As I've sent out the links there
for the meetings in Yuba-Sutter, I told Gabe and I put it in the
bulletin and I'll tell you again, that's just heavy on my heart
the last few days. Gabe being up there, I hope the
Lord blesses the state of California mightily through that and teaches
his people something. and clarity and simplicity. And I just, I don't know why.
I mean, I begged for that yesterday and told him I was begging for
it. And then afterwards I thanked him and I said, well, he did
this, this poor sinner, if he didn't, he might have. I pray for this state.
I pray for this nation, our leaders. I pray for this world and all
would know Christ. I pray for your souls, and I
pray for those that don't even know when the Lord puts it on
me. And I was talking to Brother
Fred the other day. There'll come a day, those that I earnestly
love and pray for, and the Lord won't work in them. He'll condemn
them to hell for eternity, and I won't have sin in me. And as
they walk through that judgment, he'll say, depart from me, I
never knew you. And I'll say, amen, that's right.
Good, I can't enter into that. I don't know what that'll be
like. It'll be something. Genesis 31. Genesis 31. I guess what I was getting, while
we have the opportunity to pray for those outside of Christ,
let's do it. Let's do it. Let's seek peace and pray for
those that the spot fully uses. We'll see at the minute. Genesis
31. We remember that Jacob has been
a picture at times, right at times. He's been a picture of
Christ. He was with his father and he
was entitled to great wealth. Everything was his, it was his
inheritance with his father, but he had a bride. And so he
traveled a long way by himself, traveled a great distance for
a bride. And he became a servant to redeem
that bride, to buy her, to make her his own. And he did. She was his rightfully, rightfully. And it says in Genesis 31 verse
17. Then Jacob rose up and he set
his sons and his wife upon camels. They're gonna leave. I had a
man ask me one time, I said, how in the world could I ask
my wife to leave this place to go sit underneath the gospel?
I said like this, get in the car, honey, we're leaving. How
in the world could Jacob take away that home of those, his
children? That's the only grandparents
he's ever known. That's all his wives has ever known is living
there. How in the world could he have them get on camels and
leave that place? He set them up on camels. He
said, now come on now, get on the camel. And he carried away
all his cattle and all his goods, which he had gotten, and the
cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Pandaram for
to go to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan. Everything
that was rightfully his, He packed it up. Now, when he went there,
he went on foot, 478 miles or wherever they think it is, long
way. He went there on foot, just him. That's easy. You put a toothbrush
and a stick of deodorant in a backpack, I'll go anywhere. Just up and
go. Well, you're going to pack your whole family. Pack everything
you own and move to be with your father. That's a lot of work,
a lot of trial, a lot of strength is needed, a lot of struggle.
Or what our Lord did. Jacob commanded his house as
Abraham commanded his house as Isaac commanded his house. Jacob
commanded his house and he takes his family and everything he's
owned to the promised land to his father. Just as Christ does. Just as he does. People quote
that. In Joshua 24, horribly, people say that, well, those
scriptures say that, you don't know what the heck you're talking
about. You might want to be quiet. They say, well, as for me and
my house, we'll serve the Lord, right? Like it's a choice. In
Joshua 24, it begins in verse two, it says, thus saith the
Lord God to Israel. So the Lord starts speaking,
the quotation begins there, and it goes through verse 15 that
says, and if it seem able to you to serve the Lord, choose
this day whom you'll serve. Whether the gods which be of
your fathers that served on the other side of the flood or the
God of the Amorites. You can have that false god, you can
have this false god. Do what you want. But as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord. As for me and my house, we're
gonna serve the Lord. End of quotations, and the people
answered. Because God was speaking. Joshua
was telling what God said. And God says, for me and my house,
we're serving the Lord. We're going to. I'm going to
take you by the hand. We're going to do it. Now, what example has
he given us? All within our power, we command
our house to observe the Lord, don't we? You're 18 years old,
son. You'll be 19 soon. You can vote. But as you're in my house, now
we're going to worship God. Now, there's important things
that happen on Wednesdays and Sundays for you all in your lives.
I understand that. But now I know God and we're
going to serve him. And you're out on your own, that's your
business. But while you're here, you're going to do what I tell you.
We're going to serve him. As a man, as a sinner saved by
grace, Jacob was doing this stuff. He was packing up and getting
out of Dodge in fear. He says later on, he said, I
did it because I was scared. Why'd you leave the middle of the night?
