WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:06.000 on you, it just means there's a famine. Sometimes famines exist for a variety of reasons. You 00:06.000 --> 00:11.400 have situations come up where maybe you're low on funds. Maybe you are low on certain 00:11.400 --> 00:15.360 needs that you have. The bills aren't getting paid. And maybe it's just an opportunity for 00:15.360 --> 00:20.560 you to step out in faith, to pray, to work. And God wants to show himself strong on your 00:20.560 --> 00:26.360 behalf. And so it's important for us that when we experience a famine, which of course, 00:26.360 --> 00:27.960 this particular time. 00:28.000 --> 00:29.880 No one knows what a famine is, right? 00:29.880 --> 00:34.180 We have more than three square meals, okay? 00:34.180 --> 00:35.700 And obviously the Bible tells us, 00:35.700 --> 00:37.960 I've not seen the righteous forsaken 00:37.960 --> 00:39.900 nor his seed beg and bread. 00:39.900 --> 00:42.420 And with that in mind, we need to make sure 00:42.420 --> 00:44.300 that when we experience a time of need, 00:44.300 --> 00:47.820 it's an indication to us that we need to have faith in God, 00:47.820 --> 00:49.820 look for opportunities to serve God 00:49.820 --> 00:53.900 and to be provided for while not disobeying the Lord, right? 00:53.900 --> 00:56.000 Not going out of the promised land. 00:56.000 --> 00:58.340 leaving the boundaries of God's will. 00:58.340 --> 01:00.340 And keep in mind that Giroir, 01:00.340 --> 01:02.300 though it's a little further from where 01:02.300 --> 01:03.740 Isaac and Abraham were, 01:03.740 --> 01:06.640 it's still geographically in that same region 01:06.640 --> 01:08.340 that's considered the promised land. 01:08.340 --> 01:11.720 You know, Isaac would have done wrong to go to Egypt, okay? 01:12.000 --> 01:18.720 Egypt in the Bible is a picture of the world. It's a picture of the world system and often it's a picture of you know when a 01:19.040 --> 01:24.560 Believer goes there it kind of indicates that this person is backslidden or they're having a relapse of faith 01:25.000 --> 01:28.000 And we had this in times past with Abraham, right? 01:28.000 --> 01:30.300 There was a famine, he goes to Egypt, 01:30.300 --> 01:33.240 and of course he ends up picking up Hagar there, 01:33.240 --> 01:36.640 he took his nephew there, he ended up developing 01:36.640 --> 01:39.140 an Egyptian appetite, so to speak, 01:39.140 --> 01:41.540 which worked against him later on. 01:41.540 --> 01:44.380 And so obviously you can go to Egypt, 01:44.380 --> 01:46.180 you can get out of the church, 01:46.180 --> 01:47.720 get out of the will of God, 01:47.720 --> 01:49.360 in order to provide for your needs 01:49.360 --> 01:51.220 because life is just so hard, 01:51.220 --> 01:53.000 but just know this, it's gonna come with a cost. 01:53.000 --> 01:55.600 There's a price to be paid. 01:56.100 --> 02:02.520 And so God does not want Isaac to repeat that same mistake that his father made by going 02:02.520 --> 02:03.840 down into Egypt. 02:03.840 --> 02:10.960 So he commands him to not go to Egypt and to stay, or at least geographically, still 02:10.960 --> 02:13.880 stay in that same promised land region known as Gerar. 02:13.880 --> 02:19.560 It says in verse number two, the Lord appeared unto him and said, go not down into Egypt, 02:19.560 --> 02:21.960 dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. 02:21.960 --> 02:24.080 So God already knows, I know where you go. 02:24.100 --> 02:31.480 going down, right? Because Egypt is directionally south and spiritually south as well. He knows 02:31.480 --> 02:35.200 that's where he's going. He knows that's where he's headed. And so he speaks to him and he 02:35.200 --> 02:40.160 tells him, don't go there. Dwell in Giarar. Keep the commandment of the Lord. Because 02:40.160 --> 02:44.200 he says there, dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Okay? 02:44.700 --> 02:49.100 It's important for us as Christians that when we're going through a tribulation, a trial, 02:49.100 --> 02:54.660 a time of famine, we allow God to continue to speak to us through His Word, right? 02:54.660 --> 03:01.480 We allow God and we listen to God by reading the Bible and not get off kilter and off track. 03:01.480 --> 03:06.240 We still need to adhere to the statutes and the commandments of the Lord in order to gain 03:06.240 --> 03:09.620 proper direction for the decisions that we have to make. 03:10.100 --> 03:14.900 And so, you know, the Lord tells Isaac not to go to Egypt. 03:14.900 --> 03:17.400 And so, you know, famines exist in the will of God. 03:17.400 --> 03:20.700 And just know that even when there's famines, God can still provide, right? 03:20.700 --> 03:22.600 He has them dwell in Giroir. 03:22.600 --> 03:25.000 And as we're going to see later, he ends up blessing them. 03:25.000 --> 03:30.100 I mean, he, you know, ends up having exceeding many flocks and possessions. 03:30.100 --> 03:31.800 And he sows and he reaps. 03:31.800 --> 03:34.700 I mean, God blesses them in a tremendous way in Giroir, 03:34.700 --> 03:38.000 showing us that even if there is a famine, God can still... 03:38.100 --> 03:42.900 bless us, you can still provide for us. The principle there is that if we seek first the 03:42.900 --> 03:48.140 kingdom of God and His righteousness, these things, and of course Matthew 6 when it says 03:48.140 --> 03:51.700 these things is referring to the food and raiment, these things shall be added unto 03:51.700 --> 03:57.340 you. But it takes faith. And here's how you step out in faith. You stay in the promised 03:57.340 --> 03:58.340 next time. 03:58.800 --> 04:04.080 Do as God tells you to do and you stay in the promised land and so, you know don't allow 04:04.560 --> 04:08.200 The famines the trials and the difficulties the necessities of life 04:08.800 --> 04:13.360 to demonstrate to you that somehow, oh man, you just need to make a drastic decision. 04:13.360 --> 04:15.280 You need to just get out of church. 04:15.280 --> 04:19.180 You just need to get a third job that will take you out of church. 04:19.180 --> 04:20.720 You just need to make sure you do this. 04:20.720 --> 04:24.840 You know, when you start thinking that way and you don't allow the Word of God to kind 04:24.840 --> 04:28.920 of, you know, determine your direction, you're going to go down, you're going to go down 04:28.920 --> 04:32.820 into Egypt, you're going to pick up baggage, you're going to get a Hagar, you're going 04:32.820 --> 04:36.720 to develop, you know, worldly appetites in your children, in your... 04:36.800 --> 04:41.880 your nephews or whoever is with you and you're going to pay for it in the long run. 04:41.880 --> 04:45.920 And so God provides in Gierar, he shows himself strong. 04:45.920 --> 04:50.880 And then what we see here, so that's verses 2 all the way to 6, of course we have God 04:50.880 --> 04:55.520 reiterating the promises to Isaac that he gave to his father. 04:55.520 --> 04:59.000 down to verse six, verse seven, excuse me. 04:59.400 --> 05:07.400 Now, he goes to Gerar, but unfortunately, he continues to attempt to repeat the same sins of his father. 05:07.400 --> 05:11.400 So, the first attempt was when he tried to go to Egypt, right? 05:11.400 --> 05:18.400 God stopped him, but then he repeats another mistake that his father made, which is lying. 05:18.400 --> 05:24.400 There's actually two sins. One of them is that he lies, and the second one is that he's a coward. 05:24.400 --> 05:26.640 Okay, look at verse seven. 05:26.800 --> 05:30.840 It says, and the men of the place asked him of his wife. 05:30.840 --> 05:33.320 And he said, she is my sister. 05:33.320 --> 05:35.800 For he feared to say she is my wife, 05:35.800 --> 05:37.960 lest said he, the men of the place 05:37.960 --> 05:40.000 should kill me for Rebecca, because she 05:40.000 --> 05:41.920 was fair to look upon. 05:41.920 --> 05:43.960 You're like, oh man, this is bad. 05:43.960 --> 05:45.960 Yeah, it is pretty bad, especially considering 05:45.960 --> 05:48.600 that at least Abraham was telling a half-sure. 05:49.500 --> 05:50.340 Right? 05:50.340 --> 05:52.940 You know, when Abraham said this of his wife, Sarah, 05:52.940 --> 05:54.980 he, you know, he was being deceptive, 05:54.980 --> 05:57.100 but there was still a little bit of truth to it, 05:57.100 --> 05:59.260 because it was his half-sister. 05:59.260 --> 06:00.340 That was kind of weird, but you know, 06:00.340 --> 06:01.420 that was just what they did. 06:01.420 --> 06:06.220 You know, the son of, excuse me, the daughter of his father. 06:06.220 --> 06:07.700 And so, but in this particular case, 06:07.700 --> 06:09.100 this is not true at all. 06:09.300 --> 06:13.540 Okay, you know Rebecca, I think she's like a cousin removed 06:13.540 --> 06:15.020 or something like that, second cousin removed, 06:15.020 --> 06:18.060 I don't remember exactly how that's stated, 06:18.060 --> 06:20.140 but it's definitely not his sister. 06:20.140 --> 06:21.860 So he just blatantly lies. 06:21.860 --> 06:23.500 Now what's the principle that we can learn here? 06:23.500 --> 06:25.500 You know, what we do in moderation, 06:25.500 --> 06:27.380 our children can often do in excess. 06:27.500 --> 06:30.500 Our followers, our children can often do an excess. 06:30.500 --> 06:32.940 If we provide a bad example, you know, 06:32.940 --> 06:35.600 it is likely the percentage is higher 06:35.600 --> 06:39.180 for our children to repeat those same mistakes as well. 06:39.180 --> 06:42.380 And you know, where did Isaac get this idea anyways? 06:42.380 --> 06:44.340 Where did he get this idea to say, 06:44.340 --> 06:46.680 Rebecca's my sister if not from his father 06:46.680 --> 06:49.680 who said this about Sarah, okay? 06:49.680 --> 06:53.480 So you know, they're asking him of his wife. 06:53.480 --> 06:53.600 you 06:53.700 --> 06:57.300 And instead of saying like, yeah, this is my wife. 06:57.300 --> 06:59.580 And you know what, let me just be honest with you. 06:59.580 --> 07:02.060 It's better for you to just to tell the truth, 07:02.060 --> 07:06.020 be honest, and not allow your imaginations to just run wild 07:06.020 --> 07:07.380 with you, right? 07:07.380 --> 07:10.260 Because we don't really know if anything was really 07:10.260 --> 07:12.900 going to happen to Isaac. 07:12.900 --> 07:14.860 They could have been like, oh, my bad. 07:14.860 --> 07:15.780 Good looking wife. 07:15.780 --> 07:16.280 You know? 07:16.280 --> 07:16.500 Thanks for watching! 07:16.600 --> 07:18.040 You got to, you pick the winner. 07:18.040 --> 07:20.240 Like, hey, you hit the lottery. 07:20.240 --> 07:21.640 Good for you, or something. 07:21.640 --> 07:24.600 But the first reaction he has is just like, she's my sister. 