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All right, we're here in Genesis chapter 48, and we're going to finish the chapter here tonight. We've had a few weeks off. The next three weeks, we'll get through 48, 49, 50, one sermon per chapter, then we'll start on the book of Psalms by one chapter. No, I'm just kidding. We are going to go to the book of Psalms, but we're not going to finish the entire book of Psalms. But anyways, we're here in Genesis 48, and this chapter is kind of a mixed bag of a few different things. And so the name of this sermon is the name of God, the name of God, and we'll cover various things in this passage. Point number one is God Almighty. Point number one is God Almighty. Verse number one, it came to pass after these things that one told Joseph saying, one told Joseph, behold, thy father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob and said, behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee, and Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me, and loves in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land of thy seed after thee, for in everlasting possession. Go to Exodus chapter six, Exodus chapter six. Now I've talked about this a little bit recently, and it's kind of in the context here of Genesis 48. So we're going to talk about the name of God here for a little while. And Jacob said to Joseph, he said, God Almighty appeared unto me, and loves in the land of Canaan. So when you have the name God Almighty, it's actually describing a characteristic of God. God is Almighty. And what I would say is, if I was a young child, the first attribute I would think of of God would be that he's all powerful. The first thing I think of with God, and obviously there's many attributes to God, but the first thing I think is that God is all powerful. So to me, it makes sense that the first name God appears under is God Almighty. And when he reveals himself, he's saying, hey, I'm the one that created the world. I'm the one that's able to do anything. I'm the one that created the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and created man. So God Almighty is a very fitting name for God to describe who he is. Here's what it says in Exodus six, verse one, then the Lord said unto Moses, now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. God spoke unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. Now the book of Genesis covers pretty much half of human history, and God was recognized as God Almighty. That's how he revealed himself. And then here's what he's saying to Moses, he's saying, you know what, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And what he's saying is, I already had the name Jehovah, but I was not known as that yet. I was God Almighty, I was also Jehovah, it's just, I didn't reveal myself as Jehovah. You know, this is not a perfect example, but just to help you understand this, you know, in this room, everyone knows my first name is Matthew, but in America, when you have your names, your middle name, it's like a first name, it's a name that can kind of stand on its own. A lot of people probably don't know that my middle name is Ryan, so I just revealed that my middle name is Ryan, you know? And so generally, of course, people call me Matthew, but there's some people in the US that prefer their middle name, so they'll just go by their middle name. And so it's like Ryan has always been my middle name, it's always been my second name, and it's like, but it's not something that everyone necessarily knew though until, you know, just now, you know, maybe you knew, maybe you didn't know. And here's the thing, it's not that Jehovah was like a new name. He's like, I used to be all powerful, now I'm Jehovah God, right? Go in your Bible to Revelation 21. Revelation 21, Revelation 21. And here's the thing, you could look at my driver's license, passport, birth certificate, it's gonna say Matthew, Ryan. It'd be foolish to say, no, well, I don't think you're Ryan. I don't care what your passport says. I don't care what your, you know, birth certificate says. I don't care what the driver's license says. You're Matthew, I've always known you as that. No, it's like Ryan is my second name, it always has been, right? And it would have made no sense for someone to say, well, wait a minute, I don't believe in God almighty, I just believe in Jehovah. Or I believe in, or I just believe God almighty, you're not Jehovah, vice versa, right? It's like, no, these are both about who God is. He's God almighty, he's Jehovah. Now, Revelation 21 verse 22, and I just wanna show you that the name God almighty has not been replaced, okay? Revelation 21 verse 22, and I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. I mean, you see, at nearly the end of the Bible, the second to last chapter, it's Lord God almighty, right? It's not that, well, he's almighty, then he became Jehovah, then he becomes almighty again. No, no, no, he's always been the Lord God almighty, he's always been Jehovah. And look, there's a lot of names of God. There's the name Job that's mentioned one time in the book of Psalms, which is where you get the word, Hallelujah, the last three letters, which is about praising God. And so different names have different purposes. His name has always been God almighty, why? Because he's always been almighty. He's always been all powerful. And guess what? He's still all powerful, so he's still the Lord God almighty and that is a completely valid name for God to say the Lord God almighty. Or you could refer to him as Jehovah God. You could refer