Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/dojc/sermons/68388/while-in-your-season-of-famine/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] If you have your Bibles with you, I would invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 45. Take my opening scriptures today from somewhat the end of the story of Joseph.

[0:18] Genesis chapter 45, verses 4 through 8. When you have it, say amen. Again, thank you so much for being here today.

[0:30] Genesis chapter 45, verse 4. And Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

[0:45] Now therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither. For God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years.

[0:58] In the which there shall neither be earring nor harvest. So no corn. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

[1:15] So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

[1:28] Let's pray for this word today. Lord Jesus, we thank you, God, for your word. God, I pray you help me, Lord, deliver it effectively today, God, that your people would receive your word today.

[1:39] God, that you would help them, God. That you would minister to them, that your word, God, would help us, deliver us, God, from our minds, God, and the things that we face, Lord Jesus.

[1:50] And that you would strengthen us through your word, God. And that you would help us see things differently today when we leave here. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. Amen. So there are four seasons that are part of the annual cycle of Earth's climate, driven by the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to its orbit around the sun.

[2:13] And right now it's winter, but soon we can count on it. Spring will be here. And these are our natural seasons, and they come and go.

[2:23] And whether we know it or not or recognize it or not, like the Earth's seasons, there are seasons in life that we go through. And like the climate seasons, our seasons in life, they also come and go.

[2:36] And they're not always in the same order like the seasons of climate are. And they're not always as predictable as the seasons of climate are. And unlike the seasons of climate, we can actually experience more than one spiritual season at a time.

[2:50] But we are all in seasons of life right now. Not everyone may be in the same season at the same time. But as we all go through our own spiritual seasons, and mostly they depend on our own personal access relative to our orbit around Jesus.

[3:12] As a disciple of Jesus Christ, you will go through spiritual seasons is what I'm trying to say. You're going to go through spiritual seasons in life. And when you first come to God, it could be described as a season of salvation.

[3:23] And when you're in a season of salvation, there's this exuberant joy and this newness of life. And you've discovered something that's amazing, eternal.

[3:34] Amen. It's something amazing and eternal. And a season of life, it's with zeal towards God's kingdom. But there's many different spiritual seasons.

[3:45] And there's a season of growth where you find yourself growing in your spiritual disciplines, developing more, increasing in your prayer habits, your fasting, your studying the scripture.

[3:58] There's seasons of testing. I preached about it a few weeks ago about the wilderness, surviving the wilderness. That that's a season of testing in which we wrestle with our faith or wrestle with things that would tempt us and test our faith.

[4:13] And I believe also that there's a season of service. As a disciple of Jesus Christ matures, they start to care about others. They stop just looking at their self and their own situations all the time.

[4:24] But they start to look around and say, there's a world out there that needs God. And I have the luxury and I have the privilege to sit on a pew and hear about the word of God. But there's so many people out there that have no clue about what we get to hear about week in and week out.

[4:38] And so all of a sudden our eyes go towards others. And just like any maturing adult, mature adults are those that take care of others and not just focus on themselves.

[4:48] But mature disciples of Jesus Christ serve others and not just spend their life focused on themselves. And there's also a season of rest. And in a season of rest, maybe you can find restoration and healing from a dramatic crisis you may have gone through in life.

[5:04] Because we do experience dramatic crises in our lives. We're not immune to those things. We don't practice life in a vacuum in some sterile environment just because we believe in God and because we worship God and because we adhere to God's word.

[5:19] That doesn't exclude us from the things of life and the storms of life. So we do go through things. And God can give us a season of rest, of restoration and healing from those things.

[5:30] And there's also a season of harvest. This is where the fruits of the spirit, the things that we hear in the word that gets in us, It goes from a seed to sprouts and it grows.

[5:43] And we get to the point where we're producing spiritual fruit. Amen. And that's what we're meant to do. We're supposed to be fruitful spiritually. And the fruits of the spirit are evident in our lives.

