1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,740 Genesis chapter 37. 2 00:00:01,740 --> 00:00:04,380 Genesis chapter 37, we're gonna do a quick excursus 3 00:00:04,380 --> 00:00:06,140 through the entire chapter, 4 00:00:06,140 --> 00:00:08,660 skipping over some of the narrative portions 5 00:00:08,660 --> 00:00:12,540 to kinda look at the idea of navigating family jealousy, 6 00:00:12,540 --> 00:00:16,180 the idea of jealousy in the family. 7 00:00:16,180 --> 00:00:19,340 A few years ago, for those of you who don't know, 8 00:00:19,340 --> 00:00:22,740 I have a sister, she is 10 years younger than I am. 9 00:00:22,740 --> 00:00:26,260 And so my sister and I, we had a great relationship 10 00:00:26,260 --> 00:00:29,940 growing up, I was kind of always the big brother, 11 00:00:29,940 --> 00:00:32,620 you know, the model figure in her life. 12 00:00:32,620 --> 00:00:34,660 We didn't really fight much, 13 00:00:34,660 --> 00:00:36,220 we didn't really have a whole lot in common 14 00:00:36,220 --> 00:00:37,820 as far as things to fight over. 15 00:00:37,820 --> 00:00:42,500 And so we kind of just always enjoyed each other's company. 16 00:00:42,500 --> 00:00:45,300 The negative part of that, of any of you who is like me, 17 00:00:45,300 --> 00:00:48,020 who have, you know, a decade or more in between siblings, 18 00:00:48,020 --> 00:00:50,700 is that you miss out on large swaths of their life. 19 00:00:50,700 --> 00:00:53,160 And so by the time I went off to college, 20 00:00:53,160 --> 00:00:55,060 she was just entering into her middle school, 21 00:00:55,060 --> 00:00:57,380 high school years, and then I went straight from college 22 00:00:57,380 --> 00:00:59,700 to ministry down in South Florida. 23 00:00:59,700 --> 00:01:01,580 And so I missed all of her college years. 24 00:01:01,580 --> 00:01:04,540 And so we missed a lot of that kind of bonding time 25 00:01:04,540 --> 00:01:06,980 through some of those ups and downs of life. 26 00:01:06,980 --> 00:01:11,700 But a few years ago, my sister kind of came clean 27 00:01:11,700 --> 00:01:15,540 with my mom and I about the idea that she had really 28 00:01:15,540 --> 00:01:18,860 struggled really most of her middle school 29 00:01:18,860 --> 00:01:22,340 and high school years with kind of fitting in 30 00:01:22,340 --> 00:01:24,540 and really feeling like she measured up. 31 00:01:24,540 --> 00:01:28,460 Because I had always gotten really good grades in school, 32 00:01:28,460 --> 00:01:31,740 had a high GPA, graduating with honors, 33 00:01:31,740 --> 00:01:33,340 and I went into ministry school. 34 00:01:33,340 --> 00:01:35,980 And from her perspective, she always saw kind of like that. 35 00:01:35,980 --> 00:01:37,940 I was like the golden child. 36 00:01:37,940 --> 00:01:41,500 My mom would always, you know, a dot on me 37 00:01:41,500 --> 00:01:44,340 and she kind of felt a little bit left out. 38 00:01:44,340 --> 00:01:46,540 We were sort of a blended family. 39 00:01:46,540 --> 00:01:49,420 She's technically my half sister, 40 00:01:49,420 --> 00:01:51,820 but we never really saw things like that. 41 00:01:51,820 --> 00:01:53,940 But she came out a few years ago and said, 42 00:01:53,940 --> 00:01:57,260 you know what, I've always felt like I lived in your shadow. 43 00:01:57,260 --> 00:01:59,220 And that was kind of surprising to me 44 00:01:59,220 --> 00:02:02,500 because I've never really tried to act 45 00:02:02,500 --> 00:02:04,180 like I was a dominating figure 46 00:02:04,180 --> 00:02:05,980 or like I was better than her. 47 00:02:05,980 --> 00:02:08,380 That would never really ever came across my mind. 48 00:02:08,380 --> 00:02:09,900 But when she admitted that, 49 00:02:09,900 --> 00:02:12,620 she admitted that she had struggled with that for years. 50 00:02:12,620 --> 00:02:16,260 Since then, and since her kind of opening up about that, 51 00:02:16,260 --> 00:02:19,060 I think things have been pretty good between us. 52 00:02:19,060 --> 00:02:22,140 I had the opportunity a few years back to do her wedding. 53 00:02:22,140 --> 00:02:25,100 And that was a cool bonding experience. 54 00:02:25,100 --> 00:02:27,780 And it kind of got me thinking, you know, like, 55 00:02:27,780 --> 00:02:30,340 a lot of times we think about the complications 56 00:02:30,340 --> 00:02:33,180 and the conflicts that we navigate in family. 57 00:02:33,180 --> 00:02:36,180 Certainly the things that you say out in the open 58 00:02:36,180 --> 00:02:37,500 can create conflict, 59 00:02:37,500 --> 00:02:40,460 but a lot of times it's the things that are unspoken 60 00:02:40,460 --> 00:02:43,140 that can create some conflict in family. 61 00:02:43,140 --> 00:02:45,020 It kind of got me thinking a little bit about that. 62 00:02:45,020 --> 00:02:47,420 It's not usually just only the stuff that you say out loud, 63 00:02:47,420 --> 00:02:49,540 but sometimes the stuff that you keep inside 64 00:02:49,540 --> 00:02:53,180 that can do a lot of damage in relationships, 65 00:02:53,180 --> 00:02:54,660 in family relationships. 66 00:02:54,660 --> 00:02:57,500 That's kind of what we're gonna see tonight 67 00:02:57,500 --> 00:03:00,900 in between the narrative of Joseph and his brothers 68 00:03:00,900 --> 00:03:03,100 and then their father, Jacob. 69 00:03:03,100 --> 00:03:05,540 If you're not familiar with Genesis chapter 37, 70 00:03:05,540 --> 00:03:07,500 let me get you up to speed a little bit. 71 00:03:07,500 --> 00:03:10,340 We're gonna be entering kind of into the beginning 72 00:03:10,340 --> 00:03:13,500 of the narrative portion of Joseph's story 73 00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:16,460 in Genesis chapter 37. 74 00:03:16,460 --> 00:03:18,780 Leading up to this time, 75 00:03:18,780 --> 00:03:21,340 Jacob and his sons have returned back 76 00:03:21,340 --> 00:03:22,780 to the land of Canaan. 77 00:03:22,780 --> 00:03:26,420 They had an interaction with Esau, his brother. 78 00:03:26,420 --> 00:03:28,180 They've made peace. 79 00:03:29,420 --> 00:03:34,460 Jacob's wife, Rachel, has passed away in childbirth, 80 00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:36,540 birthing Benjamin. 81 00:03:36,540 --> 00:03:39,300 And then they traveled back to Beth El 82 00:03:39,300 --> 00:03:41,220 where the covenant was reconfirmed 83 00:03:41,220 --> 00:03:45,380 and Jacob was then officially renamed to Israel. 84 00:03:45,380 --> 00:03:50,380 And then were introduced kind of in chapter 37 to Joseph, 85 00:03:50,380 --> 00:03:52,780 which will kind of be the main character 86 00:03:52,780 --> 00:03:55,220 for the rest of the book of Genesis. 87 00:03:55,220 --> 00:03:58,060 Now, the longest narrative in Genesis 88 00:03:58,060 --> 00:04:00,860 is about this particular person, Joseph. 89 00:04:00,860 --> 00:04:05,180 There's 13 chapters from 37 all the way to the end of the book 90 00:04:05,180 --> 00:04:09,540 and all of them have to do with the story of Joseph. 91 00:04:09,540 --> 00:04:11,860 And the only person that rivals that 92 00:04:11,860 --> 00:04:15,380 as far as narrative amount is Abraham 93 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:18,540 and Joseph beats him by just a few verses. 94 00:04:18,540 --> 00:04:21,860 Joseph's story kind of closely resembles the idea 95 00:04:21,860 --> 00:04:25,900 of the person and the work of Christ in the New Testament. 96 00:04:25,900 --> 00:04:30,420 A lot of people will say that Joseph is like a type of Christ, 97 00:04:30,420 --> 00:04:33,020 a representative of him in the Old Testament. 98 00:04:33,020 --> 00:04:36,780 And Joseph's story really shows the fall and the rise 99 00:04:36,780 --> 00:04:40,140 from human strife, salvation of a people 100 00:04:40,140 --> 00:04:42,420 and the faithfulness of God. 101 00:04:42,420 --> 00:04:46,580 And that's kind of the overarching narrative of Joseph. 102 00:04:46,580 --> 00:04:48,260 But tonight we wanna look at specifically 103 00:04:48,260 --> 00:04:51,700 this idea of navigating family conflict 104 00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:54,740 in the idea of family jealousy. 105 00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:55,580 So let's do this. 106 00:04:55,580 --> 00:04:57,220 Let's go to the Lord in prayer, 107 00:04:57,220 --> 00:05:00,260 ask him to bless our study through scripture today 108 00:05:00,260 --> 00:05:04,340 and then we'll begin reading in verse one of chapter 37. 109 00:05:04,340 --> 00:05:05,380 Let's pray together. 