Genesis 48! The End is Near...Please suggest books for our next series of devos!

Hey guys! As the title suggests, please think of any books that you'd like to try reading and if there are any particular ones, I want you to let me know so we read them together! So I wanted to ask you if you prefer reading something like Genesis again that is full of stories and more effort in our own interpretations, or something in the New Testament where the message is more straight forward. Let me know through your devos or msg me!

Genesis 48 was an interesting chapter. Israel blessed Joseph's two sons. I guess that getting a blessing from an old, wise man was a big deal in that time, since Joseph made such a big deal out of it. And I also believe that the tradition was to pass everything onto the oldest son that he may be the one that receives the most blessings and reward. But! Israel did the opposite. First, it seemed like he blessed the younger one by accident because of his bad sight, but no, he blessed the younger one on purpose. It's funny that Joseph was displeased by this, because he himself was the youngest one out of his brothers and arguably, he was the one that received the most amount of blessings from God! But I think the point here is that it's not about who gets what, but how you deal with it. When Joseph was abandoned by his brothers, it may have seemed like God had abandoned him. But no, it's about how you deal with the situation. Joseph was true to his faith and persevered through many trials. God rewarded him and simply BLESSED him.

Have a great week everyone, and I can't wait to see you on Friday! This is going to be an awesome week. Please send some song suggestions, and for REAL, I will send out the song list by tomorrow at the latest! Oh! And we're doing ONE Sunday School song (From the children's ministry) to help the younger ones in our ministry ease into our ministry and sing! So Cathy, if you have any suggestions since you know many of these songs from VBS of Native Missions, could you list me a few songs?


Roh

aha Hope you guys had a good Monday

Just like how Roh said, tradition was to bless the firstborn first and more. However, We see a pattern, Jacob over Esau, Ishmael over Isaac, Joseph over Reuben and noe Ephraim over Manasseh. However, i don't get whats the point of this? Either way, the past few chapters have been focusing on blessing and blessing unto others. I wonder what Manasseh would've been feeling at that time, to hear that his brother will become greater. Obviously jealousy will start to spark. But realisticly, even right now, Some are more blessed than others, in terms of talent, money, etc. BUT EVERYONE is blessed one way or another. so shouldn't we be grateful for what we have and give it back to Jesus? I mean it is HIS, so we can give back by providing the best for him with what he gave US. So for out team, i want us to be the best, as in DOING our best. Get it? Somethign to be reminded of... WHo are we praising for? God or anyone else? GOd's our only audience right, so shoudln't we provide the BEST for him? and i htink everythign beneficial will follow. IF we give our bet to God, others will see and want to follow. Spurring people! ahaha

Have a great Toosday.

That's a pretty sweet point Jacob...
We're ALL blessed in our own ways!
We just need to realize that and use it to bless everyone else

SOCK PUPPETS. are an excellent way to start one's morning.

Genesis 48
I thought it was interesting how Israel gives his first blessing to the younger Ephraim..and to see Joseph's displeased reaction to it..Especially considering the parallels we see between how Israel's saying that the younger will become greater than the firstborn, and this is exactly what happened between Joseph and his brothers. Anyways, it reminded me that God can often work in atypical ways, creating paths that "shouldn't be" and we can't understand at the time, but I need to remind myself that rest-assured whatever God does that catches me off-guard is with His wisdom and for some greater good. So trust is the word.

I can't wait for this weekend.
NOTE:
HOLLA - so my 10th-grader boy cousin's coming from his Floridian boarding school to stay with us for his American Thanksgiving this Friday night and he's gonna be here for 10 days or so. Uhm, I don't know him very well but he's my only younger cousin and I wanna do fun things with him, #1 because it's his vacation and #2 because I want to experience what it's like to be that "cool" cousin, God-willing. Hahaha. And it doesn't help that he's a boy either. What if he thinks he's too cool for me...
ANYWAYS, I was wondering if you guys wanted to do a movie or something Saturday!!! I'm thinking that he'd much more appreciate hanging with a large group than brace himself for awkward conversations with his cousin-he-hasn't-spoken-to-in-years. Yeah? Yeah? LET ME KNOW!!!
It would be F-U-N, FUN. I promise.

- H

older brother got owned! I didnt get much from this chapter but i dido Jacobs devo. Like Saiya said during the retreat, were playing for an audience of one.
My internet is dead. And im quite angry. So im stealing this connection off my neighbor . Ok back to yelling at stupid Bell.

p.s Thats cool hannah you have a cousin in Florida? I have some in Washington

hello
people

When I read this verse I didnt really get it...haha sorry im pretty slow!!! So when it said the word Blessed
I thought about our first class of discipleship. We talked about the word blessed alot. Also last weeks
discipleship as well salt and the light. It had alot of meaning to me..
I love salt and the light
Hannah we have cousin that live at florida why didnt u tell me this sister
hehe

-steven Hong

From reading this passage, I remembered that one verse, "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first." When Joseph told his father to switch his hands, Jacob/Israel refused and said that the younger will be greater than the older one. Just as Jacob (our Jacob, not the biblical one) said, we all have different strengths and that will get us somewhere in life. Our different gifts can help other people to grow in their relationship with God, and they can be useful in other areas.

The most important thing is that age and gender don't matter in our capability to excel. God gave each one of us a specific purpose, and we need to be encouraged by the fact that we can all be awesomeee.

Howdy, folks
it snowed today.. and i was really cold, and i fell asleep on the viva and i almost missed my stop.. when i woke up and realized i had to get off i forgot that viva buses have like.. elevated seats so you cant just get up and walk, but you have to step down. and i made a fool of myself
but anyhoo i liked this chapter very much

V12: "Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground."
This is a huge sign of humility. Joseph bows down to his father, and he really humbles himself before him and shows the amount of love and respect that he has for his father. I remember at our retreats when we used to wash each other feet, how it woudl symbolize us getting rid of our pride and serving others. And I think this is something that all of us need a little more of in our lives.. Sometimes we let our pride get to us too much that we forget about our duty as Christians to serve others - instead we try to build ourselves up to be these amazing people. But when we come to serve people, to bow before them , we make ourselves last. Jesus says that the last on earth will be the first in heaven, and Joseph really demonstrates how that works.

But this idea of the last being first is repeated again in this chapter, how Israel puts his right hand on the younger son. Back then, it was a HUGE deal who was born first. And the firstborns always were the ones that got all the attention, they wre expected to lead the family, to be more successful. But when Israel put his more important hand on the second born, he went against this social rule. The yougnest are last on earth - but with God's blessing, Israel knew that he would be greater than the first born, thus proving society wrong, yo.
So yeah I thought that was interesting, and its something for all of us to remember

It's gonna be colder tmrw. I am really not ready for this winter to come
and why have i still not had a PA day?

I learned from this Chapter that things that should be equal (love, blessings, etc.) can never realistically be equal.
One person will definitely outweigh another in different aspects, and these aspects may make a person be more loved and more blessed or less loved and less blessed. Since all these things are a reaction of the people you interact with, you will be blessed better by some and blessed worse by others.