~~~~~Lesson: Genesis, Chapter 46 (reading after lesson)

There is a touching scene in which Jacob and Joseph are re-united. There is Joseph's usual craftiness by having his brothers get together and all say they are shepherds in order to settle in Goshen.

And most importantly, there is God's promise to Jacob in his dream that he will deliver him from Egypt. God is making a threefold promise here, though Jacob may not have known it at the time. He is promising Jacob that he will have his remains returned to Canaan after death. He is promising the Hebrews that they will be delivered from Egypt during their slavery. And he is promising the Jewish people that their Messiah will be brought from Egypt, which Jesus was, after his parents fled there.

God's promises always come true. There is no doubt of that.
Question: Have you personally had God answer a prayer? If you're willing, will you please share?

The apostles thought Jesus would be back for the End Times before their lives were over. And tens, if not hundreds, of times since then people have thought the world was going to end. Jesus himself said that only the Father knew when that time was.
I actually met someone today who believes it is the end times and that the world is ending in 2012 (December 21st to be exact)....this is a smart, articulate person. Who believes, in her ignorance, that she knows what Jesus said no man would know.
Question: Have you met people who are preaching the end times? Are they preaching Jesus' message? Or their own message?

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm NOT claiming to know when the end times are. We may be in them. I don't know...I don't think so, but I don't know. I'm simply saying that if someone is proclaiming something against what Jesus said....don't listen to them!
Question: What is the wildest claim you have heard from someone...a claim that just made you scratch your head and say "Where in the world did they get THAT?"


~Reading: Genesis: Chapter 46

(1-7) Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. There God, speaking to Israel in vision by night, called, "Jacob! Jacob!"
"Here I am," he answered. Then he said: "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. Not only will I go down to Egypt with you, I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes."
So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport. They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt. His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters- all his descendants- he took with him to Egypt.

(28-34) Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen, Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as he saw him, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms. And Israel said to Joseph, "At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive."
Joseph then said to his brothers and his father's household: "I will go and inform Pharaoh, telling him: 'My brothers and my father's household, whose home is in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds, having long been keepers of livestock; and they have brought with them their flocks and herds, as well as everything else they own.'
So when Pharaoh summons you and asks what your occupation is, you must answer, 'We your servants, like our ancestors, have been keepers of livestock from the beginning until now,' in order that you may stay in the region of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians."