Listen To Mama and Big Mama

Proverbs 1:8,

Proverbs 2:1-9

2 Timothy 1:5 (ESV)

5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

I. Becoming Big Mama and Mama

A MOTHER’S HEART FOR HER GOD - Clarkson, Sally. The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child's Heart of Eternity (p. 62). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The Servant Mother - Mothering with the Heart of Jesus

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. JOHN 15:13 - Choosing to be a servant-mother means willingly giving up myself, my expectations, and my time to the task of mothering—and choosing to believe that doing so is the best use of my time at that moment.

Every Leader must be A servant - (John 13:4-5, 12-17 - This kind of servant leadership is the model that Jesus gave to us for all areas of our lives, including our roles as mothers. He reached the minds, hearts, and lives of his disciples not just by telling them what to do but by serving them in love—an example that contrasts starkly to the common view of what leadership is all about.Matthew 20:25-28. - Surely this commandment applies to parental authority as well. I have often met well-intentioned parents who think they must be harsh and demanding to their young children

SERVING WITH OUR TIME - Moses Mother - If you don’t make them priority in your life, you will come to resent them because they take ups much time. Moses was born during a troubled time for the Israelites in Egypt. The king had decreed that midwives were to kill all Hebrew boys when they were born, leaving only the girls alive. This progrom was Pharaoh’s attempt to control the population of the Israelites, who were strong and growing in numbers in the land of Egypt Exodus 1:8–16 ). There was rebellion against this murderous decree in many quarters. The Hebrew midwives refused to participate in the infanticide and deceived Pharaoh so they could avoid killing the baby boys Exodus 1:17–19 . Moses’ mother Jochebed hid Moses in a basket of bulrushes and set him afloat on the Nile River to preserve his life (Exodus 2:3). Even Pharaoh’s own daughter disobeyed the decree when she found Moses in the basket and took pity on him, adopting him as her own child (Exodus 2:5–10). Moses was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and it was also Pharaoh’s daughter who named him. Jochebed, in an astonishing example of God’s providence and mercy, became Moses’ nurse and was paid by the king for her service Exodus 2:7–9 ).

Must Have these three elements of Time

Emotional

Physical

Spiritual

Serving With The Proper Attitude - Philippians 2:14-15.

The Disciplining Mother - Reaching Children’s Hearts for Christ - The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;

And with all your acquiring, get understanding. PROVERBS 4:7 - Someone once observed, “Christians are like people who are trying to straighten the picture on the wall while the house is burning down!” Isn’t that what we as mothers are tempted to do—to waste our energies trying to meet external standards while our children’s deep spiritual needs go unmet and unnoticed?

Jeremiah 9:23-24 - Our culture still seeks success through these three areas—the intellect; power and status; and riches. As mothers, we will be tempted to measure our success by the performance of our children in these areas as well.

1 Sam 16:7 - Measure the Childs Heart - A unique quality of A Mom -

2 Chronicles 16:9 - God looks for a heart which is perfect towards him to bless - Heart in the biblical sense is a much deeper, more meaningful word. The vast majority of the eight hundred occurrences of the word in the Bible refers to the mental, emotional core of a person. In a sense, the biblical heart - As I have studied his life, I have found a plan for my own parenting. Like him, I have a goal to love and train my children so they will be equipped to reach the world and their families and friends with the message of Christ after I am gone. This is what they were born to do—to truly love God and glorify him and follow him. Thus my goals for parenting must reflect my purpose. Several simple aspects of Jesus’ life with his disciples have given me a simple plan for my own home.

Cultivating Our Children - Really Being There - I mean being with them, not just the activity - The World, The Flesh and The Devil for the World; The Church Activities for the Christian are the same

INSTRUCTING OUR CHILDREN - The second principle of reaching children’s hearts that we can observe in Jesus’ life is that of intentional instruction. Jesus talked to his disciples about the Scriptures and their meaning, he talked to them of God and his ways and laws, and he talked to them of the future. In their time together, he covered every possible subject from faith to humility to prejudice to forgiveness, adultery, murder, love, food, and morality.

Ways to Instruct

Story telling - Pilgrms Progress - Schooly Madoo

Scripture Memorization - The Ten Commandments, Psalm 23, the greatest commandments in Luke 10:27, 1 Corinthians 13, the first ten verses of the Sermon on the Mount, and Genesis 1 are wonderful passages we can plant in children’s minds

Devotions -

Bible Study -

TRAINING OUR CHILDREN Proverbs 22:6 says, Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

What is the difference between instruction and training? Training is the practical application of a learned truth to actual life. Training involves advising our children on the appropriate application of Scripture and giving them opportunities to act out what they are learning. It also means taking the initiative with our children to correct their immature or sinful behavior and require them to do what is right. It is not enough to know the truth; we must learn to walk in truth. As we lead our children with the principles of God’s wisdom found throughout Scripture, we are helping them to establish pathways of righteousness in their hearts.

Instructing our children about these Twenty-Four Ways came first. But training came in when we began using the list as a tool for guiding everyday behavior. Malichia’s Point - A discussion about two different Generations

Discipline is The Center Piece of Training - And, yes, we are talking about discipline here! Hebrews 12:11 clearly states, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” The fruit in the heart of a disciplined child is the peaceful fruit of righteousness. The wise mother takes the time to correct her children over and over again so they can experience the peace and freedom of knowing how to govern their lives in such a way as to be mature, wise, and at peace with God. Though it takes time, patience, and courage to change the course of our children’s ways, the result of wisdom in their lives is a satisfying reward

Train, Instruct, Guard your children - Who they Hang out with - GUARDING OUR CHILDREN’S INFLUENCES Proverbs 13:20 says, He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm. A similar verse is 1 Corinthians 15:33: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” And both of these passages point to a final principle a wise mother will follow in reaching her children’s hearts

Instruct and Train them How to Guard there own Heart - Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to “watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” When I realized that my children’s hearts were also the springs from which their lives flowed, I pictured Clay and me as guards standing in front of their hearts to protect them from anything that could soil or poison the waters.

4. Proverbs 29:15. - Mothers Most important and last Training and Instruction - Professional Sports and Professional Jobs - Have Supervisors and Coaches - But Parents want to be Friends instead of Parents.

3. The Teaching Mother - Training Children’s Minds to Think Biblically - Training Children’s Minds to Think Biblically From childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.2 TIMOTHY 3:15 -

The Johnson Dinner table at times can be very messy and lively; we have so many discussions, and the stuff that those girls think and believe, lets just think can be unbiblical and unspiritual seemingly. The question we must agree with is everyone has a right to their own opinion, but God gets the final say.

This story depicts our everyday lives—opinions stated, issues debated, topics taught and learned, questions asked, books and experts quoted, and heartfelt convictions passionately shared while washing dishes, eating meals, or sitting around the living room drinking tea. And even though they may occasionally get out of hand, these discussions, perhaps more than any other family activity, have shaped our children’s lives for the better. Why are such discussions so important? Because they do exactly what Joy said. They teach our children to think about Jesus—and to think biblically about every aspect of their lives! They are part of an ongoing process of sharpening minds, focusing thoughts, and allowing biblical truth to shape our mental processes as well as fill our hearts.

Teaching Them to Take every Thought Captive - “Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) is another directive given in Scripture. This indicates that following Jesus is supposed to dramatically influence the way we think. And the apostle Paul advises us what we are to think about: whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute (Philippians 4:8).

Teaching Them to Evaluate life Properly - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Teaching Them to Understand How they Think is who they are. WHAT WE THINK—AND WHAT WE ARE Perhaps the most telling scripture about the importance of loving Christ with our minds is found in the book of Proverbs, which boldly states that as a person “thinks within himself, so he is” Proverbs 23:7. That, in a nutshell, is why it’s so important to train our children’s minds to think biblically—because their thought processes and their beliefs will, in the long run, determine the kind of people they will be.

The Results of An un-Centered Mind - Ephesians 4 contains a sobering description of the consequences of such faulty thinking on both individuals and society. Those who don’t focus their minds on the Lord are described as confused and unstable—“tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (verse 14) Eph 4:14 —and as ignorant and deceived—“in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart” (verses 17-18) Eph 4:17-18 . As a result, “they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (verse 19) Eph 4:19 . But just as faulty thinking leads to painful consequences, right thinking leads to the kind of lives we want for our children. “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,” says verse 15 .Eph 4:15 And verses 23-24 -Eph 4:23-24 tell us that we are to be renewed “in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” This passage seems to indicate both the dangers that children are likely to encounter and the remedy that lies in training their minds. As mothers, we need to protect our children from all of the godless philosophies that lead

But doing this effectively requires far more than just indoctrinating our children with Christian platitudes. We teach our children how to think and reason in their own minds so that they may be able, when mature, to discern what is true and what is false.

SCRIPTURE: TEACHING BIBLICAL LITERACY

Jesus promised in the Sermon on the Mount that if we built our lives on the foundation of his words, our lives would be stable, like a house on a rock. Though winds and storms come our way, we will not fall, if we have “been founded upon the rock” (Matthew 7:25).

