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Joseph Episode 12 The Finale

At our 6pm service last night (12two) the aim was to overview Joseph's story, whilst holding intention the fact that as Joseph grew in humility he was also empowered by God. What actually happened was that we were humbled by a string of things going absolutely wrong in the course of the service. My apologies to all of you who came expecting something more...

All is not lost though, whilst we learnt a lot about how to do a service better, we also recorded the morning service which features a similar message to that which was delivered on Sunday night. So please enjoy!

Download Joseph 12

Joseph Episode 11 Genesis 47:13-31; 50:15-26

Here are the notes from last night with the audio available here: Download Joseph 11

A group of nursery school teachers were asked whether they could identify the leaders among their four- and five-year-olds. "Of course," they said. These kids were self-confident, treated both adults and peers with respect, shared toys willingly, were good-humoured, showed initiative and curiosity. They were always first to start a project; the other kids watched them, then followed their lead. And, most of all, their enthusiasm was contagious.

A group of sixty-five teenagers were asked about leadership, and they described leaders in much the same terms. "They smile a lot. They seem to feel good about themselves, and make you feel good too."

Leadership is influence: If you can influence someone in a certain direction, then you are leading them in that direction.

How do you steward the influence God has given you?

The people felt they could come to Joseph: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” - John Maxwell

People are the only thing worth worrying about.

“To know and care for your people you need to walk slowly through the crowd” - Gordon Powell

 

Every plan has it’s limits: Strategy is great, but it’s not meant to take into account all unforeseen circumstances. To lead effectively you must have a strategy...

A well executed plan is the best way to work toward achieving the results you want but sometimes however the unforeseen requires the strategy to change.

Leading effectively requires a long sighted plan, that looks past the immediate which at times doesn’t please people.

Corrupt leadership affects everyone under that influence. Corrupt leadership can take an amazing opportunity and completely destroy it. That to lead without corruption and a desire for self gain is an incredible thing...

If the leader is someone who chooses not to exploit for political, economic, social or any other sort of gain, and also chooses to care for, look after, serve and steward his leadership in this way, then the plan will work, because Leadership is about solving problems in a way that honours God.

You can only lead in a way that honours God if you are living in a way that honours God.

Leadership is the art of stewardship of people as well as resources.

When we steward resources we need to ask ourselves the question:
How is the use of this thing honouring God?

When we steward people we need to ask ourselves the question:
How is my influence on this person both honouring God and empowering them to honour God?

Joseph moved from helping the people to being responsible for the people. That’s the natural path that influence takes us down.

Leaders help others steward their stuff well.

Leadership isn’t just about stewarding what we have well, it’s about helping those we lead and influence to steward their stuff well.

“The question of stewardship is answered with the question of Lordship.”

Who your Lord is will determine who gets your time, money, energy, skills, focus?

As leaders I think we are charged with a responsibility of helping those we lead, and are friends with, to invest their lives wisely and wisely would be in the things that God calls us to.

I think a trap that awaits every leader is a Messiah complex. People naturally will rely on their leader for their salvation, so as leaders we need to become channels of God’s salvation.

We need to lead and influence people in ways that lead them to receive God’s salvation.

Joseph knew who he was before God, and knew what he had to do for God, and so lead people toward God. Great leadership leads to great benefits for everyone...

“You are a leader all the time”. If you want to be an effective influencer of people you need to realise that you are an influencer of people 24-7.

Joseph died with words of influence on his lips. How will you steward or change the stewarding of your influence?

Joseph Episode 10 Genesis 45:1 - 47:12

What attitude do you approach reconciliatin with?

Reconciliation is a process, it's an exchange of favour between two people where previously favour had been lost. Reconciliation is an exchange that is more than just forgiveness. Reconciliation is a desire to rebuild trust. It’s a process within a relationship of acknowledging wrongs, offering forgiveness, identifying what went wrong, planning to overcome and rebuilding trust.

Joseph shows us that it takes the effort of someone to commence a reconciliation. Joseph initiated the reconciliation.

Reconciliation is messy, but it is an invitation into renewed relationship. When we are hurt we want to distance ourselves from the people who hurt us. Often the hurt we feel is in direct balance with the depth of friendship we have with someone. The deeper the friendship the more potential there is to be hurt.

Reconciliation is about bringing healing to the spiritual fractures in our lives.

Hurt people hurt people. Understanding this gives understanding to why we have been hurt by others. There will be times when people seek to infect your relationships with others like a poisonous toxin. Don't allow them to.

When we fight with friends, when we fall out with people, when we hurt people who are close to us or they hurt us, our focus slips from the big picture to the small picture! The small picture is usually self serving, self justifying, and self protecting, where as the big picture is self giving and self humbling and self freeing.

Fuchsia Pickett says: “Those who show God’s goodness will be motivated by a compassion that does not change even in the face of controversy.” When controversy infects or surrounds a relationship, God’s desire is that you respond with his compassion.

Joseph decided to let his brothers off of teh guilt hook. He decided to replace their self judgement with grace.

