Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10162 - Israel’s Final Blessings - Genesis 49

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#10162 - Israel’s Final Blessings - Genesis 49 · 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 49.
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We are almost at the end. Genesis chapter 49 in a Bible
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study that I've entitled Israel's final blessings and
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we're referring to Jacob as Israel here here as he gives his
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final blessings and it's time to say goodbye to Jacob.
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We're going to miss him. As we learned last time, we
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followed Jacob's life since he was in the womb.
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We've watched him grow up and seen the twists and turns of his
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life, the UPS, the downs, the successes, the failures and his
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life teaches us how spiritual growth is slow and steady.
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There are no shortcuts. There is that sense where you
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take a couple steps forward and five back and three forward and
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10 back. That's part of the process, and
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we see it very clearly in Jacob's life.
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And here he is living in the providential will of God, seeing
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his son with his grandkids, now blessing his kids with these
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final words inspired by God. Notice in verse one of chapter
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49, Jacob called his sons and said, gather together that I may
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tell you what shall befall you in the last days.
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Gather together and hear you sons of Jacob, and listen to
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Israel, your father, and what a scene.
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If we could use our holy imagination, what a scene this
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must have been to watch the gathering of these grown men
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coming around their dad's bed to hear his last words.
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I mean, they're probably in their 50s or 60s.
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Here, he's not laying back but leaning upon his staff,
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mustering all the strength that he can for these final words.
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It's a serious time. It's a somber time of
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instruction. And remember, the final words of
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a man or a woman are very important.
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We want to pay close attention to them.
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Sometimes those words involve encouragements and exhortations.
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Other times, they'd reveal insights and directions for the
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future. And, you know, Biblically, a lot
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of times the final words of a man are prophetic and looking
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into the future, as much of Jacob's words are here.
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But we don't have to wait till the end to say good things, you
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know. You don't have to wait till the
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very end till you barely have any strength or any breath.
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For the believer. We're to be going full with
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encouragement and exhortation to our spouses, to our kids, to our
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grandkids, just giving forth the encouragement to say it while
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it's on our minds and not have to wait all the way to the end.
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So we pay attention. You know, I think of the final
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words of someone like Jesus. You remember his final words in
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the book of Acts. He told the disciples as they
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were assembled together. He says, don't you leave
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Jerusalem but wait there for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Wait
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for the power, important last words.
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Why are they important for the disciples?
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Because they needed power. They needed this encouragement.
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And we're reminded we need his strength.
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You think of what Jesus is saying to us today as a church.
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Hey, live in the Spirit, not in the flesh.
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I I look at this here where he says gather together.
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Hear you sons of Jacob. That's the physical.
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Remember, many times Jacob is a reference to his flesh, his
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humanity. He says, You gather to me, I'm
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your dad. But I want you to listen to
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Israel. I want you to listen to the
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Spirit. I want you to walk in the
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Spirit. And Jacob has these prophetic
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insights on his sons moving forward.
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Notice in verse three we come first to Reuben, the son of
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Leah. You are my first born, my might
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and the beginning of my strength, The Excellency of
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dignity and the Excellency of power.
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Notice though, what he says in verse four.
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You're unstable as water. You shall not excel because you
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went up to your father's bed. You defiled it.
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He went up to my couch. You know, Jacob didn't forget
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about what Reuben did with Bilhah.
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And he was once his dad's pride and joy.
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I have a boy. Things started out so good.
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But he took a turn for the worse.
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And Jacob sees here his pride and his weakness and his lust
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and his guilt, and he just tells him you're unstable, just like
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water. You're totally unpredictable.
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We never know what you're going to do or say or how you're going
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to act. And Jacob must have thought of
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himself in the early years of his life, but different from his
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dad, Reuben would never change, his tribe would never excel.
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Why? Well, it's the same reason if we
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make the same choices, why we won't excel.
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And that is that instability to go over to James, Chapter One,
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this has been a theme. This is a word from the Lord for
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our church because this has been a theme coming up repetitively
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in our studies. And let's read it from the text
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here in James. Chapter one.
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We just read this this last weekend and again we're coming
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to it again. We're in the midst of trials, in
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the midst of difficulties. Verse two of James, one my
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brethren, counted all joy. When you fall into various
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trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience,
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but let patience have it's perfect work, that you may be
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perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
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If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
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liberally and without reproach. It will be given to him.
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But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, For he who doubts
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is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
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Let not that man suppose he'll receive anything from the Lord.
