Good morning. Is this on? Yes. It's good to see you. I thought today was going to be the perfect storm with half the congregation sick with the flu or strep and the other half forgetting to set their clocks up and we'd have us four and no more.

But you guys have surprised me. Amen. Amen. I think my family has not made it out of the house. They had a little bit of a relapse yesterday. Is that Kansas? Oh, wow. Amen. Kansas, come on up. Oh, yeah. Come on up. Yeah. I'm sorry.

Oh, I'm so sorry. Can we turn the video off for a second? The live feed off for a second? For a moment? It's Steve. Yeah, we're going to bring Bill up. Yeah.

Are we back alive? Okay, there we go. How about that? All right. Again, we want to say welcome to our visitors. If you're visiting with us, I think Caitlin said in the announcements, fill out one of the cards located, put them in the chairs in the churches up here.

And there's one in the back as well, too. And just continue to be faithful in your giving as well, too. We're going to be talking on this Sunday about some of the things that we're doing in the life of our church and where we are and some of our vision and just kind of a brief recap.

This Sunday is always going to be a short service. And just so you know, we will have child care for, I think it's five years and under. So in the past, we haven't had nursery or anything.

We want everybody to be together. But we understand how chaotic that can be at times with some of the little bitties. And so Angela is going to be staffing that.

And so we will have five years and under. We'll have some child care. But we're trying to have everybody meet in the refuge and grab some fried chicken and all that good stuff after after church on this Sunday.

That's at the end of March. And I'm going to try and get through today without coughing up a storm. So bear with me. Bear with me.

My poor wife is now down to one lung because the other one has now exited her body. And some of you know exactly what that is like. And it's just like no fun. So it's just one of those things.

Today, today we are back into our study in Genesis. And we're in Genesis chapter 42. Genesis chapter 42 brings us to Operation Storehouse. Operation Storehouse.

And I think, young lady, we were going through Genesis before you left, right? Yeah, I think this, all of chapter 42 today, we'll kind of go through a lot of this.

But today is Operation Storehouse. And so just a brief moment of recap. But Joseph was in prison. He was in prison. But now he's in the palace.

Okay, it's a classic rags to riches story. First, he was riches to rags and then he's rags to riches. Okay, a whole time.

Turnabout in this. He goes from adversity to prosperity. And it's been said that a lot of people can handle some adversity that's thrown their way.

But not everybody can handle prosperity. You know how some people, they are blessed with certain prosperity and it ruins them.

You've seen that in life, how somebody gets a promotion or so much. So don't think that winning the lottery is going to change your outlook.

No, sorry, Kevin. It's not going to change. I saw that look you gave me. Yeah, it's not going to change. Okay, that's a whole heart issue. Okay.

So sometimes you need to just say, it's the grace of God that I'm not wealthy. Okay, there you go. There you go.

But Genesis 42, Joseph is rich. And he's realized he's a steward of it. He's working for Pharaoh. He's number two man. He's the number two man.

21 years have passed from the time that he was sold as a young teenage boy, 17 years of age, to the Midianite slaves, slave traders.

21 years. So Joseph has matured now, obviously. And so Joseph has predicted through the dreams of Pharaoh that there's going to be seven years of abundance followed by these seven years of great famine.

And as we pick up things in chapter 42, we're probably in the second of those episodes. We're probably in just about year two of that seven year of famine that's taken place in the land of Egypt and really everywhere.

And we begin in verse chapter 42, verse one.

When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt.

Okay. Nobody's wanting to say anything, but they just sort of look at each other. It's like those those families. Maybe you've seen this families where there's such dysfunction that there's an issue. There's a there's something going on in the family, but nobody wants to talk about it. You know, nobody wants to bring it up. And if you bring it up, it's like, no, no, no, we don't go there. Right there. There's such dysfunction in there. Everybody wants it. It's very unhealthy. This seems to be one of those weird families. There's an obvious famine in the land. They're just sort of looking at each other going like I'm hungry.

You hungry. You hungry. I'm hungry. Yeah. And nobody's doing anything about it. Finally, the old man speaks up and said, why are you sitting around looking at each other? I've heard there's grain to be gotten in Egypt. Somebody go down there.

And little does he know little does he knows that his own son has instituted this this rescue operation operation storehouse and Joseph started it.

