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It sounds nice. That's cool man. That's cool. That's nice. That's nice. That's nice. Welcome to Faith Ward Baptist Church. Can you please open up our hymnals to song number 68. We can also be in church by singing the song number 68. We'll be gathering in heaven in that song number 68. Should I up in heaven remember the heart, all the pain and the loss, all the shame and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, all the pain and the loss, Jesus, what made my ransom big? I'm bound for heaven by blood. He can bring me in and in. Should I in the glory remember a loved one who walked by my side, but is lost and outside? If I never begged him to trust in the Savior, then I'd sit down and cry. Jesus, what made my ransom big? I'm bound for heaven by blood. He can bring me in and in. Jesus, what made my ransom big? I'm bound for heaven by blood. Jesus, what made my ransom big? I'm bound for heaven by blood. Jesus, what made my ransom big? I'm bound for heaven by blood. He can bring me in and in. We'll sing a song for Jesus. Can you sing a song? Can you sing one more song? I hear the Savior sing with my strength, and He is small. John the Queen is watching gray. I believe I ought to come. Jesus made it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left the prison safe. He washed it white as snow. For now we need I find. I'm bound and not alone. In chains of love response, in hell the heart is torn. Jesus made it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left the prison safe. He washed it white as snow. For now we need I find. Whereby thy grace is plain, I'll wash thy garments dry, in the blood of God respect. Jesus made it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left the prison safe. He washed it white as snow last. And then before the throne, I stand in need of faith. Jesus died, my soul to save. My sins shall still be paid. Jesus made it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left the prison safe. He washed it white as snow. Genesis will be chapter 31 this week. I will be wrapping up tonight. The last half of Genesis 38. We didn't really get through it all last week. But I do want to touch on a couple things there. Tonight's will be Genesis 30 tonight part 2. And then we have the salvation of the baptism. And of course the quick welcome as a reminder. The men's bathroom, the key is in the way as they say. So we're just going to make use of the one bathroom for now. Until we figure out what it is we're going to be going forward. Let's go ahead and count up the salvation going back to Friday. Anyone have been in the report for Friday? Two there. Anyone else for Friday? And we have two on Saturday. Three? Yes, sir. Did you get another one? Oh, that's right. Yeah, I think that's good. We'll figure it out. Can you keep track of the line today? Okay. Four. All right. Keep up the great work. Slow winning, everybody. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into reaching the next. All right. Could you please open up your hymnals to song number 113. One, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one one, one, one, one one, one, one one, one, one, one one, one, one, one one, one, one, one one, one, one one, one, one one, one, one, one Then that is Genesis chapter number three. Genesis thirty, Complete at verse one. And to wake the Psalmist, Sheamation,EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Rachel, anguished her and said unto Jacob, Give me children or else I die. Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel. And he said, my God said, But the fowl do not come from me, the fruit of thealiation. She said, Behold, I made a deal. Go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. And she gave unto her, Her hand made to wife, and Jacob went in unto her. And Beelah deceived and bared Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God had judged me, and had also heard my voice, and had given me a son. Therefore, I called his name down. And Beelah of Rachel's name, deceived again, and bared Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, with great blessings have I wrestled with my sister, Nycadale. And she called his name Naphtar. When Leah saw that she had left Bering, she took Zilpah from me and gave her Jacob to wife. And Zilpah, Leah's mate, bared Jacob a son. And Leah said, a truth cometh, and she called his name Gath. And Zilpah, Leah's mate, bared Jacob a second son. And Leah said, happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher. And Reuben went into the days of wheat harvest and dalmatrix in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. And Rachel said to Leah, give me, I pray thee, of thy son, Asher. And she said unto her, is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband, and wouldest thou take away my son's matrix also? And Rachel said, therefore, he shall lie with you tonight, for thy son's matrix. And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, thou must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee with thy son's matrix, where my son's matrix. And he laid with her that eye. And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bared Jacob a fifth son. And Leah said, thou had given me thy wife, because I had given my maiden to my husband, and she called his name Isacah. And Leah perceived again, and bared Jacob a sixth son. And Leah said, thou had a dude with me, with a good dowry, and thou and my husband brought with me, because I had borne him six sons, and she called his name Sarah. And afterward, she bared a daughter, and called her name Dinah. And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. And she conceived, and bared a son, and said, thou had taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph. The Lord shall add to me another son. And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away, that I may go into my own place, own place, into my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou knowest my service, which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experience that the Lord had blessed me for thy sake. And he said, appoint me thy wages, and I will give thee. And he said unto him, thou knowest how I served thee, and how thy cattle was with me, for it was little which thou hast before I came. And it is now increased unto a multitude, and the Lord had blessed thee since my coming. And now when shall I provide in my own house also? And he said, what shall I give you? And Jacob said, thou shalt not give me anything if thou would do this thing for me, if I would again feed and keep thy flock. I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, but and of such shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer for me in the time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face. Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, behold it, I would it might be according to thy word. And he removed that day the he-goats that were ring-straight and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in them, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them to the hand of the sons. And he set three days' journey between himself and Jacob. And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. And Jacob took in rods of a green papa and of a hazel and chestnut tree, and peeled white straits in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks and the butters and the watering trolls, when the flocks came to drink, that they should deceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-straight, speckled and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-straight, and all the brown in the flock of Laban. And he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not on Laban's cattle. And it came to pass when whosoever, whensoever the stronger cattle did deceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle and the butters, that they might deceive among the rods. For when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in. So the feeble were lateness, and the strongest, Jacob's. But a man increased exceedingly on how much cattle may serve his and may serve his, and count his, and ask his. Well, let us pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this church, Lord. Thank you. All right, Genesis chapter 30, of course, last Thursday, we looked at the first half there, just dealing with the different children that were born to Jacob's wives. And then, of course, in the story, Jacob is requesting of his father-in-law, Laban, that he would be let go so he could go back to his own people. And it says there, verse 25, And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I might go into my own place and to my country, and give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. And I touched on this a little bit on Thursday night, just how, you know, if we want to be people that our employers don't want to lose. That was like the immediate application there that I made. And, of course, we could talk about that again, but we've already heard that. So let's take a different angle on this. And really what I want to talk about is the residual blessings that people can experience. We want to, you know, you see that in the story that Laban is saying that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. It wasn't because Laban necessarily was this upright guy, this godly man. In fact, later, if you don't know the story, spoiler alert, chapter 31, you know, he ends up coming and looking for the idols which Rachel took out of his house. So he's not necessarily, you know, a believer here. It's hard to say even necessarily that he's a saved man. Definitely acknowledges the Lord, obviously, but he does acknowledge the fact that he has been blessed because of the fact that God has blessed Jacob. He's saying, hey, the Lord, I've learned by experience over these years that you've been with me. I've seen it take place that because you're here, the Lord has blessed me for thy sake. So he's part of this residual blessing that him and others around him are getting just by the mere fact that Jacob is there and that Jacob is being blessed of God because of that, there's, as they said, you know, back in the day, the trickle-down effect, right? It's kind of what's taking place here. And he said, appoint me thy wages and I will give it. He's saying, tell me what I got to pay you to keep you. What do I have to pay you to get you to stay? And they, you know, they work out this deal. Verse 29, he said it to him, thou knowest that I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me, for it was little which thou hast before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude. The Lord hath blessed me, excuse me, the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming, and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? So, you know, Jacob, you know, isn't being too bashful about it here. He's not necessarily flattered by what Laban's saying. He's saying, yeah, you're right, basically. It was little when I got here, and now it's increased under this great flock, and it is because the Lord has blessed thee since my coming. You're right, Laban, you got it right. You figured it out. The blessing that you have is because I'm here, because of the work that I've done. So he's saying you are a part of this residual blessing, right? And the lesson we can learn from this is that, you know, we benefit from previous generations, okay? We benefit from previous generations. In fact, if you would, go over to 1 Peter, chapter number two, 1 Peter, chapter number two, 1 Peter, chapter number two. You know, there's people in our lives sometimes that are benefiting, you know, that are blessed by God, not necessarily because of anything that they've done. They're being blessed because of what others have done before them, or, you know, what others are doing currently, you know, like Laban's instance, right? He's being blessed in the here and now because of the person that is there present with him in Jacob, okay? And one of the first, you know, applicable situations that we might think about in that regard is how children often benefit from parents, right? And not just in terms of the fact that parents are doing what they're supposed to be doing and providing for them, teaching them, guiding them, disciplining them, all of that, but more specifically in the fact that children who are growing up in a Christian home, not a perfect home, but a Christian home, that are being taught the Bible, that have parents that love the Lord, are serving God, that are taking the church, you know, whether they want to be there or not, what they have to at least recognize is that they're being blessed as a result. God is giving them opportunity to learn about him. He's giving them, they've been giving a chance and opportunity to know about the things of God, to learn about the things of God, and to put those things to work in their life. That's something that not everybody gets, right? You know, the kids tonight, you know, hopefully every young person that's here, you know, wants to be here, wants to hear from the word of God, wants to learn something tonight. But, you know, it very well could be that a lot of children are here, a lot of young people are here, because the parents are here and they're not about to leave them at home alone, right? They're going to say, no, you're going to come to church tonight, right? You're going to come to church. This is what we do. And whether the kids want to be here, and whether the kids want to be here or not, you know, they are a part of a residual blessing. They are the recipients of the parent, of the blessing that is being put, bestowed upon the parents. You know, a lot of children, a lot of kids today, they don't have what a lot of kids have in this room. And that's important to remember, because, you know, it's something that we see in the scripture, too, is that from one generation to the next, people can forget the Lord. You know, the parents, they get, you know, they're first generation Christians, and I'm not saying this is always the case, obviously, but there is a tendency, and there's certainly a possibility of this, that you have the first generation parents who come up hard, you know, who maybe get saved later in life, that they know what it's like, you know, to live a worldly, ungodly life as an unsaved person. They are familiar with what's going on in the world, they know the reality of that, and they get saved, they start a family, and they're determined to spare their children from the things that they've experienced, to spare them from the effects of sin, and try to shelter them. And I get it that we don't, you know, eventually our kids are gonna, it's a big, bad world, they're all gonna have to be, take their place in it, but let's not, you know, throw them to the wolves immediately, right? Let's not just, let's, you know, let's be reasonable about it, and let's let them know how the world really is, let's let them find that out, you know, but let them do it in a smart, intelligent way. The point I'm making, however, is that, you know, parents that come up, they raise their kids, the children that come up in those homes, sometimes they just can be very naive and just take for granted the blessing that they have. You know, at least Laban in the story, as kind of a shady character as he is, at least acknowledges the fact that he's blessed because of Jacob. You know, wouldn't it God that young people that are being raised in a godly home that have God-fearing parents would, at the very least, acknowledge the fact that they have been given an advantage, that they have been blessed as a result of their parents' walk with God and not take that for granted. You know, so that's one way we could apply this, but also we have to think about the fact that, you know, there's been, we all are benefiting to a large degree from previous generations, those that have come on, that have gone on before us, that have laid the foundations of our faith and have allowed us to be blessed, okay? And I think, you know, that's something we should endeavor to do in our lives. We should want to leave something for the next generation. We should want to, you know, continue on in the faith as others have before us so that others can benefit from the faith that we have lived, the life that we have lived, if that makes sense. If you look there in Psalms chapter number 16, look at verse 6, it says, the lines are fallen unto, well, you're in 1 Peter, I'll just read to you, the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. You know, David is acknowledging that. He has a goodly heritage. The Bible says in Proverbs 13, verse 22, a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children, to his grandchildren. You know, we should leave something behind and not just necessarily, you know, the physical things of this world, although I don't believe there's anything wrong with that. Now, that might be because I'm not going to probably have a whole lot to leave behind, right? I've heard and I know there's other people out there that are, you know, who have made a great deal of wealth in their life, you know, they're millionaires, billionaires, and they don't want to just leave that to their children because they know it'll ruin them in a lot of ways, that if something is just handed them freely, they're likely to mess it up, right? Easy come, easy go, as they say. But, you know, the Bible does say that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. He leaves something behind to be a blessing to his children and yea, even his grandchildren. The Bible says the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Now, while we might not have physical wealth to pass on to generations, and again, I don't think that that's, there's anything wrong. It doesn't have to be some great fortune, you know, but I don't think there's anything wrong with a father working hard, you know, but a sweat of his brow, building himself up, you know, lifting himself up by his own bootstraps, working hard, you know, advancing himself, being upwardly mobile through life, and getting to a place where he's then enjoying the fruits of his labor and is able to even, in fact, leave something behind so that his children don't have to go through maybe as much of a struggle as he did. You know, maybe there's a home or, you know, a small portion of money that allows people to kind of get off on the right foot in life. You know, there's nothing wrong with that. You know, some people get so afraid that they're going to spoil their children, they go to the other extreme, right? But the Bible's very clear. You know, we leave an inheritance to our children's children. That's what a good man does. If it's possible, you say, well, you know, I don't know that I'm going to be able to leave, you know, a whole bunch of money behind for my kids. Well, you know, what about a spiritual wealth? What kind of spiritual heritage are your children going to inherit from you? What is it that they're going to get from you that they're going to benefit from for years to come, spiritually speaking? You know, hopefully we're all living our lives in a way that our children are going to be able to benefit for years to come into their adult years, the rest of their lives, because of the things that they saw us both do and the things that they've heard and seen us do, just the way we've lived. Hopefully that's going to be a blessing to them. I was going to have you go to 1 Peter 2, but go to Ephesians chapter 2. I've kind of already blown by that point, so I'm not going to backtrack to make that point. Go over to Ephesians chapter 2. You know, we want to leave a spiritual inheritance at the very least, and again, nothing wrong with leaving a physical inheritance. It might even be a wise thing. It might be something that's appreciated. Honestly, that's not something I had, and I can look back and say, you know, a cool million would have taken the edge off, right? I'm joking, okay? But, you know, something would have been helpful, right? The Bible says houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers, so there's nothing wrong with leaving maybe some kind of estate, some kind of physical wealth to some degree to your children. That's not something I think we need to fear. But more importantly is that we leave a spiritual inheritance. That's what we need to be leaving behind for people, and that's what's going to benefit them the most, okay? Cars, houses, lands, these things are all eventually going to take flight and go away. They're all going to burn. They're only as useful as the people that own them, okay? They can even become things that perhaps ruin people. There is always that danger. But leaving behind a spiritual inheritance, you know, that can't do any harm. That can only benefit people. And whether we realize it or not, we are kind of like Laban. We know we've benefited from the blessings that have been bestowed upon other people. We are people who have inherited spiritually from, maybe if it's not our parents, we've inherited from other saints, those down through the ages. If you look at Ephesians chapter 2, let's look at verse 19. It says, Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. And notice in verse 20, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, right? We're built upon the apostles and prophets. You know, the doctrine that we have, the scripture that we have, the Bible that we have, the faith that we've inherited in large part is owed to the apostles. I mean, we're reading, we're constantly reading the words of the apostle Paul, right? John, Peter, others. You know, we are still benefiting it from their actions to this day. We are built upon that spiritual inheritance. You know, one has been left. You know, imagine if those same people said it wasn't important to them, decided that what's the point in trying to leave behind any kind of a spiritual legacy for those there to come after me. What if they'd had that attitude? And I get it. We're not going to pen scripture, okay? We're not going to do some of the things that they did, but, you know, we can be a testimony for Christ for generations to come. I mean, you'll hear people talk about this. You'll hear individuals over the years, if you're paying attention, people who will speak fondly of, you know, their parents, their grandparents, and others, their great grandparents, in fact, sometimes, and about the faith that they had. And they'll tell their stories and talk about their lives and the things that they did for Christ, you know, in a very endeared way. They're endeared to those people. You know, we should at least want that for our children. You know, we should want the generations that come after us to speak fondly of us and be able to say good things about our Christian testimony and about our walk. Not that we were perfect, because nobody is, but, you know, it could be the opposite. There's plenty of people out there that have probably not very many nice things to say about those that came before them. Maybe they don't have a lot to say about their parents. Maybe they don't have a lot to say about how great their grandparents were. You know, maybe they have a lot of negative things to say. You know, it could be that. But, you know, wouldn't it God that we would leave behind a spiritual inheritance just as one has been left us through the apostles, through the prophets, through even Christ himself? If you want to go back to the story, keep something there in the New Testament. We're going to look at some passages here in 1 Timothy in a little bit, but go back to where we were. So the first point I'm making tonight that we can get out of the story is that, you know, Laban is somebody that's recognizing the fact that he has profited from the blessing that has been bestowed upon Jacob, not himself directly, right? God's not pouring out a blessing on Laban, and Laban recognizes this, and Jacob confirms it and says, that's right, you were little, there wasn't much here when I showed up, but because of the Lord, you know, you have grown, you've increased, and no wonder Laban doesn't want him to go. So, you know, that's the lesson that we should take from this tonight, is that one, you might be somebody, in fact, we all are, if you think about it, somebody that has benefited from the blessings of other people, that we are the recipients of the blessings from others, that we've been blessed by those that have come before us. You're growing up in a Christian home, you know, maybe you don't like the rules, maybe you don't like the things that mom and dad do, but whether you realize it or not, it's actually a blessing. It's a blessing to be kept from sin. It's a blessing to be corrected. It's a blessing to be instructed. It's a blessing to receive education. It's a blessing to not just be thrown to the wolves as a child. To not just be sent out into the world to figure it out on your own. That's a blessing, to have that in your life. And it's so strange to me, and really it just shows an ungrateful heart and a bad attitude when you have kids that grow up in homes like that that just disdain what their parents provided. They take it for granted. It's shameful. And it's something I've seen many, many times over the years. Just Christian kids who, I mean, spiritually speaking, it's just been handed to them on a platter. I mean, they've got the Bible, they've got salvation, they've got parents that love God, and they scoff at it, they mock it, they don't want anything to do with it. And I just think to myself, you're an idiot. And I just think of all the different times I've seen that over the years in my Christian life. All the kids that just, they just ran out in the world while I'm trying to get out of it. I was sitting there going, I would have loved to have parents that believed like yours, that cared like yours, that prayed like yours, that had standards and rules and boundaries like yours. It would have spared people a lot of heartache. So that's one way we can apply this. Be like Laban, at least in one respect, that he recognizes the fact that he's being blessed for the sake of others. That because of the actions that other people have taken, he is being blessed. You're a Christian kid here today, you're growing up in a godly home, whether you realize it or not, whether you like it or not, you're being blessed as a result of your parents and their relationship with God, like it or not. And hopefully you're smart enough to see that and to do something with it and to not squander that and to make yourself into a bad testimony. So he's, again, they're trying to kind of broker this deal here. They're working this out. Jacob wants to go. Laban wants him to stay for obvious reasons. And it says in verse 31, and he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me anything. If thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. He's saying, My wages, you're going to pay me, it's not going to be a flat rate. I'll end up with a third wife, knowing you, Laban. You're not going to give me anything. We're going to do peace work. At the end of it, we're going to look at whose flocks grew and I'm going to take these sheep and you're going to get these sheep. And they work out this deal in verse 32. And he says, I will pass through all the flock today, removing from fence all the speckled and spotted, and all the brown cattle from among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled from among the goats, and of such