All right, we're in the beginning of Genesis 46. Not to rehash what I always do, we go into 46 is when Israel, it says, and Israel took his journey But just prior to that, he had just heard the testimony that his son was still alive. Based on that testimony and the evidence of that, he decided to get up and go, and that's what we're picking up here in verses 1-4. It says, "...and Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God spake unto Israel in the vision of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go into down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again. And Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eye." So here he's about to go, and on his way out, he decides that it would be a good idea to go to Beersheba and offer sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac. I don't know what state Jacob was in at this point. But it's just interesting the words of the Bible as you read them. It doesn't say that it was his God. It said it was the God of his father, Isaac. So maybe by this time, and we'll get to it in a little bit, maybe by this time, I tend to believe that the sorrows of this life have overwhelmed him. We'll get down to the later in the lesson, we're gonna see that he says, few and evil have been the days of my life or something to that effect. He talks to Pharaoh in chapter 47. And so he's going, but he knows what's right to do. And that's the legacy that I talked about. And I don't really like that word, but I guess we'll use it. That Dawn was testifying about with her sister. And hopefully that's the testimony you leave behind. I don't want you to go anywhere, but that's what you leave behind for your children. And all of us who have children and have family, that we want to leave that behind to know that at least he knew the God of my father Isaac. You know, and he goes back, and he knows that it's the right thing to do. And how many children have attended funerals, and they go to the funeral, and they break out into tears because they say, I know what my father believed. I know what my, I remember, what was the last funeral we did here? Brother Whitaker, I couldn't think of his name, Brother Whitaker, and his family was there. And every time, no matter what family member you talk to, They all said, I know what my granddaddy believed. Oh, my granddaddy, he was faithful to church. He always talked about God. He always read his Bible. He was always talking. He was always singing. And and every one of them and and and and many times that's the place in the time when your family is going to make their decision for Christ. It's gonna be after that we're gone. While we're alive, it's easy to criticize and mock and watch and look for every mistake that we make, right? And we feel bad because we make those mistakes. But when we're gone, and sometimes the Lord, and we might pray that way, Lord, if you need to take me. But anyway, this is what's going on here. He goes and sacrifices, and then the Lord shows up. But I don't want to get ahead of myself again. Joseph's brothers went back to convey to their father all the words of Joseph. You go back into verse 27 of chapter 45, and they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them. And you know what? That's what we do here as pastors and as preachers, any of you preachers, and that's what we do in the jail. That's what we do at home. That's what we do in the community. It doesn't matter. That's what we do at the workplace. We're supposed to deliver all the words of God. And the only thing that's going to help a soul is all the words of God. You know what the devil has decided to do? He's decided you don't need all the words of God. You just need something easier to understand. You need something that's more down to your level. Well, you know, I've said it before. The King James Bible is written on a fifth, sixth grade level. maybe a seventh grade level, depending on, you know, as we get dumber as a society, it probably goes higher and higher. But, you know, we don't need easier to understand. It's plenty easy to understand. What's happening is you're getting things removed and he's subtle. That's how the devil works. But Jacob, he says on your paper, the only hope for a dying man is all the words of Jesus Christ. We need to make sure that we're giving out all the words of Jesus Christ. You know what's interesting to me? It's actually fascinating to me and Sorry if I keep going back to the jail yesterday, but it's fresh on my mind. It's always an experience. If you ever get a chance to go with us, you men, if you ever get a chance to get cleared and you want to go there, it's just an experience. If you just go for that only. But, you know, you'll get up there and a verse will come to mind, and here I don't have any problem with that. Here I can just start to quote a verse, and you guys could probably finish the verse with me, and you know where the reference is. We do Bible Bullseye on Thursday, and you pretty much know where it is in the Bible, Old and New Testament, or what book it's in, and chapter, and all that. Well, what's interesting is I did that yesterday, just because that's what I'm used to, and I say, you know what the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, and they started to quote it to me. And I started to quote it, and they were quoting it with me. And you know what that is? The words of God. All the words of God. There's something, and I don't have the material with me this morning, I wish I would have thought of it and brought it with me, but there's something about the King James Bible, as archaic as it is, with all the these and the vows, and all the old words that nobody can understand, and I'm being facetious, that it sticks in your brain. It's the one thing that will stick in your mind and you'll end up just quoting it. And you know why that is? That's God's word. And those men in a prison who don't have the access like you have access and I have access to listen to preaching or to attend church in a good Bible believing church, they're quoting Bible. You know what Bible they're quoting? The King James Bible. You know, you think the guy's in prison. Now, I don't know what education level they're at. And some people think, well, they're in there because they need more education. If only we had more education in the world, less people would be in prison. I think we've proven that wrong. That's not true. But no matter what their education level, you know, I've heard stories of men who are in jail who couldn't read. My own grandfather couldn't read. I was surprised at that as a boy. He sat me down, he says, you know, Johnny, he called me Johnny, called me Johnny, that was my name when I was a kid. He said, you know, Johnny, I can't read. And I thought, and I went to my parents, I