["Pomp and Circumstance"]
I'm so happy.
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening, welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you could find your seats and grab a songbook.
Let's turn in our hymnals to song 29 at the cross.
Song 29 at the cross.
Hmm.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
Lord, thank you so much for this day, and we're just so thankful for all that you do for us as a church and as individual families, Lord.
We pray that you would continue to bless us and help us to continue to serve and love you, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our second song tonight, we'll go to song 106, Abide With Me.
Song 106, Abide With Me.
106, Abide With Me.
A-bide With Me Fast Falls even side
The darkness deepens Lord with me abide
When other helpers Fail, and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, O, abide with me.
Swift to its close end, out lies little Dane.
Earth's joys grow dimmest, glories pass away.
Change and decay in all the ground I see.
O thou who changest not, abide with me.
I need thy presence, every passing hour.
What but thy grace can, for the tempter's power.
Who like thyself my guidance they can be.
Through cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me.
O thou thy cross before my closing eyes.
Shine through the blue, then point me to the skies.
And for new praise, and earth's faint shadows gleam.
In life and death, O Lord, abide with me.
Thank you so much for being with us this Wednesday night and early Happy Thanksgiving.
On the front we have our Bible Memory passage. We're starting a new passage, John chapter number one.
Any child 18 or under that's able to quote our verse of the week can get a special ice cream treat at our Mead Week service.
So there's going to be a lot of verses here for you to work on.
Anybody that can quote the entire passage of John chapter number one will receive a special prize.
And it's definitely a long chapter, but it's got a lot of verses in there you're probably already familiar with.
And I know if you work on it you can definitely get it done.
You'll have like a whole year to do it anyway, so you should be able to get it done.
And it is a great prize because it's a big chapter and so there will be a good prize associated with that.
On the inside we have our service and soul winning times.
I'm going to get a count for any soul winning for the last few days.
Was there anything to report from Monday by chance?
It's like three for Monday. What about Tuesday?
Okay, so five for Tuesday. What about today? Was there anything today?
Two for today. Praise the Lord on that.
Keep up the great work on our soul winning.
On the right we have a list of all the expecting ladies.
Continue to be in prayer for them.
We also have our prayer list. I'm going to go over that.
We go over that on Wednesday nights.
We have the Negara family, continue to pray for them and their health.
Miss Lucy's mother, her tumors, we continue to pray for her and cancer.
Brother Cameron Hall down in Pure Words, we pray for his leg to continue healing.
I always ask him, I asked him this yesterday, we had our church service Tuesday instead of Thursday this week.
I said, is it getting better? And he's like, it could be getting better, it could be getting worse.
I don't know. But just continue to pray for them.
It's definitely been a long issue he's been dealing with.
Verity Baptist and also Pastor Kevin Sepulveda in Australia continue to pray for their churches.
That they would be able to continue having services regularly and doing soul winning.
We need to get an update from them as far as what's going on.
But I'm sure that they definitely are having some difficulties.
Also continue to pray for Miss Stephanie Weathers and her pregnancy.
Having some extra health concerns there.
Brother Ever Garcia, his mother's health as well.
And then, it's not in your bulletin, but the Wood family, their son Jack had a surgery today for appendicitis.
So I think it was kind of like a sudden thing.
But they came out of it, he said it seems like they're doing okay so far.
But just continue to pray for Jack and their family for a speedy recovery.
And I'm going to just say a quick word of prayer for those that were mentioned here for our church family.
Thank you Heavenly Father for our church.
Thank you so much for all the ladies that are expecting.
I pray that you would just be with them during this pregnancy.
That you would give them strength.
That you would give them favor.
That you would help them have an easy delivery.
And that their children would be very healthy.
I pray that you would also bless the rest of our church with various health concerns.
That you could be with them, give them favor.
Give them a speedy recovery as well.
That you would bless our friends across the world.
Those that are having difficulty having their church services and preaching the gospel.
That you would just open doors for them.
That they could shine the light of the gospel.
And I pray that you would just bless all the rest of our church with favor and wisdom.
You'd help us get more soul winners to go out and share the gospel.
And we thank you for all you give us.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Down below we have the congratulations of the Hernandez family on the birth of Lydia Annalise Hernandez.
And she was born November 14th at 5.33 pm.
She weighs 7 pounds 11 ounces and measured 21 inches long.
So congratulations to them.
And really, really great picture there.
On the back we have the note about our yearbook pictures.
So we're still going through this.
There's still sign up sheets.
We're still going to try and get through Sunday.
This upcoming Sunday is 28th.
And then after that we'll probably have a sign up sheet for a make up.
And we'll nag all of you that didn't get a picture.
Okay, so if you didn't get a picture we'll come track you down and harass you.
Or we'll just take, we'll snap a picture of you.
Surprise.
You know, we'll just be like surprise.
And that's what we'll put in there.
So it's better to just go ahead and get the nice one.
So we can have the nice picture.
But please do sign up.
We'd like for you to participate in that.
Also we have a baby shower for the Wood family in honor of their baby girl.
And Miss Megan Wood is registered at Bye Bye Baby.
If you're able to bring a dish that's always encouraged.
Also it's nursing's only preferred but we don't want to turn any ladies away.
Tonight we're having a dessert fellowship.
So I'm really excited.
It looks like a lot of good stuff over there.
And so right after the service we're going to dig in and have some desserts.
Please do stay and have some fellowship with us.
Thank you so much for participating.
Everybody that brought dessert.
At least all of you that brought a chocolate dessert.
Thank you to all of you people.
Okay.
The rest of you, you know, eh.
December 9th through the 11th we have our Brownsville-Madam Morris Soul Waning Marathon.
There is a sign up sheet over here.
And I do need to know by this Sunday if you're coming as far as me arranging your travel arrangements.
So, you know, if you're just a solo guy you're just going to show up and, you know, spin into town and spin out.
You can do whatever you want.
But I'm just saying if you want me to help accommodate you and make sure that you're taken care of.
You got to sign up so that way I can plan and prepare for that.
We already had a lot of people sign up and so I think it's going to be a great trip.
You can always stay on the Texas side in the promised land or you can venture off into Nineveh or to Madame Morris.
And you can preach the gospel to the bloody city.
But, you know, it's going to be a great time.
I'm really excited about it.
And it's a great time to go in December.
It's going to be warm down there probably.
So, we also have our Christmas caroling December 14th which is going to be a lot of fun.
Please show up.
Participate.
We'll have a pizza fellowship right after at about 7 p.m. approximately.
We also have our candlelight service.
It's December 22nd.
I think the bulletin had a typo from Sunday morning just so people are aware.
We're not having a service on that Friday.
Just our normal regular Wednesday service.
But we will be having a candlelight service and then we'll have a cookie bake-off.
Because it's a Baptist church and any excuse we're going to have to have food, we just have food, alright?
And then December 31st we'll also have a New Year's Eve party at 7 p.m.
So, that's pretty much all I had for announcements at this time.
We'll go ahead and go to our third song for the evening.
104, lean on his arms.
And that's song 104, lean on his arms.
104, lean on his arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
He'll help you along, help you along.
If you will trust his love unfailing,
He'll fill your heart with song.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
He'll brighten the way, brighten the way.
Just follow gladly where he leadeth,
His gentle voice obey.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
Oh, bring every care, bring every care.
The burden that has seemed so heavy,
Take to the Lord in prayer.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
Then leave all to Him, leave all to Him.
His heart is full of love and mercy.
His eyes are never dim.
Lean on his arms, trusting in his love.
Lean on his arms, all his mercy's proof.
Lean on his arms, looking home above.
Just lean on the Savior's arms.
While the offering plates are being passed around,
please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 35.
