🎵Music🎵
Alright, good evening everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all make our way inside and find a seat.
Let's grab a song book and open that song book up to song number 43, We're Marching to Zion.
If you are able, let's all stand together for this first song. Song 43, We're Marching to Zion.
🎵Music🎵
All of us all together nice and strong on that first verse.
🎵Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song of sweet accord. Join in a song of sweet accord.🎵
🎵And us around the throne. And us around the throne. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion.🎵
🎵We're marching upward to Zion. This beautiful city of God. Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God.🎵
🎵But children of the heavenly King. But children of the heavenly King. May speak their joys abroad. May speak their joys abroad.🎵
🎵We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God.🎵
🎵The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets. Before we reach the heavenly filth. Before we reach the heavenly filth. We'll walk the golden streets. We'll walk the golden streets.🎵
🎵We're marching upward to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God.🎵
🎵Then let our songs abound. And every tear be tried. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground.🎵
🎵To fairer worlds on high. To fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion. The beautiful city of God.🎵
Amen. Let's open our servers with the word of prayer. Father, thank you, God, Lord, for allowing us, God, to be here tonight, Lord, and hear your word preached to us, God, and just come together and start a new book, Lord.
I pray, God, that you would bless this evening, Lord, feel pastored with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches to us, God, and help us to apply that which we hear to our lives, Lord, and that we be edified and leave here differently, Lord, than when we came in, God.
Bless the evening, Lord. We thank you, God, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. Song number 167, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Song 167.
Everyone all together nice and strong on that first verse.
All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name.
Someone just told me before the service, this is when the CEO's come to church.
Which is Christmas, Easter only people, right?
They just feel they have to come for a particular service for Easter.
So we want to make our church that church, amen?
Especially if they're not saved, we can give them the gospel, get them saved.
If they want to get baptized as well and integrate them into the church.
So invite your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, whoever you can.
Get some invites as an icebreaker there.
We want to break attendance on that day as well.
So pray to that end that we get a lot of people saved, great attendance, and Lord willing, some baptisms as well.
And then you see the different needs there.
Please pray for, it's this pastor's request at the bottom.
My son actually requested this.
Pray for Charity Safety, which is our daughter.
Pray that she would have a safe delivery as she joins us in the next couple of weeks.
And so if you have an additional prayer request that you'd like to be mentioned,
please put that at the bottom there.
You can tear that off, put it into the offering plate when it comes by.
We'll make sure it gets on there for the following week.
Brother Cody, come on up and you can pray over the needs.
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Dear Lord God, first and foremost, we thank you, Lord, for everything you blessed our church with, Lord.
Just all the people here, Lord.
I just pray that you continue to bless every member here, Lord,
that we continue to grow in the knowledge of you, Lord,
and continue to read our Bibles and to attend church and go soul winning, Lord.
And so I just pray over the people in our church.
And I pray, Lord, for your favor upon our church, Lord,
that you continue to favor our church and that you continue to bless our church
and you continue to help us to seek after you, Lord,
and to put everything that you'd want for us, Lord,
everything that you asked of us, Lord, to put all of that first, Lord, in our lives, Lord.
So I just pray you continue to have favor upon our church, Lord.
And, Lord, I pray for the soul winning, Lord, at our church,
for us to go out and preach the gospel to the lost, Lord.
I pray that it continues to be fruitful, Lord.
And I pray that we get more soul winners, Lord, more people that are willing to come to our church
and they get saved and then they become a soul winner, Lord.
We've seen it happen, Lord.
And so I just pray that it continues to happen where new people come in,
they get saved, and then they want to go and get other people saved, Lord.
I just pray for the soul winning, Lord, at our church that you continue to give us more laborers, Lord,
and not just more laborers but also just the people who are soul winning, Lord,
who know how to preach the gospel.
I pray that you continue to build them up to want to go soul winning, Lord,
and continue to be fired up to go preach the gospel to the lost, Lord,
and just continue to stir in their hearts and to give them a love for the lost, Lord,
a love for people and a love for wanting to see people saved, Lord.
And so I just pray for the soul winning in general at our church, Lord,
and just us going out and preaching the gospel, Lord.
So I just please pray over and stir in our hearts, Lord, over that, Lord.
And, Lord, I just pray for all of the ladies at our church, Lord, that are with child, Lord.
I just pray that you protect them, Lord, and help them when they do deliver, Lord,
that you continue to protect them and keep them healthy
and pray for a safe delivery for all the children at our church, Lord.
And so just be over the pregnant women at our church, Lord, and just be over them, Lord.
And for the barren women at our church, Lord, I just pray that as it's according to your will, Lord,
that you open the womb of the barren women at our church, Lord,
and that you continue to help us to grow and multiply at our church, Lord,
and to have more children, Lord.
Children are a blessing, Lord, and so I just pray that you continue to bless our church
with more and more children as time goes on, Lord.
Lord, I pray for Easter service, Lord.
I just pray the people here, the congregation is able to invite their friends and family, Lord.
And I just pray that you stir in the people's hearts that are invited, Lord,
that you are able to put it on their hearts to come to our church, Lord,
so that they could get saved and so that they could come to our church
and possibly get acclimated to our church, Lord, and to get baptized, Lord.
So just pray for all of that, Lord, for Easter service, that we see people saved,
see people baptized, and see people become new members of our church, Lord.
And I just pray, Lord, that you're over the Easter service, Lord.
And, Lord, you know all the requests here that people have, Lord, the family salvations, Lord.
I pray that you soften the hearts of the lost family members, of the church members here, Lord.
And, Lord, I just pray that you meet these needs as according to your will, Lord.
And, again, just bless this service.
Fill Pastor with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches the message you have prepared, Lord.
And just pray that you bless every aspect of this service, Lord,
and pray this song in Jesus' name. Amen.
Song number 28, Alas and Did My Savior Bleed?
Song 28.
Song 28, Alas and Did My Savior Bleed?
Let's really take notice of the words of this hymn as we prepare our hearts for the sermon tonight.
On that first, everyone all together nice and strong.