110 00:05:05,380 --> 00:05:06,820 Father in heaven, we thank you so much 111 00:05:06,820 --> 00:05:08,060 for the opportunity we have to look 112 00:05:08,060 --> 00:05:09,380 into your scripture tonight. 113 00:05:09,380 --> 00:05:12,900 We thank you for family and the wonderful gift that it is. 114 00:05:12,900 --> 00:05:14,900 Father, that you've created the first marriage 115 00:05:14,900 --> 00:05:16,180 of Adam and Eve, Lord, 116 00:05:16,180 --> 00:05:19,260 and gave to them the blessing of children 117 00:05:19,260 --> 00:05:22,700 for children are a heritage of the womb and gift from you. 118 00:05:22,700 --> 00:05:25,540 Father, we do thank you for this wonderful gift of family, 119 00:05:25,540 --> 00:05:30,380 but Lord, we do recognize the power of sin 120 00:05:30,380 --> 00:05:34,580 and the destructiveness that it can have in relationships 121 00:05:34,580 --> 00:05:37,020 because where sin is, there's death. 122 00:05:37,020 --> 00:05:39,820 And Father, I pray that as we look in tonight scripture 123 00:05:39,820 --> 00:05:44,540 of Genesis chapter 37 and we realize the destructive nature 124 00:05:44,540 --> 00:05:49,540 of jealousy and favoritism in regards to children 125 00:05:49,700 --> 00:05:52,860 and siblings, Lord, I pray that you would help us 126 00:05:52,860 --> 00:05:55,100 to understand the meaning of the text, 127 00:05:55,100 --> 00:05:57,380 but Lord, help us to be able to apply it to our life 128 00:05:57,380 --> 00:05:58,860 wherever we may find ourselves, 129 00:05:58,860 --> 00:06:01,220 whether we are just beginning families 130 00:06:01,220 --> 00:06:03,940 or our children are grown 131 00:06:03,940 --> 00:06:06,180 or we're still dealing with difficulties 132 00:06:06,180 --> 00:06:08,180 between siblings or parents, 133 00:06:08,180 --> 00:06:10,940 whether we be children or adults, Lord, 134 00:06:10,940 --> 00:06:13,420 I pray that you would help teach us from your word 135 00:06:13,420 --> 00:06:16,140 how we can navigate some of these family conflicts. 136 00:06:16,140 --> 00:06:19,420 Give us your wisdom, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. 137 00:06:19,420 --> 00:06:21,180 So if you have your copy of our scriptures, 138 00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:23,020 we're gonna be in Genesis chapter 37 139 00:06:23,020 --> 00:06:24,540 as we begin reading in verse one. 140 00:06:24,540 --> 00:06:28,020 Tonight I wanna kinda tell you really the idea, 141 00:06:28,020 --> 00:06:30,500 kind of the sermon in the sentence, if you will, 142 00:06:30,500 --> 00:06:35,060 and that's really the idea that we can avoid animosity 143 00:06:35,060 --> 00:06:38,140 in our families by seeing three connections 144 00:06:38,140 --> 00:06:41,100 that lead to family conflict, all right? 145 00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:44,300 So we're gonna logically follow these connections 146 00:06:44,300 --> 00:06:46,660 all the way to a specific destination, all right? 147 00:06:46,660 --> 00:06:47,620 So if you're taking notes, 148 00:06:47,620 --> 00:06:50,700 it's on the back of your prayer sheet tonight. 149 00:06:50,700 --> 00:06:52,100 If you didn't get one, we have them in the back, 150 00:06:52,100 --> 00:06:54,020 feel free to step up and get one. 151 00:06:54,020 --> 00:06:55,100 If you're taking notes tonight, 152 00:06:55,100 --> 00:06:58,260 the very first connection we'll see is that favoritism 153 00:06:58,260 --> 00:07:03,260 that leads to jealousy, favoritism that leads to jealousy. 154 00:07:03,420 --> 00:07:05,420 And we'll begin reading in verse one. 155 00:07:05,420 --> 00:07:07,900 It says here in the scripture, 156 00:07:07,900 --> 00:07:12,100 and Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger 157 00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:13,740 in the land of Canaan. 158 00:07:13,740 --> 00:07:15,660 These are the generations of Jacob. 159 00:07:15,660 --> 00:07:17,620 Joseph, being 17 years old, 160 00:07:17,620 --> 00:07:19,820 was feeding the flock with his brother in, 161 00:07:19,820 --> 00:07:23,020 and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah 162 00:07:23,020 --> 00:07:25,900 and the sons of Zippah, his father's wives, 163 00:07:25,900 --> 00:07:30,300 and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 164 00:07:30,300 --> 00:07:34,340 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children 165 00:07:34,340 --> 00:07:36,740 because he was a son of his old age 166 00:07:36,740 --> 00:07:40,060 and he had made him a coat of many colors. 167 00:07:40,060 --> 00:07:43,740 And when his brother saw that their father loved him more 168 00:07:43,740 --> 00:07:46,860 than all of his brethren, they hated him 169 00:07:46,860 --> 00:07:50,780 and could not speak peaceably unto him. 170 00:07:50,780 --> 00:07:52,180 In the first few verses here, 171 00:07:52,180 --> 00:07:53,740 we really kind of see this, 172 00:07:53,740 --> 00:07:56,740 we're introduced to the family conflict, if you will. 173 00:07:56,740 --> 00:07:59,820 Joseph is at the young age of 17, 174 00:07:59,820 --> 00:08:02,500 and he's at work with his brothers. 175 00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:06,580 And already we're introduced to some complications 176 00:08:06,580 --> 00:08:07,500 in their family. 177 00:08:07,500 --> 00:08:10,940 Now if you're not familiar with some of those complications, 178 00:08:10,940 --> 00:08:13,580 they're noted here in verse two 179 00:08:13,580 --> 00:08:17,180 when it talks about him being with the sons 180 00:08:17,180 --> 00:08:20,860 of two different men, women who were his father's wives. 181 00:08:20,860 --> 00:08:25,260 Now to say that their family was a little bit dysfunctional 182 00:08:25,260 --> 00:08:27,060 might be a little bit of an understatement 183 00:08:27,060 --> 00:08:30,620 because Jacob had actually four wives 184 00:08:30,620 --> 00:08:34,780 and the brothers that Joseph had had four different mothers. 185 00:08:34,780 --> 00:08:37,180 There were four different groups of siblings 186 00:08:37,180 --> 00:08:40,100 because each of these mothers had their own children 187 00:08:40,100 --> 00:08:43,780 and one dad, so that was kind of majorly dysfunctional 188 00:08:43,780 --> 00:08:46,380 even by Old Testament standards. 189 00:08:46,380 --> 00:08:50,780 And here it says that Joseph being with his brothers 190 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:55,780 at the end of verse two talks about him bringing 191 00:08:55,980 --> 00:09:00,980 an evil report to his father about these brothers. 192 00:09:01,900 --> 00:09:04,100 Now here we're given some information about Joseph 193 00:09:04,100 --> 00:09:07,180 and his interaction with his brothers. 194 00:09:07,180 --> 00:09:11,500 It says here that he's feeding the flock with his brethren 195 00:09:11,500 --> 00:09:15,420 and then he reports on their behavior to their father. 196 00:09:15,420 --> 00:09:17,580 Now this is kind of an interesting side note 197 00:09:17,580 --> 00:09:19,820 not necessarily part of our study tonight, 198 00:09:19,820 --> 00:09:22,220 although I think that there may be some merit to it, 199 00:09:22,220 --> 00:09:24,140 but the idea interesting side note here, 200 00:09:24,140 --> 00:09:28,380 this phrase feeding the flock with his brethren 201 00:09:28,380 --> 00:09:32,740 is actually a Hebrew phrase, which is the phrase, 202 00:09:32,740 --> 00:09:34,140 Ra'aet. 203 00:09:34,140 --> 00:09:36,500 Now what's interesting about Ra'aet, 204 00:09:36,500 --> 00:09:38,180 and we'll kind of look at it here, 205 00:09:38,180 --> 00:09:40,420 illustrated in a few other verses, 206 00:09:40,420 --> 00:09:45,260 is that Ra'a means to feed or to take care of, 207 00:09:45,260 --> 00:09:47,020 we would say maybe to pasture, 208 00:09:47,020 --> 00:09:51,160 but it has a very wide swath of caring for. 209 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,860 In 2 Samuel chapter five and 2 Samuel chapter seven, 210 00:09:55,860 --> 00:09:59,260 the same word is translated differently. 211 00:09:59,260 --> 00:10:00,620 2 Samuel chapter five verse two, 212 00:10:00,620 --> 00:10:02,340 you can see the verses up on the screen. 213 00:10:02,340 --> 00:10:06,420 It says also in times past when Saul was king over us, 214 00:10:06,420 --> 00:10:11,100 that was he that lead us out and brought us in Israel, 215 00:10:11,100 --> 00:10:14,100 and the Lord said unto thee thou shalt feed my people. 216 00:10:14,100 --> 00:10:19,100 That's the Ra'aet version of in 2 Samuel chapter five, 217 00:10:19,940 --> 00:10:22,180 and thou shalt be a captain over them. 218 00:10:22,180 --> 00:10:25,980 Now he's not technically feeding them like open up, say awe. 219 00:10:25,980 --> 00:10:29,140 This is the idea of he's watching over them, 220 00:10:29,140 --> 00:10:33,500 lording over them if you will, being a leader among them. 221 00:10:33,500 --> 00:10:36,020 2 Samuel chapter seven, seven says it this way, 222 00:10:36,020 --> 00:10:38,300 in all the places wherein I have walked 223 00:10:38,300 --> 00:10:39,660 with all the children of Israel, 224 00:10:39,660 --> 00:10:42,420 spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel 225 00:10:42,420 --> 00:10:45,060 whom I commanded to feed my people. 226 00:10:45,060 --> 00:10:48,140 It's the same phrase in Hebrew Ra'aet, 227 00:10:48,140 --> 00:10:50,300 which means to take care of, right? 228 00:10:50,300 --> 00:10:52,300 To feed, it's translated feed here, 229 00:10:52,300 --> 00:10:54,140 but it's not literally putting, 230 00:10:55,340 --> 00:10:57,620 here open up, here comes the birdie, right? 231 00:10:57,620 --> 00:10:59,220 It's not that kind of feed, 232 00:10:59,220 --> 00:11:02,260 it's the idea of taking an oversight 233 00:11:02,260 --> 00:11:05,300 and taking care of. 234 00:11:05,300 --> 00:11:09,460 This idea of Ra'aet together creates that. 235 00:11:09,460 --> 00:11:12,580 This word et is sometimes translated in English 236 00:11:12,580 --> 00:11:16,820 as a preposition, but it really doesn't have a, 237 00:11:18,260 --> 00:11:23,260 this phrase in Hebrew does not have a parallel in English. 238 00:11:23,660 --> 00:11:25,780 It's something actually it's used 239 00:11:25,780 --> 00:11:29,420 in their language to point a verb to an object. 240 00:11:29,420 --> 00:11:31,900 So we would call that somehow maybe a preposition 241 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:33,700 or how we would translate that, 242 00:11:33,700 --> 00:11:35,940 but that's not how it's used. 243 00:11:35,940 --> 00:11:39,300 In fact, when it's used with an indefinite article, 244 00:11:39,300 --> 00:11:41,700 it's actually dropped altogether from their language. 245 00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:43,060 So they don't even actually use it. 246 00:11:43,060 --> 00:11:46,900 So for us, we would usually use the word like the, 247 00:11:46,900 --> 00:11:49,540 the banana, we're pointing to a specific banana. 248 00:11:49,540 --> 00:11:51,500 If we would say a banana, we're gonna say, 249 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:52,660 well, which one? 250 00:11:52,660 --> 00:11:55,700 When they use it in that regard, they would just drop it 251 00:11:55,700 --> 00:11:56,900 all together. 252 00:11:56,900 --> 00:11:58,080 Now, why do I even bring that up? 253 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:00,460 Well, it's an interesting thought 254 00:12:00,460 --> 00:12:02,900 because when you look at this text here, 255 00:12:02,900 --> 00:12:05,980 and it says that he's feeding the flock with his brother, 256 00:12:05,980 --> 00:12:10,980 and that's the Ra'aet version of this text, 257 00:12:11,260 --> 00:12:15,780 the flock is inserted in between Ra'a and et. 258 00:12:15,780 --> 00:12:19,580 And I think that to be, to be a faithful to the text, 259 00:12:19,580 --> 00:12:22,380 another faithful way of saying this was that, 260 00:12:22,380 --> 00:12:25,300 could be that Joseph was 17, 261 00:12:25,300 --> 00:12:28,420 and he was shepherding the group, that's the flock, 262 00:12:28,420 --> 00:12:31,540 of his brothers and brought an evil report to his father. 263 00:12:31,540 --> 00:12:33,780 The reason why I bring that up is because later on, 264 00:12:33,780 --> 00:12:37,580 we'll see that that's exactly what happens a second time. 265 00:12:37,580 --> 00:12:40,020 And so there's, I can't be, 266 00:12:41,700 --> 00:12:45,860 I cannot speak authoritatively on this subject, 267 00:12:45,860 --> 00:12:48,740 but it is interesting to note that another way 268 00:12:48,740 --> 00:12:51,620 of understanding this passage would be that 269 00:12:51,620 --> 00:12:53,780 he was not feeding the flock, 270 00:12:53,780 --> 00:12:56,780 but that he was lording over his brothers. 271 00:12:56,780 --> 00:13:00,100 He was, in a way, watching over them. 272 00:13:00,100 --> 00:13:03,300 And that would make sense because as soon as he's done, 273 00:13:03,300 --> 00:13:05,740 he turns around and reports on them, 274 00:13:05,740 --> 00:13:08,380 which is exactly what he'll do later on in the chapter. 275 00:13:08,380 --> 00:13:10,380 Just an interesting thought. 276 00:13:10,380 --> 00:13:11,500 Not a hill I would die on, 277 00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:13,980 but an interesting thought nonetheless. 278 00:13:13,980 --> 00:13:17,620 It's unclear whether this is really, 279 00:13:17,620 --> 00:13:19,420 this idea of reporting on his brothers 280 00:13:19,420 --> 00:13:22,220 is like dedicated malicious behavior, 281 00:13:22,220 --> 00:13:26,060 or he's using it to gain favor with his father, 282 00:13:26,060 --> 00:13:29,700 but understanding and only caring about this behavior 283 00:13:29,700 --> 00:13:34,300 could really cause an issue for his father's reputation. 284 00:13:34,300 --> 00:13:37,980 It's unclear whether or not he was like, 285 00:13:37,980 --> 00:13:39,820 yeah, I'm taking notes guys 286 00:13:39,820 --> 00:13:42,140 because you guys are really messed up 287 00:13:42,140 --> 00:13:44,860 and I really wanna look like the best son, 288 00:13:44,860 --> 00:13:46,500 or whether or not he really cared 289 00:13:46,500 --> 00:13:48,020 about his father's reputation. 290 00:13:48,020 --> 00:13:49,620 It was like, I gotta tell dad about this 291 00:13:49,620 --> 00:13:52,420 because these guys are just acting like crazy people. 292 00:13:52,420 --> 00:13:54,540 We don't know, it's not really clear from scripture 293 00:13:54,540 --> 00:13:59,380 what his motivation was for why he gave the evil report. 294 00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:01,580 At best, it may have been naive, 295 00:14:01,580 --> 00:14:04,620 and at worst, maybe divisive. 296 00:14:04,620 --> 00:14:07,340 But what we do know is that it inflamed 297 00:14:07,340 --> 00:14:10,940 the already fiery situation that was going on 298 00:14:10,940 --> 00:14:14,460 between him, his brothers, and his dad. 299 00:14:14,460 --> 00:14:18,500 Here it says that his brethren saw that their father 300 00:14:18,500 --> 00:14:21,260 loved him more. 301 00:14:21,260 --> 00:14:24,980 And what we see in this passage is that the favoritism 302 00:14:24,980 --> 00:14:29,900 that was garnered by Joseph from Jacob from Israel 303 00:14:29,900 --> 00:14:33,220 really led to jealousy among his brethren. 304 00:14:33,220 --> 00:14:35,660 It tells us here in verse three, 305 00:14:35,660 --> 00:14:39,540 that Jacob, Israel, loved him because of his connection 306 00:14:39,540 --> 00:14:43,300 to his mother who was Rachel, 307 00:14:43,300 --> 00:14:47,220 who had passed giving birth to her second child, Benjamin. 308 00:14:48,340 --> 00:14:50,660 And because he was special, 309 00:14:50,660 --> 00:14:53,620 because he was the child of his old age 310 00:14:53,620 --> 00:14:56,180 and the child of his favorite wife, 311 00:14:57,140 --> 00:15:02,140 Rachel, he gives to him a coat of many colors. 312 00:15:02,180 --> 00:15:07,180 Now, an article of this quality would have assumed 313 00:15:07,820 --> 00:15:12,820 to represent really not just wealth, but also station. 314 00:15:12,820 --> 00:15:16,420 We would have seen not just a representative of his love, 315 00:15:16,420 --> 00:15:19,300 but also kind of an elevation of him 316 00:15:19,300 --> 00:15:21,860 being the favored child. 317 00:15:21,860 --> 00:15:24,180 Do we have any favorite children in here tonight? 318 00:15:24,180 --> 00:15:25,500 Don't raise your hand, right? 319 00:15:25,500 --> 00:15:27,260 Some of you may be saying, I'm the only kid, 320 00:15:27,260 --> 00:15:28,940 so yes, I'm the favorite kid, right? 321 00:15:30,020 --> 00:15:33,860 I don't know what your situation was like in your family. 322 00:15:33,860 --> 00:15:36,740 I don't know if your family ever had any of this issue 323 00:15:36,740 --> 00:15:40,060 in with favoritism, but Jacob here 324 00:15:40,060 --> 00:15:43,820 in a way of elevating Joseph and making it very clear, 325 00:15:43,820 --> 00:15:45,740 this is my favorite child. 326 00:15:45,740 --> 00:15:50,340 It says that he makes for him a coat of many colors. 