CrossTrainers

Date: March 31th 2010

Speaker: Mike Swaim

Title: God Built – Chapter 1: Strangely and Slowly; God is Working

The story of Joseph – An overview

This book deals with how men are forged

I’ve studied the life of Joseph up and down over the years but I’ve never spent this much time thinking about Joseph as I have over the last couple of days.

If you are going to be coming over the next few weeks or months you should be reading through Genesis 36-50.

If you read Genesis 36-50 each week through this study you would understand how to move from being a victim to being a victor

2 concepts on typology:

1. When you read the Old Testament you can see different types in scripture that represent different things that we experience or see in Christ. Many people look at Egypt as a type that represents “the world.” God had told Isaac not to go to Egypt when things got tough but instead to stay in the land and wait for God to provide. Keep the understanding that when we read about Egypt we are looking at mans solution for problems.

2. Joseph represents a type of Jesus. We see many things of Jesus in Joseph.

Foundations

We need to look at Luke 6:46-49

Jesus talks about people being on a solid foundation being those who are DOING the sayings of Jesus.

Even though Joseph was doing God’s plans there were still floods that came. He didn’t have sin that was creating these things, it was a flood that God had brought into his life.

From Victim to Victor

How many of you would like to go through what Joseph went through?

He was sold into slavery. He was a stranger in a strange land. He was sent to prison for something he didn’t deserve.

Lets look at Joseph’s life from the end, looking back

How old did he live? 110 years

How old was he when Pharaoh took him out of prison and put him in charge of Egypt? 30

He faced adversity from ages 17 or so to 30.

Sometimes we need to understand that our trails are for a season and are to produce something better.

If Joseph’s grew up in today’s world his story would have been a great episode of Oprah!

He came from a really dysfunctional family.

• Great Grandfather – Abraham: He had a child with his handmaid. Lied to a king to save is own hide, Twice!
• Father – Jacob: Steals his brother’s birthright. That was a big deal! He felt entitled, he was a deceiver and a thief. He got deceived by his uncle Laban and ended up with the wrong wife. He finally got the “right” wife but found out that she couldn’t have kids. This kicked off a tug of war between Jacob’s two wives and their maid servants. Joseph had a bunch of brothers with four different moms and one dad.
• Brothers: Eventually his brother’s try to kill him, but instead sell him into slavery. They make up a story to deceive their dad.

But Joseph is on his way to Egypt – 300 miles. Probably took about 10 to 20 days. He gets to Egypt, doesn’t speak the language.

Genesis 37:28, Genesis 39:1-4

The Lord was WITH Joseph.

BUT!!

Then Potiphar’s wife gets him thrown in prison.

In both of these situations he could have said, “If I hadn’t grown up in this dysfunctional family this wouldn’t be happening”

He could have been looked at what was going on and blamed those around him

We have a tendency to do this. What we need to do is to look around and say, “God what are you doing here?” instead of blaming our circumstances on everyone else.

Adversity comes. Not necessarily because you have sinned.

God was with him

God prospered him

The principles of God are true through out scripture regardless of when they are revealed.

Proverbs 3:3-4

If I love you regardless of what you do to me then I will find favor.

What is the word of God that was given to Joseph? There will come a day when your brothers and father will bow down to you.

What is the love of God to Joseph? He was with him. Regardless of what happens with anyone else, God was with Joseph.

What is the key to moving from moving from victim to victor? FORGIVENESS

I believe that forgiveness for Joseph started on the way to Egypt. I believe this because we see that Joseph won favor in Potiphar’s house. He wouldn’t have won that favor if he hadn’t forgiven his brothers and refocused his attention on God, he wouldn’t have been walking in love and wouldn’t have found favor.

HOMEWORK: Read Genesis 36-50 once a week as we go through this study.

Click HERE for the Full Audio for this message.

(notes typed by PJ)

CrossTrainers

Date: March 17th 2010

Speaker: Mike Swaim

Title: Trail Markers

Mike started by asking every guy to pray for 2 military couples that will be coming to the Military Marriage Conference as they get in their cars after CT.

Erecting a Marker as a Remembrance: 1 Samuel 7

1 Samuel 7:3 The children of Israel had been worshiping other gods. God said that if you put away the symbols of the foreign gods and remember who the God of the universe is God will deliever them.

There are plenty of foreign “gods” in our world today. There are probably a few guys here who need to lay down their “god” and receive deliverance.

1 Samuel 7:10 – How many shots were fired? How many shots were fired? NONE!

1 Samuel 7:11 – What happened here? Bloodbath! The philistines were their enemy, who is your enemy? The devil. What does a fight against satan look like when the Lord fights for you? Bloodbath.

1 Samuel 7:12 – What did Samuel do after the battle, he set up a marker.

What markers are in your life?

“Last week I heard about a marker in the life of my friend Bob Stouffer. He was awarded the Excellence in Education Award at Drake. Upon receiving his award, Bob referenced a marker in his life, coming to Christ at age 36.” (Read the full acceptance speech here on Bob’s March 10, 2010 blog post.)

Picture the Timeline

“Whenever we become aware of a situation where God, who is above and beyond time, steps into time on our behalf, we ought to place a marker on the timeline, even if its only a deep scratch in our memory”

What is the significance of the marker that Joshua put up at Mizpah?

It was permanent and it was there for everyone else to see.

Do your kids and grandkids know about the markers in your life?

Some of Mike Swaim’s Markers:

• Memories of early life in Panama running around the military base
• Memory of first prayer, at 5 years old crying about going to school, sitting at a small table with Dad. Prayed to be able to go to West Point one day. 5 years old
• Memory of a church in Fort Wayne, Indiana (Emmaus Lutheran Church) at third grade. “I didn’t realize that my grandfather had planted the church, but all of my extended family was there. I remember sitting there looking at this little red candle. I thought a lot about God as I looked at that candle.” That is a marker.
• Memory of memorizing scripture in California. Trying to memorize more than the other girl in the class. Remembering
• “You can drive by my marker in Des Moines. When you drive by Rosevelt High School, under the walk way that goes over 235. That spot is where I used to live, the first house I lived in Des Moines, where I started to grow in my faith”
• I remember when I was nominated as choir director, that meant that I had to be at church on the Sunday morning when this guy gave his testimony. He said that he had met Jesus Christ that week and he had been so impacted by it that he bought a bible for every person in the church. He said, ‘I don’t know about you but if you haven’t met Jesus Christ I want to help you do that today’ On that day I came to Jesus Christ. I still have that Bible, it is a marker in my life.”

What are the markers in your life?

Turn to one guy and talk about those markers, particularly those markers of redemption in your life.

The marked doesn’t do us any good if we don’t tell someone.

The marker is only significant if you share it with succeeding generations.

How we engage the past identifies our present and shapes our future

Have you placed any markers on the time line and would succeeding generations understand their significance?

Click HERE for the Full Audio for this message.

(pj’s notes for Crosstrainers 3/17/2010)