Song 28, Alas and Did My Savior Bleed?
And did my sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?
Was it for crimes that I had done?
He groaned upon the tree of need.
Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond decree.
Well, might the Son in darkness hide and shut His glories in
when Christ the Mighty Maker died for man and the creature cinnamon.
But drops of green can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe.
Here, Lord, I give myself away.
Tis all that I can do.
Amen. At this time, the ushers will collect the offering.
The time will be in the book of Matthew, chapter number 1.
I will be with you in the coming days.
Good evening. We're going to the Gospel of Matthew this evening, chapter number 1.
The chapter reads, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren,
and Judas begat Pharaohs and Zerah of Tamar, and Pharaohs begat Isrom, and Isrom begat Aram,
and Aram begat Minadab, and Minadab begat Nason, and Nason begat Solomon,
and Solomon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse,
and Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah.
Solomon begat Robom, Robom begat Abiah, and Abiah begat Asa,
and Asa begat Josephat, Josephat begat Joram, Joram begat Ozias,
and Ozias begat Jotham, Jotham begat Achaz, and Achaz begat Ezekiel,
and Ezekiel begat Manasseh, Manasseh begat Ammon, Ammon begat Josias,
and Josias begat Jocanias and his brethren about the time they were carried away to Babylon,
and after that they were brought to Babylon, Jocanias begat Silithiel,
Silithiel begat Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel begat Abiad, Abiad begat Eliakim, Eliakim begat Azor,
and Azor begat Sadok, and Sadok begat Achim, and Achim begat Eliad,
and Eliad begat Eliazar, and Eliazar begat Mathen, and Mathen begat Jacob,
and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,
and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations,
and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise,
when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
She shall bring forth a son, thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us.
Then Joseph being graced from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife,
and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.
Dear God, we thank you for the gospel of Matthew, dear God. Thank you for this church, dear Lord.
We thank you for your word, and we thank you for giving us your son, dear Lord,
to actually come and be born of a woman, dear God, and die for our sins on the cross, dear Lord,
and we thank you in the precious name of Jesus, dear God, in the name of all names, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen. Okay, we are starting a brand new book tonight, which is the book of Matthew,
and of course we've been in 1 and 2 Samuel, we finished that, so we're hopping into the New Testament here,
and of course the book of Matthew, let me just make a couple introductory statements before we get into the actual text.
Let me say this first and foremost is, I want to encourage you to make it a goal to be here for all 28 weeks of the teaching of the book of Matthew.
It would be a great accomplishment for you to look back at the 28 weeks and say,
you know I was here for every single service, even when I was throwing up and almost at death.
Obviously those are exceptions to the rule, but try to make it your goal to be here for every single service so that you follow along what's going on here.
But the Gospel of Matthew, let me just make a couple introductory statements regarding the Gospel of Matthew before we get into the genealogy,
is of course one of the Gospels that really is geared towards the Jews.
Now we often hear that by people who believe in this doctrine called dispensationalism,
and we actually believe it as well, the difference is this, is that we have different definitions of what we're referring to.
Because when they say that the book of Matthew is geared towards the Jews, what they're implying is that the book of Matthew is only for the Jews.
It's not applicable to us, we can't apply the book of Matthew, we shouldn't necessarily pay attention to it,
we should only follow the Pauline Epistles or whatever it may be, and this is only for the Jews and so on and so forth,
but that's obviously nonsensical because of the fact that all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished, until all good works.
So that includes both Old and New Testament.
Now the reason I believe that the Gospel of Matthew is geared towards the Jews is because when you read the Gospel of Matthew,
you see that it's very negative towards the Jews.
Many of the parables have to do with the Jews, it's condemning of Israel, it's condemning of the Jews,
so that's why I believe it's geared towards the Jews, but it's definitely applicable to believers of today,
because of the fact that everything in the Bible is applicable to us.
Just because a specific letter or a specific book is written to a specific people group doesn't mean it's not applicable to us.
For example, the epistle to the Ephesians was to the church at Ephesus, but it doesn't mean it's not applicable to us,
we obviously read it and make application to us, and here's the proof that this teaching that,
well, if it's geared towards a specific people group, we have nothing to do with it, is completely false.
When the letter was written to the church at Colossae, for example, you have the book of Colossians,
the epistle to the Colossians, written to those at Colossae, at the end of the book of Colossians,
it says read this at Laodicea as well, and make sure what's being taken at Laodicea be read in Colossae as well.
Well, then you would have a contradiction in that interpretation, because he's specifically saying,
hey, the church at Laodicea needs to hear what I'm writing to you as well.
So we can take that and say, hey, the church at First Works Baptist Church needs to hear what the book of Matthew also has to say,
and the book of Mark, you know, the book of Luke and John, and the entire Bible.
And so the reason I believe it's geared towards the Jews is because of the fact that it's very negative to the Jews,
many of the parables are condemning the Jews, it's condemning of the nation of Israel in general,
but also because of the fact that when you read the book of Matthew, you see that it portrays Jesus Christ as being the king.
Many of the gospels really emphasize a particular aspect of Jesus Christ.
Matthew in particular kind of pushes the fact that Jesus Christ is king,
the book of Mark really pushes the fact that Jesus Christ is a servant,
the book of Luke really portrays him as being the son of man,
and then ultimately of course the book of John portrays him as the son of God.
These are the four types of emphasis that we see in the gospels.
And so Matthew of course is geared towards the Jews, Mark is geared towards the Romans,
and the book of Luke is geared towards Greeks.
You can see based upon the writing styles that this is true,
and then John is just geared towards the entire world.
And so yes, obviously Matthew is for the Jews in the sense of it's addressing them in a lot of the parts,
which is why when you read the book of Matthew, it actually quotes the Old Testament more than any other of the gospels.
Many times you see the Old Testament being quoted because of the fact that obviously Jews hold to the law of the Old Testament as being authoritative,
and so it uses the Old Testament quite a bit.
