The Failure of A Plan

Have you ever made plans that ended up failing? I have. Have you ever been headed towards a destination just to have so many roadblocks arise that you begin to question if you will ever reach the destination? Then consider the life of Joseph.
I have been thinking about the life of Joseph and reflecting on a plan that looks like it has no way of succeeding.

Genesis has a long narrative about the life of Joseph. When you read the Old Testament narratives you need to keep in mind the big picture. Keep asking yourself, “what is the main idea? What is the central theme of this story?” By keeping this in mind the “big picture” jumps off the page and the point hits home.

The story of Joseph begins in Genesis 37 and continues to the end of Genesis. It is a large section of scripture. Actually, the story goes back even further to the covenant God made with Abraham found in Genesis 12 and 15. In that covenant God promised something to Abraham. God promised three things; a land, a nation, a blessing. This is critical to understanding the “big picture” of the Bible because it is the beginning of God’s plan of redemption.

God made a promise and God had a plan. The land would be the Promised Land. The nation would be a land filled with His people. And the blessing would be on Abraham and his descendants including a blessing for all the people. The blessing of redemption.

But, there was a problem right from the outset of this promise. Abraham had no land. He was a sojourner in a land not his own. Abraham had no people. He and his wife Sarah were barren.. He had a promise of a blessing, but it had not been actualized just yet. So already the story in Genesis is providing some road blocks on the highway of God’s plan.

Now, fast forward to Joseph. Abraham did have children. He had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob and Jacob had 12 sons, one of whom was Joseph.
Joseph was the second youngest(Benjamin was the youngest) of the 12 brothers. Although this is a fairly low position in birth rank, he was the most loved by his father. His father even gave Joseph a prized multi-colored coat. The rest of the brothers did not appreciate little Joseph’s favored status.

Keep in mind the problem. They were living in Canaan, but their land was still not fully theirs. They had some people, but that would soon be in jeopardy. Where is this blessing? Maybe God’s plan is in trouble?...

Then things get worse. Joseph has a dream from the Lord that informs him that all of his brothers will bow down to him. Joseph finds out that he will rule over his brothers. This would be highly unusual for the second youngest child. In a moment of foolishness he tells his older brothers his dream and they are not happy. They are waiting for the right moment to take him out.

The moment comes when all of the boys are out in the fields. The brothers decide to pounce on Joseph. They are just about to kill him, but Reuben intercedes on his behalf and his life is spared. They throw him into a cistern. A caravan of Egyptians come by and the sell their brother Joseph as a slave to the Egyptians.
There is no way Joseph is going to rule over these brothers. Another plan is thwarted. (don’t get ahead of the story)

Now Joseph is a slave in an official’s house. But, he is highly favored by this official and is put in charge of the entire household. It seems that things might be looking up. Then a lying tramp gets in the way. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph, but because Joseph is righteous he flees the temptation.

The wife is probably embarrassed and angry. She concocts a story and implicates Joseph. The Egyptian official is enraged and has Joseph thrown into the king’s prison.

Things have gone from bad to worse. Joseph has gone from a slave to an outright prisoner. There is no way things are going to work out.

You know what happens next. Joseph has a connection with God and the Pharaoh needs an interpretation of a dream. God gives it to Joseph and Joseph gives it to the Pharaoh. There will be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine that will be extremely severe. The Pharaoh is so impressed that Joseph is second in command of all of Egypt.

This famine is incredibly hard. It reaches even to Joseph’s homeland in Canaan. The very lives of his family are threatened as they are starving and need food.
The people are in trouble of losing their very existence. The land is in serious trouble because of the famine. How in the world could there be a blessing from God?
The family goes down to Egypt because a wise official has saved a surplus of food. Jacob and the rest of Joseph’s brothers go to buy food from the Egyptian official. They don’t know that this official is Joseph.

The story goes on and eventually Joseph and his family are reunited. The entire clan of Jacob including their possessions and livestock are given the fertile region of Goshen to settle in during this famine. They are saved.

Amazing! As the story unfolds we are led to follow this tragic course of a plan gone wrong. Failure after failure, hindrance after hindrance gets in the way of this particular plan. Or does it? In the end we are shown the power of God. His plan was never in danger of failure. His plan was working the entire time. The people were saved, the land was preserved, the blessing was flowing.

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." (Proverbs 19:21, ESV)

It is comforting to know that our God is bigger than any obstacle that life throws our way. My plans don’t always work out. God’s plans never fail.
I guess that means that the best course of action is to place my life in His hands, not in mine. Are you willing to do the same?

Bonus points: what is the connection with the picture?

No Coincidence

Coincidence defined = a chance occurring of events

I often here the phrase "divine appointments". Today I had one. It was not coincidence because it was not an event that occurred by chance, but by the divine providence of God.

I went to study for my message this Sunday at the local Star Bucks. Before I went there I felt like I needed to go have a quiet time with the Lord. The day before I had noticed this park that I hadn't been to before near Star Bucks. So, I walked up and found a nice bench to sit on for just a few minutes.

I hadn't been there for 2 minutes when this 19 year old guy walks right up to where I was, and sat on the bench across from me. At first, I was a little put off that my alone time was being interrupted.

I asked the guy "how's it going?" and was surprised what happened next. This guy began to tell me how awful his life is, how he was tired, lost his job, and his life was just falling apart.

Of course while he is telling me this I am thinking that this guy was sent here so I could share Christ with him. I began by telling him that it is not a coincidence that we should both meet here. God had a plan.

I did get to share with him but he only had a couple of minutes, so it was somewhat abbreviated. I also don't think it was chance that when I was right in the middle of the gospel his phone started ringing. The enemy didn't want him to hear the gospel.

I did get to share with him and he also let me pray for him right there. He had to leave but I couldn't help thanking God for the divine appointment He allowed me to participate in. I wonder how many of those I have missed over the years because I wasn't open to where the Lord was at work?

Please pray for this guy. He really needs the Lord.

The Cost of Doing Ministry

My good friend and pastor of Northeast Houston Baptist Church, Nathan Lino wrote a sizzling blog post recently. The entire post is about the possibility of the Obama administration reducing and possibly removing any tax benefit for charitable giving to churches. This would lead to churches having to budget to pay taxes. Pastor Nathan thinks this will be a good thing for many reasons. I encourage you to read the entire post here. The date was March 13th. (nathanlino.blogspot.com)
In his blog there is one paragraph that scorches the way many churches are driven by programs and money. Buckle up, here it is.

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The immediate secondary benefit would be churches that are much less program driven. By earmarking up to 35% of their budget for taxes, churches simply would not be able to afford so many bells and whistles--which is exactly the kind of purging many of our churches need. Our churches would become more streamlined and simplified. Listen, the cost of doing evangelism is VERY cheap--the price of tracts (about $.15 each) and evangelism training materials and a church doesn't even really need those tools. Pastors and church leaders are the ones who have made evangelism so expensive--it isn't cheap shipping snow to Texas, getting ex-marines to repel from worship center ceilings and getting the local zoo to chain a lion and lamb to opposite ends of one's stage in order to gather a crowd for weekly, large group Gospel presentations. The true reason evangelism has become so expensive is because pastors and leaders don't trust their people to share their faith and/or don't want to take the slower, but healthier route of personal evangelism. So, instead of an evangelism strategy that calls for the lay people to share their faith in their lost community "as they go", churches instead spend humongous money on bells and whistles to try and draw the lost to group settings where a "life coach" shares the Gospel with them. The natural result of the "every service an evangelism rally" approach is there is little to no time for teaching doctrine and so the number of people that "prayed the prayer" grows, but not in faith and knowledge, and we attempt to keep them from figuring out they are starving for bible teaching by keeping them in a trance-like state with the next rollout of sensationalism. And that's just evangelism--did I mention bible teaching costs $0 after one has purchased a bible to preach out of? The skits, videos and stage sets are exciting and titillating, but a financial crunch would reveal them to be merely more unnecessary "stuff". And prayer? $0. Pastor, here's a healthy exercise to do with your staff next time budgeting rolls around, ask them to roll out a strategy for their ministry that would cost $0. Do they require money to do ministry? A church simply doesn't need that much money to run. But, I digress.
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Wow! Let me add something else. I can see someone reading this and thinking, “I guess I don’t need to give as much to the church, do I?” Yes and no. In scripture motivation and the attitude of the heart are paramount. We are not instructed to give so the church can “ship snow to Texas” to do an evangelistic event. We are to give as an act of worship to the Lord. We are to give out of an obedient cheerful heart. We are to give because God has given so much to us.

There is a cost to doing ministry; it’s just not always financial.

P.S.
By the way you can listen to Pastor Nathan Lino online. You ought to check him out because he is an anointed preacher.
www.nehbc.com

White Fang 2

"Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified." (Isaiah 60:21, ESV)
The purpose for our existence is to know and glorify God. That is what we are created for. That is who we are to be. Any moment that we spend separated from God we are not living out the purpose of our lives.

Lack London’s White Fang, the young wolf cub, ventured out into the world and started living. He started doing what he was designed for. As he stumbled upon the ptarmigan chick his instincts kicked in and he pounced on his first prey. Life was thriving from deep within.

