Good evening everybody, good to see you.
We're reading from 1 Chronicles chapter 4 this evening, 1 Chronicles chapter 4.
As is our custom, we'll read the entire chapter, starting in verse 1.
Please read along silently with me, starting in verse 1 of 1 Chronicles chapter 4.
In 1 Chronicles chapter 4, the Bible reads,
The sons of Judah, Pherez, Hezron, and Carmi, and her, and Shobal, and Reahiah, the son
of Shobal, begot Jehath, and Jehath begot Ahumai, and Lahad.
These are the families of the Zorathites.
And these were of the father of Eitam, Jezreel, and Ishma, and Ibash.
And the name of their sister was Hazelalponii, and Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the
father of Hushah.
These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.
And Ashur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Na'arah.
And Na'arah bare him Ahuzam, and Hefer, and Temeni, and Ha'achashtari.
These were the sons of Na'arah.
And the sons of Helah were Zareth, and Jezor, and Ethnan, and Kaz begot Anub, and Zobeba,
and the families of Aharhel, the son of Harum.
And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren.
And his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow.
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed,
and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest
keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me.
And God granted him that which he requested.
And Chelub, the brother of Shuah, begot Mehir, which was the father of Eshton.
And Eshton begot Bethrapha, and Paseah, and Tehinah, the father of Ir Nahash.
These are the men of Rechah.
And the sons of Kinaz, Othniel, and Sariah, and the sons of Othniel, Hathath.
And Mahonathai begot Ophrah, and Sariah begot Joab, the father of the valley of Harashim,
for they were craftsmen.
And the sons of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Iru, Elah, and Naam, and the sons of Elah
even Kinaz, and the sons of Jehalelelel, Ziph, and Ziphah, Tyria, and Azarael.
And the sons of Ezra were Jethar, and Merid, and Ephir, and Jalon, and Shiber Miriam, and
Shammai, and Ishba, the father of Eshdemoah.
And his wife Jehud-eja bear Jared, the father of Gedor, and Heber, the father of Soko,
and Jecuthiel, the father of Zenoah.
And these are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, which Merid took.
And the sons of his wife Hodia, the sister of Naham, the father of Keilah, the Garmite,
and Eshtemoah, the Ma'achite.
And the sons of Shimon were Amnon, and Rinah, Ben-Hanon, and Tilon.
And the sons of Ishii were Zoheth, and Ben-Zoheth.
The sons of Sheila, the son of Judah, were Ur, the father of Lika, and La'ada, the father
of Maresha, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen of the house
of Ashbiah.
And Joachim, and the men of Choseba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had the dominion in
Moab.
And Jashubi-lehem, and these are ancient things.
These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges.
There they dwelt with the king for his work.
The sons of Simeon were Namuel and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul, Shalom his son, Mipsam
his son, Mishma his son.
And the sons of Mishma, Hamuel his son, Zakur his son, Shimei his son.
And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brethren had not many children, neither
did all their family multiply like to the children of Judah.
And they dwelt at Beersheba, and Moledah, and Hazar-shual, and at Bilhah, and at Ezzem,
and at Tolad, and at Bethuel, and at Horma, and at Ziklag, and at Beth-mar-kaboth, and
Hazar-susim, and at Beth-berei, and at Sha'ar-im.
These were their cities unto the reign of David.
And their villages were Etam, and Ayin, Rimmon, and Tokken, and Ashan, five cities.
And all their villages that were round about the same cities unto Baal.
These were their habitations and their genealogy.
And Meshobab, and Jamlech, and Josha, the son of Amaziah, and Joel, and Jehu, the son
of Josibiah, the son of Sariah, the son of Asio.
And Elioenai, and Jaakobah, and Jesho-hayah, and Asiah, and Adiel, and Jehseh-meel, and
Benaiah, and Zizah, the son of Shifi, the son of Alon, the son of Jediah, the son
of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah.
These mentioned by their names were princes in their families.
And the house of their fathers increased greatly.
And they went to the entrance of Gedor, even unto the east side of the valley, to
seek pasture for their flocks.
And they found fat pasture and good.
And the land was wide and quiet and peaceable, for they of Ham had dwelt there of old.
And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and smote their
tents and the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this
day, and dwelt in their rooms, because there was pasture there for their flocks.
And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to Mount Seir, having
for their captains Pelatea, and Neirah, and Rephiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.
And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto
this day.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the power of it, Father.
I pray you'd help us with the Holy Spirit to understand your word.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
All right, we're in First Chronicles chapter number four.
We've got a just wuzu here.
I like that fan right there.
That's perfect.
Why haven't I done this like six years ago?
Anyway, First Chronicles chapter four tonight.
So basically what's happening here on out is it's going to go through the twelve tribes.
I feel like we've been going through Judah a lot.
It's like, oh, and here, let's talk about Judah again.
And that's basically what's happening now again.
We're going to talk more about Judah, but it's kind of more of the notables in Judah.
And then we're going to talk about Simeon towards the end, and they get kind of just
like a few paragraphs here.
And then in the next few chapters, it'll be the other tribes of Israel.
So I think Levi basically gets a whole chapter of names.
It's like 80 something verses.
And I'm going to have someone fill in for me on that night, but I'm just kidding.
But yeah, it's a lot of names there.
So if you haven't picked out your baby name yet, you've got four chapters in so far now,
and you have no excuses.
And if you need to pronounce them, brother Eli is here for you.
He's going to start a hotline so that you can call in, and just if you need help pronouncing.
So Shemaiah.
Yeah.
All right, so the first point, or the first truth tonight, or whatever you want to call
it, is we're just going to look at some of Judah's notables here.
Look at verse number one.
The Bible says, the sons of Judah, Pharaoh, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobel.
And we've talked quite a bit about some of these guys, but Hur we haven't really talked
about a lot.
So Hur, he is from the line of Judah, of course, Phares, Hezron, Caleb, Hur, Uri, and
Bezalel.
Now, Bezalel, you'll probably remember him from Exodus.
He was the son of Hur, and he was the one that built a lot of the things that
were put into the tabernacle, and God gave him special wisdom and ability to build
those things, including the brazen altar, and the candlestick, and all those different
things.
So he is in the line of Phares, and then Hezron, and Caleb.
So these are branching off to different sons of Phares, because Phares is in the
line of Christ, but then it's branching off to Hezron.
So Caleb is not in the line of Christ, but he's in the same family, and same with
Hur, Uri, Bezalel, and all those guys.
So it's kind of mentioning the notables.
Let's go ahead and turn to Exodus chapter 17, and it tells the story about Hur is one
of Moses' main top guys, basically, one of the guys that he depended on, literally
leaned on this guy, because he helped him in a great battle against the Amalekites.