to him as Job. Now, there are certain names that we probably prefer for God, for example, the name Job, it's like because of the Rastafarians that are like Job, man, it's not really how we usually refer to God. When you're saying Hallelujah, that's what you're saying, the J-A-H, the end of Hallelujah, that you're praising God. All of those names and many others are valid. Now go to Psalm 83, Psalm 83, Psalm chapter 83. I don't think it's a complicated concept, but there's many religious groups that are really mixed up on this idea of the name of God. And obviously the most prominent is the Jehovah's false witnesses, right? Now there's other groups as well though, especially as these Hebrew roots movements are coming in and they're saying, no, no, no, you can't call them Jesus, you gotta call them Yeshua, right? And there's various different groups that are coming in. And you know what? I've been thinking about this recently because it kind of pops up in Genesis. I think it'd be an interesting sermon to preach the names of God and go through some of this stuff, which I probably will sometime in the future. We're just taking a little bit of time here today. But Jehovah's witnesses, their number one verse is Psalm 83 verse 18. This is a verse they know inside and out, right? It says that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth. And they take this phrase whose name alone is Jehovah. And the way they interpret this is the only name of God is Jehovah. Now, sometimes when you look at a sentence or you look at grammar, statements can be taken multiple ways. And I could see how somebody could be confused by this verse or take that interpretation. Problem is that would go against the rest of the Bible, right? Whose name alone is Jehovah. And just looking at this, then it says art the most high over all the earth. Why is he the most high over all the earth? Because he's above anybody else. And so what it's saying is he's the only one whose name is Jehovah. He's the most high he's above anybody else because he is Jehovah, the one and only Jehovah. Go to Psalm 148, Psalm 148. And remember what it said in Psalm 83 was whose name alone is Psalm 148, verse 13. Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent. His glory is above the earth in heaven, which is similar to art the most high over all the earth. So his name alone is excellent. Well, you know what? I believe that the only name of God is excellent. Wouldn't that be a foolish interpretation of that verse? The only name of God is excellence. No, it's saying God is the only one who is excellent. I mean, we're not even good. It's like there's good, great, excellent, right? There is nothing to do with good. We're not even good, right? He's beyond the good, which we're not at. He's beyond the great, he's excellent. And he's the only one who's excellent, right? None of us are excellent. That's the way you interpret that verse. But if you cross reference and you're gonna say, well, whose name alone is Jehovah? Well, his name alone is excellence. Why don't we just call him excellent then if that's the way you're interpreting Psalm 83, whose name alone is Jehovah. Go to Philippians 2, Philippians 2, Philippians chapter 2. Now, let me say this as I'm talking about the Jehovah's Witnesses a little bit and this idea of the name Jehovah, because what I don't want you to do is to run into Jehovah's Witness with some new knowledge and spend 45 minutes debating and arguing with them. That would be a waste of time. Now, sometimes a little bit of knowledge on a topic could be useful in case they try to bring something up where you're listening, they're kind of hearing the gospel, but they have something that's in the back of their head that's kind of holding them back. But you don't wanna just spend 45 minutes, because the first thing Jehovah's Witnesses bring up with you is what? What's the name of God? That is always what they bring up first. And what I would say is if someone's trying to argue with you about the name of God and you haven't even started giving the gospel, move on. It's a waste of time. But what can happen is you can start to give the gospel to a Jehovah's Witness and then maybe as they're thinking about it, they're like, you know what, but here's my problem. I've always heard the name of God is Jehovah and what you're saying about Jesus, him being God, it's like, I've never heard this before. I was taught this was false. Then you might wanna show a verse or two to kind of unbrainwash that. But if they're gonna argue with you only about the name of God, then it's a waste of time. Now, here's the thing I love about Jehovah's Witnesses though, they are the one Christian group I know that doesn't even try to pretend salvation is by grace and faith, that they believe. That they will just flat out say, you must do good works to go to heaven. Because all these other groups will say, no, no, we believe in salvation by grace and faith. Not the Jehovah's Witnesses. They're just like out front saying, no, you gotta do good works to be saved. They're the only ones I know that are maybe undotting on. I'm not really an expert at them. I think some things I've heard from Eli Soriano, he might be kind of like that as well. But Jehovah's Witnesses, from my experience, they would just outright tell you, you must do good works to be saved. They won't even try to pretend that they believe salvation by grace and faith. Here's what's good about that. If you find a Jehovah's Witness that is actually willing to listen, not doing the talking, but they're willing to listen, what