Settling Down

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 128

Psalm 128 ESV

A Song of Ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!

Scripture memorization: Genesis 50:19-20

Genesis 50:19–20 “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Scripture Reading: James 1:12-18

James 1:12–18 ESV

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Sermon:

Once again, and as always, good morning church. I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord.

As we prepare our hearts to hear from Genesis chapter 47. I want to ask a question. I'll ask it rhetorically. And then I'll give a few answers. Then I'll give my answer. But I think this is an important question for us to ask.

What is the greatest danger facing the church. That's a good one to ask.

We could say Satan. We have verses. He roams around like a lion seeking to find those he would could devour. But just to let you know, I don't think Satan is the greatest danger that the church faces. For if we run to God, resist the devil. He will flee from you. He is defeated at the cross of Christ. Though we should be aware, he is not the greatest danger facing the church. Its not satan not demons.

What is greatest danger the church faces? It's not our political landscape. It's not government. If you read through church history, read a lot of these things you find these guys starting in about Augustine. In particular, they talk about the two kingdoms. Kingdom of the world, the kingdom of God. Where in the church we exist in the kingdom of God? We're safe and secure. no matter the persecution around us.

So what is the greatest danger? Put simply, and there's Shades to this, and there's details in this. But to put it simply. I would say that it is. Falling prey to a different. Gospel.

This would be Pauline language. Paul talks about warning against if anyone were to come and preach a different Christ. Let him be anathema accursed. Kick him out, get rid of him. And because this idea of a different gospel? Is so dangerous to the church. What we often find in my experience. It is the the church... and here I mean the church sort of universal, but also the Local particular church… We often react instinctively in opposition, sometimes to our own detriment.

Here's what I mean by that. the truth… and I've used this example often, you've heard it, but it's worth bearing again… The truth is a a narrow road. On either side of this are our grave and dangerous ditches. But instead of staying on the line of the truth what we often do Is Jump from one side of the road, one ditch straight to the other right over the truth.

I bring this up because we are going to cover a word a lot today. A word that is Central, I believe, to this passage. But even before we start… and what I hope and pray you see is that the way we go through this text gets us to the truth of what's going on with this word… But I just want to preface by saying: Just because there are people who have taken the word Prosperity, Attached it to the word gospel, and began preaching a different Jesus. A different way of Salvation and a different way of life. Does not mean. That the Bible does not teach that he will prosper and care for his people.

And sometimes this will include physical Prospering. Sometimes it won't. Always It includes the blessings of God shining upon us.

So, we're going to talk a lot today about prosperity. However. What I hope we see what I hope we learn is that what God has in mind is something much bigger. What God does not have in mind is for you to have the nice car in the nice house and to never face any physical, Emotional, health. Difficulties.

What God does have in mind is a plan to bring it about that. Many people should be kept alive. Including us, including our souls. As they even are today.

Genesis chapter 47. Where we will see how the people of God end up settling down. In the land of Egypt. We will, as we have been, take this in sections but I like, I start every service with good morning church because I like Patterns and flows and I am a creature of habit… These things help me, so we're going to read a section of 47, not all of it at first. And then, we'll open with the word of prayer Genesis chapter 47. We'll start in verse 1.

Genesis 47:1–12 ESV

So 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.” And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” They 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.” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The 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.” Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” And 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.” And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. Then 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. And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open our time together with a word of prayer.

Dear Lord, we do thank you for your goodness and Grace. For the love that you have shown to us. For the mercy that is given to us. For your hand of protection, Provision. For every blessing you give to us, we do stand in knowledge of this that you who gave your own son. Will you not with him graciously Give to us all things. And so we thank you for rest, life, love, and goodness, all coming from your hand. I ask this morning that you would speak to our hearts. May your word take deep root. May it grow and flourish. May we be a people Changed by the hearing of your word. For, it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. And amen.

Here, in verses 1 through 12 of Genesis chapter 47, what we begin to see and understand this. How Israel? Prospers. In Egypt.

How ISREAL prospers in EGYPT

I'm intentionally doing something here. For myself that that is, for me, a play on words that I'll let you into because I actually think it's very Instructive.

