Alright, we find ourselves here in Genesis chapter 29, and this is a pretty interesting chapter and section in the Bible.
And you could honestly make a lot of analogies, a lot of sorts of sermons.
We'll just finish up the chapter here today, though.
So our second sermon from Genesis 29, and the name of the sermon is The Heart of a Rejected Wife.
The Heart of a Rejected Wife.
Now, what I'm gonna do in the sermon is basically fly through verses 16 through 30.
We're gonna spend some time on verses 31 through 35.
And then we're gonna make three points after that.
So let's start here in verse number 16, the Bible reads,
And Laban had two daughters.
The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and well-favored.
And so what the Bible says here in verse 17 about Leah and Rachel,
it says about Rachel that she was beautiful and well-favored, and it says Leah was tender-eyed.
Now, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what that means, that she was tender-eyed,
but it has something to do with attractiveness.
And what I would say is it would seem like there was a feature regarding the eyes of Leah
that just kind of stood out in a negative way.
You know, sometimes you see people, and maybe they would be attractive in every sort of way,
but there's that one feature on their face that would be kind of like, you know, a bit different.
And at least by the world standards, people would look at Rachel and say that she's beautiful,
and they wouldn't necessarily feel that way about Leah.
It says in verse 18,
And Jacob loved Rachel, and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee than that I should give her to another man.
Abide with me.
Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to her.
Now, this is an interesting verse because it's kind of strange to me where it says
it only seemed like a few days because he loved her so much.
To me, it would seem like an eternity, you know, if he loved her so much and he had to wait seven years.
But I guess the idea would be that he loved her so much, it really didn't matter to him how long he had to wait.
He was perfectly okay with waiting seven years.
And obviously he had a deep attraction and love for Rachel because he was committed enough to say,
Hey, I will wait seven years to marry this woman.
Verse 21.
And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled that I may go in unto her.
And Laban gathered together all them into the place and made a feast.
And it came to pass in the evening that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him, and he went in unto her.
And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah, Zelphah is made for a handmaid.
And it came to pass in the morning.
Behold, it was Leah.
And he said to Laban, What is this that thou hast done unto me?
Did not I serve thee for Rachel?
Wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?
Now, this is a very strange story, a very interesting story in the word of God.
And let me just say that to fully understand this story, we have to realize that this is not the same sort of thing that would take place in our culture here today.
You could not get tricked into marrying the wrong person.
And in the Bible, you know, marriage can be a bit different depending on what the culture is.
But in general, there's basically two aspects to marriage.
There's the legality and there's the physical union of husband and wife.
So, for example, you think of Joseph and Mary, and they were espoused.
They were married, but he was still able to get a divorce when he thought she was at fornicating because she's pregnant because they hadn't actually come together yet.
And so usually, at least in our culture, you do the legality and then you're physically together almost immediate, right?
But in some cultures, there might be kind of a waiting time period.
So I don't know if the legality in this culture, he was married seven years before, then he waiting to come together or if it was after the seven years.
But my point is this in our culture here, you know, you know, if you legally marry one woman and then all of a sudden the father tricks you into sleeping with
the sister, you're not married to the sister.
You accidentally committed adultery, right?
So to understand this, we just have to realize that the way marriage works is different depending on the culture.
There are cultures here today where basically to get married, you know, you have to give, you know, like a gift to the father of the bride.
You know, whether it be in some cultures, a lot of cows you have to buy for them or various things.
And so marriage is different in different cultures.
This could not happen in our culture because if you did the paperwork, I'm married to Rachel, whatever the last name, and then all of a sudden you wake up in the morning and you accidentally slept with Leah, you're not married to Leah legally.
You basically accidentally committed adultery.
Now, it is a very strange story, though, because you're kind of like you didn't see her, you know, at all.
You know, I mean, it must have been pretty dark, but it's kind of strange that, you know, he didn't see her before they actually went into the bedroom.
It's a very strange story, right?
And so but I would assume I would presume that Rachel and Leah looked relatively similar, even though Rachel said to be more attractive.
And so perhaps even if there's just like a little bit of light, you wouldn't have been able to tell.
I'm not really sure.
But basically, Laban deceives Jacob into sleeping with Leah and being married to Leah instead of Rachel.
So it looks like in this culture, basically just the physical union is what determined whether or not you were married or not.
Now, here's the thing.
I mean, Jacob could be upset about this and he is and he has a right to be upset.
But you reap what you sow.
And Jacob was a deceiver, right?
I mean, he had deceived, he lied.
We saw that in earlier chapters.
And you know what?
You reap in the same way that you sow.
So for example, if you are a deceitful person and tell a lot of lies, the same thing is going to come back around to you.
So we need to be very careful not to do what Jacob did because something worse ends up happening to him.
So then all of a sudden verse 26, and Laban said, it must not be so done in our country to give the younger before the first one.
Fulfilled her weak and will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me, yet seven other years.
And Jacob did so and fulfilled her weak and he gave him Rachel, his daughter and wife also.
Now, people are confused by these verses.
If you read it closely, he does not have to wait seven more years to physically be with Rachel.
He has to wait one week to be with Rachel, fulfill her weak.
Basically, you just got married to Leah, just spend one week with her as your only wife.
And basically, he's agreed after he gets married to work seven years minus one week for the seven years, okay, or seven years.
Okay, but basically fulfill her weak.
So basically, agree to work for her for seven years, but I will give you Rachel after one week.
Just fulfill her weak and just be with Leah for one week.
So he does not have to wait seven more years to physically be with Rachel, but he's under the agreement that I will work seven more years after we're physically involved.
Just that one week that he fulfilled to only be with Leah, okay, if that makes sense.
So he fulfills her weak, he's a weak only with Leah, and then all of a sudden he marries Rachel, and then he's agreed seven more years to work, verse 29.
And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, Billa, his handmaid to be her maid.
And he went in also under Rachel and he loved also Rachel more than Leah and served with him yet seven other years.
