So let's take our Bibles, your iPads, your phones, or whatever, and let's jump into the Scripture here.

We've had a, hopefully we'll be able to tie some of this parent-child dedication into the message today.

We have had two weeks off of our study in Genesis because we had a Palm Sunday message and an Easter message, which is great.

And hey, by the way, guess what? The tomb's still empty, okay? And we celebrated that last week. It's still empty, okay? It's still empty.

The resurrected Jesus still lives in your hearts today. It's not just on that one day that we celebrate, hallelujah, hoopla, okay?

It's all the time, all the time. God is good all the time, and the Spirit of the Lord dwells within me, amen?

So today we're back into Genesis, and we're not going to get through all of chapter 25, but we're in chapter 25.

For those of you who may be visiting, we are in an expository study. I think I counted the other day.

This is our 21st message. I think that's right. No, no, no, 30th message. 30th message in the book of Genesis.

And we only get through the first six verses in chapter 25, but once we get through chapter 25, guess what?

We're halfway home. We're halfway home. We're almost done.

But we got a lot of stuff coming, a lot of crazy stuff we have to cover within that, and so we may have to slow down a little bit as well, too.

So there's no rush. We'll just keep teaching Genesis until Jesus comes back. How's that?

All right. Chapter 25, and if you can see on here, I have my title up here, and the title of it, oh, it's not there.

Getting Your House in Order. Getting Your House in Order.

How many of you know that it's important to get your house in order?

I'm not talking about cleaning it up for guests or whatever.

No, get your home in order. Getting your home in order.

And last time when we left Abraham in chapter 24, Abraham was old, okay?

He was an old man in the previous chapter.

And if you thought he was old, you were right, because he was about 137 years old.

He was an old guy, but he's still going strong, and he's still got some tricks up his sleeve, all right?

He's, in fact, if you thought he was old then, how about he's 175 when he kicks the proverbial bucket, all right?

That's old. That's old.

Okay, we don't have, we're not going to go through why people live so long back then.

And, you know, they aren't living as long as like Methuselah, 969 years, the antediluvian time, pre-flood days.

Understanding that there was a cloud around, a protective shield around the earth before the flood.

Once the flood happens, everything just explodes.

Flood goes everywhere, water goes everywhere, everything just disperses.

And so people didn't live as long, because the ultraviolet rays, you know, tended to break our bodies down.

And we see people living less and less and less and less, okay?

But he's 175.

We'll see that later on when he kicks the proverbial bucket.

He's going to be buried in the cave of Machpelah next to his wife, Sarah.

And that's what's in front of us.

But it's funny to me how people talk about, you know, getting old, your future age.

You know, I made mention of this a few weeks ago, how there's a reality of that hitting me as I've adopted a two-year-old.

You know, I thought I was done.

My daughter's 23.

She's married.

Boom, out there.

No, God has a sense of humor, and he has other plans.

And so I got a two-year-old.

And so the age, you know, is an amazing thing.

And you hear people talking about, you know, well, I'm getting old.

When I get to this age, when I get to that age, when I get to be, quote, unquote, old, you know,

and then it's funny when you discover that you're at that age and you didn't really realize, how did I get there?

How did I get there, you know?

I remember as a boy, I thought my dad, when he was in his 30s, man, he's old.

You know, he's old.

Everything seems to be on a 15-year basis, you know?

When you're 40, you know, when you're like 20, 25, 40 is old.

But when you're 40, it's like, well, that's not bad, but 55, 60, that's bad, okay?

That's bad.

Then when you get to be 50, 55, you're like, well, it's not so bad.

You know, the 70, whoa, the 70 is old.

Everything's relative.

Everything's relative.

I can remember, when it creeps up on you, I can remember being, I don't know where we were,

but we were in a line somewhere, we were getting ready to order something,

and Jill leans in to me and she says, you know, you can get a senior's discount.

And, of course, in the name of Jesus, I wanted to choke her, you know?

I wanted to choke her.

But, it's, you know, if you've ever wondered, there's a list I saw a long time ago.

If you've ever wondered if you're old, here's a little list for you.

I thought this was interesting.

I thought I'd share this.

You know you're getting old when all your names in your smartphone end with the initials MD, okay?

