We celebrate our 232nd Anniversary and looked at the purpose of the Church exemplified in Acts 2. The church would have so much power if we would take down our walls, worship freely, and live out the gospel. 

We reach the end of the book of Genesis, and we see two themes that are showcased here that reflect much of the book of Genesis. The first, is that God's will looks different than our will. He doesn't always do things the way we would, or think they should be done. Secondly, that God is bigger. God is bigger than us, than our problems, or our desires. His way is better than ours because He is bigger and better than we are. Joseph saw that in his life and lived in obedience, and trusting God.

We look at the story of Joseph's family coming to him for food in Genesis 42-46. We see that holding a grudge is a burden we aren't meant to carry, but we are called to be people who never stop forgiving.

"When you are plowing a field you fix your eyes on one point ahead of you to help you keep your line straight. But if you start to look back your line starts to drift. We are called to be people with our eyes fixed on the father, and holding a grudge requires looking back."

In these chapters we see Joseph go from prison to in power. We can see that even when we are at our lowest, we must be looking for ways God can use us (from His strength, not our own), give Him credit for the things He does, and continue to honor him when we are in seasons of comfort/plenty.

Are you trusting God because of what He gives, or because of who He is? It's important that our relationship with God isn't based on what we get from God. That self focus will make it harder to resist when faced with temptation. We see all of this play out in the life of Joseph in Genesis 39.

We close our our series Unexpected as we reach the end of the story of Jacob.

We look at what the Bible says about our purpose.

Genesis 32 and 33 bring us to the reunion of Jacob and Esau. In the middle of the story we see Jacob wrestle with God, contrasting how we frequently wrestle God over worry and forgiveness.  

In Genesis 30 and 31 we see Jacob position himself to receive blessings by clinging to God above everything else. We can still experience God's favor today. People who experience God's favor understand that you need to position yourself for blessings through obedience, know that storms will still come, and remember to be thankful to the giver of gifts.