opposites cannot live together…

step three in how to stop worrying is found in matthew 6.30 (niv), if that is how GOD clothes the grass of the field…will HE not much more clothe you – you of little faith? the root of all worry is a lack of faith.  it's unbelief.

the third step in overcoming worry is this:  trust GOD to care for the things beyond your control.  you can’t control them anyway so you might as well trust GOD for them.  it will make life a whole lot easier.  trust GOD to care for the things beyond your control. 

worry and faith are opposites – worry and trust.  they cannot live together in a home.  when worry comes in the front door, trust goes out the back door.  worry will live in your home until you invite trust to come back in the front door.  they cannot live in your mind together.  fill your mind with trust – trust GOD in every area – and worry departs.

just a thought from the front porch…

two more conditions for praying effectively…

another condition for praying effectively that james mentions in his book  is you need a clean life. 

james 5.16 (niv), the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. please note the word, righteous, a righteous man. 

if you’re a CHRISTian you are righteous.  we’re not talking about perfection.  we’re talking about righteousness.  righteousness is your standing before GOD when you became a believer.  it has nothing to do with your perfection.  if GOD only answered the prayers of perfect people, how many prayers would get answered?  none. 

but GOD does want us to have a clean life.  psalm 66.18 (niv), david said, if i hide [regard, conceal] iniquity [sin] in my heart then the LORD will not hear. 

if i am willfully and knowingly doing something i know is displeasing to GOD and say, “GOD, i’m going to continue doing this but, by the way, help me out.  it’s like saying, “dad, will you loan me the keys to the car, but i’m never going to do a single thing you ask.”  we need to have a clean life before him. 

proverbs 28.9 (niv), he that turneth his back from the hearing of the law, even his prayers are an abomination.

isaiah 59.2 (niv), but your inequities have separated you from your GOD; your sins have hidden HIS face from you so that HE will not hear.

and then you need to ask in faith.  expect an answer.  james 1.6 (niv), but when he asks, he must believe and not doubt...

when you come to GOD, believe that HE wants to answer your prayer.  trust HIM.  don’t doubt.  really believe.

how important is your prayer life to you?  i struggle with this more than any other area in my life – this area of being consistent in prayer.  i talk to the LORD all the time, but i don't really have the prayer life i want to have.  i’m never satisfied with it.  i want to know HIM in a deeper way.  i want things in my life to only be explained by the fact that GOD did it.

just a thought from the front porch…

the difference between a statement of faith or a statement of arrogance…

well we are six days into this new year 2012.  how are you doing?  are you making plans for this new year with GOD’s help or are you presuming about tomorrow, believing you are going to live forever?  i lost one of my very good friends this past year who was in his 50’s.  don’t take tomorrow for granted.

isaiah 56.12 (niv) , “come”, each one cries, “…let us drink our fill of beer!  and tomorrow will be like today, or even far better!”

do you know anybody with that kind of attitude?  life is great!  let’s party!  Let’s get drunk!  bring on the beer!

the guys who say this have a bumper sticker on their camel:  “it’s party time in jerusalem!”  live it up and have fun.  we’re going to live forever.  new york city is built on that philosophy.

but JESUS says that’s a dumb attitude toward life.  you can’t presume that you’re going to live to be 100.  proverbs 27.1 (niv), do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring forth.

we love to announce our plans, to make our goals and declare them.  next year i’m going to double my income!  next year i’m going to take over three territories!  announcing a goal can either be a statement of faith or it can be a statement of arrogance.  what makes the difference?

your motive.  why are you saying what you’re saying?  GOD says it’s great to have goals but check in with ME first.  let ME share with you what I think your goals ought to be.  don’t presume on tomorrow.

just a thought from the front porch…

let’s pray…

some of you possibly have been struggling with doubts about whether you are a CHRISTian or not.  you say, “i don’t remember the time that i specifically asked the LORD to take over my life.  i’ve believed about CHRIST but maybe i’ve never really believed in HIM.  i want to settle it today.”