07:24.600 --> 07:25.720 And then he tells Rebecca, like, hey, 07:25.720 --> 07:26.640 I don't want these guys to kill me, 07:26.640 --> 07:29.520 so I need you to kind of play along with this, OK? 07:29.520 --> 07:30.720 Apparently she's fair to look upon. 07:30.720 --> 07:34.240 When it says fair to look upon means that she is attractive, 07:34.240 --> 07:37.440 she's beautiful, and Isaac recognizes that. 07:37.900 --> 07:41.420 along with the men of Gierar, and this is why they're in the situation that they're in. 07:41.420 --> 07:42.060 Verse 8 says, 07:42.060 --> 07:47.740 And it came to pass when he had been there a long time, that Abimelek, king of the Philistines, 07:47.740 --> 07:52.540 looked out at a window and saw, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 07:52.540 --> 07:58.220 Now, this Abimelek is not the same Abimelek that his father Abraham had encountered years before. 07:58.600 --> 08:00.360 It's a different Abimelek. 08:00.360 --> 08:02.600 Abimelek simply means father of a king. 08:02.600 --> 08:06.960 It's kind of used as a term to identify somewhat of an office. 08:06.960 --> 08:08.600 So this is a different Abimelek. 08:08.600 --> 08:12.240 And what we have here is that, you know, he's there for a long time. 08:12.240 --> 08:16.400 They're keeping up this charade, this lie that this is his sister. 08:16.400 --> 08:17.840 It's not his wife. 08:17.840 --> 08:19.360 But then Abimelek... 08:19.500 --> 08:21.340 He's looking outside of a window, 08:21.340 --> 08:23.300 and the Bible says here that Isaac is sporting 08:23.300 --> 08:24.140 with Rebecca's wife. 08:24.140 --> 08:27.000 This doesn't mean they're playing soccer, okay? 08:27.000 --> 08:28.540 They're not practicing the World Cup. 08:28.540 --> 08:31.180 They're not playing football or something like that. 08:31.180 --> 08:33.380 Sporting means like he's playing with her. 08:33.900 --> 08:39.100 Okay, and the implication here is that you know he's basically 08:40.140 --> 08:45.200 You know he's basically just making out with his wife possibly we don't know exactly what but obviously 08:45.780 --> 08:48.940 Whatever he was doing with his wife out in public that was appropriate 08:49.140 --> 08:54.280 You know it let it but we're gonna like hey wait a minute. You know you guys are not siblings 08:54.280 --> 08:58.280 Okay, cuz siblings don't do that except for in the south no offense Ben you know 08:59.100 --> 09:02.340 You know, this is not a regular occurrence here. 09:02.340 --> 09:05.700 So obviously, sporting means that he is being physically 09:05.700 --> 09:09.460 affectionate with his wife, not just a hug, not just a kiss 09:09.460 --> 09:09.980 on the cheek. 09:09.980 --> 09:12.700 Obviously, there's other things going on there. 09:12.700 --> 09:15.460 Abimala is like, OK, bro, the jig is up. 09:15.460 --> 09:17.540 I know that this is not your sister. 09:17.540 --> 09:19.220 It must be your wife. 09:19.220 --> 09:19.980 And you know, it's good. 09:19.980 --> 09:23.660 I'm glad Isaac is being affectionate towards his wife 09:23.660 --> 09:26.060 as he should, as all husbands should. 09:26.400 --> 09:31.400 Verse 9 says, And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife. 09:31.400 --> 09:33.400 And I'll sayest thou, she is my sister. 09:33.400 --> 09:37.400 And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. 09:37.400 --> 09:40.400 And Abimelech said, Oh, you know, she's like, Lest I die for her. 09:40.400 --> 09:42.400 Oh, man, what does this say? 09:42.400 --> 09:43.400 It's like cowardice. 09:43.400 --> 09:45.200 He was like, well, you know. 09:45.300 --> 09:46.820 You are the savior of the body. 09:46.820 --> 09:49.120 You probably should have just died for it if that was the case. 09:49.120 --> 09:51.380 Verse 10 says, and Abimelek said, what is this 09:51.380 --> 09:52.740 that thou has done unto us? 09:52.740 --> 09:57.060 One of the people might lightly have lying with thy wife, 09:57.060 --> 09:59.980 and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. 09:59.980 --> 10:01.460 So this kind of shows us that when 10:01.460 --> 10:07.980 we decide to deceive and to lie, to save our rear ends, 10:07.980 --> 10:11.060 just know that it could end up affecting other people as well. 10:12.000 --> 10:16.480 Because Abimelek, he's not necessarily a righteous person, as in he's a believer. 10:16.480 --> 10:21.160 He's not a believer in the God of the Bible, but he's obviously somewhat of a moral man 10:21.160 --> 10:25.160 to the degree that he understands that adultery is wrong, right? 10:25.160 --> 10:27.080 That it's wicked, it's wrong. 10:27.080 --> 10:32.180 And he's specifically saying here, like, your deception could have cost us guiltiness. 10:32.180 --> 10:34.500 We could have gotten a lot of trouble for this. 10:34.500 --> 10:37.600 You know, guiltiness could have come upon us. 10:37.600 --> 10:39.760 And obviously, I don't know if this is the case. 10:40.000 --> 10:46.320 to imply this that maybe there was a law within GERAR that adulterers were put to death. 10:46.600 --> 10:52.240 Okay, how do we know that because it says in verse 11 of Bimli charged all his people saying he that touched at this man's wife 10:52.400 --> 10:58.420 This man or this or his wife shall surely be put to death and I do think that that is in the context of adultery 10:58.640 --> 11:03.680 Okay, we don't know for sure that that's what the case is as far as the laws and gear are concerned 11:04.080 --> 11:06.480 But this man obviously understood. This is a 11:07.120 --> 11:14.600 Grievous sin it's a criminal act and your lie could have got us in a lot of trouble because someone could have slept with your wife 11:14.600 --> 11:18.840 committed adultery with your wife, not knowing she was your wife, and they could have suffered 11:18.840 --> 11:25.080 the consequences because of that. It says in verse 12, then Isaac sowed in that land, 11:25.720 --> 11:32.760 and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. So this kind of shows us 11:32.760 --> 11:38.040 again, kind of what we saw with Abraham in times past, that there's people that can be blessed 11:38.040 --> 11:40.920 despite the fact that they have some serious flaws. 11:41.200 --> 11:45.000 And I would say that that's the reason I've been blessed. 11:45.000 --> 11:46.700 That's the reason our church has been blessed. 11:46.700 --> 11:48.800 That's the reason you've been blessed, is because of the fact, 11:48.800 --> 11:51.900 it's not because we're perfect, it's not because we're great, 11:51.900 --> 11:54.400 it's not because, you know, we have no flaws, 11:54.400 --> 11:57.900 it's because God is great. He's gracious to us, He's merciful, 11:57.900 --> 12:00.400 and we are all He has to work with. 12:00.600 --> 12:05.500 Right? And so don't think, oh man, I'm being blessed because I'm such a great guy. 12:05.500 --> 12:11.600 No, often it's God's blessing despite those attributes, despite those characteristics, despite those flaws. 12:11.600 --> 12:14.400 Because Isaac is a clearly just he's a coward. 12:14.400 --> 12:17.600 He has the propensity to lie just like his father. 12:17.600 --> 12:20.700 But yet because he sowed there, God was with him. 12:20.700 --> 12:23.000 He allowed him to reap a great harvest. 12:23.000 --> 12:28.600 He sowed in Atlantis as a verse 12 and received in the same year a hundredfold. 12:28.600 --> 12:34.360 the Lord blessed him. Verse 13, the man waxed great, meaning he grew to be great, and went 12:34.360 --> 12:40.800 forward and grew until he became very great. So this is a verse indicating that Isaac is 12:40.800 --> 12:45.120 becoming very successful. He has a lot of possessions in the midst of the famine, by 12:45.120 --> 12:47.320 the way. So famine going on. 12:47.800 --> 12:53.800 He's succeeding. He has a great harvest. He's growing great. It says he's going forward. 12:53.800 --> 12:58.520 You know, he's progressing. The Lord is with him. Everything's going great. Verse 14 says, 12:58.520 --> 13:05.160 For he had great possessions of flocks and possession of herds and great store of servants. 13:05.400 --> 13:06.800 and the Philistines envied him. 13:06.800 --> 13:09.240 So aside from the fact that he has, 13:09.240 --> 13:12.640 he's multiplying his possessions, his harvests, 13:12.640 --> 13:14.000 things of that nature, you know, 13:14.000 --> 13:16.240 he even has people working for him. 13:16.240 --> 13:18.720 So he's a man of great stature. 13:18.720 --> 13:20.400 He's a man of great influence. 13:20.400 --> 13:22.680 Obviously he's building somewhat of an enterprise there 13:22.680 --> 13:25.280 in Giroir, and you know, the Lord is with him. 13:25.280 --> 13:27.480 Now, what is the result? 13:27.800 --> 13:31.960 What happens when you begin to succeed financially, 13:33.000 --> 13:35.840 spiritually, or in any manner of life? 13:35.840 --> 13:37.140 What's gonna happen? 13:37.140 --> 13:39.700 Well, we see here in verse 14 13:39.700 --> 13:42.540 that the Philistines envied Isaac. 13:44.340 --> 13:45.940 You can't have some success 13:45.940 --> 13:48.360 without a little bit of friction with others. 13:48.360 --> 13:48.900 Right? 13:49.700 --> 13:52.740 Someone is going to view your success. They're going to look at what you're doing 13:53.240 --> 13:57.560 They're going to look at the raise that you got they're going to look at the amount of souls that you've won 13:57.660 --> 14:01.180 They're going to look at the success that you're experiencing the spiritual success 14:01.700 --> 14:05.200 Monetary success whatever may be and they are going to envy you 14:06.100 --> 14:10.880 Because success in others in some produces envy and others 14:11.020 --> 14:16.100 Okay, and you know you can't expect to succeed in any area of life without having some haters 14:17.100 --> 14:21.580 That's just the common denominator there that's always going to take place. 14:21.580 --> 14:25.780 You're always going to have someone envying you for the things that you do. 14:25.780 --> 14:26.780 And what is envy? 14:26.780 --> 14:30.740 Envy is when someone feels a sense of discontentment. 14:31.100 --> 14:34.940 and maybe even some anger over the success of others. 14:34.940 --> 14:37.380 They want someone else's success. 14:37.380 --> 14:41.780 They want their success. 14:41.780 --> 14:43.940 They want their position. 14:43.940 --> 14:45.340 They want what they have. 14:45.340 --> 14:46.860 They want their status. 14:46.860 --> 14:47.780 That's what they want. 14:47.780 --> 14:49.900 And so they have this envy in their heart 14:49.900 --> 14:52.860 towards that individual, not because that individual got it 14:52.860 --> 14:53.820 unrighteously. 14:54.100 --> 14:58.940 Not because, oh, this person just got there by wicked means. 14:58.940 --> 15:01.740 It's just because they're lazy. 15:01.740 --> 15:04.840 An envious person is a lazy individual, my friends. 15:04.840 --> 15:07.740 And obviously, you know, there's a spectrum. 15:07.740 --> 15:08.940 There's people who are just lazy. 15:08.940 --> 15:11.340 There's people who are extremely lazy and extremely wicked. 15:12.200 --> 15:14.520 The point being is that they're envious. 15:14.520 --> 15:15.320 And you know what? 15:15.320 --> 15:18.200 This is going to happen in a successful marriage. 15:18.200 --> 15:20.520 It's going to happen in a successful church. 15:20.520 --> 15:22.560 It's going to happen with successful Christians. 15:22.560 --> 15:24.080 It's going to happen at your job. 15:24.080 --> 15:28.400 You're always going to have haters who don't like the success 15:28.400 --> 15:29.880 that you are experiencing. 