Are y'all excited? I'm excited. We're starting a brand new series today on the life of Joseph.
How many of y'all have read the life of Joseph in the Bible before? Many of you. How many of you
have heard the life of Joseph taught in Sunday school or maybe preached in a service before?
You're familiar with it? Yeah, many of you. That is one of my favorite Bible stories. Kind of
growing up, it was always what I said was my favorite Bible story from the Old Testament.
It's also my middle name, so maybe that had something to do with it. But I love Joseph.
It was always my favorite. And so I've never actually preached a sermon series on Joseph
before. This was a first for me. And diving into it, I quickly realized this is an epic saga in the
Old Testament, and there is so much there. And condensing it into a five-sermon series is going
to be very challenging. So here we go. All right. Number one, Joseph, part one. Here we go. Would
you take your Bibles with me and go to Genesis chapter 37? Genesis chapter 37. Week one, our theme
here is favored but fallen. Favored but fallen. Let me give you a little brief introduction into
the story of Genesis. The story of this part of Genesis of Joseph. All right. The overarching
biblical theme here that I believe we can take away from the life of Joseph is that man meant
this for evil, but God used it for good. Man meant this for evil, but God used it for good.
The theme of Genesis, much of it can be traced to the family of Abraham. Abraham's family leading
up to the story of Joseph would be a good background if we were going to study through the book of
Genesis. And I tried to do as much study through Genesis as I could leading up to chapter 37 here
in preparation for preaching this morning. And my takeaway here is that we live in God's good world
gone bad. And that was the situation in which they found themselves in Genesis 37. They were living in
God's good world gone bad. And through so much sin and failure, God kept giving his people chances.
His chosen people, the Israelites. And of course, nowadays through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
we get to be part of God's chosen people. It's no longer just the Hebrew people. Now he has opened
it up to the Gentiles and all of us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now there's
no longer Jew and Gentile. There's no longer Jew and Greek. There's no longer male and female. All are now
one Ephesians teaches us through the blood of Jesus. Thank God for his sacrifice, right?
So now through so much sin and failure, God keeps giving us a chance to, and we thank God for his
continued grace. He extends toward us. We also see this thing, that God's ways are not man's ways.
Isaiah chapter 55 verses eight and nine reminds us that God's ways are higher than ours. God's ways are
not man's ways. So the overarching biblical theme is that God continues to extend grace in spite of
failure. And while man's evil conspires to throw God's plan off track, somehow through God's divine
sovereign power, his good always wins the day. So let's see how this happens. Let's look at Genesis chapter 37,
beginning in verse two, before we dive into the text, I'd like you to look at the screen with me. Would you real quick
throughout the life of Joseph, we are going to see different types of Christ. How many of you have heard
the phrase? If you've been in church for a little while, type of Christ, you ever heard that before?
Type of Christ. Don't be afraid. You can raise your hand. It's okay. Yeah, there you go. I got a couple
of you out there. A type of Christ is someone who is not Jesus. The Christ is generally who we would call
Jesus, right? That is Jesus, the Christ child. So Christ is another name for Jesus, God himself.
But a type of Christ is someone who is not God, who we see in scripture, who portrays a character
trait of God, someone who is not God, and we should not confuse them for God, but someone who is a
forerunner, someone who would portray part of the story of who Jesus would become. And so we see part of
who Jesus would become in the life of Joseph. And arguably, Joseph might be our most accurate,
our best type of Christ that we see in the scriptures. You could certainly make an argument
for that as we go through the life of Joseph. When we see the first type of Christ right here
in Genesis 37, the favored son. Anybody know that Jesus was the favored son?
Up in heaven, God's son. He was the favored son. John 3, 16, the only one, only begotten son, right?
Jesus was the favored son. So let's get into the text here. I've got some of it on the screen for
you today. Genesis 37, verse 2. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. This is the account
of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was 17 years old, he often tended his father's flocks.
He worked for his half-brothers, the sons of his father's wives, Bilhah and Zilpah.
We're going to have all kinds of fun with the names in the Old Testament during this book, okay?
Have you noticed that I've primarily preached from the New Testament since I got here?
There's a reason for that. The names are a whole lot easier, okay? That's not the real reason.
But Joseph, now I did go through Jonah. Did y'all have fun in Jonah? I had so much fun in Jonah.
We're going back to the Old Testament. We're going to go through Joseph. Here we go.
