What Did Jacob Learn Too Late?

What if what if God's healing when you're trying to bury? We went on a journey, didn't we not? What if the thing you thought the thing you thought wasn't finished because God hadn't finished it. We'll talk. You in your mind, you thought the thing you thought was finished wasn't finished. Because God wasn't finished. Not because he wants to shame you. Not because he wants to shame you. Not because he wants to drag you back into pain. Not because, certainly, not because he enjoys watching old wounds reopen. But because some things can't be healed while they if they stay buried, they can't be healed. This week, Genesis took us into one of the most emotionally powerful movements in the whole Joseph story. The brothers who sold Joseph had to face the past. Jacob had to face the fear of losing Benjamin. Judah had to face whether his heart had really changed. Joseph had to face the cost of telling the truth with mercy. And Jacob had to face obedience. Felt like losing ground underneath his feet. Genesis 42 through 46. It isn't just family drama. It's covenant formation. It's God bringing truth into a broken house. It's God exposing guilt without destroying the guilty. It's God testing repentance without pretending emotion is enough. It's God joining mercy to truth. It's God leading his people down into Egypt while promising, I myself will go down with you. And here's the question for your heart today: what if God isn't trying to ruin the life you built? What if he's healing the places you learn to survive around? Well, hello, everybody. Happy Sunday. Happy Sunday. Hello, Sean. Spelled correctly, Linda, Miss Colleen, Miss Tammy, Miss Nicole. And it's the thing is moving. Mr. Robbie, good to see you. Good to see you. The thing is moving faster than I can read it. You guys can't see all the other there's within this is all the people clicking in in other areas. Um hello to Facebook, our Facebook page. Go there and click on follow and all of that, uh, whatever it is you do there. Um subscribe to YouTube and the True Word Faith for Life with Dr. Sean channel, S-H-A-W-N, and uh the Rumble channel, True Word Faith for Life with Dr. Sean and We're on X. We're on, we're on all of them. And and to just be real with you, um, if you listen after the fact, if you're listening after the fact and you say, Well, I'd really maybe you're watching on YouTube, and you say, Well, this is how I normally listen to my podcast, is I listen uh on the playback audio only. Well, we have players at True WordfaithforLife.com. And then any, I guarantee you, any podcast platform that you like, we're on. See what I mean? So we're uh we're really, really into it. Hello. Very, very nice, very, very nice. Miss Susan, good to see you. By the way, hello, Miss Lynette. I got to see you, and we got to, Miss Colleen got to see you. What a pleasure. My friend uh Dave came over today and built uh a loop for my uh bird, one of my bird feeders, one of my favorite bird feeders. It broke. And uh, if you've been in my yard, you know I got a bazillion bird feeders. So that was awesome to hang out with him. Super blessing, by the way, for those of you who are um from the Kehala up in Newark, Delaware. Uh we lost Don, you may know. Um, Don succumbed to cancer. And so he is present with the Lord. He is healed and made whole. Uh, what a lovely, lovely man. He was just so sweet. Hello, Rajilio Rosales. Very, very nice to see you. Thank you so much for joining. What a pleasure. Don would just be delighted. Hello, Miss Briella McBride. Good to see you. Thank you all for listening and subscribing. It's wonderful. So, shalom and welcome to True Word Faith for Life. I'm Dr. Sean. This is our Sunday summation and deepening. Um by the way, thank you, Brielle. I appreciate that. Brielle stated that she's on and she hit like. Love that. So this is our Sunday, Sunday summation and deepening, and it's it is what it sounds. I mean, it's the name. Um, we go back over the prior week, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. We have some dear folks that listen. Uh, hello, Noah. Good to see you. Um, Noah's listening on the true word, Faith for Life, with Dr. Sean YouTube channel. And we have some listen at four in the morning where they live. Uh, at seven in the morning, Eastern Standard Time here, and then we have others that listen as they're getting ready to go to bed. Uh, we have folks that listen in Japan and and a bunch of other places around the world. So it's an honor to have you all. It means the world to me. I'm I'm completely honored with it. So the Sunday summation and deepening, we're we're going deeper, but you're gonna you're gonna notice some things. Oh, Nicole, she just filled her feeders. Might needed some tender. Oh, man. I they mine been empty for three days because I've run out of I've run out of seed, and I usually buy the two uh the two 40-pound bags. We have a wedding coming up, so I'm trying to save the shekels. Anyway, um you'll notice today I I have I have seen um I've seen how you all have picked up what I'm putting down here, and I have a very, very intelligent audience, and I can say that it's going to look going to get a little deeper. We're gonna we're gonna be a little deeper, and um, you know, uh you'll you'll notice it starting tonight, and then tomorrow morning at 7 a.m., it's gonna get after it. So this is where we do more than just review the chapters we read uh this week. And we slow down. We gather the movement of the text, we deepen the covenant connections, and we ask what faithful obedience looks like in real life. You know, the the real life, you're leading, you're living. And I I am too. As always, I want to mention my book. The wire here for my in-ear monitors is so short, I can't lean and get it. This is my book. This is my second book, True Word Faith for Life. Um, you can get it anywhere, but if you buy it through TruewordfaithforLife.com under the store, uh, that helps our ministry more than otherwise. Hi, Miss Tammy. How are you? Good to see you. God bless you. What a blessing. I'm so fortunate. So fortunate. Um so yeah, I did I do want to say that uh this book was written for the person tired of religious pieces, tired of confusion and ready for God's word to make some sense in real life. That said, uh, I do want to go back to Don. You know, Don has been uh just dear uh throughout throughout the many, many years that I've known him. And um he he's just been a good friend, lovely and kind. Uh we met him through the KLA, and uh Steve and Bonnie uh were his good friends, and they were great to him, and we're we're just blessed. Our memories