Have you ever heard someone say, “I am just living the dream”? In the fourth week of our series, The Paradox of Purpose we learned about the dreams that Joseph had and the impact those dreams had on his life. It wasn’t what he expected and some of the people he thought would be there for him weren’t, but Pastor Charles taught us that as long as you are faithful; favor will follow you! Make sure and check out this message and share it with someone who needs to hear it!
i love y’all so much so much i’m so
grateful for you well
we’re gonna jump in we made it to the
last week y’all and i am ready to go i’m
ready to go
and uh okay if you’re just joining us i
want to catch you up just a little bit
because
um we’ve been in this series called the
paradox of purpose and some of you
um you’re like charles what is this all
about now i want to kind of give you the
the generic overview we’re going to go
over the last couple of weeks
but if you’re here and you’re asking
what is the paradox of purpose like you
just charles just
shoot it to me straight i just need to
know okay this this is the paradox of
purpose this is the premise that we’ve
been working from
this is what it means and what the
paradox of purpose is the paradox of
purpose
is uh sacrificing your potential
in order to walk in purpose this is the
premise and idea
we are sacrificing our potential
what we could do where we could go where
we could live
the jobs we could have we’re sacrificing
our potential
in order to reach purpose and this
messes with some of you because you’ve
always been taught and you need to reach
your potential
you taught on your football game on your
football team
on your little whatever you did growing
up they thought man you got a lot of
potential
and you spent all of your life trying to
reach your potential
but many times potential is a
distraction many times it’s it’s not
exactly what god may have graced you to
do and your purpose
is the very thing that god has graced
you
to do and every single person watching
this you have a purpose
you have a very specific purpose you
have a purpose that that is needed you
have something on the inside of you
that the earth needs until you step into
your spot until you step
up in your moment the earth is void of
ideas it’s void of your dna
and you don’t have to be anybody else
you can step into your purpose we all
have a specific purpose we all have a
specific purpose and in week one we kind
of
um opened up uh this pandora’s box of
what is my purpose
like what what why am i here why was i
created
why was i born into that family why was
i born at this time of any time you
could have been born
you were born at this time for this
moment what is
my purpose and i said it earlier but we
all have a specific purpose but i
believe
every single human being has an ultimate
purpose
they have an ultimate purpose and your
ultimate purpose is not
to do for god but to be with god
i want to make this so clear this is
something we had to establish week one
your life is not about what you can do
your value is not in what you can do
your significance is not in what you can
do but it is
simply being with god the reason
jesus created this entire earth genesis
he just wanted to be with you and that’s
what you need to know today and i hope
that brings you peace i hope that takes
the pressure off
to try to do all this stuff and try to
achieve and reach and get to know you
can just be
with god week two we we went on a little
bit we
there was a sermon called answer the
call everybody say answer the call
hold up god’s calling again
okay so we talked about uh that was just
a nice little sound pick you know
um but we talked about an answer to the
call how do we answer the call how do we
practically
do this and again i’m just catching you
up if you’re just joining in you’re like
charles get to the message yes
we’re gonna do that but this is what we
do if we’re gonna answer the call the
first thing you gotta do if you’re going
to answer the call
is you have to accept you have to accept
the call fully if anybody calls you
you have to hit the accept button you
have to accept the call the next thing
you got to do is submit
you got oh no that’s not true without
order you got to notify my bad
you got to notify people then you have
to submit fully
work faithfully endure failure and
return
frequently again we’re talking about how
do we answer
the call last week this was a week three
weeks
there was a sermon called the devil made
me do it now
uh some of you some of you
you are like so like what is this gonna
be but um it’s been so cool to see even
this past week
so many people um really taking
ownership of their walk with god
so many of you were tagged i saw
somebody who’s like i started working
out again
me and my wife went and redid our budget
abby we had to get our budget locked in
because we’re
we’re not going to be um blame ourselves
for something that really
blame the devil for something that’s in
our control and uh that’s really the
ownership that we’re taking
of our purpose so today we’re gonna jump
right in we’re gonna jump right in
into the fourth week and
i need you to turn in your bibles to
genesis genesis
37 it’s pretty easy because it’s right
at the front so if you got a bible and
you’re like where is it it’s okay
just flip like a couple pages in you’ll
be all right so genesis 37 i’m gonna
read two
um verses for you and uh we’ll go on
from there this is what the amazing word
of god says
um this is context well i’ll just read
the scripture and you’ll get it as we go
uh it says this
listen to this dream we were out in a
field
tying up bundles of grain suddenly
my bundle stood up and your bundles all
gathered
around and bowed low before
mine this is a dream that somebody has
they said
we were in a field and my bundle stood
up
and all of your bundles bowed before
mine i want to take a moment right now
before we jump into the word
and just ask god to join us wherever you
are would you pray for me with just a
moment holy spirit we thank you
that it’s you talking today lord i’m
just a vessel i’m just here to say what
you want me to say so i pray i thank you
lord that every single word that is
spoken today
is not mine but yours speak to your
children i pray that people
would hear specific answers to questions
they’ve had
for a lifetime lord have your way in the
services in jesus name we pray and
everybody said
amen um i have a question for you
um are you good at small talk raise your
hand
uh put it in the chat if you’re good at
small talk you’re good we got like one
person in the room
in here that’s good at small talk um i’m
not good at small talk
i’m just not like i’ve never been good
at small talk
and here’s the reason why it’s not
because i don’t like to talk to people
it’s just
um it just feels a little fake
and here’s what because it’s like when
you see somebody they’re like how you
doing it’s like you don’t
actually want to know how you don’t
really like especially
me like if you have how am i how do they
say stuff like how you feeling how i’m
feeling
oh brother we’re gonna be here a minute
like you don’t actually wanna
like you don’t we’re like and so it just
feels like i
i know you don’t care like you’re just
asking that because that’s what you’re
supposed to ask
and i don’t feel like lying to you and
so then you like as you get older you
just start saying all the cliches like
especially in church like we have a lot
of
trash cliches that we say that aren’t
real
that aren’t a reflection of how we
actually feel but they’re just like oh
hey
i’m blessed and highly favored brother
how are you i’m the head and not the
tail
above and not but it’s like what i don’t
know
what you’re above you’re above who i
don’t and not beneath what i don’t we’re
outside there’s nothing
it just doesn’t it doesn’t make any
sense and i i just panic in small talk
honestly i just
literally me and my wife we and kova did
not help this at all like
it did not like i gotta practice for a
whole 365 days and it was like yeah i
don’t know if i’ll ever talk to anybody
like ever again
that’s why i like this because i can
talk and nobody else is really talking
it’s just like i can go it’s just like
this is awesome
no that’s so bad um but kobe didn’t help
literally me and my wife we um we were
on a trip together and we walked into
