Genesis 49:1-28 — God’s Blessings & Your Character

Main Idea: God is wise in blessing us in ways suitable to our character.

GOD CAN USE YOUR CHARACTER TO BLESS OTHERS

• God can use your sacrificial service to bring abundance. 

• God can use your diligence to help and heal others.

• God can use your kindness to uplift others.

• God can use your consistency to steady others.

• God can use your passion to create safe living for others.

GOD’S BLESSINGS CAN LIMIT YOU TO BLESS OTHERS

• God can limit your choices so you don’t take advantage of others through your lack of self-control.

• God can limit your influence so your counsel & impact don’t lead others into wrong choices.

• God can limit your freedom so your work benefits others.

• God can limit your comfort so you can protect others.

SERMON TRANSCRIPT (AUTO-TRANSCRIBED BY APPLE PODCASTS)

I am so excited to be in this passage of scripture with you guys today. We are going to be in Genesis chapter 42. Or no, we're not going to be in Genesis 42.

We're going to be in Genesis 49. We're in a series in Genesis 42 through 50. And so I want to encourage you to head over to Genesis 49.

I don't think I need anything else from that guy. He can go away. But by way of question, how many of you here today have ever heard a message from Genesis 49 on the blessing of the 12 tribes at Jacob's deathbed?

Raise your hand if you have heard one. Okay, cool. We've got a couple.

Awesome. I have heard a couple because I was preparing for this message. Prior to preparing for this message, I hadn't heard one.

And so I hope that as we complete the end of this portion of Scripture, that your hearts are as challenged as mine. Your hearts challenged just like mine was this past week. I'll tell you guys on the onset of this.

As I was preparing this sermon, studying, writing down, I went, Oh, yeah, that kind of hits me where I'm at right now.

And so I want you guys to know, as we go through this today, there might be some things that you see yourself in this passage, and you go, oh, that's not a phenomenally pretty picture right now.

But what I love about the Word of God is that as it shows me who I really am, it also shows me the antidote.

And what I love in this passage is that it shows us Jesus, who He is, and thousands of years before He would be born in the manger by the Virgin Mary, like we sung about this morning, Jesus was always on the plan of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

And so even in the Old Testament, all of Scripture points forward to Jesus in the Old Testament and reflects back on Him in the New Testament. And so I'm just really, really excited for this time with us today.

We have over the last almost three years now walked through Genesis piece by piece. We saw chapters one through 11. It's kind of the start of everything.

What's wrong with our world? Who is God? And how is God going to fix what's wrong in the world?

Then we saw through the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Jacob's life will end. He'll pass away next week. You know, spoiler alert, I don't know if you knew that, but Jacob dies.

I know, I know.

And so we saw through the lives of these men that this was the family line that Jesus, the Messiah, would come through, that both God the Son, eternal, would become a descendant of these horribly broken individuals, but individuals that had faith in

God's ability and God's promises way more so than their own perfection. And that's something that I think all of us can identify with.

If we looked in the Bible and we saw just a perfect person, and God said, if you can just be like so-and-so, then you'll be okay.

All of us would go, well, I remember the times when I flew off the handle, and when I did this thing wrong, and when I didn't do right here, and when I stole this when I was a kid, and when this relationship was really broken through the way that I

interacted. As those things would happen, if we're trying to be someone else, we're going to be disappointed time and time again. But as we see throughout scripture, the only perfect one is God.

And while we follow Him in obedience, we want to do what He has for us. We recognize the aim of scripture is not to say, here's all the things you can do so that God is happy with you.

It's here's what Jesus has done because God loves you, and now He invites you into His new life. So what we're going to be going over today in Genesis 49, verses one through 28, is God's blessings and your character.

God's blessings and your character. We're gonna see this main thought as we travel through that God is wise in blessing us in ways suitable to our character. God is wise in blessing us in ways suitable to our character.

I want you to think about this today that what's good for some people isn't good for others. Raise your hand if you like apple pie. Okay, we got it.

That's majority, we're in America. That makes sense. You like apple pie.

