in two of the Old Testament prophets' writings
that was a popular phrase among the people of God in those days.
One time it's mentioned is in Ezekiel 18, verse 2,
when it says,
The father eats the grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
The thought is that when your parents do something wrong,
you're going to face the judgment for it.
And there's talk of that in the book of Exodus.
And there's talk of that in the book of Deuteronomy.
Sometimes people call these generational curses.
However, as the new covenant began to be revealed,
that is the one that was promised through the prophets
about the difference that the coming Christ would make.
That's the new covenant.
Ezekiel and Jeremiah said that we teach,
that we each are responsible for our own sins,
not the sins of our ancestors.
We can't blame our sin on our ancestors.
We're responsible for our sins,
not anybody else's.
And no one else is responsible for ours.
That's not to say we're not influenced by others.
However, we are influenced by other people's sins.
And the fault of those before us
influence us as well.
Either we fall right back in that cycle of fault,
or either we learn from that and we do better.
Those faults lead to a lack of healthy function.
It leads to dysfunction.
And that dysfunction can drag from one generation
to another generation.
And all of that can lead to disaster.
I spent quite a bit of time last week looking at the book,
I mean, excuse me, looking at Jacob in the book of Genesis,
looking at Jacob.
Even though this series is about the life of Joseph,
I thought it was important to understand
the role that his father played
in a lot of what happens in the coming days
that we'll be looking at.
And I want us to see today
how Jacob's actions affected his kids' lives.
I want us to look at the entirety of Genesis 37,
which I know scares you to death.
But we're just gonna slowly weave through this passage together.
Genesis chapter 37, beginning in verse one,
it says,
Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings,
in the land of Canaan.
These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being 17 years old,
was pastoring the flock with his brothers.
He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah,
his father's wives.
And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
Now, when you look at this bad report
that it's talking about here,
look in the original language,
it speaks of a whispering report about something evil.
Actually, about something immoral.
So what you have here is a little bit of gossip,
a little bit of a tattletale,
but this content of what he had to say
was something that his brothers had done
that was immorally wrong.
And he made sure that his dad knew about it.
Now, just because I've got two older brothers
that I grew up with,
I happen to believe that the brothers found out
that Joseph had told his daddy.
I might be wrong.
I can't prove that.
But I bet somebody knew about it.
It says,
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons
because he was the son of his old age.
If you remember the life of Jacob,
Rachel was Jacob's real love.
He worked for seven years,
and his father-in-law betrayed him,
gave him the ugly sister instead.
And when he woke up the next morning with the wrong woman,
he'd come back and said,
That's not the one that I worked seven years for.
And he said,
Well, if you'll pledge to work another seven years,
you can have the other one.
And so he married both of them,
but Rachel was always his love.
And Rachel had a hard time having children.
As a matter of fact,
she told him to go ahead and get with her servant
and so they could have children.
And then Leah,
Rachel's sister had children,
and Leah's servant had children.
Everybody seemed to be having children,
but Rachel,
it's a big burden to her.
And when Joseph was born to Rachel,
Jacob's real love,
it was a big deal.
It was a big deal.
When she attempted to have a second child,
she died in childbirth,
right as Benjamin was being born.
So understand that throughout the life of Rachel,
the only child that she bore herself was Joseph.
And she cherished Joseph.
And then Jacob cherished Rachel.
And so whatever Rachel loved,
he loved that much more.
And it showed a favoritism over his other kids as well.
All of that played into this relationship.
And while Rachel was alive,
Joseph was the only child that she had.
And paid a lot more attention to him
than she did the other children.
And that played into Jacob's favoritism as well.
And it says,
and he made him a robe of many colors.
Now I spoke of the elegant nature of that robe
and what you see in the original language there
that it speaks of.
We think about the coat of many colors,
kind of like Dolly Parton's coat of many colors,
quilted together.
That is not what we're talking about here at all.
