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Men, so of course on Thursday nights we've been going through the book of Genesis chapter by chapter and I had mentioned Sunday I thought about maybe preaching kind of a you know 4th of July themed sermon obviously I didn't do that there will be a little bit of a tie-in tonight I think there's some things we can kind of learn from this chapter Maybe apply to the idea of you know looking back to our forefathers and being appreciative of our heritage and things like that But again just to bring us up to speed on the story if you remember You know we've had Isaac has been born we had the sacrifice or near sacrifice of Isaac, and then we had of course Sarah passes away, and she's buried there in the cave and and We see Abraham later also being here in this chapter being buried there as well because we're dealing here in this chapter With the death of Abraham and then also towards the end Esau despising his birthright, which is a pretty familiar story And is also referenced in the New Testament. We'll look at that in a minute, but again We'll just start out here in verse 1 and it says there in verse 1 then again Abraham took a wife and her name was Keturah and she bare him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shewa and Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan the sons of Dedan were Ashurim, Lestushim and Lomomim Now these here are obviously getting the grandsons But if you remember Abraham was a hundred years old when he had Isaac, and then so we're looking at you know Just several decades at the end of his life where he has eight children and again These are just first two are just as eight sons It's not even listing You know any daughters that he had that if he probably which he probably did you know in those decades leading up to his death So it should you know teach us that we can still do great things even in the end of our life You know we shouldn't think that just because we hit a certain age That life is over that there's no point to going on that we should just you know resign ourselves to just you know Passing on to eternity and not attempt to try and do great things you know Abraham when has the vast majority of his life with no children We've been reading the story of Abraham these last several weeks There was a very you know a great source of angst for him often He was going to the Lord even doubting the promise of God that he would have the son of the promise Asking that others would be acceptable in his sight Ishmael and God of course refusing him and God's promising them over and over you're gonna have the son finally has that son at 100 years old then his wife dies and here we are you know he's dying at 175 years old So there's just this you know this latter third of his life really that he is Able to have this abundance of children and again. These are just the eight that are listed. You know often the Bible Only lists the sons for Genealogical sakes you know they're not going to list every single daughter and everything like that So it's just listing the sons here. You'll see that again in first Chronicles But again the lesson that we can learn is that you know we can do great things You know even in in our elder years even in our twilight or the latter half of our lives that the latter end of our lives Never think that it's over Never think that you God still can't use you to do great things for him. You know maybe of course You know we're not gonna any of us is probably gonna live to see 175 You know this is kind of an exception. This is something was more common back then But you know and we're probably gonna reach age. You know we'll all read a certain age Well, we're not gonna have any children. You know it's it's gonna be nature's gonna take its course You know unless there's a miracle And I don't see any reason why God You know would cause a star to rise in the east again You know that's gonna be it for us as far as having kids and maybe we've reached that place in our life Maybe we've kind of gotten to a place in our life where having physical children is Just kind of you know that window is closed so to speak Or we've had the children that we're going to have and that's it Well the thing is you know we can still go out there and have spiritual children And obviously that's a different dynamic obviously I understand you know we don't get as much Maybe joy and fulfillment out of that in the here and now You know with as we do with our physical children, you know, but spiritual children are important as well you know you could go out and have a multitude of spiritual children by preaching the gospel right and reading people to Christ and helping them to be saved and You know you could do still do great things even in our in our latter half of our lives But let's move on the story. I don't want to park it there So he lists here in the verses one through four his sons and grandsons, and I like verse five Right because it says and Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. It's kind of like ooh Ouch right, it's kind of like you had all these sons. You know these grandsons, but they didn't get anything I'm just kidding right he gives everything unto Isaac, and he's the one who inherits What the sons of the concubines which Abraham Abraham gave gifts so they got a parting gift right because he tells them It says he sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived eastward and unto the east country. So again we see Abraham is wanting to make sure there's a distinction between you know his son and these other people okay? But the sons of the concubines you know he gave them gifts He sends them away and these verse seven are the days of the years of Abraham's life Which he lived in hundred and three score in 15 years 175 years Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age An old man and full of years and was gathered to his people so obviously you know we're reading up We've been spending time with Abraham these last several weeks months really been reading about him and You know we're here at his death, and I love how his life ends You know we saw Abraham You know the his art the character arc of Abraham how he went from somebody just kind of stepping out in faith Not really sure Where he was going and then doing great things for God had his lapses in faith, but you know very