TRIGGERED: Taking Back Your Mind In The Age Of Anxiety Part VI | Pastor Steven Furtick

let's go in our Bibles now to Genesis chapter 40 for the final week of our series trigger at least I think it's the final week but we'll preach it and see what happens I have been preaching about taking back your mind in the age of anxiety but looking at you you seem to be completely now free of stress and it seems as if you have gotten the message and we can call it quits after today but this last message that I want to bring to you I hope will be as profound to you hearing it as it was to me as I studied for it and ask that you consider it prayerfully because it's one of those messages where if you try to understand it with your mind you won't get the most out of it but if you listen at a different level and see what God wants to speak to you today I believe that he will welcome to every single location I pray that you would lean into this word wherever you are and receive something from the Lord Genesis chapter 40 verse 5 let's jump right into the middle of it and one night they both dreamed the cupbearer and the baker in the king of Egypt who were confined in the prison each his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation when Joseph came to them in the morning he saw that they were troubled so he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house why are your faces downcast today and they said to him we have had dreams and there's no one to interpret them and Joseph said to them do not interpretations belong to God that was the question that got me started on this quest to preach this message today do not interpretations belong to God please tell them to me now I'm going to do something kind of weird I'm gonna go to a New Testament scripture one verse of scripture that doesn't seem to go together on the surface with the one I just read but it does seem like you know peanut butter and mayonnaise but it's really jelly so go to first Corinthians 14:3 and here Paul is given some instructions to the Corinthian church about orderly worship and he says therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret again there for one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret I want to lift that phrase from my message title today and talk to you about the power of interpretation very very very good stuff coming your way today from the Word of God not from me but from God and that's really the starting point for me I realized that you come to church not to hear my opinion but to hear a correct interpretation of the Word of God for your life and an application so that it is not only a historical document but so that it becomes flesh and so that the Spirit of God would breathe into your situation understanding this I've already mentioned that many backgrounds attend church and when I read first Corinthians 14 verse 13 and Paul is talking about speaking in tongues you know half the church had flashbacks and if you really want to start a good youtube food fight just talk about tongues in the church because some people have a private prayer language where they speak in tongues and it is very beautiful and helpful to many of us who believe in Jesus to pray that way but yet other people have been told well if you don't speak in tongues you're not full of the Holy Spirit never mind the fact that Paul here is saying that every spiritual gift is only given to build others up not to showcase your status and how much more spiritual you are I mean spiritual gifts are just that they are gifts and was far more important to God than us going around condescending to others because of our spiritual gift is that we would cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives things like love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control these are the graces God would have us to grow in but right now if I really preached on 1st Corinthians 14 13 the elevations charts youtube comment section would get busier than it ever has in the history I don't know how you type in tongues on a youtube comment but Paul is saying here what really matters isn't what is said as much as the interpretation of it because you know what's true hear about this spiritual gift of speaking in tongues where one person may speak in a heavenly language and someone needs to interpret it so that it can be understood it is not only true about languages it is true about life to really live successfully or maybe we could say a more biblical word faithfully for God I need the correct interpretation touch somebody next to you and say I need an interpretation yeah I need an interpretation to be a good husband because men and women are different and if I don't learn to interpret if I don't learn to understand that nothing is wrong does not mean literally on the surface nothing is wrong and by the way most people when they say literally it doesn't mean literally I literally died think you mean figuratively touch somebody say I need an interpretation I need an interpretation to be able to raise my kids you know because I'll be thinking they're ungrateful when really they're just adolescent and if you want to play back the tape from when I was their age well let's don't do that touch somebody say I need an interpretation that's what Paul is talking about and really no one's life illustrates this more than the Old Testament character Joseph I mentioned him and I read this scripture that I want to revisit now in Genesis chapter 40 concerning the power of interpretation well you know Joseph's life could be used to illustrate injustice he was abused and actually survived and it's a sheer assassination from his brothers and years later in his life he was dealing with false allegations of sexual misconduct and that