Experiencing God's Goodness Genesis 48

Eureka Baptist Church iconEureka Baptist Church

1 view

0 comments

00:12
Over the past few years, I have spent quite a bit of time studying the doctrine of God.
00:19
When we talk about the doctrine of God, we are asking the question about his attributes. One book
00:25
I was reading in the past year or so has helped me break down the attributes of God into two categories,
00:34
God's greatness and God's goodness. When we talk about God's greatness, what we mean is that he is infinite, self -existing, eternal, all -powerful, all -knowing, always present, and more.
00:50
Now when we talk about his goodness, we are talking about his moral character. For example, God is holy, just, loving, gracious, merciful, and faithful.
01:01
Throughout the Bible, we see God act out these perfections. We experience him every day and so often we don't even think about it.
01:11
We wouldn't be here right now if God did not create us through his power and continue to sustain us.
01:19
We would all be in hell right now if God were not gracious. The Lord has caused the sun to shine on creation even over those who are currently in rebellion against him.
01:33
The Lord is patient and we never have to go to hell in the future if our faith is in Christ alone for our salvation.
01:42
We experience God every day whether we realize it or not. In our sermon this morning, as we continue our sermon series through Genesis, we are going to see
01:53
Jacob describe God's goodness toward him in his journey through life as he prepares to bless
02:00
Joseph's sons and leave this world. So I encourage you to turn in the Bible with me to Genesis 48.
02:08
If you're using a red Bible in the pews, it's on pages 49 and 50.
02:14
This sermon is titled, Experiencing God's Goodness. In our
02:22
Big Idea, our proposition is this. As Jacob blesses Joseph's sons,
02:27
God's goodness towards his people is on display. We're going to see three manifestations in this narrative.
02:35
But before we jump into our text, let me give you a little recap of last week's sermon. We looked at how
02:41
Joseph handled the last few years of the famine in Egypt. The people ran out of money and had no way to pay
02:48
Joseph to get food from the stockpile that he had. So people came to Joseph in desperation.
02:55
What we saw is that Joseph handled this whole crisis wisely. He did not just hand them food as they asked him to, but rather the first time they came he required their livestock from them.
03:08
Then later the people of Egypt came to Joseph knowing he was not just going to give them free food.
03:13
They came to him volunteering to give up their land and to be servants for Joseph or for Pharaoh rather.
03:22
Joseph wisely agreed to this because he did not want to simply give them food when they were able to work.
03:28
He avoided idleness among the people. What he did agrees with what Scripture teaches.
03:34
The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3 10 that if anyone does not work, let him not eat.
03:41
This was the best thing Joseph could have done in this crisis. He provided them food, but he did not just give it away.
03:49
He provided for them and made them productive by putting them to work. Secondly, he was generous by letting the people give only one -fifth of the crops to Pharaoh and they were to keep four -fifths for themselves.
04:06
An unjust ruler would have delivered a much heavier burden on them.
04:13
Joseph's example in this helps us navigate how to handle helping those in need.
04:19
We should help those who are truly in need and not those who seek to take advantage. We should have a plan to help people get back on their feet to lead them to productivity.
04:30
We need the Lord's wisdom in this just as Joseph had his wisdom. God created humans to work.
04:38
We should help people with the goal of bringing them to a place of productivity. At the end of the narrative last
04:46
Sunday, we also saw Joseph show integrity. His father Jacob made him swear that when he died, he would bury his body in Canaan, the land of promise, in the same location as Abraham and Isaac.
04:59
Joseph swore that he would. Jacob was soon to die and what happened is
05:04
Joseph was faithful in fulfilling this promise as Genesis 50 describes.
05:10
This is a test of integrity for Joseph because Jacob would not be alive to see him fulfill this promise.
05:18
Now this leads us to our text today in Genesis 48. The setting we are in is that Jacob is about to die and he desires to bless his sons before he leaves this world.
05:29
Let's begin by reading verses 1 -7. And what we're going to see in these verses is the first manifestation of God's goodness.
05:39
And that is that he is a promise keeper. So let's begin by reading verses 1 -7 together.
05:47
After this, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is ill. So he took with him his two sons
05:54
Manasseh and Ephraim. And it was told to Jacob, Your son Joseph has come to you. Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed.
06:03
And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
06:10
And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. And I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.
06:24
And now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine.
06:30
Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Sibion are. And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours.
06:38
They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. As for me, when
06:44
I came from Paddan to Mysore, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way. When there was still some distance to go to Ephraim.
06:51
And I buried her there on the way to Ephraim, that is Bethlehem.
06:59
And what we were told at the end of chapter 47 is that Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years.
07:07
So what we see here is that the end of that time period has arrived. Jacob is near death.
07:14
Joseph hears this news and takes with him Manasseh and Ephraim to see Jacob. These two sons were born to Joseph a year before the famine came as chapter 41 verses 50 through 52 inform us.
07:27
What those verses tell us is that Manasseh is the firstborn and Ephraim the second. And we will see this a little bit later on.
07:36
We'll see the significance of it. What verse 2 tells us is that Joseph comes to visit
07:45
Jacob on his deathbed and Jacob draws up enough strength to say these words to him, to give this blessing.
07:54
Jacob tells Joseph of his first encounter with the Lord. This is Jacob's ladder event from chapter 28 when the angels were ascending and descending on that ladder.
08:06
And Jacob was having this conversation with the Lord. For the Lord told him the
08:11
Abrahamic promises. That his offspring would be many and that they would inherit the land of Canaan.
08:18
What we see at the end of verse 4 is the second mention in Genesis of the fact that this land, the land of Canaan, would be given to Israel by God as an everlasting possession.
08:31
The other mention is Genesis 17, 8. What this means is that no one would ever take it from them.
08:37
A couple weeks ago, I talked about how God is not only going to save Israel in the future, but He's also going to restore them to their land.
08:49
To this land described in Genesis 17, 8 and described right here in our text.
08:57
Because the text says that this is an everlasting possession. A couple weeks ago,
09:03
I talked about how God is going to do this in the future. Historically, the land was taken from them.
09:11
But by God restoring them to the land until the eternal state begins, it can be said that no one ever took it from them, fulfilling
09:21
His ancient promise. This is why what I said a couple weeks ago is that this will happen during the millennial period where Jesus will reign on the earth in this specific land.
09:33
And no one will ever take the land from them. The Lord is going to fulfill all the
09:41
Abrahamic promises because He always keeps His word. We see God's goodness displayed right here in this text.
09:49
Now what Jacob says to Joseph in verse 5 is very interesting. He tells him that Ephraim and Manasseh are his, just as Reuben and Simeon are.
10:01
What he means by this is he is going to bless his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as if they were his sons.
10:09
The Lion of Joseph, one of Jacob's twelve sons, would continue through these two. So when we talk about the twelve tribes of Israel, we're really talking about the thirteen tribes of Israel because the tribe of Joseph is made up of two tribes,
10:24
Ephraim and Manasseh. What Jacob tells Joseph is that all his other sons will receive the blessings that Joseph passes on to them.
10:33
But Joseph's first two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, will receive the blessing from their grandfather,
10:41
Jacob. Now what Jacob does in verse 7 is he mentions his beloved wife
10:46
Rachel. Jacob has a special love for Joseph, partly because he came from his beloved wife
10:52
Rachel. His favoritism, as I've mentioned, is not commended. He has shown favoritism throughout the narrative of Genesis, and we see it right here.
11:02
So apparently this is a sin he was never able to shake. So we can see why he only blesses the grandchildren of Joseph and not any of the other grandchildren of his other sons.
11:15
By passing the blessing on to Manasseh and Ephraim, he is blessing
11:20
Joseph twice as much. In fact, when they would later be assigned pieces of land in the land of Canaan during the time of Joshua, Ephraim and Manasseh would receive one -sixth of the land of promise.
