Younger & Older

Good morning. Church, we are so happy that you are joining us this morning. Whether you are here in person or online, we’re so happy that you are here. Let’s stand to our feet and let’s sing out our praises. Your love is to fold it like a ring A solid gold. Like a flower that is tested. Like a covenant of all. Your love is enduring through the winter rain. And be on the horizon with mercy. For today. Faithful. You have been. And faithful you will be. You pledge yourself to me. And as I sing, your praise will ever be on my lips. Ever be on my lips. Your praise will ever be on my lips. Ever be on my lips. Your praise will ever be on my lips. Ever be on my lips. Your praise will ever be on my lips. Never be on my lips. Any words? Your father, your faith. Your kindness makes us whole. You shoulder weakness ends and your strength becomes all alone. Now you are making me like you. Clothing me and wine. Bringing beauty for my sins for you I’ll have you bright, free of all again. I’ll have rid of all the shame and no violence you name. And it’s I sing your grace will never be on my lips. Never be on my lips. Your grace will never be on my lips. Never be on my lips. Your praise will never be on my lips. Never be on my lips. Your praise will never be on my lips. Never be on my lips. You will be praised. You will be praised. With angels and saints we sing worthy. Are you, Lord, you will be praised.

You will be praised. With angels and saints we sing worthy are you, Lord, you will be praised. You will be praised. Within Joseph, sing to you. Sing worthy are you, Lord. You will be praised. It will be praise with angels and saints to me. Sing worthy. Are you up? And it’s why I sing. Your praise will ever be on my lips. Never be on my lips. Your praise will never be on my lips. And I’ll be on my lips. Your praise will never be on my lips. Never be on my lips. Your praise will never be on my lips. Never be on my lips. Amen. So this next song we’re going to sing is worthy of it all. And in the bridge of this song, you know, reflects on Psalms 141 two, which says. May my prayer be set before you like incense while lifting of my hands. Be like the evening sacrifice. And you know, in this, in this Psalm, David is expressing a desire that his prayers be like incense rising to heaven, that they be pleasing to God, that his lifted hands in prayer be like a sacrifice, symbolizing his humble worship and trusting God with his prayers. So when we get to the bridge singing this song, talking about praying like incense, arise, may it be like your prayers, your words lifting up to God, placing them.

Oh, this is an angel. Oh. Before your throne. Oh. The elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God. And say you’re worthy of it. You are worthy of your love. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. Sing it out with me. Oh, this ain’t saying they just go before your throne. Oh, the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God I. And sing you worthy of it up. You are worthy of it. For from you are all things. And you, you are all things. You deserve the glory be. You’re worthy. You are worthy of being. You are worthy of it all. Come on from you are all praise. And you, you are all things. You deserve the glory. As we sing this bridge. Let’s lift up our hands. Let’s sing it out. Day and night. Night and day. Let incense arise. We can do it. All you worthy. For we love you. Jesus. Day and night. Day and night. Night and day. That incense arise. Day and night. Night and day. That incense arrives. Day and night. Night and day. That is sincere. I dance day and night. Night and day. That incense arise. Day and night. Night in David. Incense for us. Day and night. Night and day. Light incense us. Day and night. Night and day.

Learning session. Night. Day and night. Night and day. Day. You are worthy of it. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And you, you are all things you deserve. The one you worthy, worthy. You are worthy of us. You are worthy of beyond. Confirm. You are all things. And you. You are all things you deserve the glory. Let’s check it out. Worthy of it all. You’re worthy of it. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And you, you are all things you deserve the glory. Jesus, we just love you so much. You deserve all of our glory and all of our praise. And that we know with our hands lifted high that you can praise us through the valleys and through the storms. We love you so much. In your name we pray. Amen. You may have a seat and let’s turn our attention to the screen. Hello and thank you for worshiping with us. Whether you’re here in person or joining us online, we are so glad you’re with us today. Warmer days are on the way and with them comes our big step out and serve weekend on May 31st and June 1st. It’s the time of year when we step out into our communities, roll up our sleeves and show the love of Jesus to everyone we need right now.

We need your help identifying organizations or people you know we can bless, whether they need assistance with landscaping, painting, or something else entirely. We want to help. Visit our events page to make a referral today. Spring also brings new social groups at ASG. First up is Holy Runners, a group for those who love to run or want to start. And second is Road Disciples, a group for motorcycle riders who want to connect. Join us for an interest meeting on Sunday, April 6th after both services. Holy Week and Easter are right around the corner. Make your plans to join us on Palm Sunday with three services at 930, 11 and 1230. We’ll have inspiring Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services and then roll into our big Easter weekend celebration. Enjoy uplifting worship and encouraging message and stay afterwards to capture the moment at our photo booth and more. It’s a great time to invite your friends and family to experience the love of Jesus at Shepherd’s Gate. We believe in living generously with everything we have. Your financial generosity makes all our efforts possible. Thank you to everyone who gives faithfully. If you’d like to give, visit our website or app. Speaking of living generously. Last week, more than 250 volunteers of all ages served at the Macomb County Winter shelter, providing meals, companionship and more to homeless individuals.

