Growing Pains

2021 Holy Convocation

Exodus 1:6-12

6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. 7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.[a]”11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.

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#growinthedark. We all go through situations in life that we don’t understand pandemics, company was downsizing and we got laid off, relationship drama, now we’re having to start all over. All of us at some time will go through dark places: a loss, sickness, divorce, child that broke your heart. It’s easy to get discouraged, give up on your dreams and just settle there, but God uses the dark places; they are all a part of His divine plan. Think of it as a seed; a seed cannot germinate in the light, as long as the seed stays up on a shelf it will never become what it was created to be. You see, you must plant the seed in the soil, in the dark place, so that what’s on the inside will come to life. in the same way, there are seeds you: dreams, goals, talent, potential, that will only come to light in a dark place. If you study the scripture, every person that did something significant went through one of these dark places. Moses made a mistake and killed a man; he spent 40 years on the back side of the desert, alone, feeling like he had blown it. in that dark place, something was happening on the inside; it was getting him prepared. he was developing patience, humility, confidence. without the dark place, he would have never held up the rod and parted the Red Sea.

the dark place is a prerequisite to stepping into the fullness of your destiny. Esther was an orphan, a lady who had lost both of her parents. she felt alone, forgotten; a dark place. but God used her to help save the people of Israel. Elijah was so depressed he wanted to die; a dark place, yet he’s one of the heroes of faith. or David; he had an affair with married woman, had her husband killed. for one year he was broken, sick, guilty, yet he’s called a man after God’s own heart. God doesn’t send the difficulties, but He will use anything that comes into our lives. in those dark places is where we really grow, where our character is developed. we learn to trust, persevere; our spiritual muscles are getting stronger. in the dark places, you pray more, draw closer to God, get quiet and listen to what He’s saying. in those dark places, you reevaluate your priorities, spend time with your family, have a new appreciation for what God has given you. you may not realize it, but in the dark places, you’re being blessed. something is happening on the inside; it’s helping you to realign your vision.

EXODUS in Greek is Exodos, which literally means"the road out."Exodus is all about God’s fulfillment to His people through the promise He made with Abraham, “I will make thee a great nation (Genesis 12:2).” To make Israel a great nation God had to create an exit from Egypt. The book of Exodus is about God’s people exiting slavery and bondage and expanding into new realms and territory. This book shows God’s sovereignty, providence, and power over the enemy. We must remember the same God that showed up for the Israelites is still delivering His people today. God’s grace is enough to get us out and grow us through the test and trials of life.

LAY HANDS ON YOURSELF AND SAY, “THANK GOD I’M STILL GROWING

BEFORE YOUR GET A WAY-OUT GOD OFTEN GROWS YOU THROUGH – FOCUS ON YOUR GROW THROUGH STRATEGY

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

** It’s critical to note that the dark place wasn’t initially dark. In Genesis 39 the scripture says God caused Joseph (their father) to prosper in Egypt. But the season changed…. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) to everything there is a season…. One minute your up, the next your growing through, prosper - struggling, happy-sad, living – dying

How we respond to these seasons of pain and growth is critical whether or not we enter into the next season correctly.

HOW DO WE USE TRANSITIONAL TRIALS TO GROW/ HOW CAN WE WIN IN ALL SEASON

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1- GROWTH involves the ending of one season and the birth of the next.

6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. 7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren.

GROWTH involves the death of one season and the birth of the next. Often times transition and tragedy go together.

Don’t miss this. We have to honor Joseph because it was his faithfulness and vision they allowed to live in fruitfulness.

Genesis 39:2, The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

JOSEPHS GENERATION WAS THE SEED that brought forth the HARVEST in this next generation.

We have visions of harvest but fear SOWING the seed

You see, we struggle for the rights of everything to live, but certain things must die of something else is to live. Joseph as a type Jesus was the seed for a greater harvest.

John 12:24 NLT SAYS “… unless a kernel/grain of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

WHAT THAT MEANS IS Jesus’ death is subsumed under his glorification, in v. 24 it is depicted as a kernel of wheat that is sown in the ground, dying to bring forth a rich harvest. But the connection between the two verses is deeper. Jesus’ glorification is tied to his refusal to seek his own glory. He had a commitment always to do what pleases his Father (8:29). The principled subordination of the Son to the Father (cf. notes on 5:19ff.; 6:37ff.) culminates in the spectacular obedience of self-sacrifice. Like the seed whose death is the germination of life for a great crop, so Jesus’ death generates a plentiful harvest. [1]

THERE ARE SOMETHINGS YOU CANNOT SEE UNITL YOUR SHIFT FROM THE OLD INTO THE NEWNESS OF GOD. (MARK 2:22) “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost..”

**MY QUESTION TONIGHT IS WHAT IS HINDERING YOU FROM GROWING INTO THIS NEXT SEASON? IS IT your PARADIGMN, PEOPLE, THE PAST, OR NO PLAN

Many people want the blessings of the future, yet want to remain the same / (2 Corinthians 5:17) if any man be in Christ we are becoming new / old has to pass away / ALL THINGS BECOME NEW (romans 12:1-2, Isaiah 43:18-19)

Many of you right now are kicking and screaming over an old season that is sabotaging your current growth. / Seasons of growth often come out of times of transition

“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.”—JAMES BELASCO AND RALPH STAYER

There are resources allotted to your future that the person, place, where you are now can't handle (MATTHEW 25:15) You’ve got GROW!! #itstimetoshift

GOD IS SAYING IF YOU ARE READY TO BIRTH SOMETHING FRESH AND FRUITFUL. Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

THE REAL DANGER - IS FAILURE TO LAUNCH b/c of familiar comfort and complacency.

