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. . . . . . . . Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab a song book. And let's turn in our hymnals tonight to song 452, All I Need. Song 452, All I Need. Song 452, All I Need. On the first. All I Need. Song 452, All I Need. Song 452, All I Need. On the first. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. He is all I need. He is all I need. All I need. All I need. All I need. He has cleansed and made me whole. He is all I need. He is all I need. Wisdom. Righteousness and power. Holiness this very hour. My redemption full and free. He is all I need. All I need. is all I need. Jesus is my all in all, all I need, all I need. While he keeps I cannot fall, he is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power, holiness this very hour, my redemption full and free, he is all I need. On the last glory, glory to the Lamb, all I need, all I need. By his Spirit sealed I am, he is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power, holiness this very hour, my redemption full and free, he is all I need. Good singing. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to be gathered together to sing praises to you and to hear your word preached. Just pray that you would bless this church this night. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For our next song, we'll go to song 211, Whosoever Meaneth Me. Song 211, Whosoever Meaneth Me. Song 211, Whosoever Meaneth Me, on the first. I am happy today and the sun shines bright. The clouds have been rolled away. For the Savior said whosoever will may come with him to stay. Whosoever surely meaneth me, surely meaneth me, surely meaneth me. Whosoever surely meaneth me, whosoever meaneth me. All my hopes have been raised. Oh his name be praised. His glory has filled my soul. I've been lifted up and from sin set free. His blood hath made me whole. Whosoever surely meaneth me, surely meaneth me, oh surely meaneth me. Whosoever surely meaneth me, whosoever meaneth me, on the last. Oh what wonderful love, oh what grace divine, that Jesus should die for me. I was lost in sin for the world I pine, but now I am set free. Whosoever surely meaneth me, surely meaneth me, oh surely meaneth me. Whosoever surely meaneth me, whosoever meaneth me. Good singing. Good evening. Thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist Church. If you didn't get a bulletin lift up your hand nice and high and an usher can come by and get a bulletin to you. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times as well as church stats. I'm gonna get a count for the last few days. Was there anything to report for Monday? Anything on Monday? All right three for Monday. What about Tuesday? Okay 11 for Tuesday and then today Brent you said you had two? Okay was there anything outside of that? Another two okay. All right four for today. Keep up the great work on soul winning and then also we have our expecting ladies. One to add there is Abrianna Johnson so and she's in January so congratulations to them and then also on our prayer list we have Miss Rebecca Negara please continue to pray for her health and then also the Hinckley family Miss Camelia if you'd continue to pray for her health as well. Miss Alana Proctor was asking for prayer for salvation for Annalise Wright, Cinda Owens and Nancy Holmes. I think some of those may be family some are friends and so if you'd be praying for them. Also the Morgan family's cousin's health and surgery. Miss Lucy her mother's tumors. Brother Cameron Hall has had lots of leg issues throughout his life but he just had a really bad swell up and so you please be praying for him. He's down in Houston now but we continue to pray for brother Hall. Also Paul Weathers just continue to pray give him wisdom peace and discernment for his job. The Helm family if you'd just be praying to give them wisdom and guidance. Brother Matt Ihle is asking for some prayer for his grandmother's health and salvation. The Naeem family is praying for John's health and then Suhail is gonna be traveling for a few weeks and he just asked that people would be praying that his traveling is safe and that it goes well. And so we'll say a quick word of prayer as a church family for those that were mentioned. Thank you Heavenly Father for steadfast Baptist Church and thank you so much for blessing us with women that are pregnant. I pray that you would just continue to bless their pregnancy give them strength that you would help them with their delivery that they'd have a good delivery and that you would also bless all those mentioned in our church that have health issues that you could give them favor they give them wisdom so they'd know what to do that if by a miracle you just touch their body and heal them I pray that you would just help those in our church that need wisdom they give them favor that you would just help guide them through your word that you would just speak to them through the Word of God and just use the Holy Ghost to remind them of whatever things you'd have them to know and we just thank you so much for our church I pray that you continue to bless us with more soul winners and that we could give you more honor glory each day and in Jesus name we pray amen on the back we have the few different events sports day may 29th the soul winning marathon June 12th another one July 3rd and then October 6th is our fire-breathing Baptist fellowship really looking forward to that who's planning on going to Ardmore Oklahoma who who's thinking they like I'm gonna go I'm playing on doing it we're gonna we need to get a sign up sheet put up for a Sunday and so then that way we can get a good idea I think we're gonna have a lot of people turn out for this also from Oklahoma and so it's about two hours north of here so it's not too too far we'll probably have the church van go up if some people need a ride otherwise you can care a van but it'll be a good time of soul winning and fellowship and everything like that so I'd really encourage you if you can make it'll be a whole day of soul winning if you can only make part of the day I just make even part of it and that's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time let's go to our third song 64 shall we gather at the river song 64 shall we gather at the river song 64 shall we gather at the river shall we gather at the river where bright angel feet have trod with its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God yes we'll gather at the river the beautiful the beautiful river gather with the Saints at the river that flows by the throne of God on the bosom of the river where the Savior King we all we shall meet in sorrow never need the glory of the throne yes we'll gather at the river the beautiful the beautiful river gather with the Saints at the river that flows by the throne of God air we reach the shining river lay we every burden down grace our spirits will deliver and provide a robe and crown yes we'll gather at the river the beautiful the beautiful river gather with the Saints at the river that flows by the throne of God soon we'll reach the shining river soon our pilgrimage will cease soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody yes we'll gather at the river the beautiful the beautiful river gather with the Saints at the river that flows by the throne of God while the offering plates are being passed around please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 14 it's Genesis chapter 14 Genesis 14 the Bible reads and it came to pass in the days of Amrful king of Shinar area king of Elaser Cato Leomer king of Elam and tidal king of nations that these made war with Bira king of Sodom and with Bursa king of Gomorrah Shinab king of Admah Shamabur king of Zeboam and the king of Bila which is Zohar all these were joined together in the veil of Sidim which is the salt sea 12 years they served Cato Leomer and in the 13th year they rebelled and in the 14th year came Cato Leomer and the kings that were with him and smote the Rephaims and Ashtaroth carnaeum and the Zuzims and Ham and the Emens and Shaiva Cariothayim and the Horites in their Mount Seir under Alpayran which is by the wilderness and they returned and came to Enmishpat which is Kadesh and smote all the country of the Amalekites and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hezaz and Tamar and they were in out the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboam and the king of Bila the same as Zohar and they joined battle with them in the veil of Sidim and Cato Leomer the king of Elam and with title king of nations and Amrithal king of Shinar and Arioch king of Elaser four kings with five and the veil of Sidim was full of slime pits and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there they that remain fled to the mountain and they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their vittles and went their way and they took Lot Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and departed and there came one that had escaped and told Abram the Hebrew