This week's Story is Joseph: From Slave to Deputy Pharoah.

(Readings are from Genesis 37; 39-45)

Here is an interesting comparison of the life of Joseph with God's plan in Jesus. Note the similarities as God telegraphs His plan of salvation.

Joseph & Jesus

• The favored son of his father
• His father sent him to his brothers who rejected him
• Robes taken from him
• Taken to Egypt to avoid being killed
• Sold for the price of a slave
• Tempted
• Falsely accused
• Condemned between two prisoners
• 30 years old at beginning of recognition
• Forgave those who wronged him
• His suffering eventually led him to a place of prominence and honor
• His suffering was to save the lives of those he loved
• His brothers bowed their knees to him at last

This week's Story is about Moses. (readings are from Exodus 1-12).

If Joseph’s life nearly gave the whole redemption thing away, then the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt removes all doubt; God doesn’t just telegraph where he might be going, he shows His hand, lays His cards on the table, and makes His long-term plan – The Upper Story – as clear as day.

The two main events of the whole Bible are the Exodus and the Christ.  The importance of either cannot be underestimated.  The first event points directly to the second. 

Moses & Jesus:

• Called from a distant land
• Called to true heritage
• 400 years of silence precedes arrival
• Survived infanticide
• 40 days
• Prince of Egypt, Prince of Peace
• Rejected
• Delivered from bondage

• Series of miracles led up to final salvation
• Final victory:  death of firstborn/one and only Son
• Victory over tormentors:  Egypt & Satan
• Passover – blood on doorpost
• Even after deliverance, doubt, fear, rebellion, effects of sin still linger.

Young Adult Families will pause in the Story Track to explore a Discipleship Course: Raising Boys & Girls (at Grey Stone). Parents and Children's Workers will benefit from this exciting Discipleship Group led by Kevin & Sandi Sweat. 6 weeks: Feb 05 - March 12,2012,

Click here for more information at edugreystone.com

*Note: For non-Parents, our Young Adults will have an option for 6 weeks: INSEPARABLE by Pastor Randall) Go to Track B studies here for the Guidebook and Access to my Blog for that study.

See you Back here on March 18!

This week's Story continues with Moses and the Ten Commands. (Readings from Exodus 20).

Let’s use a lesson from a film clip.  This is from the third of the Godfather movies: pay close attention to what the priest is saying to Michael Corleone.  The theme of chapter five of The Story is to be different.  If you have access to the movie, pay attention to what the priest  in the film says about the stone in the fountain...

To illustrate how society has not let Christ change them on the inside, let me describe  a clip from The Godfather III: At the beginning of Chapter 24 of the DVD, Al Pacino goes to the bishop and they have a chat outside by the fountain. The bishop references the smooth stones, and how the water has not permeated them for all these years.  He then makes a telling comment about how society follows Christ but is not changed on the inside. 

Did you catch what he said?  After he noted the submerged stone was perfectly dry on the inside, he said, “For centuries, men have been surrounded by Christianity, but Christ has not penetrated.  Christ does not live within them.”

If there was ever an appropriate object lesson for our study today, it’s this one.

This week's Story is about Israel wandering in the Wilderness.

Reading Chapter 6, we discover the sad fact that Pharaoh’s grip on his nation of slaves wasn’t nearly as tight as the Hebrews’ desire for the status quo. They wanted God to fix their problem without messing with their paradigm. God’s people would have chosen familiarity over freedom, but God would have none of that.

Israel had cried out for centuries, asking this God of their fathers to rescue them.  The problem was, when He actually showed up, He was not what they’d expected.  The sad truth was the whips of the taskmasters were no match for the shackles to which God’s chosen people had fastened themselves.

They traded a golden opportunity for a golden calf. They doubted that God could really measure up, so they weighed out their gold, melted it down and made it into a god they could see and touch. And party with. And feel good about. An image of their own making.  Their stand-in god suited them just fine.   They wanted a god they could control, a “preferred” god that never made them feel uncomfortable.

And guess what?  As we see through the present day, nothing really changes.  We would much prefer that God fix my problem without messing with my paradigm.  Today we have built deities of affluence, power, adulation, busyness, and addiction.  As much as we want freedom, we  seem to want familiarity more.

But shouldn't we consider what literary giant and author CS Lewis states?

“My idea of God is not a divine idea.  It has to be shattered time after time.  He shatters it Himself.  He is the great iconoclast- the breaker and destroyer of images…Jesus is the supreme example; he leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins.”     C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

It was safer and more predictable to be slaves than face the uncertainties of freedom.  In fact, we learn that the faithless generation who were too afraid to take the Promised Land, who were too chicken to trust Joshua and Caleb, passed their fear on to their children.  Talk about leaving a lot of baggage…The Bible says only Joshua and Caleb would survive those 40 years of wandering, but after the 40 years had passed, someone was still whining about returning to Egypt...those children! 

This leads us to an important learning point:  to lead your family well, to lead your family spiritually, Never leave a legacy of fear.

Chapter 07 of the Story focuses on the Battle of Jericho...as well as the story of Rahab. (Readings from Joshua 1-6).

Interestingly this woman, Rahab, a Cannanite prostitute who betrayed her own people, let in spies, and helped them escape is mentioned again in the New Testament. Look at Matthew 1:5

...Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered King David.

This "disreputable" woman is the great-grandmother of King David...as well as an ancestor of Jesus himself! What would our opinion be of a prostitute who betrayed her own people to protect herself?

Probably not the view of other New Testament writers of Hebrews and James (Jesus' brother, who was also related to her):

• By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed. Hebrews 11:31
• And in the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route? James 2:25
   

Isn't it incredible that God can take someone with a tainted past and set the stage for an incredible future. God's upper Story is always beyond the perspective of our lower story.

The Story this week is about the problem with our Call versus the Culture. (Readings from Judges).

A few years ago psychologist Ruth W. Berenda and her associates carried out an interesting experiment with teenagers designed to show how a person handled group pressure. The plan was simple. They brought groups of ten adolescents into a room for a test. Subsequently, each group of ten was instructed to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line on three separate charts. What one person in the group did not know was that nine of the others in the room had been instructed ahead of time to vote for the second-longest line. 

Regardless of the instructions they heard, once they were all together in the group, the nine were not to vote for the longest line, but rather vote for the next to the longest line. The experiment began with nine teen-agers voting for the wrong line. The stooge would typically glance around, frown in confusion, and slip his hand up with the group. The instructions were repeated and the next card was raised. Time after time, the self-conscious stooge would sit there saying a short line is longer than a long line, simply because he lacked the courage to challenge the group. This remarkable conformity occurred in about 75% of the cases, and was true of small children and high-school students alike. 

Anyone ever felt peer pressure?  Anyone’s kid ever tell you about peer pressure?  Did your parents ever tell you, “How many times have I told you…stay away from them.  That’s the wrong crowd.  They are dangerous…uh huh…yeah…so if they told you to jump off a bridge, would you do that too?”

Now the real question:  How many times have YOU as a parent said those exact words again?  After you swore you’d never talk like your mom and dad, how many times have you said, “Well, if they told you to jump off a bridge…” and then just stopped in horror.   I can’t believe I just said that!

This is the message today:  the call vs. the culture:  a never-ending battle between being different, set apart, and the same as everybody else.  We’ve heard this before. God said: I’ve rescued you for a purpose:  you were saved to bear God’s image to the world.  You were spared to be salt and light.  You are to be the instrument to reach the Gentiles as well.  But what happened?  They danced around an idol, and God must’ve lamented, “What did I just say???”

And guess what?  It happened again!  They entered the Promised Land, won amazing victories, saw God rout their enemies, and then, it happened again!  Those pagan neighbors they failed to eradicate became a toxic influence on a nation called to be different.  They caved – they became indistinguishable from their neighbors. 

But guess what?  The problem of orthodoxy and congruity and compliance is as bad as it ever was. 

It’s the constant lure to conform, to blend in, to be accepted, to not be labeled a Loser, a chicken, gutless, a nerd, a dork.

But after reading this Older Testament Story, We might be stunned to find bargaining Barak, gutless Gideon, self-indulging Samson and the politically-incorrect Jephthah listed in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 (see v. 32-34)!

  Their lives illustrate the great theological truth that the work of the LORD depends not on our consistency or dependability, but on God’s empowerment.  How comforting it is to know that God triumphs despite us! 

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This week's story is about Ruth. (Readings from Ruth)....and the Redeemer of the Story is Boaz.

We need to notice three things in the lower story about Ruth and Naomi:

• They could not save themselves.
• They were unable to extricate themselves from their predicament.
• Only through the intervention of another would they live a life out of bondage.

So they needed a "Kinsman Redeemer:"  This was Boaz. The embodiment of the definition: God’s provision for the less fortunate. That means this:

In summary: Redemption costs the redeemer and is for the benefit of the redeemed. 

