Praise God. Well, I'm so thankful to be here and I appreciate the opportunity to preach and certainly don't have to preach. I told Brother Jamie I could lead silent prayer in the bathroom if that's what he wants me to do. Amen. I just want to be a blessing to the meeting. But I know exactly what he's saying when we have our Bible conference. I look forward to men of God coming and preaching to me. Amen. I need to be preached to and it helps me. Meetings, good meetings, meetings like this, they make me a better Christian, make me a better pastor. Amen. So hopefully I can go back, be a better pastor for my people and a better preacher for the glory of God, a better Christian because of meetings like this. But I'm so thankful to get to come and thank you for letting me. Let me preach, brother. I do, I pray I can be a blessing, a help to you. I'm going to be giving you a thought this morning out of Genesis 37 if you want to be making your way over there to that passage out of Genesis 37. No group of people on the face of the earth has been as good to me and has been as much a blessing to me as God's people have. And I'm sure we all could say that. Back before I was pastoring, I've not even been pastoring a year yet, but when I was still at my home church back in 2011, a tornado came through Smithville, destroyed our building and destroyed that whole town really. And 80% of the town was destroyed, six of the seven businesses, most of the churches, you know, most people's homes, a lot of folks killed. Terrible, terrible F5 tornado. But you know, it was not FEMA that was helping us. And it wasn't the state that was helping us. It wasn't the Red Cross or the Salvation Army that was helping us. It was God's people that were Johnny-on-the-spot helping us and helped get that building rebuilt and helped meet our needs. Amen. So it's always been God's people. When I look down through the years, it's been God's people. And so I want you to know that I love you this morning. I love being with God's people. And I appreciate you and all you men of God. I appreciate your stand and your faithfulness. You are a blessing to this young preacher. And I'll say this, a lot of men are falling in these days. And you might be a little older and you might have most of your life and most of your ministry behind you more than what's in front of you. Amen? But I say this, I need you. I need you. I need you to stay faithful to the end. And I need you to keep going for God. Amen? Because boy, a lot of them are falling these days. I want you to know I appreciate you. I love you. And as good as God's people have been to me and my family, I hope in some little way I can be a blessing to you and a help to you. Amen. So let's all stand if you're physically able to. We'll stand and read a portion of Scripture here. I want to be sensitive to the time. Give these other men of God time to preach. I heard a story one time about a guy who was learning to be sensitive. You may have heard this story before, but his wife had gone on a trip overseas. And it was a pretty long trip, so about three days went by and she finally made it where she was going, called home. You know, they were kind of catching up. You know how they do. You know, how are you doing? I'm good. How are you? Things are good. How was your trip? That type of thing. But she had this beloved cat that she just loved so dearly, Brother Ronnie. She loved that four-footed creature, right? And she left that cat home with her husband to take care of that cat. And she loved that cat. Man, she loved that cat. And one of the first things she asked when she called home was, how's my cat doing? And he said, well, your cat died. And she said, you know, you could have said that with a little more sensitivity. He said, well, I mean, the cat died. It's dead. Nothing's going to change that. How could I have said it any different? She said, well, this is what you could have done. Whenever I asked about the cat, you could have said, well, honey, listen, your cat's on the roof. And just as you were calling, I was about to go out there and try to rescue and save your cat, but that's kind of where it's at right now. And then the next time I called, And I asked about the cat. You could have said, well, honey, listen, I tried to get your cat down and your cat fell and it got hurt real bad. And we've rushed it to the vet and they're doing all they can do to save it. But that's kind of where we're at right now. We don't really know. And she said, and then the next time I called. And asked about the cat, and you could have said, well, honey, listen, I'm real sorry about this, but they tried to do all they could do to save your cat, the vet. There was just nothing they could do, and your cat has passed away. She said, you could have said it real sensitive like that. And he said, OK, well, I'm going to do better. I'm going to learn to be more sensitive moving forward. I'm going to learn to be sensitive and try that. That's going to help me, I think. So anyway, a few days go by. She calls home again. They're catching up. And they're talking about the trip and everything. She finally gets around to asking how mom's doing. How's my mom doing back home? He said, well honey, your mom's on the roof. So he's learning to be sensitive. And all of us can learn to be a little more sensitive. Isn't that right, Brother Herbert? Amen. Be sensitive, amen. So I want to be sensitive this morning. Genesis 37, I'm going to read just one verse. Verse number 3, very popular verse by a very popular man of God in the Scripture. The Bible says, Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a coat of many colors. He made him a coat of many colors. And I want to preach to you for just a few moments on this thought this morning. The high cost of the colored coat. The high cost of the colored coat. Let's pray. Father, I come before your throne of grace this morning. Lord, I want to thank you for being good to us. And Lord, I say hallowed be thy name this morning. Lord, you are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Lord, you are still on the throne. When we look around, Lord, we talk about the world, talk about the condition of people and where the world and society is at. Lord, it looks like things are falling all to pieces, but God, we know that you have got your finger on the pulse of this thing. It's running right on track. You are in control. Lord, we know that you are not up in heaven, Lord, doing all you can to try to keep this thing together. Lord, it's right where you want it to be. And Lord, I thank you that you are the almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing God. And so Lord, I thank you for being our God, Lord, that we're not mixed up in some other kind of religion or denomination or some other type of false teaching or preaching, but God, you've got us in a Baptist meeting this morning. And Lord, I thank you for these old-time brethren, these old-time preachers. Lord, I thank you for the old-time Word of God and the Spirit of God. And Lord, for all that you've given to us and blessed us with. Lord, if you'd never done anything good to us, if you'd never showed us any favor, you'd still be God, and I praise your name, and I thank you for what all you've done for us. And Father, I confess to you, Lord, our faults and failures and inabilities, Lord, our pitiful, Lord, lives, and Lord, the pitiful way we try to live for you and the pitiful things we try to do for you, Lord, we are so Unable, and Lord, we are so wicked most of the time, so I confess it to you and pray, O God, that you'd cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Plead your blood over this service and over my life this morning, and pray, O God, that you'd forgive us. Remove anything that would be between you and us. Lord, pray that you'd restore us to perfect fellowship. I pray God you'd put us in one accord, one mind that you might blow through this place as a rushing mighty wind. I pray God you'd save that lost soul that's here this morning. Show them the judgment they're under, the condemnation they're under, the wickedness of their heart. Show them the hell they're going to. Lord, show it to them in a supernatural, spiritual way. Give them sight. Lord, that they could see. Lord, show them Calvary and Your love and how good You've been to them. Lord, we know that it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. And so, Lord, I pray that You'd draw us to repentance this morning, save that poor old lost sinner. And for all of us here that are saved, pray that You'd draw us close to Your side. Lord, I pray that You'd reprove and rebuke us. And, Lord, encourage and uplift and edify us. Give us exactly what we need from Your Word. from this meeting in these days. What I want to say, I love you once again. Thank you for what you're going to do. For it's in the lovely and precious name of Jesus, the name that's above every name, the name of Jesus we pray. Amen and amen. Thank you. You may be seated. The high cost of the colored coat. I hope you'll pray for me. Wish you'd pray for me, Lord, help me with this thought. I've had several thoughts on my heart this morning and tried to get one message printed off and we couldn't get a printer working around here. And Brother Jamie was apologizing for that. I said, well, I just see that as the will of God, amen? God can fix a printer, amen, if He wants a message printed off. But this is, I believe, what the Lord's got for us this morning. I want to be obedient to Him and pray that it'll be a blessing and a help to you. But you think about that colored coat. The Bible says that Israel, that is Jacob, gave his son Joseph, who is a picture of Christ throughout the Old Testament, really no more perfect picture of Christ than Joseph in the Bible. One man said like over 140 different types and parallels between Christ and the life of Joseph. So a perfect picture and type of Christ in the Old Testament. But the Bible says that his father gave him a coat of many colors. And we've heard that story taught and preached as little children coming up in Sunday school and things like that. But you know, that coat there, that coat of many colors, speaks of the favor of the Father. You notice that none of the other brethren, none of his other brothers got a coat of many colors. It was only Joseph that got that coat. And he got that coat because he was favored by the Father. The Bible says that Israel loved Joseph more than all his other brethren. And so he was favored by his father. And because the father favored him, he gave him something to take upon himself that would show that favor to the world. show that favor to the brethren. Everywhere Joseph went, people could see him coming, and could see that coat of many colors coming from a distance, and they could see that favor on his life from the outside. Amen? And so it speaks of the favor of the Father. Now, I don't know about you, but I want the favor of the Father on my life. I want Him to breathe on what I am doing and favor what I am doing. I want Him to breathe on my preaching and breathe on my ministry and breathe on my family and have His favor. resting upon my family and resting upon my life and what I'm doing. And I believe this, anyone who's truly saved by the grace of God desires the same thing, Brother Jamie. We may not always pursue it and may not always seek after it like we should, but deep down in the recesses of our souls, God changes us in a supernatural way and causes us to desire to please God and desire to have his favor upon us. Do we not? Amen. So I don't know about you, but I want the favor of the Father on my life. I want Him to breathe on my life, amen? I found out a while back, you know, Abram's name was changed to Abraham, all right? And Maze Jackson used to say that God'll add the ham to your name when you start tithing, because that's whenever God added the ham to Abram's name, amen, when he started tithing, amen? But you know the difference between Abram and Abraham is two letters, H-A. And I found out that those two letters, that is a Hebrew word that literally means the breath of God. In other words, when Abram was obedient to God, whenever a father followed God, God got to breathing on his life and breathing on his ministry and breathing on what he was doing. And I want the same thing in my life. I want the favor of the Father. And I want it in such a way that the world can see it, and they notice it, and they can realize it and know that it's in my life. Amen? And by the way, we can have the favor of the Father. We can have that colored coat, so to speak, on our life, but you're going to have to be willing to pay for it. Joseph paid a high cost for the colored coat. It cost him a lot. As a matter of fact, it cost him nearly everything he had, really, to get that colored coat and to get the favor of the Father all his life. Now you say, why was Joseph loved by the Father? I've wondered that before in my life. As I look at the scripture, I wonder, why was Joseph loved more than the brethren? Well, the verse there says, because he was a child of his old age. But I think this too, you look back in verse number two, the very best phrase of verse number two, it says, Joseph brought unto his father their evil report, talking about his other brethren. That is, I think Joseph simply loved the father more than the other brethren did. I think Joseph simply cared more about his daddy than his other brother did. Amen? So it caused the father to love him because he loved the father. Doesn't the Bible say, draw nigh to God and God will draw nigh to you? Isn't that what it says? Hey, it all gets back to our affections. It all gets back to our priority. Amen? If we will draw nigh to God, He'll draw nigh to us and we can have the favor of the father and we can have the colored coat, but you've got to be willing to pay for it. It's not going to come easy. Most folks want to have the favor of the Father on their life. They want to have God bless in what they're doing, but they are not willing to pay for it. There's a word that has become a curse word in Baptist churches, and that word is sacrifice. That word is sacrifice. We want to have all the good things that God has to offer. We want to have all His blessings. We want to have His favor and want Him to be blessed in what we're doing, but we are unwilling to sacrifice most of the time. We're unwilling to sacrifice. So this is the question this morning. How much are you willing to pay for the favor? How much are you willing to pay for that colored coat on your life? Let's look at a few things in Joseph's life that it cost him that I believe it's going to cost you, too, if you're going to have the favor of the Father, if you're going to wear the colored coat, if you're going to have something that the world is going to see and have God's anointing resting upon what you're doing. Preacher or not preacher, preacher or layperson, we all desire the favor of the Father. By the way, Joseph wasn't a preacher. Amen? Joseph was a ruler and a leader. Amen? So it's not just preachers that need this. We all need the favor of the Father. Amen? And there are some things it is going to cost us. Number one, you look at Joseph's life, it cost him his camp. It cost him his camp. You say, but what are you talking about, Will? His brothers hated him. His family despised him. And they despised him because of that coat. They despised him because of that favor. And it was that coat that he wore, that outward appearance that really stirred their indignation against him so much that they finally sold him into slavery and cast him into the pit and even wanted to kill him. See, they despised Joseph up to that point anyways. They didn't like him anyways, but it was whenever the father gave him that coat, and whenever the father gave him something that showed them his favor on the outside, that's what really stirred them. That's whenever they could see him coming down the road wearing that