Music
Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long Perfect submission, perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst on my side Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long Perfect submission, all is at rest
I am my Savior and happy and blessed Watching and waiting, looking above Filled with His goodness, lost in His love
This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long
Good singing brother Stephen, will you open us in a word of prayer?
Lord God, thank you so much for the opportunity to come to your house and worship with your preaching Lord
and may you be the master of the gospel he preaches and bless and bless your God for yours. Amen
Amen, we're going to be doing favorites tonight, if you have a favorite song, Miss Sheila?
275
Almost Persuaded, page 275
Page 275, sing it out on the first
Almost Persuaded, now to believe
Almost Persuaded, Christ to receive
Seems now some soul to say, Go Spirit go thy way
Some more convenient day, on Thee I'll call
Kayla?
355
What a friend we have in Jesus, page 355, sing it out on the first
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
What peace we often forfeit
What needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer
Brother Brandon?
99
Page 99
Come ye disconsolate, page 99
Page 99, sing it out on the first
Come ye disconsolate, where ye languish
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish
Earth has no sorrow, that hand cannot heal
Brother CJ?
You got it in the green? What's the name of it?
Yeah, I don't think that's in the green. You got another song?
Any other?
319
Sorry brother CJ
Just a Closer Walk With Thee, page 319
I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus came me from all wrong
I'll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee
Just a Closer Walk With Thee
Granted, Jesus is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be
787, sing it out on the first
Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak, but He is strong
Yes, Jesus loves me
The Bible tells me so
Last one, Brother Ramon?
Page 49
Meet me there, page 49
Sing it out on the first
On the happy golden shore
Where the faithful part no more
When the storms of life are o'er
Meet me there
Where the night dissolves away
Into pure and perfect day
I am going home to stay
Meet me there
Where the tree of life is blooming
Meet me there
When the storms of life are o'er
On the happy golden shore
Where the faithful part no more
Meet me there
Good to see you
Welcome back to Sure Foundation Baptist Church
Let's take our bulletins and go through them again real quickly
On our front cover we have our verse of the week
If you need a bulletin would you lift up your hand
Someone will bring you a bulletin
Alright, thank you Brother Sean
And the Bible says
Our verse of the week
The Bible says
Prove all things
Hold fast that which is good
1 Thessalonians 5 verse 21
Our service times are 10 30 a.m. Sunday morning
3 30 p.m. Sunday evening
And we're in Genesis 33 tonight
Thursday Bible study
We're finishing up 1 Corinthians
And we'll be in chapter 16 the second half
And our soul winning times
Are listed below we had soul winning today
Was there any salvations today? Did anybody have one?
Not one
It was a rough neighborhood I heard
So
Anyway well God rewards you for
The things that you do right
For the work you put in
And uh
If you look down you can see our praise report
The salvations
Baptisms and attendance totals
And uh
Just a quick reminder we have the
Kids choir practice immediately after the service
So
Kids if you're in the choir
Just come straight up to the front where you were
You want them right here
While you're doing it in the back this time
No instruments
Where's the piano?
You're not going to use the piano?
Okay perfect
Well so the back so the back room back here
Mom baby room
Okay so moms get out as soon as the service is over
I'm just kidding
But that's where we're having the
Just joking
So that's where it's going to be though the mom baby room
Anyway I'm just I'm totally kidding
But I'm not
But I am
But I'm not no I'm just kidding
Alright so that'll happen right after the service
So kids go straight there
Throw the mothers out of the room no I'm just joking
No don't do that
But just as quick as possible
Cause there's people that are from out of town
They're trying to get home as quick as possible
So let's just make it happen
December 11th we have the Ladies Cookie Exchange
Great elephant game at 1pm at the Bender Home
Please bring three dozen cookies or treats
And a container for goodies to bring home stuff
For your husbands
And December 16th we have the kids cookie and ornament decorating
Here at the church building at 2pm
And if you have any questions about that see Rachel Woods
December 19th is the kids
Excuse me the Christmas service
Children's choir
Prime rib dinner after the morning service
December 23rd we have the candlelight service
December 31st we have
Our service here
Pray in the New Year have a game night
Probably be a game afternoon
Ping pong tournament, foosball and all that good stuff
So just January 1st
Just put your heart to
Doing the New Testament challenge
Which is reading the Bible
Nine chapters a day for 30 days
And when you get to the end
You'll have read the whole New Testament
So I highly encourage you to do that if you've never read the whole New Testament
It's on your way to reading the whole Bible
Amen
And then all the other info
I think is pretty much
Everybody knows all that stuff
So I'm just going to skip through it because
I want to get into the sermon here as quickly as possible
Remember to congratulate the
Alcordo family for the birth of Lydia Lynn
Alcordo who was 8 pounds 2 ounces
Beautiful by the way
And 19 and a half inches long
So
Congratulations to their family
And we do have a baptism
Right after the service so if I give the ushers
Help with the towels
Ms. Sherry, is there a dress
That she can wear or
She brought something, okay
So as soon as the music
Not the music
I feel like I'm doing like an invitation
As soon as the music begins to play
No, as soon as I pray
As soon as I start to pray, go ahead and just go get changed
And when you're ready just come right out by that back wall
And I'll be standing right there
So then I'll know that you're ready, okay
Are you good with that?
I'll sing another song and then I'll receive the offering
We're going to be doing a chorus of the week
We're going to be singing My Life is Yours to Control
If you need a paper
Please raise your hand and brother Ramon will get you one
My Life is Yours to Control
Let's sing it out on the first verse
With my whole heart I humbly seek you
Now use my life oh Lord I pray
I yield my stubborn will completely
May your commandments slide my way
My life Lord is yours to control
I give you my heart and my soul
I'll seek your will never mind
Rich treasures to find
Give wisdom to choices I make
Along every path that I take
So when I complete life's race
Well done you will say
Your word has promised me the victory
And all I need to do is claim
Your strength to soar with wings as eagles
To walk, to run, and not to think
My life Lord is yours to control
I give you my heart and my soul
I'll seek your will never mind
Rich treasures to find
Give wisdom to choices I make
Along every path that I take
So when I complete life's race
Well done you will say
Good singing, we're going to receive our offering now
Brother Bill, if you'll bless the offering
Brothers, thank you for bringing us all to church
Just bless the gift and the giver
And I hope the offering will be used for your purposes
In Jesus' name we pray, amen
Amen.
Genesis 33.
Genesis 33 the Bible reads
And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked
And behold Esau came
And with him four hundred men
And he divided the children unto Leah
And unto Rachel and unto the two handmaids
And he put the handmaids and their children foremost
And Leah and her children after
And Rachel and Joseph hinder most
And he passed over before them
And bowed himself to the ground seven times
Until he came near to his brother
And Esau ran to meet him
And embraced him and fell on his neck
And kissed him and they wept
And he lifted up his eyes
And saw the women and the children
And said, Who are those with thee?
And he said, The children which God
Hath graciously given thy servant
Then the handmaids came near
They and their children
And they bowed themselves
And Leah also with her children
Came near and bowed themselves
And after came Joseph near and Rachel
And they bowed themselves
And he said, What meanest thou
By all this drove which I met?
And he said, These are to find grace
In the sight of my Lord
And Esau said, I have enough
My brother, keep that thou has
Unto thyself
And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee
If now I have found grace in thy sight
Then receive my present at thy hand
At my hand, for therefore
I have seen thy face as though I had
Seen the face of God
And thou was pleased with me
Take I pray thee my blessing
That is brought to thee because God
Had dealt graciously with me
And because I have enough
And he urged him and he took it
And he said, Let us take our journey
And let us go and I will go before thee
And he said unto him, My Lord knoweth
That the children are tender
And the young are with me
And if men should overdrive them one day
All the flock will die
Let my Lord, I pray thee, pass over
Before his servant, and I will lead on
Softly, according as the cattle
That goeth before me
And the children be able to endure
Until I come unto my Lord
unto seer
And Esau said, Let me now leave
With thee some of the folk
That are with me
And he said, What needeth it?
And Jacob went down that day
On his way unto seer
And Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth
And built him an house
And made booths for his cattle
Therefore the name of the place
Is called Sukkoth
And Jacob came to Shalom
A city of Shechem
Which is in the land of Canaan
When he came from Padanaram
And pitched his tent before the city
And he bought a parcel of a field
Where he spread his tent
And he erected there an altar
And called it Eliel-o-Yisrael
Brother Tim will you pray for us?
Amen, alright
We're in Genesis 33, remember last chapter
Jacob ends up wrestling
With the angel of the Lord which we know
As we studied in there
Is that that was a
Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ
So I said he wrestled with a man
Then he saw the face of God
And so I took him at his word
And he named that place
After that meeting
So also this is a big
Time of stress
For Jacob, his brother
Who hasn't seen in 20 years
Is coming with 400 men
He's got his plan of action
He's prepared to try to appease him
Actually uses that word appease
And he wants Jacob to give him grace
And give him mercy
And so just like I was talking about this morning
You know if you get
God gives grace to the humble
But he resists the proud doesn't he
And so what do you see Jacob
Doing here he's being very humble
If you want mercy you should learn to be humble
Because God is going to give mercy
To those that are humble
And he's going to resist those that are proud
And I kind of said this before
I feel like had Jacob had a different attitude
Had Jacob come at him differently
Maybe things would have changed
Maybe that's why he did have the 400 guys
Maybe he thought he was going to be a little jerk
Or whatever
But he wasn't
He was totally respectful
Even calling Esau my Lord Esau
Because who really is the Lord
Of that inheritance
It's actually Jacob
Remember he sold his birthright
And Jacob stole his blessing
Well there was nothing really left
For Esau
Obviously Esau is blessed
But as far as being the spiritual
Leader of his household
That moved on to the line of Jacob
Not Esau
Now Jacob is afraid
He prays that God delivers him
And God did tell him to move back
To Canaan
Remember he was not living in Canaan
He was living and working for Laban
Which was basically
Rachel and Leah's dad
So now let's start off in Genesis chapter 33 verse 1
And the first point of this sermon is
Showing favoritism
Is hurtful
So look at Genesis 33 verse number 1
It says, And Jacob lifted up his eyes
And looked and behold Esau came
And with him 400 men
And he divided the children
Unto Leah
And unto Rachel
And unto the two handmaids
So he's making these divisions
And the first chapter kind of explained
How he was going to do that
And how he was going to
He had all these offerings
These gifts that he wanted to give Esau
And he had them all line up
In different packs or whatever
Where he would give one than the other
So Esau has seen these guys come towards him
With all these offerings
And he's riding past them
And he breaks up his own family
So now remember
Jacob kind of has a little bit of a
You know just like many of us
Have a dysfunctional family
But he actually has four wives
Two of them are handmaids
They're concubines
And then Rachel and Leah
So notice how he positions
Them though
Says that he put the handmaids
And their children foremost
So in the front line
Right? And then it says
And Leah and her children after
So he's made these divisions
On Joseph hind her most
So if he's coming to kill them all
Who's he going to kill first?
He's going to kill the people that are bringing the presents
Then he's going to kill the handmaids
And their children
Then he's going to kill Leah and her children
Then finally Rachel
And her one son that she has at the time
Joseph
So I mean you can see he's putting them
In the order of importance
To himself
And I just say
If I was one of them
I'd probably feel a little bit slighted
Wouldn't you?
Leah's like
At least I got a little bit of favor over the handmaids
At this point
You know
I know that favoritism
Is something a lot of times that people can't help
People say well that's your favorite child
Or that's your favorite grandchild
Or that's your favorite aunt, that's your favorite uncle
And it's hard for us to
You see favoritism all throughout the Bible
But showing favoritism
And having favorites are two different things
And especially with your children
If you have children
You should try your bet
Again all kids are different
Some kids are more well behaved than others
And so
They can easily
They can easily fall into
Favor or out of favor pretty quickly
But
But like if your children think
Hey he doesn't love me as much as he loves that
As much as he loves this one
What do you think that that does to them?
It probably doesn't make them feel too good
So I would just say this
You might not be able to help it have favorites
But as a parent
You should probably not show your
Favoritism to the other kids
And I'll prove this later on
In the book of Genesis
You probably know the story of Joseph
All of his brothers hated him
Why?
Because he was the favorite son
He made him a special coat that he didn't make for anybody else
The coat of many colors
You know that was when
Rainbows were not
Taken away from the people
Of God that were given over to the Sodomites
But I'm just saying that
We should try our best
To not show favoritism
When it comes to our children
And when it comes to our grandchildren
When it comes to other people in your families
And again you can't help sometimes
Sometimes one kid likes you
And the other kid likes the dad more than mom
Or maybe not likes them more
But you know what I'm saying
They cling to that parent
Like they'll say that's a mama's boy
Or that's daddy's little girl
And that happens
And it's hard for you to not feel that
Extra connection with that child
When they're clinging to you
More than they're clinging to the other
Makes you feel special doesn't it?
But at the same time it can hurt the other kids feelings
And so I'm just saying that
When you have children
When you have grandchildren
You know and so
Like I said you can't help
But feel those feelings sometimes
I mean look at this situation here
He's like basically saying well
You know if the handmaids get hit first
Then I'll be okay because Rachel's still here
With Joseph and you know what I'm saying
Like Jacob wasn't a perfect person
And I'm not ever claiming that he is
But I'm not a perfect person either
You're not a perfect person
Jacob has issues
And we'll see even in the next chapters
How he wasn't really exactly
Always the most attendant parent either
And sometimes we're not
The most attendant parents
So we need to focus on our families
And make sure that we realize how precious
They are to us and we don't want
One child to feel like they're not loved
As much as the other ones
And sometimes it's hard because
The ones that are misbehaving the most
Seems like the ones that get the most attention
And that you can't really help either because you're always having to correct them
Because if you leave them to themselves
Then they're going to be even worse
If you just let them grow up and be brats
Then you're going to be dealing with a brat
For the rest of your life that you're bailing out of jail
They don't understand
You know God's
You know the way God looks at things
If you never spank your children
You never correct them
Obviously you're in a world of hurt
When it comes to
When they grow up
And later on in life
And then you know it's a lot easier
To correct a child when they're young
Than to try to change them when they're older
So
Again I realize that
Favorites are natural and sometimes
You can't help it but it does harbor resentment
It does harbor bitterness
In the other children
I'd say this like my mom would always try to
Do her best
To make sure that all kids
Had equally the same exact amount
Of dollars and Christmas presents every year
And
She really still feels that way to this day
Like she's not going to give me
More or my brother more or
Whatever I mean as far as I know
Maybe she's changed her ways but
She was really big about that and I never
Felt like you know
Growing up that my mom loved my
Brother or my sister more than me
Now
Obviously you know
In this story Jacob has more
Than one wife
That's not a problem that we're ever going to have to deal with
Unless you're like in a Mormon
Colony somewhere in the middle of nowhere
But in this country you're only allowed to have
One wife at a time
But you know
They knew the pecking order right here
They knew where they were in
Jacob's heart from the way he
Positioned them and obviously he
His plan was to
Mitigate the damage
You know maybe some of them could escape
If the first wave got hit or whatever
But like he's ranking his children
In importance too because he puts the children
With their mothers
So who is the most important child
To him even right here? Joseph
Who is the most important wife
To him right here? Rachel
Now and I'd say this men
You know your wife should be
You know we can't compare this situation
Necessarily to our lives
But I would say this that your wife should be the most
Important woman in your life
Period hands down
If you're choosing your mother
Over your wife
Then you should have cut the
Apron strings a long time ago homie
Seriously like
And maybe your moms right in
A situation but here's the thing
Your mom shouldn't be butting into things that are not her business
So I mean
Be grandma
Be my mom
Obviously you honor and respect your parents
But if you're constantly
Choosing your mother
Over your wife
Or your sister over your wife
Or even your daughters
Over your wife
That's not good
You're one flesh with your wife
The Bible doesn't say that about anybody else
So you should have loyalty
To each other and wives you should have loyalty to your husband
You know there shouldn't be
Someone that you favor over your husband
And if you have problems
In that area then you need to get them worked out
Because you two
Together if you're
Divided
Or if you're showing favor to somebody else
Then it's going to be a hard
Strain on your marriage
Now let me just tell you this if you're choosing mommy
Over your wife all the time
You know you got mommy issues
And you need to figure it out
So
I mean it sounds funny
But it's actually true
So we need to be aware about those things
The reason why I say this is because I just see it happen so much
It's just like
Did you not hear the part
In the marriage vows
That you leave father and mother
And cleave onto your wife
That's your wife
That's the reason why you got married
Because you're cleaving onto them
You're leaving and cleaving
Right?
Leave mommy and daddy
Alright?
And cleave onto your spouse
That's what it says right?
And so that's how we should look at things
Our spouse should be
Your spouse should be the most important
And if you married someone that you don't like
Well you know again
You done messed up
But you need to work it out
So
You done messed up
Alright so
So you know
That's any woman
Any woman should never be chosen over your wife
Be bad about each other
To other people
Whether that be the husband or the wife
You know?
That's where a lot of divorces I feel like happen
Is because someone is listening to somebody
Outside the marriage
That's telling them wrong advice
Oh girlfriend you better leave him
You know he can't hold a job down
Or he's this or he's that
You know what?
That person's telling the wrong advice
They're telling them wrong advice
Not marrying but making another wrong
That God
God hates divorce
He hates it
Now and I know that people
Get upset when I preach stuff like this
I'm not saying that if you're divorced
You can't come to this church
I'm not saying if you're divorced I'm mad at you
Cause I'm not
You didn't divorce me so
I'm not mad at you
If you've gotten divorced
Move on
Move those things in front of us
And leave those things that are behind us
You can't just ask God to forgive you
And move on with your life
And serve him the best way that you can
Now look at verse three
It says, and he passed over before them
And bowed himself to the ground
Seven times
Until he came near to his brother
So he's basically you know he's bowing
And he's moving and he's bowing and he's moving
So he's actually bowing himself
To his brother
It says, and Esau ran to meet him
And embraced him
And fell on his neck and kissed him
And they wept
So you know all this stuff that
Jacob's been stressed out about this whole time
Doesn't come to pass because
Esau has forgiven him
And he obviously loves him
As if he hated him
And still wanted to kill him he wouldn't act like this right?
So they even wept
Like they've been 20 years since they've seen each other
You know as much as you know the Bible says
The brother is born for adversity
And that's true
I mean who's had a brother they fought with before
Raise your hand
You don't have to raise your hand if you don't want to
I mean my brother used to get in fist fights all the time
Growing up
And I always won
But you know I was the bigger brother too
I mean he's not as big as me so he didn't have a chance
But
Sometimes brothers fight
And they were in a fight to the point where
Esau was threatening to kill him
You know
And so brothers are born for adversity
Sisters fight
Don't they?
They're just like yeah
They get after it
But when you haven't seen that person
For 20 years and you love that person
Even though you might have adversity with them
You know you're still going to show love to them
I mean unless that person is just like the worst scum of the earth
But most of the time
You can get past your differences
With someone that you deeply care about
And especially like a brother or a sister
That you grew up with and they're twins
They're not just
Twins do have like this connection
That most people don't have
They weren't identical twins obviously
But they were still twins
And so they did still care about each other
Excuse me
It says
So look at verse 5 it says
And he left up his eyes and saw the woman
The women and the children said who are these with thee
And he said the children which God hath graciously
Given thy
Servant
So you know again Jacob
Before I get into this verse
Jacob you know he was looking for mercy
And what did he get?
He got mercy didn't he?
Didn't God do what he promised to do?
He got him there safely
He's with Esau
Esau's not killing him
He's not killing his family
And so basically God did everything he said
It's this stressful thing that's just like nagging at us
It's some kind of pressure in our lives
That we like we know we're gonna have to face it
It's coming
And then when it happens you know you're asking God
You're begging God to help you in that situation
Then when it comes
It usually ends up being better than you expected it to be
Right?
Now that's a hope that God's people can have
It's a great benefit of the Lord
That his you know the Bible says
His mercies fail not
You know he loves us he's gonna take care of us
And when we have a humble attitude
God's gonna get us through our hard times also
But again verse 30
Or verse 5
It says you know Esau's asking
Like who are these women and children
He's like the children which God has
Graciously given
Thy servant
So notice he's still very humble here
Calling himself
Esau's servant
But look at what it says it says graciously given
See children are a gift
From God
But unfortunately today in 2021
People don't always treat their children
Like they're a gift
Your children are a gift they're a blessing
From God
Your grandchildren are a blessing from God
And don't ever forget that
Because people lose track of that
You know sometimes when you got a lot of kids
You got a lot of littles and you're like they're always
Sick and you're changing diapers
And it seems really hard
But I'll tell you what
If someone has raised children before
And those children are all pretty much out of the house
You're gonna miss those times
You're gonna miss the times
When they were little
When they weren't saying things right
And you'll remember those things that they say
You know a lot of those things
The cute little expressions that they would say
Or they'd call you
Like Emmy calls Sherry
Hema
I don't know if you've ever heard her say that
Hema, Hema, Hema
What did it used to be?
Brandon what, it used to be something else
Like, oh it used to be mamma
Mamma
But then it turned into Hema
But those are the cute things that you remember
When children are little
How you know like
What was one of the things that
I would say to Remy when he did something good
I'd say good boy Remy
And then he started saying
He'd start
Good boy gaga
Or whatever
Like when I would do something
He'd figure I was doing something right
Josh called me
Galga
When he was little, but see those are the things
You don't forget those cute things about your children
But when you're in it
When you're there, this is something I would
Like to just express to young parents
That enjoy your children while
They're little because you are
Gonna miss them when they get older
You're gonna miss that time
And think man I wish I wouldn't have been so
Stressed out and so
All the time with them
Because there's times when
You don't like if you have a lot of children
It probably is really hard
We had children
Two years apart and
You know they were a handful
But you know looking
Back on that I wouldn't take that
Back for a minute
I mean Remy was, I didn't even know Remy
Was a bad kid
He wasn't bad but
He was very hyperactive
He was like you know he was really strong
He was really hyperactive
But I didn't know any better
I'd never had a child before so
I just thought that's how kids are
My wife's just like
Why won't you sleep child?
You know
He didn't like taking naps
And you know some kids are just like that
But remember you're gonna miss those things
And like ignorance is bliss
So if it's your first child you just don't know any better
Than all the better but
You know I think that people lose track of the
Fact that children are a blessing
Children are the heritage of the Lord
Look at Psalm 127 verse 3
Psalm 127 verse 3
And then when they're all teenagers at the same time
You know they're all awkward
And they don't want to hang out with you
And you know you don't miss those times
So much
But
You know every stage of their life
Is important
And so even though they don't want to hang around you
Or whatever they don't want to talk to you
You're not cool enough to be around or whatever
You can still guide them
And you still should continue
To guide them when they're teens
Don't just leave them to themselves
Let them do whatever they want
Look at Psalm 127 verse 3
It's his reward
So God gives us children
And he wants us to raise them
In a manner where
They're going to get saved
He's seeking a godly seed
He wants people to be saved
So if children are born into a Christian home
They're far better off and way more advantaged
Than being born rich
Or any other thing because
They have the advantage of being raised in a home
That's Christian that's going to teach them
Christian principles
And manners and homeschooling
Christian children
Are advantaged and they think
When they're growing up
Oh I'm just trapped
I have to go to church
Kids you ought not to think that way because
You could have been born in different circumstances
You could have been born in a circumstance where your parents
Don't care about you
All they do is go out and party all the time
And they could care less whether you have all the things that you need
That's a worse place to be born into
At least your parents care about you
They care enough to bring you to church
They care enough to teach you the Bible
They care enough
And they're not perfect
Your parents aren't perfect
I know you can get up here and say how perfect your parents are
Or not but you shouldn't do that
You should respect your parents and honor them
Even though you don't feel like
You feel like you're right
I know as soon as you turn 13
You're right about everything
But guess what when you're older you're going to go
Man I was really stupid when I was 13
Well you know when people are older they learn more
And so they have that life experience over you
That makes them more wise than you
Look at verse 4
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man
So are children of the youth
Happy is the man
That hath his quiver
Full of them
They shall not be ashamed
They shall speak with their enemies
In the gate
So the Bible says happy is the man
Who hath his quiver
Full of them, full of what? Children
And so if you're
A parent today and you're like
I have too many kids
I'm done, I don't want to have any more kids
And you feel
Anything other than happy that you have a lot of kids
Then you're not right with God
Let me just say that right now
Your heart is not right with God
Because what does the Bible say
It says happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them
Why would you be unhappy
Even if you just have one you should be happy about that one
And maybe they're not turning out
The way you want them to turn out
Because you're not training them right
Why don't you start doing what the Bible says
And chasing your child while there's hope
Why don't you start
Teaching them about the things of God
Instead of the things of the world
Teach them
Train up a child the way he should go
And when he's old he won't depart from it
Isn't that what the Bible says?
He's not going to depart from that training
So maybe you're just failing as a trainer
And you know what the worst thing is
This is the worst thing to see
For me is when
When Christians go to church
They have kids but they completely ignore
All the child training stuff
They completely ignore it
And I'm just like
I just don't know what to do
The Bible tells us what to do
Tells us how to train our children
So
If you're not happy with the way they're being raised
Well maybe you just need to fix how you're
Raising them and make them better
It looks poorly upon
You when you can't control
Your own children
Proverbs 17
Proverbs 17 verse 6
The Bible says in Proverbs 17 verse 6
It says children's children
Are the crown of old men
And the glory of children
Are their fathers
This is talking about grandchildren
Children's children are the crown of old men
I'm blessed to have six grandchildren already
And I got the seventh on the way
The first man child
And I got six princesses
That are already born
And I'm happy
I'm happy about that
It is a crown to me
It's a testimony of the fact that my kids believe
That having kids is a good thing
So I'm
Happy about being a grandfather
I don't have this attitude like
I'm going to retire soon and get away from all my family
I'm going to go down to Florida
It's too hot
Too many bugs
But anyway
I just don't have that attitude
I don't want to retire away from my grandchildren
I want to spend time with my grandchildren
I want to spend time with my children
I want to spend time with my grandchildren
I want to spend time with my family
And that's the way we should look at things
Instead of looking at them like
I'm going to retire in 30 year retirement
Then I'm going to retire and go off and travel in an RV
And leave all my family behind
I don't feel that way
I want to be involved in my grandchildren's life
If I can have some kind of godly influence over them
I would like to do that
Now I realize I'm the grandparent
I don't have rights to them
I know that the state of Oregon
Might have a different opinion about that
But I don't feel that way
I feel like
I'm going to defer to the parents every time
They're going to ask me for advice
I'll give it to them
But I'm not going to sit there and try to raise somebody else's kids for them
Now I'll help
I'll help and do whatever I can to help
My grandchildren get raised right
But at the end of the day
It's the parent's job to do that
So I already raised them
I'm not raising their other kids
Anyway
So let's look at verse 33 back in our text
So number 3 tonight
We should also be minding our manners
Look at chapter 33 verse 6 of Genesis
It says
Then the handmaidens came near
They and their children
And they bowed themselves
And Leah also with her children came near
And bowed themselves
And after came Joseph near
And Rachel
And they bowed themselves
So all these families came to Esau
Jacob bowed seven times
Before he even walked up to him
And his family is bowing
To them
His wives are bowing to them with their children
Together
And
That's a sign of respect
It's a sign of manners
And maybe we don't do that kind of mannerism
In our culture
But what else would you do?
Hello, hi, how are you?
Hey, good to see you
Fist bump
In the winter
Shake hands in the summer
That's our culture though
But in Japan like people bow
And look each other in the eyes
When you're talking to someone
You know look them in the eyes as much as possible
I mean some people got that
Like dead stare and you're just like you have to look away
Sometimes you know what I'm talking about
But the point
Is that I believe that
They're doing something and
Their children have already been taught to respect
You see how
You know they have probably varying ages of kids
Here and maybe some of them are adults I don't know
But they're showing respect
You know and so
It's up to us to teach our children
Respect and manners
Right I mean
So respect and manners
I believe are lost in this generation
For the most part
And what really bothers me is when I see
Christian children
Not having respect for other people
Not having showing
Respect and manners
You know like I said look at people in the eyes
Shaking hands
How you dress
How you eat
How you talk to people
All those things you know if you're going to be in society
I know we live in a texting lol society or whatever
But don't let your grammar become
Like really text talk
Like you should be able to have a conversation
With someone and not get really awkward
Obviously if you're an introvert I understand
Different people are comfortable with different levels
But like I feel like manners are
Lost on this generation because people don't try
Or they're not taught
You don't sit down
And just start scarfing your face
When you're invited over to someone's house
For dinner
I mean maybe wait to see if they want to pray
You know
I don't know you're just like
Like what's wrong with you people
Why aren't you eating
I'm just saying that no situational
Situational manners
And I'm not saying you have to like
Go to, what is that school
Where ladies become, you know what I'm talking about
Anybody
It's like a manners school or something like that
Ladies used to go to that when they were kids
And they'd teach how to put the forks and the plates
And everything, where everything goes
The salad forks on the left or whatever
All that stuff
I mean we don't have to get ridiculous with it
But I'm just saying that
Good manners are a good testimony
To your parenting
It's a good testimony to our church
Sometimes people just get too familiar
Sometimes people get too casual
You know and I'm not like
A super rigid like
You know stuffy shirt type of person
I can kind of let loose
And have fun sometimes
But sometimes we get too casual
You meet someone for the first time and you're telling them
Your life story
I mean that's too casual
Like do you really know that person that well
You're going to tell them your whole life story
And every sin you've ever done
First of all it's a shame
To speak of those things
Unless you have a purpose for saying it
Even people you've known
For a long time, why going to
Some of the worst things about your past
Because people can't help but judge sometimes
So I think it's too
Casual
I think it's getting too familiar with people
And I'm not saying don't be friends with people
I'm just saying that sometimes people just puke their whole heart out to people
And then they wonder why they don't want to be friends with them anymore
And the way people
Dress
Look, I'm not saying that we all have to wear a suit
And tie it 24-7
But we should probably dress
For what we're doing
And teach your children to
Respect other adults
To answer them
And respect them
We went to this church a couple of
Churches ago
Where the pastor's daughters
He had a whole bunch of daughters
And you'd walk in and say hello to them
Like this
I'm serious
Like they'd even roll their eyes
And turn away from you and stuff
It was just like really awkward
But
Their parents never corrected them
You know, isn't that
Is it really that hard to say, oh hi, how's it going?
No, it's not really that hard
And I know that there's shy people
Like I know that the brother
I was going to say Pastor Richie
Brother Richie is what I meant
He's got some quiet family members
But you know what, if you say hi to them, they're going to say hi back
You know, and so
I think that it's respectful
To answer an adult when they talk
To you
Hey, I'm not expecting toddlers to like have
Conversations with me or something like
Goo goo ga ga, goo goo goo
No
I mean
Be, you know, realistic about it
But, you know
And here's the thing
Here's something, I'm kind of on one
Right now, so
You know, when I ask a child at church to
Stop doing something
And they look at me like
Who do you think you're talking to?
And they just continue to do what they're doing
That pisses me off
And I'll just, you know
And you're like, well, I teach my kids
To not answer to anybody except for me
Well, then you're wrong
Because if you're not watching them
And they're off doing whatever they want
And they say, hey, stop chewing on the chair
Or whatever it is that they're doing
I don't expect them to continue to do that
And look at me like they're big or something
I think it's rude
I think it's disrespectful
And
If someone in this, if an adult in this church
Tells your child something because they're out of control
Then you should have been watching them
It's not my job to watch your kids
It's your job to watch your kids
So don't sit there and get mad at me
If I correct your kids
I wouldn't have to correct them
If you were correcting them yourself
Right?
And I'm the pastor of the church and I'm going to correct whoever I want
In this church
If they're doing something that they're not supposed to be doing
I correct old and young
I correct myself if I have to
I'm just saying
If that's your attitude
Don't ever listen to what an adult says
Only listen to me
Well, that's disrespectful
Especially, you know
You should respect your elders
Have you ever heard the term respect your elders?
Now there's no fool like an old fool
I understand that
If someone's an old grey-haired man
And they're just some crotchety old foul-mouthed
You know, atheist
Trailer trash or something
I get that
Maybe they might not, I mean
You can still be respectful to a certain extent
But I don't expect you to sit there and take their abuse
You know what I'm saying
I'm talking about a normal person
You know
Teach your kids to respect their elders
I'm not saying go with them in a car
I'm not saying take candy from them
I'm just saying if someone says hi to you
Say hi back
It's respect, it's respectful
And so if you're teaching your kids the opposite
I'm not saying anybody is
I just, I wonder sometimes
When I ask a child here to do something
And then they just continue to do
Whatever they want
Then I think, well maybe they're not being told
To listen to the adults
That are asking them to do something
And if I have a problem
And I'm going to say something
And you don't want to say anything to me because I'm the pastor
Well we can talk about it
You're wrong
Right off the bat, but we can talk about it
Because when I'm having to correct someone's kids
And the adult's not there watching them
Then I'm gonna, I have to do something
You know
I have to stop whatever that action is
And so I'm not going to grab your kid
I'm not going to spank your kid
I'm not going to yell at your kid
But I am going to say stop
Stop doing that or get out of here
You know that's usually what I'm saying
Get out of here
Quit playing with the doors
You know, just stuff like that
You know, I mean
I know I'm taking a lot of time with this
But I just feel like
We need to get back to a place
Where respect and manners
Are something that we have
Moral, I think it is moral
Turn to Leviticus chapter 19 verse 32
Here's just an example
And while you're turning there
You know, when we talk to each other
Maybe this needs to be something that we
Put into our
Just how we talk to people every day
But calling
Someone brother or sister so and so
That's probably the proper way to address somebody
Hey sister Amy
How's it going?
Maybe it's my fault
Maybe I haven't enacted that culture
Into our church, maybe we need to change that
You know, I'll admit
I don't always say that, I might say Kyle
Or instead of saying brother Kyle
But maybe we need to get to that
Maybe I need to practice what I preach too
You know, maybe I need to
Do better
At manners
At having manners with other people
So, you know
But when someone talks to me
It should be Pastor Thompson
Or Brother Thompson or Brother Aaron
I'll respond to all those
And I don't get offended when someone goes
Hey Brother Aaron blah blah blah
I am Brother Aaron
I'm not like
I'm not some special person or something
I don't expect people that come to this church to go
Hey Aaron, what's going on?
I have had people do that and I usually don't say anything
It's just like, eh, whatever
You know, but like, it is something
This is a term of respect
You know, say
Mrs. Thompson or Miss Sherry
Or Sister Sherry
Those are the ways
I think that, you know, like I said
Things have become too familiar
Things have become too casual in our society
And I think that we could do better
I'm not saying go way over the top
And everybody's bowing when people come in or something like that
I'm just saying we could do better, that's all
So, you're in Leviticus chapter 19
Look at verse 32, it says
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head
And honor the face
of the old man
And fear thy God, I am the Lord
So, would that be considered like
a manor?
But it says thou shalt
Is it a commandment?
So, what is the hoary head?
Someone with gray hair
When I come in, you better stand to attention
No, I'm just kidding, I'm not fully gray
But it's talking about old men
Old ladies, you know, stand up
Rise up when they walk in the room
It's a term of respect that God's
asking you to do
You know, and sometimes I forget to do that
But when I think about it, I do do it
But it's something that maybe you should think about
Hey, can we be more respectful?
Can we, you know,
be respectful and rise up when
an old man walks into the room?
I think it's possible, right?
And that teaches our kids to do the same things
So, how about
offer a seat to a pregnant lady?
You know, you're in an office
or something
and there's a pregnant lady and she's walking there
and she's holding her belly or whatever
and you're just sitting there
and you're a young man and you can just stand up
Offer that seat to a pregnant lady
What's wrong with that? I think it's respectful
Offer that seat to an elder person
You know, don't
don't stand around while
women are working, men
and you know, pastor and men just kind of cover this
We need to have more people helping
and helping work
You know, it's weird when
a bunch of 15, 20 year old kids
are all playing games while other people
are working around them
So, yeah, I'm stepping on
some toast and I'm sorry, but
not sorry, because I just think it's something
that we can get better at
Nothing wrong with that
Well, you want to get better? Am I here to preach to you
so you can feel better about yourselves when you go home?
Oh, I want you to feel terrible when you leave here
No, I just want you to get better
That's all
I'm not trying to harp on people
or be rude. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15, 33
1 Corinthians
15, 33
The Bible says, 1 Corinthians 15, 33
it says, Be not deceived
evil communications
corrupt
good manners
Now, manners is also the way you live your life
the manner or custom, the way you do certain things
right? But manners is also
it applies to this
So, evil communication
corrupt good manners
Evil communication is like
hey, you don't have to listen to adults when they ask you to do something
Does that corrupt good manners?
I think it does
And so anything that you would communicate
that would stop people from having
a good manner in their life
you know, hey, you really don't have to go to church
three times a week, the pastor is just ridiculous
Evil communication
corrupt good manners
I don't think that the
King James Bible is the only one that's right
I think there's other ones that are right and we should be able to use those
Evil communication
hey, stick with the King James
stick with a good manner and read this book
and put away your RSV
your NASB
your HIV
whatever translation you have
this modern translation, put that away from you
So, let's get back to
Genesis chapter 33, look at verse number 8
The Bible says in verse number 8
And he said, What meanest thou
by all this drove which I met?
This is Esau talking
And he said, These are to find grace
in the sight of my Lord
And Esau said, I have enough my brother
keep that thou hast
unto thyself
And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee
if now I have found grace in thy sight
then receive my present
at my hand
For therefore I have seen thy face
as though I had seen the face
of God, and thou wast pleased
with me
So, he's trying to just, he's saying
Esau's like, hey, you know what, I got
plenty, obviously I have 400 men
I also have a lot of
other stuff, I don't need your
presence, but Jacob's like, no
I insist
Have you ever had someone that
tried to give you something and then
you're like, nah, it's okay, I don't
really need that, and they're like, I insist
I want you to have this, please take this
and
basically
I mean, I think that that's bad
manners too, to not receive
something that someone's trying to give you
He's trying to give him a present
He's like, I got plenty too
but I wanted, you know
You received me how I was
asking to be received
You had mercy on me when you didn't have to
I want to give you this present
I want to make things right
between us and I want you to take this
and it says, take I pray
thee my blessing that is
brought to thee because God hath dealt
graciously with me and because
I have enough
and he urged him and he took it
and so he's
urging him, he's saying, no, please take this
I think it's a rude manner
when someone offers to give you something
and
insist and you're like, no
no, no, I'm serious, I'm not going to take it
I mean, I personally think that that's rude
Now, you might disagree with me
and that's fine
You could be wrong, I'd agree with you
but then we'd both be wrong
No, I'm just kidding
That's my opinion
I know that a gift can pervert people's judgement
and if someone's trying to do it for that reason
then I understand what you're saying
but like, if it's just like
someone genuinely just wants to do something nice for you
and
I think that it's
and someone urges you to take it
and I think it's respectful to do that
so once you take it, it's yours, you can just give it away to somebody else if you want
but
you can re-gift it if you want
but
some people like to give you stuff so they can make sure you're wearing it too
though, like, with ladies, I know this is a true thing
right?
Ladies are like, you know, whatever happened to that shirt I gave you
you know, five years ago
I've never seen you wear it since I gave it to you
it's like, it was ugly
what am I going to say, no
but
you know, if you give somebody something, it's theirs
so don't follow up with them about it
that's kind of weird
anyway
turn to Mark chapter 9 verse 41
Mark chapter 9 verse 41
while you're turning there, I'm going to read from you
Matthew chapter 10 verse 42
Matthew chapter 10 verse 42 says
and whosoever shall give to drink
unto one of these little ones
a cup of cold water only
in the name of a disciple
verily I say unto you
so you know, you could be stopping
someone from getting a reward
you say, I don't want your cold glass of
water in the disciple's name, buddy
I'm out here soloing, I'm trying to starve myself
I'm fasting right now
when you're out soloing, do people ever offer you
cold drinks of water? You should take it
even if you don't want to drink it, you just go
you know, whatever
but most of the time
that comes in pretty handy because you're already like
man, my water bottle
I've been holding my back pocket, it's already warm
a nice cold glass of water would be nice
and then sometimes the Lord provides it for you, you're like, no thanks
and obviously if it's like
shady or something
I can understand, but like
you're robbing that person of their reward
you know, they're going to get
a nice reward, look at what it says in Mark 9 41
so it's worded a little differently, here it says
for whosoever shall give you a cup of water
to drink in my name
because you belong to Christ
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward
so some people will just
they might not even be saved
have you ever had an
unsaved person give you something?
absolutely, but the Bible says
they still get a reward for that
and maybe that
seed that you're allowed to plant
maybe that's a big
thing to them for you to receive
what they've given to you, it's rude
to not take it, in my opinion
I think the Bible kind of teaches that
but I definitely think
I think it's just common sense
it's common courtesy
now number 4 tonight, it's the last point
lead your tender ones softly
lead your tender ones
softly, look at Genesis 33 verse 12
Genesis 33 verse 12
it says
and he said let us take our journey
and let us go, and I will go
before thee, so this is Esau
saying hey let's go together
let's go, I'll go before thee
I'll lead the way, I got 400 men
and it says
and he said unto him
my lord knoweth that the children
are tender and the flocks and herds
with young are with me
and if men should overdrive them in one day
all the flock will die
and so Jacob's
considering his children here
this is a time where he's being a good father
he's being a great father right here
he's saying hey I got a lot of young children
I got a lot of young animals with me
and if we overdrive them
because 400 men are not going to want to wait
for a bunch of crying kids
and baby calves and stuff right
so he's wise here
he's saying hey I don't want to overdrive
my family, I don't want to overdrive
the cattle that's with me
let my lord I pray thee pass over before
his servant and I will lead
on softly
so Jacob says I will lead on softly
according as the cattle
that goeth before me and the children
be able to endure
until I come unto my lord and seer
so we have to be careful
as
Christian parents
that we don't overdrive our families
in the working of the lord
now there's a lot of
expectations that God
puts upon us, it's not my expectations
you know but God puts a lot of
expectations on us and there's a lot of
families here that drive for a long ways
and it's hard
I'm not saying don't take your family to church
don't misrepresent what I'm saying here
I'm saying we shouldn't overdrive
them, like if there's a lot
of activities going on and you sit out
for one of those activities I don't think there's anything wrong
with that cause your kids can only handle so much
if I was doing missions trips like
every week
then you'd probably be like yeah maybe
we need to sit out this one
and people do and that's the right thing to do
so we don't want to overdrive our children
because they're tender
especially when they're young, it's not easy
it's easy to just drag them all to all these soul winning times
and like if you went to every soul winning time
and you took your small children to every single time
that would be overdriving them don't you think?
so I mean I'm just saying that
we need to learn to lead on softly
and obviously the men are leaders
of the family, you're the one that sets
the precedence in everything
and so if you think that it's too much
then no
just lead softly, you don't have
to just drive them into the ground
it says overdrive them
you don't want to overdrive them
and you want the children to be able
to endure, there's only so
much they can endure
if we had like revival every week
or I had these preachers come in
and we all did a potluck for three, four straight
days, I've gone to those
they're nice, you know, for the first day
or two, then you're like on day four
and your kids hair's all twisted
and your wife's hair's all twisted
and you're falling asleep in the pew
I'm just saying
you can go too far, even like
some of the conferences we go to are pretty
heavy duty and if you have small children
then they can be
rough, I'm just saying as a dad
as a leader, we should lead
softly, especially when we have
young and tender children and just remember
that your wife is the weaker vessel
and so she's not going to be able to endure
all the things that you can do
and so if you want to go hard charging
and do the most you can do, but you know what, your wife
needs you when you have a lot of small children
so you don't want to overdrive them
by you overdriving yourself
does that make sense?
Like, you know, your wife needs you to be there for her
you know, when she's been with the kids
all day, you got six screaming kids
or six kids that have just been
you know, they're bouncing off the walls
dad comes home and he's like, time to check out
I worked all day
I ain't doing nothing
and you know, obviously it's our
job to go out and
bring home the bacon and all that good stuff
but, and obviously if you need
twenty minutes to relax and
take your shoes off and
start training your children to rub your feet or something
I mean, there's all kinds of
you can lay on your stomach and let them pop your back
you know, walk on your back
hey, I've done it
Remy used to be able to crack my back better than anybody
and Josh
you know, I mean
Nia, she used to rub my feet
but there came a point where she was like
you know, I think it was when she was a teenager
dad, ew, your feet stink
but anyway
I'm just saying, we shouldn't over
drive our family to the point where they're
just, you know
where they're not able to endure it
okay, and again
don't mistake what I'm saying, I'm not saying stop going
to church three times a week, I'm not saying that
I'm just saying that you can
you can roll back on some of the other stuff
and let up on some of the other stuff
that you're doing and
you know, there's nothing wrong with your kids having fun
in the ministry
yeah, we take our kids out soul winning
and we train them and we teach them
we can't expect them to have the same
you know, the same
you know
what's the word I want to say
we can't expect them to be the same as we are
because they're weaker than we are
your wife is weaker than you are
and we can endure a lot more things
than our children can endure
so there's nothing wrong with making a soul winning
trip out for the day fun
take them somewhere to get them something to
take them to Dairy Queen or something afterwards
or take them to have a dinner
reward them for their hard work
and when they're good, say hey if you're good out soul winning
and you're not like
kicking rocks at the people I'm talking to or whatever
then I'll take you to
get some Dairy Queen afterwards
kids shouldn't dread church
and we can get to the point where we make
church not fun
it's like all, you know
we're not Amish here
we're not like Mennonites
we actually want to have some fun
and I think we do fun things
here at church and I think that the kids can have fun
but you know
I think that we need to make sure
that we're not
just over driving them
and a good father
to young
children is great
but don't forget about them when they're teenagers
I already mentioned that but it's important
we don't want to
lock them away because they're awkward
because they don't want to talk to you anymore
you make them talk
get in here and talk to me right now
find out what's going on in their lives
find out what they care about
be interested in some of the things that they're interested in
just because they're
teenagers and awkward doesn't mean that we can't
still get down on their level
we were teenagers once too remember
we know what it was like
hormones are raging
they think they know everything
they think they're smarter than you
all that stuff but we all went through that
and we realize now that that wasn't true
right
turn to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4
Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4
I feel like I was making a good point
that I lost
oh yeah about church being
something that kids dread
you don't want it to turn into that
you don't want Bible reading time to be something
that they hate and abhor
you know
I knew somebody that
when their kids got in trouble they sat there
and made them read the Bible all day long
you want to get someone to hate God
force them to read the Bible
all day long
you want someone to hate God
make church something that they hate
make prayer time something that they hate
I mean don't use
church as a punishment for your children
that should never be the case
ever
and if you've done that just stop doing it
realize you're wrong and stop
because if you want your kids to hate God
then go ahead and just force them to read the Bible
when they're in trouble
but to me that's a weird thing
you spank them then force them to read the Bible
it's like
yeah they're going to turn into reprobates
just so you know
Ephesians 6 verse 4
of the Lord
so you know obviously we don't want to
provoke our children to wrath
overly teasing them
making them hate us
some kids you know
eventually they grow up and they say I hate you
you know and if your kid ever says that
you should spank them
but you know
do they hate you for a good reason?
they might
God says don't provoke your children to get to this point
where they're wrathful towards you
they just can't stand the side of you
it says bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
I fully agree with corporal punishment
and spanking like the Bible teaches
but I also agree that you should love those children
you know you spank them
and then you tell them you love them afterwards
and you try to admonish them to do right next time
isn't that what God does to us?
you know when we do something wrong
he spanks us and he says don't do that again
and then we do it anyway
don't we?
but eventually that correcting
is going to help us out
you know you're like I don't know if I want to
deal with that sting again
you know because God can punish us in a lot of ways
that you know is far worse than a spanking
right?
so my point is lead on softly
you know lead your family softly
and I'm not saying don't
don't be a strong leader
I'm just saying you know
because sometimes that term might seem like
oh you're being Mr. Softy
Mr. Squishy or something
not over driving them
you don't want them to hate church
right?
1 Peter 3 verse 7
now we should feel this way
we should lead our wife softly also
because they are the weaker vessel
yeah I know that 2021
you know women
earn the same amount of money as men because they can work just as hard
wink wink nah nah
or anything like that
I'm not saying women are dumb they're not dumb
you know the Bible teaches
that women are supposed to marry
bare children and guide the house
and there's nothing wrong with that
that's a good thing
but men are physically stronger than women
you know any woman in this room
I'll arm wrestle you right now
and I will beat you really fast
come on bring it on
anybody want a challenge?
sure? okay well I gave you an opportunity
I'm just saying
that's just how God made us
men strong
so they could work harder
and they're the stronger vessel
look at verse 7
it says likewise you husband
dwell with them according to knowledge
giving honor unto the wife as
unto the weaker vessel
as being heirs
together of the grace of life
that your prayers be not hindered
we have to dwell with our wives with knowledge
and realize they can't do the
same things that we can do
to sort of drive them
and to make them weary
sometimes my wife
has to ride my wave
and my waves are big sometimes
I'm out just doing all kinds of stuff
and she's like I'm sick of traveling
stay home then
but I don't want her to
I want her to come with me
someone's got to iron my shirts while I'm out
I'm just kidding
she always says that
but it's true
but I just love
having my wife with me but you know she
can only handle so much
and so my point is that we've got to
dwell with them according to knowledge
and not overdrive them also
turn to Ephesians 5 verse 25
Ephesians 5 verse 25
so
as a husband you know
what I'm really getting down to in the details
is this is talking about men's leadership
okay
now women have their own rules and leadership in the house
they leave the children
but the husband
is the man of the house and he's the one that should
be running
the household
so I'm not saying an older son
or something I'm saying the man
the man of the house
so husbands love your wives verse 25
even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it
now skip down to verse
28 says so ought men to love
their wives as their own bodies
he that loveth his wife loveth himself
for no man hath yet
hated his own flesh
but nourisheth and cherisheth
it even as the Lord
the church
men you know I mean I know that you guys
like to work out and stuff you know
you nourish and cherish your body
you put the proteins in
you know you're eating right you're trying
to like be all sculpted
and ripped or whatever and have
a six pack abs and all that stuff
you take care of your body
but what's the point that God's making
here is that hey if you're going to
nourish yourself and cherish yourself
that's how you should treat your wife also
you should treat your wife
like you would treat yourself
if you love yourself you love your own
you know you want to nourish yourself
you want to eat good food you want to take
care of yourself you should take care of your wife
also and remember that they're the weaker
vessel so we have to
you know make sure that we're not
over driving them and we're not
making them hate going to church
making them hate the ministry
I mean there's times when you know
your wife might want to sit into a service and listen to the
preaching and again I don't
want to meddle here I'm just saying
you know sometimes
a lot of women just have to sit in the
mother baby room and obviously there's times
and seasons for that I get that
cause some kids just can't you know most kids that are
small can't just sit through a whole service
that's fine but you know you could take
them for a service maybe
but obviously when they're newborns they need
mommy I understand that
you know believe me I understand
that cause I've had little ones
that I tried to secure
and it didn't work out very
well anyway that's a different
story for a different time Matthew
11 verse 28
and here's the thing that God
doesn't want us to be over driven obviously
there's times when we're working really hard
and we're trying to get a lot of work done for the Lord
and I'm not saying that he doesn't want us
to work hard I know he does but he
doesn't want to over drive us to the point where
we quit too
this race that we're running
the Christian life the race that we're running
we should not just be on a dead
sprint all the time because if you're on a dead sprint
you're going to lose your gas tank and you're
going to quit before you finish the marathon
our goal is to finish
this race that we're running
and I mean when I was in
the fourth grade or something I think I used to run
track and I was the fastest
kid in my school it was elementary
school but I was still the fastest
kid I could run a mile and I can't remember what the
time was but I ran the mile and I
I was way faster than everybody else
but one thing I learned really quickly is
if I sprinted the whole time
that I couldn't finish so
I mean that's a lesson for us is that
you know we need to understand
there's times when we need to draw back a little
bit and we can't just keep
on a dead sprint all the time and expect
it not to affect us as husbands
and fathers
and we can't expect it to not
affect our wives
we can't expect it to not you know
affect our children
so Jesus said in Matthew
11-28 he says come unto
me all you that labor and are
heavy laden and I will give
you rest take my yoke upon
you and learn of me for I am meek
and lonely in heart and ye shall find
rest unto your souls for my yoke
is easy and my burden
is light now obviously
this pertains I believe to
salvation and people trying to work
their way in he's like hey I got
a better way my yoke
is easy my burden
is light it's not going to be
it's not hard to get saved
but Jesus
Jesus is the one that did all the work for us
to get saved you know we don't have to do all
that work to get saved I talked about in the sermon this morning
we the work we do is
the work we want to do
because we love God and we want
to further the kingdom of heaven
but that can all be lost if you're a Roman
candle Christian and you just you know
you shoot off a bunch of Roman
candles and then you're done
you're a flash in the pan
you quit
you drag your family out of church because you're done
because you over drove yourself
you over drove your family and
you know as
as a dad
as a grandfather
as the pastor of this church
I'm telling you that you need to pace yourself
in the Christian life or you're going to burn out
and so
as a pastor I recognize
and I'm supposed to tend
to what the church's needs are
and I recognize when we're
going too far
you know when we're going
too fast like the holidays
is a time when I like to slow it down
and I let people enjoy
their time with their families and yeah
we do have some things going on but
I mean I'm very
I'm being very selective about what I allow
to be put into our calendar right now because I just don't
want us to get so
over done that we never have
a time like they call it the holidays
for a reason it is a time to kind of
take time away from working really
hard and you know just take a couple days
for yourself I mean the Thanksgiving
holiday you're thanking God for everything
and we had it at our house
and so if you had it at your house
you probably didn't feel like you had a very
restful holiday but
you know it's still
I mean it's still a time
to just relax and kind of
have a holiday
that's what it was in the Bible the holidays in the Bible
they were resting weren't they?
and they were feasting and they were I mean
people act like that's such a bad thing
oh they were feasting you're feasting on Thanksgiving
it's like they feasted in the Bible
all of them were feasts
it was all just
they were Baptists back then too
I mean if they weren't
if they were meeting they were eating right?
so
anyway so we got to understand that
God doesn't want to over drive us to the point
where he's that we're just
like done he wants us to stick with it
and so we do need to pace ourselves
let's finish up in Genesis 33 verse 15
Genesis 33 verse 15
it says
and Esau said
I will leave with thee some of the folk
that are with me
so he wants to leave some people with him
and he said
what needeth it?
let me find grace in the sight of my Lord
so he's like Jacob's like
you don't need to leave anybody with me
his plan is to never go back home with him
I mean
you don't see him go back to Seir with him
he doesn't
he's like kind of shining him on here
like he loves his brother
he's happy that he got mercy
but like there's a reason why they were not together for the last 20 years
okay
and this is something we have to recognize with our families too
yeah love your family
yeah have a good time with them sometimes
but if they're a bad influence in your life
maybe they're a profane person
like it says Esau was
or a fornicator like it says Esau was
those are the people
that you should kind of keep at arms length
they shouldn't be your best friends
that you hang out with all the time
Jacob never goes to Seir
it says in verse 33
so Esau returned that day into his way into Seir
but Jacob never goes with him
so cause in verse 17
it says Jacob journeyed to Sukhoth
so did he go to Seir? No he didn't
so he goes where God told him to go
now Esau was trying to lead him
to go with them and hang out
maybe they wanted to hang out with him
and live up to good old days or whatever
remember when he stole my blessing?
sometimes when you love someone
it can be hard to separate from them
when you know that they're not good people to be around
and so we gotta
recognize those things
and again in the context of family here
he's making the best decision for his family
that he could make
and so
another thing I would say is that
we should settle down
and make a suitable place for our families to live
we shouldn't always be on the go
moving from place
I moved a lot when I was younger
and I regret it, I hate moving
I hate
my pastor you shouldn't say hate, hate
I hate moving
and I'm retired from moving, other people too by the way
so
I've moved a lot of people too
cause I felt like well if they
help me move then I'll help them move or whatever
I'm getting a mover, professional movers
to move my house next time, trust me
I've gotten talked out of it like three times
I don't care if it costs 500 bucks
I'm gonna have someone else do it
when you get old
and you've moved as much as I have you'll feel the same way
so anyway
but we should settle down and have a suitable place
to have our family, I've been at the same place for like
almost 10 years now
but that wasn't me early on
and kids are resilient
kids can handle moving or whatever
but kids should also feel
they don't like moving away from their friends
they don't like moving away from their church
cause I kinda went through that with my kids sometimes
and you know they didn't like moving
they didn't like moving away from different churches
even when we started this church
our kids didn't want to move from the church we were going to
cause they just make friends
they settle down and there's nothing wrong with settling down
but
if you found a good place to go to church, if you found a good place
to make your home you should
make it suitable for your family
like what it says in verse 17
Jacob's journey to suck off
and built him a house
and made boosts for his cattle
therefore the name of the place was called suck off
so God told him to go back and he said
you know what I'm going to settle down for a while
I'm going to actually build a house
he built a house
and he made a garage for his cars
he made the covered garage
so his cattle had someplace to go
look at verse 18
and Jacob came to Shalem
the city of Shechem
which is in the land of Canaan
and he came from Patanarim
so he bought a parcel of a field
where he had spread his tent
at the hand of the children of Hamor
Shechem's father for 100 pieces of money
so
and I believe that this is just Jacob
trying not to overdrive his family
they've already been gone
they went on this big journey away from Laban
but he was settled down before he left
right, that was a big move for him
he had to talk his wives into it
you know he had to tell them what was going on
his children had to walk all that way
to be carried in carts or whatever it was
but when he went back to Canaan
he was like I'm just going to settle down in a place when I get there
and I think it's good for men
to just bouncing around
and moving from place to place is probably not the
best thing for your family
so
let's see
anyway, so the last
part here is
the last
point I want to make, I'm not going to have you turn there
I'm going to give you the verses in John 17
actually go ahead and turn over to John 17
it'll be the last place I have you turn
so
here's the thing, God tells him
to go back to where?
to Canaan, what does Canaan represent in the Bible?
Canaan represents
the world, Egypt represents
the world
so, but where does God tell him to be?
where does God tell him to be?
a prophet of God, he tells him to go
back to the world
now, but he's not telling him to
mingle with them
have their daughters marry their sons
have his sons marry their daughters
that's not what he's doing
we should marry within our kind
and what I mean by kind is by
Christians
but Jesus, he never wanted us
to be away in some bomb shelter
hiding out, he wants us to
be in the world so we can have an effect on the
world around us but he doesn't want the world to affect
us, he prayed for us in John
17, look at verse 14 it says
I have given them thy word
and the world hath hated them
because they are not of the world
even as I am not of the world
I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world
but thou shouldest keep them
from evil, so he's not saying
take them out of the world to God the Father
he's saying keep them there, but keep them from
evil, they are not
of the world, even as I am not of the world
sanctify them through thy truth, thy word
is truth, as thou hast sent
me into the world, even so
have I also sent them
into the world, so God's plan has always
been for his people to affect
the people around him
and to reach the world
for the Savior
and have them
call upon the name of the Lord
Jacob and Isaac
and Abraham, they had servants that were
born into their house, Abraham for sure had
servants born into his houses that were not
you know, from his tribe or whatever
from his people
but yet they loved him
and they followed him, and they you know
they were circumcised, they were part
of Abraham's
people by being circumcised and
agreeing to move on with him
all I'm saying is that
Jacob went back to where God told him
to, God wants us to be in this
world but not of the world
and he doesn't want us to just
hide out some place in the mountains
you know, when we run for the mountains
that's when you know the
abomination of desolation happens
you want to run for the hills? Run them
but until then you stay put where you're at
and be in a place where you can be effective
for God, be effective for
the local church, be effective
for your family
and I know that you know, at some
you're like, I just want to be a homesteader out and you know
milk cows and make butter and stuff
okay cool, but you know what
you have all eternity to do that
right now God wants you to work for his
people, for his kingdom
and he wants you to make
the name of Christ famous
so
in verse 20 it says he erected there
an altar and called it
Eli-Ohi-Israel
which means the God of Israel
I probably didn't pronounce that right but
anyway, so he settled in Canaan
surrounded by unbelievers
yet still separated, he wasn't in the city
he was kind of on the outskirts of the city
and he made an altar
a place for him to show his spiritual
side to others around him
do you think that the Canaanites didn't look at that altar and go
what is that?
you know that's kind of, this is before the local
New Testament church
but Jacob wanted to show people that he was spiritual
he did care about the things of God
and I'm sure people asked him
what is this altar, what is this all about?
it's the God of Israel
I want to show you the God of Israel
so if you're going to be someplace
be someplace where
your light is going to shine before
men so that they will see your
good works and glorify your father
which is in heaven
so number one, showing favoritism
is hurtful
maybe this is something you're doing and need to change
are you favoring
one child over another openly?
you should work on that
because you don't want your kids to grow up and
resent you and be bitter towards you
number two, children and grandchildren
are a blessing and a gift
from God and you don't ever
forget that
maybe you're at a point where you're
finding your children to be a curse
instead of a blessing
and you need to change something in your heart
if that's how you feel
you need to change your actions
you shouldn't feel that way because it's wrong
and you need to take responsibility
for what you're doing in your own
home and if your children aren't
obeying you, if your children are giving you all kinds
of problems and they don't mind you then
maybe you need to
stop patting them on their little
dipe and give them a real spanking
you know
if they're not crying
real tears, then it didn't hurt
I mean
if they ain't crying, you didn't do it good enough
and they're never going to be corrected
from a spanking like that
so number three
we should be minding our manners
maybe you've let your manners slip
or never had any to begin with
maybe you're just an uncouth
hillbilly that never learned any manners
and I probably
am too, but either way
you can change that, you don't have to continue to be
a person that doesn't have good manners
and don't be too casual with people
don't be too casual with the way
you dress, don't be too casual with who you are
and who you talk to about your
personal life because
there should be some boundaries in life
you don't have to tell everybody
everything about yourself
number four, lead your tender ones softly
and when I say lead
I mean lead
but don't overdrive your children, don't overdrive your wife
enjoy these years of tenderness
like I said, trust me
you're going to miss it one day
and right now you're in the thick
maybe you're in the thick of small children
and I get it
but you're never going to want
you're going to feel bad for feeling the way you do right now
and never choose another woman
over your wife, I don't care
who it is
let's pray, Heavenly Father we thank you Lord for
the lessons we've learned out of
Genesis chapter 33, Lord I pray you help us
to put all these things in place
in our families Lord, men would lead their homes
and that
wives would care and love
their husbands, care for
their children, Lord we would
make something normal
in this wicked world
Lord I pray that people look at people in our church
and say I want to be
I want something like what they have
because we can be a good example
Lord and I just pray that you'd help us to be that way
and when people see us
outside they see us the same way we are
here inside
Lord everybody's a hypocrite
at some point in time but I just pray you'd help us
to not be a church that
people think I can't believe that person goes to church
but
anyway Lord we thank you so much for all your blessings here
and for the baptisms to follow
in Jesus' name we pray, Amen
O little town of Bethlehem page 434
let's sing it out on the first verse
yet in thy
dark
street shineth
the
everlasting
light
the hopes and
fears of all
the years are
met in thee
tonight
for
Christ is born
of Mary
and gathered
all above
while
mortal sleep
the angels
keep their watch
of wondering
love
O morning
stars
together
proclaim the
holy birth
and
praises
sing to God
the king
and peace to
men on earth
how
silently
how silently
the wondrous
gift is
given
so God
imparts to human
hearts the
blessings
of his hand
no year
may hear
his coming
but in
this world of
sin
where meek souls
will receive
him still
the dear Christ
enters in
O
holy child
of Bethlehem
descend
to us we
pray
cast out our
sin and
enter in
be born in us
today
we hear
the Christmas
angels
the great glad
tidings too
O
come to us
abide with
us our
Lord
Emmanuel
O come to us
abide with us
O come to us
abide with us
O come to us
abide with us
O come to us
abide with us
O come to us
abide with us
O come to us
abide with us
O come to us
abide with us
O come to us
abide with us