ReCreate Church’s Podcast

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, December 5, 2021

The Potter’s Wheel

Today Pastor Michael is turning it over to Billy Huneycutt for his Potter’s Wheel presentation.  This is the time when it’s actually better to see a visual representation of what Billy is presenting, rather than an audio (though the audio is plenty fine!).   

Please check out our Facebook Recreate Church feed for pictures, tonight.

The video will be posted on our church YouTube feed, tomorrow, Monday, 12/6/2021.

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, November 28, 2021

Pixels aren’t the big picture!

Today Pastor Michael is finishing up the story of Old Testament Joseph.  Using pixels (picture elements) as a guide, Michael is showing that a picture, zoomed in, at the pixel level, is hard to make out.  But zoomed out, the pixels become a great picture! 

As a summary, Joseph grew up with 11 brothers and 1 sister and, to his great chagrin, his pops showed favoritism to him.  Plus, he was having prophetic dreams, growing up.  Dreams that foretold he would rule over his brothers…not a good thing, if you’re one of his brothers!  So, the bros decided to sell him into slavery, a great option over murder, which they had considered!  And sold him to a powerful Egyptian.  Joseph busted it, earning a position in the household as manager of the household.  Not bad!

Then the plot twist! Being a handsome kinda fella, his bosses wife noticed that!  She was determined to get him into bed, but he didn’t capitulate.  She grabs his clothes one day, and she is mad, cause she’s turned down but accuses him of trying to accost her and he is sent to prison.  He keeps his integrity even in prison and is a model prisoner.  The warden notices how responsible he is and trusts him with more and more authority.  So, now, he’s literally in ways, in charge of the prison.  Different, weird and all that is as a segue to his life, but, it is what it is!  Growth is found in struggle, certainly!

One day, two new, high roller prisoners show up.  They are in Pharaoh’s court and these cats have had some weird dreams.  Joseph tells them he can interpret those dreams and those predictions turn out exactly as he predicted.  God at work, again!

Joseph is summoned by Pharaoh to interpret dreams because the butler, after two years, remembers that Joseph interprets dreams.  Joseph is in Pharaohs court and interprets Pharaoh’s dreams so good, he is appointed Prime Minister of Egypt.  Pharaoh’s dreams predicted seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of really bad times (famine).  Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of the entire shebang and Joseph puts grain away and during the really bad famines, Egypt did well and folks from all over the Middle East come to Egypt to get grain during the famine.

The promised land was also hit by the famine.  So Joseph’s family, back home, sent his brothers to go to Egypt to buy grain.  The brothers arrived in Egypt and had to appear before the Prime Minister.  Plot twist!

His brothers are bowing down to Joseph.  He recognizes them but they do not recognize him.  So Joseph tells them to go home and bring back their younger brother.  He binds Simeon and puts him in prison and tells them to go back home. They get home and explain to Jacob the entire story.  Needless to say, it’s turmoil.  Since the famine is still going strong, they have no food, so Jacob sends the brothers back with Benjamin, their younger brother to Egypt.

They all arrive back to Egypt and arrive back at Joseph’s house and Simeon is released.  Yet through all this, the brothers still don’t know this is Joseph, their brother.  They have a huge feast, then sends them on their way, sacks full of grain and put their money back in their sacks and they insert a special cup into Benjamin’s sack.  Soldiers are sent to intercept them and the soldier’s ask them what they are doing with Joseph’s silver cup.  They open Benjamin’s sack and the cup is found.

They go back to the city and PLOT TWIST (again)!

One of the brothers, Judah, offers himself in place of Benjamin.  At this point, Joseph finally reveals his identity to his brothers.  They are, needless to say, terrified.  But the things that happen to us, appear to be done by people that want to hurt us, so against us, yet we cannot see the big picture. 

It is God doing the work through the stuff that happens!  Can you even think of a more convoluted, crazy story than what happened to Joseph?  Yet it STILL worked out, thanks to God!

We live our lives down in the pixels, but there is victory in the bigger picture!

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 45:  4-8 and Genesis 50: 20. 

 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, November 21, 2021

Thankfulness.

Today Pastor Michael is handing the reins over to Nick Dowdy.  Nick’s message today is on Thankfulness.  Let’s address what we need to be thankful for.  As believers we can be thankful for the wondrous deeds that God has performed.  The biggest deed is that God sent his only Son to us to wash away our sins.  Jesus willingly died so that we can be reconciled back to God.   The other wondrous miracle is, as a Believer, you have been given a new identity.  He has taken people of this world, a place of acceptance and a place of love.  He has given us a place at His table.  We do not have to question who we are once we have accepted Christ.  God has deemed us worthy.  We can never take this for granted.  

