Genesis 24:15-26 Bible Study | Episode #298

November 30, 2022

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Genesis 24:15-26  Bible Study | Episode #298

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Alive, Applying God's Word to your daily life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to.

And allow you to see him and to know him, and to know his will, that you might glorify him, and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus' name. Good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's Morning Bible study. We're in Genesis chapter 24. We're not gonna finish the chapter today.

We're meeting Rebecca and we, we've gotten to this point and it's an important point in the story. And I want to, as we're spending time, Meeting Rebecca, understanding that she's a picture of the church. She has a name, she's known. She is tangentially she is a cousin of Abraham.

And therefore she's a cousin of Isaac. And we'll talk a little bit about that. And then. She is a picture of the bride of Christ because Isaac's picture of the chosen the promise child, he is the promise of God. And if you're just using the Old Testament pictures and the Bible clearly tells us that we can do that because it.

The Old Testaments, the school Master, and it teaches us things and it gives us pictures and it gives us illustrations of New Testament truths. And that happens throughout the Old Testament and it makes the Old Testament just powerful. And that's why we study the Old Testament because we can't really understand all these principles and the New Testament without those Old Testament pictures that are so clear and so wonderful.

And As we studied this morning and as we look at this I wanna just point out some aspects of Rebecca's character and Rebecca's nature that make her attractive, that make her desires, that make her someone. That can be used as a holder of the kingdom of God. And remember, that's what the people of God are.

That's who we are. That's who the church is. The church is the ones who have the kingdom of God inside of them. And That's what Jesus said. The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation. It's neither here and nor there for it is inside of you. It is in you. The kingdom of God I in dwells you.

And we are. The holders of the kingdom of God. That does not necessarily mean that we access the kingdom of God all the time, but we are the holders of the Kingdom of God. Verse 15 says, And it happened before he had finished speaking. That behold Rebecca, and I love it when it says behold because that says, Wow, look at that.

If y'all, for y'all who have been under my teaching for any time period, behold for me always means, wow, look at. Meaning that's something that hasn't been seen or something that wasn't imagined. It's a, it's really a wow moment. And when we have a wow moment, that means that's something that God is doing that we didn't imagine in the moment.

And and behold, Rebecca, who was born of be Fuel, son of Mila, the wife of Na. Abraham's brother came out with her picture on her shoulder. He goes to this town, he goes to the town where he came from, and he is sitting there watching the maintenance come out. The women of the town come out to to fill their pictures for the evening so that the, that each household would have water in the household for the night.

And she comes out and she fills her picture and. And she is, she's actually the great niece of Abraham, not the niece of Abraham, the great niece of Abraham. And you, you can see how this is beginning to work. The way this works is that milk. Beel is the son of Milk or the wife of Naor.

Beel is Jacob's cousin. They are first cousins. When your parents are brothers and sisters you are cousins. Now, a lot of times people want to don't really understand this, but I have to understand it just because of succession. And Will and trust as an attorney. We actually had a little session in law school in Will and Trust class where they actually just taught us how to work this out.

If my parents and your parents are brothers and sisters, then were cousins now. Your children are going to be my first cousins because we're first cousins. They're gonna be my first cousins once removed. Now my children and your children are going to be second cousins because they're one line down.

You have. First cousins and then you have second cousins. So they are second cousins now my child is your first cousin once removed. Just like I said, your child is my first cousin. Once removed, your child or your grandchild is my first cousin twice. Remove. But now my grandchild and your grandchild are third cousins, and that's the way it works.

You go First, cousin parents were brothers and sisters, second cousin, grandparents were brothers and sisters. Third cousins, great grandparents. We're brothers and sisters and that's how that works. And she is going to be Jacob's first cousin once removed. And that means she is a close line, close lineage.

That means that she's not a Canaanite, she's not under the curse. She is not a person who is bent toward the worship of. Foreign gods or the worship of false gods is the best way to describe it. She's not that she is a young woman. And remember, I, I've told you many times, young women who are virgins, are pictures of the church.

And she's beautiful. And notice, notice that's an important feature for God in the sense that you need to understand that God sees us as both he loves. And he likes us. He actually likes you. He actually even though you're flawed, even though you're sinful God made you and you are pleasing to him, you please him by and you go, I don't really understand that.

Don't you love your children even though they're flawed? Yes, you do. And there's a love there that, that can't really totally be explained for your children. Even though you might not have a great relationship with your children, even though your relationship might even be strained with 'em, you still have a deep love and care for your children.

You are, you have an attraction to their presence and attraction to be with them and attraction to know them, they're beautiful to you. Even if the relationship strained well. That's the same way with God. We're his where he is and and we are attractive to him, we're he desires to be with us.

He desires to have relationship with us, and that's why we actually had the relationship because without his desire to have that relationship, there would be no relationship. And She is she's attractive. She's a virgin. That means she doesn't worship other God. She's faithful. And I need to go through this because it's important.

Faithfulness to God is important. The ability to act on the faith, the gift of faith that God gives us is an important attribute for the church. We are by definition a people of. And if we can't trust God, and we're not talking about a forewarn hope, when we talk about faith, we're talking about a genuine faith or trust in the creator of the universe.

