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Hi, Chris Felton here. Welcome

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to my podcast where I hope to inspire

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you to walk in your royal identity in

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Christ and experience God's goodness in every

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area of your life. I hope you enjoy this

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message today. And if you're looking for more

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resources, check out chris

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valleton dot com. Holy

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Spirit, we just thank you for what you're doing tonight.

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we just we pray God for your

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spirit just to hover

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over this night.

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like you brooded over the earth

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in Genesis one, and

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you began to take chaos and

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make something beautiful.

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and we pray that you would take any

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place where there's chaos in our lives

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and that you would make something beautiful out

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of that. If you have

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a place of intense chaos, would you

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just stand up right now? Never done this before,

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but stand up right now. You have

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a place that You need the Holy Spirit

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to take your chaos and make it beautiful. It

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might be a relationship. It might be

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finance. It might be health

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thing, whatever. I don't know. I don't

1:03

wanna keep saying what it could be

1:05

because whatever it is, you

1:07

have a place to chaos and you're like, I need

1:09

the holy spirit to hover over my, you

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know, my chaos and make it beautiful

1:14

if you're watching. If

1:16

you're watching by YouTuber, Bethel TV,

1:18

you can just stand up you're driving,

1:20

just open your sunroof. And

1:25

I'm just gonna pray right now for you

1:28

feel it's a holy spirit moment right now. I just

1:30

don't want to miss this moment. As

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I, you know, you

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know, the Lord, he tastes crap and uses

1:36

it to fertilize your destiny. There's

1:40

probably better way to say that. I I don't know.

1:45

I just bless right now. I bless

1:47

your chaos right now. I

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pray that God I

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pray specifically for the Holy Spirit to

1:54

hover over the thing

1:56

in your life that you stood for and

1:58

you said this is chaos. This is crazy.

2:01

I can't fix this.

2:03

I pray for holy spirit to

2:07

hover over your chaos right now.

2:11

and to make it wonderful and

2:13

beautiful. In fact,

2:15

I my prayer is that thirty

2:18

days from now, you'd look back at your chaos

2:20

and it'd be the most beautiful thing you have

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going on. I pray for that

2:24

right now. I pray for that by people who

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are our our family that's watching

2:29

on streaming. Lord,

2:31

we just released that over them too,

2:33

that you would take beauty Do

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you know that the Lord uses ashes

2:38

to make beauty? He doesn't use nothing.

2:41

He makes he makes beauty

2:43

from ashes. He

2:45

takes mourning and he

2:47

makes joy out of it. Lord,

2:50

we just release the

2:52

great exchange. right

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now. Lord, I thank you for the great exchange

2:57

that's salvation. You took

2:59

our sin and you gave us life.

3:02

you took our death and you and you

3:04

you took that on and you made it life.

3:07

But Lord, you want to do more

3:09

than salvation. We

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or maybe we should say salvation is more

3:14

than I got into the kingdom. Lord,

3:17

I just pray in Jesus name for that.

3:21

Amen. You can go ahead and sit down. You

3:24

know, I have a message

3:27

I wanna talk about the power of faith.

3:30

But I have something else going on as I'm standing

3:33

here, as we're praying, You know, Romans

3:35

eight twenty eight says all things were

3:37

together for good -- Yeah.

3:39

-- for those who love God, and

3:42

are called according to his purposes. All

3:45

things were together, all things. Everybody

3:47

say things. I want you say out

3:49

loud, my things work

3:52

together for good because

3:54

I love God. And I'm called

3:56

according to his purpose.

3:59

And I the next verse says

4:01

for whom he fore knew he predested, and

4:04

whom he predested, he called and whom

4:06

he called he justified and

4:08

whom he justified he glorified. So

4:11

I'm pointing out that whom he fore

4:14

knew he predestined.

4:16

You say God made me choose

4:18

him. No. He didn't. He

4:20

knew you would choose him, so he chose you

4:22

first. How did he

4:24

know that? Because he doesn't live in time, he

4:26

lives in eternity. And in

4:28

this world, how many know the God

4:31

in in god's world, this has already

4:33

happened. He said that he

4:35

chose you in him. He chose me and

4:37

him from the foundation of the

4:39

world. Honey know he chose you

4:41

from the foundation of the world. You

4:44

were chosen him, Ephesians one, you were

4:46

chosen in him from the foundation

4:48

of the world. how did God In other

4:50

words, before God create the world who already

4:52

chose you, how

4:54

could he choose me and I'm and me

4:56

still have a free will? because

4:58

God doesn't live in time. God

5:00

lives outside of time. Time is a

5:02

big train passing through God's kingdom.

5:04

The engine be in the beginning of time.

5:06

It's a metaphor. and the and the

5:08

caboose being the end of time. Are

5:11

are you following me? And what I'm getting

5:13

at is that God still lives outside

5:15

of time. Jeremy

5:17

one. Jeremy

5:20

one, Jeremy is telling God who doesn't

5:22

want to be a prophet. In fact,

5:24

he says, III can't be a problem.

5:26

Not good at this. And God says, before

5:28

I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

5:32

And before you conceived, I called you

5:34

to be a prophet to the nations. God's

5:37

like, how could you not be equipped to

5:39

be a prophet before you Before

5:41

you were formed in the womb, I knew

5:43

you. And people have these ideas that we

5:45

were like spirits with god before we put in

5:47

our body, there's no scripture for that.

5:51

What there is scripture for is that god

5:53

lives outside of time. And

5:55

by the way, god is

5:57

not in heaven. heaven

5:59

is in god. Well,

6:01

how do you know that? Because Jesus

6:03

said heaven and Earth will pass away.

6:05

So we know that heaven and

6:07

earth are not eternal. But

6:10

god's eternal. What does that

6:12

have to do with it? Well, if god's eternal,

6:14

but heaven's not, It means that

6:16

there was a time when there was no heaven and

6:18

there's still God. So where did God

6:20

live before there was a heaven? My

6:22

point is when you get to heaven, God will be

6:24

there, not because god's in heaven but because heaven's

6:26

in god.

6:29

God's bigger than heaven.

6:31

Are you with me?

6:34

What I'm getting at is, like, for example,

6:36

I got saved in June of nineteen

6:38

seventy three, but the

6:40

Lord said that he chose me and him

6:42

before the foundation that revelation

6:45

says that Jesus was crucified before

6:47

the foundation world. In other words, before Adam

6:49

had a problem. Jesus, God already had

6:51

an answer. You're like,

6:53

oh, I surprise God. It's

6:57

the impossible to surprise God. Why?

6:59

This is a rerun to him.

7:03

How does god know how does god

7:05

know the future? He's already been there.

7:07

Not only is time it

7:09

create You know, in Genesis chapter

7:11

one, it says that

7:14

something powerful you should read the

7:16

chapter. It

7:20

says that God created I'm

7:22

sorry, that God said, let there be light.

7:24

And then you separate the light from

7:26

the darkness and you called it a day. Do you know it's three

7:29

more verse before God creates a sun and the

7:31

moon. I'd proposed that when

7:33

God created light and separate the light

7:35

for darkness and call it a day, that

7:37

God was inventing time, that time is an invention.

7:43

Okay.

7:46

How can Jesus be crucified from the foundation

7:48

of the world? because God doesn't

7:50

live in time. So I got saved in

7:52

nineteen seventy three and June seventy three.

7:55

So let me just give you an example.

