Prepare for the Famine
Scripture Reading: Genesis 43:1-23
1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the
grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a
little food.”
3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see
my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down
and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us,
‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”
6 And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had
still another brother?”
7 But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your
father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words.
Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we
may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I myself will be surety for him;
from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you,
then let me bear the blame forever. 10 For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would
have returned this second time.”
11 And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best
fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a
little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double money in your
hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks;
perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. 14 And
may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother
and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”
15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and
arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin
with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter
an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” 17 Then the man did as
Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.
18 Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said,
“It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are
brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our
donkeys.”
19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of
the house, 20 and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; 21 but it
happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each
man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it
back in our hand. 22 And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do
not know who put our money in our sacks.”
23 But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has
given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
I apologize for cutting the scripture short like that but the fact is that today’s reading
could have gone from chapter 41 all the way through 45. I just chose the portion
that I thought best fit this week’s message. Last week I challenged you all to read
the entire Bible through in a maximum of three years. This week we’re going to
discuss why it is so important. As this scripture begins, Jacob (Israel) has come to a
painful conclusion. He is going to have to send all ten of his remaining sons to
Egypt because the famine is so bad in the land of Canaan. You can see this is
difficult for Jacob to do because of the conversation he has with his son Judah. He
really doesn’t want to do this but he fears that his children and grandchildren may
die if they don’t get some grain. When a person is hungry they are will do things
they may not normally do.
Genesis 25:29-34
29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And
Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his
name was called Edom.
31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”
33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.”
So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew
of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Esau was hungry! As I said hunger is a motivator. I believe everyone is hungry and
they just don’t know what they’re hungry for. I can remember being hungry. I was
hungry for friendship, relationships. I can remember teaching myself to smoke
cigarettes because I figured it would help me fit in with the cool crowd. I can
remember taking my first hit of marijuana and of cocaine for the very same reason.
But guess what? After I got what I thought I was hungry for…I was still hungry.
Some people are hungry for money or for power or for sex or for cars or for
designer clothes, but just like me when they get it, they’re still hungry. Always
hungry! One of the most successful men of our time, Ted Turner, is quoted as
saying “Success is an empty bag”. Even with all of his successes it’s still not enough
to satisfy the hunger. Some people call it a God-shaped hole that only He can fill.
John 6:26-27
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because
you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the
food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man
will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
Jesus tells them that they are seeking Him because they are hungry but they’re not
hungry for the right thing. They just want to be fed for another day, not realizing
they had the opportunity to never be hungry again. The Sea of Galilee wasn’t some
little lake. They had gone through quite a bit to get across to the other side to find
Him for the wrong reasons. Jesus tells them not to labor for things that perish, like
the cars and the clothes and the money, but to rather labor for that which is eternal.
Later in the chapter He goes on to say this.
John 6:35-40
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger,
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and
yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to
Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has
given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of
Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting
life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Ok, so let’s say you’ve decided that you don’t want to be hungry again; that you
want to labor for that which is eternal. What now? Jesus said He is the Bread of life,
so how do we get that bread? John tells us in chapter 1 that Jesus is the Word, the
Word that became flesh. We may not be able to see Yeshua in the flesh but where
we can still see Him is in the Word.
Proverbs 22:17-21
17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your heart to my knowledge;
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
19 So that your trust may be in the LORD;
I have instructed you today, even you.
20 Have I not written to you excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge,
21 That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth,
That you may answer words of truth
To those who send to you?
God definitely wants us to incline our ear to His Word and apply our heart to His
knowledge. He has given us instruction and everything we need to know the
certainty of what we believe. That’s a really good reason to take the challenge to
read the Bible in the next three years but it’s still not the main reason I’d like to
discuss today.
