Steven Furtick - Plot Twist
Today we're here together sharing in God's presence, and I want you to go with me to John 4. Of course, two weeks ago, I preached a sermon about how I'm tired on the inside, and then I took a week off. I thought it was appropriate to preach "I'm tired". Our friend Robert Madu preached such an excellent message last week, and I'm thankful for it. But God told me we should go back to the well for Father's Day. I thought, "Lord, I don't mean to argue with you. You are the Lord, El Shaddai, the maker of heaven and earth, but it's Father's Day, and John, chapter 4, is about the woman at the well. This is, Lord, maybe an appropriate text for us to visit another time".
But then he showed me that he's kind of smarter than me and he kind of wrote the Bible and I just preach it. In John, chapter 4, we see Jesus going through an unexpected place. The Bible says in verse 4, "Now he had to go through Samaria". Two weeks ago, we dealt with that extensively. The last time I was preaching, I said that Samaria is a geographical term, but you could also use wordplay and say that we all have some area. For the Jews, they kind of divided themselves, and Samaria represented a place they didn't want to go through. They would often double the time of their trip just so they wouldn't have to go through Samaria, because it represented division and resentment. Not only was there ethnic tension in Samaria, but we are about to see Jesus break a religious boundary and a gender boundary.
Jesus is a barrier-breaker. The sooner we realize that, the less disappointed we are going to be when he blesses and uses people we don't even like and people who don't look like us. If you want two points to write down just to get the momentum flowing today… You don't get to choose who God uses, and you don't get to choose what he does. That is on full display in John 4. He had to go through Samaria. And so do you, and so do I. We all have to go through some areas, the areas of our lives we want to keep beneath the surface, that we want to cover up, that we want to work around, walk around. We develop all kinds of ways and coping mechanisms and excuses. We don't really have real relationships, because to have real relationships we would have to go through some area where we've been hurt before, where before we've been disappointed.
So now, to avoid being disappointed, we go around, we work around. We never really hope for anything, because if we don't really hope for anything, we can't be hurt by anything. We all have some area we want to avoid. Jesus went straight through it. But I told you that two weeks ago, so I know you already mastered that class. The next verses may reward further study, though. In verse 5 it says, "So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired…" Jesus, exhausted. Jesus, fully God. Jesus, fully man. Jesus, all authority. Jesus, all empathy. Jesus, the Word made flesh. Jesus, who came through over 40 generations just to be with us and to pay for our sin. "…sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink'"?
Now they say, "Jesus is the answer", but the answer just asked a question. In the tension of this text, John parenthetically inserts "(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)" The biggest thing on their minds was a meal, but Jesus was looking for a harvest. They were thinking about a meal, and Jesus was thinking about a harvest. They were thinking about a burger, and Jesus was thinking about a breakthrough. God has Ephesians 3:20 kinds of ways of exceeding your expectations and violating them in the process, because nothing in this text was expected. Even the woman was shocked. In verse 9, she said to him, "'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?' (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water'".
Now please skip with me all the way past the conversation. It's a good conversation. This woman is not shy. This woman does not accept easy answers and clichés and slogans and bumper stickers and quotes on Pinterest. She just keeps asking questions. It's a deep well. I'm not talking about physically, although this well is 106 feet deep. You know it is because it's still there. You can still go to Jacob's well to this day. You can actually drink from Jacob's well to this day. But it's a deep well in her heart. It's a deep well in her belief. It's a deep well. After Jesus spends some time with this unlikely woman, who was so ridiculed by society she had to sneak to the well during the hottest part of the day but so valuable to the Creator he went out of his way to speak with her… Something pretty interesting happens in verse 27. This is what I want to preach about.
"Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, 'What do you want?' or 'Why are you talking with her?' Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?' They came out of the town and made their way toward him". Verse 27: "Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman".
