Gateway Church Live | “Prepared Days” by Pastor Daniel Floyd | August 30

As our voices [music] fill the room to what only you can do, we're going to worship you. We're going to worship you. Hey [cheering] [applause] guys, Just like Daniel in the lion's den. Just like [music] Moses in the wilderness.

Just like Joshua. I'll be [music] young and brave. I will be. I will be. I will be. Just like David who picked up those [music] stones just like Esther. Bold before the throne. Just [music] like Noah when he built that boat. I will be [music] I will be I will be strong and courageous. I will not fear. I will for the [music] God is with me wherever I go. [music] I stores. I will [music] not fear for the God is with [music] me wherever I go. Just like Peter, [music] I won't fear the sea. Just like Mary poured [music] out at the feet of Jesus who chose the [music] cross for me. I will be. I will be. I will be. Strong and courageous, I will not fear for the [music]

God is with me. Wherever I go, wherever I go, the storm encourages. [music] I will not fear for the God is with me. Wherever I go, [music] you've made me. You've saved me. In you, [music] I'm home. My father, my friend, my heart you [music] hold. You've made me. You've saved me. In you I'm whole. My father, my friend, my heart you hold. You've made me. You saved me. In you I'm whole. My father, my [music] friend, my heart you hold. You've made me. You saved me. In you I'm [music] my father, my friend. My heart you hold.

Be strong and courageous. [music] I will not fear for [music] the Lord God is with me. Wherever I go, wherever I go, he's strong and [music] courageous. I will not fear. Go for [music] the God is with me wherever I go. I sto I will not fear. [music] No, for the Lord God is with me wherever I go. Hey, [music] wherever I go [music] For [music] forever you are faithful generations

sing your praise. You never fail. Able forever you are able. [music and singing] All creation will you proclaim. You never fail. Hey, welcome to Gateway. We're so glad that you could be here today. If it's your [music] first time or you're new to the family, we would love to get to meet you. Stop by in the lobby at connect [music] central or you can text connect to 710. Every week, your generosity is making a difference in your community and all around the world. If you'd like to give today, you can give on our website, mobile app, or in an envelope at any of our campuses. God is doing amazing things at Gateway.

Whether you're a young adult, a teenager, or a family, there are so many ways to connect to the life of the church and grow deeper [music] in your faith. Check out some things happening soon. [music] Are you looking [music] for ways to grow or connect? Scan the QR code to download our app. Create or update your profile on our website or [music] mobile app to find personalized ways to grow. Keep track of details like giving, dive into community through a group, or take [music] your next steps to serve with your Gateway family. To stay up to date with everything going on, follow us on social media or join your campus Facebook group. Thanks so much for joining us today. Heat. Heat.

[music] Good morning, Gateway [music] Church. We are so excited that you chose to be in the house of the Lord today. Can we glorify him and give him all the praise? [music] He deserves it. He is worth it. Heavenly Father, we glorify you in this room. This [music] is the day you [singing] made. So I'll rejoice [music] and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it. [music] This is where I believe that you are more than [music and singing] enough. You're more than enough for me. God, he's faithful.

You are faithful [music] to your promise. You are strong when I [music] am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The [music] joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my soul. [music] Oh my soul. Bless his name. All [music] the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. [music] Jesus, come on me. Cuz you are worthy of [music] all.

You're worthy of all my praise. You are faithful to your promise. [music] You are strong and I [singing] am when I'm standing in your presence. [music] I am everything I need. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my [music] joy of the Lord. The [music] joy of the Lord is my [music] soul. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Rise up like a river [music] overflowing.

Holy Spirit [music] and let it pour out with [music] overflowing. Holy [music] Spirit rise up like [music] all the glory. Holy Spirit [music] with [music] all the glory. [music] [music] Come on. He is worthy of the praise. He is worthy of the honor. Jesus, you are worthy. [music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[music] is my [music] soul. Bless his name. [music] [music] [singing] [music] The joy of the Lord. [music] Come on, let's give him praise. Yes, [music] God. We praise you, Lord.

Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness. God, we thank you for your presence in our lives. [music] Lord, we sing our praise, honor to you, Jesus. Come on, we sing. [music] Lift your voice and magnify the Lord. Earth and [music and singing] heaven sing in one accord. Holy [music] and most glorious, the one true living God. Lift your [music] voice to magnify the Lord. Oh Lord our Lord, you [music] are greatly to be praised. How majestic [music] is your name in all the earth. Oh Lord Lord hallelu God you reign. [music] How majestic is your name in all the earth.

testify [music] to all that he has done. Bear witness to the [music] cross in his great love. Victorious [music] at Calary, the final battles won. Testify to all [music] that he has done. We say oh [music] Lord our Lord you are great to be praise. How majestic [music] is your name. [music] Hallelujah. [music] How great are you, Lord?

No one like [music] you, Jesus. No one like you. Oh, sing. [music] Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. No one's name is worthy. [music and singing] Praise the Lord. Worship the King of Glory. [music] Praise the Lord. Your name is [music] worthy. Praise the Lord. Worship [music] the King. [singing] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat.

[music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] worship [music] the king of glory.

Yes, [music] we do. And we worship the king of gloryy. All [music] honor, all praise. Worships the king of gloryy. Yes. [music] In this place we worship you God. All the praise to you Jesus. All the praise and lay [singing] your whole life down before the king. You joyfully surrender [singing] everything. Jesus is our great [music] reward for all eternity. Lay your whole life down [music] before the king. Cuz [music] Jesus is our great reward for all eternity. [music] Lay your whole life down before the king.

