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This is a test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Alright, go ahead and open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 48. Genesis chapter 48. Genesis chapter 48, if you don't have a Bible raise your hand, one of the ushers will bring you one. Be in Genesis 48. Genesis 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 to 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 Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begatest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in 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 Ephraath, and I buried her there in the way of Ephraath, 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 had 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 unwittingly, 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 set 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. Brother Bill, will you pray for us? Amen, we're in Genesis chapter 48, so we're really getting close to the end of the book of Genesis. And this chapter is kind of a tough chapter to preach out of. There's a few different themes in here, but I'll try to do my best to preach this chapter, and I don't have all the answers all the time in every single chapter, so believe it or not, I don't know everything. But especially like the last verse, if you look at the last verse, it's like talking about this, he got this portion, and he got it from the hand of an Amorite with his sword and with his bow, and I don't think that the Bible actually explains where that, that doesn't explain that battle unless I totally missed the boat on that. But anyway, we'll talk about that towards the end of this sermon. But Genesis 48, we see that last chapter, Jacob was, it said it's time for him to pass on, for him to die. And here in chapter number 48, verse number 1, the Bible says, 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. Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. So, here we have Joseph calling, excuse me, Jacob calling God, God Almighty, and said that God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. Now, I started thinking about this, so I looked back into the story of when God appeared to Jacob, good night, I keep getting them mixed up, Jacob, he was appeared to by God the first time. Now, does anybody remember what Luz actually is, the other name that Jacob called it? Any Bible trivia students in here? Bethel, that's right. So, it was Bethel that it was actually called, but here in the scripture, Jacob calls it by the name of Luz. He doesn't say Bethel, which I think is kind of interesting, but he renamed it Bethel. So, and that's basically where, when the children of Israel come back into the land, Bethel is the place where the tabernacle kind of rests for many years, and then it ends up being later on in Jerusalem, but I thought it was interesting how Jacob calls God, God Almighty here. Now, turn over to Exodus chapter 6, verse number 3, and God has many different names, and during times of the Bible, He would reveal Himself by different names, and in Genesis, He was revealed His name as being God Almighty, and so, but different times in different places, God would call Himself different names, or reveal a different name of His. In Exodus 6-3, we have where God appears to Moses, and so God appeared to Jacob, God appeared to Isaac, God appeared to Abraham, but God appeared to Moses later on, many, many years later, and it says, and I appeared unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, this is God speaking, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by the name Jehovah was I not known to them. So, we have later on, God revealing Himself as Jehovah, and so, but what was He revealed to before, to Joseph? Well, Joseph said He even said it in Genesis chapter 48, verse 3, that God Almighty appeared unto me. That's the name that Jacob knew, and so, you know, when we teach the calling upon the name of the Lord, I believe at this time that when they called upon the name of the Lord, they called upon the name of the Lord God Almighty, and then, and later on, in His other revealed names, but Jehovah was not known to them, the name Jehovah was not known to them. Now, let's turn to Psalm chapter 68, verse number 3, Psalm chapter 68, verse number 3, and I just want to show you a couple of different names that God has called, and sometimes a place would be named Jehovah Jireh, or, you know, whatever Jehovah, and there would be something after that name to name it as a place, but here in Psalm chapter 68, the Bible says in verse number 3, but let the righteous be glad, let them rejoice before God, yea, let them exceedingly rejoice, sing unto God, sing praises to His name, extol Him that writeth upon the heavens by His name Jah, and rejoice before Him. So Jah is a name of God, and so there's nothing wrong with calling Him that, but normally we don't go around saying Jah, unless you're from like, you know, what is it, Jamaica, yeah, Jamal, Jamal, what the boy, all that stuff, you know, so, but anyway, but His name really is Jah, I mean, that's what the Bible says right here, now turn to Philippians chapter 2 verse 9, what are we supposed to call God in the New Testament, obviously God is a Trinity, there's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and the name of God the Son is Jesus, look at Philippians 2, 9, it says, wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, so the name that's highly exalted and above every name in the New Testament is what, Jesus Christ, the name of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah, and that He is Lord, so that term Jehovah is actually, you know, it's the name of God, but, you know, that's how we've been pronouncing it for about 500 years in English, but it's the Tetragrammaton, right? The Tetragrammaton, am I saying that right? Tetragrammaton, so that's the four-lettered name of God, and there's no vowels in that name, so we're not really 100% sure how