Not only that, but as I mentioned, because it portrays Jesus Christ as being the king,
you see the phrase a lot, the kingdom of heaven,
and in fact it's mostly in the book of Matthew that you find that phrase being used,
and so that kind of pushes that whole narrative that he is the king.
He is the king of the Jews, he's the king of the world, he's the king of kings, and lord of lords.
And so this is a great book here, and I'm looking forward to going through every single chapter,
and kind of teaching through as much as I can through each chapter.
I'm going to try to teach through each chapter every single week.
Unless it's a lengthy chapter, I might break it up and teach the other half on a Sunday.
Now let me go over some of the seeming discrepancies of Matthew chapter 1.
Obviously I don't believe there are any discrepancies,
but I'm referring to what critics of the Bible would consider to be discrepancies in the book of Matthew,
and in particular regarding the genealogies.
Now the first discrepancy that people would try to point out is the fact that the genealogy that's found in Matthew chapter 1
contradicts the genealogy found in Luke chapter 3,
because both of those have genealogies written and described there,
and what they'll point out is that the father of Jacob in Matthew chapter 1, according to the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1,
the father of Joseph is Jacob in Matthew chapter 1,
whereas in Luke chapter 3, the father of Joseph is Heli.
So they'll say, oh, see we can't believe the Bible.
The Bible is in error.
We can't trust the Bible. It's written by man. It's not written by God.
So they'll put all their eggs in one basket to try to discredit the Bible just because of this seeming discrepancy
of Jacob being the father of Joseph in Matthew chapter 1 and Heli being the father of Joseph in Luke chapter 3.
Now what's going on here?
Why is it that it's Jacob on one side and then you have Heli on the other one?
Well, let me explain what's taking place here.
The genealogy that's found in Matthew chapter 1 is a biological genealogy.
We obviously know that Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus Christ.
He is the stepfather of Jesus Christ. God is his father. God the Father is his father.
But obviously he is essentially adopted of Joseph and therefore this is essentially a listing of Jesus' ancestry,
a documentation to prove that he is the rightful inheritor of the throne of David.
That's what it's supposed to do.
And so when you see here the phrase begat begat begat, it's referring to that biological sequence of ancestry.
It dates all the way back to Solomon and ultimately goes to David which basically shows that Jesus Christ has the right to that throne.
And so Jacob is the father biologically of Joseph.
Now when you look at Luke chapter 3 though on the other hand, the phrase begat isn't there.
The phrase that you commonly see in Luke chapter 3 is the son of.
That's a lot different.
Now why is that?
Well because of the fact that Heli is not biologically the father of Joseph but he is biologically the father of Mary.
However in Greek there's no phrase son-in-law.
So if Joseph is married to Mary and Heli is Mary's father, that would make Joseph the son of Heli or as we would say it in modern terms, the son-in-law of Heli.
And in both instances when it mentions Joseph and the fact that Jesus Christ is adopted by him and therefore he deserves the right to the throne,
it always uses the phrase as supposed the son of Joseph because he's not really biologically the son of Joseph.
You understand? He's adopted.
And so this isn't a discrepancy, this is just ignorance.
Heli is not biologically the father of Joseph, biologically the father of Mary.
And here's the thing is that you can trace Jacob's lineage back to Solomon who's the son of David.
And in Luke chapter 3 you can trace Heli's genealogy back to Nathan, not Solomon, but Nathan who's also the son of David.
So what this is proving is that no matter how you cut it, Jesus Christ, he deserves that throne because it ultimately goes back to David.
Now obviously the genealogy that's found in Luke chapter 3 is a lot more thorough and has a lot more names because it goes all the way back to Adam.
And of course Luke takes it upon himself to be very thorough throughout the book there, the Gospel according to Luke.
And so this isn't a discrepancy, this is just simply highlighting the fact that Jesus Christ deserves that throne no matter which way you cut it because of the fact that he is the stepson of Joseph
and who's biologically related to Jacob that traces his roots all the way back to Solomon and David and then even through his mother because of the fact that she married Joseph, he deserves that throne.
And so that's not a discrepancy, just plain ignorance.
Now what is the other discrepancy that people like to point out, seeming discrepancy?
And that is that when you read Matthew chapter 1 and you compare it to the actual document of ancestry found in 1 Chronicles chapter 3, there seems to be 3 names missing in Matthew chapter 1.
I know this is really interesting stuff for a lot of you. You're like, can we just get to the actual story?
But this is important because here's the thing folks, I'm probably not going to go over this or preach on this any other time.
This is probably the last time I'm going to talk about the genealogies because I'm just not really interested in preaching the entire sermon on it.
And so I'm just going to give you the gist of it here so just love the word of God, listen and learn something.
So what names are missing in Matthew chapter 1 that are not missing in 1 Chronicles chapter 3?
If you look at verse 8, it says,
And Asa begat Josaphat, also known in the Old Testament as Jehoshaphat, and Josaphat begat Joram, and Joram begat Ozias, and Ozias begat Jotham.
Now what's the issue here?
Well the issue is that Joram, it says that the Joram begets Ozias, which is a New Testament rendition of the Old Testament name Uzziah, also known as Azariah.
Don't be confused by it, you're like, I can't remember all those names.
Ozias, you have Ozias, Uzziah, also known as Azariah.
Now the seeming discrepancy that people want to point out is the fact that if this is using the documentation of ancestry from 1 Chronicles chapter 3, you have three names missing.
Because Joram doesn't begat Azariah, who he begets is Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah.
And then Amaziah from there on is Azariah, Uzziah, New Testament, Ozias.
So it's like, why is that?
Oh, that's why we can't trust the New Testament, this is why we can't trust the Bible, because it's written by man, it's proof that there's an error here.
Three people were taken out, I thought you said the word of God is perfect, complete, and so on and so forth, all this nonsense that they try to bring against the Bible.
So what is going on here?
Well, here's the thing is that when you look at verse 17, he says there, so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David unto the carrying away unto Babylon 14 generations, and from the carrying away unto Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations.
So you have 42 generations highlighted here, okay, represented by each king.
And the reason it's 14, 14, 14 is because it's a significant number that helps us to memorize a lot of things in the Bible.