What we are talking about is a very elegant robe.
Matter of fact,
the Hebrew word there speaks of cuffs going to the wrist
as well as dropping all the way to the ankles.
If it drops all the way to the ankles,
what that means is it's not a working robe, okay?
It is an elegant robe.
And he was a privileged child.
And so notice that although there was a pattern of him
working with his brothers as with the sheep,
it speaks of that earlier in the passage that we talk about.
In this passage,
it says that they were working the sheep.
And while they were working the sheep,
Joseph was at home.
He was wearing that equivalent to a mink coat around the house,
okay?
Instead of his brothers working in a pasture 50 miles from home.
Verse four says,
but when his brothers saw that their father loved him
more than all his brothers,
they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
So Joseph was the golden child.
And when they saw the admiration in the eyes of their father for Joseph,
as well as witnessing him lauding over him,
they hated him.
They did not speak kindly to him.
It doesn't seem like it could get worse than that,
but just hold on a minute.
Because it says now,
Joseph had a dream.
And when he told it to his brothers,
they hated him even more.
Now listen,
some dreams,
even if they are of God,
don't need to be shared immediately,
okay?
And if they are,
they need to be done carefully.
And Joseph didn't do that.
I want you to notice this.
He said to him,
hear this dream that I dream.
Behold,
we are binding sheaves in the field.
We were binding sheaves in the field.
And behold,
my sheaf arose and stood upright.
And behold,
your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.
Okay?
Now I'm just thinking,
if I had said that to my brothers,
I wouldn't have remembered the rest of that day.
I would have went under the concussion protocol from dealing with that.
Now,
what about these dreams from God?
Let me go there a minute.
Because I've had people come to me over the years and say,
Pastor,
I had a dream.
And I don't know if that was just my doings.
I don't know if that was God telling me something.
I don't know if Satan's messing with me.
I don't know how to interpret this dream.
Okay?
And I got a minor in psychology and I did a dream project in college that I
barely remember.
So I'm an expert.
Okay?
So when they share this dream with me,
what I always ask them is this.
How did that dream make you feel?
And if they come out of that dream feeling convicted,
well,
the devil didn't do that.
He don't cause conviction of sin.
And if they come out of that dream feeling encouraged,
to be more obedient to the Lord,
or to follow through with God's plan for something,
that sounds like it's from God to me.
But if they come out beaten down,
and they come out discouraged,
and they come out like they're on the losing end,
then I always tell them,
I don't think that's from God.
I really don't.
I mean,
let's look at the message.
And I could go on with this.
But we get caught up in the miracles of Scripture.
But when you study the miracles of Scripture,
always hang on at the end to find out the message there.
Because they're not just sprinkled for no reason.
There's always a message there.
And that message says a lot about the source,
whether it's a miracle or whether it's a dream.
So in response to this dream,
his brother said to him,
are you indeed to reign over us?
Or are you indeed to rule over us?
And Scripture says,
so they hated him even more for his dreams
and for his words.
So in other words,
every time he opened his mouth,
especially with that coat on,
it gets worse.
But he's not done.
He's still talking.
Then he dreamed another dream.
And he told it to his brothers and said,
behold, I've dreamed another dream.
And behold, the sun, the moon, and 11 stars
were bowing down to me.
But when he told to his father and to his brothers,
his father rebuked him and said to him,
what is this dream that you've dreamed?
Shall I and your mother and your brothers
indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?
And his brothers were jealous of him,
but his father kept the saying in mind.
How horrible.
However, I want you to understand that it's obvious
these dreams are from the Lord
because what he's saying is true.
Did he have to say it?
I don't know about that.
Scripture ain't clear about that.
I don't know that he had to tell his older brothers.
Why in the world would he do that?
But he did.
Okay.
But the dreams came from the Lord.
The dream was giving.
Now think about this.
Joseph's going to go through some stuff.
And I hope I remember to bring you back to this time
in this passage.