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And here's the thing. He's a double minded man,
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unstable in all his ways. Well, Reuben is an unstable man,
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double minded. And notice Jacob brings to his
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remembrance the incident with Bilhah.
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Nothing was really done when it ha when it was ha when it
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happened. And yet Jacob never forgot it
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and it typified Reuben's life. The tribe of Reuben never did
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excel. There's not a single leader who
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came from him. He was a nothing tribe.
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They settled on the east banks of the Jordan River, where the
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land was rich for pasture. But they didn't claim any
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inheritance in the land. Instability.
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And perhaps the Lord is even speaking to you today just to
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ask for that stability. You don't need to work it up.
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You don't need to feel guilty about the past.
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But just to ask the Lord for stability, you could say today,
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I don't want to be like Reuben. I want to ask in faith.
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I don't want to double minus. I don't want to waver in my
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faith. I want God, you to strengthen
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me. Now notice in verse 5.
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Now Simeon again from Leah and Levi Aliyah are brothers.
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Instruments of cruelty are in their habitation.
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Let not my soul enter their counsel, let not my honor be
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united to their assembly. For in their anger they slew a
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man, and in their self will they hamstrung and ox.
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Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and their wrath for it is
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cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and
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scatter them in Israel. These brothers were cruel,
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you'll remember in our study. Just one word you need to
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remember is Shechem. They were wrath and anger was
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their downfall. What?
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Not instability. But anger got the best of them.
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And how many listening to me today, perhaps even on the
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radio, just listening right now, Like anger is such a big part of
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your life and you're doing nothing about it.
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It's become accustomed. You've just been accustomed to
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lashing out an outburst of wrath or controlling people with your
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anger will take heed to the word of the Lord.
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The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of
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God. Can I get an Amen for that?
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Just receive it. The wrath of man does not
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produce the righteousness of God.
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It does great damage. However, the tribe of Levi, you
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know there's still grace because the tribe of Levi produces Moses
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and Aaron and their descendants, and God chose by grace the
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Levites for the priesthood. It's through Levi's life that we
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see hope and grace of God. And it's true that they were
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scattered in Israel, but they were also made the priestly
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tribe. And to me that's the grace and
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love of Jesus. He's able to take the meanest,
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the toughest, the hardest person and transform them.
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No one anywhere is beyond the reach of God.
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And there's great grace even for those like Levi, who have a
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great streak of anger in their lives.
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And it wasn't because of the righteousness of the fathers.
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This tribe was chosen for the priesthood by God's sovereign
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grace. And what a beautiful name.
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Levi is, filled with hope for the future.
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Notice verse 8. Judah, another child of Leah.
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You are whom your brothers shall praise, which is what his name
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means. Your hand shall be on the neck
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of your enemies. Your father's children shall bow
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down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp from the
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prey. My son, you have gone up.
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He bows down. He lies down as a lion and as a
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lion who shall rouse him? The sceptre shall not depart
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from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh
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comes, until Messiah comes. And to him shall be the
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obedience of the people. Verse 11 Binding his donkey to
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the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine.
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He washed his garments and wine and his clothes in the blood of
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grapes. His eyes are darker than wine
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and his teeth wider than milk. Now just pause here for a second
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and just consider all the sons are hearing this stuff and
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they're probably shocked by now. And just like, whoa, what is Dad
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saying? What does he mean by all of
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this? But Judah, his name means
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praise. And Judah had problems in his
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past too. But he receives great blessings
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and a beautiful prophecy. All of your brothers will bow
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down to you. And it's a prophecy that Jesus,
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Messiah would come through Judah.
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It didn't happen for hundreds of years, but that lion has always
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been a symbol of sovereignty and strength.
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And you remember, turn over to Revelation chapter 5 with me
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Now, Revelation 5. You'll remember John in John's
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vision here in Revelation. Such a beautiful reminder of the
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sovereignty of God. It says in verse one of
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Revelation 5. And I saw in the right hand of
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him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the
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back sealed with 7 seals. And I saw a strong Angel
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proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll
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and to lucid seals. And no one in heaven or on earth
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or under the earth was able to open the scroll to look at it.
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So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and
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read the scroll, or to look at it.
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But one of the elders, verse five, said to me, do not weep.
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Notice, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of
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David, Shiloh has come, has prevailed to open the scroll and
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loose its seals. Not only did Jacob see the lion
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in Judah, but he also saw the Lord.