I'm not an apple pie fan. And what's good for you might be, I don't like it. You give me an apple pie, you know, I'll give it to my kids, I'll give it to my wife.

I love it. But what's good for you might not be good for me. We've got at the end of October coming up, some various holidays.

By raise of hands, how many of you like candy corn? Okay, a lot less than apple pie. I'm with you.

I love candy corn. But if you were to give some of my friends or some of my family members candy corn, they'd be like, what in the world is wrong with you? What's good for some people might not be good for others.

Not only that, but what is good for some people could actually be extremely detrimental for others.

I know we have in the room today some people that they're hunters, they're sportsmen, and if you give, you know, Jim Newman a gun, no one, you know, only good things are going to happen.

That's what we learned at the shooting range, you know, a few weeks ago, or a week and a half ago, something like that. Good things can happen when Jim has a gun. If you give an actual gun to my 6-year-old, no good things are going to happen.

What's good for one person can actually be detrimental for another person. If you have a person that has struggled with substance abuse, they're an alcoholic, if you give wine to them, that can be really, really dangerous.

Whereas someone that isn't in that exact same life situation, they might be fine, they may be able to use self-control in moderation.

So, what is good for some people might not be good for others, and what is fine for one person might be deeply detrimental to another.

So, what we're going to see from this passage, as Jacob blesses his twelve sons, is that God blesses us in ways that are suitable to our character.

That the way that you and I live actually affects the ways that God gives things to us, takes things away from us, the limits that He places on us. And we'll see this as we walk through the passage together. Would you pray with me?

And then we'll dive into the passage. We'll see what the Lord has for us. And then we'll see some thoughts there at the end.

Lord, thank you for your goodness to us. God, we pray that you would be with every heart here. Lord, you know the struggles, the difficulties that we walked in here today with.

Lord, the people that are navigating through heavy health difficulties right now. Lord, the people that don't know how they're going to make ends meet financially.

Lord, the people that with their interpersonal relationships, Lord, they're struggling and they want to be reconciled to that spouse or they want to be reconciled to that sibling and they just don't know how it's going to happen.

Lord, you are the one who knows every thought and intent of our hearts. And so God, we pray that you would speak to us today. Lord, as we behold Jesus even in this passage, God, we ask that you would help push us in the right direction.

Lord, towards a faith and a confidence in what you have done and that we would obediently following you, knowing that your way for us is best. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

All right, we're going to get into the passage and I'm going to tell you guys right off hand, this is a very unique portion of scripture.

This passage, Exodus 15 and Deborah's song in Judges, are some of the oldest, most archaic portions of Hebrew that we have in the Bible. So I don't know if you guys know this.

Actually, we sang when I surveyed the wondrous cross today, there's some older language in that.

Or if we sing the song, Holy, Holy, Holy, when you have something that's poetry, it is able to last for a lot longer in a language because you don't adjust some of the forms.

So even as we're walking through this passage, if you go, well, that's phrased kind of weird.

It is because this is a very, very ancient poem that was spoken, and it was remembered in Israel by its people for millennia as a result of the fact that it was put into poetry.

So Jacob called his sons and said, gather around and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. He says, come together and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to your father Israel.

If you'll remember, Israel is the name that God gave to Jacob as Jacob fully received all of the blessings that God had for him.

He says, Ruben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first fruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power. Okay, starting off as a blessing, this sounds pretty good.

You're powerful, you're strong, you are like my best and greatest. But I wonder if anyone remembers what Ruben did back in chapter 33. Here he highlights it.

Turbulence as water. Yeah, you're powerful, but you're out of control. He says, you will not excel because you got into your father's bed and you defiled it.

He got into my bed. So if you remember, Jacob, as he lived his life, he did not live it according to the will of God all of the time. Part of that was that he wanted to marry Rachel, the daughter of Laban.

And as he worked seven years for this girl on the wedding night, Laban accidentally, well, not accidentally, he intentionally snuck in Rachel's older sister Leah. And so Jacob married Leah. Let that also be a lesson to us.

Never get so drunk that you don't know your own wife. That is a problem. Don't do that.

