Jeremiah chapter 35 the Bible reads the word which came unto Jeremiah from the
Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah saying go into the
house of the Rechabites and speak unto them and bring them into the house of
the Lord into one of the chambers and give them wine to drink then I
took Jazaniah the son of Jeremiah the son of habazaniah and his
brethren and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites and I
brought them into the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the
son of Igdaliah a man of God which was by the chamber of the princes which was
above the chamber of Maasiah the son of Shalom the keeper of the door and I
set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and
cups and I said to them drink ye wine now let me just start out by saying
this as we read this chapter we need to understand the meaning of the word
wine when we use the word wine today in 2016 it really only means one thing
we're talking about something that is made from grapes and we're talking
about an alcoholic beverage so if we were to go to the store and look in
the wine section all of the wine will be from grapes and it will all be
fermented alcoholic and in fact it's very alcoholic typically the wine that
you would purchase at the store today that's called wine is somewhere
between 13% and 17% alcohol content much more alcohol than beer you know
Budweiser is like three or four percent alcohol Corona I think is like
five percent alcohol other beers can be as low as two or three percent
alcohol so we're talking about an extremely alcoholic beverage being sold
today called wine when the Bible uses the word wine that's not
necessarily what we're talking about in the Bible when the word wine is used it
refers to any kind of fruit juice not just grapes but it could refer to
that which comes from any fruit whether it be a pomegranate I mean
even according to the Bible definition even orange juice or apple juice or
any any kind of juice is called wine in the Bible that's why the word wine
is used I believe over 200 times because it refers to all kinds of juices and
it refers to them whether they're fermented or unfermented they both will
be called wine there's a lot of proof of that but one proof would be in
Isaiah chapter 65 where it talks about the wine being in the clusters of
grapes well obviously we know that grapes in a cluster do not contain an
alcoholic beverage of 13 to 17 percent alcohol content right now I've
never been carded for buying grapes okay because there's no alcohol in a grape
there's a lot of scripture we could go to I'm not gonna do a whole sermon
tonight on alcohol and show you all the uses I did do a sermon called wine
in the Bible where I proved that in Bible days obviously there was wine
that was fermented that was alcoholic but it was not as fermented even as the
wine today because today modern technology allows even higher alcohol
contents to be produced than that which was produced in more primitive
times more Bible times you know back in thousands of years ago the most
fermented that wine can naturally become you know it's about 12 or 13
percent anything beyond that is is through the use of modern technology
and so forth and you know of course there's distilling of hard liquor in
modern times that pretty much only goes back to medieval times you know to our
knowledge historically when they could really distill you know very hard
liquor the Bible tells us in Proverbs 23 look not on the wine when it is
red when it giveth its color in the cup when it moveth itself for right
it's not that all wine is bad because remember in the Bible wine can simply be
fruit juice or it can be an alcoholic beverage so in Proverbs 23 he warns us
which type of wine to stay away from he says look not on the wine when it is
red when it giveth his color in the cup when it moveth itself for right
for at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder
thy eyes shall behold strange women and thy mouth shall utter perverse
things so if we drink alcohol the Bible says we'll say perverted things we'll
look at strange women we'll have wounds without cause we'll have woe and sorrow
and heartache redness there where he says look not on the wine when it's red
and when it giveth its color in the cup when it moveth itself for right
that's describing that which is fermented because the fermentation
process produces a natural carbonation or effervescence and not only that but
it's the outside of the grapes that contain the yeast that will ferment the juice and
so if you juice them with the skins it's going to produce a red wine and it's going
to be a fermented wine if it's allowed to ferment with that yeast from the outside
of the grapes I don't want to spend the whole night on that subject but I just want
to make it clear so that you understand that this is not Jeremiah the prophet bringing
these people into the house of God and opening up a keg for them you know which would have
been but people who believe that wine in the Bible is always the stuff that they sell
down at CVS pharmacy or at the grocery store they think he pulled out something
much worse than a keg they think he pulled out something that has four times as much
alcohol as in a keg of beer I mean beer would be mild compared to today the wine
that's sold today it's a very high alcohol content and again I don't want to spend
the whole sermon on that so he brings them out into the temple and he is setting
before them a fruit juice now you say well what's the big deal about fruit
juice well you have to understand this is before machines fruit juice in
Bible days was very expensive have you ever tried to make your own juice
without a machine okay even with a machine it's a lot of work isn't it
you get that juicer for example the citrus juicer where you you pull the lever I mean
you'll get a whole bag of oranges and just get one glass of juice a lot of effort a lot
of work a lot of cleanup even with machines it's work it's expensive you end up wasting
a lot of produce now we don't understand this because today we could walk up and
