Seasons - Genesis 41:38-57

[0:00] All right, you can turn to Genesis 41. All right, so if you remember last week, we got to 37. Joseph has been, what, we figured 13 years, 13 years in Egypt.

[0:14] He was 17 when he came down. We're going to get a timestamp this week. We're going to hear he's 30 years old at this point when he's raised up to stand before Pharaoh. So if he's 17 when he goes into Egypt and he's 30 now, that's 13 years between Potiphar's house as a slave and then as the lowest of the low, as a servant or as a slave for the warden of the prison.

[0:36] So it's 13 years. God had gifted him as a young man at 17. He knew that. God is speaking to him through these dreams, and he went and told it to his family. His family didn't receive that, right?

[0:46] As Jesus will say, that a prophet is not without honor except in his own home and among his own people. Why would that be? Because they know you. They're like, man, I know you. What do you mean God's working in your life now?

[0:58] What are you talking about? I want to see some more of that as we go through this, how Joseph is responding to that now later in life. But God gifted him, but it took 13 years of learning through the school of suffering and service before he was prepared to use that gift, right?

[1:18] And we saw as that gift grew because when he's in prison now, he's not just telling his own dreams. He's saying to the chief cupbearer and the baker, he said, tell me your dreams.

[1:29] God can interpret them. I recognize that this gift is growing, that God has given me this gift. And so he says, tell me your dreams. He's able to interpret them. And now he's called before Pharaoh, and he interprets Pharaoh's dream for him.

[1:42] And we stop there, 37, where it says, And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. Joseph has just come through a very hard season.

[1:55] And we've been talking about seasons. In fact, the title for today's message is Seasons. He has come through a hard season, but he learned through that season of suffering.

[2:06] He learned administration, delegation, and he learned distribution, right? He learned all that stuff, basic stuff, right? But he learned it in a way that he's able to apply it now, where he doesn't come across hypocritical.

[2:20] He doesn't come across as a know-it-all. He comes across as a servant. Remember, Jesus said, I'm among you as one who serves. There's nobody more equipped than Jesus when he was here. But it was 30 years, 30 years before he was called into ministry and anointed for ministry.

[2:36] And we're told in Scripture that as a son, he learned obedience through suffering. Suffering is a spiritual necessity. It just is. Suffering is a spiritual necessity. Without it, we will not grow spiritually.

[2:50] Our outline for today, having to do with seasons, verse 38 through 44, is a season of recognition. Joseph now is finally recognized. He's recognized by God already, and Joseph knows who he is before God.

[3:03] But God has put him in a sphere now where he's begun to be recognized for the calling upon his life. Verses 45 through 46, just those two verses right in there, is this season of change. It's so fast, this change, where Joseph goes from being a prisoner to being second in command in the palace.

[3:20] 47 through 53, a season of fruitfulness. Joseph begins to experience that season in his life as we enter those seven years of plenty. And then 54 through 57 is a season of provision.

[3:34] That's where we're going to hit those seven years of famine. You say, wait, wouldn't that be a season of want? Yes. But there's also a season of want is where we see God's provision. So it's a season of provision. And then by the time we get done with Genesis, because Joseph kind of finishes this out, Joseph and Jacob with Genesis, you all should have this verse memorized.

[3:52] Because our theme verse, really, for Joseph's life. Jeremiah 29, 11, For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

[4:03] That's not just on Sundays or on his good days. That's always, right? So as we pick up in verse 38, Pharaoh and his servants, they have heard what Joseph has said regarding the dream, the interpretation of the dream.

[4:20] That's the seven cows, the seven good years of corn or grain, the seven lean, diseased cows, and then the seven years of withered grain. And Joseph has just simply said that seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.

[4:34] And then Joseph went beyond that, and he does beyond just interpretation, and he then goes into application. That application that would have not been there if it had not been for those years of suffering. But he's able to say, hey, here's what you should now do based on this interpretation.

[4:48] And man, I can tell you, back when I was in Bible college as an 18, 19-year-old, when I first learned abductive Bible study, it was amazing. It was mind-blowing.

[4:58] It was like I could take the word and I could understand it. It was great. And that's observation, interpretation, application. You observe. What does the word say? You know, interpretation.

[5:09] What does it mean? Application. What does it mean to me? What does it mean to you? Right? I could do the first two. I had no application as a 19-year-old. God is good, and God provides.

[5:19] In seasons of suffering, he is there. And in seasons of famine, he's still provision. Application wasn't there. Now, when I study, sometimes I'm like, Lord, there's so much application.

[5:30] What do I pick? Right? Because God knows the seasons we need to go to prepare us. And Joseph gives this amazing application to Pharaoh and to his servants, saying, hey, here's what you need to do.

[5:45] You need to look out a man who's wise, who's perceptive, and who can rule over Egypt, or who can be administrator for the gathering of all the food.

[5:55] And in verse 38, And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is? A man in whom the Spirit of God is.

[6:06] Can we find someone like this guy? The word find there means to secure, to discover, to detect. He's like, you know what? We could do an investigation throughout everybody in Egypt.

[6:16] We could send out our most trained investigators. We're never going to discover anybody like this. We're never going to secure another person like this. The answer was no. They're never going to find such a one as Joseph.

[6:28] Why? Because there's only one deliverer. There's only one deliverer. On the whole planet, there's one deliverer. And God had put him right where he needed to be. In Acts 4.12, Peter says, Neither is there salvation in any other.

[6:42] For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Are we ever going to discover another deliverer? No. There's only one. And just as Joseph is our kind of a foreshadowing, our type of Jesus, right?

[6:57] The son of favor. Abraham, father of faith. Isaac, son of promise. Jacob, man of the covenant. Joseph, the son of favor. They all have some foreshadowing of God's plan of redemption.

