Radical Purpose in the Pit -Pastor Hope Carpenter

Come on. Who's ready for some word today? Hey, stay on your feet. I'm not gonna take long. Cause I can't take all the time. But I got a surprise for you. It's not just a friend. It's family. It's not just family. It's more than family. It is who I call Mama Hope Carpenter. And y' all better put your hands together. You better scream, you better shout. You better let her know that you're ready to get the word that she's got right now. Welcome her onto the stage. Come on. Well, hello, venues. Sit down, sit down, sit down. How are you this morning? Whoo. Wasn't that a powerful move of God? Listen, we don't believe you've had church to you. All your clothes is stuck to you. All of them. I'm talking about the under ones. All of them. That's when you have good church. I'm so grateful to be here, and I'm just so, so proud. I really. The very first service, Pastor Tavener said, you know, she really is like my mama. She could be my mama. I'm like, dude, I'd have had you when I was 11. Don't think so. I ain't that old. But it is awesome to be here. We've been with Pastor Tavener and Danielle since they were. I mean, just young, young, young' uns in the ministry before they had children. Pastor Tavener started in the ministry cutting our grass, serving, and then moved on to staff, to our youth pastor. Pastor Danielle came on staff. God moved them and launched them to venue. And look at this. They are not just wonderful pastors. They are amazing humans. I know them that way. I've been in their house. They've been in my house. We've been on vacations together. We've laughed, we've cried. And you are so blessed. I mean, I remember when they would sit down in our den and say, our credit score is 400. Would you help us rehab our credit? We have walked them through dark days. And you know, that is what God wants for you. God doesn't just favor Pastor Tavener and Danielle and Ron and Hope Carpenter or somebody on tv. God loves every one of us the very same way. And he wants to bring all of us from death to life. He wants you to prosper and to be in health. But even as your soul prospers, you hear all these prosperity preachers. Oh, God wants to give you a jet. No, we don't. What would he do giving all of us a jet? We can't fly a jet. I mean, you know, you know if you're not faithful in little, God's not going to bless you with much. He wants to take you from darkness to light. He wants you to prosper and be in help, comma, even as your soul prospers. And your soul is your mind, your will, your intellect, your emotions. How can you be a millionaire if you won't tithe on $10? See, God is watching faithfulness in our life. He wants that for us, but he can't give all of us that because he knows that we can't handle it. He knows that we haven't been faithful. And Pastor Tavener and Danielle have been faithful. And I'm thankful to God for the blessing on your life, for your family, for your church. And I just prophesied you hadn't seen anything yet. You hadn't even got to the halfway mark. You just starting, really. So what Chattanooga has coming, it's going to be amazing. I can't wait to watch it. It's going to be so good. But let me tell you this. God did not promise us a life without pain. How many of you could say, yeah, I know. This foot, that foot, this hand, all of it. Yes, I know God did not promise us a life without pain. But this is what he promised us in this life. He said, when you pass through the water, I'll be with you. He didn't say, if you pass through the water. He said, when you pass through the water, I'll be with you. He said, in this world, you will have trouble, you will have tribulation. He said, but fear not, I have overcome the world. He said, my grace is sufficient for you. That word sufficient does not mean more than enough. That word sufficient means just enough. How many of you have ever felt like you just made it through by the skin of your teeth? That's what that word means. He said, in this world, you're going to have trouble, but I'm with you. All things work together for the good of those all things. Is that just the good things? No, that's the bad things. That's the good things. That's all of it mixed up. But it all is working for your benefit. Amen. I got a call one night from a girlfriend and not long ago, and she said to me, she said, pastor Hope. She was freaking out on the phone. I could barely even understand what she was saying. And she was so upset, she was so distraught. She said, my husband just walked in. I could barely understand. She's hyperventilating. She said, he just told me he's leaving me for another woman. He doesn't love me. He's never loved me. Just freaking out. She said, what am I going to do with my kids? Well, how. Well, how am I going to tell my kids? He's gone, he's packed up, he's left me with all of this trauma in my house. She said, I've never worked. I'm a single mom. I don't know how I'm going to make it, how I'm going to provide. And I'm just sitting there listening. I'm not freaking out. I'm not panicking. I'm just listening. And this is what I said to her after she went through her whole spiel. I said, you know what, Jen? You're going to get through this. This. You're going to get through this. Nothing is too hard for God. Said, it won't be quick and it won't be easy, but with God's help, you're going to get through this. And guess what else? You're going to be better because of it. And she just was, you know, that's not what she wanted me to plot and plan with her. Like how we're going to kill him. We're going to kill him slow in the night, you know, we're going to kill her. Back up on her three times. Oops, sorry. I didn't see you standing there. You know, she was going crazy, and I'm just sitting there. How cocky of me. You know that response? You know, oh, Jen, you're going to get through this. I'll be praying for you. How