Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.
Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee unto me, and I will bless them. Jacob is 147 years old.
If he were here, he would get the oldest father of the year by far. Joseph, his son, comes to him and he shows Ephraim and Manasseh, his two sons. And Jacob, when he sees obviously those two children, he says, Joseph, bring them to me.
I want to give them a blessing. Look at verse 10, if you would. Now the eyes of Israel. And by the way, this word Israel throughout this passage is the surname, the spiritual name for Jacob.
So that's who we're talking about. When it says Israel, it's meaning Jacob. Now the eyes of Israel or Jacob were dim for age so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them. Now, if you can, through our earthly eyes, imagine 147 year old grandfather taking his grandsons, giving them a hug, giving them a kiss. Imagine the pride, imagine the joy. Those of you that are grandfathers, I guess only you could understand that.
I know how I feel about my sons and I know how I feel about my children, but I hear that when you become a grandfather, that's all she wrote. And I'm looking forward to that day. I hope I make it there. And if I make it there, I hope I'm still functioning, I think, or something like that.
I'm barely functioning now, it seems. Look at verse 10. He kissed them and embraced them, verse 11. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and lo, God hath showed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel, or Jacob, stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. Verse 15. And blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Now in the verses following, Joseph gets a little bit disturbed because it seems he thinks his dad has mistaken the younger from the older, giving the blessing to the wrong one, but later on in the verse we're not going to deal with all that today.
Jacob knew exactly what he was doing. But I want to look at these verses this morning, and I'd like to preach on this subject, a father's blessing, a father's blessing. Father, we thank you for all that you've done. Bless this morning. In your name we pray.
Amen. You know, when you're a dad, your children go through four stages. First they call you dada. Then they call you daddy. As they mature, they call you dad.
Finally, they call you collect. That's a true fact, by the way. Before cell phones, when you had to use long distance, you know back before the cell phone age, I was looking up some different facts and statistics, and Mother's Day had the largest number of long distance calls for a number of years, and Father's Day had the greatest number of collect calls for years. True stat.
That's a true fact. That shows the difference in Mother's Day and Father's Day. If Mother's Day is Mozart, then Father's Day is chopsticks.
I'm going to tell you that right now. And us dads, we get the socks and the underwear and all that good stuff that we get for Father's Day sometimes. But aren't you thankful when you get a card that one of your children have made for you?
Nothing could beat it. Both my boys made me cards this morning, and I wouldn't take anything for it, except maybe a new car or something like that. I've heard it said that fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren that are smarter than anybody else's. We're talking about greeting cards. I read this.
I thought this was interesting. It says Father's Day cards are always last minute purchases. A 16 year old boy was out late with his friends one night. Suddenly he realized it was Father's Day and he had neglected to buy a card for his dad. After much searching, he located an open store but was disappointed to find only two cards left in the father's aisle. Selecting one, he brought it home and somewhat sheepishly presented it to his dad. Upon opening it, his dad read this message on the card, you've always been like a father to me. And his dad looked at the boy puzzled and, well dad, the boy tried to explain it was either that card or the one that said, now I'm a father too.
Thought he'd save on the heart attack on that one, wouldn't he? I want to look at this passage, if you will, and you probably won't get the message if you can't somehow imagine the scene here. This is Joseph, a proud father now with two young boys and here is the patriarch, Jacob, the dad. Remember Jacob, the one that thought Joseph had been killed and thought that he would never see Joseph again. Remember Jacob's the one that he had Benjamin and he sent Benjamin with the other brothers and when they ran out of food and he said, listen now you go back but if you don't bring Benjamin back, don't come back at all.
Because I don't think I can handle the disappointment, I've already lost my beloved Joseph and you can't have me lose Benjamin too. And all of Joseph's older brothers, you know the story how they ran into Joseph in Egypt and different things and all that transpired. And here's Jacob that thought he would never see his son again.
Now not only did he get to see his son again but God allowed him to see his son's sons. And Joseph, a proud father, I remember the day that Daniel was born and you know I'm an only child. And my mom lost a child before me and she lost one after me. I remember as a youngster going to the hospital not realizing what was up. I was just four or five years old and going up to the hospital to see my mom. She had just lost a child, the second one that she had lost and I was four or five. I didn't understand her why she was there but I remember going to the hospital, dad snuck me in.
