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Showing posts with label Obedience and Perseverance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obedience and Perseverance. Show all posts

May 4, 2009

Obedience and Perseverance

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The Wise and Foolish Builders

Matthew 7:24
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Lives can crash and be wrecked. Obedience to God’s word is the key factor in this parable. Simply hearing the word of God doesn’t cause your house to be resistant to difficulties, it’s obedience and implementing Godly principles into your life that cause your house to stand when the day of testing comes.

Today's drama draws out the concept of perseverance as well. Showing the consequences of giving up on God and walking away even though you’ve been somewhat obedient for a season of your life.

Suddenlies
When God moves suddenly to change your current circumstances away from the way they are to the way he’s been speaking to you and you’ve been speaking to him.

Suddenlies can be preceded by years of difficulties challenges and persecution.
Sometimes these challenges are there to develop our character.

James 1:2-4
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

If they are from God or the Devil it doesn’t really matter if you can view them as stepping stones instead of a stumbling block.
Continuing to persist even though the challenges are rough.
There are many keys to persisting but the main one is a solid devotional life.

Consider Ms. California
She lost the crown for her convictions about the traditional family which are rooted in her belief in Biblical Christianity.

Many would consider this a bad thing.
Now she’s responded to the challenge as a stepping stone and become the spokes person for the traditional family.
There’s probably a book deal in the works etc.

She could’ve folded up like a tent and gone home crying declaring, “I’m never going to amount to anything!” That experience could’ve crushed her if her attitude would’ve been different.

A different example but a similar concept.

Christ as the Cornerstone
Matthew 21:44
44He who falls on this stone (Jesus) will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.“

How you respond to Jesus changes how he affects you. Either he will remake you into his image and likeness or you will ultimately be crushed by him.

A suddenly from the Old Testament

Prison to Ruler of Greatest Nation on the Earth

Genesis 41
41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way !" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

Consider the Challenges after Joseph has a dream from God

  1. Hated by his brothers
  2. Sold into Slavery by those closet to him
  3. Falsely Accused of Rape
  4. Imprisoned


The Dreams
Genesis 37:6-8


To His Brothers
6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7 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." 8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us?
Genesis 37:9,10
To his Parents
9 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."
10 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?"


1. Hated by his Brothers


Genesis 37:4,8
4 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.
Vs. 8 they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.


2. Sold Into Slavery


Genesis 37:23-27
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing- 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.


3. Falsely Accused


Genesis 39:11-18
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,
14 she called her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."
16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."


4. Imprisoned


Genesis 39
20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him;


God will show us the complete picture without putting in all the difficulties in getting there.
What if he did? Would Joseph have gone for it?
What about you? What are your dreams? What is God speaking to you about you? Be encouraged a suddenly is on the way!


Jubilee Family Church