The New Testament, of course, tells the thrilling story of God’s final redemption of his people through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. It also provides a practical understanding of how to live the Christian life.

Second Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us that Scripture is “inspired by God

If Scripture was inspired by God himself, then I desired to help our children see the importance of understanding the truth of Scripture and learning to obey its principles as faithfully as possible. Psalm 119:160 tells us, “The sum of Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting.” This means that all ordinances and principles of God’s Word were written to apply to all generations at all times. In training our children to think biblically, then, we use Scripture to illuminate Scripture.

CHRISTIAN LAW AND MORALITY: TEACHING RIGHT AND WRONG Understanding basic morality is also fundamental to teaching children to think biblically. Before they can ever make right decisions, they need to understand what the Bible says about right and wrong.

In addition to the biblical content about right and wrong, it’s important to teach the biblical reality that there is right and wrong.

Galatians 6:7-8 is very clear on this point: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.” In other words, there are consequences to sin, and we must teach our children this moral principle if we want to protect them and provide them with the best chance at emotional, spiritual, and mental health.

THEOLOGY: TEACHING THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD Every one of us, whether we know it or not, has a personal theology. The word theology basically means “the study of God” and is often used to refer to a specific academic discipline. But theology in a broader sense refers to an understanding of who God is and what he is like—and how our children think in that regard will determine the scope of their Christian life. The degree to which they comprehend the holiness, sovereignty, omniscience, omnipotence, and redemptive love of our heavenly Father will determine the depth of their faith and devotion to him.

The Christian life, after all, is not merely a list of dos and don’ts. It is a faith in and a relationship with the real and living God who created the universe. In order to understand God so that we can know what the Christian life is all about, we must understand who he is. And that means we need to develop—and help our children develop—a sound biblical theology.

Since the Bible is in essence God’s self-portrait for his people, the Bible has been our most important source for instilling in our children a sound theology. As they read scriptures like Psalm 139 and 145, they are memorizing word pictures of God’s magnitude that will be in their minds forever.

God’s personality and character. Jesus himself told us that “he who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). And Hebrews 1:3 reminds us that Jesus “is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” Jesus was an exact picture of God on earth—so getting to know him through the pages of Scripture is one of the best ways of sharpening a child’s understanding of who God is and what he is like.

WISDOM: TEACHING GOD’S POINT OF VIEW The word wisdom refers to both practical insight or knowledge and discernment about how to make decisions. In the biblical sense, being wise means understanding God’s point of view about daily life and the whole scope of the universe and learning to live and act according to his perspective. In one sense, this wisdom cannot be taught; it is something that grows with maturity and experience.

God generously gives us a list of advantages for all who would seek wisdom and be wise. Proverbs 3:13-18 says, How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, And its gain than fine gold. She [wisdom] is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways,

accordingly. God’s wisdom principles in the Bible give us glimpses into eternity and his purposes (“I go to prepare a place for you”—John 14:2). This gives us an advantage in this life over others who don’t know God and his purposes, because of the hope that we have in our future with him. Other passages provide us with an understanding of the patience we need to wait for God’s timing (“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”—Romans 8:28).

FAITH: TEACHING TRUST IN GOD’S REALITY AND RELIABILITY

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” And this is the last area in which we must train our children to think biblically. From the beginning of time, God has desired that we live not just by what we can see and hold and touch but by faith in the presence and reality of God and his kingdom. Children tend to come by that kind of faith easily. They are accustomed to trusting in things they don’t understand, and they have never developed an exaggerated dependence on their own intellects. But as children grow—and especially as they encounter a culture that either discourages faith altogether or encourages a vague, unbiblical “spirituality”—they need a firm understanding of faith and how it works.

Faith is not necessarily an absence of doubt. It’s certainly not a matter of checking our minds at the door and refusing to think. Rather, it is a commitment of our wills to trust God with our lives, based on the inherent value of his moral law, an understanding of his wonderful attributes, the magnitude of his domain and creation, and the astuteness of his wisdom.

Lastly Teach Them TALKING ABOUT GOD Helping our children think biblically requires that we live shoulder to shoulder with them in all the phases of their lives so we can pass on God’s point of view. Though I have mentioned Deuteronomy 6:6-9 in other chapters, it is well worth quoting here:

Clarkson, Sally. The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child's Heart of Eternity (p. 117). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

- Instructions From Two Generations

King James Version Chapter 1

8  My son, hear the instruction of thy father,

And forsake not the law of thy mother:

9  For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head,

And chains about thy neck.

10  My son, if sinners entice thee,

Consent thou not.

Exegetical Question: Mothers Are You a Generational Giver and Transformer?

Introduction: I think one of the most moving deens in any movie was the seen where Denzel was giving the last words to His son, before he gave his life for the Son. One a marvelous statement

My Son and Daughter Ways To Have a Godly and Healthy Life

Proverbs 2:1-9

Introduction:

In the movie John Q. my favorite scene and what I believe to be the greatest seen of the entire movie was Denzels closing words to his Son which I thought was powerful and at the core of the picture and the discion for this man to give his life for His Son. "I just need to tell you a few things. You always listen to your mother. You understand? Do what she tells you to do. She’s your best friend. You tell her you love her every day.

Pro 1:8, pr 4:3, Pr 6:20

You’re too young for girls right now, but… there’s going to come a time. When it does, you treat them like princesses. ‘Cause that’s what they are.

Pr 2:16 Pr 5:3 Pr 6:24 Pr 11:22 Pr 23:27

When you say you’re going to do something… When you say you’re going to do something, you do it. Because your word is your bond, son. It’s all you have.

Pr 14:5

And money. You make money if you get a chance, even if you got to sell out once in a while. Make as much money as you can. Don’t be stupid like your father. Everything is so much easier with money, son.

Don’t smoke.

Be kind to people. When somebody chooses you… We talked about this. You stand up. You be a man.

You stay away from the bad things, son, please. Don’t get caught up in the bad things. There’s so many great things out there for you.

I’ll never leave you. I’m always with you. Right there. I love you, son.

Even when you analyze what John Q. says it is awe inspiring, but it still contrast God's wisdom, what He says still can't superceed the Wisdom of God -

Contrast What God Says and Denzel says!

Contrast What God Says and What Think Like a Man says!

90 Day Rule - God says anytime before marriage is wrong - Contrast what even the preachers says - (1 Cor. 6:12-20 , Gal. 5:19) God is not talking at all about 90 days

The theme is Gods wisdom is greater than mans, heed it!

Question - How many of us fathers desire for our Sons and Daughters to be successful by understanding righteusness and Judgement so that they can follow every good Path!

The resolve of most men whether they play it out in their lives or not; is not to leave a legacy of shame with their boys, to pass wisdom on to them to make their lives better, even as men when we have not lived properly! We have a need to see our son's do differently!

This is the message by Solomon to his boy; it defines I believe the essence of a fathers warnings to his son. It exposes the heart of Solomon to make certain he shares the truth of God with his son, knowing by doing such he will give his son the things needed to be both successful and productive in life! The thing that Solomon has seen from his dad is how a man who will not properly instruct his son, what the results of such is!

2 Sam 13:1-20 How can David a man after God's own heart produce Absalom and a boy who would rape his own Sister, Tamar and Amnon ! Clearly Solomon understands first hand when a man allows his son to run amuck and do not confront them and give them wisdom which come from the results of experiences of following and or not following the Word of God! The sad fact is Solomon was able to write to his son the proper life and lifestyle to be God's man and successful, but as years progressed he could not follow his own advice!

Question - As Men and fathers are we willing to nurture our Sons and Daughters by communicating God's Word and Wisdom utilizing life’s experiences, by not talking about it but rather living it!

While it is difficult raising stable kid's in an unstable society, we can be assured of one thing. God is faithful and His Word's are true - "If we train up a child in the way he should go he will not easily depart". Prov 22:6 . I have five lovely girls; God has been faithful to me!

1:1 Solomon, the third king of Israel, son of the great king David, reigned during Israel's golden age. When God said he would give him whatever he wanted, he asked for an understanding mind (1 Kings 3:5-14). God was pleased with this request. He not only made Solomon wise but also gave him great riches and power and an era of peace. Solomon built the glorious Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6) and wrote most of the book of Proverbs. His Profile is found in 1 Kings 3, p. 519.

1:6 Riddles were thought-provoking questions.

Historical Background:

2:3-6 Wisdom comes in two ways: It is a God-given gift and also the result of an energetic search. Wisdom's starting point is God and his revealed Word, the source of "knowledge and understanding" (2:6). In that sense, wisdom is God's gift to us. But he gives it only to those who earnestly seek it. But because God's wisdom is hidden from the rebellious and foolish, it takes effort to find it and use it. The pathway to wisdom is strenuous. When we are on the path, we discover that true wisdom is God's and that he will guide us and reward our sincere and persistent search.

It provides a godly worldview and offers insight for living. Proverbs 1:7 provides the perspective for understanding all the proverbs: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” “Fear of the Lord” is biblical shorthand for an entire life in love, worship, and obedience to God. God has created man with a need and with capabilities of knowing him, and has therefore placed such knowledge within his reach. The Word is nigh unto thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart".

