Acts 7:9"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
Maybe I'm a little slow....
But the story of Joseph is a great parallel to the story of Christ. The pure and wrongly accused despised by his own. Sold out by those who he loved. But in the end given the place of highest honor second only to one.
Exodus 25
God goes into great detail in describing the appearances and use of the tabernacle and items that would be contained within. To a jr. higher it might appear that God is just trying to fill up pages for his "book." Combine that with some geneology scattered throughout the bible and you could fill up few pages!
But these things were very important to God. The Tabernacle is where he would minister to his people through his high priest. The Ark contained reminders of Gods power, and was the place where Gods presence would manifest. This is also known as the Mercy Seat.
This is all pretty interesting stuff but we have to ask, "what's the point?" The point we fnd out later on in a letter to the Hebrews take time to read this link:
So the design of the Ark ultimately is a representation of something in heaven. Actually the entire tabernacle is representative of something in heaven.
On the surface who wouldn't agree that Pharoah had it all...wealth, power, and all the fineries thereunto. His people worshipped him as divine. It's easy to see why Pharoah would not have a need for God. He had everyone since his birth telling him that HE was divine. Have you ever met someone who appeared to have no need for God? They don't want to admit that they have any needs, weaknesses, and they certainly don't need the God crutch do they?
One thing that really struck me when reading about the Exodus was how the Bible refers several times to God hardening Pharoahs heart. I have read a lot about this because it is confusing that God would cause someones heart to harden. But this is not necessarily interferring with Pharoahs free will, because 1) he wanted it. 2) he had been warned that God would make a spectical of him.
If you have kids it's easier to understand how God could do this. Sometimes kids are so stubborn in having there own way that you have to tunr them over to it, even if it causes them pain in order to get them back.
It will be difficult for us to tell who is on the self destructive path. But they are out there. The guy who is wrecking his family while building his business. The addicted, the prideful, sometimes I feel like I am one bad day away from that.
I need to take inventory and see where my heart is hard. I am sure it is there. And while I'm at it; what has God warned me about? I gotta go...got some thinkin and prayin to do.
How about you?
39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[f]"
43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.
-Jack
1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!" So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it.
I was talking to my wise sage Keith Gaddis yesterday. We always have these great talks where we share what God has been teaching us lately. I didn't have much. The past few months have been a bit dry for me. By dry I mean not much spiritual input and therefore little output. But I have learned not to beat myself up over the dry times. I'm human, it's part of the deal. I just need to suck it up and press on. My talks with Keith help me with that. I hope that you have someone like Keith in your life. Someone who speaks truth into you and encourages you, someone who sees you as Christ sees you.
So back to Joseph, Keith and I were talking about Joseph and he brought up the above passage where Joseph lets it all out. What we landed on was that maybe this (vs.2) was the load of all those nights wrestling with God, coming to a point. Maybe he saw the whole puzzle coming together at this moment.
Have you ever been through something like that? You think that your world is crashing down around you, only to find out later that God was there the whole time. Or maybe there is something that you are going through right now. You may feel like God is robbing you of something but maybe you are holding onto things you don't need. At any rate have faith and know that God is with you and is crazy about you.
Genesis 39:19-21 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
I complain a lot more than I should. My recent trip to New Orleans showed me that I have nothing to complain about. People down there lost everything, I have more than I need. People in N.O. lost their families and friends. I have more than I know what to do with. I wonder what Josephs attitude was like. I wonder if God would have blessed him if he was a complainer. Or was God's blessing him unconditional? Old Testemant writers were notorious for leaving out the fine details, but I guess our Bible is big enough huh? I would imagine in the night Joseph would voice his "concerns" about his life to God. But when day came maybe Joseph had wrestled with God enough to trust him...with that day. Maybe it's like arguing with your best friend, you will go toe to toe with them over something but at the same time you would give your life for them.
Which reminds me of what David said:
PS 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
PS 22:2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
PS 22:3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
PS 22:4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
PS 22:5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
And what Jesus said:
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
MK 15:35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."
MK 15:36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.
MK 15:37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
I pray that no matter what my circumstances, I will not complain, that I will honor God, and that I will be worthy of receiving Gods blessing.
I am not sure what Scot was on Sunday night when he kicked off the Sunday School Spectacular with the story of Noah's Ark. He was like an AD/HD kid on Red Bull and Fun Dip. I've been there, you can't stop. It's like eating hot sauce, you're fine as long as you keep eating it. Once you stop then it gets painful.
There is a thing called the "preaching hangover" where you wake up on Monday morning and you begin to remember what you said the night before. It reminds me of being in college all over again because there are so many similarities.
1. You usually get a call from a friend saying, "Dude, do you remember what you did last night?" While on the surface the call seems to come out of a heart of compassion, but really the guy on the other end is looking for a good laugh and to take whatever HE did last week off of the conversational radar. It's like passing around a bad trophy.
2. The morning fog lifts and memories start coming back of some really stupid things you said, in this case "There are some really great "buts" in the Bible" or "Noah had a nice butt."
3. You begin to wrestle with thoughts of guilt, regret and diarrhea.
4. You start making promises to God like: "Dear God, I promise I will never do that again...AND(say it with me) THIS TIME I REALLY MEAN IT."
5. Then you turn to your close friends for support. It might go something like this:
Scot: "Do you think I offended anyone last night?"
Jack: "Noooooooo, anyone who would have been offended left a long time ago. Like around the time when you used "granny got back" in a sermon. I think you're in the clear."
Scot: "Do you really think so?"
Jack: "Suuuurrrrre (rolling my eyes as I turn and walk away).
At any rate the preaching hangover will go away with time. You just have to let the memories die. Of course letting things die has become more difficult due to the use of podcasting sermons
and....heh heh... blogs.
You can download the sermon that Scot is trying to forget at www.exchangemcc.org
Or I may refer to it here on occasion, just to keep the memory alive.
Peace out homies.
From Roger Lipe:
Letters to an artist
January 12, 2007
Dear Jack,
In 1903, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke responded by letter to a young man seeking his advice. Rilke eventually wrote ten letters now collectively known and much published as "Letters to a Young Poet." They are heartfelt advice from a successful (but still struggling) artist to another who was deeply mired in self-doubt. The classic language of these letters soars in beauty as well as lofty good sense. His idealism is applicable today to all who might pursue any sort of creative activity.
Yesterday, on a pathside bench deep in a blustery, storm-destroyed forest, I reread the letters. Here, partly in direct quotation and partly in condensed summation, are some of Rilke's ideas:
Your work needs to be independent of others' work.
You must not compare yourself to others.
No one can help you. You have to help yourself.
Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.
Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it.
Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.
Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.
Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony.
Live in and love the activity of your work.
Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.
Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.
Be patient with the unresolved in your heart.
Try to be in love with the questions themselves.
Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.
Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.
Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.
Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.
It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.
It's good to love, because love is difficult.
You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was born in Czechoslovakia and died in Switzerland. Dogged by fragile health and the constant search for inexpensive and healthful accommodation, he anxiously moved from one climate to another. Considered the greatest modern poet in the German language, Rilke counselled the young poet, known only as Mr. Kappus, over a five-year period. No evidence exists that they ever met.
Best regards,
Robert
On January 1 about 40 people from eXchange headed to New Orleans to assist with disaster relief. We loaded into vans, cars and trucks and made our way to the Gulf. Most of our time was spent gutting houses and doing mold remediation. This was one of 5 or 6 trips that eXchange has made this year to help out. From a pastoral persective this is a dream come true. The identity statement that we have wrapped ourselves around is " eXchange is a Community of people, following Christ, and serving in his Cause." As Associate Pastor of eXchange, I was blown away at how this statement was fleshed out by the people on this trip. We believe that community and cause are tied closely together. What draws people together more than a common mission?
Community - Our relationships with each other blossomed on this trip as we worked our butts off, sweat together and even bled together.
Christ - We prayed several times during the day together. Most often with the homeowner. We talked boldly about Christ with people.
Cause - God put on Flesh and moved into the neighborhood. Then he gutted some houses and remediated the mold. some people gave their lives to Christ for the first time and others were obedient through baptism.
We baptized four of our own while we were down there; Laura, Ricardo, Tyler and Nick were all obendient to Christ in baptism.
Jacob and Esau
19 This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac.
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram [d] and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 The LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. [e] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. [f] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom. [g] )
31 Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
32 "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"
33 But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
We don't hear much about birthrights these days except when we talk about English Royalty and hotel heiresses. Living in the land of plenty, birthrights don't mean much.
But in Genesis chapter 25 Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for a pot of stew. Esau was out in the wilderness and was literally starving to death. When he returned, Jacob seized the opportunity to take Esau's birthright. Jacobs name means "to grasp the heal". So Jacob caught Esau in a moment of weakness and took something that was not meant to be given away.
As followers of Christ we are co-heirs with him. We share in his sufferings but also in his power.
I can look back on my life, even in recent past, where I have sold out my birthright. I have squandered the eternal for the temporal. I wonder how many times God was willing to use me but instead I went with my flesh, and sold out.
Father help me to indentify the things in my life to which I am selling out.