for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite brother of Eshkol and brother of Aner and these were confederate with Abram and when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive he armed his trained servants born in his own house 318 and pursued them unto Dan and he divided himself against them he and his servants by night and smote them and pursued them unto Hobah which is on the left hand of Damascus and he brought back all the goods and also brought again his brother Lot and his goods and the women also and the people and the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Cato Leomer and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheva which is the king's Dale. Elmet and Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine and he was the priest of the Most High God and he blessed him and said blessed be Abram of the Most High God possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be the Most High God which had delivered thine enemies into thy hand and he gave him tithes of all and the king of Sodom said unto Abram give me the persons and take the goods to thyself and Abram said to the king of Sodom I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord the Most High God the possessor of heaven and earth that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet and that it will not take anything that is thine lest thou shouldst say I have made Abram rich save only that which the young men have eaten and the portion of the man which went with me Anar, Ashkal and Mamre let them take their portion. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father we thank you for Genesis chapter 14. I pray you fill Pastor Shelley now with your spirit so he can teach this chapter to us and help us to learn more about what is being communicated here in this portion of scripture so we can learn more about it and understand more about the word of God. We thank you for this church Lord and all the works that you're enabling us to do for the cause of Christ and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. So in chapter number 13 we left off with Abram staying put in the Promised Land area and before we had Lot who is pitching his tent toward Sodom and so we have kind of a divide here and now it's bringing up some more information. Some time has passed and we see here in verse number 1 the Bible reads And it came to pass in the days of Amrathil, king of Shinar, Ariot king of Elaser, Kedolahomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, that these made war with Berah king of Sodom, and with Beershe king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Sheneber king of Zeboam, and the king of Bela which is Zor. All these were joined together in the veil of Sidom which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Kedolahomer and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year came Kedolahomer and the kings that were with him and smote the Rephaims in Asheroth, Carneim, and the Susims in Ham, and the Emims in Shabi, and the Horeites in their mount Seir unto Elperan which is by the wilderness. And they returned and came to Enmishpat which is Kadesh and smote all the country of the Amalekites and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazizan-Tamar. And they went out of the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboam, and the king of Bela, the same as Zor. And they joined battle with them in the veil of Sidom, with Kedolahomer, the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Emreithal, king of Shinar. And Ariat king of Elaser, four kings with five. And the valley of Sidom was full of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their vittles and went their way. So in verse number one through eleven, we kind of are introduced to a lot of different people very quickly, several different kings. And we see that all of these people, all of these kingdoms in a sense, are kind of being ruled over by a centralized person, Kedorlaomer. But they ended up rebelling against him, so he went out to war, and basically he's retaking possession of all of these cities or these different kingdoms. Now obviously, at this point and stage, a king is kind of a, sounds a lot bigger of a title. I mean, really, these are just cities. You know, these are just like a little city with some people, and they have a king in each one of these little cities. And so, when we think of kingdoms and kings, we're kind of thinking about a lot bigger, you know, areas, nations, and everything like that. But back then, everything's a lot smaller. And in fact, even some of these kings, like Beelah, he's the king of Zohar. Zohar is considered a very small city a little bit later in the scripture, because Lot wants to flee unto Zohar. And he's like, isn't it a little one? He's like, this is a little city, or whatever. And so, it's not like these are huge areas. It's just a few hundred people in some of these cities, or maybe even less. And we see even Abraham's company when he goes to war. He only has a few hundred people with him. So, it's a very small scale, yet it's the same concept. So, you have the same concepts throughout human history, no matter what the scale is. And really, this is what I gather from these first eleven verses of this, that the heathen are always going to be at war with one another. I mean, you're going to see heathen raging against one another, and fighting against one another. They're never going to be satisfied. They're always going to be fighting. And what's interesting is, apart from the Bible, like, when we're reading the Bible, we're kind of only interested in what's going on with Abraham. We're only interested in what's going on with Jacob, or Isaac. We have to understand the whole world's doing its thing. The whole world is having, like, they're going to war, and having their kinks and yeras, and they're having their weddings and parties. They're doing all their things all the time. But, you know, the only things that matter are the things that are spiritual. So that's why we don't know about them, or care about them. It doesn't even matter, and in fact, we're going to read so many people's names here, and then it's like, we never read about them again. We never care about them again. And the reality is, in the world we live in today, we're going to see all kinds of wars, and we're going to see nations attacking one another, and nations doing all these things. But it doesn't matter. It really is very insignificant, and from a picture of history, it'll be forgotten. No one will care. It's not anything that's really significant or important, and it's vanity to want to get interested in all these fights, all of these battles, all these wars. I mean, there's all these wars raging in the Middle East, or with Syria, or there's all kinds of different parts of the country, and the world where there's wars happening amongst different countries. But see, it would be foolish or silly for us to get so concerned or interested in all those battles or wars. Let the heathen blow themselves up. Like, who cares? I don't want to get involved in all these vain, worthless, meaningless wars. And when you go and you live amongst the heathen, when you go and you live in these type of areas or with these type of people, you might get drug into wars or battles that you don't even want to be in. Things that you're not really interested in, fights that you're not really interested in being in. And here's the worst part about it. When you are at war, and think about this, we're going to have four kings versus five. And really, there's four kings that are attacking Sodom. Sodom is in the number of five, but Sodom is probably outnumbered because some of their kings are smaller, and they weren't the ones in charge. So they're probably still a smaller force, even though there's more in number. That's just my personal opinion. But what's interesting is this. Whenever you have all these kings raging and fighting against them, the only protection you have is Sodom itself. You don't have God on your side. You know, when you read about the Bible characters, and you have some enemy coming and invading and wanting to attack Israel or attack Judah, what is their defense? Their defense is to rely upon the Lord, and then He will deliver them out of that. But when you're with Sodom, you don't have the Lord to rely on. You don't have God to rescue you from that unrighteous war, that unrighteous battle, and ultimately you're trusting in man to save you. Go up to Psalms 118 for a moment. Go to Psalms 118 for a moment. That's why it's important to be accounted amongst God's people, and to be in the right position and the right place, because then when you go to war, but you're on God's team, you're in God's land or with God's people, He can defend you. He can rescue you when people come to attack you. Look at Psalms 118. Let's read. I really like a lot of this chapter. Let's start in verse number one. The Bible reads, O give thanks in the Lord, for He is good, because His mercy endureth forever. Let Israel now say that His mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that His mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that His mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me. Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations compass me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They compass me about, yea, they compass me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Now there's a lot that can be said with this psalm, but what I really want to focus on is this idea or concept is that when you have the Lord on your side, even if all of the nations, all people surround you and want to kill you and want to hurt you and want to harm you, God can deliver you out of that. But here's the thing, when you find yourself in Sodom and the enemies are coming to attack you and the enemies are coming to destroy you, now you can't call out unto the Lord to protect you. You need to be with Abram in the promised land in the right place so that when the enemies come, he can rescue you. He can deliver you. You say, what does this look like? Well, it can look like a lot of things. Obviously this passage, I think, is a picture of the millennial reign of Christ and you have the battle of Gog and Magog and eventually the whole world will be essentially gathered together to destroy the Lord and his people, but what will happen? God will rain out fire and destroy all the enemies and they will literally all be destroyed. So you can either be with the heathen and get destroyed or be with Christ and you're protected, right? That's one application, but think about it this way. If you're going to a Sodom Baptist church and then you have people attacking your church, are you really going to be able to say, well, I have confidence the Lord's going to deliver our church? No, but when you're in the right church, no matter how many of the heathen rage, no matter how many enemies come and attack you, you can actually feel secure and have the safety of God being on your side. So it's important where you find yourself and who you're surrounding yourself with. Go to Psalms 146 and do not put your trust in princes. What would be princes? Rulers, kings. Well, the king of Sodom, he's such a great warrior, who cares? He could be destroyed in battle and, in fact, oftentimes the better soldier, the better nation or the better army doesn't always win. There's lots of different factors when it comes to warfare, and you don't know. I mean, the element of surprise is a big factor. Pride can be a big factor when it comes to battles. It's not just who's the strongest that's going to win every single fight, and to put your confidence in princes is a foolish task. Look at Psalms 146. Look at a specific verse. Look at verse 3. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, and whom, notice this, there is no help. No help. Now, I wish that Christians today would believe this verse. Believe this verse. You know they look at where they get their safety? The American military. Oh, the reason why we have this freedom is because of our military. We should all praise them and get up and be all excited. The Bible says, and man, there's no help. Hey, if God wants us destroyed, I don't care if every single American citizen's in the military, they're not going to save you. They're not going to help you. Well, I'm going to put my help. The police, you know, someone's going to attack me. I'll call the police. Most people aren't trusting that anymore, but there's no help. Usually the police make things worse. They don't necessarily make things better. And hey, I'm not like with BLM. I'm not saying defund the police here. But what I am saying is that if you realize that man is not going to help you, then maybe you'd start realizing there's only one person that can help me. It's God. You know who's not going to help you? Texas. Sorry, I'm going to step on a few toes. Hey, you might think, well, I'm not in California. I'm in Texas. Sorry, there's no help by being in Texas. None. Abbott is not going to save you. Donald Trump is not going to save you. The Republicans are not going to save you. You say, how much is Donald Trump going to help me? None. How much are the Republicans going to help me? None. How much of the Prince of Texas is going to save me, Pastor Shelley? None. Zero. There's no help. Zero. You say, well, then what should I do? Well, don't try to go to Sodom and Gomorrah and live. Be wherever Abraham is. Live with him and be right with God. That's the only person that can deliver you. And you know, a really good place to be, a safe place to be, is in church. That's a place where God can help you. That's a place where God can deliver you. You know, even your company, they're not going to help you. Well, I work for this really great company, so I'm going to be protected against, you know, the economy. Look, there's no help in man. There's nothing. Don't put any trust in man. Don't put it... Alex Jones isn't going to save you. Q certainly isn't going to save you, okay? Look, don't put confidence or trust in a person. You can only put it in God. And here it is. It's right here. This is the one thing you're supposed to trust in. This is the one thing you're supposed to rely on. Hey, when you start putting God first in your life and you say, you know what's really important to me? Church, the Bible, soul winning, doing the right things. You know what? Then you can actually have some confidence when evil comes against you and know, well, God's going to deliver me. God can protect me because I'm with him. I'm dwelling in him. You know, if you're hoping that Texas or that the Constitution or that Greg Abbott is going to help you or going to save you, it's never going to happen. Quit putting your trust... Like some people think like, I really hope, you know, Trump gets elected again next year so then, you know, I'll be protected. I'll be protected from all the evils. Look, it's not going to happen. You're not going to be protected because Trump's in office. Look, I feel like some of the worst things that happened to us happened while Trump was president. When did the mask mandates come into play? Trump. You know who's the biggest promoter of the vaccines? Trump. You know who hired a faggot to be an ambassador of four nations in this country? Trump. You know who said he has no problem if Caitlyn Jenner uses whatever bathroom it wants? Trump. He said that he was going to do everything in his power to fight against, you know, a foreign ideology, against LGBTQ. And it's like, it's not hard to drop that foreign and realize we're on the target list too. Don't think, well, if Trump gets reelected, if Trump gets into power, then, you know, things will go great. Then we can get back to building that third temple in Israel. That'll make things go good, right? I mean, then we can, you know, have even more faggots in office and even more faggots getting elected to things. I mean, he was asked in an interview, what do you think about Pete Buttigieg or whatever and his husband dude standing on stage? He's like, I think it's great. Talk about sodomite deception. Go back to Genesis chapter 14, Genesis chapter 14. You need a wake up pill today and you start realizing that Trump isn't going to save you. Texas isn't going to save you. This world isn't going to save you. There's one thing that you can put your trust in is God. That's it. The Lord. And, you know, I feel like I'm preaching the choir on Wednesday night, but sometimes we need it. Hey, be in church on Wednesday night. Don't go to the Sodom, you know, stadium or whatever. There's a lot of things you could be doing with law out in Sodom and Gomorrah, having fun, but who knows whenever the next king is going to come around and steal you away and destroy you. The next BLM protest is going to come wherever you're hanging out. Hey, I'd rather be in church where there's a lot of people with guns, okay? But more importantly, they got the sword of the Spirit and they're filled with the Holy Ghost. And you know what? As much as I want to protect the women and children in this room, I know God cares about them even more than I do. There's not a safer place to be than being in God's will, period. It doesn't matter where you... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. But here's the thing, you walk right into Sodom casino and God's not on your team, like that's not a good place, that's not a safe place to be in. You don't know what's going to happen. Look at verse number 12. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and departed. Now, you got to have to let this verse sink in for a second because we never read about Lot being in Sodom. All I said was that Lot was pitching his tent towards Sodom and then all of a sudden, Sodom's attacked and it's like, and they took Lot. So then reading between the lines, what happened? He ended up going where he was headed. He ended up going all the way to Sodom because that's what he was feasting his eyes on. That's what he was setting before him. That was the path that he was lighting up and then he ends up going there. Look, people don't just accidentally go places. They start looking at it and thinking about it and planning it and then eventually they get there. They eventually, you know, that's why it's important to think about the decisions that you're making. Think about all of the places that you're setting before you and the things that you're doing and thinking. When you're constantly thinking about something, eventually you'll probably do it. If you're just daydreaming about being somewhere or doing something, you may end up doing that. That's why it's important to take into captivity all of the imaginations that are against Christ. And every thought, bring it into obedience. Now, what's sad is that Lot is taken physically by Sodom and he's probably not interested in this fight. I'm just guessing, but I'm just assuming Lot's not really interested. He's not really wanting to be in this battle. They take everything that he has. He's a prisoner and that's what sin will do to you. It'll take you places you don't want to go. And then you'll lose all the things that you were hoping to get anyways. Why did he go to Sodom? Probably for all the goods. Probably because he saw those well-watered plain. The Bible says he was super rich beforehand. He had so much goods that him and Abram had to split. Then he goes to Sodom, he lost it all. And look, people that go into sin, they lose it all. You start going to the casino, pretty soon you'll only have debt. Pretty soon you won't have any money. You start drinking, you start doing drugs, you start whoring around. You're going to end up having nothing, being broke, and all of your goods taken from you. You as a man, you go and lay with a bunch of whores. Pretty soon they'll leave and they'll take all your goods with you. And you'll have nothing. You'll just live in an apartment and it'll look like you just moved in because all you have is a mattress on the floor. Because she took all of your goods. And then she murdered her baby on top of it. I'm just telling you the truth. That moment of pleasure is not worth the consequences of sin. And I'm sure that when Lot came into Sodom, it was a great day. He was all excited. Look at the lights! It's fun here! But is he having fun now? Is he enjoying it now? Now that he's a prisoner? That's what sin does to you, it brings you into bondage. It makes you a captive. You're in prison to it. Look at verse number 13. And there came one that had escaped and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshkol, and brother of Einor. And these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. Now, what's good about this though, is Abram, and in my mind, has been a little bit slighted by Lot. I mean, Lot, he let him have whatever he wanted, he took it, but then Lot just kind of abandoned him and goes to Sodom. And really, isn't that a picture of him being backslidden? Isn't that a picture of him, you know, kind of treating Abram poorly? I mean, Abram's done everything for Lot. He's taken care of him, he blessed him, he got him all these goods, he's traveling with him, and it's probably frustrating to see him blow it. You know, there's going to be people in your life that you invest into, that you do a lot for, and then you see them blow it. You know, you take them on, maybe in a bad situation or whatever, you help them, you invest in them, you pour money, effort, energy, time into this person, you grow in a friendship with this person, you help them, and then eventually they just blow it. Eventually they're just down in Sodom and you're like, what's going on, man? Like, why did you get out of church? Why did you stop serving the Lord? Why are you not with me anymore? And I think that there could be this tendency, this mindset, to kind of think like, holy God, what's coming to him? Wouldn't that be kind of an easy thought to have? Go if you would to Galatians chapter 6. I think that's super easy. Sorry that I'm the only carnal one in here apparently. But I think that if you invest a bunch of money, time, effort, and energy in someone, and you see them blow it, and you see them kind of get taken advantage of because of their bad decisions, it's kind of easy to be like, told you so. Kind of easy to think like, well, you're kind of reaping what you sow here, brother. It'd be kind of easy to just blow them off, write them off, be like, that's what they get, whatever. But that's not Abram's attitude, is it? But that's pretty much the same situation. I mean Lot made a mistake here. Lot's not blameless. Lot didn't just like, he's not living a righteous life serving God and then just bad things are happening to him. He's really reaping the consequences of his bad decisions. He's reaping the consequences of being backslidden, being in sin, and doing wrong. But when Abram finds out that his brother has been taken captive of sin, he's suffering the consequences of his actions, and more evil could potentially befall him, what is Abram's attitude? His attitude is actually to go and rescue his brother and to help his brother. Look at Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. Brethren of a man be overtaken in a fault. Ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. And notice the Bible says, when you notice someone in a fault, and then they're overtaken in that vault, meaning what? They did wrong, they screwed up, but now they're really in a bad position or in a bad situation because of the consequences of their sin, because of the decisions that they made. Notice what the spiritual person would do. They would try to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. They wouldn't just, told you so, buddy. Tough luck. That's bad for you. Shouldn't have made that decision. No, the spiritual person will still seek to restore his brother, even when his brother screws up and totally deserves it. Look, Lot deserves this. It's not like Lot, living in Sodom, is just innocent here. No, there's a lot of consequences tied to this, but Abram's attitude is to rescue him. Go forward to 1 John 3, 1 John 3. And I don't know if you noticed this, but when the Bible talked about Abram hearing about Lot, it said that when Abram heard that his brother... Now that's interesting phrasing, because Lot is his nephew. So then why would it call him his brother? Because it's looking from a perspective of his brother in Christ. And here's the thing. We should always be on our brother in Christ team, period. You say, yeah, but what if they screw up? Still should be on their team. Yeah, but what if they rip me off? Still on their team. What if they did me dirty in the past? Still on their team. You know, there's never a time to not be on your brother in Christ side and wanting to support them. Now here's the thing. Some people get confused about what this means. They think that to be on someone's team, you can only speak positively towards them. That's not true. Obviously, if my brother in Christ is doing wrong, I can tell him, you're doing wrong. I can reprove him, correct him, even rebuke my brother. And in fact, that would be the most loving thing to do if you notice your brother's doing something really bad. Say like, don't go to Sodom. Why are you living in Sodom? Get out of Sodom. That would be a loving response. That's not not being on their team. That's actually loving the person enough to be, you know, faithful or the wounds of a friend is what the Bible says. But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You know, just tell it, oh, I love you, brother. I know you're in Sodom, but keep going, bro. Just look, I'm sure it's fun down there. I can't wait to see you down there in Sodom. You know, it'd be like if we saw one of our brothers, you know, in Christ or one of our church members or something going down to Manly Perry's church. Have a good time, buddy. Hope you enjoy the Riverwalk. Go check out the Alamo for me. Have fun. You know, you're like, what are you doing? Don't go down there. Don't hang out with them. You know, calling somebody out for that would be actually the loving thing to do. The hateful thing to do would be blessing them and encouraging them to go and make that kind of mistake or go join the Catholic church or go and hang out at the bar or go hang out at the casino or whatever. And, you know, somebody would be like, oh, you're so unloving because you told me not to hang out at the bar. No, what's unloving is to allow them to go to the bar and not saying something. So don't hear me wrong. I'm not saying being on someone's team means you wouldn't warn them from danger, that you wouldn't tell them that they're doing something wrong. Hey, if your brother in Christ is doing something wrong, the most loving thing you could possibly do is tell them they're doing something wrong. The most hateful thing you could do would be encouraging them or being positive about a bad decision that they're making. That would be the wrong thing to do. But here's the thing. Even if they're making bad decisions, you've