Steven Furtick - It's Going To Happen Here

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Glory to God. We have a very, very special album we just released this week. I also want to echo what Chris said, that it is an amazing church to be a part of that releases songs into the world. Have you thought about the fact that the songs we release from this place might end up helping somebody in the most difficult season of their life? Maybe a year from now, maybe in several years, they'll need those words at just the right time. That is what I love about Elevation Church. Our partnership in the gospel enables us to take our ministry places we may never physically go, but the Word of God goes, and when God sends his Word, healing always follows.

So, we do pray that these songs, the new album… I'm not so much doing a promotion… (When Wind Meets Fire, available everywhere music is downloaded, stolen, or streamed.) …just making sure you are aware that you can worship God anywhere. Oh yeah. Tell your neighbor, "I can worship him anywhere". Come on. Clap your hands. Look at your neighbor again and say, "I can do this anywhere. I can start clapping my hands when my kids are acting crazy. I can do this anywhere. I can lift my hands when the weight is too heavy. I can do this anywhere". Put it in the chat right now. EFam, say, "I can do it anywhere".

That's so exciting. Let's also thank God for all of our youth team, our volunteers, our staff, our eGroup leaders, and our security teams. What an amazing week we had. Since you know I haven't preached in a few weeks, I want to thank everyone who stood in the pulpit and shared God's Word with you. I trust you received exactly what you needed from God's Word. Also, since I haven't preached in a few weeks, I'm ready to do it right now. Without further ado, I want to share with you today from Genesis, chapter 41. Be patient with me. I may be a little rusty, but I'm ready. Ooh, that would preach. I'm rusty, but I'm ready. Like Moses, 80 years old, stretching out his staff over the Red Sea. "I'm rusted, but I'm ready".

How many of you have had the Devil tell you you're too old to do something God is calling you to do? All right. Well, you just got your word. "I'm rusted, but I'm ready". I like that. This is what I do while I'm off, by the way. I think of things to preach while I'm not preaching. I'm really, really, really messed up. But it is great to see you. We've had a great time of rest, reflection, study, and creativity with the family. In Genesis, chapter 41, verse 50, is a very interesting moment in Joseph's life.

The Bible says, "Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, 'It is because God has made me forget…'" The name Manasseh in Hebrew sounds like the Hebrew word for forget. He said, "It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household". Verse 52: "The second son he named Ephraim and said, 'It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.'"

Now that's powerful, but let's read just a little more. The Bible says, "The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, 'Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.'" Go back to verse 52 for a moment. "The second son he named Ephraim and said, 'It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.'"

I want to preach to you from a subject today, increased in Egypt. The title for this message is "It's Going to Happen Here". How much would you love it if you could go back and give yourself a name rather than letting your parents do that? I asked my kids the other day, "If you could rename yourself, what name would you choose"? They all had different names. Elijah wanted to be Justin after, of course, Justin Bieber from an earlier fascination in his life. Everybody went around the table and shared what their names would be. It's an interesting thing. When we read the Bible, there is so much significance given to the names of the characters culturally. The name Joseph is a name that was given to him by his mother Rachel. She wanted a baby for so long, and she couldn't have a baby. Her sister was able to have babies.

When she was having babies, she was doing it through maidservants, so when she had her first natural baby, biological baby, she named that baby Joseph. It means he will increase or may he add. That's the meaning of the name Joseph, because she wanted more babies. Well, a lot has happened since the birth of Joseph and this particular instance in Genesis, chapter 41. Just to bring you up to speed on some of the things Joseph has been through, his life really reads like the résumé of somebody who does not have God involved in their life. You may take issue with that because, obviously, God was with Joseph. I'm just saying if you didn't assume God was with him, you would probably infer from the events that transpired that God was not.

You know how we do. When somebody is doing really well in life, we assume they're blessed and God is with them and God's hand is on them. But if someone struggles, a lot of times, we'll think, "Oh, they must be doing something wrong" or "They must be disobedient". And sometimes it is. We suffer for different reasons. I do want you to know this before I go any farther. Everyone suffers somewhere. Everyone. What I just told you, those three words, can kill your jealousy about anybody you envy, because anybody you envy in your life, there is something in their life that, if you knew about it, you wouldn't trade places with them for 10 minutes.