Elohim one of five instances in the book in which God is thus designated, the appellation Jehovah occurring nearly ninety times. In explaining the all but universal use of Jehovah as the name of God in the Proverbs, while it never occurs in Ecclisiates, (thus signifiying a perdonal relationship with God) Wordsworth syays: "When Solomon wrote most the beginning book of Proverbs he was in a state of favor and grace with Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel; he was obedient to the Law of Jehovah; and the special design of that book is to enforce obedience to that Law.

Proverbs a genre of writing featuring wise sayings and astute observation; These writings teach how to live according to such principles as intelligence, understanding, common sense, statecraft, and practical skills. Ancient Egypt and Babylon also produced Wisdom literature, but biblical Wisdom literature is unique, teaching that the fear of God is the foundation of true wisdom (Prov. 9:10) and ultimate success (Ps. 25:12-13; Eccles. 8:12-13). Design of Prov 1:1-4

Solomon is said to have written three thousand proverbs, and those contained in this book may be a selection from these (1Ki 4:32). In the New Testa grative ment there are thirty-five direct quotations from this book or allusions to it. Because wisdom writings have almost no historical references, they are very difficult to date. Most scholars place chapters 10-29 sometime in the period of kings. Chapters 1-9 are in a different genre (see below) from the Solomonic sayings of chapters 10:1-22:16, and their date is disputed. Some say it may be as early as Solomon. Others say it is postexilic, that chapters 1-9 were added to 10-29 to give later readers a context from which to understand the short sayings in the latter chapters. The date of chapters 30-31 is also uncertain. One scholar has argued there is a play on the Greek word for wisdom (sophia) in 31:27. This would date chapter 31 after the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.

The Proverbs of Amenemope of Egypt, who is dated variously between 1000 and 600 b.c., so closely resemble Proverbs 22:17-25:22, usually considered non-Solomonic, that critics commonly see literary dependence of the latter (cf. O. Eissfeldt, Einleitung, p. 525). W. F. Albright, for instance, is of the persuasion that the Egyptian proverbs “were taken over, almost certainly through Phoenician intermediation” (Archaeology and the Religion of Israel [1942], p. 5). However, it may be said that both the author of this section of Proverbs and the Egyptian author may well have been influenced by a common third source. A much more probable and sounder view is that the biblical work is older, since Proverbs 1-24 assuredly was regarded as Solomonic in Hezekiah’s time (eighth century b.c.).

Wisdom literature was common in the ancient world

In Egypt, the “Instruction of Amenemope” stands out

a. Many similarities with Proverbs 22:17-24:22

b. No evidence of direct “borrowing” but there does seem to be a relationship between the two.

The Old Testament attests to wisdom in other cultures

1 King 4:29-31

1. It doesn’t discredit their wisdom

2. It states that Solomon’s wisdom was greater than theirs

Ponts for Dealing with:

Natalie - the team developed -

Emperical Data - Non right now

Anecdotal Information -

Need team leader

Understand the preasures by Satan to be a leader - The Disqualification factor must explain to Unit

Marriage

Father - David, Solomon

Children - Joseph, Joshua, Prodicle, moses, Joshua

Do not glorify Sin in testimoney, I was not the Mack - I was a scared insecure boy who use to be fat!

Do Not give Idea MACK/Shaft Mentality

Males are looking for Hero Mentailty

Females are lookig for a Lover

Rozies Perspective - What I did in Context of the time, girls than did not have sex with boys without the love connection

Fathers when you don't mak it personal their will be a replacement

mentaility:

From a distance - the Jay z's and beiones for us the macks, shaft

Sports figures

Pastor Johnson - Machoeism learned from a distance close

Minister Bill Johnson - FOX, he may look like heckle of heckle and Jeckle now but in his day he was the FOX

God's Purpose for Children

Psalms 127

Psalm 139:13-16

Gen 1:27-28; Gen 9:1 ; Gen 17:5, 20; Gen 22:13-19; Gen 28:3; Gen 35:11 Rom 14:23; Rom 9:6-13; Gal 3:16; Eph 5:22-6:4

10/18/12 - The five traits of Biblical of Youthful wisdom

Make certian apolagize to Roslyn for variant Liestyle -

Three Things We Want to Address in Josephs Life; Which Young Adults Must Learn to Master:

Dealig With Conflict - divoce Rate

Dealing With Emotions

Dealing WithJoy vs.Happiness

I. Joseph - Holy Wisdom - Avoiding “woman folly” in Potiphar’s house (Prov. 6:20-29 ) - Develops a fleeing mentality

A. Seven Steps to Honor.

1. Godly influence, Genesis 39:2-3

2. Business honesty, Genesis 39:5-6

3. Resistance to temptation, Genesis 39:7-9

4. Divine favor, Genesis 39:21

5. Providential circumstances, Genesis 40:5-8

6. Honoring God, Genesis 41:16

7. Divine revelations, Genesis 41:25-26

B. His Christlike Spirit Shown

1. In forgiving his brother's sin, Genesis 45:15 .

2. In his filial devotion, Genesis 46:29 .

3. In returning good for evil, Genesis 50:19-21 .

4.

C. Crisis and Adversity Develops A Christlike Spirit

1. In forgiving his brother's sin, Genesis 45:15.

2. In his filial devotion, Genesis 46:29.

3. In returning good for evil, Genesis 50:19-21.

D.

D.   Like Joseph We Experience and Have to Deal With A Wealth of Emotions – Gen 41:50-52

1.                   God Made Him to Forget – Genesis 41:50-51 Gen 41:50-51

A. The Gift of Forgeting - Addrresses Emotions

i. Importance for A Young Person -

The first thing a believer needs to forget is any sin that has been confessed to God and has therefore been forgiven by him. We know that if we confess sin, it is forgiven, because God tells us this is the case. In 1 John 1:9 we are told, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." This verse bases our assurance of forgiveness on two things that are found in God's character. First, God is faithful. This has bearing on forgiveness, because it means that God is faithful to his promises to forgive. He tells us that if we confess our sins, he will forgive them.

1. First John 1:9 is itself one of these promises. Second, God is just. This refers to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is on the basis of his death that God can forgive justly, as Paul writes in Romans 3:26. God justly forgives because Jesus graciously died for sins in our place. If God has forgiven a sin, the one who believes in Christ and has confessed the sin has no right to bring it up again. It is forgiven, as God says it is. But the case is even stronger than this. In the Book of Jeremiah God says that he does not merely forgive the believer's sin but actually remembers it no more. The passage has to do with the new covenant and deserves a full quotation. Jeremiah 31:34

2. Jer 31:34

ii. Forgetting the Past - This Damages Many Young Christians All this has been preparation for appreciating the text in which Joseph is said to have named his son "Manasseh," since God had made him forget his trouble and his father's household. The subject here is not sin but rather the sorrows and troubles of the past. Joseph was saying that God had enabled him to forget these as well. Again, Joseph did not mean that he literally forgot that he had ever had a father and eleven brothers. In the very next chapter we discover how much he missed them and longed to see them again. He meant rather that God had healed his wounds, suffered as the result of past abuses and disappointments, and had made his life fruitful.

iii. I have known people—I am sure you have too—who have been so obsessed with disappointments or slights that their whole life is warped by them, and they are greatly hindered from living a fruitful life now. They have not allowed God to heal them. Joseph could have been like that. He had certainly had many disappointments. Instead he let the past be past and went on with God.

iv. I think here of the way the apostle Paul put the principle in his description of his goals in the Christian life. He wrote, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12-14, my emphasis).

v. (Do This) When Paul wrote that he forgot those things that were behind, what was it exactly that he forgot? Well, it was not his knowledge of the Bible and Christian doctrine, because he had just written a letter that is full of it. Some of the greatest truths of the Christian faith are stated in this very chapter in a striking, brief form. Nor was it a forgetting of God's grace and past mercies, because he had also been talking about them in this letter. He knew that all he had of value in his life was through the grace of God manifested in Christ Jesus. Paul's forgetting was along the same line as Joseph's forgetting. In 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 he spoke of some of the things he had suffered: troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments and riots, hard work, sleepless nights, hunger. Yet God had kept him through those, and he was not willing that a remembrance of those past hardships now should deter his present aspirations for God's service.

vi. (The Stinky Christians – Leeks and Garlic) I think too that Paul was unwilling to remember past blessings if even these should keep him from attaining the graces of God yet to come. There is an illustration of the opposite attitude in the Old Testament story of God's leading Israel out of Egypt toward the Promised Land. God had provided everything they could possibly have needed for their journey. They had shade by day and light by night. They had water and manna. The time came, however, when the people ceased to look forward to the land God was giving them and instead looked back to their life in Egypt, which they began to think of as having been better. They said, "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" (Num. 11:5-6, my emphasis). The people were dissatisfied and began to hunger for past blessings.

vii. This does not mean that we are not to be thankful for past blessings. But it would have been wrong to long for these things after God had begun to lead us into new paths and had set new and greater blessings before us.

viii. (Do This) - Unfortunately, there have always been leeks-and-garlic Christians. You are one if you are constantly looking to the past. If your Christian testimony is taken up with what God did for you thirty or forty years ago, or if you are constantly talking about the good old days when God's blessing on your life seemed great, then you are looking to the past. You can never do that and move forward. One of my good friends describes old age as the point in life when a person ceases to look forward and looks back. If that is accurate, then there are certainly a lot of old or middle-aged Christians—and I do not mean only in terms of their years. They are living a leeks-and-garlic type of Christianity, and Paul warns against it. He would say, "Look! Past blessings are fine. We have received them from God's hands; we should be thankful for them. We rejoice in everything that he has done in our lives. But now we must let those things lie in the past and move forward. There can be no progress without this proper forgetting."

