And just like that, we are concluding the book of beginnings: Genesis. We've covered so much, and yet we've only just begun! If you'd like an amazing place to write all of your notes, Get the Word Out is for you! Find out all about it at: www.entrustedministries.com/studies

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Today's Reading: Genesis 46-50

Scripture Read:

Genesis 46:2-14

Genesis 48:15-16

Genesis 49:22-26

Genesis 50:15-21

Hebrews 11:1-22

The family situations in Genesis certainly didn't always go well, so give yourself some grace if your family feels chaotic too! Jake and Emily Deyo have some incredible words of encouragement in the latest episodes of AGAIN.

Part 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-on-biblical-motherhood/id1700555502?i=1000745276589

Part 2: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-on-biblical-motherhood/id1700555502?i=1000746193883

Welcome to The Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Cock.

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And today we're concluding the book of

Genesis Reading chapters 47 through 50.

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The book opened with God in all of

his glory, creating the earth, and a

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Heavenly Father blessing his creation

in the garden, and it's concluding with

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a beautiful picture of forgiveness.

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And an earthly father

blessing his children.

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In yesterday's episode, I mentioned

that the Lord has probably used

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a lack of blessing in some area

in your life, or hurt to make you

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into the person you are today.

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I think we see that

displayed in Jacob's life.

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He had a father with twin sons and

he gave his entire blessing to one

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of them so that he really didn't

have much to give to the second.

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Now Jacob is on his deathbed with 12 sons,

and he's going to bless every one of them

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It seems he learned and grew

from his father's example.

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We also talked about how the

story of Joseph shows us that

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difficult circumstances do not

mean that God has abandoned us.

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God's sovereignty sent Joseph

ahead so that he could preserve

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his family in this famine.

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There are times I read it and think, but

God, you could have stopped the famine.

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You could have blessed your

people in Abraham's line.

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In the promised Land.

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But our God isn't a God that

shies away from difficulty.

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He often puts his children right in

the middle of it so that his glory

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and majesty will be on full display.

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Let's look at how Joseph and Jacob

end their lives and what they have

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to say about the Lord and what

he's done as he walked with them.

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Chapter 46 begins he offered sacrifices

to the God of his father Isaac, and

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God spoke to Israel in Visions of

the Night and said, Jacob, Jacob.

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and he said, here I am.

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Then he said, I am God,

the God of your father.

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Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for

there I will make you into a great nation.

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I myself will go down with you to Egypt

and I will also bring you up again and

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Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.

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46 gives us a genealogy so

that we know how many people

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of Abraham's line enter Egypt.

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Scripture tells us here in Genesis that

at 70, in Acts seven, Stephen's speech

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will say 75, but we believe that's because

he's including Joseph's family as well.

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N 47, Joseph goes in and tells

Pharaoh, okay, they're here.

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We also learn that they're gonna

maintain their occupation as Shepherds.

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Shepherds are an abomination to Egyptians.

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It says, but really, God uses this

to keep them separate, that they can

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maintain their culture even while.

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in this pagan land,

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Pharaoh tells them that they get to settle

in the land of Goshen, which we believe

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would be in the fertile Nile River Valley,

even in a famine, even when they're taken

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about 200 miles from the Promised Land.

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And they're uprooted.

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God still settles them

in the best of the land.

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I mentioned that Jacob maintains energy to

bless others, and he even blesses Pharaoh.

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48 15 begins and he plus Joseph and said.

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The God before whom my father's

Abraham and Isaac walked the

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God who has been my shepherd.

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All my lifelong to this day, the angel

who has redeemed me from all evil, bless

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the boys and in them, let my name be

carried on and the name of my father's

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Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into

a multitude in the midst of the earth.

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We have more evidence that

this God is personal to Jacob,

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In chapter 49, Jacob calls his 12

sons and says, let me tell you what

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will happen to you in days to come.

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So, although we kind of see this as a

blessing, not all of it is as favorable,

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especially for the first three sons.

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In a way, this clarity

might have been helpful.

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It's not like Ruben Sine and Levi were

wondering after their father died, Hey,

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how come we got cut out of the will?

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And Judah's blessing.

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He is promised preeminence in four

areas over his brothers for royalty,

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for wealth, and that the messianic

king would come through him.

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and perhaps there's even a

reference to the millennial reign

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now, is this as clear to us

just reading through, maybe not,

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but I assure you culturally,

this was a pretty great blessing.

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And then we have to look at some

more of Joseph's blessing here.

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Joseph is a fruitful bow.

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A fruitful bow by a spring.

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His branches run over the wall.

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The archers bitterly attacked him,

shot at him, and harassed him severely.

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Yet his bow remained unmoved.

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His arms remained agile by the

hands of the mighty one of Jacob.

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From there is the shepherd, the stone

of Israel, by the God of your father,

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who will help you by the Almighty, who

will bless you with blessings of heaven

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above blessings of the deep that CROs

beneath blessings of the breasts and of

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the womb, the blessings of your father.

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Israel mentions four names of God

here, the mighty one of Jacob the

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shepherd, the stone of Israel, the

God of your father who will help you,

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and the Almighty who will bless you.

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it's beautiful to see this

transformation of how Israel now

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sees the Lord and how personal he is.

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Israel's last request is that his

family would take him to be buried by

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Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebecca,

and he says in there I buried Leah.

