The Favor Of God Part 3 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue

The Favor Of God Part 3 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue

The Favor Of God Part 3 from Pastors Lawson & Aaron Perdue. In this episode of Grace For Today, you will understand how God will give you a plan so that you can fulfill your God-given destiny.

The Favor Of God Part 3 Transcript

Welcome friends to our broadcast. I’m so glad that you tuned in with us today. We’re gonna be sharing today from the life of Joseph, and we’re gonna see how God promoted Joseph and brought him into his ultimate destiny. Because not only did Joseph have a dream, did Joseph have a vision, but Joseph had a plan. And I believe that God gives us plans to help us move into our God given destiny.

Blessings. It’s so good to have you with us today. We’re sharing on the favor of God and the life of Joseph, talking about fulfilling the vision and the dream that God has for you. Aaron I believe that God has a dream for everyone.

Amen.

And I believe that if we, you know, will focus on God and keep the right attitude, it will help us to move into that God given dream that he has for us. And we’ve been sharing, you know from the life of Joseph, and there are lots of examples in the life of Joseph where he had a lot of opportunity, right, to be offended, to be upset, but he did not get offended. He did not give, get upset. And God gave him a dream when he was only 17 years old and he dreamed and he saw, you know, he was in the field with his brothers binding sheep and all their sheep came and bowed down to his. And then he saw he was a star, and his brothers all came and bowed down to him and his father and mother. The sun and moon bowed down to him. And his brothers were envious, envious, right? And I believe, you know, there’s sometimes people that, that try to steal your dream, but it’s because they’re envious of you and the anointing of God, the gifting of God. And that you see that, Joseph saw that. But it says his father in Genesis 37, verse 11, observed the same. His father recognized, even though he kind of spoke a little bit to Joseph and said what are you doing, saying this dream, whatever, he understood there was something about Joseph. And you know we’ve got the hand of God on us and the hand of God’s on us for good, and if we keep the right attitude. Joseph was 30 years old when he became the Prime Minister of Egypt, the greatest empire of the world at that time. And God brought him into that position. But the 13 years prior to that were very difficult. And he went from his father’s house to being sold as a slave. And then after working for a slave and being promoted in Potiphar’s house, who was, you know, one of the head people in Egypt to being in prison. And God promoted him not only in his father’s house, in Potiphar’s house, but God promoted Joseph in the prison house.

Yeah, and from the time he had that dream till the time it came to pass, till the time it was fulfilled, there is a period of time, you know, one thing, understanding about the favor of God and, and the dream He places in your heart, you know, the greatest things in life take time to develop. You know, just in modern American society, it’s kind of a microwave society where we want instant everything. We want instant fame, instant fortune, instant love, instant talent, instant, everything instant you know, instant food, instant.

Yeah, it just doesn’t work that way. It just takes time.

The greatest things in life take time to, to develop and to grow and to mature. And that’s what happened with Joseph. You know there’s, while he was going through things, it took time, but he kept, he kept his eyes on God. He kept his eyes on the promise.

