"Strangely Wrapped Gifts" with Jentezen Franklin

the following program is sponsored by friends and partners of Kingdom connection MIT the new year a year of increase seeking God's best in 2015 join Pastor Jentezen Franklin and people from around the world for our annual 21-day fast beginning January 4th 2015 this month we've prepared two special resources that will encourage you throughout your vesting journey if this is your first fasting experience request fasting 101 in it you'll find Jenson Franklin's New York Times best-selling book fasting along with devotionals and exclusive teachings on CD and DVD that will help you get the most out of your first fasting experience if you've already begun to develop a lifestyle of fasting and prayer there's fasting 2.0 to take your fasting to another level included our resources that will lead to deeper intimacy with God and reveal advanced principles that will release the power of fasting in your life or for your gift of any amount this month ask for Jenson Franklin's powerful CD series day-by-day commit the New Year to God through fasting and prayer and watch as he releases his hand a blessing and makes 2015 a year of increase I was reminded this week about a story that I heard I'm going to give you the story and it's very important that you lean in and catch it it's the story that I heard some time ago about a father and his son that had a strained relationship the the boy's mother died at an early age and the father had done the best that he could to raise the boy by himself but he was also a very successful man building a very successful business and that business had really required a lot from him and the son felt some neglect the boy grew up and there was strain in the relationship and finally the the boy goes off to college and like many kids goes off to college and the dad continues to build the business and they drift apart but the senior year of his college education the father be the Sun began to you know desire to reconnect with his dad and so he began to go home on the weekends and he began to reach out to him and begin to share more time and talking the the wound began to heal and the closeness begin to come back and one day they were out walking in in their City and there was a used car or a car lot I should say and it had very expensive cars a sports car and the boy said to his dad that is what I want for my college graduation present that convertible to the dad he had so much money so much wealth that car would not be a problem but he let him know I would love to have that dad I would love to have it he even dropped hints as the date was getting closer to his graduation he dropped hints to any and everybody who would have access to his dad you know your son really wants that car you know he really really wants that car his grades are good his grades are high and he wants you to reward him with that sports car the day came that the son graduated from college and after the graduation that went back to his huge home of the father and the father asked him to come into his study and when he walked in the Father had a package that was wrapped in paper and and beautiful bow on it and he pushed it across the desk and he said this is my graduation present to you and the boy was somewhat put back he tried to hide his anger and his disappointment because he got stirred up kind of lost it a little bit thinking this is not what I wanted and he unwrapped the gift and took the lid off of the box and inside was a was a Bible and his name was engraved the boy's name in the Bible and large letters and by this time when he looks in it was absolutely what he did not want and he took the box with the Bible in it and shoved it rudely across the desk stood up and said thanks dad thanks a lot the story of my life and he flipped around and the father said wait son aren't you at least going to pick it up and read what I have to say and he said I don't need that now I've got a whole life to live maybe someday I'll read what that book has to say and he stormed out of his dad's office went upstairs packed his bags and left that mansion of his dad and went off and used his dad's name to pull some strings and got a great job and then started making more money and even more gainfully employed to the point that he really began to prosper but he cut his father off he didn't want any communication wouldn't answer his phone calls wouldn't talk to him and then the man became successful and met a beautiful girl married her did not invite the father to the wedding had a child did not inform the father had a second child did not invite the father but by that second child something happened to the son and he began to desire to have his dad back in his life so he began to reach out and build relationship they planned a trip for the first time his dad was going to get to see the family that he had never seen and they were going to travel across the country to to get where dad lived and just so happened according to the story that I read the week that they were planning to do it after years of being separated not speaking the lines of communication broken the the the father had a massive heart attack and died suddenly and the son with a hole in his heart for the time that he had missed with his dad had that long trek across country and he gets there and he's trying to handle all of his dad's business his dad had left him he was an only child the sole heir to his fortune and he had people helping him clean and gather things in the house and he happened to go into his dad's office the last place where he saw his dad alive and he walked into that office and he sat down in his dad's chair and he looked over on the bookshelf and his eye was caught by the package he remembered the wrapping paper it was the same box it was the same paper and he walked over and he took it off of the shelf and the desk of his dad was still covered with business papers and he just kind of cleared a space on that desk and pushed everything back and set that box down in the wrapping paper took the lid off and sure enough there was that Bible with his name on it but what he didn't notice that day was unchanged all those years it's when he went to open it it had a it had a book marker in it at a certain place in Matthew chapter 7 and underlined only the words that were underlined by the father where the scripture was the scripture in Matthew 7 where it said if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask and he was so moved that his dad had underlined that Scripture and it had set there all those years and he started to grab the Bible and pull it to his chest because he was moved and he was weeping and when he grabbed the Bible and pulled it to his chest suddenly a key fell out of the Bible and he picked the key up and he recognized the key as being a car key and sure enough he went to the garage the huge garage that his father had that had several cars in it