landed him in prison which is what put him in this position in Genesis chapter 40 the situation he was in okay principle number one and this is not coming up on the screen so you know write it down if this seems like it's worth writing down to you if you just got to write something down write this down my situation is not as important as my interpretation of my situation I don't mean to sound like dr. Seuss to you but what I'm trying to say it is a lot of times we want an intervention from God in our situation instead of that God will often give us a different interpretation of the situation and he won't necessarily change it he will change us in the way we see our situation and one of the reasons we fight in church is because we don't respect that other believers could read the same scripture that we read and have a different interpretation and other people could watch the same news stories that we watch and have a different interpretation because interpretation is based on many different things and filtered through the lens of your life experiences in your cultural background and even your intellectual ability and some of us don't have as much to work with and so you know we see things more simple than they really are and they're really complex and you know somebody says this about evolution and somebody says this about creation but we're reading the same story with a different interpretation and it doesn't necessarily mean that you're wrong and I'm right and you're going to hell and I'm going to heaven and we get so triggered going off on people who believe in the same God but just because I have a different interpretation doesn't give you the right to be God and tell me that my interpretation is not valid come on clap like that bless you even though I know it stepped on your toes a little bit all right so Joseph is in prison and he should be in a bad mood he should be having pity party day number 743 of his pity party since Potiphar's wife said you know that he tried to rape her and he should be reflecting on all of his brothers trying to kill him and yet he had the presence of mind like Reggie Miller in the thirty four thirty dock where he says to these men who are in prison with him what's wrong you look sad now imagine you've had his life but you still are looking at others through the lens of what's wrong with them and imagine you have so much resentment and you're imprisoned but yet you were able to still release empathy instead of living in your own resentment y'all I am preaching so hard right now and I don't even have to raise my voice to do it he said um what's the matter with you you mad and they said to him we've had dreams and there's no one interpretive Gela said do not interpretations belong to God and notice we didn't say I have the power of Grayskull I have the power of interpretation he said God can make sense of this whoo I believe deep down in your soul that's why you came to church because only God can make sense of some of the things that I feel and that I'm going through and I need God to make sense of this so Joseph said look up Pillai Deus please tell them to me please i want to help you and the chief cupbearer who used to bring Pharaoh his wine said well as weird man I'm gonna just tell you like I dreamed it because in the Old Testament you know they they put a lot more stock in their dreams than than we do today and I don't think that you should necessarily think every dream that you have comes from God either okay is Pizza a lot of the times it had nothing to do with with the Lord or your purpose in life but when the man started talking he said it was a vine that I saw in my dream and then there were like three branches coming off the vine and then the branches they were like ripe right away and all three of them are filled with grapes so I start squeezing the grapes and I was holding Pharaoh's cup and I handed it back to her what does that mean shows us like three three three three branches three days in three days we could preach about that couldn't wait from the perspective of something else that happened after three days but we're not gonna do that today he said three days Pharaoh's gonna lift their head put you back in your rightful position this is the interpretation now remember there were two men and they both had dreams and the other one standing over and he hears the interpretation that Joseph gave to the cup bearer but he's the Pharaoh's chief Baker and apparently Pharaoh is easily triggered because he threw both of them in prison but we don't know what for he may be the brought him pumpernickel and he really wanted rye or something like that the East roles weren't hot and so when he brings it out the bread maybe maybe Pharaoh flies off the handle and Joseph's life can be understood through many different constructs but one way to look at it is there are three major interpretations this is the first one he tells the the cupbearer three days Pharaoh's gonna put you back in your position the Baker hears this while Joseph is saying and when you get out of here mention me to Pharaoh because I don't deserve to be here so don't forget your boy who came through when you get out and the Baker now he's waiting his turn in line because he wants out of Shawshank as well and so he says boo do mine do my dream I had a dream - can you do my dream and Joseph says tell me your dream do not interpretations belong to God and so he's expecting a favorable interpretation and he has a similar dream that's different in just a small tiny little way he says okay I had three not three branches on a vine cuz I don't do the cupbearer thing I had three baskets of bread and they were all full of bread and then some birds came in my dream I know it sounds weird but they