Dream Fulfilling Time

• I’ve been talking to you for a few weeks about times of refreshing Holy Spirit said winds of refreshing are blowing it’s it’s a season for renewing for recharging for rest strengthening for Rel lifing and today I want to talk about that in a way that the Christmas story portrays but it isn’t mentioned very often it’s one of the reasons why Joseph was chosen begins 1700 years before Christ’s birth it involves his family tree in particular it involves Abraham Isaac and Jacob and especially Jacob’s son Joseph Jesus is born into that very
• special lineage and his Earth ly Father Joseph was named after Jacob’s son Joseph who became a mighty ruler second only to Pharaoh himself that’s important to note because it points us towards a very important reason why Jesus came it points us towards a very important Christmas gift that Christ’s coming provides for all who accept him as Savior it it points us towards how Christ came to heal families households entire households it points us towards a soul condition that silently rules the heart if if we’re not careful
• and it’s an underlying theme of the story of Jacob and Joseph in Genesis CH 37 the story of course was written by Moses the great leader of Israel and Jewish tradition tells us that Jesus Earthly Father Joseph would have told him the story behind his namesake on or about the time of his bar mitzvah over when he was turning 12 years old understanding the lineage was very important to the culture in those times so even as a boy Jesus would have had a soul condition explained to him that he was born to heal through his death on the cross his
• Earthly Father Joseph prophesies it to him at the age of 12 12 Joseph told the story to Jesus that is found in Genesis 37 and I’ll pack it unpack it a bit today in the land of Canaan some 4,000 years ago now the fascinating story of Joseph unfolds Joseph is the son of Jacob who God had renamed Israel meaning Prince of God uh Prince of God acquired through wrestling it it was not just a title that that was given to him on a whim years of Blood Sweat and Tears were behind the change of his name God says you will no longer be called Jacob but
• Israel Jacob we know was the grandson of of Abraham obviously making Joseph the great grandson of Abraham Joseph was also Rachel’s son Jacob had two wives Rachel and Leah he was born when Jacob was 91 years old he was the son of Jacob’s old age and Jacob loved him dearly all was well for for several years and then life turned and soul conflict begins to weave its way into this true and fascinating story when Joseph was 9 years old his mother Rachel died giving birth to his youngest brother Benjamin in the pain of her childbirth