Men, so of course on Thursday nights we've been going through the book of Genesis chapter by chapter and I had mentioned Sunday
I thought about maybe preaching kind of a you know
4th of July themed sermon obviously I didn't do that there will be a little bit of a tie-in tonight
I think there's some things we can kind of learn from this chapter
Maybe apply to the idea of you know looking back to our forefathers and being appreciative of our heritage and things like that
But again just to bring us up to speed on the story if you remember
You know we've had Isaac has been born we had the sacrifice or near sacrifice of Isaac, and then we had of course
Sarah passes away, and she's buried there in the cave and and
We see Abraham later also being here in this chapter being buried there as well because we're dealing here in this chapter
With the death of Abraham and then also towards the end
Esau despising his birthright, which is a pretty familiar story
And is also referenced in the New Testament. We'll look at that in a minute, but again
We'll just start out here in verse 1 and it says there in verse 1 then again Abraham took a wife
and her name was Keturah and she bare him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shewa and
Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan the sons of Dedan were Ashurim, Lestushim and Lomomim
Now these here are obviously getting the grandsons
But if you remember Abraham was a hundred years old when he had Isaac, and then so we're looking at you know
Just several decades at the end of his life where he has eight children and again
These are just first two are just as eight sons
It's not even listing
You know any daughters that he had that if he probably which he probably did you know in those decades leading up to his death
So it should you know teach us that we can still do great things even in the end of our life
You know we shouldn't think that just because we hit a certain age
That life is over that there's no point to going on that we should just you know resign ourselves to just you know
Passing on to eternity and not attempt to try and do great things you know
Abraham when has the vast majority of his life with no children
We've been reading the story of Abraham these last several weeks
There was a very you know a great source of angst for him often
He was going to the Lord even doubting the promise of God that he would have the son of the promise
Asking that others would be acceptable in his sight Ishmael and
God of course refusing him and God's promising them over and over you're gonna have the son finally has that son at
100 years old then his wife dies and here we are you know he's dying at 175 years old
So there's just this you know this latter third of his life really that he is
Able to have this abundance of children and again. These are just the eight that are listed. You know often the Bible
Only lists the sons for
Genealogical sakes you know they're not going to list every single daughter and everything like that
So it's just listing the sons here. You'll see that again in first Chronicles
But again the lesson that we can learn is that you know we can do great things
You know even in in our elder years even in our twilight or the latter half of our lives that the latter end of
our lives
Never think that it's over
Never think that you God still can't use you to do great things for him. You know maybe of course
You know we're not gonna any of us is probably gonna live to see 175
You know this is kind of an exception. This is something was more common back then
But you know and we're probably gonna reach age. You know we'll all read a certain age
Well, we're not gonna have any children. You know it's it's gonna be nature's gonna take its course
You know unless there's a miracle
And I don't see any reason why God
You know would cause a star to rise in the east again
You know that's gonna be it for us as far as having kids and maybe we've reached that place in our life
Maybe we've kind of gotten to a place in our life where having physical children is
Just kind of you know that window is closed so to speak
Or we've had the children that we're going to have and that's it
Well the thing is you know we can still go out there and have spiritual children
And obviously that's a different dynamic obviously I understand you know we don't get as much
Maybe joy and fulfillment out of that in the here and now
You know with as we do with our physical children, you know, but spiritual children are important as well
you know you could go out and have a multitude of spiritual children by preaching the gospel right and
reading people to Christ and helping them to be saved and
You know you could do still do great things even in our in our latter half of our lives
But let's move on the story. I don't want to park it there
So he lists here in the verses one through four his sons and grandsons, and I like verse five
Right because it says and Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. It's kind of like ooh
Ouch right, it's kind of like you had all these sons. You know these grandsons, but they didn't get anything
I'm just kidding right he gives everything unto Isaac, and he's the one who inherits
What the sons of the concubines which Abraham Abraham gave gifts so they got a parting gift right because he tells them
It says he sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived eastward and unto the east country. So again we see
Abraham is wanting to make sure there's a distinction between you know his son and these other people okay?
But the sons of the concubines you know he gave them gifts
He sends them away and these verse seven are the days of the years of Abraham's life
Which he lived in hundred and three score in 15 years 175 years
Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age
An old man and full of years and was gathered to his people so obviously you know we're reading up
We've been spending time with Abraham these last several weeks months
really been reading about him and
You know we're here at his death, and I love how his life ends
You know we saw Abraham
You know the his art the character arc of Abraham how he went from somebody just kind of stepping out in faith
Not really sure
Where he was going and then doing great things for God had his lapses in faith, but you know very courageous at times
And he was a flawed character, but despite all of his shortcomings and despite all of his flaws that we saw
You know he gets to live a long and fruitful life like this is a good ending
Which you don't always get in the Bible you know you see a lot of people characters in the Bible they come to a
You know kind of a bad end right, but not so much with Abraham
He lived a hundred three score in 15 years. He lived a long life
You know who wouldn't want that you know and if we do what Abraham did that's what we'll have
I believe God will you know we apply the wisdom of God to our lives. We walk according to his word
We're pleasing unto God. You know he will allow us to live longer lives, okay?
And of course he is
Dying in a good old age, so it's not like he died a week you know
Feeble man, it was a good old age
And he was full of years and was gathered in those people and of course he was able at that last part of his life
You know those last 70 years or so was able to see a multitude of children and grandchildren
Not to mention isaac
The son of the promise he saw god
Come through and work in his life in miraculous ways so abraham's life really is we could just go back and do a whole series
Just on his life. I mean it's such a big deal
But that'll be another at another time and says in verse nine and his sons isaac and ishmael buried him the kate of mekpila in the
Field of ephron the son of zohar the hit tight which is before mammary
The field which abraham purchased of the sons of heth
There was abraham was abraham buried and sarah his wife and I think me and my wife were kind of
Talking about this on the way over joking a little bit like I wonder how keturah took that you know the wife
He just married right because that's the the second wife after
Sarah dies, you know, it says he took another wife named keturah
But when he dies, it's like well go bury me with her right she I don't know if she went away with her sons
Which is probably what happened. We don't really know what happens with keturah
But i'm sure she was a good person godly woman all that good stuff
But you know what you kind of wonder like how did he?
Ease her into that he's like hey, you know, I want to marry you
But i'm just gonna be up front when I die they're gonna bury me with sarah. So
I don't know how she'd take that, you know, probably she's probably fine with it, you know
The family plot has to be filled
But uh, I just thought it was kind of funny, you know, it's like he you know
He just gives everything to isaac and sends her away and goes and get buried with with his his uh, his old wife sarah
And it says in verse 11 it came to pass after the death of abraham that god blessed his son isaac
And isaac dwelt by the well la hey la hey, iroi
So this is kind of where I want to make a little bit of application with
What we're celebrating today in the 4th of july obviously on the 4th of july
It's not just about seeing how many hot dogs we can eat, right?
It's it's it's not about all these a lot of things that we get caught up in doing and fireworks and stuff like that
All that's great
But we also are you know celebrating our freedom. We're celebrating our independence
All right, we're celebrating and remembering the fact that there were
Genera, you know a generation of people that fought for our freedom and fought to establish this country
I don't want to go, you know into great length and all that
But uh, we are benefiting from that even to this day, right and you kind of see that here abraham dies
And passes off the scene
And it says that after the death of abraham that god blessed his son isaac
So isaac it's almost like he's just kind of getting this residual blessing now
I'm sure isaac
Of course was a godly man himself
Who knew and loved the lord?
But I believe that you know, he benefited a great deal. There was some residual blessing
Just from having been that son of the promise having you know, uh been the son of abraham, right?
He's kind of benefiting from that
And he's benefiting from the previous generation just as we do today now if you would keep something there
And go over the book of psalms
psalms 16
I don't know if i'm gonna yeah, you might want to put a bookmark in psalms too when you get there
But let's go to psalms 16
You know, that's the application I would make this today, you know, since we're celebrating forth we're thinking about our forefathers
in this country, you know, we're benefiting from
What generations have done for us before, you know, and I don't think there's anything wrong with acknowledging that
I think it's a good thing to do
to be grateful for those that you know have you know
Fought for our freedoms that have ensured our freedoms
And it's it's a great blessing to be born in this country to have the the blessings that we do
It is I believe god has blessed this country immensely. Okay
And obviously the way things are going, you know, it's easy to become cynical. It's easy to become critical of our country
And those criticisms are warranted, you know, those criticisms are valid
But uh, you know at the same time let's not forget that, you know, we are very fortunate to be living where we're living
Okay, there's nowhere else i'd rather live
There's no other country in the world. I'd rather be living than this one right here
And I haven't even been in any of those other countries pretty much
Well, you're just so traveled that you know, you you just know what it's like everywhere. No, but i've been enough places
And i've seen enough and it seems like everybody else is trying to get here
You know, uh, I feel like i'm pretty safe in saying that that this is the country to live in okay
And look i'm sure there's great things about other places
But when it comes to just the prosperity and the freedoms that we have
In this country, I mean just the freedoms alone
To be able to travel around like we do to be able to you know
Go from one end of the country to the other
To be able to just say whatever we want to say you say well, what about all the censorship on youtube?
Well, you know i'm still up here saying what I want to say
No one's breaking down the door here. No one's hauling me off to jail tonight for preaching the bible
There's places in the world where this would be illegal
You know we and we forget that we forget sometimes because we are like isaac
We're just we're a generation away from the guy that had to do all the sacrificing
Now I know isaac is pretty familiar with the sacrificing that took place because he was the sacrifice at one point, right?