1. The redeemer must be a near relative to the one redeemed;
2. The redeemer must be willing to perform the work of redemption;
3. The redeemer must possess the ability to redeem;
4. The redeemer must himself be free;
5. The redeemer must pay the value or price of redemption; 

Jesus – Our Kinsman Redeemer:  God’s provision for the poor in spirit

• Jesus is a near kinsman to mankind because he is fully human.  For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death. Hebrews 2:14
• Jesus was willing to perform the work of redemption.  No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily.  John 10:18
• Jesus alone possessed the ability to redeem because He was sinless.  “You were not redeemed with…precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”  1 Peter 1:17-18
• Jesus was free because He fulfilled the Law.
• Jesus offered Himself as the price of redemption.  “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life  a ransom for many.”  Mark 10:45
• Like Boaz, Jesus took the Church as His bride.  (Eph. 5:25, Rev. 19:7)

As we take a first look at the first monarchy in Israel, Saul was a man’s man. He was tall, handsome, and impressive…a likely choice for a king.  He was just what Israel wanted.  The problem was he was not God’s man. King Saul cut corners and then pathologically rationalized everything…so God cut him out of the picture and set His sights a king who was, at the moment, singing songs and tending flocks in a nearby pasture!

This royal coronation began in the most improbable of places:  the humble house of Jesse in a less than notable village called Bethlehem.  We should have seen it coming.  God has demonstrated a knack of showing up in the unlikeliest of places, calling the most implausible people to the most inconceivable of missions. 

And now, sure enough, Samuel the priest is sent to another obscure agricultural family – a grandson of Ruth, where once again an improbable search is coming to an end.  In true “American Idol” fashion, seven of Jesse’s sons were paraded before Samuel, but none were chosen.  The youngest brother, David, had not been invited but was easily found among the sheep. After being summoned from the fields, the choice was immediate: David was anointed by Samuel to replace King Saul.  The boy then did what any newly anointed king would do:  he returned to tending his sheep. 

Mark this down in your Bibles, because this is the first of three instances where David did the opposite of what you’d expect – where he mixed up the “toward” and the “from.”  You would think a new king would head straight to the tailors to be fitted for his royal robes;  He’d certainly make his second call to the goldsmith to have his new crown precisely fitted.  A normal person would have made one of those Disney commercials:  “David!  You’ve just been anointed King of Israel!  What will you do next?” And David replies, “I’m going to Disney World!”

Not this guy.  He quietly went back to his duties, fulfilling the role God had given him right then.

The Upper Story of the Bible is in clear form in the story of David, a man of grace who submitted to the leaders over him, waited for God’s timing, and, as we’ll see at the end of the next chapter, knew when it was time to turn over the reins. 

In the Upper Story, once again we see an Old Testament character foreshadowing the Christ:  the King of Kings who submitted to the will of His Father, whose timing was perfect, and who, after His resurrection, turned over His earthly presence to the Spirit of God, so that He could live in each of our temples.

As we come to Chapter 12 of The Story, we come to a well-known part of David’s story – the sin between he and Bathsheba and its after-effects.  It’s at the same time one of the saddest AND one of the most illuminating stories in the Bible. You’re probably familiar with the details…

David was the last person on the battlefront you’d pick to play the hero’s part, but David was the underdog who overcame. He was the last person you’d pick to become king, but he confronted lions, bears and giants with bare hands and bold faith.  At last, the man after God’s own heart had become the man on Israel’s throne.

But kings who stay home from battle are seldom at rest.  David’s eyes wandered and so did his heart.  He summoned the very lovely and very married Bathsheba to his palace and then into his bed. When Bathsheba sent word she was pregnant, David concocted a twisted conspiracy.

Up until David’s sin with Bathsheba, everything was going well.  But the house of David and all his family suffered enormous consequences because of David’s lack of leadership as the father and spiritual leader of his family.  Is there a greater object lesson in the Bible for us than the story of David, who was known as Israel’s greatest king but one, but watched his family literally pick each other off one by one.

You can be a captain of industry, but a failure as the spiritual leader of your home.  You can win the Chairman’s Inner Circle award every year as the top salesperson in your company, while your family disintegrates around you.  You can be a king after God’s own heart, but watch as conspiracy, incest and murder eat your family alive.

Consequences are what we live with in this world to remind us of the results of sin.  They are not the fallout of a lack of forgiveness, but they are an ongoing reminder of the gravity of sin and its ripple effects throughout our lives.  Consequences serve as a deterrent against future opportunities where we will be tempted to see, then to desire, then to take. 