There's been this puzzle in scripture. That I have never found a a full answer. I found one that that I'm okay with. But I don't know. It's just always been a scriptural puzzle. It goes like this.

When God changes someone's name We refer to them. By their new name.

Part of the reason Genesis 12 through 16 was so difficult for me to preach is because there. We read all the time about what Abram is doing in Its all Abram and Abram does this out of the other thing.

But then God changes his name to Abraham and then through the rest of scripture. We don't refer to Abram. We refer to Abraham, Father Abraham, the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Abraham is Abraham because God made him Abraham and so we use that new name for the rest of time...

And yet, there's one character. That when God changes their name? We still call them by their old name. That's Jacob. Jacob wrestles with God. And there God changes his name to Israel. And then later God reiterates doubles down. His name is changed to Israel. And yet. We say, he's the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We read here that Jacob appears before Pharaoh, but Jacob is Israel. So, how “Israel” prospers in Egypt… on one meaning I'm talking about the person Israel previously Jacob.

But to help you with my scriptural mystery… Here's the answer, I think, to why we refer to Jacob as Jacob and not his name that's changed to Israel… Because it's confusing to refer to a man Israel, but also a nation Israel.

And just to keep Clarity. Are we talking about the man or the nation? We just call the man Jacob. And so it's a Clarity issue not a theological one.. There's no theological reason is the answer I was given… and so that works… but is a little unsatisfactory… It's just always been a Biblical puzzle for me.

But this mystery is helpful here because what I'm talking about is how the man Jacob Israel prospers in Egypt, but also this is the start of how the nation of Israel will prosper In Egypt.

As we open, it turns out the family is already dwelling in Goshen. In the best choice of land, the land that we're later told is the land of Ramses. This is the when the people of God are entering into the promised land some hundreds of years after these events. There's been a new pharaoh, the the place has changed names, so it's Goshen in the time of Joseph. It's the land of Ramses in the time of Moses.. the eastern part of the nile delta to modern people… .

It's the best land in Egypt, in particular the best land. If you are a Shepherd who is caring for your flock? And so Joseph appears before pharaoh, and he's like, just so you know, my father, my brothers… They're all here. You said to and so we we took them. They've come. They've brought everything they own from Canaan. They're now in Goshen, just so you know.

And then this. Note he from among his brothers verse 2, he took five men. We're not going to bring in all 11 Brothers. Especially since some of them maybe we don't trust if they stand before. Pharaoh, who knows what they'll say, who knows what they'll do. We'll bring the five? We trust the most, the best examples, the best representatives of our family. The Pharaoh asks them what's your occupation? This looks back to chapter 46. We looked at this last week when Joseph's like, hey, when Pharaoh asked what you do, tell him we have raised flocks. We're Shepherds just so, you know, be honest.

We're Shepherds! Our fathers were Shepherds. Their fathers too. We've been Shepherds. We are a people who are Shepherds? And we've been dwelling in Goshen. And Pharaoh said to Joseph. Verse 5. Your father. Your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you.

Here, we're speaking of the fathers, the brothers, the family, what will become the 12 tribes, which will become the nation of Israel. They are given the choicest. Pharaoh here says everything all of Egypt is before you dwell where you want. Take what you want. So, trusting and loving is Pharaoh of Joseph that even says, look, your family can have this land. And you know, what if they want to help me with what we will read is a enormous job. Helping take care of my flocks. Let me know. I'll put him in charge of my flocks. Give them power Authority position wealth. They will prosper.

How does Israel the nation prosper in Egypt?

God has so ordained it. That the favor of pharaoh will shine upon these people that they will be given the choice land in the choice places to raise their flocks. They have all their possessions that we've we've been reading in Genesis. As Abraham is Defeating am Army of five nations and taking the spoils. And there's been blessing after blessing after growing after growing. They bring all their possessions into Egypt, and now they're going to prosper even more.