through the KLA, so many are gone. Um this watch that I wear. See that watch? Somebody, somebody sent me a comment, an ignorant comment. Oh, yeah, you begging money, which I don't beg money, but you begging money and you got a Rolex running around with a Rolex. Well, first of all, it's a Seiko, and it's about uh, I don't know, Miss Colleen, what, 20 years old? And it was used when I got it, but my it came into the little thrift place where my friend Jerry Summers, who has gone on to his reward, and Miss Jill, by the way, has gone on to her reward. Uh Jill Stabley, lovely, lovely human being. Uh lovely. She died on my birthday. Uh anyway, so uh he said, Hey, I have a watch in here. I was looking for a little bit nicer watch. It was damaged. The little thing at the top was gone. And he said, as long as that doesn't bother you, you can get a good deal on it. So I did, and I've had it ever since, and the thing works like a champ. So that should resolve the I'm secretly a wealthy guy. And Lynette's known me since what, Lynette, eight or ten years old. And um, and she can tell you I'm not rich. She's been in our homes. Now I'll say homes, and then people are like, see that, she's got more than one home. No, no, no, I mean the homes that we've lived in since she's known me. Anyway, so this week we walked through Genesis 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46. And I'm just gonna tell you there was nothing, nothing easy about any of those. I mean nothing at all. Day 45 asked, what if your past comes back? What if your past comes back? Day 46 asked, can you trust God with what you fear losing? Can you? Day 47 asked, has your heart really changed? And day 48 asked, what if mercy tells the truth? Ooh. Ooh, what if mercy tells the truth, somebody? There's everything, everything hard was so difficult about that message. What if mercy tells the truth? And then day 49 asked, what if obedience feels like losing everything? So, this is the perfect time to announce. I'm no longer going to announce the day as part of the title. You know, day 49, what if obedience feels like losing everything? So it's just gonna be the title, and then in the show description, and then when I talk about it, it'll I'll give the the day number. So we're no longer gonna be day this, day that, you know, blah, blah, blah, like that. Um, so, but you'll know what day it is because you're gonna get clicked in and be good to go. Miss Linda says, I miss them both. So much knowledge. They they were some of the loveliest people I think I've ever met. I'll just tell you a quick story and then we'll go on into this. Um, well, day 49 asks, what if obedience feels like losing everything? You know, um, they the stableys, I didn't, I only knew them. They knew me before I knew them. That sounds so, excuse me. That sounds so, I gotta sneeze so bad. Sometimes it's just better to just get it over with, you know. I'm an ugly sneezer, ugly crier, ugly. I'm just ugly, let's be honest. So uh I was teaching uh Sunday school, a special Sunday school class at a church that I was attending at the time. They did not, the Stableys did not attend that church, but they had heard me speak elsewhere, and they would go to their church, serve there, and then drive all the way over to our church, which wasn't close by, and then be at the Sunday. And God blessed that class. And before long, we had outgrown the rooms uh that we were in, and there was no more room. And they also said, you know what, this feels like you're rushing because there was a second service we were trying to hurry up and be done for. So what ends up happening is they approached me and they said, if you didn't feel this would be disrespectful, um, why don't why don't we open our home to have everybody come to our house? I was like, Really? Come to your house? All these people, assuming all of them come, which them and more came. And they said, Yeah, we have a room that'll accommodate that. And uh, no problem. And sure enough, they did. And that turned into the Kehala. They were, they were some of our dearest, dearest friends, all of this group. Um, it's it's one of the funnest ministry experiences I've ever had in my life. And and I know and love these people so, so much. Um, there's so many that I just dearly, dearly love. And uh, old glow, uh, I have to check in and see how she's doing. But there's just so many there that totally transformative. Susan and Linda and the Stableys and uh Jerry and Joe Summers, and I mean the list goes on. And Don was one of those people, and Don is one of the ones that he just passed away. So uh Steve and Bonnie were kind enough to let me know. They they would come, and Bonnie would always bring. We always we had a full meal. And when I say a full meal, I mean the meal, uh, sometimes appetizers, full entrees, and dessert. And sometimes they were homemade desserts, sometimes, and one time nobody ever coordinated. We didn't ever coordinate what we were bringing. One time it was all dessert. Everybody brought dessert, so it was dessert night. And somebody drove, where'd he drive from? Tennessee. He drove all the way from Tennessee to Delaware. I didn't even know the guy. Drove from Tennessee to Delaware, he's gonna sleep in his truck and then he's gonna drive home the next day. And he drove all that way so that he could see what it was like in person. And so uh that was cool. And so, anyway, now he lives in I think Taiwan or somewhere like that. Anyway, so here we go. I I I must tell you, what an honor to have you here. I I really appreciate it. You just don't even know. So, together, these five chapters, they they it they press one deep question into us. Will we let God heal us his way? Or I guess this is two questions really, or will we let God heal us his way, or we will we keep protecting the very things he's trying to redeem? Maybe answer this in comments. If you've ever had God bring something back up that you thought was finished, drop a praying in the chat. This one's for the honest people only. We have pretty honest people here. So I want you to think about this. Put this in the back of your mind, you might want to write it down. God used famine to move the family toward truth. God used famine to move the family toward truth. Genesis 42 begins with famine. Oh my. Have you ever been hungry? Have you ever been starving? Have you ever experienced that? Most of us haven't. Most of us don't know, but famine is when there is no food. And none in the coverage, and none growing, it's all gone. Or there's just simply nowhere near enough. But famine isn't just the problem in the story. Famine is the pressure God uses to move the covenant family toward truth. Joseph is in Egypt, Jacob is in Canaan. The brothers are carrying guilt. Benjamin is being protected. Remember, Benjamin is Rachel's other son. Right? Joseph is Rachel's son, and then Benjamin's other son. So Benjamin is being protected, because now that Joseph is gone, because far as far as uh Jacob knows, Joseph, I meant to say Joseph's. Joseph was the other, if I didn't say that. So Jacob, as far as Jacob knows, he's lost his son. So now Benjamin, he's protecting him with everything else. Now he has other sons, but not by Rachel. So Benjamin's being protected. Simeon will be held, Judah will be tested, and the family of promise is about to be forced back into the story they tried to leave behind. Have you ever been in a story that you just tried to leave behind? That matters because Scripture doesn't treat time as automatic healing. Time heals all wounds. No, that's not true. It's simply not true. It's what you do with the time. Years have passed since Joseph was thrown into that pit and he was sold by who? Oh, I don't know. His brothers. His own brothers. Years have passed since the brothers dipped his robe in blood to fake his death. Originally they were going to kill him. He said, Well, I'm going to throw him in this pit. And then he said, Well, I'll throw him in slavery. Often wonder what'd they do with the money? So years have passed since Jacob collapsed into grief over a lie. Years have passed since the house learned to live around the wound and not ever deal it, deal with it. But old doesn't mean healed. Quiet doesn't mean clean. Buried doesn't mean resolved. So Genesis 42 shows us that guilt can survive for decades under the surface of a normal looking life. How many of you? How many of you can look back on your childhood and go, or maybe it's the life you're living now? Maybe it's maybe it's a point in the very near past. Everyone on the outside felt like everything was normal. Everything is normal. These people, everything's good. They just thought, oh yeah, it's all good. Thank you for being so honest, Nicole. Nicole said, God has used this study to walk me weekly through avoidance, healing, and restoration. His timing is perfect and is in and intentional in these teachings. Thank you so much. God bless you. Thank you for being vulnerable and writing that. So the the the brothers go down to Egypt for grain. Right? So I want in your in the back of your mind, which would be here, not here. In the back of your mind, I want you to be thinking about for the audio audience only, when you're listening to this, you'll be you'll be like, I don't know, what's he talking about? I was tapping on the front of my head while saying the back of my mind. You know. Good morning in Philippines. How are you, David Golden Eagle 61? Good to see you. Thank you so much for listening. What an honor to have you. Good morning, good morning. It's tomorrow in the Philippines. So he's already getting after it. We're honored to have you listen. So the brothers, they go down to Egypt for grain. They bow before Joseph and they don't recognize him. But Joseph recognizes them. Oh, for sure, for sure. He recognizes them. The dream they hated is now standing right in front of them. In real life, that dream, that kid, that guy, that brother that they hated is now right in front of them. They don't know who he is because years have passed. Joseph has done a lot of maturing. And Joseph tests them. Not because he's petty. But let's give, let's give Joseph a little bit of slack here. I will, you know, how many, how many of us would have would have just had it had the brothers killed? Just had them killed. He had the power to do it. Hey, these are bad people. They sold me into slavery. They're the reason I was here. They're the reason I was in a pit. They're the reason why, you know, and God, we can say all day long that God worked a good thing out of something bad. What they meant for bad, God turned around for good. Oh, we can say that all day long. But the fact is, is Joseph did a lot of suffering because of his brothers. So he's not being petty here. And it's not because he's entertaining himself with revenge. That's not what he was about. But it's because the question has to be answered. Are these men the same men who abandon him? Then the truth starts leaking. Out of their mouths, out of their own mouths. And you know, I tell you, you read this the first time, and you know, when you really understand it, you go, hmm, wow, that's something special there. The truth leaks out of their own mouths, and they say voluntarily, in truth, we are guilty concerning our brother. Hey, they didn't know who he was, they didn't know he's the brother that they're guilty of. They didn't know. They didn't know it was him. They didn't have to tell him, but for some reason, they told the truth when they didn't have to. And that sentence is one of the turning points of the week. Not, well, it was complicated. Not, well, we were young. Not, well, everybody made mistakes back then. You know, that was back in the day. Not, well, that was a hard season. Not we handled it poorly. No. In truth, we are guilty concerning our brother. And that's where the healing begins. Not with image management. How many of you? That might have been the first thing we go to. How do I manage this? How do I manage this? How do I manage it? How do how do I um damage reduce this? How do I how do I how do I package this? How do I public relations this? No. They didn't do any of that. And because they didn't do any of that, this is where healing begins. Times would be a little bit tougher. From here. This go was not going to be as easy as. And I'm just gonna tell you, I I think it was harder on Joseph. Harder on Joseph than on them. He could have been much harder, but this is where healing begins. Not with a bunch of explanations, not with religious language, with truth. With truth. We have a bunch of different threads here. Not a bunch. We have a few. But here's the first one: buried guilt. Buried guilt. God's mercy often disturbs false peace. I want to write that down. God's mercy often disturbs false peace. Here's the first deepening thread from the week. God's mercy often begins by disturbing the false peace we built around buried guilt. That may look to you, you may say, well, that doesn't sound very merciful. Well, not at first. We tend to think mercy says, we tend to think it means God leaves the past alone. And that's how it's been taught in many churches across all across America. No, it's not true. It's simply not true. Consequences very often still come. But if the past