Hello and welcome to church online with Mission Grove. I want to start things off with this question. What comes to mind when I say the greatest comeback of all time right there wherever you're watching on whatever platform in the comment section. I want you to think about what comes to mind when I say the greatest comeback of all time for me. I think about sports and all the incredible comebacks that have taken place in all the different sports that I watch. Like in 1999, Golfer Paul Lowry came back from 10 shots back in the final round to win the British Open in extra holes. Or maybe you think about the 1993 Buffalo bills who were down 35-3 in the third quarter before making an incredible comeback and scoring the next 38 points. They would then tie, go into overtime and they would win the game 41-38. Made me think about how in 2004 the Boston Red Sox were down 302, the Yankees and they came back to win the series and to win the world series as well. But for me, the greatest single sports comeback happened in 1995 with just simply two words. And that was when Michael Jordan's came back to the N. B. A. With a press release that just stated, I'm back today, we're going to wrap up our series entitled stay positive where we want to equip you and give you the tools to stay positive when you're being surrounded by negativity during this crisis. Today's message is entitled three Comebacks to crisis, we're going to take a look at a character in the old testament and how he experienced crisis after crisis after crisis. But yet he came out on the other side with his faith intact and he came out even stronger because of it. Now, if you have your bibles open up to Genesis chapter 50, but if you're not familiar with this story, let me catch you up with a character named Joseph. Joseph was really loved by his father, Jacob. He had lots of brothers but his brothers didn't necessarily love him. In fact, when he was 17, his brothers hated him to the point of death, but rather than kill him, they actually sold him off to slavery. So there joseph who did nothing wrong, was sold into slavery. Now he was sold into a house known as Petit for and while he was working there, petit fours wife tempted him and asked him to sleep with her. Now for a young man. Think about this guy's in his twenties who was offered to sleep with his wife, who was not a believer he actually rejected. That remained pure and held to his faith. Now, how was he rewarded for avoiding temptation? Part of his wife felt ashamed and wanted to cover up her temptation and so then told her husband that joseph made a pass at her and so then he was then thrown into jail. So he was sold into slavery for doing nothing wrong because his brothers disliked him and because he shared some dreams that he had with them and then he held onto his integrity and his purity and then was thrown into jail and when he was in jail he ended up interpreting a dream for pharaoh, but then was forgotten by the people who shared that interpretation. So then it was left in jail for two more years and then another dream came up where joseph would then interpret it for pharaoh. And so he was taken finally out of prison and ultimately exalted the second in command. So this teenager was sold into slavery while a slave was attempted but then held, his integrity was then placed in jail, interpreted a dream, but then was forgotten. And so you think that someone could be bitter and angry and upset, but he held onto his faith and he rose up into the ranks to where now he was second in command and there became a drought throughout the land and so people from all over were coming for food and guess who came to get their food. Yes, the same brothers who had thrown him into slavery in the first place. Now how did joseph respond? He actually showed them grace and he showed them grace and he connected with his father and it was an incredible moment, but his father, Jacob was old in age and so when his father passed away, his brothers became fearful that now that dad was gone, Joseph was going to get his revenge. And this is where we pick up the story on the other side of this crisis genesis. Chapter 50 verse 15. When joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said it may be that joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. And so they sent a message to joseph saying your father gave us this command before he died. Say to joseph, please forgive the transgressions of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. And now please forgive the transgressions of the servants of God, of your father. Notice this phrase here, we're gonna come back to it, joseph wept when they spoke to him he wept because of the crisis. He wept because of his brothers. He wept for the loss of his father, the loss of time with his brothers and relationships. And we're gonna come back to that in just a moment. But let's continue reading. So joseph wept when they spoke to him, his brothers also came and fell down before him and said behold we are your servants. But joseph said to them. Do not fear for I am I in the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good to bring about it, that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them today, I want to share with you three comebacks to crisis from this story, the first comeback or response to crisis that we see in this story is one of grief. Now, some of you might be thinking, john how is grief a good comeback? How is