shall be my hire. So those that are not pure, just one coat, those that have these spots, these speckles, the brown, they're going to be removed. He's going to separate. And look, I don't know a lot about husbandry, I don't know a lot about raising sheep and goats, but I'm thinking in my mind that Jacob's probably taking the lesser portion by doing this, if I had to guess. And I think that's a pretty educated guess because we all know what Laban's like and we know what Laban's motives are and Laban's not going to be the guy that takes the smaller portion here. He's not going to be like, oh yeah, you take the vast, you take the majority of the flock and that's how this will work out. So you can kind of already get a sense that Jacob is going to prove to him that God indeed is blessing him. And so he's giving him, I believe, probably the larger portion here just because of what we know of Laban. He says in verse 33, So my righteousness, so shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face, every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. He's saying, so any of them that have these spots, these markings, you know, if they're found in my flock, then you could say I stole it. Those are yours. I'm going to have everything else. And Laban said, behold, I would it might be according to thy word. He said, you got a deal. Oh, I get all the sheep? I get the vast majority of the goats and the sheep? I like this deal. And he removed that day the he goats that were ring-streaked and spotted and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted and every one that had some white in it and all the brown among the sheep and gave them into the hands of his sons. So Jacob, and in this story it's kind of confusing sometimes. I've read this so many times and I've talked to other people about it and tried to figure out exactly what's taking place here. And some people have even insinuated that Jacob's doing something maybe underhanded. But I personally, and I can kind of see where they're coming from just simply because I don't know, I've never raised these animals. I'm not a shepherd, you know, in that sense. I'm pastoring, but it doesn't really translate to this. But I really don't feel that that's the case, right? Because Jacob is saying my righteousness shall answer for me. And they've both already acknowledged the fact that God has blessed Jacob and Laban has been blessed as a result of Jacob's blessing. So I think Jacob understands that things are going to work out for me because God is with me and not with Laban. Because again, I remember Jacob on his way all those years ago when he was first coming before he even got to Laban's house when he was passing through that wilderness, right? The Lord appeared unto him, he built that pillar, he poured the oil upon it, right? So he knows that the Lord God is real. He is being blessed, in fact, by the Lord. He acknowledges this. This isn't a mystery to him. And I think really this is kind of an act of faith that he's stepping out of faith and saying, hey, you take the greater portion of the flocks and I'll take the lesser and we'll see in the end who God is for and my righteousness shall answer for me. So I don't think anything that we're about to read is him being tricky or underhanded or deceitful. Because I just don't think that there was any need for it. He's already blessed. So he takes them, it says in verse 36 and he set three days journey betwixt himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flock. And Jacob took him rods of green poplar and of the hazel and chestnut tree and pilled white strikes in them and he made the white appear which was in the rods. So he's basically, I think he's talking about he's peeling the bark off of them. It's fresh wood, it's living, it's live wood. It's not, you know, dry fallen wood. Really what he's describing here is he's creating a pen. He's just corralling these animals. And he's just kind of going about his business just as far as corralling and feeding these animals and making sure they conceive at certain points. He's just using the skill and the knowledge he has as a husbandman in order to make these things come to pass. It's not like he's out there painting the sheep. He finds the speckled, the brown and the spotted and the gristled and he's just painting them all white or something. I don't know that you can even do that kind of a thing. He's not genetically modifying these sheep somehow back then. And it says, And the flocks conceived before the rods Well, look at verse 38. And the rods which he had peeled before the flocks and the gutters He set the rods which he had peeled before the rocks and the gutters and the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink that they should conceive when they came to drink and the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle ring-strake, speckled and spotted. So, you know, it's telling us that in fact they did conceive and they brought forth those that would be counted as Laban's flock. There were instances, it wasn't like they were all being born a certain way and Jacob did separate the lambs and set the faces of the flocks towards the ring-strake and all the brown on the flock of Laban and he put his own flocks by themselves and put them not unto Laban's cattle. So he's abiding by the deal. He's going along with what they agreed with. And it came to pass, when so ever the stronger cattle did conceive that Jacob laid the rods before their eyes of the cattle and the gutters and that they might conceive among the rods. Now, again, it's hard to understand exactly what's going on in the story simply because we're so far removed as city slickers from any kind of husbandry even knowing exactly what's being described here. But basically what I get out of it, he's just corralling certain animals at certain times and he's separating them. He's just doing what he's supposed to do. Verse 41, And it came to pass, when so ever the stronger cattle did conceive that Jacob laid the rods before their eyes of the cattle and the gutters and that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in, so the feebler were Laban's and Jacob's and the stronger Jacob's. And that's just kind of how it worked out. Now, Lewis, verse 43, And the man increased exceedingly. So what we're reading in the story is actually, I believe, Jacob being upright. Him doing things exactly as was described. Him saying, Hey, we're going to do, this is the deal, here's how it's going to work out. And that's exactly what he did. He has integrity. And here's the thing, if you have integrity, you will succeed. You don't have to be some underhanded, conniving, you know, crooked, crook to succeed in this world. You know, you can do well for yourself, you can succeed, you can succeed and increase exceedingly by doing things the right way, by being straightforward, by being a person who keeps