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Music Grab your songbooks, your blue songbooks and turn to page number 337, we're going to be singing God Will Take Care of You. Welcome to Shore Foundation Baptist Church, find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 337 in your blue hymn books, God Will Take Care of You. Let's sing that out on the first. Be not dismayed, whatever be tied, God will take care of you. Beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or along the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. Amen. Good singing song, 337 in your blue hymn books. Let's sing it out on the second. Through days of toil and hard to fail, God will take care of you. When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. All you may need he will provide, God will take care of you. But nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you. Lean weary one upon his breast, God will take care of you. God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. Amen. Good singing brother Stephen, could you help us with a prayer? Amen. Our second song will be our new song again, song number 43 in your blue hymn books, My Wonderful Lord. Song number 43 in your blue hymn books, My Wonderful Lord. Song number 43, My Wonderful Lord, let's sing it out on the first. I have found a deep peace that I never had known and a joy this world could not afford. Since I yielded control of my body and soul to my wonderful, wonderful Lord. My wonderful Lord, my wonderful Lord, by angels and seraphs in heaven adored, I know thou art mine, my Savior divine, my wonderful, wonderful Lord. I desire that my life shall be ordered by thee, that my will be in perfect accord. With thine own sovereign will, thy desires to fulfill, my wonderful, wonderful Lord. My wonderful Lord, my wonderful Lord, by angels and seraphs in heaven adored, I know thou art mine, my Savior divine, my wonderful, wonderful Lord. All the talents I have, I have laid at thy feet, thy approval shall be my reward. Be my store, great or small, I surrender it all to my wonderful, wonderful Lord. My wonderful Lord, my wonderful Lord, by angels and seraphs in heaven adored, I know thou art mine, my Savior divine, my wonderful, wonderful Lord. On the last sing it out. Thou art fairer to me than the fairest of earth, thou omnipotent life-giving Word. O thou ancient of days, thou art worthy of praise, my wonderful, wonderful Lord. My wonderful Lord, my wonderful Lord, by angels and seraphs in heaven adored, I know thou art mine, my Savior divine, my wonderful, wonderful Lord. Let's take our bulletins and go through some announcements. If you need a bulletin, would you lift up your hand and one of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. If you need a bulletin, lift up your hand. All right. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I, in the midst of the Matthew chapter 18, verse number 20. It's a great scripture there. Our service times are 1030 a.m. Sunday morning for the preaching service, and Sunday evening is at 3 30 p.m., which is the services you're at right now. And we're in Genesis chapter 49 one last time this Sunday night, and we'll move on to chapter 50, and then Thursday Bible study is at 6 30 p.m. We are going through the book of Titus right now. However, I'm going to be in New Jersey this Thursday night, so we'll have to wait another week to get the Titus Bible study. But we have Soloning times listed below in the leaders, and then we have also regional Soloning groups and times in different locations around the state. If you went Soloning today, did anybody have any salvations today out Soloning? Had one salvation? All right. Anybody else? All right. Praise God. One salvation. Okay. And our praise report, you can see the salvations, baptisms, and attendance totals. And then on our page over on the right, we have, I just kind of explained a little bit, I'm going to New Jersey to preach with Pastor Jimenez. That service starts at 6 p.m. It's actually on Friday, Friday the 10th, and there will be some fellowship in New Jersey there together with the brethren. I'm hoping there's going to be a big showing. I'm sure there will be. I'll be preaching first, and Pastor Jimenez will be preaching. So I'm sure it will be live streamed in some capacity, so I'll try to post that in the group if I can or have somebody else do it for me. And there's going to be baptisms in between or after that service, possibly the next day, and then there will be a Soloning Marathon on Saturday in, I think it's going to be in New York. I'm not exactly sure where it's going to be, but it's in New York or New Jersey. So, that will be a great time. June 14th, we have our homeschool field trip to Oaks Amusement Park. It will be our last homeschool field trip of the year. And see Miss Rachel if you want to RSVP and let her know that you're going. I think we have a homeschool group. We have, like, multiple WhatsApp groups for different things. So, just make sure you let Miss Rachel know that you're going. And what time are they meeting? Huh? 12? Okay, 12 o'clock for the meetup. And, let's see, bring us back lunch. Is that right? No? Maybe we'll buy you lunch if you want to come. They have good food there, though. I mean, they get their curly fries or bomb. Anyway, let's see. So, then June 15th, we have the funeral service for Mary Kornichuk at Futon Rose & Hoyt Funeral Home. And that's at 2308 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove. And the burial is going to be at Union Point Cemetery in Banks at 5 p.m. ish. We're still not worked out totally on that detail. But please continue to pray for Brother Alex and his family. And most of all, he wants to see his family members saved that are not saved. So, he is going to be preaching the gospel. I'm going to be preaching the gospel to make sure someone has an opportunity to accept the gospel and be saved. And so, please be in prayer for those people. There's some hurt feelings with some of the family members. So, just pray for a sweet spirit to be at the funeral for Miss Mary who passed on not too long ago. So, anyway, that would be good things to pray for. And you're all welcome to attend either of the services or both of the services if you want. And we'll have more details coming about that soon. And then, let's see, we have the men's shooting event in Stevenson, Washington the day before Father's Day. And I did buy three prizes, Brother Sean. And so, the top three performers that day are going to be able to take home a prize. We're going to have lunch up there. Usually we do hamburgers or something. Is your dad going? All right, your brother? All right, cool. So, anybody who wants to go is more than welcome to go. It's not just for fathers. It's for all men to come and enjoy. We're going to meet on the Washington side of the Bridge of the Gods. And last