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What a vision that must have been for him, That phrase until
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Shiloh comes. Jacob speaks of the scepter.
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The staff of rulership will not leave Judah until Shiloh comes.
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Shiloh comes from the same root word that we get the word peace
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from in a direct reference to the Prince of Peace.
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Jesus not only is Jesus Shiloh, but he's the one who will hold
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the sceptre and rule and reign forever.
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Remember Isaiah Chapter 9 and verse seven?
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We look at that sometimes in our study at Christmas time of the
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increase of his government and peace.
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There will be no end, and upon the throne of David over his
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Kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and
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justice from that time forward even forever.
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Evermore Judah. What a gracious God to use him
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to bring in Messiah. Now verse 13.
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And by the way, it was an interesting thing, talking about
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his dark eyes like wine and his teeth whiter than milk.
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He must have been a good looking guy this way to describe him.
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But you know, you just be going. Dad, what's going on man?
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Can you see? Can you see?
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OK, I mean think about it. 50 years old, receiving this
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exhortation from your dad. So good.
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Verse 13. Zebulun, another son of Leah,
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shall dwell by the haven of the sea.
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He should become a haven for ships, and his border shall
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adjoin Sidon Zebian and his name means exalted house.
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And he would settle up the northern coast.
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Along the coast beach lovers around the Galilee and those
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that have gone to Israel with us you know what a beautiful area
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the Galilee is And along the coast there it's amazing,
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amazing area. Verse 14.
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Issachar. He's a strong donkey.
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How's that for a last word? You're a strong donkey.
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Lying down between 2 burdens, he saw that rest was good.
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If you like to write in your bibles, you can just write next
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to that. Lazy, he saw that rest was good
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and the land was pleasant. He bowed his shoulder to bear a
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burden and became a band of slaves.
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This a car. His name means there is reward
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and I'm sure he wasn't too excited being compared to a
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donkey. He was a strong man and his
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tribe would be workers. But while at one time they might
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have been lazy, they grew out of that became workers and
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producers for the nation. And the sons of Issachar would
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have pay attention to the signs of the times and be ready for
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what God has revealed to his people.
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Notice now Dan. Dan means he judged.
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Dan was Bilhah's son. He shall judge his people as far
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as the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent, by the
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way, a Viper by the path that bites the horses heels so that
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it's riders shall fall backward. I have waited for your
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salvation, O Lord. Dan is going to need the
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salvation of the Lord. Dan will be one of those tribes
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the lead a rebellion, and they are one of the first to produce
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idolatry to bring idolatry. Another visit we take on our
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trips to Israel is up into the area where they have this altar
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set up as if it would, as Dan brought rebellion and idolatry
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into Israel. And yet there was a prominent
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member of Dan. You'll remember Samson, and we
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read about him in the Book of Judges.
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Then he turns his attention to Gad in verse 19, the son of
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Zilpah. A troop shall tramp upon him,
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but he shall tramp triumph at last.
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Gad. His name means fortune.
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And then notice in verse 20 bred from Asher another son of Zilpah
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shall be rich. He shall yield royal dainties.
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Asher means blessed, and then Naftali notice, is a deer let
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loose again, a son of Bilha, a deer let loose.
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He gives goodly words. So Gad you see, he settles east
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of the Jordan, Asher settles in the Vertal valley area, and
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Naftali settles in the area north of the Sea of Galilee.
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Not much said among them. And then verse 22.
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The son of Rachel Joseph is a fruitful bow.
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A fruitful bow by a well. His branches run over the wall.
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The Archers have bitterly grieved him and shot at him and
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hated him. But notice his response to
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difficult situations. And that's no small thing.
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Is it that one phrase? His dad is describing the
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difficulty that his poor boy went through, and by now, no
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doubt having these years with Joseph, Joseph's being able to
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share his story first hand. This is what happened, dad.
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This is what happened here. This is what happened here.
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This is what happened here. Certainly a bittersweet time to
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hear that testimony, receiving it, allowing Joseph to share it.
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And here Jacob, because the owner of The Archers have
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bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him.
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He's had a hard life. We spent a lot of time studying
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this as a church. The hard life of Joseph.
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However, notice his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his
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hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of
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Jacob. From there is the shepherd, the
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stone of Israel, by the God of your Father who will help you,
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and by the Almighty, who will bless you with the blessings of
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heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
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blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
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The blessings of your Father have excelled the blessings of
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my ancestors up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
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They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the
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head of him who's separate from his brothers.
