Welcome to Connect with Skiff Heitzig. We're glad you've tuned in for today's program. Connect with Skiff Heitzig wants to connect you to God's never-changing truth through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. And that's why we make messages like this one today available to you and so many others on air and online.
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Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heidzig. It would be really great if you had in your mind a little file. Entitled waiting for further information. Because As you go through life, there's things that happen to you, and you can't figure out why this is happening to you. Why am I going through this?
Why would God, if he loves me so much, or that's what I hear, why would he allow me? The one who loves him so much. to go through this painful experience. And that's where we need to stop and file. That experience in the file, waiting for further information.
You don't have the whole picture yet. God does. You may never get the whole picture this side of heaven. You might.
So just put it in a file waiting for further information. Joseph lived his life. That was a pretty big file. In his own life. Things happened to him when he was sold as a slave as a 17-year-old kid.
Why on earth would God, whom I love, allow this to happen in my life? Don't know. File it, waiting for further information. He gets taken to Potiphar's house. Falsely accused by Mrs.
Potiphar of trying to rape her. put in jail by mister Potifar. Why? Don't know. waiting for further information.
As he's there, he interprets a couple of dreams and says to one of the guys who has the dreams: hey, listen, when you get out, and I know you will. Put in a good word for me. Guy forgets about Joseph. Joseph For two more years, rots away in prison. Lord, why?
Don't know, waiting for further information. Then one day he gets a Knock on his cell door. Taken into the court of Pharaoh, Because Pharaoh had a couple of troubling dreams.
Now, the further information comes as Joseph stands in Pharaoh's presence. Interprets the dreams for Pharaoh. gets in motion a plan to save the world In an upcoming famine that would sweep through Canaan, Egypt, and the entire Middle East. And now Joseph understood because he learned to live his life through a very important lens. A lens we'll call the providence of God.
The providence of God Simply stated, is that there is a sovereign God. Who sees all things, knows all things, and has a perfect plan. He won't reveal that plan to you. That's where faith comes in, that's where the adventure comes in. You just cling tenaciously to the Lord and put your experience in the file, waiting for further information.
And as life progresses, God is moving supernaturally, naturally. That is, he's taking the natural elements of life, but supernaturally coalescing them, putting them together. And you're a part of that.
So that when you look back so often, you go, Now I understand. what that episode was all about. Waiting for further information. Do you have that file if you don't create one? You'll be filing a lot of things in there as days go by.
Now Jacob Unfortunately, his dad didn't go by the same filing system. Whenever something bad happened to him, it was just a bummer. It was just a drag, and he blamed other people for it, and he dwelt on it. And he had bad things happen to him. He messed his life up pretty good.
His sons messed his life up pretty good. After selling Joseph, making up a lie that Joseph was killed by wild beasts, but dad still blamed them. 21 now, 22 years have passed by this chapter. All of those bad things had been replayed in Jacob's mind. Why would God allow Joseph to die?
Why have these bad things happen to me? It's interesting. The first time we meet Jacob, he's struggling. Remember the story? He's in the womb of his mother.
struggling against his brother Esau. And the Lord says to The mother, two nations are in your womb. That's why you're experiencing this pain. They're fighting together. They're struggling.
The first time we meet Jacob, he's wrestling. He's struggling with his brother. Uh Toward the end of his life. He's still struggling. Struggling with past memories, struggling with the will of God, struggling to feed his family.
in a time of famine and hunger. And in between those two struggles, it seemed that he never learned to create the file waiting for further information. Further information does come, however. Uh One day he looks out. And he sees 20 donkeys.
They just show up behind the 20 donkeys, laden with all sorts of food, goods, and clothing. are chariots and carts from Egypt. carrying his boys back, including Benjamin. In Benjamin's sack is 300 shekels of silver. Fifteen times the amount that Joseph was sold for into Egypt.
And he goes, What's up with all this stuff? And they say, Your son Joseph? is alive. And he's number two. He's prime minister.