Yes, God. We lay before you, Jesus. [music] It's all for you, Jesus. I want to [music] read this in 1 Peter 5:7. It says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." And what I love about that scripture is it it doesn't say, "Hey, pretend that you don't have any worries." [music] What it does is just tell you what to do with your worries. And so, whatever you may have walked in with today, whatever you may [music] be carrying, whatever thoughts, whatever circumstances that you're just wanting to control, maybe wanting God to show up in, I've got some good news for you today that you don't have to carry it alone. [music] you can give it to Jesus Christ you because he cares for you. He's after you. He wants you. He wants to carry your burdens for you. And so as we continue in worship today, I just want to encourage you. We could take a moment just to lay it at the feet of Jesus. Lay your circumstances at the feet of Jesus. Lay your blessings at the feet of Jesus because it comes from him. Amen.

So Lord, we today God, we just take a moment and acknowledge your faithfulness in our lives. Lord, we acknowledge that [music] it's better when you carry our pain, Lord, when you carry our worry or we place it in your hands. We place it at your feet, Jesus. So we fall down. We lay [music and singing] our crowns at the feet of Jesus. The greatness [music and singing] of mercy and love at [music] the feet of Jesus. And [music] we cry holy, [singing] holy, holy. We cry holy, [music and singing] holy, holy.

We [music] cry holy, [singing] holy, holy is [singing] the lamb. Let's sing that. We fall [music] down. And so we [music] fall down. We lay our crowns at [music] the feet of Jesus. the [music] greatness [singing] of mercy and love at [music] the feet [singing] of Jesus. We [music] cry holy, holy, holy. [music] We cry holy, holy, holy.

We cry [music] holy, [singing] holy, holy is [music] the lamb. Yes, we cry holy. [singing] So [music] we cry holy. Oh, it's all for you, Jesus. We [music] cry hol at your feet. We [music] cry holy, [singing] holy, holy is [music] the lamb. We lay it at your feet. Jesus. [music] So good. So good.

And I [music] could sing your [singing] name for all my [music] life and [singing] still find more to love each time. [music] Jesus be the name [singing] ever on my [music] sweeter every [singing] time that I call on [music] there just something about your name. There's [music] just something about your [singing] name. There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy. [music] There is no other name. [singing] There is no other name. [music] There is no other [singing] name. Jesus, you're worthy. [music] You have [singing] been the friend [music] who never [singing] left.

I won't forget your [music and singing] faithfulness. Oh Jesus, [music] be the name ever [singing] on my Jesus. Sweeter every [music] time I call on [singing] it. Something about your name. Something about [music] your name. There's just something about your name. I know. There's just something [music and singing] about your name. It makes me cry. [music] There is another There is [music] There is [singing] Jesus. [music] [music] Jesus. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Jesus glory.

[music] We know we know. [singing] We can trust [music] in you, Jesus. You're the failing. You're never [music] you for us. Oh [music] Jesus, Jesus, [singing] Jesus. Your name is like the morning [music] light. The one the dark can't deny the resurrection and the light. [music and singing] Jesus Jesus your name can [music] see your name [music] still you never [music] Jesus [music] [singing] Heat.

[music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Yeah. [music] Heat. [music] Heat up here.

[music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [singing] [music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat [music] [music] up here.

[music] Thank you Jesus. [music] Thank you Jesus. Come on church. Let's give him glory in this place. Let's praise the name of Jesus. [music] There there really is something about the name of Jesus. Maybe you're new here and you're wondering why are we [music] singing and celebrating the name of Jesus the way in which we do. Let me just tell you in the book of Romans chapter 10 Paul says there is no other name by which [music] man can be saved. It's the name of Jesus. In in the book of Acts chapter 3 when God uses Peter to heal the lame man, Peter calls on the name [music] of Jesus because that's where we find healing. Amen. in in Psalms or excuse me, in Proverbs chapter 18, the Bible says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and we can run to it to find [music] safety and security. It's found in the name of Jesus. So, we celebrate the name of Jesus [music] because he's our healer. We celebrate the name of Jesus because we find security. We celebrate the name [music] of Jesus because that's where we find salvation. Amen. It's in the name [music] of Jesus.

And if if my younger kids were here, they may add that we sing and celebrate the name of Jesus because he gives us brave muscles. If you don't know what brave muscles are, let me explain. I've got a 5-year-old, a six-year-old, and [music] they started new schools this year, and for the most part, it's been a really great experience, but they've been a couple days where they've been like, I I don't really want to go. And so [music] last week we were telling our kids, we were like, "Listen, today you're going to show us your brave muscles that you're going to have the courage to go into your class." And then and then we call on the name of Jesus to give them brave muscles. Now, here's why we do that. Because in Philippians 4:13, [music] Paul says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." In other words, we can call on the name of Jesus and he gives us the strength that we [music] need to do the hard things. Now, that doesn't mean that we can do whatever we want. In fact, the text, if you look at it in context, it means we can do whatever God asks us to by the strength that he gives. And here's why I tell you that today, some of us are in this room, and if we're really honest, we need some brave muscles today that you are facing a situation on your job. You're facing a situation at your school. You're facing a situation in your family. And it's going to take some courage. It's going

to take some boldness. It's going to take the strength of Jesus to step forward when you [music] want to shrink back. And I just want to pray over you today. I just want to believe God's word over you that he's going to give you strength. And so, here's what I want to ask you to do. If you don't mind, just bow your heads and close your eyes because I don't want to embarrass anybody. But if you would say, Galani, that's me. Would you pray for me? I need strength. I'm facing a situation and I need strength from God. Would you just slip your hand up right now? I just want to pray over you. Father, you see the hands that are up all over this auditorium and even those that are joining us online and we simply agree with your word over them. We declare strength in the name of Jesus. Courage in the name of Jesus. Hope in the name of [music] Jesus. We thank you that they can do everything that you ask them to in the strength that you give in no other name but the name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Can we give him praise today, church? [music] Amen. Well, [music] listen. It was so great worshiping with you today and Pastor Daniel has an incredible message for us. But before we turn our attention to him, why don't you turn to [music] two or three people, greet them, and welcome them to Gateway Church. [music] Hey ladies, I'm so excited to gather with [music] you on September 24th for Women's Night. It's going to be such a special evening and I [music] cannot wait to spend time together. We're going to laugh, encourage one another, and be reminded of who God has called us to be.

Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. A city set on a hill that cannot be hidden because we were [music] not created to just blend in. And don't come alone. Think of someone in your life that you can invite and [music] bring to this really incredible evening. I cannot wait to see you there. Well, welcome to church everybody. Glad you're here today. Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus one more time at all of our campuses. What a great day to be in church. Do you agree? Good. Uh women's night's coming up. You don't want to miss that. Women, make sure you get um registered. The registrations are going fast. And uh all the guys in the room, don't register, but make whatever you have to do for the lady in your life, make it easy for them to go. Watch the kids, pick them up. If you're an uncle, grandfather, husband, friend, uh make it super easy for them to be a part of that that evening. It's going to be a powerful time. And then September the 13th, everybody shout 13th.

We begin a new series called This Is Us. Going to go for four weeks. We're going to be talking all about the vision of our church, where we believe God is taking us. What does the Bible teach us that the purpose of the church is? You know, we don't get to decide that. Um there's one there's one chief shepherd. His name is Jesus. and he's already told us what mission should we should be on. So, we're going to be unpacking that from the word of God. So, if you call Gateway Home or you're like, man, I wonder what the future holds and make sure you're here for those four weeks. It's going to be a great time together. You ready for the word today? The word of God. I'm ready to jump in. We've been in this series called Best Days and we're in week number three. If you've missed it, I encourage you to go back and get it online. Do want to say hello to all of our campuses and of course everyone joining us online or on demand later in the week or some other time. and our gateway gatherings. And a big hello to our prison campuses. I get so much great feedback from you guys and women. We love you. You're not a project. You're a part of our family. And um somebody they told me whenever I said we visited all the campuses, I got word back from the prison campus said you haven't come here yet. We are working on it. I promise you we are working on it. And so we will come see you. And uh love to see that part of our church family. I want to bring a message today entitled this this thought. Your best days are what? They're your prepared days. How do you prepare for the days ahead? Want to look at the story of the life of Joseph from the Old Testament. One of my favorite stories in all of scripture. We're going to jump in in chapter 41:37.

And it says this, "The plans seem good to Pharaoh and to all his officials." So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?" Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you," I I'll give you the context in a little bit of what all this is, there is no one so discerning and wise as you, you shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you." So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." How many of you know that is a good promotion day? It's a big job. Let's pray together. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you. So, Holy Spirit, would you speak to us? We believe your word has the power to change us today and we'll never be the same because of it in Jesus' name. And everybody said, "Amen."

Amen. How many of you um by show of hands, come on, every campus participate. You would say you hate showing up somewhere unprepared. You hate Okay. How many of you by show of hands would say this? You had a reoccurring nightmare that you got to class and you had not studied for the test. I never had that nightmare. Sometimes I had that reality. Never had that nightmare. [laughter] Sometimes I showed up and just wasn't ready. I have this reoccurring. You want to know my reoccurring nightmare? It has been for decades. I have this dream often. I've had it since we've been here in Texas. That I get up to preach and I'm not prepared. that I've get up and I haven't studied and I don't know what I'm gonna say and I'm fumbling over my words making a fool of myself. It is my reoccurring nightmare. I wake up and my heart rate is racing. It feels so real to me. Are y'all with me? Somebody just said a thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Feel like I'm left. Even though showing up unprepared is just bad in life. Like showing unprepared for the meeting, unprepared for the sales proposal, unprepared for the school, whatever it may be. Showing up unprepared is not good. And it creates an a lot of anxiety in our life.

But how many of you also know that there are some things in life you cannot prepare for? You can't prepare for the job loss. You can't prepare for the injury that took you out from the season you thought you would have. You can't prepare for the wrecked car, the sick child. Like you just you can't prepare for these things in life. And the question I want us to wrestle with is what do we do in the unprepared moments? Let me say it this way. Who do we become in the unprepared moments? Not just what is happening around us, but maybe what happens in us in the moments where we are not prepared for what life throws at us. And it's going to happen to all of us. Jesus said it himself in this world. You will have trouble. You're going to have trouble in this life. you know, not to discourage you on this beautiful Sunday, but you're going to have trouble. But Jesus says, "But take heart. I've overcome the world." So, we have victory in the middle of our troubles. But the reality is, we're all going to face unprepared moments in life. And so, what do we do in those moments? Now, Joseph was facing a moment in his life where from the look of the con of the text, it doesn't match the setup of the message. We're talking about challenging moments, trouble moments. And then we read this passage of Joseph going to prominence. He's basically the prime minister of Egypt.