But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Anybody ever done
that? Anybody ever reported to your dad some of the bad things your brothers were doing?
How did that work out for you with your brothers? Did they appreciate that? Were you very popular with
your brothers after you did that? Did that win you favor with your siblings after you went and told
on them to your dad? No? Can't imagine why. Here we go. Verse 3. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his
other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So number one, we've got Joseph
telling on his brothers. Number two, we've got the dad loving Joseph more than all the other brothers.
Let's keep reading. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph. What was it?
Coat of many colors. I've got up here a beautiful robe. Your Bible probably has something very similar
staring back at you.
So it should be no surprise to us to read in verse 4,
but his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them.
They couldn't say a kind word to him.
Why do you think that was?
Y'all talk back to me.
Jealousy because Joseph was the?
The favorite.
Yes.
I mean, this isn't too hard to understand, right?
Let's look at this coat.
Now, is this exactly what the coat looks like?
Who knows, right?
But somebody made a pretty good attempt here.
So I was reading John MacArthur.
He's a famous Bible teacher out in California and pastor.
And he did a lot of study on this and a lot of others have done a lot of study on this.
And the best that they've come up with is this coat seemingly could have signified
that this coat was kind of who the family would pass on to.
So the coat should have gone to the oldest son because whoever got the coat got the family,
got the inheritance, all the family wealth, riches, land, everything would go on.
So the coat was more than just a pretty piece of material.
It was very important.
If that was indeed the case, then this was more than just,
oh, he went out and bought me a new pair of Nikes,
or he went out and bought me a new pair of cowboy boots, you know?
This was more than just, dad had a nice coat made for Joseph.
This was a massive, massive blow.
And do you realize where Joseph was in the line of the sons?
He was the youngest.
Now, if you've read ahead in the story, you know there was going to come another one later, right?
But at this moment, he was the youngest of how many?
At the time, it was 11.
So he was 11th.
So there's 10 angry brothers who are saying,
well, I understand if he's mad at the oldest,
and I understand if he's mad at the second oldest,
but he should have given it to me.
And he's like, forget you, he should have given it to number 4,
or number 5, or number 6.
For sure number 8.
What about number 9 or 10?
But unbelievable, he gave it to number 11?
How in the world can he justify that?
So, we've got a highly dysfunctional family on our hands.
And his brothers hated him for it.
They absolutely hated him for it.
Please don't raise your hands right now.
But how many of you come from a dysfunctional family?
Don't raise your hands right now.
They might be sitting next to you.
Look, we can identify with that to a certain extent.
All of our families have a level of dysfunction
because we are all sinful people.
We all struggle.
Every one of us, none of us come from a perfect family.
We all struggle a little bit.
We all have our fights.
We all have our disagreements.
We're all plagued by sin.
So, we can all relate to a degree
with what Joseph is going through.
What's going on with the favoritism shown here, right?
So, let's take a warning.
Warning number 1.
Promotion can lead to pride.
What are we talking about?
Promotion can lead to pride.
We're about to see it unfold in this story.
The 11th son got the family coat that should have gone to the oldest,
meaning that he would be in charge of the family when Jacob died.
It's a big deal.
And now you've got all these seeds of anger.
And anger can lead to bitterness.
And bitterness can lead to hatred.
And then hatred can lead to all kinds of tragedy.
And if you know the story, you know that that's about to happen.
So, this is the account of Jacob and his family.
And we read on and we see what happened.
But promotion can lead to pride.
Proverbs 16 and verse 18.
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
So, let's see what happens.
Back in Genesis 37 and verse 5.
One night, Joseph had a dream.
And when he told his brothers about it,
they hated him more than ever.
You ever had a dream and told somebody about it?
Have you ever had a dream that you were going to rule over somebody else
and then told them about it?
Was that just Joseph?
I can't say I've ever had that kind of dream ever.
Verse 6.
Listen to this dream.
He said, we were out in the field tying up bundles of grain.
Suddenly, my bundle stood up.
And your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine.
Now, y'all look.
I could be reading this wrong.
And I'm not going to say that every theologian who has studied this passage
agrees that Joseph was giving in to the sin of pride here.
They seem to be split on this.
So, I'm just going to give it to you how I read it.
And I'm going to say some of them agree with me
and some of them say, no, Joseph wasn't being prideful here.
Whether or not Joseph was being prideful here,
we should probably take a warning from this, okay?