This is important to point out (maybe y'all should do another YTHX around this whole subject) about influence, about the misery of influence, in a day and age where the term influencer is almost meant to sell something. Influence is expensive. Anybody who has a lot of influence often pays a great cost. It has cost Joseph a lot to stand in this moment. That's all I'm saying. So, we're reading about him naming two sons who are born to him, but the Bible says something really interesting. It says these sons were born to him before the famine.

Now, Joseph has predicted a famine in the land. He had the ability to interpret dreams. When Pharaoh called Joseph to interpret his dream, Joseph said, "Well, you're going to have seven years of plenty, or abundance, and then you'll have seven years of famine. So, wisdom would dictate that you take the good years and set some aside so you are ready for the lean years. When you have a lot, don't just consume the lot you've got. Keep a little so that when it gets lean…"

Sometimes even in church, if we're having a really good Sunday, I'll pull out my phone and take a quick video to show the Devil the video for the Sundays that don't feel so good. I want to remember this moment because the next moment might not be as wonderful. I want to treasure this. I want to take this in. I want to take the good things that happen to me and bank those blessings so when I go through a season of discouragement or defeat, I can point back to something I know God did for me. Now, this is a physical famine, but we could apply this to our emotions. We could apply this to our experiences.

However, Joseph has been elevated to a position where the only person more powerful than him in all of the land of Egypt is the pharaoh. He has done this by administrating the food supply. He has taken grain from the cities in Egypt and stationed on the outposts in silos some grain so that when the famine hits there will be food in Egypt. In doing this, Joseph has given himself a lot of significance nationally in a place called Egypt. It's hard for us to read about Egypt, knowing what we know about Egypt that is about to happen.

As a matter of fact, when I say "Egypt," most of us think of the place where God's people would be enslaved for 430 years. To be enslaved in Egypt. This happened generations after Joseph was gone. God raised up a man named Moses to say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go". Isn't it interesting that the same place they escaped to from the famine was the place they became enslaved in and needed to be set free from? The truth of the matter is a lot of the things that feed us in one season of our lives, a lot of the things that help us in one season of our lives, a lot of the things that serve to shelter us in one season of our lives will shackle us in another.

Have you ever run to something for shelter, but it turned into shackles? "I ran to Egypt for shelter, but I left Egypt in shackles". In Egypt, not only would the people of God experience great pain, but Joseph never wanted to go to Egypt in the first place. Egypt wasn't on Joseph's bucket list. Egypt wasn't on Joseph's itinerary, his dream travel destination list. Let me give you a little recap. Joseph was pushed into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, picked up by the Ishmaelite caravan, put in the house of a man named Potiphar, and treated as a slave for almost a decade. He rose to prominence in that house, and then, after rising to prominence, was falsely accused of a sexual offense, landing him in prison for a space of not less than two years.

In prison, he met a man whose dream he interpreted who was released because of Joseph's gift, and when that man left prison (he was the cupbearer to the king), Joseph said, "Tell your boss about me so I don't rot in this prison". Well, the cupbearer got out and forgot all about Joseph. Can you believe he did that? He forgot all about the man who gave him the prophecy of freedom. He forgot all about the man who gave him the hope to hold on. He forgot about Joseph for two years until one day Pharaoh had a dream that needed Joseph, and the cupbearer remembered, "There was this guy in the prison who had a special ability to interpret dreams. I wonder, if we go get him right now, could he tell you the meaning of your dream"?

Here's where I want to pause and point out that God is sovereign in his scheduling of your life. Think of the two years Joseph sat in prison, wondering, "Will they ever remember me? A lot of good that did. Nobody appreciates me. Nobody ever tells me 'thank you' for washing the dishes". Maybe I'm not talking about Joseph now. Maybe I'm talking about you. "Nobody ever appreciates me for giving them a ride. What, do they just think I'm a free Uber Black? Do they just think I'm a free DoorDash? Do they just think I'm a free private chef? Do they just think I'm a free housekeeper? Nobody appreciates me". Yet there seems to be a sense in which if Joseph had gotten out of that prison any earlier than he did, he wouldn't have been in position to fulfill the purpose he was created for.

