Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10159 - If God Be For Us Who Can Be Against Us - Genesis 46

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#10159 - If God Be For Us Who Can Be Against Us - Genesis 46 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Open your bibles. Genesis chapter 46 is where we
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are coming to the very end of our verse by verse study in
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Genesis. Just a few more chapters Genesis
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46 and I'm entitled our Bible Study of God Before Us, who Can
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Be Against us. And as we've seen in previous
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studies, forgiveness is a major theme in the.
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Life of Joseph This last section of Genesis focusing on the life
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of Joseph, a type of Jesus Christ.
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You have Joseph here. He's been wronged in horrible.
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Ways he's been hurt deeply. Joseph is a man that has
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literally had years stolen from him that could never be
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returned, that Even so if he wanted some type of justice, he
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could never have that this side of eternity.
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Because years can't be given back with all that he went
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through, we can go through a whole list.
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But with all that he went through, he was met with this
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challenge. You ready?
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If you're taking notes, this is where he ends up.
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And by the way, this is where you end up as well.
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Different story, different path, different hurts, different pain,
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different difficulties. Same place.
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You ready? Here's the challenge.
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Or the choice. Number one, he could forgive and
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be free. That was choice.
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Number one. That was really the challenge at
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each step, will you forgive and experience freedom or?
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Will you choose unforgiveness and be embittered?
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Forgive and be free. Don't forgive and be embittered.
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There's a desperate need today for forgiveness.
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Families are broken. Marriages are dissolved.
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Painful circumstances have happened.
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Separations, divisions. It's hard.
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And there is that influence of the devil and the world culture
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system that we live in to hold on for you, to hold on to your
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resentment and your anger, and to live in your bitterness with
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an unforgiving spirit. And these things continue to
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weaken the church and divide families and erode the
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effectiveness of our lives as believers.
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This choice to not forgive, this choice to hold on more damage,
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more pain, and more ongoing separation is rooted in the sin
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of on. Of unforgiveness, holding back.
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And yes, it is a sin. Early on in the discipleship of
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his followers, including us, Jesus had this to say when it
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comes to forgiveness in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 14, he says.
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And I'm reading from The New Living on this.
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If you forgive those who sin against you, your Heavenly
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Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive
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others, your Father will not forgive your sins, and you just
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got to let that sit. I know there's a theological
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answer to this, and I know that we can put this passage together
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and that. But if you're just listening to
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Jesus, give those Kingdom principles there on on the
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mountain side, and you're listening to him, and you're
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sitting there with unforgiveness in your heart, you have to come
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to terms with man what it what? What the forgiveness of others
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is a non negotiable. It's a non negotiable and has
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very important implications in our lives, even as you see it
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with Joseph's life. If you're taking notes, consider
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a few things #1. Forgiveness is commanded by God.
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Obedience is required with commands Jesus said in Matthew
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11 and verse 25. When you're praying, first
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forgive anyone you're holding a grudge against so that your
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Father in Heaven will forgive your sins too.
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Again from the New Living Mark 1125, forgiveness is commanded
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#2. Forgiveness reflects the image
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of Christ. It reflects the image of Christ
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in Luke chapter 23. In verse 34, Jesus says Father
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forgive these people because they don't know what they're
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doing. It reflects the very character
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of the Son of God. Thirdly, when you forgive you.
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Breakdown Strongholds in your life.
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You you take. Out the strongholds that have
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been holding you back. When you and I forgive, we
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experience healing to our hurting hearts, and forgiveness
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is that one major antidote to bitterness.
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And you know, the bitterness. Sight is like bad breath.
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Everyone knows you are but you. Everybody knows about it.
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But you just kind of go on with life.
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And you know, the The thing is is when the bitterness is
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brought out, you're like, oh, I'm not bitter and you're like,
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bro, we could just tell right here the way you're saying it
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that something's caught you. And we don't even need to get
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into the reasons or the validation when bitterness and
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these things surface. The anecdote is forgiveness.
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A release, releasing the offending party from what they
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owe you, obedience to forgive brings freedom and enables us to
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start over in a fresh way in our relationship with the grace and
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the mercy of God. The entire life story of Joseph
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has been teaching this, teaching us this lesson, and then
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fourthly, forgiveness loosens the stranglehold of guilt in the
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offender. No longer will the person have
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to rehearse their sin and carry it unforgiven by you.
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They're released by your love and kindness demonstrated
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through the agape love, the presence of the Holy Spirit in
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your life in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 7.
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Again, the New Living says, And so God can always point us,
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point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of His favor.
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And His kindness toward us has shown in all that He's done for
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us through Christ Jesus. Freedom comes to everyone
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through forgiveness. And remember, we forgive because
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of what Christ has done for us. That's the standard.
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That same forgiveness that we received, undeserved and
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unearned, is what we owe to others.
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It functions to relieve the oppressive burden that we often
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refer to as guilt, that sense of carrying the weight of a sin or
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an offence. If Jesus had not extended
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kindness and forgiveness to us, we would forever be under the
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weight of guilt and shame, separated from God.
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One of the most powerful insights on forgiveness is
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seeing just how much I've been forgiven of God.
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Remembering where we came from is often the way we refer to
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that remembering where we were and now what God has done,
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acknowledging just how faithful God has been in our lives.
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To get our eyes off of other people and off of other
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situations because we've forgiven them.
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But the reason we've forgiven them is because we remember this
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is what God. Has done for us and we don't
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take it for granted. The key is to let go of that.
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Control. Because I think withholding
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forgiveness gives you a false sense of control over a person's
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life. But what you've actually done is
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not controlling anyone else. You've given control over your
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life to guilt and bitterness and shame, and the way out is
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forgiveness, living a surrendered life?
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Abiding in his. Love.
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Receiving his spirit, surrendering your will where
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you're just like the situation is what it is, you know,
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sometimes with forgiveness is withheld because you're like,
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well, you know, if I forgive him, if I forgive her, it's like
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they're getting away with it. But you have to understand,
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forgiveness admits and acknowledges that you've been
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wronged. You're not approving of
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anything. You're not saying it's OK.
