CHARACTER QUALITY # 33 Memory

CHARACTER QUALITY # 32 Forgiveness

Joseph ultimately forgave his brothers and took care of their needs.  Our story with Jesus is not so different from Joseph’s brother’s story with him.

Who are Jesus brothers?  You and me.  We must journey to a foreign land to bow before someone we don’t recognize and beg for life – and he will give us so much more as he reveals that he is the God who created us.

NEITHER GOD NOR HIS FORGIVENESS IS INVISIBLE:

Rom 1:20    For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

John 1:14    The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Col 1:13-23

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

1 John 1:1-2                   That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.   1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

          We are made in the image and likeness of God – but Jesus is the only full satisfactory image of God.  Joseph forgave his brothers – we must forgive those who wrong us – most important – Jesus has forgiven us.  That will alter your image – how others see God in you – when you live knowing you are cleansed and forgiven.

From the Heart,
Pastor Jeff

CHARACTER QUALITY # 31 Victorious

Psalm 20

May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.  May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.  May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. Selah  May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests.  Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.  They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.  O Lord, save the king! Answer us when we call!

Romans 8:31-39

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gen 41:1

When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream:

Gen 40:20

Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

Gen 41:9-14

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged."  So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.

We are lifted along with the saints who have gone before us.  Who were they?

Joseph was brought from nearly the lowest position of brothers to the highest by the symbol of a multicolored coat.  He was lifted out of a pit where he had been placed to die.  He was lifted out of a jail where he should never have been.  He was lifted out of obscurity as a Hebrew and given the second highest authority in all of Egypt only Pharaoh the king was above him.

Adam was lifted from the dust to become a man.  Enoch was lifted from this life without tasting death.  Abraham was lifted from a foreign land to the promised land. Isaac was lifted out of being sacrificed. Jacob was lifted up from being a Hebrew to being the Father of Israel.  Noah and his family were lifted above the flood.  Moses was lifted out of a basket in the Nile river to become royalty in Pharaoh’s palace.  Joshua was lifted form military spy to Jericho wall destroyer.  Jonah was lifted out of the whale.  Daniel was lifted out of the lion’s den.  Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego were lifted out of the fiery furnace.  Job was lifted out of losing everything.  Dry bones were lifted to life.  Rahab was lifted from prostitute to security for she and her family.  David was lifted from Shepherd to King.  Nehemiah was lifted from Cupbearer in a foreign land to the master rebuilder of the walls of Jerusalem. Saul was lifted from persecutor to Paul the apostle.  Peter was lifted out of the water.  Zaccheaus was lifted out of selfishness to generosity.  A woman was lifted out of 12 years of bleeding to fully restored health.  The lame man of Capernaum was lifted off his mat and began to walk.  The Woman at well was lifted from multiple marriages to Evangelist for her community.  The woman caught in adultery was lifted form sin to righteousness.  The son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of the centurion, and Lazarus, the friend of Jesus were all lifted from death to life.

Jesus was lifted off the cross and placed in a sealed tomb.  Jesus was lifted out of that sealed tomb to resurrected life.  Jesus was lifted from earth to the glory of heaven, seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.”

From the Heart,
Pastor Jeff Cooper

CHARACTER QUALITY # 30: Equality

Jacob and his twin brother, Esau, were born to Isaac and Rebekah.   She received the prophecy that twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives, and become two separate nations. When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, the first to come out emerged red and hairy all over, with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out, Jacob.   The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. "Esau became a hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a simple man, a dweller in tents" The attitudes of their parents toward them also differ: "Isaac loved Esau but Rebecca loved Jacob"

Sale of the birthright

Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some stew. Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright and Esau agreed.

Jacob's deception of Isaac

Much later, Isaac became blind in his old age and decided to bestow the blessing of the firstborn upon Esau. He sent Esau out to the fields to trap and cook a piece of savory game for him, so that he could eat it and bless Esau.  Rebekah overheard this conversation ordered Jacob to bring her two goats from the flock, which she cooked in the way Isaac loved, and had him bring them to his father in place of Esau.  When Jacob protested that his father would recognize the deception and curse him as soon as he felt him, since Esau was hairy and Jacob smooth-skinned, Rebekah dressed him in Esau's garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.

After receiving the blessing, Jacob had scarcely left the room when Esau returned from the hunt to prepare his game and receive the blessing. The realization that he has been deceived shocked Isaac.  Esau was filled with hatred toward Jacob for taking away both his birthright and his blessing. He vowed to himself to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died.

          Later, Jacob approached uncle Laban for permission to marry Rachel. Laban agreed that his daughter might marry Jacob but stipulated that, as a bride price, Jacob must contract to work for him for seven years.  After 7 years and some drinking before the wedding, a veiled Leah had pretended to be her sister Rachel. Jacob worked for another 7 years to marry his love, Rachel.  Jacob never forgave Leah for her part in the deception. She was the 'unloved' wife. 

It seems that Rachel was still angry at her father for what he had done to her. Before they set out, she took the small figurines that represented the protective deities of her father's family, telling no-one what she was doing.

Later Jacob gave the blessing to Joseph’s sons exalting the younger over the older.  Jacob’s family all the way through Joseph’s family were all messed up.  We are all messed up.  Every family has odd things that happen.  Is it that way in God’s family?  Yes and no.  No – in God’s family we are all equal and full sons and daughters.  Yes – I believe we will be shocked at who we see and who we don’t see in heaven.  People who said they believe in Jesus but didn’t, and those who never said a word publically but trusted completely.  On this Mother’s Day we should all be like the best mother’s who love their children equally – beyond measurement and to know that we are loved by God in this same way.

Did your mother love you and your siblings equally?  How does God treat us equally?  What does it mean for us to treat each other equally?

From the Heart,
Pastor Jeff

DREAMING: Character Quality # 29

Genesis 37:2-11

     This is the account of Jacob.  Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.    Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.  When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.  Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.  He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:  We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."   His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.   Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."   When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"  His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Acts 2:16-21

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.   Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.   I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.   The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.   And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' 

 Who was this dreamer?

 1)      Joseph – the 11th son of Jacob.

2)      He was a teenager – 17 years old

3)      He was a grunt worker, tending the flocks with his brothers.

4)      He was honest to a fault. 

5)      Joseph was a person of great faith.  The dreams he had he believed were from God.

These last three traits are paramount for the person who would dream God’s dreams.

          God’s first dream for you is to have a personal relationship with Him through his son Jesus.  The dream fulfilled was done by the grunt work of Jesus living, teaching, and eventually dying an innocent man between two thieves crucified on a roman cross.

Psalm 126

          When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed.   Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.  Then it was said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them."   The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.  Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev.   Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.  He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

 Whether he was in the prison or the palace, he had always maintained a deep, life-giving relationship with God.  Although he no longer lived in the Promised Land, he still walked intimately with the God who had made the promise.

Joseph never lost sight of the invisible. 

If we will walk in intimacy with God and the people He has placed in our lives, cultivating a heart to live by faith for what is invisible, we, too, can see the dream of God fulfilled in our personal life, our family, our business, our community, or our church.

What God dreams so you have?

From the Heart,
Pastor Jeff Cooper