15:29.880 --> 15:32.640 And you can't do anything about it. 15:32.640 --> 15:34.160 There's nothing you can do about it, 15:34.160 --> 15:36.200 because you can't change someone else's heart. 15:37.300 --> 15:44.020 Now, what we have to guard ourselves against is having envy over other people's success, right? 15:44.700 --> 15:48.380 You know, we see someone being successful at our job, 15:48.380 --> 15:51.100 you know, in their finances, in their marriage, 15:51.100 --> 15:53.980 or spiritually, whatever it may be, at their church. 15:53.980 --> 15:57.100 We can't have this heart of envy say, 15:57.100 --> 15:59.020 man, well, I deserve that. 15:59.020 --> 16:00.860 Why does that person get to have that? 16:00.860 --> 16:03.820 Why does this person get to have this level of success, 16:03.820 --> 16:06.300 this level of attention, this much money, 16:06.300 --> 16:08.300 that kind of car, this, that, and the other, 16:08.300 --> 16:09.900 that kind of wife, that kind of husband? 16:09.900 --> 16:10.700 That's called envy. 16:11.200 --> 16:14.320 And we need to make sure that we protect ourselves against that. 16:14.320 --> 16:16.500 Because at the end of the day, envy 16:16.500 --> 16:20.600 is a sin that, yes, even Christians can fall into. 16:20.600 --> 16:21.300 Right? 16:21.400 --> 16:24.440 You can have the propensity, because of our flesh, 16:24.440 --> 16:27.640 to envy other people over things that you don't have. 16:27.640 --> 16:30.120 And obviously, it's closely related to covetousness. 16:30.120 --> 16:34.160 Covetousness is more closely related to wanting the things 16:34.160 --> 16:35.480 that other people have. 16:35.480 --> 16:39.240 Envy has more to do with wanting to have 16:39.240 --> 16:42.360 their position, their status. 16:42.360 --> 16:45.120 And so we need to be aware of envy. 16:45.120 --> 16:47.000 It is the rottenness of the bones. 16:47.900 --> 16:54.980 Envy can drive people to cruelty it can drive people to wrath and anger and slander and all manner of 16:55.340 --> 17:03.040 Wickedness because of the fact that you know we have things we accomplish things that they can't or they won't okay 17:03.580 --> 17:08.060 You know and to those who are envious you know just get off your rear end and do something 17:08.780 --> 17:11.460 You know if you don't like the success of others 17:12.100 --> 17:14.100 Okay, that's lame for not liking it 17:14.600 --> 17:21.720 But if it's making you so angry and upset and discontent with yourself because you just suck, 17:21.720 --> 17:25.720 then don't suck and go do something extraordinary, right? 17:25.720 --> 17:31.960 Go put in the work, go, you know, and you know, I have people message me all the time on Instagram 17:31.960 --> 17:36.200 and it's just amazing the kind of things that people are willing to message you. 17:36.200 --> 17:38.600 Just, just embarrassing stuff. 17:38.900 --> 17:41.900 You know, oh, you don't deserve this kind of following. 17:41.900 --> 17:45.700 You know, you need to post this because this is what, you know, 17:45.700 --> 17:47.340 you have this following for. 17:47.340 --> 17:51.260 It's just like, well, why don't you grow your account to 180,000 followers 17:51.260 --> 17:53.860 and then you can do what you want on that. 17:53.860 --> 17:55.900 Don't try to piggyback on me. 17:55.900 --> 17:57.660 Don't try to hate on me. 17:57.660 --> 18:01.340 Don't try to make me, you know, try to do what you want me to do with my account. 18:01.340 --> 18:04.260 And if you don't like the success that I'm experiencing, well, tough luck. 18:04.260 --> 18:04.900 Stop sucking. 18:06.300 --> 18:10.460 Don't produce sucky material, you know, crappy content. 18:11.700 --> 18:13.500 You know, if you want that attention, 18:13.500 --> 18:14.800 if you want that amount of followers, 18:14.800 --> 18:17.220 you want the likes, you want the influence, 18:17.220 --> 18:18.060 then go do it. 18:18.060 --> 18:19.820 What's stopping you from doing it? 18:19.820 --> 18:22.580 Nothing other than your suckiness. 18:22.580 --> 18:23.700 Okay? 18:23.700 --> 18:25.180 And it's true. 18:25.180 --> 18:26.500 It's absolutely true. 18:26.500 --> 18:28.660 You know, everyone is a Monday morning quarterback. 18:28.660 --> 18:29.000 And I'm not gonna lie, 18:29.780 --> 18:29.000 I'm not gonna lie, 18:30.620 --> 18:29.000 I'm not gonna lie, 18:31.460 --> 18:29.000 I'm not gonna lie, 18:32.300 --> 18:29.000 I'm not gonna lie, 18:33.140 --> 18:29.000 I'm not gonna lie, 18:33.980 --> 18:29.000 I'm not gonna lie, 18:34.820 --> 18:29.000 I'm not gonna lie, 18:29.100 --> 18:34.300 You know, in on social media, this is the way you should be doing it. 18:34.300 --> 18:37.100 You go on their account, two followers. 18:37.100 --> 18:38.600 This is how you should be stating that. 18:38.600 --> 18:41.500 You go on their account, five followers, 20 followers. 18:41.500 --> 18:44.700 Oh, I'm really going to, you know, and then you have people that message you, 18:44.700 --> 18:46.400 and obviously some of these are bots. 18:46.400 --> 18:49.300 But you know, people message you, it's like, hey, you really want to grow your account. 18:49.300 --> 18:50.700 Let me just show you how you can get it. 18:50.700 --> 18:52.900 You go on their account, 100 followers. 18:52.900 --> 18:53.500 Oh, great. 18:53.500 --> 18:56.200 I'm really going to take advice from someone who has 100 followers or something. 18:56.200 --> 18:56.700 You know. 18:58.200 --> 19:00.600 It's called envy, okay? 19:00.600 --> 19:02.340 We need to guard ourselves from envy, 19:02.340 --> 19:03.900 and how do we do that? 19:03.900 --> 19:05.740 Well, obviously, you know, number one, 19:05.740 --> 19:08.400 we gotta learn contentment with what we have. 19:08.400 --> 19:10.280 And contentment in its simplest form 19:10.280 --> 19:14.840 is just being satisfied with the current state 19:14.840 --> 19:16.320 that you're in, right? 19:16.320 --> 19:18.560 Current finances that you have, 19:18.560 --> 19:20.680 this life situation that you're experiencing, 19:20.680 --> 19:22.060 the possessions you have. 19:22.060 --> 19:23.620 But you know what, just because you're satisfied 19:23.620 --> 19:25.320 doesn't mean you can't have more. 19:25.700 --> 19:28.740 Or does it mean you shouldn't aspire to have more, 19:28.740 --> 19:31.500 but you should be happy in whatsoever state you're in? 19:31.500 --> 19:33.500 That's what contentment is, right? 19:33.500 --> 19:35.980 So, you know, contentment is being satisfied 19:35.980 --> 19:39.580 with where you're at, but having the ambition 19:39.580 --> 19:41.740 to endeavor to work hard, put in the effort 19:41.740 --> 19:44.020 to get more if you have to, if you want to. 19:44.020 --> 19:44.100 you 19:44.400 --> 19:47.900 You know, if you have the aspirations to become greater, 19:47.900 --> 19:52.220 to make more money at your job, to have greater influence, 19:52.220 --> 19:55.800 just don't let it drive you to become an envious person, 19:55.800 --> 19:58.020 to compare yourself with others, 19:58.020 --> 20:01.500 to try to tear down others in order to elevate yourself. 20:01.500 --> 20:05.020 And look, I compare myself with my peers all the time. 20:05.020 --> 20:06.780 Yeah, you're right, I do. 20:06.780 --> 20:10.320 But not to hate on them, but to glean wisdom from them. 20:10.320 --> 20:10.400 you 20:11.000 --> 20:14.840 I compare it to what am I doing that this person is doing 20:14.840 --> 20:17.440 that they're doing better. 20:17.440 --> 20:19.600 What am I doing in this particular area 20:19.600 --> 20:21.440 that maybe I'm not succeeding in? 20:21.440 --> 20:23.440 I need to look at what my past or friends are doing. 20:23.440 --> 20:25.680 I need to look at what other people are doing online 20:25.680 --> 20:28.680 and kind of see what they're doing and kind of emulate that 20:28.680 --> 20:30.440 and not hate on them for it. 20:31.000 --> 20:33.080 That's safe, but you know a lot of people are just like, 20:33.080 --> 20:35.040 well let me just go ahead and tear them down 20:35.040 --> 20:36.840 to bring them down to my level, 20:36.840 --> 20:39.240 since I can't climb the ladder of success. 20:39.500 --> 20:41.000 That's not right to do. 20:41.000 --> 20:43.000 That is a hater mentality. 20:43.000 --> 20:44.400 That's what envious people do. 20:44.400 --> 20:49.500 Envious people make, you know, Facebook groups hating on a 20:49.500 --> 20:51.400 particular successful movement. 20:51.400 --> 20:52.700 It's getting a lot of people saved. 20:52.700 --> 20:53.900 It's growing their churches. 20:53.900 --> 20:54.900 It has great preaching. 20:54.900 --> 20:56.700 It's getting a lot of influence out there. 20:56.700 --> 20:59.000 That's what envious people do, because they can't do it. 20:59.000 --> 20:59.700 OK? 20:59.700 --> 21:01.400 You know, I'll give you this example. 21:01.400 --> 21:04.200 You know, a couple months ago, I don't remember how long it 21:04.200 --> 21:06.500 was, you know, I did the podcast with the Hodge Twins, 21:06.500 --> 21:07.000 right? 21:07.000 --> 21:07.100 you 21:07.900 --> 21:09.060 It was an awesome podcast. 21:09.060 --> 21:10.580 I loved the podcast. 21:10.580 --> 21:13.900 It was fun, a little random at times, of course. 21:13.900 --> 21:15.740 I went to a conference earlier this week, and someone was 21:15.740 --> 21:16.980 like, I know you. 21:16.980 --> 21:18.980 You're from the Hotch Twins. 21:18.980 --> 21:20.500 I'm like, well, I'm from a church. 21:20.500 --> 21:22.980 But yes, I was on the Hotch Twins podcast. 21:22.980 --> 21:23.500 It was great. 21:23.500 --> 21:25.420 We got a lot of views. 21:25.420 --> 21:28.060 There's clips on there that hit over 100,000 views. 21:28.060 --> 21:28.500 It's great. 21:28.500 --> 21:29.340 It's awesome. 21:29.340 --> 21:31.420 And we even got people in church who were reached through 21:31.420 --> 21:33.020 the Hotch Twins. 21:33.020 --> 21:34.260 So it was great. 21:34.400 --> 21:37.560 But then you have a group of haters who, 21:37.560 --> 21:39.020 because they can't influence anybody 21:39.020 --> 21:41.460 because they're just a bunch of weirdos, 21:41.460 --> 21:44.120 just a bunch of haters, they have to promote their garbage 21:44.120 --> 21:48.080 on the comments section of that podcast. 21:48.080 --> 21:48.580 Why? 21:48.580 --> 21:51.460 Because they have to use my audience and my influence 21:51.460 --> 21:54.740 in order to get an audience. 21:54.740 --> 21:56.380 Because they can't get it themselves 21:56.380 --> 21:59.300 because they're too weird. 21:59.300 --> 22:00.220 You know? 22:00.220 --> 22:01.540 They can't make a video. 22:02.100 --> 22:05.860 that hits 100,000, 200,000, 300,000, 500,000, 22:05.860 --> 22:08.220 a million views to get the word out, 22:08.220 --> 22:10.100 because they just suck. 22:10.100 --> 22:11.940 So it's just like, well, out of envy, 22:11.940 --> 22:13.620 then we need to go on the comment section 22:13.620 --> 22:17.380 of this person's video, of this person's successful video, 22:17.380 --> 22:20.500 and put in the comment section, hey, go watch this stupid movie 22:20.500 --> 22:23.220 or whatever. 22:23.220 --> 22:26.780 This gay movie that no one even cares about. 