======================================================================== OPENING THE STOREHOUSES by Keith Malcomson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon focuses on the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis, highlighting the preparation and trials he faced to become a vessel of recovery. It emphasizes the importance of being grounded in God's control amidst crises, the need for personal preparation for international crises, and the significance of opening storehouses to feed nations. The sermon also delves into the restoration of Joseph's brothers, showcasing the power of repentance and forgiveness in facing past sins and embracing God's plan for good. Duration: 1:00:58 Topics: "God's Sovereignty", "Forgiveness and Restoration" Scripture References: Genesis 41:54, Genesis 42:21, Genesis 45:4, Matthew 24:14, Revelation 21:12, Psalm 105:16, James 5:16, Romans 8:28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon focuses on the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis, highlighting the preparation and trials he faced to become a vessel of recovery. It emphasizes the importance of being grounded in God's control amidst crises, the need for personal preparation for international crises, and the significance of opening storehouses to feed nations. The sermon also delves into the restoration of Joseph's brothers, showcasing the power of repentance and forgiveness in facing past sins and embracing God's plan for good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ But here this morning, please, I want you to turn to Genesis, the first book of the Bible, again, Genesis chapter 41, and we're going to read there from the Word of God. We have just entered into another six-week period of lockdown. I guess this is our third lockdown here in Ireland, and they're now even beginning to talk about a six-month period like this, not just six weeks, but six months, and we've seen it in Europe, across Britain, we've seen this spreading. I am not ignorant of what is behind this. I know the agenda, I know the plans, I know the movements that are going on behind, but saints, never let us forget here this morning that God's hand is in this. If all you can see is the hand of wicked men, of evil men, or the devil, or mere circumstance, you are a very confused person in this hour. You must be grounded in the written scriptures to know that God is in control. I personally believe that God has spent decades preparing me personally for this hour. It's not an accident. I'm in the right place, at the right time, to do the right thing, and to speak the right thing. This is not out of control. I am utterly at rest in this hour, and yet I'm very aware that it's evil that's taken place in our world. We are here in this series, and I want to bring you to the fourth and final message in Joseph, a vessel of recovery. You see, I believe in these messages, we're not dealing with all of Joseph's life. We don't have time. We'll do it at another time, looking at the life of Joseph, but here in this message, in these four messages, we look at Joseph as a vessel of recovery. He might represent a man, an individual, a woman, a preacher, a pastor. He may represent a church, a ministry, or even a movement, but I believe there is a Joseph company, or a group of people who, like Joseph, are being prepared as a vessel through many long years to come to an hour of international crisis. We are there, and I believe that God has already prepared a people right across the world who are going to open up the storehouses. My message here, this fourth and final message in Joseph, listen to the title, Opening the Storehouses. This is how we're going to finish it, and there's much more we could say, but I want to bring you to the ultimate plan of God for this hour in church history, the hour that we're living in. I believe we have reached an hour. It is time to open the storehouses. Reading from Genesis chapter 41 and verse 54. Chapter 41 and verse 54, and we're going to read over to chapter 42 as well. The seven years of dearth began to come according as Joseph had said. The dearth was in all lands, but in the land of Egypt, there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph. What he saith to you, do. The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians. The famine waxed worse in the land of Egypt, and all countries came into Egypt and Joseph for to buy corn because that the famine was sore in all lands. Now, when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, why do you look one upon another? And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down hither and buy for us from thence that we may live and not die. And Joseph's 10 brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. Let's pray together. Father, I pray for every individual in this meeting here this morning. Lord God, I pray for every person that is going to listen to this message afterwards, those that have already listened to three previous messages. Father, I pray that you will have a people prepared right across this world, in Australia, Germany, in America, in Wales, in England, right across the world, even Ireland, that you will have a people prepared who know how to open the storehouses, who have been getting prepared in the trials. They've been in pits, they've been in prisons, they've been falsely accused, they've been rejected by their own brethren. My God, I pray that a people will be prepared in this hour who still has come into their actual soul, who have been made ready, a chosen vessel forged in the furnace, a vessel brought forth that all things that were meant for evil to destroy them were working for good. And I pray for all my friends in this hour of crisis, in this hour of confusion, that your church is going to revive, that your church is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that all those that have been preparing themselves are going to know the mind of God and the will of God and the word of God, and the preachers will be stirred to rise up in this hour and to preach with a knowledge of the plan and the purpose of God. Father, we pray for this message this morning. Lord God, meet with us in this gathering, have a dealing with our heart and make us ready for one of the greatest chapters in church history. My God, I believe that it is such an hour in Jesus' mighty name. We love you and bless you. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Amen. My message here this morning, opening the store houses. There was an hour and when you see Joseph in Genesis chapter 41 and verse 56, it says, Joseph opened the store houses. When you begin to realize that all the trials, all the troubles, all the temptation, all the hatred of his brothers, all of their anger, all of their jealousy, all of their bitterness, all of their actions of the Ishmaelites and Potiphar and his wife, all of these individuals, all of these actions in life, when you realize that all of these things had to be, woe unto the man that does them. Woe unto the man that gets angry. Woe unto the man that bears false accusation. But I tell you, when you realize from God's perspective and from Joseph's perspective, all these things had to be, he could never have been in that position to open up the store houses unless God had put him through all of this. He wouldn't have been able for it. He wouldn't have had the wisdom of God. He wouldn't have had the character and the nature to do it. And when you begin to realize that God had a plan, an eternal plan that even being thrown into a pit, being hated by your brothers was all intrinsic to the plan of God. When you begin to realize the saints, it makes you look at trials and troubles radically differently. When you realize it's the preparation of God, it is the hand of God. It is the will of God. What's meant for evil is going to work for you. You're good. When you pray like that, when you believe like that, when you stand fast in that, you don't feel it. You don't even, you have contrary thoughts. It doesn't look like it. You can't discern it with the human eye, but when you lay hold of God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of Joseph, when you see from his perspective that there is a plan that when you get thrown into a pit, God is going to refine me in this. God's going to prepare me. I'm going to come out preaching. Whatever happens, when all hell lets loose of me, I'm going to pray that heaven opens and blesses me. You see Joseph as an individual and a company of believers was chosen for the task. He was fitted for the task in the fire and he was made ready for that task through many decades of hard trials. As he endured through the trials, through suffering, as he faced temptation, God was preparing him. All of this was perfectly in the plan of God. Woe unto those who do it, like Judas. Woe unto that man that betrays Jesus, but one of you must. Someone is going to betray Jesus, but it doesn't have to be you. Woe unto you if you're used in the hand of God to forge a Joseph. Woe unto you if your anger is going to prepare him to sit on the throne. I've got three points for you here this morning in this final message. I want to look at Joseph as he comes down to step into this plan that he could not see in the pit or in the prison, but it began to be revealed. My first point is the final preparations. The final preparations. We find this in Genesis chapter 41. Joseph had gone through 30 years of the furnace. He had been in the trials, rejected, hurt, offended, left alone, deserted, forgotten, betrayed, lied about. All of these things, 13 years of preparation, and yet when the trials came to an end, when these hard troubles came to an end, when iron or steel had literally entered his soul, there were still final preparations, but they didn't look like the pit and they didn't look like the prison. God had another place for these final preparations, and it was in the palace. You see, God not only uses pits and prisons, but he also uses a palace, and God is going to bring Joseph into the palace of Pharaoh's royal household, and in seven years, these would be the final preparations of God upon his life to do the will of God. You see, last week we left Joseph in a prison. He was there, and after two more years being forgotten, forsaken, and left in the prison, God accomplished his will. Two more years of isolation. You might say, the past two years have been wasted. What have I done for God? I'm sitting here. I don't have any outlet. Maybe God is bringing you to that final place of preparation. In one single day, we see Joseph rise like a meteor. We see him go from the prison, and in one single day, he becomes the prime minister of the land of Egypt. In that hour, it was the greatest empire in that generation. It was the widest spread, the most notorious, and the strongest, and yet in one day, this young man gets catapulted from the prison into the second highest position in the land. When his trials and troubles started, he was 17 years old. Now, when he's brought up out of the prison, we find that he is a young, mature man of 30 years old. God knows when to bring you out of the fire. He knows when to bring you out of the prison. I know we have our own thoughts, but I assure you, if you serve God, if you love him, if you're called by his purpose, if you submit yourself to him, even though you are in agony of soul, I assure you, God will bring forth his plan and his purpose. What brought an end to these 13 years of fairness, of fiery trials? What brought an end to his imprisonment? It says in chapter 41 and verse 1, listen carefully, and it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed. You see, it was time now. God said it was time, and what does he do? He gives a dream to the leader, the Pharaoh of Egypt. That was an unsaved man, an unregenerate political leader, and yet God gives him dreams. As we look at the life of Daniel and the life of Joseph, I'm much encouraged to pray for politicians, even unsaved politicians. God could give them a dream that's going to affect the church. God could speak in a dream to a national leader, and we will be able to speak into their life. I believe it with all of my heart. I am absolutely persuaded. These are very strange days, very, very strange days. We're told that Pharaoh gathered all his wise men, his magicians, all these wise counselors, and he shared the dream and asked for the interpretation. Not a one of them could interpret that, and in this situation, the butler who had been rescued two years before suddenly remembers that he'd forgotten about Joseph. I don't believe that was the butler. I believe it was God hid it in his mind and brought it back in that hour. Now we see God beginning to work. Joseph's still in the prison, but God has given a dream to Pharaoh. Now he's making the butler to remember his sins and to remember the testimony and to begin to speak about Joseph. He speaks to Pharaoh and says, I know a man who can interpret dreams. I know a man who prophetically revealed that in three days that you would raise me up, and I would be restored, and my friend would be lifted up to be killed. So we see that Pharaoh had two dreams, and he sent for this young man, Joseph. You know what the Bible says? They brought him hastily. It means they made him to run. When that prison guard went in there, said, Joseph, you better run with all your strength. Time to get showered, time to get dressed. The Pharaoh of Egypt has called for you. Since I tell you things can change in one day by the sovereign hand of God, you may think nothing is going to happen. You may be at the end of yourself. You may think that all the dreams, they perished in that prison, but I assure you, in one hour, God can revive your dreams. God-given dreams, God-given callings. You may say it's come to nothing. It's all ashes. I assure you, if you're walking with God, God can revive your dreams. I've often said through the years that the dreams God has given me have died a thousand deaths. They've died a thousand deaths, and they come alive again. I've seen it so many times, I don't worry about it. I don't try to bring anything to pass, but I just trust him. If you say it, God, it shall come to pass. All I have to do is make sure my character is right. Make sure I'm prepared in the hand of God. Make sure no bitterness gets in my heart. Make sure I forgive all those that do me wrong. I assure you, God is working in this hour. They brought him out the dungeon hastily. Get up, young man. Run, run. Get ready. Pharaoh is calling for you. Pharaoh shares his two dreams, two dreams from God. Listen, I won't go into it all, but let me condense it. In his first dream, he had two groups of seven cows. These seven cows, seven of them were very fat and prosperous. The other seven were very lean and hadn't had much to eat. In this dream, the seven thin cows eat up the seven prosperous or fat cows. That was the first dream. The second dream was two groups of seven corns or ears of corns. Seven of them were very full and prosperous. Seven of them were very lean. In this dream again, the lean or the thin ones ate them up. That's literally what happened in these dreams. Joseph was able to give the interpretation. Listen, both of these dreams symbolized two periods of seven years. Joseph was able to speak to Pharaoh and say, I know the interpretation. He began to explain it. It's two periods of seven years. There's going to be seven years of plenty in the land of Egypt. Then there's going to come seven years of famine where the nations are going to come into a crisis. He didn't only stop there. He begins to counsel Pharaoh on what to do. He said, Pharaoh, the dreams that you've dreamed are doubled unto you by God. It is because it is established by God. It will shortly come to pass. Pharaoh said, you're a great man, a great interpreter of dreams. I've heard about you. Do you know what Joseph said? No dream interpretation is with God. It's not me. It is the God of heaven. Do you notice that Joseph through all of his trials, all the preparations, God is always at the center of everything. God is the cause of everything. Do you remember when Potiphar's wife tempts him? He said, how can I sin against God? That is why he ran. It's because he was a God centered man. God gets all the glory. He fears God. He is conscious of God in his life. Oh, give us again in the church, men and women gripped with an awareness of God. You're not living to other Christians. It's not what men think about you. Are you living unto God? Remember when the butler and baker, he interpreted their dreams and he told them clearly, I can't interpret your dreams. It is God that interprets your dream. And when he stood before Pharaoh, he said, Pharaoh, it's not me that interprets your dreams. It's God that interprets your dreams. You see in Joseph's life, through all of these trials, God was at the center. He was at the center of the pep, the center of the prison. And he would be in the days ahead, the center of the palace. You see, dream interpretations are from God. I've met along the way, men, women, different places. They've emailed me or I've met them in meetings and they come to me and say, do you know I have the gift of healing? I don't know them. They're strangers to me. And they'll come and say, I have the gift of discernment. I have the gift of healing. 99% of the time, I'll immediately go, this person doesn't have those gifts. You know what? They're not giving glory to God. They're saying, I have, I haven't seen one of them heal, not a one of them. No one who's approached like me that I see do a miracle or reveal the secrets of my heart. Not a one of them. They claim the gifts, but they're looking for the glory. Joseph didn't do that. Few men could interpret dreams like Joseph, but he said, get this straight. It's not me that can do this. I cannot do it. Same with Daniel. It's not me. It is with the Lord. The Lord alone can do this. You see, God had shown Pharaoh the future. He'd shown them what was going to come during the next 14 years. Could God do that with an unsaved politician? Yes, absolutely. Yes, he can. God could reveal the future to an unsaved politician or world leader. But look at Joseph. Joseph is interpreting them, saying there's going to be seven years of famine, sorry, seven years of plenty, then seven years of famine. But he doesn't stop there. He said, Pharaoh, this is what you need to do. You need to organize. You need a plan. You need to set someone over it. You need to store up during the seven years of plenty to prepare for the famine. He began to give Pharaoh the wisdom of God. You see, he's a man of 30 with the wisdom of God. He's just come up out of a prison. He's only just been showered. He's only just been shaved, I am sure. And he's standing there, but he's got the wisdom of God. He's got integrity. He's got clarity. He knows the will of God. Oh, that we have men prepared in this hour who know the will of God, that come up out of the prison. You see, you might meet someone today who's just been in a prison. If you knew they'd been in a prison, you'd count them as of no consequence. What no mega church, what no gathering of a thousand people, what no great ministry. No, I was in a prison. Until just a few hours ago, I was in a prison rejected by all. But you know from God's purpose, he was a vessel prepared in the fire. You're just the man that God needs, just the vessel, the instrument, the church that God needs. You've been in the fire. You might be laughed at by those 10 brothers, but I assure you, they won't be laughing very soon where we're going. Do you realize that Pharaoh then appointed Joseph and said, you are the man who has wisdom like you, who has integrity like you, who has the ability and the gifting of God like you. He then invested him with power, with position, and with possessions in the palace. Do you realize what a trial that is? You see, some people could survive the pit and the prison, but the palace could make their head swirl. They could get proud and destroy the will of God in their life. You know, there's many preachers with good ministries, with big congregations, with nice churches. They're like the 10 brothers sitting in Cana. That's what they're like, but you know what? God cannot use them because of the pride. He can use a little servant sitting in a prison, but he can't use them. They're unusable because of what it has done to their heart. Success in ministry has destroyed them. They have no message for this hour. They have no character. They have no example. They are useless and worthless to the plan of God. God has to set them aside. Yes, leave them with a nice church. Yes, give them a nice ministry. Let them carry on preaching, but they have no message for this generation. They're not at the center of God's purpose. They're a liar. They're a hypocrite. They're a game player, but I assure you when Joseph was brought up into that palace, he is a man prepared for that. The prison couldn't destroy him. The pit couldn't destroy him. Neither did the palace destroy him. He had character. He had humility. He had his eyes upon God. He had his eyes in the right perspective. Pharaoh raised him up to be second in the entire nation unto Pharaoh himself. You know what he actually done? He put everything into his hands in the nation. Pharaoh took off his own ring, off his own hand, and he put it on the finger of Joseph. He clothed him in fine royal linen. He put a golden chain around his neck, and Joseph rode the second chariot to Pharaoh himself. He was made ruler over the entire nation. Do you think the prison is worthless? Do you think the pit is worthless? Do you not think that going through 13 years of hatred and bitterness and rejection is all worth it if God's hand is in it to prepare you for such an hour and time? You see, Joseph had a lovely heart to Pharaoh. He was a man under authority. Remember, his preparation isn't finished yet. I'm saying there's another seven years before he's ready to face his brethren again. Seven more years in preparation before he can face those brothers. This was an hour of preparation. In this hour, in the palace, will he forget God? Will he forget his heritage? Will he forget the dream? Will he forget his family? The pit, the prison, and the palace can be very dangerous, but I want to show you he walked with integrity in that palace, just like he did in the prison and in the pit. He walked with integrity. He was given a new Egyptian name, but none of that Egyptian got in him. He was in the world, but he was not of this world. He wasn't conformed to this world. He was a man of God. He was a worshiper of the God of the Bible, just like Daniel. They changed his name, but that character had been changed by God. If a man's character is changed by God, he'll survive the palace, just like he will the prison. I promise you, if God has had a dealing with your heart, if he has given you a true perspective of things, we know that in this position, he also received a wife. In fact, her family was one of the most prestigious families in the nation. From her, he had two children. You see, this was a time to work. Do you think he said, I'm going to get back at Potiphar and Potiphar's wife? She falsely accused me. She put me in a prison. I was left there to rot. Now, I'm the second highest in the land. Can you imagine Potiphar's wife, when she sees him riding down that road behind Pharaoh, can you imagine the fear, the shock, the intimidation, the embarrassment? But you know what? There's no vengeance in Joseph's heart. You know what? He doesn't have time to go looking for her. Neither does he have time to return to Canaan and to see his family or to wreak vengeance against his brothers. Why didn't he march an army against his 10 brothers? He could have done it. He could have done it. Do you realize that he was a man gripped? He's only one day out of the prison, but he is gripped with the plan of God. You see, it is a time to work. He's only got seven years to prepare for a famine. Joseph knows a day of crisis is coming. Joseph knows all nations are going to be faced with this. Joseph knows all things are going to be shit from top to bottom. Joseph knows there's going to be a famine across the world. It is time to work. He's got seven years. There's a lot of lazy Christians. You've never prepared for this hour. For the past seven years, when God was calling you to prepare, you're found bankrupt in this hour. Do you know how many emails I've had over recent weeks from Israel, from Galilee, all the way through to America? I'm receiving emails from Christians who are listening my great reset messages. You know what? They're writing email on me. They're saying, I've sinned. I've been committing sin. Now I've listened to your messages and I'm waking up. What am I going to do? Do you know what? I have showed them, I've pointed them to the blood. I prayed for them. I've phoned them. I've emailed them. I've tried to help them. And I said, I can't help you. If you listen to me, I can't help you. But do you know what? These are lazy Christians who, when everything was okay in our world, when they said, Jesus is delaying, they played games in the house of God, they played with