Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....December 27, 2021
Terry and I would like to wish all of you a very Hau 'oli Makahiki Hou. May 2022 be 365 days of blessings, love and contentment from our Lord and Savior, Jesus....the Reason for the Season.
This is the final Reflections for 2021...We begin our 12th year of sharing Gods Word with all of you in January. I pray it has been worthwhile for you.
If you feel Reflections can be of some positive nature to someone you know, please have them send me their email and I will add them to our growing list of 4760 Kalikianos, (Hawaiian for "followers of Christ.)
A life changing lesson from Joseph, the Husband of Mary:
The Joseph Principle will change your life TODAY if you let it."But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21
The Bible doesn’t really tell us that much about Joseph, the husband of Mary, the man that would one day become the stepfather of Jesus. Legend has it that he was an elderly widow. Supposedly that explains why he was able to honor Mary’s virginity during the first months of their marriage and why he quietly disappears from the narrative sometime after Jesus becomes a teenager. But the Bible itself doesn’t fill us in on those details.
What we Know about Joseph – The Husband of Mary.
We know Joseph was a descendant of King David. We know that when Jesus was conceived, Mary was engaged to Joseph. We are told that he was a righteous man—an observer of the Law of Moses. We can surmise that he was a kind man, since he was concerned about Mary’s reputation and well-being as well as his own.
We know that Joseph spent time living in Bethlehem, Egypt, and Nazareth. We know he was a carpenter, and we presume that he trained Jesus in that craft. We know he provided for the religious instruction of his family and fully participated in the rituals and pilgrimages of the Jewish faith.
Jesus had Brothers and Sister?
The Bible seems to indicate that Joseph and Mary had other children after Jesus was born. Not everyone agrees on this leading some to conclude, instead, that either Joseph had children by a previous wife, so that Jesus had only half-brothers and half-sisters. Others suggest that Joseph had no children and the brothers and sisters of Jesus to whom the Bible refers are really Jesus’ cousins.
There, that about sums up the facts of Joseph’s life as recorded in the Bible. When plays are written about New Testament stories, Joseph’s name never appears on the marquee. If he shows up at all, he’s always part of the supporting cast.
John The Baptist
When it comes to Advent, John the Baptizer is the leading man. He is the Advent prophet. He is the one who comes to prepare the way of the Lord, and he proclaims a fiery message of repentance. John is flashy. John may not be worthy to untie the sandal of the One who follows him, but he is clearly a central part of the Advent narrative.
When it comes to Advent, Joseph is a peripheral character indeed. He usually isn’t mentioned at all until we get to Jesus’ birth narrative on Christmas Eve. After all, somebody has to lead the donkey that Mary rides into Bethlehem. (Oh, wait a minute, the donkey is a legend, too.) Well, somebody has to find the manger.
Why?
So why am I teaching about Joseph just after Christmas? Let me tell you why. You see, Joseph isn’t flashy. He isn’t the central part of any narrative. He doesn’t proclaim anything. He’s an ordinary guy who’s just doing his best to live an honorable life. A Man who is faithful to his God and his family and respected by his peers.
That’s why. That’s why I am teaching about Joseph. Because, metaphorically speaking, most of us are more likely to find ourselves quietly leading a donkey over an uncertain path, wondering what the future might hold, than standing on a ridge, shouting at sinners. Most of us spend our lives as peripheral characters in the Gospel narrative. Most of us aren’t flashy. Most of us are just ordinary folks doing our best to live honorable lives and trying to be faithful to our God and families, and hopefully respected by our peers.
Joseph’s Example
Besides, at Christmas we all could use a time of preparation and repentance, and it turns out that Joseph’s story has a few things to teach about those very things. Next week We will learn about Joseph and the fact that he was preparing his life for a future that was not what God had in mind for him. We are all like that, more often than not.
Sometimes the future you think you are preparing for is NOT what the Lord has in mind for you. Have you noticed that? Has it happened to you? How should you handle that?
