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Alright, can I get your attention, please? Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you'll turn in your hymnals to song 96, God Leads Us Along. Song number 96, God Leads Us Along. In shady green pastures so rich and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cold flow bathes the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cold flow bathes the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives us song, In the night season and all the day long. Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright, God leads his dear children along. Sometimes in the valley in darkest of night, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives us song, In the night season and all the day long. Though sorrows befall us and Satan oppose, God leads his dear children along. Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives us song, In the night season and all the day long. Away from the mire and away from the clay, God leads his dear children along. Away up in glory, eternity's day, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives us song, In the night season and all the day long. One hundred and four, lean on his arms. One hundred and four, lean on his arms. I get an usher to bring a bulletin up here. One hundred and four, lean on his arms. Just lean upon the arms of Jesus. He'll help you along, help you along. If you will trust his love on failing, He'll fill your heart with song. Lean on his arms, trusting in his love, Lean on his arms, all his mercies prove, Lean on his arms, looking home above, Just lean on the Savior's arms. Just lean upon the arms of Jesus. He'll brighten the way, brighten the way, Just follow gladly where he leadeth, Just follow gladly where he leadeth, His gentle voice obey. Lean on his arms, trusting in his love, Lean on his arms, all his mercies prove, Lean on his arms, looking home above, Just lean on the Savior's arms. Just lean upon the arms of Jesus. Bring every care, a burden that has seemed so heavy, Take to the Lord in prayer. Lean on his arms, trusting in his love, Lean on his arms, all his mercies prove, Lean on his arms, looking home above, Just lean on the Savior's arms. Just lean upon the arms of Jesus. Then leave all to him, leave all to him, His heart is full of love and mercy, His eyes are never dim. Lean on his arms, trusting in his love, Lean on his arms, all his mercies prove, Lean on his arms, looking home above, Just lean on the Savior's arms. That is listed in your regular section. We're just gonna be meeting at the location that we're having service. Where we're having service for Sunday, we're gonna have our soul winning time meet there. Also for Wednesday nights, we're just having service, we're meeting there. Tuesdays, if you'd like to know the soul winning location, just text my wife and she'll give you that information. And then Saturday, just see Brother Jason or contact him for the Saturday soul winning time. Other regional soul winning times are gonna just meet throughout the week in their various areas. Make sure to report all of your soul winning numbers to your leader. And so if you go soul winning at a soul winning time, just report your numbers to that soul winning leader for that time. It'll report it to his captain. If you go soul winning outside of a soul winning time or you have other salvations, just report those to your soul winning captain. That way we're getting all of our numbers counted correctly. Also on the right hand side, we have the list of our expecting ladies. We have several listed there. Please continue to pray for all of them as well as our prayer list. And we have several there that are listed. I'm gonna go ahead and quickly go over that. We have the Negara family, if you'll continue to pray for their health. Miss Lucy's mother's tumors, if you continue to pray for her. Brother Cameron Hall in Oklahoma City, his leg. Also a couple of our friends in Australia and as well as Manila in the Philippines. Continue to pray for their churches. Brother Paul Weathers prayed for his job situation. Miss Burns had a friend, Brian Mead, they're praying for salvation and healing for him. Miss Veronica Guzman was asking for prayers just for her health and to feel better. Also Miss Zermano was asking for her friend Daniel to pray for his salvation. And so make sure to still continue to send in your prayer requests via our email address or you can fill out a communication card. I think we still have them over here on this table and you can put them in the offering plate. Please indicate if it's public or private and we'll try to add that to our bullets in so that you have other people praying with you. And so we'll just say a word of prayer as a church family for those that were mentioned. Thank you Heavenly Father for this evening. Thank you for giving us opportunity to gather together. I pray that you be with those that are not able to be with us this evening. I pray that you just bless all of our ladies that are expecting, that you'd help them with their pregnancy, you'd give them strength, you'd give them wisdom, that you'd help those babies to just grow and have a timely birth. I pray that you would just also be with the rest of our family members that are just struggling with health and other sicknesses and illnesses, that you'd give them strength. I pray that you would just bless our church friends across this world, that you'd help them to have free course, preach the gospel, that you'd be with them, that you'd strengthen them. And I pray that you would just continue to bless our church and help us to just be motivated to serve you every day. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Baby Shower, March 12th is Saturday for the Brooks. And if you need that address, you can contact my wife via Facebook or you can contact her email if you need to or just via text message, something like that. And she's planning that. I think it's going to be a great time. Also the Sewing Seminar, we're still planning on having that, March 24th, 25th, and 26th, so nothing has changed necessarily because we might have a different venue, but we're still planning on doing that. And also we have a couple Sewing Marathons. College Station, April 2nd. April 29th is a homeschool field trip. And then May 21st is our Austin, Texas Sewing Marathon. So keep up the good work on Sewing and try to go to these Sewing Marathons. The last few times we've gone to other places it's been really receptive and it's been kind of refreshing because sometimes over here, I don't know, some places over here just don't seem that receptive, so I don't know what's going on. But I really liked the Waco one we went to last time. It went really well. And so we'll keep doing Sewing Marathons in different areas. Maybe we'll go back to Shreveport because that was a great one last year. I really liked that one. We also still have our Sewing Tribe Competition. And so whoever can get the most baptisms for their tribe will get a special prize. And then we have the congratulations to Brent and Cassandra Southern on the birth of their daughter, Audrey Kaye. And Audrey was born on March 4th, and she's weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces, and 21 inches long. So congratulations to them. That's really exciting. I think I was mistaken. I didn't realize how good a chef Brent is, so I guess they didn't really want the meal train, but whatever. You can still just give them a hug or give them a gift card or something. So they'll survive, I guess. One other announcement. Just please make sure that you're not hanging out in the lobby area whatsoever just so as not to disturb the lobby guests or the hotel personnel, anything like that. Obviously if you need to go to the bathroom or something, go, but just please don't take your kids out there or hang out out there. If you need to, just throw them in the pool. Maybe that'll calm them down. I don't know. So just make sure to pay attention or bring them back out, okay? So it's not a permanent babysitter. But that's pretty much all I had for announcements. Let's go ahead and go to our third song. All right, we'll go to song 106, Abide With Me. Song 106, Abide With Me. 106, Abide With Me. Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide, when other helpers fail in comfort's gleam. Help of the helpless, though abide with me, swift to its close ebbs, out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away, change and decay in all around I see. O Thou who changest not, abide with me. I need Thy presence every passing hour. What but Thy grace can foil a tempter's power? Who, like Thyself, my guidance day can be? Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Hence morning breaks and earth's vain shadows gleam. In life and death, O Lord, abide with me. As the offering quakes are passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 48. We'll read the whole chapter before the sermon. Follow along silently in your Bibles, starting at verse 1, Genesis chapter 48. The Bible reads, And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee, and Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land of thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine, as Ruben and Simeon, they shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begittest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren and their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath, the same as Bethlehem. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I have not thought to see thy face, and lo, God hath showed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he said, Ephraim, before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow." Let's go ahead and pray real quickly here. Lord Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity that we have to listen to the Lord of God being preached this evening, and we pray that you would fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit, and help him to explain this chapter to us, Lord, and also help us to pay close attention to the sermon tonight, so we can learn as much as possible about this portion of your word. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. So we're in Genesis chapter number 48, and Joseph and his brethren have come down into Egypt, and Jacob also came with them, which is their father, also named Israel, and in this portion of the story, Jacob's kind of on his deathbed, as it were, and so we kind of have this interchange between Joseph and his father, Jacob. It says in verse number 1, It came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee, and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at last in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And he said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land that I cede after thee for an everlasting possession. Now it's interesting that Jacob starts with this utterance, this promise that he's kind of bringing up, because Jacob knows he's on his deathbed, his son knows he's on his deathbed, and he's reminding Joseph what God had told him specifically. He had told him that God was going to multiply Jacob and his sons and his sons into this great multitude, and they were going to inherit the promised land, which in reality is pretty far from where they're at currently. Because if you think about it, there's only about 75 men that have journeyed down into Egypt with Jacob, not really including their wives and all of their children necessarily, and some of their servants. So there's a little bit more than that, but of the people that are coming from Jacob, specifically like his lineage, it's about 75 souls is what the Bible tells us, and that's not really a great multitude necessarily. In fact, we have more than 75 people with us tonight. So it's not like he's just this exceeding great number at this point in time. Secondly, they're not in the promised land. They're in Egypt, and so it's interesting that he's bringing this up, because obviously Jacob still believes that. Jacob or Israel still believes in the promises of God, but is now kind of understanding and realizing this wasn't going to happen in my lifetime. This is not necessarily going to be fulfilled in something that I see. I believe it by faith, and I know it's going to happen because God told me it, so I'm wanting to kind of pass down this promise unto Joseph, unto his sons specifically, and he's reminding him of this particular promise. Now, keep your finger here and go to Hebrews, chapter number 11. Go to Hebrews, chapter number 11. I think Genesis 48 is a good chapter to kind of really try to think about just the overall theme, rather than necessarily digging into every verse, but really kind of thinking about what's happening in this particular passage. So I really kind of want to just draw out some of the themes that are being expounded upon here, but in Hebrews, chapter number 11, it's the famous chapter on faith specifically, and Hebrews, chapter 11 kind of gives you a little bit of a chronology, gives you a little bit of a history, a timeline of the children of Israel specifically, and how they went through all their different trials, temptations, yet they were faithful, and through these trials and temptations, you know, they were thinking they were going to get the promised land, at least based on what God had said, but they realized that it wasn't something that was going to really come to fruition in their lifetime. It wasn't a physical country or a physical area that they were going to inhabit then. It was a future kingdom. It was a future area that was going to be theirs to inhabit, and it says in verse number 13, Hebrews, chapter number 11, verse number 13, These all died in faith, having not received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. So the context is it goes from Noah, Abraham, and then it talks about Sarah, and it's talking about basically how these people, they died in faith, and that's really a pretty cool thing to think about, is that even though they never saw it come to fruition in their entire life, they believed it to their dying breath. They still believed that that was going to come to fruition, and you say, well, how do they know that that's going to come to fruition? Because God said it, not because they're going to see it. They don't walk by sight. They walk by faith, is what the Bible says. So they know that they are going to inherit that promised land, and they're going to have a great multitude of descendants that are with them in that promised land, but when is that going to be fulfilled? It's going to be fulfilled in the millennial reign of Christ. That's when that's going to be fulfilled. That's when they're going to actually inherit that promised land, and there's going to be a multitude of people, and they're going to all look at Abraham and say, Father Abraham, because they're literally descendants of Abraham through the faith that he had in Christ, is the same faith that we have. That's why we sing the song, Father Abraham had many sons, right? And how can we sing that when we're goyim, right? When we're Gentiles, it's because, you know what? We're all Jewish by faith. He's our Jewish grandpa. Great, great, great, great grandpa, okay? Abraham. Now, you've got to realize, though, Jacob is also going to die having not realized that promise. Having not really gotten the promise that God wanted at that point in time, it was a future fulfillment that was coming down the pike, and it says in verse number 14, For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, and heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city. So, according to the Bible, it's saying, look, if they were so focused on the physical, they could have actually dwelt in the physical land. They could have actually tried to set up their kingdom, set up their nation in a physical sense, but it's pretty hard for Jacob to do that when he's in Egypt. So, notice that Jacob doesn't think that it was for him to do physically at that point in his life, but rather it was a future coming promise, and that's why he's telling his son Joseph, that's why he's instructing his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh, about the promises of God, and how they're going to become a great multitude, and how they're going to inherit the promised land, and that this is the fulfillment of God's scripture. Now, of course, God often will give us promises that are fulfilled in multiple ways. So, them becoming a great multitude and then inheriting the promised land is twofold. There is a carnal application of that, which is going to come, but the real application is the spiritual application of saved believers coming in the millennial reign, and so it has a dual fulfillment that is going to happen in the future, and that's what he's basically teaching Joseph and teaching Ephraim. And we know that it had a carnal fulfillment, because both Jacob and Joseph want to be buried specifically there when they return. So, they're not thinking this is only in the future millennial reign perspective, because they know for a fact that they're also going to be buried there physically when the children of Israel return back into the promised land physically. So, this is a promise that they're trying to pass down from generation to generation. Go to Acts 7 now. Go to Acts 7. And in Acts 7, it's also kind of like a little bit of a timeline, a chronology in your Bible. It kind of goes through some of the key players in the scriptures. And what I love about the New Testament chronologies and timelines is it seems abundantly clear that these guys are reading the same book I'm reading, because when they bring up all the high points and all the key players and all the events that happen, it's exactly what we're reading in the Old Testament. Why? Because it's the same Bible. It's the same word of God. We all have the same scriptures here. Acts 7, verse 11, the Bible