This outpouring of compassion was possible because God worked through each and every one of you to show his love in tangible ways. Watch the recap to see the impact you’ve made. Hello, shepherds. Okay. First thing I’d like to say is you guys are all amazing. My name is Mark Sievert. I’m the program director for the Macomb County Winter shelter, and I am here today just to tell you how grateful I truly am to have met so many beautiful people from your congregation. Shepherd State has done so much to make us a warm, welcoming, safe environment for our guests. I couldn’t ask for more. The volunteers that you brought in for us have been compassionate, kind, friendly and patient with our guests and we so appreciate it. The best part of all of the staff and doing God’s work. We have had a ton of fun and we have had many smiles along the way. It has been truly a blessing. And. I am. If you’re new to Shepherd’s Gate, we’d love to help you learn more about our church community. Stop by the Welcome Center in the west lobby or chat with us online. Now let’s prepare our hearts as we dig into God’s Word together with an inspiring message. Today.

Well. Good morning. I’m pastor Ben. It’s my pleasure to share from God’s word with you this morning. a special welcome to anyone that may be a guest here this morning. And, of course, welcome to those that are joining us online and those that are joining us on their spring breaks as well. It’s amazing that we have this technology to be able to do this. And can we just take a moment to can we? And we just saw it, but can we praise God for all those volunteers, for all that he did last week? and to it’s worth, recognizing to Greg and Cindy Boehm as they were taking the lead on that. can we give them a hand as well for their leadership in that? Yeah. It’s amazing to see God work in and through our church to be a blessing to others. And, that is a big part of what she is about to go and share the love of Christ, to go impact the world with the love of Jesus, even here in Macomb County. And so today we’re we’re continuing on in our Genesis series.

We’ve been in Genesis now for how long? Two and a half years. And now there’s only three sermons left. And everybody said, hey, Amen. Oh thank goodness. Oh, some mixed reactions. Hopefully it has been a blessing to you. And you can see here that just three weeks left, April 6th. There’s going to be a special celebration, only just a few verses in Genesis 50 that day. And that’ll actually be the 60th sermon that we will have preached in, in the book of Genesis that believe Pastor Tim mentioned as well. Maybe you’ve heard it, maybe not. that that day. Also make sure to be here. Not only are we celebrating, but we’re going to put it before you, congregation, what book you would like to see us dig into next. So will be an opportunity to kind of vote for that as well. and set up the next two and a half years. So, you know, you might want to you might want to make sure you’re here that day. if you’re not, you can’t complain in the next two and a half years when we pick a new book. so just to quickly remind you where we’ve been. we’re in Genesis 47 last week, last Sunday, and verse 27 said this. Now the Israelites settled in Egypt, in the region of Goshen. So this is Jacob, his boys now. Now they’ve reunited with Joseph, who they thought was dead. But then he’d really risen to power in Egypt, and God had used him in that position to save people by storing food during years of plenty, so they could live during years of famine.

So his whole family’s there, they acquired property. There. They were fruitful and they increased greatly in number. And so at that time, Jacob was 130 years old. And here in our text today, as we move forward into Genesis 48, we’re going to see Jacob make a choice, makes a really interesting choice. And honestly, I think I’m so I’m so thankful that we go through chapter by chapter, verse by verse and word by word as we do, because this was very easily what we’re going to see here today. Something that you would just read over, I would just read over unless we slowed down and we looked at what was in the text and what the significance of every little detail that God puts in there for us. So he’s making a choice. So before we get to that text text, let me ask you this. What is your process for making the best possible choice? What do you do when you know you have a decision that’s laid before you? You need to make a choice. What do you do? Pray. That’s a good right answer. Absolutely. What about practical? Think about your family. The positive negatives, a pro con, you know, columns. You all of a sudden you’re trying to break it down. There’s got to be at least a few people here that is shoot from the hip, right?

Anybody? I’ll just make a choice, you know? Ready? Fire or not, aim anybody. I mean, in our life, when we have big decisions in front of us, we all do want to kind of like, audit it. And we want to know what is best. If you’re you would be kind of crazy, right? If you went to a car dealership, you’re going to buy the next car for you yourself or your family, and you just put a blindfold on and you spin around and you point and you just go with that car. No test drive, nothing. Hopefully it’s good. Or maybe in the last couple of years, hopefully you weren’t one of these folks. But I know the market was crazy and there were people going out there buying houses and waiving the inspection right? It should it should all work out. That crack in the foundation is not a big deal. It’s it’s not going to be a problem at all. I’m not I’m not worried about that. Don’t even know any of the details about it. I mean, we’re acquainted with this when we have a decision. Is that in front of us, all of a sudden we become hopefully decent judges to try to determine what is good and what’s bad, what’s going to have the best possible outcome for myself, and what’s going to have the best possible outcome for my family. It could even be something as simple as if you go back in time to your days in grade school, middle school, and you’re picking the kickball team, the dodgeball team, and you are the kid that’s picking you do the same thing right? You pick. Let me ask if you’re looking at all your classmates, your fifth grade self, and you’re the team captain.

