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“Conscience is thus explained only as the voice of God in the soul.” ― Peter Kreeft
Question: How is your conscience a good thing? (indicates a desire to follow God and live according to his desires) How is it a bad thing? (It means we are sinners, have to live with yourself) Freedom in Christ comes as we let go of the burden of our past guilt and reconcile with God and others. May we learn to overcome our personal demons of past sins, poor judgment, wrong behavior and accept the cleansing forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Amen!!! Today we continue the story of Joseph. it’s been 20 years since Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers…. in today’s scripture the brothers unknowingly face Joseph. It is clear as the brothers face Joseph they have never forgotten the depth of their sin in selling Joseph into slavery. One of the great themes of Joseph is to show us how God takes a broken and fractured person and creates something even more beautiful.
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NOTE: The Video will turn vertical after a few minutes. FB keeps changing the details and sometime can't seem to catch up. Sigh.
Waiting is the hardest…. Waiting for something… news… more income… an apology… the phone call that never comes… a response… for people of faith, nothing is more frustrating than waiting for God to act, to get us out of the mess of our lives, to restore justice, to provide needed relief. As Christians we know waiting is supposed to be good for us.…but waiting is still hard… Here’s a quote about the blessing of waiting:
“This is the most precious answer God can give us: wait. It makes us cling to him rather than to an outcome. God knows what I need; I do not. He sees the future; I cannot. His perspective is eternal; mine is not. He will give me what is best for me when it is best for me.” ~ Vaneetha Rendall Risner As Christians add guilt when forced to wait, because we are supposed to delight in hardships! Gen 40 is about waiting… Joseph is in prison, he had done nothing wrong, waiting for who knows what…we know the end of the story but he doesn’t… at the end of the chapter he is still in prison. The last words are haunting: READ Gen. 40:23.  The sermon in a sentence: Overcome Temptation by being a person of integrity!
“Ain’t I Beautiful!” I have a friend Rick Reynolds, several of you know him… cover of Fuller Seminary Mag… director of Operation Nightwatch… [READ story page 21….] A story of integrity… “Ain’t I Beautiful!” Ask that question to the Lord and if in your heart you can hear him say YES, then you are a person of integrity. Is God’s grace on you? I love the words of Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, “Now, with God’s help, I will become myself.” I want to be so much like Christ that it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, how much power I have, my status, my situation, but I want to serve him out of a Christ like character ~That’s integrity! in order to live in God’s will, who I am, my integrity, is more important than what I do. Joseph, the man in the center of today’s scripture, is forged into the person God wants him to be while a slave, while being tempted, while in prison. In or out of prison, God’s will is to be a man or woman of high character…. That’s who Joseph is becoming… “Now, with God’s help, I will become myself.”
DEFINE: Jealousy: True or False: More decisions are made on emotions than any other force on earth! I think it’s true! If you can keep your emotions in check, you will make better decisions. This message is about overcoming destructive emotions. In today’s scripture the key word is in Gen. 37:11: “jealous” the brothers were jealous of Joseph. Jealousy explains their wild decisions. What are some other emotions that might cause us to make really bad decisions when those emotions become overwhelming? [Anger, Depression, Fear, hate]
Destructive emotions can build up to an explosion … in today’s scripture, the brothers hated Joseph because he was their fathers favorite, Gen. 37:4, then Gen. 37:5 says Joseph told them a dream, “and they hated him all the more.” Another dream and the same thing in Gen. 37:8, “they hated him all the more.” Finally in Gen. 37:11 ~~ they were JEALOUS. A spiral… |
 
Carl Crouse, Pastor
At SACC we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Every Sunday the worship service includes a message from the Bible. My words are an attempt to understand and apply the Bible to our daily living. I post weekly sermons and other biblical messages on this page. May you find meaning and hope as you read through each message and seek to hear God's voice. Leave a comment to ask questions or inspire others with your insights. Categories
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