As the richness of Egypt has been opened up to these people. Part of the question here is how does God Prosper the nation of Israel, but also God prospers, the person Israel.

verse 7. Joseph brings his father before him. And there's a lot going on here, and we will cover this idea of Few and evil have been my days of the days of the years of my life. I'm only 130 years old, which to call that few... Debatable. To call it evil... I'll give him that one. We've seen his life. It's been evil partly because of consequences of own decision. He has to run and flee from his brother. He's now laboring in with his uncle Laban. Double time because he doesn't like the first wife that he's tricked into marrying. Some of them, the consequences of his own decisions, playing favorites with his sons, which causes him to lose one, but. It's not his fault necessarily. His brothers sold Joseph into slavery. He's been mourning for some 23 years. The evil… I'll give him that.

It turns out it's “few” in comparison to the long, long age of his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac.

But even in this, as he's calling his his days few and evil. Notice. Some important things. How has God blessed Israel the person in Egypt? Well, he allows him to live in the choice places. We're reiterated. In verse 11, Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them possession in the land of Egypt. Again, if you think I'm, like, oh well, is it really the best? Well, the Bible says, so verse 11 in the best of the land, In the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food.

God Is providing God is blessing, God is prospering him.

But there's a little note we read twice that's worth looking into. Twice. We read that Jacob. Israel. Blesses. Pharaoh. We read it first. In verse 7, Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and stood him before pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Verse 10 and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. David's hint number one in how to read scripture: if something's repeated It's probably important!

what's going on with Jacob blessing Pharaoh? There's this principle that blessings, and In particular, this type of blessing. Flows from the greater. To the Lesser.

The difficulty here. In English, we can talk about some types of blessings that, like. My children are a blessing to me. And that. That's even scriptural, right? The Blessed is the man who. Has many children his like arrows in the hands of a warrior. Are the children… and the parents are over and above thier children… you know, like, that's part of it?

But this idea of blessing is like? If Elon Musk gave me? A thousand dollars. That'd be a huge blessing. It would matter a lot to my life. If I were to give Elon Musk a thousand dollars? He would not even know or truly care. Because blessings in this regard. Flow from the greater to the Lesser. Not that Elon Musk is greater than me. He has a lot more money... That's what I'm trying to say with this example.

To say that Jacob blesses Pharaoh is to show that. Even here in the land of Egypt, the favor, the grace, the goodness of God reside upon this man.

And so he's the one who has the authority to bless Pharaoh. Even Pagan Pharaoh. Needs to learn to understand that God's blessings flow through Jacob. Then, they can be extended to him. So, how is the man Israel prospering in Egypt? because God's blessing, his favor shines upon him. God has blessed Jacob, which gives Jacob the ability to bless pharaoh. That's the point.

Even here in this foreign land. One of the things that that Genesis has been presenting to us as a sub theme. If you will, is that no matter where you go on the face of this Earth... If you're Abraham... Abram at this time… dwelling in Ur of the Chaldeans. God's there, and he will call his people. If you're sojourning in the promised land? Still not taking possession, you're just there. God is still there Sovereign and ruling. And if you go down to Egypt, God is still there. He's still Sovereign, and he will still bless his people. That's the point.

Israel, the nation, Israel, the man. They'll prosper. Because God has placed them there. This was God's plan. It's been prophesied throughout Genesis. We've seen it over and over again. This is the payoff. That though the brothers meant things for evil, God has this miraculous plan going on. He means it for good for very good for blessing to prosper his people in the land of Egypt. They will grow. God will so Prosper, his people, land of Egypt, that the new pharaohs will become terrified. The prospering will turn to persecution, will turn to slavery, and yet God is still Sovereign. He will still hear the calls of his people.

Because God Is a good God. Who bless us? Who prospers? He prospers, his people, he prospers, Israel, the nation, and Israel, the person. It also, it turns out, will he allow Pharaoh? Here in our passage, we just read blessed by Jacob. He's going to prosper, too. In fact, God will, so bless pharaoh. The Pharaoh will prosper in the midst of. The greatest recorded famine that we have.

How PHARAOH prospers in FAMINE

Starting in verse 13.

Genesis 47:13–26 ESV

Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land. Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

How much did Pharaoh prosper in the midst of this famine? by the end of it Pharaoh has: All the money. All the livestock. All the land. and all the people in the land... This is all pharaoh’s. He owns. All the land. They have all sold it all for food and all the livestock.. so if we thing back I said when Pharaoh will come to Joseph and say, hey, if any of your brothers are good at taking care of livestock, let me know. I'll put them in charge of mine.