coat that really stirred their anger. And so whenever he took on that favor and took on that coat, it cost him his family. Now, he could have maybe taken that coat off and compromised a little bit and cut a few corners a little bit and kept his good relationship with his family, but he said, no sir, I'd much rather have the favor of the father than have the favor of my brothers. Amen? And can I help you a little bit this morning? A lot of you are serving God up to the point where it upsets your family, but you've got some family in your life that they are keeping you from going any further with God. I've seen a lot of folks that'll serve God except for some cousin in their life. Amen? They'll serve God except for some aunt or some uncle or some friend or some brother in their life. And that's as far as they'll go. And when it starts upsetting their family, they start backtracking and stepping back a little bit and not going any further with God because it upsets their family. And they're unwilling to cut ties with their camp for the favor of the Father. But can I help you this morning? If you're gonna have His favor, and if you're gonna have Him breathing on what you're doing, and have Him anointing what you're doing, it's gonna cost you cutting some ties with some of your family, amen? Amen. By the way, your family will be your greatest hindrance a lot of times in this Christian walk. Amen? Hey, you go to start trying to do what's right, and God goes to working in your home, working in your marriage, and you start changing the way you're raising your kids, and you start changing the way you dress, and you start changing the places you're going, all those things, your family will be the first one to step up and say, man, why are y'all doing all this stuff? Why have y'all gotten so fanatical and so crazy about God? Why don't y'all go to the family reunions with us anymore? Why don't y'all go down to the river anymore? Why don't we ever see you here, there, and everywhere anymore? Hey, why are you doing all the things? Why are you making your little girl dress that way? Why are you making your little boy dress that way? You're going to warp them. You're going to pervert them. They're gonna be unsocialized, amen? You pull them out of the public indoctrination center and go to homeschool them and bring them up in the nurturing admonition of the Lord the right way, praise God. They'll say, boy, you're gonna unsocialize them. They're gonna be all messed up and all warped, amen? And they'll be the first ones to step up and question you and persecute you over the favor of the Father and the colored coat that you're wearing before them, amen? I tell you what will happen to them though, they'll send their kids down to the public school and get them indoctrinated with the world and get them exposed to drugs and alcohol and sex and transgenderism and all these sodomites and all that stuff. And the devil will get their kids and he'll warp their kids, praise God. I want my kids to be brainwashed. I want myself to be brainwashed. I want to be brainwashed with the Word of God, not with sodomy and transgenderism, amen? With the Word of God, praise the Lord. But when you start trying to do things right and take on that colored coat, they'll step up in your face and they'll go to question and want to know why in the world you're doing what you're doing. And if you're not careful, that'll discourage you. This is your family, right? We love our family, don't we? And we want our family to be in favor of what we're doing, don't we? Don't we all want that? I mean, you love your blood family, but I found this out in my short time in the ministry, my short time as a Christian. that my spiritual family is a whole lot closer to me than my blood family and they've gone a lot more miles with me than my blood family has and they've encouraged me a lot more along the way than my blood family has and when my blood family is in there to discourage me and persecute me and try to drag me down and get me off course and get me to quit and get me to go back to the world My spiritual family has been there to keep me going, praise God. Hey, we ought to serve God rather than men. Take on the colored coat and cut ties with your camp, praise God. Send that smoking, drinking cousin on down the road. Send them down. No, don't let them hinder you. Amen? It cost him his cap. See, your family knows everything about you. Some of them changed your diapers whenever you were little, and they know everything about you. They know the way you used to be and all the mess-ups you've had in your life. They know all that stuff. They know all that stuff. And your family's more comfortable with you than anybody else. And they'll say things and ask things to your face that other people will only put on Facebook about you. I mean, put on these real generic rants, you know, on Facebook, and everybody knows what they're talking about. And they'll put it out there for the whole world to see. Everybody knows what they're talking about. But if they won't say it to your face, they'll take it to the keyboard and put it on the Internet. Your family will come to your face, though. Stay off that social media and ranting and raving on social media. That's wicked as the devil, amen? Our church uses it, and I'm on there, but I'm telling you, you can use that junk for evil. It amazes me the things that people would never say to your face, but they'll put out for the whole world to see. Quit airing your stinking, dirty laundry on Facebook, wicked heathens. Praise God. I'm saying your family will be your greatest discouragement, though. And some of you have not gone any farther with God than what you've gone because you're willing to pay the price of your camp. You want to hang on to your family and the relationship with your family more than you want the favor of the Father. The fact of the matter is, it's just going to simply upset some of your family to live for God. And I'll tell you what it is. It's not so that they really think that you're going to warp your kids, and it's not so that they really think you're backwards in the way that you're dressing. You know, you women start dressing like women, and men start dressing like men, and you see a division in the sexes, and everybody starts doing things right, and you start having family alter and all those things. It's not really that they think it's so weird. What it is, is it's conviction. They see what you're doing, and they know they ought to be doing that, and they want to tear you down to make them feel better is what it is. So just keep going for God. Amen? It cost him his camp, his family. But let me just say this, and if you can stay with me, I don't want to confuse you, but his brothers were also brethren. You understand what I'm saying? They were his blood family, but they were sons of the Father too. They were brethren. Let me help you with something. It's going to cost us some of our camp in terms of the brethren as well. You can't run with everything that calls itself an old-time Christian and have the favor of the Father on your life. You can't do it. Amen? And I know some guys, they would go further with God except for this friend in the ministry that they have and is holding them back. Amen? You can't run with everything that comes around the road. You can't run in every circle. You can't run in every meeting. You can't run with everything that calls itself a brother. You can't run with everything that calls itself a Baptist church. You can't run with everything that calls itself a preacher and follow everybody and everything and have the favor of the Father on your life. Amen? Amen. I'll just be honest with you. I'm not running with these preachers that's been married two and three and four times. Amen. Because I'm willing to cut ties with a brother. I don't care if they are a friend. I want the favor of the Father more than I want friends. Amen. Praise God. You can't run with everything and have the favor of the Father on your life. Amen. It cost him his camp. You willing to pay the price of your camp to get the favor? Are you? You willing to pay for it? A lot of folks aren't. That's where they stop right there. They won't go any further because they know it's going to cost them their camp. Amen. Cost them his camp. Then number two, very quickly, it cost him his comfort. The colored coat cost Joseph his camp. It cost him his comfort. It cost him his comfort and his comfort zone, by the way. A lot of folks will serve God as long as it's comfortable to serve God. As long as they've got a nice air-conditioned building, and padded pews, padded seats to sit on, and everything's comfortable, and everything's easy, they'll be faithful, and they'll show up, and they'll be there, and they'll tithe when the money is right, they'll tithe when they've got excess, they'll serve when they've got the extra time, they'll be there when they feel right and they feel good, but any little excuse, any little thing that gets them a tad bit uncomfortable, and buddy, they are cutting out, and you couldn't find them with a search warrant, amen? A lot of Christians are that way. We are in such a soft society, and everything is so comfortable now, amen? We spend less time in church than what most of our forefathers spent getting to church. Amen? Amen? Folks will go to a ball game and spend all day at a ball game. Spend all day. Or a deer stand or on the creek bank fishing. They'll spend all day doing that stuff. But heaven help the preacher get stirred up and preach 15 minutes too long. They get their digies in a wad and want to run the preacher down the road. Amen. Run him down in town. Boy, I'm not going to that church. Man, he preaches too long. Well, you didn't think the ballgame went too long. Matter of fact, folks would pay top dollar for good seats at a ballgame. Amen. Spend 150 bucks a pop for a ballgame. Amen. That's right, go to the LSU game, spend $150 a piece for the game, drive six hours to get there, spend all day in the sleet, rain, snow, hurricane, don't matter, they'll spend all day, but they wouldn't toss 10 cents in the plate when it comes by, amen, and wonder why God's not blessing them. Wonder why God hasn't got his hand and his favor on their life? Wonder why their kids are in a mess? Wonder why their home's in a mess? Wonder why the church isn't in any more condition? Let me help you with something. What kind of condition would the church be if you were pastoring a whole church full of you? If every church member was exactly like you, how thriving would the work be? What are you willing to pay for the colored coat? Amen. Amen. Spend all