pay 99 cents and get a bottle of juice but that's because it's produced by machines it's
also grown with a lot of harmful you know insecticides and pesticides and things and
if you get the organic juice it gets a little more expensive you get the freshly squeezed
stuff it's even more expensive you do it yourself and you're looking at a lot of work
a lot of time a lot of effort a lot of expense on the produce that goes into it okay
so in the Bible wine or juice is something that rich people would drink you'd have
to be a wealthy person to be able to pay servants to sit there and smash up all these
grapes or whatever the fruit and squeeze all the juice out of it you'd have to be
able to afford all that fruit and all that labor to turn it into juice it would
be something that's more of a treat or more of a luxury or something that a wealthy
person would enjoy on a regular basis very wealthy out now today we live like kings
that we don't even know it even poor people in America eat and drink like Kings did
hundreds of years ago just because of the bounty and plenty in America the technology
has made a lot of fruits and vegetables from all over the world available where
when it's the wrong season for a certain fruit we could just fly it up from the
southern hemisphere fly it up from another part of the world and we just get any fruit
any time of year we want any juice you know we don't even appreciate it
sometimes but we really do have a lot of blessings in the food and drink
department so he sets up all this wine in front of them basically fruit
juice which is an expensive drink is something you would celebrate with and
he tells them drinky wine God told him to do this but he doesn't really
know why God just told him to serve this wine he doesn't know why yet okay
look at verse six but they said we will drink no wine for John Adab the son of
Rekab our father commanded us saying ye shall drink no wine neither ye nor
your sons forever now again I want to make it clear it's not that he's
telling them don't drink alcohol and the reason why you'll see that is that
the other things he told them to do are not sinful things because you might
think like oh he doesn't want to drink wine because he doesn't want to get drunk
but look at the next verse what else they're not supposed to do he says neither
shall ye build house now is building a house wrong of course not there are
plenty of places in the Bible that talk about the virtues of building a
house he says nor sow seed that's not a sin is it nor plant vineyard nor
have any but all your days ye shall dwell in tents that you may live many
days in the land where ye be strangers thus have we obeyed the voice of John
Adab the son of Rekab our father in all that he had charged us to drink no
wine all our days our wives our sons nor our daughters nor to build houses
for us to dwell in neither have we vineyard nor field nor seed but we
have dwelled in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that
John Adab our father commanded us so why did John Adab the son of Rekab
why did he tell his family that he didn't want them to do these things
well he wanted his descendants to follow the same way of life that he had
followed now many people in the Bible did have houses and plant vineyards and
plant crops and there's nothing in the world wrong with that we could go to
tons of scriptures where God tells people to do that and where that's a
good thing to do but he wanted his family in particular to follow his
footsteps and to live his way of life which was a way of life of a nomad one
who keeps cattle okay because throughout the Bible and throughout history a lot
of people have lived in agrarian lifestyle where they plant crops and do
agriculture and then other people have have lived a lifestyle where they
herd cattle now if you look at certain areas in the world today there
are people who still follow this nomadic lifestyle where they live in
tents or or huts or wigwams or whatever and where they herd cattle
like for example you know I read a book about a young man who grew up in Kenya
and he's in a remote part of Kenya and his whole family they live off of
animal products they don't plant crops they don't have a farm but they
live off of animal products they drink the milk they eat the meat they
raise cattle and they have to move throughout the year because they have to
go where the water is at different seasons and they live that lifestyle of
dwelling in tents and raising animals also you know the Mongolians are another
group of people that live this way where they live off of all animal
products and even you know if you go back to the days of Genghis Khan and
and and his ill they basically grew up raising cattle they don't plant any
crops or anything like that they just drink milk and they eat curds and
they eat meat and they pretty much just live off of animal products and
even to this day that's they live that lifestyle in Mongolia where they it's
not it's not an agriculture based thing he wanted his sons to basically live
that same lifestyle like a lot of the biblical patriarchs did like Abraham
did Isaac did Jacob did he didn't want them to settle in and and and
build houses and plant crops and do that it's it's just it be sort of
like you know if somebody had a certain family business or a family
profession and he really wanted his descendants to basically carry that
torch and and keep that thing going and and you know people just
naturally want their children to be like them are following their
footsteps so these aren't sinful things he just for whatever reason
that's what he wanted for his family and his his descendants they
loved him so much and they respected him so much and they looked up to him
so much that they wanted to follow that they wanted to make him proud
and they wanted to live the lifestyle that he lived not to get comfortable
and sedentary and and planted in a house but but to live that kind of
out on the field sleeping in a tent lifestyle that their father John
