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I was in Bushburg Ridge yesterday.
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We have an annual leadership conference that I do for the pastors and churches there, which started really by a very interesting thing, and this is going to link up to what I'm going to share with Luna this morning. A few years ago, during our crusades, We went over to Bush Park Ridge to go and do a crusade there, and the late Bishop Malele helped us so much, and we set up this particular space, open space.
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We erected our tent there, set up the sound system, and we were going to have a crusade there. And, yeah, if there's a time when I realize that principalities and powers are fighting, that was the time.
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Because on that particular trip, a number of things happened.
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Bomama, my bishop, as they were going to the place, almost got a very horrific accident.
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We have a trailer.
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a medical trailer that we pull, that when we go to these outreaches, we pull that trailer because it's equipped with medical equipment just for primary health, and we've got doctors, nurses, whatever. They almost got a terrible accident not too far from Pushback Ridge.
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And then the night we were supposed to start, after setting up the whole week, sun system, wah-wah-wah, everything, just an hour before, or two hours before, it's a storm.
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A storm just arose from nowhere.
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And only in the area where we had our tent, just a small place, which tore the tent to pieces.
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And one church there was totally destroyed as well.
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And I remember, my bishop tells me afterwards, we were just about an hour away, reaching our destination, that them couldn't deny and some other people.
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So mama phones me and says, you won't believe what has happened.
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I said, what? She said, the tent is no more. I said, what do you mean?
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I mean, where we were, the weather was okay. She said, no, there's just a storm that arose here.
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And thank God for Mama, because when this storm started, one of our volunteers wanted to get up on one of the poles to go and sort something out with the tent. And Mama just sensed that, no, she mustn't do that. She said, no, please don't go there. And just a few seconds thereafter, the tent came collapsing down.
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We could have had a corpse there. It was really bad.
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And when Muruti Malele came, Bishop Malele was helping us. He literally cried.
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I wasn't there, but he literally, he told me later, mama told me, he said he wept because all the crusades that had been brought there, including Reinhard Bonkers, that storm tore the tent.
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And these are Muruti, Bishop Malele's words, whereas he cried, he says, because this area was just a huge stronghold.
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In fact, one of our leaders, I won't say it in detail, because we took a team and we were renting some of the houses there. One of the houses was a haunted house.
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There were paranormal activity happening there that one of our people had to literally run in the middle of the night from that house. True story.
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Hey, Bushback Ridge.
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However, with all of that, I then started meeting Baruti and doing some leadership thing. Little did I know that they hadn't done any leadership training for Baruti. I mean, they said, you know, ministers who come here, they don't come all far, so we started the leadership seminar.
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And I've been doing that now, I think, for the last six years or seven years, and it has grown.
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So we were there yesterday. Thank you.
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during the leadership seminar. So this ties to what we're going to talk about.
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We must understand, ladies and gentlemen, that God's vision goes hand in hand with opposition.
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If you take opposition and problems away from God working, then maybe there's something you don't understand when it comes to the Bible. So this month, You remember the theme for the year is breaking out of limitations. The theme for July is how to deal with resistant forces.
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So today we're going to focus on the story of Joseph.
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But the theme for this month is 1 Corinthians 16, verse 5 to verse 9.
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Paul writes to the church in Corinth and says to them, I will visit you after passing through Macedonia.
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For I intend to pass through Macedonia.
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And perhaps I'll stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. For I don't want to see you now just in passing.
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I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus. Note that. Until Pentecost.
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For a white door. Somebody say a white door.
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Say it again.
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Say it again.
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Notice that it's a white door for effective work has opened to me.
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And there are many adversaries.
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And there are many adversaries. I like the sentence construction.
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He's not saying a white door has been opened unto me, but there are many adversaries.
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Because that presents a condition that suggests that the adversaries are there is not something that happens all the time.
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I wanted to do this, but this is what happened. He says, no, a white door has opened, and there are many adversaries suggesting, therefore, that adversaries coexist with a white door.
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That anytime a white door is there, you can be sure that it's accompanied by many adversaries.
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In fact, in the Weymouth translation, it reads, For a white door stands open before me, which demands great effort, and we have many opponents. Not just we have opponents, we have many opponents.
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So every set of open door, every set of season of open door has its own set of adversaries.
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That you met them yesterday doesn't mean you're not going to meet them today and it doesn't mean you're not going to meet them tomorrow.
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And every set of adversaries is equivalent to the size of door. The bigger the door, the bigger the adversary.
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But many people, this is not how they understand it. They think and they make an assumption that if God opens a door, then there will be no adversaries.
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Are you wrong, O son?
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King James says, for a great door and an effectual door has opened unto me and there are many adversaries. Paul had many times tried to go and preach in Ephesus.
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But had been had experienced a lot of resistance because Ephesus was a city given to paganism.
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And when he went there and when God started working there, there are some people who mobilized the crowd to come and really disrupt Paul's meetings.
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There's a time when he took an evil spirit out of a soothsaying girl.
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And because this city was a city given to other gods, Like the goddess Diana and Artemis. People worship these gods.