This wondrous miracle, we can hold on to, no matter what.  This is the truth and the single reality of every single Believer in this world. There is nothing that can touch that. 

This is what we have to be thankful for.  It is so easy to get caught up in ‘today’.  We can lose sight, so easily.  

Giving thanks to God is more than checking off a box.  It is more than going through the motions.  It is taking time and stepping back, meditating and thinking of the magnitude and reality of what He has done.  We must allow Him to change our way of thinking.

Thankfulness is a matter of perspective.  We must talk about the works of Christ amongst ourselves and speak about the goodness of God. Thankfulness and peace are linked together.  The peace of Christ should rule in our hearts and we should be thankful.  

Today’s verses are found in Psalms 9: 1, Psalms 100: 4-5, Psalms 107: 21-22, Psalms 118: 1, Colossians 3: 15-17 and Philipians 4: 4-7.

 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, November 14, 2021

From prison to palace: in one day!

Today Pastor Michael is continuing to follow the story of Joseph and how Joseph has experienced long delays in his life and certainly, life not being what he originally thought it might be.  He’s gone from being sold into slavery to being in prison and today’s story picks up with the prisoners Joseph has been assisting by interpreting their dreams.

In these dream interpretations, one prisoner has a good outcome and one did not.  The one that did, was supposed to help him by trying to obtain his freedom but he didn’t.  Joseph languished in prison for another two years!  As it turns out, Pharaoh has a dream about himself standing by the Nile and he sees seven cows come up out of the river.  These cows were fat and nice.  Then seven more cows, not nearly as good looking, come out of the river and eat the other seven cows!  Zombie cows?

Needless to say, this dream disturbed Pharaoh.  He then has another dream and sees a wheat plant sprout up, with seven stalks.  Then, as with the cow dream, here comes seven more stalks off the same plant and they’re ugly, unhealthy, diseased, blighted, scorched wheat.  The bad wheat then eats up the good wheat.  Give the man credit, he has some seriously weird dreams!

He wakes up and consults his trusted staff and no one can tell him.  But wait!  His butler overhears this and then suddenly remembers his time in prison where Joseph interpreted the dreams.  He tells him the story of Joseph’s dream interpretations and how accurate they were.  Pharaoh sends for Joseph and Joseph stands before him.

Joseph proceeds to tell the Pharaoh that he doesn’t interpret dreams.  But he did clarify his statement, stating the he couldn’t interpret dreams but God can.  

Pharaoh tells him the cow and the wheat dreams and the Lord gave Joseph the interpretation.  Which was: the two dreams represent the same message.  The seven good cows and wheat represent seven years of prosperous and good.  The seven bad cows and seven bad grains of wheat represent seven years of famine and those seven years will make the seven good years seem long ago and forgotten.

Pharaoh needs to appoint someone to plan for the seven bad years, by storing away grain and preparing for it.  Needless to say, Pharaoh is impressed with Joseph. Pharaoh appoints Joseph to oversee this effort and gives him royal clothing and jewelry.  To commemorate the promotion, Pharaoh gives Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-paneah (“Revealer of Mysteries”, how cool is that!), and a wife, Asenath.

Things went just as Joseph predicted.  They had seven great years and collected the grain and saved it up.  Then when the famine hit, if they had not laid aside that stock, everyone would have starved.  People came from all around to buy grain in Egypt.  Egypt was saved and provided grain for others and Joseph became a great hero.

From the prison to the palace, in one day!  

God has dreams for you and for me; but we have to grow into those dreams.  It took Joseph thirteen years to see God’s purpose for him realized.  Every day God grows us in our faith and our character.  

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 41: 1-57.

 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, November 7, 2021

Missed Exit.

Important note: We had a problem in our audio chain in the morning service, so the audio is a stripped out version from our video production.  We apologize for the quality of this audio as it’s not to our usual standards.  

Today Pastor Michael is back with Joseph in the Old Testament, continuing our study on him.  And one of our themes today is that interpretations belong to God.  Joseph is in prison at this point but the Lord has provided for him, yet again.   In prison, Joseph prospered and is quickly given authority.  Joseph meets two high level, important inmates from Pharaoh’s service; one a butler, the other his chief baker.  

Each of those inmates admitted they had weird dreams the night before.  Remember: Joseph’s special gifts were about dreams, so Joseph asked them about their dreams.  Joseph said something very specific here, that is important:  Interpretations belong to God.  With that, Joseph, with God’s help, interpreted the two inmates dreams.   

The interpretations were exactly as Joseph predicted.  The butler got a good interpretation and the baker did not.  Yet they were still correct.  

The butler forgot all about Joesph, thought and he languished in prison two more years.  He missed another exit!  

