[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”“Judah’s & Joseph’s Partnership Parallels How To Overcome Problems In The Church” Gen 46 Sermon Notes July 8 2018″ _builder_version=”3.8″]
(1) Walk Thru The Word for Today: Gen 46: 28–34 (Judah Goes Ahead & Paves The Way for Israel To Meet Pharaoh)
28He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. 29Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” 31Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 33When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
(2) Gen 47: 1 – 6 (Israelites are generationally Skilled shepherds, sojourning On A temporary stay in Egypt)
1So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” 2And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. 3Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” 4They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” 5Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
(3) Walk Thru The Word for Today: Gen 47: 7 – 12
(Jacob Meets & Blesses Pharaoh)
7Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.10And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.
(4) (Yellow – Not In Your Notes)
The New Testament explains God’s principles
The Old Testament shows us the processes of how those principles work in our lives!
- The Old Testament traces a family bloodline to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- God nurtures that family into a nation, and society that will receive and safeguard His Word.
- God’s Old Testament Word points to and prepares us for His Messiah!
- The Old Testament uses the members of that bloodline as the primary examples to demonstrate how God works in the lives of His people then and now.
- The New Testament shows how Christ fulfills the Old Testament through His redemptive “Born Again” experience, and how God uses the transformed disciples to spread the Gospel and explain God’s principles that transform our lives and civilization!
(5) Message map: Series: #10 Bouncing Back From Betrayal!
Gen. 45:25—46: 27
“Judah’s & Joseph’s Partnership Provides The Pattern For How The Church Overcomes It’s InterPersonal Problems”
- Judah Bounces Back Thru Repentance, Redemption & Restoration & Jump Starts The Relocation of Israel
- Joseph & Judah Represent How The Church Overcomes Problems by Faithfully Receiving God’s Provision That Empower Us To Walk In His Promises.
- Joseph Introduces His Family To Pharaoh & Discerns The Protocol That Paves Their Way To Blessing
- God’s Sovereignty Sets A Table for Israel In The Good Land of Goshen
- “Overcomers” Bounce Back from Betrayal By Adhering To 3 Disciplines
(6) Gen. 46: 28 (ESV), (Judah Jump Starts The Relocation)
Judah represents …
- Repentance — Judah’s is a repentance that leads to salvation. (2 Cor. 7:10, Gen. 38:26)
- 2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
- In Gen 38: 26,Judah repents and says of Tamar, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he [Judah] did not know her again.”
- Redemption, Judah Transforms from Bargaining for gold to sell Joseph in Gen. 37: 36 To Bartering himself for Benjamin In Gen. 44: 32-34,
- In 44: 32-34, Judah tells Joseph, whom he thinks is an Egyptian, like Pharaoh, 32For your servant became a pledge of safety (KJV = surety) for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33Now therefore, please let your servant remain [a hostage] instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
- Restoration (renewal) Judah transitions from abandoning/forsaking & rebelling against his family and his call that leads to the entanglement with Tamar in Gen 38
- We see Judah return to the fold of Israel and get restored to take responsibility as the leader of Israel and in
- Gen 46: 28 we 28He [Jacob] had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of goshen (a fertile pastureland not too far from the Nile, and watered by the showers of heaven, on the borders of Egypt and Canaan, where the promised land always will be within sight and mind,
God models through Judah, what Christ will do for us by. …
- Christ coming to intermingle and associate Himself with us, as “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John 1:14. Jesus was born in the humblest of circumstances in a manger to a teenage mom.
- Christ becoming surety for us by bearing the responsibility for our sins and being the security against the damages and payment of death we owe for our sins (Rom 6:32 – wages of sin is death).
- Christ also is preparing the way for us. John 14: 1-3 1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
(7) Gen. 46: 28 (ESV), (Joseph & Judah Represent How The Church Overcomes Problems by Faithfully Receiving God’s Provision That Empower Us To Walk In His Promises.)
In Gen 45: 17-20 17…Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20Have no concern fora your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
To achieve the move we see a cooperative relationship between Joseph & Judah that represents how we overcome the problems of the church by believing God’s promises of forgiveness and allowing His provision of the Holy Spirit to support us.
28He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen (a fertile pastureland not too far from the Nile, and watered by the showers of heaven, on the borders of Egypt and Canaan, where the promised land always will be within sight and mind.
BTW – Goshen also is a city on the southern border of Judah in Israel.)
For Israel to receive God’s promise, Joseph & Judah must think God’s redemptive thoughts about each other & focus on their calls. They act in 3D MRC by acting upon how “God’s Mission Matters More Than Me!” Christ’s sacrifice and God’s redemption matters more than the bad feelings I have about myself and my sin, and the sin others have done against me. Thus I overcome condemnation (Rom 8:1)
- For the Body to function, Joseph must forgive Judah, and Judah must trust Joseph’s forgiveness.
- Another way to think of this is they both must trust God to work in and through the other!
