Here is copy of my successful Durham Queen's  Masters Dissertation titled "Προσκυνέω, λειτουργέω and λατρεύω, A Word Study of New Testament Worship Language"

"Introduction:
The apostle Paul is described by Dunn as the “…first and greatest…”1 theologian and is responsible for some of the most used books within the NT2 . That Paul only uses the NT’s most frequently used term for worship, proskuneō on one occasion is thus surprising. This work will explore the NT’s use of three terms for worship (proskuneō, leitourgeō, latreuō) paying attention to their use in Greek and LXX contexts before examining the details of each occurrence of the words in the NT. The work concludes with a critical analysis of their use and an exploration of the findings in the area of Christ-devotion in early Christianity."
click the link below:

 https://goo.gl/6sc6DB 

How we know

C 

Standing in eternity  

F 

Pouring out your everything  

      Am 

For while we were still enemies 

G            F 

You came for us 

C 

A servant in all holiness  

F 

Glory clothed obedience 

 Am 

Humble despite circumstance  

G          F 

You came for us.  

C                        Am                             G                                F 

This is how we know you love us, that you died for me   

C                         Em                              Am                          F 

This is how we know you love us, that you died for me   

C 

We were still powerless, 

F 

Hopeless in our bitterness  

         Am 

But God did not let go of us 

G           F 

You came for us 

C 

The sky went dark, the curtain split  

F 

As justice and mercy kissed 

      Am 

No greater love is there than this 

G         F 

You came for us 

My beloved Son: Joseph and Jesus

One amazing thing about the Bible is that aspects of Jesus’ story can be identified all the way through. The New Testament authors (Hebrews and John especially perhaps) use these images to identify Jesus in a deep and complex way. One example from the text of the last week is the ‘Sign of Jonah’ where, through the image of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days, Jesus tells us that he is going to be in the tomb for three days before, like Jonah, he is released alive!

We get another ‘type’ of Jesus in Joseph from Genesis 37-50. There are many, many comparisons to be made between Joseph and Jesus and in these next few paragraphs I am going to identify a few of these. For most of them we will see that Jesus increases what Joseph started:

1.       One of the standout things from the ‘Joseph’ story is that his dad Jacob (who is also called Israel) is described as loving Joseph more than any of his other sons. It is easy to see this as a failure on Jacob’s part as Joseph himself had not done anything special to earn his favour and anyway, such favouritism is always troublesome within families.  

Jesus on the other hand is also his Dad’s favourite which we know when God repeatedly says things like “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” Matt 3:17. However, unlike Jacob’s favouritism which is undeserved and unhelpful, God’s favouritism of Jesus is deserved because Jesus lived a perfect life, and it is helpful, because it shows us that Jesus is God’s Son and a guy to be followed. Not only this, but Jesus, God’s favourite, actually invites us into His family. Through Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family.

2.       Joseph’s brothers were probably (understandably) envious that Joseph was their Dad’s favourite and so they did what all self-respecting older brothers would do and they sold him into slavery. Doh. The very people who should have been supporting Joseph stood against him and sold him into slavery for 20 coins (the going-rate for a slave).

Like Joseph, Jesus was sold out by the people that should have been supporting Him. I group Judas and the Pharisees together in that – Judas because he was supposedly Jesus’ follower and friend – and the Pharisees because they were supposed to be God’s leaders and representatives. Like Joseph’s brothers were to Joseph, Judas and the Pharisees were jealous of what Jesus had. Jesus was sold off for 30 coins which was the going rate for a slave in His day (God even allowed for inflation!). Unlike Joseph however, Jesus was sold not into slavery but sold into death.

3.       **SPOILER ALERT**… Later on in the narrative Joseph has the opportunity to judge and kill his brothers for stealing something. My gut reaction would be to get back at those people who had sold me into slavery. Instead, Joseph chooses to save the People of God and provide them with the grain they needed to live. Not only does Joseph choose not kill his brothers, but he saves them and feeds them.

Jesus has the opportunity and power to judge (2Tim 4:1). Not only this but, after getting killed by humanity despite living a perfect life, it would be understandable if he were just an insy wincy teeny little bit hacked off!! Instead Jesus chooses to forgive us of those things we have done wrong and take them upon Himself on the cross. Not only this, but like Joseph gave to his brothers, Jesus promises to be our bread of life (John 6:25-59). In other words, Jesus promises to provide us with the spiritual food that we need to grow in faith.

There is literally a whole page full of other interesting similarities between Jesus and Joseph over on this site.

If Genesis is a book about families as we talked about in the first blog and if, as I mentioned at the top of this post, God has invited us into his family, what can we learn from the lives (the successes and the failures) of the people in Genesis for our Church and home families today?

What does it mean to be a Son or Daughter of God?