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You're not even inviting more of it.
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What you're saying is, God, I trust you with this situation
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and I'm not going to allow their their, their actions and how
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what they've done to affect me. I'm going to trust you with my
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life. I don't understand it and I
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don't want it, but I also can't undo it.
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I have to trust you. Because God and your
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sovereignty, you've allowed this.
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I don't understand why. And there's even a place at some
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point in your life where you have to yield that.
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Too and say I don't even need to understand why it's not going to
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help me and it is a common question especially around the
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holidays. We just received a phone call
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today on the radio with these why questions why questions over
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the horrific death of her daughter.
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This woman calls in and and just thinking and listening to her
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that why questions never satisfy.
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They always lead to frustration. I'm not saying you can't answer.
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Ask them. Of course God says, bring
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everything to me. Come and let us reason together.
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But you have to understand that the why questions aren't going
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to lead you to the peace that you're looking for.
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Because first of all, most of the why questions that we ask
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about difficult situations, they they they can't be answered.
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We'll never know. They just won't.
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We won't know this side of eternity why someone died, or
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why I was married into this family, or why I was born into
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this family, or why this. We'll never know.
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This is the way it is. This is God's will for our
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lives. It's part of our redemptive
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story. Like, you got to remember,
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redemption means that God is buying back what's been broken
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by sin. And there's a process that God.
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Is doing the redeeming, but not only.
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That the why. Questions the One of the
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reasons. Another reason why they're so
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frustrating is that even if God did give you the reason why, it
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would probably make you more upset, oh God, if you did.
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It this way and that way you know if I was God and it would
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just the why questions don't really lead you to the place
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where you want that peace and satisfaction.
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Sometimes The Who questions do or you remember who God is.
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Who is my God? Sometimes the what questions are
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helpful. Because you go God, what do?
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You want to do through this. What are you doing through this?
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I yield to you. But I'll tell you what always
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leads to a sense of peace is forgiveness.
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When you ask the question, what have you forgiven me of God.
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And God just kind of puts the screen up and says this, it's
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like, yes, I remember you've been so faithful to me.
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There is that packet here for you guys in the room right now
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on either side of the stage here.
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We call it the forgiveness packet.
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If this is something you're wrestling with, you should get
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one before you leave today. If we happen to run out of
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printed ones, you can e-mail me and I'll send you a link so you
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can print it out. You can download it.
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Print it out for yourself so that you can.
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Really. It's a very small one.
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It's very just a few pages. A brother that came in and did
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ministry many years ago, he left it with us and we've been using
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it ever since. And it helps you to tell the
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difference between the definition of forgiveness but
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also the distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation.
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Why some of you right now you're you're like talking to me in
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your head while I'm teaching you go.
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But I have. Forgiven and nothing's changed.
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I have forgiven and it's still difficult.
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And one of the reasons why is because forgiveness is something
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you must do. That's your side.
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But reconciliation requires two people to meet at the cross, and
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if it's the offended person in your life, reconciliation.
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Just can't happen unless there's repentance.
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There won't be a connection there.
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There won't be a sense of unity until repentance takes place.
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And here you are. You come to the place of
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forgiveness much faster than the other person's come to the place
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of repentance, and that's also a place of frustration.
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The answer? Is just to.
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Trust in the Lord and to abide in him and to keep your eyes
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upon him. Is it hard?
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Yes. Is it painful?
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Yes. Does it hurt?
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Yes. But then you come to the Lord in
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prayer. But, God, you just start with.
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You know you've saved me. You've sealed me.
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You're sanctifying me. And you can change this part of
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my life too. And you can soften my heart.
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I don't want a hard heart. I think of how many right now
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have a hard heart. And it's just because the path
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of unforgiveness. And then now you're in a bottle
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study and it's come up again because Joseph, every week,
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every week, every week, every week it's come up again.
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And now you're just like, you know what, Lord, I don't want a
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hard heart. I want a soft heart towards you.
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And you just have to come clean before him.
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Joseph's right there. You can receive the same.
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I mean, when you think of Joseph's life, you have more
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than Joseph did. You have more than Joseph did
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because you have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
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You have been baptized by the Holy Spirit.
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You live in the New Covenant. You see the cross?
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From Christ has come, and the blood has been shed, and the
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Saviour has risen again from the dead, and we have the fullness.
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Of the Word of God. The whole counsel of God is in
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your hands. You have more than Joseph.
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But you also have the same God as Joseph, and if he could do it
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with less friends, we can do it with more.
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You can trust him with your life.
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Which brings us now to another chapter here in his life, in
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chapter 40. Six.
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It's another transition. The famine's getting worse.
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So you've got personal things, You've got worldwide things.
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It's getting worse with every year.
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The sons of Israel here have been let along by Joseph, to the
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point of having Benjamin come to Egypt.
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And he can. Stand no longer and he reveals
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himself in our last chapter. Notice in verse 26 of chapter 45
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they told him saying Joseph is still alive.
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They go home and tell their dad Joseph's still alive.
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He's the governor of all the land of Egypt.
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And Can you imagine if this was if you were Jacob?
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Like how about what? I I don't think.
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I heard you correctly. It says right here Jacob Jacob's
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heart stood still because. He didn't believe them and I
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don't blame him, he didn't believe him.
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But when they told him all the words which Joseph said to him
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and when he saw the carts what Joseph is sent to carry him, the
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spirit of Jacob their father revived And we looked at this
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last time such a good study encouraging us.
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I was encouraged when we left last time verse 28.
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Then the Israel said it's enough.
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Joseph, my son is still. Alive.
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I'll go and see him before I die.
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So, Israel. He took his journey, verse one,
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with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered
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sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.
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And then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and
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said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here I am.
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And he said, I am God, the God of your father.
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Don't fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great
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nation there. I'll go down with you to Egypt,
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and I will also surely bring you up again.
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And Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.
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Jacob's about 130 years in the much latter part of his life.
