Genesis 37:5

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.

From Background Notes [BN] for Sept 6th & 7th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

For Joseph, the challenge is to sort out the dream in light of God’s call on his life. From this point forward his road is not smooth and a grounded awareness that God is with him will come slowly, painfully, and deliberately.

Genesis 37:4

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

From Background Notes [BN] for Sept 6th & 7th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Many years ago, Alice Miller wrote a ground-breaking work on the struggles of childhood titled The Drama of the Gifted Child. The book examines the loss of the self that occurs in childhood and the subsequent process by which an adult can retrieve his or her true identity that was misplaced in earlier years.

Genesis 37:3

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.

From Background Notes [BN] for Sept 6th & 7th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The Joseph narrative is among the longest accounts in the Bible. In its entirety it unifies the story of Jacob's family, with Joseph as the pivotal character.  Filled with drama, intrigue, sibling rivalry, the life of Joseph also serves larger purposes by showing how God fulfilled his covenant plan made first to Abraham.

 

Genesis 37:2

This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

From Background Notes [BN] for Sept 6th & 7th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

So we say, “My father was not rich, and so the house we lived in was either rented or shabbily apportioned.”

Mark 7:7

They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 30th & 31st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Jesus says that some worship is “vain” — it is vain because it draws considerable attention to the worshipper and pays no attention to the sinner.

James 1:25

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 30th & 31st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Freedom comes from this Word which guides our steps: freedom to face squarely the deep issues inside our hearts, and honestly begin working on each one with the Wisdom that the Father gives us.

Psalm 15:1-2

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 30th & 31st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

As the Psalmist tells us this week, speaking the truth in our hearts helps us to walk well. It’s all about the word on our lips and where those words come from.