Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
On the first trombone.
Grab your handles.
And open up the song 449.
Song 449.
Dwelling in Beulah Land.
Song 449.
On the first
far away
the noise
of strife
upon my ear
is falling
then I know
the sins of
earth we sin on
every day
down in fear
and things of
work and pain
we are calling
suddenly shall
move me from
Beulah Land
I'm living
on the mountain
underneath the clouded
sky
I'm drinking on the
mountain that never
shall run dry
oh yes I'm feasting
on the manna
from a bountiful
supply for I
am dwelling
in Beulah
Land
all are built
a storm of hell
upon the world is
beating
sons of men in battle
on the enemy
will stand
safe and high
within the castle
of God's word
retreating
and reaching
Beulah Land
I'm living
on the mountain
underneath the
clouded sky
I'm drinking
on the mountain
that never
shall run dry
oh yes I'm feasting
on the manna
from a bountiful
supply for I am dwelling
in Beulah
Land
thank the stormy
breezes love their pride
may not alarm me
I am
safely sheltered
protected by
God's hand
here the sun is
always shining
here there's not
can harm me
I am safe forever
in Beulah
Land
I'm living
on the mountain
underneath the clouded sky
praise God
I'm drinking
on the mountain
that never
shall run dry
oh yes I'm feasting
on the manna
from a bountiful
supply for I am dwelling
on Beulah
Land
on the last
few we hear the
words of God I see
in contemplation
here and now
his blessed voice
I see the way he
planned
dwelling in the
spirit here I learn
of full salvation
gladly will
I am dwelling
in Beulah
Land
I'm living
on the mountain
underneath the clouded sky
praise God I'm drinking
on the mountain
that never
shall run dry
oh yes I'm feasting
on the manna
from a bountiful
supply for I am dwelling
on Beulah
Land
Psalm 101
Jesus never fails
Psalm 101
On the first
earthly friends
may prove
untrue
doubts and fears
of scale
one still
loves and cares for you
one who will not fail
Jesus
never fails
Jesus
never fails
and
then earth will
pass away
but Jesus
never fails
oh the sky
be dark and
drear
is on the
veil
just remember
he is near
and he will not
fail
Jesus never
fails
Jesus never
fails
him and earth
may pass away
but Jesus
never fails
in
life's dark and bitter
hour
love will still prevail
trust
his everlasting
power
Jesus will not
fail
Jesus never
fails
Jesus never
fails
and then earth
may pass away
but Jesus
never fails
Amen
great singing church at this time we're going to go over our announcements
so if you have a bullet tin
if you don't have a bullet tin you can raise up your hand
ushers will get one out to you
alright so we're going to turn
to the first page there at the top you're going to see our service times
at 10 30 and at
5 pm as usual on Sundays
and on Wednesdays 7 o'clock
bible study
below that is our soul winning opportunities
so at this time I just want to go over
any salvations we had before
today
any other numbers before today
okay great
anyone else
great now this afternoon
alright we'll start way in the back
go ahead
I got one
alright cool
brother Jesse
one
two
okay awesome
okay
alright
it's a lot today
amen
alright
five
amen
one
amen
over here
okay
one
alright
awesome keep up all the great work
that's amazing
alright
offering totals there at the bottom
and on the next page our prayer request
as I mentioned this morning
Hope Estrada had her baby
Tabitha Sue Estrada
she's 19 inches long
born at home unassisted
so Jeff did all the work there
delivered her at 6.40 pm
that's great so one thing I didn't mention this morning
so I want to go ahead and mention that
now is we actually
we have ladies that are pregnant
and have a baby
we do a meal train for them
so if anyone wants to bring any food
if you can bring it in on Sunday
the Gonzalez family will go ahead and deliver that
over to them
so if you're going to bring food just on Sunday
anything else
on that?
so I don't have any other updates
on the prayer requests
down below that Steadfast Baptist Church
who we're praying for this week
so definitely keep them in prayer
we'll move on to the next page
you guys
that were here this morning
Pastor Anderson was preaching this morning
we're preaching tonight to blessing us again with another sermon
so look forward to that
and then this week
we have brother Devin
brother Jesse Michaels and brother Carter
preaching on the Wednesday night services
and Sunday services as well
and then we have the Bible memory passage
is Hebrews chapter 3
we're trying to go through the whole book of Hebrews
right now we're in chapter 3
we're finishing this chapter up
so if you're able to
quote this backward perfect
we had a prize
to be announced time
and then below is the
preaching conference is our upcoming event
which is on the 14th or the 17th
Pastor Burzins will be there as well
and then September 3rd we have a soul
winning marathon
at a not disclosed location yet in Alabama
so
and then on the bottom there are birthdays
and anniversaries and that is it
for announcements
oh yes baptisms
thank you thank you
so yes we're going to have two baptisms
after service
I was planning to get baptized
after service
alright so we look forward to the two baptisms
after service
okay
let's turn to our next song
song number 127
song 127
tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
song 127
alright church let's sing this classic out on the first
tis so sweet
to trust in Jesus
just to take
him at his word
just to
rest upon
his promise
just to know
the said the Lord
Jesus Jesus
how I trust him
how I've proven
more and more
Jesus Jesus
rest in Jesus
oh for
praise to trust him
Lord
oh how sweet to trust in
Jesus
just to trust in
his cleansing blood
just in
simple things you must
feel
the healing
cleansing blood
Jesus Jesus
how I trust him
how I've proven
more and more
Jesus Jesus
rest in Jesus
for praise to trust him
Lord
yes it's sweet to trust
in Jesus
just from sin
and self to sin
just from Jesus
simply take
life and rest
and joy and peace
Jesus Jesus
how I trust
him how I've
proven more and more
Jesus Jesus
rest in Jesus
oh for
praise to trust in
Lord on the last
I'm so glad
I learned to trust
the precious Jesus
Savior friend
and I know
that thou art
with me will be
with me to the
end Jesus
Jesus how
I trust you
how I've proven
more and more
Jesus Jesus
rest in Jesus
oh for praise
to trust in
Lord
Jesus
and church while the offering plate is being passed around
if you can open up your Bibles to the book of Genesis
chapter 48
that's Genesis
chapter 48
and as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church
I'm going to read the entire chapter
and that's brother Devin
if you can please do that for us
once again that was Genesis
48
and it came to pass after these things
that one told Joseph
behold thy father is sick
and he took with him his two sons
Manasseh and Ephraim
and one told Jacob and said behold thy son
Joseph cometh unto thee
and he strengthened himself
and sat upon the bed
and Jacob said unto Joseph
God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz
in the land of Canaan and blessed me
and said unto me behold
I will make thee fruitful
and multiply thee and I will make of thee
a multitude of people
and will give this land to thy seed
after thee for an everlasting possession
and now thy two sons
Ephraim and Manasseh
which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt
where I came unto thee into Egypt
are mine as Reuben and Simeon
they shall be mine
and thy issue which thou begittest
after them shall be thine
and shall be called after the name
of their brethren in their inheritance
and as for me
when I came from Padan
Rachel died by me
in the land of Canaan in the way
when yet there was but a little way to come
unto Ephrath and I buried
her there in the way of Ephrath
the same is Bethlehem