day at a ball game and hope that it goes into overtime. Folks want a good ball game, right? Man, it's fun when it goes into overtime, ain't it? Hey, let's hope the church service don't get into overtime. I mean, heaven forbid the Holy Spirit get to moving and folks get to getting saved and getting right with God. The church service go 15 or half hour minutes too long, amen. Folks getting right with God, getting stirred up for the glory of God. Hey, heaven forbid that happened, but boy I sure hope this ball game gets into overtime. I love a game that gets into overtime, amen. Is everybody listening? sitting in a deer stand, sitting in a freezing deer stand, get up at four in the morning, go sit in a freezing deer stand all day, can't sit on a nice padded pew at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. Folks lay out all night on Saturday night, go to a gospel singing, can't get to church on Sunday morning. That's wicked as the devil. Amen, amen. By the way, while I'm here, let me hit it. There is no such thing as a God-called professional singing group. Ain't no singing group more God called than your preacher. Amen. You need to be there to support him and hold his hands up and say amen when he preaches a message as hard as this one is. Amen. Support the local church. Get behind your man and you might see the favor of God fall on that thing. Amen. That's right. We got a priorities problem and folks are unwilling to get uncomfortable for the glory of God. Amen. It cost him his comfort and his comfort zone. Listen to me. I know firsthand that it is uncomfortable serving God sometimes. I know that. You see us in a pool pit running around screaming, hollering, sweating. This is the fun part. This is the fun part. This is more comfortable than a lot of the other stuff you have to do in the ministry. This is uncomfortable than being on your knees at four and five and six o'clock in the morning. This is uncomfortable than those tear-filled prayers when you're begging God to help that family in your church when you see their family falling apart and you see their marriage on the rocks and you're crying, the tears are dropping on your pillow at night because you're begging God to do something in the work of God, amen? That's the uncomfortable part. You only see this. You don't see all that, praise God. It is uncomfortable serving God sometimes. It's uncomfortable to walk up to some homeless man who stinks and ain't had a bath in weeks, and you can smell the liquor on his breath, and man, you don't know what he's gonna do. It's uncomfortable to walk up to a fellow like that and say, you've been saved by the good grace of God. Start trying to share the gospel. It's uncomfortable to walk up to a rich doctor and ask him that. It's uncomfortable to talk to people about the things that God in this day. If I'm just going to be honest, is anybody with me? Am I the only one that gets a little uncomfortable knocking on someone's door who I don't know who it is? Amen? But you know what? I go ahead and I do it anyways. I go ahead and I walk by faith. Amen? I don't always do it like I should. But if you're going to be a good Christian, and if you're going to have the favor on your life, you go ahead and do it anyways. Amen? And the question is, are you willing to sacrifice your comfort? Do you think Paul and Silas were comfortable in prison? Oh boy, serving God is really hard in America in this day. The week after our missions conference, we're going to do a big push in our town. There's right at 7,000 people in Amory. We're going to put out 7,000 tracks in six days. A track for every person in that gospel, a track for every person in Amory. I've got to sign up sheets. Folks are signing up for the times they're going to go out and do it. And buddy, our people don't want it. Brother Ronnie, he passes that church. He'll do anything you ask him to do. Praise God. You'll never hear me tear down my church, praise God. Amen. I pastor a good church. I hear these young men talk about all the problems they got in the churches they're passing. I don't know what they're talking about, man. Praise God. Amen. Amen. Hey, they'll do anything you ask them to do, and they've jumped in there, but one of the points I made in that was going out, spending 15, 20, 30 minutes a day handing out tracts. I said, boy, it's tough serving God in this day, ain't it? Been 15, 20, 30 minutes a day handing out tracts? Boy, it's hard to serve God. We don't know what discomfort is in America. Paul and Silas, they weren't comfortable. Peter wasn't comfortable. John wasn't comfortable on the Isle of Patmos, been boiled in oil. We don't know what discomfort is, but most of us will only go as far as our comfort level, and that's it. What you willing to pay? It cost him his comfort. Later on this very chapter, he was cast into a pit, Joseph was. Over in chapter 39, he was cast into prison, falsely accused. I mean discomfort after discomfort. It cost him to wear that colored coat. By the way, all of this started when he put on that coat. That's when it started. And that's when it's going to start in your life. When you get willing to pay that price for the colored coat. Cost him his comfort. Very quickly, cost him his control. Joseph lost, because he wore that coat, he lost all control over his life. Matter of fact, from