(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So Genesis chapter 26 if I were to put a title on this as far as what the chapter is about is the fact that Isaac is blessed by God or God blesses Isaac in this chapter and so when I think about Genesis you see a lot about Abraham and you see a lot about Jacob but Isaac it seems like there's this mixture where he's mentioned but there's not a lot about him this chapter is really more so about Isaac and so we already know that Jacob and Esau were born in the last chapter and so they were if you remember Abraham we did the timeline as far as when he when he died and all that stuff that he would have died around when they were 15 years old and at the end of this chapter it talks about Esau being 40 years old when he takes two two of these wives and so we know that when we get in chapter 27 when we're dealing with the the blessing and all that stuff that they're over 40 years old okay so I'd say this is before they're 40 that this stuff's going down or this stuff's happening and it's it's probably this stuff is happening after Abraham has already died you know so chapter 25 covers that Abraham dies and all that so but but we start off here in verse 1 where it says and there was a famine in the land beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham and Isaac went on the Bimelech king of the Philistines under Gerar now if you remember in chapter 12 you know one of the first chapters about Abraham is when he goes into Egypt and he goes there and basically because there was a famine in the land and it was grievous upon the land and so he goes in there and then in chapter 21 the whole chapter is dedicated to let me make sure it's 21 I'm pretty sure it's 21 but I don't want to mess that up and then you know some troll be online you don't even know the Bible it's not 21 it's 20 see so chapter 20 is where he goes into Gerar to Abimelech now this is I believe it could be the same person I mean if you think about that you know obviously Abimelech is not a young pup here you know wondering if this is the same guy but it could be you know another Abimelech if you know how kings work in a lot of cases they rename themselves and so you'll see a lot of times the same name used many times and it's like you know you think of Darius and then there's Darius II and then there's Cyrus and there's Cyrus the Great and then all these different ones they keep using the same name over and over again and so but it's the same place it nonetheless it could very well be the same person and so with with Abraham he goes into Egypt same story he says it's my sister you know that says that my wife is my sister and then he goes to Abimelech says the same thing to him and so this case Isaac does the same thing and so we see you know he's kind of following his dad's footsteps so to speak as far as this whole like she's my sister so don't kill me so they must I mean here's the thing I don't know how attractive their wives were but they must have really thought they were attractive nonetheless right for them to be that afraid they're like no they're gonna they're gonna want to like kill me for my wife so they highly esteemed the attractiveness of their wives no doubt but in verse 2 here the Lord appears unto Isaac and notice in verse 2 it says and the Lord appeared unto him and said go not down into Egypt dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of so remember the first famine that was with Abraham was when he went down into Egypt okay and so he's saying don't go down into Egypt and so then this is where he goes into Gerar okay or he's in Gerar he's just saying don't go into Egypt so and if you remember that was kind of a picture of Egypt was when they were going in there but that's not gonna happen until Jacob and they go and sojourn in there and that's obviously again that was foretold that they're gonna be afflicted you know afflicted 400 years there and so that also puts that whole thing to bed you know how people say that well you know they were afflicted for 400 years from Abraham but it's talking about Egypt it's talking about this other country afflicting them that he's telling don't even go in there so it's clearly Egypt's not afflicting them right now and so when it says 430 years they were in Egypt that's what it means 430 years but that's a side note just for those people that try to twist the Bible to change the date of the earth or the age of the earth and all that stuff but in verse 3 he says don't ever verse 2 he says don't go down to Egypt in verse 3 it says sojourn in this land and I will be with thee and will bless thee for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give unto thy seed all these countries and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws so what we see here is that the oath that he that he swore to Abraham he's giving that he's swearing he's giving that same ode to Isaac okay now go to Psalm 105 now you'll find this also in 1st Chronicles chapter 17 and sometimes what you'll find is in Chronicles or even in 2nd Samuel there'll be the same Psalm you know there'll be a Psalm that they'll pull out of the chapters and those books but Psalm 105 is pulled out of 1st Chronicles 17 or the other way around I guess the way you want to look at that look at it I guess whichever one was written first but Psalm 105 starting there in verse 5 it talks about this and actually Psalm 105 is a great a great Psalm to show his promise to Abraham and it goes all the way to where he fulfills it and talks about everything that happens up to where he fulfills it talking about Moses talking about you know basically going into the promise and giving it to him okay and so it kind of just covers like hey he promised it to Abraham and here's where they fulfilled it and we're talking about the physical land obviously too and so Psalm 105 verse 5 it says remember his marvelous works that he had done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth O ye seed of Abraham his servant ye children of Jacob his chosen he is the Lord our God his judgments are in all the earth he has remembered his covenant forever the word which he commanded to a thousand generations which covenant he made with Abraham and notice and his oath unto Isaac that's where this happens at is in Genesis chapter 26 then it says and confirm the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant saying unto thee saying unto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance when they were but a few men in number yea very few and strangers in it when they went from one nation to another from one kingdom to another people he suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved kings for their sakes saying touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm and notice that's exactly what's going on in this chapter is where Abimelech you know takes his wife Rebecca and obviously God reveals that this is you know or actually he finds out we'll see how he finds out but with Abraham remember you know God comes to Abimelech in a dream and reveals saying this is not this is a man's wife and saying that also Abraham was a prophet so we see that this happens both with Abraham and with Isaac with the same event about reproving kings because that's what Abimelech he's the king of the Philistines king of Yerar and so we see