Genesis 43:15-45:15
** Relationships are Worth Restoring
“I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other.” - 1 Corinthians 1:10 (MSG)
Jesus said, “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” - Matthew
5:9 (NLT)
“You are only hurting yourself with your anger.” - Job 18:4 (TEV)
“God has called us to settle our relationships with each other.” - 2 Corinthians 5:18 (MSG)
General Prerequisites for Restoration
Prerequisite 1 – Repentance by the offender.
“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.”(Acts 3:19 - NLT)
Jesus said, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”(Luke 13:3)
Prerequisite 2 – Own your part of the conflict.
Jesus said, “First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5 – NLT)
“If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves.” (1 John 1:8 – MSG)
Prerequisite 3 – Be Prepared to “G.I.V.E.”
“G” = Gentle “I” = Interested “V” = Validate “E” = Easy Manner
“A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper fire.”
(Proverbs 15:1 – MSG)
“A wise, mature person is known for his understanding. The more pleasant his words, the more persuasive he is.”(Proverbs 16:21 – TEV)
Point: Attack the problem, not the person.
Keys to the “HHOPE” of Restoration
Key 1 – Honesty and Humility...the non-negotiables.
C.S. Lewis – “A moderately bad man knows he is not very good; a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right.” (Mere Christianity)
Genesis 44:33-34 – Judah said, “Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
Ephesians 4:15 – “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”
Point: No lasting, healthy relationship is founded on deceit and lies.
Key 2 – Observe...the patterns and practices of those who offend.
Will Rogers – “People’s minds are changed through observations and not through argument.”
Genesis 45:5 – “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
Point: Observation takes time.
Key 3 – Perspective...seeing the situation as God sees it.
Wally Carter – “When Goliath came against the Israelites, the soldiers all thought, ‘He’s so big we can never kill him.’ But David looked at the same giant and thought, ‘He’s so big, I can’t miss.’”
Genesis 45:7- “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Point: Heaven looks different than earth.
Key 4 – Encourage...engaging the outcome of God’s choice.
Billy Sunday – “Try encouraging your wife even if it frightens her at first.”
Genesis 45:13-15 – “‘You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.’ Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.”
Point: Be bold to practice the ways of God.
May 25, 2021 All rights reserved
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