Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Chroma Church podcast.
[00:00:06] Well, my name is Joel.
[00:00:09] I am the worship pastor here. My parents leave the church. They are currently in Colombia enjoying this wonderful revival church. I think they will be on service two of the day now, and then they go and have dinner and then they'll fly home tonight and they'll be be back and tell you all about it next week.
[00:00:30] Who. Who was here last week?
[00:00:33] Okay. All right. Okay.
[00:00:36] Who read the 10 chapters of Genesis?
[00:00:39] Oh, let's go.
[00:00:42] Oh, come on.
[00:00:45] Okay. Wicked. Hello. I got someone. Some Haribos. I actually didn't have faith you guys would do it, but I'm really pleased you guys share them. I don't know. They're there, they're there. Oh, my goodness.
[00:00:57] Random. But, you know, I wanted you guys to know I'd remember.
[00:01:02] So last week we talked about the story of Joseph and we talked about setting ourselves up for a life of favor. And I said, last week was part one, this week will be part two.
[00:01:13] Also last week I mentioned our Mario Kart cycles, that many of you know that I have become the champion of Mario Kart.
[00:01:23] We played again last night. I'd like you to know I retained my crown.
[00:01:29] Yeah. Quiet at the side, isn't it?
[00:01:32] Okay. I had no relevance to the story. I just felt like it was important to say.
[00:01:37] Okay, so we're going to talk about Joseph. We're going to talk about part two of setting yourself up for a life of favor. I'm going to quickly recap the story of Joseph. We.
[00:01:47] We'll kind of run through a couple of the points last week and then we'll go through. Is that okay? And I would really, really encourage you read the story of Joseph for yourself in your Bible. Genesis 37 to about 47. It's an amazing story. I've been reading it again and again and again over the last two weeks, and it is just. It's like every time I read it, I get more. It's the amazing thing about the Bible like no other book. Every time you read it, you get more. There is more of God. Because the Bible is not just a book. It is an encounter with the king of glory. And as you read it, he meets you and he changes you and you got to read your Bibles. Okay, so story of Joseph.
[00:02:29] So Joseph, for those of you who don't know Joseph, at the start of Genesis 37, he is, I believe, about 17 years old.
[00:02:39] He has 11 brothers.
[00:02:42] And he is.
[00:02:46] He's walking around kind of with his brothers, and he's kind of the favored son. His dad loves him the most. He gives him the best coat. He really digs him. And Joseph really irritates his brothers. Like, he really, really annoys them. He's the brother that no one likes. And the truth is, as you read Genesis 37, you get why he's annoying.
[00:03:10] And his dad isn't picking this up. His dad is loving what Joseph's bringing. He gives him the best clothes. He. He kind of. He absolutely goes for it. And Joseph has two dreams.
[00:03:21] He has two dreams.
[00:03:23] And in the first dream, he sees all these.
[00:03:27] These kind of corn wheats bow down to him.
[00:03:31] And he basically, he goes to his brothers and he says, hey, guys, guess what? Here's the good news.
[00:03:37] I had this dream. You're gonna bow down to me. And his brothers are like, what is going on? We're gonna beat you up. We're not gonna bow down to you. Then he goes and he tells the second dream to his dad and all his brothers and everyone. He says, look, guys, guess what? It's the good news. You're gonna bow down to me.
[00:03:56] And bizarrely enough, they're not thrilled. And they're like, hey, you're an idiot. It's kind of. That's as much as we get. And we kind of move on with the story. And Joseph goes to check up on his brothers down the line. They're working somewhere further off. His dad sends him. And so as he's going to check up on his brothers, he's on route, his brothers see him, and they're like, hey, there's Joseph. Let's kill him.
[00:04:22] Now, you know your family problems have got bad when your brothers are looking at you going, let's kill him.
[00:04:28] And then eventually they go, no, no, okay, let's not kill him. We'll just throw him in a pit.
[00:04:34] So then they wait for him, they throw him in a pit.
[00:04:36] And then one of the other brothers kind of convinces them, hey, let's just, like, do the pit. And then he was planning on coming back and getting him later. And what happens is his brothers from Joseph being in the pit, they take Joseph out and they actually sell him into slavery.
[00:04:52] And he then goes all the way off to Egypt as a slave vision of his brothers bowing down.
[00:04:58] Now he's a slave.
