do that great thing you sometimes need to do in airports and sit around and
while away the time well while they saw to do a lot and then I noticed from
where I was sat that it started boarding at a gate I could see so I went over to
it and I queued up and I got to the gate and I showed my passport and boarding
ticket and they waved me on and I went on down down the planes one of those
planes with three seats either side of one of those really awful narrow aisles
you know so you’re walking down like this with your bags trying to get and
because my seat was right at the back of the plane so I got to the back of the
plane no somebody sat in my seat how dare you I’ve had a long week of work
I’m trying to get home what are you doing in my seat and and the lady who
sat there gets out her ticket and we compare tickets and it says the same
seat number on both tickets yeah and then it slowly dawns I’m on the wrong
plane yeah because cuz so my flight had been delayed and I was now standing on
what was the next flight to Manchester whereas my original flight was even
later alas so so so of course I’m right at the end of the plane with my bags
and everybody else is coming down that very narrow aisle so I’ve now got it
excuse me excuse me excuse me go and I get back to work to the gate I come back
through the gate and the lady there says oh I’m so glad you’ve come back I
shouldn’t have let you on airport security brilliant anyway I tell that
story because sometimes we end up in a place where we think we’re in the right
place and we’re not we’re actually need to be somewhere else somewhere different
and as we get to Genesis 46 this morning I’m very I’m kind of intrigued by the
way we’ve reached this chapter over the day we’ve announced moving to multiple
services because I think and I hope you’ll see this with me but there are
some things here to help us navigate what’s going to happen to us as a church
as we move forward from here because we’re now into the ending of Joseph the
Joseph story all right and we’ve all enjoyed it for what seems like months I’m
sure it was just weeks but we’ve all enjoyed it and we’re now focus is
shifting back slightly to Jacob so remember Genesis is about these three
main guys Iberha Abraham Abraham his son Isaac and his son Jacob and focus in the
Joseph story is now shifting back to Jacob and in one sense as we look as
we’ve seen before we’ll look at the human level to the story okay there’s
what’s going on and the characters that are mentioned so so this is the
culmination of Joseph’s story we’ve seen how God’s worked in him we’ve seen how
he went through the whole thing of being thrown into the system by his brothers
being sold into slavery ending up as a slave in Egypt being put in prison
falsely being there for a number of years Pharaoh bringing him out so he’s
coming interpret his dreams and now whoosh he’s number two in the land and
he’s in charge of all the food is in charge of deciding what tariffs to put
on it and he’s got that much power and he’s dishing it out to the people in
Egypt and the people from the nation’s roundabout he is the guy with the power
and we’ve seen all of that and now the story is coming he’s reunited with his
brothers and so he sends from Egypt lots of carts and stuff to go and gather his
dad Jacob the rest of his brothers the whole family and all their livestock and
have them come and move and live with him in Egypt where they can find all the
food they’re gonna need and they can be reunited as a family and so it’s about
Joseph sending to Canaan to gather the whole family and bring them back and you
just think for a moment you know for Jacob he lived the latter part of his
life in Canaan that was that was where he settled that’s where his home was and
that that was the land he knew that God had promised he would give to his people
you know the promises that started off when God spoke to Abraham then Isaac and
Jacob himself had heard about his descendants being as numerous as the
sand on the seashore and God will give him a promised land to live in the land
of Canaan so Jacob thinks I’m here I’m in the promised land of Canaan and now
it looks like he’s going to be uprooted and moved to Egypt you know and there are
a number of you in this room that know what it means to be uprooted from your
homeland and move somewhere else and go somewhere else and there’s a lot of
pain and trauma with that whole thing and it’s a massive deal okay for it to
happen and so you know for Jacob this is the land where his dad’s buried where
his granddad’s buried where his wives are buried this is the land that he’s
lived out for the latter part of his life and now he’s to leave all of that
of course he wants to see Joseph absolutely and that’s why he’s going but
nevertheless he’s got to leave the land of promise in order to achieve that in
order to get there you know and the story like so many of the chapters we’ve
had today are like those movies with subplots you know all the time there’s
the big story that’s going on but then there’s a subplot happening and and
what’s happening with Joseph and Jacob is like a subplot to the big thing
that’s going on you know so one of my favorite films I’m sorry Saving Private
Ryan is about Saving Private Ryan but it’s in the context of a big issue of a
war going on right that’s the big thing so here there’s a big story going on
which is God’s plan and purposes and God’s promises to fulfill those plans
and purposes and underneath that as we look at the story it’s about Jacob and
Joseph but there’s this bigger thing going on this is a story so for Jacob
this becomes a story about letting go of what you thought God was going to do
this is a story about letting go of where you thought God had brought you to