“All the fighting blood of his breed was up in him and surging through him. This was living, though he did not know it. He was realizing his own meaning in the world; he was doing that for which he was made—killing meat and battling to kill it. He was justifying his existence, than which life can do no greater; for life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.” (White Fang page 150)

I know from my own personal experience and from talking with people who were not in Christ, that there is something missing. It may be that they have everything this world has to offer, and yet there is still something wrong. What is wrong is that they are not doing that for which they are made. We are not made to live a life of sin separated from God, but that is what we do. We are made to fellowship with God and bring Him glory.

Having a better life now is a misconception that people have bought into. In order to have a better life, you have to have a life. True life is lived only in relationship with God. This only takes place through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You are never more alive than when you are living a life connected to Christ and glorifying Him.

I keep using the word glorify for a reason. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states this: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” The Bible is replete with references teaching us that our lives are to be lived to glorify God. We are the products of the Creator. And the Great Designer designed us to glorify Him.

Let me rephrase what London wrote, “You can do no greater, your life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was created to do.” Glorify God!

For further reading:
Colossians 1:16
John 17:3-4
Romans 11:36

White Fang

For some reason, I do not know why, I picked up a couple of books at Barnes and Nobles that I wouldn’t have expected. One was The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London. These are books I was probably supposed to have read in Junior High or High School and did not.

Although London has a Darwinistic take on life, I found the books intriguing and I am going to share a thought I had about a quote in White Fang.

White Fang is a wolf. He was born to his half domestic/half wolf mother. She was skilled, intelligent, powerful and wise in all things related to the wild. Her cub, White Fang, was born with all of her tenacity and intellectual capabilities. (London had a great way of writing anthropomorphically in his stories)

As the only cub born to the she-wolf, the little cub was often left alone in the cave in which he was born while his mother hunted food. She had taught him through severe punishment not to venture out into the white light of the outside. But, like most little cubs it would just be a matter of time before curiosity led him to his destiny.

That day comes when mom is out on a hunt. White Fang accidentally stumbles out of the darkness of the cave and into the wild world. His clumsiness is shortly overcome by his keen instinct as he begins to explore life around him

A turning point in his young life is unfolding on the pages. He eventually stumbles upon the nest of a ptarmigan. Instantly he knows he has found food. It is his first prey. The taste of the ptarmigan chick is pure satisfaction that brings him an unmitigated sense of accomplishment. The moment is shattered when the chick’s mother returns. She berates the young cub with her wings to which White Fang responds by snatching her in his teeth. A short struggle ensues, but White Fang is a born hunter. He wins the first battle for existence.

Here London writes, “All the fighting blood of his breed was up in him and surging through him. This was living, though he did not know it. He was realizing his own meaning in the world; he was doing that for which he was made—killing meat and battling to kill it. He was justifying his existence, than which life can do no greater; for life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.” (Page 150)

Stay Tuned for Part 2

Mardi Gras #3

What's The Deal?

Not only did I see lots of evil things down at Mardi Gras I saw lots of religious people. I guess we were not the only ones that had the idea of doing some evangelism at Mardi Gras. There were all kinds and manners of people doing different types of evangelism. The majority of which I thought were ineffective at best and possibly unbiblical.

The different groups:
- The fearmongerers: This group had large signs and a huge cross made out of pvc pipe. They used PVC because it is a light material. They don't want the cross too realistic and an actual burden to carry. Anyway... Their method was to tell everyone how much God hates them and what they are doing. This is posted on their signs and is the message coming from their bullhorn. Was it effective? The only people they seemed to talk to was belligerent drunks. My favorite part was when one belligerent drunk showed up with his own bullhorn that was louder than theirs. A great shouting match ensued and I am sure many converts were made.(my tongue is firmly in my cheek)


- The biblically illiterate. I ran across a couple of groups that fit this category. They too had signs, they were just not what the Bible says. One young guy had a sign that read, "Everyone goes to heaven, but not everybody gets to stay." What?! We approached him and asked about his message. He didn't have a good answer but we took the opportunity to teach him the truth that everyone does not go to heaven.

Another poor theologian held up a sign that read, "You are so incredible that Jesus died for you." This one made me downright mad. I calmly approached this man and told him his sign was unbiblical. Romans 5:8 says that "while we were yet SINNERS, Christ died for us." If we were so incredible Jesus wouldn't have had to die for us.

- The street preachers: There were a couple of groups that had a microphone and were attempting to preach or something. The problem is no one was listening. I really wonder what they were thinking.

- The personal witnesses: I was in this group. We had a two pronged approach. One was to hand out as many gospel tracts as we could. Not everyone took them, and not everyone read them. But we cast the seed out. The other prong was to get into a one-on-one conversation with people and personally share the gospel with them. We got to do this with quite a few people.

Obviously, you can tell what I think of those other approaches. At times it was almost embarrassing to think that I was in the same group as some of those "religious nuts". But, then again, you might think I am a nut just for going down to Mardi Gras.

Just another interesting observation about the events surrounding Mardi Gras.