and Israel beheld Joseph's sons
and said who's are these
and Joseph said unto his father
they are my sons
whom God hath given me in this place
and he said bring them
I pray thee unto me and I will bless them
now the eyes of Israel
were dim for age
so that he could not see
and he brought them near unto him
and he kissed them and embraced them
and Israel said unto Joseph
I had not thought to see thy face
and lo God hath showed me
also thy seed
and Joseph brought them out from between his knees
and he bowed himself with his face
to the earth and Joseph took them
both Ephraim and his
right hand toward Israel's
left hand and Manasseh
in his left hand toward Israel's right
hand and brought them near unto him
and Israel stretched
out his right hand and laid it upon
Ephraim's head who was the
younger and his left hand upon
Manasseh's head guiding his hands
wittingly for Manasseh was the
firstborn and he blessed
Joseph and said God
for whom my fathers Abraham
and Isaac did walk the God
which fed me all my life long unto
this day the angel which
redeemed me from all evil
blessed the lads and let my
name be named on them and the
name of my fathers Abraham and
Isaac and let them grow into
a multitude in the midst of the earth
and when Joseph saw that his
father laid his right hand upon
the head of Ephraim it displeased him
and he held up his
fathers hand to remove it from
Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head
and Joseph said unto his father not so
my father for this is the firstborn
put thy right hand upon
his head and his father refused
and said I know it my son I know it
he also shall become a people
and he also shall be great
but truly his younger brother shall be
greater than he and his seed shall
become a multitude of nations
and he blessed them that day saying
in thee shall Israel bless saying
God make thee as Ephraim and
as Manasseh and he set Ephraim
before Manasseh and Israel
said unto Joseph behold I die
but God shall be with you and bring you
again unto the land of your fathers
moreover I have given to thee
one portion above thy brethren
which I took out of the land of the
Lord with my sword and with my
bow. Let's pray.
Dear Lord thank you for this church
thank you for this chapter thank you for
allowing Pastor Anderson to come out here
to preach for us today
and pray that you bless him for it and his
remaining of a drive that he has left
I pray that you would bless this hour
now help us all to have open
hearts and ears to receive your
word and fill us all with your
spirit and fill pastor as he comes
and give us clear minds to
apply what he preaches to our lives the best of our ability
and in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Amen, well it's great to be
here once again and for those of you
who don't know your
pastor David Berzins and
myself go back a really long
way. He was actually
one of the first members
of Faithful Word Baptist Church
less than a year
after starting the church he came
back in August of
2006
and he joined Faithful Word Baptist Church
and he was such a huge
blessing to me because
up to that point I did not have a
soul winning partner so
I would have different guys that would
maybe go with me once or twice at different
times but he was actually my first
regular soul winning partner so
you know for the first eight months of that year
of pastoring I was constantly
just going soul winning by myself which can be
very hard if any of you have ever gone soul
winning by yourself it's not
that fun right it's a lot better
when you have a partner and so what a huge blessing
it was to have
you know back then we called him brother
Dave but now he's of course
pastor Berzins to you buddy
alright but we would go out soul winning
together he and I and we've spent
just so many hundreds of hours
together soul winning
fellowshipping and so forth
and back in 2007 I started a
preaching class and
brother Tony who's here tonight from Alabama
and pastor Berzins were my
two students in that class
and it's great that they're both
still serving the lord
they're both
here tonight
I know pastor Berzins is in spirit
and he's here tonight
because I was thinking like man it'd be great to get a picture
but then I'm like oh yeah pastor Berzins is in
Phoenix you know it's like class reunion
original preaching class
2007
but anyway yeah so
pastor Berzins has been a huge blessing
in my life
you know it's definitely been a two way
street because you know I taught him a lot
but he man he encouraged me a lot
and has helped me a lot and
I don't even know if faithful word baptist
church would have even succeeded without him
and I the reason I say that
is because back in 2006 and 2007
I thought about quitting
like every single week
back then because I was just really
struggling and it was hard
and just trying to get the thing off the ground
and he was such a huge encouragement
who knows what would have happened if he hadn't shown up
and so what a blessing
he is and he's a great
pastor I know here
in Atlanta for you and
you know if you live in this area
you've got to be here
I mean this is the place this is the church
alright so anyway
tonight I'm continuing my series
you thought it was
over you thought I was done
with Benjamin but
I've got tonight and then I'm preaching
up in West Virginia on Wednesday
so to round out the series
I'm also covering Ephraim
and Manasseh which are
the grandsons I've done the twelve sons of Jacob
well I'm going to do the grandsons
in order to round this thing out
so I've been preaching on them in birth order
so tonight would be
the Manasseh sermon and then this Wednesday
will be Ephraim
so here's the thing about this
you say well Pastor Anderson
shouldn't you be preaching on Ephraim tonight
and that's probably what you would
instinctively think that Ephraim would come
first because in the Bible Ephraim
is always listed before Manasseh
not only that but
it's going to be a lot easier to preach
an Ephraim sermon because there's just a lot
more in the Bible and
the tribe of Ephraim becomes
more significant
than the tribe of Manasseh but they're both very
significant if you have any kind of
a map in the back of your Bible of the twelve
tribes of Israel you'll see that
Manasseh territorially
is a huge area
there are definitely Bible stories involved
about that group but
the reason why they're always
listed as Ephraim and Manasseh
is because even though Manasseh
is the first born
Ephraim becomes the preeminent
son and
there's a theme in the book of Genesis
that goes all the way
from the beginning of Genesis all the way to the end
that's the theme of the
younger brother actually
excelling the elder brother
that's a major theme in the
book of Genesis
and not only is that something that
often happens in the
book of Genesis it's actually something
that always
happens in the book of Genesis and
I'm going to show you just how consistent
this is how literally from start
to finish this is always the case
and so this is just kind of the
coup de grace at the end of the
book it's just been
so many younger brothers
and then for Jacob to reach out to
bless them and just cross his arms like this
defying Joseph
and putting the special
blessing on Ephraim instead of Manasseh
just to round out the book
so if you would look down at your Bible there in verse 14
it says, and Israel stretched out
his hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head
who was the younger, his right
hand that is and his left hand
upon Manasseh's head guiding
his hands wittingly for Manasseh
was the firstborn so he's so old
he's practically blind
but the Bible says he did it wittingly
he knew what he was doing
verse 17 and when Joseph saw that his father
laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim
it displeased him
and he held up his father's hand