Are you picking the kid that’s fast or slow? Are you picking the kid that has a good arm or a weak arm? A good arm, right, like you are. You’re auditing everybody. You’re making decisions based off of what you think is strong, what you think is fast, what you think is best, what you think has the qualities that you want on your team so you can have the best possible outcome. It’s for that reason that I chose to share this clip with you, and not a different clip. So this comes from ten years ago. We’re going to go back in time in a previous life for best. Luck. Well, I had so in a previous life before three kids. When I actually used to sleep through the night and I used to eat well, and I ate chicken nuggets seven times a week for dinner, that was just about just shy, just a hair shy of 500 pounds for a double and a deadlift. Now, I chose to show you that because that made me look strong right? What I didn’t choose to show you is you. Last Friday when when I went to a similar gym, when I went to do a workout and that work, I pulverized me into dust to the point that I was in a puddle of misery. And after lying there catching my breath, I had to hand the car keys to my wife and say, you’re driving home.

I can’t. You don’t get to see that because I have the clicker. and I want you to see I’m strong. Look at what I did. But, you know, ten years have passed and a lot, you know, now, three kids later, you know, not quite 500 for a double, but we all do that when we make the choice of how we present ourselves to others and how we present ourself to God, we want a really clean looking resume. We want the strength we want. We want to be proud of what we’re presenting. We don’t want to show weakness. But again, we’re going to see Jacob makes a really interesting choice. So let’s jump into the text Genesis 48, verses one and two. It says some time later that means 17 years. Some time is 17 years. What’s interesting about this, this is a book end to Jacob’s life. Jacob had Joseph with him for the first 17 years of his life. Brother sold him to slavery, pretended like he died. Dad thought he was dead. He goes his whole life until he’s 130, realizes his son’s alive and moves back, and he lives with him for 17 years. And Joseph was told, your father is ill. So Joseph took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, along with him. So fun thing to note right here, these two sons of Joseph, the way that they’re listed here, this is the only time, this whole chapter that you’re going to see them listed in this order. When Jacob was told your son Joseph has come to you, Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. The last time we saw him, he was in bed.

I mean, the guy was 130 years old. And so now, 17 years later, he has not been doing a whole lot. Now he’s ill, now he’s sick. And so we can kind of see this. Some of you have been in this situation. The family members, I’ll be at the hospital. They’re in hospice, they’re at in-home care. And you’re getting the call like, now is the time. Call the family, get them in. It’s going to be a few days. It’s going to be a week. It’s the time is coming here. Come on. Get everybody gathered. So what is Joseph do? Joseph gets his sons. He brings family close. They want to go see grandpa. And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me in Bethel, in the land of Canaan. And there he blessed me. And he said to me, I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of people. I will give you this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants. After you you can see.

Hear what echoes all the way out through Genesis, where you have Abraham getting a promise and Isaac getting a promise. And now Jacob is recounting his promise. But again, think about the personal. Here it is his sons and his grandsons and his bedside. And what do you do in these moments when you know you don’t have a whole lot left? You begin to recount your life. You begin to recount what is the important information I need to convey to you here in these moments. And what’s interesting is we see the promises with Abraham. And if we’ve seen these same promises with Isaac, and now we see them with Jacob as he’s telling them to Joseph, who is the active agent of all these promises, who’s doing the work? God, God’s going to make. God will make, God will give. He is the one that’s making the promise, and he’s the one that is keeping the promise, which is something that we all need to keep in mind. He goes on and he says, and then your two sons were born to you in Egypt. I came to you here, before I came to you.

Here will be mine. Do you see the order shift? Not my Ephraim. Ephraim and Manasa will be mine. We pause for a second. This is kind of odd, isn’t it? So there. Here around grandpa’s bed. He’s going to pass sometime soon. And what he’s saying here is drop the adoption papers. I want to adopt those boys as my boys. I don’t want them to be my grandsons. I want them to be my sons. Joseph, it was nice of you to raise them for the last 17 years or so. They’re mine. Which, I mean, doesn’t that seem a little odd? Well, there’s got to be a reason behind this so we can keep moving forward. Just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after those ones could be yours. But I want these two in the territory they will inherit. They will be called under the names of their brothers. And then he takes this left turn, seemingly, he’s talking about what God has promised. Now he’s talking about doing the adoption. And then all of a sudden he goes. As I was returning from Patan, to my sorrow, Rachel, which is Joseph and Benjamin’s mother, died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from everything. So I buried her beside the road. And after that is Bethlehem, seemingly unrelated. Like what’s going on here? Like it’s okay, we’ll pass around. He’s 147 years old and he’s dying.