[7:10] Well, here we see just as Joseph was the only deliverer. Well, there's only one deliverer today. We're not going to find that outside of that. So he said, Could we discover, could we find anyone else? A man in whom the spirit of God is.

[7:22] Spirit of God literally means the breath of Elohim, right? Elohim is just the Hebrew word for the divine, for God. He's saying, Could we find someone with whom the breath of God is in him?

[7:35] If we seek this, will we find another one? Jesus, he had the breath of God in him, didn't he? Because he was the breath of life. Again, that picture. But then Jesus, as he was finishing his ministry at the end of John, at the end of his life, right?

[7:49] As he's going to be going to the cross, he turns to his disciples in John 20, verse 21. And he said to them, Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, even so send I you.

[8:00] This is after the resurrection. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, Receive you the Holy Spirit. Receive the breath of God in your own lives. So, we say, is there anyone in whom the Spirit of God dwells?

[8:15] We should be able to raise our hands and say, Yes! In Christ, man, I get to join and partake of the same thing he has. He has the breath of God. He has the breath of life. And he's put that in me.

[8:26] More than just life, right? For this physical world. But in Christ, he breathes on us. And we also have the Spirit of God. As Pharaoh then says unto Joseph, For as much as God has showed you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are.

[8:45] In verse 33, if you back up a little in this chapter, it said, Joseph had said to Pharaoh, Let Pharaoh look out a man discreet, perceptive, and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

[8:58] And Pharaoh says, Joseph, I don't see anybody more perceptive and wise that is to stand apart in discretion. I don't see anybody more perceptive or who is so set apart in discretion as you.

[9:14] Is there anyone who has showed, for God has showed you all this. Literally, God has showed the whole. God revealed it all. God doesn't withhold. If he does, or it seems like, Well, God, why are you withholding?

[9:26] It's because of the season we're in. God knows when and where we need to be to receive the whole. Proverbs 9.10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

[9:40] Pharaoh was recognizing in Joseph the principle that only the divine can perceive the whole. Only God, the breath of Elohim, only God can be the one who perceives the whole.

[9:52] Only God is the one who is set apart under discretion. Do we want to partake of that? Do we want to experience that? We have a promise right here in Proverbs 9 that we can. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of that wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

[10:08] You say, but yeah, but I still feel like I never see the whole. It still seems like, no matter what, how close I get to God and what he's doing in my life, it just seems like there's a part I just can't see.

[10:20] Well, if you remember, what does the scripture say about God? That God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth, right? God is not constrained to the manifest world, to the physical world, right?

[10:32] He's outside of it. He's able to interact with it, but he's not constrained to it. So he's able to see what we can't and interact in ways that we can't. He sees the whole. 1 Corinthians 13, 12 kind of tells us where we're at.

[10:46] As Paul says, for now we see through a glass darkly. This is where we're currently at, but then we'll see face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am also known. You know, in my mind, I think like we probably know like 10%, right?

[10:59] We have all of God. We have the fullness of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing withheld, but it seems like I'm only ever grasping 10% of that. You know, it's probably more like, wait, wait, wait, wait down there.

[11:11] And that's okay. You don't have to apologize for that. If someone's like, well, you saying that you know God, well, how do you know that? Did you meet him? Did you knock on his door? Did you go to his house? Well, that's very easy to explain.

[11:22] You say, well, you don't understand God. You're trying to constrain God to his creation. Well, by logic and by nature, the creator cannot be part of his creation.

[11:33] Otherwise he couldn't create it, right? If you were dependent upon what you created, well, you couldn't create it, right? That's why evolution falls apart. It's very simple. Evolution tries to put the creation of existence while also being dependent on existence, right?

[11:47] Well, there wasn't oxygen and then oxygen just kind of developed. You know, we need like 19 point, I can't remember what percent it is of oxygen. You have one of those oxygen monitors, like if you're in construction, you're going to a confined space or something, that thing goes up or down by like half a percent and it'll go off and you can start getting lightheaded and all kinds of stuff, right?

[12:06] Well, evolution says, well, I know we need oxygen for existence, but it also evolves while we were existing. That's not possible. That's just nonsense, right? To try and constrain God to his existence, to his creation, I mean, it's also nonsensical.

[12:20] You know, we all have these, right? Phones, iPads, computers, and all that good stuff. Someone created that. Is the creator inside there running around and hitting all the little diodes and boop-a-dee-boop-boop-boop?

[12:31] No, he's outside of it, right? He's not constrained or inside his creation. So it's very natural when someone says, well, you know, I've never seen God and I don't see God, you know, walking around in his creation.

[12:42] Well, first of all, he did for a period of time. He did for 30 years. And second of all, we can tell there's a creator just by looking around. Someone created this, right? And the creator then is outside of that.

[12:53] Has he chosen to interact with us? He has through his word. But according to 1 Corinthians 13, it's like looking through, like looking through these windows before we cleaned them, right?

[13:03] It's like, I kind of see you out there, but we will know face-to-face because we will at that time, when we experience the resurrection, when we have a body at that time, when we see him face-to-face, we will know him as he is.

[13:19] But Pharaoh recognizes now, he recognizes in Joseph something. He recognizes something of God. He recognizes something that was necessary.

[13:30] He's like, I see something in you, it is necessary, but I don't have it. He sees something that's valuable, but he doesn't have it. He sees something that he did not have that he wished he had, but only Joseph had, right?

[13:43] Because it came from the Lord. Something necessary and something valuable, but something Pharaoh didn't have. So good on Pharaoh for not going, I feel threatened by you, see ya. Good on him for going, hey, I recognize who you are and I'm gonna respond to that.

[13:59] And he says then in verse 40, you should be over my house. Joseph's probably thinking, oh, goody. Every time God blesses me, I'm over someone else's house. More responsibility. You should be over my house and according unto your word shall all my people be ruled.

[14:15] Only in the throne will I be greater than you. According to your what? Your word. According to the word of the son of favor, Pharaoh's people would have life or death.