warned them, you should still not, in your heart, desire that something bad will happen to them because of it. Like the idea of cursing your brother or something. That would be wicked. Well, look at 1 John 3. Look at verse 16. Hereby perceive thee the love of God because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Now, I think that this verse kind of works well with Abram because doesn't Abram have this world's good? He's rich. He's comfortable. Nothing bad's happening. Those kings aren't coming and attacking Abram. So wouldn't it be easy to be like, well, truth and peace in my days sucks for a lot. Like, hey, you can live with us now. Or what does he do? He immediately goes to the rescue of his brother in Christ, and he's even willing to die. I mean, when you put yourself into battle, isn't that putting your life at jeopardy? It doesn't mean you'll die, but at least you're willing to die, right? And isn't that pretty similar here, where it says we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren? Abram's putting down his comfortable life, his ease, to say, I'm willing to put my life at jeopardy just to rescue Lot, even though Lot doesn't deserve rescuing. It's not like Lot did anything to deserve it. He was wrong. He made mistakes, and he's suffering the consequence of his sin. And what's this life supposed to be like? Or this love, I'm sorry. It's like Christ because he laid down his life for us. Isn't that kind of like us? Didn't we sin, and it wasn't Christ's fault, and then we were headed for hell, and it's still not Christ's fault, but then he decides to put his own life at jeopardy and his own life at risk so that he could rescue us. Isn't that what Christ is doing, and that's what Abram is doing as a picture as well? Go to Matthew chapter number 18. Go to Matthew chapter number 18. And obviously we read some of these verses. They're pretty extreme, okay? Obviously going to physical battle is a really extreme version, of sacrifice for your brother in Christ. So when we think about these verses, we should realize that we should be willing to sacrifice anything, even up to our own physical life, for the well-being of our brother in Christ. But the Bible's not saying here that if I was to be inconvenienced to help my brother, I don't have to. But if it was life or death, then I would. No, it's like everything, including being inconvenienced, being inconvenienced all the way up to losing your life. So in any way that you're inconvenienced, any way that it would be hard on you or that you would lose something, we should be willing to put that on the table in order to restore our brother, to love our brother, to do good unto our brother. You know, if we saw a church, I don't know, get blown up or something, or we see our brothers and sisters being attacked or whatever, we should be willing to sacrifice things of our own and give to another church. You know, maybe a church is needing more ministers, or they're needing more preachers, or they're needing more soul, or whatever, and we are able to send that, send them monies, send them goods, send them preachers, and whatever, we should be willing to sacrifice what we have to do good unto our brothers in Christ. And you say, well, which brothers in Christ? Any of them that are saved? You know, there's people that have done me wrong, or are people that don't like me, or they preached against me, or whatever, but I'm very confident that they're saved. And if they ever called me, or if I ever knew that they were in need of something, my attitude should be not, well, you kind of deserve that one, buddy. My attitude should be like, yeah, I can help you. Yes, I would help you. Yes, I would bless you, even if they weren't my best bud, even if they weren't friendly to me, even if they did wrong unto me. And I see in the church even, on a micro scale, people are not willing to do this. They talk a big talk, but then reality, it's never the case. They're always like, yeah, whoa, I would die for my brothers and sisters in Christ. And he's like, but he took my parking spot, so I'm never going to talk to him again. You know, this person took my seat in church. They sat in my rocker. They stole my friend away from me. You think I'm joking. Women get real territorial about their friends. I mean, you have these friends, and you're all comfortable, and then a new person shows up, and they take your friend away, and it's like, you know, they're not even trying. They take your seat. They take your car. Maybe they even just do something bad. Maybe their kid punches your kid. And you're like, eh. But here's the thing. Is that really the attitude that we should have as a church? We're just eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and we're always just willing to just get them back and hope bad happens to them, and like, I hope pastor sees next time and rips them a new one. I hope pastor preaches against them, you know. I'll have people do this. They'll come up to me with minors, and they're like, will you preach against this person? It's like, what are you talking about? I just want to let you know this happened, and it's just like, okay, did you say something to him? No. Why don't you say something to yourself? It's like they want you to be the tattletown. They just want to tattle you. This is a bad attitude. If we're willing to die for our brothers and sisters in Christ, can't you just be a little bit inconvenienced every once in a while, too? And even if they do you dirty your whole life, can't you just love them anyways? I mean, Christ is going to love you, and you're going to do him dirty for the rest of your life. How do you feel about that one? Did you sin today? Christ still is willing to forgive you. Are you willing to forgive your brother in Christ? You know, the way that you look at Christ forgiving you is the way that Christ often will look at forgiving you. Look at Matthew 18. Look at verse 28. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence, and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down on his feet and beside him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. Now, let me explain a few things quickly, and this is not the whole part of the sermon, but when you really understand the Bible and you understand the picture of Christ, you do not have to hold a grudge against someone, even if they don't ask for forgiveness. Now here's the thing, the Bible makes it clear, if someone asks for forgiveness, you have to forgive them, period. And if you will not forgive them, then Christ won't forgive you of your trespasses, and he'll hold your feet to the fire, the same way you want to hold your brother's feet to the fire. Well, let's think of... Abraham's a great example of this all throughout the Bible. There's plenty of times where Abraham does good unto people that didn't ask for forgiveness, didn't deserve it. I mean, when did Lot come and beg for Abraham to come rescue him, or to come help him, or to get something right? When did Galatians chapter number 6 say, hey, if you see your brother overtaken in a fall, and he comes and begs you and asks for forgiveness? Look, yeah, ideally, your brothers and sisters in Christ would always ask for forgiveness, okay? Don't hear me wrong. But what I am saying is this, you can forgive someone if they don't ask for forgiveness. You're capable. It's possible. And in fact, let me tell you what, I want to do that because then I want God to forgive me when I forget to ask for forgiveness for something I did wrong. Cleanse me from my secret faults, from the things I can't even remember. Because you know what? Oftentimes, someone that did you wrong and didn't ask forgiveness, you know why they're not asking you for forgiveness? Because they have no idea. They forgot. Sometimes people are mad at someone, and the person has no idea why. They didn't even know they took your seat. They didn't know they took your parking spot. They didn't know they stole your best friend. They didn't know that you were going to wear blue today. You know, like how dare they wear blue today? You know, it's my day to wear blue. It's like it's silly. It's foolishness to just constantly be mad at someone. And look, this is my rule of thumb. If I'm so mad at someone that I feel like I'm struggling to forgive with them and it's a big deal, then I'll just talk to the person. I'll just go up to the person. I'll make it clear how I feel, where I stand, and then I give them the opportunity to basically apologize or get it right, okay? Now, here's the thing. At that point, I've done everything in my power in that situation. The only thing I can do is address it with the person, just say, hey, look, this happened. It upset me. You know, I wish that you hadn't done it, or I wish this is what you'd done instead, or something. You just give them an opportunity to know what's wrong. Now, here's what they're going to do. They're either going to apologize and get right, or they're not. In my mind, since that's their problem, I'm just going to go ahead and just not care either way. Why not? What if I just forgive them either side of the equation? What if they ask for forgiveness and I forgive them, okay? What if they don't and I just decide to just let it go anyways? How is that going to do me any wrong? It's not. And then I don't have to continually be mad at my brother or sister in Christ. So let me tell you, it's really biblical to forgive people when they don't ask for forgiveness. And you say, well, I don't know if I agree with that doctrine. Okay, how about Christ being on the cross and say, Father, forgive them for they no know what they do. Come and argue with me about that verse. Yet I've had people come to me, I don't have to forgive anybody unless they ask me for forgiveness. And I'm like, that's a weird way to live your life. Christ didn't live that way. How about Stephen? Didn't he say, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge? Didn't the apostle Paul bring up the fact that when all men forsook him, he prayed that God would not lay it to their charge? It makes me frustrated when people come up to me and they're not willing to let something go. You know what it makes me think? It makes me think, well, should I let things go with you then? Like if you want to be this type of person where you just hold every grudge and every transgression to the law, basically, this is a bad way to live your life. You know what's a good way to live your life? Letting go of any grievance, any grudge. And even if your brothers totally ripped you off, lied about you, done bad to you, you hear that they're in trouble, and your first thought is this. Well, how can I help? Isn't that what Abram's like? How can I help? Hey, I have to put my life on the line? Done. Let's go. Lot's in trouble. Let's go help. He's our brother in Christ. When would it ever be wrong? I mean, do you really want Christ to look down from heaven and look at you and be like, well, I know he's my brother in Christ, but he deserves this one. He's got what's coming on this one. Or do you just want Christ to always be like, he's on my team. I don't care how many enemies are attacking him. I don't care how much evil or how much it's gonna cost me. I'm just willing to rescue him. I'm willing to do good unto him. Go back to Genesis chapter 14. You know what would make a really good church? If everybody was just forgiving everybody of everything all the time. You know what would make a really bad church? If everybody's mad at each other for everything that they've never even brought up and they're just waiting for you to come apologize to them. You know what that does? It ruins the church. It destroys the church. It destroys the unity. It destroys the joy. And you know, it's hard to enjoy being around people that you hate or that you have grudges against. So when you just let them all go, then you can just enjoy yourself again. And you can have fun again. You can like things again. And you say, well, how many times should I forgive my brother? I don't know. 70 times seven maybe? Well, they've already done it more than 490 times. You're missing the point, okay? I get it. Some people need a lot. But at the end of the day, don't get this mentality of, well, I'll forgive people if they deserve it. And they only deserve it if they ask for forgiveness. You're kind of missing out on some other aspects of the Bible here. And yeah, the law says eye for eye, tooth for tooth. But see, there's a thing called mercy. And I'm so glad that I'm not going to get what I deserve. You know what I deserve? Hell. For all of them with eternity. But you know I'm not going to get it. So then why would I want my brother to get what he deserves? I don't want anybody to get what they deserve. I want us all to get grace and mercy and be long-suffering with people. And you know what? I want you to do that to me. I don't want y'all to sit here and pick me apart and be like, but Pastor Shelley, he forgot my kid's name. Or you know, Pastor Shelley forgot that's my kid's birthday. It's like, I don't know any of your kid's birthdays. Leah's was Dylan's birthday. I remember that one. It's like, I don't know. Or it's like, Pastor Shelley said the wrong name. Or Pastor Shelley parked in my parking spot. Or Pastor Shelley moved the building five minutes away. It's like, I want you to be long-suffering and charitable with me too. It's a two-way street. And if you want people to be that way to you, just go ahead and start being that way to everybody else. And even if you don't do it, Christ will do that to me. And that's the best person to have do that for me. Look at verse number 15. The Bible says, And he divided himself against them and his servants by night and smote them and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods and also brought again his brother Lot and his goods and the women also and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kedor Laomer and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's deal. Now, what's interesting about this is when Lot's with Sodom, they lose and they're taken captive. When Abram goes to battle, not a single person dies. You say, why? Because the Lord was on his side. Hey, when the Lord sees you saying, you know what, I want to rescue Lot and I'm going to put my life on the line and I'm going to do good unto my brother, it's going to be amazing when God's there with you, standing beside you and showing that same charity. Hey, their entire team didn't even die. And they won the battle, they slaughtered everyone, they got all the goods. This is just a picture of Christ. You know, when Christ goes to battle, you're going to win. Hey, when Christ comes in Revelation 19 and the sword proceeds out of his mouth, all the enemy die and we all win. Like, nobody is a loser on Christ's team. There was no casualty. There was like nobody that got sacrificed. It was just win. It's what Trump says. He's going to get tired of winning or whatever. The only way you win is when you're on Christ's team. But what's also interesting about this story is notice that Abram did not just save Lot. He saved all of Sodom, didn't he? And all the goods. Because it's just like Christ who is the savior of all men. Especially to them that believe. Now here's the thing. Just because Jesus Christ is the savior of all men doesn't mean everybody's going to heaven. And just because Abram saved everybody in Sodom doesn't mean all of them are going to get saved. Who's the only person that's saved? It's Lot. And isn't it sad that people literally reject their own savior? They won't even embrace their own savior. Just like Abram rescuing all of Sodom, they still don't change. They still don't get right with the Lord. They don't want to live with Abram. They don't want to get under his wing in shadow. What does Sodom even want? He wants the people. He doesn't want the goods. It says in verse number 18, And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. He was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. So notice this Melchizedek comes out of nowhere and he explains what happened. He's like, the reason why you want Abram is because God delivered all of the enemies into your hand. It wasn't because Abram was just a better fighter or stronger or anything like that. It's just God was on his side and so God delivered all of the enemies. And this Melchizedek comes out of nowhere. He's king of Salem. If you go to Hebrew 7, go there for a minute because we'll go there in a minute. But look at verse number 2. It explains that the word Salem actually means peace. Now, I don't have to go to the Greek or the Hebrew. I just go to the English. The best way to figure out what things mean is just let the Bible tell you what they mean. Get some guru or some lexicon or somebody else. Look what it says in Hebrews 7, verse 2. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Notice it's telling you very specifically the word Salem means peace. And we think about the city, Jerusalem. What does that mean? City of peace. And notice God is a God of peace. You know? I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. You know, people want to make us out to be these war-hungry people that are just always looking for a fight. I'm looking for peace. It's what I say that causes them to get all riled up and want to fight me. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. Now, what's also interesting about Melchizedek is he's the king of peace. In Isaiah 9-6, I won't have you turn there, but it calls Jesus Christ as a prophecy. He's the prince of peace. And what does prince mean? Ruler. So it's similar. King of peace, ruler of peace, and that this priest is the priest of the most high God. Now, who is this Melchizedek? He just like randomly shows up. Well, I believe it's very clear, especially when you study Hebrew 7. We'll look at a few verses here. But it's Jesus Christ, okay? Because he is the priest of God, okay? He's the one that does all the functions for the Lord. He is the priest of the most high. And when we think about the priests in the Bible, we have the Aaronic priesthood, which they were priests, but there's a priesthood that predates them. And then Jesus Christ is called after the order of Melchizedek. Why? Because it's that priesthood that's forever, okay? It's always been established. Jesus Christ has always been the priest of God. And think about it. What does the priest do? Doesn't a priest intercede for the people to God? What does the priest do in the Aaronic priesthood? They take the sacrifices and they offer them for the people to make them right with God, to sanctify them before the people. So what would the high priest of God the Father do? Oh yeah, he sanctifies the people with the sacrifices unto God to sanctify them. The problem is in, well, the difference really is that in the Aaronic priesthood they use goats and sheep and whatever, but those aren't acceptable. So then the high priest had to offer himself. So he has to enter into his own world, sacrifice himself, and then put the priest hat back on and go up and put it and sprinkle it on the altar to make us right with God again. But this priest has always been there. And he shows up and Abraham gives tithes unto Melchizedek. Now, it's interesting again because Abraham's like the greatest person on the earth at this time. And then there's this random person that Abraham's just immediately paying tithes and respecting unto him. Why? Because it's Jesus. Because it's the pre-incarnate Christ that's there. He immediately shows homage unto the Lord. It says in verse number 21, And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons and take the goods to thyself. Verse 22, And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the Messiah God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich. Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Ein or Eschol or Mamre, let them take their portion. So, Abram pays tithes to Melchizedek, which yes, tithing was a doctrine before the law, FYI. Okay, sorry to burst your bubble. It was mentioned here. I know a lot of people get really mad about this doctrine, but I'm just telling you that's what the Bible says. Can you imagine Abram being there like, uh, Jesus, tithing is part of the law. He's like, I haven't even given the law yet. No, he paid tithes right then and there, didn't he? And you see this as mentioned in a proverb. The Bible talks about honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. And so, the Bible, and look, the proverbs are not law-specific. They're timeless truths. You're not going to read the proverbs and be like, well, that's Old Testament proverbs. I want some New Testament proverbs. It's like, it's proverbs. It's just true, okay? Proverbs isn't giving you really specific commandments about the law because it's timeless. Just like Psalms and Proverbs, I mean, these are timeless books. That's why a lot of people have a New Testament and then attach to just Psalms and Proverbs because they're just timeless truths and they have spiritual pictures all the way throughout them. And so, you know, the tithing is a picture of that. But, you know, Abram's not a guy that cares about money. We already saw that. He didn't choose to be in the well-watered plain. Lot did, didn't he? Abram is willing to give tithe, which is another picture of not caring about money because giving it away from a carnal perspective is not the best way to get money, okay? Just FY. But it is if you understand God's commandments. Another thing is that when the king of Sodom's offering money unto Abram, he doesn't want it. He's even entitled to it because he won the war. He won the battle. But he doesn't want anybody to be able to look at Abram and say, he's rich because of the money from Sodom. Why? Because some money is dirty money. The Bible calls it filthy lucre or unjust gain or dishonest gain. Now here's the thing. Money in and of itself is neutral. It's not positive or negative, okay? It could be a positive thing. It could be a negative thing. But here's the thing. Some money can be considered bad. It's called filthy or dishonest or unjust. And what are some of the things the Bible describes as usury? Usury is always unjust gain. It's always filthy lucre or an unjust weight, meaning that you're stealing from people from fraud. You're ripping people off. You're tricking them. You're deceiving them. The Bible talks about holding back wages would be a form of unjust gain or dishonest gain. There's lots of ways to make money that are fine and legitimate, and there's ways to make money that are wrong, that are bad, that are sinful. Obviously in our modern understanding, casinos, banks, people that are lending money and making money off of interest and usury, selling things that are sinful, like liquor and prostitution and gambling, just all these things, you know, all of that arena would be an unjust gain, would be a filthy money. And notice Abraham's attitude. I want none of it. Don't give me any of that unjust gain. Don't give me any of your filthy lucre. I don't want it. What does he want? He just wants his people back. And what does Sodom want? It didn't even want the money. It wanted those people, because it just wants to destroy the souls of men. They don't even care about the money. You know, there's people today, the filthy rich today, money doesn't mean anything to them anymore. They've already conquered all of that. All they want is to destroy and drag down as many people with them as they can. Go to Hebrews 7, we're going to finish. Go to Hebrews chapter 7, we're going to finish. And, you know, when I think about this chapter and whole, I really see it as two different things. Are you in it for the money or are you in it for the people? Lot was in it for the money. Abram was in it for the people. And you see that as a consistent theme throughout the Bible. Jesus, was he in it for the money or was he in it for the people? He didn't have anywhere to lay his head. He already had all the money. He was in it for the people. He was willing to give up all his money in order to rescue the people, in order to save the people. And most people are willing to burn everyone just to get a buck, just to get some more money. Now, Melchizedek is mentioned here in Hebrews chapter 7, and I want to point out a few things. It says in verse number 1, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God abideth a priest continually. Now, this gives us more insight to who Melchizedek is. First of all, he just shows up randomly. But that would make sense based on the descriptions of him. It says he's without father and without mother, specifically without descent. What does that mean? That's picturing someone like Adam. Think about Adam. Did Adam have a mom and a dad physically? No. From a physical perspective, he was without descent. Yet, we understand that, obviously, he's the son of God in the sense that God was his birthing agent in the sense that he was the one that begat him, he's the one that brought him to be, he's the one that brought him into existence, okay? Because the term son of God could mean three things. It could mean Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God from maternity past. It could mean that you are saved because you're a child of God, you're a son of God. Or it could mean that you have no earthly father. God is your father, okay? So Adam and Jesus are both the son of God because they have no earthly father in that instance. But we are also the sons of God because we believe in Jesus Christ and we become his children, yet there's also only one son of God, okay, which is Jesus Christ. So you have to understand these phrases can mean a few different things, but the Bible is telling us that this Melchizedek is made like unto the son of God. Now, when we talk about the son of God in verse number 3, we're talking about a very specific definition of the son of God. It's not the definition where it's that you don't have an earthly father and mother only, where it's just like God was the one that begets you, and it's not just us. It's talking about Jesus specifically because it also has this description, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Now, here's the thing. Does Adam have a beginning of days? Yes, so that's not him. Do we have beginning of days? Yes, so it's not us. But does Jesus have beginning of days? No. Now, here's another thing that's interesting. If Melchizedek doesn't have beginning of days, and we know Jesus is from everlasting, he has no beginning of days, here's another question. When was Jesus Christ the son of God? From everlasting. Notice what it says. But made like unto the son of God, abide of the priest continually. So the son of God has these characteristics. No beginning of days, no end of life. So when did the son of God exist? Always. And it's funny because people like Tyler Baker will look at this verse and use it as a proof text that the son of God came into existence in Mary's womb. I'm not joking. He'll look at this and say, well, see, it says without father because Jesus is his own father. It's like, you're just an idiot. I mean, I'd imagine him being David where he's just like pretending to be retarded. That's what I expect for Tyler Baker to do when he's preaching on this topic because he's so idiot. He's such an idiot. He's such a fool. This does nothing but prove that Jesus Christ has always existed. That's it. And it proves that Melchizedek is that person because there's only one person that fits the subscription of having neither beginning of days nor end of life. It's the son of God. So it's saying this Melchizedek's like the son of God. Why? Because he is the son of God, okay? Now it says in verse 4, now consider how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of his wealth. Because it's like, look, Abraham's the greatest guy on the planet. So if Abraham's immediately submitting to this person, he has to be better. And it's like, where did he come from? He's always been. Okay? It says in verse 5, and verily they that are the sons of Levi who received the office of the priesthood have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law that is of their brethren though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promise. So he's saying the Aaronic priesthood has tithes as a commandment and the priests take tithes. But he's saying this other person, Melchizedek, took tithes which has nothing to do with the law and Abraham paid them to him. So who is Abraham paying tithes to? Jesus. Okay? It says in verse number 6 but he whose descent is not counted from... I'm sorry, verse 7 and without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better and here men that die receive tithes but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. So he's saying even though you may pay tithes to man today it's Jesus Christ that's really receiving them. And that should be good news because if you pay tithes to Hophni and Phinehas you know, who knows what they're wasting it on but then you can know at least Jesus received them. Jesus got them. And whenever Hophni and Phinehas are blowing your tithe money he'll end up taking their life and get them out of the way and have somebody else put them in there. You know, because it would be kind of frustrating to have Hophni and Phinehas as your priests and be like, should I pay tithes or not? Look, you're not paying tithes to the man you're paying tithes to Jesus. And you say, since when? Since the beginning. He's always been the priest. He's always been the person there to receive them. And obviously he showed up physically so that Abraham could physically pay tithes unto him but you know, we don't have Jesus physically showing up here so we pay tithes to our church but it's really Christ that's receiving them. But here's the thing, paying tithes here's a question is that because Abraham's in it for the money or for the people? You're not paying tithes for the money you're paying tithes for the people, aren't you? The people that are going to be influenced because what's the picture of giving money to Melchizedek or the priesthood or whatever? It's so that the church can thrive and more people can be saved and the work of the Lord can go forward. And the only thing we can take out with us is souls. Hey, if we don't believe in tithing the church can be a lot smaller and we can do a lot less. A lot less soul winning trips a lot less soul winning marathons a lot less fellowship activities have a worse building less sodomite deception I don't know how effective that is right now but hey, you know, less stuff going on but the more that we're doing what God actually says the more people we can rescue and save and bring out with us. Abraham wasn't in it for the money he was in it for the people. And you know, minister you know, you want to be a minister here's my question do you want to be a minister for the money or for the people? Please do not choose money because it's not worth it. You want to make lots and lots of money it's not being a minister. It's not being a soul winner it's not tithing at your local church that person's in it for the people. The person that's in it for the money never, you know, obviously I'm speaking in jest obviously don't tithe, don't go to church work overtime but here's the thing didn't we notice that lot is not tithing, not serving the Lord going to Sodom so what happened to all his goods? He lost them all. And then the guy that's what? Tithing and he's not in it for the money God just blesses many he has an opportunity to just take all of this filthy luke around himself and he says no and he's still filthy rich and I'm saying okay, that's a bad wording he wasn't filthy rich he was heavenly rich I'm correcting myself, alright? So you don't have to go to Titus chapter 1 the last one is for you to look Titus chapter 1 Look, what is it? Why are we here? Don't be in it for what you can get out of it What can you put into it? And again, that will help you with your attitude towards people like hey, I'm really mad at this person well don't don't think about what you're going to get out of that relationship or what are you going to get out of helping people just see what you can put in just give it your all you know and Christ is going to bless you and be with you when you're doing it and I notice the people that are the most generous often are the same people that have the most money and the people that are most stingy and the people that don't help and don't bless other people usually struggle their whole lives You say why? It's a paralax I'm sorry, it's a it's a conundrum Paradox, yeah, thank you It doesn't make sense carnally It makes sense spiritually Look at Titus chapter 1, look at verse 9 holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers specially they of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not notice this phrase for filthy lucre's sake so many people are ministers today for the money You look at our nation today what is the majority of churches, pastors, preachers what is their main motivation? It's money It's sick It's sick We have an epidemic of ministers that are in it for the money today We need to be different We need to be a church that's not in it for the money that's not in it for what we can get out of it but we're in it for the people Best thing you can do is just kiss all your goods goodbye and just say I'm in it for the people and then watch God bless you anyways and you say what if He never does? Who cares? You can't take it with you You're like what if I never get super wealthy like Abraham He lost it all anyways His children blew it Eventually it was all gone because they had to go to Egypt and then they got it all back and then their children blew it again and then they got it all back and then they blew it again Who cares? You know you can get out of this world the people and whenever you see a lot in your life and maybe there is a lot in your life maybe there is someone that's struggling, hurting, done you wrong, done bad and you say I really am enjoying their wallowing in the mire That's the wrong attitude You should be like I want to just forgive that person and I want to help them and I want to even rescue them and I'm willing to lay down my life Thank you Father so much for your word Thank you for these pictures that you give us of Abraham and how they ultimately picture what you did for us sacrificing your life and I pray that we can be motivated by your sacrifice, by your love, by your forgiveness by your mercy, your grace, your long suffering to love our brother the same way to have charity in our heart towards our brother and if someone does us wrong or does us evil that we would just be reminded of the big debt that you've forgiven of us and that we could just let things go that we could still just be loving towards them and we could wish well for them and that we understand that we're just in it for the people that we'd have the right heart In Jesus' name we pray, Amen Alright for our last song we'll go to song number 90 Jesus, Lover of My Soul Song 90, Jesus, Lover of My Soul 9-0, Jesus, Lover of My Soul Jesus, Lover of My Soul Jesus, Lover of My Soul Lead me to thy bosom fly While the nearer waters roll While the tempest still is high Hide me, O my Savior, hide Till the storm of life is past Safe into the haven guide I'll receive my soul at last Other refuge have I none Hangs my helpless soul on me Leave, I'll leave me not alone Still support and comfort me All my trust on thee is stained All my help from thee I bring Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of thy wing Thou wilt cry, start all I want More than all in thee I find Raise the fallen, cheer the faint Heal the sick and lead the blind Just and holy is thy name I am all unrighteousness Violent, full of sin, I am Thou art full of truth and grace Plenious grace with thee is found Grace to cover all my sin Let the healing streams abound Make and keep me pure within Thou of life the fountain art Freely let me take of thee Spring thou up within my heart Rise to all eternity God bless you. Thank you for coming. You are dismissed.