church you don't want to go to you don't mean but it's the truth you're gonna have problems you know we live in the selfie generation right everybody's got selfies to take itself do ya do you or me y'all remember when we didn't have camera phones when we didn't have a phone and we'd have a camera on the phone I remember we didn't have phones and we had we had phones that you pick up that had a cord I remember when they they had the the cordless phone came out y'all remember that though that was the day right there the cordless phone came out and it was it was on the wall like it was on the wall and it would ring and you'd be like I got it and you would pick it up and and pull out the antenna and be like what's up you know how to me because it was like a you couldn't go too far from the base right because you had to come back because it would get all staticky you know y'all remember some of y'all dat Millennials you know remember I remember has hard days we had cameras in those days if I took selfies you don't I mean like nobody like turn the camera around like you know why cuz you didn't know if you even got your face in the picture and I remember we used to have to take pic we take a picture and then you take another picture just in case cuz you didn't know but you didn't take a whole bunch because we only have like 35 pictures on that roll of film right and then we would take that little 35 millimeter roll we would take it we would take it to the drug store remember the drug store had the little photo place in there and we give it to the person they put it in the loof in a little package and then it would you'd have to wait for like four or five days and then you go back and you didn't know if your pictures were good or not until you you got to pack you're like and all the rest of them are bad you know but that one was good and you and you remember you remember who we in take selfies like like they they had to go through a process right nobody wants to go through a process anymore do we we want to take a picture and look at it immediately take a picture look at it immediately oh that looks good that looks good hashtag no filter hashtag you lie you put 32 filters on that thing to make it look oh but back in the day we had to go through a process and if you opened the back of that camera before it was done it would over expose the film and all the sudden it ruins the picture because it had to go through the process be done and then go to a totally separate location and then an expert had to take it and take it into a darkroom and dunk it in some water and then take it out and dunk it in some more water and then hang it up and let it dry the problem is some of our faith has been overexposed opened up in the middle of a process because you wanted to happen faster than what it needs that I'll take the best selfie you'll ever get as a trial nothing will tell you who you are then when you go through something hard you go through some tough times that'll you can tell somebody oh you've got to have faith and then you go through something painful and hard I'm just preaching good to you right now I'm trying to help your future is not ahead of you folks it's inside of you and the pressure is pushing it out so you need to start welcoming the pressure this makes no sense you mean I got to go through a trial yes that's what defines you go through hard times enough nothing pushes you together like conflict sometimes those people that you're on a team with you need to go through some tough times because that's what gives you that whole strength of like we made it through this I can trust you I can lean on you why cuz I've been in battle with you God God goes from trial to truth this way it works we're the ones who are backwards we've been backwards since the beginning look in the book of Genesis it says the evening in the morning was the first day well that's weird because we go the morning to the evening we're the ones who's backwards evening to the morning darkness to the light why because there is no darkness that a little bit of light cannot overcome God's a little bit backwards so you got to start looking at how he operates First Samuel Chapter two in the King James Version because I just felt a little bit doctrinal the Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth hope that don't make sense the Lord killeth and he maketh alive no no no no he maketh alive and then he dies no no the Lord killeth and then maketh alive he bring us down to the grave and bringeth up the Lord maketh pour and then maketh rich he bring his low and then he lifted up he raiseth he it's a lot of he raiseth up the poorest out of the dust and he lifted up the beggar from the dunghill earth to set them among the princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth of the lords and he had set the world upon them what's he saying you thought that was the devil that came against me but it wasn't it was my destiny I had to go down but down is not my destiny up is my destiny and God brought me down so that he could bring me up I can't talk about deliverance if I've never been through addiction if I've never been through heartache if I've never been through pain any man born of woman is a few days and full of trouble you are born in sin and shaping an iniquity if you think you're perfect did you have no issue that is your issue I'm preaching good I'm