could I do that? This is how I can say that. Because I have walked through many tragedies in my life, in my 50 years old. I know that God just gets you through stuff. How many of you can testify God got you through things that you thought you would never make it through. And you just have to live a little bit to have that kind of confidence to tell somebody when they're going through hell. You. You are going to get through this. God's going to get you through this. If you got your Bible, open it, read on the screen, Genesis 37. So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped him of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted up their eyes and looked, and there was whole company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, myrrh, all of these things on their camels on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So, Lord, I pray you bless your word today. Help me to encourage your people, to strengthen them in their fight. Give us grace to get through this day. We're in. In Jesus name. Everybody shouts, Amen. So if you've never read this story, I want you to go home today. Promise me that you're going to read this story. It is such an amazing account of the life of Joseph. So this is what they did. They got him. They were jealous of him. They didn't like him. They threw him in a pit. The pit did not have any water. Can you imagine the fall? He probably broke his leg, broke his rib, broke something. He's bleeding, he's screaming. He's desperate. He's scared. They threw him in a pit. And what did those jokers do? They went up and had lunch. They cold now, listen. That was cold. They threw him in a pit. They go sit down and they're having lunch. And it wasn't that they didn't hear him screaming. The Bible says that 22 years later, after the famine, when you read this story, you'll read it all today. After the famine had tamed them a little bit, knocked off their edges, this is what they said in Genesis 42. It said, we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded and begged with us, but we would not hear him. Now, listen, these aren't lowlifes. This isn't the worst of Chattanooga, you know. You know those I'm talking about. Y' all know them? We all. Every town has those hoodlums. So this is not what we're talking about. This is Abraham's great grandsons. This is Jacob's sons. This is in Jesus's family tree. This is royalty. This family is up and coming. They are royalty. Trouble hits every family. Don't matter what side of the tracks you come from. I am a testimony. Listen. One of our children, we raised them all the same. But our oldest son spent a year right here in Chattanooga at Teen Challenge because he struggled with drugs for so many years. When he was 14, he started doing drugs. And then all the way up to about 20 years old, he was in four rehabs, totaled seven cars. Babies out of wedlock. I mean, all trouble hits every home. Amen. Has trouble ever hit your home? Oh, no. Y' all glow in the dark, right? Y' all ain't got no issues. This is my Favorite little statement. I got issues. You got issues, all God children got. Amen. Okay, Amen. Bless you. Let's go home. We all got issues, right? You got yours, I got mine. And I mean, trouble hits everybody's house. This is the age old version described here in this story of a dysfunctional family. Do you know what a dysfunctional family is? A dysfunctional family is a family that does not talk, a family that does not feel, and a family that does not rock the boat. You know, we just sweep it all under the rug. Sweep it under the rug. What happens in this house, Y' all know it. See, y' all came from one, too. What happens in this house stays in this house. That. That's why people can't get healed. Because we don't talk about it. We don't admit it. We don't reach our hand out and say, hey, I'm struggling, I need some help. We just brush it under the rug and say, oh, Jesus gonna fix it. No, Jesus wants you to fix it. Right. So that's what a dysfunctional family is. They're up there having lunch and their brother has been thrown in a pit. Why? It wasn't just because of his colorful coat. They could have took his coat in the night. They could have burned it. They could have cut it up. No, they couldn't stand him. Why? Because Joseph was the son of Rachel and Jacob. Do you know the story? Jacob had two wives, Rachel and Leah. But he really only loved one. Who did he love? He loved Rachel. And Joseph was the son, the love child of Jacob and Rachel. And after she died, those boys could not stand him. You know the family that has that one child that just gets on your last nerve, that runs around church that tears up everything at the family reunion, and nobody ever spanks him. And you're like, if I could just get ahold of him, I'd beat his tail. I'm telling you, I'd tear his tail up. I believe in spanking a child now. Whoo. If it don't make them better, it makes me feel better at least. I mean, I have took off a shoe many a day and slung it at my kids. When they got older, they ran for me. I said, oh, no, no. And I take my shoe, throw it. I said, not today. Somebody gonna die today. You like that? So this family is in a crisis. This is a family crisis. And you thought you were the only one who came from a jacked up family. We all did. This is what they did. They stripped him, they beat him, they threw him in A pit. They wanted to kill him. And then they lied and covered it up and said a bear ate him. Listen, that's CSI stuff. That's cold case files. They lied, they covered it up, said a bear did it. But here's the point. Joseph never saw it coming. But neither did you. When trouble hit your home, how many of you ever been caught off guard just out of the blue, you get the phone call, something happens. Maybe yours was in the form of a diagnosis. Maybe it was a divorce. Maybe it was a rape, a death in your family, a betrayal. Joseph was