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He doesn't really want to make any more mistakes in his life.
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He's a little hesitant about going to Egypt.
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You go, And how can you see that?
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Because God met him in a dream to comfort him about this.
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He can think of the history. He can recall the history of
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Abram when he went down to Egypt.
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That wasn't a good decision. He can remember his own dad was
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warned not to go to Egypt. In Genesis 26 it says the Lord
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appeared to him and said don't go down to Egypt.
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Live in the land, which I shall tell you.
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He knows that the promised land is Cain was Canaan and not
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Egypt. So Jacob stops in Beersheba and
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offers sacrifices to God. He knew it was a time he needed
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to process everything that was happening in his life.
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His son is alive and all. And you want me to go to Egypt,
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but I don't think I want to go to Egypt because Egypt doesn't
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represent anything but pain and failure.
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But my son is there and he's wrestling and God meets him
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there in a place of offering sacrifices, really, which is a
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place of worship. God gave him a vision in the
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night and. Spoke to him, and he says, I'm
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the God of your father. Don't you fear about going down
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to Egypt? Worship and dedication, you
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know, places of sacrifice. For us today, it's we're
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encouraged to offer ourselves a living sacrifice.
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But it leads to the question, when tough times come, how do
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you face big decisions? You just plow through and use
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your own wisdom and your own understanding.
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Certainly most if not all of us have made that mistake, even
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though the Bible says and we believe it to be true.
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
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If you know the rest, say with me, Trust in the Lord with all
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your heart. Lean on on your own
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understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways
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and he'll direct your paths. And every time we veer from
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Proverbs chapter 3, verses five and six, we pay the price for
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it. Can I get an Amen for that?
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It's a hesitant Amen, but an Amen nonetheless.
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Jacob is in a great place here where he stops and he offers the
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God who sees the place where the gods who sees.
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He's in the place where you know God.
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You know, when I'm, you know what I'm going through, you know
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where I'm at ioffer to use these sacrifices and God meets them
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there. And I think it's a great model.
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For us, what a change takes place when we start surrendering
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to God daily. As soon as we open our eyes, as
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soon as we open our eyes and we haven't even gotten out of bed
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yet, as you wake up in the morning before you take a
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shower, before you brush your teeth, before you head down for
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DeVos and coffee, you just wake up and say good morning, Lord,
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good morning instead. Of Oh, good Lord, it's morning.
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It's like no. You know I.
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Have my plans today, Lord, I have my responsibilities, but I
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surrender them to you because I surrender myself to you.
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This day belongs to you, and you offer yourself to him as a
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living sacrifice right there in your bed.
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That's why it's so important, those of you especially, to have
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a tendency to be late, to break that habit, so that you can
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spend a little bit of extra time not rushed in the morning, or a
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little bit of extra time not rushed on the way to work, or a
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little bit extra time wherever you have not rushed having to
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try to catch up, but rather starting with the Lord.
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I'm not even advocating that you be on time for the sake of other
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people, which I think is a great, a great model, you know,
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the tendency to be laid. Has a has a.
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Reflection of You know, my time's more important than your
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time, and that's a good reason to be on time.
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To honor the person you're going to be there or honor your boss
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to honor that. That's a great reason.
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But a greater reason, a greater reason, is because you love God.
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And you want to live a surrendered life.
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And you want to keep a new I'm not even advocating you make a
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new resolution or right just. Just ask the Lord.
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Lord, you know my heart. You know I don't want to be
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rushed. You know I need you.
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And and Even so, it might be a sacrifice.
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You know I need that extra 3 1/2 minutes of sleep.
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You know it. But I'm going.
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To give it to you. In 5 minutes and 10 minutes, and
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before you know it, you're up an hour early and you're like man,
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the Lord sustaining me. I want to be with him.
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I I I. Desire.
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I'm not so stressed out anymore. Why?
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Because the Lord is with you. You've met him in the morning,
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You've got big decisions, you're at a crossroads.
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And it's a new habit of yours. And Jacob is growing here.
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It wasn't always his habit. This isn't always the mark of
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his. Life.
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But here he is. And he's given that direction.
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And. And that's what you want, right?
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You've got things you want answered right now.
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You you've got situations you want to know about you.
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You have things that need to be resolved.
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You have some questions to be answered.
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And and hear what was deep on Jacob's heart.
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God spoke right to it. Don't be afraid.
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Don't be afraid. Going down to Egypt.
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I'm going to make you a great nation there.
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Now, Jacob doesn't know it yet, but we do by way of the rest of
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the scriptures. Did God keep his promise here?
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Yes or no? Yes or no?
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OK. For those of you that don't
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know, yes he did. They go down into Egypt 7075 and
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they come out two million. I would say that's a great you
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mathematicians can figure out the percentages on that.
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He made him a great nation. It just goes to show you
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obedience leads to blessings. Obedience in your life leads to
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blessings. Disobedience leads to drama and
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difficulty because sometimes it's the disobedience of other
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people that lead to drama in your life, doesn't it?
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But you know, let's not keep our eyes on other people here,
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because our disobedience invites drama into our lives.
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It invites Barry, invites compromise and invites sin into
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our lives. Disobedience in and of itself is
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the beginning. Sin and it breaks relationship
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and it breaks fellowship. God had a purpose in mind.
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Joseph has come to terms with it.
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Now Jacob is coming to terms with it.
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It's an important principle that we learn as well that it says in
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verse five that Jacob arose from Beersheba, and the sons of
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Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and
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their wives, and the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
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And they took their livestock and their goods that they
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acquired in the land of Canaan, and they went to Egypt, Jacob,
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and all his descendants with him.
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And it's an important principle we learn here.
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What we would refer to in the New covenant under Christ is to
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be led by the Spirit, to be LED directly by God.
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People might make fun of you, of it.
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Then before it, they, they might, you might give it some
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explanation and like you, you know, it's easy to hear.
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In the church, we come and we say, hey, I was reading my DeVos
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this morning. God really spoke to me through
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this verse, and I made a life decision based on this verse.