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It seems like Leah has

received more honor from him.

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He's not buried with Rachel.

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He ends up by Leah.

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Perhaps she had increased in

favor after Rachel's passing

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in Chapter 50.

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They grieve him and Joseph commands.

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His servants, the physicians

to embalm his father.

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These would've been medical,

not mystical, embalmers,

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and we're told that the Egyptians

wept for him for 70 days.

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We can learn so much about lament

and taking the time to honor a life

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through the pages of scripture.

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His sons take him back.

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And do bury him

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at the field that Abraham had purchased.

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And I'd like to read a little bit more.

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That shows that the brothers

were still dealing with the

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consequences of their sin.

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50 15 tells us when Joseph's brothers saw

that their father was dead, they said it

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may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us

back for all the evil that we did to him.

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So they sent a message to

Joseph saying, your father gave

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this command before he died.

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Say to Joseph, please forgive the

transgression of your brothers and

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their sin because they did evil to you.

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And now please forgive the transgression

of the servants of the God of your father.

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Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

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His brothers also came and

fell down before him and said,

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Behold we are your servants.

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But Joseph said to them, do not

fear for am I in the place of God?

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As for you, you meant evil against

me, but God meant it for good.

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To bring it about that many people

should be kept alive as they are today.

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So do not fear.

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I will provide for you

and your little ones.

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Thus, he comforted them

and spoke kindly to them

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and at 110 Joseph says to his brothers,

I am about to die, but God will visit

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you and bring you up out of this

land to the land he swore to you.

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God will surely visit you and

you shall carry up my bones.

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From there,

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the key word is visit, and in

the Hebrew it implies an active

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interest it's the strongest way

to say that the action will occur.

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God will surely visit, take

care of you and carry you up.

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Although I've mentioned Hebrews 11

multiple times, I think it provides

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a really beautiful summary of how

these patriarchs walked in faith.

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I will begin verse one now.

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Faith is the assurance of things hoped

for the conviction of things not seen.

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For by it the people of old

received their commendation.

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By faith, we understand that the

universe was created by the word of

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God, so that what is seen was not

made out of things that are visible.

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By faith, Abel offered to God a more

acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through

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which he was commended as righteous.

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God commending him by accepting his

gifts and through his faith, though

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he died, he still speaks by faith.

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Enoch was taken up so that he should

not see death and he was not found.

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Because God had taken him now before

he was taken, he was commended as

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having pleased God and without faith

it is impossible to please him.

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For whoever would draw near to God

must believe that he exists and that

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he rewards those who seek him by faith.

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Noah being warned by God concerning

events as yet unseen, irreverent,

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fear constructed an arc for

the saving of his household.

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By this, he condemned the

world and became an heir of the

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righteousness that comes by faith.

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By faith.

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Abraham obeyed when he was called

to go out to a place that he was to

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receive as an inheritance, and he went

out not knowing where he was going.

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By faith, he went to live in the land

of promise, as in a foreign land,

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living in tents with Isaac and Jacob,

heirs with him of the same promise.

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For, he was looking forward to

the city that has foundations

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whose designer and builder is God.

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By faith, Sarah herself received power

to conceive even when she was past the

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age since she considered him faithful,

who had promised therefore from one man.

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And him as good as dead were born

descendants, as many as the stars of

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heaven, and as many as the innumerable

grains of sand by the seashore.

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These all died in faith.

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not having received the things promised,

but having seen them and greeted them from

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afar and having acknowledged that they

were strangers and exiles on the earth.

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For people who speak, thus make it

clear that they are seeking a homeland.

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If they had been thinking of that land

from which they had gone out, they

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would've had an opportunity to return.

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But as it is, they

desire a better country.

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That is a heavenly one.

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Therefore, God is not ashamed to

be called their God for he has

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prepared for them a city by faith.

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Abraham, when he was

tested, offered up Isaac.

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And he who had received the promises

was in the act of offering up his

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only son of whom it was said through.

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Isaac shall your offspring be named.

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He considered that God was able

even to raise him from the dead,

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from which, figuratively speaking,

he did receive him back by faith.

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Isaac invoked future

blessings on Jacob and Issa.

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By Faith Jacob when dying.

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Blessed each of the sons of Joseph Bowing

in worship over the head of his staff.

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By faith.

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Joseph at the end of his life, made

mention of the exodus of the Israelites

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and gave directions concerning his bones.

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Let's pray.

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Lord Jesus, may the promise of your

presence be our greatest joy and aim.

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May we endure suffering

well for your glory.

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And for our holiness, teach us

not to shrink back from trials or

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even to deny their goodness when

you have allowed them for good.

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May we be content in every circumstance,

and may we forgive as you have forgiven.

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Give us faith that even when we don't

see what we're hoping for on this earth,

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that we can trust in your goodness.

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And in your plan,

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may we speak blessing into our children.

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Give us clarity of what you're

calling them to, and then may we speak

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words of life and promise over them.

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Jesus, we thank you that throughout

the words of Genesis, we've seen the

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salvation of the arc point to you,

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the rainbow of the covenant.

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The seed that was to come and

save the ram caught in the thicket.

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The only son who would be sacrificed.

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Thank you for these

glimpses of your goodness.

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In Jesus' mighty name we pray.

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Amen.