So maybe he’s just kind of rambling at this point. And he’s like, well, God promised me this and I’m going to adopt your kids. And also, I miss Rachel. But I think looking at this just a little bit closer, we can see that there’s something very intentional that Jacob’s doing. He’s saying, I’m going to adopt your sons and your sons that were born to you in Egypt, and their mother was. And does anyone know an Egyptian is what we heard in previous chapters that Joseph, when he’s risen to the position of being second in power in Egypt, he was given an Egyptian wife? It’s a small detail. Why does it matter? Because every single patriarch that we see in the Old Testament had a Hebrew wife. They didn’t have a wife from outside the family up to this point. This is a significant deal. This was a big problem. If you marry outside the family, this could mean that your children are not legitimate. Go back to Abraham and Sarah. Ishmael was born first, but wasn’t born to Sarah. So it’s not only the father, but it’s the mother that matters. And so by adopting these boys, he’s saying they are full Hebrews. They are fully in this same promise. God is giving me. The other thing that he’s doing is why he mentions Reuben and Simeon. Is it? We’re going to see next chapter when you go. I’ll come back next week. Is that Reuben and Simeon? There’s a bunch of blessings that are getting doled out to all 12 sons. They don’t get very good blessings as partly to do.

We’ll see next week with some of their own actions, but also has to do with that. Jacob is about to give Ephraim Manasa the blessing that belonged to Reuben, the eldest son, and then finally here. Okay. Rachel. Okay, so this is the mother of Joseph. So he’s like saying, hey, remember when your mom died as he’s about to pass away? What’s going on here? Well, now again, if you’ve been with us, you’ve seen that Rachel and Leah were these sister wives and they had a baby making competition. Who came out on top? Was it Leah or was it Rachel? Leah, right. The one with weak eyes, but a fertile woman. She had more kids. Rachel only had two. Until right now. She’s about to have two more. Because these are Joseph’s sons that are now becoming Jacob’s sons, saying, this is my loved wife. I want to establish these kids as my own. I want to give them the blessing that belongs to Reuben. And also I want to honor my wife that I love so dearly by giving her more sons, even though she’s already past. Isn’t that interesting? These aren’t the interesting this is. We’re not yet to the interesting choice that he’s about to make. So when Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, who are these? They are the sons that God has given to me. Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, bring them to me so I may bless them.

Now Israel eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close, and his father kissed them and embraced them. It’s kind of curious here again, when you slow down, you look at some of these details. He has weak eyes. He’s not able to see really well. He’s the patriarch of the family that’s about to give away a blessing. He’s on his deathbed and he is asking, who’s here? Does this sound familiar? Just think back. Maybe just a few chapters when Jacob himself, Israel himself, was getting a blessing going into his father’s tent, who was about to die, and his eyes were weak and couldn’t see that he wasn’t Esau. And his father asked, who is that now? All of a sudden this scene is now recreated again, but he is the father, about to give a blessing. And he asked the question, but now there’s no lie this time who’s who are these? And Joseph answers honestly, because what we’ve seen from Joseph so far is that he’s not too bad, especially in comparison to his brothers. He’s not bad at all. And so they’re brought close. And then there’s this excellent like that. Israel Jacob is so excited, said to Joseph, I never expected to see you, see your face again. Now, God has allowed me to see your children to hear in these last years of his life filled with joy, to be able to see his favorite son, the son that he loves more than any other, and now his grandsons as well.

So, Joseph, remove them from Israel’s knees and bow down with his face to the ground. And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left, and Manasa on his left, towards Israel’s right hand. A couple things here to note as well. These aren’t baby boys. They were born before Jacob arrived, so they are in their late teens or early 20s. Almost adult men. Yet Joseph is kind of worried about the configuration, like the seating arrangement, the standing arrangement about around the bedside as they approach grandpa, which I don’t know if any of you have been in those situations, I have. I have never once in all of my encounters ever seen any family member while they’re at the bedside of a loved one, and and tears are falling and people are praying and scriptures being read. There’s never been an instance where I’ve seen someone pipe up and go, hey, actually, you should be over there. And why don’t you come over on this side note the arrangements not right. they, I does like, does Joseph have OCD? Like, is it just gotta be just right. What is he doing here? He’s lining things up. He’s lining up.

He sees. Oh, my father’s right hand is at my left. My father’s left is at my right. I need to get the eldest son towards his right hand because, well, number one, we just heard it right. Dear old dad’s eyes are failing so he doesn’t see too well. And so I gotta help him out. I gotta make sure that he knows business is over here. Business is going to get the good blessing. I don’t even have to say it. I’m just going to line it all up because I know what’s best. I don’t even have to ask him. I know the eldest one is supposed to get the blessing. But who really knows best and who knows best for your life? And how often do we assume that the person who knows best for our life is ourself? Because outside of some divine revelation, outside of God speaking to us through a burning bush, we just make our best guess. Sometimes we just make the pro con sheet and we try to determine what’s the best path forward. We just try to line it all up. Okay, where am I supposed to go to school? What job am I supposed to have?