this room and there were people talking
they were all like in their kind of
little bubbles and they were like
and we walked in and i literally just
looked around and i thought oh man and
here’s a question i always ask myself
i’m a contemplator and so this is like a
personality type thing and one of the
filters is am i
interested in this that’s something i
ask before i do anything and i literally
walked in and thought i’m not interested
in talking to anything i just pan i was
like i literally just looked around and
i was like
baby you want to leave she was like
absolutely and i was like yes so he just
walked in and walked directly so
i’m just i’m not good at small talk and
again if we meet i would love to talk to
you
and if we have some comment we talk
about translation church all those
different things but just generally
um i’m not and here’s the thing i during
the pandemic um
it was you know you saw see people and
it was kind of like you didn’t know if
you knew them because they had their
mask on and if they had a hat on it was
like
i’ve never stepped this intently at your
eyes but i’m trying to tell like do i
know you
and then they do the wide eye thing and
it’s like oh the wide eye that means i
know you okay wide eye yeah
so i saw this guy and he was like hey
charles how you doing i’m like i’m good
man i’m you know just making up stuff
it’s like actually his worst year of my
life is pretty tough but
you don’t really want to know that um it
all pandemic is like
how am i doing there’s a global pandemic
i don’t know like
anyways um but of course i shoot it
right back at him how are you doing man
and this man said oh just living the
dream
and i thought what
that’s like the worst thing you could
have said this
is your dream like that’s what i thought
in my head this is your dream like
a global pandemic where the world is
shut down like you’re living like
i was just so confused because i was
like that’s not
that was this isn’t your this definitely
was not my dream like this does not
if you dream this i’m a little concerned
that you this is in your dream you’re
like yeah the world’s shut down
and everybody’s inside for the rest of
their lives um it was not
that that that was not in my dream like
2020
um was not in my dream and really
today i want to talk about dreams
because
we have a portion of scripture here
where um
there is a dream that happens and then
there is kind of a phenomenon that i
believe we have all
experienced have you ever um dreamed
a dream to then only live the dream
and the dream be nothing like what you
dream when you dreamed it
like th this is today i want to talk to
you from the subject
living the dream are
are we living the dream like i know we
say that that guy in target yeah i’m
living the dream but like
what does it look like to actually live
the dream because when we say that it’s
this euphoric perfect state
and it’s exactly what we wanted it to be
and our life is going exactly how we
thought it would
and we got all the money in the bank and
we have no tension in our marriage and
our kids are perfectly obedient
and we love our boss and we’re like all
of that in our dream but in life
living the dream does not always feel
like dreaming the dream
like when when i dreamed the dream it
wasn’t this hard when i dreamed about
2020 there wasn’t a pandemic when i
when i dreamed about my business it
didn’t get shut down six months
in and i want to talk about what does it
look like to actually
live the dream if we’re going to talk
about purpose we have to talk about
dreams you have dreams
we all have dreams i mean as a kid you
you dream of what you’ll be when you
grow up you’ll dream of
of of the job you’ll have or the place
you’ll live and then somewhere along the
way
you realize that oh this living this
dream is not gonna be like
dreaming this dream
and joseph uh we find him in a little
bit of context of the scripture we just
read this is
joseph’s dream now joseph is the son
of jacob we talked about jacob earlier
jacob tricked
his brother into giving him his
birthright uh
and he had uh some sons and there’s a
son named joseph
and joseph is actually the favorite he’s
the youngest of 12
and his dad loved him so much that he
gives him a special coat the bible says
it was a coat of many colors
it might have been gucci might have been
louis it might have been the new virgil
2022
small fall spring we don’t know what it
was but it was a beautiful coat so
beautiful that it made his brothers a
little jealous in fact it says his
brothers
when he got this coat it it put distance
between them
now joseph he’s young at this point in
scripture he’s around 17 years old and
he has
a dream and this is really where dreams
start to get real when you’re starting
to get out of adolescence you’re almost
an adult and you start
i mean you remember being 17 years old
and starting to dream like
okay i’m about to be out of school and
what am i going to do with my life or
maybe i’m going to change the narrative
of my story and
and my family and joseph has a dream and
this is his dream he says we were out in
the field
tying up bundles of grain and suddenly
my bundle stood up and your bundles
all gathered around bowing before
mine joseph has this dream and he is
so this is a good dream have you ever
had a dream that was so good you’re like
i
right when i like in your dream i’ve
done this in my dream i’m thinking when
i wake up i’m about to tell abby how
dope this dream is but for right now i’m
gonna keep dreaming this dream
like but you wake up and you’re so
excited like you’re like this was so
crazy i have to tell somebody joseph has
a natural reaction
to having a dream he thinks i’m going to
go to the people who love me the most
i’m going to go to the people i’m
closest to i’m gonna go to the people
who have been there with me i’m gonna go
to the people who are always for me
who have been with me who have seen me
go through hard stuff i’m gonna tell
them my dream and they’re gonna be so
excited to hear my dream
i mean this is what as a kid you have a
dream and you go to you’re going to tell
your mom mom i got this idea and i feel
like maybe i’m getting serious with my
faith and god told me something
and you’re getting serious and you’re
excited to share your dream
only to realize that the people who were
supposed to be the most excited for you
aren’t as excited about your dream
joseph goes to his brothers and he tells
them hey this is the dream i had
and instead of them getting excited
they’re
they get a little angry now in scripture
when i first read this i thought like
well this is a this is kind of a cocky
dream like you shouldn’t have told
them this dream that’s you shouldn’t
have shared that dream but let’s let’s
be real
you should be able to tell your family
your dreams
i mean like you should be able to tell
your fam i feel like god has a plan for
my life i feel like this is what i’m
gonna do
i feel like i’m gonna step you should be
able to tell the people who love you
what god is speaking to you but many of
you
many of us just like jacob when we go to
share our dreams
people don’t they don’t get it and that
and that’s the part of living the dream
that i didn’t know
when i dreamed it i thought everybody
would get it
i mean we thought like you know my
parents are going to understand my
friend group
is going to understand the people that
like they’re going to
but here’s the thing i found out when
you’re living the dream
just because they’re close to you
doesn’t mean they
understand your calling
just because they’re close doesn’t mean
they understand your calling
i didn’t this this part wasn’t um
in my dream i thought everybody that was
close to me would get it
i thought if you’re close to me if we
grew up together if we’re from the same
town
if you if you were there for me in a
hard season if you said i’ll be with you
and i’m your dog like if i
i just thought that if you’re close you
would understand my calling
and i want to come talk to some people
today that it feels like
the people closest to you understand you
the least
the people that said they’d be right
there with you that they would always be
and you go to tell them that okay i’m
starting to feel purpose i’m starting to
feel like there is a plan i’m starting
to feel like i’m going to step out or