So as that happens, then Jacob, of course, is irate. And he says, listen, I worked seven years for Rachel, not for Leah.

And so then Laban pulling a trick on the trickster, on Jacob, goes, all right, well, if you work seven more years, I'll happily give you Rachel. You know, we don't give the younger sisters before the older sisters around here.

And so then he gave Rachel. And as Jacob now was married to both Leah and Rachel, this is something that scripture would sound like condemn, where in the law, God would tell the Israelites, don't do this. This is not a model for you to follow.

This is something that is against the design of God. If you remember, marriage is between one man and one woman committed for one lifetime.

And so as Jacob loved Rachel, and Leah was just kind of also there, Jacob had kids with Leah, and she kept thinking that as she had children, and as she had these boys, including Reuben, that then Jacob would love her. But that wasn't what happened.

And Jacob still loved Rachel. And so he had four children, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, with Leah. But Rachel was like, man, I'm not having any kids.

The scripture tells us that God had closed up her womb, that she wasn't able to conceive at that time.

And so then Rachel gave her handmaid, her servant, her attendant to Jacob, and said, okay, have some children with my handmaid, and then it'll count like it's really my kids, because this girl is my property. And so this will be fine.

Now, you guys know, if God wasn't cool with marrying multiple women, do you think adding a third woman as like property and having substitute children, do you think God was happy with how that went either? No.

Well, as a result, then, Leia went, oh, you're cheating, you know, you're bringing in additional players. And so then she gave her handmaid, her servant to Jacob. And so by the end of it, Jacob has these four women that he's having children with.

And this is totally against the plan of God. As Reuben, the firstborn of Leia, Jacob's first wife, as he grew up, one time when his father was away, Reuben thought, OK, there's this like fighting between my mom and then the step mom that's here.

So if I sleep with Rachel's handmaid, this one that my dad has had children with, this will mean that like Leia's line is the best line. They are the most authoritative line.

Now, as we hear that today, we are all justifiably like, that is so messed up. This is, you know, various soap operas, telenovelas. Like, this is the kind of craziness you'd hear or see on those.

This was, unfortunately, common back in that day and age to utilize sexual power as something that you domineered over someone else. Or here's how you established that you were greater than the former husband or former lover that was here.

We can see this even in the life of Absalom, as he slept with 10 of David's concubines several hundred years after this.

This was incredibly wicked, but Scripture tells us not just how people should act, but how they really do act in cruelty and domination over others.

So, as a result of Ruben's sin that he did, here Jacob says, because you're turbulent as water, you exercise no self-control, and you will not excel because you got into your father's bed and you defiled it. Simeon and Levi.

Okay, first born is not going to excel. All right, well, maybe the second or third born might excel. He says, Simeon and Levi are brothers.

Their knives are vicious weapons. Now, he's not saying here, man, you guys are just the best. You know, you're ninjas, and I love that about you.

This is actually a bad thing. He says, may I never enter their council? May I never join their assembly?

For in their anger, they kill men, and on a whim, they hamstring oxen. If you remember back in Genesis 34, where we were at several months ago, I don't remember the exact date.

In Genesis 34, you have Ruben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah's younger sister, Dinah. Can everyone say Dinah? You can remember it from someone's in the kitchen with Dinah.

There's that song for you. So Dinah was in a not super great courtship relationship with one of the sons of a leader of a Canaanite city.

And he, it's slightly unclear in scripture whether or not it was full on abuse or if it was premarital intimacy that they engaged in, but then the young Canaanite prince and his dad, they came to Jacob and said, all right, you know, my son loves your

daughter. And so we would like to have her marry into our family. You know, well, you guys can become part of our clan, our tribe. And Jacob said, well, listen, we can't give our daughters to anyone that is uncircumcised.

And so the Canaanite leader and his son, they went to all the men of the city and they said, listen, here's this gigantic family and they will assimilate with us if we just all get circumcised and then we will have like prosperity and everything

within our land. So they did that. The men of the city agreed. They thought, man, this will be a great economic opportunity.

And on day three, as the men were completely incapacitated, Simeon and Levi went into the city and killed all of the men. And not only that, Jacob highlights, they hamstrung the oxen.

So you couldn't even then use those oxen to plow the land, to be able to retain the fertility of the agriculture that was around the city.

They just, in their rage, in their lack of self-control, they caused others to murder and to destroy things within a land. It was a totally out of proportion move. He says, Their anger is cursed, for it is strong, and their fury, for it is cruel.

I'll disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel.

If you remember the story of the Children of Israel, you remember that this happens to Levi, that Levi doesn't have a tribal allotment of land, but instead they end up being the servants of God that serve in the temple before that, in the Tabernacle

and all across the land of Israel. They don't have property. They just teach people the word of God. I'll throw this story in as well.

What I love here is God can sometimes use our personality traits that we have used for evil in the past. He can use those same personality traits for good.

As Moses and the Children of Israel, as they got to Mount Sinai, Moses goes up on the mountain. He's receiving the Ten Commandments from God.

The Children of Israel down at the foot of the mountain, after about 30, 40 days, they get tired of waiting for Moses to come back down. They think, oh, God must have killed Moses. He must have said or done something.

And so we're just going to set up an idol. This is how we know how to operate. They were down in Egypt for 400 years where there were plenty of idols.

And so they made an idol, the Golden Calf. And as they created this, they go, okay, well now we will be able to communicate with the gods. We'll offer sacrifices.

We'll do all the things that people do in worshiping idols. This included sexual immorality as well as worshiping this false idol. And as Moses comes down the mountain, sees what's happening, he says, is anyone in Israel following God?

Is anyone going to obey God? If so, come to me. And the tribe of Levi was the tribe that was not worshiping the false idol.

And so then God says, have there be like, vengeance protection against this wickedness that is happening in this place.

And so God used the passion, the, if you will, the swords, the knives of Levi that once had been used for evil, now we're used to protect Israel from greater judgment and condemnation.

And so I want to encourage you, if you want to read more about that, I believe that's Exodus 33 or 34. If you want to go look at that a little bit more this week. But here, we're batting like zero.

There are three boys and all three boys right now have been absolutely terrible. No self-control, out of proportion in the way that they respond to people. But then we get to this fourth one, Judah.

Now, if you guys remember, who was the brother that suggested that the brothers sell Joseph into slavery? Shout it out. Judah.

If you remember from the chapter following that, who was the guy that slept with someone that he thought was a prostitute? Shout it out. Judah.

But then, who was the guy as the brothers went down to Egypt, as Benjamin was going to be the one that was imprisoned? Who was the guy that said, take me instead, because this son is loved by the father, and so I will take his place? It was Judah.

So Judah has this wonderful course throughout his life, where once he was just as evil and wicked and messed up as all the rest of his family, but through what God did, he ended up being someone that, like Jesus, offered himself in our place, that

there was someone that was going to be imprisoned, that was going to suffer punishment, and Judah stood in his place, just as Jesus stood in our place. So then he says, Judah, your brothers will praise you. The name Judah is God be praised.

And he says, hey, praising one, your brothers will praise you. He says, your hand will be on the necks of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down to you.

Do you remember who the other person was that was mentioned throughout these stories of the brothers bowing down to? It was Joseph. He had that dream of the brothers all bowing down to him.

And now this promise that was for Joseph that came to pass, Jacob says this is what is going to happen in the future of the tribe of Judah. He says Judah is a young lion. My son, you return from the kill.

He crouches, he lies down like a lion or a lioness. Who dares to rouse him? There is power and there is might that is within the lion of the tribe of Judah.

He says the scepter, that's a ruling stick, will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he who's right it is comes. And the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

You can see there on the screen, the phrase he who's right it is comes. This would be the Hebrew word Shiloh. And Bible translators are a little uncertain.

This is one of the only times that it shows up in this way in scripture. And so some people think it might be a specific place that the ruler of Israel is going to come.

Maybe he might be anointed there, maybe he might be crowned there, or it could mean this phrase here. He whose right it is, the one to whom the kingship belongs. He says, and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

Says he ties his donkey to a vine and the cult of his donkey to the choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth are whiter than milk.

Now I want you guys to remember, there are two like super important people that come from the tribe of Judah. One is in the Old Testament, one is in the New Testament.

Can anyone tell me, super important person that comes from the tribe of Judah in the Old Testament? David. Who's the super important person that comes from the tribe of Judah in the New Testament?

It's Jesus. And for both of these people, here's what this promise, this blessing, is talking about to come in the future. Jesus is the praised one.

Jesus is the victor, the one who has his neck on, or he has his hand on the necks of his enemies. I love, think of the story of the prodigal son. The son squanders the father's money in a far off land.

He comes back, he's like, I'll just be a slave to dad, because even my slaves have it good in the house of my father. And when he's yet a long ways off, his father sees him, he runs to him, and what does he do? He embraces him.

And the father's hand is on the neck of his enemies. But this enemy has become a friend, has become a son through what Jesus has done. I just love how scripture together brings these thoughts.

It says, your hand will be on the necks of your enemies. The father's sons will bow down to you. And we, the children of God, the sons and daughters of God, get to worship before the feet of the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Jesus is this one who has authority. He has the scepter that will not depart away from him. He is the lion, the powerful king.

You think of the old song, who's the king of the jungle? And I know that lions don't exclusively live in jungle, so I don't know where that song got all of its information from. But you get the point.

Jesus is the one who deserves the kingship. Jesus is the one who all peoples must obey. Jesus is the one who brings abundance to Israel and to the world.

I love here, he washes his clothes in wine. Okay, if you know anything about any time in human history, wine is something that's kind of hard to come by, especially if you have like good wine. It's old, it's vintage.

And so to wash one's clothes in wine, you would say, man, that's such a waste, except if there is such free flowing abundance and wine overflowing crops and joy that is there. So Jesus is this one that brings abundance to Israel.

Then I love here, Jesus is the one who on a colt of a donkey, he washed his clothes through his death in the wine of God's wrath. You can think in the garden, the garden with the vines, Jesus says, Father, not my will, but your will be done.

And as Jesus drank fully of the cup of God's wrath on sin, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And I love here the description of Jesus' beauty, his eyes are darker than wine, his teeth are whiter than milk.

If you will, he has dark hair, and he has the whitest teeth. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm thankful that Jesus has this perfection, this beauty that is there to him. I love the old song, or it's not that old, it's maybe 20 years old.

You're all together lovely, all together worthy, all together wonderful to me.

If today you don't know Jesus as your savior, as you hear about this line of the tribe of Judah, if you have never given your life over to him, I encourage you to give your life to Jesus today. Got to hasten on a little bit.

Then he says, Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon. He says, you are going to be able to engage in, if you will, international commerce.

There's great blessing that is here for Zebulun. He says, Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebacks.

He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer. Okay, is forced laborer, does that sound good or bad?

It sounds like something that's actually a bad scenario, but here there is even a blessing within some hardship.

Where Issachar would be placed within the land of Israel would often be invaded, and so they would often be put into subjugation, but even in their subjugation, they experienced a good, full land. God can bless you even as you navigate hardship.

Says, Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward.

Okay, if you guys know anything about the Bible, are snakes normally a good thing? Is a snake biting the heel? Is that a good thing even in Genesis?

No, as you look at Dan's history, as you look at the rest of the Old Testament, Dan is one that though they were supposed to be part of the people of God, they over and over again worshiped false idols.

If you will, they followed the path of Satan, the path of the serpent, instead of following the way of God.

Just because you were, if you will, born into a believing family, just because you were born into a Christian home, does not mean that you are a Christian. You ought to pursue and love and know God personally.

Jacob pauses for a second and goes, I will wait for your salvation, Lord. Here this all lower small capitals, L-O-R-D is the name, Yahweh or Jehovah. And I love here, I wait for your salvation.

This is the Hebrew word, Yahashua, where we would get the name Joshua or Jehovah saves or as we might know it, Jesus. And here within this blessing, he says, I need the coming Messiah, the Savior of everyone.

He says, Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.

All the way through here, if you notice, not all of these blessings sound super great, but God's blessings are not always, you're going to experience all peace, all the time, you're going to have all the money, you're going to have all the perfect

relationships. God gives us good things and difficulties within our life that are ultimately for our good. He says, Asher's food will be rich and he will produce royal delicacies.

Some of you that make cakes and cookies, you're like, yeah, I identify with Asher. I think that's how God's blessed me. He says, Naftali is a dough set free that bears beautiful fawns.

The land where Naftali was, they could get as much land to the north as they could have possibly wanted.

Whatever they were able to accomplish, whatever land they were able to domesticate, they were able to have that, because all of it was open at the top of them. So there is freedom that is there.

And as Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring, its branches climb over the wall, the archers attacked him, shot at him, and were hostile toward him.

Yet his bow remains steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob, by the name of the shepherd, the Rock of Israel, by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of

the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and of the womb. If you will, you get rain for your crops, you get streams that don't dry up, that are able to feed your crops as well.

You're able to have children and to nourish them throughout their life. He says, the blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the ancient hills.

May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers. Okay, there's Joseph that all of these great blessings are coming to. That's daddy's favorite, but who God has is the prince of the brothers.

That is the tribe of Judah. He says, Benjamin is a wolf. He tears his prey.

In the morning, he devours the prey, and in the evening, he divides the plunder. Here again, as you read it, you go, that doesn't seem like very blessing language.

As you see the history of the tribe of Benjamin over and over again, they were the mightiest warriors. You can think of even the first king of Israel, Saul, was a descendant from Benjamin.

And as you think of the New Testament, the one that we know is from the tribe of Benjamin is the Apostle Paul, who once was Saul, the great persecutor of the Christians, that he was like a wolf. He was the one going after others and tearing them.

But God is able to make even of the wolf, he is able to make one of his servants. These are the tribes of Israel, twelve and all, and this is what their father said to them.

He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a, what's that word there, suitable blessing. That's where we're going to end our time today as we look very, very briefly at these.

Two things, God can use your character to bless others, that as you have good character traits within your life and within my life, God can use those to bless others.

And sometimes, as we see with these boys, God can limit things in our life so that others are blessed and that others don't experience unfortunate realities as a result of interacting with us. So let's go through this quickly.

First, God can use your sacrificial service to bring abundance to others.

We see this in the life of Judah, that God can use the way that you choose to sacrificially serve other people, that you stand in the place of someone else, you are doing something that maybe someone else could be doing and should be doing, God can

use the way that you sacrifice yourself for others to bless them. Think of 2 Corinthians 9 verses 6-8, The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

Each person should do as he decided in his heart, not reluctantly or out of compulsion since God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make every grace overflow to you so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.

We all realize this even with parents, that they sacrifice themselves so that their kids are able to have a better life. Or you can think of inventors like George Washington Carver, who worked hard in order to make the world a better place.

Can I ask you today, who will experience a better week this week because of you? Who will experience a better week this week because they've interacted with you? Secondly, God can use your diligence to help and to heal others.

Think of Zebulun and the ships that he was around. As Jacob looked forward to their placement within the land and how they would work on these ships of international commerce, it takes work to unload, repair, and load ships.

And the work that you do on that ship won't be known fully by you, only by those working on the ship itself.

The ship is going to go to a far off place to be able to unload the cargo, and the work that you did on making sure that there were no holes, that everything was patched correctly, that nothing was broken, you won't know if it worked, only the other

person that continued on with the ship. The work that you today put into investing in the lives and character of others, might not always be seen by you, but it is meaningful nevertheless.

Can I ask you, what can you put effort into today, tomorrow, or this coming weekend, that will assist others to accomplish their purpose, like working on a ship that will then go out and do its work? God can use your kindness to uplift others.

Think of Asher and the delicacies that they made for others. Delicacy isn't something you need to survive, but it's great to enjoy.

I love remembering when I was in like kindergarten or first grade, I was hanging out with my cousins for the day, and they were at like a home school co-op, and the task for that day was writing in cursive.

And I know many of you in this room, you grew up and you learned how to write cursive in school. That was not what I had experienced yet, and so I was totally flying blind, and I felt stupid.

And there was a high schooler that came over and helped me with the homework that I was doing of writing in cursive. And all these years later, I'm far past kindergarten now, I still remember the kindness of someone 20 years ago.

I love the people that God sends to lift me up through a word when times are hardest. Being a pastor, I used to dread it a little bit more that whenever someone would be like, oh, man, pastor, like, love you, grateful for you.

Man, that really blessed me today. I always knew, OK, wait, someone's coming right around the corner that's going to be like, you're the dumbest guy I've ever met. I can't believe you'd say this and do this.

And so I almost used to dread hearing a good word, but I've learned to accept that kindness from the Lord to say, there's going to be times where you just need to stay afloat and a kind word from someone can be that thing that helps out.

Who do you know that could use your kindness this week and what steps will you take to show them meaningful kindness? God can use your consistency to steady others.

Think of the life of Joseph, that he was one that steadied through his steady arms, his brother and his family. And when they had no food, the steadiness, the consistency, the faithfulness of Joseph was what kept the family afloat.

Who's the most even-keeled person that you know? And how would the lives of those around you be improved through your faithful, steady consistency? Who knows that you will always be there for them?

Have you told them? And have you shown them by being consistent in their life? Lastly, here on this end, God can use your passion to create safe living for others.

You can see this even in the lives of Benjamin and Dan, that they were passionate. What's said about them, a wolf and a viper isn't necessarily good, but it could be used for good. God can use your passion to create safe living for others.

What makes you excited or fearful or angry in your life? How can you use that passion to affect change that will make others' lives better? If you're passionate about something, it often shows what you love.

In what areas do your passions lie? I know with people in our church that they love taking care of the buildings or the facilities. And so they deeply love and care about first impressions for those that walk in.

They care about the physical safety of people that are here. They care about the functionality of what God has given us. There are people in this room that they love food and preparing food because they love hospitality.

They love fostering a feeling of family and relationship. There are some people that love details and spreadsheets and maps. And what they are concerned about is wise stewardship or maximized impact or responsibility to what God has given us.

Some people love teaching or doctrine. They care about faithfulness to God or obedience or worship. What you are passionate about shows where God might have you to make a genuine impact in the lives of others.

Now, just because you are passionate about something doesn't mean that you get to throw out the fruit of the spirit in having self-control in your words or emotions or actions.

You can be passionate about something without insulting someone who doesn't yet see what you see or take the action you want them to. Passions can give us opportunities to help others not insult or deride others.

Now, how many of you exactly like me are like, oh, I remember the times where someone didn't see things the way I saw it, and then I maybe mouthed off to Samantha, and I'm like, oh, I can't believe that person. They just don't see the full picture.

I think all of us have been there where we have ridiculed others who have different passions than us. But I want to encourage you that our passions can show where we can help people, not just look down on others.

God's blessings as we close today can limit you to bless others. And see this in the life of Reuben, God can limit your choices. That Reuben didn't get all the blessings of the firstborn.

He was limited in his blessing because he took advantage of others through his lack of self-control. Our world understands this principle.

You have to be a certain age before you can get married, get a tattoo, enlist in the military, buy alcoholic drinks. Our world realizes that some people through lack of self-control are not able to make specific choices yet.

And so they take that option off the table. God doesn't only limit us till we're 18 or 21 years old, however. In his goodness, he will sometimes limit our ability to harm ourselves or others through our choices.

You can think even of the Garden of Eden. And as God sends Adam and Eve out of the garden, it is so that they do not eat of the tree of life and live forever in the anti-God sinful state that they were in.

God limited their choices because of their lack of self-control. Part of God's just punishment of people and nations is giving them over to do anything that they want to do. You can think of the richest or most famous people in our world today.

They have limitless money and greed. They have limitless fame and power. They can do whatever they want with whoever they want whenever they want.