You know, I think about some of my friends, my mentors, Dr. Lester Sumrall, Andrew Womack, you know, Lester Sumrall was like 65 years old before his ministry really exploded. Now, he’d done a lot, right? He’d seen a lot of people saved, healed, set free from the power of the devil, blessed, prospered, helped. But when he was 65 his ministry really exploded. And Andrew Womack, you know, Andrew’s like 70, what, three years old now. And Andrew, you know, when he started out, it was just a slow start. And people looked at him when he went on television in like the year 2000. And his ministry just really began to grow and prosper. And it’s prospered even more, you know, since then. He got a revelation of taking the limits off of God in 2001. But a lot of people don’t realize he was already in the ministry for 30 years. People like you’ve had this amazing, like instant success, but people don’t remember Andrew when he lived in an apartment, when he got up at 4:00 AM and made radio broadcasts in a closet. And I remember those days, and he was working 20 hours a day, six days a week, and not getting paid a lot for it. There were people actually that said on his board said he needed to shut his ministry down at one time, but he had supernatural intervention and God protected him. And you know people might have looked at Joseph when he got sold as a slave and said well, you shouldn’t be talking about your dream or whatever. And then when he was a slave they might have thought well, he’s not gonna get out of that deal. But God promoted him as a slave and he became the head of Potiphar’s house. And then when he went into prison, I’m sure some people thought well, that didn’t work out well for him. But it says right here in Genesis 39, the end of the chapter, we’ll read verse 20 to verse 23, “Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Favor is not about your surroundings. Favor is not about your position. Favor is about your relationship with God. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison, and whatever they did there, he was the doer of it.” Man, Joseph got promoted and promoted and promoted, and the keeper of the prison, and this didn’t, maybe didn’t look like the promotion to other people, but man it was much better to be the boss in the prison than be one of the scrubs. And he didn’t look that to anything that was under him. Just like with Potiphar, Joseph was so faithful because the Lord was with him and made that what he did. The Lord made it to be, to prosper. You know, Joseph could have been angry. He could have said, I don’t belong in this prison. I haven’t done anything. I’m a victim. But he didn’t. He just kept a good attitude and God kept blessing him and helping him. It came to pass in verse chapter 40, verse one, we’re in Genesis. “That the butler of the king of Egypt and the baker had offended their Lord. There was conspiracy in Pharaoh’s house, right? The leader of Egypt, the greatest empire of the world at that time. And Pharaoh was angry against these officers and against the chief of butlers and the chief of bakers. And he put them in a ward in the house of the captain of the guard in prison, in the place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them. Notice Joseph served the other prisoners in the prison. Well, if you wanna have favor, be a servant to other people. And they continued in the, in a season in that prison, in that ward. And there they dreamed a dream, both of them, each man his dream. In one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison, and Joseph came into them in the morning and looked upon them and behold they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh’s officers, this is really unique. In verse 40, chapter 40, verse seven of Genesis. He asked Pharaoh’s officers in, in this area that he took care of the prison saying why do you look so sad today? It was, it was a odd thing in Joseph’s ward in the prison where Joseph took care of the prisoners for someone to be sad in prison. I’m sure in most prisons, most people are sad. But in Joseph’s it was odd for someone, his attitude affect everybody around him. You know what, you can be a positive influence on your peers, or you can be a negative influence on your peers. It’s your choice. And you know what, we need to keep the right attitude. And they said, well we dreamed a dream and there’s no interpreter. And Joseph said to them, “don’t the interpretations belong to God. Tell me your dreams.” Hallelujah. You know what, Joseph interpreted dreams. He had revelation that came from God. And, and that led, you know, that was about, you know, God positioning him, getting him ready for what he had for him. Verse nine says “the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and said ‘in my dream, I saw a vine before me. And the vine were three branches, and it budded and it blossom, shot forth, and clusters of grapes came forth. And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup. And I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.'” Joseph said that this is the interpretation, the three branches, or three days. In three days, Pharaoh is gonna restore your position and you’re gonna put his cup in his hand again. And as you did before when you were his butler. Now, when this happened, you know, Joseph’s like hallelujah, here is my ticket out of this place. But you know what didn’t happen then? He was in the prison for two more years. I’m sure it was long. You know what, God gave him a dream when he was 17, and it wasn’t until 30 that it came to pass. But he kept a good attitude, right? And that attitude caused him to succeed, caused him to prosper in his father’s house, prosper in Potiphar’s house as a slave, now prosper in the prison, working under the prison keeper as a prisoner. And Joseph told him, he says but think on me when it, when it will be well with you and show me mercy. I pray you and mention me under Pharaoh. Get me out of this place. You know, he knew he didn’t belong there. But at the same point in time he says, “for I was stolen outta the land of Hebrews, and here I’ve done nothing that they would put me into this dungeon.” Now when the baker heard this dream and saw the interpretation was good, in verse 16 he said to Joseph, “I was in my dream and behold I had three white baskets on my head. In the uppermost basket there were all kind of bake meats and the birds ate them outta the basket.” And this is the, and Joseph said, this is the interpretation in verse 18, Genesis 40 verse 18. The three baskets are three days, in three days Pharaoh is gonna take your head off and hang you on a tree, and birds will eat your blood from you. You know he saw this dream and this interpretation of the butler was good, and there’d been a conspiracy. And Joseph said listen, in three days they’re gonna figure out that you’re the culprit and they’re gonna hang you from a tree and the birds are gonna eat your flesh. You better watch out. You know, just because somebody else had a good interpretation doesn’t mean you’re gonna have a good interpretation. And, but, you know it came to pass exactly as Joseph said. And in three days it says, “it came to pass the third day, which was Joseph’s birthday, that he made a feast to all of his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the chief baker among his servants, and he restored the chief butler to his butlership and gave the cup to Pharaoh’s hand.” So this happened exactly like Joseph said. His interpretations were correct, but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpretation, yet did not the Chief Butler remember Joseph, but forgot him. This Chief Butler forgot Joseph. Sometimes people will forget about you. But I want you to know that God has not forgotten you.

That’s awesome.

Share something Aaron.

Yeah I, you know Joseph could’ve been kind of upset in the situation. You know he knew that God had a good plan for him. He knew that God was gonna bring him promotion, and he probably was thinking this is my lucky break, this is when it’s gonna happen. And some people when they get really close to what they’re dreaming about and it doesn’t happen, they just shut down afterward. I have a really good friend who’s a professional musician. She plays, she’s now in the Atlanta Symphony, but she actually got a one year position in the Houston Symphony, which was a great, great thing for her to have a one year position. She played there for an entire year, and then they had a, an audition for a full-time position for that same thing she’d been working at. And she took the audition. There were over a hundred people who auditioned and she, they picked two finalists. It was her and one other person.

Oh my goodness.

So she really wanted this job. She’d even been working it for a year, it’s her dream job. And, you know getting a professional symphony job, it’s very difficult. They say statistically it’s actually easier to get a job in the NFL as a professional football player. So she was very close, you know down to the final two people, and they ended up choosing the other person. So I imagine she probably felt like Joseph did. She was saying this is, this is how it’s gonna happen. This is how my dream’s gonna come to pass. And it didn’t happen. But she kept, she kept, you know working and kept auditioning and eventually got a great job in the Atlanta Symphony. And her and her husband live there now, do really well. They have children and they’re part of a great church there in Atlanta. So God, God’s worked it out. But sometimes when people get really close and you think this is how it’s gonna happen, and it doesn’t, it can be pretty discouraging. And I’m sure, I’m sure that Joseph had to really encourage himself after.

Yeah. You know, the Bible talks about David, David encouraged himself in the Lord, and the Bible actually says this in Galatians chapter six, “do not be weary and well doing for in due season you will reap if you do not faint.” Don’t faint before your harvest. You be patient and you continue to believe God. You continue to work, you continue to be diligent, keep a good attitude, and that will help you get where God wants you to go. We’re gonna be back right after this short break, so stay tuned. We’ve got some good things to share about moving in to God’s dream and destiny for your life. Friends, I wanna tell you about some products that we have available that I believe will help you move into God’s plan, to God’s destiny for your life. The first one is my book, Uncommon Favor. This is my life story. And there are a lot of just really simple stories, things that have happened in my life for the last 30 years, and really how God has blessed us and helped us, you know, move into what He has for us. And I believe that God is no respecter of persons. What God has done for me, he will do for you. I have so many people read this book. It’s a very simple read, and they’ll tell me pastor, I was so encouraged. That really helped me and gave me hope for my life. And so you don’t want to miss getting this book, Uncommon Favor. And we package it together with my teaching on the favor of God. And this is a three CD teaching on the favor of God. You can get this by calling our office, or you can check us out on the web at charischristiancenter.com. Praise the Lord friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. We’re right here in the book of Genesis talking about the favor of God in the life of Joseph and how favor promoted him and brought him to a position of honor. And so, you know we just studied about how Joseph had favor in his father’s house. He had favor in Potiphar’s house as a slave. He had favor in the prison house as a prisoner. God promoted him and made him ruler, you know, under the chief of the prison. And then, you know, Joseph, you know, it looked like, you know, they forgot about Joseph. But, but after this, you know two years, and this butler who had been in Joseph prison, who Joseph gave an interpretation of a dream and said listen, God’s gonna restore you. And he forgot Joseph. Two years later he went in and he was, you know, taking the cup to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh was discouraged and he said what’s going on? And he said well you had this dream. And then the butler remembered Joseph. He remembered Joseph. And, and so he told Pharaoh that hey Joseph, this Hebrew is in the prison. And he took care of me, and he interpreted my dream. It came to pass just like I said, just like he said. And the baker also had a dream and it came to pass just like he said. And, and so Pharaoh sent, it says this in Genesis 41, verse 14, and called Joseph. And they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself and changed his clothes and came to Pharaoh. Man, he didn’t come in there. He knew when you go in the presence of the, this was one of the most powerful men, if not the most powerful man on the planet at that time. You get ready to go in the presence of that king. I remember I had someone and he had had a kind of rough life before, and he, he was living with my mom and he was coming to our church and he was gonna go interview for a job. And I said listen, you do this and you do this. It had to do with his looks at that time, because you’re going to a place. He said, well who cares? God doesn’t care. God doesn’t care, but listen, people do. And you know you’re, you’re going in before people. Men look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. And if you wanna get a good job, so on and so forth, you gotta do certain things right or you’re not gonna be prepared. And so it’s part of your attitude again. And so he shaved himself, he changed his clothes. He didn’t go in there smelling like he’d been in the prison for the last few years, looking like he’d been in the prison. He came in there looking like he belonged in Pharaoh’s house. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have a dreamed a dream, and there’s none to interpret it. I’ve heard say of you that you can understand a dream and interpret it. And now listen to Joseph’s answer. This is so powerful. In verse 16, and Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, “it is not in me, God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Man, he didn’t come in there with a chip on his shoulder. He didn’t come in there with a bad attitude. He didn’t come in there saying, Pharaoh, your prison system is bad. Your legal system is bad. I was in the prison and I shouldn’t have been in there. He came in there saying God will give you an answer of peace. Wow, what a great attitude. You know what, your attitude determines your altitude. You want to go the right places, you gotta keep your nose up, keep a smile on your face. Hallelujah.