Let’s go back to Genesis. In chapter 41 Joseph is taken from prison and into the
court of pharaoh. Pharaoh has had a dream, actually two dreams. One dream was
about seven fat cows and seven skinny cows, the other about seven plumb heads of
grain and seven thin heads of grain. Joseph was the only one who was able to
properly interpret the dream as being God warning of a period of famine that would
be coming on the land. He is able to counsel pharaoh that he should prepare for
the famine that is coming by storing the excess grain during the period of plenty that
was to come first. Our scripture reading today came in the middle of this famine.
Joseph’s family had not prepared for the famine so they were at the mercy of Egypt.
Grain is milled to make flour, which is used to make bread. Yeshua is the Bread of
life and the Word. Right now in our culture we live in a land of great abundance
when it comes to the Word of God.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and
the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they
have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears
away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry
I submit that the time has already come that the people of the world in general will
not listen to sound doctrine and have heap up for themselves teachers that have
turned them from the truth and toward fables. Humanism has been pushed in every
sector, from the classrooms to the pulpits. People want to believe that if we all would
just practice tolerance, then there will be peace on earth but that’s not what
scripture teaches. According to scripture, there will be strife on the earth until
Messiah comes again. The only peace will be a false peace (according to Daniel 9:
27) ushered in during the final time of antichrist. Even though Christ Himself tells us
that a sign of the times will be all the wars coming up to His return, there are still
many in the church that are believing the humanist logic that tells them that peace is
attainable through tolerance. All this is interesting but it’s still not the main reason
this sermon asserts for it being so crucial for you to read each and every part of
your Bible.
In 1943, when Lebanon declared its independence, it was a predominantly Christian
country. They were mostly Maronite Catholics but the considered themselves as
followers of Christ. In a sea Islam around them, they were a rarity. Lebanon is a
democratic country and progressed very much like a western mecca in the Middle
East, considered by many to be the Paris of the Middle East as far as culture.
Tourism was a large part on the Lebanese economy. They allowed immigration for
Palestinian refugees and others from around they region. By the early 1970s the
muslim population had grown as large as its Christian population. Civil unrest began
on a personal, street-level scale and eventually escalated into civil war in 1975.
Many on both sides were killed but Christians took the heavier losses. Many
Christians also left the region and emigrated elsewhere in the world. Today the
Lebanese population is about 70% muslim. They went from a Christian peaceful
state to an Islamic war state in just one generation.
When you take look at the muslim populations in Europe, you may bee surprised.
The numbers in eastern Europe are very large with many already having muslim
majority populations. But also in western Europe the numbers are getting quite
high. France has the largest muslim population in western Europe at just under ten
percent. Unfortunately, French law prohibits any census that ask questions
concerning religion but many demographers estimate that of the French population
that is under 25 years old, as many as 30% are muslim. They are already beginning
to see civil unrest because of it. It’s estimated that due to immigration as the muslim
birthrate being much, much higher than that of any other group, within 25 years
France may be an Islamic state.
The muslim birthrate in America outnumbers the birthrate of others by as much as 8
to 1. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do the math. We looked a Bible statistics
last week. This week we will look at those statistic in a different light. Nine out of
every ten homes in America have a Bible. Of those Nine homes, they average four
Bibles. We are living in a time of great prosperity as far of the Word of God being
available to us. Just as the seven years of prosperity in Egypt was to be used to
prepare for the coming famine, so this prosperity should be used for the same. I
don’t know when things will change, when it might become illegal to possess the
Word of God, but I do know that according to Bible prophecy it is coming. I know
when you look at history Islam has always conquered by the sword but in more
recent history they have begun to conquer by sheer numbers. This past election
saw Americans from the state of Minnesota elect the first muslim to serve in the U.S.
Congress. Now, I’m definitely not telling you to go out and be racist toward muslims.
That’s not what I believe Yeshua would have us do. I’m not some kind of alarmist
telling you to be afraid, God has not given us the spirit of fear. What I am telling you
is to be aware that we are living in a time of feasts but famine is coming. Be
forewarned; be prepared! Read your Bible from cover to cover because you and I
don’t know when the day may be coming when that won’t be possible for us to do.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: December 31, 2006
Scripture Reading: Genesis 43:1-23
1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the
grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a
little food.”
