Sheryl Brady - Seeing The Greater Purpose In Your Pain

I just want to talk about seeing the greater purpose in your pain. Has anyone been through anything painful this year? Yeah, there’s a greater purpose in your pain. So what am I saying to you? I’m saying you have to be able to see the bigger picture. I want to help you today by discussing the life of Joseph. Look at someone next to you and tell them, «You have to see the bigger picture.» Father, today I love you, and I thank you for Your Word. It feeds us and provides life to us; it nourishes us. Now I ask, God, that You would anoint me to climb into this text and unpack every truth that You want us to hear today. You knew who would be here—those on the property and those watching online. I pray that You would feed us with the bread of heaven, and we’ll give You thanks for it. Help us make sense of it all. In the name of Jesus, we pray, Amen and Amen. On your way down, just hit someone and tell them, «There’s a greater purpose in your pain, and you have to be able to see it. There’s a greater purpose in your pain.» I have never, in all my days, known a time or season—well, I guess «time» is the best way to say it—when there were so many important people. You don’t understand—so many people who think they are so important. And often, those same people believe that because of who they are, what they’ve done, or what they’ve accomplished, they deserve some kind of preferential treatment. How many of you know people like that? It’s pretty nauseating, really, to see them reach a level of success and turn into someone else. It’s noisy and disappointing, especially when you see someone like Tina, who went this week on a trip. She likes to cook and has become a big fan of—I think her name is Ree Drummond, a chef on the Food Network. Tina has really taken a liking to her and has learned things that her mother did not teach her. I’m benefiting from it because she’ll cook and bring me good food every now and then. Anyway, she took a trip to Oklahoma, where Ree films her show, and just happened to go into a restaurant to eat. Lo and behold, she wasn’t planning to see her, but she ran into her there, sitting at a table eating. I said, «Tina, God does stuff like that—that’s favor. You know, when you’re faithful, He’ll drop you a nugget of favor because He’s good like that.» So Tina ended up talking to her, telling her how much her show has blessed her life and how now she and Crisp cook together. The lady ended up bending over backwards—she said she was just so kind. She bent over backwards, putting them in a beautiful suite that was technically sold out; they couldn’t get a room in her place. So, she put them there and blessed them all. The biggest takeaway they had was that this was someone who maybe didn’t have to be so kind, but her kindness was remarkable. That’s what happens when we see people on TV or on a stage; something in us connects with them. We want to meet them, and it’s nice when you meet them and find, «Hey, they are exactly like I thought they would be.» You haven’t met someone you were excited about meeting only to find out, «Oh my God, they are nothing like what I thought they would be.» That can be very disappointing. After you’ve been through many experiences like that, you begin to understand that just because someone has a big name, a big personality, a big house, a big car, a big position, big money, or a big opportunity, it does not mean they are big. Hello! My husband often says, «You can’t be big when littles got you.» That’s the flip side to it. Some people—my mom used to say—are just too big for their britches. And she would always say, «If you watch, God’s gonna bring them down a notch or two.» Then there are extremes: other people who should be bigger than they are. But you can’t be big out here when littles got you up here. When little has you up here, you may find yourself in a big situation with a big opportunity or a big chance, but if your mind isn’t where it needs to be, you may not step through that door or might mess up that opportunity because you’re too little up here for what’s presented before you. I don’t know who I’m talking to today, but someone needs to stretch their mind.