Living a Joyful Life Genesis 47 April 6, 2014 A. Introduction ! What assurance did God arrange to avoid intermarriage with the ungodly? 47:6. See also 24:4, 28:2 • He arranged for the Israelites to live in Goshen away from the pagan Egyptian culture. B. Jacob’s evaluation ! What did Joseph do as soon as the family had arrived in Goshen? 7 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! What question did Pharaoh ask Jacob? 8 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! What was Jacob’s reply? 9 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! Why do you think Jacob would have given such a dour answer after having married his true love? • Jacob’s choices in the first half of his life have influenced his assessment in the second half of his life. ! Why did Jacob refer to his life as a pilgrimage or a sojourning? 9, Hebrews 11:13-16 • He did not actually come into possession of Canaan but was a nomad in it. This is a representation of the Christian’s life on this earth, one of passing through troubles and trials on the way to heaven. ! What did Jacob do next? 10 (7) • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! How did Joseph continue to repay the unkindness of his brothers from a former day? 12 • _________________________________________________________________________________ C. Joseph’s proclamation ! What was the continuing challenge with which Joseph had to contend? 13 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! When the people had spent all their money for food, what did Joseph proclaim that they should do? • See 14,16,18 – _____________________________________________________________________ ! What further proclamation did Joseph make after this? 23-26 • Pharaoh was to receive one fifth of everything that was grown on the land, the people four fifths. ! What did the people think about this arrangement? 25 • _________________________________________________________________________________ D. Israel’s transformation ! What happened to Israel as they lived in Goshen in the land of Egypt? 27 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! What was Jacob’s request before he died at age 147? 29-30 • _________________________________________________________________________________
Transcript
Living a Joyful Life
Genesis 47 April 6, 2014
A. Introduction ! What assurance did God arrange to avoid intermarriage with the ungodly? 47:6. See also 24:4, 28:2 • He arranged for the Israelites to live in Goshen away from the pagan Egyptian culture. B. Jacob’s evaluation ! What did Joseph do as soon as the family had arrived in Goshen? 7 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! What question did Pharaoh ask Jacob? 8 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! What was Jacob’s reply? 9 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! Why do you think Jacob would have given such a dour answer after having married his true love? • Jacob’s choices in the first half of his life have influenced his assessment in the second half of his life. ! Why did Jacob refer to his life as a pilgrimage or a sojourning? 9, Hebrews 11:13-16 • He did not actually come into possession of Canaan but was a nomad in it. This is a representation of the Christian’s life on this earth, one of passing through troubles and trials on the way to heaven. ! What did Jacob do next? 10 (7) • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! How did Joseph continue to repay the unkindness of his brothers from a former day? 12 • _________________________________________________________________________________ C. Joseph’s proclamation ! What was the continuing challenge with which Joseph had to contend? 13 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! When the people had spent all their money for food, what did Joseph proclaim that they should do? • See 14,16,18 – _____________________________________________________________________ ! What further proclamation did Joseph make after this? 23-26 • Pharaoh was to receive one fifth of everything that was grown on the land, the people four fifths. ! What did the people think about this arrangement? 25 • _________________________________________________________________________________ D. Israel’s transformation ! What happened to Israel as they lived in Goshen in the land of Egypt? 27 • _________________________________________________________________________________ ! What was Jacob’s request before he died at age 147? 29-30 • _________________________________________________________________________________
April 6, 2014Living a Joyful Life
A. Introduction B. Jacob’s evaluation
C. Joseph’s proclamation
D. Israel’s transformation
A. Introduction
Genesis 47:9 - And 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,”
Question: Did Jacob’s life have to be this way?
Premise: The choices that people make in the
first half of their lives will profoundly affect the
second half, and their evaluation of whether
they have lived a happy life.
B. Jacob’s evaluation
Hebrews 11:13-14 - All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and
having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear
that they are seeking a country of their own.
Hebrews 11:16 - But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has
prepared a city for them.
C. Joseph’s proclamation
Genesis 47:13 - Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe,
so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.
D. Israel’s transformation
Genesis 47:27 - Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.
Focus: B. Jacob’s evaluation
Genesis 47:9 - And 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,”
What is it in life that makes most people happy?
• Self-aggrandizement instead of recognizing one’s spiritual poverty
• Self-reliance the helplessness of a beggar (spiritually speaking)
• Self-gratification sorrow over sin
• Self-assertiveness mild mannered meekness
Pleasure
What is it in life that makes most people happy?
• Self-determination sovereign grace
• Self-confidence complete dependence upon God
• Self-congratulation praise and thanksgiving to the Lord
• Self-esteem God esteem
• Self-indulgence hunger and thirst after righteousness
Ecclesiastes 1:8 - All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied
with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.
1. With people, cultivate a servant’s heart
2. With things, lay up treasure in heaven.
3. With circumstances, maintain a single minded focus on Christ and use your circumstances to promote the Gospel.
John 10:10 - The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that
they may have it more abundantly.
John 8:44 - You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was
a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his
own nature, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Three choices
1) Hope against hope for good fortune in life.
2) Work hard to manipulate everything and everyone to suit yourself.
3) Discover life as it was intended to be lived. Invest in people, the Word of God, giving and serving with a good attitude.
A diagnostic question . . .
“Do you have a song in your heart?”
“Do you have a song of joy and gladness
in your heart?”
If you are a “saved soul,” God puts a song in
your heart, and you can choose to be joyful.
Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one
another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude
