He Hasn’t Forgotten You (Stephen Chandler)

Hey, this is Stephen Furtick.

I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today.

Y'all, I'm struggling because I'm trying to pull myself together. I was sitting on this front row crying my eyes out, and I don't want y'all to see me cry because thugs don't cry, but I'm telling you, I'm so grateful for the presence of God. Come on, anybody can testify. Who am I? If you knew my story, if you knew my journey, if you knew my detours, if you knew my mistakes, but God has been faithful. Can anybody testify that God... has been faithful. Well, I'm pumped. I'm excited. Y'all, I'm at the Elevation Church, y'all. I'm ready to jump out of my skin. It is such a privilege and an honor to be in this house. And as you guys know, y'all are just the most blessed people on the planet because you have some of the greatest leaders

on the planet. Can you honor Pastor Stephen and Pastor Holly Furtick? We love you. Pastor Stephen has been a giant in my life, a general in my life, a role model, and has become a mentor and a friend. And his impact on this generation, his name will go down with the Spurgeons and the Wesleys and those that have shifted the course of our faith in the kingdom of God. I couldn't decide which message to preach, so I'm going to preach both. Is that all right? I'm going to give you the first one in 30 seconds to honor your pastor, and then I'll give you the long one. I was reading Exodus chapter 15. In Exodus chapter 15, you don't got to turn their way. This ain't the real preach. This is just Exodus 15. Watch this.

It's the first song ever recorded in Scripture. They sang and worshiped God, but it's the first song that was ever recorded in Scripture that we could sing after the writer wrote it. And it was Moses saying, who is like our God? There is no other God like our God. He has defeated the horse and the rider. He's defeated the Egyptians. This was Moses, watch this, on the other side of the Red Sea. Somebody say it's time to preach.

It took crossing through a death valley to be able to pen a song that a nation can sing to honor the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Somebody say amen. And as I was thinking about this house and the songs that your pastor has penned and the worship that has come out of this place, This isn't just a song. There's been a crossing over of battles.

There's been victories. There's been travailing. And one of the things I love about your pastor is he has walked through some things that we will never have to walk through and has written songs on the other side that can give us faith and give us hope and give us inspiration of who is like our God. So Pastor Stephen, we thank you for what you've walked through, that you can see a side of God and give us words to describe our gratitude.

Amen.

Y'all ready to preach for real? Hey, before you grab your seat, high five three people. Tell somebody buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Hallelujah.

Turn your Bible to the book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 105, Psalm chapter 105, verse 16. While you turn, normally I would show you a picture of my family. I am married to my beautiful wife, Zai, of 13 going on 14 years. And we have three amazing... Come on, can you give it up for my wife? And we have three amazing children, a 10, an 8, and a 5.

And I always say, I don't have three kids because I like kids. I have three kids because I like my wife. And that's what happens. You know, when pastors travel, they have their spiel and they all deal. So I usually do this whole deal and I'll show you a picture. And I tell you, my kids are back in Maryland and I'm well rested. So it's going to be a three hour message because I haven't slept like this in 10 hours. The only problem is this time I didn't leave them home. I actually brought my children with me.

All of them are sitting right here. Come on. Can you honor my family? I'm grateful. So here's the difference. I am not resting. I'm exhausted. Somebody might have got whooped last night. So if that message feels a little aggressive, just understand I've been persevering all night. Psalm chapter 105 verse 16. If you have it, somebody say yeah. It says this. Moreover, he called for a famine in the land.

He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters. He was laid in irons. Until the time, here's the whole message, until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. Come on, look at your neighbor and say, God's word will test you. Oh, I know it's not great to say there's certain things that I don't like about the Bible. But one of the things I don't like about the Bible is it does not just encourage you.

It will encourage you. It doesn't just convict you. It doesn't just give you wisdom. God's word will also test you. So the king sent and released him. The ruler of the people let him go free. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions to bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom.