“failure to launch” syndrome of those twenty- or thirty-somethings still living with their parents. They cannot end their childhood and fully enter adulthood. But the bigger issue is often the parents’ inability to end the pattern, launch their kids, and stop the toxic dependency by pushing the grown “kid” out of the nest. They refuse to end their “helping” role, which is not in fact helping.

Nothing hinders our growth like comfort and complacency

COVID IS AN INVITATION TO EXPAND AND GROW- pre corona/post corona / Church attendance at its lowest ever, less than 60% / 85% churches in 2021 aren’t growing/ see obstacles as opportunities for growth/ old habits die hard / had to adapt and innovate Somethings

“If you’re not intentionally planning for growth, you’re unintentionally preparing for decline” (Craig Groeschel)

We must realize that you can either have COMFORT, you can have growth but you can’t have BOTH. Therefore we must forsake the comfort of the familiar. For many of us, it’s the familiarity of your past comforts, loves, success, that’s keeping you from succeeding in the present and preparing for the future—the future is coming

(Illustration) When your favorite artist comes to town and you go to the concert. The artist you come to see doesn’t come out at the beginning of the show. Usually, local or upcoming talents come out in the prelude to the main show. Sometimes there not that good. If your not careful you can’t get mad at the PRELUDE and walk out on the main show you paid for, WHEN ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS JUST HANGIN THERE CAUSE SOMETHING GREATER IS COMING.

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2 – GOD DESIRES FOR HIS PEOPLE TO GROW

The Message Bible says, “ Then Joseph died, and all his brothers—that whole generation. But the children of Israel kept on reproducing. They were very prolific—a population explosion in their own right—and the land was filled with them.”

1:7 Josephs family had come to Egypt to escape the famine. The Seventy Israelites THEY STARTED WITH had multiplied . . . so that the land was filled with them (1:5-7). By this point in history, Israel consisted of over “six hundred thousand able-bodied men . . . besides their families” (12:37). God was fulfilling his kingdom promise to give Abraham numerous descendants (see Gen 13:16).

I need to encourage someone…..don’t despise a small start/everything starts with a seed. Zachariah 4:10says, “despise not the day of small beginnings, the Lord rejoices to see the work begin”

Israel was fruitful because there father Joseph had been faithful. Joseph served the season he was in no matter the pit, pottier house, the prison or the palace was faithful and served the season and God made him fruitful.

Grow: (of a living thing) undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically; progress to maturity: become gradually or increasingly: (to increase, swell, multiply, expand,,,)

The bible says the righteous will be fruitful. Psalm 92:12-13 AMP, The righteous will flourish like the date palm [long-lived, upright and useful]; They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic and stable]. 13 Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. 14 [Growing in grace] they will still thrive and bear fruit and prosper in old age; They will flourish and be [a]vital and fresh [rich in trust and love and contentment]; Psalm 92:12-14 AMP

Growth is not automatic it must be INTENTIONAL.

“Change is inevitable, growth is optional” (John C. Maxwell)

Growth is a Decided Daily Process, not a Days Process. Luke 9:23…take up your cross DAILY…AND FOLLOW

Growth isn’t easy. In that, you cannot GROW and be COMFORTABLE.

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3- GROWTH IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF SOME PAIN

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country. 11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.

**WHEN PEOPLE ARE USED TO YOU BEING THE SAME SIZE YOUR GROWTH BECOMES OFFENSIVE

A lot of Christians lose their joy because they have this misconception of being blessed and growing without growing through something.

(1 PETER 1:6-9 NLT) 6 So be truly glad.[a] There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

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4- God WILL MAKE YOU FRUITUFAL IN AFFLICTION

12 But the more the Egyptians afflicted/oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.

WHERE THERE ENEMEY MESSED UP IS, PHAROAH THOUGHT IN CRUSHING YOU IT WOULD DESTROY. BUT IT’S IN YOUR CRUSHING THAT GOD CREATES

What we know about olive oil/anointing oil. Crushing is the way of preservation for the olive. It's also the way to get what's most valuable, the oil, out of the olive.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-10 NIV, 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

WE DON’T DIE WE MULTIPLY

KILL/SKILL. When God allows testing, trials in our lives it’s never to kill us but rather to skill us. / Truth is, something’s you’d have never learned without some trouble

JESUS GREW/Hebrews 5:8 says even tho Jesus was the Son of God (intimate relationship) He learned obedience through what He suffered

* Relationship doesn’t remove hardship. In fact, it’s relationship that helps us endure hardness as a good solder

* Some of your best tests were learned and passed while in the game, in the battle. Some stuff I don’t get until I’m in it

* Didn’t know God was healed till I got sick....etc

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

*** THERE ARE THINGS YOU ARE LEARNING ABOUT GOD AND YOURSELF, THAT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE OTHERWISE KNOW HAD YOU NOT GONE THROUGH. WHAT YOU LEARN, STRENGTHENS YOUR LEAN, AND YOU NEED A STRONG LEAN ON GOD FAITH FOR THE BIG THINGS YOUR ABOUT TO DO. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

do not depend (lean) on your own understanding.

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Seek his will in all you do,

and he will show you which path to take.

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Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.

Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

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Then you will have healing for your body

and strength for your bones.

#GodKnows 1:11 Years prior, God told Abraham that one day his offspring would be enslaved by another nation (see Gen 15:13-14). That had finally come to pass. If God knew it, He has a plan for it. (Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:20)

LAY HANDS ON YOURSELF AND SAY GOD IS EXPANDING ME!

(Exodus 1:12) But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.

* SOME OF YOU OUGHTA TAKE PRAISE BREAK AND THANK GOD FROM PLOTTING PEOPLE. Your enemies don’t like you growing but don’t realize with every plot and attack they help you to grow (Gen 50:20) PSALM 23:5

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(PRAYER)

[1] Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 438). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.