Rejection to Redemption
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Rejection to Redemption | Pastor Dean Deguara
What rejection tries to bury, God uses to plant redemption.
Genesis 37:5-11 (ESV)
Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Point 1 | Misinterpreted Dreams & Misunderstood Motives
People may misjudge your motives or dismiss your dream, but they cannot derail God’s destiny for your life.
Point 2 | The Pit of Betrayal
Genesis 37:23-24 (NKJV)
So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.Genesis 37:28 (NKJV)
Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.The pit is not permanent; it’s preparation!
Point 3 | Reroutes and Redirection
Genesis 39:2 (ESV)
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man.Genesis 39:21 (ESV)
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.Genesis 40:23 (ESV)
Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.People may reject you, but God never leaves you.
Psalm 27:10 (NIV)
Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.Point 4 | Redeemed for a Purpose
Genesis 45:7-8 (NLT)
God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.8 So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt.Your scars of rejection can be someone else’s roadmap to redemption.
Genesis 50:20 (ESV)
You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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Rejection to Redemption:
We've all felt the sting of rejection at some point in our lives. It might be a text that never gets answered, a relationship that ends abruptly, or a parent who walks away. Rejection cuts deep, leaving wounds that can shape our perspectives and actions for years to come. But what if rejection isn't the end of our story? What if it's actually the soil in which God plants redemption?
The life of Joseph in the Bible offers a powerful illustration of this truth. His journey from favored son to slave to prisoner to prime minister of Egypt spans decades and is filled with twists and turns that would leave most of us bitter and broken. Yet Joseph's story reveals a profound truth: what rejection tries to bury, God uses to plant redemption.
Joseph's troubles began with a dream - or rather, with sharing that dream. As a young man of 17, he had vivid dreams of his family bowing down to him. When he shared these dreams with his brothers and father, their reaction was far from supportive. His brothers' existing dislike for him turned to hatred, and even his father rebuked him.
This raises an important question for us today: Shouldn't our families and faith communities be the safest places to share our dreams and visions? All too often, we quench the dreams of others because we don't fully understand them or feel threatened by them. But misinterpreting someone's dreams or misjudging their motives doesn't derail God's destiny for their life.
Joseph's brothers were so threatened by his dreams that they threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery. The pit represents a place of betrayal, the death of relationships, and the end of life as we knew it. We've all experienced pits of depression, despair, defeat, or denial. But here's the crucial thing to remember: the pit feels final, but it's not permanent - it's preparation.
Every dreamer will experience a pit on the path to seeing their dream fulfilled. But Psalm 40:2 reminds us of God's promise: "He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." God is more interested in delivering us than in simply delivering our dreams. He often has to deliver us from ourselves before He can fulfill the visions He's given us.
Joseph's pit experience led to him being sold into slavery in Egypt. What looked like rejection was actually God's redirection. Genesis 39:2 tells us, "The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man." Even when false accusations landed Joseph in prison, we're told that "the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison" (Genesis 39:21).
This is a powerful reminder that man's rejection is often the doorway to God's favor. When we feel forgotten, overlooked, or discarded, God's favor never fails us - it follows us. Even when everyone else rejects us, God receives us. As Psalm 27:10 beautifully puts it, "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me."
Joseph's story took 29 years to unfold from the time he received his initial dreams to their fulfillment. During that time, he served faithfully in Potiphar's house, interpreted dreams in prison, and was eventually forgotten by those he helped. But God hadn't forgotten him. In a single day, Joseph went from prisoner to prime minister, positioned to save not just Egypt but his own family from famine.
When Joseph's brothers came to Egypt seeking food, they didn't recognize him. But he recognized them - and realized his childhood dreams were being fulfilled as they bowed before him. In a beautiful moment of redemption, Joseph chose reconciliation over revenge. He told his brothers, "God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God" (Genesis 45:7-8).
This is the power of a redeemed perspective. Joseph could have blamed his brothers for all his suffering. Instead, he saw God's hand at work through every painful reroute, using even the darkest moments to bring about salvation for many.
The beauty of our redemption stories is that our greatest wounds can become the very places where God brings healing to others. Our scars can be someone else's roadmap to hope. Rejection may reroute us, but redemption will always repurpose us.