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And because they'd go to the temple, they would have to buy certain things and take them over. But with people turning away from these idols and following the preaching of Paul, the business was affected.
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So the silversmith, one of them known as Demetrius, was very angry with what was happening.
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Because this bustling wealthy capital of the Roman province, which was known for its massive trade routes, the temple of Artemis and Diana, because it functioned as the regional hub. When Paul came, it disrupted the business.
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And Acts 19.10 says, and all the Jews and the Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
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Paul's ministry not only affected that particular locality, he affected a very broad locality. And because this place was a trade route, even people who were en route to other places would get affected by the gospel. So when Paul sees this, he says, my goodness, it's an open door.
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It's a big door.
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He had waited for many years for this extremely pagan city to open up wine for the preaching of the gospel. And so finally, the atmosphere in Ephesus was starting to change. Suddenly, there was abundant opportunity to preach the gospel.
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Somehow people now were giving attention to what Paul was speaking. They showed great interest. So there was great encouragement. And Paul tells them when he writes to the Corinthians, I was on my way to you. A door has opened to delay. But even if there are many adversaries.
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Can I hear a good amen? Amen.
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So Paul introduces us to this very important principle that we want to explore this month.
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And the truth is this. Every God-given opportunity goes hand-in-hand with adversaries.
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So think about it. Whatever dream God's given you, whatever vision God's given you, whatever opportunities God's given you, well, it takes along adversaries. Okay? Okay? Are you there? In other words, the adversaries come as an attachment. You know, it's like when you send an email and you send an attachment. So they come as an attachment.
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You don't have to pray about it. You don't have to think about it. They are coming.
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And when they come, don't look around and say, am I in God's will? No. You are in God's will. Amen.
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Yeah, don't look around and say, where is God? God is there, adversary and all God is there. Look at your neighbor and say, especially you, God is there.
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This means that every God-given vision goes hand in hand with challenges.
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And I think this is why when God spoke to Habakkuk about vision, Understanding this dilemma about vision, he says to him, for the vision is for an appointed time.
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But at the end it shall speak and not lie. And though it tarries, wait for it. When you don't see the fulfillment of vision. He says because it will surely. Somebody say surely. Say it again. Say it like you believe it. Tell your neighbor it will surely.
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Can you believe Barcelona? This prophet is speaking by the inspiration of God.
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And God speaks to people and he says to them, surely. It's almost like when I was through 10 Holy Bible. Can you imagine God saying, surely.
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God wants to assure you what I'm telling you will come to pass. I don't want you to be shaken. Surely. Somebody say surely. Somebody say surely. He says surely it will come. It will not tarry. That vision will come. It won't tarry. Surely. Somebody say surely.
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Somebody say surely.
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So after three years of Paul waiting and struggle.
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Okay, I'm just going to take this away. I don't know. I think it's the sermon. I think you're not saying amen enough. So I'm overworking myself and I'm overheating.
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And they've opened the doors and everything.
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Is it hot?
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Is it me or is it you all there?
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Is it the sermon or is it y'all all there? All right. Somebody say shortly.
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Now, we used the analogy last week of the plane, which in our analogy, we said, let's make this a make-believe story that a plane leaves, or our tumble goes to Captain International Airport, which is 3,000 kilometers away. By the way, just for illustration purposes.
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And this plane is known to have a top speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour.
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So as the pilot is on the tarmac, when he's about to take off the control tower, says, we are instructing you to make sure that you fly at maximum speed to go to Cape Town, which is 3,000 kilometers away. Now on face value, when you calculate and you use your mathematics, oh, you young people didn't say math.
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When you use your math, This plane should arrive in Cape Town in three hours on the surface. Now, it should be like that. Except that there's one variable which is called resisted forces.
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Once a plane starts to become airborne, there are forces that come into operation that affect the performance of the flight.
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In the same way, when you start getting airborne with your plain cold vision, there are forces that come into play. As long as you are parked on the tarmac and you are not going anywhere, these forces will not affect you. See, some of you, you are happy when your life doesn't have problems and it doesn't have difficulties. You want that type of life. But what you don't understand is a life, it's a life that is not going anywhere.
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The minute you start moving forward, I can guarantee you, you're going to experience resistant forces.
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And God says, even if the vision tarries, it will surely.
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When you're flying, you'll experience turbulence. You'll experience resistant forces. You'll experience headwinds.
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As you're flying, you may be uncomfortable. Mara, you will get there. You may be bumping all the way there. Mara, you will get there. Tell your neighbor, Mara, Mara, Mara, you will get there, neighbor. You will get there.
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You'll get there.
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So the trick to get into your destination is not to try and delete the resistant forces, but it's to try to navigate them.
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You have to navigate it. There are seasons where you don't feel like us in the sea. You have to live like a child of God and don't worry how you feel. Can I hear an amen? There are seasons that even if you are in God's will, Everything around you doesn't testify to that.
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And if you don't know, you will switch off the engines of your plane and you will leave a vision that God has given you. You will walk away from something that God gave to you because of resistant forces. But I will understand you will say, and there are many adversaries.