I get it, but you know the you know, sometimes that's the problem is that
As generations go on they forget what their forefathers what those that have come before them
Have have sacrificed have gone through to ensure them the blessings that they have
You know, this is the great fear that a lot of christian parents have for their children
You know me and my wife are first generation christians. My children are second generation christians
And you know, sometimes we'll talk and we'll just say, you know, we're kind of fearful a little bit that our children are taking
For granted what they have they don't might not realize truly how blessed they are
You know, and I i've told her recently it's like well, you know
The best i'm giving him is i'm just trying to spare them from a lot of the things that we went through
Which is a blessing in and of itself
You know sometimes christian children can feel like they're missing out on things
They can feel like they're being sheltered and and yes, you know quite frankly you are being sheltered
But when bombs are falling you take shelter and there are spiritual bombs being
Dropped today. I mean we're spiritually we're being carpet bombed
With all of the media all the culture all you know, just the public education system
The uh, the all the social media just everything not just you know, just the media at large
You know, it's a spiritual land, you know, a minefield out there
So yeah, we want to guide our children through these lives through their lives
But sometimes those children that are being led and guided that way
They can take that for granted and feel like they're missing out on something
But what they don't realize sometimes is that what they're missing out on is sin and its results and the heartaches that come with it
So that's kind of you know
What happens a lot of times is the next generation is blessed by god as a result of the previous generation
And if they're not careful, they can take that for granted
Look at psalm 16 verse 5. It says the lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup
Thou maintainest my lot, you know a lot would be like a plot of land, right?
The lines are fallen onto me in pleasant places. He's saying, you know, the my property markers are it's a good land
Where my land, uh, my markers lie where my my lines are fallen. It's pleasant. Yay. Have a goodly heritage
And of course, you know the psalmist here we can apply this to spiritually, you know, you say well
I don't know that I have a very good a lot, you know
Maybe maybe our physical dwelling isn't everything we wish it would it was or what other people have
But if we're saved if we're born again, you know
Our lot our heritage falls in heaven, you know, we have a uh, uh a an inheritance reserved in heaven for us
Okay through christ
That's why he's able to say, you know, the lord is the portion of my cup. Yay. I have a goodly heritage
So there's the you know, the that promise that we have a a a a eternal reward
Right an eternal inheritance, but also even in this life, you know, if you're one who is like the isaac of the story tonight
Right, you're not so much to abraham
Maybe you can't relate as much as you know
Uh when it comes to discuss, you know
Getting saved later in life starting out serving god later in life having to trust god, you know having all these
Flaws and shortcomings that other people might not have
Because you got started later in life. Maybe you can't identify with that as a second generation christian as an isaac
But you could at least appreciate that god has blessed you
That's what you should ask yourself is god blessing me or not
Whenever you're feeling like oh i'm missing out on something, you know being a
One of these, you know christian kids one of these church going kids
I feel like i'm missing out
You know, my parents have all these rules and the preacher's always talking about all these standards and things like that
And you can start feeling like you're being held back you're missing out, you know, that's the that's the wrong way to look at it
The way you should look at it is and just ask yourself if you ever feel like that. Well, am I being blessed though?
And really as I mentioned earlier, you know being in this country alone is such an immense blessing
Okay
The other thing we can learn from this chapter is, you know, the impact that we have on the next generation, right?
God blessed his son isaac
And i'm sure isaac had his own walk and warranted his own
blessing but I believe a lot of that his blessing was
Ode to the fact that that abraham was one that walked with god
And taught his son how to do that, right? We need to make sure we're having
the correct impact
on the next generation
If you would go over to uh, go over to second timothy chapter number one second timothy chapter number one
You know made me think of timothy right timothy
who uh, you know
Went with paul on his missionary journeys one who had a good report of the brethren
and was
You know taken by the apostle paul and got to go out and see great works done and got to
Start churches in himself became a pastor
right
He did great things for god no doubt. I mean when paul the apostle is writing you two epistles with your name on it
You know, you you're probably somebody who's getting something done. You're probably somebody who has some blessing in your life
You're probably somebody
Who uh, you know has some influence
Okay
And a lot of that is owed. I mean think about timothy right timothy who's with the apostle paul
And then as later, you know kind of his protege and it sort of takes over for it would appear anyway
Kind of took over for paul in a lot of ways, you know, or
You know, it was pastoring a church or perhaps churches, okay
Did we owe it all to paul though is everything that that timothy was everything that timothy was owed to paul
In large part, yes, right obviously that that paul was a huge influence on timothy no doubt
But where did it all begin?
