Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10157 - Time and Testings Bring Brokenness - Genesis 44

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#10157 - Time and Testings Bring Brokenness - Genesis 44 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

0:04
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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Take your bibles, open them to Genesis chapter 44.
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So we start a new chapter in our verse by verse study in Genesis.
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This has been this is our 57th Bible study in Genesis.
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I didn't look back to see when we started, but we take our time
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allowing the Holy Spirit to minister to us our.
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The title for The message is Time and Testing brings
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brokenness. Time and testings bring
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brokenness. This section, this last part of
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Genesis, is one of the most emotional sections in all the
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Bible. It's very There's so many moving
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moments that are before us as Joseph is reunited with his
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brothers, as Joseph eventually reunited with his dad, as God
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gets the final word. Remember church, God gets the
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final word in your story. It's being written out.
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You don't know how the what the future holds in this situation
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or what next year is going to bring, or if God will resolve
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this situation the way you want, the way you hope.
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But you got to understand this. However, things go today,
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tomorrow, next year, God gets the final word.
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And you can trust him, as we'll learn in Genesis 50, verse 20,
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as as Joseph's looking at his brothers.
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And he says, you know you meant this for evil.
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It was real evil in your hearts against me.
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But God has turned it around for good for his purposes.
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Joseph here in Chapter 44, by way of reminder, has risen from
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the pit to the palace. His life has been filled with
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one difficult thing after another.
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And what made it worse? Just the true in your life and
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mine in some instances, that it wasn't because of his own bad
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decisions, it wasn't because of his own sin.
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He's suffering deeply. All this in this case the whole
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trajectory was laid before him because of the sins of his
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brothers. It wasn't his now.
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There was a little pride in him as he was sharing the dreams and
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such, but the direct consequence came from his brother's
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decisions. Yet the backdrop, though, is
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what God spared his life. He was going to die.
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They were going to take him out. And yet God spared his life
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because every life matters from conception to very last breath.
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Every life matters all the way along.
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And the Church stands for righteousness.
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And here his life was spared. Even though, like I know there
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are those listening in, This is their story.
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Different names, different situations.
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It was filled with pains and sorrows at every turn.
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But God is using Joseph and weaving together a tapestry that
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when all is said and done in his life, Joseph will see and
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understand. He doesn't see and understand.
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Right now he's getting it's becoming clearer and clearer.
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But he's not quite there yet. Even though the whole picture is
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not revealed, it's revealed little by little.
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You know, I think in our life there's situations where it's
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just impossible to see anything good.
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I mean, you could look at every angle, you can pick it up, turn
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upside down, you can walk around, you can ask everyone's
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opinion, and there's just nothing good to see.
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There's just nothing redeemable on our minds.
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Part of the problem is, is that we don't see what God sees.
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We don't know how the piece fits.
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The piece itself maybe be ugly, but it's an important part of
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the puzzle. You're not going to finish the
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puzzle without it. It's the kind of piece you don't
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want to drop on the floor, you don't want to lose because it's
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the integral part that puts everything together, makes
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everything, makes sense. In Isaiah 55 verse 8, we've this
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seems to be a theme verse. Lately.
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In Isaiah 55 verse eight, my thoughts are not your thoughts,
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God says through the prophet. Nor are your ways My ways, says
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the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
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than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
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thoughts your thoughts. Time and testing reveals time
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and testing reveals. And waiting strengthens us.
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Waiting on the Lord strengthens us.
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Remember Peter and jot it down in first Peter.
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Chapter one and verse six says. In this you greatly rejoice,
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though now for a little while if need be, you've been grieved by
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various trials. Listen in this you greatly
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rejoice, though now for a little while if need be, you have been
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grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith.
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Being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it's
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tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the
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revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love though
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now you don't see him yet believing you rejoice with joy,
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inexpressible, full of glory, receiving the end of your faith,
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the salvation of your souls. I mean, we just heard that, but
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but Can you imagine that your faith?
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Is gonna bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ.
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Like we in our minds when we're in the presence of Jesus,
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raptured up, we're in his presence.
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It's all about him. It really.
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It's gonna be all about. We're gonna be blown away.
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It's like I can't. This is amazing.
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Some of you are like I made it. And some of you go, you made it.
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You know, it's like, it's just going to be like we're going to
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be amazed by the presence of God.
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And yet at the same time, in the manifest, perfect sovereign will
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of God, there your faith is going to be on display through
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all the trials that you've endured now.
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And it's going to bring him glory your faith, my faith.
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It's hard to believe because we don't see what God sees.
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We don't understand his ways like he does, although over time
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we begin to understand a little better.
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Over time and testings and getting through a few things, we
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have a little more understand. It's not complete understanding.
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But yeah, I can see now God got me through that one.
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He can get me through this one. And I can see now that that was
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hard. And and and I can see my faith
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grew through it. You don't see it in the middle
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of it, but you see it. You can look back and go, Oh
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yeah, yeah, I remember that. I remember that.
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God, God's plan for you is good. God's plan for us is good.
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What he's trying to do in our lives through trials and
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tribulations is to bring us to that place of rejoicing in him,
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to bring us to that place at the end of ourselves.