that happening here that that being fulfilled with Psalm 105 but we see that he made a covenant with Abraham and now obviously he swore by two immutable things we cover that as well but he also made an oath unto Isaac and then he confirmed it with Jacob which we haven't got there yet but I'll show you where that happens once we get to that point but that's why you see in Galatians chapter 3 where it talks about the law which was confirmed of God before in Christ you know being 430 years after cannot this and all that it should make the promise in that effect and so that's where people get hung up because it's talking about now unto Abraham and then see where the promise is made and then it goes into how that this promise was confirmed well you see right here who's it confirmed to to Jacob and so that makes perfect sense because it was confirmed to Jacob which will what we'll see later on when we get to that right before he went into Egypt so it confirmed to Jacob 430 years after they come out of Egypt so if it's perfectly but that's where people get mixed up and say well you know there was the Abraham knows Abraham then he said it to Isaac and then he said it to Jacob and it was confirmed all three okay but it's kind of like you know this oath was to your fathers and he's confirming it unto you as well saying hey this wasn't just to Abraham and it's not just Isaac it's also to you and so I just want to show you that we'll get to it we'll go back to this when we get to Abraham where we get to Jacob where he's going into Egypt and so that fits perfectly and there's no contradiction now it's talking about this covenant that he has remembered his covenant forever so this covenant we've covered this a lot but go to Luke chapter 1 again I just want you to see that that this covenant obviously the Covenant is talking about the physical land in a sense but more importantly it's talking about the spiritual aspect of this of Christ coming and that through his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed so that's a promise remember there was different promises that he gave to Abraham and we covered all those different promises and and one was the land but one was the fact that all nations will be blessed through him and through his seed and so that covenant that he made is an everlasting covenant it says in here but it's also you know it's a covenant that he will remember forever and so when we're dealing with this covenant what we're talking about we're talking about Christ we're talking about salvation from the beginning with with Adam and Eve where he said I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel and so that was from the very beginning Noah was the heir of righteousness and so you see how that goes down the line talking about the seed that's gonna come and then obviously with Abraham and then we see with David later on so this seed that's gonna come obviously talk about Christ that seed is Christ and we see that in the New Testament you know many times but in Luke chapter 1 I just want you to see this again that this this covenant that he keeps talking about this this covenant to Abraham you know it's talking about salvation it's talking about Christ coming and so in Luke 1 verse 67 it says in his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying so if you remember this is Zacharias that had John the Baptist and so he's talking about you know before this they're talking about John the Baptist what he's gonna do or he's gonna talk about that later on as well but right here he's more so talking about Jesus coming and talking about the fact that that Mary is pregnant with with the Lord you know with the Son of God and so if you remember the story the babe leaps in his womb in the womb and all that stuff when when Mary shows up but in verse 68 it says blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David so we're talking about salvation being being brought and horn a lot of times is talking about a kingdom you know talks about the horns we saw that and you see that in end times prophecy all the time but a horn a lot of times represents a kingdom you can think about it as a crown you know like an animal having horns is kind of like a crown on their head and even your head is called what a lot of times the crown of your head right and so in verse 70 it says as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath which he sware to our father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life so this obviously is talking about the oath that he sware to Abraham it was also given to Isaac and it was confirmed to Jacob and down the line going to the seat of David all the way down to Christ and so that's why you see that genealogy starting with Abraham in Matthew chapter 1 that genealogy of Joseph even though that wasn't his his physical father but then you also have the genealogy of Mary going all the way back to David as well and going all the way back to Adam and so we see that this holy covenant we're not talking about the Old Testament because the Old Testament doesn't start till Moses okay so this holy covenant you know that's talking about salvation the Old Testament New Testament is just in ministry you know ways to minister you know to the Lord so to speak and the New Testament is an everlasting Testament an everlasting covenant that Jesus is always going to be the high priest and we're always going to be that holy nation as believers and so that's something that never ends obviously you know now but we're dealing with salvation now go back to Genesis chapter 26 and so I just want you to see that that that same promise we see it is worded exactly you know the same language dealing with Abraham the same language dealing with Isaac and what you'll see with Jacob is the same thing okay that the covenant doesn't change it's just that it's being reiterated or reconfirmed onto their progenitors okay notice too you know it says thy seed all the nations shall be blessed that was said to Abraham obviously talking about Isaac but you know and Isaac's a picture that but now he's saying that the Isaac to his seed okay and so that seed obviously is very clear in the New Testament is talking about Christ and they're the vessels in which that seeds gonna come now Genesis chapter 26 in verse 6 this is where he repeats the same you know stupidity I guess of his father you know I you know with with Abraham and how he he goes in saying this is my sister and so we already talked about this whole chapter where this happens with Abraham with Abimelech and how you know it's kind of is you're not really trusting in God when you go into these nations and you're you're afraid to say this is my wife remember the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion okay we don't need to be you don't need to fear we don't need to be deceptive when we go into places and stuff like that and sometimes I feel like people get this idea that you know you don't want to tell people up front like where you're coming from or what you're trying to do right I'm not I'm not for that I'm not for like being sneaky about even giving the gospel you know if someone comes up to you and says what are you guys doing here we're like we're preaching the gospel we're not trying to hide anything and you know when it when we go up to the door I've had heat you know like