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My race is nearly run, my strongest trials now are past, my triumph is begun. Oh come angel band, come and around me stand, oh bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. Oh bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. I know I'm near the holy ranks of friends and kindred dear, for I hear with Jordan's banks the crossing must be near. Oh come angel band, come and around me stand, oh bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. Oh bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. I've almost reached my heavenly home, my spirit loudly sings, thy holy ones behold they come, I hear the noise of wings. Oh come angel band, come and around me stand, come bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. Oh bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. Oh bear my longing heart to Him who bled and died for me, whose blood now cleanses from all sin and gives me victory. Oh come angel band, come and around me stand, oh bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. Oh bear me away on your snowy wings to my eternal home. Man, great singing this evening. Brother Bill, can you open us with a word of prayer? Father, I just thank you for bringing us back to your house and bless all the so many presentations and the people that have done everything today. And bless the rest of your time here this evening. Man, page 305. Yield not the temptation, page 305. 305, yield not to temptation on the first. Yield not to temptation for yielding a sin, each victory will help you, some other to win. Five man fully onward, dark passion subdued. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you. He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through. Shine evil companions, bad language disdain. God's name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain. Be thoughtful and earnest, kind hearted and true. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you. He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through. To Him that overcometh, God giveth a crown. Through faith we shall conquer, though often cast down. He who is our Savior, our strength will renew. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you. He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through. God's name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father's throne, Make all my wants and wishes known, In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft escaped the tempter's snare, By Thy return, sweet hour of prayer, Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear, To Him whose truth and faithfulness, Engage the waiting soul to bless, And since He bids me seek His face, Believe His word and trust His grace, I'll cast on Him my every care, And wait for Thee, sweet hour of prayer, Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, May I Thy consolation share, Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height, I view my home and take my flight, This robe of flesh shall drop and rise, To seize the everlasting prize, And shout while passing through the air, Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. Man, good seeing you this evening. Brother Robert, can you bless the offering for us? May the Father and Lord just thank you for gathering your house here tonight, Lord. Just ask you to bless the preaching, Lord, and bless this offering. And Lord, just thank you for this great church we have in His name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, go ahead and turn with me to Genesis chapter 29. Genesis 29, if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. One of the ushers will bring you one. Genesis 29. Genesis 29, the Bible reads, And Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east. And he looked, and behold, a well in the field, and lo, there were three flocks of sheep lined by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And thither were all the flocks gathered, and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place. And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well. And behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. And he said, Lo, it is yet high day. Neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together. Water ye the sheep and go feed them. And they said, We cannot until all the flocks be gathered together, until they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep. And while yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father. And it came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for naught? Tell me, what shall thy wages be? And Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and well favored. And Jacob loved Rachel, and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy younger daughter. And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee than that I should give her to another man. Abide with me. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to her. And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled that I may go in unto her. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. And it came to pass in the evening that he took Leah, his daughter, and brought her to him, and he went in unto her. And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah, Zilpah, his maid for an handmaid. And it came to pass that in the morning, be cold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, What is this that thou has done unto me? Did not I serve with thee for Rachel? Wherefore then has thou beguiled me? And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. And he gave him Rachel, his daughter, to wife also. And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her maid. And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, Surely the Lord had looked upon my affliction, now therefore my husband will love me. And she conceived again and bare a son, and said, Because the Lord hath heard I was hated, he had therefore given me this son also, and she called his name Simeon. And she conceived again and bare a son, and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore was his name called Levi. And she conceived again and bare a son, and she said, Now will I praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name Judah, and left Bering. Brother Timo, will you pray for us? Amen. All right. Please never know how it's gonna crack off. All right. Is my voice coming through okay? Okay. All right, we're in Genesis chapter 29. The title of the sermon is Jacob, a Mighty Man of God. Jacob, a Mighty Man of God. Let's look at verse number one. It says, Then Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east, and he looked, and behold, a well in the field. And lo, there were three flocks of sheep lined by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the book of Genesis, how its foundations go all throughout the Bible. And Lord, it's a great book, and this is a great chapter where we can get a lot of spiritual truth. I just pray you'd help me come in with your spirit as I begin to preach it. I pray that you'd just help us all to be attentive to your word, just for a little bit longer today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, well, last week, remember, Jacob was charged by his dad to go to Laban and get his wife from there, not to marry a wife of the Canaanites. Esau ended up seeing Jacob's example and went and married someone from Abraham's son, Ishmael, an Ishmaelite. And so we saw how Jacob's influence helped Esau in a way. And then also, at the end of the chapter, it talked about this ladder that was, you know, I just showed how it was pictured, that ladder pictured Christ and how Christ is the only way to heaven. And there's lots of different pictures that we can see of Christ in the book of John where it clearly says he's the water. You know, he's that living water. He's, you know, the bread of life. He's, you know, the gate. He's the door. All these different pictures of Jesus Christ being the only way to heaven. And just right off the bat in verse two, in this chapter it says that Jacob finds this well and it says a great stone was upon the well's mouth. Well, what do you think right off the bat of that kind of picture? Well, it pictures, you know, Jesus Christ, of course, is the rock and that great stone, I believe, represents Christ and it was sitting upon the well's mouth. And if you think about what that well represents, that well represents the Holy Spirit. Drinking of that water gives you everlasting life. So the only way to get to everlasting life is through that rock that's sitting on top of the well, right? So that's what's great about this book. And that's, you know, the Bible is so deep. It just has a lot of spiritual meaning. So a lot of people just read chapters like this and not even think about stuff like that. But, like, I'm looking for the spiritual things in the book while I'm preaching through it and I think that's a great picture of salvation being through Christ alone. And the only way to get that everlasting life is through Christ. So anything about the Ark, there was only one way onto the Ark, Noah's Ark. It was that one door. The only way that you could get in was by going through that one door to get salvation on the Ark. So there's, of course, lots of other pictures and I went through a lot of them last week. Let's look at Matthew 7, verse 13. I wanna show you another scripture that I missed last week. And I think this is a great set of scriptures here that helps us to understand the truth of there only being one way to salvation. There's not many ways. That's what the world teaches. That's what people that have all this ecumenicalism and you saw in that film New World Order Bible Versions how you see the Pope sitting up there with the rabbis and all these different religions and they're waving a sage around and all this stuff. And it's like, that should scare people because that is just pure wickedness. It's vile, it's wicked. But look at Matthew 7. Look at what Jesus said. He says, enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. So if you wanna try to go in all these different ways, that's the way to destruction. And it says, and many there be which go in there at. So that means a lot of people are gonna try to go through this broad way. Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Many people are gonna try to pick the broad way. But Jesus said, straight is the gate. And it says in verse 14, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. So are many people saved? Is almost everybody going to heaven? No, Jesus said, few there be that find it. It's not something, it's not just all these people are saved. There's eight billion people on the planet today I would venture to guess. And I don't know for sure, obviously. But I would say probably not even one billion of those people are going to heaven. I think it's a number far lower than that. Now do I believe millions of people are going to heaven? From all the history of time, of course. But do I think that there's like half the eight billion people on the planet today are going to heaven? No. If eight billion, if there's, just say a few there be that find it, if that's 3% of people on the planet, what's the calculation on that? 200, is that right? Anybody wanna math check him? 240 million? That might be right, it might be lower than that. I mean, I really don't know. But Jesus said, he's right. Jesus said, few there be that find it. And also in this picture you can see a picture of a soul winner distributing the gospel by preaching Christ alone and eternal life. So Jacob is the one that actually ends up moving the stone off the well. So if you picture it as soul winners are the only ones that can get people saved, well how do you get people saved? You have to go through that stone. That has to be your foundation, and preaching Christ crucified is how we get people saved, right? We preach the gospel, we preach Christ crucified, and we preach Christ alone is the only way to get to that well of life. Now turn to John chapter four because I think it's really interesting how John chapter four pictures this picture that we see in chapter 29 here. John chapter four, and he actually references to Jacob in this story. John chapter four, very famous, you know, the woman at the well. That's what we call this story, the woman at the well. And look what it says in John chapter four. And think about how Rachel comes up to the well. You know, the woman at the well. So it says, then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, what did he do? Sat thus on the well. So you see the picture of the stone sitting on the well. Well Jesus actually goes up and sits on this well. I mean, tell me, that doesn't mean, you know, that doesn't coincide. And it says, and it was about the sixth hour, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For the disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked him, and he would have given thee living water. So here's Jesus saying, hey, by the way, I'm the one that can actually, the one you're talking to right now is the one that actually can give you this living water. If you would have just asked me, I would have given it to you. And it says, The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob? You see how it's just referencing back to Jacob? I mean, obviously this isn't the same well, okay? I'm not saying it's the same well, but it's pretty interesting how it goes back to the story of Jacob, and Jacob does picture Christ in this story, I believe. He pictures Christ in a lot of different ways. But it says, Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. I don't see how you can look at this story and not see the parallels between Genesis chapter 29. I think it's very clear. But you also see Jacob laboring to give people the gospel in this story. That's what Jesus also did. That's what soul winners do, we labor. You know, because soul winning isn't an easy job. If you're the silent partner and someone's going back to Genesis on their soul winning campaign, you know, you got a lot to think about, you know? You got time to pray, don't you? But sometimes you're like standing in maybe an uncomfortable position. You've been walking on concrete or asphalt all day. You've been walking up and down stairs. It's a labor of love to give people the gospel. You know, that's why a lot of lazy preachers will just say, just invite someone to church. And then they do some invitation at the end where you have to come down and bow before the pastor in order to get saved or whatever. It's really weird. But it's just because they're lazy. They don't want to go out and preach the gospel like the Bible says. So another thing is that only a soul winner, like I said, can present the truth and nobody else could remove this stone. Think about that. All these people, you know, they're there and Jacob's like, hey, move this stone. And they're like, no, we can't until the rest of the people show up. And he's like, he just moves it himself, right? And so only a soul, you know, someone that's unsaved, they can't present the gospel to other people to get them saved. It has to be a soul winner that does that. And other soul winners from other churches could remove the stone and distribute the gospel too. So it's not just people at our church that can get people saved. I want people to understand that. I don't believe that for one second. I don't think that no other churches could give the gospel or something like that. But, you know, the Bible's very clear that we are to preach the gospel and there's a lot of gimmicks that are going around in churches. Ray Comfort's whole show is a gimmick. It's like here by these goofy invitations, by these goofy tracks that all talk about how you gotta keep the law and you gotta repent of your sins to be saved, right? And they're gimmicks. It's like a clown show. Here's the magic illusion cards or whatever. Look. Which one looks, are they the same? I don't know if you've ever seen Ray Comfort's stuff, but it's all just one big gimmick so that you won't get persecuted for preaching the gospel. Which is, he's trying to avoid you getting persecuted. And so his way does allow you to not get persecuted but it also allows people to be two-fold more the child of hell than him themselves. So it's not getting anybody saved. That's why people don't persecute you for preaching his gospel because it's not the right gospel. Look at verse number three in our text. It says, And thither were all the flocks gathered, and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth. So this is before Jacob does the rolling himself. It says they rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the sheep and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in this place. So that was several people it took to move that rock. It wasn't just one person. It says, And then this is when Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we? And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And he said, We know him. And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well. And behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. And so that's who he came to look for. Remember he was sent out to go marry somebody and he's looking for this specific person. It's Rachel and it says, And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time for the cattle should be gathered together. Water ye the sheep and go and feed them. So here's Jacob saying, you know, for them to do this. And what do they say? They said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, until they roll the stone from the well's mouth, then we water the sheep. So Jacob's saying, you know, they've already done it once, and apparently this is a little bit later, but they're saying we can't do it until all the flocks be gathered together. And, you know, so this I think is a picture of the Lord telling us as preachers to go out and to water the flocks. He told Peter to feed his sheep. He told Peter to feed his lambs. And go ahead and turn to Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 15. But, you know, they said that they can't do it. And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. And I believe this also, there's a lot of pictures in here, and I don't have time to go super deep into all of them, but I think it's a picture that, you know, obviously Rachel was able to keep her father's sheep and she kept them. But, you know, back to this picture where they're saying they can't do it, you know, Jacob's telling them, go water the sheep and feed them. And that's exactly what Jesus tells us to do. He tells us to go water the sheep. He tells us to feed the sheep. We're supposed to go out as pastors. We're supposed to feed the sheep of God, the people in our congregation, right? And so Genesis 29, 10 says, And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. So here's where Jacob uses his superhuman strength and rolls the stone from the well's mouth where these other people had to all do it at the same time. And, you know, so obviously Jacob is a very strong man. And so, but he already asked them to do it and they refused to do it. And so what happens? Well, Jacob ends up doing it himself. You know, Jesus is always gonna try to feed his sheep and he's always gonna try to give people pastors that will help feed them. Now, obviously Jesus said not everybody is of his sheepfold. So if someone gets a bad preacher, maybe that isn't one of his flocks. I mean, and sometimes it can be, obviously, but sometimes we as Christians, we allow people to come in that are bad