said, Grandpa can't read? How is it that you can be that old and not read? That was like a foreign concept to me. But anyway, there are people like that, but then he'll pick up the Bible and be able to read it. There's something supernatural about that Bible. It's not just a book. It's not just pen and paper. It's not just ink on paper. It's God's words. And it has inspiration around it. And the Spirit of God can come off those pages and you can actually understand it. And even men in the jail can read that Bible and understanding can just come from that because it's God's word. Now, what if I take that and say, wait a minute, let me just hand you the NIV because it's a little easier to understand. Now I've just changed all of that and I've taken all that power away because I want them to understand. Well, again, the devil is subtle, but the only hope for a dying man is all the words of Jesus Christ. One of the things that kind of goes without saying, but one of the things that we must do when we're talking to people is we must quote the Bible. You must quote the Bible. It's one thing to be able to... One gentleman came up, the one who asked for the list of books, he said he's very interested in apologetics. You know what apologetics is? Apologetics is just you being able to defend your faith. Defend, you know, why I'm not an evolutionist. Why do I believe the King James Bible, for example? All the whys, the reasons why, that's apologetics. And he's very interested. Of course, that stuff's very intellectual. I'm interested in it, too. It's fascinating. It's nice to hear people's reasonings and things like that. And it's good to have little comebacks to people who say things to you, little cliches that you might use. But the best thing you can do is quote the Bible. Let the in the beginning God created heaven and the earth. Well, that, you know, oh, yeah, you know, you're just quoting the Bible. That's right. That's that's where the that's where the spirit of God works. And that's what the spirit of God is associated with. That's what Jesus Christ is, the word of God. That's what he's associated with. And so when you give out the Bible, the best thing you could do is quote the Bible to people. So the only hope for a dying man is all the words of Jesus Christ. Jacob's response was proper. in chapter 45, verse 28, and look what he said. He said, and Israel said after he heard all the words of Joseph, Joseph being like a type of Jesus Christ, and Israel said, it is enough. Joseph, my son, is yet, he believed. Joseph, my son, is yet alive. It is enough. He heard the words, and I'm just gonna put in right here, he heard the word of God. And he said, it's enough. Now that's where we ought to be. Now yesterday, we talked about sign gifts. our signed gifts for today. You say, why would you do that in prison? Well, most of the guys that show up at that service claim to be saved. There's very few, I'm sure, that come in that don't have some kind of religious background, and that's why they choose, because they choose to come to the service. Now, some guys choose to come because they need a break. They just want to get away, and they want to sit somewhere else, and they don't want, and they're not saved. We understand that, and we preach the gospel. But we want to teach those guys, we want to give those guys something to defend against all the false religion that walks through the door so that they're not carried about with every wind of doctrine. So we're going through that material, and I'm going to be careful that I don't lose my thought. Where was I going with that? Tell me where I was going with that. This is what it was. I got challenged at the end. There was a gentleman that came up to me and he said this, and I'm gonna caution everybody here, it's not part of the lesson, but I'm gonna give it to you anyway. I showed them how sign gifts were given. Originally, the first sign ever given in the Bible was the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was given, God, in the beginning of creation, right? And then seventh day, God rested from all the work that he'd created and made, the Bible says. And why did he do that? God doesn't need to rest. This is how I began my lesson. God doesn't need to rest. Why did he do that? Well, you'll find out 2,500 years later when he gets to Moses on a mountain and he hands him some tablets of the law and he tells them that if they observe the Sabbath, right, that they're supposed to observe the Sabbath because it is a sign between us, between me and you people, the Jews. because there is coming, and if you read Hebrews, there is coming a day of rest for the people of God, right? And that's the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. I am gonna come down, I'm gonna be born through you, through the line of Judah, I'm gonna be one of yours, and I'm gonna be your God, and I'm gonna come up. And so I told him that's the first sign, and we went through the signs, all the healing and tongues and everything like that are there all for the Jews. The Jews require a sign. So afterwards, the gentleman came up to me and he said, well, you know what? You said that there's no healings for today. I said, that's right. He says, you believe that? I said, I believe that. And he said, well, I don't. And he said, because I've seen it. Well, my last point of my lesson, and I didn't quite get to it, but I mentioned it early on, was that one of the people that when Paul shows up, signs go away. Not immediately, you understand, but they transition away. Then Paul shows up and then Paul can't even heal his friends at the end of it because he lost the gift of healings. And he doesn't have those same abilities as an apostle. And the apostles all died out. And by the way, when the apostles died out, so did all the gifts and signs and healings. And the Bible became complete. And so we no longer need prophecies and knowledge and all that stuff that will vanish away and cease. But what was I getting to? He said that he experienced it. He experienced somebody being healed, is I think what he was trying to tell me. And I asked him, I said, well, here's a question for you. I said, if the Bible said healings were no more for today, but you saw a healing take place, which would you believe? Now, you see, that's where we all have to come to. We have to come to the point where no matter what we see, no matter what we experience, because the last point I made was Satan is the one that Paul they stop with. Would they stop with Paul? But Satan is going to come on the scene here very soon when they build that temple in Jerusalem. Watch out, because the Antichrist is about to reveal himself and he's going to sit there and he's in the Bible tells you in Second Thessalonians that he's going to come in with signs and lying