to pronounce that specific title, but in the New Testament, the Greek transliteration is Lord, so then what is it? I mean, to us in English, it's Lord, so Jehovah means the Lord, right? And so it has it in all caps, in Exodus 6-3, I'm pretty sure in your Bible it'll probably have it in all caps. In the New Testament, you might not see it in all caps, but in the Old Testament, when it's talking about Jehovah God, it's talking about, you know, it's saying it in, it's capitalizing the word Lord to let us know who that's talking about, because there's many lords, there's lowercase lords, and the Lord is a title or a name for God, so he definitely has some different names, but for whatever reason, he revealed his name as God Almighty in the book of Genesis, and Jacob acknowledges that in Genesis 48, verse 3. God lets us know, because there's a lot of people that think that you only are supposed to call him Jehovah, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, but they say, see, that's his name, it's Jehovah or whatever, and then they'll send you some verse in Psalms that talks about, but there's also other verses I can show you that says his name is something else, so how about that, right? And that Jesus Christ is Lord, and when it's talking about Lord, he is the Lord, so there's nothing wrong with calling him that, because he is God also, right? And Acts chapter 4, verse 12 says, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. So, when we are out preaching the gospel, and we say, hey, would you like to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved, when we pray with them, or help them pray, or if they pray by themselves, the name that they should be calling upon to save them is what? The name of Jesus Christ, all right? And we need to be really specific in our preaching about that, because what does the Bible say? Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved. So, when we call upon the name of the Lord, we're calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. So, that's very clear, but I just wanted to kind of show you that, to show you that God has revealed his self under different names and at different times. So, turn to Genesis chapter 28, and I want to kind of address this thing about lust. So, it's interesting it doesn't say, you know, God appeared to me at Bethel, which means what? In Hebrew, that means the house of God, okay? And so, it is the house of God, you know, in the New Testament, like it talks about that in Timothy, it's the pillar and ground of the truth, that's where Jacob rested his head, and he said this is not about the house of God. Look at Genesis 28, this is where God first appears to Jacob, this is what he's talking about in Genesis 48. Look at verse number 10 in Genesis 28, it says, And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran, and he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set, and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and laid down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it, and behold, the Lord stood above it. Now I just want you to see this, that in your Bible is a capital L-O-R-D, that it's saying there, so people would say, well hey that's a contradiction, because he was only known by the name of God Almighty, but it's actually not because Moses did know this name, and so Moses is writing the book of Genesis, you know Moses is writing this, and so he's telling us what his name is for the Lord, now just because he's saying Lord, that's not a contradiction, that's just Jacob didn't know this name, but Moses did know this name, so he's saying this is the Lord. Behold, the Lord stood above it, and said I am the Lord God of Abraham, by father, so there he says it again, I am the Lord God, I'm Jehovah God, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and now shall it spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all families of the earth be blessed, now of course on the surface people would say, well his seed, that's what you're talking about, his descendants, or you're talking about Jacob's actual family members, are going to be like the dust of the earth, and will spread abroad, and it's interesting how it says to the west, to the east, to the north, and the south, and then when Jesus mentions this later on in the New Testament, he said many are going to come from these places, and they're going to, you know, but the children of the kingdom will be cast out, and they're going to, we're going to sit down, he's talking about Gentile believers basically, we're going to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the children of the kingdom will be cast out, and to add our darkness, they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth, right? So this is really interesting, I think that that's Jesus playing off the words of the Bible right here, in that instance, but it says, in thee and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. There is a multiple meaning here, so we saw like maybe a couple weeks ago, where the Jews are saying, well we're Abraham's seed, and Jesus is like, I know you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me, and you don't do the works of Abraham, and so on and so forth, he's talking to them about, I know you're related to Abraham by blood, but in reality, they're not the seed of Abraham, because they don't do the deeds of Abraham, because they're not saved, because they're not filled with faith, like Abraham was. So you have like, it's kind of a play on text here a little bit, but when the Bible is talking about thy seed, it's in a singular, you notice it always is in a singular form, because in reality, it is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the seed, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed, and Jesus literally came out of the loins of Abraham, and through the loins of Isaac, and through the loins of Jacob, and so God is just showing that the promise of that seed is going to come through certain families, and of course we know it takes a turn through Judah, and then he's part of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ comes out of the tribe of Judah, but it's just really interesting, because it keeps saying this, but modern day, even modern day Baptists will say that, you know, see the Jews are still God's chosen people, but they forget about Galatians chapter three, don't they? They really forget about Galatians chapter three. Let's look over there real quick at Galatians chapter three, verse number 28. The Bible says in Galatians 3, 28, it says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus, and I don't think the Bible is stuttering right here, right? It's not just the Jews, it's not just the Gentiles, we're all one in Christ Jesus, that's what it's saying, and if you be Christ, there is neither bond nor free, Christ, then ye are Abraham, then, excuse me, are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. What's the promise? The promise that we see in Genesis chapter 28, the promise we saw to Isaac, the promises that we saw to Abraham, and so in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. I forgot to tell you to keep your finger in Genesis, but Genesis 28 verse 15, it says, and behold I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all places, whether thou goest, and will bring thee again into the land, for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken of, to thee of, excuse me, and Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not, and he was afraid, and said, how dreadful is this place, this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven, and Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it, obviously that's representing the pillar, and the ground of the truth there, but the stone for a pillow, obviously represents Christ, and the oil that he pours upon it, represents the Holy Spirit, so verse 19 says, and he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city, was called Luz at the first, so this is what Jacob is obviously talking about, in Genesis 48, says Jacob vowed a vow, saying if God will be with me, and will keep me in this way, that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee, so here we have Jacob also tithing, he's talking about God being his God, he's kind of putting him to the test, he's vowing that if God does these things, that he will have God be his God, and there's nothing wrong with vowing a vow, as long as you're willing to keep it, if you're not willing to keep the vow, then don't say it, because God really does hold you responsible, for the things that come out of your mouth, so be careful when you're fighting, be careful when you're fighting with your spouse, not to say things that you shouldn't say, I mean that's just one instance, like sometimes things get heated, don't they, and you say things you wish you hadn't said later, just make sure that you're not making some kind of a vow, or whatever, in the heat of a moment, make sure you're calm and in your right mind, because when you get married, you're vowing vows to be with that person, tell death do you part, and in sickness and in health, there's a lot of vows that you give on your wedding day, and you should keep those vows, don't get divorced, don't go back on what you told God that you were going to do, because he takes it very seriously. Now let's turn back to our text in Genesis 48, verse number 4, the Bible says, 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 to thy seed, after thee for an everlasting possession. Now here's where people will also say, we'll see the Jews get the everlasting possession, they get the land, it's all about the land, you know, but it's not going to them, they think it's going to be going to them, but in reality it's going to actually the people that are saved, the Israelites that are saved. The physical descendants mean nothing, because if you're not in Christ Jesus, then you're not the seed of Abraham, you're not the seed of Israel, you are the seed that is not going to inherit anything, except for the wind, except for hell is what's waiting for you. Look at verse 5, it says, 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 here you have Jacob basically kind of adopting his sons, which I think is just not something that we're used to seeing, if I just said, you know, those grandkids are mine, you know, I mean, that wouldn't be a reality, would it? But that's what he's saying, right? He's saying that they're going to be mine, and so they're counted as a half tribe each, later on in the books of Moses and things like that, so they're counted as the, so there's two half tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and so he basically claims them as his own children. Look at verse number 6, it says, And thy issue, which thou begittest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. So basically those two names will be, they'll fit into those two half tribes, anybody born after Jacob, or after Joseph's two sons, those sons will be in those two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. Look at verse 7, And as for me, when I came from Pedan, 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. So I don't think that, I mean, to me it's just kind of strange that he just mentions this out of the blue. I mean, does it seem like it fits, like with the rest of what's being said? It kind of does it to me, I don't know, maybe I'm just weird, but it doesn't really make sense why he brings this up. But the way that it does make sense to me, it doesn't make sense grammatically to me, but it makes sense in the fact that Bethlehem is the place where Jesus Christ is going to be born later on. And I think that this verse is here as a foreshadowing, but I also think it's here to help us to understand that that place, Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem. So we'll know later on that the birthplace of Christ, there's no disputing that this place called Ephrath, it's the same thing as Bethlehem. Just like Luz, the same name for Luz is