Now, let me also say this in passing that, as I said, this could not happen in our culture where you accidentally marry the wrong person.
You do the paperwork for Rachel and it turns out, well, I accidentally slept with Leah, I married to Leah.
But if this situation did happen in real life where you got tricked into marrying the wrong person, you should just stay married to the person you did not want to marry because polygamy is a sin.
Polygamy is wrong.
Obviously, Jacob got tricked into marrying Leah, but he should not have married Rachel after that because of the fact, you know what?
Polygamy is always wrong.
The Bible says multiply not wives under yourself.
And the way Jacob should have looked at this is, you know what?
This is not what I intended, but, you know, either I'm reaping what I what I showed, which is true, or maybe this is the way God intends me who to be with or whatever.
He should have just accepted that.
Okay, now there's culpability basically from everybody involved.
Okay, now I don't know how Rachel gets tricked in this situation because basically Leah is put in there with Jacob and then Rachel is not there.
Maybe she was lied to or something.
The Bible doesn't really say, but let me say this.
Jacob's not innocent because you replay yourself.
He was a deceiver.
He got deceived.
Laban's not innocent, obviously, but let me explain someone else who's not innocent.
Leah.
See, oftentimes people kind of give Leah a pass and wait a minute.
I mean, she's obviously involved in this situation.
She could have said, you know what?
No, I do not want to be married to him.
He loves Rachel.
Yes, I would like to be married before my sister, but I'm not going to do it now.
And it's like we can't look at Leah and say that she is 100% innocent because obviously, you know, this is a pretty big sin that she's choosing to be involved in.
And you know what?
You reap what you sow.
Leah ends up having a husband that doesn't want to be married to her.
You reap what you sow, right?
You shouldn't have tricked him into marrying you.
And one thing to take away is like if someone, you know, for Leah, she should have just been like, OK, Jacob doesn't want to be with me.
I should just marry somebody else.
In the long run, she would have been happier just saying, I'm going to wait for the person that's meant to be with me as opposed to marrying someone who does not want to be married to me.
I don't know why she would want to be married to someone who does not want to marry her and loves her sister, except maybe she didn't think she was going to meet a guy or whatever.
I'm not really sure, but she's not innocent.
Well, let's see the result of this in verse 31.
And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb.
Now, here's what Rachel was bearing.
Here's the thing.
Leah is hated, but Jacob has a right to hate Leah.
I mean, he didn't want to marry you to begin with.
Now he's going to hate you more.
I mean, it's like you deceived him.
What a terrible start to a marriage when you tricked your husband into marrying you.
He doesn't want to marry you.
Of course he's going to hate you.
He's going to be mad about that.
And so Leah is hated and he opens her womb.
But Rachel is barren.
So Leah is able to have children.
And God actually sees that Leah is hated or the rejected wife.
And God determines I'm going to give her a child.
Verse 32.
And Leah conceived and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben.
For she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction.
Now, therefore, my husband will love me.
It's a very sad verse when you stop and see what she's saying, because obviously you reap what you sow.
But at the same time, you know what?
People make mistakes and you wish they could just get a fresh start.
And you know what?
You do kind of feel bad for Leah, even though she basically deserves this.
You reap what you sow.
But it's like, what a sad situation to say, man, I've given my husband a child.
Now he's finally going to love me.
Right.
And you can make various applications in marriage or in different situations of life where it's just like, if I just do this, he'll finally love me.
He'll finally care about me.
And she's trying to get her happiness by basically having a child and her husband's going to love him.
And she's miserable when you're looking at this verse.
Her whole focus is the fact my husband does not love me, verse 33.
And she conceived again and bear a son and said, because the Lord had heard I was hated, he had therefore given me this son also.
And she called his name Simeon.
And she has the same basic idea.
She's like, I'm hated.
My husband hates me.
So God is giving me a child.
And she thinks this is going to get happiness from her husband.
And she is right.
And what she says, God gave me a child because he saw that I was hated.
But she thinks or hopes she's going to get her husband to love her because she had a child.
She's still a very miserable person.
She said, I'm a hated person.
Verse 34.
And she conceived again and very sudden said, now this time will my husband be joined on to me because I have more than three sons.
Therefore was his name called Levi.
I mean, once again, the same sort of thing.
I have a child.
My husband's going to love me.
Didn't happen.
Second child, I'm hated.
That's why God gave me a child.
Husband doesn't love her.
Third child, my husband will finally be joined on to me.
Now, I don't know that there's anyone in any of our churches that's in this exact sort of situation, but there could be times in life where maybe there's a husband who doesn't love his wife properly or vice versa.
And people can feel rejected from your spouse and they're just thinking, how can I make my spouse happy?
How can I get them to love me?
How can I get them to care about me?
And this is the way she feels.
She feels rejected.
She feels miserable.
And you can basically tell that she's not happy in life.
She keeps talking about how she's hated and how she's rejected.
Now, here's the thing.
It's kind of your fault, Leah.
You married someone who didn't want to marry you.
You tricked him into marrying you.
And now all of a sudden he doesn't love you.
It's like, well, of course he didn't want to be married to you.
He wanted to be with Rachel.
So, you know, you could expect this sort of situation.
But now she's trying to get happiness from her husband to see the problem and why she's miserable is because she's basing her happiness on if her husband loves her.
Because notice what it says in verse 35.
Notice the difference.
And she conceived again and bear a son, and she said, Now will I praise the Lord?
Therefore, she called his name Judah and left bearing.
See, with the first three children, she basically is looking at her happiness to say, If I can get my husband to love me, then I'm going to be happy.
But when the fourth child comes, she changes and says, You know what?
I'm going to praise the Lord.
And see, in life, we can have circumstances that don't work out the way we want.
We can have things that go against us.
We need to get to a point, though, where our happiness is not based on outside circumstances, but we praise the Lord for the things that he has given us in life.
And the first three children go by.