Because when he goes through some stuff,
he's going to need some encouragement along the way.
And you know what that encouragement will be?
Where he will be?
The dreams that he had so long ago
that tells him that God's going to raise him up.
That God's going to take care of him
in the midst of all that.
But what he's saying is true.
Stirs up his brothers.
They hated him anyway because he was favored.
And then that favoritism showed
because he got an elegant coat.
It stands out to me that they're in the field
50 miles away.
And he's at the house.
And then when he did see them before they went,
he told them about these dreams of how
most of them being his older brothers
would bow down to him.
Man, that ain't going over in the home I lived in.
I'm just telling you.
He just wouldn't do it.
They wouldn't allow it to happen.
My brothers wouldn't.
It says now his brothers went out to pasture.
Their father's flock near Shechem.
And Israel said to Joseph,
Are not your brothers pastoring the flock of Shechem?
Come and I will send you to them.
And he said to him, Here am I.
So he said to him, Go now.
See if it's well with your brothers
and with the flock and bring me word.
So he sent him from the valley of Hebron
and he came to Shechem.
Several things about this passage I want to point out.
One is, Did you hear the response of Joseph?
His daddy told him to go.
And what did he say?
He said, Here I am.
I'm ready to serve.
We see a wonderful passage of Scripture in Isaiah
that talks about Isaiah worshiping before the throne of God.
And Isaiah's response to God in the midst of that was, Here I am.
I'm ready.
I'm ready to serve.
Joseph had the right attitude toward his father.
Made a lot of mistakes.
Father made a lot of mistakes.
But he had the right attitude toward his father.
It's an encouragement to us to have the right attitude
before our father.
When he speaks to us, tells us what to do.
Here I am.
He was ready to serve.
Now it says he goes to Shechem.
Does Shechem ring a bell at all?
You see, Shechem was the name of the man
that raped Joseph's sister.
And after Shechem raped Joseph's sister,
he wanted to make it right.
So he went and asked for her hand.
And his daddy, Jacob, was a passive father.
He didn't really do anything.
But those brothers, those brothers said,
if you want her hand,
she's not going to be around a bunch of uncircumcised men.
So if you want her hand,
not only you, but all the men around you
must be circumcised first
before you can have our sister as your wife.
And so, because the man Shechem really wanted
Joseph's sister,
they all were circumcised.
And while they were still healing,
and while they were still hurting,
Joseph's brothers came back
and killed every last one of them.
Killed everybody,
every man in the region.
Took the women and children into their home.
But killed all the men.
Now,
the area in which Shechem lived
was called Shechem.
Because that's where he lived.
And now they're back pasturing sheep
in that very area.
Now,
due to the total clean out
that happened previously,
I don't know that it was dangerous.
Because all those guys were gone.
However,
you know,
I get the sense
that that may play into Jacob
asking Joseph,
will you go check on your brothers?
And make sure they're safe?
Because we have a history in that area.
Why don't you check on them?
It says in verse 15,
And a man found him wandering in the fields.
And the man asked him,
What are you seeking?
And he said,
I'm seeking my brothers, he said.
Tell me, please,
where they are pasturing the flock.
And the man said,
They've gone away,
for I heard them say,
Let's go to Dothan.
So Joseph went after his brothers
and found them at Dothan.
Okay?
That's not Alabama.
That's a long way from there.
But Shechem was 50 miles.
When he got to Shechem,
he didn't bother to turn around
and tell his daddy,
They've moved on.
They're fine.
There's not a problem in Shechem.
He found out they went on to Dothan,
which was 14 more miles.
And he walked on to Dothan
to check on his brothers.
He went further than
he had previously thought he was going.
And I wonder why he did that.
I mean, it could have been
because he was a good son
and because his father put him on a task
and he wanted to do what God,
he wanted to do what his father wanted him to do.
However, I also wonder,
was he looking to get something on his brothers?
