["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah,
yeah,
143.
Blessed assurance,
song number 143.
143 on the first.
Blessed assurance,
Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste,
the glory divine.
Heir of salvation,
the riches of life.
Born of His Spirit,
our ship is wide.
This is my story,
this is my song.
Praising my Savior,
all that they love.
This is my story,
this is my song.
Praising my Savior,
all that they love.
This is Marigold.
415 on the second.
Victory through grace,
song number 415.
Conquering now and still to conquer,
let's sing it out on the second.
Conquering now and still to conquer,
who is His wonderful King?
So the army,
pray to thee that,
well of His glory they sing,
He is our Lord,
and we dream.
Our divine,
they are the stars that forever,
bright in His kingdom will shine.
Not to the strong is our battle,
not to the swift is our race,
yet to the true and the faithful,
victory is promised through grace.
Miss Midori.
Song number 86.
In the garden,
song number 86.
Sing it out on the first.
I come to the garden alone,
while the truth is still on the roses,
and the voice I hear,
running on,
I'll be the son of God,
His presence.
And He walks with me,
and He talks with me,
and He tells me,
I am His own.
And the joy He'll share,
as He tell me there,
none other has ever known.
Justice. Go ahead.
409.
Song number 409.
The fight is on.
Song number 409.
Sing it out on the first.
On the first.
The fight is on.
The trumpet sound is ringing out,
the cry to arms,
He's heard afar in you.
The Lord of Gold
is marching on to victory,
the triumph of,
the prize will soon appear.
The fight is on,
O Christian soldier,
and face to face in tsunami.
The heart relieving,
the hollow streaming,
riding long in grace today.
The fight is on,
but baby, baby,
it is my hope that,
if God be with us,
He's better for us,
if He can be our song at last.
Let's sing one more song.
It's J.C. God.
102 on the second.
Song number 102 on the second.
This will be the last song for favorites.
He hideth my soul.
Let's sing it out.
Song number 102 on the second.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
He taketh my good and away.
He wanted me up,
and I shall not be moved.
He given me strength as my day.
He hideth my soul
in a clamp of the rock
that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life
in the depths of His love,
and the Father's be there with His hand.
And the Father's be there with His hand.
Amen.
Amen. All right.
Well, let's take our bulletins tonight.
We'll look at some announcements quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin,
just raise your hand,
and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up,
and we will get one for you.
We'll give you the verse this week.
Psalm 37.4.
Delight thyself also in the Lord,
and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
And that's a good verse there.
We like that.
If you open up your bulletin,
you'll see our service time,
Sunday morning service, 10.30 a.m.
We had a wonderful service this morning.
We're glad you're back out tonight
for the evening service.
And we do invite you, of course,
to be with us on Wednesday night
for the midweek service.
And if you look at our sowing times,
our main sowing times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.,
and then we have additional sowing times
on Fridays and Fridays and Sundays at 6 p.m. and 2 p.m.
If you are a sower, don't forget to add your salvations
on the communication card
so that we can add your information into the bulletin.
And of course, if you have a map that you did not finish,
or if there's something wrong with the map,
make sure you clearly mark what was done, what was not done,
and put it into the bin in the foyer
so that way we can get that recycled through
and finish stuff.
And if you're running late,
if you're coming to one of our sowing times
and you're running late,
please don't forget to call us or text us
at the number there, 916-868-9080.
If you just text that number and say, you know,
your name and you're running late,
that really helps the team captains
to be able to partner with you
and make sure you have a partner when you get here.
If you're a first-time guest,
if it's your first time here at Verde Baptist Church,
we're glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you
as you leave the church building this morning.
If you got our main foyer, excuse me, this evening,
if you got our main foyer or out the secondary foyer,
you'll see a little table set up,
and on that table, you'll see these gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you
for being our guest this evening.
And we ask that you please take a moment
and fill out the communication card,
which is inserted in your bulletin,
and if you go ahead and fill it out,
then you can drop it into the offering plate as it goes by.
We, of course, are a family-integrated church.
Children and infants are always welcome in the service.
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason.
We do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms
available for your convenience,
so please use those rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized, please let us know.
We'd love to baptize you.
And then, of course, the announcements.
We've got the Red Hot Preaching Conference
right around the corner,
and don't forget about that June, excuse me,
July 20th through the 23rd.
There will be no Wednesday evening service on July 19th,
and I want to encourage you to be here, of course,
for the conference.
We've always had, every year,
we've had people that come from all over the United States
and different parts of the world,
and we expect the same thing this year, of course.
We don't have a YouTube channel anymore to really promote it,
so sometimes it's a little nerve-wracking,
or sometimes people ask me how many are you expecting,
and I never know how many to expect,
but every year, we have more than we can fit,
so, you know, if less people show up,
it probably wouldn't be a bad thing.
But I want to encourage you to be here for the conference.
I always think it's funny when people come from,
I mean, different continents
for the Red Hot Preaching Conference,
and then our own church family doesn't come, which is fine.
It's fine, but I'll encourage you to be here.
Now, there are some of you, and I appreciate you.
In fact, the ones that I'm going to talk about right now,
you guys are actually my favorites, all right?
Now, I'm not supposed to have favorites,
but just between you and I, don't let it go.
Leave the room.
But you guys are my favorites.
There's a few of you who say,
I don't care about all these other preachers.
I don't want to come hear them.
I'll just come hear you preach, Pastor,
and praise the Lord for you.
I love you.
But I want you to know that we're doing something different this year
that we've never done at the Red Hot Preaching Conference,
and it's not by my choice.
It's a request that someone else made.
But I am actually preaching one of the evening services.
I'll be preaching Friday night,
and Pastor Anderson will actually be preaching Sunday morning,
which is when I usually preach for the conference,
just because that's how it worked out with his road trip.
So maybe you can come on Friday night anyway,
or some of you are going to volunteer now
to sit and overflow on Friday night.
That's fine too.
But just know that that's a little bit of a change for the conference choir.
They had good practice today.
This high worship class,
they have that Ladies Weight Loss Accountability Group.
It's there for you.
Upcoming cleaning crew,
we appreciate your help with that.
There's other things there for you to look at.
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off
or place them on silent during the service.
They're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin,
birthday is anniversaries for the week.
We have Ms. Amy Cortez's birthday is tomorrow, July 10th.
And Ms. Courtney Usher's birthday is July 12th.
Brother Matt and Ms. Kim Borrello have an anniversary on July 12th as well.
And my nephew Hezekiah Cruz has a birthday on July 14th.
Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at.
And I think that's it for all of the announcements.
We're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week,
which is Until Then.
And I don't know, can you sing it as well tonight as you sang it this morning?
Yeah, so maybe there's a few less of us tonight, but sing it with some passion.
My heart can sing when I pause to remember.
Sing it out on the first.
My heart can sing when I pause to remember.
My heart will go on singing.
Until then with joy I'll carry on.
Until the day my eyes behold the city.
Until the day God calls me home.
That was a good warm up, alright?
Let's sing it out on the second.
And when we get to that chorus though, when I was a kid,
we used to sing until the day my eyes behold the Savior.
So let's change that word city to Savior there as we sing it out on the second,
sing with passion on the second, and change that word city to Savior at the chorus.
The things of God will women lose their hallelujah
if we will try their sorrow for a while.
And things of God that cause the Lord to tremble
remember Him.
Let's sing it out.
But until then my heart will go on singing.
Until then with joy I'll carry on.
Until the day my eyes behold the Savior.
Until the day God calls me home.
Good, you're singing well. Let's slow it down, sing it out on the last.
This weary world with all its toil and sorrow
may give its rise.
But there's always a strike.
The soul of heaven goes like a waiting fountain.
When every breath of death has gone through the sky.
Good, sing it out.
But until then my heart will go on singing.
Until then with joy I'll carry on.
Until the day my eyes behold the Savior.
Until the day God calls me home.
Good singing.
We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you.
We thank you for the opportunity to sing praises to you.
We thank you for this group that would gather on a Sunday night.
Lord, we pray that you bless the fellowship, of course the singing,
the offering, and the preaching of your word.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Please open up to Numbers 6.
Numbers chapter 6.
If you do not have a Bible, please put your hand up and I'm not sure I'll bring you a Bible.
Numbers chapter 6.
If you do not have a Bible, please put your hand up and I'm not sure I'll come by.
Numbers 6. We'll read verses 14 through 27.
Numbers 6 verses 14 through 27.
Numbers 6, speaking of verse number 14.
And he shall offer his offering unto the Lord.
And one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering.
And one you lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering.
And one ram without blemish for peace offerings.
And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil,
and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil,
and their meat offering and their drink offerings.
And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.
And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread.
The priest shall offer also his meat offering and his drink offering.
And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And shall take the hair of the head of his separation and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.
And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer,
and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after the hair of his separation is shaven.
And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.
This is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder, and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.
This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the Lord for his separation.
Beside that, that his hand shall get, according to the vow which he vowed.
So he must do after the law of his separation.
And the Lord speak unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his son, saying,
And this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep thee.
And the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word, for our church, and for everyone that's here.
And I say please give us all a tender heart to the message tonight.
And I say please be the pastor to strengthen him, and fill him with your spirit.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Alright, well we're there in Numbers, chapter number 6.
And of course the book of Numbers is a book that we've been going through on Sunday nights in a series called Wilderness Wanderings.
But we've had so many special things going on over the last several Sunday nights that I decided to preach on the book of Numbers this morning.
And of course there's so much information in Numbers chapter 6 that I thought was interesting stuff that I wasn't going to be able to cover in one sermon.
So this morning we went through the first part of Numbers chapter 6, and then tonight we're going to go through the second part.
So this is part 2 of a sermon entitled The Nazarite Vow as we've been going through the book of Numbers and we're in Numbers chapter 6 tonight.
And just real quickly, just to kind of help you catch up or to remind you, this morning we looked at, there's five things about the Nazarite Vow that I wanted to cover, five points.
This morning we looked at three, and tonight we're going to look at two of them.
So of course this morning we talked about the purpose of the Nazarite, and the purpose of the Nazarite was that anyone could be consecrated unto the Lord.
Anyone could come unto the Lord. We talked about the period of the Nazarite, or the duration, and of course we talked about this morning, we're going to talk about it tonight,
that there are some exceptions to this rule, but the vast majority of people, this was a temporary thing.
There was a certain amount of days that came to an end. And then of course we talked about the parameters of a Nazarite.
What does it mean to take the Nazarite Vow? And we learned that it was abstaining from the grape products, remember nothing intoxicating, and nothing indulging.
It was allowing the hair of the head to grow, and it was avoiding dead bodies.
So we covered those three points this morning, and tonight we're going to finish up with points number 4 and 5.
Before we get into those points, let me just give you just kind of a fun fact about Numbers chapter 6 that you may have not thought about.
But of course we talked about the fact that in Numbers 6 we find this kind of exception to the fact that God says that men and women who take this vow should not cut their hair.
And of course because of that we have like Samson whose hair grew as a result.
We saw in 1 Corinthians where the Bible says does not nature itself teach you that it's a shame for man to have long hair.
So it's kind of interesting that in Numbers chapter 6 we have this exception where God is telling men to not cut their hair.
Now we know of course that's only for a short amount of time, for a temporary amount of time, but for people who had a Nazarite Vow their entire lives like Samson, they ended up having long hair.
What's interesting about that is that Numbers 6 gives us a reason for an example of a man like Samson having long hair,
but chapter 5, if you remember chapter 5, we saw a woman who, there was a situation where a woman would have her hair cut off or have her hair shorn.
So I just thought that was kind of interesting.
In chapter 5 we have God usually wants women to have long hair, but in chapter 5 you have an exception where there was a certain ritual where a woman would have her hair shorn.
And then in chapter 6 God wants men to have short hair, but there's an exception where he's telling people to cut long, to have their hair long.
I don't know what that has to do with anything. I just thought that was interesting that you have those two chapters back to back.
You have a woman getting a haircut in chapter 5 and a guy growing out his hair in chapter 6.
So just a little bit of a fun fact. But we're there in Numbers 6 and look at verse number 1 just real quickly.
The Bible says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord.
So like I said, we already dealt with the purpose of the Nazarite, the period of the Nazarite, the parameters of the Nazarite.
So tonight I want to talk about the participants of the Nazarite vow. And depending on how you're looking at it, it's either point number 1 for tonight or if you're continuing your notes from this morning, it's point number 4.
The participants of the Nazarite vow. And of course we see there in verse 2 that the Bible says, When either man or woman shall separate themselves.
And I made that point this morning that this was a vow that anybody could take. You did not have to be a Levite, you did not have to be a priest, you did not have to be a man.
It could be a man or a woman from any tribe they could take on this vow.
But when we talk about the participants of a Nazarite vow, we of course want to talk about some famous people in the Bible who either were Nazarites or may have been Nazarites.