I have a message today entitled, and I'm going to need you to look at your neighbor and give them the title of the message. And you may not want to talk to your neighbor. You may be an introvert. Pastor, I didn't come for all of that. I'm telling you, somebody sitting next to you, their life depends on what you're getting ready to tell them. Look at your neighbor.

Pick your favorite neighbor, not either neighbor. Just pick one neighbor, the one you like the most, and tell them, he hasn't forgotten you. Come on. Come on. You have no idea how much they need to hear that today. Pick that neighbor and tell them, he hasn't... We're God's in you. Father God, we're grateful. We're overwhelmed that you would meet with us, speak with us, encounter us. God, you're here today, and because you're here, miracles are going to break out in this place. So we say, have your way, heal, deliver, transform, do what only you can do, and we will be ever so careful to give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. In the matchless name of Jesus, we pray. Come on, somebody shout. Amen and

amen and amen. Anybody, I'm sure everybody in the room has, grew up playing hide and go seek in college. Come on, wave at me. Y'all remember that old school stuff, hide-and-go-seek? This was before tablets. This was before YouTube. When kids were kids, we had to play without electronics, without Wi-Fi.

My favorite place growing up to play hide-and-go-seek was my grandmother's house. We live in Maryland. My grandmother lived in New Jersey, and we would go up for the holidays, for Thanksgiving, for Christmas. And my grandmother's house was, I mean, it was like a movie. Think about this stereotypical 100-year-old creepy house that you were terrified to go down in the basement because you saw one of your uncles go down there one time and he never came back up.

And we haven't seen him since. And we're like, what happened? And she had the front porch out front that creaked and every stair in the house made noises. And you were hearing, it was terrifying. Come on now. The best place to play hide-and-go-seek and I grew up in a massive family. I had a million one cousins So every time Christmas or Thanksgiving would come around. Hey, let's play hide-and-go-seek and I never wanted to be the seeker. I always wanted to be the one who hides. Now I was prepping this message I gotta figure out how I'm gonna preach this because my family's watching this and I'm getting in trouble for what I'm about to say next but I knew which family member in that house was the dirtiest one. That's the statement that's gonna get me

in trouble. So I knew which bedroom to go in and hide because there was going to be clothes piled up to the roof. There was going to be VHS cassette tapes, I mean, eight feet tall. And I knew I'd go in the room, in the closet. They would never find me behind all of that junk. So they said, go hide. You know, one, two, three, four. And I'd run up right to the room in the closet. Got all the dresses. That'll let me know who it is too.

And all the VHS cassette tapes. And I'm sitting in the closet. And I'm just like, they're never going to find me. Then I'd hear my cousin say, here I come. He'd go creaking up the stairs. And I'd hear my brother get found. I'd hear a cousin get found. I found you. And I'm sitting there like, they can't find me.

Two minutes will go by. Five minutes. Eight minutes, 10 minutes, 15. I don't hear any screams anymore. There's no creaks on the steps. No one's laughing, no one's screaming. I said, oh, I think I won. They'll never find me. And this always happens when you play hide and go seek. You got to tinkle every single time. And I'm sitting there doing the pee-pee dance in the closet just... I got to go, but I don't want to be found. And 20 minutes goes by until I realize, hold on. I think they forgot me. There were so many cousins. It's like you find eight of them and then you just quit because it's too many. And I'm sitting there in turmoil saying, have they found everybody else and forgot to find me?

Me?

I'll be your neighbor and say, the message just started. Have you ever felt like God found everyone else and forgot to find you? Have you ever been in the position where you said, God, I'm hiding. I'm in the secret place. I'm seeking you. I'm praying. I'm living a life that's honorable to you. I ain't out in these streets.

I'm not hanging out with people who are out in these streets. God, I'm following you, but yet it seems like you've forgotten me. It seems like you have not looked for me lately. It seems like you're never going to find me. Have you ever felt Like not only God has forgotten you, but he's found everyone around you and forgot to find you. You're going to hear me say I get irritated a lot. I do. And I promise you, I love God. I honor God. But I get so irritated when I pray for something and God gives it to my friend. Has that ever happened to you?

