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If you could find your seat and grab your songbook and turn to page 309, Dare to be a Daniel. Welcome to Shur Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seat and grab your songbook and turn to page 309, Dare to be a Daniel. Song number 309, let's sing it out on the first. Standing by a purpose true, heeding God's command. Honor them the faithful, few all hail to Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known. Many mighty men are lost, daring not to stand. Who for God have been a host by joining Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known. Many giants, great and tall, stalking through the land. Headlong to the earth would fall if met by Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known. Hold the gospel banner high on to victory grand. Satan's and his host defy and shout for Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known. Hey man, brother Brandon, could you open some more water prayer? Alright, our second song will be song number 324, Draw Me Nearer. Song number 324, Draw Me Nearer. Song number 324, Draw Me Nearer. Let's sing it out on the first. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord. To the cross where thou hast done. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord. To thy precious bleeding Son. Consecrate me now to thy service Lord. By the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope. And my will be lost in thine. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord. To the cross where thou hast done. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord. To thy precious bleeding Son. Oh the pure delight of a single out. That before thy throne I stand. When I kneel in prayer and with thee my God. I commune as friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord. To the cross where thou... Good evening, welcome back to Strieff Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletins and go through them real quickly. If you don't have a bulletin would you lift up your hand? One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. Alright. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says for a day and night course is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of awakeness. Psalm chapter 84 verse number 10. On the inside page we have our service times. Our Sunday service is at 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening service 3 30 p.m. We're in Genesis chapter 31 tonight. Thursday Bible study is at 6 30 p.m. And we'll be in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 the second sermon out of that chapter. And so many times our list will blow. And the changes will be made in the next bulletin. But Monday's soul winning... Well before I get to that did we have any salvations today? Anybody got one salvation over there? One salvation over there. God bless you. I see that hand. Anybody else? Alright. So two salvations. Praise the Lord for that. So doing really well in the soul winning. So tomorrow will be 4 30 is the time change for that soul winning time. And it will be run by brother Sean Conlon. No Tuesday. No Wednesday. But there will be a Thursday soul winning time at 4 30 p.m. before service. That's a quick time. So make sure you're on time. And then Friday as brother Sean Harrington leads a 3 p.m. service. And that's usually over in Gresham. You've been still hitting Gresham right? And that's been good. They had four salvations on Friday last Friday night. So all of our soul winning times have been fairly fruitful. Saturday is also at 3 p.m. So there has been some changes and a couple just one day has been minused off there. And then of course we still have our regional times. Regional soul winning captains you can see below there. And our praise report you can see the salvations, baptisms and attendance totals. On the right side we have a note to not forget the sign up for the family pictures. So please if you want a family picture that's all set up over there in the vault room. And Ms. Kiley is ready to take your picture. Just sign up. There's a sheet in our WhatsApp group where you can just go and talk to her personally. And get that set up. And the deadline to do that is November 21st which is in a couple weeks from now. If you didn't get it done by then then you better just be really nice to Ms. Kiley. And maybe she'll let you do it. But she's pretty nice though. So she's pretty forgiving. So anyway November 14th we have Pastor Roger Jimenez. This coming Sunday Pastor Roger Jimenez is preaching one service in the evening. And so looking forward to having him and his wife here visiting us once again. And of course if you've been here for a while you know that he was the pastor that ordained me. And so he's a very good friend of mine. He's a great preacher. And so I would say one of the greatest preachers I've listened to. And so it's nice to have a friend that's a great preacher also. A godly man. And their church is Verde Baptist Church. They have a great church down there. And a very loving pastor. So anyway he'll be here the 14th so you don't want to miss that. If you miss any service don't miss that one. That's going to be a great service and a great sermon I'm sure. And we have November 21st we have Brother Jason Graber from Spokane. He's going to be preaching for us on the AM service. And so he's traveling down to see his family for Thanksgiving. So he was going to stop by and be with us and hang out. And I just offered him a chance to preach and he took it. So anyway he helped start the church plant in Spokane. And he's a really great guy and he's a great preacher. So be here for that service. That's the AM service. Then we'll have after that the potluck. The Animal Thanksgiving potluck. I'm sure sign ups and stuff like that will be going on soon for that. And then the kids' Christmas choir practice. The first one will be sometime in the afternoon. I'll have to get with Ryland about that. So anyway December 11th we have the Ladies Cookie Exchange. White elephant game at 1 p.m. at the Bender Home. Please bring three dozen cookies or treats and a container for the goodies. December 19th we have the Christmas service. Children's choir prime rib dinner after the morning service. December 23rd we have the candlelight service. And December 31st we'll pray in the new year and have a game night ping pong tournament, foosball, all that good stuff. Everything else is pretty much everything I went over with everybody else was here this morning I think. We sang happy birthday to Julene. It's actually her birthday today. So make sure you get her lots of presents. Celia will be the 11th. What day is the 11th? Thursday. Thursday. Okay well we can sing again to her on Thursday so she'll get a double whammy. She'd probably like that. Crying. Crying. Yeah. Well I mean that's just who she is. You know I mean you can't change people. Nah just kidding. So the queen of scream. No I'm just kidding. Anyway so then Miss Kylie's birthday is this coming Saturday. So anyway that's all I have for announcements. Let's sing another song. Alright our next song is song number 305. Yield not to temptation. Song number 305 yield not to temptation. Song 305 let's sing it out on the first. Yield not to temptation for yielding his sin. Each victory will help you some other to win. Fight manfully onward. Dark passion subdue. 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. Shun evil companions. Bad language disdain. God's name hold in reverence. Nor take it in vain. Be thoughtfully 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 o'ercometh 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. Amen. Good scene. Brother Ramon, could you bless the offering for us? Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this church, Lord. Thank you for Taliesin getting saved today, Lord. Just pray they would find a good church and get baptized. Pray you bless this offering. Amen. Amen. All right, open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 31. Genesis 31, if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you one. Genesis chapter 31. Genesis 31, the Bible reads, And he heard the words of Laban's son, saying, Jacob had taken away all that was our fathers, and of that which was our fathers have he gotten all this glory. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before. And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father hath been with me. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father, and your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages, then all the cattle bear speckled. And if he said thus, The ring-streaked shall be thy hire, then bear all the cattle ring-streaked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me. And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ring-streaked, speckled and grizzled. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob, and I said, Here I am. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-streaked, speckled and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar, and where thou avow unto me, now arise and get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him, strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money, for all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's. Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels. And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. And Laban went to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. So he fled with all that he had, and he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey, and they overtook him in the mount Gilead. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Then Laban overtook Jacob, and Jacob had pinched his tent in the mount. And Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What is thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives taken with the sword? Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabaret, and with harp, and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt. But the God of your father spake unto me yesterday night, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. And now, though thou wouldst needs be gone, because thou sore longest after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? And Jacob answered, and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I said, Peradventure, thou wouldst take by force thy daughters from me. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live, before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two maidservant's tents, but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord, that I cannot rise up before thee, for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but not found. And he searched, but found not the images. And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban. And Jacob answered, and said unto Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both. This twenty years have I been with thee. Thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee. I bear the loss of it. Of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was. In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sheep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house. I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle, and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God had seen my affliction, and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine. And what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which they have borne? Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar. And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones, and they took stones and made an heap, and they did eat there upon the heap. And Laban called it Jeragasahaduthah, and Jacob called it Gilead. And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Gilead. And Mizpah, for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us. See, God is witness betwixt me and thee. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar which I have cast betwixt me and thee. This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judged betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount and called his brethren to eat bread. And they did eat bread and tarried all night in the mount. And early in the morning Laban rose up and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. And Laban departed and returned unto his place. Brother Shawn, will you pray for us? Amen. All right, we're in Genesis chapter 31. So we had taken a week off, we had the men's preaching night last week, and now we're back here. Look at verse number one, the Bible says, And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers, and of that which was our fathers hath he gotten all his glory. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great chapter in the Bible, Lord. I pray that you'd help the people to see what the Bible says to them tonight through the preaching of your word. And I pray that you'd help me fill me with your spirit and boldness and power. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So, remember, last time we were in Genesis, Jacob offered, he was trying to leave, and Laban said, hey, whatever you want, I'll pay you, and basically talked about the ring-streaked and different types of cattle, and how he would take all the ones that were grizzled and ugly, and that kind of represented, you know, all the Gentiles, basically. He kind of brought, talked about how everything was one fold after, you know, comparing it to the New Testament and the Old Testament, like the Old Testament you had the Jews that were just like, you know, they were all about being, you know, this special chosen nation, and they were a special chosen nation under God, but, like, you see the picture of having one shepherd, and once Jesus Christ died on the cross, he was buried, he rose again from the dead, then everything kind of became one fold. So, there shouldn't be, like, mixed churches in the way that there should be, like, hey, black churches, Mexican churches, white churches, something like that. We're all one in Christ Jesus. Now, if you're going to mix something up, it might be by languages, okay? So, if everybody in here speaks Spanish and I get up here and speak English, that's just not going to help you. So, I would say it's probably important to, you know, have a church congregation where you're just speaking one language, and that would make sense. But, I mean, I don't believe that the Jews should have their own separate, you know, New Testament church that believes all the same things we do, but just doesn't want to mix with the Gentiles because that's not what the Bible teaches. But, here we have, you know, in the store we have Jacob is looking, he's gotten, you know, after this other six years that he's served Laban, so he says in the chapter he served him for 20 years, and six, you know, 14 years for Rachel and Leah. So, it's somewhere in the seven, you know, it's been past six years is what I would say. It's probably just kind of rounding it up or whatever. But, you know, Laban starts to see that God is not blessing him. He was blessing Jacob way more than he was blessing him, and he starts to get upset about it. And he sees the countenance of Laban has changed towards him. And what does that mean? It's like, you know when someone's mad at you and you can tell, and you're like, hey, is something wrong? And they're like, no. You know what I mean? Like, usually you'd see that in your wife or, you know, your spouse or something. It's like, no, really, what's wrong? Nothing? Nothing? You know, you just got to drag it out of them or whatever. But, you know, you can tell when someone's countenance is not toward you and they're upset. You know, it's really hard to hide when you're really angry with somebody. And Laban has gotten to this point where he, you know, he probably can't even look at Jacob without, like, looking mad or angry. You know, but you can't really hide that. So, but I also, this basically, this chapter is about how Jacob flees from Laban, and Laban is his father-in-law. You know, they're family, but yet they're business partners at the same time. But Jacob gets to the point where he sees that Laban is not, his countenance isn't towards him anymore and he devises his plan to get away. And basically he just escapes and kind of takes off. And we'll see that as we get further into the chapter. But, you know, and I think he's handling this in a careful manner. The Bible says that we're supposed to be harmless as doves, you know, wise as serpents and harmless as doves. So I think Jacob's trying to be wise here. Obviously Jacob pictures Christ in a lot of different ways. I think Jacob's trying to, you know, he's trying to be harmless to him at the same time as being wise and saying, hey, I better just leave because otherwise things, and later on he kind of explains why he left. He was afraid. You know, he's afraid that Laban is going to come against him, take his wives, take his children, and take all of his stuff. And so he's doing what he thinks is the best thing. So look at verse number three. The Bible says, and the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred and I will be with thee. So, you know, Jacob who left, if you remember, he left because his brother Esau wanted to kill him. And so he went to get a wife from one of Laban's daughters and he ended up marrying two of them. But, you know, God says, hey, you need to just return to the land of your fathers and to thy kindred, your people. And he says, I will be with thee. And you know what? It's really good to have God on your side, isn't it? It's good to have God having your back. Now some people think that just becoming a Christian means that God is just automatically on your side no matter what. And that's not true. You know, if you're doing wicked things and you're living wickedly, God isn't always going to be on your side about everything. You know, we're still sinful. You know, just like, you know, there's people in the world that are sinful. As a Christian, you're still sinful. The only difference between us and unsaved people is that, you know, we're saved and they're not. You know, we have believed on Christ and we're saved and they're not. You know, and obviously they're probably going to be more sinful than Christians, but Christians can be very sinful. Christians can get very sinful and they can get out of, you know, their life out of balance. They can get out of church. They can get out of Bible reading. They can get out of soul wanting. They can just backslide. Now, being backslidden doesn't mean that you're not saved, though, of course. We don't believe that. We believe in eternal security of the believer at this church because that's what the Bible teaches. But, you know, don't you want to have God on your side? I mean, God says to Jacob right here that he's on his side. So obviously the things that Jacob has done have pleased God. Now, Jacob is not a perfect person. I mean, we know that. He stole the birthright. He stole the blessing. But he cared about the things of God. He cared about the things of his family. Whereas Esau didn't. The Bible says he was a profane person and a fornicator. And he sold his birthright for, you know, chili with beans in it. You know, I mean, it's just, you know, he just didn't care about the things of God. He didn't care about those. I just like to be somewhere in the middle with the whole chili thing. Like, I like to just, I just like to stir the pot, so to speak, because I really, I've eaten chili with beans in it my whole life. I didn't even know that that was a thing until, you know, Pastor Shelley's. You know, Pastor Shelley's just constantly preaching about, no, I'm just kidding. But I actually tried chili with no beans in it, and I thought it was pretty good. I tried Cincinnati chili, and Cincinnati chili is chili with no beans in it on top of spaghetti noodles. Yeah, you think it's weird, but, and there's like a mountain of cheese on top of it. If you like cheese, you like cheese, yeah. You can have beans, but you get it on the sides. But Cincinnati chili is its own, it's its own thing, you know, but it's good. So, and I like the beanless chili. There's a good reason why you might not want to have beans with chili. I mean, I'm sure you could think about why that wouldn't be good, but, you know, your stomach's feeling a little bit queasy later on. But, anyhow, on with the sermon here. So, but you want to have God on your side is the whole point that I was trying to make here. And, you know, when you're serving God to your fullest, when you're working hard at your job, when you're taking care of your family and living righteously, you know, and you're right with God when it comes to your walk with God, putting God first in your life is always a good idea. You know what? And he will be with thee, just like he was with Jacob, just like he was with Abraham, just like he was with Isaac. And we want God to be on our side, so we should do those things which are pleasing in his sight, putting him first and everything, you know, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. So, anyway, look at verse number four, it says, And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father hath been with me. So, he's, now he's trying to, like, just kind of let his wives know what's going on here. And it's a good idea to kind of, I'm not saying, you know, let me be careful how I say this. It's a good idea to communicate with your wife. If you're a husband and, you know, you're about to leave everything, you're about to take your wife and leave everything that she's ever known, you might want to just kind of talk to her about that