trying to help you understand he makes poor and then he makes rich read the scripture it says if that if the evil steals something from you he's got to repay seven times over so sometime sometimes God will allow the enemy to take your stuff just so that he could use the enemy to bless you exponentially over and over again I'm trying to help you understand don't get stuck in the trial don't camp out in the middle of the trial God didn't call you to stay there I know you're in a trial I know you're in a hard time some of y'all the reason you're here is because you're in a trial right now trouble drives you to God Comfort Drive to chill some of us are in trouble right now going through a hard marriage going through a challenge child just questioning our purpose that's one you need to go through growth track that's why you need to get involved with something that's bigger than you get involved with something bigger than you and it'll blow the enemies mind he'll get so frustrated at you when you ever you start getting excited over somebody's life getting changed because he can't do nothing about that your finances may be in a in a challenge your marriage may be in a challenge your career may be in a challenge maybe you just feel down but you go and help beat somebody who can't feed themselves you go give something to somebody who can't give something in themselves you go help with human trafficking right here in the city of Houston you go help launch a campus on the dream team it frustrates the enemy here's what I'm trying to get you to understand adversity will advance you if you'll let it God uses trials to train you he uses trials to train you joseph has these brothers and he tells his brothers his brothers everybody say his brothers he tells his brothers about his god given to him God chose Joseph who is immature not prepared to handle the God dream Joseph is not even prepared to handle the favor of his own father anytime you have the favor of the father's you had to deal with the hatred of your brothers brothers get frustrated because Joseph and listen the Bible is very clear I kind of understand Joseph's brothers because Joseph is kind of a he's a little jerk like for real like it's very clear the Bible is very clear he's 17 years old he's the 11th son he's the baby of the family he's the only son of Rachel he's the favored son and his daddy makes him a special coat everybody else has got regular coats that they've had for a long time and here comes justice and it's little coat of many colors hey guys how's it goin I like cat you like mine look at all the colors look at yours it's brown yellow-red-blue 10 he's some of yours you're here for the first time I'm the real pastor um like an older dudes not coming out like this is it there's not a guy back there with a suit and a microphone like get off the stage Youth faster if you don't like it like there's a lot of churches in this city you should go try him out um he and he the first thing he does the first thing we we get when we meet Joseph is he's tattletale and on his brothers dad dad we've been kicked the Sheep I don't like the way their handler had a dream oh you guys bow down to me it was amazing I said yeah gasps can we just decide to say yes can we just do that is that okay ah there's no a I've never okay it's whatever I have teenagers I don't know ads if you and they hate him some of the closest people to you will challenge you more than anybody my five kids Jayden and Jessie my oldest and when they were little hilarious they would fight like cats and dogs now they're best buddies that we fight all the time hey they're probably four and five years old and and we used to do the whole work I'm gonna count to three I'm gonna count to three one two three we stopped doing that cuz now I'm like hey if you don't get it on the first time you in trouble I ain't gonna count I already know how to do that you know what I mean so but we used to count and so I would count and Jesse was doing something crazy and Jaden was standing right next to me I was like Jesse if you don't if you don't listen to me right you're gonna be a big drama Kappa 3-1 and Jaden standing right next to me she goes to three spanker sir you know he's supposed to love her sometimes the people that are the closest to you are the ones that will challenge you the most you got to learn how to make it through the hatred of your brothers if your dream is gonna survive that's why you got to have it on the inside of your heart that you can make it through any opposition and trust God with it listen I need you to understand if you're taking those write this down don't hate the haters don't hate the haters the haters become helpers if you let them God uses them proverbs 6:14 says behold the haters you have with you always it don't say that that's that's the new international Jeremy Foster version don't don't this don't don't write that down this but it is something like that listen haters will propel you opposition signals transition when I'm going through some friction science tells me that creates movement some of you wonder why am I feeling so much friction because God's so sick of you sitting where you are he's trying to get you to your purpose so there's a little friction in your life that'll get you moving to eat you up a little bit because he's tired are you being so cold [Applause] haters are not bad they are the