Your Glory in This Land: What Joseph Prophesies Over You

"Go and tell my father about all my glory in this land." This is Joseph's cry to his brothers, once he has revealed himself to them after more than twenty years of silence (Genesis 45:12-15). At Cite Royale, Pastor Celestin Yao, head of ICC in North America, took up this verse to declare that your own future will also testify to what God is accomplishing right where you are planted.

The sermon begins with a phrase received the week before under the preaching of apostle Yvan Castanou: "thirst for God determines where your future is heading." Drawing on the life of Joseph, a man thirsty for God, Celestin Yao traces a path that concerns you directly: the coat, the dreams, the election before the foundation of the world, the mystery of Christ in you.

This is not a Bible history lesson. It is a prophetic declaration placed over your life.

1. Joseph's Coat: Two Powerful Messages

Twenty years earlier, Joseph is seventeen. His father Jacob loves him more than all his other sons and makes him a coat of many colors with his own hands (Genesis 37:1-5). In the ancient Near East, a garment carried a message. And this coat carried two.

First, it told the whole community: this is Joseph, the legitimate heir of Jacob. Every time he walked by wearing this garment, everyone recognized the future heir. Later, when Jacob blesses his sons, this reality is confirmed: Joseph receives the double portion as a blessing for his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, like a true firstborn (Genesis 48-49).

Second, this coat was the vessel of the prophetic words of the covenant. By covering Joseph with it, Jacob was passing on to him everything that had been spoken to Abraham (Genesis 13:14-16), to Isaac (Genesis 26:2-4), and to himself (Genesis 28:13-14): a territory, a lineage, and nations blessed through his life. The coat was not a simple gift. It carried a prophecy.

2. Once the Coat Was Worn, the Dreams Began

Celestin Yao points this out: Joseph did not dream before the coat. As soon as he wore it, he began to see. His brothers' sheaves bow down before his sheaf. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars bow before him. Two dreams saying the same thing: what your hands undertake will command respect, and what God has decreed will come to pass, whether the devil likes it or not.

Twenty years later, when Joseph tells his brothers to "go and tell my father about all my glory," he sees that the vision has come true. God keeps his promises. The dream became the reality of his life as governor of Egypt.

The same principle applies to you. When a spiritual mantle rests on your life, you begin to dream differently: dreams of conquest, of influence, of expansion. You stop dreaming small where God has placed you.

3. There Is Someone Here Greater Than Joseph

This is where the sermon turns. Celestin Yao does not want you to admire Joseph from a distance. He wants you to lift your head.

In Matthew 11:11, Jesus declares: "Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

The pastor draws a vivid picture: the White House, Barack Obama, a butler who opens the door of the Oval Office to say "welcome." That butler is the last person before you reach the president. He has an immense privilege. But the president's two daughters, Malia and Sasha, enter into their father's intimacy in a way the butler never does. They are greater than he is.

John the Baptist is the last butler of the old covenant. He had the privilege of pointing to the Messiah with his finger. You, however, were not born of the flesh: you were born of the Spirit. You enter into the intimacy of the Father. There is someone here greater than Joseph, greater than John the Baptist.

4. Elected Before the Foundation of the World

Why this greater glory? Because your election does not date from yesterday. Paul brings you into God's secret council.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him, having predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:3-5).

Celestin Yao lays out what theologians call our common calling. Before Adam and Eve existed, before there was a world, God chose you. This is not a man who chose you for a four or five year term. This is God the Father who set you apart for eternity. No elected official ever benefits from that kind of grace. You do.

You have been made holy and blameless. Not because you are perfect, but because when the accuser comes, God answers: "What are you talking about? My Son's blood was shed for him."

5. The Hidden Mystery: Christ in You

There remains one truth, wider still. In the old covenant, the ark of the covenant, symbol of God's presence, was carried by priests on their shoulders. God wanted to dwell among his people, but from the outside.