started eating the bread off my head and Joseph said oh no and he said oh no he said yeah it means is this the interpretation this this is what it means three days Pharaoh's gonna lift up your head uh-huh and cut it off and then the birds are gonna eat your flesh and then Joseph took up an offering but see he didn't have the power to make the dream mean what he wanted it to mean what he had to do was seek God to say what does this mean and one meaning was you're gonna be restored to your position that's the stuff that preaches good and one meaning is you know you're you're actually you're actually you're actually gonna be dead three days from now but it was the same power that enabled him to interpret both dreams and it happened just like Joseph predicted the interpretation was accurate three days later the baker was dead and the cup bearer was free only he forgot about Joseph have you ever done something for somebody have you ever helped somebody move when they moved out of their apartment into their house and and when it came time for you to move their truck was having some issues has it ever happened to you have you ever raised your kids and then they got out of the house and acted like they were too busy for you and the cat's in the cradle well you can relate to Joseph because he was forgotten in prison until one day Pharaoh this is the second interpretation and there are three this one gets more difficult it kind of goes in stages of interpretation where Pharaoh has a dream and he gathers all of the magicians in his court to interpret his dream watch what the Bible says I believe this Genesis 41 yeah verse 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph I have had a dream and there is no one who can interpret it I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it now how did Joseph get in front of Pharaoh I thought he was in prison well here's what happened when Pharaoh had a problem Joseph had an opportunity I must say that again when Pharaoh came upon something that he could not solve with his resources it created an opportunity for someone who knew how to interpret the times the situation and to bring forth the solution here's why I pointed that out because sometimes we run from stuff that God has introduced in order to bring us into the opportunity that we were praying for when Pharaoh had a dream it was a strange dream and he brought Joseph and said man I heard about you and Joseph said it's about time that dude was supposed to tell you about me 2 years ago but see sometimes God will allow people to forget about you because he knows where you need to be for the moment you need to come forth and if you don't have a relationship with God you won't know what to do with yourself in those times where you feel imprisoned and confined all right so I said I heard about you there's no one who can interpret my dream but I have heard it said of you that you are you are really really brilliant at this dream interpretation stuff so give it a shot and Joseph answered Pharaoh it's not in me what a way to start your opportunity go for a job interview come on I'm not the one but he said something similar to what he said in verse 40 and start a pattern he said it's not in me God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer so let's hear it because the power of interpretation is not in me I'll get it wrong I've learned that about myself I'll get it wrong every time even preaching I will mess the whole thing up if I preach from the perspective of how I interpret that you are receiving the message I'll start getting nervous because really when you're listening the most you look angry I'm gonna tell you that about yourself when I'm really doing good your eyebrows start making a queue up there and you start you start punching forward and even when I'm really preaching good you cross your arms cuz I just offended something that you've been clinging to that God really wanted to pry out of your heart so when you start leaning back and stuff doing all this one woman one time looked like she was sleeping in my sermon I realized she was praying for me it took me 20 minutes in this sermon Allah was so offended and I've learned this about myself I will interpret it wrong every time because the power of interpretation is to get into the presence of God watch this and say God what are you saying what are you doing what do you want to speak and and Joseph from that place of humility hears Pharaoh's dream and Pharaoh starts talking about cows he's like oh there were seven fat cows and seven skinny cows I don't know why Pharaoh's talking like this it must be southern Egypt but he's like the fat cows first King the fat cows then came to skinny cows and skinny cows ate the fat cows and there were fat stalks and skinny stalks and it's great starting to read sometimes but just as oh that's easy seven years of plenty that's the fat cows seven years famine the skinny cows and if you save up during this fat years you can make it in the lean years and Pharaoh said I need somebody smart to put in charge of saving up during the fat years I need somebody to manage my fat cows and Joseph said well hey if you need somebody manager fat cow maybe the guy who told you about the fat cows will be the one that managed the fat cows and Pharaoh said you're the man and he's second in command of all of Egypt because of what the power of and if he would have given his opinion in that moment or if he would have interpreted that opportunity through the lens of his own pain he would not have had the clarity to see God and see what God is doing the second interpretation and here's the third one okay there's a pattern here it's three branches on the vine it's three interpretations in Joseph's life and this one this