time and so this is on May 15th through 21st so if you missed the first one if you're interested
in this at all talk to brother Raymond get more details and mark that calendar for May 15th through
21st and again the nice thing about this a lot of our foreign missions have had to been put on hold
because of all the different COVID restrictions and all the the strict rules about traveling and
you know we don't want to get stranded different places and a lot of places are requiring
vaccination or just other hassles and so that's why we're doing this because it's sort of a
missions trip but yet you're in the United States even though you're going to the Caribbean
so you're kind of leaving the country but you're still in the United States so we're doing these
for now and and you know the first one was great I mean you want to come up and just I know I
didn't warn you or anything why don't you come up and talk a little bit about the trip uh I'm
just going to put you on the spot and just tell us a little bit about the trip that you took
yeah it turned out to be a great trip we went to the island of Saint Croix and we had 21
soul winners who came out and we ended up getting almost 200 people saved we got 188 people saved
it was extremely receptive in the places that we went to and we had a great time I think everybody
was happy with the trip and everything so now we're planning our second trip going to Saint
Thomas which is another island in the Virgin Islands and it's a comparable size as well both
of them have about 50,000 people on each island so now we're going to go to the Saint Thomas as well
so we're looking forward to it and I hope that you know lots of people get to sign up this time
and everything so god bless you all right and they were out there he'd said that there's kind
of a big difference between how receptive things were I talked to my brother also he was on the
trip and um you know it was a big difference I guess between how receptive was like in the
apartment complexes and sort of the lower income versus when they got into some of the more
nicer areas it wasn't really quite as receptive there's kind of a a big difference there so
on the first island that they went to at Saint Croix they've kind of burned through all the
best soul winning areas I mean obviously there's still a lot of good soul winning to do there
but they kind of burn through the best areas so that's why we're going to switch to this
other island um and just hit this thing hard and hit the best areas on this new island as well
since we're only taking a couple trips out there might as well go to the places that are going to
be the most receptive to the gospel so anyway that is available for you if you want to go be
sure to talk to brother Raymond even if you're just kind of thinking about going and and
you guys can talk about options about how to get there and then uh the small town soul winning's
been uh temporarily postponed so we're just taking a break from that for a little while
we'll fire it up again uh pretty soon and we've got a Spanish night coming up on February 10th
that's the second Thursday of every month and that's about it for announcements so let's go
ahead and count up the soul winning for the past few days so going back to Thursday anything from
Thursday all right anything else from Thursday what about Friday anything from Friday okay
all right Friday how about Saturday
okay what about today Sunday okay all right
for the Chandler group got it got it uh somebody have the total for brother Scott's group
Scott what are you what's going on man nine for the main group all right and then okay gotcha gotcha
anything else from today all right very good keep up the great work on soul winning
and with that let's sing our next song come lead us all right you should find the answer
in the front of your hymnals with the hymn lord bless our home if you don't have them please
raise your hand we'll sing it on that first verse lord bless our home it begins families
all around us are crumbling every day
the enemy
lord keep our eyes on you
lord
keep us
our hope to you thank you for your goodness
help us face the future always
to each other
let it be
each other
hymn number 34 i know that my redeemer liveth hymn number 34
number 34 i know that my redeemer liveth
i know that my redeemer liveth and on the earth again shall stand
i know eternal life will give and that grace and love are in his hand
i know i know and on the earth again shall stand
i know i know that life will give and that grace and power are in his hand
i know
am
i know
i know i know that life
is
i know i know
all right this time we'll pass our offering plates around as the plates go around let's
turn our bibles to genesis chapter 29 genesis chapter number 29 as we always do we'll read
the entire chapter beginning in verse number one follow along silently with brother dan as he reads
genesis chapter 29 beginning in verse number one genesis 29 the bible reads then jacob went on his
journey and came into the land of the people of the east and he looked and behold a well in the
field and lo there were three flocks of sheep lying by it for out of that well they watered
the flocks and a great stone was upon the well's mouth and there were all the flocks gathered and
they rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the sheep and put the stone again upon
the well's mouth in his place and jacob said unto them my brethren whence be and they said of heran
are we and he said unto them know ye laban the son of nahor and they said we know him and he
said unto them is he well and they said he is well and behold rachel his daughter cometh with the
sheep and he said lo it is yet high day neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered
together water ye the sheep and go and feed them and they said we cannot until all the flocks be
gathered together until they roll the stone from the well's mouth then we water the sheep and while
he yet spake with them rachel came with her father's sheep for she kept them and it came to
pass when jacob saw rachel the daughter of laban his mother's brother and the sheep of laban his
mother's brother that jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the
flock of laban his mother's brother and jake kissed rachel and lifted up his voice and wept
and jacob told rachel that he was her father's brother and that he was rebecca's son and she
ran and told her father and it came to pass when laban heard the tidings of jacob his sister's son
that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house and he
told laban all these things and laban said to him surely thou art my bone in my flesh and he abode
with him the space of a month and laban said unto jacob because thou art my brother shouldest thou
therefore serve me for not tell me what shall thy wages be and laban had two daughters the name of
the elder was leah and the name of the younger was rachel layer was tender-eyed but rachel was
beautiful and well favored and jacob loved rachel and said i will serve these seven years for rachel