people say this too especially more so the old IP and saying you know you shouldn't carry a Bible with you you should just have like a pocket New Testament and have it in your pocket and they'll say well you know you go up to the door and you know they're just afraid they see that Bible and they just get afraid you know I'm not trying to trick them in the fact of what I'm there for okay now if they wanted if they have the misconception that I'm a Mormon that's their own problem I'm not 17 and I don't have a badge that says elder on there so that's their stupidity for not knowing the difference between a Baptist and a Mormon especially when you have women out and you have all this stuff out I mean you know people just need to understand what a Mormon is but all that to say is that I'm not trying to hide anything I'm not trying to go in I'm not going into any place any nation I'm not trying to hide what I am that's what Colts do you know that's what the masonic lodges do that's what the Mormons do that's what Joe witnesses do they don't want to tell you what they really believe they don't want to be out front they want to sneak in there and basically say okay you know we believe the same thing you know or well we're not really here to preach the Bible we know we're just trying to just see how you're doing you know and and I used to go to these to a liberal church where they go around asking a survey it'd be like a survey of like what would you like to see in a church you know like what what kind of things would you like to see about a church and it's one of those things where I could care less what they think about what they would like to see in a church so it's not it's obviously that has that has no profit right now when we go up to the door we ask someone say hey you know do you have a church anywhere here's a church invite that has some profit to it right now that's obviously not the main reason why we're there but it could be because the person could be saved and we're just inviting the church right and it's not like we don't we're not trying to invite them the church it's not like we're we say we actually don't want you to come we're just actually just wanting to give you the gospel it's not true either we obviously want them to come too you know but we want to get saved more so does that make sense so we're not trying to deceive people and that's why I'm all for bringing the whole Bible with me and if people get scared and close their blinds and don't want to hear the truth that's not my problem you know that they they get afraid of a book they get afraid of this right here they afraid they're they're shuttering because of pages and ink now obviously they should shutter because this is the Word of God and a lot of times they do because they they shutter at it because they don't know why they believe what they believe and therefore they're gonna they're gonna you know hide from that but I'd rather just be upfront when I preach a sermon usually I'm just gonna tell you this is what I believe let me show you why instead of preaching a whole sermon and you're wondering the whole time what does he believe until the very end when you got to figure out okay now I finally know what he believes right and you know Ken Hovind has definitely you know gone off the rails and some things but you know what and every one of his seminars he came up front and said you know what I'm trying to do you know if you believe in evolution I'm trying to change your mind I'm trying to you know and if you're not saved I'm gonna try to get you saved and if you are saved not doing anything then I'm gonna make you feel uncomfortable that's how he starts it off and I love that because that's the way it should be it should be like here's what I'm trying to get across to you you may not agree with me right now but you know this is why and so a lot of preachers go in and they they try to do this whole circumvent you know like people what people are thinking because they think when you say when you come up and give me this is what I believe that they're automatically gonna shut you off well if they do then that's their own fault that makes sense it's not my job to be like a ninja in there with your mind and try to figure out how I can sneak in there and plant this idea in your mind okay you either have ears to hear or you don't you're either gonna listen to the Bible and say you know what nuts to what I think is right I'm gonna listen to the Bible and you know what I could tell you what I believe right up front I can give you the Bible and maybe you say well I don't think that matches up with the Bible that's fine but anyway when I think about this where they go in there and they're kind of saying you know this is my sister first of all I see fear but I also see of trying to hide something they're trying to hide something I see that what preachers a lot of times where they're going in there and they're not bold with it and when we go out soul winning we need to be bold we need that we need to pray for boldness so why am I gonna hide my Bible in my shirt now if you have a pocket New Testament I'm not against you okay and I'm not saying you know some people don't go into it with that mindset they're just like it's easier to carry right so they have a pocket New Testament I you know if you have a Bible that's small enough to put in your pocket that's fine I'm not saying you need to bring around a family Bible and just bring that thing out you're like alright let me show you how to get saved I'm not saying you have to do that but you know I the whole idea of like sneaking up there and they think you're like selling Amway stuff or something when they open the door I'm not for that okay I want them I want them to know where I'm coming from from the very beginning so anyway they he comes in in verse 7 here verse 6 it says Isaac dwelt in Gerar so we see that obviously God tells him to stay there and it says in the men of the place asked him of his wife and he said she is my sister for he feared to say she is my wife lest he said said he the men of that the place should kill me for Rebecca because she was fair to look upon and it came to pass when he had been there a long time that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window and saw and behold Isaac was sporting with his wife now I think we can all know what that's talking about you know as far as what husbands and wives not not the intimate thing that you know but kissing that's what I imagine that they're doing is they're kissing each other and he's probably looking out his window saying that's not what brothers and sisters should do and so I know we live in West Virginia but this is northern West Virginia okay and we don't kiss our brothers and sisters like a man and wife do okay and so in this in this case you know he's obviously looking at the window and saying that can't be his sister because that's not you know that's what man and wife do right and so one thing I see here though is I see that Isaac and Rebecca have a healthy relationship that you know it's it's the point they're in this place where they said hey we're brother and sister and they can't help it but they want to kiss each other right and want to be husband and wife and love each other right and so I see a healthy marriage relationship between these two and so