Because if it equals to 42, there's a lot of things we can point out in the Bible that equal 42.
40 in two months, you know, when it comes to end times Bible prophecy.
So this is simply Matthew's way of helping us to memorize particular things in the Bible, especially when it comes to the genealogy.
So you have 42 names mentioned here. You obviously can't do that if you add Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah.
You say then, but why is it taken out?
What Matthew's simply doing is redacting these names, okay, to make it fit with these generations of 14, 14, and 14.
And here's the thing, folks, is that what's possibly taking place here when it comes to Matthew, the reason he is redacting it,
the reason he's deducing these people out of the genealogy, because when you look back at the Old Testament regarding those particular kings,
there were actually sons of Athaliah, who was a pagan woman, and that was obviously not pleasing to God.
You even see in the Old Testament that God basically says that they shall not inherit the throne until the fourth generation.
So what's possibly taking place here is that Matthew sees this genealogy and is just like, well, we just won't add these guys, right,
because of what God said in the Old Testament.
You say, well, you know, that's kind of sketch, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know.
Well, let me ask you this. If Joram begat Ahaziah, Ahaziah begat Joash and Amaziah, then ultimately Ozias,
it would prove that basically Jesus Christ deserves that throne, right?
But if you were to move those three and just go from Joram to Ozias, it still proves that he deserves the throne.
Because the very purpose of the genealogy is just to drive home the point that Jesus Christ is the rightful heir to the throne of David.
But nothing changes. So if someone says, oh, you know, these three names are missing in Matthew chapter one,
okay, then go read 1 Chronicles 3 then. If that doesn't satisfy you, just go to chapter three and you'll find them right there,
but it doesn't change the pricing in China, because the ultimate, the conclusion of the matter is that Jesus Christ is the rightful heir,
whether you keep those three names or you redact them, it doesn't change anything at all.
And here's the thing, obviously each generation in this particular genealogy represents a king,
but when you think of generations, I mean, multiple kings can serve within a generation,
because Joash, I don't know, he was like a king for like 40 years, and then Amaziah was like a king for about 20 plus years,
but then Amaziah was only a king for one year. That's not a generation, you understand?
So what's taking place here is that Matthew is simply kind of reducing everything to the most important names
to fit this numeric value of 42 to help the reader just digest and remember these names more easily
and to prove that Jesus Christ is the rightful heir to the throne. Does that make sense?
And so I know that was really interesting stuff, I know very life-changing to you,
and you're not even going to be able to sleep tonight because of all that information,
but it is important because, I mean, God put it in the Bible, and we need to be able to answer critics of the Bible, right?
Because they'll come up to you and say, oh, how come these three names are missing or whatever, and you have an answer for them.
It's not because there's a mistake in the Bible, it's because Matthew redacted those names
based upon either because of the fact that they were illegitimate sons or because their mother was Athaliah,
who was a pagan woman, and God just chose not to put it in the New Testament.
But it doesn't change the fact that Jesus Christ is still the heir, he is the king, and so that's that, okay?
Very interesting stuff, but let's get into some practical applications regarding the genealogies here
because when you go through this list, obviously, there's so many stories behind many of the names here,
but in particular, what we see is the names of four women that are actually mentioned in the genealogies, okay?
If you look at verse number, look at verse number three, it says,
So this entire genealogy, there's four different women that are mentioned,
in this particular genealogy, in the genealogy of Christ, the ancestry of Christ, but they're all women of ill-repute.
Because the first one being, verse number three, Tamar, also known in the Old Testament as Tamar.
And Feres and Zerah are twins that were born of Tamar by her father-in-law, Judah.
I'm not going to go over the story, but Judah, you know, essentially hires what he thinks to be a prostitute, Tamar,
he doesn't know because she has a veil over her face, and essentially commits fornication with Tamar,
and then she ends up finding out later that it was Tamar, his daughter-in-law, okay?
And then, of course, she ends up bearing his children, Feres and Zerah, who are also sons of Judah, okay?
They're sons of Judah, his other sons, Ere and Onan, are killed by God, okay, if you remember those stories.
But look, she's in the genealogy, so this woman who played the harlot is part of the ancestry of Jesus Christ.
Not only that, but you also see Rahab, or as it says here in verse number five,
and Solomon begat Buz, also known in the Old Testament as what? Boaz, of Rechab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, Obed begat Jesse.
So who's Rahab? Rahab is Rahab the harlot, from Joshua chapter number four, okay?
Another woman of ill repute. The only woman who's mentioned here, who's not necessarily a woman of ill repute, is Ruth.
Okay, because it says there that Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, and Ruth, there's nothing necessarily morally wrong about Ruth, but Ruth was a Moabite-ish woman.
And the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 32 that the Ammonite and the Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord until the tenth generation.
But yet, she was a part of this lineage here, and of course she's not necessarily an Israelite by blood, she's a Moabite, but she sought to follow the Lord, and of course she ended up marrying Boaz, and became a part of that lineage there.
What is the last woman that we see? Verse number six, and Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah.
Now this is referring to who? Bathsheba, okay? But it's interesting that it doesn't really say her name, though.
It's like God didn't forget that one blotch of David, right? He doesn't even call her David's wife, he says the woman that had been the wife of Uriah, referring to Bathsheba.
Now what do you think is the purpose to mentioning these women who are in repute? What kind of goes to show you that God can use anyone, and will use anyone?
And just because you might have a bad background, you know, failures in your past, areas in your life where you wouldn't be considered a person of moral reputation, you didn't come from a Christian home, you made mistakes in the past, God can still use you to do something great.
Because they are forever written in the word of God, you know, obviously Bathsheba's not named, but we don't really need to say Bathsheba's name.
I mean, you just mentioned Uriah and David, and it's like, I know that whole little thing going on there, I know who we're talking about here, okay?
But here's the thing, at the end of the day, she was Solomon's mother, and obviously, you know, they made a mistake, they committed adultery, but they were able to move on and live godly lives, and she raised a godly leader named Solomon.