that younger daughter and laban said it is better that i give her to thee than that i should give
her to another man abide with me and jacob served seven years for rachel and they seemed unto him
but a few days for the love he had to her and jacob said under laban give me my wife for my days
are fulfilled that i may go in under her and laban gathered together all the men of the place and
made a feast and it came to pass in the evening that he took leah his daughter and brought her
to him and he went into under and laban gave unto his daughter leah zilpah his maid for an handmaid
and it came to pass that in the morning behold it was leah and he said to laban what is this
thou has done unto me did not i serve with thee for rachel wherefore then hast thou beguiled me
and laban said it must not be so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn
fulfill her week and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet
seven other years and jacob did so and fulfilled her week and he gave him rachel his daughter to
wife also and laban gave to rachel his daughter bilha his handmaid to be her maid and he went in
also unto rachel and he loved also rachel more than leah and served with him yet seven other
years and when the lord saw that leah was hated he opened her womb but rachel was barren and leah
conceived and bare a son and she called his name ruben for she said surely the lord hath looked
upon my affliction now therefore my husband will love me and she conceived again and bare a son and
said because the lord hath heard that i was hated he had therefore given me this son also and she
called his name simian and she conceived again and bare a son and said now this time will my husband
be joined unto me because i have borne him three sons therefore was his name called levi and she
conceived again and bare a son and she said now will i praise the lord therefore she called his
name juda and left bearing other than dear father in heaven please fill pastor's your spirit and
please give us all you to hear to receive wisdom from the sermon this night we pray in jesus name
amen
amen this evening i am preaching on the biblical character rachel and i don't think i've ever done
a whole sermon on rachel before she's a really interesting character in the bible and her
character is really summed up i think in genesis chapter 30 verse 1 when the bible reads and when
rachel saw that she bared jacob no children rachel envied her sister and said unto jacob
give me children or else i die and i'm going to show you this evening how envy is really the sin
that characterizes rachel and it's why she's never really happy in the story and why she ends up
committing some serious sins and so forth but anyway let's back up a little bit in genesis
chapter 29 what we just read is the basic story about jacob going to padanaram and he's going to
take a wife and when he goes there and he's with his uh uncle laban and he sees rachel she's the
first person that he meets and she's very beautiful and it's love at first sight and so he tells laban
that he wants to marry rachel and he offers to work for laban for seven years in order to marry
rachel and so laban agrees to that he works the seven years at the end of the seven years he says
okay i've done the work give me my wife so they have the big wedding and everything but laban
pulls the old switcheroo okay so when jacob goes to consummate the marriage with rachel he ends up
consummating the marriage with her older sister leah who according to the bible here is not
necessarily as attractive as rachel it wasn't the one that he wanted and so he ends up consummating
with leah so obviously he's very upset when he realizes what he has done he goes to the father
and and laban says well you know it's just it's just not the way we do things around here
to give the younger sister before the elder sister but i know your heart's set on rachel
so why don't you just have both okay so just wait till the honeymoon's over you know let let's get
through this week with leah and then i'll give you rachel as a wife and then you're going to
serve seven more years for rachel now you might feel bad for jacob at this point being tricked
and deceived in this way but of course if we've read the rest of the story about jacob we know
that jacob has been a deceptive person up to this point he's done a little bit of trickery himself
he's ripped off esau a few different ways and so basically that's coming back around to him now
what he's sown is what he's reaping now by getting tricked by laban okay now laban's motive is a
business motive okay he wants jacob working for him because jacob's a really good worker
i mean jacob's a very hard worker he's very effective at his job and so laban really wants
to keep him around and we'll see in the story that after the seven years are up then he finds
another way to keep him around for six years and in fact jacob just can't peel himself away from
this job with laban eventually he just has to sneak away and flee away in the middle of the
night because laban's just not letting him leave okay so that's laban's motive it's not really that
oh i didn't want to hurt leah's feelings it's really just he wants to keep him around for
another seven years of free labor is what he really wants so jacob is now married to
rachel and leah but there's obviously some tension here because leah is the original wife as it were
because he married her first but rachel is the one that he actually loves more and cared about
and actually wanted and so obviously jacob has a little bit of a bad attitude toward leah
on the one hand and rachel is his true love so to speak and so the bible says in verse number 30
of chapter 29 he went in also unto rachel and he loved also rachel more than leah and served with
him yet seven other years and when the lord saw that leah was hated he opened her womb but rachel
was barren and then we read through that part where leah has four sons now obviously it takes
time to have four sons so this is many years that are going by by the time we get to chapter 30
verse 1 where rachel saw that she bear jacob no children but so you know probably at least what
about six to eight years has gone by for leah to have given birth to four sons and so she says
uh give me children or else i die give me children else i know the the main thing i want to point out
here first of all is that envy is a sin envy is not a righteous attitude to have it's the wrong
attitude and so this give me children or else i die you say well she just really wants to have
kids and i get that because obviously women want to have kids and it's very difficult for women
when they're not able to have children this is a hard thing for them to deal with
but what does the bible say is the problem for rachel it's not just necessarily that she really
just wants to hold that little bundle of joy in her arms the bible says that she envies leah
okay she envies leah envy you know where bitter envying and strife is there is confusion and every
evil work the bible says and so envy is obviously a work of the flesh envy is a sin one of the ten