wonders. and deceive the whole world. And so it's no stretch for me to think that if he can do that, if he can do signs and lying wonders, that he's got power that human beings don't have. And that devils, I read in my Bible where devils can inhabit people. And if a devil comes in and he gives me an ability to heal you, or you, or you, or speak in a tongue, What do I believe? What I just saw or what the Bible told me has ceased? Well, I believe the Bible. You always believe the Bible over any experience. Listen, how many people have walked away from a car wreck and are still alive today, but they weren't saved? They didn't have their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, but they shouldn't have lived. The police report says that car was mangled. There's no way a human being could survive that. And yet, here they are, they're alive. Or, I had a tumor, and you know what, we pray for that, don't we? We pray for people, and Christians, we trust in God, and all of a sudden, you know, the tumor is gone, praise the Lord, it must have been God. But you know that happens to lost people, too. It's not selective just to Christians. And you know when Jesus was here, I was telling the pastor before the service, you know when Jesus was here, that he healed all kinds of people? And you know that when he healed those people, he wasn't saving those people. They were all lost people on their way to hell, but he touched them and he healed them and they got up and they walked and they saw and they heard and they spoke. Does that mean they were saved? Well, if anybody had an encounter with God, they did. If anybody had a healing direct from the Lord, they did. But that doesn't mean they're saved. Those people still needed to obey the word of God. So anyway, what I'm getting at is Jacob had the right response. He heard the words of the Lord and he said, it's enough. It's enough. That's what we, that's ought to be all of our attitudes. When we hear the word of God, it doesn't matter. Well, you don't know my life. It doesn't matter. You don't know what I've been through. It doesn't matter. You don't know what I'm facing. It doesn't matter. What does the Bible say? The Bible, when I heard the words of God and Jacob heard him, he said, it's enough. It's enough and I gave you that verse and I like it. It's in first Peter 123. It's on your paper that we're being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Do you know how you know you're saved today? It's not because it's not because you felt good the day you got saved. It's not because if you were like me, a burden was lifted off your shoulders the day you got saved. I felt that way. But that doesn't mean that validates my salvation. It's not because my hair stood up on end or I floated above my chair, or because I walked out and the sun was shining that day and it was just raining. It's none of those things. The way you know you're saved is because the Bible says being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God. And that's how you know that you're... These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Do you believe what I say? Or are you looking... And that was the message yesterday. I guess I'm preaching it here. The message yesterday, do you believe what I say? Do you have faith? Or are you looking for a sign? Or are you looking for wisdom? The Greeks seek after wisdom. Or do you just have faith in the words of God? You know what God's looking for? You to have faith, me to have faith in the words of God. So Jacob had that. The Word of God is proof of our salvation. Of course, also verse 28 is prophetical. Israel will be given eyes to see the sun. That's Jesus. They will be given eyes in the near future. That's during the Tribulation and going into the Millennial Rest. Now, I gave you references. I wish we don't have time to go through the references, but there is coming that day. I gave you those in Hebrews. They're right there on your sheet. And they will be given eyes to see. Right now, the Jew has no eyes to see Jesus Christ. The Bible says that there's a veil. Right? And, of course, they require a sign, but we preach Jesus, the Bible says, under the Jews, a stumbling block. See, we preach Christ. Why? Because it's not just a Gentile message. It's the world's message. It's the need. People need Jesus Christ. But to the Jew, that's a stumbling block. They trip right over Jesus Christ. They hear about him. They hear him preached. It's freely given all over the world. They know all about it, but they choose to refuse it. And because of that, they trip over Jesus Christ, stumble right over him, and drop right into hell. God's chosen people, my people, the one that he's gonna open their eyes someday, there will be a remnant, and I'm talking about a small remnant, will enter in. It will be an elite few people who enter into that day of rest, and then from there, God can work with that. But anyway. They will get eyes to see as Jacob leaves for Egypt in response to the word of Joseph. God meets him in the way to confirm his decision. God always gives confirmation to those who follow him. Now, I said, you're not going to float off your seat. Your hair is not going to stand up. It's not the sun's not going to shine just because you got saved. But God should give you confirmation that you're saved. Look at your paper. It says there in Romans 8 16, the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the Children of God. If nothing else, you should have the witness in you that you are a child of God. You should hear the preaching of God, and I forget where it was. Oh, I told you this illustration. Brother Shemesh, he's the one that I talked about. If you know him, he's an Australian man, but he's a missionary over in Taiwan. He's on Final Fight Bible Radio, and when he first got saved, he was in a Presbyterian church, and I gave you this illustration, I think a week or two ago, that he said, I was hearing things and I just accepted it because I was newly saved and I didn't know any better. Right? But then he got a hold of a, he went to a Christian bookstore and I remember he told you he got some cassette tapes and he went and got the whole box. He said, give me the whole box. They were 25 cents each. And as he started listening, all the cassette tapes were from Baptist preachers, famous Baptist preachers who preached the gospel and preached out of the King James Bible. And as he heard it, he said, I don't know who these guys are, but I know that's what I am. And you know what that was? That was the Spirit of God bearing witness through the preaching of the right Bible, of the right doctrine, bearing witness that that's who I am. That's what resonates with me. And you know what? If that happens to you, you're saved. Because the lost world says, that's not me. Get me