Forgiveness is simply giving up your right to exact the penalty for the wrong done you, refusing to take revenge. In the Christian's view, it is allowing Jesus' crucifixion to pay not only for your sin, but the sin of another against you. - Jim A. Tally & Jane Carlile Baker

The overflow of reconciliation affects everyone, just as the breach of a relationship affects everyone.

Reconciliation leads us to a place of stability, renewed trust and friendship. But Stability and renewed trust takes time!

^{2 Cor 5:18} All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. Reconciliation is an act of service toward someone that reflects the act of service God did for us.

It is the ambassador's job to represent the king in such a way that the kings character could be gleaned through the actions of the ambassador.

Johnathon Edwards, the most famous American Commentator reasoned about why God would create us and Historian George Marsden summarises his ideas in saying: The universe is an explosion of God’s glory. The ultimate end of creation, then, is union in love between God and loving creatures.God did not create us to get the cosmic, infinite joy of mutual love and glorification, but to share it.

You can download the audio here: Download Joseph 10

Questions that come out of the Joseph story

Here is a list of the questions that Joseph's story throws up for us:

Genesis 37:1-11 "What do we do with the gifts God gives us?"

Genesis 37:12-35 "Have you let bitterness and apathy creep into your spirit?"

Genesis 39:1-20 "How do we resist Temptation?"

Genesis 39:20 - 49:23 "Where does God feature in the big picture of your life?"

Genesis 41:1-40 "What are you doing with what God has given you?"

Genesis 41:41-57 "How do you worship a holy God in an unholy empire?"

Genesis 42:1-38 "Are you letting your past decide your future or God?"

Genesis 43:1-34 "How can you grow your faith to go beyond the fear?”

Genesis 44:1-33 "What junk is in your trunk?" 

Joseph Episode 8 Gen 43:1-34

Below are the abbreviated notes from the audio that you can download here: Download Joseph 8

Fear doesn’t actually have the power to stop us doing anything or being anything unless we give it permission.

It’s not that fear goes away it’s that our trust in something else becomes greater.

 “How can you grow your faith to go beyond the fear?”

“The human race is notorious for being afraid of the wrong things.  The trail of history is littered with discarded fears that once erroneously controlled mankind’s destiny.” - Andy Stanley

Fear is the false evidence that appears to be real, God has a desired reality for us... Our fears distort that reality. The more we entertain and give voice to our fears the stronger and more persuasive they become...

We magnify the false evidence. We magnify the fear breeding element and believe what appears to be real.

So much of whether we are able to grow our faith beyond our fear, originates from the picture or reality we buy into.

Are you buying into God’s reality, the way God sees you and your circumstance?

Or are you buying into a false reality because of the false evidence you’ve accepted?

Fear is normal, fear affects us all, but it’s what we do with it that counts in the long run... What matters is that we grow our faith beyond our fear. That happens when we can recognise God’s reality and trust it.

We need to live a life where our faith needs to exceed our fear. Part of that is about realising God’s reality. Part of it is deciding to trust in God. But do you see how fear distorts what is good and replaces it with a misinterpretation.

Because to defuse a fear and increase your faith, it is a wise thing to add to your knowledge about that situation... I wonder how often in your lives that God is waiting on the other side of your fears for you to arrive?

God doesn’t like it that we fear things... But fear isn’t something that can be taken away, because it will leave a whole that will be filled with more fear. So instead he encourages us to put our faith in him, in place of the fear we have of the future and in and through that he can meet us...

^{Matthew 8:26} "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

Jesus reveals fear’s antidote is faith. You become afraid when your faith is little. You overcome that fear as your faith in God increases.

I think there are people we come across who will strengthen our faith and their will be people we come across that will feed our fear. Who you choose to take your fears to is so important,

You’ll never know the bungy cord works until you jump. But the only reason you jump is because you have faith that bungie cord will do what you have been promised it will do.

Some of you are yet to be fully assured of God’s reality because you haven’t jumped.

Our fears never lead us to see the vision God has in store for us. Our fears blind us from seeing God’s vision. It’s our faith that reveals to us God’s vision.

"I just kept cracking my whip and talking to them until the lights came on. They (the tigers) never knew I could not see them as well as they could see me."

He went on regardless of the external factors, he banked on his internal faith, and the external factors were affected.

Fear or faith is about whether we let the external or the internal rule us.

Joseph Episode 5 Gen 41:41-57

The question is:

How do you serve a holy God while living in an unholy empire?

Check out what Stu Leo had to say on the subject!

Click here to download the latest in the Joseph story

Joseph Quesitons that may help

There's 4 questions to ask of any OT passage that are extremely useful in any study - they are:

 

1.  What does this passage tell us about God the Father?

 

2.  What does this passage tell us about the people of God and society then?

 

3.  What does this passage tell us about the people of God and society now?

 

4.  What does this passage teach us about Jesus - His ministry, purpose and message?  How does what is happening here shape the Gospel, where does it fit in bigger story?  

 

then, some specifics to drill down into with the Joseph story:

 

1.  Who is the story about and why?  (NB, Joseph is the vehicle to tell the history of Israel, Genesis is split into a series of sections each starting with This is the record of the origins of .....)

