God’s advice for a dysfunctional family
Key Passage: Genesis 35:1-3
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Genesis chapter number 35. Genesis chapter number 35. What a great, great song. And once you find Genesis 35, I want you to look up here for just a bit. We’ll talk to you. Genesis.
It is just a little bit before Revelation, I promise you. And somewhere before it, if I can just turn a little bit in your Bible, you’ll find it right there at the beginning, Genesis, and then find chapter number 35. Then cut your finger off and lay it there, keep it in a place there. No, don’t do that. You’ll look like a pastor now. And once you find it, just kind of put a marker there. Let me talk to you for just a minute here, all right.
We’re going to start a series this morning on the home. And every Sunday morning, the month of October, five Sundays in the month of October, we’ll be on this subject. Now, if you say I’m single, I’m just a teenager, probably a real good chance you’ll be married one day, and you’re going to have a home no matter what.
Reagan said something. I don’t know if she may have said, I’ll never be married. I’m not sure what she said there. Maybe she said, I’m going to marry a millionaire. Was that what you said, Reagan? No. You said you’re not going to marry anyone? She don’t want to marry anyone. Well, you’re going to have a house, a home nonetheless. How about that now, Rachel? But real good chance you’re going to be married. Maybe not Reagan.
We’ll see when that millionaire tall, handsome, good-looking, winks there. We’ll see what happens then. And he says, wilt thou and she wilts. I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens to all that. But you’re forming in your mind what a good home is. I was reminded this week of the little statement, we make our habits and our habits make us.
Young people are making their habits, how they treat people, how they deal with problems. So even if you’re young single, I’d still listen up. It may be that God will just change your thinking a little about how to have a good home. You may say, well, I’m a widow or widower. I’m not going to get married again. Well, you and the Lord can have revival in your home too.
I don’t know where you’re at, but I think there’ll be something here for everyone. And so I want you to pray. Now, I want us to God, I say this often, that if revival doesn’t go all the way back to your home, it’s not true revival. My prayer is that God would bring revival to our homes. Apart from God, apart from God, you listen to this is a true statement. Apart from God, you’ll either have more joy or more pain from your home than anywhere. It’s a little bit the source and the home. I have love for God to really just do work in our homes in the month of October.
So I want you to pray. Now, we’re about to start this series. Now, I want to start it off with prayer. I’m going to do something a little different this morning. I’m going to ask Brother Larry over here, Brother Larry, Mr. Sidney, Brother Larry. I’m going to ask him in just a second, just a minute. So here, I’m going to ask him to stand and lead us in prayer. But I don’t want you to just listen to him pray. I want you to pray. Lord, you bring revival to my home this month.
It was just you and your pet, Ralph, or whatever. Bring revival to me and Ralph at home. Wherever you’re at, Lord, you bring revival to my home. Would you pray that? And let’s all sincerely ask the Lord to bring a revival. You said we’ve got pretty good marriage. We’ll praise God for it, but hang on.
They’ve got a pretty good marriage. That’s wonderful. I’m happy for you. But every home can use revival every once in a while. I like what Lesteroloff said. Somebody said, well, revival, that’s only temporary. He said, a bath is only temporary too, but I’m glad you take one every once in a while. And let’s pray for revival in our homes. Would you do that? Brother Larry, would you stand? And let’s, don’t listen to him. Let’s all pray. God bring revival to my home. Please, would you lead us?
Amen, amen. I like what Brother Larry Miss Cindy did. They’ve read through their Bible out loud with each other this year. I feel that’s a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing.
Genesis 35, would you please stand if you’re able to, if you’re able to, just to show the word of God respect, Genesis 35. And we’re going to read the first three verses of Genesis 35. And the Bible there says, and God said unto Jacob, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fledest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him, put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make thee an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress that was with me in the way which I went.
Would you pray with me again for revival in our homes? Father, thank you for your leading. I believe this is what you want, Lord. I believe this is the first start to it today. Lord, would you just kindle the flame, the fires in our hearts? My heart, Lord, for revival in our homes. Lord, give us a vision, give us desire. Lord, even these young people, give them a vision of having a sweet, godly home. Our widows and widowers, Lord, I pray that they have a vision of having a home where you’re right in the middle of it. And even though they have pains and hurts, they have your joy there. Lord, give us a vision of…
The couples that have a sweet marriage, you’re trying to live for you together. You’re in the midst of it all. Lord, you put in our hearts when only you can. And Father, we’ll thank you for what you do. And Father, we ask for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Bethel was a unique, wonderful place. The word Bethel means the house of God. This place of Bethel started years and years earlier with a man named Abram, or Abraham it became. And Abraham had went to this place, and God had met him there in a very special way. And it was kind of one of Abraham’s places that he went and he would go meet with God. It was a sacred place, Bethel. And it had been going on for a while, this Bethel House of God, the man we just read about Jacob.
Years and years earlier he had he was a messed up young man. He was he was a manipulative, deceiving man, and he had he had deceived his older brother. Actually, he kind of stolen two precious things from him, and his brother was talking about killing him. He saw he was going to kill him.
His mom said, now, Jacob, you need to get out of Dodge because your brother, he’s more of a warlike man, military man. He’s going to kill you. He’s probably very capable to do it, so you need to leave town. And then dad called him and said, hey, Jacob, you need to get out of Dodge. He saw I was going to kill you. And besides, I don’t want you marrying one of the girls around here. This is not where we’re from. I want you to go back to our home country over there where Abraham was. And I want you to find a girl of our nationality that knows Jehovah God. So I want you to get out of here.
So Jacob, he leaves, and he’s kind of, maybe about 17 years old. He’s leaving home. He’s leaving what always known. He’s out on his own for the first time. He’s traveling back to where his heritage and his roots are from. And he’s traveling over there, and he stops at a rest area and he sleeps out in the open, and he puts his head, the Bible says, he makes a pillow out of a rock. Actually, the place was Bethel. And while he’s sleeping there, he’s got his head on that pillow, God Almighty shows up in a mighty way in his dreams.
He has this dream that there’s a ladder. Boy, that’s not a good thing for a pastor, just fell off a ladder. Praise the Lord, nobody fell off this ladder, amen. But there’s a ladder, and the ladder goes all the way up into heaven, and it comes down into Jacob where he’s at there on earth. And there’s these angels going up and down, ascending and descending on this ladder from heaven into his life. By the way, that ladder represents Jesus Christ. There’s only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. That ladder is Jesus. Not only that, the rock is Jesus. Jesus is the rock. Remember that? He’s the chief cornerstone. And when you rest in Jesus, you have access to heaven through Jesus Christ, amen.
There’s a wonderful picturing. The Lord Almighty met with Jacob in a wonderful way that night. And Jacob woke up the next morning. He said, wow, God’s in this place. This is Bethel, the house of God. And old Jacob, he got out some oil, some anointing oil, some olive oil, and he took that oil, and he put it on there, and he anointed that place. And this is Bethel. I met with God right here.
Jacob made a vow there to God that day. He said, Lord, you met with me in an amazing way here at Bethel. He said, look, when I’m traveling over here, if you’ll take care of me, I’m a young boy on my own, never been like this, and I’m traveling miles and miles to a foreign place. God, if you’ll take care of me, when I come back home one day and I pass by here, Lord, I’ll tell you what, you’re going to be my God for the rest of my life. Amen. I’m going to let everybody know I serve Jehovah. He’s a real God if you just take care of me on this journey.
The story goes, Jacob left that little rest area, made it on over to where his roots are from, met his family, met his Laban, and he spent 21 years there. He’s not a young man anymore. He’s married more than once. God didn’t intend that. He didn’t start off like that. Remember, God made one woman for one man in the beginning. That’s God’s plan. But God allows mankind to make decisions. He’s very merciful to us. And it did happen in Bible times.