thrown into a pit and forgotten. Maybe you were thrown into a bed and raped. Maybe you were thrown into divorce, thrown into bankruptcy. I don't know what yours is, but it just hits us out of the blue. And here you are now in the pit of life. You're sitting there saying, how did I get here? That happened to me years ago. Maybe you read about it on Google. Everybody else read about it. But it happened 10 years ago. I came to my husband and I said, honey, I've got to tell you the truth. I've been unfaithful to you. He told me. He said, you got 30 minutes. Get your stuff. Get out. I had no idea. I said, God, how did I get here? I ended up going to North Carolina to live at a ministry home for a year. I would lay in bed at night and I would say, God, how? How? I have a wonderful husband that I love. I have great children. I have a wonderful worldwide ministry. God, how did I get here? How did this happen to me? And that is what happens to us when trouble and trial hits our home. We're like, God, how did this happen to me? Pits are not easy fixes, are they? When you find yourself in life's tragedy and trouble, you're like, how am I going to get out of this? I would lay in bed at Pastor Leon Denises. Danielle, and I would say, is God ever, ever going to fix this? How can he ever do anything with me? I never dreamed I would ever be holding a microphone again. I was so ashamed. I was so heartbroken. I said, God can never do anything with such a mess like me. But God, I'm telling you, he specializes in bringing us from death into life. I'm telling you, he specializes, and he wants to do it in your life. If you'll just trust him and you'll just hold on. God wants to do it for you, too. It wasn't quick. It wasn't easy. It was so much work. So much work. Joseph's story Here it is. It got worse before it got better. He was abandoned. He was enslaved. He was trapped. Then he was put in prison. But he never, never, ever gave up. He never. Bitterness never got to his heart. Anger never hardened him. But see, that's what happens to us church people. One thing happens and we say, oh, I'm just giving up on God. I'm going back to my old way of life. Oh, the church let me down. Oh, they didn't call me when I got sick. Oh, they didn't send me flowers. Somebody didn't speak to me. And I'm never going to church again. See, we just wimps, really. Truthfully, right? Have you ever lifted weights? Not many of you, but just kidding me either. I said, I got me some cellulite, honey. It looks like hail damage. I mean, I said in the last service, I said, I hate Lexi. I hate her. So cute. Was singing up here in her waist about this big yesterday. I said, no, I can't stand. I called her about four names, then I repented. But here's the problem. I don't hate her enough to do anything about my hell damage. You know what I'm saying? See, it's hard work to change the dysfunction in our life. That gym, I hate it. I hate the word gym. I hate the word weights and yoga and all that stuff. I can't stand it because I know what it feels like. It hurts me. But see, that's what has to happen in our life. We have to put the pressure on. And sometimes God has to put the pressure on you so that he can break you down. Just like that weight has to break that muscle down so that it can build it up and you can be stronger. That's what life's pits do to us. If you're willing to press through and put in the work. Man, it's hard, isn't it? It's hard to get free. It's hard. It's not a shamalama ding dong. Somebody sprinkle pixie dust, fall out in the spirit and get up, and everything's fixed. See, that's the lie church has told us. Just come down to the altar and everything's fixed at the altar. That is not true. Sometimes it is. Sometimes people can come down to the altar and get instantly delivered. But I have not seen it as many times as I've had to see people walk through the dark days of their life. I'm a witness. I'm a witness. Here's Joseph's resume. Listen. Son of Jacob, hated by his family, Mistreated abandoned, lied on, sold out. Look, we'd be gone right there. Gone, done. Sold out. Slave graduated from the school of hard knocks. But he graduated with honors. And then he succeeded. His life got no breaks. Joseph had to live in the tough times of life. But he got through it. Nothing is too big for God. It wasn't quick, it wasn't easy. But with God's help, he got through it. Fast forward 20 years. You'll read this today when you go home and read 20 years later, the roles are reversed. The entire land is in famine. Nothing to eat. And here comes his brothers. Joseph's in charge now. He's the kingpin. He's the og. He's the boss. Okay, he made it through. And here's his brothers. They hungry, they hangry. But they scared to death because they think he's going to settle the score. But he didn't. Why? Why didn't he? This is my favorite part of the story. It's Genesis 50:20. He said, as for you, brothers, as for you, you meant evil against me. But God. Somebody shout, but God. But God meant it for good. In order to bring about this present result right here. This present result to preserve my people. If they had not thrown him in the pit, he would have not been at the right place at the right time to be able to save a whole nation. To save an entire nation. Listen. Listen. In God's hand, intended evil always turns out for intended good. In God's hand, His history was full of pain, full of tears, full of turmoil, full of trauma. Time and time again. God redeemed it every single time. Why don't you just look back right now over your life? Some of you who think you got it so bad, sometimes you just need to remember all of the pain and the trial and the turmoil that God has redeemed in your life time and time and time again. Time and time again. This is what he said to his brothers. He said, you meant evil against me. Listen to this. That word meant is a Hebrew verb that means plat