last one that I want to show you is going to be the most difficult of all because now Joseph has to interpret not the prisoner stream the cup Baker cup cup Baker it's new things Cup baker bakes cups the cup bearer in the Baker but the the second interpretation of Pharaoh's dream was easy in comparison to Joseph's final test when he had to interpret his own dream and to do that he had to face his own pain because remember I told you when he was 17 years old he had a dream where he saw all these uh all these sheaves of grain that his brothers were out in the field harvesting and his was at the middle and they all bowed down to him and perhaps in his immature eagerness to be important he went and told his brothers what he saw and that's one of the reasons they hated him I mean there were many reasons his his father liked him better because he came from the wife Rachel that that Jacob really loved and so and his dad gave him this Gucci coat and so many reasons why he was hated and there's her from Target but it's crazy cuz you know now he's standing in front of mom I'll read you the passage and you imagine how emotional this would have been because the famine that Joseph predicted is now in full swing it's been seven years of plenty Joseph has stored up all the supplies and so they're ready for it but he won't ready for this because two years into the famine seven years of plenty and two years into the seven-year famine Jacob since all of his boys Joseph's brothers to Egypt because he heard there was grain there and Joseph is the one who's in control of the pantry now sometimes God will test you by putting you in a position to see how you will deal with somebody who hurt you and how you interpret that moment has everything to do with what happens next and how much God can trust you and I'm a read it to you just like it says it in verse one start from verse one of Genesis 45 he's been with his brothers just a second time that he's seen them he's been dealing with a wide array I'm sure of different instincts and impulses of how he should deal with them he hasn't let them know yet who he is because he's he's dressed like an Egyptian and so they don't recognize him you know some people in your life don't recognize the you that you are now not only because of what you've been through in life but because God has taken you to a different place and what he did this is very interesting in Genesis 42 it says he spoke to them through an interpreter so I pretended like he couldn't understand them and he played tricks on them it's an epic story we can't preach it today cuz this is one principle I'm trying to illustrate but it would be well worth your time to invest about 45 minutes and read the whole thing but when he finally decided to reveal himself to his brothers it triggered that trauma of the day when he was so hated by them that they dipped his robe in animal blood and sold him to the Ishmaelites Evan and he ended up separated from everything that he knew and and the Bible says in verse 1 joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him and so he cried make everyone go out from me so no one stayed with when Joseph made himself known to his brothers he's all alone in front of the thing that hurt him in front of the unfair situation that started this whole chain of events in his life and now he has to decide how to interpret this encounter I'm preaching right to your life today because you're standing in front of something that hurt you you standing in front of some things that happened to you or didn't happen for you that should have and standing before his brothers Joseph has a decision to make what is the interpretation of this and now perhaps he remembers his dream that he had over 20 years ago where he saw all of his brothers bowing down to him but he realized they would not be bowing down to him so that he could show off in front of them but so that he could serve them in this moment it's very powerful it's very powerful what happens next he he's crying and he's hurting and finally he reveals himself in verse 3 Joseph said to his brothers I am Joseph is my father still alive but his brothers could not answer him for they were dismayed at his presence so Joseph said to his brothers come near to me please because you really can't interpret what God is doing in your life from a distance and he has to call the thing that has caused him so much pain closer in order to see what God would have him to do and when they come closer he identifies himself again and said I am your brother Joseph doesn't disassociate himself from them he acknowledges his position before them and then he mentions what they did to him whom you sold into Egypt in other words is your fault I'm here verse five and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life I'ma be honest with you I really had to pray about that verse because it seemed like such a contradiction he said on one hand please put it on the screen for just another moment you sold me do you see that you sold me so he is placing the blame for his situation on his brothers who stand before him he's not denying their hand in bringing him into this situation nor is he denying the dysfunction of it you sold me and it was wrong you sold me out you let me down you you are the reason on one hand that I'm here I would not be in Egypt I would be back home if it were not for you but watch the shift this is this is the message that God gave me for somebody today and I pray that you'll have ears to hear it and the God will well enlighten your spirit to receive it he said you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life and what I was praying about is which one is it did they sell you or did God send you and I kept praying about that because it