11:41
So what Jacob does here is he blesses them abundantly. And what we see here is that Jacob blesses
11:52
Joseph as the firstborn son, and the firstborn son would be the child who would get the biggest blessing of all.
12:02
And you might remember why Reuben, who is the firstborn son, doesn't get the firstborn blessing.
12:10
Because in chapter 35, verses 22 and 23, Reuben was punished because he slept with Jacob's concubine
12:18
Bilhah. And by sinning in this way, he gave up the blessing of the firstborn, and so it's passed on to guess who?
12:26
Jacob's beloved son, Joseph. What we need to zero in on in this text, in these verses, is
12:34
Jacob's anticipation that God is going to keep his promises to his descendants. In a little bit, we will see that Jacob is going to bless them.
12:43
And what this blessing includes, as verse 4 tells us, is that Ephraim and Manasseh will have many offspring that inherit the land of Canaan.
12:51
Jacob knows how bright their future is and all the other offspring because of his confidence that the
12:57
Lord is going to keep his promises to Abraham's offspring. We have seen this all throughout
13:03
Genesis, but once again, we see it here that God is a promise -keeping
13:08
God. Just about every sermon in Genesis, we could highlight this. The book of Genesis is a story of God's faithfulness.
13:17
He is faithful in creating a world for mankind to dwell on it. He is faithful in providing a way for salvation through the promised
13:26
Messiah after mankind's fall into sin. He is faithful in preserving a remnant through the flood,
13:33
Noah's family. He is faithful in confusing the language at Babel so that mankind would not destroy itself.
13:42
So God was gracious by confusing the language. He was faithful. What we have seen since chapter 12 of Genesis is
13:51
God's faithfulness to Abraham and his offspring. This is the promise that Jacob is holding onto right here as he speaks to his descendants.
14:00
The Lord graciously makes promises to his people and he always brings to pass what he said he would.
14:08
If you ever find yourself doubting the promises of God, think about the Abrahamic promises.
14:13
Think about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord fulfilled promises to them and they had great confidence that he was going to do what he told them he was going to do.
14:27
And what's interesting about the Abrahamic covenant is that we, as the church, share in this promise.
14:35
In Galatians 3 .29, the Apostle Paul wrote, We are
14:44
Abraham's spiritual children. And so God is keeping his promise to us as well as he saves us.
14:51
And we know that glorious future promise that all whom he has foreknown, he's elected, and he's saved during their lifetime, and he is going to glorify all who belong to him.
15:06
And so we need to recognize the Lord's faithfulness. He is a promise -keeping God. So as Jacob blesses
15:12
Joseph's sons, God's goodness toward his people is on display. The first manifestation in this narrative is that he is a promise -keeper.
15:20
The second manifestation of God's goodness in this narrative is that he is a benevolent bestower of earthly blessings.
15:28
We'll see this in verses 8 through 11. But before I read, let me explain that in the first point, we saw that Jacob reminded
15:38
Joseph and his grandsons of the Abrahamic promises. He wanted his son and grandsons to know that the
15:45
Lord is a promise -keeper. And he believed that this would come to pass after his death. In the second point, as I just mentioned, we are going to see
15:54
Jacob's understanding of God's earthly blessings to him. His recognition of how good the
16:00
Lord has been to him with earthly blessings. During the almost 150 years of his life.
16:07
So let's look at verses 8 through 11 together. So Jacob here is preparing to bless
16:41
Ephraim and Manasseh. And right before he does, he comments on how kind God has been to him during his life on earth.
16:50
Now two Sundays ago, we saw the other side. When Jacob was having that conversation with Pharaoh, he told him that he had lived a painful life.
16:58
Now Jacob speaks of the bright side of his experience in life. What we see in this text in verse 10 is that Jacob is having trouble seeing because of his old age.
17:10
And as I mentioned above, these two sons were born a year before the famine struck. And here we are at the end of the famine.
17:17
So these two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, are probably six or seven years old. And as he calls them to him, we read in verse 10 that he kissed them and embraced them.
17:29
In verse 11, Jacob, who is called Israel, said to Joseph, Jacob thought his son
17:42
Joseph was dead. He thought he would never see him again. But Jacob recognizes that God made a way for them to be reunited.
17:51
Without the Lord crossing the paths of Joseph's brothers and him, Joseph would have lived out his days in Egypt and never seen his father again.
18:03
But the Lord crossed their paths, and Joseph learned that his father was still alive. And here they are reunited.
18:12
God had many reasons for causing the famine in Egypt and Canaan. But one of them was to reunite father and son,
18:21
Jacob and Joseph. Jacob also would have realized that God kept him alive long enough to see
18:27
Joseph. He did not meet Joseph in Egypt until he was 130 years old.
18:34
And the Lord blessed him with 17 years in Egypt there. Jacob feels so blessed that he was able to see not only
18:42
Joseph, but Joseph's sons also during this time.
18:48
If you're a grandparent here, you know how precious it is to see your grandchildren when they are born.
18:56
Jacob is so overjoyed that the Lord let him see his grandchildren.
19:03
And Jacob knows the source of these blessings that he was able to enjoy in his latter years. He knows that it is
19:09
God who enabled him to see Joseph's children. That's why he says at the end of verse 11, that God has let me see your offspring also.
19:21
We benefit from the author Moses recording what Jacob said to Joseph here. Jacob knew that life was full of hardships.
19:29
We've already seen that. But life in this fallen world is also full of blessings from the
19:35
Lord. We are blessed with family, friends, possessions, and enjoying the pleasures of life.
19:42
We enjoy the beauty of creation. When I look at my wife and children,
19:48
I'm amazed at how good God has been to me. And I have those moments where I have to stop and tell myself,
19:56
Seth, enjoy this. Enjoy God's gifts that He has given you.
20:04
And you too can look at the blessings of your life. He has blessed you in many ways. God is so kind and generous.
20:12
And not only with spiritual blessings, but even with the temporary earthly blessings. And we should praise and thank
20:18
Him for this. So as Jacob blesses Joseph's sons, God's goodness toward his people is on display.
20:25
And the second manifestation in this narrative is that he is a benevolent bestower of earthly blessings.
20:35
And the third and final manifestation of God's goodness in this narrative is that he is the chief shepherd of our lives.
20:45
And we'll see this in verses 12 through 22. Now that Joseph makes this comment about how the
20:52
Lord is a bestower of earthly blessings by giving him this precious time with Joseph and his grandchildren,
21:00
Jacob is ready to bless Ephraim and Manasseh. In these verses, we are going to once again see
21:05
Jacob highlight something about God's goodness toward his people. So let's read verses 12 through 22 to see what
21:14
Jacob describes about the Lord. Let's read this extended reading together.
21:20
Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
21:26
Then Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him.
21:35
And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
21:47
And he blessed Joseph and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the
21:54
God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys.
22:02
And in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
22:11
When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.
22:22
And Joseph said to his father, Not this way, my father, since this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.
22:29
But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great.
22:37
Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.
22:43
So he blessed them that day, saying, By you Israel will pronounce a blessing, saying,
22:48
God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers.
23:01
Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the
23:08
Amorites with my sword and with my bow. Now at the beginning of these verses, what we see in verses 12 -14 is that Jacob did something when he blessed the boys that surprised
23:21
Joseph. Joseph put Manasseh to Jacob's right so that he would get the blessing of the firstborn, since he is the firstborn child.
23:31
And he places Ephraim to the left because he's the younger, and so he would be blessed, but not get the blessing of the firstborn.
23:38
But what verse 14 tells us is that Jacob crosses his hands. By placing his right hand on Ephraim, what he is saying is that he will get the blessing of the firstborn.
23:48
By placing his left hand on Manasseh, what he is saying is that he will be blessed, but not receive the blessing of the firstborn.
23:56
Now in verse 17, Joseph did not like that his father did this. He may have thought that his father was having a senior moment.