7:59

If yeah if

8:03

I believe in sovereignty, then

8:06

it means I don't I didn't choose

8:09

God. He chose me. If

8:11

I believe in free will, it

8:13

means that

8:15

god didn't have a choice. But

8:17

I'd propose that

8:19

is both is true. Because

8:22

before god created the world, he

8:25

went to the he went

8:27

to the train

8:30

car that said nineteen

8:32

seventy three before he created the

8:34

world. the time trade car. And he

8:36

saw a broken man who's eighteen

8:38

years old that said, I

8:40

received Jesus. and

8:44

God said, whom he fore knew he

8:46

predested, whom he fore knew he

8:48

predested. Goggles,

8:50

I knew you'd choose me, so I'd choose

8:52

you first. He didn't make

8:54

me choose him, but he knew that I'd choose him.

8:56

How do you know that? Because it already

8:58

happened in his world. I

9:00

have a free will. I chose

9:03

God freely. But he

9:05

chose me first. How did he do that? because he

9:07

knew I choose him. so he

9:09

chose me first, whom he fore

9:11

knew he predestined. What I'm

9:13

getting at is this, is that

9:15

your your life

9:17

is so predestined for glory. Remember whom

9:19

he fore knew, he predestined, who he predestined, he

9:22

called, whom he called, he justified, and whom

9:24

he what? He glorified,

9:26

in other words, before the foundation of

9:28

the world, he already preexisting you

9:30

for glory. That's why everything works together

9:32

for good, which is the previous verse.

9:34

Now some of you have

9:36

to live a long time. It's so

9:40

funny. Anyway, I'm

9:43

sorry. I'm I'm not on my notes at all. I

9:45

may not get there, but I

9:48

just feel to say that

9:50

all things work together for

9:52

good. like all their

9:54

things work together for good. How many

9:56

know? If it's not good,

9:58

everything works together for good in the end. So

10:00

if it's not good, and ain't the end.

10:02

There's somebody

10:06

in here, you have a daughter who's like,

10:08

she's she's on drugs and she's living

10:10

in the street. and yet there was a

10:12

prophecy over here when she was born. I don't know who

10:14

that is in here, but

10:16

you're you're you're worried about her. And

10:18

III wouldn't worry about her because this

10:20

is not the last chapter in the book. She's

10:22

working on her testimony. And

10:25

this will be her ministry She

10:27

will go back to the place where she was

10:30

broken and she will call many

10:32

out of the cesspool of

10:34

brokenness and drugs and lead

10:36

them into a place,

10:40

a restoration. That's a

10:42

good word. I I

10:46

feel to tell you the story I've shared it

10:49

recently, so you may have heard it, but

10:51

you know, you know,

10:53

I'm here. Right?

10:56

In front

10:58

of y'all. And

11:00

when I was Kathy and I got married, I

11:02

you know, I met Kathy when she's twelve and I know you know

11:04

the story. We got engaged when she's thirteen.

11:07

true story. We got in gay she got we got

11:09

married when she was seventeen. She

11:12

had to graduate early from high school because her parents

11:14

said you had to finish high school, so she graduated

11:16

in three years. and I was

11:18

twenty and she was seventeen. And then

11:20

we were married we got married. And

11:22

then a year and a half later, I had a nervous

11:24

breakdown that lasted three and a half years. and

11:27

it was really bad. And I

11:29

we moved we had

11:32

when we were on our honeymoon, had

11:34

went to a little place called Lewiston,

11:36

which is ten fifteen

11:38

minutes from Weaverville, we

11:42

went there fishing because our boss

11:44

that we worked for knew

11:46

someone there. So we went there fishing.

11:48

And then when I had a nervous breakdown,

11:50

We lived in the Bay Area, we lived in San Jose,

11:53

and everything was so, you know, fast

11:55

paced. And

11:56

ah I was

11:58

about a year and a half and my

11:59

nervous breakdown. And III

12:02

worked every day, but I had

12:04

probably twenty of panic attacks, panic

12:06

attacks a day. I didn't

12:08

sleep for three and a half years

12:10

more than an hour, a

12:12

night, and I couldn't keep food

12:14

in me. it was really,

12:16

really bad. And then I the

12:19

last year, I started seeing demons.

12:21

They come in my room. I mean, I wasn't

12:23

hallucinating like they would come in my room and not pictures off the

12:25

wall and turn the lights on and off. Kathy could

12:27

tell you the whole thing. I mean, it

12:29

actually happened. I wasn't hallucinating or

12:31

schizophrenia. Anyway,

12:34

we went through but here's the point.

12:37

When a year into my nervous

12:39

breakdown, I was I was managing a

12:42

repair shop And I

12:44

said to Kathy, I gotta get out of here

12:46

so I can get well. Where

12:48

shall we move? Well, when we were kids,

12:50

before we got married, we we Cathy was

12:52

like, man, I wanna live like little house on the

12:55

Prairie. You know,

12:57

like we were in the city and she wanted

12:59

horses and And I was like, I just

13:01

wanna go someplace with a birds fly

13:03

really slow and where

13:05

there's no traffic. And

13:07

so this – so we're

13:09

in the middle of this terrible year, right?

13:11

Not the year we got married, but a year

13:13

– about a year and a half later. And

13:16

I said why don't we

13:18

move to Weaverville or Lewiston?

13:21

Like, why don't we just

13:23

move? because

13:25

I'm getting worse. So

13:27

we just literally put our house up for sale.

13:29

I went in. I gave my boss my

13:31

notice. I put my house up for sale. We put our house up

13:33

for sale. It sold three times the first

13:36

day for more than we put

13:38

it up for. And

13:40

and then I went in, I gave my nose to

13:42

my boss first, then we put a house up for sale. The

13:44

next day I go in, and my boss

13:46

says, I'm I'm close I'm selling this

13:48

business and I'm moving to Weaverville with

13:50

you. So he moved with

13:52

us, opened another

13:54

shop, I went to work for him again.

13:57

ultimately worked for him for seven years.

13:59

But I'm

13:59

telling you whole story because we we

14:02

moved to a little town called Lewiston,

14:04

the way, I bought a house. Kathy didn't

14:06

even see it. There was no

14:08

cellphones. So I went to look

14:10

for a house and bought it and then said, hey, I bought

14:12

us a house. Yeah. It

14:14

didn't go so well. And

14:18

so we moved to a little town of nine hundred

14:20

people and then a year and a half, a year

14:22

later moved to Weaverville, which is

14:24

about three thousand people. Anyway,

14:27

the reason I tell you that story is

14:29

because a year after we

14:31

moved there, we we started going to this

14:33

little church of forty

14:35

people called it

14:37

was a semigot church and it

14:39

was like, a holy

14:41

roller church. Do you know

14:43

what I mean? Holy

14:46

roller like It didn't have the

14:48

title holy roller. It was a

14:50

holy roller church where,

14:52

you know, people just, you know, shouted

14:54

in tongues, it was, like, totally crazy.

14:57

But but if my

14:59

my spiritual father invited me there, so

15:01

that's where we went to church. And we

15:03

were there a year and

15:06

one Sunday, we get we're we

15:08

come to church and there's

15:10

a hippie preaching. and

15:13

he and he he's introduced with his

15:15

flower child wife. And

15:18

that was Bill and Benny Johnson.

15:24

And Bill got up in preaching, Bill was I

15:26

mean, I guess he was pentecostal, but

15:28

he wasn't, like, that kind of pentecostal.