So let's just kind of run some verses real quickly and look at some of these. Let me start with the most popular Nazarite.
And we already talked about him this morning, but we'll look at him tonight. And again, of course, that's Samson in the Bible.
So you're there in the book of Numbers. Keep your place in Numbers. That's our text for tonight. But go with me to the book of Judges.
Judges chapter number 13. If you're in Numbers, you're going to go past Deuteronomy, past the book of Joshua, into the book of Judges.
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges. And let's look at the most popular Nazarite in the Bible, and that is Samson.
Judges chapter 13 and verse 3. The Bible says,
And the angel of the Lord, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman.
And she said unto her, Behold now thou art barren, and barest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son.
And this is, of course, a prophecy of the fact that Samson was going to be born.
An angel appears to his mother and says, Thou shalt conceive and bear a son.
Now therefore, verse 4, Beware I pray thee. Now notice what we learned this morning about the Nazarite vow,
that they were to abstain from great products, allow the hair of their head to grow, and avoid dead bodies.
Notice how that's reflected here. The angel says to this woman, For lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son.
Notice what he says, And no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb.
And again, this was unique. This was not a normal thing in which people were just Nazarites from the womb,
but here an angel appears and says, This child, no razor shall come on his head,
for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.
Of course, we see that Samson was a Nazarite from the womb, and he lived his life under these parameters
where he did not get a haircut, where he abstained from great products, where he avoided dead bodies.
And of course, Samson is a very interesting character in the Bible, and I don't have time to go through the life of Samson.
I preached through the book of Judges many, many years ago, and maybe one of these days I'll do a whole series just out of the life of Samson.
But something you need to understand about Samson is that when you look at his life in the book of Judges,
because it covers several chapters, you have to understand that he's not bad the whole time.
In fact, the Bible kind of seems to indicate, and there's this break in his life story,
where you have all these things that he was doing that were not necessarily bad,
and then there's kind of this break where he goes bad.
And when he goes bad, he of course begins to break all of these vows.
He finds the dead carcass of a lion, and he goes to it.
Of course, he eventually gets his hair cut, and as a result he loses his strength.
So we have this Nazarite Samson, who's the most famous of the Nazarites because he's a Nazarite from his womb.
And of course, we know that God gave him supernatural strength and all those things.
Now again, we talked about it this morning, but I'll just say it again.
The reason that his hair became long was because he was a Nazarite from his womb.
He was a Nazarite his entire life, so therefore no razor shall come on his head, and the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb.
So that's the most famous, the most popular Nazarite in the Bible.
That's the most popular Nazarite, but let's talk about other possible Nazarites,
other individuals that might have been Nazarites in the Bible as well.
You're there in Judges, go to 1 Samuel. You go past Ruth into the book of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 1.
And I want to word it that way, and some people may disagree with me on this or disagree on this point, and that's fine.
But some of these examples I'm going to give you, with Samson, I would say he's the most popular Nazarite.
With these guys, I would say that they're possible Nazarites.
Because unlike Samson, I can't really find a verse in the Bible that says they were a Nazarite.
Like the Bible says about Samson that no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb.
With these other examples, there's not a verse that tells us that they're a Nazarite,
but there's verses that seem to indicate that they probably were a Nazarite.
I tend to think that they probably were Nazarites, but I'm going to say they're possible Nazarites,
because the Bible does not explicitly tell us that they were Nazarites.
One was Samuel. Samuel, if you're there, in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 1 and verse 9,
the Bible says this, 1 Samuel 1.9,
So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk.
Now Eli the priest sat upon the seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.
And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.
Look at verse 11, and she vowed a vow.
So that's kind of the first indication that Samuel might have been a Nazarite,
because we know that the Nazarite vow was a vow that could be taken.
Here the Bible tells us that she vowed a vow, and said,
O Lord of hosts, if thou will indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid,
and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid,
but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord.
Because you remember, the vow of the Nazarite was to be separated unto the Lord.
And she's vowing a vow, saying, I'll give him unto the Lord, referring to Samuel,
because she doesn't have a son, she wants a child.
She says, I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.
So we see that she vowed a vow, verse 11.
In her vow, she promised to give Samuel unto the Lord all the days of his life.
And look at the last part of verse 11, and there shall no razor come upon his head.
So that seems to indicate that this was a Nazarite vow.
The Bible does not explicitly say Samuel had a Nazarite vow.
And I tend to think that Samuel did have a Nazarite vow on him.
I'm not saying that he was a Nazarite his entire life.
There probably was an end date to his Nazarite vow.
But again, the Bible does not necessarily give us those details.
But we know that at his birth, his mother is making this vow.
She's vowing to give him unto the Lord.
And as part of that vow, she is saying that there shall no razor come upon his head.
So we see Samuel as a possible Nazarite, and he would have been a Nazarite from the womb,
although I don't necessarily think that he was a Nazarite his entire life.
Go to the New Testament book of Luke, Luke chapter 1.
Luke chapter 1.
We spent some time in Luke this morning, so I want you to do the same thing.
When you get to Luke, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there,
because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it.
And I'd like you to be able to get there quickly.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Luke chapter number 1.
And look at verse number 13.
Luke 1.13.
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard,
and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
And of course, this is the angel appearing to Zacharias and prophesying the fact
that his wife Elizabeth is going to have a son, and of course, she was barren.
Look at verse 14.
And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth,
for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord.
Notice what the Bible says here.
This seems to indicate that John might have had a Nazarite vow from his birth
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink,
and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb.
So we know that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb.
Remember when Elizabeth met Mary, the Bible says that the child leaped in her womb.
So we know that he was filled from the Holy Ghost.
But the Bible also tells us that the angel said that he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.
So again, this is a possible indication of a Nazarite.
Now here's what's interesting about these three examples.
Samson we know is a Nazarite.
Samuel was a possible Nazarite because his mother about a vow,
she said she would give him unto the Lord and there shall no razor come upon his head.
John the Baptist is a possible Nazarite.
Because the Bible tells us here that he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.
Here's what's interesting about these three individuals.
All three were born to women that were barren who were not able to have children.
And all of them were given as a promise or given as a result of them praying
and being blessed for being barren.
And then of course all three of them were mightily used of God.
And you know, Samuel is one of the greatest prophets in the Bible.
John the Baptist is one of the greatest prophets in the Bible.
And Samson, we give him a bad rap and we should because of the way that he ended his life.
But no other man in the Bible is it said more than Samson that the Holy Ghost came upon him.