is still poisoning the present, leaving it alone isn't mercy, it's neglect. Pardon me. Do you understand what I'm saying here? Look, if if the past. I mentioned my buddy Dave. My buddy Dave's one of the best dudes you'll ever meet in your life. He truly is. He's incredible. He's incredible. We've been friends for a couple decades now. Guy's unreal. He doesn't talk about friendship. He is it. He is friendship. It's unreal. He's just been absolutely unbelievable to me and to my family. And he'll tell you the truth. He's unvarnished. He'll tell you the truth. You need to hear the truth. He'll tell it to you. And that's what we need. You know, if you don't have friendships like that, if you don't have family relationships like that, you're in a pickle. Your discernment sometimes gets a little bit out of calibration. And we need people to tell us the truth. And sometimes that truth, look, if the past is still poisoning the present, leaving it alone, it is absolutely not merciful. It's not being unjudgmental, it's neglect. When we expect that of God, that he would tell us the truth about our situation. Take a deep breath. Here we go. Biblically, shalom isn't the absence of conflict. Shalom is wholeness, order, soundness, living rightly aligned under God. So when God brings something hidden into the light, He isn't always, he's not always destroying peace. Sometimes He's destroying the counterfeit peace that kept real shalom from forming. And some of us know this personally. Look, you can keep moving, you can certainly keep working, you can certainly keep preaching, singing, serving, parenting, teaching, smiling, functioning. You can become fluent in church ease, the spiritual language while still refusing the plain sentence God is asking you to say. Take a deep breath. You're going to need it. One of these just might be the sentence that God is asking you to say. Instead of fluffed up churchy language, he's looking for this. I lied. I betrayed. I abandoned. I manipulated. I covered it up. I used someone. I hid. I protected myself while someone else paid the cost. Now hear me carefully here. This isn't about living under condemnation. Condemnation says you are your sin. Hide forever. Conviction says, this right here is sin. Bring it into the light and come home. Bring it into the light and come home. Condemnation drives you away from God. And conviction calls you back to God. That's why Genesis 42, it's mercy. It's painful mercy. It's disruptive mercy, but it's mercy. Because denial, denial can't heal what truth refuses to name. You cannot fix what you do not acknowledge. All right, thread two, are you ready? Fear. Wrapped around love. You might want to write this down. Fear cannot protect what only God can hold. Then Genesis 43 brings the pressure back into Jacob's house. The food runs out. Simeon is still in Egypt. The brothers can't return unless Benjamin goes with them. And Jacob doesn't want to release Benjamin. He doesn't want to part with his other son by Rachel. Look, we understand why. Jacob believes Joseph is dead. That's what he's laboring under. He believes Joseph is dead, and so do the brothers. They don't have any idea. Benjamin is Rachel's other son, and he loved Rachel with all of his heart. Of at first sight. And he never forgot about her. Benjamin represents what Jacob has left of the woman he loved completely. And the son that he lost, or so he thought. And it, you know, Jacob, Jacob's fear, it isn't irrational, folks. It's not irrational. It was wounded. But wounded fear. It can still become a false master. And this is where Genesis 43 cuts close to home. When fear gets wrapped around love, love can start sounding like wisdom while acting just like control. Look, Jacob loves Benjamin. That's not the problem. The problem is that fear has begun making the decisions. Fear has begun making the decisions in that household. And some of us live right in that place. You lost something once. So now you grip everything. You were betrayed once. So now you call suspicion discernment. You were abandoned once. So now you call control relationships. You control relationships. So now you control them. You were disappointed once. So now you call emotional distance maturity. You were hurt once. So now you call self-protection wisdom. But fear is a terrible shepherd. You might want to write that down. Fear is a terrible shepherd. Nicole makes a good point in chat, and Simeon is experiencing the abandonment Joseph felt as they didn't come back for him. Can you imagine? I'm sure Joseph, when they threw him in the pit, they beat him up. They didn't just throw him in a pit, they beat him up. They were going to kill him. They stripped off that robe. They sold him into slavery. Wait, I'm your brother. I'm your brother. How could they do this to me? Fear is a terrible shepherd. Fear can warn you. Fear can alert you. Fear can show you where something hurts, but what fear cannot? Fear cannot lead you into shalom. Only God can do that. David says, I learn to forgive myself and others at this stage of life. Helps my life so much. Amen. Amen. Now I told you it's gonna be a little bit different. Here's the second deepening thread. Fear can't protect when only God can hold. Jacob finally yields. He says, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. This isn't polished faith. This isn't trembling surrender. And sometimes trembling surrender, it's still surrender. We need to be honest about that. There are moments when obedience doesn't feel victorious. It feels like opening your hands while your heart is shaking. You're not saying, well, this doesn't matter. You're saying, God, this matters so much that I have put it under your care and your control instead of under my illusion of control. Anybody, anybody there right now? Biblical trust isn't emotional numbness. Biblical trust isn't emotional numbness. It isn't pretending the loss wouldn't hurt. It isn't denying the weight of what you are releasing. Trust is bringing what you love under the authority, care, and covenant faithfulness of God. The brothers go back. They go back to Egypt and they expect accusation, they expect punishment. Look, they expect the worst. But Joseph Stewart says, peace to you. Do not be afraid. Peace. Shalom. Do not be afraid. In the very place where fear rightly look. This is they they should have expected judgment. Fear rightly expected judgment. In that very place, God began speaking peace. And that doesn't mean the story was easy. It means fear wasn't the final interpreter of the story. Okay, here's the third thread. We're busting through these. Here's the third thread.

Real repentance.