Who am I supposed to marry? I have to try to determine God’s will, but he’s not audibly speaking to me, so I just have to make my best guess. And my best guess usually lines up with whatever I think is best for myself, based off of my own criteria. You see, when I was a senior in high school, I wasn’t thinking about ministry number one. I wanted to be a middle linebacker for the Detroit Lions. And I don’t know if you all know that didn’t pan out. So that didn’t happen. That was kind of a pipe dream. and then there was also the fact that I all of a sudden was realizing, in comparison to my classmates that I had a propensity towards chemistry of all things. So one of my only friends in my friend group that was taking advanced chemistry, they all went and did biology, advanced bio and different science classes. But for some reason, the way that God had wired my mind at that time because I couldn’t tell you the first thing about chemistry anymore. But at that time it made sense. It clicked. And so as a senior, all I did was then think, okay, well, what can I do with chemistry? And I started to look at options and I began to do it. Joseph did. I’m going to line things up okay. So I have to go to school next. That’s what I’m thinking of for career. I want to go to college somewhere and I’m kind of good at chemistry, so maybe I’ll look into schools that have chemistry programs.

Maybe I’ll become a, pharmaceutical chemist. Maybe I’ll either be a pharmacist or maybe I’ll, like, help make drugs. Maybe I’ll do something that, oh, all the way to the point that actually began to visit schools. I began to put applications out at schools. I began to seek scholarships at schools. I went and visited with chemistry teachers and saw labs like I was considering this route. And if I continue that route, then the next couple days, weeks, months, whenever you get your next prescription, instead of going to CVS or Walgreens and seeing your friendly neighborhood pharmacist, you would have seen past your bed, white lab coat, handed you your amoxicillin and send you on your way. It’s been very different, but then out of the blue, I had everything all lined up. Everything was lined up. I was trying to pick a school based off of this is what I thought was best. And then also added to it was, you know, pharmacies, chemists, they don’t do too bad finance. So this looked good. This looked like a good opportunity for me. But then that youth minister, that youth minister up in Saginaw, Michigan, pulled me aside. It’s his fault. And said, I think that you might be good at ministry. You should probably start praying about that. I think that that might be the path that God has for you. Nothing I had ever considered at that point. I was very involved in my youth group, but then it just sent me on a totally different path.

Just wrecked me for a moment. But I thought I had known best. I thought I knew what I was going to do. It caused a lot of turmoil. It caused a lot of conversations. It caused a lot of prayer and ultimately changed my path. And if you put it down on, on like on paper, like you could rationalize if you really want it, you couldn’t you. Well, God, if I go this other route, you gave me this gift for chemistry for some reason. And I’m looking at this and, you know, if I go this route, I’ll be able to make more money. So I’ll be able to do more. Good for you if I go this way. Right. Can you see it? Like, you can start to, like, just reason and rationalize with God, like, I think I know what’s best. I’m going to try. I’ll try to tell you. Yeah. That’s not God’s economy, what God chooses. Well, this is in first Corinthians chapter one. It says God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no 1st May boast before him, that the only thing that we all have to boast is in as believers is Christ and Christ alone. Now look into our own strength. Now look into our own accolades or our merit badges, but rather just looking to Christ. We’re going to see this continue to play out and what’s going to happen with Israel and his choice as well. I said, he’s going to make a big choice, right? It’s not just the adoption, it’s a choice he’s going to make right here.

Now. Israel reached out his hand. Remember, Joseph had a lined up eldest on his left father’s right, youngest on his right. His father’s left brings him forward. They bring him to a dear old dad, and Israel reached out his right hand and put him on Ephraim’s head. Though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manus, his head. Even though Manasa was the first born. And again, I just said this at the very beginning. Like this is a detail here. Like okay, so okay. Grandpa crossed his arms like, what’s the big deal? What’s what? What, what’s going on here? You like we we have a hard time understanding the significance of the blessing that would go with the oldest and how important that was. I mean, just just just for a moment. These crossed hands go with me for a second. Is you have multiple kids. It’s your eldest, 16th birthday party. You all sing Happy Birthday. They blew out their candles like it is time for presents now. And you look them in the eyes and it’s like, oh, I love you so much. So happy you’re 16 and you grab these car keys out of your pocket and you look them right in the eye, and you hand them to their 12 year old little sister. Does it make any sense? It does. The oldest. They’re the other one that 16. The other driver forbid. Now they their license. It’s time. It makes sense.

It’s lined up. They’re the one that’s supposed to get the car. What’s the 12 you’re going to do with a car? It doesn’t make any sense. That is what’s going on here. And what we see in just a moment is that this is what’s going to displease. It’s going to throw Joseph for a loop. But first we see the blessing that he actually gives them. You say May, and then he blessed Joseph. He blesses Joseph along with his grandsons who are now becoming his sons. May the God before whom my father Abraham and Isaac walk faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has delivered me from all harm. May he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. And may they increase greatly on the earth. He’s given them the same blessing that God has given to them to be fruitful, to multiply for land the blessing again that belonged to Reuben. Joseph is seeing all this take, you know, all this take place, and this is all going down. And Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and he was displeased. So Joseph took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to minus his head. And Joseph said to him, no, my father, this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. Can you see it? Like, can you see that there’s like strife inside of Joseph now? Like dad, you’re not getting it. I had it all lined up.