It began with his mother and with his grandmother
If you look at first second timothy one verse three
He said I thank god whom I serve my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing
I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day
So obviously paul understands the impact of having
He's having on the next generation he's praying for the next generation night and day
verse four greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears and I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance
The unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother lois and thy mother
Unice and i'm persuaded that in thee also
So he's saying when i'm praying for you i'm encouraging, you know
I'm encouraged when I pray for you timothy because I recall the unfeigned faith that is in thee
Which dwelt first in thy grandmother and thy mother
Paul told timothy that you know, he knew the scriptures which were uh that of a child he knew the scriptures
Which were able to make thee wise into salvation
timothy was somebody who was taught the scriptures as a child and that set him up
To go on and be able to be the man of god that he was to be the help
To the apostle paul that he was and also a man of god himself that had great influence and was a great influence
So, you know again we have to think about in this chapter what are some lessons we're pulling out of this is is one
that
We have to be mindful of the next generation
We have to
Understand that we have an impact on those that are coming after us
The impact that we're going to have, you know, especially those of us as parents
Or or those that will be parents
Don't underestimate the impact you're having on the world
Don't underestimate the impact you're having on your children for better or worse
I mean they could go on and do great things or or not
And whether they realize it or not, you know, they are benefiting, uh from the previous generation
Let's go ahead and move through the story here
It says here in verse 12 genesis 25
Now these are the generations of ishmael ishmael abraham's son
I'm, not going to read all these names again. We just read them
These are verse 16. These are the sons of ishmael and these are their names by their towns by their castles
12 princes according to their nations and these are the years of the life of ishmael
And 130 and seven years and he gave up the ghost and died and was gathered and was gathered unto his people
And let's look at verse
19 and these are the generations of isaac abraham's son abraham to get isaac and isaac was 40 years old
When he took rebecca to wife we just read about that
The daughter of bethuel the syrian of pat and ram the sister of laban the syrian and isaac had treated the lord for his wife
Because she was barren and the lord wasn't treated of him and rebecca his wife conceived now
That's a whole other sermon right there and stuff
That's something you just constantly see through the scripture when people are struggling with childbearing
Often it's resolved through prayer
Right rather than taking things and I don't know that they had the technology the ability back then obviously
But rather than just taking things into their own hands
You know, they went to god because it is god that opens and closed closes the womb, right?
The fruit of the womb is his reward the bible says so it makes sense that if
You know, we're trying to have children and for whatever reason it's not working to go to god in prayer
And you know, you could you could say that about a lot of things right a lot of the problems that we have in life
Or struggles or whatever it is
Take it to the lord in prayer, right?
But it's it's funny how often that's the last thing we do if at all
So often we'll just we'll suffer through it. We'll go through it and it'll be in the back of our minds
Well, I know I should pray about this, but do we?
We'll have our own reasoning our own way of working things out
But you know isaac had enough sense to just say well, let's you know, let me just entreat the lord
And of course the lord answered that prayer
That's kind of a sub point here in the sermon, but let's move on here. It says verse 22
And the children struggled together within her and she said if it be so why am I thus?
And she went to inquire of the lord, so, you know, she's she's a godly lady too. She's like well
I know who's got the answers
And the lord said unto her two nations that are in thy womb and two manager
Manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels
And the one shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger
Now this is important. Remember that god's determined this
rather foreknew this
Before either of these children were born, right?
So it's not a met god's not a respecter of persons
He just knows how this is going to turn out there and there's so much to preach about this one thing right here
But you know, they're just we don't have the time tonight. Okay?
Look at verse 24 and when her days were to be delivered were fulfilled behold there were twins in her womb
And the first came out red all over like in hairy garment and they called his name esau
And after that his brother came out and took his hand his
And his hand took hold on esau's heel and his name his name was jacob and isaac with three squirt years old
When she bare them and the boys grew and esau was a cunning hunter a man of the field and jacob was a plain man
Dwelling in tents now some people, you know
And i've heard this and i've heard other people mention that they've heard this that some preachers will get up
And use this verse verse to preach
That jacob was some kind of a mama's boy or like a sissy or something
But we know that's not true because later he removes
A stone from the well of the mouth that takes several people to do it. So he's a he's a strong person
So I think it's just kind of telling us, you know, the the manner of life that they had what they were kind of doing
for a living right
And because it's saying there that you know esau was a cunning hunter a man of the field
So I think it's just saying he slept out in the wild right he's out making his bed under the stars because he's
Following game and stuff like that. He's he's not dwelling in a tent
And isaac be or excuse me. Um
And jacob what he lived was a plain man dwelling in tents, right?