You know you're getting old when you get wet.

That's that, yeah. You know that you're getting old when your pacemaker accidentally opens up the garage door, okay? And you know that you're getting old when you bend over to tie your shoes and you think, wow, what else can I do while I'm down here, you know? And you finally make it there. Some of you can relate. Okay, back to Abraham, okay? There's your comedy for the day, okay? But back to Abraham. We never got to see him in his early years. We don't know much about his upbringing. There's some snippets in the Bible that describe

what his home life was like and what his belief system was like, but there's not a lot. By the time we meet Abraham, it's chapter 11. He's married already. God calls him out of the place where he was to a new place, but we do have the advantage of seeing him in his latter years. In his latter years. And I think that that's really important because how you start is not nearly as important as how you finish.

Somebody needs to be reminded of that this morning. How you start is not nearly as important as how you finish, okay? You want to finish well. However you started, whatever happened to you early on in life, I know some things happened to us, whatever, but wherever you are right now, you can finish well. You can finish well. Abraham had a lot of shortcomings and mistakes and all this other stuff, but I

absolutely, but I believe Abraham finished well. We see that within the scriptures. Now it says, it begins in chapter 25 and it says, Abraham took another wife. And let me just back the train up a little bit because I wasn't going to share this, but I think I want to just put this out there because it's on my heart.

And we're going to see, and we're going to see eventually, Abraham is going to die in this chapter. He's going to die. And really, that's actually a good thing. When you get to be 175 years old, you're kind of spent, okay? There comes a time when it's like, give up the ghost. It's time. It's time. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person at certain times in their lives.

You know, sometimes we feel that it is, but certainly death and being eternally separated from God, that's the worst thing that could ever happen to somebody. But death in itself can be a blessing and can be a release. I've seen that in times.

I saw that as we rejoiced in the loss of Bobby's grandmother recently at the funeral. There was a release. She was 94 years old. She lived a long life. And the last few years were so hard for her. Just physically, physically, she wasn't who she was, you know?

And you hate seeing so-and-so. At times, for a believer, that can be a release. And there comes a point in time when this body is incapable of expressing adequately who I am.

You know, there happens to be that. And it's temporary. The Bible calls it a tent, all right? Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, it's a tent. Our body's a tent.

Now, a tent is cool, all right? But a tent is only temporary, right? Just temporary. If you go camping, if you go camping the first night or two, man, you love it.

You love it, man. This is awesome. We got the campfire. You know, Jew wouldn't love it even for an hour, okay? But most of us, we love it.

We're camping. We're out in the stars. We get everything under the fire, this, that, and the other. And we cook our meals out here.

But if you stay in that tent and you're there seven, eight, ten days later, it ain't as fun. I'm sorry. I like camping too, but it's just not as fun.

You start smelling ripe, okay? And everyone around you starts smelling ripe. And that little mattress you put underneath your sleeping bag, man, that thing is, that makes you, gives you a longing for the softness of your bed at home.

You know, I want to be home. So we are here in this campground called earth. We're in a tent, but you long for the permanence and comfort, okay, of our home.

And that's why Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1. I was going to put it up there, but you can go to the scriptures and look at that.

2 Corinthians 5, verse 1, Paul says,

But here, you live in a tent. I live in a tent. One day, we're going home to our Father's house. We're going to something that's permanent. And we realize that as we get older. No matter how much, we try to stay in good shape. And we should exercise. That's right. We should do all those things. And we try to eat appropriately to the best of our ability. We try to stay away from all the ice cream and the sweets to the best of our ability. But at times, we recognize

the limited nature and the temporary nature of the tent. I had surgery on my knee six months ago. I still had issues with my stupid knee. It was supposed to be fixed. How many of you are with me on this? What I used to do here, I can only do here now. Now I just dream of when I used to be able to get up over the rim. I can't even sniff the rim these days. What the heck is going on?

My tent is falling apart. As we get older, guess what? In the tent, the flaps get flappier. Okay? The poles get loose. Okay? The poles come loose. The tent gets frayed. And you look in the mirror and you go, holy cow, the tent's frayed. It's wrinkled. It's coming apart. We realize there's a temporary nature to this tent. And that's why there's a longing in your heart for something else, something more.