away from that message. Hey, nice to know you, but I'm going to go my own way. But when you like that, and you gravitate that, and you want the next tape, and the next tape, and you want more, and you're listening to more, then you know the Spirit of God's bearing witness with you. All right, so God will always do that. He did that here for Jacob. He showed up and he told him, hey Jacob, and he said, here am I, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go into Egypt, verse three, for I will make thee a great nation. And you can see the references Deuteronomy 420 and Exodus 422, where God talks about how God brings his son out of Egypt. and that he used that whole experience of 400 years for them to get in there so that he could create that nation. Verse 5 through 27, we'll read a good passage here. And Jacob rose from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle and their goods which they had gotten in the land of Canaan and came into Egypt. Jacob and all his seed with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt, verse 8, and these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt. Now we're going to skip past all those names. Do you do that when you read the Bible, John? No, I read the names. You should read the names. I have a little theory on that, I'll spare you the theory, but you should just read the names. Try to pronounce them, read through them, but for sake of time today we're going to do that. We're going to skip past them, I mean. And we'll go all the way down to verse 26. All the souls that came into Egypt, which came out of his loins beside Jacob's sons, wives, and all the souls, were threescore and six. And the sons of Joseph, which were born in Egypt, were two souls, and all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten. So, based on the word of Jacob and the confirmation of the Lord, Jacob uproots his entire family and heads for Egypt. Now, we'll pause right there. Well, let me read the next sentence. This is an example of how a believer should detach himself from this world and set his affections on things above. That's Colossians 3, 2. He hears the word of the Lord. He's an old man. He's 130 years old. All right? And he's older than he will ever get, but he's an old man. And he says, you know what, I heard the word, let's get up, let's go. That's a great lesson for us. Because we always hesitate. Now I say we, I'm just lumping everybody together, I understand. But you know, we hear the word of God and what do we do about it? I'll think about that. Yeah, that sounds right, but I'll consider that. You know, if I do that. Right, right. Boy, if I stand up against sodomites, I heard the preaching, I know it's an abomination to the Lord, I know it's not right, but if I do that... Or, yeah, and some of you have done this, to your credit, I mean, it's amazing. I used to drive one way to church, about 45 miles. I chose to move out that far, okay, but I said, okay, you're gonna move out that far, John, you're also gonna have to drive that far into church. You're not just gonna go to the local Catholic church around the corner just because it's convenient, right, the 7-Eleven church. Well, where do you go to work? Well, I have to drive two hours one way to work. Why do you do that? Because it's a great job. It's a good pay. I couldn't get a job like that anywhere else. Well, why don't you just go to Wendy's to go to work? It's closer, but that's the same reason that people choose their church. Well, it's close. Is there a church in my area? That's how people talk. Well, how about is there a church that believes the King James Bible anywhere within a reasonable driving distance? It's Sunday. Don't you have the day off? It's Sunday, what else do you have to do? Well, you know, I have to have some me time. Well, all I'm saying is, Jacob, he says, he uproots his entire family. He says, it's enough, I've heard it, everybody pack your things, we're leaving. We're moving closer. We're getting where my son is. We're going where God is. We're going where God said. And I don't care if I live here. I don't care if I put all my heart and soul into this building. I call my house a building. You know, this building I live in. Don't get too attached to your house. Okay? Your house. Oh, that's my house. That's where all my memories are. That's where my family was born. And that's where we raised. And I get all that. But it's just a building. You understand? This is just a building. And your house is just a building. Don't get attached. You can, would you move anywhere for God? If God said, Hey, I want you to be a missionary in South Africa, would you go? Or would you be like, unlike Jacob? You know, if I do that, I'm going to need support. And what if I don't get support? And if, but if God told you to do it, if God told you, Hey, you need to go to that church. Well, then you either going to drive a long way or you're going to move there. And I'm just using that as an example. I'll move on from there. This is a seeming discrepancy, oh, moving on from that, just as an aside, if you go to Acts 7.14, don't do it, but in Acts 7.14, it tells you that the number of souls that left Egypt or that gathered around, go to Acts 7.14. Here in Genesis, it tells you there were 70 souls. Souls in the Bible, we don't need to go into that. Souls is who you are. You're a soul. So that's people. And if you go to Acts 7.14, Stephen is given an account here in a discrepancy. It says, Then sent Joseph and called his father Jacob to him and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. That's 75. So you see how the Bible has scribal errors? Do you see how that we could use a more faithful translation than the King James Bible because over here it's 70 and over here it's 75. Do you see now how preachers get away with that? Do you see that how I could appear real smart and studied up for you and I could tell you now you see that's why you need to understand I went to school and I studied the languages and I know what that really means. What that really should say. In fact you ought to get the John Albrecht Bible because I'll tell you as you go through, and I did this in school, when I was in high school, when I was a senior in high school, we had a Bible teacher and I was impressed with him. He came in and I can show you the Bible that I have from his class where I marked out words and put the right word above it. I had a King James Bible, but he said, now that word should be. And so I thought, okay, if that word should be, then I'll just cross it out and put the right word in place of it. And that's what I did through my Bible. You know, isn't that really what I'm supposed to do? And I had the Bible according to the Bible teacher. And that's what goes on. But anyway, without getting into all that, because that