I like that. You know I just love how Joseph carried himself. Even he was a, you know, a prisoner at this point. He’d been a slave, he’d been sold into slavery, you know, mistreated by his brothers, but he, he carried himself like almost as an ambassador for God. And the Bible says that we’re ambassadors of this message of reconciliation, this ministry of reconciliation. So we’re ambassadors. So no matter what your earthly position is, your heavenly positioned is, is as an ambassador, you’re a citizen of heaven on loan to the earth. So how you carry yourself, you know, no matter where you’re at, you could have a low paying job, a high paying job, no job at all, carry yourself like you’re an ambassador. And that’s, that’s what Joseph was doing, right? When he was meeting Pharaoh as a slave, he was carrying himself as an ambassador for God. And he said I’m here to, to deliver God’s message to you.

Amen.

And that’s why he, he cleaned up, shaved himself and, you know looked good because he was representing God.

He did that. And also he talked right. You know what? He had his mouth under control. So many people get in trouble with their tongue. You know, the Bible says a fool is known by the multitude of his words. Even a fool it says it’s caring and wise when he holds his peace. So sometimes it’s just time to just be quiet and listen a little bit. And that happens a lot of times. But anyway, when we look at this as Joseph goes in before Pharaoh, Pharaoh tells Joseph his dream. He said, listen, I had a dream, and there were seven fat cows came out of the River Nile, and then seven skinny cows. You know, I can see seven flat back Angus cows, black cows, you know, dip in their back. Cows fat and from the front to the back and the back to front, I’ve probably fed 30 to 35,000 head of cow in my life, and when they get fat they get fat from the ends to the center. And when they’re fat, they get a little dip in their back. And, and then he saw seven skinny cows. I could see, you know, big horn roping steers, you know, maybe giant, maybe weighed, you know, 800 pounds. They got big old horns or skinny, skinny, you know, sides. Their ribs are showing, their hips are sticking out. Skinny bones, skinny back, skinny cow. And these skinny cows ate the fat cows. And they stayed skinny. And then he saw seven fat, you know, stalks of corn come out of the river, big full ears of corn. And then he saw seven, you know, stalks of corn that were withered with the wind and dry. And they ate the, they ate the fat ears of corn. And then there none remained and they, they remained skinny. And listen to Joseph. First of all I told him listen, God will give you an answer of peace before he ever heard the dream. Then he tells them after he hears it in verse 25, Genesis 41:25, the dream of Pharaoh is one and God has showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. Pharaoh was the, was the prime minister. You know the Bible says the king’s heart’s in the hand of the Lord, he turns it wherever he will. And God can use worldly people to accomplish good. And the seven good cows are seven years. And the seven good ears are seven years. And the dream is one. And the seven skinny cows that came up to them are seven years. And the seven, you know, stalks of corn that are blasted with the east wind will be seven years of famine. The thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh, what God is about to do, he shows favor. So he gave him a vision. Vision comes from God. You know the Bible says in Proverbs 29, verse 18, where there is no vision that people perish. But he that keep it the law happy is he. Behold there comes seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. And there will arise after them seven years of famine. And the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt and the famine will consume the land. Famine’s gonna consume this land. And the plenty will not be known in the land by the reason of the famine for the following. For it will be very grievous for in that the dream was doubled under Pharaoh twice. It is because the thing is established to God and God will shortly bring it to pass. Once in a while God will give one person, right, a word and