The mystery hidden for ages, revealed by Paul, is that God no longer wants to be carried on the outside. He wants to be carried by priests, yes, but on the inside of them. "This is the mystery: Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

Where yesterday the ark was carried on shoulders, today God through the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in your spirit. You are the true temple. Wherever you go (to work, to school, into your family), you carry the glory of God. This is the mystery that makes you greater than Joseph.

6. What God Is Already Accomplishing: The Firstfruits

Celestin Yao closes with an account of what God has done through ICC North America. In 2015, at the Palais des Congres in Montreuil, a man of God prophesies over apostle Yvan Castanou, drawing on Isaiah 60:22: "The smallest of your churches will become thousands." Celestin Yao takes hold of the word and carries it back to Canada with this conviction: from one ocean to the other, this land belongs to us. He then announces ten churches in ten years to his leaders. Ten years later, there are indeed ten.

In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, while every conventional bank refuses, an Italian landlord grants three years to secure financing for a four million dollar building in Montreal. An evangelical Christian fund from Western Canada completes the funding two months before the deadline. Since July, an average of thirty new people has joined the North American churches every Sunday.

The pastor gives glory to God. And he hands the ball back to you: what is true for him and his ministry is a prophetic word for you too, wherever you are planted, whatever your country.

Key Takeaways

• Joseph's coat said two things: legitimate heir, and carrier of the covenant prophecies passed down from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• Joseph's dreams began the exact moment he put on the coat. A spiritual mantle makes you dream differently.
• "The one who is least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist" (Matthew 11:11). You are in the intimacy of the Father, not just standing at the door.
• You were elected before the foundation of the world, blessed with every spiritual blessing, adopted as a child of God (Ephesians 1:3-5).
• "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). You personally carry the glory of God wherever you go.

Personal Application

• What is the prophetic word you carry over your life today, the way Joseph carried his coat? Can you name it, write it down, read it again?
• Are you dreaming small or big for the land where God has placed you? What needs to change in your expectations?
• How do you live out the fact that you were elected by God before the foundation of the world? Does this reality change how you see yourself?
• If you are the temple of the Holy Spirit and you carry his glory to work, to school, into your family, what consistency does that demand of you in the week ahead?
• Who could you go tell this week about what God has already begun to do in your life?

Scriptures Cited

• Genesis 45:12-15 · base text: Joseph reveals himself to his brothers
• Psalm 133:2 · the precious oil on Aaron's beard
• Genesis 37:1-5 · the coat of many colors
• Genesis 13:14-16 · blessing of Abraham
• Genesis 26:2-4 · blessing of Isaac
• Genesis 28:13-14 · blessing of Jacob
• Genesis 48-49 · double portion for Ephraim and Manasseh
• Matthew 11:11 · John the Baptist and the least in the kingdom
• Ephesians 1:3-5 · elected before the foundation of the world
• Colossians 1:27 · Christ in you, the hope of glory
• Isaiah 60:22 · the smallest will become thousands

FAQ

Who is Pastor Celestin Yao?

Celestin Yao leads the Impact Centre Chretien (ICC) churches in North America, with ten church plants in ten years starting from Montreal. Here he preaches at Cite Royale (ICC Paris), on the invitation of apostle Yvan Castanou, founder of the movement.

What does "there is someone here greater than Joseph" mean?

The pastor picks up on the logic Jesus uses in Matthew 11:11: John the Baptist is the greatest of those born of women, yet the least in the kingdom is greater than he is. In the same way, the born-again believer, elected before the foundation of the world and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, enjoys a glory greater than Joseph's, because it is no longer an outward ark that carries the presence of God, but the believer himself who carries it within.

How can I concretely apply this sermon in my week?

By no longer belittling yourself. The sermon urges you to dream big for the land where you are established, to remember who chose you, and to go and tell those who believed in you, parents, mentors, brothers and sisters in the faith, what God has already begun doing in your life. The testimony given rises up as glory.