Genesis chapter 13. We're going to begin reading verse 1. I hope that you'll follow along as I read aloud. The Bible says, And Abraham went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and lot with him into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle and silver and in gold. went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel under the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Hai, under the place of the altar which he had made there at the first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. And Lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents. And the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together for their substance was great so they so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle, the herdmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. Verse 8, And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen. For we be brethren, is not the whole land before thee? Having trouble with the page. There. Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Solomon Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. And then look at verse 11. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan. Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent towards Sodom. Verse 13, But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Now my God, I thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for your Bible. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. Thank you for our Savior. Thank you for salvation in Christ. Thank you for all the wonderful truths in this book, the doctrines that we have learned over the years. Thank you for this church, this pastor, these families, these men of God, these women who believe your word. And I pray father that you'll bless this church bless in the midst of the years, bring revival in the midst of the years. I pray God that you have your way in our lives and in our country. We pray tonight for the salvation of president Biden. God, it'd be a wonderful thing if he would find out about Jesus, come to know him personally, that it's not just religion, but it's a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray for the vice president and I pray for our Congress members, both the house and the Senate. Our new speaker of the house, Lord, I pray all of this because I pray for revival in America. And I asked father that just one more time that you would wake up your people because revival shows. So surely not come through this world or through our government, but it'll come through God's people. If we humble ourselves and pray. seek thy face. Help us do that tonight. In Jesus name I pray and for his sake alone. Amen. The Bible says in verse 10, Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because afterwards it was not well watered. It was dried up. And the Bible says that the plain of Jordan that Lot chose was even as the garden of the Lord, and then it makes this statement. It was like the land of Egypt. It was just like the land of Egypt. How did Lot choose the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, what was the basis of his decision? He saw both positives and negatives, I'm sure. What was in his mind when he said, I'm going down there? I'm going down yonder. I'm going down to their cities. I'm going down to the plain of Jordan. What was in his mind? The answer is found in verse 10. And I believe what was in his mind was because it was like the land of Egypt. It was just like Egypt. Lot had become mesmerized with the wonders of Egypt. Perhaps he never wanted to leave Egypt. I don't know. fertility of the Nile River Delta. He was impressed with the Egyptian engineering, the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, the architecture, the irrigation, all of those things. And folks, we do the very same thing. We get our standards of success, our standards of style, and popularity, and music, and entertainment from the world, from Hollywood, from Nashville. Do we not, as a society? And Christians are supposed to make the Scriptures. Christians are supposed to make the Scriptures, the Holy Bible, their standard for both faith and practice. Say amen right there. But whatever styles Hollywood wears, that's what we usually gravitate to. Also, even Christians in churches all over America. I see it. I travel independent, fundamental Bible, even Baptist churches and missionary minded local churches. Uh, so many times, uh, our young people in, in, in our churches and even in Christian schools are just exactly like the world. There's very little difference. We want to be like Mike. We have to have the Tommy Hilfiger and the Nike brands and we have to have a truck at least as nice as our neighbor's truck. You know, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Amen. But, uh, I want you to see, um, in, uh, look at Joshua chapter five, Joshua, Joshua chapter five and Joshua chapter five. I want you to look at verse nine. course we could read down through here. Let me start here in verse 1, And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, and neither was their spirit in them any more because of the children of Israel. In other words, they were just scared to death. Verse 2, And at that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make these sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. Ouch! Now I don't want to paint a graphic picture here folks, but you know what this is saying. Yes or no? Come on. Let me read it again. And at that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make these sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. The second time. And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the four