Now it says he was a plain man. I don't know if that means
Like he there was nothing like he was just plain
You know, he's kind of an ordinary guy or if it was like he was a man of the plane
Because it's describing how esau lived right? He was a man of the field whereas esau was a plain man
so, I don't know I kind of I thought about maybe interpreting it that way but
It's probably wrong. It could be right
But it might be that you know, he's just dwelling in tents he's kind of you know, following the herds
He's just kind of you know, maybe doing some agricultural work
Okay, and anyone that's that's worked with cattle
Or done any kind of farming knows that you don't turn into a sissy doing that
Being a farm boy, so that's kind of how I read that, you know this guy, you know
Esau's, you know skipping out on the chores to go chase gear or whatever
Right. He's out there living his best life now
And you know his brother jacob's actually back, you know
Rolling out the hay bales and and milking the cows and everything else. All right, so he's doing all the hard work
So really it's probably the opposite if anyone's a sissy
It's esau. I'm just kidding. I mean neither one of them were were mama's boys
Okay
Anyways, it says in verse 30
I'm sorry back it up verse 28 and isaac loved esau because he did eat of his venison. So
You know, my kids are always trying to figure out who's you know, which of them is my favorite
Right and the trick is just tell they're all your favorite individually just go to each one. You're my favorite
You're my favorite and then they all think about it and they fight about it. It's a lot of fun
right
But here here's a little tip if you want to get to be dad's favorite
It's a man way to man's heart is through his stomach, right get that venison
All right
Get that, uh, get that brisket going right?
And it's like why are you always so nice to brother adam?
brisket
All right
You got to get the get the the venison going. Okay, that's what it says
You know, he loved him because he did love to eat of his venison seems kind of shallow
But you know, I I feel that
But rebecca loved jacob, right and it says and jacob sawed pottage and esau came from the field and he was faint
So it's like how is he the big bad dude if he's the hunter and he's hungry
If you're faint coming in from the field as a hunter
It's because you ain't got no game. All right
And I mean game like see what I did there. Okay. All right. I'm glad you guys got that
Right, he's a bad maybe he's bad hunter, I don't know maybe
Who knows what but anyway, you know, he comes in and he says sell, uh
And he says he was faint in verse 30 and esau said to jacob feed me I pray thee with that same red pottage
For I am faint therefore his name is his name
Excuse me. Therefore was his name called edom
And jacob said sell me this day thy birthright
Now, you know, obviously what jacob's doing here isn't necessarily the most spiritual thing
He's kind of taking advantage of somebody
Who who made I don't know maybe he's being a little uh, you know, esau's being a little melodramatic, you know
I'm faint i'm gonna die, right?
But either way, you know jacob whether that's the truth or not jacob's kind of taking advantage of the situation
You know, this isn't exactly the kind of brotherly love you'd expect, you know, I didn't have a brother growing up
So maybe this thing is this kind of attitude is common, you know, or it's you know
You're just trying to get something out of the other one, you know
When you see when you see a brother down that's your chance to kind of like get a leg up on him
But uh, that's definitely what's going on in this story and he's coming in looking. Hey feed me i'm hungry
I'm, i'm at the point to die
Right because he says in verse 32 and esau said behold. I am at the point to die
What profit shall this birthright do to me?
Well, i'm going to die anyway, and you're going to get the birthright so I might as well get some pottage out of it
right
And that's probably not the case I doubt he was going to die, okay, but you know, he's he's just a very carnal person
and we may or may not get into that later, but
You know, he's just thinking about the here and now
I just need to eat now. I just need to have you know, my
The lust of my flesh fulfilled now
so i'm just going to sell out my birthright and this is a picture of
You know what happens when you're a carnal christian when you live carnally when you live for the flesh
You know, you're essentially giving up your inheritance your your of course, you're going to go to heaven right no matter what because we're saved by
grace through faith
You know, it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done but by his mercy he saved us
But you know also the bible also does say that after we're saved by the grace of god that we have the opportunity
To earn heavenly rewards to go there and to and to be hear those words well done thou good and faithful servant
But that's not a guarantee
Salvation is salvation is guaranteed through and through 100
You know, it's the blood of jesus plus nothing minus nothing, okay
But you know your heavenly reward is dependent upon your behavior
Okay, because sometimes people get they they think that we're saying oh you can live however you want with no consequences
All we're saying is you can live however you want and still go to heaven because it's by grace through faith
Right for all we've all come short of the glory of god
But but we are saying there are consequences there's consequences here now there's the chastening command of god in this life
And you know, there's a loss of reward to come that's kind of what esau pictures here
A guy, you know, uh, who's later referenced in hebrews as a fornicator, right?
That is that fornicator esau who for a morsel sold his birthright. Okay, and i'm sort of paraphrasing there
It and and you know, we don't see esau necessarily fornicating
In a story he takes a wife
But maybe he was a fornicator. Maybe that's the holy spirit kind of illuminating that, you know in the new testament
But it's at least alluding to his carnality. I believe what's going on there. He's like a fornicator
He's just somebody who's concerned about the here and now
Just wants to satisfy the lust of the flesh from moment to moment
If we live like that as god's people
We're going to lose out on our birthright. What's rightfully ours not our salvation
But our rewards our inheritance
Will vanish, okay
And all we have is, you know, our little bowl of pottage from here now
And jacob again, he's kind of taking advantage of this right? He's kind of like
Well selling your birthright, you know, how hungry are you? You know, are you really that hungry?