[00:05:01] When he gets to Egypt, he becomes slave to a man named Potiphar, who is the head of Pharaoh's guard. And he serves in his house. And as he serves in his house, the favor of God, which is upon Joseph, means that everything Joseph touches prospers. And so Potiphar gives Joseph kind of the keys to his whole house. He says, hey, you do everything. You have all the responsibility. You do it and I'm not going to worry about anything.
[00:05:31] So Joseph serves and it's all going really well. It's looking a bit better for Joseph. And then Potiphar's missus starts to take a shine to Joseph. She's like, I'm liking a bit of Joseph.
[00:05:44] And so she starts to move to Joseph and he's like, hey, look, no way. Like, my master has given me authority over everything. But you are his wife. No way. No way. And she just keeps going. This is we're talking about. She. She is keen and she just keeps going and going and going. And eventually she is alone with Joseph and she grabs him by the cloak and she pulls and Joseph runs away and she rips his cloak.
[00:06:14] And so then when Potiphar, her husband, comes back, she goes to him and goes, look at what this Hebrew servant did. He tried to rape me. Joseph's not got good luck. He tried to rape me. And so Potiphar gets angry, throws him in prison.
[00:06:28] Joseph is then in prison and the same thing happens. The favor of God on Joseph's life means that Joseph prospers. And so he becomes in charge of the whole prison.
[00:06:38] They just give him, like, do what you want, you know, you're good. And he prospers.
[00:06:44] And during his time in the prison, there are two men that get bought into the prison and they're both. They both worked for Pharaoh, the baker and the cupbearer. And I think I said last week, the cupbearer's official title was captain of drinking.
[00:07:02] And they come in legit. That was actually his real title. And they come in and they're all really sad. And Joseph says, why are you sad? And they said, we had these dreams. And they both tell Joseph the dreams, and Joseph interprets the dreams for them and he says, for the cup bearer or the captain of drinking.
[00:07:20] And you, basically, you're going to be restored. Pharaoh's going to forgive you, he's going to put you back. And Joseph says, hey. And when he does that, don't forget about me. I'm not even supposed to be here.
[00:07:33] I'm the first man that ever behaved himself and then got thrown into prison.
[00:07:38] And so Joseph is not. And then the baker goes, oh, cool, he got a good dream. Let me tell you my dream, the baker tells him. And Joseph says, yours isn't as good. Pharaoh's going to behead you.
[00:07:49] And Then I think it's three days later that all happens. So the captain of the drink is restored. The baker isn't.
[00:07:57] And so they're back in. And the captain of drinking forgets about Joseph. So two years pass, he forgets about Joseph. Joseph's still in prison. Pharaoh then has these dreams, and he's distressed because no one can interpret the dreams. And he gets all the wizards out, and he's like, yo, you lot, can you interpret the dreams? And they can't.
[00:08:18] And so. And then. And then the captain of Drinking goes, hey, do you know what? I actually forgot? There's this guy, and he interprets my dream.
[00:08:27] And so. And so Pharaoh's like, okay, well, we'll bring him here. So they bring Joseph. He comes. He comes up, and Pharaoh says, hey, I've got these dreams. Can you interpret these dreams? And Joseph says, I can't do it, but the Lord my God can.
[00:08:42] And Joseph interprets the dreams.
[00:08:45] And Pharaoh is like, whoa.
[00:08:49] And Joseph interprets the dreams and brings such wisdom. And the presence of God is so upon him that Pharaoh says, you will lead my kingdom. And the dreams talk about a famine, and there's all this stuff going on in Egypt. And Joseph lays out a plan, and Pharaoh says, you can lead.
[00:09:08] And so Pharaoh gives the keys of the kingdom over to Joseph. And so that dream he had when he was 17 kind of comes to pass. He becomes this ruler, and then you fast forward on. And his brothers, who sold him into slavery, they come to Egypt because there's a famine, they've got no food. So they come to Egypt and they say, you know, we've got to find some food. And they come before Joseph, but they don't recognize him.
[00:09:32] And Joseph plays a couple of games with them, sends them around in circles, and eventually gets them to bring back kind of their brother and everyone. He brings them all in.
[00:09:42] And then he eventually reveals himself to his brothers. And in that moment where he had the power to finally avenge the evil acts they did to him, he weeps, hugs them, restores them, brings their dad up to Egypt, and they live a long and good life.