For many. Repentance chooses differently when the old door opens again. Listen. A thing that tempts you. Real repentance is when that thing tempts you. A thing that just seems impossible to resist. Why? Because you've never resisted it previously. You didn't resist it before, that temptation. But repentance is choosing differently when that old temptation shows its face again. Some of you are imagining what that is because you know what your hurt habit or hang-up is. Then Genesis 44 gives us the test. Genesis 44 gives us the test. Joseph places the silver cup in Benjamin's sack. Oh, the beloved son. The beloved son of Jacob. They don't know. The brothers don't know, Benjamin doesn't know. The brothers leave. And the steward pursues them, and the cup is found. And now Benjamin is in danger. Now the old door opens again. What will they do? Years earlier, Rachel's son was vulnerable. Vulnerable around. And because of their own brother. I know there are some people listening right now that can absolutely identify with that. Their own brother, their own sibling. Totally betrayed them. They didn't see it coming. The brothers protected themselves. Joseph was abandoned. That's what happened before. But now Rachel's other son is vulnerable. Benjamin. Here we are in this story. Benjamin can be abandoned too now. First, it was Joseph. Now Benjamin. We know how. We know what they did before. They did the absolute worst wrong thing. The test isn't whether the brothers feel bad. The test is whether they'll choose differently when the old opportunity returns. They could say whatever they want. Well, he's a thief, Benjamin. We've known that. They knew he was now the favorite of their father. What do they do now? They could get themselves out of trouble, they think. That old temptation. Some of you know what that old temptation in your own life is. Some are addicted to the P-word. Some are addicted to alcohol or drugs. Some are addicted to lying. Some are addicted to stealing. Yeah, I had somebody contact me this past week and said, look, you very briefly mentioned it, but I've never told anybody, but I don't steal big things, I just steal little things. I don't know why. I make plenty of money. I have plenty of money. I don't I don't want for anything. I don't know why I do it. And we talk through it. I don't know what yours is. Low self-esteem. So maybe you behave a certain way or dress a certain way. Or talk a certain way. The test isn't whether the brothers feel bad, it doesn't matter. Not anymore. Them feeling bad doesn't matter, hella beans. So what do they do this time? What do they do? Do they choose differently this time? And they do. They tear their clothes. They return to the city, all of them. Don't miss that. Joseph was all alone in the pit, left by his brothers. But Benjamin, no, no, no, he won't be alone. He won't be left alone. Every brother goes with him. And the punishment, so far as they knew, because Benjamin says, I don't know, I don't, I don't know how this got in there. Now look, lots of times when I was in law enforcement, where I would find drugs or something, a gun or whatever, uh, on somebody's person, and they I would say, You have anything on you that's you know, drugs or weapons that could hurt me? And and they don't know anything. And then always, I don't know who that is. That's I didn't I didn't know where that came from. But this is not that case. Benjamin absolutely didn't know where it came from. But instead of Benjamin having to deal with this all by himself, instead of them throwing Benjamin under the bus, they don't do that. They go with him. Whatever punishment you take will take. But then Judah steps forward. Judah, the very man who once helped send Joseph away. Now he offers himself in Benjamin's place. Can you imagine? Look, I I personally know people who will only measure me by my worst day of my worst moment. And and not even the true worst. I didn't do what they accused me of. Didn't do it, wasn't it? They won't let it, they won't let it go. They won't let it go. They just they don't care. That's the standard they hold me to. But look at what Judah has done here, full circle. Judah says, take me in Benjamin's place. Please let the script scripture says, please let your servant remain instead of the boy. That's not some cheap emotion. That's listen, that's repentance with skin on. They're not the same thing. Regret says, I hate what happened to me. Repentance says I hate what my sin did before God. Regret says, I'm sorry I got exposed. Repentance says I want to walk in the light. Regret wants relief from the consequences. Repentance wants freedom from the old way. Look, regret can cry big old crocodile tears. Regret can sound very spiritual. Regret can make all kinds of promises. Hey, look, regret can use all the churchy words. But repentance chooses differently when the old pattern returns. And for some of us, that is a challenge to daily test. And that's why Genesis 44 is just so powerful. Judah doesn't just say he's changed, he acts differently when it costs him. He doesn't demand instant trust. Look, I'm tired of you. I'm tired of you all the time testing me. I'm sick and tired of you testing me all the time. I said I was sorry. I owned up to it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I said it for the last time, not gonna say it again. No. You're gonna trust me. No. No, he doesn't demand that. He doesn't ask Joseph to accept some sort of speech. It doesn't speechify here. He bears fruit. And this matters in real life. If you hurt someone, they may need time to see faithful fruit. That's not cruelty. They're not being cruel to you. That isn't unforgiveness. That's not unforgiveness at all. That's wisdom. Folks, if you're the one that did the wrong, don't demand trust when you haven't yet borne fruit. Don't confuse someone's healthy caution with bitterness. Don't weaponize forgiveness language to just rush access. Real repentance. It doesn't demand the benefits of restoration while refusing the fruit of transformation. Might want to write that down. Judah's change isn't perfect. It's not perfect. His change isn't perfect, folks. I'm not kidding you when I say, hey, got a lot of, he's got a halo starting to form, but it's got dents in his little bit of rust. Real repentance doesn't demand the benefits of restoration while refusing the fruit of transformation. Somebody, somebody say amen. Somebody's living that right now. Listen, Judah undoubtedly was a horrible guy. I said last week, I said, you know, I would have punched him in the face. If I had Joseph's power, I would have probably done worse than that. Judah's change isn't perfect, but it's real. Because when the same door opens, he doesn't walk through it again. Here we go. We are making great progress here. We're way more than three-quarters of the way. Thread, this is thread number four. I don't know if you're taking notes or writing them down. Miss Sharon is probably the best note taker I've ever seen. You should see her notes. Boy, they're they're laid out. She does such a good job. So thread four, if you're writing down threads, this is truth and mercy are in the same room. Mercy tells the truth without using truth as a weapon. Oh, some of us know what it's like to be on that weaponizing side, and some of us know what it's like to have had truth weaponized against us. Then comes, then comes Genesis 45. Joseph can no longer control himself. Hey, he's got more control than I have. Joseph clean, he clears the room. I don't know if you picked up on this, if you were listening last week, or if you read it in preparation of this. He clears the room and then he weeps loudly, so loudly, as people were like, is he okay? He says the words the brothers never