doorkeepers to your destiny at some time you got to embrace that here's the challenge and this is where I kind of want to live for just a second and I really walk through this kind of like wondering should I talk to you about this because it's it's my biggest frustration with faith and that is simply this that my frustration flows from the fact that I know who God is I'm a man of faith I believe gotta come through I know who God is I wouldn't be so mad about sickness I didn't know he was a healer I wouldn't be so frustrated in trouble if I didn't know he's a very present help in the time of trouble that's what frustrated why am i sitting over here when I know who you are I know what you're able to do I know what you're capable of I get up there and I declare I'm an overcomer I'm more than a conqueror and then Satan does the cha-cha on my chest and I feel broken and I feel alone and I feel abandoned here's what I want you to understand you may feel abandoned and you may feel alone but you are never without help you are never without a holy God who can hold you up in the midst of it but but what do I do when I'm praying and I'm trusting and I'm believing and I can't find God please do not read the silence of God as the absence of God in your darkest night that's when he is the closest to you the people of God were in a bind in the Old Testament and the Bible says Moses approached the thick black darkness where God was in the darkest moment of your trial that's when you are the closest to God you can't see him because you are covered up by him he is carrying you through this thing you don't have to believe that you are by your side oh well that's really good preaching but why hasn't he delivered me yet this is a big question why why and when we start asking that question why we often diagnose it and we answer it ourselves and we say well he hasn't delivered me because I did something wrong he hasn't delivered me because I made a mistake I did something to make him mad if you've blown it just look straight ahead don't blow your cover because we're real good at saying I'm good how's everything I'm good but really we have questions at some point you got to learn how to speak in faith listen I've been through trials you know what got me through this and a group I got a group I'm in several groups and I'm very honest in my group at some point you got to get around people that you can say I don't understand why I'm going through this that's called lament why God why did this happen why is it happening like this I don't get it but I trust you you got to have some scriptures that you pray can I pray mine for you this is my scripture psalm chapter 27 I can't tell you that I prayed this one in 1993 when I was facing fear home by myself one night I was afraid I prayed this scripture it became my Scripture I prayed it when my marriage was destroyed I prayed it before we launched this church I prayed it since in the middle of the launch of this church and here it is the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh my enemies and my foes they stumbled and they fell though an army may in camp against me my heart shall not fear the war may rise up against me in this I will be comforted one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my to behold the beauty of the Lord to inquire this temple for in the time of trouble he'll hide me in his pavilion in the secret place of his tabernacle he'll hide me he'll set my feet upon a rock you got to have something you got to have something that helps you you got to have something that helps you cuz I'm talking to somebody right now that's in a broken marriage you can sit down you got to have something that helps you because you're in a bond right now you got to have something that speaks faith to you but why why doesn't he use the power that I know he has to deliver me he delivers the three Hebrew children they go in the fire there's a fourth man in the fire where's the fourth man where's he at he's right beside you but there's a reason why he doesn't always deliver you right out of it because God says God says you need more than deliverance you need more than deliverance if I deliver you out of it immediately the adversity does not work for you but he has the ability to anoint you in adversity and all of a sudden everybody around you who sees what you're going through doesn't know how you're going through it he did not deliver the three Hebrew boys out of the fire he climbed up in the fire with them so that he might show a heathen king his power and so sometimes you got to walk through it because that's how you go to the next level you think starting this church was easy it hadn't been easy not one day I remember when they told us yeah you can you can have your church in Memorial High School for six days we celebrated yay on the seventh they told us you can't have your church in Memorial High School did we take no for an answer no because we just believed that this is where God told us to begin so we had a team come out and they started praying they were walking for their health like but they're really saying right now in the name of Jesus this is your territory this is the place where you've called us to start a church and right now more than 19,000 people have given their lives to Jesus here because somebody said I don't think so I think we're I think we're all in that's why that's