And so these granaries are now in these areas where they've collected grain all in the land of Egypt. And that's where now you got Canaan who is going down there, down to Egypt to to to get this grain.

And it just it just reminds me also. I wanted to take a brief second and just say, you know, Jacob. Jacob says, I hear there's grain to be had down in Egypt.

There's something. Why are you guys sitting around? Why are you just sitting around here looking at each other? Listen, anytime you hear a promise from God, that's from the word of God.

And when you act upon that promise, your faith will grow. Your faith will grow. If you just look at it and you analyze it. Well, I wonder if it's true.

And you just sit around and you look at each other. You might never discover what believing that promise can do for you in your life.

So many of us, we get a promise within the word of God and we don't act upon it. We don't act upon it.

And so whenever you hear a promise from the word of God, OK, and you act on that promise, your faith will increase.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. OK. And so he said, I've heard this.

Boys, there's there's grain down in Egypt. And so I'm an old man. I'm not going.

But you guys need to get down there and we need to get some grain so we can we can survive.

Verse three. So 10 of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.

Now, I know that's a short little verse, but there's a lot in that one little verse.

It's about a 250 to 300 mile journey. OK, it would take them six weeks total round trip to go there and come back.

OK, and there's a lot there's a lot in this because they got to make arrangements to go down there.

Somebody's got to take care of their families. Somebody's got to take care of the flocks.

There's a lot of things that have to be had to be organized.

And more than that, when they get to Egypt, they're not ready for what they're going to encounter.

They're going to encounter a guy named Zephaneph-Paneah or Joseph.

They don't know him as Joseph yet, but they're they just you're going to know him as Zephaneph-Paneah.

He's second in command. He's their brother.

He's going to recognize them, but they're not going to recognize Joseph.

And it's going to blow their minds. Now, we're not going to see that encounter,

because as you can tell, we're kind of moving slowly through chapter 42 here today.

But we will get there. But Joseph is grown up now.

Joseph is wealthy. Joseph works for Egypt.

Joseph has a two camel garage.

Joseph has a wife. Joseph has kids now.

He's he's totally changed.

Is anybody set their clocks with me today?

OK, come on. Come on. Let's wait.

You guys are sleepy doing worship and you're not going to be sleeping now.

I was about ready to stand up and read you some scripture this morning because.

Verse four.

But Jacob did not send Benjamin,

Joseph's brother with his brothers,

for he feared that harm might happen to him.

Now, again, we're getting a little bit of insight into the family here

because the family of Jacob, some of the dynamics.

If you remember back when Joseph was the favorite kid,

Joseph had the special coat.

Joseph was the was the one who got all the special treatment.

He was the supervisor.

He was the one who got to he didn't have to work.

He just got to spy on his brothers and tell, you know,

what they were doing wrong or whatever, creating that hostility.

Now there's favorite son number two. Favorite son number two. And so why is Benjamin favorite son number two? Because he's the only other child, okay, that the wife that Jacob loved dearly, Rachel, bore.

Rachel bore two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph is gone. Benjamin is left. He's the only link that Jacob sees to his wife, Rachel, who's gone now as well, too.

Boys go down to Egypt, but not with Benjamin. You're not taking Benjamin. You know, I believe this is a mistake. I believe it's a mistake.

You see, when Joseph was around, he was favored by his dad, but his dad let him do and let him go. He's like, son, go check on your brothers.

They're pasturing 50 miles away. Okay. He let him go and he let him do. Okay. And say hi to him. Check on him. He's got this son had this freedom, but now he's keeping his son at home.

He's not letting him travel to Egypt. Okay. He's afraid something's going to happen to him. And here's the mistake. And it happens when something happens in a family, like an accident or maybe even the death of a child with children that are left.

The parent wanting to protect will overprotect. They'll overprotect. And they will completely box in this other child because they're so afraid that something might happen to this one.

And they end up smothering this child. It happens sometimes. And that can be a big mistake. And I see this as a mistake.

And it's also creating division within the brothers as well, too, because they hear again. Why aren't we favored? Why aren't we favored? You know, again, sending that message. Verse five.

Thus, the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, who came for the famine was in the land of Canaan. So if there's a famine, if there's a famine in Egypt, there's a huge famine in Canaan.

