Monthly Archives: March 2014

Gen. 42:1ff Three Days!

Ruins. Genesis Studies
© 1998-2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
Gen. 42:1ff
Three Days!
3.30.14

Intro… Being strategically or tactically Spiritually smart or wise. Too often I find Christians too willing to believe, to trust, to be naive, to be foolish in a world that worships evil, deception, what I want and what I want NOW and the Great Con! Like lambs led to slaughter, we don’t see the evil coming…the great betrayal…the fall. Like Christian ostriches with our heads buried in the sand, all too often, we refuse to see the obvious. But Jesus warned his disciples to be shrewd as serpents as they were also seeking to be innocent as doves (Matt. 10). Do the right thing…be innocent, but at the same time, DON’T BE STUPID. BE WISE! Why? Because the world is both, NOT INNOCENT AND CRAFTY. Jesus calls us to be different, INNOCENT AND CRAFTY. The common trait is to be wise, crafty, shrewd and smart when dealing with man’s evil, sin and immorality. Assume people…assume your family…assume those you love and know, are SINNERS, WILL FAIL, WILL LET YOU DOWN, WILL LIE, WILL DECEIVE in order to cover up their sin. In fact, they are NORMAL. We all cheat. We all fudge and we all attempt to cover up our sin to those who would hold us accountable. WE ARE SINNERS. WE ARE NOT PERFECT! NO ONE IS!  Thus, Jesus’ warning to his disciples to be good, do your best, strive to be righteous, but understand man’s propensity to mess up…understand man’s weakness and be prepared to fight a little fire with fire. Jesus was constantly doing this with his religious opposition. Just watch his deeds and words. He is very shrewd. He tells truths in cryptic parables so that only those who have the interpretive code or key will really know what he is talking about? When asked a trick question in order to entrap himself, he often answered with another question. Christians, STOP BEING FOOLS! STOP BEING NAIVE IDIOTS! Be aware; be wise; be vigilant. And NOT so that you will NOT be taken advantage of. That’s NOT the issue at all. But to wage a smart war against a craft enemy…or to recapture the captured. This is a war, and you might as well accept it. The enemy plays for keeps, and we must be willing, righteously of course, to play for keeps back. Over the next few chapters, you are about to witness one the great examples of being innocent, but wise. Watch, observe, listen, ponder well, because it may be that close friend or brother or sister in Christ, your child, someone you care deeply about…that indeed you may have to be very Spiritually crafty at in confronting their sinful imperfection and waywardness. Lives, families, even friendships are at stake in this Spiritual war of denial and deception.

Recently, we began a new unit or section or person of study…the life of Joseph. Essentially, the story of Joseph, is for the most part, our story. Chosen by God for a special purpose, Joseph must first endure much suffering and injustice before arriving at his God-ordained purpose and calling, and what a purpose it will be.

As we read, I want you to continue pondering, your special identity in Christ, and that just because you may be going through difficult days, your suffering…your waiting is NOT in vain. As God’s child…as God’s children, just as with Joseph and his brothers, you…we…all have a purpose in Christ (Romans 8; Eph. 1; 1 Peter 1).

Your servant,
jc Continue reading →

Gen. 41:38ff Fruitful in the Land of Affliction 3.23.14

Ruins. Genesis Studies
© 1998-2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
Gen. 41:38ff
Fruitful in the Land of Affliction
3.23.14

Intro… Years ago, I watched two partners have a business meeting. One partner had invited the other into the business and now the partner who had been invited into the business was in essence trying to squeeze the other out. The partner who had been squeezed out had invited me to come along to the meeting as a witness because he had intentions of retaking his business and kicking the other partner out. But somewhere in the midst of the negotiations, the original partner paused and stepped out of the meeting. Later he came back into the meeting and gave up the business. He had put Isaac on the altar. Taking back the business was not worth losing his relationship with his brother and business partner. You heard me right – his partner was his younger brother, so he gave it up. The older brother turned the other cheek and let his dream go.

Time passed, the older brother struggled with his decision of letting the business go almost every day, but he trudged on running another business he operated across the alley from his brother and former partner. Finally, through a series of events, the younger brother had to file bankruptcy and in the process lost the business. The owner of the building where the business was located and who had originally asked the older brother to operate the business to begin with came back to the older brother once again offered him the location back. He took it.

