Men's Retreat

Silver Hills Men's Fall Retreat at Camp Galilee

12 Silver Hills Men gathered for two days at Camp Galilee to study and share together Dietrich Bonhoeffers book "Life Together" an exploration of faith in Community. An example of what we dealt with"

"You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before men will do you no good before Him. He wants to see you as you are, He wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. Thank God for that; He loves the sinner but hates the sin."

Joyful Giving #1

Joyful Giving
Stewardship Series #1
October 19th, 2008
Pastor Ben Fleming

Introduction: We are starting a new series today. Turn in your bibles to the book of Luke. The 3rd gospel in the New Testament. I am calling this series Joyful Giving. Yes I am going to talk about money. Please do not get up and walk out on me. I say that because I have had that happen in the past when I speak on this subject. If you are here for the first time – we do not always talk about money – its been a whole year. Please hear me out. Please understand that everything we are going to study today and in the weeks to come fits into a big picture. I am going to be direct and open with you but we are going to study what God teaches us about money – stewardship and giving. Jesus spoke more about money than He did about heaven or hell. Jesus told 38 parables – 16 of them deal with money management. The bible has 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 on faith but over 2,000 dealing with money and possessions.

If you get angry at me ---- that’s okay with me – I believe that now more than ever the people of God would want a pastor to speak to them about money. You are worried about money --- I sat down with a teen guy in this church and asked him how it was going and the first words out of his mouth were his worries about money…. you find yourself fearful about money. I know you do. Some of us – when we get money – the only thing we know what to do with it is spend it. For some of us – money controls us we do not control money. My 84 year old dad called again and he is worried about money. He said – “I am not sure if you mother and I can make it” ……Some people think that a pastor should never know about people’s money or their giving – but when people are in financial trouble in the church and outside of the church they come to the church for help. -- so I am going to address the issue of money in these coming weeks. I am going to challenge you to become a joyful giver. I am even going to challenge you to make a written covenant to become a biblical giver something we have never done in 13 years.

This past week is the first time I can remember someone asking me for help in managing their money . I was excited about it and offered my time but they never contacted me. Our financial seminar earlier this year was only attended by a handful. People want a pastor to be involved in every aspect of their life except when it comes to money and parenting their children. Money is an issue of stewardship --- it is an issue of your relationship with God…. It is an issue of joy and the fullness of eternal life…… how we manage what God has given to us ---- is an issue of greed and coveting and it is an issue of contentment. The bible says with contentment there is great gain. Do you not think that if one learns to be content they will be in better financial health? I guarantee you they will be. Our country is in the state it is in because of our lack of contentment. Proverbs 22:7 says that the borrower is a slave to the lender. Borrowing money removes joy from a person and makes him or her a slave. A borrower who is in slavery to a lender cannot be a joyful giver. By the way, giving in churches in America in the last 3 months has dropped by 40%.

We see giving all throughout God’s Word. Psalm 115:16 “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to man.” God gave man the earth to manage. God gave man the earth to steward. It is biblical to be a steward of the earth. Man is to manage the earth but no where is man to worship the earth….. Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born , to us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders, and He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”…..Not only does God who made the earth give man the earth to manage but God gave man His only Son who is the Prince of Peace. Is it not amazing that man wants and uses the earth that God created for his pleasure and yet man rejects His own Son……. God is a giver and He gives joyfully.

In Matthew 7:7 Jesus puts it this way, “Ask and it will be given to you: seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you.” God commands His children to ask and God says when you ask I will give. He says that your asking needs to have a seeking flavor about it which is a persistence in the asking…… Luke 22:19 records the familiar words by Jesus that almost every person who has gone to church and taken communion has heard, “This is My body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.” And because God is a giver and has given His Son to His chosen children Romans 5:5 says “and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” The apostle Paul is talking about those who are God’s children. God gave them His Holy Spirit and has poured it out into their hearts. He is talking about those who are children of God. Those who are in Christ or Christ is in them. Only real heart believers have been given the Holy Spirit. God is a giver and He gives joyfully.

Not only is God a giver to His children but God commands His children to be givers. He expects them to be givers. He says be holy for I am holy. Being a child of God and being a giver go together. It does not matter how much money you make. You can be on social security and the command to be a giver is still applies to you. Parents – if you do not model for your children giving and if you do not challenge and teach your children to be givers you are robbing them of joy in God. Children who do not learn from their parents to be givers - grow up being greedy and ungrateful and they become adults who are not givers.

Donald Whitney writes in Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life these words, “we will give to the extent that we believe God will provide for us. The more we believe God will provide our needs, the more we are willing to risk giving to Him. The less we trust God, the less we will give to Him.” - Donald Whitney (SLIDE) So as we begin this series – I want you to understand that my heart’s desire as I preach God’s Word to you is that you would grow and accept the challenge to grow and trust God more than you ever have.

Turn in your bibles this morning to the gospel of Luke. Even though this series is topical we are going to expound certain texts in God’s Word. Please stand with me as we read
Luke 6:36 – 38. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” ---- let’s pray.