why we're launching our fourth campus on the third weekend in October Cornerstone campus launches 1.9 miles from here and we need you on the team but you don't understand I'm going through a trial maybe just maybe God's allowed you to go through the trial so that he can prepare you for the triumph but if you don't position yourself properly to go through the trial you will never be ready for the triumph some of you are camping out in a trial and God has never called you to do that turn to somebody next to you say don't stop dreaming I need I have Joseph Joseph Joseph brothers to be here tonight I want them to come up to the stage right now Joseph's brothers y'all give them a great big hand there's there's ten of them ten of joseph´s brothers they listen you have to understand these are these are these are good dudes they've been working for a long time they've got a great dad they love their dad and then the 11th brother comes along and he's just a little kind of a snart come on over here guys come on get in get in get in again he's just kind of snarky he's just kind of he pops off all the time he thinks he's smarter I have a word from God I had a dream and you guys bowed down to me and it was amazing it was awesome and then his dad comes and gives him this perfect coat and he's like it's like a coat of many whips and tears because this 2018 and and they don't like him they're frustrated with him so they're like what do we do with this guy now listen God has selected him God has chosen him God has pulled him and separated him out from amongst the others he doesn't yet know how to handle it you better be careful how you handle people around you because you might be messing with somebody that God has called to do something great and that person you keep being negative towards and you keep thinking you're Joseph and you're actually one of the brothers because you have a hard time being positive to anybody you have a hard time speaking life to anybody in fact you won't miss an opportunity to gossip about somebody you believe listen I don't mean to gossip but you oughta not I'm telling you we ought to pray for them and that's how you cover all of your gossip I'm not preaching anybody here you know it's probably some on the podcast you know and they get mad the the jacket is the last role so he comes and his father says here I made this for you son and he goes he goes skipping back over there just go skipping back of it no no no no no no no no no no I'm gonna need you to Smurf it up I'm talking like getting Charlie Charlie and they start kind of moving in on him they start kind of moving in on and they kind of don't like him they rip his jacket off of it kind of easily guys don't like actually tear it they tear his jacket they tear his jacket off of him they throw him they throw him into easy does it Trevor his knees are super sore gonna need some ointment later on he's in he's in pain they take this jacket they put blood on it they go tell his daddy he died his father weeps for him but his heavenly father is with him in the pit and in the pit Joseph trusts God trust God and then he meets Potiphar and Potiphar comes along and Potiphar says here imma buy you out of slavery and I buy out of the pit into slavery so now he went from being in a pit rejected by his brothers and now he gets sold into slavery this is from bad to worse but Joseph positions himself and Potiphar likes him says you did a good job you did a good job but then but then Potiphar's wife is a freak and so she she keeps trying to hook up with Joseph and Joseph psych nah I ain't about that life and she falsely accuses him Potiphar gets mad and throws him in prison Thank You Padre I was a little bit easier on the boys knees and Joseph is in the prison fall seek so let's retry he's betrayed by spoken to by God favored by his father betrayed by his brothers this is where it starts it starts with a dream come on can I talk to some dreamers right now I talked to some dreamers that your brothers and your sisters have been so angry at any success that you have in your life so mad had thinkin that they should have had it you ever had that moment see maybe you're not Joseph maybe you're one of the brothers why are they why do they get blessed I deserve that more than them but you don't see where God's taking them all you see is what's happening to them and not what's happening to you sometimes the trials not all about you sometimes the trials about other people and God's trying to take somebody somewhere to get them ready for something that he has for them to do a purpose we got to stand together folks like never before we got a love on each other we got to Pat each other on the back we got to say you got this I'm with you I believe in you I'm gonna fight with you I'm gonna fight for you so now betrayed by his brothers falsely accused by Potiphar now he's in prison two dudes get thrown in prison with him that was weird like yeah they're in prison with him and what is what is Joseph doing how can I help you why because now Joseph in prison has become a ruler in prison he's in management in prison because if you're a manager you'll manage wherever you are right now and not hope to manage one day whenever I whenever this not whenever this no no if God has called you to lead you'll lead wherever you are right now don't make me drive drop this right now I'll drop it these two guys