commandments commands against envy because it says thou shalt not covet what does covet mean
well the bible defines it for us in the book of romans the apostle paul says i'd not known envy
but that the law had said thou shalt not covet so the command against envy in scripture is
thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house his ox his
ass his man servant his maid servant nor anything that is thy neighbors and so when rachel is
coveting leah's children that's a sin she's committing the sin of envy here and you know
she ought to just be happy for leah because think about it she's the one who gets the most attention
from her husband she's the favorite that's obvious to her that's obvious to leah it's obvious to
everyone so why can't she just be happy with that why does she have to be number one in every area
she's already more beautiful than leah so she's already been dealt a better hand genetically she
looks better than leah but then not only that her husband loves her more her husband gives her more
attention and so forth but yet that's not enough she wants to take away from leah the one thing
that leah has going for her which is the fact that she's having sons for jacob and this is the way
that we can sometimes be in our lives as well where everything's going well for us in our life
but then we just fixate on that one thing about our life that's not working out and this is the
same downfall of hayman in the book of esther hayman is the second most powerful man in the
kingdom and everybody is giving him all kinds of honor and he has all kinds of money he's married
he has 10 sons he has all of these blessings and yet when he sees mortichai the jew in the king's
gate none of it avails him anything none of that makes him happy because of the one little fly in
the ointment the one thorn in his side but let me tell you something you are always going to
have a thorn in your side our lives will never be perfect it's like i was preaching about this
morning when one problem goes away it's typically replaced by another and life is just trading one
set of problems for another as you go through life you just switch problems it's like okay once
you finish this trial now it's the next trial and then you move on to the next challenge then you
move on to the next difficulty then you move on to the next tribulation that's just the way it works
you're not going to come to a point where everything in your life is ideal that's just
not the way life works and so don't make the mistake of rachel where you look at someone else
and envy them because the one area of your life that's not working out they have together because
you know what leah could turn around and feel the exact same way toward rachel and in fact she does
feel the same way toward rachel because later in this same chapter she chews out rachel about how
you took away my husband from me and whatever which you know rachel could kind of say the same
thing leah could say the same thing so obviously it's easy to always look at someone else and say
oh well yeah sure i have these four sons but at least your husband loves you you know at least
he's giving you attention at least you're beautiful you see everybody has things in
their life that are going well and things that are going bad don't focus on the things that
are going bad focus on the things that are going well in your life and don't fixate on the one
thing that you can't have this is a way to be unhappy in life now rachel eventually has children
and we'll often bring up these bible stories about women who are barren about how every woman in the
bible who's barren eventually has a child sometimes it's after many many years and even jacob's own
parents went through this because isaac and rebecca it took them 20 years to have children
and she only had that one pregnancy it was twins jacob and esau but it took her 20 years to get
pregnant and so we often would point to rebecca and isaac and then we point to rachel as oh look
see you know she's barren but then eventually god blessed her with a child and even blessed her with
children and that's obviously valid and obviously yeah that's part of what the bible is teaching us
is that if you pray and if you're patient eventually god gives you the desires of your heart
but i want to preach about rachel from a different angle tonight because i'm i'm focusing on her
mistake here and the fact that she's never happy because she is characterized by envy now think
about this statement that she made in verse one give me children or else i die here's what's
ironic about that statement eventually she has children and minutes after she has children she's
dead now stop and think about that give me children or else i die that's pretty ironic given the fact
that having children literally kills her so it's literally the opposite having children so that i
do die okay is actually what happened and so that goes to show that sometimes what we feel like is
just so missing from our lives and and you know if we just had this one thing it would make us happy
you know when you get it maybe it's gonna be your downfall maybe it's your doom maybe it's your
destruction you know i wonder if she wishes that she would have just gotten pregnant with those
two kids right away and then maybe died right away i mean think about that you know by god
making her wait to have children he's actually prolonging her life if she's gonna die giving
birth to the second child so it's kind of ironic that she says give me children or else i die
when her second son literally is why she dies she dies giving birth
but look at jacob's response when she says this to him she says to jacob give me children or else i
die and jacob's anger was kindled against rachel and he said am i in god's stead who has withheld
from me the fruit of the womb he's like i'm not god i can't make you get pregnant god is the one
who has withheld the fruit of the womb from you and you know this is an accurate statement because
the bible says that god saw that leah was hated he opened leah's womb and he did not allow rachel
to have children this is god's choice god has made this decision and the bible does teach that
god is the one who opens and closes the womb and so if you're unable to have children you need to
just pray about it and then trust god with the outcome okay now if you don't pray about it
then yeah maybe you should be having children or something like that because if we don't pray about
things we can't expect god to necessarily get involved can't we i mean if i don't pray i can't
expect god to get involved in my life praying is when we invite god to get involved and do something
in our life and when we ask god to do something then he's either gonna do it or he's gonna not do
it but if we don't pray then we'll never know will we because the bible clearly says you have not
because you ask not and so i'm not one of these people who thinks oh you know god's will is just
gonna happen anyway and when we pray it's just kind of an exercise that we go through no no
praying is asking god for things and if i pray to god and i ask him for something you know that