Now the surprise attack from Amalek, if you remember from Exodus chapter 17, go ahead
and look at verse number 10, the Bible says,
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek.
And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill, and it came to pass when
Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses' hands were heavy, and he took a stone and put it under him, and he sat
there on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, and one on the one side, and the
one on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
So Hur's job that day was to just hold the leader's hand steady so that he could
hold it up so Israel could prevail against Amalek.
And of course this is a great picture of, you know, they put his, underneath the
stone there, so the stone of course would represent the Lord Jesus Christ, but every
great leader needs people to help.
You know, it doesn't even matter if they're a great leader, if they're just a
leader, leaders need help, and they need people to help them. They need, you know,
that's why you hear that term, his right-hand man. You know, the left-hand
man seemed like he was pretty important this day too, so I'm not sure.
It just says there, it doesn't say which was on which side, which was on the
other. They were both helping him and holding him up, and Aaron was his
brother, but he was also the high priest, so he was a leader. So Hur was
an important man, and he was of the tribe of Judah, so if he didn't know that,
now you do know it. And if you look, and kind of a theme that you see is
that you'll see these names, and then you'll see them do, or their
families do, important things after them. So just like his son or
grandson Bezalel did great things later on, but in Nehemiah chapter 3 verse
9, you don't have to turn there, but in Nehemiah 3, 9 it says, and next unto
them repaired Refaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of half part of Jerusalem. So
at one point, after they had been dragged off to Babylon, when they
came back, Refaiah the son of Hur, he's one of Hur's, you know, family members,
was ruler of the half part of Jerusalem. He made it through, you know,
all those hard times of Babylon, came back into the land, and he was one of
the ones that was repairing the city walls so that the children of Israel
could be at peace once again. So it's kind of seems like a reoccurring theme
when you see these great men do great things, that their family members go on
to do great things also. And that's a good thing for us to think about as
men, and also ladies, you know. When we do great things with our families,
that stuff lives on, and it does matter how we live our lives, it does
matter how we raise our families and our children. Look back at 1st Chronicles
chapter 4 verse 2, it says, and Reah the son of Shobel beget Jahath, and Jahath
beget Ahumai and Lehad. These are the families of the Zorathites. These
were the father of Etam, Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash, and the name of
their sister was Hazel Elponai. I didn't say it the way brother Eli did,
I forget, he said it way more eloquent than I did. I was just thinking, you
know, this is the father of those that give his daughter's ponies or something.
No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, I'm joking. But you notice that name
Jezreel, I'm sure you've seen the name Jezreel in the Bible plenty of
times, but this is another theme that you see in Scripture, and especially
you'll notice in the book of Chronicles, is that places and towns are named
after great people. And maybe they're not even great, there's some
towns that are in this country that are probably not necessarily named after
great people, but somebody came and established that town, and you know,
sometimes they're probably named after wicked people, we don't really
know, but somewhere this guy Jezreel, he established that place, and it was
named after him, and we're gonna see other ones as we go along through the
chapter, but we've already seen that multiple times, that places are named
after the people that established that town or that area. Look at verse four,
and Penuel, the father of Gedor, and Esar, the father of Hushah, these are the
sons of her, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem.
So now we got a couple other names that are very noticeable. So now Penuel
is the place where Jacob, Jacob named the place Penuel because he wrestled
with the angel of the Lord, if you remember that story, and he prevailed,
right? So of course, I mean, I believe that God in some sense let him prevail,
you know, after he popped his leg out of socket or whatever, but so he called
it that, and what does that mean? What does Penuel mean? Well, it means the
face of God. So he saw the face of God and lived, so obviously he didn't see
the face of God the father because he would die, so it had to have been the
face of maybe the pre-incarnate Christ, but he does say that he saw God face to
face and lived, so he called that place Penuel. So I'm thinking here is the
opposite, that this guy is named after that place instead of the place
being named after him, because Penuel, you know, Jacob came before this guy,
right? So now you have also now the sons of her, the firstborn of Ephratah,
you know, what does that make you think of? Well of course it probably
should make you think of Bethlehem Ephratah, which is in Micah chapter 5
2, but thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of
Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me. That is to be ruler in
Israel, whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting. So, you know,
those guys, those places are named after them because they went in a
established those areas, but see, her goes on to, you know, his children go on
to do great things, and Bethlehem and, you know, Ephratah, Ephratah is the the
dad of Bethlehem, but we always think of those places as this is where Jesus
was born, this is the prophecy of Jesus, but, you know, Jake, and we know about
David going to the well of Bethlehem and saying I just want some water from
that well, and we know that story from David's past, and, you know, Bethlehem is a
well-known place, but there was actually real people that made that
place be named that, so, and they are relatives of her. So, let's see, verse
5 in our text, and Asher, the father of Toquah, had two wives, Helah and Neirah.
So, Toquah is another name that you probably would recognize. In Amos, chapter
1, 1, it says the words of Amos, who was among the herd men of Toquah, which
he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, in the days of
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. So,
we have a famous prophet named Amos, who was a herd man of Toquah, the area,
and Toquah is, of course, that area is named after this man named Toquah, Asher,
the father of Toquah, who had two wives. So, I'm just going to skip over
verse 6 through 8, and just move on to verse 9 here, and we're going to go
right into the prayer of Jabez. So, number 2 here, we're going to look at the
prayer of Jabez. Now, the prayer of Jabez, name it, claim it movement, it was a big
thing. I don't know, was it like the 90s and 2000s, brother? Do you remember that?
Well, who remembers that? Anybody else remember the prayer of Jabez stuff? Okay,
and if you just look at amazon.com right now, and just look up
the prayer of Jabez, you're going to find a bunch of stuff on there that
you can still buy today. Magnets for your refrigerator, little thing, the
prayer on your wall you can put up there, the books by not
Pastor Wilkerson from First Baptist Church in Hammond, but
the other Wilkerson, the Pentecostal heretic that died and went to hell a long
time ago. But anyway, you're going to find books, like there's whole books on
these two verses. There's two verses about this guy in the whole Bible, two
verses about Jabez. I'm not saying he's not a great guy, I mean he's
mentioned here, it's mentioning names and little things that happened, but I mean
yeah, I mean I'm sure he was a great guy. He's mentioned in the Bible, it
stops reading the genealogy for a minute to just let us know that he was a
good guy. It says in verse 9 that Jabez was more honorable than his
brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez saying, because I bear him
with sorrow. Now the Bible promises that because of what Eve did, that labor
and childbirth would be brought forth in sorrow. So maybe this one was a
little bit more of a hard labor than most other ones, or maybe this was her
first child and she just didn't realize, she didn't believe the hype. You know, I
don't know, but maybe his dad died before he was born. Maybe that's the
sorrow it's talking about. The Bible doesn't really say why, but sometimes, you
know, a lot of sorrow early in your life can bring a lot of joy later on, and
Jabez seems to be this kind of guy. You know, he brought his, I mean his mom
literally named him Jabez, which, you know, means sorrow or whatever, and he was
nothing but a blessing apparently, because books are written about him now,
you know, as the model prayer or a model prayer. The model prayer is the
Lord's Prayer, but people wrote, I'm telling you, there was like a big push
with this prayer of Jabez. Just look it up later. If you just look at
commentaries about it, you know, about this passage, you'll see big
giant commentaries about the prayer of Jabez and nothing else about, not much
about everybody else. So, but the prayer of Jabez, yeah, you younglings, you don't
you don't know what I'm talking about, but trust me, it was a big, it was a big
movement, so, and of course they're not going to use the King James when
they're doing it either, so, but it was kind of like the name it, claim it
type people. I even, if you look up at Amazon right now, you're gonna
find even coins, like Jabez, prayer of Jabez coins that they came out with.