[00:09:58] It's an amazing story about a man who goes all the way to Egypt. A foreigner he was not. An Egyptian who rules Egypt.
[00:10:10] Prisoner, slave to ruler.
[00:10:14] And last week, I kind of talked to you about three things, because for me, I don't want to talk to you about, like, hey, here are the keys to favor on your life. If you do this, this, and this, then God will put his hand on your life, and you'll See, the favor of God, because the truth is, the favor of God is a gift, and it's all about Him. And we follow his lead. He doesn't follow us.
[00:10:34] But there are things you can do to set yourself up, to respond to the favor, to get ready to be ready for what God is going to do. And so last week, we talked about three things. We talked about him speaking to you and treasuring the word that he puts on your heart so that when you step into the season that gets hard, you cling on to what God said.
[00:10:55] We talked about valuing the hard season that, you know, the pit is good. Like, when you go into that hard season, God is making you. He's getting you ready for what he has for you. And no one loves it. You know, no one's like, hey, yay, I'm a slave. Like, no one enjoys that, right? But what happens in that season gets Joseph ready to be the ruler that God has called him to be.
[00:11:20] And the third thing I spoke about was that the favor of God, if it's the favor of God, it's going to require a miracle. And if you are stepping into something where you don't feel like you, you know, you don't need God to show up for it to happen, then you're probably going the wrong way. It's not big enough.
[00:11:36] And actually, like, Joseph could never become the ruler of Egypt without the miraculous intervention of God. And if we're going to walk in the favor of God, we need his miraculous intervention.
[00:11:49] And this week I've got. I've got three more.
[00:11:52] Three, three more quick points, and then we'll pray for you.
[00:11:56] So here's the first one. The favor of God on your life is not just for you.
[00:12:05] Genesis 39:2 2 says, the Lord was with Joseph, so that he prospered. And he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned from the time he put him in charge of the household and all that he owned. The Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
[00:12:46] So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care. And later on, Genesis 39:20 says, but while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all these held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was, was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
[00:13:18] The favor of God on your life will prosper you, but it will also prosper those around you.
[00:13:25] And this is an interesting concept for us because the Bible was written in a very different time.
[00:13:33] And society, especially in the west, has moved so much. And so much about our society is about us. It's about me.
[00:13:42] It's my money, you know, it's my family, it's my decisions, my boundaries, my schedule and the Bible. You know, you read the Bible and they have a very, very different set of values because the blessing of God upon the people all throughout the Bible is actually as he talks to them about how he's going to bless them. He normally talks about, I'm going to bless your family, I'm going to bless your legacy, I'm going to bless your lineage. I'm going to bless those around you.
[00:14:14] And the truth is, if I said to you guys, hey, I've got the word of the Lord for you. I stood someone up and I said, hey, good news.
[00:14:22] God says he's going to give you more children than the stars in the sky.
[00:14:30] How many of you would go, Two is good?
[00:14:39] And the Bible has such a different precedent for the blessing of God.
[00:14:45] See, because God wants to bless you, but he also wants to bless those around you.
[00:14:51] And what's interesting is he doesn't want to bless those around you because, you know, you're wicked and horrible and he just wants you to be miserable. That's not the deal.
[00:15:00] But actually, as we begin to step into the blessing of God, the favor of God, and he prospers those around us. And as we can take joy in God prospering those around us, it's actually better for us. Have you ever noticed the most insular people, the people who only care about themselves, are normally by far the loneliest and most depressed.
[00:15:23] Do you understand that a good father not only wants to bless you, but to bless those around you because he loves you and because it's better.
[00:15:30] It's better that those around you are blessed as well.
[00:15:34] And here's what's crazy.
[00:15:36] God's going to bless you and those around you and those around you he's going to bless might not even deserve it.
[00:15:42] In fact, all throughout the Bible, the blessing of God comes upon people who often are some of the worst people.
[00:15:51] You read the book and you go, God, I would not be blessing them. Have you thought this through?
[00:16:02] It genuinely blows my mind. And what is amazing, you notice when people parent, one of the things people often get worried about is that, hey, if I give my kid too many good gifts, he'll become really annoying and just that bratty kid that just expects more.
[00:16:16] Whereas God is like, hey, no, here's the good news. I'm gonna bless you and I'm gonna bless everyone else, so it doesn't matter. And it's gonna tick you off and develop your character so that you're ready to carry the blessing of God on you.
[00:16:27] It's crazy. Only God could do that. Only God could bless us and bless those around us, and his goodness spread and it worked. Character at the same time, I genuinely think that's one of the things that's happening with us in this building. We rent this building and sometimes this is a hard building to rent. Sometimes our landlord is not particularly nice to us. And one of the challenges we have is God will bless him as long as we are here.
[00:16:55] And I'm like, lord, could you lighten up on that? I'm kind of thinking hellfire and brimstone be more effective. It's just not God's way.
[00:17:06] And I want to say to you that the favor of God on your life is not just for you. It's for those around you.
[00:17:12] He wants to bless your workplace.
[00:17:16] Your presence in the place you work should mean the blessing of God comes upon it.
[00:17:22] The place you work should prosper.
[00:17:25] Now, that's all well and good when you love where you work, but it's not when you don't like your boss.
[00:17:30] It's not when they work you hours you don't feel happy with. And even worse, now God's making them make money.
[00:17:36] Oh, this is the way of God.
[00:17:41] Jesus says, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus said, blessed are those who give.
[00:17:58] When we first started this church, someone had a picture, prophetic picture. They had a dream and they saw like a big glass building. And that's where they thought we were going to meet. And they drew it all on a. On a bit of paper, turned up and was like, this is the picture of where God says you're going to meet.
[00:18:21] And we didn't, my family, we didn't know anything about Leicester. We didn't know any of the buildings. So when we moved here, we drove past the football ground and the football ground looked like the picture. So we were like, oh, this must be the place.
[00:18:37] So we go to the football ground and we say, hey, like, can we. Can we rent a room?
[00:18:44] And they're like, yeah, it's going to be so and so amount.
[00:18:52] It was going to be a significant amount of money, far more than we could afford.
[00:18:57] And my dad went to the person and said, hey, tell you what, I can't do that.
[00:19:05] I can do like 10% of that.
[00:19:08] Okay, 10%. It was a ridiculous number. He said, but if you let us be here, God will bless you.
[00:19:18] So they said, okay, promise. The football club went all right.
[00:19:26] So we met there. For how many years did we meet at the football club? 3 foot 5, something like that make up a number. Good amount of years.
[00:19:34] When we left, they got promoted to the Premier League.
[00:19:38] They pulled off the greatest escape that's ever been seen. They then won the Premier League, which is quoted as one of the biggest sporting miracles ever at 50001 odds, and went on to win the FA Cup.
[00:19:55] Crazy. And the guys who are in the football club know that they remember some of the staff in hospitality.
[00:20:02] Steve, you said that God would bless us. And let me tell you, I'm a Lester fan. It was the blessing of God because it has lifted now.
[00:20:12] Can I get an amen?
[00:20:17] The favor of God on your life should prosper the places around you. And we have to find a way to take joy in the blessing of God around us, people around us. Doesn't matter whether you think they deserve it. He's the gift giver. He's the blesser. Leave that with him.
[00:20:35] Second point.
[00:20:38] Favor leads you to places you will never expect.
[00:20:43] Have you mapped out the route of where you think God's calling you? So, you know, if you're anything like me, he puts a dream in your heart. He says, I want you to do this, you know, so for me it's, you know, I want you to lead worship in this place, or I want you to write this song, or I want you to do this.
[00:20:59] And if you're anything like me, your first response is, great, let me just map the route out for you, Lord. I'm just gonna show you how you're gonna do it, God. I'll start off here, you know, I'll start off modest. I'll do, like, Wembley. I'll lead worship at Wembley and then maybe I'll, like, travel the world a little bit and then I'll settle here. I'm happy for you to introduce me to this person, this person, this person. But I haven't got time for this person. And you. You start to map out, like, how you think God is gonna take you into the place he said you're gonna go, right? So you start to go, oh, well, you know, so for Joseph, you know, if I'm.
[00:21:35] God's called me, you know, to be a ruler of a nation. So I'm gonna go to nation ruling school.
[00:21:41] I'm gonna learn how to do it, and maybe I'll intern for the president and start. I'll start with a smaller nation and work my way up. And, you know, I mean, and you lay everything out, and then God's like, hey, Joseph, I'm going to make you a ruler. So here's a pit.