out of this out of this mistake you know where he's saying this is my sister I see that that they have a good relationship to each other and and obviously he seems his wife very highly and and believes she's very beautiful and to where he's saying I don't want people to kill me for you okay so obviously he doesn't think that his wife is ugly or he wouldn't have done that so but but as we go on there in verse 9 it says in a bit like called Isaac and said behold of a surety she is thy wife and how saidest thou she is my sister and Isaac said unto him because I said lest I die for her sound familiar just like his dad and just like Abraham right and it says an ape and Abimelech said what is this thou has done unto us one of the people might lightly have lying with thy wife and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us and Abimelech charged all his people saying he that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death remember you know touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm and he rebuked Kings it says in Psalm 105 so that's clearly talking about Abraham and Isaac and the fact that they've rebuked Kings and so that was something that God protected them and I believe that it would have been better they would have had given God more glory though if it would have been the case that they just can't just came in and said this is my wife because that shows a lot more faith and boldness to do that than to try to conceal it okay but it also shows you that that that sons your your children will tend to do or emulate what you do we all make mistakes and if you've already made mistakes and there's nothing you do about it right but just remember that okay that someone's watching even if you don't have children or you know if you know the young ones here someone's watching you your siblings are watching you and so if you do something you know they're gonna you may say well my my younger sibling doesn't like me you know so why would they want to emulate me you don't know that you know like they obviously no siblings love each other all the time okay I grew up with two brothers so you know I we fought all the time okay I'm not gonna get into all the details but we fought a lot but I still wanted to emulate my older brother even though like we fought a lot and so if he did something you know I kind of looked up to that and wanted to emulate that now or there's other people that you'd you'd want to do that think about church attendance and even even you even adults here you know if you get out of church attendance especially if you're someone that comes all the time and I know you're you know it's when I was younger I was kind of a good kid in school meaning I was very shy and I never got in trouble but anytime I ever made a mistake they crucify me and I'm just like wait a minute this person is acting up every single day and he gets away with murder I do one little thing and they crucify me for it why because you're harder to a higher expectation okay and and if you come here all the time and you're the diehards and you come you know every single service you know if you were to miss you know like if you're just a miss and be like you know I just didn't feel like I'm the church other people are gonna see that I've had that happen to me personally where I've got you know like I stopped going to like a Wednesday night service or something like that I'm just getting like tired or you know like you just get that that motivation is kind of going down you know what I mean and where other people are just like well then I you know why am I going on Wednesday night and you don't realize that people are like kind of hanging on to you you know and kind of holding on to the back of your coattails as you go you don't know that until later on and here's the thing you may get back in because you're strong and you just kind of had a little lapse but they may not because if they're already riding your coattails and they're kind of holding on to you as far as why you're doing there why they go all the time they're not as strong to get back in okay so something to remember that they emulate you good or bad okay so you want it to usually be on the good side right they want you know that you're going soul winning and they're like you know what I need to go soul winning or they're going to church I need to go to church and so obviously we're all gonna have days that we're gonna miss and you know no one's no one's you know perfect we're not I'm not looking at like hey I want everybody a perfect attendance record never miss but we need to remember that people are watching us and so obviously as a pastor people are watching me if I miss I think people are gonna know it right I think it's gonna be a big deal you know especially if I don't get someone to preach for me I think people are gonna notice that and so obviously that the pastor's held to a very high expectation but we need to all kind of look at that right now we saw you know with the same thing like I said with Abraham if you go to Genesis 20 you'll see that it's dealing with he sojourned in Gerar and then he was dealing with Abimelech king of Gerar so I believe we're talking about the same person but even so it would still be the same kingdom that we're dealing with of where this happened at and so but but like I said this chapter is more so I believe talking about how God blesses Isaac so go to Genesis 26 verse 12 Genesis 26 verse 12 so even though he kind of makes that mistake with saying hey this is my sister this is my wife you can still see something good out of that you see that he has a really good relationship with his wife that they have a loving relationship with each other but also you see that's God's blessing him okay in this chapter notice in verse 12 it says then Isaac sowed in the land and received in the same year in hundredfold and the Lord blessed him and the man waxed great and went forward and grew until he became very great for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and great store of servants in the Philippines or Philippines the Philistines envied him so we see here that God is blessing him greatly a hundredfold a hundredfold now that's something that we see in the New Testament used this terminology go to go to Matthew chapter 13 Matthew chapter 13 and a hundredfold is not a hundred percent okay a hundredfold be like a hundred times does it make sense because if you say a hundredfold if I said I increased a hundred percent that just means you doubled does that make sense so if you say twofold that would be doubling it so when it says a hundredfold that means a hundred times you know I increased a hundred times so a fold is a lot better than than the you know a percentage okay because you kind of you think of this is gonna be a fat kid way of seeing it but you see the king size it would say it's 50% more right and so 50% would be what half more right so you'd have like the amount that it usually is and then it's like more by half of what it was right or if it was 100% more it'd just be double but a hundredfold would mean that you have like you think of a Reese's Cup right you'd have there's two that come in a pack I'm gonna get put it on the bottom of the shelf for you okay you know if you have two in a pack if it's if it's 50% more you're for the hundred percent more than you have four right but if you have a hundred you know a hundredfold that would be you know that would be 200 right that's a big difference okay so all I want you to see with that okay is when you understand fold compared to a percentage and so when we say a hundredfold that's a lot that's a lot and so a hundredfold we see that he increased here now notice in Matthew chapter 13 we're dealing with what I would believe soul winning okay and so it says in verse 8 dealing with the the seed that fell on good ground says but other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit some 100 fold some 60 fold some 30 fold obviously that what's the highest number there that it gives a hundredfold okay and so a hundredfold you know you think about the fact that you're multiplying yourself so what would that be a hundred yeah you think about soul winning right if you were to think about any year's time some 30 some 60 some 100 okay and so that means that you know the high end of as far as soul winning would be that you're winning a hundred people a year that would be around two people a week you know and obviously 50 people would be around one person a week 30 would be less than that so and obviously we have they you know we have weeks and you can't think about this if you were to average out people that you win and stuff like that and some people are getting new into soul winning so it's not gonna you're just you know don't don't look at this and be like man I'm not making the mark if you're winning people to Christ and you're going so winning you're winning okay but this is a good way to kind of judge as far as you know are you in the realm as far as what Jesus is kind of expecting there and so if you're winning let's say you win one person every every other week okay because you have a week where you don't seem to be saved and then next week you win somebody sometimes you know like this past week you know I want two people and then the week before that I didn't see anybody say and the week before that I didn't see anybody saves it's kind of like an equalizer you know sometimes you see more people save stuff like that but that's a way to kind of gauge that but we see a hundredfold dealing with salvation or dealing with winning people to Christ being fruitful spiritually but what happens here with Isaac is physical it's a physical and you know like gaining or earnings right we're not talking about winning people to Christ he's got flocks and herds and all this other stuff now go to Mark chapter 10 Mark chapter 10 because I believe God if you're doing his will and you're living for him can bless you a hundredfold in your life dealing with just material things just dealing with your substance okay now this isn't Joel's the message here okay because with this you got to take the persecutions with it but you know sometimes God doesn't want you know it depends what you're gonna end up doing with that and God knows your heart right if he increases you a hundredfold and you just take that and play with it you know I mean then he's probably not gonna give you that hundredfold the notes what it says in verse 29 mark 10 verse 29 and Jesus answered and said verily I say unto you there is no man that had left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake in the Gospels but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions in the world and in the world to come eternal life now this is talking about now now what you got to understand that in some of these cases we're not talking about this is a physical possessions that you have for yourself so think about this if you have family members that don't want to talk to you you have you lose a lot of friends and all this stuff because you're living for God basically a lot a lot of this is dealing with the fact of having other mothers having other children right now you can't have another mother physically you know what I mean like you have a mother that's that's your mother right but when you're dealing with with the church you you become a child of God and you're in the house of God and what do you have a lot of brothers and sisters and remember the elders are like mothers and you treat the the men the the elder men as fathers kind of thing as far as the fact that you know you may lose a lot of friends living for God but you're gonna gain a hundred fold even in this time when it comes to brothers and sisters and you know mothers and fathers because you know here's the thing I know it's hard sometimes to leave family members I'm blessed because my parents are saved and my brothers are saved and so but that didn't happen by accident by the way I was the first one to get saved and so that didn't happen by accident but it could happen to the fact where you don't have your mother and father saved or your brothers or your sisters or whatever and so you have to be willing to forsake that that and people take this out of context too and they'll say you know well Jesus is saying you need to forsake all your children and forsake all this stuff to be your disciple it's like no it's not like you just forsake them to forsake them does that make sense it means that if they're if they don't if you're living for God and they're against you then you need to cut that tie it doesn't mean you want to and it doesn't mean that that's what God wants to happen and so people you know atheists will always take that out of context and they'll just be like oh Jesus saying you know you know forsake your wife and all that yeah that's why he says to love your wife you know and and you know love her more than your own body right and so people are always trying to take stuff out of context but just as that as a comfort that you may lose a lot of family members you may lose a lot of friends but you're gonna gain so much more with the children of God with your spiritual brethren a hundredfold a hundredfold that means if you lose one friend you have a hundred to replace them and you can see that in the house of God now obviously our church isn't that big but aren't there a lot of brethren throughout the world especially when you go to these conferences and you see hey we're not alone you know we may be smaller churches here and there but there's a lot of people out there thousands yay millions of people that love the Lord love the Bible and if you ran into them and you're in the fact that we're all like-minded they would be like your best friend the moment you met them why because we're all Christians and we love the Word of God and we're all trying to follow the Word of God and you know what I may have a lot of you know like family members that are of my blood that don't want to be around me don't want to hang around with me because of what I believe and how I live but you know what I'm gonna have a lot of people that aren't on my blood black yellow red white whatever that are gonna be closer to me they're gonna love me more than those physical people ever would and so it's a great trade-off you know when you take a stand for God and you say okay I'm gonna forsake all this you know God will bless that God will a hundredfold and so we see that that happens in this lifetime too so obviously you know we're talking about when we die everything that we do for the Lord is gonna be rewarded and God's gonna recompense okay and know that that recompense