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    Home Truths
    Home Truths
    Home Truths
    Ebook87 pages1 hour

    Home Truths

    By Brian Johnston

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    About this ebook

    In this latest book from the Search For Truth Series, Brian Johnston takes a practical look at family life through the lens of Joseph's experiences in the various 'homes' that he found himself in, and also explores how the apostle Paul's close relationship with the Church of God in Thessalonika resembles a parental one.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHayes Press
    Release dateFeb 4, 2019
    ISBN9781386073314
    Home Truths
    Author

    Brian Johnston

    Born and educated in Scotland, Brian worked as a government scientist until God called him into full-time Christian ministry on behalf of the Churches of God (www.churchesofgod.info). His voice has been heard on Search For Truth radio broadcasts for over 30 years (visit www.searchfortruth.podbean.com) during which time he has been an itinerant Bible teacher throughout the UK and Canada. His evangelical and missionary work outside the UK is primarily in Belgium and The Philippines. He is married to Rosemary, with a son and daughter.

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      Book preview

      Home Truths - Brian Johnston

      HOME TRUTHS:  LIFE LESSONS FROM THE ‘HOME’ LIFE OF JOSEPH, AND THE PARENTAL CARE OF PAUL FOR THE THESSALONIANS

      BRIAN JOHNSTON

      Copyright © 2019 HAYES PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, without the written permission of Hayes Press.

      Published by:

      HAYES PRESS CHRISTIAN RESOURCES

      The Barn, Flaxlands

      Royal Wootton Bassett

      Swindon, SN4 8DY

      United Kingdom

      www.hayespress.org

      e: info@hayespress.org

      www.facebook.com/hayespress.org

      http://twitter.com/hayespress

      BIBLE VERSIONS

      Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB®), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission (www.Lockman.org).

      Scriptures marked RV are from the Revised Version, 1885, Public Domain

      Scriptures marked NKJV are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      Table of Contents

      Copyright Page

      Copyright Page

      PART ONE: LESSONS FROM THE ‘HOME’ LIFE OF JOSEPH | 1. PARENTS’ HOUSE | THE TEST OF FIDELITY

      2. POTIPHAR’S HOUSE | THE TEST OF PURITY

      3. PRISON HOUSE | THE TEST OF HUMILITY

      4. PHARAOH’S HOUSE | THE TEST OF INTEGRITY IN PROSPERITY

      5. PERSONAL HOUSE | THE TEST OF OUR IDENTITY

      PART TWO: FAMILY MATTERS - LESSONS FROM PAUL’S PARENTAL CARE FOR THE THESSALONIANS | 1. THE TRAINING GROUND

      2. A LOVING ATMOSPHERE

      3. TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

      4. PARENTS BEHAVING WELL

      5. THE DISCIPLINE OF DISCIPLINING

      Further Reading: Get Real … Living Every Day as an Authentic Follower of Christ

      Also By Brian Johnston

      About the Author

      About the Publisher

      PART ONE: LESSONS FROM THE ‘HOME’ LIFE OF JOSEPH

      1. PARENTS’ HOUSE

      THE TEST OF FIDELITY

      Early on, the Bible introduces us to someone who would appear to be a most unlikely candidate for success. I’m referring to Joseph, born to the patriarch, Jacob. From his youth, Joseph seems to experience one misadventure after another. But he overcomes, and the great secret of his life is shared repeatedly in the Bible book of Genesis. It’s evidently not God’s intention that we should miss it. It’s the secret of his success, and it’s this: that God was with him, in all that he went through. If God is for us, as the Apostle Paul will say later in the Bible, who can be against us?

      But let’s remind ourselves of some of the details of Joseph’s remarkable story, so that we might trace the hand of God over it all – the God who spoke to Joseph as a teenager. Now, that’s a remarkable thing. It’s worth pausing right there. I don’t mean that it’s so remarkable that God should speak to a teenager, but what’s remarkable is this was the only recorded time in his life when the Bible tells us of God speaking directly to Joseph. And it was dreams that God used to hint at where Joseph’s life was headed. There were later times when God helped Joseph have insight into the dreams of other people, but I’m suggesting that wasn’t a message directly to Joseph. By contrast, Abraham and Jacob, and later Moses, knew God speaking to them more frequently and indeed throughout the course of their entire lives.

      But with Joseph, it’s only recorded happening once, as a teenager, but the remarkable thing was that it set him up for life. It set the course of his entire life. That’s one way we see the fidelity of Joseph. He remained true to God’s revelation even through dark and challenging times when God’s early promises must have seemed to be only a memory that mocked him. It’s good when, early in life, we become convinced that God has met with us, and will do what he’s promised, and we become motivated to remain faithful to his call. Looking back decades later through the lens of our life’s experiences and opportunities, we’re then able to confirm the reality of that early encounter with God!

      As we say, let’s remind ourselves of the details of Joseph’s formative years. As we take our Bible reading from Genesis chapter 37, I also want you to register another aspect of Joseph’s fidelity: and it’s this - how he bore faithful witness to God's revealed truth even when it provoked tensions and jealousies within his family:

      Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth ... Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf."

      Then his brothers said to him, Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us? So they hated him even more for

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