their word. You know, that's an important principle to understand, especially if you're somebody who's going to be in the business world. Or in any of your dealings, obviously, we always want to be above board with people. We want to be straight shooters. And look, this world is full of people that are crooked in their dealings. You know, Laban's one of them. Right? That's what you read about next week in the story. Where he says, You did change my wages ten times. Laban's always conniving, always trying to work out, always tricking Jacob, always trying to do something to get a better deal for himself. Right? He's not fair in his business practices. But in this story, you learn about what the deal, you're just told, Here's the deal. That deal, where Jacob, how he went about it, is described, and it shows us that he did things the right way, and he increased exceedingly. You know, we don't have to be crooked people in order to succeed in this world. No good thing will he withhold from them that walketh uprightly. You know, if we're upright people, and we walk with the Lord, you know, we will be blessed. It's a fact. God will bless us. He'll bless us in our business dealings, He'll bless us in all manner, in all the areas of our life. But if we want to be crooked and underhanded and conniving, you know, that's theft. That's sin. You don't have to be a crook or crooked in this world to succeed. Now I get it, a lot of crooked people, succeed. You know, and sometimes that's just how business is done. But you know, that's the heathen, that's what the godless people in this world do, and they should know better. And you know, I don't know how some of them lay their head down at night. You know, be fair in your business. You know, one thing I learned from a guy was that, you know, the best kind of business is repeat customers. You know, it's a lot harder to get new customers than to just keep old ones. And I don't know about you, but I don't go back to people that rip me off. I don't go back to people that give me poor service. I don't get back to people that don't follow through in what they're going to say. I don't use those people. You know, but if you find somebody who's not trying to just take your head off the first time you do in a business transaction and is fair in their dealings, I'm not saying cheap. That's another thing you ought to look out for. You know, just cheap. Sometimes, because you get what you pay for sometimes, right? But, you know, we've learned, I was taught in business, hey, if somebody, you know, when they come in here, just give them a good deal. Give them a fair price. Here's what we charge. Don't charge more. You know, we don't need to increase our prices. These people have been coming to us for years and they will continue to do so because they know when they come in here, they're not going to get taken to the cleaners and we're not trying anything. And those people that run businesses like that, they do well. They succeed. They increase exceedingly. So there's some real practical just business application here tonight. I mean, this is what we're talking about. This is a business transaction that's taking place and what you see is that Jacob holds up his end of the deal and he increases exceedingly when you would think that he wouldn't. Because he's not starting out with the majority of the flock. But he knows he's smart about his business. He knows how to do things. He's doing everything just like he said he would and it works out for him. Jacob did his part and he was blessed of God. Now that's the other thing I want to point out in the story is that in the beginning where we were reading in verses 27 and onward is that both Jacob and Laban are agreeing that God has blessed Jacob. But we also notice in the story is that Jacob did his part. The blessing of God doesn't just come on us without us not having to do anything. In our business dealing with God so to speak we have to uphold our end of the bargain too. We have to walk in newness of life. We have to do those things which please him. We needed to make sure that we're living an upright and godly life and then God blesses us as a result. And God's blessing does come through hard work. God blesses those that will work hard and do things correctly and do things upright. If you would go over to 1 Timothy chapter number 4. Timothy didn't just have the blessing of God simply because of the fact that he's Jacob. Excuse me I said Timothy but because he's Jacob just because he's the descendant of Abraham. He also had to keep up his end of the bargain. He had to put in the blood sweat and tears. He had to do his part. And the same is true for us today. If we'll do our part God will bless us. And you say well I don't know that I want to work hard for God. I don't know that I want to put any extra effort into serving God. I don't know if I want to to do all that. But here's the thing I'll go back to the point I made in the beginning. We have inherited a blessing from those that have done just that. There were others that came before us that worked hard for God that served God that sacrificed that went through things some things that we'll never experience in all likelihood. So that you and I could stand here today and read from the King James Bible and preach the Bible and understand the Bible and preach the Gospel. I mean good night. We're saved. That's the result of people preaching the Gospel down through the ages. You know Jesus isn't going to come back down here and preach the Gospel folks. We have to do that. We're ambassadors for Christ. I know you're in First Timothy keep something there. Go to First Corinthians chapter number three. So my point is just as other we have been blessed we have experienced the residual blessing of those that have labored for God down through the years that have done their part. You know it's only right that we should now do ours. It's important that we make sure we do our part. Right well I don't want I don't know if I want to you know do anything for God. Well that's not the attitude that people had that came before you you know from whose labor you're benefiting. You know if everyone had that attitude then where would we be spiritually? Wouldn't be good. You know if we'll do our part and God will bless we'll be blessed but you know what others around us will be blessed. Our families will be blessed our children will be blessed yea we may even leave an inheritance for our children's children. You know sometimes I think about that. You know my grandchildren you know I have a Bible at home. It's a you know it's one of those wide column Bibles. When I first got it I started writing in it and I thought you know I'm going to wait a decade before I write anything in this Bible. You know I want to read more and I want to study more and I want to maybe write in cheaper Bibles for a little while and kind of figure out how to do it. You say why do you want to do that because I want to put in that Bible that my children's children will read perhaps one day. I thought you know how cool would it be for you know Corbin John Russell I guess it would be the fourth right at that point if my son decides to pass on that name how cool would it be for him to pick up you know his grandfather's Bible. So here's what Grandpa said about this verse here's what Grandpa wrote about this passage. You know I don't know that my son is going to be a preacher I'm certainly not expecting him to be that's his choice. I don't know that my grandchild if I have grandchildren you know which I better by the way you know if you're doing things right are going to have are going to any of them are going to be preachers any of my grandsons if any of my granddaughters are preachers there's you know I'm going to roll over in my grave. I mean just go on record if any of my granddaughters you know dig up this sermon you know go through the old hard drives later to hear what old great-grandpa Corbin thought about you know what he preached let me just go on the record right now if you're my granddaughter and you're a pastor I'm ashamed of you. Okay for reasons you've probably already heard if you've listened to the rest of my preaching right because of what the Bible says okay but you know I thought about that that would be an something to leave to my children right but how am I going to have anything to leave behind you know spiritually how am I going to have anything of any worth to write in that Bible if I'm not holding up my end of the bargain with God if I'm not studying to show myself a proven God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed you know how am I going to leave anything behind for my kids to look back and think fondly of their you know predecessor and feel grateful that you know they are you know related to me that they that I was the one that brought them to this place that I was someone who blazed a trail in the Russell family you know that started a new branch spiritually speaking in that crooked tree right I'm going to have to hold up my end for to make that happen you know that's why I kind of shelved that Bible and said you know what let's give it another decade maybe longer maybe I'll write on it write in it when I'm an old man and just you know maybe then I'll really feel like I have a lot of good things to put in there that they'll pick up and read one day and say wow that's good wow that's good here there's plenty of things I could write that would be good but you know that's kind of the idea there if you want to be a blessing you know why serve God so that others can be blessed I mean that's the whole point of ministry folks is people why are we even in this you know why are we even doing this to be recognized to be noticed to be somebody no what a vain worthless goal you know if that's the case let's just pack it up no we're in this for people we're in this not for ourselves we're in this for the people that we're going to influence directly you know in our lifetime but even beyond that we can have an impact for generations to come that's the truth I mean there's there's preachers that have been dead and gone for decades that still have an impact today they're few and far between but they're out there maybe not even necessarily because people are still listening to their preaching online or something but just through the lives that they touched in their time the lives that were changed when they were ministering though they you know the people that they administered to are still benefiting from that ministry today and they're passing even after you know we're dead and gone and perhaps the doors have closed here once for all at Faithful Word Baptist Church there will be people in this town yea in this region and in this world that will be benefiting from this ministry from this ministry if we hold up our part if we do our part God will bless us why would we want that because sometimes people just have the blessing of God I really don't need it in my life they have a take it or leave it kind of attitude but what about all the people that could be blessed through you that's the reason that's you know you're robbing those people at that point forget about yourself I mean I don't know why you wouldn't want to be blessed seems kind of stupid but what about everybody else that would be blessed as a result of you having been in your sphere of influence the labans of this world where do I have you go 1 Corinthians chapter 3 look at verse 9 for we are laborers together with God he or God's husbandry he or God's building we're laborers together with God God doesn't do all the work God's already done quite a bit of the heavy lifting for us hasn't he that whole thing about you know dying for our sin that was pretty big that's a hurdle we couldn't get over building the church establishing the church giving us the word of God and in large part you know holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost we are built upon the apostles and the prophets you know even the word of God we have yes it's through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost but it's also through the efforts of men people that have suffered and died for this book literally we are the benefactors of that sacrifice today I gotta wrap up let's go to 1 Timothy I told you we were gonna go there 1 Timothy chapter number 4 so what's the main point tonight work don't be afraid to roll up your sleeves and do something for God in this life and if not for yourself for the people around you and for the people that will come after you people you might never know I mean think about how amazing that might be if you could have some kind of an impact some kind of an influence in this world for Christ and then after you're dead and gone that influence continues on for decades who knows how long for years and then you've been in heaven for a while and then you know a few decades a century or two goes by people start showing up and they come and like oh man I wanted to thank you and you're like well what did I do well you started that church or you attended that church and you preached you came to my grandpa's my grandparents home when they were young and you knocked on their door and they preached it to their parents and they preached it to me and I'm saved here as a result of your efforts you know that's not just a great idea that's a reality I mean think about that how could that not be a possibility that's very well within the realm of possibility you know Paul said you're my crown of rejoicing before the Lord Jesus Christ you know we're gonna I believe we're gonna recognize one another people are gonna know things about other people in heaven you know we're gonna realize who we're connected to I think to some degree what an amazing thing to be in heaven and just have total strangers that you never met that weren't even alive when you were alive that are there because of your influence it's a possibility folks if we'll work if we'll be like Jacob and hold up our end of the deal you know God will bless us we can increase exceedingly maybe not in this world's goods but you know we can have a great harvest of souls down through the ages I mean I think about this with Pastor Anderson that guy's getting people saved in his sleep it's true especially when he had his YouTube channel I mean he's just asleep at his bed and just racking up rewards because people are just listening to his preaching getting saved watching documentaries getting saved and we could say that probably about other men too but why not me? Why couldn't we have a similar experience? I realize we're not all going to go viral that that kind of that day has kind of come and gone in terms of YouTube the heyday is over but let's not just throw in the towel let's say what's the point like we could still experience that to some degree you could be your body could be you know just in the grave long deceased just bones and you could be racking up rewards because somebody who you preach to is preaching to somebody else who's preaching to somebody else it's amazing and it's real 1 Timothy 4 verse 10 but you say oh I want that well okay then let's get to work oh I want to experience that I want to increase greatly well you know Jacob was blessed by God but he held up his end of the deal didn't he? you know I I have never wrangled sheep but I've I've pushed some cows around and working with livestock is not easy you know the romance of the farm life goes away after about the first hour or two it goes away real quick the first time you've got to muck out a barn or whatever believe me when the nitty gritty stuff shows up it's it's not you know no old McDonald had a farm anymore 1 Timothy chapter number 4 look at verse 10 for therefore we labor and suffer approach therefore we labor and suffer approach you know Jacob labored and he suffered right we'll read about it next week he describes specifically what he went through working for Laban yeah he was blessed and Laban was blessed as a result in the night in the day dealing with wild animals dealing with these domesticated animals and everything comes I mean he was working hard and yes God blessed him but he held up his part of the deal we want to increase exceedingly we want other people to benefit and be blessed because of our our efforts then we have to put in effort you have to be somebody who will actually labor and maybe even suffer reproach we labor we suffer reproach why? because we got nothing better to do because we're gluttons for punishment because we're a bunch of masochists because we're just you know we don't know why no because he says here because we trust in the living God who's the savior of all men especially those that believe he's saying we go through this we work we suffer because we have the savior of all men especially those that believe that's why we preach that's why we labor that's why we even suffer reproach if necessary go over to 2 Timothy chapter number two I'll close there so you know that's why I took the time to finish this chapter tonight because I thought that was a very important truth you know it's not just a story about how you know Jacob kept and there's application we can make out of it you know you want you want to have an increase you want to have a flock you want to create some sheep you want to you know you want to get them in the fold in God's fold you're gonna have to labor for that and look this isn't a brow beating sermon I know we've got people that makes you say let's let's keep going let's get more let's keep doing the work it works you know but that's why is that why do we why do we see that increase in numbers because people are rolling up they're doing the work because that's there's no other way around it there's no easy way let me read chapter number two let's just start in verse one I'm gonna read a few verses thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus it takes strength to serve God and the things which thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who will in turn be able to teach others also I mean Paul's got the same idea the same mentality it's not just Timothy that he's blessing it's not just Timothy that he's made an impact on it's the people that Timothy's gonna have an impact on and the people that people are gonna have an impact on I mean this is how Paul is approaching it this is his perspective this is how he's looking at things his influence is gonna reach beyond himself but you know how did he get there laboring suffering verse three thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ you know the Christian life it's a battle it's a struggle it's a fight and he's saying you gotta man up you gotta endure some things you know if we're gonna have the impact that we wanna have if we're gonna reach the people that we wanna reach not just this year but in the years to come not just over the course of a decade but over the course of decades you're gonna have to be consistent and that's gonna take strength you're gonna have to be strong and as he goes on and says not being tangled with the affairs of this life not getting taken over by all the cares and the desires and things you know we're gonna have to sacrifice things we're gonna have to make sacrifices to make it work but I'm just saying it's worth it whatever that is building the corrals the watering traps getting those stupid animals in there knowing his business making it happen putting up with Laban and everything he's doing yeah he increased but a lot of it was because God blessed him obviously the Bible says that Laban recognized it Jacob recognized it and yeah he increased and he's been here for years to get there that's how it works with God he'll he'll keep his end of the deal if we'll keep ours so let's do that let's go ahead close in word of prayer Lord again thank you for the opportunity we have to serve you in this life Lord to earn rewards in heaven and Lord to be blessed in the here and now and to increase Lord and not just in ways that are typical that the world might expect Lord but you riches Lord if we're rich toward you if we're rich toward God and we set our affection on things which are above Lord we know that our treasure will be there in heaven waiting for us Lord we'll have that reward Lord help us to labor and if we suffer Lord help us to understand that it's nothing you yourself have not done we ask these things in Christ's name amen all right we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed tonight all right he's up here heaven knows the song number one hundred and twenty nine sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song number one hundred and twenty nine rock of angels sing the song