So we know that he was mightily used of God.
So it's kind of just interesting to look at the one guy that we know as a Nazarite
and then two other guys that, I mean they probably were Nazarites from birth.
I'm not saying that they were Nazarites their whole life
but they were definitely Nazarites for a portion of their life, Samuel and John.
And these were all individuals that were mightily used of God.
And you know one application that we could take from this is that you and I as parents
obviously we can't put a Nazarite nor should we put a Nazarite vow on our children from womb
but we should be consecrating our children unto the Lord.
And when the Lord gives us children and blesses us with children
we should do everything in our power to separate them and to train them
and to encourage them to serve the Lord.
And look it's interesting to me, it's interesting to me that the guys in the Bible that you see
and look I'm not, please don't misunderstand what I'm about to say to you.
Because sometimes I say this and people take it the wrong way
and I'm not taking a jab at anybody or trying to say anything negative about anybody
but I am trying to just make an observation for you that it's interesting to me
that the men who were mightily used of God in the Bible
were all raised in what you and I would call a Christian home or a believing home.
It's also interesting to me that some of the men that you see mightily used of God even today
often times are raised in good godly Christian homes.
And again I'm not taking a bash at you or taking a jab at you
if you didn't grow up in a Christian home or you've got a testimony
or you've got a past or you've got those history or whatever.
Obviously God can use you for getting those things which are behind
reaching forth into those things that are important.
But it's just interesting to me that God often wants to mightily use people
that were raised in Christian homes.
Now obviously Christian homes by and large were losing a lot of young people as well
but there's something special about a young person raised in a Christian home
in a good church where they've been there their whole lives.
You can raise men like Samuel, like John the Baptist that can be mightily used of the Lord
because these were men that were mightily used of God.
So we should raise young people for the glory of God and we should raise them to be used by God.
And look, don't raise your young people to go, you know,
your whole goal in life is that they go to some Ivy League school
or that they go have some career somewhere where they make a lot of money.
You know what your goal in life for your children out to be is that they serve God with their lives.
And that doesn't necessarily mean they have to be pastors or evangelists or anything like that.
But my goal in life is that my children, you know, I want them to work hard,
I want them to be able to provide for themselves and provide for their families
but I don't care what they do with their lives.
I don't care what college they go to, if they even go to college.
I don't care about any of that but what I care about is that they serve God.
Is that they live their lives separated unto the Lord, consecrated unto the Lord.
So I'm going to live my life and direct my life in such a way that my children see me
and I hope that when my boys and my girls grow up that they look at a mom and dad
and they'll say, my mom and dad didn't care about money.
My mom and dad didn't care about brands.
My mom and dad didn't care about stuff.
They cared about God.
Hey, let me tell you something, the goal is God.
The goal is to serve God with our lives.
And we see these men that even from the womb they were consecrated unto the Lord
and they did great things for God.
And we should try to emulate that.
We should try to live that way.
There's another example that I want to give you of a possible Nazarite
but this is a negative example.
Now it's a really good guy doing something wrong.
And this is the apostle Paul.
Go to the book of Acts if you would.
You're there in Luke.
You go past John into the book of Acts.
Acts chapter 18.
And the Bible seems to indicate that Paul might have taken on a Nazarite vow.
Now with John the Baptist it's fine but with Paul it's not fine and here's the reason.
And I'll just kind of explain this to you real quickly.
I won't take a lot of time on this.
But what you and I generally call the one portion of the Bible the Old Testament
and then another portion of the Bible the New Testament.
So you go from Genesis to Malachi we call that the Old Testament.
And then from Matthew to Revelation we call that the New Testament.
Now I don't have a problem with that.
I think that's great.
But you need to understand that the Old Testament and the New Testament are not designations of the Bible.
In fact the Bible has been divided and called those two things
because there actually was an Old Testament or an Old Covenant
and then there was a New Testament or a New Covenant.
The reason that your New Testament is called the New Testament is not because somebody decided
let's call this portion of the Bible the New Testament.
It's because from Matthew on it covers mainly the portion of Christian history that is under the New Covenant.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Now here's what you need to get.
The Old Testament or the Old Covenant actually goes into what we call the New Testament
because the Lord Jesus Christ when he was born and up until he died lived under the Old Testament law.
He lived under the Old Covenant.
So when we read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and you're reading the stories of Jesus
he's actually living under the Old Covenant and it's not until he dies, is buried and resurrected
that the New Testament or the New Covenant begins.
That's why right before he died he had what we refer to as the Lord's Supper and he said
this is the New Testament in my blood.
The New Testament began with the shedding of his blood.
That's why at the cross he said it is finished.
What was he referring to? The Old Covenant.
So here's what I want you to get.
Up until the cross the Old Covenant was still in effect which is why Jesus is partaking in the Passover
which is why his parents are having him circumcised and doing all these offerings and these things
because they're under that Old Covenant.
When we read in Luke 1 where John is possibly a Nazarite being born to Zacharias and Elizabeth
they're still under that Old Covenant law which is why it was totally fine for him to be a Nazarite.
But when we get to the book of Acts after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ
those things have been done away with.
Now we have Paul possibly taking a Nazarite vow but Paul was out of bounds.
He should not have done that because at this point he really was in the New Testament.
Not in the New Testament like that portion of your Bible but he was under the New Testament
of the blood of Christ, the New Covenant.
So he should not have been taken, should have taken this Nazarite vow.
If he took a Nazarite vow he should not have done it.
And of course we know that that was very close and there was a transition period there.
But let's just look at these verses, Acts 18.
I just want you to understand that.
If Paul did this, and again the Bible is not clear that he did a Nazarite vow.
I mean I think he did do the Nazarite vow but if he did it he was wrong to do it.
Acts 18, 18.
And Paul after this tarried there, he had a good while
and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria.
And with him Priscilla and Aquila, notice what the Bible says,
having shorn his head in Cinchrea for he had a vow.
Now I don't know what other vow he would have taken that would have had him cut his hair
but we know that the Nazarite vow was a vow that you took where you didn't cut your hair
and then at the end of the vow you shorn your head or you cut your head.
So the Bible seems to indicate here in Acts 18, 18
that the Apostle Paul might have taken a Nazarite vow.
Go to Acts 21.
Now Acts 18, 18 we're not really sure why he did that
and again it might have just been this thing where old habits die hard
and we know that Paul was a very zealous man
and he probably grew up taking Nazarite vows and doing these things
so maybe even after the Old Testament and the Old Covenant
he just took a Nazarite vow but he should not have done it.