Background: The three verses that we read are part of the Sermon the Mount given by Jesus. He is teaching his disciples how to live. If they are followers of His - then they are to live a certain way. When we study the bible we must learn to study it in context. Verses 36 – 38, we find that they fall under Jesus teaching about love. He is teaching unconditional love. Keep your bible open and look with me at what He says about unconditional love which can only come from supernatural power in the life of a person. Verse 27 We are to love those who are our enemy and those who hate us we are to do good to them… and as you are doing good to them you are to bless those who curse you……. We bless those who mistreat us by praying for them and we do not get back at them and retaliate. We are to give freely and then Jesus gives the golden rule – due unto others as you would have them do to you. From verse 32 - 36 Jesus gives 7 lessons on unconditional love and then He brings in money –
vs. 34 “If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?

He is talking about believers who love like Jesus --- they are givers instead of lenders and then in verse 35 He says that your reward will be great. He is referring to the principle of sowing and reaping. In the next few verses Jesus gives us five areas which are proof of the sowing and reaping principle, that He taught so often in Scripture:

Sowing and Reaping Principles

(1) Mercy will always lead to mercy (vs. 36) “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” In this case, mercy means to pardon someone who has wronged you. God shows us mercy and pardons us, therefore, we are to show others mercy. If you are merciful then others will be merciful to you. You cannot see and experience the love of God in your life when you are not merciful to other people. 2nd principle of sowing and reaping

(2) Judgment will lead to judgment (v. 37a.) “Do not judge or you will be judged.” If you judge others then others will judge you. We enjoy judging other people but we want no one to judge us.

(3) Condemnation will lead to condemnation (v. 37b.). Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.” Does anyone in here enjoy having others disapprove of you? Do you ever disapprove of someone else? Jesus says, we reap what we sow.

(4) Forgiveness will lead to forgiveness (vs. 37c). “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” If you forgive others then you will experience the forgiveness of God and when you wrong others you will find forgiveness from them. 5th principle

(5) Giving will lead to giving (v. 38). Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Jesus was speaking to men who were mostly farmers except for Peter. (baskets and oats ) ---- demonstration with Dorothy He compared giving to farming. You measure a crop with a certain size – a bushel a peck. I brought this to show you ---- when you pour out of your crop with a certain measurement you will be poured back into – when it is poured back into it is pressed down – shaken together and running over into your lap. With the measure you use in giving it will be measured back to you. You find this principle all through out the bible.

Proverbs 3:9 10 (PBF) “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; (not the leftovers or after you have paid your bills) then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” Jesus said, give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. King Solomon said, honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops then and only then will your barns be filled to overflowing and your vats will bring over with new wine.” Those words and the teaching of Jesus and King Solomon are either true or they are not true. Now listen to me: You will never have enough to start giving ---- you will never give if you think you are going to wait until your debts get paid off ---- you will only know for real if the words of God are true when you begin to give and give and give. Only givers are able to look back over the months and months of giving and see the truth of those words. The more you give the more your barns overflow --- the more you give the more God pours into your lap. This is not a prosperity principle --- this is biblical principle. You cannot expect God to give to you --- you cannot expect good health --- you cannot expect your car to not break down or your dishwasher to break down --- you cannot expect to this see this principle in your life unless you begin to learn to give.

I find it very sad to know of the number of believers who are robbing themselves because they do not believe God and they do not trust Him.

Now – going back to the principle that Jesus gives in verse 38 --- Give and it will be given to you ---- turn in your bible to the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi --- right before Matthew. Chapter 3. The prophet is talking about robbing God – many have heard this but I want to read from verse 10

Here it is again the principle Jesus gives –“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. --- here it is --- do not miss it--- test me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room for it ---- and now He tells how he will flood you --- I will prevent pests from devouring your crops – the vines in the field will not caste their fruit and all nations will call you blessed and your land will be a delightful land.” OK --- but why give??? You do not have enough as it is? I could speak 2 more hours on why become a joyful giver but let me give you 5 reasons that I pray move your heart to faith so that you might obey God.

Why become a Joyful Giver?

* Joyful giving will increase your finances.
Proverbs 3:9 -10 “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will bring over with new wine.” I do not understand it and but I know that for some reason those who give joyfully find that money goes further. They do not go into debt. Stuff just seems to last longer. Give and it shall be given to you – pressed down shaken together. Giving joyfully causes you to be content and you are not gripped with materialism. If you are having trouble with finances then look at your giving.
How much are you in debt????? Do you pay only the required amount and how many late payments have you be charged this year? There is no one in this room who would refuse to see their finances increase. Let me put it this way: SLIDE Joyful giving keeps the giving faucet from heaven turned on in your own life. God never gives to believers who are buckets but to believers who are funnels.

* Joyful giving will deepen your spiritual life. (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” You will become more godlike. You will grow in your prayer life. You will grow in your bible reading. You will find more victory over sin in your life. You will not become God but your life will reflect more and more of the life of Christ. People are attracted to givers. Givers have joy. Givers know where what they have comes from. Givers are people persons who point other people to God. Givers are great lovers. 3rd reason

* Joyful giving will enrich your marriage . (Ephesians 5:25) “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church..…” Christ loved the church by giving. Joyful giving enables a man to love His wife as Christ loved the church. A husband who gives cannot help become a man who loves. Giving releases a husband to love like Christ and I would go so far as to say to a women – giving releases a woman to respect her husband. If a single man is not learning to become a joyful giver he will be disabled as a lover when he marries.

* Joyful giving enables a believer to be a forgiver. (Ephesians 4:32) “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” Is in not interesting to you to see that forgive has the word give in it. Forgive means to give away the right to get back at someone. Forgive means to give up hurting that other person in the same way that they hurt you. You cannot be a biblical forgiver and not be a giver. Giving and forgiving go hand in hand. When you forgive as Christ forgave you --- you give freedom to the person who wronged you.

* Joyful giving encourages and enlarges the ministry of your church.
Luke 8:1 – 3 “After this, Jesus traveled about from one town an village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases……. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.” Have you ever thought why Jesus did not turn rocks into food for himself and the disciples and why he let the women work and use the money from their work to buy food and feed Jesus and the disciples? All through out the bible you will find God’s plan for building His kingdom on this earth to be a plan that includes His people supporting the work of building the Kingdom of God on this earth. Jesus and the disciples focused on the spiritual ministry and the women supported them to enable them to do such. That was and is God’s plan.

When God’s people joyfully give – a group of God’s people called a church are able to expand the ministry and building of God’s Kingdom. Matthew 9:37-38 says that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few – ask the Lord of harvest to raise up workers to go out into the harvest. If you have been in this church family long enough you know that the Brady family is answer to that prayer. Joyful giving will enable this church family to support sending them out into the mission field. It will take all of us learning together how to become joyful givers – it will not happen with just a few of us as givers.

So –let me review for you: Why become a joyful giver? Joyful giving will enlarge and encourage the ministry of your church --- joyful giving will enable you to forgive like God has forgiven you --- joyful giving will enrich your marriage and single guys joyful giving will equip you to become a great lover. Joyful giving will deepen and mature your spiritual life and joyful giving will increase your finances.

Prayer: Oh God make me a giver

Joseph #10

“Becoming a Believer of Integrity and Forgiveness”
The Life of Joseph #10
October 12, 2008
Pastor Ben Fleming

We have been studying the character of Joseph for the past 10 weeks. I pray that you have enjoyed studying this man’s life and that it has caused you to examine your own life and character. Joseph was a great man – but why? Why did the Spirit of God hover over his head more in the book of Genesis than any other man, including Abraham???? Joseph was not superhuman. He was a mere man. He never walked on water. He did not have a halo. He never performed a miracle and he certainly was not one who was free from trouble. Do not be deceived into thinking that he was a perfect saint and you could never live like him. He interpreted a few dreams with God’s help but he never gave a prophecy and as far as we know today – he never wrote any scripture. Why was he so great????? He had a great faith in God. He believed that God was in control and in full power over everything. His strong faith gave him a godly attitude. He knew and believed that God had a purpose for everything. It did not matter what happened to Joseph – he knew that God had a purpose for everything that happened in his life and all around him. Knowing and believing that God had a purpose was his key to greatness and it is your key to greatness in God’s kingdom. The purposes of God. Write that in on the blank at the top of your outline next to my name. PURPOSES OF GOD Turn in your bible to Genesis 50 and look at the top of your outline: the prophet Jeremiah wrote these words about God

Jeremiah 32:18 -19 “You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers’ sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, great are Your purposes and mighty are your deeds.

Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.” The prophet Jeremiah, who was known as the weeping prophet because he shed tears for the sins of God’s people. He was a prophet who suffered greatly like Joseph and yet He knew that the purposes of God were great. Psalm 33:11 “But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.” Notice how the psalmist takes the purposes of God and says they come from the heart of God. Dr Luke wrote about David

Acts 13:36 “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.”

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for his own purposes, even the wicked for a day of disaster.

God makes the wicked for a day of disaster…………We want the purposes of God when they are good for us but what about when they cause us pain? Do we want the purposes of God when they seem like a human disaster???? What about when it seems unfair and not right? The purposes of God are not always easy to understand and get your mind around. We often only want one view of God – one that we agree with and one that kind of makes us feel good.

Deut 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

I thought of this as looking at this apple. (hold and turn) You can see one side of it and you think that by looking at the one side when you bite into it you are going to get apple that tastes good – it is not rotten or has bugs or worms in it --- but what is the other side like? GO PUT THE APPLE DOWN… What is your view of God? Is God good when everything is going your way and you are doing what you want? What happens to you when you run into evil? Does God use evil to accomplish His purposes? Does He bring disaster to accomplish His plan? Will you walk with God and pursue His purposes even when you have to walk through fire – pain – lonliness and hardship? God wants you to be able to echo and live out the words of Jeremiah - “great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds.”
Please stand with me as we read chapter 50.