Genesis chapter 35.
And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there,
and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee
when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
Then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him,
Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean,
and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel,
and I will make there an altar unto God,
who answered me in the day of my distress,
and was with me in the way which I went.
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand,
and all their earrings which were in their ears,
and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them,
and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel,
he and all the people that were with him,
and he built there an altar and called the place El-Bethel,
because there God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother.
But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died,
and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak,
and the name of it was called Al-Umbakuth.
And God appeared unto Jacob again when he came out of Pananaram and blessed him.
And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob.
Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.
And he called his name Israel.
And God said unto him, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply.
A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee,
and kings shall come out of thy loins,
and a land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee I will give it,
and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him,
and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone,
and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath,
and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.
And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her,
Fear not, thou shalt have this son also.
And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, for she died,
that she called his name Benonai, but his father called him Benjamin.
And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, that is, the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.
And Israel journeyed and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edom,
and it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land,
that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine.
And Israel heard it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon,
and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun,
the sons of Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin,
and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, Dan, and Naphtali,
and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, Gad, and Asher.
These are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan Aram,
and Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre,
unto the city of Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
In the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years,
and Isaac gave up the ghost and died,
and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days,
and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for our church.
Please, Lord, fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit.
Allow him to preach boldly, and thank you for everything you do for us,
and in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. So we're continuing our Bible study through the book of Genesis,
and we're in chapter number 35, and the Bible says in verse 1,
and God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there,
and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee,
when thou fledest from the face of Esau thy brother.
And so we kind of are revisiting something that had happened
in the prior chapters of the Bible, where when Jacob had initially left his house,
and he fled from Esau, his father had instructed him to find a wife,
and to go back unto Laban, and go back to that lineage of his family,
but on his journey, he had a vision, and he had God appear unto him,
and if we go back to Genesis 28, we'll be reminded of this,
go back there for just a second, and we'll see that God is bringing up something
that he had already spoken unto Jacob, and it says in Genesis chapter 28,
look at verse 18, Jacob rose up early in the morning,
and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar,
and poured oil upon the top of it.
He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was called Luz at the first.
Jacob vowed a vow saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way,
that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
so that I come again to my father's house in peace,
then shall the Lord be my God.
This stone which I have set for a pillar, to be God's house,
of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
So, in Genesis 28, he has a vision, and he realizes that he's in a place that's special,
he calls it the house of God, he sets up an altar,
and we kind of talked a lot about that when we were in Genesis 28,
but in the latter portion of this chapter, Jacob ends up making a vow saying,
Well, I'm on this journey, but when I come back, if God allows me to come back in peace,
then I'm going to give him a tenth of whatever it is that he gave me,
whatever the spoils are, whatever money, whatever possessions that I have,
I'm going to give a tenth unto him.
And this is really where you get the doctrine of tithing, you know,
there's other places earlier in scripture where it's kind of alluded to,
but this is a really clear picture of tithing in the Bible,
where Jacob is giving a tenth, because the word tithe simply means tenth, okay?
But, more importantly than talking about tithing is, you know,
especially since this week is kind of Thanksgiving week,
is the idea that giving this back to the Lord is actually an evidence,
or is a way in which Jacob can be thankful to the Lord for what he's done unto him.
Because basically he's going out hoping to get a wife, hoping to get possessions,
hoping to have these things, hoping to be safe along that way,
and if God does this unto him, he says he's going to give this money
as a basic token of his appreciation, his gratitude,
being thankful for what the Lord has done unto him.
And often when we think of being thankful,
I think a lot of us think of saying, you know, words of gratitude.
You know, like, simply, thank you, right?
Saying something about, I appreciate that, or I really am pleased or glad that you did that for me,
or this really worked out for me.
Just showing some kind of appreciation, some kind of gratitude,
some kind of thanks with our lips.
And that's obviously very important.
You know, we need to be a people that are in habit of often saying thank you for things,
using our words to describe the appreciation we have for people and what they do for us,
and especially the Lord.
You know, the Bible has so many commandments about praising the Lord,
telling the Lord that you're thankful for the things that he's blessed you with and given you.
But being thankful can go beyond just your words.
It can also be in your actions.
And we have here Jacob giving a portion of his income to the Lord in a picture of thanksgiving.
Now, this is a biblical concept.
I want you to go to Leviticus for a moment.
Look at Leviticus chapter 7, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, third book of the Bible.
And we're going to see that the Bible literally talks about an action or doing something that's a thankful action.
Look at Leviticus chapter 7 and look at verse number 12.
And in Leviticus, the first seven chapters are really outlining a lot of the sacrifices in the Old Testament.
But it says in verse number 12,
If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil,
and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil of fine flour fried.
Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings.
And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation, for it heave offering unto the Lord.
And it shall be the priests that sprinkle the blood of the peace offerings, and the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings,
for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered.
He shall not leave any of it until the morning.
So we have very clearly here the Bible bringing up the idea of a sacrifice and this sacrifice being a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Meaning that if you're thankful for what the Lord has done unto you,
if you're thankful for what God has blessed you with, you would take of your flock and you would offer a sacrifice of the Lord,
not because you had to, not because it was for sin, not for the burnt offering, not for the feast, simply as a thanksgiving unto God.
Just simply saying, you know what, I'm so thankful for what the Lord has blessed me with and what the Lord has given me,
I just want to give him a special offering that's just a thanksgiving offering, a thanksgiving sacrifice.
And according to the Bible, it's supposed to be a free will offering.
Skip over to chapter 22 for just a second, chapter 22.
And when we think about what Jacob did here is in Jacob's offering of the tenth, this was in correlation with a vow that he made.
Because he vowed, he promised the Lord, he made a promise or an oath unto the Lord saying,
if you do this unto me, I'll give you a tenth, right?
So the way to be appreciative unto somebody is when you promise to do something unto them, you actually do it.
Otherwise, it seems like you're not very thankful, you're not very appreciative of what they actually did for you, right?
When you say, hey, if you help me out, I'll make sure to thank you or do good unto you or basically give this kind of a sacrifice to this offering.
And how would it be, how much of a disrespect would it be to God if you say bless me and give me all these goods
and then when he does it, you just don't return any favor, you don't keep the vow that you made or the promise that you made.
In fact, if you're truly thankful, you will keep that vow, you will keep that promise, you will keep that oath that you've made unto the Lord.
Look at Leviticus 22 verse 29.
And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord, offer it at your own will.
This has got to be a tough verse for all those Calvinists out there, but the Bible teaches that we have free will.
And God gets the most glory out of people having a choice of choosing to serve him or not and then choosing to serve him.
Not just having a bunch of slaves or robots or people automatically serving him, no, but rather giving everyone free will and then people having free will choosing to want to serve the Lord,
choosing to love the Lord, choosing to offer a sacrifice unto the Lord of thanksgiving.
And again, this is not a sacrifice to be seen of men or to be like, look at this offering I'm giving to the Lord, I just want everybody to know I'm just so thankful, I want to give an extra offering to the Lord.
No, that would be just to be seen of men.
These are offerings that you're doing just because you sincerely appreciate the Lord, you're sincerely thankful to God and you just want to give back to the Lord to show your appreciation for what he's done unto you and what he's given you.
And really, we see this is not just words, is it?
This isn't just lip service to the God, this is a literal action, this is a literal sacrifice, this is a literal offering of his goods, money, possession, things that he has.
That's how much this person is appreciating what God has done unto them.
Go to 1 Samuel 1, 1 Samuel 1.
We can certainly offer our physical possessions and money to the Lord in an offering of thanksgiving.
And it's not that the Lord needs money, some people will twist this or have a carnal viewpoint here, God doesn't really care about your money, God doesn't need your money, God already owned it in the first place.