327 00:15:50,340 --> 00:15:52,100 Now, there's some argument about what this coat 328 00:15:52,100 --> 00:15:53,020 really looked like. 329 00:15:53,020 --> 00:15:55,100 Was it all the way down to the floor? 330 00:15:55,100 --> 00:15:56,940 Was it a long sleeve? 331 00:15:56,940 --> 00:16:00,580 None of that really matters too much to the narrative, 332 00:16:00,580 --> 00:16:03,700 but what strikes me odd is that when I read this 333 00:16:03,700 --> 00:16:06,180 from a modern perspective, 334 00:16:06,180 --> 00:16:08,420 really the first thing I think about is, 335 00:16:08,420 --> 00:16:10,780 how is this a flex? 336 00:16:10,780 --> 00:16:13,940 The last thing I wanted when I was 17 337 00:16:13,940 --> 00:16:16,900 was for my parents to give me clothes, right? 338 00:16:16,900 --> 00:16:18,020 To dress me. 339 00:16:18,020 --> 00:16:19,540 I wanted to wear what was cool. 340 00:16:19,540 --> 00:16:22,500 I wanted to wear what was hanging up in the mall 341 00:16:22,500 --> 00:16:25,940 on the, in the window, right? 342 00:16:25,940 --> 00:16:29,140 Most of the stuff my dad wore was like, 343 00:16:29,140 --> 00:16:31,300 what was on sale at Costco, right? 344 00:16:31,300 --> 00:16:33,100 And that's the last thing I wanted to wear 345 00:16:33,100 --> 00:16:34,740 when I was 17, right? 346 00:16:34,740 --> 00:16:37,340 So, looking at it from a modern view, 347 00:16:37,340 --> 00:16:38,780 I'm kind of like, well, what in the world? 348 00:16:38,780 --> 00:16:40,900 The last thing, I would say, yuck, 349 00:16:40,900 --> 00:16:44,260 I don't want my dad dressing me when I was 17, right? 350 00:16:45,660 --> 00:16:47,820 I don't know if maybe your parents were like this, 351 00:16:47,820 --> 00:16:51,140 but I saw both in my grandfather and in my dad, 352 00:16:51,140 --> 00:16:53,380 it was like, they had like this, 353 00:16:53,380 --> 00:16:54,740 if you would have looked at their closet, 354 00:16:54,740 --> 00:16:57,580 it was almost like they wore the same thing every day. 355 00:16:57,580 --> 00:17:00,100 So it was like, they always had this color pants 356 00:17:00,100 --> 00:17:01,540 and then this kind of shirt. 357 00:17:01,540 --> 00:17:04,100 And so like my stepdad always has a shirt kind of like this. 358 00:17:04,100 --> 00:17:05,660 Oh man, I'm dressed just like him. 359 00:17:05,660 --> 00:17:07,980 He had this kind of shirt, 360 00:17:07,980 --> 00:17:09,700 and he always had his aviator sunglasses 361 00:17:09,700 --> 00:17:11,260 that he would wear on his head, right? 362 00:17:11,260 --> 00:17:12,860 I'm just like, dad, it's raining. 363 00:17:12,860 --> 00:17:15,540 Why do you have aviator sunglasses on your head, right? 364 00:17:15,540 --> 00:17:17,300 This is the last thing I wanted when I was a kid 365 00:17:17,300 --> 00:17:19,700 was I wanted my parents to dress me. 366 00:17:19,700 --> 00:17:23,540 Now, looking at it from the cultural context, 367 00:17:23,540 --> 00:17:25,420 however, this multicolored clothing 368 00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:27,940 would have been something that would have been 369 00:17:27,940 --> 00:17:32,580 very, very important to wear. 370 00:17:32,580 --> 00:17:36,020 In fact, if you look at it through the historical lens, 371 00:17:36,020 --> 00:17:37,580 there's a few pictures up here. 372 00:17:37,580 --> 00:17:40,340 Some of the tombs that were discovered 373 00:17:40,340 --> 00:17:44,100 that were in this same century are noted. 374 00:17:44,100 --> 00:17:47,100 There are many of these that are of people 375 00:17:47,100 --> 00:17:49,620 who are kings and dignitaries. 376 00:17:49,620 --> 00:17:52,700 Part of what was noted about the figurines 377 00:17:52,700 --> 00:17:54,900 and the paintings that were on the walls 378 00:17:54,900 --> 00:17:56,700 that depicted scenes from their life 379 00:17:56,700 --> 00:17:59,540 is that only the people in high stations, 380 00:17:59,540 --> 00:18:02,460 their servants and other dignitaries 381 00:18:02,460 --> 00:18:05,900 were pictured wearing multicolored clothing. 382 00:18:05,900 --> 00:18:07,620 You gotta think about it from this perspective 383 00:18:07,620 --> 00:18:09,980 that in this time and day, 384 00:18:09,980 --> 00:18:14,980 there wasn't impressive clothing companies. 385 00:18:16,060 --> 00:18:17,740 There wasn't a lot of places where you could go 386 00:18:17,740 --> 00:18:20,820 where they had all these pre-made dyed clothes 387 00:18:20,820 --> 00:18:21,660 that you could get. 388 00:18:21,660 --> 00:18:25,340 It was a lot of work to create a multi-layered, 389 00:18:25,340 --> 00:18:28,940 a multicolored tunic or robe. 390 00:18:28,940 --> 00:18:30,860 And so there was a lot of money and effort 391 00:18:30,860 --> 00:18:31,820 that went into this. 392 00:18:31,820 --> 00:18:36,420 Most people just wore animal skins and hides 393 00:18:37,300 --> 00:18:40,540 and didn't have a whole lot of color in their wardrobe. 394 00:18:40,540 --> 00:18:45,540 And so to have a gift of this quality 395 00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:50,060 would have been a big thing for Joseph 396 00:18:50,060 --> 00:18:54,220 and would have meant a significant, 397 00:18:54,220 --> 00:18:57,660 I would have a significant meeting for him from his dad. 398 00:18:57,660 --> 00:19:01,060 And because of this gift, because of his station, 399 00:19:01,060 --> 00:19:03,420 the siblings here, the brothers' jealousy 400 00:19:03,420 --> 00:19:06,340 was so severe that in verse four, 401 00:19:06,340 --> 00:19:11,340 it says that they could not even speak peaceably to him. 402 00:19:12,260 --> 00:19:13,260 Here in verse four, it says, 403 00:19:13,260 --> 00:19:15,860 when the brother saw their father loved him more 404 00:19:15,860 --> 00:19:18,900 than all of his brother and they hated him 405 00:19:18,900 --> 00:19:21,660 and could not speak peaceably unto him. 406 00:19:21,660 --> 00:19:25,420 This word peaceably is the word shalom, 407 00:19:25,420 --> 00:19:29,700 which is still used as a greeting today in Israel. 408 00:19:29,700 --> 00:19:34,700 So it could have been even possible that his brothers 409 00:19:35,100 --> 00:19:38,140 couldn't even greet their own brother. 410 00:19:38,140 --> 00:19:41,420 They had nothing, they wanted nothing to do with him. 411 00:19:42,660 --> 00:19:45,900 Now sibling resentment really isn't something, 412 00:19:45,900 --> 00:19:48,660 it's something new, it's something that's been around 413 00:19:48,660 --> 00:19:50,700 for generations and something that's happened 414 00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:52,540 for a long time. 415 00:19:52,540 --> 00:19:55,620 There's a famous sibling duo, 416 00:19:55,620 --> 00:19:59,260 you may recognize their name, Warren and Doris Buffett. 417 00:19:59,260 --> 00:20:01,500 They had a brother and sister, 418 00:20:01,500 --> 00:20:03,980 they had a really jealous resentment. 419 00:20:03,980 --> 00:20:05,900 And as history tells us, 420 00:20:05,900 --> 00:20:09,500 one became a very wealthy philanthropist 421 00:20:12,260 --> 00:20:14,300 who was kind of devoted to gaining riches, 422 00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:16,460 while the other, his sister Doris, 423 00:20:16,460 --> 00:20:18,140 was also a philanthropist, 424 00:20:18,140 --> 00:20:21,620 but she was dedicated to giving her riches away. 425 00:20:21,620 --> 00:20:25,740 And there was a lot of resentment in their story, 426 00:20:25,740 --> 00:20:27,980 but eventually the two of them 427 00:20:27,980 --> 00:20:30,460 reunited past their differences. 428 00:20:30,460 --> 00:20:35,460 And according to some recent statistics in 2019, 429 00:20:36,620 --> 00:20:39,060 when the two of them, instead of seeing themselves 430 00:20:39,060 --> 00:20:41,700 as odds joined forces, 431 00:20:41,700 --> 00:20:43,780 they've actually in 2019 had given away 432 00:20:43,780 --> 00:20:48,340 over $80 million to individuals who were needy. 433 00:20:48,340 --> 00:20:50,100 And their story really demonstrates 434 00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:52,860 how sibling jealousy can be transformed 435 00:20:52,860 --> 00:20:55,620 into a powerful force for good. 436 00:20:55,620 --> 00:20:58,900 But a lot of times that's not the case. 437 00:20:58,900 --> 00:21:03,260 A lot of times when favoritism and jealousy are involved, 438 00:21:03,260 --> 00:21:06,620 it leads to our next connection. 439 00:21:06,620 --> 00:21:08,940 If you're taking notes, the next connection 440 00:21:08,940 --> 00:21:11,740 where favoritism that leads to jealousy, 441 00:21:11,740 --> 00:21:15,140 we will see that jealousy that leads to deception, 442 00:21:15,140 --> 00:21:18,780 jealousy that leads to deception. 