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

Yes, you are good and you love it will never [music] change. No, you never change. I am found in the midst of your presence where your grace [music] will pursue me for all my days. For all my days. [music] Because of [music] who you are, because of what you've done, death has lost [music] it grip on me. I [singing] won't fear [music] the night. You have brought me [singing] life. By your blood, I am redeemed.

Because of who you are, because of what you've done, death has lost its grip on me. And I won't fear the night. You have [music] brought me alive by your blood high and redeemed. [music] I will rest in the hope of your promise. You are good [music] and your love. It will never change. No, you never change. I am found in the midst of your presence [music] where your grace will pursue me for all my days.

For all my days. For all my [music] days. for all my days. [music] All right, y'all sing this with me. Oh wo. Oh. 1 2 3. Let's go. I walk by faith [music] and not by side.

I'm pressing on. I'm running toward the prize. I will not fear what I can't see. No matter [music] what may come, I still believe. Cuz I know that I [music] know that you're with me. [music] Time and time again, I've seen your faithfulness. God, your good and all your promises. [music] You raised me from the grave. You call me by my name. [music] You set me free. And now I'm on my way to my best day. [music] Wo. My hope is built on nothing [music] less than on your blood and in your righteousness.

I have a purpose. You got a plan. You're always working. You're not [music] finished yet. And I know I [music] know that you're for me. Yes, I know. Time and time [music] again. I've seen your faithfulness. God, you're good and [music] all your promises. You raised [music] me from the grave. You call me by my name. You set me free. And now I'm on my way to my [music] best day. And I know how good you are. I've seen what you can do to make the waters [music] part, the mountains move. I hear you call my name. So I'm on my way.

[music] I will not fear the fire. I walk right [music] through the flame. You're here. You're by my side. Hey, welcome to Gateway. We're so glad that you could be here today. If it's your first time or you're new to the family, we would love to get to meet you. Stop by in the lobby at connect central or you can text connect to 71010. Every week, [music] 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 [music] our campuses. God is doing amazing things at Gateway. [music] 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 [music] grow deeper in your faith. Check out some things happening soon.

Oh. Oh. Are you looking for ways to grow or connect? Scan the QR [music] code to download our app. Create or update your profile on our website or mobile app to find personalized ways to grow. Keep [music] track of details like giving. Dive into community through a group or take 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 family. We are so

excited that you chose to be in the house of the Lord this [music] morning. Let's glorify him with our praises and the joy that he has given us this morning. [music] Lord, we have come to glorify you. This [music] is the day you make. So [music] I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and [singing] be glad in it. [music] Come on. This is where I believe that you are [music] more than enough. You're more [singing] than enough for me. Come on. He's faithful. You [music] are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am. When I'm standing in your [music] presence, I have everything I need.

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

[music] The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] your heart [music] like a river overflowing. [music] Holy Spirit let it [music] go with all [music] Holy Spirit.

[music] Heat. [music] Yeah. [music] Heat. [music] Glory. [music] You are worthy. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat.

[music] Heat. Heat. [music] Yeah. [music] Heat. [music] Yes, Lord. We just bless your name in this place today, [music] God. We thank you for your faithfulness, God. We praise you [music] for your goodness, but we say that you are good.

You're faithful, [music] God. Lift your voice and magnify [music] the Lord. Earth and [music] heaven sing in one accord. Holy and [music] most glorious, the one true living God. Lift your voice and magnify [music and singing] the Lord. [music] Oh Lord our Lord, you are [singing] greatly to be praised. How majestic [music] is your name in all the earth. Oh Lord, [music] our Lord, hallelujah, God, [music] you reign. How majestic is your name in all the earth.

[music] Testify to all that he has done. [singing] Bear [music] witness to the cross in his great love. Victorious [music] at Calary. The final battle won. We [music] testify to all that he has done. Lord, [music] you are crazy to be [music] praised. How majestic is your name? [music] Hallelujah. You [music] majestic your name. [music] How great you are.

How great. [music] How good. How faithful [music] to praise the Lord. Praise the [music] Lord. No one's name is worthy. Praise the Lord. [music] Worship the king. [music] Praise the Lord. [singing] [music] [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] Yeah. [music] Heat. [music] Yeah.

[music] Heat. [music] [music] Oh, [music] heat, heat. [music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Lord, we worship the king of glory.

Yes, we [music] worship the king of glory. Yes, in this place. [music] Oh, we worship the king of gloryy. It's all for [music] you, Jesus. It's all for you. All our worship [music] is for you. [music] Lay your whole life down before the king. Joyfully surrender [singing] everything. Jesus is our great reward for all [music] eternity. Lay your whole life down before the king. For Jesus [music] is our great reward for all eternity.

