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Amen, okay so Genesis chapter 24 and like I said we're going to try and do this in at least two parts. We were in Genesis 23 just to remind you kind of how we're going through chapter by chapter and Genesis 23 we saw Sarah die at 127 years old and we briefly looked back at her life and then at how Abraham wanted a burying place that he could bury his dead out of his sight we looked at you know the reasons for burial and we looked a bit at that and the examples in scripture the desire for it to be kept as a memorial how Abraham didn't want his wife to share of sepulchre with people of the land and how we do want our family sorry we don't want our family to share death with the people of the land right and we looked at that as well we also saw how respectfully Abraham handled it he didn't try to just cause strife for the sake of strife how he did though reject the offer of it being for free though didn't he so he still stood firm on that um and I was thinking about proverbs 22 seven when I was writing this introduction the rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender that's a good good uh kind of principle to think about in life isn't it there as well uh he didn't want to just be given this land and then be kind of in their pocket a little bit um and often when you do people favors they end up trying to exert some sort of power over you as well don't they um Abraham made it sorry when they do you favors that is um Abraham made it a fair and square exchange in front of many witnesses and we're just going to look at the law at the end of that chapter again um and then go into chapter 24. It said in verse 17 of chapter 23 in the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah which was before Mamre the field and the cave which was there in and all the trees that were in the field that were in all the borders round about were made sure unto Abraham for possession in the presence of the children of heth before all that went in at the gate of his city and after this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan and the field and the cave that is there in were made sure unto Abraham for possession of a burying place by the sons of heth and then chapter 24 verse 1 begins with and Abraham was old and well stricken in age and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. I'd like to pray before we get going with chapter Lord um I thank you for this well what a great chapter the Bible and a chapter which um clearly pictures um well there's a few pictures there of certain things certain principles and certain things to come as well Lord please help me to just just preach this message accurately Lord please feel with your spirit help me to preach exactly what you'd want me to preach here Lord help people to have attentive ears and and you know to just really look at what the Bible's saying here Lord and and just help all these things to be done in Jesus Christ's holy name amen. Okay so we're we're uh in chapter 24 verse 1 just to remind you again it said and Abraham was old and well stricken in age and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things so he was at peace with those around him at this point wasn't he in life he had it had Isaac in an old age which was a real blessing wasn't it he didn't have want of anything it seemed he had a successful business everything seemed to be uh to have gone well for Abraham um by this point in his life it says in verse 2 and Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house that ruled over all that he had put I pray thee thy hand under my thigh and I will make thee swear by the Lord the God of heaven and the God of the earth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell but thou shalt go unto my country unto my kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac. Now for me this is some sort of alternative to a to a handshake and before you all start doing this you know you can if you really want but I just think um look I can imagine you being pretty much eye to eye with an agreement like this you got your hand under someone's eye it's kind of bringing you close to say look this is a big deal what you're doing here right um Jacob uh does the same thing with his son Joseph uh before before he ends up dying to get him to swear about taking him to that family burying place that we talked about last week this seems to be some sort of customary thing they do when they're making sort of a an important sort of promise to someone um and the first lesson here in this sort of promise that he's making here is that Abraham the man of God doesn't want his son marrying a daughter of the land okay and that's something that we're just going to talk about briefly um because it's not just his preference okay he didn't say look I just kind of you know if you could just try your best I mean he did the thigh thing okay when someone does the thigh thing you know they're serious here right okay he got his hand under his I'm doubting it was a sweaty thigh I don't know okay but he got his hand under and he was like right I want you to make a promise here okay he said swear by the Lord okay and when you swear by the Lord it's serious business isn't it and they they look that lot had been pretty nice to him it seemed over the whole Sarah burial but he wasn't going soft because of that was he because you can do that you can just think well look they're not that bad if you're getting on with kind of the world around you you can start to kind of compromise a little bit now the obvious application here is to not marry a daughter of the land and vice versa isn't it um and vice versa meaning you know for save ladies not to marry men of the land as well go to 2nd Corinthians 6 what's the problem what is the problem because uh most churches probably don't preach this sort of message anymore do they surely if he or she is nice they love each other what's the problem right love conquers all you hear some people say don't they it love conquers all boundaries you know and all of that sort of stuff well in 2nd Corinthians 6 Paul said this he said in verse 14 of 2nd Corinthians and chapter 6 verse 14 reads be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion have light with darkness what does it mean to be yoked or it's to be joined coupled together the picture is two animals yoked together to share a burden okay so they're joined together you know and often there'll be an actual sort of you know it's like i think before it was like almost like a long length of wood or two bits across them and then they'd be pulling with that they're joined together to do that and is there anything much more joining the marriage there's much in the world that's more being more joined together more coupled together than a husband and wife in marriage you have to turn to matthew 19 5 jesus said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh that's pretty joined together isn't it how would how would that joining that yoking be unequal then well here it's a believer being yoked with an unbeliever said in verse 14 be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion has light with darkness