I think of it in terms of food. You know, we're talking about a famine. Holly and I have different definitions of when food is too old to eat. She has a very elastic understanding of an expiration date. She calls it an expiration recommendation, and she goes by smell. I go by what it says on the label. Especially when it comes to fruit, she likes a little bit of brown. I went to throw a peach away the other day, and she caught the peach before it went in the trash can. I didn't even know she was athletic. I've never seen such hand-eye coordination from this woman in my life until I went to throw away a peach. She caught it and said, "Put that back". I said, "Put it back? It's brown". She said, "Brown ain't bad". Because she knows the difference between when it's rotten and when it's ripe.

Now, if you are Joseph, sitting in a prison for a space of two years, feeling as if the prime of your life is rotting away, and you are rotting away, and your physical strength is rotting away, only to find out that maybe the reason God kept you in that situation for that length of time… Maybe the reason the cupbearer forgot you so you stayed in there was if you had been released from that prison one day sooner, you would have missed the window of opportunity for you to demonstrate the gift God gave you.

Tell your neighbor, "You're not rotten; you're ripe". I see people in my heart who are feeling right now like, "It should have happened a long time ago," like, "I'm behind all of my friends," like, "It's not going to happen for me because I'm supposed to be married by the age of 24". But God said, "I know what ripe looks like". God said, "I know the difference between when you're still getting ready and when you think you're ready". God says, "I know how to leave the thing in the obscure place until the opportunity has reached its optimal positioning".

High-five three people and say, "I'm ripe". This will work against discouragement. The Enemy will tell you too much time has passed, too many years have gone, too many other people have gone ahead of you, too many experiences have eluded you, too many things you should have learned you didn't learn. I feel like preaching to tell somebody, at just the right time, if you humble yourself under his mighty hand… "I'm rusty, but I'm ripe". (Mixing my metaphors.) Let's get back to the text. The Bible says Joseph had two children before the famine.

Now, it's good that he had them before the famine. Sometimes God will send you a blessing before a trial to remind you of who he is so you don't let the trial discourage you to the point that you want to quit. The Bible says two sons were born of Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. In case you're wondering who that is, she was really important. These people were royalty, but they were not Hebrews; they were Egyptians. Imagine Joseph's surprise when he realized, "God is going to give me a family, but he's going to do it through foreigners".

You know how we get in our minds how God is going to do things in our lives? You know how you were picking out what college the kids were going to go to when they were 3 months old? You bought them a little Duke paci, and they had to be a Tar Heel. This serves to illustrate the principle that I really stood up to preach to you today, and it's this: it's going to happen here. Long were the days that Joseph would think, "Maybe one day I'll get to go back home to Canaan. Maybe one day I'll get to reconcile with my brothers who betrayed me. Maybe one day they'll tell me they're sorry and that they were wrong. Maybe one day I will again get to take in the familiar sights and sounds of the place where I came from".

Imagine Joseph's surprise when instead of God taking him back to his homeland, he gave him the gift of a family in the place of his hardship. Usually, when we preach about Egypt, we talk about coming out of Egypt. In fact, in Deuteronomy, the Lord tells his people, after he brings them out of Egypt, "Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery". God is warning his people after he brought them out of that place that grew to be so dreadful for them…bricks without straw and forced labor under the heavy whips of their masters who knew not of Joseph. He said, "Be careful. Don't forget when I bring you out".

Yet we're reading a passage today that suggests that even in Egypt, there are some things God can do even though you didn't choose to go there. I am preaching to somebody today who is in a place in their life where they did not choose to go there, dealing with a situation they did not choose to create for themselves. Joseph did not go to Egypt as a traveler; he went to Egypt as a slave, yet the Bible says in verse 52, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering".

