Transcription
But I know you and I need you. Oh, I have seen you. But I know you and I need you and I miss you. Tell me why I miss you. Oh, how can I miss you? Tell me why do I miss you? You hear me love your dimension. Here I open up my eyes. Keep me in this love tension. Let me stay. What I live in your dimension. I have not seen you, but I know you need I miss. Oh, how can I miss you? Tell me why do I miss you? Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, good morning church. We're glad you're here. Will you stand as we read our call to worship together? Our call to worship comes out of Revelation 4 starting in verse 9. And it says this, "And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. For they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Church this morning as as these elders in Revelation cast all their crowns before the Lord, would we cast everything before him that we thought we could try to find hope in that we thought we could find worth or fulfillment, whatever the thing is. Would we all lay them down at his feet and declare that he is worthy, that he's all that we need? Would we respond to his goodness and his love to us and his kindness to us? Let's sing to him together. I am an instrument of exaltation and I was born to lift your name above all. You hear the mey of all creation. There's a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you Jesus. You are the infant God of the ages. Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place. You healed my brokenness. Show me your glory. So I have songs of things not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you Jesus. And who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There's no one, only you, Jesus. And who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you Jesus lamb of God anointed one who was and is and is to come. Seed on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous shed his blood and prove to us the father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up. Holy, holy, lamb of God in one is it is to come to seed on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one you He to the father Jesus I feel you for the world for You are still alive again. You have no right. You have no kingdom. Yours is the glory. Yours is the name of our Who else is worthy. Who else is worthy? There is no one Jesus. Heat. Heat. Only you Jesus there is only you Jesus. There is no only you Jesus. Holy Jesus. Rain in the kingdom of light. The kingdom of light. Forever under your dominion. You're the king of my life. You're the king of my life. Sing you reign. You reign above it all. You reign above it all and over the universe and over every heart. There is no higher name. Jesus, you reign above it all. On the cross, the work was finished. God, you poured out your life just to give us new life. Now from the lips of the forgiven here and at the arise. Jesus, you're alive. You above it all. You reign above it all. Your universe and over every heart. There is no higher name. Jesus you above it all. You let all of heaven and the earth in song. Hallelujah to the everlasting one. There is no higher name. Jesus, you reign above it all. Reign above it all. Yes, you do. Reign above it all. You reign above it all. Rainy. You sent the darkness running. You sent the darkness run out of an empty grave. Now seated alone in glory and thrown on the highest praise. You see the darkness running out of empty grace alone in glory. You go on the highest praise and darkness. I see the glory on the highest bra universe over every heart. There is no high Jesus you above it all the earth Jesus. about great time singing. You reign above it all. >> Above it all and over the universe. >> There is no higher name. >> Jesus, you re above it all. Amen. You can take a seat. Hey, good morning y'all. My name is Peyton. I'm one of the pastors here at the well. Don't worry, I'm not preaching this morning. I heard a uh oh or something while I walked up. Uh today, as part of my role, I'm part of the I'm one of the pastors over the kids ministry. And so, I have the privilege of getting to work with Natalie Urita and Lauren Owen, our kids ministers. And so, I get to talk about child dedication today. So, if you're a family dedicating your child this morning, would you go ahead and make your way up here and stand in front of one of these Bibles? Now, while they're coming up, I'm going to read out of Deuteronomy 6 for us. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Now, I'm biased. I feel like we have a really good kids ministry. If you go by there, you're going to hear a lot of love, I guess, is a good term. It's loud, whatever it is. But our our volunteers and our teachers do an incredible job day in day out, week in week out of trying to make sure that our kids and the kids ministry are hearing the gospel. And it's not just singing a song. It's not just doing a craft. It's not just getting to play with friends. It's all these things and trying to point them to Jesus. What we also know is that this is a supplement. That's a once a week thing. And so what these parents today are saying as they dedicate their children is that this is going to infiltrate the every day of every week, right? We can only do so much as kids ministry. And these parents are saying, you know, as Deuteronomy says, when you rise, when you sit, when you're on your way, for us, it's when you're in line at Chick-fil-A, when you're late for soccer practice, when you're at the dinner table, when you're doing bedtime and answering weird questions, the Lord and his love and his faithfulness is going to enter those spots. For us as a church, we get to walk alongside these parents who are dedicating their children this morning. We have the privilege of being the people that these kids get to see as they grow up that love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our mind. And may we be a vision of that, that we would know their names, that we would ask them how they're doing, how school's going, how sports are going. I remember that being meaningful in my life growing up. So for us, we have that call to faithfulness and to be a steady light and in the Lord. Oh, there we go. I'm gonna hand it over to Natalie now, who's got some really sweet pictures and is going to pray with us. >> Good morning. We scheduled this um dedication when we knew that the college students wouldn't be back yet to leave space for all the families. Um oops, we were wrong about that. So, glad you're all cozy and have found a little spot to sit. Um but on behalf of the kids ministry, I just want to say we're really