if you’re not sure, if you’ve got doubts, settle it right now.  just pray this, “LORD, i want to have real faith, not a phony faith.”

what does it mean to believe?  it means commitment.  would you say in your heart right now,

“JESUS CHRIST, i give every area of my life to as much of you as i understand and i want to learn more about you.  GOD, i give my past, all the things that have happened, the good and bad, achievements, the faults, the sins, the mistakes.  i ask you to take it all.  i admit that i’ve done my own way many times.  i haven’t consulted you.  i’ve made my own decisions without talking to you about them. i ask you to forgive me.  LORD, i not only give you my past, i want to give you my future.  i don’t know what it holds but i know you know it.  i want to follow you as best as i know how.  i want to be a real believer.  JESUS CHRIST, i give you my present, right now.  take my life and make me the person you want me to be.  help me to grow.  help me to know that i’m a CHRISTian and help me to show it in my life by obeying your word.  thank you for loving me.  thank you for dying for me on the cross.  help me to understand it more.  LORD, i want to get into the wheel barrow right now.  i want to commit all of it to you, the problems and the possibilities of my life.”

if you prayed that prayer in your heart and meant it i believe GOD heard you.  the bible says, whoever calls on the name of JESUS will be saved.  HE says, you do your part and I’ll do my part.

FATHER, i want to thank you for these who’ve made this decision in their heart and today they're settling it.  i pray that your HOLY SPIRIT will put a confirmation in their heart that today they’re giving themselves to you.  i know this isn’t a promise to be perfect but it is a promise to let you take control.  you said that you will come into our lives and make us new people.  thank you that it wipes out all the things we’ve done wrong in the past and gives us a new look on life.  thanks you for this word.  thank you that it’s so clear.  we can understand that real faith is not something we say or feel or believe but it is something we do.  we commit ourselves to you today.  in JESUS name, amen.

just a thought from the front porch…

not determined but demonstrated…

james here in chapter 2 also talks about rahab.  the story is in joshua 2.  it’s the story of how a prostitute helped a couple of spies when they were coming into jericho.  rahab ends up in the family life of JESUS.  she risks her life to save a spy.

our faith is not determined by what we do, it is demonstrated by what we do.

about 35 years ago there was a famous tightrope walker named george blondin who, for a publicity stunt, decided he would walk across niagara falls on a tightrope.   on the appointed day they stretched a tightrope from one side of niagara falls to the other. 

he got there and there were crowds lining both the canadian and american side.  thousands of people showed up to see this unbelievable feat.  blondin walked up to the edge of the tightrope, put one foot on the tightrope and put another foot out to walk across – inch by inch, step by step.

he got out in the middle and everybody knew that if he’d make one mistake in balance he’d fall off the rope and into the falls and obviously be killed.  blondin got to the other side and the crowd went wild, shouting and cheering.  blondin said, “i’m going to do it again.”  he got to the other side and the crowds went crazy.

blondin said, “i’m going to do it again but this time i’m going to bush a wheel barrow full of dirt.”  he pushes the wheel barrow across.  he got to the other side.  he did this nine or ten times.

on the tenth time, he pushes the wheel barrow right in front of a tourist who said, “i believe you could do that all day.”  blondin them dumped out the dirt and said, “ok, then you get into the wheel barrow.”

in a real sense that’s what GOD is saying to you.  talk is cheap.  put your money where your mouth is.  “i believe in JESUS.”  then prove it.  our faith is demonstrated by our actions.  actions speak louder than words.  our behavior shows what we really believe.