He's the one that lent it over to you.
What God wants is your heart and really what God doesn't want is your possessions to have your heart.
He wants you to have all of your zeal and love and appreciation towards God, not the things that you possess.
And so by offering things unto the Lord, oftentimes it helps you put your heart in check and show your heart where your affections are really at.
Is your heart really in the possessions that you have or is your heart in the things of God and serving the Lord?
And that's what a sacrifice entails and it pictures.
There's other sacrifices that people make, how about fasting or something?
You know, fasting is withholding food to your body, something that you enjoy and replacing it with something spiritual like praying or seeking the Lord or doing something spiritual by saying,
you know what, more important than me feeding my flesh is doing something for God and you're trying to show your body, look, God's more important than you are.
You know, my flesh is not as important.
And so, you know, there's a lot of ways that we can show thanksgiving unto God by putting him first and putting ourselves second and offering things unto him.
But even beyond money, there's examples in the Bible of people giving things way more valuable than money.
How about their own children?
Look at 1 Samuel 1 verse 11.
This is talking about Hannah, she had been barren for a long period of time and she goes and she prays to the Lord and she says in verse 11,
And she vowed a vow and said of the Lord of hosts, Thou will indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid,
but will give unto thine handmaid a man child.
Then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head.
We see Hannah, who's barren for a very long time, she really wants a child and she says this, she says,
Lord, if you bless me with a child, then I'll give him to you.
Then I'll sacrifice, basically it's a sacrifice in a sense that she's not going to be selfish with her own child but rather she's going to give him to the Lord.
And that's literally what she does.
She literally just gives him to the priesthood.
She just gives him to the church, quote unquote, just to raise and to serve the Lord all the days of his life and she makes this vow, she makes this promise.
Now, how would it turn out if she ends up becoming pregnant and then she reneges on that vow?
Is she really thankful that God gave her a child?
Not really.
If she's truly thankful that God gave her that child, then she's going to honor this vow, she's going to honor this promise, she's going to honor that oath,
and she's going to really give of that child unto the Lord.
Look what it says later in this chapter, verse 27,
For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him.
Therefore, also, I have lent him to the Lord.
As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord, and he worshipped the Lord there.
Notice the birth of Samuel is a very special birth.
It's one in which a mother who has been barren has a child and she says,
You know what, this child's the Lord's, I'm going to give him unto the Lord.
And he's a very special man, he's a very special prophet.
And it pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, which we have the Virgin Mary, and her firstborn is what?
Lent unto the Lord.
You know, it's the Lord's prophet there, it's the Lord's Christ that she's facilitating and giving unto the Lord.
And look, the firstborn child is often considered a special one, you know, a special child.
You know, it has special privileges in the Bible, it's your first.
A lot of times there's an extra special emotional attachment to the firstborn.
And so for her to offer her firstborn to offer of Samuel unto the Lord is a great sacrifice.
I mean, we're not talking about some money here, we're talking about a literal child.
You know, someone that's very special to a mother.
I mean, a mother's child is going to be one of the most precious possessions that a mother could ever have.
And she's giving it unto the Lord. Why?
Because she's thankful for what the Lord has given her.
That's where it's coming from, being thankful for what she's been given.
And we see Jacob coming back into the land and now God's saying,
all right, go back to Bethel and build me an altar there.
What is he asking for Jacob to do?
He's wanting Jacob to honor that vow, isn't he?
He's wanting Jacob to come back and be thankful for what God has done unto Jacob.
Go to Psalms 50 and we're almost going to go back to our story here,
but I just want to kind of set this precedent for a moment.
And I want you to realize that while we need to appreciate the Lord and be thankful in our words,
we need to go beyond just our words.
We need to worship Him in deed and truth, not just in our lip service to God,
but rather being willing to make sacrifices to show that we truly are appreciative of what God's done unto us.
It always makes me think of that story where there's ten lepers and they are cleansed
and only one comes back to basically say thank you and to praise the Lord.
And when it comes to Christianity, there's a lot of Christians today,
they're all in it to get rid of their leprosy, but they're not willing to come back and actually praise God, are they?
They're not really willing to go and serve the Lord and to do the hard part.
It's easy to get cleansed. It's easy to get the free gift.
It's easy to get saved. You know, the hard part is then dedicating your life to serving God.
That's a sacrifice, but you know what?
If you truly appreciate salvation, if you're truly thankful, you'll serve God.
You know, do you have to be thankful for salvation to go to heaven? No.
I mean, you can get saved and then just live however you want,
and His grace will cover all your sins and you'll still go to heaven,
but the person that's thankful is the one that will go beyond just receiving the free gift
and they'll actually serve God with their life.
And that service can never repay what He's done.
It's not like it's tick or tat. In fact, it's the unspeakable gift.
I mean, it's not something that, you know, it's a price above anything that we could ever offer of ourselves.
It's actually a reasonable service to serve God with the rest of our lives.
It's not even a big price that we're offering unto Him.
It's a small portion of our goods, but people will not serve God after getting saved today,
and you know it's a shame because it shows that they're not thankful.
It shows that they don't really appreciate what God has done for them.
And, you know, people do this in all areas of their life.
You know, if your parents raised you to live a certain way and be a certain way,
you know what would be a great way to show your thankfulness?
Is by continuing in the instructions they've given you.
You know, we think about Mother's Day, we think about Father's Day, we think about holidays,
and a lot of people say, well, I'm going to call my dad on Father's Day, right?
I'm going to call my mom on Mother's Day and tell them thanks and everything like that.
You know, parents would rather that their children were just good children and loved the Lord
and did that just right and obeyed their parents more than just giving them a call on a particular day.
And obviously I'm not saying you shouldn't call your parents on Father's Day.
What I'm saying is it's not just a call one time and just saying thanks.
It's rather living a life that's pleasing unto your parents, obeying their rules and doing right
that's going to show more appreciation than just the lip service of doing it.
Look what it says in Psalms 50 verse 14.
Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high.
Notice how you offer unto God thanksgiving by paying your vows.
You know, it's foolish to tell the Lord that you're going to serve Him,
that you're going to do these things for Him,
that you want to offer some kind of sacrifice unto Him and not do it.
You know, the best thing to do is to serve the Lord with your life.
That's how you actually show thanksgiving is by doing things, not by lip service.
Go to Jonah chapter 2. One more place I want to have you turn there.
Jonah chapter number 2.
And so don't measure your thankfulness by your words only.
Really look at your life and say, am I living a life of thanksgiving unto God?
You know, and thanksgiving is a one-day holiday, right?
But our lives should be a life of thanksgiving.
We should have a thanksgiving every single day with our life, not just with our words,
but sacrificing on a daily basis, dying daily and offering ourselves unto the Lord every opportunity that we have.
Jonah chapter 2, look at verse number 9, the Bible says,
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.
I will pay that that I have vowed the salvation of the Lord.
Notice Jonah's attitude is the same, right?
He's going to pay that he has vowed, he's going to honor the Lord,
the things that he said he's going to do, he's going to do them.
And when you make a promise, when you tell someone you're going to do something, you better do it.
You know, we live in a society today where people just promise everything and deliver nothing.
And it's really frustrating to live in a society where you can't trust anybody.
I mean, most everybody will over-promise and under-deliver.
You know, you go anywhere, you talk to people, you work with business relationships,
people are always late, people don't deliver the goods that they're supposed to deliver,
they don't participate, they sign up for things and they don't show up.
You know, I mean, it's just a real common thing that people do.
It shows that you're not very appreciative, it shows that you're not really thankful for the things that people are offering unto you.
Now, if someone's offering you something for free and you sign up or say you're going to do it,
well, if you're really appreciative, you're going to do it.
