In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding that God is in control of everything that happens in our lives. He uses the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis to illustrate this point. Joseph, who was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, eventually becomes a powerful ruler in Egypt. When his brothers come to him seeking help during a famine, Joseph has the power to either help or punish them. Ultimately, Joseph chooses to forgive and help his brothers, showing the importance of extending grace and provision to those who have wronged us.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. I believe in God with all my heart today that there's going to be deliverance. I really mean deliverance, that you're going to begin to understand that betrayal can have a purpose and that you're not going to live behind the gates where the enemy would want to keep you. Many, many people suffer betrayal as Christians and, of course, even before you become a Christian. And the betrayal that we suffer causes us to live in a certain place right where the enemy would have us, where God cannot pour his provision through our lives. Some of what you're about to hear you're familiar with and some of it you might not be. If you'll go to Psalm 105, please. We're going to begin here, and I've entitled this message, Passing Through the Gates of Betrayal. Now, Lord, you've spoken to my heart that there's going to be a deliverance, a mighty deliverance. You said clearly the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. There are gates that the enemy has erected in front of many of even the most choice servants of God to stop the outflow of the provision of God through Christ Jesus in his church. Now, God Almighty, I'm asking you to anoint me. I'm asking you, Jesus, to take me so far beyond any natural understanding I have of this topic and take me, O God, into the very heart of what you want to speak. Deliver me from excess speaking, and God, let it be only your spirit that manifests through me. Lord Jesus Christ, I'm asking that you be absolutely glorified. My God, set your church free. You have to have a testimony in this generation. There has to be a people that you have prepared that are willing to carry the banner of Christ in a very darkened hour. I believe we've arrived at this hour, and I thank you, Lord, that you are unlocking the treasure of Scripture. You said that you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. I pray for a deep embracing of the truth that we're about to hear today, and I pray God the gates of hell would be forced to open. I'm asking you, Lord, for hundreds to be released today in this service and brought into an awareness of something that they previously didn't know. Jesus, only you can do this. It cannot come by the reasoning of man. Lord, we don't want to simply agree with man's wisdom. We want to be motivated and moved by something from the heart of God, and we want to be set free by the power of God. Now, Father, I thank you for this with all my heart, that you're going to do something so far beyond any natural ability. We thank you for it. In Jesus' name. Now, Psalm 105, we're going to begin at verse 16. I'm going to read to verse 22, and I want you to superimpose this on our day and perhaps find a place where you might be in this passage of Scripture. Verse 16 of Psalm 105 says, Moreover, he called for a famine upon the land. He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant. Now, God was determined to move his people from one place to another. And you'll find that history repeats itself, both the negative things and the things that are good in the sight of God. God saw something, and he called for a famine. He was about to move his own people, who at that time assumed they were living in the promised land, and he was going to move them to another place. And in order to do this, he created a hunger. And I do believe we're living there again. I believe there's a hunger stirring in our society today. I believe that people are looking around, and they're beginning to be afraid as they see things rapidly starting to spin out of control. Even the most positive optimists today are becoming extremely pessimistic of our time. Verse 17 says, He sent a man before them, this is where you come in, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in iron. Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him, that's what's going to happen to you today, even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance, to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his senators wisdom. Now, the Scripture tells us that Joseph was a man through whom God gave great provision to others in a time of famine. But he was, before this time came into his life, called to walk a very difficult path. And there are some of you here today, some of us, you've been called to walk a very difficult path. And you've had this question in your mind. God, I thought this walk was a walk of blessing, I thought it was constant provision and joy. I've had this impression, but I seem to be called to walk in such a difficult place. I seem to be enduring hardship, when others around me are perhaps not called to the journey that I've had to undertake. Verse 18 says that he was brought on a path that brought pain to his feet. In other words, there are just some journeys in life that you and I would rather not take. There are some places we'd rather not go, and there are some places we'd rather not have been. I think of many here today, just like Joseph. When you were born and you were a child, your feet hit the ground with such wonderful expectations of life, didn't they? I remember as a little boy, I would go out the back... It's one of the first memories in my life of walking out the back door of the house I lived in at that time. I probably was about, I don't know how old I was, maybe three. And I remember walking out, and when I would go into the sunshine, and I'd look up into the sky, and I had such a sense that there was something that, in the future, that was going to happen through my life. It's hard to explain that. It's something in your heart, and your feet start looking forward to getting up and kind of running out the door, and living in the anticipation of what it is that is going to happen through your life. And, of course, we know today that we are born and destined to live in the image of God, and to bring honor and glory to His name. Genesis 37 tells us that Joseph had a dream. He dreamt that God loved him. He dreamt that one day he would be in a greatly favored position, which God had reserved for him. And you have to have that kind of a dream when you come to Christ, especially when you're born again. There's something that gets into the heart, because God has this incredible secret that you've not known about yourself. And the moment you come to Him, He says, I have something that only you can do. It may not be grand in the sight of man, but God says, it's grand in my sight. And I'm looking down upon you with favor, and I'm going to empower you to fulfill this purpose that I've assigned, really, to your life. I'm going to grant to you the desire, but then I'm going to come and fulfill the desire. And ultimately, you and I both know that that desire is fulfilled when the provision of God's life begins to flow out through us. There's no other way to fully experience the life of Jesus Christ than to allow Christ's power to begin to flow through you to meet human need around you. That's where the giftings come into effect. That's what the words of knowledge are for. That's why there are giftings in the body of Jesus Christ. It's all about fulfilling this work that God has and destined through His Son to meet human need all around and to bring men and women to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. How could he have known? I see Joseph as a young teenager, a type in the sense of a young Christian, and so understanding. God, I've been favored by you. First of all, the fact that you know Him means you're favored by Him. You didn't find Him. He revealed Himself to you. He came to you. God was never lost. You can't find God. He's never been lost. You were lost. He came and revealed Himself to you, and you became aware. Just as Joseph had this coat of many colors, you just became aware of the many, many things that God has for your life. And you began to set out, especially young Christians now, and you set out on this journey. And on this journey, you feel you love everybody, and everybody loves you. Wrong. How could Joseph have known as he traveled that day, and he's heading down the road, and he's simply obeying his father. His father says, go and see how your brothers are doing. So he heads down the road. Remember the Scripture said in Psalm 105 that they hurt his feet with fetters. And he comes to see how his brothers were doing, and how could he have known that this would be the first of 13 years of suffering the effects of betrayal. Joseph endured things that would stop most people today in their tracks. You would become crusty and hard and critical. The tenderness of God would be driven from your heart. You would become ornery. I've seen it over the years. People who have been in the church for years, and they just get harder and harder and harder. That's why I rejoiced today when Pastor Dave said that Sister Gwen said, you're getting softer and softer and softer as you get older. That's such an evidence of the presence of God working in your life. This would be the first of 13 years of suffering the effects of betrayal by his own family. I don't know if there's a deeper betrayal than the betrayal that comes from those that you thought loved you. Those that you became vulnerable before. And some of you have known this pain. You came into the church of Jesus Christ, and you thought that everything was going to change. Well, in some measure, it has changed. You're just not aware of what the change really is. But you walked in to find similar betrayal, perhaps not as vicious, or in some cases, maybe it was as vicious as things that you had to endure before you even came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Joseph was betrayed by a man he served in Egypt faithfully. A man who I'm convinced to this day knew that his character was pure, but chose to believe an evil report about him. And because of it, he suffered again at the hands of somebody he faithfully served. He was betrayed by a woman who could not gain his affections, and decided to cause him harm by slandering his character. And he suffered great harm because of this secondary, well, it's even a third level of betrayal. Even in jail, he's betrayed by a fellow prisoner who promised to help him when he was again placed in a position to do so. And the scripture says he got out of jail and forgot all about Joseph. I don't know about you, but after 13 years