and let me tell you what happens when you what when you yoke to unequal animals together the stronger animal's productivity is reduced to that of the weaker animal so the stronger animal cannot do more because they can't pull on they could try and pull along the week the weaker animal but ultimately they're just going to be reduced to what their workload is okay and and look that's often what happens happens with unequal marriages isn't it people think well it's not so bad they're unsaved or sometimes look one gets saved right and a lot of the time we go out and get people saved maybe they're already married and they get saved and they've they've got an unsaved spouse and look often if and what will generally happen if that spouse doesn't get so new if they do get saved doesn't mean they're going to necessarily serve god but especially if that spouse doesn't get saved look they're not going to suddenly just start you know be on fire for the lord while their unsaved spouse is at home you know and it's just oh it's all right they're just doing their thing for god what happens is they'll just get slowly pulled out of church how often do do our unsafe family members unsafe friends who aren't yoked with you still try and hinder you and pull you out of church and you and and let me tell you spouses will do the same won't they and that unequal yoking becomes a massive problem okay and and look people think well is it the end of the world we really love each other i'm sure they'll change i'm sure they'll accept me for what i do and everything else it doesn't work like that okay you're gonna have all sorts of problems you know how you raise your children what you teach your children what you do with your children especially not just being saved but you're trying to actually live for god as well against someone who does not love the things of god because they're not even saved how can they right and massive problems come from that and look you can't stress this stuff enough you know and and this is a hard message because it's not i mean where are all the safe people right you know if you're single in a church like this it's not like you're just looking around going well you know we've got like 20 great churches in the nation and all these other people that are in and out of them you know it it can be tough and i'm sure the temptation is so they're unsaved i might get them saved right but look it's it's that's a risky game oh we're going to talk about that again in a second look at verse 15 it says on what concord hath christ with belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel and belial is just another name really for the devil and what agreement had the temple of god with idols for ye are the temple of the living god as god has said i will dwell in them and walk in them and i will be their god and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the lord and touch not the unclean thing and i will receive you and will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the lord almighty you go well it's not like they're the devil but the problem is is that an unbeliever ultimately isn't of god and they can they have some form of faith and they it's some form of false faith and who's behind all forms of false faith who's behind every idol and if all the gods of the world are idols then and the the devil's behind every idol then every sort of any other sort of faith ultimately is of the devil isn't it and now you could go in that you got there's a real extreme and that could be i mean poor people who are saved and married to some sort of reprobate or something i mean that's just i mean that's doesn't even bear thinking about and and that that sort of possibility as well because it's not like well they are there aren't or are if you you're you're saved and you're married to someone that's not that could eventually be a reality in the future as well couldn't it okay however however um let's just look at just just when it comes to unsaved because look there are many applications that passage but marriage for me is a no-brainer okay that's an obvious one here and that's what we're talking about here in the context genesis 24 and the obvious point would would be not marrying an unbeliever because you you can't just assume they'll get saved okay and i'm kind of talking to like kids growing up here talking to singles here either now or maybe in the future people that might watch this in the future as well um now some would would say well look you need to make sure they're not just saved but in a church soul winning three to thrive and i've kind of preached a similar message before and i've kind of changed my mind a little bit on that okay for for this reason because i i would say look i would say if you're a single lady now for the youngsters here in the future okay that would be important okay i i would say that still counts so and here's the thing is that really as a single lady there's girls growing up here and there's those in the future you kind of got better you kind of there's there's more choice ultimately because what's going to happen with a church like this is a general rule as a real church with the real things of god doing things properly you're going to have more men in it okay that's just the way it goes and i'll tell you why because as a general rule and it's not always the case women will need leading to a proper church because women are like we see in many places in the bible they are more likely to be deceived that's the truth of it they're more likely to be prayed on and to end up in the joke church in the liberal church in somewhere along those lines for for adam was first formed then eve adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression okay it's just a fact of life they are the weaker vessel and the weaker vessel spiritually that's not always the case and we have some some great ladies in this church that have of their own volition decided to come to this church but that's not that's not what you'll see across the board but for those women though the last thing they want to do is be trying to lead a backslidden weak christian male to church because their relationship's a complete mess then and that they can't guarantee that they're going to be able to do that because the whole thing's the wrong way around right so for the women i would say look girls growing up here and some of you might be a bit young and i'm thinking you'll probably never remember this but maybe you look back on it or this is a message we'll keep preaching as well you need to think about that because look you think you're going to well he's you know he's such a nice guy i'm sure you know yeah well he's saved you know he seems to be saved but he just never turns up at church and never does anything believe me that is not a good option for you okay there's enough men who are willing and and ready and willing to come to churches proper churches like this and others around the world and and be free to thrive and be serving god and everything else you don't have to well i'll just put up with some guy that doesn't even care about god because believe me your whole life what a waste of life because