The thankful person will actually participate, they'll keep their word.
You know, to me, it's a very grievous thing to break a promise that I've made no matter what it's going to impact me negatively.
You know, if it's going to be really inconvenient or if it's going to be really difficult.
You know, the reason why you make a promise is so that people can rely upon that promise.
Not so that, well, something happens or something comes up or it's inconvenient all of a sudden, I can just change that.
No, we should make promises to people that we're going to deliver.
We don't want to just be someone that no one can trust our word,
people are always thinking, well, that person's never going to do what they said.
We want to be a man of integrity and think, man, if this guy promised me something, I know it's going to happen.
There's been people in my life where when they tell me they're going to do something, I just know it's going to happen.
I mean, I just know they're going to show up, I know they're going to participate, they're a very faithful person.
And that's a person that you want to lean upon and you want to put trust in and, you know, that God will end up lifting you up in due time.
Go to Genesis chapter 35, go back to our passage here.
Why do you think God's picking Jacob here? It's because Jacob's a person that's actually going to keep his word.
Jacob's a person that's actually going to deliver on the vow, on the promise that he made unto God.
Whereas many people would have through lip service said, hey, God, yeah, bless me and I'll give you a tenth.
But then when the rubber meets the road and they actually get blessed, they're nowhere to be found.
They don't actually really serve God, they're not really willing to make those sacrifices.
And so that's why Jacob's going to be one of those people that God actually is blessing and, you know, is giving favor unto.
Verse 2, the Bible says, then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him,
put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel
and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went.
So notice he also attributes all the good that happened to him to God.
He doesn't say like, well, I got lucky, I worked out, I'm a hard worker, look how strong I am.
He says, nope, I was in distress, I was in a bad situation, my pillows were rocks.
I mean, whenever you're sleeping on rocks, you're kind of in distress, okay.
Jacob was not in a good position, not in a good spot, being hunted from his brother, but he went into a strange land.
He was blessed with a wife, actually multiple.
Then he got a lot of children, he got all of the goods from Laban, he's coming back, he's been very blessed with the Lord
and at this point in time, he's being asked to go back to the house of God.
Now, when he's going to the house of God, think about his attitude.
His attitude is not come as you are.
You know, a lot of churches today, they have a sign out and it says, come as you are.
You know, everyone welcome.
But notice what Jacob's attitude was in verse number two, put away the strange gods that are among you.
Put away false religion, put away, you know, false doctrine.
Not only that, he goes on and he says, be clean, meaning you should clean yourself up.
And obviously not just hygienically, obviously take a shower, okay.
But it's more in a spiritual sense, right.
You know, not being sinful, cleaning up your life, trying to do that which is right.
Not only that, he even says this, change your garments.
You know, that tells me that clothing is important.
And not just physically, obviously clothing pictures things.
Clothing can picture salvation and clothing can also picture our works.
You know, the garment that's made of woolen pictures the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
pictures his robe of righteousness put on us and makes us righteous in God's sight.
But then there's also other garments throughout the Bible.
For example, the priest would wear a linen all white garment to illustrate their separation,
their desire to be clean, their desire to be righteous, their desire to follow God's commandments.
And notice when Jacob's going to the house of the Lord, he's commanding his house.
Hey, put away the false gods.
Put away the false religion.
Let's be clean.
Let's put on new garments.
Let's actually purposely serve the Lord.
You know, not taking it lightly.
Not taking the church of God lightly.
People today look at church as just a light thing or just, ah, just go there, whatever.
Jacob takes it serious, doesn't he?
He's making a lot of effort here and not only for himself, his whole household and all that were with him.
Everybody that's under his authority is commanded to have no other god, no other false religion,
get the right Bible in your hand, show up at church.
We're going to be clean.
We're going to put on the right garments.
We're going to show up and behave ourselves in the house of God.
Verse 4, and they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand and all their earrings,
which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak, which was by Shechem.
Now, also notice this.
When Jacob tells his whole household what to do, they do it.
Not only is he telling them what to do, they're doing it.
He's literally having a major impact on his house.
He's ruling his house.
We need men in this world to rule their houses and to tell their family to put away things.
He's destroying false religion.
Look, there's probably plenty of households today where there's a saved man as the leader of that home.
He's the God-ordained husband and father.
You know what? There's things in that home like witchcraft, like Ouija boards, like idols,
like false religion, like all kinds of things that are in that household.
He needs to be a man and say, bring it to me, and I'm going to throw it away.
Bring it unto me, and we're going to put it in the bonfire.
Bring it to me, and we're going to smash it.
Sometimes you have to find these things in your household.
You have to clean yourself up a little bit.
Jacob was lax in the past.
Jacob allowed a lot of things to go on in his home in the past, but you know what?
When he realizes I'm going to serve God and he's going back to the house of the Lord,
he's saying, let's clean ourselves up a little bit.
Let's get some things right with God in our house today.
You know what? We need men today that are going to rule their house.
They're going to tell their wife what to do.
They're going to tell their children what to do.
It's sad when children are telling their parents what to do.
You see it. I see it in the public.
The dad's like, hey, little Johnny, put that down.
I want to look at it.
They're like, okay, don't scream.
I'm thinking, who's in charge here?
Who's running the show here?
Or they get in a tiff with their wife, and their wife puts them in their place.
I'm thinking, who's in charge here?
I allow my wife to give me feedback and input and all these different things,
but at the end of the day, the man is the God-ordained leader in the household.
Whatever he says is supposed to go.
Go backwards. Keep your finger. Go to Genesis 18.
Go to Genesis 18. That's another reason why God picked Jacob,
because Jacob can rule his house.
You know what? God is not going to pick a man that's not going to rule his house to be his leader,
to be the person that he's shepherding others, especially spiritually.
Look at Genesis 18. Look at verse 19. The Bible says this.
I know I'm talking of Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him,
and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment,
that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.
You know, God really likes Abraham because he says, you know what?
If I tell Abraham what to do, he's going to make sure his whole house does it.
Not just him, not just by himself, but rather everybody under his authority is going to serve the same God,
have the same rules, have the same attitude, have the same garments,
and you know what? Throw away all the strange gods, and they're going to all be clean.
It's just you just have to tell the leader, and he takes care of everything.
That's a good leader. A good leader makes sure everybody under him does everything that was just right.
He takes personal responsibility. He actually rules and commands people.
Go to 1 Timothy 3. Go all the way to the New Testament.
1 Timothy, there's a section of the T's, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy Titus,
so if you run into any of those, it's just right there in the middle, 1 Timothy 3.
We're going to see it's very important that men rule their household.
Now, I'll say this. Ruling is not easy, and ruling is not automatic, okay?
It's not even fun because, frankly speaking, ruling implies that someone's doing something wrong,
and no one likes to be told they're doing something wrong.
No one likes to be told to stop or to quit or you need to get rid of that
or you're not allowed to do that anymore.
You know, people don't like this, and it's not comfortable. It's not fun to have to say that.
That's why you put the man in charge to have the uncomfortable job of ruling his house
and of saying, no, that's not right. We're not going to do this or that.
But it's necessary, and in fact, it's a commandment for men to be the ruler and the leader of their home.
Now, when we look for spiritual leaders in the Bible, they have to be excelling in all areas of life,
and here's a really important one, is ruling their house.
Look at 1 Timothy 3, verse number 4.
One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
So in the qualifications of a pastor, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that the pastor has to rule his own house well,
meaning that his children are subject on him, meaning when their children want to do something that dad says no,
they end up obeying dad.
It's not agreeing with the father. It's obeying the father.
It's not being on the same page. It's submitting and subjecting themselves, and when they disagree, they still obey.
You know, obedience is not agreeing with someone.
Obedience is disagreeing, yet still obeying the commandments that have been given to you, still following those rules.
That's why it's important for a man to learn how to rule.
And look, if you can't rule a little two-year-old that loves you, how are you going to rule grown men that don't even live with you?
Right? That doesn't make any sense.
If you can't even get your own wife and your own children to follow you,
how are you going to get other grown men and women and children to obey you, to follow your rules, to follow your leading,
when you can't even get your own family in order?
You know, it doesn't make any sense.
That's why spiritual leaders have to have their own family in order, have to be one that can rule their own household.
They can actually say no.
If you can't say no to your wife, how are you going to say no to someone else's wife?
And look, in a position of leadership, you have to sometimes lay down rules.
You have to make people feel uncomfortable.
No one likes it. You know, I don't like it.
But the reason why there's rules is because people break them.
If you were all perfect, you wouldn't need rules, right? Isn't that exactly how it works?
If we didn't need rules, it would be because we're perfect.
But because we're so sinful, God gave us a lot of rules.
God gave us a lot of commandments to help us understand how to obey ourselves.
And we need men to step up to the plate today and enforce the rules of God's Word,
to look at their household, to look at their wife, to look at their family,
and to do some inspection and identify areas of fault and say,
we're going to change this area. We're going to actually serve God.
And you know what that tells me that someone's doing that?
It's because they're thankful for what God has done for them.
They're thankful for what God has blessed them with,
and they're going to be appreciative by allowing their house to serve God the way that God wants them to.
How can you say that you're thankful for the wife and the children that God's given to you
when you're not teaching them and commanding them the way that God wants you to?
That's not being very thankful with the things that God has blessed you with.
That would be like the man that was given the talent and just buries in the ground.
That's not being very faithful with that. No, you want to put it to work.
You want to put it to use. And so men have to learn how to rule their household.
And you know what, ladies? If your husband tries to rule you, you should praise the Lord.
Because there's a lot of men in this world that won't rule their household.
You know, their wife or just...
And oftentimes women will become more rebellious to try and entice their husband to rule over them.
It's usually a cry for help. Like, please rule over me.
They just keep getting more loud and more disobedient and more crazy or whatever
just because they're just starving for some man to come rule over them.
They want some guy to desire to be with them and to tell them what to do
and to love them and appreciate them.
Because if you're just this disobedient wife or child or whatever
and your parents aren't saying anything to you,
it doesn't really feel like they love you that much, does it?
It doesn't really feel like they care about you very much
whenever you're just all over the place and being wild or whatever.
You know, you should appreciate someone that's willing to rule over you
and give you instruction and try to help you and to bless you.
Whether you agree with it or not, you should just be appreciative of the fact
that someone's willing to take that role.
Because it's not a fun role.
I think a lot of times women have this idea that,
oh, it'd be so cool to be the ruler or the leader.
But you know what? It comes with a great responsibility
and it's not fun to tell someone that you love and that you appreciate,
hey, you're messing up in this area.
We're not going to do that anymore.
We're not going to wear that. We're not going to go there.
We're not going to say that. We're not going to have this anymore.
That precious little thing you have over there on the island,
a little graven image over there of Mary, we're going to smash it.
I know grandma gave it to you, but guess what?
We're going to smash it. And think about it.
The idols that Jacob destroyed, whose were they?
They were Laban's. It was their father's.
And you know what? To many women, the things that their father gave them
is very precious, right?
I mean, if you ask most women that have a good relationship with their father,
if their father gave them something, that would be very precious to them,
very special to them.
And Jacob's like, give it to me. We're going to destroy it.
Why? Because that's what's right.
He's going to do that which is right because he's thankful for what the Lord has done unto him,
how the Lord's blessed him, rather than being a compromiser, rather than being weak-spined.
Go back to Genesis 35 for a moment. Go back to Genesis 35. We're going to keep reading here.
Look, we need men to rule their household to show their appreciation for what God's done to them.
And to show their appreciation for the family that God has blessed them with.
Look at verse number 5.
And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them,
and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
Now that verse is in correlation to the previous chapter.
Because they had destroyed Shechem and Hamor and that whole city,
they were kind of afraid that everybody else would be mad about that and try to attack them.
But because of the terror of God, they refrain from attacking Jacob.
Because they're afraid, well, he might kill us. He might destroy us.
You know, the Lord might come and rain up on us if we try to attack Jacob.
And so the terror of the Lord actually preserved them throughout their journey.
Keep your finger and go to Proverbs chapter 10.
You know, the Bible says, therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
You know, in the New Testament, we're supposed to tell Christians that they should be fearful of God.
In fact, the word terror simply means intense fear. Intense fear.
And, you know, the Bible teaches that God is one to be terrified of.
Terrified. I mean, we kind of think of the word terror as, like, kind of a negative word.
And it is a negative word in the sense that it's a bad feeling.
It's kind of a scary feeling. It's kind of a terrifying feeling, as it were.
But you know what? There's good terror.
Good terror would be terror of the Lord. Bad terror would be terror of the world.
Fear of man. These type of things.
You know what? Fearing God is the only legitimate fear in the Bible, but it's a good and a healthy fear.
And our world is going to become very dangerous when there's no fear of God.
As the fear of God plummets, as the terror of the Lord plummets, we're going to see it be more dangerous for all of mankind.
Especially Christians. Especially those of the household of faith.
That's why it's important that the word of God be preached.
That's why it's important that we thunder forth the word of God.
You know, that's why it was good that in America, the Ten Commandments were posted in every school.
The Ten Commandments were posted on the bank walls.
I would go into a public bank and they'd just have the Ten Commandments right there on the wall.
And so it was discouraging people from sinning against God for fear of what God would do unto them.
And you know what? People are just ignorant today of what God does, therefore they don't have fear.
They lack knowledge. They lack wisdom. They lack understanding.
But you know what? God is one to be feared, whether you're saved or unsaved.
He's one to be feared, period. He's the only one to be terrified of.
Proverbs chapter 10, look at verse 24.
The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
You know, the wicked, if they were smart, they would realize that if they mess with God, God's going to punish them severely.
There's going to be a horrible punishment that comes upon them.
And the fear that they often have of what God's going to do to them, the Bible says God actually ends up doing to them.
If they were smart, they would submit it unto the Lord and they would ask for his mercy and his grace
because the things that they dream up, the evil that they try to plan and try to put on other people, God brings that upon them.
And if you really wanted to reduce sin in this world, we have to increase the fear of God.
You know, we need more preaching that strikes terror in people's hearts, terror of the Lord.
Proverbs 24, we're still, or Proverbs 10, look at verse 27, sorry, verse 27.
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
You know, we need to have fear of God because it's going to give us a long life.
You know, it's not a coincidence that all the men of God in the Bible seem to be the ones living the longest.
The longest lives are always those who fear the Lord virtually.
Every time we read about a genealogy and we get these ages, it's the men of God that are living just extraordinarily long lives.
In this chapter, we read about his father, Isaac.
He lived 104 score years. What is that? A hundred and eighty years.
That's old.
I mean, that's double anybody in this room. Double.
I mean, that's a long, long time. Why? Because he feared God.
Because he had the fear of the Lord that he's living longer than his contemporaries.
Obviously, we understand in the book of Genesis people live longer in general than everybody else,
but it's very noteworthy of Jacob even when we get later in the book of Genesis.
He's so much older than everybody else by a long shot. Why? Because he feared God.
Whereas those that don't fear God end up destroying themselves.
They die very young. They die very early, oftentimes.
So, it's very important to fear God.
Over with back to Genesis 35. Let's keep reading here.
Look at verse 6. I spent a little time on a lot of these verses. We're going to kind of speed up here.