expected to hear. Can you imagine that room? Truth has a face. The past has a voice. The wound has a name now. The guilt has nowhere left to hide. And Joseph says, Come near to me, please. That sentence is staggering. It's staggering. Come near to me, please. He doesn't say, Well, nothing happened. He doesn't say, Well, it was fine. He doesn't say, Well, look, tell you what, don't worry about it. It's fine. I made out alright. He doesn't use some sort of spiritual language to erase the wound. Are you ready? This is what he says. He says, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. But he doesn't stop there. Then he says, God sent him before them to preserve life. There is providence. Joseph says both, you sold me, and God sent me. Human evil was absolutely real. But God's purpose was greater. Joseph doesn't need to deny the wound in order to honor God. And he doesn't need to deny God's providence in order to tell the truth about the wound. That is mature faith. We can talk about something like this and be. We can be real and we can be truthful without being vengeful or destructive or weaponizing. Or just pretend it was no big deal. How many of you doing I was gonna say how many of you have done that? No, no, no. I don't uh uh no no no, no, no, no. Let's change it. Let's change it. Not how many of you have done that. Not how many of you have said, no, no, it was no big deal. Somebody says, look, I'm sorry. Whatever, sorry. Look, I'm sorry. Um, yeah, that was this, that, and the other, whatever. And you're like, no, no, no, it's okay. It's okay, it's totally fine. It wasn't, it was really not that big of a deal. Not that big of a deal. When you know it was a big deal, you know darn good and well it was it was a uh an incredibly big deal. Some of you are still doing that. You're doing that right now. Someone has harmed you, someone has hurt you, and you're still telling them no big deal. It's no big deal. And you think you're being Christian by doing that. I do a whole series on what Jesus, what Yeshua actually said about divorce and what scripture actually says about divorce. It's free. It's on True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean, S-H-A-W-N. It's on YouTube, and I think it's on the Rumble channel too. It's free. Everything's free. I encourage you to listen to it. It's difficult, it's long, but it's worth hearing. Because some folks, some folks have stayed in something that is horrible. You've stayed in a marriage where you were getting abused. And I mean abused physically, financially, verbally, and other ways. I can't say the other ways because I'll get demonetized. But you know what I'm talking about. And some of you have stayed. You're getting beat up because you think church folks say, no, no, no, you don't leave. Don't leave. You just stay on, stay on, stay on. It's fine. It's fine. That's your answer to everything. Some of you are there right now, and some of you are on the other side of that. You're the one doing the wrong thing over and over and over. And the people around you that you're supposed to protect and love, you take advantage of them, you manipulate them, you abuse them. Because they keep telling you, it'll be fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's okay. It's okay. Now Biblical reconciliation begins when truth and mercy stand in the same room. I want to write that down. Biblical reconciliation begins when truth and mercy stand in the same room. Truth without mercy becomes a horrible knife. Mercy without truth becomes denial. Joseph speaks clean truth, not cruel truth, not vague truth, clean truth. This next part, I think, and there's no way to do it without some of you hurting. And I wrestled with this. Because I felt, you know, I I don't I don't have any way to attenuate it unless they reach out to me. So if this hits home, real close to home for some of you, reach out. Some of us were raised in homes, churches, or even relationships where silence was called keeping the peace. Hey, don't bring it up. Don't make it awkward. Don't upset the family. Don't say what happened. You keep that in the family. You keep that, you don't say what happened out there. No, no, no. This isn't discussed. In fact, don't even discuss it here. Don't say what happened, just move on. I've had bad things happen to me. Just move on. But silence isn't always shalom. Sometimes silence is fear wearing some sort of religious t-shirt. Shalom isn't pretending nothing is broken. Shalom is God's order coming into what is broken. So yes, truth matters. But stunningly, Joseph doesn't. He doesn't use truth as a weapon. He doesn't use his power to crush them. He absolutely could. He uses his power to preserve life. Some people avoid truth and they call it mercy. I'm being merciful. Some people weaponize truth and call it honesty. But the way of God brings truth and mercy under his covenant purposes. Forgiveness can be offered before trust is rebuilt. But reconciliation requires truth, repentance, wisdom, and safety. Genesis 45 doesn't come before Genesis 44. Joseph reveals himself after the repentance has shown fruit in that order. It matters. Here we are. Thread number five. Shake it out. Ain't gonna be nothing easy from here on out. As if any of this was easy. Nicole says, silence can be the shame you've been beaten to submission with. Let it go and lay it at the foot of the cross. Amen. Obedience, this is thread number five. Obedience into the unknown. The safest place isn't the place you control. The safest place is where God is with you. Genesis forty-six moves the story from reunion to relocation. Jacob hears Joseph, his beloved son, is alive. Can you imagine? Can you imagine finding out that Nancy Guthrie, Samantha Guthrie and the other Guthrie children, that you suddenly she walks, Mrs. Guthrie walks into a into some store and walks up to the counter and says, I'm Nancy Guthrie. Can you imagine being the family and hearing that? Then Genesis 46 moves the story from reunion to relocation. Jacob hears Joseph is alive and his spirit revives, and then comes the hard part. I got so many, so many beautiful notes, but just really really honest notes. People said, Dr. Sean, I never knew, I never knew that they like he took his whole family. He took everything, all the tents, all the livestock, everything. Took everything. They gathered it all up, big old caravan. He has to go down to Egypt. And people say, people say, I didn't know that he had to do all that. I just thought it was him. That's the power of knowing the ancient Near Eastern language, culture, and context of scripture. You know what's really happening. Jacob isn't leaving a random location either. He's leaving. Let's not forget Canaan, the land tied to covenant promise. God promised land to Abraham. God confirmed the promise to Isaac. God confirmed it again to Jacob. The land isn't scenery. The land is covenant marker. So for Jacob to go down into Egypt isn't some simple family visit. This is covenant tension. Egypt has food, sure. Egypt has Joseph, sure, absolutely. Egypt has survival, for sure, for sure. But Egypt isn't the land of promise. Egypt is foreign ground. Egypt is empire. Egypt is provision now, but it will become oppression later. Make no mistake, Jacob has absolute reason to be afraid, and God knows it. And that is why God speaks. Covenant people don't enter the unknown by pretending they aren't afraid. They bring fear into the presence of the one who made the promise. Then God says, Jacob, Jacob, and Jacob says, Here I am. God says, I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. There. That word matters. Not only here, but there. Not only in the familiar place, not only where Jacob already understands the story there in Egypt.