Boice Expositional Commentary - Genesis, Volume 3: Living by Faith (Genesis 37-50).

2.  God Made Him to Be Prosperous – Gen 41:52 Gen 41:52

A. Ephraim - His Name reminds us that God will not forget your Faithfulness.

i. Crisis is only momentary, because in the back drop of Eternity it is but a speck

a. We come, finally, to the second of Joseph's sons, Ephraim, whose name means "doubly fruitful."

b. There must have been times in Joseph's life when he thought—though nothing of this sort is recorded—that he would never be fruitful.

c. He had tried to do good work for Potiphar, but it had all come to nothing.

d. Even his faithfulness in prison came to nothing. He would never have an honorable position. He would never have a home. He would never have a wife. He would never have children.

e. When your Adversity is Great - God Is Setting You Up!

f. God was training him for very great things in these circumstances, of course. But Joseph did not know that. He could have written over this long period of his life: "Fruitless and unfruitful."

g. Ah, but God was not finished with him yet! The day came when God transformed his circumstances and made him so fruitful that years later, when his aged father, Jacob, came to reflect on his son's remarkable life, it was Joseph's fruitfulness that particularly grabbed his attention:

h. Joseph is a fruitful vine,a fruitful vine near a spring,

i. whose branches climb over a wall.

With bitterness archers attacked him;

they shot at him with hostility.

But his bow remained steady,

his strong arms stayed limber,

because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,

because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

because of your father's God, who helps you,

because of the Almighty, who blesses you

with blessings of the heavens above,

blessings of the deep that lies below,

blessings of the breast and womb Genesis 49:22-25, my emphasis

J. It could have been said of Joseph, as it is of the righteous man in Psalm 1, that he did not "walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." But his delight was "in the law of the Lord," and as a result, he became "like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he [did] prosper[ed]" Psa 1:1-3

a. I mention two things in closing. First, it is significant that Joseph named his first son Manasseh ("forgetting") and his second son Ephraim ("doubly fruitful"), rather than doing it the other way around. For no one can really be fruitful until the past is forgotten in the proper sense. If we are living in the past, whether that is the past of unconfessed sin, hurts, suffering, or even old blessings, we will never be completely fruitful in the present. We must let the past be the past, forgetting it, and go on with God.

b. Second, I notice that Ephraim, being a Hebrew plural of emphasis, does not mean merely "fruitful" (as some commentators have rendered it) but "doubly fruitful," for the one who is blessed by God should go on from strength to strength and from blessing to blessing. This is what Jesus was talking about in John 15 when he used the same image to predict a fruitful spiritual life for his disciples. He said that he had chosen them, as God the Father had clearly chosen Joseph; that he would prune their branches, as God had pruned Joseph during the years of his suffering; that he would nevertheless keep them close to him so that they would remain in him in all circumstances, as God had kept Joseph during the years of his troubles. The result of this would be not merely that they would bear fruit (John 15), but that they would bear "much fruit" John 15:5, 8 , "fruit that will last [that is, 'fruit that would remain']" (v. John 15:16 16That is what Jesus has in mind for each of his disciples, that we may be "doubly fruitful" in his service.

Boice Expositional Commentary - Genesis, Volume 3: Living by Faith (Genesis 37-50).

When we were studying Joseph's naming of his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, I showed how lonely Joseph must have been during his long years in Egypt. Joseph went to Egypt as a slave, and he undoubtedly experienced much hardship and deprivation at the beginning. He was falsely accused and imprisoned. Then, although he rose to prominence as a result of his interpretation of Pharaoh's dream, he still knew himself to be a foreigner in an alien country and must have felt his estrangement there deeply.

How many times, as he lay on his couch at night, would his mind go back to those distant, pleasant days in Canaan? How often, as he went about his work, would a face in the crowd suddenly catch his eye and remind him of Benjamin or the others he used to sport with during his childhood? When Pharaoh gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as a wife, and when he began to have children—Manasseh, whose name means "forgetting," and Ephraim, "doubly fruitful"—Joseph's life improved. He now had a home of his own and children to warm his heart. But, of course, he had not really "forgotten" his father and brothers. Although God had made him "fruitful," he could not but remember the lost fruit of those earlier days.

Joseph was a lonely man. He missed everyone—his eleven brothers, their children, servants, even the hangers-on! But chiefly he missed his father. We know this because he kept asking about him. In Genesis 43, after the brothers returned to Egypt for the second time, Joseph met with them and made formal inquiry of their well-being. Then he asked, "How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?" (v. 27).

Chapter 45 is even more revealing. This is the part of the story in which Joseph revealed himself to the brothers, and the words are these: "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" (v. 3). Apparently it was his father who was chiefly on his mind. Later in the same chapter he gave instructions designed to bring his father down to Egypt quickly: "Now hurry back to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don't delay'" (v. 9). Again, "Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly" (v. 13).

There is another detail that opens a window for us into the tender yearning of Joseph's great heart. I refer to his tears. Earlier in his life Joseph had undoubtedly wept on occasion, probably when he was initially sold into slavery, perhaps also during the early years of his mistreatment. But we are not told of Joseph's tears at that time, and it is certainly the case that he mastered his emotions. Instead of feeling sorry for himself he learned to trust God and rejoice in circumstances.

How difficult it was when his family appeared again after two decades! When Joseph put his brothers in prison, God used solitude to soften their hearts and they had confessed, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother.... Now we must give an accounting for his blood." We are told that Joseph turned away from them and began to weep (Gen. 42:24). Later, when he saw Benjamin for the first time, Joseph was "deeply moved at the sight of his brother" and "hurried out and looked for a place to weep" (Gen. 43:30). The same thing was true when he finally revealed himself to them: "Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them" (Gen. 45:14-15).

Here is a tender man, whom circumstances had not hardened. We are not surprised when he finally met his father and, as the text says, "threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time" (Gen. 46:29).

I wonder if this might not be a proper encouragement to us to show our emotions when the situation demands it. Most of us are afraid to show emotion. We are afraid to show tears. We should notice that this was not true of the Bible's characters. The men and women of Scripture are not stoics, not emotional cripples. They are persons of great passions. They weep in agony when bad events come. (David wept for days when the child that had been born to him and Bathsheba was dying.) They also weep for joy in blessed circumstances. We would surely be richer if we were able to release our true, proper emotions, as they did.

Six Blessings of God upon Joseph:

1.     God was with him (Acts 7:9; Genesis 39:2,21,23). This was the crowning blessing of all (8; John 3:2; Psalm 91:15)

2.     Delivered him from all his afflictions (Acts 7:10; Genesis 41:37-45)

3.     Gave him favor with all Egyptians (Acts 7:10; Genesis 41:37-45)

4.     Gave him wisdom in the sight of all the Egyptians (Acts 7:10; Genesis 41:16)

5.     Made him governor over all of Egypt (Acts 7:10; Genesis 41:37-45)

6.     Made him governor over the house of Pharaoh (Acts 7:10; Genesis 41:40-45)

Dake Topical Index.

Boice Expositional Commentary - Genesis, Volume 1: Creation and Fall (Genesis 1-11).

Joseph's case was quite different. He had been taken to Egypt when he was 17 years old. Since he died when he was 110 years old, this means that he had lived in the hostile spiritual environment of Egypt for 93 years. Egypt was technically advanced but spiritually depraved. Its religion was the rawest form of polytheism, in which gods and goddesses took the forms of animals, snakes, and insects. The worship of these gods was often sexual in nature, and there were probably occult or demonic activities as well. Moreover, Joseph was not an obscure individual. He was second only to Pharaoh and must therefore have been under intense and continuing pressure to conform to Egypt's customs.

Under similar circumstances many a man would have capitulated easily and would soon have been indistinguishable from his environment. Joseph did not follow this pattern. His dying statement, for which he is praised in Hebrews, is proof that faith does not need to be destroyed by circumstances.

It also proves that faith can grow strong in adversity, for Joseph's dying faith was also strong, as we will see. God grows faith in difficulty, and the faith thus grown is a hearty faith. If you want to grow mushrooms, you can grow them quickly in protected conditions. But if you want to grow an oak tree, it must be in the open where it will stand against the storms of summer and the snows of winter. Adversity makes the oak tree strong.