sin. And you know what? In this hour of crisis, they're suddenly going, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? Do you know the 10 brothers were like that? They were not preparing for the famine. They didn't know it was coming. Most in the church did not know this hour of crisis of famine was coming. Isn't it true for seven years in this church? And we've had this church going seven years. Haven't we been preparing for this very hour? Seven years ago, I was traveling the nations with Candace. Every other week we were just flying somewhere, preaching, teaching. I had calls, come teach leaders, come minister at conventions. And I made the very hard decision to stop traveling and to start a new church here. I was in turmoil of soul. We started with, I think, six people in the living room. It was not easy to cancel all the preaching appointments. Yet I knew this was the will of God. For one year, the devil said to me, every single day for one year, the devil would come to me and say, you're deceived. You're closing those doors. They'll never open again. You're going to be stuck here with 10 people and nothing is going to happen every single day for an entire year. But I did know God wanted a church. And out of this church, he was going to recover something. Isn't it true? When you first walked into this church, there was a banner we had put up forging a vessel of recovery. Isn't that what we had from the beginning of this church as a message to say, we as a church, and I'm sure there's hundreds, if not thousands of churches like that across the world, a Joseph company being prepared. For the past seven years, and we started seven years ago, God had a plan. I couldn't understand it. It didn't make sense, but I knew it was God's will. Now this year, I see the absolute necessity. I may never be in a plane again. I don't know with how things are going, but I do know God has put a church here and we have been providing in this storehouse. Isn't it true as a church, hundreds, thousands of messages on Bible prophecy, how to pray, how to live your life. For seven years in this church, we have been storing, preparing. We haven't wasted our time. We have been building a church. We have been getting ready for an hour ahead, partially understanding it, and partially not understanding the wisdom of God in this, but you realize there's a plan. There's a time to store up grain during the seven years of plenty for a worldwide crisis, to prepare for seven years of famine, to provide for those seven years with food that people can eat. I'm not talking about a scarcity of bread and of meat. I'm talking about an hour a day. There is a scarcity. You can't find the word of God. I'm in the preaching, teaching an old-fashioned gospel, a message of Pentecost in this hour, a clear prophetic voice to what is happening in this hour, what is going to happen, and what God is saying, since it is time for us to open the storehouses. For two months, I've almost constantly, for two months now, been opening up the storehouse. People, pastors, backsliders, sinners coming and saying, listen to that series of messages. Listen to that message. Listen to this series. That's all I've been doing because we have a message for people who are in turmoil in this hour. I've got no doubt about it. What did Jesus store up? He gathered corn together, so much corn. It was like the sand of the sea, very much. There was so much of it he couldn't number. He was busy for seven years, no time to take vengeance, no time to go find my brothers, no time for bitterness to dominate. Do you know what he's doing? He is locked into this. Seven years, I've got to labor. You know what he's still doing? Fulfilling another man's dreams. Some of you have no interest in helping fulfill another man's dreams. That's why your dreams will never come to pass. They're going to perish in the bin because you've never labored for another man or woman. I assure you, I've done it all my life. I served others, helped others, sacrificed my own dreams to help others. You know what? It's all in the plan of God. Listen to me. Joseph had two sons during this time. The first was called Manasseh. What does Manasseh mean? Listen to the translation. It means that God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. That's his first son was called forgetfulness. His second son was called Ephraim, which means God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. Notice he's still being prepared. He's got all this power. What's he going to do with it? He's going to prepare. He's fulfilling another man's dream. He is laboring to prepare for the time ahead. He is sacrificing his own time to labor for that hour. But you know in the midst of that, he is a man who God has made him to forget. God has made him fruitful. Can I ask you out of all of your trials, has God made you forget? Have you allowed God to make you fruitful? Some of you is because you don't forget. You won't forgive. You will not become fruitful. God cannot make you fruitful until you let go of that unforgiveness. That's my first point. My second point is feeding nations. I'll be brief on this. Feeding nations. At the age of 30, Joseph begins to prepare seven years of stockpile, preparing for an hour ahead. He is actually 37 years old when the crisis comes. It says in Psalm 105 that God called for a famine upon the land. He break the whole staff of bread. But you know what he'd also done? He not only called for that famine before the famine, he sent a man before them. You see, I believe there's Christians all over our world. They have not understood the trials they've gone through for years. They haven't understood the things that have been happening to them. And yet it was to get them ready for this hour, for an hour of famine. You see, there's got to be a Joseph ready to feed the nations. Do you realize all over our world the megachurches are closed? In fact, they were the first to close and they'll be the last to open again. All of this idolatry of church buildings, their building and the size of their congregation was absolute idolatry. And none of them have a message for this hour. They had tens of thousands of people. They had money and wealth without number. And yet they have no message for the nations in this hour. But God does have a Joseph that