Verse 6.
So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan. That is Bethel. He and all the people that were with him.
And he built there an altar and called the place El-Bethel, because there God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother.
But Rebecca's nurse died and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak, and the name of it was called Allen-Becka.
God appeared unto Jacob again when he came out of Padan-aram and blessed him.
And God said unto them, Thy name is Jacob, thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.
And he called his name Israel.
So, we have Jacob being renamed.
And he already had a hint to this, because when he was wrestling with a man that we know now was a Jesus Christ,
which was a pre-incarnate Christ that he was wrestling with. He saw the face of God.
He at that point had told him that his name would be Israel.
But we have another mention here of his name changing to Israel.
Now, he gives us other commandments. Look at verse 11.
And God said unto them, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply, nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.
And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
So, he's told you have a new name. He's told to be fruitful and multiply.
He's told he's going to inherit this land.
A lot of action, a lot of things that he's basically in charge of, a lot of stuff that he's supposed to be doing here.
Verse 13, and God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone.
And he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
So, we've kind of made a full circle here.
He left, he slept, he had this dream, he noticed that God was there, he made a vow that if he came back he would sacrifice the Lord.
He's come all the way back, he sets up the stone, he does a drink offering indicating he's doing some sacrifice.
He's paying some of this vow that he had made, and he's pouring the oil offering.
And I think there's a lot of symbolism here, there's a lot of things we could look at.
But to me, one of the pictures that's kind of being alluded to here is just that of what salvation is kind of like.
You know, and the fact that when someone gets saved, a lot of things change.
You know, you become a new man, right?
And Jacob has kind of gone from who he was to a completely new man all of a sudden.
Full circle, and he's now being approached with being in the house of God.
And I think that new name kind of pictures for us how we're supposed to walk in the new man.
When you get saved, something happens inside.
Nothing physical changed, but inside your spirit was made new.
And you have what's called the new man inside.
And so just like Jacob has this new name and he's supposed to be this new person,
we too, when we get saved, we're supposed to walk in newness of life.
We're supposed to walk in that new man.
We're no longer supposed to be Jacob, but he's Israel, okay?
Now, keep your finger here. I want to go to one verse on this.
Go to Ephesians chapter 4.
Think about the commandments that he's being given.
Be fruitful and multiply.
Hey, when you get saved, you're supposed to start walking in that new man and do what?
Be fruitful and multiply spiritually.
How do you do that? Soul winning.
Going out and preaching the gospel, right?
We have the picture of his sacrifice at church.
He's plugged in at church.
He's doing the things of church, making the sacrifices.
And the drink offering in the Bible is a picture of the blood of Christ being spilled, okay?
The oil offering is a picture of the Holy Ghost.
And if we think about it, the rock is what?
Christ.
You know, it's that stone of stumbling that pictures Jesus Christ.
So we have the church there, kind of alluded to and pictured there with Jacob.
I had already preached that in Genesis 28, but it also is kind of being brought up again.
And when you get in church, you know, you're supposed to be different than the old guy.
Notice when Jacob shows up at church, he's doing things different, right?
Put away the strange gods.
Be clean.
Put on new garments.
He has a new name.
Now he's going to be, you know, sacrificing unto the Lord.
He's going to be fruitful and he's going to multiply.
He's going to take on the land.
He's going to inherit the land that God wants him to inherit.
And we have in Ephesians chapter number 4, a commandment that's like this.
Look at verse 17.
This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that he henceforth walk, not as other Gentiles
walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their
heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness
with greediness.
You have not so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by
him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation of
the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that you may put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness."
Wow.
Doesn't that just, it just really, to me, comes off the page when we think about the
Jacob here, because isn't he kind of putting off the old man, he's putting off the old
Jacob, he's putting on the new Israel, he's putting away the old religion, the strange
gods, the false gods, and notice in Ephesians chapter 4, it makes it clear that the old
way, in verse 19, is to work all uncleanness with greediness.
What did he say to his family?
Meaning, we're not going to do the same things that we were doing before.
We're not going to have the same patterns, the same habits, the same attitudes.
No, we're going to be different.
We're going to put on the new man.
We're going to walk with God.
We're going to walk with Christ.
We're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which is a picture of that oil offering.
Salvation is a moment of time, but once being sealed with the Holy Spirit, we also want
to then be filled with the Holy Spirit, which is a completely different thing.
The moment you're saved, you're sealed.
You can't lose the Holy Spirit.
What you can do is you can grieve him, or you can fill him.
Instead of continually grieving the Holy Spirit by walking in the old man, we need to be filled
with the Spirit so that we're walking in the new man, and we're not fulfilling that same
old lust.
In Ephesians 4, it gives us some examples of what that old man looks like if we keep
reading.
It says in verse 26,
Verse 29,
So you're saying, don't do any of these things anymore.
Don't have wrath, and don't steal, and work hard, and have money to provide for others.
Don't always just be someone that's just taking money from other people, just being
someone that's constantly on the need.
Rather be someone that's willing to give.
Don't always have this corrupt communication preceding your mouth, which corrupt means
false, wicked, deceitful, lying, slandering.
That would be corruption.
Something that's devaluing your morals.
Something that's taking away from the Word of God.
I describe corrupt communication in a sermon that I preached in the past.
It's talking about sin, preaching a false gospel, lying about people.
We need to be the type of people that preach what the Word of God says.
And you know what?
There's no corrupt communication when you're preaching the Bible.
This isn't corrupt.
This is the incorruptible seat according to the Bible.
So no matter what you say from the Bible, that's good.
It's all the lying, deceit, the slander, and false doctrine, that's the corruption
that we should rebuke people and correct them.
Sometimes people say, you guys have all this evil speaking and corrupt communication or
whatever, when you rebuke someone from the Bible.
And you're like, what are you talking about?
This is the Word of God.
The corrupt communication was you teaching false doctrine.
That was the corrupt communication.
Not me rebuking you sharply with the Word of God.
That was the two-edged sword.
That was the incorruptible seed being preached.
But we don't want to constantly be bitter and lying to one another.
We want to be a different person.
Be a person of integrity.
Be a person of truthfulness.
Keep our vows.
Keep our oaths.
That's what it's like to be a truly thankful person.
Go to Luke chapter 20 for a moment.
Go to Luke chapter 20.
When we think about what Christ did for us, it should only be logical that we serve Him.
And I think this is where the work salvationists have a point even though they're confused.
Because they often get confused when we try to preach to them that once you're saved,
you're always saved.
It's like, hey, they're like, you're telling me that I can believe in Jesus and go out
and rob a bank and shoot somebody and still go to heaven?
And you're like, technically, yes.
But I'm not telling you to do that.
And they're just thinking like, well, I think we should serve God.
Well, I think that we should have to do all this stuff.
And it's like, well, you're right.
We should.
It's just you don't have to to go to heaven.
Salvation is a free gift.
But you know what?
We need to emphasize work still.
We need to still emphasize James chapter number 2, faith that works is dead.
We still need to get up and preach the importance of laboring for Christ and doing that which is right
and sacrificing unto the Lord and giving of yourself unto the Lord.
You know, the lordship of salvationists, they've taken really good phrases and made them kind of bitter
because they put it in the context of salvation by giving your life to the Lord.
It's like, well, that's not what you have to do to be saved.
But you know what?
It's a pretty cool idea.
Isn't it a good idea?
I mean, isn't that what Hannah did with her son?
Didn't she just give her son's life unto the Lord and lend him unto the Lord
and allow him to be a living sacrifice?
I mean, doesn't the Bible command us to be a living sacrifice?
That pretty much sounds like you're giving yourself to the Lord and surrendering unto the Lord.
It's just we want to get the right context.
But we don't want to get this idea that salvation is just, well, I got my ticket punched and I'm good for the rest of my life.
No.
It goes beyond getting your ticket punched.
We want to then show up to the show.
We want to actually participate.
We want to help others get their ticket punched.
We want to do that which is right unto the Lord and we want to be thankful.
Luke chapter 20, look at verse 17.
The Bible says, And he beheld them and said, What is this then that is written?
The stone which the builders rejected the same is become the head of the corner.
So the stone in the Bible is a picture of Jesus.
And that stone, that pillar that he's setting up is a picture of Jesus and it's the house of God.
Why?
Because the house of God is founded on Jesus.
It's founded on the word of God.
And it's founded upon his sacrifice, the spilling of his blood.
And what allows that church to thrive is the Holy Ghost, that oil anointing that's put on him.
Go to Psalms 118.
Go to Psalms 118 for a moment.
Psalms 118.
And look at verse number 19.
The Bible says this, Open to me the gates of righteousness and I will go into them.
And I will praise the Lord.
This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter.
Verse 21.
I will praise thee that thou has heard me and art become my salvation.
The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing and is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Save now I beseech thee, O Lord.
O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
All these verses just like hit you in the face when you think about the New Testament.
It's like so many verses about Jesus.
You know, blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
That's what they're screaming when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem.
You know, Ozanna.
You know, they're singing Ozanna and they're screaming and they're singing.
You know, the word of God here that's found in the scriptures.
And notice it says that we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
Notice where blessing comes from.
It comes from the house of the Lord.
It comes from God.
Jacob did not get blessed apart from God.
He got blessed from God.
And the blessings of our life are going to come from God, not from this world.
Why are you seeking blessings from money, blessings from what the world has to offer?
No, the blessings come from God and you've got to show up to the house of God to get God's blessing.
That's where I want to be.
I want to be in the house.
Notice the first part of this.
He says, open to me the gates of righteousness and I will go into them.
He wants to be in there with the Lord.
He wants to dwell with the Lord.
You know, when we go to heaven, you know what the whole point is?
To be with God.
That's the whole point is to be in the presence of the Lord, to be with him, to have fellowship with him.
And you say, well, how do I get that on earth?
It's church.
Going to the house of the Lord.
You know, that should be the desire of every Christian.
And really it is on your new man.
So you have to ask yourself this question, am I walking in the new man?
Am I having a desire to have fellowship with the Lord?
Now, why do you come to church?
Well, there's a pie fellowship, Pastor Shelley.
Right over here.
And Ryan said, the shorter you preach, the quicker we get to eat.
I'm taking my time, right?
Why do you come to church?
Well, I got friends there.
Close to my house.
Someone drags me there.
Those aren't really good reasons.
You know, the real reason should be that you just want to have fellowship with God.
And you want to show your thanksgiving for what he's done unto you by showing up and singing praise.
I mean, why open your mouth and sing?
Isn't it to tell God that you're thankful for what he's done?
To praise the Lord?
To be appreciative of what he's done?
You know, we have a week where we celebrate thanksgiving, but you know what?
We need to be celebrating thanksgiving every single time we show up at church.
By opening our mouth and singing loud unto the Lord.
You know, God gave you the voice he gave you.
He gave you the volume that he gave you.
All the things that he's blessed with.
He gave you the body that you could, you know, legs that you could walk so you could show up at church.
And hands so you could hold a Bible.
And eyes so you could look at the scriptures.
And a mouth so you could praise the Lord.
And ears so that you could hear the word of God being preached.
You know, God gave you all of these attributes to serve him.
But what are you doing with all those attributes?
You know, what the world does is they serve themselves with their legs.
They serve themselves with their hands.
They serve themselves with their eyes and their ears and their mouth.
And it's just a self-indulgence party.
Whereas when we come to the house of God, we should be here to give back to the Lord.
That's the whole point.
You know, people say like, well I'm not getting a lot out of church.
Well, you're supposed to be giving.
And maybe you have the wrong attitude about what church is even about.
You know, church is not just for you and making you better.
It's really about praising the Lord and giving back unto him.
Look at verse 28.
Thou art my God, I will praise thee.
Thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
All give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
Notice what the attitude of the psalmist is, that we give thanks unto the Lord.
We're here to thank God.
And whenever you show up to thank God, it's hard to leave with a bad attitude.
Because the whole point was to thank God.
And you know what? He's always good.
So you never have to leave dissatisfied because he's always good.
His mercy endureth forever.
You're on your way to heaven no matter what.
He constantly gives us good things.
And you know what? Jacob does not seem like a guy down on his luck.
He seems like a really blessed man.
And I said something when we were going out soul winning this evening to my partner.
Go if you would back to Genesis 35, we'll finish quickly.
It's interesting to me that when we go to the middle class neighborhoods,
and we go to a little bit nicer areas,
or maybe they're not as receptive,
that there's a lot more saved people in those areas.
There's a lot more Baptists already in those areas.
This is my own personal opinion just when I look,
but I find that a lot of people that,
and especially, I'll just even say this,
when the yard looks really nicely kept,
and it looks like they're doing okay,
it's not like the house is about to fall in on itself,
and they've got all kinds of stickers on the door from the sheriff.
Those are the scary doors to knock.
It's like, usually they're Baptists a lot of times.
And it looks like their life is going pretty well.
Why? Because when you serve God,
and you're a faithful Christian, God's going to often bless you.
And your life is going to go well.
You want to find a lot of people that are really happy,
and have a really good life?
Find them, I guarantee they've been serving the Lord for a long time.
You want to go find me a bunch of people that are struggling and having horrible lives?
They're not Christian.
They don't go to church.
They're really down on their luck,
and you kind of look at them and you say,
hey, do you want to go to church? I don't have time for that.
It's like if they realize they need to find time,
because all the problems they have is because they're just not serving God.
All the problems they have in their life is because they're not faithful to the Lord.
You want to fix the problems in your life? Get right with God first.
That'll help fix a lot of your problems.
And I'm not saying that when you're serving God, you're not going to have issues.
You're not going to have persecution. You can't get down on your luck.
What I am saying is there's a general trend, a general theme,
that those that are faithful to God and serving the Lord,
and honoring them with their tithes and offerings,
God's taking care of them.
God's blessing them and giving them favor.
Look at verse 16.
Genesis 35, verse 16.
And then they journeyed from Bethel,
and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath,
and Rachel availed in she hard labor.
And it came to pass when she was in hard labor,
that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, so have this son also.
And it came to pass, as her son was in departing, for she died,
that she called his name Benoni,
but his father called him Benjamin.
Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
Now, it's kind of a sad portion of scripture here.
Rachel ends up dying. She gives birth to her second son, Benjamin.
She calls him Benoni.
But, you know, I think that there's some symbolism here with Rachel.
And the symbolism is kind of met here in verse 19,
because notice where she dies is then called Bethlehem.
That's not really a coincidence.
That's something that ends up being brought up later in scripture.
In Matthew, chapter number 2, when it talks about Bethlehem,
it calls it Rachel, or Rehel, okay?
And, you know, depending on if you're in the Old Testament or in the New Testament.
New Testament is Rachel, the Old Testament is Rehel.
But it's saying Rachel was not going to be comforted because her children were not.
And it's basically Bethlehem is the town which Jesus was born,
and Herod ended up killing all the little babies.
Again, not a pleasant story.
Not something that really brings joy to us.
But, there is a silver lining in the fact that we got Jesus out of it, isn't it?
And we have the silver lining that we have Benjamin in this process.
And I think there's another spiritual picture here.
It's kind of the timing, right?
Now, what you have to understand about Genesis 35, and this is what the Bible often do,
is the Bible, when it's going through its history, will get to a chapter,
and it'll give you just a really long history.
And then when it goes to the next chapter, it kind of gives you that set,
it gives you like a, it goes back in time, and then it just kind of goes and fills in the gaps.
And then it kind of builds all the way up to that context and that timing.
Chapter 35 here is going to go pretty far forward in the future.
And then when we get into later chapters, it's going to go backwards.
Now, this is just my personal opinion.
I've tried really hard to think about how to prove this,
and I think that it's true, but, you know, we'll get further in the Bible, we'll kind of figure this out,
but I don't believe that Benjamin was born until after Joseph was sold into slavery.
Okay?
I'm not saying I can prove that 100%.
That's just from me reading the scriptures, and there's a lot of reasons why I have that opinion.
So, whenever we see here that he's being born, we're looking really far in the future.
And the reason why I bring that up is because you kind of see Rachel being barren for a really long time,
and then having Joseph, her firstborn.
And I've preached at that kind of pictures how you're going to have a long period of time
where we go with just the Jews, and then we eventually get the Gentiles getting saved,
we have the gospel coming unto them.
But I think we have a second picture of that with Benjamin as well,
where we have Rachel going a long time being barren in a sense, or not being with a child, and then having Benjamin.
But the connection I would make is not necessarily the timing, but more about the situation.
You see, Rachel dies to give life unto Benjamin, to give birth unto Benjamin, to give him this new birth.
That's what Christ did for us, right?
Christ dies so that we can have life.
But another picture here is the Jews, their religion, basically what's been given them,
their old covenant has to be fulfilled and to pass away to give new life unto the Gentiles and the New Testament,
and basically have the fruit that's going to come from the Gentiles, which I think is pictured through Benjamin.
And you know, there's a special connection when you think about Benjamin,
who was probably one of the greatest influencers of the New Testament, of bringing in the gospel, about the Apostle Paul.
And think about this, what tribe is Paul from? The tribe of Benjamin.
And so I think there's kind of a little connection here of where we have, you know, the sad ending of Rachel,
but we have the new birth of Benjamin.
And we kind of have in the New Testament, you know, the ending of the old, bringing in the new, and the passing away.
And look, everybody has to die eventually. Everything's going to come to an end at some point.
And so obviously, you know, it's sad that Rachel dies here, but with her death brings in new life, and we have Benjamin here.
And I think that gives us kind of a picture of the silver lining to this story.
Verse 21, the Bible says,
And Israel journeyed and spread its tent beyond the tower of Edar, and it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land,
that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve, the sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun,
the sons of Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin, and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, Dan, and Naphtali,
and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, Gad, and Asher.
These are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Pedan-aram.
Jacob came unto Isaac his father, unto Mamre, unto the city of Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
And the days of Isaac were a hundred and four-score years, and Isaac gave up the ghost and died,
and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Now in the latter portion, this is what I want to basically point out.
We see that Jacob has this big family, okay, and he finally returns unto his father.
And we kind of have another conclusion, right?
We were wrapping the vow made, and he goes back to Bethel, but then even beyond that,
the further wrapping or concluding of going from father, returning to father.
That was a long trip.
Can you imagine sending your son out, and then decades later, having him come back with just all these wives and children and whatever?
That was kind of an interesting picture there.
This could picture all kinds of stuff.
How about the fact that Jesus, as they go on a long journey, returns back to the father?
How about the fact that one day we will return unto the father?
You know, there's a lot of parallels there.
But if we kind of go back to just the theme of this chapter, this is what I think the theme of this chapter is.
It's really just picturing a man ruling his house and leading his family to serve God.
And in this latter portion, we kind of have a negative picture that's being brought up.
Reuben.
Now, Reuben, in this story, is already grown.
He's already raised.
Because he's already old enough, he's already an adult, to lie with a woman.
So, obviously, he's already been pretty much raised.
But in this picture, we kind of pictured the salvation and serving God and going to the house of God.
Reuben wasn't really raised in the home to serve God, was he?
In the picture. I'm not saying that Jacob wasn't ruling or wasn't teaching his house to serve God.
But not really to the same degree here.
They're not really in Bethel. They're not really in the house of God.
They're not really in church.
And you know what? There's a lot of people who raise their children not in church, not serving God.
And notice what happens with Reuben.
He ends up being a terrible son.
He ends up losing out on his even inheritance.
It's given unto others.
Whereas the youngest sons, Joseph and Benjamin, they end up being the better sons.
Joseph ends up being the better child. Why?
Because he spends more time in the house of God, more time being raised on the right values, serving God.
He ends up living a better life.
And so don't undervalue putting your children in church and raising them to serve God.
And realizing that, you know, whatever you do is going to affect them.
Not going to church is going to have an effect on them.
Going to church is going to have an effect on them.
No matter what you do to your children, it's going to affect them.
And if you really want to have children that you're pleased with when they're adults,
you know, you've got to take them to church.
You've got to read them the Bible.
You've got to command them.
You've got to teach them the word of God.
Otherwise, they're going to make horrible mistakes like Reuben.
Or they're lying with their father's car.
It's a very wicked sin in the Bible.
And it's got to be a lot of grief to Jacob to realize this son was just not a very good son,
doing all kinds of wicked things.
I guarantee he wished that he had raised that son better, taught him better things, instructed him more.
And, you know, at the end of the day, it's not showing that he was very thankful for that first child, is it?
And you know why I think he wasn't?
Because it was from Leah.
He was pretty disappointed with Leah, wasn't he?
He wasn't really thankful for the wife that God had given him, even though it's bizarre, okay?
I'm not trying to, like, say it wasn't a weird circumstance, right?
He married the wrong woman, okay?
He found out in the morning that it was not the right woman.
Most of you in this room, I guarantee you didn't get married that way.
You probably chose your spouse.
And you know what?
A lot of times, a lot of people, their first child is not a child that they were anticipating.
Not even a child they necessarily wanted.
And what I mean by that is maybe it's out of wedlock.
Maybe they weren't hoping to get pregnant whenever they got pregnant.
You know, they were hoping.
It's just unexpected.
It just happened.
And a lot of times, it's the first one that's the case.
You know what?
It's important to be thankful for that first wife and that first child that God's given you, no matter what the circumstances are,
and still raise them to serve God and to show your appreciation and your thankfulness to God for what you have.
Rather than just, eh, I don't know.
No, you need to be thankful for the wife and the children that God has blessed you with.
And no matter where you're at, you can always say, give me the strange gods, let's burn them.
We're going to go to church.
Change your garment.
Let's put on the right garment.
Let's start serving God.
Let's start doing that which is right.
And you know what?
We need men in this world to be thankful for what God has done for them, what God has handed over to them.
And they should show it not just with their words but with their actions.
Close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us this great story in the Bible.
Thank you for giving us salvation and beyond salvation, all the things we have in our life.
Thank you for giving us this church.
Thank you for giving us this dessert fellowship.
I pray that we would show our appreciation and our gratitude by using those things that you've given us,
that we would, you know, put into action our thankfulness.
But we wouldn't just say the words but we'd actually mean it down in our hearts.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, for our last song we'll go to song 110, All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
Song 110, All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
110, All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy?
Who through life has been my guide?
Heavenly peace, divine His comfort
Here by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whatever befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
For I know whatever befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
All the way my Savior leads me
Cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me grace for every trial
Heeds me with a living bread
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a thirst may be
Gushing from the rock before me
Lo, a spring of joy I see
Gushing from the rock before me
Lo, a spring of joy I see
All the way my Savior leads me
Oh, the fullness of His love
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father's house above
When my spherical, immortal
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way
Amen. God bless. You're dismissed.