Genesis Week 49 • Faith

Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast.

We're so glad you chose to listen today.

This week's message explores the theme of faith

through the story of Joseph in Genesis 47 to 48

and the disciples in Matthew 8.

In times of uncertainty,

both Joseph and the disciples face challenges

that tested their trust in God's provision and power.

From Joseph's leadership during famine

to Jesus calming the storm,

we see how faith in God's word, covenant, and purpose

shapes our response to life's trials.

Join us as we reflect on what it means

to have unwavering faith in God's perfect timing.

Thanks for listening.

Good morning.

Good morning.

If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do,

I want to invite you to join us in Genesis chapter 47.

Genesis 47 · chapter mention

If you're wondering,

why did I send Grayson out of the auditorium

and in a panic trying to get my glasses clean?

I don't know.

That worship set just produced a little bit of tears

and a lot of sweat.

So I really appreciate that

and kind of fogged up my glasses a little bit.

So trying to get that

so that I don't have to try to play on memorization for this.

But we're glad that you guys are here.

And I think I can see good enough out of my glasses

for the remainder of our service together.

Hey, if you're a first-time guest,

thank you so much for being here.

At the end of the service,

I'll be back here to my left,

back here at this table.

Would love for you to stop by.

It's a great place if you've got questions

about our church to get those questions answered.

But if nothing more,

I would just like to personally learn your name,

shake your hand,

and thank you for being here

and for worshiping with us.

Also, with that,

we are going to have the Lord's Supper

at the very end of the service together.

So I'll preach here

and then the band will come up

for a time of response for us.

And then the very last thing we'll do

is I'll come back on stage

and we'll partake in the Lord's Supper together.

If you are a follower of Jesus,

regardless if you're a member of Willow Ridge Church or not,

we want to encourage you to take that with us

if the Spirit of God so leads you to.

We'll walk through that together

about what we're doing

and why we're doing it

and the heart that we need to have

in order to do that.

But if you are a follower of Jesus,

I want to encourage you to do that.

And then also,

we do have our third through fifth graders in the room

and we're doing that the first Sunday of every month

because we're so excited to see what God is doing to them.

So many of them have given their life to Jesus Christ

as their Lord and Savior.

We wanted them when we have baptism

to be able to celebrate that with us

as so many others are getting baptized.

But we also want to provide them,

those that are followers of Jesus,

the opportunity to partake in the Lord's Supper together.

And so we're glad, kids,

that you were here with us,

a part of our church,

and that God is working and moving

in our students,

in our youth,

in our kids,

in our adults,

in all three of our church.

And we celebrate Him for that.

Before we get into Genesis 47, though,

I want to read out of Matthew chapter 8.

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

Starting in verse 25, it says,

And they went and woke Him, saying,

Save us, Lord, we are perishing.

And He said to them,

Why are you afraid?

Oh, you of little faith.

Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea,

and there was great calm.

And the men marveled, saying,

What sort of man is this?

Let even winds and sea obey Him.

Would you pray with me?

God, I thank You so much

for our time together in Your Word.

God, I pray as You've taught me this week,

Lord, I pray that You would teach us today.

God, if any part of this is of me,

is from me,

God, please remove it.

And Lord, may this be of You and from You.

Lord, may it penetrate our hearts

in the way that You desire

and in the way that we need.

God, I pray that if there's anyone here

who doesn't know You,

that today they would put their faith

and their hope and trust

in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

God, I pray if there's anyone

who is running from You,

that today would be the day of their repentance.

And that, God, all of us,

who are Your sons and daughters,

would be strengthened in our faith

to live for Your glory

and for Your purpose.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

So this morning,

we're gonna pick up here

in Genesis 47, verse 13.

Genesis 47:13

We're gonna read all of the remainder of 47,

all of 48.

And then we got two more weeks in Genesis.

We'll do chapter 49

and then we'll wrap up with chapter 50.

And then we're gonna be getting

into New Testament book.

We're gonna be looking

in the book of Titus,

I believe, for about six weeks.

And we're gonna work through that together.

And so excited about that.

It's been a,

just God's taught me a lot.

I hope that God's taught you a lot.

Some of the feedback

that I've been getting

of walking through a book

the way that we've done

over the last two years in Genesis

to really dive in,

to kind of see.

I do feel like sometimes

we can become very New Testament heavy.

And you guys have shared that with me.

And so we wanna make sure

that all of this is God's word

and it's all good.

Sometimes different parts, right?

They're more challenging for us

as we labor through.

