God With Us

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0:13Well, I do invite you now to open in your Bible and turn to Genesis chapter 46. This morning we continue our series in the book of Genesis. And after this week, we have just two more weeks in this book. Today we'll be looking at chapters 46 and 47. And hasn't God been good to us through this series in Genesis? So this morning's passage describes Jacob's relocation to Egypt and then Joseph's rescue of the Egyptian people. And so we're gonna look at that in just a moment. But before we do, why don't you join me as I pray.

1:00Father, we thank you that you are a God who saves. We see it in the baptisms before us that you are on the move. And so we pray now that by the power of your spirit, you would open up the silos of heaven and pour down your grace so that there would be food for the eater and seed for the sower that we would be filled up this morning, and that we would see more of you from your word so that we would be changed and transformed into the likeness of your son. Jesus, we pray that in his name. Amen.

1:39Have you ever gone somewhere and feared for your safety? Maybe you take a trip and you find yourself in a neighborhood and you're like, oh, this is not safe. Maybe you're gone a business trip in a developing country and you realize, I don't want to be here anymore. Maybe you're on a vacation and you go off the beaten track and all of a sudden you realize this is not the safest place. Well, a few years ago, my family and I, along with my parents when on a trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, and many of you perhaps have been there and we're hiking along at the base of Jenny Lake. Some of you know this place, and it's just one of the most amazing and beautiful sites that I've ever seen.

2:29These mountains just kind of go straight up from the base of this lake. And so we we're on this hike and all of a sudden I realize every hiker that I've seen has this little bell stuck to their waist and this canister stuck to their waist. The bell, uh, I realized later is to kinda ward off bears to let them know that they're coming and the canister is bear spray like pepper spray on steroids, right? And, and as we're going, I see these signs that say caution bears on hiking trails and warning this is grizzly bear habitat. And so at that point, I'm a little bit nervous. Uh, I'm growing more and more apprehensive.

3:12I have my five children with me, my aging parents. I have no firearm, no bear spray, no bells. And at about 160 pounds, I'm no match for a black bear, much less a grizzly grizzly. We look like a Chinese buffet for these bears. The bears are thinking, who ordered Chinese food? I know some of you thought I was Korean, but no, we're not. Um, so I was nervous and fearful for our safety. That anxiety, that fear is what Jacob is feeling at the end of Genesis 45. We, we saw that last week and Pastor Nick did a wonderful job last week. But if you recall, Joseph's brothers go back to Jacob and they say, Joseph is alive.

4:05He's the ruler we were talking about in Egypt. And what does Jacob say in reply? I will go and see him before I die. But this creates lots of problems for Jacob and for the people of Israel. Egypt isn't home. Egypt isn't the promised land. Egypt is a hostile foreign nation. Egypt, in fact, is a detour from God's promises. If you'll remember, if you've been with us through this entire series, you'll remember that all the way back in Genesis 12, God made several promises to Abraham, I'm gonna make you a great nation. I'm gonna bless you and make you prosperous and you're gonna be fruitful and you're gonna multiply.

4:50I'm gonna bless you so much that you are going to be a blessing for all the nations of the earth, all the families of the earth. And the other blessing was I'm gonna bring you into this promised land. And what this sets up is this deviation. We're moving further away from the fulfillment of this promise. Going to Egypt is going in the wrong direction. In fact, Egypt is a place of danger. And we've seen that throughout our series, haven't we? When when Abraham went down to Egypt, Sarah was taken from him. God warned Isaac, do not go down to Egypt. That was Genesis 26. And when God met Jacob in a dream, when he went to go be with Laben, he's told him, I will bring you back to this land speaking of the promised land.

5:46But now Jacob is going to leave the promised land and he's not gonna come back. And so he's going away from the land of Egypt in, uh, uh, excuse me, going away from the land of Canaan into the dangerous place of Egypt. This would be a little bit like US Americans going right now to visit a place like Afghanistan. I I, it's not safe for us. And so this sets up the tension in our story. How will Jacob, how will his sons fare in Egypt? The uncertainty looms on the horizon. And there's this bigger question at work is, is the land promise that God made to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, is it going to come true?

6:33And God said, I'm gonna give you this land, but now they're leaving to go into Egypt. The question for Jacob and for us is this, this morning, where is our hope when life is fearful and uncertain that that's what Jacob's feeling in this moment. Life is uncertain. It's fearful. We're gonna go down into Egypt. And yes, Joseph is a ruler there, but that is a hostile nation. And so where is our hope when God's promises seem unclear? And that's what I wanna address this morning. That's what I think our text addresses this morning. And uh, I wanna just even help us think that through as well are aren't we often like Jacob, we we're afraid of various things in our lives.

7:20Some of you ha have just been following the political scene and everything you read just makes you more and more anxious and nervous for the future. Fear could be around every corner and it could become paralyzing and debilitating and frustrating or perhaps that there's some new venture ahead of you, but it looks very uncertain. Or perhaps there's just challenges that are great in your life and you think, this is not how I planned my life. This is not what I've been praying for. Where is God in this moment when life feels uncertain and scary? And, and so I'm gonna walk through this passage and and highlight what God is doing in in three parts we're gonna see the reassurance, the relocation and the rescue.

8:09So three R words, reassurance, relocation, and the rescue. And you're gonna read portions of the text and then draw out the main point. So look with me at chapter 46, verse one and reassurance is in this first section, and I'm gonna read verses one through seven. So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here I am. Then he said, I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for there I will make you into a great nation.

8:52I myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will also bring you up again. And Joseph's hand shall close your eyes. Verse five. Then Jacob set out from Bess Sheba, the sons of Israel carried, carried Jacob, their father, their little ones and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan and came to Egypt. Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons and his son's, sons with him, his daughters and his son's daughters, all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. So what we see is that God reassures Jacob at Beersheba and Beersheba, if you'll remember, has been this really significant place in the life of the patriarchs.

9:43It's where God met Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21. It's also where Abraham and AB Bialek made a treaty in Genesis 21. It's the place where God appeared to Isaac in Genesis 26. And now God meets Jacob here in a dream and reassures him. And if you'll notice throughout this section, there's these interchangeable repetitions where there's Israel and there's Jacob, Israel and Jacob. Verse one, Israel. And then verse two, Jacob, Jacob. And I think what this is trying to show us is that it's not just about this one man, but it's about this man who is the ancestor of this nation. And God is doing a broader work with the nation of Israel.

10:26Now he reassures him with three promises. The first is I will make you into a great nation. And what you're supposed to see is this is the exact wording that was previously in Genesis, in Genesis chapter 12, in Genesis 17, in Genesis 18, in Genesis 21. These are the promises that were given to Abraham. And God is saying, my promises to you still stand, they're still in effect. The second is that I myself will go down with you to Egypt. This also repeats, repeats, other promises that were made to Isaac in Genesis 26 or to Jacob in Genesis 31. I'm gonna go with you. And the third is I will also bring you up again.

11:16And so this reassurance for Jacob, I know it looks like that this land promise is in jeopardy, like it's not going to happen because there's still five more years of this famine. You're gonna leave this land and perhaps someone else is gonna enter into it. And yet what God is saying here is he reassures him that I will fulfill my word. My promises will come to pass. So the main point of our passage is found here in this first section. God's presence enables God's promises. Or to put it another way, God says to his people, I will be with you to fulfill my promises. I will be with you and I will cause my promises to come to pass for fearful Jacob who's anxious and facing uncertainty he can take heart.

12:13And the same is true for us this morning. God is with his people and his promises are going to come to pass. Genesis 46 and 47, the rest of these two chapters prove this out. So verses eight through 27, I'm not gonna read it for the sake of time, but this genealogy shows that all of Jacob's offspring left the promised Land Canaan and went down in to Egypt. And, and we see that Jacob has numerous descendants, 12 sons, many grandchildren. And it highlights each of the children born to Leah, ZPA, Rachel, and Bil. Ha. Now look with me at verse 26 of chapter 46. It says, all the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's son's wives were 66 persons in all.