[5:55] And it's a season of harvest because it impacts others around you. And they're drawn to that. They're drawn to the things of God through you. They're drawn into the kingdom of God. And then they get to start experiencing that season of salvation that you got to experience.

[6:10] Amen. And then there's also the season of famine. And during your season of famine, you can feel distance between you and God. It can feel like a dark or a dry place.

[6:22] And you can feel as though God has left you or is not aware of your situation that you're going through. And frankly, your situation can feel like a punishment in a sense. It can maybe feel like God has abandoned you in some way.

[6:35] And you can be starting to question God. Like, why am I here? Why am I going through this season of famine in my life? What did I do? Did I get off track somewhere? What's God trying to do?

[6:46] The situation in this season of famine that I'm in. And so we all go through these different seasons in life. And these are spiritual seasons that we have. And what I want to talk about today is I want to preach and talk about the season of famine.

[7:01] And my title today is While in Your Season of Famine. While in Your Season of Famine. It's easy to believe that good things come from seasons of salvation.

[7:12] It's easy to believe that good things can come from a season of harvest. But we may be surprised to learn that good things are also intended for us by God in our seasons of famine, too.

[7:24] If we understand this is a season of famine and we keep the faith and we come out of it on the other end. We come out of the other side. We're going to be stronger spiritually than we were when we went into that season of famine.

[7:36] And this is the same for all seasons. Really, you come out on the other side of the season stronger. But certainly not any less true for the seasons we would rather avoid like a good old season of famine.

[7:49] I mean, who enjoys a good old season of famine in your life? Spiritual famine. And we need to leave here today with a different perspective on the seasons of famines that we go through.

[8:00] Because if you haven't gone through one yet, you will. It's coming. And if you've gone through one before, just know there's another one coming. And these are seasons that come and go. And God uses these spiritual seasons to strengthen us and get us.

[8:14] When we come out of the other side, we're stronger than we were before. And we like the seasons of the good times and the seasons of the blessings. We can do without the seasons of testing and that wilderness experience.

[8:26] And we can do without the seasons of famine. And there's this thought that you can't be in famine if you have God's favor on your life. Or there's this thought that if you are in a famine, then God's favor is not upon your life.

[8:41] And that's simply not true. That's just not true. You can be in a season of famine and still have the favor of God on your life. You can have... Just because you're going through a season of famine doesn't mean God's favor is not upon your life.

[8:54] But just because we're blessed doesn't mean we're going through a season of famine either. It doesn't mean we won't go through a season of famine just because we're blessed. We are blessed.

[9:05] We're blessed people. But I want us to understand that favor and famine, they actually can live on the same street. They're neighbors. They coexist.

[9:16] A season of famine and favor can coexist. And a lot of people may not believe this, but you can be highly favored and experience a season of famine. So don't be discouraged when you go through a season of famine because you can still have the favor of God on your life.

[9:30] And you can find the evidence of this all through the Bible. Think about Noah. Think about Noah. He was highly favored. I mean, God was going to just rub his thumb across creation and just wipe out all of humanity.

[9:41] And he saw something in Noah. He found Noah to be a righteous man, and he saved his family. I would say that's, you know, hey, the world's about to get destroyed, but I got some favor.

[9:54] God decided to keep me and my family, right? You can say that Noah was highly favored, but look at what he had to experience. Going through an experience where you witnessed the destruction of the world when all those probably tens or hundreds of thousands of people were destroyed.

[10:10] That would be a terrible experience to go through. Even if you are highly favored and protected from that, it's still a terrible experience to go through. It could cause a lot of questions to come into existence, but you could still be favored in a time of famine.

[10:24] And there's examples all through the Bible. I don't have time to go through them. But we can't talk about seasons of famine without looking at Jacob's son, Joseph. In the opening scripture, I was reading kind of the end result of that.

[10:42] The story of Joseph is perfect for understanding being favored, being chosen, yet suffering through trials and tribulations and severe seasons of famine.

