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We're there in Genesis chapter 30, we actually see some more of his children being born. So if you remember in Genesis 29, Leah had four sons unto Jacob and then she left Bering and that's what we're kind of picking up. So really 29 into 30 is just a continuation, obviously all these chapters are a continuation, but it's really just kind of one step to the next when we get into this chapter. Starting there in verse 30, it starts off with Rachel really yearning for children and her response here. And so in Genesis 30 and verse 1 it says, And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob, Give me children or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel and he said, Am I in God's stead? And she withheld from thee the fruit of the womb. And so the one thing I see as soon as I see this is the fact that children are a blessing. Children are something that women want. And honestly, society has to teach women that they don't want children. And that has to be driven from them or basically taught to them that you don't want to have that many children or you don't want to have children or wait to have children or whatever. It's just a natural yearning for women to want to have children. And so I see that with Rachel that she wants to have children and she's basically coming up to Jacob and saying, Give me children or else I die. And that's a pretty strong statement and Jacob's like, What can I do? And it's kind of truthful. And what Jacob's saying here is, Am I in God's stead? Am I withholding fruit from your womb? Obviously he's stating the fact that he can't really control that. Obviously he would want Rachel to have children. It's not like he's just not wanting to have children. But go to Psalm 127 and this is a great psalm about having children. And in our society today, children are looked at as just a burden, a mistake. People usually, it's just something that they don't want to deal with until later. And by the time later comes, it's sometimes too late to have children or at that point they maybe have lost the desire to have children. But in Psalm 127, I'm just going to read the whole psalm because it's only five verses. But starting there in verse 1, Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain to build it. Yet the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. So this is something that we just need to keep reminding ourselves as far as children are concerned is that they are the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. It's a reward, it's not a curse. Children are not a curse, children are a blessing. Now last night our little Anna has just been having trouble sleeping. I don't know if she's teething or what's going on, but she's just screaming like a banshee for like two hours last night. And yes, I mean children are hard, it's hard to raise them sometimes, you're going to have some really hard times raising children, but it's worth it. And there's going to be some sleepless nights, there's going to be times where you just think you're at your breaking point when it comes to raising children. But notice that at the end of the psalm there, it says happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them, and that's what you have to remember. When you have children, especially when they're younger, you need to remember, especially in those hard times, that hey, if you bring them up in the nursery and admonition of the Lord, they're going to be arrows in your quiver one day. And you just got to do the hard time now to raise them right, do what you need to do, and in the end it's going to turn out to where it says they shall not be ashamed, they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. And so you're going to have an army of children that are going to be answering the enemies in the gate. And so that's what I look at. I think when my girls are acting up or you're dealing with them and you're just spanking them, spanking them, spanking them, it just seems like you're just like, what's going on? All I think about is I just need to keep doing it, that's what the Bible says. And in the end, I just think about Clara growing up or Anna growing up and being a godly woman, being an influence for Christ, and marrying, having children of her own and raising her right, and in the end it's going to be worth it. And we need to have that mindset when it comes to having children and don't look at it as to what the world wants you to think, as well, if you didn't have children, you have all this time and you have all this money to do it, you can go travel the world, you can go backpacking in Europe, you can do all this stuff. But in the end, what's that going to leave you in the end? When you get done with your little vacations and you go see Rome and Paris and all this stuff and you see all these sights, what do you have to show for it in the end? When you have the boat and the car and the house and all this stuff, what do you have to show for it in the end? Nothing. And so, but those that have children and raise them right, they're going to have godly men and women that are going to grow up and be that next generation. And especially women, having children, the old saying, they that rock the cradle rule the world. And the next generation is our children and that's going to determine what kind of future our country has or what kind of future the world has. And so nowadays everybody doesn't want to have children, but God's people should not be that way. God's people should look at it and say, no, you know what, I want to be fruitful and multiply like the Bible says. And that's going to turn the tides in this world. If you have a bunch of fundamental Bible believing Baptists having a bunch of children, raising them right, turning them into soul winners, then you know what, you're going to have a lot more people on the battleground. And if everybody that's wicked doesn't have children, well, amen. I mean, obviously they should have children, but we're just going to out populate them and the forces are going to be higher in that aspect. But Islam is not that way. Islam is taking what the Bible would say to be true is to be fruitful and multiply and that's how they're taking over nations. They're multiplying. They're the number one multiplier when it comes to having kids is those that are Muslims. And so they go into countries and they have a bunch of children and they're just overpopulating them and they're taking over countries. And so now, you know, America needs to take heed to that, you know, and stop thinking about the superficial things that are out in the world. So what I want you to see here is that, you know, the thing that Jacob is saying here is that, am I in God's stead who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And that's a good statement to be made because it's God who opens and closes the womb. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 1 dealing with Hannah and she kind of has that same conversation with Eliakim and, you know, she's depressed and all that stuff about not having children. But he's like, am I not, like, I forget how many sons, I don't have the whole passage in front of me, but he's basically saying, you know, you have me, you know, and obviously that wasn't, you know, she wanted to have children, so. But in verse 4 there, it says, And when the time was that Alcanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. Now, first of all, we see that he loved Hannah, and it's kind of like the same relationship with Jacob, right? Leah has these children, but he loves Rachel, and you kind of see the same thing with Alcanah is that Peninnah has these children, but he loved Hannah, so it's kind of like the same relationship where he loves this one woman, but she's barren. And verse 6, it says, And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. There's a lot of similarities here as far as with Leah and Rachel, Peninnah and Hannah, as far as how kind of provoking her, and that's what we see with Rachel is that she envied her sister because she had children. Now, that's something we should never do, okay? Being jealous of something is godly. God is jealous, and his name is jealous, and we should be jealous over a wife, men. You can be jealous over things that are yours. Being envious is over things that aren't yours, right? So obviously Leah's children are not hers, therefore she's desiring what's not hers. But, you know, in this story we see that the Lord had shut up her womb. And then in Genesis, you don't have to turn, well, in Genesis 30 if you want to go back there, we'll get back down to that portion, but in verse 22 he does open Rachel's womb. Okay? It says, And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. And so, actually every story in the Bible where a woman was wanting to have children ended up having children eventually. And so just be patient, and just know that it's up to God, okay? And also notice that it keeps saying that God hearkened unto her. He hearkens unto Leah again, and she starts having children. You have not because you ask not. And sometimes you just need to ask for children, and, you know, that's something that, you know, even I ask for children, it's like, you know, it's not like we're doing anything different than we normally do, but it's just, you know, I ask that God would bless us with more children. You know, right after we have Anna, even though she's a really hard baby, she was really hard for the first six months, you know, I still wanted God to bless us with more children. And so, but you need to ask. But know that God opened the clothes of the womb. Now there are other factors sometimes when dealing with health and stuff like that. I've heard, and I'm not an expert on this, but, you know, dealing with having children sometimes if you, your diet, sometimes if you're too skinny, sometimes if you're overweight, like sometimes those things will be a factor. Sometimes it's just what you're eating, and you just need to eat a healthier diet will help those type of things. And so I wouldn't put it all in the Lord, like, you know, if you're not having children, it's like all Him, like saying you don't want to have children because sometimes it can be a health issue or you need to, you know, get in better shape or eat better and all that other stuff. You know, I'm just saying there may be other factors that are in there as well. But I will say this, I'd say the main proponent is the fact of whether God wants you to have children or not. And even in those cases, I believe God can allow you to have children. Okay, because, you know, He allowed Sarah to have a child at 90 years old, and just other cases of miracles like that. But know that, you know, if you're wanting to have children, ask God for it. Hannah and a lot of these places, they had to wait a long time to have children. And so, but in this passage, you see a lot of this back and forth between Leah and Rachel, and you see why not to have multiple wives. Okay, this passage just makes me think of, this is why having multiple wives doesn't work. Okay, now that should just be a no-brainer, right, from the very beginning. You know, Adam and Eve made a male and female, and they twain, shall be one flesh. It didn't say three or four or five. He didn't make like five Eves, and then like said, okay, Adam, marry all your wives, okay. Adam and Eve is the picture of what it's supposed to be like. And we'll see that it's not working out well. And it only gets worse as you get through this passage because he ends up marrying both their handmaidens. And so, in verse three here, so Leah, I just never really understood this, okay. I never, you know, I still don't understand why Leah thinks that, okay, if my handmaid has children, it's like me having children. It just does not make sense to me, okay. And so, but they both do it, you know, both are handmaids. So it's just strange to me. I mean, I understand that they're your servant, and they're bound to you, and all this stuff. But it's just like the Hagar situation, you know. Like as soon as she has a child, like Sarah didn't like it, you know, that she had a child and all this other stuff. So, but in verse three, again, a lot of times when you're reading through the Bible, they do things that are not right, okay. Jacob marrying Bilhah and Zilpah is not right, okay. But it's just what happened, okay. And so, in verse three, it says, and she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. And she gave him Bilhah, her handmaid to wife, and Jacob went in unto her, and Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son, therefore called she his name Dan. And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed, and she called his name Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah, her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a son. And Leah said, A troop cometh, and she called his name Gad. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a second son. And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher. So four sons, so two of each handmaiden, were born. And with both of them, they're saying, the Lord has heard me, and all this stuff, and I'm just being honest, I'm being candid. It doesn't make sense to me why that would just be such a blessing to them. It's like you just added more trouble to your relationship. Now you have two other women that you're dealing with in this marriage. And so I just see a lot of marriage problems in this passage, and things not to do. Don't marry, your wife's handmaiden, okay? I know that's a big problem nowadays, right? But no, obviously this is something that you're not dealing with this right now. And polygamy's not a big problem in America that I know of, okay? Unless there's some deep, dark circle somewhere that this is going on. I know the Mormons, the LDS, or the fundamentalists, there's a difference between, I guess, the fundamentalist LDS and then the Mormons. But the fundamentalists go back to bringing them young and all that stuff, saying that you need to have multiple wives. So that still goes on to this day. But it's obviously just, you just see the chaos in this chapter as far as what it does to a marriage, and it's not good. So after this whole thing, do you remember how I told you to remember who's handmaiden was who? Who's Rachel's handmaiden? You got the Bible in front of you, so I guess that's cheating, right? Bilhah, right? R and D, and then L, Z, like lazy. So Zilpah is Leah's. And so, but something also, just Bible trivia type stuff, it's good to memorize the patriarchs. Just to kind of know Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah. And then, you know who bore those. So Leah bore the first four. And then you have Rachel's handmaiden Bilhah, Dan, and Naphtali. And then you had Zilpah, would be Gad and Asher. And then we'll see that Leah has two more sons, Issachar and Zippulun. And then Rachel has the last two. So, just obviously Joseph and Benjamin, right? But anyway, it's good just to know that type of stuff. And you say, why? Well, because when you're reading on later on, and you hear these names come up, you're gonna know who they belong to. And just kind of see the correlation between some of that stuff. And so, it's always good just to know, well, who's Rachel's son? So that's pretty easy. The last two, Joseph and Benjamin, are Rachel's. And