21/1/18 – Genesis 41:41-57, Genesis 42 Matthew 14:22-36, Matthew 15:1-9 Psalm 12:1-8

Gen 41: 46 – Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. 

Jospeh was 30 years old when he entered the service of the king. And boy did he get to work fast. He was no longer the young teen who was sold into slavery, he was a man with power and authority and he’d learned many lessons along the way to ensure that authority was used correctly.

From prison one day – to commanding the nation the next. What a breakthrough! And it’s when breakthrough comes that we must ensure we don’t relax. That’s when the work begins.

When God blesses us, the blessing brings a mission and responsibility – we are blessed in order to be a blessing. Breakthroughs are times when we need to get working – for night is coming when no one will be able to work.

Matt 14:25 – And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

It was the 4th watch of the night when Jesus came, walking on the sea. The night was broke down into 4 segments – 6pm – 9pm was the first watch. 9-12 was the second. 12-3 was the third and the 4th watch of the night was between 3am and 9am.

They set out before evening, as it was evening when Jesus went to be alone. Then the storm hit. The disciples had been rowing for at least 9 hours against the storm! Some storms seem to take everything we’ve got and they never seem to be over. But we have to keep on rowing, otherwise when Jesus comes, walking over the top of all the trouble, we may not be in the right place.

Matt 15:1-6 – Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honour his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

What’s more important, tradition or the word of God? Let me give you a minute to think about that….

… yes that’s right! Good answer! The word of God is more important.

Which of course makes me wonder… how come the modern church is really good at keeping alive traditions that exist through man, yet is more than happy to change the word of God? We may have got things backwards.

For the sake of tradition we make the word of God void. Woe betide any church that holds on to tradition and structure yet ignores the truth of the bible. The world has changed it’s mind about a great many things, especially in the area of sexuality and sin. We must not.

If the bible calls something sin – it’s sin.

And tradition…. does it really matter?

What’s the point in a church that keeps lent but promotes sinful lifestyles?

What do you hold fast to? Biblical truth or tradition? There are some things that we do, simply because we’ve always done them. We’ve always got to be open to change those things. But the things we believe because the word of God says so… we must defend until our last breath.

Psalm 12:6 – The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

Purified seven times. Seven is the number of completeness and perfection. Silver is an emblem of purity – there’s no base elements in it, it’s a pure element. So in other words, the words of the Lord are something pure, that has been refined again and again until it’s pureness is totally perfect.

The words of God are perfect. So when this Psalm says that he will guard us forever… you can believe that.