first. I'm not saying that she makes the final decision. I think that wives should follow their husbands. You got married, you know, before you get married, that's when you should kind of say, well, hey, what are your future plans? What do you think about this? You know, are we going to move away? Are we going to be a missionary? Are you going to be a pastor? Or are you going to, you know, what is your plans? Like, it's good to get to know the person before you marry them, and that way it's not a big surprise or a big shocker when he wants to move to Florida for some reason, all right? But, so, you know, he goes over everything and he just kind of lets them know, well, here's why I'm thinking what I'm thinking. Your father's countenance, you know, it's not toward me as it was before. He's basically become an enemy, and so Jacob felt the need to get away, and I believe he was right. I believe he was right. Now, at the end of the chapter, you know, they kind of make this agreement, and I'll get into that later, but I believe sometimes it is good to get away from family members that are bogging you down or just interjecting themselves into your marriage more than they should be. And that happens a lot. I see that happen a lot, especially with new married couples. I see where there's battle lines drawn, and, you know, people just, you know, and Laban kind of has this idea that his daughters are still his property, you know, or he's the boss of them in some way, shape, or form, and that those children are his. You know, they're his grandchildren. And today you kind of have this weird thing where you have grandparent rules. Have you ever heard of that, where grandparents can, like, fight for custody of being able to see their children? And I just don't think that that's obviously a biblical thing, because what if the grandparents are God-hating atheists and you're a Christian? You know, you think that they should have the right to come in and sway your kids' minds on how things are? I don't think that's right. And, you know, Laban obviously had something to do with false gods. Rachel stole his false gods, his images, his idols, and took off with them, so obviously he had some idolatry going on in his life. And it seemed like he kind of loved money a lot because he wasn't treating his son very well. You know, and Jacob kind of makes the comment, you know, if it wasn't for God helping me out, you would have taken everything from me. And so the guy's kind of like a Scrooge McDuck. You know, he's using the blessing of God on Jacob's life to make himself rich, and he doesn't really care about Jacob. He doesn't really seem to care too much about his family monetarily anyway. He's kind of lining his own pockets, and that's kind of what his thing is. But when it comes to needing to separate from family, sometimes you need to cut people out of your life. And I'm not saying that if they watch TV that you should cut them out of your life. I mean, that's getting a little extreme, don't you think? They watch TV, so, you know, I just had to say I'm done with them after that, you know. You can't expect unsaved people or people that maybe even are saved that just have different principles that they go by that you just completely separate from that person and never talk to them again. Now, obviously, we have to have boundaries in our life. And, you know, we have to have boundaries with our loved ones. And, you know, you can get to a point where, you know, families, members are interjecting themselves into your marriage and into your life and influencing your children in a way that you don't want. And I believe that Jacob just, you know, this was about how he was being treated and how he was being looked at, but he eventually just had to say, you know what, I got to get away from this guy. And that is something that, you know, Jacob, who's obviously the spiritual leader in the house, made that decision, but, you know, he did run it past his wives. He did say, hey, you know, this is what's going on, you know, and was reasonable. But, you know, if you're going to move across the country with your wife and she didn't know that before you got married, you know, that doesn't make a difference. But, you know, you better have a good plan. You know, I see people that are flash in the pan type people or they're just on to bigger and better things. They do something for a short time and then they jump to something else. And, you know, we should be a little more steady than that, guys. It's, you know, I'm not saying that it's right if your wife doesn't want to follow you, but you should be a person that is able to be followed. You know, if you're going to be the man of your house, well, hey, you need to do all those things that a man is supposed to do in his house. You're supposed to be the spiritual leader. You're supposed to be the provider. And, you know, if you're just always, you know, just failing at everything you do and everything is a big dumpster fire that you're trying to start, then there might be a little hesitancy there, you know, like the vaccine hesitancy. It might be just a little, hey, I'm just not sure if I trust what's going on here, you know. And so, you know, be someone that's followable. Have a good plan. He had a good plan. You know, when he left, he took off and he had a good plan. He ran that past his wife and was like, hey, this is what's going on. We're getting out of here. Pack your stuff. Let's go. But look at verse number, let's see, verse number six. It says, and you know that with all my power I have served your father. And I think this is an important verse to touch on because a lot of people don't serve with all their power. A lot of people work jobs and obviously Americans are very spoiled in the jobs that we have and things like that. But even though Laban was kind of a scumbag boss to him, for 20 years he put up with this. But you know what that shows me about Jacob? That he's committed to his job. And regardless of being treated badly sometimes, he still stuck with it, didn't he? And obviously, you know, he kind of got tricked with the first seven years and then he served another seven years. And then, you know, he's kind of basically trying to make, God is helping him to build his own kind of cattle empire here. But, you know, sometimes you've got to stick with hard jobs and stick with jobs you might not like very much to show some stability in your life. You know, he'd already worked a government retirement at this point, 20 years, you know. So a police retirement or, you know, a military retirement, that's 20 years is a long time. And so 20 years he's built his life here. But I'm just saying that to say this, that with all his power, even though, you know, Laban was not good to him all the time, and he changed his wages and he had to work night and day and he had to suffer all the loss of any of the cattle being killed by other things, he still stuck with it and still did his job. You know, and we're not always going to have a great boss. The Bible doesn't say to just be a good worker as long as your boss is nice and gives you all the days off you want. You know, sometimes bosses are, you know, sometimes bosses just don't like you. Have you ever had a boss that just doesn't like you and you don't even know why? Maybe there was just a bad first impression, but you're not really sure. I mean, I've had some terrible bosses in my lifetime and usually they're women. So, no offense, but it's just true. I had a real crazy woman that I worked for and, you know, she just hated me from day one. Like, she wanted me to be this, like, police officer of people taking breaks, and she's like, the first day I start there, she's like, go out and write all their names down and tell me who took more than ten minutes on a break. And I'm just like, that's not what I was hired to do, you know. I just said, you know what, I wasn't trying to disobey her, but I just felt like that's a really weird request, especially since I just started working there, I don't know any of their names. You know, and then I'm just there to be the narc from day one. I mean, she put me in a bad position, it was just unreasonable. And I was just like, you know, maybe I should just, like, learn their names. You know, what am I supposed to do, just walk up and go, hey, what's your name, you've been on break for ten minutes. You know, it's just like, it was unreasonable. And that was, like, one of the most miserable jobs I've ever worked at. It was a great job on paper, it was a great job on the offer, but the boss was, she was crazy. That's all I can say, she's crazy, and I didn't like working there, but I did my best to obey her. And so, and I'm not saying that you're never going to be put in a position where you say something back, but, you know, we shouldn't say something back when the boss is chewing you out. You know, we've just gotten two, you know, there's just a nation full of men pansies out there, and they just can't take any correction. You know, this country has turned into a country where people just can't take any correction at all. If you say something, they melt like a snowflake instantly. You know, it's just like, come on. Let your boss yell at you a little bit, there's nothing wrong with that. It's going to make you tougher. And even if they, you know, even if they're wrong, just do what they say. You know, now obviously if they're asking to rob a bank or something, I'm not saying that you should do that. But, you know, if they're not telling you to do something that's against the law, then you should just do what they say. And are you going to get mistreated sometimes? You are. You know, Jacob was a godly man, but God didn't stop him from getting mistreated by Laban. So, but, and Jacob did his best to make Laban happy. And the Bible teaches this very clearly in God's word. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 5. You know, he says, I worked, you know, that with all my power I served your father. Even though he was a jerk, even though he tricked him and had to do another seven years of labor to earn his wife that he was agreed to in the first place, I mean, he changed his wages constantly, treated him like dirt a lot of times, but he still did, he still worked with all of his power, with all of his might, and he served Laban. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 5. And you know what, because he had an agreement. Didn't he have an agreement? The first seven years he had an agreement and then he changed the agreement, obviously, and behold, it was Leah, right? And then the next seven years he goes, well, you know, served seven years. He agreed to that, though, didn't he? A lot of times, though, you'll see people and they're like, well, you know, even in the NFL with contracts and stuff like that, they'll be like, you know, I know I signed for this contract, but I want another $10 million a year. It's like, you signed that contract. Why don't you work for the contract you did first and then renegotiate your contract? But people, you know, they're like, well, I need a raise or I just can't work here anymore. You can say that to your boss all you want, but did you agree to work for the amount that you agreed to work for? You know, Jesus talks about in that parable there was people that came at the very last minute and still got the same amount that everybody else got that worked, you know, through the whole day. But, you know, that's the boss's prerogative to pay you whatever, you know, if you agree to what the boss says he's going to pay you, then you should work for that amount. I'm not saying you should never ask for a raise. I'm just saying that you shouldn't like quit a job because they didn't pay you what you feel like you should be paid. You agreed to that amount. You signed the paperwork. That's on you. Look at Ephesians 6, 5. It says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of heart as unto Christ. So if you're working for someone, you know, they're your boss. And, you know, when it's talking about servants, obviously it's talking about someone that's a hired servant here. And that's a person that, you know, you've agreed or maybe you didn't agree. Maybe you owed them money or something. In the Bible times that's kind of how you pay debts back. If you didn't have enough to pay your debt, then you just started working for that person. And they were supposed to take care of you as a hired servant. But the Bible says right here to be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh. If you're your boss, what does it say to be? Obedient. And it says to serve them with fear and trembling, singleness of heart as unto Christ. So you might be working for the biggest dirtbag in the world, but who are you really working for? What does the Bible say who you're supposed to work as unto? Does it say Christ there? And that's what Jacob probably, in my mind, that's what Jacob did. Even though he was being mistreated, even though he was being, you know, he was being maligned and all this different stuff, he still worked as if he was serving Christ. And so that's what we're called to do also is to work as unto Christ. Look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 22. Colossians chapter 3 verse 22. And this isn't just like, oh, there's only one scripture in the Bible about it. There's multiple scriptures in the Bible about it. Turn to Colossians chapter 3 verse 22. Look at what it says right there. It says in verse 22, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. So when you're at work, do you fear God? Are you taking breaks longer than you're supposed to be taking? Are you stealing from the job? Are you stealing by not working as hard as you could? Some people like to do what's called tanking it. They don't work as hard as they could because the boss isn't there to watch them. But when the boss is watching them, that's when they get the eye service and man pleasing going on. They just pick up a broom and start, oh, oh, you know. It's always good to have your boss catch you working as opposed to have him catch you not working. So I like it when my boss would catch me working. So that's a good thing. They're like, hey, how's it going? I'm like, oh, it's great, you know, you're doing whatever you're doing. And that's good. He snuck up on me because I was actually doing my job. But, you know, there's a lot of people that are men pleasers out there. There's a lot of yes men out there. You know, a lot of those types of people, they don't really work that hard. They work hard at trying to downgrade everybody else so they can look better. They push you down so they can push, you know, step on your head and get to the top. There's a lot of people at jobs like that, but you know what? If you just do your job and please the Lord and work unto Him, God's going to bless you. And look how long it took God to recompense Jacob for the evil he received. Twenty years. But, you know, he served God, or he served as if he was serving God for those 20 years. And what did God do? Blessed him tremendously, made him very rich. You know, and I'm not saying you're going to get rich, okay? I'm just saying that God's going to bless you one way or the other if you're working as if you're working unto Christ. Turn to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 11. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 11. It says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 11, and this is a good thing for the homeless community to learn. It says, And that you study to be quiet and do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Hey, instead of holding a sign and walking up and down the freeway entrances, giving people sad faces and dirty looks if they won't, you know, give you something, why don't you work with your own hands? I had to work for my money, why shouldn't you have to work for yours? I'm not going to give people handouts that are just straight up loser bombs that just don't want to work. Sorry. Sorry, not sorry. You know, they come over here to our church and leave their garbage and stuff all over the place, and somebody else has to clean it up for them. It really makes me mad. It makes me angry. Because, you know, they're using something that we pay for as their shelter, which I wouldn't care. I honestly wouldn't care as long as they weren't just here while we're here all the time. It wouldn't really bother me, but when they leave, they leave a trail of trash and destruction with them that somebody else has to clean up. And then you want me to give you money on top of that while you're sitting over there on the freeway entrance? Will, please help. Anything helps. God bless. You know what helps you? Helping yourself. Helping yourself. Get out there. Get off your lazy rear end and go get a job, buddy. And quit using our church property to put trash and garbage all over the place. I know that sounds mean. It's the holidays. We should help them. You know, the Bible says if a man doesn't work, neither should he eat. So if I'm giving him money, you know, I'm kind of breaking God's commandment by just giving somebody money that is not willing to work. You know, if you're 20 years old and you're holding a sign on a freeway ramp entrance, first of all, you've got legs strong enough to hold you there. You've got two hands to hold the sign. So what's wrong with you? Why can't you work? They just don't want to. They want people to just give them money and play upon their, you know, their Christian, you know, people's hearts, basically. People that have a heart to help people. And so it makes you feel bad. They want to make you feel bad because you won't give them money. That's why I just don't even look at them. I just, like, act like they're not there. But they'll put the acting on, won't they? They'll just do the whole... Get on my face. You're a good actor. Why don't you go to Hollywood? You ain't sad. Anyway, Titus chapter 2, verse 9. Turn to Titus chapter 2, verse 9. Sorry, I just had to make a quick commercial break because every time I come here, there's, like, trash laying all over the place because they just want to come and do drugs or whatever they're doing and drink alcohol and throw their trash all over the ground. It really angers me. They better hope I never catch them back there. Anyway, Titus chapter 2, verse 9. Not that I'm going to hurt them. I just want to caveat that a little bit. I'm not going to hurt them. I just want to tell them to get out of here and don't come back. Titus chapter 2, verse 9. Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters and to please them well in all things. What does it say after that? What's the last three words there? Not answering again. What do you think that's talking about? It's talking back to your boss. I thought I told you to sweep that, you know, your boss is getting mad at you, right? And then you're like, well, I was going to. That's answering back again, isn't it? That's where you're just, like, popping off of the mouth of your boss. I told you guys not too long ago about one of the people where I used to work. And the guy was, like, 19 years old or something, sitting in the vehicle while everybody else was outside working. He comes over and asks the guy to work and he tells him, F you. And he had a lot of restraint because if somebody said that to me, it might have been my last day at work. But that's the type of people that we don't want to be like. We don't want to be entitled and act like, you know, we deserve this, we deserve pay, we deserve all this. Hey, you've got to work for what you do. You're expected to perform your duties at the job that you're doing and to not answer back again. And even if they're not being fair, just don't say anything back. Don't say anything back. Obviously, I'm sure everybody in this room has failed to some extent with that. Because sometimes it's hard. Sometimes, you know, when you're being mistreated or you think that your boss isn't being fair or judging the situation fairly, it makes you want to say something back, but the Bible is saying here not to answer again. Don't, you know, answer back to them. And to please them well in all things. So we should be there just like, you know, Jacob was wanting to please Laban by putting all this power into his work and just doing everything he said even though it wasn't right. But his job, your job is to please your boss and do the things that they ask for you to do. And it says not purloining. That verse number 10 says not purloining. Well, that's not a word that most people know what that means. But what is purloining? Does anybody know what purloining is? I'll just define it for you in the dictionary. It says to appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust. So it's like stealing. It's like taking something without permission. Appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust. Maybe you've stolen something by guile. You took the car keys home. You know, maybe you took a tank of gas home with you that you weren't supposed to take or, you know, just anything. You've taken some kind of item that you're not supposed to take and you did it wrongfully. You didn't appropriate what you were supposed to. Maybe you skipped out on your time card. Maybe you made up numbers on your timesheet. Maybe you said you did more than you really did. That is purloining. That's something, you're getting something for something that you didn't really do. And we're not supposed to do that. Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity. Now, that's not a word that I hear people use a lot either. But what it means is fidelity is allegiance, fealty, loyalty, devotion. You know, piety meaning faithfulness to do something which is bound, which one is bound to do by pledge or duty. So when you say you're going to do something, when you're signing up to do something, then you show good fidelity and loyalty to the person or the place that you work for. It implies strict and continuing faithfulness to an obligation, trust, or duty. So you're continuing faithfulness to an obligation, trust, or duty. When you say you're going to do something, then you do it at work. When your boss tells you to do something, you know, or your company, you know, you want to represent your company to the best of your ability. You know, if the company has certain policies or standards that you're supposed to keep, then you should keep those policies and standards and be loyal to the company that you work for. So it says, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. We don't want to make God a stink in the land because we're a bad worker. Because we're always popping off our mouth at the boss and telling him how we think things should be done. You know, as Christians, like, people are going to examine every aspects of our life. Your family's going to examine you. Your friends are going to examine you. Your workplace is going to examine you. You know, other people in the church are going to examine you. It's just the way it is. And so we need to, you know, have some character, have some Christian character in our lives. And we shouldn't be getting fired because we're lazy or we just couldn't get it. You know, that's not why we should be fired. If you're going to be fired for something real, maybe it is because you took a stand for Christ. Maybe you said, hey guys, put those, you know, stop showing those pictures at work. Or stop sharing your stupid jokes on my cell phone. Or whatever it is, you know, people do that kind of stuff. But if you never, you know, we shouldn't be put in a position where we're the ones that are sharing those jokes. Where we're the ones, you know, that are having those kind of lewd conversations with people. And we should have fidelity and not purloining and help people to adorn the doctrine of Christ. Not to say, I don't want anything to do with that because this guy is a scumbag, you know. So, work as if you're working for Christ. Let's look back in our text in Genesis chapter 31. Look at verse number 7. It says, And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God suffered him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages, then all the cattle bear speckled. And if he said thus, The ring-streaked shall be thy hire, then bear all the cattle ring-streaked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. What does that remind you of? He's taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me. Does that remind you of a verse that you know in the New Testament? I think this is a picture of replacement theology once again. You know, the people that deny that the spiritual Israel has replaced the physical Israel after the flesh. I mean, it's almost in every chapter. It really is. I mean, it's hard for me to not preach about it because it's just there. So, you know, God has taken away the cattle and given them to me. Who does Jacob represent? A lot of times in these scriptures he represents Christ. So, turn to Matthew chapter 21 verse 43. And so we'll just kind of get a little spiritual application of this right here. But the carnal application is that God was not going to allow Jacob to get hurt by Laban because he saw what Laban was doing to him and he helped him because God was on his side. Now, look at Matthew 21 verse 43. It says, Therefore, say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. So, Jesus Christ told the Pharisees and Sadducees, he said, Hey, I'm taking away the kingdom of God from you. The kingdom used to be the nation of Israel, the physical nation of Israel. And obviously it wasn't just, they were a physical nation, but there was a lot of people that were saved. But it came to a point where God is just like, you know what, you're not fruitful anymore. You're teaching false doctrine. You know, you're saying to do things, you do them not. So, I'm going to take them from you. And they basically had become so wicked that they're taking the doctrines of men and the traditions of men and teaching them as commandments. And God's just not going to put up with that forever. So, Jesus told them, hey, I'm taking away the kingdom of God from you. And I'm going to give it to a nation that's bringing forth the fruits thereof. Now, what nation is that? Well, it's still the same nation. But it's just not a physical nation. So, that nation becomes all nations of the world where the people are saved. You know, if someone's saved, then you have the kingdom of God that's come to you. And so, all the nations of the world, you know, instead of it being one nation, well, it's still one nation, but it's made up of all believers around the world. So, now, Genesis chapter 31 verse 10 says, And it came to pass at that time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes and saw in a dream. And behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ring-streaked, speckled, and grizzled. So, you remember from last time that God gave him the plan. The angel in the dream gave him the plan of how to, you know, do everything that he's done with these cattle and getting the ring-streaked and speckled and all that stuff. And so, in that six years, Jacob became mighty with all these cattle. And that's kind of what happened when Christ, you know, gave it over to the Gentiles. Like, his fold increased, didn't it? And the Gentiles were reached by, of course, the apostles, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostle Paul was greatly responsible for that. But all nations of the earth of saved believers are the spiritual Israel of God. And how do I know that's true? Well, first of all, Jesus said he's taking away the kingdom of God from the physical nation, right? And giving it to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. What's the fruits thereof? Well, he wants people to get saved. And so, if Israel would have continued doing what they were supposed to do, they might have been able to get in on more of it. But a lot of the Israelites rejected Christ, and so there was just a remnant left. The rest are blinded. They're still blinded unto this day. Even to this day, they have the veil over their eyes. They can't understand the scriptures. They don't understand that Jesus was the Messiah. But make no mistake, the Jews are no longer God's chosen people. The physical nation of Israel is no longer God's chosen people. And so, look at Exodus chapter 19, verse 6. Now, the Bible mentions a holy nation twice in the Bible. Exodus chapter 19 would be the Old Testament nation of Israel, the physical nation. He told them that they would be a special people unto him, right? Exodus 19, 6 says, And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. So, God told Moses to tell them, You're going to be unto me a kingdom of priests and holy nations. So, a nation that's set apart for the service of God, holy, and God said to be ye holy, for I am holy. Now, the New Testament representation of that is found in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9. It says in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9, it says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation. And he's not just using that word for no reason, folks. A peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So, this would be the New Testament nation of Israel, a spiritual nation. You know, he's saying it's a holy nation, but who is it? It's made up of all believers. It's not just the physical nation of Israel. As a matter of fact, Jesus took it from the physical nation of Israel and gave it to the spiritual nation, which is all believers. Now, look at Galatians chapter 6, verse 16. The Bible just specifically flat out calls Gentiles the Israel of God. Look at Galatians 6, 6. It says, And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. Now, the last I checked, the lands of Galatia were not, you know, where the Israelites were at, right? They might have had a remnant there, but this is a Gentile, the churches in Galatia were Gentile churches. And so he calls them what? The Israel of God. Why do you think that? Well, they didn't, you're preaching heresy, Pastor Thompson, that's not true. What's the Bible say? That's what you really, you know, you can just be licking Israel's boots till the cows come home. You can fly a King David flag wherever you want. But you know what? The Bible is going to reprove you. If you just actually listen to what the Bible says, it's going to tell you, you know, what's the nation that Jesus gave the kingdom of God to if it wasn't all believers? Who was it to? Was it, you know? It's Israel given over to the spiritual people of God in the New Testament. Because obviously he's calling the Galatians the Israel of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11. It really breaks it down for you here very good. So look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11. It says, Wherefore remember, verse 11, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11, Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision. So, you know, the Jews were the circumcision, the Gentiles were the uncircumcision, okay? It says in the flesh made by hands. That at the time, at that time you were without Christ being aliens, and it's not talking about space aliens, okay, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. And strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. What does that mean? The blood of Christ brought you near and put you in that commonwealth of Israel. And instead of being strangers, now you've been brought nigh. Instead of being without God, now you have God. Instead of having no hope, now you have all hope. And it says in verse 14, And he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. I mean, I don't know how much more clear that can be. He broke that wall down. When he died, he broke that wall down and the middle wall of partition between us. Who's the us? Jews and Gentiles, right? Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinance to make, excuse me, in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, we're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints. We're all one in Christ Jesus, what it's saying. Now we get to get, we're in on the plan, right? And of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So what is all this saying? Well, it's saying that, you know, the nation of Israel, you know, there is a nation of Israel after the flesh today, but that was gone for almost 2,000 years. And now there's a nation over there, and are they following Christ? In order to go into the land, they had to be believing. God drove them out of the land for their unbelief, multiple times, and destroyed Jerusalem and its capital in 70 AD and destroyed the temple. So, but we are one in Christ Jesus, and, you know, I believe this is a picture of, you know, when it says that, you know, Jacob, God took Laban's cattle and gave them to Jacob, that is a picture of Israel of the flesh being replaced by the spiritual nation of Israel. Turn back in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 31 verse 11, Genesis chapter 31 verse 11, the Bible says, and the angel of God spake unto me in a dream saying, Jacob, and I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring-streaked, speckled and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. So God's plan was, you know, he's not just going to keep lettuce getting afflicted and keep getting destroyed by people, he's going to have vengeance. You know, what was his vengeance? Well, he was to take from Laban and give to Jacob. And no matter what he did, he was not going to be blessed by the Lord anymore because of what he was doing to Jacob. He was persecuting righteousness. He was persecuting the man of God, Jacob, and, you know, God's not going to bless people that are doing that. So God sees our affliction. He sees the hard times we go through. Does he instantaneously do something about it, though? He doesn't. You know, sometimes affliction for us is good. You know, in Jerusalem, when they were told to go out and preach the gospel unto all the nations, they stood there and stayed in Jerusalem. And what happened? God brought persecution and affliction upon them so they would go out and do what he said. And sometimes we, you know, we're going to go through hard times. We're going to have people falsely accuse us. We're going to have, you know, some of our fellow workers try to falsely accuse us and try to run us down and try to, you know, just put fear in our hearts about things. And, you know, we're just going to get persecuted in all aspects of life. But you know what? God is the one that repays. This is something that, a lesson I've been learning, that God is going to repay my enemies. And the more I do to try to repay them myself, the less is going to be afflicted on them. God wants us to give that over to him to make that destruction happen. Did Jacob take it in his own hands to go against Laban? No, he just took the loss. He just took the affliction that he was getting at work. And what happened? Well, God visited him in a dream and said, you know, here's the plan. You know, here's what you do with the ring strength and the grizzled and all the ugly, you know, sheep and stuff. And you make them go before the rods and peel these white things on the sticks and put them inside the troughs. It's like, okay. You know, he obeyed what God said though, didn't he? And so then God blessed him tremendously for that, even going through that affliction. And so God's going to do that for us in our situations too. It's like if someone's afflicting you and causing all kinds of problems, you know, let God do and take care of things in his timing instead of us taking it upon ourselves to repay people for what they've done to us. Now, I'm not saying never challenge somebody. Never chide with them when they have it coming. Not to ever preach against somebody or anything like that. I'm just saying that, you know, sometimes we've got to let God take care of business. And it's going to be far worse for that person. So if you really want them repaid, you know, big time, then, you know, let God do it instead of you doing it yourself. Instead of you tracking someone down and beating them up, let God track them down and beat them up. You know what I mean? I mean, that's the best way to do it. If you want them beat up, don't do it yourself because you're going to go to jail. Anyway, look at verse 13. It says, I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar, and where thou vowest a vow unto me, now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. So, you know, God's speaking to him in this dream. And he's saying, hey, remember the God in Bethel, where you anointest the pillar? You know, what does Bethel mean? It means the house of God. It's where Jacob laid a stone for a pillow. And then he said that he vowed a vow that if God would take care of him, that he would serve him and give him, you know, the tithe and all that stuff and serve him with his life. And God's saying, hey, you remember when he made these vows to me? Arise, get thee out of this land, and return to the land of thy kindred. He's saying, go, I'm with you. Go. You know, I'm going to take care of business, basically. So, look at Genesis 31, verse 14, it says, And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, this is ours and our children's. Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. So, the wives, Rachel and Leah, they're okay with the plan. They're like, okay, let's get out of here. If God's telling you what to do, we're going to get your back. And that's, I believe that wives should have their husbands back. You know, but be wise men in the things that you do. Because if it's some, you know, and Pastor Mendez says this all the time, and I agree with him, if you're making a decision solely for money, it's always going to be the wrong decision. You know, if you're planning on moving just because you want a better job to support your family, and there's no good church there, that's a bad decision. And I'm always going to say that, because it always turns out bad. Any people that have ever moved from our church and go to a place where there's no good church, they end up getting out of church. It always happens. You can just, let me just tell you, 100%. 100% of the time. You're like, well, I just want to get away from my wife's family, or I just want to get away from my family and just have my own thing over here. If there's not a good church to go to, don't go. It's a bad decision. You're like, well, what do you mean by, you know, if there's not a good church? If there's not a good church. That's what I mean. Is it a good church or not? Is it, you know, well, I'm going to try out, when I get there, I'm going to try out the Roman Catholic Church and just see, you know, what it's like. No, that's a bad church. Well, I'm just going to go to, you know, there's no good Baptist churches in the town that I want to move to, you know, there's a great Mormon church there. Not a good church. It's a cult. Run. I'm just going to go to the, you know, Watchtower Society. I'm going to go to the Kingdom Hall this week, and I'm just going to go and check out all the churches in this town because, you know, I just want to find a good church. That's not a good church. What's a good church? A good church is a church where, you know, you've got a plan to reach the lost. You've got sin being preached against. You've got a pastor that's not afraid to get up and preach the whole council of God. That'd be a good church. It doesn't have to be a new IFB church. I'm not saying it does. But it should be a good, you know, and why a Baptist church? Why a good independent Baptist church? Well, because what other churches out there are storming the doors in this town, knocking on them every single week? You tell me which churches are doing that. There might be a couple churches that do that, but, you know, if they're a church and they don't do that, you think you're going to go change them? It's kind of like marrying a person and you're like, well, you know what, I'm going to marry them. I think they're good looking and I know that I can change them. Women love these project men like that. I just want to change them. You're not going to change them. They're going to change you. And you're not going to go change the church that you're going to visit. The church is going to change you. And pretty soon, you're going to be backslidden. And so, but Jacob in this situation had a great plan, did he not? He had a great plan. He's like, let's go. He talked to his wives about it. His wives got on board. And so, men, have a good plan. If you're planning on doing some big change, make sure you're moving for the right reasons and you're moving for a great church. You know, money can be involved as long as there's a good church. You know, I'm not saying don't leave this church. I know we get accused of being a cult. We just don't want to let anybody leave. That's not true at all. Bye. Go ahead, leave. But I'm just saying, for your benefit, if you're going to leave, go to a good church. So, and then wives, get behind your husbands. Don't have them, you know, you have to drag, he has to drag you kicking and screaming because, you know, you don't want to leave mommy. Hey, the moment you got married, you left mommy. Okay? Your husband became the head of the household. Your husband became the boss. Okay? So, you know, you're going to have to listen to what he has to say and it shouldn't always be a fight. You know, it's submission is when you both disagree but you agree to obey your husband even if you don't like the decision. That's submission. That's being a submissive wife, right? And husbands, be a good leader. You know, don't be a flake and a washout and that, you know, you can't pay your bills, you can't even get to work because you don't have any money in your gas tank or whatever. You know, you're failing at life and you need to get better. You need to get some character and get a job and work it for a while and, you know, provide. Make them want to trust in you. If they never trust in your decision because all your decisions are stupid, then it's going to be hard for them to trust you and I'm not saying they shouldn't trust you but I can understand why they don't because if you have a dumb plan, it's always some scheme to get more money that never pans out. You know, I'm going to sell Amway or I'm going to sell, you know, candles or whatever. That's a bad plan, you know. Get some smarts, get a better job, you know. McDonald's is for people that are, used to be for people that are teenagers. Now apparently they pay 20 bucks an hour in some places so I don't know. It might be a good job now. But you're serving bad food. Anyway, so look what it says in verse 17. Then Jacob rose and has set his sons and his wives upon camels and he carried away all of his cattle and all the goods which he had gotten and the cattle of his giddy which he had gotten and patterned a ram to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan and Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. These are the false gods. These are the, you know, whatever they are, they're images. I don't know if they're dolls or what. His GI just stole his GI Joes. Anyway, and Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian in that he told him not that he fled so they take off without telling Laban what's going on. So he quits his job without a two week notice, okay, which is not good. But in this situation, sometimes the situation calls for something different. That job that I told you about where that lady was, that lady was torturing me. You know, she was torturing me and when I found a good job I knew that she would just fire me. Some jobs will just fire you if you give your two weeks notice. That's where we're at in 2021. But I did, I don't, and I don't like doing that, but I did just quit on the last, at the last minute when she wasn't there. I was like, bye. Just handed in all my stuff and I was gone. That's not always the right situation but, you know, sometimes, you know, it has to be that way. But anyway, let's see, where am I at? What verse? 