when you get into the stories with Joseph, it's very evident that those two are full-blooded brothers. But you can just see the correlations there. But anyway, just a side note. I remember when I was doing Sunday school with, David was in my class. Sometimes it was just David. We did those Bible knowledge lists, you remember that? Where we were doing the patriarchs, the 12 patriarchs. We did the 12 apostles, and just stuff like that. Because, just think about this, the Ten Commandments. If you were out door knocking, and someone said, what's the name of the 12 apostles, and you couldn't list them off. Then, even though you know how to give someone the gospel, and you know some really deep doctrines, that's a simple thing to know. And if someone calls you out on that, you may not know it. The Ten Commandments, memorize the Ten Commandments. If you don't know the Ten Commandments, know it, because someone may call you out on it. But the apostles, or you may just say, well, just name off the 12 apostles to me, if you know the Bible so much. Or the 12 patriarchs, or the Ten Commandments, or stuff like that. So it's good just to have, you may say, well that's just, we kind of brush off those little things like that. And sometimes it's good just to go to the basics and just memorize certain things like that. And who was the 12th that took after Judas, and stuff like that. A lot of people don't remember Matthias. They remember the other guys. They remember Peter, James, and John. Most people know that guy. They know Judas. You're probably going to get Judas. But do you know about Bartholomew? And I'm not saying you haven't read those passages, and you've read them before and all that stuff. But could you list them off right now? Could you list off the 12 patriarchs in order? Well, obviously you could right now, because in this passage, right, you can just look at it. But that's just something, I'm just kind of giving you advice on that when it comes to just simple little lists. You can make little lists and just kind of make it a game where you memorize it, stuff like that. The books of the Bible, could you name off all the books of the Bible? That's something that Claire is doing. We're doing the song, which I never learned the song. I just, I memorized the books of the Bible. I never did the song, but she's almost through. She's getting into the minor prophets. And so, if she can do it when she's not even three years old. So, and I know children can memorize things a little better. But all I'm saying is, now she may not pronounce them all correctly, okay? When she gets into some of those harder names, it comes out a little different. But all I have to say is that that's the type of, just simple Bible knowledge, simple trivia questions. I like playing Bible trivia. And sometimes, playing Bible trivia will help you want to learn that stuff, right? Because they'll ask a question like, okay, well, what book precedes, you know, like, mayhem? And you got to think, okay. Then you got to go through your list and kind of think about where that's at. Or it'll say, you know, like, how many books start with the letter R? You know, stuff like that. But anyway, all I have to say is that sometimes you never know. Someone could call you out and just say, well, name me the 12 apostles, then I'll listen to you. And, you know, maybe you can, maybe you can't. So anyway, but this is not God's model for a marriage. Having four wives, having two wives, and then marrying their handmaidens. And so go to Proverbs chapter five, Proverbs chapter five. And while you're in Proverbs chapter five, I know we already read through the chapter, but what happens is that Leah has to buy her husband for a night with her son's mandrakes. That's the kind of relationship she's dealing with there. It's sad, honestly, is what she's dealing with. Because it just seems to me that Rachel was pretty much his wife. And then these other women are just kind of giving them children, is the way it looks like to me. When I read through these passages, he loves Rachel. And that was pretty much his wife. That's who he would be with most nights. All that stuff, right? Well, in Genesis 30, and you're in Proverbs five, but Genesis 30 in verse 14, it says, And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband, and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son's mandrakes. So notice, you know, what she's having to do to be with her husband. And then it says, And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, Thou must come in unto me, for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes, and he lay with her that night. That's the kind of relationship that you're dealing with with Leah and Jacob, is the fact that she had to literally, buy off Rachel so that she could be with Jacob. And Proverbs chapter five, verse 18, dealing with married couples, it says in verse 18, Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe. Let her breast satisfy thee at what? All times, and be thou ravished always with her love. And so notice that when you're married, this should be a constant thing. This isn't something that you're like, hiring out your wife with mandrakes, you know? You know, I shouldn't have to like, you know, like buy my wife chocolates every single night and like purchase her love, okay? Or vice versa, right? She shouldn't have to do that to purchase my love or my attention, right? And so that's what Leah is doing though. And that's a big problem I see with, in the Bible when they'd have multiple wives is that problem right here. You cannot show due benevolence to four wives, two wives for that matter. Go to first Corinthians chapter seven, first Corinthians chapter seven. I believe that's, I mean, if there was a problem with having more than one wife, out of all the problems, that's the big problem that you see, is the fact that there's always that one wife that's preferred above the others and then the rest are neglected. And first Corinthians chapter seven, and I talked about this in the sermon about why marriages fail because of the lack of due benevolence. But you see, you know, why was her, why is she always envious of her sister? Why is she provoking her, you know, with Hannah and Panetta? You know, all this stuff, a lot of it has to do with the fact that one's getting defrauded by the husband. And I don't care how you slice it, they're getting defrauded at some point because the Proverbs five situation cannot happen when you have that many wives. So he's always picking and choosing who he's gonna be with, and it's just not right. And first Corinthians chapter seven, verse three, it says, let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband, the wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband, and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife, defraud ye not one another, except to be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. So the whole coming together is only supposed to, you're only supposed to not do it if it's by consent. This isn't a, you know, like all we have to give consent, you know, like every time you show each other due benevolence, there's like, there's giving consent. No, there's only consent when you don't. It's just given that that's what you should be doing. And with Jacob and Leah, it's evident in this passage that he's not giving her due benevolence, because she literally had to buy him for a night with her son's mandrakes. That's what she's stating. And she ends up having a child, okay? And so, but it's just a sad story. When I see this, I just see Leah. Now here's the thing, though. Should Leah have gone in with the plan to deceive Jacob? So you can see a little bit of reaping