grateful for the opportunity to partner with these families and um just for the opportunity to walk with these parents as they lead their kids to know and love Jesus. So church family, as I call out each one of these families, just take pick one or pick all of them and say a quick prayer over that kid's life that they would come to know and love Jesus quickly and forever. So parents, when I call your kids's name, if you'll like wave or something so that the church can see which one your kid is. Um there will also be a picture on the screen if you're far. Um okay, you ready? Here we go. First we have Eli Richard Neck. Then we have Henry Stson Pritchard. standards have been set higher now. Katherine Janette Riley. We have Wells Lee Salis. We have Mry Sage Fannon and Mvery Sa Oh, I already said that one. Molly Reagan Wood. It's extra cute when they can introduce themselves. Okay, families. I'm going to pray over us and then you can grab your Bibles after the prayer and head back to your seats or to kids ministry or wherever you're headed. Church, will you pray with me? Jesus, we thank you just that this is our reality today and just for the honor and the gift that it is to walk with each of these families and that they exist in this church and that they've chosen to raise their kids here. For each one of these parents, Lord, we ask for your blessing and your wisdom and for your direction. That we thank you that somehow and some way by your grace and mercy that you brought these parents here right now. that they were once children themselves and were led on a journey with you to end up right here leading this next generation of children to you. And so each day, Lord, would you draw these parents' hearts to to yourself? Would you give them a greater understanding of your love and care for them so that they can reflect that same love and care back into their family? Would you lavish them with patience and with grace and with thoughtfulness and intention? Would you bless them with courage to admit when they're wrong and when they mess up and to ask for forgiveness? Would you give them friends and family and a community to help carry the load and the burden? And would you give them courage and strength to ask for help when they need it? Would you give them hope and vision for their future? And would you help them, Lord, to surrender their child's life and future back to you? And for these children, Lord, we ask that you would draw them to yourself quickly. We ask boldly, Lord, for their salvation and that a devotion to you would always be a part of their story. Would you give them soft hearts toward you and eyes to see and ears to hear your goodness all around them? And we ask, Lord, that you would protect them from harm and that they would follow your voice in every season of life. We ask that they would be the lights into this dark world and that they would share your hope and your light with every person they come across. Would you bless them, Lord, and would you protect them? And for us, Lord, the church, would you give us wisdom as we walk with these families? Would you help us to anticipate and notice their needs and to support them in ways that show them your heart for them? Would you help us to make this body of believers feel like home to these children where that they would know that here they are always welcome, always wanted, and always safe. And would you help us, Lord, to faithfully use the gifts each one of us that you've given us to show these children in front of us how deeply you love them and that we would be the models of faithful devotion to you. We thank you, Lord, for the miracle that each one of these little lives is. That before we ever saw their face, that you had a good work prepared for them. And we thank you that you know them more and you know them better than we ever could. And we don't take the weight of leading them lightly. And we know that we can't do it without you. And so we give them back to you and surrender these lives back to you, Lord, because you are our good shepherd. and we could trust you completely with them. So would you lead us as we do it? Amen. >> Amen. >> Thanks families. Thanks everybody. Good morning. I'm J.R. I'm one of the pastors here. I was sitting right back here in a kind of dark little uh cave area listening to all the pictures come up and hearing all of you go a. So families take some comfort in knowing that all of your children are cute cuz I didn't hear any like oh my god, you know that would have been unsettling. Um that would have been bad. We're glad that you are here with us. Uh we are continuing in our series uh in Genesis. Before we get that, I want to tell you a little story. when uh I was in high school and I was in that uh sort of time frame where you start applying for uh schools if you're going to go to college after high school. I was in the middle of that just filling out application after application after application. Um and I pretty much knew what it was that I wanted to do. I loved football. Uh my father was a football coach. My granddad was a coach. And so I was like what I wanted to do with college was hopefully play a little bit of football if somebody would let me. Uh and then go on to coach football. That's that's what was in my blood in my jeans. And so that's what I was planning to do. Uh in fact at some point I don't know if they still do this now. Um but at least at that time you could set up like a like little like football recruitment visit to hit uh three schools in Abilene. And so like I came here uh to Abilene from the Levelland area and spent Friday night with the team at McMurry. Spent Saturday and Saturday night with team at Hardin Simmons and then on Sunday went uh over and visited with folks over at ACU. I can tell you McMurry and Hardin Simmons were like kind of interested in me coming to play for him. ACU not all that interested. I didn't think I had the stuff for it and that's okay. Um but I felt like man I'm going to go to Hardin Simmons. I'm gonna play a little bit of football. Uh, and then I'm gonna, you know, get a teaching certificate and do all that stuff and become a coach. And so I went to college at the Air Force Academy. Uh, it was a rand like it felt random at least uh for just like a brief period of time. And the way it come about is a long story. We don't need to get into all of it, but basically I had an uncle who had gone to the academy and was in the Air Force. And he just encouraged me to fill out an application and see what happens. And so I just kind of kept getting through steps and eventually got accepted. Um, and you