The Blessing Of Ephraim | Kids Quest Pastor Nolan Carpenter

Turn your Bibles with me very quickly to Genesis chapter 41 and verse number verse number 50. And I want to thank God for how good it sounds in his house tonight. Amen. Amen. I will take a little bit more myself in the monitors though. That's the only only request I have. Thank you both [name redacted]. Genesis chapter 41 and verse number 50. And in unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of the famine came. Which Asenoth the daughter of man these just tripping up these bread. This redneck boy right here. We'll just call her potter. How about that? Priest on of an bear unto him. And what's crazy is I practiced for about two hours with how to pronounce that word. Hooked on phonics is getting the best of me right now. Verse number 51. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. Someone say Manasseh. >> For God said, this is where we all like to be. Hath made me to forget all my toil and all my father's house. We like Manasseh. We like that that thought of forgetting all our turmoils and forgetting all of our trials and even everybody else in the father's house that betrayed you, Joseph. But then here's where I'd like for us to get tonight. Verse number 52. in the name of the second called Ephraim. For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. somewhere tonight, I pray under the power of the Holy Ghost that somebody would go from trying to forget all that they've been through to getting to a place where you realize there was some fruitfulness in the land of affliction. There was some good things that came through the storm and there was some good things that came through the trial and I believe the Lord is going to help us tonight. I pray he speaks to someone. I want to preach to you for just a few short moments on the blessing of Ephraim. The blessing of Ephraim. If you put your Bibles down, you lift your hands to heaven. But not only lift your hands in your heart. But most importantly, let's lift our voices unto God right now. And let's ask the Lord to help us for the next few moments. I believe that God has sent me here to encourage someone tonight. I believe that God has sent me here to to tell somebody, you've tried your best to forget all the trials and tribulations, but there was some fruitfulness in that land. There was some good things to come through the worst moments of your life, God. And I pray tonight you would anoint me, God. Would you anoint my lips of clay, Lord, to preach to these good people, God? And I ask that you would just help me for just a few moments, God, to just deliver to them what I believe you've given me for somebody tonight, Lord. God, I'd be so careful to give you all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor. Would somebody say in Jesus' name? Come on now, before you're seated, would you clap your hands all across this room tonight? Come on. If you want the Lord to speak to you tonight, can we lift our voices? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, I feel you in this room tonight. In Jesus' name, you may be seated in the house of the Lord tonight. The blessing of Ephraim. After Joseph was made second in command over the whole nation of Egypt, the Bible says that Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife by the name of Asenov. This couple, Joseph and his wife, produced, the Bible says, the firstborn son by the name of Manasseh. And as Joseph looked into his baby boy's eyes, something came over him that caused him for a moment to forget about all the toil, all the heartache, and all the trying times of his father's house. Forgot about all the trying times of Piper's house. forgot about all the trying times of the pit and the prison. And for just a moment, he looked to something good and he named it Manasse. The Lord has caused me to forget all my toil. All the hard times, God has made me to forget. God has caused my brain to seemingly wash away for a moment everything that happened in the father's house. Everything that has caused me pain, the Lord has caused me to forget. Who in this room wouldn't want to have a Manasse that the Lord would cause you to forget what brought you here? to forget the pain and the trials of this life. I would love to tell somebody tonight that the Lord has promised you an easy road, but I would be a liar straight from the pits of you nowhere. Because the Bible says that this life you will be tempted. You will be tried. But it's about, we've heard good preaching about being tried and what God can do through us through our trying. But it would be a good moment for Joseph if the Manasseh would live on forever. The Manasseh thought that the Lord would cause him to forget all of his trial. What would he want to forget? Well, being hated by his brothers for sharing his dream. And let let's not act like Joseph's all innocent in this story. He tells his brothers, "Abra, hey guys, you see me over here, the favorite son with the favorite coat. All of you boys, like it or not, are going to bow down to me one day. I I mean, he's not the in most innocent in that story. I I would say you'd have some hated brothers. And just be careful of who you share your dreams with. It's a good preaching point for somebody. Be careful who you share your callings with and who you share your dreams of what God wants to do in your lives with. And but somehow he the Lord calls him forget the the brothers that hated him. And who wouldn't want to forget the the the hours that you spent in a pit where you thought it was the end of your life? You thought of you, your brothers that that that hate you and that are jealous of you left you for dead. And who wouldn't want Manasseh for the Lord has caused me to forget the pit. Then of course we know the story. A few hours later, there was some gypsies that came along and they sold sold Joseph into slavery and and that who wouldn't want to forget the moment. Who wouldn't want to forget that moment where your brothers betray you and not only they lie on you, say you're dead to your father. Now, not only that, but they sell you into slavery. Who wouldn't want to forget? Who wouldn't want to have the Manasse of forgetting that moment where your brothers sell you into slavery? Then, of course, from there it gets worse. And who wouldn't want to forget about entering into a land that you know not of and going to a a house by the name of Piper's house. And not only Piper's house, but then you meet his crazy wife and not only did she go after you, but she's accusing you of something she tried to do to you. And and why wouldn't you want to forget have a manass? Forget the moment that you've been lied on. Maybe for the first time, but with Manasseh, the Lord caused him to forget. He was briefly for just a moment, he was able to forget the moment where he was shackled, and prisoned from being lied upon. Something he didn't even do just for a moment. But when he looked at Manasseh Church, he had the ability to escape the memories of the shackles and escape the memory of the bars in the prison and and being briefly for forgotten about in the prison. He was able to forget about being forgotten about in the prison when he interpreted the butler and the baker's dream and the briefly being able to forget all of his toils, forgetting the 13 years from being sold then to the time he stood before Pharaoh. And who in their right mind would not want to forget about that season? But only Manasseh. The thought of being able to forget can only last for so long because then Asenoth gets pregnant again. The Bible says, "And Joseph names him Ephraim, meaning for God have caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." Now, something with this boy was different because we the first boy we we we forgot all that we went through. But in the second son, we begin to see that there was some good things that come through affliction. And I want to preach to someone tonight. You've tried your best to forget about the worst moments of your life. And that'll bless you. But that'll only bless you for a season. You've tried to forget about the worst moments or the people that have caused you pain and harm. But I've come to preach to you something greater than forgetting. And that is some fruitfulness that came to your life in the midst of affliction. Some some faithfulness that was birthed in your life. Not trying to forget everything that we've been through, but being able to thank God that we gained some things while we were going through some affliction and we gained some gifts from God while we were going through our affliction. He remembered because forgetting what you've been through only lasts for so long. Matter of fact, I Googled. I Googled I thought the Lord was going to has have me to preach tonight about the art of forgetting. It's going to be wonderful. What if I could tell you tonight the Lord make you forget the worst moments of your life? More I started to read, the more I started to read, it was forget not. Forget not. Forget not. I said, 'Lord, mom, you know, I uh can can Lord, can you can you just let me in on I thought it was the art of forgetting. I was going to go up here and I may have preached with a lapel, you know, and really talk with my hands like this, but it didn't happen because it was forget not, forget not, forget not. It was like the Lord said, "Hey, Nolan, how about you don't stop at Manasseh, but you go to Ephraim." It's one thing to just try to forget everything that you've been through, but oh, there's a better blessing on the other side when you look back over your life and realize what God did for you and you realize what God brought you out of and what God put you through. But not only that, what God birthed in you. Some of you weren't faithful to church before the affliction. But somewhere in the midst of the trials and the pain, God put you on your face and your family's back together. Why? because there's fruitfulness. There's some fruitfulness here in affliction. But again, we see we see Ephraim that he's trying to forget everything. But but once he saw the the the brothers hating him, he tried to forget it. Then he remembered there was some fruitfulness in that pit. Even though it was waterless, even though it was dry, and I believe the Bible says it was very dry, there was some fruitfulness in the pit. Once he saw the place of the pit before that he wanted to forget. Now he sees the fruitfulness took place when the the caravan showed up and God took a barren place and caused some fruit to start to grow. He tried to forget the car ride down to Egypt. But now as he looks back over his life, he sees the fruitfulness of what happened in Piper's house. He thought, "Hey man, let me forget about that crazy woman. And I met her the other day at the golf course at Wind River. And I promise you that is something I want to forget the rest of my life. But somewhere across the way, Joseph looks back at his life and he says, "Man, something happened in Piper's house that even though I was broken, something happened that some fruitfulness started to grow and something happened that some character was built in me. Some fruitfulness started to grow in Potterer's house. He wanted to forget about the prison when he had Ephraim. But when or when he had Manasseh, but now he has Ephraim. He realizes that the butler and the baker was really a place of fruitfulness. He wanted to be he wanted to forget about being forgotten about. But there was some fruitfulness when that forgetting that that period that he was forgotten about just gave God time to give Pharaoh a dream in one night. It was not just one dream, but it was two dreams. And in that forgot about process, God was able to produce some faithfulness and some fruitfulness in his life. And when he looks back over his life, church, he sees that there is some good things that could happen to when bad comes to your life. when his dreams his dreams get him out of the prison. Pharaoh's dream gets him out of the prison and he's able to stand before Pharaoh and give him the answer to his dreams. Even though he was forgotten about, he tried to forget about being forgotten about. But once he looks back over his life and he realizes some good came from a dry place, some some good came out of being betrayed and some good came out of being going through trials and tribulations. Come to preach to someone tonight that God wants to take you from Manasseh to Ephraim. God wants to take someone tonight because forgetting about it only will last you so long. Forgetting about it maybe will only last you the length of the altar call tonight when you get your eyes upon God and not the scars on your body. Forgetting about it will only last you from the time you go to the altar to when you get in your car all alone and Satan starts to mess with your mind just