[10:54] Joseph had a gift from God to be able to understand dreams. If you don't know the story of Joseph, you can go read in Genesis 39 through 45 and learn about Joseph.

[11:08] Joseph had a gift from God to be able to understand dreams. He was called. He was gifted. He had to gift things. And Joseph was favored. He was given a coat of many colors by his father.

[11:19] You could argue that Jacob's favorite son was Joseph. And at least it would seem that way. And also, he was given dreams and visions by God. And his brothers became jealous of this, and they planned to kill him.

[11:34] But instead, ultimately, they threw him in a pit and devised this plan that they're going to sell their brother into slavery and just get rid of this dreamer. You know, sometimes it's not about what happened to you.

[11:48] It's about who did it. Sometimes it's not about what happened. It's like who did it. Because, you know, that person was not supposed to do that. I trusted that person.

[11:59] There was a different plan for this relationship, you know. And so it's not, sometimes it's not always about what happened to me. It's about who did it. His own brothers threw him in a pit and wanted to sell him to another nation.

[12:12] And by the time they went to get Joseph out of the pit to sell to the Ishmaelites, another group had already pulled him out of the pit and sold him.

[12:24] And when the brothers discovered someone beat them to it to cover their tracks, his brothers tore up that coat of many colors that his father had given him. And they put the blood of a goat on it and played it off with their father that he was, that their son was attacked and killed by wild, his son was attacked and killed by wild beasts.

[12:43] The brothers lied to their father, Jacob, about Joseph's death to cover their tracks. But so Joseph is sold into slavery and he's taken into Egypt, yet still with the favor of God over his life.

[12:59] We see this in Genesis chapter 39, verses 1 through 3. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard. He was, he was like, Jose is at work.

[13:14] He's a captain of the guards. So he's, so Joseph is brought down to Egypt and to Potiphar's house, who was an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard. An Egyptian bought him at the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.

[13:30] Verse 2, 39 verse 2. And the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

[13:44] And verse 3, and his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hands. And Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, but the hand of God is still there.

[13:58] The favor of God is still there and it's recognizable. And you can be in a famine and still have favor from God. While in your season of famine, while in your circumstance that doesn't seem fair, while in your circumstance that you're betrayed by the one that should have never betrayed you, keep your faith in God.

[14:15] Don't blame God for your situation. And recognize the favor of God can and will still be on your life as you go through your season of famine. And then Joseph is then tested in Potiphar's house.

[14:28] He's a slave in Egypt's captain of the guard's house. But he still has the hand of God on him. And Potiphar knows it and puts him at the head of his house.

[14:40] Everything that's in Potiphar's house, he's responsible for. Because Potiphar recognized that everything he touches, it turns to gold, basically. God's prospering everything Joseph does.

[14:52] And so now in this season of famine, here comes a season of tests. Potiphar's wife makes moves on him. But Joseph refuses her. And this happens more than once.

[15:04] The Bible says that day after day she tried to convince him to lay with her. And he refused. And he did not want to, because he didn't want to sin against God. See, the devil's been studying humanity for thousands of years.

[15:16] And when he recognizes that you're in a season of famine, when he recognizes that, the devil knows that this is a good time to throw in some more, to throw in a test of your faith, to throw in a test of your morals.

[15:31] The devil knows you could be vulnerable at this time. Do not lose focus on God while you're in your season of famine. While you're in your season of famine, do not give up on your morality. While in the season of famine, keep your commitments to the Lord.

[15:44] And his hand of favor will continue and remain on you through your season of famine. And one day there was nobody else around. And the Bible says Potiphar's wife caught him by his garment, saying, lay with me.

[15:57] And he refused. And he ran. And he left his garment in her hand and ran away. And realizing that she's not going to have her way with him, she then lied to everyone, saying that he tried to push himself onto her and that she yelled out.