reads, Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first, and at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren. And Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred threescore and fifteen souls. So there's your 75 people. Verse 15, So Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emer, the father of Sychem. He says, But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. So according to the Bible, the Bible's making it clear that they're not going to really multiply until they get down into Egypt. So that's one of the reasons why God wants them to go down to Egypt. And really we don't see them exploding into the great multitude and nation they are until they're afflicted. You know, but it's the more that they afflict them and the more that they basically put them through persecution and tribulation is what causes them to grow. And I believe that the same thing applies in the New Testament, where God's people grow and multiply through persecution and tribulation more than through favor and blessing. Because whenever we go through hard times or difficulty or struggle, a lot more people start paying attention. And a lot more people start saying, wow, that's weird. You know, the satanic agenda that's against your church, I mean, why is Satan attacking your church and not attacking the church down the street? And then they start kind of wondering, like, what's different about you guys? Or why is it that you guys are doing these things? And then they start hearing more truth, and the more truth they hear is actually what wins them over. It's not that we have some special recipe. It's not that I'm special. It's not that you're special. The only thing that's special is this King James Bible I hold in my hand. And the reason why other churches are losing people and dying and not doing the works of God is because they're not opening up the Bible and reading it. They're not getting up and expounding all the Scriptures. They cherry-pick the popular parts. They cherry-pick the comfortable Scriptures. They just try to give you a cute little message. They just want to read one or two verses and then just go home. Why? Because they don't want to ruffle feathers. They don't want to have to go through any persecution. They don't want to get shut down. They don't want people to dislike them. So they basically shy away from preaching the Bible. But here's the thing. When you preach the Bible, it doesn't return void. Actually, it reaches people, and it causes people to get closer to God. We need more people to preach the Bible and not just some of it, all of it. And you know what? If preachers in this area would all just open their mouth boldly and start preaching the whole Bible, it would be hard to persecute everybody. They can't persecute everybody. So they have to try and keep you small and keep you knocked down and try to keep you on the run and try to get it where you're just defending yourself. But you know what? The more they afflicted the people in Egypt, the more they grew. And the affliction in Egypt is way worse than any of us have ever seen. I mean, they're getting whipped and beaten. They're literal slaves. But the thing is, God wanted to put them in that situation to really see what they were like, to really grow them and to really test them. And here's the thing. I believe God's going to do that to New Testament Christians, too. He's going to put you through difficult times, through struggles, through things that aren't comfortable, to see what you're really like, to see what you're really made of, and to kind of see, hey, are you really my people? Are you really my disciples here? You know, to be a disciple is not easy. Being saved is easy. Going to heaven is easy, because Jesus did it all. But you know what Jesus did? He got beaten and whipped and mocked and lied about and drug through court and they lied about him in one court and then they drug him to another court and lied about him again and then drug him back to the same court. I mean, the appeal process didn't work for Jesus. I'll tell you what. And then they drug him out and they crucified him and they still mocked and spit on him and just every horrible thing you could ever imagine. And then he says, hey, let me tell you something. You're supposed to be like me. And why did they hate Jesus so much? Because he preached the truth. And why are they not like the truth? Because the truth changes people's minds. When people hear the truth, our world hates truth right now, and darkness is trying to censor truth right now, and we need people to get out there and preach the truth and believe the promises of God, just like Jacob did, just like his fathers did, just like we're supposed to, and say, you know what, even if I die never seeing it, I still believe it. Even if it never happens to me, I still know that the Bible's true, regardless of what man thinks, regardless of where I find myself. Hey, if I'm drug down into Egypt, I'm still going to believe the Bible. If I'm on my deathbed and I haven't seen all the promises fulfilled in my lifetime, I know they're going to be fulfilled anyways because God's Word is true, period. Go back to Hebrews chapter 11. I want to go back there. You know, I think that there's a Christianity out there that wants to see everything. You want to feel it. You want to experience it. But you know what that does? It takes all the faith out of it. And look, none of our religion is based on sight. It's all based on faith. Because when we went out there and we preached the gospel this afternoon, you know what, I didn't see anybody's soul start glowing after they prayed and accepted Christ. I didn't see their eyes glowing. I didn't see their head spin. I didn't see a halo come up. I didn't hear an angel chorus up in heaven singing praise the Lord. You know, I didn't see any of that. But you know what, I believe by faith that they were made new in their new man. I believe by faith the Holy Spirit came and started dwelling in that person's soul right there in that minute. I believe they got eternal life. I believe that the angels did rejoice over that one sinner that did repent. And you know what, I can't prove it to you in a physical sense. I can't show you a video clip of it. But you know what I can do? I can show you in the Bible where it says that. And you know what I like about our church is it's a group of people that believe the Bible whether they see it or not. And that's what pleases God. And God says, hey, I'm not ashamed to call those my people. I'm not ashamed to be their God when they can just read something in my word and say, I know it's true. Like, well, you haven't seen it. What about science? Well, you know what, the Bible trumps science, my friend. Have you ever read any of the Bible? Because Jesus was born of a virgin. Well, scientifically, that's not possible. It happened. Well, scientifically, no one can rise from the dead. Jesus did. Scientifically, I don't care what your science tells me, because you know what, I know what the Bible says. And I believe the word of God. And you know what, you can't explain everything with science anyways, you idiot. Well, let me explain to you where the whole world came from, science. You can't figure that out. Look, you have to believe in miracles at some point. You have to believe in the supernatural in some way. But you know what I believe? I believe this is true and science can kick it. You know, because science does not trump the Bible. Period. Now, of course, living in the world that we do today, you know, if science isn't matching the Bible, you probably have bad doctrine. OK, because we realize that science just means, you know, knowledge and the things that we observe and see today, the things that we know to be true, they line up with the Bible ninety nine point ninety nine percent of the time. But yeah, I do believe in the miracles of the Bible. Yes, I do believe in the things that I haven't seen with my eyes because I know there's another realm here. It's a spiritual realm. I know that we have a body, soul and spirit inside of us. And you know how I know that? Through faith. Look what it says in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse three. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Notice what he's saying. Every single thing that you see was not made by the things that you see. What does the evolutionary biologist try to do? What does the person who believes in the Big Bang try to do? They try to explain all the things that you see from things that you see. Oh, it came from a rock. Oh, it came from this. No, no, no, no. All the things came from something you can't see. It came from God. And you know what? You can't see him. And we can't even see all the mechanisms and devices and all the inventions and creations that God has done. There's all kinds of stuff in the invisible realms that we can't that you can't even understand. And we sometimes get a glimpse because there are certain, you know, spectrums and things that can be seen through binoculars or they could be seen through telescopes or they could be seen through microscopes. Or perhaps we can understand that even animals can see things that we can't quite see. We have inventions and tools that help us realize there's things out there that we can't see that are there. And whether you realize it or not, I mean, you look down at a surface, you know, with a microscope, you're going to see a lot of things moving. You're like, what's that? And it's, you know, there's things that are like bacteria and there's all kinds of living organisms that are there and we don't even know that they're there. You can't even see them. You can't even fathom them. There's so much to be known that we can't even know. And it's silly to chase that for a lifetime, trying to figure out all the things that you think you know, rather than just believing God's word. The Bible says that it makes wise the simple. And you know what? It's simple to say, you know what? I just believe the Bible and it's true. And you'll never be an idiot for believing the Bible. But you will be ashamed when you stand before God having rejected any of his promises and any of his word. And Jacob being an old man in Egypt, I mean, can you imagine the unsaved ear to Jacob's comments here? Hey, we're a great multitude and we're going to inherit the promised land. He's like, you're 70 people, you're old and dying in Egypt. That doesn't really make any sense when it comes to reality, does it? But that's because Jacob doesn't live by sight. Jacob lives by faith. And you know, he wants his children to live by faith. Your life is not what it seems on the surface. Your life is not what you think it is. You know, people realize or people don't realize how, you know, in high school, when you're in high school, when you're in high school, you feel like everything in high school matters. Who's popular? Who's cool? You know, all the things that are going on. And there's kind of this facade of things that are important and matter. And you really can't see it until you get out of high school and you realize none of it mattered. Nobody cares. You know, maybe in 10 years, half of you will come back to the reunion. Maybe somebody will look through the yearbook every once in a while. But it really just has no impact. It doesn't matter. It's over. And that's really kind of similar to our lives. Go if you would to Luke chapter 16. In the sense that the people who were cool in high school often end up being the biggest losers out of high school. And then some of the people that were the biggest nerds or dweebs in high school end up being the most successful, you know, the happiest people outside of high school. Why? Because high school really, it's kind of a facade of what's important. What was important being a bad boy and sleeping around and being popular and doing drugs. But then all the people that were doing that now have herpes and a drug addiction and no job. And it's not as cool as it was when you were 18, 19, 20. And then all the people that were studying and were in chess club and whatever, now they're making lots of money and they have a nice house and they're doing well for themselves. You know, so it's never really what it seems. You kind of get all excited about all these things that you think are important, but then you realize they don't matter. And it didn't really change in the sense that what you think is important or what the world tells you is important right now is not important at all. People say, oh, what makes someone successful? Well, I have a five car garage and I make a million dollars a year and I have a doctor as a son and a lawyer as a son and a judge as a son. You know, this is the family tree, you know, and we have 2.1 grandchildren and we adopted some kid from the Middle East or something from Asia and we named him Apple, you know, and we named a star after each other. You know, and it's like, they just think that that's so cool and it just matters so much, but the reality is God doesn't care about any of that. And it does not matter when you die and you stand before God and say, God, I named a star after myself. Depart from me, I never knew you. Ye that work iniquity. It won't even matter one iota. The rich man who fared sumptuously every single day, according to the Bible, he lift up his eyes in hell and he just burned for all of eternity. How much did it matter? I wonder if you could go back to that guy and say, how much fun was it to eat grapes every single day? How much fun was it to be wearing the nicest clothes and living in the nicest house and doing all these things? It didn't matter jack squat. How much did it matter that you had your street named after you and you had 18 chariots and you had all the horses that you wanted and you lived it up. How much fun was it? I mean, it doesn't matter at all. He would trade all of it for just a drop of water and he's never even going to get it. Not even one drop and in our lives, it's so easy to get wrapped up and all the things that you think matter. If people like you, if you have money, how many things are named after you, right? How much joy you have in this life. But let me tell you something. None of those things matter whatsoever. None of them. And what we often think is really important is not important at all. Oh, well, I went to a church that had 10,000 people in it. It was a Catholic church. Well, God's not going to like that. You know, I went to Joel Osteen church, 30,000 people church. You know, I was a faithful doorkeeper there. Well, did you believe in Jesus? Nope. Well, going to hell. You know, it doesn't really matter what you think you have in this world. It's a facade that's lying to you every single day. It's like the parable of the sower when he brings up the fact that, you know, the deceitfulness of riches enter in choking the word lest you become fruitful. Why? Because money and the wealth of this world and lust of this world, it's not of God the father. It's going to all perish one day. All the cool outfits that you think you have are just meaningless. It's stupid. Have you ever looked back in history and just thought like, man, I really want to look like that? And sometimes people think that, but then you never dress like that. You know, you look at other cultures. I mean, we don't look at other cultures thinking like, man, I want to dress like them. I want to wear the kilt. No, you don't want to do that. And look, the fashion of this world is going to look like trash in comparison to what people are clothed with when Jesus clothes us. Okay. The things of this world are just so meaningless. Look what it says in Luke chapter 16 verse 13. No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him. So, you know, Jesus starts ripping on people having money, having goods, you know, got really offended? The Pharisees because they had lots of money. You know who doesn't like hard preaching? Often it's rich people. Rich people do not like hard preaching. Why? Because it threatens their money. Why do people not want to house a fundamental Baptist church? Why do people not want to do business with a fundamental Baptist church? I'll tell you why. Because of money. They don't want to lose their money. They're threatened at losing their money. But money is going to do you nothing on Judgment Day. Money is not going to help you escape the wrath of God. Nor is it going to excuse your worthless life, your worthless existence when all you did was chase money rather than the truth of God's Word. Yet today churches are more concerned with money, the deacons are more concerned with money, the elders are more concerned with money today than preaching the truth of God's Word. And you know what? I stood behind the pulpit and I said I'd rather preach the truth under a tree than have this building and I still mean it. I don't want to back down from the Word of God. I don't want to stop believing the promise is God's Word. And you know what causes people to compromise? It's money. Money is always going to cause people to compromise. So you know what? If I say that, I might lose some money. It might go hard for me. And of course that's what the devil loves to attack. The devil's going to come after your money. The devil's going to poke at you and try to get that. Look, what did he do to Job? What's the first thing he did to Job? He took all of his money. And Job was the wealthiest man on the planet. I mean this says of all the people of the east, wealthiest guy. And then what happens? Just complete failure. Just complete, just lost all of his flocks, all of his herds. I mean it was worse than 2008 my friend, okay? I mean this is worse than the Great Depression. He's going to go after your money. But you know God allowed him to go through that to see what was in Job's heart. And God is going to put us sometimes in a difficult position to say, what do you love more? Do you love me or do you love money? And you have