I know it's an odd Father's Day text, but God told me to talk to you today on the topic Plot Twist. I am officially deeming 2020 the year of the plot twist. This year was written by Stephen King and directed by Lucifer. The year of the plot twist. I was going to ask you, because the disciples thought they were just going to get lunch, and they had no idea Jesus was going to break cultural barriers. Every taboo he was just going to step through like ticker tape and not even care about the expectations of the religious elite and talk to a woman who was a Samaritan as a Jewish man. They just wanted to get some food. Plot twist. Just like we thought in 2020 we were just going to do some crunches and lose 15 pounds. You didn't know you were going to lose 15 weeks. I didn't know I was going to be preaching in an empty room for… It's not empty. Y'all aren't nobody. It's just emptier. Plot twist.
That's why I wanted to come out and preach the sermon early. You have to kind of like surprises to really follow Jesus. Not to worship a religious tradition but to follow Jesus. There's a difference…big difference. Big difference between worshiping a tradition and pursuing truth. Jesus is constantly keeping his disciples guessing. God is constantly keeping us guessing, isn't he? Do you like surprises? You may have had a different answer if I had asked you six months ago, "Do you like surprises"? But now we're like, "You know what? No. I'm good on surprises until 2032".
You're going to be surprised about some things when you get to heaven. One thing you're going to be surprised about maybe is who your neighbor is in heaven next door in the condominium. You might be surprised who has a bigger house than you in heaven. Who God really used on earth will not always be whose name we knew. Even on earth, Jesus was full of surprises. I like that the disciples were surprised, because it lets me know that it's okay that sometimes I get caught off guard. I thought God was going to do this, and then he does that. I thought my life was going to look like this, and then it looks like that. I thought this person was always going to be my friend, but I didn't know they were going to stab me in the back and go take what I tried to give them and do something else with it. But that's okay, because his disciples were surprised too.
God is constantly keeping us guessing. I almost wish I could read John, chapter 4, again for the first time, because now I know how it ends. It would have been cool if I could have wiped your memory. Don't you wish you could see Shawshank Redemption again for the first time? Wouldn't it be amazing just to see Andy Dufresne crawl through the sewer, to hear Morgan Freeman narrate the life of Tim Robbins again for the first time? It's still good, but I kind of wish I could see it… Because I didn't see that coming the first time. Have you ever been watching a movie and you thought you knew exactly where it was going to go, but then out of nowhere…?
I remember the first time I saw A Beautiful Mind. It messed with my mind. I did not see that coming. Have you ever been going through your life, going through your day, just minding your own business, like the disciples trying to go get a burger, and all of a sudden, God disrupts your expectation of how your day was supposed to go? And sometimes God doesn't even let you know it's him doing it. Now, every disruption is not recognized as divine, because the disciples had no idea what he wanted. They still thought he wanted Chick-fil-A. Closed on Sundays. They didn't know he was doing something much bigger than a #1. He was doing something much bigger than a drive-through.
Don't you know that God has scripted a much bigger arc for your life than how you feel this week? See, we never know. Any given day, we wake up and we never expect. It's never the things you expect that set your life in a different direction. Have you noticed this? It's never the things you expect. When you came to that lunch and you sang me that song, you never knew we'd be writing songs for Elevation Worship. You were just coming to the lunch. You were just a new staff member. It's the little things. But you came to the lunch, and you were one of the first 12 in there. I said, "Who are you"? "I'm Tiffany". "What do you do"? "I sing". "Sing me a song".
And you had a song. But you didn't know when you woke up that morning. You never know. That's why we have to continue to approach each day like it is the day the Lord has made, because you never know. That woman didn't know she was about to meet her Maker. She didn't know she was about to meet a man who could not only tell her everything she had done but could show her what was within her that others did not see. Plot twist. You came to get water, but you're about to meet the well. Plot twist. You accidentally clicked on this YouTube channel, but you're about to get a word from God. It never ceases to amaze me the way God kind of sets things up. Just about when you think… I mean, it's noon. It's the hottest part of the day. There's nobody around. Nobody is expecting it. Jesus isn't supposed to even be talking to this woman as a rabbi, and just when she expected it the least, she received the greatest revelation of her life.