13:11And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were 70. And this number 70 is really important. If you've been with us in our entire series, you see sevens and multiples of sevens are, are this important number in the way kinda the Bible's written in those days. And it's this number of completion. And so there're 70, so seven times 10, this idea of completeness and it means that all of Israel entered into Egypt. But it also is supposed to remind us of the last time that there was the number 70. And that was in Genesis chapter 10, where there was the table of nations right before the Tower of Babel and there were 70 nations listed there that were representative of, of the entire world.

14:01And so the, the picture that we're getting here is that this little band of 70 people is gonna bring about blessing for the 70 nations, all the families of the earth. So what we see in this first section is that God reassures Jacob with the promise of his presence and the fulfillment of his promises. I am your God, I will be with you and I will do as I have said, and I think that's what some of us need to hear this morning. You're, you're facing uncertainty. You're facing challenges that you don't know how to navigate. Perhaps you've lost your job, maybe you have a devastating diagnosis and this is what God declares to you.

14:51If you are in Christ, I am your God, I will be with you and I will cause my promises to come true. The question for us then is will we trust him? Jacob is reassured at the end there, Joseph's hand shall close your eyes, meaning you're gonna be able to see your son once again. The one you thought was dead for these last 20 years. So now we move to part two, this relocation. And let me read from Genesis 46 verse 28. He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father in Goshen.

15:43He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck. A good while Israel said to Joseph, now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive. And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, my brothers and my father's household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. And the men are shepherds for they have been keepers of livestock and they have brought their flocks and their herds in all that they have said and all that they have. When Pharaoh calls you and says, what is your occupation?

16:17You shall say your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth until now. Both we and our fathers, in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. So what we see here is that Jacob reunites with Joseph and the entire family relocates in to Egypt and Jacob basically says, I'm ready to die. I've seen my son who, who I thought was dead, who's now alive, uh, I'm ready to die. But we recognize that it doesn't just linger over that reunion whi, which it could have done, it could have talked about all the things that they said to one another, all the tears that were shed, but rather it moves very quickly to Joseph's concern for what his brothers will say to Pharaoh.

17:06And so Joseph tells his brothers and his father how to speak to Pharaoh and that's exactly how things unfold. So look with me at verses one through six. Joseph went in one through six of 47. Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, my father and my brothers with their flocks and their herds and all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan. They're now in the land of Goshen. And from among his brothers, he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers, so what is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, your servants, our shepherds as our fathers were, they said to Pharaoh, we have come to sojourn in the land for there is no pasture for your servants flocks for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan.

17:44And now please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, your father and your brothers have come to you, the land of Egypt is before you settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them settle in the land of Goshen. And if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock. So Pharaoh allows Joseph's father and brothers to settle in Goshen. We don't know the exact location, but we're told it's the best of the land. And we're also told that every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. And so Joseph uses this information so that they get kind of set apart into this special area where the Egyptians are not gonna bother them because they're an abomination to them.

18:30So, so they're further away. It means that they're gonna be segregated from the Egyptians. They can live in peace in Egypt away from the rest of Egypt and from its culture and from its influences. Pharaoh even offers them jobs to care for his flocks and herds. So what we're supposed to see, the earlier question is how are they gonna fare in this land of Egypt where the people are hostile to Israel? And what we see is that God is blessing Israel, God is blessing them. They, they get the best portion of the fertile valley along the Nile Delta. They get to live in isolation away from the rest of Egypt.

19:14Pharaoh even offers them jobs and they get land. This is unheard of favor. This would be like a, a foreign people group coming to Minnesota. And not only do we say we will give you refugee status, you can stay here, but in fact we're just gonna carve out, you know, a little part of Minnesota like Minnetonka, Excelsior, WADA and and all the lake houses over there. And we'll just give it to you for free. Obviously it wouldn't happen. But this is what happens to Israel. God is with his people. Now look with me at verses seven to 12 of chapter 47, Joseph brought his, brought in Jacob, his father, and stood before Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh and Pharaoh said to Jacob, how many are the days of the years of your life?