Background
Joseph had revealed his identify to his brothers after giving them test after test and he saw that they were now men who could be trusted and indeed God had worked in their lives. Joseph told the brothers that it was God who had sent him on ahead to preserve the family of the Jewish nation. After talking with his brothers and catching up with them – he sends them back to Canaan and tells them to bring his father back to him. Pharaoh heard about this and says to “load animals and carts and go back to Canaan and bring your father and your households back to me. I will give them the best in the land of Egypt.” When the brothers arrived back in Canaan to their father and told him everything – he found it hard to believe but he could not explain the carts loaded down with food and all of the animals. So – Jacob and his 11 sons and families take off to Egypt and on the way down Jacob stops at Beersheba to offer sacrifices to God. MAP PHOTO PHOTO – this does not mean anything to you but in biblical history this is where Abraham and Isaac had lived years before and called on the name of the Lord in Genesis 21:22 and it is where Abraham died and God made the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12. (BLANK). And if you look in chapter 46:2… God speaks to Jacob and tells him to not be afraid as he goes down to Egypt and that in Egypt God would make him a great nation – so when they went down to Egypt there were 66 in all. The nation of Israel consisted of 66 people. Not one Hebrew was left in the Holy Land. Scholars have estimated that Jacob moved to Egypt in 1876 B.C. and in Exodus when they left Egypt some 430 years later there were some 600,00 men, women and children. God kept His promise did He not??? God had His purpose for everything that He did and everything that He brought about. He even used evil to bring about His purposes. So --- if God can keep His promise 3,000 years ago and fulfill His purposes can He still do that today???????

Jacob and the 11 brothers arrive in Egypt in chapter 46 and in verse 29 it says that Joseph threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.” Jacob was 130 years old at this time. He lived another 17 years and died at age 147. He lived his final years in luxury and got to be around Joseph’s children. We read at the beginning of chap. 50 that Jacob died and again we see the deep love of a son for his father when Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him. Joseph wept tears of grief. Pharaoh hears about Jacob’s desire to be buried in Canaan so he grants Joseph permission to honor his father’s request and the king treats Jacob like Egyptian royalty and all the Kings officials – Joseph and family make the trip north --- can you imagine what that scene was like going through the dessert???? They buried Jacob --- everyone returned to Egypt and if you look at chp. 50 vs. 15 --- the brothers got worried.

“perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may repay us for the evil which we did to him” so they sent someone to plead with Joseph and asked him to forgive them for the evil they did. Joseph wept when he heard this and says an amazing statement which I am going to spend the rest of our time on “do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God. But as for you – you meant evil against me – but God meant the evil for good.” Notice that it does not say that God allowed the evil but it says that God ordained the evil. Joseph comforted them and spoke kindly to them. The brothers had a hard time understanding the purposes of God but Joseph did not……. He knew that God had used the evil for good.

I want to take a moment to walk through with you what the bible says about God and evil. I want to look on the other side of the apple with you. Most believers cannot see God as having anything to do with evil. Joseph said, “what you meant for evil – God meant the evil for good.” Most people think like this: God is good and God is love and therefore he has nothing to do with evil. God cannot and will not be associated with evil. Evil is running loose and it determines what it wants to do and there is nothing that can constrain evil. Sounds good to you does it not? But, let me tell you that is wrong thinking. It is not biblical thinking. That is seeing only seeing one side of the apple. Let me read some scriptures I put on your outline:

God and Evil

Isaiah 46:10 God speaking, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. “

(softly) God does what He pleases and man is in no position to question God and judge what He does. When God pleases Himself…… He is always 100% right and holy and without evil. That can include a hurricane or a tidal wave or anything that we might say does not come from God. Before these words in chapter 46 – Isaiah records other words that God spoke.

Isaiah 45:7 God speaking, “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” That is what it says – there is no mistake in the bible. That is what the Hebrew says. …. God brings prosperity and God brings disaster. If God brings disaster to bring about His purposes do you see that as Holy or unholy? Is God therefore evil as He uses evil to bring about His purposes? NO ---- God is sovereign over evil – He controls evil and He uses evil and yet at no time is He ever evil.

Many believers have said that God could never have had anything to do with Sept 11, 2001? Did God allow Hitler to murder 6 million Jews? Did God use that evil? Could God have used the holocaust to bring about and fulfill prophecy and re establish the nation of Israel which He did in 1947 – 2 years after the last gas chambers?

Now I realize that what I am speaking to you about is difficult to understand and comprehend but it would be wrong of me not to address this with you ------it is my hope that you will learn to have a biblical worldview with the eyes of God. Remember Joseph said in chapter 50 “what you intended for evil, God meant that evil for good.” God used that evil – God took that evil and used it for good ---- God was Lord of the evil --- God was in control of the evil ---- the evil did not control God. COMMENTS: I have battled addressing this with you because I know that it is the deep deep meat of God ----- but the scriptures tells us in John 17:3 “This is eternal life that they may know you – the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” How much do you want to know God? I want you to have as full of understanding and knowledge of the God of the bible that you can

Deuteronomy 28:63 “Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please Him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.” God is always pleased to bring about His purposes in the lives of His children. God will always use what He chooses to use to bring it about and that includes evil and when He does it and when He brings it about at no time does He ever become evil or smell of evil.

