Pastor Frank preached about Joseph today.
(Genesis 37-49)
Joseph's life:
Survival
Success
Significance
For the first 30 years of Joseph's life, he just survived. He had a dream and shared it with his brothers, who hated him for it and other things. When they had opportunity, they threw him into a well to die, but got him out again when they had opportunity to sell him. He wound up in Egypt as a slave in Potiphar's house. He did very well there and Potiphar completely trusted him, but then, Potiphar's wife made a false accusation against him, and he was thrown in prison. The prison guard gave Joseph a great deal of responsibility and he gained favor with the inmates and interpreted some dreams for some of them. They promised to remember him and try to get him out, but they forgot about him. Just about the time Joseph would take a step forward, he'd take two steps backward and he was just barely making it. He was in survival mode but he was faithfully surviving.
Some of us are along the bank of the river of God and we can't even think about going in deeper because we are just trying to remain upright along the bank. We're just trying to keep our eyes open.
There are two types of failure:
1)Character failure-we are in a situation because of our character and the poor choices we have made. We know we have done this to ourselves. God is a God of restoration, and He provides a way of escape for us from ourselves and our own destructive ways.
2)Circumstantial failure-Our circumstances in life beyond our control have brought the taste of failure into our lives.
When Joseph was about 30, he was brought out of prison and planted right in the middle of success. He went from prison to palace in a day, literally. Joseph gained such favor with Pharoah that he placed Joseph as second in command in the whole country. No one could raise a hand or a foot without his approval and when Joseph came around, the command was given to "Kneel Down".
If Joseph hadn't gone through the humiliation and character building that takes place in survival mode, he would never have been able to handle the favor bestowed on him at this time in his life.
(Being successful is what happens to me as an individual.
Significance goes beyond success to benefit others.
If you are significant, you would be missed if you were gone.)
Joseph became successful as he was trusted and exalted in the land.
He became significant when he handed out provisions to those who needed them.
Joseph's life-
Survival mode-1-30 years of age
Success mode-30-56 years of age-He was 56 when he was reintroduced to his brothers
Significant mode-56-110 years of age
He continues to be significant even now, after his death at 110 years of age.
Joseph's significance affected his brothers
and the boundaries of Egypt could not contain their off-spring.
He impacted his family, his community, his nation, and His world!
All from a dream.
God shaped Joseph's character during survival mode.
Joseph proved that he could be trusted with success.
Significance goes way beyond what we could ever dream.
It's not about being successful on a personal level.
It's about something bigger than we can dream.
So go ahead and think and dream.
God is able to do much more than we can ever think or imagine.
When Jacob was dying, he blessed his off-spring.
Of Joseph, he said, "Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall..."
A well is like the river of God.
It never runs dry.
If we are like a tree planted by rivers of living water,
we will bring forth fruit in season.
Our leaves will bring healing to the nations
and our fruit will bring wholeness to the partaker.
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I think that at any given time, we may have an areas in our life where we are just surviving. We may have another area of our life in which we are experiencing success. And we may be significant during the process of surviving and in having success. We are always 'becoming' and even though we never arrive, we influence people for the better just because we are alive.
AH
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Someone asked me if I thought whether people would miss them if they no longer came to our church.
I thought about it and came to the conclusion that the question is not whether they would be missed. The question is, "Do they-(Do I)-notice when others are missing?" Perhaps it is more important to notice that others are missing than to be missed ourselves. Does that make sense? If the spleen left the body, would it be missed? If an arm left the body, would it be missed? Some parts seem more significant than another. But it is Christ's body and He wants all of His parts functioning properly. Any part missing would be missed. It's important to keep the parts you already have in good working order so that you can keep things together when others want to fit into the body that you have.-AH
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Some of this sermon is told in my own words and some are Pastor Franks words and my understanding of them. (Disclaimer to protect PF)
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Prayer excerpt-..."Let Farmville be a magnet for Your presence."
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Pastor Frank shared his vision for the church and his desire for us to be smack in the river of God's blessing and how he feels this could be done. I had heard about this a few days ago, but it is better to hear it from the man with the dream.
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