courageous at times And he was a flawed character, but despite all of his shortcomings and despite all of his flaws that we saw You know he gets to live a long and fruitful life like this is a good ending Which you don't always get in the Bible you know you see a lot of people characters in the Bible they come to a You know kind of a bad end right, but not so much with Abraham He lived a hundred three score in 15 years. He lived a long life You know who wouldn't want that you know and if we do what Abraham did that's what we'll have I believe God will you know we apply the wisdom of God to our lives. We walk according to his word We're pleasing unto God. You know he will allow us to live longer lives, okay? And of course he is Dying in a good old age, so it's not like he died a week you know Feeble man, it was a good old age And he was full of years and was gathered in those people and of course he was able at that last part of his life You know those last 70 years or so was able to see a multitude of children and grandchildren Not to mention isaac The son of the promise he saw god Come through and work in his life in miraculous ways so abraham's life really is we could just go back and do a whole series Just on his life. I mean it's such a big deal But that'll be another at another time and says in verse nine and his sons isaac and ishmael buried him the kate of mekpila in the Field of ephron the son of zohar the hit tight which is before mammary The field which abraham purchased of the sons of heth There was abraham was abraham buried and sarah his wife and I think me and my wife were kind of Talking about this on the way over joking a little bit like I wonder how keturah took that you know the wife He just married right because that's the the second wife after Sarah dies, you know, it says he took another wife named keturah But when he dies, it's like well go bury me with her right she I don't know if she went away with her sons Which is probably what happened. We don't really know what happens with keturah But i'm sure she was a good person godly woman all that good stuff But you know what you kind of wonder like how did he? Ease her into that he's like hey, you know, I want to marry you But i'm just gonna be up front when I die they're gonna bury me with sarah. So I don't know how she'd take that, you know, probably she's probably fine with it, you know The family plot has to be filled But uh, I just thought it was kind of funny, you know, it's like he you know He just gives everything to isaac and sends her away and goes and get buried with with his his uh, his old wife sarah And it says in verse 11 it came to pass after the death of abraham that god blessed his son isaac And it says in verse 11 it came to pass after the death of abraham that god blessed his son isaac And isaac dwelt by the well la hey la hey, iroi So this is kind of where I want to make a little bit of application with What we're celebrating today in the 4th of july obviously on the 4th of july It's not just about seeing how many hot dogs we can eat, right? It's it's it's not about all these a lot of things that we get caught up in doing and fireworks and stuff like that All that's great But we also are you know celebrating our freedom. We're celebrating our independence All right, we're celebrating and remembering the fact that there were Genera, you know a generation of people that fought for our freedom and fought to establish this country I don't want to go, you know into great length and all that But uh, we are benefiting from that even to this day, right and you kind of see that here abraham dies And passes off the scene And it says that after the death of abraham that god blessed his son isaac So isaac it's almost like he's just kind of getting this residual blessing now I'm sure isaac Of course was a godly man himself Who knew and loved the lord? But I believe that you know, he benefited a great deal. There was some residual blessing Just from having been that son of the promise having you know, uh been the son of abraham, right? He's kind of benefiting from that And he's benefiting from the previous generation just as we do today now if you would keep something there And go over the book of psalms psalms 16 I don't know if i'm gonna yeah, you might want to put a bookmark in psalms too when you get there But let's go to psalms 16 You know, that's the application I would make this today, you know, since we're celebrating forth we're thinking about our forefathers in this country, you know, we're benefiting from What generations have done for us before, you know, and I don't think there's anything wrong with acknowledging that I think it's a good thing to do to be grateful for those that you know have you know Fought for our freedoms that have ensured our freedoms And it's it's a great blessing to be born in this country to have the the blessings that we do It is I believe god has blessed this country immensely. Okay And obviously the way things are going, you know, it's easy to become cynical. It's easy to become critical of our country And those criticisms are warranted, you know, those criticisms are valid But uh, you know at the same time let's not forget that, you know, we are very fortunate to be living where we're living Okay, there's nowhere else i'd rather live There's no other country in the world. I'd rather be living than this one right here And I haven't even been in any of those other countries pretty much Well, you're just so traveled that you know, you you just know what it's like everywhere. No, but i've been enough places And i've seen enough and it seems like everybody else is trying to get here You know, uh, I feel like i'm pretty safe in saying that that this is the country to live in okay And look i'm sure there's great things about other places But when it comes to just the prosperity and the freedoms that we have In this country, I mean just the freedoms alone To be able to travel around like we do to be able to you know Go from one end of the country to the other To be able to just say whatever we want to say you say well, what about all the censorship on youtube? Well, you know i'm still up here saying what I want to say No one's breaking down the door here. No one's hauling me off to jail tonight for preaching the bible There's places in the world where this would be illegal You know we and we