I was scared. He did it in unbelief. He was scared of man, not fear
in God. And he's getting his family out of there. But the
Lord used it, didn't he? Look here in verse 19. And Laban
went to shear his sheep. And Rachel had stolen the images
that were her father's. Later it says they're God's.
She stole some of his God's. And he started out probably with
paper God's, right? And then he upgraded, because
Jacob come around. He was getting blessed. He was profiting off
of this fella. This hardworking fella, man. Industrious man,
isn't he? And he started getting a little
more. So now he's upgraded to wooden God's, didn't he? Well, it's high living
now for this fella. He's got golden God's. He just
keeps upgrading his decorations, doesn't he? But she stole them.
Rachel stole the images that were her father's and Jacob stole
away unawares to Laban, Assyria, and that he told him not that
he fled. It says he stole away. Well, he just, it was right for
him to leave. He wasn't under contract. Everything
he took was his. He just commanded his house and
up and left. It says he stole away. You know what's right. Verse
21, so he fled with all that he had and he rose up and passed
over the river and set his face toward the mountain Gilead. He
ran, he ran away. The Lord had told him years ago
he was with him and he said, I'm not going to leave you. I'm
with you. And now he speaks to Jacob again
and tells him to head home. Up in verse three, it says, the
Lord said unto Jacob, return into the land of thy fathers
and to thy kindred and I'll be with you. He said before he was
going to be with him, he said this time he's going to be with
him. He said, you go home. I'm with you. You know who I
am. You know what power I have. You
know I'm holy. You've experienced this. I'm
with you. Go home. And now Jacob's running. Scared. Jacob tried to leave six years
before, didn't he? But it wasn't time. The Lord's
timing is impeccable. It's amazing, isn't it? It wasn't
the Lord's time six years before that. So he had six years of
grief. It looked like business was booming,
and he said, well, I'm gonna, I'll keep all the speckled sheep.
And then all the sheep come out speckled. And Laban said, no,
no, no, no, I'm gonna keep speckled sheep. You get the spotted sheep.
The size of the spots matter. He said, okay. And then every
sheep that come out was big spots. And then there's all brown. And
then there's all ring straight. And whatever it was, God blessed
him in spite of himself. And Laban kept changing rules. Kept trying to make himself benefit.
But that war thin, all Laban's sons that was watching Jacob's
sheep, they said, that is just outrageous. This fellow's profiting,
he's gonna get all the glory. You're the head honcho. You're
the boss, you're the founder of this land. You need the glory. I said, you ain't gonna let him
get by with that, are you? And oh, he saw in their look.
He looked people in the eye. He knew what they was doing.
He saw the resentment in their eyes. He didn't find favor. He
wasn't forgiven where that resentment is taken away. It was a resentment
place there. And now he's miserable. And through
those of his very own house, those of his very, that's his
family, isn't it? That's his father-in-law and
his wife's cousins and stuff. God gave that trial to the point
where Jacob was glad to leave. And he did it in unbelief and
fear and all those things, but he was glad to leave. When God
corrects His children, He knows the outcome. Job talked about
that. He said, He knows my ways of
His correction. I correct my children, and I hope there's
an outcome. I want it to happen this way. I want to teach them
something, but it may happen that way, it may not. I may do
everything the Lord says in His Word the best I can, and it may
not work out the way I want it to. But when He corrects His
child, He knows the end. He knows exactly what it's going
to accomplish. And so he sent this trial to Jacob. And Jacob
says, I'm ready to go. We'll pack up, hightail it out
of here. Verse 22. And it was told Laban on the
third day that Jacob was fled. They come to him. And when he
took his brethren with him, he pursued after him seven days
journey. And they overtook him in Mount
Gilead. Jacob had a three day head start and Laban got word
from his boys. Daddy, what are people going
to think? He up and took off, everybody knows him. Have you
ever thought that? Maybe one time. What does other people
think? What's people gonna think? What people gonna think about
us? What people gonna think about you? What people's gonna think
about me? Are we respecters of persons? We are, and I'll tell
you what that really boils down to, we respect this person. too
much. I respect this person. I respect
me too much, isn't it? But the enemies of Jacob, his
very own people, they pursued him seven days. They pursued
him in perfection. The enemies of God's children,
they pursue imperfection too. Why? So we know we can't defend
ourselves, we can't run fast enough, we can't do anything
to outpace them, and we can't escape this world, we can't escape
evil, and we can't escape hatred. We're pursued in perfection.
