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Hey, everybody. Am I too cool? I gotta figure out my mic situation. Am I too loud? Hi, guys. Welcome back to another episode of cwcoi. Gotcha. If you're mouthing it with me, I got you. I usually will say out, like, the whole Christ with coffee and ice, but today it just felt good to be like, cwcy, which is still quite the mouthful. Okay, welcome back to another episode of cwcoi, guys. Hi. Happy Friday, everybody. Happy Friday. How are we feeling today? Oh, my gosh. I feel great. You want to know why I feel so great today? It's because I spent time with Jesus this morning. Please. And I say that because it's like, well, duh. But if I'm being so honest, I, like, have not been awesome about getting into my quiet time with Jesus over the last week. And that's just my life. It is what it is. I'm not gonna pretend that I'm, like, really good at this thing called life with Jesus. I. I sometimes do fall short, for sure. And this last week, I have fallen short. And it's just a busyness. It's so hard when life gets busy, isn't it? Like, And I. I feel like I could be talking to people who probably have even busier lives than me that are like, yeah, it is so hard to make time for God when everything else just keeps going and it doesn't slow down and it doesn't stop and there is no pause button. And so I. I think just in this last week, I had been Feeling very slumpy. I was feeling slumpy. Things were starting to feel heavy. Like, I. I could tell I'd been carrying things for, you know, a week now where I'm like, I need to get in time with Jesus. And so I finally did that this morning. And it's so funny. Like, it really is a lot like, working out. Like, if you haven't gone to the gym for a while, you kind of are dragging your feet to go there. And it's like, really, it's. It is hard to get back into the secret place with Jesus if you haven't been there for a long time. And so I hope that that just validates somebody that, like, you literally are not crazy for feeling that way, for not feeling super eager about getting in the presence of God, even though you know that that's exactly what you need. It's so weird that way. And the only other thing I could really compare it to is, like, going to the gym, where it's like, you feel, like, that sluggishness in you physically when you haven't worked out, you haven't done any cardio in a while. You know, you're like, your body's, like, feeling the repercussions of that and, like, the consequences of not moving your body. But at the same time, the thought of you going to the gym sounds like the worst thing ever. And so I believe that that's completely parallel and the same of how our spirits are. You know, it's like, if we are spiritually out of shape and it's been a week or two or maybe even a couple months that you just genuinely haven't gotten still with Jesus, like, you feel it. You feel the sluggishness, like, in your spirit, but you know that that's exactly what you need. But it's, like, hard to get there. And so this morning, I was kind of dragging my feet, not dragging my feet, but I. I wasn't stoked about it, even though I knew I was like, no, this is exactly what I need. Like, I actually. I need Jesus right now. And it took me some time, too. Like, this is how I also know that it's exactly what I need is when a million distractions just come on even harder right as I'm trying to open my Bible, it's like, that's when my phone starts to ding and go crazy. Or, like, that's when something happens in my house, and it's just like, suddenly Gracie now needs something from me. I'm like, girl, I just finally sat down. So, yeah, anyway. But I'm feeling so much better because I finally sat with Jesus. And I think another thing too is just like releasing any shame of not sitting with him, obviously repenting and being like, lord, I know that I knew better and maybe I was being a little lazy spiritually and I let all the other things of my day and my life get the best of me for a week now. And so I think just having a repentive heart and also releasing any shame because he has grace for you and he loves you and he's so patient for you. And I need to remember too that, like at least me personally with my story is I went so long without giving God any time at all. And he had grace for me then. He was just as interested and in love with and invested in me then when I didn't give him a lick of my time. So it's like, if that's who he was then it's absolutely who he is now. And he has grace for me even now. So thank you Jesus that your mercies are new every morning, God. Oh Lord, we just thank you for your mercy, we thank you for your faithfulness, we thank you for your forgiveness. God, it is something that will never ever, ever make sense, but Lord, we embrace it because it is freely given to us. God, I thank you that there's actually no productivity in us resisting that and denying it because we don't believe that we deserve it. There's nothing just in that it's actually like injust. It's not fair to not receive your love and your grace that you so freely give us. And so God, we receive that today and we release any shame, we release any condemnation. God, I thank you that in scripture you say that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and that you we get to receive and you give us a peace that surpasses all understanding. And so anything that doesn't give us peace. Lord, we thank you that we know because of what you tell us in Scripture that that is not you, that is not your character. So God, we thank you for the word of God that helps us decipher what is actually from you and not and we thank you that shame and condemnation and judgment is not from you. And so we rebuke it in Jesus name. We receive your mercies today, God thank you that they are new today, they are fresh every morning. And we walk with you today, God, we come into agreement with the truth of who you are, which is that you are a merciful and loving God. We love you, Jesus, and we pray all of these things in your name. Amen. Amen. No shame. So, hey, guys, do you notice anything different? Like, if you're physically watching, do you notice anything different today? Other than the fact that I look so stinking cool in these glasses and I'm wearing sneakers on my couch, which is probably weird, but something to know is I haven't actually worn them outside yet. These are new. Some new balances. Kind of cool. Maybe a little weird that I'm wearing sneakers on my couch. It's probably a weird look, but here we are. Cool outfit. Thanks. But not the thing that I wanted you to notice. I'll give you a hint. Okay. It's my coffee cup. This is. This is our new one. We have new merch coming out at the end of this month. I've been talking about it for weeks now, but this is our new coffee cup. You guys are the first ones to see it ever. This is our new little. Our new little moment here. It says Christ with coffee. Coffee on ice on the front here. And then on the back we have Jesus. Oh, my gosh. This is honestly, like, the coolest coffee cup ever, in my opinion. You guys don't have to be obsessed with it. That's okay. But I love it. Like, are you kidding? I can't wait to have this with me all the time. And it also, we're offering this in black font as well. I personally liked the white, so I wanted the white for myself. But this is our new little coffee cup. And then we have a lot of other pieces coming out, like actual clothing and a couple other accessories. Okay, I'll just tell you what they are. Okay, so we have a bunch of really cool, really cool T shirts that are coming out. All different designs, all different vibes. Really cool. I think what we're going for this time around is something a little bit more street wear. Something a little bit more, I guess, kind of cool and like, unisex, like, gender neutral vibes. There are some T shirts that are, like, obviously girly. Like, we have some, like, pink options, but then the rest of them are pretty neutral and, like, earthy toned, which is cool. So we have a few T shirts that we're coming out with. We have a couple hoodies that are really cool. There's this one brown hoodie that I like, actually, I'm freaking out about, and I cannot wait to show you guys and to wear it. We're still a little too far out of launch because, again, it's not till the end of this month, so. Yeah, but we'll be teasing. We'll be showing you guys and revealing all of it very soon. But there's this one brown hoodie that I'm like, it's so good. So we have some hoodies. We have a couple crew necks coming out. And then also a journal. It's a really cute journal. I'm excited for you guys to see it. And then some pajamas. It's just one pajama set, but it's, like, cute. I don't know. I was like, this could be cozy and fun. I might even wear it on the. On the pod one day. It's cute. I'm really excited. So that's all of what we're coming out with, and I'm really excited for you guys to see. It's just fun. It's just fun. Like, to be honest, my goal in this is, like, I think I obviously wanted this line to, like, be so obviously about Jesus. I wanted it to be really evangelistic, where, you know, if you are to wear these pieces out in public, like, it can speak to other people. But it's just fun to create. Like, I don't know if fashion and, like, design or anything is, like, really, like, my thing, but it was really fun to put together. It was so fun to work with our designers and to put these pieces together. And so, I don't know. It was just fun. And so obviously, you guys are more than welcome to shop. No pressure to at all. It's just a fun thing to do. And so hopefully you guys love it and you like these pieces as much as I do, but. But yeah. So that's something that's really exciting. Okay, we're gonna move forward, guys. I'm really excited for today's episode. We do have. Okay, obviously, we have our coffee on ice. That was made very clear. We have our Christ. We have our Bible here today. I have my Bible from Hosanna Revival. They rock. They're the best. If you guys ever want to shop them, I do have a code. It's just my first and last name. It's Alios. I believe it will save you 15 off on whatever you'd want to buy if you're on the market for a new Bible. Amazing. They have beautiful Bibles. They also have journals and calendars and planners and just, like, really, really cute aesthetic, cutesy pieces and items. So plugging that, because you guys are always asking about my Bible. Oh, that's a fun sound. I used to be on such a kick where I would listen to ASMR like, all the time. I Don't really listen to ASMR as much anymore. That's kind of like my guilty pleasure. I feel like it's. Some people would probably think it's weird. I could never like not throwing any shade at anybody who enjoys this kind of content. I cannot do any kind of food eating asmr, any mouth noises. It freaks me out. I can't do it. If you don't know what ASMR is, then you can just honestly forget everything I'm saying right now. It's nothing that like you're. It's fine. But for me, it really helps me go night night sometimes. And I really, I used to listen to it all the time. But the type of ASMR that I would listen to would be like, it'd be like spa themed. Is this embarrassing for me to admit on the Internet? For it to forever be on the Internet, whatever. But it would be like spa. So they'd be either like pretending to wash your hair, giving you a facial. And there's this one girl that I've actually found on YouTube and everything she does is like Christian based. So she does a lot of like spa themed stuff where she like pretends to check you in and you're like going in to get your little facial. It's so fun. It's so silly, guys, but I think it's called Daily Bread. Asmr. Her name is Gabby and she'll like read scripture too, or she'll make videos where she is just like simply reading