And so it just shows you that, you know, you don't have to have a perfect background, in fact, no one has a perfect background.
But you think to yourself, well, I got saved later on in life, or maybe I got saved as a child, but I didn't really learn the ways of the Lord, I wasn't raised in church, I didn't learn the Bible until later on, you know, I just don't think God can really use me.
God can use anybody, as long as you follow the Lord, okay? As long as you read the word of God, you obey His commandments, you walk with Him, you know, God can still use you in a great way, despite your past.
I mean, Tamar, I mean, that's a really bad, I think out of all these, probably Tamar is one of the worst, because Rahab was Rahab the harlot, Tamar was a woman who played the harlot.
It wasn't her occupation, she just kind of did it out of spite for her father-in-law, because of the whole debacle there in their family.
You know, you would think of like Judas is like, oh man, this is a dysfunctional family. I mean, you can't get more dysfunctional than that. But you know what? God can even use a dysfunctional family.
Now look, if you didn't grow up that way, and you're like, well, I don't really have a testimony like that. Great. Praise the Lord. Thank God for that.
If you have parents that raised you in church, they raised you around biblical principles, or even if you didn't grow up in church, but you just grew up with a moral family, a family of integrity and honesty, people of just having moral values, even though they didn't necessarily grow up in church, and you grew up that way, great.
Thank God. God can also use you as well. And so it's a great lesson for us to learn here that you should stop using your past as a reason why you can't serve God.
Stop using your mistakes or your failures of times past as a reason why you can't win souls to Christ, why you can't read the Bible, why you can't disciple others, why you can't be a big influence, because you can.
As long as you keep the Bible as your focus, the Lord Jesus Christ as your focus, God can use anybody. And so thank God for that. Amen.
And so we see here that this is proving the fact that the genealogy proves the fact that Jesus Christ is the rightful heir to the throne of David.
Now look at verse 18, finishing up with the genealogies there. It says here, verse 18, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.
When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph, her husband being a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.
So what's going on here? Well, we obviously know that Jesus Christ is in the womb of Mary through the Holy Ghost, but this took place when she was engaged to Joseph.
And obviously Joseph doesn't necessarily have this divine knowledge as of yet that that which is in Mary's womb is of the Holy Ghost.
And so what happens here is that, you know, she's pregnant. So he's like, Oh, you cheated on me. You know, that's basically what he's thinking, right?
Now they're espoused. In other words, they're engaged. But the Bible says here before they came together.
So before the marriage was consummated, before they physically consummated the marriage, this took place.
So automatically in his mind is, Oh, she committed fornication because adultery is the phrase that we use, the word that we use to describe infidelity within marriage.
Whereas fornication is that sexual act that's committed between two people that are not married.
Now, why is that important? Well, because in verse 19, it says that he's willing to put her, I'm sorry, that he not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privately.
In other words, privately. What does put away mean? He was going to divorce her, give her a bill of divorcement, even though they're simply engaged.
Which obviously in those times, the engagement was pretty much as good as marriage, aside from the fact that they had not physically consummated the marriage.
So therefore he was going to give up a writing of divorcement. Now go to Matthew chapter five, if you would, Matthew chapter five, because this is an important point.
And we see that this is covered here in Matthew chapter five. When it, look at verse number 31, Jesus Christ talking to the Pharisees.
Just speaking to the crown, the multitudes here, excuse me, it says in verse 31, it had been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.
But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, listen to this, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committed adultery.
Now, most pastors today want to translate this as, well, if you commit any kind of sexual sin, that is justified in room for divorce. Wrong, false.
Jesus did not say that. Like, well, he cheated on me. She cheated on me. Therefore the Bible says, except it be for the cause of fornication, therefore I have a right to divorce my spouse. Wrong.
It says for the cause of fornication, and fornication is not something that two married people do. You understand?
So if it says for the cause of fornication in context of marriage, how would that work? Well, luckily, he gave us an example in Matthew chapter one, where they were espoused one to another, but they had not yet come together physically.
And therefore, it was grounds for divorce because of the fact that they had not yet consummated the marriage. He was willing to give her a bill of divorcement for that.
And the Bible specifically says, being a just man. In other words, he did have the right to do that according to the law.
Now, people today want to use Matthew chapter five, verse 32, as proof that you can divorce, and, you know, because they just, people, that's something that people do nowadays.
It's just like they look at their favorite Hollywood stars getting married every six months or whatever, and they think this is justifiable. It's like, oh, he watched pornography, therefore I'm going to divorce him.
Well, obviously watching pornography is wicked, but it's just not the same thing. Like, oh man, he just looked upon a woman or something. He's lusting after another woman or whatever it may be.
Just things that people come up with as an excuse to divorce their spouse. Folks, it's not found in the Bible. And in fact, God says he hates putting away.
God hated putting away. Putting away means to divorce. It's not something that's justifiable according to the Bible.
The exception to this rule would be Matthew chapter one during the engagement stage. If you find out that your spouse, soon to be spouse, committed fornication, you have the right to not marry that person and consummate the marriage.
But of course, Jesus says because of the hardness of your hearts, Moses gave you this law. In other words, because you're just unwilling to forgive.
Now thankfully, go back to Matthew chapter one, when Joseph was minded to put away privily, then he stopped and of course the angel explains what's going on and he doesn't put her away.
But this is an important teaching because of the fact that people try to use this as a justification and a lot of pastors will switch on this. They'll preach against divorce 20-30 years ago, but then they won't preach on it today. Why? Because their church is filled with divorced people.
And so they don't want to offend their church members. They don't want to offend Joe Schmo church member and so they're like, maybe the Bible makes an exception for divorce and fornication in Greek is porneia. So maybe that is right.
And you'll even have pastors who will counsel wives and say, yeah, you need to divorce your husband. I mean, it's wicked, my friend. I mean, the church is supposed to be a place where we as God's people reinforce the institution of marriage, institution of the family, tell people, hey, till death do your part, you don't use the D word in your marriage.