But God, that's what lessons will be taught, but God, he was
with Jacob and he promised he's gonna be with him. How can we
know? Verse 24, and God came to Laban
the Syrian in a dream by night and he said unto him, take heed
that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Don't you say anything good to
Jacob and don't you say anything bad to Jacob. Don't speak to
him. It reminded me of, there's a
whole lot more of the sons of Jacob, wasn't it? That was fleeing. Israel, they were pursued by
Pharaoh and his whole army, they was out to get him, get him and
pursuing imperfection, wasn't it? And the Lord said against
the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. It
ain't gonna say nothing good to you and it ain't gonna say
nothing bad to you. Neither against man nor beast. Why would the
Lord do that? Can you imagine walking out and
being like, you know what, we ain't had a single dog bark at us in 100 miles. That dog back here, every time
I walk around the corner up there, that's where I get my good ideas.
That's where I have to, I wanna write stuff down up there, and
they give me a notepad. And I see that dog come up that fence,
starts barking, oh man, and I turn back around, and I'll go back
down. That's where I'll get my steps in the next hour. Imagine
walking by 300 dogs and not one of them barking at you. What
would that mean? What, the Lord's a good dog trainer?
No, that you may know how the Lord put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. I'm gonna make a dog show it
to you. Ain't gonna wag his tongue. The Lord said, don't you say
anything good, and don't say anything bad. Either one, leave
him alone. Don't speak to him. If you ain't
got nothing good to say, or didn't say anything good, don't puff
him up, don't you bring him down. Why would he say that? David
said, Suffer no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings
for their sake, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my
prophets no harm. That's what the Lord commanded,
wasn't it? And Laban does. And other people do. And they
killed the prophets of old, didn't they? His anointed is touched. I see it all the time. Why? How
could that be? Their condemnation, those that
pursue the Lord's people, those that pursue Christ and seek his
healing, that's to their own condemnation, and it's to our
strengthening. Like Shimei, Cus, and David.
He said, the Lord sent him to do that. Let him do what he wants.
Now he started throwing rocks. Let him throw rocks, too. It's
fine. The Lord sent it. The Lord sent it. In Psalm 34,
we read, he keepeth his bones and not one of them is broken.
Do you ever just have so much weight on you, you feel like
you're going to break? Lord said, not one of my bones.
You ain't gonna perish. You might get banged up. You might get
bruised a little bit. You'll be all right. Not one
bone's gonna be separated from the body of Christ. It ain't
gonna be broken. Verse 25. And Laban overtook Jacob. Now
Jacob had pinched his tent in the mount. And Laban said with
his brethren, pitched in the mount of Gilead. And Laban said
to Jacob, Why hast thou done, what hast thou done, that thou
hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters
as captives, taken with the sword? You stole my daughters. What
are you doing? Wherefore didst thou flee away
secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me that
I might have sent thee away with myrrh, and with songs, and with
tabret, and with harp, and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons
and daughters? Thou hast now done foolishly
in doing so." What a lie. He said, we was going to throw
a goodbye party. I was going to give you parting
gifts. I was going to have some myrrh ready for you. Why would
you do this? I'm a good fella. I'm a good person. That's what
he's been saying, isn't it? I just wanted to kiss my precious
little angel grandbabies goodbye. And you took that from me. Hogwash. He's lying, isn't he? I've met some family members
that I've known for more than 20 years, too. And boy, I can
smell smoke when I smell it. Ain't you? That ain't what they
mean. He didn't mean that, not one
lick. The Lord's allowing Laban to be Laban. He's allowing Laban
to make Laban look good on purpose. Look at verse 29. He goes a step
further. It is in the power of my hand
to do you hurt, I can hurt you, Jacob. That's
in my power to do so. The hogwash continues. This is
part two, isn't it? But the God of your father spake
unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speakest
not to Jacob, either good or bad. He said, It's in my hand. I have the power to do you good. What a fool. What a fool. Somebody else said that, didn't
they? Pilate said unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest not
that I have the power to crucify thee and I have the power to
release thee? Paul told the almighty God of the universe this. Don't
you know, he's poppin' his suspenders. Don't you know what a big deal
I am? And the Lord answered and said,
Thou couldst have no power against me except it were given thee
from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the
greater sin. This is the Lord's doin' it now. I've experienced that. I had
a captain in Germany, always mad at me. He said, I'm going
to get you, Thacker. He said, I'm going to lock you up for
30 days, and I'm going to kick you out of the army. He tried his
best, too. And I said, only if the Lord
allows it. I'm his. You can't touch me. That didn't
go well. He got a little more mad. The
story goes on. But I'd read that day, when he told me that, I'd
read about Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar told Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, he said, you're gonna worship my God,
or you ain't gonna worship yours. He said, you go think it over.