actually is a meaningful act if i don't do it god's not getting involved you have not because
you ask not when i ask god for something now i'm going to get an answer it may not necessarily be
the answer that i want it may not necessarily be in the timing that i want but god is going
to answer my prayer period fact god's not just ignoring me up in heaven now if you know if i'm
unsaved or if i'm out living in sin or something then yeah obviously then god's gonna ignore me at
that point but you know obviously i'm saved i'm living for god if i'm praying to god he hears me
whatsoever i ask that's what the bible says and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know
that we have the petitions that we desire and this is why the bible says be careful for nothing what
does careful mean full of care full of worry full of anxiety be careful for nothing but in everything
by prayer and supplication let your request be made known unto god and the peace of god which
passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds to christ jesus so if i with prayer and
thanksgiving and supplication make my request known to god at that point i should be filled
with peace at that point right the peace of god which passes all understanding is now ready to
keep my heart and mind in christ jesus because i've put the ball in god's court once the ball
is in god's court i need you to stop worrying about it now if you haven't prayed then go ahead
and worry be afraid be very afraid if you haven't prayed about it but once you've prayed and said
god this is what i'm worried about this is what i'm concerned about this is what i need you to do
in jesus name amen at that point you know what you just go about your day
smile be happy don't worry about it why because it's done consider it done it's as good as that
it's sort of like if i had a really reliable employee and i give him a job to do i don't
even need to follow up because once i give him that job i just consider it done well you know
what when we put things into god's hands we need to just consider it done just oh check that off
my list i don't even need to worry about that god's got that under control god's got that
ticket that's faith now does that mean that god is just this thing where i just wish for something
and it just appears the next day or something that's not the point because you know when we
pray unto god the holy ghost makes intercession for us according to the will of god so he takes
what we pray and translates it into what's actually good for us and what's actually good
for the will of god and for the kingdom of god so you know i i remember speaking
to a friend of mine who who had written down like a prayer journal and every time they had
a prayer request they'd write it in this prayer journal and then they would revisit that years
later and they'd look at that a year later and they'd go down the list and pretty much everything
was either that was answered or i don't even want that anymore i don't even know why i wanted that
because that wasn't even the right thing for me i'm glad that didn't work out or you know
something along the lines of well that didn't happen exactly the way i asked but what i got was
better you know and so that's the way it works when you pray about things they get done period
they get done but a lot of people are just impatient and they give up you know isaac and
rebecca they could have just said well we prayed to god and that didn't work out and so you know
we're seeking other options now you know but here's the thing about that is that they just
had to be patient for like 20 years okay and so you're not necessarily going to get your prayers
answered overnight with god a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a
day god's not slack to answer your prayers it's just that he's not as worried about time as you
are and often he'll do things delayed but it's all for your good because all things work together
for good to them love god so the delay is good looking back you're glad about the delay okay
so that's why jacob says am i in god's stead you know you prayed to god the balls in his court
be happy why don't you just be happy that you're such a beautiful woman that your husband loves you
and by the way she's financially secure i mean her husband's a killer employee
he's making tons of money and they've got all kinds of possessions she's got her handmade
i mean i'm sure a lot of you ladies would probably love just having your your full-time
female servant doing whatever you owe slave come and help me with this you know you'd love to have
a female servant with you all the time she's got money she's eating well she's secure she's
surrounded by family her husband loves her what's the you know why didn't she just enjoy life but
instead it's just i'm just gonna die if i don't get this one thing that i want because i'm just
so envious of leah you know what that is that means she doesn't love leah like she should because
love is the fulfillment of the law love thy neighbor as thyself fulfills according to roman 13
thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false
witness and thou shalt not covet it's all summed up in this one word thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself meaning that if she loved her sister leah she would not envy her sister leah she would
just be happy for leah but instead she's self-centered focused on herself envious
and one of these people that just can't be happy because the one thing in their life that's not
working out anybody could do that i could i could find something in my life that's not working out
you could find we could all find something in our lives couldn't we but why focus on that why not
count your blessings and think about all the things that are going well so jacob says i'm not
in the place of god i can't open your womb only god can do that let's just leave it with him
so here's what she says in verse three behold my maid bilhah go in unto her and she shall bear upon
my knees that i may also have children by her okay and by the way here's just here's just an aside
okay i read about some stupid like feminist science fiction book called the handmaiden's
tale who knows what i'm talking about i've never read the book but i read about the book
and i think it spawned some movies and tv series or something but whoever wrote this book is a
complete idiot as far as i'm concerned because first of all it's some feminist trash or whatever
but they're a complete idiot because they interpreted this verse that somehow like it's
some kind of a that they're having intercourse with that other woman there folks that's bizarre
that's not what the bible's saying you know that came from just uh an idiot's mind who's not saved
so they can't understand the bible you know any idiot can read this verse right here okay
and it says that she may bear upon my knees bear means give birth any questions so she's not
conceiving on this other woman it's like what kind of an idiot that anyway that was for free
that has nothing to do with the sermon but what kind of an idiot reads this verse and thinks that