20:07And Jacob said to Pharaoh, the days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. And they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojo journeying. So know, we know that Jacob lives about 147 years. Whereas Abraham and Isaac lived to 180 and 1 75. So they lived longer. Verse 10. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramseys as Pharaoh had commanded.

20:44And Joseph provided his father, his brothers and all his father's household with food according to the number of their descendants. Did you notice verse seven and verse 10, Jacob blesses Pharaoh again, we, we get evidence that God is with his people. I'm gonna use you to bless all the families of the earth. And now Jacob blesses Pharaoh. It means that he's made him a great nation. They get an audience before the most powerful man on the face of the earth. And to bless someone else often suggests some level of superiority. And, and Pharaoh has just blessed Israel with land. And so I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you.

21:35I will curse. We see the fulfillment of all of God's promises. And just imagine, just, just think back, this reception is so different than all the receptions that Israel has experienced prior to this. The last time they went down to Egypt, Abraham got his wife taken. Man, very often when a foreign nation goes into this other land, they're vulnerable, right? And here Egypt is going to become a place of refuge. They're gonna weather the famine here in safety and prosperity.

22:12He will live in Egypt another 17 years. The picture for us is that this relocation will be a respite for Israel, which now leads to the rescue. Now this is part three in verse 13 we can see 13 to 26. Uh, I'm not gonna read the entire thing, but what we can see is that Joseph ends up saving all of the Egyptians. Look with me at verse 15. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, give us food. Why should we die before your eyes for our money is gone? And then Joseph says, give me your livestock. I will give you food in exchange.

22:58And then it continues so that they become sort of like these serfs or kind of indentured servitude, the herds of the livestock of my lords. There's nothing left in the side of my Lord, but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes? Both we and our land buy us and our land for food and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh and give us seed that we may live and not die and the land may not be desolate. And so Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields because the famine was severe on them. The land became pharaohs. And then look what verse 25 just prior to this, they are promised to give a fifth to Pharaoh and verse 25 says, and they said, you have saved our lives.

23:48May it please my Lord we will be servants to Pharaoh. So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt. And it stands to this day that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaohs. So many will read this account and they'll think, well, Joseph is sure taking advantage of this really hard situation. It seems like he almost takes advantage of the Egyptians, takes all their land, takes all their money, takes all their animals, and now even takes sort of their labor and they owe a fifth to Pharaoh. But to focus on fairness would miss the point. Joseph is a savior in this story.

24:27God is using Joseph to rescue millions of Egyptians and all the surrounding peoples as well from mass starvation. They say even themselves in verse 25, you have saved our lives. And so God is using Joseph to be a blessing, not just to his own family, but actually to be a blessing to the nation of Egypt so that the people wouldn't starve to death. They would preserve this nation and it would also consolidate power and wealth for Pharaoh. But what we're supposed to notice is that as the Egyptians lose all of their money, lose all of their animals, lose all of their land and even lose their labor.

25:09How does that contrast with Israel? Remember back in 47 verse 12, Joseph provided for his father, his brothers in all his father's household with food. So they don't lose their possessions, they don't fall into slavery, but he preserves them in the midst of famine. So this foreign nation goes into Egypt and they fare better than the native Egyptians. That's what we're supposed to see. That God is blessing his people, his presence goes with them and he is with them. Joseph is blessed to be a blessing. And then we see right at the end here, verse 27 to 31. Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen and they gained possessions in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

26:00And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life were 147. And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called the son Joseph and said to him, if now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt but let me die with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. He answered, I will do as you have said. And he said, swear to me. And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed. So this chapter concludes with Jacob getting Joseph to swear to him to carry his bones out when they leave it.

26:46It's a bit of an odd ending, right? Most of us don't care where we're buried. You know, I know many people are like, well, once I die don't spend all that money on this fancy casket, I'm already dead. Just bury me in a pine box. You know, or sprinkle me around some national park or something though that is probably illegal. But for Jacob, where his bones go is very important And, and so we're to ask the question, well why? Uh, if you think back, when was the one other time that Jacob had someone swear to him? It was in Genesis 25, he had Esau swear to give him his birthright in exchange for the red stew.

27:27And in that particular instance, Jacob was not trusting in the promises of God and he was taking things into his own hand. Here in this instance it's completely opposite. Jacob now believes that God is going to fulfill that promise that he had reiterated at the be begin beginning of chapter 46. I will bring you up again. This is not your final resting place. I'm gonna bring you into the promised land and I'm going to fulfill my promises even long after you are dead. And it means that God's promises continue even when we don't see them anymore. None of his promises fall short. It just doesn't mean that we'll see them in our lifetime.

28:15Genesis is going to end on this giant cliffhanger. God's people are being blessed, he's making them into a great nation. He's blessing them even in this foreign land. Through them, they're gonna bless all the families of the earth, but they're not in the promised land. Will God make good on this promise? And so Genesis points forward to the next book of the Bible Exodus, and maybe in a few years we'll get to preach through that. Let me try to bring this together to see the main point in these two chapters. God reveals that he is with his people and he will fulfill his promises. God is with his people and he will fulfill his promises.

29:05So don't be afraid Jacob, of going into Egypt. And he says to us this morning, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of enemies. Don't be afraid of political upheaval. Don't be afraid of financial collapse. Don't be afraid of dire diagnoses. Don't be afraid of unemployment or uncertainty. Don't be afraid of unanswered prayers. Don't be afraid of the unknown. Don't be afraid of anything in this world because I myself am your God and I will be with my people. It is, this is not just written for Jacob, not just for Joseph and his brothers. This is written so that we might have encouragement today. That we are God's people and God's presence goes with us.

29:50And he will fulfill his every single promise to his people. God is with us. Even when his people go into Egypt. God doesn't relegate his power and his presence to just the church. Like some people say, oh I, I can really feel him in here. Or when I go to, you know, some nice church with kinda stained glass windows, I can really feel his presence there. But God goes with his people wherever they go into all the hostile places of our world. And so if you forget everything else in this sermon, don't forget this. God is with us. God is with you. Whatever you're facing in your life this morning, and I don't even know all the different things that you're facing, but I know we have just a multitude of hardships, stressors, things that cause us fear.

30:43Keep us up at night. The one truth you need to take to heart this morning is that God is with you and his promises will come to pass. Finish this, if God is for us, who can be against us? That's right. Sometimes when I'm unsure about something, you know, I I I'm doing something and, and I'm just like, I'm not sure about that, I, I'll ask my wife, I'll ask Stephanie. And if she says I trust you completely, go for it, then how do I feel? I feel like I can run through walls because she's with me, she's on my side. How much more for the people of God when we have God on our side, he is with us. He will not leave us nor will he forsake us.

31:35And this truth has reassured God's people throughout the ages when Isaac was terrified of Aek, Genesis 26, 3. He says, I will be with you and I will bless you. When Jacob was terrified of meeting back up with Esau, Genesis 31, 3, I will be with you when Moses is terrified of going into Egypt to rescue God's people. Exodus three 12, I will be with you when Joshua was terrified because Moses had now passed, he was next in line to lead God's people. Joshua one five just as I was with Moses. So I will be with you. I will not leave you nor will I forsake you. When Gideon was terrified of the Midianites judges six 16, God says to him, I will be with you.

32:30When King Solomon was terrified of the enemies around them, he said to him, walk in my ways. Do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments and I will be with you when God's people fear the flood waters that will threaten to overwhelm us and drown us. Isaiah 43, 2 says, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you. And then when the disciples are terrified of Jesus' departure, when he ascends to heaven, he says, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. And so the reason we can take this promise to heart is 'cause Jesus is the final and ultimate expression of this truth.

33:24I am with my people when God says to Jacob, I myself will go down with you into Egypt, Jesus has now come down to earth in the flesh as the God man to dwell among his people. And he says, uh, I'm leaving. I'm ascending to heaven, but I'm giving you something even better than my localized presence. I'm giving you the spirit of God that will be with each and every single one of you. And so God is indeed with his people right now. And when God says to Jacob, I will bring you up again referring to the promised land, Jesus has made that same guarantee for his people. Not that he's gonna bring us up to some land in the Middle East, but he's gonna bring us to our ultimate, final heavenly home.

