Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right, everybody. Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church.
If you could find your seat and grab your hymnals, your blue hymnals, and turn to page 472.
We're going to be doing Only a Sinner.
Song 472 in the blue, Only a Sinner, song 472. Let's sing it out on the first.
Not have I gotten but what I received Great has bestowed it since I have believed
Boasting excluded, pride I abase I'm only a sinner saved by grace
Only a sinner saved by grace Only a sinner saved by grace
This is my story to God be the glory I'm only a sinner saved by grace
Once I was foolish and sin ruled my heart Causing my footsteps from God to depart
Jesus hath found me happy my case I now am a sinner saved by grace
Only a sinner saved by grace Only a sinner saved by grace
This is my story to God be the glory I'm only a sinner saved by grace
Tears unavailing no merit had I Mercy has saved me or else I must die
Sin had alarmed me fearing God's face But now I'm a sinner saved by grace
Only a sinner saved by grace Only a sinner saved by grace
This is my story to God be the glory I'm only a sinner saved by grace
Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows Loving his savior to tell what he knows
What's more to tell it would I embrace I'm only a sinner saved by grace
Only a sinner saved by grace Only a sinner saved by grace
This is my story to God be the glory I'm only a sinner saved by grace
Hey man, good seeing brother Bill, could you open up a word of prayer?
Now the callers pray for you to be with us here in the service.
As the rest of the team have been preaching, thank you for the people who are in reach today
and all those saints and heroes you still pray with.
Amen. Our second song is going to be song number 217, Isn't the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful?
Song number 217, Isn't the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful?
Song 217, Let's sing it on the first.
There will never be a sweeter story Story of the Savior's love divine
Love that brought him from the realms of glory Just to save a sinful soul like mine
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful Wonderful, wonderful
Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful Wonderful it is to me
Boundless as the universe around me Reaching to the farthest soul away
Saving, keeping love it was that found me That is why my heart can truly say
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful Wonderful, wonderful
Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful Wonderful it is to me
Love beyond our human comprehending Love of God and Christ how can it be
This will be my theme and never ending Great redeeming love of Calvary
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful Wonderful, wonderful
Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful Wonderful it is to me
Amen. Great singing. Welcome back to Shore Foundation Baptist Church.
Let's take our bulletins and go through them real quickly.
If you don't have a bulletin, actually this is the wrong bulletin.
This is the right bulletin. Yeah, thank you.
If you need a bulletin, why don't you raise your hand and brother Ramon will bring a bulletin to you if you need a bulletin.
Alright, on the front cover we have our verse of the week.
It says, the words of wise men are heard and quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.
Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 17, great verse there.
Our service times at Shore Foundation Baptist Church, our Sunday morning service is 10.30 a.m.
Sunday evening service is 3.30 p.m.
And our Thursday Bible study is at 6.30 p.m.
And our soul winning times are listed down below.
Soul winning is when we go out and reach the community with the gospel
and we knock door to door and try to preach the gospel and get people saved.
So, and then we had soul winning today.
So, anybody have a salvation?
One salvation, alright. That was a rough neighborhood.
Good job.
Alright.
So, that brings us up to a total of 38 salvations for the month.
That's great.
And let's see, we got some opportunities for soul winning this week also.
I'll get into that in just a minute.
If you look down you can see the praise report, the salvations, baptisms, and attendance totals for this last week.
And September 2nd I'll be preaching in Cincinnati, Ohio at the fundamentalist conference.
So, that's this Wednesday I'll be flying out.
I'll be preaching on Thursday, I think it's at 7 o'clock.
And so, Pastor Jimenez, Pastor Reyes, and Deacon Oliver Gonzalez will be there preaching also.
So, it's been my first trip to Ohio, so I'm very excited about that.
And next weekend, so I guess next weekend is Labor Day weekend, isn't it?
Yeah, next weekend is a soul winning marathon in Tri-Cities, Washington.
More specifically, Kennewick, Washington.
It's about three and a half hours as the crow flies.
But if you fly like me it'd be maybe three hours and fifteen minutes or so.
But anyway, breakfast will be provided.
It's going to be at Brother Robert Larson's house.
And I'll post in the WhatsApp group the address that you need to go to and the times.
So, if you're going to that, please make sure that you're, if you're committed, you let Brother Robert Larson know.
But anyway, they'll be meeting at his house at 9 a.m. for breakfast at 10 o'clock to 12, I think to 1230 or something like that is the first.
I forget what it all is, but it's definitely a full marathon at lunch.
Lunch will be provided by the church. It's Panda Express.
And then after the second session of soul winning will be dinner for anybody that wants to have dinner at Brother Larson's house.
He's barbecuing. I guess he's a pretty good barbeque guy.
So, there's an amen. Have you actually had it before?
Okay, so Brother Sean, I think he, I think I've had it before too, haven't I?
I'm getting old folks, that's what it is.
So, anyway, so that'll be a great opportunity for you to go to a new place that you've never been before.
I'm sure it's going to be receptive.
So, I think there's about 40 people so far that are going.
So, if you plan on going, please let me know or Brother Larson know so I can add more food.
Because if you come and there's not enough food and you didn't say, you didn't RSVP, you'd be sitting over in the corner by yourself while everybody's eating that wonderful Panda Express by themselves.
So, I wouldn't want that to happen.
So, I'm sure someone would share it for you. We are Christians.
So, anyway, and then September 12th, we have Brother Daniel Cootesar coming from our church plant in Spokane.
He's going to be preaching for us for both services on Sunday.
And that'll be the 12th, so the weekend after the Solenny Marathon, the weekend after Labor Day.
And September 21st, we have a homeschool field trip to Sky Zone.
And that will start at 940 for a two-hour jump time here in Vancouver.
Please see Ms. Rachel Woods for details.
It is hanging in the balance. We're not sure with the whole mass thing whether we're going to do that or not.
So, we'll know more later, but we'll try to plan something that can make up for it.
And, of course, none of our field trips cost anybody any money.
We provide all the finances and things for that.
So, if you're interested in going, please see me or see Ms. Rachel Woods for details.
October 3rd, I'll be preaching at Pure Words Baptist Church in Houston, Texas for Pastor Shelley's church.
And I just got off the phone with Deacon Corbin Russell, and he's going to be coming up here on the 3rd to preach for us.
So, he'll be preaching both services on October 3rd.
So, I bet you'll be looking forward to that.
I'm sad I'm not going to be here to see him, but he's switching places with me.
So, that's going to be great.
Anyway, October 5th, I'll be preaching at the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship Conference.
And that will be on a Wednesday.
I think that goes Wednesday through Sunday.
But, I'll be back for the Sunday service to preach that weekend.
November 14th, we have Pastor Roger Jimenez preaching for us on the PM service.
So, it got rescheduled from the 7th to the 14th.
And then, any extra soul wanting is going on right now.
Monday, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, we're looking for someone that wants to lead the Wednesday soul wanting time.
And if that's you, or if you want to fill in so many times to help out, then I'm more than happy to have you do that.
So, the Psalm 148 Challenge is you have to memorize 14 verses and say them word perfect to me in order to get that guitar right there.
So, if you memorize all 14 verses, the first one to do it gets it.
If you mess up, you don't get it.
You've got to have it word perfect.
Alright? That's how mistakes happen.
Alright?
We don't want any New World Over Bible versions going on in this church.
So, anyway, it is a challenge.
That's why it says challenge.
Anybody say challenge accepted?
Is anybody working on that?
I'm sure the kids want to.
Anyway, it's a brand new guitar.
It's still in the box, and it's like a beginner's guitar, but it's still nice.
So, the first person to do that word perfect to me gets the guitar.
Now, if you do it, and you are second place, or third place, or whatever,
just like every Christian gets to partake in the inheritance,
you get to partake, too, because they'll have just different prizes.
It just won't be the biggest prize.
It'll be something lesser.
So, the more works you do on earth, the better rewards you get in heaven.
And if you do the first works here, you get the guitar,
but everybody else is getting something lesser.
But it's still always good prizes.
So, anyway, that's a cool challenge.
So, we're a family integrated church.
That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services.
If you need to utilize, we have a mother-baby room, which is located back there,
and you can take your infants in there, or the dad-baby room that's over there.
And if your children become super distracting or disruptive,
please just take them in there, and when they calm down, bring them back in.
Or change their diaper, or feed them, or whatever you need to do.
Those rooms both have, I don't know if that room has a monitor,
but that room does comfortable seating and all.
You can still see through the window right there.
And also, please reserve the back rows for families with young children.
The rockers are for pregnant and nursing mothers and elders only.
Please, no men in the mother-baby rooms, or vice versa.
Please, no unattended children in any area of the building.
So, if they're playing in the game room, please watch them.
Anywhere they're at, just follow them around.
So, we just don't want kids wandering off into areas of the building that they shouldn't be in.
So, we'd appreciate that.
And please make sure to clean up after yourselves and your children.
We'd appreciate that too.
Let's see, no food is allowed in the assembly area.
No cell phones.
Well, cell phones are allowed, but just please silence them.
Or turn them on airplane mode.
And if you need to escort to your vehicle by one of the ushers, they're available to do so.
And then you can see the giving information there,
the different ways that you can give to the church.
And we had, we're going to sing Happy Birthday to Maddie one more time.
No, I'm just kidding. We're not going to.
We sang Happy Birthday to her twice already.
That's all she deserves.
So, just kidding.
But anyway, if you're a first-time visitor, we're very happy that you're here.
And we do have special gifts that we like to give each first-time visitor.
And we've got a nice pen in here for you and a DVD called Being Baptist.
It's a film that we like to feature here at our church.
And there's just some other little items.
There's a little table over there on your way out.
Please, if you're a first-time visitor, just grab one of these red or gray packs.
And feel free to take one of those.
And we appreciate you coming.
And we thank you for choosing to visit us today.
And I'd like to get a chance to talk to you after the service if I could.
But I think that's all I got for announcements.
Does anybody have anything that I'm forgetting?
All right, cool.
Let's sing another song and we'll receive the offering.
Our next song is going to be song number 49 in the blue, How Great Thou Art.
Song 49 in the blue hymnal, How Great Thou Art.
Song 49, How Great Thou Art. Let's sing it out in the first.
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
Sing it out on the third.
And when I think that God his Son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart,
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim my God, how great thou art,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art,
Amen. Good evening, brother Sean, could you bless the offering for us?
Good evening, brother Sean, could you bless the offering for us?
Yes, and good morning, brother Sean, could you bless the offering for us?
Yes, and answer your text in the Bible.
All right, go ahead and turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 26.
Genesis 26. If you don't have a Bible,
hand and one of the ushers will bring you one, Genesis 26.
Genesis 26, the Bible reads, And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine
that was in the days of Abraham.
And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, unto Gerar.
And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land
which I shall tell thee of, sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless
thee.
For unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the
oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father.
And I will make thy seed and multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed
all these countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
But that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and
my laws.
And Isaac dwelt in Gerar, and the men of the place asked him of his wife, and he said,
She is my sister, for he feared to say, She is my wife, lest said he, The men of the place
should kill me for Rebekah, because she was fair to look upon.
And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines
looked out at a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of assurity she is thy wife, and how sayest
saidst thou, She is my sister?
And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, lest I die for her.
And Abimelech said, What is this that thou hast done unto us?
One of the people might lightly have lined with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought
guiltiness upon us.
And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall
surely be put to death.
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in that same year an hundredfold, and the
Lord blessed him.
And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great.
For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants, and
the Philistines envied him.
For all the wells which of his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father,
the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we.
And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
And Isaac digged again in the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham
his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham.
And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
And Isaac's servant digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours.
And he called the name of the well Esek, because they strove with him.
And they digged another well, and strove for that also.
And he called the name of it Sitna.
And he removed from thence, and digged another well.
And for that they strove not.
And he called the name of it Reoboth.
And he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
And the Lord appeared unto him in the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy
father.
Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant
Abraham's sake.
And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent
there.
And there Isaac's servants digged a well.
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the
chief captain of his army.
And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me
away from you?
And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.
And we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make
a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and
as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace.
Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.
And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another.
And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
And it came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the
well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water, and he called it
Sheba.
Therefore, the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
When Esau was forty years old, when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Biri the Hittite,
and Bashamoth, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which were of a grief of a mind unto Isaac
and to Rebekah.
Brother Bill, will you pray for us?
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
Please bless the preaching.
Amen.
Okay.
We're in Genesis chapter 26.
It's how the sermon is the rise of Isaac.
The rise of Isaac.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the book of Genesis and all the foundational
truths that it has for us, and Lord, all the lessons that it has for our lives.
Pray you'd help me to preach this chapter in spirit and in truth.
Fill me with your spirit and boldness and power as I preach, and I pray that you bless
the people that have made it a priority to come to church tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right.
So last chapter, let's see.
What happened in the last chapter?
I'm trying to remember off the top of my head, but let's see.
Last chapter we had the death of Abraham, and then it shows us the descendants of Ishmael
and Jacob and Esau were born, and so I ended on the note where we were talking about how
Jacob and Esau, when it talks about them being born, that it was two nations were in the
womb.
And I believe that that's what it's talking about.
A lot of people will say, well, God just hates people for no reason, and Calvinists will
point to Romans chapter 9 and things like that where they'll say, see, God just hated
Esau, and he chose him to be a vessel of destruction from the beginning, but we're not Calvinists
at this church.
We believe everybody has a choice whether they want to be saved or not.
And so just predestination, people get confused with the term predestination.
Predestination just means that God already knew what you were going to choose.
See, God knows everything, and we don't know everything, so God can look down at the annals
of time and see which one would be saved between Jacob and Esau, and so just because he knows
that doesn't mean that he made it happen.
God is not a puppet master that just controls everything that everybody does.
I've got kind of a ringing going on with this mic, is it good?
But he's not a puppet master that controls everything we do.
People will say, well, God allowed that person to get hurt, or God allowed that person to
have this happen to him because it was for his glory ultimately.
Well, I don't think that God made Ted Bundy to be a mass murderer so that he could get
the glory by all the people that he killed.
That's a weird interpretation of scripture.
God doesn't control us like that.
He gives us free will, and if you have free will, then that means that the choice is up
to you.
Now because Esau's people, they were against the Lord, and ultimately it was the people
that God said he would have indignation against forever, and that he would wipe them off the
face of the earth eventually, and there wouldn't be one left to carry on that name.
So let's look at verse number one.
It says, and there was a famine in the land beside the first famine that was in the days
of Abraham, and Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
So the Bible's very clear to tell us that when this happens, that this is a different
famine that it's talking about, and I think that it tells us that so that we can understand
that it's also a different king.
So the name is Abimelech.
The same in chapter 20, there was a great famine in the land, and Abraham and Sarah
went to the land of the Philistines to escape that famine, and a similar story happens then,
and you know, sometimes people say, well see, it's just they're just the Bible's just making
stuff up.
Well, I think it actually makes it more realistic because, and I believe the Bible's real.
I believe the Bible's true.
I believe every word of it, but you know, it's telling us hear this for a reason because
so it doesn't get us confused that this is the same king.
Now what I believe is Abimelech just means it's a name for a king of the Philistines.
It's like kind of like a title.
So or maybe it was just his son or grandson or whatever, but this is like a title for
a Philistine king, just like Pharaoh was the term for the king of Egypt.
So I think it's kind of a similar thing going on here.
I mean, I wouldn't be 100% dogmatic about that, but that's kind of what I see, and because
Abimelech, so again, there was a similar situation where Abraham had told the king before that
him and his wife were brother and sister, and so they lied to him, and he reproved them
in the end, but God appeared to that Abimelech in a dream and said, thou art but a dead man
about Abimelech because he had taken Sarah into his house and tried to be her husband
or whatever, and God plagued them greatly.
So God was on the side of Abraham, but here you see children, you know, following in the
footsteps of something that their parents did.
So obviously they knew about that story, and so what do they do?
The same exact thing as they pretend to be brother and sister so that they won't have
the Philistines take his wife.
Look what it says in verse two.
And the Lord appeared unto him and said, go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land which
I shall tell thee of, sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and will bless thee.
For unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the
oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father, and I will make thy seed to multiply as the
stars of heaven, and will go unto thy seed all these countries, and then thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed.
So the promise to Abraham has fallen to his son Isaac.
Now Isaac has taken up the reins, Abraham is dead, but obviously Abraham is in heaven,
but you know, the seed of Christ is going to come through Isaac, and that's what God's
explaining here, that all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed because
of faithful Abraham.
Now it says in verse five, because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments,
my statutes, and my laws.
So God is going to bless Isaac because Abraham kept his charge and his commandments.
And see, it does matter whether you keep God's commandments.
It matters for the next generation.
You know, the way you raise your children, the way you were with your children, they
are going to have a tendency to be like you were.
And so if you raised them in a church and in a godly home, the chances are they're going
to turn out right because you've raised them right.
But also the sins that the parents commit can be shown forth into the children also.
So like if your parents smoked in front of you, then it could be a big tendency that
your children are going to pick up that habit, or whatever it is.
So look what it says in verse six, it says that Isaac dwelt in Gerar, and the men of
the place asked him of his wife, and he said, She is my sister, for he feared to say, She
is my wife, lest said he, the men of this place should kill me for Rebekah, because
she was fair to look upon.
So his wife was very beautiful apparently, and all the other guys liked her, and he was
afraid of these people, because obviously he's not a Philistine, he's a stranger so
journeying in the land, and you know it's a legitimate fear, but you know the Bible
says we're supposed to fear the Lord our God, so we're supposed to fear God over being,
and doing the right thing is more important, and God's going to protect you in those situations.
But he kind of fell to the same weakness as Abraham.
Let's look over at Genesis chapter 20 real quickly, and just kind of, I'll just refresh
your history of this real quick.
I didn't have it in my notes, but I thought it would be good to show here, so let's look
at verse number five, it said, Said he not unto me, she is my sister, it's talking about
Abraham, and she even herself said, He is my brother, in the integrity of my heart and
innocency of my hands have I done this, and God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know
that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart, for I also withheld thee from sinning
against me, therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
Now therefore restore the man and his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for
thee, and thou shalt live, and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely
die, thou and all that are thine.
Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these
things in their ears, and the men were so afraid, and Abimelech called Abraham and said
unto him, What hast thou done unto us, and what have I offended thee that thou hast brought
on me and on my kingdom a great sin, thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to
be done.
And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou that thou hast done this thing, and Abraham
said, Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay
me for my wife's sake.
And yet indeed she is my sister, she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter
of my mother, and she became my wife.
And it shall come to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that
I said unto her, This is my kindness which thou shalt show unto me, at every place whether
we shall come, say of me he is my brother.
And Abimelech took sheep and oxen and maidservants and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham
and restored Sarah his wife.
And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee, dwell where it pleaseth thee.
And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver.
Behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes unto all that are with thee and with all other.
Thus she was reproved.
So basically the same story happens here a little bit differently, but they're still
saying the same lie that their brother and sister, and he's afraid, just like Abraham
was afraid.
Surely the Lord wasn't in, he believed that there's no fear of God in the land, and obviously
the Philistines become a nation that doesn't have a fear of God in the land.
But at this point they still are not so bad that God's going to destroy them, but eventually
they do get that bad, the fullness of their wickedness comes to pass.
So this is a big lesson for parents, that your sins can rub off on your children.
And so whatever you have a proclivity to do in front of them, they're going to pick up
on that and they might have that proclivity to do the same thing.
If you're a big thief, they might be a big thief too.
We obviously have hereditary things, and sin is passed on from father to children.
And so you might have, like say you're coming from a family of alcoholics, well if you're
showing forth that in your children, they watch you drink and get drunk, then they are
going to have a tendency to be the same way.
And so we have to break that cycle, you know, especially things like that are a big deal.
You obviously wouldn't want your kids to see you drinking alcohol or anything like that.
But proclivity means a tendency to choose or do something regularly, an inclination
or a predisposition toward a particular thing.
So everybody has different sins that they struggle with.
Not everybody has the same sins, but just know this, that the sins that are your besetting
sins, the ones that are just the easiest ones for you to go back because you're just really
weak in that area, then just know this, that the weaker you are, you're going to show forth
that thing in your kids, and they might be weak to the same thing.
So you don't want to introduce things like that into their life.
And whatever the sin is, like this sin was just them lying about who they were because
they were afraid they feared man, and they feared God.
I mean obviously I believe that Abraham feared God, and I believe Isaac feared God, but just
in this instance, you know, we live this life in the flesh, and sometimes we get afraid,
sometimes we get weak, sometimes we fail.
Every single person in this room is sinful.
Every single person in this room commits sin.
We put on our Sunday best and we come and we put on a happy face and everything, but
we all are sinners too, just like everybody else, and we need to realize that that's what
we are.
But you don't want to rub off your sins onto your children.
So whatever your weakness is, just think, why should I overcome this sin?
Why do I keep wrestling with this sin?
Well because there's other people to think about besides just you.
Because people say, well this is my sin, it doesn't hurt anybody else.
It does hurt other people.
It can hurt your children.
It can show forth in your children and your grandchildren.
So those are things to think about that you might want to correct and get right.
You know, and if your kids see you get right on something that they see you doing, then
that might help them in their spiritual life later on down the line.
But this situation obviously, you know, I don't even know if that Isaac was born at
this point when this happened.
Maybe he was.
I don't know.
My timeline is messed up right now, but I do know this, that they found out about it.
Isaac found out about it and committed the same exact sin.
So I think the Bible is showing us a good lesson for us to teach our children is that
we got to get our own besetting sins under control because it can show forth in our children.
So they did the same exact thing as Abraham and Sarah did.
So look at Genesis 26 verse 8 back in our main text here.
Genesis 26 verse number 8 says, And it came to pass when he had been there a long time
that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out a window and saw and behold Isaac was
sporting with Rebekah his wife.
So you know, they've told this lie, but then he sees them playing around.
They're horsing around.
They're sporting.
I mean, you know, how husbands and wives joke around, they play, and they, you know, whatever.
I don't know.
They're playing around like married people play around, okay?
And it's obvious that they're not just doing stuff that's brother and sisterly type stuff.
They think, that's a little weird.
Maybe they're really married.
But he looked out the window and saw that he was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
Verse 9 says, And Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold of a surety she is thy wife,
and how saidst thou, She is my sister.
And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
And Abimelech said, What is this that thou hast done unto us?
One of the people might have lightly lying with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought
guiltiness upon us.
So he does have some sense of morality here.
Now, obviously, have lightly lying with thy wife, that means that they're obviously got
some fornicators in their camp.
But that's the difference between Christians and non-Christians, that we do have morals.
And you know, other people have morals too.
People that are not Christians do have morals, but they just might not line up with what
the Bible says all the time.
Because fornication is not a big deal out in the world, you know.
It's like a normal thing now.
But it's not normal in the Bible.
And as a Christian, you know that that's not a normal thing that you should be doing.
It's a wicked sin.
And it's going to cause you a lot of problems.
And God will actually punish you for those things.
But that's why we know not to do it, you know.
But let's see, so let's move on here in the story.
It says in Abimelech, verse 10, said, What is this that thou hast done unto us?
Let's see, I already read that.
And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall
surely be put to death.
So he, you know, he means business, and that's good, you know.
They shouldn't be touching his wife.
That's a right law to put into place there, because adultery, you know, committing adultery
is a death penalty, right, in the Bible.
But not in America today, right?
So very different morals.
But it says then, Isaac, well, I want to back up here real quick to verse number nine.
So it says, And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
But isn't that the point, like, we're supposed to be willing to, as husbands, to die for
our wives?
You know, and obviously he doesn't want to die just so someone else could steal his wife.
I get that.
But I just kind of caught that, and I was like, wow, that's, you know, lest I die for
her.
Well, you know, I would jump in front of a bullet for my wife any day of the week.
So I would die for my wife in a heartbeat.
If there was a choice between me and her going on, it'd be me every time.
That's the right attitude to have.
And, like, Abraham was reproved, or, you know, Sarah was reproved because Abraham was supposed
to be her covering, and he wasn't doing, he was covering up things with a lie.
So we're supposed to be the covering for our wife and to protect them and watch out for
them.
And we're the stronger vessel.
That's what the Bible says.
You know, it's not something to knock women.
It's just a fact that men are stronger than women physically, and so we're there to protect
our wives.
We should protect them with everything we got.
So but anyway, let's look back at verse number 12 now.
Genesis chapter 26 verse 12, it says, And Isaac sowed in the land and received in the
same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him.
So basically everything that Isaac did worked out right, and he received a hundredfold.
So usually if you said you returned a hundredfold on your investment, that's a big investment.
Increase, right?
So but now we also know that Isaac pictured the Lord Jesus Christ, and his rise in this
chapter is a testament to that, that he pictures the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's one way, is that notice what it says, the same year, a hundredfold.
What does that verse remind you of?
Reminds you of sowing, doesn't it?
Because he sowed in the land.
And so when we're going out and knocking on people's doors and trying to get people saved,
we're out sowing the seed of the Word of God and trying to receive a hundredfold.
We want as many people to be saved as possible.
Now so I believe this is a picture of Isaac sowing, and it says a hundredfold, that he
received in that same year a hundredfold, see, and it says, and the Lord blessed him.
Because you know what?
God's going to bless you for going out and caring about other people.
You know, we're supposed to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of
our mind, with all of our soul, with all of our strength, and to love our neighbor
as ourselves.
So loving your neighbor as yourselves, what is the most loving thing you can do?
Get that person saved.
So if you could get, you know, your neighbor saved, you know, that's the most important
thing that anybody could ever receive is their salvation.
Because without salvation, everybody else is going, that person is going to hell.
And so it's very important that we go out and sow that seed, you know, and you might
not receive a hundredfold in that year of people saved, but you know, maybe what a lifetime.
Maybe half your life, maybe ten years.
I mean, if you keep going sowing every single week, you're going to get people saved.
And you know, the more you go, the more you're going to get saved.
Last week, you know, it wasn't like we were just bringing in these huge numbers of people
being saved, but it's accumulation.
Every day someone's out sowing and knocking doors, and then we just worked up and it was
twelve people saved.
Today we had one person saved, but the more we go sowing this week, we just add on to that.
And you know, yeah, it might not be Philippines numbers, it might not be Hawaii numbers, it
might not be, you know, some place in the south where people are getting saved in droves,
but hey, we're not exactly in the Bible Belt here, folks.
So we're on the Bible Belt, but people are still getting saved through our church every
single week, and you know, you should not be ashamed of the place where you're laboring
because you know, maybe God gives us more rewards for the hard place that we're at.
You know, you could be just a spiritual adrenaline junkie that all you want to do is go to missions
trips where all the most receptive people are, and hey, there's nothing wrong with going
to missions trips to the most receptive people, but if that's the only time that you get excited
about soul winning, then you don't have a right mentality.
Because you should be going soul winning in the place that you live also and caring about
people in your community also.
And you know, Isaac, where's he at?
Is he in his own hometown?
No, he's out with the Philistines, and nobody is like his family there.
But obviously, you know, he had a lot of people that he worked with, and it wasn't just him
and his wife by himself.
I mean, they had kids, and they had, you know, people that helped and worked for him.
So, but let's look at some verses that kind of remind me of this hundred fold concept
because the Bible says, he that win the souls is wise, you know, and that fruit that you
bring forth, that fruit of righteousness that you bring forth, you know, that makes you
wise.
And God, you know, likens us to like a tree that is replicating itself when you get somebody
saved.
You know, we talk about having a home run, having a home run disciple where you get him
saved, you get him baptized, and then you get him out soul winning.
That's a home run disciple.
And I'd like to see us work a little harder at doing that.
You know, obviously, it's hard, again, in this area, I get that.
People come in, and they hear the preaching, and they're not used to this kind of preaching
where, you know, I'm up screaming and yelling and stuff like that, which I'm not doing right
now.
So I don't always do that, but sometimes it's necessary, right?
But people here, you know, they come in on an off day, they might not come back, but,
you know, I think that Jeremiah probably screamed and yelled sometimes.
I'm sure that Isaiah screamed and yelled sometimes.
I know Ezekiel screamed and yelled sometimes.
Nehemiah screamed and grabbed people's hair sometimes.
So you know, the Bible, you know, people just act like everybody's like Joel Osteen in this
book or something, like, don't let the devil steal your joy.
That's not Bible preaching.
When people heard John the Baptist preach, you know, he preached with authority.
When Jesus preached, he preached boldly.
When Paul the Apostle preached, he preached boldly to the people in the name of Jesus,
right?
Look at Mark chapter 4, verse 20.
Mark chapter 4, verse 20.
Did I already have you turn there?
Okay, Mark 4, 20.
So thinking about this concept of sowing seed in the land, the Bible says the seed in the
parable is the word of God.
So our job is to go out there and sow as much seed in the land as we possibly can, just
like Isaac did, just like the Lord Jesus Christ did.
Look at verse 20 in Mark 4, it says, and these are they which are sown on good ground, such
as hear the word and receive it.
That means they hear the word of God, they get saved, right?
And bring forth fruit, some 30-fold, some 60, and some, what to say, 100.
And obviously, to me, like a fruit tree, it only brings forth in its own season.
So you're not always going to be just getting 30 people saved every year or 100 people saved
every year.
You know, it goes in seasons.
Sometimes you go six weeks or whatever without even cracking your Bible open.
But like I said, if you keep working at it, you're going to accumulate things.
And the more you go, the more time you spend out sowing, the more time you spend sowing
the seed, because just sowing times isn't enough.
If you're just talking to someone in business or anything, like if you get a chance to talk
to somebody, you should talk to them.
We're just not only sowing when we're out on our sowing times, we should be sowing and
trying to reach people in our daily lives also.
Look at Mark chapter 13, verse 8, or Matthew, excuse me, Matthew chapter 13, verse number 8.
Matthew 13, verse 8 says,
But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some 100-fold, some 60-fold, some 30-fold.
Who hath ears to hear?
Let him hear.
Look, this is not a country club here where we just get together and play table tennis.
We play table tennis, but that's not our main focus.
When you come to church, it shouldn't be that we're just only excited about hearing preaching.
We're only excited about talking with our friends.
All those things are good, but sowing is something that should motivate us to go out and see
people saved, and bringing forth fruit is getting more people saved like we are saved.
That's the ultimate goal, right?
To replicate what we are, another fruit tree that goes out and does the same thing.
That's the goal, because that's how you grow exponentially.
That's how the kingdom of God grows.
So obviously, Isaac is a picture of sowing seed in the land and getting people saved.
Let's look back at our text in Genesis chapter 26, verse number 13, Genesis 26, verse number 13.
Just like Jesus began to grow as a child, he grew in knowledge, and he learned the scriptures.
Obviously he was God manifest in the flesh, but he still had to learn.
He still worked hard, but it says, and the man waxed great, talking about Isaac, and
went forward and grew until he became very great.
This is the rise of Isaac that we're seeing, but Jesus Christ was the same way.
He grew, and when he went out and started to preach the gospel, after being 30 years
old, he gets baptized, he goes out and preaches, he does all these miracles.
He also was a great man that waxed great until he became very great.
So great that people thronged him everywhere he went.
He was really famous when he was in the land, until everybody turned against him and stabbed
him in the back, literally betrayed him and killed him and hung him on a cross.
The people that were his people he came to, he came to his own, and his own received him
not, the Bible says.
At the end of Paul's life, most people had turned their backs on him.
That's just the way it is.
But Jesus did wax very great, and he became very popular, and literally people followed
him from place to place, but including his enemies, and his enemies followed him place
to place too.
Then the Pharisees would show up, looking at him like this, just waiting for them to
do something wrong in their eyes.
But that's just the way it goes.
Look at verse number 14, it says, for he had possession of flocks and possession of herds
and great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him.
And you think about it in a way, if you're looking at it through the lens of the New
Testament, you know, Jesus began to get all these flocks and herds of people that followed
him and great store, everybody wanted to serve him, and the Philistines, it says the Philistines
envied him.
So it's kind of like how the Jews begin to envy Jesus, and they started to hate his guts
and wanted to try to steal the kingdom for themselves, but this is going to happen when
great things start happening, you're going to get the Philistines are going to come and
envy you.
They're going to get bad people that are upset with the success you're having, and
they're going to envy you.
Look at what it says in verse 15, for all the wells which his father's servants had
digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them and filled
them with earth.
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, go from us, for thou art much mightier than we.
And Isaac departed thence and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there,
and Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham
his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham.
And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
So these wells had names, apparently.
But you know, and I was just thinking about this concept, it's like, Isaac is just going
around digging all these wells, and they're just filling them up with dirt, and that's
kind of what enemies of God like to do, is that they just like to go around and throw
dirt in your eye.
They want to throw dirt on your work.
They want to throw dirt on what's going on.
The good things that you try to do, they just want to try to throw dirt on that.
And so it says, and Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a springing
water, and the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, the water
is ours.
And he called the name of the well Isaac, because they strove with him.
So everywhere Isaac was going, like he said, go away from us, because they realized that
Isaac was this great man, and they just wanted him to go away from them.
But what did they do?
They just ended up following him everywhere, and just fighting with him over every source
of water.
Just last week, we talked about how that source of water, those wells, kind of represent the
Holy Spirit, like Jesus offered the living water to the woman at the well.
And so you kind of see this picture of Isaac digging all these wells.
And then, of course, the enemy coming everywhere and trying to stop him.
But that's the Christian life.
You know, I've been preaching about this for a few weeks now.
Basically in the Christian life, people are going to fight.
There's going to be battles.
There's going to be people wanting to throw dirt in your well.
We just have to go past it.
We have to work past it and just realize that those things are going to happen.
Bad people will always strive over the good with the things that we do right.
They're always going to want to destroy God's work.
I mean, everywhere in the Bible, that's what happens.
If it's not Satan, it's his minions.
If it's not his minions, it's our own flesh.
We really have battles with a lot of things.
It's not just the Philistines.
It's not just ourselves.
It's the devil.
You know, we fight against ourselves a lot, probably more than people fight against us.
But there is always that enemy when a church is doing great things.
They're always going to come and strive for that well.
Look at verse 21.
It says, and they digged another well and strove for that also.
And he called the name of it Sitna.
And he removed from thence and digged another well, and for that they strove not.
And he called the name of it Rehoboath.
And he said, for now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
So you know, again, the lesson here is that when the enemy fights you, you just keep going
forward.
See, he just kept going and digging more wells, didn't he?
He didn't just say, oh man, the Philistines just keep stomping up these wells.
I give up.
That's not what he did.
He kept going.
He kept moving on.
He kept moving forward and digging more wells.
And it's like, hey, they're not going to fight us for this one.
And you can be fruitful in that place.
But just rest assured that the battles are always going to come.
People are always going to be trying to stop up your wells.
But we can't stop.
We can't stop what we're doing because of what the enemy's doing.
We just have to keep striving together and moving forward.
Look at Genesis chapter 26, verse number 23.
Genesis 26, verse number 23.
And he went up from thence to bear Sheba, and the Lord appeared unto him the same night
and said, I am the God of Abraham my father, fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless
thee and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his
tent there, and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
See, he pushes forward, and you know what God says?
He just appears to them and he gives them comfort.
He says, fear not.
Because what does the enemy want to do?
They want to terrify you and make you afraid of everything all the time.
But you know what God said?
He said, fear not, for I am with thee.
Multiple times in the Bible, if you just do a study on the word fear not, it's in the
Bible a lot, and Jesus is saying it a lot, God's telling us not to fear, and it says,
and he will bless thee, you know, and multiply thy seed.
You know, and if we're out sowing the seed, God's going to bless us for that also.
What was Isaac trying to do?
Why was he trying to dig these wells so that he could water what he had already planted?
And so this is what we need to be able to do also as Christians, is that, you know,
the Philistines are going to come, they're going to fill up our wells, but you know what?
We just move on and build another well.
We dig another well, and then, you know, we just keep moving, we keep fighting, we keep
working, and sometimes, you know, things happen, and you know, in this Christian life, things
are going to happen to us, all kinds of problems are going to come our way, people are going
to accuse us of things that aren't true, people are going to, you know, lie about us and malign
us and say all kinds of manner of evil of things against us, but we have to keep moving.
That's what Isaac did.
I think it's a great example of the Christian life, how, you know, you think something's
stopped up, well, God's going to open an opportunity somewhere else.
He's going to let us dig another well, and that well is going to be blessed, and God's
going to bless us when we continue to work hard and do the work that we're supposed
to do.
It says, and he called upon the name of the Lord, pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's
servants digged a well, then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzath, one of his
friends, and Phichol, the chief captain of his army, so, you know, these guys are coming
to make a deal with him, and basically, look at verse 27, it says, and Isaac said unto
them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
And they said, we saw certainly that the Lord was with thee, and we said, Let there be now
an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee.
So I think that this principle helps us if we, again, look at it through the lens of
the New Testament, that sometimes our enemies will still be at peace with us, even though,
you know, we're Christians, and we're saved, and I think that we should try to be peaceable
with all men as much as lieth in us, the Bible says.
So Proverbs chapter 16 verse 7 says, When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even
his enemies to be at peace with him.
Now, and I'm not talking about the ones that hate God, I'm talking about your personal
enemies, you know, and Abimelech seemed to be Isaac's personal enemy.
So I don't think that there's anything wrong with Isaac trying to make something right
with someone, even though they've been doing them dirty this whole time.
So it's good to make peace when it's within your ability to do so, but, you know, we don't
always have that ability, but look at Matthew chapter 5, look at what Jesus says about this.
Matthew chapter 5 verse 7, Matthew chapter 5 verse number 7 says, Blessed are the merciful,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they shall be called the children of God.
I believe in being a peacemaker, you know, I get a bad rap sometimes that I'm always
fighting people and all this other stuff, you know, sometimes there's a battle that
needs to be fought, but I'll tell you what, I'm also really quick to make peace with people.
I want to make peace with people, I don't want to fight with everybody, I don't want
to fight with all my enemies all the time, you know, but sometimes things need to be
called out, some things need to be said, and we can't shy away from that.
There's a balance of preaching just like there's a balance of the Christian life, and the balance
of preaching is it can't just always be doom and gloom and rah, you know, there's got to
be things that help the family, there's got to be preaching that helps our Christian walk
in life, things that help us perfect our soul, and, you know, just all manner of preaching
that we need to hear, it can't just be a one-trick pony, where you're just always going after
people, obviously I've been accused of just always just going after people, but I don't,
I know that's not true, I don't always go after people, just sometimes, okay, so, but
I want to make peace, I do want to be at peace with people, people just need to quit trying
to fight me all the time, I don't understand what it was, anyway, so look what it says
in verse 10, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you. Hey, just mark it down, Jesus said, you know, he's talking about being a peacemaker,
but then he's also saying, hey, you're blessed also when men revile you, when they persecute
you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. For whose sake? For Jesus'
sake. Like I said this morning, these people, they call Jesus Beelzebub, and they call the
master of the house that, what do you think they're going to call you? They're always
going to be there, they're always going to be fighting against you, and the only way
to really avoid that is just to go to a dead as a doornail church that isn't doing anything
for God. Then just go ahead and rest yourself in comfort, the pre-trib rapture's happening
for you any moment now. You know, nobody wants to go through anything hard and difficult,
and of course we don't believe that the pre-trib rapture's going to happen at any moment because
Jesus said it was coming after the tribulation, and he didn't stutter when he said that, so
anyway. So look, we need to rejoice and be exceeding glad, and sometimes it's hard to
feel that way when you're going through these types of situations, when people are lying
about you, when they're maligning you and they're saying all manner of evil against
you falsely. You know, but the Bible says that we should rejoice and be exceeding glad,
and you know when someone comes up when you're going through something like that and tells
you this verse, you're like, yeah, you know, it's easy for you to say, buddy. You know,
it's like, it doesn't feel, you know, when you're going through something like this,
it doesn't feel good at all. It's really, it's just, it's rough, but you know, just
understand this, that you should rejoice and be exceeding glad because that means you're
doing something right. If you're getting persecuted, if you're getting reviled, if people are saying
all kinds of stuff about you, then just know that you're doing something right. So if nobody
ever gets persecuted, like there's plenty of churches around here that never have even
seen a whiff of persecution, and if they did, they'd apologize. People apologize, Christians
apologize for every single thing they do. It's like, I apologize for saying the Bible
said something. It's like, this is, this is what we believe. It's the book, the Blessed
Hope, right? And we're supposed to believe this book over what anybody says, and I don't
apologize for preaching the Bible ever because what are we doing here? Am I supposed to just
be reading poems the whole time, or is that what you want? You want me to tell you some
good, some cool stories, bro? Cool story, bro? It's like, yeah, I don't mind telling stories
every once in a while, but the meat of the sermon should be from the Bible. I don't think
anybody could ever accuse me of not using a lot of Bible because I use a whole lot of
Bible in my sermons. So, but anyway, let's look at Genesis chapter 26 verse 29. Genesis
26, 29. So you should just have your finger there and ready to go back there at any moment.
Any moment it could happen where you have to go back to Genesis chapter 26. In the twinkling
of an eye, it says that thou wilt do us no hurt as we have not touched thee, and as we
have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace, thou art now
the blessed of the Lord. So he's coming at him and he's like, we haven't done anything
to you. Which, is that true? Yeah, and that's how people like to say, I haven't done anything,
I'm not doing anything to hurt you. I wouldn't do anything, what are you talking about? But
even so, even though he's lying right here, and maybe he doesn't know about some of it,
but I'm sure he's the king in the land, he knows something about what's going on. The
king usually kind of has a good idea of what's going on even though he might not know all
the details. But he says thou art now the blessed of the Lord. Whoever the other of
him like was that dealt with Abraham, maybe it was his dad or whatever, he recognized
also that Abraham was blessed of the Lord. And God straight up told him he's a prophet
and you better give him his wife back or you're going to just die and everybody that you love.
It's like, okay, here she is. They're all scared. But this Abimelech understands the
fact that Isaac is blessed also. And so he wants to make a deal with them. He's like,
alright, okay, I'm tired of fighting over these wells, let's make a peace agreement.
And so he says that he made them a feast and they did eat and drink. So when you make peace,
there needs to be concessions on each side. You know, when there's a peace agreement between
people, you might not agree about everything. And I would say compromise, but compromise
is a bad word in fundamentalism. But concessions, like you might not 100% agree on every point,
but sometimes you have to just be like, okay, well, I'll give you that. When you're making
a peace agreement with somebody, you don't have to just say, it's all my way or it's
not happening because nothing ever peaceful is going to work out if you don't have concessions.
So you know, we really don't have to right every wrong in every situation. And we don't
have to fight every single battle that comes our way either, which I don't fight every
single battle that comes my way. If I was fighting every battle that I wanted to fight
or that I thought was fightable, I'd be fighting way more than I fight now. But sometimes you
just got to let stuff go. You know, sometimes you got to suffer yourself to be defrauded
in a situation and just keep your mouth shut. And so we don't have to defend every attack
that comes our way because there's a lot of attacks. So if I defended every attack
that came my way, you know what would happen? That's all I'd be doing is defending every
attack. And do you think that that's going to satisfy these scumbags? It's not going
to satisfy them whatsoever. So what's the point? And you know what? I don't owe an explanation
to the internet for anything, especially a bunch of reprobate troll freaks that do nothing
but stalk our every move and stalk every sermon. They're psychos. They're straight-up psychos.
And if you don't know what I'm talking about, then ignorance is bliss once again. But you
know, we don't have to defend everything that happens. We don't have to defend everything.
Did Jesus defend everything that happened to him? As a matter of fact, he just kept
his mouth shut, didn't he? And I seem to remember David keeping his mouth shut when he was going
through some problems. I seem to remember Moses keeping his mouth shut when he was being,
you know, when Korah was doing that rebellion. What did he do? He fell right on his face
on the ground and started to pray. So we don't have, you know, obviously there are times
to battle. There is times to come forth and swing that sword. But it doesn't always have
to be like that and sometimes you've got to be wise about how you do stuff. So, and if
you can take lessons from Jesus Christ who didn't even open his mouth when they're accusing
him of every, all these things that were just not true, what did he say? What did he say?
He didn't say anything. He didn't open his mouth. He didn't open his mouth. So like,
you know, if we take a lesson from our Savior, there's times when we just don't have to say
something. You don't always have to defend yourself. It doesn't matter. And the truth
is always going to come out at the end anyway, isn't it? Genesis chapter 26 verse 31. Genesis
chapter 26 verse 31. It says, and they rose up beat times, that means early, in the morning
and swear one to another and Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace.
And it came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning the
well which they had digged and said unto him, we have found water. So he goes through all
those battles but what does he do? He makes peace just like the Bible principle says to
do and then instantly what happens? They find water. And he called it Sheba. Therefore the
name of the city is called, is Beersheba unto this day. And Esau was 40 years old when he
took his wife, or took the wife Judith, the daughter of Biri, the Hittite, and Bashamath,
the daughter of Elon, the Hittite, which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and Rebekah. Why
was it a grief of mind unto them that their son got married? Well, first of all, you see
that thing there that says Hittite at the end of it. These people didn't believe in
the same God. They didn't believe the same things. And it was a grief of mind unto Isaac
and Rebekah. And you know what kids? The Bible says that you're supposed to honor your father
and mother. And Esau seemed to have a problem doing this. Even though dad liked all his
venison and stuff, that was a really carnal thing to like his son more for. But anyway,
he was vexed about the fact that Esau married these two people that were not obviously Christians,
not saved people. So it's the ultimate dishonor to parents for you to do this. If you just
go out and marry some unsaved person and your parents are Christians and they want what's
right for you, they know what's right for you. See, everybody seems to know what's right
for them except for you yourself sometimes. We all make decisions based on what our heart
wants instead of what our brain should be thinking. And to pick somebody that's not
saved is a bad decision if you're saved. Don't pick someone that's unsaved. Or even, you
know, there's lots of other criteria to not pick people for too. You know, if they're
lazy, if they wouldn't provide for you. You know, if someone's lazy, then you're going
to have a hard life with that person. Playing simple. So we're commanded to marry someone
of the same faith. And so, you know, to marry a heathen that doesn't believe in the Lord
will be a vexation to your parents. And some people do that kind of stuff just to spite
their parents. But you know what, you're the one that has to live with that person
for the rest of your life, not them. And so if like my kids picked a bad person to marry,
then that would be on them. Well, you know, so far so good. You know, except for Brandon.
No, I'm just joking. I love Brandon. I always like to pick on Brandon. He's a great guy.
But all my kids that are married so far have picked good spouses and I'm happy about that.
And I'm, you know, it'd be a lot better than having them go find some, you know, dirt bag,
you know, or some, you know, whorish woman, some whoremonger of a man. You know, so it's,
you know, parents want their kids to marry. If you're a Christian, you should want your
kids to marry a Christian that believes the same as you do. I'm not talking about you
going and saying, well, you know, they do believe in the Trinity. They're Catholic,
but they do believe in the Trinity, you know. They believe the Jews aren't God's chosen
people anymore, so we got that going for us. You know, that's a compromise, right? No.
That's not what I'm talking about. It's someone that's saved. So I'll turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 6, 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. We'll see what the Bible says about this in
the New Testament. God flooded the whole world basically over this issue because it wasn't
you know, human-alien hybrids or whatever that the Nephilim, this Nephilim doctrine
is just not true. You know, the sons of God who are saved people found the daughters of
men which were unsaved, and then they just, the world spiraled out of control because
of it. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
So what is this yoke it's talking about? You know, you're not, we're not talking about
eggs here. I know there's a lot of eggs here in the building and kids are like, what is
unequally yoked? Like, are the one yoke bigger than the other? No. It's like talking about
when animals are harnessed together, you know, and you have one that's unequal to the other
that's just going to make the animals drive wrong. You know, it's not going to be, so
you want to have animals of the same size yoked with the same size yoke, and it's not
off balance basically. And so, you don't want it to be unequal because basically they're
not the same. It'll be like putting a donkey with an ox or something. It's just not the
same kind of, you know, everything brings forth after its own kind and that's the same
thing that's going to happen in a marriage if that's not the right kind of person you're
supposed to marry. It says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?
The answer to those questions, you know, are very obvious. There should be no fellowship
between righteousness and unrighteousness, and there shouldn't be any communion with
what communion hath light with darkness. They don't have any communion. You know, if the
light shines, it's not dark anymore. And verse 15 says, and what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Now Belial is the devil, so what is, do they hang out? Or do they just like,
hey bro, what's going on? No, they don't. They don't hang out. It says, or what part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? An infidel is just an unbeliever. There shouldn't
be any part. And it says, at what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you're
the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and
I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, for this reason is what
that means, wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. So what's God saying? Hey, don't be yoked
together with unbelievers. Don't hang out with people that are unsaved. You know what's
going to happen? They're going to rub off on you. You're not going to rub off on them.
And so we shouldn't be in this unequal yoking, as what it's saying. And so basically why
were Rebekah and Isaac vexed because of this? Because their son married a couple of unbeliever
Hussey type girls, okay? So if you don't know what a Hussey is, that's an old language for
like kind of a whorish woman or something. And I don't know, you know, they just weren't
believers. That's obvious. So look what it says in verse 18. It says, and will be a father
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Almighty. See, God wants us to have
fellowship with people. He just doesn't want us to have fellowship with the wrong kind
of people. And you're like, well, that seems kind of mean. How are we supposed to reach
these people if we don't, if we don't, you know, hang out with them? Well, it's one thing
to reach someone, but to like live your life in a daily relationship with this person is
not a good idea. So obviously, you know, grandparents and family, you're talking, look, that division
is going to happen whether you like it or not. Eventually they're going to get tired
of you not wanting to turn the TV on over at their house because you don't want your
kids watching it or whatever it is, you know, they don't want you to carve the pumpkin for
Halloween. You know, you don't want, your parents want to carve a pumpkin and they don't
want to. That could be a cause of contention. I think I know somebody that that happened
to and it's just like they haven't even talked since over a pumpkin. It's like that's crazy,
but that's the way it is. So why would you want to yoke yourself up together with someone
that you're going to have that contention with for the rest of your life? I mean, it
doesn't sound like a good idea, does it? The Bible says in Amos chapter, go ahead and turn
to Hosea chapter 13 verse 9 and that'll be the last scripture I have you turn to. In
Amos chapter 3 verse 3, I'll just read this verse for you. It says, can two walk together
except they be agreed? What's the answer? No! The answer is no! Two can't walk together
except they be agreed. That's the whole principle I'm trying to show you is that, you know,
that's the answer. No! They can't walk together. If someone, you know, is an unsaved person,
you're saved, you know, all you're going to do is just destroy yourself because you're
choosing to do something that God asks you not to do. He said don't get entangled with
them. Don't yoke up together with them. Don't have relationships with them like that. And,
you know, you better get to know the person that you're about to marry and be agreed on
things. What are we having Thanksgiving, honey? You better get that figured out before
you get married. Lots of fights happen over Thanksgiving and Christmas and, I mean, I
don't know. I don't have any experience in that realm at all, but eventually I just gave
in, okay? I'll just admit it. Her family's food was better. No, but it was like you do
the turn-taking thing or whatever, but like it can be a big deal. We're like, no, we're
always going to my parents. It's like, hey, that is a legit fight that will always be
there from season to season. So, like, your mom doesn't even get us presents and, you
know, whatever. It's just a, and I'm not saying that happened in my life. I'm just saying
that those fights happen. And so you better be agreed on. How many kids do you want to
have? I just want to have two kids and that person wants to have ten. You know, that's
something that you should probably maybe get to know that person. And I see a lot of
people want to just jump into marriages that are young and they're just like, I just want
to get married. It's like, yeah, that's good, but like maybe you should get to know the
person a little bit before you do because you're in for some hard, some stormy seas,
alright? And even if you agree on everything, you believe everything the same, people are
people and people are annoying. And you annoy the other person and they annoy you sometimes.
It doesn't even, it might not even have anything to do with what you believe. It just might
have to do with who left the toilet seat up or who rolled the, you didn't roll the toothpaste
up from the bottom, which I still don't do that. At the end, I'm just like squeezing
it out, but like it's just a habit I had never gotten into, but like my wife doesn't get
mad about that, but I'm just saying that there's, we're human and we're going to already
have disagreements and problems together anyway regardless of why add a bunch of other stuff
to it. And if you're already married, it's too late. You're stuck till death do us part,
so don't plot to kill them either because that's a sin, alright? But you know, if there's
problems, hey, work through those problems. You know, marriage is work. It's not always
easy. There's peaks and valleys and there's times when you're just getting along great
and everything's wonderful and then you're not getting along great and everything's not
wonderful, but it's just you go through seasons of life, you know, don't give up on your marriage
ever. Unless you're like a serial killer or something like that, then I would say just
move out, okay? Because you don't want to be next. But anyway, I'm just trying to tell
you, I'm just trying to save you some pain. You know, young people especially, you know,
pick the right person because you have to live with them for the rest of your life,
alright? And they might be cute, they might be pretty, but maybe they're, the way they
are isn't. Maybe they're ugly on the inside. You don't want to marry someone that's ugly
on the inside because once you find out that that person's ugly on the inside, then they
look ugly on the outside too. So just keep those things in mind, young people, and don't
be a vexation to your parents. Pick someone right. Don't just jump at the first bow hunk
that comes into the church and he's got big muscles and he's wearing a white t-shirt and
he's all ripped or whatever. Don't just jump at the first guy because, look, you got time.
You know, you're not going to be an old hag at 20, okay? You're not just an old maid at
that age, you know? It might take time to find the right person, but hey, even if you're
older and you still, you know, you haven't been married yet, hey, sometimes you got to
put yourself out there, people. Put yourself out there. Get on the Verity Baptist dating
site or whatever. Someone will come along. Someone will sign up for you, you know? Be
your soulmate. Go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference every year. Go to these conferences
where you're going to meet other people because our church, you know, is our church. Obviously
people can move to our church and be an option for you, but like, you know, just pick the
right person. That's all I would say. Most importantly, make sure that you're equally
yoked with that person and that you can get along with them because marriage can be real
tough when you're not getting along, right? So I had you turn to Hosea 13 verse 9. It
says, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. So it's possible
for Christians to destroy their own selves, you know, and he's just like, and this scripture's
like, O Israel, you've destroyed yourself. You've caused these own problems in your
own life. You know, we do that a lot, don't we? We cause problems and misery in our own
lives because we make dumb choices sometimes. We don't always choose the right decision.
But you know who can help you with that situation? It says, but in me is thine help. So hey,
when you screw things up and you mess things up, just remember that God can still help
you through those situations. And just like the Apostle Paul made a mistake where he went
and got captured in Jerusalem, you know, he wasn't right in that situation, but God still
protected him through that and still allowed him to preach the gospel and all that other
stuff that he did. Now obviously, Aqaba the prophet said, hey, you know, you're going
to get captured, you know, but he just didn't listen. So there's times in our lives when
we're going to mess it up ourselves. Nobody's perfect, including the Apostle Paul. The only
person that was perfect is Jesus Christ. So, you know, sometimes the devil doesn't have
anything to do with it when we fall. Sometimes it's yourself. Sometimes you got to just look
in the mirror and realize that you're the one that did that. And the only way to fix
it is to do it right the next time and ask God to help you. All right, let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for this chapter in the Bible, Genesis chapter 26, Lord, and
all the lessons we can learn from it, just a family and faith and soul winning. And Lord,
we just thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, who paid the ultimate price for us so we can
be saved. Pray that you just bless us as we travel, and we thank you for the people that
visited today and pray that you bless them, Lord, and pray that you bless that person
that got saved today and, Lord, that we'd see others saved this week as well. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.
The last song will be song number 116 in the blue hymnal, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
Song number 116, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
Song 116, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Let's sing it out on the first.
When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood,
Feet from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow mean, Or thoughts composed so rich a crown,
Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small?
Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.