I had it all figured out. This was what was going to happen. And now you’re like, saying this blessing. But the better blessing is going to the younger son. Like, what are you doing? And so he physically tries to move his father’s hand, which just sounds ridiculous. But let me ask you. When have you tried to move God’s hand? I know I’m not alone in this. That you have things lined up that you’re like Joseph. I mean, the guy. Joseph’s a smart guy. That’s what we’ve seen so far. He’s. He’s kept Egypt and the surrounding nations alive. He’s a good head on his shoulders. He knows how things work. And so he knows that very simply, the older one supposed to get the blessing. God has given many of us good heads on our shoulders, and we can see things in our life, and we can see and forecast and go, well, I can see the good that set before me. I know that it’s supposed to be this house, but they didn’t accept our offer. I know that I’ve been working harder than anyone else here but someone else in my department. They they’re the one that got the raise and the promotion. I know that I’m. I’m supposed to marry her. She’s the girl. But then she went off with somebody else. There’s countless different situations in our life where we begin to forecast and we begin to see God. There is good stuff out here. There’s good stuff out here that’s supposed to be happening in my life, and yet it’s not happening.

And I’ve prayed to you about it. So you’re good, right? God, we try to corner him. You’re good, and you love me, and you’re all powerful, and it’s not happening. So what’s going on? And I understand, God, like, you got a lot of prayers that you have to, like, listen to all the time and maybe, maybe mine just kind of got lost in the shuffle as you in your intake process. Or maybe an angel lost my prayer, I don’t know, but you need to get with the program because I have good things that I want to happen in my life. I want people to be healed. I want this home to be bought. I want my kids to be healthy. I want to get the promotion, I want this, I want our finances to be better. I want good stuff in my life. You’re a God who’s good. Yeah. You’re not doing it. So catch up to where I’m at. God. Now hopefully. None of you actually pray like that. But how many of you live like that? And a really good way to do a heart check is how do we react when we don’t get it? How do we react when the answer’s no? Not yet. Not this one. Is it resentment or is it dependance? This has been the problem since the very beginning in the garden. This is Eve and Adam. This is sin 101 type stuff where they have everything that they need, everything they could imagine. And yet there’s just one thing. There’s this fruit, and they see that it is good to eat, and they see that there’s goodness out here, there’s goodness and there’s goodness that God, God is trying to keep this goodness from me.

I could be like him because ultimately, pursuing goodness without God is to set yourself up as God. Not trusting. Not having faith. Not being a dependent child on a loving heavenly father. But being a disobedient brat who wants to get their own way. And if they don’t get it, then forget you. Dad. I want it my own way. All too often in this life, we’re able to see the good stuff. We’re able to see the answers to the questions. We know how it’s supposed to go, yet it doesn’t get answered in the way that we expected. Just Thursday night, I was down at Royal, Oklahoma. To go pray with family with a two week old child. I can see the good. I can see the good. I can see God. You’re good. You’re powerful. You’re loving. I’m going to we’re going to pray here and now. And it could be so very easy to resent and to get angry. You’re like, why would you allow this? Why is this happening? Why is there this evil in this sickness? Why is there this problem in this world for this family? And what and how hopeless and how weak am I? Like, what can I offer you? What can I do for you? All I can do is bring you before God and I can offer these things up. But he is the one that is going to answer yes or no according to his will. But the one thing that we could do, the one thing that we did do. Is that we went forward baptism. Because there in that weakness, that child, there’s nothing that they could do. There’s nothing that they could say. There’s no merit badges, there’s no accolades. There’s nothing that they did to deserve it. Yet God’s hand through the waters of baptism and through His word, claim that child is his own.

To say here in this utter despair and this utter weakness. I’m going to hold you, and I’m going to make you strong. It’s in that place of weakness that leads to the greatest trust and the greatest dependance. And I pray that we might see ourselves in that position. Not strong, proud Christians, but weak, lowly ones who are held in the hand of their father, not able to do anything on their own. We see this as it comes to a close. There’s this interesting dialog that transpires is Israel said to Joseph, I’m about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers, and to give you one more ridge of land that your brothers, more rich than then your land of brothers are. Then your brothers. Their fridge I took from the amharas with the sword in the bow. But it goes back here. His dad has to correct him. Joseph father refused and said he didn’t allow his hand to be moved. Even at 147. He wasn’t going to let Joseph win this round of arm wrestling. He said. I know my son. I know he too will become a people and he too will be great. Nevertheless, the younger brother will be the greater, will be greater than he and his descendants will become a group of nations. And he bless them that day, saying, in your name will Israel pronounce the blessing? May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh, staying in the same order, the youngest, the weakest, the lowliest, and the oldest.