And he gives in maybe he knew his brother would do it. That's why he did what he did
Then jacob gave esau bread and pottage so, you know, he threw some bread in you know, hey, what's your birthright?
You know, this one's on me, you know, I know you didn't ask for the bread
Then you get a little bread too
And pottage of lentils and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way
Now notice what the scripture says here and there's story four thus esau despised his birthright
He despised it right that's strong language
He's looking at what was rightfully his his birthright his blessing that he would have received
From his father his inheritance and he just you know, despise it. He treated as if it was nothing as if it was worthless
And we don't want to be caught up doing that either being people that despise their birthright if you would
Did you keep something in timothy or you were in psalms weren't you?
If you would go to first timothy chapter number two first timothy chapter number two
Now obviously i've already talked about how this applies spiritually right with us
We can be become carnal and we can become
A kind of esau in this life and miss out on our spiritual birthright
But also, you know applying it to the fourth of july
right
And I think this is something that people
You know, especially kind of in our movement a little bit can be a little quick to do
They can kind of start despising
You know the inheritance that we've gotten from our our forefathers not our spiritual forefathers
You know, we don't want to be people who despise the inheritance and the heritage we have
Through being americans, okay
Now again, i'm not we're not going to get up and start saying the pledge of allegiance. We're not flying flags up here
Okay, we don't I don't want to go overboard with you know, being overly patriotic
I'm, not proud to be an american. I guess is what i'm trying to say, but i'm grateful to be an american
And I think that's the right attitude to have
You know, I I obviously when you're living in a nation that is in a lot of ways just spitting in the face of god
We have to understand that
You know a lot of our forefathers are rolling over on the grave over the things that they're seeing
Okay, the things that are taking place in our government and our culture today
Well, we don't want to be people that just despise our inheritance or despise our heritage, okay
We want to appreciate what we have in this country and use it
And use it to serve god and to glorify god for as long as we can
The bible says in romans 12 if it be possible as much life then you live peaceably with all men
Look at uh, first symphony chapter 2 verse 1 it says I exhort therefore first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of
Thanks be made for all men
For kings for all that are authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty
For this is good and acceptable sight of god
Our savior who will have all men to be saved and come under the knowledge of the truth
So what is he saying here? He's saying that we ought to be praying
You know and a lot of people don't like this
He says we got to pray for all men and that includes kings and for all that are in authority
now we can
Argue or talk about rather. We wouldn't get much of an argument out of me
As how we ought to pray for some of our leaders, okay
Obviously, there's such a thing as imprecatory prayer
I mean we have wicked people leading this country. There's nothing wrong that
And praying that they be removed from office in whatever way
Even by death if necessary, okay
When they're when they're just leading us headlong into hell, okay when they're just damning people and shedding innocent blood
And there's nothing wrong with a prayer like that
Okay, but that's not the only type of praying we're you know
I don't think that applies to every single politician out there now probably a lot of them. All right, but
You know, we ought to be praying for all men
You ought to be praying, you know, not necessarily that
uh
They you know do the right thing even necessarily but more so that they just leave us alone
Just just lord just you know
Let them write their policies and do their thing and chase their money because let's face it folks
That's what it all comes down to at the end of the day. The love of money is the root of all evil
Say who's gonna win this next election probably who's gonna ever make people the most money. I don't know
I understand there's social agendas and things like that, but really at the end of the day
As far as I see it a lot of it just comes down to money
Who's you know, who's gonna give us the best tax breaks? They don't care about people's morality
They don't care about people's belief in god
You know, everyone's all excited that you know, it's going to be trump again
And you say well, he's a lot better than joe biden. That's not saying much
Well, he's better than biden
It's like you really could you you want to start making comparisons like that?
You know, it's like saying this loaf of bread is better than this, you know dog turd over here
Yeah, you're right that piece of you know
A white bread right with an orange crust
Right
Is is better than a doctor? Oh, okay. Well, you got me there
Who's better than biden? Oh, well, let me just get it. Where's my where's my maga hat?
Let me just start where do I what lover do I pull
Let me just become a full-fledged republican right now because he's better than biden
You know, that's why I kind of got disenfranchised. That's why I get disenchanted with that
Disenchanted with politics because you realize you're just voting for the lesser of two evils
And that's not fun, that's not really i'm not I don't feel inspired i'm like well, he's not as bad as this guy
That's not really very moving
That's not very motivating
It's sad. Okay
And really people just want to vote for their guy because they want the tax breaks
They're just like who's gonna get they don't care about his moral stance. Okay?