So, now here comes the question. How can God make you fruitful in something you want to be free from? We all have things… You can shake me off if you want to, and you can pretend like this is for the person sitting on your row if you want to. We all have things we need to be freed from, want to be freed from. We all have places we never planned to go. Some of us have mental conditions that were passed on to us genetically. They are not even the result, necessarily, of behavior. Some of the demons you're fighting are from your daddy, and the demons don't leave just because you said the name of Jesus. They still have to be fought against for the rest of your life. You imagine a day when you'll be free of this, when you'll no longer desire this, when you'll no longer feel this way, when depression will no longer show up like a dark cloud over your life, when anxiety will no longer overwhelm your soul.

"One day I'm going to be free from this". I came to preach you can be fruitful in it while you're waiting to be freed from it, and it's going to happen the moment you decide to name it Manasseh. Manasseh means forget. Let's study this. Sit down. We have to study it. It sounds good, but let's study it. Verse 51: "Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, 'It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.'" Well, if you forgot it, why are we still talking about it? You don't forget something like this. You don't forget having your coat of many colors stripped from you, dipped in animal blood, and presented to your father as a proof or a token of your death when you are still very much alive. You don't forget being pushed into a pit, half-dead, and carted to a foreign place to serve as a slave. You don't forget any of that.

The Bible says he said he forgot. So is he lying? No, no. It's not a lie; it's a lens. When he says, "What God gave me…" How many have something God gave you? He says, "When I consider what God gave me, and then I think about what was taken from me, the years that were stolen from me, the peace that was stolen from me…" I believe Joseph probably struggled with intense self-hatred temptation, because when you are treated this way by your brothers, it makes you doubt yourself. Many people who come through abuse take the anger they cannot bear to project outward or do not have the power to project outward and turn it inward. Then it eats you alive, and it chews through all of the fruit of your future because you are stuck in something someone else did.

But Joseph said, "When I see what God gave me, this baby I'm holding in a place I never chose to go to, in a situation I never thought I would have to settle into, in a season of my life I never saw coming…" It isn't that he stopped remembering what he went through; he just refocused what he was looking at. The word of the Lord is "Refocus". I know your body is holding a lot of trauma, but refocus. I know you have abandonment issues because everybody you let in somehow let you down, but refocus. There's a Manasseh in your arms. Refocus. I know that some things you were cheated out of were unfair, and I know if you could go back and have it happen differently, you would. You didn't choose it.

The things you never chose don't mean you can't grow through them. Just because I didn't choose to go through it doesn't mean I can't choose to grow through it. It is a matter of focus. LJ, you played so well on the album. Don't y'all love LJ? LJ, Scotty, Shae, Otis… They played so well. Y'all, when you go on YouTube and look at the songs, don't go into the comments. The comments will kill your joy. We will put a song out that says, "Oh, my God, you've been so good to me," and someone will put in the comments, "Well, what if he hasn't been that good to me? That must be nice for you that God has been good to you, but God hasn't been that good to me".

One day, I'm going to make up a name so I can go on YouTube and say all the stuff I want to say back and nobody will know it was me. I'm going to have the IT department set it up really securely where nobody can track it back through any kind of AI or AARP or any of that stuff. Then I'm going to go on there and say, "The goodness of God is a perspective". The goodness of God is not freedom from problems. The goodness of God is not freedom from pain. The goodness of God is a perspective that starts with him and works its way outward. Joseph is not saying it didn't happen. Joseph is not in denial. Joseph is not stuffing it down so it's just going to come out sideways.

As a matter of fact, when he says, "I forgot my father's household," all of us who know what happens in Genesis 43, 44, and 45 kind of want to laugh, because the people he's trying to forget, his brothers who betrayed him, are actually about to show up asking him for food. Sometimes God will call you to feed something you wanted to forget. Sometimes God will call you to go back to a place that caused you so much pain, and the wounds you suffered will become a womb that births healing for someone else.

That's what I think Joseph is saying. "He caused me to forget, to refocus, to see what God is doing right here in Egypt. I never thought I would have an Egyptian wife. I never thought I'd have these half-Egyptian kids. I definitely never thought I'd be overseeing all of the grain in a time of famine. I never thought people would be asking me what to do. People have been telling me what to do my whole life. My big brothers told me what to do. Potiphar told me what to do. The jailer told me what to do. Now, all of a sudden, I find myself in a position where God has given me the ability to make a decision". He realizes, "While I was enslaved in Egypt, God was increasing me in the very place where I was enslaved".

