God said to Jacob, “Get up, go to Bethel, and live there. - PowerPoint Presentation

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God said to Jacob, “Get up, go to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you ran away from your brother Esau.”

Jacob said to his household and to everyone who was with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you. Clean yourselves and change your clothes. Then let’s rise and go up to Bethel so that I can build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I’ve gone.” So they gave Jacob all of the foreign gods they had, as well as the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the

terebinth

at

Shechem

.Slide3

When they set out, God made all of the surrounding cities fearful so that they didn’t pursue Jacob’s sons.  Jacob and all of the people with him arrived in Luz, otherwise known as Bethel, in the land of Canaan.  He built an altar there and named the place El-bethel, because God had revealed himself to him there when he ran away from his brother.  Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried at Bethel under the oak, and Jacob named it

Allon-bacuth

. God appeared to Jacob again, while he was on his way back from

Paddan-aram

, and blessed him. Slide4

God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will be Jacob no longer. No, your name will be Israel.” And he named him Israel.  God said to him, “I am El

Shaddai

.  Be fertile and multiply. A nation, even a large group of nations, will come from you; kings will descend from your own children.  The land I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, I give to you; and I will give the land to your descendants after you.”  Then God ascended, leaving him alone in the place where he spoke to him.  So Jacob set up a sacred pillar, a stone pillar, at the place God spoke to him. He poured an offering of wine on it and then poured oil over it.  Jacob named the place Bethel where God spoke to him.

Genesis 35: 1-15 (CEB)Slide5
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And Jacob dwelled in the land of his father’s

sojournings

, in the land of Canaan. This is the lineage of Jacob- Joseph, seventeen years old, was tending the flock with his brothers, assisting the sons of

Bilhah

and the sons of

Zilpah

, the wives of his father. And Joseph brought ill report of them to their father. And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, for he was the child of his old age, and he made him an ornamented tunic. And his brothers saw it was he their father loved more than all his brothers, and they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Slide7

And Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers and they hated him all the more. And he said to them, “Listen, pray, to this dream that I dreamed. And, look, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, look, my sheaf arose and actually stood up, and, look, your sheaves drew round and bowed to my sheaf.” And his brothers said to him, “Do you mean to reign over us, do you mean to rule us?” And they hated him all the more, for his dreams and for his words.Slide8

And he dreamed yet another dream and recounted it to his brothers, and he said, “Look, I dreamed a dream again, and, look, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing to me.” And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we really come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow before you to the ground?” And his brothers were jealous of him, while his father kept the thing in mind.

Genesis

37:1-11 (Alter)Slide9
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Joseph’s brothers went to tend their father’s flocks near

Shechem

. Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers tending the sheep near

Shechem

? Come, I’ll send you to them.”

And he said, “I’m ready.”

Jacob said to him, “Go! Find out how your brothers are and how the flock is, and report back to me.”

So Jacob sent him from the Hebron Valley. When he approached

Shechem

, a man found him wandering in the field and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

Joseph said, “I’m looking for my brothers. Tell me, where are they tending the sheep?”

The man said, “They left here. I heard them saying, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.Slide12

They saw Joseph in the distance before he got close to them, and they plotted to kill him. The brothers said to each other, “Here comes the big dreamer. Come on now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we’ll say a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams!”

When Reuben heard what they said, he saved him from them, telling them, “Let’s not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Don’t spill his blood! Throw him into this desert cistern, but don’t lay a hand on him.” He intended to save Joseph from them and take him back to his father.Slide13

When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s long robe,  took him, and threw him into the cistern, an empty cistern with no water in it.  When they sat down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of

Ishmaelites

coming from Gilead, with camels carrying sweet resin, medicinal resin, and fragrant resin on their way down to Egypt.  Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and hide his blood?  Come on, let’s sell him to the

Ishmaelites

. Let’s not harm him because he’s our brother; he’s family.” His brothers agreed. When some

Midianite

traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern. They sold him to the

Ishmaelites

for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph to Egypt.

Genesis 37:12-28Slide14
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Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers;  and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!Slide16

What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all — is it possible that, having given us his Son, he would not give us everything else too?  So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous!  Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Jesus, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf!  Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War?

Romans 8:28-35 (CJB)Slide17
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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39 (CJB)