Friday, July 29, 2011
Faith, Heaven, and Your Future, Part 20 of 20
TEXT: "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones" (Hebrews 11:22).
IDEA: We must never lose track of where God says our home is.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize how much trusting the promises of God refocuses our lives.
Have you ever wondered how the writers of the Bible read the Bible?
For example, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews read the thirteen chapters in Genesis dealing with the life of Joseph, but singled out one strange incident to demonstrate that Joseph was a person of faith:
Hebrews 11:22 – "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones."
I. What does "he gave instruction about his bones" have to do with faith?
What does the phrase "instruction about his bones" refer to?
Nomadic groups often practiced secondary burial in which survivors transported their skeletal remains to a traditional burial site long after death.
It was also common in the ancient world for people to be embalmed and then for their bones to be saved in a box.
Why is the instruction about his bones given as an evidence of Joseph's faith?
God had made a promise to Abraham and through him to Joseph about Abraham's descendants being given the land of Canaan, Genesis 15:24-26.
Joseph had spent his entire life after age 17 in Egypt, and he died at age 110. Yet in spite of the fact that he lived in luxury in Egypt, he knew that Egypt was not really his home.
Neither misery as a young man nor wealth and position as an older man caused Joseph to forget God's promise to Abraham about where his real home was.
II. Our circumstances should not dampen our hope that what God has promised us will take place.
We should pray, "thy kingdom come," not simply because it's part of the model prayer, but because that is where our faith is focused.
How do financial setbacks or advances sometimes dim that faith?
How does faith in God's promises focus our lives?
John Wesley story, "There is another world."