Now, for me, on Father's Day… My dad was crazy in a good way and a bad way, and my relationship with my dad was really, really great and it was really complicated. When he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and he realized he would die but we didn't have an exact time frame for it, some really bizarre events transpired in our house. I don't like to talk about all of it, because it's not completely my story to share. But even within my mom's decision to forgive him for some things he did during that period, there was a little while… I was just reflecting on this for Father's Day, because Graham and I were throwing the baseball, and I connected all of that to when I was 12 and my dad throwing the baseball, but then also I connected it to when I was 32 and we weren't even on speaking terms.
One Father's Day I hadn't spoken to him in months, and every time we would speak, it would get into a shouting match. I don't think I had the wisdom to know how to relate to him through his pain. And he was being a jerk. I'm going to put that on the record. He's in heaven now. He made it in. But he was being a jerk, and I was probably a little immature as well. It put us in a weird spot. Do you remember where we were coming from? Was it Florida? We were coming on Father's Day. I asked you to drive, and I made the list. I said, "I'm going to write a list of 32 things I remember from my dad that are good, and let's take it by his house". And we stopped by.
I won't tell the full story now. Many of you have heard me tell it before, how I kind of shoved the list at him with a bad attitude. "Happy Father's Day"! And it opened a door. Really through my mom's grace and compassion and forgiveness, I was able to be a part of his life like he was a part of mine as a boy in the very last days. But what I wanted to tell you about… And I don't know who this is for. I didn't want to preach a message just for fathers, but on Father's Day, it got me thinking about the plot twists of our lives and how important it is that we be attuned to what the Holy Spirit is doing in us, because we never know.
I was preaching in 2013 on a series called The Expectation Gap. I should probably pull that one back out, because that's where we're living right now: the gap between what you expect and what you experience. Listen to this. It's the craziest story maybe that I've ever experienced. I preached the 9:30 at Elevation Blakeney. I usually preach the 11:30, and we were about to go on our family vacation for June. Something told me, instead of preaching the 11:30, to run the sermon back. I don't go with every idea I have and call it the Holy Spirit. I'd be in prison if I did that, because sometimes I think some really crazy thoughts, and some days I'd never get out of bed if I just went with what I felt.
So I'm not one of those guys, but I just felt it. It was like, "You need to just play the thing back". Again, I'm arguing with God. Like, "You're not supposed to go through Samaria, Jesus. We don't do that". I'm like, "Well, God, I'm going on a vacation for a few weeks. I'm about to get a break. I don't need a break at 11:30. So I'll just preach that, and then I'll get a break". But something told me to leave. As I was leaving, something told me to stop by and see my dad and my mom. When I walked in, my dad was so surprised. In fact, he was completely confused. His disease had progressed to the point where he had very little movement, and my mom was doing everything for him, and hospice was involved, but his mind was still very sharp. He had his iPad out, and he was about to watch the 11:30 worship experience of Elevation Church.
Just as on the iPad I was coming onstage, I was walking into his house. He couldn't move his head around too much, but he looked back at the iPad and looked at me and looked at the iPad, and he said, "How are you…? You're here but you're there but you're here. Who's preaching if you're here"? I said, "Dad, I just decided to come over and see you. They're going to run back the 9:30, and I'm going to watch myself preach with you". One of the things he had asked me for when we were not speaking to one another… Just before we stopped speaking to one another, he had asked me if I could show him how much he meant to me by canceling something that was important to show him that he was more important. I thought, "Well, that's childish. Of course I care for you. I mean, look at all I try to do for you. I'm a good son", and this and that. He wasn't having it.
When I walked in, I realized, "This is that moment for me to be with him". I sat on the edge of the bed, and he watched the sermon. It's really awkward watching yourself preach. It's painful. I don't like to do it, but I did it. When I finished and walked off the stage… I promise you I'm going to go back to John 4 in a minute. When I walked off the stage, my dad said, "Preacher man gone, out the back door. Time for Hubatka". Because Larry Hubatka would come out and do the close. I'd go this way, and Larry Hubatka would go that way. I hugged him and I said, "I love you. I'll see you when we get back from vacation". And my mom called me at 1:00 a.m. and said, "Your dad only has hours to live. He's not speaking. You need to get here quickly".