Bethel. So it's not here for no reason, there's nothing in the Bible that's in there for no reason. And it's funny, it says, in the way. So obviously it's in the way on the road to wherever, when they were going to Ephrath, and she died before they got to the town, but it was really close to the town. But isn't it funny that Jesus is also the way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And He was born in Bethlehem as was prophesied. Now look at Micah chapter 5 verse number 2, and we'll see the prophecy of Christ, and it makes certain to let us know that Bethlehem and Ephrath are the same place. Micah chapter 5 verse 2 says, But thou Bethlehem Ephrath, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting. So it's a very interesting verse here, but He's to be ruler in Israel, and His goings forth have been from old from everlasting. And so people will say, will we get everlasting life as a Christian? And that just means it lasts for eternity from the time you get saved. But everlasting also is going that way in time too, right? Because there is no end to everlasting. So Jesus Christ was slain from the foundation of the earth, but He also died for us from the foundation of the earth. It's pretty interesting, but the fact that He's going to be ruler and the fact that it's saying from old from everlasting means that Christ has always been. That's what it means. And so even though He was born in Bethlehem, who's to be the ruler of all Israel, He was born from everlasting. In reality, He is God. So turn to Matthew 2, verse 1, and it'll show us basically that even the Jews, even the most wicked of the Jews, understood this fact. And so they'll try to deny nowadays these truths, but, I mean, we're getting the word for word of what King Herod said. And look at Matthew chapter 2, verse 1. What Herod believed, or what Herod, Herod didn't know the answer. He asked people the question, and the Jews are the ones that gave him the answer. Look what it says. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east of Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a god, that shall rule my people Israel. And it actually leaves off the ephrata there, doesn't it? But they're the same place, aren't they? Just like Jacob left off Bethel when he said, Luz. But the name of that place is also Bethel. So I just think it's really interesting that Jacob just kind of throws us this bone here in verse number seven in Genesis chapter 48. I mean, there was really no reason. I mean, maybe he's just telling him, this is where your mom died or something. But I don't think it's an accident that it says ephrath, and the same is Bethlehem. Now let's look back in our verses in Genesis chapter 48, verse number eight. The Bible says, And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, Who are these? Which is another interesting question. It's like he's already been telling him that his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, are going to be these half-tribes and called after his name. And then he's like, Who are these kids? You know, it's fine. He didn't even know who they were. I mean, maybe it's just because he was super old and didn't realize it, or maybe he had a Biden moment here at the time. But anyway, he was pretty old. So I guess give him a little bit of grace. It says, And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto 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. So notice that term where it says, God hath given me. Just remember this, that the children that you get in your life, God is the one that gave them to you. Don't ever forget that, because children are a gift and children are a blessing. And this morning I preached about being family integrated and I just want to let you know, I love all the children here at this church. I definitely was not trying to upset anybody. I just wanted to see if I could help with, you know, some of those things have to be preached. But you know what? I would way rather have a church full of kids than a church full of old gray hairs with no kids in the congregation. So children are a blessing. Children are the heritage of the Lord. And children are, you know, if we don't have children, there's no next generation. So we have to have children. And you know, when I was preaching that sermon, like I just looked out and saw all these children just being well behaved. So that was great. But when I started preaching about the dudes and adults, that's when everything went crazy. So it's like I was almost late for church on the afternoon because me and brother Bill, I was like, yeah, as soon as I started preaching about don't be late for church, then of course I'm almost late. I walk in five minutes before the service starts. And even this morning, I was like, I was running a little bit late, but I wasn't late, all right? So anyway, but it's just funny how things like that happen. People are walking out with coffees as soon as I start talking about the coffees. I didn't see that because I'm like, like I said, I get tunnel vision. So, but somebody said, yeah, the people are walking out with coffees when you're saying this. Like, oh man, God's, you know, punishing you at the moment. Anyway, but children are a blessing. And remember that God opens and closes the womb. God is the one that gives you children. You need to cherish them and love them and try your best to do everything you can to make sure that those kids are saved. And you know, the best thing to do is to bring them to church. But I bet you hear out so many, a lot of times, well, I grew up in church. Unfortunately, they probably grew up in the wrong church. That's the problem. Well, it was a Catholic church. It's like, yeah, that's the wrong church. And so I can understand why people would be turned away from the faith if they were hearing in the headlines, you know, this pope is protecting these people and these people, these popes killed people and buried them underneath, you know, the churches or whatever. It's just the Catholic