443 00:21:18,780 --> 00:21:20,620 And we're gonna skip down a little bit in this narrative, 444 00:21:20,620 --> 00:21:22,420 down to verse 18. 445 00:21:22,420 --> 00:21:26,580 So in between verses four and 18, 446 00:21:26,580 --> 00:21:31,420 Joseph is sent, he talks to his family 447 00:21:31,420 --> 00:21:33,060 about a dream that he has. 448 00:21:33,060 --> 00:21:35,580 It doesn't go over very well with his brothers 449 00:21:35,580 --> 00:21:38,980 or with his father. 450 00:21:38,980 --> 00:21:43,980 And he is sent again to care for his brothers. 451 00:21:46,180 --> 00:21:49,420 And when he is sent again, 452 00:21:49,420 --> 00:21:52,740 this time they hatch a plan. 453 00:21:52,740 --> 00:21:53,780 They hatch a plan. 454 00:21:53,780 --> 00:21:58,780 So let's read in verses 18 and down to verse 24. 455 00:21:59,460 --> 00:22:02,540 Scripture says that when they saw him afar off, 456 00:22:02,540 --> 00:22:05,340 even before he came near unto them, 457 00:22:05,340 --> 00:22:08,260 they conspired against him to slay him. 458 00:22:08,260 --> 00:22:09,820 And they said one to another, 459 00:22:09,820 --> 00:22:12,420 behold this dreamer cometh. 460 00:22:12,420 --> 00:22:15,220 Now, come therefore, let us slay him 461 00:22:15,220 --> 00:22:17,020 and cast him into some pit. 462 00:22:17,020 --> 00:22:19,740 And he will say, and we will say, 463 00:22:19,740 --> 00:22:22,140 some evil beast hath devoured him 464 00:22:22,140 --> 00:22:25,380 and we shall see what will become of his dreams. 465 00:22:25,380 --> 00:22:28,460 And Reuben heard it and he delivered him 466 00:22:28,460 --> 00:22:31,500 out of their hands and said, let us not kill him. 467 00:22:31,500 --> 00:22:34,380 And Reuben said unto them, shed no blood, 468 00:22:34,380 --> 00:22:38,340 but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness. 469 00:22:38,340 --> 00:22:42,460 And lay no hand upon him that he might rid him 470 00:22:42,460 --> 00:22:46,300 out of their hands to deliver him to his father again. 471 00:22:46,300 --> 00:22:49,220 So he kind of hatched up a plan, let's not kill him, 472 00:22:49,220 --> 00:22:51,780 let's throw him in a pit and then later I'll double back 473 00:22:51,780 --> 00:22:54,220 and I'll pull him out. 474 00:22:54,220 --> 00:22:57,020 Verse 23 says it came to pass when Joseph was come 475 00:22:57,020 --> 00:23:00,460 unto his brethren that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, 476 00:23:00,460 --> 00:23:03,020 his coat of many colors that was on him 477 00:23:03,020 --> 00:23:05,540 and they took him and cast him into the pit. 478 00:23:05,540 --> 00:23:09,660 And the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 479 00:23:09,660 --> 00:23:12,820 So as I've already mentioned, in between these two narratives, 480 00:23:12,820 --> 00:23:16,460 Joseph is gifted with a dream and he explains 481 00:23:16,460 --> 00:23:19,340 to his siblings and his parents, it doesn't go over well. 482 00:23:19,340 --> 00:23:24,340 And being sent by Jacob in verse 14 to Ra at Shalom, 483 00:23:24,380 --> 00:23:26,540 which means to see whether it be well 484 00:23:26,540 --> 00:23:29,620 or to take care of them and bring peace. 485 00:23:29,620 --> 00:23:31,820 And then report back, verse 14, 486 00:23:31,820 --> 00:23:33,860 Jacob gives them that task again, 487 00:23:33,860 --> 00:23:38,860 that brothers choose this time to conspire against Joseph. 488 00:23:38,860 --> 00:23:42,780 Now this idea in verse 18 that when they see him afar off, 489 00:23:42,780 --> 00:23:45,980 even before he came near, they conspire against him 490 00:23:45,980 --> 00:23:47,340 to slay him. 491 00:23:47,340 --> 00:23:49,980 This idea of conspire means to be crafty 492 00:23:49,980 --> 00:23:52,820 or to be deceitful. 493 00:23:52,820 --> 00:23:56,260 Their plan was to kill Joseph in the far country 494 00:23:56,260 --> 00:23:59,420 of Dothan where they were and to toss his corpse 495 00:23:59,420 --> 00:24:01,220 into a cistern. 496 00:24:01,220 --> 00:24:03,820 Now cisterns were very common back in that day, 497 00:24:03,820 --> 00:24:08,100 especially with the herding, 498 00:24:08,100 --> 00:24:10,220 community that was around. 499 00:24:10,220 --> 00:24:12,580 There were many people who were shepherds 500 00:24:12,580 --> 00:24:14,700 and taking care of goats and livestock. 501 00:24:14,700 --> 00:24:17,220 And so this became a lifesaving thing, 502 00:24:17,220 --> 00:24:20,420 especially for them in the dry seasons. 503 00:24:20,420 --> 00:24:25,220 And so many people would dig out these large pits 504 00:24:25,220 --> 00:24:27,620 in the ground and they would basically be 505 00:24:27,620 --> 00:24:28,980 in three different shapes. 506 00:24:28,980 --> 00:24:32,940 They've been excavated through archeology in the Holy Land. 507 00:24:32,940 --> 00:24:35,820 And when they find them, they usually find one 508 00:24:35,820 --> 00:24:36,820 of three shapes. 509 00:24:36,820 --> 00:24:39,540 They're three shapes, they're usually either the bottle shape, 510 00:24:39,540 --> 00:24:44,540 the triangle shape, or what's called the bell shape, 511 00:24:44,540 --> 00:24:49,180 or the pear shape, which is in picture three. 512 00:24:49,180 --> 00:24:50,860 This is what you would normally find. 513 00:24:50,860 --> 00:24:52,340 This is what a cistern would look like. 514 00:24:52,340 --> 00:24:55,100 You've got the ground above and then this big, 515 00:24:55,100 --> 00:24:57,580 empty hole in the ground. 516 00:24:57,580 --> 00:25:00,820 And its purpose was to collect rainwater 517 00:25:00,820 --> 00:25:02,540 through the rainy season. 518 00:25:02,540 --> 00:25:04,900 And then in the dry season, you could go back 519 00:25:04,900 --> 00:25:07,700 and you can throw in your bucket, 520 00:25:07,700 --> 00:25:10,700 you could throw in your jar, and you could pull up water 521 00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:13,700 and water your animals. 522 00:25:13,700 --> 00:25:16,700 Normally there was a large rock, flat rock, 523 00:25:16,700 --> 00:25:18,900 over these cisterns, kind of like a lid, 524 00:25:18,900 --> 00:25:22,500 to keep the water from evaporating in the heat. 525 00:25:23,460 --> 00:25:27,340 This would be an ideal place for taking care 526 00:25:27,340 --> 00:25:30,380 of your, rashing your water, but it was also 527 00:25:30,380 --> 00:25:33,500 an ideal place to cover up murder 528 00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:36,740 and to, in some cases, we find in scripture, 529 00:25:36,740 --> 00:25:38,620 it'd be used as a jail cell. 530 00:25:38,620 --> 00:25:40,700 It's a perfect natural jail cell. 531 00:25:40,700 --> 00:25:43,580 You put people in and they can't get out. 532 00:25:43,580 --> 00:25:45,780 Most of the inside would have been covered 533 00:25:45,780 --> 00:25:50,780 with some kind of clay that would have kind of sealed it 534 00:25:51,700 --> 00:25:53,580 so that the water wouldn't escape 535 00:25:53,580 --> 00:25:58,580 and go through the surrounding soil. 536 00:25:59,260 --> 00:26:02,460 But this was an ideal place to put Joseph, 537 00:26:02,460 --> 00:26:05,660 the brother's thought, because it would finally end 538 00:26:05,660 --> 00:26:10,180 their misery of having to deal with daddy's favorite kid. 539 00:26:10,180 --> 00:26:13,580 Now these places were often associated with death. 540 00:26:13,580 --> 00:26:16,580 David writes about it in Psalm chapter 30, verse three. 541 00:26:16,580 --> 00:26:19,940 He says, oh Lord, thou hast brought me up my soul 542 00:26:19,940 --> 00:26:22,580 from the grave, thou hast kept me alive, 543 00:26:22,580 --> 00:26:25,420 that I should not go down into the pit. 544 00:26:25,420 --> 00:26:28,140 That were pits the same pit we see here 545 00:26:28,140 --> 00:26:32,420 that the brothers consider throwing Joseph into. 546 00:26:32,420 --> 00:26:35,980 So in the middle of this plot, the oldest son Ruben, 547 00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:37,300 he's got a bright idea. 548 00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:38,660 He says, you know what? 549 00:26:38,660 --> 00:26:42,060 Killing him may not be the greatest idea for us. 550 00:26:42,060 --> 00:26:45,020 That's kind of a bad thing to do. 551 00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:46,580 And so how about we do this? 552 00:26:46,580 --> 00:26:49,860 Instead of killing him, why don't we just throw him 553 00:26:49,860 --> 00:26:53,940 in the cistern and then we don't have to technically 554 00:26:53,940 --> 00:26:55,220 take the blame, right? 