At this point, 21 years later, Jacob’s got several wives. He’s got a whole bunch. At this point, he’s got 11 boys. Can you imagine his Walmart bill? Wow. You want to talk about backing up where they’re bringing their groceries out to the back of your vehicle, man. You need a dump truck. Goodness gracious. And then at least one daughter, a little bit later on, has another boy. But he’s got several wives. He’s got all these children. By the way, kind of just throwing a little side note, when you have polygamy, more than one wife—you talk about dysfunctional.
It was a messed up family. I’ll just say that. We’ll talk about it even more later on. Totally messed up. But that’s what’s going on. 21 years later, and God said, hey, Jacob, time to leave. Time to get back over where you’re from. And time to leave that place. And he leaves there. And let me read for you what happens when he left there is Genesis 31:13. I’m the God of Bethel. Let me just read this before. Don’t look it up. Let me just read it. He said, I’m the God of Bethel, where thou anointed the pillar. Remember they anointed it? And where thou vowed a vow unto me. Now rise and get thee out from this land and return unto the land of thy kindred. That’s what. Go back.
So Jacob leaves there. He’s traveling back to where his mom and dad and brother is. Oh, no, that’s not good. Brother’s going to kill me. That’s where Jacob he has that all-night long prayer meeting with the angel of the Lord—that’s the Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ—and God touched him there and had touching God on his life after that. But he walked with a limp after that. By it usually costs somewhat for you to have the touch of God in your life.
But they met with God there, and after that, you know, the meeting. God touched the heart of Esau and a peaceful meeting there between the brothers now all these years later. And Jacob settles over in a community called Shechem.
It’s not really right beside mom and dad. You know when you grow up and you move out, you come back, you don’t want to live right beside them. Everybody’s like that a little bit. Mama and dad’s like that a little bit. Yeah, give us space. Everybody’s like that a little bit. It’s a little bit north of where his family was from. He’s up in Shechem over there. And with the only thing, you get a messed up family, and he had all these wives, and there’s a bunch of fighting and bickering and fussing going on. And you got boys that are born, same dad, but different moms, so there’s competition. Oh, just all kind of problems there in the family.
And the daughter, she goes out, and she goes out to see all the girls, the world’s girls. And she goes out, you can check that out later out. It’s true fact from the Bible. She goes out and sees all the world of girls out there, and when she’s out there, she gets in trouble. And a man defiles her. I don’t know exactly how much was forced and how much was not. We know the Bible says she was defiled by a leader of that city or that community there. And then she’s living there, whether it’s forced or not, we’re really not sure to be honest with you. She’s there.
And her brothers, 11 brothers hear about it, and boy, they’re infuriated. And the sad thing is Jacob, Dad, knew about it. Dad didn’t do anything about it. So the boys, you know, sometimes in messed up families, the boys said, but Dad won’t do anything about it. We’ll do something about it. And so Dad seemed to it that everybody in that city, we’ll just put it this way. They were under the weather for sure, all right? And they had COVID, if you will.
And when they did, at least two of the brothers, they marched in that city, a little community neighborhood, and they slaughtered them. They just murdered them. It was just killed them. It was a sad thing. And in fact, they kind of just plundered the village and took what they wanted. And they came back and Jacob said, you know what, God, you know what, sons? You’ve made us stink to everybody around here. We’re going to be on everybody. They’re going to come out. They’re just going to march right. They’re going to plow us underground. They’re going to step all over us and squish our guts out of it. They’re going to kill us all. And Jacob said, you, you boys, you just made us stink to everybody.
You listen. We’re kind of getting the foundation going here. We’re about to get somewhere. And right after that is the portion of scripture we just read. Jacob goes to God and says, Lord, what am I going to do? And God, you notice we just read it. God said, Jacob, you need to get back to Bethel. Jacob, time for you to get back over there where you met with God in this special way.
Did you notice what happened? Y’all with me this morning? You heard me? The Bible uses this word, he got his household together. That’s very, very important. Let’s look back. I want you to say pastor is not just making that up. But look back over there, verse one. God said, “And Jacob arise and go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fledest from the face of Esau, thy brother.” Then Jacob said unto his…
What’s the next word? That’s very important. Hey, let me talk to you real practical for just a minute here. We’re going to get practical for just… Y’all still out there? This is what they’ll say in our day and time. Well, that’s their bedroom. They can do what they want to, they can watch what they want to, they can listen what they want to, they can have the music they want to because that’s their bedroom. Let me ask your mom and dad, who pays for that house? If you were to pull the deed up on that house, whose name is on that house?
Young people, I’m not trying to be mean to you, but that bed in your bedroom, who pays for that bed? Mama, Dad. The electricity, you go in there and turn that light switch on, and, praise the Lord, there’s lights in there? Who pays for electricity in your house? Mama, Dad, yeah. Hey, who, typically, who takes the sheets off the bed and washes the sheets in the bedroom?
Here’s what I’m saying. I’m forgiving, respect to young people, but I really am. I hope you know that. I mean that I am. I think there’s nothing right to be treated disrespectfully. But can I be honest and frank, that bedroom is mom and dad’s bedroom? Amen. And mom and dad has a right to say, hey, you’re living under our household. I’m responsible for God what happens to this household, and we’re not going to do or we are going to do this thing in the bedroom, amen.
That’s what Jacob did. He got the household together. He got everybody together and said, hey, I need to talk to everybody in the household here. This is a household thing going on. Let me show you something else what was happening here in this passage. The very beginning of it. And God said unto Jacob, arise and go up to Bethel. And what’s the next word?
Jacob, you visited there. You’ve met with God several times there in a wonderful way, but you need to live there now. Amen. Time for you to grow up, put your big boy breeches on, and stop trying to dabble in Christianity and have a prayer meeting every once in a while. It’s time for you to start living in the house of God. Time to dwell there. Time to be a Christian Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, but not just that. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, just dwell there. Amen. That’s what I’m saying.
And he said, get your household together. I got the household. Notice what else he did there in this passage here. We’re in verse number two. Then Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, put away the strange gods, little G. Now, God, the word really has to do with is the supreme one. That’s God, all right?
So let’s see here. If God says, if God says, I don’t want you to go here or I don’t want you to listen to this or I don’t want you to do this, I don’t want you to talk like that, whatever God says. And yet you say, you know what, I still want to do that. And that’s kind of supreme, if you will, above God. So that becomes a god.
If you say, well, I know I should not watch that. I know it’s got immorality on it. I know there’s all kind of cursing on there and, you know, everybody’s sleeping with everybody in there and all that. But I know that’s not really. You know, I know the Bible says I was sitting a wicked thing before my eye. I know the Bible says, but I’d rather just do what I want to do than that movie or whatever it becomes a god. You know what me out there? And they say, hey, look, hey, you need to dwell there. Get your household together, and hey, Jacob’s talking to the family. He says, hey, we need to get rid of our strange gods. Amen.
Toss them all out. No, I don’t want that in the house. No, I don’t need that anymore. And let’s just get rid of all these strange gods, things we’re putting before God, whether it be pleasure, whether it be a boyfriend, whether it be a girlfriend, whether it be, you know, money or whatever it is. He said, get rid of all those strange gods. Amen.
Let’s keep going. What else does he say to do there? He says, and be clean. And he said, how I want you clean? He’s talking to his household there. He said, get ready, strange gods. We’re going to go over there and meet with God. We’re going to meet with Him a minute or two. We’re going to dwell over there. And so I need to get ready to strange gods. And let’s get clean.
You know, there’s something warm and sweet. Just a good feeling about being clean. You just feel right. Jacob said, we’ve had a lot of dirt in our lives. I want to just get rid of all that. I just want to, you know something about when someone who has a clean mouth. Sometimes they used to use this word. You ever heard this word before? They have a potty mouth. Anybody ever hear that? He said, no, no, we’re going to go out of strange gods. We’re going to be clean. Let me clean people. Maybe they don’t have what people call a potty mouth or they’ve just got a sharp tongue complaining or jabbing at everybody all the time. He said, no, you know, we just, we just won’t be clean. You ever strange gods? We’ll be clean.
What else did he say there? It’s very interesting. Look at that verse. Verse number two. Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with them, put away strange gods that are among you and be clean. And change your what? He’s changed clothes. You know, it’s a sad thing when Christians want to be just like the world. If the world’s showing off their body, well, let’s just show off our body too. Yeah? Somebody says, well, modesty is a matter of attitude. No, the Bible, it’s talking about modesty, says modest apparel. Check it out. The Bible knew people try to make excuses in our day and time like they do. So God got it all covered. He says, change your garments. Get some godly clean garments.
I like it if somebody could look at me and say, you know, he’s an ugly old fellow, but he just looked like a Christian, amen. I was out a couple weeks ago, a little before I fell off the ladder, believe it not, in my house. Medell, but I was working around the house. I had just climbed underneath the house. We have crawl space and was, you know, doing some cleaning some things out, getting ready for winter and all that stuff. You know, and my neighbor over there, Mark, hadn’t talked in a while, and he said, hey, and I just came out from underneath the house, spider webs underneath there, you know. So I went over and said, Mark, man, I don’t know what I look like, you know, probably got spider webs, whatever, you know, just been underneath the house. And I was thankful for this.
He said, Paul, you look like a preacher on his day off. And by that, he meant, I take it, he meant that you still look clean cut, if you will. You got a little dirt on, you got a spider web on you, but you still look clean cut. I mean, I just, I like it if the world knows who side I’m on, amen.
I don’t, by the way, Christians, young people, you don’t have to follow the world. I’m not trying to be mean about the world. I don’t hate the world. I’m not against them. But can I be honest? The world’s dying and going to hell. They’ve got no hope. If they don’t get saved, they’re going to burn forever and ever. I don’t say that gleefully. That’s a sad thing. So why would I want to be like the world then? I would like to look like a Christian. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to wear a tie all the time. Somebody say amen right there. Somebody said, we’re going to find who invented them, but we’re going to choke him too. But he said, hey, change your garment. We’re about to go meet with God. A wonderful thing. Can I just put it maybe this just in a phrase, Jacob was telling his household, hey, let’s get right with God. Praise a little for that.
By the way, they started traveling. They got things right there. Jacob got his household. Everybody was in. Everybody was in. Everybody in his household. Get them all together. And he said, hey, we’re going to dwell. We’re going to go down and dwell with God, walk with God. And he said, hey, let’s get rid of strange gods. Let’s be clean. And let’s change your garments. They started traveling about a 30-mile trek, they say, down to Bethel.
And all the neighborhoods, the cities around, there are all the cities around there. They had heard about it. They said, those skunks. Maybe they didn’t defile that daughter, but he killed all this is going on. And they’re traveling away. And the Bible says, God put a fear in all those neighborhoods and cities. They said, but those people aren’t perfect. They got issues. But I can tell they’re trying to live for their God. Something different about them now. They’ve cleaned up their language. They’ve cleaned up their clothes. They’ve cleaned up their household. They got rid of their strange gods. There’s something different about those people. I know they’ve got issues. I know they’ve got messed up family, but they’re different right now. They’re trying to live for God and, boy, put a fear on them.
I want to be wonderful if you can go to school, go to work, and they say, you know, old Joe over there. He’s got issues. I know. I know his life. There’s something different about him here lately. He’s not been talking the same here lately. He’s not been going to the same place. He’s not been treating people as mean. He’s been nice here lately. Something different about him. And I believe God is doing something in their life. That’s what happened here.
Boy, they started traveling over to Bethel. Now, just with that kind of is our framework, let me just for ten minutes preach at you for a minute or two. All right, would y’all be all right with that? Why we’re in church, we might as well go ahead and, you know, I mean, if I got cancer, I don’t want doctors to say everything’s all right. I don’t want to say, hey, you’ve got a problem right there.
Number one, can I just say this? What does God think about your home life? When nobody else sees you, it’s not about how you look to everybody else. By the way, I’m a little concerned. I got a couple things we want to talk about here. We’re going right out of time. I’m a little concerned. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but we have all this social network in our day and time.
