St. Paul Lutheran Church, Matteson, Illinois & Pastor Troester

Read about God providing for Moses & Aaron, the words and the means to do what He calls them to do, and God's works in His time and way to deliver the Children of Israel.

Read how God sees, hears and remembers Moses (and us!) and responds by sending what we need, in this case, what the people needed was deliverance from Pharoah, and in our case, deliverance from death and separation from Him.  God brings us life through Jesus Christ.

Read about how God thwarts the plans of the Pharoah as God's people call out to Him and God hears, remembers, see and knows us.

Read about the continuing history of God's people, living in this world, and the hand of God guiding and blessing them, even amidst their trials.

Read about the witness of the burial of both Jacob (Israel) and of Joseph, both of which show great reverence and respect for the body God gave us, and also a witness to the resurrection of both men, through the grace of God in Jesus, and faith in Him.  Joseph leaves us a good example of what it means that revenge is God's not ours, as he deals with his brothers and their sin against him thro...

Read about the blessing/prophecy that Jacob gives his sons, which includes the consequences of their sins, but also the grace of God in their lives, which will be fulfilled in Jesus, when He comes "in the fulness of time" (Galatians 4:4), and ultimately when the whole family of God, from every "tribe and nation" (Revelation 7) will be gathered together around one throne, the throne Christ. 

Jacob blesses his family, but in God's way, as Jacob has learned in his life that God works in His Ways, not ours, but always for what is best for us.

God continues to fulfill what Joseph dreamed so many years earlier, and brings Joseph to a position where he can be a blessing to others under him, as Joseph serves in the likeness of Christ.

Joseph is reunited with all his family, including his father, Jacob.  Read about how God brings this whole family together, blesses them and helps them to be a blessing to many.

Read the story of a family being reunited, through much turmoil and sin, yet God, in His grace, reunits what was torn apart, as He does for us through Christ Jesus, our Savior.

Read how Joseph confirms that his brothers are honest and true and faithful to the family.  Soon they will be reunited!

Jacob and his family live with the effects of the sin in this world and the effects of their sin, and God being faithful, giving them grace to be reconciled and brought back together.

All the God had revealed to Joseph, has come true, as God's brings this family back together and we learn that we can wait upon the Lord.

Read about God working in Joseph's life and Joseph waiting upon God and giving God all the glory when God reveals Pharoah's dream, which works to save the lives of many. We learn to wait upon God and trust Him.

Read about the ups and downs of Joseph's life, and how God is with him (and us!) through everything.

Read how God is with Joseph and blesses him, even though Joseph goes through many trials, some caused by his very faithfulness to God and God's gift of marriage, and yet in the end, Joseph is blessed.

Genesis takes a diversion from the life of Joseph, to tell us about what is happening in the rest of the family, in particular with Judah, Joseph's brother who got his brothers to sell Joseph, rather than kill him.  Jesus comes from a line of sinners, for sinners.  Judah and his son's sins are wicked in God's sight, but yet God is merciful and knows that our only hope is in Him.

Read about the Generations that God is working through in the line of the Messiah, and about the earthly family dynamics and disfunctions of sinful people (like us!) in need of a Savior.

Read the names of all those whom God knows by name, historical figures which grounds the Bible in history, not a fairy tale, but actual people precious to God, as you yourselves are, too!

Read about God's faithfulness to Jacob and to us in extending the family of Abraham until the time when Jesus would be born, in the line and family of Abraham.

Read about the Grace of God in Jacob's (Israel's) life as he is reunited with his brother Esau, and the actions of Jacob's Son's who, like their father, have learned how to deceive for their advantage.  Yet God is merciful!

Read about God working through the imperfect life and family of Jacob--God even wrestled with Jacob, changing his name to Israel ("wrestles with God"), showing that He is a God who strives with us and for us.

Read about the Family of Jacob and the birth of his children and the struggles they had.  God keeps His Promises, and despite the disobedience of Jacob, the line of the Messiah continues to move forward.

Read about the journey of Jacob, the son of Isaac & Rebekah, and the grandson of Abraham & Sarah, in the line of Jesus Christ.

Read through the Bible, in the book of Genesis, chapter by chapter with us!