Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying,
“Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants
well. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your
brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of
Canaan. 18 Bring your father and your households
and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of
Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land. 19 Now
you are commanded—do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little
ones and your wives; bring your father and come. 20 Also
do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the
land of Egypt is yours.’ ”
21 Then the
sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them carts, according to
the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the
journey. 22 He gave to all of them, to each
man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three
hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. 23 And
he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the good
things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for
his father for the journey. 24 So he sent his brothers
away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become
troubled along the way.”
25 Then they
went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their
father. 26 And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still
alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s
heart stood still, because he did not believe them. 27 But
when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he
saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of
Jacob their father revived. 28 Then Israel said, “It
is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go
and see him before I die.”
GRACE
Joseph’s behavior brought favor with
Pharaoh.
Joe’s bros have come.
“Oh no, not more of them!” ...is not what they
said.
It pleased Pharaoh and his servants well.
That reflects on Joseph,
not the brothers.
Had Joseph been arrogant or grumpy, or bossy, or
bitter, they wouldn’t be pleased to hear there were eleven more just like him.
With that said, let’s ask ourselves:
Does my behavior promote favor?
Proverbs
3:3-4
Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor
and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
We recently had a Bizarre in our little village. We had venders and raffles and entertainment and food and everything you can imagine for sale. Folks came from far and wide.
It’s fun and exciting and exhausting. It's a ton of work and can produce two tons of stress.
Be honest, ask
yourself: During the bizarre, how was my behavior? (If you weren’t with
us, ask yourself how you behalf during a bizarre event like ours).
Full of mercy and Truth? or... bizarre? Arrogant? Grumpy?
Bossy? Bitter?
Does my behavior curry favor, or fury?
Proverbs
15:1
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Are my words soft, or sharp? Does my behavior stir up
peace and harmony or wrath and anger?
The screen on my laptop looks like this:
This should be our daily, or perhaps hourly, prayer:
Psalm
19:14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Did you notice, Joseph acted according
to the command of Pharaoh? Genesis 45:21.
Joseph was obedient.
Obedience brings understanding.
Obedience brings promotion.
Did you know that Jesus was obedient?
Luke
2:51-52
Then He (Jesus at 12 years old)
went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject (obedient)
to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And
Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with
God and men.
Philippians
2:8
And being found in appearance as a man, He
(Jesus) humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a
cross.
Jesus was obedient, therefore God highly exalted Him
that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord! Philippians 2:9-11.
Hebrews
5:7-9
During
the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud
cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard
because of His reverence. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned
obedience from what He suffered. 9 And having been made
perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who
obey Him.
This verse says, Jesus is the Source of Salvation to all who obey Him.
There’s more to the Bible than John 3:16.
There’s more than just “believing.” The
demons believe and tremble. James 2:19.
Now, let’s ask ourselves:
Does my obedience curry favor with God?
Who is Lord of my life? Who’s the boss? Who calls the
shots?
It’s not obedience until you yield to what
you want to disobey.
In the Garden, Jesus said it like this: Not
My will, but Thine. Luke 22:42.
John the Baptist said it like this: He must
increase, I must decrease. John 3:30.
Grace: unmerited favor.
It was by grace that Joseph’s
brothers were given favor.
It was all Joseph. What Joe did.
The brothers did nothing to deserve favor with Pharaoh,
or Joseph.
They did a lot to earn fury. Rejected Joseph, abused him,
were guilty of attempted murder and human trafficking.
But because of their relationship with Joseph,
not their good deeds, but their relationship, grace was
extended to them.
Oh, how Joseph loved his brothers and
wanted restoration with them, so much so that he was willing to
forgive their sins against him and welcome them with open arms.
Oh, how much more does Christ love us!
Romans
5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
It was all Jesus. What
Jesus did.
GRACE.
Amazing grace how sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me...
GIFTS
Pharaoh told Joseph to have them load your beasts
(Gen. 45:17, KJV). Is that akin to the Presidential limo?
The carts would be top of the line Pharaoh
Force One.
Then, they were provided everything they needed for
the journey. Even more than they needed; exceedingly abundantly above and
beyond all they could ask or think.
Remember, they were in the midst of famine, yet just
like that they were overtaken with abundance.
Why?
Because of grace overflowing from their relationship
with Joseph.
Jesus puts our relationship with Him and His provision
for us like this:
“Therefore,
do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’
or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the
Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things
shall be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33.
Peter tells us:
2
Peter 1:3
His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life
and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and
virtue,
Life and Godliness,
is far beyond, food, and drink and clothes and material
things.
It’s Jesus saying, I’ve come that you have Life
more abundantly. John 10:10.
The True Treasure, the True Gifts aren’t carnal gifts
that rust and corrode and grow old.
They are the Gifts from Heaven, the Gifts Jesus loved
to talk about most, the Gifts that last forever, are Gifts from His Holy
Spirit.
According to Jesus His Holy Spirit is our, Helper, Teacher, Guide, and Spirit of Truth; He abides with us, reminds us, testifies through us, and tells us of things to come. John 14:15-16, 15:26, 16:13.
Being filled with His Holy Spirit produces His fruit
which is:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians
5:22-23.
The Fruit of the Holy Spirit can be seen
in countenance and behavior.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts of:
Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healings, Miracles, Prophecy, Discernment, Tongues, Interpretation. 1 Corinthians 12:4, 8-11, 28.
All those are characteristics of folks filled with the
Holy Spirit.
Do they describe you?
Are you filled with the Holy
Spirit?
You can be
Do you want to be?
You should.
GATHERING
Notice when Joseph saw the carts, he
believed. (Gen. 45:27)
The most important goal of Gifts, is so
others will see and believe.
Jacob believed and said it is enough, my son lives,
I will go see him before I die.
Jacob wouldn’t give two plug nickels for all that
stuff, what he cared about, what mattered to him, what he’d give
everything he owned for, was relationship. His son was dead, and now he’s alive
again, was lost and now he’s found. He’s resurrected from the dead, and I’m
going to see him!
The source of the stuff was what
mattered to Jacob. Not the stuff. The source, his boy, Joseph.
Some tourists from a remote undeveloped middle eastern
desert visited a fancy hotel in New York. They were amazed at how with the turn
of a knob they had all the fresh water they could imagine. Upon departure they
were caught trying to steal the faucets, thinking with them they’d solve all
their water problems back home.
They didn’t understand the source.
Or the Source.
John
4:14
Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the
water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up
into everlasting life.
John
7:38
He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water.
Revelation
22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty
come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.
The invitation is extended by grace to all. Some
of God’s gifts are showered on all; the sun shines, the rain falls,
on the just and the unjust.
However, the grace
and the gifts, are poured out for a purpose; to prepare for the Great
Gathering of God’s children.
This gathering has a very strict border policy. Only
those who’ve obediently accepted by grace the free gift of
Salvation, will be admitted to the place where there will be no more famine, no
more dying, no more sorrow, or sickness, or crying or tears, or fear, or goodbyes.
Love eternal, joy everlasting, above and beyond all we
could ever ask or think.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank You for your grace. By
faith in Your grace, we receive Your free gift of Salvation. But we don’t stop
there. We’ve heard Your Word today, that calls us beyond
belief to obedience.
We pray the words of our mouth and the
meditations of our heart are pleasing to You our Lord, our Strength, our
Redeemer.
We receive You Holy Spirit, with open hearts
and open arms so every gift You want to give us can flow through us. So, at
that great gathering, of all those You’ve given us, none will be lost.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
Call or text: 612-554-2522
Email: pray4measap@aol.com
Facebook: Church at WPV
Books: amazon.com/author/dougspurling
Watch online:
Facebook: Grace,
Gifts, Gathering, Genesis 45:16-28
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Gathering, Genesis 45:16-28
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you
to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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