We are going to take a moment this week to think about and give thanks for emergency service workers. Firefighters, paramedics, lifeguards and police.
They don’t serve for their own comfort or recognition, they step into dangerous situations so that others might be saved. We recently saw this demonstrated profoundly in the actions of the Victorian Police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty there only a few weeks ago. As we come to the end of Joseph’s story this week, we see something similar. Joseph stepped into all sorts of painful and difficult situations because of his brothers and he could have punished his brothers for all he had endured, but instead he served them – and through that service, God saved not just a family but an entire nation. And Joseph’s story points us to Jesus – the one who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life to save the world.
Final week of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
There’s a fine line between revenge and justice. It’s a line that those of us who have been hurt or betrayed by others often cross without even realising it. We think all we want is justice, for someone to admit to the wrong they have done and to somehow make up for the hurt they have caused, but often what we really want is revenge, to make them suffer or hurt in some kind of proportional, or perhaps disproportional response from us.
Apart from God, Joseph is perhaps arguably the most qualified character in the Old Testament to have a legitimate and understandable desire for revenge. And yet the journey God has taken him on doesn’t see him seething with hatred when he sees his brothers again. He may not immediately trust them, but his ultimate response is to recognise how God had used their betrayal to bring him to Egypt, where God had a plan to save his entire family. Knowing God’s plan helped Joseph to see beyond their betrayal and forgive them.
Part 6 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Have you ever had life change in an instant? One phone call, one decision, one moment — and suddenly everything is different.
Joseph went from a prison cell to Pharaoh’s palace in a single day. But behind that sudden shift was a God who had been preparing him all along. Joseph didn’t map out a career path from pit to palace — he simply lived faithfully each day, wherever God placed him. And when the moment came, God raised him up. What if the position God is preparing you for tomorrow depends on the faithfulness you choose today? This week we’ll explore how God still works behind the scenes, lifting us from places of despair into positions for His purpose.
Part 5 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Have you ever felt overlooked – like your work, your effort, or even your faithfulness just didn’t seem to matter?
Overlooked and forgotten is a good way to describe how we find Joseph in this next part of his story. Joseph has been dealt an almost unbelievably bad hand by life so far. He’s tried to make the most out of pretty miserable circumstances, even becoming the favoured head slave of his Egyptian master Potiphar. But even that didn’t last long and now he finds himself wrongly accused and in prison. Out of sight and out of mind, as the saying goes.
While that may have described Joseph’s situation accurately regarding the people around him who did forget him languishing away in prison, it’s not true when it comes to God. He never forgot Joseph and was always with him, even in Pharoah’s prison. And no matter what we might be facing, God is still faithful to all his promises and doesn’t ever forget us.
Part 4 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
What’s it going to cost? It seems in life today that’s one of the most important questions.
And funnily enough, it’s usually the last one the sales person wants to answer. They’d rather dazzle you with all of the unique features that their product has, demonstrate to you all the ways it will make your life easier or improve your status among your friends and work colleagues. All of those things may well be true but until the question ‘What’s it going to cost me’ actually gets answered, then there is no guarantee of a sale.
In this week’s part of the Joseph story, Joseph is given a choice and whichever way he chooses will come with a cost. The temptation Joseph faces is less to do with Potiphar’s wife, as we will hear in a moment, but whether Joseph is willing to maintain his integrity at the risk of losing everything positive that has come his way since arriving in Egypt. Will he do what is right even when it means he’ll likely suffer some significantly negative consequences. The question he is left asking is, What is it going to cost me to do the right thing here? This is the question at the heart of every temptation and it’s what we are going to explore this week.
Part 3 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Have you ever tried to complete a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box?
Maybe you can muddle through and assemble the edge pieces and they may hint at what the middle of the picture may look like but without being able to see the big picture or having many of the pieces already in place, the picture doesn’t make much sense. Without being able to see how the pieces fit together, it’s very tempting just to give up.
The part of Joseph’s story that we’ll hear today is a bit like that. He’s betrayed by his own brothers, thrown into a pit, and sold into slavery. There is silence from Joseph – who has to be wondering what on earth is going on, and silence from God who is the only one who can see the whole picture. No explanation, No rescue. Just broken people and broken pieces. But they are pieces of something bigger.
That’s true of our stories too. When life feels broken and shattered to pieces, when the silence of friends and family is deafening, when betrayal stabs us in the back – God may still be at work fitting all the pieces together into something bigger and more beautiful than we could imagine, even if we can’t see the big picture God is working on.
Part 2 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Have you ever started something with a dream in mind — maybe a relationship, a job, a family, a calling — only to find that reality looks nothing like what you hoped for?
That’s where the story of Joseph begins. Joseph has a dream — a bold, vivid, God-given glimpse of the future — but almost immediately, everything unravels. Family dysfunction, jealousy, betrayal. His dream doesn’t die, but it gets buried deep under disappointment.
And maybe that’s where some of us are too. We had a vision of what we hoped life would look like — what it should look like — but it hasn’t worked out that way. The good news is this: even when we can't see Him, even when dysfunction and struggle dominate the story, God is still at work. Not just in the outcome, but in the journey. His dream outlasts our dysfunction. His grace goes deeper than our brokenness.
Part 1 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Imagine sitting down at a meal and seeing an empty chair at the table.
You know it’s meant for someone; the place has been set, the crockery, cutlery and glassware have all been meticulously laid out for somebody – but who? Maybe they were invited… maybe they haven’t come yet… maybe no one thought to ask.
Today Jesus reminds us that the kingdom of God is like a banquet—a table where there’s always room for more, especially for the forgotten and overlooked. God is the host who says, "Come, all who are thirsty... come to the feast!" And He sends us out to carry that invitation to others. Every other power tool God gives, every other power tool we have looked at over the last seven weeks is given to us to enable us to carry that invitation and to deliver it in a way that simply cannot be ignored.
Final part of our Pentecost series: "Power Tools"
Have you ever met a child who didn’t like to play with water? There are lot’s of different ways for children to play with water but the one thing you can almost guarantee when it comes to kids and water, they will find a way to spread it around, it never stays in its container.
Generosity is a bit like that. If God’s love, provision and grace are the water he gives us to play with, he doesn’t expect us to keep it in the one container. Generosity is about living as a conduit of God’s grace. Like a pipe through which water flows freely, God’s provision fills us—not to be hoarded, but to flow outward in blessing to others. As long as the channel stays open, there is no shortage—only movement, renewal, and impact. But when fear, self-interest, or scarcity thinking clog the pipe, the flow slows, and we become stuck. God invites us to live unclogged, open-handed, and freely receiving and releasing his gifts—so that the fullness we have in Christ can overflow into the lives of those around us.
Part 7 of our Pentecost series: "Power Tools"