Brother Bill, wherever you are, Brandon, you might want to get on those Jabez
coins because they might be worth a lot later on, so, but you can still get the
books and the magnets and all that stuff, but I would recommend not getting
them because the authors of those books are, you know, heretics, so, but
let's look at the verses here. It says that Jabez was more honorable than his
brethren and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bear him with
sorrow. Now, let's, I'll just read the second verse, so I'm gonna have you
flip, just hold there and flip back to 1 Chronicles 2, but let's look at the
second verse. It says, and Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou
wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand
would be with me, that thou wouldest keep me from evil, and it may not grieve me,
and God granted him that which he requested. So, you know, multiple books,
multiple series, all kinds of things written on those, but I mean, it is a
great prayer. There's nothing wrong with it, of course, it's the
Word of God, but again, people will take this, and they're like, you know, O that
thou would bless me indeed, that's a great prayer. Hey, don't you want God
to bless you? Of course you do. And enlarge my coast, and then here's
where the name it claim it, people, that's the one they really like.
Enlarge my coast, make me rich, right? But I don't necessarily think that
he's saying make me rich, I think maybe he just wants to be blessed monetarily,
but he doesn't say make me rich beyond my wildest dreams, he just says
enlarge it. Maybe he's pretty poor, I don't know. He was brought forth in
sorrow, so maybe part of the sorrow was she was poor, who knows what the
what the real deal was, but, and it says, and that thine hand might be with me.
He just wants God to be with him. Everybody wants that, right? And that thou
wouldst keep me from evil, that's another great part of his prayer. Hey, keep me
from evil, that's a good prayer, that's a good, that's a prayer that we should all,
I mean, there is some good model prayer in here, isn't there? That it may
not grieve me, because everybody's gonna have evil in their life, maybe he's
just, you know, it says God granted him that which he requested. So everything
that he asked, it seemed like God gave him, but do you think that he
didn't have any grief in his whole life? I'm sure he had some. Maybe God
just mitigated that grief to a certain extent. Maybe he had a lot of grief
growing up. Maybe there's a reason why he prayed these specific things,
because he had a lot of issues growing up. You know, I don't want
to say things that the Bible doesn't say, but, you know, sometimes people have
reasons for praying certain things like these. Maybe he was super poor and just
needed a little bit more. He wanted God to bless him. Money's not
the only blessings that we get. Having lots of children is a blessing. Having a
wife is a blessing. You know, having your health is a blessing. Having, you
know, enough food to eat, enough, you know, an extra chariot in the
garage would have been nice for him, I'm sure. Whatever else that, you know, comes
along with being blessed, it's not always monetary things. It could just be
the things that you need. And usually God's not gonna be like, yeah, you know,
Jabez just wants another Ferrari. It's not, that's not what he's asking for.
He's asking for simple things. He's not saying, let me stack gold bricks up to
the ceiling, God. He's just asking for simple stuff, and he's asking to be kept
from evil, and that it would not grieve him. So, in, you know, in reality,
not much is really known about this guy, but these two verses. So, you know, we
love great stories about great men in the Bible, and the great feats they did,
but there's also something to be said about just the regular everyday believer
in Christ. You know, Joe, you know, six pack of water, or whatever. You know, I
don't like the Joe six pack thing because it's indicating six pack of
beer, but how about six pack of sparkling water, alright? That's, that's
better for us, right? But there's nothing wrong with just being a regular
Christian that lives a regular Christian life, and, you know, you just serve the
Lord. You're not specifically, you know, we're, none of us are in this Bible
except for when we appear with Jesus, you know, with our horses. That,
we're definitely there. Our horses are there. You know, you can still name
your horse. You got a while to do that, but there's other times, you know,
we're in heaven. We appear in heaven with everybody else. Our names
aren't in there necessarily, but we are in the Bible. You know, we all, those
that are dead in Christ shall rise. You know, if we are alive and remain
into the coming of the Lord, we're there. There's places that we are in the Bible,
but none of us, none of our names are standing out in the Bible. There's
great men in here. We love to read the stories about David and how he fought
Goliath, and, you know, how these great men did these great feats, but, again,
there is something to be said about just living a quiet, peaceably life,
where we serve God and lead our family, and the truth is, if a lot of us got a
bunch of fame and fanfare, we probably wouldn't feel very comfortable about it,
you know, in reality. Some people don't like attention at all. They don't like
their name mentioned to say, even to say thank you in front of people. So, you
know, but there are people that want fame and they want their names to be
out there, and a lot of times those people are bad people, the ones that just
have to be pastors or have to be somebody in the limelight, and, you know,
the truth is that God loves everybody that just loves him and wants
to serve him, and Jabez is just, you know, his name is mentioned here, but
that's all we really know about him. We know his name, and we know his
prayer. We know that he was more honorable than his brethren, and we know
that there was some kind of sorrow in his birth. We don't really know what
the reason is, but it sounds to me like he's just a regular guy. I mean, who
hasn't prayed prayers that are similar to what he prayed? I just think that he's
kind of a picture of just what a normal guy is, or a normal believer is
in the Bible, and most people are just really destined to live a life, and
nobody will remember us on this earth. Few people will actually pass on into
history and be known by anybody. Why do we know who the presidents are? Because
they're the presidents of the United States. How much do you actually know
about Woodrow Wilson, unless you're Bill Sweeney? Does anybody else know
anything about, do you know something about, or Sean Harrington? But, I mean, I mean, do you
know something about every president? Okay, no, okay. So, a lot of people know stuff
about Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington, and like the main presidents,
right? Or JFK, because you gotta say, I know more about his assassination than I
know about his policies, really. So, I know, you know, about some presidents.
I'm not an expert on all presidents, but my point is, is that we're not, most of
us in here are not destined to be known in the history books, you know, for the
famous acts that we did, or some position of power, or greatness that
we've done in this world. But, you know, nobody's gonna remember us.
I mean, have you ever gone through your old family photos, and you saw
pictures of people in black and white photos? The women are wearing dresses, the
men are wearing like a suit and tie, or whatever, and you're like, that's,
people are like, well, that's your great-great-grandfather, or your
great-great-great-grandfather. And like, how much do you know about them? You
know nothing about them. How much do you know about your great-grandparents?
Do you know their life story? Most people don't really know a lot about
even their grandparents, really. I mean, if I ask my grandkids, they're too
young to know any much about anything, but, you know, most people don't know a
lot, unless they're really close to their grandparents. Some people just
aren't close to their grandparents. But the point is, is that we're gonna die, and
we're gonna get buried, and we're gonna be a name in some person's
genealogy, just like these people are here. And a lot, you know, I skipped
through about three or four verses, and it's like, you know why I did? Because I have
no idea who those people are, and neither do any of you. Maybe they're a tie-in
somewhere else in the Bible, I'm sure that they might be, but maybe they're
just connected to names that are important that connect to names that are
important further down the line. Maybe they just, I just didn't have time to
study them out. Maybe that's the truth. It could be, you just never know. But
those names just didn't really pop out to me, you know. And so, you know, it's
not sad that people aren't gonna remember us, it's just the way it is. You know,
people just aren't gonna remember us. And who cares? But in heaven, that's gonna
be a different story. We're gonna be known in heaven. You know, we're
gonna be known to God. Of course, we're famous to Him.
God loves us. God thinks about us. The angels know who we are. The people in
heaven know who we are. But down here, not so much. Most people aren't famous,
and most of the people that are famous now are famous for reasons that
aren't really good. Wow, you can throw a football a hundred yards. You're so
great. Wow, you won four Super Bowls. Ooh, does everybody
worship this guy because he throws a thing made out of pigskin to a guy
really accurately, and, you know, he's done it four times, and it's rigged
anyway, pretty much. So, wow, a guy named Michael Jordan, he won, you know, six
championships or whatever. He won three in a row, then he won three in a row.
He's the greatest ever, which he is. But for his era, you know, Bill Russell
won 11 championships in his era. So who's won more championships? Bill
Russell, in a time where the key was like this skinny, and he was like seven foot
tall or whatever. But the point is, is that who cares? Michael Jordan's gonna die
and go to hell, and we're gonna die and go to heaven, and we're gonna be
famous, and we're gonna be remembered there, and down here, not so much. And we
don't even remember our own family members. In reality, we get older, and we
grow apart from our, even some of our closest family members sometimes, and
sometimes it's because of our Christian life. They want nothing to do with
us, but sometimes just families grow apart naturally, you know. One lives
on one side of the country, you know, and you just don't see each other
for a long time, and when you don't see somebody for a long time, then
they're just not really part of your life so much, and then the next thing
you know, 30 years has gone by, and you don't remember each other much. Just the
way it is. It sounds sad, I know, it's like, you're depressing me, Pastor
Thompson. Well, it's just, you know, few men can bear distinction without
spiritual deterioration. That's the real truth of it. If we got famous down
here, most of us, for some spiritual reason, or for some reason whatsoever, it
would be to our spiritual detriment. It really would. If for some reason, you
know, they've invented some sport, and you became the master at it. If Brother
Eli became the master of pickleball, or something, he just didn't realize that
he had the talent that he never knew he had, and all of a sudden he's just the
dominant pickleball player of the world. You know, he'd probably start going to
the pickleball tournaments, and start going to church. Hopefully he wouldn't,
but, you know, fame and fortune are calling. The pickleball master, you know,
he's won six straight pickleball championships. He's flexing out there, you
know, but it's, what I'm saying is, to just be a regular, normal Christian that
goes out soloing, goes to church, reads your Bible, you know, you're just a, and
to be just a Bible-believing Christian is good enough. It's good enough, isn't
it? It's, you know, and I'm not saying don't be a great Christian, I'm just
saying a good Christian is a good attribute to have. It's better than being
Michael Jordan. In reality it is, because you can win six championships,
you can hit all these game-winning shots, you can hit the home run grand
slam that wins the World Series, and everybody loves you in the world, but if
you die and go to hell, what's the point?
Psalm 131 verse 1 says, Lord, my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty, neither
do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me. And that
really should be our attitude about things, you know. Who cares about
being famous? Who cares about being the greatest this or that? It really
shouldn't matter. And when it comes to spiritual things, the Bible says in
James 3, 1, my brethren be not many masters knowing that we shall receive
the greater condemnation. So the more that we are over in the Lord, the more
responsibility we have, and the more accountability to God we have. So the
more you have to fail in, the more you have to screw up in, and the more
accountability you're gonna get from God. So now let's go down to verse 13,
I'm gonna skip through some other names here, to Othniel, the judge. Look at 1
Chronicles chapter 4 verse 13, the Bible says, and the sons of Kenaz, Othniel,
and Sariah, and the sons of Othniel, Hathath. And so we have this the son
of Kenaz. So who's the son of Kenaz? Well, who's Othniel? Have you read the
book of Judges? Othniel is one of the judges, you know, from Judges
chapter 1. He marries his brother's daughter, which is, I thought was
forbidden, but for whatever reason he's allowed to do that. But he's also not
one of the, he's not exactly one of the children of Israel, you know, he's in
this, he's in this thing as one of the children of Judah, and he is because
he becomes part of the children of Judah because he believes in God and
joins the tribe of Judah. Othniel is who I'm talking about. So he was a judge
in Judges chapter number 3, but he was also a great man of God who fought with
the children of Judah before that even happened. He married Axah, his
brother's daughter. Turn to Joshua chapter 14. Who is this guy? Well, Joshua
chapter 14 is going to help us a little bit. We're going to jog down
through a few verses here. So how is he one of the children of Israel? Well,
what did you have to do to be one of the children of Israel? Well, you had to
come and join with them, get circumcised, and basically keep God's
commandments, right? So then they would be able to inherit with the tribe that
they joined up with, right? I think that's essentially the gist of it, right? So
look at Joshua chapter 14 verse 6. It says, and the children of Judah came
unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said
unto him, thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of
God concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea. So Caleb the son of
Jephunneh the Kenizzite is the brother of Othniel. See, it says the
Kenizzite and Kenaz, Othniel is the son of Kenaz. Now turn to Judges
chapter 3 verse 7. Judges chapter 3 verse 7.
So I'm gonna unravel the mystery for you here in just a minute, but I
just want you to understand who Othniel is. And so Othniel, it's
interesting how they put Othniel first, and then Caleb is gonna be
studied further down, but Caleb actually is older than Othniel. But Judges
chapter 3 verse 7 says, the children of Israel did evil on the side of the Lord
and forgot the Lord their God and served Balaam and the groves. Therefore
the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand
of, all right, this is it here, Chush, Chush and
Rish-at-thame. Chush and Rish-at-thame? Is that right?
Chush and Rish-at-thame? Eight years. Why did I put this scripture in here? What
is wrong with me? And then when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,
the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who delivered
them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. So see, Othniel
is the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. And the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him and he judged Israel and went out to war and the Lord delivered
Chush and Rish-at-thame, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand and his hand
prevailed against Chush and Rish-at-thame and the land had rest 40
years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. So Othniel is the son of Kenaz.
Now I'll reveal who Kenaz is here in just a minute. We're gonna go to a
different point here, but I'm gonna I'm gonna reveal that secret to you. But I
just want to say this, that Othniel was a great man of God. He was of the
tribe of Judah because he incorporated himself into them, but he is the son of
Kenaz who is not one of the children of Judah, right? So and he is
the brother of Caleb and he did marry Caleb's daughter. Remember, he
will, I'll get back into that here in just a minute, but before I do that
I'm gonna go to my next point which is a vote for craftsmen, because it's in order.
So I got to keep myself in order here. Look at verse 14 in our text. So it
says, and Mianothai begat Ophrah and Saraiab begat Joab, the father of the
valley of Cherashim, for they were craftsmen. So a vote for craftsmen is
point number four, because craftsmen are important in our society. Why do I think
that? Well, why does the Bible say something about it? Why does the Bible
say something about craftsmen? For they were craftsmen. It mentions these
people and then mentions their craftsmen. It says something about them. What's a
craftsman? A craftsman is a profession. It's an artesian or a skilled manual
worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative. Master
craftsman, an artesian who has achieved such a standard that he may establish
his own workshop or take on apprentices. So it's a skilled trade is
basically what we would call that today. So someone that does tile work or
remodeling or finished carpentry, things like that, paint, you know,
specially skilled workers is basically what it is. But you probably
could say that about any kind of construction that takes a craft to do.
Stonemasons, things like that. And God puts some honor on the useful arts or
else why mention them? So and the Bible says that we're supposed to live
peaceably with all men. You're like what does that have to do with it? Well
I would just say this because contended industry is better than
successful violence. And a lot of times violence and the spoils of war and
things of this nature are put above what just the average worker or skilled
worker does for our society. Because in reality what does war do? It destroys
things. What does war do? Well it makes some people rich. It makes the
industrial complex rich. But what does it do to people? It
destroys their lives. Destroys their livelihoods. But what do
craftsmen do? Well they make society a better place. They do great
work of workmanship. They offer services to people. They train other
people to do those things. And in this world that we live in now, and really
especially after COVID, we are lacking a lot of great craftsmen in this
world. And people are just you know these places where they would have
never touched these people with the 10-foot pole, they're hiring just it's
like it's like you know it's like what's the guy's name the first king of
Israel who separated from the church huh starts with the J Jeroboam thank you
Jeroboam it's like he took the least of the priests and got rid of the
Lord's priests that actually knew what they were doing and then he took
on the worst people it's kind of like what's happening now in the trades
today they're taking the worst people with no qualifications just pulling them
off the street like Boeing they can't get anybody that that that knows what
to do and they're just so just pulling people and letting them work because do
you is Boeing a skilled trade do you have to know something yeah but are they
hiring people that have no business being there that's why doors are
windows are getting blown off and you know stuff people are getting
killed for being whistleblowers because all this stuff yeah I mean sorry I'm
not trying to put you in the line of fire here but you know what I'm
saying like and that happened even in the industry that I was working in it's
like why are you hiring this person that has no business being here they're
a danger to the to the rest of the people you know I mean I've told that
story where the guy's just sitting in the truck while everybody else is
working and then the the boss walks over and says hey everybody else is
working I need you to get out here and work and he tells them to F off
like in this guy's like built like a gorilla the guy that was you know he
and he's got a bad temper I just you know he probably had to really
restrain himself to not tear this guy to pieces but it's just like you know
before you know ten years before that that guy would just got taken out in
the back of the yard and the crap beat out of them that's how things used
to work in union jobs I mean when the mob ran the union jobs if you just
crossed the picket line you got baseball batted to death or whatever
like you did not cross the picket lines it was serious business not that
I'm saying that's good I'm just saying that you know things have
changed dramatically but you know things such as you know just all the
trades that you can think of I mean we're gonna go through some other ones
here later on but contended industry is better than successful violence and at
the end of the chapter we're gonna see you know people that just can't do
anything can't build anything can't build anything for themselves what how
do they how do they manage and how do they do things well they just go and
kill everybody and take it from the people that actually built it and live
there and and and had it all together because they're violent and the other
people aren't and that's just how wicked this world is so let's move on let's
go to Caleb now so this is one more thing I want to say about that in
heaven there's not gonna be any war there's not gonna be any bloodshed I
have a feeling there's gonna be a lot more people doing pottery and
craftsmanship and weaving fine linen there's gonna be no bloodshed there's
gonna be no war so number five Caleb first Chronicles 4 15 the Bible says
and the sons of Caleb the sons of Jephunneh Ira Elah and Nahum and the
sons of Elah even keen as so keen as is mentioned here again and is
apparently he may be named one of his sons keen as but he's one of the sons
of keen as so that's interesting but Caleb of course was one of the good
spies that went in with Joshua and remember they each tribe picked one
person from their tribes and Caleb represented Judah but Caleb was not
naturally born of Judah he came from somebody else let's look where he came
from look at first Chronicles chapter 1 verse 35 first Chronicles chapter 1
verse 35 so remember 12 spies went to Canaan 10 were bad and two were good
right who were the two good ones Joshua and Caleb who's the two that went
into the Promised Land later Joshua and Caleb Joshua ruled as the judge the
next judge after Moses and Caleb was still retained all this strength and he
went and fought against the children of Anak and killed his three sons and
they were giants and then he said whoever can kill can take this next
city can take my daughter for his wife and that's where Othniel comes in and he
takes that city and then he gives his wife or his daughter to Othniel to
wife so this is Caleb so now first Chronicles chapter 1 verse 35 look it
says the sons of Esau Eliphaz, Reul, Jayush and Jalem and Korah and the
sons of Eliphaz so this is Esau's son sons of Eliphaz, Timan and Omar, Zephi
and Gattum and what to say there? Kenaz and Timna and Amalek so Kenaz
is actually from Esau so he is one of the sons of Esau so he actually is
a Semite though isn't he because Jacob had two sons his first son was Esau and
Jacob was really closely behind him right gravid and by the heel but isn't
that interesting but that's the way God works you know he came and was
able to become part of the tribe of Judah even though he was a son of Esau
because God allows anybody to be saved God allows anybody to get in even then
it's like it's it wasn't just for the quote unquote Jews anybody could come and
join and be one of the tribes and you know and be assimilated in to the
tribes so we have this man Caleb and we also have Othniel who are children of
they're related to Esau like not too far back in the distant future they're
related to Esau one of the dukes of Esau Kenaz now turn back to Joshua
chapter 15 Joshua chapter 15 here's the here's the deal he gives so remember
Joshua comes in they take the promised land Caleb's like I want you
know isn't he the one says I want that mountain yeah that's that whole
song I want that mountain and I think that's about Caleb and then he takes it
but it says in verse 13 in Joshua chapter 15 it says and unto Caleb the
son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah according to the
commandment of the Lord to Joshua in the city of Arba the father of Anak
which city is is Hebron so yeah so right there you can just see that in
that first verse it says and unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a
part among the children of Judah why did he give him a part among the
children of Judah because he's now a part of the children of Judah that's why
according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua even to the city of
Arba the father of Anak which city is Hebron and Caleb drove Vince the
three sons of Anak Shishai and Ahima and Talmai the children of Anak and he
went up Vince to the inhabitants of Deir and the name of Deir before was
Kirjaf Sefer and Caleb said he that smiteth Kirjaf Sefer and taketh it to
him will I give Aksa my daughter to wife and Othniel the son of
Kenaz the brother of Caleb took it and he gave him Aksa his daughter to
wife so there's the story in those those guys there are the most famous
people in this chapter pretty much you're the ones that you're gonna
really take big note of and of course her probably is a another the third
probably most famous as far as like the ones that we haven't already focused on
before so and and really they did greater feats than Judah himself I mean
what did Judah himself do it he had a pretty messed up family right I mean
Jerry Springer show big time right now so number six tonight the Ziphites
destined to betray their own kin look at first Chronicles 4 16 but how many of
you already knew that Caleb was one of the children of Esau before tonight
raise your hand anybody know anybody does anybody care no it's good I care I
think it's cool stuff I mean whatever that's why we do the study
right the Ziphites destined to betray their own kin looking for first
Chronicles 4 16 it says the sons of Jahaliel Ziph and Ziphah Tyria and
Azaril so you're like who are the Ziphites well turn to first Samuel
chapter 23 David's running from Saul and he's people are knocking him off
and trying to Saul wants to know where David is so he can kill him and
these people called the Ziphites twice snitch David out and tell him
where to go kill him it's like why would they do that and first of all who
are these people well if they're you know Ziph is mentioned in this in
this chapter the of the sons of Jahaliel and Jahaliel seems like he's a
pretty good guy he's mentioned quite a bit but one of his son Ziph becomes
the Ziphites right says then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah saying
doth not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood in the hill
of Hekilia which is in the south of Jesham on so what are they doing
they're telling them where David's at and these guys are of the tribe of
Judah so they're betraying David to Saul for what gain it doesn't really
say what gain they're getting out of it they're just backstabbers now look at
first Samuel chapter 26 verse 1 it's not the only time they do it they do it
again later on because of course David slips away out of his hand here
first Samuel chapter 26 verse 1 the Bible says and the Ziphites came unto
Saul to Gibeah saying doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hekilia
which is before Jesham on so again he you know David goes back maybe he's
thinking he's already tried to find me here before and he goes back you know
in three chapters later he's hiding in the same place so this must be close
to where the Ziphites live or something maybe that's how they know
where he's at but either way they're there to be trained their own kin here
because they are related to David because they're part of the tribe of Judah
just a little nugget that you might want to stick in your cap so let's move
to verse 18 and look at number and point number seven is the sons of
Pharaoh's daughter first Chronicles chapter 4 verse 18 says and his wife
Jehudah Jehudah bear Jared the father of Geador and Heber the father
of Soko and Jecuthiel the father of Zenoah and these are the sons of
Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh which Merid took so the only reason I kind of
just want to say something about this is just because you know it's kind of
cool it is kind of cool to find out you have some somebody cool in your
ancestry right I don't know if anybody's who has somebody that's
famous maybe in your ancestry that you know of maybe even semi-famous I mean
you're not gonna know if it's a Hollywood star all right Rasputin is it
oh man okay well I don't know if he's famous he might be infamous but yeah I
don't I don't really have anybody I know that I have like 40% Scottish
ancestry and we have this the crest of the Bruce and so like when Brave
Heart came out my family was like yeah we're we're related to Robert the Bruce
and I'm like I don't really know if that's true I don't think it probably
is but they were all you know cool you know it was a big deal back then
or whatever but people will say well I'm related to William Wallace but the
funny thing about that is is that William Wallace didn't have any kids so
it's kind of hard to be related to William Wallace the only way you could
be as if maybe his dad had other kids and then they had kids so you know but
you definitely weren't a son of William Wallace but I was just thinking you
know it's it is kind of cool to maybe have some person in your in your
ancestors like I kind of discovered that a lot of my ancestors were or at
least my recent ones were government workers like I was but so my great
grandfather ran the interstate bridge when it first opened so he was like the
one that opened up the bridge the ones that you know we really get pissed
off about when we're trying to get to home and then they lift it up at
three o'clock in the afternoon for some weird reason for one boat to come
through just screws over the whole traffic system for one boat with some
stuff on it it's like thanks guys should be some kind of limit on that don't
you think but anyway I just want to get that out there but you know just have
some and I think he he wired Lloyd Center like when Lloyd Center was first
built he did some some really cool hotel in La Grande you know that's
that's not famous but it's still cool to know you know I never I never
met my great-grandfather or I use my great-great-grandfather excuse me
but I did get his his King James Bible that the electricians Union gave him
so when he died and he had his funeral they they gave like my great
grandmother my great-great-grandmother a box you know a wooden box and it had
the King James Bible in it and gave it to and like had some stuff in there
was pretty cool I have it so I just kind of got it when my when my
grandmother died so that's cool stuff like that it's cool to find out so
this person in the Bible here the sons of Bithya the daughter of Pharaoh
you know they they had some famous princess in their ancestry so it is
kind of cool to find stuff like that up all right number eight verse 21 a vote
for fine linen the sons of Sheila the son of Judah were err the sons excuse
me the father of Lekha and Leda the father of Marisha and the families of
the house of them that wrought fine linen the house of Ashbya so why that
would be good or cool is that a lot of fine linen needed to be done back
then of course for the tabernacle and just you know fine linen is something
that's another good trade to be in I mean who doesn't like white clean
sheets I mean when you go to a hotel and you stay at a hotel you know
the the grossest thing to find is like that someone didn't change the
sheets or something right it's nice to have some fine linen so that you can
get the stains out of or whatever and you know that's what we think of when
we think of linen but linen can be all kinds of different materials that we
use in our daily life and it says wrought fine linen and so these people are
skilled at making clothing and that is an honorable duty and God wouldn't put
it in there once again if it didn't need to get mentioned so and it says
in Joachim and the men of Choseba and Joash and Seraph who had the
dominion and Moab and Jeshu Billahem and and these are ancient things so
it adds this little commentary these are ancient things these were potters and
those that dwelt among plants and hedges there they dwelt with the king
for his work so I'm guessing that they're talking about in Moab there
they dwelt with the king for his work so potters that dwelt among the
plants and hedges so I'm guessing that's talking about like gardeners
people that make their living on you know because a potter's you know a
potter or a pot is something you put plants in right and it says they that
dwell among the plants and hedges again another type of work that's
pretty cool like you look at those places that have those really nice
sculpted yards I mean we don't I don't have a nice sculpted yard but one
day in heaven I'm hoping that I will have like one of those cool hedges
that those people that have those mansions with old money you know that
hedge it was put in many many years ago and it's perfectly trend with the you
know the statues and the fountain in the front yard and all that kind of
stuff the the round turnaround and all that stuff but apparently these
guys you know they were some kind of great gardeners but it's not just
gardening I mean people use that stuff for medicinal purposes you know
they had like herbs and things like that that they use and probably a lot of
stuff is lost to the annals of time so it is important to know what kind of
plants could heal you or at least help you medicinally and now everybody
thinks that they know something about this and you know you know we have a
lot of a lot of doctors from the internet these days I don't want to get
people pissed off but we do got to be careful about stuff like that so these
things were ancient things so he's just like looking at these things he's
like these were ancient things these were things that have been going on for
a long time and so there's no new thing under the Sun things have been
things have been being done for years but if anything we lose knowledge you
know one thing that we hated when people retired that when they would
retire at the city is some guy that been working there for 35 years and
everything that he knows walks out the door with him and they've already
pissed him off to the point where he doesn't want to teach anybody else he
just wants to be quiet for the last years and retire and get the easy life
until he walks out the door because he's already done all the hard stuff he
already had to earn his stripes he's already had to fight management and
then you know they want to then they ask him to train somebody it's like
after all the hell you put me through I'm not training anybody so that's a lot of
times what happens is you'll have these these people that are masters of their
trade and then they walk out with all that knowledge and it you know and
I saw it happen many times and there would be tools left in places and
they just get thrown in the dumpster because people didn't know what they
were it's like what would they use that for who well maybe if you would have
gained a little bit of knowledge I mean yeah you kind of get cussed out by the
guy or whatever he'd yell at you for doing something stupid or whatever and
that happens but you also can learn something you know sometimes you get you
have to get cussed out from your boss sometimes to learn something
unfortunately but I'm just saying you know some great knowledge does leave you
know that they say we don't know how to build the pyramids again somebody
built them it wasn't aliens they look like blocks put on other blocks there's
drag marks there or it obviously was and some kind of animals pulled those
somehow some way shape or form they find they find drag marks all over the
world must have been the laser beams that move them over or something now
people believe more in ancient aliens moving things around than they do
just people with smart and sharp minds that are engineers human beings are
pretty smart we can figure out a lot of stuff and there's a lot of great
inventions that are made by human beings I mean look at the technology we
have now but the technology we have now is kind of making everybody else
stupid I mean how many people know how to read a map now that's the only
way I used to know how to get around we'd write directions down like okay this
is how you get you know there's a little tree right here and then you
turn right and then you just go for a long ways and then when you see these
other two trees here and like a little white part on this fence then you know
that your turn is coming I mean it got complicated and like and people
would be explaining these things to you on the phone you're like trying to draw
some map and then like you think you have all this space on the paper
that's like you get to the end you're just like that's I mean you think
it's funny but it's true it is funny but it's true too but now all that stuff
is being lost but what would you do without your phone well how would you
get someplace without your GPS you know you'd have to actually get one of
those things called a map and figure out how to drive someplace by direction
you know by a map that shows you how they get there not one that tells you
turn right and then it like rerouting rerouting rerouting that's annoying
isn't it especially when you're like in Houston and all the freeways go on
top of each other and it's like which one do I take yeah it sucks anyway okay
I gotta hurry up so anyway yeah the ancient things when we lose the
ancient things it's it's a bad thing number nine the sons of Simeon so now
we're moving on to the sons of Simeon and the sons of Simeon are not
really notable among the tribe but will the tribes will go through this
really quickly the sons of Simeon were Nemuel, Jamon and Jared, Zerah and
Shaul so he had five sons Judah had five sons right
Shalom his son Mipsam his son Mishma his son and the sons of Mishma
Hamuel his son Zechar his son Shimei his son so he kind of they they
start out same tied with Judah he has same amount of kids right now number 10
tonight is the non blessing of being of not being fruitful the difference
between Judah and Simeon is that Judah was very fruitful and Simeon was
not look at verse 27 it says and Simeon had 16 sons and six daughters
but his brethren had not many children neither did all their family
multiply like to the children of Judah so Simeon had 16 sons that's that's big
let's see when the rest of them don't have very many family members don't
have many children your tribes not going to grow and increase like the
other ones it says and they dwelt in Beersheba and Malada and Hazar-Shul
and Bilhah and Esim and Tolad and Bethuel and Hormah and Ziklag
and Beth-Mar-Kaboth and Hazar-Suzim and Beth-Berei and at Sherem these were the
cities unto the reign of David so this is where the places that they
dwelt it says in their villages where Etam and Ayn and Reman and
Tokin and Ashen five cities and all their villages that were round about
them about the same cities unto Baal these were their habitations and their
genealogy I mean think about all the stuff we've seen about Judah unto this
point and this is what we get from the sons of Simeon verse 24 through verse
33 I mean they're pretty cut short aren't they so but they begin to get
blessed again once David comes around and in verse 34 well actually it says a
bunch of names here well let's go down to verse 38 these mentioned by
their names were princes and their families in the house of their fathers
increased greatly so once the time of David kind of comes about then you
have these a bunch more and and they're and they're blessed once again
so but unfortunately they also have a pension for violence now what was
what was it that Jacob said about Simeon he said something about Simeon
about Levi what did he say that they in their habit there were cruel their
habitations of cruelty is that what it said because Simeon
was the brother that helped kill all those people in
Shechem killed Shechem killed all the men took their wives as as slaves and
concubines took their children took all their animals and just slaughtered
all the men look at verse 39 says so I'm gonna get number 12 is a thumbs down
for violence and they went to the entrance of Gidor even onto the east
side of the valley to seek pasture for their flocks and they found fat
pasture and good and the land was wide and quiet and peaceable for they
of Ham had dwelt there of old now were the children of Israel supposed to
destroy the Canaanites or the Hamites because Ham had other sons right it
Ham wasn't cursed Canaan was cursed right but Ham was bad too okay but Ham
had other sons so notice it says for they have Ham dwelt there of old so
Ham's just chilling here in the fat pasture the land was wide it was quiet
peaceable so it seems like they're pretty good people right for the most
part and these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah
and smote their tents and the habitations that were found there and
destroyed them utterly unto this day and dwelt in their rooms why why do
they do that because there was pasture there for their flocks what a
great reason to just slaughter a bunch of people I mean that's not a very
good testimony in my opinion there and it's because cruelty is in their
habitations I mean they they were cut short not blessed very much they didn't
have a very big inheritance I think their inheritance was inside of Judah
like if you look at any of the maps in your Bible where Simeon inherits
it's a very small spot because they don't have a lot of they don't have a
lot of people so that the lots were given to the inheritance as to how
many people they had and so if they didn't have enough room Joshua's like
well go take other land then you know if you need more room then go go take
out these other Canaanites so what are these guys just do they go to some
place that isn't necessarily you know in that in the land where they're
supposed to go and destroy the Canaanites they had that was this is
hundreds of years later and then they just slaughter some peaceable
people they're just you know have already made their peace they've been
dwelling there of old time and they just go and kill them all this is you
know just people just doing wicked things and of course history is similar
has similar acts all throughout time that have happened like this and
unfortunately it's just how things are in this wicked world that we live in
and many many stories like this I'm sure are true all over the world and
are lost to the annals of time this is just recorded for us in Scripture
and why is it recorded for us in Scripture and why are the potters
recorded for us and the people that make you know fine linen and the people
that are craftsmen and that's why I was saying like isn't it better to be
some kind of craftsman that you just mind your own business and you
live a peaceable life yeah that's better than being some murderer I mean
how is that not murder to just go wipe people out so your animals can have
some food I mean yeah they probably those animals had to get fed so they
could give them food but why can't they just go do something themselves
because they're lazy because all they can do is beat people that don't have
any weapons all they can do is destroy people that are peaceful people
and it's it's just wicked it really pissed me off when I read this story
honestly it really upset me and it's like well it's just a story pastor
Thompson happened a long time ago doesn't mean it didn't happen though it
actually happened and it's written in the Bible for our admonition this is
not right and I'm sure the people that just worship the Jews be like they
deserve that place and that was theirs and the ham is wicked it didn't say
they were children of the Canaan said their children a ham God didn't say
the Canaanites were to be wiped out last thing here a vote for wiping out the
Amalekites that's different God told them to wipe out the Amalekites verse
42 and some of them even the sons of Simeon so there's there's a redeeming
quality to some of these guys 500 men went to Mount Seir having for their
captains Pelotia and Uriah and Rephahiah and Uzziel and the sons of Ishi and
they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped and dwelt there unto
this day so God promised in Exodus chapter 17 we were already there I'm
just gonna read it for you if you want to turn there you can Exodus 17
verse 14 says and the Lord said unto Moses write this for a memorial and a
book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua for I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven and Moses built an altar and called the
name of it Jehovah Nissi for he said because the Lord has sworn that the
Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation now the Jews
today will still say that Amalek exists but what does the Bible say
that he that that's the end of Amalek there he tracked down the rest of
them and wiped them out so this unprovoked attack against Moses and the
children of Israel talked about in Exodus 17 is why God really had it out
for him what a contrast between the children of Esau and you know the
children you know the these two children because Amalek is one of
those dukes and then you had Kenaz and the children of Kenaz end up being
good and loved the Lord and the children of Amalek the same from the same
tree you know is wicked as hell and God ends up destroying them utterly so
Saul refuses to destroy what's his name the the king of Amalek Agag and
Samuel comes and hews him into pieces the Amalekites attack David and
then he tracks him down gets all his people back crushes on but still
doesn't kill them all Haman is called Haman the Agagite later on in the time
when the children of Israel are under captivity and he's hung with all of
his sons from the rafters or whatever from the high rafters but Agag had
surviving sons apparently but here in our first chronicles chapter 4 the sons
of Simeon and some of the sons of Judah they go and track them down and
destroy them but you just have Israel the nation of Israel today going and
saying Amalek attacked us it's like that's not Amalek that is the Gaza
Strip that's not where Amalek lived Amalek lived in Mount Seir in case you
didn't see that there were sons of Esau they were not you know this that's
where the Philistines lived of ancient times so if you want to be you know
if you want to use them as a hyperbole or something you know say the
Philistines attacked you but don't say Amalek attacked you so Amalek is no
longer in existence just like God said was gonna happen he was gonna utterly
destroy them and you know there you want to say well how do you know the
Bible is true where's Amalek they're gone they're toast God destroyed them
so you know the the redeeming quality there about Simeon even though they
did something really evil they did do something good they destroyed Amalek
and some people had failed to do that but they joined in and helped him in
the end so let's pray Lord we thank you so much for this chapter it's chock
full of great men that did great things in the past and I pray Lord that
you would just help us take these things in and think about them and
Lord it's more important to be a hard-working blue-collar man and a
hard-working wife at home and it's better for us to just leave a live a
quiet peaceable life and Lord protect us from these evil type of people that
would just come and try to destroy our lives and destroy our livelihoods Lord
just like JBES prayed Lord I pray that you would protect us that you would
bless our lives and bless our families bless our church and keep us
from evil too and we thank you for all these things you do for us
heavenly father in Jesus name we pray amen
last song this evening is song number 52
song number 52
Zion's Hill 52
Zion's Hill 52 on the first
There waits for me a glad tomorrow
Where gates of pearls swing wide open
And when I pass this veil of sorrow
I'll dwell upon the other side
Someday beyond the reach of mortal kin
Someday God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's Hill
Someday I'll hear the angels singing
Beyond the shadows of the tomb
And all the bells of heaven ringing
While saints are singing home sweet home
Someday beyond the reach of mortal kin
Someday God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's Hill
Someday my labors will be ended
And all my wanderings will be o'er
And all earth's broken ties be mended
And I shall sigh and weep no more
Someday beyond the reach of mortal kin
Someday God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's Hill
Someday the dark clouds will be rifted
And all the night of gloom be past
And all life's burdens will be lifted
The day of rest shall dawn at last
Someday beyond the reach of mortal kin
Someday God only knows just where and when
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still
And I shall go to dwell on Zion's Hill
Thank you all for being here this Thursday evening
Hope you have a good rest of your week
Brother Sean will you end us some work for us?