skins. this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise and here it is. Verse 4, All the people that came out of Egypt that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way after they came out of Egypt. Now verse 5, Now all the people that came out were circumcised. Did you get that? All the people that came out of Egypt were circumcised. But all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they were going through the Sinai Peninsula that came out of Egypt, them they had what? circumcised. Well what's the big deal? Well it's a matter of obeying God. Are we responsible to obey God? Does God want us to obey His Word? The biggest issue in the whole Christian life, look up here, the whole business of the Christian life, the biggest issue of the Christian life is obedience. Yes we trust Him for salvation but it's trust and obey for there is no other way but to trust and obey. Amen? Your power with God depends on your obedience to God. Your assurance of your salvation depends on your obedience to God. Your relationship not only with God but your relationship with the brethren, not only this way but this way, depends on our obedience to God. We just have to learn to obey God. And I can't stand up here and tell you that Bajibab has always obeyed God. I can't tell you that. I cannot stand up here and tell you that I've lived a flawless life because that's not the truth. I would be a fake. But I can tell you that I have always believed God. But I found out that when I believe God and don't obey God, I'm inconsistent, and I'm powerless, and there's no, I have no, I don't get, I don't pray, I don't get answers to prayer, I don't have power of the word, I don't have assurance of myself. I mean, people that doubt their salvation, they just need to learn how to obey God. The assurance will come. Say amen right there. That's the truth. And so we go on in chapter five, this is the cause, look at verse 4, this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise, and we read that. Now, verse 5, Now all the people that came out were circumcised, and them that were born in the wilderness, them were not circumcised. Verse 6, For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war which came out of Egypt were consumed, and they obeyed not, they were consumed." See that? They were consumed in the wilderness because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, unto whom the Lord sware that He would not show them the land which the Lord sware unto their fathers, that He would give us a land that flowed with milk and honey. Now this is talking about something called the reproach of Egypt. trying to find it here, Brother Peter, in my, for some reason it's escaping me. Find that verse for me. It says that it came out of Egypt, the reproach of Egypt. And, but God rolled away the reproach of Egypt. Somebody help me find that verse because it's escaping. What's that? Verse 9? Alright. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt. There it is. And he says, I rolled the reproach of Egypt from off you. So the reproach of Egypt was on the children of God. The reproach of Egypt was not on the world. It was not on the Philistines. It was not on the Amorites. It was on the Israelites. It was on God's people. The reproach of Egypt. The reproach. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they borrowed a lot of things from the Egyptians, and I don't think they ever intended on giving it back. Was that the reproach of Egypt? You might think so. They had been under bondage for so long and had watched their Egyptian masters. They longed for their luxuries, their power, their jewelry. Despite all of this, they really tried to maintain their national identity. They were Israelites and proud of it. But the truth is that they had begun to think like the Egyptians. To think like the Egyptians. Their thinking was the reproach of Egypt. They came out of Egypt, and they came through the wilderness, and they came over Jordan, and they still were thinking like a bunch of Egyptians, and that's the reproach of Egypt. And many times we get saved, and we have everlasting life, and we're members of the church, but we think like the world. times I've seen churches that I go into churches all over this country and they think like the world. And they don't have the power of God in their church because they're not in the Bible. They're not obeying God in giving. And a lot of times folks our thinking is just messed up. We get goofed up in our thinking. sitting in the house of God, sitting in the pew, listening to the preacher, even running the bus route, doing this and doing that, and our thinking is goofed up because we're not really walking with God, we're just having religion. Now I'm talking to you all, and I know you folks, and I'm not trying to I'm not trying to get in your face tonight. I'm talking generally pretty much. But this is the truth in the American churches today in our day and age churches all over America. Their thinking is goofed up. And why do we start churches? Why was the Elkdale Baptist Church started? Well, there was other Baptist churches somewhere close by in those days. American Baptist Churches, there are Association Churches. Down south you go into Alabama, and Georgia, and Mississippi, even the Carolinas, and man there's Baptist Churches on every corner, sometimes opposite corners, sometimes in the same intersection. You know, I went to Mississippi and there was two Baptist Churches on the same cotton picking property. Believe me it was cotton picking down there. Two churches on the same properties, preacher. They had a church split, so they just decided they would separate, but they weren't going to leave the property, so