know, but I still like sit down and told my parents like I want to go play ball at Hardin Simmons. That's my goal. And for some reason when presented with the opportunity of either paying private school tuition for me to go play football or at least practice football at Hardin Simmons or to have taxpayers pay my tuition at the Air Force Academy. My parents encouraged me to give uh the Air Force Academy a shot. And so uh that's where I ended up. I didn't think I wanted to go into the Air Force. I thought maybe someone will come of it. Maybe my mind will change. I didn't think I wanted to do that. I was there for basic training one semester and then was like, you know what, I'm right. This isn't for me. And I decided to leave. But when I left, it wasn't like Hardin Simmons was like still ringing the phone. Nobody's interested in me coming to play ball for him at that point. And so I need a place to stay. I got to make this transition pretty quick. My family lived in Levelland so it's like all right, well I'm going to Tech, right? And I love the fact that I went to Tech, but that was never like one of the like first choices for me when thinking about going to school. It's just where I kind of ended up. And so coming back from the Air Force Academy, I thought, man, I just wasted six months. Not that going to the academy is a waste for like if you're if that's like what you're built for, if that's what you're supposed to be doing. But for me, knowing like the goals that I thought I had and what I was expecting to do with my life, I thought, man, I that was a total tangent like and I felt like a failure not being able to make it through the academy and stick with what I'd started and all those kind of things. It just felt like a waste. I tell you that because looking back on it now, I can tell you I probably wouldn't have ended up at Texas Tech, which means I wouldn't have met a guy named Scott Smith who became and still is a really good friend of mine. I wouldn't, which means I wouldn't have gone to work a church camp uh with him uh that summer after I got back to Tech. And I wouldn't have met Amy Schnitman who became my wife and I probably wouldn't have our three boys uh Tom, Ben, and Joe like that. what felt like random tangent and waste of time to go off to the Air Force Academy. I now cannot possibly imagine not having done that because my life would be unrecognizable to me. And I believe that I'm where I am and when I am because of God's good plan and purposes for me. And so I cannot possibly imagine what life would look like if those circumstances hadn't lined up to send me to Colorado Springs for about six months in there. That's often the way that it seems like God works. Like right in the midst of it, it can seem just like random or purposeless or like nobody's in control and nobody's nobody's at the steering wheel on this thing. And then it takes a few years and we look back and this thing that felt random or unnecessary or just cruel, we look back on and we say, "I can't imagine my life without that. I'm so glad God was in control and I wasn't." This morning as we get into Genesis chapter 37, we're starting in the story of Joseph. And the story of Joseph is basically going to take us through the end of our series here in Genesis. And as we get into like sort of the crazy things, just the first of many crazy things that happen in Joseph's life in this first chapter. Uh, man, I think it's with the hindsight of us being able to read this a little bit removed from Joseph's story that we can see that as he's living in the midst of these crazy situations that are happening to him with his brothers and with people who come later in the story, God's hand is moving in the midst of this, God remains in control. And Joseph is called to be faithful with what he's presented with, even when he doesn't know how the Lord's going to work things out. And sometimes I'm sure it felt like nobody was in control. It's our practice here to distinguish between my words and the words of scripture for us to stand for the reading of today's passage. So if you are able, would you stand with me? I'm going to read just the first 11 verses of our story in Genesis 37 verse one. Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilha and Zilpa, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now, Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Now, Joseph had a dream. And when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, "Hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheav in the field. And behold, my sheath rose and stood upright, and behold, your sheav gathered around it and bowed down to my sheath." And his brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he dreamed another dream, told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I've dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars were bowing down to me. But when he told it to his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?" And his brothers were jealous of him. But his father kept the saying in mind, brothers and sisters, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord shall stand forever. And this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. So, we're introduced to Joseph, 17 years old, uh, one of the younger brothers, uh, here. Um, the obvious favorite of his father. We've seen favoritism play out a couple of times in this family, uh, before. It never goes well and it doesn't go well uh, for our buddy Joseph in this story. And he's not doing himself any favors, right? Like his dad gives him what must have been a fantastic robe or coat. I I like we don't know exactly what this thing looked like. Some translations say a robe of many colors. Some just say a long robe with sleeves or that it might signify certain things. But whatever it is, it must have been unbelievable. There's not an item of clothing in my home that anyone would talk about for more than a minute. And this coat has been talked about for thousands of years. I don't know what this thing looked like. I'm guessing there were some sequins. There's something incredible about this coat. So, he wears this thing as a constant reminder that his dad uh loves him more than he loves the other brothers. On top of that, he does things like going and telling on his brothers, saying that they're not doing a good job taking care of their responsibilities. Uh that's not going to help you out at all if all of your brothers hate you. And then he starts getting these dreams about the idea that his brothers and eventually he has a dream that maybe even his mom and dad are all going to bow down to him and he's going to reign and rule supreme over all of his family. Now, if you have that dream, man, talk about it with like a mentor or a good friend, maybe a counselor, right? Maybe this is a good journaling moment. If your siblings hate you and you have a dream about ruling over them and them bowing down to you, maybe you don't talk about it with them before you've processed it out with somebody else, right? Like he's not helping himself out. I'm going to choose to believe he's just like an honest and and naive kind of guy and he just feels like this these dreams are meaningful to him and he just needs uh to tell somebody about them. But man, he is not doing himself any favors. Listen, because of um child dedication and those kind of things, I'm going to try to read through this kind of quickly and summarize uh some things for us. So, I'm going to read a little bit, talk a little bit. You can stay seated and we'll make our way through the rest of this passage. But all of that sort of sets up the just sort of hatred, uh the position of his brothers towards him. And that sets up the rest of our story in this chapter. Look at verse 12. Now his brothers went to pasture their fathers flocks near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." And he said to him, "Here I am." Now, if you are familiar with some other Old Testament passages, if you've read some other places, you may hear that phrase and your ears might perk up a little bit. This is not just a a statement about location like, "Hey, I'm over here." Um, this in many places where it where it appears in scripture is a statement of like posture. It's a this humility and availability and sort of submission saying, "I'm here. Do with me what you need." We see uh Moses say the same kind of thing. We see Abraham and Isaiah and Samuel have this same kind of phrase. And all of those, it's a posture of saying, "Here I am. What do you need? I'm I'm I'm yours. Uh I I'll obey. I'll be faithful to what you call me to, what you ask me to do." And so his father sends him out to go find his brothers and bring back a report. On his way he runs into somebody who is nameless that we don't understand who this person is but there's this interesting interaction there uh look at verse 15 a man found him wandering in the fields and the man asked him what are you seeking he says I'm seeking my brothers tell me please where they are pasturing the flock and the man said they have gone away for I heard them say let us go to Dothan so Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan we don't know who this guy is maybe he like knew the family and just happened to be wandering around. We don't get any hint of that, but apparently Joseph runs into this stranger and says, "Hey, I'm looking for my brothers." And he get he said, "Well, they went that way." Um, and we don't get any like understanding of who this person is. I bring that up because I think it'll come up a little bit later. So, he makes his way to where this guy said they were going to be. They see him from afar, and their first thought is, "Let's take care of this dreamer. Dad's not around. Uh, I know what we have to do here." And so their first plan is to kill him. They're going to they're going to kill him, throw him into a pit, take his uh coat that all of them probably hate back to the father and say, "Sorry, Dad. A wild animal got a hold of him. Nothing we can do, but he's gone." Now, the oldest brother, Reuben, talks them out of that and says, "No, no, no. Let's not kill him. Let's just throw him into that pit. We can take the coat back. He'll just be lost, but we won't have to kill him." So, Reuben uh like sort of saves him from that. The Bible goes is like very clear to tell us why Reuben did that. It was so that he could restore Joseph to his father uh and and pull him out at a later point. So Reuben had a plan for how this was going to go. It doesn't tell us why he wants to do that. Maybe he just wants to like get some favor with his dad or maybe he really cares about his little brother. We don't uh get an idea of that. But they they go ahead and do that. They take the the coat off of him. They throw him down into a pit. And then apparently this doesn't bother them at all cuz they just sit down and have a meal together. Says verse 25, they sit down to eat and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing gum and balm and all sorts of goods. And Judah said to his brothers, this is in verse 26, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." and his brothers listen to him. The traders come by and they sell their brother into slavery to get him out of the picture and they follow along with the rest of the deception. Remember, if you've been following along with us in this series in Genesis, deception is a common theme in this family. And we see it take place here again. They dip the robe into the blood of a goat that they kill. They take it back to their father Jacob and he tears at his clothes. Begins mourning, refuses to be comforted by his children uh and his wives and says, "I will mourn him the rest of my days." And the the chapter ends with Joseph being sold off, we're told, to a house uh of a man named Potiphar. And eventually he makes his way uh down to Egypt. Like if that's if this is as far as you've gone, if you're not familiar at all, then the way this story ends, you think, I don't know what Joseph's dreams are about, but he's done, right? Nobody bows down to slaves. Slaves don't have much of a future. He's probably not going to have any more stories written about him. This guy's done. The brothers got together. They ambushed him. They schemed together. They got what they wanted. And Joseph is out of the picture. man, he should have seen this coming. Probably shouldn't talk about your dreams so much in the future, right? Like that's where this chapter ends and you think his story is done. But if you've read ahead a little bit, if you peek ahead a little bit in the rest of the story of Genesis, his story is nowhere near done, right? And the crazy things that happened to him continue to happen over and over again. And through it all, like like you you see or at least you start to see there's something happening. It's not just crazy situation after crazy situation, but there seems to be some sort of guiding hand. Eventually, uh, he makes his way into this house. A crazy situation happens there. He ends up in prison. While he's in prison, he meets somebody he's supposed to meet. He ends up interpreting, uh, some dreams for Pharaoh. He gets brought into the government and eventually works his way through