All right. Means that there's no rain. There's no rain coming down. There's no water. There's nothing to be had. So you have to picture you need to picture all these caravans of people going from the from the Suez Desert to the Sinai Desert all the way to Egypt to get grain.

And among them are the sons of Jacob. They're in they're in the caravan as well, too. Verse six.

Now, Joseph was the governor of the land. He was the one who sold all people of the land.

And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before their faces with their faces to the ground.

So when this when you read this, what's going through Joseph's mind, you know, when when his brothers are bowing down to him?

Remember, he had a dream 21 years ago. Twenty. I saw my dream.

You know, these sheaves were bowing down to my sheaves, but that was also followed up by a second dream.

And he knew that this was not the fulfillment that what's taking place right here was not the fulfillment because in the second dream showed the sun and the moon and 11 stars, not 10, not 10.

So there's one missing his brother, Benjamin.

And plus, his dad has to be there as well, too, for there to be a fulfillment in this dream.

OK, but this had to flash in his mind as they are bowing down to the earth.

Now, we are getting in right here.

Some of the best chapters within the scriptures right here from here on in and the next several chapters as Joseph meets up with his brothers and once again.

And there's a theme in this.

There's a theme in this chapter in here on out.

And the theme is forgiveness.

Forgiveness, it's forgiveness, you know, forgiveness is what separates the boys from the men.

OK, forgiveness.

When you can look eye to eye at someone who has truly hurt you and love them and truly forgive them and not act put off and all this other stuff and mad.

When you can do that, you have passed a great test.

And, you know, you see, it is easy.

Listen, it is easy to love people who love you.

That's the easy part.

It's easy to love people who love you.

You know, I mean, the worst person can do the world can do that.

OK, but, you know, whoever gets a pat on their back, you know, will respond to that encouragement.

But what do you do when someone opposes you?

What do you do when someone oppresses you?

This is the reason why Jesus said, you've heard that it was said, you shall love your friends and hate your enemies.

I say to you, love your enemies.

Do good to those who hurt you and pray for those who spitefully use you.

Bless those who curse you.

That separates the minor leagues from the major leagues right there.

That's in and of itself.

And you're going to see that here.

Joseph won't hold anything.

Verse 7. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke to them roughly. Where do you come from, he said. They said, we come from the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. They couldn't, they, there's no way they could have recognized Joseph. Now they might have, your face sort of looks familiar or that kind of, that kind of stuff. But it's been 21 years. And he was a teenager then. Okay. His brothers, he

recognized them because they haven't changed. They were adults when, when he was, he was 17. They haven't changed as much as he has in that 21 year period. Okay. Plus the fact that he's now an Egyptian. He's wearing the robes. He's wearing the garments. His head shaved everything. He's got the, he, he looks like royalty and everything is shaved, but they also have goatees.

All right. The Egyptians have goatees. Okay. Why they shaved everything, but you had a goatee and it was lacquered horse hair and they put it on and they would, they would lacquer it onto their face because they thought it was pretty cool looking. Okay. And why you didn't grow your own? Maybe half of them couldn't do it. I don't know.

But this is how Joseph looks. So there's no way that these guys are, are, are, are going to, uh, to recognize him. But in the scriptures, it says that he, he spoke roughly to them. Now go back 21 years prior and think about how they treated him. Okay. Now he's kind of roughing them up a little bit, not physically, but just verbally. Okay.

He's just sort of acting tough. And it, he's not doing it for any, uh, um, he's not doing it for retribution or anything like that. It's a test. He's giving them a test. I want to see if these guys have changed. Uh, how I, these brothers of mine. Okay. Is there any remorse in their heart for what they have done? What about Benjamin? Is he even still alive? You know, he's trying to figure, so he doesn't know the answer to these questions.

So he's testing them to see where they're at. Verse nine. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them and, and, and that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, you are spies and you've come to see the nakedness of the land. So he, he acts suspicious in here. And when he says this, listen, it was protocol to act suspicious. All right. This is not, this is not like something, something weird.

Because when you're in a famine and you're the only game in town that has grain and you have these borders that are a little bit porous and people can come in and out, you have to be suspicious because you could have somebody come in and they're posing as somebody who just needs some grain, but when you could actually be selling them grain and allowing them to feed their army so they can, they can come and attack you and take your, your grain and take your, your land from you. Okay.