In Acts 21, 26 we know that he should not have taken this vow
because here, remember Paul gets to Jerusalem
and James, the pastor in Jerusalem, is telling Paul like,
hey, all these Jews don't like you
and then they're kind of like pretending.
He's like, well just take this Nazarite vow to show them.
Acts 21, 26, then Paul took the men and the next day, purifying himself with them,
to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification
until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.
And again, he was out of bounds here because they shouldn't have been doing offerings.
They shouldn't have been doing any of that
but we see that Paul might have taken a Nazarite vow.
And there's an application for us here as well
because sometimes people, you know we look at Paul
and of course Paul was a great man of God
and I mean none of us can compare ourselves to the Apostle Paul
but we do see the Apostle Paul do some wrong things in the book of Acts.
You say, well why does God do that?
You know, I think God does that to just remind us that we're all human beings
and even great men of God make mistakes,
even great men of God make wrong choices,
even great men of God like Paul do things that they should not have done.
So we see that Paul might have taken a Nazarite vow
but that would have been wrong. He was wrong to do that.
Now let me just spend some time on Jesus.
We talked about that this morning but let's just talk about it a little bit.
Go back to Luke chapter 18.
So we're talking about the participants of the Nazarite vow
and if you kind of want to outline this, okay,
point number four, the participants of the Nazarite vow.
Letter A, the most popular Nazarite, Samson.
Letter B, other possible Nazarites, Samuel, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul.
Samuel, John the Baptist were right. They were under the Old Testament Covenant.
Paul was wrong. If he took the Nazarite vow, it was wrong for him to take it.
And then letter C, let's talk about one definite non-Nazarite
who sometimes people think he was a Nazarite but he was not
and that is of course the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 18 verse 37, the Bible says,
And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
And again, I talked about it this morning but I just want to make the point again.
Jesus was not a Nazarite. He was a Nazarene.
He was from Nazareth which is a town, which is a location, which is a place where he grew up.
He was Jesus of Nazareth, sometimes referred as Jesus the Nazarene
but he was not a Nazarite.
Because sometimes people, they want to justify because people want to believe that Jesus had long hair
which he did not.
And then they'll say, well he had long hair because he was a Nazarite.
But he was not a Nazarite, he was a Nazarene.
Now, if you don't feel like that's a strong enough argument to say,
well maybe he was from Nazareth and he was also a Nazarite.
Okay, well let me prove to you that there's no way that Jesus was a Nazarite.
Go back to Luke chapter 7. You're there in Luke 18, Luke 7.
So remember what we learned this morning? What were the parameters of the Nazarite vow?
They were to abstain from grape products.
They were to allow the hair of their head to grow and they were to avoid dead bodies.
Well first of all, Jesus is not avoiding dead bodies.
He's like, he's raising every dead body he can it seems like.
He even stops a funeral procession and just invites himself to a funeral just to raise a dead body from the dead.
So Jesus is not avoiding dead bodies.
That should be a clue to you that he was not a Nazarite.
But let me also say this, Jesus is also not avoiding grape products.
Look at Luke chapter 7 verse 33.
Now we already talked about the fact that John the Baptist was probably a Nazarite, right?
I mean he was probably a Nazarite and what makes us think that is that the Bible specifically says,
we saw it there in Luke chapter number 1, that he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.
So that's both. Strong drink is alcoholic wine and then wine was just the grape juice or the grape product.
We know that about John the Baptist.
Look at Luke chapter 7 and verse 33.
Now this is Jesus speaking about how people are comparing him to John.
Luke 7 33.
For John the Baptist, this is Jesus talking about John.
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and ye say he hath a devil.
So John was living a very austere life, very self-disciplined, very strict life because he was probably a Nazarite.
And Jesus says, look, John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and ye say he hath a devil.
Verse 34, the son of man, referring to himself, Jesus says, the son of man is come eating and drinking.
Jesus says, look, John and I were on two different spectrums.
He was a Nazarite and he's very austere, he's very strict, he's not eating bread nor drinking wine.
But Jesus, if you remember, he was hanging out with the publicans.
Now he wasn't getting drunk, but he was eating and he was fellowshipping.
He was having a good time.
You know, I don't know about you, but I would have rather hung out with Jesus than in his group, you know.
And here's what Jesus, he said, for John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and ye say he hath a devil.
The son of man is come eating and drinking and ye say, behold, a gluttonous man and a wine-bearer, a friend of publicans and sinners.
So he said, look, and the point that Jesus was making, because he's talking to the Pharisees, he says, we can't win either way.
He says, John comes all strict and he's like the super strict, extreme, just no, I'm just going to eat locusts, you know, and I'm going to wear rough clothing.
He's super strict, super extreme, eating bread and drinking wine and then the Pharisees say he has a devil.
And then Jesus is the opposite. He's coming, eating and drinking and fellowshipping and they said he was a gluttonous man and a wine-bearer.
Now obviously Jesus was not a glutton and the word wine-bearer there is not necessarily referring to alcohol.
It's just referring to the fact that he was drinking wine.
It's like sometimes people attack me because I like a glass bottled Coke, you know, and they're like, oh, you're a wine-bearer.
Because, you know, it's like a sugary drink. But I'm like, hey, they said Jesus was gluttonous and a wine-bearer.
And I'm not, I don't think I'm either one, but you know, my friends are.
So the son of man is come eating and drinking and ye say, behold, a gluttonous man and a wine-bearer, a friend of publicans and sinners.
So Jesus is saying, we can't win either way. He said, you don't like John and you don't like me.
He said, you know what you don't like is you just don't like the truth.
And, you know, one takeaway that we can learn from this is that God can use different types of people.
You know, God can use people like John who are just like, no soda ever.
And then God can use people like Pastor Jimenez who's like, give me a Mexican Coke please, you know.
So God can use different types of people. And John was very different than Jesus.
They were the same on what they believed, but their styles were different.
The way they preached was different. The way they conducted themselves and lived their life.
You know, it's always funny to me because like in the new IFB,
you always have these people who are trying to like pin new IFB pastors against each other.
And, you know, I bring this up because the Red Hot Preaching Conference is upon us.
And it's always funny to me, people are like, well, Pastor Jimenez does this.
Well, Pastor Anderson does this. Well, you know what?
Well, John came neither eating nor drinking and Jesus came eating and drinking.
It's okay to have different styles. It's okay to be your own person.
It's okay to be different. Now, they both agreed on the doctrines and we ought to all agree on the word of God.
But God can use different types of people. But here's the truth.
The people that did not like John, they also didn't like Jesus.
And, you know, the people who don't like Pastor Anderson, they also don't like Pastor Jimenez.
And I feel like we're very different people. You know, we're very good friends and we're very similar in what we believe.
But if you know Pastor Anderson and you know me, we're very different people.
But it's funny, you know, the world hates both of us.
And God wants to, look, God can use different types of people and God wants to use different types of people.
And I'm glad that there's a diversity within the work of God.
And of course, when I use the word diversity, I don't mean perversity like the world, you know, uses that word.
Go to Numbers Chapter 6. Keep your place there in Luke. We're going to come back to it.
So point number four, because we're continuing on this morning.
Point number one, the purpose of the Nazarite. Point number two, the period or duration of the Nazarite.
Point number three, the parameters of the Nazarite. Point number four, the participants of the Nazarite.
We've talked about that. The most popular Nazarite, Samson. Other possible Nazarite, Samuel.
John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul who would have been wrong to do it.
And then one definite non-Nazarite, Jesus was not a Nazarite. He was a Nazarene.
And we know that he's not a Nazarite because he's drinking grape products. He's drinking juice, wine.
He's making juice and drinking it. So he's definitely not a Nazarite.
Number five, let's talk about the price of the Nazarite vial. The price of the Nazarite vial.
Look at Numbers chapter six and verse fourteen.
And he shall offer his offering unto the Lord.
Because once they were done with this vow, they had to bring an offering unto the Lord.
Now I want you to notice this offering.
And he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one he lamb, that's a male lamb, of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering.
So they were supposed to bring a male lamb of the first year without blemish.
And the whole purpose of this offering was to burn up that lamb.
Just a burnt offering unto the Lord, wholly consumed unto the Lord.
And one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering.
And one ram without blemish for a peace offering.
And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil and wafers of unleavened bread,
anointed with oil and their meat offerings and their drink offerings.
And the priest shall bring them before the Lord and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.
And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord with a basket of unleavened bread.
And the priest shall offer all his meat offerings and his drink offerings.
Now look, when you read Numbers six verses fourteen through seventeen, it's like the cliff notes for the book of Leviticus.
Because in the book of Leviticus you have all these offerings that are explained.
And here you've got a bunch of these offerings.
You've got a burnt offering, you've got the peace offering, you have the sin offering,
you have the meat offering, you have the drink offering.
I mean you've got like all the offerings.
Now the difference is in the book of Leviticus, we're being explained when you bring the burnt offering,
when you bring the sin offering, when you bring the peace offering, when you bring.
But when you did the Nazarite vow, when it was done, you brought all the offerings.
All of them.
You brought a burnt offering and a peace offering and a sin offering and a meat offering and a drink offering.
And all of the offerings were being offered.
And the point that I want you to see is that if someone committed to take on the Nazarite vow,
they were taking on a financial commitment.
Because whenever they made that vow, they knew that at the end of the vow, this was going to cost them something.
They had to bring all these sacrifices.
I mean look at it. They had to bring one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering.
A new lamb for a sin offering. One ram for a peace offering.
A basket of unleavened bread and it tells you cakes of fine flour mingle with oil, wafers of unleavened bread,
anointed with oil and their meat. That was the meat offering.
And their drink offering. And bring them before the Lord.
His sin offering. And the peace offering. And the basket of unleavened bread.
So this was a financial commitment.
And I want to just highlight for you that there was a price.
That's point number five for you to take notes.
There was a price for taking the Nazarite vow.
Now let me just say a couple of things.
Go to Luke if you would. Go back to Luke if you kept your place in Luke. Luke chapter 14.
First of all, let me point this out that this is how we know that the Nazarite vow is no longer applicable in the New Testament.
Because sometimes people think like, can I just take a Nazarite vow today? Well listen Paul, no.
Maybe your heart's in the right place, but part of the Nazarite vow was all these sacrifices.
So unless you're going to take all these, you know, this he lamb and this you lamb and one ram and unleavened bread to some priest,
this is not something that's applicable anymore.
So that's one way that we know that the Nazarite vow has been done away with.
But here's a point that I want you to understand is that this was something that was done voluntarily.
When somebody, remember we talked about this morning, when somebody chose to consecrate themselves unto the Lord.
Draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you.
But here's the point, when someone chose to consecrate themselves unto the Lord, they better count the cost.
Because at the end of this thing, it's going to cost them something.
You understand what I'm saying?
And spiritually it's the same way.
If you're going to consecrate yourself unto the Lord, I'm not talking about money,
but you better count the cost and realize that it's going to cost you something to serve Jesus.
This is why the Bible says in Luke 14, I love this passage of scripture, I go to it often, Luke 14, the Bible says,
Jesus says, Luke 14 verse 28,
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sit it not down first and counteth the cost?
Whether we have sufficient to finish it.
The word sufficient means enough to finish it.
Less happily, what happily means by chance, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it,
all that behold it begin to mock him.
And look, this is the Christian life of a lot of people.
I often tell people, before you come to a place like Verity Baptist Church, you better count the cost.
Because we've had a lot of people who started to build and they didn't count the cost.
They didn't realize what it was going to cost them.
And less happily, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him.
And look, throughout the years we've had people come to this church and they start making decisions,
start making choices, and then their family starts attacking them.
And I tell people, count the cost.
Because when you quit three years later, when you quit four years later, when you quit five years later,
you're going to be the joke.
You're going to be the punchline of the joke.
Oh so and so, they were in a cult.
They will begin to mock him.
Look at verse 30, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.
Look at verse 31.
Here, I love this passage because there's two illustrations.
One has to do with building and one has to do with battling.
Look at verse 31, Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth,
whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand,
or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth off an ambassage and desireth conditions of peace.
So he says, look, before you start building, you better count the cost.
And before you go to battle, you better count the cost.
And I like it because, look, we're like Nehemiah, we're both building and battling.
You know, oftentimes people, they want to put our church in like one category.
They think that churches can only be in one category.
They're like, you're either building or you're battling.
Which one are you, Verity Baptist Church?
Are you building?
Are you like growing, reaching people with the gospel, doing discipleship, doing follow-up, training soul-winning?
Soul winners? Are you building?
Because there's some fundamental Baptists that are building.
But a lot of those fundamental Baptists that are building, they're not battling.
They're not fighting.
They're not preaching against anything.
They got a lot, you know, they're pushing soul-winning, they're pushing the bus ministry,
they're pushing a lot of growth, but good, praise the Lord, evangelism, but they're not battling.