How big of the job is this? This is being in charge of all of the livestock in the land of Egypt because it all belongs to pharaoh.

All the money, everything it belongs to. Pharaoh Joseph is collecting all of it. And as he does so Pharaoh gets more and more and more rich. Here, he is presiding over all the land of Egypt, which is the only place in this time that has any food. And so, as everyone comes, even foreigners come.

Like, we need food. Give me your money. When the money's gone, give me your livestock when the livestock's gone, give me your land when the land's done. Then you're my servants. And he will tax them. At a 20 rate. And the people are so desperate. And I would say that God has been so good towards Pharaoh. The people Rejoice! At a 20 tax.

Joseph says to the people, behold, I have bought you and your land hear seed, go Harvest, but one-fifth of everything.

That's 2/10. That's 20%. It's Pharaoh’s.

Eighty percent use that to feed your families feed your livestock and feed your kids, but 20, that's mine. And the people are joyous, they said. You have saved us. You have saved our lives. Verse 25 may it please, the Lord. We will be servants to Pharaoh.

Done. take 20 of everything we Harvest, and we're your servants great! Pharaoh has everything. God has so blessed. Pagan Pharaoh. That by the end of this story. He has. Everything.

In our nation. We talk a lot about. The wealthy and those who have not. I brought up Elon must as an example, but we have trillionaires that sounds crazy to us… This picture sounds more crazy than having trillionaires in the world. If I'm just being Frank and honest? He owns all the land and all the people and all the livestock and all the money all of it. All right, I can look at my bank account. I'm like, I have some.

I don't have trillions. I got some. Pharaoh had it all. All of it. How much did God Prosper Pharaoh in the midst of this famine? He ends up seven years of famine owning more than he did after the Seven Years of Plenty. Seven years of plenty happen. You think Pharaoh's blessed they got so much He's been storing things in storehouses, so much so that it's uncountable. We can't even fathom. There's no numbers to write down of how much grain that has been stored up in these seven years. And by the end of seven years of famine, Pharaoh has it all. It's a pretty huge blessing. Sometimes, the blessings of God are in fact physical blessings.

Here listed for us money. Land, livestock. Even those that he is an authority over. We should be careful because how we think through slavery and what indentured servanthood and what's going on here.. it is is different from our modern forms and thoughts of slavery... And yet, still, in some sense, he owns all the people, too.

Pharaoh's got it all. The blessings of God manifest even to Pharaoh.

His people, people of Israel, safe in Goshen Blessed by God.

Pharaoh Blessed by God.

This is important as we think through as we go back to how I started. And we understand that God will prosper, whom and how God prospers who and how he wants to prosper them.

So, yes, part of it is God blessing Israel, his people? But then, we, his people, don't get to complain when the evil Pagan people around us God also seems to bless them. Why do good things happen to bad people? It's God's Sovereign choice. Because it rains on the just and the unjust alike. Because. I have seen it. And it is vanity of vanities. But yet still. The righteous and the wicked. In some sense. This is Ecclesiastes sort of language here. There is no difference. You work, and you toil. And you die. What do we have to show for?

So, part of our countering to, well, God just wants to give his people only good things. Part of the counter is to say he also blesses Pharaoh. But there's even more important counter that we need to wrap our minds around. We started hinting at it and singing about it earlier in service. But the end result of this is in fact. How Jacob… and here I do want us to zoom in on the person Jacob… Prospers. In death.

How JACOB prospers in DEATH

Verse 27.

Genesis 47:27–31 ESV

Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. [So here, when we talk about Israel, we're talking about the nation. We know this because it's, “they” gain possessions in it. And “they” were fruitful and multiplied greatly.] And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.

The end. Of Jacob. Though.... What we have here is another example of we've seen this in Genesis a few times. We see it in scripture a lot. We're told here, he's going to live 147 years and then die, and there's this, this promise this swearing this Covenant that he's going to make. And yet we'll come back next chapter, and Jacob will magically be alive... It's because. We're looking forward and then getting filling in the blanks here. But Jacob. Will die. Even Jacob's life will come to an end.

And yet. Still here. He can look upon the goodness. And the promises. Of God.