that that's involved give me a break obviously what it's saying is that when she gives birth
she's going to give birth and rachel's going to be there to receive the baby and it's going to be
sort of like she's going to be kind of the godmother of this baby or kind of it's going
to be like her baby like a surrogacy type of a mentality it really has nothing to do with the
intercourse that produces the child or the conception i think that came from a perverted
mind okay so i'm just and look you say why bring that i'm just throwing that out there because i
know that that's a thing in our culture that book is out there that tv show is out there that movie
is out there i don't know if it's a movie or not but that stuff is out there i just want to make
sure that nobody gets influenced by that and gets confused by the story here there's really nothing
confusing about the story i hope everybody's clear so she gave him bilhah her handmaid to wife
now this is not a godly thing to do first of all it's not even godly to have two wives
because at the beginning god made them male and female adam and eve and a man shall leave his
father and mother and cleveland to his wife singular and they too shall be one flesh that's
what the bible says and so this is not godly but you can at least kind of give jacob a little bit
of a pass for having two wives because he kind of got pushed into that or forced into that by
his father-in-law so you can kind of say like okay you know he shouldn't have done that but
you know you kind of see how it went down okay whereas this though you know just taking on a
third wife what are you doing right the handmade is now coming on as a third wife and again this
is not god's will to have three wives it's god's will to have one wife but he ends up now getting
the suggestion from rachel rachel is saying i want you to you know go in unto bilhah and she's
going to bear upon my knees that i may also have children by her so like you know she's going to
do the the heavy lifting and give birth and everything and then it's going to be like my baby
and i can carry around this baby and take care of it because bilhah is my slave so if i have bilhah's
you know baby is kind of my baby and whatever so that's what they're doing here okay so she gave
him bilhah her handmaid to wife and jacob went in under and bilhah conceived and bear jacob a son
and rachel said god has judged me and has also heard my voice and has given me a son
therefore called she is named dan this always cracks me up when people just disobey god do
something sinful take things into their own hands they're like what an answer to prayer
isn't god good right it's like they divorce their spouse and marry someone else hey isn't this great
look at this blessing i like my second spouse so much better my fifth spouse is such a blessing
from god you know it's like well hold on a second you took things into your own hands and then
you're going to call that god answering your prayer you know god answering your prayer rachel
would be you giving birth to a son you're barren and you're praying to have a baby god answering
your prayer is when you give birth to joseph later in the story spoiler alert right when you give
birth to benjamin that's god answering your prayer but you giving bilhah to your husband
as a third wife that is not god answering your prayer that's you committing sin lacking faith
in god lacking patience letting envy take over that is you corrupting the family and that is not
god judging you and blessing you okay oh you know so she calls the name dan
and bilhah rachel's maid conceived again and bear jacob a second son and rachel said with
great wrestlings have i wrestled with my sister and i prevailed and she called his name naphtali
which means wrestling or my wrestling so so the the point is that you know
she doesn't have the right relationship with her sister here okay because it's just oh man i've
been fighting my sister in fact i'm gonna i mean think about what kind of a person names their
names their baby right because i mean obviously bilhah's the one who gave birth to it but she's
calling the name of it we're gonna name this baby wrestling because i've been fighting my sister and
i finally won yeah it's like what it's like what why would you name your baby that you've got some
serious issues rachel so you know these two sons of the of the handmade these sons aren't don't
they don't really end up you know necessarily uh being great for the family because if you if you
uh you don't need to turn there if you want you can jump forward to this but look at genesis 37
yeah i just flip over a couple pages genesis 37 verse 2 it says these are the generations of jacob
joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the lad was with the sons
of bilhah and with the sons of zilpah his father's wives and joseph brought unto his father their
evil report so rachel through a lapse of faith in god does this strange arrangement of saying
let's give the female slave or maidservant let's give her to you as your wife and then you're
going to have a baby with her but then i'm going to sort of commandeer that baby as my own and give
it names about you know my drama with my sister but then when rachel finally does have a son that
son is joseph that's when god actually answers a prayer and gives her the son but does joseph hit
it off with dan and neftalai well according to the bible here you know he's bringing his father
their evil report saying man these this dan and neftalai are bad guys they're doing some really
bad stuff out here and they end up clashing with him and this is part of why they hate him
and so if you think about it this is why
joseph ends up getting part of why he ends up getting sold into slavery
is because of this clash between joseph and the sons of bilhah that we see in genesis 37 verse 2
you see how events can kind of just domino and you know because of envy now we're violating god's law
and and and and breaking apart god's normal plan for the family bringing in this third wife and
and she's this servant wife and whatever and all these things and then next thing you know she has
these kids and you she gives them these spiteful name uh on neftalai and then now they're clashing
with her biological kid and so anyway it's all kinds of problems you know what's funny is when
people will try to take jacob as a as a poster child for polygamy you know hey you know joseph
did it or excuse me uh uh jacob did it you know if jacob did it but hold on a second when jacob
did it was a disaster i mean rachel and leah are just at each other's throats and then you
got these maidservants coming into the mix you know let's not even bring up the fact that ruben
ends up sleeping with bilhah after she's already been with jacob you know that's a whole other
story it's a disaster this this family is in many ways a disaster you know eventually joseph
kind of brings them all together and and god uses imperfect people in the bible and god salvages
weird situations in the bible but this is a little bit of a train wreck at this point okay