they built another auditorium. And one half of the auditorium worshipped over here, another half worshipped over here. Now isn't that the silliest thing you ever heard? I mean, that's like Abraham and Lot. You know, we just got to get our thinking straight. And, uh, one of the problems in, in our thinking is, is, uh, what is the responsibility of the local church? A lot of churches, they, they come and they, they sit in church and they, and let me say this. I went to a church and they had $186,000 in the general fund. were saving it for a rainy day." Quote, unquote, rainy day. I said, Brethren, it be raining. I'm not trying to speak Ebonics but I'm telling you it be raining. got to have, we've got to send preachers out of our churches. We've got, preachers have got to duplicate themselves. They've got to train another generation to preach the Gospel and plant churches. This church needs to be sending preachers out and sending missionaries out. This church needs to be supporting church planting in America, and church planting in Burma, and church planting in Kenya, and church planting in Israel, and church planting in Guatemala, and church planting in the sun should never set on the ministry of Elkdale Baptist Church. Now what a thought. Through your giving, through your generous giving, through your sacrifice, through your ministry here in this crossroads community, here in the middle of this county, and it's not Pittsburgh, and it's not Philadelphia, it's But here in the middle of this small community you would have a ministry that the sun would never set on that someplace in the world the gospel is being preached because of the influence and the impact of this church and the obedience of God's people. Hallelujah. And that's what we're doing here this week. And why? Because people need the Lord. Because we don't want to have stinking thinking. We don't want to have messed up thinking. We want to think right. And if we fill our minds, if we think on these things, if we will literally have, let this mind be in us, if we will have the mind of Christ, if we keep our mind stayed on Him, know as we sung tonight stayed upon Jehovah then our thinking will stay right. Now there's a whole lot of churches out yonder a whole bunch of churches out there that are having church once a week once a Sunday and they come together on Sunday afternoon and they They have a little service, and then they go home, and they think they've done their part, and they've got $186,000 in the general fund. I had a pastor of a Presbyterian church, one of those great big downtown society churches that all the doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs are members of, you know? Great big huge steeple, stained glass windows, expensive, expensive, expensive. And the pastor, I walked in there, because I was invited to come for another, not for church, but for another thing. And I said, how many does this church run? I said, this is a great big, huge, beautiful auditorium. And he said, well, we run about 12 people. Well, the buildings would seat 600 easy. said, it doesn't matter. I said, 12 people? He said, it doesn't matter. I said, Why doesn't it matter? He said, Because we have endowments. If we don't take an offering for the next 99 years we will have no problems. You know the preacher is always paid, and the lights are always on, and the heat, and so forth, and so forth. Sounds like a museum doesn't it? I think that that's messed up thinking. What do you think? But I'm talking about God's people who have messed up thinking. We need to think right, you know. And go to Leviticus chapter 18. Leviticus, staying in the Old Testament a lot tonight. Leviticus, and I'm going someplace else. Not because it's in my notes, but because God just told me. Leviticus 18, verse 1 says this, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord. I am, by the way, I am. I am the Lord, all capitals, that's Jehovah God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein you dwelt, shall ye what? Not do. Are you with me? Verse two, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein you dwelt, you used to live, shall you not do? And after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall you not do? Neither shall you walk in their ordinances, ye shall do my judgments and mine ordinances to walk therein. I am the Lord your God. Is there any misunderstanding? Not much, not much. This is how we're supposed to live. This is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to obey God. So. Why is it that wherein we used to be the greatest missionary sending country in the world, we are now number 18? Right now. Number 18. You know who's number one? South Korea. And they're Presbyterians. And they're sending out missionaries everywhere. And way above us is the Philippines. So we reached the Philippines, we sent missionaries over there, and we evangelized the Philippines, and they're outdoing us. Why? Because I think a lot of churches, even independent fundamental Baptist churches, have messed up thinking. We've let the world influence the way we think, and we've got to get back to the program of God. And, uh, man, I could go on and on. Uh, I want you to turn over to, um, judges chapter nine. Judges told you I was going to stay in the old Testament judges chapter nine. I want to show you something and you're going to have to really listen close. Okay. Everybody agree. Abimelech is a trumped up king. No play on words intended about our former president. But Abimelech is a king that's made himself king. And it says in verse 34, Judges 9 verse 34, Abimelech rose up and all the people that were with him by night and they laid weight against Shechem in four companies. And Gael, the son of Ebed, Gael, see that? G-A-A-L. Gael, the son of Ebed, went out. And he stood in the entering of the gate of the city, and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him from lying in wait. And when Gael saw the people, he said to Zebal, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains, as if they were men." See, Zebal is on staff with Abimelech. He's like an advisor to King Abimelech. Abimelech's got an army, he's divided into four companies. And they are coming to Shechem where Gael has organized a militia to stand against that trumped-up king and Gael is now standing on the top of what's called Mount Ebal. There are two mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, there's a valley between them and out to the east towards the city of Shechem a great plain. All right? Verse 37 says, now see in verse 36, Gale suggests that he's seeing things, right? He suggests, he says, Gale, you're just seeing things. It's shadows that you're seeing. It's not really groups or companies of soldiers. And verse 37, and Gale spake again and said, see, there come people down by the middle of the land. company come along by the plain of," and here's my word tonight, meononym. Meononym. See it? Meononym. What's the word mean? Look over, keep your place there and go back to Leviticus and look at chapter 19. Leviticus chapter 19. And look at verse 26. And the Bible says, God says, no doubt about what, who's talking here. Verse 26 says, Ye shall not eat anything with the blood. Do we understand that? It's pretty plain, isn't it? You shall not eat anything with the blood. Neither shall you use enchantment. We got a pretty good idea what that's about too, don't we? God, if there's any doubt, God's against witchcraft. All of this Wiccan stuff, that's, that's against God. They used to kill witches because God said so. We don't do that anymore, but we're, our whole society is full of the devil and full of witchcraft. And God said, you shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall you use enchantments. That's what it's talking about. Then it says this. nor observe times. So what's that got to do with Mioninim? The word in the Old Testament, the word in Judges chapter 9 and verse 37, Mioninim. That is the only place in the entire Old Testament, or really the whole Bible, where that word, that Hebrew word, is translated like that. In other places in the Old Testament, it is translated as it is in Leviticus 19.26. The same word that's translated, meononym, in Judges is translated times in Leviticus 19.26. You shall not observe times. What's he talking about? God says don't try to figure out what the future is. You need to put your trust in the God who knows the future. So I'm in Burma and there are spirit houses everywhere. What's a spirit house? Somewhere between the size of a bird house and a dog house. Sometimes they're a little smaller, sometimes they're great big, but they're mounted on trees. They're mounted on these great big thick trees, trees that have these root systems that go all along the ground, everywhere all around the tree, and then wrap themselves around the trunk, and it's like trees in the haunted forest of the Wizard of Oz. And they're all over the city of Yangon, Old Rangoon. And then they're in villages all across the country. And on every one of those trees that's a part of the oak family, they mount these spirit houses. And every day the people go to the spirit house because they have mixed animism with Buddhism and they believe that there is a spirit that lives in the tree and they believe that if they will take things to that spirit and put them in that spirit house that the spirit in that tree will help them to know the future. But God says, I don't want you to seek to know the future. I want you to put your trust in the God who knows the future, and I'll take care of you. Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Our God has never changed, will never change, and he wants, he knows the past, he knows the present, he knows the future, he knows before the foundation of the world was ever made, he knew me, he knew all the hairs on my head, he knew how I would be, he knew my personality, and he still chose to love me. And you. And he planned my life, he planned your life, he gave us gifts, he gave us talents, he called us to a certain calling. Some of you are carpenters, I'm a preacher. I've been a preacher since I was 15 years old. And so now, and for the last 15 years God called me into missions, and I still can't believe that. Uh, and even before that was solid rock youth ministries all over the country, but God knew all about that before he even created this world. You say, how can he know everybody? How can he know these billions and billions of people that have inhabited this world for all these thousands of years? It's amazing. Yeah. That's because God is amazing. That's because he's all powerful. He's all knowing he's all present. He is, he is God, the creator, God of everything and all. And he wants us to trust him. And so you say, Brother Bob, what are you really getting at? What are you preaching here? We'll tell you. I went to a Buddhist monk and I said, when the people of Burma, the Buddhists, when they go to these spirit houses on these great, big, ugly oak trees, I mean, some of them are as big around as a car. And I said, when they go to these spirit houses on these trees, what are they doing? And he said this, he said, ah, Baji, they are seeking the future. They are seeking the future. So I found those spirit houses not only in Burma or Myanmar, I have found those spirit houses in Thailand. I have found those spirit houses in China. and Korea, and the Philippines, and Cambodia, and Laos, and Bhutan, and Nepal, and parts of Northeast India. I have found those spirit houses on those trees. And I've asked the people in India. I've asked even some of the Hindu men. I've said, when the people go to the spirit house, what are they doing? He said, they are seeking the future. I asked a Korean. And I said, when the people are going to the spirit house, what are they doing? They are seeking the future. So amazing. So now I go back and I think about that. God said you will not observe times, do not seek to know the future. And Gael, 600 years later, stood on Mount Ebal, and he said, these soldiers of Abimelech are coming across that mountain, and they're coming over this way, but there's a great company of people that are coming through the plain of Mionidim. And that word, Mionidim, could have very legitimately been translated by the King James translators, the plain of times. Because it's the same word. However, they chose to make it different. That one and single time only. Why? I think it's because they wanted us to know something. I think that that plane had become known as a place where people could seek the future. I think that that was a place where Families could go and maybe had their own tree and I think and it's just my imagination backed up by some facts I Think that when the Israelites were hauled off and carried away to Babylon and Nehemiah came back because of the king's decree and and brought a bunch of folks to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem. I think that there were a whole lot of Jews, backslidden Jews, who decided, we don't want to go back to Jerusalem. We don't want to go back to the land of Canaan. We're going to go farther east. And I think that they carried their spirit houses from the plain of Mionim with them to the orient the way over to the land of Asia seeking higher ground which is Burma and Nepal parts of India and certainly China and you say how in the world do you know that Jews went to Asia way back then and It's because in northwest Burma and northeast India, there are two tribes, particularly the Kuki tribe, K-U-K-I, the Jerusalem scholars, have been visiting and researching them for the last 26 years, and they have come to the conclusion by way of history, genealogies, even DNA, studying their culture and the laws of the land, that the Kuki tribe is the lost tribe of Manasseh. And I can show you pictures in my phone tonight of black haired, slanted eyed, brown-skinned men and women and little boys and girls with Jewish cap and prayer shawls and Hasidic tassels and phylacteries and Hebrew Bibles and they speak their mother tongue and Hebrew and the Jewish The Israelites are so convinced that they are flying 200 of these people back to Tel Aviv, 200 at a time, and resettling them in Israel. those who want to go. And I know all this because Jangem Singsit is our GLBM missionary in Northeast India, reaching, he's Kuki, he's Lost Tribe Manasseh, and he's reaching his Jewish kinfolk for Jesus Christ, and has a large school and a large church, and is baptizing Jews almost every week into the body of Christ. I'm trying to tell you, God's people sometimes allow their thinking to get goofed up. And when our thinking gets goofed up, when we stop reading our Bibles, when we stop praying, when we stop obeying God, when we let church get just normal, mundane, just same old, same old, and we don't keep it alive, And we don't obey God and have an outreach ministry. And we don't seek to win people to Christ and make a difference in people's lives. That's when our thinking starts to get goofed up. The church dies. Other churches are started. But in the case of the Israelites, if I'm right, and they carried their spirit houses from the plain of Mionim through Babylon all the way to the eastern mountains of Asia, their disobedience affected an entire continent and entire cultures. And it does matter. It does matter how we It does matter how we train our children. It does matter how we live and how we operate our churches and how it does matter that we read our Bibles. It does matter that we stay on fire for God. So what's this mission conference all about? It's refiring. It's getting a fresh vision to keep doing what you've been doing but trying to do more. Why? Because Jesus is coming. Can't let our thinking get goofed up. There's churches all over this area that their thinking's been goofed up for years and years and years. want to change, they are satisfied. I'm not satisfied. I want to reach more souls for Christ. I'm not satisfied. I want to get more Burmese Buddhists into the body of Christ. I want to keep more Buddhists out of hell. I'm not satisfied. I want to go back to Kenya and I'm going to go in 10 days. I'm going to spend a month preaching the Gospel as hot and hard as I can. I'm going to try to baptize as many Kenyans as I can possibly get going to plant two churches on this trip. We're going to send 20,000 Bibles over there. We're going to translate books and tracts, Gospel tracts into Swahili. I'm going to learn more Swahili this time than I learned last time. And if God wants me to go to Nepal, if God wants me to go to Laos I'm going to go. And I'm going to go before Jesus comes if He'll let me. Because I'm trying my best to keep my thinking straight for God. Well, I don't want you to just pray for me. I want you to pray for my people, but I don't want you to just pray for my people. I want you to beg God to let you do more. And I'm thankful for your support every dime. But don't be satisfied. The minute you get satisfied, you're on the road to having stinking thinking. Don't do that. Rachel, you come.