Last night was a great night for Sunset Chapel Youth!
We talked about Joseph and how he was abandoned by his brothers from Genesis 37:19-28. Joseph did what he was asked to by his dad, Jacob. He set out looking for his 11 brothers. Then his brothers ambushed him and through him in a cistern. Not only that, but they sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the first person who came by. 20 shekels of silver is the equivalent to about $110.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be beat up, thrown in a cistern, and sold in to slavery because you were the favorite child or because you had some weird dream?
How do you think Joseph felt?
I think he would have wondered, "what did I do to deserve this?" I think he would have curled up into a ball in a corner, do everything to keep from crying, and still have tears pour down his face. I think he would have felt like there was no one out there who loved him.
Joseph knew the pain of abandonment. He had everything he could ever want. If he was alive today, he would have been the person that obeyed his parents, made straight "A's", and got a brand new Mustang or Comaro for his 16th birthday. He had everything, then had it all stripped away by his own brothers because they hated him.
Our Generation, knows all about abandonment. Our society shows that loneliness and depression are on the rise, the divorce rate has more than tripled, and our generation is becoming more and more isolated everyday. We hae started relying entirely on ourselves and trust no one but ourselves. We are abandoned by politicians, preachers, teachers, friends, and our families.
Abandonment is something that are all going to deal with in our lives, if we haven't so far. We are abandoned, left in the dark, and don't know what to do. When we get to this point like Joseph did, we face two choices. We can choose to be hopeless, disappointed, see our dreams fade away, and go into isolation from the world. Or, we can choose to see that there is something better, a God who loves us, and fulfills our dreams.
God may not promise us a smooth road ahead, but he does promise to be with us to walk along side us in what ever we may go through.
2 Timothy 1:12 "That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day."
2 Timothy is one of Paul's letters to Timothy. This was Paul's last words before he was killed by Emperor Nero. During this time, all of Paul's friends had abandoned him because they were afraid what Nero might do to them if they stayed with Paul. Paul wanted to encourage Timothy, and let him know that God is in control. Paul knew that something better was to come. That something better was Paul's arrival in Heaven to be with Jesus.
God wants us to know that He is with us in everything we go through, both good and bad. When we are abandoned, He has already found us. But hears the deal… the bad things that we do separates us from God. Which means that we abandon God! This prevents us from having a personal relationship with Him.
Last week we learned that God has two dreams. The first is that God dreams of having a personal relationship with each one of us through His son Jesus Christ. The second is that God wants all of us to be his witnesses.
Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." In other words we all do things we shouldn't, we all do bad things that God does not approve of. These are things like lying, stealing, cheating, having lustful thoughts, and disobeying our parents.
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The bad things we do, makes us abandon God, and will send us straight to Hell. But, because of God's love for us he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the Cross, as a sacrifice for the bad things we do.
Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." In order for Gods dreams to come true, we need to accept him by a confession of faith, and believe in him with all of our hearts.
God wants to forgive you for all the sin in your life, for all the bad things we do, and for abandoning him. If you would like to accept Jesus as your Lord, God, and Savior please pray this prayer:
"God, I'm sorry for all the bad things I have done, and am sorry for abandoning you. Please forgive me. I confess that Jesus is my Lord, God, and Savior, and believe that you raised him form the dead. Please come and live in my heart, and teach me to love you with all that I am. Amen."
Many of us are dealing with abandonment in our lives right now. If we arn't then chances are we know people who are. Abandonment happens when our parents get divorced or separated, when our friends leave us and talk about us behind our backs, our teachers leave us in the dark when they don't help us understand what we are supposed to be learning, and even our families abandon us. If your dealing with abandonment there are three things you should pray for: 1. pray that God will comfort you in this time, 2. Pray that God will take care of the situation like what he did for Joseph, and turn a bad thing into something good, and 3. pray that God will give you the strength and wisdom to handle it.
I urge you to Pray to God who promises us in Hebrews 13:5 that he will never leave us or forsake us. He will never abandon us!