End of story, right? Redemption? Yes, but much more than that. In the process of giving up his coveted partnership, my friend, rededicated himself to God and his family. From seldom attending church, he began attending every Sunday and helps out in our worship. Then God gave him his business back. So who got the better end of the deal? I would say God got his servant back – and a family, its Spiritual leader. Are things perfect? I doubt it. But it has been one heck of a story…a story of letting go and getting back…a story of suffering and redemption…a story of God’s amazing grace.

Ever had something like this happen to you? You gave up something you really wanted, and in time, God gave it back to you? How is this? Why is this? Why do you think God has built a time lag in between planting and harvesting? Between the cause and the effect? Is there anything like this going on in your life right now? A cause with seemingly no affect? Pain and no reward? Joseph’s story has a lot to say about this…

Recently, we began a new unit or section or person of study…the life of Joseph. Essentially, the story of Joseph, is for the most part, our story. Chosen by God for a special purpose, Joseph must first endure much suffering and injustice before arriving at his God-ordained purpose and calling, and what a purpose it will be.

As we read, I want you to continue pondering, your special identity in Christ, and that just because you may be going through difficult days, your suffering…your waiting is NOT in vain. As God’s child…as God’s children, just as with Joseph and his brothers, you…we…all have a purpose in Christ (Romans 8; Eph. 1; 1 Peter 1).

Your servant,
jc Continue reading →

The Story of Sin: Part XV: The Authority to All Erase Imperfection!

fellowshipwebbanner-white orig

© 2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
The Story of Sin…
Part XV:
The Authority to Erase All Imperfection!
By Joseph M. Cross
3/19/14
 
Essentially, via the story of “Yah-Saves’ Elijah” or “John the Baptist,” we have been making the case that what the Lord’s angel meant when he instructed Joseph “to name the child (to be born to his betrothed, Mary) ‘Yah-Saves‘ (that is ‘Jesus’ in Greek) because he will save the people from their sins” and what others, including Joseph himself, would have understood the angel’s words to mean, particularly his last words, “because he will save the people from their sins,” may have been light years apart!
 
The angels’ s meaning is still unfolding within our New Testament “Story of Sin”; how the people thought Yah-Saves would save them from their sins, well that is another matter and leads us to two critical questions: 1) What is at the heart of this huge interpretative disconnect between Jesus and the religious leaders and 2) how was Yah-Saves’ Elijah or John the Baptist attempting to correct this critical misunderstanding?
 
Below is a story from early in the life of Yah-Saves that brings this interpretative disconnect into a much sharper focus. Continue reading →

Gen. 41:1ff At the End of Two Full Years …. 3-9-14

Ruins. Genesis Studies
© 1998-2014
Fellowship at Cross Creek
Gen. 41:1ff
At the End of Two Full Years…
3.9.14

Intro… Two possible thoughts here: 1) Does life seem to always get better, worse, stay the same or go up and down and why so? And if up and down, when things are up, do we expect them to go back down, or if things are down, do we expect them to go back up again? Or do we think things will continue to become better and better or worse and worse? Why is this? Why is it human nature not to expect change? And finally, is God big enough to sustain us through the change, unexpected or not? How? How can or does or could he do this?

2) What do you think you are good at? What are your gifts and abilities? Now ask yourself, could and how could God use these someday to minister, serve, deliver or help other people in significantly meaningful ways? For example, as a kid I thought I wanted to be a football player, lawyer or doctor, but I could argue with a fence post my family always said. So maybe I should have been a lawyer? But my passion to communicate led me into the ministry where I both teach and counsel today. My passion is to help take what was difficult to me and make it understandable to others, particularly, how to live and think about life and its many struggles with God’s help and the truth of his Word…so that a person has half a chance in this difficult world. I want to make things understandable…the difficult, but practical and important…understandable and repeatable. I want to teach people how to live life. What about you? What are your skillsets and gifts and how may God be using your gifts to make a difference in the lives of others?

Recently, we began a new unit or section or person of study…the life of Joseph. Essentially, the story of Joseph, is for the most part, our story. Chosen by God for a special purpose, Joseph must first endure much suffering and injustice before arriving at his God-ordained purpose and calling, and what a purpose it will be.

As we read, I want you to continue pondering, your special identity in Christ, and that just because you may be going through difficult days, your suffering…your waiting is NOT in vain. As God’s child…as God’s children, just as with Joseph and his brothers, you…we…all have a purpose in Christ (Romans 8; Eph. 1; 1 Peter 1).

Your servant,
jc
Continue reading →