is a rabbit hole, too, in terms of the Bible. But there's a seeming discrepancy between the number of souls that came into Egypt. According to Genesis 46, 27, there were 70. But Acts 7, 14 says there were 75. But a simple reading of, I should say, English, reveal that Genesis accounts for those who came with Jacob into Egypt out of his loins, and the one in Acts says all of his kindred. There were kindred already in Egypt. Ephraim, Manasseh, Joseph, his wife. So you know what, instead of being like, uh-huh, why don't you dissect and read a little more carefully? Well, I tell you what, when I get a medication, boy, I'm reading that label very carefully. It says here, don't take it, oh, two hours before bedtime. You're very careful about that stuff. And the lease that you just signed for your apartment, and for your new house, and for that car that you just bought. But when it comes to the Bible, oh yeah. See? Discrepancy. Throw out the Bible. That's how we are. We're kind of crazy like that. Let's see, let's go to the next, we want to finish at least chapter 46, verse 28 through 30. And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph to erect his face unto Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. So in verse 29, Joseph got on his chariot to meet his father in Goshen and presented himself to him and wept on his neck. Now, Joseph is a type of Jesus Christ. And guess what Jesus is going to do? I don't know if he's going to get in a chariot or what he's going to do, but he is going to come and he's going to meet us halfway. at the rapture, and he's gonna come and meet not just us, but all the saints are gonna get their new bodies at that time, because they're gonna come out of the graves and get that body, and he's gonna meet us, just like he went to meet his father, the Lord's gonna meet us. And it says there that he wept on his neck a good while. Now, and I just made this connection, and we will spend a good while with the Lord. And the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. You know, whatever that good, you know, I used to, when I was a kid, there was a candy bar called a marathon candy bar. Anybody know what a marathon candy bar was? And it was like a mile long. You could put a ruler on it or something. And it crisscrossed like this, and it was caramel and chocolate. And you know what the slogan of that candy bar was? It lasts a good long time. And as a kid, you're like, yeah, that's what I want. I want a good long time with that candy bar. And you know what? A good while. That's the way the Bible puts it. He wept on his neck a good while. I don't know what it's going to be like when I get to heaven. I can only imagine because the Bible tells me I can't even imagine. It hasn't even entered in my heart or my mind. But I can try to imagine. And I don't really know if there are going to be tears there in terms of me having sorrow and things like that or regrets. But I can just imagine. You know how you cry for joy? I think that was going on here. I don't think it was regrets or anything like that. I think Jacob is just like bawling his eyes out. My son, I can't believe I'm holding my son. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I didn't think this side of glory, and even then, who knows what he knew about where he would ever see Joseph again. And he finally sees them, and they're weeping and weeping and weeping for joy. You know, I told you in the Bible, Jesus is not without emotion. John 11, 35, right? The famous verse in the Bible. You all know it, right? Jesus wept. So if Jesus is God in the flesh and doesn't sin, by the way, he's not a sin that he wept. If Jesus wept, I don't have a problem thinking that one day we'll be so in love and when we see Jesus and we'll have so much joy that we might just be weeping for joy, tears of joy. And so who knows what we'll be doing those first moments when we get with the Lord. It might just be a hallelujah shout and fit, right? That our pastor tries to get us into, whipped up and do all the time. And he's getting us used to the fact that one of these days you're gonna do it. And he's trying to get your vocal cords ready for it. And so that's what's going on here. In Genesis 42, 38, Jacob's life was ready to end in sorrow. Go back there, go to Genesis 42, look at verse 38. It's a whole different tune than a chapter or two ago. This is that sorrow of the world I was telling you about earlier. And I gave you the reference for that, 2 Corinthians 7.10, if you want to look that up, but Genesis 42.38, and he said, My son shall not go down with you, talking about Benjamin, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way you go, then shall you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. You know, I don't know, I'd have to do the math and look to see, you know, exactly how old he was. Probably the same, around 129, 130, 128, somewhere in there at that point, thinking he's going to die. But if you take Benjamin away, then it's just going to be the last straw, God. I just can't handle anymore. You're going to bring my gray hairs that you caused all these gray hairs down to the grave. I just can't take it. Now, you may get to that point in your life where you just can't take it another moment, another day, And I think that's where Jacob was, but now, look at this, now he sees his son and he's got him around the neck and they're weeping for joy together. And you know what that is? That's he sees his son and his worst fears were suddenly removed. And you know what that did for him? Now he is okay to die. Now he wants to die just because there's peace in my life. This is a good day to die. Do you ever feel like that? Hopefully, I don't know what you feel like, but I mean, someday I think like that. It's a good day to die, Lord. Just take me home. You know, whenever you feel like that, that's what you're saying. Hey, I wish the Lord, pastor says, I wish the Lord would come right now. You know what he's saying? I wish I would die right now and not necessarily drop dead on this platform and have a funeral for me, but let's just get out of here. And so it's a whole different attitude now. He's over here, he's ready to die from the sorrow of the world. Be careful with that. I gave you the reference. You can look it up on your own 2 Corinthians 7.10. But you know that the sorrow of this world worketh death, it says. You know what? That's what the devil wants to do. He wants to heap sorrow on your life, and just sorrow after sorrow, and tragedy after tragedy, and health problem after health problem, and financial problem after financial problem, and relationship problem, and every kind of problem he wants to heap, and we blame God for that. If there's a God, no, no, there is a devil, and there is people. People have a flesh, and if you think your