Episodes
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
Judah Grows Up | Genesis 43:1-10 | J. Allen Mashburn
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
It has been a while since we looked in on Joseph and his family. If you will remember the story, you know that Joseph’s brothers sold him in to Egyptian slavery, and they told their father that he was dead. As far as they were concerned, Joseph was dead! They went on with their lives as though they would never see their brother again, because they never expected to!
God had other plans! While they are living their lives in Canaan, God is working in Egypt! While Jacob’s heart is broken through mourning Joseph, God is working in Egypt.
Down in Egypt, Joseph is sold as a slave. He works for a man named Potiphar, who is Pharaoh’s chief executioner. Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph, but he rebuffs her advances. She lies to her husband telling him that Joseph tried to rape her. Potiphar has Joseph thrown into prison. After a number of years, Joseph is brought to Pharaoh’s attention. God uses Joseph to help Pharaoh, and to make a long story short, Joseph is taken out of the prison and made the Prime Minister of Egypt.
A famine arises in the land, but Joseph has developed a plan to store us grain for the lean years ahead. When the famine comes, it affects all the countries of the countries of the earth, even the land of Canaan, where Joseph’s brothers and father dwell.
Joseph’s brothers make a trip to Egypt to but grain to eat and they meet the brother they sold as a slave some 20 years before. He recognizes them, but they do not recognize him. God uses Joseph to awaken the dead consciences of his brothers. Joseph wants them to think about what they have done, so he accuses them of being spies and throws Simeon into prison until the other brothers return home and get their youngest brother Benjamin. They told Joseph about him and Joseph uses this as a tool to get them to return with his brother.
The brothers return home with their grain, but no Simeon. Jacob again grieves and refuses to allow the boys to take Benjamin back with them into Egypt.
After a while, the grain runs out and they are forced to get more. That is where our text begins today.
In this passage, we see a discussion between Judah the fourth oldest of Jacob’s sons and Jacob himself. In this conversation, Judah is trying to convince his father that they have no choice but to return to Egypt, with Benjamin, to get grain. Otherwise, they will all starve to death. That is the gist of what is taking place here. But, as is so often true in the Bible, there is more here than meets the eye.
What we see in these verses is a rebellious man demonstrating the fact that he is beginning to grow us. What we see in these verses is how God used the events of Judah’s life to bring him to maturity. God uses these events to shape Judah into the leader he will one day become.
Sunday Apr 09, 2023
A Morning Like No Other | Luke 24:1-12; 36-48 | J. Allen Mashburn
Sunday Apr 09, 2023
Sunday Apr 09, 2023
Our Bibles are filled with statements about the morning. We are told that our Savior prayed early in the morning. Joshua, in the Old Testament, is pictured as a man who rose up early in the morning. Think of that morning in Gen. 22 when Abraham rose up early and took Isaac to Mt. Moriah to sacrifice him. What a morning it was for Jacob when he awakened from sleep in the morning and set up a pillar of stones in honor of God at Bethel. It must have been a glorious morning for Daniel when the first rays of sunshine lit up the city of Babylon after that night in the lions den. Imagine how beautiful was the morning for the disciples after they spent that terrible night on the Sea of Galilee in that storm. Yes, all of these were great mornings. However none of them can compare to the morning that is discussed in the passage we have read this morning.
I would like for us to spend some time today looking at that great morning when our Lord, Jesus Christ, conquered death, Hell and the grave forever. There has never been a morning like that before, nor shall there ever be one like it hereafter. Oh what a morning it was when Jesus rose again! Oh what a morning it was when He pulled the stinger from death and gave life eternal to all those who will place their faith in Him. Oh, what a morning that was! Now, please understand that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus has effects that reach down to this very day. You see: HE IS ALIVE this morning! Please join me for a few minutes as we journey through these verses and think on the thought: Oh, What A Morning!
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
Resurrection of a Seared Conscience | Genesis 41:54-42:8 | J. Allen Mashburn
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
Some 21 years have passed since Joseph was sold by his own brothers into slavery. Much has happened in Joseph’s life since that time.
There have been many valleys and trials. There have been many mountain tops and victories as well. The boy has become a man. The slave has become Prime Minister.
The passage we have before us today allows us to see many of the events of this man’s life come full circle. Joseph sees his brothers again after 21 years. The last time they met, Joseph was the one at a disadvantage. His brother treated him roughly and cast him into a pit.
This time, the shoe is on the other foot! This time, they are treated roughly and they are thrown into prison.
When Joseph’s brothers see him after all that time, they do not recognize him. Joseph, however, recognizes them. God uses this encounter to work in the lives of these ten brothers of Joseph. God uses these events to resurrect the conscience they silenced many years ago.
Today, I want to take this passage and preach a message I am calling Resurrecting A Dead Conscience. I want us to learn what the conscience is, want it does, and how it can be protected. I want to show you, from these verses, How The Conscience Is Seared; How The Conscience Is Stirred and finally, How The Conscience Is Saved.
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Joseph’s Gentile Bride | Genesis 41:45-57 | J. Allen Mashburn
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Friday Mar 24, 2023
The life of Joseph is an amazing story of the providence and power of Almighty God. The Bible tells us of the favorite son of Jacob as he is betrayed by his own brothers and sold into slavery. As a slave, Joseph demonstrates a godly testimony in the face of tragedy and temptation. Then Joseph is falsely accused of a crime and thrown into prison. Even in that Egyptian prison, Joseph displays a clear, consistent testimony of faith.
As Joseph languishes in that prison, up in the palace, Pharaoh has a dream he could not interpret. Joseph is remembered and released from the prison. He interprets Pharaoh’s dream and Pharaoh elevates Joseph.
He removes him from the prison and makes him Prime Minister of Egypt. When we arrive at our text, Joseph has just been exalted to a position of great power and authority. He has been given Pharaoh’s ring. He has been dressed in the finest cloths in the land. He has been given an expensive gold chain. Everywhere he goes; the Egyptian people bow before Joseph and honor him for his position and his power. The slave has become a sovereign ruler, and all this took place in his life because of the Unseen Hand of divine providence.
Our text tells us that immediately after Joseph was exalted to his new position he was given a bride. Soon after that a family was born to Joseph there in Egypt.
I want to take our time today to consider Joseph’s Gentile Bride. In the woman that was given to Joseph I see a wonderful picture of the Bride of Christ.
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
From the Prison to the Palace | Genesis 41:1-44 | J. Allen Mashburn
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
When we last saw Joseph, he was languishing in an Egyptian prison. He was in prison, but he had broken no laws. He was in prison because he had done the right thing and honored God in his life. He was in the prison because he had refused the advances of a wicked woman.
When we last saw Joseph, he was in a place of hardship, but he was still faithfully serving the Lord. He was a man who had his priorities in order. Wherever Joseph was, he could be counted on to be faithful.
When we last saw Joseph, he was waiting for a visit from the outside. In 40:9-13, Joseph had interested a dream from Pharaoh’s chief butler. When Joseph told the butler the interpretation of his dream, he asked for the butler’s help in securing his release from prison, 40:14-15. But, when the butler was released from prison, he immediately forgot all about Joseph, 40:23.
In our text today, we are going to watch as Joseph is delivered from the prison and promoted to the palace. We are going to see the unseen hand of God at work in this man’s life. We are also going to see that what the Lord did for Joseph, He can do for you and me.
He knows where we are, and in His time, He knows how to bring us out of our prisons and place us in the palace.
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
The Power of a Faithful Life | Genesis 39:7-23 | J. Allen Mashburn
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Sunday Mar 05, 2023
In this passage, we are allowed to see the faithfulness of Joseph very clearly. He remains faithful to His God, and to himself, in the face of some problems that would cause many others to fail.
Of course, there is a word here for our lives today. As we pass through this life many situations will arise that have the potential to throw us off course. The world, the flesh and the devil will all conspire to get us to quit on God. They will do everything in their power to cause us to drop out or to fall far short of our potential.
God wants us to be faithful. He wants us to stay the course and run the race for His glory until He calls us home. Joseph teaches us how to be faithful in spite of what we may face in this life.
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
The Lord Was With Joseph | Genesis 37:36; 39:1-6 | J. Allen Mashburn
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
Joseph has been betrayed by his own brothers and sold as a slave. Joseph had been sold to some Ishmaelite merchants for less than $100.00. His brothers sold him for the price of a crippled slave! The Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt and put him up for sale in that land.
Try to put yourself in Joseph’s shoes for a moment. You are seventeen years old. You are the favored son in a family of twelve sons. Your father had chosen you to be the head of the family and he had given you a beautiful robe to symbolize this fact. You are on the path to power, influence and prominence in your family.
Then, in a moment of time, everything is gone. You are stripped of your coat. You are betrayed by people who should have loved you. You are separated from your father. You are sold as a slave and carried off into a strange land. Imagine the humility of being examined and sold in a slave auction. Imagine the lies Satan must have told him.
In many ways, you are just a simple country boy from an unsophisticated family, and you find yourself transported to the capital city of the most advanced nation on the earth.
Imagine how Joseph must have felt as the camels crested the last hill and the wonders of ancient Egypt spread out before him on the planes of Giza. The great pyramids would have been standing in Joseph’s day. In fact, they would have been over a thousand years old when his great-grandfather Abraham visited that land many years before. Joseph would have seen the Sphinx, the great Egyptian temples and the opulent palaces of the Pharaoh and his people. It must have been a great culture shock to this young man from the country.
On the surface it seemed that circumstances could not have been worse for young Joseph. In truth, those difficult days were mere stepping stones along the path to greater glory.
Sunday Feb 19, 2023
Surviving Giant Country | I Samuel 17:32-40 | J. Allen Mashburn
Sunday Feb 19, 2023
Sunday Feb 19, 2023
Part of God’s training plan for David involved God placing the young man in some difficult situations. In those difficult times, David learned to trust the Lord and walk in the power of God, not the power of the flesh. David learned the lessons necessary to survive life, and not just to survive, but to thrive in life. We see David in one of the most desperate times of his life in these verses. Here, David trusts God for some big things, and in return, he sees God do the miraculous.