21. And he fled with all that he had. He rose up and passed over the river and set his face toward the Mount Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled and he took his brethren with him and pursued after him seven days journey and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead. And God came to Laban and the Syrian in a dream by night and said unto him, take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain Laban with his brethren pitched in the Mount Gilead and Laban said to Jacob, what hast thou done that thou hast stolen away unawares to me and carried away my daughters as captives taken with the sword? So remember God told him in the dream, don't say anything good or bad. What's the first thing he does? He's like, why have you done this? You know, you took my daughters. Didn't he marry his daughters off? I mean they're his daughters obviously, but he acts like he owns them still. Wherefore dost thou flee away secretly and steal away from me and didst not tell me that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with the tabaret and with harp? He's like, I would have given you a farewell bon voyage and we would have had a big party and slayed the fatted calf. But Jacob didn't think that that was the case and I don't really believe him. Do you believe him? I don't believe him. And it says, It hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters thou hadst not done foolishly in so doing. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt, but the God of your father spake unto me yesterday night, let's bring yesterday night back by the way, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. And now, though thou wouldst needs be gone, because thou soar longest after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? Now he's talking about the images that Rachel had taken from him. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid. So he was afraid of Laban. He was afraid of what he was going to do. For I said, Peradventure, thou wouldst take by force thy daughters from me. You know, he didn't want to lose his wives. You know, he worked seven years for each one of them. And he had children with them and he didn't want to lose his family. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live. Before our brother discern thou that is thine with me, or what is thine with me, and take it to thee, for Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. So here's a lesson in not being hasty with your mouth. And why do I say that? Well, he basically says, let that person not live. So had Laban found what he was looking for, then he had basically permission to kill the person that had them. And so he didn't know that Rachel had stolen them. So I would just say this, don't be hasty with your mouth. But if you don't really know, maybe you should just not say something. Because I think that Jacob was under the understanding that nobody, his wives would not have done that. But maybe it was like, you know, one of those little collectibles that ladies like, the tea things, what's the tea company that has the little animals in them? Huh? Red Rose. Yeah, maybe it was the Red Rose tea collection that he had or something. And she just really wanted that or something. But I believe, and this is just my opinion, I'm just saying this is my opinion. I believe it's possible that this might be the reason that Rachel died young. And I definitely think there's a connection with, you know, Rachel dies young, you know, on the roadside, and is buried on the side of the road. And, you know, maybe this has something to do with it. I don't know, but I mean, this is a big sin that she did. You know, why is she having false gods with her? You know, why does she have a different religion than Jacob does, you know? So I believe that this, I mean, I believe there's a possible connection with this. But, you know, again, it's just speculation, so that's why I say it's my opinion. Look at verse 33. And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two maidservant's tents, but he found them not. Then he went out of Leah's tent and entered into Rachel's tent, Rachel had taken the images and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them, and Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee, for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images. So she pulled another trick on him. She lied to him and said that she was, you know, having her custom of women. And so she couldn't rise up, so he couldn't search what was underneath her, so she hid them underneath her, underneath her. And then it says, And Jacob was Roth. This was the final straw with Jacob. Now he loses it, right? He just gets really upset. And it says, Jacob was Roth, and he chode with Laban. So they're in a screaming match at this point. This is what's happening, okay? And, you know, I can understand, sometimes family drives you there. You know, sometimes, there's been times in the past when I've chode with certain family members, when I've had enough. And I would say that, you know, it's not good to lose your temper, you know, over some things, but like sometimes you just, you know, you've had enough, you've had enough, and Jacob's had enough here. And he was mad that he's searching their tents like he's some kind of police officer trying to find these gods that he doesn't think anybody has, but his wife does have them. But, you know, I think everything's just finally built up upon him. You know, he's gotten cheated out of, he's worked for this guy for 20 years, he's cheated him out of his, changed his wages 10 times, and, you know, he's just, he's had enough. And he finally just, you know, sometimes guys are like, they court, we like to internalize things. And we'll just let things build up for long periods of time, and then we'll just like, something that's really not that big of a deal, we're just like... I don't know if any guys like that are like that in this room, but, you know, it'll be something really dumb that you flip out about, so you look like a total idiot when you do it. You're like, really? You're just, you're that mad about that? It's like, uh, sorry. But at the time, it's a big deal because everything's all bottled up, right? And so sometimes guys bottle things up, and I think that, you know, the genie was out here, and it wasn't able to come back in. Jacob was pissed. And so it says that Jacob answered and said to Laban, what is my trespass, what is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? So, you know, he does, he tracks him down, you know, he's three days from him, and he catches up to him in three days, and they're riding in hard, acting all tough, acting like they're going to do something to hurt him, and he's searching all this stuff, and, you know, Jacob's mad. You know, he's been cheated, he's been treated badly, and then he comes and he just asks him all these questions, he's pissed. It says, whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, and they may judge betwixt us both. So he's saying, hey, did you find anything that we stole from your house? Have you found anything stolen? Why don't you set it right here and we'll decide whose stuff it is. This 20 years, so he's going to go off on a tirade right here. This 20 years have I been with thee, thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have not I eaten, that which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee, I bear the loss of it, of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was in the day the drought consumed me, or the drought consumed me, excuse me, and the frost by night. So he's hot in the day, he's cold at night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. He's working tireless, he's working long hours, he's not getting a lot of sleep. Thus have I been 20 years in thy house, I served thee 14 years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle, and thou hast changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou had sent me away now empty. God hath seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesterday night. Word of the day, yesterday night, I like that one. I like that one. Anyway, so he just basically, you know, he just, he's getting it off his chest, he's telling him how he really feels. And now, earlier I said, answer not back, but technically, he doesn't work for him anymore. So he just kind of let it all go there. And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine. What can I do this day unto thee, my daughters, or unto their children which they have borne? And basically, so here he is doubling down again. They're my daughters. They're my children. He's talking about the grandchildren. And this is, you know, this is where, you know, in-laws fail. They think that they still have some claim to the, like they're some kind of boss over people. But, you know, if he would have just, you know, understood what God teaches, once you leave the home, you become one flesh with your spouse. And so he has no control over what goes on, but he's still here telling Jacob, these are my daughters. All this, these are all my cattle. These are my grandchildren. But they're not, are they? I mean, they are by relation, but he has no authority over it. And, you know, if you're going to be an in-law someday, which there's a lot of people that will be in here, an in-law someday, you know, let your kids have their life. Don't try to run your children's life. I preach about this. I get real angry about this because I see a lot of problems with this. Leave your children to sort things out for themselves. When they left, you married them off. Hey, you want to have a good relationship, stay out of their lives. Let them work things out themselves. Let them struggle a little bit. You can't just jump in to save them over every single thing that happens in their life. People have to learn to struggle in order to make it in this life. And if you're there just jumping in and saying, he needs to get a better job, you know, you need to do this, and she's not taking care of kids like this. She's