That's why I'm so glad that Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 that we earnestly groan. Okay? That we earnestly groan. And you realize that as you get older? You ever get out of the bed in the morning? What do you do? Oh! That's biblical. That's spiritual. Oh!

I'm groaning. I'm hurting. Okay? I'm glad Paul put that in there. I'm probably misinterpreting the scripture. But that's how I see it. Okay?

But we groan and we earnestly desire to be clothed with our home. Our habitation, as Paul says, that is from God.

All right. Again, chapter 25. It says that Abraham took another wife. Okay? The old geezer lives 38 more years after Sarah dies.

Sarah dies. He's got 38 more years. And so he's still got some stuff he wants to take care of.

So anyway, Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah. Okay? Keturah.

So if Abraham... I was thinking if Abraham lived to be 175 years old, that means that when he hits about age 95, that's when he hits his midlife crisis.

Okay? You know, I don't know if he had one or not, but they say that most people have some kind of re-evaluation at least once in their lives

where they experience the midlife crisis and it manifests itself in different ways.

I don't know. It doesn't say that Abraham started wearing gold chains and bought a convertible camel and got, you know, all this other stuff.

Or a six-speed Mustang. Chuck told me that was his midlife crisis.

So anyway.

But I don't know what he did.

But at any rate, Abraham wanted to try to look younger, try to get that Mary Kay stuff to put under his eyes or something.

I don't know what he tried to do, you know.

But he's got some wind in his sails.

Okay?

And he gets married a second time.

Okay?

Her name's Keturah.

And her name means scented one or perfumed one.

And you might think, now wait a minute, what would interest her in a guy that's 140 years old?

140 years old.

I mean, how can anybody look at a 140-year-old man and go, I've got to have me some of him.

That's my man.

That's the man of my dreams.

With his walker.

I don't know.

I'm demented.

I know.

I think these things.

But we're not told the circumstances of all this stuff.

But remember.

Hey, remember.

Here's maybe a clue.

Abraham was very wealthy.

Okay?

He had 318 paid servants.

He had herds.

He had flocks.

He had sheep.

Yeah, show me the money.

That's right.

He looked so much better, didn't he?

Wow.

Look at that.

Okay?

But she also knew that if we get married, there's an inheritance.

My children will be taken.

I'll be taken care of.

I'll be...

Abraham, and it calls Keturah Abraham's concubine. It was very common in those days. There are some theologians that represent Keturah is another name for Hagar, and Abraham goes out and marries. Hey, that's not so. That's not so. That is, if the theologian represents it that way, just write him a note. Tell him it's a lie from the pit of hell. Okay? But it's common in those days to not only have wives, but to have concubines as well, too, in that culture.

But now, for her, this means that she goes from concubine status to legal status, marital status. And it's a permanent status that comes with all the rights of the inheritance. And we should also say that this is much more than just a legal contract. I'm sure that Abraham loved Keturah.

And I'm sure that Keturah loved Abraham. Because, you see, as one ages, as someone gets older, his or her capacity to love, or their need to be loved, does not diminish.

We lose sight of that sometimes. We're like, you know, maybe you have a family member that has lost. You lost your mom. Why would they ever remarry?

Why would my dad ever, why would my mom ever? You still have the capacity to love and to be loved.

Why is that? Because that's how God wired you. That's how God wired you.

Now, we're living in a culture today where people are living a lot longer. You realize that? The age is creeping up there.

At the turn of the sin, in the 1900s, only 4% of the American population was 65 or older. 4%.

Currently, today, it's over 15% that is 65 or older.

And what I found interesting, there are, I think it was right at, or a little over 12,000 Americans, 12,000 Americans that are over the age of 100.

That's crazy. That's a lot. I thought it was a lot. I had to read it a couple times.

But again, Abraham gets married.

Now you see why we're only going to cover six verses here this morning, because I can't shut up about certain things.

All right. Verse 2.

She bore him Zimram, Jokshan, Midan, Midian, Ishbak, Shua.

See, this is why I get paid the big money here, guys.

Jokshan, Father Sheba, and Dedan.

The sons of Dedan were Ashram, Letushiam, and Liamam.

The sons of Midian were Ephraah and Ephraah, Hanak, Abidah, and Eldah.

