Famine and Favor - Genesis 47:1-31 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone.

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Nice to see you all. I'm just turning my

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you're going to be getting soon is an e-

bulletin about our uh 24-hour prayer

time coming up. That's going to be um

May 2nd to 3d. That's a Friday and

Saturday. And we're including some

scripture reading this time from Titus

because we're going to be starting seven

weeks in Titus. That'll finish the

entire letter of Titus. Um

and what what the elder we're having the

church practice something that the

elders practice in every one of our

elder retreats when we get together to

discuss about what next book we're going

to go through. We really just do book

series after book series, but we pray

about what book series God would have us

go through and we were feeling led

towards Titus. And so we would read

through Titus, and anytime any one of us

got any kind of sense from the spirit

that something was worth talking about,

we just stop and discuss it. And we

stopped and discussed through these

three chapters over and over again. Uh

took a lot less time to do that for

Titus than it did for Genesis. Um but we

thought, you know, why not just invite

the church into that? So that's what

we're going to be doing this 24-hour

prayer time is basically praying through

the book of Titus. It's another very

deep way to engage with the word, not

just through study or through following

a sermon series, but actually praying

through Titus. And you can join

basically in the ministry of the word

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Saturday the 3rd. And what that looks up

like is just signing up for an hour of

prayer. You can sign up for more than

that, but uh we love to have every

single hour covered. So, you might

consider if there is nothing that you

need to be particularly awake for on

Saturday, signing up for the, you know,

the deep reaches of the night kind of

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like to have those times booked, too.

So, more to that, more on that to come

in the ebulletin. I don't really have

anything else to announce other than

that. So, let me pray and we'll get

right into Genesis 47. Heavenly Father,

thank you

for the fact that you've brought us so

far through Genesis and that we will

soon be completing Genesis. Uh we want

to finish well. We want to apply the

things that we've learned. We want to

see the sort of the climactic ending of

your sovereign goodwill even though it

includes um sinful actions on the part

of human beings and how you redeem that.

And we hope for that redemption in our

own lives. Lord, I pray that you would

give us attentive ears and open hearts

and that you'd open your word to our

hearts as well. All things we can't take

for granted and all things we have been

included in by the promised spirit. And

we pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen. So turn your Bibles to Genesis 37

and we'll get right into it. I don't

know how many of you have been following

March Madness. I kind of like college

football and college basketball a little

bit more than the pro levels. Uh mainly

just for one reason. and it seems like

they try harder, especially in March

Madness. Um, they're just going all out.

And I had Duke winning. I don't know how

many of you had Duke winning. So,

there's that. Um, but I was thinking I I

don't know that much about I don't

follow sports as much as someone might

think I do. I I watch when I get invited

and my brother's really into basketball.

He invites our whole family to do like a

bracket. So, I did that and uh I think

one of my kids is now winning because

they chose Houston and just lucked out

on that. But um I was thinking about

Connor Flag and they talk about he's a

Duke player star and had a great game

even though they lost and he uh he's

probably going to go first in the draft

and I was thinking about how um you get

a huge signing bonus when you sign on

with the NBA or Major League Baseball or

the NFL. And uh what's what's usually

one of the first things that a player

professional player does with a signing

bonus? You've all thought of it. And I

don't mean buy himself a car or buy

herself a car. I mean uh buy their mom a

house. Have you heard this before? Over

and over and over again. These

professional players would buy their mom

a house. And why is it that when we

receive something great, a great

blessing in our life, some kind of big

bonus that we even consider blessing

other people with it? I don't know if

Connor Flag is a Christian. I barely

know him um even as a basketball player.

But there's something about us um that

comes from being made in the image of

God that wants to bless other people

with the things that we've been given.

But because we're sinful, that gets

interrupted. And God has to redeem that

sin. And a lot of what we're going to be

talking about today, if you guys can put

the main point up, is that God's favor

in our lives is so great that we can

actually bless others with it and and do

that continually. And maybe most

importantly knowing from the sermon

today is that you can do that even when

you're going through

hardship. Jacob talks about how hard his

life was, but he still blesses Pharaoh.

And so I want you to consider not only

the favor that you see in Jacob's life

because of the great promise that he had

um the Abrahamic promise that was passed

on to his father Isaac and passed on to

him. um but that you're actually

included in that promise and that that

promise to you has come into greater

fulfillment than it ever did for Jacob

and will come into even greater

fulfillment uh in the future. And so

that favor we we're going to be I I

don't I realize I don't often give

really specific practical applications

to my sermons and I think those are

actually important and I want to do that

today. I want you to consider today as

as the Holy Spirit leads us through this

passage and as you maybe feel challenged

or convicted or

encouraged who you might bless in your

life, how you might take the favor that

you have from God, no matter how good,

no matter how hard things are right now,

and bless somebody else. It could be

that you bless a person in your life. It

could be that you bless the church by

deciding to serve. Um there's all kinds

of different ways that you may bless

someone. We're going to talk about all

kinds of specific ways that you might

and I only talk about those things to

give you sort of a running start on

thinking about who you might bless in

your life. It could be your wife. It

could be your husband. It could be

children. It could be your co-workers.

Could be your boss. Could be anyone in

your life. And you might consider who

who needs to be blessed who needs to

experience the blessing of God's favor

being passed on in that way because it

happens over and over and over again in

chapter 47 of Genesis. that kind of

comes to culmination the favor that God

has showed his family. Um, they're

experiencing incredible favor and

they're just passing it on. So, throw up

the main point just one more

time. Honestly, if you remember nothing

else from the sermon today other than

this main point, you've remembered a lot

and that's that God shows us great favor

so that we can be a blessing to others.

Let's get into it. Here's chapter 47

verse one. And so Joseph went in and

told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers

with their flocks and their herds and

all that they possess have come to the

land of Canaan, have come from the land

of Canaan, and they are now in the land

of Gan." And among and from among his

brothers, he took five men and presented

them to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to his

brothers, "What is your occupation?" And

they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are

shepherds as our fathers were." They

said to Pharaoh, "We have come to

sojourn in a land, for there is no

pasture for our servants flocks, for the

famine is severe in the land of Canaan.

