A Time to Laugh presented by Rev. E. Anderson

February 22, 2008 at 7:12 pm (A Time to Laugh)

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Rev. E. Anderson

THE MISSIONARY’S HORSE

A young man is lost and walking in the desert.  One hot day, he spots the home of a missionary. Tired and weak, he crawls up to the house and collapses on the doorstep.   

The missionary finds him and nurses him back to health. Feeling better, the man asks the missionary for directions to the nearest town. On his way out, he sees the missionary’s horse. He goes back into the house and asks him if he could borrow his horse.  

The missionary says, ‘Sure but there is a special thing about this horse. You have to say `Thank God’ to make it go and `Amen’ to make it stop’.  Not paying much attention, the man says, ‘Sure, ok’.  

So he gets on the horse and says, ‘Thank God’ and the horse starts walking. Then he says, ‘Thank God, thank God’, and the horse starts trotting. Feeling really brave, the man says, ‘Thank God, thank God, thank God’ and the horse just takes off.

Pretty soon he sees a cliff coming up and he’s doing everything he can to make the horse stop.  ‘Whoa, stop, hold on!!!!’  

Finally he remembers, ‘Amen!!’  The horse stops four inches from the cliff. Then the man leans back in the saddle and says,                      ‘Thank God’. 

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Knowing God presented by Rev. E. Anderson

February 22, 2008 at 7:07 pm (Knowing God)

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Rev. E. Anderson

 BECOMING A DIVINE CHARACTER

GENESIS 37 

So many have been impressed and influenced by this outstanding Bible character and somehow can relate to him, and in so many aspects. Joseph certainly knew God and in and through that knowledge his character was made and destiny became fulfilled. From a very early moment in his experience he seems to have come into a personal understanding of God and entered into a deep relationship with him and this became the bulwark of his being through quite a torturous route. Character of the highest quality marked his life and conduct and this surely stemmed from his close identity with God.  

     1/.  THE KNOWLEDGE WAS ASSISTED BY REVELATION – GENESIS 37 

It is quite remarkable that a seventeen year old young man should be the recipient of such divine dreams. Without doubt, he stood not only in a favoured position with his father but with God. There must have been a noble appreciation of him by the Lord hence the input into his life. He was a person who was separate from his brothers in that he had a noble, godly disposition and direction to his life. Those dreams must have had divine conviction in and with them. 

     2/.  THE KNOWLEDGE WAS INCREASED BY  PROVIDENCE – GENESIS 39 

It was not a nice thing to experience, being a son one moment and a slave, next. In this move into Egypt he was to see the hand of the Lord in outworking something significant. He became industrious in his new master’s household and this reveals character, and is soon promoted as chief administrator. In this fresh position he was conscious of the Lord and must have related both his life and work to Him. Did not give up on God because of where he now was. 

     3/.  THE KNOWLEDGE WAS DEEPENED BY DIFFICULTY – GENESIS 39 

He was to have his loyalty and character challenged and it must have been a very difficult burden to bear but, again, there is a spiritual fortitude and courage that sustains and sees him through this period. In the prison scene he gets his roots deeper in God. There is no way that he can get out of this mess without His help and so he retains a faith and union. He became rocklike in his fellowship with God believing even though he could not altogether understand. 

     4/. THE KNOWLEDGE WAS CONFIRMED BY INTERVENTION – GENESIS 41 

When God steps in to change his circumstances he is already spiritually tuned up and is able to give the king the essential information and guidance. The pagan monarch instantly recognised there was something different about him and confessed it – v38. 

      5/.  THE KNOWLEDGE WAS FULFILLED IN PROMOTION – GENESIS 41 

He was to be highly exalted and in the new position afforded Joseph would know that the Lord had brought the dreams to pass and in this new destiny there would have to come the honouring of God. This certainly remains so in his dealings with his brothers, and is revealed in the naming of his sons, in the predictions of his father and in his ultimate confession. Fame and position did not amend anything as far as God was concerned in his being. He had priority to the end.   

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