Dreams, Pits and Perceptions

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Dreams, Pits and Perceptions

• So then, it was not you who sent me here, but
  God. Genesis 458

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The Joseph Perspective Genesis 30 - 50

• Joseph was told he was a blessing in Gods
  design. Jacob (Israel) perceived Gods hand was
  on this child.
• Groomed for leadership by his father who was
  Gods chosen skilled, blessed, prospered.
• Showed integrity.
• Cared for flocks.
• Confident in his perceptions.
• Dreamer announced those dreams

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Getting the Right Perspective

• Christian World View
• 1 Pet. 1 Live this life as strangers...
• Eternal Perspective
• God is Sovereign
• All things were created by Him and for Him His
  purposes prevail.
• Personal, loving God
• Live to please God

• Humanistic World View
• This is it live for now.
• No God or if there is one, hes not interested.
  Fit God into your perspective.
• Chance spins fate.
• Relativism
• Survival of the fit live for number one.
• Think happy and you and happy you will be.

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Gods Perspective for Earth

• Proverbs 113,4 The integrity of the upright
  guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by
  their duplicity. Wealth is worthless in the day
  of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
• Proverbs 1228 In the way of righteousness there
  is life along that path is immortality.
• Mark 1045 For even the Son of Man did not come
  to be served, but to serve, and to give his life
  as a ransom for many."

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Acts 7 History Lesson

• 2 To this he replied "Brothers and fathers,
  listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our
  father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia,
  before he lived in Haran. 3'Leave your country
  and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I
  will show you. 4"So he left the land of the
  Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death
  of his father, God sent him to this land where
  you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance
  here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised
  him that he and his descendants after him would
  possess the land, even though at that time
  Abraham had no child.

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Acts 7 History Lesson

• 6God spoke to him in this way 'Your descendants
  will be strangers in a country not their own, and
  they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred
  years. 7But I will punish the nation they serve
  as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will
  come out of that country and worship me in this
  place.' 8Then he gave Abraham the covenant of
  circumcision. And Abraham became the father of
  Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his
  birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,
  and Jacob became the father of the twelve
  patriarchs.

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Acts 7 History Lesson

• 9"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,
  they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was
  with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles.
  He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the
  goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt so he made him
  ruler over Egypt and all his palace. 11"Then a
  famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing
  great suffering, and our fathers could not find
  food. 12When Jacob heard that there was grain in
  Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.
  13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers
  who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's
  family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father
  Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.

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Acts 7 History Lesson

• 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and
  our fathers died. 16Their bodies were brought
  back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that
  Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at
  Shechem for a certain sum of money. 17"As the
  time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to
  Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt
  greatly increased. 18Then another king, who knew
  nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. 19He
  dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed
  our forefathers by forcing them to throw out
  their newborn babies so that they would die.

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Eternal Perspective

• James 12-8 Consider it pure joy, my brothers,
  whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because
  you know that the testing of your faith develops
  perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work
  so that you may be mature and complete, not
  lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he
  should ask God, who gives generously to all
  without finding fault, and it will be given to
  him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not
  doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of
  the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man
  should not think he will receive anything from
  the Lord 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in
  all he does.

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Eternal Perspective

• Romans 52-5 And we rejoice in the hope of the
  glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in
  our sufferings, because we know that suffering
  produces perseverance perseverance, character
  and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint
  us, because God has poured out his love into our
  hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
• John 627 Do not work for food that spoils, but
  for food that endures to eternal life, which the
  Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father
  has placed his seal of approval.

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Eternal Perspective

• Genesis 454-7 Then Joseph said to his brothers,
  "Come close to me." When they had done so, he
  said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold
  into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do
  not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,
  because it was to save lives that God sent me
  ahead of you. For two years now there has been
  famine in the land, and for the next five years
  there will not be plowing and reaping. But God
  sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a
  remnant on earth and to save your lives by a
  great deliverance.

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Eternal Perspective

• Genesis 5018-21 His brothers then came and
  threw themselves down before him. "We are your
  slaves," they said. But Joseph said to them,
  "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You
  intended to harm me, but God intended it for good
  to accomplish what is now being done, the saving
  of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will
  provide for you and your children." And he
  reassured them and spoke kindly to them.