You pray for an open door. You pray for a miracle. You pray for this. You pray for that. And I know God is faithful. I know he's going to do it. And next thing you know, your friend calls you and says, you won't believe what God just did for me. And I'm like, oh, wow. I'm so happy for you. I don't know how it is where you live. Up in Maryland, I'm going to get in trouble for everything I say today.

We got some ghetto delivery people. I don't want to call any companies like Amazon or DoorDash or anything like that, but folks in Maryland, they're not really committed to delivering your package to your front door. So we'll have a delivery coming. You know how they take the picture and they put it on the app of where you could find your package. Multiple times they have taken a picture of our neighbor's house three houses down with our package on their front step saying package delivered.

No.

Wrong address. I paid for it. I don't live over there. There was one time we had a.

Food delivery driver who left my food three blocks away on a curb on a main road and had a nerve to take a picture.

And say, here's where you can find your food. And you know what I did because I was hungry. I got in my car. I drove three blocks away. I grabbed my food. I heated it up and I still canceled the order. Pray for me. Have you ever felt, that one's going to get me. Have you ever felt like God was a disgruntled delivery driver who couldn't be bothered to deliver your miracle where you asked it to be and yet delivered it three friends away? And it's like, God, have you forgotten about me? You may be familiar with the story of Joseph. Psalm 105 is the same story, just a different vantage point or different lens. If you're not familiar with the story of Joseph, Joseph was one of 11 brothers, 11 sons. He unfortunately was declared to

be his father's favorite child. And like any father who wants to ruin all of his children's lives, he said, hey, let me tell everybody who my favorite is and let me buy him a Gucci coat so everybody knows That may not be in your translation, but it's definitely in my translation. So everybody knows who my favorite son is.

So he puts this coat on Joseph and now all of his brothers hate him. To make matters worse, God gives Joseph a dream that one day he would be a prime minister and all of his brothers, his mother, his father would all bow down and worship him. And Joseph was immature enough to tell his brothers the dream.

Strike number one, I'm dad's favorite and you can see it on me. Strike number two, apparently I'm God's favorite and you can see that on me as well. There's only so much the brothers could take. So they took Joseph. They thought they were going to kill him, but they said, no, no, no, no, we're Christians. We can't be murderers. Let's sell him into slavery because that's so much better. By the way, if you think your family is dysfunctional, just read the Bible and you're going to realize we are doing a lot better than we thought we were. So long story short, Joseph gets sold into slavery. He gets sold into a house by the name of Potiphar, a noble, the Egyptian royalty.

And he serves there for a number of years and got caught up on false charges. I won't waste time with that. But then he ends up in prison. In prison, he is in prison with the king's cupbearer and baker. And he says, hey, God has forgotten about me. Let me take matters into my own hands. And he says, hey, when you guys get out, could you remember a brother?

Could you put a word in for a homie that does not deserve to be here? And I love how the Bible gives you details that may not seem relevant, but it's God trying to make a point. The Bible says the cupbearer and the baker got out of prison. Here's what the Bible says. But they forgot God. About Joseph.

God feels vindictive at this point. He's like, not only will I not remember you, but I'm going to make sure that nobody is able to remember you. And I'm sitting here saying, okay, 13 years from when God gave Joseph the dream and when he brought him out on the other side, God, why did you make him wait so long? And the writer of Psalm tells us, until the time that the word came to pass, that word tested him. You may not want to hear this message.

There's not going to be much more to laugh at for the rest of the day. But let me just tell you this. If there's something that you are waiting on from God, there's a miracle, there's an open door, and sometimes it's heavy things like a couple waiting to have their first child, I'm waiting for a healing, I'm waiting for a marriage, I'm waiting for a breakthrough, for a business to take off, whatever it is. If there's something that God has for you and you are waiting on it, hear me, it is because he is preparing you He is equipping you. He is testing you to be prepared for what he is getting ready to bring in your life. God has not forgotten you. Now, I know nobody was going to say amen or applaud there.

Why?

Because nobody likes to be tested. Nobody likes to be equipped. Nobody likes to be built up. As I was preparing this, I felt like the Holy Spirit gave me the analogy of a boxer. I don't know if you are boxing fans or anything like that, but you know they've got these boxing matches, these pay-per-views at night, and millions of people all over the world are watching. Tens of millions of dollars are on the light, on the match. But here's the deal. They don't wait for the night of the match to prepare. As I was looking at it, 10 three-minute rounds, they are only in that ring for 30 minutes max. And that's assuming they don't get knocked out.

But prior to that 30-minute fight, eight to 12 months prior, they are in a gym training. Eight to 12 weeks prior, they go into fight camp. And I've never fought in my life, but I saw the movie Creed, so I know how it works. Come on now, they're pushing cars. They're sledgehammering on tires. I'm sure they don't do any of those things, but it looked cool in the movie.

Why?

They are preparing. The main emphasis is on the preparation. Yes. not the actual fight. Mom's preparing for a 30-minute bout. Why? Because that 30 minutes could forever transform that boxer's life. Here's what you need to understand. The longer God delays you, the longer he's preparing you. The longer God is preparing you, the greater it is what he has for you on the other side. If we could just focus flip our frustration of being delayed and waiting into anticipation of, God, if you've waited this long, if I've prayed this long, it must be bigger than I thought it was. Y'all want some useless information? It's literally useless information. A cat is pregnant with kittens for eight weeks, and those kittens

come out at about three to four ounces. An elephant, I told you it was useless information. An elephant is pregnant for 22 months, almost two years. And every woman in this room said, oh God, no. And when that baby elephant comes out, it comes out at about 250 pounds. Hear me, the smaller what you're birthing, the less lime it takes. But when you are trying to birth something massive, come on now. It takes time. It takes a process.

And what a lot of people do not realize is what God is trying to birth out of your life. It's not small. It's not inconsequential. It's not insignificant. God is looking to do something massive through your life. The Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5, I knew you. Before you were formed in your mother's womb, before you were born, I sanctified you and appointed you as a spokesman to the world. Oh, if I could take the rest of the message, which I want to convince you, you're not small. you're not insignificant you're not overlooked God has an earth shaking calling and destiny on your life and he's got to prepare you for it here's the problem a calling with no preparation will crush you The

first thing we have to catch is that God has a massive call, a massive purpose on our life. But hear me, if we're not prepared for it, we will forfeit it. It will crush us. This is where it gets awkward because I use an analogy and a specific person comes to your mind. But look straight ahead. Don't act like you know who I'm talking about. But have you ever seen someone walk into something that they're not prepared for? It's pretty tragic to see. Maybe you had a friend walk into a marriage and they were not ready to be married. And you saw them not steward it well, not manage it well. Maybe someone stepped into a business and they were not ready for it and you saw it forfeited. Hear me, it's not just to

have a great call, but God, I want to be prepared. I want to be positioned to maximize that call. And when I understand the magnitude of the call, hear me, without preparation, there's a temptation to perform. When I see the call of God on my life, but I haven't been properly prepared, I am now intimidated by man, and I don't want them to know that I don't know what I'm doing. So the temptation to now perform and pretend like I have it all together is now there waiting for me. Not only is performance a temptation, but hear me, premature launching is a temptation. So many of us, here's what I've discovered about God. He will tell you what he's called you to do before he's called you to do it. And I'm like, dude, you could have

kept that to yourself. If it's three years from now, tell me three years from now. Don't tell me. I'm going to get in trouble for this. Me and my wife always get in arguments because, you know, our three kids. And we try to do special things for our kids, you know, take them to see a little mouse in Orlando or whatever it may be. And we just parent differently.

I'm the type of parent that says don't tell them until the day before.

Why?

Because they're going to talk about it for the weeks leading up and they're going to get on my nerves. And the other thing is this, if I don't like their attitude, I want to be able to change my mind and they'll never know what was on the table. My wife, on the other hand, she's like, as soon as I hear it, they hear it. My wife is more like God because God says, as soon as I see it, as soon as I'm going to tell you, because I want to see how you're going to steward the word before you step into it. So what I want to do over the next three hours of this message, I want to give you just three quick thoughts, three.

I want to give you three lessons you need to learn in that season of waiting, that season of preparation. The first lesson is this, write this down. Rejection is a teacher. The first thing that God is going to teach you in this season of waiting is that rejection is a teacher. And hear me, if you do not have a tolerance for rejection in your life, If you don't have an immunity to people not liking you, you will never walk out the call of God on your life.

Hear me. You cannot walk out all that God has for you and have everybody like you and everybody believing you at the same time if rejection paralyzes you. If someone doesn't like you and it keeps you from walking out all that God has for you, you will forfeit the call of God on your life. Here's what the Bible says. The Bible says 13 years before there was a famine in Egypt, God sent Joseph because Joseph was going to make sure there was enough provision for the entire region to eat through the famine. Somebody say 13 years. Before. Before.

One more time, 13 years before. So imagine Joseph rolls up in Egypt and says, hey y'all, there's about to be a famine. Fields full, Chick-fil-A stopped, food everywhere. And he's saying, hey guys, there's a famine coming. Watch this. They would have laughed him out of town. Why? Because his calling was sent ahead of the problem. The problem did not yet exist. So nobody was going to understand the call of God on his life because the problem he was sent to be a solution to. had not yet existed. Here's why your mama don't understand the path that God is leading you on. Here's why the people around you don't understand the path that God is leading you on. Because God has sent you before the problem

and they don't see your calling because they don't see the problem yet. You can't wait for them to understand. for you to walk out all that God has for you, 1 Corinthians 2, 9. But as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor is it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. Those around you will always misunderstand the call of God on your life because you are before your time. And people just have a tendency to reject God what they don't understand. Can I mess with you just a little bit? Not only will they not understand the path that God is taking you on, sometimes you won't even understand the path that God is taking you on. I grew up in church. My dad

was a pastor my entire life. So like all pastors' kids, I said, God, I'll do everything but be a pastor. So I went to the greatest university on the planet, University of Maryland, College Park, Fear the Turtle. Graduated graduate college and I got I got I got two solid job offers One of the jobs paid me $ 42, 000. It was in Maryland. The other job the sally was $ 90, 000 with a $ 15, 000 signing bonus. I didn't even know they gave non-athletes signing bonuses Yeah, when I tell you I was praising God. I'm Lord. You're good Jehovah Jireh my provider And I go to sign the $ 90, 000 job offer and the Holy Spirit, you know how you just feel, I don't feel good about this. And I've been walking with God long enough to know that that check was

the Holy Spirit. God said, don't take that job. I said, what you talking about, Willis? I know you've been in heaven so long, you probably forget how numbers work, but 90 plus 15 is more than 42. Clearly, God, you want me to walk in abundance. And every time I went to take the job, I felt this check of, no, that's not what I have for you. Have you ever tried to convince God to let you do what you want to do? I'm shady, y'all. I tried to convince him by telling him I would tithe. God, I'm going to give 10% of my income to the kingdom of God.

Don't you want 10% of 105 instead of... I'm trying to negotiate with God. Let me... And the check never left. Here was the problem with the $ 90, 000 job. It was causing me to leave Maryland. And what the Holy Spirit said is, I need you to stay in Maryland. Now watch this. I had not yet even accepted the call of God into ministry on my life. I had no idea I'd be pastoring in Maryland for the rest of my life. And I'm saying, God, this is not my path.

And he said, your path is out of alignment with the calling on your life. You may not understand it, but if you would allow me to lead you, you're going to end up where you're supposed to be. You can't expect people around you to understand what God is doing in your life. And when they don't understand, they will laugh, they will mock, they will manipulate, they will lie.

And it's all a lesson. God is trying to figure out whose voice do you listen to? If people around you not understanding what God has called you to do causes you to question what God has caused you to do, that means they've become your idol. Because it means their voice is drowning out the voice of almighty God. Now here, Joseph's father gets involved in verse 10. It says this of chapter 37 of Genesis. He told it to his father and his brothers. 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? Not only is God trying to develop people rejection, immunity in your life. But God is also trying to develop the parts of you. I don't want to be mean and call you a jerk, but I just did. He's trying to develop the parts of you that are repulsive to other people. Hear me.

When we get rejected, we always blame the other person. We always assume there's something wrong with them and there's nothing wrong with me. Matter of fact, we have this, I'm going to get in trouble for this. So many people now, I just got to protect my peace. I have to cut them out of my life because they were, I've got to protect my peace. I've got, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Some people you've got to cut off because you've got to protect your peace. Some people were not challenging your peace. They were challenging your pride and they were causing you to grow up and develop. And you said, no, no, no, no. I don't want to grow. I don't want to change. I got to cut you off. Hear me. They didn't just reject Joseph because they were jealous. They rejected him because he was arrogant. God gave you a dream. So what?

Keep it to yourself. God never told you to declare that to everybody, to rub it in their face. Here's what rejection will teach you. It will teach you to incubate a word from God. How are you telling the world, and you're not even convinced it was the voice of God yet. It could have just been that bad movie and the bad pizza you ate last night. You're trying to figure out, is this God speaking? But you're, God is, keep it to yourself. God, give me signs. God, lead me. God, guide me. Don't blurt it. I just needed to tell my group. I just needed accountability partners. No, no, no, no, no.

You need to be accountable to the Holy Spirit before you can be accountable to anybody else. It's rejection that teaches you to incubate a word from God. Watch this. Rejection will teach you to celebrate other people. Here's what God is trying to teach you in that season. Don't just talk about what God is doing in your life.

Can you learn how to celebrate what God is doing in somebody else's life? We know the story of Joseph. Watch this. Do you know after Joseph led them through the famine, it's the last time in scripture we heard about Joseph? Joseph was not even the most significant brother of the 11. It was Judah that Jesus came through centuries later. There was God's work in every brother's life. Joseph, don't just make it about you. Learn how to celebrate other people. Second thing God's going to teach you in this season of delay is faithfulness precedes promotion. In a season of delay, we've got to learn, watch this, to be fruitful outside of our calling. Before God puts me where I want to be, can I wane where I

have to be? In Genesis 39, verse three, it says this, and his master saw the Lord was with him and that Joseph made all he did prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house and all that he had put under his authority. Genesis 39, 22, and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand.

All the prisoners who were in the prison, whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. Everywhere Joseph went, he maximized the moment even though he was not in the center of what God ultimately had for him. As long as you are complaining, about what's not fair in your situation.

You are not yet ready to step in to all that God has for you. God is trying to teach you. Can you be faithful with a disadvantage before I give you the kingdom advantage that I have? Here's the problem. Most people can't even be faithful at what they're passionate about. Most people can't even stay focused on what they feel called to. It is even a smaller minority of people that can be faithful in something that, this isn't my calling, this isn't my gifting, this isn't my skill set, this isn't my gift mix, but it's where God has me for this season of my life, and I'm going to be faithful. faithful where I am because there's something he has called me to do. So here's Joe up in Potiphar's house. And Joe said, guess what? I'm going to

be the best slave they've ever had. You're going to put me in here?

All right.

Watch me work. Watch God's hand of favor on my life. And his promotion was false charges in a prison. He now is in prison. He said, I'm going to be the valedictor prisoner of all. I'm going to be the best prisoner that you've ever had. I'm going to win wherever God has placed me. I have a question for you.

Can you win as a slave? Can you win as a prisoner? Can you win as an employee before you become the CEO? Can you win in the background before God puts you in the foreground? So many people are like, boy, when my door opens, I can't wait to say, listen, if you can't win when the door is closed, Why would you expect to be able to win when the door is open? It's behind closed doors that God builds your confidence. When you are at a disadvantage, watch this, in Potiphar's house, and you still see God blessing you, You see miracles breaking out. You still see favor all around.

And then somebody lies on you. You lose your job, end up in a worse situation, and you're still blessed. You're still favored. You're still anointed. Do you know the confidence that comes on you? Wait, hold on. It don't matter what they do to me. God is still with me. He's still for me. He still is going to make a way where there is no way. Hear me. It is in the prison that God builds a confidence. Push your neighbor and say, don't skip it, don't skip it, don't skip it. It's easier to preach than it is to live. I would love to skip a prison. I would love to skip those moments of tears crying at night, but it's in those moments of disadvantage that God proves, I don't need a perfect environment. Amen. to be able

to bless you and open doors for you and favor you. All I need is a broken and a contrite heart. In Luke chapter 16, verse 12, it says this. If you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? One of the things I learned is God will test you by seeing what you will do with somebody else's dream. I've been the senior pastor of Union Church in Maryland for the last 15 years. but I've been a member of that church for 30 years. Because before I was the senior pastor, I was the pastor's son. So for 15 years, I woke up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, drove down to the church and turned all the lights on and put all the batteries in the microphone and made sure the screens were on. Y'all don't remember church

back in the day. Ain't no screens, ain't no light. This was that overhead projector, y'all. Come on, you remember? Where they would have the hymn with the four verses, but we never sang all four verses and you gotta sit there and only slide it up as they would sing. And don't judge me, I can't sing. I led worship.

for seven of those years. Year after year after year. Monday, I would lead Bible study. Wednesday, I drive 45 minutes up from college to be a part of the leadership meeting. Get back to school 11 o'clock that night. Friday night, I drive back up to lead student night. Saturday morning, I'm leading prayer in the morning. Back on Sunday, leading for 15 years. Now, let me be petty and get in trouble, but that's all right. So when I became the pastor at 23 years old, People start to grow.

I don't think he deserves to be a pastor. I don't know. This seems to be nepotism. You're just mad because your dad didn't leave you anything. I'm just saying. I'm not saying I have a right to hold a microphone in my hand, but it's not wrong because before I ever held it, I put batteries in these things for two decades straight, building somebody else's dream and somebody else's vision and somebody else's. Here's what I've learned. When I serve somebody else's dream, God will give me my own.

When I serve somebody else's kingdom, somebody else's business, somebody else's car, watch you be faithful with somebody else's dream and watch God give you your own. I always worry because my church is used to me. Y'all don't know me like that. I really love you. But sometimes I come across a little cranky. Everybody got a business card.

Everybody's an entrepreneur. Everybody's a CEO. But you've never been a W-2. And I'm not saying God hasn't called you to own a business. I'm not saying God hasn't called you to employ thousands of people. But maybe before you start your own, you should serve somebody else. Amen. How I steward what is not mine prepares me to steward what God has for me. So this isn't a part of it. I'm just being petty. How are you going to live in your mama's house and not do the dishes?

How are you going to borrow somebody's car and not put gas in it before you return it? I'm just being petty to be petty. But how about I learn how to steward what does not belong to me so that God can trust me with what does. Last thing is this, write this down and we out. Delay is a multiplier. The three things God's trying to teach me, he's trying to teach me how to be immune to rejection.

He's trying to teach me, watch this, how to be faithful when I don't feel like it. God's trying to teach me how to manage disappointment. In Proverbs 13, verse 12, it says this, hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. This is why sermons need so much laughter. Because a lot of people understand the pain of disappointment. It's easy to laugh about delay, but when you've been in it for three years, years, four years, five years, saying, God, why, when, where have you forgotten? And hear me, God knows the pain of hoping for something and not seeing it come to pass. One theologian said this, long delayed expectations cause emotional mental, and spiritual pain? Can you deal with the

emotional turmoil of a calling? Can you deal with the disappointment of delay? Watch this. And yet not have your faith diminish even though your heart is broken. Romans chapter four, verse 19, it says this, without weakening in his faith, slow down, Stephen. Without weakening in his faith. Sometimes you don't gotta preach, you just gotta read the Bible. Without weakening in his face, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

Watch this. Yet he did not waver. through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. I love this phrase, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised to do. Here's why God keeps delaying you, because he's waiting for you to be fully persuaded that God will do what he said he will do. Delayed dreams either kills dreams or it develops faith. You decide.

The longer it takes, I either come to the conclusion God's not gonna do it, or I come to the conclusion, oh man, this must be an elephant type of miracle. This must be a lot bigger than I thought it was going. No wonder it's taking so long. God is cultivating something. That's bigger and greater than I could ever ask for or imagine. Earlier this year, as you know, there's a little bit of drama in our great nation.

Earlier this year, TSA was trying to figure out funding and all that other good stuff. And the TSA workers of Maryland said, hey, well, y'all figure it out. We gonna be home. We ain't coming. We ain't coming. So you know the delays and the long, not all airports, but airport in Maryland, the delays got pretty long. At one point, it was three to four hours wait to get through security check to get on your flight. Now, I don't know how much faith you have. You probably have a lot more faith than I do. If I have to wait four hours to get on my flight, I ain't coming. I'm not driving. I'll see y'all next.

We'll figure it out. I'm not getting on a plane. Lines were three to four hours long and people went to the airport and stood in that line being delayed four hours, sometimes for a two-hour flight. They waited in line to check bags longer than they were going to be on the plane itself. You might have seen it became this big national thing all over the news and all that. So news stations started to go down to the airport to interview people that were in line waiting.

They ain't got nothing better to do, so we might as well talk to them. And they went up to the first person. They said, why in the world would you wait four hours to take this flight? This young lady looked in the camera. She said, if you knew How much I paid for this trip and how much it costs me, there is no way I'm gonna let a little inconvenience keep me from my destination. It might take me longer than I wanted it to, but based on what I've had to sacrifice to go to it, I am not going to forfeit it based on this little inconvenience. Here's what happens. When God doesn't delay you, you are cavalier with the miracle. When God doesn't develop you, you act entitled like I deserve it. And I'm this

smart and this intelligent and this much charisma. But when I've been through something before God gives, if you knew what I had to walk through, if you knew what it cost me to get here, a little delay won't deter me. They go to the next gentleman. They said, how long have you been waiting? He said, five hours.

Smile on his face. These people had more Holy Spirit than I do. They said, so you got here five hours before your flight. He said, I sure did. They said, why in the world would you get here that early for your flight? He said, let me tell you about my destination. I'm going to the Caribbean and here's the hotel I'm staying at. It's all inclusive. And he began to tell them how beautiful the destination he was getting ready to go to. And he said, I spent so much time planning. planning and preparing and envisioning where I was going, even this moment of inconvenience is not enough to keep me from the amazing destination on the other side.

This message is for that person that's getting ready to give up, that you're discouraged, that you're overwhelmed, that you're like, God, why me? Have you forgotten about me? If you can just get a glimpse of the destination on the other side. If you could just see what God is getting ready to take you through, your whole story would change. You begin to say, you know what? I'll wait. You know what?

It's no big deal. You know what? They can walk away from me. You know what? It doesn't even matter because I've got a glimpse. what God is getting ready to do on the other side and whatever he takes me through it's worth it it's worth it it's worth it hear me you may cry but don't you quit you may be discouraged but don't you throw away your faith you may be overwhelmed but you keep putting one foot in front of the other because in due season It will come to pass. And I'm telling you, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can conceive what God is getting ready to take you through.

It will be above and beyond all that you can ever ask, think, or imagine. If you believe it, can you take about 10 seconds? Can you celebrate God as if you are on the other side? Can you thank him that he is faithful to his word? If he said it, He will do it. Somebody shout hallelujah in this place. God, we bless you. God, we reference you. Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast.

And if you did, make sure to share it and subscribe so we can get you all of these new messages as soon as they're available. I also want to take a moment and thank all of you who are a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially or serve with us or just share these messages, it's because of you that we're able to reach people all around the world. And if you want more information on how to be a part of Elevation, Click the link in the description. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and subscribe.

God bless you.

He Hasn’t Forgotten You (Stephen Chandler)

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