24:04
He's about to die here. But Jacob tells Joseph in verse 19, I know what
24:10
I'm doing. My mind is here. I want to bless Ephraim as the firstborn and not
24:16
Manasseh. So the question arises, why does he do this? I don't think it's that difficult to understand this.
24:23
My understanding is that he does this because in the same way Joseph is treated as the firstborn, even though he isn't biologically,
24:32
Ephraim is treated as the firstborn, even though he technically isn't the firstborn physically.
24:40
And what Jacob says in verse 19 is that both peoples will be great, but Ephraim's will be greater.
24:49
As I already mentioned, these two tribes combined would receive one -sixth of the land of promise.
24:56
And it's also important to note that the tribe of Ephraim would be one of the strongest of the twelve tribes of Israel, especially early on in their history.
25:05
Both descendants would have bright moments in their future. And so they're receiving the blessing of Joseph.
25:13
As we've already seen in Genesis, these blessings from the patriarchs to their offspring were like prophecies.
25:19
The Lord made it so that what they said would come to pass later on in history.
25:25
Now as we see that Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, what we need to see here is what
25:31
Jacob says about the Lord. Jacob, who is 147 years old, desires for his two grandchildren to know how wonderful the
25:39
Lord is. He already told them of his faithfulness and kindness and earthly blessings. Now he's going to tell them something else.
25:48
Jacob has experienced the Lord's goodness for almost a century and a half, and Ephraim and Manasseh are only six or seven years old.
25:59
We have kids in our church this age. It made me think of those who are older in our church telling a young child in this congregation about the
26:08
Lord's goodness over all the years of their life. That image will help us understand what this conversation would have been like between the older Jacob and the much younger
26:20
Ephraim and Manasseh. Imagine Elvin and Susan, who've walked with the
26:27
Lord for decade after decade, telling a six or seven year old in our church about the
26:34
Lord and how good He has been to them. So let's look at what
26:40
Jacob says specifically to these little ones in verses 15 and 16. He says, The God before whom my fathers
26:46
Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day.
26:52
Then he says, The Lord used an angel to protect him from all evil.
26:59
Now, some might look at this and say, this means that we have a guardian angel. It could be the case.
27:04
That's a possibility. But also at times throughout Jacob's life, angels appeared to him.
27:11
And sometimes the angel was the Lord Himself. Now there was a specific angel that appeared to him that was the
27:18
Lord, and so that angel was protecting him. And so he calls that angel the
27:26
Lord's angel in verse 16.
27:34
So that's fascinating to think about, but it probably is just the presence of these supernatural beings in his life.
27:43
And this Hebrew word for evil, this evil that he's kept from, can be translated bad, evil, painful.
27:54
This is the same word Jacob used to describe his life when talking to Pharaoh when he talked about the difficulties of his life.
28:02
So the Lord used the angel to protect him from all kinds of trouble. And the
28:08
Lord Himself was the one keeping him from this trouble. The trouble in our life, if you think about what trouble there could be, it could be our own sin.
28:18
We've seen the Lord keep people from sinning in Genesis. Others who seek to do us harm.
28:24
It can be demonic forces. Or the Lord simply sustaining us through difficult times.
28:32
Then he says the Lord would lead Ephraim and Manasseh down the path of blessing by growing them into a multitude on the earth.
28:39
Then at the end of this conversation in verse 23, Jacob says to Joseph, God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers.
28:47
You can see Jacob's confidence in the Lord. And what he focuses on here is the Lord was his shepherd through the life of faith.
28:55
The Lord watches over his people. Do you know this?
29:01
Do you think about the Lord shepherding you as you go through your life? Jacob experienced what
29:11
King David experienced hundreds of years later. King David wrote many of the
29:17
Psalms. And he wrote the most famous Psalm, which is Psalm 23. And I'm going to read this right now.
29:24
It's about the Lord shepherding over our life. And as I read this, think about your journey through life and all the ways the
29:32
Lord shepherds you as his child. As his sheep. Psalm 23, 1 -6 says this,
29:41
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
29:49
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
29:58
I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
30:07
You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Truly, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
30:16
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Do you realize the
30:22
Lord is shepherding you as you go through the life of faith? He provides for you.
