The Joseph Connection

 

The following is an excerpt from an article by the same title from our website.  As with all of our material, this article is a 'work in process.  changes and additions are made as appropriate.  See the complete article at www.house2life.org.

 

Joseph was sold into slavery.  He had to endure hardship in

order to become fulfilled in his destiny.  His hardship became

his training ground.  He found himself in a foreign land, subject

to unfamiliar customs and culture, and yet prospered under

Yahuweh’s providential hand.  It was in the midst of the

foreign prison that Joseph accepted his responsibility to

become salvation for Egypt and Israel.   I submit to you that

the church (especially in the United States of America) has

been in a prison and is about to be released.   Just as Joseph

was kept in prison by the lies of others, we too have been

bound by the lies of our forefathers (Jeremiah 16:19).  At this

juncture, it would be tempting to bemoan the fact that we

have been in prison.  It is far more productive, however, if we

begin to examine what we are to do with our new found

freedom. 

The church has settled for a religious system that misses the

mark of the ‘high calling’ of our Messiah.  We must repent of

the sins of the past and learn to live responsibly to the freedom

given to us through the blood of Yeshua.  Our houses of

worship must be “seeker-sensitive” only to the degree that the

seeker is looking for eternal life and not simply entertainment. 

Our evangelism methods must move from models that are

concerned with census figures to relationship structures that

are governed by Scripture alone.  Leadership must accept the

challenge to build the Kingdom instead of building their local

congregations.  Now is the time to take the gospel outside the

four walls of the physical buildings and into the marketplaces

of society.  Church leaders must release their people to do the

work of the ministry.

Shalom