he has prepared and made ready. It says in Genesis chapter 41, that the dearth was over all lands. All nations were going to be affected by it. The famine was over all the face of the earth and Joseph opened all the storehouses. There was an hour of crisis. There was an hour that was going to endanger all peoples, all nations of the earth. But you know what? Joseph was ready. He was prepared. What did he do in that hour? He opened up the storehouses. He prepared for seven years and 13 years in character before that. But for seven years, he had wheat, he had corn, he had bread. He was prepared to feed the nations. He was prepared to feed multitudes. You see, I believe a small Joseph company can gather in a great harvest in this hour. They can be great soul winners in this hour. They may be small, but they've been forged in the fire. They've got a voice. They've got a message. They've got godly character. They have a testimony and they can open up the storehouses for vast multitudes across many nations. Joseph was at the right place at the right time. Do you know in this hour, it says in Matthew 24, when you see all of these signs, there is going to be a people who are witnessing the last signs before the coming of the Lord. The last generation, do you know what they're going to do? They're going to preach this gospel of the kingdom in all nations as a witness. Then shall the end come. This is the greatest chapter in church history. This is the greatest hour to be alive. We are in one of the most dangerous hours. Our 10 brethren are not ready. They don't even realize what's about to hit them. But listen to me, there's a Joseph company who are now ready, prepared through trials, who are going to preach the gospel like it's been rarely preached. This is an hour. Don't close the book of history yet. We've got one last chapter, one last moment of time, one last opportunity to reach almost 8 billion people in this world. Most of them are going to hell. If you're there with no care for that, then you're not in this Joseph company. Joseph is ready for the nations. He's not caring about his own security or his own blessing or his own escape. Do you know what he's going? I need to open the storehouse. This is an hour to feed the nations. It's an hour for all nations to come to Joseph, to hear the word of the Lord. Third and finally here this morning, restoring his brethren, not only feeding the nations, restoring his brethren or his brothers. It's been 22 years and you'll find this in chapter 42 to chapter 45. It's been 22 years, 20 years up until the beginning of the famine and then two years of famine. Do you realize for 20 years his brothers were in comfort? They were fine. They weren't prepared. They weren't ready. They didn't know a crisis is coming. Oh yes, they're back in the family home. They're all together. They've got unity. They don't think their sins are going to catch up. We believe in grace. We're under grace. We're under the covenant of Abraham. No one can condemn us. Yet their character and their nature was not right. They weren't prepared. They had no idea. You know what they were caught up in? There was a bit of jostling between Judah and his older brother for the position of head dog of that institution. They cared about ministry. They cared about position. They cared about comfort. They cared about defending themselves. They were still hiding the lie about their personal sin, still covering the sins of the past. Do you know when you can't come out honest and say, this is what I've done in my past? That's a terrible thing the devil uses. When you repent of sin, you've got no problem saying, you know what? I've done that, but I departed from it. 22 years and you know what? Their sins catch up on them. You see, I believe we've just reached an hour. Don't just see the devil in this hour. God sent the famine. God sent the famine to bring the 10 brothers to their knees. If he's going to have a nation, 12 tribes, a people that are going to be the apple of his eye, a people through whom Jesus Christ is going to come. If he's going to have a people to inhabit the land of Canaan and to dwell there and be scattered across all the nations of the world. You know what? He's got to work on these 10 brothers. Don't just see in this great reset or the crisis of the coronavirus. If all you see is wicked men working behind, you don't understand this hour. You don't understand. Yes, they're wicked men. Yes, it's an agenda with an evil plot behind it, but I see something greater. I see that there's been 10 brothers who for many years, they have continued on in the house of God. They're dwelling with Jacob and the tents of Jacob and the land of Canaan. They're there enjoying all the heritage of Israel. They're there singing their songs, praying their prayers, preaching their little sermon ads, but they're not in the fire with Joseph. You see, while Joseph is in the fire, these brothers are in compromise. God leaves them alone for 20 years, but when that famine begins, God is about to bring them to the end of themselves. There's going to be a grand family reunion after 22 long years. Joseph looks up and sees his 10 brothers walking down that road. I've often said for years, and I've said to Candace, I believe many years ago, God showed me this will be your greatest trial. When in an hour of famine, you lift up your eyes and you're going to see those 10 brothers walking down the road. What are you going to do in that hour? What a trial, saints. What a trial. What a testing. What a proving for character. Have you learned anything in your trials? Have you only learned vengeance? Are you lying awake saying, I know what I'd do to them? Then you don't know the plan and the purpose of God. Joseph, you were put in that pit and in that prison and in that palace in order to save their lives. In fact, God began all those 22 years ago as they are putting you in the pit. God's plan is to redeem them. You see, they need saving. They're in the house of God, but with those attitude in their heart, they'll never make heaven. How can a man with lying, murder, vengeance get to heaven? I've met a lot of preachers. They're the biggest liars I've ever met in my life. I met a lot of Christians manipulating, maneuvering for position. You know what they are? They're Joseph's