WEBVTT

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Day 15, or January the 15th. God loves it when

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we risk everything for him. Our thought today

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is rooted in Genesis chapter 43, verse 13. Take

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your brother also, and go back to the man at

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once. And now the big picture surrounding this

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verse. Two years pass by and Joseph is still

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in jail. A call comes from Pharaoh for him to

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interpret dreams that had baffled the wisest

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men in the land. Joseph appears before Pharaoh

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and tells him that his dreams clearly warn that

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a famine is coming to Egypt, but there is still

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time to make preparations for it. Pharaoh is

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so impressed with Joseph that he appoints him

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to oversee the whole project. The famine spreads

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to other countries, including Judah, where Joseph's

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relatives are living and his father Jacob sends

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Joseph's brothers to buy food from the Egyptians.

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He sends all of them except Benjamin. He has

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already lost one of the sons of his favourite

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wife Rachel, and he is unwilling to risk losing

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the other one, so he keeps them safe at home.

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Joseph demands that they bring Benjamin with

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them before he will sell them any food. Jacob

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is very reluctant to let Benjamin go, but finally

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agrees, as he sees he has no choice. They buy

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some food, but this time a sack belonging to

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Benjamin has one of Joseph's silver cups hidden

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in it, and he threatens to detain Benjamin as

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punishment for the theft. This could prove disastrous.

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The whole situation looks bleak. Is God punishing

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them for what they did to Joseph all those years

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ago? And now our action step for today. Sometimes

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we have to take a risk for God, just as Jacob

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did when he sent his favourite son Benjamin down

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to Egypt. There was a risk that it wouldn't work,

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and that he would never see him again. Sometimes,

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when we take a step of faith, it is so big that

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we risk a lot by taking it. In our family, we

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have a favourite saying connected to a step like

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this. The worst that will happen is that it doesn't

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work. Our God is big enough to overcome any of

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our mistakes, so let's just do it. Our God can

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retrieve any sticky situation we get ourselves

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in. Just step out.