year Kyle had a perfect shoot where he was channeling his inner Kyle Rittenhouse. So, he was hitting every target. So, maybe this year somebody can unseat the champion. And we'll have a great time out there. Then Father's Day is June 19th. And so, we'll have a gift for each dad that's in attendance. And we'll have a special sermon geared toward fathers that day, at least in the morning service. Then we have the FWBC mega conference. Our stop location is June 23rd, which is a Thursday night. Pastor Steven Anderson will be here preaching for us that Thursday. And then he's going to be traveling up to Spokane on June 26th to preach both services at our satellite church in Spokane for both services. So, that's coming up at the end of the month. And I'll be preaching in Phoenix at the same time as he's in Spokane. So, then the 4th of July fellowship is going to be at the Yankee residence. And Miss Alana's baby shower is going to be here at the church building on July 9th. The Red Hot Preaching Conference is July 14th through 17th. So, lots of stuff going on, especially this month. So, I know if you were zoning out during the announcements, just take this home with you. Mark everything on your calendar, okay? We're a family integrated church. That means that children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please utilize the mother-baby rooms for your convenience. And no dads in the mother-baby room, no mothers in the dad-baby room. The dad-baby room is located in the back corner there, mother-baby room right there. And they all have comfortable seating. And the preaching is pumped in there so you can still listen to the preaching if you need to go and utilize those rooms. No unattended children in the church, please at any time. And let's see, no food in the assembly area. Please silence your cell phones if you would at this time or place them on airplane mode. If you need to escort to your vehicle by one of the ushers, just ask one of them. They're the men that man the front doors and they have a badge on their jacket that says Usher. And you can see how to give electronically and then also the tithes and offerings that came in for the month of May. We sang happy birthday to all the birthday people. And brother Robert's here but Ms. Crystal's not, so I'm assuming we'll have to just sing to them next week, all right? And then we sang to Rylan and Jolene, their sixth anniversary is coming up. We had a lot of birthdays this month. So anyway, happy birthday to all the people. We have birthdays. One last thing, if you're a first-time visitor, we're very happy that you're here. We do have gift bags that we like to give each first-time visitor. There's like some bookmarks and a video called Being Baptist. There's a real nice pen in there. And please take one of those as you walk out the door. There's a little table right around the corner here. You can just grab one of those on your way out. And it's just a gift or appreciation for you being a first-time guest. And with that being said, let's sing another song and then we'll receive the offering. All right, our next song will be song number 336 in your blue hymn books, Till the Storm Passes By. Song number 336, Till the Storm Passes By. Song number 336, let's sing it out there on the first. In the dark of the midnight have I oft hit my face While the storm howls above me and there's no hiding place Mid the crash of the thunder, precious Lord hear my cry Keep me safe till the storm passes by Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more Till the clouds roll forever from the sky Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand Keep me safe till the storm passes by Many times Satan whispered, there is no need to try For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by But I know Thou art with me and tomorrow I'll rise Where the storm's never dark in the skies Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more Till the clouds roll forever from the sky Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand Keep me safe till the storm passes by When the long night has ended and the storm's come no more Let me stand in Thy presence on that bright, peaceful shore In that land where the tempest never comes, Lord may I Dwell with Thee when the storm passes by Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more Till the clouds roll forever from the sky Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand Keep me safe till the storm passes by Amen. Good singing. Brother Ramon, could you bless the offering for us? ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Turn your Bibles to Genesis 49. Genesis 49. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you one. Genesis 49. The Bible reads in Genesis 49 verse 1, it says, And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father's bed. Then defilelest thou it, he went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp, from the prey my son thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be, binding his fowl unto the vine, and his asses cold unto the choice vine. He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon. Issachar is a strong-ass couching down between two burdens, and he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under tribute. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that biteth the horse's heel, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Gad a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last. Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Neftali is a hind let loose, he giveth goodly words. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him, but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel, even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings from heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breast, and of the womb. The blessings of thy father have prevailed upon the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. Benjamin shall raven as a wolf, in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them, everyone according to his blessing he blessed them. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, and in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for possession of a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. Brother Joe will you pray for us? Amen, alright we're in the last sermon in Genesis chapter number 49. I've already preached three sermons before this, and basically I've been covering what Jacob has said to his children before he is about to die. At the very end of the chapter you see that he yields up the ghost, and I've gone through all the tribes except for Joseph and Benjamin. Now remember Joseph, his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh were taken into the fold, and they are considered half tribes. Joseph's tribe is split in two because Jacob kind of basically adopted them, and it really didn't seem like he got permission to do that, but Joseph didn't seem too upset until he blessed the wrong son with the, you know, he had the two sons in front of him, and he blessed the wrong one. Well we kind of talked about Manasseh a lot, how they were taken away from, they were taken away by the king of Assyria, and it was Gad, Manasseh, and who was it, Reuben. So they all kind of were on one, you know, side of Jordan there, and basically they got taken away because they stopped serving God. And basically this is what happens to all the tribes of Israel for the most part. When Jesus comes, the state of affairs in Judah is in rough shape, and so Joseph, I mean excuse me, Jacob, he's blessing his sons, but some of these blessings aren't really blessings are they, but he's still blessing them with what he can. So, and Joseph of course is probably the best of all the sons, if you think about it, and he got done dirty by his brothers, and he ended up becoming second in command only behind Pharaoh of the whole land of Egypt. God used Joseph to bless the children of Israel, and to actually bless the whole world, because the whole world was in a dearth, and basically if Joseph had to come along and came up with the plan to save Egypt with, you know, because there's seven years of plenty, and then seven years of famine, and the famine basically ate up what was seven years of plenty. So Joseph devised this plan to be able to keep everybody alive, and the Bible says that the whole world was in a dearth, and people from all over the world came to buy grain from them. So, and basically I'm going to just cover Joseph, I'm going to cover Ephraim specifically, because Manasseh has kind of already been dealt with a lot here, but then I'm going to also talk about Benjamin some. So, and really these guys could have their own sermons, you could have a series of sermons with some of these different children, some of them there wasn't much to say about them, but Joseph has a lot, they say that there's a lot said about Joseph. So let's look at verse number 22, where the Bible says, Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. So, first off you just notice that the Bible says that Joseph is fruitful, so he only had two children in Egypt, the Bible says he only had two children period, so it doesn't seem like he's that fruitful, but you have to think about the fact that his, this is talking about what his sons are going to do even up to the end times. And Ephraim was one of the most, if not the most, fruitful as far as having children and being a big tribe, he had a huge tribe, Manasseh not so much, but it says Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well. So the Bible is very specific to mention this part, but it also says the archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. So in the end, Joseph's tribe was pretty much decimated and taken away, so they ceased to exist as a tribe today. All the children of Israel, there is no more genealogy, so genealogies, the Bible says to avoid genealogies because the main genealogy that really mattered was Christ's genealogy and the fact that he was the Messiah. But God did love the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 sons of Israel, he loved Israel a lot. But one thing you got to understand with archers, they shoot from a distance, don't they? They shoot from a distance and so basically it seems like slowly over time, the children of Ephraim, and that's who I said I was going to focus on specifically with Joseph's tribe, is that Ephraim became this great mighty force of people and they did well for a while, but then they just blew it, just like the rest of these guys. Look at verse 24, it says, but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. So he was strong, Ephraim was a strong child and their people were a strong people. It says, from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, even by the God of thy father who shall keep thee, and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breast and the womb. So see, it's talking about being fruitful and talking about blessings and God blessed them specifically because of how good Joseph was as a son, but ultimately people have to, they can't ride on one person's coattails. Joseph was a great man of God and there was great men within his tribe, but ultimately people make their own decisions and that's what free will is all about. But one thing is true, they were blessed with a multitude of people. It says, the blessings of thy father, verse 26, have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. But as you read through the Old Testament, you're going to see that Ephraim just kind of goes bad. They go wrong, they go bad, and their fruitfulness ends up not mattering. Because you know what, you can be as fruitful as you want, but if God's not part of your, you know, God's not part of that fruitfulness, then you can have all the children you want, but if they all just go to the devil, then what difference does it make? And it basically is what kind of happened with Ephraim. Look at Genesis chapter 41 verse 52, we'll just kind of get a little lay of the land of who he is, who his mother was, and what his, you know, Ephraim actually means something. It means, look at verse 52, Genesis 41, it says, And the name of the second called he Ephraim, for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. So the name of Ephraim actually just, it means fruitful. So Joseph named him that because he felt like he was being blessed in the land of his affliction, which was Egypt. Now look at Genesis chapter 50 verse 23, which we haven't really gotten into yet, we will next week, but it says, And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Makur, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees. So the, you know, let's see, Joseph got to see his grandchildren, he got to see the third generation of his children, and so he did get to see some fruitfulness. Now turn to Numbers chapter 13 verse 8, and usually in these sermons I'm bringing up people that are famous people in these tribes, and one of the famous people in the tribes, the tribe of Ephraim is Joshua. Look at Numbers chapter 13 verse number 8. The Bible says, Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. Oshea the son of Nun, and that is Joshua. You'll find in the Old Testament that Joshua is called different things, and so Oshea is one of the names, but it's, you know, you just put the J in front of it, it's Joshua. So Joshua the son of Nun, who's a very famous man of God in the Bible, one of the greatest men to ever, you know, walk the face of the earth probably, and Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim. And so when Joshua inherited of the land, Joshua inherited, you know, a city, he built a city on Mount Ephraim, which was where his possession was. And the Bible also says, it's very funny, you know, it's interesting that Joshua, once Joshua dies, then they bury the bones of Jacob in Shechem, where they were supposed to bury him. Now turn to Psalm chapter 78 verse 5. Psalm chapter 78 verse 5. So Ephraim is a fruitful, it's a fruitful son of Joseph, and here's the downfall summed up in Psalm chapter 78. So what was the problem with Ephraim? Well, he just, he backed out of the things of God. He just turned weak and refused to walk in his law. Look at what it says in Psalm chapter 78 verse number 5. It says, For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, and he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children. See, here's the thing about being fruitful. In the things of God, you've got to be fruitful, but you also have to pass that stuff to your children. You have to pass the things of the Lord to your children. So it doesn't matter how fruitful a nation is, how fruitful a man is, but if the people behind, you know, that come before are not faithful to God, then it's going to come to naught. So you can have as many kids as you want, but it doesn't matter if they're not faithful to the things of God. Look at what it says in verse 7, that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law, and forgot his works and his wonders that he had showed them. So ultimately, Ephraim, except for the remnant that was left over, was a total failure. Why? Because they forgot God. Because they forgot about being steadfast with God. They forgot about, you know, they were well armed, they were carrying bows, they were strong. Remember the blessing of Jacob, that they would be strong? You know, that the mighty God of Jacob would be with them? But you know what? If they're not with God, he's not going to be with them. And this is what people forget. You know, you can be blessed right now, but your end can be not blessed. So you have to just continue on with the Lord and not forget his ways. And you've got to keep his commandments. Not to be saved, but you should keep his commandments to be blessed. Because on this earth, we'll be blessed for how we live our lives. See, we're saved by faith, through grace, through faith. No works, no repenting of sins, none of all that stuff. It's simply faith alone in God. You know, there's no added works onto that. You can't add works before you're saved. You can't add works after you're saved. Those works that you do when you're saved are rewards that you get, and blessings in the life that you have now, and blessings in the future, but you're saved by faith alone. That's very clear from the Bible, we all know that. But if you refuse to walk in God's law... See, people say, well, you're talking about the Old Testament, Pastor Thompson. That's funny though, because Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Right? So people can say all that garbage about not keeping God's law and stuff like that, but we're still supposed to keep God's law, but it's never been about salvation. It's been about blessing. It's been about how God's going to deal with you as a son or daughter in God. And you know what, when your children are bad, what do you do? You spank them, right? I hope you spank them, because how are they going to know about a God that has consequences if they never have consequences at home? I was watching this documentary about Bam Majera, and how he... I don't know if anybody knows who that is, but before the internet was really big, he was a really popular skateboarder. And then he went on to make those jackass movies, and he was like one of those... He actually basically kind of came up with the whole, you know, doing stupid tricks and things to get views or whatever. Now everybody does it. But one thing I thought was really interesting about the documentary is that he was never punished for anything when he was a child. He was never punished. He was allowed to do whatever he wanted. His dad filmed everything he did on like one of those big jumbo camcorders. But when you see the end of him, now he's a drugged out loser, and none of his friends like him anymore. He can't, you know, he can't hold on to a job. He got fired from a show called Jackass. I mean, he must be a real jackass to get fired from a show called Jackass, right? So, the point is though, is that, you know, if you don't put limitations on your children, they're going to be excessive in every area of their life. And you know, you can't wait until it's too late to punish them. Children need to be punished. You know, and God's going to punish His children when we don't keep His laws and keep His commandments. He'll punish us here on earth, but obviously we're still saved. So, what happened with Ephraim? Well, they had the blessings. The crown of Joseph was upon them. You know, because he was separate from his brethren. He was a great man of God, but you know what? You can blow the blessings that you have in your life, and you know what? If you keep blowing them, then you're going to end your life in a way that you don't want it to be ended. It's just going to be bad. So, the best thing that we can do, let me just drill this into you kids. The best thing you can do is keep God's commandments and walk in His ways. And when you have children of your own, you train them up in the ways of the Lord. Unlike Ephraim, who totally blew it, didn't they? Isn't that what it says? That they forgot the works of God. They were not steadfast. The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows, they were really powerful, they were really strong. They were the crown. And you know, he's the one that was blessed by, you know, Jacob, when it was supposed to be Manasseh the first born. They had all the blessings. But see, you know what? You can have all the advantages in life. You can have all the blessings in life. But you know what? If you don't have God with you, it's worthless and it means nothing. And you can just, everything that you're blessed with can become curses to you. So there are these mighty archers and God made them strong and powerful. But it says that being armed and carried, they turned back in the day of battle. That's what a lot of Christians do too these days. There's battles that come and instead of just being strong in God and pushing through and persevering through these trials and tribulations that we go through or shrinking back when it comes time for a battle. Look, life is a series of battles. You better just get used to it. This life is not easy. And the Christian life is not easy. The Christian life is rewarding. It's wonderful. It's joyous. You should have joy in the fact that you have a great Christian life. And children, you should be thankful for the fact that your parents bring you to church. You can be just left to your own devices doing whatever you want. And you know what? Then another failed generation can come about. But you know what? I hope that the people that came up in a bad family in this church today, that I hope that they turn things around with their family. Because I come from a dysfunctional family, but you know what? I want my family moving forward to be functional. But see, if my children don't raise their children the way that I raised them, then that generation is going to fail. It doesn't take but one time to fail a generation. And you know what? God was done with Ephraim as far as, you know, he got rid of them. There was only Judah and Benjamin was left. And basically a remnant of the Ephraimites. So the application that I want you to get from this is that it doesn't matter how fruitful your family is, if God is not part of it, it will come to naught. It will come to destruction. So be fruitful like Ephraim was. Be fruitful, but always make God a part of your family. Or you know what? You're going to be a failure as a parent and then you're going to fail your children and your children will fail their children. It's a bad, you know, just a bad way to go about things because, you know, the Bible says we're supposed to be fruitful and multiply, but it also says we're supposed to keep his commandments. Hey, make sure your kids get saved. Make sure they're saved. Ask them. Because, you know, a lot of times kids just say that they get saved in order to make their parents happy but they really don't understand it. Or they get baptized or whatever. Just make sure that they actually are saved and believe the truth. 1 Corinthians 15, 58 says, Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So the problem with Ephraim was what? They were not steadfast. It says whose spirit was not steadfast with God. And what's God want us to do in the New Testament? It says we're supposed to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. So if you're part of this church, get doing something. Start working for the Lord. And if you went soloing today, you're working for the Lord. If you're helping clean up the church, you're working for the Lord. Whatever it is that you do, whatever labor you do is going to be blessed. But teach your children to work also. And then Benjamin, let's focus on Benjamin here. It says in verse number 27, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil. So I talked about three different types of dogs this morning. I brought this verse into the sermon because it was proving the point that there are dogs that are not domesticated. And the way they behave out in the wild is that they raven, they're aggressive and they try to hurt other things. They're predatory. It says in the morning they should devour their prey. So if they weren't predators, they wouldn't have prey. Not all dogs eat Alpo. Not all dogs eat old Roy. It says at night he shall divide the spoil. So I mean this is kind of an interesting verse here. But Benjamin is a major player in the Old Testament and on into the New Testament. If you think about who, the apostle Paul was of what tribe? Benjamin. And he wrote half the New Testament. So he was a success story of the tribe of Benjamin, wasn't he? Now look at Genesis 35 verse 18. So remember Benjamin was born, his mother was Rachel. And it says in Genesis 35 18, it says, and it came to pass as her soul was in the party and she died in childbirth, it says for she died, that she called his name Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin. So Benjamin was kind of a son that was born out of due time. He was the last born of Rachel, which was Jacob's love of his life or whatever. And she died in childbirth and he was born kind of out in a strange way. I mean it's the only one we really see dying in childbirth that I can remember in the Bible. Now look at verse 24. It says the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. So these guys are kind of lumped together at the end of this sermon, Joseph and his son Ephraim and Manasseh. But the tribe of Benjamin was nearly completely wiped out after the other tribes went into war with them for refusing to give over the Sodomites that killed the Levites concubine in Judges chapter 19. So why is it mentioned this ravening wolf thing? Well, you know, they had some predators that were in as part of their tribe. It even says that they were in Mount Ephraim, but the people that came to that house that night were Benjamins. So, you know, I mean, Benjamin didn't really do much starting out. But in Judges, you know, they've already inherited where they were going to inherit, then you have this bad story about them. It's not a good story. Turn over there. We'll just look at a few verses here. Judges chapter 19. Really, I mean, I could preach a lot about it. I could preach a couple of sermons about this whole situation. But Judges chapter 19 verse 22, the Bible says, Now as they were making their hearts merry, this is the concubine and the Levite. So the Levite's gone from Bethlehem Judah and he's trying to bring his concubine back. She played the horn in her father's house, the Bible says, but he goes and gets her back. And they're going on this trip trying to go back to where they were supposed to be. And, you know, they come up to Jebus, which was controlled by the Jebusites, which was basically around the area of Jerusalem. And he's like, No, I'm not going to stay there. I'm going to stay at a place where the children of Israel are. So they go to Gibeah, which is Benjamin's area, their main area at that time, thinking that they're going to be safe. But a man comes out from the field. He's sojourning there and he's working in that area, but he's not part of that tribe. But he comes out of the field, he's like, Hey, I don't want you to sleep out on the streets. Come into my house and, you know, I'll protect you basically. And so it's now you're at the part where basically they're just sitting there, you know, enjoying themselves, having a meal. And it says, Now they were making their hearts merry. Behold the men of the city, certain sons of Belial. He set the house round about and beat at the door and spake to the master of the house the old man saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house that we may know him. So these certain sons of Belial, when the Bible says the term sons of Belial, that means these people are servants of the devil. See, not every sinner is a servant of the devil. They're obviously can be controlled by Satan and influenced by Satan. But when it's talking about a son of Belial, it's talking about a child of the devil. This person is unable to be saved. They are wicked. Belial was the devil in the Bible and it says certain sons of Belial beat at the house. So what do they want to do? They want to know this man. Well, what do you think they want to do? Walk up and shake his hand? Is that what they want to do? No, the Bible is using a euphemism here that they want to do something