He's second in command in Egypt. And we're all going down to his house. And he's going to take care of us. Mm-hmm.
Now the further information comes. And he understands how God has used his son unbeknownst to him all of these years. God It's working. Right now. in your life.
Oh, but I don't feel that. I don't see that. I don't experience that. It doesn't matter. Just Put whatever you're going through in that file and watch and see what happens.
Whether you understand it now or not is irrelevant. The further information will come and God is at work. Yeah. God is working even in the life of Jacob. Though he's a whiner, a complainer, A manipulator.
all throughout his life. Oh, he changes a little bit, but not a whole lot. There's a great story of the Polish Maestro composer Pateruski. He was in a town he was visiting to give a performance. A mother found out about it and took her seven-year-old boy, who was excited about learning piano to see the great master Paderewski.
So she brought him to the concert, got front row seats. As they sat down, she noticed an acquaintance a few rows back, so she got up from her seat, went back to talk to her friends. Before the show is about to start, She runs back up to the front. The lights are starting to dim. She can't find her son.
Meanwhile, her son has snuck through a curtain on the side front of the auditorium and gone through a door marked No Admittance.
Well, he didn't know what an admittance was. He figured he didn't have any, so it said no admittance, he walked through. The lights went out. Sun wasn't around. curtain went up and they're sitting at the piano bench.
Playing twinkle twinkle little star was her seven-year-old boy. She was mortified. She was Baffled. Why? How?
Just then the great master Pateruski walked on stage as the boy was playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, sat down next to him on the bench and whispered in the boy's ear, Keep playing. Don't stop. He put his left hand around the little boy's shoulder and started playing the bass notes accompanying Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Put his right hand on the trouble keys and started. Moving a quick obligato with his right hand up the treble keys, accompanying twinkle, twinkle, little star.
And the audience was delighted and amazed and broke into applause. The master and the novice playing together. Whenever you do anything great for the Lord, whenever you have any great accomplishment, Instead of going, I'm pretty amazing. Stop. And listen for the voice of God who might be saying.
Don't stop. Keep playing. Because frankly, what you and I can do on our own. Yeah. Twinkle twinkle little star at best.
But when the master Wraps his strong arms around your life and starts moving his fingers. It's a masterpiece. It's beautiful. It's not you, it's The master, but it's you and the master working together. Joseph viewed his life that way.
God sent me here to preserve life. God sent me here in the midst of this famine. This is all God's plan. The master is at work, it's not me. It's him.
Now all of that is coming together. As Jacob now, the father meets Joseph. Jacob in this chapter is 130 years old. He's lived that long. In the last chapter, Joseph told his brothers, take this grain, take this stuff, bring it back to the family, and go quickly to Canaan and bring my father back here.
That's where we left off, and now we're in chapter 46, verse 1.
So, Israel, that is Jacob. took his journey. with all that he had. and came to Beersheba. and offered sacrifices to the God of his father.
Isaac. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, what would your life look like if God's fingerprints were all over it? In God Print, The Life of Abraham, Pastor Skip takes you through seven powerful messages on the faith journey of one man who learned to trust God through crisis, fear, and uncertainty. Abraham's life was shaped by God.
And so can yours be. The God Print 7 Message Series is our thank you for your gift of $50 or more today to support the worldwide ministry of Connect with Skip-Heitzig. Your support helps reach more people with verse-by-verse teaching of the Bible so they can connect with God's timeless truth.
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Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Israel Jacob was living up north not far from Bethlehem. In a land called Hebron. To go from Hebron down to Beersheba would have taken a week. Beersheba is mentioned for A couple of reasons.
Number one, it's the border, it's the border town. It's the uh El Paso. Of Israel. It's the lowest border before you get into the land of Egypt. In fact, there's a biblical term or an axiom that says from Dan to Beersheba.
Dan is the northernmost outpost before you get up into Syria. Dan in the north, Beersheba in the south. From Dan to Beersheba means from top to bottom of the land.
So Jacob makes it to Beersheba. Took him about a week. He's en route. There he stops. Beersheba was a significant place.
His grandpa Abraham in chapter 21 plants a tamarisk tree there and calls upon the name of the Lord. His father Isaac builds an altar or built an altar in the past and called upon the name of the Lord. It could be. That Jacob found that same altar, or maybe repaired what was left of it. and sacrifice to the Lord.
Why does he do it? Why does he stop? And why does he? Talk to the Lord before he goes.
Okay. He wants to really make sure that this is the right move.
Now just think about the history so far. Grandpa Abraham in chapter 12 went down to Egypt. Was that a good move or a bad move? Anybody? Bad move.
Why? Because God said, I didn't give you the land of Egypt. I gave you the land of Canaan. Stay there, I'll take care of you. You're lacking faith, and he jeopardizes his family going down to Egypt.
Bad move. Almost loses everything, including his wife and his own life. Later on. His dad Isaac, in a same kind of lapse of faith, leaves Canaan in a famine time and goes down to Egypt where the food is.
Well, now here's Jacob, third generation, on his way down to Egypt. He stops and goes, Now, wait a minute. I really want to make sure this is the right move. Grandpa did it. Dad did it, and it was dumb.
Not only that, but my dad brought somebody back with him, or at least. His mom did. Sarah brought a woman named Hagar, an Egyptian handmaiden. That's where they got her when they went down to Egypt. And Sarah gave Hagar the handmaiden to Abraham, and they had a child, Ishmael.
And the Middle East has never been the same from then until this day because of it.
So it would make sense. That wasn't the will of God for either of them. Is this the will of God for me?
So He offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night. And said Jacob Jacob And he said, here I am.
So he said, I am God. the God of your father, do not fear to go down to Egypt. for I will make of you a great nation there. I'm going to venture to say that this particular worship service for Jacob was the most enjoyable worship service he'd ever had. Go back to the worship service he had when he was a young man, fleeing from his own home and fleeing for his life from his brother.
When he's on the way to Padan Aram, he stops at Bethel. He gets a vision in the night of the angels of God. descending and ascending into heaven. And he calls it the house of God. This is Bethel.
God is here in this place, and I didn't know it. It was a wonderful moment. But he's uncertain about the future. And he says, if you will bring me back to this place, then you will be my God. He goes.
It was a memorable night. But his life was uncertain about the future.
Some years later, he comes back. He makes it to Gilead. He's chased by Laban. Yeah. When Laban and he get together and they have some pretty stern words, he builds an altar.
puts a sacrifice on it. It's not an enjoyable worship service, though. There's strife with father-in-law. He's uncertain about the future because. He's gonna meet his brother.
who's coming to meet him from down south. A few days later, another worship service. He calls upon the name of the Lord, gives a sacrifice, but he's really afraid. He says, Oh God, my brother's going to kill me. Preserve my life.
A few days later, As he calls upon the Lord, it says, A man wrestled with him all night long to the breaking of day.
Now, it's never fun to go to church and get in a fight that lasts all day and all night. But this particular worship service was exciting. Because Joseph is alive. I haven't seen him for 22 years. There's going to be a reunion.
Yeah. He's cautious. But he's excited. And he calls upon the Lord, and the Lord speaks to him. As he calls his name, he says, Here I am.
He said, I am God, the God of your Father. Do not fear to go down to Egypt. for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again, and Joseph will put his hand.
On your eyes. Just a side note.
Okay. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, those are the patriarchs. The patriarchs had a very simple Uncomplicated relationship with God. God Would speak audibly to them.
Sometimes God would appear to them in some form or fashion. They would build an altar. They would sacrifice to God. And they would move on. It's interesting, Joseph does not have the same experience with God.
That they do. There is never a record that God speaks directly to Joseph. It's a very different relationship.
Now before you say Well, Joseph maybe wasn't as spiritual. Really? As Jacob? Like he was some spiritual dude? No, not that at all.