15:31

And he was the first preacher in that church

15:33

that didn't shout. He just

15:36

talked. And he can still tell you and

15:38

I was in the I don't know. I was in the last year and a half

15:40

of my nervous breakdown and I cried through

15:42

Bill's entire first

15:48

Cierman. And

15:50

I

15:51

and i I went

15:54

home that day and I said to

15:56

Kathy, I

15:58

love that man.

16:00

I don't know who this man is,

16:02

but I I love this man. Within

16:04

a month, we were best friends.

16:07

And we were together

16:09

five days out of seven. We lived

16:11

with them for six months. And

16:18

what I'm getting at is that

16:20

if I hadn't had a nervous

16:22

breakdown, I wouldn't have moved to Lewiston.

16:24

If I didn't move to

16:26

Lewiston I wouldn't have met Bill. If

16:29

I didn't meet Bill, I wouldn't be

16:31

here. I'd still be fixing cars.

16:36

My thing was nervous breakdown,

16:38

but God made my thing work together for

16:40

good for me. he

16:49

makes all things work together for

16:51

good. He took my

16:53

crap and he used it to furlise

16:55

my destiny. He

16:58

took my ashes and he

17:00

made it beautiful. That's

17:05

a crazy story.

17:07

We went into

17:10

business because God gave me five

17:12

prophecies in one week that I was gonna go

17:14

into business. And then, Charlie Harper,

17:16

if you know, Charlie, he's on our

17:18

staff. Charlie Harper had a

17:20

dream that I owned

17:22

the seventy six station And

17:24

I said, I don't wanna be in business. I wanna be in the

17:26

ministry. This is a true

17:28

story. So I had four prophecies in a week, and then

17:30

Charlie had a dream. I had

17:32

four prophecies in a week about going into

17:34

business, which I didn't want to

17:36

go into business. And then

17:38

Charlie had a dream. He was taking

17:40

me to work one day because I was working on my own car

17:42

in my shop. And so he

17:44

said, I'll take you work. So he took me to work. We

17:46

passed the seventy six station.

17:48

And he said, I had a dream last night that you own

17:50

the seventy six station. By the way, Charlie, to this

17:53

day, cannot remember that dream.

17:56

And I said to Charles, I don't wanna I don't wanna be in

17:58

business. He said, well, I'm telling you I had to dream.

18:01

It was on Friday that he

18:03

drove me there. The reason I know that

18:05

is because I got to work

18:07

and two hours later, the guy who owned the

18:09

seventy six station who I had never

18:11

met called me, who isn't

18:13

a Christian. and said, station and I

18:15

believe you're supposed to buy it.

18:22

And I said some III wanted to say, hey, I don't

18:24

wanna be in business, but then I thought, I might die,

18:27

like, starting to feel

18:29

like Jonah here. So

18:31

I met the next

18:34

day. We met for breakfast.

18:36

And Kathy's like, oh, this is amazing.

18:38

Todd, you need to do this. I'm like,

18:40

no, I I don't need to do this. I be in the ministry.

18:42

So anyway, she talked me in to go on

18:44

the breakfast with the guy. I went to the breakfast.

18:47

It was forty thousand dollars

18:50

to buy the business, which I had no

18:52

money. And then he said,

18:54

well, I'll carry

18:56

it if you put down nine thousand dollars.

18:58

And I was really excited because I didn't have

19:00

nine thousand dollars and I didn't

19:03

wanna be. in business. I want to be in the ministry. I

19:06

go home. Kathy's like, well, you know, she was

19:08

all what happened?

19:10

What did he say? I well, it's

19:12

gonna be forty seven thousand dollars and he

19:14

wants nine thousand down. And

19:16

Kathy goes, you should call your

19:18

grandmother. she'll give you the

19:20

money. I said my grandmother my

19:23

grandmother I love my grandmother. She's in

19:25

heaven now watching the sermon. My

19:27

grandmother is known

19:30

for frugalness, not generosity.

19:32

So I call my grandmother and I, of course,

19:34

didn't tell her she at the time wasn't a

19:36

Christian, so I didn't tell anything about God. I

19:38

just said, have opportunity by the

19:40

station. By the way, my grandfather, her

19:43

husband, owned the first service station in the

19:45

Bay Area. was called a

19:47

flying aid station. So I told

19:49

my grandmother about this opportunity and I said,

19:51

he need to borrow nine thousand dollars and

19:54

She said, well, call you back. And so the next day, she called

19:56

back. And she said, hey,

19:58

I I can't lend you nine thousand dollars.

20:00

I said, okay. No problem. You know, if I'm

20:03

sticking alright. gonna be in the

20:05

ministry. She said, but I'll

20:07

give it to you.

20:11

I'll give it to you, but you just can't tell the other

20:14

grandkids.

20:15

They all

20:18

know now. So

20:23

she gave me nine thousand dollars.

20:25

I went in and told my boss that

20:27

I was working for is working at a tire shop

20:29

with Danny Silk That's a whole another

20:32

story. I was working for

20:34

working with Danny. So Danny was sixteen at

20:36

the time and he did absolutely

20:38

not know God. Let me

20:40

just say this absolutely did not

20:42

know God. I witness to

20:45

him every day. he

20:47

was a drug addict and sold drugs and

20:49

he absolutely drove him crazy.

20:51

I went in and told my

20:53

boss that I was gonna buy the station and

20:55

I would give him two months'

20:57

notice and he fired me on the spot. Best

21:00

thing could ever happen to me

21:02

because I went back and told the guy

21:04

I was buying the station from that I

21:06

that I got fired. I never been fired in

21:08

my life. And he said, well, why don't you just take

21:10

the station now? And

21:13

we'll have thirty day escrow

21:15

and you just pay me at the end of the escrow and you

21:17

can run it right now. So

21:19

I ran the station

21:21

under his name. I'm telling you all these

21:23

details for a reason, around

21:25

the station or his name for thirty days, and

21:28

and we had to put nine thousand in down.

21:31

Right? while I

21:33

used thirteen hundred dollars of the

21:35

nine thousand to run the business

21:37

because we had no money. And I

21:39

figured, I'll just make it back in thirty days,

21:41

but I could it. So

21:43

on the twenty seventh day, he said, you got to

21:45

put the money in that grow. And then the twenty eighth day, you

21:47

need to put the money that's going everyday. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. No

21:50

problem. Twenty eighth day. Twenty

21:53

ninth day. On the thirtieth day, he

21:55

came early in the morning. He said, you have to put

21:57

the nine thousand in the escrow

21:59

so it can close

21:59

today. I said, yeah,

22:02

no problem. I went

22:03

in the back I laid on the floor, and cried, and

22:05

said, you got me in the mess. I want it be

22:07

in the ministry.

22:12

An hour later, a

22:15

man that I know that ran

22:17

a a store in town came

22:19

in. I was underneath a a truck,

22:21

fixing this truck, and he came over and

22:23

he he handed me some

22:25

money. And I was like, fake I I was

22:27

underneath on a creeper. I said, oh, thank you. And I put

22:29

in my pocket, thinking he

22:31

was paying for gas, you know, in those

22:33

days, we had self serve and full serve. And I

22:35

thought he handed me, you know, money for gas. I said,

22:37

thank you. He said, you should

22:39

look at it. So I pulled out of my

22:41

pocket and it was thirteen one hundred dollar

22:43

bills. Nobody

22:45

knew that we were thirteen hundred

22:47

dollars short. Nobody but

22:50

Kathy and I my men didn't know.

22:52

It was thirteen one hundred dollar

22:55

bills. I

22:58

said, where did you get this money? He said,

23:00

a man came in my store. He said

23:02

two years ago, you he

23:05

was homeless. and you fixed his

23:07

car then he he

23:09

was prospered now and he has a house

23:11

and he mortgages his house to get you the thirteen

23:14

hundred dollars. I said,

23:16

what why did he give me thirteen hundred? He said, I don't

23:18

know. He had a dream that he used to give you thirteen hundred

23:21

dollars. gave

23:24

me thirteen hundred dollars and

23:26

we closed the escrow.

23:28

One of the

23:31

prophetic words I got in the five days was

23:33

from a friend of mine. He was

23:35

a prophet. His name is Danny.

23:37

And he said the Lord says,

23:39

and if you open a business, he go

23:41

and bless you. I said, well, you tell

23:43

the Lord, I'm not gonna open a

23:46

business because I won't be in

23:48

the ministry.

23:54

And seven days later, I was

23:56

in business.

24:04

We're in business for twenty years.

24:07

And we came here, after we

24:09

came here, we sold our business,

24:13

and we moved here.

24:15

that's another story, but we moved here

24:18

from God sent us

24:20

here, supernaturally sent

24:22

us here. and we moved here and

24:24

we sold our businesses. But by that

24:26

time we had four three auto parts

24:28

stores and and

24:31

a remanufacturing plant, and we

24:33

sold them to our supplier. And

24:35

the escrow was supposed to be thirty days.

24:37

No, ninety days. and it

24:39

turned eighteen months. And we

24:42

got here and they were still in escrow

24:44

and we moved here and we're supposed to have a quarter

24:46

of million dollars And

24:49

my guys my I had three managers

24:51

managing three stores. And one

24:53

day, my manager calls me after we've been here

24:55

thirty days, and he said,

24:58

hey, boss, I

25:00

just called for auto part and the

25:02

numbers disconnected. Anyway,

25:04

the short story is that

25:06

the half a billion dollar business

25:08

that bought us when bankrupt

25:10

didn't tell anybody to

25:12

close their doors. So we came

25:14

here and instead of having two

25:17

hundred and fifty thousand dollars to live on, we owed

25:19

one point eight million dollars

25:22

All things worked

25:25

together for good. I'm like,

25:28

how does this work for good?

25:31

So I went and told Bill that we were quitting

25:33

because we owed one hundred and twenty seven

25:36

suppliers one point eight million dollars

25:38

and we were not And by the weren't

25:40

paid. The first year, we agreed to work

25:42

for free. And then the second

25:44

year, Kathy, I mean one thousand dollars a month and

25:46

I mean one thousand. That's

25:48

our big prosperity. If you go in

25:50

business, I'm going to bless you. We

25:53

never made money in business. When we sold our business, we

25:55

thought we're going to make a quarter of million dollars

25:58

instead we owed one point eight million dollars

25:59

And so we went into the elders and

26:02

said we're quitting. We're going back to

26:04

work because we have no money. And

26:06

by the way, we lost our house lost

26:08

everything but our two cars in our

26:10

furniture. One of the

26:12

elders stood up and said, would

26:15

you not go bankrupt for six

26:17

months? the and

26:19

I believe God's gonna do a miracle.

26:22

I said, well, I have no faith for

26:24

that. He said, will you trust my

26:26

faith?

26:27

And I

26:31

said, I'll give you six months.

26:35

And so I left that day,

26:37

went home, kept said, would the elders say, I said,

26:39

they said, will we trust their faith for six

26:41

months? Would we

26:43

not bankrupt? She said, what'd

26:45

you say? I said, I guess

26:47

so. A month later,

26:49

we got forgiven nine hundred thousand of the one

26:51

point eight million. And

26:54

three months later, we got forgiven another three

26:56

hundred thousand. And within

26:58

three years, every single penny was paid

27:00

off or forgiven. never bankrupted.

27:04

And

27:06

then

27:08

God began

27:10

to teach us how to

27:14

prosper. And god took

27:16

the years of we were

27:18

of faithfulness. We always tied. We

27:21

always gave twenty percent of our income to

27:24

the lord even when we were in trouble financially.

27:26

And the lord said, I'm gonna

27:28

return this to you. a

27:31

thousand times. For twenty

27:34

two years, all it was

27:37

is

27:38

tough financial times.

27:41

In the twenty third year, I wrote a

27:43

book, became a

27:45

best seller. I

27:47

mean, two hundred thousand dollars that

27:50

year, more money I'd made

27:53

in three years in any business

27:55

we own. I wrote

27:57

another book pretty soon the

27:59

Lord blessed our writing. I'd

28:00

never written anything in my life that

28:02

if one wanted to read A

28:04

lady

28:08

came in the back of the church. I was

28:10

here one year

28:12

came to the back of the church after a a Sunday

28:14

night service and she said, I have a

28:16

word for you and she was shaking.

28:19

I said, okay. She said, I'm nervous about

28:21

giving it to me. I'm just

28:23

a person. She said, alright.

28:26

Here it is. The Lord's gonna give

28:28

you the mantle of c s

28:30

Lewis and you're gonna write books and people

28:32

are gonna read them. I

28:34

said, well, that would be a miracle because I can't spell and

28:36

I can't type and I don't write.

28:39

She said, well, I'm sorry. I said, no.

28:41

No. I said, I just said it would be

28:43

a miracle. And I wrote a book

28:46

and it was a miracle. And

28:48

the and

28:50

my books sold and that was a bigger miracle.

28:54

And the Lord just began to prosper

28:56

us. And what I'm

28:58

getting at is that we

29:00

learned things in

29:03

poverty that helped us

29:05

navigate prosperity. Do you

29:08

know what I'm saying? And

29:10

you you might be sitting here. I'm sorry. I'm

29:12

totally off message. I don't even know what I'm preaching

29:15

on. I just feel like to tell

29:17

you these stories, I've told these

29:19

stories hundreds times, but I just felt to tell you the

29:21

story. I don't know where you're at,

29:23

but, you know, sometimes

29:25

you give and you're like, I'm gonna give and it's

29:28

gonna and I'm on a prosper. I'm like,

29:30

yeah. But remember that you're always

29:32

eating last year's seed. and

29:36

sometimes you give and

29:38

you're plant you know, some sometimes

29:42

you're planting corn and sometimes

29:44

you're planting Apple reese trees.

29:47

Well, my grandfather was a farmer.

29:49

I'm just telling story. Sorry.

29:51

My grandfather was a farmer when I was

29:54

fifteen, he formed he was farming

29:56

peaches. And when I was

29:58

fifteen, we tore all the peach trees up

29:59

because peaches were none

30:03

of the canaries wanted to buy

30:05

peaches. They were really low priced. Nobody

30:08

wanted them. And so my grandfather

30:10

tore all the peaches out of his entire

30:12

orchard and we planted walnuts.

30:14

I was a kid. I was fifteen. I

30:16

didn't know what you're doing. I just

30:18

help my grandfather. He lived on the farm in the in

30:21

the summers. So

30:23

one summer, we plant tore out all these trees and

30:25

we plant it walnuts till

30:28

next year. Well, I

30:30

understand that those

30:32

walnut trees did not produce fruit

30:34

for the next five years. None.

30:36

I

30:36

mean, not worth picking. And

30:38

then, you know,

30:39

and then it was five years later that

30:41

we actually started picking walnuts

30:44

and I was twenty years old and we would all

30:47

my family would go during

30:49

harvest time for two weeks and we would all pick

30:51

wellness. What I'm pointing

30:53

out is that In the agricultural age,

30:56

people understood that sometimes

30:58

you're planting tomatoes and,

31:00

you know, I don't know, what two

31:02

months later, you get tomatoes or three or whatever it

31:05

is. But when you're planting walnut trees and

31:07

by the way, these walnut trees were already two

31:09

years old, they weren't nothing. He didn't

31:11

plant a seed. It

31:13

was it that would have probably been, I don't know,

31:15

seven years or something. But when you planting

31:17

walnut trees, you don't get walnuts

31:20

first seven years. And,

31:23

you know, you don't walk out there and go,

31:25

man, serve the Lord

31:27

and nothing happened. or

31:30

look at this tree. It's thoughts got his leaves.

31:33

It's a stupid tree.

31:35

No, you realize

31:38

that you planted

31:40

something that's gonna last

31:42

generations.

31:43

Yeah. But it's

31:45

gonna be you

31:47

know, half of a

31:48

decade before you

31:50

reap any

31:51

reward from that tree.

31:53

I I just love that my I I didn't

31:55

understand it at the time didn't

31:57

understand that grandfather had a

31:59

vision. He understood

32:01

that even though the

32:04

low the peach price was low,

32:06

that the walnut price would be zero

32:09

for five years, but he planted

32:11

for a future. And what I'm getting

32:13

at is that oftentimes we

32:15

do something today and we're like, it didn't

32:18

work. I have students like, It's

32:20

funny. You know, we live in a instant

32:23

gratification generation. You you

32:25

know, when you go to a fast food restaurant, you

32:27

don't get your food and stuff. And then

32:29

she's like, This is fast food. What the

32:31

heck? Right? You Do you know what I mean?

32:33

You get in line of barbecue. You

32:36

hit, like, It took me seven

32:38

minutes to get to the counter, and it took him four

32:40

minutes to get my burger. And

32:42

you're

32:43

mad. I

32:45

don't know if you

32:46

know where I'm going. I'm just saying it

32:48

creates something in us that the key that

32:51

isn't kingdom. And that

32:52

is we just want it now. We want it our

32:55

way, you know, and and the

32:57

advertisers all. We do it your way.

32:59

Then when you get there, they don't. I'm like, I'd like to

33:01

have lobster and a steak. I'm like, Well,

33:03

I have burgers here. Oh, now you

33:06

did it my way. This is my

33:08

way. You

33:10

know, I mean, I you know, probably I'm

33:13

sixty seven. I grew up in a house. I

33:15

I did it. There was no such thing as fast

33:17

food till I was in my teen years. I'd

33:19

never ate in a restaurant till I was fifteen.

33:21

I mean, you know, my grandma,

33:23

my grandmother cooked and it's like, hey, grandma,

33:26

what's for dinner? or

33:28

having chicken. Oh, I don't like chicken.

33:30

Okay. Well, tomorrow, we're having

33:32

roast. So you can wait till tomorrow and

33:34

eat or you can eat chicken. I'm

33:36

hungry. You got two hours.

33:38

I'll have it done in two hours. Like, just us

33:40

thinking fast food, and we don't do

33:42

it your way. I'm

33:47

trying to say that culture has created

33:50

an unreasonable idea

33:52

of how God answers

33:55

prayer how we live in the kingdom. And

33:57

we have this idea that I'm gonna I'm

33:59

gonna do something. I'm gonna get I'm gonna

34:01

give some money away. work.

34:04

I'm like, you're planting for

34:06

a generation. It isn't just all about you.

34:09

It's about our father. Give

34:11

us us daily bread. Sometimes

34:14

you're planting for the next

34:16

generation. Sometimes you like

34:18

my grandfather and you gotta have A57

34:21

ten year vision. You gotta be

34:24

right now. Peaches are better

34:26

than having walnuts that are nothing,

34:28

but my grandfather's like, yes, for five

34:30

years from now, We're gonna have a rich crop that's gonna pay a lot of

34:32

money. But right now, we have

34:34

to take care of it and fertilize

34:36

it and

34:37

Are you with

34:40

me? I'm saying all things work

34:42

together for good. You just gotta give it

34:44

some time. We

34:47

don't even know anything about perseverance

34:50

anymore. Students come up and

34:52

that our teams could

34:54

tell you, because they're they're more

34:56

in their life than I am. The accountant

34:58

like, I've been I've been

35:00

praying for God to give me

35:02

a man. Well, if you're a woman,

35:04

God said, be fishers of

35:06

men.

35:10

Scriptural, It's in the

35:12

bible. It's

35:16

a problem. Right there in the bible.

35:19

Jesus said, I'm gonna make you

35:21

fissures of men. How

35:23

long have you

35:26

been praying? Three

35:27

months, lasted

35:30

twice.

35:30

it twice

35:33

Seriously,

35:36

people graduate from school. They're like, when

35:38

am I

35:38

gonna preach on Sunday night?

35:43

They're mad

35:46

because I got invited to

35:48

a church of two of of two

35:50

hundred people. I I wanna work

35:52

in a big church, well, goody for

35:56

you. I'm I'm just

35:58

pointing out, like,

35:59

it's it's

35:59

it there's

36:02

You know, we believe in miracles, but one of isn't

36:06

that

36:07

that everything's

36:08

gonna be instant for

36:10

you.

36:12

or for me or for any of us. I'm just pointing

36:15

out that these

36:17

are the years You

36:20

know, David was anointed king. It was seventeen years before

36:23

he became king. You know why?

36:25

I had a king.

36:27

Excuse me, I've

36:30

been anointed king. This is

36:32

this is how people think now. I'm

36:36

fifteen. I've been anointed

36:38

king. I got no

36:40

freaking experience, but I should be

36:42

king. You know how David

36:44

learned to be king? by running from a

36:46

king for seventeen years.

36:48

God wanted to kill him. God's like, I'm gonna put you

36:50

through school

36:52

first. I

36:54

understand. You gotta understand that God, he

36:56

don't think like you. You know,

36:59

Jesus said, I'll

36:59

be right back. It's been

37:02

like what? two thousand

37:06

years. I'll

37:10

be back. I

37:14

mean, I mean, listen, the

37:15

apostles had it down, like, if, you know,

37:17

read Peter and

37:22

Right? And Paul, Tesla is like, and it's gonna

37:24

be any minute now.

37:26

Okay. It was it.

37:30

How about now? And

37:32

when I got saved

37:35

in Jesus' movement, I read

37:37

the late great planet earth. And

37:40

they had predictions of when

37:42

Jesus was gonna return in that book

37:44

and every time they reprinted, they

37:48

changed it prediction. Just have this thing.

37:50

It's gotta be now. And

37:52

how many understand? You know, if you're

37:56

a billionaire, if you were a billionaire, you may know this. But if you're a billionaire,

37:58

if you were a billionaire, and you gave away

37:59

a million dollars, do you know

38:02

that would

38:04

be like being a person who made a hundred thousand dollars,

38:06

give away five hundred

38:08

dollars? Like like, it's

38:10

all on scale. So think

38:12

about this. God was

38:15

never born. He

38:17

lives in eternity. So when

38:19

God says, I'll be right back.

38:21

And you're like,

38:23

it's been two thousand years, but

38:25

when you're God, he's been

38:28

around forever. And

38:31

a billion years is

38:33

like, right away. Yes.