And I mean that in a good way

as we work diligently through them

to see what God has for us.

And so we're gonna be wrapping up.

Kind of look at these.

This week and the next two weeks

is kind of wrapping up Genesis.

There's a lot of referring back to

remember when,

think about this kind of pieces

as we see God for us

in so many ways

putting the final puzzle pieces together

of his story in Genesis

as he shares them with us.

So let's read,

we're gonna start verse 12

and read all the way through chapter,

I'm sorry, verse 13

and read all the way through

the remainder of chapter 47.

It says,

Now there was no food in all the land

for the famine was severe

so that the land of Egypt

and the land of Canaan

languished by reason of the famine.

And Joseph gathered up all the money

that was found in the land of Egypt

and in the land of Canaan

in exchange for the grain

that they had bought.

And Joseph brought the money

into Pharaoh's house.

And when the money was all spent

in the land of Egypt

and the land of Canaan,

all the Egyptians came to Joseph

and said,

Give us food.

Why should we die before your eyes

for our money is gone?

And Joseph answered,

Give your livestock

and I will give you food

in exchange for your livestock

if your money is gone.

So they brought their livestock

to Joseph

and Joseph gave them food

in exchange for the horses,

the flocks,

the herds,

the donkeys.

He supplied them with food

in exchange for all their livestock

that year.

And when that year ended,

they came to him

the following year

and said to him,

We will not hide from my Lord

that our money is all spent.

The herds of our livestock

are my Lord's.

There's nothing left

in the sight of my Lord

but our bodies and our land.

Why should we die before your eyes,

both we and our land

by us

and by our land for food

and we with our land

will be servants to Pharaoh

and give us seed

that we may live

and not die

and that the land

may not be desolate.

So Joseph bought all the land

of Egypt for Pharaoh

for all the Egyptians

sold their fields

because this famine

was severe on them

and the land became Pharaoh's.

As for the people,

he made servants of them

from one end of Egypt

to the other.

Only the land of the priest

he did not buy

for the priest had fixed,

had a fixed allowance

from Pharaoh

and lived on the allowance

that Pharaoh gave them.

Therefore,

they did not sell their land.

Then Joseph said to the people,

Behold,

I have this day bought you

and your land for Pharaoh.

Now here is seed for you

and you shall sow the land.

And at the harvest,

you shall give a fifth

to Pharaoh

and four fifths

shall be your own

as a seed for the field

and as food for yourselves

and for your household

and as food for your little ones.

And they said,

You have saved our lives.

May it please my Lord,

we will be servants to Pharaoh.

So Joseph made it a statute

concerning the land

that it stands to this day

that Pharaoh should have the fifth.

The land of the priest alone

did not become Pharaoh's.

Thus Israel settled

in the land of Egypt

in the land of Goshen

and they gained possessions in it

and were fruitful

and multiplied greatly.

And Jacob lived

in the land of Egypt

seventeen years.

So the days of Jacob,

the years of his life

were a hundred and forty-seven years.

And when the time drew near

that Israel must die,

remember,

I will say these names

back and forth,

Israel and Jacob,

same person,

that Israel must die.

He called his son Joseph

and said to him,

If now I have found favor

in your sight,

put your hand under my thigh

and promise to deal kindly

and truly with me.

Do not bury me in Egypt,

but let me lie with my fathers.

Carry me out of Egypt

and bury me in their burying place.

And he answered,

I will do as you have said.

And he said,

Swear to me.

And he swore to him.

And then Israel bowed himself

upon the head of his bed.

So last week,

we were looking back

in an exciting time,

a family torn apart,

a family destroyed,

is reconciled.

But as we see right here

in 47, right,

not everything's easy.

The famine is still there.

The famine is growing.

The famine is spreading.

Because of Joseph

being in the right place,

in the right time,

with the right skills,

not because of happenstance,

but because of the move

in the hand of God,

there is still food

that is available.

While people,

while there could have been

massive death,

massive famine across,

that what we see here

in the land of Egypt,

in the land of Canaan,

that there is hope.

There's hope because of

the hand of the move of God,

which has been placed on Joseph,

and Joseph doing

what God has called him to do.

And so first people

paid with money.

And then when their money

was gone in order to buy food,

they paid with their livestock.

And then when their livestock

was gone,

they paid with themselves.

They paid with their land.

And scripture is very clear

that the agreement was

that they would give a percentage,

give 20%,

and keep the remainder.

And we see that what happens

in this is that Pharaoh's power

and wealth would multiply.