All these were the children of Keturah.

I should have called one of you up here to read all this this morning. I don't know.

So, what it's telling us is he gets six more sons.

Six more sons.

Total of eight sons all together.

Remember, we also have Ishmael and we have Isaac.

Seven grandsons, three great-grandsons.

And that's not to mention the girls in the family, because all they do is the genealogy.

They track the men, okay?

The son of, the son of, the son of, okay?

And so, they're not keeping all the children.

So, there's probably several children in this.

Now, one of them's name is Midian.

Now, just a heads up on Midian.

You're going to see that name come up later on,

because Midian will go to a place and live in an area that's going to be known as Midian, okay?

It's in the area of Arabia.

It's in the desert.

And later on, Moses is going to flee to Midian, okay?

After he kills an Egyptian, he's running for his life.

And he lives out in the desert out there for about 40 years.

And he marries a Midianite woman, okay?

So, we're seeing how some of these records all come together.

All these things kind of come together.

But anyway, he's remarried.

Lots of kids.

Lots of grandkids.

He's a very prolific man, okay?

And as I was reading this, I couldn't help but to think about the text in Ephesians chapter 3 that says,

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we could ever ask or think.

I thought of that because just go back in your mind to Abram, okay?

Before he was Abram.

You have Abram, okay?

He couldn't.

It was impossible for him to have a child with his wife.

He said,

than we could ever ask or think. That's our God. That's our God. Now, we need to know why this is important that these names are included in the text, and why all these names are given. If you keep your finger there and turn back to Genesis 17, it's because there was a promise that was made. God made a promise in Genesis 17. Remember, at this point in Genesis 17, Abraham has no children. Beginning in verse 4.

Behold, my covenant is with you, Abram, okay? You shall no longer be the father of... I'm sorry. Behold, my covenant is with you. You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. Not just a child. You are going to be a father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham.

Abraham. For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come to you. I'll come from you.

You know, to me, this is a great lesson about the fact that no matter what age you find yourself in, don't ever think that it's over.

That you have nothing more that you can contribute. Well, this is my sunset years, and I can't really contribute much anymore, and I don't really do this, that, and the other. Please banish that thought.

Did you know that both in and out of Scripture, some of people's greatest accomplishments were in the latter parts of their lives?

The latter parts of their lives. Moses was 80 years old. 80 years old when he was called into the get started in ministry.

Caleb was 85. 85. And you're going to read later on in Joshua, I think it's around chapter 14 or so, where Caleb's 85 years old.

He's crossing the Jordan River, going into the land that God had promised them, and Caleb comes up to Joshua, and he says,

Hey, I want you to know something. I'm 85 years old today. Today's my birthday. Today's my birthday. I'm 85, and I'm as strong today as I was when Moses sent you and I across the sky on the land.

Give me this mountain. Give me this mountain. I'm ready to fight if need be. I'm not done. I'm not finished. I'm ready to go.

But his greatest accomplishments were in his latter years. You could even look outside of Scripture.

Michelangelo was 89 years old. If you go visit Rome, you can see his greatest painting over there in the Sistine Chapel.

It's called The Last Judgment. He's 89 years old. It covers a whole wall.

He was 90 years old when he was on his back, still touching up the ceiling in those areas.

90 in the Sistine Chapel. John Wesley, he was a great preacher. A great preacher.

He was 88 years old, and he was still preaching, still growing strong after traveling some 250,000 miles on horseback.

Traveling, giving over 4,000 sermons, writing prolifically. He's still preaching and going strong.

Some of people's greatest accomplishments come in the latter part of their years.

There's an old English saying that the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. I like that.

I like that. And as I get older, I embrace that. I live that. In Jesus' name, hallelujah.

All right, look at verse 5.

Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.

All right, now watch this. Abraham's wealthy.

Now it's time to get his house in order.

He's got to make a will. He's got to dole out his property to his progeny, okay?

And Isaac is first because he's the son of promise, right?

And so his will is very simple.

Here's Abraham's will. Isaac gets it all.

Isaac gets it all.

