God is Cooking

Praise the Lord. People of God, praise God. Well, as always, it's a joy and a privilege to bring the light of God's Word to God's people today. I can truly tell you that Sunday after Sunday, my heart is grateful to God for this opportunity to bring His Word because we know that it's not everyone who has the ability to hear from God. It's not everyone who has the ability to receive revelation from God about His Word because, you know, the Bible says that the secret things belong to our God and those things which are revealed, they belong to us and to our children forever. So what that means is that God's Word is the secret things in the things of the kingdom. There are secret things that only God knows in the kingdom, in His kingdom, and only those things that He chooses to reveal, those things are for us and for our children forever. Revelation of the things of God is a gift from God. And so the opportunity to prayerfully seek God's face about what to share with His people every week, every Sunday or any and every time that we have the opportunity to do that is an honor for us and a privilege to be able to get into God's Word and to see light and to see revelation and to hear from God, tell my people this, this is what you need to talk about. It's an honor. And this is why each time we're getting ready to talk to you, to the people of God every Sunday, we take out the time to prayerfully prepare to study because the Bible says, study to show yourself approved a good workman. We don't come here empty. We come here prayerfully, we go digging into the Word of God, looking for nuggets of wisdom in God's Word. And the truth is, as we do this, as I do this every Sunday, my life is transformed because to be honest with you, this entire ministry started because of pursuit for the Word of life. It started because of a hunger for the living Word, for a place where the Word of God, the living Word of God could be fed. I wanted to be fed the Word and the Lord led me into the Word to prepare the Word and deliver His Word to people like myself who are hungry for truth so that our lives are transformed even as my life is transformed each time I go looking for truth in the Word, I go preparing, I go studying, looking for what the Lord would have me say to His people on each Sunday. So for me on a personal level, I feel tremendously blessed and I hope and I pray that everyone who is connected to this vision, everyone who is connected to this ministry would also be blessed as you listen, as you hear truth, as the Lord speaks to us all and gives us more light for our journey. So before we go into today's message, into today's discussion, I want us to pray. Spirit of the Living God, I worship you tonight. I thank you from the depths of my heart for this that you have started because your Word says do not despise the days of small beginnings. I know that you are working on something, you are cooking something behind the scenes, you are getting ready to pour yourself out upon all flesh. I thank you for finding me useful as an instrument for your end time move, even in the body of Christ. As the Word comes out this evening, as I speak Holy Ghost, I yield and I surrender to you. Speak through me, anoint my tongue, provide me with the gift of oratory this evening, open up my mind and my understanding to hear directly from the throne room of grace. That I speak but not of myself, but I speak by your power. Let the ears that hear the Word of God tonight be transformed. Let the Word of God go into the hearts of men tonight and bring life, bring understanding. Bring light, in Jesus' name, amen. And so today I'm going to be speaking from a subject which I have titled, What's Cooking? Yes, the title of my discussion today is, What's Cooking? Now if you cook, and if you cook well, you will find that sometimes as the dish is in progress, even as an experienced chef, sometimes half the way through the preparation, you begin to suspect that maybe this particular dish might not come out 110%. You know, sometimes if you're a good cook, sometimes you cook and even you, you're like, wow, this is delicious, even if I say so myself. And sometimes when you're cooking, you know halfway through that something isn't right. Unless you do something and do something quick by some urgent intervention, that dish just might go another way. Now imagine that you're cooking for a huge event and the highest echelons of society, they're assembled to feast on your cooking. And things are not going well. Things are not going well. You can tell. Each time you taste that sauce, mm-mm, something isn't quite right. Well, you know that you still have time because the dish isn't done yet. You have time to do something quick before the secret is out, before your guests find out that this dish is not your best. And so you pull out your years of experience from creative cooking. You cook splendid dishes for many years. And you're known for doing this. That's why this august host of people are waiting to feast on your cooking. They trust you. They know that you can cook. You're a top chef. But they don't know that this particular dish, this particular dish isn't going well. But you do. Why? Because you are the one cooking. And so you swing into action. You pull out all the years of experience you have gained cooking and cooking well. And you put in a little herb here. You put in a little salt here. You put in a little seasoning there. And you pull it off. The food is now ready. And it's a hit. It is sumptuous. And you are delighted. You are proud. And no one knows any better. The guests, they don't know. They eat with relish, smacking their lips. It all worked out in the end. It was not a disaster. It was a challenge. But it worked out in the end. You know, this is the way God works. God is a master chef. And every