Joseph's powerful declaration to his brothers encapsulates this truth: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20). Our pits are not our end. Our betrayals are not our burials. Our rejection stories are not bigger than our redemption stories.
Ultimately, Joseph's story points us to an even greater story of rejection and redemption - that of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53:3 tells us that Jesus was "despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain." Yet His rejection became the world's redemption. The cross was brutal, His burial looked final, but it was only preparation for the resurrection.
If you've been carrying the weight of rejection, betrayal, or abandonment, today can be the day your story changes. The same Jesus who was despised is the one who promises never to leave or forsake you. He invites you to trust Him with your pain, to allow Him to rewrite your story from rejection to redemption.
Remember, you're not buried - you're planted. God can deliver you from the pit of betrayal, from feeling overlooked or discarded. He wants to develop you for the purpose and plan He has for your life. It may take time, and the journey may be difficult, but God is faithful to complete the work He's begun in you.
Today, take a step towards healing. Allow God to set you free from self-sabotage and blaming others for the pits you find yourself in. Embrace the truth that what looks like rejection may actually be God's redirection. Trust that He is working all things together for your good and for His glory.
Your story of rejection can become a powerful testimony of redemption. Will you allow God to rewrite your narrative today?
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pictures you share on social media that that's where it all comes from and so if you'd like to jump in we could use your assistance activate that talent and that gift that God has given you amen hey I wanted to just bring a prayer request to you the Mike and Marcella Chastain son Andrew had surgery on Monday to remove a brain tumor they did extract most of that while in surgery and
Andrew's 12 years old, by the way.
While in surgery, he suffered a stroke.
And so we need a miracle.
And as Pastor Damien preached last week, how many know community needs to rally around this?
And so I'd like us to just lift up the Chastains and Andrew.
That God would do a miracle.
Amen.
Can we just lift them up.
Father we lift up the Chastains.
And Andrew.
We thank you God.
That you're his healer.
And Father we pray right now.
God as they are in Oakland.
God as they are in that hospital.
Lord we pray.
God for the power and the presence.
Of the Holy Spirit.
God to minister to Andrew's body.
In Jesus name.
And we know God tumors have been extracted.
But, Father, we pray you eradicate cancer in his body in the name of Jesus.
Strengthen Mike and Marcella, Lord, as they've been in the hospital each and every day.
God, we pray in Jesus' name for supernatural intervention.
And we pray for the report of the Lord to be released in the mighty name of Jesus.
And the church said...
Amen and amen.
Please continue to hold them up in prayer.
They need the community, the prayers of this community right now more than ever.
Anybody.
Amen?
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And that gets out to you each and every day.
Even got a text message this week saying, man, did you write this?
I said, if you liked it, I wrote it.
All right.
But anyway, we're continuing this series, The Good News on Relationships.
And today we're going to talk about the road of rejection.
The road of rejection.
Everyone knows the pain of rejection.
Some of these things may seem petty, but it shows up in the text that never gets answered.
It's in the relationship that ended without warning.
It's in the parent who walked away.
It's in the friendship that faded like you never mattered.
Rejection is something that we're all familiar with because rejection, would you agree, cuts deep.
Rejection is painful.
Rejection is hurtful.
But here's the good news about relationships when it comes to rejection.
What rejection tries to bury, God uses to plant redemption.
And today we're going to learn from the life of Joseph who shows us that rejection is not the end of our story.
It's actually the very soil that God uses to grow his purpose.
Amen.
Genesis 37, 5 to 11, you can read the entire story of Joseph's life in Genesis 37 to 50.
Obviously, we're not going to cover all of that.
We're going to do a 30,000 foot view of his life today, but we're going to kick off in Genesis 37, 5 to 11.
It says this, now Joseph had a dream.
How many of you ever have a dream?
Come on.
Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers.
And they hated him even more.
In other words, they didn't like him before the dream and they definitely didn't like him after the dream.
And so he said to them, please hear this dream which I have dreamed.
There we were, binding sheaves in the field.
Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright, and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.
And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us, or shall you indeed have dominion over us?
So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words."
And then he dreamed still another dream.
And he told it to his brothers and said, look, I've dreamed another dream.
And this time the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down to me.
And so he told it to his father and his brothers.