what's the point in life what really is the ultimate point in life well after salvation it's to serve god isn't it what else are we doing like oh well well yeah but i had a great job but i did nothing for god and in eternity with all these people that did stuff for god well yeah but you know i i served my career i served my boss or so look the best thing you could possibly do is serve god yeah we need to work we need to be able to afford to do that we need to be able to afford to raise our families but you don't want to you don't want to put up with that sort of thing now now with that it doesn't have to be a guy from this church okay so with those growing up thinking what is this going to be just like some sort of dating grounders like people get older stuff no because look i'll tell you what yeah we're look as a church here we want to plant new churches okay we that's something that's one of my goals if and again the things have to be right ingredients have to be right for that there's new church there already there's new churches being planted in europe there are churches around and and for those sorts of christians for those sorts of men out there that's only going to increase isn't it okay this church is going to grow we'll hopefully plant others there's going to be a lot more of that there's place around the world you can go around the world you can travel you can while you're single go and meet people get to know people see people don't make this sort of you're kind of the only place you could possibly ever find anyone because that would just get a bit weird okay however however you you look for for those for those men in the future and even men now i would say look your best bet is if you're thinking well there's not really you know person maybe i'll click with or that get in common or have in common you know your best thing you could possibly do is get soul winning get soul winning and get discipling now i'm not saying look you don't want to get someone saved and and you know marry them the next day okay i'm not saying that you shouldn't really have that on your mind when you're out soul winning either okay you want to go out with the right intentions with it however you know part of part of marry or part of sorry part of being a man is being able to lead people right being able to lead your wife and you know that that is a possibility because if you think about it think about some of the men in this church and in other churches and the families and stuff did they just happen to just coincidentally have just a husband and wife just love the things of god and we're ready no a lot of the time that there'll be a husband there that's led his wife to this to to serving the lord and everything else in one way or another now i'm not saying like every every wife in this church would never have been in this church what i am saying is that it wasn't just a coincidence a lot of the time it comes from leadership right and men you know if you're if you're if you work at being leaders and you find women that are able to be led i mean that's a great thing obviously they need to be saved right but my point is is that look there are many look there are likely many many men out of church as well many women out of church i'm not saying if you find someone that's that's saved well that's great you know because well everyone seems to be able to lead their wives to to the things of god but what i am saying is that once someone's saved you go out and you try and grow this church disciple this church we want to work on discipling and things like that there's a lot more options out there as well right encourage them to church see if you can lead someone to church see if you can lead them to a point you think actually yeah there's someone that does seem to have a heart for the things of god you know with the right leadership and stuff like that and my point is it just don't turn this church into like a just this is the only possible dating ground because anyone else just will never be a good christian because they're not in this church already point is that sometimes women need leading to a church like this right if that makes sense right probably mumbled that a little bit but you want to you want to gauge if they have the ability to be led now here the picture in genesis 24 is well back in verse three he says and i will make thee swear by the lord the god of heaven and the god of the earth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the cane knights among whom i dwell but thou shalt go unto my country to my kindred and take a wife unto my son isaac so for me that's a picture of going to the kindred being those and the pictures of those saved and i'm going to show you something here that i believe because there's also a bigger picture that we're seeing in this chapter now we've seen regularly since before he's born isaac has represented the lord jesus christ okay many places in his life we've talked about that over the last few chapters and here it's no different with abraham for me representing in this picture we're seeing okay he's representing god the father now his servant here there's a couple of viewpoints on here anyone ever heard the viewpoint that his servant represents a soul winner anyone heard that before yeah okay so you would have heard that i've heard that preached before anyone heard the viewpoint that his servant represents the holy spirit no one heard that before now this is quite a classic teaching it seems i've heard i heard that many many years ago soon after i was first saved that the servant here represents the holy spirit and you have the trinity here and then others others will preach that the servant represents um a soul winner going out and and uh and then we see rebecca being an example of someone going and getting saved basically the bride of christ right now the soul winner could work right and i don't have a problem with that i you know i think you could apply that however the charge to find a wife for his son representing the relationship for me between a church and the son of god yeah the bride for me represents the church um we'll keep a finger here and turn over to ephesians 5 because this is what i believe and turn to ephesians 5 we did look at this on sunday i want to remind you again i believe that in fact the servant does represent the holy spirit here and i think we're seeing the trinity there with the father the son and then the servant representing the holy spirit in ephesians 5 paul compares a traditional marriage to that of jesus christ the local church verse 25 in ephesians 5 says husbands love your wives even as christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but it should be holy and without blemish so men to love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife loveth himself for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it even as the lord the church for we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones that's the body of christ that we talked about on sunday as well for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and should be joined unto his wife and they too should be one flesh this is a great mystery but i