There are many things that happen in this world. God is ruler and sovereign over them all. He does not sit back in a chair and watch His creation --- never never fall into that deceptive thinking – We do not know what God is doing. We do not know why God does what He does. God took my grandson and that was good. God had his purpose. The car crash – the cancer --- the house burning down ----- loosing your job ----- I firmly believe that God is bringing His hand down on this nation through this financial crash in our nation ---- we are either going to repent our not. What Joseph said about God and how God used the evil for good completely agrees with what Paul said in Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose.” God does not work all things for the good of everyone ----- this scripture verse is not a promise for all people. The verse does not say that. He works all things for the good of those who love Him and for those who have been called according to His purpose. Not all people have been called according to His purpose. But if you are a real Christian --- you have been and He will use all things for His purposes for your life.

Let me put it this way on a slide:

If you have a view of God that is always and must always be explainable to you then you have a small God. – Pastor Ben Fleming

Lessons about the Purposes of God

1. When God accomplishes His divine purposes in spite of our sins, we must never excuse ourselves for doing what was sin. God is sovereign in all aspects of life. This is how Joseph saw and understood who God was. Someone might be tempted to read and hear about Joseph and blame God for their sin. The brothers committed their sin but God used it to bring about His purposes but the responsibility for the sin of the brothers does not lie at the feet of God. The apostle James in the New Testament warns us of this kind of thinking.

James 1:13 -15 “When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.” So never blame God for your sin. Never blame someone else for your sin. Never blame God for the sin that someone else committed against you --- …..look to God and ask God to use that evil for good. Look at what you are going through right now and expect that the purposes of God are being worked out and that one day you will be able to see them and walk in them.

2. On this earth, you will never be able to explain away all human suffering. God had a special plan for Joseph’s suffering. There are times when believers suffer and we will never understand why. How do we explain rape to a person who has been marred for life? How do we explain child abuse that leaves a person an emotional cripple? Suffering in general is related to the fact that we live in a world that is contaminated through with sin. The point is this: You can use your freedom to sin and make other people suffer and you can use your freedom to sin and cause suffering in your own life. But, because you cannot explain all human suffering never let that rob you of the joy that is found in knowing God and walking and reflecting the love of God in your own life.

3. Suffering is difficult to explain but a Christian has the potential to see the meaning of it and non believers do not. A non believer will always question and blame God. As a believer you have the opportunity to understand some of the purposes of suffering. Let me give you 4 purposes. Suffering can give a believer the opportunity to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to someone else. Suffering can help a believer understand the suffering of others. Suffering can produce Christian maturity. Suffering can bring a person to personal salvation

4. Suffering can give the believer an inner strength and mature and mold that believer beyond normal human capacities. This is what happened with Joseph and as you walk with God you can experience that in your own life as well. It is easy to drift away from God and His people. We are warned to be careful that we do not drift away. Especially when we suffer it is easy to draw away. Hebrews tells us to not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but to encourage one another. God knows especially that when you are suffering you need the family of God – you need worship – you need prayer and to hear the prayers of others. (PHOTO) Dr Victor Frankl was a prisoner in a concentration camp in WW2. During his time he found that when one looked for meaning and purpose in suffering it brought hope – strength and enabled that person to endure and mature. He came out the other side alive because he had learned to focus on finding meaning in suffering. “What you meant for evil --- God meant for good.”

As I got to this point this past week KNIS came on with an interview of Pastor John Piper. He was being interviewed about his new book called Spectacular Sins – it addresses the issue of evil and God. I know that God wants His people to fully understand who He is and His complete sovereignty and power over evil. Would you stand with me this morning and say out loud with me the words of the prophet Jeremiah and may these be words that you do not just say but words that you experience in your journey with God through life on this earth.

Slide: O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, great are Your purposes and mighty are your deeds.

Biking and Walking with Jesus

On Saturday Oct 4th, I had the opportunity to ride again in the Fallon No Hill 100 Bike Ride. I rode with our bike team - Mark Hansen, Andy Getas, Thomas Chandler and Danny Fierro. We ride together almost every Wed in Carson City.

The Fallon 100 started at 7:30 am. It looked like the day before we would have rain but it blew over.

Mark and Thomas are the rookies on our team so we paced ourselves and followed them and we finished 65 miles of the ride. Riding bikes gives a picture to me of the Christian life.

You have to ride the bike yourself but when you bike you need a team member. They help you to keep your cadence, they encourage you, when you get a flat tire, they stop and help you change the tire. You learn about biking from more experienced bikers. You learn what to do and what not to do. I have been biking for 4 years now and really have found great fun, friendships and challenges through biking.

Hearing God's Word

Paul tells Timothy, "Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching." I am weekly faced with the task of preaching the Word of God. I work 20-25 hours at preparing, praying, writing and reading so that I may present to God's people spiritual food which is of deep substance to them, to challenge them, encourage them, feed them and lift them up. I have been recently focusing on one word in each message. Do they hear what that one word is? Do they understand that one word? Does it stick with them more than 48 hours?

How do we hear God's Word? Hearing God's Word is a discipline. You have to practice attending a New Testament church where the preaching of God's Word is the main focus. Many listen to God's Word but Jesus said in Luke 11:28 "blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it." Is my call as a pastor just preaching the Word of God or faciliting and confronting God's people with obeying it? Should there be more focus on obedience? If God's people are not obedient they are disobedient and need to be rebuke. What do you think? What would happen if on Sundays I publically rebuked people in front of others? I wonder if anyone reads my blog anymore?

Doctrines of the Faith #2

Doctrine #2 God’s Sovereign Choice

When someone mentions that term Calvinism, the customary response is, “Oh you mean the doctrine of predestination?” This is a strange and widespread identification with Calvinism. The Reformed view of God or the joy focused view certainly does hold firmly to this doctrine. Almost every church has some form of a belief about predestination because the bible teaches predestination. If you have a biblical theology you cannot avoid this doctrine.

Ephesians 1: 3 - 12 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. 11In him we were also chosen,having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

In this text Paul speaks of being predestined according to the counsel of God’s will. The question is not – does the bible teach predestination, the question is “what is it?”
A destination is a point that we have not yet reached. When you book airplane tickets you do not book them to nowhere. When we add the prefix pre to destination we speak of something that takes place prior to or before the destination. The pre relates to a question of time. In bible terms or thinking, predestination takes place before we believe in Christ, and not only before we were born but before the universe was created.

God is agent of predestination and in His sovereignty he predestinates. Humans are the object of His predestination. The term election is used often referring to God’s divine predestination: God’s choosing certain individuals to be saved. The term election is a positive word referring to the results of salvation of those who are elect. The term also has a negative side implying that there are those who are not elect. God makes a choice – some He chooses to pass over and some He chooses for heaven.

Is God’s Choosing Conditional or Unconditional?

Do our individual lives have any bearing on God’s decision? Even though God makes His choice before we are born, He knows everything about our lives before we even live them. Does He take that prior knowledge of us into account when He makes His decision regarding election? The question is “On what does God base His decision to elect some and not others? The very answer to that question distinguishes a Joy – Focused Theology from other theologies. Last month we looked at the T in TULIP. Today is the U. Unconditional Election.

We know what that means when it comes to Ulysses S. Grant who was known as Unconditional Surrender Grant in the Civil War referring to surrender that excludes negotiations. There is no room for “if you will do this I will do that”. This same kind of surrender was on the USS Missouri at the end of WW2. Unconditional simply implies “with no conditions attached, foreseen or otherwise.”

Romans 8:29 - 30 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 9:9 - 16 9For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”£ 10Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”£ 13Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”£ 14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”£ 16It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

When God chooses those who are to be His and He does based upon nothing that the human has done or will ever do, it does not mean that His decisions are arbitrary. He has His reasons why some He chooses and some He does not. God chooses for only reasons known to us. He chooses for His own pleasure, which is His divine right. If something pleases God, it must be good. There is no evil pleasure in God.

Joseph #9

“Becoming a Believer of Integrity and Forgiveness”
The Life of Joseph #9
October 5th, 2008
Pastor Ben Fleming

Turn in your bible to Genesis chapter 45. Has anyone every heard the phrase, “Big boys do no cry?” How many guys in here have every been told that????? How many of you have said it? How many women have been told –“girls do not cry?????” Perhaps this is the reason most men have trouble crying. Maybe this is the reason why older men seem to cry a lot in their final years – they are simply letting out all the tears they have kept bottle up. …… When someone cries or is crying we think they are weak. We want them to stop so that everything will be okay --- it bothers us when we are around someone who cries. We sometimes think…. “If you are tough and if you are a person of real character --- you do not cry……” Little boys grow up being told that they do not cry.. they are to be tough. We have been programmed to think that way even though as a believer in Christ we know it is not true but we find ourselves sometimes speaking that emotionally damaging statement. We are going to study Joseph today and we are going to see that weeping is a quality of a man of character. Write that in at the top of your outline. Weeping

Weeping is real character. Learning to weep and sob and allowing tears in our lives is emotionally healthy, it is spiritually healthy and mentally healthy. On June the 9th at 1130am I spoke to my son Benjamin and he told me “Dad, there is no heartbeat”… I hung up the phone that morning and began to learn and experience what weeping and sobbing was all about. I began to learn some of what it meant to weep and allow others around me to weep and to weep with others. Weeping should be part of our lives. It is not just an emotion that God has assigned only to grief and pain but it is also to be an emotion of joy, and thankfulness. My 84 year old father called me this week and at the end of the conversation asked me “must a person be baptized to be saved?” he gave me the chance to go through the gospel again with him and as I hung up I found my self gently weeping tears of joy and thankfulness.

As we have been learning – Joseph was a man of character – he was a man of God – he was a man of prayer – he was man of wisdom – a man of forgiveness but he was also a man of tears. He knew how to weep – he had learned to weep and had experienced the healing and joy that came from weeping…..