And I’m not saying that’s wrong. We have a Facebook page here to church, but that has been promoting, and I want them to, and God can use as a great tool. I’m not saying it’s a sin. But I am concerned when we’re so concerned about how many friends we have, how many likes we have, how many thumbs up, how many subscribers, all the influences, we’re so concerned about that. And can I be honest with I have a happy home and I’m content with my marriage, my home, I don’t have to spend hours and hours and hours trying to impress everybody else outside. Amen.
About time. We live where we’re at and enjoy life we’re at and say, hey, I’m happy with who and what I am, no matter what they think about me. And if God’s happy with your home, you can have that. We’re getting a little bit of this synthetic thing where it’s just all about what we look like to everybody outside the home.
That lady there knows me better than anybody. And if she thinks I’m a good Christian, I’m happy. Everybody else think I’m a hypocrite and sorry dog and all. I don’t care too much about that. But I’m very concerned about what my wife thinks and my daughter and those close to me. Those are the ones you ought to treat the best, friend. Amen. What rather matters, God and then them. Christianity ought to start at home.
Hey, husband, what does God think about the way you treat your wife? Amen. When nobody else is watching, it’s quiet. Nobody’s listening. Unplug the crazy thing, amen.
Hey, I think about a story. I can’t remember all the details, but a husband of a life. And the wife went down and she just, he’s in the casket, his body. And she said those hands, she said, all the 40 plus, whatever it was, years, those hands were always tender towards me. They’re never raised in anger. They’re never lifted to hurt me. They’re never to protect me. They’re always very tender. Husband, could, there’s a Lord, could your wife walk down there and say that? His hands were always tender to me. How tender are you towards your wife with your hands?
How’s your words? Are you mean and harsh and hateful? And then you go around the guys and say, well, my wife is as cold as a dead fish. Probably because you made her like that with your tongue. Come on. Ladies get a white hanky and wave it there. Come on now.
What would God think about the kind of wife you are? Do you always interrupt? He can’t really finish a sentence because you always finish it for it. You heard about the preacher who went to the son and say, hey, did your dad have any last words before he died? He said, no, Mom was with him to the end. Do you interrupt him all the time? And you treat him with respect, reverence, is Ephesians 5:32 talked about.
What would God, if God could come down and see you at home, when nobody else sees you, you’re just at home interacting with your parents, young people, mom or dad or dad or dad or dad or papa, whoever takes care of you, and the Lord’s seeing how you treat your attitude towards those that take care of you, what would God say? It is so important at home.
I cannot be right with God unless I’m right at home. Let me say that again. I cannot be right with God unless I’m right at home. And I’ll be honest with you, you can’t make a good marriage because you cannot control your spouse, but you can control you.
And you might have a spouse that doesn’t do everything right, and you said, with my former and all the others, and I’m not, I don’t know about them, that’s between them and God, but it’s between you and God, what kind of spouse you are. I think about some incredible people I know, and I think their spouse got a whole lot of major issues, but they’ve been a pretty good Christian in the whole one. I thought, wow, my hat’s off.
What does God think about you at home? Their story talked about a family that bought a large painting of Jesus Christ. Beautiful. Spent a lot of money on it. They just had to have it. They had been pretty wealthy. They had a big, big home house. And brought it home and said, boy, I tried to put on the wall, didn’t fit there, didn’t fit there, and above the door, didn’t fit there in the kitchen, the night, or didn’t, no place. Finally, they hired an interior home decorator. Where does this picture, where is this painting fit in their house? And he came back, or she came back later on and said, you know, we can’t find a spot. Our conclusion is you need to get a home where Jesus fits. Sometimes they’re home. What does God think about your home?
We’ve got to hurry along. We’re just trying to get a couple of things in here. By the way, this was God’s advice for a dysfunctional family. This was a messed up to the max. This family. I don’t know what kind of shows they have nowadays. I don’t watch much of that box. I do some. We try to make sure it’s good and decent. But in all the shows. What are they? They used to have Jerry Springer. Is he still living? They got Oprah. He already passed. Okay, all right, all right. Brother Patterson, how did you know that, Brother Patterson? How did you know that? Now, I’m teasing me. I’m teasing me, brother.