scripture, but she's like whispering it and there's like some really beautiful music in the background and you can hear like the pages turning and her like, you know, it's, it's actually so relaxing and I'm like falling asleep to the word of God. So I don't know in a way that feels very like spa and relaxing. So. Yeah. Anyway, you guys are interested? There's. I don't know, that's just, that's me admitting that I really enjoy that stuff sometimes. Okay, what got me there? What got me to talking about that? Oh, it was. She'll do some of that stuff too. Or like it makes me go night night. Okay. I don't know. Whatever. Moving on. Okay, guys, I would really love to read the Bible with you today. And I think what we're going to read is we're going to go into Genesis. We're going to be in Genesis 37, I think maybe until chapter 40, maybe more if we're really crushing it in time. But we're gonna talk about the story of Joseph, which I think a lot of us have probably heard about. For me, honestly, I could read this again. I don't actually even know the last time I've read the story of Joseph, or if I ever really have. I've heard a lot about it through, like, different sermons and stories. And this is a pretty popular story from the Old Testament that we Christians love to refer back to because it has a lot in it and there's a lot of lessons. It's really rich. There's a lot of things that we can take from the story of Joseph and what happened to him and how he handles the things that had happened to him in his life. And so just to give, like a quick little, we're gonna set the stage here. Joseph is the son of Jacob, and Jacob is one of the patriarchs of Israel. So he's the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. And Abraham is the one that God made a covenant with, promising that his descendants would become a great nation. Jacob, after some twists and turns, is renamed Israel by God, and his twelve sons become the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. So Jacob comes from this covenant line, and Joseph is a part of that unfolding promise. Gas, groceries, eating out. Even on the tightest budget, there's no escaping them. But here's what you can control. 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Feeding America led by neighbors Give now to end hunger@feedingamerica.org okay, so with knowing that background of who Jacob is, who Joseph is, who Isaac is, who Abraham is, okay, now we have an understanding of how we got here. We're going to start at the top of chapter 37, verse 1. If you guys have your Bibles, let's read together. I honestly, there's nothing more powerful than having the word of God in front of you where you can highlight and underline and take notes. So if you are in a place to read along, I would highly, highly suggest that. But if you're not and you're somehow driving a vehicle or you're on a walk, or you're just not near your Bible, that's okay, I'm happy to read to you and we can just follow along together verbally. But okay, so chapter 37 starts. So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner. This is the account of Jacob and his family when Joseph was 17 years old. He often tended his father's flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father's wives, Bilhah and Zilpah. Okay, also, fair warning, if there are any really interesting words and names, I might. You might have to just have grace for me, guys. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day, Jacob. Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph. A beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They could not say a kind word to him. One night, Joseph had a dream. And when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. Listen to this dream, he said. We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine. His brothers responded, so you think you'll be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us? And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way that he talked about them. Soon Joseph had another dream and again told his brothers about it. Listen, I had another dream, he said. The sun, moon and 11 stars bowed low before me. This time, he told the dream to his father as well to his brothers. But his father scolded him. What kind of dream is that? He asked. Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you? But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant. Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem. When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, you brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready and I will send you to them. I'm ready to go, Joseph replied. Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along, Jacob said. Then come back and bring me a report. So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron. When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. What are you looking for? He asked. I'm looking for my brothers, joseph replied. Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep? Yes, the man told him. They have moved on from here. But I heard them say, let's go on to Tothen. So Joseph followed his brothers to Tothen and found them there. When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. Here comes the dreamer, they said. Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. Yeah, that actually means that they just threw him into a pit. Or they were planning to throw him into a pit. We can tell our father a wild animal has eaten him, and then we'll see what becomes of his dreams. But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph's rescue. Let's not kill him, he said. Why should we shed any blood? Let's just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he'll die without our laying a hand on him. Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty. There was no water in it. Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders Taking a load of gum, balm, and aromic resin From Gildan down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, what will we gain by killing our brother? We'd have to cover up the crime. Instead of killing him, let's just sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood. And his brothers agreed. So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph's brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for 20 pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt. Sometime later, Reuben returned to Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, the boy is gone. What will I do now? Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph's robe in its blood. They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this. Look at what we found. Doesn't this robe belong to your son? Oh, this is so manipulative and sad and gross. Their father recognized it immediately. Yes, he said, it's my son's robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son. For a long time, his family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. I will go to my grave mourning for my son, he would say. And then he would weep. Meanwhile, the Metadite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard. Okay, really quick, we're just going to go ahead and kind of recap what is happening here. Okay, so obviously, Joseph was the favorite of all of the brothers to Jacob. Okay? So his father, Jacob, favored Joseph, gave him this beautiful robe. And I think that that obviously represented a lot of just the favor that Joseph had. And it's obvious that his brothers were very jealous of that, and they didn't like it. And then Joseph had two dreams. And his dreams are actually the central to the whole story. Like, those are actually probably the most important parts of the story of Joseph. And I think, like, for me, my question is, like, okay, these obviously sounds like they are prophetic dreams. Like, these dreams sound like they're probably from God because they're kind of crazy. They sound pretty detailed, vivid, and kind of revealing to Joseph, like who God has created him to be and like the trajectory of his life. But I think we could question, like, okay, are these dreams actually from God? Or does this guy just have like a really big ego about himself? Which I think his family even questioned in that moment. Right. Like, even his father was like, wait a minute, like even his father was kind of offended where he was like, are you telling me that we're all just going to be bowing to you? Like, Joseph's second dream especially was like insane. The sun, the moon and the stars that the sun, the father, the moon, mother and 11 stars, brothers bow down to him. So that's what that meant in that dream was it was actually talking about his family. And so his dad was like, what? You're telling me that we're all going to be bowing down to you? And obviously his brothers were already offended from the get go. Like from the first dream that Joseph has shared. They were like, okay, who do you think you are? And in that first dream, the sheaves of grain, Joseph and his brothers are binding up sheaves in a field. His sheaf stands upright and his brother's sheaves gather around and bow down to his. So it's very obvious that in his first dream he was telling his brothers and that one day they will bow to him, symbolizing authority and leadership over them. So they were already a little offended and ticked off by that. And even before that, they were already feeling really jealous of him. And then, yeah, and then the second dream, it's now showing that it's not just his brothers, but his entire family will be under his authority in some way in the future. And so the short answer of like, whether these dreams are actually from God or not is yes, but Joseph didn't handle them perfectly. So the only reason we know that these dreams are prophetic and from God is because they prophetically do come true later in Genesis 42:45, when his brothers bow before him in Egypt. Okay, so a little spoiler before we get there, but we do know that they are prophetic because then as we continue to read, we do see how that does come to fruition. And it's true. And throughout Joseph's story, as we will continue to read, there is a consistent theme that God is orchestrating something bigger behind the scenes. And in the Old Testament, we actually see it a lot that God often speaks through dreams. And an example is, like, with Daniel and later on, this is how God communicates with his people. So these weren't random dreams. They actually were glimpses of God's plan. Another fun fact to know about Joseph and where he was at is maybe as we read the story, we kind of assume that the guy is, like, I don't know, in his mid-20s. He's probably, like, most likely only 17 years old during this time. And he shares these dreams pretty boldly. Okay, so he's just a teenager. And so it's possible to have something from God and still not have the maturity to carry it yet. I think that that could be a possibility of what's happened to Joseph is the Lord has given him something, but maybe he wasn't mature enough to really deliver it in a way that just probably could have been better. And I think that the truth is, gosh, guys, this is such a good lesson. And this comes with, like, spiritual maturity. I think Joseph probably learned that lesson even in what he did here. But this is the thing is, like, God uses all of it. And so even the results of him sharing these dreams and his brothers becoming even more jealous of him, you know, the Lord uses all of it. And we will continue to read. I promise we will. But I think as we mature spiritually, there is a discernment that we gain from the Holy Spirit of what is worth sharing yet versus maybe, probably not. And the thing is, is, like, God will always reveal things to us and he will show us things. And prophetic dreaming is just an example. But I mean, you could get a word of knowledge. You could see a vision