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Steven Furtick
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Steven Furtick
Hey, this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and.
Elevation Church Co-host
This is our podcast.
Steven Furtick
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Elevation Church Co-host
Let's go in our Bibles now to.
Steven Furtick
Genesis chapter 40 for the final week of our series Trigger. At least I think it's the final week, but we'll preach it and see what happens. I have been preaching about taking back your mind in the age of anxiety, but looking at you, you seem to be completely now free of stress. It seems as if you have gotten the message and we can call it quits after today. But this last message I want to bring to you, I hope will be as profound to you hearing it as it was to me as I studied for it. I ask that you consider it prayerfully because it's one of those messages where if you try to understand it with Your mind, you won't get the most out of it. But if you'll listen at a different level and see what God wants to speak to you today, I believe that he will welcome to every single location. I pray that you would lean into this word wherever you are, and receive something from the Lord. Genesis 45. Let's jump right into the middle of it. And one night they both dreamed. The cupbearer and the baker and the king of Egypt who were confined in the prison. Each his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh's officers, who were with him in custody in his master's house, why are your faces downcast today? They said to him, we have had dreams and there is no one to interpret them. Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God? That was the question that got me started on this quest to preach this message today. Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me. Now I'm going to do something kind of weird. I'm going to go to a New Testament scripture, one verse of scripture that doesn't seem to go together on the surface with the one I just read, but it does. It seems like peanut butter and mayonnaise, but it's really jelly. So go to 1 Corinthians. Here, Paul is giving some instructions to the Corinthian church about orderly worship. He says, therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. Again, therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. I want to lift that phrase from my message title today and talk to you about the power to of interpretation. Very, very, very good stuff coming your way today from the word of God. Not from me, but from God. That's really the starting point for me. I realize you come to church not to hear my opinion, but to hear a correct interpretation of the Word of God for your life and an application so that it is not only a historical document but, but so that it becomes flesh and so that the Spirit of God would breathe into your situation. Understanding this, I've already mentioned that many backgrounds attend church. When I read 1 Corinthians 14:13 and Paul is talking about speaking in tongues, half the church had flashbacks. If you really want to start a good YouTube food fight, just talk about tongues in the church. Because some people have a private prayer language where they speak in tongues. And it is very beautiful and helpful to many of us who believe in Jesus to pray that way. But yet other people have been told, well, if you don't speak in tongues, you're not full of the Holy Spirit. Never mind the fact that Paul here is saying every spiritual gift is only given to build others upon, not to showcase your status and how much more spiritual you are. I mean, spiritual gifts are just that, they are gifts. What's far more important to God than us going around condescending to others because of our spiritual gift is that we would cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. These are the graces God would have us to grow in. But right now, if I really preached on 1 Corinthians 14:13, the Elevation Church YouTube comment section would get busier than it ever has in the history. I don't know how you type in tongues on a YouTube comment, but Paul is saying here what really matters isn't what is said as much as the interpretation of it.
Elevation Church Co-host
Because what's true here about this spiritual.
Steven Furtick
Gift of speaking in tongues, where one.
Elevation Church Co-host
Person may speak in a heavenly language.
Steven Furtick
And someone needs to interpret it so that it can be understood.
Elevation Church Co-host
It is not only true about languages, it is true about life to really live successfully. Or maybe we could say a more biblical word, faithfully for God.
Steven Furtick
I need the correct interpretation.
Elevation Church Co-host
Touch somebody next to you and say.
Steven Furtick
I need an interpretation.
Elevation Church Co-host
Yeah, I need an interpretation to be a good husband.
Steven Furtick
Because men and women are different.
Elevation Church Co-host
If I don't learn to interpret, if I don't learn to understand that nothing is wrong does not mean literally on the surface, nothing is wrong. By the way, most people, when they say literally, it doesn't mean literally, I literally died. Think you mean figuratively. Touch somebody, say, I need an interpretation.
Steven Furtick
I need an interpretation to be able to raise my kids.
Elevation Church Co-host
Because I'll be thinking they're ungrateful when.
Steven Furtick
Really they're just adolescent.
Elevation Church Co-host
If you want to play back the.
Steven Furtick
Tape from when I was their age, well, let's don't do that. Touch somebody, say, I need an interpretation. That's what Paul is talking about. Really.
Elevation Church Co-host
No one's life illustrates this more than.
Steven Furtick
The Old Testament character Joseph. I mentioned him and I read this scripture I want to revisit now in Genesis, chapter 40, concerning the power of interpretation. You know, Joseph's life could be used to illustrate injustice. He was abused and actually survived a near assassination from his brothers. Years later in his life, he was dealing with false allegations of sexual misconduct that landed him in prison, which is what put him in this position in Genesis, chapter 40. The situation he was in. Principle number one, and this is not coming up on the screen, so write it down. If it seems like it's worth writing down to you, if you just have to write something down, write this down. My situation is not as important as my interpretation of my situation. I don't mean to sound like Dr. Seuss to you, but what I'm trying to say is a lot of times we want an intervention from God in our situation. Instead of that, God will often give us a different interpretation of the situation. He won't necessarily change it. He will change us in the way we see our situation. One of the reasons we fight in church is because we don't respect that other believers could read the same scripture we read and have a different interpretation.
Elevation Church Co-host
Other people could watch the same news.
Steven Furtick
Stories we watch and have a different interpretation. Interpretation is based on many different things and filtered through the lens of your life experiences, your cultural background, and even your intellectual ability. Some of us don't have as much to work with.
Elevation Church Co-host
We see things more simple than they.
Steven Furtick
Really are, and they're really complex.
Elevation Church Co-host
And somebody says this about evolution and somebody says this about creation, but we're reading the same story with a different interpretation. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're wrong and I'm right and you're going to hell and I'm going to heaven. We get so triggered going off on people who believe in the same God. But just because I have a different interpretation doesn't give you the right to be God and tell me that my interpretation is not valid. Come on, clap like that. Blessed you, even though I know it.
Steven Furtick
Stepped on your toes a little bit. Joseph is in prison and he should be in a bad mood. He should be having pity party day number 743 of his pity party since Potiphar's wife said he tried to rape her. He should be reflecting on all of his brothers trying to kill him.
Elevation Church Co-host
Yet he had the presence of mind.
Steven Furtick
Like Reggie Miller in the 30 for 30 doc, where he says to these men who are in prison with him, what's wrong? You look sad.
Elevation Church Co-host
Imagine you've had his life, but you still are looking at others through the.
Steven Furtick
Lens of what's wrong with them. Imagine you have so much resentment and you're in prison, yet you were able to still release empathy instead of living in your own resentment.
Elevation Church Co-host
Y', all, I am preaching so hard right now, and I don't even have to raise my voice to do it.
Steven Furtick
He said, what's the matter with you? You Mad. They said to him, we've had dreams and there's no one to interpret them.
Elevation Church Co-host
Joseph said, do not interpretations belong to God now? Notice what he didn't say.
Steven Furtick
I have the power, grace, goal. I have the power of interpretation. He said, God can make sense of this.
Elevation Church Co-host
I believe deep down in your soul.
Steven Furtick
That'S why you came to church.
Elevation Church Co-host
Only God can make sense of some of the things I feel and that I'm going through.
Steven Furtick
I need God to make sense of this. So Joseph said, look how polite he is. Please tell them to me. Please, I want to help you.
Elevation Church Co-host
The chief cupbearer who used to bring.
Steven Furtick
Pharaoh his wine said, it's weird, man. I'm going to just tell you like I dreamed it. Because in the Old Testament, they put a lot more stock in their dreams than we do today. I don't think you should necessarily think every dream you have comes from God either. Okay? It's pizza. A lot of the times it has nothing to do with the Lord or your purpose in life. When the man started talking, he said, it was a vine I saw in my dream. Then there were three branches coming off the vine. Then the branches were ripe right away. All three of them were filled with grapes. So I started squeezing the grapes. I was holding Pharaoh's cup, and I handed it back to him. What does that mean? Joseph is like three branches, three days in three days. We could preach about that, couldn't we? From the perspective of something else that happened after three days. But we're not going to do that today. He said, three days. Pharaoh is going to lift your head, put you back in your rightful position. This is the interpretation. Remember, there were two men, and they both had dreams. And the other one, standing over, he hears the interpretation that Joseph gave to the cupbearer. But he's Pharaoh's chief baker. Apparently, Pharaoh is easily triggered because he threw both of them in prison. But we don't know what for. Maybe brought him pumpernickel and he really wanted rye or something like that. Or the yeast rolls weren't hot. So when he brings it out, the bread, maybe Pharaoh flies off the handle. Joseph's life can be understood through many different constructs. But one way to look at it is there are three major interpretations. This is the first one, he tells the cupbearer, three days, Pharaoh is going to put you back in your position. The baker hears this while Joseph is.
Elevation Church Co-host
Saying, and when you get out of.
Steven Furtick
Here, mention me to Pharaoh, because I don't deserve to be here. So don't forget Your boy who came through, when you get out, the baker. Now he's waiting his turn in line because he wants out of Shawshank as well. He says, ooh, ooh, ooh.
Elevation Church Co-host
Do mine. Do my dream. I had a dream, too. Can you do my dream?
Steven Furtick
Joseph says, tell me your dream. Do not interpretations belong to God? He's expecting a favorable interpretation. And he has a similar dream that's different in just a small, tiny little way. He says, okay, I had not three branches on a vine because I don't do the cupbearer thing. I had three baskets of bread. They were all full of bread. Then some birds came in my dream. I know it sounds weird, but they started eating the bread off my head. Joseph said, oh, no.
Elevation Church Co-host
Oh, no.
Steven Furtick
He said, yeah, it means this is the interpretation. This is what it means. Three days, Pharaoh is going to lift up your head and cut it off, and then the birds are going to eat your flesh. Then Joseph took up an offering.
Elevation Church Co-host
But see, he didn't have the power.
Steven Furtick
To make the dream mean what he wanted it to mean.
Elevation Church Co-host
What he had to do was seek.
Steven Furtick
God to say, what does this mean?
Elevation Church Co-host
One meaning was, you're going to be.
Steven Furtick
Restored to your position. That's the stuff that preaches good.
Elevation Church Co-host
One meaning is.
Steven Furtick
You'Re actually going to be dead three days from now.
Elevation Church Co-host
But it was the same power that.
Steven Furtick
Enabled him to interpret both dreams.
Elevation Church Co-host
It happened just like Joseph predicted.
Steven Furtick
The interpretation was accurate. Three days later, the baker was dead and the cupbearer was free. Only he forgot about Joseph. Have you ever done something for somebody?
Elevation Church Co-host
Have you ever helped somebody move when.
Steven Furtick
They moved out of their apartment into their house?
Elevation Church Co-host
When it came time for you to.
Steven Furtick
Move, their truck was having some issues. Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever raised your kids and.
Elevation Church Co-host
Then they got out of the house.
Steven Furtick
And acted like they were too busy for you? And the cat is in the cradle.
Elevation Church Co-host
Well, you can relate to Joseph because.
Steven Furtick
He was forgotten in prison until one day, Pharaoh. This is the second interpretation, and there are three. This one gets more difficult. It kind of goes in stages of interpretation where Pharaoh has a dream and he gathers all of the magicians in his court to interpret his dream.
Elevation Church Co-host
Watch what the Bible says.
Steven Furtick
I believe it's Genesis 41:15. Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.
Elevation Church Co-host
I have heard it said of you.
Steven Furtick
That when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Now, how did Joseph get in front of Pharaoh? I thought he was in prison. Well, here's what happened. When Pharaoh had a problem, Joseph had an opportunity. I'm going to say that again.
Elevation Church Co-host
When Pharaoh came upon something he could not solve with his resources, it created an opportunity for someone who knew how to interpret the the times, the situation, and to bring forth the solution. Here's why I pointed that out. Sometimes we run from stuff that God has introduced in order to bring us into the opportunity we were praying for. When Pharaoh had a dream, it was a strange dream. He brought Joseph and said, man, I heard about you. Joseph said, it's about time that that dude was supposed to tell you about me two years ago. But see, sometimes God will allow people to forget about you because he knows where you need to be for the moment. You need to come forth. If you don't have a relationship with God, you won't know what to do with yourself in those times where you feel imprisoned and confined.
Steven Furtick
He said, I heard about you.
Elevation Church Co-host
There's no one who can interpret my dream. But I have heard it said of.
Steven Furtick
You that you are really, really brilliant at this dream interpretation stuff. So give it a shot. Joseph answered, Pharaoh, it's not in me. What a way to start your opportunity. Go for a job interview talking about I'm not the. But he said something similar to what he said in verse 40. You're starting to see a pattern. He said, it's not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.
Elevation Church Co-host
So let's hear it.
Steven Furtick
Because the power of interpretation is not in me. I'll get it wrong.
Elevation Church Co-host
I've learned that about myself. I'll get it wrong every time. Even preaching, I will mess the whole thing up. If I preach from the perspective of how I interpret that you are receiving the message, I start getting nervous because really, when you're listening the most, you look angry.
Steven Furtick
I'm going to tell you that about yourself. When I'm really doing good, your eyebrows.
Elevation Church Co-host
Start making a cue up there and you start hunching forward. Even when I'm really preaching good, you.
Steven Furtick
Cross your arms because I just offended something you've been clinging to that God.
Elevation Church Co-host
Really wanted to pry out of your heart. So when you start leaning back and stuff, doing all this.
Steven Furtick
One woman one time looked like she was sleeping in my sermon. I realized she was praying for me. It took me 20 minutes into sermon.
Elevation Church Co-host
I was so offended. I've learned this about myself. I will interpret it wrong every time.
Steven Furtick
Because the power of interpretation is to get into the presence of God.
Elevation Church Co-host
Watch this and say, God, what are you saying? What are you doing? What do you want to speak Joseph from That place of humility hears Pharaoh's dream.
Steven Furtick
Pharaoh starts talking about cows. He's like, oh, there were seven fat cows and seven skinny cows. I don't know why Pharaoh is talking like this. It must be southern Egypt. He's like, the fat cows.
Elevation Church Co-host
First came the fat cows, then came the skinny cows.
Steven Furtick
And skinny cows ate the fat cows.
Elevation Church Co-host
And there were fat stalks and skinny stalks. It's a great story.
Steven Furtick
You can read it sometimes. But Joseph said, oh, that's easy. Seven years aplenty, that's the fat cows. Seven years of famine, that's skinny cows. If you save up during the fat years, you can make it in the lean years. Pharaoh said, I need somebody smart to put in charge of saving up during the fat years. I need somebody to manage my fat cows. Joseph said, well, hey, if you need somebody to manage your fat cows, maybe the guy who told you about the fat cows will be the one to manage the fat cows. Pharaoh said, you're the man. And he's second in command of all of Egypt because of what the power of. If he would have given his opinion in that moment, or if he would have interpreted that opportunity through the lens of his own pain, he would not have had the clarity to see God and see what God is doing. The second interpretation, and here's the third one. There's a pattern here. It's three branches on the vine. It's three interpretations in Joseph's life. This one, this last one I want to show you is going to be the most difficult of all. Because now Joseph has to interpret. Not the prisoner's dream, the cup baker. It's a new thing. It's a cup baker, bakes cups, the cupbearer and the baker. But the. The second interpretation of Pharaoh's dream was easy in comparison to Joseph's final test, when he had to interpret his own dream. To do that, he had to face his own pain. Remember I told you when he was 17 years old, he had a dream where he saw all these sheaves of grain, that his brothers were out in the field harvesting, and his was at the middle and they all bowed down to him. Perhaps in his immature eagerness to be important, he went and told his brothers what he saw. That's one of the reasons they hated him. There were many reasons his father liked him better because he came from the wife, Rachel Jacob really loved. His dad gave him this Gucci coat. Many reasons why he was hated. Theirs were from Target.
Elevation Church Co-host
But it's crazy, because now he's standing.
Steven Furtick
In front of them. I'm going to read you the passage and you imagine how emotional this would have been because the famine Joseph predicted.
Elevation Church Co-host
Is now in full swing.
Steven Furtick
It's been seven years aplenty. Joseph has stored up all the supplies. They're ready for it. But he wasn't ready for this because two years into the famine, seven years of plenty, and two years into the seven year famine, Jacob sends all of his boys, Joseph's brothers, to Egypt because he heard there was grain there. Joseph is the one who's in control of the pantry.
Elevation Church Co-host
Sometimes God will test you by putting.
Steven Furtick
You in a position to see how you will deal with somebody who hurt you.
Elevation Church Co-host
How you interpret that moment has everything.
Steven Furtick
To do with what happens next and how much God can trust you. I'm going to read it to you just like it says it. Start from verse one of Genesis 45.
Elevation Church Co-host
He has been with his brothers.
Steven Furtick
This is the second time he has seen them. He's been dealing with a wide array.
Elevation Church Co-host
Of different instincts and impulses of how.
Steven Furtick
He should deal with them.
Elevation Church Co-host
He hasn't let them know yet who.
Steven Furtick
He is because he's dressed like an.
Elevation Church Co-host
Egyptian and so they don't recognize him. Some people in your life don't recognize.
Steven Furtick
The you you are now not only.
Elevation Church Co-host
Because of what you've been through in life, but because God has taken you.
Steven Furtick
To a different place.
Elevation Church Co-host
What he did. This is very interesting. In Genesis 42 it says he spoke to them through an interpreter. So he pretended like he couldn't understand them. He played tricks on them. It's an epic story. We can't preach it today because this is one principle I'm trying to illustrate, but it would be well worth your time to invest about 45 minutes and.
Steven Furtick
Read the whole thing.
Elevation Church Co-host
But when he finally decided to reveal himself to his brothers, it triggered that trauma of the day when he was so hated by them, they dipped his robe in animal blood and sold him to the Ishmaelite caravan. And he ended up separated from everything he knew. The Bible says in verse one, Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. So he cried, make everyone go out from me. So no one stayed with him.
Steven Furtick
When Joseph made himself known to his brothers, he's all alone in front of the thing that hurt him, in front of the unfair situation that started this whole chain of events in his life. Now he has to decide how to interpret this encounter. I'm preaching right to your life today because you're standing in front of something that hurt you. You're standing in front of some things that happened to you or didn't happen for you that should have.
Elevation Church Co-host
Standing before his brothers, Joseph has a decision to make.
Steven Furtick
What is the interpretation of this now? Perhaps he remembers his dream he had.
Elevation Church Co-host
Over 20 years ago where he saw all of his brothers bowing down to him. But he realized they would not be bowing down to him so he could.
Steven Furtick
Show off in front of them, but so he could serve them in this moment.
Elevation Church Co-host
It's very powerful.
Steven Furtick
What happens next.
Elevation Church Co-host
He's crying and he's hurting.
Steven Furtick
Finally, he reveals himself. In verse three, Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please, because you really can't interpret what God is doing in your life from a distance. He has to call the thing that has caused him so much pain closer in order to see what God would have him to do. When they come closer, he identifies himself again and says, I am your brother, Joseph. He doesn't disassociate himself from them. He acknowledges his position before them. Then he mentions what they did to him, whom you sold into Egypt. In other words, it's your fault I'm here.
Elevation Church Co-host
And now. Do not be distressed or angry with.
Steven Furtick
Yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. I'm going to be honest with you. I really had to pray about that verse because it seemed like such a contradiction. He said, on one hand. Please put it on the screen for just another moment.
Elevation Church Co-host
You sold me.
Steven Furtick
Do you see that he is placing the blame for his situation on his brothers who stand before him.
Elevation Church Co-host
He's not denying their hand in bringing.
Steven Furtick
Him into this situation, nor is he.
Elevation Church Co-host
Denying the dysfunction of it. You sold me and it was wrong. You sold me out. You let me down.
Steven Furtick
You are the reason.
Elevation Church Co-host
On one hand I'm here. I would not be in Egypt. I would be back home if it.
Steven Furtick
Were not for you.
Elevation Church Co-host
But watch the shift. This is the message God gave me for somebody today. And I pray you'll have ears to hear it. God will will enlighten your spirit to receive it. He said, you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. What I was praying about is, which one is it? Did they sell you or did God send you? I kept praying about that because it sounds like he's talking out of both sides of his mouth. You sold me for God sent me. Notice the construct. He doesn't say, you sold me, but God sent me. It's not even that he's contrasting the two. The second is a continuation of the first. God, help me preach this Bible verse right now. This is the most anointed verse I've read all year. He said, you sold me and it hurt me not, but you sold me, for God sent me. Don't be mad about it. Don't even punish yourself and don't cower in my presence. You don't need to spend another day tormented by it, because now I see through it. It's been a lot of years since you pushed me in that pit. It has been a lot of years since you broke my heart. It has been a lot of years since my dad left me. It has been a lot of years since they walked out. It has been a lot of years since I went down. It's been a lot of years since they lied on me. It has been a lot of years since they said I did it. It has been a lot of years. Now I have an interpretation of the event. I've been studying about this, and I realize it is not the event that determines the outcome. It is your interpretation of the event that determines the outcome.
Steven Furtick
So watch this. Y' all be good. Sit down.
Elevation Church Co-host
The first one is the event you sold me.
Steven Furtick
The second one is the interpretation God sent me.
Elevation Church Co-host
Which one are you going to live in? The event or the interpretation? Here's a better question. Here's a better question. Who is your interpreter? Are you interpreting your God through your life or your life through your God, your interpreter? Sometimes it's not what's happening, it's how you are interpreting what's happening. I thought she was sleeping, but she was really praying. I thought they didn't love me, but really they just couldn't be there for me because they were going through some of their own issues. This is not the event. It's the interpretation. I thought the fire came to kill me, but I found out God was using the fire I thought was going to kill me to refine me. So God will use a fire. Nebuchadnezzar started to refine me and bring me forth as gold. I don't just need the spirit of God to help me interpret tongues. I need God to help me interpret trauma and trouble and trials. So I'm praying like Paul told the.
Steven Furtick
Church to pray for the power to interpret, I need the power to interpret.
Elevation Church Co-host
How many of you need the power.
Steven Furtick
To interpret by the wisdom of the spirit of God? Listen, you don't need the spirit of God to give you goosebumps. A lot of things can give you goosebumps you know, if you put on Mariah Carey, I Can Make it through.
Elevation Church Co-host
The Rain right now, it's one of her lesser known hits. It's off the album with the rainbow.
Steven Furtick
On it where she's not wearing enough clothes. So I never looked at the COVID when I was a teenager.
Elevation Church Co-host
Well, anyway, the problem with that, it can give you a feeling.
Steven Furtick
I don't need the spirit of God.
Elevation Church Co-host
Just to give me a feeling. If it's a feeling, great. But I need the spirit of God to give me focus. The unique property of the Spirit of God. You have the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father, that's the legislative branch of the government of God. He's the one who makes the laws.
Steven Furtick
You have the Son who is the executive branch of the government of Heaven.
Elevation Church Co-host
Who enforces the grace of God and takes the penalty of your sin because you can't keep the law. Then you have the judicial branch, which is the Holy Spirit, which lives inside of you. That helps you to get in a situation and say, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. But, God, will you give me an interpretation of what the people in my life need right now? This season I'm in right now. I need the Holy Spirit.
Steven Furtick
Or I'll get it wrong. I'll get it wrong. Some of us have the wrong interpreter. We are interpreting our present through our past. We are interpreting our purpose through our pain. We are interpreting our entire life through one little situation. We are interpreting our future through our flaws. When you have the wrong interpreter, it messes everything up. The first time I went to speak in a country where they didn't speak English. The first international speaking trip that I remember was Australia. They speak kind of English, like to pick on the Aussies. They shorten everything. They kind of speak English, but they nickname everything. They call praise songs, praises. And that's weird. When I go over there, they don't call me Steven, they call me Steve. There's an N on my name for a reason. My mom put it there. Would you please let my consonants come through customs and put the N on.
Elevation Church Co-host
The end of my name?
Steven Furtick
I love Australia. I've been there many times. But one time I went to preach in a place where they didn't speak English. I called a wiser minister who had preached many times in international settings and said, give me some different things I need to know about preaching through an interpreter. Translator is for written, interpreter is for spoken. I said, I need some of your wisdom on speaking through an Interpreter. He gave me a few things, but one thing he said that stood out. He said, first, pray you get a good one, he said, because you'll think he's saying what you said. Sometimes you can tell.
Elevation Church Co-host
I said, how will I tell if.
Steven Furtick
I have a bad interpreter? He said one thing. He'll talk longer than you. When you finish your sentence, he'll say three sentences. That means he's putting something in that you didn't intend to say.
Elevation Church Co-host
Can I tell y' all something? The devil has been putting some stuff in. Come on. Between what God has spoken to you. He puts thoughts in people's minds about you. In your mind that they weren't even thinking about you. Makes you paranoid.
Steven Furtick
Oh, man, look how they're looking at me. They don't like me. No, they actually don't like their husband.
Elevation Church Co-host
They came to work in a bad mood because of something else that had.
Steven Furtick
Nothing to do with you.
Elevation Church Co-host
But the devil will make you think that they don't like you. Because he's an interpreter who likes to add. Have you ever had this happen before? In a situation where you start interpreting it wrong and now all of a sudden you're thinking they said things or thought things they didn't say or think? He said, the other extreme you have to look out for.
Steven Furtick
Sometimes they won't say everything you just said. They'll cut it short. He said, sometimes they'll leave stuff out. That's what the enemy will do. When you let him interpret your life. He'll only show you what's wrong with you. But he won't let you see how God is going to use everything you consider to be a deficiency to bring you into your destiny. So he will only keep you confined.
Elevation Church Co-host
Come on, church. That golf clap, that's not even worth doing. If you're going to praise God and worship God for what he has spoken over your life and the fact that no man can add to it or subtract from it. If he said it, it will happen. If he said, in three days, he will rise. I might be on a cross now, baby, but resurrection power is in my future.
Steven Furtick
Before we leave this place today, I just want to give you five things to pray for. Don't get nervous. We are now approaching our initial descent. Make sure your Bibles are securely open. I thought we would just spell out the word dream because Joseph interpreted not only the dream of the prisoners, not only the dream of Pharaoh, but his own dream he had at 17 years old, not through the lens of what he had lost in his life. You Know how you keep doing it. You keep focusing so much on who left you and the opportunity you wasted. You keep bringing that forward with you into the next opportunity and it's messing with you. You need the Holy Spirit. This is what the Holy Spirit does.
Elevation Church Co-host
Speak in tongues, that's awesome. Shout at the top of your lungs, that's awesome.
Steven Furtick
Get a goosebump, I'll get one with you.
Elevation Church Co-host
We'll rub our goosebumps together. It's all wonderful.
Steven Furtick
But what I really need the spirit of God for is for those groans words can't express. I'll give them to you and we'll go and we'll call it a day and we'll call it a series. The first one. I'm praying for the power to interpret like Paul said, because I know interpretations belong to God. So I need God to interpret. God help me to interpret my desires. I don't sometimes know why I want what I want. Neither did Paul. He was like, what I want to.
Elevation Church Co-host
Do, I don't do. What I don't want to do, I don't do. That doesn't make any sense.
Steven Furtick
If you want to do it, you want to do it. What do you mean you want to do it? You don't do it.
Elevation Church Co-host
Well, there's flesh, there's the spirit.
Steven Furtick
I have a new nature.
Elevation Church Co-host
I love God.
Steven Furtick
And then four minutes later I really.
Elevation Church Co-host
I really still love God. But I love something that's the opposite of God too. I don't know what to do. I need the Holy Spirit to show.
Steven Furtick
Me why I want what I want.
Elevation Church Co-host
If the Holy Spirit doesn't interpret my desires, I will run around my whole life trying to get what I want. And then when I get it, I won't even want what I've got. God help me interpret my desires. Sometimes what will happen is it's not like one desire is divine and one.
Steven Furtick
Is demonic and there's no devil and no angel.
Elevation Church Co-host
Sometimes what the enemy will do to me is he'll take a God given desire and distort it. What I really want is not a bad thing. It's not a bad desire. I notice a lot of people these days seem to want to be famous. Famous for what? Famous so I could be famous. Have you noticed that fame is the number one cultural value now? I was thinking about that as to why everybody wants to be famous. You think about it, fame is kind of a weird thing. People aren't really built to receive that amount of attention. When you see the number of famous people who are famous and don't even want to go on living, it should cause you to question, what is the real thing I want? Is it really fame? Is it really followers on some platform full of people who don't even know me, but only the presentation and projection I choose to stage, the props I put in my life, Is that really what I want? Do I really want to be noticed, or do I really want to be known?
Steven Furtick
I think a lot of times we're trying to be noticed, and the real desire is we want to be known. The spirit of God can show you your real desire to say, I know you're doing all this to try to get people to notice you, but I'm the only one who really knows you. See, when people know you from a distance and they notice things about you, but they don't know the real you and you still feel lonely, it's so important that you ask the spirit of God things like this. What am I really spending 14, 16 hours a day working for? Is it really to give my kids the life? Is it really that? Are you really trying to prove something to somebody who's not even paying attention?
Elevation Church Co-host
Early in Joseph's life, he's like, you were all bowing down to me. It was awesome.
Steven Furtick
20 years later, he's the one crumbling on his knees because he realizes that the desire God gave him was not so he could be important, but so that he could have influence, not so he could have status, but so that.
Elevation Church Co-host
He could be a servant.
Steven Furtick
God, show me my desires. Show me which ones come from you.
Elevation Church Co-host
Help me.
Steven Furtick
I used to always pray Psalm 37:4. It says, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. An immature interpretation of that is, God is going to give me what I want. God is just peeling them off, what you want? What do you want? Now I look at it like, he will give me the right desires. He will give me, impart unto me the right desires.
Elevation Church Co-host
I don't just come up wanting to.
Steven Furtick
Impress people, but I start asking God.
Elevation Church Co-host
How can I be a blessing? I cannot simultaneously be a blessing if I'm trying to be impressed. So I want to get out of my own way and ask God to interpret my desires. God, I want you. I want your presence in my life. God, I want your pleasure, your smile. God, I want harmony and peace with you, even if it costs me sometimes position with people. God, I don't want to just be popular. I want to live a life of purpose. I want to know that this matters and means something, something at the end of it all.
Steven Furtick
So I need the power of interpretation for my desires. You can't really have that if you don't get past rejection. So the second thing is, God, will youl help me interpret my rejection? Will you help me look at my brothers not just through the lens of what they did to me, but through the lens of what you want to do through me? I did not expect an amen right there, but I didn't expect that level of silence. I'll tell you that right now. That was just over the top. Praise the Lord.
Elevation Church Co-host
Hallelujah.
Steven Furtick
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All of them. Yeah, because he says two things. He says, you rejected me, but God protected me. Do you see it? Do you want to see it again on the screen? Do you? I can show it to you on the screen. They'll push a button. It'll come right up on the screen.
Elevation Church Co-host
Genesis 45. 5, you sold me. God sent me to preserve life. When I was 17, it felt like rejection. But now that I've grown, now that I've experienced the grace of God, now that I've let go of the resentment and I refuse to hold on to it, I see that what man calls rejection, sometimes God calls protection. Some of the people who left you got. God was removing them. God wanted to do some things for you that only he could do. And if he had let them say.
Steven Furtick
Yes, you wouldn't have been ready for what was next. I'm going to come back to these and preach a whole series on them. Each one I'm going to preach a series on dream. I promise you, I will do it. If you stay here long enough, I will do it. I might be 93 years old, but I'm going to preach this thing because I have to get God to help me interpret my desires and rejection. Then I have to make sure God filters my emotions. So God help me interpret my emotions, because I know what I feel. Let me be honest. As a man, sometimes I don't even know what I feel. Being married has helped me so much with interpretation. I really love my wife. I jokingly call Holly the Holly Spirit. It's only half joking. She's a great interpreter. She interprets things. One time we were fighting about a bill. I think it was like $3,243.
Elevation Church Co-host
Guess what I didn't have in the bank account?
Steven Furtick
$3,240. Whatever. I said dollars. I got so angry. I'm not the kind of guy that goes around yelling at his wife, but I was yelling at her this day. This was years ago. This was like the early stages of marriage. You'll forgive me for being angry. But she at one point in the.
Elevation Church Co-host
Argument goes, why are you so angry? I said, I'm so angry.
Steven Furtick
Head spins around.
Elevation Church Co-host
I'm not angry. You know what? I was telling the truth.
Steven Furtick
I wasn't really angry. I was afraid.
Elevation Church Co-host
It was expressing itself as anger.
Steven Furtick
But she was able to interpret the fear that was driving my anger when.
Elevation Church Co-host
She realized I wasn't mad at her.
Steven Furtick
I was mad at the attorney who.
Elevation Church Co-host
Sent that bill and mad at BB&T for not having enough money in my bank account to pay the attorney who sent the bill.
Steven Furtick
See how an interpretation can change everything? She was able to realize, it's not me versus you in this moment. It's us versus this bill. And let's figure it out together. If you don't pray for the power to interpret, you will just live at the level of the emotion and never know what is beneath the surface.
Elevation Church Co-host
And you will repeat the emotion on the next person who steps into the line of fire of your unfiltered experiences.
Steven Furtick
Okay, I'm going to download this podcast myself, I think. All right? So God, help me interpret my emotions.
Elevation Church Co-host
So I say, I'm depressed.
Steven Furtick
I'm in depression right now.
Elevation Church Co-host
Well, maybe you are depressed.
Steven Furtick
Or maybe, you know, sometimes it's just Monday. You always feel this way on Monday. You just haven't been outside yet. But if you don't ask God, God do not interpretations belong to God. That's what Joseph knew. Because on one hand, emotionally, he's angry, he's crying. He sends everybody out of his presence. But then beneath the emotion, he realized the reason. Now, here's a good question. Are you living at the level of reaction or reason? If you always just react, react, react.
Elevation Church Co-host
But never ask God, what is the reason I'm reacting this way? You will fix the wrong factors. This is where a lot of preaching gets so mean and hateful and impossible.
Steven Furtick
Because we're correcting behaviors but not addressing.
Elevation Church Co-host
The beliefs that drive the behaviors. You'll hear a preacher sometimes preach against addiction, but why is she drinking six glasses? Or you'll hear it preached against pornography or sexual addiction. And the preacher will never address the fact that you're reaching out for God. When you log on that site, you just don't know it's God you're reaching out for. So you're trying to fill it with something that leaves you more empty. But you're really reaching out for God. But what you really want isn't sex. It's connection. So you run around for sex, but you don't get connection because it's empty. Because you never asked God why.
Steven Furtick
This takes reflection. This takes sitting alone with God and even other people you trust and joining an egroup and sharing some stuff that makes you uncomfortable. Shameless. Plug. Today there are tents outside. Join any group so you can interpret. Pharaoh said, I need someone to interpret my dream. The prisoner said, I need someone to interpret the dream. But really I need God to help me interpret. Not only hard things I've been through, but look at Joseph now. He's in a position of power. Not only does he have the power of interpretation God has given him, but he has the power to punish his brothers or provide for them. What is he going to do with his advantage? That's the fourth one. God, show me the advantages you've given me and show me why you gave them to me. When people receive advantages, but they think that the purpose for the advantage is so they can call attention to themselves. That's when leaders become toxic. That's when rich people become oppressive. The hard thing is sometimes recognizing the advantage. Remember when David killed Goliath? The Bible says after he killed him, he took his sword. I always thought that was an illustration of how today's attack can become tomorrow's advantage. You sold me for God sent me.