22:26.780 --> 22:28.500 And you go on the comment section, no one's. 22:28.700 --> 22:30.900 giving them a thumbs up, no one's really acknowledging them, 22:30.900 --> 22:32.960 they don't really care, they're just like, 22:32.960 --> 22:33.800 if anything, they're just like, 22:33.800 --> 22:35.460 well, what does this have to do with Jews, you know? 22:35.460 --> 22:38.760 Like, and in fact, I had someone contact me 22:38.760 --> 22:41.800 and said like, hey, I saw that, this movie, you're in it. 22:41.900 --> 22:45.900 and it seems to be like, you know, exposing some pastor, 22:45.900 --> 22:48.400 but honestly, I saw five minutes of it, 22:48.400 --> 22:50.140 and I was just like, this looks stupid. 22:50.140 --> 22:52.000 Who didn't get spanked when they were younger? 22:52.000 --> 22:53.700 And they said, and they said this, 22:53.700 --> 22:55.200 I think it's a Jewish Psyop too, 22:55.200 --> 22:57.700 because the director sounds Jewish. 22:57.700 --> 23:02.600 So like, I want nothing to do with it, you know? 23:02.600 --> 23:04.100 And these aren't new, these are people who 23:04.100 --> 23:05.900 reach through these podcasts and stuff. 23:06.900 --> 23:10.980 You know, the point that I'm making here is that it comes with the territory. 23:10.980 --> 23:13.460 Envy comes with the territory. 23:13.460 --> 23:15.780 You just gotta make sure it's not on your end. 23:16.500 --> 23:18.800 You gotta make sure that you don't feel envy 23:18.800 --> 23:20.900 towards another team leader, 23:20.900 --> 23:23.460 towards another team, another family in our church, 23:23.460 --> 23:25.840 another marriage in our church, 23:25.840 --> 23:30.800 another Christian who's experiencing success in our church. 23:30.800 --> 23:32.900 You need to make sure you temper yourself 23:32.900 --> 23:36.640 and allow the success of others, listen to me, 23:36.640 --> 23:39.400 to provoke you to greater heights. 23:40.420 --> 23:41.260 Okay? 23:41.300 --> 23:47.060 Allow other people to be an example unto you of what you should be trying out in doing. Okay, and 23:47.660 --> 23:53.340 So success can often breed envy the Philistines are envying this guy 23:53.700 --> 23:59.620 You know because of his wife because of his his possessions his success that God is blessing him with 24:00.100 --> 24:02.000 Look what it goes on to say here 24:02.900 --> 24:07.860 Verse 15, for all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham 24:07.860 --> 24:13.540 his father, the Philistines had stopped them and filled them with earth. 24:13.540 --> 24:14.540 So what does envy do? 24:14.540 --> 24:21.180 It causes people to not like you and then it also moves them to try to hinder your success. 24:21.180 --> 24:24.460 Try to fill up the common section with nonsense. 24:25.000 --> 24:27.600 with earth, with nonsense, right? 24:27.600 --> 24:32.440 With just bad content, with slander in lies and nonsense. 24:32.440 --> 24:34.040 This is what the Philistines are doing. 24:34.040 --> 24:36.920 So instead of the Philistines saying, you know what? 24:36.920 --> 24:40.120 Maybe we should sow as much as he did. 24:40.120 --> 24:43.020 Maybe we should put in the work to be blessed of God. 24:43.020 --> 24:45.360 They're like, well, actually, why don't we just fill up 24:45.360 --> 24:47.600 these wells that belong to him with earth 24:47.600 --> 24:50.080 to hinder his success? 24:50.080 --> 24:50.760 It's godless. 24:50.760 --> 24:51.000 you 24:52.300 --> 24:57.500 Says in verse 16, and by the way, I love verse 15 because it says, 24:57.500 --> 25:00.620 for all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father. 25:00.620 --> 25:07.020 You know, obviously what Isaac is doing is he is utilizing the wells that were once dug 25:07.020 --> 25:11.500 by his forefathers, specifically by his dad, right? And I'll get more into that just a bit. 25:11.500 --> 25:16.780 I love the concept of the wells being dug here. Verse 16 says, in Abimelech said unto Isaac, 25:16.780 --> 25:17.980 Go from us! 25:18.500 --> 25:21.300 For thou art much mightier than we. 25:21.300 --> 25:23.900 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley 25:23.900 --> 25:25.780 of Gierar, and dwelt there. 25:25.780 --> 25:29.860 So we don't exactly know what Abimelech's intentions were 25:29.860 --> 25:30.820 here. 25:30.820 --> 25:34.140 We don't know if he also feels envy 25:34.140 --> 25:37.740 or if he agrees with the Philistines in this area. 25:37.740 --> 25:40.780 He is removing Isaac from the land, 25:40.780 --> 25:43.820 and he's using the pretext, oh, you're mightier than us. 25:43.820 --> 25:44.320 OK? 25:44.700 --> 25:48.200 And the reason I say we don't know is because towards the end of the story, 25:48.200 --> 25:51.200 he comes back and he wants to make peace with Isaac. 25:51.200 --> 25:55.200 And so it could be that he thought like, hey, you've just outgrown us. 25:55.200 --> 25:59.200 Okay? You've outgrown us, and so it's time for you to move on 25:59.200 --> 26:01.700 and get your own thing going on or whatever. 26:01.700 --> 26:02.700 And that would be good. 26:02.700 --> 26:07.200 But obviously, you know, we could infer into the text here 26:07.200 --> 26:12.700 that Abimelek was provoked or highly motivated by the Philistines who envied Isaac. 26:13.000 --> 26:18.280 prayer like and get this guy out of here you know I mean we don't like this guy and he's he's sowing 26:18.280 --> 26:24.920 in our land he's being successful we don't like it and so we see that look at verse 18 and Isaac 26:24.920 --> 26:30.440 digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father 26:30.440 --> 26:33.400 for the philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham 26:34.000 --> 26:38.160 And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 26:38.160 --> 26:43.720 Now, I love this concept because Abraham in his time put in a lot of work. 26:43.720 --> 26:47.280 I mean, it requires a great amount of work. 26:47.280 --> 26:53.320 It's very arduous to create wells and dig them, make them function in order to utilize them. 26:53.320 --> 26:55.160 And so water is life. 26:55.160 --> 26:59.520 You need this for your livestock, your cattle, for yourself. 26:59.520 --> 27:01.120 And Abraham put in a lot of work. 27:01.120 --> 27:01.960 But the Philistines... 27:02.000 --> 27:04.760 because they're lame. 27:04.760 --> 27:07.160 They obviously have ought against Abraham. 27:07.160 --> 27:08.760 They filled up the wells with earth. 27:08.760 --> 27:11.920 Instead of actually utilizing them, 27:11.920 --> 27:13.640 they could have just used them. 27:13.640 --> 27:17.080 Instead, they're being spiteful, and they're filling up 27:17.080 --> 27:18.320 the wells with earth. 27:18.320 --> 27:21.920 So what does Isaac do after Abraham is long gone? 27:21.920 --> 27:23.360 He goes back to those wells again 27:23.360 --> 27:25.520 and begins to dig them up. 27:25.520 --> 27:28.320 And in a spiritual sense, the spiritual principle 27:28.320 --> 27:29.360 that we can learn here. 27:29.800 --> 27:33.880 is that our spiritual forefathers, so to speak, 27:33.880 --> 27:36.520 they fought a lot of battles. 27:36.520 --> 27:39.080 They dug many wells, right? 27:39.080 --> 27:42.040 And then you have these godless Philistines, 27:42.040 --> 27:44.680 these haters of God, false prophets, 27:44.680 --> 27:48.280 who are filling up the wells with earth. 27:48.280 --> 27:50.120 They're kind of packing it out. 27:50.120 --> 27:52.840 They're trying to hinder that living water 27:52.840 --> 27:54.440 from coming out of the well, right? 27:54.440 --> 27:54.500 you 27:55.000 --> 27:56.620 Throughout the generations, there's 27:56.620 --> 27:58.020 doctrines that are fought for. 27:58.020 --> 28:01.120 You think of the fight for the King James Bible. 28:01.120 --> 28:03.420 That's something that our forefathers fought for. 28:03.420 --> 28:06.820 Soul winning, being a fundamental Baptist, 28:06.820 --> 28:08.460 the fundamentals of the faith. 28:08.460 --> 28:12.300 And then over time, because we experience success 28:12.300 --> 28:15.160 in those areas, we become a little lenient. 28:15.160 --> 28:17.300 And I think it happens with every generation. 28:17.300 --> 28:18.060 And what happens? 28:18.060 --> 28:21.060 Philistines come in and they fill up those wells with earth. 28:22.600 --> 28:28.700 Then it requires for a new generation to arise and dig those wells again. 28:28.700 --> 28:32.920 It requires a new generation of fundamental Baptists. 28:33.200 --> 28:39.200 Come and say all right. Let's dig up the wells again of soul winning right let's dig up the wells again of the King James 28:39.200 --> 28:41.520 Bible let's dig up the wells again of 28:42.140 --> 28:43.960 You know him 28:43.960 --> 28:50.640 Let's dig up the wells again of just local New Testament churches that preach hellfire and 28:51.280 --> 28:58.220 damnation and instead of being so practical we're teaching a lot of doctrine we're digging up the wells of end times prophecy 28:58.220 --> 29:01.160 We're digging up the wells of just living a whole 29:01.200 --> 29:04.680 and sanctify his life, we're just digging up these wells 29:04.680 --> 29:06.640 that our forefathers dug, but they were filled up 29:06.640 --> 29:08.280 by the Philistines. 29:08.280 --> 29:09.120 And you know what? 29:09.120 --> 29:11.360 We're gonna put in a lot of work in our lifetime. 29:11.360 --> 29:12.580 But let me tell you, once we're gone, 29:12.580 --> 29:15.120 they're gonna get filled up again. 29:15.120 --> 29:16.800 They're gonna get filled up again, 29:16.800 --> 29:19.380 some lame Philistine out of envy 29:21.020 --> 29:24.460 is gonna come and try to bury the heritage, 29:24.460 --> 29:28.000 bury the work that was put years prior to that, right? 29:28.300 --> 29:30.540 But it's okay, because Isaac's gonna come, 29:30.540 --> 29:32.140 and he's gonna dig again the wells. 29:32.600 --> 29:35.900 And you know what? We as Isaac are to do the same. 29:35.900 --> 29:41.100 We need to make sure that we are reviving the doctrines of the faith. 29:41.100 --> 29:45.100 We are reviving the practices of the local New Testament church. 29:45.100 --> 29:51.700 We are reviving missions and soul winning and hard preaching and, you know, systematic doctrine 29:51.700 --> 29:56.900 and, you know, preaching against sin, preaching against the abominations of the land, 29:56.900 --> 30:00.500 making sure that we're looking at the wells that were dug in times... 30:00.600 --> 30:03.320 past and revive them once again. 30:03.320 --> 30:05.000 You know, one well that we need to dig up again 30:05.000 --> 30:07.040 is just church attendance. 30:07.040 --> 30:09.880 You know, after 2020, you have, you know, 30:09.880 --> 30:13.680 the whole COVID thing and people just get really comfortable 30:13.680 --> 30:16.400 with just live streams and just staying at home 30:16.400 --> 30:17.640 because it's just a lot easier. 30:17.640 --> 30:20.440 You could eat chips off your belly and have soda 30:20.440 --> 30:23.200 and just hang out at home and watch church like that. 30:23.200 --> 30:24.700 But you know, that's not God's will. 30:25.100 --> 30:29.300 I was says not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is 30:29.440 --> 30:32.920 But exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching 30:33.620 --> 30:39.780 No, brother. We are the church. No, you're not if you're out there in your own house. That's not church 30:40.600 --> 30:47.620 Church is you assembling together with a group of baptized saved believers to hear the word of God being preached 30:48.100 --> 30:52.740 Okay, and let me just remind you a church is not the building we need to meet in a building for sure 30:53.560 --> 30:58.480 But it turns out the building, you know, this is what Catholic I'd say. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you go go ahead meet your strip mall 30:58.480 --> 31:02.500 Oh, yeah, you know while you mean in your cathedral and just split Hill wide open anyways 31:04.600 --> 31:06.600 You know, you're just a white it's sepulcher 31:08.200 --> 31:11.340 Beautiful on the outside but just full of dead men's bones on the inside 31:12.800 --> 31:16.480 You know, we need to make sure we revive and make sure we keep alive. 31:16.480 --> 31:19.000 We dig the wells of church attendance. 31:19.000 --> 31:21.080 We dig the wells of the Romans Road. 31:21.080 --> 31:21.580 Amen. 31:22.400 --> 31:24.440 Preaching the gospel, the Romans road, 31:24.440 --> 31:26.200 we don't need to be cute about it. 31:26.200 --> 31:31.660 We don't need to give some sort of cartoon illustration. 31:31.660 --> 31:34.800 And you can watch this video, and you can get saved that way. 31:34.800 --> 31:36.380 And I'm not saying people haven't gotten saved that way, 31:36.380 --> 31:36.920 but you know what? 31:36.920 --> 31:39.840 We just need to dig up the wells of just opening our mouths 31:39.840 --> 31:42.220 boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel. 31:42.220 --> 31:44.120 OK? 31:44.120 --> 31:45.640 And so it's a great principle here. 31:45.640 --> 31:47.840 So we need to train the next generation. 31:47.840 --> 31:48.200 Thank you. 31:48.300 --> 31:50.180 to understand like I'm not going to always be here. 31:50.180 --> 31:53.340 You need to fight these battles after I'm gone. 31:53.340 --> 31:55.020 You need to dig up these wells. 31:55.020 --> 31:56.820 And it almost seems like a losing battle. 31:56.820 --> 31:58.180 It's like, man, I'm digging up all these wells 31:58.180 --> 32:00.820 just to know that they're going to be filled up with earth 32:00.820 --> 32:02.500 again after I'm gone. 32:02.500 --> 32:03.100 But you know what? 32:03.100 --> 32:04.300 It's necessary. 32:04.300 --> 32:05.300 It's necessary. 32:05.300 --> 32:05.500 Why? 32:05.500 --> 32:07.980 Because the next generation has to fight for something. 32:07.980 --> 32:09.460 They've got to fight for something. 32:09.460 --> 32:10.420 And so it's important. 32:10.420 --> 32:11.300 And thank God. 32:11.300 --> 32:13.220 You have Isaac coming here. 32:13.220 --> 32:15.860 And I'm sure as he's digging, he's appreciating Dad. 32:16.700 --> 32:19.340 He's like, man, my dad put in a lot of work for this. 32:19.340 --> 32:20.580 This is a lot of work. 32:22.900 --> 32:25.600 Look what it says in verse 19, 32:25.600 --> 32:27.680 and Isaac's servants digged in the valley 32:27.680 --> 32:30.240 and found there a well of springing water. 32:30.240 --> 32:33.340 And the herdmen of Girard did strive with Isaac's herdmen, 32:33.340 --> 32:35.880 saying, the water is ours. 32:35.880 --> 32:37.620 And he called the name of the well Ezek, 32:37.620 --> 32:39.560 because they strove with him. 32:39.560 --> 32:43.520 So throughout this project of digging again the wells, 32:43.520 --> 32:47.220 you see that each of them are named a particular name 32:47.220 --> 32:48.160 that means something. 32:48.160 --> 32:50.020 So Ezek means contention. 32:50.500 --> 32:55.500 Meaning that, you know, when a generation decides to dig up a well, 32:55.500 --> 32:58.500 they're going to experience some contention from others, right? 32:58.500 --> 33:04.500 We cannot revive a particular well that has living water without having some opposition. 33:04.800 --> 33:06.300 There's always going to be opposition. 33:06.300 --> 33:08.180 There's always going to be contention. 33:08.180 --> 33:09.420 There's always going to be people who say, well, 33:09.420 --> 33:10.540 this water is ours. 33:10.540 --> 33:12.500 So it takes fighting. 33:12.500 --> 33:18.060 It takes facing the opposition, making sure that we dig 33:18.060 --> 33:20.060 as we're fighting, and so forth. 33:20.060 --> 33:23.020 It says in verse 21, and they dig another well. 33:23.020 --> 33:24.900 And so for that one also. 33:24.900 --> 33:26.780 And he called the name of it Sitna. 33:27.400 --> 33:29.400 And sitna simply means opposition. 33:29.400 --> 33:33.080 So the first two is just referring to striving. 33:33.080 --> 33:35.080 It's referring to opposition. 33:35.080 --> 33:36.640 It's basically addressing the fact 33:36.640 --> 33:40.520 that you can't revive these things without having 33:40.520 --> 33:42.640 some friction with other people. 33:42.640 --> 33:44.200 You're always going to have people 33:44.200 --> 33:46.520 who don't like what you do. 33:46.520 --> 33:49.880 You can't expect to live the Christian life and 33:49.880 --> 33:50.100 Thanks for watching! 33:50.200 --> 33:54.080 Have all your T's crossed and your I's dotted 33:54.080 --> 33:56.160 and everything's good and your doctrine's great 33:56.160 --> 33:58.440 without having someone fight you on it. 33:58.440 --> 34:00.280 It's gonna happen. 34:00.280 --> 34:02.280 You're gonna have a sit-na and you're gonna have an isic. 34:02.280 --> 34:03.600 You're gonna have contention 34:03.600 --> 34:05.320 and you're gonna have opposition. 34:05.320 --> 34:07.440 A great ineffectual door is open unto me 34:07.440 --> 34:09.120 and there are many adversaries. 34:09.120 --> 34:10.240 Just the way it works. 34:13.320 --> 34:16.000 This is what the Bible says, fight the good fight of faith. 34:16.000 --> 34:18.000 The Christian life is a life of fighting, right? 34:19.000 --> 34:22.440 We understand we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, 34:22.440 --> 34:27.000 against the rules of the darkness of this world. But there is fighting involved, and these 34:27.000 --> 34:32.120 principalities have human agents. Sometimes it requires for us to fight against them as well. 34:32.120 --> 34:37.400 Verse 22 says, and he removed from thence and digged another well, and for that they strove not. 34:38.100 --> 34:40.940 And he called the name of it Rehaboth, and he said, 34:40.940 --> 34:43.780 for now the Lord hath made room for us, 34:43.780 --> 34:46.820 and we shall be fruitful in the land. 34:46.820 --> 34:49.820 So I love this because the first two is just kind of like a headache. 34:49.820 --> 34:51.180 It's just stressful. 34:51.180 --> 34:52.020 You're striving. 34:52.020 --> 34:53.180 You're fighting. 34:53.180 --> 34:54.500 That's our water. 34:54.500 --> 34:56.860 People are just giving you a hard time. 34:56.860 --> 34:59.140 You're just like, dude, shut up. 34:59.140 --> 35:00.560 Get some water here. 35:00.560 --> 35:02.340 And people are opposing you. 35:02.340 --> 35:03.980 But then we stick with it. 35:05.000 --> 35:07.000 What happens? You become fruitful. 35:07.000 --> 35:11.000 And you get to a point where you experience a season 35:11.000 --> 35:13.000 where there's no striving at all. 35:13.000 --> 35:16.000 Now obviously this doesn't mean that Isaac will not 35:16.000 --> 35:19.000 experience any type of strife thereafter 35:19.000 --> 35:21.000 because we obviously know the story. 35:21.000 --> 35:24.000 But in this particular era, he's like, oh there's no more striving. 35:24.000 --> 35:26.000 God has made room for us. 35:26.000 --> 35:30.000 So you know, we can picture this as like the Christian life as well. 35:30.400 --> 35:33.720 In the Christian life, when you initially get saved, 35:33.720 --> 35:36.600 you have a lot of digging to do. 35:36.600 --> 35:38.760 You have a lot of digging in your conduct. 35:38.760 --> 35:40.160 You've got a lot of digging in your knowledge 35:40.160 --> 35:41.040 of the Word of God. 35:41.040 --> 35:44.280 You've got to dig into the Bible to get that living water. 35:44.280 --> 35:47.160 You've got to study to show thyself approved unto God. 35:47.160 --> 35:49.760 You've got to dig deep in order to correct your conduct 35:49.760 --> 35:51.440 and your conversation. 35:51.440 --> 35:52.840 But there comes a point where you 35:52.840 --> 35:55.160 mature in the Christian faith, not that you've arrived. 35:56.300 --> 35:59.480 But where you can look back and say, man, I've come a long way. 35:59.480 --> 36:00.860 God has made room for us. 36:00.860 --> 36:03.620 And how do we know when that's the case, 36:03.620 --> 36:06.220 when you become fruitful? 36:06.220 --> 36:08.380 When you begin to produce fruit. 36:08.380 --> 36:08.980 Why? 36:08.980 --> 36:11.820 Because fruit grows where the stream flows. 36:11.820 --> 36:13.100 Amen? 36:13.100 --> 36:16.300 He's digging the well, and then fruit begins to spring out, 36:16.300 --> 36:18.020 and it begins to produce fruit. 36:18.020 --> 36:21.300 And it's just like, oh, man, it was worth it. 36:21.300 --> 36:21.800 It's great. 36:21.800 --> 36:22.000 you 36:22.600 --> 36:26.600 He's made room for us verse 23 and he went up from thence to brashiba 36:27.240 --> 36:31.480 And the lord appeared unto him the same night and said i am the god of abraham thy father fear not 36:31.880 --> 36:37.400 For I am with thee and I will bless thee and multiply thy seed for my servant abraham's sake so notice 36:38.120 --> 36:40.120 That throughout the striving 36:40.280 --> 36:42.280 Throughout the difficulty 36:42.280 --> 36:44.200 God's always been there 36:44.200 --> 36:46.200 He's just always been there folks 36:47.240 --> 36:49.000 You know god didn't disappear 36:49.300 --> 36:53.200 He was still in the midst, even in the middle of 36:53.200 --> 36:57.700 fighting and opposition and strife and contentions 36:57.700 --> 37:01.980 and people envying him, you know, God is always there. 37:01.980 --> 37:03.640 And you know, I've said this before, 37:03.640 --> 37:04.640 but you know, he doesn't have, 37:04.640 --> 37:07.140 he's not obligated to prove that he's there. 37:07.140 --> 37:08.820 We just gotta believe it. 37:09.780 --> 37:11.280 That's what it says, right? 37:11.280 --> 37:13.660 And after all of it's done, when he's fruitful, 37:13.660 --> 37:16.120 God shows up and he's just like, I'm with you. 37:17.300 --> 37:19.300 I am with thee. 37:19.580 --> 37:22.820 I am the God of Abraham thy father fear not for I am with thee 37:22.820 --> 37:28.860 I will bless thee and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake so he reiterates the promise and 37:29.260 --> 37:33.020 I will say that this takes a level of maturity to just understand 37:33.740 --> 37:36.100 When you're going through a trial doesn't mean the gods not there 37:37.200 --> 37:41.440 If you're experiencing opposition, it doesn't mean that God's not there. He is present and He is 37:41.440 --> 37:45.440 with you. All things taken that you're right with God and you don't have sin in your life and so 37:45.440 --> 37:51.520 forth. Verse 25 says, and he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched 37:51.520 --> 37:58.400 his tent there and their Isaac's servants digged a well. Then Abimelek went to him from Giroir 37:59.040 --> 38:03.600 and Ahuzath, one of his friends, and Phycol, the chief captain of his army. 38:04.700 --> 38:11.020 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? 