brothers. I know a lot who could care less about Joseph being down in Egypt, but you know what? It's going to catch up with them. I would rather be Joseph having walked through 13 years of fiery trial, seven years of diligent preparation than be those brothers who suddenly the famine hits. No word of God. They don't understand the will of God. They think they're going to die in the famine. Do you know what Jacob turns to these brothers? Listen to what he says in chapter 42 and one. Now, when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, why do you look one upon another? Those 10 big brothers didn't have a clue what was going on. They had no answer. And he, Jacob said, behold, I have heard that there's corn in Egypt. Get you down hither and buy for us from tents that we may live and not die. Listen to me very carefully before I close this meeting here this morning. I want to bring you down to the plan of God. God left those brothers alone for 20 years, 20 years. He left them there. Then he brings the famine. Now he's going to start tightening the grips upon them. He's going to start putting pressure upon them. He's going to bring famine to their door. He's going to bring a crisis, but you know what? They don't have a clue. Jacob says, what are you guys doing? Don't you know there's food in Egypt? Do you realize God's going to confront them with their past before they can move on? Do you realize they'll never go anywhere in the plan of God? Oh, it may look like it, but they'll never be a Joseph. They can never be a Joseph. They are going to destroy the family line unless God had sent a man, not just to provide corn for them, but to deal with that heart, to show them a better way of walking with God. You know what Joseph said? Sorry. Do you know what Jacob said? He said, I want you to go down to Egypt, sons, and I want you to buy corn. It's not what those brothers wanted to hear. See, God's bringing them back to their past. You are going to go down to Egypt. You're going to make that journey. 20 years ago, 22 years ago, you sent your brother, but now God is homing in and saying, I'm going to make you walk that same journey. You thought this would never catch up on you, but I show you it will. The brothers were inactive, but Egypt is facing them. They've got no other choice. They are being driven to face the past. There's no escape. They're going to remember their sins. They're going to have to face what they've done all those years ago. Do you realize if you sidestep the dealings of God, it's going to catch up with you. You might be in the house of God. You're a liar, a manipulator, a game player. I assure you, this house is going to come crashing in upon your head. You see, those brothers don't care about anyone else but themselves. They don't care about anything but their own comfort, and they do not care about God. 22 years ago, they didn't care about their father. They broke his heart. They broke his heart, and for 22 years, they've watched the broken heart of their father. Maybe many times he cried. You see, God's going to use this famine to allow these brothers to deal with their heart, since I believe this COVID crisis is not just of the devil, but it is an opportunity from God to deal with Joseph's 10 brothers across the nations. This has come a knocking on your door. There's no escape. You can't hide from this. You don't know the will of God. You haven't done the will of God. You haven't been obeying the word of God, and now you're in a crisis. You know what? God's going to put the pressure increasingly on you over the next year until he presses you to go back and to face the past once more. They make that journey down to Egypt. Their comfortable life has suddenly been disturbed. God is now never going to let go of them until they repent and come face to face with their brother Joseph. When they first get down there and Joseph sees them, he hid or disguised himself, and he spoke unto them harshly. See, for 20 years, no one spoke harshly unto them. They've had their freedom, their liberty, their sovereignty for 20 years, but that's at an end now. When Joseph begins to speak harshly to them, they've never been treated like that. They're actually feeling sorry for themselves. Imagine this great man speaking harshly to us. You don't even know what you've done to others. You don't realize, and you don't realize that man speaking to you is not a harsh man. He loves you. He's a man of mercy. He's a man of grace. Do you know over the next trials, and we don't have time for it here this morning, they face the prison. They end up in prison. They are falsely accused, but they also, in the midst of that, find they're being blessed, invited into Joseph's house in Egypt. There is a slow change coming, and let me point it out to you. In chapter 42 and verse 21, it's the first time you hear them confessing their sins from 22 years before this. They are now facing up to their sins. In fact, in all that begins to happen, they say, what is God doing? God is working. They become conscious of God for the very first time. They're aware their past is catching up with them. They begin to confess their sin and said, we were wicked. We were evil. We did this thing, and now it's all catching up. Here we are in Egypt. Here we are in a prison. Here we are under false accusation. All of this is pressing in. We're facing starvation. You realize they become aware that they are under the rod of God, being chastised and disciplined, and that God is dealing and exposing their sins. Over the next period of time, we see Joseph put them through several tests. It's not for you ever to test a man, never, but I assure you, Joseph was used in God's hand to bring them to a genuine place of repentance. You know, in the midst of this trial, Judah, Joseph's older brother, realizes that their salvation depends on this stranger, this second in command in Egypt. He doesn't understand it all, but he knows their salvation is hinged with that young man down in Egypt. Judah actually, at one point, even offers to sacrifice himself in order that Benjamin may go free. He was never like that 22 years ago. You know, Judah actually is the one who suggested, let's sell Joseph to these Ishmaelites. Let's make some money out of this. Now, 22 years later, he says, I will die rather than not carry