then another one a word right behind it. And that means that this is gonna come to pass and it’s strong and it’s, it’s presently at the door. Praise God, this is a prophetic thing. It’s because it is established by God and God will bring it to pass. You know, I believe there’s some things that God wants to do for Charis Christian Center, for Charis Ministries, for our church, you know, for our ministry this year. And I believe that we’re in a year of divine favor and we’re gonna begin to move into those things like never ever before. Hallelujah. And it’s not like God hasn’t been working for the last 30 plus years. He has been, but praise God I believe this thing can speed up. Hallelujah. And so he says for that dream that was doubled into Pharaoh, it’s established by God, now their Pharaoh, look out a man discreet and wise and send him over the land of Egypt and let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land and take up 20% of the land of Egypt in the seven plenty of years. Now not only did Joseph have a dream, have a vision, but he had a plan. And you know what? A vision without a plan is just a pipe dream. It’s not gonna come to pass. But if you get a plan, take up 20%. You know, good financial planners understand the power of 20%. What do you do with the first 20% of your income? You give the first 10%, you sow the first 10%, you take the next 10% and you invest that, right? You save it, you invest it into some good investment that’s growing, that’s increasing, right? And I believe if you learn to do what to do, what to do with the first 20%, God will take care of the next 80%, amen. God will bless you and help you. So you give the first 10%, you invest the next 10% and you can live off 80%. Joseph took, when Pharaoh heard that Joseph not only had a vision, but he had a plan, Pharaoh promoted Joseph to the highest position in the land. Promotion, he had promotion in his father’s house, in Potiphar’s house, in the prison house, and now in Pharaoh’s house. And he had the second highest position in Egypt. He was the prime minister right under the Pharaoh. Praise God. And Pharaoh said, “nobody does anything in this land without Joseph. Whatever Joseph says you do it.” Praise God. God, the favor of God promoted Joseph and Joseph spared Egypt. And not only Egypt but spared Israel and spared numerous people’s lands, right, because God loves people. And you know what, God needs a man with a vision and a plan so that he can accomplish what he wants to do on the earth. Let’s move into God’s vision to God’s plan. Aaron, pray for the people.

Just thank you God for everyone watching this show. I thank you Lord for the dreams you’ve placed in their heart Lord, I thank you that you are giving them wisdom and a plan in how to, to bring those dreams to pass. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Amen. And if you don’t have a place that you’re sowing good seed, this is a good place to sow seed. I believe that God can bring you supernatural harvest on the seed that you sow. If you need prayer, if you want our product, if you want to become a partner, give us a call today. Blessings.

[Narrator] The favor of the Lord has the power to change your life. In this favor package, you’ll learn how you already have more than enough favor because God loves and cares for you. Get the favor CD series along with the book entitled Uncommon Favor for $24 when you call 719-418-4000, or visit charischristiancenter.com.

Hi ladies, I am so excited to invite you to our Rejoice Women’s Conference, February 9th through the 11th. This is an event for women 13 and up. It’s time to rejoice.

Not only are you gonna have a lot of fun and laugh a lot, you are also gonna experience the power of God when you see signs, wonders, and miracles.

Amen, we’re gonna have a lot of fun. We have Kathy Duplantis coming. So make plans and register today.

[Narrator] Thanks for watching Grace For Today. This broadcast has been made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer, or have a question, please call us at 719-418-4000, or to partner online, go to charischristiancenter.com/give. You can write us at PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on Grace For Today.