3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see
my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down
and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us,
‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”
6 And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had
still another brother?”
7 But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your
father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words.
Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we
may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I myself will be surety for him;
from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you,
then let me bear the blame forever. 10 For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would
have returned this second time.”
11 And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best
fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a
little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double money in your
hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks;
perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. 14 And
may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother
and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”
15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and
arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin
with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter
an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” 17 Then the man did as
Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.
18 Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said,
“It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are
brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our
donkeys.”
19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of
the house, 20 and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; 21 but it
happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each
man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it
back in our hand. 22 And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do
not know who put our money in our sacks.”
23 But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has
given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
I apologize for cutting the scripture short like that but the fact is that today’s reading
could have gone from chapter 41 all the way through 45. I just chose the portion
that I thought best fit this week’s message. Last week I challenged you all to read
the entire Bible through in a maximum of three years. This week we’re going to
discuss why it is so important. As this scripture begins, Jacob (Israel) has come to a
painful conclusion. He is going to have to send all ten of his remaining sons to
Egypt because the famine is so bad in the land of Canaan. You can see this is
difficult for Jacob to do because of the conversation he has with his son Judah. He
really doesn’t want to do this but he fears that his children and grandchildren may
die if they don’t get some grain. When a person is hungry they are will do things
they may not normally do.
Genesis 25:29-34
29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And
Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his
name was called Edom.
31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”
33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.”
So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew
of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Esau was hungry! As I said hunger is a motivator. I believe everyone is hungry and
they just don’t know what they’re hungry for. I can remember being hungry. I was
hungry for friendship, relationships. I can remember teaching myself to smoke
cigarettes because I figured it would help me fit in with the cool crowd. I can
remember taking my first hit of marijuana and of cocaine for the very same reason.
But guess what? After I got what I thought I was hungry for…I was still hungry.
Some people are hungry for money or for power or for sex or for cars or for
designer clothes, but just like me when they get it, they’re still hungry. Always
hungry! One of the most successful men of our time, Ted Turner, is quoted as
saying “Success is an empty bag”. Even with all of his successes it’s still not enough
to satisfy the hunger. Some people call it a God-shaped hole that only He can fill.
John 6:26-27
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because
you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the
food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man
will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
Jesus tells them that they are seeking Him because they are hungry but they’re not
hungry for the right thing. They just want to be fed for another day, not realizing
they had the opportunity to never be hungry again. The Sea of Galilee wasn’t some
little lake. They had gone through quite a bit to get across to the other side to find
Him for the wrong reasons. Jesus tells them not to labor for things that perish, like
the cars and the clothes and the money, but to rather labor for that which is eternal.
Later in the chapter He goes on to say this.
John 6:35-40
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger,
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and
yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to
Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has
given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of
Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting
life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Ok, so let’s say you’ve decided that you don’t want to be hungry again; that you
want to labor for that which is eternal. What now? Jesus said He is the Bread of life,
so how do we get that bread? John tells us in chapter 1 that Jesus is the Word, the
Word that became flesh. We may not be able to see Yeshua in the flesh but where
we can still see Him is in the Word.
Proverbs 22:17-21
17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your heart to my knowledge;
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
19 So that your trust may be in the LORD;
I have instructed you today, even you.
20 Have I not written to you excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge,
21 That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth,
That you may answer words of truth
To those who send to you?
God definitely wants us to incline our ear to His Word and apply our heart to His
knowledge. He has given us instruction and everything we need to know the
certainty of what we believe. That’s a really good reason to take the challenge to
read the Bible in the next three years but it’s still not the main reason I’d like to
discuss today.