Benjamin back to our father Jacob. Do you see how God is working to change the nature and the character of these men? What they were 22 years ago is being confronted. God wants to bring Judah to a place of not selling his brother, not making money out of him, but being so radically changed to say, I would rather die than see my little brother Benjamin suffer. Can you imagine the work of God going on here? If you trace these few chapters, you see God dealing with them, bringing them to a place of repentance. They even come back to Joseph and throw themselves at his feet, looking for mercy. They plead their own innocence for present crimes, but they begin to admit their crime, that they weren't innocent men in previous times. We read about Judah's speech in 16 verses to Joseph. In fact, it's the longest in the Bible up to that point. He begins to present to Joseph his desire that he will lay down his life. You see, Joseph then is in a place to reveal himself. He's going to restore his brothers. They're facing famine, annihilation, and yet he reveals himself to them. He says, draw near, brings them into his house, removes the Egyptians. He has compassion. He cries for them. He embraces them. He accepts them, and he begins to preach. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Since I believe this is an hour in this crisis in our world, it is an hour now for those 10 brothers to get right with God. You know why? God is not going to let them escape. They're going to find their world crushing in around them, and all those sins of the past are going to come back. It may have looked like they didn't care, but I promise you, those in the house of God, many who have treated Joseph wrongly, are going to find that God is hot upon their heels. We see Joseph with a pure heart. May you and I have a pure heart in this hour. May we be moved with tears to see the plan of God, that God so loved these brothers that he allowed us to suffer in the pit and in the prison to prepare us and make us a vessel that we could open the storehouse. Yes, I've got a series for you. I've got a message on how to judge biblically. I've got a message on not manipulating ministry. Oh yes, I can open the storehouse. I've got the word of God for you. You meant it for evil. I'm not going to ignore your sins, but God meant it for good. You know why? God was going to preserve a remnant, and he begins to share God's plan. All of your wickedness was to bring you to this time where you could embrace me and the true repentance would work in your heart, where you would seek the mercy of God and the forgiveness of God. Do you realize these 10 brothers were part of the 12 tribes of Israel? And the Bible says, the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation, it says when the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to the earth, that it has 12 gates, and on those 12 gates are the 12 names of the children of Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. Do you see what God done on these men? The 22 years they tried to hide from the issues of their heart while all the time God had purged Joseph to be a vessel. I want to show you this is an hour. I believe we have come to the kingdom for such an hour as this. Can we in our different homes, if you're watching through YouTube or some other means here in this meeting right now, whatever country you are in your different homes, can we just lift our hands to heaven and begin to pray and begin to ask God, begin to ask the Lord to make us a vessel, a juice of company. Don't be like the 10 brothers. Be a juice of company that's prepared for this hour. And if you haven't been prepared, now is a time to get ready and to put things right. So few Christians put things right. I'm so worried about hundreds of Christians I've met. They lie, they bicker, they manipulate. They've never once put it right. Not all through these years. I've seen hundreds of them. I've been affected by hundreds of them. I've suffered because of their sins, their rotten character. You know what? I want them to go to heaven. One of those men done me more harm than any man in my entire lifetime. Terrible harm, lied, manipulated, turned people against me. And you know what? From the day he done that, I've never had one thing in my heart, my entire prayer since 2005 has been, Lord, don't let him die with that in his heart. Because you know what? If he dies with all those things in his heart, he won't make heaven. That's utterly impossible. Utterly impossible. Don't play games with this. And you know my prayer, oh, that I'd receive. He can never restore what he's done. Maybe even you'll see this video. But I tell you, I prayed for him. I have nothing in my heart. I'd forgive him. I'd say, I forgive you. Forgive you. When you began doing this, my heart's absolutely clear. But I do care about you. I don't want you to go to hell. Father, we just thank you for your grace and your love and your mercy. There is a plan in all that we go through. You do have a plan for this church, thousands of other churches, maybe hundreds of thousands of other churches across the world. You've prepared them for this hour. There's many preachers that you've prepared, many vessels, many instruments. There is a Joseph Company that you spoke to decades ago. And you've allowed them to go through the pit, through the prison. And they've been in the palace preparing, making ready to feed this generation. And here is the hour. My God, I pray that you'd give us grace to restore our brethren in this hour. That there'll be genuine repentance. There'll be a genuine changing of their heart. That they can be right before you. Father, I'm praying for a great revival where we can feed the nations with the last chapter of church history. The last moments of time before everything comes to an end. My God, make us ready. We're looking for your coming. We're looking for your return. We want to take many with us out of this generation. We love you. And we ask that you work on our hearts in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God. God bless you here this morning. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/Og_POTiyAp0.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/opening-the-storehouses/ ========================================================================