not letting us do this and that. It's not your business. Keep your mouth shut. Just enjoy them. Enjoy your grandchildren. Enjoy your family. But you know what you're doing when you're interjecting yourself into somebody else's family, somebody else's marriage? It's going to cause problems and it's going to cause them to not want to see you anymore and they're going to run away from you. Just like Jacob ran away from Laban. He's like, alright, I've had enough of your crazy dad. I'm out of here. And he was right. And so if someone's interjecting themselves into your marriage, your mother-in-law, father-in-law, whatever, your mom, your dad, if they're interjecting themselves into your marriage so much that they talk to you about their problems and all this, look, each spouse is not going to like that. They're not going to like it. They're going to get angry. They're going to get upset. They're going to get bitter feelings towards them. And you know, it's best to just be on the side of both. You know, and obviously there's going to be times where you think, well, maybe they could have done that better, but you need to keep your mouth shut because it's not your business. You gave them away at the marriage altar. It's over. I don't tell my kids how to run their relationships. You know why? Because I see the problems and causes and because it's just not my business. What's the Bible say? Leave and cleave. Bye. See you at Christmas. No, I'm just kidding. But you can have a great relationship with your children. You know, if you're, you know, the in-laws. Children, you can have, you know, a great relationship with your in-laws and your parents afterwards, but there needs to be strict boundaries in place so that all this stuff is not going on, so that all this drama with all, you know, them interjecting themselves into your life and your marriage, it's not right. And so husbands put boundaries in place. Wives put boundaries in place. You shouldn't be talking bad about your spouse to anybody, your best friend, your mama, your daddy, your bald-headed granny. You shouldn't be talking about your spouse in a negative way to other people. Keep that in-house because you know what? All the bad things that you say to each other, all the hard fights that you get in, where you think it's just over, we can't come back from this, you can come back from it. You can, and you do. And you forgive, and you move on. And it might seem like you're on the verge of divorce that night. You know, that's it, I've said too much, I can't get through this. It's over, I've said too much. And it's like the next day you're like, I love you, I love you too. You know, fixed. But you know what can't be fixed sometimes? Is when someone else, when you involve somebody else into your problems, and they're always going to have a bad taste in their mouth about the person that's not theirs, you know what I mean? It's always nepotism that messes things up when it comes to the parent laws with the children and the grandchildren. It doesn't matter how you want your grandchildren to be raised, they're not your children, they're your grandchildren. Just enjoy them. Don't try to run the house, all right? I know I'm going over here, but this is an important thing for people to understand. And Laban didn't get that through his dumb head. You know, he wanted everything and to have rights to the children too, and that the daughters were still his. You know, he wanted his cake and he needed it too, basically. Jacob was like, he's out of here. So it's a typical in-law logic, and it's a wrong logic. It's flawed logic. Once your daughter's given a marriage, you're no longer the authority, Dad. Just because you're a grandparent does not give you special rights. Genesis 31, verse 44, Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou, for a witness between me and thee. And I think that Laban, he's like, he knows they're at an impasse. And he wants things to be okay, but he realizes Jacob's leaving no matter what. And he wants kind of things to end on a good note here. Now, the Bible says if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. So there's this covenant that they're about to make here, and Jacob, you know, they take a stone, they set it up, and verse 45 says Jacob took a stone, set it for a pillar. Obviously, I believe that represents Christ. And Jacob had, said unto his brethren, gather stones, and they took stones and made a heap, and they did eat there upon the heap. And Laban called, oh man, Jegarsahadutha. Okay, how did you say it, CJ? How did you say it? Never mind. It's all right. He's lost it. That's a tough one. Jegarsahadutha. Okay. Thank you, brother CJ. Brother Eli, you want to try a minute on this? Okay, okay. He gave you the saying. Okay, good. But Jacob called it Gilead. That's an easier name, isn't it? Gilead. It kind of just rolls off the tongue a little better. And Laban said, this heap of the witness between me and thee this day, therefore was the name of it called Gelid and Mizpah. And he said, the Lord watched between me and thee when we are absent one from another. If thou afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives besides my daughters, no man is with us. See, God is witness betwixt me and thee. And Laban said to Jacob, behold this heap, and behold this pillar which I have cast betwixt me and thee. You know, and the truth is, sometimes when you're at an impasse with somebody, it's best to just say, the Lord judge between us. You can't figure out the argument, and I will say that to people sometimes. I just feel like, you know what, the Lord can just judge between us. Let him judge what's right, because we're at an impasse, and that's kind of what happens here. When he says, these are my daughters, these are my children, Jacob didn't say, oh yeah, they are. No, he just was probably like, nope, they're not. But anyway, so verse 53 says, the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And you'll see that term, judge between us, let God judge between us. And I think that that's, like I said, you're at an impasse, you just don't want to fight anymore. Let's just agree to disagree, and let God be the judge of this situation. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mountain, called his brethren to eat bread. And they did eat bread and tarried all night in the mountain. And early in the morning, Jacob rose up, kissed his sons and daughters, of course his grandchildren, and blessed them, and Laban departed and returned onto his place. So there's a peaceful resolution in the whole thing. Now they didn't agree, Jacob didn't agree with them, Laban didn't agree with Jacob, but they still were able to just have peace, and sometimes that's good enough. You know, maybe your in-laws aren't going to agree with you about everything, and how you do things and stuff, but you can still live peaceably with them to as much extent as you can. Obviously if there's some atheist reprobate, sodomite or something, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just normal people are just unsaved. You can still have somewhat of a relationship with them without it having to be a big strife between you. So sometimes peaceful resolutions cannot be attained, but if it's possible, we should try to make peace. But if you notice though, Jacob had to make boundaries, so they put this pillar, they pile it up, and what is it? It's a boundary between them two. Between his family, Jacob's family, and toxic people, Laban, in his life. And we have to do that as Christians sometimes. We have to recognize that a relationship is toxic, and that we have to put a boundary in place. And when that boundary is in place, you must respect your spouse. You must respect your significant other, your spouse, your husband, your wife, whatever. Respect them, because we can't just let people come into our lives and disrespect our boundaries, and you're just like, ah, it's okay. You can't operate your life like that. There's going to be problems, and we already have enough problems just because we're sinful people without having in-laws and family members and BFFs and all this other stuff involved in our marriage. Period. But it was resolved peaceably, wasn't it? But just remember to put God first when you're confused about what to do. So if you have some big decision in your life, you're like, well, what do you think God would want? Because we'll come up with a lot of good reasons why we do something, why we made this decision, why we moved clear across the country to Florida, which I don't know why you'd want to do that, but you can come up with all the fake reasons you want, but it should be something that you're putting God first in your life for. If you're moving across the country to a great church, then amen. And God's going to take care of you. He's going to bless you. You put Him first, and He's going to take care of you. That's what the Bible teaches. But if you have some kind of scheme that you want to get rich or you want to do this or that, and you don't have spiritual things on your mind when you're making a big decision, it's going to fail, and then you're going to be a failure, and then your wife's going to be mad at you. And obviously, if you make mistakes in life, sometimes people are the types of people that they just have to walk through the pain in order to learn the lesson. Some people, it's called learning things the hard way. You ever heard that before? Sometimes they're just people that just have to learn things the hard way. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them. It doesn't matter how much good counsel you give them. They're just like, nope, I'm just going to do what I'm going to do. And then it's like... But the great thing about Christians is that there are second chances and third chances, and God's going to give you second and third chances, and fellow Christians should give you another chance. So anyway, I'm done tonight. That's Genesis 31. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great day in church, for the people who got saved, and pray that you would just bless everybody as they go their separate ways. Thank you for this place that we can meet together, and we just thank you for your many blessings of this great chapter in the Bible that we can learn some great spiritual lessons. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, our last song will be song number 315, Take My Life and Let It Be. Song number 315, Take My Life and Let It Be. Song 315. Let's sing it on the first. Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. At the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King. Always only for my King. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne. It shall be Thy royal throne. May the Lord bless you, Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless you, Lord Jesus Christ.