SIBLING RIVALRY - DR. SHERWIN JACK - May 1, 2021

we want to share the story of jesus with you we would like to thank all of our online viewers for worshiping with us so if you feel inspired encouraged or hopeful by anything that you see here today we would like to hear about it so please like share and subscribe to our youtube channel would you love to grow deeper in your prayer life would you love to join a group of women banded together to praise our heavenly father join us as we study the prodigal god in the months of april and may come be a part of the women's ministry all ladies are welcome join the elders and the deacons on april 30th and may 2nd at 8 a.m as they beautify berean we would love the extra help worship with us as we study mothers in the bible our theme for the day is mothers in prayer wonderful things happen when mothers pray our goal to change the world one prayer at a time enjoy dr davina lee and judge cynthia adams as we dig deep into the word calling all mothers to pray from 9 a.m until 10 a.m on mother's day you are invited to join on this prayer line if you cannot join the prayer line go on a prayer walk form your own small prayer group our goal is to change the world one prayer at a time if you are a mother then you are our superhero we want to celebrate our mothers with a drive-by celebration rsvp for the mother's day gift at info atlanta berean.com from noon until 2 pm thank you mothers for being a unique expression of god's love if you're interested in becoming a member of the atlanta berean church you can connect with us by going to atlantaberean.com connect or you can email us at info atlanta berean dot com we know that these are difficult and challenging times we invite you to stay connected by participating in our online worship service and remain faithful in your giving you can do this via our atlanta berean website there are three ways you can give adventist giving cash app or by mailing in your ties and offering if you have any questions about giving please feel free to give us a call here at the church i want to take this opportunity again to thank you for being a part of our worshiping family but we don't want you to just keep all of this to yourselves we want to invite you to tell a friend but do more than telling them we want you to help them to sign up to be a regular subscriber to the berean ministry on our website you'll find information that will help you and assist you in helping them to become a part of this family additionally we want to invite you to continue to support us in our efforts to revamp to rebuild our media infrastructure many of you have already responded and we want to thank you with all of our hearts for your gifts but we need additional help and so we're asking you to make this a part of your regular giving some of you can give a lot at one time some of you can only give incrementally every gift every effort to assist us is welcome thank you for what you are doing thank you for what you will allow god to do in and through you make this a matter of prayer and watch god bless you and bless the ministry of the berean seven adventist church be blessed go with god he'll go with you we invite everyone to join us each saturday as we worship together we realize you may not be able to worship in your home church but if god is in your heart then you are home from all of us here at atlanta berean church we want you to know that we have a place for you welcome home so so so do so do i'm so blessed and delighted to have you as part of our worshiping family today we trust that as you worship with us today that god will bless you in a mighty way but here's what we're asking for you to do with us become partners with us to share the good news of the berean seven adventist church so tell a friend and then direct them to our website and they will find ways in which they can subscribe they can like us on facebook and then you can share with us what this ministry has done in your life we look forward to having you worship with us today so come on in join with us be blessed be encouraged we're so excited you've joined us this sabbath morning as we enter into the month of come on with may as we come before his presence is is is is is good morning and happy sabbath happy sabbath i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord be it in person or virtual i'm just happy to be in the presence of god this morning i don't know if hopefully you can you will receive a blessing through this service today oh lord our lord how majestic is your name in all the earth father thank you for another opportunity to see this sabbath day lord we pray that you would be with every phase of this service that you would be with every scripture that is cited every song that is sung be with the preached word father most of all we pray that you would touch those that are listening through those elements of music preached word gospel that someone would decide to make a decision to follow you today father thank you for hearing this prayer thank you for answering this prayer we pray that you would be blessed through this ministry today in jesus name we pray amen amen and just a few announcements at this time we would like to make uh we would like for you to remember in prayer valencia green her son was shot this week we want to keep that family in prayer continue to pray also for pastor jennings we pray and we know that god is going to work a miracle in his life ben also had an accident so please pray for ben tramell richard thomas caldwell miller who has to have a book brain surgery so we want to pray for him also and then at eight a.m we would like for everyone every abled body that is a if you're able to open your eyes and wake up and move we'd like for you to be at tomorrow at 8 00 a.m for the beautification of the church so we pray that you can come out men women boys and girls come out on tomorrow at 8 00 a.m then there's also a community service training at 10 to 12 on tomorrow so please feel for that also god bless you as we continue to worship