his ability to interpret these dreams. uh and through his own skills and management and leadership and the confidence that he built with people around them, he basically becomes the second most important person in the country and leads to through his leadership and the dreams and uh kind of him understanding the situation. It leads to him being able to save this whole nation of people and the Canaanites and his old his brothers and all of their families saving all of them and making sure that everybody has something to eat during this long famine that comes like through crazy difficult bad unbelievable situations over and over again happening to him. He only seems to make his way towards those dreams that he had when eventually he is in authority over everyone including his brothers, his father, his family. In fact, it gets to the point in Genesis chapter 50, the last chapter of Genesis, uh where we see him like how he sort of assessed all these things that have happened to him. We're seeing the like sort of last recorded conversation that we have between Joseph and his brothers. And they're still like all these years later just shaken in their boots, racked with guilt because of what they did to their brother, selling him off into slavery. And now he's this really powerful guy. His dreams like those like sort of prophecies that happened in those dreams have come true. And now he has the authority to do with them whatever it is that he wishes to do. And they're terrified. And Joseph's response is, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about for what many people bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. What you intended for evil, God intended for good. Like that's a wild perspective and unbelievable generosity and forgiveness being demonstrated for him. But it also, I think, gives us this really helpful, really clear perspective as he looks back on his life to be able to see the hand like the sovereign will of God playing out and all these crazy things that are happening or that have happened in his life and seeing both the fact that human beings have had their own intentions and desires and God has had his own intentions and desires and both of those things have impacted his life and God's will has remained over the top of all of that, accomplishing what God's purposes were for him as signified way back in those dreams uh that we see in this chapter in chapter 37. And the reason I think this is important probably for a lot of reasons. One is because I think this is it's laying it out for us here in scripture, but also like we're at the beginning of a new year. We're thinking about New Year's resolutions and how this year is going to be different. New year, new me. And we're going to make some plans and we're going to be healthier and we're going to make better decisions. we're going to get that job and we're going to make some good financial decisions and we're going to work on our marriage or we're going to do something different with our kids. There's all these plans and expectations and hopes that are in the conversation sort of uh in the culture with us right now. And in the midst of that, I think it's important for us to take a look at Joseph's life and this dynamic that is still at place in our lives as well. This idea of God being sovereign, him having control, him being able to make sure that his promises, that his plans are going to come to pass, and the fact that you and I have a role, that human beings have choices and make real decisions that actually matter because those two things don't often easily go together in our head. But that's the way the scriptures present them over and over again that yes, God is in control. He is sovereign. He can do what he wishes and he will make his plans and promises come to pass. And human beings are responsible for making real decisions, taking real actions that actually matter and have some significance. And both of those things exist together at the same time in scripture and I believe in our lives. And I don't know how the two dynamics there work, but the scriptures seem to say both of those things are true together. You see it play out like just in this chapter in chapter 37 like like we don't have a mention of God doing any of these specific things but we can certainly see his hand playing out in this chapter like the dreams that he's given those things come to pass right like the as he's guided along the way like we see him wandering off in this field he doesn't know where his brothers are or where they've gone he's not sure that he's going to be able to find them and he runs runs into this man and has this what seemingly sort of random interaction who points him in the right direction so that he can find those his brothers. If he doesn't run into that man, the rest of the story may not take place the way we have it written down in scripture. But that guy shows up in his life. I wonder if we can't see the hand of God and the fact that Reuben saves Joseph from being killed as his brothers had planned and instead they just throw him down into a pit and sell him off into slavery. Like there's the fact that he ends up in this specific house that that leads to some potentiality and some opportunities later on down the road. Like there's all these places that if they don't work out in just the right way, then things the story is wildly different. And I think in that both Joseph and we can see like the hand of God working in the midst of this even though it's happening in some ordinary and sometimes just wild and crazy stories with real human beings in real interactions and real situations. See you see God's sovereign hand sort of guiding and moving things but you also see real human beings making real decisions that actually matter. Like Joseph doesn't shy away from the fact either that God's intentions were these for these things to work out for his plans and for the good that Joseph sees in his life at the end of his life. But also he doesn't shy away from the fact that his brother's intentions were evil. And both of those things existed in the same moment in the same decisions at the same time. Like nowhere in here. Like the fact that God's will plays out, the fact that God works through all these crazy situations and evil intentions of the people involved in this story in no way absolves them from the fact that they are making real decisions that actually matter. The story doesn't tell us that Joseph's brothers were robots or were forced to do the things that they they do. They make real decisions and God's will reigns over it all without absolving them of