Mark continued his series on Joseph this morning, looking at Genesis 39:1-4 TNIV. Having considered how the worst day of his life (when he was sold into slavery) was actually the beginning of the fulfilment of God’s plans imparted to him in a dream and then having looked at the ‘strange place’ when we are in between God speaking and the fulfilment of His promises, today we looked at what Joseph actually did in the intervening years.

The key truth is told us in Gen 39:2 TNIV:’The Lord was with Joseph.’ Despite all that had happened, God was with Joseph. He had not abandoned him or forgotten him, even if it seemed that things were still going wrong, since being sold into slavery cannot have been how Joseph expected to see the dream fulfilled. God had actually engineered all the circumstances, however – Reuben’s conscience refusing to allow his brothers to kill Joseph, the Ishmaelites being on hand to buy Joseph, Potiphar now having a vacancy in his household for a slave – to bring Joseph to this place. God is able to influence even non-believers so that His plans come to pass!

When God is with us, what happens? We see that Joseph was successful in his work. God was revealed in his life through his ordinary, mundane service and Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him. He recognised something different about Joseph in the way that he worked, and as God is with us, people will see something different in us too: loyalty, steadfastness, diligent work should all be characteristics of the Christian.

Gen 39:3 TNIV tells us that God caused everything Joseph did to prosper. Joseph worked; he was not idle, simply waiting for God to bless him. He worked and served God to the best of his ability, cooperating with God and recognising that God was in control. As a result, Joseph found favour in Potiphar’s sight and was promoted. He served Potiphar as a way of serving God (see Col 3:22 TNIV), rather than simply working. Service comes as we get to know God and see that He is in every aspect of our lives. Joseph’s dream was actually getting closer to fulfilment, but it may well be that there was still no visible evidence of this to him. We have to serve God by faith, trusting Him to work all things together for good even when we cannot trace what He is doing.

‘My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.’ (Ps 131:1-3 TNIV)

‘You liberate me from my own noise and my own chaos
From the chains of a lesser law You set me free
You liberate me from my own noise and my own chaos
From the chains of a lesser law You set me free

In the silence of the heart You speak.’ (Audrey Assad, ‘You Speak’)
Audrey Assad, ‘You Speak’

At last night’s prayer meeting, we focussed on Acts 12:1-5 TNIV and in particular looked at the phrase ‘and the church was earnestly praying to God for him.’ It was a time of persecution for the church; James, the brother of John, had been killed by Herod and Herod was all set to do the same to Peter. The church prayed not in any half-hearted way, but earnestly – the word here (ektenes) is translated ‘without ceasing’ in some versions and is the root of our English word ‘extended’ or ‘extensive’, showing us that the church was fully stretched in praying. This was no light-hearted hobby, but a call placed upon them by God to which they responded with unstinting prayer.

Motorcycle champion Guy Martin has recently featured in a series of programmes called ‘Speed’ on Channel 4, looking at what is required to break several speed records. Olympic cyclist Laura Trott spoke of her gruelling training regime on this, how she pushes herself to the limit every day in training, to the point where she can do nothing after training except rest because she has pushed her body hard. We need to pray with the same fervour and dedication!

I have been musing on the variety of comments written in the visitors’ book at church from last weekend and also in cards sent to us. Many people have commented on the ‘great atmosphere’ and ‘friendly church’, quoting Psalm 133:1 TNIV which is always a blessing because as a church we are well aware of the need for unity and are blessed by the good relationships we share.

Ps 92:12-15 TNIV was also quoted: ‘The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”’ (with a disclaimer that this was not meant to imply anyone at church is getting old!) We certainly want to flourish and grow and bear fruit, so this was a very encouraging word to receive.

In a card, however, the word given to us as a church was ‘Synergy’, defined as‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.’ The full definition is ‘the interaction or cooperation of two or more organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.’ This is very much a word I identify with, for over the past few months, I have felt that God’s word to the church is that it will ‘punch above its weight.’ I have no idea how this will happen or what God will do to achieve this, but it is worth meditating on. The card goes on to say ‘You obviously have that relationally but also spiritually and its impact is potentially great. One shall chase a thousand but two will chase ten thousand – not just addition, but multiplication.’ (a reference to Deut 32:30 TNIV, with similar views expressed in Lev 26:28 TNIV and in a blog post dating from June 2010.)

We look forward to seeing how God will fulfil these words to us!