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Joseph is Rachel's first born, who Jacob established as his
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heir. And Jacob gives us the secret to
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Joseph's strength. This is the secret to your
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strength. Here you are listening to me
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read the Bible. You're seeing it in your own
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Bible open up on your lap or on your phone.
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You're seeing it with your own. You're reading the words with
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your own eyes. The Archers have bitterly
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grieved him, shot at him, and hated him.
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It's a hard life you might share in your testimony.
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You may even come up one day and share a testimony.
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And in the 5 minutes you're given, you tell us what a hard
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life you've had. That's the word you use.
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I've had a hard life. It's been a challenging life.
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But but in that hard life are 17 years that you're trying to
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share in 5 minutes, 17 years of, hey, I've, I had family issues
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and you say that I had family issues.
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But what you're describing is, hey, my brothers hated me so
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much. They wanted to kill me.
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They even planned to kill me. But God was gracious to me.
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You know, it's important that we are really careful when people
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are sharing their stories with us, that we understand that
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whatever they're sharing with us, there's something behind it.
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They may not be able to share it.
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They may not want to share it. But you read something like this
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and you're just kind of reading through your DeVos, right?
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And you're looking at it and you're like, man, yeah, Archer's
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bitterly grieved him. But some of you have a
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definition of what it is to be bitterly grieved to be tempted
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to live a bitter man the rest of your life, to have that
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temptation to even bite into, you know what?
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I deserve this, as we were learning today in our pastors
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meeting today, just talking about how the crossing the line
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from being a servant to feeling entitled is such a danger for
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pastors. It's a painter for all of us,
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but especially for pastors. Because there you are, pouring
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in and serving and look what I've done and look at all, look
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at all the hours, look at all the sacrifice.
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And then you begin. You turn a corner.
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Sometimes you don't even know you've turned it.
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And this is true for pastors. It's turned for two, For
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leaders, for Sunday school teachers, moms, dads, grandmas.
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It doesn't matter. Somewhere you cross the line.
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You're like, you know what? I deserve more than this.
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And you forget all that God has done.
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You forgot the starting point. The starting point isn't
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anywhere. Like you ran away from what you
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deserved. We we ran away.
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We were we in our revelation that moment we were born again.
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Whether it was a little child and we understood as a kiddo,
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and then we grew into it, or we got saved later in life like I
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did. I ran away from what I deserve.
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And what I deserve is eternity apart from God.
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That's the life that I live. And when I was born again, God
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rescued me from that. That's what I deserve.
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And to suddenly turn a corner, to approach my God as this is
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what I deserve. And you almost can hear heaven
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and go, Ed, what do you deserve exactly?
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Well, you know, Lord, I deserve this and I've done this and I've
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done this and don't people know? And it's like, God just let you
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keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.
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And say no, you have lost sight of my son.
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You've lost sight of the sacrifice of my son on your
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behalf. You've been bitterly griefed.
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And one way to runway to deal with that bitter grief is to
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become bitter. And bitterness is so dangerous
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it defiles it destroys the person and defiles the people
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that are close to you. The Bible says so.
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Don't let bitterness take root. It's a defiling sin.
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It's also a decaying sin. And the person that you're
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bitter with, you know, you look at Joseph.
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Joseph had every reason and every mechanism to take
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vengeance upon his brothers. He had it.
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He could have seen the providential sovereign grace of
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God as God's approval. OK, Joseph, I put you in this
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place. Go for it.
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But then he would have forgotten.
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The Bible teaches vengeance as mine saith the Lord and
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vengeance was meted out on the cross Jesus Christ.
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You know the problem with vengeance and revenge is our
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definition of vengeance and revenge is never vengeance and
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revenge. It's always a little bit more.
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It's always a little bit more. We don't have a righteous
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judgment. Only God has righteous judgment
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and it's on the cross. Joseph, bitterly grieve.
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I beg you, Church, repent of your bitterness.
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It will destroy you and defile the people that are closest to
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you and love you. Bitterness, resentment, Some of
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you. You're beyond bitterness now.
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You're resenting the person, and he's got to let the Lord
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minister to your heart and comfort you and start the
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healing process. Because if you don't, you're
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going to be destroyed. We're all going to be sad.
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You have to let. You have to let the secret of
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his strength. You've got to allow the Lord to
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do his work. He says in verse 24 that
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Joseph's bow or bow remained in strength.
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The arms of his hands were made strong.
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How Verse 24 By the hands of the mighty God.