Only Pharaoh is higher than him. I mean, think about this scene for a moment. Joseph comes in. I'll give you a little more context in a moment, but Pharaoh and all the officials say, "It's good for you to have this job." Think about that for a moment. Pharaoh and all the officials. So, all the officials are like, "We want you to be our boss." This is the moment he's happened having having right here. He's put over all the prime minister of Egypt. But if all you do is read a segment of Joseph's story, you could be misled to think that is the totality of his story. If all you read is the highlight reel of his story, you don't know that there's a backstory. And sometimes we do this to people in our life. We see the highlight moments because how many of you know we only post the highlight reels? Nobody posted this week when you yelled at your kid, right? Nobody posted this week when you cut off the driver, right? We don't post that. We post the highlight reels, the smiling moments. And we can begin to think that God people God uses greatly or even people we admire that it's all the highlight reels. And I would tell you that there is always a backstory.

That there's always some valleys before there are some mountain tops. That there's always some challenges before there are some victories. There's always a backstory. So, you got to put it in context. Everybody shout context. If you're new to Bible study, this is important because context means I don't cherry pick a verse out and make it say what I want it to say. That's how weird things get started. That's how cults begin. Everybody, [laughter] like I take one little verse out, you got to put it in context. Context is simply what's it said before the text? What is saying after the text? Who's the original audience it's written to? What is the context that is happening around the text? And so here's the context of the life of Joseph. If you're with me, say amen. So here's Joseph. Joseph is born to a mom and a dad named Jacob and Rachel. Jacob with Rachel. That's an interesting story because he goes to marry Rachel and the father-in-law tricks him and slips Leah into the tent.

And Leah wasn't as uh nice on the eyes. This is all in the Bible. I'm not making this up. You need to read your Bible. Like, was it? So, then Joseph waited around so he could marry Rachel, who he really wanted to marry anyways before he got tricked, which is a whole another story because his name means trickster, and he got tricked. The trickster got tricked. And so, he gets married. Well, Jacob and Rachel have only two sons. And it is Benjamin and it is Joseph. All right. Now, he has 11 brothers. Only one biological brother. The other 10 are half brothers and there's a lot of tension between Joseph and his brothers because Joseph is the favorite of Jacob and there's no discussion. I mean he just Jacob kind of makes it known. You know how in a family they're like I'm your favorite. I'm your favorite. I'm you know I'm always like Jonas is my favorite when he was little because he didn't talk like he don't talk back. He don't roll his eyes to me. He's never asked me to Apple pay him any amount of money. Yeah. I mean, just the whole like he's my favorite little it's changed now. He is he's learned vocabulary. Um, but this really was legitimately like he like like Jacob made Joseph a code of many colors.

He like loved Jacob. All right. So, there's already tension between the brothers. Well, one day Joseph has a dream or he has a vision and it really is from the Lord. It's a God vision. And he decides that he's going to go share this with his brothers. And the dream is this. Hey all y'all, you're going to bow down to me one day. You imagine how that escalated the tension. Then he has a second dream and he tells his mom and dad and all of his brothers, "All of y'all are going to bow down before me one day." Can I tell you something? Time out. Even if it is a God dream, you don't have to share it with everybody. Some of you may have a dream in your heart, but you don't need to tell everybody about it. You don't need to post about it. You don't you may need to tell the right people about it, but you don't need to go around telling everybody because not everybody can handle the dream that God puts in your heart. And so his brothers couldn't handle the dream. And so they decided they want him dead. So Jacob sends Joseph out to check on his brothers one day out in the fields.

And whenever he is coming at a distance, they see him coming and they decide we're going to devise a plan to kill him. And so they decide they want to kill him. But instead of killing him, Reuben steps up and he says this, one of the halfb brothers. When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. He says, "Let's not take the his life." He said, "Don't shed any blood. Let's throw him in this sistern in a pit and leave him here in the wilderness, but don't lay hands on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So, here was the plan. I'm going to we're just going to put him in a pit. I'm gonna let everybody else cool down. Whenever no one else is looking, I'll get him out of the pit and I'll take him back to dad and everything will be cool. But that's not what happened at all. And Joseph would go from the pit to a guy named Potterer's house to a prison to ultimately to be in front of Pharaoh. And so, Joseph couldn't have prepared for that moment. But I think there's some things Joseph did in those three moments and seasons of his life that give us some clues of things. We may not be able to prepare for the moment, but listen to me. You can predetermine how you will behave in the moment.