forget that we forget sometimes because we are like isaac We're just we're a generation away from the guy that had to do all the sacrificing Now I know isaac is pretty familiar with the sacrificing that took place because he was the sacrifice at one point, right? I get it, but you know the you know, sometimes that's the problem is that As generations go on they forget what their forefathers what those that have come before them Have have sacrificed have gone through to ensure them the blessings that they have You know, this is the great fear that a lot of christian parents have for their children You know me and my wife are first generation christians. My children are second generation christians And you know, sometimes we'll talk and we'll just say, you know, we're kind of fearful a little bit that our children are taking For granted what they have they don't might not realize truly how blessed they are You know, and I i've told her recently it's like well, you know The best i'm giving him is i'm just trying to spare them from a lot of the things that we went through Which is a blessing in and of itself You know sometimes christian children can feel like they're missing out on things They can feel like they're being sheltered and and yes, you know quite frankly you are being sheltered But when bombs are falling you take shelter and there are spiritual bombs being Dropped today. I mean we're spiritually we're being carpet bombed With all of the media all the culture all you know, just the public education system The uh, the all the social media just everything not just you know, just the media at large You know, it's a spiritual land, you know, a minefield out there So yeah, we want to guide our children through these lives through their lives But sometimes those children that are being led and guided that way They can take that for granted and feel like they're missing out on something But what they don't realize sometimes is that what they're missing out on is sin and its results and the heartaches that come with it So that's kind of you know What happens a lot of times is the next generation is blessed by god as a result of the previous generation And if they're not careful, they can take that for granted Look at psalm 16 verse 5. It says the lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup Thou maintainest my lot, you know a lot would be like a plot of land, right? The lines are fallen onto me in pleasant places. He's saying, you know, the my property markers are it's a good land Where my land, uh, my markers lie where my my lines are fallen. It's pleasant. Yay. Have a goodly heritage And of course, you know the psalmist here we can apply this to spiritually, you know, you say well I don't know that I have a very good a lot, you know Maybe maybe our physical dwelling isn't everything we wish it would it was or what other people have But if we're saved if we're born again, you know Our lot our heritage falls in heaven, you know, we have a uh, uh a an inheritance reserved in heaven for us Okay through christ That's why he's able to say, you know, the lord is the portion of my cup. Yay. I have a goodly heritage So there's the you know, the that promise that we have a a a a eternal reward Right an eternal inheritance, but also even in this life, you know, if you're one who is like the isaac of the story tonight Right, you're not so much to abraham Maybe you can't relate as much as you know Uh when it comes to discuss, you know Getting saved later in life starting out serving god later in life having to trust god, you know having all these Flaws and shortcomings that other people might not have Because you got started later in life. Maybe you can't identify with that as a second generation christian as an isaac But you could at least appreciate that god has blessed you That's what you should ask yourself is god blessing me or not Whenever you're feeling like oh i'm missing out on something, you know being a One of these, you know christian kids one of these church going kids I feel like i'm missing out You know, my parents have all these rules and the preacher's always talking about all these standards and things like that And you can start feeling like you're being held back you're missing out, you know, that's the that's the wrong way to look at it The way you should look at it is and just ask yourself if you ever feel like that. Well, am I being blessed though? And really as I mentioned earlier, you know being in this country alone is such an immense blessing Okay The other thing we can learn from this chapter is, you know, the impact that we have on the next generation, right? God blessed his son isaac And i'm sure isaac had his own walk and warranted his own blessing but I believe a lot of that his blessing was Ode to the fact that that abraham was one that walked with god And taught his son how to do that, right? We need to make sure we're having the correct impact on the next generation If you would go over to uh, go over to second timothy chapter number one second timothy chapter number one You know made me think of timothy right timothy who uh, you know Went with paul on his missionary journeys one who had a good report of the brethren and was You know taken by the apostle paul and got to go out and see great works done and got to Start churches in himself became a pastor right He did great things for god no doubt. I mean when paul the apostle is writing you two epistles with your name on it You know, you you're probably somebody who's getting something done. You're probably somebody who has some blessing in your life You're probably somebody Who uh, you know has some influence Okay And a lot of that is owed. I mean think about timothy right timothy who's with the apostle paul And then as later, you know kind of his protege and it sort of takes over for it would appear anyway Kind of took over for paul in a lot of ways, you know, or You know, it was pastoring a church or perhaps churches, okay Did we owe it all to paul though is everything that that timothy was everything that timothy was owed to paul In large part, yes, right obviously that that paul was a huge influence on timothy no doubt But where did it all begin? It began with his mother and with his grandmother If you look at first second timothy one verse three He said I thank god whom I serve my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day