Theology of Hope

Years ago the German theologian Jürgen Moltmann wrote a book entitled The Theology of Hope. Its thesis, which had a profound effect on many at the time, was that eschatology (the doctrine of the last things) should not be an appendix to Christian theology—something tacked on at the end and perhaps even dispensable to theology—but should be the starting point of everything. It is faith in what God is going to do that should determine what we think and how we act now.

This is the kind of faith Joseph had. It is interesting, when we compare the dying words of Joseph with the dying words of his father, Jacob, to find that this is the great point of comparison. Both men certainly believed in the same God, and they believed the promises given to the patriarchs. But Jacob's dying words have to do almost entirely with the past, while Joseph's have to do almost entirely with the future.

Jacob had prophesied concerning the future of his children. But when he died he spoke of the cave in the field of Machpelah, how it had been bought from a Hittite and how Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah had been buried there. He wanted his body to be taken from Egypt and buried with these others in his own land. By contrast, Joseph looked entirely to the future. He saw difficult times for his people, but he also predicted that God would see them through those times and would eventually come to their aid and lead them out of Egypt. In anticipation of that future deliverance he requested that his body remain in Egypt temporarily, but that it be taken up eventually and removed to Canaan.

This is a true theology of hope. It is a theology that fixes its gaze on what God is yet to do and disposes present affairs in that light.

When we read Joseph's dying words we see that he was aware of what was coming. Otherwise he would not have spoken of God's coming to his descendants' aid.

How did he know this? There are several ways. He would have known God's revelation of these future events to Abraham in the vision recorded in Genesis 15. In that vision God told Abraham: "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions" (Gen. 15:13-14). That revelation would have passed to Joseph through Abraham's son Isaac and Abraham's grandson (Joseph's father) Jacob.

Again, Joseph may have received a revelation of these coming events himself. He had been given dreams earlier in his life. He had shown that he was able to understand them. God may have warned him of the future by dreams.

Finally, Joseph may have seen the beginning of the coming dark ages in his lifetime. We are not told anything about affairs in Egypt during the last fifty or so years of Joseph's life; but it may be that events were even then beginning to move toward the grim circumstances seen in the first chapter of the very next book of the Bible.

Whatever the case, Joseph did not have high hopes for any schemes of human betterment and so did not allow his hopes to become rooted in Egypt's political life. He was in the world but not of it, just as we should be. Joseph knew what was coming, as we know what is coming, and for that very reason he fixed his gaze on God and what God would accomplish. If the hymn had been written then, I suppose they could have sung at Joseph's funeral:

This world is not my home;

I'm just a-passin' through.

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me

From heaven's open door,

And I can't feel at home

In this world anymore.

Oh, Lord, you know

I have no friend like you.

If heaven's not my home,

Then, Lord, what will I do?

The angels beckon me

From heaven's open door,

And I can't feel at home

In this world anymore.

A Sign of Hope

When we speak of Joseph's being oriented to the future, we might suppose that he therefore had very little interest in the present. But biblical hope does not work that way, and neither did Joseph's anticipations. Joseph knew that dark days were coming and that God would eventually intervene to rescue his people from them. But precisely because he believed that, Joseph did what he could to provide encouragement for those who remained behind.

This is why Joseph wanted his body to remain in Egypt for what was to be four hundred years rather than having it brought up out of Egypt and buried in Canaan, like his father's corpse. Joseph's fortunes may have been declining during his final years in Egypt, but it is hard to imagine that he could not have had his body returned to Canaan for burial if he had wanted that to happen. He did want to be buried there eventually. The fact that he allowed his body to remain in Egypt temporarily must be due to the benefit he supposed his uninterred remains would have for his descendants during the ensuing years. For he was not buried! His coffin was not deposited in some Egyptian pyramid or tomb. His coffin stood above ground, awaiting its removal to Canaan when the time should come. Therefore, all who looked at it would be reminded of that anticipated day and destiny.

F. B. Meyer writes well on this point. "What a lesson must those unburied bones have read to Israel! When the taskmasters dealt hardly with the people, so that their hearts fainted, it must have been sweet to go and look at the mummy case which held those mouldering remains, waiting there to be carried forward; and, as they did so, this was doubtless their reflection, 'Evidently, then, Joseph believed that we were not to stay here always but that we should sooner or later leave for Canaan; let us brace ourselves up to bear a little longer, it may be only a very little while!' Yes, and when some were tempted to settle down content with prospering circumstances and to feast upon leeks, garlics and onions, it was a check on them to think of those bones and say, 'Evidently we are not to remain here always; we should do well not to build all our hopes and comfort on the unstable tenure of our sojourn in this place.' And, oftentimes, when the people were ready to despair amid the difficulties and weariness of their desert march, those bones borne in their midst told them of the confident hope of Joseph—that God would bring them to the land of rest."

That is precisely what God did, and when he did so, the bones of Joseph accompanied the people and eventually were buried in Canaan at Shechem. Exodus 13:19 tells us that when Israel left Egypt, "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.'" The Book of Joshua closes by saying, "And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants" (Josh. 24:32).

What do we have to bolster our faith in hard circumstances or keep us from too great contentment in the land of our pilgrimage—we who live so many thousands of years after Joseph? We do not have a coffin in Egypt. We have no bones for faith. We have something better. We have an open tomb, an empty grave, a risen Savior, a blessed promise: "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18); "and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matt. 28:20).

To Be a Pilgrim

The final reason why Joseph's dying words are exceptional and are therefore mentioned in Hebrews is that they declare whose side Joseph was on. I have noted that Joseph lived in Egypt ninety-three years. During that time he must have seemed to be conformed to Egypt in every outward way. He served an Egyptian king. He bore an Egyptian title. He had married an Egyptian wife. He would have shared in every honorable form of Egyptian court life, politics, and trade. Yet Joseph was no Egyptian, especially in his heart.

Alexander Maclaren wrote in this regard, "He filled his place at Pharaoh's court, but his dying words open a window into his soul and betray how little he had felt that he belonged to the order of things in the midst of which he had been content to live. This man, too, surrounded by an ancient civilization and dwelling among granite temples and solid pyramids and firm-based sphinxes, the very emblems of eternity, confessed that here he had no continuing city but sought one to come."

Joseph was a true pilgrim. Abraham had lived in the highlands of Canaan, refusing to descend, as Lot did, to the cities of the plain. Isaac had lived in the grassy land to the south. Jacob had removed to Hebron, refusing to mingle with the people of the land. Joseph was in Egypt—a very different situation. He was in the midst of utter paganism; but it was where God had put him. And because God had put him there and he remained close to God, he was able to live in Egypt and be uncontaminated by it. He was on God's side.

Most of us are like Joseph. We do not have the luxury of a detached existence. We are in the melting pot of life, and we sometimes think that because our lives are busy and our environments secular, we cannot live for God as "spiritual" people do. If we are inclined to think that way, we should remember Joseph. Joseph was surrounded by every secular pressure. He was a citizen of the world. But his conduct throughout his entire life, as well as his dying words, proved that he did not live for the material things life can bring, but for God and his kingdom and glory. If Joseph lived like that in his circumstances, we can live for God in ours. We can endure and triumph as those whose eyes see things that are invisible.

This does not happen automatically. For every Abraham there is a Lot. For every Joseph there are millions who adopt the world's values. What makes the difference? What keeps one godly in a comfortable world? Two things!

First, the invisible must be often, if not always, in our thoughts. If we do not fill our minds with spiritual realities, secular dreams will take true religion's place and our horizons will shrink to what is now but will surely pass away. The sense of God's presence will recede. Prayer will become unreal. If we would triumph, as Joseph did, we must think of God and his kingdom often, and we must associate with and encourage others who think the same.

Second, the invisible must be always in our wishes. That is, we must look for God's kingdom and pray that it might come, as Jesus instructed ("Pray:... 'Your kingdom come'" [Matt. 6:9-10]). Joseph did this. All through the long years of his Egyptian service, though his body was in Pharaoh's country, his mind was in Canaan and he looked forward to that day when his bones should be carried out of Egypt and be buried there in anticipation of the final resurrection and fulfillment of God's promise. Should we do less, we to whom the promises have been made even clearer and who have in addition the sure and certain knowledge of our Lord's own resurrection? If that resurrection is uppermost in our wishes, we will live for eternity now and will make a powerful impact on earth.

Joseph was the prime minister. If he had wished, he could have had a magnificent burial in Egypt and perhaps one day have had his body discovered and placed on display for the admiring gazes of less privileged persons. Instead, he preferred burial in Canaan after four hundred years. There his grave was forgotten. He himself was certainly forgotten by the Egyptians. But Joseph is remembered in the Word of God, and he is with God today in glory.

Boice Expositional Commentary - Genesis, Volume 1: Creation and Fall (Genesis 1-11).

Thompson Chain Reference Bible.