We lay your whole life down [music] before the king. Yes, we [music] lay it at your feet. Lord, we lay it at your feet. All our worries, all our cares, [music] we lay it at your feet. I want to read [music] this in 1 Peter 5:7. And it says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." And what I love about that scripture is [music] it it doesn't say to to pretend that you don't have any worries. It simply just says what to do with them. And so for any of you walking in today, whatever you're walking in with, whatever may be consuming your thoughts, [music] whatever circumstance that you're believing in God in, whatever you're wanting, even hoping to control, [music] I've got some good news for you is that you don't have to carry it alone.

You can give it to Jesus because he so cares for us. [music] And so as we continue to worship in this place, I just want to encourage [music] you just to to lay your circumstances at his feet, to lay your blessings at his feet, lay your worries at his feet. God, we honor you, Lord. We trust in you. So we fall down. We lay our crowns at the feet [music] of Jesus. The greatness [singing] of mercy and [music] love at the feet of Jesus. [music] And we cry holy, [singing] holy, holy.

We [music] cry holy, [singing] holy, holy. We cry holy, [music and singing] holy, holy is the lamb. We cry holy [music] and we cry [singing] holy, [music] holy, holy. We cry [music] [singing] holy, holy, holy. We [music] cry holy, [singing] holy, holy is [music and singing] the lamb. As we lay at your feet, we say, "And we [music] cry [singing] holy, holy.

It's all [music] filled, Jesus. We cry holy, [music and singing] holy, holy. We [music] cry holy, holy, holy is [music] the lamb. We sing. We cry holy, holy, holy. We [music] cry holy, holy. It's all for you. We cry [music] holy, holy, holy is the lamb. No one like you Jesus.

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

I [singing] won't forget [music] your faithfulness. [singing] Jesus feel the name ever on my [music and singing] It's sweeter every time I call [music and singing] on you. There's just something about your name. There's [music] just something about your name. There's just something about your name [music] that makes me cry. Holy. [singing] There is no other name. There is no [music] other name. There is no [singing] other name. Jesus [music] is your something about your something. [music] There is no [music] makes me cry.

[music] Jesus, you are [music] name above every name. Yes, you are [music] the Jesus. Jesus, [music and singing] Jesus. [music] Oh, it's your name Jesus. Your name is like [music] the morning light. The dark can't deny [singing] the resurrection [music] and the life. Jesus, [singing] Jesus, [music] your name. Save your name.

[music] So we still [music and singing] Jesus [music] come [music] Jesus the Yeah. Heat. [music] [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] Heat.

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

[music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] Thank you, Jesus. Come on, church. Can we give him some [music] glory in this place? Can we celebrate the name of Jesus? There's no other name like it [music] there. There really is something about the name of Jesus.

Maybe you're new here today and you're wondering why do they sing and celebrate the name of Jesus. Let me tell you why. Because in in Romans chapter 10, Paul says there is no other name by which man can be saved. That's why we celebrate his name. In Acts chapter 3, when uh God uses Peter to heal the lame man at the gate called beautiful, he calls on the [music] name of Jesus and says, "Get up and walk." How can we see the miraculous [singing] power of Jesus? It we we celebrate the name of Jesus because in Proverbs chapter 18, the scripture says that we can run to the name of Jesus that that the name of the Lord is a strong [music] tower and we can find safety and security. There's no name like the name [music] of Jesus. And so in Jesus' name we find salvation. In Jesus' name we find healing. In Jesus' name [music] we find safety and security.

And if if my kids were here, they may add something to that. They might say, "In Jesus' name, we find our brave muscles." Our brave muscles. You may have never heard of brave muscles, but but [music] brave muscles are the muscles you you get from God to be courageous. See, my kids, the two youngest, the six-year-old and the 5-year-old, they've started new schools, and for the most part, it's been a really great experience. [music] But every now and again in the morning, they're concerned about going to school. They're struggling a little bit. And so what we said to him last week is we said, "Hey, listen. Today you're going to show us your brave muscles. Today you're going to show us your brave muscles." And then and then we prayed over him, Jesus, give them brave muscles. Give them brave muscles. And here's why we do that. Because in Philippians 4:13, the scripture says, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Now, this is so important. [music] What Paul is not saying is you can do whatever you want to do. What he's actually saying is he will give you the strength to [music] do whatever he asks you to do.

Now, I tell you that this morning because some of us today need brave muscles. Some of you are dealing with a [music] situation at work. Some of you are dealing with a situation at school. Some of you are dealing with a situation relationally. And you're going, I I don't know if I can do this. And God says, "I will give you brave muscles through Jesus [music] Christ." And so, here's what I'd love to do is I'd love to just take a moment and pray over you. And so, I want to invite you just to close your eyes for a moment. It's not I want to pray over you and I don't want to embarrass you. And if you just say, "Jalani, I need prayer today. I I need to be reminded that my strength is found in Jesus. There's a situation or a circumstance and I need the strength of God to help me." Would you just raise your hand right now? You don't need to be embarrassed. This is what church is [music] about. We just want to pray over you. Father, you see the hands that are up all over this auditorium, even those that are joining us online. And I simply pray what Paul said in [music] Philippians 4:13.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. We declare strength over them right now in the [music] name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Come on, one more time. Can we give him praise? [music] Amen. Well, listen church, it was so great worshiping with you this morning and uh Pastor Daniel has an incredible message for us as [music] we continue this series, Best Days. But before we turn our attention to him, why don't you turn to two or three people, greet [music] them, and welcome them to Gateway Church. [music] The Bible says that we are his masterpiece and that we have been created a new in Christ Jesus.