you can do is sidestep the argument about Jesus being God and the name of God and all those things, sidestep it at the beginning and focus on the fact that it's not by living a good life and focus on it being a gift. And once you get through the first half, then you're gonna have to cover the fact of the name of God and Jesus being God. Now, what I would recommend is do that at the end because they're already ready to argue about that. But they'll often be very weak when it comes to, because a religion like that is an expert on the name of God. They're an expert on why we should not have blood transfusions, even though they're wrong in those things. But they don't really study that much about salvation. And so they're gonna be very unfamiliar with the verses. They won't even know how to argue from my experience. It's like you show them those verses, they don't know how to explain them away. Like Romans 6.23, they're like, it's a gift. And so I would focus on that first. But go to Philippians 2 and notice what it says in verse five. Because you know what, there's many names of God. And in our modern day, there's probably, most people don't know that Jah is the name of God. Most people probably don't know that, right? Most people probably think that's something the Rastafarians say about God, but it's in the book of Psalms. A lot of people in our modern day might not really know the name Jehovah. They don't know Jehovah's Witnesses. They might not even know the name of God is Jehovah. But see, there's one name that will determine your salvation that you will live and die on. It is what you believe about Jesus Christ. I mean, in our modern day, a lot of people might not even know that God Almighty is the name of God. But they must understand the name of Jesus Christ because that determines your salvation. It says this in Philippians 2 verse five. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. It took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, meaning above the name Jehovah, above the name God Almighty, above the name Job, above any name, above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Why is this name above any name? Because your salvation will rise and fall and depend on what do you believe about Jesus Christ. People can be mixed up about God Almighty and not realize that's the name of God. People can be mixed up and not realize that Jehovah, whatever language, they must know who this is and they must believe on it. If they don't, they're not gonna be saved because that's the name above every name and every tongue is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So here's the thing, you can either confess Jesus Christ is the Lord while you're alive or die, go to hell, and you're gonna be begging for mercy before Almighty God at the great white throne judgment, down on your knees, confessing Jesus is the Lord. Too late, it's too late. That's what every Muslim's gonna do. The great white throne judgment, they'll be on their knees. Bible says in Matthew 1 verse 21, and she shall bring forth his son, now shall call his name Jesus. What does the name Jesus mean? Why is he gonna be called Jesus? For he shall save his people from their sins. And the name Jesus is essentially saying he's the savior. I mean, doesn't the Old Testament tell us there's one savior and see by being called Jesus, he shall save his people from their sins. What that is signifying with that name is he is the savior. And our salvation depends on what do you believe about Jesus? Do you believe he's the Christ? Do you believe he's the Messiah? And if you believe that you're saved, if you don't, then you'll spend forever in hell. Go to Psalm 2, Psalm chapter 2, Psalm chapter 2. Psalm chapter 2, in the middle of your Bible, the book of Psalm, Psalm chapter 2. And that's where it says against the Lord. In your Bible, you see the word Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Now, sometimes in your Bible, you'll see capital L, lowercase O, lowercase R, lowercase D. You say, what's the difference? Well, when you're seeing capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, this is Jehovah God from the original language before it was put into the English language. And what Jehovah's Witnesses will say is, well, I mean, why is your Bible taking out the name Jehovah? Now, I talked about this recently, how the name Jehovah is only in there a few times, because in those specific instances, it would not make sense to put the name Lord. In fact, every time it's gone from Jehovah to Lord, and here's the thing, when you go from one language to another, I mean, the name can change. And the Bible was consistent when it moved it from Jehovah to Lord. In fact, the Jehovah's Witnesses for basically half their existence, their primary Bible was the King James Bible. In fact, when I first got saved, I was able to say for over half the existence of Jehovah's Witnesses, the King James Bible was their Bible. And then they came out with the New World Translation, and then they made all of these changes. So my first question is, well, why did you use a Bible that took out Jehovah? That's your big doctrine, right? But for a while, they used the King James Bible. Now, notice Psalm 2 in verse 2, this is quoted in the New Testament. Go to Acts 4, we're gonna see the quote, Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4. And when you see the word Lord, as I said, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D is Jehovah God, but the word Lord itself, capital L, lowercase O, lowercase R, lowercase D, that is a word that you don't really hear that often in our modern day. I think over in like Great Britain, in some parts of Europe, some will be like Lord, but the Bible says like the Lord of the vineyard, things like that. It means like ruler, it means boss. And I think there are some countries in Europe that actually use that. I think in Great Britain and in parts of the UK, they use that as a terminology for like, you know, Lord or ruler of some sort. And here's, notice what it says though in Acts 4, verse 25, who by the mouth of thy servant David has said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? You see, this is quoting from Psalm 2, right? Because in Psalm 2, you don't have to turn there, but it said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? Verse 26, the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Now notice when it quotes from Lord in the Old Testament, in Acts 4, verse 26, it is capital L, lowercase o, lowercase r, lowercase d. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek. King James Bible put the Hebrew in English and it put the Greek in English, right? And here's the thing, if in Acts chapter four, they're quoting from the Old Testament, because this was not the word Jehovah in the original language. And obviously this is the Bible itself. So what they said in Acts 4, 26 before it's translated was absolutely correct. Now we do believe in the King James Bible, it's correct as well, but here's what I'm saying. It didn't say Jehovah in the original in Acts 4, verse 26, because it's not capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. So here's the thing, if they were able to take a quote of Jehovah in the Old Testament and change it to meet a new language and change that word Jehovah out, there's no problem that the King James Bible translators took the word Jehovah and changed it to Lord, to a word that people would know, okay? There's no problem with it. Now there's many, and look, in some Bibles, for example, the Spanish Bible, it will often say like, heo va, because in Spanish, te sigo de heo va is Jehovah's Witnesses, heo va is the word for Jehovah. And oftentimes in those Bibles, they keep it as heo va, which you can't really say is wrong because it's a direct translation. But here's the thing, when people are translated from one language to the next, one of the big things they wanna do is make it understandable to the people. And they decided to translate it to Lord, and we see there's no problem with that because in Acts 4, verse 26, when the people quote this from the Old Testament, they don't just put Jehovah into Jehovah because in Acts 4, 26 in the Greek, he doesn't say Jehovah. How do we know that? Because it's lowercase O, lowercase R, lowercase D. Go in your Bible to Isaiah 9, six, Isaiah 9, six. We'll look at a few more places about this topic. Isaiah 9, six. You say, oh, brother Stuckey, what you're saying is true. Why is it in the book of Exodus, from what we saw, why does he say, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them? Why doesn't it change that to Lord as well if it changed Jehovah to Lord every time? Wouldn't it be kind of strange to say I appeared by the name of God Almighty, but by my name of Lord was I not known to them? Because throughout the Old Testament, he's known as the Lord. Everyone know that God is the Lord. So to say, but by name of Lord was I not known to them, it'd be like, that would sound very strange, which is why I believe it's six places they keep the word Jehovah. I think it's like six or eight places. Usually it's keeping the name of a place, which you're not gonna change the name of a place. You know, we talked about that several weeks ago, but anyways, Isaiah 9, verse six, I wanted to just show you one more verse to show you there's many names of God and many things that you could call God. It says in Isaiah 9, verse six, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. There are many names of God. Now in general, in our modern day, you know, we look at the name Jesus Christ, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and we pray to God, but what we're doing is praying to God the Father through his son, Jesus Christ. And you know what, usually when we refer to God, at least for me, I just refer to God as God, but the one name that, you know, because I don't really refer to God as Jah, although there'd be nothing wrong with that, and I probably don't because there's people that are called Jah, so it's kind of weird, you know, to refer to God as Jah, you know, or, you know, God Almighty, you know, I often reference that God is Almighty. I don't normally refer to God as, you know, God Almighty, although there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, that's a great name that indicates who he is. The name that we live and fall on is Jesus Christ because we understand that's the difference between heaven and hell. So that is the name that we focus on. Now go to Matthew chapter six, Matthew six, Matthew six. Now I've talked about this a little bit recently, but the other thing I want to talk about, because it talks about the name God Almighty, what that means is God is Almighty. That's what that name indicates, that he's all powerful. And here's the thing. The fact that God is Almighty means that he deserves respect In our modern day, the way people talk about God is disrespectful to God. Now the most blatant examples are using the Lord's name in vain. And I'm not going to say it, but you know the words, it's, you know, and I always wondered myself because you hear like Christians, whether they're saved or