speak concerning christ and the church so talk about the wife the originally obviously a bride then becoming a wife and back in genesis 24 you've got abraham representing god wanting his servant for me i believe representing the holy spirit although i don't believe it as it i've heard it preached before for me i'm going to show you how i believe this applies but but i think abraham is basically wanting him to not take a wife from the people among whom he dwells that we've just seen here and for me that represents the eventual replacement of the jews he doesn't want them from amongst the people that that where he dwells and where did god originally dwell was amongst the children of israel right okay that's where eventually he actually formerly in a tabernacle and eventually it was in the temple the spiritual seed being all believers and and then through that seed obviously jesus christ right so so he's asked he said that he he wants he wants him to take a wife from basically his kindred he said and i will make thee swear verse three and i'll make thee swear by the lord the god of heaven and the god of the earth that thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the kane knights among whom i dwell for me representing the future jews as a collective term used eventually verse four but thou shalt go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son isaac and for me representing the seed the children of the promise verse five and the servant said unto him pair adventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land must i need bring thy son again unto the land from whence i came is the neighbor said unto him beware thou bring not my son thither again the lord god of heaven which took me from my father's house from the land of my kindred and which spake unto me and that swear unto me saying unto thy seed will i give this land he shall send his angel before thee and thou shalt take a wife to my son from thence and if the woman will not be willing to follow thee then thou shalt be clear from this my eyes only bring not my son thither again so he said what if she doesn't want to follow me to the promised land right shall i bring isaac again to ur in mesopotamia which is basically where it is which is what we know of as modern day iraq abraham says no i don't want my son going there again if she's not willing then sabir okay and there are a couple of things to point out here okay firstly the free will aspect both in the surface level of the story with the potential marriage okay look we we teach free will here with marriages so dads we need to remember that okay as well it doesn't matter you know how else well suited you think someone might be to one of your kids okay they look you have free will to marry all right and we don't teach arranged marriages and all that sort of stuff okay that's sort of nonsense okay that's only going to be a be a problem in the future you go why you know all this kind of let them choose to themselves no there's somewhere in between right the way i see it is that my kids will need my blessing on their marriage all right you know i'm i'm not just going to go you just choose however they still need to make that choice themselves as well okay they need to they need to want to marry that person but but but also with our picture of the holy spirit finding the bride the free will is emphasized twice here look at verse five it says and the servant said unto impaired venture woman will not be willing to follow me under this lamp must needs bring my son again to the land from whence i came verse eight says and if the woman will not be willing to follow thee then thou shalt be clear from this my only bring not my son did again because there's no such thing firstly is irresistible grace okay that's complete nonsense it's a life in the pit of a wicked hell that's full of calvinists along many others okay no one got saved because god chose you above anyone else okay in case anyone's confused by that okay god didn't choose you whether you you've you know whether you kind of you caveat that with oh i mean not based on anything i did you know he just selected me because i'm so special no that's a load of nonsense okay calvinism is a wicked lie it's a load of junk god didn't decide that you were more important than anyone else for either a reason or no reason okay that's a lie it's a complete lie it's a load of rubbish if you're unsure about that please see my previous sermon five profane and vain babblings of calvinism because they are profane and vain babblings okay it's complete nonsense trying to sound intellectual you got saved because you chose to trust jesus christ your savior you chose that okay he didn't go right i choose you and not you and you and no no you chose him uh you don't have to turn to second peter three nine says the lord is not slack concerning his promises some men count slackness but his long suffering to us would not willing that any should perish i mean how hard is that for a calvinist to read apparently really hard but that all should come to repentance yeah god is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance however god's wills are always done because that sovereign god you know he says pulling strings is allowed an answer as well because if god's will was done everyone would be saved however we have free will he calls everyone revelation 22 17 says the spirit and the bride say come let him hear say come and let him is the first come and whosoever will whosoever will let him take the water of life freely it's whosoever okay if you will if you want to get saved you can get saved okay and although you could argue that this here in genesis 24 is a picture of salvation with the following being about eventually being in the promised land the the following in life of the servant the holy spirit is also for me optional for those that are saved isn't it john 8 31 and like i said you could go well he's just meaning about following to the promised land you know in terms of just making that choice salvation and it's just represented like that however i don't know john 8 31 says then said jesus to those jews which believed on him if if again there's a choice there isn't there if you continue my word then are you my disciples indeed so we have a choice to follow after salvation don't we and many make that choice not to follow after salvation it doesn't mean they're not saved still going to heaven but what a waste of a life right but jesus said to those jews which believe which believed on him if you continue my word then are you my disciples indeed what does it take to be saved believe in the lord jesus christ i shall be saved he said whosoever believes in him should not perish but ever last in life they're saved however they're not choosing some don't many don't choose to follow him and to become a disciple right now they're two separate things and for me the servant that the holy spirit for me is looking for a potential bride to follow him as a church that's what i think we're seeing here look at verse five it says and the servant said unto him a pair of eventual women will not be willing to follow me unto this land must I needs bring my son