Some of you may be noticing a whole raft of changes around here at the moment. First of all, the new notice board at church… then new leaders appointed… now a new website and new look blog to deal with. You may well be feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. (I certainly am!)

Dave was at pains to remind us on Saturday that the changes we are experiencing do not actually mean we are ‘under new management‘, since God remains in control of His church in Goldthorpe and God never changes. (Mal 3:6 TNIV) In that respect, the French proverb ‘Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’ is perhaps applicable here! (‘The more things change, the more they stay the same…‘) Nonetheless, change is all around us and we can either embrace it and allow it to shape growth within us or we can resist it and draw back. My prayer is that we learn to do the former, for, as Eugene Peterson says, ‘change can be a catalyst for growth. It can stimulate developing, deepening, lengthening, enlarging – our lives becoming more, not less.’ (‘Leap Over A Wall’, P 135)

The context for that quote is David becoming king over Israel many years after he was initially anointed by Samuel. At the age of thirty, he is finally anointed king and he makes Jerusalem the capital city, thereafter forever known as the ‘City of David.’ In the Message version, 2 Sam 5:10 reads ‘David proceeded with a longer stride, a larger embrace since the God-of-the-Angel-Armies was with him.’

The change reflects all God had done in David’s life. He had not become embittered by the long hostility of Saul, nor had he become paranoid about the Philistines or terrified for his own safety during all those years in exile and on the run. ‘All the conflict and hostility, all those blessings and wonders, all that hate and love metabolised into a holy life, a life robust in God and prayer and obedience. He lengthened his stride; he enlarged his embrace.’ (ibid.)

We hope you like the new look of the church website and are grateful to Gary Burgin and Mark Wood for their hard work in updating both the style and the content of this. We are now working more with WordPress, for those of you who may be interested in such things and we hope to keep this much more up-to-date in future. It’s still a work in progress, with new content being added on a daily basis, and please let us know what you like about it and what you find difficult (font colours, styles etc.) We are hoping to have audio sermons on the website in the near future so you can listen to sermons as well as reading summaries here on the blog. But these things, whilst vital and useful to any church in the 21st century, can only be catalysts for growth. We are praying that every change facilitates growth and acts as a spur to growth, for we know that God’s word to us at the start of 2014 is ‘Grow up!’ We want to be ‘transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ (2 Cor 3:18 TNIV) so that we reflect the beauty of the Lord and can be used to draw many more people into His family.

Garry preached at the family service, talking about new and old. Sometimes it’s really good to get new things (think of Christmas presents, new technology and the smell of a new car) and most people enjoy getting new gadgets, but some people hate change and find it difficult to adapt to new things. The marketing industry constantly promotes new things, but it is interesting to note that people’s reactions to the same events can be very different: in Ezra 3:10-13 TNIV we see how the people’s reaction to the rebuilding of the foundations of the temple differed greatly (some shouted for joy, whilst others wept.) Nonetheless, sometimes just because something is new or has changed does not make it automatically superior: the Israelites in Egypt found it hard when the new king no longer remembered Joseph (Ex 1:1-8 TNIV) because their new circumstances were much worse than their old ones! Sometimes, however, these adverse circumstances are necessary before we can experience His good plans.

As we look at our society, we see many changes. The overall standard of living has risen and what were once considered luxuries are now commonplace (cars, holidays abroad etc.), with many deadly illnesses such as scarlet fever or diptheria now less serious. In other areas, such as morality or crime, we may feel things are decaying and getting worse. What matters, however, is that we understand that God is always doing new things and wants to give us all a fresh start. This happens when we become Christians (2 Cor 5:17 TNIV) and God gives us a new heart (Ezek 36:26 TNIV), but we need to see this as the start of the new work God begins in us. Eph 4:11-15 TNIV reminds us of God’s goal for our lives, namely to grow into the full measure of the fulness of Chirst.

Change will mean leaving some things behind, for we outgrow some things and challenges continue to abound. We need to be ready for the new things that God wants to do. Each time we overcome one challenge, God has another challenge for us which is slightly harder! Garry used the analogy of a toddler who finds our birthday box quite hard to climb over initially, but who will master this as he grows. (Ironically, Garry then tripped over the box at the end of the sermon, somewhat ruining his point that we progress to greater challenges!) God has new challenges for us all, some of which may well launch us into the unknown and be frightening. Nonetheless, the only unchanging thing in life is God Himself; He is always doing a new thing. We need to be prepared to exchange the comfort of the old for the challenge of the new and enter the New Year confident in the new things that God has planned for us.