Last week we found that Joseph could now trust his brothers. He had put his brothers through test after test and they had passed with flying colors. Joseph knew that he could trust them. He remembered what kind of men they were when he was 17 years old and in and through the tests that he walked them through he had seen that God had been working in their hearts and minds and changed them into brothers whom he could trust. Stand as we read 45. PRAY

BACKGROUND
The emotions that Joseph had kept bottled up inside finally came out. In verse 1, He told all of the Egyptians to leave the room and leave him alone with his brothers. He sobbed and sobbed and wept so loudly that they still heard him on the other side of door. Most likely his weeping came from feelings of – joy and thankfulness. Through his tears he said--- “I am Joseph. Is my father still living?” The brothers were terrified – they had no idea what was happening. They were speechless and fear gripped them. Perhaps Joseph could see this through his tears and because he was a compassionate man – he says to them (softly) “come close to me” --- look at me ----don’t remember me??? it is me your brother. I am Hebrew just like you. I am the one you sold into Egypt.”

Listen to the maturity of Joseph ------ “do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for what you have done, because it was for saving of lives that God sent me ahead of you. Look at verse 7 “But God --- I love the word but in the bible – but God --- it was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth to save your lives by a great deliverance --- and again He says, it was not you --- but it was God. Do you see here how Joseph understood the sovereignty of God in his life???? He knew that all that went on in his life was God’s plan…... Do you believe that today? Do you believe God is in control of your health? Do you believe God is in control of our economy? Do you believe God is in control of your finances and He knows what He is working out and what He is aiming to teach you? Would you be able to say --- but God???

We are going to see Joseph address the issue of the sovereignty of God over evil next week in chapter 50 as we end our study of the character of Joseph. Joseph must have sensed an urgency… so he commands his brothers to hurry back to Jacob and tell him that Joseph is alive and that Joseph is ruler over Egypt and that he is to come back to Egypt with the brothers where Joseph will take care of them and feed them. “I will provide for you – there are still 5 more years of famine to come – quickly bring my father down here.” And then look what Joseph does in verse 14 – He throws his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept and Benjamin embraced him and he too was weeping. This was not weeping because of grief or sorrow but it was weeping from joy and complete forgiveness and love. And then Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept over them and then his brothers talked with him. ---- there is no grief here. It is a weeping of joy and thankfulness. These brothers had been reunited in heart and spirit – they sat together and talked and experienced deep fellowship with complete trust and forgiveness. What a picture for us of what the family of God is suppose be.

Story: Some years ago there was a film called The Promise. It was a story of a young man and woman who were engaged and deeply in love. A week before their wedding they were involved in a terrible car accident. Both of them were badly hurt and the girls face was terribly disfigured. While they were recovering in the hospital in separate rooms – they young mans mother visited the soon to be daughter in law. She had never liked her and did not want her to marry her son. She told the badly injured girl that she would secretly pay for all the plastic surgery to restore her face if she promised to disappear and never have anything to do with her son. She was suffering – alone – in trauma and agony and confused so she made a promise to do so. The mother told her son that the girl had died in the accident. Years later through an unusual chain of events the young man and woman met again. He had not changed greatly so he was easy to recognize. She tried to keep her promise but circumstances brought them together and he began to recognizer her. He realized the woman he loved was still alive and eventually they were joined finally in a scene romantic reconciliation. Can you imagine the tears of joy for them?? The story does not tell us what happened to the mother.

When was the last time you shed tears of joy???? When was the last time you shed tears because of forgiveness and the restoration of trust between you and someone else???????? When was the last time you shed tears because of your sin???

I do not ask those questions to make you feel guilty but to have you think about the character of Joseph --- his tears showed his human side but they also showed his heart attitude. Here was a man who had more power – prestige and authority than any man in the world and yet he never lost his ability to be tender – to show compassion and feel deeply. (softly) God…..wants you and me to have the same heart that Joseph did.

A LOOK AT JOSEPH’S TEARS

1. Joseph wept when he saw the softened hearts of his brothers. (42:21-24) “The brothers said to each other, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us.” Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.” They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter. Joseph turned away from them and began to weep…” Why did he weep?? Maybe he remembered the pain he felt as they talked about what they did to him but more than likely because of the heart of Joseph - he was moved because he heard them acknowledge their sin…… He was moved to weep because of softened hearts. This is what can happen to you in a prayer group or a small group when someone in the group is so honest that they confess their sins specifically in that group. God moves in your heart and I have to say that the emotions that I have felt have been ones of joy. Joy that someone is honest. Joy that I am trusted to be able to hear someone’s confession of sin. Joy that someone is confessing their sins to one another and that healing is sure to follow in that persons life.

When was the last time you confessed your sin to another believer? When was the last time you were in a small group and heard someone else confess? We must learn to weep because of a softened heart that is sensitive to sin.

2. Joseph wept out of compassion for Benjamin’s welfare. (43:30-31) “Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, he hurried out and looked for a place to weep.” For years, Joseph must have wondered how his brothers were treating his youngest brother Benjamin. Did they do similar things to him that they did to him? Joseph’s weeping was from the joy of seeing his baby brother. The compassion in his heart for his brother provoked weeping. It had been over 17 years since he last saw him . We must learn to weep with compassion for a brother or sisters welfare. DAN’S TESTIMONY

3. Joseph wept when he saw the true repentance of his brother Judah. (44:33) Judah’s repentant confession most likely touched the heart of Joseph more than any other event. He wept uncontrollably because he saw true repentance. Judah stood before him and said that he would himself become a slave and take the place of his brother Benjamin. Some 23 years earlier Judah was the one who said to his brothers, “let’s sell our brother to the traders”. Joseph heard his repentance. He heard his heart and wept over what his brother said. Judah did exactly what the apostle Paul told King Agrippa in Acts 26:20 “repent and turn to God and prove your repentance by your deeds”. Judah’s deeds was the willingness of his heart to take Benjamin’s place and become a slave.