Now he can look at his other child, Ephraim, and say something so powerful I don't know if we truly understand the meaning of it. He says, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering". Don't you wish God would just keep you from the suffering? He doesn't do that. Right now, I think we need an illustration, so bring out my illustration devices, boys. Y'all give them a hand as they come. This is going to be good. I have two things that I have on my person right now. I was praying about how to bring this message home, because I thought, "Man, I don't just want them to feel like today I just told them a bunch of stuff about a guy who lived thousands of years ago and they just talk about these metaphors and abstract analogies".

You know, with the things people are going through in their lives today, I really want them to understand what it means for God to make you fruitful in the land of your suffering. The thing about fruit in the land of suffering is the earth makes whatever is inside the thing grow. The earth is neutral. The earth is not good or bad until somebody works it. Then it can become fertile, but all the earth can do is pull out what's inside of the seed. Now, we live in a time where we respect a whole lot more about the external appearance than the internal reality. Oh, yes, we do. If you do bicep curls for the next year every day and get some big muscles, or something like that, everywhere you go people talk about, "Sun's out, guns out" and "Put those away" and "Do you have a license to carry those?" and everything like that.

If you read the Bible for 100 days or a year, or something like that, nobody is going to walk around being like, "Man, your Philippians knowledge is really…" You know what I'm saying? "Son's out". (Son of God.) Therefore, I want to illustrate what I think we don't understand about suffering, because everybody suffers somewhere, but not everybody gets something out of it. Not all suffering is productive. There is a difference between the suffering that brings forth fruit and the suffering that increases fear and shame. The issue comes down to what was in Joseph when Joseph went into Egypt. That's the issue.

When Joseph went to Egypt, he already had his integrity, so when they took his coat, it didn't matter, because it wasn't about what was on him; it was about what was in him. When Joseph was accused, they tried to throw dirt on his name, but even though they put dirt on his name, it didn't change his nature, because Joseph went into Egypt fruitful. The Bible says when the whole world was suffering from a famine, there was food in Egypt. I suggest that the only reason there was food in Egypt was because there was Joseph in Egypt. Sometimes God will put you in a situation because he put something in you that that situation needs. So, all of the prayers of "God, get me out of this; God, get me through this…"

There are things God wants to do as you go through them that if you don't do those things, you can't be fruitful. I will demonstrate why some of the stuff that is happening in your life right now that you feel is shameful and embarrassing and terrible… I will show you why it might not be what you think it is, and I'm going to use two objects to illustrate. One I have in my pocket, and one I'm wearing on my feet. I'm going to show you two items, and then you can decide what you think about my illustration. These items seem to have not much in common, but I promise you they do. This is a sneaker; this is a seed. Technically, it's a peach pit, but inside the pit is a seed, so it's a seed.

Now look. What does a sneaker and a seed have in common? Answer, class: both of them have to get dirty sometimes, but one was made to. Follow me. If I take this seed, this peach pit, and put it in this dirt, and then… There was no part of you that found any of that tragic. Nobody winced. Nobody cringed. But if… What's wrong with y'all? I just did it to the seed, but if… Don't do it? Why? Oh, because this only has value externally. So, if I do this to these, it ruins them. If I do this to these, I just decreased the value, because the value of the sneakers was how clean the sneakers were. But if I have a seed and I take the seed… I just put the seed in the same stuff I put the sneakers in.

When I did this, you didn't say, "No". You realized that what ruined the value of the sneakers revealed the potential of the seed. I came to declare that you're one of these. I'm the seed of Abraham. So, when the Devil does this, realize, "I'm one of these". What you went through didn't ruin you. It didn't ruin you that they rejected you. It didn't ruin you that you made a mistake, because the value of you has never been that you weren't creased. The value of you has never been that you were squeaky clean. The value of you is that Christ is in you, and if Christ is in you… I'm preaching in my socks to let you know the seed is still good. The seed is still clean. The seed can still work. The value is in you.