church is an ugly, ugly organization. And I wouldn't even really call them a church. I would call them a cult, you know, and when I preach, you know, my next cult sermon will probably be about them. So the Roman Catholic Church is super wicked. But anyway, today, for some weird reason, the womb of a woman is the most dangerous place to be. The womb where a child should be protected and cared for is the most hostile place you can be in. And you got all these baby killers protesting right now. It's sick and disgusting, it's vile, it's wicked. Some of the videos I saw this week are just so bad, you know, and they're going into churches and doing some of these demonstrations, but they're doing them at Catholic churches where the people are just like, oh. If they come in here, they're getting thrown out the front door. Believe me with, you know, it's not gonna be pretty. They're not coming in here. The door's locked. But, you know, they're standing in front of their church buildings and pretending to have abortions in front of them and all kinds of stuff. It's just disgusting, you know. Children are a gift from God. And the fact that people are at the point where they're just like, no, we can murder our kids if we want. I watched like a whole family riding bikes yesterday and it said, my mommy works at an abortion center. Well, I bet that kid didn't write that because it looked like, you know, five, six-year-old kids, they can't write that good. So it's like the mom that actually works at the abortion center is the one that wrote that thing, my mommy works at an abortion center. It's like, what a weird thing to write. Like you're writing for someone that didn't really write it so you can, you know, virtue signal to the other people. It's not even virtue though. It's so you can show people what a disgusting pig you are and what a butcher you are and a murderer. When she's saying that, she's saying, I murdered children for a living as she's riding with her kids on a bicycle. Weird, it's disgusting. You know what? I'm gonna always call abortion what it is, it's murder. It's wicked. Anybody that just sits there and says that we should be able to kill children on demand, my body, my choice. It's real funny how these liberals, you know, are all about my body, my choice when it comes to murdering children, but it's not the same when they wanna force a vaccination upon us. They wanna say, oh, no, it's everybody else's body too. No, it's either my body, my choice, or it's not. But then they say that we're the ones that are hypocrites for saying that. It's like, no, you're still a hypocrite. You're still an idiot. Cause number one, you know, that baby is not their body. It might be inside their body, but the baby itself is not their body. It's a separate human being that's inside them. So it's not your body, your choice. That's not your body. You can choose whether you wanna carry that body or not, but you're an idiot. Obviously you don't understand science because then if they understood science, they'd understand that child's alive. And the Bible teaches that upon conception is the life. You know, they're like, well, you can't hear a heartbeat for six weeks or whatever. So what? It's still alive. The baby is still alive in the womb. So they just wanna call upon science whenever it's convenient for them, you know, but when it comes to more than two genders, male and female, they seem to forget the science about that too, don't they? Right? I mean, they just are filled with hypocrisy, the left. And when I say, and I'm not saying it as a political statement, I'm just saying people that believe that way, I would call them the left. And look, this, it's not politics. This is morality. And so people, this person was saying to me this morning, they were, you know, texting me telling me that I'm gonna lose my tax exempt status or whatever, for talking about how the government should kill, you know, people of the LGBT or whatever. And that I'm calling, they always say this, you're calling for the death. You're calling for the death. No, I'm just saying the government should do their job. I said, how about this? Do you believe that a pedophile or a mass serial killer should be put to death? And they don't, they didn't have the courage to say what really needed to be said, which was, yes, I do. Instead they said, well, I believe the judges should do their jobs. That's a chicken way of saying that yes, they do believe that, but they're not gonna say it to me in text because maybe they wanna share it with their buddies about how they got in contact with the pastor that believes in this or whatever. So they can share it on Twitter with that faggot sounding guy, that atheist guy, what's his name? Mehmet or whatever. What's his name, brother Sean? The guy that keeps showing our clips on Twitter all the time. Mehmet, what is it? Metta or something like that. Anyway, he keeps showing all these clips of the pastors of the new IFB saying things, but he always makes sure to not put in the parts where we caveat things and say, hey, we're not telling people to go kill people. But I keep getting all these messages all the time where people are saying, you're calling for the death of these people. It's like, no, I'm not. I'm just saying that the government should do their job. If something is worthy of the death penalty, then the judge should do their job. So he said, well, the judge should do their job. And I said, I agree. But what about Samuel, was he a judge? And he told Saul the king, he told him, hey, kill everything that breathes, sheep, goats, whatever it was, everything that breathes was supposed to die of the Amalekites. And then Saul didn't do it. And he left the king alive. And Samuel, who was a judge, the last judge of Israel, he said, bring out Agag to me. And then he hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord. Why? And it says before the Lord, the Lord saw what he did. And did God say, no, don't do it. Don't do it, Samuel. No, Saul was supposed to do that. And