I always kind of find this funny that he physically
grabs his dad's hand and tries to
move it like no you need to move this over here
but he physically
grabs his hand
and said not so
my father for this
is the firstborn put thy right hand
upon his head and his father
refused and
said I know it my son
I know it but he also
shall become a people and he also
shall be great but truly
his younger brother shall be
greater than he and his seed shall become
a multitude of nations and he blessed
them that day saying in thee shall Israel bless
saying God make thee as Ephraim
and as Manasseh that's the way you always hear it
and he set Ephraim
before Manasseh
so this younger
brother theme we're going to start at the end of the
book of Genesis and actually let's work
backwards through Genesis and
talk about how it's always the younger
brother okay so first of all
we've got Ephraim and Manasseh but look at
verse 5 of this
it says of this chapter that we're in
Genesis 48 and now thy two
sons Ephraim and Manasseh
which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt
before I came unto thee
into Egypt are mine
as Reuben and Simeon
they shall be mine
now what does Jacob mean by this when he says
Ephraim and Manasseh are
my sons just
as if they were Reuben and Simeon
his two firstborn sons well here's the thing
in the Bible the firstborn
son according to the law of God
receives a double portion
of the inheritance okay
because you make all the mistakes on your first
kid so that's their reward is that they
get no I'm just kidding but anyway
the double portion goes to the
oldest son so if you think about
it by making Ephraim
and Manasseh equal to
Reuben and Simeon what he's basically
doing is giving Joseph a double portion
because if Joseph's
two sons each get an inheritance
that's basically two lots
for Joseph and this is why sometimes
it can become confusing when you're reading about the 12
tribes of Israel because you'll often see
Ephraim and Manasseh listed as
tribes or sometimes they'll be called
the half tribe of Manasseh
or the tribe of Ephraim
and part of the reason why it's the half
tribe of Manasseh is just that's just because half the
tribe goes on one side of the river and half
the tribe goes on the other so you kind of have
two Manassehs in that sense
and so the thing is that
Ephraim and Manasseh
sort of become like
their own tribes of
Israel and then
instead of the Levites
getting an inheritance it gets
divided 12 ways Ephraim
gets a portion of Manasseh so you still kind of
end up with 12 because you're not really
counting Levi so this can get a little bit
confusing you know how you're looking
at this but the point is
that they are getting the
double portion for their family is what's
going on here and if you remember this is because
Reuben was supposed to be
the one who would get the double portion because he's the
oldest but in 1 Chronicles
5 verse 1 it says
that Reuben was the first
born but for as much as he
defiled his father's bed
his birthright was given unto the sons of
Joseph the son of Israel so
you see how Reuben because
of committing fornication with the woman
Bilhah and
you know that was a woman that had been his father's
concubine so that was totally
messed up of him to do that then
he loses that birthright and it goes
to Joseph okay so now
let's back up so we said okay so Ephraim
and Manasseh get
switched the younger brother
takes the precedence okay
then when it comes to
Jacob's children it's not
Reuben who gets the double portion
but rather it's Joseph the
younger brother the child of his
old age but let's go back even further
what about Jacob and
Esau right Jacob and
Esau Esau is actually the first born
there so Jacob himself
is the younger brother
because Esau even though they're twins
Esau was the one who popped out first
and he was supposed to get the birthright
but then he sold it to Jacob okay
what about Ishmael and Isaac
right Ishmael is the elder
brother Ishmael is Abraham's
first born but yet the blessing
and the birthright
ends up going to Isaac
the younger brother
but this may surprise you
because a lot of people don't understand
this but actually Abraham
himself was also a younger brother
now if you would go back to Genesis
11 I'm going to prove this to you
Genesis chapter number 11
so literally
Abraham, Isaac
Jacob, Joseph
Ephraim
just this unbroken chain of
five times in a row
the blessing, the birthright
goes to the younger brother
every single time isn't that interesting
it's very consistent
so let me prove this to you about Abraham
okay because a lot of people are mixed
up on this and you'll see
charts sometimes showing
you the age of the earth or
the chronology of the Old Testament
and you can go on Google and just look at Google images
of all the charts of the chronology of the Old Testament
and a lot of people buy these type
of charts and put them in their home because it's
kind of cool to see how everything breaks down
but there are a couple of errors
that virtually all of them have
number one is whenever you see
these charts about the history of the
Old Testament is that they always have
the children of Israel in
Egypt for only 215
years go ahead and Google it for yourself
look at it whether it's Kent Hovind
or whoever else's charts
and you'll look at it and almost always
they have the children of Israel
in Egypt for only
215 years now that makes absolutely
no sense because the Bible clearly
states that they were in Egypt
to the day the children
of Israel sojourned in the land of
Egypt for 430
years not
215 okay
and so they have to do all kinds
of they really have to cook the books
in order to get
a 215 year stay
in the land of Egypt it's totally
bogus and that's a whole other sermon in and of itself
okay but the other thing that they
virtually always also get
wrong is that they have Abraham
being the oldest brother
and they have him being born
when his father Tara is
70 years old that is
incorrect and it makes
the chronology off by another 60
years now you say why
do they all have these two errors
well here's the thing there's this doctrine
that sounds really cool
and they really
wanted to believe it
and so they kind of like again
cooked the books in order
to make it work and that was this idea
of 6,000 years of human
history now it sounds really
cool let me just explain it to you
okay with the Lord
a thousand years is like a day
and a day is like a thousand years right
so let's say you have a week
six days
shalt thou labor and then the seventh day is a day
of rest so how about this
6,000 years
of human history of
laboring and toiling and then
the millennium 1,000
years of rest it's like a great big week
isn't it beautiful
isn't it great except it isn't real
so sometimes you can have a
doctrine that sounds good looks good
makes a lot of sense and the dispensationalists
this is what they've been teaching
since the beginning of dispensationalism
they've been teaching this
and they've been kind of married to this idea
of 6,000 years and so
they really like these clean numbers of like
4,000 years in the Old Testament
2,000 years in the New Testament
and then a thousand year millennium
and here's the problem is that
it's 2022
and here we are
that's problem number one
problem number two is
that the earth
is not 6,000 years old
the earth is actually more like if you
look and add up all the numbers
the earth is more like 6,300
years old because as soon as
you put the children of Israel and Egypt
for 250 more years
like they were and as soon as
you add 60 here you know you start
adding numbers and pretty soon you realize
wait a minute these guys are like 300
years off but they
wanted it to be so so bad
you know it preached really well in the 80s and 90s
you know I heard this
preached in the 90s it was pretty convincing