You can't always prepare for the moment. You can't always prepare for the phone call you get and the betrayal that happened. You can't always prepare for that. But what you can do is determine, I'm going to predetermine in my heart that whenever life happens to me, these are some non-negotiables that I will run to even in the unprepared moments of life. So the first thing we see in the life of Joseph that I think we can predetermine in our heart is this is that we will do this. We will submit to God. That we'll submit to God. You'll see it as we go on through the life of Joseph that Joseph never got bitter. that he never got revengeful, that that he never allowed that to to get into his heart. So, there had to come a moment, and we see it from his actions, where he yielded himself to whatever God was doing, even if he didn't understand it. Joseph's dream wasn't to be in a pit. His dream is that his brothers are bowing down, that he's in a place of authority, that that he has some kind of power, and all of a sudden, he finds himself in a pit. I wonder if you've ever been there that God burst something in your heart or gave you a dream in your heart, gave you a vision and all of a sudden you're like, "This does not look like that at all." And you get to determine in that moment when it doesn't look like it's going the way you thought it would. How do you respond?

And I would propose that submitting to God is the right response. Let me say it this way. Yielding to God. That God, I yield to you. I don't understand it. I don't know why this is turning out this way. I don't know why the events are playing out in this way. But God, I yield to you. I submit to you. And can I tell you, yielding doesn't mean agreeing. Some of us are waiting until we can get to a place where we go, "Oh, I get it. I agree, God. You did it right." Listen to me. That may never come. You may never understand it this side of eternity. Do I understand why my dad who served the Lord his whole life was sick for seven years, then God healed him, then ended up with Alzheimer's, and now has been in heaven 10 years. I don't understand that. But I yield that God is good. I submit that God knows what he's doing, that God sees a bigger picture that I don't understand. And matter of fact, yielding to God is surrendering the need to know.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. So trusting in the Lord means I'm giving up understanding. I'm not always going to understand what is happening and I'm not always going to understand why the outcome isn't coming in the way that I thought it should. But I'm trusting God. I'm yielding to God. I'm submitting to God. I'm not I'm not disengaging from my faith. No, I'm going to lean in in an even greater way into my faith and go, God, I don't get it. I don't agree with it, but I yield to you. But also, yielding isn't passivity. Trusting God, submitting to him, yielding to him also doesn't mean that I'm passive, that I just disconnect. Well, God, whenever you get your act together, I'll You know, it's not turning out the way I thought it would turn out. So, I'll come to church, but I'm not going to sing.

I'm not going to engage. How many of you know you can be in the room and not be present? How many of you know you can be at the dinner table but not be parenting? It's not passive. Yielding isn't disengaged. is just going, "God, I don't get it, but I'm going to lean into the process. I don't like the pit, but if this is where you have me right now, I know you have measured the walls because nothing nothing that comes my way doesn't go through your hand." It's the life of Job, right? Even though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Right? Even in the God, I don't understand it. Job I didn't like it. He didn't agree with it. I'm sure he lost family, lost income, lost business, lost livestock. All of it's gone. And he goes, "But I trust him." Even in the middle of it, when the unprepared moments come in your life, it is the wrong time to decide whether or not you're going to submit to God. That is the wrong time to decide whether or not you're going to yield to God. You have to determine before those moments ever come that God, no matter what life throws my way, I am yielding to you. I am submitted to you. I have already determined what I will bow my knee to and it is to you alone.

I think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we talked about in week one, right? Our God will save us from the fiery furnace, but even if he doesn't, we still will not bow to you. Why? They deter they predetermined in their heart, I am not bowing to a golden image. I've already determined who I submitted to. I'm submitted to King Jesus and to him alone. We see a submitted heart in the life of Joseph. What can you predetermine in your heart before unprepared moments ever come? That you're going to submit to God. The story goes on to tell us that he's in the pit and before Reuben can get to him, his brother Judah said this. Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?" cuz they had this whole thing. They were going to slay an animal. They were going to, you know, they were going to bring back a bloody coat to his dad. They had this whole plan. And and he says, "What would we do if we if we kill him?" He said, "Come, let's sell him to the IshRaelites. These are like vagabons. They're traveling all around. And let's not lay our hands on him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. So when the Midionite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the sistern and sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishraelites who took him to Egypt. So they were his transportation to Egypt. Then if you jump jump down to chapter 37:36, it says

this. Why? Meanwhile, sounds like a A team show. Anybody remember A Team? Come on. That's when television was great. Mr. See, I love it when a plan comes together. All right. Meanwhile, the Midionites sold Joseph in Egypt to Piper, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. Number two, what can we predetermine in our heart is this is that we will remain faithful to God. So, we're going to submit to God, but we'll remain faithful to God. If we were writing the story, imagine if Joseph was writing the story. This isn't the story he'd write. Some of us look at things in our life and go, "This isn't the story that I would write." We would have written that Joseph got out of the pit, his brothers apologized, he put them all in jail, and he's back with his family. Or maybe the story could have been written on this side. Could have been and Joseph got bitter and forever played the victim card.

But that's not at all what we read in the life of Joseph. We read a guy that remained faithful to God no matter what was going on. If you take some time this week to read the story of Joseph, it says this that when he went to potterer's house, the Lord was with him and the favor of the Lord was on him and he goes to the prison and the favor of God is with him and God is with him in the prison. So there's this hand of God on Joseph and Joseph remains faithful to who he is and to the God that he serves even in the middle of hard times. Think about it for a moment. He's been dejected by his family. That's trauma. He's been sold into slavery by his brothers. He's been transported out of his country into Egypt. He's been resold to potterer's house. He's lost all freedom. He's been stripped of all of his rights. And here he is in Pterer's house. And the scripture tells us that he ends up becoming to Piper his right-hand man and leading the entire house and everything that was underneath him.