not, we'll use the Lord's name in vain. It's like, why don't you curse Buddha? That's literally why don't you curse Muhammad? Why are you cursing God? Why can't you just say Buddha? And I mean, if you can't control your temper, then learn to say Buddha with whatever word you want to say after it. Why don't you use God's name and just disrespect Almighty God? And that's the world that we live in today where people disrespect. Now here's, and I'm not trying to go on too big of a rabbit trail. I don't believe that we should use euphemisms for God. For example, oh my, and then say, you know, goodness, well, gosh, I mean, those are euphemisms for God. It's like, stay away from it. You say, why? Because He's God Almighty, right? I'll be honest with you. I didn't even know all the euphemisms for God, but I remember looking it up several years ago when I was in Sacramento and I realized there were some, you know, just expressions that I didn't even realize refer to God. And I was like, man, I'm used to saying these things without even realizing it's like, it's disrespectful. Right, you know, I used to say the phrase, you know, oh my, you know, goodness, a lot. I just kind of grew up saying it without realizing just, but it's actually a euphemism for God. And it's like, what's like, why not just say Buddha or something else? I mean, come up with a new phrase. I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with saying a phrase in certain situations if you lose your tempers, but pick something else. Don't pick something that's gonna disrespect God, right? We need to hold them up as our heavenly Father. The Bible says this in Matthew 6, verse nine. After this manner, therefore pray, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We ought to treat his name with respect. You know, certain expressions I've heard from people and I don't know if there's common here, but you know, an expression in the US is like, yeah, I was just having a talk with the man upstairs. That's disrespectful. Or sometimes he's referred to as the old man. Sometimes I've heard that expression, that's disrespectful. That's rude. That's obnoxious. Why would you refer to God as, well, the man upstairs? It's like, no, how about hallowed be thy name, our heavenly Father? I mean, look, I would feel disrespected if my son referred to me as the old man, right? Or, you know, we're both, you know, our family, we all sleep on the second floor, but let's say they slept on the first floor. I slept on the second. Yeah, you know, my old man upstairs. That's disrespectful. That's rude, right? I wouldn't accept that from my children. And it's just like, you know, what Christians ought to treat God's name, hallowed be thy name with respect and realize God is way, way, way above us. Thy kingdom come that will be done in earth as it is in heaven. I mean, you start a valid prayer and it's kind of like, you know what, it doesn't matter what my will is. It doesn't matter what I want. It's what does God want? Why? Because he's our heavenly father that's way above us, that created us. So honestly, we don't really have a reason to say, well, God, you know what? I don't like your plans. I want my plans. It's like, well, wait a minute. God's the one that created us. Hallowed be thy name. Go to Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12. Some other things that we can apply, you know, as parents. You know, one of the things you have to teach your kids at a young age is like when two adults are speaking, kids should not interrupt. That is something kids do not get born with that understanding because kids tend to believe whatever they want is the most important thing in the world. And it's like, you know, sometimes our kids will try to talk to us at home. Like I'm talking to my wife and I'll say, hey, you don't interrupt mom and dad when they're talking. Now, of course, if there's like an emergency, something crazy or something like that, there can be an exception. They tend to think whatever is an exception. Like, you know, that is really important. And then you open this candy. It's like, don't interrupt mom and dad to ask us to open up a piece of candy, right? But here's the thing, how about when we're praying to God, right? When there's praying to God, no one should be talking except, you know, the actual prayer. And here's the thing, that's also something kids just don't get born with that understanding because of course we don't see God. So it's kind of hard to understand this, but when we do our family prayer time at home, sometimes we have to stop and say, hey, you don't talk when they're praying to God. Or even sometimes at church, you know, my kids will be talking and say, hey, I was like, hey, don't talk, we're praying right now. It's like, we're talking to God. It's just like, you don't interrupt that. That's rude, right? Because we need to treat God with respect. Hebrews 12, verse nine, Hebrews 12, verse nine. Let me turn there myself. I just added this. Hebrews 12, verse nine. Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh corrected us and we gave them reverence. And look, we live in a day where honor thy father and thy mother is just not really applied but that many kids. Kids out of reverence and respect, their mom and dad. Right, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? It's like, you know what, if we believe that kids out of respect and obey their parents, how much more should we be obedient to God who is way, way, way above us? Now turn in your Bible to Genesis 48. We'll go back to Genesis 48. Genesis 48. And the first thing we saw was God Almighty. Next thing we're gonna see is Bethlehem. The next thing we're gonna see is Bethlehem. Notice what it says in Genesis 48, verse five. And now there are two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt are mine. As Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. Now issue which thou begatest after them shall be mine and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Paden, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephraim. And I buried her there in the way of Ephraim. The same is Bethlehem. The same is Bethlehem. Now go back to Genesis 35. Let's see what he's referencing. Genesis 35, this is the second time in our King James Bible, Bethlehem is mentioned and it's referencing back to the first time, Genesis 35, verse 19. Genesis 35, verse 19. And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem. Now, Bethlehem is a pretty famous location. It's one of the most famous places in the Bible. There's no doubt about it. I mean, arguably the most famous in terms of any city. And there's actually a lot of famous things that happened in our significant in Bethlehem. Go to Ruth chapter four in your Bible, Ruth chapter four. Ruth chapter four. Let me give you some statistics on Bethlehem. As of the 2017 census, there were 28,591 people that lived in Bethlehem which is a lot higher than in the Bible days. In 1948, it was 85% Christian. 19 years later, it was over half Muslim. And so apparently there was a bit of a Muslim takeover of the area and I was trying to find accurate statistics for the present day religion in Bethlehem. There's a lot of different opinions on that. So I really don't have any idea of whether or not it's mainly Christian, mainly Muslim or what's going on. There's kind of a big argument. I guess everybody wants Bethlehem to be Christian, be Muslim, depending on what your religion is. But in 1948, 85% Christian, Muslim takeover and Islam just kind of took over. It became over half Muslim. Now, 60 years later, I'm not for sure. But those are some basic statistics. I'll give you a few more here in a little bit. But notice Ruth one verse one. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. Now this man goes by the name of Elimelech. And he's not a very famous character. He's only in a few verses in the Bible because he destroys his family's life. And he was in Bethlehem Judah before they decided to go and well, sojourn with the Moabites. Now go to verse 11, verse 11. Actually, Ruth chapter four, verse 11, I should say. Go to Ruth four, verse 11. Ruth four, verse 11. Ruth four, verse 11. And all the people that are in the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is coming to that house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel and do that worthily in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Be famous in Bethlehem. Go to verse 17. And the women or neighbors gave it a name saying, there's a son born to Naomi and they called his name Obed. He's the father of Jesse, the father of David. And these are the generations of pharaohs. Pharaohs begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amenadab, and Amenadab begot Nisan, and Nisan begot Salmon, Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse, Jesse begot David. And another very famous character from Bethlehem was a man by the name of King David. So you've got a lot of famous people, a lot of situations in the Bible. Go to Micah chapter five. And of course, the most famous, the one whose name is above every name, as well from Bethlehem. Micah five, verse two. Micah five, verse two, it's a verse that, I'm not saying you have to memorize it, but it is a verse you ought to know where it is. It's a very important verse. It proves the divinity of Jesus Christ. And you can preach a whole sermon just on this verse. There's a lot of information. And it's also going to be quoted in the New Testament, which makes it very significant. Micah five, verse two. But thou, Ephraim, Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah. So for example, the song, Oh little town of Bethlehem, little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall it come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, which proves Jesus Christ has always been around. He was not created by God. In the beginning was the Word, right? Go to Matthew two, where this is quoted. Matthew two, Matthew chapter two. Now, Micah five two is an important verse to know. But I also want you to realize it was an extremely famous verse at the time of Christ. An extremely famous verse. You say, why? Because they're trying to figure out where the Messiah is going to come. I mean, it's telling you the Messiah is going to come from Bethlehem. And so it's very famous verse because they're waiting for the Messiah. And so obviously, you know what? All the Bible is good, but some parts are more valuable or more important or more well known than others. A modern day, we think of John three 16. At that time, Micah five two would have been one of your most famous verses in the Old Testament because of the fact it pointed to where the Messiah was going to be born. And everybody was aware of it. And in Matthew chapter two, notice what it says. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen a star in the East and are come to worship him. When Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him. When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes and people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, and now Bethlehem and the land of Judah are not the least among the Prince of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. And so it was very well known that Bethlehem was going to be the birthplace. Now what's interesting is if you look at modern day Judaism, they will deny that. They'll say, no, no, no, no, no, no. What Micah five two is saying is that David's from Bethlehem and the Messiah is gonna come from the lineage, but not necessarily be from Bethlehem himself. And so what they try to do is change the Bible to fit their doctrine because they don't wanna say, well, the Messiah must be in Bethlehem because they wanna deny Jesus Christ. Because Jews will say, well, what proof do you have that Jesus is the Messiah? He's born in Bethlehem. I mean, that narrows it down. Yeah, the time of Jesus, there was said to be 2,000 to 3,000 people living in Bethlehem. Oh, little town of Bethlehem. It was not a big area. 2,000 to 3,000 people. I mean, there's a lot of significant events in Bethlehem. So it would lead you to believe that, oh, wow, this is like a huge area. No, it wasn't. It's a very small area. They just happened to be King David was from Bethlehem. You know, Elimelech and Naomi and their family were in Bethlehem. And then of course, Jesus Christ comes from Bethlehem. But that's obviously one of the big proofs. Of course, the virgin birth and then ultimately the resurrection. I mean, what more proof do you need? But the fact that he has to be born in Bethlehem narrows it down. And here's what's interesting. You see a lot of people that would say they believe the Bible. And they would say that, you know what? I'm a modern day Jesus or modern day Messiah or modern day Christ. They can word it different ways. But they weren't born in Bethlehem. They're not from Bethlehem, right? There's that guy, you know, in the US who, you know, from I don't know where he lives now or whatever, but recently said that he's like the Jesus of the book of John. Like starting six months ago, he started saying this. It's like, you're not from Bethlehem. What are you talking about? Right, you have to be born in Bethlehem. That kind of narrows it down. Because even today, there's only like 20,000 people, less than 30,000 that live in Bethlehem, right? At the time of Jesus, they're said to be 2,000 to 3,000. I would assume that's probably accurate because the population was a lot smaller back during those days. Now, go to Genesis chapter 48. Genesis chapter 48. And so point number one, we saw God Almighty. Point number two, we saw Betha. And point number three, we're going to see the blessing upon the younger child, the blessing upon the younger child. Genesis 48, we're saved. In Israel, he held Joseph's son and said, who are these? And Joseph said to his father, they are my sons. God hath given me in this place. And he said, bring them, I pray thee unto me and I will bless them. And the days of Israel were dim for age that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them. So obviously the Bible says that as you age, you know, like in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, one of the things that can go is your eyesight. And here it says that, you know, his eyes are dim for age. You know, he can't really see anymore. Verse 11, in Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face and lo God hath showed me also thy seed. See, I didn't even expect to see you and I got to see my grandkids. So he's very excited. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And you know, and by the way, one thing that I think is nice here is, you know, because obviously there's a change that takes place as you become an adult in terms of, you know, honoring your parents, you know, mother and father in terms of obeying them. And as an adult, I don't have to obey my parents' rules, but I also think that you should still respect your parents. And I think we see that in verse 12. You know, I wasn't, this isn't in my notes, but it's just like he bowed himself with his face to the earth, where he still looks at his father as being like, hey, this is my dad that raised me. There's a proper respect that's due to the person that raised you. And look, when you become an adult and you move into your own house, it's like, you know what? You make your own rules and your decisions. But I think we can go to too big of an extreme and just act like there's no respect necessary. When in reality, you ought to always respect your mom and your dad that raised you. After all, I mean, when you were a baby, they're the ones that were holding you in the middle of the night. They're the ones that changed your poopy diapers. They're the ones that helped you when you were sick. And when you were just, you know, complaining about everything, it's like, they were there for you. It's like, we ought to always have that sort of respect to say, well, what if my parents aren't saved? You know what, that ought to be a prayer request every day to get them saved, right? I mean, to get your parents saved, I mean, that ought to be one of the big prayer requests because if there's anyone that you're close to, I remember when I first got saved, the first thought that came into my mind is, what do my parents believe? I like literally, that night, I got saved late at night and literally I thought to myself right after I got saved, what do my parents believe? And I just thought, you know, here's the thing, I mean, if my parents knew this, they probably would have told me. Right, immediately that's the thought that came into my mind but there ought to always be some respect, you know, to your mom and your dad, right? He bowed himself with his face to