you know we don't know if we got the calendar
exactly right we don't know if we got the date
right but it's probably going to be around the year
2000 is what they were saying you know
and it's like was Jesus born in
5 BC or 3 AD
you know we don't know
but it's going to be right around 2000 but folks
it's 2022 it's just
not going to work okay folks just
let it go give it up
it sounded cool but alas
and look if it was that
simple thousand years
like a day then why would Jesus say
nobody knows the day or the hour
and he says the son of God doesn't even know
only the father knows according to Mark 13
Jesus would have figured it out
if it could be
figured out from the Bible
I'm pretty sure that the author of the Bible
Jesus would have figured it out
but he said the son
knoweth not only the father knoweth
so come on you think you're
smarter than Jesus while he was on this earth
that's absurd
anyway that was a little bit of a rabbit trail but look at Genesis
chapter 11 verse 26
it says and Terah lived
70 years and begat
Abram Nahor and Haran
and here's where the error is coming in
basically the assumption is made
that Abraham must be the first born
and so they're
basically saying okay Terah lived 70 years
and he has Abraham when
he's 70 years old but that
is not the case I'm going to prove you that that's not
the case now first
of all notice it says he lived 70 years
and begat Abram Nahor and
Haran these are not triplets
so because they're not triplets
it's not saying that they were all born when he was
70 years old it's just that
basically he started
begetting these sons at age
70 and he begat them in
succession okay
now let me prove this to you look at verse 31
it says and Terah took
Abram his son and Lot the son of
Haran his son's son and Sarai
his daughter-in-law his son Abram's wife
and they went forth with them from Ur of the
Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan
and they came unto Haran
and dwelt there and the days
of Terah watch this
were 205
years and Terah
died in Haran
now let's do a little math here tonight
okay
Terah lived 70 years and begat
Abram Nahor and Haran let's assume
for a minute that Abraham was born
when Terah was 70 years old
like all the charts show
okay if that were the case
then that would mean that
Abraham was 135 years
old when he left Haran
but that's not true is it
because if we just jump down to chapter
12 verse 4 it says
so Abraham departed as the
Lord had spoken unto him and Lot
went with him and Abram was how old
75
years old when he departed
out of Haran
so Abraham was 75 years old
when he left Haran
Terah was
205 years old
and in the book of Acts
chapter number 7
Stephen says that
when his father was dead
he removed him into this land
wherein ye now dwell
so the Bible says in Acts 7 3
that God had said to Abram get thee out of thy
country from thy kindred
come unto the land which I shall show thee
then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans
and dwelt in Haran
and from thence when his father was dead
he removed into this land
wherein ye now dwell
so according to the Bible he left
Haran when his father was dead
and so that means that Terah
was actually 130
when he begat Abram
and Abram was 75
when he left Haran not the other way
around and so what that means
is that Abraham
is the younger brother
now why does it list Abram, Nahor and Haran
in that order? The exact same reason
it lists Ephraim and Manasseh in that order
they're not born Ephraim and Manasseh
how many times have you heard a preacher get up and talk about Esau
and Jacob? Never
it's always what?
Jacob and Esau
it's always Ephraim and Manasseh
because the way that you list them
is based on their spiritual importance
so when you're listing off this list
you're going to say Abram, Nahor and Haran
not because Abram is the first born
but because he is the preeminent, most important
son that we're talking about here
so if you do the math
and if that math went over your head
don't even worry about it
go home and work on your arithmetic skills
but the bottom line is
that the math does not add up
either you'd have to make the case that Stephen
is just wrong
which I don't believe that
or you have to realize
Abram is actually the younger brother
because they're not triplets
and you know what? That's actually more consistent
with the rest of the Bible anyway
because Isaac is the younger brother
Jacob is the younger brother
Joseph is the younger brother
Ephraim is the younger brother
Judah is the younger brother
if you follow Christ's lineage and so forth
so now let's go back even further
because not only is Abraham the younger brother
but Shem is also a younger brother
now again, how do we always list it?
Shem, Ham and Japheth
but is Shem really the oldest brother?
Well let's go back and look at it and find out
look if you would at Genesis chapter 5
Genesis chapter 5
and we see in Genesis chapter 5
verse 32 we have a verse
that's very similar to the verse about Abram
it says Noah was
500 years old and Noah
begat Shem, Ham and Japheth
again, they're not triplets
ok, this is just saying
that he's 500
and he begins to have these children
in succession
now
we see that he's 500
when he has them
everybody got that? now
go over to chapter 7 verse 6
in chapter 7 verse 6
it says this
Noah was 600 years old
when the flood of waters
was upon the earth
so when he has Shem, Ham and Japheth
he's 500
when the flood of waters is on the earth
he's 600
and it's not that the Bible is rounding
off here because the Bible is actually
being very precise in these chapters
we're not going to take time to read the whole chapters
but it's talking about what month
it was, what day it was
and it's very precise about these
ages and months and years in this particular
passage, I realize that other
places maybe the Bible rounds things off
but this is not one of those places, it's actually
being precise at this moment if you study
the context, so he's 500
when he has these three sons
but they're not in that order
600 when the flood is upon the earth
now look at chapter 11 verse 10
chapter 11 verse 10
says this
these are the generations of Shem
Shem was 100 years old
and here's what I mean about
they're not rounding off
Shem was 100 years old and began our
facts ad two years after
the flood
now stop and think about it
if
he was 500
if Noah was 500 when Shem
was
born
then how old should Shem be
when Noah is 600
this is not hard math folks
he should be 100 years old, right?
so when the flood starts
he should already be 100 years old, am I right?
but notice what the Bible
says two years after the
flood's over now
he's 100 and
now he's begetting our facts ad
does everybody see that?
and so what that means is if two years after
the flood's totally over he's
100 that means he was not 100 when
the flood started because that was two
three years ago
that was when his brother turned 100
that was his elder
brother and he is the
younger brother born two to three years
later which makes sense my kids
are all like two years apart pretty much
so these kids are probably had
in rapid succession and so they're a couple
years apart makes perfect sense
now you say okay well which one's the oldest
is Ham the oldest?
well no Ham is not the oldest because
when the whole unfortunate
incident in Genesis 9 takes
place it actually
calls Ham
the younger son
so Ham is the younger son
and we know Shem's not the oldest
so then we can deduce from this
that the birth order was actually
Japheth then Shem
then Ham
and so Shem
is listed first because he's the preeminent
so literally
and then of course I don't even need
to bring up the fact that if we go back
even further we have
Cain and Abel and of course
Abel's the younger brother and then Abel's
replaced by Seth
Seth is the younger brother
Cain is the older brother right?