You don't talk about divorce. It's never a thing. It should never be a thing. You said for better or for worse. And you know what? When the worst comes, you got to stick it out. Well, it just doesn't feel like this was God's will. Well, you know what? Once you said I do, it became God's will and may not have been God's will before that, but once you said I do, it's God's will now.
That's what my father-in-law used to say. He's like, he's just not the will of God for my life. He is now. He is now because you made a covenant before God. Well, I just didn't know he was going to be this way. I didn't know she was going to be this way. You should have thought about that before you got married.
See, folks and young people, just understand this. This is why it's important you don't just jump into marriage right away and just marry whatever comes your way and winks at you or whatever. I don't know what they do. Wave at you with their eyebrows because they can do that now apparently.
It's just like, they can fan you with their eyebrows by blinking at you or whatever. And it's just like, this is the one. Let her not take you with her eyebrows, the Bible says. Or maybe it's the eyelashes. I don't know which one it is. There's women out there that have eyelashes big enough to like, was I saying eyebrows? Eyelashes is what I meant. They could probably take you with her eyebrows too.
Okay. You know, obviously, you want to marry someone who you're attracted to and all that, and you know, get along with but you know what, it's also important that you guys share the same biblical values. That's why this whole thing was like, well, I'm just gonna get them saved. And then I'll marry them right off the bat because once they're saved, they have the Holy Ghost living within them. And therefore it should be easy going after that. No, because they still have the flesh.
Like I'm glad you're emphasizing the fact that they have the Holy Ghost within them until the day of redemption. But just know that the flesh, the old man is still there too. And this person has probably had years and years and years of bad teaching within their mind. So you know, it's good in my opinion to marry someone who's in church.
Who's in church, preferably a fundamental Baptist church. Oh, you're being too strict about that. I'm just saying, in my experience, okay, even if you marry someone who's outside of a fundamental Baptist church, you know what, you guys will probably have one thing in common. That's that you're both saved.
But it'll probably stop at that. Because then you're going to be you're going to be toting a King James Bible. And he or she is going to be like, well, I prefer an HIV or NIV or whatever. I prefer an ESV. I prefer this. And I'm just telling you, the honeymoon stage will end.
Okay. One day you'll wake up. Both have eye boogers. Both of your breaths stank. And reality shall hit. And you know what's going to matter at that time, the most important thing, the soul, the values, the core values that you guys have. You understand? Beauty is vain, the Bible says.
You know, and so it's important that you take these things into account. And just don't just think and look, we have one story here, which I believe is the exception to the rule. Okay, when it comes to because, you know, every every young man's dream in our church is just like they win their, their, their, their, you know, future spouse to Christ or something. It's just like the door, you lead them to the Lord, and then you disciple them. And then they begin to become a fundamental Baptist.
And then, you know, you propose them to get married. And then she's just godly. And then she, she loves the reprobate doctrine. You know, it's just, that's everyone's dream. But you know what, let me just say that it's only happened to one person in our church. You're like, that's all I need. You know, brother, brother Jacob is probably the only person who I know has been able to do that in our church. Okay. You know, brother Jacob and I, we were and that's because I pushed him to do it. I mean, that's, I, you know, I, we're out sowing, and he knocked on the door.
And Kimberly came out, and he led her to the Lord. And, you know, there's sparks flying, you know, I'm just like, can we get to the next door? And, you know, and then, like, I told him, I said, Hey, you should do some follow up. Because it looked like they were getting along. And I was like, get a DVD. And he's like, I don't remember where she lives. I'm like, I remember, because I do the maps for the soul winning. So, like, I know where that area is at, I'll go with you, you know, so he went and he gave her a DVD. And they're kind of quiet.
And I was just like, he wants your number is what he's trying to get to, because he wants to disciple you. Let's see if you're willing to come to church. And, you know, fast forward, they got married. Amen. And they're still in our church, happily married. You know, they have two children. Amen. And, you know, Kimberly is a very godly woman. And, you know, I remember when she first came to our church, she actually didn't come for a service. She came for a wedding. And I was, I was, I was preaching, or should I say, I was, you know, given a little sermon for the wedding. And I was like, preaching to her.
And I was like, preaching against feminism, saying all this stuff. And then she was just like, Whoa, this guy's crazy. Well, you know what, she saved, she read the Bible, she kept coming to church. And now she's a fundamental Baptist. And thank God for that. But folks, don't hang your hat on that example. Okay. Jacob has the favor, God's favor on his life. And the Lord loves Jacob. And so he blessed Jacob with with Kimberly. Amen. And you know, you don't always you want to roll the dice with that. You're like, Oh,
that's such a cool story. But not everyone enjoys that cool story. Not everyone will get to enjoy that cool story. Because for every Jacob, there's a tons of others who can't say the same thing. Okay. Who say like, I wish all how I hated instruction. You know. And so you know, it's important, my friends. Look, I'm not for divorce. I never will be I don't care if half of our church. 75% of our church are divorced and they are forced
for divorce. I will preach against divorce until the day that I die. And if I never get an Amen from from the congregation, great, because I'll just preach on it even harder just to make you mad about that. You know why? Because I want my kids. Listen to me, I want my kids to know, hey, when you get married, it's still death do you part Bruce? It's still death do you part Kyla?
It's still death. It's still death. You know what the point of marriage is? You stick it out. You stick it out because you made a covenant before God and you do it. Never quit. Quit on marriage. And that's the problem with a lot of the dating today is that people treat marriage like dating. Oh it's not working out with my girlfriend or boyfriend. Just dump them get a new one. You ain't got quiet in here. You know, marriage should be you know what I want to spend the rest of my life with this person. And that means that that means you guys are gonna grow old and ugly.