[14:30] That the son of favor, Joseph's word, became the life of the people. That's that picture of Jesus. The son of favor, he ruled Pharaoh's house. He was put in charge of it.

[14:41] He was put in responsible charge, right? How did he do that? He did it by his word. Psalm 119, 105 says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

[14:53] How are we led forth? By God's word. It's very simple. It's his word that speaks to us. It's his word that gives life, gives direction. And he says, only in the throne will I be greater than you, right?

[15:07] Well, that's kind of the same principle we were talking about the creator. If somebody gives you authority, well, your authority now derives from somewhere, right? You're not gonna be like, well, great, now that you've given me authority, I'll be greater than you.

[15:19] That was Satan's mistake, wasn't it? Oh, I shall be like God. I shall ascend into the hill of the most high. I shall be like the most high. Well, it's never gonna happen. It can't happen because he's the creator and the authority.

[15:31] So you can never usurp that. It's just, and you see the same thing. Jesus, as Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, he's describing Jesus's role in this idea of this like authority and submission to the father.

[15:44] He says, for he has put all things under his feet, but when he says all things are put under him, well, it's manifest that he's accepting that which did put all things under him. Like, so when scripture says all things have been put under his feet, well, obviously not the one who put all things under his feet, who would be God the father.

[16:02] When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him. Well, why? Why is the son for all of eternity subjecting himself to the father?

[16:16] Aren't they equal? You know, we looked at that the other night with young adults. We looked at the unity of God, God's attributes in nature, and the trinity of God. God is one. There's not multiple. And in fact, we looked at how it's logically impossible to have more than one ultimate supreme being.

[16:32] Well, that means not ultimate and supreme, right? You can only have one. So why would Jesus do this? That God may be all in all. Because if everything's under Jesus, and then he's under God, what does everything then consist of and under?

[16:48] God. That only in Christ can we fully come under God. As everything's under Jesus, and Jesus submits himself under God, under the father, then we experience that God may be all in all.

[17:01] And so Pharaoh, as he puts Joseph in authority, the next one down from him, he says that you may rule, that you may rule the people according to your word. That word ruled is a very interesting word.

[17:13] It means to arrange, to arm, to put together. It means to kiss. Two things coming together. As two people come together. The word literally means to come together.

[17:23] So where Pharaoh says, thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. According to your word shall these things be brought together.

[17:33] Shall I order my people? Shall I arrange them? Shall I arm them for battle? You're arranging for battle, right? Shall I bring them together? It's such a beautiful picture because in Psalm 58, the psalmist writes, I will hear what God the Lord will speak.

[17:49] For he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. In Joseph, we have this picture where he's bringing the people together.

[18:02] He's bringing them to the point where they connect with life. The life that he has to give them. He's not gonna rule it over them. He's just spent how many years learning how to deal with people?

[18:13] He dealt with the butler and the baker, right? He's dealt with his lazy boss in prison who just gave everything to him and then didn't know what was going on. He's dealt with Potiphar.

[18:24] He's dealt with Mrs. Potiphar. He knows how to handle people. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. I've bestowed upon you, Joseph, this responsibility.

[18:36] You are now responsible to all these people. All of these people, man, they're in your care. Joseph was responsible. His responsibility, it was to all, but his accountability was to one, right?

[18:50] In 1 John 4, verse 13, we read, hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world.

[19:05] It's one to many, right? Jesus, responsible. Responsibility was to all, right? His responsibility is to all. Jesus, it is on you now to be the savior of the world.

[19:17] But his accountability was to the one who sent him, was to the father. It's the same for us as he sends us out. He sends us out into the world, but we don't go based on our own authority, right?

[19:29] We go because he sends us and we go because we're accountable to him. My responsibility is to speak the word, to teach the truth to all of you, right?

[19:39] To anyone we come in contact with, to be the light of the world. But my accountability isn't to you. Whether you receive that truth or not, my accountability is to God. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand.

[19:50] And here we see Joseph's fourth garment and put it upon Joseph's hand and he arrayed him in vestures of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. So Abraham had four altars. Isaac had four wells.

[20:01] Jacob had four pillars. And Joseph has four garments. The garment of when he was in his father's house, the garment of when he was in the servant in Potiphar's house, the garment of a slave in the prison.

[20:13] And now he's arrayed in these fine vestures. And Pharaoh took off the ring from his hand. And it almost seems like this is Pharaoh doing this, taking off the ring, putting it on his hand, putting upon Joseph these vestures, putting the gold chain on, letting everyone know, I am the one putting this authority upon Joseph.

[20:28] Joseph received by favor, by grace, and by gift, what he could never have earned by effort. In one moment, Joseph, through no effort of his own, goes from being a slave in the prison to being the second greatest in the land, is raised up before Pharaoh.

[20:47] 1 Corinthians 4, 7, Paul writes, for who makes you to differ from another? Because the Corinthians were very contentious about, well, I got the gift of prophecy.

[21:01] I've got the gift of discernment. Well, I've got the gift of healing. They're very contentious and very competitive. So Paul says, who makes you to differ from one another?

[21:12] And what do you have that you did not receive? Now, if thou did receive it, why does thou glory, as if thou had not received it? What do we have we haven't received? How can we lord it over one another, or glory in something we've received?

[21:27] You know, at work, I work for a civil engineer, and I'm on a lot of different job sites. And this last week, I was on a new site, and the contractor there, and I always find it funny, because these guys that are contractors, they've been doing this since they're like teenagers.

[21:42] And they've grown up in this industry, now they're these superintendents, 30 years later of these jobs. But because who I represent, coming in representing the civil engineer, they expect me to know everything.

[21:53] I'm like, so many times, I'm like, oh boy. And so he's like, hey, I need to ask you something. And I'm walking towards his office trailer, and I'm thinking, oh boy, I don't really know this project very well yet.

[22:06] I just got on it. And I was praying, I'm like, Lord, I just need you, just like Joseph, Lord, I need you to give me favor. And it came right into my head, the scripture, where Pharaoh says to him, I hear you can interpret dreams.

[22:18] And Joseph goes, oh no, no, it's not in me. But it's in God to interpret dreams. I was like, yes, thank you, Lord. It's not in me. I don't have the answer. But I went in, and we talked, and we came up with an answer, and God was good.

[22:29] It turned out to be a much easier question than I thought. But man, I love when God's word is like that, right? It just, it comes to mind, it's not like, it's not like all of a sudden everything froze, and I was moving in slow motion, and then, the light shines, and then it's like that.

[22:43] It just, it comes to mind, and you're like, that was an interesting thought. That was probably coincidence. No, no, no. Begin to recognize that as God speaking to you, right? We're in this material world.

[22:54] God has chosen to speak to us through his word. He's not chosen to speak to us through flashy, shiny things, right? So when his word comes to our heart and mind, that is him speaking, and he will fulfill his word, always fulfills his word.

[23:07] And Pharaoh, now he makes a statement with Joseph. He wants to send him out. He wants all of Egypt to know what's going on, and he made him to ride in the second chariot, which he had, and they cried before him, bow the knee, and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

[23:22] We're going to look a little bit today, towards the end, at some evidence, archaeologically, that shows, you know, did this stuff happen? Or eventually, we'll get into Exodus at some point. And it's like, well, did that happen?

[23:35] Were they, was Israel slaves in Egypt? At the end of Genesis, Jacob's going to bring his whole family down into Egypt. Do we have evidence of that? So there's external evidence, but there's also internal evidence.

[23:46] There's a lot that's been happening here regarding Egypt, and some of that evidence we've already seen. The way the Egyptians in the text see themselves in dreams, because they prioritize dreams so highly, that every dream had an interpretation.

[23:59] And so the chief cupbearer, when he says, I saw myself in a dream, and then where Pharaoh saw himself in a dream, that was very Egyptian. Excuse me. Well, there's a word here, bow the knee, does not mean bow the knee.

[24:13] It's an Egyptian phrase. If you look it up in your concordance, it'll say, probably Egyptian could be, and give a meaning. But that Egyptian phrase, the idea is more, let your heart remain with you.

[24:25] So as they're going, they're taking Joseph out. Before him are all the people that would announce, right? You didn't send out a text, you didn't have billboards, you didn't have signs, you would send him out in his chariot, he'd be all done up, and you'd send runners ahead of him, make way, make way, you know, for Joseph.

[24:41] And they would cry, let your heart remain with you. I was like, well, what does that mean? I think what it means is, they're acknowledging, one, who Joseph is, and the hope that they have in Joseph. Man, let your heart remain with you.

[24:53] That which is in you, this man has something within him, that is going to benefit us all. And they're all crying out, yes, let your heart remain with you. Let that which God has put in you, remain with you, for our deliverance.

[25:08] And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without you, shall no man lift up his foot, or no man lift up his hand or foot, in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh's letting it known, to Joseph, and to all of those around him, that Joseph's source of authority was unquestionable.

[25:25] Well, who gave you authority? Look at my ring, look at my robes, let me go and talk to Pharaoh, I'll go get him. Right? We have the same thing. Who gave you authority? Well, you can't see my ring, my crown, and my robes, but I got them.

[25:36] And oh, I can go talk to him at any time. And he's the one who gives me authority. Right? We have the same authority. Our authority is not questioned. It comes from, it comes from our father.

[25:47] It comes from God. Jesus, when he was sending out the apostles, again, after the resurrection, in Matthew 28, Jesus said, and he came unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth.

[26:00] All authority is Jesus's. Go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

[26:12] Lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. Jesus says, I'm the source of your authority and I got your back. I'm with you till the end of the world.

[26:23] And what was it that Joseph, that Pharaoh says to Joseph, he says, nobody's going to lift their hand or their foot. Joseph, the walk that people have will be according to your word. Joseph, son of favor, only deliverer, sent to deliver people, God's people and the Gentiles.

[26:40] They will only lift up their foot. They will only walk according to your word. Second John 1.6 says, and this is love that we walk after his commandments, where his commandments found?

[26:51] In his word. This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. Okay, well, what are God's commands? You know, I know there's the 10 commandments. Is that what it means? There's a lot of commands in Leviticus.

[27:02] Well, 1 John 5.3 says, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. This isn't something hard, guys. It's not something difficult. Just read your Bible two times a day for seven hours each and then, no, it's not hard.

[27:18] There's no requirements. So, well, what is the command of God then? Well, it's funny you ask that because Jesus was asking the same thing in John chapter 6, beginning verse 28. They said unto him, what shall we do that we might work the works of God?

[27:31] What is the command? Tell us what it is. Well, keep it. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe on him who he has sent. You and I are told to keep the commands of God.

[27:44] What is that command? Man, it's to trust in Jesus. It's to have faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Without faith, we shall not see God. What is God's command that's not grievous?

[27:56] What is God's command that he displays his love to us? It's obedience to him through faith. We put our trust in him and he does the rest. And Pharaoh now renames Joseph.

[28:07] He says, Joseph, Joseph. It just doesn't fit right. Joseph. You need a good Egyptian name. Way too short, Joseph. So he called his name Zaphnath-Panea.

[28:18] Sounds like a Mediterranean dish or something. Zaphnath-Panea. It means revealer of a secret, treasury of the glorious rest, savior of the age.

[28:31] Again, it's an Egyptian term. And it's like, well, what does it mean? What I think it does is encompasses everything that God was doing in Joseph that he put in him. For Pharaoh, he said, Joseph, I'm going to call you by who I know you to be in your God.

[28:44] I'm going to call you by who I know you are in God. The revealer of secrets, treasury of the glorious rest, savior of the age. That's our savior.

