SPECIAL EVENTS-EMPHASIS: Pray for Capt. Paul Houk in 3rd service before sermon (he’s being deploymed).

SERMON STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. What promises of God are you still waiting on?

2. What signs/symbols of this promise has He given you?

3. GOD’S DESIRE FOR YOUà HIS DESIGN IN YOUà YOUR DELIGHT John 10:10

4. BLEND; Personality (abilities), Passions (interests) and Productivity (successes) FOR a better “fit,” for better “fruit.” Where the 3Ps intersect is your sweet spot. What is your “sweet spot”? Why aren’t you working in it?

5. List some reasons why God would care about your work, your happiness there, how it enables you to provide for your family, and meet the needs of others.

I.  I loved western movies or TV when I was a kid. Anything Western. My uncle loved to tell the story of me at Christmas with my new double-holstered Fanner 50s marching around my grandmother’s living room in front of all the relatives when I was about five. They’d yell “draw Deadeye.” I’d slap leather (literally) because they’d lifted the guns out without my notice. I got a little upset I’m told. [PROJECT CLINT EASTWOOD AND ME W/FANNER 50s]

     A.  As you remember the old westerns pointed out, cattlemen and sheepmen never got along well due to difference in grazing procedures and lifestyle. They never-ending olfactory issues: “I can’t stand your sheep smell!” “Get your stinkin’ cattle off my land.” I’ve been around both and neither has any bragging rights.

     B.  Egyptians invested a lot in their cattle (47:6). Records indicate they were into fairly sophisticated cattle breeding way back then.

     C.  Joseph tells Pharaoh his brothers work is tending livestock AND some sheep (46:32). If he tells him they are just shepherds that may end the deal. Egyptian thought sheep stank and shepherds were unclean.

     D.  Even though Joseph coached them to stress their livestock i.e. L-I-V-E-S-T…CATTLE experience (46:33-34a), they simply said they were shepherds when Pharaoh put it squarely to them (47:3-4. Note they didn’t have long-range plans to stay in Egypt).

II.  Then Joseph brought his father who blessed Pharaoh. As one commentator put it: “The Lord of Nowhere blesses the Lord of Everywhere.”

     A.  How could Jacob walk confidently into Pharaoh’s presence? Because he knew he was the Lord of a vast land…BY FAITH. This had been promised by God, but was FAR from being delivered. He saw it through the eyes of faith? Q: Any promises from God you’re waiting on?

          1.  Because Jacob bought a little burial cave back in the PL, and made his sons promise to bury him there. This small cave was to serve as a down payment on the promise of God, that he would one day own a vast country and populate a nation. The cave is a tangible symbol/sign of this promise coming true? Has God given you any tangible signs/symbols of that promise you’re waiting on; that you only see with eyes of faith? Let those help you build up eyes of faith (35:11-12). Just because you cling to those signs does NOT mean you’re walking by sight/flesh.

          2.  God knows when we need signs/symbols/down payments. Jacob wanted his sons to actually SEE this cave to keep them going when slavery would threaten to destroy them as a nation and make them lose hope: “Don’t lose hope. God has promised. Here’s His downpayment. Lay your eyes on it. Remember it” (47:28-31).

          3.  God wants to sharpen your eyes of faith. To help us He often gives us little signs along the way bec He loves us.

     B.  Jacob is growing in faith, but he’s still not where he should be. He still tends to see on the horizontal/sight level (vs. vertical, 47:9-10).

III.  Joseph has distinguished himself in his work and character so well that his brothers get benefits just from being related: if Joseph is that good, then his brothers can’t be too shabby (47:6). Ever ridden a brother’s coattails?

     A.  Even though he taxes the Egyptians deeply, he does enable them to live and to provide for their families, when the alternative was surely starvation. He’s NOT lining his own pockets (Pharaoh’s). He manages to do it in a way that enables them to keep their dignity and 80% for themselves as a means of digging out of the hole they were in, enabling them to eventually buy their land back (v. 23-24).

     B.  For this they are grateful (v. 25).

     C.  Joseph was a gifted administrator. It was how God wired him. And when he operated according to God’s design he saved the world. One of the best way to know God’s DESIRE for your life is to look at God’s DESIGN in your life. How has he wired you?

V.  Max Lucado has just completed a book entitled Cure For The Common Life: Operating Out Of Your Sweet Spot.

     A.  Ever hit a baseball so it springs off your bat like Albert Bell’s corked model? Ever go up for a dunk and you just kept going up and up? That happened to me a couple of evenings ago…then I woke up. I also have golfing dreams, more like nightmares. Athletes talk about hitting the sweet spot, being in the zone. What a feeling!