In Egypt.

God may lead you away from what feels safe. Young lady, I'm talking to you. God may lead you away from what feels safe, but he never leads you away from his redemptive promise. Jacob has to trust the promised giver more than the promised place. And that isn't easy. Some of us have tied God's faithfulness to the place where we first recognized it. You know what I'm talking about. A role, a house, a ministry, a relationship, a routine, a season, a version of life we understood. And when God begins to move us, we panic because it feels like the promise is being taken. But sometimes you're not losing the promise. You're being asked to trust the God who made it. Then God says the line that holds the whole chapter together. I myself will go down with you to Egypt. And I will also bring you up again. That is covenant presence. Not I will just send instructions. Not I will watch from a distance. Not I will meet you after you survive it. I myself will go down with you, and then I will also bring you up again, down and up, down into Egypt. Egypt, up again by God's hand, down into danger. Up again by redemption, down into exile, up again by deliverance. This isn't only geography, this is the rhythm of redemption now. If you miss this, you've missed everything. God doesn't heal by pretending the pit never happened. Somebody in your heart, you're saying amen right now. You're trying to keep from crying. Some of you are driving cars and you're like, oh man, God doesn't heal by pretending, He doesn't heal us by pretending. The pit we were in never happened. Now, let's pull this whole week together. Genesis forty-two through forty-six shows us that God's covenant faithfulness doesn't avoid brokenness. It enters it. It exposes it. It tests it. It tells the truth about it. It redeems through it. And it leads his people forward with his presence. God doesn't heal Jacob's family by pretending the pit never happened. No, he brings the brothers back to the brother they betrayed. He brings guilt into the light. He brings fear to the surface. He creates the conditions where repentance can be tested. He allows truth and mercy to meet. He leads Jacob down into Egypt with a promise. This isn't sentimental. This is holy. And it is deeply Hebraic. The Bible isn't giving us some private therapy story detached from covenant. This is the family through whom God's promise that He made Abraham is moving. This is the family. And if you don't understand that, everything else just won't be real. It won't be clear. And you won't know your place in all of it. This is the family through whom God's promise to Abraham is moving. Through this family, all, including yours, all of the families of the earth will be blessed. Through Judah's line, the king will come. Through Israel's story, the nations will see the faithfulness and oh, come on, somebody, somebody, somebody, come on, somebody. Get this. Get this. Don't miss this. Through Israel's story, the nations, the nations will see the faithfulness of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So when God works on this family, he isn't merely fixing personalities. He's forming a people. He's moving redemption forward. And this is why this week matters so much. Your hidden guilt isn't disconnected from your calling. Somebody, right now, you are terrified that your hidden guilt will be found. Your hidden guilt is not disconnected from your calling. Your fear isn't disconnected from your obedience. Your repentance isn't disconnected from your witness. Your mercy isn't disconnected from God's purposes. Your next faithful step isn't disconnected from the redemptive story God is writing on your life. In Messiah, Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Christ. In Messiah, God comes all the way down. All of this points to Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus Christ. Joseph gives us shadows, but Yeshua is the substance. Joseph is rejected by his brothers. Jesus, Yeshua, is rejected by his own. Joseph suffers because of human evil, yet God uses it to preserve life. Yeshua suffers because of human sin. Yet God uses the cross to bring salvation. Judah offers himself in Benjamin's place. Yeshua gives himself in the place of sinners. Joseph says, Come near to me. Yeshua says, Come to me. Jacob goes down into Egypt with the promise, I myself will go down with you. In Messiah, God comes all the way down, down into flesh, down into weakness, down into poverty, down into rejection, down into sorrow and suffering and death and into the grave. And then God brings him up. Resurrection is the ultimate I will bring you up again. And that's why we don't face buried guilt, fear, repentance, reconciliation, or the unknown as people with empty courage. We face them in Messiah. Yeshua didn't save us, and he doesn't save us by pretending. He saves us by dealing with the sin through his death and resurrection. At the cross, truth and mercy met. Sin is judged, grace is given, the guilty are invited near. The rejected son becomes the saving king. Somebody say amen. Because you don't have to hide. You don't have to call avoidance peace. You don't have to worship the familiar. Yeshua is enough for the truth. Yeshua is enough for the fear. Yeshua is enough for the test. Yeshua is enough for the wound. Yeshua. Jesus Christ is enough for the unknown. Stop protecting what God is trying to redeem. Stop protecting what God is trying to redeem. He's trying to bring you through that, and you're trying to avoid it because you're afraid of consequences, embarrassment or lack. So, after this week, what does obedience look like? First, name the thing you buried. Not some vague version, not the edited version, the real thing. You be honest with God, Father. I lied. Father, I betrayed. Father, I hid. Father, I manipulated. Father, I was afraid. Father, I kept control because I didn't trust you. Father, I called silence, peace because I didn't want to face the truth. Name it. Can't change what you don't acknowledge. Name it. Second, open your hands where fear has been making all the decisions. Ask the hard questions of yourself. What am I gripping because I'm terrified God might ask for it? Then ask, is this love or is this control? Is this wisdom or is this fear? Is this discernment or is this self-protection with religious language? Third, identify the repeated test. Where is that old door opening again? Same anger? Same secrecy? Same blame shifting? Same temptation, same avoidance, same control, same suspicion, same escape, same pattern of protecting yourself while someone else carries the cost. Name the door, then choose differently. Fourth, practice clean truth and wise mercy. If truth needs to be