or weave. You wove evil against me. But it's the same word in the next phrase where it said, but God wove good on the back end. God meant he wove. He plaited good. See, God is on the back end, reweaving everything that everybody is trying to weave. Bad for you. He is the master weaver in your life. Just because somebody has something against you, don't you know that no matter what they think about you, what they say about you, God's on the Back end weaving it for good in your life. No devil in hell. No boss. No husband, no wife, no stepdad. Nobody can stop the plan of God in your life. He's the master weaver. He will redeem your story. You will get through this. I know you fear you won't. I feared I wouldn't. I've been there. I was so scared. I thought, there's no way God can get glory out of this. There's no way that God can redeem this and make it beautiful. You fear that the depression will never leave you. Fear that the yelling and shouting and slapping around will never stop. You fear that the pain will never leave your body. But God just gets us through stuff, you know, he just gets us through stuff. How many of you could testify, God has gotten me out of some messes that I thought I could never get out of. Listen, he gets you through the Red Sea. He gets you through the wilderness. He gets you through the valley of the shadow of death. He gets you through divorce. He gets you through abortions. He gets you through stuff. God just gets us through. Isaiah 40:3 says this. He says, when you pass through the water. Not if when you pass through the water, I'll be with you. And through the rivers, they won't overflow you. And when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. He didn't promise that it would be pain free. And he didn't promise that it would be quick or easy. Listen, Joseph was 17 years old when he was thrown in that pit. Do you know that he was 37 when he saw his brothers again? 20 years it took for God to redeem his life and to redeem the story, the intended evil that his brothers had for him. At 17, it took God 20 years to weave his life to fix it on the other end. It took Noah 120 years. Years to build the ark. He preached the same darn sermon every Sunday. We would never stayed in that church. You know, we wouldn't. And we'd have left if, you know, Pastor Tabner was preaching the same sermon every Sunday for 120 years. Would you stay? Many didn't stay with him either. But it took that long for God's word to come to pass. Do you know it took almost three. Yeah, over three decades for Jesus to build anything on earth other than a kitchen table. Three decades. And this is us. God, I want a husband. I want my Boaz. My question is, why? I mean, listen, women. You can go to Target whenever you want. You can spend whatever you want. You can eat whatever you want, you don't have to cook for nobody. And you over here praying for him, saying, God, I want to be out of debt, Lord. Gee, I don't want to get out of debt. Been tithing two weeks, mad because God ain't come through yet. But we'll spend more on our rims than we will in the offering plate. But we want God to get us out of debt. We're not diligent, we're not faithful, we're not trustworthy. God can't do for us what we won't do for ourself. When Jesus finished and he sat down, he said, it's finished. He said, now I'm waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. I'm waiting for you to get up off your lazy tail and do something yourself. Ooh, that was ugly. Felt good though. It won't be quick and it won't be easy, guys. We gotta get tough. And it doesn't happen in minutes. It happens over the course of our life. Here I am, 51 years old and I am happier than I ever thought I could be. I have the greatest marriage I would have. You could have never. You couldn't have promised me and gave me a million dollars and told me I could have what I have today, but I had to go through hell to get it. And if I had to go through it again to get what I got today, I promise you, I would do it. Because God has built something so solid, God has built something so, so strong. God has built something so real through the pain that I had to go through. And this is something I'm telling you right now, this is what the pit will make you do. The pit will always make you look up. The pit makes you look up. You have no one to help you but God. When you are in your darkest days, and I came today to tell somebody in this room that life has tossed you in a pit. It's tossed you around. I don't know what it is. Bankruptcy, lost your job, divorce, depression, sickness in your body. I don't know what it is. We all got issues, right? We all go through different things, different ways, different times. But God never promised that we would have a pain free life. He just promised to be with us. He just promised to hold our hand. He said, I comfort those who mourn. He said, I'll be a friend that sticks closer than any brother you ever had. He said, I'll be a father to the fatherless. Jesus loves you that much. He said, I've never, never, never, never allow anything to touch your life that I hadn't already provided a way for you to escape out of. He's there for us. I want to encourage you today. It won't be quick, it won't be easy, but God will get you through it. Thank you so much for joining us today at Venue Church Online. We are so encouraged to know that God is using this ministry to touch lives all across the world through what he's doing right here at Venue. If you have a story to share about what God is doing in your life, we would love to hear from you. You can email us@storiesenyuchurch.com Also, if you would like to give and be part of what God is doing here at Venue Church, you can do so by visiting our website, venuchurch.com or giving on our Venue Church app, which is safe and secure. Thank you so much for your generosity. We look forward to being with you next week.