flesh is wicked, then what about the next guy? And he is trying to cause pain and suffering on you, too. You know, the government is oppressive. And, you know, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you. You know, that's a lie. When we were going into prison yesterday, there was a guy, he was walking all by himself over here, and we were going this way, and I'm thankful we were going this way. But this guy's over here, he goes, you guys, what was he saying? There's something like, there's nobody good here. These people, they don't do right by us. And he was complaining about people. And I'm like, I'm glad I'm going that way. I don't know if he's ready to fight or something, but the government is oppressive. People are oppressive. There's a devil and there are people. And God, the Bible tells you what God, well, what's God doing? Bible tells you what God's doing. He gave you a Bible, and he said, the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to me, either labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I know I mixed two verses together. If you caught that, that's good. Um, and so that's what the Lord is doing right now. He's not causing all of this. But anyway, I digress because he sees his son and his worst fears are suddenly removed. Now he wants to go. I'm ready to die. Similarly, after getting a glimpse of Jesus, I'm talking about us now. When we get a good look at Jesus, guess what? The believer should desire to die daily. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 31, that's Paul, that's what he said, I die daily. Paul, how is it that you can not give into the desires of your flesh? How is it that you can serve the Lord so fervently? How is it that you can go through perils of this and perils of that and still have a good attitude and still be serving? How can you be in jail still writing the Bible? Because I'll tell you why, because he got a glimpse of Jesus. I mean, he got an eyeful. And I would like that. I pray for that. You can pray for that. Lord, show me. Show yourself to me. Show me you. I know that's bad English. I was trying to think of another way to say it. Show me you. Just, I know I have the Bible. That should be enough, by the way. And oftentimes, that's all we're ever gonna have. But God, if you can show me And sometimes you get a glimpse of Jesus in church. I like that. When I come, he said it this morning. Why did you come today? You come to get a good look at Jesus. You come to worship Jesus. You come to get away from the world, I hope. And you get a good look at Jesus, and the next thing you know, Your whole attitude has shifted, at least to the time that you're here. And maybe for an hour or two after you leave, it carries on with you. But at least at that time, you're like, you know what? I see it now. I see it now. I see this world for what it is. I see myself for who I am, and I see God for who He is. And hopefully your perspective is set straight. And now, Lord, if you would just come back But you know what, you can judge your spirituality by when you say, you know what, Lord, I hope you don't come back today. Because man, I got this to do and I got that to do and boy, I just was, I had my heart set on this and Lord, if you come back today, you'll ruin my plans. Boy, you got other plans besides going to heaven. You got some wrong plans. I don't care how good they are or what they are. And if your mind is that defiled, You better get down to the altar and tell the Lord, I'm defiled and I don't know what my problem is, but you can point it out and you can show it to me and you can hopefully switch my gears because I don't know why I'm not like pastor. I'm not looking forward to your return. Anyway, you should have a, the believer should have a desire to at least to die to their self. as Paul said, daily, at least put down this flesh so that I can keep that vision going of what I see, Jesus, and hope for the coming of the Lord. By the way, this is not a death wish. It's a biblical desire to be delivered from the body of this death, Romans 7, 24. Lord, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Only he can. But Paul's desire, Paul looked at his own self, Paul, I said it to the guys at prison yesterday, Paul is probably the single greatest Christian that ever walked the face of this earth. I still think that to this day. I'm sure there's great men, there have been great men, but Paul, to me, is the greatest example of a Christian, but yet he was not satisfied with his own self. And he said, who shall deliver me from the body? You ought to look at yourself every day and not have a death wish, not be depressed, not be so hard on yourself. But the idea is, I know who I am and what I'm capable of and how depraved I am and what a wretch, that's the word Paul used, what a wretch I am. So I'm praying God today that you wouldn't let me fall. I'm praying God today that you'd have some grace on me. I'm having that you direct my paths and that you'd be with my works and all my thoughts so that I can just survive another day without messing up your name. And as long as you got me down on this earth, Lord, I want to do something right. Can I just do something right? And that ought to be our prayer. So it's not a death wish, it's just a proper biblical desire, and to be clothed on with immortality. I mean, wouldn't that be nice? To just have immortality? You know, well, I'd love to be immortal, why? So you can just live in this world for the rest of eternity? Boy, if that's immortality, just kill me now. You know, I don't wanna dwell in this world forever, I wanna go into a different place. And so, this is how Paul could say, for I am in a straight betwixt two. It's on your paper. I am in a straight betwixt two. I am having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. You know I didn't read on, I didn't put the rest of the quote there, but you know why he said he's still here? Because it's more needful for you. And don't ever lose sight of that. Sometimes the Lord, Lord, why am I still here? I'd rather be in heaven. Well, maybe you've got some children to raise, and I want you to be around to raise them. Maybe you've got somebody that I want you to meet here in about two years. You're going to meet this person, and it's going to be time, and I'm going to have you cross their path. And you know what? That's why I have you here. And maybe because whenever you show up at church, you put a smile on John Albrecht's face every time he sees you, and he needs that. And so I'm going to just keep you alive for a little while, and you just keep coming on and showing up, and you don't know what you're doing, but you're helping him. And so that's why I have you down there. So just hold on. Just hold on. I'll take care of it. And you know what? I'll reward you for that. Even