Then you got this other side, which they're battling, right?
They're fighting and they're preaching hard sermons and they're,
I mean, there's few of those nowadays, but you still have, even in the old IV,
you have some that are battling, but they're not building.
They're not growing.
And sometimes people come to our church and they're like, oh, this is a battling church.
But look, let me explain them to you.
We're building and battling.
We're doing both.
So yeah, we're going to have 100 soul winners out this week, knocking doors,
following up on new converts, bringing them to church.
We're going to have a discipleship class and we're going to disciple new converts and new believers
because we're building, but I'm still going to preach on alcohol and still going to preach against the queers
and still going to preach hard preachings because we're battling as well.
You say, which one are you doing, building or battling?
We're doing both.
We're building and battling and we've counted the cost and you better count the cost
because let me explain something to you.
It's going to cost you something to serve Jesus.
Now look, it's cost me something and sometimes it's just, sometimes I want to tell people like,
why don't you just burn the bridges behind you and just jump in?
Because like for me, it's not even an option.
You say, pastor, you know, are you ever going to do anything different?
Like I don't have any, look, let me explain to you.
I'm unemployable.
This is the only gig I've got.
It's either sink or swim.
You know, there's nothing else for me to do.
Do you understand that?
It's cost me something and I'm okay with that.
I mean, look, what was it?
Just Friday.
I mean, I'm talking about two days ago.
My wife and I, we decided like, oh, let's take the kids out for ice cream.
So we take the whole family out to Coldstone.
We're at Coldstone just sitting there having ice cream and we're just this nice family.
It's me and of course my beautiful wife and I've got these six kids and two teenage boys
and they're dressed nice and my four lovely daughters and we're just walking through our car
and some black guy comes out and that has nothing to do with the story.
I've just given you the description and he starts talking really loud to me and he's like,
are you that preacher?
Are you Pastor Jimenez from Verity Baptist Church?
And I'm like, yeah.
And he's like, oh, yeah, I thought I recognized you.
And he even said it was weird because he's like, I thought I recognized your kids.
And I thought that was odd.
And then he's like, and then he starts saying all these weird things about like, well, you're Baptist.
Do you believe that you need Baptist for, forget how he worded, but he's like, to finish it off.
I'm like, finish what off?
And I knew what he was saying, but I just wanted him to say it.
He was like, salvation.
I'm like, no, I don't believe that.
And then he says, well, you know, in Mark 16 it says that he that believeth and is baptized,
you know, shall be saved.
And I said, well, it's funny how you quote that verse, but you don't quote the rest of it
when it says, and he that believeth not shall be damned.
Because believing is what, not believing is what condemns you.
And he's like, oh, well, you know, and then he starts bringing up the homos.
He's like, well, you preach against the homos or whatever.
And he's talking really loud.
And to my mind, in my mind, my thought is like, when people come up to me and they talk loud,
I feel like they're trying to intimidate me.
And here's the thing, like, I talk loud for a living.
Like, it's my spiritual gift.
So to me, I'm like, this guy's like trying to intimidate me.
So as soon as he says something about homosexuals, I'm like, get away from me, you faggot.
And we're like in the, just right outside of Cold Stone, like in the parking lot.
I'm like, get away from me, you queer.
I said, get away from my children, you pedophile.
And like, he starts like, you know, and then there's like a guy in a dress and he's like, uh, you know,
and my kids are laughing and my wife's like, okay, honey, you know, we can go now.
I'm just like yelling, you fag, you queer.
And you know, you say, why do you do that?
You know, here's my, my thought is this, like, I'm a small guy, but if you want to fight me, you better come out swinging.
You think you're going to yell at me, I'm going to yell back.
You're going to fight me, and look, let me just say this, whether it's out there or in here,
you want to fight past three minutes, you better come out swinging.
Because I will, you know, I will punch and I will pull hair and I will bite you.
I'll do whatever I got to do.
But you know, my thought is this, like, because I don't know these freaks, what they're going to do.
So like, to me, I'm just like making a big scene because then everyone's looking.
So then I'm just like preaching a sermon. I'm like, you faggot, you know, and then, but also people are looking at us.
So now, like, if this guy tries to talk to us, I'm like, there's all these eyewitnesses, you know?
And then I'm sure tons of people in that party are like, oh, praise the Lord, I'm glad somebody's hanging in.
Because, you know, most people are normal. I think most people that like ice cream are normal.
The point that I'm making is that you better count the cost, you know?
And if you're going to stand up in our day and age and preach the way that we preach,
you know, I just have to realize that I might have some freak try to yell at me.
And my kids were like, man, it's been a long time since you've been recognized, you know?
And I'm like, yeah, no. But my kids love it. They're all laughing or whatever, you know, making faces at the guy or whatever.
But look, in the Christian life, you better count the cost.
You better just realize that, like, if you're going to stand up for Christ, it's going to cost you something.
And it's going to, and this Nazarite vow, it costs them something.
Go back to Numbers chapter 6. Look at verse 20.
And the priest shall waive them for a waive offering.
And you know, like everywhere my wife and I go, we're just constantly running into, like, church people.
And a lot of times it's ex-church people, so that makes it even more awkward.
So I'm just thinking to myself, like, I bet there's like some very Baptist church person.
I mean, there's probably always someone at Cold Stone from our church.
But anyway, I didn't see anybody.
Numbers 6.20, and the priest shall waive them for a waive offering before the Lord.
This is holy for the priest, which the waived breast and the heaved shoulder,
and after that the Nazarite may drink the wine.
Verse 21, this is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed and of his offerings unto the Lord,
for his separation beside that his hand shall get according to the vow which he vowed,
so he must do after the law of his separation.
So just real quickly, I want you to notice that at verse 21, we kind of end this section on the Nazarite vow.
But that's not the end of the chapter.
So there's these verses at the end of chapter 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.
Let me just kind of touch on these real quickly as we finish up tonight.
And in verses 22 through 27, we have what's commonly referred to as the priestly blessing or the Aaronic blessing.
And this is a blessing that Aaron, the high priest or the priest, was to give to the children of Israel.
Notice that they're in verse 22.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying,
On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee.
I want you to notice these beautiful verses, verses 24 through 27.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace, and they shall put my name upon the children of Israel,
and I will bless them. So this, of course, the Aaronic blessing.
And usually if someone if I go to visit someone at the hospital and I want to read a passage of scripture
and pray for them or somebody asked me to pray over them or blessing.
This is a passage of scripture that I often use.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.
And I want you to notice real quickly if you go back to Leviticus 9.
Just real quickly, there are numbers if you just flip back to Leviticus 9 and verse 22. Leviticus 9, 22.
Leviticus 9, 22. And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people.
Because in Leviticus 9, we were told that Aaron lifted up his hands and blessed the people.
Leviticus 9, 22. I want you to get this picture.
And Aaron, the high priest standing before the congregation, and Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them.
And came down from offering of the sin offering and burnt the offering and peace offering.
So when Aaron is giving these sacrifices, he's standing before the people.
He holds up his hands. He lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them is what the Bible says.
But we don't really know. In Leviticus, we're not told what the blessing was.
But in number 6, we're told that the blessing, verse 23, speak unto Aaron and unto his son saying,
On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel.
So this was probably the blessing that Aaron gave.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.
Now I just want you to notice real quickly just as we finish up that there are different statements that are made here.
In fact, there are six different statements. The Lord bless thee and keep thee.
The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.
So there are six statements that are made but these six statements could be divided into three different categories.
And these are the three categories of God's blessing because this is Aaron blessing the children of Israel
and this is the blessing that the Lord told him to give.
Now I want you to notice the three categories of the Lord's blessing.
The first is the category of his favor because notice number 624.
The Lord bless thee and usually when we think of the word blessing we think that God's going to do nice things for us.
Look at verse 25, the last part of verse 25, and be gracious unto thee.
So part of God's blessing is God's favor upon our lives.
When he blesses us he's gracious unto thee.
And this is something that you should pray for and when I pray for the blessing of God
I often pray that God would give us favor with both God and men.
It is the favor of God that God wants to be gracious towards you.
He wants to bless you. This is what we normally think regarding blessings
and it is that God is doing nice things for us and giving us nice things.
But I want you to notice that's not the only category of blessing.
The first category is the favor of God but the second category is also the fortification of God.
Or we could say it is the protection of God.
Because look at the last part of verse 24, and keep thee.
Look at the last part of verse 26, and give thee peace.
So part of God's blessing is not just that he blesses you and he's gracious to you
but part of it is that he keeps you and he gives you peace.
That he keeps you safe and secure and he allows you to have peace in your life.
That's a part of God's blessing as well.
And we should be praying that God continues to bless us and give us peace and to keep us in his favor.
And then the third part of God's blessing, so the first part is his favor, the second part is his fortification
and then the third part is his fellowship.
Because look at verse 25, the Lord make his face shine upon thee.
Look at verse 26, the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee.
Those terms have to do with us getting close to God, us getting to know God.
Part of God's blessing is that he makes his face shine upon thee and that he lifts up his countenance upon thee.
And you know the Bible says that it is a blessing to get close to God.
The Bible says that those that are pure are going to see God.
So it kind of makes sense because this might seem random like it's tagged on at the end of this chapter
but I think the reason that it's tagged on at the end of this chapter is because those who took of the Nazarite vow
and those that put effort to consecrate and separate themselves in the Lord
would have the blessing of God upon their lives.
And what would that look like?
Well, he would be gracious to them. It'd be his favor.
He would keep them and give them peace. It would be his fortification.
And he would make his face to shine upon them and lift up his countenance towards them and it would be his fellowship.
So when we think of the blessings of God, don't just think of the favor of God.
Think about the fact that he also keeps us safe.
Think about the fact that safety is of the Lord.
Think about the fact that God knows and God knows best.
And sometimes God keeps us from things and he gives us peace and that should be acknowledged as a blessing.
And also don't forget about the fellowship of God.
That we get to know God and we get to read his word and we get to fellowship with him
and the Lord will make his face shine upon us.
That's why I had to not go to prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for this chapter.
And there's so much in this chapter and I pray that you would help us as we learned it today.
That we would apply the things that we've learned and that we would choose to consecrate ourselves unto the Lord and separate ourselves unto the Lord.
And Lord, we pray that you would just continue to bless our church and help our church.
Help us to acknowledge these blessings from you.
Your favor, your fortification, and also your fellowship.
We love you. In the massless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
We're going to have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
And of course I want to thank you for being here tonight.
We appreciate you coming out to church.
And if you would not mind, if you could just look around your area where you sat
and kind of just make sure that all the hymn books get put back and maybe pick up whatever things that maybe your kids might have put up.
Just helps the cleaners in the morning and we would appreciate you helping us with that.
If there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know.
Please don't forget to keep baby John Radari in prayer.
And he is now actively in chemotherapy.
And we're not sure how that's all going to end up.
But just be praying for him.
Pray for Brother Sean, Miss Ava, of course.
And tomorrow we're going to be starting a GoFundMe account for them.
So just keep your eye out for that.
And if you want to help them financially, then just keep an eye out for that.
And the way that you'll know about that is make sure you're on our text list.
And make sure you're on our email list.
If you're not, make sure you get on our text list.
Because once we open it up, we'll send it out that way.
And then I know many of you have been asking how you can help.
And that's one way that you could help them out at this time.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
My brother RJ, come up and sing the final song.
Okay, now let's grab our song and turn to page 361.
Song number 361.
It's a song we haven't sang in a while.
So if you know it, sing it out.
If you don't, let's learn it together, all right?
Song number 361, sing it out on the first.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Oh, how great was the feeling that will change a night to day
So in sorrow and in black eyes
Don't forget to pray and sing it out on the second.
When you met with great temptation
Did you think to pray
By his stunning love and limit
Did you claim the Holy Spirit
As your guidance say
Oh, how great was the feeling that will change a night to day
So in sorrow and in black eyes
Don't forget to pray
I hope you guys are familiar with it now.
Let's sing it out on the third.
When your heart was filled with anger
Did you think to pray
Did you think for grace, my Father
That you might forgive another
Who had cost your way
Sing it out.
Oh, how great was the feeling
That will change a night to day
So in sorrow and in black eyes
Don't forget to pray
Let's finish strong on the last
When four trials came upon you
Did you think to pray
When your soul was bowed in sorrow
Don't know what did you follow
At the gates of day
Oh, how great was the feeling
That will change a night to day
So in sorrow and in black eyes
Don't forget to pray
Amen. Great singing, brother. Nate, Deacons, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer?
Gerald Baltimore, I thank you for the sermon tonight.
Thank you for coming back home tonight.
Thank you for taking the time to hear this play.
This is just another section around
Brother Tom and Dana and their baby boy.
Thank you for coming home tonight.
Amen.