Engaged
When we first hear of Joseph in chapter 1 of Matthew, he is, indeed, preparing. He is preparing to bring Mary home as his wife. He and Mary are engaged. This was a more serious thing in that time and place than it is now. They did not yet live together, but to break off the engagement now would require more than returning rings and canceling the wedding arrangements. It would require a divorce. They did not yet live together, but they were legally bound to one another.
Joseph was preparing a place for Mary to come and live as his wife. If he was an elderly widow, perhaps this entailed rearranging his existing home to accommodate her. If he was a young man, probably this entailed building an additional room onto his parents’ house or perhaps building a new house.
The Future
Joseph was preparing for a future of settling down with Mary to raise children while continuing his carpentry trade in his hometown. He expected his leisure time to be rearranged and he expected his social calendar to be different. Joseph expected to worry a little more when business was slow. He expected to know new joys when his sons someday read Torah before the congregation and his daughters someday gave him grandchildren.
Joseph did not expect to be having dreams full of messages from God Almighty. He did not expect to raise a boy that he did not father. He did not expect to be traipsing around the countryside on the run from Herod’s soldiers.
Joseph did not expect to be responsible for the religious training and upbringing of the Son of God and Redeemer of creation. Can you imagine? How would you like that responsibility?
Prepared
Sometimes the future you think you are preparing for is not what the Lord has in mind for you and sometimes it turns out that you are better prepared for what the Lord has in mind for you than you thought you were, and it’s only in obedience that you find out.
Before Mary turned up pregnant, Joseph had every reason to be confident about his anticipated future. He was a skilled craftsman, known in his community for his righteousness, which certainly included honesty and respectability. He knew the responsibilities ahead of him. They might not always be easy, but they were well-defined, and the community was structured to support him as he carried out his duties as husband and father.
Huge Responsibility
I’m pretty sure that Joseph’s self-confidence was considerably more shaky when he found out that his responsibilities would be a little more complicated. I mean, what does a carpenter know about traveling to foreign lands? What does a small-town craftsman know about outwitting the armies of the king and protecting the most precious baby ever born? What does an ordinary Joe know about raising the Messiah?
The first command Joseph received in his dreams was to go ahead and take Mary as his wife. Did he have the personal resources to live down the public disgrace, the shame of his peers, the rebuke of his family? Apparently, he did. But he only found that out after he obeyed the command.
The second command Joseph received in his dreams was to flee to Egypt with Mary and the child. Did he have what it would take to travel such a long journey with a new mother and an infant? Would he be able to provide for them in a foreign land? Apparently, he did and he would. But he only found that out after he obeyed.
The third command Joseph received in his dreams was to return to Israel. He ended up settling in Galilee to avoid the attention of Herod’s son and it turned out to be a good thing. It was something that fulfilled prophecy. But he only found that out after he obeyed.
What are You Waiting for?
Sometimes it turns out that you are better prepared for what the Lord has in mind for you than you thought you were, and it’s only in obedience that you that find out.
So what are you waiting for? Start obeying God and let Him use you.
Just an Ordinary Joe
Once you understand the Joseph Principle you will have to repent of being too convinced that you are just and ordinary man and have no particularly important part to play in God’s plan for creation.
Joseph was an ordinary guy, from an ordinary family, living in an ordinary town, with an ordinary job. And God chose Joseph to be the earthly father to his Son. God chose Joseph to be provider and protector, teacher and guide for Jesus as he was growing up. God chose Joseph for a supporting-cast role that was tremendously important.
Have you ever been convinced that you are too ordinary for God to use in any particularly important purpose? Have you ever doubted the influence that you have on your children or your friends? You never know, your influence might be key in shaping someone for God’s purpose for them. Have you ever reached out to someone in need, someone you didn’t know and you never saw again, and then doubted that it really made any difference in the long run? You never know, that one conversation, that one experience of compassion from a stranger might turn out to be a turning point in that person’s personal journey. Or, it might turn out to be a turning point in yours.
Plan it out
Once you get the Joseph Principle, you will have to repent of being too convinced that you are just an ordinary man and have no particularly important part to play in God’s plan for creation. And then you will have to repent of having your life too well-planned. Planning is a good thing. Goal-setting is a good thing. But if our own plans begin to stand in the way of God’s plans for us, then we have begun to move from prudence and responsibility to idolatry.
Joseph was in the midst of planning for the future he expected when God confronted him with a future he did not expect. Joseph’s plans had to be laid aside. Long-term planning gave way to living year-by-year, day-by-day according to God’s grace and guidance, never quite knowing what danger to his family might come next.
Yes, sometimes you will have to repent of having your life too well-planned.
We have always done it like this!
When you understand the Joseph Principle, you will be confronted with the surprising actions of God. And when that happens, you will have to repent of doing things the way they have always been done and thinking that faithfulness to God and family is always obvious.
You see, when Joseph found out that the woman betrothed to himwas expecting a child, Joseph knew the right thing to do. He was a righteous man, after all, and a kind one. He knew that the right thing to do was to divorce Mary, and to do it quietly so that he might not add to the attention and shame that she was already experiencing. Joseph knew the law. Surely this was the right thing to do to be faithful to his God and to his family.Well, in this case, it wasn’t. In this case, Joseph found out that being faithful to God meant doing something entirely different from what at first seemed obviously right.
The Right Thing to Do
Once you get the Joseph Principle you will have to repent of being too careful in being proper and thinking that gaining the respect of your peers is always a natural consequence of faithfulness to God.
Again, Joseph knew the right thing to do, the proper thing to do, the thing which would maintain his good standing in the eyes of his community. But Joseph was wrong. In this case, it turned out that faithfulness to God required Joseph to violate the customs of his culture. In this case, faithfulness to God required acting against conventional propriety and risking the loss of the respect of his peers.
I Don’t Think So!
Finally, when you get the Joseph Principle, you will have to repent of having perfectly reasonable expectations that are too low.
Joseph didn’t expect anything particularly out of the ordinary to happen in his life. He was familiar with the circumstances of his life. It was perfectly reasonable for him to expect to get married, settle down, have children, work hard in his craft, and grow old in the same town in which he grew up. It is likely that that is what his father did, and his father before him, and his father before him. Perfectly reasonable.
But God had other plans. Plans which were utterly unimaginable and beyond any reasonable expectation. God had plans that were downright impossible! Plans that called for a small-town carpenter to leave everything he had ever known to care for and protect a newborn baby with an earth-shattering mission.
Sometimes we have to repent of perfectly reasonable expectations that are too low. God has a plan and a purpose for you. Are you ready for it? God’s destiny for your life is at your fingertips. Just follow Joseph’s lead and amazing things will happen in your life and in the life of those around you.
Praise to the God who is able to do far more than all we can ask or imagine. Amen.
I love you all:)
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
As most of you know, I am a voracious reader. My Mom taught me that knowledge is the beginning of success so I have been a reader for many years. I wanted to suggest that you begin the new year of 2022 with a promise to yourself that you will read more this year. As a Christian, I have found this to be true....If you’re a new believer or a veteran of the faith, here are 3 great books that every Christian should read.
The Bible
First of all, the Bible is “the” Book, so you must begin reading God’s Word more than any other book, so don’t start reading any of these books until you’ve first read or started reading and studying your Bible. These other books are supplemental, but they are also helpful and meaningful to your faith, so get grounded in the Word of God on a daily basis. Only after doing this should you begin your reading journey with these fine books, and believe me, it is a journey worth taking. Sadly, most people spend more time in Facebook than time in “the” Book (the Bible). If that’s the case, you’re slowly deteriorating in your daily walk with God and suffering from spiritual nutrition from a lack of the Bread of Life and dying of thirst from a lack of the Living Water (Jesus). There is no book ever written that has or will ever surpass the Bible. That’s because this book wasn’t written by men (2 Tim 3:16). It is the Book of the Ages about the Rock of Ages. Start here and everything else you read should be supplemental to reading the Bible.