from the Lord, like, however the Holy Spirit wants to reveal things to you, whether it's through images, dreams, words, feelings, like, however that works between you and. And the Holy Spirit is another level of discernment of like, okay, now, Holy Spirit, you've revealed this to me. When? How? Where? Do you even want me to ever reveal this to anybody? Or is this something that you want me to hold on, to intercede about, keep in my heart for a while until I feel like a release from you that it's appropriate to share this. But that is another aspect of, you know, just walking with the Holy Spirit. And so, yeah, I think that this is a great lesson that I'm sure Joseph learned. But we could also learn is that just because God showed you something doesn't mean it's time to announce it yet. And I don't know, like, here's another. This is all Hypothetical. Okay. The Bible does not say this. So this is just me. Like, you know, I think it's fun to try to use our imagination and, like, put our. Our feet in Joseph's shoes for a second. But I think there could have also been a possibility that Joseph had not experienced anything like this before. Maybe. Maybe Joseph hasn't ever received dreams like this from the Lord before. And so I think another thing that can be very true is, like, when you start to experience these things with the Holy Spirit and you're like, oh, my gosh. I feel like God is speaking in this way and that way. It's very tempting and exciting to just go out into the world. And I think even with social media, I've seen this on social media. I'm going to be honest. Like, there have been things that have come up on my for you page of people prophesying and sharing something, and I question if that should have been something that they should have kept between them and the Lord and interceded about. But sometimes when we hear directly from God and we know that, oh, my gosh, that was Holy Spirit, it is so exciting. It's almost like we feel like we need to tell people right off the bat. You're like, oh, my gosh, I have to tell the world. I have to tell my family. I have to tell my brothers. Like, this thing just happened. I had this dream. It was crazy. Like, you guys were bowing down to me. It was, like, the craziest thing. And, like, actually, I've had another dream now where it was my whole family. Like, even you, dad and mom and brothers, you guys were all bowing to me. Isn't that crazy? And it's like, okay, Joseph, maybe we were a little excited because we've never experienced anything like this before, right? But maybe we needed a little bit more spiritual maturity to, like, take a second, slow down. I think that maybe there are rare occasions where the Holy Spirit would want us to act in urgency. I don't want to say that urgency isn't like, if you receive something and you genuinely feel from the Holy Spirit that you need to immediately share it, I believe that is a possibility. I don't want to cancel that out. Like, that's not a way that the Holy Spirit would want to use you. But I would say more times than not, though, it's actually wise to, like, take a second. We're gonna take a pause, we're gonna breathe, and we're gonna go, okay. In my emotions and my excitement and like, even maybe the intensity of what you Saw. Okay. It's really. It's. It's like, oh, my gosh, I have to tell everybody. But I actually think it takes real wisdom and maturity. Like, take a second and go, okay, actually, Lord, what do you want me to do with that? And, like, being slow to responding after God reveals something to you. Not slow in a way that's disobedient, like I said, where it's like, if you really feel that urgency from the spirit that you're supposed to be sharing it, girl, boy, you better get out there and share it, right? There's a reason there's an urgency that's been put on your heart by the spirit. If you really believe it's from God. But if it's just kind of like you're, like, swept away in the emotion, whether it's excitement, fear, fear, whatever it is that you're feeling from the very thing that God revealed to you, maybe take a second to, like, slow. Slow those emotions down. Discern where that urgency is coming from. Is it coming from the Holy Spirit, or is it coming from all the feelings and emotions that are stirred up in me from receiving that? Does that make sense? Was that a little ranty? I just. I. I'm predicting again. It. I don't. I don't know. It. It doesn't say in Scripture. But maybe Joseph was kind of in, like, this oh, my God, like, whirlwind of feeling, the. The craziness of the dreams that he had gotten, that he just goes, bleh. And he was young, right? So it's okay. There's grace. And if you've ever done that in your life. I know I have. There are definitely times where I probably should have shut up and just let the Lord, like, I just marinate with the Lord on that and give it some time, pray about it. Give it time for the Lord to give you even more clarity about what he showed you. But that's okay. You know, it's how we learn. So his dreams weren't wrong. Joseph's dreams weren't wrong, but his timing and delivery might have been. Because the truth is, that's what ended up fueling his brother's jealousy, their anger, and eventually his betrayal of them, selling him into slavery, which we read and we just saw had happened. What if my friends secretly hate me? Something bad will happen if I don't do this. Does God really still love me after what I've done? Do you ever have thoughts like these? I'm talking about unwanted thoughts that play on loop in your mind over and over. Thoughts like that can be a sign of ocd, but because OCD is so misunderstood, a lot of people don't even know that it can show up that way. OCD is a common, highly misunderstood mental health condition that causes intrusive thoughts and a powerful urge to do something to neutralize those thoughts. The good news is OCD is highly treatable with a specific kind of therapy called erp, or Exposure and Response Prevention. ERP helps you learn how to confront your fears without engaging in the behaviors that keep you stuck. And that's why I wanted to tell you about nocd. NOCD is the world's leading provider of OCD treatment. All of their licensed therapists truly understand OCD and specialize in ERP therapy. 