Monday Message

"I don't have a Bible." "I don't have time to go to church anymore." "I work for the money. God isn't in my work." These are all statements I've made at one time or another. Fortunately, not for some time now. It seems easy to blame remoteness, lack of access to resources and shortness of time for us not feeling close to God. But at least we haven't been sold by our siblings into slavery, wrongly accused of an offence and thrown in jail only to be forgotten by those who said they'd help. All this and more happened to Joseph before he rose to power in Egypt AND he didn't have a bible to carry with him. Was God remote from him? Had He left Joseph behind? Not at all. Take a look... Genesis 39:2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Genesis 39:5 From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lor...

 Last week I looked at Joseph's dream and the brothers' reaction to it. This week we take a large step forward in time to the trial of Stephen before the Sanhedrin, in Acts. He gives a recount of the nation of Israel and as a part of that, he says the following: Acts 7:8b-15 …Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation. “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favour before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace. “But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food. Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some. The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they...

Today's message was inspired by my good friend and author , Erik Petersen . Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. I used to think that this was merely an admonition against using God's name as a swear word, which seems to be in vogue these days. However, I was prompted to look at it in a quite different fashion a couple of years ago. Firstly, let's look at the 'usual' thing that happens when you marry; One of you, usually the woman, changes their last name to match their new spouses. I know some don't and some hyphenate, but I'm generalising. This is referred to as taking the other's name. When you marry, you don't marry just a person; You marry a family with it's own culture, beliefs, routines and rituals. And how, you may ask, does this apply to Exodus 20:7? The Church (Capital 'C') is called the Bride of Chr...

Matthew 26:20-25 When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the Twelve. While they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?” He replied, “One of you who has just eaten from this bowl with me will betray me. For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!” Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?” This, to me, is one of the saddest events involving the Disciples. After all the time they'd spent with Jesus, you'd think they'd all knowexactly who He is. When He tells them that one will betray Him, the first 11 all respond by calling Him "Lord". And then Judas responds. The difference in his understanding of Jesus' authority is stark and shows how it is that he is able to betray...