though you don't even know why. Verse 31-34, at least let's wrap up the chapter here. 31-34, And Joseph said unto his brethren and unto his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren and my father's house which were in the land of Canaan are coming to me. And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle, and they have brought their flocks and their herds. and all that they have. And it shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, what is your occupation? And ye shall say, thy servant's trade hath been about cattle from our youth, even until now, both we and also our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians." So, All that was left to do, the family is all there, they've arrived, and all that's left to do is now to go in front of Pharaoh. That's not a small thing. The king of the world, the one with all the power, the one with all the food. If you read the next chapter, everyone sells their whole souls and their lands and their cattle just so that they can eat another day, which is a picture of the tribulation time. You don't think it'll be bad? Oh yeah, well I would just starve to death. I would just sit and I would just die. You may or you may not. You can read passages in the Bible where people, ladies were eating their babies. I would never do something, you don't know what you would do as something, you know how powerful your flesh is? Just being hungry. You don't know what you would do. And so anyway, that's what's coming in the next chapter. But they had to go in front of Pharaoh and all that was left to do is petition Pharaoh for the land of Goshen. According to Genesis 47.6, It was the best of the land and the best place to feed cattle. And that's why Joseph picked it out because he knew the condition of the land. Evidently it was separate from most of the Egyptians since shepherds were an abomination. We just read that in verse 34. Shepherds are an abomination to the Egyptians. Now we read a little bit ago in Genesis 43, 32, look back there, Genesis 43, 32. It's the first time the word abomination shows up in your Bible is in Genesis 43, 32. It's not when the sodomites showed up, although that's an abomination, it's later in the Bible that that's called an abomination, but that's not the time the Lord used the word abomination for the first time in context of Egypt, and the second time in context of Egypt, and the third time in context of Egypt. And it wasn't towards Egypt that God says Egypt is an abomination, it was that Egypt thought shepherds and sheep were an abomination, and God's people. That's here in Genesis 43, 32. And they set on for him, I'm not in the sixth grade yet, so. And they set on him, on for him by himself and for them by themselves and for the Egyptians which should eat with him by themselves because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. So they don't like the Hebrew people and they don't like the shepherds. because that's what their occupation is. And yet, Joseph says, now look, we're going to go before Pharaoh, and we're going to tell him our occupation. And brothers, I know you, okay? I forgive you, but I know you. And so what's going to happen is, he's going to say, what's your occupation? And you're going to him, and you're going to ha, and you're going to hedge. You just tell him what you are. You tell him you're a shepherd. Now we'll get, we're going to have to get to Pharaoh next week because Pharaoh actually has to make a choice here, uh, to accept them. And he does, and he gives them the land of Goshen. He did a good thing. But, uh, the first mention of abomination is, uh, 4332 and both are directed against the people of God. And sheep are believers in the Bible, and shepherds are their pastors, and they're an abomination to this world. I gave you the quote, John 15, 18, you know it. Jesus said, they're gonna hate you because they hated me, right? And Jesus is the great shepherd, right? And Proverbs 29, 27, pastor gave it to you on Thursday, but it talks about that to the evil people, the just people are an abomination. I'm paraphrasing, of course. And so the world's gonna look at you for coming to church this morning, you know, even just for wearing a tie and a jacket. They're gonna be like, we went out to eat last Sunday at a different restaurant than I usually go to for the last 20 years. I go to a different restaurant and the lady says, oh, you look nice. And what did you just, did you just come to a special occasion? I said, church. She goes, oh. But you know, you dress up for church and the world's like, oh, oh, I know what you're doing. And, you know, it's an abomination. You know, I've said it many times, look around you. This place is not packed out. No doubt you've asked people to come to church with you. And you said, come to our church, it's great, you know, it's a wonderful time, you'll hear some great Bible, and, you know, there's good people there, and, you know, people just don't care. Pastor and I have had this discussion a few times, but, you know, the Lord's Day, Sunday in America used to be everything was shut down. Now, I still go out to eat and I patronize the restaurants on Sunday and I buy gas on Sunday and I'm guilty of not allowing them to be shut down. But if they were shut down, I'd eat at home, right? And I'd get my gas on Monday and not Sunday and things like that. But, you know, I'm just saying there used to be a day in which this country revered Sunday. And they didn't think it was an abomination, but today, like, hey, why'd you like to go to church with me? Well, how long is it? Oh, you do Sunday night too? Thursday? You know how many times I've told the guy, I play a lot of tennis, you guys know that about me, I play a lot of tennis, and the guy still asks me to this day, can you play Thursday night? Can you play Thursday night? Hey, how about Thursday night? I'm like, I told you. And they're like, oh yeah, John the Baptist, he goes to church on Thursday nights, quit asking him. And you know, it's a joke, but that's how they are. And so anyway, Knowing this, it would take courage. It would take courage for Joseph and his brothers to stand in front of Pharaoh and tell him your occupation. Judah, come on. Tell him your occupation. You're a shepherd. Pharaoh, you know me. I'm Joseph. I'm second in command. You put me here. I'm a shepherd. That's how I was raised. That's how I got in this mess. I was going to check on my shepherd brothers. And so he told him to do that. So likewise, or I already mentioned that, so don't be a closet Christian, be upfront about your faith. Now, I told you the story, I'm done because we can't finish, but I told you the story years ago, I was working at a place, I was a kid, 19, just out of high school, 18, 19, and I got a great job, it was $5.25 an hour. And I