like he did before the altar call. But I want to preach faith into you tonight that you can talk back to that devil. And you can say, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." Because there was some good things that happened when I was being betrayed. I I begin to pray like never before. And I didn't worship before the trial. But now there was some fruitfulness. You wish God would let you forget about the storm. You wish God would let you forget about the sleepless nights. But the blessing is in Ephraim because you realize there was fruitfulness in my affliction. The storm made you pray when you hadn't prayed before. >> The storm, what made you faithful to the house of God? The storm made you faithful to the house of God. The season that you tried to forget about was the season that God was preparing you for fruitfulness to come. God was preparing you for faithfulness to come. Progression from Manasseh to Ephraim is important because with Manasseh, you just escape the hard times for a moment. You barely get out of it. You barely get out of the trial. You barely get out of the toil or turmoil. And for a brief moment, you maybe forget about it. God has given us a greater gift than forgetting the hard times. And that greater gift is that God turned the hard times into the soil of fruitfulness. Every single person under the sound of my voice has moments in their life that was difficult. Had moments in their life that was was difficult. And it it was a place where you feel forgotten. You feel betrayed. And if you haven't been through that, I hate to encourage you, but you will go through that. And when you go through that, it's not something that God wants you to forget, but it's it's something that God wants you to give to him so he can use for his glory and for the good. Come on. There's some joy on the other side. Don't try to forget it because there's some joy that God has given you that you didn't have before. There was some faithfulness that God has put in you, some character that he's birthed through you. The only way that character happens and that development happens is you have to go through trial. With Manasseh, you're just surviving. We've all been there. You're just surviving through the affliction. You're just surviving in the pit. You're just surviving in the prison. surviving in the fact that God has brought you out of the pain. You're just surviving coming to church trying your best to forget. But when you go to Ephraim, you go into the scripture, you walk into the scripture, and we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God. I'm talking about all things. Somebody say all. And you're wondering, how is good going to come out of this? It's not going to come. It's not going to become good if you try to forget about it. But if you could try to find God's purpose through it, that's when all things work together for the I don't care if it's a pit. I don't care if it's a prison. God can use the pit and God can use the prison for your good. God can use the affliction and God can use the storm because it's Ephraim trying to forget and then walking into it's a mentality change to walk into this is a place of this is a place of fruitfulness when you are in when you're living with Manasseh just trying to forget you are just simply surviving ing. You're simply surviving. But when you have Ephraim and you hold Ephraim in your hands and you begin to think about all the good things that happened to you now, your marriage is stronger now. Once you're holding Ephraim, once you're holding Manasseh, you're trying to forget about all the bad things you've been through. But when you're holding Ephraim, you were when you're holding Manasseh, you were just surviving. But now that you're holding Ephraim and you're looking back at the fruitfulness of the land of affliction, you've went from surviving to thriving. And that's what God wants to do in your storm is a mentality shift from just surviving day by day. God does not want his children to live like that. But he wants you to go tonight from surviving to thriving. That there was some good things that happened. And I don't mean a cute play on words, but it can happen in the spirit tonight when you look back at those bad moments and realize some good happened from it. It caused me to be fruitful. What was killing me, God caused it to be fruitful in my life. Anything that is broken, there's a purpose for. We've been cleaning out our home for the past three weeks. try to get our our house ready for Lauraai to come and just shake up our lives and Magnolia can finally have somebody to boss around. It's going to be wonderful. It's going to be great. She's trying to boss me around. It's It's working. And I just give her a little thing to boss around. You know, this it's crazy. We'll be you'll just drive by our house. to be stuff on our porch and it's broken and it's it's you know Magnolia I don't know she beats her toys against the walls. I I don't know we but Flannry has people to buy them. I don't know why people buy you know a little bubble machine that don't even blow bubbles. There's no And she she's not trying to pull one over on somebody. It's just they're going to buy junk and I don't understand it. If it's not going on Facebook Marketplace, it's going on vented. And then God knows people are buying it on vented. And and in our house, if if something's broke or something destroyed, it's either going in the trash, going on Facebook Marketplace, or going unvented. Why? Because it's trash. It's useless. It's broken. There's no point of it. But when I read about the house of God, God cannot use you until you are broken. That's a big difference between my house and God's house. So if you find yourself gone through the land of affliction and it broke you a little bit, you're in the right place at the right time because God has never used something perfect and he's not starting now. He uses broken people and broken families and and broken stories. Why? Because God has caused some fruitfulness to come through the land of affliction. Any hard time produces something in us called brokenness. It's something it's a status that every single person here, including the man with the mic tonight, needs to walk into because the quicker you walk into brokenness is the is is the quicker way that God can turn what was bad into good. And God uses a lot of different things, but I just got to preach