is more than your mind can ever imagine but he's also given in comfort to say hey even in this life okay you know yeah you're gonna be dealing with persecutions yes you know that's not gonna be easy no matter way you cut it right to have to not be around family members or not be around certain friends that used to have and all this stuff yes that's gonna be hard but but remember that God is gonna bless that and he's gonna he's gonna you know recompense that a hundredfold even in this life that doesn't mean like hey you get a mansion okay you know I mean that's the Joel Osteen side of it you say lands and all this other stuff I mean what you got to understand is that in the church you know the church takes care of you you know if you're living for God and let's say you're working hard and you're and you're poor and you can't provide you know like there's certain times where you're just like you know we're on hard times hey that's what the church is here for you know the church will help and the church is here to help anybody that has need and so that's where the church comes in and helps in those areas and you know God will bless that even in this life okay so but we're also pilgrims and strangers and that's one thing that you got to remember is that when we look at these passages with Abraham with Isaac with Jacob and with all these that are there so journeying they're strangers and pilgrims in this land now that's physically what happened right they were physically strangers and pilgrims in the land but it also applies spiritually to us even though it is a physical thing because what it what that equates to is that we're strangers and pilgrims in this earth okay first Peter chapter 2 he's talking to you know a bunch of Gentiles actually but it says in verse 11 so first Peter chapter 2 verse 11 says dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation notice that he's beseeching them as strangers and pilgrims okay and so he's not saying pilgrims because like they just got off the Mayflower okay they're talking about pilgrims because we're all pilgrims we're all strangers and that's the way you got to look at life you know don't get caught up in this world as far as the possessions and all that stuff go just remember that we're all strangers and pilgrims you know this isn't our home this isn't the final the finale it's all gonna be melted with fervent heat and we need to remember that we're kind of renting the space and yes I'm an American and I and I and I believe that we should have you know liberty life liberty in the pursuit of property that's the way it started by the way the pursuit of property although they said the pursuit of happiness now right and so I'm against socialism against Marxism and all this stuff where it says they abolish private property I'm all for that right now I'm all for having your own property I think God's for that I believe God supports that and the Bible supports that but what you got to remember is the fact that in the end we're all just renting this land we're all just kind of here occupying it so nuts to the government as far as you know you they have property taxes yes we're just renting it but you know what let that land perish with them because it's all gonna melt as fervent heat and so don't worry about it and so when we say when I think of the 4th of July you know there are still liberties that we have but you know what it always reminds me of is all the stuff that's been taken away what we used to have and how the fourth amendment's been completely stripped with the Patriot Act how how the property rights have gone down the tube because of the state governments taking all our property rights away from us and just all the other stuff with the freedom speech now they're trying to say hate speech you know you preach against the queers then you should be put in jail and all this other stuff and that's what they're pushing and so all this all this stuff I think about all the rights that are being taken away from us but you know what where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty and you know what nuts to America if it's gonna go down into the the the pits of hell or through the lower parts of the earth but you know what I'm gonna serve God because let let the earth perish let the property perish let my car let my house let everything that I have pairs because I want to live for God because he will first of all he will you know recompense me a hundredfold in this life with lands with with brothers and sisters and mothers but also in the life to come so just remember that we're pilgrims and strangers in Hebrews chapter 11 dealing with Abraham Isaac and Jacob notice what it says about them and verse 13 Hebrews chapter 11 verse 13 because that's what you see in this chapter in Genesis chapter 26 is you see Isaac sojourning in this land and he's dealing with the fact that he's not he's not an owner of the land he has to deal with these people coming in stopping up their wells and he's just persistently just dealing with them and going through it trying to prevail through it God's blessing him through it even though he doesn't own the land but he's still having to deal with that notice Hebrew chapter 11 verse 13 it says these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded to them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country and truly that they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they they desire a better country that is in heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city new Jerusalem is the city that we should be looking for that possession that we're looking for he said that I ago I go away to prepare a place for you you know that he had that in my father's house there are many mansions that's what we should be looking forward to we're just strangers and pilgrims here anything any mansion you know what the Burj Khalifa that's in Dubai right now the highest building one of the most expensive buildings in the world will never add up to anything when it comes to what God has prepared for us what this wall can do it's laughable he that's it in the heavens will laugh at what the world can do or what man can do the most magnificent thing that man can put together can't hold a candle to what God can do it's why should I worry about that you know wow you know if someone gave me the Burj Khalifa which is the highest building in the world the most expensive building in the world you know that's the biggest mansion I guess you would say right you know that's nothing that's nothing to what God has prepared for so why would I even shake a stick at what the world wants to offer me we're strangers and pilgrims and we desire a better country and notice that truly if they had been mindful of the country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned notice that they were looking to a another country but they could have went back to their old country that they came out of and lived a prosperous life in the land that was actually theirs remember Abraham and all them they came out of a country that was theirs they had a possession they left that possession to go after God's possession even though they were strangers and pilgrims in the land so don't don't try to seek treasures on this earth and even the freedoms you know I'm obviously I would fight for the freedoms