and have the son of recap lived now look at verse 11 it says but it came
to pass when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land that
we said come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the
Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians so we dwell at
Jerusalem so what they're saying is that we don't normally live in cities
you know we're normally out on the plane with our cattle and intense the
only reason we're in Jerusalem right now is because the Babylonian armies
here we were afraid of just getting attacked by them if we're just out in
our tents out in the field so we have temporarily come within the walls of
Jerusalem in order to have that safety and protection that's the only reason
we're here when this war is over we're going to go back to our normal
lifestyle that we live and our normal profession look at verse 12 then
came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah this is basically where God
is going to explain to Jeremiah why he had him ask them these questions
and learn these things look at verse 13 thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of
Israel go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will you
not receive instruction to hearken to my words saith the Lord the words of
Jonadab the son of Rekab that he commanded his sons not to drink wine
are performed for unto this day they drink none but obey their father's
commandment notwithstanding I've spoken unto you rising early and speaking
but ye hearken not unto me here's what he's saying he's saying look I'm God I'm the
creator I'm the Heavenly Father this guy has these rules they're not even Bible
based it's just something that he wanted it's just his whim it's just
his caprice where he just says hey this is what I want you guys to do and
his sons love him and respect him to the point where they're willing to
follow his wishes even after he's dead even after he's gone they still follow
that even to this day at that time he said and he said yet my people won't
obey me they don't love me enough or respect me enough to keep my
commandments what he's saying is that if we're going to obey our father on
this earth how much more should we obey the father in heaven go to
Hebrews chapter 12 stay here in Jeremiah 35 we'll be back go to Hebrews
chapter number 12 God said something pretty similar to this in Malachi while
you're turning to Hebrews 12 in Malachi chapter 1 he brings this up he said in
verse number 6 a son honoreth his father and a servant his master if I
then be a father where's my honor and if I be a master where's my fear
sayeth the Lord of hosts unto you O priests that despise my name and ye
say where and if we despise thy name so in Malachi he says the same thing look a
son honors his father I'm God I'm the father you need to obey me respect me
honor me now look at Hebrews chapter 12 and we'll find something very similar
it talks about the fact that our fathers on this earth chasing us and
how much more should we be in obedience to God it says in verse
number 6 for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth Hebrews 12 6 and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth if you endure chastening God dealeth with you
is with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not but if you
be without chastisement where of all our partakers then are you bastards
and not sons furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which
corrected us our physical fathers they corrected us and we gave them
reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of
spirits and live for they verily for a few days chastened us after their own
pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness
the Bible saying look we all had our physical earthly father and he
disciplined us he punished us for the rules that he made he made rules
according to his pleasure according to his caprice he made those rules and he
enforced them and we respected him we gave him reverence we did what he told
us to do because we feared him how much more should we be in subjection
unto the father of spirits and live than we are to our physical father now
you say well I didn't have a lot of respect for my father well here's the
thing you may not have had a father that disciplined you and raised you
properly but you know what when your father chastens you and disciplines
you and punishes you and has rules you do respect him and you do obey those
rules and you do fear him I remember when I was a child I would go over to
a friend's house and sometimes see them disrespect their parents and be
disrespectful to their dad and it just blew me away I couldn't even
imagine it one time I even saw one of my friends say I hate you to their
dad and I mean I thought to myself if I ever said that I would die I would
be beaten to a pulp you know I can't even imagine saying something so
horrible now obviously my dad wouldn't have killed me or beat me to a pulp
but but that's what you felt like you know you were just you wouldn't
dream of saying something like that to your mom and dad and I remember
seeing them just mouth off to their parents call their parents names and I
was just blown away by it because I feared my parents I feared my mother I
feared my father I respected them I obeyed them now of course I wasn't
perfect of course I disobeyed from time to time but in general I got on
their program I respect them I obey them and what God's saying is look you
need to get on my program like an obedient child who obeys their mom
and dad that's how we need to look at God in heaven because God can
punish you much worse than your parents ever thought of punishing you
he has a lot more power to inflict chastisement upon you than your earthly
mother and father go back to Jeremiah chapter 35 so that's the point that God
is getting across here this guy's got rules they're not even God's rules
they're just his rules and his descendants respect him love him and
obey him and yet God is not getting that kind of respect from his people
the children of Israel the recombinants were not of the children of Israel