And when we think about that we, you need to understand that God What makes us attractive is we're a people who will trust him. We'll trust him with our lives and we'll trust him with our future, and we will trust him with our today, and we'll trust him with the troubles of our today.

And Who says, and she went down to the well noticed. She's at work. She's at work doing her what she's responsible for. That's another aspect of God's people that that is important. People that are willing not just to not just to do the things that are required but are actively, regularly, always at.

Involved in what God has for us. A lot of times you'll have people who, you know they float in and out of church and they float in and out of this congregation and that congregation and they're here for two or three weeks and then they're gone for a month and then they're back for a week and go for two weeks and then back.

A couple weeks and then you don't see him till Christmas. And those people are not people that are capable at any, at that time of knowing God or walking with God or seeing the power of God or. Bringing about any of the purposes of God, either in their life or in the life of anybody else.

Why? Because you can't count on 'em. God can't count on them to act upon what he's saying to him or even to remember after church is over what he said to him and enact that in their life. They're not a people of consistency. And let me say this about Rebecca, she was a person of consistency when it was time to go get the water for the family.

She went and got the water. Now, that's not an easy work either, and you're sitting there going she just went and got the water. That's not easy. I remember one time when I remember when I did a mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico one time. And whereas in the United States, the higher up on the mountain you go the more expensive the property because of the view.

In poor areas, that's not the case because the higher up the mountain you go, the farther away from the you generally are because they don't dig wells on top of mountains. They dig wells in the valley. And and if you have a house that doesn't have running water and your house is 200 feet above the bottom of the.

That means you gotta walk down 200 feet and then you gotta carry that water up 200 feet and water waterways, generally speaking about six pounds per gallon. And if you need five gallons of water, you gotta to 30 gallon, 30 pounds up that mountain. And so I remember thinking that was a dichotomy that made a lot of sense.

If you go into America and you buy in a neighborhood and you look. The most, most expensive houses are up on top of the mountain, but we have running water in, in, in places where poor people are the most expensive houses are down there, right next to the well, right next to the water.

Why? Because water is of great importance and water is a picture of the goodness and it's a picture of the cleansing power, the Holy Spirit. It's a picture of God's nourishing and taking care of us. And it's a picture of the power of the Holy Spirit to do. And the women of town in the evening, usually the maidens it would've been the work of the young women of the household to go out and get the water.

So you have to carry this jar and the jar's not going to be just light and it's not synthetically made. We've been made of clay. So the jar itself probably weighed 10 or 15 pounds, and the jar itself probably carried two or three at least two or three gallons of water. So the jar is going to jar's gonna weigh 15 pounds, and the water's gonna pa weigh weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 pounds.

And these young maidens having to carry. Jars of water, usually probably on their head or on their shoulders of 30 pounds, weight, a 30 pound weight. And they had to do it every evening. They had to be consistent and do any, or the household wouldn't have any water. And that that's important every day.

That's what you have to do. And, a consistent walk with God requires that every day you do the things required that you might see the nourishment, the power the purpose, the washing of God's word and the Holy Spirit. You've gotta do the things so that happens in your life and that happens in your family's life.

So many times we make excuses as to why we're not gonna be a part of the Kingdom of God as to why we're not gonna be a part of of what's going on. Because, we're tired or, we had a busy Saturday or we got something that we really wanna do on Sunday. And we probably can't.

Fit church in. And you, what you're basically saying is, I'm just not going to the well today. Just not gonna go to the well today. We're not going to the well today. We're not going to the well tomorrow. We're not going to the well next week. And for, you're thirsting to death. You're dying for thirst.

And then you wonder where God is. Why is it God taking care of me in my life? The reason he is not is cuz you're not going to the, the woman at the well who came in the middle of the day noticed these ladies are coming in the cool of the evening the cool of the evening for my favorite part of the day.

Anyway, it's the time where the heat is is subsiding. It's the time where the sun is not glaring in your eyes. It's the time where, There's peace and there's rest, and they're coming out in the cooler of the evening and they're getting that cool water from that. And it's a time of refreshing and and people will go I just don't know.

God just doesn't seem like God's with me. The truth is it doesn't have really a whole lot to do with God being with you. He placed his ho his kingdom inside of you. The issue is that you're just not drinking from the. The reason you're dehydrated is cuz you're not hydrating

And that's just about the easiest way to, for me to explain it. You're thirsty and you're struggling because you're not going to the well. And that's why the Bible says do not fail to assemble yourself. That's why the Bible says that we're to go and be in the place where we can.

The living water where we drink from the well. And if you're not showing up then it's not God's fault that you're dehydrated, It's your fault, it's dehydrated. You're coming up with cramps because you hadn't put in. The resources that God's provided for you to take care of, the issues of the moment and the issues of the hour you're not drinking from the well.

And remember he told that woman that he was, he had water that she could drink from that would well up in her to eternal life, which means it would give her life and purpose. And she said what did that woman who had five husbands and the man she was living with, wasn't her husband at that time?

What'd she say? Give me some of that. That's some good stuff I wanted. A lot of times Christians act like they want God, but the truth is they speak and they say they want God, but their actions are far from anything that would resemble them desiring.

