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"
Some of you might be familiar with a popular Broadway musical called “Hamilton” which celebrated it’s 10th anniversary this year. In this musical, there is a song called “The room where it happens” in which one of the character’s (Aaron Burr) expresses his frustration at not being invited to be a part of the negotiations which helped establish parts of the American political landscape after the American Revolutionary war. He sings one particular line which really sums up the idea behind this week’s theme of involvement.
He sings, “when you got skin in the game, you stay in the game. But you don’t get a win unless you play in the game.”
Faith in Jesus is not a game, but He has won a victory for us. It is a victory which invites us into and enables us to actively participate in the life and mission of Jesus. Jesus in and become a part of God’s plan of salvation for all the world. It’s actively participating in the life and mission of God through Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit that keeps us living and experiencing the fulness of life that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Part 6 of our Pentecost series: "Power Tools"
Every good building starts with a plan, a blueprint. Even before the foundations or cornerstone are laid, there is an architectural plan devised that will inform the size, and scope of the building works that will take place as the builders get to work and the building comes to life.
This is the way Paul talks about the church in Ephesians chapter 2. It’s architectural language, the picture is of God building something: something intentional, unified, enduring and purposeful. Something bigger than the sum of its parts. It’s God’s design, His plan, but we are all part of it.
What does it mean then to be a part of God’s church, to literally be “a dwelling in which God lives”? It’s not something we are supposed to do on our own.
Part 5 of our Pentecost series: "Power Tools"
We all know that words can be powerful tools. I’m sure we have all been on the receiving end of both the destructive and constructive effects that words can have on us. Whether it’s the encouragement and affirmation of a boss or colleague, the criticism of a coach or mentor, maybe even the lyrics of a song or poem that express something of our own experience – words can express something of our reality and elicit deep emotional responses from us.
So, what happens when we are confronted with the Word of God? At times it critiques our sin and yet it also gives hope and encouragement. It not only describes or expresses reality, but it shapes it and changes it and its ultimate expression is not in prose or in song, or the confessions of any particular branch of the Christian Church or the Bible commentaries of various theologians, but in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh and dwelling among us.
Part 4 of our Pentecost series: "Power Tools"