spoken, speak it cleanly, not cruelly, not dramatically, not vaguely, cleanly. If mercy needs to be extended, extend it wisely, not foolishly, not without boundaries, not by pretending repentance is present when it isn't wisely. Number five, take the next faithful step into the unknown, not the entire road, not the whole map, not a dramatic performance or some big statement. The next faithful step. Make the call. Staring at your phone. You know you need to make the call. You know you do. You've harmed someone. Make the call. Not a bunch of excuses. Tell the truth. Ask for forgiveness. And maybe you need to set a boundary. Maybe that's what you need to do. Maybe you need to set a boundary. You need to release control to God. You need to stop hiding. And maybe some of you, you need to obtain wise counsel. Open your hands. Pack the box. For some of you it's saying yes. And for some of you, it's saying no. And my friends, your yeses will mean nothing until your noes mean something. Worship at Beer Sheeb before you walk toward Egypt. Don't forget to worship. I have for you tonight a challenge and a choice. The unknown is real, but Yeshua is more real. Here's the challenge tonight. Ask God five questions. What guilt have I buried that you are calling into the light? What am I gripping because I'm afraid to trust you with it? Where is that old test, that old temptation returning? Where have I mistaken silence for peace? What familiar place? What familiar place am I treating like my savior? Don't rush those questions. Don't rush those questions. Let those five questions search you. Listen, if I've got the choice that you have, we've given you the challenge. The choice is coming in a second. But I encourage you, I I I kill myself every week writing all of these and doing all the research and then writing a blog and a study guide. And I don't say that so you'll feel sorry for me. I just I would hate to do all this work for nothing. True word, faith for life. True word faithforlife.com. Top right, there's the blog. Contact is right there as well. The bookstore, the store is right there. You're gonna you can learn about Mooseworks Bible. Um, I can't tell you enough good about her. Melissa on Etsy, Mooseworks Bible on Etsy. Yeah, it's a crazy name, but she does incredible work. But I'm telling you, this blog and and the study guide, all of the resources I use in in working on this this whole week, they're all there, all footnoted, all bibliography. It's I could not be making it easier for you. All I ask is if you if you some I I write the study guides that they could be used as devotionals and the blog too, but like if you're in a group study, you can just copy it. It's all copiable. The only thing I ask is that you copy all the way down to the copyright. I don't ask for a dime for any of it. I pay for the website, I pay for everything there. All of this is expensive. Why would I waste all this money if you don't use the resource? And I say that at this point in time for a reason. Because you're gonna need support. You're gonna need to be able to look back at this and read it over and pray through it and cry through it and rejoice through it and worship through it. It's all there. True word, faithforlife.com. Here's the choice. I gave you the challenge. Will you keep surviving around what God's what God wants to heal? Or will you let him bring truth into the room? Will you keep calling guilt complicated? Or will you let mercy meet you in confession? Will you keep calling control love? Or will you open your hands? Will you keep measuring repentance by emotion? Or will you choose differently when this test returns and it will? You are so welcome, Tammy. It is a pleasure. Thank you so much. Will you keep calling avoidance peace, keeping the peace it's not? Or will you let truth and mercy stand together in the same room? Will you cling to familiar ground? Or will you obey the God who says, I myself will go down with you? The safest place in your life isn't the place you can control. It's the place where God is with you. And in Yeshua, God has come near. So come into the light, open your hands, choose differently, tell the truth, receive mercy, and take the next faithful step. The unknown is absolutely real. But Yeshua is more real. Prayer isn't asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Yeshua, bring us into truth without crushing us under condemnation. Show us the guilt we have buried. Show us the fear we have renamed as wisdom. Show us the control we have called love. Show us the regret we have mistaken for repentance. Show us the silence we have called peace. Show us the familiar places we've treated like saviors. Teach us to tell the truth cleanly. Teach us to repent deeply. Teach us to bear fruit faithfully. Teach us to extend mercy wisely. Teach us to obey courageously. Thank you that your mercy isn't afraid of the truth. Thank you that Yeshua came for sinners like me and like you, not for people pretending they don't need grace. Thank you that Yeshua went down into death and came up in resurrection victory. Lead us out of denial and into repentance. Lead us out of fear and into trust. Lead us out of false peace and into shalom. Lead us forward in covenant faithfulness in Yeshua's name. Amen. And today may be a different day for you. It may be a different day for you indeed. Today might be the day that you realize the deepest issue isn't just something from your past. Something you fear losing, or something you need to fix in your behavior, but it's the condition of your heart before God. This is where you come home. You don't have to hide. Today I turn from my sin and I place my trust in him as my Lord and my King. Forgive me. Make me new. Fill me with your Spirit. From this day forward, I want to follow you in Yeshua's name. Amen. Look, if you prayed that prayer today, welcome to the family of God. How exciting. But you probably have a million questions. You think, oh man, I don't I don't know what to do next. That's why I'm here. Contact me through true wordfaithforlife.com slash contact or the little contact button on the top right, and then on the right side, there's a little thing where you can leave me a voicemail if you want. I pay for it. Doesn't cost you anything. None of this costs you anything. I pay for it so you don't have to. If you still have honest questions, reach out to me. Truewordfaithlife.com slash contact. I will personally connect with you and I'll help you take your next steps. You're not alone. Just reach out. Now I want you to hear this fully. Don't miss a word. The room you sealed isn't sealed to God. The guilt you buried isn't beyond mercy. The fear you protected isn't stronger than his care.