His brothers responded,
so you think you will be our king?
Do you?
Do you actually think you will reign over us?
And they hated him all the more
because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.
And then what was actually included in the ancient Hebrew
and then removed later were the words, no duh.
Now, I'll catch up with you in just a second.
Yeah.
You think?
Yeah, they're already mad at him.
They're already hating him.
And then he goes and tells them,
I had a dream, guys.
And the dream is that I'm going to rule over you someday.
You think that was going to work out well for him?
No, it didn't.
And so then, verse 9,
and soon Joseph had another dream.
And again, again,
no one was there to tell him,
read the room, Joseph.
Don't keep telling these guys about these dreams.
Again, he told his brothers about it.
Listen, I've had another dream.
The sun, moon, and 11 stars bowed low before me.
This time, he told the dream to his father
as well as to his brothers.
But his father scolded him.
Remember, he was his father's favorite son.
And even his father got a little upset at this one.
He said, what kind of dream is that?
He asked, will your mother and I
and your brothers actually come
and bow down to the ground before you?
But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph,
his father wondered what the dreams meant.
Now, let me ask y'all,
where do you think those dreams came from?
God, right?
Because did those dreams come to pass?
Yes, they actually did.
We know the end of the story
if you've read ahead.
And you know they actually did.
Do we know that God told Joseph
to go share those with his family?
We don't know that.
We don't know that he didn't.
So we can't say with authority,
Joseph, you were wrong in doing this.
But we can take a warning
to say that there could have been pride involved.
I don't know.
But I do know
that it is certainly not wise
for us to always tell all
that even God tells us.
Sometimes it's wise
to hide it in our heart,
ponder it in our heart,
and wait for God
to promote us,
not try to promote ourselves.
A haughty spirit
will come before a fall.
Did Joseph approach his brothers
in a haughty spirit?
I don't know.
I wasn't there.
But we can certainly
take a warning from that
and be careful
in how we approach others.
We do know
that they were angry at him.
We do know
that they hated him.
And that his interpretation
of those dreams
that God gave to him
certainly did not help him
win any favor
with his brothers
at that time.
Now God is sovereign over all.
God would protect him.
And we know
what happened up ahead.
But the warning could be
silence is often wisest.
Silence is often wisest.
There will be a time
when God wants you
to speak up.
There will be a time
when God wants you
to say what is right,
to say what is true,
to speak the gospel,
to speak the truth.
But how are we
to speak the truth?
Speak the truth
in love.
Speak the truth
in love.
Did Joseph speak lovingly?
I don't know.
But certainly
the Bible teaches us
that a soft answer
can turn away wrath.
And wrath is how
his brothers responded
that day.
So we must take a warning
that silence
can often be wisest.
And then we can move on
to our reminder
that God knows
his plan for you.
So we're not just
taking a negative lesson
from these dreams.
We can also
take a positive
that God knows
his plan for us.
Now God
cryptically revealed
his plan to Joseph.
There's no way
to believe that Joseph
knew how this
was going to unfold.
He didn't get those dreams
and then go share them
with his family
and predict that someday
he knew how all this
was going to play out.
There's no way.
And there's no way
that you could possibly know
what God's plan is for you
and how it's going to play out
with God's design.
But you can rest
that God knows
his plan for you.
And he's in control of it.
And if you walk
closely with him
he'll make sure
that you get
where he wants you to go.
And you reach
that desired outcome
that he has
for you.
So God knows
his plan for you.
We read that
in Jeremiah 29.
I love that.
And I believe
that even though
this was written
in the Old Testament
to his people
that we are now
his people
and we can claim
these promises
as he says
I know the plans
I have for you
declares the Lord.
Plans to prosper you
and not to harm you.
Plans to give you hope
and a future.
And so I believe
that's what my God
says to me
and says to this church.
That he knows
the plans he has for us.
He knows the plans
he has for us individually.
And God knows
the plans he has
for First Baptist Henrietta.
Plans to prosper us
and not to harm us.
Plans to give us hope
and a future.
Man it's great
to look back
on the past.
We've got a former
pastor here today
who served faithfully
in this place
for 15 years today.
And we can look back
and celebrate
what he did
for those 15 years.
We can look back
at Ron Gunner.
We can look back
at Ted Traylor.
We can look back
at the wonderful legacy
that God has done.
And then we can turn around
and look forward
and say we believe also
that not only
has God been faithful
but God will continue
to be faithful
and give us a hope
and a future.
Because he promised it.
He'll do it for me.
He'll do it for my family.
He'll do it
for our church.
If we
walk closely
with him.
If we're faithful to him.
Sometimes even when
we aren't faithful to him.
He's far more faithful to us.
What a wonderful God
we serve.
So,
God knows
his plan
for us.
And then we move on
to the second type
of Christ.
So,
we've got this
favored son
and then he's betrayed
by his own people.
Let's go back
to Genesis 2.
Down in verse 12.
Soon after this
the brothers
went to pasture
their father's
flocks
at Shechem.
They've been gone
for some time.
Jacob says to Joseph,
your brothers are pasturing
their sheep at Shechem.
Get ready
and I'll send you to them.
I'm ready to go.
Joseph replied.
Anybody else remember
another time
this happened
in scripture?
Jesse sent David
to go find his brothers.
Remember that happened?
That interesting parallel there.
And in verse 14,
Jacob says then
to Joseph,
go and see how your brothers
and the flocks
are getting along.
Then come back
and bring me a report.
So,
Jacob sent him on his way.
Joseph travels to Shechem
from their home
in the valley of Hebron.
When he arrives there,
a man from the area
notices him wandering
around the countryside.
What are you looking for?
He says.
And Joseph says,
I'm looking for my brothers.
Do you know where they are?
You know where they're
pasturing their sheep?
And he says,
yes,
they've moved on from here.
But I heard him say,
let's go on to Dothan.
So Joseph followed
his brothers to Dothan
and found them there.
But they saw him coming.
Verse 18.
When Joseph's brothers
saw him coming,
they recognized him
in the distance.
And as he approached,
they made plans
to kill him.
That escalated quickly.
We go from,
wow,
they're jealous.
They're mad about the coat.
They're mad that he's
the favorite.
They're mad about the dreams.
And now they want
to kill the kid.
Wow.
Verse 19.
Here comes the dreamer,
they said.
So now we learn
Joseph's nickname
among the brothers.
Here comes the dreamer.
Come on.
Let's kill him
and throw him
in one of these cisterns.
We can tell our father
a wild animal
has eaten him.
Then we'll see
what becomes
of his dreams.
Y'all,
this path
of anger
and bitterness
and hatred
will lead you places
that you never thought
you would go.
Don't let anger
fester
in your heart.
So,
verse 21.
Thankfully,
somebody
wasn't quite there.
Reuben.
One of the brothers,
Reuben.
When Reuben heard
of their scheme,
apparently he wasn't
within earshot.
So when he heard
of the scheme,
he came to Joseph's rescue.
And he said,
let's not kill him,
guys.
Maybe we don't want
to go quite full murder
at this moment.
Goodness gracious.
Why would we
shed any blood?
Let's just throw him
into this empty cistern.
And you can almost
see Reuben's mind
panicking.
Like,
can I come up
with a scheme
that's going to
satisfy their blood lust
and maybe save
Joseph's life
in the process?
Like,
I don't like the kid.
He drives me nuts.
Can't stand him.
But I'm not ready
to kill him,
for goodness sakes.
So,
let's just throw him
in this empty well
out here in the wilderness.
Then he'll die
without our laying
a hand on him.
And Reuben was
secretly planning
to rescue Joseph
and return him
to his father.
So,
we've got one
brother,
Hussein,
in this moment.
Verse 23.
So,
when Joseph arrived,
his brother
ripped off
the beautiful robe
he was wearing.
Then they grabbed him,
threw him
into the cistern.
The cistern was empty,
no water in it.
Then just as they
were sitting down
to eat,
they looked up
and saw a caravan
of camels,
not caramels.
Very different.
Coming toward them,
it was a group
of Ishmaelite traders
taking a load
of gum,
balm,
aromatic resin
from Gilead
down to Egypt.
Sometime later,
the scene changes.
Reuben returned.
Where are we at?
Sorry, guys.
Just lost my place.
Thank you.
Here we go.
Yep,
there we go.
Judah said to his brothers,
here we go.
Judah said to his brothers,
what will we gain
by killing our brother?
We'd have to cover up
the crime.
So,
we don't know exactly
where Judah's heart
is here.
But,
if you study
a little bit
further on,
you see that
there were kind of
two brothers here,
Reuben and Judah,
who seemed to rise
above the others
as far as who
God would
use.
One,
Reuben saved
Joseph's life.
And then,
two,
anybody know anything
about Judah?
Judah?
What was it?
The line of Judah?
Jesus came from it.
Jesus was the lion
of the tribe
of Judah.
Isn't that interesting?
Jesus didn't come
from the line
of Joseph.
Jesus came
from the line
of Judah.
So,
it's interesting
that once again
somebody else
steps in here
to save
Joseph's life
and it was
Judah.
So,
he says,
Judah says to his
brothers,
what will we gain
by killing our
brothers?
We'd have to
cover up the crime.
Instead of hurting
him,
let's sell him
to those
Ishmaelite traitors.
After all,
he's our brother,
our own flesh and
blood and his
brothers agreed.
So,
when the Ishmaelites
who were Midianite
traitors,
back then that
would have been
a big deal
in our world
today.
It's like,
who are these
people?
Why do they
matter?
But,
you know,
it made sense.
They would have
made a tidy profit
by selling him
to these guys.
They came by
and Joseph's
brothers pulled
him out of the
well and sold
him to them
for 20 pieces
of silver
and the traitors
took him
to Egypt.
Sometime
later,
Reuben
comes back
to get
Joseph
out of the
well
and return
him to his
father.
But Joseph
isn't there,
is he?
He discovered
that Joseph
was missing
and so he
tore his
clothes in
grief and
he went
back to
his brothers
and lamented,
the boy
is gone,
what will
I do
now?
So the
brothers
killed a
young goat
and dipped
Joseph's robe,
that beautiful
robe,
the family
coat that was
going to be
passed on
and they
dipped it
in the goat's
blood and
they sent
the beautiful
robe to their
father with
this message.
Look at
what we
found.
Doesn't
this robe
belong to
your son?
Just a
little side
note here.
Do you
notice how
they sent
it on to
their father
with a
message?
They didn't
even have the
courage to
face him
themselves.
Hey
dad,
Joseph
got eaten
by a wild
animal.
They like
sent the
message on.
Guys had
all kinds
of courage
there,
didn't
they?
So,
what
happened?
The father
recognized it
immediately,
of course.
Yes,
it's my
son's robe.
A wild
animal must
have eaten
him.
Joseph
has clearly
been torn
to pieces
and Jacob
tore his
clothes,
dressed himself
in burlap
and he
mourned
deeply for
his son
for a long
time.
His family
all tried
to comfort
him,
but he
refused
to be
comforted.
I will
go to my
grave,
mourning for
my son,
he would
say,
and then
he would
weep.
So,
there's a
warning here.
Envy
can start
a spiral
of evil.
Envy
can start
a spiral
of evil.
James,
the book
of James,
chapter 3
and verse
13.
Let's go
to verse
14.
Would you
turn over
there with
me quickly?
We'll be
done in
just a
moment.
James,
chapter 3
and verse
14.
If you have
bitter envy
and selfish
ambition in
your heart,
don't boast
and deny
the truth.
Bitter
envy
and selfish
ambition
in your
heart.
Look over
one more
chapter at
chapter 4.
James,
chapter 4,
verse 2.
Back up to
verse 1.
Kind of the
first three
verses there.
James 4,
verses 1,
2,
and 3.
What is the
source of wars
and fights
among you?
Don't they
come from
your passions
that wage
war within
you?
You desire
and do
not have.
You murder
and covet
and cannot
obtain.
You fight
and wage
war.
You do
not have
because you
do not
ask.
You ask
and don't
receive
because you
ask with
wrong motives
so that you
may spend
it on your
pleasures.
We see
what happens.
We see
the warning
here in the
book of James
and we
see it
portrayed
way back
here in
Genesis
chapter 37.
Y'all,
envy,
greed,
jealousy,
these are
not to be
taken lightly.
These are
sins that
can take
root in
your life
and spiral
out of
control.
They can
actually start
to take
control of
you and
start to
affect your
mind,
your brain,
and make
you make
decisions
that you
would never
otherwise
make.
They can
start to
make you
an angry
person.
They can
start to
make you
view people
a different
way.
People that
you used
to love,
people that
you used
to care
about,
you can
start to
see them
through a
different
lens.
You can
start to
tear families
apart,
start to
ruin
relationships,
and then
anger,
bitterness,
can take
over your
life,
and end
up with
you choosing
between killing
your brother
or selling
him off.
What a
wild conclusion
to this story
today.
Now is it the
end of the
story?
Oh no.
Thanks to our
sovereign God,
it's not the
end of the
story.
But that's
where we're
going to pause
today.
I want to
leave you
with this
quote.
Margaret
Thatcher,
the great
prime minister
of England,
the spirit
of envy
can destroy,
it can
never,
ever build.
The spirit
of envy
can destroy,
but it
can never
build.
Romans 12,
24,
maybe puts
it,
well definitely
puts it
better than
that.
Do not
be overcome
with evil,
but overcome
evil with
good.
There is a
power greater
than envy.
There is a
power greater
than anger.
There is a
power greater
than jealousy
and greed
and bitterness
and all this
that could
drive these
brothers to
commit these
terrible crimes.
There's a
power greater
than all that.
And that is
the good that
comes from our
God.
It is our
good God
himself.
He can
triumph over
all that.
He can win
the day.
He can
restore
those families.
He can
mend those
broken
relationships.
So don't
be overcome
with the
evil,
but overcome
the evil
with good.
So what's
our takeaway
today?
Our takeaway
is this,
pride and
envy are
warning signs
in this
story,
but the
start of
Joseph's
story points
us to
Jesus.
Joseph is
the type
of Christ.
All
throughout
Joseph's
story,
he will be
pointing us
continually
back to
Jesus.
Always
back to
our Lord
Jesus Christ.
That's
where I
want to
point you
today.
I want
to point
you to
Jesus
Christ,
the favored
son who
laid down
his crown,
laid down
his throne,
allowed
himself to
come down
to this
earth,
be born
of the
virgin,
humbled
himself,
took upon
him the
form of
a servant,
and laid
down his
life
willingly,
was
betrayed
by his
own people,
suffered
greatly,
just like
we will
see that
Joseph
would,
but became
the sacrifice
for you
and for
me,
not for
his own
sins,
but for
your sin
and for
mine.
Would you
bow your
heads with
me?
God,
the sins
of pride
and envy
are sins
that many
of us,
if not
everyone in
this room,
have been
guilty of.
We see
warning signs
in Genesis
37 of
pride and
envy.
We see
anger,
we see
murder,
we see
bloodlust,
we see
bitterness,
we see
so much
sin,
but we
also see
sacrifice.
We see
some
parallels
to Jesus
Christ,
and I
pray that
this morning
our hearts
and our
minds
would turn
toward
Jesus,
that we
would remember
that
2,000
years ago,
you willingly
came and
sacrificed
yourself for
our sin.
It's easy
to look at
those brothers
and see
them as
bad people.
It's a
little bit
harder to
look at
ourselves and
see us as
capable of
the same.
I pray
that you
would convict
us of
our own
sin,
and if
there is
anyone here
who has
not turned
from our
sin and
turned to
Jesus,
I pray
that you
would let
today be
the day
that they
make that
most important
decision.
So church,
while our
heads are
bowed in
this moment
of privacy,
I'm going to
invite you to
slip your hand
up right now
if that's
you.
If you'd
like to
say today
is the
day and
I'd like
to turn
to Jesus
and make
him my
savior,
would you
slip your
hand up
now and
I'll pray
for you.
Thank you.
You see
those hands,
God.
If that's
you,
I'd like to
invite you
while our
heads are
bowed
to just
pray this
simple
prayer.
Jesus,
I know
that I
am a
sinner.
and I
heard your
gospel message
preached today
and as
best as I
know how,
I place
all my
faith in
you to
forgive me
of my
sin.
I don't
trust anyone
else,
not the
preacher,
not the
church,
just Jesus.
God,
I
want to
meet you
after the
service.
We can
talk more
about what
it means
to be a
follower of
Jesus and
put your
faith in
him.
You come
down in
just a
moment.
I'd love to
have a
conversation
with you.
Church,
for the
rest of
you,
if there
is
something
that God's
working on
your heart
about,
if you'd
like to
come
forward and
talk about
baptism,
placing your
membership in
this church,
anything at
all,
Jared's going
to lead us
in just a
brief verse
of a song.
Now would
be a great
time.
If you'd
just like to
come down
and use
these steps
here to
pray quietly,
this would
be the time
to do that.
Jared,
you go ahead
and lead us
in song.
And this is
a time for
you,
if you'd
like to
keep your
seats and
pray,
go ahead.
If you'd
like to
sing along,
this is a
quiet time
of reflection
at this
time.