So, now I hear Joseph saying, "He made me fruitful in my suffering". Y'all missed it. "He made me fruitful in my suffering". My faith turns suffering to soil. Jesus didn't resurrect until they put him in the soil. Jesus didn't get up until they put him in the ground. Some of the fruit God has produced in my life happened when I was in a place that I never wanted to go. I can't believe you were so worried about my sneakers and you're not worried about your mind, your soul, your purpose, your destiny, your gratitude, your kids, your integrity, your habits, your prayer life, and your discipline. Do you see what I'm saying? That dirt did not hurt that seed; it turned it to a harvest.

That's why you came to church today. Some of the things you have been through in your life… If your value were external, it ruined you, but if your value is internal, it did not ruin you; it revealed you so that this can become this. So, Joseph can stand before his family… He was ready for the famine, but he wasn't ready for his family, because that's where he really hurt. Understanding that you are fruitful in the place of your suffering… It makes you look at bad things people say about you a little differently. It makes you look at the things you don't like a little differently.

You go, "Wait a minute". If this goes in this, then it will begin to absorb the moisture. If this goes into this, it will begin to spread apart and shatter. If it starts to shatter, then it can start to sprout. If it starts to sprout, it can grow down to get the nutrients and the minerals and reach up to get the light. But it starts, Joseph said, in the place of my suffering. This is why it's really important that you don't get stuck in what you suffered. You've already suffered enough. Don't you want to have something to show for it? Let me say that again. You have already suffered enough. Don't you want to have something to show for it? I'm applying this to every type of suffering.

Even if your suffering was caused by your sin, you've suffered enough. Don't you want to learn from it, repent, claim the blood of Jesus, and get clean so you can help somebody else not fall into the same pit? I wish I had another peach pit. Oh, I have one more. Thank you, Lord. Joseph was put into a pit, and the seed is in the pit. The pit represented potential, because God was keeping him there to get him to Egypt. Your life is not random. God is sovereign. Your life is not rotting; it's ripe. Everything you've been through was for this moment. If Joseph had met his family one year earlier, he wouldn't have been ready to embrace them. He would have retaliated.

So, stop telling God when he needs to do stuff and be a seed. When you are a seed and you are in soil and you are in darkness and obscurity, it can begin to feel like nothing is happening, but anybody who has ever planted anything can tell you the most activity is happening once the seed is no longer visible. So, do not let the absence of visible activity in your life confuse you to think that the presence of God has weakened or taken a day off. That seed is doing stuff. Not that one that I just put in. It would have to be taken care of, but you get the analogy. Right? It's breaking so it can bud and blossom. So was Joseph, and so are you. He was in a place that he never wanted to go. Are you there right now?

You're like, "Yes. I didn't want to come to church. My mom made me come". I'm not talking about church. You wanted to be here. You love to hear me preach. That's one of your favorite things in the world to do. Some of y'all didn't even want to be in Charlotte. Some of you didn't even want to live in this city or Roanoke or Raleigh or wherever you want to put this camera. We could go around the world and say, "I didn't want to be here in this soil". Soil isn't sexy, but that's where it happens. That's where the hard shell breaks off so that what is inside can grab on, shoot forth, and fill the world with fruit.

Now, the beauty of this message is that we can apply what I have just said to any situation in your life, because I just told you about a God who can increase you in Egypt, a place that God's people would celebrate coming out of. Joseph said, "He increased me in the very place where I was dragged, kicking and screaming". It doesn't have to be a situation you chose for you to grow through it. It doesn't have to be a situation you like for you to stay in it. It doesn't have to be a state of mind you enjoy for it to be productive.

Every time I get ready to preach…not 9 out of 10 times, not 99 out of 100 times…every time I prepare to preach to you, just before the breakthrough of the Word comes mounting anxiety. It almost feels like the flu. I want to go to bed. I want to call in sick. I have learned that is a sign that I'm in the rich soil now, that I have broken through the surface and I'm in the soil. If you don't ever sit with your anxiety and process it with God, but you just run straight to pills, you run straight to porn, you run straight to people who will say what you want to hear… If you don't ever sit with it and work through it, you will never see what was in you that was designed to be broken away in the soil of your fruitful place.