          1.  Yet how many of you experience that feeling when you work or volunteer? How about school? Most don’t believe that’s even possible, believing work is something they endure so they can play at night or on the weekends.

          2.  Instead of living in the moment, they’re always watching the clock for their work to end, wishing about 2/3 of their waking hours away (work). Instead of living the abundant life that Jesus promised, they think that’s only possible after the majority of their day is done. They’re enduring, surviving vs living the abundant life (Jn 10:10).

     B.  Max, who has had a title bearing his name on the Christian Book Association hardcover bestseller list every month for more than a decade, whose sold over 40 million books, and has been dubbed by Reader’s Digest as “American’s Best Preacher” tells that 1 of 3 Americans say they hate their jobs. 80% say they’re unequipped and unenthused about their jobs. From those stats he surmises that only about 30% of us are working in our “sweet spots.”

     C.  Work is so important. Remember, before God gave Adam a partner or pants, before sin messed everything up, He gave him a job, tending (lovingly) the garden (Gen. 2:15).

.  For the Christian another key beyond the 3Ps to finding your sweet spot is knowing the big “who” and “why” we work, we work “as unto the Lord, knowing…” (Col. 3:23). Do you KNOW HIM [GOSPEL]?

VI.  Do you know WHY we work? To please Him and to meet the God-given needs of others. In the process, we are fulfilled and blessed, with more than just a paycheckà (Jn 10:10).

     A.  So many aren’t in their sweet spots because they took a job not believing they had options. They felt locked in for some reason--money, marriage, time, talent, etc.

     B.  Somebody told them what to be/do, or told them they could be anything they wanted IF they were willing to work hard enough. Now I’m all for hard work and attitude, but that’s just a platitude. No matter how hard I work, I could have never been a professional basketball player. I may’ve wanted to and been willing to work super hard, but it was NOT to be. I would never have been a successful engineer, unless it was the kind that goes “choo choo.” I can do a little home repair stuff. My home: where caulk is king. You can talk the talk, but I can caulk the caulk. You wouldn’t want me balancing your books. I can work on your car--IF you’re getting it ready for the salvage yard.

     C.  If we try to be anybody other than who God made us, we will not experience (Jn 10:10 P ). Parents, can you release your children to God and to God’s career for them? I know parents who thought that a missionary career was great as long as it was someone else’s kid that was called, or it was to someplace close and safe. That’s just one reason I admire Aufrances and Mitchells and assorted others who’ve released their children to God’s design in their lives.

     D.  We forget that God made us for a purpose and that purpose is designed into our personality (abilities), passions (interests) and productivity (successes). The better the “fit,” the better the “fruit.” Where these intersect is your sweet spot.

     F.  Some of you wonder how you can parlay your skill at video games or watching movies into a job. But break that down: why are you so good at those? You have great eye hand coordination. You love storytelling, and analyzing plots. You’re a strategist and you think logically. That shows how God has designed you; and His design reveals His desire for you. And as you work out of God’s design in your life that leads to DELIGHT.

VII.  SO WHAT? This all ties in with our GC and (Jn 10:10). People Management Inc. a group Lucado joined up with that helps people analyze God’s design in their lives shows that only about 1% of the workforce has ever really analyzed their unique God-given design/abilities. That’s huge!

     A.  I’ve always enjoyed reading and studying. I’ve always enjoyed talking and teaching people things. I enjoy helping people be all they can be; all Jesus meant them to be. It’s not a far stretch to figure how God opened doors to land me in the pastorate. My son has for years asked me how to get a job where you sit in front of a computer or talk to people all day. I say it’s great work if you can get it.

          1.  It’s not great work, it’s THE BEST work for me, because it’s what God designed me to do.

          2.  Some people need closure at the end of the day, the shop all neat, everything in its place, no phone ringing when they go home. They would go nuts in the ministry and I would do the same in their shoes. God has wired us all different. It’s His design; it’s His desire. Intersect those and you have delight for us; our sweet spot.

     B.  One of two requirements for the Jewish father was to teach their sons a trade (the other was to know God’s Law). They mainly did this by spending TIME with their sons talking with them, working with them, watching how they were DESIGNED by God. That’s what (Dt 6) is talking about.

          1.  What does that attention to detail show in your five year old? What does that never-ending barrage of words and stories show you about your daughter?

          2.  Knowing God has designed them for a special purpose helps those who feel they don’t have much to offer: “The Spirit has given EACH one of us a special way of serving others” (I Cor. 12:7 CEV; Psa. 138:8-139:1 NIV).

     C.  Knowing God’s design for our lives also helps us focus, know when to say no, where to set boundaries, when to rest. “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us…” (2 Cor. 10:13 NLT). Do you know His design & therefore His desire? B.I. Altar call.