So obviously paul understands the impact of having He's having on the next generation he's praying for the next generation night and day verse four greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears and I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance The unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother lois and thy mother Unice and i'm persuaded that in thee also So he's saying when i'm praying for you i'm encouraging, you know I'm encouraged when I pray for you timothy because I recall the unfeigned faith that is in thee Which dwelt first in thy grandmother and thy mother Paul told timothy that you know, he knew the scriptures which were uh that of a child he knew the scriptures Which were able to make thee wise into salvation timothy was somebody who was taught the scriptures as a child and that set him up To go on and be able to be the man of god that he was to be the help To the apostle paul that he was and also a man of god himself that had great influence and was a great influence So, you know again we have to think about in this chapter what are some lessons we're pulling out of this is is one that We have to be mindful of the next generation We have to Understand that we have an impact on those that are coming after us The impact that we're going to have, you know, especially those of us as parents Or or those that will be parents Don't underestimate the impact you're having on the world Don't underestimate the impact you're having on your children for better or worse I mean they could go on and do great things or or not And whether they realize it or not, you know, they are benefiting, uh from the previous generation Let's go ahead and move through the story here It says here in verse 12 genesis 25 Now these are the generations of ishmael ishmael abraham's son I'm, not going to read all these names again. We just read them These are verse 16. These are the sons of ishmael and these are their names by their towns by their castles 12 princes according to their nations and these are the years of the life of ishmael And 130 and seven years and he gave up the ghost and died and was gathered and was gathered unto his people And let's look at verse 19 and these are the generations of isaac abraham's son abraham to get isaac and isaac was 40 years old When he took rebecca to wife we just read about that The daughter of bethuel the syrian of pat and ram the sister of laban the syrian and isaac had treated the lord for his wife Because she was barren and the lord wasn't treated of him and rebecca his wife conceived now That's a whole other sermon right there and stuff That's something you just constantly see through the scripture when people are struggling with childbearing Often it's resolved through prayer Right rather than taking things and I don't know that they had the technology the ability back then obviously But rather than just taking things into their own hands You know, they went to god because it is god that opens and closed closes the womb, right? The fruit of the womb is his reward the bible says so it makes sense that if You know, we're trying to have children and for whatever reason it's not working to go to god in prayer And you know, you could you could say that about a lot of things right a lot of the problems that we have in life Or struggles or whatever it is Take it to the lord in prayer, right? But it's it's funny how often that's the last thing we do if at all So often we'll just we'll suffer through it. We'll go through it and it'll be in the back of our minds Well, I know I should pray about this, but do we? We'll have our own reasoning our own way of working things out But you know isaac had enough sense to just say well, let's you know, let me just entreat the lord And of course the lord answered that prayer That's kind of a sub point here in the sermon, but let's move on here. It says verse 22 And the children struggled together within her and she said if it be so why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the lord, so, you know, she's she's a godly lady too. She's like well I know who's got the answers And the lord said unto her two nations that are in thy womb and two manager Manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels And the one shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger Now this is important. Remember that god's determined this rather foreknew this Before either of these children were born, right? So it's not a met god's not a respecter of persons He just knows how this is going to turn out there and there's so much to preach about this one thing right here But you know, they're just we don't have the time tonight. Okay? Look at verse 24 and when her days were to be delivered were fulfilled behold there were twins in her womb And the first came out red all over like in hairy garment and they called his name esau And after that his brother came out and took his hand his And his hand took hold on esau's heel and his name his name was jacob and isaac with three squirt years old When she bare them and the boys grew and esau was a cunning hunter a man of the field and jacob was a plain man Dwelling in tents now some people, you know And i've heard this and i've heard other people mention that they've heard this that some preachers will get up And use this verse verse to preach That jacob was some kind of a mama's boy or like a sissy or something But we know that's not true because later he removes A stone from the well of the mouth that takes several people to do it. So he's a he's a strong person So I think it's just kind of telling us, you know, the the manner of life that they had what they were kind of doing for a living right And because it's saying there that you know esau was a cunning hunter a man of the field So I think it's just saying he slept out in the wild right he's out making his bed under the stars because he's Following game and stuff like that. He's he's not dwelling in a tent And isaac be or excuse me. Um And jacob what he lived was a plain man dwelling in tents, right? Now it says he was a plain man. I don't know if that means Like he there was nothing like he was just plain You know, he's kind of an ordinary guy or if it was like he was a man of the plane Because it's describing how esau lived right? He was a man of the field whereas esau was a plain man