so notice that literally from the very
beginning when we start reading the book of Genesis
the first person who
even has kids is Eve
and she has these sons Cain and Abel
and it's the younger brother that's
righteous right? it's the younger
brother Seth that ends up carrying
on the worship of the Lord and so
forth it's Cain that's of the wicked one
then we move forward and we
find the same thing with
Noah's sons
we find the same thing with
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
Joseph, Ephraim
it's totally consistent you see that?
from start to finish in the book of Genesis
so this is a major theme in the
book of Genesis you say well what does it mean?
well flip over if you go to Romans chapter 9
say what does this all mean?
what is the significance?
now if you're here and you're the oldest
son you're kind of like man what's this sermon
about you know?
something wrong with being the oldest boy?
and of course
there isn't because the things
that are in the Bible are
symbolic obviously these events really
happen they're true stories
they're actual events but they're also an allegory
that is teaching
something spiritual okay
obviously it's not always
in real life today
2022 it's not always gonna be
the younger brother that's
more spiritual than the older brother obviously that would
be absurd because of course in many
cases the older brother's gonna be more spiritual
than the younger brother it could go
either way because all of us have a personal
choice of what
we're gonna do with our lives and it doesn't matter
whether you're the oldest or the second
or third or whatever you know you can
serve God or you can be an idiot with your life
it's up to you
but the point is that for
the book of Genesis God's making a
specific point in the specific
book of Genesis where
he's really just hammering this theme
with the younger brother the younger brother
the younger brother because it means
something because it's significant
now look at Romans chapter 9
verse 1 it says this I say the truth in Christ
I lie not my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow
in my heart for I could
wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren
my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites
to pertain at the adoption
and the glory and the covenants
and the giving of the law and the service
of God and the promises
so the apostle Paul in these first four verses is saying
how it makes him so upset
he's got continual sorrow
he's depressed about the fact
that the Israelites
the Jews are not
receiving the Lord Jesus Christ their
savior you know he keeps trying to preach to the Jews
and they keep rejecting the gospel
and he's constantly having to turn to the Gentiles
because they're the ones who actually listen
and get saved
and so this is very frustrating to him
and he says in verse 5
whose are the fathers
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came
who is over all
God bless forever amen
he's saying man these people they should be the first ones to get saved
I mean these are the descendants of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob
and I mean Christ came
from their own kindred
what's the deal?
Why are they not getting saved?
and then he says in verse 6
not as though the word of God has taken none effect
for they're not all Israel
which are of Israel
he's saying you know I really want Israel to get saved
but you know what
these people aren't really Israel
if they're rejecting Christ
then they're not spiritually Israel
they might be physically Israel but they're not spiritually Israel
and he says
you know they're not all Israel which are of Israel
and then he begins to use this Old Testament illustration
he says neither because they are the seed of Abraham
are they all children
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called
that is they which are the children of the flesh
these are not the children of God
but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed
so what we could do here
is we could look at this interpretation in Romans 9
and apply this back to our reading of the Old Testament
where he says
hey it's Isaac
Isaac is the one
in Isaac shall thy seed be called
just because
Ishmael is the son of Abraham
doesn't make Ishmael the chosen people
it doesn't make Ishmael's
descendants the nation that God has chosen
in the Old Testament
and so what he's saying here
is that the children of the promise
are like Isaac
and the children of the flesh
are like Ishmael
and what he's saying is physical Jews
physical Israelites are Ishmael
spiritual Israelites
believers in Christ
are Isaac
now this is not unique to Romans 9
because in the book of Galatians
he says the exact same thing
if you actually read Galatians 3 and 4
and I often wonder how anyone can disagree with us
on Israel
and actually read Galatians 3 and 4
because Galatians 3 and 4 is so crystal clear
he says look
that Jerusalem that now is
that's Ishmael
that's Hagar
that's the bondage
but the Jerusalem from above is free
and he says we as Isaac was
are the children of promise
so between Romans 9
and Galatians 3 and 4
it's crystal clear Christians are Isaac
Christians are
the younger brother
the Jews
are the older brother
that is what is being pictured
over and over again
you see the older brother
the Jews
it represents the Israelites
and just as the younger brother
ends up replacing the older brother
in all of these scenarios that we've brought up
here also
Christians replace Israelites
and
Christianity replaces
you know the old
the new covenant replaces the old covenant
and so
we see here that it's explicitly
stated in scripture
both in Galatians and in Romans 9 that
Isaac represents
you know the spiritual seed of Abraham Christians
and that Ishmael represents the
physical seed of Abraham
which are the Israelites unbelieving Israel
is likened unto Ishmael
in that sense
but you know you don't just stop there
because this younger brother
theme goes through the whole book
okay and so he doesn't stop there
he explains
about Isaac and Ishmael
and it says in verse 9
for this is the word of promise at this time
will I come and Sarah will have a son talking about Isaac
but then he says not only this
he's saying it's not just this one
case
not only this but when Rebekah also had
conceived by one even by our father
Isaac for the children being not
yet born neither having done any
good or evil that the purpose of God according to
election might stand not of works
but of him that calleth it was said unto her
the elder shall serve
the younger
as it is written Jacob have I loved
but Esau have I hated
what shall we say then?
is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid
we can go on and on with this passage but the bottom line
is that it's not just Isaac and Ishmael
but it's also Jacob and Esau
Jacob represents
Christians
Esau represents
Israel, unbelieving Israel
Christ rejecting Israel
who sold their birthright
to Jacob
they had their chance
he came unto his own the Bible says of Christ
and his own received him not
and that's why Jesus told them the kingdom of God shall be
taken from you and given to a nation
bringing forth the fruits thereof
and so we see
that Jacob and Esau
are a great picture
we don't just stop at Isaac and Ishmael
how about Jacob and Esau?
stop and think about this
when Jacob gets the blessing
from his father
Isaac
one of the things that his mother has him do
is they basically kill
the kid of the goats
and they take
that skin
from that slain beast
and he puts that skin
on him
so that his father will basically see him
as
Esau and think it's Esau
if he reaches out and touches him he'll feel that hairy rough
I mean Esau must have been a pretty rough dude
if he feels like a goat skin
but basically he puts on that goat skin
but see this is a perfect picture of us as Christians
because here's the thing
we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ
the lamb slain
and Jesus is not just pictured by a lamb
in the Old Testament all sacrificial beasts are pointing us to Jesus
whether that's a bullock
whether that's a goat
whether that's a lamb
whether that's two turtle doves
or a young pigeon
but basically in the Old Testament it's a picture of Jesus
Jesus is our scapegoat
in that sense
and so therefore
that goat skin is a picture of us
when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
God the Father
looks down upon us
and he sees
the righteousness of Jesus Christ
we're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus
Jesus is the lamb slain
and then we're clothed
in his righteousness
Jesus looks down and that's what he
God the Father looks down and that's what he sees
the righteousness of Christ
he doesn't see all of our sins
our sins are washed away
he sees the righteousness of Christ that has clothed us
and just as Jacob was clothed
in that skin of that beast
that's what that pictures
okay
and Esau is that older brother
who should have inherited it all
but yet he doesn't because he didn't appreciate it
he didn't understand what he had
the Jews who didn't appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ
when he showed up and they did not
give him his proper due
but instead they actually even crucified him
of course
and so you can go down the list here
and look at how these things
match up so perfectly
that the younger brother
represents Christianity
represents Christ
and you see that Judaism
and Christianity
are actually brothers
remember the marching design movies
we're sort of like brothers you know
who knows what I'm talking about
oh this is like my brother
here's the thing about that
is that
he's right in a sense
he's right for the wrong reasons
but the point is
even the Jews will
say if they've actually studied
if they actually know what they're talking about
Jews will tell you
well Judaism and Christianity
are sort of like brothers
but see people who are ignorant
and unlearned and uneducated
this is what they'll say
Judaism came first then Christianity
comes out of Judaism
that is wrong
that is false
Christianity did not come out
of Judaism because
Judaism did not exist until
the first century A.D.
because what you have
is Old Testament religion
you could call it the Hebrew religion
or the Israelite religion
or the religion of the Old Testament
that religion of the Old Testament
basically splits
off and goes two different ways
one way is the way where you receive
Jesus Christ as Messiah
and that is
Christianity and then you have this other way of rejecting
the Lord Jesus Christ and that's Judaism
both
of these come into existence
in the first century A.D. because here's the thing
Judaism as we know it today
did not even exist
in the time of Christ because at the time of Christ
what are the Jews doing? They're doing animal sacrifices
they're going to the temple
Pharisees
and Sadducees but
now are they doing any
sacrifices now? No they have a totally different
religion where they have no
animal sacrifices whatsoever
and their holy book today
is not the Old Testament
primarily their teachings are based
upon the Talmud
and so Orthodox Jews
believe that the Talmud
is inspired
and that it is
you know the truth and that
it's God's word and so forth
you know maybe they would say
well you know the Torah is a little bit holier
than the Tanakh and then the
Tanakh is a little holier than the Talmud
but they can say whatever they want what are they actually
basing their religion on? The Talmud
because their religion does not
resemble the teachings of
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
because those books are filled with animal sacrifices
that they don't do
and you know
that's a whole other sermon of itself I've proved
that many times and shown that many times
but the bottom line is this
that you know they
are following the Talmud
which the Talmud wasn't written until 500
years after Christ in its current form
maybe it started some of it to be written down
around 200 AD
but really Judaism as we know it starts
in 70 AD with the destruction of the Temple
and so both of these religions
come into existence in
the first century AD
Christianity and Judaism
and they're like brothers
because they have the same parent
which is the Old Testament
the same parent which is
the religion of Israel
and then you have basically the evil
wicked branch and then the
righteous godly branch
you've got the Esau
profane fornicator
type branch and then you've got
Jacob on the one side
so that's actually the relationship
between
Christianity and Judaism and that's the way the
Apostle Paul sees it you know he sees physical
Israel as Esau
and spiritual Israel as Jacob
so we are actually
kind of like brothers you know the guy
is actually right about that in that sense
it's just that he's mixed up about which brother
is which
we're Isaac you're Ishmael
and you know what's so funny is that the old
IFB today they love to preach about
oh these bunch of Arabs
are Ishmael
you know darn those Arabs
and you know we got to support Israel
folks Israel is Ishmael
that's the irony right
but Fox News tells you
oh yeah that's Ishmael you know
the Palestinians over there that's Ishmael
it's absurd
of course
the so called
Israel over there physically
is Japheth over there
you know there physically is Ashkenaz
physically
is the tribe of Whitey
is the tribe that came back
to Israel because they're white
blonde hair blue
eyes red hair freckles right
they left brown and came back white
okay
but the Palestinians
today is
oh that's Ishmael
that isn't true my friend
spiritually you want to know who
Ishmael is it's the Jews
that's what the Bible actually teaches
you say well who's physically Ishmael
who cares
why don't we just do like the Bible says and avoid genealogies
I don't want to know
the genealogy of the
Palestinians or the
the red headed Jews
or anybody else because who cares
right we're all of one blood
and red yellow
black and white they're precious in his sight
and we don't care who
descended from who it doesn't matter
and you know what just while I'm on the subject
you want to know one of the dumbest doctrines
that has been taught over the years
is that like they say oh
well Ham that's black people
and Japheth is white
people and Shem is
Asians now here's the thing like
okay you could say well you know
generally obviously Ham
settled in like
Egypt and North Africa some of his descendants
and then you've got you know
Japheth being the European
whatever but here's the thing
about that they all lived together for
a hundred years
before the Tower of Babel they all
lived together so
let me ask you this okay you just
got off the arc are you
going to marry your sister or are you going to marry your cousin
and I know I'm in
the south but I'm sure you're
going to pick your cousin
am I right
well you're like I'll pick my cousin because I'm in the
south no I'm just kidding
just kidding no but what I'm saying
is if you get off the arc
you're picking you're marrying your cousin
you're not marrying your sister am I right
okay so guess what
that means that means immediately
first generation Ham's kids
and Shem's kids and Japheth's kids
you know what they did they all married each other and they did that for a
hundred years and they multiplied greatly
as one people as
one group of people now
just because you have a big name
significant guy
who you know heads over
toward Africa but in reality Ham's
son Canaan didn't end up
in Africa did he because Canaan
is where is that Africa
no Canaan is where
Canaan is modern day
Israel so that's
where one of Ham's descendants ended up right there
and then you know we don't know
exactly where all these guys
ended up and the bottom line is
even if the guy
that is running the family is
like Shem's great great grandson
what about all the females that they married
so it's not like
this division that people
have tried to use as some kind of a
racist or racial thing to try
to break this down that way like three
races or something that's absurd because
we're all so mixed
that it doesn't matter there's nobody
in here that's a hundred percent
white hundred percent black hundred percent Asian
we are all mixed I
promise you that and I proved that in
our film Marching to Zion
and so that's another dumb doctrine that you'll
sometimes hear out there I just I'll just throw
that at you so what's
the what's the point of all this what's the moral
to the story besides the fact that
we need to understand that you know
what the Jews are not God's
chosen people we as
Christians we inherit the blessing
are we a Johnny come
lately spiritually in
a sense yes because obviously
like he said you know the
Jews are the descendants of the
Israelites who had all the promises and Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and all that you know I'm
not talking about today's white people I'm talking about the real
Jews from back then but the point is
that we
the Gentiles which in time past
were not a people now we're
the people of God we'd
not obtained mercy now we have obtained
mercy and so now in the New Testament
we as Gentiles the younger
brother we inherit
everything and the Jews
inherit nothing because if you
don't have Christ you don't have nothing
Christ is all
and in all and
so here's the thing about that is
that we as
New Testament Christians
inherit all the promises
as the younger brother it's just like
the story of the prodigal son you know
the younger brother comes home
and then the elder brother's all mad
about it and doesn't want to receive him that's like
the Jews getting mad about Gentiles getting
saved Jews getting mad
about the Gentiles coming to Christ Jonah pictures
this too remember Jonah's mad when Nineveh
repents
that's a picture of Israel being
mad that the Gentiles repent
and come to Christ I mean you know we
were just listening to the book of
Acts in the car a couple days ago and
the apostle Paul preaches this big long
sermon preaches all he's
preaching about Jesus he's preaching about
all kinds of stuff and everybody's just quietly
listening to him he's preaching a
giant crowd in Jerusalem and
then he gets to the part where God tells
him I'm gonna send you to the Gentiles
and they listen
to him quietly and politely until
he gets to the part where Jesus tells Paul
go to the Gentiles and
then they just say away with him
it's not fit for such a one to
live and they want to kill
Paul because he says
I'm sent to the Gentiles
like like he's preaching about
Jesus they're like
Jesus
death barrel resurrection they're just like
okay you know
go to the Gentiles what you know