him today in spirit and in truth praise god for each and every one of you this morning that have tuned in in obedience to the spirit of god to worship with us here at the berea and seven adventist church here in atlanta georgia we welcome our friends from around the world around the country for wherever god has placed you this morning we want you to know that you're fellowshipping with us today is a joy to our hearts we are delighted today that god has given to us this wonderful beautiful blessed holy sabbath day i'm so thankful that god was so thoughtful that he knew we needed a day of rest and you do you know that there are scientific studies that have proven that if we keep a day holy and we know which day that is faithfully it adds years to our lives you can't beat god's giving no matter how hard we try i just want to thank the church family for praying for us over the last few weeks as we were engaged in our spring revival it is something that we do annually and this year god blessed us with dr patrick carter from the emmanuel church and we want to thank the emmanuel family for loaning him to us and we thank them personally collectively on behalf of the berean church i want to thank pastor carter and his family and thank him for allowing god to use him in such a mighty way we thank god for our bible instructors who worked with those individuals who were baptized on last sabbath and just so that you would know church family they are being followed up on they're being nurtured prayed for cared for so that when that day comes and we are open fully and we're back in person those individuals will be able to experience the right hand of fellowship to know that they are part of the family of god the berean church family we already in planning for our summer evangelism and it is exciting we have a very dynamic uh speaker that will be with us during our summer evangelism and then we already looking forward to the fall evangelism now please bear in mind evangelism is not an event this is what we do this is how we live our lives we ought always be looking for ways and opportunities to share the good news of jesus christ with those who are in our space whether it's at home at work in the neighborhood grocery store wherever we have opportunity to interact we should look for those opportunities to share the good news with our brothers and sisters the work on the elevator project is moving forward and of course there will always be little glitches and hitches along the way but i want to thank god for brother kenneth fraser and the uh team that's working with him the building committee team that's working with him excuse me they are doing such a wonderful job and next sabbath we'll have a little uh short video just to kind of give you a more uh thorough view of where things are what has been done thus far and what is yet to be done with that being said we are just continuing to solicit your support financially for this project and we know that god has already placed it on your heart to be a part of this wonderful experience plans are moving forward to upgrade our media infrastructure and for those of you who have sent your gifts some large some small but the consistency is what we definitely need is for you to continue to support us in that endeavor the church board has met we've discussed it we're having another meeting on this coming uh thursday where we will finalize the direction and then we have a business meeting as we announce that will be on sunday the 23rd of may so i ask you all to put that on your calendar plan to participate in that experience and we will bring you up to date on all the happenings relative to what is going on here at our church we're back today with uh another segment in our series major messages for minor prophets and i'm going to introduce you to someone that you kind of sort of heard of his name is obadiah we'll be talking about him don't you go anywhere call a friend tell someone good things are happening and finally finally finally lift up our schools in prayer amen and in particular we have we are making a full-court press to be sure that our early learning center has all of our boys and girls from across the city coming and i want to thank sister wendy palmer sister brown and all the board members who are working together to make sure that our early learning center has all of the children that we can uh accommodate so if you have a grandchild a child a grandson a neighbor's son a child that is of that age please let us know we want them to be a part of the early learning center experience god bless you we'll be back in just a moment with a word from god good morning again family our hymn of the morning is rejoice ye pure in heart hymn number 27 join in with us as we sing rejoice ye pure in the heart mr seawood rejoice give thanks and seek your first rejoice rejoice give thanks with voices sent rejoice with all the saints on earth by sing with us sing with us praise him who reigns on oh on help us rejoice amen i don't know about you this morning but we just want to declare over you and your home your family that breakthrough is here and it's a special sound like none other that you are healed and you are free this morning and it's all by god's grace oh oh oh everything that i need is i am here i am oh is behind me my god me here am here i am free god has broken i agree i am healed i am free god do i why don't you join in with us in worship right here i am you is it is there's healing taking place in your own say your breathe through your breakthrough is come on begin to put your hands together and give god some praise right there come on if you believe that god is sending healing to your home come on give god some praise right there in the midst of what i'm going through in the midst of what the devil tried against me i still have healing i still have joy the world has it to me and the world can't take it away so i am healed come on i need some healed folks to worship this morning i am free and i believe i am sometimes you got to speak over