38:12.060 --> 38:14.780 They said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. 38:15.420 --> 38:19.500 We said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us in thee, 38:19.500 --> 38:23.420 and let us make a covenant with thee. So obviously, you know, Isaac feels a little 38:23.420 --> 38:28.220 bit of resentment here, you know, maybe towards the Bimalek, maybe towards the guys that are with him, 38:28.220 --> 38:30.060 just in general with the men of Gierar. 38:30.800 --> 38:35.680 Because when he was experiencing success, they just kind of removed him, right? 38:35.680 --> 38:42.320 It's just like get out of our country and you know a bimalak said that you know, oh you're mightier than us 38:42.320 --> 38:44.320 But obviously Isaac didn't take it that way 38:44.920 --> 38:51.160 He took it as you you hate me. Okay, that's why you removed me envious of me. You hated me 38:51.200 --> 38:54.080 That's why you removed me and you know a bimalak 38:54.840 --> 38:56.700 Seems to be very humble here 38:56.900 --> 38:58.140 And what does he say? 38:58.140 --> 39:01.060 We saw that the Lord was with thee. 39:01.060 --> 39:01.620 And you know what? 39:01.620 --> 39:06.060 Let me just say this is that you're going to have people 39:06.060 --> 39:10.940 in your life, that in the beginning stages of your 39:10.940 --> 39:13.380 Christian life, they're going to envy you. 39:13.380 --> 39:15.580 They're going to remove you from their company. 39:15.580 --> 39:17.260 They're going to hate on you. 39:17.260 --> 39:19.060 They might criticize you, your family, 39:19.060 --> 39:20.620 friends, or whatever. 39:20.620 --> 39:22.740 They don't like what you believe and whatnot. 39:23.300 --> 39:26.100 And it's going to take some time. 39:26.200 --> 39:27.600 And then you know what it's going to take? 39:27.700 --> 39:31.840 It's going to take you digging some wells, being fruitful, 39:31.940 --> 39:33.240 and then somewhere along down the line, 39:33.340 --> 39:34.640 a biblical comes back and is like, 39:34.740 --> 39:38.140 we see that the Lord is with you. 39:38.240 --> 39:43.180 We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. 39:43.280 --> 39:45.620 They say like, oh man, it wasn't just like a phase. 39:46.600 --> 39:52.440 It's not just like, oh, he's just going through like a, just like a small period of just, 39:52.440 --> 39:56.840 he just got into this church thing. She just got into this church thing. She'll get over it. 39:56.840 --> 40:01.160 He'll get over it. No, he's saying like, okay, now we know that God's with you. 40:01.800 --> 40:08.040 That God's blessed you. Right. It's the fruitfulness that testified that the Lord was with him. 40:08.040 --> 40:10.920 And you know what? Let me just tell you this. Like this sounds awesome, 40:10.920 --> 40:12.600 but sometimes it does take years though. 40:13.800 --> 40:16.720 It takes years. 40:16.720 --> 40:18.140 You know, he said, how do you know? 40:18.140 --> 40:22.580 Well, I'm going on 20 years saved next year. 40:22.580 --> 40:26.000 And you know, people are just starting to come around. 40:26.000 --> 40:29.040 People are just starting to come around. 40:29.040 --> 40:32.160 You know, people are finally starting to realize, like, 40:32.160 --> 40:34.800 all right, God's with you. 40:34.800 --> 40:37.200 It's like, what's all that stuff you were saying before, 40:37.200 --> 40:37.700 huh? 40:37.700 --> 40:37.800 you 40:39.600 --> 40:41.480 It's all that nonsense you're talking. 40:41.480 --> 40:45.080 That's what I want to say. 40:45.080 --> 40:49.000 But they realize, oh man, God's obviously blessing you. 40:49.000 --> 40:52.120 His hands on you, God's using you. 40:52.120 --> 40:57.400 And Abimlek humbles himself, and he says, hey, 40:57.400 --> 41:00.560 let there be now an oath betwixt us, and betwixt us and thee. 41:00.560 --> 41:02.000 Let us make a covenant with thee. 41:02.000 --> 41:02.800 What does he say? 41:02.800 --> 41:04.200 Let's read verse 29. 41:04.200 --> 41:05.640 That thou will do us no hurt. 41:05.640 --> 41:05.900 Thank you. 41:06.200 --> 41:10.440 As we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, 41:11.720 --> 41:17.640 then I sent thee away in peace. Thou art now blessed of the Lord." Now that point is debatable, 41:17.640 --> 41:24.360 right? But what is Abimelek asking for? He's like, I want peace. Okay. I want there to be peace 41:24.360 --> 41:31.720 between us. And you know, Isaac did the right thing. He made peace. You know, he could have been like... 41:32.200 --> 41:36.000 No, I'm mightier than you remember. 41:36.000 --> 41:38.760 I'm going to go ahead and just take over your entire land. 41:38.760 --> 41:40.880 I'm just going to destroy you. 41:40.880 --> 41:41.480 You're done. 41:41.480 --> 41:43.640 Look what you guys did to my dad's wells. 41:43.640 --> 41:45.840 I've been spending all this time digging them back up. 41:45.840 --> 41:46.200 You know what he did? 41:46.200 --> 41:48.320 He made peace with them. 41:48.320 --> 41:49.960 And you know what? 41:49.960 --> 41:56.600 The temptation, years from now, is for you to kind of rub 41:56.600 --> 41:57.840 their mistakes. 41:57.840 --> 41:58.000 you 41:58.100 --> 42:02.260 and their bad assessment of you in their face. 42:02.260 --> 42:04.260 It's a temptation. 42:04.260 --> 42:06.740 It's my temptation. 42:06.740 --> 42:07.100 But you know what? 42:07.100 --> 42:10.900 God has called us to be peacemakers, though. 42:10.900 --> 42:13.820 And at the end of the day, if someone humbles themselves 42:13.820 --> 42:17.420 before us and asks for an apology, 42:17.420 --> 42:20.540 they ask for forgiveness, they recognize 42:20.540 --> 42:22.140 the error of their ways. 42:22.500 --> 42:29.700 We should just like leap to the opportunity to forgive that person and restore relationships, amen? 42:29.700 --> 42:37.500 I just can't, I just have so much hurt, I have so much, you know these people, they separated me from their company 42:37.500 --> 42:44.900 and you know, my brother said this and my aunt said this and you know the people from my previous church did this 42:44.900 --> 42:47.900 or you know, I get it, you know, it's hard. 42:48.200 --> 42:52.200 Now look folks, obviously I'm not referring to reprobates. 42:52.200 --> 42:56.640 Reprobates, they have no forgiveness. 42:56.640 --> 42:59.240 Not in this world, not here in the world to come. 42:59.240 --> 43:00.920 Like I'm not obligated to forgive reprobates. 43:00.920 --> 43:02.280 Well, if God doesn't forgive them, 43:02.280 --> 43:05.320 then you're not obligated to forgive them either. 43:05.320 --> 43:07.900 So let's just shave that off, and we 43:07.900 --> 43:10.240 know we're not talking about reprobates. 43:10.240 --> 43:10.740 OK? 43:11.300 --> 43:14.100 And so I'm talking about just people, 43:14.100 --> 43:18.260 Christians, brethren, who, you know, they envied you. 43:20.700 --> 43:24.640 They thought you were just being a bad testimony. 43:24.640 --> 43:28.180 You know, they may have done things to hurt you. 43:28.180 --> 43:29.020 Okay? 43:29.880 --> 43:31.040 But then later on, if they come back 43:31.040 --> 43:34.780 and they humble themselves, and they make it right, 43:34.780 --> 43:37.420 we should accept the apology. 43:37.420 --> 43:38.000 We should. 43:38.700 --> 43:44.240 Accept their apology and reconcile and I'll be honest with you. One of my favorite things to do in the Christian life is 43:44.760 --> 43:46.760 Reconcile I love reconciliation 43:47.680 --> 43:49.680 It's great 43:49.840 --> 43:52.100 Maybe it's because it reminds me of how 43:52.980 --> 43:56.760 Merciful and gracious God is towards me when I fall short 43:56.760 --> 44:00.120 I sin against the Lord and he's just ready to forgive right 44:00.700 --> 44:05.300 If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness 44:05.500 --> 44:09.700 You know God is always like waiting for us to get right with him 44:09.700 --> 44:15.220 If we're if we're you know, if we've deviated from the path if we got involved in sin, he's like ready to forgive 44:15.220 --> 44:17.220 He's well, he's ready to pardon 44:17.300 --> 44:19.300 He will not always chide right? 44:19.820 --> 44:23.140 He's ready. Well, you know, we should we should do the same. Okay 44:23.860 --> 44:26.900 We should be ready to forgive people when they come around 44:27.600 --> 44:32.440 I'm speaking to you, you know, but you just I just need you to remember this 20 years from now 44:32.440 --> 44:37.640 So make sure you like put it on a piece of paper. So you just got to remember this because it will happen 44:38.280 --> 44:41.140 If you are faithfully serving the Lord 44:42.000 --> 44:49.920 You're loyal to the cause of Christ. You're winning souls. You're living a godly life. You're you're being sanctified 44:50.280 --> 44:52.100 I mean 44:52.400 --> 44:56.560 The house of God, the service of God, the Bible's like the centerpiece of your life, 44:56.560 --> 45:01.440 as much as you can, as much as it can be in your life, you know, you're going to be fruitful. 45:03.040 --> 45:05.760 And you know what? God's going to give opportunities in the future 45:06.480 --> 45:10.800 for those people to come around again. And you know, it may not be said that when they 45:10.800 --> 45:16.720 do come around, they just find a just bitter person who just is still angry about the past. 45:17.760 --> 45:20.000 Right? May not be said. 45:21.200 --> 45:24.880 And I experienced something like this this week actually. 45:24.880 --> 45:28.480 You know I had a pastor friend, 45:28.480 --> 45:31.680 not new IFB, he's old IFB, 45:31.680 --> 45:35.280 someone who I greatly admired, greatly respected, 45:35.280 --> 45:40.480 I looked up to a lot, and you know we had a major falling out 45:40.480 --> 45:44.800 years ago, major falling out, and I'll be honest, I was hurt, 45:44.800 --> 45:48.000 like it hurt my feelings, you know. 45:48.500 --> 45:54.100 My feelings were hurt, I was embarrassed in front of all the internet because of it, 45:54.100 --> 45:56.740 and I couldn't believe what took place. 45:56.740 --> 45:59.940 I'm not going to go through all of it, but it was bad. 45:59.940 --> 46:02.740 And you know what? There was strife between us for a long time. 46:02.740 --> 46:04.260 And it just sucked. 46:04.260 --> 46:09.780 It was just like, man, because this person was such a pivotal influence in my life. 46:09.780 --> 46:11.060 Just like... 46:12.200 --> 46:19.360 Such a man of God that like he's like the man that I that inspired me to like be a hard preacher 46:19.760 --> 46:23.360 To be a and he made me like proud to be a fundamental Baptist 46:24.640 --> 46:30.920 Right and so it was it was very difficult to experience that and I even preach against them 46:30.920 --> 46:33.280 You know like I let him have it 46:34.880 --> 46:37.660 But you know this week we we reconcile you know 46:38.600 --> 46:42.280 And quite frankly, I went to go see him 46:42.280 --> 46:45.580 not with the expectation that he was gonna 46:45.580 --> 46:47.440 ask for forgiveness or anything. 