In fact, sometimes, because we're dense, perhaps, God has to use more obvious methods. Didn't have to do it with Joseph. The way God spoke to Joseph was simply. to the dreams that he had. Or other people's dreams, even a pagan.
King's dreams, Pharaoh's. No direct speaking, no apparition, but God is speaking to him through dreams. Every relationship with God is different. Enjoy the one you have with the Lord by faith. Don't try to copy somebody else's.
God speaks to Jacob. Gives him these promises. And notice what he says. It's almost the same thing he says to Abraham in verse 3: for I will make of you a great nation there. Do you remember that promise that was given?
To Abraham, chapter 12. It's funny then because Abraham Was married, but had no children at all. His wife was infertile, and God says, I'm gonna make you into a great nation. Really? I don't even have a kid.
Now it's the same promise. Children later, grandchildren later. Great-grandchildren later. It's the same promise. I'm going to make you, Jacob, into a great nation.
And boy, did he. Today, within the borders of what is called the modern state of Israel, 7.2 million people live. 5.6 million are Jewish, the offspring. of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the last several years, the State of Israel has seen a 43% increase due to immigration alone.
They have presently a ten billion dollar per year economy. That's pretty good. Very strong. $10 billion. Per year, the state of Israel.
is the size of New Jersey. And that's their national economy. The State of Israel today is the world's fourth leading exporter of citrus fruit in the world. The third largest exporter of flowers. In the world.
When I was in Israel this last time, I was talking to friends of mine. I said, hey, how's the economy here in Israel? Because the rest of the world, it's pretty bad. He said, actually, it's never been better.
So now I'm curious, I go, why is that? Our housing market has gone bad. And he goes, well, it's interesting in your country, you were able to buy a house if you could put 10 or 20 percent down. You can't do that in my country of Israel. Our law requires you have to put down, the down payment has to be 80% to 90% down.
The bank will then carry the 10 or 20 percent max.
So we grow up from our youth being people who save money, not spend money. We save it and save it and save it until we have enough money to put that much down.
So their economy is stronger and stabler. Here's the promise: I will make you a great nation. Boy, did the Lord make good on that one. 70 souls will go down to Egypt. By the time Moses, the deliverer, takes them into the land of Canaan once again, there will be at least, and these are conservative estimates.
2,100,000 conservatively. From 70 to that number by the time this great nation. Is ready to inherit the land of Canaan once again.
Now, God makes three promises in verse 4. I will go down with you to Egypt. You can do anything. as long as God is with you. When God was sending Moses.
And said, Go. He said, I won't go unless you go with us. That's a good way to proceed. I won't go, Lord, unless you're coming.
So here's Jacob leaving the land of God. but not leaving the God of the land. God says, I'm coming with. You won't be down there alone, that's the first promise. And I will also surely bring you up again.
Now, when will that promise be fulfilled? Because he's going to die in Egypt, but his body will be carried back. to the land of Israel, the land of Canaan, he'll be buried in the cave of Machpelah. In Hebron, where Abraham, Isaac are buried.
Okay. But probably the fulfillment is you're coming back as a nation. The whole of you, 2.1 million plus people. In the future, it will all be coming out when you multiply back to this land again to inherit the land. And the third promise is, and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.
Yeah. When people die You know, in the movies, at least in the old movies, people die like this. take their last breath and then they close their eyes and go. Ugh. That's not how it is in real life.
Usually, when a person dies, and I've watched a number of people die, their eyes remain open. And it's the privilege of the nearest of kin to gently put the hand on the face and close the eyes. Joseph will do that for you. You're going to see Joseph. and the honor and the privilege that is typically reserved for the firstborn.
It will be the privilege of Joseph to close your eyes. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skiff Heitzik. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's resource, GodPrint, The Life of Abraham. This powerful seven-message study from Skip-Heitzig shows how God's presence shaped one man's life and how he can shape yours. It's our thanks for your generous gift of fifty dollars or more to support this ministry.
Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional email to grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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