to you about brokenness tonight. If if you find yourself brokenness, I've got good news. In Psalms 34 and 18, it says, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. You thought it was meant to destroy you. But the more that you are broken by life, the more you attracted God to your house and the more that life begin to beat you up was the more that God's eye was upon you." I feel the Holy Ghost tonight. You thought the devil meant it for evil and he did. But the more that life broke you and the more that your your addiction broke you, God be to look at you more because he's nigh to a broken heart. Psalms 51:17 talks about a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise. God cannot turn his back to brokenness. God's eye is upon brokenness. And you're thinking, man, that's not that's not that doesn't sound like a good thing. I I I don't want to be broken. But I I've come to tell you that something in life will break you. Whether it be the judgment of sin, and God has to put you flat on your back. Something will break you. Something will break your heart or something will break your spirit. trials and tribulation of good saints of God will end up breaking their heart at one time or another. Or I'm not saying that the people who pray every day don't go through something. And I'm not saying that the people who go through trials and tribulations don't pray every day. That's not what I'm saying. But the faster we can get to a moment of brokenness is the faster that God can turn our brokenness into a story that is used for its glory. It's used as a testimony to faster man that you go. I know you're having sleepless nights, but if you'll give your brokenness to the Lord, you'll find out there's a blessing in Ephraim. There's a blessing in my brokenness. There's a blessing in my brokenness. Come to tell us or maybe just ask us a question. When's the last time that you were broken before the Lord? So it's I know macho men, you know, we want to come in, stick our chest out. We want everybody to know how macho man we are. When's the last time you cried in the presence of God? People Yeah. Lord, help me. My dad's not here and I don't want to make anybody mad. People, you know, you know, you're so good at praying people with the Holy Ghost. It's it's not a it's not a you know whatever you know such I have give I thee type thing. It's nothing like that. You can look at somebody you know what happens to them right before they get filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. Brother or there's a brokenness that comes about them. And I've seen men that are more masculine 17 times more masculine than me begin to lift up their hands. But right before God fills them with the gift of the Holy Ghost, there's tears that flow down their face. What is it? something in their spirit begins to break and you're if you're having trouble feeling the presence of God, it'd be a good idea to you to check yourself before hell wrecks your life. I would rather be broken by choice than life break me and trials break me. I'd rather come to God and say, "God, break me. Lord, break me." No wonder you have trouble feeling the presence of God on the altar because you're not willing to be broken. When's the last time your spirit was broken unto God? I've come to tell us, when's the last time your will has been broken unto God? What happens with a man by the name of David? He faced an enemy that was greater than Goliath, an enemy more powerful than King Saul. David was broken from decisions by an enemy named David. But it doesn't matter what breaks you. God will not resist the prayers of the broken. I don't care if you come to this altar tonight and the altar itself has broken your spirit. Praying to God has broken your spirit or if your trials or tribulation has broke your heart or God has put judgment upon your life and he has broke you in the altar with his mercy. God will never resist someone who is broken. God will never resist a prayer of a young lady who's broken in his presence. God will never resist a trendsetter's prayer who's broken in his presence. Because when you're broken, you begin to pray things that are truly powerful. I've come to tell you David and all his mighty acts of war and all his great achievements of knocking Goliath's head off and cutting his head off doesn't compared to this prayer that he prayed when he was broken because he prays in Psalms 51 and1 he says have mercy upon me when you are broken when you are broken things start to the perception starts to change and what truly matters comes out of your mouth he doesn't pray for more victory. He doesn't pray for God to anoint him again. He doesn't pray, "God, would you promote me like you did over King Shaw?" He It's a broken man that prayed for mercy. >> It's what we need. When you are broken, your brokenness makes you realize without God, you are absolutely nothing. Whether you're broken because of sin, trials, tribulations, or simply you have prayed yourself in the altar, and that's what's broken you. And that's where I want to be tonight. When you begin to pray through brokenness, you you begin to say, "God, I am nothing without you because of brokenness. A man that was imperfect. Yes, he made mistakes. Yes, he failed. Because of brokenness, some good started to come from him and Basheba. How can God take a Manasseh, something that you want to forget about and turn into an Ephraim that you produce, the next child you produce? Yes, the consequences of your sin was judged by God and that produced brokenness. But how could something good Ephraim like a Solomon the wisest man to ever live? How does that come through a mistake in a marriage? It comes through brokenness. You want your story to be turned around for God's glory. The only way it comes is through the avenue of brokenness. Brokenness says like David prays. He begins to pray things that matter. God have mercy on me. Blot out my transgressions. brokenness. And I and I just help somebody out tonight. When you're caught in sin, brokenness like or or when you're caught in sin and you're really not broken, you begin to say, "Hey, the woman made me do it." You begin to say, "Well, okay, Saul, the people the people spared the king." All right. But when you're broken like David, how can God use David and restore him but not restore Saul and and have him rightfully to his throne? Well, the difference is that when a broken person