that we that we need and I'm not against you know our country fought for the freedoms that we have I'm not against people fighting for that protesting that and proclaiming it from the housetops that these people that want to just throw out the Constitution and the god-given rights that we were that were given to us by our Creator that they should go pound salt and go to another country if they want to get rid of them you know I'm all for that but in the end you know let the chips fall where they may because there's nothing we can really do about it and if God's gonna just destroy this country and the fabric of this country because of how wicked is God then let it be so it's Babylon the Great as it is and it will burn one day in one hour so just remember that we're strangers and pilgrims so don't get attached to this type of stuff you know don't worry about it you know you say wow you know I wish I could have more money I wish I could have more things like other people that they're so comfortable hey our life is but a vapor we have a little time here think about it you know think about that you know when you have that work week where you're just working real hard and you're just trying to get done hey there's a light at the end of the tunnel you know just work as hard as you can work you know just claw to that end and you know the race is set before us and we just need to run it and when we get to the end it's gonna look you're gonna you're gonna laugh at how short it really is right when you think about all eternity you're gonna just be like man I was worried about that I was you know that wasn't that hard and and all this other stuff so now going back to the Genesis chapter 26 so this is where he when I see this chapter I think of persistence in opposition persistence in opposition I see the fact that he has all these wells and for sake of time I'm not gonna read through all this but basically they stopped up all the wells that Abraham had digged you know the the gear are so the you know Isaac's coming back into this land and they're so journeying there and all these wells that Abraham had digged the Philistines have filled in okay so he's redigging these wells and what you see in verse in verse 19 here that they're gonna dig up these wells again but they're gonna have opposition with the Philistines it says verse 19 Isaac Isaac servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water and the herd men of gear are did strive with Isaac's herman saying the water is ours and he called the name of the well Isaac because they strove with him that was verse 21 and they digged another well and and strove for that also and he called the name of it Sitna and he removed from thence and digged another well and for that they strove not and he called the name of a Rehoboath and he said for now the Lord hath made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land so we see here that see how Isaac's just like alright we're going to the next one we're going to the next one we're going to the next one and that's what you're gonna have in this life is you're gonna have a bunch the world is against you marvel not my brethren if the world hates you because they hated me before they hated you that's what Jesus said and you know if they oppose Christ they're gonna oppose you but here's the question are you gonna back down when they oppose you when they fill up that well are you gonna say oh you know nuts to that then are you gonna say nope we're gonna go over here we're gonna dig another well they fill that well up nope we're gonna go over here and dig another well you know what I'm gonna dig a well until I die until there's a time where they say you know what this person's an importunity and their persistence is not going to stop him you know the fact that we fill in these wells you know what he's still going and so we need to have that mindset that you know what they can hit me as many times as they want but you know what a righteous man follows seven times and rises up again and that's what Isaac did here they hit him down he went to another one they hit him down he went to another one and to the point where they didn't strive with them anymore you know what that's what it takes sometimes is for people to realize hey he's not going down and what they're looking for is your breaking point and so when's your breaking point well it's when I die that's what I have to say to the world it's when I die so unless you kill me I'm still going forward and so that's Isaac so you see why is God blessing Isaac because he's a great man that won't quit did you see him crying about it no he just said all right we're gonna go over here and we're gonna dig another well you know they fill that one and they strive for that one now we're gonna go over here and dig another well and then they finally just gave up so don't let them win you know don't let them be the the person gets the last laugh so to speak because if God be for us who can be against us and you see this in Judges 19 when that whole horrific thing happens and they go up against the Benjamites and they lose the battle they lose the battle and then they finally win the battle what does that teach you that you know what we may lose some battles in this life and especially in Christianity with soul winning with the church and all this other stuff we may lose some battles but we're gonna win the war because I don't care how many battles you win if you don't win the war what was it what was it for we know we're gonna win the war because in Christ we're all conquerors through Christ and in the end we had the victory faith is the victory and Jesus Christ is gonna come down on a white horse with the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords we're gonna come with them and we're gonna roll and reign with him forever that's our end so bring it on that's what I have to say to the world because I have God on my side and you know what we need to remember that we're gonna have persecutions with that if you want God to bless you like Isaac a hundredfold it has to be with persecutions yay and all that will live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions so but we see here that he finally does dig this they dig this well and in verse 23 you know they calls this well Beersheba and so the one thing that I want to see here is that Isaac's servants dig this well they call it Beersheba and that's gonna be important actually first I want you to see in verse 26 is that Abimelech goes down to Gerar or from Gerar and comes to Isaac because they basically they envied him and they he kind of left their presence okay if you remember when God blessed them a hundredfold it says the Philistines envied them and he left okay so then Abimelech comes down and from Gerar and and he's coming to Isaac because he sees that he's blessed okay notice what it says in verse 29 because Isaac is saying to him you know why are you coming to me you hated me you wanted me to leave right and verse 28 I'm sorry and they said so Abimelech comes down with his chief captains all this stuff right it says we saw certainly that the Lord was with thee and we said let there be now an oath betwixt us even between us and thee and let us make a covenant with thee that thou will do us no hurt as we have not touched thee and as we have done unto thee