yourself when no one else will i am free god has spoken and i agree with god healed he touched my body with the finger of love and god has spoken my breakthrough is let the church say amen sounds a breakthrough i don't know about you today but i am healed i am free because god said it and because god said it therefore i agree with god pastor jack you're free today to preach the word you are free today my brother those who are watching today it doesn't matter what the enemy has done hallelujah you are free today god has set the captives free i just believe we should just raise our hand and say thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord am is bless this name bless this name i have a list here sister green your son was shot breakthrough pastor jennings family pastor jennings breakthrough been breakthrough for the thomas with bone cancer there's a breakthrough somebody has brain surgery this breakthrough it's the fullest edmonds there's breakthrough for the bryant family out there in columbus ohio there is breakthrough for the right family who buried their son i got confused i thought it was a taser but it was a gun there's breakthrough for the brown family out there in north carolina there is breakthrough for all of our adventist schools there is breakthrough and whoever it is who's watching today call it by name and tell god i receive my breakthrough father listen it's your sabbath god it's our time to reflect on your goodness your mercy and your kindness that you gave us all six days some of us didn't pray some of us didn't talk to you our homes were filled with the world on our jobs we carried the world but god we have one more day to say thank you one more day to lift our hands and voices and say god we know we've got bills we know we've got marital issues and our children issues and we got back pain and the churches of pain we got all these things going on but god right now we are asking for breakthrough in our spiritual lives we are asking for mighty move of god to move throughout this sanctuary every home that is watching and that the holy ghost will take his place why god are we asking because time is not on our side and soon the king will come to gather his children and we don't want to be lost so god we know you can do anything but fail we know you can fix all these issues but god we will ask you to fix everything we'll actually heal cancer we actually remove diabetes we actually save our kids bring them back to church but god we don't want to pray for our soul salvation god as we are claiming breakthrough for everything else we actually actual breakthrough and changing of characters changing of the way we think changing of the way our hearts are waxed cold god remove that heart like that god set the cactus free then god last request is at the man of god the bishop of this house god as he speaks today i don't care god what he is going through as he speaks more today to your children god we are asking that you will use him like never before god open him up and spill him out god speak through our pastor like never before that we know today without a shadow of doubt that breakthrough will come we give you all the praise the honor and the glory we thank you god for loving us and keeping us and we say all together amen that's our declaration going on through the rest of 2021 that your breakthrough is here come on if you believe oh i pray oh my is is it is this is the day that the lord hath made let us rejoice and be glad in it happy sabbath everyone we're so happy that you tuned in to berean services today as you know we celebrate our mothers every day but next sabbath we have a special program lined up for you where we will spotlight and highlight your mothers so we ask that you will invite your friends your family your relatives and just tune in to our berean services next sabbath and you will be blessed we look forward to seeing you there thank you good morning again viewing audience and those who are in the building i just want to come this morning to say thank you thank you for how you have allowed god to use you to bless this ministry last sabbath you saw evidence that your gifts are working you saw people going down in the watery grave of baptism all because of your gifts you see friends everything we do here at this church is for god's glory and because of his goodness to you and your faithfulness to us you have continued to support this ministry we know it is god doing it because the world we live in says out of sight out of mind but we have not seen you for over a year but you still keep giving supporting this ministry we thank you we thank you we thank you for your gifts now we just asked that as you make up your gifts this week and every week continue to remember the berean sda church as we continue to be a light for god in this community and of course now all over the world you see the methods that you can use to support our gifts you can use the cash app you can use any other the devices that you see or any of the modes that you see as a matter of fact this morning as i pulled up someone gave me a gift and i just want to say thank you for your faithfulness thank you for allowing god to use you so we can do this work in this part of vineyard let's pray father we thank you for blessing us with means to support your cause we ask you even now dear lord that you will take these means that will come in and may we use them for your glory and we promise o god that we will give you the praise the honor and the glory it's in jesus name we ask it all amen and amen so what i had to give was a broken heart torn apart all i had to give was an empty hope i hunt promises but in return you gave me joy that could never be told and in return you gave me love that it was more precious than gold so whatever you have to give you don't have to be ashamed just come as you are and presenting in jesus name corey in return of a torn life he'll give your life abundantly and in return of a raging storm the lord will come the sea so whatever you have the lord has so much more so what do you have to give if you were like me you didn't have a lot of gold possessions or money you did not own wealth untold but i'm glad you didn't look on the things that i had but you looked on the things you were able to give me for in return he gave me joy that could never be he told and in return you gave abundantly so what do you hide to be so what do you have to give praise the lord it's one of my favorite songs what do you have to give wow i can number a list of things that we have to give i think the first and foremost is god wants our hearts he wants to be lord too often i've discovered that for too many who named the name of jesus we've accepted him as savior but have we accepted him as lord his plan is not just to save us but to direct us to govern our lives to show us the way and i hope and pray today that as we worship continue worshiping god in his word that you will open your hearts to god i want you to keep the elbows in check i don't want you to be telling your husband your wife your partner that's for you no keep them tight amen praise be to god sibling rivalry let me be transparent at the outset the title may be a little bit misleading but as you listen as you give your air for the next few moments as god opens his word it will become much clearer so just hold on pray with me father we thank you today for this privilege that we have this opportunity to come into your house though we be few in number yet this place is filled with holy angels sent from on high to witness to worship to impart to strengthen and for this we thank you father now we pray that you will cleanse us remove from within us everything that defiles distract or may distort let jesus be seen heard and experienced in his name we pray amen even to the casual observer the last four years have been characterized by turmoil division distress by a president who was defeated disgraced and displaced and yet because of his pride because of his proclivity to focus only on himself he unleashed a torrent of anger by those who he engaged and then enraged that culminated in the invasion of the capital with the goal of disrupting denying distorting what the american people had given voice to all of us whether it was said audibly or just internally or prayerfully we had had enough there was a spirit of relief and release that echoed and reverberated around the world when the results were tabulated and re-tabulated and three times here in the state of georgia they counted and recounted and yet and still the outcome was what it was we thank god that even in times of national distress even in times of social disconnect and spiritual dissonance that there is a clarity that comes to the people of god from the word of god that in the midst of hopelessness hope emerges one of the best things i've done for myself and i hope for you in some small measure was to embark of several months ago on the study of the minor prophets those 12 books of the bible that is categorized as mine are not in any way to suggest that their messages of is of lesser import but minor from the stance that its content does not equate with the content of isaiah and jeremiah and the larger prophetic writings but the bible tells us all scripture is given by god and it's profitable and so today we are looking at this somewhat obscure book obadiah his name means worshiper of jehovah it is interesting that in this particular book the name the covenantal name of god is the reference point the point of embarkation the point where the message finds its root it's grounding its purpose its power its pervasiveness it is found rooted in the covenantal name of god this is not mere coincidence i've discovered with god there is nothing such as coincidence with god there are no accidents and no coincidence it's always divine providence oh i i you may not be able to say amen with with a robust response i've lived a little while and i'm not telling you what i heard somewhere what i've read in a book what i've learned through my theological training and all about i'm telling you my lived experience from walking with god and talking with god and and being corrected by god and and being disciplined by god and being perfected by god and being elevated by god and being humbled by god i can tell you today without any ambiguity or uncertainty that with the god we serve there are no accidents or coincidences there are only divine providences and here's a life lesson and you will hear me repeat recite this over and over and over again a life lesson that i i have internalized here it is not everything that happens to you is about you i'm just trying to help one or two of you that that that's that's your word for the day that's all that god may have caused you to tune in for today is to hear this and to hear it clearly not everything that happens to you is about you and so this prophet obadiah this book one of five books in the bible that consists of just one chapter obadiah keeps company with second john and third john and jude and philemon as books that are comprised of just one chapter and so the tendency is that somehow we relegate these books to a place of insignificant but if holy men of god moved by the spirit of god sought fit to include in this sacred canon it is therefore a learning for our examples for our admonition and we better take heed after all on a practical level we're going to meet obadiah in heaven i think it's a good idea to get to know a little bit about him now hello and so the bible tells us this little book obadiah who was a contemporary of joel the prophet who quotes obadiah he he brings some insight he gives us some understanding as to what is happening now it's interesting that an entire book is written in its primary sense to one nation a heathen nation as it were the bible tells us in the very first verse of this book here's what he says division of of obadiah thus said the lord god that's jehovah concerning edom and so in this primary sense the message is directed to edom or the well who are the who is edom i'm glad