sees the error of his ways, he don't point the finger of life made me do this and my parents made me do this. No, he says, I have sinned against thee and thee only have I sinned, done this evil in thy sight. So you can be clearest when thou speakest and clearest when thou judgeth. A broken spirit says, God, it's all me, Lord. It's all me, Father. That's how God brokenness. Brokenness is the first step towards greatness. Brokenness is the first step towards greatness. Because when you are broken, truly things that matter and that are important begin to come out of your mouth. When you're broken, you begin to pray, "I don't deserve anything." David said, "Take not thy spirit away from me. Not get me back to my throne. not get me back to my position in the choir or get me back to my position on the praise team and the praise band. No, it just says the most important thing is don't take your spirit away from me. Don't take your That's the most important thing in my life. And I've come to tell you what will be so much better for you when you have a broken heart is not a group of friends that can make you feel better, but it it is the the the the God of all creation that comes down and that spirit begins to mold you. I said in the beginning, one moment in his presence can make you look at all the things in your life and realize there was some fruitfulness that came and and some good things that came through something bad in my life. It's really the blessing of Ephraim. The alabaster box is powerful, but the alabaster box has its power only if it's broken. Judges 7 and 19 tells us that God gave Gideon a plan for victory with some picture pictures and some some light some fire in those pictures. But victory does not come before brokenness. The body of Jesus Christ is powerful but the body of Jesus Christ is not powerful unless Paul says this is his body that was broken before you. And I feel the Lord has led the church and pastor preached about it last Sunday morning to a time of consecration. And I want to echo those words tonight. God is calling this church to a place of brokenness. God is calling this church not I'm not saying we all need to volunteer for trials and tribulations. But there is a place in the altar where you can be broken and good prayers begin to come out of you. Yes, when you come to God, you want to pray the blessings of God over your finances. But when you are broken, some important things begin to happen. God, don't take your spirit away from me. God, I need you more than anything else. God, I need your mercy in my life. God, I need you more than anything. That's the prayer of the broken. That's how God can turn your situation into a place of fruitfulness. I wish we'd do that right now. Would you lift your voice? Would you lift your voice and say, "God, I need you in my life more than anything else. God, I pray tonight. If my spirit needs to be broken, God, break it. God, break me of my pride tonight. God, break me of my ways. God, break me of my will tonight. God, you know somebody needs a breakthrough tonight, but it'll only come when their pride is broken. God, when their will is broken." Come on. If you believe that, would you clap your hands all across this room? Hallelujah. Alabaster box is powerful, but only when it's broken. That picture, that plan of victory, Gideon, is powerful, but it only comes after something is broken. Jesus, your body's powerful. It's more powerful when It's broken. Matter of fact, we all are recipients of the brokenness of Jesus Christ. Jacob, you begin to wrestle in your natural strength. You begin to wrestle with an angel. I would have loved to have seen this, but it got to a point where he wrestled all night long. And the day begin to break. The sun be to come over the mountains, but Jacob's blessing and Jacob's deliverance had to come through brokenness. Jacob could fight as long as he could physically fight, but when the angel of the Lord broke him, and when he broke him, he blessed him. When the angel of the Lord broke Jacob, he put his hand on on his hip, if you would, and and everywhere Jacob be to walk, he now limped. But something happened great in the breaking, and that was the blessing. So don't mistake God's breaking in your life as something that God's forgotten about you or God's turned his back towards you. No. If God is breaking you, I've got good news for you tonight. God is blessing you. If you feel like something is breaking your marriage and you can hold on to each other like never before, it's not a breaking, but it's a blessing that's coming on the other side. If you feel like hell is fighting your family like never before. I've got I've come with good news. There's a blessing coming on the other side of brokenness. There's a blessing that's coming on the other side of brokenness. If you're broken tonight, I've got good news for you. You're broken in your self-whe. You're broken in your ambitions. You're you're broken with with your affections. Maybe some of you tonight, you're broken in your health. I we begin to tell we we begin to tell needs such as the Callaways and and we know he fell and he he he broke uh uh he what he broke. Mom, can you help me out? I He bro and I saw him and it God helped me. He he broke something that was and I don't mean to preach on brokenness and then talk about a broken bone in our body. Yeah. I believe it was his hip. He he broke his hip and then Sister Callaway falls and breaks something. They they just can't buy they can't buy a break and they're broken. But I've come to tell somebody tonight the Callaways, if you're watching, I heard you, Brother Callaway, in that ICU room, you would say, Nolan, if I I could do anything to get back to the house of God. You know what that is? That's the statement of a broken man. When you get to the end of the break and God, it's the things that matter. It's not, hey, I want to do my favorite hobby. No, it's I want to do what matters, and that's come to the house of God. Oh, something begins to happen. The the important things begin to come out and you're breaking. And if you're breaking in your life, the most important thing is your family. It begins to happen. But I've got good news for you tonight. If if you're broken, this is what happens in Isaiah 33 and 23. There's five, one, two, three, four, five. Five words that just are so powerful about the breaking. About the breaking about the breaking. It's the