[16:13] And that's why he ran away and leaving his garment. And so she falsely accused him of doing something he didn't do. And now he's in trouble. And, you know, he passed the test of temptation.

[16:25] He did it right. He did what he was supposed to do. He refused the temptation. He didn't do anything wrong. But now what? Now Joseph finds himself put in prison. Potiphar takes Joseph and puts him in prison where the king's prisoners were kept.

[16:41] The season of famine seems to be getting worse. He's doing everything. He didn't do anything wrong. He's doing everything he knows to do. But guess what? The Bible says, But the Lord was with him.

[16:53] Genesis 39, verse 21. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison.

[17:07] And whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. Verse 23. And the keeper of the prison looked not to any other thing that was under his hand because the Lord was with him.

[17:18] And that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. It got worse, but still he was favored while in his season of famine because he remained faithful to God.

[17:29] See, God's trying to teach us something today that although your situation may seem unfair, and it really is unfair, and although you are in a place where you don't want to be, and it could seem like a punishment, just keep trusting in God.

[17:44] Don't let your faith in God slip by one bit, and God will continue to show you favor. And while he's in prison, he's essentially running the prison because of his favor.

[17:55] And during his time there, Pharaoh's butler and baker ended up being placed there in prison. Pharaoh seems like a pretty tough guy. And Joseph interprets their dreams for them.

[18:08] They each have a dream, and Joseph interprets it for them. And just as Joseph interpreted, I don't have time to go into all the details, but it's a really interesting story if you want to read it.

[18:19] Whatever, when Joseph interpreted the dreams, what Joseph said, it happened. One of them was killed, and the butler was restored to the palace. And on the butler's way back to the palace, Joseph made a request to the butler, tell Pharaoh to take me out of prison because I was stolen away from my land, and now I'm in prison.

[18:39] I hadn't done anything deserved to be here. And so what do you think the butler did when he got back to the palace? He forgot about Joseph. Two years later.

[18:53] Fast forward two years later. Two years go by. See, how many of us would stay sane? How many of us would stay sane? How many of us would be able to keep our composure?

[19:05] How many of us would have given up on God? Two years go by in prison. Let's look at Pharaoh's dreams. Out of the...

[19:17] Because Pharaoh ends up having some dreams, and two years go by, and Pharaoh's having these dreams, and he can't find anyone in the kingdom of Egypt to interpret his dreams from.

[19:30] And then the butler finally remembers, oh, yeah, there's that guy in prison that was able to interpret my dream. Okay, so let's look at Pharaoh's dreams. Out of the river came seven big, fat, healthy, well-fed cows, and they ate in a meadow.

[19:44] And then out of the river, seven sick, skinny cows came up out of the river and stood by the seven fat cows. And then the seven sick, skinny cows ate up the seven fat, healthy cows.

[19:59] That would be pretty startling, because I thought cows were vegetarians. And then Pharaoh had another dream. A stalk of corn grew, and out of it seven big, perfect-looking ears of corn.

[20:12] And then all of a sudden, seven more ears of corn came. But they were thin and weathered, and they devoured the seven big, perfect ears of corn. And the Bible says, It came to pass in the morning that Pharaoh's spirit was troubled.

[20:26] And he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof. And Pharaoh told them his dream. But there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

[20:37] And then the butler remembered, Joseph can interpret dreams. So Pharaoh has a couple dreams, and it's God gives Pharaoh these dreams. And so I want to insert this thought here and say that and point this out, that Pharaoh is a heathen.

[20:52] He's not a Hebrew. He's not one of God's chosen, called-out people. He wasn't an Israelite. He's the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh is not one of God's people, and God's giving him a dream.

[21:07] We find that God is giving Pharaoh a heathen, a dream, that only a believer could carry out, only the Hebrew could carry out, only the chosen one of God could carry out that dream that he had given to.

