"Turn The Page" - The Apostolic Connection

anyone that has ever read the story of Joseph probably has come to the same conclusion that I have come to tonight that Joseph was a remarkable man we know that Joseph was a type of Christ we know that Joseph was blessed we know that Joseph was anointed we know that Joseph was favored by God and he was also favored by his earthly father and we understand that Joseph had a god-given destiny in a dream over his life he had things that God was going to use him to do as we see because we can look at the end of the story and we can see where God took him from where he was and we understand that there was a the hand of God was there all the time this is not the message tonight but let me pause here for just a minute and tell you that our enemy the enemy of your soul the devil tonight is a dream stealer the devil tonight wants to destroy everything that you have thought that God has called you to do even those things that you've been prayed over and the elders have laid their hands on you the ministry the the pastor of this church has laid his hands on you and he is maybe spoken something into your life the devil wants to come along and he wants to steal that from you but in the name of Jesus I rebuke a dream stealer tonight somebody's going to move on to their destiny you're going to move on to some great things in God amen and so the truth is the same Joseph who was so anointed and had so many things in his favor also had some rough patches in his life he had some hard things that he had to deal with as we all do I guess from time to time if there's anybody in the house that's never had any trouble then please talk to me after service I'd like to pick your brain just a little bit hey man the truth is though that we have all had our problems we've all had our share of disappointments and heartaches and and it's something that we we all have to go I've always loved to look at it this way the Bible says about Jobe it says job said life was but a few days and full of trouble I've always chosen to focus on the few days why because I know someday even though I'm in trouble right now I've got difficulty right now some day I'm getting out of here some day I'm leaving this place and it can't happen soon enough for me I'll be ready to go when the trumpet sounds or if my time comes before that I'll be ready to go but life is a few days and full of trouble somebody ought to rejoice just because you're not here forever this is not your final home this is not where you're going to stay we're getting out of this place someday it may praise God now I enjoy reading and I used to read when I was a kid I used to read all the time I'm not an intellectual and you're going to figure that out if you haven't already I'm not somebody who is so smart that you can't talk to them matter of fact most of you are too smart for me to try to talk to that's why when you talk I'm just gonna have a blank stare I'm just gonna look at you like what do you say what are you referring to sir but I used to love to read and the things that I know today for the erikson is because I'm a reader now it's it's easier now to find things out than it used to be you can go and Google and you can type in anything you want to type in and it'll bring something up and Wikipedia will tell you all about it whether it's right or not you have to double check your facts but I'm telling you tonight that I used to be a great reader I would read and I would go from chapter to chapter it would start out maybe a great story and somewhere in the middle that the book would be filled with troubles and trials and all sorts of things that the character was having to deal with but at the end if the book was good and I always thought if the hero died the book couldn't be any good right but if the book was good in the end the hero was victorious but I would notice that the chapter would start and he would go through the writer would go through different things and you know be tough and be hard I used to like to read westerns and these old western guys they would get to a place where they they were gun fighters but somehow they got in the fight that they had so bruised up hands and they couldn't even use their guns but somehow they made away my point is that went from chapter to chapter some chapters were good and some chapters were bad there were different things that people had to deal with a chapter is a distinct period in history or in a person's life it is a series of related events forming an episode now it is a sequence of events especially when related and likely to continue I want you to understand tonight that you are going through life and we have this great author this great writer our god tonight and he is writing chapters in your life there are things that are happening in your life right now God may not have caused him to happen but if they're happening God can use you and he can help you through them somebody say man and so Joseph was going through life and his chapters were being written and he was hated by his brother he was betrayed by his brothers he was rejected by his brothers he was stripped of his coat and the men of many colors and his dad had given him by his brothers and he was thrown in a pit and left to die now that sounds rough his life started in favor but he ended up in a pit but let me give you just a little bit of hope tonight I want you to understand that Joseph's slide it started good it had some rough chapters he ended up in the pit but I need you to know that Joseph came up out of the pit amen and here's what I want to tell Maryville tonight first Apostolic you listen to me you may be in a pit right now but you've come I've come to tell you tonight that you're not going to die in the pit somebody's coming out of a pit tonight somebody's going to get a revival spirit tonight somebody's going to get stirred up in your soul tonight God is turning the age in your life there's a new chapter coming hallelujah so Joseph had a bad chapter he had a sad chapter he probably shed some tears in that chapter of his life and I don't know if you've ever been there but I've been there I remember a time not too long ago I knelt in my bedroom at my chair and I began to pray at God I don't know how to handle this anymore you're gonna have to come on the scene and sure enough it wasn't very long until God did somebody's been crying out like that in this house tonight you've been crying out to God in your room somewhere in a prayer closet I've come to tell you