"I thought Canaan was the land with fruit. I thought the Promised Land was the land of fruit. I thought that was the land God was taking them to". Joseph said, "I have a God who, if the land doesn't have fruit, will bring fruit out of you". He'll do it in your school. If every kid in your school is crazy, you'll be the sane one to show them how to walk in the ways of God. That's what the seed was made for. I see some of our kids going back to school in August and saying, "It's going to happen here". "There's going to be a revival here. There's going to be an outpouring here. There's going to be a day of Pentecost fully come here. I'm going to do it here. It's going to happen on YouTube. It's going to happen here. It's going to happen in my family. It's going to happen here. It's going to happen in my midlife. It's going to happen here. It's going to happen in my old age. It's going to happen here. It's going to happen in my failure. It's going to happen here".

I read about a God who would give me a land with fruit in it, but I also have a God who put fruit inside of me. This is for those difficult situations you can't change. This is for those decisions others made that set you back. This is for those times where you can't reverse course. This is for those things that you can't see how God is working. This is for those things. You are not this. You are one of these. Get your hands dirty. Come on. Get your hands dirty. Dig until you find what you were designed to do. Dig until you find the source of the pain. Dig until you find the will and resolve to forgive what you can't forget. Dig until you get it. Everything you've been through, even what broke you, was only designed to show you what was in you, and the God who put you there… I believe every place in your life you walk into you can have the confidence, "God put me here".

Now, don't be an alcoholic and go to the bar and say, "God put me here". Don't take my words and make something stupid out of it. Don't twist my sermon. But the state in life that you are in is the soil. "God, change things"? No. "God, change me". I'm going to tell you something in my sock feet with my dirty right hand. I hope you never forget this picture. Man looks at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. My Bible says in Romans 8:18, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed".

It will be revealed. It's happening here. Let God have it. Your surrender turns soil into a place of new beginnings. Maybe I should say it the way I wrote it in my notes before I just messed it up, because that didn't make a bit of sense. Your surrender turns your suffering into soil. That's what I meant to say. That's what I want to say. So, stand up on your feet. Lift your hands to your Father in heaven. Who knows what he put in you. A thousand lies can be put on you. If the truth is in you, what does it matter? The weight of others' expectations may be put on you, but if God's approval is in you… "This is my beloved Son; with him I'm well pleased".

Even Jesus went to Egypt, and he's with you in your Egypt today. You are increasing in Egypt. Things are going to happen here that are going to blow your mind. I need you to stop delaying the idea that God has to do everything you want him to do before he can use you, before you can be happy. Eat your lunch today with gratitude, and every bite you chew, thank God you have something to put in your mouth. I don't care what the 401(k) is. Be grateful. It is God in you, willing and acting to his good pleasure.

Father, I thank you for all of these seeds. Who knows what Josephs are increasing even under the water of this word today. Father, as we confess that the dirt that was meant to hurt us actually produced a harvest from what is inside of us… I pray this would be rhema and flesh to everyone who hears it, that they would know exactly what it is they were meant to see and what they were meant to release and refocus. Father, if we stay mentally in our father's household and do not release those things, we can't hold Manasseh; we cannot hold Ephraim.

I want you to turn your palms up to heaven now, like you're offering something to God and like you're receiving something from God. I want you to first give him what happened. As hard as it was, as awful as it was, give him what happened. Now I want to tell you that in his presence there are some things he wants to put in those empty hands. It's going to happen here. This is a place of healing. This is a place of newness of life. This is a place of salvation, and this is a place of freedom…right here.

I know you don't want to be in Egypt, but let's get Egypt out of you. He called him Manasseh. That's a Hebrew name. He called him Ephraim. That's a Hebrew name. "I will not let where I am define who I am. I am a child of God". Oh, yeah. Begin to celebrate. That's good. That means you're receiving it.

Oh, how great the love of the Father,
Oh, how great the gift of the Son,
Oh, how great the power of Jesus,
What a Savior, what a Savior.
I was lost in sin and you found me;
Hallelujah, you saved my soul;
I was dead and gone and you raised me;
What a miracle, what a miracle.