So this is the mindset that's going on. So it was, it's very typical for them to act suspicious. I mean, if you go to the middle East now, if you go to the middle East now, they act suspicious. If you try to get in the land, it's hard to get it. It's a, it's a volatile place.

You just don't, you don't walk in there. But of course, he's going to act this way. Listen, anybody, brothers who sell their brothers into slavery are not trustworthy.

I'm just saying, I don't care if it's been 21 years. They're, they're not trustworthy. Okay. So he's suspicious and rightfully so.

And he, he retains that power over them until the right moment. Verse 10, they said, no, my Lord, your servants have come to buy food. We all, we are all sons of one man. We are honest men.

I mean, does nobody else see the comedy in God's word? We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. And he said to them, no, it's the nakedness of the lands you've come to see.

And they said, we, your servants are 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Behold, the youngest is this day with our father and one is no more.

Yeah, that'd be the one who you're talking to right now. They got no idea. One is no more. You know, what's going through Joseph's mind?

But Joseph said to them, it is as I said to you, you're spies. Yeah, you're done. But by this, you shall be tested by the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go from.

like to awaken their conscience to what they have done. Listen, his brothers were scoundrels. These guys were scoundrels. And so he's treating them as scoundrels. And notice it says, by the life of Pharaoh. Okay, he's taking an oath right there. He's taking an oath in Pharaoh's name. Well, why would he do that? Well, once again, he's, he's an Egyptian. He's acting like if he said, Oh, by the, by the one true God, they would say, what, what? But he says, no, by the life of Pharaoh. So they're going,

ah, you are an Egyptian. So he's taking a common oath that they would say in that day. I swear on the life of Pharaoh. I mean, that's, you can't get any higher than that. I'm a mama's grave. You know, you can't get any higher than that. Okay. That's, that's the, that's the last point you can take. Verse 16.

Send one of you and let him bring your brother while you remain confined that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you or else by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies. And he put them all together in custody for three days. Some of the versions say prison, put them in prison. The word, it's just simply confinement. It doesn't mean that they were behind bars. They were just sequestered. Okay.

And they're, they're, they're, they're kept alone. They have no freedom for three days. Guess what they have though? They have a lot of time to think. They got a lot of time to process. They got a lot of times. And Joseph's, I wonder what they're going to do. How are they going to talk their way out of this one? How, what are they going to come up with now? What's, what's going to happen now? And it's absolutely fascinating. Verse 18.

Verse 18.

We saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we did not listen. Ah, you know, listen, they're having this little conversation. They get together in the talk. They're talking out, they're talking out loud. They don't understand that Joseph understands Hebrew.

And they're having this conversation. There's an interpreter there, but Joseph knows Egyptian. He's speaking Egyptian fluently, but he has an interpreter there as if he can't understand the Hebrew because again, to, to conceal his identity and to protect this, this whole thing.

So they're having these conversations thinking. So they're having these conversations thinking Joseph can't understand. I mean, this is, this is amazing what's taking place.

Again, he said, it says, they said to one another, in truth, we are guilty concerning our brother and that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we did not listen.

That is why this distress has come upon us. Again, they're referring some 20 years back, 21 years back.

Uh, and Reuben, uh, and Reuben, verse 22 answered, answered them. Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy, but you did not listen.

So now there comes a reckoning for his blood. You know, it's starting to work. Joseph's plan is starting to work. Okay. Uh, they're processing their treatment of Joseph and they're going, man, 20, 20 plus years.

Do you remember God is getting us back. That's what they're thinking. God is getting us back and they're distressed over it.

Now, when you look at that verse in verse 22, you see the repetition of the word we and us in the Hebrew, it's emphatic. Okay. Meaning we, and we alone, we, and we alone.

It's like they, they're saying God, we're getting busted by God. God is busting us. Okay. He's singling us out here and it's an admission of guilt.

Now I say it's working because listen, to admit that you, to admit your guilt is the first step. It's the first step. And, and, and it, it's our first step as well too. Is it not in, in, in our salvation process to admit your, your guilt?

You know, you'd be surprised how long a person can go and not be able to say.