here because they're basically saying in this passage that they're strangers in
the land okay so there's some type of a foreign element here because they're so
journeying in the land as strangers okay foreigners now look down
at your Bible in Jeremiah 35 here it says in verse 15 I've sent also unto
you all my servants the prophets rising up early and sending them saying
return ye now every man from his evil way and amend your doings and go not
after other gods to serve them and ye shall dwell in the land which I have
given to you and to your fathers but you have not inclined your ear nor
hearken unto me because the sons of John Adab the son of recap have
performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them but this
people have not hearkened unto me therefore thus saith the Lord God of
hosts the God of Israel behold I will bring upon Judah and upon all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I've pronounced against them
because I have spoken unto them but they've not heard and I've called unto
them but they have not answered so he says because they're not listening to
the Word of God because they're not obeying him it doesn't matter that
they're Israel it doesn't matter that they're Jews it doesn't matter that
they're the chosen people because they won't take heed unto the Word of God he
said I'm going to punish them I'm gonna bring the Babylonians and they're
gonna be destroyed they're gonna be carried away captive their nation's
gonna be destroyed many will be killed and the rest will go into
bondage because they did not obey the voice of the Lord verse number 18
and Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rekabites thus saith the Lord of
hosts the God of Israel because ye have obeyed the commandment of John
Adab your father and kept all his precepts and done according unto all
that he had commanded you therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of
Israel John Adab the son of Rekab shall not want or lack is what that
means shall not want a man to stand before me forever meaning that his
descendants are gonna be blessed and there will always be descendants of John
Adab the son of Rekab that are in good standing before the Lord that are
standing up and being a child of God you know being a saved person who is
living for God bless for God he'll always have a descendant like that
even to this day that's what the Bible is promising these people
because they honor their father now let me just give you some some
teachings here from this chapter okay this is kind of a unique chapter in
the Bible a little different than the rest of Jeremiah there aren't a lot of
chapters like this so let's make some application of this okay let's actually
figure out okay what's the moral of the story here besides just the
surface meaning the surface meaning is just hey obey God like you obey
your dad when you're a kid and if you don't he's gonna cloud up and rain
on you a lot worse than dad ever did that's kind of just the basic simple
teaching that he's getting across but there's a few other things that we can
draw out from this passage number one is that we are to honor our father
and mother and if we do God will bless us for obeying them because this
isn't about obeying God God didn't say don't drink wine God didn't say
don't don't build houses and plant crops God didn't tell them to live
that nomadic lifestyle that was just something mom and dad said look if you
honor love respect and obey your parents God is gonna bless you for that
he didn't say because they obeyed my voice I'll bless them although that's
true also in other chapters in this chapter he highlights how he's gonna
bless them for obeying their dad the Bible says honor thy father and
mother which is the first commandment with promise meaning it's the first
commandment that has a promise associated with it here's the promise
that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth you
know my grandma is 95 years old and I asked her you know what's your secret
you know how did you get to be 95 years old and you're still healthy
you're still sharp as a tack you know what's the secret and she said
well you know every morning for breakfast I eat oatmeal and every night
for dinner I eat oatmeal and then I eat something different for lunch but I eat
a lot of oatmeal I'm not buying that though as being a secret because I
don't like oatmeal that's not what I wanted to hear okay but you know I
said I said to my grandma I said you know what I'll bet you must have
really honored your father and mother you know cuz the Bible says that it'll
be well with you and your days with and she said oh I definitely did that
and you know whenever I've talked to her growing up and I've talked to her
a lot where I've just kind of sat for hours and asked her about her
childhood or teenage years young like I I know her life story pretty well
just from kind of sitting at her feet and listening to the stories I like to
tell stories and listen to stories and so you know I I've sat and listened to
her for hours and hours and she always spoke about her parents with the
utmost respect and you could just tell that she had a lot of really genuine
love and and affection and respect for her parents you know that is part
of it it's not the oatmeal you know that's doing it you know if you know
you honor your father and mother he said it'll be well with you and your
days will be long on the earth you know this is one of the Ten
Commandments it's the first commandment with promise he said in Ephesians
children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right God wants children to
obey their parents that's a key thing you know when you're a child you don't
have all the temptations that adults have necessarily you know there's not
really a big danger that you're probably gonna commit adultery or that
you're gonna commit murder or that you're gonna you know go out and and
rob a store some you know you know one of the biggest things when you're a
little kid especially one of the biggest temptations to sin is to