get out of prison this dude don't get out of prison and this dude forgets all about him he helped him he helped him with a dream because because when you're when you're Joseph and you're in the prison you're not all about your own dream you're about helping somebody else and listen I know where I'm at right now and it's a hard place and it's a trial and it's a messed up marriage but I've gone through growth track I've discovered my purpose and it's not all about me so if I can help you I want to help you and he helps him and this do forgets about it until the king has a dream Pharaoh has a dream and he says do we know anybody who could interpret a dream he goes so I forgot I forgot well like like you really forgot I forgot so he tells the payer of Harris's go get him go get him it's a hey bro hey bro come on Pharaohs got a dream I notice he ain't getting set free he's going he's going to help somebody else with their dream because he's figured out it ain't all about me the greatest deterrent to God's dream in your life is your dream for your life Wow because your dream is centered all around you what if you started helping somebody what if your life consisted of helping other people accomplish their dreams what would happen so he gets out he gets out he gets out of prison he tells he tells Pharaoh his dream and Pharaoh is so blown away that he puts this guy second in command in the whole kingdom now and this dude is saving millions of lives now he went from down here betrayed by his brothers y'all seen the movie now he's the Prince of Egypt he's all up he's doing amazing things and what happens what happens his brothers need him and so they come they come to the kingdom and they say please help us amazing actors now here's what's crazy because he's grown so much they don't recognize him but here's the key just because he's grown so much and they don't recognize him doesn't mean that he shouldn't recognize them because at some point God's gonna give you an opportunity all the people in your life who beat you down who've held you back we've messed you up all the haters you're gonna get an opportunity to prove your purpose and how you handle your trial will determine what God is able to do with it this is the test of all of the trial and instead of saying help you bye Felicia he don't do that he looks at them and says guys it's me saying Gossett's me y'all be freaked out we have to have some actors like in our charge there's got to be something they freak out and they fall down on their knees not know I want you I want you notice now they are in the position that they put him in but because he handled the position so well he gets down with them and says why you meant for evil God meant for good come on I'm gonna help you walk through this it's all listen it's all about how you handle this position just because you're down doesn't mean down is your destiny there are some places that you cannot go without a crucifixion you cannot crucify yourself some of you need a level of betrayal and hurt and pain and heartache and shame to set you up for where God is taking you you'll never have mercy like when you've been forgiven you'll never judge somebody harshly when you yeah how many y'all have one day you hope nobody ever finds out about when you would you realize how good god has been to you all of a sudden you can come through the pit and you can come through the prison and all of the pain and you can stand here and say just as God has done it for me he can do it for you and he's got a purpose in the midst of my pain so stay in the proper position in the trial give these guys a great big hand thank you I want to tell you one last thing I will tell you one last thing because many of you need to realize this there are people that have hurt you and it was the pain that you went through that was supposed to propel you but for some reason you misread it and you didn't want to help anybody else with their drama Regents am i right now you won't help anybody else with their dream because you've been hurt but you understand I've been hurt I've been hurt you don't know what I've been through and I'll tell you this when Jennifer and I got married I did not know what I was in for I married a woman who had been hurt and it hurt me and most of you know our story so I won't belabor it but after two years of marriage we separated for two years and 27 months of separation is a long time when there's no infidelity you love each other you just don't like each other I don't know how we didn't know how to deal with we had two kids I'll pass them back and forth I had him 50% of the time she had him 50% of the time and I asked God plenty of times why won't you deliver me out of this everybody's talking about me everybody's got an opinion I'll never be able to do what you've called me to do because look at this thing it's besmirching my character it's making me look stupid everybody's talking about us I'd even do anything and and realizing in the midst of that that I was immature when God gave me the dream and I didn't handle her properly I didn't love her in the midst of her pain I didn't love her like Christ loved the church and so God started working on me in the pit and the prison and he was working on her in the pit and the prison and here we are 18 years now five kids back together launching the fourth campus of Hope City in just a few weeks don't