NOTE: Before I get into the message this morning I want to share a quick testimony. Last Wednesday I shared a message entitled “Switching Systems” on Today’s Word. Yesterday the Lord had me to preach a message with the same title. The message truly ministered TO me before it ministered THROUGH me and many lives were changed. I feel led to share the message with you.
Here is the link to the video message on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/rickpina/switchingsystems
Here is the link to the video message on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIjAUBaaF_c
Now let’s get into Today’s Word.
* You can watch the video version of this message at https://new.livestream.com/rickpina/live/videos/65889112.
(Gen 42:8 MSG) Joseph knew who they were, but they didn’t know who he was.
This morning we continue our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing with our mini-series entitled, “Grace Based Success (Prosperity)”, by continuing in the story of Joseph. Jacob held on to Benjamin and sent his remaining 10 sons to Egypt to purchase food. The 10 men traveled to Egypt along with people who were coming from all over the region during the famine. By this point Joseph’s God-given plan was in full-swing and he was overseeing the selling of the grain. When Joseph’s brothers arrived in Egypt they were able to meet with Joseph, but they did not know it was him. They treated the Egyptian Prime Minister (Joseph) with honor, bowing down to him. Joseph immediately recognized them, but he chose to have a little fun with his brothers before he revealed himself to them. Joseph spoke to them as strangers and asked, “Where do you come from?” They replied, “From Canaan. We’ve come to buy food.”
Joseph was unrecognizable to them. Now, I am sure some psychologists could attribute this to mental blindness – a condition where the mind blocks out the possibility of something, therefore visually blinding you to its presence, even when it’s right in front of you. Or a super-spiritual person might say that God blinded them from recognizing Joseph, but the text does not lend itself to that interpretation either. I simply believe that Joseph did not look the same way that he looked 20 years earlier. He would have been dressed in fine Egyptian clothing and would have been surrounded by the best that money could buy. Joseph’s brothers left him as a slave and they would have never expected him to be the man in charge of the most precious commodity in this critical time in their lives. What had Joseph done? He had prospered. He had progressed. He had moved forward. He was not the same person he was 20 years earlier and his progression made him different.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
- God expects you to progress as you are incrementally transforms into the image of His Son. God is a God of progression. As you walk with God He leads you through a transformation. ‘Trans’ connotes movement. You should continually be changing. You can either be conformed or transformed (see Rom 12:1,2). When you are conformed you are stagnant, still and you become stale. But when you are transformed you are continually changing, moving, evolving, growing and developing into the person God called you to be.
- It’s a sad commentary for you to remain the same. I go back to Brooklyn from time to time and I sometimes visit by old block. It’s sad but I still find some of the same people, on the same corner, doing the same thing (nothing), 24 years after I left. I easily recognize them, but they sometimes don’t recognize me. I have to identify myself to them because I somehow, to them, look different. Do you know why? Because I’m not the same person I used to be.
- Here’s a key question: are you progressing? Are you the same person you were 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 2 years ago? Let me clarify. I know you are the same person, in a physical sense, but are you the same person spiritually, mentally, emotionally, etc.? Have you progressed or are you still in the same place? God is a God of progression and He expects you to progress as you walk with Him.
- Take self-inventory this morning. We serve a God of progression and not regression or stagnation. The writer of Hebrews said, “By now you should have been teachers, but once again you need to be taught the simplest things about what God has said. You need milk instead of solid food” (5:12). The point being that you should constantly be progressing in God. Progression in God will cause progression in life. The more you die to self and you embrace the grace of God, the more God’s grace will impact every area of your life – your spiritual walk, marriage, career, family, friends, finances, etc.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith. I know You are a God of progression and not regression or stagnation. You don’t want me to backtrack, backslide, or regress. But You also don’t want me to get stagnant, still, or stale. You expect me to continually progress, by continually changing as I walk with You. I submit to the process of change. I die to self. I surrender to You. I pick up my cross daily and I follow You. I release my old ways and I embrace Your grace to become the person I was called to be. My confession is: Every day, every month, and every year, I become more and more like Christ. I am continually being transformed into the very image of Your Son. As I walk with You I allow Your Word to dictate how I think, feel and make decisions. My mind is renewed by Your Word. My soul is aligned with Your will. My character is formed by my experiences with You! Next year I will be further along than this year. The year after that I will be even further. My progress will not come with more trying, it will actually come with more dying. I die to me so that You can live through me. I decrease so that You may increase through me. Every year I progress spiritually and my spiritual progression promotes progress in every area of my life. I am so blessed that people from my past may not initially recognize me, and the change they see in me gives me an opportunity to tell them about Jesus! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