nothing but good and have sent thee away in peace thou art now the blessed of the Lord that's what Kings thought of Isaac so you say you know oh we're just insignificant no God can bless you to the point where Kings will come to you and say we want to leave with you because God is with you because you're being blessed of God that's how powerful our God is and don't think that this is just in the Old Testament to where God can't do this today to where he can reprove Kings you say well you know America's so great you know and all in all the power that they have you know what these elites and these Masonic Illuminati elites that are in the world that want to bring in the new world government yeah that's gonna happen one day but do you don't think that God can reprove that he will reprove that in the end so we need to remember that that that God is is can bless us and in this case we have Kings basically we have a king coming to him and saying we beseech you you know we you know we need a league between you and us a king is coming to him and so God is obviously very very much blessing Isaac one thing I want to see here reverse 31 it says and they rose up at times in the morning now there's a good way to understand what the word betimes mean because I remember reading the times and I thought well it's talked about being often you know like often like the times but it means before or early I'm sorry early and you can see that makes perfect sense they rose up the times in the morning early in the morning so when it talks about chasing your son but times it means early meaning at a young age right the last thing I want to show you is that in verse 33 when they dig that well and it says they called that well in verse 33 and he called it Sheba therefore the name of the city is bare Sheba unto this day and so what I want you to see with that is that Sheba and bare Sheba are the same place okay they named it the well Sheba therefore that's why the city was called bare Sheba okay now why is that important well this there's something that came up one time or you know you think of like so-called contradictions in the King James Bible last place I'll show you here Joshua chapter 19 and so in your Bibles some Bibles have a copyist there when it comes to this passage and people get all hung up on that and think well you know the King James isn't isn't perfect and all this other stuff listen I can I can take a Bible I can copy in a Bible and put all kinds of mistakes and it doesn't mean that God's Word isn't preserved okay it's just the fact that copy you know copiers have made mistakes and you know you know between the Oxford and Cambridge and stuff like that this is what they'll bring up okay because I have a Cambridge right here right and the Cambridge it says this in verse verse 2 and they had in their inheritance or their their inheritance bare Sheba or Sheba and Meloda and it goes down the list and in verse 6 it says at the end there 13 cities in their villages now some some Bibles will say and and you may even be holding the Bible that says and I don't know but I've had I have Bibles that say and okay now first of all this one's not that hard first of all I want you to see that bare Sheba and Sheba are the same place because if you were just to add up all those names you would get 14 if you added bare Sheba and Sheba together does that make sense so just off the cuff you know that that place is the same place we already see that in this chapter that is the same place now what you can see I believe or makes sense because you know they place the well with Sheba and they call it bare Sheba under this day so sometimes you call it Sheba or they call it bare Sheba you can't see where they're coming from right Sheba or bare Sheba right because some people call it they take off the bare in front of it right and sometimes they shorten that you know the thing in names that are shortened or cities that are shortened and all that other stuff right but you know we can see that the Bible helps us understand that this is the same place but even and can also connect things so if it says and you know I don't think that's necessarily wrong okay why because and can combine things God and our Father talking about the same exact person thing and connects things and sometimes it separates things so in this chapter and is usually separating things but it can also connect it so if it says bare Sheba and Sheba you know you could say well Sheba is the well bare Sheba is the city right it's naming the city and then saying and Sheba so I just want you to see that that it's the same place that you're talking about so that's why it's not a contradiction like there's 14 and it said 13 cities it's the same place and it could be very well be saying you know hey it was called this but it's also called this so it's just giving you those two names so when you see Sheba guess what it's talking about the same place and where is this at this is the southern portion of Judah or of Israel because anytime you give a recollection of like the the the space of Israel say from Dan even to bare Sheba Dan's the northern portion and you can see that throughout the scriptures that they're up there in the north but then it will say from Dan the bare Sheba makes sense because they're over here in Sheba which is away from the Philistines which is where Gaza is at even if you looked at a modern map Geza is the way we say it in the Bible but you think of the Gaza Strip that's on the the coast that area is where the Philistines were at okay so they're obviously down south and so that's where Sheba is at I just want to give you that as far as the fact that you know the so-called contradiction but if you run into that sometimes you'll you'll find some like typo error where it says none instead of no or it'll say we instead of ye it's just a typo okay that doesn't mean that the King James Bible has error in it or anything like that you know when they translated it and translated it right but they had copyist errors okay and so sometimes you'll find that in the Bible but here's the thing just like the Greek texts there was thousands upon thousands of copies of the Greek text and they had this mid that's why they called the majority texts and they would compare those to see if there is any discrepancies and just as much as we have thousands a millions of King James Bibles and so if someone has if someone puts out a really poor copy of the King James Bible we can compare with millions of others I mean the King James Bible is the number one soul that's the most printed book in the world ever okay so it's even way more it's a lot better even than what they have with the Greek texts and so the King James Bible we have millions of copies so it's not gonna be hard to find out which one's right okay and a lot of times the Bible will even show you that right you just go back to the Bible and it's like yeah that makes perfect sense that that's what that should be right and so anyway I just want to give you that one at the end there but that's the end of the word prayer. J. Heavenly Father we thank you today and pray that you be with us as we go home but also as as we go throughout the work week I pray that you bless the time of fellowship that we have and Lord we love you and pray all in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.