- Eph 3:10-13 10so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
(8) Gen. 44: 32-34 In Egypt, Israel will Be Sheltered But Separated Due To Their Specialized Status As Shepherds
Gen. 46: 33-34: 33When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.
In Gen. 44: 32 we saw while Joseph was 2nd in command to Pharaoh, his servants “… served Joseph, his brothers and the Egyptians separately for it was an abomination for the Egyptians to eat with Hebrews.”
Regarding Egyptians considering it an abomination to dine with Hebrews, Rawlinson’s Herodotus informs us (ii. 41), that “male kine, if clean, are used by the Egyptians, but the females they are not allowed to sacrifice, since they are sacred to Isis.” And he adds that “a native of Egypt will not kiss a Greek, use his knife, or his cauldron, or taste the flesh cut with a Greek knife.” They considered all foreigners unclean, and therefore, refused to eat with them.
NOTE: You can see the underlying animosity that easily can turn a new king and court against the Israelites.
God is bringing Israel to Egypt where they can
- be sheltered from the hardship of the famine (while later they will symbolize how we all are captive of sin!)
- be separated from the pagan culture to keep their uniquely Hebrew culture and identity. They’ll be in but no of Egypt/the World:
- In John 17: 15-19 15I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
- 2Cor 6:17 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD.
- Ezra 10:11 Now then make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”
- Note “Foreign wives” is a reference to unbelieving, pagan wives, who worship idols. The New Testament principles is in 2Cor. 6:14 – 16 14Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15What accord has Christ with Belial (meaning a demon/Satan)? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
- enslaved — as symbols we all are captives of sin!
- Rom 3:23, For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
- John 8:34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
There’s an occupational niche Israel can fulfill. A proverb says A Person’s Talents Will Always Make A Way For Him.
Joseph & Pharaoh are 3D Leaders who’ll obtain synergy from diversity as the Israelites fulfill niche as shepherds. Synergy results by meeting unmet needs. The BOC is held together by what each joint supplies.
To be useful, we can look to use the gifts God has given you to fill gaps and meet unmet needs.
(9) Gen. 47: 1–5 (ESV)
(Joseph Introduces His Family To Pharaoh & Follows Protocol To Pave Their Way)
1So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.”
This meeting shows Joseph acts with commendable discernment (Luke 16:8) “…For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” by …
- in v.2 – Joseph honors the local Egyptian custom that five is an Egyptian favorite/significant number, and he shows Pharaoh respect by bringing that many of his relatives.
- in v.2-4 – shrewdly obtains Israel’s separation by bringing out the fact they are shepherds, to utilize prejudice against that occupation, to insure they are kept separated in the good land of Goshen.
- demonstrates humility to associate himself though being in a high office, he is not ashamed to be associated with those whom the Egyptians despise, ridicule and scorn. (Hebrews 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
- demonstrates grace, courage to stand with God’s people in the face of potential persecution. (Heb 11:25)
- 11:25 “… and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin.”
(10) Gen. 47: 7-10 (The A, B, C’s of Jacob’s Meeting with Pharaoh)
Pharaoh seems in Awe of Jacob’s Age. Because the Israelites lived much longer than the Egyptians of the era, and he asks Jacob 8“…How many are the days of the years of your life?
Vss. 7&10 Jacob Blesses Pharaoh which means he greeted and saluted him with a benevolent prayer for God to promote Pharaoh’s prosperity and happiness. Jacob’s prayer was uttered on behalf of God Who has anointed Jacob with the authority of a prophet and the aged dignity of a patriarch privileged to be Spiritually positioned above the much higher ranking Monarch. The patriarch’s blessing was not a thing to be despised not even by the potentate of the most powerful nation.
Jacob Confesses to Pharaoh his pilgrimage, has been a sojourning of 130 “few and evil” years — alluding to 1) his flight from home due to his own carnal ambition and deceit; 2) the fourteen years of hardships of service under
Laban in Haran, which are explained in Gen 31: 26-31, which also is Jacob reaping the cheating he had sown at home; 3) the Gen 37 loss of Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers spurred by jealousy from Jacob’s favoritism (which always is an outcome of polygamy; 4) the Gen 35 death of Rachel, who clung to her family’s idols, under the prophecy of death in Gen 31: 32; 5) the Gen 34 violence of Simeon and Levi, who took vengeance for the rape of their sister, Dinah.
Is Jacob’s testimony (Gen 47:9) to Pharaoh about his pilgrimage, being a sojourning of 130 “few and evil” years, a reflection of our pilgrimage through life, which can be a long journey to our heavenly home Christ has prepared for us? (Job 5:7 & 14:1, 1 Chronicles 29:14–16, Psalm 39:11-13, Psalm 119:18-19, Psalm 119:54-55 John 14: 1-3)
- Job 5:7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
- Job 14:1, he is of few days and full of trouble: Jacob’s life particularly had been made up of evil days. The pleasantest days of his life were yet before him. That they were short of the days of his fathers; not so many, not so pleasant as their days.
Alluding to the flight from home, the hardships of the service in Haran, the loss of Joseph, the death of Rachel, the violence of Simeon and Levi (chap. 34). [bctt tweet=”Hebrews 11: 8-16 tells us which is true: Because the Patriarchs believed God’s promises they obeyed. ( 11:6) 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Because the Patriarchs obeyed, they received God’s promises. Because God made promises to the Patriarchs they believed and were wiling to follow the circuitous process. Because God made promises to the Patriarchs they were wiling to learn to obey while they struggled through the process Do we believe God’s promises to the degree that we will obey His commands? ” username=”LibertyCF3″]
they have not attained] Jacob’s life of 130 years at this juncture seemed short in comparison with the 175 years of Abraham (Genesis 25:7) and the 180 years of Isaac (Genesis 35:28).
Our sojourning reflects what the Bible show us through God’s experience with the patriarchs.
- 1 Chronicles 29:14–16 David’s Prayer of Blessing…14But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and from Your own hand we have given to You. 15For we are foreigners and sojourners in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 16O LORD our God, from Your hand comes all this abundance that we have provided for building You a house for Your holy Name, and all of it belongs to You.
- Psalm 39:11-13; encourages that because we are sojourners, we should carefully consider our ways — 11You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah 12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a sojourner like all my fathers. 13Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”…
- Psalm 119:18-19; …18Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law. 19I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.
- Psalm 119:54-55; 54Your statutes are songs to me in the house of my pilgrimage. 55In the night, O LORD, I remember Your name, and I will keep Your law.…
John 14: 1-3 1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?b 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
(11) Hebrews 11:8-16
(By Faith The Patriarchs Look For What God Prepares)
Hebrews 11:6, 8-16 says, 6And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. .. 8By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
(12) (Yellow – Not In Your Notes)
What prevents and/or Propels our pilgrimage? (True/False)
Hebrews 11: 8-16 tells us which is true:
- Because the Patriarchs believed God’s promises they obeyed. ( 11:6)
- 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
- Because the Patriarchs obeyed, they received God’s promises.
- Because God made promises to the Patriarchs they believed and were wiling to follow the circuitous process.
- Because God made promises to the Patriarchs they were wiling to learn to obey while they struggled through the process
Do we believe God’s promises to the degree that we will obey His commands?
(13) Gen. 47: 1–5 (God’s Sovereignty Sets A Table for Israel In the good land of Goshen)
God’s accomplishes 3 things for Israel, as examples of how He works in our lives.
Psalm 23:4-6 4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.…
6Israel’s protection is secured by Pharaoh having them manage his flocks. Thus Sovereignty sets a table for Israel in the presence of their would be enemies. (Psalm 23:5)
- (Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.)
11Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded, in the good land of Goshen
12And Joseph Provided for his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents” — meaning God meets specific needs.
(14) “Overcomers” Bounce Back from Betrayal By Adhering To 3 Disciplines
The subtitle of this series is “Bouncing Back from Betrayal.” We see Judah and Joseph and all the Israelites bounce back from how they betrayed Joseph.
We see Joseph bounce back by not going negative on God and others despite being betrayed!
But let’s be spiritually minded by thinking God’s thoughts first about ourselves, and then about others. To do this we must
To Bounce Back OVERCOMERS” Must …
- Love God more than we love ourselves (Deut. 11:1 & 30:6, Matt 22:37, Mk 12:30 Lk 10:27)
- 30:6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
- Lk 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
- We must read and remember enough of God’s word. (John 14:26 & Rom 5:8)
- Rom 5:8 but God shows/proves his love for us in that while we were still/yet sinners, Christ died for us.
- John 14:26 ESV — But the Advocate/Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
- Be willing lose your life to find (Matt 6:33, 10:39 & 16:25) Let’s not stop at the “lose” part of the equation, but continue moving forward to “find” what God has for us!
- Matthew 10:39
ESV — Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
NAS —”He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.
NLT — If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.
- Matthew 16:25.
ESV — For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
KJB — For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
NAS — “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
NLT — If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
- Let’s not merely live in the “do nots,” but move forward into the “and all these things shall be added unto you” of Matt 6:33, which says “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
John 12: 24 ESV Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12: 24 NLT -I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels–a plentiful harvest of new lives.
What is God calling us to bounce back from, so we can obtain unity with other believers and be grafted in to fulfill our part of His Body of Christ? (Ephesians 4:3 Psalm 133: 1 Col 3: 14)
- Ephesians 4:3 NIV “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
- Psalm 133: 1 ESV – Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
- Col 3: 14 ESV And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony/unity (NIV, NAS, KJV = perfectness).
(15) Let’s Pray that God ReAwakens, ReInvigorates & ReEstablish Us in Our Calls In Christ!
Let’s Pray:
Dear God grant us the grace to faithfully believe Your promises to the degree that we will obey Your commands in each situation!
Help us walk in the truth, love and forgiveness, and trust that motivated “Judah’s & Joseph’s Partnership and unity that Propelled them to Overcomes It’s InterPersonal Problems” [email-download-link namefield=”YES” id=”292″]
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