leaders, you know. But it says in Jeremiah 3.15 where I had you turn, it says, and I will give you pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. So God says he's gonna give us pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. See, he's gonna feed us. And he's gonna give us pastors that will feed you also. That's why he tells Peter. That's why he pulls Peter aside and he charges him to feed the sheep. And Jacob waters the flocks of the family of God. So was it Rachel, his family? And so we're supposed to feed our family, the family of God, as a pastor, as a good shepherd and a good shepherd will feed his sheep. John chapter 21 verse 15, let's look where he talks to Peter about this because Peter already messed up. He denied the Lord. He was supposed to be working full-time as a pastor. He told them all to quit their jobs and follow him, right? They put down their nets. They quit their full-time jobs. They went and followed after Jesus. He said, come with me and I'll make you fishers of men. But after the Lord was crucified, Peter went back and started fishing again. He didn't continue what he was supposed to be doing. Now, at the end of all this, Jesus kind of reconciles everything back with Peter. You know, Peter, you know, he forgave Peter, obviously. Peter's really sorry for what he did. And it says, so when they had died in Jesus, verse 15, Jesus saith unto Simon, Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou more than these? And he said unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. So the Lord wants his pastors to feed the sheep. He wants us to take care of the sheep. And Jacob did that, didn't he? He said, hey, these guys don't want to do it. I asked them if they would do it. They said no. And so he takes that, he puts on that picture that he's Christ and he just rolls the stone away and he feeds them, doesn't he? So, and again, Jacob was obviously strong and manly and he was able to move that rock that took multiple men to move it normally. But you know, I think that this is a picture to show us that we should be strong physically as men also. You know, the skinny jeans guys wearing women's dresses or whatever, I'm not into that. I don't think God's into it either. I kind of preached a little bit about this morning, but I'm going to preach a little bit about it tonight too. So not only should we be strong physically, you know, so we can take care of our families and work hard as men, but we should also be strong spiritually. You shouldn't be just, oh, I'm the strongest guy in the gym and you're like, you got pictures on Facebook where you're just like, yeah. But you're weak spiritually. You won't take your family to church. You won't show up to church. You won't read your Bible. You won't pray. You won't get down on your knees and put your petitions forth to God. You know, you can be the strongest man in the world, but if you're weak spiritually, then what kind of man are you really? You need to be strong physically and strong spiritually. Amen? Turn to Hosea chapter 12, verse 3. Hosea chapter 12, verse 3. See, there's this picture of Jacob being strong. Remember, he wrestles with the angel of the Lord and he prevails, doesn't he? So he prevails. Look at Hosea chapter 12, verse 3. It tells us this in this verse. It says he took his brother by the heel in the womb talking about his birth where he latches on to Esau's heel. You know, he's a close second. You know, it's a photo finish, right? But it says, and by his strength, he had power with God. So his physical strength, he also not only had physical strength, but he also had spiritual strength. That's what the Bible's saying right here. By his strength, he had power with God. And he had power over the angel and prevailed. He wept and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel and there he spake with us. So the Bible's very clear and we're going to get to the story about how Jacob wrestled with the angel. That'll be a different sermon, but I just wanted to show you that he wasn't just strong this one time in the Bible. The Bible also talks about how he lost sleep. He worked 20 years for Laban. He works 20 years for him. 14 of those years, he's working for two wives. And the other seven, you know, he's building his cattle empire. But that's another, he's a cattle baron at the end of that. But, you know, Jacob was a hard worker and that's why he got the blessings that he did. He was a strong man physically, but he was also very strong spiritually. And he was a saved man and he was one of the greatest men in the Bible probably. But it says, let's go to 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 1. So I'll just say this, men need to be more manly today than ever before. And don't ever let me catch a man walking in here with a kilt and say, oh, I'm just so manly, that's why I wear a kilt. No, that's what a faggot would wear into this church. I don't care what the culture says. You're like, well, you're calling a whole bunch of people from Scotland queers. Well, if they're dressed in a dress, then yes, I would say that. If they're wearing a skirt, then yes, I would say that. Because what would you say to me if I walked in here with a skirt? Well, it's a man's skirt. No, there's no such thing. That's right. There's no such thing as a man's skirt, is there? And you would throw me out of here in a heartbeat and I hope you would. And, you know, tar and feather me or whatever else you have to do. Look at 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 1. It says, Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die and he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be thou strong, therefore, and wear skinny jeans. Is that what he says? No, he says, Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man. And, you know, a man is different than a woman. In case you all didn't notice that, we're different. And God wants us to be strong. When he's saying be strong, he's saying be a man. When he's saying be a man, he's saying be strong. He's not just talking about physically. He's talking about spiritually also. Men are supposed to be the head of the household. But isn't it funny how women ended up being the spiritual heads of their homes? You know why? Because it's a weak man. It's a weak leader. And, man, you need to, you know, I talked a lot about this this morning, how John the Baptist looked manly and he preached manly. Well, hey, men in this church, you need to dress manly and act manly and be spiritually like a man. Be strong. That's what he told, isn't that what David told his son? Now, Solomon, when you think of Solomon, do you think of him like this hardened warrior with a battle axe in his hand? No, you kind of see him more, he's more of like a book guy, right? More of a scientist. And there's nothing wrong with that. Because Solomon did do what David said. He said, there's some things you've got to do to show yourself to be a man. And let's look at what he said. He said, show thyself a man and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and his commandments. So what's the first thing he's saying? Hey, follow after God. Be spiritual. Keep his statutes, keep his commandments, keep his judgments and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, as is written in the Bible. Follow the Bible, Solomon. That's the first thing you need to do to show yourself a man. And that thou mayest prosper in all thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself, that the Lord may continue his word, which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way to walk before me in truth with all their heart, and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee, said he a man on the throne of Israel. So he's saying, hey, Solomon, I'm charging you to be a spiritual man. You need to walk before the Lord with truth. You need to walk before the Lord with all your soul and follow God to the best of your ability, right? Now look what it says in verse 5. Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he said, or what he did to those two captains of the host of Israel, unto Adner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jethur, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. So Joab killed the two leaders of the armies of Israel. He murdered them. He murdered them, and it was wrong, it was wicked, but David didn't do anything to necessarily stop him because David had some problems. I can't really get into that right now. It's another sermon for another time, but Joab kind of had some stuff over David's head, but we'll talk about that some other time, but look what it says in verse 6. It says, do therefore according to thy wisdom. Now remember God promised to give Solomon wisdom, but he was the wisest man on the whole planet. People came to see his wisdom. The queen of Sheba came and had a whole throng of people come with to ask him hard questions, to ask him a bunch of things about the wisdom that he had, but David's telling him, hey, not only follow God, but do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his whore head go down to the grave in peace. Now that whore there is talking. It's not like a whore or whore. It means like white or gray-headed. So he was an older man at this time, Joab. He said, let not him go down to the grave in peace, and so what he's saying is the one thing about being a man is you also have to make some hard choices. Was that an easy choice for him to do? Because Solomon's a younger man, and he's never had to fight battles like David had to fight. He didn't have to slay Goliath. David fought all the battles and won Israel over, and this is like the zenith of the kingdom here on earth. And so he's saying, hey, not only do you have to follow God, but you're going to have to make some hard decisions, and one of those decisions you need to do is you need to make sure that Joab gets punished for the sins that he did. And sometimes that's hard when you're a leader and you know that someone needs to be corrected, and that's the hardest thing for me to do because I don't like correcting people that I love, and I don't like correcting people that I'm friends with, but sometimes as a pastor that's my job to do. You know, I'm your pastor first, I'm your friend second. So if I need to correct you, don't feel bad about that. That's my job. I shouldn't feel bad about it, but nobody likes those situations. If you're a boss, you don't like having to constantly get on to people, but it's your job. It's part of being a man is making hard decisions and doing the right things. It says in verse 7, So what else is he saying? He's saying, hey, make sure you know who your real friends are and be loyal to them. And you know what he said? He said, hey, Barzillai came to me, and you know, he was a great friend of him. Barzillai was old and he could barely see, but he still went out and made sure that David had food and provender for his men and the animals and things like that. And he was a loyal friend. And he's saying, you know what, reward his loyalty by being loyal to him and letting him eat at your table for the rest of his life. And look at verse 8, it says, But he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swear to him by the Lord, saying, I would not put thee to death with the sword. Now, he swore that he wouldn't do it, but it sounds like David's got a couple vendettas that he wants to settle before he goes the way of all men, right? But what is he doing? He's charging his son, be a man. Follow God. Make the hard decisions that you have to make. Be loyal to your friends. And he said, hey, this guy that cursed me, be loyal to your family. He's like, be loyal to me. Be a loyal son to me. Because you know what, he had some sons that weren't very loyal to him, didn't he? He had a few sons that weren't very loyal to him, but weren't very good. But he's saying, I want you to be a loyal son to me. I want you to be a good son. And by being a good son, you know what thou oughtest to do unto him. Look at what it says, verse 9, Now therefore hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him. Psst, psst, you know. But his whore head bring thou down to the grave with blood. So as, you know, and obviously Solomon's the king and he's trying to help him to get rid of the enemies that are going to come against him. He had to have his own brother killed because his brother was trying to rise up against him also. And so what did Solomon do? He acted like a man, didn't he? And he did what David told him to do. And so sometimes being a man, it's more than just being strong and lifting weights, guys. It's being strong spiritually for your family. Being a strong husband for your wife. Being a strong man for your family and saying, hey, this is not what we're going to do, we're going to do this. You know what church we're going to? Not the one that has the fun center, that has all the fun stuff for the kids to do. You know, we're going to go to the greatest church we can. We're going to go listen to the greatest preaching we can in our area. And we're going to go and be part of God's army and do the best that we can do. We're not going to just cater to what my wife wants to do. We're not going to just cater to what the kids want to do. A lot of people come church shopping and they'll say, well, what kind of programs do you have for the kids? It's like sit in church and listen to the Bible? We got a couple little games back there. For now, oh, don't abuse it. Better get in your seats on time. Those things are going to become chop, wood chop for my furnace. All right? I'll give Eli his fuso table back. No, I'm just kidding. But, you know, there's nothing wrong with the kids being able to enjoy themselves and have a good time. I'm not saying that. You know, I think we had a good time yesterday. Didn't we have the pumpkin patch, everybody that went? You know, our church does a lot of fun activities and a lot of fun stuff. And I don't think our kids are just this abused shelter of kids that just don't get to do anything. It's like you all have lives outside of the church, too, don't you? I'm sure you take your kids to the park and do stuff with them. And, you know, this isn't the fun center. This is the church. OK? So David tells his son, hey, be a man. And that needs to be preached this day and time. That men need to be men. All right? And if you come in with a pair of pink skinny jeans on, you know, and people make fun of you, good. You need to be made fun of. We need a little bit of peer pressure in here. You know, come in wearing these John Stockton short shorts or something, guys. It looks faggy. OK? Sorry or not sorry. First Corinthians chapter 16 verse 13 says, Watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. What's the Apostle Paul saying? He's saying, hey, conduct yourself, behave yourself like a man. He's not saying, you know, come be a little effeminate. You know, being effeminate is a sin, guys. So let's not let's be more manly. Let's step on the side of being manly and get away from all this skinny jeans. What's that guy named Will Smith's son, you know, wearing dresses and all this other crap. It's garbage. And there's a story that came out in the NFL this week. How John, everybody heard John Gruden got fired. Well, you know, I'm not excusing. If he said something racist, then I'm not excusing that. But here's what John Gruden, I think, really got fired for. John Gruden, coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, stepped down from his role Monday after homophobic, it says racist, and misogynistic emails emerged. And I tried to look for things that he said were racist, but, you know, the guy coached, you know, most of the guys on his team were black. You know, I really find it hard to believe that the guy was a racist. He says, I don't have a racist bone in my body. Where have you heard that before? I think I've heard Pastor Anderson say that before. I don't have a racist bone in my, you know what? Nobody in this church, as far as I know, has a racist bone in their body. We believe all men are of one blood. That's what the Bible says. But here's, so emails sent in 2018 before he became a coach of the team on a 10-year $100 million contract. $100 million? I'm on the wrong visit. No, I'm just kidding. But it says, I have resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Gruden said in a statement on Monday night via Twitter. I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you for all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I'm sorry I never meant to hurt anybody. Alright, it says Gruden's resignation came after the New York Times reported on offensive emails he sent to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington football team, during his time as an ESPN analyst. The report found that the coach often used derogatory, misogynistic, and homophobic language. The situation escalated on Friday when the Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden had used racist language to describe NFL union chief, Damorrice Smith, in a 2011 email of former Washington executive, Bruce Allen. A workplace misconduct investigation into the Washington football team is what led to the discovery of the offensive emails. Some of the harmful content of the emails written by Gruden include him calling the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, and it starts with an F, and it has these little stars after it, but it was faggot, just so you know. And also a clueless anti-football, and then he does say a word that I'm not going to use here, but it starts with a P also. And, you know, so that's what he, that's the misogynistic language and, you know, the homophobic. He, you know, he called, he admitted, he said, you know, I called Roger Goodell a faggot, you know. It says it's reported that he used the same homophobic slur several times when referring to Goodell. So, what, he's calling the president, you know, he wasn't even working for the NFL at the time, that's the funny thing about it. I guess some of the things he said he was working for the NFL, but let me just tell you this, he didn't get fired for being racist. He, that's what they're trying to say, but he got fired because he was calling people faggots. And, you know, being a man sometimes is saying the right things. You know what, I'm sure John Gruden just looked at what was going on in the NFL about how they're just going all this all-inclusive and all this, you know, let's have the, let's draft this homo on the team and everybody can just sing praises about how great it is to have some fag playing on your team. You know what, those guys don't want that faggot in their locker room. Come on. It says, in another email, Gruden referred to the openly gay Michael Sam as a queer. I really like this, coach. He also used the racist, a racist term to describe Demoree Smith. He basically just said that the guy had big lips, alright. But, you know, if I was white and I had big lips, and so people would tease me if I had big lips, I don't, I mean, I really don't see that as being super racist. If he said other racist stuff, I'm not excusing that, okay. But I do like the stuff he's saying about Michael Sam and some of these other guys, alright, Roger Goodell. One email saw Gruden refer to the then President Joe Biden as a nervous, clueless P word while exchanging photos of topless women. So, you know, that's bad. I mean, I'm not saying that's great. I'm not trying to praise him, you know, for being this great person, but, you know, he's a man. And you know what men don't like? They don't like homos. We don't like child blessers. We don't like homos. That's why we don't let them in this church. And so, you know, sometimes a man just has to be a man. And, you know, a man that's going to run this pulpit here and this church here is going to say, Queers aren't allowed here, period. And we don't want their little half-top shirts in here. We don't want them back in the corners kissing or stuff like that. Who wants to see that garbage? We have to see that garbage walking down the street in a, you know, in this city and it's legal. They used to be in the closet. Who wants to see that? Anybody want to see that in here? If so, get up and just walk out right now because I don't want you here. Now, let's go back to the sermon, okay? There's another thing that really irritated me today. I'm just going to say this right now. I mean, it has nothing to do with this sermon right now, but apparently Superman is now a fag. Did you know that? In the comic books, they turned Superman into a faggot. Who wants to read that? I mean, I saw some of the artwork and it just disgusted me. It's like Superman is holding hands with another dude. What is going on in this country? Are you serious? Who wants to buy that comic book? That's disgusting. It's filth. You're pushing filth on children. It's gross. Let it never be so named among this church congregation. If you start reading Superman, I'm going to start having some red flags go off in my mind about you. Anyway, turn to chapter 38. I just had to get that off my chest. This isn't a sermon against the sodomites. I kind of turned into it. You know, I think John Gruden was just calling a spade a spade when he said, Hey, Roger Goodell is a faggot. Hey, Sam, Sam, whatever his name, what was his name? Sam something. He was the first, Michael Sam, the first openly homosexual guy drafted. They pressured him to do that. That's why John Gruden was mad about it. He's like, this league is turning into, you know, a bunch of soft queers. He called them a queer. That's what he is. Anyway, Job chapter 38. You know, we're supposed to conduct ourselves like men. You know, the Bible says to quit you like men, be strong. Job 38 verse 1 says, Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man. Gird up thy loins like a man. And I will demand of thee an answer without me. What's he saying? Pull up your pants. Tighten your belt. You know, and I talked about this this morning how people say, The pants didn't even exist back then. Well, the Roman place that I went, on the wall, right on there, said people wore pants back then. 2,000 years ago, Moses wrote of pants 3,500 years ago. So to say, Gird up thy loins like a man, gird up, means pull, you know, if you have pants on, I put my pants on one leg at a time. Anybody else? Okay, well, when I put my pants on, guess what I do? I pull them up, and then I take my belt, and I tighten my belt. That's what it's talking about. You know, and obviously, that might not have been Levi's or whatever. They might not have been Dockers, but there were still pants. In China, 3,500 years ago, they found a pair of pants that was 35, well, they found it recently, but it was from 3,500 years ago. All right? They didn't find it 3,500 years ago. There were some well-preserved pants, right? So obviously, pants have been around for a long time. But now you talk about the Scottish culture. Well, look, they have a total open queer as their president or prime minister or whatever. So does it really surprise you if the men go around wearing skirts as they have a woman prime minister that's an open homosexual? It doesn't surprise me. You know, same thing with Ireland or whatever. You know, you wear kilts or skirts and you're a man. There's something wrong with you. You're like, well, say that to my face. You know, Samoans wear those grass skirts or whatever. It's a queer thing to wear. I don't care what culture you're from. It doesn't matter. Culture does not dictate how we dress. The Bible dictates how we dress, and the Bible dictates... God said, gird up now thy loins like a man. He's saying, pull up your pants, buckle up your belt. You know, I'm about to ask you some questions. You better get ready for them. So God wants us to dress like men if we're men, right? Turn to Deuteronomy 22, verse 5. Like, Pastor, how'd this turn from Genesis chapter 29? Well, I'm just talking about how Jacob was a manly man. Not only was he a manly man physically, he was a manly man spiritually. Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 5. Look what the Bible says. It says the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man. Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. So yeah, a skirt, you're not supposed to wear those. That's a woman's garment. And so I would say the same thing. It's like if you say, well, this is a woman's pants. This is women's pants. Well, so if a man's garment is pants, a woman's garment is dresses and skirts, then how come you get to wear the man's pants or the women's pants and we don't get to wear the women's pants? I don't want to wear them. I'm just saying it's a double standard. Don't get me wrong. But it says a woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man. Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so. Or abomination unto the Lord thy God. He's saying you're an abomination if you dress like a man. If you're cross-dressing, you're an abomination to God. And you're like, you're calling me a cross-dresser? If you're wearing pants and you're a woman, I would say yes. If you're wearing a skirt and you're a man, I would say definitely yes. You're cross-dressing. If it's not those two types of clothing, then what is it? What is it? Socks. Socks. I think we all wear socks. Shoes. I think we all wear shoes. Obviously, I don't think that you should be wearing all the stuff that would be both ways, but when you look at a bathroom stall, what does it say? It has a little silhouette of a woman with a dress on and the man wearing a pair of slacks. I mean, just common sense tells you that. When it says all genders, it has like half a dude and then half a chick on the other side, right? You know what I'm talking about? Those all-gender restrooms like we have over here? No, I'm just kidding. We don't have the sticker that says that, though. They're just single-use bathrooms, okay? But anyway, the Bible says that we need to dress like men. He wants a queer distinction. He doesn't want us all to have the same haircut. He doesn't want us all to wear the same clothes because he wants to make a difference between male and female. He wants to make a difference between the clean and unclean. He wants to make a difference between night and day, animal and human. Everything, you know, God wants us to have differences in what things are, and he wants women and men to be different. He's very clear about that. Now turn to Exodus chapter 28, and I was talking about ripping on men right now, so I'm just going to leave the women alone for a minute. But I'm just saying that, you know, remember I told you don't be offended by what the Bible says. You're like, well, Pastor Thompson, you're interjecting things that aren't in the Bible. Really? Where? All right, Exodus 28 verse 41. Let's see what a man's pair of pants is, okay? And thou shalt put them on upon Aaron and thy brother and his sons with him, and shalt anoint them and consecrate them and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. So the priests had to have their specific clothes that were made for them. And thou shalt make them, what to say? Linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even unto the thighs shall they reach. The loins are right here. The loins, thighs. Loins, thighs, okay? So that would cover your nakedness. So the Bible says if you're showing anything from there to there, it's you're showing your nakedness. But what do you say to make? Breeches. You know what pants used to be called? Breeches. And sometimes in the South they still call them those, I'm pretty sure, right? You're from the South, aren't you? Sorry, I'm picking on Bo. He's right there. But they still, hey, pull your breeches up, son. Have you ever heard somebody say that? Pull them breeches up. Well, you know why they say that? Because they're pants. And so this is written 3,500 years ago approximately. And God told them to make linen breeches to cover their nakedness from their loins even unto their thighs shall they reach. It's not talking about underwear. They're pants, okay? And they're short pants. And it says, and they shall be upon Aaron, upon his sons, when they shall come unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place, that they bear not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever unto him and his seed after him. So God's saying, hey, you need to put on a pair of pants and whatever else he said, the bonnets, all that stuff, the mitre, the different attire of the priest. But part of that was wearing a pair of pants. So don't tell me they didn't have pants back then because they did. And you know who they told to put them on? Men. So wouldn't that prove that pants are for men? Because if it was for both, then he would have said, then put them on the women too, but he just said the men. So that's a man's garment. So men dress manly, and obviously none of the men in here are wearing anything besides pants. But here's the other thing that men need to do. Men need to do the battling. In the military today, it used to be don't ask, don't tell, and now it's just like any freak can be in the military. It doesn't matter what gender you are, omnigender, multigender. I don't even understand all that. But what I do understand is that women should not be battling in the military. God never prescribed that in the Bible. It was always the men doing the fighting. And you know what? In our fights today, even in church fights today, you get women that jump in and are trying to help their husbands out and fight their battles for them. But here's an application we can take from the Bible. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 11. Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 11. It says, give you a second to turn there, Deuteronomy 25, 11. When men strive together, one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets, then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her. So the Bible's saying if this literally happens, what are you supposed to do? Cut her hand off. Thine eye shall not pity her. What's the Bible, what's the principle for us today? You know, obviously, you know, I'm not going to say, hey, chop this person's hand off. It's not my, you know, I'm not, you know, we're not under the rules of the nation of Israel right now. But I still think it's a good principle for us to understand that women should not be jumping in the middle of their husband's battles. I don't expect my wife to get on Facebook or YouTube and defend me and all this other stuff. I don't expect her, when I'm battling, you know, to get up here by my side and preach with me and help people, you know. When we're in a battle, the men are doing the fighting. That's the way the Bible explains for it to happen. And it says even if two men are just fighting in a fist fight, that the wife isn't supposed to jump in there and grab a man by the secrets. And you all know what that means, right? The family jewels, right? You just leave those alone. You know, you're not supposed to do it or you get your hand chopped off. Now again, I'm not saying that I'm prescribing to any woman that jumps into a battle, you know, of a man, that that's what we should do. But that's what the Bible, the principle of the Bible is just saying, don't jump into your husband's fights. Let him fight the battle. You know, it's one on one, mano y mano. Let them do the battling. You just stay out of it. If your husband gets beat up, maybe he just needs to train a little harder next time. So again, the principle here is that women should not do the fighting. They should be the men. Now, if you notice back to the story of Genesis chapter 29, if you notice in the story, Rachel comes up and when Jacob goes to move that stone out of the way, she doesn't go, oh, I don't think so. I can do that myself. Thank you very much. I don't need a man to help me do anything. Did she act like that? No, she didn't. You know why? Because she wasn't a feminist. And, you know, chivalry is not dead in 2021. At least in my house, it's not. In this church, it's not. Last weekend, sorry, Miss Jessica, I didn't ask you for permission to tell this story, but she's standing outside the door and I keep hitting that button. It's not working for some reason. She's just standing there like she's got her boys around her. I can't remember what boy did it. Was it Paul? Paul finally? Oh, Timothy. Timothy finally was the manly one and decided to open the door for, you know, she was waiting for one of the boys to open the door for her. And she said, she walks by me. She goes, chivalry is not dead. Amen. You know, train your boys to be manly and to open the door for your, you know, for their mother or open the door for another woman in the church. It's really rude to not do that. My wife will do the same thing to me. She'll just walk up to the doors and she'll just stop like this. And now she has to be trained. I just like, OK. Because sometimes, you know, you're not thinking about it all the time, right? But she's enabling me to be the man that I'm supposed to be. And so it's manly to do nice things for women. You know, it's not wrong to do that. She didn't, you know, she wasn't a feminist. She wasn't just like, I'll do it myself. I keep thinking of those memes that has the crying face guy or whatever with the cartoon. I don't know. I don't even know what that is, but it's funny. Anyhow, but chivalry is not dead. Look what it says in Genesis 29, 11. And Jacob kissed Rachel and lift up his voice and wept. Now, I just want to say this for truth's sake here. Jacob, this was not a romantic kiss. I don't think that that would be right for Jacob to do that. Obviously, he was in love at first sight or whatever, but I don't think that that's what this was. This is like a customary thing where, you know, like I don't know if you've ever seen Italians. You know, they'll walk up and hug each other or whatever. You know, it's not just Italians. I think other cultures do that like kiss on the face thing or whatever. But that's not acceptable in this country. So don't do it to me. Unless you're my wife, don't walk up and kiss me on the face. Or you might be picking yourself up off the ground. I've told this story before, but there was a pastor, a friend of mine, and he was just like, he was just goofing around, right? But he walked up, like I hadn't seen him in a while, and he walked up to me and he just gave me a big mwah on the side of the face. And I was like, bro, what are you doing? Like, that's sick. Get off me. You know, but he obviously wasn't a queer or anything like that. He was just joking around. But like he said, greet one another with a holy kiss. I was like, not with me. You get one chance. And now that you've all heard the story, don't ever do it. Because you won't get a chance. It'll just be like, where am I? It'll be the little heart monitor in the hospital, deet, deet. I'm just kidding. But anyway, that pastor did that to me, and he never did again, so I was always just like, get away, get off me, man. But anyway, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13, 12, it says, greet one another with a holy kiss. Romans 16, 16 says, salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. Now again, you know, this is scripture. But like, I do think that this is a cultural thing. I don't think if kissing someone on the side of the face or kissing someone is in the culture, I don't think that you should do it. The Bible says, come here. Get off me. Genesis 29 verse 12 says, and Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother and that he was Rebekah's son. And she ran and told her father, and it came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house, and he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, surely thou art my bone and my flesh, and he abode with him the space of a month. And Laban said unto Jacob, because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for naught? Tell me, what shall I wages be? This is the dream of everybody. Tell me what you want me to pay you. It's like, uh, let me think about that for a minute. But also, back up to verse 14, it says, oh no, verse 13, Jacob kissed Laban too. So if you think that that was some kind of romantic kiss, it wasn't. This is, again, a cultural thing. But now, he says, tell me what you want for the wages. And Laban had two daughters, and the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and well-favored. You know, and that's all good and fine. I think that this is a picture, again, of Old Testament, New Testament. The New Testament, obviously, is, you know, supposed to be, uh, Rachel and Leah would be the Old Testament. Now, there was saved people in the Old Covenant, and there's saved people, obviously, but the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a New Covenant because God would pick the right one. So, the New Testament replaces the Old Testament, and we're saved by faith alone, through grace alone, through Christ alone. It's eternal security. But, you know, I would submit to you this, that salvation has always been by faith alone. But there were other things in the Old Testament that were supposed to be done. They had the animal sacrifices, Christ hadn't come yet, and all that stuff. So, but again, you keep seeing these pictures repeat itself in the Book of Genesis, where you got the New Covenant, the Old Covenant, the New Testament, Old Testament, things like that. So, but just to kind of, to just preach about the beauty of Rachel, and, you know, how Leah is called tender-eyed. I don't think Leah was, like, an ugly duckling or something. I think that she was just not as pretty as Rachel. Rachel is obvious. It says Rachel is beautiful and well favored. So, I'm sure a lot of guys would have wanted to marry her or whatever. But the Bible says in Proverbs 31, verse 30, it says, Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain. But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. So, again, this is another thing that keeps going on in the Book of Genesis, is about choosing the right spouse. And choosing a spouse on beauty alone is always a bad move. You got to, you know, if you can find a pretty one that also is spiritual, that's a good option. But, you know, that shouldn't be, finding some dynamite Barbie doll knockout shouldn't be your only criteria for getting married. And if it is, then you're just a superficial guy, and you need to go back to the part of the sermon where I just said, you know, you need to be spiritual. You know what, you should choose a spiritual woman. You know, and just because she doesn't look like Kim Kardashian or something doesn't mean you can't marry her. Because, you know, Kim Kardashian is pretty much fake anyway. She has, pretty much everything about her is fake. I think she's had a lot of plastic surgery. So, but, it says that Jacob loved Rachel and said he would serve the, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy younger daughter. And so obviously, Jacob likes Rachel more than he likes Leah. But again, if you're looking at this as a spiritual picture, you know, don't, I just, the carnal truth of it is that, you know, he chose the one that he thought was more pretty. That's the carnal truth of it. But the spiritual truth that you should get out of it is that Rachel was the prettier, she was the better testament. So if you look at it in a spiritual light, that's how you should look at it. But Leah had a lot to offer, didn't she? You know, as a matter of fact, as it goes through and tells who her sons were, Judah is the line of Christ. Levi is the Levitical priesthood. She had two pretty good kids out of the twelve tribes, didn't she? She had the best, Leah had the best child, you know, the best lineage of all. Christ came out of Judah. And so, and then of course Moses was a Levite. Aaron was a Levite. The Levitical priesthood is what God used in the Old Testament. Not a lot of those guys went bad eventually, but there was a lot of great priests that were godly men throughout those years. So, but look what it says. So he said, I'll serve for seven years. And Laban said, it's better that I give her to thee than I should give her to another man. Abide with me. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel. And there's the romantic part, ladies, okay? And they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to her. So, you know, that's really romantic. You know, he loved her, obviously, and there's nothing wrong with that. And he loved Rachel, and obviously she loved him back. But he served that seven years for her because he loved her, and it seemed just like nothing. You know, and that kind of reminds me of just like, you know, how God views time. You know, it just seemed like Jacob kind of viewed time as God viewed time at that time period. Right, he's serving seven years. Now if you do something for seven years, you know, it doesn't usually just go by really fast unless it's something that you really love. But the love that he had for Rachel only seemed for a few days. It's just like, you know, God sees time as like, you know, we think a thousand years would be a long time, but to God it's just one day. You know, when you really love something, you know, God is waiting to come back for what? Why is he waiting? Because he wants as many people to be saved as possible to enter into his kingdom. So, you know, if you think about it that way, then, you know, God is, you know, might be, you know, an evil time that we're living in. We might think, well, why doesn't God just come back? It's getting so bad. It's because he wants more people to be saved. So because he loves us, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, right? So anyway, verse 20, it says that Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love that he had to her. Now, notice that Jacob had to do something to get these wives. See, back in the Old Testament, there was what's called a dowry. Have you ever heard of the dowry? I'm not going to talk about this for a long time. But the dowry is like you had to pay to marry that daughter. Like the dowry was like either whatever the dad asked for, that's kind of what you had to give. And I believe that that principle still is in place today. And ultimately, dads are in charge of their daughters until the day that they move out of the house. And if I wanted to charge my son-in-laws something for my daughter, then I could have. Better work for me. Brandon, I'm bringing back the dowry. I want seven years for my daughter right now. No, I'm just kidding. But it's not wrong. And obviously, God respected the dowry. It was a big deal because like when my wife lost her handmaids, my two daughters, it was big. She had to do all the cooking and cleaning again. So it's a big loss when you lose. And it's not like women are like property to be traded or something. I don't think that at all. But women do a lot of work and they don't get a lot of credit for it. And that's why the sons were like, just get out. You're just an eating machine. It's time to move on, boy. Get married. They start getting all frumpy and stuff. Get out. It's time to get married. Bye. But the daughters were just like, stay, please stay. It just shows that women are very useful. This misogynistic thing. I'm not a misogynist, but I do believe in rules in the Bible. The Bible teaches it. I just think that we're more comfortable in our own roles. Men do what men do. Women do what women do. And that's what makes marriage harmonious. That's what makes your family structure work better. I would say that a lot of people that do this 50-50 marriage stuff, they have some hard times because of it. Why aren't you helping me with the laundry? I work the same job. And usually women, when there's two people working inside the home, usually the women are the ones that are doing all the cooking and cleaning and all the stuff after they've worked a full-day job and taking care of the kids. And they're actually working harder than the men are. I mean, maybe not doing as hard of a job as far as physically, but it seems like they're on call 24-7. What's the call? And you're like, that's what I did. I mean, I didn't even hear him. Now I hear everything in the house. It's the curse of an old man. Anyway, I'm going to move on here. We've got to hurry up. Verse 21 says, And Jacob said unto Laban, Laban, give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled that I may go in unto her. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. And it came to pass in the evening, he took Leah, his daughter, and brought her to him, and he went in unto her. And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah, his maid for a handmaid, and it came to pass. Then the morning, behold, it was Leah. He's like, the lights are on. He's like, ah! What happened? I've been tricked. And so, behold, it was Leah. And maybe he didn't respond to that, but he was probably upset because he worked seven years, it seemed but a few days to him, and all of a sudden he wakes up, it's not the same woman that he was supposed to marry. Like, what in the world? Well, Laban tricked him. But here, think about this. Jacob was a trickster himself, wasn't he? And so he tricked his brother out of his birthright. I mean, he tricked his brother out of the blessing. I mean, he actually put fur on him to make himself out to be his brother. And his dad's like, you feel like my son, but you sound like Jacob. And he's like stroking his fur. He must have been a pretty hairy guy. But, you know, a lot of people say, I believe in karma. Well, we don't believe in karma at this church. We believe in the principle of reaping, sewing and reaping. If you sew bad things, bad things are going to come back to you. If you sew good things, good things will come back to you. You know, a lot of us, we do both, you know. Or we've done things in our past that we sewed. But those things come back to you regardless. You know, people just think that, like, I got saved. Every problem I've ever had should just go away. All this stuff that I've sewn over here, I don't deserve to reap that sewing. But that's just not how it works. You know, if you have a child outside of wedlock, before you get saved, you still have to deal with the consequences of those things later on. And so, but God can help you through those things. You know, God's not, like, just staying angry at you because you did that. Obviously, when you get saved, He forgives all your sins. They're cast as far as the east is from the west. He remembers them no more. You know, He's not holding you to that. So quit living in your guilt from things that you've done in the past. You know, we can't live there anymore. You've got to move on. You've got to move on and just do your best to put aside the things that you used to do and start doing right. Start sewing good things so that when you reap, you're reaping good things. You have a family. You're married now. You have other children or whatever it is. Whatever it is you sewed in your past that was bad, start sewing good things so that, you know, you can start to reap the good things too. You know, but unfortunately for Jacob, you know, he's saved now. But that doesn't stop what he did, which was wrong. You know, which tricking his dad, lying to his dad. You know, spiritually speaking, those things were good things. We look at those and we picture them as good things. But in reality, he did lie. He did deceive his dad. He did, you know, what brother, if they're dying and saying, I'm faint, I'm about to die, can I give you some food? He's like, give me your birthright. It's like, what? I'm about to die, Jacob. He's like, birthright or no beans. You get chili with beans in it. They weren't from Texas. But anyway, so I mean, he's just reaping what he sewed. He's beguiled people. You know, he's usurped his brother. And now the same thing is being done unto him. So he was tricking people. Now he's getting tricked. So what did he get? He got tricked into marrying somebody that wasn't the person he was supposed to marry, that wasn't the one that he served for. And so that's the picture of reaping and sowing. So behold, it was Leah. And he said, you beguiled, that was beguiled me. Laban said, it must not be so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. So this is, again, that picture of the newer being better, old and new covenant. And let's see. You know, I think that Laban obviously planned this trick very carefully. It's hard for us to imagine, like, how this story plays out. Like, how does he not realize it's Leah? But, you know, I like how Pastor Shelley said it. He said, they probably looked similar. Their sisters, obviously. They probably had the same body type. They probably, you know, in the dark, probably looked very similar. But, you know, obviously, when the light's wrong, he saw, you know, he recognized Leah for who she was. But poor Leah, you know, she's just trying to get married. You know, she's just trying to do, you know, she's trying to do something good. But obviously, she's in on the plan. You know, I mean, it's not like they don't know each other. You know, he's been there for seven years working for her dad. You know, so she's obviously part of the trick. But Galatians 6, 7, let's turn over to Galatians 6, 7. I'm almost done here. Galatians 6, 7 says, be not deceived. You don't have to turn there if you don't want to, but it says, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season. We shall reap if we faint not. So what's the story here? Well, when we reap corruption, you know, when we reap bad things, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to, I mean, when we sow bad things, we're going to reap bad back to us. But if we're sowing to the Spirit and doing that which is right, you know, don't be weary in well-doing. Hey, that's going to come back to you at some point. That goodness that you sowed, maybe it takes years, who knows? But God is still going to make sure that you reap what you've sown, whether that be bad or whether that be good. Now, Genesis 29, 27, back where we're at, it says, fulfill her week, so Laban's telling her, fulfill her week, and we will give this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. So he wants Jacob for another seven years, and Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. And he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid to her maid, and he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. So he served 14 years for two daughters, and then he also served him another seven years. But one thing I wanted to show you really quickly, and if you turn to Daniel 9, 27, this spot in the Bible here is talking, you know, it talks about this week. Well, how long did he serve for Rachel? Seven years, right? And then he says to fulfill the week. Sometimes you have to find some of the most, you know, this doesn't seem like it's a big deal, but like when you get into end times Bible prophecy, which I'm not going to go into a big launch off of that, but in Daniel 9, 27, you know, a lot of people get confused about the 70th week of Daniel. What is that? Why is it called a week? Well, because a week in the Bible is seven years, okay, and that's where we find that in Genesis chapter 29 where it says he and fulfilled her week, which was another seven years, right? So when the Bible talks about weeks as a time period, what's it talking about? It's talking about seven year periods, isn't it? So it says, and he shall confirm a covenant with many in Daniel 9, 27 for one week. So where do we get that the tribulation, you know, I don't call it the tribulation, I call it the final seven years because the tribulation and great tribulation have different times. The tribulation's over, you know, after, the great tribulation's over after Jesus comes back in the rapture and there's still 42 months left, right? Basically. Anyway, it says he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease and for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate even unto the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. So what's this saying? Well, I just want to show you that when you're talking about end times Bible prophecy and talks about this 70th week of Daniel, that is one week of human history and so I just call that the final week of human history. That's what I call it. That's Pastor Thompson's spin on it or whatever because people always say seven years of tribulation. I almost said it when I, I mean, I started to say it because it's just ingrained in us from all this Bible prophecy teaching. Seven years of tribulation. It's not seven years of tribulation. In the midst of the week, the sacrifice and oblation will cease and then the abomination of desolation happens. The antichrist is revealed. As the antichrist, that's at the midweek point. So three and a half years into the final seven years is where the great tribulation kicks off. So it's tribulation before that, then great tribulation and then about 70 days later, so it's about 70 days. I don't have time to get into all that stuff right now but I just wanted to show you that when the Bible talks about a week, this is where you go back, Genesis chapter 29, to figure out what is it talking about? Why is it saying one week? And if you're not following me, then come see me after the service and I'll help you out. But the 70th week of Daniel is the final week of human history as we know it. And how do we know it's seven years? Because the Bible defines things for us. It defines a week as a seven-year period in Genesis 29. Write that down because whenever we want to go back to that, then we'll understand that truth. Now, I'm going to finish this off here. I'm just going to read here. Genesis 29, 31, it says, And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bare his son, and she called his name Reuben. She said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction. Now therefore my husband will love me. So, you know, poor Leah, she's just trying to be loved by her husband. She's hated, basically. You know, she's like the wife that he didn't really want. But, you know, the Lord's opening up her womb. The Lord's blessing her with sons. She has four sons before Rachel has any kids. And Rachel's just trying and trying, and she's barren. Why is she barren? Well, they're kind of persecuting Leah. And so Leah is getting blessed because of her persecution. And so, you know, you'll see that a lot in the Bible where people are blessed because of the persecution that they go through. It wasn't right, you know, but it also wasn't right for Laban to trick Jacob. Jacob wasn't really trying to marry Leah, but after he married her, that's his wife, and he should be taking care of her just like he takes care of his other wife. And I'm not in favor of having two wives, just so you know. I got my hands full with just one, all right? I love her. I don't want another wife, okay? I wouldn't even want one if I was allowed to have one. So she's enough for me. And that's the way God wants it, though. So anyway, so she ends up having these sons, and Reuben obviously is the firstborn of Israel. He's the firstborn, so there is some kind of privileges for him, but he kind of messed some things up, you know, but he did have mercy on Joseph. He stopped his brothers from killing Joseph, and if it wasn't for that, then Joseph, you know, the children of Israel would have been no more because they were going to kill him. And that's another story we'll get into later, but, you know, she conceived again and had another son because the Lord had heard that I was hated, verse 33, yet therefore giving me a son also, and she called his name Simeon. Simeon, you know, he was kind of a screw-up, too. He went with Reuben and killed a bunch of men that really didn't deserve to be killed the way that they were killed, which is another story we'll get to later on in the book. But, you know, it says in verse 35, I'll skip verse 34, but 34, she has Levi. Verse 35, she conceived again a bare son, and she said, now I will praise the Lord, therefore she called his name Judah, and I left bearing. So the good thing that came from the Old Testament was that the line of the Messiah, you know, the good thing that came from the Old Testament, which represents Leah, the Old Testament nation of Israel, is that that line of the Messiah came through her son, Judah. And, you know, Judah was just the fourth born. He wasn't anything special. But, you know, he was special because the line of Christ came through him, and Judah also redeemed himself in the eyes of, you know, at first he was a pretty bad, he was kind of a whoremonger, went and, you know, he did some bad stuff, too. But in the end, you know, he ended up redeeming himself, I feel like, in the eyes of his dad. You know, they treated their brother Joseph pretty bad, but we'll get to that at another time. I gotta quit, I'm done. But this is Genesis 29, you know, and one thing I could say, if I could just say, just focus on one thing I said tonight, men be manly. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great chapter in the book of Genesis. Lord, I pray that you'd help us as men to quit like men, and that doesn't mean to quit, Lord, it means to behave ourself like men, and, Lord, to lead our homes spiritually, Lord, even if we're the only ones in our home. Lord, we need to be spiritual men as well as strong physically as much as possible. I just pray, Lord, you'd help us in that area and help us to be good to our wives and our children, and, Lord, those that are single men in here, I pray, Lord, that they would just make themselves strong, Lord, just like the Bible says to do, and I pray that this church would be filled with spiritual men as well as physically strong men. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. On the last song this evening, page 351 in your green hymnals. Tell it to Jesus, page 351. Page 351 on the first. Are you weary? Are you heavy-hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you grieving over joys departed? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Do the tears flow down your cheeks unbidden? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Have you sins that to men's eyes are hidden? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you anxious what shall be tomorrow? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. On the last. Are you troubled at the thought of dying? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. For Christ's coming kingdom are you sighing? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Man, it's good to see you all this Sunday. Thanks for coming out. I'd like to see you on Thursday night back here next Sunday. Brother Joe Ritchie, want to end us with a word of prayer? Lord, thank you.