You know, there's a, it reminds me, there's a passage that Paul says in, in, uh, Romans, uh, Oh no, I'm getting ahead of myself. I do want to say Proverbs 28, Proverbs 28, 13 says this, whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses forsakes them and will obtain mercy. Mercy. Confession. Confession. Confession. Confession. Now listen, to confess does not

mean to just admit. It doesn't mean to just admit. It means that you agree. Okay. And when you make a confession to God, you are agreeing with God and saying, what you say about my sin, God, I agree with you. That's what confession means. I'm agreeing with you what you call it, Lord.

You don't call it a mess up or a slip up, Lord. You call it sin. You call it sin. And I'm agreeing with you. Okay. And so they are admitting their guilt. And in verse 21 says, we are guilty concerning our brother. We are guilty. Now, now listen. Also, there are some people that say, well, why do I need to confess anything to God?

If God knows everything, why is it that I need to say anything to God in the first place? Right? He knows everything. Why do I confess? Because God wants to hear. That's the sign of a repentant heart. God wants to hear you repent. Okay. Wants to hear that confession. Okay. But also, also, it's been 20 years. It's been 20 years and their conscience, they have been burying it and burying it.

And they're hiding it. And that's what happens when we don't confess before the Lord. We tend to bury things in our lives. And it turns, it turns into bitterness. It turns into hard heartedness. And they've been hiding it. And, and, and, and they're, and they're not, they haven't processed it until now. But now that wound is opening it up. And what does that wound, when it, when that wound is opened up, what does it show? It shows guilt. They're still carrying around that guilt. That's, that's a lie. Okay.

Because sometimes you can stuff behavior and feelings down so far and you don't deal with it. And it turns into poison in your life. It, it, it, it's horrible. You should deal with these things right, right away. Okay. Sin causes you to hold that load of guilt. And it's not healthy.

I think all of us can relate to that in our lives and at times in our lives. Verse 23, they did not know that Joseph, Joseph understood them for there was an interpreter between them. Again, he's speaking fluent, uh, Egyptian and he, he has no idea. I love this. He's duping them. He's duping them. Okay. You guys talk amongst yourselves.

And so then they turned away. Then he turned away. Joseph turned away from them and wept. Hmm. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. You know, this is, this is the first of six emotional statements like this in, in this section of Genesis. Six times Joseph is going to weep.

And I think this is amazing. And I think this is amazing. After all he's gone through, after all he's endured, after all the emotional scarring, after all the years of neglect, and then, uh, the years of what's going on, then the sudden process. But he weeps. I love the fact that he weeps. I, I, I'm touched by it. You know, honestly, I, I love it when I see a man that is moved by the things, things around him and a man will weep over certain things.

I find myself, I find myself, the older I get, I weep about the silliest things sometimes. You know? Oh my gosh, I can't believe that Elsa rules the kingdom so well. You know? You know? Just certain things move you that, that you never thought possible that moved you.

But listen, in this, in this passage, it says that he took Simeon and bound him before him. And, and let me say, by the way, what makes you weep is a test of your character.

It, it's a test of your character. It, it's a test of your character. He sees his brothers, okay, and he can't contain it.

Logically, you would think he would take Reuben and tie him up,

because Reuben's the oldest.

Reuben's the head of the household.

Now, he walked away.

I don't know whether he was thinking or just didn't want to be part of it,

but he walks away, okay, and they didn't listen to him.

When Reuben comes back, he's already been sold off to the Midianites, okay?

But when Reuben walks off, Simeon, number two, is in charge now.

And more than likely, he was probably the one that arranged for Joseph

to be sold off into the situation.

So now Joseph gets to watch Simeon squirms a little bit

and says, tie Simeon up and does it right there in front of him.

Now, that right there reminds me of what Paul says in Romans 11.22.

I want you to think about this.

Paul says, note the kindness and the severity of the Lord.

Note the kindness and the severity of the Lord.

Here's Joseph.

He's being kind to his brothers, okay?

He's going to give them grain.

He's going to give them their money back.

He's going to even reveal himself to them.

He's going to provide for them eventually, okay?

He's going to do all these good things, but he's going to be severe as well too, alright?

He's being severe because the result of the kindness and the severity

will lead to reconciliation and restoration.

That's the kindness and the severity of the Lord, okay?

That's going to be the result.

Reconciliation and restoration.

The kindness of the Lord in our lives and yet the severity of the Lord in our lives,

as he deals with us, always leads to reconciliation and restoration in our lives.

We see this shadowing in Joseph.

Remember that the next time God allows you to go through something particularly in your life

that you don't like and it seems severe.