 

2.  What does this journey teach us practically about our life today with respect to:

- the gifts we hold

- the dreams we might have for life and how they might change dramatically (ie, what were Joseph's actual desires and dreams for life / vocation before he got dumped in a hole?  

- How did he respond to this and what can we learn from his actions (both right and wrong)

 

3.  What's the significance of the coat?

 

4.  Where was Jacob dwelling, why?  

 

5.  Why was Joseph a favourite?

 

6.  Why did Reuben go back for Joseph?

 

7.  Why did Jacob say he would be with Joseph in sheol and what is this?

 

8.  How long before Christ did this take place in history?

 

9.  How does this story demonstrate redemption? 

 

10.  This is only the beginning of the salvation story from God to His people..... put yourself in their shoes/sandals, how do you trust when you feel like you've only got the first chapter but you need to know the end to get through?  

 

11.  What promises would the family know about God's purpose for their lives and how would this influence their actions?  (Backtrack through the previous 40 chapters to find them).  Now what promises do you know about God's purpose for your life?  

 

12.  How long did Joseph spend in jail?

 

13.  How did Joseph live in a foreign land, with a priestess of an unholy god as a wife and retain his right standing with God... what evidence do we see later in the story that Joseph lived in right standing before God?

 

14.  What can we learn from Joseph about living, working in - even purposefully prospering a nation - which is not holy?  

 

15.  Why is the story of Judah and Tamar inserted in chapter 38?  Is it in the wrong place?  If not, why, what's the point? What other book should we read to understand this and why?

 

16.  When Joseph died, why did the family of Jacob embalm him and bury him in Egypt in a coffin?  Surely this sounds like a worldview foreign of the ways of Jehovah?

 

 17.  Joseph had no evil written of him, who was the only other person in the OT to have nothing evil written about him?  What does this say about serving in a foreign land?

 

Thanks Stu Leo for your insight and wisdom!

Joseph Episode 4 Gen 39:20-40:23

Tonight we explored the Joseph story as he was thrown into prison and was presented with two dreams to interpret.

We asked ourselves: Where does God feature in your big picture? Listen below if you want to be challegned some more:

 Download Joseph 4 28.6.09

Joseph Talks so far...

Below are the talks given on the Joseph story.

Download Joseph 1 on 07.6.09 Genesis 37:1-11

"What do we do with the gifts God gives us?"

 

Download Joseph 2 on 14.6.09 Genesis 37:12-35

"Have you let bitterness and apathy creep into your spirit?"

 

Download Joseph 3 on 21.6.09 Genesis 39:1-20

"How do we resist Temptation?"

Joseph Gen 37:1-11 Message Highlights

Joseph’s story is a story that will challenge each of us to move to where God wants us to be and a story that will challenge us as a community to be the people God wants us to be.

What I love about Joseph’s story is that it’s so human! It’s so easy to associate ourselves with Joseph. It’s so easy to find ourselves in Joseph. The task ahead of us will be whether we actually want to or not.

Many of us are where Joseph began his journey, we aren’t necessarily ready to take on the responsibilities of God’s kingdom.

Joseph’s story raises for us many different questions. The first is: What do you do with what God’s given you?

His story begins in dysfunction, relational disunity, self serving attitudes and with a bunch of people who make a bunch of bad decisions. This is our story! I’m in this story. You’re in this story. This is good news for all of us, because if God can not only sort out these guys, but also redeem them so much that they go on to be the foundation for who God’s people become. Then God can and will transform us as followers of Jesus and us as a community of disciples.

And it begins with a 17 year old kid who we’ll see has a lot of growing up to do.

Joseph has a dream and we have the benefit of knowing that the dream Joseph has is more than just an ordinary dream. That dream is a signpost that God chooses to give Joseph, which raises our question: What does Joseph do with the things that God gives?

We see that Joseph has influence and now God has spoken words of hope. Not just for Joseph, but actually words of hope for the brothers and all their descendants. God paints for Joseph a picture of care and provision and protection, which Joseph interprets quite differently to how God intended him to.

Joseph uses what God has given him to alienate people and repel people from him. He uses it to promote himself! Joseph’s spiritual maturity determines what he will do with, and how he will view what God has given him. The same is true for you and me. All too often even in Church ministry we use what God has given us for selfish promotion.

Joseph didn’t understand the value and importance of the things God had entrusted him with. He didn’t treat the things God gifted him with, with the reverence they deserved. As a result people were hurt, a family was split up, hatred raged and consumed and Joseph was nearly killed.

When we steward the gifts of God with grace and love and maturity amazing things can happen. When we steward them with a self promoting spirit, disaster is usually headed our way, and it’s usually disaster that affects more than just us,

The gifts of God are for the edification of everyone. They are for the benefit of everyone, and the bi-product is we benefit too. There is no doubt that as God’s desires for Joseph unfold he is the beneficiary, But he only benefits as everyone else benefits. And they usually benefit first!

The place Joseph begins, is all about him. Yet God still provides for him. But the place he where he ventures to, is all about something far greater, which we’ll come to see also.