We got there in the middle of the night, and we sang his favorite hymns. And then I ran out of hymns, and I started singing CCR, and then I ran out of classic rock songs. We sang and we sat with him, and I was with him when he breathed his last breath. I told you that because you never know. You must go through some area. This woman who's just coming to get water finds out that while she's trying to fill her jar, God is trying to fill her. She becomes the first evangelist to the Samaritans in the time of the ministry of Jesus. Plot twist. But that's not really what I wanted to preach to you about today. What really got my attention for Father's Day was in verse 5. Verse 5 says, "So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph". Near the plot.
See, when I read that verse, I realized, "This is generational". I mean, of all of the sermons I have heard preached about this woman who had five husbands and she's living with the sixth and she's loose and she's thirsty… I realized that this did not start with her. I realized the conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews did not start in John, chapter 4. Even the phrase… It said, "Near the plot of ground…" Why would John, who only had 21 chapters to tell us who Jesus was…his glory, full of grace and truth… He only has so much room, and he stops to tell us that it happened… I mean, I know about the woman. I know about her past. I know about her history. I know that Jesus taught her "They that worship the Father must worship in spirit and truth".
I know it's not about whether you worship on this mountain or that mountain. I've read all of that. But I never took the time to realize it was near the plot of ground Jacob had given his son Joseph. It took me all the way back to remember that he called a man named Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram was too old to have children. Plot twist. "You're about to have a baby". His wife's womb was as good as dead. Plot twist. God can bring forth a fruitful situation from a barren womb. Then there's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It wasn't even supposed to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was supposed to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau, but plot twist. Just about the time you think you know what God is going to do…
I love this story, because Jacob got blessed out of order. Some of you are in a season of your life where you have told yourself the story is never going to be any different. You are like this woman who came out to the well in the heat of the day to avoid the attention and the accusations and the condemnation of other people. They have made up their minds about you, and they have limited you, and they have put you in a box. They've said, "Oh, you're just this. Oh, you're just that". But the barrier-breaking God who stepped through 41 generations, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not Esau… Esau was supposed to get the blessing, but God has a way of putting his right hand instead of his left hand. The right hand is the hand of blessing. The right hand is the hand of authority. It's called a plot twist. It said this happened, this amazing event where this woman who nobody expected to be used… Oh, they used her. God said, "I see people using you, but they don't know what's in you. I'm going to bless you in this season, even though you have told yourself this is all it can ever be".
Do you know how powerful that is, that this is the plot of ground Jacob gave Joseph? It wasn't even supposed to be Jacob the nation of Israel came through. Plot twist. You didn't even get a high school degree. Plot twist. God doesn't need you to be educated…just available, just open, just humble, just a disciple, just committed. Plot twist. He's the God of the plot twist, and I'm going to tell you how I know he is. Not only does God bless the wrong people from an earthly perspective, like a woman at a well or like a trickster named Jacob. Not only does he bring forth nations from people whose names carry baggage or, in the case of the woman at the well, people whose names we don't even know.
Have you ever thought about that? That wasn't on her birth certificate: "Woman at the well". But God said, "I'm going to take characters other people think are just props, and I am going to use them for a purpose nobody can understand". God is using people in this season who we walk past. I don't know if you want to hear this message or not, because we get pretty settled into our story. We get pretty settled into our situation and our system, and we just want a burger, and we just want a drink, and we just want to survive it. Here we are in a year where most of us just want to go back to how it was, and how it is is not how it's supposed to be. Yet Jacob gave Joseph this plot of ground in Sychar near Samaria.