And his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you have dreamed?
Underline that.
What is this dream that you have dreamed?
Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?
Verse 11, and his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Today, we're talking about the road of rejection.
And I think sometimes as believers and leaders...
We get wounded sometimes simply because we dare to share our dream with others.
This is why I'm so adamant about this being a place, come on, where dreams are dreamed, come on, and dreams are realized.
Listen, I want to just say as your pastor, I'm not threatened by your dream.
Amen.
In fact, I want you to know, listen, I'm going to get behind your dream.
This is a place where leaders are launched.
This is a place where dreams come true.
I really believe that.
In fact, I believe that one of the most common things that we run into as believers and as leaders in the church on this road of rejection is misinterpreted dreams and misunderstood motives.
You know, I've often heard, and I've actually preached Joseph's life this way, and as I was reading this story again, I think I might have it wrong.
Because oftentimes you hear Joseph getting blamed for sharing his dreams prematurely to his family.
But can I just say this?
Shouldn't our family be the safest place to share our ideas, our visions, and our dreams?
Shouldn't our church family be the place where our dreams are shared, incubated, cultivated, realized, and launched?
Shouldn't our first response to someone else's dream be to ask God for clarity instead of asking the dreamer to clarify their dream?
Amen.
I truly believe that Joseph wasn't sharing his dream because he was prideful.
I believe he was sharing it with those who were closest to him because he wanted them to speak into it so he could be faithful with what God had given him.
And so many times we quench the dream in the dreamer because we want to understand it all.
His brothers misinterpreted the dream and misunderstood his motives.
His father asked for clarity instead of confidently supporting him.
You see, when your dreams are misinterpreted and motives are misunderstood, can I just say this?
People will mismanage you.
And unfortunately for Joseph, they were motivated to kill the dreamer because they were threatened by the dream.
You see, people may misjudge your motives or they may dismiss your dream.
But can I just tell you, they cannot derail God's destiny over your life.
I was on staff at a church once.
How many know we're all familiar with the road of rejection, by the way?
And the best lessons that I have are drawn straight from my life.
I was on staff, and I got to preach once a year.
And I can just tell you, when you get to preach once a year, that sermon better be good.
Amen.
You better be on your game, right?
That better be a grand slam, right?
Sure enough, I got my once a year preach, got my preach on.
Man, I felt like I hit it out the park.
I got feedback.
I was getting encouraged.
And then that following week, a leader came into my office and started telling me that I wasn't the leader that I thought I was.
that my preaching didn't reflect my personality.
And to be honest, I really didn't know what to say.
Anybody ever been there before?
But I managed to calmly say, I disagree with your assessment of me.
And I reassured him that I wasn't trying to be someone that I'm not.
But I said, if you knew the pastor that I sat under for 10 years, maybe you would understand my preaching style.
And what I didn't realize at the time is that God, come on, he was preparing me.
Amen.
And some of you know what it's like to share your heart and have it misread.
Some of you know what it's like to share your dream and have it dismissed.
You see, when people misinterpret your dreams or misjudge your motives, the best thing that you and I can do is manage you.
Do you hear my heart today?
Listen, you can't manage what other people think of you, but you can manage you.
You can do the work.
You can allow God to begin to develop you for what's in your heart.
See, the enemy wants to discourage you.
Come on, he wants you to live defeated.
He wants you to give up on the dreams that he's placed in your heart.
But can I just tell you, when people mismanage you, manage you.
Unfortunately, I haven't always got this right as a leader, but even when I've responded wrong, God used it to develop me as a dreamer.
Joseph received this dream from God when he was 17, and everything that we're going to talk about today in this 40-minute message took 29 years to develop Joseph until he realized his dream.
So if you think you're just going to leave here and all your dreams are going to be fulfilled, come on, how do you know that's not going to happen?
But what I want to prepare you for is the 29-year journey.
Come on, the 29-year journey.
You see, I thought I'd be pastoring in my early 30s, but God knew I wasn't ready.
And that's why, listen, he had to work on the dreamer, come on, until the dream was realized when I was 47 and Real Life Church reached out to me.
Everybody still with me?
Yeah.
From the very beginning, though none of his family could see it, God was developing Joseph the dreamer into Joseph the deliverer.
And you have to remind yourself, people can misjudge your motives, but they cannot derail God's dream over your life.
You see, the dream God gave you is stronger than the rejection anyone can serve you.
Secondly, on the road of rejection, you'll experience the pit of betrayal.
How many are thankful for the pit?
As believers, we like to avoid the pit.
You'll see the pit all through scriptures.
How many know Jesus was resurrected from a pit?
And as believers, we try to avoid the pit, but in the pit is where we get acquainted with the fellowship of his sufferings.
We love to avoid the pits in our life.
How many know that's just the pits sometimes, right?
Jacob, Israel's father, sends Joseph to check on the welfare of his brothers.
And we pick up the story in 37, 23 to 24.
It says, so it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.
And then they took him and cast him into a pit.
And the pit was empty.
There was no water in it.
Verse 28, then Midianite traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt.
Joseph's pit experience represents the death of a dream, the death of relationships, the life you once knew, and even death to an old identity.
The pit represents the death of what you and I thought life would be.
Teenagers, if you're in here this morning, you know what it's like to be rejected by friends that you thought would ride with you.
Parents, you know what it's like to be betrayed by someone that you trusted as a friend or maybe as a business partner.
Grandparents, you know what it is watching family turn their back on the God when you pour your very life into them.
You see, the pit feels final, but the pit, we have to understand, it's not permanent.
It's preparation.
Will you say it with me?
Come on.
The pit's not permanent.
It's preparation.
It's preparation.
The pit feels like the end of the story, but with God, the pit is never permanent.
You see, every dreamer in this place under the sound of my voice will experience a pit on the path to seeing their dream fulfilled.
I once heard it like this, pit stands for prophet in training, or in my case, pastor in training.
The
pit we've all experienced the pit of depression the pit of despair the pit of defeat the pit of death the pit of denial every pit however comes with it god's promise of deliverance psalm 40 verse 2 he talking about god he lifted me out
of the pit of despair out of the mud and the mire, and he set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
You see, church, we get so focused on God delivering the dream, we forget God has to deliver us first.
How many know God sometimes has to deliver us from ourselves?
Amen.
Remember what, remember this, what rejection, I said at the beginning, what rejection tries to bury, God uses to plant redemption.
Joseph was rejected and abandoned by his brothers and thrust into slavery and servanthood.
And even though the dreamer was at his lowest point in the pit, the God dream on the inside of him, how many of you know that was from the Holy Spirit?
It wouldn't allow him to stay down in the pit.
And even though the dreamer sat at the very bottom of that pit, God the Redeemer had a plan to lift him out.
You see, this is what we have to know.
Many times the dream that God has put in you will absolutely carry you.
The dream that God has put in you will absolutely carry you.
It will carry you out of the pit.
It will carry you out of rejection.
It will carry you out of the betrayal.
It will carry you through the abandonment.
And like Joseph, it will carry you, listen, to your next assignment.
Amen.
For Joseph, that next assignment was Egypt.
Rejection didn't end his story.
Instead, it rerouted him into a whole new chapter in his life.
And can I just say this?
Maybe what you're interpreting as a death sentence on your destiny is actually the last sentence of the previous chapter God just finished writing about your life.
Maybe what you're experiencing right now or what you've experienced in your past isn't the end of your story, but again, the beginning of a new chapter.
And this is why it's important to know that on the road of rejection, not only will we experience the pits of betrayal, we'll experience reroutes and redirection.
Reroutes and redirection.
Anybody ever miss that?
a turn on Google Maps.
You get rerouted and redirected.
Man's rejection is often the doorway to God's favor.
Think about it.
Man's rejection is often the doorway to God's favor.
In other words, if you're going to get unstuck, you have to stop focusing on the rejection and you've got to see it as God's redirection.
How many of you guys get offended at the Google app because it's telling you, hey, you missed a turn?
Anybody?
No, you don't get mad at it.
You just go up to the next stoplight and turn around.
But if that happens to you in real life, you get all upset, angry, mad.
And God is just trying to redirect you.
He's just trying to reroute you.
Amy, I had a little bit of a reroute and redirection.
We were on staff at a church for 10 years as youth pastors.
And
We had it in our hearts to plant a church or learn to plant a church.
And so we joined a church planting team in Houston.
How many know I'm about to get rerouted real quick, right?
And what I thought was going to be an incredible time of learning.
Three months into the church plant.
Again, we sold everything.
We packed it up in the U-Haul.
We moved out there.
And three months into the church plant.
They call it off.
I'm like, you what?
We thought we were going to plant a church, but God used it to develop a greater trust in us, not in man, but him.
Listen, I got a job working at a Fortune 500 company.
Don't ask me how.
I didn't even have a degree.
Amy, we didn't have any medical, no medical insurance.
Through connections, Amy got pregnant with Mariah.
We had free medical.
Come on, a free doctor would see us on off hours.
God took care of us, but we would have never, we would have never, that would have never been developed in us.
If we would have said, no, no, we're going to plant.
We're going to plant.
God was wanting to plant something deeper in our lives.
Genesis 39 verse 2 says, the Lord was with us.
Joseph, and he became a successful man.
Verse 21 in the same chapter says, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Let that be my testimony this morning.
If you don't hear anything else I say today, let it be said of you and I, the Lord was with him.
Amen.
Listen, let us boast in our weakness.
Let it be said of us.
Listen, or let it be said of me that he might not have been the best communicator.
He might not have been the most charismatic leader.
He might not have been the greatest visionary.
Oh, but the Lord was with him.
The Lord was with real life.
They were successful.
Come on, not because of a man.
They were successful because the Lord was with him.
Amen.
My prayer is, listen, let my life fade in the light of God's favor.
Let his testimony outshine anything that I ever could do in my own strength.
You see, up to this point, everywhere Joseph went, rejection followed him.
But in Egypt, the foreign place, come on, everywhere Joseph went, God's favor found him.
Amen.
In the palace, God's favor found him.
In the prison, God's favor found him.
In the famine, God's favor found him.
Church, can I just say, favor is about to find you in the most unlikely places.
But so many times, listen, we resist the foreign places and that's exactly where faith works best.
Did I tell you on our Zambia trip, we get there, travel 30 plus, I don't think almost 36 hours to get there.
We get there to Indola where Operation I Dream in and none of our luggage shows up.
How many know we were stanky, right?
We needed change.
We went and got clothes the next day.
And now, usually I'm with Pastor Sam because Pastor Sam is like the prime minister of Zambia.
Everywhere he goes, he can just make things happen.
He couldn't go for some reason.
He says, I need you to go to the airport.
And I'm thinking to myself, that is not a good idea.
And sure enough, I get there.
They march me in the back.
They get me down there into the luggage.
And there are our luggages.
I thought I was just going to take it and leave.
And they said, what's in the luggage?
I said, school supplies for kids.
They said, do you have a donation letter for that?
I said, no, but I know Sam Cicapizzi, eh?
It took about 20 minutes.
But all of a sudden, they were about to open up all 24 suitcases.
And I don't know what happened.
I don't know what changed.
But all of a sudden, they said, stop opening the cases.
He's good.
They zipped him back up.
They said, take him out there.
I said, favor just found me.
I got out.
They said, what happened to you?
I said, you do not want to know.
Genesis 40 verse 23 says Joseph is in the prison.
He interprets the dreams of the butler and the baker.
Making a long story short, they promised him when they got out that they'd tell Pharaoh about Joseph who was the interpreter of dreams.
And it says this about the chief butler.
The chief butler did not remember Joseph but forgot about him.
Here's a word for us today.
Man may forget you, but God never does.
People may reject you, but God never leaves you.
Listen, he may reroute you, he may redirect you, but he will never leave or forsake you.
I love what Psalm 2710 says.
It says, though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.
You see, even when it feels like you've been forgotten, overlooked, or discarded, God's favor will never fail you.
Actually, it will follow you.
And even when it feels like everyone else rejects you, God receives you.
Even when it feels like your life has been discarded, God's favor will always find you.
And even when your life looks like a burial, it's really a planting.
Why?
Because what rejection tries to bury, God uses to plant our redemption story.
Amen?
And here's the good news about relationships and about the road of rejection.
God doesn't just reroute you.
He redeems you.
Now, before Joseph's brothers ever stood before him again, again, 29, how many know that's a long time for a dream to develop in your life?
29 years in the making, and after rejection, betrayal, and being forgotten, Joseph was still found faithful.
He served in Potiphar's house until a false accusation landed him in prison.
Even in prison, God's favor followed him and was with him.
Joseph interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker, but forgotten for two years.
And then one day, Pharaoh has a dream
himself that nobody could interpret, and that's when the butler remembered Joseph.
You see, in a single day, how many know God, come on, can make things happen in due time?
In a single day, Joseph went from the prison to the palace, and not only did he interpret Pharaoh's dream, he gave him a strategy that saved an entire nation from famine.
Amen.
And Pharaoh looked at Joseph and he said this, can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?
And just like that, Joseph was promoted from prisoner to prime minister, second only to Pharaoh himself.
Church, don't miss this and get this in your spirit.
What looks like rejection, come on, is your redirection.
Every step.
Everybody say every step.
The pit, the prison, the false accusations, the forgotten years.
They were accompanied by the favor of the Lord that moved Joseph one step closer to the dream that God gave him.
Maybe what you're going through, church, isn't meant for your destruction.
Maybe it's an invitation for you to recognize the favor of the Lord in your life.
That no matter where you go, God goes with you.
Leads me to my last point this morning, that we are redeemed for a purpose.
How do we know God can redeem the dreams?
When Joseph became prime minister, he never thought it would lead to the fulfillment of his dreams.
But during the famine, he looked up, and I'm making a long story short, he looked up and he saw his family.
For the first time in 29 years, the family, come on, who betrayed him, the family who threw him in the pit, the family who sold him for silver, he sees them seeking food to eat and bowing down before him.
Do you realize just what happened?
He realizes, this is what I dreamed about 29 years ago.
Hallelujah.
Who would have thought that the dream that threatened them would actually be the dream that saved them?
Eventually, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and they were terrified because they didn't know what Joseph was going to do.
Was he going to take revenge?
But instead, Joseph says a powerful thing in Genesis 45, verses 7 through 8.
He says this, God sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.
I underlined verse 8 because I think it's so important for us to get this in our hearts.
So it was God who sent me here, not you.
So it was God who sent me here, not you.
You see, we've got to stop giving the devil credit.
Come on, for God's redirections and reroutes.
You didn't do this to me.
I'm not blaming you.
How many know it'd be easy to blame his brothers?
It'd be easy to blame his family.
It'd be easy to be bitter.
It'd be easy to take revenge.
Oh, I got you right where I wanted you.
But he says, you didn't send me here.
God did.
And he is the one who made me an advisor to Pharaoh, the manager of this entire palace and the governor of
Of all Egypt.
You see, Joseph chose reconciliation.
How many know that's not natural?
That's supernatural.
Church, that's redemption.
Everybody say redemption.
God took Joseph from rejection to redemption.
What story is your life going to tell?
God sent me here.
Or will it be, did you see what they did to me?
Did you see the pit they threw me into?
Did you see how they sold me out for 30 pieces of silver?
Did you see that they forgot about me in the dark place?
Did you see the false accusation against me?
No, no, no, no.
That's not our story.
That's our rejection story.
But our redemption story is God sent me here.
Not you.
Amen?
God took every painful reroute, the pit, the prison, the forgotten years, and he redeemed them into a story, come on, of salvation.
You see, Joseph realized that he wasn't just elevated, he was redeemed for a purpose.
His suffering became the channel through which God preserved not only nations, but his family.
Everybody say family.
Church, that's the beauty of your redemption story.
You see, our greatest wounds, and I know this is flipped upside down kingdom stuff, but our greatest wounds can become the very places where God brings healing to others.
Your scars can be someone else's roadmap to hope forever.
You see, rejection may reroute you, but redemption will always repurpose you.
And I'm gonna end the story with chapter 50, verse 20.
He says this, and it's powerful.
He says to his brothers, what you meant.
He says, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
Come on, can we say that together?
You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
Church, your pit is not your end.
Your betrayal is not your burial.
Your rejection story is not bigger than your redemption story.
Joseph's story is a powerful story, would you agree?
But it points us to even someone greater.
Just like Joseph, Jesus was rejected, he was betrayed,
He was sold for silver.
Isaiah 53 verse 3.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows.
Acquainted.
In other words, he knows what it's like.
Acquainted with grief.
But Jesus' rejection became, how many are thankful, the world's redemption.
You see, the cross was brutal.
Come on, his burial looked final.
But it was only preparation for the resurrection.
Church, what God, what the enemy tries to bury, God uses to plant redemption in our lives.
And some of us have been living rejected.
But how many know you don't have to die rejected?
The same Jesus who was despised is the Jesus who will never leave you or forsake you.
The Bible says if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him, come on, from the pit, raised him from the dead, that we will be saved.
So listen, if you've never given your life to Jesus with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you've been carrying the weight of rejection, betrayal, and abandonment, listen, today, listen, that story changes.
It changes.
And just by the lifting of your hand, you'd say, Pastor Dean, will you pray for me?
I want my redemption story to begin today.
If that's you, will you just slip up your hand?
We want to pray for you.
Is there anybody in the 8 o'clock service?
Yes, thank you.
Anybody else want to join this person?
That you say, I want to change, come on, my story.
I want God to change my storyline.
I want to invite Jesus, my Redeemer, into my life.
Is there anybody else?
We're going to pray this prayer together.
If you wanted to raise your hand but didn't, pray this prayer.
The person that did raise their hand, pray it with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
On the count of three, we're going to pray the prayer on the screen.
One, two, three.
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness.
I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead.
Right now, I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life.
I want to trust and follow you from this day forward.
I confess you as my personal Lord and Savior.
Thank you for saving me.
In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
Can we give God praise?
Come on, how many know God rejoices over the one?
Listen, if you prayed that prayer for the very first time, we believe that you got born again, and we have a New Believers New Testament Bible that we'd like to place in your hands.
My friend Jeff is in the back.
Just see him before you leave.
There's also some next steps that we can take with you as your family.
There's a class actually on Wednesday nights called The Purple Book, and that'll help lay a healthy foundation in your life.
Church, there's a second call.
Will you stand with me?
How many encouraged this morning?
Listen, here's the reality.
Some of us are stuck.
Pastor Damien talked about it last week.
Some of us are stuck in rejection.
You've been misjudged.
You've been overlooked.
You've been forgotten.
You've been betrayed.
And you're sitting in the pit wondering if you'll ever get out.
How many know the same God that lifted Joseph can lift you?
I want you to say this with me.
Say, I'm not buried.
I'm planted.
Say it again.
I'm not buried.
I'm planted.
I'm planted.
Listen, if that's you this morning, will you just lift your hands to the Lord and just say, God, deliver me.
Deliver me.
Deliver me.
And after you get to, just say, deliver me, God.
Whatever it is, deliver me from betrayal.
Deliver me from being overlooked.
Deliver me from feelings, listen, of being discarded.
Deliver me.
Come on, will you just cry out to him for a moment?
Come on, family wounds, leadership wounds, church wounds.
Listen, whatever it may be, just say, God, deliver me.
God is setting people free all over the building.
Deliver me, God.
Deliver me.
Now I want you to say this.
Say, develop me.
Develop us for the dream.
God, I pray in the mighty name of Jesus that those who are stuck in betrayal, God, those who are stuck in being misjudged, God, I pray in Jesus' name, God, not only you would deliver them, but you would develop them for the purpose and the plan that you have for their life.
Father, I thank you and I praise you in Jesus' mighty name.
And everybody said.
Now church listen.
We have plenty of time to respond.
And some of you are stuck.
And you need to take a step forward.
And allow our prayer ministers to pray with you.
Come on.
To start the healing process.
Some of you really need to be delivered.
Listen from your thought life.
From yourself.
So God can begin to develop.
Some of you are self-sabotaging.
That's the word I just got.
You're self-sabotaging the dream that God has in you because you're blaming everybody else.
Come on, for the pit that you find yourself in.
But God wants to set you free.
If that's you this morning, will you just take, prophetically, just take a step out and step up and let us pray for you today.
Church, I love you.
God bless you.
I pray in Jesus' name that you would go in his mighty power.
Amen?
Listen, if you need prayer in any area of your life, please come forward now as the team leads us out.
God bless you.
Hallelujah, Jesus.