[00:21:57] You can get in the pit. But don't worry, then I'm going to sell you into slavery.
[00:22:02] And after you've been a slave, I'm going to put you in prison.
[00:22:10] And you're like, God, that's. There's got to be a better route.
[00:22:14] There's got to be a more direct route to the thing you're calling me to.
[00:22:19] And the thing I've learned is that God never goes the way you think you're gonna go.
[00:22:24] And so long. We kind of fight against the favor of God in our lives because we're not willing to step into the thing he's called us to do because it doesn't look like what it's supposed to. You know, we're like, hey, if I do this, that's not gonna lead to this.
[00:22:41] I just wanna say to you tonight that there is no planet. The correct way to rule a nation is to become a slave.
[00:22:48] None.
[00:22:50] But that's what God does.
[00:22:52] And to some extent, sometimes the opposite direction is just so that he can have the greater glory and the miracle.
[00:22:59] But we so often plan out the route.
[00:23:02] And the truth is, we shouldn't be planning the route because we are following the Lord. He's not following us.
[00:23:09] We're going the way he wants to go.
[00:23:12] So when he walks, it's yes, sir.
[00:23:16] Matthew 16, 24, 26. Jesus says, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
[00:23:42] Favor is unmerited. Grace. You can't strategize your way to grace.
[00:23:48] Grace is a gift.
[00:23:52] Last week I said that you need the miraculous for favor. You can't make Strategies for miracles.
[00:23:59] You can't. It's just not how God works.
[00:24:07] So I want to ask you tonight, like, as you go in the direction you feel like God's saying, and he's taking you to weird places, maybe change the things you're looking for.
[00:24:18] Look for the miracles.
[00:24:19] Look for the place where he's doing miraculous things.
[00:24:24] You know, for me, when he spoke to me and he said, joel, I want you to start this criminal worship thing. And we were in lockdown, and I was like, lord, no one's listening to our music.
[00:24:34] Like, it's not very good, and we're in lockdown. I'll be playing for an audience of zero.
[00:24:40] This is a ridiculous idea.
[00:24:43] And then God, I started to get phone calls with people saying, hey, we're gonna move to Leicester, like, musicians to come and be part of it. And my ear twigs on that. That's a miracle that just couldn't happen. You don't move to Leicester to do that.
[00:24:56] Look for the grace of God.
[00:25:00] Chris Valatin says, grace is not just undeserved favor, it's also the operational power of God.
[00:25:07] So grace is what empowers believers to do what they couldn't do on their own.
[00:25:13] Look for the grace of God. What are the things you just couldn't do? But God is breathing in your life and look for where you can serve.
[00:25:26] You know, sometimes we think as the favor of God comes on our lives and as we follow where he's leading, that means we get a higher seat.
[00:25:35] And actually the challenge is Jesus always took the low one.
[00:25:40] He always served, you know, and so often again, I feel like God calls us to things and we're just not willing to do the dirty work and serve and do the gig we don't want to do.
[00:25:53] So we just say no.
[00:25:55] Is it interesting that as a slave, Joseph was promoted?
[00:26:00] I don't think you get promoted as a slave if you're just an idiot. You just fight.
[00:26:06] Came in low and served in the prison. He did not. He was not supposed to be in the prison. He hadn't done anything wrong. He would be well within his rights to come in and go, I'm going to be a lousy prisoner.
[00:26:19] But it says that God was with him. And I promise you, he came in low. Because then when he gets to Pharaoh and Pharaoh says, hey, I've heard you can interpret dreams, he says, I can't, but God can.
[00:26:31] That's the posture of someone that's served.
[00:26:34] Come in low.
[00:26:39] My third and final point is favor will get you there. But Wisdom will keep you there.
[00:26:49] Genesis 41, it says so. The advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?
[00:27:06] Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.
[00:27:16] You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word. Only in regard to the throne shall I be greater than you.
[00:27:29] He didn't say, hey, like, you've got these crazy dream powers. I'm kind of impressed.
[00:27:36] Here's the gig.
[00:27:38] He said, because the spirit of God is upon you, and because you have wisdom, you get the job.
[00:27:48] And you see the favor of God will get us there. The favor of God will get you before kings, but it is wisdom that will keep you there.
[00:27:58] And so often we see the Holy Spirit and wisdom as kind of separate things. So within the church, you kind of have the camp of people that are like, holy Spirit. People love the Holy Spirit, full of faith, but don't love wisdom, you know? So, for example, I've been around a lot of these guys where it's like, hey, we're planting a church. I'm like, great. Like, this is so exciting. And we're just gonna do worship and prayer rooms, and we do all this stuff, and we're believing God, and he's gonna bring thousands. And we're like, amazing.
[00:28:28] You know, where is it? Or can I. Can I tell people about it? No, no, no, no. God is gonna tell people. We won't tell you.
[00:28:35] That's just not wisdom.
[00:28:37] That's just not why. It's like you're doing something silly. And in the other side, you kind of sometimes have the wisdom. People that want to strategize and plan everything to such an excruciating extent that there's no room for the miracle.
[00:28:50] And what's really interesting is that you can't have faith without the Holy Spirit, and you can't have wisdom without the Holy Spirit. You can't have the truth.
[00:28:58] Wisdom of God is knowing the voice of the Holy Spirit and doing what he says.
[00:29:03] It's nothing to do with being the smartest person in the room.
[00:29:07] It's knowing the Lord.
[00:29:11] And I hope that's an encouragement to you, because as God takes you on this journey, as you follow him, and his favor is upon you on the road and on the journey, you need to learn the wisdom and the ways of God. Because as he brings you into what he's called you into, you're going to need the wisdom of God.
[00:29:32] Which means you're gonna need to say, God, what do you want?
[00:29:37] You know, Joseph gets before Pharaoh and he says, God can answer your dream. I can't answer your dream. And then God speaks to him and gives him the plan.
[00:29:47] But also, he must have some level of wisdom. Because when you get to positions of leadership and influence, when you step into the thing God's called you to you, you soon realize that at the start of your journey where you thought you were ready, you know, when Joseph was 17 and he thought, I'm ready to rule everyone, bow down, he was not ready.
[00:30:10] But when God brings you to that place, you soon realize, hey, I was not ready. I'm still not ready.
[00:30:18] But it is his wisdom upon your life that will make you ready.
[00:30:37] I was listening to a Rich Wilkerson thing recently, and he said something along the lines of, you can spend a whole life making good decisions, and then one bad decision can ruin your whole life.
[00:30:53] And I thought about that a lot because I think so often, as the people of God, we want the favor of God upon our lives. And we're just like following God and we're going, yes, yes, yes. And then he brings us in to the place and the moment that he has appointed for us. And then we do something really stupid and sometimes can blow it all up, which must mean we need his wisdom.
[00:31:17] We need to know what is the right thing when we get before the Lord and we get into that moment to do the right thing. I want to read you something.
[00:31:27] This is.
[00:31:29] I'm actually going to read it from my Bible.
[00:31:33] It's Proverbs 1. If you want to read it, this is new King James translation.
[00:31:45] It's Proverbs 1:20. And in my Bible it says the call of Wisdom. The title above says, wisdom calls outside.
[00:31:58] She raises her voice in the open squares.
[00:32:02] She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gate in. In the city she speaks her words.
[00:32:11] How long you simple ones will you love simplicity, you scorners delight in their scorning. And fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke, since I will pour out my spirit on you. Can't have wisdom without the Holy Spirit.
[00:32:28] I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you have refused.
[00:32:35] I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded.
[00:32:39] Because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke. I also will laugh at your calamity.
[00:32:48] I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and they did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel, and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil.
[00:33:38] How wild is that?
[00:33:42] We need wisdom as the people of God.
[00:33:47] The Favor bit that's God. He'll put his hand on you. He'll blow on your life.
[00:33:52] We need to spend our lives pursuing him, pursuing his wisdom, knowing his ways so that as he pulls you into the places he's called you. And believe me, he will.
[00:34:04] There are people in this room that are going to do things you would not even believe.
[00:34:09] You have no idea who you can be with the Lord by your side.
[00:34:15] You have no idea who you can be with the Lord.
[00:34:21] He will bring you before kings.
[00:34:25] But you need the wisdom to stay there.
[00:34:30] So my three things tonight favor on your life isn't just for you.
[00:34:35] Favor leads you to places you would never expect.
[00:34:40] And favor will get you there. But wisdom will keep you there. Why don't you guys stand.
[00:34:51] Thanks for listening to the Chroma Church Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