what you've sown. I'm not saying it's right for Jacob to marry Rachel after that, or to defraud her. You know, two wrongs don't make a right. At the same time, she did sneakily marry him, okay? And so you can see that kind of being a reaping there. So Leah's not completely innocent. And actually we were talking, I was talking to brother Eric about this. We were talking about how she was tender-eyed. I think it was you that I was talking to this about. But I was talking about the fact that, I was saying how she was humble and meek and all that stuff. And I was just thinking about it when we were in our conversation about the fact that she's tender-eyed, but there's a proud look out there. And you know, the tender-eyed would be not necessarily what she looks like, but more so just her demeanor, meaning that that really shows you there's the proud look, but then there's the tender look, you know? So you kind of got the humble compared to the proud. Anyway, that's completely a tangent. I just wanted to get that out there, but we were talking about that and that just kind of made sense. I was preaching on that, but that kind of really validates that she was kind of a meek and humble woman. But, you know, in this case, she's obviously not having the best marriage. And so God hearkens under her. Go back to Genesis chapter 30 and verse 17. So really the first part of this chapter, the half of this chapter, is just about, you know, the patriarchs being born. The last part of chapter 29, you see the first four sons being born, and then you get into the handmaidens at the beginning of this chapter. But then Leah has two more sons and then a daughter. So in Genesis 30 and verse 17, it says, and God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived and bared Jacob the fifth son, and Leah said, God hath given me my heir, or my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband, and she called his name Issachar. And Leah conceived again and bared Jacob the sixth son, and Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry. Now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons, and she called his names of Ulin. And afterwards she bared a daughter and called her name Dinah. So there were, you know, girls born here. It's just like all boys, right? But notice that the last son that she bares to, out of the 12 patriarchs, Leah bore half of them. And Leah, you know, it says with the sixth son, now will my husband dwell with me. You know what that tells me is that she wasn't dwelling with him. I mean, it makes sense if she has to literally hire him for a night. And so it's just a sad case, but God blesses Leah through that. So, you know, God saw that. God saw that Leah was hated. That's why she started even bearing sons, you know, and having children. And so it's kind of like God showing, you know, showing her mercy that he's got to give her attention because she has half his sons, right? And so that could be part of the reason why Rachel was barren, because of that whole aspect of her being loved, and, you know, Rachel's dwelling with Jacob and it's pretty much, you know, Leah's just there. Kind of like a wife in name only. And it's just a sad situation, but you can definitely see, you know, the reality of why Leah's having all these children and Rachel doesn't have children until later. But God does open her womb. Remember, we kind of talked about that, how God closes a womb, and at the very beginning of the chapter, you know, she said, give me children or else I die. And he's saying, you know, I'm not in God's stead, but God hearkened unto her. And so in verse 22, it says, and God remembered Rachel and God hearkened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bare a son and said, God hath taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph and said, the Lord shall add to me another son. So what I see really interesting about this is the fact that she knew that she was going to have another son later. Now that son's going to actually claim her life because she dies giving birth to Benjamin. But, you know, you see these passages sometimes where, you know, with Rebecca giving birth to Esau and Jacob and where God's communicating with her saying, hey, you have two nations in your womb. And so I don't know if God spoke to her and said, hey, you're going to have another son. This isn't the only one, but she obviously knew something there. She knew that she was going to have another son. And so God did hearken unto Rachel. And so something to be remembered if you're wanting to have more children, you know, Isaac had to wait 20 years. And a friend of mine actually that I went to high school with, he was talking to me how they were having trouble. He got married literally like the same month or week before I got married. And they've been trying to have children. I don't know if they've been trying to have children that whole time, but he was talking to me how they were talking, the doctors were saying, you know, that they probably wouldn't be able to have children, all this stuff. Well, they're pregnant. Well, she's pregnant. But all that to say is that sometimes it takes a little bit of time. I met brother Stuckey, brother Matt Stuckey. You know, they were having a little trouble and, you know, now he has a son and, you know, so don't be wary and well-doing when it comes to praying for children. And I know, you know, families here have dealt with just, you know, miscarriages and just different things and stuff like that. Just go to the Lord in prayer. And, you know, I believe God wants you to have children. You know, that's God's plan, but try not to dwell on it and worry about it because it's kind of like when she comes up to Jacob and says, give me children or else I die. It's out of his hands. Does that make sense? And I tried personally not to worry about things that I can't control. Now I will worry about things that I can't control, right? If I'm at work and I need to get something done, I can control that, right? Therefore I'm gonna, you know, get it done and worry about the things that I need to worry about, right? But if it comes to things that I can't control, I try not to worry about those things, even if they're really, really, you know, hard things or things that could be very detrimental or even fatal, you know, just things. I mean, it'd be kind of like if I got some kind of, you know, illness or something like that. If I can't control it, now if there's something I can do, I'll worry about it. I'll worry about what I need to do to do it, to get through it. But I don't worry about something I can't control. And, you know, we've had things where you have tests and stuff like that, and they'll say, well, it could be cancerous or whatever. And, you know, it's easy to just worry about it before you even know. And, you know, then you worry your life away. You lost like a year of your life worrying about something, comes back as negative, right? Or, you know, even if it does come back, I mean, it's just one of those things to try not to worry about things you can't control. And with children, I look at that a lot of times is the fact that you can't really control it, especially if you're trying to have children and you can't or it's, you know, you're having trouble having children. I think people sometimes, you know, they worry about it so much that it's actually maybe sometimes hurting them having children. Because a lot of times they say if you want to have children, you need to be relaxed, you need to not be stressed, having a lot of anxiety. And I've seen this, you know, where people get really anxious about it and it just makes it worse, okay? And then when they relax about it and stop