Westminster Calvary Chapel Pastor Jeff Cramer

As we come in Acts 15 Paul & Barnabas had returned to Antioch of Syria from their first missionary trip with excitement & celebration of what God had done. The Church was onboard and things were looking good, but then a crack in the unity erupted. A group of people, some pharisees, wanted to manage the work of God by placing rules around the moving of God’s Spirit. While there’s much to learn in the book of Acts, 85% of this chapter is spent on dealing with the cracks of unity and then another 10% on division between Paul & Barnabas. We read about two major arguments in this chapter; first about God’s grace & second about God’s goals.

The story line is tapering down in Genesis, but healing is still needed in the family among the Patriarchs before the next sequence of history surfaces. Famine is happening, Josephs brothers come to Egypt for food & return home. But Simeon is held in prison until the youngest brother Benjamin is brought back. Their father, Jacob, still back at home is mad at his sons.

As we come to (Acts 14) Paul & Barnabas continue to take the Gospel into remote areas where both Jew & Gentiles lived. But, they kept getting run out of town. Literally each town they visited had some people come to faith, but many others rejected them & stirred up riots which forced Paul & Barnabas out of town. They were forced out of Antioch of Pisidia. Then down to Iconium, and further south and preached at Lystra and into Derbe. There are some who accept the message, but others were skeptical, rejected, and even mocked the message, making ministry very difficult!

Joseph’s is about 39-yrs old in this chapter. He’s had no contact with any of his family since they sold him into slavery. Now he’s married & has two boys. Plus he’s the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt during a famine & people are hungry! So Jacob, Joseph’s dad, sends 10 of his sons to Egypt to buy grain. The journey is about 265-miles from Canaan to Egypt thru a wilderness of desert land. Now Joseph stands face to face with his brothers who betrayed him, but how does he respond?

The mission goes on with Paul & Barnabas making their way to Antioch of Pisidia. Which you and I would recognize in our Bibles as the region of Galatia. The people in this area were known to be impetuous, fickle, and loved new things. Basically, they had a reputation for being uncommitted. The Gospel is spreading rapidly, and people are getting saved!

As we continue to move forward in our study of the Bible we see the bigger purpose of Joseph’s life take shape. Finally, victory comes after more than a decade of difficulty. About 10-years earlier… in (Gen. 37:5)… “Joseph had a dream…” and he told it to his family but they hated him for it! Tonight in chapters 40 and 41 we see three other dreams occur. The butler, baker and Pharaoh each had a significant dream.