And essentially he was able

to secure the land

and the people

that worked the land.

And in essence,

what we see if we were going

from Genesis to Exodus,

we would see that a foundation

is being laid

for the enslavement

of the people who would come.

Right now we see servants

for a percentage,

but we will something

that will happen

to Joseph's people,

the Israelites,

as they'll become slaves.

As we wrap up Genesis,

Genesis 49 · chapter mention

chapter 49 will be

where Jacob,

where Israel will bless his sons.

All of these sons

and these dysfunctional relationships

that God is working

powerfully in

and amongst

and he will bless his sons.

And then we'll see

in chapter 50

where he'll die.

And then in Exodus,

here's how it will begin.

And I apologize,

this isn't on the screen,

but if you want to jot this down,

Exodus 1, 8 says,

now there arose

a new king

over Egypt

who did not know Joseph.

And we see the oppression

that Pharaoh,

that Egypt

will have on God's people.

Why?

Why?

Well, remember God's promise,

God needed to build himself.

God said

that he would build himself

a people.

And this is what he will do.

He will not build this people

in the land of freedom.

God will build this people

in enslavement.

And here's what we will see happen.

We see,

oh, and all the way back

with God and Abraham

and Genesis 12,

all the way rolling through

into Exodus.

of what we will see

with this people

that it took,

in the very beginning,

it took about 50 years

to grow to 100 people.

But then what we will see

happen in the way

that God does,

because God doesn't say,

I'm going to create

for myself a family.

God says,

I'm going to create

for myself a nation,

a people.

Is that what we will see

over the next 430 years

is several million people.

Were these times easy?

No.

But were these times

of the hand of God?

Yes.

In our lives,

whether we're looking

at the account of Genesis

or we're looking

at the account

of our lives

in present day time,

what does our trust

look like

in trusting

the plan of God?

I think if we were

to sit down,

like we know

how God works

and what God

is working for,

His glory,

our good.

But let's be honest,

sometimes it's a little difficult

to understand

to understand

the route

that God has taken

to get us there.

We know the start.

We know the destination.

But the means

in which we will get there

is a little complex,

especially in the moment.

And I believe

what God is growing

in us,

what God is doing

in us

is developing

big faith.

Big faith.

I think if I were

to ask you,

and I believe

many of you

that are here today

are professing

followers of Jesus Christ.

Maybe not all of us.

And if you're not,

we're glad you're here.

We're glad you're here.

We're glad you came

to listen,

to understand,

and we've been praying

for you.

Man, we've been praying

for you.

But for all of us

here,

if I were to say,

do you have faith

in God?

Yes.

Do you have faith

in God's plan?

Yes.

Do you have faith

in God's purpose?

Yes.

Do you have faith

in God's word?

Yes.

Do you have faith

in God's love

and kindness?

Yes.

But the question is,

not do you have faith,

but what is the depth

of your faith?

Do you have little faith?

Do you have big faith?

We start off

with Matthew 8.

I want to read

this story to you

because this,

this to me,

is so powerful

in Jesus' words here.

Matthew 8,

23 and 27.

It says,

when he got into

the boat,

he being Jesus,

his disciples

followed him.

So who took him there?

Jesus.

He led the way.

Where are we going?

I don't know.

We're going where

Jesus takes us.

And behold,

there arose a great storm

on the sea

so that the boat

was being swamped

by the waves,

but he was asleep.

And they went

and woke him saying,

save us, Lord,

we are perishing.

How many of you,

raise your hand,

get seasick?

I do.

I do.

All right?

Here's,

if you don't know

if you get seasick or not,

my understanding is

there's only one way

to really find out

if you get seasick or not,

and that's get on a boat

and go out into the water

and find out.

And when you get out

into that water,

if you get seasick,

let me just tell you,

it doesn't matter

how much fun

they've told you

the rest of that day

is going to be,

it is awful.

I spent eight hours

on a boat

off of Edisto.

Now,

we didn't even

get out deep.

At one point in time,

we got stuck.

And by the end of that,

here's what I know,

I never need to get

on a boat again.

And the sky was clear,

there was no storms,

the wind was good,

but there was just enough

of da-da-da-duck,

da-da-da-duck,

da-da-da-duck,

constantly to cause me

to say no thank you.

And let's look at them.

Let's look at them.

They're not on a simple

ride around Edisto

with some waves

moving the boat.

The Bible says

that the boat

was being swamped,

overrun

by the waves.

This wasn't,

hey, Jesus,

John's out here

throwing up

because you kind of

come help him a little bit.