46:47.440 --> 46:49.240 I just went there just as a way to honor him. 46:49.240 --> 46:53.800 Because I do believe that we should still honor those 46:53.800 --> 46:55.840 and love those who reached us. 46:57.040 --> 46:57.600 Right? 46:58.100 --> 47:03.940 Like if a pastor got you saved or if a pastor played a major role in your salvation in some way or shape or form 47:04.100 --> 47:07.060 No matter what happened between you and that pastor. You should appreciate that man 47:07.620 --> 47:10.260 Like god used that man in a great way to get you saved 47:10.900 --> 47:12.900 Or to help you to grow spiritually 47:13.460 --> 47:19.860 And I believe in giving honor or honors do and you know what like i've matured and so like i've just thought to myself like 47:19.940 --> 47:24.980 I want to go see him and just thank him because I know that this would be pleasing unto the lord for me to do this 47:25.900 --> 47:33.500 Know that God would be pleased with me to just set my differences aside and not even expect an apology or anything 47:33.580 --> 47:35.580 But just tell that man that I love him 47:35.780 --> 47:37.820 Give him a gift and just let him know how much I appreciate 47:38.540 --> 47:41.520 For you know, everything that he's done in my life and not even bring up the past 47:44.300 --> 47:51.100 And you know, I went there and he saw me in the hallway right before this and he just came up and he just 47:51.100 --> 47:56.700 he hugged me and he just held me for a really long time. 47:59.000 --> 48:03.400 And he just gripped me and he's like, I missed you. 48:03.400 --> 48:05.000 I missed you. 48:05.000 --> 48:08.360 He's like, I love you, Brother Bruce. 48:08.360 --> 48:11.840 And we didn't conversate exactly at that moment. 48:11.840 --> 48:13.400 I just told him the same thing. 48:13.400 --> 48:14.920 And I said, I came here to see you. 48:14.920 --> 48:16.320 I just want to see you. 48:16.320 --> 48:17.360 I said, we can talk afterwards. 48:17.360 --> 48:21.920 Afterwards, after he was done preaching, I came up to him. 48:21.920 --> 48:23.880 And before we could even start the conversation, 48:23.880 --> 48:26.800 he said, I want to let you know that I want you to forgive me. 48:27.100 --> 48:29.100 for what I did to you years ago. 48:30.840 --> 48:32.840 He's like, I've regretted it for years. 48:33.500 --> 48:35.180 And I need you to forgive me for that. 48:35.180 --> 48:36.180 I'm sorry. 48:37.240 --> 48:39.940 And it was very, it humbled me. 48:40.740 --> 48:43.020 Because you know, you don't really expect 48:43.020 --> 48:45.320 spiritual giants to do something like that. 48:45.320 --> 48:47.820 I mean, I guess you kind of do, but you kind of don't. 48:48.820 --> 48:50.620 And I was just kind of taking it, like I didn't expect it, 48:50.620 --> 48:52.660 and he's just like, I'm sorry. 48:52.660 --> 48:54.360 And he's like, forgive me for that. 48:54.900 --> 48:58.160 He's like, it's plagued me for years, 48:58.160 --> 49:01.280 you know, and it's just bothering me, and I'm so sorry. 49:01.280 --> 49:02.800 And this man is an established man. 49:02.800 --> 49:04.880 Like, he doesn't, he gains nothing, 49:04.880 --> 49:06.680 especially from being friends with me, you know what I mean? 49:06.680 --> 49:09.240 Like, you don't get anything from being friends with me, 49:09.240 --> 49:10.080 you know what I mean? 49:10.080 --> 49:12.120 Like, it's not like, you know, oh, maybe we could get some 49:12.120 --> 49:13.520 of the students on our Bible college, 49:13.520 --> 49:14.880 or something like that, or. 49:15.400 --> 49:17.800 Ain't no way that's happening. 49:17.800 --> 49:19.680 It's not like, if anything, I kind of 49:19.680 --> 49:22.280 would be like a liability to him to a certain degree 49:22.280 --> 49:26.920 if people found out that we're friends, which they are now. 49:26.920 --> 49:29.240 But he gained nothing. 49:29.240 --> 49:30.760 But not according to him. 49:30.760 --> 49:34.680 According to him, this is extremely important to him. 49:34.680 --> 49:39.040 And he said, he's like, I want to be your friend again. 49:39.040 --> 49:41.320 And I want to know what's going on in your life. 49:41.320 --> 49:41.400 you 49:42.600 --> 49:45.000 I want to know what's going on in your church. 49:45.000 --> 49:46.560 I want to know about the salvations. 49:46.560 --> 49:50.600 Like, I want to stay in contact with you. 49:50.600 --> 49:52.560 And I told him, I was like, I forgive you. 49:52.560 --> 49:55.440 And I was like, you don't ever have to bring it up again. 49:55.440 --> 49:57.760 I was like, apology accepted. 49:57.760 --> 49:59.560 It's all done. 49:59.560 --> 50:03.480 And let me just tell you, it feels good to forgive someone. 50:03.480 --> 50:06.880 If you've never done it, you should try it sometime. 50:06.880 --> 50:08.760 You should just, I'll offend you. 50:09.200 --> 50:12.740 Just so you could try it. 50:12.740 --> 50:16.540 I'll offend the fire out of you, and then you 50:16.540 --> 50:18.180 can wait for me to apologize to you. 50:20.940 --> 50:23.620 It feels great to forgive someone. 50:23.620 --> 50:27.700 It's like a load that I didn't know I had. 50:27.700 --> 50:32.540 And just in my heart, I felt such a swelling sense of joy 50:32.540 --> 50:35.340 over just relieving someone. 50:35.340 --> 50:35.600 Thanks for watching! 50:35.600 --> 50:38.800 of the offense that they felt. 50:38.800 --> 50:40.400 It feels great. 50:40.400 --> 50:44.400 And I said, I love you, and you changed my life. 50:44.400 --> 50:46.600 It was under your preaching that I got saved, 50:46.600 --> 50:48.600 and you were such an example unto me. 50:48.600 --> 50:51.100 And I'm just so thankful that, like, 50:51.100 --> 50:55.400 that you were here when I was 21 years old, 50:55.400 --> 50:57.100 and I came as an unsafe person, 50:57.100 --> 50:59.500 and I'm so thankful that you're the one that was preaching. 50:59.500 --> 51:03.400 And just everything you've done, I said, it's all forgiven. 51:04.100 --> 51:07.100 And he said, I appreciate it. 51:07.100 --> 51:08.500 He said, thank you for forgiving me. 51:08.500 --> 51:12.340 And it's just like, he didn't have to say all that. 51:12.340 --> 51:14.780 And I told him, I said, forgive me. 51:14.780 --> 51:16.420 And we're having this conversation in front of all 51:16.420 --> 51:16.980 these people. 51:16.980 --> 51:18.860 People are just waiting to get his autograph. 51:18.860 --> 51:21.260 And we're just kind of like, we're like this far away from 51:21.260 --> 51:23.820 each other, just because the conversation was just intense. 51:26.800 --> 51:29.340 He said, you know, I'm gonna come back and I want to go visit your church 51:29.340 --> 51:34.460 I just want to know what's going on with your life keep in contact with me, you know, and I told him I said 51:34.460 --> 51:39.600 Well, let me just tell you we got six thousand one hundred salvation so far this year at our church. I 51:40.940 --> 51:45.280 Said a lot of that goes to your account. Just remember that we got like 40 baptisms 51:45.820 --> 51:50.640 Serving God we went to and I just started talking about all these exploits and he's just smiling ear to ear 51:51.980 --> 51:53.980 He's like man. I'm so happy about that 51:55.300 --> 52:00.800 And I could have been like, no, you hated me. 52:00.800 --> 52:05.680 And it's not like he thinks he knows who I'm affiliated with. 52:05.680 --> 52:07.840 He knows who I'm associated with. 52:07.840 --> 52:09.080 He knows it all. 52:15.560 --> 52:16.700 But he doesn't care. 52:18.300 --> 52:21.500 And I'm not saying we're gonna be best friends or anything like that. 52:21.500 --> 52:23.740 It's not like, hey, what are you doing? 52:23.740 --> 52:28.540 Let's go to In-N-Out. 52:28.540 --> 52:34.800 But just the most important thing that I got from that is just the peace between us. 52:34.800 --> 52:36.460 Peace. 52:36.460 --> 52:40.900 Cuz in my mind, five years, six years ago when all that took place, I thought to myself, 52:40.900 --> 52:44.460 I'm heartbroken that I will never have a good relationship with this person, 52:44.460 --> 52:45.500 this side of eternity. 52:45.500 --> 52:45.700 you 52:46.200 --> 52:50.000 And I look forward to the day that I can see him in the millennial rain and we can put our differences aside. 52:50.000 --> 52:51.200 That's literally what I thought. 52:52.600 --> 52:54.200 And I'm just thankful that came a lot sooner. 52:55.500 --> 52:56.700 Don't hold grudges. 52:58.100 --> 52:59.900 Don't be bitter towards people. 53:00.000 --> 53:01.200 Don't hold grudges. 53:01.500 --> 53:06.200 You know, I don't consider being angry towards reprobates as bitterness by the way, you know. 53:07.000 --> 53:08.300 It's pretty justified. 53:08.400 --> 53:13.100 I'm talking about just people and Christians who you felt like did you wrong or something like that. 53:14.500 --> 53:15.820 Okay. 53:15.820 --> 53:18.140 And you know, obviously Isaac is a humble guy. 53:18.140 --> 53:19.260 He's just like, yeah, let's do it. 53:19.260 --> 53:21.740 And then they got it right. 53:21.740 --> 53:23.940 And you know, and look folks, 53:23.940 --> 53:26.020 it's just better to live life 53:26.020 --> 53:28.780 not constantly having to think about the past. 53:29.900 --> 53:31.580 Carry that load with you everywhere you go. 53:31.580 --> 53:33.380 It's just not worth it. 53:33.380 --> 53:34.940 It's just not worth it at all. 53:36.020 --> 53:37.660 And I've learned in the Christian life 53:37.660 --> 53:40.180 that one of the greatest exploits that you can do 53:41.220 --> 53:42.260 is forgive people. 53:43.200 --> 53:50.000 Forgive them. Forgive your parents. Forgive your siblings. Forgive your spouse. 53:50.000 --> 53:52.800 Just forgive them. Just relieve them of that. 53:52.800 --> 53:57.600 Because I'm going to tell you right now, it's very pleasing to the Lord when you do that. 53:57.600 --> 53:59.900 It makes God happy. 53:59.900 --> 54:05.100 And, just from a selfish perspective, if you want to be forgiven of God, 54:05.100 --> 54:07.700 you need to make sure that you forgive others. 54:07.700 --> 54:10.700 And if you want God to forgive you speedily... 54:10.900 --> 54:12.900 You make sure you forgive others speedily as well. 54:15.800 --> 54:20.760 And so it was an awesome week for me. I've been thinking about it all day every single day. 54:21.640 --> 54:28.360 I'm thankful for it. It goes on to say here in verse 30 says he made it he made them a feast 54:28.360 --> 54:33.480 and they did eat and drink and they rose up b-times in the morning and swear one to another 54:33.480 --> 54:38.680 and Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. Let me say one last thing you know 54:38.680 --> 54:42.760 this can apply to just your old IFP pastor maybe you didn't have a good experience there. 54:43.400 --> 54:46.000 Maybe you were kicked out or something. 