pray. Let me see where this is. It's the Bible says in this verse, it's the end of that verse. If you would, if you'll put the end of that boy, the verse, the spoiled divided, but I've got news for the bro. Something happened. Isaiah begin to to get out of the talks of of judgment and war. But he begins to talk about the lame and the broken. He says, "The lame take the prey." So if you find yourself broken, you find yourself that you're not on your feet tonight, you find yourself that life has knocked you down, Isaiah begin to prophesy to you that the lame will take the prey, that the broken will find victory. The people that can't find the strength to get back up again, somewhere in the shadow of a doubt, God will give you victory in your life again. I feel it. I feel in this house tonight. I know you feel broken. You don't have the strength to carry on. But the lame will take the prey. The lame, the broken will find victory. I know you feel like God is breaking you. But God is blessing you >> because there is a blessing >> in Ephraim. Psalms 119:71. I know we we don't like affliction, but what about this perspective from the Psalmist? Psalms 119:71. It is good for me that I have been, Lord God, give me that type of faith to look back and say, "Thank you, Jesus, for afflicting me. Thank you, Jesus, that I might learn thy statute." That's that's really a good perspective to have. And that only is the perspective of somebody that's broken. Lord, thank you for sending a a financial trial my way because God, it showed me the importance of tithing and offerings. >> God, thank you for that th those sleepless nights that I could only find comfort in your house because I began to learn your statutes. Not in the good times, not on the mountain tops, but in the valleys when I was afflicted, I begin to learn thy statutes. Somewhere, somebody tonight needs to begin to thank God for some afflictions because things begin to change when you have the right perspective of what you've been through and things begin to turn around when I look at that affliction and say, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you." Psalms, go back four verses, verse 67. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now have I kept thy word. Before I was afflicted, when everything was going good, God, I didn't honor you. God, I didn't come to your house. Because who needs God when everything's going good? That's that's the fleshly thought. Who needs Oh, those bunch of people, you know, over there at that church, they you just cry in the altar. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You wait till you go through something in life and see where God brings you. It brings you to the house of God. I don't want to make fun of anybody tonight, but yeah, you'd be crying too if you if you went through the trials and tribulations of the trendsetters in this house. And the only strength they found was in the house of God. Before I was afflicted, I was a stray. I was a thug. I was a man's man. Now, now after the affliction, I have kept thy word. I've really got to go fast through this, but something powerful happens in scripture when when God's people took over the land of took over the promised land and they begin to turn their back. They fell away. They fell away. I guess they forgot about Egypt and the affliction that they felt there, but they they felt in Egypt, but they they begin to have some victory. And God gave them the land and gave them partial victory because they weren't willing to drive out the inhabitants of the land. And and so God begins to really toil with a plan and he he says, "All right, I'm going to I'm going to let the the Assyrians come in and destroy the regions of the north." But it's ma basically really around the place of of Galilee. If you just if you give me just I don't have time to just show you go through each verse, but God let affliction and an enemy come in around the place called Galilee. And in Isaiah 9 and one, he begins to say that that Galilee was one of the first places to to suffer God's judgment. But when God breaks something, he's going to visit that brokenness again. Isaiah says, chapter 9 verse number one, nevertheless, the demise shall not be such as were in her vexation. That's her affliction. That's her trial. when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and Neptal, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea by Jordan in Galilee of the nations. And somewhere from the affliction in verse number one, Isaiah begins to prophesy. In verse number two, it says, "The people that walked in darkness, walked in the judgment or walked in the affliction, have seen," this is talking about a future tense, "have seen a great light that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death." Then Isaiah really puts on his coat of prophecy, and he begins to say, "Upon them hath the light shined." What are you talking about, Isaiah? In affliction, light begins to shine. What are you talking about, Isaiah? When a a land is broken, but somehow light begins to shine. It just so happens that when Jesus Christ started his ministry, he first visited a place where brokenness occurred. He didn't start with the perfect people. He started where God started his judgment in the promised land. And in Galilee, that was the first place to suffer God's judgment. And you guessed it, that was the first place for Jesus Christ, the light in a body to visit. And he visits the broken people in the broken place of Galilee. And that's why in Matthew chapter 4, Matthew reaches back to the words of Isaiah in verse number 13. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulun and Nephilim. That sounds pretty familiar. here verse number 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphalim by the way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people which sat in darkness they sat in affliction they sat in brokenness hallelujah saw a great light and to them which sat in the region of the shadow of death light is sprung up the first place Jesus Christ God the light in a body visits is broken broken people, >> a broken land. He visits broken mamas and broken daddies. He He visits broken people in their health and and broken people in their minds. And he says, "I know you've experienced God's judgment, but here I am, broken people, here's God's mercy. I've come to preach to you tonight. If you're broken, God wants to visit you tonight. If you're broken in your body, God wants to visit your brokenness tonight. If you're broken in your wealth, God wants to visit your body tonight. If you're broken in your health, God wants to visit you tonight. If you're broken through the trials and tribulations, Jesus has not turned his back on you. If you felt the judgment of God, you will feel the hands of Jesus Christ again. Aren't you thankful that Jesus visits the broken? He's not looking for the perfect tonight, but he's looking for a broken marriage. He's looking for some broken families. I know it was the consequence of your sin, people. And that's why God had to pour his judgment. But when the judgment breaks you, that's when Jesus begins to bless you. Could you clap your hands all across this room tonight if you believe that? Oh God, you may be seated. Musicians, come. need my two helpers tonight. Brother [name redacted], Brother [name redacted], you'll come up here real quick. These kids, people make fun of these two boys because they say that they're my favorite. And uh it's true. Favorites are good. You know, it makes people All right. You're Manasseh, firstborn. Lord has caused me to forget you're Ephraim. All right. What's your name? >> Ephraim. >> Sure. All right. What's your name? >> Manasseh. >> The voice of God. Say it again. >> Manasseh. >> Manassa. Say it like your brother. >> Ephraim. >> No, that's not good. >> Manasseh. Ephraim. >> A little better. We'll work on it. All right. All right. We got the firstborn. Manasseh. Got Ephraim. Right. Great. You look nervous. I I'm too. I'm too. Bible says that Joseph brought his two boys, Ephraim, Manasseh, Ephraim to his daddy, brought him to Jacob. He says, "Dad, I want you to bless him." First of all, I love this. Talk about, you know, my favorites. All right? Your your dad said that y'all are you're my adopted sons. Okay? So, I'm I'm free with this. That's why I called you because Jo Jacob looks to to Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh and begins to say, "Who you got with you?" Dad, my two boys, he says, "Not no more. They're mine." All right. They're mine. Just like my kids, they're no longer yours. They're adopted into me. And I think that's an interesting verse. But you're mine. All right. Manasse and Ephraim, he says, "All right, Dad. Enough of the craziness. All right. I got to get back to Egypt and deal with all the matters of government." He said, "I I just I want you to bless them. I want you to bless. All right, y'all turn around like this. All right. No, face me. Sorry, my instructions are not clear. Face me. Yeah, there you go. Bible says that Joseph wanted Manasseh to have the right hand of his father. You know the story. So what he did was he put him in position where when Jacob the grandfather would lay hands laughing, the right hand of that man of faith would go upon the head of Manasseh. But somewhere along the way, he positioned it so perfectly. He said, "If you just give me a little leeway here, God, I want you to bless me forgetting all the troubles, all the trials, and all the tribulations. God, would you just put your hands upon that?" It's the firstborn. That's where the blessing belongs. But somewhere along the way, that old patriarch, his hands got switched. And the right hand went upon Ephraim. and the left head. I feel the Holy Ghost in this house went upon Manasseh. And so many times we try the blessings to get, hey, if I could just forget about it. If I could just forget about the worst moments of my life, but all the while in this story, God is saying, I'm not going to bless you forgetting. There is a blessing in that. And the Bible says that when Joseph opened up his eyes, he saw what his dad did. He said, "Dad, you've got it all wrong." And and Jacob looked to Joseph. He says, "No, Manasseh will be blessed, but Ephraim is going to be more blessed. Ephraim will be greater than Manasseh. Dad, how in the world that the firstborn caused me to forget should be blessed." But no, God is speaking to someone in this house tonight and I fell in the prayer room that yes, God will bless you trying to forget. But if you can go into the land where there was fruitfulness and affliction, God will bless it more. God will give you more joy if you let God bless your affliction. And God will bless it more if you let God bless the moments that you wish you could forget. But somewhere along the way, God is saying, "I'm going to bless. I'm going to bless Ephere you." There's going to be some good things that come out of a bad situation. You can be blessed by trying to forget about it. But it's nothing like let God have some fruitfulness to be born to your life and and letting God turn your worst days at the moments where you look back and say, "If it had not been for the Lord that was on my side, I don't know where I would be." There's a blessing in Ephraim. There's a blessing in the breaking. You'd be so kind to stand with me. Would you just bow your heads or close your eyes? And would you begin to pray? I've come to preach to a mama today. There's a blessing in Ephraim. I know you've tried to forget about the breaking, but there's fruitfulness. There's fruitfulness in the breaking. There's fruitfulness in the worst moments of your life. Oh, I tell you, come on. Would you lift your voice and pray with me fervently right now? Come on. This altar call is for somebody that needs to be broken under the sound of my voice. Come on. Your afflictions have broken you. Why don't you come to the altar and let God begin to work on Ephraim of fruitfulness in your times of hurting and fruitfulness in the time of your your trials and your situation. Come on. I know there there is a blessing to trying to forget about it. But that blessing is not the greater blessing. The greater blessing is letting God use those trials and situations for a land of fruitfulness. God is putting his hand upon Ephraim in your life. When you turn the pit into a flower flower flower bed, when you turn the prison into a garden, it's a soil of of faithfulness. It's the soil of fruitfulness. Come on, Ephraim. Let God use it for your good, mama. Come on. There's an Ephraim here tonight. Let God use your your family phone apart for your good. Come on. I know you you're hurting in your body, but there's some good that's going to come out of it. I feel the Lord's moving in this house. Come on. You've tried your best to