If you have your Bibles, I want to ask you this morning to turn with me to Matthew's Gospel.
Matthew 1-17.
I know what some of you are thinking right now.
I know.
I called my mom this week and I told her what I was preaching on and she said, oh no.
This is the part of the passage or part of the Bible that we typically skip over when we are reading through, isn't it?
We are not interested in genealogy very much.
We don't understand it that much and we don't know the people that are in this genealogy.
So it is easier to just fly on by and get on to the good stuff and the meat.
Well, I want to tell you today, I want to rest, calm your nerves a little bit and tell you I am not going to read through the genealogy.
Now, in the first service I had a big amen from somebody when I said I wasn't going to be reading through the genealogy.
I am not going to stumble over these names and try to read through the genealogy knowing that you are probably not interested to begin with.
However, there is a purpose and a reason this is included in Scripture.
And I think it is important that we read all of the Scripture.
And I think that there are things in this genealogy that we can glean from, we can learn from, we can take it and apply it to our lives.
And I don't know who here today needs to hear this message, maybe all of us.
But there are some here today who need to really hear what I'm going to share.
Because I knew, even all night last night as I was trying to sleep, it kept getting in my mind going,
Is this really the right sermon?
Is genealogy really what I'm supposed to bring?
I get one shot a year sometimes.
Is this really, and God kept bringing me back to this was the message that he wanted me to speak.
So I know there are individuals here today, if not all of us, who need to hear this.
The other day I was watching Dateline.
This is mine and Michelle's regular routine.
It comes on on Friday nights.
And normally, many weeks, I'm online teaching pastors in Peru on Friday nights.
Most of you already know this.
But we teach Friday morning and Friday night, two hours at a time.
Same material but different groups.
And we have close to 100 that log on on Zoom and have been in our courses since the fall, or really August, of 2020.
We're seeing God do some really remarkable and wonderful things.
And we've invited you at any time.
Anytime you want to log on and just see it, let me know.
We'll give you the Zoom link and you can just get on and watch.
It is amazing.
We don't start on Friday nights until 9 o'clock at night because these pastors and church leaders have worked all day.
They're tired.
They're worn out.
But they're gaining so much.
And it's not me as a teacher.
It's the material that it's impacting their ministries and changing their churches.
But we record Dateline on Friday night.
Michelle and I have a regular routine.
We get up on Saturday mornings and we watch Dateline.
And a couple of weeks ago, we saw one that was extremely interesting.
There was a murder that had taken place, usually Dateline's based on that.
And they had DNA at the crime scene.
And so they put that in the FBI database, which is CODIS.
But there were no matches for that DNA.
Now, if there had been a match, it would have been solved and whammo, bammo.
It's history.
DNA is, I don't even know, one in a trillion, zillion people that it'll match.
So the detectives, they continued to try to solve this crime for years but never could get an exact match on the DNA.
They went around to all the family, all the friends, all the people in the circles of people that knew them, kept taking DNA tests and never could get a hit.
So years went by.
And finally, science changed and developed.
And get this.
If y'all watch Dateline, you know.
But if you don't, you may not know this.
They can take DNA and develop a picture of the individual that it belongs to today.
Now, even detectives thought, no, that's not going to work.
It's not going to help us.
But you know what?
They had no choice.
They were at their ropes in.
They had nowhere else to turn.
And years had gone by.
So they got approval to spend the money.
I think it was like $5,000 or something that their budget really didn't have to put into this.
But they wanted to solve this crime.
So they paid the money.
They sent the DNA off to the lab.
And a few weeks later, they get a picture of an individual that they believed that that DNA belonged to.
And at first, they went back to family.
And they were like, do you know this individual?
And they were like, we don't know that person.
And so they talked to more people and their circle of friends.
And everybody kept saying, we don't know that individual.
So, of course, the detectives were discouraged.
And they were thinking, well, that was a waste of time.
Until finally, a young man said, I know who that is.
I know.
And he gave the detectives the name of the individual.
And they began going to that individual and investigating him, even to the point where they got his DNA sample.
And guess what?
It was a perfect match.
And they took the DNA that was at the crime scene and his DNA match.
And you all know what that means.
It's a closed case.
And they solved that cold case murder from years ago.
Now, most Americans today, we're not very interested in genealogy, are we?
If we are, usually it's only out of curiosity.
We kind of want to know where we came from.
We want to know a little bit.
But we really aren't like, say, England that has royal bloodlines.
And they want to really trace their bloodline and prove who they are or where they came from.
That doesn't really interest us too much.
But we do so more out of curiosity.
In the late 90s, I had a 12-month time span where I had five family members to die on my father's side.
It was both of his parents, his brother, and an aunt and an uncle.
Well, that spiraled my dad into getting interested into genealogy.
And he traced the Rafferty family line on his side of the family all the way back into the 1700s when the first of the Rafferty's came from Ireland through Virginia to the United States.
But again, usually we're not very interested in genealogy.
We just, if we do so, we're doing it out of just curiosity.
However, today we're learning more and more about genealogy and the benefits of knowing our family line and how that affects our health.
If there's a trait of cancer that runs through our family line, we want to know that.
So that maybe we can do things that prevent it ahead of time.
Or, like I said just a minute ago, the DNA can help law enforcement solve a lot of crimes that would have been unsolvable years ago.
But again, usually we're more likely just curious.
When we see those Ancestry.com commercials on the television or other commercials for other organizations doing DNA tests, we've probably been tempted.
Yeah, I want to just see.
I've always been told I'm Scotch-Irish, but what else is mixed in there?
You know, where else do I come from?
And we just do so out of curiosity.
But for the Jews, it was different, wasn't it?
Why was it different?
Well, the Jews, they knew the prophecy in Isaiah that said the Messiah would come through the family line of David.
And so they knew very clearly that if someone showed up on the scene and said, I'm the Messiah,
if they could not trace that individual back through the family line of David,
then they dismissed that person's claim of being the Messiah.
Listen to Isaiah chapter 11, verses 1 through 5.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear.
But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
Any respectable Jew knew that prophecy, and they knew that the Messiah, this was a reference to the Messiah,
and that he would come through the family line of David.
And therefore they kept meticulous records and focused on the genealogy,
so that they would be able to approve or dismiss people's claims of being the Messiah.
This is why in Matthew's gospel account he begins with the genealogy.
We skip over it and move on.
But he was writing to the Jews, first and foremost.
He wanted them to understand who Jesus Christ was and that he was the Messiah.
In order for the Jews to accept that though, you had to establish first and foremost that he was from the family line of David.
Now in addition to proving that Jesus did indeed come from the family line of David,
and therefore he was qualified to be the Messiah,
the list of genealogy also reveals some other extraordinary truths.
And so today my focus of this message is not to prove to you that Jesus was the Son of God
and came through the family line of David.
But I think we can take this genealogy that's in Matthew chapter 1,
and we can pull out some very important truths that are found in these scriptures.
We can pull out some interesting facts about individuals' lives,
and how they lived,
and what God did through them.
And I think we can take that to uplift us,
encourage us, strengthen us,
and help us to apply those to our lives as we try to serve God
and walk with him closer each and every day.
When you look at this genealogy,
you see that there's 46 individuals in Matthew's account.
And it was a time span of 2,000 years.
Now think about that.
How old is the United States?
Roughly about 250 years.
Now we're talking 2,000 years of this genealogy.
And all these ancestors of Jesus,
they all lived very different lives
and very different lifestyles.
Some of them were heroes of the faith,
like Abraham, Isaac, and David,
some came from outside Israel
and had very questionable reputations,
like Rahab and Tamar.
Many were very ordinary,
and we know almost nothing about them,
or very little.
And a few of them, like Manasseh,
was actually a very wicked and very evil man.
And we wonder,
how could God include a man like Manasseh?
How could he include him in the genealogy of Jesus Christ?
Listen in 2 Kings 21, verses 1 through 3.
Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign.
And he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Hephzibah,
and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,
according to the despicable practices of the nations
whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah, his father,
had destroyed,
and he erected altars for Baal
and made an Asherah,
as Ahab, king of Israel, had done
and worshipped all the hosts of heaven
and served them.
If you really go back and begin
to explore the life of Manasseh,
which we get accounts here in 2 Kings,
but also 2 Chronicles,
you know, an outline of his life
and the sinfulness of this man would sicken you
because not only did he defile the temple of God,
Solomon's temple,
by bringing in altars
and making sacrifices to pagan gods,
he even sacrificed his own son
to these pagan gods.
And so when you look at the genealogy,
and there you see his name, Manasseh,
you wonder how could God put a man like that
in the family line of the coming Messiah,
Jesus Christ?
How could God forgive him of the things he's done?
But not only that,
how could he put him in that family line?
If you read in 2 Chronicles
and you see more about Manasseh,
you'll see that God brought justice to Manasseh.
He punished him and had him exiled to Babylon
because of his sinfulness
and because he led Israel to worship false gods
and to commit such sins.
But when Manasseh had heartfelt repentance,
he turned away from his sin
and asked God to forgive him.
God also forgave him,
brought him back from Babylon,
restored him in Judah
and restored him to his position as king
over the southern kingdom.
God is a remarkable and almighty God,
especially when we repent of our sin
and turn back to him
and ask forgiveness of that sin.
But we look at it as like,
why would God want a man like that?
Why would God want Manasseh
to be in the family line of the Messiah?
But what we learn from this list of people
who come from different walks of life
and who lived very different lives spiritually
is that we cannot limit or stop God's work
and his will from advancing and being accomplished.
We can't stop it.
God's will will be done.
God works through all types of people,
some extraordinary and some very common.
I learned that when I went to seminary.
I was in Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
The first year I was there was 1992
and it didn't take me long to realize
there's some really weird people here.
I was there when they were cleaning house
of the seminaries
and they were cleaning up Southern Seminary.
You had a social work program there
that attracted,
it was the only Southern Baptist seminary
that had a social work program
and it attracted a lot of,
did I say that out loud a minute ago?
It attracted a lot of different people.
But you know what God told me?
God told me,
I call all kinds of people,
you call strange,
indifferent.
He said,
but I call,
I call them to ministry
to reach all kinds of people.
Jeff's not going to reach all people.
Jeff's not going to connect
with all kinds of people.
But that guy over there might.
That guy over there,
that lady over there might.
You know,
so God calls all kinds of people
to reach all kinds of people.
And just as God chose all kinds of people
to be a part of Jesus' ancestral tree,
he uses all kinds of people today.
And he will continue to use
all types of people in the future
to accomplish his will.
And this is what I want you to hear.
If you don't hear anything else,
this is what I want you to hear
and what I want you to take away
from this message.
What I want you to take away
from the genealogy of Matthew.
God wants to use you.
God has a place for you,
not only in his family,
not only in his kingdom,
but God wants to use you
in the work that he is doing
upon this earth
until the day either we leave
or until he comes again.
God does not save us
for us to sit on the sidelines
and wait for him to return.
God calls us
to be a part of his family,
to receive the forgiveness of our sins,
but then to join him
in the work that he's doing.
God doesn't need us.
He can accomplish
anything he wants to accomplish
and never use a single person.
But he wants to include us.
He wants to allow us
to have the privilege
of offering him our lives
and him taking us
and using us
to do great and magnificent
and mighty things in us.
And you might be sitting here today
and thinking,
I don't have anything to offer.
I don't know what I would do.
I'm not good enough.
I'm not experienced enough.
I'm not trained enough.
I don't have anything.
Well, when I was 16 years of age,
I began feeling God
calling me into ministry.
Now in Kentucky,
where I grew up,
churches called their pastor
Brother So-and-So.
And I kept going,
God, Brother Rafferty
just doesn't sound right.
So I can't do it.
Sorry.
And it scared me to death.
People with my church
would walk up to me
out of the blue
and go,
you're going to be a preacher,
aren't you?
And I'd be like,
nope, not me.
Not going to do it.
You're wrong about that.
And you know,
I fought God
for probably two years.
I was a senior in high school,
18 years of age,
and I finally broke.
And I said,
God,
I don't know what you're doing.
I don't know why you want me.
I have nothing to offer you.
You know,
I'm not qualified.
I'm not capable.
I'm not sure I even want to do that.
But I tell you what,
I'll give you my life,
and you take me,
and you do with me
whatever you will.
And if it ends in failure,
it's your fault.
You know,
I still to this day
don't feel qualified.
I still don't feel capable.
I still wonder
why God chose me.
You know,
I look around,
I've got a brother,
I've got a sister,
I've got others
in my family,
and I wonder
why God chose me
out of them.
I'm the youngest,
you know,
and I just wonder,
but I said,
God,
you take me
and you do with me
whatever you will.
And that's the way
I've served
since that day
is that I gave God
my life
and said,
you take me.
Now,
you might be sitting here
today too,
and you might be thinking,
I don't have anything
to offer.
I'm too old.
I'm too young.
I'm not experienced enough.
I don't have anything
to offer God,
but I'll promise you
one thing.
If you'll come
to the altar,
to the feet of Jesus
and say,
God,
here I am.
I don't know
what you want.
I don't know
why you want me,
but I'll give you
my life,
and I'll serve you
faithfully
and obediently
through the best
of my ability,
through the power
of God's Holy Spirit
that works
in me.
God doesn't need us,
but he wants
to include us
and use us.
And you look around.
We don't have to even
go outside the walls
of this church
to look around
and see some mighty
and magnificent things
that God has been
doing here
in this church.
People's lives
have been changed.
We see more people
coming every week,
and we see God
doing some magnificent
things.
here I am a
country bumpkin boy
from Whitesville,
Kentucky,
and God's using me
to get on the internet
and train pastors
in Peru.
I never dreamed
that that would be
something God
would do in my life.
You may not be dreaming
about what God
could do with you.
Have you got natural
talents of singing?
Brian's got a few chairs
still up here.
He said most
of his choir members
have a natural talent
to sing.
He's got a few seats
that he's wanting to,
no, I'm just kidding.
Can you,
can you teach?
We got a lot of teachers
in this church.
Can you use that talent
with our preschool,
our children,
our youth,
even adults?
Can you smile
and shake hands?
You could serve
as greeter.
Can you take up
the offerings
and give me your money?
You know,
there's so many ways
to serve in this church.
We have people
that come and put
the flowers out
every week
and beautify our church.
We have people
that go out
on mission trips.
There's something
in between.
If God is laying it
on your heart,
don't let anything
hold you back
and say,
I can't do that.
I won't do that.
If God's been pestering
you about something,
He wants to include you
in His work
and His ministry
and what He's doing.
And you're robbing yourself
out of the joy
and the privilege
of joining God
and being a part
of what He's doing.
And so I would encourage you
not to hold back.
Don't hold back.
You know,
the main purpose
that Matthew wrote here
was to show us
how we could be a part
of His kingdom
and salvation.
But also,
we learned from the genealogy
that He used
all kinds of people.
Another interesting note
that I found
in my study Bible
pointed out
that there were
four women
listed in this genealogy.
Now that was shocking
and rare
that you would have
four women
in this genealogy.
And not only four women
but the women
that were included
in this genealogy
was shocking.
There would have been
very ethnic
and ethical questions
by the Jewish readers
as they read this passage.
All of them
were more than likely
not Israelites.
And up until that point
they felt God
had just come
for the Jews
and the Jews alone.
But now you've got
four women
who were not Israelites
by birth
and they seemed
to be very scandalous
to mention
in an ancestral tree
of the coming Messiah.