4. Joseph wept when he was reconciled with his brothers. (45:14-15) He no longer hide from them but he revealed his true identity to them. His brothers saw who he was and that he had no grudges against them. Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept and Benjamin embraced him and wept. And then Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Tears of joy because of reconciliation. Joseph worked hard for this moment and it was a time of joy. The apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Philipi ---- “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” Joseph was rejoicing not in his brothers but in the Lord. He knew that God had been working in his brothers and he knew that God had brought this reconciliation about. I cannot imagine the pleasure that God was experiencing as He saw this time with Joseph and his brothers.

I have to confess that as I think back over my years of walking with Jesus and knowing that I am a believer in Christ I can think of more times of broken relationships than I can of reconciled relationships……. Perhaps that is because I have not worked as hard as Joseph to be a reconciler but I do know that God wants you and me to work hard at being reconcilers and to weep when there is reconciliation between brothers and sisters in Christ.

5. Joseph wept when he was reunited with his father and at his father’s death. (46:29,50:1) Death is perhaps the most common reason for weeping in almost every culture. I remember when 5 Boy Scouts were killed in a car crash in my hometown when I was in the 5th grade. I remember going to the funeral home and hearing all the weeping. I have been the pastor for many funerals in the past 13 years and I have seen and heard a lot of weeping. I can remember and feel how fresh the weeping of this past June was in my own life and with my family. David wrote these words about his 5 year old son. “I climbed into bed with Chris, I was resolved that if another son of ours would die, he would not die alone. I wept and sobbed as I held my son that night and I talked to through my tears as he slept. “Daddy loves you. We all love you. Jesus loves you.

You do not have to be afraid. If you do not wake up, you’ll go to be with Him….. and we will see you again…. And we’ll be happy, we’ll be healthy and we’ll understand.” Weeping at death for us as a believer can be because of loss and the pain in the loss…. but we must learn also to weep at death for a believer because scripture tells us that although the believer who has died is “away from the body…. they are at home with the Lord.”

So --- when you hear of a funeral – be there and learn to weep with those who weep. Do not avoid the chance to be around death.

6. Joseph wept when he saw the grief caused by his brother’s guilt. (50:17) He wept because of his brothers guilt…… Does that not show you how compassionate this man was? I cannot say that I have ever wept because of someone’s guilt. Joseph had completely forgiven them and now he was emotionally upset enough to weep because they were still gripped with fear and guilt. Peter wept because of his guilt after denying Jesus 3 times but here is a man of God weeping over someone else’s guilt. Oh God teach us to weep because of the guilt of a fellow believer. Lessons we can learn from the weeping of Joseph

Weeping Lessons

* You cannot genuinely embrace a person you have not fully forgiven. If you cannot touch a person who has hurt you and insulted you - you cannot and do not see God’s purpose in using them in your life……. Look at (verse 5.) “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you”. Joseph was able to see that what happened and how it happened…. God used for His glory and His purposes.

Romans 8:29 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes”

So – who have you not fully forgiven? Who can you not genuinely embrace in your present or from your past?

* Weeping can be a sign of great strength. No one would every look at Joseph and conclude that he was a weak man. He endured pain and loss and suffering and in the end rises to a position of great power and could have very easily gotten revenge on his brothers. But through out the story we see a heart of compassion and forgiveness. He found great healing from his pain through weeping. Instead of a scripture I put this application on your outline:
We must never allow pride to keep us from doing what God says is normal ! When you hurt, do not be afraid to weep. The very fact that you do not or run from weeping is a weakness.

* Weeping is normal and healthy under certain circumstances but it should never be used as a manipulation for selfish reasons. Some people have developed the art of weeping. Some societies will pay for mourners who weep to come to a funeral. Some of you have seen people who use weeping to manipulate people --- preachers have done it --- musicians have done it --- it is almost like you can predict what is going to happen. When you use weeping to manipulate others you hurt yourself and confuse others around you.

* Sincere weeping will often clear the way for objective and honest communication with those who have hurt us. You can see this with Joseph ---- after their weeping – he spent time talking with them. The bible does not tell us how much time he spent with them before he sent them off to Canan to get Jacob but you can imagine all that they had to catch up on from the past 20 years or so.

C.S Lewis wrote after the death of his wife, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken…. The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and confusions of love is hell… We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Jesus….. throwing away all our defensive armor. It our hearts need to be broken and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.”

Let us pray: Lord teach us to weep. Teach us to shed tears over hearts that are softened towards sin. Help us to weep over the true repentance of a believer. Help us to weep when broken relationships are healed and restored and Heavenly Father we do not know how to weep at death. Thank you for the life of Joseph. Thank you that whatever was written in earlier times was written for our encouragement and that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. In the name of your Son Jesus who wept. Amen