Jacob knows his time is coming to an end, which we can also just say.. even that is a blessing of God to live a long life is God's blessing, and then to know my time is coming. God has been good. Jacob has already said, I've seen Joseph, I can die in peace.

But here, he's going to not even just see Joseph, but talk to Joseph and have Joseph give promises to his father. Not only does he get to die, he gets to die seeing his son. And with his son, blessing him. How does Jacob prosper in death? He gets a good death. It's part of it.

But there's something else going on here. What's he asks his son to put your hand under my thigh? What's being said here? To have someone else put their hand under your thighs to put yourself in a very compromising situation where they could do a lot of damage to you very easily… I Hope we get what I'm saying here. Your hand here is close to some important parts. He says, put your hand there. This is, this is a covenant making a promise. Right. In English language, we might say something like this. Pinky promise. But that's like kid-ish. This is something much more serious.

So… I mean… we don't do this anymore because we've understood about how diseases work and stuff like this, but like. Become blood brothers, right? Like, you slice your hand and we shake our hands and the blood mixes sort of thing. This is a solemn promise. And what does he care about?

Don't bury me in Egypt.

Though I'm dead and gone. And I've gone down to Sheol to be with my forefathers. Don't bury me in Egypt. Instead, take me back to the land of promise. Let me lie with my fathers. Let me lie in the burial in in the grave site that has Abraham and Sarah. Let me be buried there. Let me die. I will die here, but take my bones with me with you when you go back when the people go back to the promised land. Because God promised the people would return to the promised land to Jacob, God says they will languish in a foreign land for a while, but I will bring them back.

And so Jacob looks to God's promises. Okay, God promised, even if I'm dead. God promised we will return. So take my bones back. And so we're looking to God's promises that he said we would have this land take me back to the graves. But there's also this longing that God has something bigger.

And so he says, don't bury me in Egypt. And Joseph says, I won't, and Jacob says, don't bury me in Egypt, Joseph says, I won't. And Jacob says, I don't just want to hear it, swear it to me.

3Verse 31. Starting in verse 30, he says, bury me, he answered. Joseph answered, I will do. As you have said, I'll do it. And Jacob says, don't just do it, swear it. Double down. Put your reputation, your name, your neck on the line. You have to do this.

Just if we were to fast forward. Through to Exodus, then even through to Joshua. Even into the time of the Kings.

What Joseph Swears to Jacob. Takes place. They take his bones. They're buried in the promised land. How does Jacob prosper in death? All the promises of God to him are still manifest and still true. This becomes how we understand the prospering of God.

Part of it is God's people in Israel and Pharaoh… They both can be prospered by God. But the deeper part of it is this even in death? God's people are not removed from God's people… God’s good and gracious promises. And the fullness we have.

Jacob, we read this in the New Testament he's holding on to the promises of God. Not even necessarily knowing what he hopes for. Abraham longed for a city that he could not see, even not owning land because he looked forward to the city whose foundation and Builder is God. Jacob is looking to the promises of God. To be blessed and kept in this life and the next and his sort of thinking goes to, like, don't let my bones languish in Egypt. We know the fullness… we sang about it earlier today.…

What is my hope in life and death? Christ Alone. Christ Alone.

What hope do we have? Christ. What Joy do we have? Christ. What promise do we have? Christ. What prospering do we have? it is all Christ!

Period. His life, his goodness, his manifold blessings. The Holy Spirit given to us for all who call upon his name indwelling. All believers empowering us, giving us gifts, not just prospering gifts like land and money and livestock. We get the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. We get to serve him. There's this little note we sort of glazed over it. It's actually important.

There's one people. That pharaoh doesn't take the land from. It's the priests. Because even Pharaoh understands that priests have an important job and role, and those are Pagan priests to Pharaoh.

We are Priests unto God Most high. We are a kingdom, a nation of priests saved by the blood of Jesus.

Everything is in Christ, so Jacob is prospered because he looks forward to the promises of God, even in death… for us. We have this promise for God, so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

It's our hope. How does God Prosper his people? However, he wants in life. And then in every way. In death.

Let's pray.

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The greatest tie is this: What blessing has God given to us?

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