2 corinthians 13.5 (niv), examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.  test.  check it out.  see if you’re really a believer or not.

just a thought from the front porch… 

it is something you do…

if real faith is not just something you say or think of feel or believe, then what is faith? well the answer is real faith is something you do.

here in james chapter 2 there are two illustrations of two very different people.  abraham and rahab – exact opposite extremes.

abraham is a man, rahab is a woman.  abraham is jewish, rahab is a gentile.  abraham is a patriarch, rahab is a prostitute.  abraham is a somebody, rahab is a nobody.  abraham is a major character in the bible, rahab is a minor character. 

now james uses these illustrations to say, it doesn’t matter who you are as long as you’ve got the important thing.  they only had one thing in common – their faith in GOD and their faith in GOD led them to an action.

verses 20-23 (nirv), you foolish man! do you want proof that faith without good works is useless? our father abraham offered his son isaac on the altar. wasn’t he considered to be right with GOD because of what he did? so you see that what he believed and what he did were working together. what he did made his faith complete. that is what scripture means where it says, “abraham believed GOD. GOD accepted abraham because he believed. so his faith made him right with GOD.” and that’s not all. GOD called abraham HIS friend.

do you know the story?  it’s the ultimate test where GOD asked abraham to give his own son.  this has nothing to do with salvation.  abraham was already a believer, twenty-five years earlier GOD has said, you’re righteous. 

he’s not talking about being saved by his works.  he is saying, this shows how much you believe.  abraham obeyed GOD, he was immediate.  he followed him.  he took his son up.  he cut the wood, built the altar and was ready to sacrifice his own son. 

abraham says to his son while walking up the mountain, “we (not i) will return.”  he knew that GOD would provide somehow even if it meant raising him from the dead.  the fact is GOD did raise him from the dead figuratively speaking. 

abraham was about to sacrifice him and GOD says, i was just testing you to see what’s most important in your life.  it was an action.  his works proved his faith.  he held nothing back from GOD.

just a thought from the front porch…

but i believe…

so what is real faith?  that is a good question.  well for one real faith is not just something you believe.

james 2.19 (niv), you believe that there is one GOD.  good!  even the demons believe that – and shudder!

there are a lot of people who have strong beliefs in GOD, the bible, about CHRIST.  they can recite creeds to you and catechisms and talk about doctrines of the trinity, quote bible verses but james says, “big deal!”  just saying i believe in GOD is not enough to get into heaven.  even the devil believes that.

the bible says in proverbs, the fool has said in his heart, there is no GOD.  it’s foolish to be an atheist and the devil is no fool.  the devil believes in GOD.  the devil is a great theologian.  he knows a lot more bible than you do.  he’s been around a whole lot longer.  he knows theology backwards and forwards.  he believes.  his demons believe and shudder.

the greek word for shudder is “to bristle” – their hair stands on end.  it’s the kind of word you’d use reading a steven king novel.  why?  because the devils understand the majesty and awesomeness of GOD.  they believe in GOD and they tremble they shudder..

folks, i believe in hitler but i’m no nazi.  i’m a CHRISTian i believe in JESUS but it’s more than just a head knowledge.

a lot of people are going to miss heaven by 18 inches.  they’ve got it in their heads but not their heart.  they say, “i believe in GOD.”  james says, “big deal.  everybody believes in GOD.”  how do you have a creation without a creator but that’s not enough.

real faith is not just saying “i believe.”  there is so much easy believeism in america.  an article in the orange county register said, “many in orange county believe but don't practice.”  they did a survey and asked people all over orange county and they found a high degree of belief.  “sure i’m a believer.  i’m a christian.”  do you attend church?  “no.”  do you donate your time?  “no.”   do you tithe?  “no.”  james says that’s a phony belief.  you’re just conning yourself.  a lot of people are doing that.

just a thought from the front porch…

you can see it in people’s lives…

we are looking in the nt book of james at the characteristics of authentic, real faith.  one thing he shows is that real faith is more than just something you think.  you can point it out and see it in people’s lives.

james 2.18 (niv), someone will say, “you have faith, i have deeds. show me your faith without deeds and i will show you my faith by what i do.”    

there’s a chorus that we sang as kids, “if you're saved and you know it then your life will surely show it.”  that’s what james is saying.  show me.  you claim to have real faith.  it's something more than something you say, something you feel, and something you think about.  you can prove it.

2 corinthians 5.17 (nirv), anyone who believes in CHRIST is a new creation. the old is gone! the new has come!  not over night but they start becoming new.

if you grab onto a 220 wire you’re going to know it.  i don’t see how somebody as big as GOD can enter your life and it not change you.  james says, flat out, if it doesn’t change you there’s a question whether HE’s really in your life.  what can i see in my life that proves it?

jimmy carter in his book, why not the best? said that “one of the things that was the turning point in my life was when someone asked me the question, ‘if you were arrested for being a CHRISTian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?’”

that’s a good question.  that’s what james was talking about.  if you say, “i know it!”  show it!

how do you know you’re a believer?  you’ll see some changes in your life.  real faith always produces change.  real faith is not just something you say.  it's not just something you feel.  it’s not just something you think.

just a thought from the front porch…

a pointed question...

1 john 3.17 (niv), if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of GOD be in that person?

real faith is generous.  it wants to give.  who can count on you in a crisis?  how many CHRISTians have the freedom to call you up in the middle of the night if they are in an emergency?  not just talking the talk.  not just feeling for people. 

1 john 3.14 says that one of the proofs of salvation is that we love other CHRISTians.  do you have fellowship with believers?  real faith wants to be around other believers.  you love them.  we are known that we are CHRISTians by our love.

james 2.17 (niv), in the same way, faith by itself if it’s not accompanied by actions is dead.

we are better at verbalizing our faith than practicing it.  i can’t meet everybody’s needs but i can meet somebody’s.  even JESUS couldn’t meet everybody’s needs.  james is saying that if my faith doesn’t lead me to share with others it’s wrong.

if i don’t feel like helping other CHRISTians i don’t have a sick faith, i have a dead faith.  james is laying it on the line.  he says, do you want real faith?  it’s more than just something you say and it’s more than just something you feel.

just a thought from the front porch…

takes the initiative…

we are looking in the the 2^nd chapter of james about what real faith is.  real faith is not just something you say. real faith is not just something you feel.  it’s more than emotions.

a lot of people confuse emotions and sentiments with faith.  you can be emotionally moved and never act on it.  you can go to church and get a quiver in your liver, goose bumps but it never makes any difference.

james gives here an illustration.  james 2.15& 16 (niv), suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  if one of you says to him, “go, i wish you well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

there was this peanuts cartoon.  charlie brown and linus are inside all bundled up and snoopy is out in the cold shivering in front of his dog food bowl.  and charlie and linus are having a discussion on how sad it is that snoopy is hungry and cold.  “he’s cold and hungry.  we ought to do something about it.”  so they walk outside and say to snoopy, “be of good cheer, snoopy.”

do you know where charles schultz got that idea?  from this verse.  what good is it if you see someone in need and you say, “i feel for you!”  he is saying it’s more than words.  it’s more than just feelings.

let’s say on sunday after church, i walk outside and you’re getting in your car and you happen to slam eight fingers in your car door and you’re standing there in agony with blood on your fingers.  if i walk up and say, “i feel for you!”  is that any help?

real faith is more than just sympathy and feeling emotions.  you give assistance.  you do something about it.  you act on it.  real faith takes the initiative.  a real believer has real faith and it’s practical.  it gets involved with people. 

now he’s talking about CHRISTians here. (this is the only time in scripture that CHRISTian women are called sisters.)  when you become a part of GOD’s family you have some family responsibilities.  a real believer will care about other believers. 

just a thought from the front porch…

it’s more than just talk…

many people want to know how do i show i am a believer?  maybe you’re one of them.  well james in his nt book in the latter part of the bible gives us some steps or principles here in the 2^nd chapter of his book.  he strives to answer the question what is real faith?

one thing he says is real faith is not just something you say, you talk about.  james 2.14 (nlt), what good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? can that kind of faith save anyone?

now, it doesn’t say he actually has faith; he just claims to have it.  he talks about it.  he knows all of the right phrases.

there are a lot of people who claim to be CHRISTians.  george gallup says that over 50 million americans say, “i’m born again.”  but you don’t see anything in their lifestyle.

today we tend to label people as CHRISTians if they have the slightest sound of being a believer.  listen, it’s more than just talk that is involved in real faith.