The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
The Pilgrim’s Progress should be the first book a new believer reads because they will quickly learn to identify with the story’s main character (Christian). This famous story is about a man’s progress through life in search of salvation, and even today, it remains one of the most entertaining allegories of faith ever written. And it is just what believers go through; young and old. The book is set against realistic backdrops of town and country, intermingled with the powerful drama of the pilgrim’s trials and temptations, many of which we have in common. This story follows him in his harrowing journey to the Celestial City…a journey that runs along a road filled with monsters and spiritual terrors. “Christian” (the main character) confronts such emblematic characters as Giant Despair (I’ve met him!), Worldly Wiseman (seen a few of these), but he also meets Talkative, Ignorance, and the demons of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But thankfully, he is also joined by Hopeful and Faithful, which tends to give him hope about the journey and the future. That’s why The Pilgrim’s Progress should be on every Christian’s bookshelf.
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
This brilliant author has written one of the most popular introductions to Christian faith ever written which is why Mere Christianity has sold millions of copies worldwide. The book brings together C. S. Lewis’ legendary broadcast talks of the war years into one document in order to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times. Clearly, C.S. Lewis rejects the boundaries that divide many of Christianity’s denominations, like they still do today. In this book, C.S. Lewis provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith. This is a book that strengthens the Christian’s faith and reinforces the essentials that we must all believe in if we are to call ourselves Christians. It’s basically a collection of Lewis’ scintillating brilliance that is still strikingly fresh as if it were written today.
The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer
If you want to know God better…if you want to know more about the attributes of God…and if you want to know more about God’s holiness, then this book is a must read. The brilliant work of author, teacher, and scholar A. W. Tozer, who himself was a great man of God, and Tozer desired that believers know more about our great and awesome God so we would give Him more glory and stand more in awe of Him. He is so amazing that many of us have no idea about the many attributes that God has, which is why the author explores the attributes of God and he does so by using words that fly straight to the heart. The Attributes of God is a superb aid designed to strengthen and deepen your spiritual life, which is why each chapter begins with a prayer. In these prayers, Tozer lucidly discusses a divine aspect–from God’s infinity to God’s love–and relates that aspect to today’s world, and doing so while pointing out God’s wonder and inscrutability.
Conclusion
I want to add a little more about the author A. W. Tozer because in his book he correctly identifies the cause of many of our modern spiritual woes, and the majority of that loss is in today’s church who no longer hold to a lofty concept of God. When we hold a high view of God and of the Word of God, we are brought to humility and stand in amazement at the awesome nature and attributes of God. A. W. Tozer rightly sums up just how important our view of God is, saying, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Why would he say that? It’s because if we have a “small” view of God in our minds, we’ll hold a small view of God in our lives. Our God will not be all He is cracked up to be and we will hold Him less worth to be praised and worshipped.
The more we know about God, the higher view we’ll have of God, and that will make our worship of Him more meaningful. The more you know about God, the more you see just how short we fall of His glory (Rom 3:10-12, 23). A. W. Tozer wrote, “The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.”
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Is it a Good Idea to Use the Bible When I Pray?
We have already mentioned how important communication is to any relationship. To have a healthy relationship with God, we need to have healthy communication with him. The Bible is a part of this communication with God; it is God speaking to us. The God-given means for our communicating with him is prayer. So Bible reading and prayer should go together: God speaks to us through his written Word, and we respond through prayer. In fact, we are commanded in Scripture to pray (Philippians 4:6), and more than that, to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 nasb). This is because God knows how vital prayer is to our spiritual health.
Because prayer is so important, God has provided models for prayer in the Bible. The most obvious and best known is the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:1–4. The latter reference is Jesus’ direct response to his disciples’ request that he teach them to pray. So I would certainly recommend this prayer model to you, but since it is covered so well in so many other sources, I would like to draw your attention to a few other prayers in the Bible that are also worth imitating.