forgive. And that's a great step, but somewhere you don't go to forgetting. You go to the right perspective. That that's a field of of fruitfulness. You've caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. >> >> God, I thank you, Lord, tonight. Come on. There's somebody here this evening. Come on. There's somebody here tonight. You've tried your best to forget about it. Come on. You've taken pills to try to go to sleep just to get your mind off of it. But why don't you try to look at it in a different perspective that there's a land of fruitfulness when I thought I would give up. There's a land of of fruitfulness in the land that I felt like I was being destroyed by the hand of God's judgment. But there was a land of fruitfulness. Come on. It birthed prayer in the house of God. It birthed faithfulness to the house of God. Come on. You didn't praise before the trial, but somewhere in the in the land of fruitfulness in affliction, God begin to birth the praise that would come out of your mouth. A thankfulness to the house of God that would finally come to your family. You wouldn't have got it unless you went through that hard time. You wouldn't have got it unless you went through that breaking. >> >> Thank you, Lord. Come on. God's trying to break somebody at the sound of my voice tonight. Come on. The quicker that you go through with the breaking is the quicker that you get to the blessing. Come on. Would you lift your hands right now? And would you lift your voice all across this room? Come on. There's a need for him here tonight. The quicker that God can break through your pride is the quicker that God can bring you to the land of fruitfulness in the land of your affliction. The quicker God can break you of your will is the faster avenue to the land of fruitfulness. a little more. You'll check. Come on. Tonight, maybe just check yourself. Come on. Maybe tonight, would you check yourself? If you can't lift your voice and be broken in the presence of God, I don't mean to be a gloom and doom preacher, but life will break you. Where you come back to the house of God where you could have been broken. You could have been broken under your own free will, but let the hand of judgment get upon you and you will be broken. Something in this life will break you and you'll realize the most important thing is in the house of God. God, take not that presence away from me. Come on. There's some brokenness happening all across this room tonight. was strongest changing when you draw near to us. You draw near to us. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> >> Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. >> >> What you got? >> >> Every life can be restored when you feel the room. God feel the room with angels in every corner. When you feel Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. When you somebody just got filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. Come on. God will heal your broken prayer. God will heal your broken praise. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. >> >> Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. >> >> Heat. Heat. >> >> Spirit break down. Spirit break down. Spirit break down. Break all down. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> >> Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Now Jesus, you change everything. >> >> Church family, can we reach our hand? Come on, let's it continue with your prayer. Come on, let's it lift up your voice in this place right now. This is what it's all about in the name of Jesus. >> [bell] >> In the name of Jesus Christ, Jacqueline Meltter, upon the profession of your faith in obedience to the word of God, I now indeed baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and thank the Lord. A few minutes ago, God filled you with the gift of the Holy Ghost in Jesus name. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> >> Come on. One more time. Lift your hands all across this place. >> >> I don't know about you, but with your hands lifted, there's one more opportunity for brokenness in this place tonight. Oh, if you just surrender that situation to the Lord right now. Come on, let's lift your voice up for another moment. Come on, that's it. Let's just linger here for a moment. Can you not hear me call you? I am your God. I stand outside of time and yet I hold everything in my hand. And if I spoke worlds into existence, and if I spoke creation into existence, how much can I do with that brea I will heal you. I'm telling you, somebody ought to just seek him. Somebody ought to press in a little bit further tonight. I love you, Father. I love you, Father. I love you, Father. I love you. Thank you for your presence. Jesus, we love you tonight. Come on. In response to his word tonight, would you just give him one more praise? Come on. Would you just thank him for what you've heard tonight? However you see fit. Come on, give the Lord some praise tonight. Lord, we thank you for your presence. We thank you for the soul that was baptized in the wonderful name of Jesus. Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost tonight. Lord, I thank you for all that you've done in this place today. Jesus mighty name. In Jesus mighty name we pray. The Lord's good to us. Amen. The Lord's good to us. You've heard from the Lord tonight. We're going to be dismissed here in just a moment. Does anybody remember when you were baptized? Anybody remember when you were baptized? Some of you it's been just a few months. Some of you it's been a few years. You know, I I can't help but watch tonight saw this lady be baptized and it brings back to the moment when I was baptized. And it makes me think that how powerful the words are that Matthew would recall Isaiah's prophecy about Galilee. As Jesus comes into town, he picks up some fishermen off the sea. He starts the whole journey in Galilee. I couldn't help but think for the step that he's sitting at a table about to die. And he tells them all, "It's about to all go south. They're going to kill me. Peter, you're going to cuss. You're going to die. You're going to do all these things. It's going to look like it's all over. But meet me back in meet me back where it all started. And it just so happens that Galilee means a full circle. You might be in the midst of Manasseh, but Ephraim's coming. Huh? You might be in the beginning of Gallup, but there's going to be a day it's and I can't help but