Let’s go back to Genesis. In chapter 41 Joseph is taken from prison and into the
court of pharaoh. Pharaoh has had a dream, actually two dreams. One dream was
about seven fat cows and seven skinny cows, the other about seven plumb heads of
grain and seven thin heads of grain. Joseph was the only one who was able to
properly interpret the dream as being God warning of a period of famine that would
be coming on the land. He is able to counsel pharaoh that he should prepare for
the famine that is coming by storing the excess grain during the period of plenty that
was to come first. Our scripture reading today came in the middle of this famine.
Joseph’s family had not prepared for the famine so they were at the mercy of Egypt.
Grain is milled to make flour, which is used to make bread. Yeshua is the Bread of
life and the Word. Right now in our culture we live in a land of great abundance
when it comes to the Word of God.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and
the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they
have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears
away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry
I submit that the time has already come that the people of the world in general will
not listen to sound doctrine and have heap up for themselves teachers that have
turned them from the truth and toward fables. Humanism has been pushed in every
sector, from the classrooms to the pulpits. People want to believe that if we all would
just practice tolerance, then there will be peace on earth but that’s not what
scripture teaches. According to scripture, there will be strife on the earth until
Messiah comes again. The only peace will be a false peace (according to Daniel 9:
27) ushered in during the final time of antichrist. Even though Christ Himself tells us
that a sign of the times will be all the wars coming up to His return, there are still
many in the church that are believing the humanist logic that tells them that peace is
attainable through tolerance. All this is interesting but it’s still not the main reason
this sermon asserts for it being so crucial for you to read each and every part of
your Bible.
In 1943, when Lebanon declared its independence, it was a predominantly Christian
country. They were mostly Maronite Catholics but the considered themselves as
followers of Christ. In a sea Islam around them, they were a rarity. Lebanon is a
democratic country and progressed very much like a western mecca in the Middle
East, considered by many to be the Paris of the Middle East as far as culture.
Tourism was a large part on the Lebanese economy. They allowed immigration for
Palestinian refugees and others from around they region. By the early 1970s the
muslim population had grown as large as its Christian population. Civil unrest began
on a personal, street-level scale and eventually escalated into civil war in 1975.
Many on both sides were killed but Christians took the heavier losses. Many
Christians also left the region and emigrated elsewhere in the world. Today the
Lebanese population is about 70% muslim. They went from a Christian peaceful
state to an Islamic war state in just one generation.
When you take look at the muslim populations in Europe, you may bee surprised.
The numbers in eastern Europe are very large with many already having muslim
majority populations. But also in western Europe the numbers are getting quite
high. France has the largest muslim population in western Europe at just under ten
percent. Unfortunately, French law prohibits any census that ask questions
concerning religion but many demographers estimate that of the French population
that is under 25 years old, as many as 30% are muslim. They are already beginning
to see civil unrest because of it. It’s estimated that due to immigration as the muslim
birthrate being much, much higher than that of any other group, within 25 years
France may be an Islamic state.
The muslim birthrate in America outnumbers the birthrate of others by as much as 8
to 1. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do the math. We looked a Bible statistics
last week. This week we will look at those statistic in a different light. Nine out of
every ten homes in America have a Bible. Of those Nine homes, they average four
Bibles. We are living in a time of great prosperity as far of the Word of God being
available to us. Just as the seven years of prosperity in Egypt was to be used to
prepare for the coming famine, so this prosperity should be used for the same. I
don’t know when things will change, when it might become illegal to possess the
Word of God, but I do know that according to Bible prophecy it is coming. I know
when you look at history Islam has always conquered by the sword but in more
recent history they have begun to conquer by sheer numbers. This past election
saw Americans from the state of Minnesota elect the first muslim to serve in the U.S.
Congress. Now, I’m definitely not telling you to go out and be racist toward muslims.
That’s not what I believe Yeshua would have us do. I’m not some kind of alarmist
telling you to be afraid, God has not given us the spirit of fear. What I am telling you
is to be aware that we are living in a time of feasts but famine is coming. Be
forewarned; be prepared! Read your Bible from cover to cover because you and I
don’t know when the day may be coming when that won’t be possible for us to do.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: December 31, 2006