Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

When Jacob arrived in Egypt, he was not a happy man. For at least the past 22 years he had been walking through a dark valley of despair. So when he was introduced to Pharaoh and asked how old he was, he responded by expressing discouragement. He said his life had been unpleasant, and he expected to die early. Yet he didn't die right away. In fact, God kept him alive for another 17 years, and by the end of those years, his attitude had changed remarkably. Now he spoke tenderly of God's goodness because these last years changed the way he viewed his life. They were a joyful time of recognizing God's faithfulness. God had not let him die on a sour note but had set a limit on the darkness, bringing him at last into a new day, full of victory. What we see happen to Jacob is not an exceptional display of God's kindness but is in fact an essential part of His nature. He does allow dark valleys to come, but He will never leave us in those valleys. It's important to Him that each of us comes to the moment when we joyfully declare His faithfulness, realizing He has not allowed our enemies to triumph over us (Ps 3:3). As David said in the Psalms, though our weeping may last for the night, we can be confident a shout of joy will come in the morning (Ps 30:5). In God there will always be a morning.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

When father and son were at last together again after 22 years, the first thing Jacob must have asked Joseph was, "I thought you had been killed by a wild animal. What happened to you? How did you end up in Egypt?" Joseph's answer would determine the future of that family. Knowing Joseph as we do it's certain he neither lied nor hid information from his father. When asked, he surely revealed the horrible betrayal he and his father suffered at the hands of his brothers. This information alone would have hit Jacob like a blow to the stomach. It easily could have alienated him permanently from his sons and thrown him back into depression, disintegrating what was left of an already troubled family. But this is not what happened, and we have to ask the question, "Why? Why didn't Jacob turn in hatred against his sons?" The answer must lie largely with Joseph. He must have helped his father process the terrible truth he told him. Ironically, the only person who could save the family was the one who had been hurt most deeply by it. Only he had the right to beg his father for mercy for his brothers or help him process the pain of betrayal.

Many of us are in families or friendships which have disintegrated because of an outrageous betrayal of trust. Something has been done or said that stabbed the relationship in the heart like a knife so that it seems there is now no hope that love could ever flow there again. Yet, as we observe Joseph's role in the healing of his family, we see how damaged relationships, even those that seem doomed, can be restored by God. 

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

Whenever God sows a seed, He has a harvest in mind. No farmer, least of all God, plants a seed without expecting it to reproduce itself many times. So if we allow ourselves to become a seed in God's hand, we too can expect our lives to produce a harvest for God. In fact, the Bible tells us that when He is in control of this process, we will see results that are "exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us..." (Eph 3:20). In other words, God loves to bring extraordinary results from meager human efforts, because, when such miracles occur, everyone's attention is diverted away from the work we've done, to the obvious miracle He's done. This proves to people that He exists and may actually draw them to believe in God and one day have the faith that brings eternal life.

In this lesson we'll identify the "seed" Jacob planted when he took his family to Egypt; next we'll examine two of Jesus' parables about seeds, and then we'll consider four things God requires in order for us to become His "seeds" which produce a miracle harvest, and finally we'll see the size of Jacob's harvest.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

 

Jacob was headed to Egypt, but he was worried. His father had been told not to go to Egypt but to dig a well. Now, like his father, he was headed for Egypt to escape a famine. When he heard from God, God's instructions were exactly the opposite of what his father had been told. This illustrates an important point: While in many areas God's will is the same for all of us (moral standards, requirements for discipleship, fruit of the Spirit); in matters of personal calling and daily guidance, His will is very specific for each person, and we must hear from Him ourselves. God's instructions are often personal and cannot be automatically applied from one person to the next.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

What appeared to be a tragic series of events caused by sinful humans yielding to their basest impulses turned out instead to be steps leading Joseph and his family into the middle of God's will. That's what Joseph was trying to explain to his brothers. At that point in time, all they could see was the devastation they had caused, and they grieved over it and were angry at each other. But, in the same moment, God showed Joseph the "bigger picture."