because it's just they I mean that's
hatred for a group of people saying like
we're better than everybody else don't you know don't talk
to me about Gentiles
that's wickedness that's why God
said someday he'll make them of the
synagogue of Satan who say
they're Jews and are not but do like
spiritually they're not even though
they you know carnally they claim to be
Jews that synagogue of Satan
he said I'll make them to come and worship
before thy feet and to know that I've loved thee
and who's he talking to the Gentile
church at Philadelphia
tells the Gentile church at Philadelphia
I'm gonna let the synagogue of Satan
know that I've loved you now why does he have to let them
know that he loved them because they didn't think that God
loves anybody except the Jews when actually
God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son
and not just a particular
ethnicity or tribe or
nation but Jesus Christ
died on the cross for the entire
sins of the whole world okay
and so it's
important that we understand
that we as Christians are not second
class citizens we inherit
everything and because
we've got Christ we've got everything
and so we're the younger brother
so we're Seth
we're Abel
Judaism is Cain
right
we're Shem
Judaism is Ham
don't try don't try to make it
racial it's Judaism that's
Ham it's Judaism that's Cain
and it's Christianity that's
Shem it's Christianity that's
Abraham Isaac Jacob
down the list that gets
the blessing and the inheritance
and so forth and so I want to
close on this thought go to first Corinthians chapter
number one first Corinthians chapter number one
and I
know that this sermon is only vaguely about
Manasseh but
here you know
you know again we don't know
a lot about Manasseh's personal life in scripture
the significant
story about Manasseh
is that he gets demoted
because when Ephraim and Manasseh
are brought to Jacob
Jacob pulls the old switcheroo
and he ends up putting
the greater blessing upon
Ephraim and the lesser blessing upon
Manasseh
so I want to close on this thought how we could have
like an application
to us today besides just
understanding the doctrine how about an application
for us today the Bible says in first Corinthians
one twenty six for you see your calling
brethren how that not many wise men
after the flesh not many mighty
not many noble are called but God
has chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise and God
has chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty
and base things of the world and things which
are despised hath God chosen
yea and the things which are not
to bring to naught things that are
that no flesh
should glory in his presence
and so I want to leave you with this thought
that God doesn't always use
the one that you think he's going to use
and we might think
to ourselves you know God
is going to use this guy because he's
good looking he's talented
he's got money he's got
people skills he's you know
and then but this guy over here
you know he's not as talented or as
gifted or whatever but you know what God's not
always going to use the one that you think he's going to use
because often God wants to use the
foolish things of this world to confound the wise
so if you aren't necessarily
super talented
or good looking or great with people
or you don't have whatever the skills
you know take heart because
God even would prefer to use
you because then he gets
all the glory
you know I mean if God used
all of these really
suave good looking
talented preachers
then people would say well of course
he's succeeding look how smart
he is look how suave
he is look how talented he is
of course he's succeeding I mean
of course Joel Osteen is succeeding you know
look at those teeth
look at that hair look at that
smile
I mean I just wish that
Joel Osteen would have just like gone into
advertising for a dentist or something he could have
been a model he could have been like a teeth
model
and really been blessed by God instead of being
a false prophet but the point
is you know God doesn't typically
use the ultra
good looking
and the ultra talented
and the ultra smart you know
look at your calling brethren
not many mighty
not many
noble you know
not many wise men after the flesh
now they are wise you know
I wouldn't want to go to a church where the pastor
isn't wise spiritually
but we're talking about wise according to the flesh
how many PhD's
are there just
ripping up the pulpits of America
with hell fire and damnation
now
look I'm sure that there are some
I'm not saying that there are none
because he says not many wise
after this world or
not many wise after the flesh or
according to this world you know there could be the
exception you know Moses was learned in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was
still used greatly by God but the point
is that in general
it's not many noble
it's not many
that are wise according
to this world wise
after the flesh it's not many
that are mighty okay
it's usually God
that likes to pick up the little guy
and do something great with him
the one that no one would expect
not the one who's in the yearbook as
most likely to succeed
but rather the guy that's in the yearbook
one time and that's just when they have
to put him in there he's a little square picture on that
page you know he's you know you go to
the back remember the yearbook you go to the index
and you look up your name and it's just that one
number it's like
37 and there you are
the obligatory picture you know and then the popular
kids it's just like it just
lists like you can see them on page
25 you can see them on page
54 you can see them on
page 63 you know the popular kids
would have like 10 numbers after their name who knows what I'm
talking about right but then you look yourself
up you know I look
myself up and it's just like
you know it's just that one number and
you're kind of like oh okay
alright you know
but you know what
God likes to use that single number guy
you know God likes to
use that single number gal
God wants to use
simple ordinary
people to do something extraordinary
so that he can
get all the glory and so that no
flesh will glory in his presence
because the truth of the matter is those popular
kids from school the ones that are super
good looking super financially
successful you know they probably end up
being filled with pride and they don't
end up serving God with their life
whereas the people who suffer and go
through hard things and
struggle they end
up relying on the
Lord more trusting the Lord more
being more humble in the sight of God
and that's who God ends up
using and so in general
as a rule you say
well you know these preachers are kind of
a motley crew hey that's the way God
likes it
he doesn't want to use a bunch of picture
perfect specimens
because then you'd say that their success
was due to their own talents and abilities
and smarts and whatever
he'd rather use the
unlikely the unpopular
and you know what he says here
in 1 Corinthians chapter
28 it says the base things
of the world and things which are
despised hath God chosen
people that are looked down upon
God could use them to do
something great and so I hope that's
an encouragement to you if you ever feel
like man I just don't know if I'm good enough
I don't know if I have the talent
I don't know if I'm eloquent enough
I don't know if I'm smart enough I'm not that
great of a speaker I mean that's even what
Moses said Moses was a super intelligent
guy but he's like man I'm not that great of a speaker
and God
said well who made the tongue man let me
help you
God can use us if we're
willing to be used if we're willing
to serve him he will
do something great with us and the less
talent that we have
in many ways the better
because then he just gets more glory
you know I think back to many of the great
preachers that have influenced me
and from an earthly perspective these
weren't necessarily the coolest dudes
or the most successful
in a worldly way or even
the most intelligent by the world standards
and like I said there are very few
men of God that have those
worldly accolades
but yet we see simple men
doing a great work
for God as pastors and we see simple
men and women in churches all over
America winning souls to Christ
and racking up the rewards
just going out there knocking doors
man woman boy and girl just
knocking doors and just opening the Bible
and presenting the Gospel and
just winning souls to Christ
while you know Dr.