tell me that God can't take a trial and make a trophy out of it but he will make your pain your platform if you let him do it and look at all the people who look now and say if God did it for them you can do it for us I didn't know God was setting us up to help people even some of the people who brought the pain into our lives Lord I think you've reaching every person in this place I pray that you would speak to their hearts right now I pray that you speak to their lives speak to their minds God speak to their pain because there's somebody here in a trial and they've been in it for a long time but they're not dead so you're not done they're not dead so you're not done I pray that you would encourage them right now and help them to know that they can make it through this thing that they can make it through this thing that in the middle of a prison they will find a place on their knees and say I'm positioning myself to worship you in the midst of this war in the midst of this heartache when I don't understand it I'm just gonna trust you and you may not deliver me out of it but you will never abandon me in it give them strength right now nobody looking around if you're in this place and you know you need to make Jesus the center of your life well you just lift your hand and say that's me that's me that's me that's me Honus to pray this prayer will you pray with me Jesus you're the only one who can save me I trust you with my life I don't know what to do right now but I know that you do and so I'm going to believe in you you are the son of God and I cannot trust myself so I put all my trust in you and I'm asking you Jesus to be the Lord of my life in Jesus name Amen let's give him an ovation of worship right [Applause] I want you to stand don't go anywhere yet don't go anybody I want you to stand and then I'm gonna dismiss you but but we're gonna pray for some people tonight because this just 7:15 Saturday night service is a little bit crazy if you said yes to Jesus is very important in fact this is my purpose I need you to text hope 2 7 7 4 or 5 3 I need you to do that because I answer to God for that it's God's job to save you it's my job the disciple you we won't bug you but we will send you information about 3 things about our growth track it's a 2 step process that helps you discover what God purposed you to do give you information about our groups because you need to be in one of the more than 400 groups that we have throughout this city and then it will give you information about right now Mediacom will give you a free membership to a Bible study program that you can study all hours of the day and night I believe that God has called you to do something great but you got to trust that this is my prayer for you I pray the Lord blesses you I pray that he keeps you a pray that he makes his face shine upon you turns his countenance towards you this week I pray that God gives you peace I'm getting ready to dismiss you but I want to prayer partners to go ahead and come down right now because there are some people that have been struggling in a pit and you've been struggling in a prison and you've been falsely accused you've been facing all kind of hard times and tough stuff you don't know what to do about it sometimes it takes a little bit of fortitude we're gonna need several staff to step forward to help so what am I ask you to do before I dismiss everybody it's gonna take little guts but the Bible says where two or three agree together asking anything in my name I'm there if you know you need somebody to help pray you through this step out from where you are right now and just come on down that way when traffic is going that way you don't have to fight that come on down let's give them a great big hand it takes a lot of [Applause] with this lineup right here and they'll pray for you they're gonna pray for about one minute for you that way we get to everybody come on down come on down you know I'm gonna have to stand in line for a long time we're gonna pray for you anymore staff home and start praying and more staff members that we got Tim and Peggy we will be a church that believes in the power of prayer joining together I believe God's gonna do something amazing I do want to ask you this I want to ask you all to pray about helping launch the Cornerstone campus because I believe that the Saturday night service is gonna really help launch that campus and open doors for people and blow our minds with what God's getting ready to do with the launch of our fourth campus Ritchie I want y'all to sing something team come on out here we're gonna sing I'm gonna dismiss you but if you want to stay in pray you want to stay in worship you're welcome to do that if you do stay in worship go get your kids and bring them in here we're gonna give them we're gonna give them 5-hour energies I'm playing we're not gonna do that but it's never bad to get those babies in this kind of environment and let them see what God can do let's give Jesus innovation of worship right now god we trust you if you need to go you're dismissed y'all sing something let's trust God to do something amazing if you're down here praying just believe you

Channel: Jeremy Foster

Views: 8,743

Rating: 4.9282513 out of 5

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Id: hKXe-xOQ_zY

Length: 55min 3sec (3303 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 26 2018