disobey your parents I mean that's probably the sin that's gonna be
happening the most in a little young child's life probably not drunkenness
or adultery robbery you know but taking the Lord's name in vain is
probably not a you know a big thing when you're growing up in a
Christian home probably not a huge temptation to to make graven or molten
images but I'll tell you what Oh disobeying your parents is a common
sense you know what that tells me that's your best way kids listen up
that's your best way to obey the Lord right now like if you just want to
make sure that God blesses you and that it may be well with you and that
your days will be long on the earth you know that's an easy way for you to
start pleasing God now start getting some blessings of God on your life now
start getting yourself in good standing with God now and getting him pleased
with you is just to be obedient to your parents that's one of the main
decisions that you make when you three four five six seven eight nine
are you gonna obey your parents are you gonna love and respect and be a
blessing to your parents are you gonna be a pain in the neck and
disobedient and making them angry and listen to me it's impossible for you as
a child to be right with the Lord and you're not right with your parents I
mean you can't say oh I'm right with the Lord I'm obeying the Lord but
you're not obeying your parents that is someone that God has put over you
and commanded you to obey just like as a woman it did you say well I'm
right with the Lord but you're in rebellion and disobedience to your
husband you're not right with the Lord because the Bible commands wives to be
in submission to their husband to be on obedience to their husband he tells
children to obey their parents he tells you know various people in this
world to obey various authorities in their life and you know those
authorities are put there by God and if you're gonna obey God you have to
obey your parents you know as a child now not only that but one thing
we can learn from this passage is that sometimes parents have rules
that don't come from the Bible sometimes parents just have additional
rules that they have just because they said so because they're the boss
and you know what that's okay it's okay in this chapter now here's the
thing we don't we don't want to make the mistake of claiming that
they're from the Bible when they're not okay we don't want to teach for
doctrines the commandments of men but let me tell you something it's okay for
your parents to have rules that don't come from the Bible like for example
my wife has a rule for our children that they're not allowed to put their
hands in their pockets you know because she wants them to be busy
helping around the house and and and not to just kind of be standing
around with their hands in their pockets so she has a rule no hands in
your pocket get those hands out of your pockets hands out of your pockets
you know because she wants them to be doing something with their head busy
working not just kind of standing around looking like a road worker you know
watching someone else work you know but but rather to get involved and do the
work right so she has rules and she has other rules like you know she has
rules that at certain times of year they have to have socks on their feet
all the time because she doesn't want them to catch a cold or just different
rules about you know talking at the dinner table or interrupting adults or
look we as parents we have to make all kinds of rules for our kids of when to
go to bed brushing your teeth whatever that you know when my mom had a
rule for me when I was a kid that I was only ever allowed to eat four
cookies you know and that was the max that I was allowed to have in one
sitting you can have cookies it means four you don't go beyond four is that
biblical that in the Bible no that's her rule so if you say well you know well
mom where does it say in the Bible that I can only have four cookies here's
where it says that children obey your parents children obey your parents
in the Lord for this right honor thy father and mother which is the first
commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live
long on the earth you see it's okay for me as a man to have rules for my
wife and children that are not in the Bible they're just my rules and God
gives us that liberty as men to have rules for our home and God gives
mothers that liberty to have rules for their children at their pleasure at
their discretion whatever rules they want to have and they can enforce
those rules in their own home and that's okay and you can't just say
well that's not in the Bible well it is in the Bible to obey those
authorities so that's where it becomes something that you need to obey you know
for example if I want to have a rule in my house that says hey you know my
wife is not allowed to wear makeup you know now that's not there's no rule
like that in the Bible that says no makeup on women or anything right but
if I want to have that rule I can have that rule in my house for my wife for my
daughters whatever I want you know if I want to have a rule in my house that
says hey you know my my wife is not allowed to go out to lunch with other
men besides me that's a pretty good rule right I don't want my wife just
palling around with the other men we're just friends no you know you you draw
some lines you make some boundaries you make some rules and that's at your
pleasure that's at your caprice and there's nothing in the world wrong with
that because it's your house it's your discretion it's your castle now God
will bless us if we obey those authorities in our life that's what we
can learn from this passage and other passages like it in the Bible but then
the third application that we should make from this passage is that we
should not take our personal rules that we impose on our house that are
not biblical but that we made up just for ourselves just for our own lives
we shouldn't take those rules and impose them on other people see that's
