WEBVTT 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:04.639 Good morning. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:09.599 If you're new with us here this morning, we want to welcome you here. 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.400 Thank you for being a part of what's going on this morning. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:20.800 We do have a connect card in the seat back in front of you if you have time, if you'd fill that out with as much information as you feel comfortable with during the service. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:25.039 And then you can put those in the giving kiosks at the back of the of the church. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:26.239 We appreciate it. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:33.039 Also, uh one other thing is we we're thankful not only for the hands and feet offering, but for your giving in general. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:47.359 The reason that we're able to continue to do the work of ministry here at Trinity is because of, first of all, the faithfulness of God, and then the faithfulness of you as individuals and people who are willing to give. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.000 And uh so we thank you for doing that. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:50.640 All right. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:52.640 Are you ready for the word of God? 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:53.920 Amen. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:55.439 It's ready for you as well. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:56.880 So let's get ready for that. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:02.000 We're going to be looking at Hebrews chapter 11, verses 17 through 22. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.599 Um, we're in a sermon series called Faith, Hope, and Love. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:10.799 It's all about the fact that believers in Jesus are called to live by faith. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:17.680 We're called to place our hope in Jesus Christ completely, and we are called to love God. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:23.920 And the way that we love God and love people well is by first understanding how much God loves us. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:25.120 Amen. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:34.640 And 1 Corinthians 13, 13 is our key verse for this whole section, and it says, And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:37.439 But the greatest of these is love. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:44.560 Last week, Mark, Pastor Mark did an amazing job of showing us the main lesson of Abraham and Sarah's story. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:02:04.400 Remember the story of Abraham and Sarah last week and Isaac, their firstborn child, uh, is neither our faith, it's the lesson that we learned is that neither our faith nor our obedience, but rather relationship with God that comes in the process of believing and the blessing that comes through us to others. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:09.199 That was the whole message of Abraham and Sarah and what we were taught last week. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:19.039 So we're gonna pick up on that theme today as we look at the direct descendants of Abraham and Sarah and the legacy of faith that was continued through them. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:23.280 So the title of today's message is Generational Faith. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:24.560 Generational faith. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:26.000 Are you interested? 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:26.800 Okay. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.719 If you're not now, hopefully by the end of this you'll be extremely interested. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:35.039 Let's read verses 17 through 22 out of Hebrews chapter 11. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:51.039 By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:03:00.560 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:13.840 By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau, and by faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:24.240 By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the Exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:26.000 Let us pray together. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:28.800 Father, we thank you for this passage from your word. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.400 We thank you for everything that you've already accomplished here this morning. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:37.680 We thank you, Lord, that the Holy Spirit is moving in us and among us and through us. 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:51.520 And we ask that you would illuminate your word this morning so that we would understand what it is that the Spirit of God is saying to Trinity Community Church and all of those who are watching online this day. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:59.199 This day, Lord God, help us to have ears to hear, open our hearts, change our minds when they need to be changed. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:02.080 Help us to serve you in the way that you deserve. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:03.520 In Jesus' name. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:04.479 Amen. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:05.360 Amen. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:17.439 So this last week I went to visit somebody in the hospital, and this person is uh is dealing with a very serious diagnosis, and so I went to encourage them and pray for them. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:19.759 At least that's what I thought I was going to do. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:31.279 And as I was there, all of a sudden this person began to switch over from dialogue into having a moment of praise and worship laying in the hospital bed. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:38.720 And so as she began to have praise and worship with the father there in the hospital bed, I was flipping through Facebook. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:40.399 I'm only kidding. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:41.600 I'm only kidding. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:42.720 What did I do? 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:44.399 I joined in with her. 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:48.000 I joined in with her and I began to praise and worship God. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:51.759 And all of a sudden, she stopped that and she began to pray. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:57.600 And as she began to pray, she did not pray for herself, for her health, for her healing. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:04:59.759 She didn't pray about any of those things. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:01.360 You know what she prayed about? 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:05.519 She prayed about her children and her grandchildren. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:22.319 She asked that the same God that had been faithful to her through all of her life, through all of the experiences that she had been through, that had faithfully saved her and helped her and her husband to live as faithful saints of God. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:33.279 She was praying that that same God would show Himself real to each and every one of her children and grandchildren and on and on and on. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:47.759 She was concerned with the spiritual legacy, with the spiritual inheritance that could come from a person who truly believes that God is the God of generations. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:49.199 Amen. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.959 She then turned her attention to Trinity Community Church and began to pray for us. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:01.680 And I won't go into all the details of that, but let's just say it was a powerful time of prayer. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:03.279 I didn't even get to pray. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:09.680 She looked at me at the end of her prayer, and it was obvious to me that she was finished and that she was ready for me to leave. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.519 And so I said, I love you. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:18.000 I gave her a hug and I made my way out of the out of the room. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.439 Again, always it's amazing to me. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:26.720 There's something about, especially senior saints who have been in the Lord for a long time. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:36.480 You get in and around them, and especially even when they're going through difficult circumstances like this, and it's like you just realize, man, they have a faith. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:46.000 There's something real about their relationship with God that I want to emulate, that I want to make sure is in my life as well. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:46.959 Amen. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:50.639 So here we go. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.680 So beautiful and sincere. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:57.920 Uh, am I concerned primarily with just my own journey? 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:00.720 Ask yourself that question. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:12.160 This person was not just concerned with their own journey, or maybe what may be what may come to each of us, the Lord tarries, the end of the journey here on this life. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:16.639 Or am I deeply devoted to the outcome of future generations? 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:18.959 Is that something that's in my heart? 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:21.600 Is that something that I'm concerned about? 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:29.120 In our short passage today from the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, we see five generations represented. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:47.279 Five generations, each one of them building upon the faith foundation of the former generation, the generation that laid a foundation of faith before them that they could then walk on and choose to walk on in their own generation. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:54.240 So as we look at this text together this morning, I want us to ask three questions of ourselves. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.360 And hopefully the answers are gonna be in the affirmative. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:03.360 But let's ask three questions of ourselves as we go through this passage and try to answer them together. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:10.720 So, number one, here's our first question: Do we trust God with the outcome of future generations? 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.120 Okay. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:17.519 Hopefully that's gonna get louder as time moves on here through the service. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:22.319 Do we trust God with the outcome of future generations? 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:27.600 Do we really believe that God is concerned about the future? 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:39.440 That God is concerned not just about our lives and our time and our season and our generation, but he's also concerned about that which comes next. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:53.919 Now, if we're honest with each other this morning, we can admit that it's difficult at times to look at the future generation and to be uh, you know, completely optimistic. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:55.679 Am I right? 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:10.960 And we have to understand that there's an ever-increasing pressure placed upon future generations to conform to the ways of this world, to conform to the ways that the devil wants them to live. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:21.039 I never would have imagined in a million years that my children would face the kinds of things that they face on a regular basis. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:41.039 I never would have imagined it when I was a little kid that we would be seeing the types of things in our culture that we would be carrying around in our hands in the forms of cell phones, the ability to help in so many ways, and also to see destruction come in so many ways. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:55.759 I never would have imagined Amy and I understanding that now our five grandchildren and two more on the way, which will make seven what they face and what they will face as time goes on. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:05.120 My friends, it is time for us to understand that God is concerned about future generations, and we should be as well. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:12.639 And we shouldn't just be concerned about them from the standpoint of pointing out their faults and their weaknesses. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:21.519 We should be concerned about them in the sense of desiring that they find their way to the walk of faith. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:26.080 Faith is what matters in the end. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:31.200 Without faith, it is impossible to please God. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:34.799 I am so grateful in my own life. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:37.759 I am a second generation Christian. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:44.639 God sovereignly, and this was in the middle of losing my oldest brother who died. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:47.440 My mother was miraculously saved. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:51.600 God encountered her in a powerful way that was undeniable. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:57.440 And just a couple of years later, my dad would follow suit, and then myself and my brother. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:10:59.519 And I'm so grateful for that. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:09.919 And then just a couple of years after God did that in our lives, not only is he concerned about future generations, he's also concerned about former generations. 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:18.159 I had the privilege as an eight-year-old boy of leading my grandfather to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:21.200 And all of my grandparents came to know Jesus. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:24.720 So, in that regard, I'm a third-generation Christian. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:30.000 And now, thanks be to God, all of my four children are serving the Lord. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:33.440 And the two of them that are married, their spouses are serving the Lord. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:38.639 Our oldest grandson has just recently gotten saved and was baptized. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:43.200 And our young, our four-year-old girls are very close. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:49.759 I mean, they're they are believers to the greatest, to as much as they can be at this age, right? 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:51.840 It's amazing to me. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:59.759 So within our family dynamic, we we actually now are looking at five generations of believers. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:12.960 And it's only by the grace of God, it's by the grace of God and us being willing to be obedient when it came to sharing the faith that God has given us. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:31.919 So Abraham gives us a great example of how to pass the tests that we face when it comes to putting our complete trust in God concerning future generations, our trust that he will save them, that he will transform them, that he will keep them, that they are his own. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:32.799 Amen. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:39.279 So we're gonna look back at Genesis chapter 22 in order to really understand this passage well. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.240 We're gonna read a few verses starting in verse 1. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:48.879 After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Listen to this and think about it as we're reading it. 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.799 And he said to Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:13:04.639 He said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:12.879 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:18.960 And he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:24.480 And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:29.279 And then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:34.080 I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:42.559 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:44.480 So they went both of them together. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:50.879 And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, My father, and he said, Here I am, my son. 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:56.960 He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:02.720 Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.039 So they went both of them together. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:16.480 And when they came to the place of which God had told them, Abraham built the altar there, laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:22.159 And then Abraham reached out his hand, took his knife to slaughter his son. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:31.279 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:42.480 He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:50.000 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:55.840 And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:06.799 So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:15.519 What a story! What an example of extreme faith that Abraham shows us. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:25.519 You remember from last week how involved the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and Sarah about the son of promise that Isaac would be born. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:35.759 Can you imagine after all that they went through, all that they experienced, the impossible request that God asked Abraham to perform? 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.039 He was testing him, he was challenging him. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:45.360 Listen to the sliding scale of emotion when it comes to the description of what was being asked. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:58.480 It said, take your son, then take your only son, Isaac, then take your son whom you love, and place him on the altar as a sacrifice. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:04.480 Abraham proved that he trusted God with the outcome of future generations. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:09.120 He proved that he trusted God, and he did this in several ways. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:10.960 So we're going to look at just a few. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.159 Number one, Abraham obeyed God. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:31.360 It says in Hebrews 11 again, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promise was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:35.679 Now don't for a minute think that this was easy. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:46.000 This had to have been one of the most difficult things that was ever asked of anyone, but especially of Abraham. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:54.559 Immediately when God spoke to him, the next morning he arose and he started on this three-day journey with Isaac. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.080 And it seemed to be leading to what? 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:00.080 To the death of Isaac. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:10.880 He went as far as tying his own son onto the altar and raising his knife over his head to prove his willingness to obey. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:18.799 Now, thankfully, thankfully, God's not going to ask of us that we do that. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:30.960 But how many of you know we are required to place our children on the altar in the sense of saying, God, we trust you with the outcome of our children. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:35.920 We trust you with the outcome of our children. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.079 And that's the second thing that Abraham did. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:39.039 He trusted God. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:47.359 It says that he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:52.319 It made no sense in the natural for Abraham to trust God. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:54.079 It made no sense. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:58.559 He was faced with the truest test that anyone could be faced with. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:09.519 Abraham believed that even if he was required by God to sacrifice his son, that God would make a way for him to live again. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:12.480 That is faith, my friends. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:23.200 Now, if you were listening carefully as we read through the passage in Genesis, you might have picked up on a couple of clues that showed Abraham's faith and the fact that he trusted in God. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:24.400 Listen to this one. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:31.599 He said to his servants, I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:35.440 Who is he speaking about there? 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:36.880 Himself and Isaac. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:40.960 We're gonna go to worship and we're gonna come back to you, right? 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:42.640 That's faith. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:50.480 He said to Isaac, his son, when he inquired about where the sacrifice was, God will provide for himself the lamb. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:19:00.720 And actually, if you read the original Hebrew, you can even say it like this: God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:10.319 And how many of you know that because Abraham trusted God and because he was obedient, God honored his faithfulness. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:12.319 God honored his faithfulness. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:20.160 An angel of the Lord stopped Abraham as his knife was in mid-air and told him not to harm his son. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:32.480 Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:41.039 And as they looked down the hill, there was a ram whose horns were caught in a thicket. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.839 The Lord had provided himself a sacrifice. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:50.079 How many of you know that this was a shadow of things to come? 00:19:50.240 --> 00:20:10.960 There would be another lamb, another firstborn son, another child of promise, who would himself find his head wrapped in a crown of thorns, and who would be laid on the altar of a wooden cross and sacrificed for each and every one of us. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:21.680 In this passage, we get the term Jehovah Jirah, the Lord our provider. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:25.920 The Lord is our provider. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:29.839 He's our heavenly Father, and He cares about us. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:38.000 My question to all of us again: do we trust God with the outcome of future generations? 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:39.119 Amen. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:47.200 The second question I have for us this morning is Are we intentional about blessing future generations? 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:51.680 Are we intentional about blessing future generations? 00:20:52.400 --> 00:21:00.079 It says in Hebrews 11, by faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau by faith. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:04.319 Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:11.039 How often do we catch ourselves cursing the next generation instead of blessing them? 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:14.079 Come on, can we be honest with each other this morning? 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:21.599 Did you come to church to put on a fake face and to pretend, or did you come to be real and to receive the help that we all need? 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:24.319 Let's be real, let's be authentic with each other. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.319 So many times we find ourselves cursing the next generation. 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:34.079 Some of us may even say things like, those young whippersnappers, they don't know what they're doing, you know? 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.160 We have our own terms of endearment, although they're not, it's not endearing at all. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:46.160 We have our own ways of describing the failings or the difficulties of the next generation. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:52.799 It's the easiest thing in the world to point out the perceived failings of others, isn't it? 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:58.160 And to be pessimistic concerning the future, even when it comes to our own families. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.759 My friends, can I beg you? 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.039 You this morning. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:03.839 Do not give up on your own families. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.720 Do not say that they've gone too far, that it's too late, that there's no hope. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:16.640 Would you please, by God's grace, would you please allow the faith of God to rise up on inside of you again? 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:22.960 God loves your family and He's concerned about future generations. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:32.000 In James chapter 3, verse 10, it says, From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:35.599 My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:44.960 We should stop saying things like, You're always gonna be that way, you're always gonna fail, you're never enough, you can't make it. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:48.079 You'll never survive. 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:54.480 We should start saying things to our young men like, You've got what it takes. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:56.640 You're gonna make it. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:01.680 God's with you, and he's gonna walk with you all the days of your life. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:05.279 We need to say to our young women, you're beautiful. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:08.000 You are beautiful in God's eyes. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:16.240 He sees you as his beloved daughter, and he walks with you, and he's gonna walk with you all the days of your life. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:22.400 We should speak words of life and words of blessing and not words of cursing. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:23.359 Amen? 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:26.799 Can we should we take a minute right now and just repent? 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:31.359 Seriously, do we need to just take a minute and say, God help us? 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:40.480 Forgive us, Lord, for the times when we get frustrated, when we don't speak words of life over our children. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:50.079 Help us, Lord, to see your will, your way, and to speak those things that are not as though they are. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.559 This passage reminds us that we should bless our children first. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:05.599 Isaac's life didn't come, it wasn't extraordinary in the same way that Abraham's life was in comparison with his father. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:08.720 There weren't a lot of things that caused him to stand out. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.200 He was a well digger, and every time he would dig a well, the enemy would come and fill it in. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:15.200 And he'd dig another well and they'd fill it in. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:19.920 It was kind of like a it was part of his story, right? 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:26.160 But his story comes alive when God used him to bless his own family, right? 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:29.279 Now remember the story of Jacob and Esau. 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:40.559 Jacob uh was is the mean name means deceiver, supplanter, and he wanted to uh receive the firstborn blessing even though he was born second. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:46.079 He and his brother were twins, and his mother kind of got along, uh went along with this. 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:48.400 Jacob was her favorite as well. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:53.039 And so uh Esau's been out hunting, he comes in from the hunt, he's starving. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:55.200 Jacob's made his favorite meal. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:00.799 He offers him some of the stew and he says, if you give me your firstborn rights, I'll give you some stew. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:09.039 And Esau, not exactly being a forward thinker, trades his birthright for a bowl of soup, right? 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:11.680 Must have been some really good soup. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:15.759 And then uh what does Jacob do with his mom's help? 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:21.200 He dresses himself up in animal hair and uh tries to make himself smell like Esau. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:27.200 Esau must have had uh sort of a rugged sort of uh musk involved. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:49.599 Uh and so uh Jacob enters into the room of his father Isaac and he tries to make his voice sound deeper like Esau, and he smells like Esau, and he feels like Esau, and he comes up to his dad and he's wanting the firstborn blessing, and he sort of has earned it in a roundabout way by getting Esau to give it up, right? 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:59.759 And Isaac in his blinded state uh hesitates and hesitates, and then he finally lays his hand on him and blesses him. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.799 But how many of you know that the deceptive behavior with Jacob didn't end then? 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.039 He continues on and on, right? 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:17.440 Until finally he's faced with the repercussions, his brother Esau is coming towards him, and he knows that his brother Esau is mad at him and he's gonna try to harm him. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.240 And so Jacob, it says, wrestles with God. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:32.240 And this is one of the most interesting passages in all of Scripture, in my opinion, because it actually says that if God hadn't touched his hip and put his hip out of socket, that Jacob would have won. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:34.319 Wrestling with God. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:35.279 What? 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:40.000 But God didn't, obviously, God does win, always wins, right? 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:43.759 But he he put his hip out of place, Jacob's hip out of place. 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:51.279 And we know that uh Jacob, even at that point, held on to God and wouldn't let go of him until God gave him a blessing. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:57.279 And so God blessed him, he blessed him so much that he changed his whole name and his whole identity. 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:02.559 Instead of Jacob, now he would be called Israel, which means child of God. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:04.559 Child of God. 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:07.519 So we should bless our children. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:10.799 We should bless our children. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:12.319 Amen. 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:18.559 And then what I'm currently enjoying, we should bless our grandchildren. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:19.839 Am I right? 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:21.200 Come on now, grandparents. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:22.640 Are there any grandparents in the room? 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:25.039 We should bless our grandchildren. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:27.759 Don't let the blessing stop with our children. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:30.720 Let's press on into the next generation. 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:37.359 And if that becomes Gigi, great-grandchildren or whatever layer that becomes, let's bless them. 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:45.039 Jacob, remarkably, doesn't bless his own children in the same way that Isaac blessed Jacob. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:48.160 Instead, he blesses Joseph's kids. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:56.960 So Joseph, the favored one, the favored son of Jacob, uh, Jacob blesses his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:09.200 And again, as he's getting to lay hands on them, he crosses his hands and he lays his hand of blessing for the firstborn on the secondborn, and vice versa. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:10.880 So this is continuation. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:12.400 And what does that prove to us? 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:16.799 It proves that God's the one who chooses how he blesses, right? 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:20.960 That's up to him and whom he places his favor upon. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:26.000 Our job is to bless according to uh God's way and God's word. 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:31.440 It's interesting that the 12 tribes of Israel, which were the sons of Jacob, now become 13. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.640 Never heard of the 13 tribes of Israel? 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:40.000 Twelve of them, including Joseph's two sons, were granted land in the promised land. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:40.880 Who was not? 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:42.160 There was one tribe that was not. 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:43.519 Do you remember their names? 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:44.880 Levi. 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:46.640 And why weren't they given land? 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:51.279 Because their inheritance was God Himself. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:53.839 Their inheritance was God Himself. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:58.559 They served the Lord and they served the people in the tabernacle. 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:04.559 So we should bless our children, we should bless our grandchildren, and we should bless the Lord. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:06.880 We should bless the Lord at all times. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:11.759 His praise should continually be in our lips, on our lips. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:17.759 It says here that Jacob bowed in worship over the head of his staff. 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:33.839 After the blessing of future generations was completed, Jacob uses all the strength that he can find within him to prop himself up on the staff so that he can stand in whatever posture he was able to stand. 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:41.119 And what did he do towards the end of his days and the end of his life after the blessings had been imparted into future generations? 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:43.279 He blessed the Lord. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:45.279 He blessed the Lord. 00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:51.680 How do you want to finish your race when Jesus returns or you pass from this life? 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:54.240 What do you want to be occupied with? 00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:01.119 Blessing the Lord is something that's a worthy occupation. 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:02.240 Amen. 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:22.079 Aren't you sick and tired of stories of people in the last of their days turning their backs on Jesus? 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:25.279 Lord have mercy on us. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:26.960 Help us, Father. 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:32.000 That that wouldn't be our testimony, that we would be those who finish well. 00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:35.920 And that sort of leads us into our third question. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.559 Are we leaving behind a legacy for others to carry with them? 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:44.799 Are we leaving behind a legacy for others to carry with them? 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:54.559 It says, by faith, Joseph at the end of his life made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:31:14.079 So Joseph, who had been mightily used of God to sustain the life of countless people, you remember the story of the famine in Egypt, and also how before the famine there were seven years of plenty, and how Joseph had this master plan given to him by God to store up the wheat and the grain. 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:21.440 And so then when the famine came, he was not only able to sustain the people of Egypt, but of all of the surrounding countries. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:28.799 All of those who were affected by the famine were able to be blessed because of Joseph's faithfulness. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:33.599 And so what was Joseph's mindset at the end of his life? 00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:39.759 Was it that he would be, that there would be a huge uh you know, monument built for him in Egypt? 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:50.480 Would he be uh, you know, some kind of catacomb, some some kind of uh, you know, uh an amazing tomb where people could come and worship at the you know at the memory of Joseph. 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:54.079 Joseph's thought was concerning a future hope. 00:31:54.400 --> 00:32:01.279 Joseph said, gather my bones up after I die and put them in a box and take them with you. 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:09.279 Because I want to be found in the place of future hope, which is the land of promise, the land of Canaan. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:11.359 That's where I want to be. 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:27.599 Imagine hundreds of years later, and they did that exact thing when Moses, and we'll learn about Moses next week, I won't get on top of that, but when Moses left the bones of Joseph, Joseph left with him. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:30.799 Look at Genesis 50, verses 24 and 25. 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:41.839 And Joseph said to his brothers, I'm about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob? 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:51.519 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.519 Was Joseph a man of faith? 00:32:55.920 --> 00:32:58.319 Did Joseph see something in the future? 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:01.759 Did he believe that there was something that God was going to do? 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:08.559 And that did he want to participate even in some kind of posthumous way, you know, after he had passed from this life? 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:10.559 Yes, absolutely. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:20.240 You know, there's probably no one in the entire Old Testament that is a better example or most closely a type and shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:23.119 Let me just run through a few of these with you. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:25.440 The analogy between the two is striking. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:30.400 Joseph was the best beloved son, as was the Lord Jesus. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:36.000 Joseph obeyed his father, and the Lord Jesus said he had come to do his father's will. 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:38.160 Joseph's brethren hated him. 00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:43.519 It is said of the Lord, he came to his own, and his own received him not. 00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:50.960 Joseph was sent by his father to seek his brothers, and the Lord Jesus came to the earth seeking the lost. 00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:54.720 Joseph found his brothers who were shepherds in a field. 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:58.079 Shepherds came by night when the Lord Jesus was born. 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:02.960 His brethren mocked Joseph, refused him, and plotted to kill him. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:06.480 And the same thing happened to our Lord Jesus, didn't it? 00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:11.360 Joseph was sold into slavery, and the Lord was sold for thirty pieces of silver. 00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:14.000 Joseph's coat was dipped in blood. 00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:20.480 The soldiers gambled for the clothes of the Lord Jesus Christ with his blood upon it. 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:24.880 Joseph was sold into Egypt where God raised him up to save the world. 00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:36.079 The Lord Jesus went down into death after having been tempted by the world, the flesh, and the devil to become the savior of the world, both Jew and Gentile. 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:41.039 While on the throne, Joseph gave bread to the people, and Christ is the bread of life. 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:51.599 Joseph made himself known to the brethren when they came to Egypt, and someday the Lord Jesus will make himself known to his own brethren. 00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:56.880 What an example to us of Christ. 00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:02.639 What an example to us of this ongoing generational faith. 00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:11.039 Now I want to back up just as we finish this up to a couple of verses that came before the passage that we read from Hebrews chapter 11. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:13.679 So listen to this as I read this to you. 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:17.519 It's from Hebrews chapter 11, starting in verse 10. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:27.920 If it doesn't, I'm gonna need a Bible. 00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:30.000 Because I don't I don't have it in my notes. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:31.599 It was a last-minute edition. 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:33.760 Anyway, we'll get to that in just a minute. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:40.000 Let me say this let us together trust God for future generations. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:41.519 Can you do that with me? 00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:45.119 Can you trust God for future generations? 00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:52.320 Can you once again put your hope and faith and trust for future generations? 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:57.280 Let us be about the business of blessing future generations. 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:00.800 Can we learn to speak words of life? 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:04.159 Can we return to that practice again? 00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:05.760 Can we do this? 00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:07.440 Will we do this? 00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:13.920 Will we stop cursing future generations and talking about all that's wrong in the world? 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:23.199 And can we start speaking words of life and words of hope over the kids and grandkids and uh our spiritual inheritance as well? 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:28.800 It's not just uh kids and grandkids in the in the uh after the flesh. 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:33.599 Many times God gives us those that we can disciple and walk with through their lives. 00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:42.960 Let us be about the business of blessing future generations and let us leave behind a legacy for others to carry. 00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:47.599 Let us leave behind a legacy for others to carry. 00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:50.719 What will be said at your funeral? 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:53.280 Have you ever thought about that? 00:36:54.079 --> 00:37:01.360 I've wondered that a few times, not in a like a weird way, like where I've written out my funeral service. 00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:05.920 Maybe someday that will be the case, but at this day I'm not doing that. 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:08.639 But what will be said at your funeral? 00:37:09.599 --> 00:37:19.840 Will it be able to be said, just like it is of all of these generations from Abraham's family, that they weren't perfect, they did make mistakes, that they fell down and they got back up again. 00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:28.239 But for the most part, and especially at the end of their stories, they were men and women of God who walked after him. 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:31.440 They were found faithful in their generation. 00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:32.480 Amen. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:36.000 So now let's finish with this Hebrews 11, 10. 00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:38.639 For he was looking forward to the city. 00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:44.159 This is talking about all of the people that we're reading about and studying about in Hebrews chapter 11. 00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:46.480 This is what inspired them. 00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:53.679 They were looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:55.599 Right? 00:37:56.800 --> 00:37:58.880 Um, yeah, that's good enough. 00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:00.880 They were looking for a city. 00:38:01.199 --> 00:38:01.840 Let's go on. 00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:02.639