worrying about it, then they end up getting pregnant. Again, I'm not a doctor, okay? I'm your pastor. So I'm not saying I have medical advice on this stuff. I'm just saying some of the stuff I've read about and just different things as far as getting pregnant and stuff like that. So try not to worry about things that you can't control. But going back to Genesis, the chapter shifts. So the first part of the chapter is more so about him having his children, dealing with his wives, and that whole fiasco with having multiple wives. But then it switches gears into him and Laban, and him serving Laban. And so notice in verse 25. So Genesis chapter 30, verse 25, it says, And it came to pass, when Jacob had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou knowest my service, which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, I have found, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said, appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. So we see here that Jacob, first of all, he's wanting to have things of his own. He's basically a servant, but he wants to go to his own country, and he's tired of, you know, basically just working for somebody with Laban. And so he's wanting to leave, but Laban doesn't want him to leave. Why? Because he explains, he says, I know by experience that the Lord hath blessed, notice, me for thy sake. So Laban is looking and saying, I know the Lord has blessed me for you. I don't want you to go anywhere. So, but we can apply this to our own lives, especially if you look at Laban as being your boss, and you as being the employee, and Jacob being the employee, you can look at how this would work out as far as serving your boss in a manner that blesses him, right? And to where he doesn't want to get rid of you, and he doesn't want you to leave, okay? And so you don't want to be like, okay, I'm giving my two weeks notice, and they're like, they're like, you want to leave now? You can. Or do you want something? Do you want your boss to say, what can I do to where you won't leave? You know, and then they'll just say, what do you, what kind of pay do you need? What's your requirement? What would you do, what would I need to give you for you not to leave? That's the response you want, right? You want them to look at you and say, we don't want to have to replace you. You know, like invaluable is a word that, you know, a lot of people would use when it comes to employees. And there's a lot of reasons why. One, you know how to do things at that job. So then they, if they brought someone in new, even if they're an experienced person, they have to train them up on what to do and how to do it. So just a lot of hassle, you got to find somebody else to do that job. But also if you're doing a good job and you're profitable to them, then they definitely don't want to lose you. Okay. And so you don't want to have, you know, if you're, if you're leaving a job to go to another job and they're like good riddance, I mean, that's not saying much about your work ethic there. But obviously Jacob was a hard worker and Laban was being blessed because of him. And he did not want to lose him. And he's basically saying appoint thy wages and I will give it. He's basically just saying, tell me what you want me to pay you, I'll pay it. That's intense. I mean, that shows you his work ethic. Go to Colossians chapter three. And it's something that we need to remember in the workplace. And even if our masters are, you know, like when I say that, you know, when you look at these passages in the New Testament about servants and masters, you need to get it out of your mind that it's dealing with like slaves. Okay. Because this really applied, especially in the Bible, a lot of times servants, you know, they're not necessarily, they're not, they're not necessarily bound to them. They're just working for them. Okay. But even other times that they're bound to them, they're bound to them to a certain debt, right? They're paying off a debt, but they're not bound to them for life. And according to the law of God, they can only be bound to them for seven years, right? And then there's the year of Jubilee where you can get back all your possessions, all this other stuff, right? So there's no such thing as like a forever servitude unless they wanted it. And so there is a case in the Bible where if they didn't want to leave and they just wanted to serve that person forever, then they would, they would put an all through the ear. You know, I guess they would just like nail his ear to the door. I don't know, you know, that's what it says, you know, put his ear to the doorpost and put an all through it. So they pierce his ear, I guess, and basically that shows that he decided to stay and all that stuff. But all I have to say is that when I see servants and masters in Colossians, Ephesians, and Titus, I don't see slaves and masters with a wit. I see employers and employees because this same thing applies, okay? Because in the end, are you not serving your employer? And even this case, you know, at my job, you know, I'm getting into the position of more so employer, but don't I serve the client that I do work for? We're all serving somebody, right? You know, if you're in some kind of business to do something, even if you own the company, you're serving somebody because you gotta serve somebody to get the paycheck, right, or to get the money. And so there's some master above you that you're serving in order to get paid, right? Even government, supposedly, right? The government's supposed to be what? The servant of the people. So doesn't the president serve somebody? Technically, it's supposed to be we the people. I know it's not that way anymore, but that's the way it's supposed to be. But all I have to say is that servants, masters, you know, that can apply in a lot of different levels, okay, and it's not talking about, you know, slavery here. But in verse 22 of Colossians 3, it says, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men please, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he had done, and there is no respect to persons. So when we're working, we need to work as if we're working for God. You know, do a good job. Even if you don't like your boss, I don't care. You know, do a good job, and obviously if you're doing an honest job, okay, I'm not saying to work for somebody that's like doing something like, you know, wrong, okay. But if you have an honest job, work hard. I don't care if you don't like the boss, you know, and the boss doesn't like you. If you work hard to the point where you're invaluable, the boss will want you even if he doesn't like your personality. Even if he doesn't like what you believe or what you stand for, you know, the fact is is that they don't want to lose you because you're a good worker. And as Christians, we need to have that type of testimony. And especially if you're a Christian that's a disciple, because you're gonna suffer persecution, you're gonna have all manner things set against you, and if you have a good testimony at work, and you're working hard, and you have good communication, you're not using corrupt communication, all this other stuff, then when those accusations come out and be like, you know what, brother Charles, he's just this mean guy, you know, he's just hateful and all this stuff, he hates the queers and all this, but then they're gonna look at his work ethic and how they've seen him act around people and how he's behaved himself in front of them, they're gonna be like, these people are nuts. Because I've had people write on our Facebook page of my company, and because I said something, I didn't even say it, I didn't say it to them, I wrote on someone's