so, I don't know I kind of I thought about maybe interpreting it that way but It's probably wrong. It could be right But it might be that you know, he's just dwelling in tents he's kind of you know, following the herds He's just kind of you know, maybe doing some agricultural work Okay, and anyone that's that's worked with cattle Or done any kind of farming knows that you don't turn into a sissy doing that Being a farm boy, so that's kind of how I read that, you know this guy, you know Esau's, you know skipping out on the chores to go chase gear or whatever Right. He's out there living his best life now And you know his brother jacob's actually back, you know Rolling out the hay bales and and milking the cows and everything else. All right, so he's doing all the hard work So really it's probably the opposite if anyone's a sissy It's esau. I'm just kidding. I mean neither one of them were were mama's boys Okay Anyways, it says in verse 30 I'm sorry back it up verse 28 and isaac loved esau because he did eat of his venison. So You know, my kids are always trying to figure out who's you know, which of them is my favorite Right and the trick is just tell they're all your favorite individually just go to each one. You're my favorite You're my favorite and then they all think about it and they fight about it. It's a lot of fun right But here here's a little tip if you want to get to be dad's favorite It's a man way to man's heart is through his stomach, right get that venison All right Get that, uh, get that brisket going right? And it's like why are you always so nice to brother adam? brisket All right You got to get the get the the venison going. Okay, that's what it says You know, he loved him because he did love to eat of his venison seems kind of shallow But you know, I I feel that But rebecca loved jacob, right and it says and jacob sawed pottage and esau came from the field and he was faint So it's like how is he the big bad dude if he's the hunter and he's hungry If you're faint coming in from the field as a hunter It's because you ain't got no game. All right And I mean game like see what I did there. Okay. All right. I'm glad you guys got that Right, he's a bad maybe he's bad hunter, I don't know maybe Who knows what but anyway, you know, he comes in and he says sell, uh And he says he was faint in verse 30 and esau said to jacob feed me I pray thee with that same red pottage For I am faint therefore his name is his name Excuse me. Therefore was his name called edom And jacob said sell me this day thy birthright Now, you know, obviously what jacob's doing here isn't necessarily the most spiritual thing He's kind of taking advantage of somebody Who who made I don't know maybe he's being a little uh, you know, esau's being a little melodramatic, you know I'm faint i'm gonna die, right? But either way, you know jacob whether that's the truth or not jacob's kind of taking advantage of the situation You know, this isn't exactly the kind of brotherly love you'd expect, you know, I didn't have a brother growing up So maybe this thing is this kind of attitude is common, you know, or it's you know You're just trying to get something out of the other one, you know When you see when you see a brother down that's your chance to kind of like get a leg up on him But uh, that's definitely what's going on in this story and he's coming in looking. Hey feed me i'm hungry I'm, i'm at the point to die Right because he says in verse 32 and esau said behold. I am at the point to die What profit shall this birthright do to me? Well, i'm going to die anyway, and you're going to get the birthright so I might as well get some pottage out of it right And that's probably not the case I doubt he was going to die, okay, but you know, he's he's just a very carnal person and we may or may not get into that later, but You know, he's just thinking about the here and now I just need to eat now. I just need to have you know, my The lust of my flesh fulfilled now so i'm just going to sell out my birthright and this is a picture of You know what happens when you're a carnal christian when you live carnally when you live for the flesh You know, you're essentially giving up your inheritance your your of course, you're going to go to heaven right no matter what because we're saved by grace through faith You know, it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done but by his mercy he saved us But you know also the bible also does say that after we're saved by the grace of god that we have the opportunity To earn heavenly rewards to go there and to and to be hear those words well done thou good and faithful servant But that's not a guarantee Salvation is salvation is guaranteed through and through 100 You know, it's the blood of jesus plus nothing minus nothing, okay But you know your heavenly reward is dependent upon your behavior Okay, because sometimes people get they they think that we're saying oh you can live however you want with no consequences All we're saying is you can live however you want and still go to heaven because it's by grace through faith Right for all we've all come short of the glory of god But but we are saying there are consequences there's consequences here now there's the chastening command of god in this life And you know, there's a loss of reward to come that's kind of what esau pictures here A guy, you know, uh, who's later referenced in hebrews as a fornicator, right? That is that fornicator esau who for a morsel sold his birthright. Okay, and i'm sort of paraphrasing there It and and you know, we don't see esau necessarily fornicating In a story he takes a wife But maybe he was a fornicator. Maybe that's the holy spirit kind of illuminating that, you know in the new testament But it's at least alluding to his carnality. I believe what's going on there. He's like a fornicator He's just somebody who's concerned about the here and now Just wants to satisfy the lust of the flesh from moment to moment If we live like that as god's people We're going to lose out on our birthright. What's rightfully ours not our salvation But our rewards our inheritance Will vanish, okay And all we have is, you know, our little bowl of pottage from here now And jacob again, he's kind of taking advantage of this right? He's kind of like Well selling your birthright, you know, how hungry are you? You know, are you really