agency or actions or decisions or will. These things play out together and in a new year or just in a regular moment or just interacting uh like with people around us. I think it's important that we recognize, man, there's some tension here and it's hard for us to wrestle with sometimes like this idea that God is in control, that his promises, his plans will happen, that he will be faithful to what he said he's about. He will be faithful to his character, and that nothing can get in the way of him doing what he has set out to do. That is true. And then trying to hold that in line with the idea that you and I and the people around us make real decisions that have real implications and and have real actions that have real consequences that can be hard to join together. And so it often times pushes us into one or two extremes in how we respond to this idea. Like I'll tell you just for me like I had to do a little bit of work on this and still have to keep working on this but worked on this a little bit with a counselor because my response to that tension about the idea that God is in control and I'm called to make real decisions to be actually faithful and obedient to what God has called me to do. My responsibility is to overcontrol to take to like put myself in the place of having absolute sort of sovereign control of situations. So I get anxious. I overthink. I I I overact, right? I try to like convince myself that I have responsibilities at work or at home or with people around me. And I'm going to make sure that the outcomes and the hearts and the minds around me do what needs to be done so that I can be faithful to what God has called me to do so I'm responsible for everything and everyone in that situation which inevitably leads like to frustration and anxiety and like burnout and overwork and eventually to me just like sort of detaching because I realize that like the things that I've decided I'm responsible for which is like everything that I can see and touch all that the light touches is right. When I think that I'm responsible for every bit of those things, at some point I recognize my own inability and incapacity and I get frustrated and ashamed of the failure of being able to control the things that I believe I'm supposed to be able to control. And so I just detach and say, "Well, then maybe I can't do anything right." That's my response is to reach for too much to believe I'm in control of things I can't possibly in control of and and believe I've got some sort of sovereignty over things that are never mine to rule or to reign over. But I know for some of us in different situations or just like sort of as a default pattern of life, we go the opposite direction. Especially when things get big or difficult or feel like there's a little bit of chaos or what we feel called to feels feels way too big for what we're able to do. Our response is, listen, God's in control. If he wants it to happen, it'll happen. So, I I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to completely pull out and detach. And that's like sort of the first response. If God wants this to happen, it'll happen. So, I'm not going to make any moves towards trying to reconcile this relationship. I'm not going to uh try to like actually step out and engage this thing that I feel the spirit sort of tugging on me for. or I'm not going to go uh after that job or make this change or address these things with my family or with my spouse. I'm just going to sort of step back and if the Lord wants to do something, he can do anything and everything. He's all powerful. He's all knowing. He's everywhere. He can do what needs to be done. And if it doesn't happen, it must be because he didn't want it to happen. See, in the first extreme, we take so much responsibility and ownership and control that we try to be sovereign and leave no room for God to be God. It doesn't work, but we try that. And in the other extreme, we resign ourselves so much to God's sovereignty, to him being able to do whatever he wants to do that we completely reject the idea that we're called to faithfulness and obedience throughout scripture. And as a result, we refuse to be human. The call like the faithfulness in the middle of this is to recognize God is God and that's good news because I don't have to be and that being a human being doesn't mean I'm a robot or a victim or an automaton to God's will but instead I have real calling real responsibilities I'm called to actual faithfulness which means that I make real decisions I actually do things that matter and there's consequence quence to what happens in my life and those things exist together. All of this difficult like sort of philosophical stuff just sort of comes down to the point that God is God. He gets to be in control of outcomes and endpoints and resolutions. My sphere, my circles of what I can actually be responsible for are much smaller but still meaningful and still how God chooses to work over and over and over again throughout the pages of scripture. Like each of us, we don't have the responsibilities or the expectation of God, but there is responsibility for us. There's a little circle in your life of things you actually control. And if you sat down in your journal today and wrote out the things you can actually control fully completely, that list is small. It's like how you spend your time for the most part. What you spend your your your brain power meditating on, how you speak, how you react and respond, what you do. Right? The list is short. But what's not in that list is outcomes. Other people's hearts, other people's actions, other people's responsibilities, right? And certainly not like the end of all things and the things that only God can be responsible for. Outside of the little circle of things that you can control, there's things that you have responsibility for, right? But that you can't actually control. I have responsibilities at work. I'm called to be faithful and obedient in my calling here to the church. I hope that I serve and care for this church really, really well. But when it comes to like what I do, I'm responsible to be faithful, to have some integrity whenever I open the scriptures and to try to lead humbly and following after the Lord's leading. But I'm not actually able to control how people around me that I'm doing ministry with are able to respond. Like
I can sit here and tell you faithfulness calls you to let God be God and to worship him and submit to him. And it calls you to be human and to walk in faithfulness and obedience. But I have no ability to control how you respond when you walk out of here.