to answer that question. You know, who cares about money in the scope of eternity? Because you know there's not going to be a rich section in heaven. You know right now there's rich sections. I'm just meaning you can go and live in the rich section, right? The HOA, you got the gated community, you got the nice area. And you know what, I'll be honest, I want to live there just as much as the next guy. Sounds great. It's not like it sounds bad, but what I am telling you is living in the nice area is not going to get you a nice area in heaven. And living in the poor area isn't going to get you a nice place in heaven either. It's not like, well I just have no money so God must be pleased with me. You're just not getting it. It's just not about money. God just wants you to not care. If you have trillions of dollars and you don't care, God's pleased with you. If you have negative dollars and you don't care, God's still pleased with you, okay? It's not so much about your net worth, it's more about where is your heart at. And you know, the guy that has no money, his heart could be on the desire to have riches rather than saying, you know, I'm content never having money in my whole life. Or the guy that has a lot could say, you know what, I could lose it all and I'd be fine and God's fine with it. But you know what, when you have that attitude, he might test you. He might try you a little bit. He might put you through the wringer a little bit and see, well, let's see what you think about that, okay? But look what it says in verse number 15. In fact, let's take it to a further extreme. Not only are the things that we think are important not really important, in many cases it's actually detestable to God. God despises often many of the things that we think are so great and so wonderful because they're usually wrapped up in pride. They're usually wrapped up in just narcissism or in self just congratulation in the sense of like Absalom, building a pillar after himself, you know. I mean, and think about it, all these rich people, all these rich builders, I don't know if you know, I'll just tell you a secret. All the builders, you know what they do when they do a neighborhood? They name all the streets after them and their family. It'll be all their kids and all their nieces and nephews and their name and they try to be like Absalom and you know what, that's what rich people try to do. They try to name everything after them. They name their buildings after them Trump Tower. I don't know if you've ever heard of this place. You know, I wonder why he named it Trump Tower. Because they want all the accolades, they want all the praise. And you know what, God just thinks it's detestable. God's thinking like, oh great, you own big buildings where you have casinos? Oh, you own these big, big banks? I mean, think about the biggest buildings in almost every city, it's a bank. Is it not? It's the Wells Fargo building, it's the Chase building, it's the Bank of America building. And you know what, they're abomination on the side of God because they're usurers. And they're ripping people off and they're wicked as hell. And the world just loves to think that they're so great and so wonderful, everybody loves me, the mayor loves me, and all the city council loves me, and the police chief, and the fire chief, and I've got the presidential nomination. You know, I've got whatever it is, the accolades, the news loves me, and everything like that, while God's sitting there despising the person. God's sitting there saying like, why would you ever want to be that person? Why would you ever want to have all those accolades? You know, the people that were most respect in the time of Jesus were the Pharisees, and they were the people who God hated the most. Were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I mean, Jesus is not nice to them at any point. There's no point where, I mean, except for maybe the handful like Nicodemus or something coming to him by night. I mean, when he's met with a group of them, I mean, he's rebuking them, calling them children of the devil. And these are the people that, in the eyes of everyone, they're like, they're the greatest. In the eyes of everyone, they think like, oh man, they're going to get the upper seats in heaven, these people are so wonderful, such a man of God, and everything like that. Whereas in God's sight, they're going to the lowest hell. And the poor widow woman who cast in two mites, he said that she gave more than every other person there. And I think we just have this weird perspective on our lives, where we think all the things that the world thinks matters, matter somehow. We get caught up in the world's thinking. We get caught up in what everybody wants us to do, and wants us to believe, and wants us to act like, rather than how does God want us to be. Renewing our minds, and having a life vision like Jacob, where we're at the end of our life having no money, not in the place that we wanted to be, and saying, hey, God's going to bless us, and bring us in the promised land, and I'm going to have a multitude of nations, and just like, I mean, it doesn't match reality. You say, how does Jacob have that vision? Because he walks by faith, not by sight. And here's my question, when you die, is it going to make sense to you in the flesh, or is it going to make sense to you in the spirit? Go over to verse 5 of chapter 48, go back to Genesis 48, go look at verse number 5. I don't want my church members to say I've succeeded carnally, I want them to say I've succeeded spiritually. Have a spiritual heritage, have a spiritual vision, be excited about heaven. You know, I would be really ashamed if I got all the way to my deathbed and I thought, you know what, I haven't been sowing in the last 50 years. But I got 50 million dollars in the bank, what was that going to do for you? I've got 50 houses, I've got, you know, 50 dogs, that's really bad. I've got 50 airplanes, I mean, how many airplanes does Kenneth Copeland have? Not one of them is going to get him into heaven. He can fly anywhere in the world right now. But you know what, the one place he can't go is he can't go to the third heaven. He can fly all over the heaven here, but you know what, he's not touching the third heaven, he's going down to the lowest hell. Why? Because he's a false prophet, because he's wicked. And his ministry is a ministry marked by covetousness. He's only concerned with money. And from a physical carnal perspective, you would say he's a success. I mean, the guy's bragged that he's brought in over a billion dollars in his ministry through his lifetime. A billion dollars. I mean, how could you not say success? From the world's perspective, I mean, the guy's got mansions and planes and a television show, and I mean, this guy's got it all, but you know what he doesn't have? Salvation. And the poor beggar, the poor derelict that we went and run and knocked on his door at this apartment complex and got him saved is infinitely richer than Kenneth Copeland. And when he dies on his deathbed and he has nothing to his name, he can look at his grandchildren in the eyes and say, you know what, I'm going to a spiritual inheritance, whereas Kenneth Copeland can look his children in the eyes and he's just going to go straight to hell. And you know what, handing them all that money is going to be a curse under them anyways. Because rich people often have a hard time getting saved. Because you know what, they trust and they trust in their riches. They believe their riches have something to do with this life as having value or meaning. It really doesn't. All it does is distract you from the things that truly have value, the things that truly have meaning. Look at Genesis 48 verse 5, the Bible says, And now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee in Egypt are mine, as Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine. So what's happening is Israel has 12 sons and one daughter, Dinah. But he's basically replacing Joseph with his sons. So now Joseph has 13 sons in a sense. Because no longer is Joseph really going to be represented in the inheritance, but rather he's being divided into Ephraim and Manasseh. And Ephraim and Manasseh are literally considered Jacob's sons even though they're technically his grandsons. And that's why we think about the 12 tribes of Israel or anything like that. But when you think about it, Ephraim and Manasseh are included in that. Levi gets excluded later because he ends up being kind of the tithe, being kind of the inheritance of the Lord. So that's your 13th tribe. And Joseph's not really a part. We don't read about the tribe of Joseph necessarily because he's represented through Ephraim and represented through Manasseh. So that's what's being explained here. It helps you understand later when you go through the Bible why there's no Joseph being mentioned or anything like that. It says in verse number 6, And my issue, which thou