54:46.000 --> 54:49.160 They criticized you, and they did this, that, and the other. 54:49.160 --> 54:50.680 You know, just put all that to the side. 54:50.680 --> 54:51.180 Who cares? 54:51.180 --> 54:53.040 We've got a great church now. 54:53.040 --> 54:54.760 We've got a great church. 54:54.760 --> 54:56.160 We've got awesome preaching. 54:56.160 --> 54:56.660 Amen? 54:56.660 --> 54:57.960 Amen. 54:57.960 --> 55:00.280 Got a lot of soulening going on. 55:00.280 --> 55:01.480 You can speak freely. 55:04.200 --> 55:05.720 You know, we're having a great time. 55:05.720 --> 55:07.520 The Lord is with us. 55:07.520 --> 55:08.640 Everything is just beautiful. 55:10.300 --> 55:12.800 So why even worry about that? 55:13.980 --> 55:15.000 You know what I mean? 55:15.000 --> 55:16.600 Just be thankful. 55:16.600 --> 55:19.480 Now if your old IFB pastor was a reprobate, 55:19.480 --> 55:20.540 screw that guy, you know what I mean? 55:20.540 --> 55:21.840 Just that's a different story. 55:21.840 --> 55:26.000 But you know what, if he's just an old IFB guy, okay? 55:28.200 --> 55:30.580 Just let him be an old IFB guy. 55:30.580 --> 55:32.440 You could still love him. 55:32.440 --> 55:33.800 Still appreciate what he did. 55:34.000 --> 55:36.120 And look, let me just tell you, 55:36.120 --> 55:38.560 and I preach my sheriff's sermons against the old IFP 55:38.560 --> 55:40.880 and I probably will continue to do so over the years, 55:40.880 --> 55:41.700 but let me just tell you, 55:41.700 --> 55:44.520 I do appreciate and love the old IFP. 55:44.520 --> 55:45.760 We will never be just like them 55:45.760 --> 55:48.980 because we just, certain things we just don't agree with. 55:48.980 --> 55:50.280 You know what I mean? 55:50.280 --> 55:51.760 But just because we don't agree with them 55:51.760 --> 55:54.520 just doesn't mean that they're not great still 55:54.520 --> 55:56.400 in a lot of ways. 55:56.400 --> 55:58.720 And doesn't mean we can't appreciate them 55:58.720 --> 56:01.000 for the greatness that they have done and will do. 56:01.800 --> 56:03.400 Because we don't want to have this mentality 56:03.400 --> 56:05.320 that's just like, oh, we're the only ones committing 56:05.320 --> 56:07.400 great things and doing great things. 56:07.400 --> 56:11.640 And that might be true in certain areas 56:11.640 --> 56:15.440 where there's no churches in that particular geographical 56:15.440 --> 56:16.160 location. 56:16.160 --> 56:17.880 But in general, there's old, happy churches 56:17.880 --> 56:19.800 that are doing great works for God. 56:19.800 --> 56:22.040 Still got great preaching. 56:22.040 --> 56:24.240 Still seeing souls saved. 56:24.240 --> 56:25.100 And you know what? 56:25.300 --> 56:28.740 If I was not a pastor, obviously I would want to be in a new 56:28.740 --> 56:29.700 IFB church. 56:29.700 --> 56:32.860 I probably would not ever go back to an old IFB church. 56:32.860 --> 56:35.620 It's just not going to happen. 56:35.620 --> 56:40.460 Because once you're in the new IFB, you're just kind of 56:40.460 --> 56:42.980 hooked. 56:42.980 --> 56:45.300 It's like spiritual crack. 56:45.300 --> 56:45.900 You know what I mean? 56:45.900 --> 56:47.420 It's just like, this is good. 56:50.740 --> 56:51.800 You know what I mean? 56:51.900 --> 56:53.900 Someone's gonna clip that. Clip that! 56:57.000 --> 57:00.000 It's like the MSG, you know what I mean? 57:00.000 --> 57:03.120 It's like the MSG over the preaching is just like, 57:03.120 --> 57:04.720 you know, you can listen to other stuff, 57:04.720 --> 57:07.320 but you always come back to New Ivy preaching. 57:07.320 --> 57:08.160 That's a fact. 57:08.160 --> 57:08.660 Right. 57:08.660 --> 57:09.640 That's just how it is. 57:09.640 --> 57:12.600 And you know, it's all good. 57:12.600 --> 57:13.160 You know? 57:13.160 --> 57:14.620 But obviously, a spiritual person 57:14.620 --> 57:16.960 can listen to any kind of preaching at any given time, 57:16.960 --> 57:18.600 regardless of who it is, and still learn. 57:20.400 --> 57:25.400 So, you know, he leaves, they depart in peace, they're happy. 57:25.400 --> 57:30.480 Verse 32, and it came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning 57:30.480 --> 57:35.640 the well which they had digged and said unto him, we have found water, and he called it 57:35.640 --> 57:38.920 Sheba, therefore the name of the city is Sheba unto this day. 57:38.920 --> 57:42.640 So it's interesting, after they make peace, God allows them to find this great well called 57:42.640 --> 57:43.640 Sheba. 57:43.640 --> 57:44.640 You know? 57:44.640 --> 57:45.140 you know. 57:45.400 --> 57:49.400 And you just never know what kind of blessings are on the other side of your forgiveness. 57:51.400 --> 57:54.400 On the other side of your reconciliation, you just never know what God might do. 57:54.400 --> 57:57.400 And he allows them to find a great well. 57:57.400 --> 58:01.400 Now, you know, I love the Bible because it's just real. 58:01.400 --> 58:04.400 And it's such a beautiful story. It's just like, man. 58:07.400 --> 58:10.840 Peace and everything, you know, it's just like and then end credits, right? 58:11.880 --> 58:13.880 Fade scene and credits 58:14.760 --> 58:20.680 Verse 34 and he saw was 40 years old when he took a wife judith the daughter of br iam the hittite and bathshemath 58:20.840 --> 58:24.280 The daughter of elon the hittite which were a grief of mine into izzac and to rebecca 58:26.200 --> 58:33.820 Just it it's like, you know, it fades out. It's just like by the way like esau's wives are just a grief 58:36.100 --> 58:38.540 You know, there are grief to Isaac and Rebecca. 58:38.540 --> 58:39.840 It just finishes off with that. 58:39.840 --> 58:41.140 I love that. 58:41.140 --> 58:42.900 OK? 58:42.900 --> 58:46.140 And so, you know, Esau is over here committing polygamy. 58:46.140 --> 58:48.540 And it finishes off with that. 58:48.540 --> 58:51.820 And it just says, like, his wives are just like, you know, 58:51.820 --> 58:53.940 the parents are just like, ugh, I can't believe this guy 58:53.940 --> 58:55.300 married these women. 58:55.300 --> 58:55.980 You know? 58:55.980 --> 58:56.000 you 58:56.500 --> 58:59.460 And so, hey, that shows us parents that we need to make sure 58:59.460 --> 59:03.620 that we pray for our children to find the right spouse, one. 59:03.620 --> 59:07.780 Find the right spouse so that they don't become a grief 59:07.780 --> 59:09.900 later on, because it can happen. 59:09.900 --> 59:11.500 Okay, we see this with the situation. 59:11.500 --> 59:12.640 What's the sermon tonight? 59:12.640 --> 59:14.140 The sermon is simply this. 59:14.140 --> 59:18.080 You know, we need to make sure that we are doing our part 59:18.080 --> 59:20.560 in this generation to dig up the wells 59:20.560 --> 59:22.840 that our forefathers have dug. 59:22.840 --> 59:23.400 Okay? 59:23.500 --> 59:28.620 And, you know, when we do so, we have to expect opposition, contention, but there's also blessings 59:28.620 --> 59:30.180 and room that God makes for us. 59:30.180 --> 59:31.960 He allows us to be fruitful. 59:31.960 --> 59:36.940 And along with that, we need to make sure that along this journey that we're taking, 59:36.940 --> 59:41.860 that you know, when God provides opportunities for us to reconcile with others, we do put 59:41.860 --> 59:43.940 our differences aside and forgive. 59:44.300 --> 59:47.340 and allow them to move on and so forth. 59:47.340 --> 59:50.900 And so it's important for us to reconcile with the Bimalak 59:50.900 --> 59:52.780 and reconcile with those of Giarar. 59:52.780 --> 59:54.680 Because Isaac had said, you know, 59:54.680 --> 59:57.620 you guys did let me live there, that's true. 59:57.620 --> 59:59.920 You guys did let me live there, you gave me a spa, 59:59.920 --> 01:00:03.920 you allowed me to be successful, I grew there, 01:00:03.920 --> 01:00:07.700 I became successful there, and then you guys kicked me out. 01:00:07.700 --> 01:00:10.700 But I'll never forget the fact that you guys 01:00:10.700 --> 01:00:11.900 let me live among you. 01:00:12.500 --> 01:00:16.660 And so, you know, I feel that way about my old IFB church. 01:00:18.660 --> 01:00:22.300 You know, obviously, we can highlight all the bad stuff, 01:00:22.300 --> 01:00:23.920 but what's the point? 01:00:23.920 --> 01:00:25.360 What's the point? 01:00:25.360 --> 01:00:27.220 I got there, I was there for 10 years, 01:00:27.220 --> 01:00:29.400 and you know what, I was blessed. 01:00:29.400 --> 01:00:30.240 How blessed? 01:00:30.240 --> 01:00:31.660 I got saved there. 01:00:32.860 --> 01:00:34.700 I learned about the King James Bible there. 01:00:34.860 --> 01:00:34.700 I learned about the King James Bible there. 01:00:35.500 --> 01:00:37.500 I came into the new IP and people are coming to like, 01:00:37.500 --> 01:00:39.700 I just heard about the KJV. 01:00:39.700 --> 01:00:41.820 I never heard about soul winning. 01:00:41.820 --> 01:00:43.380 I never heard about any of this stuff 01:00:43.380 --> 01:00:44.660 because they went to not, I'm like, 01:00:44.660 --> 01:00:46.860 I got saved in a Baptist church 01:00:46.860 --> 01:00:48.420 where this stuff was just normal. 01:00:49.340 --> 01:00:52.100 Where it was just like KJV only, soul winning, 01:00:52.100 --> 01:00:55.700 hard preaching, you know, I'm thankful for that. 01:00:56.740 --> 01:00:57.940 Very grateful for that. 01:00:58.860 --> 01:01:01.700 I'm thankful for Giroir and everything that I got in Giroir. 01:01:02.100 --> 01:01:07.700 And I'm thankful that I grew in Giroir and became prosperous and succeeded there. 01:01:07.700 --> 01:01:12.340 And you know what? Sometimes it's just time to move on. Go dig some wells. Amen. 01:01:13.700 --> 01:01:17.860 Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the examples that we have here. 01:01:17.860 --> 01:01:24.180 Help us as your people to be ready to forgive. And I pray that Lord, you'd give us a tender heart. 01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:30.160 To forgive one another when people have offended us and even if they don't come to ask for forgiveness 01:01:30.160 --> 01:01:33.420 Sometimes we just need to do it in our hearts as unto you Lord 01:01:33.760 --> 01:01:41.200 But especially when they come to us asking for forgiveness may we extend that hand of mercy towards them and be ready to forgive to reconcile 01:01:41.200 --> 01:01:46.120 And to restore that friendship once again. I love it Lord. I'm thankful for it 01:01:46.120 --> 01:01:49.160 And I pray that others would extend that same grace to me 01:01:49.700 --> 01:01:54.900 that when I offended and I asked for forgiveness, the people would readily forgive me as well. 01:01:54.900 --> 01:01:57.300 And I pray you bless this as we go on our way, Lord, we love you, we thank you, 01:01:57.300 --> 01:01:58.900 pray this in Jesus name. 01:02:08.300 --> 01:02:11.440 We have one last song this evening song number 01:02:12.880 --> 01:02:15.580 161 our great Savior 01:02:21.400 --> 01:02:25.900 Song number 161 for our last song this evening, 01:02:25.900 --> 01:02:27.400 Our Great Savior. 01:02:29.400 --> 01:02:34.100 Everyone all together, nice and strong on that first verse. 01:02:34.100 --> 01:02:34.667 Gee.