555 00:26:55,220 --> 00:26:58,380 Before God and others that we killed him, right? 556 00:26:58,380 --> 00:27:01,980 And his idea was, well, if I can make them agree 557 00:27:01,980 --> 00:27:06,940 to this, then I can go back and I can rescue him later. 558 00:27:06,940 --> 00:27:09,260 Now it's sort of unclear, it doesn't say in the scripture 559 00:27:09,260 --> 00:27:12,100 why Ruben had this thought. 560 00:27:12,100 --> 00:27:14,060 Maybe it was a moral thought. 561 00:27:14,060 --> 00:27:16,620 Some people have suggested maybe Ruben was trying 562 00:27:16,620 --> 00:27:20,060 to garner some good graces with his dad 563 00:27:20,060 --> 00:27:23,380 because he really blew it a few chapters earlier 564 00:27:23,380 --> 00:27:26,820 with his dad and maybe they thought, well, 565 00:27:26,820 --> 00:27:30,060 maybe he's just trying to garner some good graces 566 00:27:30,060 --> 00:27:32,340 so that when they say, well, he never made it to us. 567 00:27:32,340 --> 00:27:33,340 What happened to Joseph? 568 00:27:33,340 --> 00:27:34,500 And here comes Ruben. 569 00:27:34,500 --> 00:27:35,660 I saved Joseph. 570 00:27:35,660 --> 00:27:36,500 I found him in a pit. 571 00:27:36,500 --> 00:27:38,180 He must have fallen in like a big dummy, 572 00:27:38,180 --> 00:27:39,780 but I'm the hero of the story, right? 573 00:27:39,780 --> 00:27:43,900 We don't really know what his motivation was, 574 00:27:43,900 --> 00:27:46,940 but in any case, Ruben's plan was executed. 575 00:27:46,940 --> 00:27:48,060 That's exactly what they did. 576 00:27:48,060 --> 00:27:49,700 They decided to take Joseph, 577 00:27:49,700 --> 00:27:51,700 they stripped him of his multicolored coat 578 00:27:51,700 --> 00:27:54,500 and they threw him into a cistern here. 579 00:27:54,500 --> 00:27:57,100 Scripture says in verse 24 that this pit, 580 00:27:57,100 --> 00:28:01,620 this cistern was empty and there was no water in it. 581 00:28:01,620 --> 00:28:05,300 As far as they were concerned, the deal was done. 582 00:28:05,300 --> 00:28:06,620 They had thrown him in there. 583 00:28:06,620 --> 00:28:09,140 He would have died either of exposure 584 00:28:09,140 --> 00:28:13,740 or having no food or water and they could be done with it. 585 00:28:13,740 --> 00:28:16,660 They put the stone on top of it 586 00:28:16,660 --> 00:28:19,020 and they could go on with their life. 587 00:28:19,020 --> 00:28:23,900 The sibling's jealousy led to this multifaceted deception, 588 00:28:23,900 --> 00:28:27,820 a place where the brothers deceived Joseph, 589 00:28:27,820 --> 00:28:30,340 that Ruben tried to deceive his brothers 590 00:28:30,340 --> 00:28:32,060 and then the brothers would ultimately try 591 00:28:32,060 --> 00:28:33,900 to deceive their father, Jacob, 592 00:28:33,900 --> 00:28:36,420 when they go back and report to him. 593 00:28:36,420 --> 00:28:41,420 We see here that jealousy leads to deception in this case. 594 00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:46,460 Now, I don't know if many of you are maybe movie buffs. 595 00:28:46,460 --> 00:28:50,620 I like to watch a large variety of movies. 596 00:28:51,780 --> 00:28:52,980 I've never seen this one, 597 00:28:52,980 --> 00:28:54,140 although I know the actor, 598 00:28:54,140 --> 00:28:56,540 but in 2003 there was a movie 599 00:28:56,540 --> 00:28:58,940 that was put out entitled Shattered Glass. 600 00:28:58,940 --> 00:29:00,220 Has anybody seen this? 601 00:29:00,220 --> 00:29:02,860 It's based on a true story, 602 00:29:02,860 --> 00:29:05,660 but the true story is of a young journalist. 603 00:29:05,660 --> 00:29:07,460 His name is Stephen Glass 604 00:29:07,460 --> 00:29:10,500 and he wrote a 40, really 40 plus articles 605 00:29:10,500 --> 00:29:12,020 for the New Republic Magazine, 606 00:29:12,020 --> 00:29:16,580 which is a Washington, DC and New York City operated magazine 607 00:29:16,580 --> 00:29:18,740 and he wrote them back in the 90s. 608 00:29:18,740 --> 00:29:23,580 And this journalist, Stephen Glass, 609 00:29:23,580 --> 00:29:25,540 he would write these incredible reports 610 00:29:25,540 --> 00:29:29,660 and the reports would get more and more incredible 611 00:29:29,660 --> 00:29:31,940 every time he would write an article 612 00:29:31,940 --> 00:29:33,260 and he would have, 613 00:29:33,260 --> 00:29:34,740 these articles would come across really 614 00:29:34,740 --> 00:29:38,260 as well, well research works. 615 00:29:38,260 --> 00:29:40,780 And it wasn't until another reporter 616 00:29:40,780 --> 00:29:45,780 from a competing magazine, Forbes Magazine, 617 00:29:46,020 --> 00:29:48,140 began to dig into some of his cases 618 00:29:48,140 --> 00:29:52,060 that they would uncover that really almost half 619 00:29:52,060 --> 00:29:56,180 of the articles that he wrote were completely made up. 620 00:29:56,180 --> 00:29:59,340 But this guy was really into telling lies, 621 00:29:59,340 --> 00:30:02,820 so much so that a lot of the articles that he would write, 622 00:30:02,820 --> 00:30:05,340 he would create his own evidence 623 00:30:05,340 --> 00:30:09,940 and he would create his own supporting material, 624 00:30:09,940 --> 00:30:11,620 so much so that he would go into, 625 00:30:11,620 --> 00:30:15,420 he created fake websites that represented fake businesses, 626 00:30:15,420 --> 00:30:17,620 he created fake business cards of people 627 00:30:17,620 --> 00:30:20,060 that he said he had interviewed, 628 00:30:20,060 --> 00:30:23,020 he had fake email accounts, 629 00:30:23,020 --> 00:30:25,900 he had fake voicemail messages that he said, 630 00:30:25,900 --> 00:30:27,780 oh yeah, this guy called me and left a voicemail 631 00:30:27,780 --> 00:30:29,860 and he gave me the whole stoop, 632 00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:35,740 the background information about what's going on. 633 00:30:35,740 --> 00:30:40,740 And eventually he got caught because they just weren't true. 634 00:30:42,260 --> 00:30:46,900 And what happened for both Stephen and for the company 635 00:30:46,900 --> 00:30:49,460 is that it shattered the image of both Stephen 636 00:30:49,460 --> 00:30:51,780 and the magazine, which kind of leads us 637 00:30:51,780 --> 00:30:54,180 to our last thought here tonight. 638 00:30:54,180 --> 00:30:57,820 If you're taking notes, the last connection we see 639 00:30:57,820 --> 00:31:01,500 is that deception that leads to brokenness, 640 00:31:01,500 --> 00:31:03,660 deception that leads to brokenness. 641 00:31:03,660 --> 00:31:05,580 So we follow this trail, 642 00:31:05,580 --> 00:31:08,260 favoritism that leads to jealousy, 643 00:31:08,260 --> 00:31:10,540 jealousy that leads to deception, 644 00:31:10,540 --> 00:31:13,620 and deception that leads to brokenness. 645 00:31:13,620 --> 00:31:16,580 Let's jump on down to verse 31 646 00:31:16,580 --> 00:31:18,580 and some of the following verses. 647 00:31:18,580 --> 00:31:21,020 So Joseph's been thrown into a pit 648 00:31:21,020 --> 00:31:26,020 in between this time and where we leave off in verse 24, 649 00:31:26,740 --> 00:31:30,580 Joseph's brothers, they decide they're going to sell him 650 00:31:30,580 --> 00:31:34,780 to some Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver 651 00:31:34,780 --> 00:31:39,780 and that will completely get rid of Joseph for them. 652 00:31:40,020 --> 00:31:41,500 Let's pick up in verse 31. 653 00:31:42,420 --> 00:31:45,420 They return back to their dad and it says in verse 31, 654 00:31:45,420 --> 00:31:49,300 they took Joseph's coat and killed the kid of the goats 655 00:31:49,300 --> 00:31:51,060 and dipped the coat in the blood. 656 00:31:51,060 --> 00:31:53,340 And they sent the coat of many colors 657 00:31:53,340 --> 00:31:55,580 and brought it to their father and said, 658 00:31:55,580 --> 00:31:59,460 this have we found, know now whether it be 659 00:31:59,460 --> 00:32:01,540 thy son's coat or no. 660 00:32:01,540 --> 00:32:04,980 And he knew it and said, it is my son's coat. 661 00:32:04,980 --> 00:32:07,380 An evil beast has devoured him. 662 00:32:07,380 --> 00:32:11,740 Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 663 00:32:11,740 --> 00:32:14,820 And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth 664 00:32:14,820 --> 00:32:19,780 upon his loins and mourned for his son many days. 665 00:32:19,780 --> 00:32:22,500 So after throwing Joseph in a pit, 666 00:32:22,500 --> 00:32:25,820 the brothers are recorded to go and have lunch. 