Now, I read somewhere that you could go and you could divide up a man's life

into seven decades right now.

and the last one, wills. There's your seven decades, okay? Seven decades of a man. Abraham is at that last stage, okay? He's going to make a will, okay? And already he's, although he's already sent out Hagar and Ishmael and with some kind of provision and the Lord even, but the Lord said, you know, just let them go. I'll take care of them. I'll make a great nation out of them. He still gives some to his concubines and he's going to make a will. He still gives some to his

to the children who were born to Keturah, the inheritance because the genealogy we'll explain. We'll talk about this another time. The law of promogeniture, okay? Later on, get that out of your mind right now. We'll come back to that. But Isaac is the son of promise. He gets the bulk of it. And so he gives all that he has to Isaac. And notice that it says right there that while he was still living, he sent them eastward. In other words, Abraham takes, he takes, he takes, he takes, he takes, he's going to his

He's taking responsibility now.

He's taking responsibility.

He's older and he wants to make sure

that his family is provided for

while his mind is clear,

while he's cognizant,

while he's still sound of mind

where he can make those decisions

because if he doesn't make those decisions now,

it's going to get very, very complicated

when he's unable to make them

because people are going to argue back and forth.

There's an old saying,

where there's a will, there's an argument.

Not where there's a will, there's a way.

Where there's a will, there's an argument.

Okay, Abraham knew that

and he gets his house in order.

This is very important.

I think it's a spiritual principle.

I believe in this.

Jill and I are having to go to an attorney

this coming Thursday.

We're having to redo some of our will

because we now have a two-year-old

to redo some things.

I don't want to, if something was to happen,

God forbid to us,

to have Caitlin have to make certain decisions

concerning her sister.

We are a stable mind, clear mind.

It is our responsibility

to make those decisions

to understand where our heart is

and convey that.

Get your house in order.

Men, you lead your family.

Get your house in order.

That's part of raising up your children.

We just dedicated.

Part of raising them up

is putting things in order

as they should be.

So many of us,

well, I'll do that another time.

No, we have no promise of tomorrow.

I'm not trying to be morbid.

We have no promise of the next day.

All we have is this moment.

Do the next right thing.

Do the next right thing.

So Abraham goes

and he gets his house in order.

Probably one of the best advices in the Bible

comes from the prophet Isaiah.

He goes to Hezekiah,

the king of Judah

in 2 Kings 20,

I think it is.

And he says,

Get your house in order

for you are not going to live much longer

and you're going to die.

How would you like for a prophet

to come tell you that?

But he warns him.

You're going to die.

You're not going to live much longer.

In other words,

you need to find somebody

who's going to be your successor

because your days are numbered.

Get it in order now.

And the New Testament

takes this principle

and it takes it up a notch.

In 1 Timothy it says,

If a man does not provide

for his own relatives,

especially that of his own household,

he is worse than an infidel

and he has denied the faith.

In other words,

as a man,

you take care of your household.

You take care of your household.

You take care of your immediate family.

It's a calling of God

to get your house in order.

Do what you can in advance.

Okay?

To provide for them.

There will be a day

that you're going to have to

trust the Lord completely,

eventually,

but right now,

you can do something.

Do something.

That's the charge.

I believe that we see that

in the life of Jesus.

Remember,

he's on the cross

and the last formal declaration,

family declaration,

on the cross that he gives

is when John is there,

his mother Mary is there,

he's in agony,

he wants to make provision

for his mother

and he says,

son,

behold your mother.

Mother,

behold your son.

He's making provision.

Now,

that wasn't

Jesus giving Mary

to the whole human race

as some misinterpret

this scripture.

It's simply

Please.

All of his money. And he does so to Isaac. And again, verse 6 tells us, to the sons of the concubines of Abraham, he gave gifts. And while he was still living, he sent them away from Isaac, eastward, to the east country.

Just a reminder, Ishmael wasn't the chosen, wasn't chosen to be the child of promise. Okay? He was not the heir of the covenant blessings. God promised that he would bless Ishmael and make him a great nation. And God kept his promise. And you'll see later on that Ishmael was on hand at Abraham's funeral, at the reading, but he wasn't included in the will.

Ishmael. Ishmael gives us a picture of the natural or the unsaved person. All right? He gives us a picture. The one who is outside of the faith. One who is hostile to the things of God. 1 Corinthians 2.14, Paul bears this out. He says that the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him.

He is not able to understand them. He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. All right?

Isaac, on the other hand, gives us a picture of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ and have experienced that miraculous new birth and by the power of God.

1 Peter 1.14, Paul says,

It says,

Since you have been born again, not with a perishable seed, but with the imperishable through the living and abiding word of God.

That's the picture of those who have trusted. Every believer in Jesus Christ shares all the blessings of the Spirit in Christ and is part of Christ's glorious inheritance.

That's how you are a part of that inheritance.

That's how you are a part of that inheritance. You are grafted in. You are grafted in.

The most important part of Isaac's legacy isn't the great wealth that his dad left him.

It isn't all of that that's the most important. Isaac's most important legacy was the spiritual wealth from his mom and from his dad.

That spiritual wealth, knowing and trusting in the true living God and being a part of that covenant blessing that God graciously bestowed upon Abraham,

graciously bestowed upon Sarah and their descendants.

And that's what we're asking today as these families came forward and they dedicated their children.

That the spiritual deposits that we make in these child's lives will one day see fruit.

That we trust in the word of the Lord that says that it will not return void.

Because what a tragic, I mean, what a tragic place it is.

What a tragic event it is when children of devout believers,

children of devout believers turn their backs on the priceless spiritual heritage.

It happens.

There are godly men and women today that have invested.

And that's hard.

But we see it in the life of Ishmael.

We see it in Esau.

Okay?

They were raised.

That's hard as a parent.

You know?

I used to have a pastor.

He had five kids.

He used to always say,

Well, the odds are one of the five is going to go crazy.

I was like, man, don't speak that over your kids, man.

Don't speak that.

But how hard is that as a mom and dad that you have to trust in the promise of the word that it will they will not come back that the word will not come back void.

My child is making decisions that are of the world and of the flesh.

It's heartbreaking.

Jill and I talked about that so much when Caitlin was growing up.

We prayed over her and prayed over.

Beg God and beg God.

But that's no assurance because at some point in time, she has to make that faith her own.

But we have to be able to stand before God and each other as husband and wife and say,

To the best of our ability.

foreshadowing in the story of Isaac and the foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit, the foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. And I told you a few weeks ago that Isaac is a beautiful type of Christ. Okay? A beautiful foreshadowing of Christ. You see that bared out, especially in Genesis 22, is Isaac is the sacrifice. Okay? The sacrifice. He is one and only son. We see that.

Bear it out. But consider this. Just as the father, Abraham, okay, gave all he had to his son Isaac. Alright? Did you know that the scripture says that God the Father has given everything into Jesus' hand? It's a beautiful, beautiful corollary. Jesus even said, All that the father has, he has put in my hand.

He has given me authority. He has given me authority. And as you, and he says, As you gave him authority, that's the father giving him the son of man authority, okay, that he may give eternal life to as many as you. The father has given him the son. In other words, you have given me these people. They're mine. You gave them to me. They're my people. They are followers of me. And I have that authority that, and I have that authority from you.

To give them to you. To give them eternal life. To give them eternal life. All of those that you have given to me. Everything that the father has, he's put in Jesus' hand. Everything that Abraham, again, we see the foreshadowing of the picture of the Trinity.

And all throughout Genesis, he's given us that picture. Now, here's a thought based on that.

If we belong to Jesus Christ, if the father has given us as a special gift to his son, Jesus Christ, and if we are to, as the Bible says,

live our very lives for the glory of Jesus Christ, doesn't it say that, okay, we are, we are a, God has given us as a gift to the son.

Those of us who believe, you follow me on this? Who believe in Jesus Christ, we are the gift.

And if we are, we are to live our lives, as the scripture tells us, for the glory of Jesus Christ.

What if that thought, that we're to live our lives for the glory of Jesus Christ, what if that thought really dominated our every day?

Every day, you wake up in the morning, I belong to Jesus.

I belong to Jesus. I am his.

Jesus purchased me with his own life, and the father has given me into his authority.

The father has given me into his authority, and I want to live for the one that the father has given all things to.

I want to live for the one. The father gave all things to him, so guess what? I want to live for him.

I want to live for him. Think of how different your day would be.

Think of how different my day would be.

You would see, you would see everything as a divine appointment, and not a distraction, and an interruption.