Tamar acted
like a prostitute
to scam
her father-in-law Judah.
Rahab was a prostitute
and a foreigner
but she helped
deliver the city
of Jericho
into the hands
of the Israelites
and she showed faith
in their God.
Ruth was from Moab
an enemy
of Israel
and yet she took care
of her mother-in-law
Naomi
and was praised
for being better
than seven sons.
And David
committed adultery
with Bathsheba
and yet Bathsheba
became
the mother
of Solomon
the wisest king
of Israel
in all times.
This is a very
interesting family line
that God chose
to bring his son
into the world
through.
Matthew's genealogy
is very interesting
because it shows us
the good
it shows us
the bad
and it shows us
the very ugly
and it doesn't leave
out anyone
who might have been
questionable
in that day and time
and the point
Matthew's trying to make
is that God
sent his son
into the world
to be the savior
for all people
Jews
Gentiles
men
and women
and no matter
who people are
or where
they come from
God's plan
of salvation
is offered
to all people
and if he includes us
in salvation
he wants us
to take the gifts
and the talents
and the experiences
of our lives
and get plugged in
to what he's doing
on this earth
as Henry Blackaby
who wrote the study
experiencing God
more than 30 years ago
he said
look to see
where God is working
and join him
where is God
working around
your life
you know
it might not be
getting plugged in
to something
here at church
it might be
your family
it might be
you need to
lead Bible studies
with your family
members
or your children
or your grandchildren
there may be
other things
you may be
need to be
a witness
to a neighbor
or a co-worker
or visit people
in a nursing home
and give them
hope and encouragement
there are so many ways
that God can use you
and he's laid
something on your heart
he doesn't call us
to serve out of drudgery
he doesn't want us
to have to dig
our heels in
and he'll pull us
he's laid something
on your heart
that you love to do
you love to do something
and God can probably
take that
and use that
to bring glory
and honor to him
so what is that
what is that
nagging thing
that God keeps
tapping on your
mind and your heart
that he wants you
to do
don't hold back
look at this
genealogy
and see that God
used all kinds
of people
and if he used
people like Manasseh
he can use you
so today I'm going
to close
with a couple
of questions
first of all
have you accepted
that free gift
from Jesus Christ
of forgiveness
of your sin
and to receive him
as your Lord
and Savior
we celebrated
that last week
with Easter
of celebrating
the resurrection
of Jesus
and through the
death burial
and resurrection
of Christ
we know that
we can come
to know Jesus
Christ as our
Lord and Savior
and that he'll
forgive us
of whatever your
past is
it doesn't matter
you look at
Manasseh
God forgave him
and restored him
God can forgive
you
God can cleanse
you
God can purify
you
and he can
bring you
into his
family
if you've not
received that
why not
what is holding
you back
the other
question I
want to ask
you today
for those
of you
who are
children of
God
who've already
received Jesus
as your Lord
and Savior
have you come
before God
and said
take me
and use me
and do with me
whatever you will
take me Lord
use me
to serve you
to be a witness
and to bring
glory and honor
to the name
of Jesus
Christ
if you've not
done that
what's holding
you back
what's keeping
you
from saying
God take me
and bring glory
to your name
I don't have
anything to offer
I'm not qualified
I'm not capable
but I give
you my
life
in just a moment
we'll have a
time of invitation
and if God's saying
anything to your heart
this morning
maybe you need to
receive him as your
Lord and Savior
or maybe you want
to say
God take me
use me
or maybe you need
to just pray
about something
I'll be at the front
for us to do that
let's go to the Lord
in prayer
Lord I thank you
for this day
what a wonderful day
to be here
in the house of God
to worship you
to praise you
to study your word
and see
how you're in the
life changing business
and you take
individuals like
Manasseh
you take
individuals
that we would
never think
could be used
but you use them
to bring glory
and honor to you
and so I pray
that you're working
in each of our hearts
and helping us
to see
how you want
to use us too
and we thank you
for that
we praise you
in Jesus name
Amen