really bad to this guy. They want to rape a man and they're men. So what are they? The Bible says they're sons of Belial, but what else are they? They're sodomites. They're wicked. They're homos, right? And it says, and the man, the master of the house went out unto them and said unto them, nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly. So the Bible is going to give you the context of what's going on here. They're not just saying, hey, we want to shake hands with this guy and meet him. He's new in town. They want to do something wicked to him, don't they? They want to do something evil. It says, seeing that this man has come into my house, do not this folly. So what are they doing? They're coming and knocking on this guy's house. They're trying to snatch up this guy who's a priest, by the way. He's a Levite and they want to hurt this man. They want to do bad things to him. They want to do very vile things. It says, do not so wickedly. And remember when Lot, his house was surrounded in a similar fashion and he said, do not so vile a thing? So there's two mentions of Sodomites trying to do something to people against their will and hurt them. This is not love is love. This is, you know, rape. This is wicked, if not the worst sin, one of the worst sins you could commit right here. It says, behold, here's my daughter. And this is really weird too. Behold, here's my daughter, a maiden and his concubine. Them I will bring out now and humble you them and do with them what seemeth good unto you. But unto this man, do not so what? What's it say? Vile a thing. So we're talking about something that's vile, detestable, disgusting and wicked. But the men would not hearken to him. So the man took his concubine and brought her forth unto them and they knew her and abused her all the night until the morning. And when the day began to spring, they let her go. But the bad part of this story also is not, so they hurt this woman. So the men won't come out, so they do something bad, they do this to this woman and they hurt her to the point where she dies. The husband comes out and she doesn't answer when he says, up let's go. This guy is not a very nice guy either. I mean he just lets his wife go out there to get tortured by these sodomites. So my point is of showing you the story is that the Benjamites, they don't start out very good, do they? They start out really bad. So and then they had some famous people that were in their lineage here later on. But what happened as a result of this act right here is that, that Levite cut that woman up into pieces and sent her body parts to the other tribes. And the story went around and all the tribes of Israel gathered themselves together and they actually asked God, God should we go up against the Benjamites, our brother? And he said go up, for I will deliver them into your hands. So they get beat a couple times though, don't they? But ultimately the children of Israel, the rest of the children of Israel, I mean they're fighting against their own brothers in Christ. Or you know their brothers in tribe or whatever. You know they're the nation of Israel, all the other nations are fighting against that one nation. And why? Because they go up and ask them to give up these wicked men and they refuse to do it. So they protect these Sodomites and literally go to war over men that hurt this woman, that were trying to hurt this man. And so God, you know what did he say? Take them out. Destroy them. But you see that this happens in churches today all over this country and I kind of talked about it this morning. I don't want this to be a sermon about the Sodomites but I mean listen, God said to go and destroy the Benjamites. There was only a small remnant left and they said that they promised not to even give their daughters to their sons and so they had to rebuild that nation. Why? Because God pretty much destroyed that whole nation for this sin right here. So what does that tell you? That we should not be protecting and harboring them also. And so churches that are protecting and harboring them, like I've gone to churches where they're protecting pedophiles. They're protecting them. They're telling them that you know we're not going to tell anybody you just can't work in junior church or whatever and they're protecting them. And they're around your children. I don't understand why you would just choose some pervert over your own church members. I'll never understand that. So the Benjamites, they started bad. They got almost decimated and destroyed. So now then Saul, the first king of Israel, he was made king because he was a goodly man. He was, you know God chose him to be the first king. You know when the judges were rejected by the people they said give us a king like all the other nations have. And they basically at that point rejected God from being their king, didn't they? So what happens? Well Saul starts out good. He's a good guy. He does well. But then Saul turns bad and tries to kill David. And you know he kills the priest of the Lord. So Saul started out good, but how did he end up? Bad. Wounded by the archers. Going to a witch for counsel instead of God. Disobeying the commandments of the Lord. Letting Agag, the wicked man, live when God said to put everybody to death. So Samuel has to come, who was the last judge, and you know this old man has to come chop this guy up because Saul the king, who God chose to be the king, refused to do it. And so you know what? God said I'm refusing you to be the king also. I'm going to pick somebody that's better than you. And David then became anointed by God and then when Saul died, David became the king. So that's kind of how that all worked out, but Benjamin started bad and then they went good there for a little while and then they went bad again. And then the house of Judah prevailed over the house of Benjamin, right? And so basically you have them ending not well. Who else was a good person in the Benjaminites? Well Jonathan was a good man. He was David's friend. He was a mighty man of valor. His uncle Abner, even though he had kind of some choppy past, decided to do well and kind of hand the kingdom over to David. But unfortunately he was chased down by Joab's brother and he had to kill Joab's brother and so Joab killed him. So I mean there's some bad times there in that house. But think about this though. In the end, who's the last person that's named a Benjamite in the whole Bible? It's Saul. A different Saul. That Saul starts out bad, doesn't he? He's hurting Christians. He's taking them and punishing them and making them blaspheme God. His hand is against people to put them to death. That's what the Bible says. He starts out bad, but how does he end up? Good. He gets saved. He becomes the best missionary, the greatest missionary on the face of the planet. Y'all in here are saved today because of Paul's direct