You go think long and hard about what I said. And them three got
together, and they said, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful
to answer thee in this matter. I don't need to go think this
over. They said, if it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able
to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver
us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, if he burns us, Be
it known unto thee, O king, we will not serve thy gods nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up. God's holy, and he's
on his throne. And if he sees fit to deliver
us, he will. You can't touch us. And if he's going to kill
us, that's fine. He'll keep us worshiping him to the end. That's
what they said. Now, did we learn anything last
hour? What come out of their mouth?
Praises to a holy sovereign God and what they'd experienced,
didn't they? Did that avail anything? Nebuchadnezzar, what Nebuchadnezzar
did was wrong. I just, it hit me like a ton
of bricks back in the office 20 minutes ago. That's an evil,
wicked man that hates God. Wasn't it? Yes, the answer's
yes. And God's children profess Christ,
profess who God was. He'll deliver us, he sees fit,
it's his business. We bow to you. How was that used? We'll read over Daniel 4, 34.
When his understanding returned to him, he praised God. That's one of my favorite passages
to read out loud. I love it. This was brother Nebuchadnezzar,
wasn't it? Maybe how we conduct ourselves
around unbelievers matters. We might be pleased to use it.
Why not? Well, that fellow I told that to, that captain, I said,
I'm a Lord's. I was a little boasterous and
popped off at the mouth when I shouldn't have. And I said,
I'm God. You can't touch me if he don't let it. About a week
later, he had to promote me. He's trying to kick me out of
the Army. We had a thing to do in Africa, and they're going
to take 30 people. And for me to be in charge of my crew, I
had to be the next rank. And so they said, make it happen.
We can only send 30 people to Africa. Secretary of Defense is coming.
Promote Thacker. And he said, I ain't doing it. And when the
colonel come down, he said, yeah, you are. Do it. And buddy, he put them
things on me. He was mad as a wet hen. I took
pride in that. I shouldn't have. But the Lord
did it. He was Superman. But just like Laban, just like
Pilate, and just like that captain that was hateful to me, they
could do nothing. They could do nothing unless
the Lord commanded it. Christ controls all, right? He controls everything. Notice
what that heathen said too. He says in verse 29, it is in
the power of my hand do you hurt, but the God of your father spake
to me yesternight. He didn't say our God. He didn't
say my God. He said the God of your father,
your God did this. Ain't my God. What truth, isn't it? What truth. Now the absurdity of false religion.
Verse 30, and now, Though thou wast need be gone, because thou
sore longest after thy father's house. You just had to get out
of here, didn't you? Yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? I knew
you had to go, I understand that. You wanted to go home, okay?
Go have your own life. But why'd you take my gods? You
stole them. What a foolishness, isn't it?
What's a god that can be stolen? There's no god. I told y'all
before that little fella down in Mexico was a teenager, and
God saved him. And his dad had a little hut out back that was
full of little idols. And he said, Dad, them idols
ain't gonna do nothing, so you leave my idols alone. And they went back and
forth for a long period of time, and after a while, that man went
to work, and that little boy went out there and took a hammer
and busted every one of them little porcelain idols. Except one. And he laid
that hammer next to that little porcelain idol. And his dad came
home and just lost it. What'd you do? I didn't do nothing.
Somebody busted all my idols. He goes, well dad, that right
there is holding a hammer. That's sitting right there. He's the
one. That's a smoking gun for you. He smashed all them other
idols. He took charge. He said, he can't do that. It's
a little piece of porcelain. He said, I know that. Now you
do. People rubbing them rosary beads
and all kinds of foolishness and their bumper stickers. And
they're saying little flowery words and just chanting scriptures
all it is without understanding. It's fake religion, it's false.
