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Have you ever had a crazy idea that you needed to be rescued from?

Luke 15:11-13, 20 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.

20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

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Where did you get an idea like that? Maybe you have said those words to somebody or maybe those words have been said to you. Have you ever heard of the guy that sold every pixel of a webpage? He made a million dollars doing it. Crazy ideas can be good as long as they are not morally wrong.

Jesus paints a vivid picture for us in the parable of the prodigal son, he shows us the decisions that we make and what we do and then he shows us how God reacts.

What we do to ourselves:
Approach God with selfishness Approach God with greed We separate ourselves from God We are not good stewards We lose our values We feel ashamed

The craziest idea has to be to walk away from our heavenly Father and think that the grass is greener somewhere else. We all do it, we think that if we choose our own way then things will turn out better, we think that we will have more fill in the blank. Just like a child going at it with his earthly father we do the same thing with God, we usually don't know what's good for us as much as our earthly father and we surely know a lot less than our heavenly father.

What God does for us:
Gives generously Allows us to go Waits anxiously for our return Has compassion Loves us without regrets or a grudge Celebrates our return and restoration

Need to get back home? Don't be afraid to go.

Luke 15:23-24 We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

If you moved away from home, remember that God is waiting with open arms to treat you better than you deserve, he is ready to celebrate your return. There isn't any room for grudges or revenge, the son that stayed home resented the fathers welcome to the prodigal son, he couldn't stand the celebration. We should celebrate the father's merciful attitude, after-all we have all benefited from it.

Was Your God Able To Rescue You?

scripture

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Daniel 6:25 Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:

“Peace and prosperity to you! 26 “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. 27 He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

observation

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Two days ago we were looking at Job, he was a righteous man and had a great relationship with God, today we have Daniel who is probably every bit as righteous before God as Job was. Daniel is known for the lion’s den as well as the time that he spent with King Nebuchadnezzar and stood up for his beliefs. Job and Daniel were both great men of God and yet God worked through them both in very different ways and as Job learned neither should argue with God about their circumstances.

Jealousy is a strong motivator and the men that worked in the office with Daniel could not stand that Daniel was doing a better job than they were and he was still taking time off every day to go home and pray on his lunch break, after the law is signed Daniel continues his routine of prayer three times each day and the king is thrown into a situation where he has to find a way to save Daniel.

It is interesting that the king spent the night fasting and he was likely talking to God during that time, Daniel had obviously had an effect on the king already and now after the Lord saves Daniel the king is persuaded that the God of Daniel is the one true God that has everything under control, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in poverty God is working in the life of his people and their circumstances should not cause them to doubt his love.

application

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Being in God’s will may find you working in a hostile environment with jealous coworkers that are out to get you, it may find you being blessed beyond measure, as long as I am in the center of his will for me then I know that he will provide for me in every situation.

prayer

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Thank you Lord for your never ending love and protection for your people.

Watch Out, Envy Will Sneak Up On You

SCRIPTURE

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Genesis 37:1 Now Jacob was living in the land where his father had made a place for himself, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a boy seventeen years old, was looking after the flock, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph gave their father a bad account of them. 3 Now the love which Israel had for Joseph was greater than his love for all his other children, because he got him when he was an old man: and he had a long coat made for him. 4 And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him.

12 Now his brothers went to keep watch over their father's flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I. 14 And he said to him, Go now, and see if your brothers are well and how the flock is; then come back and give me word. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

19 Saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer. 20 Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams. 21 But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life. 22 Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on; 24 And they took him and put him in the hole: now the hole had no water in it. 25 Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels. 26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood? 27 Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him. 28 And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.

31 Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death, 32 And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not? 33 And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end. 34 Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.

OBSERVATION

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What a family drama! As parents we can all see the danger in being partial to one of your kids.

Jacob had a favorite son and all the other sons knew it, it was so obvious so let’s make it worse and give him a really sharp coat. Let’s make him really stand out so that everybody can see just how special Joe is. Jacob already had a problem in this area, he was partial to his second wife Rachel he really loved her from day one (Gen 29:16-20,30-31) and only took Leah because he was tricked (Gen 29:21-25).

Some lessons in life are hard to learn and we get hung up on the same mistakes over and over. I think that Jacob could have found Celebrate Recovery to be helpful.

Joseph’s brothers were in great danger for their envy almost led to murder but instead God saw to it that Joseph was taken care of. Be careful with envy it is very dangerous; it took Jesus life (Mark 5:9-10).

APPLICATION

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I will always try to treat my “kids”; they are adults now, with fairness and impartially.
Watch out for envy it is very dangerous we must be content.

PRAYER

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Help me Lord to be content with who I am and with what you have given me. Keep me from the evil of envy.