we find in matthew 7.21 (nlt) that JESUS said, not everyone who calls out to me, “LORD! LORD!” will enter the kingdom of heaven.  not everyone with a CHRISTian bumper sticker is a believer.  not everyone who is a professor of CHRISTianity is a possessor of CHRISTianity. 

james says, can that kind of faith save anyone?  “what value is this kind of faith?”  nothing.  talk is cheap.  james is saying that real faith is not just something you say. 

just a thought from the front porch…

who is right?...

it seems like when you put the word real in front of anything it sells more – real coffee or real leather.  we are interested in the genuine article.  there was a tv show on called “real people”.  do you remember it?  there was a book out called real men don’t eat quiche.  coke used to be the “real thing.”

i want to get to where we left off in the nt book of james and to what he has to say about how to have real faith.  there are a lot of phony religions out there – people who think they are CHRISTians and they really aren’t. 

now in james 2.14-26 he talks about the difference between real and counterfeit CHRISTians.  authentic believers and fake believers, he talks about how do you have a real faith.

this is the most controversial and misunderstood passage in the book of james.  every cult misunderstands it and they try to use this passage to prove you have to work your way to heaven and it’s important that you get what i’m talking about so that when those guys come to your door, you’ll know what to say to them.

the apostle paul writes in ephesians 2.8 (tev), for it is by GOD’s grace you have been saved through faith.  but then james comes along and says, in verse 17 (niv), faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

so what's the deal?  what are they talking about. who is right? – james or paul.   the answer is they are both right.  they are just talking about different things.

paul was fighting the problem of legalism – the problem of “i’ve got the keep all the jewish laws and regulations to be a CHRISTian.”  paul is talking to that group.  james is not fighting legalism but laxity, those who say “it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you believe.”

they are fighting two different enemies.  they use the word “works” in two different ways.  when paul uses the word “works” he’s talking about jewish laws like circumcision and things like that.  when james uses it, he’s talking about the lifestyle of a CHRISTian – acts of love.  it’s totally different.

paul focuses on the root of salvation – what happens to me internally.  james focuses on the fruit of salvation – what happens on the outside.

just a thought from the front porch…

the promise: GOD will give it…

if you want to receive anything from GOD you’ve got to believe in advance you’re going to get it.  that’s faith.  and then the promise: GOD will give it.

james 1.5 (niv), if any of you lacks wisdom he should ask GOD, who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him.  GOD wants to give you wisdom and HE is eager.  GOD is a giving GOD.

look how GOD says HE’ll give wisdom…

continually.  ask GOD who gives…  in the greek that is in the continuous tense.  HE keeps on giving.  HE doesn’t run out of energy.  HE never wears out.

next generously.  HIS resources are unlimited.  HE has enough resources for everybody.  HE’s got plenty.

then without finding fault.  GOD gives cheerfully.

have you ever received a gift from someone you knew was giving it grudgingly and it took the joy out of it?  they knew they had to and there wasn’t any joy in it.   the bible says that GOD doesn’t give wisdom that way.  HE loves to give.  you never need to feel embarrassed.  there should never be any hesitation.  GOD does not resent your asking for wisdom.  HE is pleased when you ask.

just a thought from the front porch…

relax, trust, co-operate...

relax.  trust GOD to know what’s best for your life.  co-operate with HIS purpose so you don’t short circuit the process.  that’s what’s called faith.  james 1.6 (niv), when he asks he must believe and not doubt.  relax.  let GOD work.

letter to a pastor:

dear pastor, “it has amazed me how the LORD has moved in my life in the past two years.  i’ve always known about the LORD and went to church but when i lost my mother in the past two years things changed.  watching someone i love and respected and being eaten away by cancer so quickly i kept asking that one question, “why?”  but strange things happened.  GOD took over in my life.  so many things happened to change my life even through such adversity and sadness.  then four months later the man i had loved for six years ended our relationship but GOD was there, again giving me wisdom and strength and protection.  then i had to overcome a drinking problem and i did.  it’s been one year and two weeks that the LORD has kept me from drinking.  HE moved in again at that point and saved me from myself.  since then i’m trusting HIM more and more each day and it is so exciting.  yes, there are still problems and sometimes deep depression but HE is there.  i know now that if i choose i can trust HIM.  do you know what that has done for me?  each day is a growing experience for me with HIM.  i know GOD sent me to this church to hear your teaching.  i wish and hope the LORD will make me grow so i can help others in the hard times and help them to know HIM.”

my heart breaks when i think about some of the heartache and pain many of you feel.  there are some of you that are going to be in GOD’s hall of fame.  you have maintained a sweet spirit in the odds of incredible pressure – things that people did to you, that people did about you, situations you have been living with.  it’s not always easy to have a joyful heart in the middle of problems.

even when you want to have a joyful attitude it’s still difficult.  that’s why you need to pray for two things: wisdom to understand the trial and faith to endure the trial.  you need them both.  james says you need wisdom to know what’s going on and faith to hang in there and never, never give up.  you’re never a failure until you quit.

GOD says the devil wants to use problems to defeat you but GOD wants to use problems to develop you.  which will it be?

just a thought from the front porch…

it has value in our lives...

problems are purposeful.  they have a purpose.  pain can be productive.  pressure produces.  suffering can accomplish something.  it has value in our lives.  what value? 

for one - problems purify my faith. 

james 1.3a (niv), you know that the testing of your faith…   he uses the word testing as in testing gold and silver.  you would heat it up very hot until the impurities – the dross – was burned off.  job said, he has tested me through the refining fire and i have come out as pure gold.  the first things trials do is test our faith.  they purify us.

CHRISTians are like tea bags.  you don’t know what’s inside of them until you drop them in hot water and then you know.  your faith develops when you don’t feel like doing what’s right.  it purifies your faith.  CHRISTians are like steel; when they’re tested they come out stronger.

another one - problems fortify our patience.

verse 3b (niv), the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  he’s talking about staying power.  not a passive patience but staying power, endurance.  the ability to keep on, keeping on, the ability to hang in there.  the greek here is literally “the ability to stay under pressure.” 

we don’t like pressure and we do everything we can to avoid it.  we run from it, take drugs, gamble, drink alcohol, go to disneyland, anything to get away from pressure but GOD uses problems in our lives to teach us how to handle pressure, how to never give up.

how does GOD teach us patience?  by everything going your way?  no.  GOD teaches you patience in traffic jams, in grocery lines, the waiting periods in life. 

we live in a comfort and convenient society.  everybody wants it now.  if i can’t have it now, forget it.  endurance today, is a rare quality.  lombardi said, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

just a thought from the front porch…

in bondage to unforgiveness...

judah is a forerunner of JESUS and the end of the story is better than the beginning.

maybe you had a tough beginning in your story of life.  maybe you made some real mistakes like judah did.  but when i read the story of judah i say, “here’s a man of faith!”  people can look at you the same way even if you had a tough beginning. 

genesis 45.7 (niv) joseph reveals himself to his brothers.  he weeps loudly.  he says to his brothers, “i am joseph.  is my father still living? GOD sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth to save your lives by a great deliverance.” 

forgiveness?  he’s able to say, “i understand what GOD’s doing.  HE didn’t send me here for my greatness.  HE sent me here to save your lives.”  that’s forgiveness.  that’s a man who’s come to a point in his life that he not only sees GOD’s hand at work and he’s able to say i forgive somebody else.  but because of GOD’s grace in his life, he’s able to see how GOD wants to use him in the life that HE’s forgiven.

you’re probably not there yet but joseph’s life tells us that you can be there.  it took him thirteen years of faith to get there.  you can be there.  if you’re in bondage to unforgiveness it colors everything.  it colors your attitudes, it colors your actions, everything.

how do you break out of that bondage of unforgiveness?  simple.  forgive.  you say, “i’d love to forgive, how?” 

write on a sheet of paper everything GOD’s forgiven you for.  and look at it everyday if you’re having a hard time forgiving somebody.

pray for the person that you have an unforgiving attitude toward every day.  at the beginning you may be praying for them to die!  but at least talk to GOD about them.  start to talk to GOD about them every day.