We don't know how many years, but probably four or five, six, seven years.
I mean, time goes by and she's a miserable, miserable person.
But then when the fourth child comes, she changes and says, You know what?
I'm gonna praise the Lord for what he has given me.
And she goes from being a miserable person to actually being content.
Now, of course, if you're familiar with the story, obviously there's this dueling battle between these sisters.
So I'm not saying she's permanently happy and never gets miserable.
But you do see a major shift in verse 35 based on her words.
Now will I praise the Lord?
And she's accepted in the back.
You know what?
My marriage did not work the way I expected it to.
It's not what I wanted.
But you know what?
I'm gonna praise the Lord for the things that he's given us and what I want to preach to you about.
I mean, the name of the sermon is the heart of a rejected wife.
But you can really apply this to just about any area of life, learning to be content with your life.
I don't I don't think that anyone would deny this.
Nobody would want to be in a marriage like this.
You're married to someone and they're married to someone else as well.
Well, how about you're married to someone and that person's, you know,
committing adultery and love somebody you're not even married to not being with you.
That sort of situation.
Nobody wants to be in a situation like that.
Nobody's gonna be happy if they're married to someone and that person doesn't love them, doesn't care about them.
We understand that.
But see, here's the thing.
Leah reaches a point where she actually finds contentment and happiness because she doesn't base it on outside circumstances.
But she bases it on the Lord.
And I would say that a safe people, regardless of how your life is turning out, regardless of the problems you have, you can still have happiness in the Lord.
Go to Acts chapter two, Acts two.
And I've just got three points here tonight.
It's not the most complicated sermon, but just kind of a basic thing to be reminded about.
What can we have thankfulness or praise the Lord about?
What can we be happy about if our life is not going as we would have it to go?
Well, number one, you can praise God for your salvation.
Praise God for your salvation.
You say, Brother Sucky, what about those that aren't saved?
I'm not preaching to unsaved people.
To be honest, they don't really have a whole lot to be thankful about.
They need to get saved.
I mean, it starts with salvation.
It would be better to have the worst life ever and get saved than have the greatest life and never get saved.
We as saved people, we can praise God for our salvation.
That makes us better than 99% of this world.
Acts two, verse 41.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.
And the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls.
Gladly receiving God's word is not simply getting saved, but actually doing something with it.
And what these people did is they got baptized.
They were very glad and thankful to be saved.
Here's the thing. I'm not merely preaching to save people.
I'm preaching to people that love God.
And when I look at our churches, that's the way I think.
I mean, the majority of people at our churches, I believe, love the Lord.
They go soul winning. They read the Bible.
They're trying their best. They make mistakes, just like all of us do, just like I do.
But they genuinely want to please God and love God.
And they say, I want to devote my life to God.
That's what you have in Acts two, verse 41.
When they get saved, they're very glad and happy. Verse 42.
And they continue steadfast in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking the bread and in prayers.
You think about our church. You know what?
We have doctrine. We have fellowship. We have games, activities.
We have so many. We break bread. We eat meals together.
We have our prayer meetings. I mean, it's a template of what you see in Acts chapter two.
People that love God to say, I love the doctrine. I love the fellowship with God's people.
I love the soul winning. I love the prayer time. I love all these things.
I'm happy with my church. I want to serve God and see this group in Acts two.
That's how they start. But here's the thing.
Your excitement for God isn't always up here.
Sometimes it goes down and it goes up. You know, you have ups and downs.
I mean, when you first get saved, you are so thankful to be saved.
I mean, I was so incredibly thankful. It's a moment that I do not believe can be replicated.
I mean, when I got saved, I just remember it felt like the biggest weight ever off my shoulders because I was paranoid and scared that I would go to hell.
I was like, I hope I've done enough good. I don't want to go to hell.
I hope I'm going to go to heaven. And then all of a sudden, I remember when I finally, you know, understood salvation and heard the gospel and I got saved.
It felt like the biggest weight off my shoulders, like the biggest feeling of relief.
You could never recreate that exact thing. Right.
I mean, you could certainly argue that's the greatest. That was one of our questions during the Sweetheart Banker.
What's the greatest moment of your life? It's like when you got married, when your child was born.
You know, when you got saved and all of those are certain experiences that you can never fully recreate when you got a relative.
Say these things are amazing feelings. But here's the thing.
That excitement and that, you know, thankfulness doesn't just stay here all the time.
Reality is it starts off exciting, but then all of a sudden you're like, wow, it's actually hard to serve God.
And sometimes, you know, we can almost forget about our salvation.
We know we're saved, but it's kind of like we just don't even consider it in our daily lives.
We kind of go about our lives and think about, you know, what we want or what we need.
It just kind of forget about the little chapter eight.
Okay, look, we should never lose the joy and thankfulness of being saved.
We should realize how blessed and lucky we actually are.
I mean, literally over 95% of this world is going to go to hell.
I mean, I don't think there's any question from soldiers that over 95% there might be certain parts of the world
or certain states or certain locations or certain cities where there's a high percentage of safe people.
But worldwide in our country, over 95% of people are not safe.
Very few people are actually safe.
Whatever that percentage is, I hope I hope there's more people say than I think.
But you know what? I wouldn't be surprised if only 1% of the world is actually safe.
I mean, that's a that's a that's a low amount.
What that means is that we are in a better situation than 99% of the world.
I mean, we ought to be thankful about that.
Luke Chapter eight, verse 13.
They have the rocker they which when they hear receive the word with joy, receive the word with gladness,
they gladly receive the word they receive with joy.
They're excited that they got saved.
And these have no ruse, which for a while believe in a time of temptation fall away.
That's referring to the persecution that comes after a person gets saved.
Many people, they get saved, they're excited, thankful.
They get mocked by their Catholic relatives.
They get mocked by their old friends or old churchmates.
They get criticized by other people.
I mean, do you really listen to that Internet preacher, that hate preacher?