that point on, his life was put into the hands of somebody else, from that point on. He put that colored coat on, he walked up to his brethren, and they took him with their hands, cast him into that pit, sold him into slavery. Later on in his life, he's cast into prison. I mean, just over and over and over. Joseph has got no control over his life anymore. And it cost him that. He had to be willing to give up his control to put on that colored coat. Amen? Now some of you, you'll serve God as far as the control goes. Then when God asks you to give up control, you go to backing up on Him. You'll go as far as God asks you to do, as long as you can control the outcome. As long as you can still get your will done and still get your dreams accomplished. Amen? God wants all of you. God requires all of you. Amen? It's going to cost you your control. Reminds me of the Old Testament when God started setting up those burnt offerings. The priest would put those offerings up on that altar. And when the offering was on the altar, he was not to touch it with his hands after that point, was he? He wasn't to touch it. See, a lot of folks, they'll put their sacrifice on the altar. They say, Lord, I'll give you this part of my life. I'll give this to you, as long as your hand's still on it. But when God calls them to take their hand off and let Him control that thing, they won't do it. They can't do it. They won't give God their control. Amen? And I've seen folks that God deal with them, and deal with them, and work in their life. But see, they've got these plans, and they've got these dreams, and they've got this vision, and they've got this direction that they want their life to go. Oh, they want to go to college, and they want to have a big career, and they want to do this, and they want to do that. And I'll serve God as long as I can do all those things still. But when God asks them to have full control of their life, they will not do it. By the way, you won't get any further with God. unless you're willing to pay the price of your control. It cost him his control. It cost him his connection. It cost him his connection. Joseph lost all control of his life, but then he wound up miles from the Father. He wound up down in Egypt. I mean, miles and miles away from his Father, from his family, and all that. His connection was cut from the Father. Well, how does that apply to us? Well, let me ask you something. I can remember as a young Christian, boy I ain't seen that like this preach in a long time. Praise God. I can remember as a young Christian, you probably remember it too. You just got saved and buddy you are excited about being saved. I mean it's like everything's new. It's like Brother James talked about it last time. You didn't know anything hardly about you know the Christian life or what all God did for you, but when you get saved the Lord starts revealing that stuff to you. You start reading that Bible. For the first time you're actually Hearing preaching. Amen. You're sitting in a church and you're hearing the preacher and the Lord is basically telling you that's what I did for you This is what I did for you and you read that Bible and the Lord shows you a scripture in the Bible He says that's what I did for you. He puts you in that scripture. Amen, and it's so exciting man. I When I got saved, I was working in Tupelo, driving from Amory to Tupelo, about an almost an hour drive every day. I listened to preaching to and from work, amen? I wasn't even a preacher yet, but I was listening to preaching to and from work, praise God, because I liked hearing that Bible preached, amen? And I cut my teeth on Brother Ronnie Sutton preaching, and Brother LaRue Hill preaching, and Billy Mitchell, and Mays Jackson, J. Harold Smith, and Billy Kelly, and Percy Ray, and all them old timers, praise God. And I was listening to that stuff to and from work, amen? just soaking it in. And it seemed like God was everywhere I turned. I mean everywhere I turned. When I woke up in the morning it seemed like God was there. I could sense His presence. I could just sense Him hearing and answering my prayers. It's like God was right there with me everywhere I went. But then one morning or one day it seemed like I woke up and someone had just cut a spiritual switch off and it seemed like God was miles away and I couldn't sense His presence anywhere. Y'all know what that's like? Am I the only one that's that way? I mean, it's like I get down to pray, and it's like, man, God, I just don't feel you. It's like, Lord, where are you? I feel like you're praying to a brass ceiling that's not getting six feet above your head, and you're just not getting through, and you read your Bible, and instead of it being exciting and God putting you there and bringing all these things out to you, instead, it's just a grind, and it's like you're just trying to get through it, and it's like, you know, God's not moving in it. It's like, man, what is going on here? Search your life, and you say, Lord, have I gotten into some kind of sin? You search your life and confess all the sin you know to confess. And it's like, well, man, I'm not in any gross sin. And, Lord, I'm just trying to do the best I can. But, Lord, where are you? Lord, where are you? In a way, that's what Joseph experienced. He's doing all he can to serve his Father.