from a family perspective so back in genesis chapter 30 let's go to where rachel finally has
a baby okay so oh and by the way let me say this you know rachel gives bilhah to her husband as a
third wife well then leah decides she's going to get down on that action too because leah is done
having kids or at least she thought she's done having kids so then she gives her maid zilpah
and then you know now there's four wives and you know there was already bitterness when there were
two wives now there's four wives and these other these sons of zilpah are also end up being a pain
and so it's a bad idea but when we get down to verse 22 the bible said and remember this is many
years later because zilpah has been having babies bilhah has been having babies many years many years
go by and finally it says in verse 22 and god remembered rachel and god hearkened to her and
opened her womb see if she would have just waited and been patient she would have had a baby anyway
and she conceived and bare a son and said god has taken away my reproach now again what is
her issue with not having a baby it's not that she just wanted to hear the little pitter-patter
of feet so badly it's oh god took away my reproach all what she cares about is what other people think
about her that's what reproach means reproach is when other people look down on you or talk smack
about you and so again this is all about her rivalry with leah that's what it goes back to
god took away my reproach and she called his name joseph and said the lord shall add to me another
sign you know you know i'm sorry rachel but the way you name kids is is really irritating it's
like first you name your kid dan because you're so oh god answer my prayer he judged me and but
no wrong bad name then the next name naphtali oh man i've been fighting with my sister and i
finally won the fight yeah what and then now this name i mean think about you've been praying for
years and years is you just want to have a baby so bad you finally have a baby surely you're happy
now surely you're satisfied your dream you're living the dream now right isn't this great no
because let me tell you something envious covetous people will never be happy they will never be
satisfied if you are not happy when you have nothing you're not going to be happy when you
get what you want because people that are happy they can be happy with nothing or everything
because contentment and happiness isn't based on our circumstances okay that's why the apostle
paul said i have learned in whatsoever state i am therewith to be content i know both how to be
abased and i know how to abound everywhere and in all things i'm instructed both to be full and to
be hungry both to abound and to suffer need i can do all things through christ which strengthens me
he said look i have learned in whatsoever state i am therewith to be content and look if you're
going to be a happy person if you're going to be as they would say in spanish contento if you're
going to be contento you know what you're going to have to be contento in every situation if you
think like well if i just get this list of things from god then i'll be happy if you're not happy
right now you're not going to be happy when you get that stuff because happiness is a choice okay
you choose to be thankful for what you have you choose to rejoice in the lord you choose to forget
about the things in your life that aren't perfect and focus on the positive things be thankful to
god trust him content with what you have that's a choice that you make that's character that you
have where you've learned in whatsoever state you are therewith to be content rachel hasn't learned
that you can tell by the way she's naming her babies and so what does she name him she basically
names him give me another one that's basically what she's naming him because the word joseph is
basically the verb to add it's like addition and so that's what that three-letter root is where we
get the name joseph and so she says well she's calling his name joseph it says in verse 24 and
said the lord shall add to me another son now you know you might be tempted to read that as well she
just has a lot of faith that you know god answered one prayer and he's gonna answer another doesn't
really seem to jive with the rest of the story though she doesn't really seem to be a giant of
the faith and so I think it's more likely a sign of I'm not really satisfied with having one baby
in fact you know I'm gonna name this baby give me another one which obviously his name doesn't
literally mean give me another one but it basically means add addition you know add more and so she's
saying the Lord's gonna add to me another sign and she called his name joseph look at verse 25
and it came to pass when Rachel had born joseph that Jacob said unto Laban send me away that I
may go unto mine own place into my country now jump forward to chapter 31 so Jacob serves for
seven years for Leah seven years for Rachel and then he enters into another contract where he
serves for six years for cattle and that's a whole nother story where he earns a whole bunch
of cattle and possessions from Laban but it's pretty clear that Laban is not gonna let him
leave Laban's not gonna let him go he's kind of just stuck and so he ends up leaving in the middle
of the night and and and sneaking out and just fleeing away with his family he takes his stuff
and he flees away but what does Rachel do when we're leaving dad's house cuz Jacob you know he
goes to Rachel Lee and he says look here's the situation your dad keeps ripping me off and
changing my wages I've done my time I fulfilled my contract I want to go home I've been here for 20
years I want to leave and they basically say to him you know what there's nothing tying us here
we're glad to go with you so Rachel and Leah feel good about the move and they're like yep let's
go this is great now keep in mind Jacob is very wealthy he has great flocks and herds and
possessions servants I mean he has got a lot of stuff he's not poor at all right so Jacob's like
hey let's just get out of here and Jacob only wants to take what's his he's not trying to steal
from Laban he only wants to take what belongs to him what he's rightfully earned but what does
Rachel do look at verse number 19 and Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images
that were her father's now here's the thing I don't see any evidence in Scripture that Rachel
is necessarily an idolater or that Rachel is necessarily worshiping other gods or or lacking
in you know faithfulness to the one true God and basically you know polite or not polite she you
know she is involved in a polygamous relationship polytheistic I should say okay you know perhaps
she is but you know I would say 99% she didn't take these gods these images these idols these
graven images because she just really wants to worship them and just really wants to bow down
to more gods because you know Jehovah is just not enough for her I believe she wants to melt these
things down for the precious metals because she's just that covetous like that that's what I think