was driving a truck, with tens of thousands of pounds of pipe equipment on it, going to job sites, construction sites, delivering pipe for sprinkler systems. And they paid me $5.25 an hour to do such a responsible job. One time I was on an overpass, and I was stopped. I was waiting to get on the main, it's a big main road, and they gave me this truck, this big stake truck, and I had a, it's a stick, right? And I'm driving this stick shift, and there are no markings, first, second, third, or reverse, there's no markings. And I'm 19, right? And they're like, can you drive a stick? I'm like, sure. So I get in this truck. And I'm on an overpass. And it's like this. I'm waiting to get up onto the road. And I don't know why I'm telling you this story, but I'll finish. And I put that thing down in first gear. I put it in reverse. And there's a car. And I got tens of thousands of pounds of pipe on this truck. And there's a car right behind me. And I just went. And there was an opening. I went, vroom. Backwards. I don't know how, that's one of those things I know I'm saved. Because surely, God is with me, I didn't kill anybody, and I didn't lose the load. All right? But I didn't. But anyway, why did I get in that? Oh, because we're sitting in the break room one day, and we're sitting there, and this guy walks in, and I've never seen this guy before, and he walks right in, and we're eating lunch, and all these guys are sitting around, man, they're just foul, dirty, rotten mouths. And I'm sitting there like, I don't want to tell these guys I'm a Christian. They'll hate me. They'll fire me. Of course, I'm a kid, and I'm not really sold out to the Lord, you know, really. This guy walks in and he's just a big guy. I just remember the look on his face. It doesn't matter. He says, hi, my name, and I can't remember his name. He said, hi, my name is so-and-so, everybody. And he waved at all of us. And he said, I just want you to know I'm starting work here tomorrow. And he said, but before I come in, I just wanted to stop in today to let all of you know that I'm a Christian. And I don't put up with a lot of music, and I don't put up with foul language. And I just want to let you know that up front before I come into work tomorrow. And everybody went like this. And then he walked out and he left and he came back tomorrow. And everybody looked at each other and you know what they did? They're like. They didn't say a word. And you know that's what's going on right here. They're letting him know. And I'm going to read one final story. I'm looking at the clock. I know what time it is. And we do have choir today. And you are going to go back to the room back there and you're going to practice before we sing. OK, if you're in choir and get your book, the books, by the way, the announcement is the books are in where we told you they'd be. So get your book, get your number. But this is a I have this book here and I was reading it and it says, show your colors. A lot of stories in here. And it says some years ago, a follower of the Lord was riding on the railway. And when two men entered the car and took a seat in front of him, one of them took a bottle out of his pocket and drank its contents and pass it over to his companion, you know, a little liquor. This was repeated a number of times by and by the men began to swear a very torrent of profanity issued from their mouths. Meanwhile, the Christian held a little conversation with himself like this. His name was Henry. He said, Henry, this, these men belong to the devil. There's no doubt of that. And they're not ashamed of that. Not a bit ashamed. Now, who do you belong to? Well, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, he said to himself. Are you glad or are you sorry about that? Well, I'm glad. I'm very glad. Now, he's talking to himself. Who in the car knows that man, these men belong to the devil? Well, everybody knows that, he said to himself, for he has not kept that a secret. He's drinking, he's using profanity. Are you willing that they should know who you belong to? His thought. Yeah, I'm willing, he says. Very well. Will you let them know then? You know, a lot of times we're afraid to even drop a track on a seat that we just left and run. So this is a story. Very well, then will you let them know? The Christian took a good breath and began to sing. And there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And the singer, he didn't even conclude the verse when the guy in front of him turned around and looked at him with a face. It says here, resembling a thundercloud. And the following conversation include, what are you doing? Well, I'm singing. Well, any fool can understand that. And he says, well, I'm glad that you understand it then. What are you singing? I'm singing the religion of the Lord Jesus. Well, I want you to quit. Quit what? Quit singing your religion in the cars. He says, I guess not. This is Henry, the guy, I'm not going to do that, no. And he says, for the last half hour, you have been standing by your master. Now for the next half hour, I'm going to stand for my master. "'Who is your master?' the other guy says. "'Well, the devil is your master, while Christ is mine. "'I am as proud of my master as you are of yours. "'Now I'm going to have my turn, "'if the passengers have no objection.'" And so what happened is a chorus of voices got together with him, encouraged him, and they sang song after song, followed, it says, and they won the day. And you never know what's going to happen when you take a stand for the Lord. You know when that guy came into that workplace, you know what it did for me? It convicted me. You know what it made those other guys probably mad? They probably were plotting what they were going to do to him. It convicted me. You never know, you take a stand for the Lord, what it's going to do for the people around you. You don't know who's around you. You don't know who needs to be saved. You don't know who needs to be encouraged in the Lord. You just sit back and be a closet Christian and shut your mouth. Now, there are times when it's prudent to not say things. You know, if you live in China or you're in Russia and they're coming after your family. Of course, we talked about that before. But if there's opportunity to speak up for the Lord, hey, those people, this is a story, I know, I don't know if it's true or not, but this story, that guy turns around and says, I want you to stop. Well, how many times have we turned to somebody who's drinking and cussing and using our Lord's name and we say, I want you to stop? We give more grace than that, right? But anyway, the idea is they had to stand up for what they were in front of Pharaoh. We'll get into that next week. And we need to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, Lord, thank you.