30:29
He gives you rest. He nourishes your soul. He leads you to reflect him in holiness.
30:36
He guides you through frightening times. And you are able to endure because he is with you.
30:43
The end of Psalm 23 says that goodness and mercy follow the
30:49
Lord's sheep. The Lord's people. Goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.
31:00
And the beauty of this is that it says, and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
31:06
He never leaves you. Even if you die, he never leaves you. You have a wonderful shepherd.
31:15
I have a wonderful shepherd. The best shepherd we could possibly have. God! Jacob knew that the
31:22
Lord was his shepherd and we need to hear this today. And you may be thinking, aren't the pastors and elders of this church our shepherds?
31:34
There's three of us. Me, Rob, and Mark. And it's true. We are your shepherds.
31:41
But it's best to describe us as your under -shepherds. The chief shepherd of this church is
31:47
Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 5 -4 refers to him as the chief shepherd.
31:55
And one thing you need to know about us is that we are sinful. We are flawed. We don't always look after you the way that we should.
32:05
I think we're doing our best. But we need your prayers. And I want you to know too that we do pray for you.
32:12
Everybody in this church is prayed for once a week at least. So know that you are prayed for.
32:20
But thankfully, we're not alone in this because the Lord is the shepherd of this church.
32:26
If you think about it, Jacob was 147 years old and he's talking about how the Lord shepherded him throughout his life.
32:33
If you think about the history of Eureka Baptist Church, this church started in 1881.
32:41
And so we are 138 years into the history of this church. Think about that.
32:46
That's a long time. And the Lord has faithfully shepherded this church all of those years.
32:55
And I believe the best days are still ahead. And I look forward to going through this journey with you.
33:01
I hope you see what I see and are as optimistic as I am. And I know many of you are of the days ahead at this church.
33:11
So as we summarize this sermon, we've seen three manifestations of God's wonderful character toward His people in this text.
33:20
The first is that He's a promise keeper. Secondly, He's a benevolent bestower of earthly blessings. And thirdly, as we have just seen,
33:27
He is the chief shepherd of our lives. You can see what an incredible position we are in as God's children.
33:34
When you know God, you could not be in a better position. We are one heartbeat away from fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
33:46
This also gives us a picture of how tragic it is for those who do not know the Lord. And if you are here today, and you have never recognized yourself as a sinner in need of a
33:57
Savior, you can be in this wonderful position today. Two thousand years ago,
34:03
Jesus went to the cross. He died for your sins. He was raised from the dead.
34:11
And anybody who believes in Him will have eternal life. And you will have a precious relationship with the
34:20
Holy God. This wonderful God promises that if you believe in Him, you will be in this glorious position where you will experience
34:30
His goodness and mercy now and forever. And for the many here today who know the
34:36
Lord, be encouraged at this reminder. Be encouraged that He is shepherding you through your life.
34:43
Be encouraged that His goodness is always upon you. Now next
34:50
Sunday, as we are wrapping up our sermon series in Genesis, we're getting very close. We're almost done with Genesis.
34:57
We've got two Sundays to go. Next Sunday, we're going to look at Genesis 49. And we're going to see
35:04
Jacob bless all of his other sons. And what we're going to see, and I can't wait to show you this, we are going to see him show that one tribe is head and shoulders over the other because the most significant person of all comes from that tribe.
35:21
And so, please join us next Sunday. Let's pray.
35:29
Father in Heaven, I thank You for the Word of God. And I pray, Lord, that whoever hears this message, that You would use it to encourage, to convict, to change, that we would become more like You, Lord.
35:49
That we would reflect You in holiness. That we would understand how good
35:54
You are to us. That we would praise You more in our life. That we would thank You for how good You've been to us and how good
36:00
You always will be to us. And so I pray for this, Lord, that You would accomplish abundantly more than we ask or imagine in this sermon.