34:13All those who are in Christ, all those who have died with Christ in the floodwaters of baptism, who have been raised with Christ to new life, who have been washed of their sins, will be brought all the way up to heaven so that we would dwell in the presence of God forever and ever. And so even right now when Jesus says, I am with you always, he's fulfilled that promise in His Holy Spirit that is indwelling each and every single one of us. And so if you're not trusting in Jesus this morning, our exportation to you, you is that you would surrender this truth. This glorious comforting promise is not true.

34:57For those who are not in Christ depart from me. I never knew you. But if you surrender your life to Jesus, you too can receive this promise. I'm with you. I will cause my promises to come to pass and I will never leave you nor will I forsake you. I have one application for us like Jacob and like Joseph, we are to be instruments of blessing in the lives of others. So in light of this truth that God is with us, that he will fulfill his promises. We now can be blessings in the lives of others. God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians one, three, so that we might be blessings to a blessing to others.

35:49He commissions us to be vessels and instruments of God's blessing in our world. And this is so counter-cultural to the way our world often works. We see people with power and they exploit it for their own benefit to line their own pockets. You know, we have politicians in our country that are some of the best stock traders, just coincidentally and certainly it's not through the use of insider information. People use influence to line their pockets, sign these big contracts and get these kickbacks. Yet the scriptures are counter-cultural. It doesn't say, well, what Joseph did in using all this power was bad.

36:29We don't run from power, influence, or prosperity, but we use it to be a blessing in the lives of others. And so this morning I wanna challenge us to be blessings, to be a blessing in the lives of others. Use your spiritual gifts to be a blessing. Each one of us has been given gifts. We need the eyes and the ears and the mouth and the hands and the feet. And so those with the gift of generosity to give those with the gift of encouragement, to build up those who have big smiles and a lot of warmth that exude from them to welcome those who are new among us. Those with the gift of hospitality to open their homes.

37:10Some of you are great evangelists and we need you to share the gospel. Some of you have the gift of prayer to pray earnestly and persevering. We want you to pray. Some of you have the gift of administration and service to make sure things get done in a timely manner. And with excellence. Some of you have an eye for making things beautiful for the enjoyment of others. We need every individual engaged in not only blessing this body, but also in helping others come to see and know Jesus. And I know the temptation well. Such a big place and it looks like, you know, Dan's got it together and the elders have got it together.

37:50Uh, the reality is we need every person doing their part to make this into the family of God. None of us can just sit on our hands and sit back. But we want every person engaged in this work. You have been blessed by God with spiritual gifts in order to be a blessing to others. And you can use your marketplace skills in businesses, building businesses, employing others, influencing companies. Some of us cook and teach and clean. Some of us should run for office. God knows we need godly politicians at work in the state of Minnesota. Some of us should run schools and serve on the city council and serve as police officers and firemen and to show what it really means to be be a public servant.

38:37Some of us are called to be missionaries so that the nations would be blessed in and through us. And so I just wanna encourage us, we need every individual here in this church to take this truth to heart. God is with you. You have nothing to fear. Uh, I, I don't care how the election goes, how our world goes. There is nothing decisively that can snatch us out of the hand of Jesus Christ. And so he rules and he reigns. Romans 8 28 will still be true on the other side of the election. And God sits in the heavens and he laughs. He is in control. And so we trust that our God is with us. And because of that, we can go out and be a blessing in the lives of others.

39:28We can stand up and witness for Jesus. And you better believe God is using our witness to draw many to himself because there's a world that is desperate for the hope that can only be found in the person and work of Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you will keep your every word and that you will bless us to be a blessing to others, even to old age and gray hairs. God is with us. You will keep us and you will never forsake us. And so help us to walk in obedience, trusting you every step of the way, and would you show yourself to be a great God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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