so the point is, is that, yeah, you said you think that the judges should do their job. I agree, fully agree. And just because the law, there used to be sodomy laws in America a long time ago where it was a death penalty. They used to raid their little bath houses and stuff. It was on the books that sodomy is a crime and it still probably is in some states. But just because they changed the law because democracy is so great, two wolves and one sheep voting on what's for dinner, that doesn't mean that the morality changed. It might have changed in the hearts of those wicked people, but you know what? It didn't change in the mind of God. It doesn't change in the Bible. And it's not gonna be changed from this pulpit one time. I'm still gonna say what the Bible says. And if that's not separation between church and state, I don't care. I don't care. I'm gonna preach what the Bible says. Just like John the Baptist preaching against Herod because of him stealing his brother's wife. Why would John not preach that sermon? Well, he got his head caught off for it. He lost his tax exemption. Who cares? Do you think that if I stood before God and said, you know what, God, I had to stop preaching the way I was preaching because some rando on the internet said he was gonna take my tax exemption away or some fed came and said, I'm gonna take your tax exemption away. Okay, well take it away then because I'm still gonna keep preaching what the Bible says. I don't care what you say. I don't care what the government says. I don't care what the government says. Clip this. I don't care what the government says. Clip that. Because what the Bible says is what's important. We should rather obey God than men. Right? So look, I don't care what people say about this my body, my choice garbage. It's not their body if it's a baby inside their womb. It's that baby's body. And you don't have the right to kill an innocent life. I don't care what the law says. And when, you know, someone says, well, that person should be taken outside and a firing squad put upon them for committing abortion. Well, the Bible says thou shalt not kill. And you're like, well, you're saying to have them killed. No, I'm saying that they should be executed for a capital crime of murder. All right, there's a difference. So when you plot to kill your own child and just say, well, you know, I really want to get an Academy Award. So I'm just gonna kill this one so that my body doesn't get fat so I can do this movie and I can show everybody, oh, if I didn't have an abortion then I would have never got this. What, this idolatrous statue in your hand? Hopefully she gets hit in the head with that for all eternity while she's roasting in hell. How about that? But, you know, they want to set, I mean, they're the ones that are the hypocrites. Hey, we don't want, we want to make a moratorium against the death penalty. That's what all these liberal governors do. There's a moratorium on the death penalty in Washington state. There's a moratorium on the death penalty in Oregon and in California. But there's not a moratorium on murdering children. That's hypocrisy. You know what hypocrisy is? Is allowing people to just molest and rape children and other people and then let them out in 60 days. That's hypocrisy. But then they'll, oh, you better be put in jail for seeing hate speech. Listen, there's no hate speech laws here. I can say whatever I want. You know, I got the backing of the Bible to say, hey, you preach the whole truth. We're supposed to spare not. Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up thy trumpet or thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their sins. Look, I'm supposed to preach the Bible and I'm not gonna stop doing that. I don't care what some faggot sounding atheist says on Twitter. I don't care what Joe Biden says. I don't care because, you know, many people have been killed in the Bible for preaching what the truth is. You know, and if that happens, then that happens. But I don't wanna stand before God someday and be called a coward because I was afraid to preach the Bible. Oh, you were gonna lose your tax exemption status? Oh, never mind. It's okay, Pastor Thompson. Here's your crown of gold. It's okay, Pastor Thompson. Here's your crown of gold or whatever. No. He's gonna be like, melt that crown of gold and give it to somebody else because there's too many sissy britches, preachers out there that are afraid to get up and say what's true, right? So abortion is murder. It's wicked as hell. Hey, children are a gift. Children are a gift. Treasure them and, you know, obviously we live in a wicked world today but don't let, you know, here's the other thing they say. Here, I'm on a rant here. Here's the other thing that they say. Well, you know, incest or rape, then I don't agree with it because some people will say, well, yeah, I think it's kind of wrong but incest or rape, there should be an exemption for that. And it's like, well, that's a terrible situation but again, isn't that baby's fault? And I always like to give people this scenario because say someone does go full term, they deliver a baby that came from incest or rape. Five years later, they see a look in that child's eyes that reminds them of the person that assaulted them. They take a butcher knife out and they kill that child. Are they gonna go to jail for murder? Yes or no? Yes, they are because what is it? It's murder. So what difference does it make what time you kill them you're still murdering an individual, you're still murdering a child, right? So no matter how old. Anyway, let's move on to Genesis 48 verse 10. Let me get that off my chest real quick, right? It says, Now the eyes of Israel will dim for age so that he could not see and he brought them near unto him and kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face and though God has showed me all 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 left hand and brought them near unto him. So here's where he's trying to get Jacob to bless them. Jacob already said he was gonna bless them so he's trying to get them in the right position here. The first born son and the second born son, right? And it says, 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 the hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the first born. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom I, father 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 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 so this is the blessing, that they would grow into a multitude, that God would bless them, that they'd be named after Jacob's name. So that is why they are named after the children of, you know, the sons of the children of Israel. It says that when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. So I remember earlier this morning when I was preaching how Jesus, you know, they didn't, they were saying, get these kids out of here, and it says, and it displeased him. So this is something that has aggravated him and irritated him. He's not happy about it. And it says, and he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head onto Manasseh's head. Because maybe he's just thinking, well, he's senile. He can't see very well. He's trying to bless the wrong son. But it says that, you know, that it displeased him that he was doing this. But this is a picture of the first being last. This picture is in Scripture multiple times. The New Testament is better than the Old Testament. And so here's a picture also of the younger being, or the, yeah, the younger being replaced in the older, right? The Old Testament is replaced by the New Testament, as far as like practice and things like that. So this is just another one of those pictures that we see in Genesis where it's showing us a clear picture that the nation of Israel basically is going to be replaced by the spiritual Israel. So look at Matthew 20, verse 10. And Jesus does a lot of parables where he's saying things that are showing that, you know, the children of Israel, as far as the nation goes, are going to be replaced or they're going to be last. They were first, but they're going to be last. Here's a good one where it talks about, well, let's just read it. Matthew 20, verse 10. It says, When the first came, they supposed that they have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny. So, you know, to kind of catch up with the story here, I don't want to read all the verses, but basically, you know, this man who represents God, who represents, you know, these people being saved or whatever, the first ones do all the hard work, and they've been there for 12 hours. They work for like a 12-hour day. And then these last ones are hired at the very last hour, and they all receive the same amount of money. And so to us, that would seem unequal, wouldn't it? If we were working for somebody and we agreed for a penny, which is a day's wage back then, if we said, yes, I'll work for this much, and then our boss hired someone the last hour of our 12-hour day and gave them the same amount of money, it would take you off, wouldn't it? It would, but that's how the children of Israel think. But see, salvation is what we're talking about in reality. So just because the Jews were there and had to sacrifice so much and all this other stuff, but the Gentiles get to get on it at the end, right? And God blesses the Gentiles too. But why are you upset when somebody blesses somebody else besides you? It's just like, and the other night I was saying the Good Samaritan, but it was actually, huh? Yeah, the prodigal son. I kept saying the Good Samaritan. I was having a Biden attack last week, but I meant the prodigal son. So when the prodigal son goes forth, he gets his inheritance and he lives riotously. He's eating pig husks in the end. He's like, hey, I'm going to go back to my dad's house and I know he'll at least let me eat some food and I can work for him and everything will be good. And the brother, if you read that story, the brother gets upset and he's like, you never slayed the fatted calf for me and he gets all jealous. That's just another story that kind of represents how Israel gets jealous of the fact that the Gentiles get saved. The first sermon that Jesus ever preached, he gets up and talks about how Naaman the Syrian was the only person that ever got healed from leprosy in the Old Testament and he was a Gentile. So he tells these stories and then the people do what? They get up and they get really ticked off because he's saying how the Gentiles are blessed and this day this has come true in your ears or whatever and they try to throw them off a cliff for preaching that the Gentiles could be saved. And it's just like there's so much stuff about Old Testament Israel being replaced by New Testament believers. But anyway, so it says, but the first came in verse 10, they supposed that they should have received more and they liked it. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house. So compare that to what Ephraim does here too. Jacob is the patriarch, he's the one that's blessing and it's in his power to bless his grandsons and he puts it on the one that God wants them to bless, the second born. So the one that's not supposed to get the double inheritance and all that. So Ephraim's displeased but it says here, they murmured against the good men of the house which represents God saying these that have wrought but one hour and now has made them equal unto us which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me for a penny? And so you shouldn't get mad when someone does good things for other people. They should be happy of the fact that other people are getting saved. That's what God made the nation of Israel for in the first place and they were failing and falling down on the job, going into idolatry, becoming more wicked than the nations that they had conquered out of the land and God just finally had to say, you know what, I've had enough of it and he had to wipe them out a couple of different times and so this is kind of a story to