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And so an aspect and like a major lesson that we could kind of take out of this as well is obviously Joseph shares dreams of his family bowing to him, but something that maybe we could kind of. I mean, I feel like I summed this up pretty well, but an opportunity in this for us is maybe to reflect on how God sometimes gives us visions. But timing and humility matters. And then another thing that we saw in this chapter is how his brother's jealousy grows. And so it's obvious that what's being demonstrated in this dynamic between him and his brothers is that unchecked envy can lead to destructive choices. And so his brothers obviously weren't repenting for the envy that they were feeling towards their brother. I believe it even says somewhere in scripture that envy is like Legitimately demonic. Like, it is evil that is in us. So anytime that we feel envious, anytime that we feel jealous, that is actually an indication of evil. Like, that can't be in us. Okay? And so we have to check our hearts. If we ever feel that way and we need to resist it, we need to say, nope, I am not doing that. I'm not going to be envious. I'm not going to be jealous. And if you've already fallen into that, it's okay. There's an opportunity for you to repent. Thank you, God for the gift of repentance. And so you just got it. We just got to ask the Lord for forgiveness for that and shake it off and say, God, I don't want to be that person. I will not be envious. I will not be jealous. God, I believe that you have me on my path for a reason. And I'm not going to compare. I'm not going to look at another person's circumstances or life and be jealous of that. God, I trust you with where I'm at right now. Because the hard truth of unchecked envy, like if you are not doing a heart check and you are not being aware of the ways that you are acting in jealousy and envy, it will result into destructive decision making skills. Like, you won't have the same clarity that you would had. You release that envy and surrender that to the Lord and be content with where you're at and where you are with Him. And it doesn't mean that you will plot the death of your sibling like these crazy guys did. That's an extreme. But it was a result of their unchecked envy and jealousy. But yeah, it could lead to you just making decisions that you're not proud of. You know, whether that's in your own life or that's ways that you're then treating that person because you're a little envious and jealous. Yeah, there's just no good decision making that happens when envy is at the center of your heart. And so it's also the Lord trying to spare us by giving us the opportunity to repent of jealousy and envy. And he warns us of those things. It's God actually giving us an opportunity to not only continue to live freely, we're like, we don't have to be in the bondage of envy, but he's trying to save us from some bad decision making. Because again, anything that's based off of jealousy and envy, there's no good results. And that's definitely being demonstrated in chapter 37 that we just read between Joseph and his brothers, right? But nothing is too big for God, okay? Not even our poor decision making moments. So using Joseph's brothers as an example, since that's obviously what we're talking about today, even though his brothers make awful, evil decisions rooted in their envy and jealousy, they lie to their dad. Their poor father also has to go through all of this grieving. He rips his clothes and dresses himself in burlap, which we've seen happen in the Old Testament before already, where this is a representation of what people do when they grieve. In a lot of times too, they'd even cover themselves in ashes and dust. And so when they grieve like that's, that's what they do is they. They tear their clothes and they put themselves in burlap. And so their poor father is like, refused to be comforted. He's so, so devastated. This was his favorite son. This was his favorite son that he was so proud of and was obviously highly favored. And so he refuses to get over the fact. He's like, I will literally bring it to my grave. And so they lie to their father about the fact that his son is dead, but he's not. They sell him into slavery. They betray him, abandon him. And so the truth is, is like, even though they've made all of these awful decisions, we will now continue to read and see that God can work even through others wrongs. And so we're going to continue to see that and read that. We're now going to be in chapter 38. This is Judah and Tamar. So verse one. About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he stayed with a man named Hira. I did a good job with my coffee today. That's not bad. Okay, sorry. There he saw a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her. When he slept with her, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son and named him the boy of Er or er. I don't know, it's er. Literally, that's it. Er. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with er. Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, and she named him Anania. And when she gave birth to a third son, she named him Shelah. At the time of Shelah's birth, they were living at Kezib. In the course of time, Judah arranged for his firstborn son, E.R. to marry a young woman named Tamar. But E.R. was a wicked man in the Lord's sight. So the Lord took His life. Oh, that's sad. Oh, why was he wicked? That makes me so sad. As our law requires of the brothers of a man who has died, you must produce an heir for your brother. But Anon was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with his brother's wife, he spilled the semen on the ground. Sorry, guys, I didn't know about that part. What a weirdo. Okay, okay, it's fine. We're all adults. It's fine. We know how babies come into the world, okay? It's no biggie. I just never thought the word semen was in the Bible, but there it is. Okay. But the Lord considered it evil for Anon to deny a child to his dead brother. So the Lord took Anon's life too. Everyone's just being disobedient. This is not good. Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter in law, go back to your parents home and remain a widow until my son Shelah is old enough to marry you. But Judah didn't really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die like his two brothers. So Tamar went back to live in her father's home. Some years later, Judah's wife died. After the time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend Harah the Adullamite, went up to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep. Someone told Tamar, look, your father in law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep. Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but no arrangements had been made for her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her widow's clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat beside the road at the entrance of the village of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. Judas noticed her and actually thought she was a prostitute since she had covered her face. So he stopped and propositioned her. Let me have sex with you, he said, not realizing that she was his own daughter in law. How much will you pay to have sex with me? Tamar asked. I'll send you a young goat from my flock, Judah promised. But what will you give me to guarantee that you will send the goat? She asked. What kind of guarantee do you want? He replied. She answered, leave me your identification seal and its cord and the walking stick you are carrying. So Judah gave them to her. Then he had intercourse with her and she became pregnant. Afterwards she went back home, took off her veil and put on her widow's clothing as usual. What Is going on okay? It's all right. We'll do a recap soon. What in the world is chapter 38? Later, Judah asked his friend Harah the Adullamite to take the young goat to the woman and to pick up the things he had given her as her guarantee. But Hera couldn't find her. So he asked the men who lived there, where can I find the shrine prostitute who was sitting beside the road at the entrance of Inaim? We've never had a shrine prostitute here, they replied. So hurrah returned to Judah and told him, I couldn't find her anywhere. And the men of the village claim they've never had a shrine prostitute there. Cause she wasn't one. Then let her keep the things I gave her. Judah said, I sent the young goat as we agreed, but you couldn't find her. We'd be the laughing stock of the village if we went back again to look for her. About three months later, Judah was told, tamar, your daughter in law has acted like a prostitute. And now because of this, she's pregnant. Bring her out and let her be burned. Judah demanded. This is so messy. But as they were taking her out to kill her, they sent this message to her father in law. The man who owns these things made me pregnant. Look closely. Whose seal and cord and walking stick are these? Judah recognized them immediately and said, she is more righteous than I am because I didn't arrange for her to marry my son Shelah. And Judah never slept with Tamar again. Well, yeah, I'd hope not. Oh, I don't know. I don't know what's going on. Okay. When the time came for Tamar to give birth, it was discovered that she was carrying twins. While she was in labor, one of the babies reached out his hand. The midwife grabbed it and tied a scarlet string around the child's wrist, announcing, this one came out first, but then he pulled back his hand and out came his brother. What? The midwife exclaimed, how did you break out first? So he was named Perez. Then the baby with the scarlet string on his wrist was born and he was named Perez. Zara. Okay, I think we have a lot to unpack here. Okay, y'. All. Genesis 38, low key comes it. That felt like it came out of nowhere. I'm just like, wait a minute, where's Joseph and what's going on? And what? This sounds like a reality TV show. A very, very messy one. Okay, so obviously this did interrupt Joseph story and it shifts characters completely. And honestly, it's messy, but it's actually really intentional and powerful once you see what's going on. Okay, so this chapter zooms in on Judah, one of Joseph's brothers, the same brother who helped sell Joseph. Okay, so Judah drifts away. Judah separates from his family and marries a Canaanite woman. And then he has three sons, ER, Anan and Shelah. So right away, what we're seeing is distance from God's family, from covering and from accountability. Tamar enters the story. Judah's first son, er, marries Tamar. Er is wicked. Right? We got that part. Okay. And so God puts him to death. That's super sad then. Okay, so this, I guess, was a cultural practice called Levirite marriage. So the next brother, which would have been Anon, is supposed to give Tamar a child to carry on the family line. So because her husband, er, God had taken. Because he was a wicked, evil man. How it goes in just cultural practice and tradition is then the next brother would have to marry that woman so that they could carry on the lineage and the bloodline and have babies. And so Anon, we read that that he then actually refuses. He's like, I'm not gonna do that. He honestly wanted the benefits without the responsibility. So God judges him too. And so now Tamar, the original wife to ER is now widowed, childless, and vulnerable. Okay. And promised the third son later. But Judah never follows through. We saw that as well. So Judah essentially abandons