And then there's people that would be like Peter and just sort of, oh, no, no, I'm not really a fan.
You know, I just saw this one video and just kind of denied because they're embarrassed.
Right. Intimidation.
And look, all of us can fall for that peer pressure.
I'll admit there have been times I backed off things that I believe because of embarrassment or due to the intimidation, due to the fear or whatever.
And you're looking at people that would quit our church due to persecution.
Well, I mean, they and all the will of God, the Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
It's going to happen.
The persecution is going to come and the excitement comes.
And then all of a sudden the persecution comes and a lot of people just quit serving God.
Now, people are probably not going to tell you, I quit church because I can't deal with my relatives mocking me.
They're probably not going to tell you that.
The reality is the Bible is showing us a lot of people that get on fire for God.
They quit because they don't like the persecution.
That's not the only reason why people quit, though. Verse 14.
Now, which fell among the thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and break no fruit of perfection.
Here's a group of people.
They get excited to serve God, but the cares and riches and pleasures of this life just kind of choke them, the Bible says.
Now, obviously, the Bible is poetic, but I really think we should stop and consider some of the phrases and think about, like, you know, choking what that means.
Right. And I think towards like a sport like the UFC or MMA where, you know, there's like chokes.
And if somebody is choking you, let's say somebody is like behind you and they're choking your neck.
You know what? You're fighting against it, but you lose your energy after a little while.
Right. If somebody is choking you, you can fight against it.
But then all of a sudden you start like losing your energy and you can't fight and then you're just like out.
And the idea is that these things in life, they choke us.
We're basically we no longer have power to serve God.
We're basically they take away your energy because just a small choke.
OK, but when they're really like choking you, I mean, from what I understand, I can't report it is, but I think like a complete I think it's like eight seconds or something.
If you have a complete choke or someone will be passed out completely and, you know, it's not even that long, you know, where someone would actually be dead.
They had like 30 seconds of a complete choke or something like that.
I think someone could actually die from something like that.
I don't remember the exact amount, but I remember hearing it before.
But here's the thing. The idea is when you're looking at choking with cares and riches and pleasures, those things in life, they start to choke you and you start losing your energy and you're kind of fighting against it.
But eventually you just lose out. The old man wins the battle over the new man.
Say why? Because we allow those things in our lives. Now, none of us are perfect.
Obviously, all of us could work on our worldliness and how much we love God.
We need to be very careful not to allow all of these things in our lives because eventually they're going to choke us to the point where we do not bring forth fruit to perfection.
We no longer get people saying these are people that got excited to be saved.
That excitement did not last.
But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
Verse 15 is what the goal is. We're basically get saved, get excited and you just say, you know what?
I'm going to stay dedicated to church, have an honest and good heart to the preaching I hear and just slowly make changes and bring forth fruit with patience.
My goal is that 40 years from now, I am still a soul winner, a soul winner until the day I die.
And here's the thing that sounds easy, right? I mean, everybody thinks they're going to serve God their whole life, but most people don't.
And so something we need to be reminded about not to allow persecutions or cares and riches and pleasures to choke us and destroy us from serving God.
Go to Jude chapter one, Jude one, Jude one.
As you're turning there, let me just read you this verse where it says, sing unto the Lord all the earth. Show forth from day to day is salvation.
I mean, show forth from day to day and sing unto the Lord, be excited about your salvation.
And it sounds I mean, it sounds basically saying, brother, second, I've been saved for a long time.
You know, we ought to remain and keep that excitement.
Be thankful that we're actually saved, because I would presume Leah is in heaven.
I assume it doesn't specifically tell us. I assume Leah, Rachel, Jacob, although they all have their problems, probably all say this.
Laban, I'm not really sure about, to be honest, I don't know.
But, you know, I would assume that Leah was saved. So here's the thing.
Assuming she was saved. It's like, yeah, you know, your life is not working like you wanted to.
Your marriage is not working like you wanted to. But at the end of the day, you're having a better life than people that are not saved with the greatest marriage ever.
And the reality is, if somebody is not saved, I seriously doubt they have the greatest marriage ever.
Because without God as your basis, you're gonna have a lot of problems in your life.
But notice what it says in Jude one, verse twenty one. Keep yourself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
And if some and if some have compassion, making a difference, you got to have compassion on people and say, you know what?
I want to make a difference in their lives and help them out and others safe with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh.
Verse twenty three is about us saving people with fear. What does that mean? It means that we are afraid of them going to hell.
That's why we pulled them out of the fire. They don't run out of the fire. We save them with fear.
Noah was moved with fear and he built that arc. And we ought to save with fear.
We should have compassion enough to try to get people saved and say, I love them, but if not save them with the fear of the fact that they're going to go to hell.
Now to him that is able to keep you from falling and to present, you follow this before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
And verse twenty four is, of course, an eternal security verse. But here's the thing.
When we got saved, people fear God enough and were afraid of us going to hell that they preached us the gospel.
And when they preached to us, we also got saved with fear. They got they preached the gospel out of fear for us going to hell.
And we got saved out of fear that we're going to go to hell. And when we got saved, we were very thankful.
And I could have died and gone to hell. And, you know, when I got saved at the age of 18, it was really fresh in my mind when I'm 18, 19, 20.
And but I still think of it from time to time. Sometimes I'll ask people, you know, how old are you after I get them saved?
And they'll say, you know, 17 years old, I'll say, if I died at your age, I'd be in hell right now.
I mean, it's just like I anything could have happened to me. I mean, people die when they're teenagers.
Something could happen, whether it be a tragic accident, whether it be something like, you know,
people have tumors and cancers and even if they take care of their body, things can happen and you don't really know.
It's like we ought to be thinking right now. I don't know the age of everybody in this room that got saved.
But I don't think I mean, any of us grew up with the right salvation message at the age of five or six.
We got saved. I don't think that was for any of us. It's like we're lucky because for one, we heard the gospel from someone.