of this, I might be inclined to pack it in. Find a cabin somewhere and just give up. I heard an expression one time when I was a young Christian, a pastor said, this whole life of ministry would be just incredible if it wasn't for people. Now, the New Testament seems to tell us that suffering is in some measure a doorway to something of Christ that you and I can't know any other way. I want you to hear this today because it's the beginning of the truth that can set you free. Suffering is in measure a doorway to something of Christ that you and I cannot know any other way. We'll never know it. Pastor David shared this morning about his son, Greg, enduring incredible suffering, only to bring him into a place where he can minister to people who have suffered in a way that nobody who hasn't suffered could ever fully understand. Well, we'd have theories and we would throw pat answer scriptures at them, but there's a type of a person that God will send into some of these darkened prisons. Remember, Paul and Silas, we want to sing about the victory and the prison doors opening and the jailer and his family being saved and the earthquake coming when they praised God, but we forget that the precursor as it is to all of this was stripes laid on their back and false accusations and public beating and humiliation and being put into a jail and caused to lie on a cold, hard stone slab with their feet in the stocks. There's a whole lot of things that happened to Paul and Silas before they ever could praise God in such a manner that would shake a prison and see the prisoners, including the jailer, set free and loosed. You see, we'd rather go to the earthquake and the miracles and all of the things and skip all of the necessary classrooms. But there is something about suffering. Paul says it in Philippians chapter 3, verse 10. He says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. Paul knew that suffering was fellowship with Christ. And he said this fellowship of his sufferings will bring me to a place where I am made conformable unto his death. Now, we know the scripture says he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. But how do you and I become conformable to the death of Jesus Christ? Now, go to Matthew chapter 20, please. I'm going to try to explain this in the New Testament. The fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. Remember Joseph. He had this incredible word that God was going to use him. And God was going to use his life to bring provision to even his own family. But before this word could be fulfilled, there was a long journey that he had to take. Matthew chapter 20, verse 20 says, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on your right hand and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, You know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We are able. Oh, how quickly. How quickly we answer God. How quickly we run to the altar. And how little sometimes we understand what it is that we're asking for. Oh, please, Jesus. Can we sit with you in power and authority? And can we rule and reign? And can we dash the nations of the earth with a rod of iron? Can we do all of these things? He said, You don't know what you're asking for. You want to sit where I'm about to sit. But are you able to drink the cup that I have to drink to get to that place where I'm going to sit? Are you willing to be baptized with the same Holy Spirit that I'm baptized with? Are you willing to walk in the will of God and to let God's plan and purposes for your life be completely fulfilled? Even if it means pain and sorrow and rejection and misunderstanding and laughter and scorning, and in some cases even death, are you able? Oh, how tritely they answered, Oh, we are able. Christ is saying to them, Do you have the ability to drink of wrath which you do not personally deserve? Now, we're talking about betrayal. Now, we know that he was not betrayed, of course, by his heavenly Father. But he was betrayed by Judas. He was betrayed by countless hundreds and maybe even thousands that he had fed on mountaintops and been kind to their children and done nothing wrong to any of them. To see this crowd standing before him and saying, Away with him, give us a murderer and give us a thief. Away with this Christ, crucify him. And to have to go to a cross and to suffer wrath, the wrath of God actually, which he did not personally deserve. And he's asking them, Are you able to drink of this cup? You want to sit with me where I am. And, of course, where Christ is sitting is in a place of provision. He sits at the right hand of God today. And all heaven is open to those who trust in him. He is the provision of God. He's saying to James and John, You want to sit with me where I am. Are you then able to endure? Are you able to endure rejection? Are you able to endure betrayal? Are you able to endure wrath which you do not personally deserve? Without losing heart and losing focus. Can you follow me? And can your life still be a source of supply to others? I was baptized by John. The Holy Spirit came upon me. I'm paraphrasing, but this is in fact what Christ is saying. I was baptized to take away the sins of the world. I was baptized to have no reputation. To be made in the form of a servant. And to give my life as a ransom for many. Can you do that? Are you able to do that? And they said, We are able. We can handle, Jesus, the good life. A power, position, and honor among men. We can handle the baptism of God's power flowing through us. I think of Solomon's proverb, chapter 17, verse 16. He said, Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart to it? You see, they were manifesting this foolishness of human reasoning. That says, Oh, Jesus, fill us with the Holy Ghost. Oh, Jesus, take us to this place of power. And where our lives become this incredible outflow of provision to fallen humanity. It sounds so poetic, doesn't it? But the question remains. Are you able to drink the cup? Or maybe I should just ask, Are you willing? Are you and I willing to go through the places that we have to go through to get to this position where the power of God can flow through us to a generation? You see, in verses 17 to 19, Jesus had just spoken of betrayal, mocking, scourging, and death. It says, Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way. And here's what he said to them. Behold, we go to Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be what? Betrayed. Unto the chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day he shall rise again. Now, he's clearly outlining the pathway that his father has outlaid for his life. This is the pathway Christ had to follow to be our provision. But verse 20 says, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children. Just after he's given this revelation. And he said to them, You don't know what you ask for. Then in verse 24, it says, The ten heard it and were moved with indignation against the two brethren. Their indignation was just simply because each of them felt this is my place they're asking for. I mean, everybody knows it's me that God is going to use and sit at the right and left hand of power and all authority. In verse 25, Jesus just identifies the spirit behind this whole interaction that's taking place. And he said, But he called them unto him and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them. And they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. He said, You want to exercise authority. You want the baptism. You want to be close to me so that you can have influence and power. It sounds like half of the success seminars in the Christian church today. He said, But this is not the reason that I came. I came to serve. I came not to manifest what is the essential motivating factor as it is of fallen humanity. I came to manifest the heart of God. I came to be God's provision for the need of a fallen creation. And in order to do so, I'm going to be a servant, not a Lord, as the Gentiles seek to be. And I'm going to give my life as a ransom for many. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 says, There's no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. When we are betrayed, it is a trial like no other. I don't know about you, but I have been. It is a pain sometimes like no other. And some of you have been betrayed long before you became a Christian. Your little feet hit the floor and before you got to be five, you were betrayed. Your pathway became less sure. Your steps became more feeble. It became a very, very difficult place for you. You were betrayed by people that you trusted. You were betrayed by people in authority. You were betrayed by people that you became vulnerable and were vulnerable before. And sometimes you come into the church of Jesus Christ with this incredible baggage of betrayal. And you say, Oh God, thank you. I'm in a new kingdom now. And everything is going to be different. And that's what Joseph thought. You see, it was his own brethren that betrayed him. And brought this incredible pain and this 13-year trial into his life. And the devil now would have you, and the devil would have had Joseph. Stay behind this gate of betrayal. And shut this gate right in your face. And say, now Joseph, for the rest of your life, just endure people. For the rest of your life, be out for yourself. Forget about other people. Live this life for yourself. Get the best of it that you can. But forget about everybody else. You see, God's plan was to flow through him with incredible provision. The enemy's plan is to put him behind gates. And to keep him behind these gates all of his days. And hear me clearly on this. There are many, many people in the body of Christ that never even come close to fulfilling what God has for their lives. They'll get to heaven. But they sit behind these gates saying, I'll never trust again. I'll never be vulnerable again. I don't even want to reach out. I don't even like people anymore. It seems humorous, but people think that way. There are people in the sanctuary that think that way today. I don't like people. Loving people is not an option. I don't even like them. I don't trust people. Some people here today, you can't come under leadership. Because leadership at some point betrayed you. Whether it's your father, your mother, a guardian, a boss, somebody you trusted betrayed you. You vowed a vow in your heart. You went behind the gates of betrayal. And you said, I will never trust leadership again. You cannot come under authority. You cannot walk in a ministry. You cannot walk in unity with anyone. Because you are living behind the gates of betrayal. You are exactly in the place that the devil wants you to be in. But there are, you know, and reasonably so, you'll say, Pastor, like, okay, I've heard these sermons before. I've gone to the occasional altar. And I've prayed, oh God, please help me to forgive. And I thought there was going to be some kind of a miraculous