A god that can be stolen is no god. And second, a plurality
of gods is even worse. You mean they couldn't see that
coming? He had a bunch of them. And they couldn't gang up and
not let this happen? He knew better, didn't he? His
gods were just like Laban. They were spiritually dead. He
had all his idols he was holding on to, because that's spiritual
death. It's spiritual ignorance, is what it is. That's the nicest
way I can say it. I had a man tell me one time, he's fervent,
and it's popular in the area I grew up in. God has no hands
but your hands. Kevin, now you're going to have
to do it. God has no hands but your hands. I said, there's a book
I want you to read. He said, oh yeah? I said, it's
called Psalms. But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver
and gold, the works of men's hands. It's works, it's worky,
get that? They have mouths, but they speak
not. They have eyes, but they see not. A whole group of them
couldn't see whoever it was that stole them. They couldn't see
Rachel coming, couldn't go beat her up or hide. They have ears,
but they hear not. They have noses, but they smell
not. They have hands, and they handle not. Feet, they don't walk, neither
speak they through their throats. They that make them are likened
to them, and so is everyone that trusteth in them. I wrote that down, I thought,
man, that's just too harsh. No, it ain't, it's what the Lord
just said. If you trust in those things, you just like them. Dead,
your graveyard dead. Verse 31, Genesis 31, 31. And
Jacob answered, said unto Laban, I left because I was afraid,
for I said, peradventure, thou wilt take by force thy daughters
from me. I left, but I didn't mess with
your silly idols, verse 32. With whomsoever thou findest
thy gods, I did to leave him, but wherever you find them gods,
let him not live. Before our brethren discern thou
what is thine with me, and to take it to thee. You go through
and you find whatever is yours and you take it. For Jacob knew
not that Rachel had stolen them. He's gonna deal with that in
a few more chapters, make them put away their idols. Verse 33
says, And Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and
into the two maidservants' tent, but he found them not. And then
he went 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 set upon them. And Laban searched all the tent,
but found them not. And she said unto her father,
he probably said, well, you stand up. I won't go through that chest
you're sitting on. She said unto her father, let it not displease
my Lord that I cannot rise up before thee, for the custom of
women is upon me. It was that time of month. It
was a menstruation cycle. And he searched, but found not
the images. He didn't touch what she was sitting on, but he looked
around the rest of the place and he didn't find anything. Why is that important? Why is that in there? First thing
that came to my mind was that the sin and the superstition
and the lying of Rachel is on display in it. She lied to her
husband, she stole, she lied to her daddy, didn't she? That's
to teach us that the daughters of Zion are no different than
the sons of Jacob. Well, if we get a hold of that, meet me.
Do you understand? There's no male or female. We're
all one in Christ. We're all sinners saved by grace.
And we just have a... propensity, we just have a thought
in our head that women are more pious and more clean and more
tender hearted and everything else than men are. Most of the
scriptures, the evilness of man, but this is to show us too, we
ain't no different. Women don't need a different
savior than men do. We don't pray to a different God than
we do and you're just as wicked as I am. God, that's for the women. I
still think that I'm worse. I think I love you, honey. But
so that's for the lessons for them. But second, what a picture
of the gospel this is. What a picture of the gospel.
Our idols were put into a camel's furniture. That's a saddle or
a seat or a box, right? It goes on camels. All of our
sins put in that, that seat, a mercy seat, and it's covered
in blood. You get that? He was looking
for his idols, for that sin, couldn't find it, right? What
did the Lord say in Jeremiah? In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve. Christ
paid it all in his blood, didn't he? Well, now, Kevin, that's
too forward. That's too rough. I'm too young
to say those things. We were old old brother Barnard. Me and old brother Barnard was
the exact same age when he came to Ashland, Kentucky. Do you
know that? I can't say those things. That's too rough. Okay.
You imagine being one of rehabs family members. You imagine being
one of Rahab's family members, and you got a daughter that's
running a whorehouse, and you prayed for her, and you've pleaded
with her, and you've talked to her, and you've said, honey,
just stop. Oh, stop, I worry for you. And
then salvation comes to her. And she comes to her family and
says, now, this whole city's gonna perish. You get in that
whorehouse. I chose my words. Perfectly and
carefully you get in that whorehouse and we're gonna get underneath
that scarlet cord and we're gonna be saved You think it'd been
hard to do? Well, I don't think this is a
good picture. Well, it don't matter what you think does Get underneath that scarlet cord
and we'll be saved Told that leper said go dip into
Jordan seven times That's a dirty river. Yeah, go get in it It's
gonna be dirtier whenever you get in there. Jacob had some
righteous anger though, didn't he? The Lord tells us to be angry
and sin not. There's a time and a place for
righteous anger. Timothy was instructed, and Titus and I am
too, to rebuke them sharply. That's my job. Somebody comes
in here preaching a false gospel, talking a bunch of nonsense,
I'm to shut it down quick, not let them seeds take, so stop
that. That ain't what that means. That's hard to do. I hope I do
it in love, but there's a time to be angry and don't let the
sun go down on it. But Jacob has some anger with
him and Laban agrees. Down to verse 43, you can read
that at home, verse 43. And Laban answered and said unto
Jacob, these daughters are my daughters and these children
are my children. These cattle are my cattle and
all that thou seest is mine. And what can I do this day into
these, my daughters or under their children, which I have
born. So I can't, this all came from me. There's a way I could
have a claim on it, I guess, but I have no claim on these
people. Everything you say it's yours. It ain't mine. And you've
served the time and you've done fulfilled all the duties of a
servant and you fulfilled the law. Our custom has been fulfilled
and it, though I had claim on it, it's now yours. It's now
yours. These daughters ain't my daughters,
they're your bride, that's what they are. Now therefore come,
now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou,
and let it be a witness between me and thee. Remember, Laban
was a picture of the law, wasn't he? He was changing them wages
all the time, not that the law changes, but we don't know what
we're in for. You wanna keep that law, don't you hear it?