Amen? And it's not it's just like oh man you're you don't look the way you used to
yeah that's that's what that's what age does but you know what you still stick
it out and you still love one another and you still reverence him you still
love her as Christ loved the church and you live happily ever after yes it's
possible okay and you never use the D word and I'm not talking about damn I'm
talking about divorce because there might be some dams that you know come
along the right away and so you know Joseph obviously he had the right to do
this they weren't completely married but once he found out all this is of the
Holy Ghost you know he was obviously all game and he's a just man God used Mary
and he used Joseph in a great way you ever see know that Joseph is not Jesus
his father but he did a pretty darn good job as his stepfather I mean the man was
a just man he loved the Lord and God used him in a great way just as he used
Mary and that's as much as we're gonna esteem them amen can't go the route of
the Catholics where they just give them divinity or whatever and and start
praying to them but that's what's being taught there in verse 18 and 19 and be
thankful that you have this preaching against divorce my friends okay and you
make sure you have that conviction and especially for your children and teach
them that okay and one of the greatest ways you can teach your children not to
ever entertain the concept of divorce is that you show them how to suffer
rightfully in your marriage that when you are at odds with your spouse you
don't argue with them in front of your kids they see that you reconcile
situations between one another they see how much they see that you love each
other that you prefer one another over the children that's a big thing wait a
minute I thought we're supposed to prefer our children over no that's not
folks did you know that you knew your wife before you knew your kids I mean
that's the way it's supposed to work and guess what one day your kids are gonna
grow up and they're gonna get married they're gonna leave the house and guess
who's gonna be home your spouse so anyways every every couple of months I
got to talk about divorce just in case this little false doctrine starts
creeping in and people want to get you know create this doctrine that it's okay
and God is okay with it wrong look at verse 20 but while he thought on these
things behold the angel of the Lord appeared into him in a dream st. Joseph
thou thou son of David as we see according to the genealogy there fear
not to take unto thee marry thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the
Holy Ghost she shall bring forth the son listen to this and now shall call his
name Yeshua Yahashua no it says Jesus and it's isn't it interesting that it's
all capital letters it's just like thou shall call his name Jesus just in case
you just were mistaken what that name is okay now this is very important okay
why is that well you know it's like a trend it's been going on for a couple
years but it's it's picking up more momentum because of the internet and
social media is a lot of Christians will adhere to this name Yeshua okay and what
they'll claim is that the name Yeshua is the name of Jesus not Jesus it's Yeshua
okay now given there are languages in the world where the way you say Jesus is
Yeshua okay that's obviously true the problem is is not necessarily is that
the way you pronounce it in a different language the problem is the people who
promote the name of Yeshua are not making the argument pronounce it this
way because this is how it's pronounced in other languages they're saying all
across the board no matter what language you speak you should call his name
Yeshua you say well what's the problem with that the problem with that is it's
a Judaizing tactic because to the Hebrew roots movement who are the
promoters of the Yeshua name it's not necessarily because they think it's in
the Bible it's because they ascribe some sort of supernatural power to that
specific name Yeshua which in the Old Testament is a Hebrew word that means
salvation so there's nothing innately wrong about the name Yeshua the problem
is when you try to get people who read English speak English to say it's Yeshua
and here's another problem with that name and trying to get people to
ascribe to that name if you don't speak that language is that they'll claim that
it's in the New Testament so they will discredit the New Testament by saying
all the New Testaments wrong because the name of Jesus is Yeshua not Jesus but
when you read the New Testament in Greek Jesus is the name there's no Yeshua
what are you talking about these are the same people that will try to claim that
the New Testament is written in Hebrew like it's not written in Greek it's
written in Hebrew it's like Colossae the Ephesians the church at Thessalonica
also known as Thessaloniki I mean these are all Greek speaking areas regions and
of course in the first century AD the lingua franca of the day was Greek and
you know what Jesus Christ and his disciples all spoke Greek and guess what
they wrote in Greek as well how do you know because the gospels are written in
Greek that's why and so you know this this this whole thing of well his name
is Yeshua it's not Jesus nothing wrong with the name innately but it's it's a
group of people who are seeking to Judaize Christianity to discredit the
New Testament by saying oh this thing Yeshua should be said by all nations in
this manner because it has some sort of supernatural you know ability or
whatever like that and this is obviously Jewish you see why is that because when
it comes to the tetragrammaton okay the four-letter name of God which is Jehovah
as we would translate it as in the Old Testament you know you have this the
tetragrammaton which no one knows how to pronounce because there's no
vows so they use this tetragrammaton and the reason no one knows how to pronounce
it is because Jews in times past were so superstitious about saying the
tetragrammaton that they lost how to say it no one wanted to say it for the
longest time and so therefore it just got lost it's like no one knows how to
pronounce it because there's no tape recorders on Mount Sinai or whatever in
the desert no one knows how to say it why because they had this soup they had
the superstitious belief about the name thinking if we say it we're just being
irreverent towards God false it's stupid that's a Judaizing doctrine and they're
trying to apply that to the name of Jesus saying Jesus is not his name it's
Yeshua okay so they're saying you got to call upon Yeshua you got to believe
in Yeshua well you know what if we were from you know North Africa where where's
Adam from I forgot
Berber what Tunisia you know you would say you would say he is you're right
about that but he's from Tunisia so you know if you're in that region and you
spoke that language you would pronounce the name of Jesus as Yeshua okay because
that's how they say it but if you're in Mexico you will not say Yeshua you say
Jesus but those who adhere to the Hebrew roots movement would say well that's
wrong the Mexicans should say Yeshua because again they're ascribing some
supernatural power to that particular name you understand what I'm saying here
and so this the the name Yeshua is an attack on the New Testament which is
what we consider to be the Word of God it's authoritative for all faith in
practice okay the underlying Greek text that we adhere to that the King James
Bible was translated from says Jesus every single time and the so Yahweh thing
there's no folks in the New Testament when it quotes the Old Testament when
Jesus quoted the Old Testament and it quotes passages of Scripture that have
the tetragrammaton he doesn't use Jehovah he uses the Lord kyrios so are
you gonna tell me that Jesus Christ was wrong because you know you have the
Jehovah's Witnesses say what and the New Testament has to be Jehovah Jehovah
Jehovah Jehovah every single time they're basically discrediting the Lord
Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ the Apostles the disciples they all said the
Lord when quoting Old Testament scriptures using the tetragrammaton