begatest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren and their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephraim. And I buried her there in the way of Ephraim, the same as Bethlehem. So it's also telling us that Rachel is synonymous with Bethlehem because that's where she was buried. And so later in the New Testament and other places in Scripture, it'll talk about Rachel weeping for her children when we're not. But that's talking about Bethlehem and it's named Bethlehem because that's where she died. It says in verse number 8, And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, Who are these? And Joseph said to his father, These are my sons whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him, and he kissed them, and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and though God hath showed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly. For Manasseh was the firstborn, and he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, blessed the last, and let my name be named on them. And the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And when he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head, and Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, but this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. He blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God, make me as Ephraim Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers, more where I have given to thee one portion of Bob thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword, with my bow. So, according to the Bible, you have to realize, again, we've been kind of talking, I've kind of been bringing up this point about what you see is not really always reality. And this comes really true when you think about the story, you have two brethren, you have Ephraim and Manasseh, and Manasseh is the firstborn. So, according to the Bible, you would think he's going to be the more blessed and have a greater portion, but Jacob realizes that through the Scripture, through the promises of God, Ephraim's actually going to surpass his older brother, he's going to be the greater of the two brothers, be a greater group of people, and so that's why he specifically put his hands on the younger, his right hand on the younger, and his left hand on the older. And that's because the right-handed people are better than the left-handed people. So, you know, for all you out there lefties. But here's the main thing that I'm thinking about, often you would think the eldest is better, but most of the time in the Bible, the younger ends up supplanting the elder. And we think about this, how about Jacob? What happens with Jacob? Esau's the elder, but then Jacob ends up becoming the great son, right? He's the godly son, he's the one who's the hand of the Lord is on, he's the one that inherits the promises. Think about Joseph, Joseph is the youngest, almost, obviously Benjamin's younger than him, but he's basically the eleventh of twelve children, and he ends up becoming the greatest of all his brethren. Then we have Ephraim of Manasseh, who ends up being prophesied as becoming the greater. Ephraim is prophesied as becoming the greater. And you can find this consistently throughout your Bible. How about the next character that we're going to run into? Who's the next character we're going to run into? Anyone? Moses! Moses is not the eldest, Moses is one of the younger, and he ends up becoming the great one. We have other, how about David? David's one of the youngest. Now, in some cases the elder's better, in some cases the younger's better. So it's not always the younger, but I would say from my study of the Scriptures, the younger is almost always the better. Think about Cain, Abel, and Seth. Who is the worst? The first is the worst. The second is the best, and the third is the one with the hairy chest, right? That's how it goes. I guess that's why all the descendants of Seth are hairy, right? No, I'm just kidding. But we see that throughout the Scriptures, oftentimes the younger brethren end up being greater than the older. What does that tell me? It tells me that, you know, reality can be set by you when you just have faith in God. It doesn't, oh, well I'm not the firstborn, or I'm not the chosen one, or I'm not the person that's supposed to be in this position. It doesn't matter. If you have a great faith towards the Lord, God can use you, and God can put you in great positions where he wants you, not dependent on the reality of what the world thinks. Nuts to what the world thinks. Go if you would to Galatians chapter number 6 for a moment. Go to Galatians chapter number 6. Also think about this. You kind of read the story, and you kind of think like, well, I guess they sold Joseph into slavery as brethren, and they kind of got away with it. No, they didn't. And here's what the Bible teaches. You're still going to reap what you sow. That's why it's important to train your children to be a fundamental Baptist from birth. Actually, even in utero, okay? You can sing to them while they're in utero, right? But there's no benefit in letting them go to the world. There's no benefit in giving them a rum spring, okay? To let them go and try it out and see how wicked they can be for a couple weeks or something like that. You know, there's no point in just letting your children go to the world and be like the world and hope that they return. No, the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he will not depart from it. There's no point in not raising children for the Lord. And I guarantee children that are raised to the Lord are going to do more for God than if they were left through their own devices. That does not mean a child left to his own devices can't come back and can't get right with God and can't be greatly used by God. But the Bible's abundantly clear you're going to reap what you sow. And notice who is the godly child of the bunch. It was Joseph. Joseph was godly from the very beginning, and he ends up being a great godly person through his whole life. Whereas his brethren kind of have to get right later, but they're going to reap the consequences of their sins. Now, what is it that his brethren did? They sold Joseph into slavery, did they not? Okay? What happens later? Joseph sold them into slavery. Notice they're going to literally reap exactly what they sow. Exactly them selling Joseph into slavery in Egypt, what ends up happening? Joseph ends up selling his entire brethren back into that slavery by taking all their goods and all their possessions and mortgaging all their lands, and they become literal slaves in Egypt. Look, that's not a coincidence. That's reaping what you sow. Now, of course, they didn't die. Of course, God's going to be able to use that even for his glory, but I'm telling you something, because of what they did to Joseph, they're reaping what they sow. Look what it says in Galatians chapter 6 verse 7. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. For he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are the household of faith. So the Bible says don't get sick and tired of doing the right thing because you will reap what you sow. You say, well, you know what? Nuts to church, nuts to soul winning, nuts to serving God. I'm going to start living by myself a little bit. I'm sick and tired of all the stress and the drama and what did Pastor Shelley get shut down from today? It's a lot, okay? You know, I'm just going to live for myself and go where it's peaceful and quiet and nobody hates me or my friends or anything like that. But guess what? You're going to reap that. You want to be a coward? You want to abandon people? You want to go and just live for yourself? Guess what you're going to reap? You're going to reap vain friends that want to just live for themselves and abandon you. You know what I like about people that stick with you? That they stick with you when it's good or bad. That's what I like about church. Church people are the realest people there are. And look, none of us are perfect. Any of us could let each other down. Any of us could go bad. Any of us could get discouraged. Any of us could fall away. But if there's anybody on this planet that I feel like would actually care if I was going through a hard time, it'd be people in this room. Even your own blood, flesh and blood oftentimes, they don't really care that much. They don't seem to actually give a rip when it's actually difficult or you're struggling. And I'm not saying that we don't rely on the Lord. We rely on the Lord, number one. But at the same time, we're supposed to have brethren to help bear burdens with us and help care for us and love on each other. And I'm telling you, the best place to find those people is in the New Testament church. And to find a church that actually is real and is not fake on the surface. You know, where you go to church and it's all about football and about money and all this other stuff. Because then you start bringing up your problems and they're like, you