post, basically, like, something against the queers. I didn't think I said queer, I just said they were filthy or something like that. Or, I forget what it was, but pretty much they copy and pasted what I said, put it on one of our posts and said, this is the kind of person that you have working here. But what they didn't realize is that my company, I've been with my company longer, I've been there, I mean, basically, the president of me has the most seniority there, and everybody that looked at that, they're just like, these people are morons, and they don't have to agree with me with what I said, but they know that the work ethic, and they know me, and they know what I stand for, and even if they don't agree with me, they respect me for it. But what if I was just this lousy, no good employee that never comes in on time, doesn't do his work, I'm just a liability to the company. You don't want to be a liability, you want to be an asset. And when it comes to this, when it comes down to the persecution, or people are coming down on you, and they're trying to fling all this mud on you to try to get you fired, make it really hard for them to want to fire you. Make it to the point where you're just like, I know this is not good for our image of our company because all these people are coming at us, but I just don't want to lose you. And if they fire you, or if they get rid of you, so be it, right? When it comes to the persecution, God will bless, He'll give you a better job, He'll take care of you. And so I wouldn't be worried about that anyway, but all that to say is that they all rejected it out of hand. Because they said, did you write this? I'm like, yeah, I did. And they're like, this guy's an idiot. Not me, but the guy that posted it, right? And so, but it's just, but just know that that type of stuff will be slung. And so you need to have a good reputation at work. And go back to Genesis 30. And so Jacob gives this term. So he says, tell me your wages and I'll give it to you. Okay? So he's basically writing a blank check. So Jacob could have said, you know, like, you know, a thousand pounds, you know, or whatever, a thousand shekels, I don't know. But obviously I'm sure there would have been a limit because Laban wasn't like, he didn't have infinite funds. But all I have to say is that he doesn't ask for wages. He asks for actually something better. But on the surface, it doesn't look that way because what he asks for here is something that's not there at the moment. Okay? And so he's asking for something that at the surface is just like, of course. But he saw the future as far as if he worked hard, this is what it will turn into. Because in Genesis 30 in verse 29, it says, and he said unto him, thou knowest how I have served thee and how thou thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hast before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude. And the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming, and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? And he said, what shall I give thee? And Jacob said, thou shalt not give me anything if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. So he's basically saying, do you know that when you had this flock before, basically what he's saying is it was little, but now it's increasing. And so he's making his case. He's like, I don't want wages. And he's basically gonna make the case I want a certain amount of these sheep or the cattle or the goats. And so in verse 32, it says, I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle and all the brown cattle among the sheep and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and of such shall be my hire. So that's gonna be his wage, is all the speckled, the ring-streaked, all that stuff, right? It says, so shall my righteousness answer for me in the time to come when it shall come for my hire before thy face. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep, thou shalt be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, behold, I would it might be according to thy word. So he's basically saying, I'll take all the sheep and cattle that people don't normally want. And if you remember when you do sacrifices, what are you supposed to have? A lamb without blemish, without spot, right? So when you see speckled, ring-streaked, and all this stuff, what you're looking at is the sheep and the goats and the cattle that people don't normally want, okay? And so when I see this passage, and Pastor Roger Jimenez preached an awesome sermon on this, so I'm gonna steal his thunder a little bit, but it's just a great sermon. He was preaching about Pastor Aaron Thompson that they ordained up at Shur Foundation Baptist Church, used to be Verity Baptist up in Vancouver, and he was preaching on this, and it's just such a good application because Jacob is a shepherd here, right? Well, David is also a shepherd in the future, and David, there's a lot of similarities to the fact of how he took all the unwanted sheep or the herd, okay? Go to 2 Samuel, chapter seven. 2 Samuel, chapter seven, because you can also apply this to the church and to Christianity when it comes to taking in the people that most people don't want, the rejects, so to speak, or the, you know, what's the word? Misfits, that's the word I'm looking for, the misfits out in the world. And that's what I see a lot of times. I see the misfits are the ones that want to do the great things for God. And the Bible actually teaches that, but David, the king, notice in 2 Samuel, chapter seven, 2 Samuel, chapter seven, and verse eight, it says, now therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep caught from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel. So the first thing we see is that he's a shepherd. Now you probably should have known that because he talks about how he took a sheep or a lamb out of the mouth of a lion and the bear and all that stuff before he killed Goliath. And so he was keeping the sheep. That's when Samuel came up and said, where's your other son? He's out keeping the sheep, right? And so we know that David was a shepherd. We'll go back to 1 Samuel, chapter 22. So I just wanted to prove that to you. I think everybody knows that, but so he was a shepherd. He was a humble guy and God took him and made him a king. Jacob was a shepherd and was basically humbled in that aspect as far as being a shepherd, all that stuff, but then God exalted him. Notice in 1 Samuel, chapter 22, and verse one, it says, David therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of Adullam. If you remember, what's he doing? He's escaping from Saul. He's running away from Saul because Saul's trying to kill him. It says, and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. Notice this in verse two, and everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontinant, yeah, discontinented, yeah, I'm gonna get it out, discontented, discontented, I'm gonna get it, discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became a captain over them and there were with him about 400 men. So you had the distressed, the in debt, the discontented, and all these are ones that people probably wouldn't want normally, right? You wouldn't want a whole bunch of people that are in debt or that are distressed or depressed or you're basically getting all the people that are the misfits. And what you know about, what you realize is that David had these mighty men and go to 2 Samuel chapter 23. So when these men came to him, these 400 men, they were all basically the misfits of the country and they were all coming to him, okay? So he was gathering all the people that Saul didn't want and what did he turn them into? He turned