Some of us, if we'd have found ourselves in that situation, we' been like, I ain't doing nothing for nobody. But this wasn't the heart of Joseph. There was a character part of Joseph that said, "No, I'm going to be who I am, and who I am is faithful to my God. I'm going to remain faithful no matter what. I'm going to work what God has put in my hands. This may not be what I wanted. I may not be with my family, but I'm going to work what God put in my hands." And can I tell you that is the pattern of scripture. It is the parable of the talents, is it not? The master came back to the par to those he gave um money to and the question wasn't how much do you have? The question was what did you do with what you had? What did you do with what I put into your hand? Did you multiply it or did you squander it? Did you multiply it or did you bury it? And the ones that multiplied it, he blessed even more. The one that buried it, he called him wicked and lazy. Not just lazy, but wicked because he didn't take what God had put in his hands and make more out of it.

What did uh what did Elisha say to the woman, the widow who was in debt over her head? He asked her this, "What do you have in your house?" He didn't ask her, "Can you go make more money? Can you go do something else?" He said, "What do you have in your house?" And she said, "I just have a little bit of oil." And the oil was enough in God's hands. What about the five loaves and two fishes? Was it enough to feed 15, 20,000 people? No. But the little boy brought what he had. Some of us are waiting for God to put more in our lives before we're faithful. And God is going, "Be faithful with the little that you have. And whenever you're faithful with little, then I'll give you more. When I can trust you with a little bit, I'll trust you with a lot." Well, God, when you get me out of this situation, then I'll be faithful. Well, God, whenever you line up all things, when this season of life is over, then I'm going to be faithful to you, God. I'm going to go all in. I'm I'm going serve. I'm going love people. I'm God is going, "Can you just work what you got? may not be the job you want, but work the one you got, everybody. The mayor's not may not be where you want it to be, but work the one you got. The grass isn't greener on the other side.

It's astroturf. The grass is greener where you water it. So, water the one you got. Work with what you've got in your hand. Remain faithful. And some of us are going, "But I'm just waiting on the Lord." Could I propose that maybe God's waiting on you? Could I propose that this waiting on the Lord, and I get it. I'm not saying it's bad. Wait on the Lord. You man the wings like eagles. You sworn. I know the Bible. But could I propose that we spiritualize stubbornness? Amen, preacher. That was good. Well, when God does this, I'll do that. I'm going to start giving whenever the waiting on the Lord. Could I say this? Sometimes we spiritualize laziness. I don't want to get burned out. I'm concerned some of us are going to rust out before we ever burn out.

This is this is I'm trying to I'm I'm your friend. I'm trying to help you. Love you so much. I pray for you every day. We see him remaining faith. Just faithfulness. Faithfulness. I'm going to serve God in this house. I'm going to be the very best. I'm going to rise. The favor of God is on my life, and I'm a slave, but I'm giving it my best. That's faithfulness. You can't always prepare for moments in life, but you can predetermine who you'll be. you can determine that I'm gonna be one that is submitted to God no matter what life throws at me. I'm going to be one that remains faithful to God even when it doesn't make sense. The story goes on to tell us that Joseph ended up being falsely accused by Piper's wife. She was attracted to him. She wanted him. I don't know if there's kids in the room. She really wanted him.

Okay. And day after day she made advancements to him. Day after day Joseph resisted the advancements. Day after day she made advancements. Finally she grabbed him cloak and was like his clothes and was like sleep with me and he like got out of his jacket and he took off running from her and she's holding the his his robe and potterer comes in and she says he tried to take advantage of me. Sold into slavery, dejected by his family, losing all his rights. falsely accused. You know what I love about Joseph is he didn't let injustice rewrite his character. Just because he was treated unfairly, he didn't become an unfair person. He didn't let the hard times in life, listen to me, you can't let you got to remain faithful to God, faithful to who you are in God and not let injustices in life or pain in life rewrite the character. Yes. Let it shape you more resilient, but don't let it rewrite your character where where you become bitter or revengeful or or mad or angry or so triggered so easy by different things in life. Joseph didn't let it rewrite his character. Jesus didn't let it rewrite his character.

He just remained faithful step by step, day by day, remaining faithful to God. And so because he was falsely accused, his master Potterer took him to prison. But if you remember, it's a specific prison because Potterer is the captain of the guard of Pharaoh. And so it's a specific prison he's going into. And it's the prison that Pharaoh would use. So the Bible says in Genesis 39 20-23, y'all still with me? Yes. Says Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him and he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the prison warden, in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in prison. So now, not only was he leading Piper's house, now he's in prison and he's the man in prison. So he's leading all of it. And he was made responsible for all that was done there. And the warden, listen to this, paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with him and gave him success in whatever he did.

How amazing is that? The warden didn't even worry about it. The warden's like, "I'm going on vacation. You got this. Joseph's a prisoner." And while Joseph is in prison, Pharaoh's cupbearer and uh baker, I always want to call him the bread maker, but it's Baker. Pharaoh gets mad with them and throws them in prison. So now these two guys are in prison and they have a dream and they can't interpret the dream. Well, here's the dreamer. Joseph knows how to interpret dreams. In verse 40:8 says this, they they said to him, "We both have dreams, they answered, but there's no one to interpret them." And then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God. Tell me your dreams." So he interpreted their dreams. So thought number three, what we can predetermine in our heart is not just we'll submit to God or remain faithful to God, but we will serve God.

Think about this for a moment. Joseph is helping them understand their dream while his is unfulfilled. So catch this. He is serving someone else's dream still waiting on his. And that is the kingdom of God. That is the kingdom of God. That is kingdom math everybody. World math. Get what's yours. Climb over whoever you have to climb over. Make sure you keep your goals the number one in your life. Don't get distracted by anybody else. Focus on you. Focus on where you're going. Focus on what you're trying to get. That's world's math. God math. Serve someone else and I'll fulfill your dream through the service of their dream. That's God's math. That's kingdom way. [music] So watch this. He interprets their dream.

Pharaoh calls them back up. And when he calls them back up, Joseph says, "Hey, will you remember me?" That's all he asks of them. Turboser, will you just remember me? And the saddest line in the whole story of Joseph is this. It's not that he's thrown in the pit, not that he got in potter's house. The saddest line, it says this. And they forgot about Joseph for two years until Pharaoh has a dream. And Pharaoh has a dream and he has no idea how to interpret the dream. And all of a sudden, the cup bearer goes, "Wait, there's a guy in your prison that knows how to interpret dreams. Why don't we call on him?" So, they clean Joseph up, shave him, give him a hairo, put on new clothes, bathe him. And he comes before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh tells him the dream. And then he says the dream. And Joseph said, "Here's what the dream is telling you. There's going to be seven years of prosperity in Egypt and then seven years of famine. And in the seven years of prosperity, you better prepare so that you're ready for the seven years of famine." And then that's what we read this morning. And Pharaoh goes, "It seemed good to him and all the officials that Joseph be put in charge of all the land of Egypt and do what he said should be done."

So, Joseph is 15 years since he's had his dream, and now he's serving Pharaoh's dream, but his is still unfulfilled. Let me ask you this. Can you serve somebody else's dream while you wait on yours to come to pass? While you're waiting on your child to come back to God, can you pray for somebody else's child to come back to God? While you're waiting on the healing in your own body, can you pray for somebody else's healing? This is the kingdom of God, everybody. While you're waiting on your job opportunity to open up, can you pray and help someone else connect to someone that maybe will give them the job that they've been looking for? This is the kingdom of God. Because God does his best work. When you are serving the dreams of others, he will begin to fulfill the dream in you. Because here's what happened. Seven years of prosperity came just like Joseph said. And seven years of famine came just like Joseph said they would. And in the seven years of famine, his brothers in Israel heard that Egypt had prepared for this. And so they come over to Egypt and they come before the prime minister Joseph, not knowing it's their brothers, and they kneel down before him because they are asking for some food. And Joseph's dream is revealed and accomplished right before his very eyes. But it wasn't because Joseph worked harder at his

dream. It's because Joseph was serving Pharaoh's dream that his dream became reality. Listen to me. It's not about what you can get, who you can step over. It's God. How can you use me to be a blessing in the lives of those around me so that in that moment through me you can be seen? [music] God will fulfill your dream. You take care of others, God will take care of you. Can I give you one more thought? And I want to propose to you that the pit and potterer's house and the prison were not roadblocks to Joseph's dream, but they were pulling him towards his dream. Because some of you think that the pit moments and the potterer house moments and the prison, whatever that looks like in your life, that those are the barriers to what God wants to do in your life. I want to propose that they are not the barriers. They are actually the things that are pulling you [music] towards it. Because Joseph would have never been in front of Pharaoh if he hadn't have been in Pharaoh's prison.

And he never would have been in Pharaoh's prison if he hadn't have been in Piper's house and got wrongly accused. But he'd have never been in Pterer's house and got wrongly accused if he'd never been thrown in a pit. And he never would have got thrown in a pit if his brothers didn't have it out for him and want to kill him. So the pit was moving him to Piper's house to get him in Egypt. And it was not only in Egypt, but he was putting him in the captain of the guard of Pharaoh [music] so that whenever he ended up in the prison, he could interpret a dream for a cup bearer and a baker. And two years later, they would remember him so that he could end up standing before Pharaoh when Pharaoh was in need of a word from the Lord. And whenever he stood before Pharaoh, he interpreted the dream. He saved Egypt. He saved his family. And his dream became fulfilled. It was always pulling him towards his dream. not away from his stream. [music] So, it's all in how you see it. Some of you feel like, man, I'm in a pit of life right now. You can see it as a pit or you can see it as something that is propelling you to the purpose of God in your life.

So you can't prepare for unprepared moments, but you can predetermine in your heart who are you going to be. And I would encourage you to determine today, I'm going to be [music] submitted to God. I'm gonna remain faithful to God and I'm gonna serve God no matter the circumstance. I'm going to live with a servant's heart. Is that not the life of Jesus? Everybody. Philippians 2:6, who being in the very nature God. Don't get it wrong. Jesus wasn't just a good man. He was the God man. being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. What did he do? Being in found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself and he became obedient to death, even death on [music] a cross. Do you know what that that humbled himself? It was an emptying of himself. He did not empty his divine nature.

He emptied his status and role to become a man, humbled himself. What does the Bible Paul goes on to write what he says? Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and he gave him the name that is above every name. That idea of exalted himself is a rare compound Greek word in the scriptures that means a hyper exaltation and it is a result of his hypers servantthood. The two are connected. It is the pattern of the kingdom of God. Jesus himself, humble servant, exalted by God. Joseph going through all the things he went through, exalted by God. Moses, serving Jethro and sheep that he did not own so he could become the shepherd of Israel to lead him out of slavery. Humble servant, God exalted him. David served Saul after he had been anointed king. And Saul wanted him dead.