But that's actually a part of God's judgment on them because they are able to have free reign.

We recognize, God, there's sometimes you're limiting my options of what I can do right now because I don't have the self-control to be able to navigate it well.

Now, that was one of those areas that as I was reading through the passage, I went, Oh, God, what are the times in my life for that's been true? I want to encourage you. Let's all pray together.

Lord, help us to have that self-control, that fruit of the Spirit together. Can I ask you, how are you doing at showing self-control with your words, your actions, or your substances?

Secondly, there God can limit your influence so that your counsel and impact don't lead others into wrong choices. With Simeon and Levi, Jacob said, I don't want to enter into their counsel.

I don't want to listen to what these guys have to say, because they are over the top. They also don't have this self-control that is there, but they have bad counsel.

Psalm 1 says, How happy is the one who doesn't walk in the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the company of mockers? On the Internet, anyone and everyone is an expert on everything.

There's the classic case of MacArthur Wheeler and Clifton Earl Johnson from the late 90s, where they thought if they put lemon juice on their face, that security cameras wouldn't be able to see their face. And so they put lemon juice on their faces.

They robbed three banks, and the police knew exactly who it was, because contrary to their belief, lemon juice on the face actually didn't mean that the security cameras couldn't recognize them, and so they were recognized very clearly, and so they

were arrested. There was bad advice, bad thoughts, bad counsel. God, in His kindness, may be giving you and I small opportunities and small audiences of counsel, so that we don't lead others into bad paths.

Or, in His judgment, sometimes God will let us convince a whole lot of people who will listen to us instead of listening to God.

Can I encourage you, be willing to hear from your pastors or if you're kids today, your parents, when they tell you that there's someone you shouldn't be hanging around or learning from or listening to.

The vast amount of resources online, it's wonderful that there's so many, but there's also an insane amount of poor, bad, or downright evil people on social media that you shouldn't listen to. I want to encourage you, walk in the council of the wise.

And today, does your advice come from the word of God? I also see from the life of Issachar that God can limit your freedom so that your work benefits others.

Do you care more about your independence or your usefulness to accomplish God's purpose in your life? Proverbs 13 22 says, A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, but the sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.

Can I ask you, if you were given absolute freedom in your life, what would you do with it? Would you use it to serve others or amuse yourself?

For those that are retired, are you spending your time in serving your spouse, your family, your church, or your community? If not, I want to challenge you to devote yourself to the benefit of others with the freedom that God has given you.

For those that are singles here today, use your time, your finances, and your energy to help the Lord's work, to help the elderly and the widows, to help your community.

Don't simply use your freedom to have fun, though that's certainly a great thing that you can do as well. Use your freedom to benefit others. And then lastly here, God can limit your comfort so that you can protect others.

You can think of what Jacob said to Gad, that there's going to be the rebels that are attacking, but you are going to be able to fight against them.

Great illustration that I thought of with this was our military members, those that are placed in harm's way in order to protect their nation or to protect our allies, that they go into situations of danger or uncomfortability for the benefit of

others. Can I ask you today, what hard conversations are you choosing to have in order to protect someone else? God has called us not to be peacefakers, but to be peacemakers. Who can you broker peace with in your life even this week?

Well, this is the blessing of Jacob on his 12 sons. Can I ask you today, how has the Lord spoken to you?

As you think about your character, your walk with God, the way that you act, the way that you interact with others, do you have a character that God can bless and use to benefit others?

Or do you and I have aspects of our character that maybe God is limiting us in some ways right now, so that we do not lead others into wrong choices, or that we do not harm others through our bad choices or bad advice?

I love, love the center of that poem. It's Jacob saying, I will wait for your salvation, Yahweh. What we need is not merely, okay, God, I better have some more self-control, though hopefully in the Lord, we do exhibit that fruit of the Spirit.

What we need is the salvation of God, and as He works in us and through us, He will transform us so that we can be like a Judah, who once was far away and not obeying God, to someone that then received the prominent blessing among all of the family

members. However, God's spoken to you today, I encourage you to respond to Him.