tonight that the pit is not the place that you're gonna die God's got something for you that's greater than where you are right now God is turning the page in your life hallelujah somebody ought to worship the Lord tonight hallelujah I know sometimes we feel a lot like Joseph I noticed it we let it pass through the pastor deal with this but I notice that Joseph's brothers were the one that threw him in the pits his brothers were the one that betrayed there's no revelation to you but it did amazing sometimes the people that should treat us the best treat that's the worst we'll talk about the carpenter about that one let him preach a little while about that one but he was lied on he was rejected was thrown in this pit left to die he was just on a second thought just sort of a whim that he even got out of the pit at all and now I know God brought him out I understand that but his brothers didn't have any intention of bringing him out as an old song says I've been lied on cheated you heard that talked about mistreated rebuked scorned talked about sure as you're born but it goes on to say as long as I got teen Jesus long as I got King Jesus long as I got I don't need nobody else I'm telling you tonight you've got Jesus on your side you need to rejoice tonight he'll bring you out he'll turn the page in your life our God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask for thing don't you give up when you're in the pit you just keep believing in God he's going to turn the page in your life hallelu but some chapters in life for long some chapters are short some are happy some are sad some make you laugh some make you cry but whether it's long or short or happy or sad they all all of these chapters have one thing in common they in look at your neighbor and tell them say what you're going through is about to end hey man I believe God is trying to speak to somebody here tonight you came in this place and you thought I'm never gonna make it through this I'm just about ready to give up maybe you thought about walking away from the church don't you walk away from the church this is the place that will bring you in this is the place that will hug you and tell you oh it's going to be all right this is the place that you need to be don't you leave the church don't you leave your family tonight this is where you need to be let God turn the page let him rewrite your story let it change your life let God do things that nobody else can do for you hallelujah oh the author is still riding and the best is yet to come and I want to tell you this tonight I remember a time when I was a teenager I was a young man I had a scholarship I was going to school at UT Martin in Martin Tennessee I was going to sing had this scholarship and I really would never was a great student I just thought you know I've got to do something I had a friend who was gonna be a CPA and I said well I'll do that I was do what he's doing and all your parents know what I'm talking about your kids they sometimes want to follow other folks I said oh yeah I'll do that problem was I was terrible at math math was not you know I was like Jethro Bodine a new magazine tha's or something like that and so that wasn't the right thing for me but I thought you know I'm gonna do a couple other things I thought well I'll go to UT Martin I can go and I can sing now you get an education and I've got a best friend that's going there had a girlfriend at the time that was going to good that was going there I've tried not to even talk to my wife about other girls that I used to date but she knows about her now so it's okay she's not gonna she's gonna let me go home with her tonight but I thought this is perfect this is absolutely the perfect thing because I can go to college my best friend's there my girlfriend's there we're gonna have a good time and you know keep in mind that all this time that I was getting into things that I had no business getting into and I want to talk about all that tonight specifically I was doing things I was raised in a pastor's home I knew exactly what truth was I knew what it took to be saved I knew all those things that I've been privileged to be raised up in a place like that in an atmosphere like that where the Holy Ghost fell just about every service we went into we felt the presence of the Almighty God I was privileged but I got to a place where I was living my own life and doing my own thing and so I decided I'm gonna go here I went to my dad's Church he pastored at the time in Middleton Tennessee I went there one Sunday morning for a homecoming I don't know if you do homecomings out in East Tennessee but we do homecomings in Weston to see and what that means is all the folks that used to go there they come back for dinner that's what it means now if somebody will preach but nobody cares about that they come back for dinner and so homecoming came - my dad was big on homecoming is he like for all the folks to come in and you know come back to the church and so everybody was there he called me and he said I want you to be there at the time he lived in Middleton and I was in Savannah where I live now is living with my sister I was working I really wasn't going to church very much and didn't have a whole lot planned in my life other than just a little while I was planning to go to UT Martin but I went to that service that morning and dad asked me to come up on the platform and I believe in I believe that you shouldn't get on the platform if you hadn't been living right that's just how I see but I was on the platform and I hadn't been living right that didn't know I knew but dad didn't know anything about that but I I went up there because my dad asked me to come up and I begin to sing with my sisters and the power of the Holy Ghost fell on me that day and it changed direction it caused me to understand that I can't go to UT Martin and just do something like anybody else in the world can do I've got a greater calling in my life than that there's something greater that God wants me to do and from that point on I decided I'm going to JCM I had a sister there and I went I went to JCM I met my wife there I got right with God there I mean my life was changed there I want you to understand that what I used to be is not what I am right now you can't judge somebody by the fight by the old chapter of their life you can't look at them and say they're always going to be what they are right now you've got to allow God the opportunity to turn the page in their life and write a brand new story hallelujah