You know what I'm saying?

So often, this just messed my day up.

This turned everything sideways.

I had all these other things, I was going to take care of today, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You know, let's say you've got a job that isn't so exciting anymore.

Don't all stand up and say hallelujah, okay?

Let's say, anybody here work at the post office?

Not picking on anybody?

Okay, let's say you're a male, you work at the post office.

Anyway, we're not picking on anybody.

You deliver packages for UPS.

You work at Federal Express.

Let's say you work for a landscape company, and you do irrigation, and you spray yards.

Let's say you work down at the mill, okay, and you work in all these different positions at the mill.

Let's say you work at a doctor's office where people come in all day long.

Let's say you work at Fletzi, okay?

You work at Fletzi, and you have all these people coming in from all these different areas,

and you're doing all these different things.

And what if, what if, instead of just doing your job, what if you had the mindset,

I'm doing this for the glory of God?

I'm doing this for the glory of God.

I'm doing this for the glory of God.

Well, you can reach over and you can, you can, uh, here's that pin and you can actually accidentally on purpose, just touch them on the hand. Sweet Jesus. Just bless this person. Yes. And you see that person sitting over there distraught. You see the name Susan Jones. Hopefully nobody hears Susan Jones. Okay. Susan Jones. And you're able to put your hands on Lord Jesus. I saw Susan Jones. I don't know what's going on in her life. You do. You own authority over all things. And you've called me to live for the glory of your life.

Give me a heart for others. But we see so many times. God brings about divine appointments in our lives and we see them as interruptions. And so I'm going to tell you this church. There comes a point in time when God says, I'm not going to give you any more divine appointments. I'm going to go over here to so-and-so and let them do it because they're faithful. That's the only thing God, that's all we got. That's all we got. We've told you this before. That's all we can bring to the table. Faithfulness and obedience.

Faithfulness and obedience. What do you got? Nothing. Faithfulness and obedience. Faithfulness and obedience. That's all you got.

What a beautiful thought it would be if we had that mindset.

Everyone that we came in contact with.

I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've driven away from Wendy's and said, why didn't I just pray for that girl?

And she said, again, so irritated. She took for it.

You know, why a Taco Bell that they not understand that the fire sauce has fire on the package?

Don't give it to mild.

In the name of Jesus, can you not read?

She may have had a little child that was just taken into foster care.

She may have just gotten a call that her mama isn't doing so well.

She's distracted.

And how prideful of me, arrogant of me, and insensitive of me to not have spiritual eyes for my day-to-day brothers and sisters.

We get so caught up in agendas.

We get so caught up in being right.

Can I get an amen, Joe?

Yeah.

We miss the opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

And so, you know, church, I don't...

I don't know how else to pour my heart out to you on this.

Dads, get your house in order.

Get your house in order is a spiritual challenge.

It's not just to get your money in order.

Get your house in order.

There are some ladies that are here today, I would be willing to bet,

that are in a broken state in their hearts,

and they're paying the price because the men didn't step up and be men.

The men didn't step up to be men.

Never got their house in order.

And that domino has wide-reaching effects.

Worship team, come up.

I'm going to preach another sermon.

We don't need that right now.

I pray that you remember the families that we have celebrated here today.

And we don't just take it this morning as an event.

This is not just an event.

This is a calling of the Lord.

Lord, you know, I look out and I think about how we've, you know,

James and Natalie, we prayed over your little guy not too long ago, you know.

That continues to go on.

You haven't stopped raising him, have you?

Just checking.

Yeah.

It doesn't end.

It doesn't end.

It doesn't end.

Beautiful Judah.

It doesn't end.

It doesn't end.

Thank you.

I'm thanking you for your goodness and your graciousness. We love you, Father. We pray that your word would go forth and that all that has been shared today and all that has been spoken today is from you, Lord. I pray, Lord Jesus, for the men to stand up and be men of faith. And I pray that

there's some families here today that need to hear that our God is a reconciling God as well, too.

He's still in the business of bringing about reconciliation.

Jesus, there is none like you. We praise you that the tomb will be forever empty. And we praise you that our hearts are forever filled with your Holy Spirit.

moving our hearts and our lives as only you can. In Jesus' name and all God's people sing.