try to help us to understand that the first, you know, even the people that come at the last minute are still equal with everybody else. See, we should never think that we're better than other people and it says, take that, the design and go thy way, I will give unto the last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first and the first, last, for many be called but few chosen. And so if you apply this to what's going on here, it's another picture of the fact that, you know, the first, the last is first and the first is going to be last. Genesis chapter 48 verse 18. It says, And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is I write hand upon his head. So he's trying to force the blessing onto the firstborn son, which generally that would be the case. And it says, and his father refused and said, I know it, my son, I know it. So this kind of is him telling him that he knows what he's doing. He's not just a mixed up old man that can't see. He understands that he's blessing Ephraim, the second born son, over the first born Manasseh. 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. So this is that picture perfectly shown one more time. I mean, it's been showed to us so many different times in the book of Genesis over the last 48 sermons or somewhat. I mean, it's almost in every chapter over and over and over again, but it's saying, because isn't the New Testament better than the Old Testament? It is. I mean, if we had to get up here and sacrifice animals multiple times a day, make sure that this candle doesn't ever go out, you know, make sure it's all filled with the oil, do all these different things that are ceremonial, isn't it just easier for us and better that Christ died for all of our sins and that we can just accept that? We don't have to kill a bunch of animals where all the, I mean, I'm sure that that was probably pretty rough on the kids and on the women and, you know, they get pretty upset when animals die, don't they? I mean, obviously men do too, I'm sure to a certain extent, but if you had to kill things every single day, you'd probably get kind of used to it, but it's still an ugly business, isn't it? But it was also an ugly business So, it says in verse 20, And he blessed them that day, saying, And thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he set 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. So that's the very interesting part at the very end that I'm just like, you know, if anybody has any cool answers to this, I mean, I kind of looked into it a little bit, but maybe someday when I'm reading it, it's going to come to me and I'll figure it out, but, or maybe there's just the part in the Bible that I wasn't aware of that showed Jacob having a showdown with an Amorite, the hand of an Amorite with a sword and with his bow, but I know his sons slaughtered a whole town in Shechem, but I don't think they were Amorites. I think that there was something else, but anyway, I could be wrong. Maybe I just need to study a little bit better, but it is interesting, but the other interesting thing here is that Joseph is the one that gets the extra portion. So the extra portion should go to the firstborn son, but in the case of Joseph, so it's kind of weird because he's upset that his firstborn son isn't being blessed by Jacob but Joseph is also being blessed when it's supposed to be Ruben. It's supposed to be blessed with the double portion. See that? So Ruben went up to his father's couch and he committed adultery with his, or you know, he committed adultery with his father's concubine, which is his wife, and so he basically was stricken from being able to be the one that got the extra portion. So he gave it to Joseph and in reality, Joseph probably deserved it out of anybody, right? And so, I mean, this happens a lot in the Bible where you'll have the firstborn not getting the true portion, like even with Judah. God killed his two first sons because they were wicked and then gave it to the portion of somebody else. So anyway, that's Genesis chapter 48. We have two more chapters left and basically in the next chapter, we're going to see Jacob blessing all of, and his blessings and kind of his predictions or prophecies about what's going to happen with these different tribes. There's a lot of symbolism in it. There's a lot of interesting stuff and materials in there. So next week, we'll go into Genesis chapter 49. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for a great chapter in the Bible and we thank you for the Word of God and Lord, we thank you for a great church here and we appreciate all the members here and everybody that pitches in and helps around here. And Lord, I just pray that you'd give a special blessing today to our church and our church family that are faithful and soul winning and faithful in service to you and I just pray that you'd bless their lives, Lord, and watch over brother Alex and his wife Mary and I pray that you'd help us to remember to pray for them each and every single day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, our last song will be song number 323, Be Thou My Vision. Song number 323 in your blue hymn books, Be Thou My Vision. Song number 323, Be Thou My Vision. Let's sing it out in the first. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Not be all else to me, save that thou art. Thou my best thought by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Thou my wisdom and thou my true word. I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I thy true Son. Thou in me dwelling and I with thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise. Thou mine inheritance now and always. Thou and thou only first in my heart. High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art. High King of Heaven, my victory won. May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's sun. Part of my own heart would ever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all. Amen. Good seeing you, Brother Brandon. Could you give us a word of prayer?