Remember, he had a history
of giving bad reports about them.
He at least gave one evil report about them.
So was he just trying to find something on them
to make himself look better?
Or was he following his father's command?
I don't know.
I just want you to think about it.
I'll tell you what he did do.
He strutted for another 14 miles in that coat.
That non-working coat
in front of his hard-working brothers.
Either way,
whether it was for good
or whether it was for bad,
he walked all the way with that coat on
and they saw him coming.
Looked like Ric Flair in the desert coming through.
And they saw him coming.
And they got to murmuring
before he ever got to them.
And they saw him from afar
and before he came near to them,
they conspired against him to kill him.
They said to one another,
here comes this dreamer.
Now they had a lot to get keyed up about.
He was obviously the favorite.
He got the preferential treatment.
He was not in the field.
He was wearing that coat.
And he also basically told them
that they would serve him.
Now let me reiterate
that what he said was true.
And yes, what he said was of God.
But it may not have been of God
the way he told them.
I don't really know.
But he may not.
I know they didn't take it that way.
And the dream came from God.
His father took note of that dream.
He knew something special was about it.
He knew God had his hand on Joseph.
And his brothers said to each other,
come on, come now.
Let us kill him.
And throw him into one of the pits.
Then we'll say that a fierce animal
has devoured him
and we'll see what will become of his dreams.
Now this pit they're talking about
is a large cistern in the ground.
And the way they would dig these things out
is they would dig out a hole
and then they would open it up
under the ground like you see.
They went through rainy seasons.
It only rained about four months out of the year.
You better get as much water
as you possibly can out of that rain
because they live in desert conditions.
And so they had different inlets
that would bring that water
into that collection, okay?
Now those things were,
they were plastered with limestone
limestone to seal them.
But in reality,
they didn't last all year long.
Not only would they use the water
and the water would dry up,
but they'd also have cracked cisterns sometimes
that would not hold water.
And even when they did hold water,
I just want you to understand this,
we're not talking about a fresh spring of sorts.
This is limestone, okay?
So when you opened up that stone lid
and looked inside of it,
you couldn't see much of anything.
And if somebody didn't put the lid
back on that cistern,
what fell in that hole?
You don't know until you drop your bucket in
to see what you got.
Now that ain't part of this story,
but I just want you to imagine,
you know, you complain about,
don't complain about water
because I promise you,
they had it rough
when it comes to this cistern
that they're dealing with.
They were wells that were dug out
and limey water.
I just thought I'd whip your appetite with that.
This cistern that he dropped in had no water.
We read of Jeremiah
falling in one that was full of mud
and having difficulty getting out because of that.
But this one was dry.
Cisterns often broke
and the water seeped into the ground.
As a matter of fact,
in Jeremiah,
God uses cisterns
to talk about
how we turn to other options
instead of faithfulness to God
and how useless that is.
Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13 says this,
For my people have committed two evils.
They have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
In other words,
instead of relying upon the Lord,
they try to go their own way
and their own way is dry
and does not work.
That's another sermon for another day,
but we'll never be satisfied
when we try to substitute
God's very best for our lives
with other options.
They were going to kill him
and they were going to throw him in a dry well.
But when Reuben heard it,
he rescued him out of their hands,
saying,
Let's not take his life.
And Reuben said to them,
Shed no blood,
throw him into this pit here in the wilderness,
but do not lay a hand on him.
And he said that,
that he might rescue him out of their hand
to restore him to his father.
Reuben thought,
if they left him to die,
I will leave them,
but when they leave this area,
I'll come back
and I'll rescue my brother.
So when Joseph came to his brothers,
they stripped him of his robe,
the robe of many colors that he wore,
and they took him
and threw him into the pit.
The pit was empty.
There was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat.
I'm going to say that again.
They threw him in the pit.
The pit was empty.
It had no water in it.
And then they sat down to eat.
Does that strike you as coldly as it struck me?
They sat down to eat.
I find it interesting
that later in the story,
the brothers tell us
what they were experiencing
during the meal.
The reality is,
in Genesis 42, verse 21,
it tells us that Joseph
was begging them in distress,
but they would not listen.
And that echoed in their mind
in latter days.
That's hatred, my friend.
And it's wrong.
And that kind of action
echoed in their minds.
It says,
and looking up,
they saw a caravan
of Ishmaelites
coming from Gilead
with their camels
bearing gum, balm, and myrrh
on their way
to carry it down to Egypt.
Then Judah said to his brothers,
what profit is it
if we kill our brother
and conceal his blood?
Come,
let us sell him
to the Ishmaelites
and let not our hand
be upon him,
for he's our brother,
our own flesh.
And his brothers
listened to him.
Then Midianite traders
passed by
and they drew Joseph up
and lifted him up out of the pit
and sold him to the Ishmaelites
for 20 shekels of silver.
They took Joseph
to Egypt.
Now,
it mentions here
Ishmaelites
and it mentions
Midianites.
And Ishmaelites
and Midianites
are relatives.
They're both descendants
of Abraham.
And Ishmaelites
are thought to be
like the Bedouins
or like gypsies.
That name
kind of become
personified with that.
They're thought to be
gypsies
and the Midianites
cousins
and of that same folk
really was the
was the middlemen
for the Ishmaelites.
Ishmaelites
were the ones
that owned it.
The Midianites
were the negotiators
or the managers
typically.
And we're not sure
why they are described
like they are here
but they're
going to market
and they got a slave
at a good price.
One theologian
said that
they paid the price
for a disabled servant
for Joseph.
Another one said
it was for a common
servant.
When Reuben
returned to the pit
and saw that Joseph
was not in the pit
he tore his clothes
it was a sign of mourning
and returned
to his brothers
and said
the boy is gone
and I
where shall I go?
Now there's a
back story
to Reuben
because after
Rachel died
Reuben
laid
with Bilhah
his father's
servant
or often called
his concubine.
Now I told you
last week
that having
two wives
and having
two servants
and having children
with all of them
is not of God.
Okay?
It was culturally
correct in that day.
They thought
little of it
but God
never honored
that.
God never
allowed that.
They just did it.
Okay?
There's a lot of things
in our culture today
that will tell you
it's okay.
That don't mean
that God says
it's okay.
And so
they did that.
But I'm telling you
even society
said
don't go lay
with your father's
concubine.
That's wrong.
Even society
pagan society
knew
that was wrong.
Bilhah
was the mother
of two
of Reuben's
brothers
and being
the passive
father
that Jacob
was
he did
absolutely
nothing
about it
except speak
to him
later
in his life.
Now when I
get to this
passage
and I think
about what
Reuben did
to his father
and that
confrontation
that took
place from
that
and how
Joseph
was his
father's
favorite
and he
knew that
I can't
help but
think that
Reuben is
trying to
make up
for past
mistakes.
If I can
protect what
my daddy
loves the
most
well then
maybe my
daddy will
love me
and he
freaked out
when Joseph
was not
in the
cistern
that he
thought he
would be
in.
Verse 31
says
then they
took
Joseph's
robe
and they
slaughtered
a goat
and dipped
the robe
into blood
and they
sent the
robe of
many colors
and brought
it to their
father and
said this is
what we
found.
Please
identify
whether it's
your son's
robe or
not.
Do you
get that?
They've
taken it
off of
Joseph.
They're
the ones
that tore
it up
and now
they're
bringing it
to him
saying does
this happen
to be
Joseph's
robe?
And he
identified it
and said it
is my
son's robe.
A fierce
animal has
devoured him.
Joseph is
without doubt
torn to
pieces.
Then Jacob
tore his
garments and
put sackcloth
on his
loins and
mourned for
his son many
days.
All his
sons and
his daughters
rose up to
comfort him
but he
refused to
be comforted.
And he
said now I
shall go
down to
Sheodah to
my son
mourning.
Thus his
father wept
for him.
Now when it
speaks of him
tearing his
clothing and
putting sackcloth
on his
loins and
mourning for
his son for
many days,
it speaks of
an inconsolable
grief.
Normally when
somebody grieved
they'd grieve for
a week.
If it was
somebody in
their immediate
family they
may grieve for
a month.
But in
reality this
speaks of
many days.
And then he
says now I
shall go down
to Sheodah to
my son mourning.
What Jacob is
saying is I'm
not going to
mourn for my
boy for a
week.
I'm not going
to mourn for
my boy for a
month.
I'm going to
mourn for him
for all of my
life.
I'll die
mourning the
loss of my
son.
He mentions
Sheod.
Sheod is the
abode for the
dead.
And because of
the truths that
are shared in the
New Testament we
have a much
better understanding
of the afterlife
than Jacob did.
We have a much
better understanding
of the afterlife
than the people of
the Old Testament
did.
very few
references to
as we see
heaven and
hell.
God through
progressive
revelation has
revealed more
and more of
his work,
more and more
of his way,
the reality of
eternity.
As the word of
God was made
complete we got
that much more
of it.
And the New
Testament tells
us descriptively
of the horrors
of hell and the
glories of heaven.
When he mentions
Sheod here it
speaks a lot to
the ignorance that
he has about
what's coming after
death.
And that's often
what scripture
spoke of in the
Old Testament.
Because God
hadn't revealed to
them the horrors
of those without
Christ and the
glories of those
with Christ.
It says meanwhile
the Midianites had
sold in Egypt
to Potiphar.
Potiphar.
An officer of
Pharaoh,
the captain of
the guard.
That cell in the
slavery is the
beginning of the
rest of the story.
But what's in all
that for us?
What does that say
to us?
Three things
that I see.
One is greatness
can come through
brokenness.
this family is a
mess.
And we've seen
some of the fruit
of it today.
A passive
biased father
makes for a
spoiled child
and for some
hateful brothers.
And when that
child is so
outspoken and
very visionary
it makes so much
worse.
The first part
of chapter 37
builds a powder
keg of family
conflict.
You know there's
something coming
when you see
Joseph walking
through the desert
with that robe
on looking for
his hateful
brothers.
And when he
got there
it blew up.
The boastful
young brother
was met by an
envious murderous
clan of brothers.
And if you don't
know the rest of
this story
you need to come
back next week.
You may not
believe me but
all of this
brokenness will
turn into greatness
over the next
13 years of
Joseph's life
that we have a lot
of detail about.
That's all to say
that our past
does not have to
define our future.
Don't let the
devil tell you
that you can't.
Don't let the
devil tell you
that you can't
get out of the
pit.
That means you
may feel like
you're in.
Don't ever believe
that.
Because greatness
can come
through brokenness.
Second thing is
this.
God's with us.
There's a passage
in Acts where
Stephen is testifying
about the Lord's
work.
It's such a
powerful testimony
that people couldn't
stand it.
And they ended up
stoning him to death
throwing rocks at him
until he died
because of his
powerful, powerful
sermon about the
power of God
and how those
even of that
modern day church
had missed
the power of God
and had not
walked with God.
and he is
going through
how God has
worked, Stephen
in his sermon
about how God
has worked
through the
generations.
And he gets
to this and he
says this in Acts
7 verse 9.
And the patriarchs
jealous of Joseph
sold him into
Egypt.
But God
was with him.
God was with him
in the pit.
God was with him
in the slavery.
God was with him
through it all.
I said that to a
grieving family on
Friday.
That God would be
with them when the
family and the
friends and the
food were gone.
God's still going to
be there with you.
He'll walk with you
through it all.
I've said it through
prisoners.
between bars.
Standing on the
other side of the
bars.
I've spoken to them
in solitary confinement
and told them, I want
you to understand
something.
You feel very alone
right now.
God's with you.
I've said it to those
that feel like they're
at the wit's end.
And it's true.
God's with you.
If you have ever
surrendered your life
to Christ,
Christ promises us
in Hebrews 13 5,
I will not leave you
or forsake you.
If you've ever
surrendered your life
to Christ,
Romans 10 13 tells us
that everyone who
calls upon the name
of the Lord will be
saved.
He will be with you.
I don't know what
valley you're going
through.
I don't know what
pits you feel like
you're in.
I don't know what
kind of brothers you're
dealing with,
but I want you to know
you're not alone.
God's with you.
Third thing is this.
God's not done.
He's not done with
Joseph.
God's not done with us.
Years ago,
I was in a premarital
counseling session
with a couple,
a dear young couple.
I loved them to death.
And I asked them
to fill out a form
with a lot of
open-ended questions.
And one of those
questions was,
I see myself as,
and there was a blank.
When I was looking
at his paperwork
before they came in,
he put out there
beside that,
I see myself as
a cycle breaker.
I see myself as
a cycle breaker.
Well,
I'll just be honest
with you.
I was kind of dumb
that day.
I couldn't figure out
what he was talking
about.
I thought,
I didn't even know
he rode bikes.
What does he do,
jump or something?
How is he breaking
bikes?
What in the world
is he talking about?
I didn't give it
much thought
until I met
with that dear couple.
And when I met
with them,
I said,
I want to ask you
a question.
You answered
the question
in an interesting
way.
What did you mean
by,
I see myself
as a cycle breaker?
And that young man
looked at me
and said,
throughout the
generations,
there's been a cycle
in my family
of alcoholism
and lostness.
And I'm going to
break that cycle.
I can tell you,
that young man's
a faithful husband.
That young man
is a successful
and a comforting
source
to this community.
That young man
is a wonderful father
to his children.
That young man
is a loving husband
to his wife.
And that young man
is a force
in his church.
And yes,
he's a cycle breaker.
And God's
not done
with him.
And God's
not done
with you.
And God's
not done
with me.
And God's
not done
with us.
May we live
every day
to please him
in all we do.
Now,
if you're here
this morning
with every head bowed
and every eye closed,
I want to ask you
if you've ever
given your heart
and life
to the Lord
Jesus Christ.
I didn't ask you
if everybody
thought you had.
I ask you
if you ever have.
Because if you haven't,
I don't want you
to leave here today
until you say,
Pastor,
I want to give
my heart and life
to Jesus.
I want to be saved.
I want to know
that he's always
with me
and I want to know
that I'll always
be with him.
Maybe you've done that
but you've never
acknowledged him publicly
so it's been
a private matter
for you.
Jesus,
by his commission
and by his example,
told us that we
are to be baptized
to show our
obedience to follow him.
That's never happened
to you.
I encourage you
to come
in just a few moments
when we stand
to sing.
Be obedient.
We'll line that up
in the coming days.
We're putting it
on the schedule
just these days.
Maybe you're here
and God's drawing you
to First Baptist Church.
God's doing a wonderful
work in our church.
I'm thankful for that.
Maybe God's drawing you
to be a part
of this church.
You come.
We'd love to talk
about that with you.
Or maybe there's
just stuff in your life
that you,
maybe there's a cycle
you need to break.
Maybe there's a pit
you need to be reminded
that God's there
with you.
I don't know
what your circumstances
are,
but I know he'll meet
you where you are
so you can seek
his face
where you'll stand
in just a moment
at his altar
or with a pastor
praying for you.
Whatever you need
to do,
I just encourage
you to be obedient
and follow the Lord
as he leads you.
Lord Jesus,
I love you
and I thank you,
dear Lord,
for your love for us.
I ask right now
that you'll move
and you'll work
in our midst.
In Jesus' precious name,
Amen.