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He He doesn't need to bring us to a place to the end of
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ourselves. If we remain at the end of
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ourselves, like we were at the moment of salvation, we were at
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the end of ourselves. It was that was it.
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I knew nothing else. And maybe you were raised in a
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godly home and you came to that place of a crisis and faith.
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You were at the end of yourself. I can either go to the left and
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walk away from everything I've ever known way I was raised, or
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I can press in on to the right. Or for many of us I got saved
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later. Like man, it was the end.
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There was no alternate like either continue the way you're
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going at and destroy your life early, die in early death, or
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you take this route and receive the love of Christ.
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If we stay there, abide there in Christ, it wouldn't be necessary
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to bring us to the end of ourselves.
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But because we're human, we find ourselves always being brought
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back, looking to Him, bringing us God does to that place of
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gladness and exceeding joy, trials, the trying of our faith.
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It proves us, it refines us, and it works in US.
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And one day you'll be able to say if you're not already able.
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I'm a better man and I'm a better woman because of that
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trial. You can say my faith is stronger
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because of that trial. My perspective is different
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because of that trial. The same one you want to get out
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of, the same one you want to run away from, the same one that
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you're upset, the same one that you've taken things into your
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own hands. When all is said and done, we'll
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be able to look back and go, Oh, my faith really is genuine
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because I was beginning to doubt that for a while.
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I wasn't sure I was going to make it.
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Not sure that was something I could survive.
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That's Joseph here. We all have our own Joseph
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stories. You'll remember A worldwide
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famine moved Jacob to send his sons to Egypt outside of Jacob's
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control. They came to Egypt.
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They heard that there was some grain.
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That was stored up. So they were sent to get it by
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the by the kids. The boys were sent to get it by
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their dad, where they'd get what was needed to survive.
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They'd end up meeting Joseph three times And Joseph takes him
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through three separate tests, his own personal tests.
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But I really believe and we'll look at a couple of them one by
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review and 1:00 today, but I really believe the big test was
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given to Joseph. The same big test that you and I
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face from time to time. It's the test of forgiveness.
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That's the big test. Will he forgive his brothers for
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the rotten consequences of their sinful decisions that he bore on
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his own shoulders and his own life?
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The years that he lost, that could never come back.
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Would you turn over now in Matthew chapter 18?
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Flip over there with me. I want you to see this.
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Mark it up in your Bible, Matthew chapter 18.
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The real test is forgiveness. Forgiveness is the hallmark of
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Christianity. It's the essence of
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unconditional love. You see, love is easy when you
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like the person, when they like you, when everything's going wow
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and fine and good. But what about those who hate
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you? And despitefully use you, and
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take you to court and come against you, and rip you off and
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lie about you and despise you. What about them?
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Well, notice in Matthew chapter 18, notice in verse 21 Peter
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came to him and said, Lord, how many times shall my brother sin
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against me? And I forgive him up to seven
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times. And Jesus said to him, I don't
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say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 * 7.
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Therefore the Kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who
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wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
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And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him
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who owed him 10,000 talents. But as he was not able to pay,
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his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and kids, and
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all that he had, and that payment be made.
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The servant fell down before him and said Bastard, have patience
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with me and I'll pay you all. And the master of that servant
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was moved with compassion, released him, forgave the debt.
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But that servant went out and found one of his one of his
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fellow servants, who owed him 100 denarii.
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And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying,
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pay me what you owe. And so his fellow servant fell
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down at his feet and begged him, saying, please, have patience
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with me, I'll pay you all. And he would not, but went and
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threw him in prison till he could pay the debt.
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So when his fellow servants saw would have been done, they were
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very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been
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done. And his master, after he called
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him, said to him, You wicked servant, who was the wicked
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servant? The unforgiving one, the one
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that was forgiven so much and yet threw this guy in jail and
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ruined his family for far less debt.
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You wicked servant, I forgave you verse 32, all that debt
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because you begged me. Should you also not have
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compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on
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you, and his master was angry and delivered him to the
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torturers until he should pay all that was due him.
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And here's the conclusion so my Heavenly Father also will do to
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you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his
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brothers his trespasses. That last conclusion's a
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difficult one that you try to explain away.
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But don't don't let don't try to explain it away.
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And don't worry if you don't fully understand it.
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And don't be too concerned if it goes up against some things that
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you already believe. Just let it sit there.
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It's the same when Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said you'd
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be perfect as my Father in Heaven is perfect.
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Oh, you know, we can explain that away with all kinds of
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theological language and we can say this and what perfect and
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what the Greek word is. And that's fine and good.
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But before you even get there, just let the verse sit there for
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a minute. Just receive it.
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See how the Holy Spirit wants to use it in your life before you
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explain it away to something that doesn't have any power to
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it. It's powerful, Jesus would say.
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Later in Matthew or earlier in Matthew, chapter 5 and verse
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443, you have heard that it's said you shall love your
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neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, I know what
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you've heard. I know what you've been taught.
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I know what the rabbis are saying.
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I know what the synagogues are filled with.
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I get it with the Temple Mount. I understand all that.