sounds like he's talking out of both sides of his mouth you sold me for God sent me notice the construct he doesn't say you sold me but God sent me it's not even that he's contrasting the two the second is a continuation of the first god help me preach this Bible verse right now this is the most annoying adverse I've read all year he said you sold me and it hurt me not but you sold me for God sent me don't be mad about it don't even punish yourself and don't cower in my presence you don't need to spend another day tormented by it because now I see through it it's been a lot of years since you pushed me in that pit it's been a lot of years since you broke my heart it's been a lot of years since my dad left me it's been a lot of years since they walked out it's been a lot of years since I went down it's been a lot of years since they lied on me it's been a lot of years since they said I did it it's been a lot of years and now I've got I've got an interpretation of the event I've been studying about this and I realize it is not the event that determines the outcome it is your interpretation of the event that in terms determines the outcome and so watch this you'll be good sit down the first one is the event you sold me the second one is the interpretation God sent me which one are you going to live in the event or the interpretation and here's a better question here's a better question who is your interpreter are you interpreting your God through your life or your life through your God because see your interpreter sometimes it's it's not what's happening it's how you are interpreting what's happening right I thought she was sleeping but she was really praying I thought they didn't love me but really they just couldn't be there for me because they were going through some of their own issues it's not the event it's the interpretation I thought the fire came to kill me but I found out God was using the fire that I thought was gonna kill me to refine me so God will use a fire that Nebuchadnezzar started to refine me and bring me forth this goal I don't just need the Spirit of God to help me interpret tongues I need God to help me interpret trauma and trouble and trials and so I'm praying like Paul told the church to pray for the power to interpret I need the power to interpret how many of you need the power to interpret by the wisdom of the Spirit of God listen you don't need the Spirit of God to give you goosebumps a lot of things can give you goosebumps you know if you put on Mariah Carey I can make it through the rain right now it's one of her lesser-known hits just off the album with the rainbow on it where she's not wearing enough clothes so I never looked at the cover when I was a teenager well anyway the the problem with it can give you a feeling I don't need the Spirit of God just to give me a feeling if it's a feeling great but I need the Spirit of God to give me focus the unique property of the Spirit of God you know you got the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit the the father that's the legislative branch of the government of God he's the one who makes the loss you've got the son who is the executive branch of the government of heaven who enforces the grace of God and takes the penalty of your sin because you can't keep the law and then you've got the judicial branch which is the Holy Spirit which lives inside of you that helps you to get in a situation and say I don't know what to do I don't know what to say but God will you give me an interpretation of what the people in my life need right now this season I'm in right now I need the Holy Spirit or I'll get it wrong I'll get it wrong and some of us have the wrong interpreter we are interpreting our present through our past we are interpreting our purpose through our pain we are interpreting our entire life through one little situation we are interpreting our future through our flaws when you have the wrong interpreter messes everything up the first time I went to speak in a country where they didn't speak English the first international speaking trip that I remember was Australia that they speak kind of English at the Picon the Aussies they shortened everything they kind of speak English but they nicknamed everything they call praise songs praises and that's weird and when I go over there they don't call me steep and they call me Steve and there's a in on my name for a reason my mom put it there would you please let my consonants come through customs and put the in on the end of my name I love Australia I've been there many times but one time I went to preach in a place where they didn't speak English and I called wiser minister who had preached many times in international settings and said give me some just different things I need to know about preaching through an interpreter translator is for written interpreter is for spoken I need I need some some of your wisdom on speaking through an interpreter and gave me a few things but one thing he said that stood out he said first pray that you get a good one he said cuz you'll think that he's saying what you said and sometimes you can tell I said how will I tell if I have a bad interpreter he said one thing he'll talk longer than you when you finish your sentence he'll say three sentences that means he's putting something in that you didn't intend to say can I tell you something the devil has been putting some stuff in come on between what God has spoken to you it puts thoughts in people's minds about you in your mind that they weren't even thinking about you makes you paranoid oh man look how they're looking at me they don't like me no they actually don't like their husband and they came to work in a bad mood because of something else that had nothing to do