that hungry? And he gives in maybe he knew his brother would do it. That's why he did what he did Then jacob gave esau bread and pottage so, you know, he threw some bread in you know, hey, what's your birthright? You know, this one's on me, you know, I know you didn't ask for the bread Then you get a little bread too And pottage of lentils and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way Now notice what the scripture says here and there's story four thus esau despised his birthright He despised it right that's strong language He's looking at what was rightfully his his birthright his blessing that he would have received From his father his inheritance and he just you know, despise it. He treated as if it was nothing as if it was worthless And we don't want to be caught up doing that either being people that despise their birthright if you would Did you keep something in timothy or you were in psalms weren't you? If you would go to first timothy chapter number two first timothy chapter number two Now obviously i've already talked about how this applies spiritually right with us We can be become carnal and we can become A kind of esau in this life and miss out on our spiritual birthright But also, you know applying it to the fourth of july right And I think this is something that people You know, especially kind of in our movement a little bit can be a little quick to do They can kind of start despising You know the inheritance that we've gotten from our our forefathers not our spiritual forefathers You know, we don't want to be people who despise the inheritance and the heritage we have Through being americans, okay Now again, i'm not we're not going to get up and start saying the pledge of allegiance. We're not flying flags up here Okay, we don't I don't want to go overboard with you know, being overly patriotic I'm, not proud to be an american. I guess is what i'm trying to say, but i'm grateful to be an american And I think that's the right attitude to have You know, I I obviously when you're living in a nation that is in a lot of ways just spitting in the face of god We have to understand that You know a lot of our forefathers are rolling over on the grave over the things that they're seeing Okay, the things that are taking place in our government and our culture today Well, we don't want to be people that just despise our inheritance or despise our heritage, okay We want to appreciate what we have in this country and use it And use it to serve god and to glorify god for as long as we can The bible says in romans 12 if it be possible as much life then you live peaceably with all men Look at uh, first symphony chapter 2 verse 1 it says I exhort therefore first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men For kings for all that are authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty For this is good and acceptable sight of god Our savior who will have all men to be saved and come under the knowledge of the truth So what is he saying here? He's saying that we ought to be praying You know and a lot of people don't like this He says we got to pray for all men and that includes kings and for all that are in authority now we can Argue or talk about rather. We wouldn't get much of an argument out of me As how we ought to pray for some of our leaders, okay Obviously, there's such a thing as imprecatory prayer I mean we have wicked people leading this country. There's nothing wrong that And praying that they be removed from office in whatever way Even by death if necessary, okay When they're when they're just leading us headlong into hell, okay when they're just damning people and shedding innocent blood And there's nothing wrong with a prayer like that Okay, but that's not the only type of praying we're you know I don't think that applies to every single politician out there now probably a lot of them. All right, but You know, we ought to be praying for all men You ought to be praying, you know, not necessarily that uh They you know do the right thing even necessarily but more so that they just leave us alone Just just lord just you know Let them write their policies and do their thing and chase their money because let's face it folks That's what it all comes down to at the end of the day. The love of money is the root of all evil Say who's gonna win this next election probably who's gonna ever make people the most money. I don't know I understand there's social agendas and things like that, but really at the end of the day As far as I see it a lot of it just comes down to money Who's you know, who's gonna give us the best tax breaks? They don't care about people's morality They don't care about people's belief in god You know, everyone's all excited that you know, it's going to be trump again And you say well, he's a lot better than joe biden. That's not saying much Well, he's better than biden It's like you really could you you want to start making comparisons like that? You know, it's like saying this loaf of bread is better than this, you know dog turd over here Yeah, you're right that piece of you know A white bread right with an orange crust Right Is is better than a doctor? Oh, okay. Well, you got me there Who's better than biden? Oh, well, let me just get it. Where's my where's my maga hat? Let me just start where do I what lover do I pull Let me just become a full-fledged republican right now because he's better than biden You know, that's why I kind of got disenfranchised. That's why I get disenchanted with that Disenchanted with politics because you realize you're just voting for the lesser of two evils And that's not fun, that's not really i'm not I don't feel inspired i'm like well, he's not as bad as this guy That's not really very moving That's not very motivating It's sad. Okay And really people just want to vote for their guy because they want the tax breaks They're just like who's gonna get they don't care about his moral stance. Okay? I just think we should pray that they leave us alone. That's kind of what he's saying here Pray for kings all the authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life Hey, we just want to be able to preach the gospel get together You know and and preach the bible to one another edify one another and go out and preach the gospel And so far it's been pretty good and it hasn't mattered who's been in the white house last I