it’s not going to happen in a day it’s not going to happen in two days.  it’s probably not even going to happen in a month but if you’re struggling with unforgiveness that’s the way to break those bonds. 

some of you are thinking, “i don’t want to do that!”  there’s the real issue!  sometimes we just don’t want to forgive.  we don’t want to let go.  but the truth is that GOD has forgiven us so much, how can we hold unforgiveness in our hearts towards anyone else when you start to look at what HE’s forgiven us for. 

just a thought from the front porch…

faith based tenacity…

if you want to receive GOD-given dreams, wisdom, humility and tenacity are going to be a part of your life. 

i’m sure there were people in pharaoh’s court when joseph was raised to the top leader in all of egypt who said, “look at this!  this young guy!  an overnight success!  i’ve worked all my life in pharaoh’s court and never got anything like that.”  an overnight success!

genesis 37.2 is the account of joseph.  joseph as a young man of 17.  now skip to genesis 41 and let’s see how old he is in genesis 41.46.  thirty.  thirteen years between the dream and the fulfillment of the dream.  is that an overnight success?  it’s a pretty long night!

some of you are in the middle of a pretty long night.  GOD gave joseph the dream and during every bit of that long night, GOD was faithfully working to accomplish that dream. 

joseph was a failure who knew how to succeed in a success.  he knew that because of GOD’s grace he would never truly fail.  joseph was the kind of guy who always seemed to land on his faith!  wherever you put him.  whether you put him in a slave’s household or you put him in prison or you put him here in pharaoh’s household, he always lands on his faith.  he had that kind of tenacity.  faith based tenacity.

just a thought from the front porch…

who get’s top billing?...

joseph didn’t miss GOD’s opportunity when it came because of the kind of faith he had, the kind of wisdom that he had.  and the kind of humility he had. 

genesis 41.16 (ncv),  joseph answered the king, “i am not able to explain the meaning of dreams, but GOD will do this for the king.”

he had the humility to recognize the source of his dreams.  he is able to say, “i can’t do it but GOD will.”  would you be able to do that?  the greatest opportunity you’ve ever had and guess who gets the credit?  GOD.  that’s what it means to be a person of faith, giving GOD top billing in our lives. 

samuel morris invented the morris code and changed the way we communicated in this country but he was also a believer.  he said about his invention of the telegraph.  “i’ve made a valuable application of electricity not because i was superior to other men but solely because GOD, who meant it for mankind, had to reveal it to someone and HE was pleased to reveal it to me.”  that’s somebody with a healthy self-image i think, somebody who realizes, “GOD wanted to use me.”  he doesn’t deny the fact that GOD used him but he also realized that GOD was revealing it to him.

that CHRISTmas song we sing, “o little town of bethlehem” was written by a preacher by the name of phillip brooks.  he had this to say about humility, “humility is not stooping so low trying to make ourselves smaller than ourselves.  true humility is standing at our full height up against the greatness of the almighty GOD comparing ourselves to HIM.  when you do that you experience true humility.” 

don’t buy into the world’s brand of humility that says you have to make yourselves smaller.  just make GOD greater.  that’s the road to humility in our lives and joseph had it.  because he made GOD greatest throughout his life. 

just a thought from the front porch…

right thing at the right time…

joseph has a GOD given dream and he is in prison but his story isn’t done.  genesis 41.1 (msg), two years passed and pharaoh had a dream...  two years later! 

joseph’s story is an amazing story of GOD’s wisdom and GOD’s timing.  it was a right time.  and joseph did the right thing at the right time.  it took two years and three days for GOD’s timing to act.  you may be in that time right now – that two-year period –what you’ve done is already working in some way; you just haven’t seen the results of it yet.  just like joseph.

now joseph had an opportunistic wisdom.  he had what could be called an open door faith.  that is the kind of faith that looks for and goes through GOD’s open doors. 

what we do so many times in our faith is close the doors for GOD, deciding in advance that they’re closed.  we’re not even going to try that door.  “GOD doesn’t want to do that.  it didn’t work before.  that’s just the way it is.” 