time, unknown to us, when things are looking like they're going to some direction that you don't recognize, when things look like they're going south, God is cooking something. And God is a master chef. God is cooking an irresistible dish with your life. It doesn't look like that right now. In your business. In your marriage. In your mind. In every area of your life that looks like things are going, it's almost a disaster. It feels like a disaster. Everything started out so good. Everything started out so good. You had everything you needed to take hold of life and be a success. Like the chef in our example, you were a tough chef. Everything started out so great. You had every ingredient you needed. You had the top education that you needed. You had all the opportunities you needed. You started out life with the right friends. And somehow, somewhere along the line, everything began to go south. And now you don't know what's going on. You don't know what's going on. But I'll tell you. God is cooking. God is cooking. We as human beings, we have no way of knowing when God is cooking. We have no way of knowing how long God is going to be there cooking. And from time to time, because we don't know, because, you know, as human beings, we are limited by the flesh. We can't really tell. But if you live in the spirit, you can tell. And you trust God. You can tell when God is working on something. Even though you don't know what's happening in the immediate time, you know that in the end, all things are going to work out for your good. And when God cooks, the dish is always outstanding. In the end, the dish is always irresistible. Let's be clear about that. God's cooking is always delicious. In the end, the process, at the time He's cooking, you're not happy about the process. Sometimes the heat in the kitchen is inconvenient. The heat in the kitchen is uncomfortable. But the process of cooking, you have to wait on God. Now, let's go to Scripture. Let's go to Scripture, because, you know, everything we do here is based on the Word of God. Everything we say here is based on the Word of God. We know from experience that regardless of how life turns out, regardless of how life seems to be at the moment, because the Word of God says so, that everything in our life, if we believe God and we are called according to His purpose, everything in our life works out for our good. Why? Because glory awaits God in Zion. So our text for today that we're going to examine on how everything in our lives, in our journey, God includes in His preparation of His fantastic dish to ensure that at the end, it works out exactly how He intended. It works out exactly how He intended. So I am now in Genesis 20, rather, Genesis 50. I am in the book of Genesis, chapter 50, and I am in verse 16. But let me give you a little background. So this story is about Israel. Jacob, who is now Israel, he has died. And his sons take his remains from Goshen in Egypt. They take him to the land of Canaan, which he had commanded them to do when he was alive, to go bury him in the burying place which his father Abraham had bought from Ephron, the Hittite. And so now his sons take him over there and they bury their father and they mourn for him. And now they return to Goshen. So they're back in Goshen, and Joseph returns to his duties as governor of Egypt, and his brothers go back to their businesses as shepherds. Only that now his brothers, Joseph's brothers, are afraid that now that their father is dead, Joseph will have no reason to show them kindness. They are afraid that Joseph will retaliate and repay them for the evil that they did to him as a young man. Now remember, Joseph is the eleventh child out of twelve. And so he's much younger than ten of his brothers. And by now, obviously, they're getting older. And now they're fearful that in their old age, Joseph might get them. And in their time of vulnerability, in their old age now, Joseph might do to them what they did to him in his time of vulnerability when he depended on them for safety and security rather than take care of him and protect him. They hated on him and they sold him into slavery. Now imagine, this is a young boy. He's looking up to his older brothers. And instead of taking care of him, instead of protecting him, they sell him into slavery. Just like you, maybe your father or your mother who is now old and fearful that their chickens may be coming home to roost. They never cared for you when you needed them the most. You had to fend for yourself. Some of you, while living in your father's house, living in your parents' house, as a child, they never cared about you. They never took care of you. Some, they even put you out, left you for the wolves. But now they're old and they're vulnerable. And they're afraid that you will remember and you might retaliate. That's exactly what Joseph's brothers are. They're afraid. And so they didn't want to assume anything. They didn't want to assume anything. Now we go to the story, which is Genesis chapter 50, verse 16. The Bible says, And so they sent messengers to Joseph. That's Joseph's brothers sent messengers to Joseph, saying, Before your father died, he commanded, saying, Thus shall you say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. Yes. They did evil to you. Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father. The Bible says, And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. You see, it's obvious that Joseph's brothers were so afraid, they didn't want to assume anything. Because the Bible never says anything about Joseph doing anything to make them think he would retaliate. The Bible does not record that Joseph did anything to make them think that. But you see, their hearts, their conscience had no rest. And that's because they knew that they had done evil to Joseph. And they knew that the love Joseph had for his father was so great, and they probably thought that that love was what they were hiding under. They thought in their hearts that Joseph's love for his father was the grace over them. So now their father is gone, is that grace still there? So the Bible says, towards the end of verse 17, The Bible says, Joseph wept. Joseph, a great man, with a heart of gold. He wept. Now, that's strange, isn't it? Because they are afraid. They are the ones afraid, but it's Joseph who weeps. And that's because his brothers' hearts haven't changed much. Just based on this dynamic, his brothers' hearts haven't seemed to change much. And it's safe to think that if the tables were turned, and it was Joseph, they may have put Joseph out. Their hearts, they still seem to remain the same as when they threw Joseph in the pit. In the pit, nothing has changed. And so because they hadn't changed, they probably assumed that Joseph's heart was just like theirs. That's why they were so fearful of what Joseph might do. But the Bible says that Joseph says to them, I am not God. Why should I retaliate? Because this is a man who understands that everything that happens to you in life, God means it for good. When it's good, He means it for good. When it's bad, He means it for good. And Joseph said to them, I am not God. Why should I retaliate? You meant it for evil. But the great God, He meant it for good. So while you were devising evil, when I was young, you were devising evil against me because of envy. God, the master chef, He knew exactly what to do and how to use your evil, how to use my unsavory experiences as ingredients in His cooking. In His cooking, God knew how to use the evil that Joseph's brothers did to Him as ingredients in His cooking to create a master dish. So in His recipe for the dish of Joseph's life, the pit in which His brothers threw Him, the prison in which He ended up in the end, all of His life's experiences, Mrs. Potiphar, everything that at the time seemed so unsavory were all ingredients in the hands of the master chef, Almighty God, as God was cooking a dish out of Joseph's life. He allowed everything that happened to Joseph in the hand of God. The pit was a herb. The prison experience was a seasoning. Lady Potiphar was salt. Everything God allowed. And in the end, He threw everything together in His great mighty pot to create an outstanding dish that would become the life of Joseph, that would become the life that Joseph would later live. And this St. Joseph would become the savior of his brothers, saving them from famine so that the line, the heritage of his father wouldn't be wiped away. His brothers intended to kill him. They intended that he would die. They didn't throw him in the pit to save him, except for his older brother, Reuben, who tried to save him, but he did too little too late. His brothers, the entire purpose of throwing him in that pit, was that he would die there. They didn't intend for him to be sold into slavery. Slavery wasn't an alternative. He was meant to die. But the plan of God was to take Joseph from a young boy to a governor, the in-between, the pit, prison, Mrs. Potiphar. They were all the in-between necessary things that had to happen. They were necessary. They had to happen. Now, Joseph himself, that's not the plan he had for himself. No one would have planned to get in the pit, get in the prison, be hounded by Mrs. Potiphar, and then duck and dive. No one, he didn't have that plan for himself. Joseph looked forward to a nice life as daddy's favorite little child, and then grow up to be daddy's favorite son, strutting about in his multi-colored coat. But God had another plan. God had another plan, and God knew exactly what would happen, how it would happen, and how it would end. Why? Because he was the one doing the cooking. God meant for everything to happen just the way he did, and he meant it for good. For Joseph, it didn't feel like that. It didn't look good. It didn't feel like that all the time. But because of the one who was doing the cooking, even though Joseph didn't know it at the time, the end was always going to work out. Everything was going to work out according to his purpose. Now, when we look at Joseph's life, Joseph actually was a, you know, he was a somewhat of a spoiled child. That's evident in his life. He was a spoiled child. He was daddy's boy. He was favored by his father, who singled him out and made him a coat of many colors, and his father never made any attempts to hide his preference for Joseph, and I think that set Joseph up against his brothers, set him up for envy, and it was inevitable that they would envy him. I mean, it's not normal for brothers to gang up and try to kill another, a younger brother, but this happened to Joseph. But Joseph was a spoiled child. He was a spoiled young man. So, imagine if Joseph, spoiled young man, grows up to be a spoiled adult, grows up to be governor. The quality of administration, I mean, just if we used our creative imagination, he needed the opportunity to grow just because of where God was taking him, because of who he was going to become in God's plan. Joseph needed to grow. He needed to go to a special school. He needed the kind of education and training that his regular life at that time and the trajectory of his life at that time, he wouldn't have been able to get that training the way his normal life was going. So, something drastic had to happen. So, what that means is that, unknown to the brothers, unknown to Joseph, everyone and everything that happened between the pit and the palace were all working for God. His brothers were working for God. His slave traders were working for God. Mrs. Potiphar was working for God. Everybody were working for God as instruments to get Joseph from point A to point B. Point A being the pit, point B being the palace. In between people, everybody was on God's payroll doing exactly what God intended. Everybody was working for God to get his purpose accomplished. And that's just the way it is. When God is cooking his sumptuous dish in heaven's kitchen, I can tell you because I've been there. You've been there. We've all been there. It's uncomfortable. It's sweaty. It's dirty. The pit must have been a dirty place for Joseph. And in that season, people see you. They see your discomfort and they think you're done. You don't look like a big deal at that point. Some people even cancel you. Because now, maybe you lost your job. Maybe you even lost your mind. You don't look like you have much value. So they cancel you. Have you ever had people cancel you? People cancel you sometimes to protect their own brand. You know, maybe now no one wants to be seen with you because you fell so low. You hit the ground so hard. No one wants to be seen with you. Even people, some people, you gave your all to them in the time of their distress. But now, and some people are cute about it. Some people try to be wise. They send you private messages. They send you private e-mail, but they don't want anyone to see them with you. Because now, you don't look so good. But I want to talk to someone who right now, you are, you're in that heat. That dish of your life isn't going so well right now. And you're wondering where your life is going. Will you ever be somebody? Will you ever reach your goal? Will you ever come out of this trauma, this pain? Will you ever get over this abuse, this shame? When is it going to end? And everyone that you started life with, they're all so far ahead of you. And you're beginning to look like a failure, at least to you. That's how you feel. But don't worry about that. You need to just stay focused. Listen. Stay focused. And keep hope alive. If you don't remember anything I said today, listen. Remember, God is cooking. God is cooking something He is not done yet. I know there's heat in the kitchen. I know you feel uncomfortable. I know you feel that pain, that shame, that trauma. But you see, don't worry about that. Stay focused. Keep your head in the game. God is cooking. When He's done, you will look back and you'll see that it was all worth it. God's plan is not man's plan. There is a bigger picture. And you need to see that. You need to find that picture, first of all. Because sometimes when you're in the kitchen, when all that heat and life is going south for you, you can't see the big picture. But you need to find that big picture. And that big picture is in the Word of God. Jesus said in His Word, He said, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Jesus will never leave you. His Word is the big picture. God is cooking. God isn't done yet. God is not done yet. In the hands of the Almighty God, your pain, your shame, your trauma, they are all ingredients for a super, super dish that God is cooking. He's going to throw everything together and make your life splendid in the end. So much so that when God is done, everyone who cancelled you, and I mean this, when God is done, everyone who cancelled you, they're going to try to come back and find you. That's a good thing. Not because so you can say, Oh, I won. But so that you know that they have seen the hand of God in your life. They're not coming back because of you. They're coming back because of the move of God in your life. Your pain and your reproach, they're all ingredients in the hand of Almighty God as He prepares your life into this wonderful dish the way only He can. And He will do it. You may not know how long He's going to cook. But one thing you do know, you must know, is that because of the one who is cooking, in the end, your life is going to turn out great. And you won't look anything like what you've been through. You won't look anything. You know how when a master chef is cooking, the dish, when it's done, looks nothing like how it started. Everything is together in the pot and everything is... So that's how it's going to be. That's how it is for you now. You don't see the end because you're in it. You're in the heat. Everything is looking strange and looking uncomfortable, feeling uncomfortable now. But know this. God is in charge. Give God the opportunity to do what He says He will do. Get out of His way. Get out of the kitchen. Go do something with your life while God is cooking. Go get a degree. Go do something with your time because you don't even know how long God is going to need to get done what He wants to get done with your life. But you do have the chance. You do have the ability to do something while you wait for God to get done. All right. Well, again, we've had a great time looking at God's word. And we like to end the evening with prayer. We like to start with prayer. We like to end with prayer. Now, my personal testimony is that there is nothing God cannot do. I believe that. Because I believe that, I hold on to God in the place of prayer. Prayer changes everything. And for you listening to me now, if you don't pray, you need to begin to pray. Because that's your weapon. The Bible says the weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal. They're mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. You need to pray. If you don't pray, enough. Okay? So thank you for joining us this evening. We're just going to say a quick word of prayer. And we'll see each other again next Sunday. So, Lord, thank you. Thank you for the time, Lord Jesus, for the opportunity to bring your word. Thank you for your light. Thank you for the ears who have heard this word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your angels who take this message and deliver this message to your hearts that need to hear. Blessed be God. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. See you next Sunday.