Let me stop here for a minute. This is the area everyone else avoided. It is the area Jesus intended to go through. Jacob was the second-born. Esau was the firstborn. God blessed the second before the first. "And the last shall be first and the first shall be last". You killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead. Plot twist. That's all the gospel is. Let the weak say, "I am strong". Plot twist. It may be helpful for me to remind you at this point that the reason I look like I'm about to bust out of this suit with excitement… Not with fat cells, not with cellulite…with excitement and enthusiasm. The reason I'm about to come unglued off this stage is because for 22 years, Jacob thought Joseph was dead.
Do you realize the miracle happened through somebody who was as good as dead? For 22 years… I mean, you have to get in this mindset. Not for 22 hours, not for 22 days, not for 22 weeks, not for 22 months…for 22 years, Jacob thought, "I've lost Joseph". And Joseph was his favorite. Oh yeah. Every parent has their favorite. It might change from moment to moment, but you have a favorite. My favorite is whichever one I'm talking to at that moment telling them they're my favorite. But Joseph had a coat. Joseph was the favorite. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and left for dead. When they went back and told Jacob that Joseph was dead, who was the first child of Rachel whom he really loved… "Joseph is gone" meant to Jacob "I may as well die too". He said, "You will bring my gray head down to the grave".
Now do you understand that the plot twist in John, chapter 4, wasn't just about a woman who came for a drink? It's about a God who takes things you thought were dead and things you thought were over and things you thought didn't matter and things that you thought people betrayed you and people forgot about you and people left you and people ignored you and people abandoned you. They betrayed Joseph. So, when it said it was Jacob's well and that it was the plot of ground Jacob gave his son Joseph after 22 years… Can we visit the scene for a moment? It's in Genesis 48. It's really beautiful. You have to think, like, God sent Joseph to Egypt, and on one hand, his brothers betrayed him and sold him, but on the other hand, Joseph saw, after 13 years of what seemed to be a setback…
The reason I'm preaching it is because I think a lot of people are feeling like life is just one giant setback right now. Things have stalled out for you, and it's not moving forward, and it's not happening, and the plans you made all got canceled and all got interrupted. God said to tell you that he's the God of the plot twist. Just about the time you are ready to turn the movie off, don't turn it off. Just about the time you are ready to stop believing in God, don't stop believing in God yet. Just about the time you're ready to say, "I will never see Joseph again…"
See, it was a famine that hit Canaan that made Jacob's sons go and find Joseph. Do you remember this? When they went and saw Joseph, they didn't even know it was him at first, but then eventually, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and said, "It's me! It's me, the one you left for dead. I'm the one God is going to use to provide for you". Plot twist. Do you remember his most famous verse in Genesis 50:20? "You meant it for evil; God meant it for good". What does that mean? That means he's the God of a plot twist. That means he takes what the Enemy meant for evil and uses it for good in your life, in your bloodline, in your generation, in our church, in our families, in our nation, in our world, on this continent.
God is a generational God. He goes through Samaria, and he takes us through some areas. He does some things in our lives in disappointed places. When Jacob was getting ready to die, he called Joseph to his bedside. It's a really beautiful scene. This is great for Father's Day. Genesis, chapter 48. He said, "Joseph, come in the room. I want to give a blessing to my grandchildren". Genesis 48:11 is the one I want to focus your heart on for a moment. "Israel said to Joseph…" You're like, "Wait a minute. I thought you were talking about Jacob". I am. The one named Jacob was also called Israel. Jacob means heel-grabber. Plot twist. Israel means prince with God.
I'm telling you, Jesus looked at that woman and he didn't see a whore; he saw a worshiper. He looked at Jacob, and he didn't see a heel-grabber; he saw a prince. I love him for that. I love him for all of the times he could have just given up on me. I'm screwing up things left and right as a pastor, as a parent, as a husband. I know I get it so wrong. But go ahead and clap your hands and praise hand emoji if you know you serve the God of the plot twist, if you know that he knows your real name. Your real righteousness is in Christ. Wow!