[21:21] You could look at it today, a sinner that only a believer can help them with. And I wonder how many lost people here in Houston have been given a dream by God that only can be carried out by one of us that are here to evangelize this city.

[21:36] I wonder how many lost people have been given a dream that only you can carry out. I wonder how many people in your family have been given a dream by God that only you can reach them with and help them with.

[21:48] And so everybody kin to Egypt couldn't cure Egypt. There was nobody in Egypt that could cure Egypt. This world is not going to be able to solve its own problems.

[21:59] The world is not going to be the answer to itself. The answer is in us. The answer is in you. And they don't have the answer. So your value is higher. Your value in having an answer and a solution to the issue for this world that gives great value on you as a child of God.

[22:17] And see, Joseph, even while living in the wrong country, in the wrong house, in the wrong place, continued to recognize he is favored of God. And he operated in his gifting. He used the gifting God gave him to interpret the dreams and kept being the answer.

[22:32] And he was the answer to Potiphar. And he was the answer to the jailkeeper. And now he's about to be the answer to Pharaoh. And so Egypt has a problem. So Pharaoh hears from his butler that there's a Hebrew boy in prison that can interpret his dreams.

[22:47] So he gets them because he has a gift. And every child of God has a gift. Every child of God. Taylor, you have a gift. Diana, you have a gift.

[22:57] Jose, you have a gift. Hannah, a gift. Sister Virginia, a gift. Brother John, a gift. Mario, Isabel, Carlos, Vincent. You guys have gifts.

[23:08] God can use the gifts that he's given you. Every child of God has a gift. Pharaoh would never just go get a Hebrew boy out of prison if it wasn't for his gift.

[23:23] If you would use your gift that God's given you, your gift is going to get you out at the appointed time. But if you get distracted while you're in your season of famine and quit using your gift from God, and you'll be in famine longer than God intended, and it may cost you more than you can afford.

[23:41] So even in your season of famine, while in your season of famine, use that gift that God has in you. Stir that gift up. And that's why so many of us struggle with kingdom self-esteem issues because the devil doesn't want you to know that you're gifted.

[23:56] He's always going to tell you you're to this or you're to that. He doesn't want you to use that gift that God's placed in you, Jose. He knows that if he can convince you not to use your gift, you're never going to get out of that prison.

[24:13] One thing we have to realize is if you're a child of God who is being faithful to God and operating in your giftings for God's purposes, the season of famine is come and go, but the favor of God is always there on your life.

[24:27] Joseph interprets the dream for Pharaoh. He tells him the two dreams are the one and the same. They're two different dreams, but they mean the same. The seven fat cows and the seven bigger ears of corn is going to be seven years of plenty, seven years of great harvest.

[24:42] Egypt is going to go through seven years of a season of harvest in which they will gather more than they ever have before. But then the seven skinny cows and the seven thin years of corn are going to be seven years following, seven years of famine.

[24:57] And there's not going to be corn. There's not going to be crops. And so Egypt's going to have to go through seven years of great harvest followed by seven years of famine. And that's the dream that God gave Pharaoh that only Joseph could interpret.

[25:12] And so let's pick up in Genesis chapter 41, verse 33. Now Joseph is telling Pharaoh what to do to solve the problem of the season of famine. He interprets the dream.

[25:24] And now he's telling him what to do in the season of famine all of Egypt is about to go through. Verse 33. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise and set him over the land of Egypt.

[25:37] Verse 34. Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land and take up a fifth, 20 percent. Part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.

[25:50] Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute, Joseph. That wasn't in the dream. Nowhere in the dream did it talk about saving 20 percent. Nowhere in the dream did it talk about appointing officers or any other stuff, right?

[26:05] So where's this coming from? It's one thing to interpret a dream. It's a whole other thing to be a steward of the dream. We can know what the dream is. We can understand that.

[26:15] But then we have to figure out how to be a steward of the dream. The dream is we're going to have revival in the city of Houston. But we have to be a steward of that. How is that going to happen?