grief? A healthy response? Well, grief is human, grief is not bad. We were created in the image of God and we learned in the gospel of John chapter 11 When Lazarus died, this guy, as a friend of Jesus, Lazarus died and mary and Martha and others were sad that Lazarus had died. Jesus was going to perform a miracle and bring Lazarus back to life, but before he performed a miracle, before he preached a sermon, Do you know what Jesus did? The shortest verse in the Bible, 1135, Jesus Wept when you hurt God hurts when you hurt God cares. We don't always have the answer to the question of why certain things happen to us, but we do know that God is with us, that God hears us and that God loves us. Grieving is an important part of the process of moving forward. It's not about bouncing back, but rather breaking through to a stronger and bigger existence. You don't move past grief, but rather you walk through and with grief If you've ever lost a loved one, you carry the memories of that person with you and you might think back to that, that experience and you might feel emotional, well, that's a healthy emotion. Grief is not sin, grief is connecting your emotions to what was and who that person was and what they meant to you or the situation. So, in light of COVID-19, in light of the crisis that we're in today, have you taken time to grieve? Maybe you lost to graduation? Maybe you lost a trip or an experience. Maybe you lost a job, Maybe even lost a loved one wherever you are. I want you to know that the first healthy response in a crisis is grief. Take time to humble yourself and be honest and to express those feelings and those emotions that God, We see that in Jesus, in John Chapter 11, and we see that in joseph, when his brothers came to him and said that his father had died. His first response was to weep. And it's important to know that when you weep, God weeps when you hurt God hurts Now, when you hurt, we hurt. That's what it means to bear the burden of one another as a church as a family. We rally together and we show love to one another. And so if you've experienced a loss this season, I want to not only give you permission but encourage you to experience grief in a healthy way. Talk to a counselor, talk to a friend, have a conversation with someone that has gone through something similar, write your feelings down or speak and have a conversation and like john, that's too touchy feeling. Okay. If you don't want to do that, maybe have that angry conversation with God, God is big enough to handle your questions, God is big enough to handle your doubts. You see in there, that joseph took time to grieve the loss of his father before having the conversation with his brothers. So the first healthy response to crisis, the first comeback is actually one of grief, allow yourself to express what it is that you're thinking what you're feeling so that you can move through and be stronger than ever before. The second healthy response or the second comeback to crisis is one of gratitude. See, joseph responded in gratitude to God. His brothers feared for their lives because they had thrown him into slavery and they experienced such loss. But joseph had a bigger vision and a bigger picture. While he would not choose the situation. I mean, we're talking years and years and years of his life. So it's not a momentary thing. He had plenty of time to rehearse what he might say when he comes in contact with the people who hurt him, but when time came, he focused on the gratitude. He had to God. He said, no what you meant for evil God used for good. You sold me off to get rid of me and God placed me positioned me to have influence to impact the pharaoh, to encourage him to save the food that ultimately would save the people. So what you meant for evil God used for good God is using this situation for good Right now now I would not choose it. Okay? But I think we can all agree that there are some blessings found in this and maybe we've been forced to step back and to slow down. We had more time at home, more time with family, even if we haven't been able to get together, getting together now seems more precious to us. No. When you understand that God has given us life and that he sustains us and that he finds purpose in every situation, then we can be grateful for what we have, grateful for what we had and then grateful for what God might do in the future. Have you expressed gratitude today? Have you written down what it is that you're thankful for? Maybe you lost your job? But God gave you that job for however long you had it. Maybe God is preparing you for a new job, a different job. Maybe God wanted you to spend time connecting with your family, whatever it is. Look for the good look for the things to be grateful for. Look for the opportunities to show gratitude to those around you, you don't want to focus on what you don't have. Instead you want to focus on what you do have and what you have right now in the middle of this crisis is God. So praise him for that because jesus is enough. The first response to crisis is grief being honest and allowing yourself to express what you might have lost. The second comeback or response to crisis is gratitude. Do you recognize that God is working in your life right now, God is using this situation to speak to you. There's a reason you are watching this video right now. Look, I am grieving the loss of our gatherings right now, but when we get back together, I'm gonna be