my friend went on to UT Martin and we have been in church together although different churches we've been in church together we got out of church together my friend went there he began to sell drugs while he was there at UT Martin and he got arrested we got kicked out of school and his life has never been the same he's been messed up ever since addicted the one thing to the other he got an electric electricians degree somehow and came to my house a few years later because I felt responsible for him I felt like I could do something to help him so I brought him in and I said I want you to do a couple things just fix some lights or something I was just trying to help him and trying to reach him and he was he was on something then and I knew it I understood it but I let him put the lights in and I double-checked it so he didn't burn the house down you know and he told me later he said Johnny said I was on something then I said I knew that already but I was just trying to help trying to reach but this is the point if I had gone to UT Martin I'd probably been in the same room with him when he was doing what he was doing my life could have been the same as his life is right now but thank God that I allowed him to come into my life in the way that he did and I had to make the decision to let him come in he drew me God was ready to change me but I had to let him change me but when I said yes to God he wrote a brand new chapter in my life whatever I am today I am because God made me this today hallelujah so I'm standing here before you tonight and I'm thankful to tell you that that was a bad chapter in my life but I'm thankful that God has rewritten my story I'm thankful that it didn't end when it was a bad chapter I'm thankful that God went ahead and turned the page I'm thankful that things have changed in my life and I'm here to also tell you give you hope tonight it can change for you too it can change for your family too you've got lost loved ones that are not here tonight you've been praying for them don't give up on them while there's a bad chapter happening just give God an opportunity to write a brand new story and turn the page God is still saving souls and he'll do it for your family man Joseph went into the pit he was thrown there but he went from the pit to the palace you need to know that tonight I'm telling you that the three Hebrew boys went into the fiery furnace it was a bad chapter for them in some ways but they went through that fiery furnace came out not even smelling like smoke I'm telling you tonight that God wrote a brand-new story and God got glory 40-man Jonah came out of the belly of the well he had such a difficult time just doing what God wanted him to do but when he came out of the belly of the whale he went to Nineveh and he preached and there was a revival he preached to a hundred and twenty thousand people and they were saved one man had a bad chapter in his life but it didn't mark him for the rest of his life some of you've got destiny tonight all over you God has called you to do something great young men and young women in this house that the devil is trying to steal but don't you let him steal you tonight God wants to write a brand new chapter for you you may not be living right right now but just wait just a little while God's gonna write a brand new chapter for you till your neighbor said don't judge me by my bad chapter in my life the Apostle Paul he named several sins in first Corinthians six and nine and I hate to be negative but this is just what he said he said no you're not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God now believe all that that's right hey man and that doesn't even name all the things that will keep you out of the kingdom of God but the verse that I love the best because it really tells my story is the next verse verse 11 it says and such were some of you sometimes we get all lifted up because now we come in we got our best suit all our hair is fixed just right everything looks perfect and looks great if people were to look at you they might say oh they've got it all figured out but you know there was a time you didn't have it all figured out such were some of you at one time in your life you didn't have it all together but thank God that he wrote a new chapter for you thank God that he turned the page thank God that he pushed back to devour thank God that he rebuked the devil he changed your life and somebody ought to thank him for it tonight you were to give God praise for what he's done in your life but you felt the fire some of you you felt the hot breath of the Lions like Daniel did you've heard them growling as a stock to you of day and night but I want you to understand that Daniel came out of the lion's den and he was intact I don't know I don't know it to be the case but I have a feeling that Daniel just laid down on a soft spot on one of those lines and went to sleep why because God was there with him an angel was there in that place with him he kept those lines away God wrote a brand-new chapter he'll do it for you as well a man but maybe it's been a long chapter for you there was a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years 12 years now 6 months is a long time when you're going through tough things a years a long time when you're going through difficult times hey man can I get a witness in the house tonight but 12 years there's a long time I don't know much about this woman other than what you know but I want you to understand that this woman had enough faith to believe if she could get to Jesus everything was gonna be all right can I tell you tonight and I know I've got some great hip very headed Saints here tonight they can give me a witness you've been through some things a man but when you don't give up when you just keep on going eventually you're gonna get the answer that you're looking for God's gonna change it he's gonna turn your life around he's gonna write a news story this lady pushed her way through the crowd she wasn't even supposed to be in the crowd she was unclean she wasn't supposed to touch them at all but she made her way through that crowd fell down and just touched the hem of the garment of Jesus and when she did she was made whole I want you to understand if you get to Jesus and you don't have to go far because he's as close as the mention of his name you don't even have to push through anything tonight all you got to do is just say oh Jesus I need your help I need you to come into this place I need you to change my circumstances