with you but the devil will make you think that they don't like you because he's an interpreter that likes to add he he puts all that you have you ever had this happened before in a situation where you start interpreting it wrong and now all of a sudden you're thinking that they said things or thought things that they didn't say or think he said the other extreme you got to look out for sometimes they won't say everything that you just said they'll cut it short he said sometimes they'll leave stuff out and that's what the enemy will do when you let him interpret your life he'll only show you what's wrong with you but he won't let you see how God is going to use everything that you consider to be a deficiency to bring you into your destiny so he will only keep you confined come on church that golfclap that's not even worth doing if you're gonna brace God and worship God well what he's smoking over your life and the fact that no man can add to it or subtract from it if he said it'll happen he said in three days he will rise I might be on a cross now baby the resurrection power is in my my future so before we leave this place today I just want to give you five things to pray for don't get nervous where we are now approaching our initial descent make sure your Bibles are securely open but I thought we would just spell out the word dream because Joseph interpreted not only the dream of the prisoners not only the dream of Pharaoh but his own dream that he had at 17 years old not through the lens of what he had lost in his life you know how you keep doing it you keep getting you keep focusing so much and who left you and the opportunity that you wasted that you keep bringing that forward with you into the next opportunity and it's messing with you and you need the Holy Spirit this is what the Holy Spirit does speak in tongues that's awesome shout at the top of your lungs that's awesome get a goose bump I'll get one with you will goose would rub our goose bumps together it's all wonderful but what I really need the Spirit of God for is for those groans that words can express and I give I'll give them to you and we'll go and we'll call it a day and we'll call it a series but the first one that I'm praying for the power to interpret like Paul said cuz I know that interpretations belong to God so I need God God helped me to interpret my desires I don't sometimes know why I want what I want and neither did Paul he was like what I want to do I don't do what I don't want to do it don't do that it make any sense if you want to do it you want to do it what you mean you want to do it you don't do it it's like well there's flesh there's the spirit I got a new nature I love God and then four minutes later I really I really still love God but I love something that's the opposite of God too and I don't know what to do and I need the Holy Spirit to show me why I want what I want because if the Holy Spirit doesn't interpret my desires I will run around my whole life trying to get what I want and then when I get it I won't even want what I've got god help me interpret my desires because sometimes what will happen is it's not like when desire is divine and one is demonic and you know there's no devil and no angel sometimes what the enemy will do to me is he'll take a god-given desire and distort it and what I really want is not a bad thing it's not a bad desire I noticed a lot of people these days seem to want to be famous famous for what famous so I could be famous have you noticed that Fame is like the number one cultural value now and I was thinking about that as to why everybody wants to be famous I mean you think about it famous is kind of a weird thing people aren't really built to receive that amount of attention and when you see the number of famous people who are famous and don't even want to go on living it should cause you to question what is the real thing that I want is is it really famous is it really followers on some platform full of people who don't even know me but only the presentation and projection that I choose to stage the props that I put in my life is that really what I want do I really want to be noticed or do I really want to be known because I think a lot of times we're trying to be noticed in the real desires we want to be known and the Spirit of God can show you your real desire to say I know that you're doing all this to try to get people to notice you but I'm the only one who really knows you and see when people know you from a distance and they they notice things about you but they don't know the real you and you still feel lonely it's so important that you ask the Spirit of God things like this what what am I really spending 14 16 hours a day working for is it really to give my kids the life that they yeah is it really that are you really trying to prove something to somebody who's not even paying attention like early and Joseph's life he's like you were all bowing down to me it was awesome 20 years later he's the one crumbling on his knees because he realizes that the desire God gave him was not so he could be important but so that he could have influence not so he could have status but so that he could be a servant so god show me my desires show me which ones come from you and help me you know I used to always pray Psalm 37:4 says delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart and an immature interpretation of that is God's gonna give me what I want you know God's just peeling them off you know what you want what you want what you want yeah now I look at it like he will give me the right desires he will give me impart unto me the right desires so I don't just come up wanting to impress people but I start asking God how can I be a blessing because I cannot