And now please let your servants dwell

in the land of Gan." And then Pharaoh

said to Joseph, "Your father and your

brothers have come to you. The land of

Egypt is before you. Settle your father

and your brothers in the best of the

land. Let them settle in the land of

Gan. And if you know any able men among

them, put them in charge of my

livestock." We're going to stop right

there at verse six. Verse 6. I want you

to consider how much favor they had. Uh

more than any other people group, more

than any other nation. Uh there is no

other nation that we know of that at

that time was being settled in Egypt. In

fact, it's just kind of unheard of that

you settle people in the land like that

and just give that land to them. And I

want you to consider just how much God

had to do to bring about that kind of

favor in their lives. And it came

through hardship. Whose hardship? Well,

in part, Jacob's hardship because he

lost Joseph. Definitely on on Joseph's

part, sold into slavery, falsely

accused, and imprisoned. And but then he

rises because of God's favor to and it

specifically says that because he had

God's favor uh to become the viceroy of

Egypt. And now God has placed one of

Israel's children, one of Jacob's

children in really the highest practical

position of power in all of Egypt. Uh

Pharaoh did less ruling than Jacob even

did, although he's ultimately in power

over Jacob. And so just the favor of

having a family member in that high of a

position of power uh ends up basically

brokering them getting the land of Gan,

which um it said later in this passage

that it's the it's the best land in all

of Egypt. I want you to consider the I

don't know what the best land in America

is. I really like like Yellowstone kind

of land because the wildlife. Uh, but I

know people absolutely love areas in

Florida or maybe more temperate areas in

like La Hoya. I don't know what you

think the best land in all of America

is, but it's going to be really fertile.

It's going to have lots of natural

resources. It's going to have uh

dramatic sort of beauty, lots of water

sources. Uh, so that is exactly what

Goan had. It's on the on the Nile Delta

and so they have access to unlimited

water which is not was remember all of

the disputes over the wells that they

had in Canaan. Now they have just a

running freshwater source constant and

and it the the Nile would overflow and

it would create these areas that are

unbelievably fertile and green right

along the banks of it. And you can look

up pictures if you like, but it's just

palm trees and greenery all around. uh

not like that at the time uh certain

sort of desert areas in the land of

Canaan that they had and that's already

incredible but on top of they're just

given this land in the midst of a

famine. Later on we'll find out towards

the end of this uh uh beginning portion

of 47 1-12 that uh Pharaoh or it says in

verse 11 I'm skipping ahead here. Then

Joseph settled his father and his

brothers and gave them possessions in

the land of Egypt in the best of the

land in the land of Ramsy's as Pharaoh

had commanded. And Joseph provided his

father, his brothers, and all his

father's household with food according

to the number of their dependents. I

don't want to skip too far ahead, but

nobody else in Egypt just gets provided

grain. They all have to buy it. And when

they run out of money, they have to sell

their livestocks. And when they run out

of livestock, they sell themselves and

they become servants. So they're in a

dire position, but not Israel, not

Jacob's people, not God's people in the

land of Gan. He makes a dramatic

differentiation between the people of

the world and his own people, and they

just have so much favor. You know, I

think I said it last week, but I I don't

know if it's some news story about a

16,000 acre plot in Wyoming, a couple

miles away from Yellowstone with all of

the big game, elk, pong horn, uh

multiple different kind of deer, brown

bear, so grizzlies, black bear, cougars,

everything you can imagine, and miles

and miles of two different kinds of

rivers with cutthroat trout fishing,

just everything. And it's like $85

million, right? Uh go was a gigantic

portion of land that they're just given

in the midst of famine. Don't have to

pay for the grain. It just out of no

it's it's over-the-top kind of favor.

Over-the-top kind of favor. And is it

really that different with us? We don't

really consider ourselves foreigners in

this land as much as we should. I don't

think you're actually foreigners. That's

not the point. Um being a citizen of the

US is good. But according to the Bible,

all of us are sojourers. Not just

Jacob's brothers or Jacob's sons or

Joseph's brothers. Not just Jacob were

just passing through this world in this

life. We'll see later that Joseph and

Jacob both and Abraham all were looking

for a different country, an another

homeland. And not we're not talking

about Canaan when it becomes the

promised land. We're talking about a

heavenly land that they're looking for.

We talked about last week how important

it is. We talked about like the doctrine

of America first, which is different

than the idea of being a Christian first

and an American second. You can believe

in America first, like taking care of

the needs of your own country first

before you go outside of it while also

just being a Christian first. So I

talked about if you're American first,

that's a problem. That's a priority God

does not want you to have in front of

his kingdom. You're no longer an

ambassador, right? So thinking of in the

sense of of spiritually being foreigners

since this is not truly our our nation.

We're part of the nation of God. We're

part of the kingdom of God. In that

sense, it's only really politically and

socially our country. And I love

America. I'm not trying to say anything

negative in that way. But if you

overidentify with it and underidentify

with the kingdom of God, you uh run the

risk of not perceiving how great our

blessing is for being a new nation, a

people of God, a priesthood. And that's

for every single believer, not just some

special ones. So I want you to consider

the fact that the amount of favor that

Christians have in the world superpower

right now. It's it's really not even any

different than the favor that God's

people had in the world superpower at

that time. Right? America, I think

almost unarguably, is the best land in

all the world. The amount of natural

resources we have all across America.

But not just that, I I don't think it's

overly nationalistic or or like somehow

hyper patriotic to say that the freedoms

that American experience have never been

experienced by any nation before. How

many nations have had the

constitutionalized, if that's a word, or

constitutionally enshrined right to

freedom of speech? And not only that,

just in case you try to take it away

from us, the right to defend.

You know, the Second Amendment is less

about defending home invasions and more

a war against tyranny. Tyranny over the

freedom of speech. It's I don't know if

you've been noticing lately and and

looking into the news and I don't really

recommend you get lost too much in this,

but um even great our allies freedom of

speech is not a thing in Great Britain.

Did you know that? It's not a thing in

Germany. It's not a thing in Canada

either. You think, well, how much? Well,

pastors were put in prison in Canada for

continuing to preach during CO. It's

definitely a freedom of speech issue. In

America, because of the Constitution,

the Supreme Court sided with the church,

but you just move a few miles north and

you don't have that right anymore. In in

uh Great Britain, if you text something

negative on Facebook or whatever social

media, you can get fined or even

imprisoned for it. We're talking like,

"I don't like this person." and then you

say a couple things that choice words

about them you you know straight to

jail. So it's it you it's it's not what

it once was even there. But the reason

is because there's no constitutionally

enshrined right. There's no stop gap.

There's no underlying principle that can

be defended in a document that our

nation is founded on. And so the amount

of favor we have just being in this

nation is unreal. The amount of peace

that we have, we have so much peace that

even one attack on our nation, I do not

to diminish 911 at all, was unbelievably

unsettling. Do you know how many nations

are constantly

experiencing war torn

landscapes, almost never in

America, even the memory of war, because

our our military there isn't really it's

almost privatized in a sense.

uh we don't really experience war as

citizens anymore, right? You don't

there's it the draft hasn't happened in

a long time. So the just just being

American alone is already a dramatic

amount of favor, right? But I want to

show you something from uh this this

very next passage uh in in Genesis 47

that I think is one of the more honest

and freeing things that you can read in

the Old Testament. And this is in verse

7. And Joseph brought in Jacob his

father and he's like 130 years old now.