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But I'm telling you. Love your name, love your
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enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate
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you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute
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you that you might be sons of your Father in heaven.
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It's a relational forgiveness is relational.
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And you know how our kids pick up the characteristics of
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growing up with us and being trained by us, disciples raised
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by us. This is the characteristic of
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your Father in heaven. Big forgiveness.
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Huge forgiveness. Broader and bigger than our
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minds can even conceive. And that's why we look up the
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language and we explain it away and we look and it's like, no,
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just just be a son. Be a daughter of your father.
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Let that spirit work in you. Gentleness and peace and love.
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Well, with that in mind, we left off last time.
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With the brothers sitting in an arranged order according to the
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birth, as Joseph was throwing a party and he lined it all up,
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Joseph sees Benjamin and begins to weep uncontrollably,
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controllably. And he gives little Benjamin a
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serving that's five times larger.
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That was the first Test he was testing to see if they've
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changed. Are they still insanely jealous?
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Are they despising Rachel's son? And notice in verse one he
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commanded the steward of his house, saying This is chapter 44
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now. Fill the men's sack with food as
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much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of
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his sack. Also put my cup the silver cup,
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in the mouth of the sack of the youngest and his grain money.
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So he did, according to the word that Joseph had spoken, and as
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soon as morning dawn the men were sent away they and their
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donkeys. He gives them the grain, gives
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them their money back. This time he puts a special cup
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in Benjamin sack and at dawn they go away.
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Joseph was setting them up. Verse 4.
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And when they had gone out of the city, and we're not yet far
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off, Joseph said to his steward. Get up, Follow the men.
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And when you overtake them, say to them, why have you repaid
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evil for good? Is not this the one from which
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my Lord drinks, and from which he indeed practices divination?
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You've done evil in so doing. He overtook them, and he spoke
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to them these same words, and they said to him, Why does my
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Lord say these words? Far be it from us.
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Your servants would do such a thing.
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Joseph sends his steward after them to get that cup.
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And he it's a it's a complete set up from Joseph.
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He's working now, an arrangement from his position of authority.
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To bring about reconciliation, to bring about tests in his
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brothers hearts. He knows they don't know.
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Remember to see what what he's dealing with and what the
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possibilities are Here. I want to point out to you in
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verse 5A, place of contention for many of the critics of the
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Bible where it says in verse five that that drink, that
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silver cup was his divination cup and many will come here and
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ascribe to Joseph. This false worship like he
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became an Egyptian and he worshiped like an Egyptian and
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he lived like an Egyptian and he was an idolater.
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Let me clear it up from the text for you.
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Let me clear this up for them from the text.
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This is one of the advantages, by the way, of going through the
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Bible and reading the whole chapter and studying it verse by
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verse, studying the entire book following all along instead of
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just showing up at one verse and making a comment on it.
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Because when you're studying through the Bible, especially
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characters in the Bible, men and women in the Bible, you have
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what God's revealed to us about them, and you see their
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character and the essence of their behavior, so that when a
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verse like this pops up, you go one of the servants just saying
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it. It may have been a Divin
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divination cup, but it doesn't mean that Joseph used it that
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way. And how can we say that?
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Well, Joseph, it was in no way an idolatry.
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His whole life is pointed in an opposite direction.
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His whole life. Nowhere in the Bible is it found
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or expressed that he was an idolater and used this cup.
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You know, this guy says he did, but there's no evidence that he
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did. We know him because we've
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studied his life. He's a man of integrity.
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He's a man of honesty. He's truly a man of God.
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Not only that, Joseph was a prophet of God.
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He got his word directly from God.
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He didn't need to go into the Egyptian arts or to the occult.
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He received word directly, living a surrendered life.
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He didn't need to, nor he wanted did he want to mess around with
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the occult. I suggest to you today that the
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silver cup was just a prop that would stir up the brothers and
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be used in such a way to really get their attention.
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It was a cup that the Egyptian rulers used As for divination
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and it would have startled and shocked these God worshippers.
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To have it and that they think they took something so important
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or they had something that was so important and really they
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really thought this would also give some kind of indication
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that would show some kind of power in Joseph, where they
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really thought that Joseph could see more than he could see and
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put them in a place of testing. Notice again in verse 7.
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It says. And they said to him, why does
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my Lord say these words? Far be it from us that your
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servants would do such a thing. You know, basically in verse 7,
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they're going, we're so innocent, we've never done
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anything wrong in our whole life.
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Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the
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money which we found in the mouth of our sack, the mouth of
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our sacks. And that's true, because they
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have changed over the years. That is true.
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They did bring it back, but they brought her back more out of
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fear than anything. And how could we then steal
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silver or gold from your Lord's house with whomever of your
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servants it is found? Let him die, and we also will be
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my Lord's slaves. I wrote a little note here as I
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was studying. Just a little note to remind me.
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Ed, be careful what you say. Be very slow to speak, is what
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James said. Be careful what you say.
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They really, the brothers think they're in control and they are
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not in control at all. Are you sure you guys want
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someone to die? You want another brother to die
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over this? Are you sure?
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Is that really what you want? Are you sure you want to commit
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to these slaves? They're so confident in their
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honesty that they say something that they'll soon regret.