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Can I hear an amen? There are many. There are many. There are many. Bring the adversaries on. I am moving. Bring the adversaries on. I'm going to get to the finish line. If I have to crawl to the finish line, I will crawl to the finish line. If I have to limp to the finish line, I will limp to the finish line. If I have to be carried to the finish line, I'll be carried to the finish line. I'm going to finish what God has started in my life.
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I won't delete the adversaries.
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I'll just negotiate the path.
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And because there are many, each one needs a certain approach.
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I just keep going. There are many.
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The life of Joseph is like that.
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Can you read the story? Genesis 30 to Genesis 50. You can read the story.
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Who was Joseph? I can't say everything about his life, but his background is incredible.
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He was the favorite son of Jacob and Rachel.
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Now, Jacob, Joseph's father, was a man with a checkered past.
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And you know, sometimes, we get born into situations, the people before us, They made decisions that affect us. They decided the effects on your life even before you were conceived.
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You're born into a home and your parents are alcoholics.
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What can you do?
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And unfortunately, many people allow their background to tell them what their destiny is.
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When you were born is not the issue.
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How you journey and your destiny is the issue.
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The circumstances around your birth may not be of all the best, but God was not surprised by you. He says to Jeremiah, before you were conceived, I knew you. It doesn't matter the circumstances that surround your conception. God says, I knew about you.
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Jacob, Joseph's father, was a man who had cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright. This guy, day one in the earth, when he was born, he came out of the womb, holding on to his brother's hill. That's what the name Jacob means.
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Hill grabber.
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That's what it means, literally. Hill grabber. Or supplanter.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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And so, the very brother that he had, he cheated him of his birthright.
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And because of the tension, he runs away.
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But you know, God never gives up on us.
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And you know, for me, a bishop, this is one of the things I love about the calling we are in.
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We have the privilege of watching God turn people's lives around that society never gave them a second chance.
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And if we were to be honest, not when we met them first time.
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I was like, And over the years, after seeing unkulu unkulu again and again and again and again, repeating the same story, it has brought me to that conclusion. Ukuti never jump to any conclusion when you meet a person.
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Maybe you don't like their dress code, all right? Maybe you don't like the way they talk, all right? Maybe you don't prefer who they are. But unkulu unentroso ngabo...
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And God has a way of taking people with a checkered past.
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People who are rejects of society.
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People who themselves doubt themselves.
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You know, I was listening about the story of Catherine Kuhlman. This story, it blows my mind.
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She became a preacher, met a evangelist who came to town to come and do outreaches, and he was using Kathryn Kuhlman's church, and she was a great preacher, a great woman preacher, doing very well.
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In the process, this guy, then they developed affection. You know, sometimes God sends us...
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So they developed affection for each other, and...
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And, but this guy was a, you know, they're smooth guys.
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Shuffling guys. Shying guys.
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Catherine Kuhlman, innocent young woman.
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Wapari.
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and he meets a streetwise guy. And I don't know why you good ladies, you always bump into these streetwise guys. I've just never, I've been honest, you know, I've been a pastor for so many years, and I watch some of you girls.
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Not Luna Moonen.
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I just want to, I just want to qualify what I'm saying. Now watch some of the finest, best young girls.
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They seem to attract the wrong guy.
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And when we tell them... Anyhow, what was I talking about? Catherine Kuhlman, that's what I told you. So this guy didn't tell her that he's a married guy. Yeah, he has children.
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So they get married, Catherine Kuhlman. She finds out on the wedding day.
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That's why it's a premarital counseling.
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Check all those things, background check. Yeah, yeah.
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And because you are madly in love, you don't listen to us when we advise you. I see some of you, you don't know what to say. Because you know. You know. You know.
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So they get married. She finds out on the wedding day that the guy is married. She's so distraught about it that after they pronounce them husband and wife, she faints.
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True story. She faints.
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They must go on honeymoon.
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So she tries to run and whatever, and these streetwise guys say, hey, we are goop.
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So, of course, they go away, they go on honeymoon, and then they then are married, and then they start ministry together, and somehow they start working together because the husband and wife, and people love her, Catherine, good man, she's just a great preacher.
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But the husband, not because of his checkered past. He wasn't as anointed. So when they invite them, they invite her and not him. And he becomes very jealous.
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And so they get into a skirmish and then she divorces.
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And walks away from the marriage.
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And here she is. Because of that season in her life, it broke the church.
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You know, there are times when our wrong decision cost us.
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Yeah, cost us.
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And Catherine Kuhlman, then she leaves the town, goes somewhere else, gathered her life up. Because you see, there's a point where you have to pick your life up.
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You understand?
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Don't allow your wrong decisions to dig a grave for you.
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We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes.
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Yeah, come on. I think you should. Yes, I think you should do that.
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Some of you, that's the word of the Lord to you today.
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It's not going to help to mourn your wrong decisions forever.
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So I'm going to help you. You're just going to be more depressed. You're going to be more morose. You're going to dig a hole for yourself. There comes a day where you have to be like that prodigal son and you must come to your senses and you must talk to yourself and say, I'm getting on a new and different path. It might be difficult. It may be hard. People may not believe me. I may not believe me, but I'm getting on a different path. Thank you.