And outside of what I can control, what I'm responsible for, there's this other circle of things I have some influence over, but actually aren't my full responsibility and certainly aren't things I'm accountable for in terms of control. Like there's some things that I have responsibility for, like right, like my kids. I'm called to be a faithful father to them, to care for them, to love them, to protect them within my abilities, to guide them towards Jesus. Right? I'm responsible for those things, but I can't actually control how they respond. Their little hearts and their little wills and their little minds are going to make real decisions that actually matter, and I can't control that.
At some point, that shifts, right? My responsibilities to them shift as they start to grow up and move out of my house. And the best I can hope for is to influence them because I'm no longer responsible for, like, feeding them and making some big decisions for them and telling them yes and no in certain things. The most I can hope for is influence.
It's true about a lot of things in our life, right? Like the stuff that we're scrolling through, the news that we're seeing, the social media stuff that grabs hold of our hearts often because we have an over sense of control and expectation of what we can do about things or what should be happening and and who should be in control of these situations. And so it grabs hold of our hearts in ways that were never meant to be ours.
The reality is, like, when it comes to, like, what our country does or what we do with foreign affairs or how we govern economic policy or some of those things that I can get so amped up about, the reality is I have a small bit of influence. And unless I get called into actually governing, for the most part, it falls outside of my little circle of responsibility and only into that little sphere of influence.
And outside of what I actually control, what I actually am responsible for, what I actually have influence over, everything else is either other people's, which I can't control, or it's God's that I shouldn't even desire to control if I believe that he's good and trustworthy and faithful and that he will make his promises come to pass.
The beautiful example we have of this, of course, is in Jesus, where divine personhood and divine will comes, like, perfectly into one essence with human personhood and human will, and we see this beautiful picture of God's sovereign will taking place and human submission and action taking place in the same person. So that whenever he prays in the garden and says, "Lord, I know what cup is coming for me. If it is your will, let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done." He's submitting to God's will, to the fact that God is in control. And he's fully responding in faithfulness and obedience, knowing that part of God's plan and God's call in his life requires him to take the real, meaningful steps towards the cross.
God gets to be God. And that actually frees us up to be human. Just because he's in control doesn't mean my, my decisions and my choices don't matter. In fact, it means they certainly matter. But I don't have to be afraid to walk in faithfulness and obedience because I'm not in charge of the outcomes. And he has assured us that he is.
Here in a moment, we get to celebrate this good news that that perfect combination of God's person and and will coming into contact and and and living in the same person and being as human person and human will. We get to celebrate him making his way faithfully and obediently according to God's good plan towards that cross. So, as the band comes back up, uh, if you are in Christ, if you know what it means to follow after Jesus, to walk towards faithfulness and obedience, then you are welcome at these tables. There's two communion tables here. There's two in the back. If you're out in the lobby, there'll be uh some trays on that table there. When you get to one of these trays, you're going to find a cup that actually has two cups stacked on top of it. One cup has the bread symbolizing Christ's body broken, uh, and given for us for the forgiveness of sins. The other has juice in it. A sign of Jesus's blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins. Sign of the new covenant that many might be saved. So, brothers and sisters, as we continue to worship, you are welcome at the table. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, you're good and you're good to us, Lord. Hard as it may be to see in the midst of the craziness of life and the news we see on our phones or on TV, Lord, help us to trust, take some comfort in, to rest in the fact that you are in control. That even in the midst of human beings making crazy decisions and actions that shock and sadden us, even in the midst of us not understanding and feeling like our lives are random and without purpose, Lord, that you are in control. Lord, as the world around us seems to be overwhelming and chaotic, Lord, remind us of this truth that you remain on the throne, that you are sovereign, and that your promises will come to pass. And as a result, we are freed to make real decisions, to take real actions in faithfulness and obedience, knowing that that's what you've called us to. That's what's within our will is to be faithful and obedient to your call, trusting you to be God and to be good. Lord, we love you. We trust you. It's your name we pray. Amen.