You know what Paul said, don't you? Did you read the law? It's
like you've got a good handle on what that says. We can't keep
it. We can't keep up with it, has
it? That law, that picture of the law, now it has no claim
on the sons of Jacob, no claim on Jacob's bride, no claim on
Jacob's property, does it? And there's gonna be a public
declaration of that. There's gonna be a public declaration.
You can read it later, but Jacob tells his men to gather up all
these stones and build a pillar as part of this covenant. Now
in verse 51, He says, And Laban said unto Jacob, Behold this
heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me
and thee. And 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. What does the law say to us?
It has no charge on us. The law, the law has no claim
on you. Christ has fulfilled the law,
every jot and every tittle in perfection. He's, he's completed
all of it for you. Now we're on that side of the
pillar. Don't go back to the law. You see that? This heap be witnesses
pillar, be witness that I will not pass over this heap today.
I ain't coming to you. and that thou shalt not pass
over the heap and this pillar unto me. What happens if you
do that? What happens if you go back to
a little bit of law for harm? For harm. That's what it says,
isn't it? That ain't good. That's bad. The God of Abraham,
the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us.
the father's judge did that. And Jacob swear by the fear of
his father Isaac. And Jacob offered a sacrifice
upon the mount and called his brethren to eat bread. And they
did eat and tarried all night in the mount. They worshiped
God. They had a sacrifice. They thanked
the Lord for everything that just took place. We reckoned,
come out of his mouth, Lord, I was fearful when I shouldn't
have been fearful. You told me, and I didn't believe. Oh, forgive
me my sin. Forgive me my unbelief. I thought of the words of Paul,
too, just in between a father-in-law and a son-in-law. If it be possible,
as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men. That's
hard, isn't it? How'd our Lord teach us to pray?
Forgive us our sins. You have to be a sinner if you
have sins forgiven. As, after the manner we forgive
others. You ever come short of that?
Christ forgave you. That means all the, Brother Gabe
said the other day, all the guilt's gone and the resentment and the
memory of it, that's forgiveness. Like, well, I forgive you, but
that ain't forgiveness. I looked at my wife and I said,
I don't think I've ever forgave anybody. Oh, how do you want your sins
forgiven? As we forgive others, Lord, teach me to forgive. Give
me faith. Make me believe you to forgive
my brother. Increase our faith. As much as
it lie in you, live peaceably with all men. What an opportunity
to declare the gospel, isn't it? I told you I got this message
and the other one flip flopped. There's a lot going on. There's
so many emotions going on. There's so much change taking
place and we got so much going on in our lives, isn't it? We're
going to worship God. Let's go up and sacrifice. That's
what worship is, isn't it? Sacrifice. Let's go exalt Christ. Verse 55, 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. He went back where he's supposed
to be. He got put in his place, didn't he? I hope the Lord takes
us some things out of that. Give us a broken heart and the
ability to trust him. Father, thank you for this word.
Lord, we're so prone to being in fear and worry and unbelief. Speak to our souls your salvation. Make us be aware that you're
with us. Christ is on his throne ruling and reigning all things
for his glory and for our good. Lord allow us to forgive others
and those that despitefully use us and pray for them. They just might be our brother
Nebuchadnezzar. Keep that in our minds, and what sin you've
forgiven in us. Break my heart. Make me compassionate
towards all people. Have your praises and your sovereignty
and your power come out of my lips. Forgive
me for countless times and not. Thank you for your son. It's
in his name that we ask it.