So Jacob put Ephraim ahead of NASA. Where have we seen this before? The youngest getting the blessing? Not the oldest. Well, let’s just go on a journey back to Genesis. I’m not going to take too much time, but let’s just look at the patriarchs. Let’s look at some of the main characters that we’ve seen. Like if you’ve been with us for the last two and a half years, you’ve seen these guys, right? We’ve been following along with Cain, right. And then Ishmael, and then we went on to Esau. Is this not sounding right? And then we then we went on to Reuben. This doesn’t sound right, does it? But that’s actually because every step along the way. Here’s the oldest. Cain’s born. Abel has favor. Ishmael is the first born wrong man. Isaac the second born. He gets. The Esau he set up, hasn’t sin, hasn’t done anything wrong. You know what? The one that we’re going to call deceiver. He’ll grabber. The one that’s going to be a liar. Yeah, that’s the one I want to work with. That’s the one that God wants to bless. Reuben, the eldest born. No, no, no. Give me Joseph. He’s all the way down the pack. One of the youngest ones in the whole group. And then here again. Not Manasa. Nope. He gets the left hand. Ephraim Ephraim gets the better portion. Why does God do this? Why has God keep picking the weak things? Why? He’s got to keep messing up? Why does he keep using the second born, the weaker one, the one that doesn’t belong, the one that doesn’t deserve it?

It’s like God’s trying to set something up to try to show us all something. Like there’s a better second born. There’s a better one who’s coming along. Which leads us to the last. This continues to happen throughout the old, old test of the whole Old Testament. But here, the old Adam, if you’ve heard this term before, refers to Adam in the garden. The old Adam, this who we inherited all of our sin from. And there’s a second born who’s coming. Who is Jesus? Jesus otherwise referred to as the new Adam. And then as he becomes a new Adam, as he puts on flesh, that he doesn’t come as the tallest, as the most handsome, as the strongest. He comes in weakness. He doesn’t come in all of his glory with mad majesty and legions of angels around him, but he comes as a lowly servant who is acquainted with suffering, who’s acquainted with hunger, who knows what it is to be tempted, who knows what it is to be exhausted, to know what it is to be deserted and disappointed and betrayed, and come in strength. He came in weakness to undo all that. The eldest old Adam had done. As it says in Romans chapter five, as it speaks of this old Adam. And this new Adam in this section says, this just is one sin. The cinema Adam and Eve resulted in condemnation for all people. So one act resulted in justification and life for all people.

For just as through the disobedience of one man, the many. Which includes all of us, were made sinners. So also through the obedience of one man, Jesus Christ, the many will be made righteous. A Christ was willing not only to conquer sin, death, and the devil, and he did all of that, but he was also willing to make you and me his very enemies. His brothers, his sisters, to redeem us. That he was willing to take on all of our weaknesses, all of our perfections, all of our sin, and all the penalty of our sin by becoming that weakness and that sin itself, and not going to some sort of throne and declaring that now we’re all righteous, but rather going up onto a cursed cross where he was nailed there, where we deserve to be, and to show us that this this is what true strength, this is what true power looks like. is him not exercising his power and authority because he is God, but rather humbling himself even to the point of death. That in his weakness that we might not only see God’s strength, but in his weakness, that we would see God’s immense and immeasurable love towards all of us. It’s in that weakest moment that we all see. Also see God’s great power and his great love. It’s from this place that I want you to have in mind that that his immense love for you, that in all of your weakness, and as you walk forward and stumble forward in weakness, and as you struggle in weakness, that you recognize this, that in those moments of weakness, that you have a God who is well acquainted with weakness.

And it’s in his weakness, as Paul says, that you are strong. And so we close out with these last few thoughts. Last week, if you were with us, we put forward to 2025 challenge that everyone can invite someone. Everyone can serve somewhere and everyone can give something. We’re not asking everything. We can’t. But as you heard from Pastor Tim last week, that everyone here can give something to something everyone can serve in some way. And today I want to invite you to invite someone. And the way I want you to see this, especially in light of our text, is I want you to see who is it that God has put before you. Not the strongest, not the most handsome, not the person that you could invite to church that you might gain something from. But first, who am I? And who are they? And what I mean by that is our church, just like any church, only has one prerequisite to be at that church. Do you know what it is? You need to be a sinner. Does that check out for everybody? And so as you’re thinking about your hand of these cards, and I invite you to grab it right now, is that first and foremost, recognize that you, you and I, we are sinners. That’s why we are here. That is why we come before God, who has done so much for us that we would humble ourselves into these conversations and recognize that we don’t have any standing or position to offer them to say, hey, you should come to my church for this reason or that reason, but hey, you should come to my church because you’re going to hear this.