i’m going to start the business or i’m
going to go to the school
or i’m going to apply for the job i’m
going to apply for the loan
and you feel like they were supposed to
get it
that why don’t they understand why don’t
my parents understand i’m just trying to
step out
i’m being independent like they told me
to be i’m trying to be
i’m trying to break generational curses
and the people closest to me don’t get
it
this is living the dream
but when i dreamed it i didn’t
i thought they would get it i thought
everybody would go with me and this is
the tension
of trying to walk in purpose
is that when you’re when you first dream
it it’s everybody’s with you and
everybody’s going with you to the next
level and everybody’s gonna
gonna go with you to the next season but
what happens is joseph shares this dream
with his brothers
and they get so frustrated they get so
angry with him
they start making a plan and the
original plan is let’s just like let’s
just kill him like let’s do this is just
it’s just too much like and and one of
the brothers is like i don’t actually
want to go through with that we don’t
need to do that
and they end up they say okay here’s
what we’re gonna do we’re gonna throw
him in this pit
we’re gonna throw him in this pit we’ll
take his jacket
we’ll take his gift we’ll take the thing
that was his favor
we’ll take the thing that said this is
what happens when you start to try to
walk in purpose
the very thing that set you apart the
very thing that made you different
the very thing that you got identity
from
people start to attack it they start to
say no you won’t ever be able to do that
no one in our family’s ever done that oh
you’re gonna go to that college yeah
your dad didn’t even graduate high
school you’re not gonna that’s not gonna
and what i’ve realized is because
joseph’s brothers were insecure
in their relationship with their father
they couldn’t handle someone else having
a dream
that was bigger than what they were
currently experiencing and so what
happens is when
when you’re living the dream insecure
people try to throw you in a pit
insecure people that don’t know how to
handle that that just because god called
me
doesn’t mean he didn’t call you like i’m
just trying to do what god called me to
do i’m just trying to step out i’m just
trying to
to and you find yourself that the people
closest to you are the people that try
to throw you in the pit
joseph was in a literal pit but some of
you you’re in you’re in a metaphorical
but you’re in a space where you feel
like it’s dark
where you’ve been abandoned and this is
the space
that when you get in there the goal is
that they’re hoping maybe
if i put their dreams in the pit they’ll
just stop
like maybe they’ll just stop dreaming
maybe they’ll stop trying talking about
all this purpose that they got
and they watch some series and maybe if
i just talk down
to them and this is what many of you
experienced
you tried to share your dream and a
teacher said you won’t
ever do that and now your
security and confidence has been in a
pit
are you tried to step out and say i’m
going to start the business and
and you went to go get the loan and they
said why did i don’t even know why you
came to the bank you know you’re not
going to ever get this loan
and you feel like okay maybe maybe
maybe i’m not maybe i’m not qualified we
don’t know how long joseph was in this
pit
what questions do you ask in the pit
how does your dream feel when you
dreamed it
but now you’re in the pit and it’s like
man this is i don’t know if this is
worth it
i know there’s been times in my own life
where the dream was exciting until i got
in the pit
i felt like this is going to be awesome
this is going to be so much fun and
and then you’re in the pit by yourself
and uh
if you’re honest you’re tempted to just
be like yeah i knew this wasn’t worth it
i knew i shouldn’t have done this this
happened to me when me and abby were
starting our own church in downtown and
god told us to shut it down and come to
transformation church i tell that story
all the time
people like oh that’s so awesome that
was amazing that
it it didn’t feel awesome the entire
time we did it
it’s easy to say now like oh yeah it was
god it was obvious it was duh but it
wasn’t done when we did it
like it wasn’t like oh yeah this is the
obvious move there were days where i
felt like why
in the world when when god spoke to me
when he gave me the dream when he showed
me no
shut your church down and serve and
protect the vision of transformation
church and pastors michael and natalie
todd
it felt really clear in that moment but
in the pit in the moment where i’m
trying to sign up for uber in the moment
when i’m trying like it feels like this
is not what i dreamed and i i don’t i
don’t know god
i dreamed it and you gave me the dream
and now i’m living the dream and it
feels
different this is the moment that
many of our purposes will pass through
if you’re on the journey of purpose if
you’re on the journey of
walking in purpose it will always pass
through the pit
but the encouraging part um is uh
is really just understanding uh
something my mom would say
when i was younger she said charles you
win if you just don’t quit
and some of you i just i want to
encourage you today that even though it
feels like you’re in a dark space even
though it feels like
the people who are supposed to be there
with you aren’t there even though it
feels like man i i
don’t know if i can just just don’t quit
because i promise you if you just
if you just hold on if you just if you
just stay faithful if you just trust
that the god who gave you the dream
if you trusted the one that spoke to you
he who began a good work of you will be
faithful to see it to completion
don’t quit while you’re in the pit
now we progress in in joseph’s life and
uh he gets sold into slavery we progress
a little bit and his
brothers are like hey we’re not gonna we
don’t want him to die we’re not gonna
kill him and they see some people
passing by and they say why don’t we
just sell him to these people we’ll sell
him off and he’ll go and we don’t have
to be responsible for his death so
joseph gets sold into slavery he gets
sold to someone
named potiphar and potiphar works for
pharaoh he’s in egypt and he works for
him and and
joseph starts serving and actually he
starts to see some success
in fact this is what the scripture says
it says the lord
was with joseph so he succeeded in
everything he did as he served in the
home
of his egyptian master how beautiful is
it that our god regardless of where
you’ve been
regardless of what people spoke about
you regardless of who talked down to you
that he can still
work things together for your good and
this is where joseph
is and at this point i’m thinking okay
i’m back to living the dream
but like it was down for a little bit it
was hard for a little bit
i didn’t know if god was with me but i’m
back and even though someone talked bad
about me
even they though they didn’t get my
dream i’m back and he’s serving and he’s
back in the spot and this is the place
where people get excited
because they think okay i’m walking in
purpose i’m doing what god called me to
do
and and this is the part where i’m going
to be successful and everybody who talk
bad about me
ever this is where you get a little
gangster and it’s like forget them
and you’re like i watch what i’m about
to do watch how i’m about to
and there’s the spirit of like i’m going
to prove you wrong for
god to show you that i’m better than you
in the name of jesus but like don’t ever
talk about me again or i’ll hit you
love you god bless you like it’s like
what is hap but
but there’s an interesting caveat that
happens and that is tied to joseph’s
success
in the palace this is what the scripture
says it says
the lord was with joseph so he succeeded
in everything he did
but look at the caveat as he
served as he served
it doesn’t say when he got there all the
blessings came
it doesn’t say when he first became a
slave he immediately went to potiphar
and immediately became over everything
and
it says as he served god was with him
and he had success this is the thing
i’ve realized when you’re
living the dream favor always
follows faithfulness now i have to talk
about this because
in our culture right now we think i’ll
be faithful when god shows me favor
