The Vineyard- August 23, 2015

The Vineyard

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

Genesis 37:1-36

Pray for God to speak to you through the reading of His word. 

Read the passage. 

-          When Dreams Divide

o   Joseph’s brothers are hostile towards him because his dreams foretell him having authority over them.  His dreams disrupt the social order that they have grown accustomed to, but this was the will of God.  Do we sometimes see the dreams of others as a threat to our own plans?  How does God’s will challenge the order that we have created for ourselves?  How do we respond when God’s will forces us to rethink how things should be?

-          The Vicious Cycle of Deception

o   It is hard to imagine that Jacob’s children had never heard the story of how their father obtained the birthright and the blessing as the younger of two sons.  Jacob fools his father, Isaac, with the skins of goats and the clothes of Esau.  In turn, Jacob is deceived by his own sons using the blood of a goat, and Joseph’s coat.  What cycle are we exposing our children to?  Are we exposing them to honesty and fairness, or deception and cunning?  Are we prepared to reap the rewards of the example we set for our children? 

-          The Ultimate Dreamer

o   Joseph is attacked by his brothers because he is a “dreamer.”  There was another dreamer, the ultimate dreamer, who was attacked by the world because he dreamed dreams filled with forgiveness, love, and reconciliation.  Consider the dreams of Jesus, the dreams he died to make a reality.  Like the world, are we hostile to those dreams, are do we work to continue to see them fulfilled? 

Pray that we will be united in the will of God, even when that will challenges our own plans. 

Pray that we will set an example for our children of honest, fairness, and love. 

Pray that we will work for Christ, so that his dreams of reconciliation might be fulfilled.