Joseph has helped others with their dreams, what about his dreams?  He keeps getting knocked off track.  How is he supposed to interpret these setbacks? 

All of the interruptions in his life weren’t setbacks.  They were his journey!  

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 39: 19-23, Genesis 40: 1-22 and Proverbs 3: 5-6.

 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, October 31, 2021

The Trouble With Temptation.

Today Pastor Michael is taking a break and Nick Dowdy is speaking.  His subject is the “Trouble with Temptation” and we’re continuing the story of Joseph that Michael has been teaching on for some time now.  We’re at the part of the story where Joseph is starting to experience temptations in Potiphar’s household, where Potiphar’s wife is finding herself drawn to this handsome, unattached Hebrew.  And she propositions him, to which he refused.

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) Joseph adamantly refuses to become her lover for two reasons. First, it would be a disservice to his master, who has trusted him (39:8–9a). Second, it would be a sin against God (39:9b). Joseph’s words help us understand the difference between guilt over sin and godly sorrow over sin. Guilt means we are sorry for our sins because we know they are ruining our lives and may keep us out of heaven. Godly sorrow means we are sorry for our sins because we know they grieve the heart of God. It is Joseph’s commitment to high moral principles that keeps him free from an illicit affair.

Nick then goes into a nice study on temptation in James, covering a primer of sorts.  The biggest point being in this side study is that God never temps people.  A second point is that people are only tempted by their own desires.  Third, temptation only becomes sin once we act on it in an ungodly manner.  Lastly, sin results in death and this may not be a literal death but the death of a relationship, etc.  This is a great summary of temptation today and in Joseph’s time.

Back to Joseph, Potiphar’s wife did not like Joseph turning her down a bit, so she set him up, royally.  She took his robe and came up with a story that she fed to her husband, essentially claiming that Joseph tried to sleep with her!  And of course, Potiphar believed her story and had Joseph imprisoned.  Poor ole Joseph, just cannot win.

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) We do not know why Potiphar puts Joseph into prison rather than killing him (39:20). Does Potiphar have reason to be suspicious of his wife’s story? Has she done something like this before? Maybe Potiphar trusts Joseph more than he trusts his wife. If that is the case, Potiphar is appropriately cautious. You can release an innocent man from incarceration, but you cannot resurrect him.

(Bible for Hope Study Notes) We must look at temptation for what it really is. Temptation, when it stands alone, is merely a withering, shrinking lure. Despite its prevalence, it has no power unless we choose to surrender to it. Remember that temptation itself is not a sin-Jesus was tempted-but yielding to temptation is sin. Everyone can remember falling to temptation. The memory stirs up feelings of being dirty, empty, drained, and even exploited. Grieving the sin is natural and healthy before a righteous God. These feelings and memories can serve as reminders to guard our hearts and minds.

Nick finishes our study on temptation in 1 Corinthians that God will always provide a way to endure temptation.  God will always provide a way out; we are without excuse.  

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 39: 6-20, James 1: 12-15 and 1 Corinthians 10: 12-13. 

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, October 24, 2021

Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Today Pastor Michael is picking back up on the story of Joseph, who we left last week in a precarious situation.  At this point, it looks like Joseph’s dreams are at the bottom of the pit he’s in!

God’s plans can mess up ‘our’ plans, but our plans are only the plans of a human being.  God sees everything!  God definitely changed Joseph’s plans and dreams.  It looks like he had a demotion of sorts!  But while Joseph was a slave, the Lord was with him.  That’s the difference maker!

Joseph was free in his spirit, his brothers were slaves in their spirit.  So we ask the question: if God was with Joseph, why isn’t his life easier right now?

We assume the proof of God being with us is our life being easy.  That’s not true. The road to where God wants to take you might lead through a valley.

God will take Joseph through Potiphar’s house to Pharaoh’s house!  And that is God’s plan.

A good news summary today: It’s the hard times that teach us and makes our faith grow. 

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) 39:1–6. Joseph finds himself in the employ of Potiphar, a high-ranking official of Pharaoh (39:1). What goes through the mind of the bewildered teenager, who has been uprooted violently from his home, sold as a servant, made to live with strangers, and purchased off the trading block and is now dwelling in a foreign country?

Joseph has two things going for him. First, the Lord is with him (39:2). Joseph may not know this—at least not yet, for although the Lord is with Joseph, the Lord does not keep Joseph out of trouble and danger. This is the only chapter in the Joseph story (excluding chaps. 38 and 49, where Joseph is either absent or minimally present) where “LORD” appears, and it appears seven times, all by the narrator. In addition to the divine presence, Joseph is a diligent worker, one who impresses his master with his conscientious industriousness (39:3–4). Joseph is to Potiphar what Jacob was to Laban. Both of these non-Israelites experience blessings because a child of Abraham is in their midst. Joseph oversees everything except Potiphar’s food (39:5–6).

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 39: 1-6.

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, October 17, 2021

Decked Out to Sold Out!

Today Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Joseph and his crazy family situation.  The story picks up with Joseph searching for his brothers, who have moved their flock to Dothan and let’s just say they that when he found them, they weren’t exactly glad to find him!  His brothers took off his coat (the special one that, as his Dad’s favorite, was given only to him) and cast him into a pit.  They then plotted to sell Joseph to the Midianites and sold him for 20 pieces of silver and the traders took him to Egypt.

Sold out!  

Joseph had to feel he was doing right, following what God wanted him to do and then it all fell apart.  What then?

What about those down-in-the-hole moments, when we’re dealing with ruination of our plans?

Three things to consider when it seems like everything is going wrong:

1. The presence of God.  Did God leave Joseph?  No, God was just as present as he would EVER be.
2. The promises of God.  It looks bad, but the promises of God are just as true in the bad times as they are in the good times.
3. The provision of God.  A dead-end can be a portal.  Bad times can be portends to good times.  

Realize, God is always the same and never leaves us.  Good times or bad.

Like Joseph, there is much more to your story than where you are at, right now, today!  Trust God while you’re in the hole and God will come through!

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 37: 12-36.

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, October 10, 2021

The Truth or a Lie.  Pick One!

Today Billy Huneycutt is giving a message on Truths or Lies.  His message centers around the disciples being in a boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee when a storm comes up and tosses the boat violently.  Jesus, however, is sleeping through this storm when His disciples awaken him.  Jesus calms the storm and His followers are amazed, yet fearful of both the storm and His powers to quell it!  It showed Jesus’ unlimited power of the natural world.

No matter how bad the storm was, the truth was in the back of the boat!

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) This account is replete with details reminiscent of eyewitness experience. The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by steep hills and mountains, and the confluence of cold air from Mount Hermon to the north and hot air rising from the sea can produce squalls of hurricane force. As Jesus and the disciples proceed eastward across the lake, their boat is seized by such a storm (4:35–37). Fearing death, the disciples rouse Jesus from sleep in the stern and reproach him (4:38). Jesus then rebukes the wind and the sea (4:39). The Greek words for “rebuke,” “silence,” and “be still” frequently occur in Hellenistic exorcism accounts. By describing the quelling of the storm in the language of exorcism, Mark portrays Jesus as the Strong One (1:7; 3:37) who vanquishes Satan and evil forces.

At the word of Jesus, calm replaces chaos. Ironically, the disciples are more terrified by the power of Jesus than by the terror of the storm (4:41). “Who then is this?” they ask. This is the question not only before the disciples but also before Mark’s readers: will their experience of Jesus lead to faith (4:40) or to fear and doubt?

(Gospel Transformation Study Bible Notes) It is a great source of encouragement for followers of Jesus to remember who they serve: the triune Creator of this universe. The power of the eternal Son protects and guides with utter reliability, even in great distress. 

If we have fears, uncertainty or doubt we need to place our trust in Jesus.  The truth is, Jesus won’t forsake us.  

Today’s verses are found in Mark 4: 35-41.

Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, October 3, 2021

Dreams.

Today Pastor Michael is talking about dreams.  We all have them, we all think of things we want.  With the weirdness that is the pandemic, we’ve seen some of our dreams delayed; in fact some have disappeared!  But, dreams persist and if you partner a dream with the Lord, it can become a vision.

Michael says this deeply and wants you to know this: God cares about you deeply.  No matter what, what the situation, what’s going on, what life brings, anything: The Lord cares about you and has a plan for you, a vision for you and, yes, even a dream for you!

Today we’ll learn about Joseph and his dreams.  His dreams were both literal and plans from the Lord dreams.  Little did he know that those dreams cost him everything and brought him everything!

Joseph is starting, at this point in his life, to have dreams from the Lord.  And these dreams speak of sheaves of grain and the sun, moon and stars bowing down to him.  Needless to say, when he tells that to his brothers, they hate him for it.  And even his father rebukes him for telling of these dreams.  

His dream does represent God’s will for him.  He will rise to become one of the most powerful people in the world in time.  But he, at the time, only sees part of the story.  He cannot see everything that is coming.  When God gives you a dream or a vision, we love the idea of the highs, not the lows.  Joseph saw what would happen but not the process needed to get there.  

Having a goal is big, having a goal you feel the Lord gives you is even bigger.  Paying the price for the Lord’s vision is the highest goal there is. 

Dare to ask God for a vision bigger than yourself!

Today’s verses are found in Genesis 37: 5-10.