Choose To Live Right

What is reconciliation and what characterizes it? I am talking about being right today, but not in the sense that I am right or have to somehow show that I am on the right side. It isn’t about being right and proving it, but more about living right and showing it. Often when it comes to our faith, we find it easier to prove things, point things out, tell it like it is! Today’s message is about living right and a life that becomes living proof of everything that is talked about. This message is about a life on display, a life that is marked by an attitude of reconciliation. It is why Jesus paid the price on the cross to reconcile us, make us right with the Father.

We will discover what Joseph is made of now that he has the upper hand and once again he passes the test. We will look at choosing to live with right relationships, choosing to live right now and choosing to live in the right mind!


1. Choose To Live With Right Relationships

Are you capable of releasing yourself from the offence of the past? 41v50-52

Joseph was out of a physical prison, but now he had to confront his past. He could have easily fallen into the prison of the mind. We either let a painful event keep us in an emotional prison or go through the steps to freedom.

The name Manasseh 41v51means ‘God has made me forget my trouble” God enabled him to forget the ‘poison’ of his past. Why is it poison because emotional pain goes right into your spiritual bloodstream.

We grieve the Spirit of God when we choose to be driven by bitterness

Ephesians 4:31,32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ in God has forgave you.

There is a chance for him to retaliate and in love he does not focus on ‘pay back’ time.

The name Ephraim means fruitful in the midst of suffering.



Cry Out To Jesus – Mac Powell
To everyone who's lost someone they loveLong before it was their timeYou feel like the days you had were not enoughwhen you said goodbye
And to all of the people with burdens and painsKeeping you back from your lifeYou believe that there's nothing and there is no oneWho can make it right
There is hope for the helplessRest for the wearyLove for the broken heartThere is grace and forgivenessMercy and healingHe'll meet you wherever you areCry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus
For the marriage that's struggling just to hang onThey lost all of their faith in loveThey've done all they can to make it right againStill it's not enough
For the ones who can't break the addictions and chainsYou try to give up but you come back againJust remember that you're not alone in your shameAnd your suffering
When your lonely And it feels like the whole world is falling on youYou just reach out, you just cry out to JesusCry to Jesus
To the widow who struggles with being aloneWiping the tears from her eyesFor the children around the world without a homeSay a prayer tonight




2. Choose To Live Right Now

Learn to pursue harmony in the present 42v6-44v34

Joseph teaches us that there is need for repentance. If we are to have genuine community then we must be ready to test the water for reconnection. Reconciliation does not mean to become someone else’s doormat. We are taught to show mutual respect in 1 Peter 3:11. Notice –‘he must seek peace and pursue it’

There is a call to raise here to raise the bar of harmony. Joseph doesn’t let his brothers off the hook.

Joseph delays his immediate identification for the greater good. There was a need for Joseph’s brothers to be made right with God. The brothers needed to have their darkened hearts brought to light and their dull consciences made sharp.

If we let others off the hook, if we sweep things under the carpet we have done offenders and ourselves a great disservice. Joseph allowed the conviction of the Spirit of God to work again in their hearts. He tests them with an accusation, ‘you are spies’ 42v9

Another test for the brothers - Joseph puts on a great feast for his brothers and gives the youngest brother Benjamin greater portions to test the brother’s heart. He then also places the silver cup in Benjamin’s sack to once again test the brothers. Are they still willing to sell out a brother or have they learned to go to bat for each other.

Joseph gets the answer he is looking for in 44v18-34 They have learned from their past failure and he sees a change of heart. Judah steps up to the plate and offers his life in the place of Benjamin. The test is passed and Joseph can contain himself no longer and finally reveals himself to his brothers.
If we are truly going to live on a higher plane of living then we have to be prepared to call others on their behavior at the same time we allow others to do the same with us.

The principle of Matthew 18:15 is to have the courage to approach someone who has sinned against you and confront them on their behavior. The godly person does not sit back and wait for the person to come to them, but is the first to walk across the floor.

All too easily we would rather sit back and choose to live in silence and isolation. We have chosen to do this because we feel we are justified. ‘They are in the wrong’ we tell ourselves, but we are just as much in the wrong if we do not address it.

We are calling the offender to a higher level of expectation. We will not tolerate abusive behavior and we expect more from each other

**Maybe you are on the wrong side of reconciliation and you are the offender. It is never too late to make things right, seek forgiveness and make right, God honoring decisions
Realize that Jesus Himself who did sacrifice Himself comes through the line of Judah. Luke 3:29. Judah did not have a pretty past as evidenced by his treatment of his brother Joseph and sleeping with his daughter in law Tamar who was disguised as a prostitute. He had a life that could easily have been forgotten but God in His mercy choose to remember him for the redeeming quality of his life.
Maybe you have blown it big time and think that you have left your mark and it is a real place of pain. Don’t be gripped by failure. Don’t let that mistake keep you in the pit. Expose it to God, learn from it and be better because it!
Here is a message for those of you on the wrong side of reconciliation. There is still time to make things right. It is never to late to make right decisions that are God honoring. Yes, you may have blown it big time, but don’t let that mistake keep you in the pit. Expose it to God, learn from it and be better because it!


3. Choose To Live With the Right Mindset

Allow your pain to inspire your future Genesis 45v3-8

I have made it clear that we are to forget the offences of the past and to forget in the sense that it cripples us with fear for the future. Our past pain was not meant to control us, but our pain can shape our future if we see the twists and turns for where it is leading us. God will never waste your pain, but use it for His glory

First of all nothing touches you that hasn’t already been touched by Jesus. We have a great high priest who is able to sympathize with us in every way.

I was listening to a neuroanatomist, Jill Taylor, from a link that one of you sent me this week who herself experienced a stroke as a blood vessel broke in her brain. She went on to speak.
Our right hemisphere functions like a parallel processor and our left functions like a serial processor
The two hemishpheres are completely separate from each other but are connected and communicate with each other but have very different personalities.
RIGHT – it is all about this present moment, right here, right now and thinks in pictures and learns kinesthetically through the movement of our body. It takes information in all the sensory images, what everything feels like, tastes like, looks like, smells like, sounds like etc. It is how we are connected with each other and realizes we are in community

LEFT – it think linear and methodically. It is all about the past and all about the future and it categorizes everything we are thinking about, that enormous collage of the present moment and tries to connect it, details, details and more details. It is a calculating intelligence and thinks in language. It makes its reference points in the past and makes projections for the future. The left side thinks separately, thinks individually on its own.
Now where we differ is that she speaks about the need for us to make the conscious choice to step outside the left side of our brain and live more on the right side, the place of ‘nirvana’ because this is the peaceful place where we are most connected with each other.
I am here to proclaim that we need both. Paul taught about a peace that protects our minds, a peace that transcends all understanding…living on the right side is powered by the Spirit of God and we are to guard our minds and take every thought captive as Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 – we do that with the left side according to this approach.
In all things…Colossians 2:8
Practically, in Joseph’s life the only way that he could move forward in relationship with his brothers was grounded in the left side of his mind. He clearly had the perspective of his past to propel him to a proper understanding of his future.
The right mindset is where we choose to live more on the right side of our brain, where we are clearly more visionary, more open to all the possibilities that present themselves to us where the Spirit freely roams. However, the left side grounds us so that we can continue to absorb the new possibilities and make them a reality!!

The Takeaway
Living RIGHT starts with the right mindset which prompts you to making things right with the people that matter most right now!!

Questions For Discussion and Small Groups:
1. Where have you seen one person make all the difference in the lives of others?
2. What opportunities which currently may be seen as problems, are in front of you today?
3. Can you relate a story that God used an adverse situation in your life to further his plan in the lives of others to make things right?
4. What is right about you as a person? What needs to made right?