As he looked back over all that had happened, he understood that God had guided his life and used its harsh circumstances to bring him to this place where he could save his family and many others from starvation. As he shared this perspective with his brothers, despair gave way to hope. In spite of themselves, God had overruled their past and prepared a wonderful future for them.

In our lesson for today, we'll hear the promise that God can accomplish His will in our lives even when people and the devil try to destroy us. But we'll also remember that we must do our part for this to happen.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

Some people are easy to love. They have qualities we admire, and they make us feel good when we are around them. In these relationships love is a "two-way street." We love them, and they love us back. But sometimes we find ourselves in the confusing position of trying to love someone who does not love us or loves us less than we love them. No matter how hard we try, we are unable to win their heart. In these sad scenarios love is only a "one-way street." This is painful under any circumstance, but the level of pain grows exponentially when the person rejecting us is a member of our family. Parents, children, spouses and other relatives "ought" to love us because we belong to them. Yet, in some cases, try as we will, the situation never seems to change. This was the emotional reality for ten of Jacob's 12 sons. From childhood they were forced to face the bitter truth that their father loved two of their brothers far more than the rest of them. In our study for today, we observe a remarkable attitude in some or all of these rejected sons. The jealousy of their younger years has disappeared, and they have clearly chosen to love their father even though he has not changed his feelings toward them. Somehow they accepted their circumstances and chose to love an old man too broken to love them back. Since many of us also find ourselves loving people who don't love us back, we'll try to learn some of the lessons these ten sons must have learned.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

 

 

Joseph's discernment not only turned Pharaoh's confusing dream into a plan for Egypt's future but was also instrumental in his own personal healing. His brothers' betrayal wounded him deeply, as did 13 years of slavery and prison. Yet as we read through these chapters describing his life, we see him emerge whole and successful in spite of his past. What was it that allowed him to break free from those years of suffering and betrayal when so often people remain crippled by their past for a lifetime? Though there are certainly many more explanations than the three we will consider here, these areas of discernment were surely involved and will still bring healing to us today just as they did to Joseph.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

Today we will focus on a very important aspect of human relationships, especially as it applies to marriage: our mental habits. If we look behind the main events of this chapter, we observe a marriage in trouble. Potiphar's wife has grown disloyal and disrespectful toward her husband to the point that she is aggressively pursuing other men. She has fallen into some negative mental habits which will produce greater unhappiness for both of them. Has he earned her contempt? Maybe, but whether he has or hasn't, her response can only make their marriage worse, not better. After observing Potiphar's marriage, we will turn to Philippians 4:6-9 in order to allow Paul to teach us the power of positive mental attitudes on our marriage and other important relationships.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

 

 

The subject of spiritual gifts is a mystery to many people, even some Christians. Some deny such gifts exist at all, and others admit they may exist but believe that if they do they must beiong to only a few very special people. They assume normal Christians can't expect spiritual gifts to be a part of their everyday lives. Yet, the Bible teaches something very different. It tells us every Christian has been given the Holy Spirit to live inside them , and since He is the Source of all spiritual gifts, believers should expect to receive His supernatural help whenever they need it. In today's lesson we'll observe the important role spiritual gifts played in Joseph's life, and then we'll reflect on how they can play an important role in ours as well.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

 

 

We are going to see today that Joseph was failed by every human source in his life. But God didn't need a human source to take care of Joseph. This godly man is a tremendous example to us of God's faithfulness. Joseph knew his source. He looked to God for his help. We make a terrible mistake when we look to people, or to our own wisdom or our own sources. Where do I go when I need help? Do I look to myself and say I can fix this; I can handle this. But life itself shows us the challenges and the needs are too big for me. If I expect people or myself to handle things, I will be disappointed becasue people don't have the resource I need; nor do I. The real problem isn't the people; it is that I looked to the wrong source. 

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation, email us at info@lifelessonspublishing.com and ask for your copy at no charge! 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.