the earth and Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, Menasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought them near onto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger. So Ephraim is the younger child, okay? Now remember, when you're looking at Jacob or Israel, Jacob was the younger between Jacob and Esau but the blessing went upon Jacob, the younger, which it normally would go upon the older of Esau. And his left hand upon Menasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly for Menasseh was the firstborn. And so, and he blessed Joseph and said, God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, blessed the last and let my name be named on them. The name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. So, you know, your right hand, even in the Bible symbolically your right hand is used symbolically to talk about your working hand and your works and obviously there's nothing, both hands are equal, right? You know what I mean? There's not like one hand's better than the other but in symbolic sense, the right hand is put as preeminence above your left hand, okay? Obviously that's not saying your right hand is better than your left hand, but symbolically in the Bible and so his right hand was supposed to be upon the oldest one and his left hand supposed to be on the youngest one. Now, perhaps because the vast majority of this world, like 90% are right-handed, maybe that's why right is considered kind of preeminent above left but it's not like it really matters whether you're right-handed or left-handed but in this basic ritual, at least in the custom of the society, the right hand should go on the eldest child and the left hand should go on the youngest child. Now, look, if you're at home and you put your right hand on your youngest, I don't think it matters, I'm just saying, at least in the custom of this area, when he's giving out this blessing, the custom was right hand on the oldest, left hand on the youngest. And it says, and when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him and he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head onto Manasseh's head. Now, I don't believe that Joseph is being disrespectful here. Keep in mind, Jacob can't see, right? So it said that his eyes were dimmed that he could not see. So I think he's, in my opinion, I think he thinks a mistake was made and he's just trying to subtly correct it without embarrassing his dad because he figured his dad can't see. That's my opinion of that. But in reality, Jacob does actually know what's going on. He actually does know which is the oldest child. He intentionally did this. And Joseph said unto his father, not so my father, for this is the firstborn, but thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great. But surely his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. Now, I don't believe that Jacob doing this action caused this to take place. I believe that God led, because remember God actually spoke to Jacob on a few times. I think God had let Jacob know that the blessing is gonna be on the youngest and not on the oldest. I don't think that Jacob doing this caused the blessing to change. I think he was already aware of this. Now, there's no doubt about this though, that when you look at those two names, Ephraim and Manasseh, Ephraim being the younger, Manasseh being the older, which one is more significant in your Bible? Ephraim. No doubt about it. In fact, when you see after the split of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, sometimes you're gonna see the word Ephraim in the Bible, but it's referring to the nation of Israel. It's referring to the whole Northern Kingdom and it uses that to represent all of it. Just like you'd see Judah represents all the Southern Kingdom of Judah, even though it's not the only one that's in there. And Ephraim is sometimes the name used because it became far more prominent. And obviously God knew that this was going to take place. And it says here in verse 20, and he blessed in that day saying, and thee shall Israel bless saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he said Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, behold I die, but God should be with you and bring you again onto the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. So there's a lot of great information in this chapter. And honestly, these last several chapters, what the Bible is doing is really setting the scene to get to Exodus because there's a huge shift. I mean, here you have Jacob that's at the point of death, and then Joseph dies before the book of Exodus, even though he's a prominent character. So basically a lot of time goes by very quickly and you get to Exodus, it's all about Moses. At the very beginning, it's like, it's Moses, Moses being born and everything like that. And so what the last couple of chapters of Genesis are doing is basically preparing us for the time of Exodus. Because the 40 years in Exodus, I mean, you look at Joseph at this age, I mean, that's pretty much the last couple chapters of Genesis, but they basically had a lot of information. It's just kind of setting the scenes for Exodus after the book of Genesis. Let's close in word of prayer. Your heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see this great information in the Bible and ask you to help us apply this to our lives and help us to hold God's name up with respect, help us to view your commandments and your name as how it would help us to treat you with respect and honor you and consider your commandments very important.