Fatbottom somewhere in some
theological seminary getting
his you know getting his
THD and whatever
is not
necessarily even being greatly used by
God you know
he's got his head so far
in the clouds of all the theology
and doctrine that he forgot
to actually get out there
and get his hands dirty out there actually
doing the work of the
vineyard that God has called us to do
you know the Bible tells us as preachers to
do the work of an evangelist
be out there winning souls
in the highways and hedges
and so I hope that's an encouragement to you
that the elder
brother who should
be the one who leads
who should be the one
who is preeminent you know what God
he likes to use that younger brother doesn't he
he likes to use
that unlikely candidate he likes
to use that unpopular person
he likes to use the one that's not as good
looking maybe not as smart by
the world's standards obviously God doesn't
want you to be a spiritual idiot
okay but you know the world
would call men of God
who are wise in the Bible they'd call
them an idiot wouldn't they I mean if
a preacher gets up and says man I believe every
word of the Bible I've got King
James Bible here and I just believe every
word of it is true
what would the world say to that what
would the university say to that they're gonna say well
come on
this guy's not very smart that's what they'd say
he's not thinking but yet
he's really very wise
to trust fully in the
word of God because the word of God is all
true and it is perfect
and it is always right
all things in it are
perfect and right every single time
but yet the world
would say you're an idiot
but yet it's the fool
who said in his heart that there is no God
professing themselves to be wise
they became fools
and so God
wants to use
whoever's willing to be used
and it usually ends up being
the younger brother quote unquote
it usually ends up being
the one that's least likely
God likes to defy our expectations
and sometimes people
will say no no no it's gotta be this way
and we try to grab God's hand and
move it over here
but he says nope
this is what I'm doing this is who I'm gonna use
this is the guy
you know brother Hiles used to tell the story
about how you know he came down the aisle
as a young man and told his
pastor that he was called to preach and usually
they'd be like excited and rejoicing
like hey brother so-and-so's surrender to preach
but when he came down they said you know are you sure
cause they were kind of like I don't know
you know
the point is that you know
God and you know here's the thing about brother Hiles
you know I can say this because
he passed away many years ago
he's kind of a preacher of yesteryear
he's kind of gone into legend
cause you know he passed away in 2001
you know
he's not really
he's not a very cool guy
he's not exactly a cool
dude
he kind of looks a little bit
kind of a little bit like kind of just a dorky guy
you know what I mean who knows what I'm talking about
he wasn't
I mean he wasn't some real kind of good
looking super cool athletic
dude or something I mean
you look at him
and you know you kind of hear about
the great brother Hiles
and then you look at this guy and he looks like
a little bit of a dweeb
and you're thinking like
and here's the funny thing is that a lot of
people
man they would go overboard
in their love for brother Hiles
like some people kind of like took it too far
like idolizing
brother Hiles in his lifetime
you know what I mean
and I mean I'm not blaming him for that
some people are like that they're just kind of
sycophantic and just kind of like
they just get all weird about it
you know what I mean
so there were people that got really weird about brother Hiles
and it's like you hear about brother Hiles
and you hear about how a lot of people were kind of
going overboard in their admiration for him
and idolizing him
and then you see a picture of him
and you're kind of like
this is the guy that they're all just like
worshiping you know what I mean
but you know what
he was greatly used by God
I'm not saying he was perfect I'm not saying that everything he did was right
I'm not saying I agree with everything about his ministry
I mean you know he's probably
the most influential preacher of the 20th century
and
you know started a huge soul winning movement
across America and let's face it
in many of our cities today in America
still the best church in town
is often a Hiles Anderson
graduate you know even to this
day that ends up being the case in many
different places
and so you know
he's not a guy that the world would look
at as like oh man look at this guy
he's so cool
he's so sharp he's so good
looking he's you know
but yet this guy really
you know turned America upside down
in a sense with his preaching
so I mean it just goes to show you that
God doesn't use the one that you think
he's going to use
and so that should be encouraging to all of us that aren't
perfect
you know that aren't that cool
that aren't that good looking that aren't that smart
or that aren't that gifted or talented
or eloquent or good at this
or good at that you know God is just
looking for ordinary people
and he can do something extraordinary
with the ordinary
and he will often flip the script
and defy our expectations
and do things the opposite of what we
think that he's going to do let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
Father we thank you so much Lord
for the fact that we
as Christians are the chosen
people we're the elect
in Christ we have everything
we inherit everything
and that we're Israel
we are the chosen
people in the New Testament Lord
and also Lord thank you so much that
you're willing to use us
even though we're just normal guys
and even just normal gals tonight
that you're just willing to use ordinary people
to do something great every single week
out there in the field
winning souls and preaching
the unsearchable riches of Christ
Lord I pray that we would all be available
to you to use us
so that you could do something great with us
in Jesus name we pray Amen
Alright church we're going to open up to our last song
song number 167
song 167
all hail the power of Jesus name
song 167
on the verse
Lord of all
bring forth the
royal diadem
and crown him
Lord of all
in chosen
seed of
Israel's race
he ran some from the
fall
hail him who saves
you by his grace
and crown him
Lord of all
hail him
who saves you
by his grace
and crown him
Lord of all
let every
kindred, every
tribe on this
terrestrial ball
to him
all majesty
are struck and
crown him
Lord of all
to him
all majesty
are struck and
crown him
Lord of all
on the last
oh that with
yonder sacred
cross we at his
feet may fall
we'll join the
everlasting
song and crown
him Lord
of all
we'll join
the everlasting
song and crown
him Lord
of all
amen
church great singing we have two
baptisms remember that right after the service
you guys
we broke the record
ice cream for everybody