fast forward – two years later.  pharaoh has a dream and he can’t find anybody to interpret it.  guess what?  the cupbearer remembers, “there’s a guy in prison.  i wonder if he’s still there.” 

genesis 41.14&15 (msg), pharaoh at once sent for joseph. they brought him on the run from the jail cell. he cut his hair, put on clean clothes, and came to pharaoh.  “i dreamed a dream,” pharaoh told joseph. “nobody can interpret it. but i’ve heard that just by hearing a dream you can interpret it.”

what’s an open door faith?  well, it’s the ability to take risks.  there was a good chance in that day that if you didn’t interpret a dream the way the leader, the pharaoh, liked, if he felt like you were trying to make up an interpretation, trying to impress him, trying to lie to him in any way, the leader would have you killed.  that simple. 

so joseph had to make a choice.  be stuck in prison.  he could stay there the rest of his life and be safe.  or he could take a risk and try and interpret pharaoh’s dream and perhaps lose his life.  an open door faith has the ability to take risks in a GODly kind of way.  he did that when he went and interpreted the dream. 

i know some people who love to take risks.  they take risks all the time.  they love risks so much they feel like, “i’ll risk everything!  my family, my life.”  they get an adrenaline high from risks.  i'm not talking about that kind of a risk.  i'm talking about the kind of risks not that raises your adrenaline but raises your faith.  the kinds of risks that make you face your fears.  the kind of risks that make you begin to believe you could do something you never thought before by GOD’s power.  that kind of risk.  not a self-motivated risk but a GOD directed risk.  do you see the difference between the two?  a GOD motivated risk. 

just a thought from the front porch…

most of us have struggles…

jacob was a man who struggled.  if life is easy for you, if you don’t have any struggles you’re probably not going to relate to jacob.  but most of us have struggles.  all of us have struggles and jacob was a man who struggled in his life.  he struggled on a way to a great faith.  and as we look at his life, i hope you might see your struggles in a brand new way, in GOD’s kind of way.

we’re going to look at some phases of his life, and as we look at these phases you’re going to recognize some phases in your own life.  some phases as you’ve grown from younger to older and some phases when you’ve faced certain circumstances in your life.

now one phase was the scheming phase. and for jacob the scheming begins very early in his life.  he begins to scheme for a blessing and the birthright.  it seems that when he was born it was revealed to him that somehow, even though he was the second born, he would get the birthright.  so he begins to scheme for it.  and finally he comes up with a plan. 

genesis 25, jacob and esau.  verses 27-34 (niv), as the boys grew up, esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the open country.  jacob was a quiet man.  he stayed among the tents.  isaac who had a taste for wild game loved esau but rebecca loved jacob.  [that’s a formula for trouble.]  once when jacob was cooking some stew esau came in from the open country famished.  he said to jacob, “quick!  some of that red stew.  i’m famished.”…jacob replied, “first sell me your birthright.”  “i’m about to die,” says esau, “what good is the birthright if i’m going to die of hunger?”  jacob said, “swear to me first!” and he swore an oath to him and jacob gave esau some bread and some lintel stew [bean soup] and he ate it and he drank.  so esau despised his birthright. 

so jacob steals the birthright.  but be very careful and notice what the bible teaches us.  the bible shares with us, not so much that jacob was wrong here but that esau was wrong. 

hebrews 12.16-17 (niv), see to it that no one is sexually immoral or GODless like esau who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.  afterwards you know that when he wanted to inherit this blessing he was rejected.  he could bring about no change of mind with GOD though he sought that blessing with tears.  he was GODless.   

now what does it mean to be GODLESS?  well, in esau’s life it was GODless for him to reject GOD’s birthright in his life.  in my life and in your life it’s GODless for us to reject GOD’s birthright in our lives.  what has HE created us to be?  what has HE made us to be? 

so if i reject that which HE’s made me to be, that’s GODless.  that’s leaving GOD out of my life and trying to build a life on my own.

just a thought from the front porch…