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We weren't with Joseph every moment of every day, but God
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was. We weren't Joseph.
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Joseph with every thought and every temptation and every issue
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he had to deal with. But God was We weren't with him
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when he was ready to quit, but God was.
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We weren't with him when he was rehearsing, but God was.
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We weren't with him when he was ready.
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Just like, I don't know what I don't know in every human
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capacity. We're not even told those
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moments. But God was.
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He was there, strengthening him. Mark those words, the hands of
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the mighty God. From there is the shepherd, the
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stone of Israel, by the God of your Father, who will help you
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looking at those promises that you can hold on to.
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This is a promise to you as well.
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The God of your Father's will help you, will strengthen you by
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the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings from heaven
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above. Even in part of our prayer
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tonight about every good and perfect gift comes from our
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Father above. He's ready.
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He was a fruitful bow by the well.
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He was dependent walking in faith Turn over to Psalm One.
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We have this insight living out by David as he I believe would
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be a great description of Joseph and his times of great trial.
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Psalm One. I love this such a promising,
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beautiful instruction of the direction to live our lives.
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Look at the blessed man or the blessed woman.
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Psalm. One verse one says.
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Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
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nor stands in the paths of sinners, nor sits in the seat of
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the scornful. But no, his delight is in the
25:31
law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.
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He'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings
25:41
forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not
25:45
wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.
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And here's the alternative. The ungodly are not that way.
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They're like chap With the wind drives away verse 5.
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And therefore the ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor
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sinners in the congregation of the righteous, because the Lord
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knows the way of the righteous. But the way of the ungodly shall
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perish. His branches are fruitful.
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God wants you to be fruitful church, that's His desire for
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you. As we've been reading with
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Jesus, another theme that keeps coming up, that it's God's will
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for you to bear much fruit, much fruit that your life is an
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overflow into other people. He wants you so strong and so
26:29
nourished and so full of fruit that your life blesses others.
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That's a huge part of the abiding life.
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And Jesus is the joy of bearing fruit that others can enjoy from
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your life. It's so it's so amazing.
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That's God's will for your life. That's his desire.
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He's the vine. We're the branches, he says in
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John 15/8. Remember by this my father is
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glorified that you bear much fruit, not bitter fruit, not
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rotten fruit, not wrath filled fruit, not vengeance, not living
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your whole life. I'm not going to be happy until
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I get mine. It's submitting yourself,
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abiding in Christ that you might bear much fruit.
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Joseph goes down to Egypt. He follows the painful path of
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the Lord and he ends up in a place of blessing.
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He was able to save the world from famine and be a blessing to
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the world. Notice again in verse 24.
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Even though Joseph prospered abundantly, though he had the
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great wealth of Egypt, he did so with great trials.
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It says in verse 23 that The Archers bitterly grieved him.
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His bow remains, his bow remained in strength.
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The arms of his hand were made strong by the hands of the
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mighty God. But it didn't come without.
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I mean, it's even a hard to to say trials, what this brother
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went through, what he endured. Life was not always easy for
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Joseph. Life won't always be easy for
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you. For me, it's an understatement.
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But it needs to be said out loud.
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It's not going to be easy. Joseph experiences a lot of
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grief. Some of you will experience a
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lot of grief. The longer you live, the more
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grief you face. He had experienced the grief of
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his family turning against him and having no family, he
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experienced the grief of being sold as a slave.
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He experienced the grief of being falsely accused of rape.
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He experienced the grief of being thrown, spending a year
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wasting away years in prison because of false charges.
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He experienced the grief of not only being sold, but
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experiencing the deep hatred of his brothers concerning him.
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When you when you think of this, it says right here they hated
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him and that's a real pain to have hatred expressed to you
29:06
from those you would expect to have love.
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It says that the Bible speaks of of his brothers hating him.
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Remember when he told them the dreams?
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They were jealous of him. They hated him all the more and
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hatred's so great that they conspire to kill him.
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And you think of some of the things God's bringing up through
29:25
Jacob's final words. You think of some of the
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temptations that come your way. And then instability,
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faithlessness, anger, hatred. It is it is the story of of
29:37
difficult, wasted lives and the grace of God.
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But it's also a warning to us as the arrows come our way, as life
29:45
shoots us, you know, shoots at us.
29:47
Things that hit, you know, we're always, we're always happy, man.
29:52
Things go by, you know, we can duck here and duck there, but
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sometimes you can't duck so fast and you get hit and it hurts.
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And what might have worked in the earlier days, you're not
30:07
fast enough and you get nailed, man.
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I never thought it would be an illustration, but I remember
30:15
back to the day when we were hitting the pinata over here.
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And I walked away and I saw the stick coming in my face.
30:25
And I moved, but not fast enough.
30:29
I got hit square in my mouth, crushed my lip, broke my teeth.
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Right here in the sanctuary you go.
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What? What did they do?
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And they love. I love you, Pastor.
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I'd never do that. It wasn't on purpose.
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It was an accident. But I have a visual.
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God just gave me a visual right now in my own life.
30:45
How fast I tried to move and I wasn't fast enough.
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That's how life is. You're moving.
30:53
You're bobbing. You're weaving, you've this, you
30:55
got away with that, you moved that.
30:57
There's coming a day when you're going to move fast, as fast as
30:59
you can, and it won't be fast enough and the arrow will get
31:03
you. You have to deal with the
31:06
consequence of that pain, Even an accident.
31:08
Or maybe someone doing something on purpose to try to destroy
31:12
you, try to hurt you, try to take you down, try to undermine
31:16
you, lie about you, sell you out.
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You know you don't. We aren't necessarily going to
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face what Joseph did. We won't be sold by our
31:24
brothers. But man, there's brothers and
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sisters that will sell you out. And that's painful and it's
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difficult and it's challenging. So many times, as I mentioned,
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when we're shot at, we want revenge and we want to get even.
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Who did that? Who did that?
31:43
And we just start shooting randomly back at the direction
31:46
it came. We do that.
31:48
Not with, you know, arrows. You know what we do?
31:50
We do it with words so quick, just random, just boom, boom,
31:55
boom. I'm hurting, you know, hurting
31:56
people, hurt people. So boom, I'm just going to throw
31:59
it all out and I'm not going to trust in the Lord.
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And it always does more damage. We are filled with the Holy
32:05
Spirit, and while our human nature wants revenge, it takes
32:10
great strength not to get even. It takes great strength not to
32:16
get even when it's in your capacity to do so.
32:21
It requires the mighty hand of God that you choose to trust the
32:27
Lord with the outcome. Paul would say that to the
32:32
Corinthian church and he nailed the Holy Spirit and nailed what
32:35
our problem is. I mean, obviously throughout the
32:38
Bible we know our problem is us and our flesh and all that, but
32:41
But he put some words to it. He talked about all the lawsuits
32:45
going on in church and all the things that were going on, and
32:48
he asked this question. He says, why won't you rather
32:53
just be wronged and that's it? Why won't you just rather be
33:02
wronged? Because there's a part of us in
33:07
our flesh that we can't stand being wronged in the Spirit.
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We can trust the Lord, and He'll help minimize those feelings,
33:15
those outbursts, those things that would so quickly take
33:19
control over us as Joseph does. He submits himself and we don't
33:26
know how he did this exactly because we weren't with him, but
33:30
God was with him. We don't know if he paced his
33:35
cell one night, just couldn't sleep.
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Sleepless night. We don't know if he cried
33:41
himself to sleep. Like David talked about his
33:44
tears drenching the rock that he was laying on.
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We don't know. Well, we don't know if he drove,
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you know, obviously he didn't drive necessarily a car, but
33:54
drove over to somebody's house or something.
33:56
Just stood out there wondering and thinking.
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We don't know. But we do know that some
34:05
listening among me have done those very same things.
34:09
Typed out that letter and ready to send, sent that post on
34:13
Facebook, going to tell everybody.
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My I'm going to make sure subtly come to a prayer meeting and
34:19
start bad mouthing your spouse or the husband that divorced you
34:23
or the wife that divorced you. And just like starting to want
34:26
that. No, no, no.
34:29
This is the key. You are strengthened by the
34:32
hands of the mighty God of Jacob.
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That's what we learned from Joseph.
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You can know the power of God. He is a restraining power in our
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lives and he is able to help us when we need self-control, when
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we're hurt or injured. And like, I like to share, and
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I've lived it out many times in my own life.
34:54
Just because someone has sinned against me does not give me
34:58
permission to sin against them, ever.
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Just because someone grievously lives in sin toward me does not
35:10
give me a pass just one time. No, doesn't give me a pass to
35:18
retaliate and sin myself in Leviticus chapter 19 and verse
35:25
18. Why do you read through the
35:26
Bible? Because you get to verses like
35:28
this. Leviticus 1918.
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Let me read it to you. You shall not take vengeance nor
35:35
bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you
35:38
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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I am the Lord. Romans chapter 12, verse 19.
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Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give
35:48
place to wrath, for it is written.
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Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.
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Therefore, if your enemy's hungry, feed him.
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If he's thirsty, give him a drink.
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For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.
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For some of you right now you go, I don't know, eating,
36:03
eating, but coals of fire. I can do that.
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No, no, no. You love you.
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He's just saying man do what the Lord.
36:10
Just give him over to the Lord and listen to the last part.
36:13
In verse 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but
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overcome evil by good. That's the mark of the agape
36:21
love of God. Well, verse 27, Benjamin I in
36:31
also child of Rachel is a ravenous wolf.
36:34
In the morning he shall devour his prey and at night he shall
36:37
divide the story. The spoil Benjamin he means son
36:40
in my right hand. Tribe was very powerful.
36:43
Went to great lengths to protect Israel.
36:45
They produce strong mighty fighters.
36:47
Some famous Benjamites. You Bible students might be
36:50
reminded of King Saul and another guy named after king
36:54
Saul. Saul who became Paul.
36:57
Mighty Benjamite. You can see from Paul's
37:00
personality the kind of what Benjamin produced.
37:05
These zealous, strong. I will protect single handedly
37:09
the cause of God if I need to. And then you look at a guy like
37:13
Saul of Tarsus, who then becomes that same personality, but under
37:17
the power of the Holy Spirit. Unstoppable.
37:20
That's so good. Verse 28.
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All these are the 12 tribes of Israel, and this is what their
37:25
father spoke to them. He blessed them.
37:28
He blessed each one according to his own blessing and he charged
37:31
them. Verse 29 I am to be gathered to
37:33
my people, bury me with my father's in The Cave that's in
37:37
the field of Ephron the Hittite, in The Cave in the field of
37:42
Makalah, which is before memory in the land of Canaan, which
37:46
Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a
37:49
possession for a burial place. There they buried Abraham,
37:52
Sarah's wife, They buried Isaac and Rebecca and his wife, and
37:55
there I buried Leah. The field and The Cave that is
37:59
there were purchased from the sons of Hath, Verse 33.
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And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his
38:05
feet up into bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his
38:08
people. What a life this man lived 147
38:14
years old. He looked back at one point in
38:17
his life and he remember he described himself.
38:19
Few and evil have been my days, but that's the perspective of
38:23
the flesh, when you live in the flesh and that's what's going to
38:26
happen. That's how life is going to
38:28
feel. Fuel and evil?
38:29
Not much. That's how he started out
38:32
grabbing his brother's heel. He was on the run, running to
38:35
this scheme. Running to that scheme.
38:38
Clever thought he didn't need God. self-sufficient, self
38:42
assertive, self willed. But it's over now.
38:44
Jacob dies. There's this is it.
38:46
It's over. And I just think in our own
38:49
lives, because God did grab him every once in a while, there
38:52
were times when you see that God really got him and and brought
38:56
him to the place of surrender and wrestle with them and
38:58
brought him to a place. But really most of his life was
39:00
in the flesh. But that doesn't have to be you.
39:04
Jacob's gone. He's in the presence of the
39:06
Lord. You know, Pastor Chuck would
39:10
Chuck Smith would always teach us.
39:12
I don't think it's directly from him, but he would repeat it and
39:15
we get to repeat it. Only one life will soon be
39:18
passed and only what's done for Christ will last.
39:21
That's all that matters. So don't wait for your deathbed
39:25
to make big decisions. Get right tonight.
39:28
Don't make wait for your deathbed to encourage your kids
39:31
or your grandkids. Do it tonight.
39:33
Don't wait for your deathbed to go.
39:34
You know I'll just deal with it then.
39:36
Or, you know, I know people listening.
39:37
I'll wait. I don't need to make a decision
39:39
for Christ right now. I'll do it on my deathbed.
39:41
I've heard of those stories. No, no, no.
39:43
Today is a day of salvation. Tonight is the night.
39:47
This is the moment God is calling you to himself.
39:52
Whether it's a deeper surrender or you're just like looking at
39:54
Jacob and go, man, I don't want to be like Jacob.
39:56
I'm going to be like Joseph. I want to surrender my life to
40:00
his providential will. I'm so much in pain.
40:03
I know the more pain, the more strength you need.
40:07
But it's so wrong, Ed. I know the more wrong it is, the
40:10
more strength you need. But man, you don't know what
40:12
they did. I know the more that they did.
40:14
The more that you think about it, the bigger it gets, the more
40:16
strength you need. Get your eyes and my eyes back
40:20
on the Lord. So we can begin to think about
40:23
the legacy we're going to leave. It's never, ever too late to
40:27
surrender yourself, will, and immerse yourself into spiritual
40:32
things because like Jacob, one day and we don't know what day
40:37
it might be, You too will breathe your last.
40:44
You too will come to terms with a life that's past.
40:50
And you know the Lord has fullness of life for you today,
40:54
even in the pain, even in the difficulty.
40:58
You think sometimes, and I'll close with this, that Joseph
41:01
like now he gets to Egypt and he's reunited with his brothers
41:03
like everything was well and it's all healed.
41:06
Don't you think that for a moment, the memories and the
41:10
trauma and the difficulty always much better than it used to be?
41:17
Don't you think for a moment, then, that we just turn a page
41:20
and Joseph forgets his past? It's going to be a battle in his
41:24
life. It's going to the enemy's going
41:26
to use it against him. He has real pain, He has real
41:30
scars, He has real issues that the Holy Spirit is going to
41:34
continue to help him along. And we're all, as we learned
41:38
with Jacob, right? We're all walking wounded,
41:41
limping along, making it in the strength of the Lord.
41:45
Amen. So, Lord, we just thank you for
41:47
the testimony tonight with our brother.
41:49
Bless him and encourage him. We thank you, our testimony with
41:52
our brother Joseph and Jacob and these sons.
41:55
Lord, there's some sons we want to be like, and there's some
41:58
sons. We don't want any.
41:59
We don't want to go their path. We don't want to be lazy or
42:03
stubborn, want to be strong. We want to be surrendered.
42:08
We want you to uplift us with your mighty hand.
42:11
Lord, I pray for the bitterness that's around us.
42:18
That started with an offence. It continued with unforgiveness,
42:25
salted with a little anger, peppered up with a few people
42:30
that agree and stirred up the pot.
42:34
It then became bigger than it was.
42:36
And then there's some resentment some frustration then these
42:41
feelings of getting even before you know it bitter.
42:48
And it's such a horrible place to be Lord.
42:52
Such a waste of time. And so begin to I just think of
42:59
that that passage where the prophet they were making Stew
43:05
and they. And then it said there's poison
43:07
in the pot and and you took he took meal and he threw it in and
43:11
it was healed and and I just thank God of the healing you
43:14
want to do in the pot tonight. The poison that's among us.
43:18
The poison of anger. The poison of bitterness.
43:20
The poison of revenge. The poison of vengeance the
43:24
poison of pride and self-sufficiency.
43:27
The poison of well, I can get through and I'm fast and I've
43:30
dodged before and and it's that last arrow man pierces the
43:35
heart. So I just pray a blessing over
43:38
our church. Lord.
43:38
Those that are here. Of course, those that aren't
43:41
here, God, that you would just begin to release your peace
43:45
among us. Lord I.
43:47
We just by the power of your Holy Spirit, we bind, Lord, the
43:50
bitterness and the temptation, and we we ask you, God, to take
43:54
it away, and then we release peace among us.
43:57
Lord, a peace that passes all understanding that by your
44:00
spirit God, you just begin to work on the inner woman, the
44:04
inner man. That they won't even be able to
44:07
talk themselves out of it before they leave.
44:09
They won't even be able to rehearse things in their mind
44:12
that'll bring them back to the pit.
44:13
That they won't even be dwelling on the things that have been
44:16
bond holding them in bondage. But they'll just have that
44:19
release Lord, and that freedom to walk in the newness of life.
44:24
That you begin the healing process, Lord.
44:26
You begin the scabbing process. You begin, Lord, to put back
44:29
that the broken bones that bring so much pain and begin to heal
44:37
your church. Lord, heal your people, that we
44:39
might walk in agape love, walking in forgiveness, walking
44:46
in freedom, looking forward to what you have.
44:51
And so God we leave tonight, uplifted and encouraged by these
44:56
last words of Jacob, Kind of obscure for some of them, but
44:58
they speak to the heart, Lord, and we receive them as your word
45:02
that will not return empty in Jesus name.
45:05
Amen. We.
45:07
Pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study delivered
45:10
live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
45:12
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace.
45:17
That's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
45:23
entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
45:27
online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
45:33
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