Through all the strife and turmoil of his life, Joseph (Genesis, chapters 37-50) didn't lose faith.
He was hated by his brothers, sold into bondage in Egypt by his brothers, and wrongly imprisoned.
His faithfulness and ultimate role in saving countless lives, including those of his entire family and their descendants, which would have included Jesus Christ, is one of the themes of a conference on Oct. 12 at EverPresent Church in Batavia called "Armor Up, Hold the Line."
The speakers are Pastor Matt Sassano of Fresh Start Church in Hornell and Phil Cappuccio, a former pastor and now an itinerate Christian teacher.
Pastor Jason Norton, EverPresent, said the conference is about Christians standing their ground and holding the line in difficult times.
"We want to encourage people to stay strong," Norton said. "There's just a lot of craziness going on in the world, and sometimes, in times like these, people with faith and conviction just need to show forth their faith by holding true to it rather than faltering and being weary or discouraged or fearful."
Sassano is taking his theme from the story of Joseph.
Joseph was hated by his brothers first because he was favored by his father, but he also had a dream of his own future greatness, which he immodestly told his brothers, and his brothers hated him even more.
After his brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, Joseph went through many trials, but his ability to interpret dreams eventually impressed the pharaoh. Because he correctly predicted a seven-year famine and provided the strategy for Egypt to survive it, the pharaoh gave Joseph a high office in charge of famine relief.
The long famine engulfed the entire Middle East. Without Joseph and his plan, much of the area's population would have been wiped out.
In his lofty and powerful role, Joseph eventually saved his entire family, including the brothers who had betrayed him.
The story of Joseph illustrates, Sassano told The Batavian, that God always has a plan. It may not be apparent to you at the time. It may take years before the plan is revealed -- if it ever is -- but God is always in control. There are no coincidences.
"No matter how difficult things get, particularly as Christians -- this is how I operate, and in the realm I'm in -- no matter how difficult or bleak things look, there's always hope, there's always a future. There's always something that God has in store."
It's easy to get discouraged, Sassano suggested, because what God does, he doesn't necessarily do in our timeframe.
"God doesn't see time like we do. We live by it, and he doesn't live in it, Sassano said. "There's a Bible verse that says 1,000 years is like a day, and a day is like 1,000 years to God (2 Peter 3:8). We understand it to mean God doesn't live in time. You're waiting five years or something, and it's a blip on the screen, you know? So, (my talk is) about not giving up on your dreams because Joseph did not give up; he eventually saw his dreams come to pass."
The theme of Cappuccio's talk is putting on the armor of Christ to deal with spiritual conflict. He's calling his talk, "Welcome to the War."
The first key passage of scripture, he said, is 2 Timothy 2:3-4: "Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs but rather tries to please his commanding officer."
"I'm going to identify the reality of the Christian life in the New Testament, just identifying how there is a war," Cappuccio said. "I'm going to deal with three aspects of conflict. I will deal with the spiritual war, and that's identified in Ephesians 6:10-13. I'm going to identify personal war that we can face as believers. 1 Peter 2:11 talks about the fleshy lusts that war against the soul. And I'm going to address the cultural war we presently find ourselves, which I call it, the war against truth. Just to give a scriptural reference, Isaiah 59:14-16. It talks about judgment or judication being turned away, backward, meaning that it's reversed. Justice is far off because truth is falling in the street, and as a result, equity cannot enter in when there's not an absolute truth, the truth that God has set for all humanity."
Cappuccio said he wants those who attend the conference to better identify the times we're living in and to recognize that conflict is a normal part of Christian life.
"I want them to be equipped," Cappuccio said, "to be equipped personally against spiritual warfare and to be victorious in the time we're living in."
Everpresent Church is located at 4 Batavia City Centre, Batavia. The Conference is on Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pastor Jason Norton said the event is designed to feed adults. The cost is $21.50 or two people can attend together for $33.