[28:56] Jesus, right? The Messiah, right? Joshua, the Yeshua, the revealer of secrets, the treasury of the glorious rest, and the savior of the age.

[29:09] And he was given a wife, and his wife was Asanath. That just means belonging to the god Nath, or Nith. And then, she was the daughter of Potiphar, priest of An. That means he whom Ra gave.

[29:20] Joseph, and Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Where's Joseph? He's in Egypt. Where's his home?

[29:32] Back in Canaan. That's where his brethren are. What has he just received? A Gentile bride. A Gentile bride separated from his people, rejected by his brethren, and away from his land.

[29:44] Joseph, the son of favor, receives this Gentile bride while dwelling in a strange land after being separated from his people and rejected by his brethren. Man, it's everywhere, guys.

[29:55] The gospel, God's plan is everywhere. Jesus, rejected by his brethren, dwelling outside the land, he turns, and he offers salvation to the Gentiles. Does that mean he's done with Israel?

[30:07] Right? No, sorry. Jacob and the boys and the family, God's done with you. He's focused on Joseph and Egypt. No, not at all. His deliverance will encompass all of them. Joseph, now marries his Gentile bride.

[30:19] He's going to have two sons by her. After that, we will never hear of her again. She's gone. It's like she disappears. But what we'll see again is at the time of Jacob's trouble, when he comes down to Joseph for deliverance for his, and during the time of Jacob and his family's trouble, Joseph will present his sons to Jacob, but the Gentile bride is nowhere to be seen.

[30:43] Right? Such a beautiful picture of God's plan of grace and redemption. People say, well, the rapture, you know, the rapture's a new concept made by Darby in the 1800s.

[30:55] Are you kidding? The rapture is the resurrection. Read your Bible. Without resurrection, right, the dead in Christ will rise first. To die, to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, that's not our final state, is to receive a new body in resurrection.

[31:10] So whether we die or live, we will receive that in the resurrection. Without that, Paul says we have no hope. If there's no resurrection, we are among most men, or among all men most miserable. So Joseph now is this beautiful picture of Christ and his work among the Gentiles and among the sons of Israel.

[31:27] He receives this Gentile bride. And Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Jacob would be 121 years old at this time. Amazing thing I didn't realize, I didn't put it up there or bring it with me, the timelines that we had printed out.

[31:42] We may still have some. Isaac is alive. Isaac is alive right up until this point. I think it's like three years before Joseph is made prime minister of Egypt.

[31:54] Isaac dies. That means Isaac is alive when Joseph is sold into slavery, into Egypt. It's just crazy when you realize the ages and God's overlap with people. So Joseph is 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

[32:07] And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And so Joseph has a season of preparation. It was a long one. It was a hard one. But what happens with every season?

[32:17] We said it last time. Every season has an end point. It has a culmination. Well, that wouldn't be a season. It's like, well, we have the four seasons, but one of them never ends.

[32:28] Well, then you don't have four seasons. It wouldn't be called a season. Every season of preparation has a culmination. Right? God has his perfect timing. God's timing is never constrained by nor dependent upon man's timing.

[32:41] God has his timing for every season. His season of preparation will have a culmination. There's not anything I'm going to do to speed it up. Slow it down. He has that perfect season and he has his timing.

[32:53] Now, whether I partake in that or not, that's where the question is. Right? I can be a part of what God's doing. I can be part of his plan and work with him or not.

[33:05] In Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah has overheard the voice of the Lord. And he's saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? God is saying, I'll send anybody willing.

[33:16] Who's going to go? When Jesus said, Go you into all the world and preach the gospel. That encompassed all of us. It wasn't just specifically for the disciples. Whom shall I go?

[33:26] Or whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then Isaiah said, Well, he's kind of looking around and he's like, I'll go. You're mine. The Lord's like, Good. Sold. Let's go. God has his timing.

[33:40] God has his seasons. Our part is, are we going to walk in that? In his timing? In his seasons? Or am I going to fight against that? Because it's not my time. It's not my season. Very, a very, what's the word?

[33:56] Totally blanked on the word. Anyway, a very important principle. Never stay. Profound. That was the word. Very profound principle and truth.

[34:08] Never stay when it's time to go. I was like, well, duh. Never stay when it's time to go. I think, well, I wouldn't do that. You know, Isaiah, he said, here am I, send me. And God says, go. He's like, yes, I'm going to go.

[34:20] Jesus says to the disciples, you know, go, but wait until you receive the promise from the Father that I'll send, and then go. And they're like, charged up with the Holy Spirit. Let's go. But it's not always easy to go, is it?

[34:31] Sometimes we're told to go into a situation that may not be one that we would choose. As Jesus is praying in the garden, he's sweating drops of blood.

[34:41] The intensity in which the Son of God in human flesh is praying is almost destroying the human flesh. That he's sweating drops of blood as he prays intently, saying, Father, take this cup from me.

[34:54] If there be any other way, take this cup from me. But then in victory, he says, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. He goes back to the disciples who are sleeping, and he says to them, rise, let us be going.

[35:06] We can't stay here. It's time to go. Behold, he is at hand that does betray me. Never stay when it's time to go. Even if it's time to go to crucifixion, right? We don't hold back. When God puts us in one of those seasons that, the season of preparation or of suffering, he says, God, I don't want this.

[35:22] Know that it's a season, that he has a culmination, but never stay when it's time to go. On the seven plenteous years, the earth brought forth by handfuls. And so here we have the beginning of the prophecy coming to pass, the dream coming true.

[35:37] And in the seven plenteous years, the earth brought forth by handfuls, literally like, you know, you're trying to contain it and you can't. And every time you grab another handful, it's just spilling out of your hands. There's so much of this. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt.

[35:50] And he laid up the food in the cities, the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much until he left numbering, for it was without number.

[36:04] So he's not gathering corn like we think of corn, right? It's grain. It's wheat. So at this time, you have the cattle producing like you've never seen before. You have agriculture producing like you've never seen before.

[36:18] They didn't have refrigeration. What are you going to store up for seven years? Joseph is going out and gathering all the grain that he can. And he's storing it. Most likely, Joseph was the greatest administrator, the greatest accountant that the world's ever seen until Solomon comes on the scene, right?

[36:34] And yet it says it got to the point where Joseph said, we can't even number it anymore. I mean, you can see him like trying to scratch their hieroglyphics and like their clay or whatever. And it's got tablet after tablet or their papyrus, right?

[36:44] And it's just like, they couldn't even number it. Man cannot quantify God's sufficiency. When God provides, when God chooses to bless, you're not going to quantify it.

[36:55] There's no way you can quantify God's sufficiency. And Psalm 139, beginning in verse 17, he says, how precious also are your thoughts unto me. Remember those thoughts we read about in Jeremiah 29, 11?

[37:08] The thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, are not of evil, but of peace. Those thoughts, David writes, how precious are your thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them.

[37:19] If I could count them, they are more in number than the sand. Those thoughts of peace that God has towards us, not of evil, they're more in number than the sand. You and I usually think linearly and singularly, right?

[37:32] The thing that's in front of you that is most pressing, that's what we think of. Service ends, you think, lunch. What am I going to eat for lunch? Right? Unless, you know, as you're talking to someone, God brings a brother or sister, as you're talking, you're like, you know what?

[37:45] This is what we need to focus on right now. What's going on? We need to pray. We need to seek the Lord. And then it goes back to lunch. But we don't know, we don't realize this.

[37:56] God's thinking constantly, thoughts more innumerable than the sand of the sea. He's thinking, you know what? I wonder, I want that bird to fly across their path. Not even to notice it, but that's going to do something in their heart.

[38:06] Then I'm going to recognize that. The breeze is blowing just right. I'm going to have this person say this to them. We don't even know all that God is thinking towards us and planning and bringing about as we are just like focused on the one thing, as God is just pouring blessing into our lives.

[38:22] And Joseph, in this season of fruitfulness, he now experienced his own season of fruitfulness. In verse 50, Joseph, unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came. So within seven years, which Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of An, bear unto him.

[38:36] And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. For God said, he has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. So Manasseh just means causing to forget.

[38:48] Forget. The idea of forget is to neglect or to cause to forget or allow to be forgotten. In the New Testament, you see forget, or I mean forgive. The idea is to release.

[38:59] You let it go. The word here, forget, means more of a choice. I'm neglecting it. I'm no longer paying attention to it. I'm no longer holding on to it. I'm not remembering it anymore by choice.

[39:12] Because you think, wait a minute. Joseph, you named your son causing to forget. Forgetting. You know, every time then you say Manasseh, you're going to remember his name means forget.

[39:23] And you're going to remember what you're forgetting. So isn't that just going to constantly trigger remembering your father's home and God's toil? What does this mean that you don't remember? In Hebrews 8, 12, God speaking, says, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

[39:45] What does that mean? God forgot them? Wait. God's omniscient. He's all-knowing. How's he going to forget them? He chose to not remember. Right? Faith chooses to forget what God no longer remembers.

[39:59] God doesn't remember it. So I don't need to either. I can choose to forget it. For Joseph, it's not like when his brothers show up, he's like, I don't know who you are. I forgot my father's house. Right? But he's chosen not to remember the things that God has forgotten.

[40:13] Obviously, God's work in his life now is not dependent upon his past or his family or the situation that happened there. That is not what God is doing. Joseph is now second in the land.

[40:24] What does he not do? We're so used to the story, we don't realize it. He doesn't say, Hey, Pharaoh, bro, can I take two weeks vacation? I want to go back to Canaan. I got to go back and talk to dad.

[40:36] I got to go back and talk to the brothers. I got to go show up with my ring and my cloak and my second chariot. He doesn't do that. He doesn't do that. He also doesn't say, I need to go make things right. I need to reconcile.

[40:46] I need to fix this. He says, No, God obviously is not about that right now. God is having me focus on something different. He's removed me from there and he's giving me a calling and a position here.

[40:57] He's not doing that. Now, is God still interested in that? Yeah, and it's going to happen. It will. But it's going to take a couple more years. So Joseph, where he says, God's caused me to forget.

[41:07] It's not that he doesn't remember them or care about them. But he knows he's forgotten when it no longer affects him. It's something that doesn't weigh on him all the time.

[41:19] Because why? It doesn't weigh on God. If God has chosen to move on from something, we need to as well. Philippians 3, verse 13 says, Paul says, Brethren, I count not myself to apprehended, to have apprehended, to lay hold of the things to come in Christ.

[41:35] But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

[41:45] Paul says, God has put things in front of me he wants me to grab onto. That means I got to let go of stuff that is holding on to me and I'm holding on to it. And I look at that and I say, Lord, but there's work that needs to be done there.

[41:58] And God would say, yes, there is. Leave it with me. I'm putting this in front of you. Let's go do this. We never see Joseph fighting against this idea of what God's doing in his life. And then he has a second son in verse 52.

[42:10] And the name of the second was called Ephraim or to be fruitful or literally doubly fruitful because God has blessed him twice, two sons. For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction, says Joseph.

[42:23] Only once we let go of those things that are holding us and holding on to us, can we then receive the fruitfulness and blessing that God wants to add. Proverbs 20, I'm sorry, 10 verse 22 says, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he adds no sorrow with it.

[42:41] It's fantastic, right? God's blessing, it makes rich, adds value. It adds, it causes more to be than what previously was. But what it does not add is sorrow.

[42:51] Now, God's blessing may come through sorrow. It can come through a season of sorrow, but the end will never be in sorrow. It will be in blessing. I just found this little comic I thought was great where Linus says to Charlie Brown, pain looks great on other people.

[43:08] It's like, Lord, I want to see you do great things, impossible things. I want to see you heal. I want to see you do mighty works. Now bring someone for me to pray for so I can watch you do that. But then God says, no, I want to do that in your life.

[43:19] I want to bring you through a season of suffering. But God, I thought you make, your blessing, it makes rich. You don't add sorrow. He says, no, I don't. But that blessing may come through suffering. Psalm 23, you know, the Lord, the good shepherd, we all know the psalm.

[43:34] You get down to verse four, and it says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. So before that, he's being led to these different places, the still water, the green pastures, but only in the valley of the shadow of death does he say, you are with me.

[43:51] He recognizes the nearness of his presence. He gets through that, the psalmist. He's like, oh, I got through the valley of the shadow of death. It was a season. It's over. And in verse five, it says, thou preparest a table before me.

[44:04] And he's like, yes, all right. We're going to have a fellowship meal. Let's eat. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anoints my head with oil and my cup runs over.

[44:16] In the presence of mine enemies. God, your blessing here? Well, yes, because God's blessing can be not just in seasons of fruitfulness and plenty, but even when we're in the face of our enemies, right?

[44:28] What sheep, by their nature, they won't settle down, they won't lay down, and they won't eat unless they're comfortable. That's why it says, he makes me to lie down in green pastures. The sheep has to feel very comfortable and safe before they'll lay down.

[44:40] He leaves me beside the still waters. The sheep aren't going to drink if they feel threatened. They're going to keep their heads up, right? So even in the presence of mine enemies, I can be at rest. And the presence of mine enemy is God's anointing and God's blessing.

[44:54] He anoints my head with oil and my cup runs over. So God's blessing may come through a season of sorrow, but it will never end in sorrow because it adds no sorrow with it. And God's favor, God's favor led to a forgotten past, Manasseh, and a fruitful future.

[45:10] Aphrio. And this is where Joseph finds himself now. So quickly, his season ended, right? Some seasons are quick and some are long. I love, I'm from upstate New York, so all winter long down here feels like fall.

[45:23] It's amazing. It's wonderful. By the end of winter this year, I was ready for spring. I was like, yeah, I'm ready for some warmth. By the, after the first week of 90s, I'm counting down the months.

[45:35] Three months, and we'll be in October. Yes. Some seasons seem long and some just change. You think of when spring is coming, especially in the south, and everything seems dead and you see the buds begin to appear and all of a sudden it's like the next day they explode with pollen and life.

[45:50] You just see green everywhere. And that's Joseph. A long season of being dormant, being a preparation of suffering. It just instantly turns around to the season of fruitfulness in his life.

[46:03] But, in verse 53, the seven years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt, they came to an end. Right? They came to an end. God had provided exactly as he said he would in that season.

[46:16] In every season, God is our resource. Whether in the season of plenty or the season of famine, God is the resource. It's the same. Right? I was thinking about if you were the Egyptians and you're living in Egypt and you've heard about Joseph and he's going through this street and you're hearing, you know, may your heart remain with you or whatever.

[46:34] And you're like, who is that guy? And then he's out taxing you. And you're like, you know what? Tax me, bro. I've got 100 times more this year than I had last year. Take 20%. Whatever. But four years go by and five years and six years and you are, it's so plenteous.

[46:51] Maybe by six and a half years, maybe by the fifth year, I might be saying, do we really think there's seven years of famine coming, guys? It's great. I mean, do we really think this is going to happen?

[47:03] That it's all going to fall apart in an instant? It's just going to change like that? Come on. The gods have been blessing us. The Nile's overflowing. I don't think that's all going to end. In 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 3, Peter warns us.

[47:18] He says, know this, that there will come in the last days scoffers walking after their own desires and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

[47:34] Are you kidding? We've had year after year of blood. You think Joseph was responsible for that? You think he was responsible for these seven years? It's just going to keep on going. Things will turn around.

[47:45] So the world's about to fall apart and people about to nuke each other and they attempted to assassinate a former president yesterday. You know what? It'll all work out. It always does. Verse 5 says, for this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.

[48:03] They are willingly ignorant that the creator called his creation to account and judgment came. They are willingly ignorant of that. I don't want to know that. I don't want to know I'm accountable to God and I don't want to know that he's a God who judges.

[48:17] And so as this change begins to happen you wonder were the people ready for it? And I don't think they were. Verse 54, And the seven years of dearth began to come according as Joseph had said and the dearth or famine was in all the lands but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

[48:36] There was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Guys, you had seven years. You didn't store up anything for yourself. No, they weren't ready.

[48:48] And Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians you go on to Joseph what he says to you do. You go to Joseph. The people were going to be sustained by the word of Joseph. It was his word the son of favor the word of the son of favor who sustained the people.

[49:05] Matthew 4.4 As Jesus responds to Satan's temptation in the wilderness and he says man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

[49:15] Pharaoh says you go to Joseph it's by his word the word that comes from his mouth that you will live. In John 6 verse 47 Jesus says truly truly I say unto you he that believes on me has everlasting life I am that bread of life comparing himself to the manna in the wilderness.

[49:34] And the famine verse 56 was over all the face of the earth whoa this is more than just Egypt this is unknown this is like new revelation this wasn't part of Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream and the famine was over all the face of the earth and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold them to the Egyptians and the famine wax soar in the land of Egypt so it got worse and worse until he now begins to open the storehouses but what does he not do?

[50:03] He doesn't just give it out. He sold it He sold it and we're going to see in the next chapter how that all plays out but to receive life an exchange had to happen he said you want life?