where you're teaching for doctrines the commandments of men the only when we
get up to preach behind the pulpit we shouldn't get up and preach our
opinion as doctrine now every once in a while I'll give my opinion every once
in a while I'll say you know here's what I think here are some good
example rules to have for your children you know for example I preach
on dating a few weeks ago and I say you know here's some examples of
guidelines that I would use but I made it real clear you know this is my
opinion and the Apostle Paul did the same thing in 1st Corinthians 7 where he
gave some things that were the commandments of the Lord and then he
gave some other things that he specifically said these things are my
opinion it's okay to have an opinion it's okay to have preferences it's okay
to live your life a certain way that you want to live your life but we
need to be very careful that we don't try to push that on other people and
expect everybody to be just like us you know for example we have some
certain things about the way that we live our life you know we eat organic
food in our house and we abstain from junk food to the best of our ability
but I'm not gonna get up here and and demand that everybody eat organic
food or get up here and say hey McDonald's is a sin Burger King is a
sin you know if if Burger King's a sin then I actually sinned recently okay
because listen this of course I sin all the time because I'm human there's
not a just man upon the earth to do with good incentive not but you know
it's funny when I was on my way back from Guyana I spent a day on just
on a layover at the airport of Trinidad okay
Trinidad is pretty close to Guyana it's in that same region and so I
ended up getting in touch with a pastor there because I had some time
there I really wanted to go soul winning if need be I was gonna go soul
winning by myself but I would rather hook up with a with a pastor there and
and you know have him show me some hospitality that'd be great because
then we could go soul winning together and we could we could have
fellowship one with another right and and have a good time again so
anyway I ended up just asking somebody while I was in Guyana I said hey do
you know a pastor in Trinidad and he said who's a soul winner because I
want to go soul winning and he said yeah yeah I know a guy you know here
let's call him so he called him you know handed me the phone he said I'll be
there brother you know I'm gonna pick you up I'm like all right great so I
get there to Trinidad I don't really know what to expect you know he
picks me up at the airport he was a super friendly guy really nice and he
said to me well brother you know let's get you something to eat you know
you've been traveling let's get you something to eat he said you know we
got McDonald's we got Burger King you know and I keep I haven't eaten at
McDonald's or Burger King in like a decade or more I think it's been about
13 years since I went to McDonald's pretty similar with Burger King so he's
telling me McDonald's Burger King and I told him I said I said no I said
I said you know I'd rather eat some of the local food I said I didn't come
all the way down here to eat McDonald's and Burger King you know
and he said well no no you must miss your food you know and I told him I
said I said look I said I've only been gone from my house for four days that's
not really long enough to miss my food and I'm thinking to myself Burger King
McDonald's is not my food anyway but I'm like no no I don't miss my food
yet it's only been four days but I was trying to be polite kind of letting
this guy know like I don't want to eat at McDonald's or Burger King so I'm
telling him no and he's like he's like no no I'm gonna take you to
McDonald's you know or Burger King no no no no I mean cuz and I told him no
honestly I really what are the other options is there local food I said you
know when I was in Guyana I ate a lot of cook up you guys eat that or he's
like oh yeah yeah we cook up yeah oh yeah cook up rice it's like a rice
bunch of meat and you got to spit out the bones every bite take a bite
by the end you just have piles of bones I'm like let's do that so he's
like are you are you serious he said are you serious I'm like yeah I'm serious
cuz I'm like what about I'm pointing at some what about this place but you
know I said I like Indian food he's like you're the first American I've
ever talked to who likes Indian food he said he said missionaries he said
every American missionary who's ever been here all they want to eat is
Burger King McDonald's and he said they refused to try any of the local
food I told him I said brother I said when I was down in Guyana I said I was
taking showers with black water I was taking a shower with water that was
dark brown the whole time I was there I told him I haven't taken a real
shower since I was in the United States and he's like really he's like
you're the first pastor that's ever come here or missionary or anybody any
American preacher they all just but it's cuz I guess all of his supporting
churches were from the south so it's like they weren't they were more of a
burger and fries and they kind of just shined any exotic food so I
finally got through to the guy like so we went to the mall and in
Trinidad there and we I got him to take me we went to like an Arabic
place you know which I love Arabic food so you know I got the the the gyro
sandwich with the creamy garlic sauce and you know the lamb gyro and all that
it was really good and he's like are you sure because he's like brother I
don't want you to just eat our food to not offend us I'm like no this is
better you know so I want to eat I promise so he's finally okay you know
so we ate the food then we went out soul winning together and we went soul
winning area that was 99% Hindu literally so it was pretty unreceptive
like Guyana was just super receptive just tons of people getting safe this
place now I don't I'm not saying all of Trinidad is unreceptive but this
particular neighborhood was 99% Hindu okay so but but all all of them
would listen though everybody would listen to the gospel pretty much so I
ended up just giving the gospel to person after person just I don't know
three hours or something or more just given the gospel given the gospel
given the gospel and through it all we ended up having two people saved
praise God but we probably gave the gospel to at least like nine or ten
people all the way through that did not get saved so is this it's a
little bit tough but praise God we got two people saved so we had a great
time out soul winning together and then he's it was time for dinner and he
said brother we're going to Burger King and I told him I said wait a minute I
said I'm starting to think that you are just looking for an excuse to go to
Burger King that's what's going on here I said I don't think this is
about me I think this is about you wanting to go to Burger King I'm like
so he's like brother no we're going to Burger King so I'm pointing at
everything hey that looks good hey look at this Jamaican chicken let's go
there no no no Burger King you know so finally you know I just bit the
bullet and just went to Burger King because I didn't want to be rude I can
only push so much so we went to Burger King you know and I had the double
whopper you know I mean you might as well go all the way at that point
amen you know what I mean go big or go home so you know I got the double
whopper everything was all supersized and you know big old you know gulp of
ginger ale and then they said all right here's a Dairy Queen ice cream and
I'm like no I don't need Dairy Queen you know no Dairy Queen and but they
just like chocolate or vanilla I'm like no chocolate or vanilla no
chocolate or chocolate he's like you've never had Trinidad Burger King
you need to try Trinidad Dairy Queen I'm like oh man okay whatever so so look
these things are these are Commandments these are just preferences of healthy
eating I'm not gonna impose that or force that on some right I mean look
we might have rules for ourselves about diet and think but a lot of
that's just our own preference our own opinion right I'm not gonna force
that boy I got to tell you this too I got to finish the story about
Trinidad so we're at dinner and I get to talking this guy and he start he
starts talking about the Jews and I'm thinking like oh man you know you know
these independent fundamental Baptists are usually about the Jews like they're
just like falling all over themselves to be like really pro Jewish and they
you know really Zionist so I was kind of just trying to just avoid the
subject you know because I don't want to sit there and get into some big
thing with this guy because he seemed like he was really interested in that
subject and he threw some stuff out there you know I didn't really know
where he stood but he just kind of said a few things kind of like checking
what I would say about it and I was just kind of I just kind of blew it off
but anyway he brings it up again at Burger King and one of the there were
a few church members that were with us there and one of them says well you
know the Jews are God's chosen people you know right he said to me like
right so at that point it's like you know I got to say something you know
he's bring it up and I said to him I said I said well you know I don't
believe that the Jews are God's chosen people you know they because they've
rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior they've rejected if they don't have the
son they don't have the father so this pastor looks at me and he said
he said brother the Jews don't reject Jesus Christ they hate Jesus
Christ the first time I was like where does he go with this the Jews
he's like you know my whole life I've been taught that the you know that the
Jews reject Jesus but he said I've looked into this I've spoken to a lot
of Jews I've witnessed to them I've read up on this he said they don't
reject him brother they hate him and then he starts telling me also and
I'm thinking like you know yeah you're preaching to the choir buddy you know
I believe so it's kind of cool that this guy ended up being such a
kindred spirit just out of all the pastors in this country with 1.3 million
people and I just happened to just randomly be hooked up with a guy who
just believed the same thing the right thing from the Bible and he just he'd
learned it on his own and he said brother if any other independent said
if I told this to any other independent Baptist pastor they'll say
I'm a heretic he said he's like brother you know so I so I told him I
said oh man I've got DVD you're going to love this so we ended up we
would overdo we would own his son's house had a big TV that we could plug
a laptop into so I pulled out my laptop I plug my laptop in his TV we
sat down and watch the whole marching design the whole thing and they loved
it I mean it was great I was like wow we're like two peas in a pod here so
you know it's just amazing how God can lead you to people that you know what I
mean that are like-minded and and you have that fellowship you know where you
have you have that that that same spirit and camaraderie and that you
believe the same thing that's pretty cool I don't think that's a
coincidence that God led me to that to that pastor you know that was great
that was a blessing but my point is you know we all have preferences you
know my wife she doesn't give birth at the hospital she actually gives
birth at home she does home birth and you know we have nine children the first
one was born at the hospital but the last eight children that we've had have
been born at home you know what I'm not gonna get up and preach that as
a doctrine you know that's my preference that's my belief that's what
I think is best it's the safest but I'm not gonna get up and preach hey you
need to have a home birth this is a Bible issue it's not a Bible issue so
I'm not gonna teach for doctrines the commandments of men you know and that
the same thing could go for you know a lot of other things now they're there
are of course things that are biblical like for example I do preach that