To actually have God involved in their life. And and I hate to tell you this, don't expect to see God's kingdom in God's best at work in your life if you're not actively and regularly in a position where you can hear from God. And know God you need to, you got to understand that.

And and it, a lot of times people serve in the church and they serve a whole lot and they're active in their regular, in church and they're serving and other people are drinking from the well and then leaving and not doing. Those folks who were serving and those folks who were doing in the kingdom of God are going to receive their reward.

But even if you are serving, listen, you need to go. You gotta go the extra mile and make sure you're in a position where you're being fed and nursed yourself. Which sometimes happens a lot, in Bible study every morning, and it can happen on Wednesday night. And it can happen in other settings in other places where you can come and you can drink from the well too, even though you may be serving with the children or you may be doing something with security or you may be doing something as far as worship's concerned.

Where your focus might not be totally on what's going on. You might be running the computers or whatever you might be doing that would cause you not to be drinking fully from the water during the service. There's other places where you need to be drinking from. There's other places where you need to be taking part in, in nourishing at the well.

Rebecca was a woman who was faithful to come to the well. And her faithfulness is gonna ultimately result in her being an important part of God's plan for the world. She is going to take a key role in the work of God in the world that we live in. And how did that happen? She put herself in the position to be a part of that.

And how did she do? By being faithful in what she was supposed to be doing in her life. And there's just no way to get around that. That's an important principle. And it says, And the servant, meaning the servant of Abraham, ran to, to meet her and said, Please let me drink a little water from your picture.

Notice. Notice what else Rebecca is. So she said, Drink my Lord. Notice. She is she's friendly, she's hospitable, and she cares about other people. And that's another picture of the church. People who are friendly, hospitable, and care about the needs of others is a hallmark of Christianity.

Do you know that the United States is the nation in the world that gives the most money by individuals? To charity and to other people. And the reason is because generally speaking we've been a nation of believers, a nation of Christians, and Christians are charitable. Christians care about the needs of others.

And Christians have historically given more than you could imagine to those who are in need. And that continues even. We do not depend on anybody else, including the government to take care of the needs of those around us. We need to we, Take care of those needs. We see those needs and we try to meet those needs.

We care about people and we take care of them. And so I would say to you today that when this servant went and asked for a drink, Rebecca was a woman that is a picture of the church clearly because she said, Drink my Lord. And then she quick, quickly let down her picture in her hand and gave him a drink.

And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for you and your camels also, until they had finished drinking notice. She goes, The extra mom. She cares about somebody. To go the extra mile. That's a hallmark of a believer. I know somebody even no matter how flawed they are, I know somebody is a part of the kingdom of God, and I know that if somebody that can be counted on to partner with me in ministry, by their willingness to serve other people, what by their desire, their intense desire to see other people served and to see other people taken care of and their needs.

No matter the cost to that person. And I can promise you this, that is a hallmark of a believer that they give to those who are thirsty to, they, they close those who are naked, and they feed those who are hungry and they care for those. Who are around them who do not have what they have.

They see what they have as the blessings of God given to them so that they might be like their Lord and Savior and actually take care of those around them. And that is a hallmark. Of the Christian faith, and it's a hallmark of the characteristics of a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ.

And and those who do these for the least of these have done it for him. And we do all this stuff. Because our Lord did it for us. And I think that at the end of this week, it's appropriate for us to talk about being faithful to God and being faithful to his will and his ways in the world by our actions reflecting his will and his ways in the world.

And those who do that and those who are faithful in doing that receive and reap the reward. Do them. And I can promise you. That the Kingdom of God is a consistently, regularly being built by people such as this. People who are willing to serve, people who are willing to love people who are willing to give.

Even at a level where it hurts them. Self-sacrificial giving and self-sacrificial love and self-sacrificial grace poured out on other people, builds the kingdom of God. And I'm, I am. I am as excited and as fired up as I possibly could be about the church that we are, because we're people who do that.

And we started out with, A group of people who wanted to see the kingdom of God advanced and wanted to see other people taken care of, even in the midst of their own deep hurt and deep pain. And they have been about doing that for just now about 20 two months. And we've gone from, 30 to 40 people who are wanting to see the kingdom of God advanced.

And we have become well over a hundred to 150 people who are seeing more and more added to us and not just numbers of people added to us, servants of God added to us who are wanting to join in that work and are adding to the army or the kingdom of God at work in our church. And so I'm excited that we have those, I'm proud to be the pastor.

I know Pastor Terry is also of a church that's doing that. And couldn't be more, couldn't be more pleased with how things are going and who you are. And we encourage you to be faithful and continue to be faithful and to not give up and to not turn. And you're gonna have struggles and the enemy's gonna try to make you not keep your focus on.

That's bound to happen. And we've seen that with many of our leaders situations developed where we've gotta do and handle things that we didn't think we were gonna have to handle and struggle through things that we didn't think we were gonna have to struggle through. And yet you still remain faithful.

And praise God that he's given us that. And so I am. I'm blessed to expect great things for this Sunday, and great things for the weeks and months and years to come.

As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus' name.