Elevation Church Co-host
The whole time people were pushing me.
Steven Furtick
In a pit, God was preparing me so that I could provide with the power he has given me. Maybe the reason you went through the attack is so you could have an advantage. Do you hear me? Just forget I'm talking. Hear this from God.
Elevation Church Co-host
He wanted to say this to you.
Steven Furtick
And he's just using me to do it.
Elevation Church Co-host
Quit calling it an attack, it's an advantage. Quit calling it a weakness because it is in your weakness that he is strong. Quit being ashamed of it. Quit the trying to run from it, hide it and numb it and cover it up. The attack is the advantage. You know what Paul said? He said, I am convinced that the sufferings of this present time are not even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed. So I interpret my pain through the lens of God's purpose.
Steven Furtick
And my feelings, through my faith. So God, give me the power to interpret. Not just to interpret when I get there, not just to interpret when it's all better, but God help me to interpret when I'm in the middle. I'm in the middle. Joseph spent 20 years with a dream that contradicted everything he was facing in his situation. Yet the most frequent line that is repeated in the account of his life is the Lord was with Joseph. That's not something you always feel. That's not something you can always prove. That's not something you always have facts to back it up. But I don't need facts. I have faith. I don't need feelings. I have faith. God, I want to interpret my life as it unfolds through the lens that you love me and that you're with me. I need a faith interpretation because, you.
Elevation Church Co-host
Know, church, the world is trying to.
Steven Furtick
Give us a fear interpretation every single day. If you read the paper, it's a fear interpretation. But when I come to God, I can look at everything in my life and look at it through the lens of what he has spoken to me. The power of interpretation is to confess the presence of God in every situation, whether you feel it or not.
Elevation Church Co-host
If you need God to show you something right now in your life, stand.
Steven Furtick
To your feet, can pray for you.
Elevation Church Co-host
Because this message was not meant for.
Steven Furtick
Those who just want to live by your five senses.
Elevation Church Co-host
This message was not intended for those who just want to spend the rest of their life blaming people. This message was not for those who. Everything is easy and you can always explain it and you understand it all. This message is for someone who needs an interpretation. God, I don't need you to explain everything to me. You're God and I'm not. But I need to know God, what you are doing in this moment of my life. I don't want to spend the rest of my life projecting stuff. I need an interpretation. Paul said, pray for the power of interpretation. You can't get this on your own. You can't get this by logic. You can't see this on a spreadsheet. You cannot consult bank accounts and other people and books in a library. This only comes from God. God, I need an interpretation. I need to know why my kids are acting crazy right now. I need to know, God, why my money is acting funny right now. I need to know why they said no. I need to know why this keeps happening. I need to know why this pattern keeps emerging. I need to know more than anything.
Steven Furtick
That you are with me in this moment. Even when I don't feel it.
Elevation Church Co-host
I need an interpretation.
Steven Furtick
Do not interpretations belong to God? Doesn't he have the power to show you why he made you? Doesn't he have the power to comfort you in all of your trouble? Doesn't he have the power to assure you of his presence in this moment? Father, thank you for your word and thank you for your people. I pray that today I have been a faithful interpreter of what you said through Joseph and what you said through Paul and what you're saying to each life represented in this place today. I ask God that you would interpret the message exactly as each hearer needs to receive it. In fact, if you would just lift your hands right now and show the Lord that you you're listening. We receive from you in this moment as you speak to us. Thank you for joining us.
Elevation Church Co-host
Special thanks to those of you who.
Steven Furtick
Give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to Give now or visit elevationchurch.orgpodcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the Share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us evationchurch. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
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Elevation Church Co-host
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Steven Furtick
This is an iHeart podcast.
Elevation with Steven Furtick – iHeartPodcasts | August 22, 2025
In this episode, Pastor Steven Furtick wraps up the “Trigger” series by focusing on the importance of interpretation in our spiritual lives. He explores the biblical story of Joseph and draws parallels to the New Testament, emphasizing that how we interpret our circumstances, emotions, and dreams shapes our reality and spiritual growth. Through his characteristic energy and practical storytelling, Furtick urges listeners to seek God’s guidance—not just for understanding scripture, but for making sense of life’s challenges, emotions, desires, and past experiences.
(Furtick spells out the word DREAM, each letter representing a key prayer focus.)
Pastor Steven Furtick’s message is passionate, humorous, and deeply practical. He urges listeners not to settle for surface-level understanding, or to allow pain, past, or cultural voices to dictate their story. Instead, believers are exhorted to ask the Holy Spirit for the “power to interpret”—to see God's meaning in every situation: desires, rejections, emotions, advantages, and the “middle” moments of uncertainty.
“I need God to make sense of this.” (Steven Furtick, 11:04)
The episode ends with a call to prayer, asking for spiritual discernment and faith to trust God’s interpretation for every aspect of life.
This episode is a reminder: The difference between breakdown and breakthrough often isn’t what happened, but the interpretation you choose. “Do not interpretations belong to God?”