work in this world. Because he was the apostle to the Gentiles. He loved the children of Israel, but God said, Hey, you're going to witness to me in front of kings and the children of Israel and the Gentiles. But his main mission was, you know, he would try to get the Jews saved in the towns that he would go to, but then he ultimately would, you know, he would go and reach the Gentiles. And there's a couple times in the book of Acts where he's like, Okay, I'm done with you guys. I'm going to the Gentiles after this. But Paul really loved his people and Paul was willing to, he said if it was possible, I'd give up my own salvation for them. Paul, you know, he really was a hateful person that became a very loving person. And isn't it funny how the tribe of Benjamin starts out protecting and loving Sodomites that hate God, that are children of the devil, and then ends Benjamin's, you know, basically their lineage ends, the last time we see a person saying they're a Benjamin is Paul. And how does his life end? Blessed and good and he wrote Romans chapter one. You know, so instead of protecting them, Paul's saying, Hey, they're wicked. They still are worthy of death. You know, obviously we're not supposed to kill them. I understand that. But the Bible says it's a sin worthy unto death. Murder is a sin worthy unto death. If you first agree to murder somebody, you should be put to death. You know, none of those things have changed with God. So anyway, it's just interesting how that Benjamin starts out bad but ends up good with Saul. And then even if you just put the story of Saul the king starting out good but ending bad, the opposite is true with Paul, the other Saul. Saul of Tarsus, he starts out bad and ends up good. What is, you know, so what does this really mean? Well, it means that you can start out bad and end up good. Your life can start out bad but it can end up blessed. But also you can start out blessed and end up bad based upon what choices you make. Hey, did the Benjamites, did they have to shelter those freaks? No, but they went to battle and they were tough. But it just goes to show that God, whose side was God on? The children of Israel wanted to destroy, well they didn't really want to, but they kind of forced their hand. And when they asked God what He wanted them to do, He said, wipe them out. When in doubt, wipe them out. Because of what they did, they deserved to die for what they did and they're harboring predators. They're harboring these wolves that are ravening and are trying to divide the spoil at night, right? But in the end, Benjamin ended well, didn't he? Like if you think about the whole series of events with Benjamin, they ended up good. So, but that, I mean, in application for ourselves, we can start out good and end up bad. Just like Saul, the king, started out good and ended up bad. But the opposite is also true. So, you know, basically, you're responsible for your own actions. And don't try to blame your position in society, don't try to blame your upbringing. You know, some of those things are factors in how your life turns out, but ultimately, we all have free will. Whether you're bond or free, male or female, rich or poor, whatever it is your station of life is, we all have a free gift that's offered to us, it's called salvation. And every single one of us has the opportunity to have everlasting life, no matter how poor you are. When I was preaching at camp, I was talking about how God takes people that are in the dung hill and raises them up and allows them to be princes of the people. See, you can be, you can come from the dung hill and God can make you great. But you can also come from great things and end up really bad. So let it be a lesson to you that the way you operate your life is ultimately going to be how you turn out in the end. So, you can start out, and everybody really, in reality, starts out bad. We're all sinners, right? And it's not the fact that you're good that makes you saved, someone else was good for you that allowed you to be saved. So let's move on here to the end of the chapter here. So we'll look at Jacob's death and burial. So I covered all the 12 tribes, all the 12 men of Israel, and of course I could have gone way deeper into all that, but I'm not going to for the sake of time. Genesis 49 verse 28 says, All these are the 12 tribes of Israel, and this is that their fathers spake unto them and blessed them, everyone according to his blessing, he blessed them. And he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. So what's it say he did? He charged them. Didn't he? He's commanding his 12 sons to do something for him. What do they want him to do? He wants them to be buried in the place where he wants to be buried. This is kind of like his last will and testament, so to speak. But he doesn't say burn me, does he? He doesn't say turn me into ashes and wear me as a necklace. He says bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. So it is biblical to be buried. The picture of salvation is what? The death, burial, and resurrection. Not the death, the torching, you know what I mean? So that's not what the Bible teaches, so the Bible teaches death, burial, and resurrection. And so why be buried? Well, it's showing that you have a hope of the resurrection. It's showing you have a hope of the resurrection. And what did Jesus do? He was buried, right? Why? And then because he resurrected from the grave after three days and three nights. So notice that Jacob charged them to do something. Now flip this over to the 12 apostles. Didn't Jesus charge the 12 apostles to do something also? So and Jacob does picture Jesus in a lot of different ways, but I think here it is death. There's some pictures that we can take forth from this. Look at Matthew chapter 28 verse 16. Matthew chapter 28 verse 16. Try to go through this quickly. Matthew 28 16 it says, then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. So it says eleven because one was a traitor and hung himself, right? That was Judas. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. What would you call that right there? Would you call that Jesus charging them with something? He's telling them something to do. Go and preach the gospel. You know, just like, so Jacob charged his sons with something to do. But he charged them to bury them in a certain place, to bury him in a certain place. You know, and obviously this takes place hundreds of years later, but he still makes Joseph swear that he'll do it. So now look at Acts chapter one verse two. This is when Jesus is taken up to heaven. See, Jesus after he resurrected was still around for forty days, appearing to the disciples at certain times, appearing to five hundred brethren at once. You know, I mean that would be pretty cool after the resurrection to be part of that church where all of a sudden you're all gathered together and Jesus shows up to lead songs and preach a sermon or whatever. Wouldn't that be cool? Acts chapter one verse two, the Bible says, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. So what did he do? He gave commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. So what did he do? He commanded them something, didn't he, before he left. Didn't Jacob, what's he doing? He's commanding his sons before he leaves. Very, very good parallels there. And it says, and they therefore were, excuse me, verse six, when they therefore were come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and in the uttermost part of the earth. So the thing he says to them in Matthew 28 is the same basic thing he's telling them, hey, this power is going to come upon you. The power of the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you and you're going to have power to witness for me and go even to the uttermost part of the earth. Verse nine, and when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. Now, turn back to Genesis chapter 49 verse 30. Turn back to Genesis chapter 49 verse 30. So, I mean, there's some parallels to the fact that Jacob is commanding his sons, and then you see Jesus, who Jacob is a picture of, commanding his sons in the faith, basically. His of 12 apostles, so you've got 12 sons, you've got 12 apostles, and then you see these parallels in the New Testament about Jesus with Jacob. But look at Genesis 49 verse 30, it says in the cave is in Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephra on the Hittite for possession of a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, and they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost and was gathered unto his people. So God gave him the strength to give his sons this blessing and this charge, right? And so, remember what Jesus did? Jesus yielded up the ghost too. Jesus yielded up the ghost, so I just find this an interesting parallel too, it says and yielded up the ghost. It didn't say that God, you know, calls him to die or whatever. This term is like an interesting term because it's as if Jacob gave up and died on his own, like out of his own choice, right? And he was gathered, where? On to his people. And where did Jesus go when he, you know, he was gathered unto his people too. Everybody that's in heaven is his people, right? So, and he's going to, guess what, he's going to gather a bunch of other people when he comes back in the rapture, right? So, Jacob or Israel pictures Christ in that he blesses his people, although they don't really deserve it too. Because doesn't he bless his sons as he's about to go? But his sons really don't deserve it, I mean they fooled him, they tricked him and dipped his coat of many colors of blood, made Jacob think that he was dead all those, that Joseph was dead all those years. You know, I mean they weren't really that great of guys when it comes down to it, but you know what, neither are we. We all have our issues too, but Jacob still blessed his children even though they didn't deserve it. And some of them, you know, he kind of cursed them too, but it just goes to show like how you live your life is how you're blessed. And that's true with his sons, isn't it? But it's also true of us. And so in Matthew chapter 27 verse 50 the Bible says, Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost. So that is a picture, obviously, of Jacob giving up his life in the end, yielding up the ghost, and Jesus yielded up the ghost. See, Jesus died for us willingly. He knew on his last day that it was going to be his last day. And it's interesting that Jacob gets up, finds the strength to do what he needs to do even though he's feeble, even though he's, you know, he can barely stand, he's like leaning on a crutch or something, about ready to die, and then blesses everybody just like Jesus went through all the things that he went through and, you know, was spit upon, he couldn't even carry his own cross, he was so beaten. He hadn't eaten, he hadn't drank anything, and he carried his own cross until he couldn't carry it anymore. And Jacob, you know, he got up and strengthened himself just enough where he could bless his children and charge them with a charge. And Jesus did the same thing for us, you know, and he died for a bunch of people that didn't deserve to die. Didn't he? I mean, excuse me, he died for a bunch of people that didn't deserve it. They didn't deserve it, we don't deserve salvation, but Jesus does it anyway, right? So he yielded up the ghost for us so that we could have everlasting life. So next week we're going to cover chapter number 50 and we'll be done with the book of Genesis, but I've had a lot of fun studying this and maybe someday I'll do like a deeper dive, maybe years later. But anyway, that's Genesis 49, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the opportunity to preach through the Bible. Lord, thank you for all these people that are here today to hear the word of God. I pray, Lord, that we'd store these things, these truths in our heart, Lord, that we can start out good and end up bad, Lord, and I pray that everybody in this church realizes that sin can just take us farther than we want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay, and make us pay more than we're willing to pay, Lord. I pray you'd help us to make right choices in our lives and that, Lord, with our fruitful families, that, Lord, we'd include you in those fruitful families and, Lord, that we would teach the generations that come after us to serve you and love you. And we just ask that you would protect everybody as they travel home. And of course, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, our last song will be song number 349, I Need Thee Every Hour. Song number 349, I Need Thee Every Hour. Song number 349, I Need Thee Every Hour. Let's sing it there on the first verse. I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord, no tender voice like God, I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord, no tender voice like God can peace afford. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee every hour, I need Thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee, I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby, temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh, I need Thee, oh, I need Thee every hour, I need Thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee, I need Thee every hour, enjoy Your pain, come quickly and abide, for life is vain, I need Thee, oh, I need Thee every hour, I need Thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee, I need Thee every hour, most holy One, oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son, I need Thee, oh, I need Thee, every hour, I need Thee, oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. Amen. Good seeing you, Brother Bill. Could you close with a prayer?