we think if god shows me that he’s with
me if he proves it to me that he did
call me to
then i can be faithful but what joseph
understood is if i’m just
faithful god’s favor always follows my
faithfulness
and i want to encourage somebody right
now because you’re waiting to be
faithful
you’re waiting to serve people you’re
waiting to give your best ideas
you’re waiting to really commit to that
job you’re waiting to commit to that
marriage until god shows you
no this is it this is okay and god says
if you’ll just be
faithful i promise you you can’t stop my
favor on someone who’s faithful
if you will just be faithful in the
season
if you would just be faithful to know
that if you
will do what you can do god will do what
only he can do
and this is what happens while joseph is
is living his dream
he realizes that even though i’m sold in
a place of slavery i can still be
successful
how crazy is that that you can be
successful as a slave
you can you can be the top of everything
that you’re he’s in a moment where where
all this stuff
has happened with his brothers and he’s
still seeing success
when you’re living the dream you have to
understand if i’ll just be faithful to
the season
if i’ll just be faithful let me use some
language that we’ve talked about earlier
if i’ll be faithful to this current
calling
we talked about the difference between
calling and purpose calling is your
specific
assignment the thing that god has
assigned you to in this season
then as you obey and answer every call
god will slowly reveal your purpose
so joseph starts out with a dream with
with a purpose with a design with
something that’s going to happen
and then he sees himself in a space
where he’s he’s serving
as as a slave to potiphar but as he is
faithful to this call
he sees success now this is
um this is a part of the story that gets
a little um interesting
because joseph’s minding his own
business
i want to also bring some context joseph
when he had his first dream he was
around 17 or 18 years old
at this point in his life he’s between
20 25 26
years old and he’s doing well he’s being
successful he’s
minding his own business and then
potiphar’s wife
shows up now some of you already know
the progression of the story if you
don’t i want to read it to you in
scripture so you know what’s happening
so joseph
he’s been serving faithfully to potiphar
and this is what the scripture says
joseph was very handsome and well-built
young man
sounds a lot like somebody i know and
potiphar’s wife
soon began to look lustfully at him
come sleep with me she demanded so joff
has refused look
my master trusts me with everything in
his entire household no one
here has more authority than i do so
he’s in control
no one has more authority than i do he
has held nothing back from me except you
because you are his wife
how could i do such a wicked thing she
kept pressuring joseph
day after day after day but joseph
refused
to sleep with her now this is the moment
in scripture
we love to cheer for joseph because he’s
such a man of valor he’s so he has so
much integrity
and he’s so just wow there was a wild
cougar out here joseph
and she was trying to throw herself onto
you you were like no i’m a man of god i
could never do that
um let’s get real for a second
joseph is 20 to 25.
potiphar’s wife would have been most
likely
the number two i’ll give her number two
because pharaoh’s wife probably been
would have been the most beautiful woman
in all of egypt this is the number two
person in command their wife
she would have been the second most
beautiful person as far as the eye could
see
and she comes up to him it’s like i want
to sleep with you
have we ever sometimes we read bible
characters and we take away because
they’re in scripture we take away their
humanity
do you think joseph didn’t want to have
sex with potiphar’s wife
[Music]
this is why this is where we play
ourself because you think god will take
away the desire once you get in purpose
[Applause]
you think you think when i’m in purpose
i won’t want to sleep with anybody i
won’t want to have bad character i won’t
want to steal
i won’t want to cheat that’s not how
this works
joseph still had the desire
that is so crazy we think joseph was
like yeah i don’t even want to have sex
with this beautiful woman are you crazy
why would i
no joseph would have had the desire
and when you are living the dream there
will
always be an opportunity to trade your
purpose
for your pleasure every
single time there will always be an
opportunity to trade your purpose
for pleasure this and here’s the thing
in this moment joseph has to make a
decision
what is more important my career or my
character
wow this is the decision he has is my
career more important is how i’m
perceived
as being the number two per is that more
important than my character
joseph is presented with an opportunity
that no one may know about
that no no no one would see
that no one would would be questioning
him because he’s in charge
he had trust with the person he was
serving under he had
and in this moment i want to come and
humanize joseph
he probably wanted
to do he there was a there was at least
the thought of when she said hey come
sleep with me it wasn’t immediately no
absolutely it was like
oh well maybe no
but in this moment joseph is making a
crucial decision in purpose
he’s making a crucial decision and a
thing that
i want to come to you today and say if
you’re going to live the dream
you will be presented do not at this
point do not
be surprised when you are presented
with an opportunity to trade your
purpose
for your pleasure some of you are like
well charles i don’t you know i don’t i
don’t struggle with sexual sin i don’t
oh
pleasure isn’t just sex
please don’t get so all up all in here
that you think
just because you don’t have sex which
you’re like you’re better than ever
that no no no like for some of you the
pleasure is just talking about people
gossip is pleasurable to you
gossip makes you feel like oh yeah i
just me knowing all this stuff about
people makes me
feel some type of way it just like it
gets you all
[Music]
for some of you just like having more
money and showing that you have more
money
is just pleasurable to you flexing on
instagram with stuff you don’t own
is just more pleasurable to you so don’t
just because you’re not sleeping with
your girlfriend don’t mean you’re not
trading please do not get it we all have
moments where we are
with the dealing with the tension of am
i going to trade
what would be pleasurable right now for
god’s ultimate
purpose
and what is difficult to reconcile to me
is that joseph does the right thing
he he doesn’t do it like she’s like come
on come on sleep with me
he’s like no absolutely not he tries to
run away
she tears part of his clothes she has it
and then people come because she screams
and they hear and they say what’s going
on and say he tried
to rape me what happens
when you get talked about when you get
light on
when you lose your job not for doing the
wrong thing
but doing the right thing
this is a tension in purpose that you
can be doing exactly what you’re
supposed to do
you can be and i want to just come come
to relate to some people because you
feel like i don’t deserve
this i i charles
i’m in a space where i i didn’t make the
trade i had the opportunity but i didn’t
i
i i did what god told me to do and i
still and they still left me
they still didn’t i didn’t get approved
or i still didn’t get into the college
or
i could have lied on my application and
said i had more experience than i did
but i thought if i was just honest i
thought
i was trying to be hot i was trying to
be humble but transparent and then i
then i did that and i got in trouble or
or i tried i tried to confess that i did
mess up i did
okay i went to my spouse and i told them
i was unfaithful but i want to apologize
and i want to go to counseling and i
want to involve our pat and they were
like no absolutely not i’m leaving you
you’ll never you’ll never be and you
think i tried i tried my best
i tried my best to do the right thing
and now i got punished
joseph gets thrown in prison
for not sleeping with potiphar’s wife
so you mean he could have kept his money
accolades and status
for sleeping with potiphar’s wife
we don’t think about it that way like oh
i could have cut the corner
and got more promotion more money
well i could have i could have gone that
right you know you can be successful
without god’s hand on your life right
[Music]
you can you can be influential you can
have a ton of followers you can have
millions of dollars you can own multiple
properties and god’s hand not be
anywhere on you
ask saul he took his hand off him and he
still was king for multiple more years
before david was raised up
you can be in charge and not god’s hand
on your life
and many of us think because we still
got the job or you haven’t gotten found
out yet
or nobody knows or that happened 10
years ago and i have it and it seems
like it just passed over so yeah i’m
good and i’m in purpose
hold on there if if you trust me if that
that
justice belongs to god like there is a
moment where you have to understand you
are not slipping anything
past the king of kings and lord of lords
joseph finds himself in a place where he
gets thrown in
prison for doing the right thing
but i thought he was living the dream
i thought this was like god got showing
himself through just
he was okay they threw him in the pit
and then he makes it out but then he
finds himself back
in prison and at this point
this is where your dreams die
i mean this is where it’s like yeah i
mean i had the dream
tried to tell people who were supposed
to love me
they didn’t believe me they didn’t
appreciate me
they were ungrateful for me they didn’t
even want to talk to me they didn’t want
to spend time with me
and then that i get then i get thrown
into it then i’m sold into slavery then
i start to see god’s hand on my life
i start to see favor and then i’m blamed
for something i didn’t do
i didn’t do like and now i’m back yeah
the dream’s not worth it and some of you
are on your second cycle of being in the
pit
and you’re thinking yeah it’s just at
this point i’m good
have you ever said that to god
god i just honestly
you could you can just genuinely pick
somebody else i’m just
because it reaches a point where the
pain
of being used by god
feels like too much and thinks i would
rather have a comfortable life
than the pain of this purpose
joseph finds himself in a place where
his dreams seem to be dead
there are two people he’s in prison with
there’s a cup bearer
and a baker they had previously worked
with pharaoh and
they find themselves in prisons for
different reasons and they start having
dreams
and joseph does something interesting
in a season where his dreams are dead
he puts his focus on someone else’s
dreams
how how are you in a place where
your dreams are dead but you’re able to
turn
and say well while i’m waiting on my
dream
what what’s going on what’s going on in
your life
when you’re when you’re living the dream
if you don’t see your dream serve
someone else’s
this is this is easy um to write down
but this is hard to live
this is this is diff because some of you
you’re in a place where it’s like i i’ve
given everything to my dream
i’ve done i feel like this is what i was
supposed to do and it’s not working out
and then
someone next to you has the audacity to
start talking about their dreams
and you’re like if you don’t
i don’t want to hear about no do you
want to hear i just had this dream cool
bet
i don’t want to hear it and what happens
is
as we get in a place where we’re
in purpose we’re in a moment where it’s
so difficult
where the opportunity for god to develop
purpose
in us through someone else
feels so frustrating painful
and almost offensive that we would
rather
hoard our gift to ourself
then see someone else flourish
in their dreams i mean this is the place
of living the dream that no one told me
about
this is the place last year when me and
my wife are about to have our second kid
and we’ve had all these issues with our
house and it’s been delayed and then we
didn’t get approved for the loan and
didn’t get approved for the loan and
then we’re at crazy faith offering and
people start giving away houses
and i’m thinking whoo this is
awesome i am so excited
that i am living in a one bedroom
loft with my in-laws right now with my
pregnant wife
and my one-year-old son this is where
and i want to i want to be real because
some of you are having real
thoughts of everyone else is flourishing
everyone else is getting married
everybody else’s and that’s great for
you but my dream is over here
and it’s dead and i really don’t want to
have anything to do with you
this is we got we got it and let me as a
pastor come to you and not be fake today
because there are pastors
there are leaders there are people that
you look up to that they’re sitting
there and they’re thinking i don’t want
to hear about your dream
i don’t want to hear how your church is
flourishing i don’t want to hear how
your marriage is perfect
i don’t want to hear how your business
just got off the ground randomly and
no i don’t want to because my dream is
dead
some of you inner space right now where
you are in the moment and you are trying
to decide
i don’t know if i have enough energy to
talk to you about your dream
some of you are parents and your kids
have dreams because
your dream hasn’t happened yet
you’re 20 year old you’re you’re 25 year
old your 30 year old your 40 year old
children come to you about what god’s
doing in their life or what
happening in them and you’re in a place
where it’s like i can’t even really
i don’t want to talk to you about your
dream
joseph somehow finds this inner resolve
to be able to
turn the attention off of his own dreams
and serve the dream of someone else
we start to see this theme of
unreasonable
faithfulness in joseph this
unexplainable ability to
serve his season
and it’s crazy because the roller
coaster that is
joseph’s life is always marked by his
faithfulness
how do you go from being thrown into a
pit to being a slave to being number two
in command
to being lied about to be thrown back in
prison to then interpreting dreams to
then being forgot about for
years and years then
they’re like oh pharaoh you had a dream
there was this guy this is what happens
in the story
joseph interprets the dreams he takes
the focus off of himself
and this is where i think okay if i’m
living the dream they’re gonna remember
me
they’re gonna like the person i helped
and this is where we start trying to lay
out our plan for god like okay if i
serve them for six months
if i be faithful here then i can use
that as a stepping stone to my next
thing
and then if i just get connected to them
and go to that conference then i’ll be
like
and this joseph he serves and then they
forget about him
they get out of prison their dreams are
back
their dreams are back rolling and joseph
meanwhile his dreams
are rotting away in prison
and one day pharaoh comes to the cup
bear on the baker and he’s like i’m
having these dreams and
there’s there were seven skinny cows and
seven fat cows and i don’t know what
and then the skinny cows eat the fact
that there’s all these different stuff
and he starts talking about his dream
and they remember
oh yeah there’s there was this one guy
in prison i don’t even know if he’s
still alive i don’t even know
where they’re at but something tells
them hey there’s this guy that i think
can help
joseph he his faithfulness produces
more favor his faithfulness to serve the
dream
there’s there’s more things showing up
in his life and so he gets in front of
pharaoh and
pharaoh is having these dreams and
joseph again
not focusing on his dream he’s like hey
what what what do you need how can i
serve you how can i help
and pharaoh starts to tell him yeah
there’s these dreams i have in and
there’s
seven fat cows and seven skinny cows and
then the skinny cows eat
the fat cows and joseph literally
through the power of god is able to
interpret his dream
he’s like hey this so this is what um
your dream actually means there are
gonna be
seven years of plenty there’s gonna be
seven years where everything’s great
where there’s more stock where there’s
more
food where there’s more than enough and
then seven years of horrible
famine and pharaoh realizes that joseph
has insight has wisdom has something on
the inside of him that’s different than
everybody else
and in that moment joseph is placed back
as number two in command
now at this point in the story
joseph has um excused my language been
through hell
joseph has been through i was i was at
the lowest point
the people who loved me the most didn’t
do it but then then then i was sold into
slavery
then they lied on me then now but now
he’s back
and this is the moment where i think
this is the dream
that some of you are in this moment in
your life you’re thinking this is what
this is what i dreamed of this is the
life i dreamed i would have this is the
marriage
i dreamed i would have this is the
family this is the job this is the
success
this is the affirmation this is the
confidence i always knew i could have
this is the dream
i mean let’s step into the picture for a
moment
it has been over a decade since joseph
has seen his family
he’s been married he’s got when he got
when he became number two it says
pharaoh gave him someone to marry he has
a whole family he has
a life he’s built success he is
flourishing
this is the dream
then one day he’s
going about his normal day
and the dream has played out exactly how
he said there were seven years
of plenty and joseph in his wisdom and
in his
gift of leadership and administration he
saves back during these seven years
and then during this time he starts to
become a resource
when the seven years of famine hit god
has given him wisdom in the moment to
say hey
you need to hold back for this season
and then in the next season you’re going
to be able to help people and so people
from all around the world
are coming to egypt because of joseph
you can can you imagine joseph he is
sitting down
one day just thinking of everything he’s
been through
man i’ve said
this has been a long long couple years
it’s
i was in prison man that was crazy i was
in prison and then
my brothers and my family and
he’s sitting there and some people walk
by
and he looks he’s like no no
no no all right next come on who who
needs help yeah come up
and people are coming to get and then he
looks again and he thinks
he leans over and says who who are
what are what are they doing here
joseph what are you talking about
everybody’s here to get grain what do
you what do you mean
no no why why are they here
what well they need grain just like
everybody else joseph you you know god
gave you that planet but
but them
and the very people
who threw him into the pit
need his help
what do you do when the people who hurt
you the most
need your help and the people who
tried to kill your dream show up needing
something from you
i mean again let’s let’s just step into
joseph’s life for a moment these are the
people
who when i told them my dream
they stripped my coat off of me and
threw me into a pit they were my brother
we grew up playing together
they my older brother was holding my
hands when i learned how to walk and
those same hands
threw me into a pit now you want to come
talking about i need some food
yo oh i bet you do need grain yeah i bet
you do need my help
i bet you do want to come over here and
talk about i always knew you’d do it i
always knew
no i bet you do need my help
let’s normalize joseph for a second how
much emotion
is charged in this moment
the people who hurt me now you want to
come to me talking about what you need
no yeah no yeah go ahead yeah give them
some grain
this is what joseph does he starts he
starts he says no give him some grain
but take some stuff and put it in there
in their bags and kind of frame them
like they’re trying to steal stuff
yeah i’m going to show them yeah they’ll
mess with me again yeah we’ll see how
they feel about yeah i was funny when
you threw me in the pit it was funny
when you were talking about that i’d
never go to college
it was funny when you said my business
wouldn’t work now it worked and i’m
about to show you who i
am i’m about to show you that my dream
was true
i’m about to show you and this is where
many of us are
we’re in purpose and now there’s a
moment
there’s a moment where your heart has to
deal with the pain that you have
experienced
this is what we don’t talk about in
church and in purpose
grief
this this is when joseph dreamed the
dream
it was not like this
and this is the moment we see joseph he
sends his brothers away
to get his younger brother and he comes
back
and i can just think of joseph as he’s
as he’s sitting there and he’s like
surely that’s not them that’s not that
can’t be
that can’t be them man they they they’re
the ones who hurt me yeah when they get
back i’m gonna okay i’m gonna show them
who i am i’m gonna
and he walks up and he steps out
imagine joseph clothed in royalty as an
egyptian
stepping out to his lowly brothers
and he looks at them and they bow
then he has to realize
this is the dream
this is it’s so interesting because in
scripture
it says this i want to read it to you it
says then joseph looked at his brother
benjamin
he says is this the youngest brother you
told me about
may god’s grace be with you my son
then joseph hurried from the room
because he was overcome with motion
the dream was not how he dreamed it
the greatest moment of his purpose when
his dream was realized
he was in tears
that was the dream i know you thought
the dream was when you were over
everybody and you were in charge
and life was perfect and you felt
confident and you knew who you were
and you had your family close to you no
that wasn’t the dream this is the dream
this is what you dreamed about for 15
years this is the moment they’re bowing
down to you and you haven’t seen them
and you’re so full of hate
and anger that you start bawling and you
can’t even contain yourself as royalty
so you say i have to leave
this is living the dream this is what it
means to walk in purpose
the greatest moment of purpose the
moment where the dream
that was given by god comes true he is
hurting
and broken this is the dream
mother the moment where you feel like
it’s too much and i can’t handle it and
i just i can’t
this is the dream business owner it’s
it’s
we’re gonna have to fire somebody and i
know we just are coming out of coving
but but
this was supposed to be a success did
that that
that’s the dream how do you deal with
what i dreamed
how i saw it in my head when i thought
about it it was going to be perfect and
everybody would be there
and now i’m in the dream and it’s
nothing like
it was when i dreamed it
joseph is standing there in his dream
in tears
and many of you you don’t realize it but
you’re still living the dream
you’re still the dream is still
going on the dream is still happening
and
what i’ve realized is when you’re living
the dream
purpose is always accompanied by pain
that’s something i didn’t i didn’t
realize
they didn’t tell me that when i got
hired as a youth pastor at 20 years old
they didn’t tell you that when when you
got married
at 26 and it was your high school
sweetheart and
they didn’t tell you that when you got
the promotion that
this is going to be the greatest season
and it will also be
the most pain you have ever experienced
and today i know um some of you are
thinking charles
this is a lot i’m trying to live the
dream i’m trying to where’s the paradox
of purple
this this is the paradox
this is the pair it is purpose and it is
pain
and today i have to come to tell you
that just because you’re experiencing
pain
does not mean you’re not living the
dream
just because you feel hurt just because
you feel broken
just because you feel insecure just
because you feel worried
please do not let the enemy lie to you
that you’re not living the dream
some of you you’re in your darkest
moment you’re in a hurting moment you’re
in a moment where nothing makes sense
and you’re in tears and i’m coming to
tell you this
is the dream this is it i know it
doesn’t look like it i
know you thought it would feel a little
different i know you thought there’d be
some people standing with you
i know you thought you’d have more money
i know you thought you’d still be
married i know you thought you still
have that family member but this
is the dream this is the dream this is
the dream
and joseph he’s sitting here
emotional because when he dreamed it
it was about him being above everybody
i mean when you have a dream like that
at 17 when you’re like hey
yeah i was i was i was great and you all
bowed down to me you see
when he dreamed it the focus was on his
status
when he dreamed it was like yeah i’m the
man i’m in charge in my dream
i’m in charge and i’m the guy and