One example that might not immediately seem like a model for prayer is found in Genesis 32:22–32. This passage tells about a strange event in the life of Jacob in which he finds himself wrestling with a mysterious person late at night. This person demands to be let go, but Jacob says, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (v. 26). In response, the man changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Why? “Because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome” (v. 28). Israel means “he struggles with God,” or essentially, “God-wrestler.” It turns out that Jacob was wrestling with none other than God himself, which he indicates by naming the location Peniel, which means “I saw God face-to-face” (v. 30). But also note that God granted Jacob’s request for a blessing (v. 29). I believe this is a model for prayer in the sense that God wants us to come into his presence (now, through Jesus Christ), “wrestle” with him in faith, and seek his blessing. God desires this because he loves us and wants the best for us, and the best certainly includes his blessing. God is honored by this because it is our way of acknowledging that he alone is the source of highest blessing, and that we will not settle for anything less. The prayer of Jabez, in 1 Chronicles 4:10, is another illustration of this.
Moses provides two more models that show us how to use the Bible in our prayers. The first is in Exodus 32:11–13. God had just told Moses that he intended to judge Israel because they were worshiping the golden calf idol. Moses prayed that God would forgive them. In the prayer, Moses said, “Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel [Jacob’s new name], to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever’ ” (v. 13). Of course God had not forgotten his promise, but the important thing is that Moses had not forgotten God’s promise either. The promise to which Moses appeals is the Abrahamic covenant. Moses was “wrestling” with God on behalf of the people of Israel and making a request of God based upon God’s own promises. Our lesson is that we, too, should pray based upon the promises of God. Where do we find those promises? In the Bible. So know what God has promised you in the Bible and then ask him to do what he has already promised. God doesn’t need reminders, but it is important for us to know and remember God’s promises and base our prayer requests on them.
The second example from Moses is in Numbers 14:13–19. The situation is the same: God planned to judge his rebellious people. Again, Moses wrestled with God on their behalf. Note the basis for Moses’ request for forgiveness this time: “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people” (vv. 17–19). The request is based now upon God’s own character, specifically his love. Moses even quoted God’s own description of himself back to God—“The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving” (Numbers 14:18). Moses’ request boils down to “God, forgive your people because you are a forgiving God.” The lesson here is to pray prayers based on the character of God. Where do we find this? In the Bible. So know who God is from the Bible and make your prayer requests in keeping with his character.
A few other great models for prayer in Scripture include Ezra’s prayer in Ezra 9:5–15; Nehemiah’s prayers in Nehemiah 1:4–11; the Levites’ prayer in Nehemiah 9:5–38; and Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9:3–19. Observe how they worship God in prayer. This is important because it reminds us of our great God and that we can have confidence in him as we bring our requests to him. Also observe their humility and confession of sin. This should remind us of our sinfulness, weakness, and need. That is why we are coming to God in prayer. These together illustrate the proper perspective we should have in prayer toward God and ourselves. Study Paul’s prayers in 1 Thessalonians 3:11–13; Ephesians 1:15–19; and Colossians 1:9–14. Observe what Paul prays for, and pray for the same kinds of things. Finally, use the psalms, which are great models for prayer. Relate to and identify with the emotions evident in the psalms—from praise, exultation, joy, and thankfulness, all the way to anger, frustration, sorrow, fear, loneliness, and humiliation. All our emotions can be found here. Then make these psalms your own. Let them help you express your own emotions in humble, trusting honesty to God, for the sake of a healthy relationship with him.
God delights in his own Word, and therefore he also delights when we use his Word in our prayers.
It is significant that Jesus prayed so much, sometimes for an entire night (Luke 6:12). Why? After all, he himself is God. A part of the answer is that he is also human. In his humanity, he has modeled for us our need of God and therefore our need of prayer
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou