We're going to continue in Genesis 24. You have a new sheet. And I have the old sheet here that I'm going to still go on. If you have that from last week, you can pull that out too. But you don't necessarily need it. But Genesis chapter 24. We were going through the story of Eleazar. trying to get a bride as he was commanded by Abraham for his son. And all the different practical applications we can make from scripture from that story. And there's still more that we'll talk about today. I don't know who brought this up here, but thank you. And so we left off, I think, around verse 27. And Eleazar was at this point, he was amazed that the prayer was answered so quickly. And we talked about him holding his peace and watching God unfold the situation and not trying to manipulate it with asking her too much what to do. But that she went ahead and watered his camels like he had prayed if she was the right woman that she would do that and she did. And so we get to the point here where she has to pass one final test, however. She watered the camel. She gave him water. She showed up. And she was a virgin. She was beautiful. She fit the model up to this point. But he had to find out whether or not she was related to Abraham. And so she needed to be related. And once he found out who she was the daughter of and found out they were related, He took the occasion, I forget which verse it is, I'm not looking at it right here, but he took the occasion in verse 26, and the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. Now, I put the note on your paper that he did that. It looks to me like he did that in the open. He didn't just bow down his head in his mind. He bowed down, I think, in front of her and worshipped the Lord. And I think it's a good practice for us to consider doing, that as soon as the Lord answers a prayer for us, that we might just not want to wait until we're in private or until we're away for nobody to see, but we might want to just give the Lord the credit in front of even the world. You know, it's easy to do that here. I find myself no problem saying amen in church. Even praise the Lord or whatever comes out of your mouth here amongst believers. But when you get out in the world and they're talking about something good that happened or some kind of answer to prayer, even though it may just be someone else telling you about a good fortune in their lives, you might want to practice the idea of saying, well, praise the Lord. And if something happens good to you, you might wanna just take the occasion and make it just a practice. The same practice that we would encourage everyone to do in terms of if you commit a sin against the Lord, we know we have 1 John 1, 9, right? And that is keep short accounts with God. In other words, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don't wanna keep that thing hanging out there with the Lord. You know, like, well, when I get some time aside and maybe tonight or, you know, whenever and hopefully we don't forget that we confess that sin. Now, we might want to confess it right away, like right on the spot and just tell the Lord, you know what? I just did this. I just recognized that it was wrong. Don't let that thing get in your mind and get to the point where you start to think that it's well, I justify this. And, you know, I that really wasn't that wrong. And then you never end up confessing it to the Lord and getting that thing straight. But just as we would do that, we might want to make it a practice, as Eliezer did, that he would bow his head and thank the Lord for something good that was answered in his life. So he did this right in front of Rebecca. Just as it is good to pray, it is good to thank the Lord for answered prayer right away. And then he did this, if we read verse 27, it says, and he said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth, I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. So he made a really remarkable statement here. He said that I being in the way, the Lord led me. So it wasn't enough, this is the practical lesson here, it wasn't enough for Eliezer to just pray. Lord, find a wife for my master's son. And anybody could do that, right? Anybody could just pray that, as we did this morning, that we could just pray for one another's relatives, we could pray for one another's families and people to be saved. But he said, I being in the way. And that's what the world, or not the world, but Christianity would call putting feet to your prayers. Have you ever heard that expression before? Putting feet to your prayers. So you don't just sit back at home and never do anything or venture out for the Lord, you pray. And then you put feet to those prayers. So in other words, Lord, I pray that you would save so and so. But maybe it might be time at that point to say, well, then maybe I should pick up the phone and call so and so. Or maybe I should get in the car and go over and see so and so. Right? And that's what he had to do. He got himself in a position, I being in the way, the Lord led me, and he brought him right to the place where he ought to go. So it takes two. You know, I often say it here, I'll say it again, it's like a 50-50 deal where we ask the Lord to do something for us and we have to do something in return. You know, the Lord's just not going to do everything and hand us everything. It's like this, it's like, Lord, I need money. God, I need to make some money. And I don't know where it's going to come from. Well, I tell you what, where it's not going to come from, it's not going to come from a tree. You know, money doesn't grow on trees. The world even knows that. It's not going to fall out of heaven into your living room. It's not necessarily, and I've heard missionary stories of people going to their mailbox, and Brother Gordon tells a fantastic story about that, where some missionaries lost their home and they went to the mailbox, and lo and behold, in the mailbox, there was all the money needed to replace their home. But how many times has that happened for you, right? And how many times, the Lord just doesn't do it that way. So we can pray all we want, and I have this need, I have this problem, I have this concern, but if we don't do anything about it, Really, what is the Lord supposed to do? And I just don't see it in the Bible. I see it here that the Lord had to lead him in the way. I see it that the Lord will bless your activity. When you pray for something and ask the Lord to bless what you're about to do or to reach that person or to help me get that money, then you go out and get a job. And he blesses you to get that job. And maybe he blesses you to even get a raise in that job and so forth. But we have to put feet to the prayers. It's not enough to pray for sinners, we must go witness to them. It's not enough to pray for money, we must go and earn the money. It's not enough to pray for a closer walk with God. You know, we can pray, oh God, you know, guide my path and show me what to do, and I want to have a closer walk with you, and then we never open up the pages of the Bible. You know, the Lord has given us the Bible and he says, you go ahead and read in that word and I will open it up to you. If you pray, it's a good practice to pray before you read the Bible. And as you do, God can do that. But if you just say, Lord, teach me, Lord, show me, Lord, help me, he's not gonna come. I think we spoke about it in institute. He's not gonna come to you in a dream. That's not what he does today. He's not going to guide you through circumstances even. He's not going to guide you through some special revelation. He's going to guide you through his word. And the other thing, he's going to guide you through coming to church. We might want to make it just a practice in our lives that we are not going to miss church, that church is a part of our lives. It's not just optional, like, well, it's Sunday, should we go or shouldn't we go? You know, should we go to Sunday school or should we just go to church? Should we just go to Sunday morning or should we even go Sunday night? It should never be a debate. It should just be a normal, everyday thing that that is what you're going to do. You know I was leaving our house this morning and of course I'm leaving in a tie and a jacket and you know I'm getting in my car and I know the neighbors are out walking their dogs, right, in their shorts and t-shirts. And I know because I know I look out my front window and see what's going on outside, I know they look out their front window and see what's going on outside. And so this morning we were just driving out, no big deal, but it just happened this way that we're in the car and it just struck me, you know, my neighbors are right there on the walk, walking their dogs down the street and I'm driving my car in a suit and tie. Now they had to know that I'm going to church like I always do. And you know what, whether or not, and I don't really talk to my neighbors all that much, whether or not I ever do, the one thing that they know is the Albrechts, if they know my name, the Albrechts go to church. And you know what that is? That's a testimony to them, of God to them, whether I say anything or not. I mean, at least Americans know, and hopefully they're convicted of the fact that it's good that there are still people that go to church. And that at least one of my neighbors does that regularly, and that's just a regular provocation to them that watch. And so you say, well, is that the only reason to go? Well, that's one of the reasons to go. Understand, if there was more peer pressure for people to go to church, maybe more people would go to church. But less and less people go all the time, and they just say, oh, you're in town this week, well, I don't have to go to church, let's go do something. Or, you know, whatever the circumstance, oh, well, you know, this is going on this weekend, well, that sounds better than church, so we'll go do that. And all I'm saying is we might pray and say, well, oh God, I love you. And God, I want you to be with me. And God, I want you to bless my life. But we don't even open our Bibles and read it. We don't go to church when we're supposed to. Now I know I'm preaching, somebody told me they don't like the expression preaching to the choir, but I know I'm preaching to the choir. You folks are always here, I'm looking at the same faces I see every week, but just keep doing it. Make sure that it's part of your routine. So Eliezer made a great statement there in the Bible in verse 27, I being in the way the Lord led me. You wanna be in what is known as the path of blessing. You wanna be in a place where God can actually bless your life, right? And if we found ourselves in the bar some evening this week, that is not the path of blessing. That is not where God is gonna give you a blessing and give you a special revelation from him of direction for life or whatever prayer request you have. Now if you're in church, this is where you can get fed. This is where you can get direction. This is where you're gonna get the favor of God. And so we want to be in the path of blessing. I was, I'll go ahead and use his name. I was talking to Ferdie this week. He's doing a project right now for my wife's sister. And he was, I always tease him, you know, like there's, oh, you missed that. Because he shows me pictures. You missed that. You missed that. He's in construction and remodeling and things like that. And he's like, you have a very critical eye. And I said, yes, I do. But we have an expression around our church and that it's good enough. You know, when you look around here, you say, well, there's that big thing on the wall over there. Yeah, but it's good enough. The wall's not falling down or anything like that. But I won't do that with him. I'll get a little more picky, right? And so he was, he's building a deck and he was laying the, putting the posts in and he was putting the, whatever you call those things. I forget the word of it now, but you know, so that you can lay the deck on that. And I said, I said, and he showed me a picture. I said, yes, but is it level? And then the next video he's sending me a picture of he's going with a level all the way down the beam. But what he said to me there, and this goes along with the path of blessing, what he said to me in a text, and I was really glad to see it, is that he said, and I forget the verse right now myself, but he said, whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. And what he's telling me is leave me alone. I'm doing this to the Lord, not to you. Right? And so that, but that's in the path of blessing even in your workplace. You know, if we're at the workplace and we want that raise or that money we were asking for or that better position or those better hours, but yet every time we go, we're doing things behind the scenes or we're cutting corners on the job and we're being lazy for the boss. Is that really being in the path of blessing? Well, I went to work. I did what I was supposed to do. Yeah, but you didn't do it heartily as unto the Lord. and not unto men. Well, I don't like my boss. Well, too bad. Then quit your job. You can always go work for somebody else if you don't like your boss. Don't go to his work and work for him and then do less than your best for him because you don't like him, and yet you'll take his money. There's something wrong with that. All right, let's move forward. Genesis 24 again, verse 33. We'll read verse 33 now all the way to 49. Is this where I want to be? That's not what I want to do. Is that what I have on your paper? Okay, all right, well then we'll do it. Verse 33, and there was set meat before him to eat, but he said, I will not eat until I have told mine errand. And he said, speak on. And he said, I am Abraham's servant, and the Lord hath blessed my master greatly, and he has become great. And he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and men's servants, and maid's servants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah, my master's wife, bear a son to my master when she was old, and unto him hath he given all that he hath. And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell, but thou shalt go into my father's house, into my kindred, and take a wife unto my son. And I said unto my master, Peradventure of the woman will not follow me. Then he said unto me, The Lord before whom I walk will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way, and thou shalt take a wife for my son, of my kindred, and of my father's house. Then shalt thou be clear from this mine oath, when thou comest to my kindred, and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath. And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go, behold, I stand by the well of water, and it shall come to pass that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink, And she say to me, both drink thou and I will also draw for thy camels. Let the same be the woman with whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master's son. And before I had done speaking, in my heart, behold, Rebecca came forth with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And she went down under the well and drew water. And I said unto her, let me drink, I pray thee. And she made haste and let down her pitcher from her shoulder and said, drink, and I will give thy camel's drink also. So I drank, and she made the camel's drink also. And I asked her and said, whose daughter art thou? And she said, the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom milk a bear unto him. And I put the earrings upon her face and the bracelets upon her hands, and I bowed down my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, which hath led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. And now, if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me, and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left. So we'll stop right there. Now, Eliezer, if you notice, as I was studying this, I was thinking to myself, why, Lord, do you spend so much time retelling this story? You know, you're going, you ever read that in the Bible? Sometimes it's just like, and then it just kind of skips all the details and moves forward. And then other times you're reading it over and over and over. And I thought, Lord, and I don't know the entire reason for that, but I do have an idea about this particular instance. And if you see on your paper, do you have this on your paper this morning? This is the one you have this morning? Okay. Eleazar would not eat until he rehearsed every detail with Laban and Bethuel. He was just a servant, but he was clear, detailed, and presented himself as a faithful ambassador of Abraham. Now that's the point, I think, that is being made here in the scripture. Eliezer is just a servant. He's not a preacher. He's not the mouthpiece for Abraham. Abraham's old, and Abraham said, now go to my people and get me a son. And this guy, if you see the story, you see every little detail is being paid attention to. He prayed as he went, he was in the way that the Lord told him to go. He found the girl coming to the well and he went and approached her and asked her to drink. And then he thanked the Lord right after, as soon as everything was laid out the way he prayed it. And now he's talking to her family and he's laying out the entire story. And so he's a faithful ambassador. Eliezer is a type of the Holy Ghost pointing people to Jesus. That's his type in this story. Now there's a lot of types going on. We talked about who Abraham pictures the Father, God the Father. Isaac pictures God the Son. Rebecca pictures actually the New Testament Church. And Isaac pictures Jesus Christ. That's the bride. He's coming to get the bride together. And that's a picture of that. But Eliezer is a picture of the Holy Ghost pointing people to Jesus. And we'll take a minute here. Go over to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. And look at verse 26. We'll just see a couple of things here about the Holy Ghost and what he's doing in this world right now. And that's why when we pray, and at least when I'm praying up here for your request for people to be saved, I usually try to pray that the Lord be merciful to that person. And because, I mean, Lord is not willing that any should perish. And so we might say, hey, Lord, save those people in just kind of not knowing how to pray for them. We might say, Lord, save them. And I think that's where the Holy Ghost does come in and helps us. He intercedes for us, and he's saying what they're really trying to say, Lord, is, would you, Lord, my prayer is, Lord, would you give that person another chance? Now, the fact that someone's alive and breathing, we might say, well, then God's already given them a second chance. They have a chance as long as they're alive and well. I don't necessarily believe that. Because I can show you in Romans, and I believe it's Romans chapter nine, where Pharaoh was left alive. And he was a living, breathing, but he was left alive so that he might end up dying at the bottom of the Red Sea. And that he might bring glory to the name of God because he had already turned his back on God enough times where he had crossed the line that I talk about, that I believe everybody has a line. And if you cross that line, you might be at the point of no return according to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one says God gives them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. And so you don't want to be in the position where God has given you up and given you over. But as long as people are alive and breathing, I don't know what God's doing with them, so I'm praying God be merciful to that person. Give them another chance, because I'm your son, and I'm coming to you, giving a petition before you, and I'm just asking, please, would you give them another chance? And maybe, maybe, I trust and hope and pray that God is answering that prayer and giving that person another chance. And I honestly do pray that when I say, Lord, I want you to convict them right now. That's what I believe is going on. You get to John chapter 14 and verse 26, and it starts here. It says, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So one of the jobs of the Holy Ghost is to be a reminder. Now it's talking about, I believe, a believer right here, but the Lord might remind that lost person. Remember that Sunday school class you were in when you were a child? You remember how they taught you on creation? You remember that song that you sang, like we sang this morning about love the little children of the world? Red and yellow, black and white, you remember that? That's one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. Look at chapter 15 and look at verse 26. 15 and 26, But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. Another job of the Holy Spirit is he doesn't testify of himself, he testifies of Jesus Christ. And so he points people to Jesus Christ. Now, we've had a discussion here, some of us men in the church, about is it right to pray to the Holy Ghost or not? Is it right to talk about, some churches are always talking about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost. Well, you can read just from the last two scriptures we looked at here, the Holy Ghost works in the background. He works in the shadows, if you want to call it. Yes, he has a a great job to perform for the Lord. And that and Jesus said, if I don't go, you can't be saved. Basically, I have to go and I'm going to send the comforter and he's going to take care of things. And we also know that if we're saved, we're sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Right. So it's it's a tremendous thing, the ministry of the Holy Ghost. But the Holy Ghost doesn't speak of himself. When he comes, he speaks of Jesus. He testifies of me, it says. That's Jesus. Look at chapter 16 of John and look at verse 13. How be it when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. Here we go again, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that's coming from God, that is, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. So that's the job of the Holy Spirit. He will guide you into all truth. Now back to Eleazar, he's a type of the Holy Spirit here in this situation. And so he is being very specific, very precise, and he is making sure that the plan of his master that he got from above that we just read in chapter 16 of John, that the plan that the Father has given him, that he is speaking it, so that there is no mistaking of what I'm here to do and my mission and what we want for your daughter. So of course now the Holy Spirit works together with us to present the word. Now go over to Revelation chapter 22. You're probably very familiar with this, but lay your eyes on it if you're not. Revelation 22. Revelation 22 and verse 17. The last chapter in your Bible. And we'll just go over and start in verse 16, and it says, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star and the spirit and the bride say come. Who are you as a saved believer? You're the bride. And so we don't just pray, again, I being in the way, the Lord led me. We don't just pray for people to be saved and say, Lord, convict those people. And now that's all I can do for you this morning up here, and I can pray. And I don't know, I'm not in another state where your relative might be. Or this morning I'm here and they're over there. But you know, we can pray like that, but again, we put feet to those prayers. But because the Bible tells us here that, yes, we looked at what the Holy Spirit does, and he does much more than that, too. He's out there in the world at large, convincing them of judgment to come, and he's convicting them of their sins. And that's one of the other things he's here to do. But he says here, the Spirit and the bride say, come. So what we want to do is we want to be working in tandem with the spirit. The Bible tells us, Paul tells us in Romans chapter eight that we're supposed to walk in the spirit. If we're saved by the spirit, if we're sealed with the spirit, then it makes sense that we might want to walk in the spirit. And as we walk in the spirit and the spirit of God is with us, I like Brother Freeman's requests quite regularly. He talks about if the Lord will open up doors for him to give him opportunity to witness. And we might just want to make that a little bit of our mission in our lives, no matter what we do for a living or how we're not out there necessarily always passing out tracks or going to hospitals or into places like he might do. But you know what? We're out there and our prayer ought to be, Lord, can you use me today? Can you? Bless this conversation that I'm about to go into with my boss, or with my coworker, or with this person in the line over at Wendy's, or wherever we're at. Lord, can you use me and be walking in the Spirit, because the Spirit and the bride say come. God needs us to be faithful ambassadors like Eliezer. He told that story and you read it over and over and you're like, Lord, what's this all about? Why does he keep every single detail is here. And you know what we might want to take from that as well. We might want to give out the gospel properly. We might want to not just come up with cute little clichés about people, you know, well God loves you, and we hear things like that and we try to tell people and we try to somehow get people to get interested in God. We might just want to be very clear about what we know about salvation. And you might say, well, I don't know how to witness to somebody. Well, you might want to get to know how to witness to somebody. It wouldn't be a bad practice. I don't know how long you would have been saved, but chances are by the third or fourth day on your job, you already know what you're supposed to be doing. But years go by and people say, well, I don't know how to witness to somebody. Well, you might want to know your job. Your job is to be ambassador for Christ. Your job is to work with the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and the Spirit and the bride say, come. Eliezer didn't say, well, boy, I forgot what my master told me, you know, I don't know, I'm supposed to be here just to get a wife. Would you want to come with me, Rebecca? I mean, you fit the bill pretty well. No, he laid it all out so that they would have the conviction of knowing that this is the right thing to do. And I think if we would do a better job at witnessing and in carrying the message, we might get more people saved. I think we do a poor job at it a lot of times. And I'm not just getting on you for that. I do a poor job at it as well. But we're supposed to also have sound doctrine when we do. Go to Titus real quick and look at this. Titus 1.9. Not just when we're witnessing, but when we're talking to Christians. You know, Christians are in a mess today. You know, that's why I thank God for our church. And we're not perfect by any means. There's nothing perfect about me. There's definitely nothing perfect about Him. All right? And so, nobody's laughing, so they must just agree. but we're supposed to have right doctrine, right? And so when we come to this church, we're not perfect, but we want, I believe everybody is here because they want right doctrine. And so when we're talking to other believers, we might wanna know what we're talking about there too. Titus 1.9 says, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. That's how you do it, by sound doctrine. I can't tell you the number of times I've had conversations with people, and again, I pray for these conversations to take place, but the Lord opens the door, I have the conversation, and you know what people often tell me? Christians often tell me, I have never heard that before. Wow, I've been saved for 20 years and I've never heard that before. Well, that just makes so much sense, they tell me. It just fits together all the questions I've had. We've had people walk into this church and they'll come in and they'll they'll hear things. They'll think, you know, we're weird because we don't you go to other churches. If you're on vacation, do this or something. You know, I don't know when you're going to go. I don't want you to go. Listen on the radio or the radio. Watch YouTube or something. Listen to the preaching. It's not like it is here. You know how Jesus got what he got accused of. He got accused as preaching as one having authority. And you know, even the young men around here that come up and preach, and we've had that and we'll continue to have that. When they preach, they're preaching with conviction and authority. As young men, you say, well, what do they have to say? They're just young men. They haven't lived lives like I have. Yeah, but they're preaching the very words of God, and they know it, and it comes forth as authoritative. So people will come in here after hearing something like that, and they'll approach pastor, they'll approach me, and they'll say, hey, this or that, and I have a question. And literally, we've spent an hour or more with some people who've come in here, and almost every time their response is, I have never heard that before. But that just makes so much sense. You know, I went to church, after church, after church, and no one could answer that question. And you're the only one that answered that question. And it makes sense. I used to have a job. I told you before I'm no good for working for people. I'm always, you know, the one criticizing the boss. Like I said, not to do. And I'll say, well, I can do that better. And so usually I'll get fired over that. And I got fired at this job, but I was with the boss that day. And he said, you know what's wrong with you Christians? And he started in on me. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna have to put up with this cuz he's the boss. And so he said something to me, and I said, well, can I answer you? And I answered him, and he says, what I already told you, he goes, he went like this, he said, you're the first person who's ever answered my question. And I says, well, what do you think of the answer? He goes, well, he didn't care about the answer, but he's like, you're the first person who ever answered my question. And that's not the day he fired me, he fired me later, but I did answer the question. But the fact is, the Bible tells us here that we're supposed to have the right doctrine to convince the gainsayers. And that's what I believe is going on here with Eliezer. So verse 50, back to Genesis 24, verse 50. 50 to 57. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, the thing proceedeth from the Lord, we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her and go. They were convinced. I mean, he did a good job. They were ready to just let her go right there. Verse 52, and it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard the words, he worshiped the Lord. Bowing himself to the earth, he did it again. You see the practice here? That not only did he commit that thanking the Lord in front of Rebecca, now he's doing it in front of her brother and her father. He's not ashamed of giving the credit to whom credit is due, and it's a good practice. Verse 53, and the servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and gave them to Rebecca. He gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, and the men that were with him and tarried all night, and they rose up in the morning, and he said, send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother said, let the damsel abide with us a few days, and at the least 10. After that, she shall go. And he said unto them, hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way, send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, we will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah and said, wilt thou go with the man? We don't wanna read too far ahead, but we'll stop right there. So both Laban and Bethuel were basically speechless. If you look at verse 50, then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, the thing proceeded from the Lord, we cannot speak unto thee good or bad. In other words, we're not gonna say, what can we say? I mean, we can sit here like a lot of us do. And we can say, well, if I do this, then that would happen. But if I do that, then this might happen. And if I do this, then this might happen. If I do that, then that might happen. And sometimes we call that analysis paralysis. Have you ever heard that term before? You get into a point where you're always debating whatever it is you're supposed to do instead of just realizing what they realized. So well, there's nothing left to say. We can't speak good or we can't speak bad. It's not like it's a debatable point. I mean, I am convicted and convinced by the Holy Ghost that I need to be saved. Right. I mean, there's no more. Well, if I get saved than this, well, if I get saved than that, well, if I don't get saved, but you know, you know, you want to be at a point where we've done a good job at witnessing and we laid out the word of God before people so that they're convinced and they were convinced, which is a blessing. Um, they offered no opinion as this was believed to be a clear act of the Lord. The only thing to do was respond to the message. Just respond to the message. You know, sometimes, as believers now, we get used to sitting in church and we'll come here and we'll hear things and we'll be in agreement with what the preacher says, but you know what we don't do? We don't respond to it. We hear it and we agree with it and we give mental assent to it and we say, that's right, that's right, amen, but then we leave here and in our lives we don't agree to it and we don't do what we're supposed to do about it, we just know some things. And that's a dangerous place to be because knowledge puff it up. But charity edify it. You ever read the chapter on charity and the Lord says, and we're not going to do it now, but he lists all the things that if you did this and if you gave your light body to be burned and if you gave all your money to feed the poor and you don't have charity, it's nothing. Man, I still haven't figured that chapter out, but I'll tell you what, that's pretty serious. And so we want to get to the point where we respond to the Lord. We don't just learn it and soak it up and convince the gainsayers even and beat people over the head with Bibles. But that we actually apply the Bible to our lives and try to live it out. And I believe these men were willing to do that when they heard. And in verse 58, we read more, it says, and they called Rebecca and said unto her, wilt thou go with this man? And he says, I will go. Now this is timely. Whether I got to it last week or this week, it's timely. The pastor's back from a wedding. And I suppose they said this at the wedding there. It says on your sheet, you can read it, in a Christian wedding, we say, who giveth this woman to be married to this man? Right? And so basically that was the question they asked her. They said, will thou go with this man? And she said what? It's in verse 58. She said, I will go. I will go. So no doubt she heard the whole spiel as well. And she decided that, you know what, it's right. It's right for me to go. She saw the response of her brother and her father. They were speechless about the thing. She heard Eliezer make a perfect presentation as a good ambassador for Abraham. And she said, I'll go. So she is presented with the question that every born-again believer has already answered. I trust that you've answered that to everybody I'm looking at here this morning. I trust that every one of you have answered the question. The Holy Spirit has come to you. He has come to you. And he has said, Will you go? Come on, I'm going to heaven someday. This thing's going to wrap up. This world's going to just burn up and there's going to be a great tribulation. Will you go? Will you come with me? You want to go to heaven someday? Hey, I got riches and eternal life. And you're going to be with the creator of all the universe. Will you go? And you know what we do? I'll think about it. Yeah, you know what? Maybe. Yeah, I got a little I got other things. You know, this world's not that bad. I mean, I mean, I don't know if I don't know if I believe all that. And that's where people are, and it's a sad condition where people are, especially if they have sat under the preaching, the sound preaching of sound doctrine of the Word of God, the right gospel, and they've sat there and walked out and not get... That bothers me about people. When they can hear and hear, and now I've heard and heard and heard and heard too. So I know what it's like to reject and reject and reject, and hope that God's not going to kill me, and hope that God's going to just give me another day, and hope that, you know, That's a dangerous place to be if you're not saved this morning. Don't wait. The Holy Spirit is saying, I will. Will you go? Will you go? Hey, it's a great deal. It's a great deal. There is nothing going to hurt you to be saved. Nothing. It's all good for you to get saved. You're not going to leave anything behind except a sin, cursed world and terrible habits that tear you, tear your life down and bring you down to the grave. There is no satisfaction in this world that you're holding on to. It's a weak and beggarly element, the Bible says, and you desire to be in bondage to it. That's what God said. It's weak, it's beggarly, and you want that? I'm giving you all this. Look at the riches He already brought in. Eliezer bring all the riches, He put it on, He gave her the earrings, the bracelets, He gave it to the mother, He gave it to the father, and He said, there's a lot more than this. If you want more, just come with Me. He said, Rebecca, will you go? And she did the right thing, and she said, I will go. And hopefully as a Christian this morning, that's exactly what you remember as your experience. Do you remember that day? Do you remember the day that you said, I will go? I mean, that's the best day of your life. I will go. And you know what you've been doing ever since? Well, we're not going to really deal with it, but I'll just mention it now. So she got on that camel and she went. And so now they're on their journey. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Some of you don't. He knows what I'm talking about. So they're on their journey. And that's what we've been doing ever since when you said, I will go. We've been waiting and waiting, because that's where we're going. See, and that's our aim, and that's why we're here this morning. That's why we're not out on the boat, and we're not cutting the grass, and we're not at the theme park, and we're not just doing whatever. We're here because we said, I will go. And I want to be around the people of God. I want to be around the preaching of God. I want to be closer to God, so I'm here, because I said I'll go. Look at verse 61. 61 through 67. And Rebekah arose and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels and followed the man. And the servant took Rebekah and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahiroi, for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide. And he lift up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lift up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she light off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, what man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servants had said, it is my master. Therefore she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And he did it again. He rehearsed everything to Isaac in verse 66 and verse 67. And Isaac brought her into his mother's tent and took Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Now I wrote a little story which I don't normally do in your paper. And I'll just have you read it along with me. This is a picture perfect scene. I mean, this is when you go to the Bible, you can actually go to the Bible and find horror stories in there. You can find army stories in there, right? You can find the story of creation in there, the beginning of the world. You can find the end of the world in the Bible. You can find everything in the Bible, and you can even find love stories in the Bible. And this is the perfect love story right here. Isaac went out to the field to meditate, as he often would. Now, no doubt he was meditating on the things of God. He had just lost his mother. He knows Eliezer's out there to find him a wife. He's out there in the field meditating. But this time he feels a presence near him and has the sense that someone is watching. And so he lifts... You ever had that feeling? Like you're praying or you're in a place and you feel like someone's watching? And he lifts up his eyes to see his father's camels coming toward him. He can't help but notice the form of a woman. upon one of the camels, which causes Isaac to immediately stand to his feet. At the same moment, Rebecca lifts her eyes to see Isaac standing in the distance. Her eyes remain fixed on him while she lights from her camel. She can't help but ask, what man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? I don't know what she saw from that far away, but I believe in her heart she is saying, can it be? Is this the man God has for me? Or maybe she said, is this the man of my dreams? This is a picture of Christ and his church. Now, we've been saying that, but this is what it's going to be like, I believe, at the rapture. You're going to be from a distance. You're going to hear a trumpet. Next thing you know, you're going to see maybe, I don't know, maybe you'll see it just like this. Maybe you see the form of a man out there in a cloud and you're like, can it be? Is this really the one I've been waiting for? I said 30 years ago I will go and there he is. I've been on this journey ever since and there he is. If you're saved you're headed to a wedding of epic proportions and you are the bride. The man that awaits you loves you with a love that has never been experienced on this earth. I don't care what you think love is or what you think you know of love and how much you do love or have been loved, you have never experienced this. I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. It exceeds that of any Hollywood romance. Now, I told you the Bible has a love story in it, but you never read the love story that God has for you, maybe. if you've never read the book of Song of Solomon. So I'm going to show you some passages there. Maybe you might want to read it today when you go home. But go to Song of Solomon chapter 1. You see, It's not like you think it's going to be. People think, oh, heaven's going to be boring. It's going to be just me floating around on a cloud or on a harp. I don't even have any idea about what a harp is. I don't want anything to do with it. I have more fun down here. You don't even know what you're talking about. You're like the woman at the well, and Jesus had to rebuke her, and He had to say, Woman, you don't even know what you worship. Some of us don't even know what we worship. Oh, well, you know, I've been going to church all my life and they've been telling me, you don't know having the faintest idea what it's going to be like with things that God had ready for us. And so we go to a song of Solomon one and we look at verse one. We read one through four, the songs of songs, the song of songs, which is Solomon's. Let me let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. You say, what in the world? This is in the Bible. You might want to know what this represents. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. For I love is better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee. The king hath brought me into his chambers. And that we read in Genesis 24, 67, he took Rebecca into the tent and he became his wife. We will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine. The upright love thee. Now we won't read more there, turn to chapter two. I am the rose of Sharon verse one and the lily of the valleys as the lily among thorns. So is my love among the daughters as the apple tree among the trees of the wood. So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love till ye please. The voice of my Beloved, behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. He's coming for you. My Beloved is like a row. or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our wall. He looketh forth at the window, showing himself through the lattice. Behold, or my beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. You're going to hear that real soon. Any day now, you're going to hear that. And you know what? You're going to be raptured in love. I mean love that you never thought was possible. You're not going to... Listen, you're not going before your enemy. You're going before someone who wants to love you like we're reading here in the book of Song of Solomon. You're his bride. How do you think, if God wants you to treat your bride here, how do you think He's going to treat you? Look at another verse. Song of Solomon here. Look at chapter 4. Look at 9 and 10. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. My sister, my spouse? That's talking about us. Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thine neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices. Look at chapter 5. Look at verse 9. What is thy beloved more than any beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold. His locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers. His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with beryl. His belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." Have you ever looked at someone and thought, they're the most beautiful person I've ever seen? I just can't take my eyes off them. I can't stop imagining them. I can't. They are just the epitome of everything I've ever dreamed of. You know, when you look in the face of Jesus Christ, that that's what you're going to see, and that's never going to go away. That's never going to stop. And you know what? If you don't have the faith to understand that right now, if you don't have even the mindset to understand that right now, you might want to get to do that. You might want to start thinking about the day that wedding day instead of down here. You might want to start thinking of what glories are awaiting you and what God has actually prepared for you and just get excited about that and tell others about that and look forward to that and that only. You say, well, what a waste of life. That's not a waste of life. What we do down here is a waste of life. The Lord tells us we're not to set our affections on things down here. We set our affections on things above. Look at chapter 7, the last one, look at chapter 7, verse 10. You can read the book when you get home. It says, I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me. That's his desire. You know, that blows my mind that God has a desire and it's towards me. And and it's not just me, it's everyone who saved his bride, all those who are in the church. All of those who are His. Now, as a man, it's a little hard for me to wrap my head around sometimes, but I understand the concept of love, right? I know what it's like to be in love. And so, I'll tell you what, it's just gonna be a hundred times or a thousand times more great when we get to heaven. And that is what's pictured going on here. And this is why, if you go back to your sheet, this is why Paul had a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which he said was far better. Paul saw that and he's our apostle and he told us, and not that we're suicidal, not that we're going around doing things to end our lives, but we ought to be living for the one we're going to see. But He said, I have a desire to depart. Hey, I raised my hand to that one, I don't know about you. But if you get to the point in this life, and not just because you're old, you know, sometimes when we get old we feel that way, but even when we're young, if you have such a desire for Christ, that you have a desire to depart and to be with Him, that is what He asks us to do. We're supposed to look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what we're supposed to be doing. But we don't always do that. This is why every martyr, by the way, gladly laid down their life for the cause of Christ. Go ahead, kill me, burn me at the stake. I'm not going to deny my Savior. I'm not going to deny it for you. I don't care if you're a king. I don't care if you're a pope. I don't care if you're a religious leader. I'm not going to deny my Savior who loves me and gave His life for me, and I'm glad to lay my life down for Him. I'm just going to go to a place that is far better. This is why a preacher or a missionary is willing to go without in this life to gain a far more and exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Say, well, you know, if I become a missionary, if I become a preacher, I'll have to do without. I'll have to live with less. You know, I won't have the finer things of life. That's OK. You're willingly giving up those things of this world so that you can be have a closer walk with God and actually do what he's asked you to do. And this is why every believer should be looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not going to go on, because if we go on, we'll just go into Chapter 25, so this is a good place to stop. But we might want to just remind ourselves of who we are and where we're going. And the story of Rebekah and Isaac and Eliezer is a beautiful picture of that. Let's bow our heads and pray.