He's a little weak

when it comes to this,

right?

This isn't this.

Look at their words.

Save us, Lord,

we're perishing.

Now,

in our times

of difficulty

and dismay,

and we should,

man,

we should run

to the Lord,

run to the Lord,

run to the Lord.

Cast all your anxieties

on him,

all your cares.

Bring him to the Lord,

bring him to the Lord.

That's what they do.

That's what they do.

So they should be

commended, right?

They followed Jesus.

He took them on the boat.

They're on the boat.

Things aren't going as planned.

They didn't get mad.

They didn't try

to have a mutiny.

Save us, Lord.

We're perishing.

Verse 26.

And he said to them,

why are you afraid,

oh, you of little faith?

Then he rose

and rebuked

the winds

and the sea

and there was

a great calm

and the men marveled

saying,

what sort of a man

is this

that even the winds

and sea

obeyed?

You've used that verse.

I found out this week

when I think of that verse,

I always think of that verse

in the King James.

Oh, ye of little faith.

I don't say ye

in any context,

but I do when I think

of that verse.

Oh, you of little faith.

So why does Jesus

rebuke them

and not commend them?

Why in this moment

is Jesus like,

listen, stop.

Stop.

Little faith people,

stop.

Because he put them

in the boat.

He put them in the boat.

You get like,

he's like,

you're trusting me.

You're following me.

You want to be a part

of this.

Like, you're pumped

when I cast out the demon.

You're pumped

when I turn the water

into wine.

You're pumped

when the blind man sees.

You're pumped

when the crippled person

gets up and walks.

But now there's

a little bit of calamity.

There's a little bit

of difficulty.

There's a little bit

of stress.

There's a little bit

of things that you think

that are outside

of your hand.

Oh, you of little faith.

Here's what I want

you and I

to grasp

in our minds

that Jesus

wants you

and me

to not have

little faith.

He doesn't want us

to have faith.

He wants us

to have big faith.

Big faith.

So what is big faith?

I mean,

we've been seeing

some big faith

moments

throughout Genesis.

And when we think

oftentimes

about big faith,

we think about

big decisions.

We think about

big actions.

We think about

monumental moments

in Scripture

and monumental moments

in our life.

Just walking through

Genesis, right?

We see big faith.

Build an ark.

Okay,

I've never built a boat.

Well, here's what

you got to do.

You got to build

one big enough

for your family

and for

at least

for two

for two

of every animal.

Well,

am I going to build it

by the river?

Am I going to build it

by this?

No, you're going to build it

on dry land

because rain,

it's never rained before

but rain's going to fall

and the whole earth

is going to flood.

We think, man,

that's big faith.

That's big faith.

Go have big faith

like that

in that moment,

in that big moment

that's there.

Big faith.

We think about Abraham

when he was Abraham

and the call

to leave

because of what God

wanted to do

and you remember

what he had to leave?

He had to leave everything.

He had to leave everything.

He had to leave his home,

his business,

his power,

his influence,

everything

to follow God.

That's big faith.

It's a big faith moment,

big faith action.

Think of

God calling Abraham

Abraham to

sacrifice the son

that God had promised

that he'd always wanted

and Abraham goes

and I believe

was willing to do

exactly what God

called him to do

until God stopped him.

That's big faith.

That's big faith.

But here's

what I want us to get.

If you wait

to have big faith

on big faith

moments

then you're not

going to have

big faith.

Right?

Like,

what about,

let's just say

today is just boring.

It's just plain.

There's no

arc moment.

There's no

sacrifice moment.

There's no

leave everything

behind moment.

There's no

big decision

quote unquote

big faith.

We've been

reading through

and seeing

moment by

moment

of big faith

decisions

that God

has called

these men

and women

to make

and what I would

argue

is that in the

momentum

to get to

big faith,

if you've got to

have big faith

on Friday,

let me just tell you

something,

you can't have

little faith

on Monday,

Tuesday,

Wednesday,

and Thursday.

And so

in big faith

also requires

big faith

and simple

decisions.

Here's a lot

of what we've

seen in God's

word.

We see men

and women

of faith

give an offering.

Here's what

we've seen

in Genesis.

We've seen

men and women

of faith

worship.

We've seen

them choose

to be honest

instead of lie.

we've seen

them do

what is

fair

and what

is right.

We've seen

them

as they're

waiting and

preparing

themselves

from the

big decisions

that they

would have

to face

implement

big faith

in the

simple

decisions

of life.

And if

you and

I

do not

make

simple

daily

decisions

based off

of big

faith

we will

never

make

the big

faith

decisions

when big

decisions

come.

We'll never

do it.

You and

I

will never

stand

still

in minimal

faith

and then

when big

faith

call

happens

take that

step.

Jesus is

like

I'm

here

I'm

with you

I'm

on this

journey

small

you know

who I

am

be still

and it's

calm.

So

what we

see in

Genesis

48

is Jacob

is going

to bless

two

individuals

and what

we will

see from

these

are just

some

simple

but

powerful

decisions

of what

it means

to have

big

faith.

Big

faith.

So let's

read verses

1-7

to 48

it says

after this

Joseph

was told

behold

your father

is ill

so he

took with

him his

two sons

Manasseh

and Ephraim

and it

was told

to Jacob

your son

Joseph

has come

to you

then Israel

summoned his

strength

and sat

up in bed

and Jacob

said to

Joseph

God

almighty

appeared

to me

at

Lutz

in the

land of

Canaan

and blessed

me

and said

to me

behold

I will

make you

fruitful

and multiply

you

and I

will make

you a

company

of peoples

and will

give this

land to

your

offspring

after

you

for an

everlasting

possession

and now

your two

sons

who were

born in

the land

of Egypt

before I

came to

you in

Egypt

are mine

Ephraim

and Manasseh

shall be

mine

as Reuben

and Simeon

are

and the

children

that you

fathered

after them

shall be

yours

they

shall be

called

by the

name

of their

brothers

in their

inheritance

as for

me

when I

came to

Padnam

and my

sorrow for

Rachel

died in

the land

of Canaan

on the way

when there

was still

some distance

to go

to Ephrath

I buried

her there

on the way

to Ephrath

that is

Bethlehem

Jacob

is going

to receive

two of

the sons

of Joseph

and he's

going to

adopt

them

into the

family

at the

highest

level

now

if you've

been journeying

with us

it's a

risky move

risky move

but it's

very interesting

and you guys

know this

we've been

on this

journey

with Jacob

Jacob

is a

godly

man

who

doesn't

always

get it

right

but he's

a man

of faith

that we

see

so hopefully

that

maybe

describes

you

and describes

me

we're people

of faith

who don't

always get

it right

but that's

why God

gives us

his grace

and so

what does

he lean

into in

this moment

he leans

into God's

word

verse 3

verse 3

he presses

in

look what he

says

and Jacob

said to

Joseph

God

almighty

appeared

to me

at

let's

in the

land

of

Canaan

and blessed

me

and said

to me

but behold

I will make

you fruitful

and multiply

you and I

will make

you a company

of peoples

and give

this land

to your

offspring

after you

for an

everlasting

possession

he presses

into

he can't

say

hey man

go get

your bible

let's walk

through this

together

he doesn't

have

God's

copy

of God's

word

but what

does he

do

in this

moment

for what

I'm

going to

do

in this

moment

for the

actions

that I

have

in this

moment

for this

piece

let me

press in

let me

say

this

is

God's

word

and if

you and

I are

going to

live

in big

faith

if you

and I

are

going to

base

our

daily

life

not in

the

oh

ye of

little

faith

but if

we're

going to

base

our

faith

in the

get out

of the

boat

and walk

with

Jesus

faith

then what

we have

to do

is have

to have

big

faith

in the

daily

moments

and what

we see

right here

is faith

in God's

word

faith

faith

in God's

word

there's

nothing

in this

in this

part

right here

that's

blood

in people's

mind

is just

hey let me

remind you

of the

plan

and the

faithfulness

of God

now

I

there's

no

agenda

with what

I'm about

to say

but

there's

two types

of

people

in my

house

there

are those

in my

house

who do

all of the

things

and go to

all of the

doctor's

appointments

that the

doctors have

asked them

to do

as they

look to

daily care

for their

bodies

and then

there's

me

and I

just go

when it

gets bad

enough

and my

wife is

like I'm

done

dealing

with this

you

stubborn

stubborn

man

get up

and go

right

I need

to go

more

I need

to care

for myself

more

I'm

stubborn

I'm

hard

headed

I don't

do it

if you

if I

asked you

again

the same

question

do you

have faith

in God's

word

the answer

for you

would be

yes

yes

if you're

a follower

of Jesus

I assume

and I hope

that your

answer

would be

yes

but

but I

asked you

if I

asked you

when it

when it

comes

to the

practice

and to

the

discipline

and to

the joy

and

desire

of your

life

do you

constantly

go to

and find

fulfillment

and hope

and promise

and joy

and purpose

and in

calling

in God's

word

and I

hope

that your

answer is

yes

but all

too often

our answer

is no

when the

answer is

no

how do we

know what

to do

when God

places us

in the

moment

oh

oh ye

of little

faith

God's

word

is here

when we

need it

some of you

approach God's

word the way

that I

approach the

doctor

it's all

falling apart

I can't get

out of bed

I've lost

control

I've

turned to

everything

else

now I

turn to

you

when we

don't need

to approach

God's

word

because we

need it

in the

situation

solely

but we

approach

God's

word

because we

need it

daily

because we

don't know

when the

situation

is going

to come

all right

let's keep

on reading

verse 8

when Israel

saw Joseph's

son he

said whose

are these

and Joseph

said to

his father

they are

my sons

whom God

has given

me here

and he

said bring

them to

me

please

that I

may

bless

them

now the

eyes

of Israel

were dim

with age

so that he

could not

see so

Joseph

brought them

near him

and he

kissed

them and

embraced

them

and Israel

said to

Joseph

I never

expected

to see

your face

and behold

God

has let

me see

your

offspring

also

then

Joseph

removed

them

from his

knees

and he

bowed

himself

with his

face

to the

earth

and Joseph

took them

both

Ephraim

in his

right hand

toward Israel's

left hand

and Manasseh

in his

left hand

toward Israel's

right hand

and brought

them near to

him

and Israel

look at this

Israel stretched out

his right hand

and laid it

on Ephraim

who was the

younger

in his

left hand

on the head

of Manasseh

crossing his

hands

for Manasseh

was the

firstborn

and he

blessed

Joseph

and said

the God

before whom

my fathers

Abraham

and Isaac

walked

underline this

in your

Bible

the God

who has

been my

shepherd

all my

life long

to this

day

the angel

who has

redeemed

me from

all evil

bless

the boys

and in

them let

my name

be carried

on in

the name

of my

fathers

Abraham

and Isaac

and let

them grow

into a

multitude

in the

midst

of the

earth

so here's

what's

happening

here

Jacob

is going

to bless

the boys

but he's

going to

bless

Ephraim

the younger

with the

greater

blessing

which was

against

custom

okay

but he

blessed

both boys

because here's

what I want

us to see

in this

daily

decisions

of faith

mean

daily

faith

in God's

covenant

daily

faith

in God's

covenant

Jacob

in his

blessing

in verses

15 and

16

recounts

the covenant

going all

the way

back to

Abraham

the covenant

that God

made with

Abraham

continues

on with

Isaac

and Jacob

and now

will continue

on with

his sons

and these

two now

adopted

sons of

Jacob

but he says

something very

interesting

what I told

you to

underline

in verse

14

the God

who has

been my

shepherd

all my

life long

to this

day

what he

does right

here is he

speaks to

God's covenant

by talking

about God's

grace

remember this

is the same

guy

this is the

same guy

a couple

of chapters

ago

who was

feeling like

every part

of his

world

was falling

apart

and he

was cursed

and now

look at what

he's doing

now what

we see here

is what

he is

acknowledging

in his

life

is that

he says

God

you've

been my

shepherd

all my

life long

to this

day

shepherd

theme

over and

over and

over

throughout

scripture

because can

I tell you

what a

sheep

cannot do

is keep

itself

a sheep

needs a

shepherd

when a

sheep

wanders

the shepherd

gets it

when the

sheep

gets in

trouble

the shepherd

rescues

it

when the

sheep

gets hurt

the shepherd

heals

it

when the

sheep

are lost

they go

find it

it's the

shepherd

it's the

shepherd

it's the

shepherd

and what

he's saying

here is

I'm the

dumb

sheep

and you're

the holy

shepherd

and in the

covenant of

what you've

promised

it's not

because we've

done it

right

it's because

of your

goodness

and your

grace

to us

faith in

God's

covenant

faith

in Christ

faith in

his grace

is not

saying

just

this is

how God

saved me

in the

past

but is

also

looking

currently

how God

is saving

us

daily

by his

grace

and mercy

how he

keeps you

how he

keeps me

and how we

celebrate him

for that

and so

when we're

having to

make in

those day

to day

decisions

I don't

need that

emotional

moment to

remind me

of his

goodness

and how

I'm

undeserving

of that

in my

life

because

it's a

daily

reminder

of who

I am

of his

goodness

and so

within that

it puts

all of

the bad

that has

happened

around me

it puts

all of

the suffering