and over against the wall there was a car that was covered and it had dust on it and he tore the cover off and there was that convertible it had been sitting there all of those years the father had bought it and paid for it and he had it available for his son but the problem was the son got what he asked for but he didn't like it because of the way that it was wrapped the package that it came it was exactly what he asked his father to give him but what he was not prepared for and what he was not able to receive was he got exactly what he wanted but he didn't like the package that it came in he he rejected it not realizing that he was rejecting everything that he had asked the father to give him but it was in a package that he did not like and I'm preaching today that we serve a Heavenly Father who many times sends his children strangely wrap gifts we ask God for things many times we ask him and God sends what we ask him for but it comes and strangely wrapped gifts that if you do not wait on the Lord and if you do not trust the Lord and if you do not stand in faith you push in bitterness and anger back across the table to the heavenly father and say what a disappointment I asked you for something great and all you give me is a book of promises and we shove it back at him and we leave bitter and angry sometimes even at God it's not what I was expecting it's not what I was praying for it's it's not it's not what I was believing for such was the case of Joseph we serve a God who gives strangely wrapped gifts Joseph I'm going to you've asked me to use you you've asked me to raise you you've asked me to perform my dream for your life and I have a high and a mighty dream for your life but Joseph is going to come in a strangely wrapped package and so the strange package shows up in Joseph's life when he goes down with his coat of many colors and his own brothers rip it off and they throw him into a pit and he sold into slavery and he ends up in Egypt and he's working in the house of Potiphar and Potiphar's wife lies on him and he's thrown into prison for 13 years for a crime he did not commit and while he's there he makes friends with a butler and a baker and he says I'll interpret your dreams but don't forget me but they forgot him but there came one day when Pharaoh had a dream that no one could interpret it and the Baker said there's one man in the dungeon who can interpret dreams and within 24 hours Joseph was not only raised out of the prison but Pharaoh said I will make you second in the land second only to me I'll give you the keys to the corn and you will save millions of lives and you will take us through the famine and you will sit in a powerful position in the most powerful nation in the world it happened in 24 hours but it came in a wrapped package that was strange and unusual the golden keys to the corn was in a package that you could never see God taking something so so so bad so ugly but out of it would follow the golden keys to keeping the whole world alive because God often sin strangely wrapped gifts and in you asked for something and it's not just about God giving it to you but it's about him preparing you to be able to handle it it's the process that you go through that that that prepares your soul your ego your heart and it's in the suffering it's in the hurting it's in the waiting that God begins to fashion and mold and shape you it's not in the high times of just getting what you want from God because it's about you becoming what God has called you to become so that he can trust you with what you're asking him to give you it was a strangely wrap gift and Joseph ended up now by calling his family in and they're shaking in their boots saying you're gonna get us back with revenge and he said you don't understand you meant it for my evil the package that you sent it in was meant for my evil but God has turned it for my good that many would be saved by what you put me through I got a gold key to ministry through what you put me through the strange package job I'm gonna do something incredible in your life you're gonna have wealth you're gonna have amazing things as a matter of fact I'm gonna bless you double but my gifts show up wrapped in strange boxes and strange wrappings so here comes package number one all of your flocks have been stolen and all of your servants have been kidnapped and here comes package number two perhaps the most hideous package a parent could ever get all 10 of your children are dead they're gone and Jobe has no Bible job has no church job has no explanation job has no name of Jesus he's all he can say is the Lord gives the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord and well at least I still got the health and a still got my wife and I still got my friends and the friends say you're a liar you're a hypocrite this is the judgment of God and his wife says curse God and die and he loses his health he loses everything he has not one thing left and well he had God well really because he said I went forward and I couldn't find him and I turned back and I couldn't perceive him I turn to the left and right and he wasn't there I've had seasons like that we're all he but yeah I love what he said he said I know my redeemer lives even when I can't find and he can find me but when I don't know where he is he knows where I am but really what Joe was saying is it's not even heaven can shake my confidence in heaven now I know I know hell can't shake your confidence because you know when it's the devil doing something but what about when God allows things why doesn't God do something why didn't he stop my 10 children from God why why not even heaven will shake my confidence in heaven I know my redeemer lives and one day when I've come forth as my fire tribe I will be pure gold and I'll see him for myself Joe made it through the trial and God said I'm gonna give you double livestock double business double everything you've got I'm gonna give you and it's interesting God doubled everything he had except his children because he started out with 10 but God only gave him 10 more children why because he didn't lose the ten that he lost they were in heaven we don't understand I would not be in the ministry I wonder why I was in a service when Friday night at a camp meeting Church of God North Carolina Ronny Bronk was preaching Steve Broncs brother and it tore me out of the frame I was a kid about 16 years old sitting in the back of the building weeping what is wrong with me and I'm telling you God that night placed his hand on my life and said I'm calling you my he confirmed it to me later but that was the beginning of something massive concerning my call and so I said God use me God I won't give me revelation give me messages let me preach like that man let me reach people like that man use me God God said I hear you you know what he sent me sickness you know what he sent me a skin disease that alienated me from everybody you know what he sent me bowls all over my body for over a year I was sick and in the house and I went through depression I went through suicidal thoughts I went through wanting to give up I thought I'm a freak God what I asked you to use me now I don't even have the confidence to stand up and look anybody in the eye you have devastated me but I'm telling you that when I look back on it now I really believe if God hadn't sent that strangely wrapped gift I know God you know people argue I know I know the devil comes to kill steal and destroy but but whatever hell either God allows it and if God allows it means he's gonna use it to get glory out of it and to do a work in me and to a do work in you all things not just the good things all things and we know that all things see I would I would I was I was popular I was running with a popular crowd I would have started partying I would have started doing this I would have started doing that so God said I got my hand on you and I'm gonna give you a special gift of suffering for a while and it was during that time and my mother sitting here she'll tell you I read my Bible 40 chapters a day I started seeking God I started fasting I didn't know what fasting started fasting went on a 21-day fast see through my burden through my suffering through my loneliness through my brokenness through through my embarrassment and now when I get up in front of a beautiful congregation like this it's not just words that I'm saying but that that box bolts something to me that was strangely wrapped that makes me understand great is gratefulness needed your hand has provided and he is faithful but when he's got his when he's got a promise to perform in your life don't be surprised if it shows up in strangely packaged wrappings and Paul says listen to listen to what Paul said Paul I love Paul I love him because Paul just really gets the revelation of what it's all about that the tough times that we go through and listen to what he says he says everything that has happened to me has happened for the furtherance of the gospel and he says so therefore I will take pleasure in my gift wrappings I know that if if stuff comes and into my life either God said it or and he's gonna take it and transform it for good and a golden key is gonna drop out to let somebody free to heal somebody to open up some door of blessing something is good a key is gonna drop out of this strangely wrap gift and so Paul says so I will take pleasure in my gift wrappings and my suffering in my tribulation I'll come out stronger hmm his strength will be made perfect in my weakness because everything this happened to me has happened to further the gospel in my family in my life in my world folks it's not just about you having a nice sweet perfect life life will come hitting you and your family sooner or later and I don't want a bunch of cool hwhip Christians who don't know what to do when trouble comes I tell you what you do you don't shove the gift back at the Father and turn around in a temper tantrum and say if you don't give me what I want like I want it I won't talk to you for another year or two and I'll quit church and I'll get no sir I'm talking to people right now that that that you've lost your job or whatever how do you know how do you know we hear stories all the time I lost my job I thought it's the worst thing it was a gift because you never started that multi-million dollar business if you you're to steal so what jerkwad lift you and cheated on you thank god he's gone kick him to the curb and say well praise God I'm waiting on the golden key to mr. gorgeous Holy Ghost feel gorgeous that'll go to church with me quit whining over what you've lost and how bad and mad at God and say God here's here's maturity god I trust you even when I don't understand you when I don't know anything and don't have any explanation for anything my faith is in you I know my redeemer lives everybody take a praise break right now some of you been getting some strange reroute gifts I dare you to turn it into praise turn your pain into praise turn your tears into praise turn it into a statement of faith this says he's alive he's real we know that all things work together if you won't quit if you won't get bitter if you won't shove it back at the father there are some things we'll never understand on this side completely but I promise you all things work together for them that love God and are called according to his purpose hallelujah stand to your feet all over this room please no one moving for the next for the next 20 seconds if you have received in your life some strangely wrapped gifts I want you to throw your hands up like Paul and say I will glory in my tribulation it's working a far more exceeding weight of glory on my life let's see it raise them high and for the next 15 seconds I want you to praise God that there's a golden key that's gonna come out of that fiery strangely wrapped you know what I'm preaching you know what I'm talking about you know what you're going through you know and you've had questions and that's the thing I can remember when I was going through that little thing and I've been through other things of course since but as one of the big things I would say to God why don't you do something what are you waiting on your God kind of cruel God would let this happen I didn't see I couldn't see but he did and he does you don't understand everything you're going through but the Bible said in everything not for everything but in everything give thanks whatever you're put in give thanks come on this is what I want you to do for 15 seconds you got the gift it's rats trains but in it give him thanks give him thanks I'm still alive I'm still here God still has a purpose God still has a plan God will get glory all things are working for the good the gospel will be it will be fathered in my family in my life I will grow and after a while after you've suffered a while say we don't talk that stuff in church no more but after you've suffered a while that's a scripture I'll reward you I'll change your season you'll know joy unspeakable and full of glory the sun's gonna shine seven times brighter as I preached last Sunday if you won't give up life is real vivid alive beating breathing it happens behind closed doors and out in front there's joy there's laughter chaos lifelong friendships are forged love is found moments cherished and never forgotten life is a gift and together we are real family friends real people experiencing real life it's free chocolate this program has been brought to you by the friends and partners of Jenson franklin media ministries for more information on this broadcast or for additional resources go online at Jenson Franklin dot o-r-g you

Channel: Jentezen Franklin

Views: 35,806

Rating: 4.8890429 out of 5

Keywords: Jentezen Franklin, Kingdom Connection, Free Chapel, TV, Ministry

Id: MJ0ka6CFRxM

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 05 2014