667 00:32:25,820 --> 00:32:27,700 Apparently it didn't bother them too much 668 00:32:27,700 --> 00:32:30,900 that they had just really kind of murdered their brother. 669 00:32:30,900 --> 00:32:32,380 He just hasn't died yet. 670 00:32:32,380 --> 00:32:34,460 And so they get together and they have lunch 671 00:32:34,460 --> 00:32:35,740 and as they're eating lunch, 672 00:32:35,740 --> 00:32:38,540 scripture says that this band of Ishmaelites, 673 00:32:38,540 --> 00:32:42,260 some foreigners from the North, really their cousins, 674 00:32:42,260 --> 00:32:46,100 are coming down as tradesmen to go down to Egypt. 675 00:32:46,100 --> 00:32:48,740 Egypt was a world power at that time. 676 00:32:48,740 --> 00:32:52,700 And so they were coming down to Egypt to do some trade. 677 00:32:52,700 --> 00:32:56,060 And as they saw them come by, they decided, you know what? 678 00:32:56,060 --> 00:32:59,540 Why don't we fish him up out of that cistern 679 00:32:59,540 --> 00:33:01,740 and we can make some money on this deal 680 00:33:01,740 --> 00:33:04,100 and we can sell him as a slave 681 00:33:04,100 --> 00:33:06,260 and we'll make a little bit of cash. 682 00:33:06,260 --> 00:33:10,220 That way we can really be done with Joseph. 683 00:33:10,220 --> 00:33:11,620 And that's exactly what they do. 684 00:33:11,620 --> 00:33:15,420 They sell Joseph for 20 pieces of silver. 685 00:33:15,420 --> 00:33:17,620 Interesting, that's where another connection is 686 00:33:17,620 --> 00:33:20,260 between Joseph and our savior Christ. 687 00:33:21,140 --> 00:33:23,500 Here we see that they have a plan 688 00:33:23,500 --> 00:33:26,740 and their plan is we're going to deceive our father 689 00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:29,580 but we gotta make it look right. 690 00:33:29,580 --> 00:33:32,100 So what they do is they decide to take one of the goats 691 00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:34,220 that they're herding, they kill it 692 00:33:34,220 --> 00:33:36,380 and they spread the blood all over 693 00:33:36,380 --> 00:33:38,300 what is now kind of a torn up coat. 694 00:33:38,300 --> 00:33:40,140 They make it look realistic. 695 00:33:40,140 --> 00:33:42,300 And as they return back to their father, 696 00:33:42,300 --> 00:33:45,180 their brothers use a very interesting technique. 697 00:33:45,180 --> 00:33:48,940 They allow dad to extrapolate the situation 698 00:33:48,940 --> 00:33:51,620 rather than come to him with a story. 699 00:33:51,620 --> 00:33:56,500 Instead of saying, oh, dad, this horrible event happened 700 00:33:56,500 --> 00:33:58,380 and we can tell you all about it. 701 00:33:58,380 --> 00:33:59,460 You can trust us. 702 00:33:59,460 --> 00:34:02,100 What they decide to do is they bring the coat 703 00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:04,460 and when they bring the coat, they say, 704 00:34:04,460 --> 00:34:06,820 is this your son's coat? 705 00:34:06,820 --> 00:34:08,020 Interesting, they don't say that. 706 00:34:08,020 --> 00:34:10,300 Is this our brother's coat? 707 00:34:10,300 --> 00:34:12,300 They say, is this your son's coat? 708 00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:15,220 And they kind of let dad decide what happened. 709 00:34:15,220 --> 00:34:18,220 They seem to really appear emotionally distant 710 00:34:18,220 --> 00:34:20,820 from what they have done in this situation. 711 00:34:20,820 --> 00:34:24,540 And upon review of this coat, Jacob makes the conclusion 712 00:34:24,540 --> 00:34:27,540 that an evil beast has devoured Joseph. 713 00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:32,220 Now, it's hard to kind of fathom really this. 714 00:34:32,220 --> 00:34:35,700 I would imagine that the coat that Jacob had made 715 00:34:35,700 --> 00:34:39,380 for his son was not just any other coat. 716 00:34:39,380 --> 00:34:41,980 If someone was to find a Sonoma brand 717 00:34:41,980 --> 00:34:45,180 or a member's mark coat out in our lobby, 718 00:34:45,180 --> 00:34:46,780 it could be one of anybody's 719 00:34:46,780 --> 00:34:49,340 because they make those things like hotcakes. 720 00:34:49,340 --> 00:34:53,060 You can buy the same looking coat in Walmart, right? 721 00:34:53,060 --> 00:34:55,100 This coat was not something that you could just buy 722 00:34:55,100 --> 00:34:57,100 and everybody had one of these. 723 00:34:57,100 --> 00:34:59,980 So it was strange to me that as they present this coat 724 00:34:59,980 --> 00:35:03,540 to their father, they go, hey, do you recognize this coat? 725 00:35:03,540 --> 00:35:04,660 Is this your son's coat? 726 00:35:04,660 --> 00:35:06,420 It's like they didn't know. 727 00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:08,420 It's strange to me that Jacob wouldn't have said, 728 00:35:08,420 --> 00:35:11,060 you don't know what your brother's coat looks like? 729 00:35:12,100 --> 00:35:15,980 Anyway, when he sees the coat, 730 00:35:15,980 --> 00:35:20,140 it becomes very obvious to him, yes, this is Joseph's coat. 731 00:35:20,140 --> 00:35:24,180 And he does then kind of follow the dotted line. 732 00:35:24,180 --> 00:35:26,980 The coat's torn up, it's covered in blood. 733 00:35:26,980 --> 00:35:31,060 He knew that he had sent Joseph by himself 734 00:35:31,060 --> 00:35:33,460 through the wilderness to where his brothers 735 00:35:33,460 --> 00:35:36,500 were in Dothan some distance from where they were. 736 00:35:36,500 --> 00:35:40,700 And so he extrapolates from the information given to him 737 00:35:40,700 --> 00:35:45,180 that an evil beast had devoured Joseph. 738 00:35:45,180 --> 00:35:47,300 Now, in Old Testament tradition, 739 00:35:47,300 --> 00:35:51,740 God would use one of four instruments to send judgment. 740 00:35:51,740 --> 00:35:56,740 We see this list of instruments recorded in Ezekiel 741 00:35:58,420 --> 00:36:01,740 and Jeremiah, even in Leviticus and in Hosea. 742 00:36:01,740 --> 00:36:06,140 The four of them were famine, evil beast, pestilence, 743 00:36:06,140 --> 00:36:07,260 and sword. 744 00:36:07,260 --> 00:36:10,460 Ezekiel chapter five verse 17 has all of them 745 00:36:10,460 --> 00:36:11,700 together in one verse. 746 00:36:11,700 --> 00:36:13,580 It says this in Ezekiel five, 17. 747 00:36:13,580 --> 00:36:17,780 So I send upon you famine and evil beasts, 748 00:36:17,780 --> 00:36:19,420 and they shall bereave thee, 749 00:36:19,420 --> 00:36:22,260 and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee, 750 00:36:22,260 --> 00:36:24,620 and I will bring the sword upon thee, 751 00:36:24,620 --> 00:36:28,340 I am the Lord have spoken it. 752 00:36:28,340 --> 00:36:31,420 Now, it's possible that Jacob could have seen 753 00:36:31,420 --> 00:36:35,460 this idea of evil beasts as a judgment for his sins. 754 00:36:35,460 --> 00:36:38,020 Certainly he had some coming, 755 00:36:38,020 --> 00:36:40,780 or maybe Joseph's, maybe one that he didn't know about. 756 00:36:40,780 --> 00:36:43,940 But whatever the case, he believes it to be true, 757 00:36:43,940 --> 00:36:48,020 that judgment has come and was passed upon Joseph, 758 00:36:48,020 --> 00:36:53,020 and Joseph was killed by evil beasts in the wilderness. 759 00:36:53,060 --> 00:36:58,060 And this situation will go on to alter Jacob 760 00:36:58,540 --> 00:37:01,260 for much of his remaining life. 761 00:37:01,260 --> 00:37:04,940 The next time we see Jacob isn't until many chapters later 762 00:37:04,940 --> 00:37:08,260 in chapter 42, where he sends the brothers 763 00:37:08,260 --> 00:37:11,700 in the middle of a famine to Egypt. 764 00:37:11,700 --> 00:37:12,980 But what does he do? 765 00:37:12,980 --> 00:37:17,980 He holds back Joseph's blood brother, Benjamin, 766 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,420 who was Rachel's other son. 767 00:37:20,420 --> 00:37:21,740 Rachel had two sons. 768 00:37:22,860 --> 00:37:27,860 He holds back Benjamin for fear that Benjamin would be lost. 769 00:37:27,860 --> 00:37:30,340 Genesis chapter 42 verse four puts it this way, 770 00:37:30,340 --> 00:37:33,300 but Benjamin, Joseph's brother, 771 00:37:33,300 --> 00:37:35,740 Jacob sent not with his brethren, 772 00:37:35,740 --> 00:37:40,740 for he said, lest per adventure mischief befall him. 773 00:37:40,740 --> 00:37:43,260 The sending away of any of Rachel's children 774 00:37:43,260 --> 00:37:46,780 would never again happen under Jacob's watch, 775 00:37:46,780 --> 00:37:51,140 because this event would go on to break Jacob. 