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So Kathleen Coleman picks herself up. She starts preaching. God starts using her. Now, in those years, in those years, not like right now, in those years, the church was very harsh against divorcees.
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Very harsh. They never even tried to find out what happened.
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Today, it's about too extreme sometimes. We just allow people to divorce even if they shouldn't.
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We must get the middle ground.
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Allah told her, you know.
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God starts using her.
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And unfortunately, words, goes to the pastors who have invited her.
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And then here she is, she's going to do her service. She gets up to go and try and do her service. And the pastor comes in and says, Sodomy Schoolman, we can't let a divorcee stand on our pulpit.
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There's actual stories where at a point she was preaching and the hosting pastor walked onto the platform and just stopped her, took the mic and said, she's a divorcee. She must get off my pulpit. True story.
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Yes, Catherine.
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She's been divorced. Now she's tried to start again. They're closing doors. They're labeling her. And here she is. She's walking down the street.
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And she says, God, I messed my life up.
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I have nothing to give you.
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Ministry is not working. Marriage is not working.
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I'm not married. I don't have a child within marriage. Nothing. He has a nobody.
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He has a nothing.
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And one day she's walking by some place where there's a woman of God who was used and a tombstone was there.
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And she's sitting there thinking about this woman who was used by God and And then an old woman comes with her granddaughter to go to the grave of this person who was used by God. And this old woman says to the granddaughter, this woman who lies here was used by God in a mighty way, but she had a difficult past. And she starts telling the granddaughter the story unbeknown to her. Catherine Kuhlman is standing there.
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And God is opening a new chapter for her life.
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Yes.
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And she hears the story.
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And after this lady walks away, she stands up and says, God, if you can use a nobody.
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If you can use a nobody.
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Yeah.
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If you listen to her prayer, they say, before she would come into the auditorium and preach, she would stand in the background and In the back room, praying again, God, let me die.
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Not physical death.
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Let whatever ounce of me die. Because I'm no one.
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And the minute she got to that point where she felt all of who she was, was dead.
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And she was taken by who God was. Then she would walk into the service.
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She didn't pray for the sick.
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No.
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She never laid hands on anybody for them to be healed. No.
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When she walked in, the presence of God walked in with her.
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And as they worshipped, the presence of God would touch people. People would get healed.
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And anytime people got healed, she would throw her hands in the air and say, the mercy of God. The mercy of God. Thank you God for being a merciful God. You know why she understood? Sometimes the things that scar us, they give us an understanding of who God is.
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That was Jacob's story.
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That's God, man.
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And one day he meets an angel.
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And the angel changes his character.
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Now he gets to a point where he wants to get married.
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And he goes and works for a man by the name of Laban.
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Because he's running away from his family. He's trying to start again. He has a new opportunity again. And many adversaries.
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This man that he's working for has two daughters.
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Leah and Rachel.
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Leah is the older daughter. Rachel is the younger daughter. According to their culture, like ours, similar, rightfully, the older one must get married before the younger one. If not, whether that's true or not, we don't know. But that's what we believe.
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But not only that, Rachel is a knockout.
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Oh, you don't want me to say that.
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Leah.
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So, so.
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And so, Jacob talks to Laban and says, I want to marry your second daughter. I'm smitten by her.
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And the man says, you're going to have to work.
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For seven years.
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See, when a man is in love, he works.
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You girls don't know.
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A man's way of showing love is to work. He may not be communicative at home. He may be awkward in the way he talks.
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He may be awkward in the way he talks.
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And Bishop, this is one portion.
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What happened here? Because finally he's worked and they give her the daughter. It's a wedding day.
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And then they go on honeymoon.
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And the father-in-law decides to renew.
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I'm going to sneak in.
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Lear into this man's bedroom.
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So I just wonder, Hore, whatever happened on the night, which we won't say in church, how come this guy didn't realize, Hore, it is not?
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You know, Hunale, something's more Bible-ing.
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You wish you were there to understand.
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Is it because this guy, Hunale, will go to Murtipito?
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Is it because this guy, because he is in a celebratory mood, he drank so much that he didn't even see. He cheated other people. Now he is reaping.
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what he has sold. Yeah.
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And so he goes to the father-in-law and says, no, he was robbed.
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And the father-in-law says, ah, hey, I can't allow the younger one to marry father-old. You didn't tell me. But you see, when a man He's in love.
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He pursues. Yeah, yeah.
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Because men like to pursue areas, but we... And so he tells the father, he says, okay, I wonder. And he said, if you do, you're going to have to work again.
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And he works.
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Seven more years.
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And Mary says, he ends up with two wives.
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She's not getting pregnant. And even worse, Leah starts zenzonging.
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Rachel.
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And start beating her up.
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And Rachel is bitter about this.
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And talks to her husband.
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Then they said, what do you mean? I must give her children. Am I God?
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And she goes to God with an unbittered heart.
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And she prays to God.
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And God hears her prayer.
