Pastor Tom

Can it get any worse?

September 4, 2016 Tom Boeck, Associate Pastor

Today's text: 1 Corinthians 2:5-12 (NIV)

⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on
God's power.⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom
among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we declare
God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God des-
tined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.⁵ However, as it is written:

"What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived"¹²¹—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

'“these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.¹¹ For
who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within
them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.¹² What we have received is not the spirit
of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Our Upper story this week can probably best be summarized with the expression that despite any obstacles
placed in the way of God's plan. He never failed to fulfill
His____ .

He continued to work all things for good to fulfill His
 to build a and to ______ His people.

Romans 8:28 (NIV) “²⁸ And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose."

God used Joseph in two ways to accomplish his plan:

1) saving these people who would become a nation
from almost certain extinction before it even got started,

2) showing how even in the worst situations, God can
transform events for His plans and by His goodness.

The Lower story will go through the life of,    son of Jacob, grandson of Isaac, and great grandson of
_________ as   he   follows God's will through all of his

trials, only to become the second in command in ancient
______ empire.

Look up: The Story-Page 39. (Genesis 45:4-5) “Then Joseph
said to his brothers, “Come close to me." When they had done
so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into
Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with
yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives
that God sent me ahead of you."

Joseph understood the need to on God, even from his   point.

My story - even in our _______ we must realize that God

Never________ us.

1 Corinthians 2:5-6 (NIV) “⁵so that your faith might not rest
on men's wisdom, but on God's power. ⁶We do, however, speak
a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom
of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to
nothing."

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."

Hebrews 13:5b (NIV) ...be content with what you have,because God has said,

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Hebrews 11:39 (NIV) “These were all commended for their
faith, yet none of them received what had been promised."

2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV) “¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I
delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in  persecutions,

in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."