thing happen in me. And I walked out the door. And I didn't feel any different than when I walked in. I had a momentary relief, a momentary release. But I was not really free the way I thought I was going to be free. So I got discouraged. And I felt, well, maybe there's just no hope to get through this. But remember, I read you a scripture that your testing, the word temptation actually also means testing, is not unique. It is common. Others have had to go through this. Joseph had to go through it. Folks, listen to me. Every person who's ever been used of any considerable measure in the kingdom of God has had to go through betrayal. Jesus Christ was betrayed. John the Baptist was betrayed. Isaiah was betrayed. Just look at it all through the scriptures. Jeremiah was betrayed. You'll never get through it. You'll never amount to what God wants you to be if you can't get through these gates of betrayal. It's all through the scriptures. Look through history. You'll find men and women that were used of God all had to not. They didn't stop at the gates of betrayal. They went through the gates of betrayal. They went through to the other side. Now, your question is reasonable today. Pastor, tell me, help me. How do I get through the gates? How do I do this thing? Now, I want to follow for a moment. If you'll go to Genesis chapter 47, I want to follow the 42 rather. Genesis 42. I want to follow with you the things that Joseph had to go through. We're going to do this just very briefly. It's not going to take too long. Joseph has been 13 years in a prison. He finally gets released from this prison. He's placed in a spot where he has the keys now to provision, even for those that have formerly wounded him. Now, in chapter 42 and verse 7, it says, And Joseph saw his brethren. Now, remember, we started in Psalm 105. God created a famine. Now, I don't want to alarm you, but hungry people that once wounded you are going to come to you one day for help. You're going to have to deal with this. People in your neighborhood, people on your job, people in your family, fathers and mothers that let you down are one day going to come to you. It's going to get tough, folks. It's going to get very, very tough in our generation. And they're going to come. And they're going to come to you because you're sitting in Christ in a place where there is provision. And when Joseph's brothers first come to him, there's a memory now that's coming back to him. He'd rather just run away from this memory. He'd rather not deal with it. And when his brethren saw, when he saw them, verse 7, he said, He knew them, and he made himself strange to them, and he spoke roughly to them. Now, keep in mind, we're talking about the man who became the provision for the household of faith, for his own brethren. And the best he could do in the beginning is speak roughly. And sometimes that's just where you and I are. We can't speak civilly about people who have hurt us. We try to cover it with some Christian words, but there's a roughness in our speech. You all know what that's about. You just can't get through it. You try, but you're face twisted. When you try to say something nice about them, you just can't say it. And if you meet them, even in the church, you'll say, It's good to see you today. Rough speech. There's no tenderness. There's so little of Christ, but I want to tell you something. It's not a defeat. This is the beginning of something that God is doing in Joseph's life. And you and I have to start there. We start with just acknowledging, this is where I am. I can't get by this. Unless, God, you come and give me the power, I can't get through this. Now, these same men, beginning in verse 8, are standing before Him, and they are pretending to be honest men. Amazing. They've wounded Him. They've betrayed Him. And He says to them, Who are you? And they start to say, This is who we are. And in verse 11, they say, We're all one man's sons, and we are true men. We're honest men. They're standing before the man they've betrayed. That's the most galling thing you'll ever have to go through as a Christian. When somebody has betrayed you, and they're absolutely unwilling to admit their fault. And they stand before you and have this feigning of righteousness. And Joseph is the man who has the provision. He could let them starve to death, and he knows it. He knows there's no hope for them. There's a famine. God has already shown him. There's seven years of famine. They're not going to make it. Now it's within his power to either help them or not help them. And I'm sure he must have had a battle in his mind. Why should I help these malicious liars? Why should I help these people on my job that have slandered me, to malign my character, to take a position above me? Why should I give them the time of day? And if I have the provision of God, if I know the way to eternal life, if I have enough money in my wallet to get them through this hard time, why should I give it to them? They're not even willing to admit who they are. In verse 17, the Scripture says he put them all in prison for three days. Oh, that must have felt good. Feels good, doesn't it, when you can put them all in jail. Suffer. But let me read to you a Scripture. Matthew 18. Don't turn. I'll just read it to you. The same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence. He laid hands on him and took him by the throat and saying, Pay me what you owe me. His fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I'll pay thee all. But he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he called him, said to him, Oh, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you desired and you asked me to. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, even as I had pity on you? And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. If you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. He put them in prison, but only for three days. I can't help but wonder what was going on in his mind in those three days. Maybe the Lord came to him and said, Joseph, I've been merciful to you. Remember, you were in prison. You remember how it felt to be in prison. Remember how difficult it was in prison. Why do you want anybody else to have to go through this? You have it in your power to set them free. You have it in your power to give them what they need. And Joseph said to them, verse 18, the third day, this do and live for I fear God. The fear of the Lord, the scripture says, is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord moves Joseph to begin to exhibit and to show and to give mercy and provision. He says to them, if you be true men, he said, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison, but go and carry corn for the famine of your houses. Now, his brothers begin to engage in a conversation. This is about as merciful as most of us want to get. You just go. Here's your corn. Just go. Just go. We would say, well, that's wonderful. We forgave the debt. We'd have a praise service over this. But he's still got a long way to go yet. In verse 23 and 24, he hears them talking in their distress. And they say that, did I not tell you, verse 22, do not sin against the child you would not hear. Therefore, behold, also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them. For he spake to them by an interpreter, and he turned himself about from them and wept. Now, it's incredible. He hears them talk about their distress, but there's no true sorrow in them for what they did to him. It's not about the fact that they betrayed him. It's about the fact that they've gotten themselves into trouble. And they said, now, we are in trouble because we did this. But there is no sorrow for what they did to him. And the Scripture says he turned from them and wept. Now, this is the first indication of weeping in his life. You see, I see it this way. He's not willing to be vulnerable again. He hears them in trouble. He says, I can help you, but I'm not willing to be vulnerable. He turns from them. I really can't show you what's really going on in my heart. I really can't reach out to you because I don't trust you. In chapter 43, verses 30 and 31, we see this yearning for reconciliation growing. And this is an evidence. Now, listen to me very carefully. There's an evidence that you are moving to be released from these gates of betrayal when you are yearning now to be reconciled with people who have hurt you. It comes into your heart. It's birth of the Holy Ghost. There's a yearning. You have all your ducks in a row. You've got every reason why you shouldn't forgive someone. Every reason why you shouldn't write that letter. You shouldn't make that phone call. You shouldn't let your life be used as a source of provision for them in their time of need. You have every reason lined up. But all of a sudden, because you are crying out to Christ, because you truly are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, there is this yearning that comes into your heart to be reconciled. God puts it there. This is a work of the Holy Spirit within you. And you just simply said, Oh God, in spite of what it cost me, Lord, I want to be reconciled. It says in verse 30 of chapter 43, Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother. And he sought where to weep. And he entered into his chamber and wept there, and washed his face and went out and refrained himself and said, Set on bread. He's yearning for reconciliation. And he's still unwilling to be vulnerable before them. Until chapter 45, which I believe, verses 1 to 5, tells us that he has passed through the gates of betrayal. Now here's the evidence that you've passed through. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him. Verse 1. And he cried and said, Cause every man to go up from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. Folks, God is not calling you to go back into your situation sometime with a great big smile on your face. There's real emotions involved in this. You're going back to somebody who hurt you, it might mean some tears. But Joseph was at least willing to do it. Finally, he came to the point of understanding something. And he wept aloud. And Joseph said to his brethren, I am Joseph. Does my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I'm Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. There's the evidence now. Verse 5, he says, Now therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me here. For God did send me before you to preserve life. Here's the evidence that you've passed through the gates of betrayal. It's when you come to the place of understanding that God has been in control of everything all along. When you begin to understand that everything that He has allowed into your life has come for a divine purpose, a purpose which has been unfolding supernaturally, through which the life of Christ will become a source of provision to others. When you begin to understand that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose, all things, the things you know and the things you don't, the things you like, the things you don't like, the things that cause you pleasure, the things that cause you pain, God has been working these things out and allowing them to be worked out from the day you came to Him. To bring you and I to a place where our lives would become a source of provision, as the life of God did through Jesus Christ for a humanity which had betrayed and rejected Him. We are called to follow in the footsteps of our Savior. We are called to walk with Him. We are called to drink the cup that He drank and be baptized with this incredible baptism of God's love. God so loved the world. God loved you in your rebellion. God loved you when you cursed His name. God loved you in your betrayal. God so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son that you should not perish but have everlasting life. Are you willing to drink the cup? I think of Pastor David this morning when he was speaking and talking about this tenderness and the renewed zeal at 75. I had a vision, Brother Dave, this morning in my heart of the next five years are going to be incredible in your life. And my mind went back as he was speaking to 12 years ago in this church. The vicious and bitter betrayal that caused him to bleed inside, physically bleed. Where at one point I personally feared for his life. I remember you, Brother Dave, not able to come out on the platform. You'd sit behind the curtain and ask me at the end of the service, has the Holy Spirit left us? Is the Holy Spirit still here? Have we grieved God? I don't know if I'd ever seen a man in my whole lifetime ever more wounded by people who were supposed to be his friends. But yet look today. Look at the tens of thousands of pastors in the Islamic world. And all 80 invitations pending, different countries, conferences, conventions with thousands and thousands. If you've not seen the CDs of this, DVDs of this, you need to see it. With thousands, up to 10,000 pastors. The glory of God coming down. Men and women falling on their faces in the aisle. Being just opened to the treasure and the storehouse of God's life. I dare to say, if it had not been for the betrayal, I'm not sure that these days would be happening. You see, the betrayal opened something of God. I've been here, I saw it, I lived through it. I saw a covenant unveiled. The new covenant. I saw Jesus Christ just absolutely unveiled it all. Any darkness that was there between this man and Christ was pushed away. And now at the age of 75 has the provision. The key sits at the right hand with Christ. Can you drink the cup? So many people in the body today just, oh, they offended me. Oh, they didn't recognize my gifting. Oh, they didn't do this. And they go back behind what they think are the gates of betrayal. They fold their arms and amount to nothing in the kingdom of God. David said it this way. If you read Psalm 23, he said, oh, I walked through the valley of the shadow of death. And then after he walked through the valley of the shadow of death comes the last verse in Psalm 23. The revelation that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Because I've walked through this valley. I've come through to the other side. Christ has kept me and brought me through. It's time, folks. This is a starving generation for truth. There's a famine in the land. There's hardly the word of God left anymore. Young people are starving in our society today. It's time for maturity to come. It's time for the church to put away childish things. It's time to get up. Because Jesus said, you're my church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against you. It's time for God's people to get up and say, I'm going to be vulnerable again. I'm getting up. And I'm not letting past betrayal, I'm not letting woundings and hurts stop me from what God has for my life and the provision that God is going to flow through me. The gates of hell cannot prevail. That means they can't hold you. They can't hold you back if you have a heart for truth. If you have a heart for God. If you want to go with Christ. They can't stop you. You have to choose. I shared this life of Joseph with you to show you that there's a process involved. It's not just as easy as snapping your fingers and praying some nice little prayer. You have to determine in your heart that this is the way I'm going to go. God will confront you with the situations. And then as they arise, he'll give you the power because the power is not of us. It's of him. Oh, God, help us to understand this. I see at least 300 people here today. I just see it in my spirit. I've stopped at the gates of betrayal. And you've just said, I'm not going any farther. And by your own admission, that's as far as you're going to go. But if today you can see that the anointing of the spirit, Jesus said in Luke four is to open the prison doors. If you truly sat with the Holy Spirit is if you've truly heard the word of God, the Lord Jesus says the Holy Spirit is here to open the prison doors and to set you free. You don't have to live there anymore. You're going to be vulnerable. Will you get hurt? Absolutely. But will you get through? Yes. What will be the end result? God will give you insight into his word. He'll give you boldness. He'll give you words of knowledge. He'll give you faith in troubled times. You will stand in the midst of adversity and be a testimony for the living God. I challenge you with everything that is in me, because I believe this is a very late hour. The famine is already here. People are already starving. It's time to get up. The door is open. You have to choose to walk through it. That's as simple as my altar call can be today. The annex here in the main sanctuary. The annex you have nowhere to step forward to right now. You can join us here. But if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, and you know the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, and it's time to get out from behind these gates and to be vulnerable again. It's a huge step. And there will be tears that come with it. And there will be difficult times. But Jesus says, I'll bring you through these difficult times. You're going to have to write letters that are going to be hard to write. You're going to have to make phone calls that are going to be next to impossible without God. You'll have to forgive people that are already dead. But God will give you the power. If this is in your heart, as we stand, come, join me. We're going to pray. We're going to tell those gates of hell to open. And they're going to let you out. Stand, please, in the balcony. Go to either exit. Make your way here in the main sanctuary. Just make your way down, please. We're going to pray together, and we're going to believe God. You want your life to be a source of provision in this generation. Hallelujah. I agree with Pastor Carter that this is a time for deliverance. And for many of us that heard this, many of you here, you're hearing it lovingly by a loving confrontation of the Holy Spirit who says, Do it now if you want the blessing of God in your own life. Pastor Carter mentioned the season this church went through when my wife had to pick me out of a chair and literally pull me to a service. I didn't want to come to this church because of the wound in my heart. But God spoke to me. He said, If you can do two things, you can get bitter and you can quit, and you can live with that. And I'm not going to damn you, but you're going to live in sorrow. And you're going to live in pain mentally that you could not conceive. But because I love you, I'm going to tell you what to do. First of all, you forgive everyone who's ever hurt you and do what you can to bless them. I had to make a list with the help of the Holy Spirit. I had to write letters. I had to make calls. I visited people and I humbled myself before them. And I blessed them. And I asked them to forgive me. I said, Evidently, I've done something that caused you to turn against me, and I'm sorry for that. And if you tell me what it is, I'm sorry, but I'm just telling you. And, folks, there were tears, there were weeping. And I can stand here now and tell you, I don't know one. God has not reminded me of anyone else. If he did, I would go. And I want you to know that the blessing started in my family. It started in my house. It started then with my finances. Then it started with the way I preached. I have a journal I don't even want to look at. I can't handle it because every day it says, Well, this nightmare never ends. But God ended it the day that I was confronted by the Holy Spirit like you and I are right now, out of such love of God, because he has set his heart on you. Lay it down now. Lay it in the service. I didn't scream. I didn't have to weep. I just opened up my heart and said, Lord, that's your word. I'm going to obey it. You obey him now. You don't have to fall on your face. You don't have to scream. You just open your heart to him now. First of all, there has to be that willingness to let go. God will fix things if you'll turn it over to him now. Would you lift your hands to the Lord right now? Just lift them up. And will you, in your own way, not my words, but your ways, said, Lord Jesus, take this out of my heart. Lay it down right now by an act of faith. Speak the word right now to the Lord. Lord, I lay this down. Lord, right now, I forgive. I forgive everyone who has ever wounded me, who's ever betrayed me, who's ever turned against me. And Lord Jesus, right now, take that out of my heart. That someone who molested me, that someone who talked about me, that someone who walked out on me, that someone, oh God, that has just ignored me. And they don't even believe I'm near anything, worth anything. Oh Jesus, take our eyes if all of these hurts. Take our eyes of all this and look unto Jesus right now for cleansing and healing. Now, raise your hands and say it right now. Lord, I lay this down. I surrender this to you by a step of faith. Holy Spirit, show me what to do because I'm willing. Give me words. Whisper in my heart the direction you want me to take. Now, will you lift your hands and thank him for his faithfulness to you. And Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness. You have been good to us. You have blessed us with your living word. Listen, Pastor, I tremble with you to think that anyone, after hearing this word, would hold on to something another could damn you. Only because you'd hardened your heart and the grace of God could not reach you. God's grace would always be there calling, wooing, but there'd be a wall there. That's the gate he's talking about. Oh my Lord, help you. Take that stuff and do it quickly. If you wait, wouldn't you agree, Pastor, if you wait another day? You have to move when the Spirit is moving on you. Make up your mind and do it. This is the conclusion of the message.