"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." - A.W. Tozer

The same is true about Jesus. Ultimately our lives are an answer to the question Jesus poses: "Who do you say that I am?" As we look at this miracle we are called to trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and to trust in his sovereignty over our circumstances as he leads us to new places

One of the best experiences that I, Pastor Cody, have come to know as a dad is seeing the joy and delight in the faces of my children as they encounter something new or receive a gift. Whether it is the wonder and awe of standing atop the deck of an aircraft carrier, reeling in a big bass, or simply playing in the waves at the beach. Their delight brings me delight. In the same way, the church's delight in the salvation we receive through Jesus' sacrifice and victory over the cross is intended to spill over and bring delight to the whole world!

Do you ever catch yourself saying, "Why can't something just go my way for a change?!" or It's just one issue after and another!" Life is full of ups and downs, tests, struggles, trails, pain, and though stuff. The temptation in those moments of struggle is to look around at those around and ask, "Is this just happening to me?" Psalm 73 certainly resonates with us in those moments of tunnel vision but then reorients us to the refuge we need to find joy and delight in our Savior.

American capitalism can be a wonderful system of economic opportunity and justice; like all human systems, though, it can also be abused in a way that oppresses the poor and makes us monstrously greedy and selfish. The difference is in our hearts and our habits. Our society's hunger for acquiring is making us monstrous, wasteful, and spiritually poor; we need to be poor in spirit and generous. Are believers giving into our culture's love for money, or are we being countercultural in the face of this idol?

Our culture is definitely making an idol out of sex and infatuation. Any time a created thing - even a very good one - is made into an idol, we end up with destruction. These particular false gods promise to make us feel valuable and worthy, but often leave us feeling used, degraded, and ashamed. Too often, our obsession with sex and infatuation takes us beyond God's boundaries and ends up diminishing our ability to experience real love: we need to become content and satisfied in the loves God offers.

Our ability to see shapes so many of our perceptions and beliefs about the world around us. When we look up in the sky to check the weather, what we see causes us to make a quick judgement about what we should wear. When we look at the food before us, we immediately decide if it is even worth putting in our mouth to taste it. We rely on our sight so much, but what happens when what we see before our eyes, is not the full picture? Too often in our culture and church, we fail to look any deeper than what we see before our eyes and miss the true beauty before us.

Genesis 45: 1-24

We are so blessed to have Ben Gandy preach for us and bring the final message in our series on Joseph and rejection! This passage shows how the Lord Finally revealed and played out his plan for redemption in all of Joseph's suffering and loss. It is an amazing thing to think that not only does God have a plan to sustain and carry us in the midst of cross-shaped rejection, he has plan to REDEEM and USE the whole process for his great glory and the salvation of many. Praise him for his wondrous plan!

Genesis 41:1-45

This passage is about how Joseph's repeated rejections weren't punishment or a time waster; rather, they were chess moves God was using to get him into a place of greatest possible influence. This influence wasn't just for Joseph or his family - it was for the whole land of Egypt, pagans and all. God had a plan to use Joseph's rejection to save many from hunger. How much more will God use our rejections to provide moments and seasons in which Christ and his gospel can save many from death and hell?

When things fall apart and we are sent into exile and rejection, we may be tempted to ask, "why me?" We have a choice of wallowing in our frustration, or making ourselves useful. If we would be willing to look around ourselves and beyond our frustrations, we would see many other people in the same spot who need a friend and need the gospel. When God takes us low, it's not to harm us; it's to give us influence and connect with other spiritually-hungry people! Let's take up the challenge and reach out! 

We've been exploring Joseph's journey of rejection and asking how it might fit into God's redemptive plans. In this passage (Genesis 39 1-20), we will see that while rejection is hard, sometimes the temptations posed by times of success and acceptance are actually harder! We not only need to embrace rejection and exile to follow Jesus, we also need to be willing to do a lot of rejecting, ourselves. We must turn down many shortcuts that promise escape from rejection and journey through it, instead.