[26:26] We have to figure that out. And so it's one thing to interpret the dream. It's a whole other thing to be a steward of the dream. Verse 35. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.

[26:41] Verse 36. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land perish not through the famine. Verse 37.

[26:52] And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. See, using his gift and having the answer gave Joseph favor with Pharaoh and Pharaoh's people.

[27:03] Verse 38, and Pharaoh said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this, a man whom the Spirit of God is? I mean, even while in your season of famine, while in your season of famine, the people of the world in your life ought to know that you have the Spirit of God inside of you.

[27:21] Even when you're going through your season of famine, while you're in your season of famine, you should still be operating in the Spirit to the point that people of the world will recognize that. Verse 39, and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, for as much as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are.

[27:39] Thou shall be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Now, wasn't Joseph just a prisoner on the last page?

[27:54] And now, he's not taking orders, he's giving orders. Now, only Pharaoh is, he's second to Pharaoh in all of Egypt. Verse 41, and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

[28:12] That's favor. He can be in slavery. He can be in prison. He can be sold by his brothers, but he can still have the favor of God. And, I mean, anyone ever wonder why in the world would Joseph care about Pharaoh's dream?

[28:30] Why would he care? Joseph's not Egyptian. Joseph is a Hebrew. If Joseph wanted to pray for prosperity or to help someone, why wouldn't he do that for an Egyptian?

[28:44] And why would he do that for an Egyptian, not his own people? Why should you care about a country you weren't born in? A country that you weren't raised in, and you went to jail in, and you just want to get out?

[28:57] I would just want to get out. I mean, tell me dreams about escape. Wait, you know, give me a dream where the jail doors open and the inmates are gone.

[29:08] That's the kind of dream I'm interested in. That would be, because that would be a dream that affected my life, you would think. But something I have to come to realize in all of this is selfish dreams will never change your life.

[29:25] And that's what delayed me for 20 years living for God. Why am I only now at 44 years old doing what I've been called to do?

[29:38] What about the 20 years before? I mean, even greater than 20 years has probably been more than that. But why wasn't I doing this at 24 instead of 40?

[29:48] Why am I now at 44? Because I only responded to dreams that were about me. And as long as you only respond to dreams that are about you, you're always going to be delayed in God's purpose for your life.

[30:01] And the reason we're not as far along as we could be is because we're delayed. Because all of us are not yet responding to the dream that isn't just about us. In order for Joseph to escape his mess, he has to care for Pharaoh's mess.

[30:16] And by caring about Pharaoh's mess, he escapes his own mess. And so Joseph is the steward of someone else's dream. Because he's been being prepared his whole life by God for this specific job.

[30:29] Think about all of Joseph's fat cow, skinny cow moments. Highly favored by his father with a coat of many colors. And then the next moment he's thrown in a pit by his brothers.

[30:41] The next moment he's out of his country as a slave. And the next moment he's running Potiphar's house. And the next moment he's lied by Potiphar's wife and thrown into prison. The next moment he's running the prison.

[30:54] The next moment he's forgotten for two years. And then the next moment he's running Egypt. So we have all these fat cow, skinny cow moments. We have to learn how to stay balanced and focused like Joseph did.

[31:08] Focused on God in all of our seasons of feasts and in our seasons of famine. So you see, the signs of our strength don't come when everything is going good.

[31:18] That's easy. That's easy street. He doesn't take strength to survive when things are good. Our spiritual strength is made perfect in the times when we are experiencing a struggle.

[31:31] I'm aware of struggles in people's lives just in this building. And things that we've gone through as people.

[31:43] And now we're on the side of some of those things. And now we're stronger for it. And all of Joseph's life has made him fit for the fight. That's what it does.

[31:54] It makes us fit for the fight. That pit, that circumstance, that famine is your opportunity to grow and strengthen yourself to prepare. To prepare to be the answer to a greater problem.