I just think we should pray that they leave us alone. That's kind of what he's saying here
Pray for kings all the authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
Hey, we just want to be able to preach the gospel get together
You know and and preach the bible to one another edify one another and go out and preach the gospel
And so far it's been pretty good and it hasn't mattered who's been in the white house last I checked
I know every once in a while people get all up in arms. They hear something
And it never pans out to be anywhere near as bad as they think
You know a little while ago. It was what was the one uh,
you can't you can't say anything anti like saying that jesus or that the
The jews killed jesus is anti-semitic
That's going to be against the law to say. Well, first of all, i'm still going to say it because it's just
any historian historian even bible believe or not with any
You know integrity
Is going to say the same thing. Well, that's a historical fact. They they you know, they
Got the romans to crucify him, right? That's they killed him
You call an anti-semitic if you want, you know, when people get all up in arms
Oh, it's going to be anti-semitic to say that i'm still going to say it if they make it against law
Then you find out. Oh, it's illegal to say that potentially maybe on like a college campus
If you're like on faculty or something like that, you know, I looked into it and it wasn't as much hoopla
as people make it out to be my point is it's like
You know, I think somebody's been praying for these people someone's been you know, someone's being been doing this and second this uh,
first timothy praying for all men
Because you know we have that right now. We are living a quiet and peaceable life
I mean we could preach all I could we could just stay here all night and I preach all night
No one's going to come through that door
A lot of people might go through that door like that way, right?
Eventually i'll probably be here by myself, you know, you probably grab a plate on your way out
But no one's kicking down the door and saying shut up in there. Hey, you can't do this. It's pretty good
So before we just start, you know getting just down on everything that's wrong with our country
Let's also appreciate all the great things that we have because we really do we have such great freedoms
and it's so easy to just take it for granted and I know I gotta
I gotta wrap up here
But it's so true though people like we're just so inundated with so much and we're just so used to it
Then we take it for granted
I mean we can just pull over and get something to eat anytime we want, you know life's so hard driving to our
Our air-conditioned jobs and our air-conditioned cars and our climate controlled this and our touch screen that
I think it's like
We're like we're if we were to travel back in time with everything and we had people think we're from another planet
You know, we're living in the future
Okay
I know some of us are disappointed that there's no hoverboards yet
But you know, we got a lot of good things going indoor plumbing, right?
All this great stuff that we just we don't even think about
But we boy we have a we're real good at just like pointing out everything that's wrong all the time
Right and look there's a time and place things need to be pointed out
You know and and people need to be called out and sins need to be called out
That's the job of the preacher and we need to acknowledge that and say amen and amen when it's done
But don't get the idea that you know, there isn't much to be thankful for today. Let's not be like Esau
And despise the things that we've gotten
Despise the things that we've just we've just inherited
Things that just came to us because we were just born here
As we were just we just happen to be born in this country at this time
And through no effort of our own which all these blessings have come upon us
And look, I don't care how you know up to our neck and debt we are I don't care
All how sideways everything we think is going maybe we're not on the you know, the social uh,
Lat you know rung of the ladder that we think we should be on whatever rung we're on in america is pretty good
Like I heard somebody say a while ago
Like I heard somebody say a while ago like if you make 30 000 more dollars a year
You're in the top one percent of the world earners
That's crazy
And that's the that's the kind of affluence and just wealth that we have that even us mere you know us
us uh
Us peasants, you know, we live like kings
We live and eat and dine and rest like kings
I don't know. Maybe you're going home and curling up in a barn somewhere
You know in a stack of hay, I doubt it, right? We're all on our
Sleep number bed or asserta this or memory foam that
We got three fans blowing on us from you know, these directions set to you know, whatever speed we want, you know
I mean I have a fan blowing on me year around just because of the noise. I just like the sound of it
Right. I'm just burning the fossil fuels
Just to help you fall asleep
That's the country we live in and i'm just you know, obviously
We all get this but sometimes someone needs to just get up and just point it out again
Right because sometimes we'll go days weeks months years
With without it just smacking in the right in the face like how good we've got it
I mean, we're down at guadalajara grill mexican grill, you know eating
quesadilla and shrimp tacos and it's just like we got it so good
Like i'm like I love tucson
Even in the summer. I mean there's so much good mexican food here. I love it
right
But that kind of thing should just you know blind it should just be in front of us all the time
But the problem is that we're so used to it
That we forget about it
You know paul told the thessalonians to pray that the word that the word of the lord may have free course
Last I checked, you know missions are being done. People are going everywhere at least in this church and others that we know of
People are going to different countries and we got the missions conference coming up
I mean people are doing all kinds of work for god that we don't even there's so many mission strips going on right
The lord has the lord's lord has so much free course
Just through this church alone that I can't even keep track of it all
You know some people come to me. Hey, did you hear about this mission trip? I didn't even know that was going on
Yeah, it's sandwiched right in between these other ones
Yeah, it's sandwiched right in between these other ones that are going on
It's just every it's just it's just constantly, right?
So let's not despise our birthright tonight. Let's not have this overly cynical overly critical attitude about the country that we live in
Yeah, we don't have to be i'm not saying we have to you know
You know get all misty every time, you know, we hear our uh national anthem
But you know
Can we at least be grateful?
At the very least just to be an american to be in this country
Anyway, I got I gotta wrap this up but uh
You know esau ends up here despising his birthright
And you know, it's a real shame right because you have isaac, you know his father who's inheriting the blessing and seems to understand that
Right when he has a problem he goes to god god answers his prayer
He seems like he understands that you know, he's the son of abraham that came with certain benefits that came with certain blessings
But then his son he saw
Kind of just takes it for granted
Just kind of says well, you know, just give me a bowl of lentils. That's good enough for me
And despises his birthright
And it's a shame
And you know, we don't want to we don't want to see that happen with with ourselves now, obviously, you know
Our country has problems
and uh
If you would go to psalm nine, I told you this to keep something in song. I know that so i'll make good in my word
Go to psalms nine, you know and you say and i'm not trying to say that, you know
We don't have a few problems. I think our country obviously has a lot of problems
But the fact is is you know
I can't fix all of them neither. Can you?
I don't know that anybody can the people that caused them are the ones that are trying to fix them if at all
You know, like how's that going to work out?
When the you know, it's the people that are that are you know made the problem the ones that are supposed to be fixing it
Usually nothing gets done
But you know, I really at the end of the day the problem that we have in this country is a spiritual one
And I think probably the greatest problem that our country has is covetousness
Covetousness which is ironic when you live in a country where we all have so much
And it just goes to showing you that no matter sometimes how much you get of something. It's never enough
I mean you think esau had that one last bowl of pottage. It was like I can die happy
No, you know that that bowl of pottage satisfied him for a few hours and then he was hungry again
Right. He wanted more. He had to have more he had to go get this and go get that that's human nature
And it's ironic that a lot of times the people that seem to have the least are the ones that are the most satisfied
They're the ones that are most appreciated for the things that they do have
And this was a problem in in israel, i'll just read you from jeremiah
Chapter six verse 13 for this is what brought the judgment of god in part upon the nation of israel
For from the least of them even on the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness
Even from the and the prophet even of the priest
Everyone dealeth falsely
So even though religious leaders have gone bad and we see that today, don't we?
We see a lot of you know priests and prophets today so called that are all about money. They're very covetous
right the mega church pastors
You know the prosperity gospel preachers
That's one class, but you know the greatest even in the least, you know, the people in high office the you know, our
You say no not trump. I mean trump's a covetous guy
Gold this gold that right and then the other guy
Gold that right
I mean how many wives is he on all these affairs? I mean
It's nuts and people don't they just don't even bat an eye at it anymore
You know, i'm sorry if i'm picking on your your guy, okay
But let's just call it what it is that's the problem in this country is people are covetous
That's why there's so many people that are unhappy and dissatisfied because they they don't they're they're just so busy wanting more
They don't even realize
How good they have it
And you know, they've got us just people they've got people just chasing their tail
You know, they've got them just like rats on a wheel just chasing the cheese
And they can just get away with whatever that's a big problem in this country. Everyone just wants stuff and things
I had you in psalm 9 though
In pheasant verse 17 the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget god
All nations that forget god shall be turned into hell
Now obviously a nation can't go to hell it's talking about people
You know and I believe
And I think you see it in the scriptures
With the cananites where there are entire nations
That go to hell
That don't know god. They forget god. They curse god
They become reprobate even
And entire nations are just turned into hell because they they don't know god god, you know, they worship some heathen god, whatever
I mean, isn't that what the bible's saying? I mean we all read and we're reading from our king james tonight
The wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget god
And look our nation has not forgotten god, but it's forgetting god I believe it's in that process
You know our our nation is turning slowly turning into joe biden
You know wandering around not really knowing where we're going or where we're from
Or how to speak coherently, you know, just just becoming senile spiritually forgetting god, right?
Or recover just right that I mean these two guys are just
They're the picture of the american people today
It's true
And when a nation forgets god, this is what happens they go to hell
Become so godless that I believe entire groups
Of people can just fall into hell
So let's not confuse, you know our our pride today
For being american, you know for gratitude. That's not what i'm saying. I'm not saying hey i'm proud to be american
No, i'm grateful to be an american
I don't want to despise my birthright. I don't want to despise
What the previous generation has afforded me?
you know
even in my parents or leadership
Or you know people that founded this country
You know, and and there's a lot of a lot of criticism that even gets thrown at those guys these days
You know that they're this or that and maybe they were you know deists and rationalists and these other things
They were just paying lip service to god. I don't know I you know
But either way they founded this country and i'm grateful to live in it for one
I'm, i'm not grateful because you know our our flags are a certain color or whatever i'm grateful
Because we live in a country where we can
Live quietly and peaceably and the word of the lord does have free course
That's not something i'm proud of. That's something i'm grateful for. Let's go ahead closing the word