everybody bows down to me and i’m in
charge and i call the shots
but when he dreamed it it was not about
status
when he dreamed it he thought it would
be about but when he when he lived it
it had nothing to do with the fact that
he was in charge
when he when he lived it
it wasn’t about status it was about
service
only reason they showed up is because he
has something they needed
they didn’t show up because he was in
charge
he wasn’t in purpose because of his
position
he was it was a moment where they just
needed something from it they needed
grain
the whole world needed grain at this
time it had nothing to do
with the fact that he was the number two
in command
the whole focus was they needed
something from him and
in many times in purpose immaturity
tells us
purpose is about status
oh when you’re on purpose you’ll have a
lot of money
you’ll have yo you’ll be in charge
everybody will respect you
everybody will even if they fear you a
little bit but you’ll be in charge
you’ll you’ll that’s what purpose is
purpose is being the number one
purpose is being the best purpose is pr
and and
and joseph’s his purpose had nothing to
do with the fact that he was
in charge they didn’t come because he
was the
the governing official they came because
they needed grain
and i look at this story
13 chapters in genesis and i realized
that
this story was all about grain
like how do you i always thought it was
about
like joseph’s dreams like joseph being a
dreamer
this story isn’t about a dreamer this is
a story of grain
like what grain
they needed grant like why did they
needed grain
genesis 42 when jacob heard there was
grain available in egypt
he said to his sons why are you standing
looking around i have heard there is
grain in egypt
so his ten older brothers went to egypt
to buy grain
what what this is about dreams we’re
talking about living the dream
no it’s this story is about grain i hate
to break it to you it’s about
gin look at this there’s two dreams
joseph has the first dream
we were out in the field tying up
bundles of grain
it started with grain and it ended with
grain
joseph and here’s the crazy part
when i heard this story in sunday school
when
when i pictured it i thought joseph was
the grain
like that’s like it’s like joseph was
the grain and then they bowed down to
him
but that’s not that’s not the story this
the
we were in the field tying up bundles of
grain
then my bundle stood up
so joseph but i thought this story was
about joseph
grain and then so we have two dreams
a dream about grain to where it starts
with grain and then it ends with grain
and then the second dream is just stars
it’s just there’s a bunch of stars
and the stars are bound down and so it’s
we got grains and galaxy
it’s the whole story all the 13 chapters
is about grain and galaxy and and
and i started why why would why would we
feel
13 chapters of a story just to talk
about grain
and i realized
this story this isn’t joseph
grain grain it started with grain and it
ended with grain
why would why would people bow down to
grain
grain is just granny’s just bread
who who bows to bread
well
there’s only one person
that i know that uh referenced himself
as bread
john 6 35 i am the bread
of life
but the stars that doesn’t make any
sense why why do galaxies who do
galaxies bow down to philippians 2 10
says one day every
knee will bow on earth and in heaven
this story isn’t joseph
this is jesus
a favored son who gets sent to people
who don’t like him
and has to be stripped of his greatness
to then be successful and then blamed
for stuff
he didn’t do
[Music]
this is not about joseph
and i always thought that the goal of
purpose was to be the grain
joseph thought me being a purpose is i
am the grain
but joseph was never the grain in this
story
he’s not we’re not the grain
joseph was he wasn’t supposed to be the
grain when people showed up
he just said hey i have some stuff that
you need and
and if you need it i got it you can have
it it’s not
this is not a this is jesus
this is not and for so long we have made
purpose
about us being the bread
[Applause]
we thought when i dream my dream i’m
gonna be
what people need and this story is not
about joseph the grain was actually
god it was the only thing that could
sustain
sustained people in a dark season it was
the only thing
it was the only it was the there’s only
one person that galaxies bowed down to
and it’s not
joseph it is jesus
living the dream is
not about trying to be god
it is about giving god
[Music]
that’s a good word for so long
i felt disappointed
i felt hurt i felt like god i thought i
was supposed to be
what it was about
and maybe you’re in a spot where you’re
like i thought my purpose was me
feeling like i was valued like i was
important like people knew who i was
when you’re in purpose it’s not about
people knowing who you are
when you’re when you’re really in
purpose
it’s about simply giving
grain
in 13 chapters of the bible
there’s a picture painted of this
dreamer
there’s a picture painted of this man
wrongfully
accused it was so
interesting it’s at the end of his life
he says something so crazy
he says you intended to harm me
but god intended for my good
and this is the part where it hit me
it says he he being god
god brought me to this position
so i could save the lives of
many people
man it’s the short of it is is
the paradox of purpose
is at the exact same time
you are more important
than you think you are you’re important
you have value you’re
you’re so valuable
you’re so valuable to god
literally you are god’s
dream come true
you know that right he dreamed of you
[Music]
scripture says it like this for the joy
that was set before him
the paradox is it’s you’re more
important than you think you are but at
the exact same time
you’re not as important as you think you
are
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and this is the paradoxes that that that
that it’s
it’s all and nothing about you
it’s it’s a the whole the story is about
joseph but then at the exact same time
it has nothing to do with joseph
and this is your purpose it’s it’s you
but it’s really not about
you it’s about you obeying god it’s
about you being faithful it’s about you
stepping into the moment but at the same
time
it’s nothing about you it’s about jesus
it’s about his grace
it’s about his mercy it’s about his
goodness it is
all about him
and i don’t want to preach about purpose
and make you think it’s about you
[Music]
i don’t want you to leave this series
and think yep
i’m about to watch when i
no no no no no purpose is
god whatever you want to do
i decrease so that you
might increase your purpose is not
about you you’re gonna have to live it
you’re the only one that can you’re the
only one that
that god has put that specific
assignment on
at the end of the day
purpose is not about us being
god it’s about us simply giving god
that’s why this church exists to
represent god
another way we say it is to represent
god
to give god differently
that’s what our lives are about it’s
about giving god
it’s not about arrival it’s not about
status it’s not about money or
cars or or fame or for it’s about giving
god and my last and only charge to you
would be please just give god
you want to be on purpose just give god
you you want to see god move in your
life just give
god that’s what joseph was doing his
whole life
when he was serving he was giving god
when he told no i’m not gonna i’m not
gonna sleep with you he was get he was
saying no i
there is something on the inside of me
that says i can’t do this because
i am here to give god when he was
interpreting other people’s dreams
he was giving god
life is not about
anything that we would think
of of of our status and our stature it’s
about
realizing that i am
more important than i think so i need to
take it seriously i need to
i need to be disciplined i need to
answer the call when god calls me i need
to realize that there is value in
my words and i and i and i need it it’s
recognizing that you are more important
than you think but at the exact same
time
this whole story is about god
i want to take a moment right now i just
want to pray for you
you may look at the story of joseph and
you may find yourself in a place where
you relate to one of those moments of
his purpose where you feel like