What all the talk show guys are nowadays. I don’t know what all they got now. But this family would be one of those families in there. They really would be. First place, Jacob planned on marrying the younger daughter, and she was good looking. The Bible says she was fair. But the dad, he married sisters, by the way, originally. You married polygamy is just a problem. Then sisters, wow. You’re about messed up.
And he was planning on marrying this younger one. She’s better looking, but Dad snuck in the older one and he ended up marrying the wrong one. That’s the crazy story right there. If Jerry Springer was around, he’d still have that on his show.
But so you got these two sisters that he’s married to. They’re fighting with one another. The one that wasn’t so good looking, she started having babies, and that was like prestigious, and the other one didn’t have. So the other one got mad at Jacob, said, hey, I want children. And Jacob’s like, I’m not God. I’m not making this. There’s a Bible. I’d read the Bible. It’s an interesting book.
So the one that couldn’t have any babies, she had a servant, a slave, if you will. And she said, I’ll tell you what, take her to wife, marry her. But when she has babies, they’ll be my babies. That’s even messed up right there. Every level of this family is messed up. But they did it. He married the servant of his wife and married her. Then she had babies. And so the other sisters sees, well, I’ll do the same thing. And when my servant has babies, that’s my babies too. You messed up? Now, you’re talking about what we call in early times dysfunctional, dysfunctional, dysfunctional family.
But what was God’s advice? What was God’s advice to this messed up family? Get back to God. Amen. Get back. Let me get a little bit more specific. Get back to the house of God. Literally, that’s what Bethel means, the house of God. Hey, messed up family, get over back there to the house of God. And I want you to dwell over there with God. God could take messed up families and bring something good out of it. He did with this one.
I’m glad when my mom and dad got saved, man, they got in church. Sunday morning, Sunday night. I wasn’t always glad then. You’ve heard my story about Sunday night. I didn’t want to go to church across the street. Older couple grandkids were there. I want to stay and play with their grandkids Sunday night. So they stole their grandpa’s Copenhagen. Anybody know what Copenhagen is? Do they still have Copenhagen? Brother Patterson, don’t raise your head anymore, please. I’m teasing with you, brother. Let’s move on. Let’s move on.
Anyway, so he probably never had, he’s been a godly man for years and years. I’m joking with him. But, uh, but anyway, this is true story. So, uh, so they stole it. We didn’t dip it. We didn’t do that. We ate it. Because if you’re well, you’re going to go to church Sunday night. So we ate that crazy stuff. Me and my brother, we ate it. We’re hoping to get sick, so we don’t have to go to church, so we stay home and play. We didn’t get sick.
And it’s honest, that’s truth. You know, Scouts honor, whatever it is. So finally, like, we’re like, man, we’re not getting sick. So literally, I’d pick my brother up, he’d pick fireman’s carry, we’d spin each other around while we got him on her shoulder, waiting to, but it wouldn’t come. We even went so far. This is honest truth. I got to quit. This is crazy story. We made fake throw up. And that’s some noodles and ketchup. We really did. And we’re going to like put it with mom and dad we threw up. We’re like, nah, mom and dad, they’ll check it out. They’ll know it’s not warm enough. Oh, don’t be lying now. That’s the truth.
We ended up going to church that night because in our house you went to church unless you’re about to die. We went to church and in church our faces started turning green. We got sick at church. We still couldn’t tell them because we get a weapon for dying to them, you know, trying to get out of church. But I’m glad when they got saved to get to the house of God. That’s God’s advice to a dysfunctional thing. Messed up family.
Now, I got to close it out. Did it really matter? They still had problems after this. They will. I’m not going to lie to you. Still had problems. Let me tell you the interesting part of this story here. There’s a little boy. I’m not exactly sure. I think he’s around 11 or 12 years old at this point. And he was part of that household that got together. And when dad said, hey! Let’s get out by and get rid of your strange gods. We’re going to dwell in the house of God and change your clothes and be clean. And they went over, traveled out 30 miles.