Ten Sins of Joseph's Brothers 1.     General evils (Genesis 37:2) 2.     Hatred and malice (Genesis 37:4-8) 3.     Envy and jealousy (Genesis 37:11) 4.     Plotting to take life (Genesis 37:18-22) 5.     Mockery and ridicule (Genesis 37:19) 6.     Stripping Joseph of his symbol of position and rank (Genesis 37:23) 7.     Casting him into a waterless pit to suffer unknown agony and death (Genesis 37:24) 8.     Showing no mercy in face of his pleas (Genesis 37:25; Genesis 42:21) 9.     Kidnapping and selling Joseph into slavery and unknown torture (Genesis 37:27-28) 10.   Deceiving and lying to Jacob (Genesis 37:31-35) Genesis 37:24 Hebrew:  bowr (OT:953), a dry cistern.  There are still many pits or cisterns in Palestine.  They were often hewn out of solid rock, being narrower at the mouth than at the bottom.  It would be almost impossible for one to get out of such a pit unaided.  Some were even used as dungeons for prisoners.  See Jeremiah 38:6 where bowr (OT:953) is translated dungeon.  See also Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 14:3; Zech.9:11; note, Psalm 28:1. Genesis 37:25 Showing indifference and hardness of heart toward sin. Ishmaelites and Midianites (Genesis 37:25-28) were descendants of Abraham through Hagar and Keturah (Genesis 16:11-12; Genesis 25:2). Some versions read "Arabians," from (arab (OT:6148), to mingle, indicating a vast number of clans and tribes.  They traveled together for safety.  A caravan had many companies, each with its own name and work that contributed to the smooth running of the whole.  Camels were generally tied together four abreast, and again tied to others behind them, like teams. There was well-organized trade between Egypt and other lands. Many drugs and spices were sold to Egypt for embalming and medicinal purposes. Egyptians depended upon Arab merchants for these supplies. Slaves were in great demand in Egypt. They thought to ease their conscience, but responsibility for sin isn't so easily removed. God remembered and allowed these men to reap what they had sown (Genesis 42:1-45:15; Genesis 50:15-21). Genesis 37:28 The word pieces is in italics, so it's not clear what kind of money is referred to. Perhaps they were shekels of $2.50 each. If so, 20 shekels or $50 would be $25 less than what Judas was paid for selling Christ. Compare this covetousness with Joseph's unselfishness in Genesis 42:25-35. Genesis 37:29 Reuben was away when Joseph was sold, so was not a party to this crime. Showing his earnestness in trying to deliver Joseph. See note, Genesis 37:34. Genesis 37:30 Question 109. Next, Genesis 38:16. Genesis 37:31 Nothing is said as to what part Reuben played in this or how far he consented to covering up the crime. Modern analysis would have proven that this wasn't human blood. Genesis 37:32 It appears the coat was sent by servants to Jacob, and later the sons came to comfort their father (Genesis 37:35). Not our brother's, but thy son's coat. Sin always chooses a word least calculated to disturb the conscience. Genesis 37:33 They didn't say Joseph was torn by animals. This was Jacob's conclusion and they allowed their father to live in grief, deceived. Genesis 37:34 Dake Topical Index.

David - Worrior wisdom - 1 Sam 17:40-52  - Developes a fighting and standing mentality

Daniel - develops Prayerful Conviction wisdom - Daniel 3:16-28 - Produces non compromising faith

Solomon  - God centered Wisdom - 1 king 3:7-15; 1 Kings 4:29-34   Develops a biblical world view which is God centered - Christian worldview (also called Biblical worldview) refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which a Christian individual, group or culture interprets the world and interacts with it -

Johsua - Develops Trusting wisdom - Numbers 14:6-30, Josh 24:15 - produces a heart to follow God's Judgements and Directions - Gives God permission to lead you

Ester - Develops a Brave and Obiedient Wistom - Est 4:16 - Develops a trust which believes God, no matter what the Outcome.

Keep Asking the question do you want a permissional leader or directional leader!

According to Leo Apostel,[1] a worldview is an ontology, or a descriptive model of the world. It should comprise these six elements:[original research?]

An explanation of the worldAn eschatology, answering the question "where are we heading?"Values, answers to ethical questions: "What should we do?", What would Jesus do?A praxeology, or methodology, or theory of action.: How do we condct our lives "How should we attain our goals?"An epistemology, or theory of knowledge. "What is true and false?", John 18:38An etiology. A constructed world-view should contain an account of its own "building blocks," its origins and construction.

A biblical worldview is based on the infallible Word of God. When you believe the Bible is entirely true, then you allow it to be the foundation of everything you say and do. That means, for instance, you take seriously the mandate in Romans 13 to honor the governing authorities by researching the candidates and issues, making voting a priority.

Young People today, and yesterday have two Basic problems - Rebelion and Disobiedience

What About Civil Disobiedience - When you have an unjust Siociety?

Heb 13:17  - Obey Spiritual Leader

Do you have a biblical worldview? Answer the following questions, based on claims found in the Bible and which George Barna used in his survey:

Do absolute moral truths exist?Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?Is God the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe, and does He still rule it today?Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned?Is Satan real?Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people?Is the Bible accurate in all of its teachings?

Alverta - I chose not to adhear to:

God's soverighnty

God's Word

Which causes me to refuse to adhear to accountable living

I therefore reject the God given authority figure

Proverbs in light of other Biblical wisdom literature

1. The Joseph stories in Genesis 37ff - Wisdom in action

a. Joseph exemplifies the principles of wisdom

b. Avoiding “woman folly” in Potiphar’s house (Prov. 6:20-29)

c. There appears to be a connection between righteousness and

reward even though it is not immediate

2. The Daniel stories in Daniel 1ff - Wisdom in action

a. The text introduces Daniel as one of the “wise men”

b. He conducts himself honorably before the king

c. He ultimately fears God

d. Passages from Proverbs applicable to Daniel

1) Prov 14:16-17, 29

Job - Anti-wisdom

a. The perspective of Job’s friends seem to be rooted in traditional

wisdom such as the book of Proverbs. Examples:

1) Prov 10:24-25

2) Job 4:7-11

3) Job 34:11, 25-27, 37

b. Job struggles with the concept of retribution taught in Proverbs - Job 9:21-24

Exegetical Statement:

Our Sons and Daughters: Do you believe God promises a productive spiritual life and the ability to navigate safely through the dark sea of ungodly humanity to become successful; if you receive God's Word we give you and "Hide" them safely in your hearts!

Steve Harvey may tell you to think like a man, but God doesn't! Theres a way that seems right to a man

Matt 13:19

Prov 2:1-22

Eph 6:1-4

Vocabulary –  Prv 2:1-9

Matt 13

Prov 2:1-9

1. Son - ben- Son in widest since - intmacy

1.1 If - "O that" Exclamation, Causal

1.2 Recieve - laqahh - Imperfect verb - to continue progressively to take away - you are consistent in hearing and taking it by doing it

1.3 Hide - Hoard as protecting - Imperfect - Keep Guarding - as it may be taken away or stolen - Satan steals protect as so Satan will not steal away as in the Parable Seed and the Sower! Mattew 13:19

Bennie Cheat or Repeat (look for the asian kid Gauding his paper)

1.4 Commandments – Requirements

2. Incline - Attend - to take heed - Bow to

2.1 Wisdom - Hokma - Skilful and wise

2.2 Apply - spread out - You cause to keep stretching out

2.3 Understanding - reason skillfully, to bring about understanding Proverbs 1:2 (AMP) 2 That people may know skillful and godly Wisdom and instruction, discern and comprehend the words of understanding and insight,

3. Criest - The Idea of Accosting a person - to invite

3.1 Knowledge - Bina - Perfectly Understanding

3.2 Liftest - To give this knowledge to voice - You say it out

3.3 Understading – same

4. IF - Im - Conditional

4.1 Seekest - baqash - Prayerfully seek out to worship

4.2 Silver - Money

4.3 Searches - khapas - casusitive - you disquise it to be so as not to be found (hid)

4.4 Hid - Secret Store House - So as not to get stolen

4.5 Treasure - Store house conceled

(The pint is you hide it and you know exactly where it is hidden as a treasure, not to be canceled, not to be revealed, but to conceal to protected)

5. Response to Condition - Then - Adverb - At that precise time

5.1 - Understand - bin - Distinguish the fear of the Lord

5.2 - Fear - Reverential and Worshipful of Yahweh

5.3 - Find - acquire - imperfect - every time you do you will find

5.4 - Knowledge - Cunning

5.5 God - Elohim - Plural sense - Father Son Holy Ghost Omniscient God

6. Giveth - nathan - Gives all of what you need when Nathan is used

6.1 - Wisdom - Hokma

6.2 - Mouth

6.3 - Knowledge

6.4 - knowledge

6.5 – Understanding

7. Layeth - sapan - hide to protect

7.1 - Sound Wisdom - tushiyya -

7. - Righteous - yashar - straight right standing with God

7.2 - Buckler - shield

7.3 - Walk - to exercise the ability to walk upright

7.4 - Upright - completeness in entigrety

8. Keepeth - Gaurd - Nasar - to maintain what you believe

8.1 Path - Orah Well troden - God has proven this way - Protected with troops

8.2 Judgement - Mishpat - Justice - Formal decree

8.3 Preserve -Shamar - Protect - 1 Sam 2:9, Ps 66:8,9

8.4 - Way - derek - Journey with conversation - course of life

8.5 Saints - hasid - the Godly

9. Then - Conditional

9.1 Understand - bin –

9.2 Righteousness - How to be - Sedek - in all things and relationships

9.3 Judgemet - Mishpat

9.4 Equity - evenness

9.5 Yea -

9.6 Good - tob

9.7 Path - magal - circular track, repetition you will always find the right path, stuck in a trench or groove - (when I was a kid at Hershey park I was in the cars on a rail, thought I was steering however it was taking me along) , Psal 23:3, Pr 4:11

Man is in stark contrast to God - Plato says “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here.” A student “ignorant of geometry” would also be ignorant of logic and hence unable to understand philosophy. Plato affirms this over his institution of learning but God -

Man desires knowledge be given to the best and the brigtest where as God desires all to recieve His blessing through obtaining His wisdom through His knowledge. Solomon opens wide the doors of His proverbs with message of welcome to the unlearned, simple, foolish, young and yes even the wise - For mans wisdom will never outrun, outlast or stand against God's wisdom

Exegetical Statement: Pro 2:1-9

Our Sons and Daughters; God promises a productive spiritual life and the ability to navigate safely through the dark sea of ungodly humanity to become successful, if you recieve God's Word we give you and "Hide" them safely in your hearts!

I. My Son God Promises Devine knowledge is Attainable - This can only take place if you use what is available to you! Vs. 1-2

1. Son - ben- Son in widest since - intmacy

1.1 If - "O that" Exclamation, Causal

1.2 Recieve - laqahh - Imperfect verb - to continue progressively to take away - you are consistent in hearing and taking it by doing it

1.3 Hide - Hoard as protecting - Imperfect - Keep Guarding - as it may be taken away or stolen - Satan steals protect as so Satan will not steal away as in the Parable Seed and the Sower! –

Matt 13 - sower parable

1.4 Commandments – Requirements

2. Incline - Attend - to take heed - Bow to

2.1 Wisdom - Hokma - Skilful and wise

2.2 Apply - spread out - You cause to keep stretching out on faith in, put total

2.3 Understanding - reason skillfully, to bring about understanding Proverbs 1:2 (AMP) 2 That people may know skillful and godly Wisdom and instruction, discern and comprehend the words of understanding and insight,

Job had asked, long before this, Where shall wisdom be found? Whence cometh wisdom? (Job 28:12, 20, 23-24 and he had given this general answer (v. 23), God knoweth the place of it; but Solomon here goes further, and tells us both where we may find it and how we may get it. We are here told,

A. You must be willing to Recieve and Hide - vs 1. It is available - We must closely attend to the word of God, for that is the word of wisdom, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, Ps 19:1-14 .

B. You must recieve with humility vs2 - God resist the proud - Ps 119:21, ps 138:6 - This is a proud generation - Nike commercial

1. You must know God is right and the only right one

2. It’s God's Wisdom and not man/ours!

3. What you get you must apply to your understanding in your heart!

(1.) We must be convinced that the words of God are the fountain and standard of wisdom and understanding, and that we need not desire to be wiser than they will make us. We must incline our ear and apply our hearts to them, as to wisdom or understanding itself. Many wise things may be found in human compositions, but divine revelation, and true religion built upon it, are all wisdom.

(2.) We must, accordingly, receive the word of God with all readiness of mind, and bid it welcome, even the commandments as well as the promises, without murmuring or disputing. Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.

(3.) We must hide them with us, as we do our treasures, which we are afraid of being robbed of. We must not only receive, but retain, the word of God, and lodge it in our hearts, that it may be always ready to us.

(4.) We must incline our ear to them; we must lay hold on all opportunities of hearing the word of God, and listen to it with attention and seriousness, as those that are afraid of letting it slip.

(5.) We must apply our hearts to them, else inclining the ear to them will stand us in no stead.

C. You must be willing to aggressively approach God's word in affirmation - criest

1. Perfectly Understand the things God shows you, grasp it don't reject it - Knowledge

2. You must actively give voice to what you have learned - Say it and Live it!

II. My Son There is Conditions to Attaining Devine Knowledge and Wisdom vs3-4

3. Criest - The Idea of Accosting a person, to hold up - to invite

3.1 Knowledge - Bina - Perfectly Understanding

3.2 Liftest - To give this knowledge to voice - You say it out

3.3 Understading – same

4. IF - Im - Conditional

4.1 Seekest - baqash - Prayerfully seek out to worship

4.2 Silver - Money

4.3 Searches - khapas - casusitive - you disquise it to be so as not to be found (hid)

4.4 Hid - Secret Store House - So as not to get stolen

4.5 Treasure - Store house conceled

(The point is you hide it and you know exactly where it is hidden as a treasure, not to be canceled, not to be revealed, but to conceal to protected)

5. Response to Condition - Then - Adverb - At that precise time

5.1 - Understand - bin - Distinguish the fear of the Lord

5.2 - Fear - Reverential and Worshipful of Yahweh

5.3 - Find - acquire - imperfect - every time you do you will find

5.4 - Knowledge - Cunning

5.5 God - Elohim - Plural sense - Father Son Holy Ghost Omniscient God

A. You must seek it like you would money

B. You must put it in safe place (disguise) it so it won't be stolen, but found

C. You must but it in storehouse/(bank) for safe keeping as a very valuable treasure - as in a safe deposit box

D. Then you will discover/disguise God's love through reverential fear

E. Then every time you seek God's knowledge you will find it

III. My Son you can be assured of Success if you attain God's Devine Knowledge vs6-8

6. Giveth - nathan - Gives all of what you need when Nathan is used

6.1 - Wisdom - Hokma

6.2 - Mouth

6.3 - Knowledge

6.4 - knowledge

6.5 – Understanding

7. Layeth - sapan - hide to protect

7.1 - Sound Wisdom - tushiyya -

7. - Righteous - yashar - straight right standing with God

7.2 - Buckler - shield

7.3 - Walk - to exercise the ability to walk upright

7.4 - Upright - completeness in entigrety

8. Keepeth - Gaurd - Nasar - to maintain what you believe

8.1 Path - Orah Well troden - God has proven this way - Protected with troops

8.2 Judgement - Mishpat - Justice - Formal decree

8.3 Preserve -Shamar - Protect - 1 Sam 2:9, Ps 66:8,9

8.4 - Way - derek - Journey with conversation - course of life

8.5 Saints - hasid - the Godly

A. He gives wisdom to be successful

B. He gives From His very being comes:

1. Knowledge and Understanding

C. He hoards up supportive Wisdom for His own psa 119:116

D. He is a shield to walkers of uprightness - (those who exercise their abilities)

E. He Guards with Troops His Path of Justice

F. He protects the Journey/course of the Life of the Holy - my purpose and course is not the same as yours.

IV. My Son the Results of Attaining Gods Wisdom and Knowledge – vs. 9-11

A. Understand Righteousness

B. Understand Judgment

C. Understand Equity

D. Understand how to stay in a Godly / God's Lane

9. Then - Conditional

9.1 Understand - bin –

9.2 Righteousness - How to be - Sedek - in all things and relationships

9.3 Judgemet - Mishpat - that which I call judicial Favor - according to the word God must do because he is legally bound, based upon the blood of Christ!weivrecill

9.4 Equity - evennesse

9.5 Yea -

9.6 Good - tob

9.7 Path - magal - circular track, repetition you will always find the right path, stuck in a trench or groove - (when I was a kid at Hershey park I was in the cars on a rail, thought I was steering however it was taking me along) , Psal 23:3, Pr 4:11

Conclusion - In life you will have storms and trial; Presented with God's way or man's to resolve it will you heed God or Man; Negro Hymn says, “there’s a storm out on the ocean and its moving this ole way, if your souls not anchored in Jesus you will surely slip away”!

Like Solomon if you disregard the truth which you know has been given to you, you will surely bit by bit by bit drift away from the guidance and protection of God! In doing so you will become a mess!

When You Allow God's Wisdom to Enter Into Your Heart - Prov 2:10-22

Preserved - 11-12

Delivered from Evil Man - 13-15

Delivered from Strange Woman -  16-19

Walk In Path of Good Man - 20

You Dwell In The Land - 21-22

Question – My son whose wisdom will you follow?

The World’s or God's

I Remember Mama

2 Tim 1:5-1

Mama - You've heard the thing about mama her commitment, Love and sacrificial love.  However the greatest thing is her desire to know Christ better and to live more consistently for him!  Mom was not a perfect Christian, but a committed Disciple of Christ and A great Christian!  She was the Mt. 16:24 Christian, You Know the Deny herself, Take up her Cross and Follow Christ Christian!

There are two defining points or moments which stand out in my mind about Mama!

Life Saving!

She was a life saving Mama - Mama was as you know always thing of and whatching out for the other Guy, I think that was major part of her being!

One day Andre and mom got into an Argument - Mama took a broom handle to Mama, \She raised it I don't think she was going to Hit Him - He caught it with His hand and held it an wouldn't let it go, she told him to let it go or she would tell dad when he Got Home - Andre still didn't let it go, I said to myself he is a dead man, his life was now worth 0, cause Daddy loved mom and I'm certian if it came between mom and Andre was a goner.  We waited with anticipation of seeing a death or at least near death - when dad got home as usual momma was in the kitchen giving him the report for the day, she went on to say James - then I heard her say Andre's name - I looked at Andre and I'm sure I said something like any last words, did you eat your last meal, is your will made out, sorry you never got to have your own wife and family.  The most amazing thing happened, she only said Andre and Nate were playing outside or something, if she would have told daddy what happened Andre would have gotten killed, I was afraid because sometimes at the Johnson house you Got it because you were to close and he remembered he had to beat you for you know "the Old in the New"!  Only a mother could sense that this was an issue of life and death, and at that time Andres defiance meant a lot less than his impending near death experience from dad - I Sad man she really loves usMama prayed for us each Night - I would remember going out and no matter what time I got in I would hear her praying and as I walked past her room I would see her knelling and as i walked past I herd her say and "Father remember that Stinking Mill  goat Nathaiel" - father forgive him and save him he needs you"!  Parents I am positive and certian that I am here preacing my moms funeral because of her prayers!

Well that’s enough about Mom, we are here to talk about Jesus!  He is the only one who can give us peace on a day like today!

2 Tim 1:5

Paul in His Final motivating point to a dear son is to remind him of the faith - I think the greatest testament to mom is that she consistently reminded us of the fact that we needed to know Jesus and once we got saved we needed to walk closer to Jesus - that our faith out to be visual and effective - in other words it needed to be unfeigned - that is without hypocrisy - see saints today especially among our youth we teach them by not lovingly holding them accountable and teaching them that Salvation is free, but not cheap it cost Heaven everything and bankrupt Heaven so to speak!

Mamma taught us:

Salvation is not cheapIt costThere is no such thing as easy believeismand the Invisible church, the one built by Christ, the one Built on peters testimony, that is when he asked them who do men say that I am, we give an different answer than the world "you are the Christ the Son of the living God"!  the church of Christ is different from the visible church, it is the invisible church- Christianity is not a religion but rather a way of life!

Vs 6 - Often times at Home goings the message is to the Lost mainly and then to encourage the Loved ones, well I know momma has encouraged each of us, and we as a family and community have been encouraged by each other due to the passing of Mom, however, the scripture teaches to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord!  Therefore we see in verse 6:

A. Stir up the Gift - today this message is to the:

i. To those of us who are saved and been gifted by God in a capacity to share the Gospel saving message - Paul seems to indicate that Timothy who was a preacher/Teacher and had not been as faithful to His call, he tells him to stir , literally means to re-enkendle, to literally - "To Keep the Fires Alive" - See there are some of us here have burned out instead of being totally consumed with the power of the gospel, Loved ones co workers and the lost in our communities are on their way to a christless grave and we are not concerned we have become lacks in our commitment to share our faith and less committed to a faithful walk!

ii. See in verse 7 - He says God has not given us the Spirit of Fear - That is Timidity - that is the weak shameful fear, which comes from the expectation of persecution not necessarily persecution itself!

a. We have to consider our source and resource - He is the Great Jehovah, Yahweh - He is Jehovah Jireh, He is Jehovah Nissi, He is Jahovah Ropha,Jehovah Shama, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Tsidkanue

b. "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephes. 3:20).

"Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness" (Col. 1:11).

iii. Love -

Note: this kind of love—the kind of love that can love sinners and enemies—is a gift of God's Spirit. No man can stir or work up agapē love. Agapē love is God's love. God alone possesses it; therefore, God alone can give it to men. He gives it to all who live for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and who proclaim Him (cp. 2 Tim. 1:8-10).

iv. Power - Dunamis (power) denotes great force, or energy, and is the term from which we get dynamic and dynamite. It also carries the connotation of effective, productive energy, rather than that which is raw and unbridled. God provides us with His power in order for us to be effective in His service.

v. Sound Mind - Sōphronismos (discipline) has the literal meaning of a secure and sound mind, but it also carries the additional idea of a self-controlled, disciplined, and properly prioritized mind. God-given discipline allows believers to control every element of their lives, whether positive or negative. It allows them to experience success without becoming proud and to suffer failure without becoming bitter or hopeless. The disciplined life is the divinely ordered life, in which godly wisdom is applied to every situation.

vi. Then there’s the Hypocrite - when we don't walk in the light as he is in the light we lie and the truth is not in us! - See momma was the type of Christian who would compassionately tell us about ourselves, and she could do it in a way which was not degrading but loving, to let us know we were not quite walking right!

vii. Then There is the Lost - today, come on y'all, I’m just the messenger,

a. I am The Water Boy - I’m not the water I'm just caring it - Jesus says in Jn 4:10 John 4:10 (KJV) 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. John 4:14 (KJV) 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

I'm Just a messanger boy, I didn't write the word I just deliver the Word - I'm the mail man, Jesus is the written word I deliver Jesus says in John 1:1

b. John 1:1-4 (KJV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 1:14 (KJV) 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

c. Please don't be upset with me I'm Just a News Boy - I'm carrying the Daily News, otherwise known as the Good News - What is the Good News - Paul Says that it Is the Gospel - 1 Cor 15:1-4 - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (KJV) 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Verse 8 - When I remember Momma she would want you to know you should not be ashamed of the Gospel - See I want you to know momma was a good woman, but she was still a sinner, she was a good mother, but she was still a sinner, she was an great Christian but she was still a sinner - In all that she did she was still a sinner, she needed Christ Like Mildred, James William, Nancy, Archie, Tina, Al, Andre, Nate and Denise, yes and even the Love of her life James Israel Johnson - She lived the gospel out before us:

A. Paul says don't be ashamed Timothy - You have to partake of the afflictions of the Gospel!  He says to Tim in 2 Tim 3:15-17 2 Timothy 3:15-17 (KJV) 15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

B. See Paul wants us to be Clear about one thing it cost to be a christian, however, with out the Power of the Gospel men can not get saved!

C. Paul says in Romans 1:16 -

Because of the power of God, we can say with Paul, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). We can testify with Peter that we "are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5). The all-powerful God who has saved us has equally sufficient power to keep us. If we were "reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10).

3. 2 Tim 1:9-10  - This brings us to the crox of the matter, see finally Mom would want you to know that, her life should point you to Christ, you've seen a great video, you've heard great testimony, and if that’s all you went home with today, then mom’s death, I mean her life, I mean her passing from death unto life would have been meaningless, see I'm here to tell you that Lazarus was dead, Jesus said to Mary...

A. See without the Gospel, we can't be Saved, We can't be kept, We won't have Joy unspeakable

B. First Mom wants you to know God has saved us: Man’s Perspective

i. Geneghis Kahn Said - “I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” – Quite the contrary gengi – Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost!

ii. Patrick Henry Said – Give me Liberty or give me death – “Jesus Said Pat you all ready had death”, I came to give you life”

iii. Jesus Says he is our saviour - Mt 11:28, Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV) 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

iv. (2 Tim. 1:10; Titus 1:4;Titus 2:13-14 (KJV) 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

v. Lastly John 3:16 - John 3:16-18 (KJV) 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

C. Here Paul is not just speaking of our call to salvation but also our call to live a holy and righteous life after salvation!  but I want us to remember this great call to salvation!

i. Why is this so important to a Christian

ii. Because a changed life is the greatest testament to the power of God – Listen

D. Paul says it’s not our works -

We did not have to work one iota for salvation. We did not have to pay a cent nor do a single thing for salvation. God Himself saved us...

•  He has delivered us from sin and the bondages of the flesh.

•  He has delivered us from death. Think about it: we shall never die. When our time comes—at the last moment, in an instant of time, in a split second—God will transfer us from this world into His presence. We are saved from ever having to taste death.

•  He has saved us from judgment and condemnation, from the punishment of hell.

God has done all this for us, and He has done it by grace—freely—simply because He loves us and wills to save us. How, then, can we deny Him? How can we dare be ashamed of Him and fear living for Him? How can we be ashamed of telling the world about His glorious salvation?

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephes. 2:8-9).

"But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:4-5).

i. Jesus Says there is no other way -

It is the only plan God has whereby people may be saved. If a person misses this plan, he will miss salvation; he will never be acceptable to God. Therefore, we—all believers—must not be ashamed nor fear proclaiming Christ. Salvation through Christ and the gospel of Christ is the only way any person can ever be saved. We must proclaim the gospel even if men oppose it, for they shall forever be lost if we fail to lead them to Christ.

"I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24).

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Tim. 2:5-6).

4. Verse 10 - Abolish - to render inoperative - Katargeō (abolish) literally means to render inoperative. It is not that death no longer exists or that believers are promised escape from it, unless they are raptured. But for believers, death is no longer a threat, no longer an enemy, no longer the end. Quoting first from Isaiah 25:8

A. (1 Cor. 15:54-55). "Since then the children share in flesh and blood," the writer of Hebrews explains, "He Himself [Christ] likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14).