It seems severe.

We have talked about this the last few weeks.

I talked about a synergy, okay?

Synergizing all things together for your good.

Who love the Lord and call accordingly to his purposes.

The kindness and the severity of the Lord.

There's a beautiful tension in there.

A beautiful tension in there.

And Joseph gave orders, verse 25, to fill their bags with grain

and replace every man's money in his sack

and gave them provisions for the journey.

This was done for them.

Then they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed

and this one opened up his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging plate.

He saw his money in the mouth of his sack.

Excuse me.

Well, they opened up their sacks and they noticed that their money's back.

Joseph's given all their money.

And this is, more than likely, this is what happened.

Is Joseph paid for it out of his own pocket.

He gave them the money back out of his own money.

Put the money back.

Now, why would he do that?

Because they're going to get paranoid now, okay?

Why would he do that?

Because Joseph knows that they're going to need it for the next trip.

And he wants them back.

He wants them to come back, okay?

He doesn't know how much money they have.

He's been separated.

He doesn't know if they've spent their whole life savings to get there,

to buy the grain for their family.

He doesn't know what the financial state is.

So he's giving them money to be able to make that trek back.

He's providing for their next journey.

And he said to his brothers, the one brother says,

My money has been put back.

Here it is in the mouth of my sack.

And their hearts failed them.

And they turned trembling to one another, saying,

What is this that God has done?

Now, this is a little bit weird,

because typically this is not the response that you would get, you know?

If you go to the grocery store, and you pay for your groceries,

and you get home, and you're taking out your groceries,

and there's wadded up 300 bucks in cash,

and a little note on there,

you wouldn't go ahead and say,

God, what have I done that I deserve this?

I'm in such distress.

You would either say,

This is a huge mistake,

or a huge praise.

Praise Jesus, right?

Okay?

But why do they react this way?

Here's why they reacted this way.

Guilt.

Guilt.

I mean, listen.

Guilt turns blessings into distress.

Guilt turns blessings into distress.

They couldn't.

arouses shame. And notice that they mention God here. Okay? And this is the very first time in this whole scenario that their brothers even need to have any kind of God talk at all. They've been really spiritual lately. Right? Okay? But listen. Now that they mention God, their view of God is extremely warped. Their view of God is that He's vengeful. He's retributive. Okay? He's not blessing. He's not giving. He's not loving.

Their view of God. Their view of God is seen through their own view of themselves. And that's how many people see. When they look at God, they see God like they are. And that's what idolatry is. They concoct a God in their own minds and they worship that God. You know, what an unfortunate God that these guys have concocted.

They're all paranoid. They're all paranoid. Verse 29. When they came to Jacob, their father, in the land of Cain, and they told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man, the Lord of the land, he spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies in the land. But we said to him, We are honest men. We have never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our fathers.

Father, one is no more. The youngest is this day with our father in the land of Cain. And the man, the Lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me and take the grain for the famine for your family households and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will deliver you.

I will deliver your brother to you. I will deliver your brother to you and you shall trade in the land. And they emptied their as they emptied their sacks. Behold, every man's bundle of money was was in his sack.

And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob, their father, said to them, You have bereaved me of my children.

Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more. People can change, and they really can. Sometimes people don't change that much.

Jacob is still Jacob. Jacob is still all about Jacob.

It sounds an awful lot like Jacob back at Shechem, when the two boys kill all those people at Shechem.

And they slaughter all those people. And then what does Jacob say?

You've ruined my reputation!

You've got hundreds of dead people around here slaughtered on false pretenses, and you're worried about your reputation?

Jacob is still Jacob.

Okay? That hasn't changed.

Listen, listen.

Crisis doesn't make a man.

All right?

It shows what a man's made of.

That's what true crisis does.

It brings out what a man is made of.

And this is what Jacob is made of.

Joseph wouldn't have said that.

Joseph wouldn't have responded that way.

He didn't respond that way at all times.

Look, I know what I'm going through is hard.

None of this stuff makes sense.

All this stuff is happening.

But I still know God's in control.

I don't know how.

I'm still waiting for this dream to come into fruition.

I don't know how.

Jacob, you don't have to be that way.

You don't have to be that way.

It also tells me that Jacob's not over the death of his son, Joseph.

Okay?

