Genesis 47:13-27
ALL I CAN SAY ABOUT THIS IS WOW!!!
RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE - STIMULUS SERMON
I would love to give the
Pastor of this predominantly black church in Virginia three cheers. This guy is
obviously a leader. Perhaps we should each decide who our real leader is... It
is amazing to see that very little has changed in 4,000 years.
Good morning, brothers
and sisters; it's always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday morning,
and so eager to get into God's Word. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will,
to the 47th chapter of Genesis. We'll begin our reading at verse 13, and go
through verse 27.
Brother Ray, would you
stand and read that great passage for us? ... ( reading ) ... Thank you for
that fine reading, Brother Ray. So we see that economic hard times fell upon
Egypt , and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this
for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in
great storehouses that he had built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh,
like a great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for
grain. And this went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again.
So when they went to
Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock - their cattle, their horses,
their sheep, and their donkey - to barter for grain, and verse 17 says that
only took them through the end of that year. But the famine wasn't over, was
it? So the next year, the people came before Pharaoh and admitted they had
nothing left, except their land and their own lives. "There is nothing
left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die
before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we
with our land will be servants to Pharaoh." So they surrendered their
homes, their land, and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold
themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain.
What can we learn from
this, brothers and sisters?
That turning to the
government instead of to God to be our provider in hard times only leads to
slavery? Yes... That the only reason government wants to be our provider is to
also become our master?
Yes. But look how that
passage ends, brothers and sisters! Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt,
in the land of Goshen . And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful
and multiplied greatly." God provided for His people, just as He always
has! They didn't end up giving all their possessions to government, no, it says
they gained possessions! But I also tell you a great truth today, and an
ominous one.
We see the same thing
happening today - the government today wants to "share the wealth"
once again, to take it from us and redistribute it back to us. It wants to take
control of healthcare, just as it has taken control of education, and ration it
back to us, and when government rations it, then government decides who gets
it, and how much, and what kind. And if we go along with it, and do it
willingly, then we will wind up no differently than the people of Egypt did
four thousand years ago - as slaves to the government, and as slaves to our
leaders.
What Mr. Obama's
government is doing now is no different from what Pharaoh's government did
then, and it will end the same. And a lot of people like to call Mr. Obama a
"Messiah," don't they ? Is he a Messiah? A savior? Didn't the
Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves, "You have saved our
lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh"? Well, I
tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of mine; and Mr.
OBAMA IS NO MESSIAH! No, brothers and sisters, if Mr. Obama is a character from
the Bible, then he is Pharaoh. Bow with me in prayer, if you will...
Lord, You alone are
worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the
government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the
eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would
do, where it says "And in that day you will cry out because of your king,
whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that
day..."
And Lord, we acknowledge
that day has come. We cry out to you because of the ruler that we have chosen
for ourselves as a nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray for revival,
and we pray for deliverance from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts
to seek You and hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the atrocities
of Pharaoh's government. In God We Trust...
1 comment:
Excellent article!
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