checked I know every once in a while people get all up in arms. They hear something And it never pans out to be anywhere near as bad as they think You know a little while ago. It was what was the one uh, you can't you can't say anything anti like saying that jesus or that the The jews killed jesus is anti-semitic That's going to be against the law to say. Well, first of all, i'm still going to say it because it's just any historian historian even bible believe or not with any You know integrity Is going to say the same thing. Well, that's a historical fact. They they you know, they Got the romans to crucify him, right? That's they killed him You call an anti-semitic if you want, you know, when people get all up in arms Oh, it's going to be anti-semitic to say that i'm still going to say it if they make it against law Then you find out. Oh, it's illegal to say that potentially maybe on like a college campus If you're like on faculty or something like that, you know, I looked into it and it wasn't as much hoopla as people make it out to be my point is it's like You know, I think somebody's been praying for these people someone's been you know, someone's being been doing this and second this uh, first timothy praying for all men Because you know we have that right now. We are living a quiet and peaceable life I mean we could preach all I could we could just stay here all night and I preach all night No one's going to come through that door A lot of people might go through that door like that way, right? Eventually i'll probably be here by myself, you know, you probably grab a plate on your way out But no one's kicking down the door and saying shut up in there. Hey, you can't do this. It's pretty good So before we just start, you know getting just down on everything that's wrong with our country Let's also appreciate all the great things that we have because we really do we have such great freedoms and it's so easy to just take it for granted and I know I gotta I gotta wrap up here But it's so true though people like we're just so inundated with so much and we're just so used to it Then we take it for granted I mean we can just pull over and get something to eat anytime we want, you know life's so hard driving to our Our air-conditioned jobs and our air-conditioned cars and our climate controlled this and our touch screen that I think it's like We're like we're if we were to travel back in time with everything and we had people think we're from another planet You know, we're living in the future Okay I know some of us are disappointed that there's no hoverboards yet But you know, we got a lot of good things going indoor plumbing, right? All this great stuff that we just we don't even think about But we boy we have a we're real good at just like pointing out everything that's wrong all the time Right and look there's a time and place things need to be pointed out You know and and people need to be called out and sins need to be called out That's the job of the preacher and we need to acknowledge that and say amen and amen when it's done But don't get the idea that you know, there isn't much to be thankful for today. Let's not be like Esau And despise the things that we've gotten Despise the things that we've just we've just inherited Things that just came to us because we were just born here As we were just we just happen to be born in this country at this time And through no effort of our own which all these blessings have come upon us And look, I don't care how you know up to our neck and debt we are I don't care All how sideways everything we think is going maybe we're not on the you know, the social uh, Lat you know rung of the ladder that we think we should be on whatever rung we're on in america is pretty good Like I heard somebody say a while ago Like I heard somebody say a while ago like if you make 30 000 more dollars a year You're in the top one percent of the world earners That's crazy And that's the that's the kind of affluence and just wealth that we have that even us mere you know us us uh Us peasants, you know, we live like kings We live and eat and dine and rest like kings I don't know. Maybe you're going home and curling up in a barn somewhere You know in a stack of hay, I doubt it, right? We're all on our Sleep number bed or asserta this or memory foam that We got three fans blowing on us from you know, these directions set to you know, whatever speed we want, you know I mean I have a fan blowing on me year around just because of the noise. I just like the sound of it Right. I'm just burning the fossil fuels Just to help you fall asleep That's the country we live in and i'm just you know, obviously We all get this but sometimes someone needs to just get up and just point it out again Right because sometimes we'll go days weeks months years With without it just smacking in the right in the face like how good we've got it I mean, we're down at guadalajara grill mexican grill, you know eating quesadilla and shrimp tacos and it's just like we got it so good Like i'm like I love tucson Even in the summer. I mean there's so much good mexican food here. I love it right But that kind of thing should just you know blind it should just be in front of us all the time But the problem is that we're so used to it That we forget about it You know paul told the thessalonians to pray that the word that the word of the lord may have free course Last I checked, you know missions are being done. People are going everywhere at least in this church and others that we know of People are going to different countries and we got the missions conference coming up I mean people are doing all kinds of work for god that we don't even there's so many mission strips going on right The lord has the lord's lord has so much free course Just through this church alone that I can't even keep track of it all You know some people come to me. Hey, did you hear about this mission trip? I didn't even know that was going on Yeah, it's sandwiched right in between these other ones Yeah, it's sandwiched right in between these other ones that are going on It's just every it's just it's just constantly, right? So let's not despise our birthright tonight. Let's not have this overly cynical overly critical attitude about the country that we live in Yeah, we don't have to be i'm not saying we have to you know You know get all misty every time, you know, we hear our uh national anthem But you know Can we at least be grateful? At the very least just to be an american to be in this country Anyway, I got I gotta wrap this up but uh You know esau ends up here despising his birthright And you know, it's a real shame right because you have isaac, you know his father who's inheriting the blessing and seems to understand that Right when he has a problem he goes to god god answers his prayer He seems like he understands that you know, he's the son of abraham that came with certain benefits that came with certain blessings But then his son he saw Kind of just takes it for granted Just kind of says well, you know, just give me a bowl of lentils. That's good enough for me And despises his birthright And it's a shame And you know, we don't want to we don't want to see that happen with with ourselves now, obviously, you know Our country has problems and uh If you would go to psalm nine, I told you this to keep something in song. I know that so i'll make good in my word Go to psalms nine, you know and you say and i'm not trying to say that, you know We don't have a few problems. I think our country obviously has a lot of problems But the fact is is you know I can't fix all of them neither. Can you? I don't know that anybody can the people that caused them are the ones that are trying to fix them if at all You know, like how's that going to work out? When the you know, it's the people that are that are you know made the problem the ones that are supposed to be fixing it Usually nothing gets done But you know, I really at the end of the day the problem that we have in this country is a spiritual one And I think probably the greatest problem that our country has is covetousness Covetousness which is ironic when you live in a country where we all have so much And it just goes to showing you that no matter sometimes how much you get of something. It's never enough I mean you think esau had that one last bowl of pottage. It was like I can die happy No, you know that that bowl of pottage satisfied him for a few hours and then he was hungry again Right. He wanted more. He had to have more he had to go get this and go get that that's human nature And it's ironic that a lot of times the people that seem to have the least are the ones that are the most satisfied They're the ones that are most appreciated for the things that they do have And this was a problem in in israel, i'll just read you from jeremiah Chapter six verse 13 for this is what brought the judgment of god in part upon the nation of israel For from the least of them even on the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness Even from the and the prophet even of the priest Everyone dealeth falsely So even though religious leaders have gone bad and we see that today, don't we? We see a lot of you know priests and prophets today so called that are all about money. They're very covetous right the mega church pastors You know the prosperity gospel preachers That's one class, but you know the greatest even in the least, you know, the people in high office the you know, our You say no not trump. I mean trump's a covetous guy Gold this gold that right and then the other guy Gold that right I mean how many wives is he on all these affairs? I mean It's nuts and people don't they just don't even bat an eye at it anymore You know, i'm sorry if i'm picking on your your guy, okay But let's just call it what it is that's the problem in this country is people are covetous That's why there's so many people that are unhappy and dissatisfied because they they don't they're they're just so busy wanting more They don't even realize How good they have it And you know, they've got us just people they've got people just chasing their tail You know, they've got them just like rats on a wheel just chasing the cheese And they can just get away with whatever that's a big problem in this country. Everyone just wants stuff and things I had you in psalm 9 though In pheasant verse 17 the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget god All nations that forget god shall be turned into hell Now obviously a nation can't go to hell it's talking about people You know and I believe And I think you see it in the scriptures With the cananites where there are entire nations That go to hell That don't know god. They forget god. They curse god They become reprobate even And entire nations are just turned into hell because they they don't know god god, you know, they worship some heathen god, whatever I mean, isn't that what the bible's saying? I mean we all read and we're reading from our king james tonight The wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget god And look our nation has not forgotten god, but it's forgetting god I believe it's in that process You know our our nation is turning slowly turning into joe biden You know wandering around not really knowing where we're going or where we're from Or how to speak coherently, you know, just just becoming senile spiritually forgetting god, right? Or recover just right that I mean these two guys are just They're the picture of the american people today It's true And when a nation forgets god, this is what happens they go to hell Become so godless that I believe entire groups Of people can just fall into hell So let's not confuse, you know our our pride today For being american, you know for gratitude. That's not what i'm saying. I'm not saying hey i'm proud to be american No, i'm grateful to be an american I don't want to despise my birthright. I don't want to despise What the previous generation has afforded me? you know even in my parents or leadership Or you know people that founded this country You know, and and there's a lot of a lot of criticism that even gets thrown at those guys these days You know that they're this or that and maybe they were you know deists and rationalists and these other things They were just paying lip service to god. I don't know I you know But either way they founded this country and i'm grateful to live in it for one I'm, i'm not grateful because you know our our flags are a certain color or whatever i'm grateful Because we live in a country where we can Live quietly and peaceably and the word of the lord does have free course That's not something i'm proud of. That's something i'm grateful for. Let's go ahead closing the word