How deep the Father's love for us. How has beyond measure that he should give his own Son to make a richest treasure. How great the pain of searing loss. The Father turns his face away as wounds which mar the chosen one. Bring many sons to glory. Behold a man upon a cross. I sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed I hear my mocking voice. All out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him blue, but still it was a compliment. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. Yes, it is finished. Oh, it is finished. I will not boast in. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I'll boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. What should I gain from his reward? I cannot give it. This I know with all my heart, my so I should. Why should I keep his? Why can't I give? Answer. This I know with all my heart. These words have paid my ransom. Yes, this I know with all my heart. His words have paid my ransom. Oh, hey.
He's the one who turned the water to wine. He's the one backside to the blind. He's the one. He can do. He's the one. He's the author of life. He's the one who calls the dead things to rise. He's the one, and I've seen him do it. He never fails. He never went up. He never stops making the way. I want to sing of what the Lord can do. He's never changed. He never will. He never stops making the way. I want to sing of what the Lord can do. He's the one with the storm from the grave. He's the one who put death in it. He's a one. He did for me. He never fails. He never will. He never stops making the way. I will sing of what the Lord can do. He never changed. He never will. He never stops making the way. I will sing of what the Lord can do. That's what he does. So keep calling his name. He did it then, he'll do it now. So keep lifting your faith. That's who he is. That's what he does. So keep calling his name. He did it then, he'll do it now. So keep lifting your face until he is. That's what he does. So keep calling his name. Heat. Heat. He never, he never will. He never stops making a way. I will sing of what the Lord can do. He's never changed. He never will. He never stops making a way. I will sing of what the Lord can do.
I search the world. It could infill me. Man's empty praise treasures the f never know you came along. Put me back together. Now every desire is now satisfied right here in your love. There's nothing better than him. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. I'm not afraid. Show you my weakness, my failures. Lord, you've seen them all. You still call me friend. Who's the God of the mountain? He's the God of the valley. I face your mercy and grace will find you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. There's nothing, nothing you I need you. You turn morning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who gave you grace. You turn gra. You turn into aries. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can your only one. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Come on, sing. There's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. Nothing is good. There's nothing better. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. There's nothing. Nothing is better. Sing one more time. There's nothing better than him. Oh, there's nothing. Amen.
Thank you again for worshiping with us. If you're part of the prayer team for the service, would you come down front? Uh now, as you go, you um and if you want to continue in worship, it's a part of worship to uh by giving financially. There's a couple of boxes in those doors on the way back. I think there's one on the info table out there if you're out in the lobby where you can always uh give online. And so we welcome you uh to continue worshiping in that way.
Also, a couple things I want to make sure on your radar. Uh this coming weekend, Friday and Saturday night, we've got a weekender happening. It's on biblical manhood and parenting. Uh and man, we want to invite you uh to come and be a part of that. Friday night is just about manhood. Uh just what it means to be a man and and to be a man uh in the home. Uh and so that's just for guys. Uh Saturday morning is on parenting and so uh men and women are welcome for that Sunday morning. Can I specifically uh looking out at this crowd man you start making decisions about the home and about parenting long before your kids ever hit the ground. So if you are uh in college uh man this is still a weekender for you. And so I'd encourage you to get signed up uh and be a part of that. Uh if the cost is a problem, man, let us know and we will wave the cost and make sure that you can come and be a part of that.
Another thing that's happening over the next couple of weeks is covenant partnership classes. That's for anybody who feels like this place is home and you're ready to sort of commit to say this is where I feel like the Lord has called me to be and to serve. And that's for college students as well. Just because you're in college doesn't mean you don't need to be like where you are when you are. And so we'd love for you to be a part of that. Uh and then we've got some other classes that are kicking off here uh at the beginning of February that we'd love for you to get signed up for different topics and discussions about what it means for us to just follow Jesus in a lot of different areas of life. You can find out more information about all of these things and get signed up at the wellleveling.com/start. Okay, end of commercial.
As we go, as we go, our benediction is from 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 14. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Go in peace.
Blow through the caverns of my soul to overflow to overflow. My soul come away to hers. to see awake. First love come away as you did of the living God. Follow me. Come awaken me from my sleep. Go through the caverns of my soul for me to overflow to overflow. My soul come away to worship with all your strength. Spirit of the living God on me. Come awake me from my sleep through the caverns of my soul. Spirit come your glory.