For some reason there was some kind of a flu bug or something in the town where they're at. And if you were under 12 you weren't allowed to go in the hospital. They've done that at Forsyth and different things in the last months but he snuck me in to see mom. I remember us going up a stairwell, the back stairwell and dad was carrying me very quickly and we went into the hospital.
I just still remember seeing mom laying in that bed. I'm an only child and I got married later in life. It took a lot of convincing and I was 30 before I got married. And my wife and I when we had Daniel I knew that my parents were already older. And I told my wife, I said I'd love to. Everybody says hey you have three or four or five years together as married and I would recommend that by the way.
I think it's great. You need some time together but I was already 31 and my mom and dad were already older. At this point I knew they'd be 80 before they even graduate high school. I said I want them to be able to enjoy grandkids so I didn't know how long it would take us to have children. God blessed us almost immediately. My wife got pregnant and I'll never forget my dad had a big blue Hawaiian shirt on. He said I want that baby to be able to see me. I was like well. He said dad everybody's baby in the hospital saw you.
And I should have pulled up the picture today if I had thought about it just to see my dad in that big bright blue and white hibiscus Hawaiian shirt. And when we had had the baby I was in there obviously for the delivery and then they let the family in. And my wife was holding I think maybe her mom and she was letting her mom hold Daniel.
I forget how the whole succession went. But finally I took Daniel and walked over to dad and I said here's your grandson. Words can't describe that to a new father. Here's Joseph looking at his older father and saying dad here's my sons. And Jacob the grandfather says Joseph you know his eyes were dim he couldn't see very good. He said Joseph bring them over here to me.
Come here I want to hold them and I want to pray for them. And I want God to bless these young men. I want you to notice number one as we see here that Jacob began to describe to Joseph and to these two young boys the God that he served. I want you to notice this number one Jacob began to share God's faithfulness.
Look if you look at verse 15 as he's speaking to Joseph this is Jacob 147 years old talking to his son holding his grandchildren. Look at verse 15 and he blessed Joseph and said God before whom my father's Abraham and Isaac did walk. He looks at his son Joseph and he says hey let me tell you something the God that I serve and the God you serve is the same God that was faithful to your grandfather and it was the same God that was faithful to your great grandfather. And it is these sons great great grandfather God has been faithful to every generation.
God has always met the needs that we've had. We've worshiped Him and honored Him and He is describing here to Joseph God's faithfulness. The same God that Abraham served is the same God I serve. And Joseph the same God that your grandfather Isaac served is the same God that you serve today. And the same God of me Jacob your dad is going to be the same God of your sons Ephraim and Manasseh.
And may I tell you dear folks here today the same God of Abraham Isaac Jacob that we're reading here Joseph his son and his two sons sitting on the lap of Jacob that same God is your God here this morning. God has been faithful since that day. He was faithful before that day. He was faithful after that day. He has been faithful up till today and he'll be faithful after today till he takes his home to heaven. He will keep his promises.
He's been faithful. Here to tell you us preachers will let you down. I would give everything I could not to let you down but I will I'm human and I'm flesh.
I've got flaws upon flaws. But dear friend I want you to know today when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. You are putting your faith and trust in a faithful God that does not change. Jacob and by the way if you think about it Jacob here is basically saying everything in front of you speaks of change. Here's Jacob 147 years old he had changed in 147 years. He looked a little different then than he did when he was 20. And here's Joseph that used to be the one sitting on his dad's knee.
And now Joseph has two of his own and he's placing them on his dad's knee. Everything in that scene spoke about change and how we age and how time goes. And you know what you can look in the mirror today and you're going to look different in 10 years.
Now stop some of that now there's some surgeries you can get but you're still going to be able to tell. Has anybody seen Kenny Rogers in the past two years? Come on how many of you have seen Kenny Rogers on TV?
That does not look like Kenny Rogers. You talk about having some work done. They backed the dump truck full of work on him. You can do everything you can do to try to stop change and age and life and all you can do...listen to me. But I'm here to tell you one thing there's only one thing that will never change and that's God. Jacob looks at his son Joseph and he knows you're getting ready to raise these two boys.
And obviously Jacob he raised 12. He says I know you're getting ready to go through a lot but let me tell you something God is faithful. He's been God to your grandfather. He's been God to your father.
He's been God to your great-grandfather. He will be God to you. I challenge you this morning God will be God to you and that will never change. Second thing he says here he speaks of God's feeding.