So, Israel, also called Jacob, said to Joseph, the one he never thought he'd see again, the dream he thought had died, the thing he thought was over… What is your Joseph? What is the thing you have given up on in your life and you've said, "The story is over, and this is the way it's going to be, and I'm just always going to struggle with this. I'm always going to deal with this. I'm never going to get over this, and I'm never going to get victory. I'm going to sing the words to the song, but I don't really mean them or believe them anymore, because I'm just going through the motions". What is your Joseph? Watch this. "Israel said to Joseph, 'I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too'".
He's the God of the plot twist. Not only did he let him see Joseph, but he used everything Joseph had been through to save the whole family, because he's the God of the plot twist. Not only did he minister to the woman; he sent the woman to go get the whole town. Plot twist. He skipped a meal, but he reaped a harvest. God is the God of the plot twist. God said to tell you there's a plot twist happening in your life right now. He said to tell you that the things about you that you don't like he's going to leverage for greater grace to be released in your life. I speak by the Spirit of the Lord into your life. He is turning things around right now! You will see Joseph again, and you will see provision again, and you will have joy again, and you will dance again, and you will shout again, and you will go to the house of God again, and you will rise again, and you will breathe again, and you will sing again! "I thought I'd never see you again", Israel said to Joseph.
It was the plot of ground Jacob gave to Joseph. Never thought it would happen, but it did. God said, "Get ready for unexpected blessings in unlikely places". Through weakness he is strong. In your crushing, oil comes forth. I know this is from God, because he gave it to me so heavy I had to preach it early. I didn't want to forget how I felt when I read Jacob say to Joseph, "I never expected to even see you again, and now I get to see your children too". God said, "Get ready for exceedingly, abundantly above all you ever asked or imagine".
Y'all, just in case you're new here, I'm not necessarily talking about cars or raises or bonuses. God is much bigger than any of that. I'm talking about how God is renovating your heart in this season. It's a plot twist. God is setting me free from being so selfish. It's a plot twist. I thought it was about me. Joseph was still alive. Joseph is still alive. It's a crazy thing Jacob said. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again. Bring me my grandchildren, Manasseh and Ephraim. Bring me those boys. Bring them over here so I can bless them". You know that's what God likes to do, right? "Come here so I can bless you". That woman at the well. "Come here so I can bless you". He asked her for a drink, but he really just wanted to give her one.
"Come here so I can bless you". "If you knew who you were talking to, you would ask me and I would give you the water that never runs dry, and it would become within you a source, a spring of living water". "Bring them here so I can bless them". "Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him". All of this I saw when I saw it happened on the plot of ground Jacob gave his son Joseph.
I thought about on Father's Day and every day, "What am I giving to my children? What am I giving to the others in my life"? I wonder what you're carrying. I wonder what the Enemy is trying to convince you to give up on because what you carry is so significant. I wonder what's in your well. I wonder what wells you're digging in your life right now through your worship, through your praise, through your prayers, through your study, through your commitment, through your openness, through the change God is doing in your life. Watch this. He said, "Bring them here. I want to bless them". Joseph lined them up so that the oldest, Manasseh, would get the right hand, the younger would get the left hand. They're both going to get blessed, but the oldest gets the bigger blessing. Watch what Israel does. Verse 14: "But Israel…" But God. "…reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger…"
Though he didn't deserve it, though he wasn't supposed to be blessed first, though he wasn't expecting it, though it didn't make any sense, though it defied logic and customs and traditions. He had to go through Samaria. He had to keep you alive. You had to survive. You had to make it. You had to rise up. "He put his right hand on Ephraim's head, and he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. Then he blessed Joseph and said, 'May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac…'" It's generational. There's a bigger picture. I will not die here. I will not quit here. I will not become arrogant or discouraged or dismayed. I will not stop here. I have to go through Samaria. "…the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys".