You’re a sinner, but God loves you and he laid down his life for you. And I want you to hear that message as well, that that would allow all of us to be open and honest about our own brokenness and all of our and our own struggles, that we can humbly approach those that we would put on this list. I want you to think about this, too, that maybe you’ve been here for a little while. Maybe you’ve been putting names down, and we have to recognize this, that you cannot, and I cannot by my own power or might lead anybody to believe. It’s only by the power of the Word of God. It is only by the gospel and led by the Holy Spirit in someone’s heart, that they could actually come to faith, but that God invites us to to be his hands and his feet, to see those that are right in front of us, the ones that are in such desperate need, though they look strong, like they have it all together, that they have the great house, that they have the great car vacations. They have all of it. But they are utterly and completely weak, just like you are utterly and completely weak to do anything good before God. That it’s only by him that we can do anything worthy, even including loving him. And so maybe you’ve been writing names for the last few years. Maybe he hasn’t answered yet. I invite you to write them down again. It might be your own kids or family members or coworkers. The other thing I invite you to do is you consider what names to write as. Of course, there’s going to be family and friends and loved ones that you want to see here at church. And I invite you with that fourth spot, maybe just the fourth one.

Invite somebody that you don’t want here and see what God does with that. As you take time each and every day to pray for someone else who you don’t like, but you want to see in eternity. Because Jesus does. So here in the next couple moments as a band comes forward, we’re going to try to create some time for you to actually write these down, that if you have a pen, that’s wonderful. If you don’t have a pen to our ushers team, we’ll be coming around and we just want to give you a minute or so that you might be able to write down a few names, because I know this of myself, and may be true of you, that sometimes with things like this, if you don’t do it here and now, just might not get done, and then as you write those names down, as you hang out of those, that that is your car to take and put in a prominent spot in your house, put on the mirror in your bathroom, take it to work with you. Put it on your desk that you might take some time each and every day that you see it, and simply pray for that person. And then as God begins to work through that prayer and through you, that might lead to conversations and opportunities to invite them here, to talk to them about the gospel, to encourage them to go to any church for that matter, that they might hear the good news of Jesus. So why don’t we go ahead? And in these moments, we can first pray and then begin to ask God, who are those names so gracious? Heavenly Father God, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we are just like Ephraim in this story. We are just like the youngest God. We’ve done nothing to deserve your love.

We’ve done nothing to deserve your mercy or your grace. Yet you choose us. God. We pray that you would use this time in these moments here and now, that you would lay more of your children on our hearts, that we might go seek out the lost and the lowly, and the other weak ones, just like ourselves, that they can be invited into your kingdom to hear the good news of what Jesus has done for them as well. We pray this all in his name. Amen. Feel free to stamp those. Sing out those names in worship. Think of those. We’ll be wrote down. As we sang to the name of Jesus. The king is in the oven. Come see the scars of love upon us. The king is in the oven. We’ll watch the darkness flee. His mom. Who is this king? Who is this king? His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. Light of the world. This freedom in his name. Awesome and power reigning for him. The light of the world. There’s freedom in this day. He lives in the room. Let miracles break down. Across this land. The Savior’s in the room. No. So beyond the boundaries on this bridge. There’s resurrection power in his name. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. The light of the world is free in his name. Awesome power, great name, forever light of the world. This freedom ministers. There’s never been love so great. He died so we could live. Then he rose up from the grave. Never love King like this. Now one of the authority rebel belongs to him. He reigns in victory. Name another king like this. Never been love so great. He died so we could live. Then he rose up from lightning. Never another king like this.

Now on the floor. Forever belongs to God. It reigns in faith. Go with me. Let me down. The king I cannot. Sing instead. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. Light of the world. There’s freedom in his name. Oh, sorry. I’m waiting forever. Light of the world. There’s freedom in his name. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. Light of the world. There’s freedom in his name. I’m sorry. I will reign it for ever. Light of the world is freedom. And his name is love. Jesus never met love so great. He died so we could live. Baby rouse love from death. Make my dreams like this. Oh my God, we forever belongs to him. He reigns in victory. Let me give you my. We have one more song that. Let’s continue to sing his praises. He is jealous for me. Love I give her King. I invite you. Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. And all of a sudden I am unaware of his affection. He eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful you are. Now break your heart for me. Oh, how he loves us so. Oh, how he loves us. How he loves us. So. He can take. He is jealous. He is jealous for me. Love like a hurricane I am a tree. Bending beneath the waves. It’s windy in mercy. When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions. Eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful you are. And how great your affections are for me. So we are his portion. This is a prize draw.

You should, by the grace in size and grace living ocean. We’re all singing. So having me turn like an unforeseen Christian. Like our turns. Finally we to my that I don’t have time to be with your grace. When I take you back to where I say. Oh, father loves us. Oh, he lives that oh he loves. Let’s sing it out. He love it. Oh, how we love. Oh, I love it I try, oh my, he loves. How they. Do it. They. Oh. Amen. parenting. You even. Come on up. Thank you all for coming to worship with us this morning. We prayer up at the stage if you feel that you need it. Welcome to fellowship out in the lobby. Anybody who can help them stack chairs seven. Hi. Afterwards. Be wonderful. But before you go, blessing, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make us safe face to shine upon you. And be gracious to you and make you look on you with favor and give you his peace. Amen. Every morning.