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It is in James Chapter One and verse 19.
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It says for us in the New Covenant.
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So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
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slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not
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produce the righteousness of God.
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Verse 10 And he said, Now also let it be according to your
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words. He with whom it is found shall
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be my slave, and you shall be blameless.
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Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each
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opened his sack, and he searched and began with the oldest, and
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left off with the youngest, and the cup was found where Benjamin
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sack. This is one of those verses that
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you wish the Bible was read with sound, because this is deep
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drama here. Can you?
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Can you imagine the feeling of their heart sinking?
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It's all happening in the moment.
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We're reading verse by verse, kind of looking at.
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But this all happening in the moment, Benjamin.
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No way. No way.
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No way. Verse 13.
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Then they tore their clothes and each man loaded his donkey and
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returned to the city. You might want to circle verse
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13, or you might want to highlight it or jot a note next
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to it. But verse 13 is is evidence that
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the men have matured. They may not be as far as they
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want to be. They may not be as mature as
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they want to be. They may not even realize it in
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their own lives. But this is a different
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response. This is different.
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They're no longer plotting and upset at a favorite sun.
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They're beginning to express deep, deep emotion.
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They tear their clothes in mourning and they head back,
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discouraged. The first Test, as we saw in the
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last chapter, was favouritism as he was giving the extra
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helpings. This second test was fondness
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and a test on whether they love their brother.
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Would they care if he died? Would they care if he became a
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slave 20 years ago? They didn't care 20 years ago.
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They were on the other end of manipulating circumstances.
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They didn't care about their dad.
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And by the way, we're going to learn tonight that would happen
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with Joseph. And the response of Jacob is
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still just as real today as it was when it happened.
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You'll see in the rest, if you read ahead, you see the emotion
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in this chapter. It's heavy. 20 years ago, there
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were different men. They were happy with two shekels
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apiece. It's what it amounted to for the
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life of Joseph. And now the brothers are brought
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at a crossroads. Do they leave Benjamin and go
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home? So what?
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Dad's going to old. He's going to die anyway.
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He's already grieving. What's more grieving?
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So what? We can save our own lives.
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No, they decided to go back to Egypt.
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Pay the price. So Judah, verse 14, And his
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brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there, and they
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fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said, What deed is
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this you have done? Did you not know that such a man
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as I certainly practice divination?
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Now you can see why he used the cup.
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Then Judah said, What shall we say, my Lord?
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What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves?
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God has found out the iniquity of your servants.
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Here we are, my Lord, slaves, both we and he also with whom
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the cup was found. They're standing in the gap.
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They're wearied and worried, and Joseph just lays it on heavier
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with that authoritative, no doubt voice and presence.
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Didn't you know how important this cup was to me?
24:37
I bet you did. And of all the things you chose
24:40
to steal from me, you chose that.
24:44
Now, by now, his brothers, they're exasperated.
24:46
What can they say versus 16? Again it says Judah.
24:50
What are we going to say? What are we going to say?
24:53
Verse 17? Far be it from me that I should
24:55
do so. But the man in whose hand the
24:58
cup was found, he shall be my slave.
25:01
And as you. As for you, you can go home, go
25:04
to peace. Go to go in peace to your
25:06
father. It was just, again, this is the
25:11
advantage of going through the Bible.
25:12
It's just 20 years earlier that Judah said this.
25:14
Remember, in Genesis 37, Judah said to his brothers, what
25:18
prophet is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
25:21
Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand
25:25
be upon him, for he's our brother and our flesh and his
25:28
brothers. Listen now, he didn't want to
25:30
kill him, but he was willing to sell his brother.
25:32
Let's just sell him. Let's not kill him, spare his
25:34
life, But we don't need him anymore.
25:37
Finally, we see the guilt of selling Joseph beginning to
25:41
arise. Their iniquity was found out as
25:45
we spent a considerable amount of time in the whole process
25:50
being worn and exhorted in previous studies that be sure
25:53
your sin will find you out. It's not only it's not always
25:57
some grand revelation. At times it comes out in spaces.
26:04
At times it comes out with people and circumstances and
26:06
things come to light. It's coming out in the in this
26:12
immediate context, but they know.
26:14
They know they didn't steal anything.
26:16
They know that. But at the same time, they knew
26:20
they were guilty. We saw that in David's eye.
26:24
For remember when Nathan came to him with the story and he gave a
26:27
murder, he gave a death penalty for something that didn't
26:31
deserve a death penalty. Why?
26:33
Because he deserved the death penalty.
26:36
And he knew it. And he lived with it because
26:39
guilt and shame, it would just eat you up from the inside.
26:42
It's just so much better, church, to come clean before the
26:45
Lord. He's ready to forgive you, to
26:48
repent of your sins and to forsake them and to come back to
26:53
God in a way that will yield your life.
26:56
You don't carry this stuff. It destroys you.
27:00
You're never going to be what God intended for you to be with
27:02
unconfessed sin. You're never going to be your
27:05
marriage not going to be. You're not going to be.
27:07
You're not going to receive the fullness of Lord.
27:09
If you're hiding sin, if you're purposely ignoring it, if you're
27:15
pretending it never happened, if because you haven't been found
27:19
out, you think it's OK. It's always better to come clean
27:22
before God and come clean before the people that you need to come
27:25
clean. It starts with God first and
27:27
then with others. Here they are.
27:32
God's allowed to live. God has allowed them to live
27:35
with it for 20 years, but no more.
27:39
Notice in verse 18. Now Judah came near to him and
27:44
said, No, Oh, my Lord, please, please let your servant speak a
27:47
word in my Lord's hearing. And don't let your anger burn
27:50
against your servant, for you're even like Pharaoh, My Lord asked
27:54
his servant, saying, Have you a father or a brother?
27:58
And we said to my Lord, we have a father, an old man, and a
28:01
child of his old age who is young.
28:04
His brother is dead. He knows why too, and he alone
28:12
is left of his mother's children.
28:15
And you notice at the end verse 20 And his father loves him.
28:20
Same word to use to describe his father's love for Joseph.
28:26
There's a special fondness that he has.
28:30
In verse 21, then you said to your servants, bring them down
28:33
to me, that I might set my eyes on him.
28:35
And we said to you, Lord, the lad cannot leave his father, For
28:38
if you should leave his father, his father would die.
28:41
But you said to your servants, unless your youngest brother
28:43
comes down with you and I, and you shall see my face no more.
28:47
And so it was when we went up to your servant, my father, that we
28:50
told him the words of my Lord, that my father said, go back and
28:52
buy us a little food. But we said we can't.
28:55
If our youngest brother is, we cannot go down.
28:58
If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down, for we
29:01
may not see the man's face unless our youngest brother is
29:04
with us. Verse 27.
29:07
Then your servant, my father said to us, you know that my
29:10
wife bore me two sons, and the one went out from me.
29:13
And I said, surely he's torn to pieces, and I have not seen him
29:17
since. But if you take this one also
29:21
from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my
29:24
Gray hair with sorrow to the grave.
29:29
Now therefore, when I come to your servant, my father, and the
29:34
lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the light,
29:38
in the lad's life will happen that when he sees that the lad
29:45
is not with us, that he will die.
29:49
So your servants will bring down the Gray hair of your servant,
29:53
our father with sorrow to his grave.
29:57
Let me read it to you from the new living I read this morning.
30:01
Listen to how the new Living translates.
30:03
Verse 31. It says if he sees that the boy
30:07
is not with us, our father will die.
30:10
We, your servants, will indeed be responsible for sending that
30:14
grieving white haired man to his grave.
30:18
He was still grieving. That's what the sorrow is.
30:22
It's not just sadness. He's still grieving, living with
30:26
it, describing it. Even here he hasn't forgotten
30:29
the son that was tore up, He still believing the lie.
30:32
Every time that came out. The brothers will remember.
30:34
They They lied. They lied.
30:36
They lied. They lied.
30:38
They lied. You just have to harden your
30:39
heart to that. When you don't confess your sin,
30:41
you just have to harden your heart to the emotions of your
30:43
dad. You have to harden your heart to
30:45
the emotions of your husband. You have to harden your heart to
30:47
people that are close to you because you haven't allowed the
30:50
Spirit of God to do that's that what That's what it means to
30:53
grieve the Holy Spirit. That's what it means to harden
30:57
your heart or stiffen your neck. And God is not going to allow
31:02
that for long. 20 years. You throw away 20 years for
31:06
what? It's going to come out.
31:07
It needs to come out. It needs to come out to walk in
31:10
the light, but it also needs to come out for you to be free, for
31:14
you to be free. That's God's will for you.
31:16
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty or freedom.
31:22
Freedom's taking place right now, you know.
31:25
They're coming to terms with it and freedom is starting to come
31:28
out. They don't know it yet, but as
31:31
they face the facts of the situation just up ahead, they're
31:35
going to experience some of the greatest freedom they haven't
31:37
experienced for 20 years all the while.
31:40
You know, I find people hold on to things, hide things.
31:43
You know, don't tell the truth because, Oh no, you don't
31:45
understand. It's going to be so hard.
31:46
It's going to be so hard. Yeah, it may be so hard right
31:49
before you get freedom. Just before you get free as we
31:54
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
31:57
with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from
32:00
all sins. Many, many believers.
32:03
We certainly understand this with those that don't have a
32:05
relationship with God. There's none of this working, no
32:07
conviction. That just doesn't.
32:09
It's hard. Hard already, but for believers,
32:12
this is So many believers are in bondage today because they've
32:16
chosen to live a life of lies and in the shadows, for whatever
32:22
reason, Self protection. They were raised that way,
32:25
whatever. And it's just bondage.
32:29
It's not true. Freedom and the church hurts for
32:34
it. The church hurts for you and it
32:37
hurts because of you. But they think they they watched
32:41
their dad grieve for 20 years. They watched him carry this
32:46
sorrow. He's like, no, no, no, fine.
32:48
It's enough. This is it.
32:50
They've they've hit their limit. There's no way.
32:53
There's no way. There's no way.
32:55
Please, we're begging you again. In our context where we have to
32:59
think, please the President of the United States, we are
33:01
begging you on hands and knees in the Oval Office.
33:05
You can't take our son. You can't take our brother.
33:08
You don't understand. Remember, we talked to you about
33:11
our dad and you. We talked to you about our
33:13
situation and we had dinner with you and you heard us.
33:16
And you, you know you can't take him.
33:18
He's son. He loves him the same way the
33:20
the way he lost his other son. You can't do it.
33:25
And there is great emotion here. So it's not just some
33:27
conversation, you know, at the. At the coffee, you know, in the
33:32
kitchen or anything over a cup of coffee.
33:36
Judah, he's truly stepped up to live out his name here as a
33:41
praise to God, this is praiseworthy behavior.
33:47
Well, notice with me in verse 30.
33:52
Well, in verse 30 it says Now, therefore, when I come to your
33:54
servant, my father, and the lad's not with me, since his
33:57
life is bound up, that when he sees the lad not with us, he'll
34:00
die. Verse 32.
34:01
For your servant became surety for the lad to my father,
34:04
saying, if I don't bring him back to you, then I'll bear the
34:07
blame before my father forever. Now therefore, please let your
34:10
servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my Lord, and
34:15
let the lad go up with his brothers.
34:17
For how shall I go to my Father, if the lad's not with me, lest
34:20
perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?
34:27
You look again at verse 30, you see that Jacob's heart is bound
34:30
up in Benjamin. Benjamin was his last reminder
34:35
of Rachel. Benjamin's eyes were Rachel's
34:39
eyes, his smile, his life. Benjamin really took that place
34:43
of Joseph in Jacob's life. And Judah here saying I'll take
34:48
his place. He's not working a deal, not
34:51
trying to barter. He says, Look, I, I we will pay.
34:54
Our family will pay the price for this wicked situation.
34:59
But let me pay the price. Let it be me.
35:04
And no doubt Joseph. His heart's beating.
35:06
He's like, I can't, I can't believe this.
35:09
He can't show anything yet, but it must be blowing him away.
35:13
It's just to see it all in in see it all come to pass before
35:18
him. And in this church, Judah, Judah
35:23
is, in a way, he's behaving and acting in a way that pictures
35:28
the coming of the lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus.
35:30
He becomes a type of Jesus. Here we know and seen how Joseph
35:35
becomes a type of Jesus throughout his life.
35:37
But here Judah becomes a type of Jesus in the very profound way
35:41
that he's offers himself a sacrifice on behalf of the
35:45
innocent, or from what they know, he offers himself a
35:50
sacrifice on behalf of the guilty.
35:54
They're pretty confident they didn't take it, but there's
35:56
still a part where they don't know.
35:59
He says take me. I mean, if you're Joseph, don't
36:02
you think this would be a pretty emotional time?
36:05
I mean, if this is the time to wipe your brothers out and get
36:09
revenge here, this is it. It's completely set up, but
36:14
somewhere along the way, church. He had to hand over this
36:18
situation to God somewhere along the way.
36:23
We aren't told exactly when we see him nobly go through things,
36:28
we see him face these difficulties.
36:31
We see him endure. We're not given a lot of details
36:34
on it, we just see it happen. But somewhere along the way he
36:38
had to hand this over to God. It's it's like because if he
36:42
didn't then the flesh would be very tempted today at this
36:45
moment. But it's almost like it's almost
36:48
like you can hear the spirit in speaking to Joseph here.
36:52
Like saying something like you know Joseph here they are.
36:54
One by one I've convicted them of their sin and their hearts
37:00
are like yours. They love their dad and they
37:06
love his favorite son. I mean it would be like but they
37:09
didn't love me. God, what about me?
37:14
And for the sake of our Bible study today and the fact that we
37:17
live in the 21st century, this is this is an opportunity where
37:22
the Bible completely blows it out of the water, but an
37:24
opportunity to be the victim. I'm the victim here.
37:29
Don't you forget that. Don't you forget what you did to
37:31
me. And don't you forget.
37:32
Don't you forget, don't for you forget.
37:33
And so much of our world is conditioned to keep people on a
37:36
victim status because it never really brings resolution.
37:41
Truth be told, Church, you ready?
37:43
Truth be told, we're all victims of sin.
37:48
We're all living these dysfunctional, broken lives that
37:51
are being mended and changed because we're new creations in
37:54
Christ. All things have passed away.
37:56
Behold, all things have become new.
37:58
And yes, we walk through life with pain, and yes, we walk
38:01
through life with problems. And yes, we walk through life
38:04
being mistreated and and hurt and harmed.
38:07
And then in this way, you could just think, man, this is it.
38:10
Like in a moment of weakness, like they did this to me, they
38:13
did this to me, they did this to me.
38:15
And I deserve to do this back. And I No, no, no.
38:19
The spirit of God said no, no, no, You, you you're thinking of
38:22
them 20 years ago. It's like God's saying I want
38:28
you to see them. Judah has changed.
38:33
He's not bartering a deal they've come to terms with.
38:38
Jacob is a dad that's going to love one of his kids more.
38:47
They make allowances for his weaknesses.
38:52
They love Benjamin. They love their Judah.
38:55
Here, I No, don't. No, take me.
38:59
I will pay his price. And I'm sure he sees them broken
39:06
and humble and genuine, fearful whenever it happens.
39:15
I do know this. I know this for us, you and I.
39:21
This is how we need to be before the Lord every day.
39:26
This is what we need to lay our lives down before Him and humble
39:30
ourselves in our situations. We need to ask for the agape
39:35
love of Christ to overcome our fleshly responses to pain.
39:42
We need to remember the true victim.
39:45
The true victim is Jesus Christ, the only innocent man God in
39:50
human flesh that paid a price for sins he never committed, for
39:56
how he was treated as we had our time of communion this weekend
40:01
and of course even among us tonight, where we're remembering
40:05
the body of Christ and his beating and.
40:07
We remember how he was falsely accused.
40:09
We remember how the crown of thorns were placed upon him and
40:12
twisted into his skull. And we remember how he was spat
40:15
upon and open handed, slapped and taken advantage of and and
40:21
his clothes were torn and they played games around him and hung
40:24
him on a Roman cross to die of asphyxiation.
40:28
A horrible torturous death. He's the victim, if you want to
40:31
use that terminology, not me and not you.
40:35
As painful as it is to live in this world, and if we're
40:40
fighting for and if we're always striving for and we're always
40:44
sticking up for ourselves, the Bible says that we need to be
40:48
abased and brought low. In James 410, it says.
40:52
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord in what he will lift
40:56
you up. That's what we want.
40:58
We don't want to lift ourselves up.
40:59
We we want God to lift us up. And I was reminded as I read
41:02
that scripture of Micah, chapter 6, verse eight, He has shown
41:05
you, O man, what is good? And what does the Lord require
41:09
of you to do justly? To love mercy and to walk humbly
41:13
with your God. As this big test comes upon his
41:20
brothers, they pass it again. Rather than see Benjamin become
41:25
a slave, they're willing to take his place, a type of Christ
41:29
here, all the way back in Genesis, John 1513.
41:34
It says greater love has no one than this.
41:37
Then lay down his, Lay down one's life for his friends.
41:41
And these brothers have come a long way As we end the chapter.
41:44
That's what time and tests will do you too.
41:47
You're going to come a long way. The pain and the difficulty of
41:51
what you're facing right now, You're going to get through it
41:56
moment by moment, step by step, day by day, as you abide in
42:02
Christ and draw on His resources and not take things into your
42:06
own hands. The solution for the situation
42:11
is not that they change, but that you change.
42:15
The Lord will deal with them. Yeah, but you understand is I I
42:19
can't do this for 20 years. We actually don't know what we
42:22
can do. If, truth be told, we can't do
42:25
it for 20 seconds. Let it go.
42:26
In 20 years, how do we get through 20 seconds the presence
42:29
and faithfulness of God? Seconds become minutes.
42:33
Minutes become hours. Hours become days.
42:35
Days become weeks, Months, years.
42:38
And will you look back and you see a lifetime of God's
42:42
faithfulness in your life? We're not there yet, but for the
42:46
life that we live, we can see God's hand in our lives.
42:49
Times and tests will do that. Bring us to humility.
42:52
Bring us to a place of desperation, a place where we're
42:55
laying our lives down, casting our cares upon him, and even
43:00
though for 20 years their stubbornness and their
43:03
selfishness cause much grief and pain.
43:11
A final thought in chapter 44 is guard your relationships.
43:18
They're very precious and fragile.
43:20
Judah had already ruined his connection to Dad.
43:25
He lied, deceived, lived with it for 20 years.
43:28
Be careful what you say, especially those that are close
43:32
to you. If need be, go back, restore,
43:36
renew, seek to see God, repent, apologize, express your sorrow,
43:42
make the needed changes. For reconciliation, for
43:46
connection. And let the Lord do that work
43:51
inside of us to make things better day by day.
43:55
I want to show you this turn over to 2nd Corinthians 5 and I
43:57
want to close with this verse you.
44:00
Don't have to wait 20 years. You don't have to Stew for 20
44:04
years. You don't have to like, be right
44:08
with the Lord. Let the Bible says, if our ways
44:10
please the Lord, he'll make even our enemies be at peace.
44:12
So, ma'am, be right with the Lord.
44:15
You can be come back to basics. Return to your first love.
44:20
Notice Second Corinthians chapter 5.
44:22
I'll draw your attention there to verse 18.
44:27
Says now all things are of God. Who has reconciled us to himself
44:33
through Jesus Christ? And has given us the ministry of
44:37
reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling
44:41
the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to
44:45
them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
44:52
And Judah finally comes around. And that's what we pray for In
44:57
those that we love. That's what we pray for in those
45:00
that we're close to, that they would finally come around.
45:04
And so as I close in prayer, I would just encourage you join me
45:07
and maybe say it. Say a name of something.
45:09
You don't have to say it out loud, but maybe in your mind you
45:12
just pray for a name, pray for a person, pray for a situation.
45:17
That Lord, just bring them around.
45:20
It's been too long. Just bring them around.
45:23
And so, the Lord, we do pray. I have a few names and faces in
45:27
my mind right now and I just pray.
45:29
Bring them along, Lord. And perhaps I'm even a name or a
45:33
face in someone. Lord, you can bring me along.
45:36
Reveal what's necessary, what's missing, what's lacking that I
45:42
might be in right relationship with you.
45:43
I love my Lord God with all my heart, soul and mind.
45:47
And I love my neighbor. And these last days.
45:50
God that we're living. I pray for a clarity and a
45:55
strength, supernaturally, that you would use in our lives.
46:01
And I thank you. There is reconciliation in this
46:03
room. I thank you.
46:04
There's testimonies of situations like Judah that it
46:09
wasn't good years ago, but it's good now, and to that we rejoice
46:12
and we're grateful. And for some, it could just very
46:15
well be the you are calling them to reconcile themselves to you.
46:19
That's the message. Be reconciled to God.
46:24
And as we're praying, I just want to give you that chance.
46:26
If you need to be reconciled to God, your sins forgiven, that
46:31
you could come to a place where you realize how far you've been
46:35
from God and he's calling you back.
46:37
That you you need to be born again.
46:40
You need new life in you. If that's you today, you'd say
46:43
it. I want to follow Jesus with my
46:45
life. Would you stand to your feet?
46:47
I want to pray with you. I want you to.
46:49
I want you to come clean before God.
46:52
Today. Is that man?
46:53
That that's the issue in my life.
46:55
I got a lot of little issues, a lot of big issues, but the issue
46:57
in my life is I need to be right with God.
46:59
Is there anyone here that would receive the forgiveness of their
47:02
sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ?
47:05
I want to give you that chance near and far.
47:07
But of course, we're in a room right now, so you know, it
47:09
starts here with the people I can see with my own eyes.
47:12
But God knows you, if you're out online somewhere or on the
47:14
radio, if you're in New Jersey or Wyoming or you're in a
47:18
kitchen somewhere in Florida, God knows.
47:21
And he's calling you to himself today.
47:26
This is it. This is the moment.
47:39
You know, as the pastors were waiting, you know, this also is
47:42
also a good time. I could always do a rededication
47:44
call and because I know the Holy Spirit uses greatly.
47:47
But I'm not going to do that. You know who you are.
47:49
Just take it to the Lord. He loves you so much.
47:52
You don't need to stand. You don't need to acknowledge.
47:54
You don't need to wave. You don't.
47:56
You don't need to do any of that.
47:57
He loves you. He's called you to himself.
47:59
He's invited you to come. You can just come right there.
48:01
You don't just give it to him. You don't need to wait 20 years.
48:07
You don't need a Stew in it. You don't need to harden your
48:10
heart. You don't need to make excuses.
48:12
You don't know the Lord's ready. He's ready.
48:15
He's ready. And you know so are you, and
48:20
just hand it over to him. Lay your life down to your
48:22
genuineness of your faith. I know it's hard.
48:26
Somebody's doing it to you. Something I know.
48:30
But as it's happening right now, I know.
48:34
I don't know yours, but I know mine.
48:39
But it really doesn't matter if you know yours and I know mine.
48:41
You know what it matters. Do you know God?
48:44
He's so faithful, so reliable. So perhaps you didn't stand
48:51
today. You didn't stand up.
48:53
I don't even know if I invited you.
48:54
So if you're ready to receive the Lord, you can stand.
48:57
Why don't you do that? Maybe I didn't say that.
48:59
Maybe I did. You can stand right here.
49:03
But even if you don't, you can ask God to forgive you.
49:08
You can confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus and believe in
49:11
your heart that God raised him from the dead.
49:15
And even this resistance in things with standing or
49:17
whatever, acknowledging, it's just a revealing of your heart.
49:21
It's just the kick. Just what's this is part of the
49:24
problem. You're not ready to give up and
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then we don't not like you for that or we're not mad at you for
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that. You know the emotion in our
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lives right now when we see the word go out and you know the
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Lord's working, but you don't see any visible response.
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You know what the the number one emotion is, I think in the room
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is sadness. Because you just know the Lord's
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working. You just know you can feel it.
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You go. But I don't feel anything.
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Oh no, you do. That's why you're resisting
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pressing in. But God has great plans for you.
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You're so close. You can just pray God.
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You can say God. I ask you to forgive me of my
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sins. I believe that you sent Jesus to
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die for me, and he rose again from the dead.
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So I can live for him. And I'm asking you to help me,
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God, live my life for you, Father.
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I know that you know we're not being born again and born again
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and born again. But sometimes when I'm hearing
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this, I'm like, yeah, Lord, I just want to follow you.
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We want to forsake our sin and we want newness of life.
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So I just pray that over our church, I pray that over those
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connected to us that we would not Lord, just let it come
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through, like, like not press in or help us to press in.
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I pray for the wives that aren't here tonight.
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I pray for the husbands who are not here tonight.
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I pray for the kids and my like, God, you are working or working
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these days and we just want to be a part of it.
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Bless your church. Bless your people.
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And as we sing, let it just be filling our hearts with joy and
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adoration of who you are in our lives.
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In Jesus name Amen, We pray that.
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You've been encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from
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the 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
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app, Be Blessed As You
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Worship Jesus this week.