got problems? Whereas you come here and it's like, of course you have problems. No, I'm just kidding. We all got problems, right? It's real, okay? And real people have real problems and real struggles and they have real life. And you know what? When you're all slaves in Egypt, you got some real problems and some real people. But you know what? I bet they were close knit. I bet they actually liked each other. I bet when they got together, it was actually fun. Rather than just eating with a bunch of pious people that don't give a rip about you. You know what? I've been in the corporate world. I've been in the corporate scene. I've gone to the fancy dinners. I've gone to the big events. I've sat with the big wigs. I've sat with people that are just super, you know, fancy and popular and well known and make lots of money or whatever. And it sucks because it's all fake. It's all fake and it's just a bunch of flattery. And you know what I noticed about all those people? They just love to brag and talk about themselves the whole time. And it's like, I want to talk about something interesting. I don't want to just hear you keep congratulating yourself over and over again. I mean, it's meaningless. And you're going to reap what you sow in this life. Why not reap from church? You know how you reap from church? You sow in church. You know how you don't reap in church? You don't sow in church. That's what the homeless people don't get. They come and they ask for money and I'm like, why don't you stay for a church service? It's like they can't even show up for a church service. We've had so many homeless people, they show up right after church service. And I'm thinking like, you couldn't even come for like the last half of the sermon or something? You know, it's like, why don't you get plugged in at church and then we'll help you out. But notice they don't actually want to serve God. And look, you're not going to reap what you don't sow. That's not a biblical principle. You're going to reap what you sow. And if you want to reap a lot of spiritual benefit, you're going to have to sow a lot of spiritual things. Go to Deuteronomy 21, go to Deuteronomy 21. Now according to the Bible, the firstborn is supposed to get the double portion. Now who is that? It's Reuben. Reuben is the firstborn, but Reuben ends up getting replaced. And then guess who gets that double portion? Joseph does. And that double portion is observed through his sons, both Ephraim and Manasseh getting that double portion. But the Bible clearly says, Deuteronomy 21, look at verse 15. If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated, that sounds like Rachel and Leah, doesn't it? And they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated. And if the firstborn son be hers that was hated, then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he hath, for he is the beginning of his strength, the right of this firstborn is his. Now if you read this, it's very interesting because it's like literally our story. You kind of have the beloved wife and you kind of have the hated wife and you kind of have the beloved son, you kind of have the hated son. And if you think about it, according to the law, what was Jacob supposed to do? Jacob was supposed to give the double portion unto Reuben. And the Bible even says that he's a strength. Jacob even says that to Reuben. But why is it stripped from him? Because he lay with his father's concupines. Because of his sin. And because of his wicked sin, he ends up getting his double portion ripped from him, stripped from him, and is then given unto Joseph. So of course, according to the law, you're supposed to do this. But Reuben basically forfeits it just like Esau forfeit his birthright, forfeit his inheritance, through his wickedness, and now they're going to reap what they have sown. That's why it's so important for you to do that which is right early on. Children, obey your parents now. Do that which is right now. Be a godly person now. Read the Bible now. Memorize scripture now. Start being a soul winner now. Because you're going to reap what you sow. And you know what? If you just sow foolishness, if you decide, I just want to be silly and play video games and rot on my brain and just be mean to my parents, guess what? You're going to reap that. You know what, children? If you want your children to not like you, then don't like your parents. If you want your children to treat you the way your brothers and sisters treat your parents, you know what? Then be mean to your parents. But if you want good children, you know what? You should be good to your parents. You should obey your parents. You should be a yes sir and yes ma'am and always do that which is right. And when your parents aren't looking, you still obey. And when someone is doing something wrong, you still obey. And you still do that which is right. Because notice in the Bible, children, there was 12 children that were all from the same mom and dad, but 11 of them turned out pretty bad and one turned out good. And the only person you can affect is you. And it doesn't matter, well, I'm not the firstborn. Who cares? Well, I'm not the favorite child. It doesn't matter. You just do that which is right and God will bless you. But you don't want to be like Reuben who had the great opportunity to be blessed to have that double portion and then it's stripped from him because he makes a dumb mistake of lying with his father. You know, being like a fornicator. Being one who basically can't wait for the promises that God has for them. Now go if you went to Proverbs 22, go to Proverbs 22. It's important for you to follow God's commandments at all times. The only person that doesn't believe that has no fear of God. They don't believe the Bible. They don't believe the Word of God. But God knows the number of hairs on your head. Why would he not care about every decision that you make? He of course does. Just like parents care about the decisions that their children make. And just how parents are constantly correcting and reproving their children and trying to make them better. God is wanting that for us and God is going to chase and discourage every son whom he receives is what the Bible says. He loves us and he wants us to be good children that obey him and do right. And when you're a wicked son, he may punish you very severely. When you're a wicked child. And look, I'm preaching to children this evening because we know 99% of the people in this room are saved. Probably Judas somewhere, okay? But we don't know who it is yet, alright? But Proverbs 22, look at verse number 8. He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity and the rod of his anger shall fail. So according to the Bible, when you sow iniquity, guess what you reap? Vanity. Things that are meaningless. You know, what is sowing iniquity? People that live the high life, they go out and they chase money. They get involved in casinos or running drugs or doing these. All the stuff they reap is vanity, meaning it's meaningless, it has no value. You know, people that are very wicked often have very bad friends. You don't get good friends by being a wicked person, by being an evil person. There's no honor amongst these, my friend. And they might seem to be friends today. You know, Pilate and Herod might have become friends because they have a common enemy, Jesus Christ. But let me tell you something, that was a vain relationship. That was a vain friendship. It wasn't like Herod is going through a hard time and is gonna call Pilate up and Pilate's like, Oh, tell me about it, Herod buddy. He's gonna be like, I don't care. Bye. You know, I want nothing to do with it. They'd probably stab each other in the back. Et tu, Brute? I mean, they don't care about one another. They don't have a real relationship. And you know what? That's why it's important to serve God with your life and to not look at things on the carnal side, but look at things through the spiritual side. Go to Hebrews chapter number 11. This is the last place I want you to turn. You know what? Jesus said that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. You gotta think about it. Disciples left everything in their life. From a carnal perspective, it made no sense. I mean, you got Peter in the fishing boat with his dad. He's got the family business. Business is probably going pretty well. He's got a lot of other family members. He looks like he's probably the head honcho. He's kind of the leader. He gives it all up to go serve Jesus. And what kind of accolades did Peter get? Oh yeah, everyone hates him. No one, I mean, people did like Peter. They wanted to kill Peter. All of his contemporaries. His entire city wants to run him out. Peter! What did Peter ever do? What did Peter ever do that hurt anybody or harm anybody? He loved Jesus. He loved people. He preached the truth. Yet they hated Peter. They want to run him out. All of them gave up everything. In a carnal sense, you would have said, you guys are idiots. I mean, the apostle Paul made it very abundantly clear that the apostles were the offscoring. They were the filth of this world. They were like the untouchables in the sense that nobody likes them. Nobody wants to touch them. Nobody wants to have anything to do with them. They're lepers of society. No one will rent money, you know, rent them a space. No one will bank with them. Nobody wants their business. Nobody wants them to get catering from them. Nobody wants to, it's like Peter, ah. You know, nobody wants to touch them with a ten foot pole. But you know what? God says, hey, when we get back here, you're going to be ruling everyone. Why? Because they walk by faith, not by sight. From a carnal perspective, you'd say like, this isn't going well. People don't really like me very much. I mean, Peter's thrown in prison multiple times. He's got a rap sheet. He's getting beaten. You know, people, other than his just friends, nobody likes him. Okay? And that's got to be tough. But Jesus said this, everyone that has forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. You know, I wonder how many churches today look like they're in first place, but they're going to be in absolute last on Judgment Day. And I wonder how many churches are in last place, but are going to be sitting in first place on Judgment Day. Be like, you guys don't even have a building. Have you seen our mansion? Have you seen our palace? For we're increased with goods. We have need of nothing. But you don't realize that you're poor, miserable, blind and naked. But you know what? They that were poor in the New Testament church, Jesus said they were rich. Why? Because he can't measure things in the carnal. Quit looking at the carnal. You say, oh, man, when do we get the fancy building? Why do I need it? I mean, what is that going to do for me? You know, when you read in Hebrews, chapter number 11, this keeps running through my mind. They're wandering around in sheep skins and goat skins is what they have no place to go. I mean, what was the coolest place to be in Bethlehem? It was the manger. Why? Because it wasn't the location. It was the people. And, you know, I'd rather hang out with Mary and Joseph and Jesus than all the fancy people in the palace and the temple or whatever. But people just had carnal eyes today instead of having eyes like Jacob, where he's look, he can't even see anything. OK, so from a carnal perspective, it's done. You know, he's like, you know, but you know what? He lives by faith. He can see he can see better than anybody. Because he has the eyes that are coming from the Bible, from the word of God, not the eyes of this world. You'd be better born blind, having faith in God than having the greatest, having eagle eyes. Because it doesn't really benefit you in this world. And you know what? How many people think that they're doing so great because they only preach some of the Bible? Oh, I can't believe you preached that verse, expounded on that verse. I've heard fundamental Baptists say it's not expedient to preach Leviticus 2013. You shouldn't preach that. You shouldn't get up and talk about it. Why are you bringing up verses like that? Why are you bringing up passages like that? I don't think it's expedient anymore. You know what Jesus said in Matthew 5? He said, Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. You know what Jesus said? The least commandment is important to preach. Not only preach, do it. Do every commandment and teach every commandment. And then Jesus said you'll be the greatest in heaven. But I'll tell you this, if you preach the least commandments in the Bible, you'll be extremely unpopular. People will not like you. In 2022 America, people are going to get so mad when you start preaching about people's hair length. You know, men having short hair, women having long hair, women dressing like women, men dressing like men, not getting tattoos, not drinking alcohol. I mean, you're not going to win over the crowds. You're just going to push them all out the building. And look, it's not like, oh, well what are you doing that causes, you know, why don't you have thousands of people, Pastor Shelley? Okay, well put me in a church of thousands of fundamental Baptists and let me start preaching and it'll be whittled down to less than this room pretty quickly. And then you would see what the church really looks like. Like let's first exercise church discipline. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 5 first and deal with that and get a little bit, skim off the top there. And then let's start ripping on all the sins that everybody's guilty of. Let's start ripping on the usury and we'll lose the whole deacon board probably pretty quick. I mean, you really think, oh, but they have such a big church and it's so wonderful and it's so grand and it's so great. Who cares? Vanity. You know what, I'd rather have a church of five people that believe the Bible than 5,000 that don't want to hear it. Here in Hebrews 11, look at verse 17. By faith Abraham, when he was of tried, offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that an Isaac shall thy seed be called. Counting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. Now do you think that he learned that in a science lesson? That people can be risen from the dead? Or do you believe the word of God by faith, my friend? You couldn't see that. Verse 20, by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff. You know what, Jacob's dying breath, he's worshiping God. He's been drug into Egypt. He didn't get to see any of the things come to fruition. You know what, he's still worshiping God. He still has faith in the promises of God. Why? Because we need to have a testimony like Jacob where we just walk by faith and we just worship God our entire lives. And we never let the carnal distract us from the spiritual. We never look at our carnal circumstances and say, you know what, I don't think that it's working. Because then Jacob had a few moments where he could kind of be like, I don't know what's going on here. I mean, especially in the morning when he woke up to Leah. You know, it was like, whoa, that was weird. And then he starts having no children with Rachel, the woman he loves. That was a pretty rough moment. Esau coming in a world with a group of people. He's kind of like, I thought you were going to preserve me, God. I wasn't expecting Esau to come and kill me. Then he goes around the men of Shechem and his sons just kill everybody in Shechem. He's just like, what in the world? Simeon, Levi, what are you doing? Then Rachel dies. That had to be a pretty big blow. Then he loses Joseph. And he's got to be sitting here thinking like, this is what I get to inherit with? Ruben and Simeon and Levi. He's like, I wanted Joseph. But then he gets to the end of his life. He finally has Joseph. He's seen God, has been faithful to him his whole life. He realizes God never left him. And he says, you know what, I'm not walking this life by sight. I'm walking it by faith. I mean, Laban ripped me off and I had so many problems in my life. And you know what? You're going to have problems in your life. You're going to have moments in your life where the physical makes no sense whatsoever. You're going to have moments in your life where it just feels like God has forsaken you. You're going to have moments in your life from a carnal perspective. You're going to think like, I don't get it. It doesn't make sense. It's all bad. It's been bad for a while. Like, when is it going to finally work out? But you know what? You just keep taking the next step by faith. And you say, I'm not going to let the physical reality get me off of the spiritual reality. And I'm going to always see through faith. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this great chapter of the Bible. I pray that we'd have eyes like Jacob, where we're less focused on what's going on in this world, that we're blind to this world. And rather we see through the spiritual. We see through faith. And we understand that we're going to inherit the promises of God through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you would just strengthen our church, that you'd give us better vision, that we wouldn't get so focused on things that don't matter, the vanity of this world, the lust of this world. But rather we'd be focused on the spiritual things. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. One other announcement I forgot to say. Sunday night we're going to have a pizza party fellowship. And game night. So if you want to bring a game after the Sunday evening service, we'll do that. Perfect song to end the evening. Song 110, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. 110, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. Song 110, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. 110. 110. 110. 110. 110. This my song through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way. God bless you guys. You are dismissed.