{"id":336,"date":"2020-06-15T00:09:58","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T00:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/?p=336"},"modified":"2020-06-14T22:10:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T22:10:39","slug":"monday-morning-manna-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/monday-morning-manna-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Manna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, June 15<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday Morning Manna \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh\u2014the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt. Genesis 45:7-8<\/strong><\/p>\n

Currently living through what seems like a tangled web, it was truly an honor to share the good news of God with the church yesterday. Speaking from Genesis 45:1-15, my sermon titled The Providence of God.<\/p>\n

Theologian Louis Berkhof writes \u201cProvidence may be defined as that continued exercise of the divine energy whereby the Creator preserves all his creatures, is operative in all that comes to pass in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

This definition should remind us that nothing happens by chance. Nothing happens except through God and by His divine will. This is exactly what we see when we look at the life of Joseph. The story of Joseph reminds us that God is in control. There are surely difficulties for the child of God during his life. There are also times of indecision and times when we wonder if God is working. However, through Joseph we see the Providence of God. Only God can weave a pattern from the threads of our lives \u2013 including the suffering, heartaches and even our mistakes and make something beautiful. The apostle Paul tells us that \u2018in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose<\/em>\u2019 (Romans 8:28).<\/p>\n

I shared with the church 3 D\u2019s that centered on the life of Joseph. Joseph life began with deception<\/strong>, first his Jacob father the manipulator and then his brothers who aimed to harm him. Then disappointment<\/strong>, as Joseph rose to leadership in Potiphar\u2019s house, his wife got him thrown in jail. However the Providence of God never left Joseph. Even in prison, Joseph comes in contact with Gods Providence. Who goes to prison and suddenly winds up being a warden? The man in charge of the prison soon sees that Joseph is a good man. So he puts him in charge of all the other prisoners. This move now places Joseph in contact with Pharaoh\u2019s cupbearer and his baker. Joseph interprets their dream which leads to him interpreting the dream of Pharaoh and living in the palace. Pharaoh was looking for a wise and experienced person and he recognized that there was no one as qualified as Joseph. Finally deliverance<\/strong>, in the final chapter of Joseph\u2019s life we understand how God set him up to overcome. Through feeding prisoners God was preparing Joseph to feed the nations from the palace.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s providence is, concerned with man, since man is the noblest work of God. God\u2019s providence is not just God\u2019s upholding and directing the world around us, God\u2019s providence concerns you and me, and every human being. God\u2019s providence directs, especially, human events, human history, the life of men and women. Today, I ask you to reflect on the fact that, despite what you see in the physical, God is weaving his purpose for your life. The Providence of God has you covered and will keep you until it\u2019s fully accomplished that which God has set out for you.<\/p>\n

The Providence of God does not always look like what we think. It won\u2019t always match up with our ideals and visions. But it will come to pass. Joseph had grown in wisdom. As a result, he came up with a plan that enabled the people to navigate through a period of great economic recession and turmoil. Many of us face all kinds of economic difficulties at the moment. COVID 19 has disrupted our lives in ways we never thought possible. Yet we find Gods providence in it all. God\u2019s help and wisdom may not always change the situation, but they will help you navigate through the struggles you face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, June 15 Monday Morning Manna \u00a0\u00a0 God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh\u2014the manager of his entire palace and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":337,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions\/337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}