Acts 7:9-16

God will use the very things meant to destroy your faith and turn them into a blessing to be used to uplift and give hope to others. Faith is the substance hoped for but not yet seen and it alone pleases God. The Trinity is bigger than any problem that befalls man.......Just believe in their power and not your own!

The patriarchs refers to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, and his 12 sons. Jacob’s name, meaning “Usurper,” was changed by God to Israel, meaning something like “God’s Defender.” His 12 sons were the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel. The famine proved to be the providential means of bringing Joseph’s brethren to Egypt in search of grain—and more importantly, of reconciling them with Joseph.

Acts 7:9-16

⁹ “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him ¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. ¹¹ Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. ¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. ¹³ And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. ¹⁵ So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. ¹⁶ And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.