simultaneously be a blessing if I'm trying to be impressive so I want to get out of my own way and ask God to interpret my desires God I want you I want your presence in my life God I want your pleasure your smile god I want harmony and peace with you even if it costs me sometimes a position with people God I don't want to just be popular I want to live a life of purpose I want to know that this matters and and means something at the end of it all Sonny the power of interpretation for my desires and so you can't really have that if you don't get past rejection so the second thing is God will you help me interpret my rejection we help me look at my brother it's not just through the lens of what they did to me but through the lens of what you want to do through me I did not expect an Amen right there but I didn't expect that level of silence I'll tell you that right now that was job was just over the top praise the Lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah all of ya because he says two things he says you rejected me but God protected me you see it you know see it again on the screen do you I can show it to you on the screen that push a button it'll come right up on the screen Genesis 45 5 you sold me God sent me to preserve life so when I was 17 it felt like rejection but now that I've grown and now that I've experienced the grace of God and now that I've let go of the resentment and I refuse to hold on to it I see that what man calls rejection sometimes God calls protection some of the people who left you God was removing them God wanted to do some things for you that only he could do and if he had let them say yes you wouldn't have been ready for what person action I'm gonna come back to these and preach a whole series on them each one I'm a preacher series on the dream I promise you I will do it if you stay here long enough I will do it I might be 93 years old board number three I'm appreciating because I got to get God to help me interpret what my desires and rejection and then I got to make sure that God filters my emotions so god help me interpret my emotions because I know what I feel well let me be honest as a man sometimes I don't even know what I feel and being married has helped me so much with interpretation I really love my wife I I jokingly call Holle the holiday spirit it's only half-joking she's a great interpreter she interprets things one time we were fighting about a bill I think it was like three thousand two hundred and forty three dollars and guess what I didn't have in the bank account 3240 whatever I said dollars and I got so angry Ashley and I don't yell I'm not the kind of guy that goes around yelling at his wife but I was yelling at her this day this was years ago this was like you know the early stages of marriage and so you know you'll forgive me for being angry but she she was at one point in the argument goes why are you so angry I had spins around you know what I was telling the truth I wasn't really angry I was afraid and it was expressing itself as anger but she was able to interpret the fear that was driving my anger and when she realized that I wasn't mad at her I was mad at the attorney who sent that bill and mad at BB&T for not having enough money in my bank account to pay the attorney who sent the bill see Ellen interpretation can change everything she was able to realize it's not me versus you in this moment it's us versus this bill and let's figure it out together but if you don't pray for the power to interpret you will just live at the level of the emotion and never know what is beneath the surface and you will repeat the emotion on the next person who steps into the line of fire of your unfiltered experiences okay i'ma download this podcast myself I think all right so god help me interpret my emotions so I say I'm depressed I'm in depression right now well maybe maybe you are depressed or maybe you know sometimes it's just it's just Monday you always feel this way on Monday this hasn't been outside yet yeah but if you don't ask God God see do not interpretations belong to God that's what Joseph knew that's what Joseph knew because on one hand emotionally he's angry he's crying and he sends everybody out of his presence and beneath the emotion he realized the reason now here's a good question are you living at that level of reaction or reason because if you always just react react react but never ask God what is the reason I'm reacting this way you will fix the wrong factors and this is where a lot of preaching gets so mean and and hateful and impossible because we're correcting behaviors but not addressing the beliefs that drive the behaviors so you'll hear a preacher sometimes preach against addiction but why is she drinking six glasses or you'll hear it preached against you know pornography or sexual addiction and the preacher will never address the fact that you're reaching out for God when you log on that site you just don't know it's God that you're reaching out for so you're trying to fill it with something that leaves you more empty but you're really reaching out for God but what you really want isn't sex it's connection so you run around for sex but you don't get connection because it's empty because you never ask God why and this takes reflection and this takes sitting along with God and even other people that you trust and joining an e group and sharing some stuff that makes you uncomfortable shameless plug today there's tents outside join any group she can interpret Pharoah said I need someone interpret my dream the prisoner said I need someone interpret the dream but really I need God to help me interpret not only the hard things I've been through but look at Joseph now he's in a position of power not only just have the power of interpretation that God has given him but he has the power to punish his brothers or provide for them what's he gonna do with his advantage that's the fourth one God show me the advantages that you've given me and show me why you gave them to me because when people receive advantages but they think that the purpose for the advantage and so that they can call attention to themselves that's when leaders become toxic that's when rich people become oppressive the hard thing is sometimes recognizing the advantage cuz remember when David killed Goliath and Bible says that after he killed him he took his sword I always thought that was a illustration of how today's attack can become tomorrow's advantage you sold me for God sent me and the whole time that people were pushing me in a pit God was preparing me so that I could provide with the power that he's given me and maybe the reason that you went through the attack is so that you could have an advantage to hear me just forget I'm talking here this from here this from God he wanted to say this to you and he's just using me to do it quit calling it an attack it's an advantage quit calling it a weakness because it is in your weakness that he is strong quit being ashamed of it quit trying to run from it hide it and numb it and cover it up the attack is the advantage and you know what Paul said he said I am convinced that the sufferings of this present time are not even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed so I interpret my pain through the lens of God's purpose and my feelings through my faith so God give me the power to interpret not just to interpret when I get there not just to interpret when it's all better but God help me to interpret when I'm in the middle I'm in the middle Joseph spent 20 years with a dream they contradicted everything he was facing in his situation and yet the most frequent line that is repeated in the account of his life is this the Lord was with Joseph you know that's not something you always feel that's not something that you can always prove that's not something that you always have facts to back it up but I don't need facts I got faith I don't need feelings I've got faith god I want to interpret my life as it unfolds through the limbs that you love me and that you're with me and I need a faith interpretation because you know Church the world is trying to give us a fair interpretation every single day and if you read the paper it's it's a fear interpretation but when I come to God I can look at everything in my life and look at it through the lens of what he's spoken to me and the power of interpretation is to confess the presence of God in every situation whether you feel it or not and if you need God to show you something right now in your life stand to your feet so I can pray for you because this message was not meant for those who just want to live by your five senses and this message was not intended for those who just want to spend the rest of their life blaming people and this message was not for those who everything is easy and you can always explain it and you understand it all this message is for someone who needs an interpretation god I don't need you to explain everything to me you're God and I'm not but I need to know God what you are doing in this moment of my life I don't want to spend the rest of my life projecting stuff I need an interpretation Paul said pray for the power of interpretation you can't get this on your own you can't get this by logic you can't see this on a spreadsheet you cannot consult bank accounts and other people and books in a library this only comes from God God I need an interpretation I need to know why my kids are acting crazy right now I need to know God why my money is acting funny right now I need to know why they said no I need to know why this keeps happening I need to know why this pattern keeps emerging and I need to know more than anything that you are with me in this moment even when I don't feel it I mean and interpretation do not interpretations belong to God doesn't he have the power to show you why I made you doesn't he have the power to comfort you in all of your trouble doesn't he have the power to assure you of his presence in this moment father thank you for your word and thank you for your people and I pray that today I have been a faithful interpreter of what you said through Joseph and what you said through Paul and what you're saying to each life represented in this place today I ask God that you would interpret the message exactly as each year needs to receive it in fact if you would just lift your hands right now and show the Lord that you're listening we received from you in this moment as you speak to us hey thanks for watching the Elevation Church YouTube channel if you enjoyed this message take a minute click the subscribe button on your screen that way you won't miss a single video and if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to partner with us to continue to reach others you can click the link in the description below to give now thanks again for watching and don't forget to subscribe

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 595,677

Keywords: Elevation Church, Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church sermons, Pastor Steven Furtick sermons, Sermons 2018, Steven furtick 2018 sermons, triggered sermons, triggered, steven furtick triggered, elevation church triggered, The Power of Interpretation, The Power of Interpretation steven furtick, The Power of Interpretation elevation church, the elevation church, elevation church 2018 sermons, triggered part 6, triggered part VI

Id: Mi80NIttniU

Length: 53min 31sec (3211 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 01 2018