776 00:37:51,140 --> 00:37:55,900 It would change his perspective on his kids forever. 777 00:37:55,900 --> 00:38:00,900 The situation of Joseph brings brokenness to this family. 778 00:38:01,260 --> 00:38:05,820 There's brokenness between the brothers and between Joseph. 779 00:38:05,820 --> 00:38:07,580 They had sold him into slavery. 780 00:38:07,580 --> 00:38:11,740 First tried to murder him, then sold him into slavery. 781 00:38:11,740 --> 00:38:15,740 It would bring brokenness between Joseph and Jacob, 782 00:38:15,740 --> 00:38:19,520 because a lot of Jacob's, or Joseph's life, 783 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:21,300 Jacob would not see. 784 00:38:21,300 --> 00:38:26,300 It brought brokenness between the brothers and their father, 785 00:38:27,020 --> 00:38:28,820 because from this point on, 786 00:38:28,820 --> 00:38:33,140 their father would be emotionally distant from them. 787 00:38:33,140 --> 00:38:35,820 We see that in Genesis 42, 43. 788 00:38:35,820 --> 00:38:37,820 We don't have time to study out those texts, 789 00:38:37,820 --> 00:38:39,180 but if you go on to read, 790 00:38:39,180 --> 00:38:41,500 you can see there's an emotional distance 791 00:38:41,500 --> 00:38:44,060 where he's like, you know what? 792 00:38:44,060 --> 00:38:45,700 Anything can happen to you guys. 793 00:38:45,700 --> 00:38:48,380 I just don't want anything happening to Benjamin. 794 00:38:48,380 --> 00:38:51,500 And they'll come back and they'll report, 795 00:38:51,500 --> 00:38:53,500 we can't go back to buy more corn 796 00:38:53,500 --> 00:38:55,060 unless we bring Benjamin. 797 00:38:55,060 --> 00:38:57,900 And then he says, if anything happens to him, 798 00:38:57,900 --> 00:39:01,700 I'll die and I'll go to my grave, gray-haired, 799 00:39:01,700 --> 00:39:04,340 and bereaved. 800 00:39:04,340 --> 00:39:09,140 And some of the brothers are so brokenhearted, 801 00:39:09,140 --> 00:39:11,220 I believe, for their father, that they literally say, 802 00:39:11,220 --> 00:39:12,060 you know what? 803 00:39:12,060 --> 00:39:13,580 If we don't bring Benjamin back, 804 00:39:13,580 --> 00:39:16,980 you can kill our kids in place, 805 00:39:16,980 --> 00:39:18,420 like to take your revenge. 806 00:39:18,420 --> 00:39:20,740 That's how broken their father had become 807 00:39:20,740 --> 00:39:23,540 and how much they had seen their father's brokenness. 808 00:39:26,540 --> 00:39:29,620 Things are altered for the worst for this family 809 00:39:29,620 --> 00:39:30,900 because of what happens. 810 00:39:30,900 --> 00:39:34,100 And it starts from the connection of favoritism 811 00:39:34,100 --> 00:39:36,900 to jealousy, from jealousy to deception, 812 00:39:36,900 --> 00:39:39,380 and then from deception to that brokenness. 813 00:39:40,660 --> 00:39:42,940 Things are altered for the worst for this family, 814 00:39:42,940 --> 00:39:47,020 but as we know, God is still at work, 815 00:39:47,020 --> 00:39:49,700 even in the midst of brokenness. 816 00:39:49,700 --> 00:39:52,540 Joseph will experience the reality 817 00:39:52,540 --> 00:39:56,060 of the New Testament promise that we find in Romans 828. 818 00:39:57,140 --> 00:39:58,620 It says in Romans 828, 819 00:39:58,620 --> 00:40:01,700 and we know that all things work together for good, 820 00:40:01,700 --> 00:40:03,300 to them that love God, 821 00:40:03,300 --> 00:40:06,060 and to them that are called according to his purpose. 822 00:40:07,060 --> 00:40:08,180 Here's the reality. 823 00:40:08,180 --> 00:40:09,740 If you know the story of Joseph, 824 00:40:09,740 --> 00:40:14,740 Joseph then goes on, he finds favor with his masters 825 00:40:15,340 --> 00:40:16,980 and then with Pharaoh, 826 00:40:16,980 --> 00:40:18,900 and he's elevated to a position 827 00:40:18,900 --> 00:40:21,820 because of the dreams and the interpretation that is given 828 00:40:21,820 --> 00:40:25,460 that ends up saving not just the people of Egypt, 829 00:40:25,460 --> 00:40:29,180 but the surrounding nations and his own family. 830 00:40:29,180 --> 00:40:32,420 And then eventually his brothers show up right before him 831 00:40:32,420 --> 00:40:35,020 as he is second in command of Egypt, 832 00:40:35,020 --> 00:40:37,020 and he gives to them, 833 00:40:37,020 --> 00:40:39,300 and then eventually reveals that connection. 834 00:40:39,300 --> 00:40:43,900 And their family moves to Egypt to be taken care of. 835 00:40:43,900 --> 00:40:45,060 And it's God's plan. 836 00:40:45,060 --> 00:40:48,780 He says, what you purpose for evil, God meant for good. 837 00:40:50,140 --> 00:40:52,100 You know what, this isn't always the case 838 00:40:52,100 --> 00:40:54,180 in every family, however. 839 00:40:54,180 --> 00:40:58,780 Sometimes brokenness lingers for generations. 840 00:40:58,780 --> 00:41:03,660 And although God can work out good in broken purposes, 841 00:41:03,660 --> 00:41:06,380 sometimes it's not always the case. 842 00:41:06,380 --> 00:41:08,420 We cannot always rely on the fact 843 00:41:08,420 --> 00:41:11,820 that God will just fix it if we break it. 844 00:41:11,820 --> 00:41:13,500 God can redeem things, 845 00:41:13,500 --> 00:41:16,860 but sometimes brokenness lingers for generations. 846 00:41:18,020 --> 00:41:20,660 What I believe the lesson to be learned here isn't, 847 00:41:20,660 --> 00:41:22,820 well, let's just roll the dice 848 00:41:22,820 --> 00:41:25,220 and hope God will fix everything in the end. 849 00:41:25,220 --> 00:41:28,460 The lesson to be learned for us in relationship 850 00:41:28,460 --> 00:41:30,660 and especially our family relationships 851 00:41:30,660 --> 00:41:33,420 is to watch out for the warning signs, 852 00:41:33,420 --> 00:41:36,460 to see the connections that lead to conflict 853 00:41:36,460 --> 00:41:38,100 in our family relationships 854 00:41:38,100 --> 00:41:42,700 and to learn that unchecked animosity, unchecked jealousy, 855 00:41:42,700 --> 00:41:46,800 leads ultimately to brokenness in our families. 856 00:41:47,820 --> 00:41:49,500 So what should we do? 857 00:41:49,500 --> 00:41:53,420 How can we respond to the warning signs? 858 00:41:53,420 --> 00:41:55,940 Well, let me leave you with these a few thoughts. 859 00:41:56,740 --> 00:41:59,940 What I think we should do is in our families, 860 00:41:59,940 --> 00:42:02,380 we should walk the way of Jesus. 861 00:42:02,380 --> 00:42:04,820 We should walk the way of Joseph, 862 00:42:04,820 --> 00:42:06,920 which is the way of humility. 863 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:11,100 Because jealousy says, what about me? 864 00:42:11,100 --> 00:42:15,100 While humility says, what about you? 865 00:42:16,380 --> 00:42:19,500 If you want to bring restoration to your family, 866 00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:22,100 perhaps your family may be plagued by this idea 867 00:42:22,100 --> 00:42:25,580 of jealousy, favoritism, deception, 868 00:42:25,580 --> 00:42:28,660 people taking advantage of one another. 869 00:42:28,660 --> 00:42:31,380 Walk the way of Jesus and Joseph. 870 00:42:31,380 --> 00:42:35,660 Not one of jealousy that thinks, what about me? 871 00:42:35,660 --> 00:42:40,140 But one of humility that says, what about you? 872 00:42:41,540 --> 00:42:44,500 And don't ever take your eyes off what God is doing 873 00:42:44,500 --> 00:42:48,340 in your life to look and see what others 874 00:42:48,340 --> 00:42:50,100 are doing for someone else's. 875 00:42:50,100 --> 00:42:51,900 Let me say that again. 876 00:42:51,900 --> 00:42:56,660 Don't take your eyes off what God is doing in your life 877 00:42:56,660 --> 00:43:01,060 to look and see what others are doing for someone else. 878 00:43:01,060 --> 00:43:03,900 So if you're someone who might struggle with jealousy, 879 00:43:03,900 --> 00:43:07,620 perhaps about your siblings or someone else in your family, 880 00:43:07,620 --> 00:43:12,620 it could be something even as wide as a church family. 881 00:43:14,020 --> 00:43:16,620 Let me tell you, walk the way of humility. 882 00:43:17,380 --> 00:43:19,620 Be thankful for what you have. 883 00:43:20,940 --> 00:43:23,620 And don't let what other people have distract you 884 00:43:23,620 --> 00:43:26,140 from being grateful and thankful and humble 885 00:43:26,140 --> 00:43:28,460 about how God is working in your life. 886 00:43:30,140 --> 00:43:32,460 Let's have a word of prayer. 887 00:43:32,460 --> 00:43:35,060 We're gonna have a prayer time here in just a moment. 888 00:43:35,060 --> 00:44:04,060 We'll listen.