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And she becomes pregnant.
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And she gives birth to a boy called Joseph.
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But Joseph is the 11th son of Jacob.
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And the Bible says, and because Joseph was the child of his old age, Jacob loved him.
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Not only did he love him, he gave him a coat of many colors.
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And this Joseph was gifted by God.
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He could dream.
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You know, when somebody is gifted by God, Pastor Lana, God doesn't ask our permission.
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God doesn't have to lobby us. God doesn't look at the background. God does what he wants to do because he's God.
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And Joseph sees this vision, sees this dream where he's going to rule over his family.
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And because he has the dream, he has the vision, resistant forces come into operation.
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The first one is sibling rivalry.
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Genesis 37, verse 3 and 4 says, let's have it. Genesis 37, verse 3 and 4. The people at the back.
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You got the verses.
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And Jacob, that's Israel there. It's Jacob, Israel.
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Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a coat of many colors. Look at verse 4.
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And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than them all, they hated him.
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And they could not speak to him peaceably. You know, most people think when you get God's favor, people will like you.
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And the problem with favor is that favor decides who it comes to.
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It doesn't come because you deserve it. No. It comes because it chose you.
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But the problem, when you get favor, there are others who are looking at you.
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And they don't like what they see.
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Because you are favored. T.D. Jax preached a sermon several years ago entitled, Can You Stand to Be Blessed?
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And he was using the story of Joseph. It was the first time I realized, Khuri, you know, being blessed by God goes hand in hand with many adversaries.
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There are people who don't like it simply because God has blessed you. There's nothing wrong you've done. The only reason about Troy, is because they see the favor of God on your life.
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That's the first resistant force.
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And if you, the one who's been hated, will not be able to handle this season properly, you have the likelihood of stopping everything that God's going to do in your future.
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When people don't like the car you bought, they don't like the house you have, they don't like your new dress, they say, you should lose more weight. And they don't like your hairstyle, they don't like anything you have, they don't like your car, they say, yeah, no, there's a later version. They can't just congratulate you properly. They just don't like the fact that you are favored by God.
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That's resistance force number one. You have to be able to negotiate the opposing wins and the resistance forces of being disliked.
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Some of you, you like to be liked so much that when you're not liked, it ruins everything.
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You even walk away from what God said you must do. There are times you've got to stay with God's assignment even when you're not liked. Amen.
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Resistance force number two. Look at your neighbor and say, you're not saying amen. Now that's why.
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We're going to go a little bit over time. Are you all right with going over time today? Because I want to finish this sermon. I can see you are listening so much. I can see God is speaking to many of you.
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If I'm preaching harder, you must know because God is speaking to me more than all of you.
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Number two, the resistant force of prematurely sharing about the vision that God has given him.
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Joseph, even if he's dreaming and God has given him a vision, you learn as you walk the path of vision that there are things that are sacred.
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There are things that you mustn't talk about prematurely. You know, I was saying in the first service, I see the young people, you know, you like posting.
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You know, you like living your life in the public space. Any small thing, you post.
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I've told people, you know, yes, people, couple, they are married, they get pregnant, and then at six weeks, you know, you can see a little bit for sauna. Then they post that sauna picture.
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Now, If anything goes wrong with the pregnancy, then you must go back to all those followers of yours and tell them, I.
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We put ourselves into trouble, Bazalang.
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When God shows you something, If you are to share, share to people that are confidential if you need advice. But oftentimes you mustn't. When Paul writes, he says, you know, I was taken to the third heaven. He says, the things that I saw there, it's not even lawful to talk about. When Mary encountered the angel and the angel spoke to her, the Bible says she pondered in her heart the things that were spoken to her.
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Some of you, you are creating lots of problems for yourself because you are busy talking.
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You are busy putting in the public space secret things that God's talking about you and they are still far.
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You haven't even started. You already told them everything. Now, it's a different thing when you cast vision. I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm talking about your personal life.
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There's things in my life, I'm not talking about right now.
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I'm not going to talk about. Because it's still the early stages of conception.
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Because with vision, you must first be sure.
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We want to eliminate the thing.
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So by the time you talk about it, there's a certainty to it. But not only there's a certainty to it, there's a commitment to it because you also understand it's going to take long.
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So some of you, why you are always moving, changing? Even before something gets established in your spirit, you are talking about it.
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Prematurely inviting opposition to an embryo that's still in the womb of your spirit.
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That was Joseph's problem. Look at it, look at it. It's in Genesis chapter 37 from verse 5.
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Joseph dreamed a dream. And he told him to his brethren.
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They didn't pray for him.
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They hated him.
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Yet more. Keep going all the way to verse 11. And he said unto them, Here I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed. Go to verse 11.
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Verse 11. And his brethren envied him.
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First they hate him, then they envy him.
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Why? You've spoken out of turn.
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It's a resistance force. The third resistance force, ask your neighbor, why are you so quiet? Is he talking about you?
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After he has the dream, the brothers conspire against him.
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For this dreamer, we're going to kill him.
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So what happens? They throw him into the pit. That's the third stage.
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The death of a vision.
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Every vision goes through three stages. Birth, death, resurrection.
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Have you realized that the things that God has shown you have taken much longer than what you thought to be fulfilled?
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And in the process, you may make the assumption that you didn't hear the right thing.
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Or like what most people do, people start something different.
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They abandon this one. So you meet people with a lot of half projects.
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They started this one. When things got hard, they changed. They started this one. When things got hard, they changed. They haven't understood that every journey of vision, things will get hard.
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Vision is going to go through problems.
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Here's the thing. If it comes from God, it will come to pass. It may take longer than what you thought, but it will come to pass.
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But then you have people abandoning what God had told them because when pressure came, they chose the easiest route.
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It's a resistant force.
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I must say, I've got to talk to you, particularly young people.
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The survey today in the world is showing that the younger generation around the world today doesn't have stickability.
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They have too many options.
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As a result, when things don't work in one thing, they just leave and go to another. Now, sometimes you must do that. But sometimes you may be walking away from what God wants you to be.
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This thing of having many options. And you have someone who gives you their resume.
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They work boner, three months. Quale, six months. Mole, one month. Mole, two days. Mole, seven days. Mole, one and a half day. Mole, ing ing. And they have a long resume. They have touched all kinds of things. They specialize in none.
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Sometimes to see a vision through, you have to stay the course for a long time and stay with one thing. Paul says, this one thing I do.
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I know we live in a world where people can multitask. You can be bivocational, tri-vocational, five-vocational, six-vocational, ten-vocational, hundred-vocational.
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But we live in a world where people have so many options that they never master anything.
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They never become a specialist. They never become good at one thing.
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They never taste certain depths of the same discipline.
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Look at your neighbor and say, why are you quiet now? Why are you quiet? Why are you quiet?
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Psalms, Genesis 37 from verse 19. Look at the death of a vision.
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Genesis 37 from verse 19. And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer is coming.
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Keep going.
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Come now therefore, let us slay him.
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Throw him into some pit and we will say some evil beast has devoured him. And we shall see what will become of his dreams. People think if they kill you, anyhow, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. And Reuben had it.
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And he delivered him out of their hands and said, Next verse. And Romans said unto them, don't shed blood, just throw him into a pit that's in the wilderness and please don't lay any hand on him.
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That he might read him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again. And it came to pass when Joseph was come unto his brethren that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors.
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That was on him.
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And they took him.
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They threw him into a pit.
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And the pit was empty.
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And there was no water.
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We come to those times when you are in a pit.
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Everything around you doesn't look like what you saw in prayer when you were on your knees.
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Your situation that surrounds you.
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Your situationship does not match what you saw in prayer.
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That's the time when people abandon vision.
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That's the time when people change careers.
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That's the people that people walk out of their marriage.
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That's the time when people walk away from their destiny. Because everything around does not match what I saw in prayer.
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It's a resistant force.
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The next one.
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Thankfully God orchestrates a divine coincidence.
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some slave buyers come and pass by the exact spot. So they come and they buy this guy and And they take him to Egypt and he's brought there and he ends up somehow as a slave there in prison there.
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And it is right there where Joseph didn't allow the pit experience.
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The hate experience.
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To take away the gift that God has placed upon his life.
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You see, some of you, you allow your haters to get to you.
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There's times when you must operate in your calling in spite of.
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There are times when you have to log on to your purpose.
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And never worry about the haters and the pit and the scissor. You stay focused on your purpose.
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And Joseph keeps on dreaming. Why?
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They may take away your cloak, your coat, but they can't take away your divine impartation.
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They can steal the church branch that you have planted, but they cannot take away the anointing to plant churches on your own.
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You may be delayed. It may take longer. Mara get there. You will get there. If it delays...
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Wait for it. Because it will surely.
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It will surely come to pass.
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It will surely come to pass.
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Oh, Vazalana, I just feel God speaking to us today.
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Come on, if you believe that, give the Lord. Can you have somebody? Just the instrumentalists. I don't know, Vazalana. I just feel, you know, there are services that are destiny-altering services.
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There are messages that are destiny-altering messages. I pray that you don't just listen with your head. I pray that you listen with your heart.
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And I pray you allow this word to simmer on the inside of you. I pray that if you doubt at where you are, you realize that God is with you at this time. I pray you allow the Holy Spirit to shake something and bring something new in your life today. I pray.
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I pray that God will do something in your life.
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Let's go to resistance first number four.
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In prison, this guy is using his gift.
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And there's just something about him that it becomes obvious. Yes.
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And there's a man who is Potiphar's officer.
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Every time he's doing the rounds, he sees this boy.
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And he hears the stories about this boy.
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And you can see him.
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Or even if apparently, orange overall.
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His son that's gone, Kulum, Kulum.
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He was alone now.
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It doesn't matter what you are wearing. It doesn't matter where you are.
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Nobody can take away the hand of God upon your life. Nobody can wish away the hand of God upon your life. When it's upon your life, they better respect that even if they degrade you and put you in an orange overall. And Potiphar's officer is a wise man.
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Rather, Potiphar is a wise man, the officer of Pharaoh.