And have you entirely forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his children? He said,“My child, don’t ignore it when the Lord disciplines you, and don’t be discouraged when he corrects you.  For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children.”As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined?  If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children after all. Hebrews 12:5-8

It’s hard to deny that Solomon started out well – really well – and his reign began with a series of defining events.  He married the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh, and ironically, the nation that had once enslaved Israel now sought the good graces of God’s people.  Then God appeared to Solomon in a dream and offered to grant his heart’s desire.  For all he could have had, Solomon asked for wisdom to lead, and God was pleased not just to grant his request, but give him wealth and honor as well.

However, all of Solomon’s insight and riches didn’t make up for his bad choice to collect wives like gold. He married hundreds of women, many of them foreigners.

Here’s what the Bible says: Now King Solomon loved many foreign women.  Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites.  The Lord had clearly instructed his people not to intermarry with those nations, because the women they married would lead them to worship their gods.  Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway.   He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And sure enough, they led his heart away from the Lord.   In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting only in the Lord his God, as his father, David, had done. 2 Kings 11:1-4 (NLT)

This single decision shaped the future of his descendants and of the nation of Israel.

Solomon’s story began with great promise, incomparable wisdom and magnificent achievement. His two predecessors on the throne had also started out well.  But the way each of them ended was disappointing to say the least.  There are no final words of wisdom recorded for the wisest king of all time.  Instead, his closing chapter reveals that the kingdom would be torn in two. Solomon spent his last days fighting off enemies and rebels. His splendor and his legacy were tarnished by disobedience and idolatry.  What a sad ending for the king who had it all, but ultimately failed in the only thing that really mattered:  finishing well.        

My dad proudly served our country in the  US Air Force. Once we took a trip to the National Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio. We spend two days looking and learning about all kinds of aircraft. But what was more amazing to me was how much my dad knew about every single airplane! He told me a lot about how the planes flew, recognizing them and about aircraft safety. 

He also told me about a saying they frequently used while they were debriefing failed flights:

The mishap has already occurred; the aircraft is now simply proceeding to the crash site. 

In other words, there are certain actions a pilot or aircrew perform, or do not perform, which make an aircraft mishap simply a matter of time. 

And so, it seems an appropriate question for us to ask as we look at the Bible message this week: Where are you proceeding? 

If you’ll remember our study of Solomon last week in Chapter 13, God’s instructions to keep the nation of Israel flying level and full of fuel were clear.  (Look at page 154 of The Story….)

There’s the flight manual.  Now, look how Solomon piloted his kingdom:   see page 157…

The sin had already occurred.  Israel was simply proceeding to the crash site.

Once again, our lesson this morning is on leadership – what I believe is the biggest issue facing the church today.  In the four months since The Story began, we have studied leadership in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Joshua and Saul.  These were the pilots of their families and their nation no less than we are the pilots of our families

And what happens in our lesson this week, more than anything else,  was caused by pilot error.  The primary aviators at the wheel are Solomon, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, plus a host of kings that made bad choices after them. 

And what we will see is that because of Solomon’s disobedience, Israel began a tailspin that was unrecoverable, even after Jeroboam and Rehoboam followed him that affected Israel for the next few hundred years. 

Do you know about the Story of The Six Blind Men and the Elephant?

Each had no idea what an elephant was like, so each went up to feel a different part and came to six different conclusions as to what an elephant was like:

• Felt the leg, like a tree
• Felt the trunk, like a snake
• Felt the ear, like a fan
• Felt the side, like a wall
• Felt the tail, like a rope
• Felt the tusk, like a spear

You can draw many lessons from this, but the one we need to concentrate on is… understanding the broader view.  Each blind man only examined part of the elephant, and drew conclusions based on limited data, when in fact the reality was more than the sum of all the parts.

As we come to Chapter 15 of The Story, Israel was much like these blind men.  To use our imagery from last week, they were flying along, uninformed, untrained, and unaware that they were low on fuel.  Somebody needed to wake everyone up.  Somebody needed to break through this empty-headedness and help Israel see that they were steadily proceeding to the crash site.

But how to break through?  How big of a 2x4 was going to be needed to get their attention?  Israel needed to be sobered up, and fast.  So God sent messengers – prophets – to jolt them out of their stupor and kick them in their collective butt. These prophets, from Elijah to Elisha to Amos to Hosea, all said and did startling things to get through to the people.

God called these prophets at a critical time in Israel’s history.  Again, look at the big picture:  The legacy of the monarchy was an undignified mess, and the good king to bad king ratio was awful.  The sins of the leaders had literally split the kingdom, spawned fratricidal and incestuous warfare, and made the chosen people of God a spectacle to the rest of the world. 

Into this fray, this fracas, this melee, God sent the prophets.  They certainly had their work cut out for them….and in our culture today, so do we!