[32:07] To prepare to serve your purpose in the kingdom of God. And we have to learn that we still have favor in the famine. We need to stop hating the famine. We have to understand the purpose for the famine.

[32:20] Let's all stand. Our strength is going to come from the famine. Not the blessings. We need to stop praying against the famine. We need to pray for, we pray a lot for provisions.

[32:30] And we pray a lot for protection. But when, what we really need to learn to start praying for is to be positioned. It's not just about, yes, pray for provision. Pray for protection. But we also need to pray for position.

[32:42] Being positioned properly in the kingdom of God. A lot of people pray protect me. A lot of people pray provide for me God. But very few people pray position me Lord. Position is very important.

[32:54] When you understand the power of positioning. So we're, remember we're, we're the part of the body of Christ. Members of the body individually. We all have a place.

[33:04] We all have a calling. We all have giftings to be in the body of Christ. If I'm the ear and the body, how am I going to function if I'm on the knee? So position, when it comes to the body of Christ, positioning is very important.

[33:19] Because my ear is not going to work if it's on my knee. Or if I'm stepping on it every time I walk because it's on the bottom of my foot. Positioning is very important. But positioning is very important in the kingdom of God.

[33:30] Everything Joseph went through, everything we go through, all the seasons of famine is all about God positioning us. And we need to understand that about the, about the season of famine. God uses seasons of famine to position us in the place that our gifts can be used for his kingdom and his purposes.

[33:45] So what are we going through right now? It's to position us. So remember, we all are part of the body of Christ. And we all have to be in the right position.

[33:57] And at the end of the story, that famine that struck all the land for all those seven years, it also affected Joseph's whole family. His family came all the way from that other land looking for food in Egypt.

[34:10] Because word had spread that there was food stored up in Egypt. And guess what? All that Joseph went through, all those many years, that long season of famine, the ups and the downs, God was positioning Joseph to save his family.

[34:24] And when it came down to it, Joseph was reunited with his family. We read it in the opening scriptures when his brothers recognized who he was. Joseph was reunited with his family.

[34:35] And his family was saved because Joseph found a way to keep his faith in God during the seasons of famine in his life. We read it at the beginning, Genesis 45 and 5. Now, therefore, be not grieved.

[34:46] He's talking to his brothers. Nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither. For God did send me before you to preserve life. What an attitude from Joseph. What an attitude to be able to look at the ones that, you know, like I said, it's not what happened to you, it's who did it.

[35:03] And looking at them and saying, you know what? This is, I'm fine with that. Because God is just putting me where he wants me. He's just positioning me where he wants me to be.

[35:13] And so we need to trust God that he knows what he's doing and that God has his hands in our situations. And if we are faithful to him while in our season of famine, we will end up right where God wants us.

[35:25] And a great deliverance will come out of it and that will affect everyone around us. We have to remember something about God. See, some people are left-handed and some people are right-handed.

[35:36] If you're right-handed, raise your right hand. If you're left-handed, raise your left hand. Oh, are you dual-handed or ambidextrous? So, Mario, you can do everything equally in either hand.

[35:53] It doesn't matter what it is. Oh, wow. That's amazing. Because some people are dual-handed. So they choose different tasks for different hands because they can do it better with that hand.

[36:05] So it's not really fully ambidextrous. But there's something about God. See, God's ambidextrous. We can see the favor of God. We can be in whatever season of famine we are in our lives but still see the favor of God.

[36:18] And the Bible talks about the right hand of God is his authority and his power and his strength. And we can see those things clearly sometimes operating in our lives. Even when things are not going well, we can see God's still got us.

[36:30] God's still keeping us through these things. But what we need to understand about God is he has a left hand too. And it's just as powerful and it's just as strong as the right hand is.

[36:41] And those are sometimes the things we can't see. And that's the things that we don't understand all the time. It's not as apparent to us. But when it all comes together at the end, we know that God was for us and not against us.

[36:52]  Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you, God, for this word today. Amen.