38:35

Anyway, you gotta just I'm

38:38

sorry. I'm just pointed

38:42

out that when

38:44

God rushes It

38:46

just doesn't feel like it on this side.

38:49

Do you know

38:53

what I mean? And

38:56

you think, well, if God's in it, it's

38:58

gonna work out perfectly.

39:01

the don't

39:02

It don't. I

39:04

mean, do you

39:05

know why Jesus was born in

39:07

a barn?

39:09

No barn. He was born

39:10

in a barn by the way. barn.

39:14

the barn

39:15

A

39:18

manger is

39:18

a barn. It's just a beautiful

39:20

name for it. born a

39:22

major. It's a bunch of crap. A

39:25

bunch of crap. We

39:27

have horses, I could

39:30

tell you. Do you know why

39:32

he was born a manger? Because they went to Jerusalem for the census

39:34

and they forgot to get a hotel

39:36

reservation

39:39

And

39:39

Jesus was crucified from the foundation

39:41

of the world, and God forgot to

39:43

get a hotel for him.

39:45

I mean, you would think But if

39:47

you plan for Jews to be born exact

39:50

time, it would go

39:52

perfectly. And at least there'd

39:54

be like, a cancellation

39:56

where

39:57

you could get in.

40:02

I'm just pointing out that some of you are in, you

40:04

thought you were following God, and then it just didn't go

40:06

perfect. You know, like, it just didn't go perfect. I thought

40:08

I was gonna be God. It's probably

40:11

not perfect because it

40:13

is God. oh

40:18

ok

40:20

Okay. Joseph in

40:22

the Old Testament had

40:24

a dream that he was gonna be

40:28

a ruler

40:30

You know this story? Yes. Yes.

40:32

It is a fulfillment of a

40:34

promise to Abraham that he was gonna be

40:36

a father of many nations. Do you remember this?

40:39

Said God said to him no am

40:41

I born you? God said to Abraham

40:43

Abraham. Abraham. No longer show your name be

40:45

Abraham. Your name shall be Abraham.

40:47

for you shall be the father of many nations.

40:50

And then he said that three verses later,

40:52

no longer shall you clothe your wife, Sarai.

40:55

but she shall be called Sarah for she

40:58

shall be another too many

41:00

nations. That was the

41:02

promise. You know what the

41:04

problem was? Could I have

41:06

kids? Have you

41:08

ever noticed that oftentimes

41:12

your situation in his office your prophecies? Because, like, you're

41:15

gonna be a father of nations. Awesome.

41:17

Come on. Sarah, let's

41:20

do this. pursue

41:23

some children, can't

41:26

get pregnant.

41:29

Are you me

41:30

at all? I'm not even talking

41:32

about Sarah. I'm talking about you. And

41:34

do you know that

41:36

Sarah got

41:38

pregnant After

41:38

menopause

41:42

menopause? Do

41:45

I

41:46

need to explain the biology

41:48

to you? Like like,

41:51

it's not possible. She

41:53

got

41:53

pregnant after menopause. She

41:55

was ninety one. Wow.

41:58

Yeah. And

41:58

she was so good

41:59

looking. And

42:02

ninety

42:02

one that had to lie

42:05

about him being his

42:08

sister so that the kings

42:10

wouldn't steal

42:12

his wife when she was in

42:14

her nineties. That's a hot chick. Let

42:19

me everyhow didn't have any kids, but he had a hot

42:21

woman. I'll tell you that.

42:24

I mean, beautiful,

42:26

you know? I'm not saying something

42:28

inappropriate.

42:29

And God

42:32

said, you're gonna be the father of many

42:34

nations. He finally

42:36

has, you know, Isaac. Right?

42:39

Isaac has Jacob. They're still not

42:41

father in any nations. Jacob has

42:43

twelve sons, the eleventh one

42:45

is Joseph. Joseph had a

42:47

dream. Right? He's be the leader. He's

42:50

gonna be a leader and all his brothers gonna

42:52

serve him. His father

42:54

sees the

42:56

on Joseph and gives him a multicolored coat.

42:58

You're not even getting this.

43:00

He gives Joseph a multicolored

43:04

coat His

43:04

brothers are jealous of him because Joseph has the

43:06

mantle on him, but he's arrogant.

43:08

Think about that

43:11

for

43:11

a minute. I

43:14

mean, Joseph has the mantle and he's gifted,

43:16

but he's arrogant. So God goes,

43:18

I know what path you need. His

43:22

brothers are

43:22

already jealous of him. He

43:24

has a dream and he comes out and

43:26

tells his brothers about the dream. I mean, stupid

43:29

is. This stupid does. and

43:31

his brothers and his

43:33

father gives him a multicolored coat. Right?

43:35

It's a big deal because it's written

43:37

about several times. His

43:41

brothers throw him in a pit, then sell him. They sell

43:44

him into slavery, and they take his

43:46

multicolored coat.

43:48

and they kill an animal and put blood on it so that

43:51

their father will think that he was killed by an animal. But

43:53

what they didn't realize is they took the

43:55

multicolored coat and put blood

43:58

on it. because

43:59

the multicolored coat was a prophetic

43:59

declaration of Abraham's

44:03

anointing for fathering

44:05

nations every color you

44:08

get it. And they put blood on it because it was

44:10

a redemptive power of God that was

44:13

gonna bring it about. Joseph

44:16

goes to prison, it goes to slate,

44:18

gets he becomes a slave, but

44:20

it says this. This is a weird,

44:24

weird statement. and but Joseph was a he's a slave.

44:26

Joseph was a successful

44:28

man. I'd like

44:30

to propose that God doesn't measure

44:34

success the same way.

44:36

We do. And then plot

44:38

for Joseph's wife's I'm

44:42

sorry. Joseph's

44:44

leader's wife

44:46

tries to seduce him. He runs away

44:48

because he's faithful. She

44:52

yells rape. He ends

44:54

up in prison. Follow

44:57

me all things. All

45:02

things. work

45:03

together for good. It looks

45:05

like Joe's going the wrong

45:07

direction from his prophecy. But

45:09

guess who ends up

45:11

in the It's the king's prison

45:13

because Potter is the

45:15

king's servant. Are you with me? It's a

45:17

it's

45:17

a it's a blue it's a white

45:20

collar prison. And

45:22

the king throws his two of his

45:24

guys in prison and they

45:28

meet you. Are you with

45:30

me? And they both have

45:32

dreams and what what is Joe good

45:34

at besides

45:36

making his brother's man? he

45:39

can interpret dreams, and they

45:42

just happen to have

45:44

dreams in

45:44

the same prison he's in.

45:47

Are

45:48

you with

45:50

me at all? And Joe

45:52

interprets their dreams accurately

45:55

One guy dies just as Joe said, the other guy gets

45:58

promoted back to the king and totally

45:59

forgets about

46:02

Joseph. because

46:03

Joseph goes, I'm gonna interpret the dream, but you're gonna

46:05

tell the king, I'm in here. But he

46:07

does it. Then the king

46:09

has a dream. And

46:11

the king

46:11

of fat cows is getting cash from

46:14

rawls. And he

46:15

he's like, he knows. Is

46:17

this boring? The

46:20

king knows This is really weird. The king has a

46:22

dream. The king knows

46:24

that the dream

46:26

is divine. even though

46:27

he doesn't believe

46:30

in

46:30

your way, he

46:32

doesn't know what the dream means,

46:35

but he knows that it

46:36

has something to do with

46:39

the destination.