maybe you’ve just tried to start sharing
your dreams
maybe you’re in a moment where the
people who you thought would be there
for you they’re not
maybe you’re seeing success and you feel
like this has to be the dream this is
it this is and maybe you’re in a point
where where everything’s okay maybe
you’re in a point where you’re being
blamed for stuff you didn’t do
maybe no matter where you are you may be
in a moment where you’re dealing with
the tension and the emotion of
of the disappointment of what you
dreamed and what you’re living and how i
reconciled my life wasn’t supposed to be
like this
wherever you are you need to know one of
the most powerful portions of scripture
all throughout genesis 37-50 it says
and the lord was with
joseph we talked about it
the first week but the reason joseph
could be in purpose
in the pit the reason he was in purpose
when he was in prison and the reason he
was in purpose when he was in the palace
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was because the lord was with
joseph it was
it was his presence
that validated purpose
it’s god’s presence
that validates purpose it’s it’s if my
hand is on you
you can be in prison and in purpose
if my hand is on you you could be in the
palace and in purpose
if my hand is on you you can be a single
mother and be on purpose
if my hand is on you you could have lost
your your father at a young age and not
know what to do but still be in purpose
if my hand is on you
you could have had to close your
business down during covet and still be
on purpose
if my hand is on you you could be
pastoring a church of 10 people or 10
000 people and be in purpose if my hand
is on you
you’re in purpose right where you
are god right now
thank you thank you for your presence
that validates purpose
for right now wherever anybody is in the
world
no matter what time it may be when
they’re watching maybe watching this
years from now
but i pray right now may your presence
rest
with them
[Music]
just right here in this moment wherever
you are just take a moment to silence
yourself take a moment to center
yourself
just take a deep breath in and breathe
out
scripture says that when you were formed
there was something that happened there
was a breath
that went into you every time you
breathe in and out that’s not your
breath
that’s the breath of god you need to
know that he is
so close to you that he is with you holy
spirit i pray right now
people in homes people in cars people
listening on a podcast
or people running people just sitting
next to their spouse
people in pain people who are succeeding
people who are hurting may they
feel your presence right now i think
your presence is
resting on people people who have said
they’ll never talk to god
people who have turned their back on you
people who were hurt before lord god
people who feel like everything’s
perfect and they don’t need anything
else i think you that your presence is
wrapping your arms around them holy
spirit i thank you
i pray right now regardless of where
someone may find themselves
that they would be able to stand
confidently not comfortably but
confidently
and say because god is with me
this is the dream regardless of what it
looks like regardless of what it feels
like
regardless of how difficult it may be
regardless of the disappointment
regardless if i thought i’d be further
along god i
thank you that this is the dream with
the disappointment
this is the dream with the hurt this is
the dream with the with the unmet
expectations this is the dream lord i
thank you
that you are restoring dreams right now
in the name of jesus lord i thank you
for things that you spoke to people when
they were children i thank you for ideas
lord god others thank you right now
you’re restoring
dreams to your children lord god dreams
that people have laid down
dreams that people have given up on lord
god books that are supposed to be
written
lord god movies that are supposed to be
made children that are supposed to be
had and raised or god but i thank you
lord you are restoring
dreams and right now lord god i thank
you that your power is moving
in your children
nor for some i pray that you would do
what the scripture says and return to
them the joy
of their salvation every head’s still
about every eye still closed
there are some of you that um
throughout your life you may have felt
like you’ve went through hard seasons
through difficult times
and uh you feel like man now this is
this was not in my dream
[Music]
you can feel it you feel like man this i
didn’t dream any of this this is my life
is not
what i dreamed regardless of where you
are
um and even what you may have been told
you need to know god loves you so
much he is madly in
love with you he is so passionately
obsessed with you in a way that we
cannot even fathom or
understand literally let me just paint a
picture for you
he was the son who had it perfect he was
in heaven he
life was good and he literally said i
want to step down
into a broken place that i created and
be and be
forsaken by by my father on a cross and
and be blamed for things i didn’t do
for things i what he took on the weight
of sin what is sin some of you like
what is that sin is when we miss the
mark it’s it’s it’s that that guilt that
shame that you feel that that weight
that heaviness
you’re not meant to carry that through
life there’s not a badge of honor for
carrying that weight god already paid
the price and he took that on the cross
and in a moment
you can surrender to him and can i tell
you in that moment
life gets a lot lighter some of you the
reason it’s hard for you to be confident
is because you’re so weighed down by the
pressures
of life by the sin but in this moment if
you just surrender
you don’t have to stop doing a bunch of
stuff you don’t have to clean your life
up before you come to god you just have
to say god i need you
wherever you are right now if you want
to accept jesus as your lord and savior
i’m going to pray a prayer it’s a simple
prayer
the bible says you believe in your heart
confess with your mouth that jesus is
lord you shall be saved
and uh in this moment i’m believing that
when you pray this prayers the most
powerful miracle that could ever happen
is going to be happening you will be
literally transferred from death into
life in this moment if you want to
accept jesus into your life
everywhere around the world would you
bow your heads and close your eyes
want everybody together to repeat this
prayer after me say dear god
thank you for loving me dear jesus
i admit i’ve made mistakes
save me change me transform me
i surrender to you you can have my life
in jesus name i pray amen amen amen hey
listen if you just made that decision
we are so proud of you this is a moment
where everything changes
your life is completely different i’m
telling you you may not feel like it
no you may have opened your eyes and
been in the same bedroom you may have
opened your eyes and still had the same
issues
but i’m telling you there’s something
different and that is the fact that the
god who created the universe
the one who knows every plan he says i
have a plan and purpose for your life
he is with you he’s always been with you
but now you have a relationship with him
listen as a church
we are so excited for you we would love
to encourage you and support you on this
journey of following jesus
if you text the word save to the number
that’s on the screen our team
just wants to help you we’re not going
to hound you or send you a bunch of
stuff but we just want to encourage you
and be somebody to hold your hand as you
begin this journey of walking with jesus
and we’re so grateful that you have made
this decision
hey listen i want to encourage you no
matter what you’re going through no
matter where you are
you need to know that god is with you
that’s the most powerful thing that you
could realize no matter what you’re
going through no matter where you are
god
is with you listen as a church we love
you so much
we are here for you we pray for you
we pray for your families we pray for
your businesses
and we’re believing that this is gonna
be the best week
you have ever had listen we love you so
much
and uh we’re so grateful for you join us
back next week
as we start a brand new series but um
for now go out and live
a transformed life we’ll see you guys