[50:14] There's going to be an exchange there needs to be an exchange for you to get life we read in Ezekiel 36 of an exchange that needs to take place for life to happen this is speaking of the nation Israel but we can apply it as well spiritually a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them there had to be an exchange I need to take out I need to take out the stony heart put in the heart of flesh the living heart as the Egyptians come to Joseph the son of favor they wanted to receive life there needed to be an exchange so was there a famine was there actually a famine in the land of Egypt do we have any record of that well there's this thing it's called a famine stel I think the way that's pronounced in an island in the Nile River and it dates back to about 300 BC but the account that's written on it is speaking of an account that happened much sooner and if it was a little bigger you'd be able to read the hieroglyphics

[51:22] I'm sure what it says is it recounts a story from Egypt's distant past of a famine in a period of seven years grain was scarce kernels were dried up scarce indeed was every kind of food children cried youngsters fell the hearts of the old were grieving legs drawn up they hugged the ground their arms clasped about them courtiers were needy temples were shut shrines covered with dust everyone was in distress that's what that says in hieroglyphics written there 300 years before Christ was born written by of an account that happened in Egypt many years earlier the account proceeds to describe a dream had by the pharaoh for which an answer was provided in which the father of the gods would make the Nile swell without there being a year of lack and exhaustion in the whole land so the plants would flourish bending under their fruit and everything will be brought forth by the millions in whose granary there had been dearth the land of Egypt is now beginning to stir again so is there evidence there is and when we get into when Jacob and his family come into Egypt there's a whole lot more evidence archaeologically so external and internal so the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt and verse 57 says and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn

[52:49] Joseph had no idea as he's storing up seven years of plenty for Egypt it was said that there was enough food in Egypt I think if you calculate that they were 80% production rate above their usual and he was tithing 20% off of that then it could have been food for 125 years for Egypt then you have all these other nations now that the famine was sore Joseph had no idea that his obedience to God's word would have a worldwide impact did he he had no idea that if he obeyed God's word the whole world would be affected by one man's obedience to God's word we will never be able to quantify there's our word there quantify quantifying God's resources and we can never quantify the extent of the impact of our obedience to God's word you'll never quantify that you'll never know what your obedience to God's word had until we're in eternity until you see the fruit of that and you're gonna go but then you're gonna take your crown the Lord's gonna say and here's a crown for that and you're gonna go whoa whoa whoa you're gonna throw it back at his feet and go

[53:54] I had nothing to do with this Lord it was all you and yet it says in I think it's in Luke where it says to be like those that are watching and awaiting their master's return and that when he comes from the wedding feast he will find those waiting and what will he do he will take them in he will set them down and it says and he will serve them that doesn't make any sense they're just doing their job they're staying awake and watching for him when he comes home master I'm glad you're home it should say they serve him but it says he will serve them and it's crazy that's what Jesus is gonna do Jesus is gonna be the one we're gonna throw our crowns at his feet and he's gonna sit us down probably put the little crown back on our head and say let me serve you Isaiah 60 verse 1 it says arise and shine for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you for behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee and the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising as all the Gentile nations come to the Son of Favor to the only deliverer on the planet who is ready to give them life but what had to happen to receive life in exchange needs to happen we can't enter into that life unless we're willing to partake in the exchange

[55:16] Galatians 2 20 says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me in the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me there's an exchange it's my life for his what do I get I get his life and then I get his I get his faith to live by his faith and then he serves and rewards me someday because of what he's done and listen our season of need is also a season of provision because you think I have nothing to offer I don't have anything an exchange needs to happen well the Egyptians could at least buy food with money I've got nothing I have nothing to offer him what am I going to give him Isaiah 55 verse 1 says ho everyone that thirsts come you to the waters and he that has no money come you buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price come freely it's better than a sale it's free and continuing on in the rest of that there's a next few verses but way too small to put up there he says wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not hearken diligently unto me and eat you that which is good let your soul delight itself in fatness incline your ear and come unto me here and your soul shall live and I'll make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David behold

[56:52] I have given him for a witness to the people a leader and a commander of the people behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified thee seek you the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts and what are those thoughts?

[57:42] they're thoughts of peace that he has towards us God sent his only begotten son into the world one deliverer the son of favor man we can have life we have to agree to the exchange and it's a good deal a very good deal I'll pray and then they'll close and then you're dismissed but if you'd like to pray I'd love to pray with you and you know this week as we go through our week know that the son of favor has his favors towards you right and we have his word and he'll speak to our hearts and minds those aren't coincidences right that's not just because well it's probably something that pastor said on Sunday and I know God is speaking to us he's chosen to speak to his creation from outside his creation but he's chosen to speak through the simplest of means through his word but if we're not reading his word we're not gonna know his word and then I'm gonna think God I wish I wish I knew what to do in this situation it's not that he's not there we don't have the Holy Spirit it's not that he can't direct but man we're not gonna hear him speaking if we don't know what he's already saying in his word so I encourage you let's not just be a church that you know we continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine in breaking bread in fellowship and in prayer but let's also be a reading church and let's be in the word and let God speak to us

[59:01] Father thank you that your thoughts Lord innumerable more innumerable than the sand of the sea how wonderful Lord and then we wonder what are those thoughts well you tell us what they are are there thoughts of peace and not of evil to give us an expected end a future a hope something that's already predetermined you didn't predestinate us force us into heaven or hell but you have predetermined a destiny for us that we can walk in just like the Egyptians and all the nations around when they would come to Pharaoh when they would come to Egypt and they would be sent to Joseph and they would stand there before him who had the power of life or death in his word there had to be an exchange he was willing ready and willing to give them life but they had to be ready and willing for the exchange Lord I thank you so much for the life you've given us for giving us your life for sweating those drops of blood for going when you could have stayed going to the cross and now you have exchanged your wonderful glorious spirit filled breath of God life you have given that to us freely and all we have to do is the commands the works of God which is to believe to say yes you can have my life you can have my sin you can have you can have this because I couldn't do anything with it anyway thank you for the life you give us thank you for being the name and the only name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved we love you and we praise you

[60:41] Jesus Amen