women should not go see a male OBGYN for their checkups where they're
basically just disrobing in front of another man you know I don't
believe in that you know I'm against that but and I think that's a biblical
issue about you know keeping your nakedness to yourself and so forth but
I'm not gonna sit there and impose my beliefs on organic food or my beliefs
on on you know home birth or you know my my preferences about clothing
now there are some biblical things about clothing that I'm gonna preach as
doctrine what the Bible preaches but I can have preferences beyond that that
I impose on my children and that I demand that they follow certain rules
for the way that they dress and you know I tell my children mate you know
hey you know your pants are too tight don't wear those faggot II skinny
jeans around me you know but here's the thing I'm not gonna get up and
teach a doctrine now there is a doctrine that says don't be a feminine
okay but I'm not gonna get up and dictate exact preferences as doctrine we
need to understand it's okay to have rules for our wife and for our children
and for our households but we just need to make sure that we don't cross
that line of expecting everybody to be just like us and follow our exact
rules and our exact preferences we need to be able to discern the difference
between a biblical conviction and a preference preferences are good we
ought to have preferences we ought to have rules but we need to make sure
that we don't force other people to be just like us you know people don't
have to live our exact lifestyle all right we don't there's room for
different kinds of people in our church okay because there's a lot of
freedom and a lot of leeway where we're still following the commandments
of God but we still have personal choices that we make you know on how we
live our lives and and people might have different disagreements you know
one person might say hey I'm gonna let my kids start dating when they're 16
years old or 14 years old or 18 years old you know that's just a parent
making rules for their kids that's not a biblical issue okay or people
might have an issue of you know hey we're gonna celebrate Christmas or we're
not gonna celebrate Christmas okay the Bible doesn't mention Christmas there's
no mention of anything even remotely like Christmas in the Bible so it's not
a Bible issue one man esteemeth one day above another another's esteem of
every day alike let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind you
know if somebody doesn't want to celebrate Christmas that's fine with me
I'm not offended by that at all but what does offend me is when they want
to come to me and tell me that the Bible commands me not to celebrate
Christmas because then at that point they're taking their preference and
trying to impose that on me and they're teaching for commandments the
doctrines of men there's nothing wrong with me celebrating the birth of
Christ in a wholesome godly biblical base way I'm not talking about Santa
and the reindeer and all that so I'm talking about just celebrating the
birth of Christ and there's nothing wrong with me celebrating the
resurrection of Christ on Easter I'm not talking about the bunny and all that
I'm talking about celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Easter and
look if you don't want to do it then don't do it but people they
make this like their big issue like they'll leave a church over it or
they'll declare people a Satan worshiper or a Jesuit or a Roman Catholic or
where because they see that issue differently of Christmas or whatever you
know we don't want to teach for commandments the doctrines of men it's
OK to have traditions it's OK to have rules it's OK to have a way of
life it's OK to have preferences but know the difference between a
preference and a biblical belief and a command of God keep those things
separate they're both good they're both important they're both necessary
but don't try to push your pet beliefs on other people you know they
might see that issue differently and if it's not a clear scriptural issue
then you know you need to just let people have liberty in that area and
only preach that other people must do the things that the Bible says
alright and keep keep other things in a different category where you could give
advice you could give pointers but but you wouldn't say you must
be like me in this area so I think those are some of the things that we
can learn from this chapter is is just that number one we need to obey
our parents it pleases God we obey our parents when you know children obey
your parents number two you know it's OK for parents to have rules that are
not in the Bible and if people obey those rules God's gonna bless them and
number three we don't want to impose our rules on other people that we don't
have authority over you don't see the recombines telling Jeremiah hey you
can't drink wine Jeremiah hey listen Jeremiah you can't build a house or
plant crop they're just saying that's just what we do that's how we do it
but they're not forcing that on someone else OK let's borrow our heads
and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for the example
of the record bites Lord and how they honor their father Jonathan Lord I pray
that every child that's in this room would honor their father and mother
would obey their parents so that it would be well with them and that they
would live long on the earth Lord and I pray that all of us as parents
would have rules for our children and not just what the Bible says but they
also need rules about when to get up in the morning and when to go to bed
and and what to have for breakfast and what to have for lunch Lord obviously
we can't just let our children just have a free for all of candy for
breakfast and ice cream for lunch Lord help us to have rules common sense
rules in our families in our marriages Lord but Lord help us to make
sure that we don't get judgmental of other people just because they don't
follow our exact preferences and we ask these things in Jesus name Amen