so grateful for that opportunity and the experience to share the word of God and the worship with one another. And what I'm praying for right now is that because we are meeting online, that there is somebody right now listening to these words, hearing the word of God that would not have heard them if we would have been meeting in a building at this point. And so I am grateful that God's word is alive, That our faith is alive, that our church never closed. We just had shifted methods and so I am grateful that we have technology that we can share the message and the word and that we can exchange phone calls and emails and text messages and soon we can start gathering again and I'm just so grateful for how God is providing during this time. Are you The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians chapter three verses 15- 17. Let the peace of christ rule in your hearts. That seems contrary to what our society is teaching, isn't it? Let anxiety and blame rule in your hearts. No, let the peace of christ rule in your hearts To which indeed you are called in one body and be thankful. See that connection that when the peace of God is in your heart, the natural response is to be thankful. Let the word of christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God and whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord giving thanks to God the Father through him. So he says in that passage, let the peace of christ rule in your hearts and be thankful. Let the word of christ dwell in you richly and to sing songs of thanksgiving to one another. And then it simply states that whatever you do that includes everything in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord giving thanks to God the Father through him. What are the 3? Come back to the crisis? Well, first, it's grief just as joseph weep for the loss of his father. Have you taken time to grieve? What you've lost during this crisis? Second is gratitude, joseph recognized that what his brothers meant for evil God used for good. What are the blessings that you've received during this time? And what are the things that you are looking forward to that you can be thankful for in the name of jesus, So you have grief, you have gratitude. And then the last comeback to crisis is generosity. You see that joseph was generous, He didn't just forgive his brothers, he told them that I'm gonna provide for you and your little ones and he spoke kindly to them. Are you being generous in this time of crisis? This process of grief, gratitude and generosity is really what has driven the heartbeat of our church mission growth First in March when we canceled our March 15 worship service? I grieved, I miss gathering together. We had to pivot and move everything digital and online and we formed a response team and many of you helped us with that And through a response team, we learned of 15 different families that lost their jobs or have been furloughed and we were able to respond quickly and to be generous and to give them grocery cards and we prayed together as leaders and we looked for a practical way to before the community and on the other side of that we came up with the idea of playing for the community bingo, which is still alive and available and if you haven't watched the previous messages, that's where we've placed 25 different ways that you can practically serve your neighbors in this community and that when you fill out the card or you get a bingo, bring it into saddle creek coffee company and you'll get a free drink as well as a free for the community t shirt. So that was one way we decided to be generous. But it's in our prayer of generosity that we felt led and connected with what's known as RFP Medical And I'm so excited and so happy and I'm anxious to find out the results of people receiving these letters. You should know that because of your generosity and our generosity as a church that we sent off $13,000 to Make a donation to our API medical, which is then paying off $1.3 million 667 families right here in this community. And you know what? It felt good. I'm not quite ready to share the story there, but God has even blessed us on the other side of generosity and I believe this to be true that you cannot out give God, I'm going to share the story with you down the road. So take a mental note. I'm just not quite ready to share it yet because there's more coming. You really cannot out give God for God so loved the world that he was that not that he felt something, not that he took something, but then he gave something? And so do you want to have a comeback to crisis? Be generous today? Be generous and not talking about just being generous to the church. I want to encourage you to give if you can do so you can give online, we have a secure platform. We tell people that you don't simply give to mission growth, but you give through mission growth and so everything that we've done in the community is because of the generosity of people like you and so thank you. But also look for ways to be generous with your time with your talents. Is there a way to help a neighbor or at work? Can you go the extra mile, have a phone call, grab coffee, meet the needs of someone, How can you serve people? Because when you are generous, in the times of crisis, people notice you're no longer negative, you're no longer looking for people to blame. You're looking for people to bless. Wouldn't that be incredible? Wouldn't that be amazing to be the type of people that doesn't go out and blame others, but instead focuses our attention on blessing others. That same apostle paul that I mentioned earlier who wrote the letter of colossians also wrote a letter to his spiritual son timothy In first timothy 6 18 he says this, do good, be rich and good, be generous and ready to share also in that chapter he says these words he says, fight the good fight of faith. Will you fight the good fight with me. Will you come back from crisis stronger and healthier in your faith than ever before. Will you kick satan in the face and say no, not today. I am not gonna surround myself with negativity. I am not looking for people to blame. I'm looking for people to bless. Yes, I'm gonna grieve the losses that I've experienced but grieving as human and grieving connects me with the God who created me. But I'm also gonna be grateful and experience and express gratitude to those around you Because gratitude is not just a feeling to be expressed, but something to be shared. And so how can you show your gratitude to the people around you? And finally, when you are grateful, then you become generous and you look for ways to bless and give others and this is the heartbeat that drove our medical campaign to where we are paying off the medical debt of 667 families. Thank you for being generous with us. Thank you for being a part of this church family, but I want to challenge you right now. Are you being generous in your own life? Are you looking for ways to give where you, can you see, I want to close this talk with this stock, You're set back. It could be your setup, your setback could be you're set up sometimes. Breaking down is the last step before breakthrough. Sometimes the problem that you're facing that's weighing you down becomes the platform from which you can proclaim the gospel. I don't know what church looks like on the other side of the coronavirus. I know some are gathering right now and we want to be praying for those that are meeting. We are not gonna be able to meet right now and I don't have a date or know when we will meet again, but I do know this, we will meet again and when we do, we are going to be stronger. We are gonna be spirit filled faith field warriors of God ready to show our community that we're going to come back from crisis having experienced and expressed our grief, having experienced and expressed our gratitude and then we are going to be generous like no one they've ever seen before because God is for us, we are for you and because we are for you, we are for the community. And so we're gonna look for ways to love and serve and give to others in the name of jesus because that is what God has called us to do. I don't know why Covid came in. I don't know when this crisis is going to end, but I do know this, that your setback right now could be your setup and that the best way to come back from crisis is to be stronger in your faith for jesus and to be used for him in ways that you could never imagine that is my prayer right now that we would come back stronger and that we would come back to make an eternal difference for the kingdom of God. Will you join me? We joined the fight of faith. Will you come back from crisis stronger. Look, if you have a need, we want to help you fill out that connection card on our website and someone's going to be in touch with you this week. But if you want to make a difference, reach out, let us know, look for ways in your workplace, talk to your neighbors, talk to the people in the community, look for a way to make a difference because a generous people is a God people and that's what I want to be a part of and that's what people are attracted to and we bless people, we don't blame people, we serve people were not to be served. We love people, we don't look to attack. And so in the midst of all this division that you're gonna see over the coming months in our culture, don't be that person. Don't be someone who divides be someone that unites. Don't be someone who blames, be someone who bless us and do that in the name of jesus. Just as joseph did, let's pray dear heavenly father, thank you, Thank you That in the middle of this crisis we get to hang on to you God, I do grieve the losses that people have experienced. God. I grieve the loss of our in person gatherings right now. I agree with the loss of those who didn't get to have a graduation last weekend. God I grieve the loss of those who are financially unstable. But God, we know that in the middle of this you are here and so I thank you for those who are healthy. I thank you for those who are getting better. I thank you for those who've got new jobs or had enough money saved that they were able to cover costs. Yeah, I thank you that we've had time with our families times to slow down, Time to reflect on what you've called us to be. I thank you that we have this technology that we can do church together online and God, I'm grateful and really wait an expectation for a time that we can gather again. And so in the meantime, God, may we be generous. May I personally be generous. May the people watching be generous and may we be generous as a church because God, we don't want to look for people to blame. We want to look for people to bless and God, this setback might be the setup and that we can come back from crisis stronger than ever before. We love you God. It's in your son's name. We pray amen God bless. Stay positive and we'll see you next sunday.