again unto the land from whence I came is and Abraham said unto him beware thou that thou bring not my son there again the lord god of heaven which took me from my father's house from the land of my kindred which spake unto me and that swear unto me saying unto thy seed will i give this land he shall send his angel before thee and thou shall take a wife unto my son from thence who does the angel represent notice that there is an angel here that will be sent before him and an angel what's an angel a messenger i believe that the angel represents a soul winner that's what i believe otherwise who's the angel going before the angel for me represents a soul winner because without the soul winner going out and preaching the gospel there is no church there is no church anywhere without people going out and preaching the gospel right in the first place for there to be a church somewhere yeah of course there can be someone that goes to plancho but without without so many anyway there is no church in the first place and isn't that what happened from the first new testament church and onwards the soul winner went out and preached the gospel and god built his churches didn't he that's how it worked and in fact we see the holy spirit coming in in a miraculous way at the day of pentecost for example where with that first church church commencing etc but what were they doing they were preaching the gospel and then the holy spirit worked in this amazing way and we saw you know everyone in this mystical language of tongues joke okay we saw obviously all these languages being spoken just miraculously and all this amazing stuff but it happened it happens from soul winning he said in verse eight and if the woman will not be willing to follow thee then now shalt be clear from this my oath only not bring not my son there again i'm going to show you as we go through this hopefully you're going to agree with me by the end of this sermon now notice the terminology again by the way there said only bring not my son did it again in verse six and verse eight when was isaac in her he wasn't okay he wasn't i mean at least we don't see it recorded in scripture but every time that a spirit filled man of god goes on with the gospel he is bringing the sun with him isn't he he's bringing the son of god he's bringing the word of god with him and you could say that if a church is not willing willing and a church here not willing to follow jesus through the holy spirit they're done aren't they so if a church is not willing to follow the lord jesus christ it stops being a church it ceases to be a church it doesn't matter if it's got church it doesn't matter how big the sign saying church outside is if it's not willing to follow lord jesus christ it's no longer a church it said in verse nine the servant put his hand on the thigh of abraham his master and sweated him concerning that matter and the servant took 10 camels of the camels of his master and departed for all the goods of his master were in his hand and he arose and went to mesopotamia to the city of nihon now again just bear with me with this okay and and again let me know what you think after again you can't be dogmatic with this sort of thing but i just for a few reasons i don't see it as just someone soul winning okay and and hopefully you're going to see that as we go on and bear in mind that for me we're looking at the replacement of the people amongst whom he dwell with them going to his kindred being believers through the seed right so for me for me like i said i believe that he represents the holy spirit going to basically to to to seek those for a church to be a church rather than just going out for salvation now who do the 10 camels represent and where we're looking to go we're going into the future so this is we're going into the new testament here so for me it's a picture of the new testament the church and we're going to see why i believe that rebecca represents that here what are the 10 camels that we see mentioned a few times and it seems to be there seems to be a point here about the servant taking 10 camels of the camels of his master and departed for all the goods of his master were in his hand and he arose and went to mesopotamia to the city of now and it made a point that all the goods of his master were in his hand he takes the 10 camels now again i might be wrong here what i kind of something i thought about when you think about 10 is the future 10 kingdoms of the world headed by the 10 kings of revelation represented as 10 horns but it basically just represents all kingdoms of the world because that's what we see a one world government it's all kingdoms isn't it so perhaps and i'll show you why in a second just bear that in mind for a second he then says in verse 11 he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening even the time that women go out to draw water and he said oh lord god of my master abraham i pray thee send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my master abraham behold i stand here by the well of water and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water and let it come to pass that the damsel to whom i shall say let down thy picture i pray that i may drink and she shall say drink and i will give thy camels drink also let the same be she that that thou has appointed for thy servant isaac and thereby shall i know that thou has showed kindness unto my master so the damsel then represents for me the sole winning believer willing to disperse the waters of life to the kingdoms of the world in john 4 14 jesus said but whosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst but the water that i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life because isn't that the whole point of a church the whole point of a church is to go forth and preach the word of truth to the lost those remaining of the children of israel the nation of judo those physical jews they failed to do that they were replaced okay they were replaced by a spiritual nation willing to do that at least going out and doing that the holy spirit for me is is out there and still is looking for replacements looking for replacements but there needs to be the heart for soul winning so it's no good if people are like well look for example we you know you'll get this amongst churches and i'm sure our pastor and previous pastors have it so we're a group of like nifb listeners in wherever oh there's loads of us you know we listen online it's like yeah but do you actually go out soul winning do you actually do anything do you meet up at all do you actually go and preach the gospel to people because if you don't are you really are you really going to be able to be a church is a pastor send it sent out a legitimate guy who believes the gospel everything else is he really if he sends out and just plants a church nowhere if he if he does it so in himself is that really going to end up being a proper church there it's not a church to start with that you know you might say yeah but there are churches all over the place that don't do soul winning yeah but they're not churches they're not churches okay there's no such thing if if a church doesn't so win i mean brother hooner mentioned the church at ephysis on sunday evening for revelation too verse five says remember therefore from when it's out fallen and repent and do the first works and i'm sure you know if you're unaware then for me it's pretty clear the first works talking about preaching the gospel or else i will come unto thee quickly quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except they'll repent so unless you're actually preaching the gospel unless the church is quick it's quick that that candlestick goes really quick without so many ain't a church and for me we when we're looking around and looking for for places where we could potentially start a church it's not oh well there's a couple of guys there that once listened to a few pastor anderson sermons oh well no well great because you know they they listen every week you know oh well good luck to them but do they actually go out and solve it do they go out and preach the gospel because i'll tell you why this church started here because there was quite a few few of us alongside the wicked people okay who you know buffed up the numbers a bit then got kicked out but there were just people that were so winning and you know what there were as well there were there are other potential people then came in and had a heart soul winning as well and now what do we have we have a church here where you know we had a marathon the other i mean we have marathons every month and we have 40 plus turning up every month so winning i mean we have how many people are so winning in a in a way i mean again 40 50 i mean almost the whole church goes out soul winning on a regular basis i mean that's something else isn't it and look and i understand there are some that are in times period seasons of life where it's hard right young babies you know kids kids where it's not so easy with but ultimately we have a church full of soul winners right and that's why the church is a church and it's been a success and everything else but those that don't they're not churches in the first they're just not churches because that's the whole point of a church and in genesis 24 the servant holy spirit is looking for me for a potential church that has a heart for soul and i think that's what we see we see this picture of that in rebecca because he's looking for someone he even says and we saw it later on in the chapter where he's describing again that he looked for someone that was basically willing to offer him of the water of life and also willing to and again i'm calling it the water life but that's what i think it represents are willing to offer that water from the world to the camels as well that was his kind of criteria he was looking for someone that was willing to basically put the work in and do the work look at verse 15 it says and it came to pass before he'd done speaking that behold rebecca came out who was born to bethuel son of milker the wife of nahor abraham's brother with her picture upon her shoulder and the damsel was very fair to look upon a virgin neither had any man knowing her and she went down to the well and filled her picture and came up and the servant ran to meet her and said let me i pray thee drink a little water of thy picture and she said drink my lord and she hated and let down a picture upon her hand and gave him drink now keep a finger here and turn to john chapter 16 you might be saying look why does the holy spirit need the church and potential church to give him the words of life why does he need that well john 16 jesus explains how it works with the holy spirit john 16 and verse 7 says john 16 gospel of john chapter 16 and verse 7 says nevertheless i tell you the truth it is expedient for you that i go away it's jesus christ speaking he says for if i go not away the comforter which is another name for the holy spirit will not come unto you but if i depart i will send him unto you and when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they believe not on me of righteousness because i go to my father and you see me no more of judgment because the prince of the world of this world is judged how does the holy spirit do all of that through us through believers verse 12 says i have yet many things to sound to you but you cannot bear them now howbeit when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things come if you're saved okay you have the indwelling holy spirit and he will speak through you however he does that by the word of god that's how he talks through you by the word of god but you know you know what he needs to hear the word of god the way it works for example is that if i ain't reading the bible and i'm not listening to the bible and i'm not studying the bible i'm not memorizing any of the bible the holy spirit has got nothing to bring to my remembrance okay it says he will guide you into all truth shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak so the holy spirit uses what we give him and you can look the more you're in the bible the more you're in the word of god the more you're in the things of god the more the holy spirit will be able to use the word of god to guide you in life and everything else and also we need the word of god to be able to get people saved with the holy spirit's help right if you're you ain't saved you ain't getting no one saved okay you need the holy spirit in you to use the words of god through you to get people saved but but and in many areas of life he will he will bring it to your remembrance whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come but that means that you need to read it you need to study it you need to memorize it you need to hear it preached right he said he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you again talking about the words of christ all things that the father had of mine therefore said either he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you talk about the words of god okay the holy spirit doesn't just go around getting people saved that's calvinist nonsense and anti-soul winning nonsense that's what that is that's people that don't even believe in some exam really let's be honest yeah something i've been thinking about a lot recently those churches that don't believe in soul winning at all the reality of it is they don't really believe someone can get saved from here in the gospel they believe they've got to give their life to christ and all the other work salvation they've got to repent of their sins and come to church and all that stuff that's why they'll always say things like well let's see if they come to church and stuff like that why because what do they believe they don't believe they could have got saved unless they come to church and heard them preach a load of a load of damnable heresy we can week out or maybe not or maybe subtle stuff right but here's the thing the the the holy spirit doesn't just go out and get them saved all right there are three ingredients the soul winner the holy spirit and the incorruptible word of god there are the three things that get someone saved we provide the words of god to the indwelling holy spirit to work through us and get people saved don't we so we we read we study we have the words of god in front of us when we preach to people it comes with the holy spirit through us and we get people saved right well back in in genesis 24 it says and when she had done giving him drink in verse 19 genesis 24 19 and when she had done giving him drink the servant who i think represents the holy spirit she said i will draw water for the camels also until they have done drinking so for me a picture of her then after providing for the holy spirit reaching for me and i might be wrong there i see it as possibly reaching the kingdoms of the world there and she hasted and emptied her picture into the trough and ran again onto the world to draw water and drew for all his camels by the way camels drink a lot of water this woman is grafting hard she's filling up a vessel her picture to feed 10 camels to give 10 camels a drink of water that's a lot of work isn't it and there's some urgency there she's running around as well and a man wondering at her held his peace to wit whether the lord had made his journey prosperous or not and away from the picture of a church just quickly what a great woman i mean this is something else isn't it some guy look a stranger asks her to use her picture and she hasted to give him a drink and then offered the same for all his camels 10 camels i mean look that's that's that's the servant heart isn't it and that's a good quality to look for in a wife back to the kind of you know not being unequally yoked but look someone that's got a servant heart right isn't that important because that's and by the way it's also a great quality for a lady to aspire to as well isn't it that's a great quality for all of us but no one's impressed are they by the manly executive type woman no one's impressed by that stuff no one gives a damn about that okay that's not impressive by the manipulating type who doesn't lift a finger she just gets her guy to do it all by saying the right thing at the right time yeah no one's impressed by that by the prideful i'm too i'm too good to be submissive types out there i mean there's a lot of them in this nation aren't there oh yeah i'm so up here why would i submit to someone no one is impressed by that stuff what's impressive is the servant heart the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of god a great price isn't it that's what we're impressed by that's what that's what normal people think that is great that's what we should at least look for but here's the thing before us men point our fingers too much who do i believe rebecca's picturing a church i believe she's picturing a church that that that ultimately is a sort of church that god wants and how we should all be when it comes submitting to god right we should all have that servant heart we should all want to submit to god to to to basically the things of god and serving him but back in uh genesis in in 24 verse 22 it says and it came to pass as the camels are done drinking that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight and two bracelets for a hands of 10 shekels weight of gold and says who's daughter art thee tell me i pray thee is a room in thy father's house for us lodging so in case you're just going yeah but isn't this just about soul winning okay there's a few things that for me just kind of don't add up with that is that for one she's basically being asked if she'll follow him okay that's one of them for another one look he's looking for someone that's showing this servant heart that that is willing to provide for him willing to give drink to the camels as well like that's not what we look for when we go out soul winning we just look for someone who who's ready to receive the gospel and look i might be wrong there and and it's not the end of the world you know if if i am there but i don't know i see that and the bride and last point is what what is the bride for me the bride at least while we're here the bride is a church but all believers in the church no so he's looking for a bride and a picture again the picture might might just be looking for someone you know looking for it's just a picture of soul winning but for me it's it's going from the people of the land and going to the kindred being believers being being basically the spiritual children through faith and there therefore for me she's picturing the church she's picturing a at least a church there but let's keep going because he then the servant gives her this earring in these in these bracelets now i'm unsure if they picture something else however at the least they're an outward sign of her pleasing the servant and if the servant represents the holy spirit what's an outward sign of a church basically pleasing the holy spirit or ultimately being a holy spirit filled church well turn to galatians five i think there should be outward signs of a church pleasing the spirit being a spirit filled church you could say that though that that earring and those bracelets were fruits of the spirit weren't they if he represents the holy spirit the servant and he's turned up and she's done exactly what he was looking for he then in return gives her these ornaments right he gives her these things which are a sign that obviously he's he's happy pleased with what she's done well galatians 5 22 tells us some fruits of the spirit says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law and i was thinking about this with our church because there's a difference between the love that you see in a false church where they go on about love and you've ever been in them churches they just go on about how much they love you and how much they love everyone and it's all about love love love love right and there's a difference between that and well that type of love and the love where you love the lost enough to actually bother to go out and try and get him saved we love people so much that we can't even go out and preach the gospel we love people so much but we we we love people so much we don't love kids enough to hate perverts so we we oh no we welcome them all in oh because we just love people so much oh oh you love perverts because a lot of those churches do don't they they like any which way we could get them in just just bring them in right they don't love their church members enough to kick out the wicked we love you so much that if people are walking around preaching damnable heresy we don't want them here sorry we don't mind them here do you know what we don't want here what we don't want here in these sorts of churches are those that might encourage you to serve God more are those that might go soul winning and kind of put a bit of pressure on us and make us think oh you know this doesn't make us look so good they're the types of people they really hate anyone else fair game oh the Calvinist whispering in the corner the repent of your sins guy in the other corner oh we don't care about them that you know the guys who are just railing on people all that bring them in come on in we're so loving but we don't really love the people that are affected by them but it's not just love all right there are other fruits of spirit and for me I love that you can see these outward signs in our church joy I mean when you come in this church a lot and I don't know maybe not always on a Wednesday evening people are a bit tired it's a bit like but just a lot of people happy right chatting laughing having a laugh it's great isn't it and you like look you get like the fake smiles and stuff in some of these other churches I've been in you get the whole corner like this one you know and everything else as you come in but they never like it it's not just this relaxed atmosphere people are just chatting having a laugh stuff like that I see a lot of joy around the place I might be wrong you know maybe I've got like rose tinted glasses but I do you know I see a lot of people that just seem happy laughing smiling having fun I see a lot of peace around between people it's we're not really breaking up fights here okay it was a bit rough before but in the last you know you know especially the last few months but even the last year really as a whole it's not like people are just constantly falling out and having rows you're like oh man I've got to kind of break it up a bit here or find a way to appease this one and let's be honest you get a lot of people together in most other social settings you're going to have some fall outs aren't you we don't really seem to have that and I don't want to speak I'm not speaking too guys right because you know if uh just don't kick off tonight all right and then we can just forget about this right long suffering as well because people are because we do get look we do sometimes get some funny characters coming here don't we but everyone does it just avoid them like the plague and people people go and check oh okay so you're into like whatever you know it's like oh you were at what church before oh okay lovely you know and everything else people are long suffering here right the the gentleness as well like I said you know I don't see people just constantly trying to pick on people and try and be mean to people I just don't really see that okay maybe I'm just missing it all yeah the goodness as well and there's goodness here people look at like I see people constantly offering each other lifts and offering this and offering that trying to be kind trying to be nice faith as well we have a church full of faith don't we a lot of there's some strong faith here you know and you see that when you look people just stand on the word they stand on the things of god meekness as well and that's basically humility really and that's definitely improved in the last year okay and because we we just don't I don't see that anymore we don't like and they're people just coming in here like chess puff just like look at me and you know five you know we just we don't have that do it it's great you know you see a lot of meekness here and temperance as well and there is there is a self-control there is you know it's not just kind of like you know people just out of control and and it's not just self-control just just sort of just discipline in many ways isn't there and and you see that people are just again just the soul winning is an example just week in week out the people are just free to thrive just week in week out there's just there's a lot of temperance and for me the servant represented the holy spirit gave rebecca represented the church some tokens some ornaments of his and i believe we have that as a church here i really do and and not because of me just because of the people in the church we just have a we have a strong church right with the fruits of the spirit he said in verse 23 back in back in justice 24 the servant said and whose daughter art thou tell me i pray thee is there room in my father's house for us to lodge in and she said unto him i am the daughter of bethel the son of milka which she bear unto nahor so nahor being abraham's brother so she's nahor's granddaughter and abraham is our great uncle she said moreover unto him we have both straw and providor enough and room to lodge in so again she's willing to give of their substance as well to provide for him right and you could argue to provide for the things of god etc she she's willing to just have him come in to give what what they have for them verse 26 and the man bowed down his head and worshipped the lord and he said blessed be the lord god of my master abraham who has not left destitute my master for his mercy and his truth i being in the way the lord led me to the house of my master's brethren and the damsel ran and told them of her mother's house these things and again just a great example for her and again if if i'm right about that what that picture is she she's busy spreading the word telling those of her family about the things that happen everything else and she's a great example and she is like i said if not look maybe maybe it is just a picture of soul winning i don't think so i think that it is a picture of basically that replacement to the church to to the churches ultimately and and she for me is an example of that of seeking that and she kind of gives those for me those qualities of a successful church and the church being the bride of christ right that's what i believe there i might be wrong and if i am well look at the end of the day um she's a good woman anyway right and uh and she's a good example is it she's a good example for all of us i mean that's someone that's just willing to just go right jump to work straight away just willing to serve willing to do what's needed uh that's a great example for everyone here um we're going to finish up there we've got quite a bit to get through and uh there's a few other topics i want to get through in the second part of the chapter so um that was uh that was genesis chapter 24 we're going to finish up in the word of prayer father i thank you for your word i thank you for um well great great godly examples in the bible such as uh rebecca here and uh lord we we um you know we pray that you just just help us to to well be more like that to be have more of a servant heart to be uh more willing to just just run to serving others to doing things for others but lord we thank you for this church so we thank you that this church um just just has some great outward signs of of you know the the pleasing of you the pleasing of of you know just just trying to do the things you want us to do that we feel like we have a church which is really full of the spirit not in a weird pentecostal way lord but in a real way with the fruits of the spirit evident in our church in our church members i pray that you just help us to to get stronger as a church to become even more so more more to just show more fruits of of you working in us lord help us to to show those outward signs and also lord to um to just never forget you know the importance of the gospel the importance of going out and preach the gospel that um that it takes not just not just uh the holy spirit not just the word of god but it takes that that believer as well to go out and preach to others lord to preach a loss um help us to to to well if if we can't make thursday night soul winning to be back here on sunday ready to go out and knock the doors on sunday afternoon and um help us to all get home safe and sound lord and just thank you for all this