For two, we didn't get dogmatically taught a false religion and believe it like a lot of people do.
You know, sometimes we talk to people and actually go to Philippians chapter four, Philippians four.
Sometimes we talk to people about salvation and we explain Jesus is the only way.
And they'll say, well, that's not fair. What about people that grow up in a Muslim country?
Obviously, they need to believe on Jesus to be safe. We understand that.
But I do understand where people are coming from because the reality is people that grow up in a hardcore Muslim family are far less likely to get saved.
It's like I didn't grow up as an independent fundamental Baptist, but I also didn't grow up as a hardcore Muslim, hardcore Buddhist, hardcore Hindu.
I mean, I'm thankful that, you know what, at least the religion I was in did not just like throw me way off the deep end into some sort of weird belief where I'm unlikely to get saved.
It's hard for someone who grows up dogmatically in a false religion to end up getting saved because they've taught it.
Their whole family is that religion. I preach the gospel to people and you know what?
They'll they'll mention their family. I mean, I've had people tell me, you know what, if what you're saying is true, you're saying my grandparents are in hell right now.
And it's like they don't want to listen to gospel because they can't bear the thought of their relative being in hell.
And it's like that's the thing about growing up in a really false religion is just like you're you're you're less likely to listen to the gospel.
And so I'm thankful that I heard the gospel at a young enough age where I wasn't stubborn and somebody took the time to give me the gospel.
I did not grow up in a majorly false religion where I was not willing to listen to the gospel.
And look, all of us have different stories of how we got saved. We got to be thankful.
I know with my wife, her family is the only part of their big family, for the most part, that's not Catholic.
Right. You know, her parents, you know, converted to Christianity and then the daughters converted to Christianity.
And it's just like, well, you can look at that family and say, man, 90 percent of our family tree is Catholic.
It's like, you know, yes, we made the free will choice to believe, but we can also be very thankful that we had that opportunity and things worked out.
So number one, praise God for salvation. Number two, praise God for the blessings you do have.
Praise God for the blessings you do have. See, Leah couldn't praise God for her salvation.
And you know what? Despite the fact her life was not perfect and not what she wanted, she could praise God for the blessings she did have in life.
Philippians four, verse six. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God.
The Bible says with Thanksgiving and you want we ought to be thanking God for everything he's provided.
Thank God for our salvation. Thank thank God for all the blessings we have.
Go to First Thessalonians five. First Thessalonians five. And we'll get specific here in a second the things that we can praise God about.
But First Thessalonians chapter five, verse 17. Pray without ceasing in everything.
Give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
And you have probably what we should do when we pray is start by thanking God for what we do have right now.
Praying is technically asking for something, but we can also praise and thank God for the things that we do have, right?
Technically, praise would be be singing, but we can, you know, thank God and say, God, thank you for the things you have given me here on my request.
But if I if I don't get these, you know what? I've already been blessed by all the things that you have given me in everything.
Give thanks. Go to Colossians three, Colossians chapter three, Colossians three.
And of course, we know this, but it's good to be reminded of this. But it's also good to teach our kids this.
Right? It's something that, you know, we tell our kids sometime. Actually, just today was, you know, about, you know, the food that we gave them for lunch.
And it's just like, you know, we said is, Hey, you know what? Because it wasn't exactly what they want.
It's like, Hey, you know what? There's people that live out on the streets and they eat garbage. Literally.
Is that what you want to eat? It's like, be thankful that God has provided you a place to live is provided you food.
It's like we ought to be thankful for the things that we do have. And this is why it's dangerous to give young people too many things.
Because they develop this attitude of no gratitude whatsoever. Right?
I mean, if you give somebody who's rich, you know, a thousand pesos, you're like, they're not going to be very thankful.
You give someone who doesn't have much thousand pesos, they're probably going to be very thankful because they don't have a lot.
Right? And sometimes, you know what? It can be a blessing, honestly, not being rich because rich people can be some of the most miserable people.
And of course, you know what? There's the balance the Bible speaks about because David spoke about where it's like, I don't want to be rich.
I don't want to be poor because if I'm rich, I might forget about you. And you see rich people that usually are just not thankful for anything because they're used to having everything.
But if you're too poor, then it can cause you to curse God and be miserable. It's like, you know, and just being in the middle is actually a blessing.
And what you see from there are people in the Bible that are Godly people that do have a lot of money.
But in general, it's just people that are everyday people, they work their jobs, they have their place to live and everything like that.
They're not rich. They're not poor. We're in Colossians 3, verse 16.
The Bible says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts of the Lord.
And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
And of course, the songs we sing, we can sing songs about thanking God for the things that we do have.
We have a song in our hymnal. Thanks to God. And I love that song.
Thanks to God. It's like thanks to God for my reading. And he goes through all these things to be thankful for.
And I'm kind of forgetting the lyrics, but let me actually pull out the hymnal real quickly.
You can pull out your hymnal that's beside you to look at these words. It's an interactive sermon.
Thanks to God. What number is that? Usually I do pretty well with with the numbers, but I guess not one.
I'm under the pressure for 40 number 440. But some of the lyrics to this song are are just amazing.
And. Look at verse number three.
I love this line at the start of it. Thanks for roses by the wayside. Thanks for thorns their stems contain.
I mean, whenever he's saying that, it just really hits me. It's like thanks for rose by the wayside and thanks for thorns their stems contain.
And what that's indicating is that sometimes, you know, we can go through trials and problems, but we can still be thankful for them.
Right. You know, we've had trials in our lives, all of us.
And it says it in line number two on the verse number two on the third line.
Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure. Thanks for comfort and despair.
I mean, it's just great words from this song. And, you know, the song is basically about, hey, you know, we have good times and we have bad times.
And, you know, we get to the place where I joke that when we go through trials, we can actually be thankful for the things that we do happen.
Not that you're glad those things took place in your life, but it can remind you about the blessings that you do have in life and say, you know what?