You want your Father's Day message? Here's your Father's Day message. Get ready for a plot twist. You didn't have a dad? You're going to be an amazing dad. Get ready for a plot twist. You have a hurt in your heart that feels unhealed? God is going to turn you into a healer. Get ready for a plot twist. You have some reasons why you don't feel like a very good person? Get ready for a plot twist. God loves Jacob. Jesus loved that woman. God loves people just like you. I know he's the God of the plot twist because his hands look like this. Verse 17: "When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased…" "I don't like this. You're not supposed to be doing this, God. I'm supposed to still have my job. I'm supposed to still… God, this is not…"
But look at what his father said. Verse 19: "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great". God is going to use it all. "'Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.' He blessed them that day…" I pray that today would be a day of unexpected blessing in your soul, because you never know. You never know. Some of y'all are breaking curses and you don't even know it. You never know. You can't die, Joseph. You can't die. There's supposed to be a well with your name on it for a future generation. Yeah, I want to quit sometimes, but I can't. Yeah, sometimes I hide under the covers, but I have to get out at some point because this is bigger than me. It's bigger than a burger. It's about a harvest.
Joseph was betrayed, abandoned. He said, "You intended it for evil. It's all right. God used it for good". How did he know about the cross so many thousands of years before it happened? How did Jacob know Romans 8:28, "All things work together for the good", when it hadn't even been written yet? He knew God is the God of the plot twist. Jacob looked at Joseph and said, "'In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh."' So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, 'I am about to die, but God will be with you…'"
I'm speaking to somebody. Tears are running down your face because that's God saying that to you. It's not a preacher saying that to you. A preacher can't say that to you. I'm not with you. God said, "I will be with you". "…and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers…" The one who almost died got blessed double. This happened in Sychar near Samaria on the plot of ground Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
I want to pray for you today. What I want to pray about is the fact that when Jacob spoke that blessing over Joseph, they weren't in Canaan; they were in Egypt. He was telling him about a land he wasn't living in yet. When we get up here and when we preach and when we say God takes what the Enemy means for evil and turns it for good… That's really hard to receive when you look all around you and everything you see is saying otherwise. But God said, "I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless you better than anybody else can curse you. I'm going to bless you. When I make up my mind to bless you, when I make up my mind to use you, I will go through Samaria and send all of the disciples to McDonald's just to meet with you to show you what is within you. They call you Jacob; I call you Israel".
On the plot of ground Jacob gave to Joseph. God, I thank you that there is an anointing on this word today to break generational bondage off of mindsets. I thank you that today new wells are being dug in this moment. Not three months from now when the country is in better shape or not at some point in the future when we know what's going to happen with our career or our industry.
Right now I am blessed. Right now the hand of the Lord is on me. The younger before the older. You are doing it in your time. It's going to be beautiful in your time, God. I thank you right now that from Sweden to Zimbabwe right down to your county, South Carolina, your people are blessed, not just the fathers but the sons and the daughters and the mothers. Sing, O barren woman. I thank you that a well is springing up in the desert. I bless your name today, because your people are blessed. When you bless us, and when you speak it, it is established. It is done on earth as it is in heaven! Your kingdom come! Your will be done! Hallowed be your name! You turn it! It's a plot twist! It's not over! It's a plot twist…in your marriage, in your ministry, in your mindset. It's a plot twist. Hallelujah!
On the plot of ground Jacob gave his son Joseph, that woman discovered living water. Today I pray over every household. O God, cover them. O God, bless them indeed. O God, enlarge their hearts. Some things don't make any sense. Some things in our lives seem so hopelessly, ridiculously painful. I speak purpose over your people today, God. You sent me here with this water. You sent me here with this word. You are the water. You are the Word.
I have to tell you one more thing. I was going to leave, but I have to tell you this. She came to get water, but she left her jar. Plot twist. She was already carrying what she came for. I'm trying to say you've already got it. You already are enough. I don't care what they said. I don't care what the Devil has been telling you. You've already got it! So, Lord, confirm your Word today with signs and miracles and wonders. We thank you that your cross and your blood speak a better word. In Jesus' name. Come on and give God the greatest shout of praise, and say, "I receive it. I receive the living water". Sing it a few more times. Come on. Come on. He's turning it around! Get ready for the plot twist!