I’m in the promised land this is what God had promised yes but hang on a
minute now he seems to be saying we need to move but how can we move when this is
the place he brought us to and this we know is the promised land and if Jacob
maybe for you and definitely for me sometimes we we build up a picture I
thought God was like this I thought God was going to do this you know and we
build up what we think God is like and what we think he will do and how we
think the Holy Spirit will move based on our experience based on our reading a
scripture and then every so often God comes along and and all his cards fall
down and suddenly we’re thinking oh wait a minute have I got that right I got
that wrong what’s going you know because we settle a bit like Jacob and we think
this is it now this is what it’s like following God and then just when we
think we’ve got it God throws it all up in the air our assumptions our
expectations our security and the and it all starts to land a little bit
different you know for Jacob it’s time to leave Canaan the land that was
promised to him by God and go to Egypt does that mean God has given up on his
plans does that mean God has forgotten his promises you know for Jacob does
that would do will he start to think well hang on a minute if I haven’t got
that right maybe I’ve not got anything about God right ever been there thought
like that and you know answer all these questions would come up because like it
or not we are creatures of habit we don’t like change and yet change is
here to stay right but we don’t like it and we develop our ideas of what God is
like and what he will do and how he will move and then one day whoosh he’s like
he whips the rug out from under our feet oh you don’t do it like that after all
I thought you did God yeah I remember when our kids were going up there was
sometimes lay the table for us for the meal you know and they read it really
neatly and very kind of bizarrely structured you know with the the knife
fork spoon salt pepper napkin drinks glass bottle all very neatly and every
day it was exactly the same and sometimes I used to lose the love to go
to the table and they weren’t looking and do all that and it would freak them
out you know don’t do that don’t do that I’ve laid it all out nice and
neatly and you know it is sometimes it’s like that we get our senses of this is
what God is about we are in the Promised Land now and he loves to come
along and just do all this it’s like some of those Tommy Cooper jokes if you
feel that age and it’s hard isn’t it it’s difficult because you we just we
think we’ve got it and then we realize we haven’t and then we have a big
challenge as we see Jacob does here and Rob what actually God is doing when that
happens is he is leading us into the next part of his plan and our place like
that you know it’s like you made Jesus at the end of his life he’s telling the
disciples I’m gonna die I’m gonna go away and it’s better for you that I do
that and they’re like no Peter’s like no it’s really good Lord that you we’re
having a great time we can how well we’re hanging out together and we’re
loving it don’t don’t leave I’d be really bad and Jesus has to explain to
them that actually it’s better for you that I go because then I will send the
Holy Spirit with you and they don’t get it until after the resurrection right
of course but but it’s like that we build an expectation as we walk with
Jesus well this is good this is comfortable I get it and then suddenly
it changes because he is leading us into the next part of his plan because God
does lead us into big changes right you know for Jacob his whole family is
relocating the removal trucks have arrived from Egypt and he’s piling them
full with all his furniture all his livestock not only his but everything to
do with the whole 66 people of his family that he’s got living there and
all they off go and you can imagine is the the removal trucks set off and he
looks out the window and he thinks that’s Canaan that’s the promised land
and we’re leaving we’re driving away what God what what you do what’s going
on and I just stirred because God is leading us into something new and
exciting and big and different for us as a church we will not function like we
do today and like we have done for the last 20 years on a Sunday morning anymore
from six weeks time as you’ve heard it right it’s gonna be different and if
like me that’s a bit scary it’s a bit unnerving you know what is what do you
mean there’s no drinks after the first service this is a disaster but how are
we gonna do that all possible station how am I gonna stay in touch with my
friends across the church if they go to the other service how what’s the life
group gonna look like if half go to one service and a half go to the other etc
etc and we’ve all got those sort of questions of how is this gonna work
we’ve got a building project a half a million pound building project is gonna
kick off later this year in a building over there that God is taking us into
the community to develop hollow more stuff but at this point in time we don’t
see but it’s a massive venture it’s a huge thing and something we would never
have imagined you know looking back down through the years we’ve been
developing new acts of service in the community the hub church is going from
strength to strength men and women are encountering Jesus for the first time in
their lives and finding their lives being transformed Wow God God is going
to take us deeper into the local community far more than anything we have
ever seen before and we will find ourselves getting involved with things
like gang culture drug culture addiction challenges but at the moment
we haven’t even scratched the surface because the gospel is there to transform