And Saul was this thing that stood between him and the palace. But David served him with a humble heart, played music for him, and at the right time, God exalted him. This is the pattern of the kingdom. You serve, then you become great. You serve, then God fulfills your dream. you serve and then in due season he will exalt you with his mighty right hand. That's what the Bible says. So you can't prepare for unprepared days, but you can predetermine in your heart who will you be. So that's what I ask you. Who will you be? And I pray your answer is I'm going to be submitted. I'm going to be faithful. and I'm going to be a servant. Do you receive the word of God today? Is that helpful? [music] Will you pray with me at all of our locations? Bow your head. Close your eyes if you can, right where you're at online.

Maybe you're here today and you've never taken a first step of submitting your life to God. You've never really had a moment in your life where you said, "God, I'm going to live life your way. I'm going to submit my life. I'm going to make you the Lord of my life." In other words, I want you to call the shots. I've been doing it my way for long enough. Maybe you've never come to that moment. That would be the first step for you today. The Bible says that we all have a problem that none of us can solve. It's called sin. We miss the mark. We don't meet the standard. But the scripture also tells us that Jesus came and he lived the life you and I could never live. He lived a perfect life and he died the death we really deserve. He paid the penalty for our sin so that we could have relationship with him now and make sure our home is in heaven in eternity.

And so some of you here today at all of our locations, you need to take that step today. You would say, "Pastor, today I need a fresh start with God." Now, some of you, you're here today and there there was a moment in your life where you were really walking with the Lord, but you know in your heart you're far from him right now. And so, in just a moment, we're going to pray together. There's nothing necessarily special about the words I say, but it's about the faith in your heart and your intent. So, if you say, "Pastor, that's me." When I count to three, I just want you to shoot your hand up long enough for myself or the pastor at your campus to see. No one's going to come to you or point you out. You say, "I need a fresh start in God today." If that's you, on three, you lift your hand. One, two, three. Just shoot it up high. Just keep it up all over the room. God bless you. God bless you. Lots of hands. Lots of hands. God sees you and heaven is rejoicing over you. Just so you know. You can put them down. Church, will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of those who slip their hand up? Just say, "Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead.

Today I make you my Lord and Savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning in Jesus name. Everybody said a big amen. Amen. Can we put our hands together and celebrate those who made that decision? Incredible. [music] Amen. Amen. Hey, can we also just thank God for such an incredible message. Pastor Daniel, thank you. Such a great reminder on kingdom perspective of preparation. So, such [music] a powerful word. And as Pastor Daniel mentioned, we had hands that went up all over the auditorium. And so, [music] one more time, church, can we give it up for those that said yes to Jesus? [music] You just made the best decision ever. Your life will never be the same. We are absolutely so proud of you. And honestly, that's not the end. And that's just the beginning. We would love the [music] opportunity to help you take some next steps. And there's really a couple ways to do that. First of all, you can just text the word Jesus to 710 [music] and we can follow up with you there. But here in just a moment, I'm going to share a few announcements. And when I finish, [music] I'm going to have everyone stand to their feet and our prayer team is going to come forward here down at the front. We'll also have prayer [music] team members there uh in at the second level. But we would love the opportunity to pray for you. If you said yes to Jesus, when I have everyone stand up, you can come forward and do that. But not only that, we are a praying [music] church. If you are going through a difficult time today, maybe in a relationship, maybe you need healing, maybe there just something that you're navigating and you need wisdom. Our leaders that will be here at the front

would love [music] the opportunity to pray with you when I have everyone stand up. Just a couple of reminders for you. First of all, we are [music] just about to kick off our group semester. Everybody say small groups. Small groups. We want to see everyone involved [music] in a small group. And we have a small group booth located out in the lobby. And we have groups that meet all over DFW. And listen, we love Sundays. [music] We love experiencing the presence of God here. And we know that we grow when we come here, but we believe that [music] we actually grow more in circles, not in rows. And so I want to encourage you to get involved in a small group. You can text the word groups to 710 or stop by the booth out in the lobby. And then also, we have new people here at Gateway Church and we want to welcome you. In fact, church, can we put our hands together and welcome [music] again all of you that are here for the first time or the first time in a long time. So excited that God brought you here and we [music] would love the opportunity to personally connect with you. And there's a couple ways to do that as well. Uh out in the lobby there's an area called Connect Central. [music] I'll be there along with some of our leaders. We'd love to meet you, shake your hand, answer any questions that you have. And so if you have a moment after service, please stop [music] by Connect Central. But if you can't do that for whatever reason, just text the word connect to 710. Or if you're [music] joining us online, just text connect to 710 and we'll connect with you there. I want to invite everyone to stand to your feet now. And I want to invite our prayer [music] team to come forward also there in the balcony. And I'm just going to pray a blessing [music] over you today. And when I finish that, again, if you have

any prayer need, I encourage you to come forward. [music] We'll stay here as long as we need to. Or if you gave your life to Jesus, I encourage you to come forward and connect with one of our leaders. Uh this [music] is out of the book of Numbers chapter 6. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. [music] Amen. God bless you. If you have any prayer needs, come forward and we'll see you next weekend. [music] All right, y'all sing this with me.