Uh and and even at that time that was

old you know uh and stood him before

Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. First

thing he does when he walks in. I want

you to notice the book ends of blessing

here. But the next thing he says sounds

kind of inongruent. Um maybe not with

Jacob's life at all but with he blesses

Pharaoh and then says this. And Pharaoh

said to Jacob, "How many are the days of

the years of your life?" And Jacob said

to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my

sojouring are 130 years. Few and evil

have been the days of the years of my

life, and they have not attained the

days of the years of the life of my

fathers in the days of their

sojouring." And I think it's wrong. I I

actually used to see it this way, like

what an Eeyore. How much good has God

done in his life? and and here he's just

all the but he has an opportunity to

witness to Pharaoh and the first thing

he does is just complain about how life

how bad life was and then recently as

you've been along with us in the ride

through Genesis we walk through all of

the tragedy that Jacob went through it's

it's just a trail of tears it's one

tragic some of the tragedies are the

direct result of his sin others sort of

indirect others not at all related to a

sin like what happened to Dena and what

Simeon and Levi did. It just destroyed

uh Sheckchum afterwards. Uh not justice,

but just absolute vigilante destruction,

cursed anger according to uh Jacob,

which he says later. So he's had a lot

of hardship. You know, he yes, it's his

fault, but still lose his relationship

to his mom, to his brother, and to his

father. And his brother wants to kill

him, and he has to flee. Next thing you

know, he's working for a guy that's just

about the worst boss you can imagine.

Changes his wages 10 times. Has to flee

cuz it gets so bad. On that journey,

loses the love of his life, Rachel, in

childbirth. Supposed to be this really

joyous time, a second boy. Nope. She

dies. And he's now, you know, in a way

bereff of the of of his main wife. We've

talked about polygamy and how there's no

biblical exemption for that, not even

for patriarchs. But that was a a deep

tragedy. He loses also, this might not

seem that big of a deal, but his nurse

from youth and and he's weeping over

her. She was like a second mom to him.

And then the whole thing happens with

his daughter being raped. And then on

top of it, instead of being just and

bringing only the person who did it to

justice, his sons just kill everybody

and has to flee what had become home.

And then what we've been in the story

arc for the entire time. I think it's an

indirect relationship to sin of having

shown such favoritism to to Joseph only.

But it's really direct result of his

son's sin again to sell Joseph into

slavery. And he loses Joseph for 22

years. So he's not wrong when he says

few and evil have been the days of my

soul journeying. And what I think is so

freeing about it is that the, you know,

God had Moses write this and he had

Moses write this for us. These are

written down for our encouragement, our

consolation, our upbuilding, our

edification according to God's word in

the New Testament. So, do you see why

it's freeing without even me telling

you? Is it not nice that we don't have

to pretend like everything always is

great? You don't have to say, "I'm too

blessed to be stressed." You can

actually say there's been a lot of

tragedy in my life lately. It's been

really hard. Notice though, that's not

what Jacob led with. He led with

blessing Pharaoh. Listen to what he says

very next. And so few and evil have been

the days of my life and they've not

attained to the days of the years of my

life and my fathers and the days of

theirs. Sojouring. And Jacob blessed

Pharaoh and went out from the presence

of Pharaoh.

What I think is most freeing here is to

know that even when it doesn't feel like

we have God's favor, even though Jacob

did, and I'll show you in a moment that

he did, and even though things are

really

hard, it no matter how things are really

hard for some of the people in our

congregation right now, they're sick.

They have broken relationships, broken

marriages, more than you probably know.

As a pastor, you have these kind of

people give you a view into their life

in a lot of different angles. There's

just a lot of pain. A lot of pain. There

was a lot of pain in Jacob's life. And

he starts with blessing and he ends with

blessing. Did you know that you can pass

on blessing to people around you because

of God's great favor even in the midst

of hardship? We talk a lot about the

idea of living in such a way that

glorifies God at at Boon Ferry. That I

that's a very important doctrine. It's

part of our mission to be and make

disciples who love Jesus and other um

for God's

glory.

So, can you imagine

something? Maybe there are things, but

it's not easy to imagine something more

profoundly glorifying to God than to

bless others when you're in hardship.

Many people, I'd say every

non-Christian, but even Christians

sometimes are taken aback like, "Wait,

you're blessing me? You're blessing

me. You're the one that's struggling. I

don't even know how I'd cope if I was

living at your living, but you're taking

care of my needs. You're looking after

my concerns, whether they're financial,

emotional, whatever it might be.

whatever service someone who's in

hardship comes over and helps you in

some way. It's a powerful witness that

God's favor is not just some kind of

physical thing that that waxes and

waines, but that it's a supernatural

spiritual thing that never goes away.

Never. It's always as intense as it was

in the beginning. In fact, if anything,

it's more intense now than it was then.

And I want to show you to exactly what

that favor is. We have to go all the way

back to Genesis 12 and look at the

Abrahamic

blessing. Easily one of the most

important and founding verses in the Old

Testament. And this is what it says. God

speaking to Abraham and he says, "I will

make of you a great nation. And I will

bless you and make your name great so

that you will be a blessing." Why is he

showing him this favor? Did Abraham do

something to like bring about this

blessing? Did he did he really like

please God or catch God's eye? Nothing.

Had nothing to do with that. We call it

an unconditional covenant. It literally

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob do just about

everything you could think of to thwart

the blessing and they just keep getting

blessed. Remember when Abraham goes to E

uh to Egypt, he's terrified that he's

going to lose his wife because his wife

lose his wife because his wife is so

beautiful and then ends up giving her to

Pharaoh as a sister into his herm. How

would you enjoy that as a wife? Would

you look up to your husband after doing

something so cowardly? And how does

Abraham end up leaving? With more riches

and with Sarah

untouched. So God's favor in his life

was not in any way because of his

righteousness, though he was righteous

by faith. We'll talk more about that in

a moment. But look at what it says in

verse three. I will bless those who

bless you, and him who dishonors you, I

will curse, and in you all the families

of the earth shall be blessed. You

couldn't have a more epic favor or a

more epic call to pass on that favor. A

more epic blessing and a more epic call

to pass on that blessing. Did you know

that if you believe in Jesus Christ that

you're considered spiritually in the

deepest way that's possible offspring of

Abraham and heirs according to the

promise? That means that it's not just

Abraham's literal children, but his

spiritual children that will inherit

this very same blessing. Blessed so that

you can be a blessing to all nations.

And those who bless you will be blessed

and those who curse you will be cursed.

That applies to the Christian church

too. Now, did you know that? Let me show

you that. This is Galatians. Paul could

not say it any more clearly. We'll start

in Galatians 3

uh verse 13. Christ redeemed us from the

curse of the law by becoming a curse for

us. For it is written, cursed who is

everyone who is hanged on a tree. So, in

other words, the cross accomplished what

we're about to read. So that in Christ

the blessing of Abraham might come to

the Gentiles. That's us, unless you're

Jewish. So that we might receive the

promised spirit through

faith. Okay? So that very spirit, we had

a whole sermon on how the spirit works

in the Old Testament versus how he works

in the New Testament. So I'm not going

to mention every single different uh

kind of way. But the key one that you

need to remember now is that the spirit

in the New Testament comes to indwell

you permanently when you come to faith.