the communities around us and God is going to do that but I tell you it’s
flipping scary all right and you know and also because we are creatures of
comfort and habit we like it here I like my ten o’clock service I can crawl out a
bed at half-past nine and roll down the hill and get there that kind of you know
I like it I know what’s going to happen unless they do that funny thing where
you read the Bible in different languages but which is brilliant by the
way but but I like it I’ve got used to it and that is part of the challenge
isn’t it of getting used to it and so what is happening in this story is that
God is leading Jacob into the next part of his plan of God’s plan and purpose
and and the same I feel for us as a church God is leading us into his plan
and the next part of his plan and purpose for us as a church in this
community here but the question is what do we do when that happens because we do
get scared and we do panic and whatever but in this passage I’ve just splashed
water at me nose that’s gonna look good on camera in it right thank you very
much in this passage in this passage there’s four things that happen two
things that Jacob does and two things that God does that help us navigate
these big changes when they come along and the challenges that they present to
us okay the point number one is Beersheba right okay so in verse 1 we
read in chapter 4 apologies I haven’t read the whole chapter because we’re out
of time but there’s a big chunk of list of names in the middle which you can
read at home but I’m really speaking from the first opening verses verse 1 so
Israel set out with all that was his and when he reached Beersheba he offered
sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac the first thing we need to do is
go to Beersheba and sacrifice what I mean by that and what is happening is
Jacob returned to a familiar but significant place in his life and
worshiped God and surrendered to God and prayed to his God and called on his name
it was it was a physical place for him he went to Beersheba because that was
significant in his family it was here that Abraham had made a treaty with the
Philistines when they argued over who owned a well that was an important issue
for nomadic people looking after animals it was here that Isaac his dad had had
come when they dug three wells he’d taken three wells to dig to find water
that’s another story but that was very relevant to 146 when we were looking at
that and God had appeared to Isaac at that place and spoke to him so Isaac had
built an altar at Beersheba and called on God and it was from here from
Beersheba that Jacob had fled when he stole Esau’s birthright and all the
family thing exploded so it was a significant place in the life of him and
his ancestors and so he worshipped and called on God there but while it was
geographical for him as an actual place for you and I we need to come back to
the cross in these times and worship and sacrifice and surrender and pray and
call on God because you know when we’re saying God I don’t know what you’re
doing come back to the cross God I don’t understand why is this happening
come back to the cross God how is this working out your plan God come back to
the cross it’s interesting it’s Easter week isn’t it and that’s exactly what
we’re going to be doing and concentrating through the week culminating
in next weekend what an opportunity for us to do that as we grapple with
everything that is happening in the world in the church and maybe in your
own life let’s be men and women this week who take seriously the opportunity
to come back to the cross and worship and surrender and sacrifice and call on
God together because the cross is the place where God did not spare his own
son but gave him up for us all the cross is the place where Jesus lay down his
life as a substitute so that God can look on you and I without displeasure
and you and I can look on God without fear the cross is the place where Jesus
rescued us from the hole that wickedness has on our lives the cross is the place
where the sacrifice of Christ changes our standing before this holy God and
the cross is the place where God was reconciled to us through the death of
his son and we are reconciled to him through our surrender to that son it’s
the place where we move from lip service to heart service in saying Jesus is Lord
and it’s the place where God sifts our motives and our desires and see what is
gold and what isn’t so as we face these challenges together as a church and
these new ventures and these big plans that God is moving us into let’s learn
what it is to be men and women who come back to the cross time and again and
worship and call on him and allow him to deal with us and deal with our hearts
that’s the first thing second thing Jacob responds to God’s voice verse 2
and God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said Jacob Jacob here I am he
replied and you know God doesn’t say Jacob Jacob because he doesn’t know
where he is you know it’s not like Jacob Jacob it’s not like he’s calling for his
cat at night at the back door but he knows where Jacob is right but the point
is that Jacob knows he’s got to give his attention to God that’s why he’s calling
him right and and Jacob’s response it isn’t casual it isn’t flippant it isn’t
ignoring God and just saying yeah this is I don’t know if this happens in your
house but you know and can be talking to me and I go yep yep yep and then after a
while she’ll say are you listening to me and I’ll say yeah yeah okay what did I
just say
I’ve got anybody that identifies with that can we get in the corner together
afterwards so that isn’t what is happening here God is saying Jacob Jacob
and Jacob says here I am because Jacob is stopping he’s turning his head to God
he’s focusing on him and giving him his full attention he is listening he is
responding personally to God’s call to him the beautiful thing is God knows you
by name he knows your name Wow he knows your name and he eyeballs you and he
calls your name and when he does that we need to give him our attention we
need to say I’m here Lord I want to listen I want to hear what it is you’ve
got to say because God is gonna say we’re gonna talk about a few things here
son and they’re very important yeah and so the second point is really allowing
God to get our attention we come to the cross number one number two we allow God
to get our attention and we listen and we push aside the distractions and the
stuff that would normally get in the way that’s to that that’s number two
number three and these last two are what God does so what we do we come to the
cross and we give God our attention number three verse three I am God the
God of your father he said I am God the God of your father you see this what I
believe God is saying it’s Jacob what we need to take courage from is that God is
speaking context into what is happening in Jacob’s life right now as he leaves
Canaan and goes off to Egypt and he is pointing out he’s reminding him he is
that God is the God of his father Isaac and therefore the God of his father
Abraham the God of creation the God who has a plan and a purpose that he has
promised to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob and that plan that promise is
being worked out if that’s why when we pray like today for a team going to
Zambia it’s not just about a two-week trip to Zambia because there’s nothing
else to do God is working out his plans and his purposes and the guys in the
team are figuring out what are their role in God’s plans and purposes and it’s
a it’s a context statement I’m the God of your father this isn’t just about you
Jacob and what is happening to you and to your family you see when God saved
you when God rescued you when God plucked you out and pulled you up it
wasn’t just about you but about drawing you and I into something much bigger
than our own lives that he is doing you know and though it may feel like a
massive thing to Jacob to uproot his whole family because actually moving
house is one of the top three most stressful things that we ever do isn’t
it I think that’s right and he’s moving 66 people and all the animals and
everything in all his possessions and although that may feel like a massive
thing there is something much bigger going on here Jacob than just that the
plans and purposes of God are unfolding you see way back in Genesis 15 God spoke
to his granddad to Jacob’s granddad Abraham and chapter 15 verse 12 was the
summer setting Abraham fell into a deep sleep and a thick dreadful darkness came
over him then the Lord said to him know for certain that your descendants will
be strangers in a country not their own and they will be enslaved and mistreated
400 years but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterwards they
will come out with great possessions and what is happening in Jacob and his life
at that point in time is the very beginnings of God fulfilling that word
that he promised to his grandfather so there is something much bigger happening
than just simply Jacob and his family moving and so this is stretching our
eyes of faith to see that yes I’ve called you by name yes I know you
personally but I’ve called you personally to be involved in my plans
and purposes that God is working out in his kingdom that’s why we often talk
about you know if we think about the creation of the world when God spoke and
created everything at this end of a line and then at the other end of the line
Jesus is going to return for a bride that’s made itself ready for the church
that is ready for him when he returns and God is going to wrap up history and
our life is this bit here that’s a context thing that God is in charge
that’s why we sing we will meet him in the air we will be like him because we
will see him as he is you know the suffering that you go through now is a
context thing we will see Jesus as he is and we will be like him that’s where
we’re heading towards and Jesus will return when his bride has made itself
ready and you and I are part of his bride the church is the bride of Christ
and Jesus is making his church ready and he’s caught you and I up in his plan for
that to happen and so as we look at something like oh but I don’t like going
to two services I’ve got lots of questions about it absolutely we need to
see that in the context of what Jesus is doing he’s preparing his bride ready to
come back one day
you see this is a reminder to what God has said and done in and through Abraham
and Isaac and what Jacob is doing is standing on the shoulders of his
ancestors and what you and I are doing are standing on the shoulders of our
church ancestors for the last 2,000 years plus in the nations you represent
and in this nation today and the state of the church of where it’s at the
baton is with us the baton is with you and me every single one of us in this
room God has given us the baton to lead the charge for his church today and we
will hand that on at some point in a minute but but but we have been given
that mantle today and we stand on the shoulders of the people that have gone
before us and press on I think Eugene Peterson said this really is about a
long obedience in the same direction and the trouble for us today is so much of
life it is about changing things all the time about sound bites about being
instantaneous about being superficial about a fad and the Church of Christ
cannot function like that at all because we are called to a long obedience in the
same direction and pursue Jesus through these things God is working out his
plans and his purposes and they trump the circumstances of our lives they do
for Jacob and they do for you and for me and finally the fourth point God
speaks it says do not be afraid and he gives three I will statements which we
just need to take note of that was a note thank you three I will statements
very quickly I will make you into a great nation he reminds Jacob that his
promises remain true that what he spoke to Abraham what he spoke to Isaac and
what he said to Jacob himself still remains true yes you are leaving Canaan
which is the promised land but guess what my promise remains true I will make
you into a great nation their promises of God are not affected by a change in
geography what I have originally said I would do I will do it is still gonna
happen and my plans are not upset by something like this and we need to hear
my plans for God’s plans for our lives are not affected by these types of
things more than that this is how I’m actually going to bring them about
Jacob you move into Egypt just doesn’t disrupt my plans in fact the very
opposite is true you leaving Canaan and going to Egypt is actually me bringing
about my plan and purpose there is no plan B but it’s not like God takes his
plans and puts them on the back burner for 400 years while they go off down to
Egypt and all that stuff happens and then when Moses and Joshua bring them
back to the promised land he picks it up again and gets going no doesn’t happen
like that what is happening in your life and my life right now is absolutely
wrapped up with God’s plans and purposes and we need to begin to see it from that
perspective and start to figure that out and work through it as we cope with a
sea of change with uncertainty with so many questions yes in the world today
yes in the church yes even in our own lives the promises of God remain true
they are yes and amen in Christ Jesus he is the anchor second thing God says I
will go down to Egypt with you wow that’s amazing God is gonna go with you
Jacob this same God who has these promises that he’s holding on to he’s
going with you she this is the difference between giving somebody
directions and taking them there yourself yeah that has a massive impact
on the person you’re talking to if you just try and explain particularly if
there’s a language challenge or or they don’t know the area it’s a huge
difference but God says I’m gonna go with you Jacob that’s amazing there’s all
this upset all this trauma all this effort but God is going with you and as
we face uncertain futures and the challenges that that brings the Word of
God is that he is going with us and he will bring stability in the midst of the
turmoil that is spinning around he is going with us nothing has changed he is
still working out his plans and his purposes and thirdly he says I will
surely bring you back again I smiled because I thought in the context of two
services I don’t think that necessarily means God will bring us back but you
never know if numbers drop we will come back to one service right but but but I
think for Jacob what he’s saying is my word will complete what it set out to do
you will come back to the Promised Land and again there’s up two levels of the
story for Jacob he dies and Joseph arranged for his body to be brought back
to Canaan to be buried with his dad and his granddad where they were but on the
bigger scheme of things God is at work and 400 years later Moses leads the
people out of Egypt and Joshua brings them across the River Jordan back in
to Canaan and back to the Promised Land God’s people will return and the
fulfillment of God’s plans might not happen in our generation Jacob didn’t
see any of this in fact the whole nation of Israel that grew up in Egypt and then
left Egypt didn’t see it they all died in the wilderness and a new generation
of the Promised Land and this is a massive thing because this says to us
what we’re doing here in the church is we’re building for a future that we will
not see how does that sit with you because it’s the complete opposite of
where you normally do life right we’re very preoccupied with what we can see
and rightly so a lot of the time but God is is you is working in our hearts and
in our lives and he is building a church and we’re working with it and to build
something that you and I will not see in our lifetime but maybe our kids will
maybe our grandkids will maybe our great-grandkids will who knows and what
a challenge that is but when we get that and I think believe Jacob understood that
and we’ll see why in a minute is that’s when the shift happens and the
perspective begins to really change in your heart and in my heart because we
want to see his name glorified we want to see his plans come to pass and not
ours and not mine see in Hebrews 12 no Hebrews 11 a great passage of
faith we read about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all these people were still
living by faith when they died they did not receive the things promised they
only saw them unwelcome them from a distance and they admitted that they
were aliens and strangers on earth people who say such things show that
they are looking for a country of their own if they have been thinking of the
country they’d left they would have had opportunity to return instead they were
longing for a better country a heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be
called their God hallelujah for he has prepared a city for them so the shift
happens and we begin to see God this is about you and I want to shift the
priorities in my life and make it more about you Lord because God will surely
fulfill his word amen amen
you