That little boy, he said, man, I remember what it was like to feel the presence of God. I remember what was like when we went over there to Bethel. God was there. I’ve never had that little boy. He got a taste of God.
Now, years later, years later, that boy, he’s 17, and he had some major issues in his life. His brothers hated him. They hated him. They were talking about killing him. He had a younger brother. He was born right after the story. He’s not part of him, but his older, ten older brothers, they hated it. They’re going to kill him. But eventually they didn’t. They sold him as a slave. It’d be like, you know, they have human trafficking already in time. That’s what was going on. They sold him as a slave. And he ends up in this different country, this boy. Now he’s 17. He’s a slave. And yet the Bible says about these next 13 years that just trouble after trouble after trouble, God was with him.
I wonder how much of that had to go back with all those years earlier when dad said, we’re going to go over to Bethel. He was a little boy, but it never left him. I want God. I want to walk with God. Even though I’m here as a slave, he ends up in prison after that. I remember what was like to have God in my life.
Finally, that boy, 11, 12 over there, maybe in just a real tangible way, he knows what it is to walk with God. All this 17, and then 13 years just trouble after trouble after trouble just night. But he said, I know what it’s like to have God. Then 30 years old and becomes the leader of the land. I mean, he’s like, you know, from rags to riches, he becomes the prime minister of the land. Most powerful nation of the world, that time, Egypt. Pharaoh was the only one in charge over him. Joseph was kind of the man in charge. By the way, from Joseph, God preserved. He took care of the nation of Israel. From Israel, we get Jesus Christ.
I’m saying that boy, at one point after dad died, the other brothers, they said, he’s going to kill us. And Joseph said, no, no, no, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God sent me here ahead of time to be the leader of the land so I can take care of you now. Wonder where Joseph got all that. Maybe a lot of went back to when he was a boy, his dad said, we’re going to go down to Bethel.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? I’m going to ask here just a moment, I’m going to ask that husbands and wives come down to an old-fashioned altar and say, Lord, we want revival in the home. I’m going to ask if the altar is full of that, be a wonderful thing. I’m going to ask families. I want you to get everybody together. Say, we need revival at our home. Single people, whether you’re young or whether you’re a widow or widower, would you come and say, Lord, I want revival in my home? Just me and you, Lord, but I want to dwell with you.
Some of you are planning on being married. You’re right now, you’re forming many habits that will change in a good or bad way your home life one day. Would you come down an old-fashioned altar? Maybe just on your own and say, Lord, I want a home where you’re right in the middle of it. Right in the middle of it. Would you do that? I want to dwell in Bethel.
I did not preach on salvation this morning, but if you’re not a born-again Christian knowing for sure you’re going to heaven, would you do this? I’m going to, I’m going to, Deacons, this morning, Deacons, just grab your wife and just come and pray with her. If you’re not saved in just a moment, we’re going to stand and pray. And I hope many, many people come down here and pray together. If you’re not saved, I’m going to come stand in front of this little table here down from the bottom floor. Would you come just shake my hand? I would love, I would love to be a help. And I’ll get someone to take their Bible and show you from the Bible how you can know for sure you’re going to heaven one day. You don’t have to go to hell. Jesus loves you. He died for you. He wants you to go to heaven. We love you. We long. We live to help someone to get saved. We want to help you on that.
Families. Revival goes all the way back home. Let’s pray God bring revival at our homes. Would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. Husbands and wives, would you come pray to get your family together and pray. Single people. Help me to dwell in Bethel. Would you do that? Father, thank you, thank you, thank you for this glimpse into this messed up family where you worked an amazing way. Father, what you brought out of it. Give us a desire, a passion this morning to have revival in our homes. Would you do that, Lord, please? And give us boldness to do the tugging that you’re tugging in our heart to do what you’re tugging on our hearts to do. Help us to follow through and do it. In Jesus, then we pray. Amen.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Gods advice for a dysfunctional family - Sunday AM 10012023