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And in the church we're like, no way.
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Tell me what happened. This is awesome.
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It's so encouraging. It encourages me because God
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gave me this. But when you start talking to
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people outside of Christ, outside of church, they think
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you're out of your mind. They start making fun of you and
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belittling you, and you really believe that stuff.
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You make life decisions on that stuff.
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And then if you're not careful on the on a bad day, you're
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like. I don't.
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I don't know. Maybe I do, but I don't know.
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I wonder if this is even true. I mean I need to go find a
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YouTube video to see if this is. True.
23:19
And then you find some weird dude on there.
23:21
And then before you know it, just because somebody talked
23:23
down on you, God was speaking to you.
23:25
He gave you direction. He spoke.
23:26
To you through the. Living word.
23:28
You know the Bible's living and powerful sharper than any two
23:31
edged sword and he gave you direction that even if you made
23:34
a mistake, you made a mistake wanting to obey God because this
23:37
is a word he gave you in your DeVos.
23:38
And because the world and those that don't understand God, they
23:41
don't understand the things of the Spirit.
23:43
Because the things these are the.
23:44
Spirit only discern spiritually. You're at a place where you
23:49
don't want to be fault. You don't want to be led by the
23:51
Spirit anymore. You want to lean on your own
23:54
understanding. But here's the thing for
23:56
everyone. Every one of us in the room
23:59
today, remember this. God is directing all of us in
24:02
different ways, same word, different ways.
24:09
We need to be careful that God may say one thing to you and
24:12
your situation, and say another thing to someone else in a
24:16
similar situation, because your situations aren't the same,
24:22
they're distinctly different, and it's important we learn to
24:26
discern His leading confirmations.
24:29
Consider this with Jacob. Here's the point.
24:32
While for others Egypt was not good for them, God is telling
24:39
Jacob Egypt will be good for you.
24:43
Which, you know, we as Christians, we think we know
24:45
everything. We're going to tell everybody
24:47
and give all our opinions. But here's one that I want you
24:49
to consider for others. It's absolutely true.
24:53
God said Egypt is not good for you.
24:56
Don't go there for Jacob. Egypt is good for.
25:00
You go there and you go. How can you explain that?
25:04
Because God is. Directing us in different ways.
25:07
And we want to discern the leading of the Lord.
25:10
I guess another way to look at it today is just say one size
25:13
does not fit all. God is doing something unique in
25:16
your life, leading you in unique ways.
25:19
God wanted Jacob there. You can't put God in a box is
25:24
often something that would refer to this.
25:26
You can't just box him up and say this is the only way he
25:28
works. Because what's good for you may
25:30
not be good for someone else. A conviction you have may not be
25:34
a conviction someone else. Has.
25:36
Something that God gave to someone may not be what God
25:39
gives to you to live out in your life.
25:41
And we need to learn to live with one another.
25:44
We need to learn to let iron sharpening iron maybe learn why.
25:47
Why is that conviction in your life?
25:49
Well this is my conviction and makes space.
25:51
Paul would talk about this in Romans to to leave space for
25:55
grace in people. 'S lives now.
25:58
That's why opinions can be so confusing.
26:00
Everybody has an opinion. It seems like everybody has a
26:03
real strong opinion for your life, but not so much for.
26:06
Theirs. And you want to be careful.
26:09
Sometimes you just need to seek the law.
26:11
You don't need everybody's opinion.
26:12
And it's like, what do you think?
26:13
What do you think? What do you think?
26:14
What do you think? Sometimes you just need to do
26:15
what God told you to do, because a lot of opinions can confuse
26:19
you. Now again, the Bible says that
26:23
in the multitude of counselors there's peace, and it's true.
26:27
But if you choose the wrong counselors, a multitude of
26:29
counselors can lead to confusion.
26:32
Here's what I like to fall on, and it's important to have
26:37
people speaking in my life for sure.
26:39
But here's what the Bible says, and this is what I've
26:41
experienced. The steps of a good man are
26:44
ordered by the Lord. The steps of a good man, and I
26:49
think by extension a good woman, are ordered by the Lord.
26:52
And he delights in his way. I believe it was Warren Weirsby
26:57
that also said the stops. I have a good man or order by
27:02
the Lord. That means God's going to give
27:03
me a direction green light. He's going to give me a
27:05
direction red light. But this is what I'm looking
27:07
for. I'm looking for and listening
27:09
for the orders of God. I'm listening for those non
27:14
negotiables and then match them as much as I can with quick
27:20
obedience so I could get it behind me.
27:21
Deal. Moody used to say he likes to
27:23
keep short accounts. I do too.
27:25
I like to keep short accounts. I just want to if God gives me a
27:29
direction I want to give it and I want to move forward.
27:31
I don't want anything hanging over my life because I don't
27:34
know what's next. So Jacob here others G Egypt
27:37
wasn't good but for Jacob it was good and they went to Egypt.
27:42
It says in verse 7 his sons and his sons sons, his daughters and
27:46
his sons daughters and all his descendants he brought with him
27:49
to Egypt verse 8. Now these were the names of the
27:53
children of Israel, Jacob and his sons who went to Egypt.
27:58
Reuben was Jacob's first born. The sons of Reuben were Hanak,
28:02
Palu, Hezron, and Karmi. The sons of Simeon were Jimuel,
28:06
Jameen, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, Shaul and the son of the
28:12
Canaanite woman, the sons of Levi, great name Gershon Kohath,
28:17
Mary I the sons of. Judah were uh Onan, Shayla,
28:21
Perez, Zera. But Uh and Onan died in the land
28:24
of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron
28:27
and Hamul. Sons of Isikar were Tola, Puva,
28:30
Job and Shimron. Sons of Zebulun were Serid, Elon
28:35
and JA Laio. These were the sons of Leah,
28:38
whom she bore to Jacob and Padan.
28:41
Aram with his daughters Dinah. All this persons, his sons and
28:44
his daughters were 33 verse 16. The sons of Gad were Ziphion,
28:49
Haggai, Zunai, Esban, Arai, Arodai and Areli.
28:55
The sons of Asher were Jimna, Ishua, Isui, Bariah, Sarah
29:01
their. Sister and the sons of Bariah
29:03
were Heber and Malkiel. These were the sons of Zilpah
29:07
who Laban gave to Leah his daughter.
29:09
And these she boarded Jacob 16 Persons.
29:12
Sons of Rachel Jacob's wife are Joseph and Benjamin, verse 20.
29:16
Josephs in the land of Egypt were born Manassa and Ephraim,
29:20
who whom Asanath, the daughter of Potai Farah priest Evan, bore
29:25
to him. Sons of Benjamin were Bella,
29:28
Becker, Ashbel, Guerra, Naaman, Ehai, Rosh, Mupim, Hoopim and
29:35
ARD. These are the sons of Rachel who
29:37
were born to Jacob. 14 persons in all sons of Dan were Husham.
29:41
Sons of Naftali were Jaziel, Gunai, Jezur, Shalem.
29:46
These were the sons of Bilhah whom Laban gave to Rachel, his
29:49
daughter. She bore these to Jacob. 7
29:52
persons in all. All the persons who went with
29:55
Jacob to Egypt came from his body.
29:58
Besides Jacob's sons, wives were 65 persons in all, and the sons
30:02
of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons.
30:04
And all the persons of the House of Jacob who went to Egypt were
30:08
70 genealogies. It would have been easy to say
30:12
read them in the front of the mirror and get a quick joke
30:14
because they're hard to pronounce, but I want it because
30:17
it was a short genealogy. To give you an example,
30:20
genealogies are very important to those that are in the
30:23
genealogy. Did You Know?
30:24
If your name was in the Bible, you would want me to read it
30:27
because you think sometimes, why does God have genealogies?
30:30
Well, they were important to the Hebrews as much as they were
30:32
important to God. God was bringing forth Messiah,
30:36
and if your name was in the Bible, it would be important to
30:38
you. You know, for us we're separated
30:40
by thousands of years, separated by culture and by names and some
30:45
names that are hard to pronounce in the English but would be very
30:48
easy for someone that knows Hebrew to pronounce them in
30:50
Hebrew. And so it's not even the
30:52
pronunciation. Look, every important descendant
30:55
was mentioned here, and although genealogies can be difficult to
31:00
read through, they truly are an encouragement to.
31:03
Us. And the encouragement is this.
31:06
They remind me that no one is unimportant to God.
31:10
They remind me that names matter, that names reflect a
31:14
person and a characteristic and a family and a connection.
31:22
The so-called what we may refer to as little people.
31:25
Right. Because here, in our text before
31:28
us, you've got the important people, Jacob and Joseph and
31:32
Rachel and Judah and Benjamin. But all these other.
31:36
Descendants are just as important.
31:39
Their story is different, and the spotlight's not on them, but
31:42
they made it in because they're important to God.
31:46
Everybody's valuable and important to God.
31:49
The people you like and the people you don't like.
31:52
The people that you think are good and the people you think
31:55
are everybody's important to God.
31:56
Jesus Christ came to die for all sinners, and that's all of us.
32:04
In the middle of a metropolitan city like this, like Denver, the
32:08
metro area, or the state of Colorado, or even just a city
32:12
like Aurora, among the hundreds of thousands that call Aurora
32:16
home, or the millions that call Colorado home, or the billions
32:21
that call the earth their home, God cares for you and he knows
32:26
you by name. God cares for you and knows you
32:30
by name. God loves you and even counts
32:34
the hairs on your head. Jesus, he's so in love with you
32:39
that in Christ he even takes your tears and puts them in a
32:42
bottle. To the world.
32:45
You might be a number and sometimes it feels like we're a
32:48
number, but to God as a believer, you're his kid and
32:52
those outside of Christ. To God you are someone he loves
32:56
so much that he sacrificed his own son, Jesus Christ, for you.
33:01
You're important to him, believer and unbeliever alike,
33:06
Jacob. This is the family.
33:10
This is who comes. There is a little bit of a
33:14
discrepancy for you Bible students.
33:16
You probably already know it, but you'll remember that in
33:21
chapter seven of the book of Acts, when we were studying
33:23
through in Stephen's Bible study, he referred to this as 75
33:29
people going in to the land. Here it says 70.
33:33
Many believe you know they want to call, they want to cry out.
33:36
Contradiction. But in Stephen's mind he
33:39
includes 5 more two sons of Ephraim, two sons of Manasseh,
33:44
another grandson. But Stephen was quoting from the
33:46
popular translation of the day, the Septuagint, which was a
33:50
Greek installation of the old. Testament.
33:53
So here you have 7075 coming in. It says in verse 28 that he sent
33:58
Judah before him to Joseph to point out before him the way to
34:02
Goshen and they came to the land of Goshen.
34:07
So Joseph made ready as Chariot verse 29 and went up to Goshen
34:11
to meet his father Israel. And he presented himself to him
34:14
and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.
34:18
Can you imagine this? We're reading this so quickly.
34:20
Can you imagine what this was like?
34:23
This is just it's it's just unbelievable.
34:26
It's it's just not even it's. You can't even describe the
34:32
emotion here, to live completely convinced that your son is dead
34:44
and to come to terms with that and everything that that meets
34:48
and to have the privilege of meeting him again in the flesh.
34:52
This was quite the reunion, he says in verse 30, Israel said to
34:57
Joseph, Now let me die since I've seen your face, because
35:02
you're still alive. Then Joseph said to his brothers
35:06
and to his father's household, I'm going to go up, and I'm
35:09
going to tell Pharaoh and say to him, my brothers and those in my
35:12
father's house who are in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
35:15
The men are shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed
35:19
livestock, and they brought their flocks, their herds and
35:22
all that they have. So it shall be when Pharaoh
35:24
calls you and says what is your occupation that you shall say
35:28
your servants. Occupation has been with
35:30
livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our
35:33
fathers, that you may dwell in the land of Goshen.
35:37
And every because every shepherd is an abomination to the
35:41
Egyptians. So what a reunion you have to
35:45
appreciate the heart of Joseph. He's the second in command in
35:49
Egypt. He's Avip if you will.
35:51
He could have had his dad be brought to him, but he ran to
35:54
his dad, just wanting to see him, hug him, encourage him,
35:59
they cry together. He never lost respect for his
36:03
dad, even though he doesn't know him very well.
36:07
The last memory he has was the favoritism that his dad showed
36:10
at a very young age, you know, perhaps a teenager, but he
36:13
doesn't know much about who is what his dad's experienced or
36:16
what he's gone through. You don't know.
36:19
And I thought, man, this is so cool because it's just one of
36:23
these side notes where I just think of you guys.
36:25
You know, you're never too old to hug and love your parents,
36:29
never too old. You know, this was a pretty 130
36:32
year old dad and he just jumps on him, if you will, and they
36:35
begin crying together. Of course, it was unique, but
36:38
you're never too old to show that emotion and maybe even grew
36:41
up in an emotionless house, which I did for the most part.
36:46
The emotions that were shown in our home weren't so much love
36:49
and hugging as much as other emotions.
36:52
And so when I walk into a church and they start wanting to hug,
36:55
I'm like, bro, I don't even want to touch you, let alone hug you.
36:58
Like that was just weird to me. I don't even hug my own parents.
37:01
I remember thinking standing in a church is an unbeliever, but
37:05
I've come to understand that that expression of love, you
37:08
know, whether it's a side hug for one of the ladies or a hug,
37:11
you know, that, you know, even was I was walking today, it was
37:13
so cool. As I was walking through the
37:15
sanctuary today, Sean and I were looking at some things and and
37:19
the kids came in as that was part of their being part of
37:23
school day-to-day. And and then the kids, just some
37:25
of the kids just ran up and hugged me.
37:27
I don't know if they got in trouble.
37:28
We're getting out of line, but they just ran up and hugged me.
37:31
So then all the other kids want to do it.
37:32
So I said no. OK, here, here's your choice.
37:35
Want to shake my hand or hug me? And so each one, shake my hand
37:38
or hug, shake, shake, hug, shake, shake, hug, hug, hug.
37:41
You know, it's like giving them the choice of whatever they want
37:44
to do. But they felt like it was an
37:45
important expression for them, whether it was a handshake.
37:49
Or a hug to be able to spend some time that I don't get to
37:52
see them very often. And here they are in the kiddos.
37:55
Just to leave that impression in their hearts of a pastor that
37:59
stopped what he's doing and give them the full attention that was
38:03
possible because they are loved by God and loved by me too.
38:09
And so some hugged, some shook their hand, but I shook my hand.
38:12
But I hope it was meaningful to them that God would use that
38:16
emotion and that connection. And this is interesting as we
38:22
see at the end there. And I'll give you a few more
38:25
things and then we'll head out. But every shepherd in verse 34
38:28
is an abomination to the Egyptians.
38:31
So I want you to follow the logic here.
38:32
Joseph knows that. He knows that and he prepares
38:36
them. He prepares Jacob for this
38:40
discussion he's going to have with Pharaoh.
38:46
This tells us a lot about Joseph's integrity and his
38:49
honesty. Joseph was not just a man of
38:53
character and honesty. He was also a very intelligent
38:56
man. You could say that he was a
38:59
gifted administrative administrator and leader as
39:02
well. Of course God gave him wisdom
39:05
about the famine to come, but he needed to organize it.
39:08
Remember, he needed to take what God gave him and then what we
39:12
would call today that spiritual gifting in Romans 12 of
39:16
administration of leadership. Well, God is giving to him that
39:20
in the old covenant, so he had to organize these things of what
39:23
God gave him. And he's also organizing the
39:26
future of his family. And he says, I want you to
39:29
understand. Tell them you're shepherds,
39:31
because they don't like. Shepherds, So those.
39:33
Keep you in Goshen, away from the main population.
39:37
That's what it's really what's happening here.
39:39
Just tell them you're shepherds. Nobody's going to like you, but
39:42
I have favor with Pharaoh and he's going to keep you in
39:45
Goshen, which is where you need to be.
39:48
Shepherds were truly the lowest of lowest classes in Egypt.
39:52
They were an abomination. They were often the slaves and
39:55
the outcasts in society. Joseph prepares them for it.
39:58
So he tells them to tell them this and that way they'll stay
40:02
in Goshen. But there's something else going
40:03
on, right? There's always what you see, but
40:06
there's also things going on that you don't see.
40:08
As we learned last time. There's things that you can
40:10
obviously see where you want them in Goshen.
40:13
Very fertile land, very good for shepherding, very good.
40:17
But there's also something going on.
40:19
God is going to use Joseph not only to save them, but to put
40:23
them outside the mainstream of Egyptian society to keep them
40:29
pure. He's going to keep them away.
40:32
He's going to separate them so that they can be separated.
40:38
To him, he's going to separate them.
40:41
So they can be separated to him. Why?
40:45
Because he doesn't want them intermingling and losing their
40:47
Hebrew identity. Why?
40:49
Because it would be through this ragtag bunch that the Messiah,
40:52
Jesus Christ would come. And it just again, we don't have
40:56
to have time to develop this, but the idea of separation is
40:59
all throughout the scriptures. Sometimes it's something we have
41:01
to do. We have to create those
41:03
boundaries and separate ourselves for the sake of
41:06
holiness and righteousness under the Lord.
41:08
Even self protection in some ways.
41:11
But sometimes God separates us through circumstances to the
41:16
very things that you really want and desire.
41:19
God says, no, I don't want you in the mainstream in the city.
41:23
I want you out in the country. No, I can't believe it.
41:26
I'll never. Make it out here, no?
41:29
But you have to trust God. Why He has you where he has you,
41:34
why he's doing what he's doing, even though we don't know.
41:38
We have to trust him. We have to trust him with our
41:41
lives, whether we like it or not.
41:43
That's quotable. You can write that down and you
41:46
could take it for yourself. We have to trust God.
41:51
Even when we don't like the situation, we really have no
41:55
other choice. Because I want to give you this
41:59
last thought. I want to spend.
42:02
I have a couple minutes to spend here.
42:03
This is so when you go back to Chapter 42, and I just want you
42:08
to remember where Jacob came from, go back to Chapter 42 with
42:11
me. You got to see it in your own
42:14
Bibles. You may have forgotten this, but
42:18
I'm going to remind you, you guys listening on the radio,
42:21
watching online right now, just pause right now.
42:25
Hopefully you're in traffic. I mean, I don't really want you
42:27
to be in traffic, but you need to think this through.
42:30
So you can just soak this in, pick up the study on the app or
42:34
listen to it on one place somewhere.
42:36
You've got to soak this in. But for us, we're already here.
42:39
We're already receptive. I want you to soak this in,
42:41
Let's not forget where joke where Jacob came from, chapter
42:44
42 and verse 364236. And Jacob, their father said to
42:51
them, You have bereaved. Me of my children, Joseph is no
42:56
more, Simeon is no more. And you want to take Benjamin,
43:00
Benjamin away and remember his conclusion?
43:03
All these things are against me and I asked you if.
43:11
If I didn't ask you, I'll tell you right now.
43:13
Right next to that word, that that verse, verse 36, Just write
43:16
the word false. This conclusion is a false
43:20
conclusion. It is a reasonable conclusion.
43:25
It is a acceptable conclusion based on the outside facts.
43:30
If that's all you saw was what he's experienced, and if that's
43:33
all you felt is what he was feeling, OK, that that makes
43:38
that's reasonable. He's looking at his situation.
43:41
He's in great despair, Great Depression, overwhelmed, doesn't
43:45
want to lose another child, OK, all these things are against me.
43:50
But he's wrong. He's wrong.
43:56
All of these things were not against him because the very
44:00
next conclusion would be all these things are against me.
44:02
So that means God is against me because I'm looking around and I
44:05
don't see other people experience when I'm
44:08
experiencing. All these things are against me.
44:10
He's wrong. And although he felt that way,
44:16
he was incorrect. He didn't know what God was
44:21
doing behind the scenes. He didn't know the ways of God.
44:28
He didn't know. He didn't see what God was
44:33
doing. He didn't see nor could he see.
44:39
God didn't reveal it to him. He didn't know.
44:43
He didn't see. He he couldn't comprehend the
44:49
things that he couldn't see and couldn't know.
44:54
Does that sound familiar? I don't know what God is doing
44:59
in my life right now. I don't know.
45:02
I can see a few things, and specifically, I could see some
45:06
painful things. I don't know.
45:07
I don't know what he's doing. I mean, I could see the painful
45:10
things. He's made that abundantly clear,
45:12
but I don't know what he's doing.
45:15
And I can't. See what God is doing?
45:19
I mean, what I see is pretty painful.
45:20
It's pretty bad. It's.
45:22
It provokes the flesh. It makes me want to take
45:24
control. It makes me want to fix things
45:26
and I can't see. What God is?
45:28
Doing I can just see the pain. I see it every.
45:31
Day when I wake up, every day I see it.
45:35
And every day I know the pain. I see it, I know it.
45:39
But I don't see what God's doing.
45:42
And I don't know what God's doing.
45:44
I don't know. But I do know this God's will
45:49
for our lives. It's for our good and not our
45:54
bad. I do know that.
45:58
I do know that the enemy of my soul is a liar and he lies to me
46:03
day and night. I do know that what I do see and
46:09
what I do know doesn't always give me the knowledge I need to
46:12
make a decision. I do know that while I may not
46:19
understand it, God is not against me.
46:28
I know that God is working things out and working things
46:32
together for my good. I do know it's not wise to
46:39
listen to the enemy. You can ask Eve about that.
46:46
You don't want to be talking to the devil.
46:48
He's a liar. That's all that comes out of his
46:52
mouth. He's a deceiver.
46:55
Don't listen to the devil. Don't let the devil get in your
46:59
head. That's the place of warfare.
47:02
Or the lies and the deceptions mixed with what you see and what
47:07
you know can really Jack your head up.
47:10
But you, what put up, wake up every morning and say good
47:13
morning, right? Good morning, Lord, not.
47:14
Oh Lord, it's morning. Just put on even if you can't
47:18
remember. All of the.
47:19
The items of the weapons of your warfare.
47:22
Yet from Ephesians 6, you just remember this one.
47:25
The helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, the word of
47:28
God. You remember those that'll get
47:30
you through the day. You'll be vulnerable.
47:33
You need to learn them all. But you know, a helmet of
47:35
salvation, The word of God will get you through most things.
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Or you just have a peace that passes all understanding.
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Not everything's against you. Someone needs to hear that
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today, not everything is against you, even though it hurts and
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you're sad and you're sorrowful. The wisdom is not in this world.
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The world's wisdom is not going to get you through this.
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The world's platitudes, the world's ways of solving things
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are temporary things to placate your emotions, but they never
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get to the root. The root is your walk with the
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Lord. Your root is your faith in God.
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Your root of the issue that leads us astray is that because
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what we see is hard, and what we know is hard, we leave the place
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of safety, of abiding in Christ because we think we have it
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figured out, even though we don't know what God is doing.
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And Jacob in chapter 42, here I am, everything's against me.
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And it's almost like, no, Jacob, it's not.
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And I bet you have people in your life doing that with you as
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well. You got to be careful not to
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shut those people out. You need them.
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You need somebody to call you up and say, hey, haven't seen you
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in a church in a while. Well, everything's against me.
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No, it's not. Well, they hurt me there.
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OK. What church do you want to go
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to? Oh, no.
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They'll hurt me everywhere. Stop it.
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Get back into fellowship. Stop listening to the enemy.
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He's lying to you. You need to press on.
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Endure. Stay steadfast.
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Those are great words. Because I wanted to end here,
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which is the title of our study. Go Over to Romans 8.
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I love this. It's just so good to hear.
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Turn over to Romans 8 so we can read this together and we'll
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head out just so encouraged. I know I don't know everything,
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and I know I don't see everything, but with my eyes of
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faith I see God high and lifted up, and the train of his robe is
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filling the temple. And the angels there are
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worshipping holy, holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.
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And I can trust him with my life.
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I don't need to see everything. I don't need to know everything,
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because I know God and I see Him high and lifted up.
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And here's the New Covenant equivalent, the New Testament
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equivalent. Pick up in verse 31.
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What shall we say to these things?
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If God is for us, who can be against us?
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He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us
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all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all?
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Things. Who shall bring a charge against
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God? God's elect, It's God that
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justifies. Who is he who condemns?
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It is Christ who died and furthermore is risen.
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Who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
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for us? Who shall separate us from the
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love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
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or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
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as it is written, for your sake, We are killed all day long.
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We're accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
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Yet in all these things, all these things that are hard and
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hurtful and difficult, all these things Paul says, we are more
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than conquerors through him who loved us.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
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principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
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come, nor. Height.
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Nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate
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us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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That's a Bible closing verse right there that we receive by
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faith, God, God. We receive these truths today by
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faith because we know it's not merely the gift of pastor,
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teacher that's giving them to us tonight, but they are lived out
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in the life of Joseph and of Jacob.
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They're lived out in ways that honor you.
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We see it in a guy's life. We see it in a family's life.
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We see it even in the testimony in the room today.
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We see it in the salvation going on in the Arapahoe County Jail.
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We see it, God, in the work that you're doing over at Sky Ridge
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Medical Center. We see it in every place.
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If that's what we're looking for, if we're looking for
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nastiness, we'll find it. And if we're looking for people
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to hurt us, we'll find it. And if we're looking to get
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involved in, you know, things that will take our eyes off of
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you, we'll be there. But as we keep our eyes on you
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abiding in you, we see you high and lifted up.
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We think of the finished work of the cross.
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We remember all that you've done for us.
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We recall these good things. We stop listening to the enemy
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and we start listening to your word and putting it into
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practice. We learn.
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We obey. We learn, we obey.
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And that's the pattern of our life.
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Then, even in the hurt and the pain and the deep sorrow and
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crying ourselves to sleep at night, if God be for us, who can
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be against us? You did not spare your own son.
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And how much were you advocate on our behalf?
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So let's just pray that into our church life today, those that
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are here, they're like the remnant Lord that represents the
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rest of our church that will be here this weekend.
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Some are sleeping right now. Some are watching TV, some are
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fixing, some are working, some are sick.
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And Lord, you know, we represent.
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We'll stand in the gap for them and we'll pray for our church.
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We'll pray for the people in our church.
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We pray for their families. We pray for their marriages.
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We pray for the little kiddos. Lord, We pray God for our in
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laws. We pray for our moms and our
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dads and our step moms and our step dads.
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We pray God we'll stand in the gap for them.
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We'll be that that one that goes into the throne room of grace
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for them. We'll bring their name.
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We'll bring them to you by name. We will be like that persistent
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widow who just won't stop praying.
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We'll be like it says in Luke, 18 men out also always to pray.
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And we'll pray in our tears. And we'll pray when we can't
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breathe. And we'll pray when we're up
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against the wall. And we'll pray when we're out of
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work. And we pray when we don't have a
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house. We'll pray or whatever it is you
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have for us. We don't see we don't know
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everything but we know you. And you're showing us more and
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more that sanctifying work of your Holy Spirit.
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And I would just say if you're here tonight, you've never given
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your life to Jesus Christ. I want to invite you to do just
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that, that today you would turn away from your sins and embrace
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the God who loves you. And if that's you, just stand to
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your feet. We want to pray with you.
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I want to help you follow God. Today you walk into a church and
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here you are. You hear about the love and the
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mercy and the grace of God, the forgiveness of sin, the blood of
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Jesus Christ, how he died and was buried and he rose again the
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3rd day. And you can have a relationship
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with the Creator. All of this can be yours or not.
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So I just want to give you a chance.
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If you're here today and said I need my sins forgiven, I want to
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follow God. Let's let's do it.
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Let's allow the Spirit to work in your life.
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Respond to the leading that he's brought you here.
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He's watching online, listening on the radio.
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Imagine that God loves you so much he put a guy in your car or
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your kitchen or your ears. You're out in a snow plow
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somewhere. And God speaking to your heart
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through the app, you know, through some phone technology.
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It's unbelievable. The love of God for us.
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He'll chase you down. He's a pursuer.
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He's. I mean, I I know even some you
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could be listening in the back of a police car right now.
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Like I'm so messed up I'm going to jail, But you can go to
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heaven first. You just receive the Lord.
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And you know this is a great. I want to train you guys and
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I've said this before, but I want to remind you for all of us
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that are saved. Then you just start praying for
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the person that comes to mind to start interceding for them, just
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asking God to meet them, to send someone in their other life.
56:03
Maybe it's not a church that's got, maybe it's going to be
56:05
something that that they're scrolling through YouTube and
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looking for something and it got boom, this old Billy Graham
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video or Skip Heitzig teaching or someone giving them the true
56:15
word. Who knows how what he's going to
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do, but for the sake of those watching, maybe we don't see.
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I want to help you obey what the Bible says, that if you confess
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with your mouth to Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
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God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.
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So you can say, God forgive me of my sins.
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I'm asking you to forgive me, change my life.
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I want to follow you from this day forward.
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I repent and that's a keyword repent of my sins.
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And I want my life to matter for you now, God from this day
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forward. And so God, we pray tonight as
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we leave here. So much going on, so much to try
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to put into a small amount of time.
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We just use it. We know we by faith, it's going
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to affect us. It's going to change us.
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It's going to stir us. It's going to make us better men
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and women for your Kingdom. And we pray that in Jesus name.
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Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer.
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Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
57:33
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
57:39
or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you Worship Jesus this week.