Notice if you would in verse 15. He says God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk his faithfulness the God which fed me all my life long unto this day. So he taught his son Joseph about God's faithfulness and second he teaches him about God's feeding. He said let me tell you something Joseph God has met every need I've ever had. God has always put food on the table.
God has always met the needs even when I didn't know how it was going to happen. Remember who Jacob was. Jacob is the one that had run out of food.
They were in a drought. The whole area was out of food thinking his son Joseph had been killed. He sends his other sons to go into Egypt to find out if they could get some kind of ration of food.
Look at me and when it was all said and done they were moved to Egypt to a prime piece of land. He got all the feeding, all the food, all the blessings. God provided it all through his son Joseph. God has provided all that for us through his son Jesus.
Let me tell you something. God will feed you. He'll take care of you. Be not dismayed, whatever be tied, God will take care of you. Beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you.
Sing it with me. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. Ms. Carol Horn, would you stand up in the back?
Lost a husband? Been through that. Ms. Carol, in front of everybody here, God and everybody, has God always fed you?
Has he always taken care of you? You can have a seat. I could have a hundred people in this building stand up and tell you the same thing. Let me tell you something. No, you look at me. You could look at any of us and you could find fault in us and where we let you down and whatever.
I'm going to tell you something. You won't find one of us that will say that about God. Because he's been good to all of us.
That's one common thread. You say, well, I can't get along with anybody at church. You ought to be able to get along with somebody at church because you all have something in common. God's been good to you. He's been good to them. He's been good to you. He's been good to everybody here. We've got that in common. Surely we can fellowship about that.
Thank God for his feeding. Jacob looked at Joseph. You can imagine, I don't know the emotion that went on that day, but maybe Joseph's handing these two boys thinking, oh, how am I going to take care of these two boys? Will I be able to meet their needs? Will I be able to provide? Here I am in a prominent position. I've got a lot of responsibility. The bottom could fall out at any time and he's handing these boys and I can see that understanding look of Jacob that only a grandfather could have. You know how everybody gets wound up and worried and a grandfather just kind of looks at you. It's like when I call on the phone, I'll be like, brother Joe, man, I think half the church is mad at me.
I think they're ready to get me out of here and all this stuff, you know, kind of thing. Brother Joe say, well, it's OK. Because I'm retired, I don't really care is what he says. He's like, they can always find a new sheriff, Daniel.
I'm just picking. Brother Joe's been there, done that. He's seen God always feed.
He's seen God always be faithful. Jacob been through 147 years. Remember Jacob?
The rebellious liar, the sneak, the one that cheated everybody and the one that always outwitted everybody and the one that always got what he didn't deserve because he had fooled and manipulated. Remember, that's the guy and he had gone through that whole gamut getting what he wanted and thought he had the talent and then he went through the thing of being humble and then it ended up finally one night he got in a wrestling match with the Holy Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit of God always wins those matches. And when he came out, he wasn't Jacob anymore.
He was Israel in this passage. And he said, let me tell you something, Joseph. God's always been faithful even when I wasn't faithful to him. And he's always fed me till this day, he said.
Fathers, let me tell you something, of all the things you could leave your children, you better leave them the legacy and the teaching that God is faithful and that he will take care of them. I want you to notice, thirdly, in verse 16, God's forgiveness. This is what Jacob said, he said, God, before whom my father Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long until this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil. He speaks about God's faithfulness and thank God for that. He speaks about God's feeding and none of us would be here without that. Oh, but the best thing of all, he speaks about God's forgiveness. He said, oh, he redeemed me from my evil. The wicked person I was and yet God redeemed me from that. He forgave me.
Aren't you thankful for God's forgiveness? Us men can be stubborn, can't we? Let me ask this again.
Just the ladies answer, us men can be stubborn, can't we? Okay, story, I read this in Reader's Digest one time. Everybody always asks me, somebody better answer that. I was reading Reader's Digest one time and everybody always asks me, where do you read Reader's Digest? Same place you read yours, that's where I'll tell you.
I don't even get it. Everybody's house I go to when you use the bathroom, they're sitting in that basket right by the toilet so that's where I read it. It's very interesting by the way. But it's all about this couple that was vacationing and they wrote into Reader's Digest about this story. I thought this was interesting and I copied and pasted. I wanted you to hear this.
I think it was 1993 in Reader's Digest it was. I finally found the story but I want to read this to you. Said this, vacationing family, the dad and the kids and the wife were all in the car and they came across a large sign that read, road closed, do not enter. The dad proceeded around the sign because he was confident that he knew the area well enough and that it would save them time. His wife was resistant to the adventure but there was no turning back for this road warrior.
After a few miles of successful navigation, he began to boast about his gift of discernment. His proud smile was quickly replaced with humble sweat when the road led to a washed out bridge. He had to turn the car around and retrace all of his tracks to the main road. When they arrived at the original warning sign, he was greeted by a message that was written on the back of the sign that they didn't see when they first came through. On the front part of the sign it said, road closed, do not enter. On the back side it said, welcome back, stupid.
So apparently there had been some men there before. I remember my dad doing it one time. He was in a van traveling somewhere trying to get somebody's house to eat and they gave wrong directions and he turned down this one road and it turned from paved to dirt and gravel and then dirt and I said, Dad, I don't think we're going right. And my mom said, Dan, turn around, ask directions. He said, no, no, I'm going to go through here. And we hit, apparently it was a place where they had taken a part of a barren field and made like a dirt bike track and we went through these shrubs and all of a sudden our whole van went whoosh.
We went down this big swell. I'll never forget it and my dad will never forget it either because my mom made sure he never forgot that. Us men are stubborn.
Us men have our own way of doing things and us men many times are convinced we're right about things. And I'm going to tell you something, men, sometimes we're doing our best and we think we're doing what we think is right but I'm here to tell you we still make mistakes and we still do wrong and even as men we've got pride and we're strong and we don't want to show weakness but I'm here to tell you, you and I ought to be thankful this morning that God forgave our sinful lifestyle and forgave our mistakes and forgave our stubbornness and forgives all our things that would serve God wrongly and He's forgiven us and cleansed us and cleaned us out. And if there's anything you ought to hand down to the next generation is the fact that if you'll call on Him and put your faith and trust in Him He'll forgive you of your sins.
God's forgiveness. I want you to notice two things here at the end and I'll let you go. I thought these were very interesting in this passage. Look at verse 9, if you will, and verse 11. Verse 9, And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons whom God hath given me. I want you to notice verse 11. Jacob says to Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed.
There's two things just in this passage besides those points I've given you that I see. Number one, we see the blessing of his family. Jacob said, Joseph, I wasn't even expecting to get to see you. And yet God has let me not only see you, but your children. And Joseph, when he walks into Jacob, he said, Dad, these are the sons that God has given me.
You see, I find the pattern through both Jacob and Joseph. They recognize that their family was a blessing from God. I'm here to tell you, don't take for granted the fact if you have children, and if your mom and dad might still be living, or whatever the case might be, that's a blessing of God. The family you have, that's a blessing that God's given you. Jacob was thankful for it.
Why? Because he thought Joseph was dead. Oftentimes we argue and fight with each other as families, and yet we don't even realize how important and special they are until they're gone. I'm not trying to pick on anybody, because obviously my own family is the only ones I could use, and not feel like I'm offending, but I'm going to tell you something. My dad has just been lost without my mom. My dad would sit there and tell you how much he loved my mom, and nobody could brag on her, probably more than he could. But even after she was gone, my dad had no clue how bad he was going to miss her.
You don't know that until they're gone. Jacob literally thought that Joseph was dead. He went through years of mourning because he was dead in Jacob's eyes. But all of a sudden, God brings Joseph back into his life, and he realized he wasn't dead this whole time. Imagine how thankful he was just to see his son, and yet God rewarded him to see the next generation.
Let me tell you something, granddads that are here, grandpas, God's given you life long enough to see them grandyoungins. You ought to thank God for that. That's a blessing from God. I see the blessing of his family, but I want you to notice, secondly, the blessing for his family. Look at verse 15, if you will. Look at the first part, and he blessed Joseph and said.
Look at verse 16. The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads and let my name be upon them. You see here, Jacob realized that family was a blessing and that it was important for him to pass that blessing on to his family. Granddads, dads, and I'm talking to me, I'm a dad. You and I have no idea how important it is for us to get down on our knees to God and beg him to bless our children. I want to encourage you grandpas, grandfathers, blessing is a family.
Family is a blessing from God, but it's important that you bless your family. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you. You're welcome. .