Jehovah and so you know I believe that this is the Word of God I believe what
we have right here in our hands is the perfect preserved inspired Word of God
translated from the original Hebrew and Greek and I don't think God I don't
think Jesus Christ or the disciples made any mistakes and so you know his name is
Jesus amen in English it's Jesus and and when you're speaking Spanish is Jesus
if you're in Tunisia it's Yeshua yes but those particular names don't have
necessarily the power it's the person who represents the name that has the
power which is Jesus Christ and so you know in the Old Testament the Bible says
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and obviously
the name of Jesus Christ was not known in the Old Testament but it's okay
because he is the Lord and then when it's his name is revealed in the New
Testament those dynamics change salvation doesn't change okay salvation
is still free it's by faith by grace through faith not of works that any man
should boast the difference is is that now people have to call upon the name of
the Lord Jesus to be saved because that is the missing piece of the puzzle that
people in the Old Testament who saw through a glass darkly didn't know about
but it's okay because they weren't held accountable for that because they
called upon the name of the Lord who is Jesus Christ in the New Testament so if
someone says why I got saved because I called upon God not right who what God
are you talking about what God are we talking about little G you know if they
say I called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved and yeah
they're right that's the name that we have to believe on in order to be saved
okay and so you know all these people who try to discredit the name of Jesus
and and try to say we have to go with this new name no because that's a
Judaizing thing and the reason by the way Judaizing that term Judaizing is
found in Galatians chapter 2 in Greek it's it's a term that means to live as
do the Jews that's what Judaizing means and we don't hate Jews here but we
definitely hate Judaism okay and this church will not be Judaized we're not
gonna be here to traditions of Jewish people or the Talmud or whatever we're
not gonna bring a shofar in here or we're not gonna be gesticulating in
here either when we pray I didn't see Cody gesticulating up here when he was
praying over the prayer bulletin okay why because those are Judaizing tactics
and methods that we would completely reject you say man well you know do you
have that much against Judaism Oh folks this is Matthew chapter 1 we have just
wait till we get to like the parables and stuff I mean you're gonna be like
whoa like this Matthew hate the Jews or something like that or this Jesus hate
the Jews or something obviously don't hate them but they obviously hate
Judaism it's a false religion that leads people to hell my friends and in fact I
would say it's one of the worst religions in this world okay it's a
religion that takes credit for killing Jesus Christ and and being fine with it
and claiming that he's in hell burning his own escrow men how about that so I
don't want to get ahead of myself because we have 27 more chapters to go
and there's a lot to be said but I just want to make very clear that Jesus is
the name that we use today in 2023 United States of America when we speak
English oh but you're Hispanic yeah but I preach in English though you know and
when I preach in Spanish and I do videos in Spanish is Jesus but we're not gonna
say yes you all all across the board for all languages that's false that's wrong
and the goal of that is to bring it to Judaism Christianity in order to
apostatize churches that's what it's for okay so thank you Matthew for
capitalizing these letters okay for he shall save his people from their sins
verse 22 now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of
the Lord by the Prophet saying behold the Virgin shall be with child and shall
bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which is being
interpreted God with us this is obviously quoting Isaiah chapter 7 and
look at verse 24 says then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of
the Lord had bit in him and took unto him his wife and listen to this and knew
her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name
Jesus now what does that mean knew her not till basically means he ended up
knowing her physically but not until she bore Jesus which means Jesus had half
brothers and half sisters okay and you said why is that important well because
the Catholic Church tries to teach this perpetual virginity of Mary or she just
perpetually a virgin I don't even remember if that's what it's called is
that what it is perpetual virginity it basically means that she just remained a
virgin all the days of her life or whatever wrong that after she had Jesus
you know Mary did with Joseph what all married couples do and they ended up
having more children which by the way ended up rejecting him initially as the
Christ but then later on got saved and the proof of that is the fact that James
who is the pastor there in Jerusalem is the half brother of Jesus Christ okay
and of course he got saved later on but that's important to note here that he
did have half half half brothers and half sisters and that Mary did not
remain a virgin thereafter that's a false doctrine perpetuated by the
Catholics and so great start to the book of Matthew in my opinion I don't know I
like what Matthew 1 says I'm looking forward to the rest and again you know
if you're iffy about like replacement theology if you kind of cringe when when
people preach on Judaism or the Jews you know I know I encourage you to be here
for all 28 weeks but if you have a hard time with that you might not want to
come on Thursday nights because it's gonna get ugly I mean it's beautiful to
me and look before even Jesus says anything like John his cousin John the
Baptist you know he says think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to
our father and he's calling them vipers and all these things and so you know
it's it's gonna get pretty ugly over the next 28 weeks if you don't like that
kind of preaching but folks I love it because of the fact that it's God's Word
its doctrine this is how God intended for preaching to be amen and so great
deal so the takeaways of tonight is that we can we can extrapolate from the
sermon is you know God can use anyone okay God can use a Moabites woman who is
a Gentile right to be a part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ and and you be
used greatly we learned that there's no discrepancies in the Bible and whenever
you run into something that might seem like a discrepancy have faith that it's
not have faith in God's Word that it's without error and you'll learn what it
actually means later on okay and then lastly we use the name Jesus here okay
no Judaizing let's pray father we thank you so much for your word so thankful
for the book of Matthew Lord I pray that you continue to open our eyes that we
may behold wondrous things out of thy law and give us great understanding Lord
and I pray father God that you'd bless us as we go on our way bless the weekend
and I pray for Sunday Lord that many would come people would get saved and a
great work would be done for you Lord we love you so much and we thank you pray
these things in Jesus name amen
right we have one last song song number ten
near the cross song ten near the cross
everyone all together nice and strong Jesus keep me near the cross
precious mountain free to all a healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain in
the cross in the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest
beyond the river near the cross a trembling soul love and mercy found me
they're the bride and morning star
it's games around me
till my raptured soul shall find rest
beyond the river near the cross of lamb of God bring and see
or meme help me walk from day to day
in the cross
my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river near
the cross I'll watch and wait
till I reach just beyond the river
in the cross in the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river
amen one of the singing you are dismissed