The
Vineyard- October 18th, 2015
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 45:1-28
Pray
for God to speak to you through the reading of His word.
Read
the passage.
-
The Two Sides of the Story
o
Every story has two sides. There is the earthly side, how things appear
to us. But, there is also the heavenly
perspective, how God sees things and uses things to achieve his purposes.
o
Have you ever had an event in your
life that appeared to be nothing but tragedy and suffering, but that God used
to bring about something good?
o
How does remembering that God is in
the business of bringing good out of bad situations help us to keep perspective
in difficult times?
-
The Picture of Reconciliation
o
Joseph is able to give to his
brothers the very thing they took from him, clothing. Have you ever been in a situation to repay
evil with good?
o
Joseph is able to show mercy to his
brothers because he sees what God was able to do through their wickedness. How does seeing the movement of God in things
help us to forgive those who do us harm?
o
A hallmark of reconciliation is when
possessions are used to bless people, rather than people used to gain
possessions. Are there relationships in
your life when possessions have become more important than people?
-
Back from the Dead
o
Joseph
was as good as dead in his brothers’ mind, and in the mind of his father. How do you think seeing Joseph bolstered
their faith?
o
In
Joseph’s life, God used a situation that was characterized by death, to
ultimately preserve life. How is Joseph’s
story a foreshadowing of the life of Christ?
o
How
does Christ’s seeming death bring us life?
Pray for the ability to see the two
sides to events in your life. Don’t
focus only on the earthly perspective, but consider how God might be using the
trials in your life to bring about something good.
Pray for reconciliation in any
relationship that is broken. Ask for
discernment as to how reconciliation might be accomplished, and what will
characterized it.
Praise God for redeeming us and
giving us life through the death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ!
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