them into the mighty men of David. Now not necessarily all 400 because we know that there's like 37 of his mighty men that he had throughout his time as king but I want you to see some of these guys. So what David did is he took in these men that were distressed, discontented, right? And he basically molded them into mighty men in battle and some of them even men of God. And so that's what David did as a shepherd is basically he took the sheep and made them strong. And what we'll see at the end of this chapter in Genesis 30, that's how he gained these sheep and this herd and this flock but he basically took the strong ones and he made them strong, right? And the feeble ones he put over here, right? And so that's what a pastor's supposed to do. He's supposed to bring in the weak, make them strong. And you know nowadays in churches is bring in the weak and keep them weak. But that's not the case. When you come into church, you're supposed to be fed. You know? Be fed and get strong. Get not only the milk but the meat of the word and start getting strong in the Lord and David's a good example of that. Now David, a lot of this is dealing physically, right? Because you're dealing about a physical army. When we're dealing in the church, we're dealing with a spiritual army and we're soldiers of Christ but in 2 Samuel chapter 23 in verse eight, we get into these mighty men and for sake of time, I'm not gonna go through all these mighty men but I want you to at least see these first three. These first three are just exceptional warriors but notice that when you see who they're from, they're not like, they're not of Benjamin and Judah. You know, most of these men, when you see Uriah the Hittite, you know, like all these men that they're from other places, right? They're like all these rejects that are in there. They're not like, you know, of Judah and Benjamin and you know, Issachar, you know, and stuff like that. No, they're just kind of like all these people from all over the place and it says in verse eight here, it says, these be the names of the mighty men whom David had, the Tachmanite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains, the same was Adonai, the Esnite, he lift up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time. Think about that for a second, 800 men and he slew at one time, 800. Now obviously Samson had some big numbers but that's intense. That's a mighty man and what you'll see with these first three is that they'll be comparing Abishai and Benaiah, right? Yeah, Benaiah, right? The son Jehoiada. They'll be comparing them to these three guys and they'll say, they were mighty, they were honorable among the three but they didn't attain to the first three. So like these first three guys, like even Benaiah who's like Solomon's right hand man, I mean, he's the guy who just keeps killing everybody, right, he's just like, they send Benaiah in, you know? But we see that the first guy, you know, Adonai, he killed 800 men at once, at one time, right? And verse nine, it says, And after him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Eohohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there, gathered together to battle and the men of Israel were gone away. So it's just David and him. And it says, And he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword and the Lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to spoil. So this guy was with David and it was just him and they just basically took out these Philistines. It doesn't say how many were there, but it could have been a lot, right? Now in verse 11, it says, And after him was Shammah, so you have Adonai, you have Eleazar and now you have Shammah, the son of Agi, the Eorite, and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where it was a piece of ground full of lentils and the people fled from the Philistines, but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the Philistines and the Lord brought a great victory. What you see here is a lot of, they fought some battles on their own. David not only, he took in these, these refuge of people, so to speak, but he made them so mighty that they could stand on their own and not only on their own, but they can win a great victory on their own. And they were his right hand, right hand men. But they didn't start off that way. They didn't start off as these mighty men like this. They came into him in distress. They came, they were in debt, you know? So they were basically just the refuge of Israel. Benaiah, I gotta talk about Benaiah because he's just an awesome character. Go to verse 20 here, verse 20. Just think about these, what he does here. There's like three things it talks about here. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabziel, who had done mighty acts. He slew two lion-like men of Moab. So there's one thing, he slew these two lion-like men. He went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow. Think about that, okay? He went down into this pit where there was a lion and killed it in a time of snow. So it's giving you all these elements, right? Is that when you wanna go try to take out a lion when it's snowing and you can slip and fall and all over this place? Notice then in verse 21 it says, and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man, and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear. That guy is intense. You don't wanna be messing with this guy, right? And so, but notice what it says about him. It says, these things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and had the name among three mighty men. He was more honorable than the 30, but he attained not to the first three and David set him over his guard. So even though what he did right there, he didn't attain unto those first three. And so that's a whole sermon itself with David's mighty men, but I just want you to see that what was David like as a shepherd? And God took him from the sheep cods and made him a king. And he was basically a shepherd to all of Israel at that point. And so that's the kind of leadership that you want. You want a shepherd. You want someone that's humble, that's just keeping the flock, right? Everybody else is kind of have high accolades, all this stuff. He's just keeping the sheep and then God puts him into a position of authority. Those are the type of people you want leading. You don't want the person that wants that authority. Anybody that wants that type of authority and that type of power is the wrong person to be in that position. You want the person that doesn't want the power, but knows that he needs to do it. And most of the time the presidents that we get, they want the power. That's why they're horrible presidents. That's why most of these people in these positions, they have a lot of money. They want the power. They want the accolades. That's why they're horrible at their job. You want somebody that doesn't want the job. And so, but in Genesis, going back there, he puts up these rods and, you know, I'm not saying I completely understand what he's doing with these rods, but basically he's bringing the sheep together and causing them to breed, okay? But he's picking the strong ones to breed with his sheep, pretty much. So he's basically making his herd really large and strong and making the ladens weak and small, okay, is what he's doing, okay? And so, but he has all the speckled and reamed straight, right? But they're also the strongest ones in the herd and there's more of them, okay? And so that's what he's doing here. And that's what it says in verse 41. And it says in Genesis 30 verse 41, it says, And it came to pass whosoever the strong cattle they conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle and the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. And when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in. So the feebler were ladens and the stronger, Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly and had much cattle and maidservants and menservants and camels and acids. Jacob's starting to prosper here with this deal. And so this definitely can be translated into the New Testament, dealing with the fact of how we should bring in the poor, the needy, those that people don't want, right? And go to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 is the last thing I'll show you. But as you're going to Luke 14, I'm gonna read 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. It says, For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God had chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised have God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to not things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. God is always choosing the weak to confound the strong or the foolish to confound the wise. You think about the disciples, they were unlearned men, right? They were fishermen. But he used them to turn the world upside down with the gospel. And the same thing with the weak and the feeble. God takes, God gets more glory if you're not that good at speaking. God gets more glory if you're not that strong, but he can make you strong, right? When I am weak, then am I strong, right? That's what Paul said. And so, God gets the glory when that's the case. And so, whenever you're thinking like, I'm not a good speaker, I'm weak in this area. Hey, that's perfect ground for God. That's like when Gideon had 32,000 people and God said, that's too many. 300, that's how many you get because I don't want them to say that it was by their own hands that they won this battle. And so when you win someone in Christ and you're not a good speaker, you know what that shows me? Is that God was in it. And when I'm preaching up here and you say, well, that was a good sermon. Well, it's definitely not because I'm good at it. It's because God is in it. Because God can use anybody that will be willing to follow him, that will be willing to keep his commandments, do those things that are pleasing in his sight, read the Bible, memorize the Bible, do the things of God. God can use you. And actually, he can use the ones that you would think wouldn't be able to do it. He'll use them probably more than anybody else. Why, because he gets more glory in it. And so, but Luke chapter 14, we were talking about Luke chapter 14, we were talking about being a disciple. But right before that, it's talking about, it gives this parable and this story about this feast or this supper. But obviously, it's a picture of how he came onto his own and his own, received a nod, and all the leaders and nobles, they rejected him. But the blind, the maimed, those are the ones that received him. And when it comes to Christianity, when it comes to the church, that's what you're, you're not gonna get the rich people. Every once in a while, you'll get that camel to go through the eye of the needle. But most of the time, you're not gonna be getting the rich person, the person that has all the money, the good-looking ones. And I don't think anybody in here is ugly, but none of us are probably signing up for the Model of the Year Club, okay? When it comes to the way we look, the way, you know, all these things that the world looks up to and they hold high, that's usually not what's in the house of God. You just have normal people, or even people that you would consider on the lower spectrum of things. But the Word of God makes wise the simple, and the Word of God, it states that He uses the weak to confound those things which are strong. But in Luke 14, notice in verse 18, just for sake of time, we're not going through the whole story, but basically He had this great supper, and it said that He bade many, meaning that He was bidding a lot of people to come to this thing. He wanted everybody to come to it, right? In verse 18 it says, and they all with one consent began to make excuse. So when He went out to bid all these people to the feast, they all just made an excuse, saying, no, I can't, I'm married, all this other stuff, right? And so they made all these excuses, and the master of the house was angry about this. And he said, okay. In verse 21 it says, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed, and maimed and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. And notice what he says, and the Lord said unto his servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. And so when we go out soul winning, who are we looking for? The poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind. We're looking for, we're going into the highways and hedges, and usually when we go out soul winning, we're going into the poor neighborhoods. Why? Well, we're not, we're obviously not trying to get them to come in here so we can get a whole bunch of money coming in, and then we can go build a big building and all this other stuff. No, because we want to see people saved. Why? Because those people actually may be humble enough to come into church, get baptized, read the Bible, hear our preaching, and actually do something for God. And the people that are the nobles and the ones that look good on the outside, they probably aren't going to be the people that are going to do great things for God. I'm not saying that doesn't happen, because it does, but the majority of people are just people that are working hard, they're not rich, they're not wealthy, they don't have everything put together, they don't look the greatest on the outside, but God is wanting those. Just as much as Jacob said, give me the ring straight, give me the spotted, the speckled, give me all those, I'll make them strong. And just like David took all the outcasts of Israel, and they were distressed, they were discontented, they were in debt, but he took them, and he made them mighty men, and we saw the list of them. And in your time, read through that passage about all his mighty men, and then look about where they were from and who they were from, because they were a bunch of misfits, okay? They were from all over the place. And so you say, ahead of time, you know, and all this other stuff, but you know what, some of those were the, I mean, think of Urijah and just how he's like, how can I go back to my house with my brethren, you know, when all my, you know, when they're out there fighting the battle, I mean, this is a great band of God. And, you know, now Joab, and you know, that's another story, but all I have to say is that, that God is always trying to take the weak and make them strong. And Jacob does that here. And so it's commendable, it's something we need to look to, and we need to not forget that. You know, we're not, this isn't a beauty contest up here. This isn't, you know, we don't care about that type of stuff here. You know, we care about, where's your heart with God? What do you want to do for God? How do you want to live for God? And you know, if you're good looking, then amen. You know, that's fine. You know, there's nothing wrong with that, but all I'm saying is that God will use anybody that wants to serve him. Let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for tonight, and Lord, just pray to you, be with us as we go back home and throughout the work week, I pray to you to help us to get everything we need to get done. And Lord, I pray to you, bless the soul-willing opportunities, and just be with us throughout this week. Give us safe travels, and Lord, we love you, and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen.