Refuge Audio Podcast

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

To view the graphic that Pastor Dom references, please visit www.calvarychapelsaintcloud.org/tribes

Good movies end with a nice resolution—a happy ending to a pressing problem, or a relationship restored, or a quest completed. The music flourishes, the credits roll, and you leave the theater. But faithful fans know that the credits are not always the end of the story. There’s often a small part shared after the credits are finished.

If the life of Joseph were a movie, it could have ended quite nicely after chapter 46—reconciled with his brothers, Joseph sends them to get their father, Jacob. There would be a final sweeping and emotional scene of Joseph and Jacob embracing in Egypt. The music swells. The screen fades to black. And the credits roll.

But…this is not the end of the story for Joesph or Jacob. God is still setting the stage for the most intricate, interwoven, and undeniable backstory to His story the world has ever seen. In Genesis 47 to 50, we have a “post-credit” sequence that gives clues about God’s grand plan of redemption that will continue.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

In Genesis 45 & 46, the loose ends of Joseph’s story come together. Over the past 8 chapters, we’ve seen twists and turns, ups and downs—but every detail was woven within the grand plan of redemption. God is setting the stage with the most intricate, interwoven, and undeniable backstory that the world has ever seen! And it comes to an exciting climax as Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers—the same brothers who despised him and sold him into slavery…after wanting to kill him.

In many ways, the life of Joseph would mirror the life of Jesus hundreds of years in the future. God would send His one and only Son to save life by a great deliverance. Joseph would tell his brothers, “And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” (Genesis 45:7)

Through His sacrifice, Jesus would communicate something very similar to us: “Come near to Me—do not be grieved or angry. God has sent Me to lay down My life in order to save life by THE great deliverance.” As we turn the pages of our Bibles, we see that the Great Deliverer is on page after page of this book.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

In life, there are many different kinds of tests…true & false, multiple choice, essay. But there are also tests of our faith—tests that don’t require pencil and paper.

1 Peter 1 talks about these kinds of important tests: “…though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ… (1 Peter 1:6-7). These are the types of tests that Joseph took throughout his life.

But there were also tests that Joseph gave. He gave them to his brothers to draw them towards confession and repentance. It looks like Joseph was conspiring…and he was—not against his brothers, but for their ultimate benefit. His brothers needed to have their collective consciences revived and awoken to be sensitive to sin once again.

In Genesis 44, Joseph presents the final test to his brothers, waiting to see if they have really truly have had a change of heart, or if they were just playing a part to buy some grain.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

Some passages of scripture seem like standalone sermons—with and introduction, an application, and a conclusion. Other passages of scripture can seem like puzzle pieces—with little rhyme or reason to how it fits in to the overall picture.

Genesis 43 is one of those puzzle pieces—it doesn’t seem to fit in from the outset…but, as we see in our study, it still has a purpose in God’s grand plan of redemption.

Life is often full of those puzzle pieces, isn’t it? With little information available, we make an inaccurate assessment of our earthly circumstances. Or, we wonder what the bigger picture is supposed to look like. How and where will this piece fit in with everything else?

Though these puzzle pieces might be confounding, we can still be grateful for them. While we might not always see how these pieces fit in as life unfolds, we can trust that God will bring them to the forefront eventually. From time to time, He gives us a peek behind the curtain, a glimpse of His glory, and we see the bigger picture.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

If you aren’t careful, committing and concealing sin can deaden your conscience at times—so much so that apart from a gracious work of God to awaken your conscience, you would just life the rest of your life in the awfulness of unconfessed sin.

That’s exactly where Joseph’s brother have been for over 20 years. They learned to live with the wilting awfulness of unconfessed sin. They may have had times of awkward glances, each knowing exactly what the other was thinking—memories of what they did to and with Joseph. But they never confessed their sin.

You see, the suffering of concealing sin only happens for those who have a sensitive conscience. And now, as these 10 brother kneel before who they think is just an Egyptian official, God was beginning to soften their hearts and bring a sensitivity to their consciences. And Joseph, that Egyptian official, was an instrument in God’s hands to bring his brothers to confession and repentance so that they could enjoy unhindered fellowship with their brother and their God once again.