Permanently. never to leave. Doesn't

mean you can't grieve him. Doesn't mean

you can't quench his work in your life.

Sin does that. Patternistic sin does

that. But he never leaves you. So that's

a blessing that Jacob didn't even have.

How did Jacob like or Joseph

particularly uh know how to interpret a

dream? How did he have such wisdom for

to lead? Was he like developed as a

leader? Did he grow up in some king's

court to know how to reign? No, it was

just the wisdom of the spirit. In fact,

Pharaoh noticed, "I've never met a man

in whom is the spirit of God like it is

in Joseph." We should say he um rather

than it in that case. But the point is

that spirit dwells in you. You have the

exact same spiritual resources that

Joseph did. God has given us everything

we need for life and

godliness. I don't know if if you knew

this, just a little aside, but a quick

one. the the uh I think he's called the

president, but the pres president of El

Salvador. Um they used to have 70,000

gang members which were just destroying

their country. Everyone was terrified.

Vicious murders. Now those 70,000 uh

gang members are in prison and he's in

control of the country and they have

less crime than the least uh criminal

places in all of America. Their law and

order is far more robust than ours. And

he was asked by uh I think Tucker

Carlson. Um is it Carlson? Yeah. May say

what? Yeah. Uh he was asked by him like

what did you do when you were what did

you how did you start all of this? And

he said I prayed with my cabinet. I

prayed for wisdom from God because we

knew it was too big of a task for us to

be able to do. You know a lot of their

military and a lot of their police were

gang members. So how do you get gang

members out when half your police force

is gang members? You pray and ask God

for wisdom. That's what he did. I Have

you ever heard of a nation accomplishing

that? I don't I don't know I've ever

heard of a nation that was in that like

that captured by organized crime just

coming totally out of it. You know,

Mexico could easily do that. They could

get rid of every single cartel. It would

not be hard if they would just ask God

for wisdom how to do it and then do it.

It's not about college. It's not about

marketing. It's not about some kind of

uh uh special propaganda. It's not about

getting the people involved. It's just

about asking God for wisdom and then

doing what he says. And and that very

spirit lives in

you. So, and he lives in you

permanently. So, he didn't in the Old

Testament. That's why when Joseph or

when uh David, King David had sinned

with Basheba and had had murdered Uriah

at the hands of his sort of thug

general, he says, "Take not your holy

spirit from me." He'd seen God do it

with the f the king before him, Saul. I

think he was genuinely terrified that

God might remove his spirit. And you

don't ever have to have that fear. So

that favor far greater than being born

as a citizen of the United States. You

are, I say literally, I don't know

exactly what that means, but spiritually

what I mean is like in the deepest way

you could possibly be part of the

blessing of Abraham, you are.

You have that favor. That's what I mean

by if you are suffering in one of the

worst ways you've ever suffered in your

life, you are still blessed in that way.

So they inherited the land of Gan. Do

you know what we get to inherit? Matthew

Matthew 5:5

5:5, blessed are the meek, for they

shall inherit the earth. And by the way,

not even this earth, a far better

eternal one. heaven on earth, a new

heavens and a new earth you will

inherit by faith. It's the very same one

we'll go there already that Jacob was

looking towards. And we're going to keep

coming back to this Hebrews passage, but

this is Hebrews 11. And uh Jacob's

father and his father's father, his

grandfather Abraham, uh thought this

way. So when we say he first, we're

talking about Abraham. This is verse 9

of chapter 11 of Hebrews. By faith he

Abraham went to live in the land of

promise as in a foreign land living in

tents with Isaac and Jacob heirs with

him of the same promise. So we've

established all same heirs. We've

already established we're heirs. But

listen to this. For he was looking

forward to a city that has foundations

whose designer and builder is God, the

new Jerusalem. We've got a song that we

sing about it. Looking to the new

Jerusalem. By faith, Sarah herself

received power to conceive even when she

was past the age since she considered

him faithful who had the promise. I

included that verse because this promise

is not just for men. It's for women,

too. So, I want you to consider the fact

that they were looking beyond any kind

of promised land on earth to a promised

land in heaven, which will in particular

come into play when Jacob asked for his

bones to be buried in that promised

land. He's looking towards resurrection.

So, we're going to continue here in a

moment, but I I want you to consider um

maybe you're not in terrible hardship.

Maybe your life life is good. I my life

is good right now. I hope there's not

something difficult around the corner.

But if there was something difficult

around the corner, I don't just want the

the blessing that that flows from God's

favor through me to others to be turned

off by faith that can stay on it. Nobody

else can do that. How many people do you

know that had a life as difficult as

Jacob that don't end up turn idwards in

bitterness and

selfishness? I uh had an uncle, Uncle

Danny, and he's passed a very hard life.

My grandfather was just kind of a rage

ahaholic. Uh God redeemed that and he

came to faith towards the end of his

life, but not soon enough to not have

caused a lot of damage in Danny's life.

And so Danny went through life angry and

problems with drugs and um he he was in

the hospital and um there was this

dramatic transformation in his life. He

came to faith towards the end I I think

in part through the uh witness of my

father and his other sister um sis uh my

aunt Colleen and and but before that he

was just muttering at the nurses are

taking care of him. He's mostly ruined

his own body and he's just muttering at

them frustrated, angry, bitter, upset.

If you're a nurse, you know patients

like this, right? But then you probably

also have experienced that uh you know

maybe older grandma in her 80s who've

been praying all her life and no matter

how difficult it gets, she has such a

sweet spirit. That's not

normal. That's not you don't have that

apart from the spirit. Sooner or later,

your flesh caves to all the hardship and

and you become like people expect you to

become. Bitter, angry, upset, turned

inwards, selfish, muttering at everybody

about everything. Well, anyway, Danny

came to faith and the nurses didn't even

they thought he was schizophrenic

because he was being so nice to them and

all of a sudden thankful for what they

were doing. It was incredible.

Unbelievable. That's the Abrahamic

blessing. He's dying. He definitely was

going to die. He knew he was going to

die. He died. And before doing that, he

was blessing the

nurses. And by the way, like we've

already said, that blessing is

ultimately about Jesus. So when you

witness to him um with words, uh Francis

of Aisi never said preach always if

necessary with words. Uh the word of God

says the very opposite. Faith comes

through hearing the word. Right? So it's

not true. That does not mean that you're

fa that you can just like preach a bunch

of words and your actions are completely

opposite like a mob boss who goes to

confession and right back to organized

crime the next day, right? That's not a

faithful witness. Um, so I get what the

actions speak louder than words point

is. But it's both and living a life of

action blessing towards people and

witness blessing with words. the most

the greatest blessing that they can have

is not um making sure that their

physical needs are taken care of, but

that their spiritual needs are ma taken

care of. But the Bible doesn't separate

those two. It says don't work for bread

alone, but for the bread that the bread

of eternal life, but it also says in

James that uh it's I'm paraphrasing, but

if you say like, oh, go be warm, but

don't give a person a blanket when

they're cold and you have a blanket.

That's not love, right? So, love is very

real. It's tangible. It's practical,

which is why I come back to before we

move on. Who might you actually bless in

your life? No matter what you're

experiencing, have you ever been able to

bless somebody else while you're feeling

the least blessed in your own life?

Remember, it's by faith. Your faith

activates these things. You can't do it

in your flesh. By faith, you have access

to God's favor spiritually to such a

degree that even if your body is wasting

away in a hospital bed, you can bless

those people around that around you. So

consider that. Let's let's talk about

some of the ways you might bless people.

Um I think there's a population in our

church that um I think oftenimes is

lonely um and overwhelmed. And I'm

speaking about mothers. Uh you know, I

heard a funny joke uh the other day. Um

what's the difference between fathers

and mothers? It doesn't take an act of

faith for fathers to stop worrying about

their

children. If you're a dad, you know

exactly what I'm talking about.

oftenimes it takes an act of faith for

mothers to stop worrying about their

children. There's a I don't know if the

care is necessarily deeper, but there's

a sympathy and an empathy in mothers

that God has just built them that way

that they need, but that can be

overwhelming when your kids are in need.

And so maybe you consider, hey, you know

what? I'll pick one of our mothers and

I'll decide to baby sit their kids for

an afternoon so they can have the time

off. Just one. Um, and I know there are

a lot of mothers uh that that need that

kind of thing. Or maybe you look at

fathers and uh I think one of the things

that you might not realize is how

discouraged dads get and maybe just

sitting down and encouraging a

dad, thinking of of ways to encourage

him in his being a husband and a father

or just listening to him. Hey bu maybe

building a relationship. It's a little

more than you can do in a week. uh but

building a relationship and listening so

that he gets to know you to the point

where he trusts you and can actually

share with you some of the real

difficulties. I think husbands don't

always feel comfortable sharing their

burdens with their wives because they

don't want to be a burden to them. And

so being the kind of friend to a man who

can actually talk to you about really

difficult things, huge blessing. If you

think about the church, you might

consider asking Becky Gronden, our

operations manager, how could I serve? I

know of two ways right now that you

could get involved. You could get

involved in our children's ministry. And

we don't we don't try to overt tax

people in the children's ministry in the

sense like, oh, if I get down there,

you'll get stuck. Also, that's the wrong

way to think about it. There are few

people more spongy than children. And

you can either help facilitate their

teaching or get involved to the degree

where you're teaching them. And it's

it's not like a job where you see

immediate visible fruit, but the fruit

that comes later. Um Paul actually talks

to Timothy about that he's not just to

remember what he's learned but who he

learned it from. So your character and

your intent to teach these kids helps

anchor their faith. The content of the

Bible and your character that reflects

that. So you might consider joining

that. You could uh get involved in the

worship ministry if you're wanting to.

Um uh if you want to do that, you could

talk to Emily about that. Um and people

might think we're not looking for

musicians. Not not true. We are. We're

looking for musicians and we have a

already very robust songwriting

ministry. So you might think I don't

really think I could be up on stage.

That's probably not where I'm at, but

maybe I could get involved in

songwriting. You know, we're already

singing a lot of the songs that have

been written. And we only started that I

think less than a year ago. So really

powerful things God is doing. And those

are just a few of the ways. One of the

ways is uh we are needing more help with

our um groundskeeping. And so you could

get involved in groundskeeping. talked

to Becky about that. That would be a way

to bless the church um and bless God's

people as well. And we're to consider

that especially the household of faith,

how we can do good works, especially

there's a focus towards considering the

household of God first in that way. So

consider those things. Those aren't even

the half of the things that we might do.

I've already picked up the last verses

about how they were settled and and got

all that land. So, I'm going to continue

here for the rest of the sermon is about

whether or not Joseph is actually

blessing the Egyptians or not. Again,

their favor is not as great as the favor

God shows the people of God in Gan, but

they have great favor, too. Verse 13,

now there was no food in all the land,

for famine was severe, so that the land

of Egypt and the land of Canaan

languished by reason of famine. Verse

14. 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 bought. And Joseph

brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

And when the money was all spent in the

land of Egypt and in 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 all

gone." And Joseph answered, "Give your

livestock and I will give you food in

exchange for your 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, and the herds, the donkeys. He

supplied them with food in exchange for

their livestock that year. And then when

the year was ended, they came to him in

the following year and said, "We will

not hide from my lord that our money is

all spent and the herds of our livestock

are my lords. There is nothing left in

the sight of my Lord but our bodies and

our land. I'm going to continue in verse

19 in a moment. Um sometimes scholars, I

don't consider them trustworthy

scholars, but scholars will accuse

Joseph even from this uh of exploiting

them in their need. uh citing things

like, you know, um tornado torn Oklahoma

cities um where some real estate agent

comes in and offers someone less than

what their house is really worth, but

it's they're in such disarray having

their house just gotten swept away that

they go ahead and sell it. And I want to

consider the the sinful idea behind

that, which is an entitlement attitude,

and it's rampant in our nation right

now. Um, like we're somehow entitled to

free things. Period. I teach my children

that there is no such thing as a free

thing ever. Never. And and they said,

"What about a free lunch?" Somebody paid

for it. And Isaiah trying to outsmart me

said, "What about grace?" And I said, "A

really good one, Isaiah, but that's the

most costly thing in all the world. It

cost Jesus his life. There is no such

thing as someone that someone hasn't

paid a price for our youth in our nation

is forgetting that. And if you raise

your children to think everything is

free, then they will have that

entitlement attitude. Nothing is free.

Whose grain is it? Is it Joseph's? No,

it's Pharaoh's. And did he steal it from

anybody? No. He didn't even gather it

out of regular sort of uh grain yield.

He gathered it out of the abundance that

God told him to. He was just doing

exactly what God did. So he didn't

impoverish anybody in gaining this and

it's not

his and the livestock does not become

his and it was not his idea, right? It

was theirs. They have nothing. What are

they supposed to do? It's even their

idea to sell themselves into slavery

later. I'll point that out again. So

Pharaoh, Jacob is not or Joseph is not

um he's not doing something wrong here.

I'll I'll just reiterate this in case

you're like, "Are you sure?" Verse 25

says, "And they said, you have saved our

lives. May it please my lord, we will be

servants of Pharaoh even when they sell

themselves into not slavery, but bond

servitude or servitude in this case."

We'll show you how it's I'll show you

how it's much different. They're looking

at him as someone that saved them. I

cannot remember the last time I felt

that way towards a political figure. It

takes a spiritfilled man to become the

kind of person that is that beloved by

people. So they're not feeling like they

were exploited at all. So why accuse?

The other thing is you've been through

the story with me. You know Joseph's

character. He's an unusually faithful

person. Very unusually faithful. Few

people in the Bible are stated to not

have a single failure. Not saying he's

sinless. Not the point at all. But no

major undermining failures in his life.

So that says something about the man.

Why would he now all of a sudden just

turn into oppressor? He's not that. Um

let's continue in the story though uh

because there's something that I think

would be really powerful for you know in

terms of defense of faith regarding

slavery coming up and I want to show

that to you uh back to verse 18. And

when that that year was 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

livestock are my lords. There is 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.

Buy us and our land for food and we will

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. Again, their idea.

Their idea. So Joseph bought all the

land of Egypt for Pharaoh, not for

himself. For all the Egyptians sold

their fields, because the famine was

severe on them, and the land became

Pharaohs. As for the people, he made

servants of them from one end of Egypt

to the other. Only the land of the

priests he did not buy. For the priests

had fixed allowance from Pharaoh and

lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave

them. Therefore, they did not sell their

land. We'll come back to verse 22, but I

want to continue here. Then Joseph said

to the people, "Behold, I have this day

bought you and your land from for

Pharaoh. Now, here is seed for you, and

you shall sew the land. And at the

harvest you shall give a fifth to

Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your

own, as seed for your field, and as food

for yourselves, and your households, and

food for your little ones. Someone in

our disciplehip community, our Bible

study in in my house, we have multiple

of them, said, "Well, they're really

more like sharecroers than slaves,

aren't they?" I mean, how many slaves do

you know that get four fifths of the

proceeds of the work that they're doing?

It's it's almost like a tie. There's

just a share of going back. Yeah,

Pharaoh now owns the land. That's

significant, but you sold it. And also

to some degree, he owns you, which is uh

uh I think offensive to the modern mind,

especially the liber liberated modern

mind of Americans, that you could

somehow be owned. Um but I want to talk

about the biblical boundaries of this.

Um, I've heard people as intelligent.

You You might not agree, well, you

hopefully don't agree with almost

anything he says morally, but I still

think Bill Maher is incredibly

intelligent. And I've heard him make

blatant statements like the Bible

obviously condone slavery and he's

Jewish and it doesn't and he should know

better. So, here is Exodus verse 21. I

think I forgot to mark it. If you have

ex Exodus 21:16, "Whoever steals a man

Exodus 21:16

and sells him, and anyone found in

possession of him shall be put to

death." Someone sent that to Bill Maher.

Whoever steals a man sell and sells him

and anyone found in possession of him

shall be put to death. The Bible doesn't

condone slavery. It says it deserves the

death penalty. Period. Right? End of

discussion. I don't know why people say

that the Bible condones slavery. We have

a slavery in mind in America that's part

of our history called cattle slavery,

which is literally stealing people from

Africa or other places and then selling

them. Everyone who did that deserves

death. Period. That's what the Bible

says. That's what Jesus had to die for.

If a slave owner like the one who wrote

Amazing Grace comes to faith, Jesus had

to die for that sin. No question about

it. So, no, the Bible doesn't say that.

And no, was Joseph stealing people here?

No. For one, he was buying them. Did he

set up the situation that caused that

need? No. Did he suggest that idea? No.

They did, right? Is he a just master in

this case? Are they protected? Yes. Are

they provided for? Yes. Do they get a

wage? Yeah, they do. Nothing like chauel

slavery. So, there's nothing wrong here.

There's nothing wrong here. It's it's

bond servants. It's and and scripture

actually says something about that. Uh

let's just go to Ephesians here.

Ephesians 6:5-9 because it applies to

Ephesians 6:5–9

you and how you might be a blessing to

your employer

bondervants. Obey your earthly masters

with fear and trembling with a sincere

heart as you would Christ. Verse six,

not by way of eye service as people

pleasers, but as bondervants of Christ

doing the will of God from the heart.

What does eye service mean? It's doing

good only when they're watching you.

Doing good only when you think it

somehow will increase your bottom line

or uh your stock with the company or

your sense that you might get promoted.

No. As unto the Lord. Okay. None of you,

I think, are bond servants. If you are,

let's talk. We'll try to get out you out

of that. But uh if you're an employee,

uh then this has a lot to uh to say uh

to you. It means that we are to uh work

as though we're serving the Lord in our

work. And that's a huge blessing. I

don't know how many people work like

that. Most everybody just works for

themselves, works for their own

paycheck. They don't consider the idea

of working to please God by working hard

for their boss. And again, what did we

say about hardship? What if your boss is

a real jerk? Then it will glorify God

even more if you bless

him. Then it will glorify God even more

if you bless him. And who knows if you

might not be the person that helps that

boss recognize that they're doing wrong

and maybe even come to faith. I want to

read uh further in not further but I

want to um talk about Ephesians 6 again.

Um and and I think I'm going beyond what

I gave the team. Uh verse 8 says knowing

that whatever good anyone does this will

he will receive back from the Lord

whether he is a bondervant or free. And

verse 9 masters do the same. Maybe I did

have it. masters do the same and stop

your threatening knowing that he who is

both their master and yours in heaven

and that there is no partiality with

him. You don't want to be an employer or

a boss and be showing partiality, right?

Because you place yourself in hostility

towards God by doing that. So this is

scripture doesn't in any way condone

slavery. It never has and it never will.

Um but it also doesn't teach an

entitlement attitude. And I want to just

um we've got actually some time left for

me. I didn't know whether we would or

not. Um this is the defense of faith

part. Not just that you would be able to

go to Exodus 21 16. You might want to

just memorize that. Exodus 27:16. Next

Exodus 27:16

time someone says, "Oh, the Bible

condones slavery." Boom. Say it with

gentleness and respect. But uh say it

because people need to know that's not

true and it's maligning the word of God.

But back to Genesis 37. back to the

priests here because they were exempt. I

want to read that one more time. Only

the land of the priests he did not buy

for the priests had a fixed allowance

from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance

that Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they

did not sell the land. Um, we have some

of that in America. Um, as nonprofits,

both religious and non-religious, there

are tax exemptions. A religious t

religious nonprofits have even greater

tax exemptions. clergy, whether

Christian or not, have tax exemptions

where I don't know if you've known this,

but you can declare um h up to half and

even more of your um of your salary, not

your benefits, your salary as housing

allowance. And then they only calculate

your taxes on what's left. So, let's say

I made

$60,000, uh then 30,000 of that could be

considered housing allowance and I would

only get taxed at $30,000. That'd be

like poverty level taxation, right?

Unbelievably low taxation. Huge

blessing. Here's what I thought was so

interesting. Even I can't call them a

secular nation. A pagan nation was doing

this for their priests. So, atheists and

secularists and and humanists alike are

coming after this kind of favor really,

I think, because of the enemy. Um and

and by the way, they're coming after it

not towards um Islamic religion or Hindu

religion or Buddhism. All who share the

same blessing of Abraham that our nation

would be set up so that pastors would be

able to be supported even in small

churches and and be able to devote

themselves to their to their work. Um

but it's specifically trained at

Christians. I want to show you the

persecution that's happening in America

right now. And you can look this up. Um

uh this was on NPR by the way, one of

the like should be defunded. Not at all

should taxpayers pay for only one view

that's entirely progressive to be uh to

be displayed, but it is. And so if NPR

is saying it then, you know, I I was

going to say it must be true. It's like

not at all what I believe. You'll hear

that it's against their own view, so it

must be true. But uh I'll I'll get there

in just a moment. Um what's happening is

persecution not just of any kind of

Christian group but specifically

conservative evangelical groups are be

targeted by who? The IRS, right? Not a

conspiracy theory. The IRS was taken to

court by um Christians Engaged I think

very conservative group um uh nonprofit

and they were taken to court and when

they saw the writing on the wall that

they were going to lose that court case

they apologized publicly. Look it up.

The IRS has admitted that they were

targeting religious organizations. And

why? Specifically, conservative

religious organizations because they're

too Republican. And because if you're

too politically Republican, well, then

you shouldn't have tax exempt status.

Except, do they ever go off on Planned

Parenthood? No. And you could for the

exact same reasons. So there's what we

what do you call that? It's it's legal

financial persecution. It's it's it's

tyranny in terms of taxation. And I'm

not saying all taxation is tyranny. The

Bible doesn't say that either. But in

this case, it is. So, we're being

persecuted. Do you know what the Bible

says about those who persecute us? Bless

them. That you should pray for them. And

it says, "Blessed are those who are

persecuted for righteousness sake." So,

I we could go off on the like, "Oh, how

dare they?" and get all political. Or

you could recognize that persecution

gets turned to blessing by God's

goodwill for you. And you are to pray

for your persecutor. I'll admit that

before I wrote that line in the sermon,

I had never prayed for the

IRS. And then I thought, well, I better

be able to say that I have. So I did.

And it was an act of faith. So, but but

I thought I was like I'm not praying for

the institution which I hope kind of

gets either slashed or goes out of out

of existence altogether. We do have to

have some kind of um uh way of of taxing

people. I'm not I'm not saying we should

be anti-ax altogether. But my what

happened when I was praying for them is

I started praying for the individual

people in it and I started thinking

about Lord if you if you brought them to

faith you could turn the enemy's

champions into your champ Paul was the

enemy's champion turn into a champion of

faith great theologian and writer of

much of the New Testament so I'm not

saying you got to spend significant time

all the time you are to pray for those

that persecute you I'm guessing most of

you have probably not been persecuted by

the IRS, even if it feels like it. So,

are you And by the way, sometimes

Christians persecute Christians. Uh, no

Christian group gets mocked more than

conservative evangelical Christians. If

you really actually believe that the

Bible in the in what God does in the

Bible, like the supernatural stuff, how

you believe that Noah's arc was real and

the fl Jonah was in a fish, you idiot.

No one gets persecuted more than the

people closest to Jesus. And believing

in his miracles is something that if you

don't doesn't mean you're very close to

him, does it? So consider that you're

going to be persecuted. And what can you

do? You can bless. Another portion of

this in terms of defense of faith is

that if even

a pagan nation worshiping gods that are

judged by God later to be demonic um is

caring for its priests, then there is

really no foundation from secularism to

say that that should not be a thing. As

if there's no benefit even to secular

people from uh from religious practices

and services. But further more than

that, I want you to consider the idea

behind it. It it says that that pastors

don't deserve the privilege of a housing

allowance. And I will be the first to

admit that they're absolutely biblically

right. And let me show you that. This is

Deuteronomy. And if you work or have

ever worked or if you're working at

home, which is a very significant job,

this is important to you. Deuteronomy 9

about the possession of the land. Verse

5. Not because of your righteousness or

the uprightness of your heart are you

going to possess their land, but because

of the wickedness of the nations, the

Lord your God is driving them out before

you, and that he may confirm the word

that God swore to your fathers, to

Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob. Know

therefore that the Lord your God is not

giving you this good land to possess

because of your righteousness, for you

are a stubborn people.

I don't it's all completely

undeserved right a strange reality and

and this is really important to

understand is that according to

Deuteronomy 28 there are greater

blessings for obedience and curses for

disobedience. Sin has a terrible

consequence and obedience has a blessed

consequence. But it does not mean

obedience earns blessing. There are ways

that I've been obedient and therefore

tapped into greater blessing. I will

never say I've earned it ever. I've

earned none of the blessings that I

have. I do not deserve to be a pastor. I

do not deserve to get any kind of

special tax exe exemption. I don't

deserve to have the kind of church I do.

I don't deserve to have the house, the

wife, or the children or the cars that I

have. Right? But what does the world

call that? Privilege. It covetss anybody

who has something they don't. Especially

if they're really happy about it. Okay.

What do we call it? We call it blessing.

So, what do you do when someone accuses

you of privilege? Should you bow down

and say, "I'm so sorry. I have this

privilege. Please forgive me like it's a

sin." It's not a sin to be blessed,

right? And if you apologize for it,

you're not glorifying God either. So, I

had a conversation with my brother who

is really kind of on the the CRT side

and I love him and I'm praying for him,

but the reality was he said, "So, you

think you just deserve all these

things?" And I said, "No, I don't

deserve any of them." And I haven't

earned any of them. You know that I

wouldn't even be living in my house if

it wasn't for my parents helping me with

the down payment and then paying it off.

So, I didn't even have to pay interest.

2 thou

$250,000 saved. Couldn't have afford it

and have it anyway. And he's just silent

because his whole argument was, "Well,

you think you deserve it more cuz you're

not like those poor people or those

black people." So, it's like, "No, I

don't deserve it. I believe that I have

this blessing from God against all of my

works over against undeserved in every

way. And I call it blessing and I thank

God for it. And he had no more arguments

cuz how do you accuse someone who says

of having privilege that they're not

really uh recognizing that they have all

these advantages over other people that

says they don't deserve to have any?

It's really hard to accuse someone

that's humble all the way down. I'm not

saying I am humble all the way down. I'm

saying that regarding to my possessions,

at least in my witness towards him.

There was no pride there. No, I don't

deserve these things. Right? That

doesn't mean I go along with the next

political doctrine that you can just

take them from me cuz that's theft.

Right? We don't have to be dumb just

because we're faithful. In fact, I think

wisdom and intelligence and faithfulness

are all kind of linked together. So, I

want you to consider that. I want you to

consider when people say, "Oh, you're

just privileged." No, I'm blessed and I

don't deserve it. What you call

privilege, I call unearned blessing. And

yes, God in some material ways blesses

other people more than than other

people. And we don't always know the

reasons for it. He just does what he

does. And there are people that are far

more blessed than me materially. There's

no one that's blessed more than me

spiritually. And now you have an

opportunity to share your faith with

them. But you can stop people in their

tracks. what what what the enemy will

use as a foothold or like a lever

against you with great power is any kind

of pride. You know, just because they

should not by law be allowed to take it

from you doesn't mean you should say

I've earned this in relationship to God.

You never have and he blesses you

anyway. Also doesn't mean that there

isn't greater blessings for obedience. I

the person that experiences the greatest

favor in God in the story I think is

Joseph. So let's continue. There's only

one short section left and we're done.

So I just to reiterate, I don't think

Joseph uh Joseph uh oppressed anybody,

exploited anybody. I think he saved

them. And they say that very thing in

verse 24 and 25. And at the harvest you

shall give a fifth to Pharaoh and four

fifths shall be your own as the seed of

the field. He could have taken it all.

He had them the never better negotiating

odds for him. and as for your yourselves

and your households and the food of your

little ones. And they said, "You have

saved our lives. May it please my lord.

We will be servants to the pharaoh."

They loved him. So Joseph made it a

statue concerning the land of Egypt. And

it stands to this day that Pharaoh

should have the fifth. And the land of

the priests alone did not um become

Pharaoh's. So when it comes to that

Ephesians 6 passage about serving your

master, well, did Joseph do a good job?

No one's ever been a greater blessing to

a pharaoh than Joseph, son of Jacob. So

again, I have no accusations towards

him. Verse 27, thus Israel settled uh

Israel as in Jacob, but also the budding

nation of Israel, settled in the land of

Egypt, in the land of Gan, and gained

possession in it, and were fruitful and

multiplied greatly. And Jacob lived in

the land of Egypt 17 years. So that the

days of Jacob, the years of his life

were 147 years. He got to live 17 more

years with his grandchildren and Joseph.

That's a long

time. 17 years. So yeah, there was a lot

of heartache, but even for Jacob, a lot

of blessing. I wonder I wonder if he

would have repeated few and evil have

been the days after 17 years with Joseph

and the grandchildren in Egypt in the

land of Gan. We we'll get an inkling

towards that in terms of his blessings

later on. Verse 29. And when the time

drew near 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 the burying place.

He answered, I will do as you have said.

And he said, swear to me. And he swore

to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon

his head of his bed. And it's implied in

worship. So why I want to ask the

question, why did he want to be buried

in Israel? And I think the answer is far

deeper. we said we'd go back to Hebrews

then just oh that's my homeland so like

sprinkle my ashes there kind of thing uh

they didn't cremate back then but uh he

wanted his bones there in in um not in

Egypt but in the promised land um

there's something he knew about the

promised land and we're just going to

read it again by faith when he went to

live in the land of promise as in a

foreign land Hebrews 11:9 living intense

Hebrews 11:9

with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of

the promise for he was looking forward

to the city that has foundations, whose

designer and builder is God. Um, we're

going to skip down just a little bit

here. These all died in faith, not

having received the things promised, but

having seen them and greeted them from

afar, and having acknowledged that they

were strangers and exiles on earth. I

didn't plan this, but because I think

it's just a such a powerful thing to

consider, I want to go to

Thessalonians. I think it's 1

Thessalonians chapter um uh 4. And I

want to talk about how um what's

actually going to happen to our bones or

to your bodies, even if they got

disintegrated. Here's

uh Thessalonians 1 uh

4:13. But we do not want you to be

uninformed, brothers, about those who

are asleep, that you may not grieve as

other do who have no hope. People who've

died. People who've died. You know, very

close people to you have died sometimes

and we don't want to be uninformed about

that and we don't want to have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and

rose again, even so through Jesus, God

will bring with him those who have

fallen asleep. For this we declare to

you by the word from the Lord that we

who are alive, who are left until the

coming of the Lord will not precede

those who have fallen asleep. For the

Lord himself will descend from heaven

with a cry of a command, with the voice

of an archangel, with a sound of a

trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ

will rise first. So there's a

resurrection, right? And then we who are

alive, who are left, will be caught up

together with them in the clouds to meet

the Lord in the air. And so we will

always be with the Lord and one another.

Nobody missed Jesus coming back. We're

going to all be together once again.

Therefore, encourage one another with

these words. I don't know if you thought

about it, but when you're caught up in

the air, which I think it may just be

important to say, I actually believe

we'll be caught up in the air with

resurrection bodies. Jacob will be there

with us. Isaac will be there with us.

Abraham will there with us. Joseph will

be there with us. All faithful

believing, all faithful departed, Old

Testament saints and New Testament

alike. He said, "We'll all be together

with him." It's unbelievable. It's so

powerful. And I I I my life is based on

that resurrection. So, it's so powerful.

We wait for that day for him to return.

And we wait for the day for him to

establish the new heavens and the new

earth and for us to inherit it. And in

the meantime, we're sojourers, too,

looking to that new land and walking

through this time and blessing anybody

God puts in our path. So, I want to say

one more time as we come to a

conclusion. If Jesus died for all of

your sin, past, present, and future, so

that you could be offspring of Abraham

in a very deep way, that whole blessing

fulfilled, you have the greatest favor

you could possibly have, eternal

life. And so then, no matter how hard

things are, you can admit they're hard

and you can go ahead and bless people

anyway. No matter how bad your boss is,

how bad your marriage is, you can bless

your husband. And are you blessing them

because they deserve it? No. Nobody

deserves it. So don't get stuck on that

trap. It's like, "Well, you don't

deserve my blessing." Nobody deserves

your blessing. You don't deserve your

blessing either. It's not like that.

It's freely given, right? It cost Jesus

everything. Nothing's really free. But

that's where the thankfulness and

generosity comes in. So as we go to the

table, there's no greater blessing than

communion. It's the time where you most

particularly get to by faith perceive

the grace that was afforded you in the

cross. It's the place where you can be

empowered to bless somebody else. And

I'd just say, don't wait. Do it this

week. Maybe you have already somebody in

mind or a group in mind or a child in

mind or somebody in mind that you're

going to bless in some way. Your

blessing is far greater than we even

perceive. And you can pass so much of

that on and and it doesn't even have to

be some huge way. Just bless somebody

because you have the favor of the Lord.

Let me pray. Heavenly Father, thank you

for this message. I look forward to

following your will to bless somebody

and I'm blessed by this message and I

hope uh everyone in this church is as

well. I pray that as we come to

communion now that we would receive by

faith the greatest blessing you've ever

given and that is forgiveness of sins.

Whether it's for the first time or

whether it is for the a thousandth time,

Lord, your grace is always enough.

So I pray Lord that then we would take

that beyond that when we're walking out

of here free from our sin and forgiven

already justified being renewed in our

sanctification that we would consider

how we could bless somebody today and in

the next week and that you would not

allow the enemy to steal that blessing

away from us in bad attitudes or in any

kind of other way. I can't wait to hear

people reporting uh that they were able

to bless somebody. Lord, I pray for

these things and I have great hope and

trust that you will bring them about.

And I pray for them in Jesus name. Amen.