46:40

trouble So he's

46:42

troubled Is this weird? And he starts

46:44

telling all of his guys, I had this dream

46:46

man. I don't know. I gotta

46:48

find somebody who knows about this dream.

46:51

And he's so troubled over a

46:54

dream because he can't figure out what it

46:56

means, but he knows

46:58

its divine. And

47:00

finally, the cup here

47:01

goes, hey, dreams,

47:03

dreams, I know somebody. Let's

47:05

see. Who was this? Oh, prison.

47:07

I know this guy that does dreams.

47:10

Yeah. And they called Joe.

47:16

to interpret the king's dream.

47:18

All things, everybody say, all

47:21

things. All things

47:24

work together good. Say that. All things were together

47:26

for good. It called

47:28

Joe who happens to be in the same

47:30

prison as the king's

47:32

cup bearer

47:34

And

47:35

he's there because he supposedly

47:37

raped Potter's

47:38

wife, which he didn't

47:40

do. But

47:43

the way he gets there is because he's so freaking arrogant, because

47:45

his brothers can't even stand

47:47

him. So they sell

47:50

him. And it looks like everything's

47:53

going wrong, but

47:54

it's actually going right. If

47:56

his brothers didn't hate

47:59

him, he wouldn't be

48:00

in slavery. And if he wasn't

48:02

in slavery, he wouldn't be in prison.

48:04

And if he wasn't in prison, he

48:06

wouldn't have met the cup bearer.

48:08

and interpret the dream. And if he wouldn't interpret the cup bearer streamed, he

48:10

wouldn't have got a chance to interpret the

48:12

king stream. And if he didn't interpret the

48:14

king stream, he wouldn't be a father

48:18

of

48:18

an ocean. Sometimes

48:21

you think you're

48:23

losing or

48:25

you're freaking winning. And

48:29

in the

48:34

thirty eight chapter

48:36

of Genesis, Joseph's family comes in, you know, there's a whole another

48:38

story. And Joseph

48:40

says, listen, we're only in the

48:42

second year of the drought.

48:46

Famine, come in and listen to this, he says,

48:48

for I have become a father

48:50

to feral. What was the

48:52

prophetic word to Abraham? You shall be

48:55

a father to many nations. How many

48:57

know Joseph was the first

48:59

fulfillment with his multicolored coat,

49:02

covered in

49:04

blood, to be a father, to a

49:06

nation that was a gentile nation,

49:08

and how do you get there through

49:11

the back door?

49:14

You're like,

49:20

the Lord gives you words.

49:22

And the word is the word is north. And the

49:24

next thing that happens is south.

49:27

And you're like, I

49:29

don't believe prophetic words. I don't understand. I don't

49:32

know the prophets that are all false or

49:34

all false. I don't even believe prophecy anymore. I

49:36

don't know. I don't know. Don't only do his

49:38

water in the wilderness. Any I was gonna be

49:40

great. I'm not even great. I'm not I'm down here in

49:42

the president, then obviously she said to me raped

49:44

her. I didn't even touch her. I don't know. I've

49:46

been faithful for this. Now

49:48

I'm in prison and

49:50

and God says, oh, you're you're

49:52

a successful man. Well, I don't feel like a successful

49:54

man. I'll tell you that right now.

49:56

I'm over here at the present and and all I'm

49:58

doing is interpreting a dreams for people who can't freaking

49:59

remember. I interpret their dreams. Here

50:02

I am. Joe.

50:07

Yes.

50:07

King wants to talk to you. He's had a dream. Wait a minute.

50:09

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What?

50:16

What? What did

50:17

you say? It says

50:19

this. The Joseph

50:21

shaved and changed his

50:24

clothes. How many of you know?

50:26

Sometimes, you have to dress for the

50:28

season you're not

50:30

yet in. Some of you

50:32

need to

50:33

shave and change your clothes

50:35

for a season you're not

50:38

yet in.

50:40

Are you

50:42

with

50:42

me? I wasn't talking

50:44

to the ladies. I'm sorry.

50:47

Some of the ladies are

50:48

like, I'm keeping this like

50:52

whatever. do

50:54

it however you wanna do it.

50:56

It's a metaphor. It's like, it's a metaphor. I'm

51:00

on vacation. I was

51:03

prefer to your rent. How ever you do

51:05

it? Just do that.

51:12

That's it. thing says, I'm seven minutes past my

51:14

time. Do you work for me or do I work for you?

51:16

I don't even

51:18

know anymore. I

51:21

haven't I'm I'm I'm not on any

51:24

page on my notes, and I

51:26

have prepared

51:28

thirteen pages. So now let's do

51:30

this message.

51:38

Listen,

51:39

complete spontaneous

51:42

message. I don't know what you're

51:44

in the middle of.

51:45

But I know this

51:46

one thing. All things

51:49

were together

51:52

for good. all things.

51:54

We're together for good.

51:56

Yes. But what if I die?

51:58

You'll

51:59

go to heaven. Why?

52:02

No. I don't wanna die.

52:05

You're

52:05

gonna die. Let

52:07

me

52:09

just be clear. You're going

52:11

to die. The question is, are you really

52:13

gonna live? That's

52:18

the question. That's

52:21

the question. because you know

52:23

it's worse than dying, doing

52:26

nothing with the life

52:28

you have.

52:29

Because you're

52:32

gonna die. If I said,

52:34

everybody stand up who's terminal, everybody should

52:36

stand up you all terminal. because

52:39

the only way you get to the next

52:42

level is to be a seed in

52:44

the ground. You're gonna

52:46

be a seed in the ground. I'm gonna be a seed in the

52:48

ground. and this body is gonna give over

52:50

to a glorious

52:51

body. I mean,

52:52

I already have one. I

52:57

mean, how much better can it get? That's

52:59

what I'm thinking. Say that

53:01

with true humility.

53:04

Sorry. I

53:07

couldn't resist.

53:08

And my wife texted

53:10

me, honey, you're

53:12

it's it's over.

53:19

Alright. I'm

53:22

joking. She didn't

53:25

text me. The Lord

53:27

does not measure success

53:30

the way

53:32

we measure success. You could give a rip how many Facebook

53:34

followers you have, Twitter, TikTok,

53:36

talk, truth

53:38

talk, Instagram,

53:41

Instagram, Instagram, any there's no

53:43

such things in Instagram. And by the way, all

53:45

those happy pictures your friends

53:47

put on there, You only took shots they took before

53:49

they put that one on Facebook, Instagram. They're

53:52

like, oh, they all have happy families that

53:54

I have. this

53:59

kid. you

54:03

all know what I'm talking about. Right? You're like,

54:06

how come they have? How come they're all

54:08

cute? because they worked on

54:10

it for two hours, making those kids smile for five

54:12

second snapshot. Nobody

54:14

takes a foot like, okay,

54:17

Let's take a horrible

54:20

picture. Oh, you look terrible. That all

54:22

good good on Instagram.

54:24

Nobody takes their worst moment

54:26

and it creates an unreal sense

54:28

of failure.

54:33

Are you with me?

54:34

I need to get some advertising

54:36

here and I get some more people on my Instagram

54:39

so I could the press

54:42

impress

54:42

god

54:44

God. You spend an

54:46

hour in the mirror. I don't

54:48

even notice How's my

54:50

hair look? It's the same way it look when you woke

54:52

up. It's all good.