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And he says, this boy. That he touches.
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There is something. This boy.
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I'm going to let him to come and serve in my house.
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Because.
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And Joseph, for a change, experiences a different response, different to what he was used to. Hate, denial, everything. Now at least Singati will not break through. He starts serving in Potiphar's house by the resistant force number five years. Amen.
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Now she has her own thoughts and her own mind because one of the resistant force is people who want to corrupt you.
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They want to lead you in a path that's going to destroy what God's doing in your life.
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They'll tell you. 30, 10 rent, nobody will know. It's all private. They're not telling you. What you do in secret will scream from the house.
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Then one day, she comes to him and say, my husband Potiphar has gone to Dubai.
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He's gone for two weeks.
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I've been watching you for...
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I've got feelings for you, Ujo.
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What do you think? Me and you, consenting adults.
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This is where most people miss it.
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There's a Potiphar's wife who's standing there.
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It pains me when I see people, when they get to a certain level of God doing things, they get intercepted, their life.
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And they are not the wiser to see what's going on.
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Because on the brink of something great on the other side, there will always be this interruption where you have to sell your purity.
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You have to sell your integrity. You have to sell your values. Yes.
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And remember, how they met you is because they saw the hand of God on your life.
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The greatest danger in life is to walk with the hand of God on you. The greatest challenge in your life, your most weakest moment is after God has used you the most.
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There's something in the background there.
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But Joseph was a man of character. You see, his problems had built character in him.
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Sometimes when we go through things, there are times when you have to go on with your life, even if everything around you is important. You have to hold on to certain values. Even if you are the only one who is taking those values, you have to walk that path. Even if something has to happen on the inside of you.
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And Joseph is a man of character. He says, nah.
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My master sent me here to do the work. Everything is under my control but you.
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Hands off. I'm not going to touch another man's wife.
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And she says, oh man, he's not here.
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And then she grabs him and he runs away.
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And she comes up with a made up story.
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There are times when people lie about you.
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Oh, it's painful.
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When you know your integrity and you know the commitments you've made and you know what you do, how you give your all and people choose to lie about you.
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When they told me before we built this building that I'm using the money of the church to buy clothes for myself Somebody even came with a prophecy.
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Opened the Bible and read that part.
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You must first build the house of God before you build yours.
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Because they assume that I'm building my house that I built with the money of the church.
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It's painful.
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It's painful.
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But listen, that is just a resistant force.
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Mamela, certain things you don't have to respond.
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Don't waste your energy and your time.
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Secondly, protect your heart.
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Protect it against bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness. Yes.
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Members would come up to me and greet me and say, oh, I can see my building front in those shoes.
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I got used to it. Yeah, they used to say it.
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Newspapers wrote about it. There was an article written by a certain newspaper.
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How I collected all the money and never built.
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But there comes a time when you must just let them talk.
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Because your journey of destiny has all of that.
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That's why on the day we dedicated this building, I stood here and I said to the people, comrades, because truth will answer the skeptic.
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And truth will stand on the hilltop and it will explain even to the one who doubts you.
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Don't waste your breath on the Potiphar's wives of this world who cook up a story in your job, set you up, lie about you, get your position through fraudulent means.
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steal members from you through fraudulent means.
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Take away your tender. Take your position.
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If your life is in God's hands, they may take away what you're doing. They may delay you. Mara, surely.
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I said surely. I said surely. I said surely.
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It may not come when you want it. It may not come in a year. And it will answer all the questions. And it will overtake everything and go to the front. It will not look like you lost any time because God knows how to buy back lost time.
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But here's what I like. All the trouble you went through will not only have helped you, but it will have developed some character.
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Which leads me to my next point.
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After all the trouble that has happened, then the next one is he's betrayed by the guy that he interpreted his dreams after he was thrown into prison.
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By Potiphar.
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There's a baker and a butler.
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He comes back to prison and he's still operating in his gifts.
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No one can erase what God's placed on your life.
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I said the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Nobody.
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And he starts operating in his dreams again. And there's these two guys who get dreams and he interprets them.
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And the dreams happen exactly like they happen. And the other guy gets promoted now. Not to serve Potiphar, to serve Pharaoh.
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Ah, you're right here.
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And ah, Joseph Urimana, him for it. Unhubuli.
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I was with you in prison there are people they will not the guy gets out of prison and forgets Joseph and Joseph is sitting there wondering what I saw will it ever happen All I've experienced is resistant force after resistant force after resistant force.
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Not realizing that the very guy who didn't couple him, a day comes as he's serving in front of Pharaoh, not Pharaoh's junior.
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that Unkulunkulu is about to take Joseph from prison, not to serve Pharaoh's officer, but to serve number one.
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Because God makes Pharaoh to have a dream.
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And none of his magicians and philosophers can interpret.
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But this butler, Joseph, comes to his senses, I say, first time around, but not this time. Because you see, will orchestrate things for you. Even the people who didn't like you, God will turn them, God will bring favor, and God will leapfrog you from an officer to number one. You thought when they took that job, it was the end of you. You didn't understand that God allowed them to take that other job because he had something better for you.
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And he says to Pharaoh, look, there's a guy, my Lord, he did interpret our dreams.
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Long story short, Joseph is brought before Pharaoh. He interprets the dream to Pharaoh.
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And Pharaoh says, wow, I'm going to make you a ruler. I'm going to set you over my stuff.
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I'm going to let you become the prime minister. Amen.
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You guide me and lead me.
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And at that very time, it's the time when Joseph's family experiencing famine.
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I said, God is in charge of your life.
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You see, our problem is we sometimes forget. Okay.
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And so Joseph's family has to travel to Egypt to go and look for food.
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And when they come there, they are met by Joseph and they don't know him anymore.
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There are people who are not going to recognize him.
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You're not hearing what I'm saying. They thought they got rid of you. They thought they threw you into the pit. They thought the lions and the bears have eaten you up. But they don't understand that vision is for an appointed time. When it carries, you've got to wait for it because it will surely come to pass. They don't understand that God has made a way where there's no way. They don't understand that your problems and your trials have developed a better man out of you, a better woman out of you. Who doesn't have unforgiveness. A better woman out of you. Who has integrity and honor.
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Someone who respects God.
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And when Joseph sees them.
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Can't take it.
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Mara. Put him into the school of character building.
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It comes through the problems.
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Where you have a chance to be unforgiving, but you choose to forgive.
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Have a chance to revenge, but you choose.
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You were thrown into a pit and the dream seemed to be gone, but you chose to still dream anyhow.
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And finally, the reveal comes.
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When finally Joseph reveals himself to his family.
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Note, Bazelon, what Joseph says in Genesis 45, verse 1 to 8.
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Because this is what God's going to do in your life.
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And Joseph could no longer control himself before his attendance.
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And he cried.
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See, if you haven't developed in character, once you come to a position of power, but when God has cooked you in the school of character building, Through your problems and your trials.
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And you refuse to lose sight of the vision.
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Something happens on the inside of you.
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Next verse. Let's read.
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As we continue. And he wept aloud.
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Said to them, I'm Joseph.
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Does my father yet live? They answered him. And they were troubled at his presence.
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Verse 4, keep going. Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me. I pray you.
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They came near to him and he said, I'm Joseph, your brother, whom you've sold into Egypt.
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Keep going. Now therefore, don't be grieved.
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What kind of a man are you?
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Don't be grieved.
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No angry with yourself that you sold me hither for God.
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Keep your eyes on God.
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Forgive them. Don't worry. For God did send me before you to preserve life.
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And let's go to chapter 50.
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The last one.
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Verse 14.
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And Joseph returned unto Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that went with him to bury his father. And after he had buried his father, keep going. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will pay adventure. He does.
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And he will certainly requisite of us evil, which he did unto him. Keep going. And they sent messenger to Joseph, said, your father did command before he died, saying...
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So shall they say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee, the trespasses of your brethren and their sin, for they did the evil. And now we pray you forgive the trespasses of the servants of God and thy father. And Joseph wept when they spoke unto you. Your problems and your trials will give you a tender heart.
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A compassionate heart. You're not going to hate those who hate you. You're not going to try and revenge those who are trying to do. Because when the hand of God is on you and the hand of God is not on them, there's nothing they can do to equal what you've got. So the best you can do is to share what you have, Libor.
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Love them even if they don't love you.
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Next verse. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face. And they said, behold, we are your servants.
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Joseph said unto them, don't be afraid.
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For I am in the place of God.
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But as for me, you thought evil against me.
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But God.
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There's always a but God.
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Ah, you don't understand me.
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You may have been born in a mkuku, but God.
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You may have lost your job, but God. They may have lied about you, but God. You may have lost your church, but God. You may have lost your husband, lost your wife, but God.
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But God meant it for good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people. Joseph.
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The dream, you thought it was just about you.
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But it wasn't about you.
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It's about God using you to save many people.
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Some of you, you don't understand that what God's given you is not just for you.
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There are people's destinies that are hinging on your obedience to God.
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And this is why Satan is coming against you with so much force, with so much venom, with so much hatred, because he understands something about you that you don't understand about you. You think it's just about you, but it's about the next generation and the next generation and the next generation and the next generation. And if you were to obey God and fly your plane of destiny, And navigate the resistant forces. And get to the other side and land in peace.
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There are many people who are going to be touched by your life.
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I just feel this upon your lives right now.
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Raise your hands and pray in the Holy Ghost as you all stand on your feet please right now.
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Pray in the Holy Ghost as you all stand on your feet.
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Thank you Jesus.
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Pray the Holy Ghost somebody.
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Thank you Lord. Pray the Holy Ghost.
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Pray in the Holy Ghost.
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Pray, Barcelona. You're going to experience God right where you stand.
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Let God speak to you. Allow the Holy Spirit.
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That's all that we're going to do. We're going to be closing now in a few minutes.
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Pray, pray, pray, pray.
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Pray, pray, pray, pray somebody.
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Shara Maham, ra-la-la-la-ba-bra-ba-da.