Now, as a parent, you never, ever really get over the loss of a son or daughter.

Ever.

But there's a healthy way to moving on.

All right?

And it seems like that he never really moved on.

And he's bringing this up also as if he's holding the brothers responsible.

Like he knows something.

Like they are responsible somehow or another.

But I think Jacob is still living in the past a little bit.

And he's still scarred.

And he's never really been able to move through this.

In verse 37.

Listen to this.

Reuben said to his father, kill my two sons.

Kill my two sons if I don't bring him back to you.

Put him in my hands and I will bring him back to you.

You know, I'm sure that that's going to go over well with your wife, Reuben.

And you're too, I wonder, did you have that conversation with your boys?

You know, that we're going to, I mean, this is just foolishness.

But he, Jacob, said.

If harm should happen to him on the journey that you were to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. You know, and so, basically, what Reuben's doing is he's making, again, he's making, he's swearing an oath. I swear to you, I'll give you my sons. I swear on the life of my two sons. If I don't bring Benjamin back, he's yours. I swear on that. I'll give you this oath. I'm making, I'm making this oath. That's why Jesus comes along later on and he says, don't swear at all. Neither by heaven nor by heaven.

Heaven or by earth, you know, for earth is God's footstool and heaven is God's throne. Nor, he says, nor by the hairs on your head. Let your yes be yes and let your no be no. Just be people of integrity. Be people of integrity.

So, in landing the plane here this morning, we're going to, next week we'll see the meeting, the meeting with Benjamin. He's going to be there. The second meeting with the brothers and the third meeting with the brothers.

And, okay, none of this, none of this ever would have happened unless there was a famine in the land. Right?

And just, just keep in mind the purpose that God has, has had for Joseph's life.

As we, as we, why did Joseph, you know, why was, why was he allowed to be sold off as a slave?

Why was he so despised by his brothers? Why was he allowed to be sold off as a slave?

Why was he allowed to be brought into Potiphar's house as a slave?

Why was he allowed to be falsely accused and be put into, into prison and be put into jail?

Why was all of that allowed?

And now we have an understanding to save the world from a famine.

They're saving Egypt, but it's basically the world as it's known.

But, number two, also, to bring the children of Israel down into Egypt.

Okay?

So that for hundreds of years, they will be, they will be nurtured in the land of Goshen.

They're going to be nurtured over there.

And they're going to, they're going to prosper and they're going to be preserved.

And more, more importantly, it's going to preserve the line for Messiah.

Messiah, all of this is part of, this is, this is a crazy plan.

None of us would ever map this thing out.

But God saw, I mean, talk about purpose.

Talk about purpose.

And listen, God has a purpose for your life.

And some of you are sitting here sweating it out, you know, sweating it out.

You know, wondering about, what's my purpose?

Why, why is this so difficult?

Why is this difficult thing that I'm going through?

And I know if he tells me Romans 8, 28, one more time, I'm going to strangle him.

That all things work together for good.

Those who love the Lord are calling on His purposes.

Okay, I get it.

But I'm not happy about it.

You're not, you're not supposed to be happy about it.

You're supposed to find peace in the midst of it.

Your God has never left you or forsaken you.

And nor will He ever leave you or forsake you in the midst of this either.

Listen, a lot of us would really be able to, as we said last week and the week before,

really gravitate around that scripture if the scripture said,

and most things work together for good.

And just about everything works together for good.

But again, like the theologian said, and we reminded ourselves last week,

we need to allow, in our transparency and in our honesty,

we need to allow Romans 8, 28 to be a soft pillow for a weary heart.

A soft pillow for a weary heart.

I know it gets hard sometimes.

I know it gets hard sometimes.

But even in this, this is what helps to build our faith.

This is what helps to strengthen us and strengthen our trust in the Lord.

It's through adversity that we grow.

It's through trials and pain that we are able to be able to have a word of testimony

to be able to give to someone else in their life and in their walk

to encourage them when they're coming alongside.

Not that you're a know-it-all.

Or even this. That must be devastatingly hurtful. I have no idea what that feels like. Can I walk with you? I just love you. I don't have any magic words. I just love you.

All I know in my life, things spin out of control sometimes. But I've been able to learn to trust that all things work together for God's good and His glory. Even our hurt at times. Can He not?

Yeah. So as the worship team comes up this morning and we close out this morning.