54:56

I'm

55:00

just trying to be

55:01

a little funny to say, the

55:04

things that are meaningful in life,

55:08

things that really matter to

55:10

god, don't matter don't

55:12

matter. to

55:12

society. And the things that really matter to

55:14

society, I mean, just think about

55:16

it. What's the highest paying jobs?

55:20

in the world. Catching

55:23

a football. Wow.

55:26

ah have

55:28

twenty four hour talk radio

55:31

and talk shows to

55:33

talk about how he did

55:35

or didn't catch it. And

55:37

guess he watches it. Dumbo here. These

55:42

are not things God

55:44

cares about. It

55:47

doesn't

55:47

have a high value system for entertaining you or

55:50

me.

55:51

Okay. I need to

55:53

just crash this plane.

56:08

I just have a lot more

56:09

to say, but I'm gonna be

56:12

done. If

56:16

if you want you

56:18

watch

56:21

Listen, you you

56:24

you

56:24

might think your

56:26

life sucks because you're watching all these other

56:28

people with their sucky life, but they

56:30

fix it on social pages and

56:32

it makes you feel like you're not

56:34

winning and I'm like, if

56:38

you're faithful, And

56:39

you're doing what God told you too. Yes.

56:41

And you might be in the prison season

56:43

while someone else is in their pillow season.

56:45

So elaborate their pillow season because

56:47

yours is coming.

56:49

Are you with me? You

56:52

might be Abraham

56:54

and Sarah and

56:56

you're like, God promises children It's

56:59

like you're

57:00

not even ninety yet. Your day's coming,

57:02

like just hang on, just keep trying.

57:05

Work on it.

57:08

I'm just pointed out that sometimes

57:11

between the promise and

57:14

the palace

57:15

is the process process.

57:18

And that process is often

57:20

different than you think it's

57:23

going to be. The students ask all the time. Did you

57:25

know that you'd be one of the leaders of a

57:28

movement? I mean, I

57:30

have to keep from

57:32

laughing.

57:34

I was building

57:37

an automotive chain.

57:42

It's

57:43

a chain smoker. I

57:45

didn't even wanna be I mean,

57:47

I like, I am unquote you

57:49

could tell unqualified. I'm

57:52

not even on one page of these notes tonight.

57:56

And I did something

57:57

spontaneous instead of do notes

57:59

that are Makes

58:02

sense.

58:04

And

58:04

you're here watching

58:06

me. if

58:10

you're being faithful to what you think God's told you. But

58:13

what if it's wrong?

58:14

God still rewards faithfulness.

58:16

You

58:18

feel faithful to what you think

58:20

God told you with your whole heart.

58:24

Remember that this is

58:26

an ecosystem. Joseph

58:29

David wrote. The word of

58:31

the Lord tested Joseph. He wrote this in the

58:33

psalm. The word of Lord tested Joseph until

58:35

his work came to

58:37

pass. The word of the

58:38

Lord tested Joseph till his work

58:41

in the past.

58:42

I'd proposed that if

58:44

Joseph hadn't been through all of

58:46

that, he couldn't have

58:48

stayed in the past because sometimes we get

58:50

around

58:55

the

58:55

process through

58:58

being impatient, and we get

59:00

to the past just as God said, but

59:03

two years later, we're out because we

59:05

didn't do it his

59:08

way.

59:10

Satan offered

59:14

Jesus in Luke four. If you bow down

59:16

and worship me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world for they

59:18

have been given to me. many know that's what God

59:20

has given him, all the kings in the world.

59:22

He could have got it three years

59:24

earlier if he would

59:26

have worship Satan. Instead,

59:28

he had to do it

59:31

through crucifixion. How

59:32

many of you know, you can't just get

59:34

there. You have to get there the right way.

59:37

You can't bully

59:40

your way into

59:43

your promise. Joseph

59:46

tried that. I propose. I would propose

59:48

that Joseph didn't need to go to

59:50

prison. Joseph didn't need

59:52

to be sold

59:54

into slavery. his attitude determined his

59:56

process. His

59:58

arrogance this erik created

1:00:00

created a process that

1:00:02

God had no choice, but

1:00:04

to take him low because he

1:00:06

felt like he was so high. And

1:00:09

God said, you're the right guy, but you got the wrong

1:00:12

attitude boy. And God

1:00:14

knows how to take care of the

1:00:16

wrong attitude. at the sixty seven years, I can tell

1:00:18

you, the wood shed is not

1:00:20

fun. And anybody in

1:00:22

here that's older than about thirty

1:00:24

knows that.

1:00:26

that there

1:00:27

are ways. God's like you're the right guy.

1:00:28

You're the right woman. And God has a way

1:00:31

to making sure you have the right attitude when

1:00:33

you get the right

1:00:36

job. Would you stand on a pray for

1:00:38

you?

1:00:44

Can you put

1:00:46

your hand on your

1:00:50

heart, please? I want

1:00:52

you to say this out loud, but

1:00:54

but but listen listen, here's

1:00:56

what I don't want you to do.

1:00:58

I don't want you just to say it. I want you to close your eyes for a minute. And

1:01:01

here's how I'm gonna have you say this. I don't want you

1:01:03

to say it right now. All things were together

1:01:05

for good. k? But what

1:01:07

I want you to do is I'm gonna take about

1:01:09

two minutes for this, which is gonna feel like

1:01:11

a long time. I want you to close

1:01:14

your eyes and think about

1:01:16

where you are and think about

1:01:18

where the Lord has told you

1:01:20

you're going. Now you may not have a

1:01:22

specific like, I'm going to be a ruler

1:01:24

or I'm gonna be but

1:01:26

you have something in your heart that looks

1:01:28

like success. God, that's what you

1:01:30

told me. I want you to imagine

1:01:34

yourself there. k? No. I know. You're going through a you're going through a

1:01:36

challenge, you're going through struggle, you're a distance

1:01:38

from it, but I want you to

1:01:40

imagine yourself and

1:01:42

I'll use it as

1:01:44

metaphor in Joseph's position as ruler.

1:01:48

And then then And

1:01:50

and I want you to imagine it right now. Do that right now. Just

1:01:52

take your maybe it's your

1:01:55

family's a strained or

1:01:58

God told you you're gonna be prospering

1:02:01

in some area and

1:02:03

it's actually you can't

1:02:06

have children. You're gonna be a father of

1:02:08

nation, but you just can't have any kids.

1:02:10

You know, it's just like your circumstances

1:02:12

are polar opposite of what

1:02:14

God said. but I want you

1:02:16

to imagine it as if it's not that

1:02:18

way. Are you with me

1:02:20

so far?

1:02:20

so far Now I

1:02:22

want you to keep your eyes closed and I want you to say I

1:02:24

want you to look at the circumstances you're

1:02:26

in and say all things.

1:02:30

work together for good,

1:02:32

for those who love God,

1:02:34

on our call to his

1:02:37

purposes. And I want you to say this, I

1:02:39

love God, and I've called

1:02:41

to his purposes. So

1:02:44

I apprehend right this promise

1:02:47

that god will take

1:02:49

my problem, and he'll make it

1:02:51

a promise in

1:02:54

Jesus' name. God bless you. Thank you so much for

1:02:56

listening. Thanks so much

1:02:58

for listening to my podcast. If you

1:03:00

wanna find

1:03:02

out more, read my

1:03:04

blog, or listen to the previous

1:03:06

podcast episodes. Go to chris

1:03:08

valleton dot com. Have an

1:03:10

awesome day.