his responsibility to her. Tamar disguises herself and sleeps with Judah. He doesn't recognize her. See, the Lord had his way anyway, because then Judah essentially abandons his responsibility. But then Tamar, because she disguised herself as a prostitute, Judah sleeps with her, not knowing that it's her. He doesn't recognize her. And so she keeps his personal items, the seal, cord, and staff, as proof. Did homegirl know this? Like, did she know what she was doing? Okay, culturally, I guess Tamar is actually fighting for justice and survival, not manipulation for selfish gain. And then obviously, the twist is that Tamar does become pregnant. Judah is ready to publicly shame and punish her. And then she reveals the father is the owner of these items, AKA him. And Judah says something huge. So then that's when we read that Judah said, she is more righteous than I. That is a turning point for Judah. I think that that could probably be confusing because maybe we could have seen this as like, okay, but didn't it seem as if she was manipulating him? But she actually wasn't. It's not Judah saying Tamar was perfect when he says this. It's him finally telling the truth about who actually did right in a messy situation. So what Judah did wrong was he withheld his third son, Shelah, from Tamar, even though he promised him to her. So Shelah was the one that was supposed to marry Tamar. He essentially left her without provision, without a future, and without justice. And so in that culture, I guess we do also just have to understand that this was just a different time and the culture was different. But in that culture, that wasn't a small thing. It was actually abandoning his duty to protect her place in the family line. And the truth about what Tamar did and why it matters is Tamar's actions are complicated, yes, but her motive matters. She was trying to preserve the family line she had been married into, and she acted because Judah refused to do what was right. So while her method was unconventional, her intention aligned more with justice than Judah's avoidance did. And so this isn't about Tamar being flawless. It's actually about God exposing hypocrisy, someone finally taking responsibility. And it is actually a turning point in Judah's heart. And that part actually really matters, because it wasn't until this moment where obviously, this was a major turning point in Judah's heart. But this matters because Judah becomes a completely different man later because of this moment. And something that's worth mentioning in all of this, too, is that delayed obedience on Judah's end is still disobedient. So it's not. Judah didn't outright refuse at first. Right. He just never followed through. So he made the promise to Tamar saying, yeah, yeah, I'll. I'll give you my third son, Shellah, when he's, you know, old enough. But the truth is, like, he just never actually followed through with that. Okay, guys, the truth is, is where I'm at in time and life right now, I have to be somewhere. Oh, this stinks. I wanted to keep reading with you guys. I wanted to keep reading into. Because now we're, like, actually back to the story of Joseph in chapter 39 and 40. But you know what? This is what we're gonna do. I'm having so much fun. Okay, if you loved this episode, please let me know. These kinds of episodes are so fun for me because I feel like we're, like, actively kind of learning together, and it's just fun to take time to, like, break down scripture with you guys. But I do have to leave my house, like, right now, so we have to stop. I'm so, so sorry. But I think what would be really fun and you guys can leave some comments. I'd love to see some feedback in the comment section below. But, like, we can continue this into next week's episode and we'll just pick up where we left off in. We'll start in chapter 39, Genesis 39, and just keep going because I'm having a lot of fun. This is so fun. Okay, I love you guys. Thanks for hanging out with me if you made it this far. Comment below, Let me know your thoughts. You guys are the best. And if we could do anything really quick before we go, if we could do something cool today, let's show somebody how cool Jesus is, okay? Let's be his hands and feet. Let's love people as Jesus loves people. Let's walk more like him, talk more like him, be more like Jesus today. Amen. I'm so proud of you guys. Thank you for being a light in this world. Continue to be a representation of who Jesus is. Allow the Holy Spirit to work through you. Even if it feels funny. I don't know. Who knows what will happen today. Maybe the Lord wants to use you in a way that'll really stretch you to be out of your comfort zone, and that's okay. That's when we get to just trust him more. And so I actually pray for moments like that today that the Lord kind of challenges you to do funny things where he's like, do you trust me? And to look maybe a little weird and silly, but we got to do it, y'. All. Somebody's got to do it. Somebody's got to be his hands and feet. Somebody's got to carry his spirit. And it's got to be you and it's got to be me. So I love you guys. Super proud of you. Super proud of you. And I will see you next week. I'll see you next Friday, same place, same time. I'll see you there. Okay. Bye. Early birds always rise to the occasion for summer vacation planning because early gets you closer to the action. So don't be late. Book your next vacation early on VRBO and save over $120. Rise and shine. Average savings, $141. Select homes only. You didn't start a business just to keep the lights on. You're here to sell more today than yesterday. You're here to win. Lucky for you, Shopify built the best converting checkout on the planet. Like the Just one Tapping ridiculously fast, acting sky high sales stacking champion at checkouts. That's the good stuff right there. So if your business is in it to Win it. Win with Shopify. Start your free trial today@shopify.com win.