Honestly, I do have a lot, even though everything is not going the way I want it to go. Go to Romans 14.
Let's get specific with these things. Romans 14. One thing we should thank God for and praise God for is our provision, our clothing, our food and our place to live.
It says in Romans 14 verse six, he that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord, he doth not regardeth.
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks.
And the Bible says, you know what? People have different opinions about what to eat. Some people say this is wrong to eat.
Some people say it's okay to eat. The Bible says you can eat anything, basically. But here's the thing. The key is, did you give God thanks?
That's the key. God says, You know what? If you want to eat this food, hey, it's okay, right?
You're allowed to eat the unclean animals, the bacon, the pork, whatever, as long as you give God thanks.
And if somebody says, I don't want to eat that food, I'm against it or whatever, whether you're vegetarian or whatever, it's like, you know, whatever value you have.
Hey, that's fine. As long as you give God thanks. That's the key. Being thankful.
This is why before you eat, you always pray and say, you know, God, you know, thank you for the food you've given me. Ask him bless our body.
And you know, we need to be reminded of that, that you know what? Every time we eat food, we have to be thankful for us.
We live in a day where the average person is rich compared to the history of the world.
Because in our modern day, it's not like we go from day to day and say, I wonder if I'm going to have food tonight.
We don't have to make a trip to the well to get a bunch of water. It's just like we have faucets.
If the water's not working, you go to 7-Eleven and get something for like, you know, 50 pesos, get a container or whatever.
It's just like, honestly, none of us are. I mean, you look at some of the stories in the Bible where it's like they're literally down to no food at all.
And then God miraculously provides food in situations. People that have nothing. We're not at that point. None of us are at that point.
Now, of course, maybe we don't get to eat the food that we want to eat, right?
I mean, probably the average person in the Philippines, you know, would love to eat Lechon every single day.
But it's expensive, right? I'm not I'm not really a big Lechon fan personally.
But what I'm saying is, you know, maybe we don't get to eat at fancy restaurants every single day.
But the bottom line is we do have food provided for us. And honestly, I don't think any of us, you know, at our church, I think all of us are able to eat decent food, get a balanced diet, relatively healthy diet.
We're able to eat food. It's just like we ought to be thankful for that provision that God has provided us food to eat.
Go to First Timothy chapter four. First Timothy chapter four.
The Bible says in First Timothy four verse four, for every creature of God is good and nothing can be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving.
And the key is, did you thank God for it? I mean, you can eat anything. Every creature of God is good. Every creature.
Now, there are some creatures I probably would not want to eat. Right.
You know, I personally don't like to eat certain animals that are like unclean sorts of animals, you know, like I wouldn't be too happy eating an eat piece or whatever.
But the Bible says every creature of God is good and nothing can be refused if, if, if it be received with Thanksgiving.
That's the key. Did you thank God for what was given to you? God expects us to be thankful for what he does provide us.
Anyway, if we're not thankful for what he does provide us, he might say, you know what? I might have to start taking stuff away from you until you're thankful for what I've actually given you.
Go to your Bible to Second Corinthians 12. Second Corinthians 12. Second Corinthians chapter 12.
You know, growing up in the United States, my idea of poor, middle class and rich is a pretty skewed viewpoint.
By American standards, my family, we were middle class, basically right in the middle. We were not the richest people in the US by any means.
We're not the poorest people by any means. You know, we, we didn't have some things. We actually, I actually grew up in a pretty rich town.
So compared to other people in the town, we weren't honestly that, that rich. But you know, nationwide we're actually pretty balanced.
You know, there's actually a town right beside us. It was a pretty poor town. If we lived there, we would have been, I guess, considered rich. The town we were in, we weren't considered rich.
But overall, we're basically middle class. But here's the thing. Middle class in America is like rich in most of the world.
And there are some countries like Saudi Arabia is a really rich country. Some of the Arab countries with a lot of oil are actually richer than the US on average per person and stuff like that.
But America is a pretty wealthy country compared to the rest of the world. Obviously, the average person in America is doing better financially than the average person in the Philippines, right, as a general comparison.
There are a lot of things I grew up with that I just kind of took for granted that basically everybody has this, right? Because it's kind of like what everybody had in the United States.
For example, when we got married, you know, we were married for a couple years and then we bought a house in Sacramento.
The house we bought in Sacramento compared to other people at the church, compared to my parents, you know, we were middle class growing up, but my dad did well. They saved up money.
My parents have a very nice house, very, very large house. And it's kind of like, you know, I lived in that house, you know, nice house and everything. We got married and our house felt very small to me because I was used to something a little bit bigger.
Then you compare it to other people at church, you know, other families will invite you over to eat or whatever. Of course, you know, they're very nice to invite you over, but you see their house and it's like they got a pool, they got a giant backyard, they got like five bedrooms.
And then, you know, it's hard not to compare it to your own mind and say, man, you know, why can't I have that? It's like, why have I not been able to save up money or why have I not been blessed in that way or whatever?
Now that's the wrong attitude to have because you're going to start being miserable if you compare yourself to other people. But here's my point of that. It felt like a very small house to us, but when we moved to the Philippines, you know what, the houses that we lived in, even our house now is not bigger than the house that we had growing up in Sacramento.
And it's like, honestly, the house we had in Sacramento, we could have lived there with our three kids and my wife and I, and we actually had a backyard too. And it's like it felt small at the time, but then once you moved to the Philippines and we had something that was smaller, all of a sudden it's like, you know what, honestly, what God had provided was actually pretty nice.
And it's just like, you know, sometimes we get miserable because we try to compare ourselves to other people, but instead of that, we should just be thankful for what we do have.
Because here's the thing, even though other people at church had a bigger house than my wife and I, there's plenty of people in the US that had a smaller house because there are houses that we turned down because we said that's not a nice enough house. We don't want that house.
Right? So obviously there's people that are living in worse situations, regardless of whether you're better than 50% of people or 20% of people or 80% of people, it could be worse, right? Nobody lives in the worst house, has the worst food, worst clothing.
But there are people in worse situations in us around this world.
One thing we can praise God for is our provision that he gives us, whatever our provision is, whatever clothing he gives us, we all have clothing, the food that he provides for us, the place that we live.
We can praise God for our health.
Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse seven.
My opinion is that Paul's referring to his eyesight and I think he had eye problems as a result of being on the road to Damascus and being blinded by the light.
I don't think that it ever recovered from that point.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for the, for my strength is made perfect and weakness most gladly.
Therefore, will I rather glory my infirmities, but the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in my infirmities and her approaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong?
And Paul said, you know what?
I wasn't very happy with my health problems.
He said, I've sought the Lord and God said, you know what?
My grace is sufficient and Paul got to a place where he said, you know what?
I am content even though I don't have the greatest.
Paul is the same man who said, I have learned in whatsoever state I am there with me content.
So Paul the apostle said, you know what?
Before I got saved, I had a nice life and now all of a sudden I'm going on the road, I'm getting persecuted.
I have no place to stay.
I'm not eating as nice and food.
It's like at first it was hard to be content.
Because I was used to something that was a little bit nicer, but I learned to be content and Paul learned to be content.
There is health problems.
Here's the thing.
Regardless of what your situation is, there are people that have a worse regardless of what your clothing is.
There's people that have a worse regardless of what your housing is.
There's people that have a worse right on it.
And I feel blessed because I have relatively good health at this age, but you know what?
Any one of us can go through health problems in the future.
And the question is, if you go through that, are you going to be like, joke and say, hey, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, lest it be the name of the Lord.
Or you're just going to be miserable because God didn't give this to me.
I'm not happy because of this, right?
And you and I, I think to my time in my life, times where my health hasn't been the greatest, like when I tore my ACL, you know, my knee was really messed up and I had to get surgery and everything like that.
But here's the reality.
Even if I never was able to have surgery, I could have lived with a torn ACL and it would have been perfect, but I would have been okay.
I could still walk.
I could still moderately work out and still be okay to have an okay life.
Here's the thing.
There's people in the world that have worse health than that.
There's people in the worse.
There's people in the world that are born blind, born deaf.
There's people that have major injuries.
They have major illnesses and things like that.
There's people that live with permanent pain where basically they have some sort of illness where they're always in agony from a young age.
That's the sort of thing you generally expect when somebody gets older, but something about a young age, they just are not good.
Shake in the Bible.
Jesus heals people that have infirmities that last for decades and you look at that and you can say, you know what?
I wish things were different, but you know what?
Honestly, my health is better than some other people and we can thank God for the help that we do have.
Now, when I had my surgery on my knee, I had basically a decent amount of time for recovery therapy and stuff like that, but I remember, you know, basically I went around, you know, eight weeks without going so many because I couldn't go so many after the surgery, right?
You know, I couldn't walk and then it took me a while to be able to be able to drive and things such as that, but I remember just being very, very, very thankful when I was able to go so many again.
It's like, man, God has given me legs to be able to walk to a door and knock it and preach the gospel and it's just like growing up with someone who loves sports and love competing in athletics is kind of like, you know what?
Yeah, that's what I naturally love, but it's like, you know, I got to that place where I said, you know what, I'm happy I can just walk to the door and not and I hope if I had a major problem that was permanent where I permanently walked with, you know, a problem or whatever had me,
but I can still go so winning.
I can be thankful and Paul was like that.
He had a major eye problem, but he said, you know what?
I'm still serving God and what I'm accepting this go to John chapter 16, John 16, John 16, John 16, John chapter 16.
Yeah, I've seen videos of people that have like major ailments, people that lose their eyesight and stuff, and then you listen to them talk and you know, I believe they're being sincere a lot of times and they'll say, you know what, you won't believe this, but I'm happier now than I've ever been in my life, because sometimes when you lose a lot of things, what happens is it caused you to have gratitude for the things that you do.
And it's like, you're thankful to say, you know what, it could be worse and you know what, there's people that are like that, you know, another thing to be thankful for, and this is specifically to Leah, but anyone who's a parent is this, Leah could have been thankful for children.
I mean, she was blessed with children.
I mean, Rachel did not have children at this time.
Rachel had Jacob's love, but Rachel was miserable because she didn't have children.
John 16 verse 21 vibrates, a woman, when she is travail has sorrow because her hours come, but as soon as she is delivered to the child, she remembers no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.
You know, I've been blessed to be able to be there present for the birth of my three children, and I can attest to the fact that, you know what, once that baby comes out, there's just joy from, you know, your wife as the baby is delivered.
It's like misery for nine months or a lot of problems, you know, get toward the end and it's like a sore back and things are difficult, but once that child comes, the anguish is forgotten and joy that a man or a woman is born into the world.
And I can attest to the fact that I have seen that, well, here's the thing, Leah, you had joy when that child was born, but the problem is you were still focusing on the love from your husband rather than just the blessing God just gave you.
And it's just like she should have been happy with the things that she did have rather than focusing on what she didn't have because we have a lot of things.
She had salvation, she had a nice place to live, right?
She had money, probably got to eat nice food.
I mean, they, they have maids.
I mean, they have money.
She doesn't have a bad life.
The one thing she does not have is the love from her husband.
The problem is she focuses on that instead of focusing on the things that she does.
Go to your Bible Ephesians four, we'll get a few more places.
Ephesians four.
What can we do?
Well, we can praise God for our salvation.
We can praise God for our blessings, but here's the thing specifically if it involves marriage, but in any situation really purpose to fix the marriage, right?
I mean, Leah is miserable.
She needs to thank God for what she does have her salvation, blessings in life, but she should purpose to try to fix that marriage.
Obviously their marriage has problems.
How do you fix that marriage?
Well, part a focus on your own spirituality, focus on your own spirituality.
It says in Ephesians four verse 22 that you put up concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God has created righteousness and true holiness, the Bible says, you know, we need to put on the new man, and when you put on the new man, you, you, you, you basically are in the spiritual man.
You're walking in the spirit.
You know what?
You're going to be happy.
You're going to be thankful.
You know, you're walking in the fruits of the spirit, and one of those things is joy.
You need to put on the new man, and it's going to give you happiness.
You're contented as in God rather than in circumstances.
You know, this is, this is sad, and it's true that if you're trying to find someone to marry, find someone that loves God more than you.
Find someone that loves God more than you.
And that's a true statement, because if you find someone who loves God more than you, because of their love for God, they're going to love you more, and that's true, right?
If somebody loves God, they're going to love you more, but you need to focus on your own spirituality, and that's what Leah should have been doing as she's purposing to fix her marriage.
If you're going to fix a marriage, you need to make sure you're spiritual.
Go in your Bible to 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3.
What could Leah have done to win the heart of her husband?
Well, she should focus on her own spirituality first, and then she should focus on her role in marriage next.
Focus on her role in marriage.
1 Peter 3 gives us a template for wives to win the affection of their husbands, get them to love God.
It says in 1 Peter 3, verse 1,
Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.
Conversation is not simply the words, but it's basically like your lifestyle.
While they behold your chaste conversation, coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing a boat, or of putting on apparel.
Let it be the hidden man of the heart, and that which is not contemptible, even the ornament of the meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God a great price.
For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also, who trust in God, adorn themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands.
Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters he are, as long as he do well, and are not afraid within any amazement.
Likewise, he husbands dwell with him, according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together in the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.
The Bible gives the template for wives to get their husbands that basically do not love God, they're not obeying the word, to basically love God.
Here's the thing, what it's talking about is a wife that basically acts feminine, acts like a wife, focuses on her role.
And here's the thing, Jacob had two wives.
I mean, imagine you have these two wives, and he found Rachel more attractive, right? He got married, Rachel was more attractive than Leah to him.
Okay? But here's the thing, imagine every time you saw Rachel, if she has a bad attitude, whereas Leah is always nice to her husband.
You know what's going to eventually happen? He's going to love Leah more than Rachel, right? If Leah has the right attitude, despite the fact that he found Rachel originally more attractive.
He's going to end up being more attractive to Leah if she has the good attitude, because the way you act affects how attractive you are to the person you marry.
And if someone's always just complaining and mad and angry all the time, you're not going to be interested in them.
So here's the thing, if Leah wanted to win the heart of her husband, so how do you do that? Well, she could basically just focus on her role.
Instead of focusing on, you know, my husband, you know, what does he need to change? What can I change to win his heart?
Go to first on five, first on five. Two more places, we'll close up first on five.
Now, here's the thing. You know what? When it comes to purposing to fix marriage or purposing to fix any problems you have, whether it's marriage or something else, you know,
obviously fixing something is hard. It's better if it never gets broken. And the reality is this marriage was broken from when Jacob got tricked into marrying Leah.
That is a tough thing to fix. I mean, that would take time. That would take effort. That would not be an easy thing to fix, right?
I mean, I'm sure when they got in fights, Jacob probably brought that up all the time. Yeah, well, I remember when you tricked me into marrying you, right?
That's going to be a tough thing to focus on. But you know what? If Leah had the right attitude, then I believe that that can win the heart of her husband.
Focus on your spirituality. Focus on your role. Pray for your spouse. First on five, verse 14.
And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.
And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired him.
You see, if Leah was focusing on her spirituality and trying to do the best she could to be a good wife and a good mom, and she prayed to God and said,
God, I really screwed up. You know what? I should not have tricked him into marrying me. I made that choice.
And now I'm dealing with it. I'm reaping what I've shown. I made those mistakes.
But God, please help me. Ask him to please help me get my husband to actually care about me and love me.
That can make a major difference. And of course, nobody wants to be in this situation.
And I don't think anyone at our churches is in a situation this bad where their spouse is married to multiple people.
But people can be in situations where things could be better and say, what can you do? Focus on your spirituality.
And when you focus on your spirituality, you're going to find contentment in the fact that you're serving God,
even if things are not working the way you want them to. Focus on your role.
You want to get your wife to be a better wife when you've got husbands. You want to get your husband to be a good husband? Be a better wife.
Focus on your role rather than the other person.
When I preached the Psalm of Solomon, what I stated many times was, when you hear this, don't think,
man, I'm glad Brother Stucky preached this because my wife really needed that.
I'm glad Brother Stucky preached this because my husband really needed that.
What you should be thinking is, man, what changes can I make as a result of what the Bible said in the Psalm of Solomon?
And this is true for any topic.
Go to Genesis 29. Genesis 29. Genesis 29.
And see, Leah is miserable when the first child is born.
She's miserable when the second child is born. Miserable when the third child is born.
But notice what it says in verse 35, and she can see it again and bearish on it.
She said, now will I praise the Lord.
Therefore, she called his name Judah and left Baran.
And she finally reached a place where she said, you know what?
This is not what I expected in my marriage. I expected as a young girl,
I was going to find the love of my life. We're going to get married. We're going to be happy.
We have family and we grow old together. And you know what?
It's not the way it worked out. I married someone and you know what?
I made a bad choice. I did the wrong thing. And now I'm dealing with the repercussions.
But you know what? Regardless of all these things that have gone wrong in my life,
I've reached a point where I say, you know what?
I'm going to praise the Lord for the things that he has given me.
I think all of us, maybe not with marriage, but we can think of something
where maybe things did not work out the way we wanted or expected,
whether it be our careers, whether it be our health or whatever.
But all of us need to reach this point where we say, you know what?
Things didn't work exactly like I wanted or how I expected.
But you know what? I'm at a point where you know what?
I will praise the Lord for the things and the blessings that he has given me.
Let's close the word of prayer.