is actually going on in the story so look what the Bible says she had stolen the images that were her
father still look stealing from your parents is wicked she's still stealing wicked stealing from
your parents is wicked carrying around a bunch of idols is wicked this is wrong on a lot of levels
okay and Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian and that he took him not and they told him
not that he fled and that stole away it doesn't mean he didn't steal anything it means he snuck
away slept away it's a different it's where we get our word stealth okay different word verse 21 so
he fled with all that he had and he rose up and passed over the river and set his face toward
Mount Gilead and it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled so Jacob gets a three-day
head start and Laban catches up to him confronts him he's angry chewing him out why didn't you let
me say goodbye and you know it's really because Laban just wouldn't have let him leave but he
chews him out and he says okay I get it you wanted to leave but why'd you steal my gods why did you
take my idols away so Jacob's really offended by this and I didn't steal any I don't want your
stupid gods Jacobs worshiping the Lord you know Jacob has been worshiping the Lord for a long
time he's the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob here okay so he says in verse 32 of chapter 31 with
whomsoever thou finest thy gods let him not live before our brethren discern thou what is thine
with me and take it to thee he's saying look you can search my stuff you can go through all my
stuff and search everything I defy you to find one thing that belongs to you so did Jacob steal
anything no way that's why Jacob has the confidence to say search my bag search my tent search my
stuff show me one thing here that belongs to you I didn't steal anything and whoever stole your gods
let them be put to death now of course he doesn't know that this is his favorite person in the world
that stole the gods because Jacob you know even though I'm a little down on Rachel tonight Jacob
still thinks that Rachel is wonderful okay this is still his favorite person and he says whoever's
got these gods let it be put to death so as you're reading this you're kind of thinking like oh man
is Rachel about to get put to death here what's gonna happen when she gets busted with these gods
and so it says in verse 33 or at the end of verse 32 it says for Jacob knew not that Rachel had
stolen them so Jacob had nothing to do with this and Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's
tent and into the two maidservant's tent but he found them not then he went out of Leah's tent
and entered into Rachel's tent now Rachel had taken the images and put them in the camel's
furniture and sat upon them so again not super pious of her toward these gods which is why I
don't think it was about religion I think is this about the money because these idols are made out
of precious metals they're made out of gold or silver or whatever they're worth money and she
probably thinks you know she's gonna be able to sell these when she gets or melt them down or
whatever so she's sitting on them she puts them in the camel's furniture and sits on them and
Laban searched all the tent but found them not and she said to her father let it not displease
my lord that I cannot rise up before thee the custom of women is upon me so she basically says
sorry dad it's that time of the month so you know I can't get up right now so forgive me so she's
lying of course and he searched but found not the images and Jacob was Roth and by the way if your
gods can be stolen you probably have the wrong God anyway okay nobody can steal my God from me
right but Jacob was Roth he's angry and chode with Laban and Jacob answered and said to Laban
what is my trespass what is my sin that thou is so hotly pursued after me whereas thou has searched
all my stuff what is thou found of all thy household stuff set it here before my brethren
and thy brethren that they may judge betwixt us both so Laban's a little dumbfounded because his
gods are missing and now he doesn't know who took him we know Rachel is you know who knows what she's
gonna do with them take him to the pawn shop or whatever so go to chapter 35 and we'll wrap up
here chapter 35 verse 16 I bet this is the most negative sermon you've ever heard about Rachel
huh I've never I've never really heard I don't think I've ever preached a whole sermon about
Rachel I've never heard of something about Rachel and I've never heard anyone be this negative about
Rachel if anyone whose name is Rachel you know yeah she was she was a beautiful woman all right
let's focus on that all right very it's a popular name because you know that she's a beautiful girl
okay but her character needed a little work Genesis chapter 35 verse 16 and they journeyed
from Bethel and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath and Rachel travailed and she had hard
labor so now she's having that second child that she wanted so bad because she didn't say give me
child lest I die she said give me children or else I die so now here comes children right second child
she had hard labor came to pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said unto her fear
not thou shalt have this son also and it came to pass as her soul was in departing for she died
that she called his name Benoni but his father called him Benjamin you say surely pastor Anderson
she's getting better at the baby names by now this baby name was so bad that her husband vetoed it
and says no I don't care if you died while you named it this I don't give it your last dying
wish that is not gonna be this kid's name finally he's just like no I let you name it you know Dan
and Naphtali and Joseph but just no okay because here's what's funny about this you know you think
like is she finally happy she's having her second baby no this name Benoni means something along
lines of son of my sorrow or son of my affliction or son of son of my sorrow so this didn't make her
happy his father called him Benjamin and the name Benjamin it could mean a couple different things
at face value it means son of my right hand so that's like a more positive uplifting name then
you know son of my drag of a life son of my sorrow you know he names it you know the most
obvious meaning like the way the letters are in this word right now would be son of my right hand
which is a good thing obviously so he's given him like a positive name you know because when you
think of the right hand think of like you know your right hand man or something right but it's
also possible that this name could come from the words meaning son of basically son of days which
would mean like you know son of old age my old age or something I got had him in my old age or
something right but either way it's positive right whatever the name is he's taken her negative name
Benoni and saying like no we're not gonna name it that and he gives it a nice name whatever Benjamin
means is it's a nice name okay it's positive about the baby it says and Rachel died and was
buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave that is the
pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day of course now Rachel's grave is surrounded by Israeli troops
and barbed wire and machine guns but that's another story because it's in it's in the occupied
Palestinian territories of course you know when we were over there making the film beyond Jordan
we were visiting as many biblical sites in Palestine as we could but some of them were
you know kind of occupied in these Israeli settlements that we stayed out of so we did
not visit Rachel's grave I don't know if Rachel necessarily wants to be visiting her grave based
on you know how I portrayed her tonight but the thing is that Rachel is a good example for all
of us because we all have that little bit of Rachel in us as far as its human nature its human
nature to not be satisfied to look at what other people have and wish we had what they had but you
know what Leah is doing the same thing Leah's looking back at Rachel and wishing that her
husband loved her now stop and think about this and you know especially you ladies this is kind
of a lady sermon right because it's about Rachel so especially you ladies think about this for a
minute okay you can have a choice between your your financially secure your husband really loves
you you're super beautiful but you can't have kids and your sister kind of gives you a bad
time about not having kids you know or you are the basically unloved wife your husband is into
another woman more than you but you have six sons and a daughter and you're still financially
secure and you know I mean pick your poison you know I mean you say well I don't want either one
I want my husband to love me and I want to have the maidservants and I want to have the kids and
I want to be financially successful and I want to be in the Bible as a good character and I want
people in the 21st century naming my name and their baby after me folks you can't have it all
you know Rachel's beautiful her husband loves her she's financially taken care of and she's
a popular baby name in the 21st century what else do you want ah but I can't have kids but even if
then if she would have just waited she would have got that too because eventually she's gonna have
Joseph eventually she's gonna have Benjamin and maybe if she would have given her kids better
names maybe God wouldn't have even allowed her to die in childbirth maybe God just didn't like her
attitude when she says oh give me children or else I die maybe God's like okay give you children and
you die how about that because envy is wicked and she's the one who brings in this practice of hey
let's get the handmaidens involved let's double the number of wives come on and so don't be like
Rachel in the sense that you should be content in whatsoever state you are just be happy with what
you have you know sit out when you start getting depressed and down and you know we all have days
where we're feel down or feel sorry for ourselves or having a bad day you know sit down and think
about all the things you have going for you you know it's like oh my husband you know left the
toilet seat up but he didn't fix things around the house and you know whatever but here's the thing
there are some women out there just wish that they had a husband you know oh man the kids are such a
pain in the neck you know there are some women out there that just wish that they had kids they
just wish that they had a baby at all oh the baby kept me up all night yeah but you wanted that baby
and now you know I remember one time you know my wife was pregnant and I was talking about yeah
we're so excited we can't wait for the baby to be born and I think this was our first baby and this
guy said to me he said you know you're really excited you want that baby to come out but he
said you know there are gonna be times when you want to put that baby back where it came from you
know because it's just human nature just everybody just always finds something wrong with their life
just oh you know oh man it's so hard to be pregnant and then it's like oh it's so hard
having a newborn oh the terrible twos all of these kids are running me ragged oh these teenagers oh
wait till you have young adults for kids you know oh man you know they're good it's just like why
don't you just enjoy life why don't you just be thankful that God has given you so many blessings
why don't you just say this is the day that the Lord had made and we will rejoice and be glad in
it and be content with such things as you have because you know what you can either be a happy
person or an unhappy person and you decide it has nothing to do with your circumstances because I
guarantee you there are super poor people that are happy and content and then there are super rich
people that are miserable despairing of life and we could do every area of life there are people
with horrible health just coughing and hacking up a lung every day with just all kinds of joy in
their heart as they cough up all kinds of chunks of whatever and spit them out and save them in a
jar and they're happy as a clam somebody else has perfect health and saying oh you know my life's
not perfect oh get over it be happy be thankful and you know what if there's something that you
really need from God then ask God to do it for you that's what he's there for you know he's there
to help and bless his children he loves us the hairs of our head are numbered it's not like he
just doesn't care about us no he loves us he's our father our hairs are numbered he knows every
thought that enters our mind your Heavenly Father knoweth what things you have need of before you
ask him but if you ask not you're gonna have not so if you need something go to the Lord in prayer
ask him for what you need and then just you know what leave it in his hands the ball is in his
court at that point just move on let's borrow doesn't have a word of prayer father we thank
you so much for this story Lord please help us to learn from these examples Lord help us not to
steal and lie and covet and do these things Lord and help us not to have bitter envying and strife
with our siblings or with our spouse or anything else Lord and and and help us not to name our
baby something vindictive Lord but to name it something that would be a blessing of a name
and not something negative about someone else or something and in Jesus name we pray Amen. Amen
let's take your song books and go to him number four hundred and thirty nine count your blessings
number four hundred and thirty nine four hundred and thirty nine when the pond likes billows your
tempest toss number four hundred and thirty nine when the pond likes billows your tempest toss
when you are discouraged thinking all is lost count your many blessings made them one by one
and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made what God has done. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one.
Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by one. Count your blessings made them one by
one. Count your blessings made them one by one.
Count your blessings made them one by one.