Coming to women's nights are just so inspiring. Just being a loving light is one of the greatest things that you can be in someone's life. Coming to a night like [music] that where really one word from the Lord can shift generations to come. I would just encourage you to show up and see what the Lord's going to do. Well, good morning everybody. Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus one more time. Every campus, [applause] he's the one that is worthy. Women's night's coming up. Make sure you register if you're a lady, guys. Don't be registering. You don't need to be there. Um, but it's going to be a great night. it is filling up. So, make sure that you go ahead and do that.

Don't delay on that. And then September the 13th, everybody, I want you to be in as a church and uh going to talk about vision, what we believe from scriptures is the purpose of the church. And so, I don't want you to miss a Sunday of that. If this is home for you in any way, make sure you are here for that Sunday. All right? Is that a deal? Everybody said amen. All right. [music] Um we're Are you glad to be in church today? Yes. Good. Want to say hello to all of our locations. everybody joining us online or on demand later in the week. Of course, our gateway gatherings and our prison campuses. And if you're here for the first time or the first time maybe in a long time, we just want to say we're so glad you're here. Come on, every location. Let's put our hands together for those that are visiting with us. We pray you'll make this home. Real quick in this series called Best Days. And uh we are in week three of it. We will conclude it next week. But today I want to talk to you um around this idea of your best days are your prepared days. Your best days are your prepared days. I want us to look at Genesis chapter 41. If you're familiar with the scripture, this may be a familiar story to you. It's one of my favorite in all of the Bible. And it's on a life uh on a name a guy named Joseph on his life kind of follows him in three significant moments in his life. Um but I want to start in chapter 41 37-40. You can follow along on the screen with me. It said this, and I'll give you context in a few moments. It said, "The plans seem good to Pharaoh and to all of his

officials." So, Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the Spirit of God?" And then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all of this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. [music] 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 you know that was a good day, good promotion day. Um let's talk about our prepared days. Let's pray together. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you. Holy Spirit, would you speak to us? We believe your word has the power to change us and we'll never be the same because of it. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Everybody said amen. Amen. How many of you ever had that reoccurring dream that you showed up for something unprepared? Come on. Anybody raise your hand? Every campus. Okay, you got that. This is our straight A students. The rest of us, we we often didn't show up prepared. It wasn't a nightmare. It was reality, right? Um, you know, one of my reoccurring dreams, like one of my reoccurring nightmares is this, and it has been for, you know, I've been preaching for over 30 years. It has been for this whole time, is that I show up on a Sunday and I haven't studied. It's like my I mean, I wake up from that moment feeling as real as it can. Um,

and I've had it since I've been here in the last year. I've been standing here. I didn't study. I'm not prepared. I'm trying to find words to say to make you think I'm prepared. It's like my reoccurring nightmare. How many of you know that being unprepared is a bad thing? Showing up to a meeting unprepared, showing up to your class unprepared, showing up any area of your life unprepared is a very bad thing. But how many of you know there are moments in life that you're unprepared for? It's the job loss. How many of you know you're not prepared for that? It's the betrayal in a friendship. You're not prepared for that. It maybe the injury in the sport that you love and thought you maybe would have a career in. You're not prepared for that. It's the sickness that comes. You're not prepared. How many of you know there are moments in life that none of us are prepared for that? They just come out of nowhere. You don't want them. You don't desire them. You're completely unprepared for them. And we all face this. Matter of fact, Jesus warned us. He said, "In this life, you will have trouble. You will have trouble." In other words, there's going to be some days that aren't awesome. He says, "Take heart. I've overcome the world." But what he's trying to tell us is there's going to come some days that you are not prepared for. And so my question for you today is this. What do you do in the unprepared moments? Let me ask you this.

What happens in you in the unprepared moments? What happens to you in the unprepared moments? Do you lose your mind? Do you doubt your faith? Do you just bear and grin it until it's all over? What do you do in the unprepared moments? More importantly, what happens in you in the unprepared moments? That's what I want us to talk about today. The text we just read maybe doesn't seem it correlates with the setup of this message because Joseph is not in a challenging moment. He's not in a rough moment. He just got promoted. Joseph just got promoted to be basically the prime minister of all of Egypt. Only Pharaoh would be higher than him. Here he is in charge of everyone. He's interpreted a dream for Pharaoh. And the dream let him know there would be seven years of prosperity, then seven years of famine. And Joseph told them how to prepare for the famine that was coming. And in that moment, Pharaoh goes and all of his officials. It seemed good to all of them to put him charge of everyone.

Now think about that for a moment. It seemed good to Pharaoh and all the officials. So all the officials around said, "We want to work for you." That's quite a day. Wouldn't you agree that even the people around you go, I want you to be my boss. And so this is what happens to him. But if we just look at this moment of Joseph's life, we don't get the whole story of Joseph's life. All we read was the highlight reel moment. We didn't put it in what is called context. If you've been around the Bible much, you know that you can't just study one verse. You have to study it in context, right? One of the first things we learn is that you can't just cherrypick a verse out. That's how weird things get started. That's how a cult spin up, right? You can't like you can't just cherrypick one verse. You got to like read it in context. Meaning, you got to read what happened before it. You got to read what happened be behind it. You got to know who they're talking to, who's the original audience, so you can get the full picture of what is happening. And I would say that in our lives, if you don't put things in context, you'll believe some wrong things about God. You may look at other people's lives and see their highlight reel and think, "Man, God just blesses them. Everything goes well in their life. Everything in their life just works out the way that it should work out." But I would propose that just like Joseph's story, there's a backstory to the people that you admire.

That if you were to sit down with them, they would tell you, "I didn't get here without some bumps in the road, some valleys along the journey." That you've got to put some things in context. If you're with me, say, "Amen. You got to put it in context that not everybody has the wonderful mountaintop moments in their life. That there are days of the valleys. And I would propose that it is the valleys that are preparing you for the moments that God wants to do the great things in your life. That the unprepared moments are actually actually preparation moments for the thing that ultimately God wants to do in your life. And so here's the context of Joseph's life. He was one um he was one of 12 brothers. He had 11 brothers, one full brother, 10 half brothers. His mom was Rachel and his dad was Jacob. If you want to reverse back into the Old Testament story, um Jacob loved Rachel.

He had to tolerate Leah. Leah wasn't that attractive. Rachel was really attractive. Like, are y'all are y'all following me? Some of you are like, "This is in the Bible." Yeah, go back and read it. Um, and so, but Rachel had a hard time having children, but she ends up having Benjamin and Rachel. So, he had one full brother named Benjamin. Then he had the rest of his 10 brothers were half brothers. And so, Jacob at a young age, it's obvious that he's his dad's favorite. Matter of fact, his dad makes him a coat of many colors and gives it to him. And so it creates this jealousy and tension within the family as you can imagine because it's not like when your kids ask you, they ask me all the time who's the favorite. Whenever Jonas was little, I would say him. He doesn't talk back. Doesn't have an attitude. I'll tell you who my favorite is. Right now it's Jonas. Not so true anymore. Okay. So, but Jacob is said, "You're it's obvious Joseph's the favorite." And so this creates a real tension. Well, one day the brothers are out watching the livestock. And so Jacob tells Joseph, his son, go check on your brothers. So he goes to check on his brothers. And as he's heading out, I'm giving you the cliffnotes version. Okay? Take a long, it would take all day to read the text.

So he as he's going out to check on his brothers, they see him coming from a while off and they say, "Let's kill him." And the reason they want to kill him is because Joseph's had a dream. He's had a vision and it is from God. And he goes and shares this dream with his brothers and this is the dream. All y'all going to bow down to me one day. Now think how that escalated the tension. Are y'all following with me? They already hated him and now they're like, "You're going to bow down to me." Can I tell you something? Just because you have a dream from God doesn't mean you need to tell everybody. Not everybody can handle your dream. Not everybody can handle the thing God wants to do in you. You need to find the right people. Joseph probably shouldn't have told his brothers. Then he had a second dream and his mom and dad were bowing down to him as well. So he decided to share that with everybody. So the tension is high. So by the time they come around and he comes to see them, they see him coming from a distance and say, "Hey, let's try to kill them." But then Reuben steps up, one of the brothers, and he says this.

He said, 'When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. Let's not take his life. He said, don't shed any blood. Throw him in this sistern or this pit here in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him. Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So Ruben was trying to say, "Hey, let's don't kill him. Let's throw him in the pit." Rubman's thinking they'll calm down and then we'll go get him out of the pit and I'll take him back to his dad Jacob, right? But that's not exactly what happened. And Joseph finds himself in a pit. And I want to share with you three things from these three moments. There's the pit, there's potterer's house, and then there's the palace. Three things I think Joseph did that even in unprepared moments, you can predetermine in your heart to do that when the unprepared moment in life comes, you can predetermine in your heart. I may not be able to prepare for the moment. I may not have been able to prepare for whatever the circumstance was, but I can predetermine some things about how I will respond when those moments come. If you're with me, say amen.

All right. Number one is this is submit to God. Number one, just determine in your heart when unprepared moments come into your life, you're going to submit to God. I imagine Joseph didn't think he would find himself in a pit. I mean, he had a dream of people bowing down to him. The pit doesn't look like that. He got beat up by his brothers. He got thrown into this pit. This isn't the dream that he had in his heart. This isn't the vision. And this was a God vision, everybody. This wasn't a pipe dream. It was a God vision that he had. But I don't think being in a pit is where he thought he would be. But I think we can see from the life of Joseph that he determined in that moment to submit to God. You'll see later in the story how the character of Joseph rises in every situation that he is in. But there had to come a moment where he said to himself, "God, I don't understand this, but I'm willing to submit to your plan no matter what the cost is." And I'm just telling you, when the unprepared moments in life come, you can try the grip of control. You can try to manipulate the situation out for your own good. You can try to network it with other people, you know, and see if you can resolve it. Or you can determine in your heart, God, I may not understand it, but I submit to you in the process.

You can determine, let me say it this way, to yield to God. Determine to yield to God. And let me tell you this, yielding doesn't mean agreeing. Some of us think we've got to agree with God to yield to God. You don't have to agree with him to yield to him. And you don't have to understand him to yield to him. Some of us want to yield to God whenever we understand what he's doing. Can I can I tell you submission to God is surrendering the ability to understand it. Submitting to God, yielding to God is surrendering the outcome and even understanding the process. Proverbs 3:5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Trusting in the Lord means I'm willing to give up understanding. I'm going to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I'm not going to lean on what I can think of and what I can make of the situation. I'm giving away understanding and submitting to God. Can I tell you this too? Not only is yielding not just agreeing with God or or yielding isn't just agreeing with the outcome, but yielding is also not passivity.

It doesn't mean this, well, I'm just going to sit back and wait, wait for God to do his thing. I'm going to eject from it. No, it means that in the process, I'm still going to have a lean in in my spirit towards what God wants for me. It doesn't mean that I'm going to give up on the dream or give up on the vision or give up on the purpose that God has put inside of me. It doesn't mean I walk along passive. It's Jesus in the garden, right? Not my will. this isn't the direction I want to go. This isn't the thing I want to do. Not my will, but yours be done. It didn't mean that Jesus just sat in the garden and was like, I'm not going to the cross. This isn't working out in my favor. This isn't going the way that I thought. No, he said, not my will. In other words, let this cut pass from me. This isn't what I want, but not my will, but yours be done. This is the picture of submission. If Jesus could submit, then shouldn't we?

But I think the challenge is we like our steps being ordered of the Lord when they lead to promotion, when they lead to blessing. What about when they lead to the cross? What about when they lead to challenge? What about with when I'm following God and I'm in a pit? What about those days? Can I still say, "God, I yield to you. I don't like it. I'm not saying this is fun, but I'm submitted to you." It's Job, right? Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Yet will I submit. I think we could say Job. God, I trust your way. It's what we talked about in week one. She Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right? Our God will save us from the fiery furnace. But even if Even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't, we're not going to bow down to you. Why?

We've already determined where we're bowing our knee. And it's not to you, and it's not to culture, and it's not to people, and it's not to money. We've already determined. We're bowing our knee to God. And that is that is it. We're submitted. We're yielded to the father. God, have your way in my life. This is where Joseph was. It the story goes on to tell us that [snorts] um in Genesis 37 it says, "Now Judas said to his brothers, one of the other brothers said,"What will we gain if we kill him and cover up his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishelites, these are gypsies basically, and not lay our hands on him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." And his brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the sistern and sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishraelites who took him to Egypt. Now if we jump down to verse 36, this is what's happening now in the life of Joseph. It says, "Meanwhile, the Midionites sold Joseph in Egypt to Piper, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard."

So, not only did we learn that, Joseph, you can submit to God. You can have a predetermined posture. God, I'm yielding to you in the unprepared moments in life. But number two, we see in Joseph's life that we should learn is to remain faithful to God. Not only going to submit to God, I'm going to remain faithful to God. If we were writing the story, we would have written and Joseph got out of the pit and the brothers went to jail and they paid for all [laughter] the bad things that he had done to him. Or we may have written it this way. Joseph got bitter and he got entitled and he began to play the victim card and he played the victim card the rest of his life. But it's neither of those responses that we see from the life of Joseph. We see a guy that remains faithful to God no matter the circumstance. The Bible tells us, if you read this text, I encourage you to do it maybe this week. It says that as Joseph began to work in Piper's house, he the hand of the Lord was with him and he grew into the place where he was over all of Piper's house. So, he was managing the entire house. So, here he is just being sold. Think about it. Stripped of dignity, stripped of his freedom, stripped of his own ability to make decisions of his own. He just went a few days earlier, was with his dad. I would imagine in his mind going, "Why did I ever go out and meet my brothers? Why did I ever go out to check on them? If I

hadn't made that one dec if I hadn't made that one decision, it wouldn't have led to this and to that and to so forth. And this is where he is." But in the middle of it, he doesn't get bitter and he doesn't get angry and he doesn't get revengeful. He determines to be faithful and he rises to a place of prominence in the house of Piper. Let me say it this way. He worked what he had. It's the parable of the talents, is it not? That the the master gave out talents and he came back and he didn't judge each of the people based on how much they had. He judged them based on what they did with what they had. He didn't come back saying, "Why did I give you five and now you don't have 15? You doubled it. Why did I give you 10? And why don't you have 30 now?" He just wanted to know they did something. And the one that buried the talent, what did he call them? Wicked and lazy. So it wasn't about how much they had.

It's about what they did with what they had. Were they willing to work what was in front of them? In other words, it may not be the job you want, but are you willing to work the one you have? It may not be the marriage may not be where you want it to be, but are you willing to work it to get it to where you want it to be? It may not be the situation that you're in, but are you willing to work with what God has put in your hands? Some of us, we get so passive and we we eject, but that is not the pattern of scripture. Second Kings, the widow who's in debt. She goes and gathers jars and uses what the prophet says, "What's in your house?" And she said, "I just have some oil." And he says, "We can work with that." The little boy with five loaves and two fish, he shows up with what he has. And what does Jesus do? He multiplies it. Before David could ever swing a sword, what did he do? He picked up a sling and some rocks and he worked with what he had. It is the pattern of scripture over and over that God expects us to do something with what we have and not just to sit on it and be passive in it, but to be faithful to God. And some of us, we think, well, I'm just waiting on the Lord.

Maybe God's waiting on you. Amen. Maybe we've spiritualized our stubbornness. Maybe we've spiritualized this thing to be I'm just waiting on the Lord. No. Maybe God is just waiting on you to get up and take a next step and then a next step and a next step to do what he has shown you to do. Well, I don't know what to do next. Well, do what he told you last. Just remain faithful to do whatever the last direction that he gave you and stay in that direction. Joseph was faithful in the middle of being a slave. This is not the life that I think he thought he would have. But here he remains faithful to what he's supposed to be doing. And then the story goes on to tell us that Piper's wife thought Joseph was attractive and decided she wanted him. And Joseph being a man of integrity said no and he resisted her advances and he runs away.

Matter of fact, the Bible says that she had his cloak and he it left it he left it in her hands running away from her. So she then goes to her husband's and say he tried to come on to me and tried to be inappropriate with me. So Potterer decides I'm going to put him in jail. So now he's been sold into slavery by his brothers. So he's got family trauma. He's been sold by gypsies to potterer's house and he's done really well. And so now he's doing the right thing and all the wrong things are happening to him. He's living with integrity and he's not getting the reward of his integrity. His faithfulness didn't change his address. He still is in Piper's house. He's still not back home. Here's the question I wonder for us. Do we keep doing the right thing when the right thing isn't producing the good things we want in life? Joseph just kept doing the right thing, kept being honorable, kept being faithful, and he didn't let, watch this, injustice rewrite his character.

So many times whenever we face injustices in life or unfair moments or things that we think it shouldn't have gone that way, I shouldn't have been repaid that way. I shouldn't have been betrayed in that way. Often it begins to rewrite our character. It begins to rewrite us. We we get a vengeful spirit. Or we go, well, I'm if you're not going to do for me, I'm not going to do for you. If you don't pat my back, I'm not going to pat your back. If you don't nice to me, I'm not going to be nice to you. But can I tell you that is not the kingdom way. That is not God's way. And Joseph, we'll we'll see later in the story, he doesn't let this rewrite his character. He knew who he was. He was rooted in who he was. Can I tell you one of the things you got to predetermine in your heart is that you are rooted and you know who you are. That when unprepared moments come in life, I am faithful to God. I am faithful to the principles of God's word. I am faithful to the leading of God in my life. I will remain faithful no matter what winds blow at me. I am going to be like a tree planted by streams of water that bear fruit in every season. I'm going to remain faithful.

I'm going to stay submitted and I'm going to stay faithful. And so the Bible tells us in Genesis 39, it says this, that Joseph's master, Piper, 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. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there. And the warden paid no attention, listen to this, to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. Can you imagine being done so wrong and still being so integrous? If you jump down to chapter 40:8, it says this. Joseph meets these two guys, a cup bearer and the baker of the king.

And he said, it says this that they both had dreams. And Joseph was a dreamer. And they answered, "But there's no one to interpret them. We've had dreams, but no one can interpret them." And Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams." Story goes on that Joseph interpreted the dreams. So thought number three is this. It's serve God. predetermine in your heart that you're going to serve God in the unprepared moments in life. Think about this for a moment. Joseph is helping two people understand their dream while his remains unfulfilled. Joseph's interpreting the dreams of prisoners. Matter of fact, the scripture says in chapter 40 6-7, if you go read it, it says this that Joseph noticed that they were downcast in the prison. Jo Joseph is noticing other people's needs.

He's noticing the emotional state of other people. Get the picture, everybody? He's in prison for something he did not do. He had a dream that his family was going to be bowing down to him. And at this point, it's about 13 years after that dream. 13 years later, for some of us, we'd have been like, "God, where are you? God, why are you doing this to me? God, I'm done doing the way life the way that you want because I'm not seeing in fulfillment the thing that you spoke into my heart to do." But here he is 13 years later and he has got favor in the prison. He's like leading the prison. The warden is like on vacation. Here's Joseph and he sees two people and he says that they're downcast and he says to them, "Hey, what's going on?" on. They said, "We had this dream and we can't interpret it." And Joseph's like, "Tell me the dream." And he interprets the dream for him. And he says this to him. He says, "Hey, just don't forget me whenever you go back to the king." Cuz these two worked for the king. And he put him in prison cuz he was upset with them. He said, "Just remember me when you go back to the king." And this is one of the saddest verses in scriptures to me. It said that they went back to the king and they did not remember Joseph.

So here he is [snorts] serving other people's dreams while his remains unfulfilled. Can I tell you something? This is the way of the kingdom. World math says step over people. Protect your dream. Don't let anybody get ahead of you. Run out ahead of people. Walk over people if you have to. The kingdom of God says if you want your dream fulfilled, it's going to come through serving other people's dreams. This is the kingdom of God. Joseph's dream will be fulfilled, but it will be because he was serving Pharaoh's dream. This is what the kingdom of God is. It is the pattern of scripture. It is David being anointed to be king as a teenager and then going and serving Saul while Saul wanted him dead before he would ever get to the palace. It was in serving David, serving Saul that he would end up fulfilling the anointing that was on his life. It is the pattern of scripture. It is Jesus Philippians chapter 2 6 who says this who being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage but he did what rather he made himself in appearance as a man and he humbled himself by becoming obedient even to death on a cross it says he emptied himself

that word emptied there means that he took off status he didn't get emptied of divine nature or he couldn't have been the lamb of God slain for our sins but he did take off status and he became a servant and it says this then in verse number nine it says so therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name and it's at that name every knee shall bow the Greek word it's a it's a rare compound word for exalted him means a hyperexaltation But it is tied to the hyperservant that Jesus became. It was in his willingness to serve the will of the father so that the redemption of all humanity could come. That you and I were benefits of that his exaltation happened. The two are tied together. And can I tell you something? The two are tied together in your life and in my life. That it is through the pathway of servantthood.

It's through the pathway of serving others. Well, I want mine. When's my time coming? When's Let God deal with the consequences. You be obedient to God and serve people around you no matter what is going on in your life. It is the way of the kingdom. [music] [applause] And it was service that put Joseph in front of Pharaoh. They would remember him two years later. And he ends up in front of Pharaoh and he says to him, "I can interpret your dream." And then that's the verse we read. It seemed good to all the officials. And now Joseph went from the prison to running the whole country. Why? Because he served Pharaoh's dream. But here's the deal. His dream wasn't to run the country. His dream is that his family would come and kneel before him. And so prosperity would come. Joseph would prepare them. Famine would come. And Joseph's brothers would be in need of food.

And so they make their way to Egypt. They hear they have food in great supply, grain in great supply. So they go and they don't even recognize it's him. And they bow before the prime minister seeking food. Dream fulfilled. But it didn't come through the avenue he expected. But I would propose that the pit, potterer's house, and even the [music] prison were all preparing him for the moment he would stand in the palace. I would even propose that those three moments were pulling him towards his [music] purpose because he'd have never been in potterer's he'd never been in the palace if he'd had never been in prison. because it's in prison that he met the cup bearer, the baker who even told Pharaoh about this man that he can interpret dreams. And he never would have been in the prison if he had never been in potterer's house. And if he'd had never been in Potterer's house, he wouldn't have been in the pit, he never made it to Potterer's house. And if he' never been in the pit, and he never been in the pit if his brothers hadn't thrown him in the pit. And so the fact that his brothers put him in a pit and sold him into slavery and then the gypsies sold him to potterer and then he got wrongly accused and potterer put him into prison and then in prison he got forgotten about until the time was right when Pharaoh would need a dream interpreted put him in front of Pharaoh which end up putting him over the whole nation of

Egypt which eventually allowed the dream to come to pass. So those things weren't impeding his dream. They were leading him to his dream and preparing him to stand before his family one day. So here's what I want to encourage you with is that in the unprepared moments in life, you may not be able to prepare for them specifically, but you can predetermine in your heart how you're going to respond to them. [music] And your best days will be your prepared days. your predetermined days to say, "God, I'm going to submit to you. God, I'm going to remain faithful to you, and God, I will serve you no matter what life throws at me." I think if you live that life, then you'll see the purpose of God fulfilled in your life because God is true and he's faithful to his promises. Do you receive the word of God today?

[music] Will you pray with me at every campus with every head bowed, every eye closed? It was God that was leading Joseph. It was the hand of the Lord upon him, the favor of God with him every step of the way. And maybe you're here today and you've never walked with God in that way. Never had that kind of connection, that kind of relationship where you go, "Man, I know that God is with me." Today, I want to give you the opportunity to begin that type of relationship. Or maybe you're here today and you would say, you know, there was a time in my life where I was really walking with the Lord, but I know right now in my life, I'm far from God. I know I don't have that strong relationship with him, but I want that. I want to come back to God. I want to begin that first step. I want to submit to God. You know, the beginning of submission is saying, "God, you're right, and I I'm going your way.

I'm giving you my life. I'm surrendering to you. I'm making you the Lord of my life." In other words, I'm I'm saying, "God, you're in control." Some of you need that today. You need a fresh start. The Bible says, "If anybody's in Christ, they're a new creation. all things pass away and everything becomes new. And so today can be a day of new beginnings, a day of going, "My sins are forgiven. My home in heaven is secure." And you just begin that by simply expressing that by faith to God. In a moment, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. There's nothing particularly special about the words I say. It's but it's the intent and motive of your heart that if you believe by faith that Jesus died for you and that he rose again three days later that you could have right relationship with him that your sins could be forgiven that heaven could be your home if you believe that and declare that by faith according to the scriptures today will be a day of a new beginning for you. And so before we pray I just want to know who I'm praying with. No one's looking around except myself and the pastor at your location. But I'm going to count to three and I'm going to ask you just to shoot your hand up high enough and long enough for me or your pastor to see on campus. And then we're going to pray together. So if God is speaking to you, don't hesitate. You just shoot your hand up. You say, "Pastor, I need a a new beginning today." Hands are already going up on three. One, two, three. You shoot it up high. God bless you. Just keep it up. God bless you. Hands up all over the room. More importantly, God sees you. And the Bible says all of

heaven is rejoicing because of you. It's a beautiful day. Will you put your hands down? You can pray this with me, church. Let's pray this together out loud for the benefit of those who just slipped 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 we pray." And everybody said a big amen. Amen. Come on, every location. Let's celebrate those who made that decision. [music] [applause] Amen. Amen. Wasn't that a great message, church? Great, great message on just reminding us [music] about our prepared days being our best days. Such a good word. Thank you, Pastor Daniel, for that. And church, we had people lift up their hands all around the auditorium saying, "I want to give my life to Jesus." [music] Can we celebrate them one more time? Come on. You can do better than that. Eternity has been changed. Family has been changed. Like, we are so so proud of you. And if you raised your hand, you just [music] made the best decision ever. And that's not the end. That's actually just the beginning. We want to help you take some next [music] steps on your spiritual journey. And there's a couple ways in which you can do that. First of all, you can simply text the word Jesus to 710 [music] and we can follow up with you that way.

But then also in just a few moments, I'm going to share a couple of closing announcements and then I'll have everyone stand up and I'm going to say [music] a closing prayer over uh everyone here. But when I do that, if you gave your life to Jesus, we want to invite you to come forward [music] and pray with one of our prayer team members. Or even as Pastor uh Austin said earlier in worship, if you came in [music] today and you're carrying something, you need prayer for a relationship, you need a prayer for healing, whatever you are going through, our leaders would [music] love to pray with you. you. And so in a moment when I have everyone stand up for prayer, you can just make your way down here and we'd love that opportunity to pray for you. Uh just a couple of reminders for [music] you. Uh we are just about to kick off our group semester and so we have a groups booth out in the lobby and we have groups that meet all over DFW and we'd love to [music] see you get connected there. Here's what we believe. We believe that Sundays are great. We get fed, we learn, we grow. [music] But we believe that we actually grow even more not just in rows but in circles. We want to see everybody in a small group. So, I encourage you to stop by uh the uh booth out in the lobby and get some information on groups or [music] you can just text the word groups to 710 and we'll follow up there. Also, I want to take a moment one more time and [music] just welcome all of you that are here at Gateway Church for the very first time.

Church, can we put our hands together? We are so glad that you chose to worship with us this weekend. And we would love the opportunity to personally connect with you. And there's a couple ways [music] to do that. First of all, after service, there's an area called Connect Central, which is located in the lobby. I'll be there along with some of our leaders. And if you have a moment today to stop by Connect [music] Central, please do. I'd love to meet you, shake your hand, and answer any questions that you have. Or you can just text the word connect to 710. And even if you're joining us online, you can text connect to 710 and we'll follow up with you there. Would you stand to your feet right now? And I'm just going to pray a blessing over us out of Numbers chapter 6. And I want to invite our prayer team to [music] come forward as well. And I just want to declare this over you right out 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 [music] upon you and give you peace. Amen. God bless you. We love you. If you have a prayer need, I invite you to come forward now. We'll stay here as long as we need to [music] so that we can pray with you. See you next weekend.

[music] All right, y'all sing this with me. [screaming] 1 2 3 and go. I walk by faith and not by [music] side. I'm pressing on. I'm running toward the prize. I will not see what