you asked to understand the context to understand who we're talking about and what we're talking about and why what has happened and what is is genesis 25 through 27 it outlines for us it details for us it depicts for us the birth of this particular sibling rivalry it was not the first but it it sort of emerges as foremost it didn't start off as being the first of course we understand that going back to genesis chapter four we see the genesis the birth of the first sibling rivalry that came as a result of a response from one of the brothers to god's appeal for worship and right from the very outset god made it clear that not every kind of worship not all kinds of worship not self-generated types of worship is acceptable or accepted by god god made it clear since worship is the highest form of praise since worship is the premier way in which we respond to god god says i'm not leaving it up to you to define to determine to decide what type of worship is appropriate and acceptable so god says i'ma learn you something here it is if you're gonna come before me and get my applause and approbation and my approval here's what you got to do you got to come with a blood sacrifice if you don't understand what blood means and if you don't understand the significance of blood cain and abel look at your mama and your daddy check out the outfit that they are running around in check out the designer suit that clads their bodies that was a result of blood because their attempt to deal with their sins their attempt to cover their nakedness their attempts fell far short of god's high and holy standard and so god came down and provided for your parents a covering suitable and equal to and a reminder of what their disobedience had ushered into this world namely death and so if you're going to come to me if you're going to approach me you can't come haphazardly you you just can't come casually you just can't come in some ordinary way to worship an extraordinary god god said blood but you know as it was then so it is now we have we have casual worshipers we have those who in their minds and by their behavior and belief have this distorted idea that god ought to be obliged that i even took time to show up and so ellen white says that cain not only brought a basket of fruit but he didn't even bring his best fruit and look at my god i'm talking about the first sibling rivalry i'm not staying there i'm just i'm just sort of on the way and by the way and look what god did you know god is god is cool you know what i'm saying i mean he's holy but he's a cool holy he's got it like that you know when adam and eve ate us out of house and home god came down and said what's up how you doing adam now that you've declared spiritual independence how's it working for you naked oh who told you you're naked afraid what's that i didn't put fear in you when i created you how's it working for you and so the bible says god came down and said he said to cain why why are you so upset if you do right you too will be acceptable and accepted so get it right that's god god demonstrated from the very outset that his priority and his purpose and his perspective is not in and about our demise but it's about our development and our deliverance and bringing us into alignment with his will we know the story from that sibling rivalry we had the first murder wasn't the first time wasn't the last time and so joseph is prancing around in his beautiful multi-colored robe and he's saying that daddy likes me more than he likes you and the brothers won't weren't having it they were through and so at the appropriate time under the right circumstances you know the story they caught him and they were going to kill him you see sibling rivalry if not checked leads to death and demands and devastation and destruction you see because at its very core this is not original to me but whoever wrote it was right at its very core sin will always take you further than you intended to go at its core sin will cost you more than you intended to pay at its very core and sin will keep you longer than you intended to stay that's what sin does and so so it's summed up in my favorite verse in all the old testament it's summed up this sibling rivalry is summed up this way 50th chapter verse 19 and 20 you meant it for evil but god i wish i had somebody in the house today who could identify with but god some of you shouldn't be here today but god some of you should be in the on the fifth floor at grady wrapped in white out of your mind but god some of you all should be locked up but because you looked up and god looked down hello it was all because of but god i would have long slapped some of y'all across your head but god i'm just talking about sibling rivalry and so genesis 25 27 it it it begins to unfold and unpack for us what culminated in where we are now where where over dire now is on the scene prophesying and prognosticating and and and and giving a a view of what's to come it started there in genesis with jacob esau the two sons of isaac and from the very birth jacob came out clutching his older brother esau by the ankle signifying what was yet to unfold sibling rivalry isn't it amazing how those of you who have kids can i could identify with this isn't it amazing how children growing up in the same household with the same parents can be so different i swore the mothership came by when my daughter was about seven snatched her up and put somebody else that looked like her in the house see i was sure up until seven but after seven the mothership did a switcheroo hello some days i had to say the path who that hello and so the bible tells us about this sibling rivalry that that culminated in jacob deceiving displacing his older brother esau not once but twice the personalities their their demeanor their physical appearance diametrically different one from the other and the bible tells us that that jacob was a mama's boy i was one i ain't lying me and my mom whoo tight cool we had it like that if you knew my mom you know me hey man i won't i wouldn't dare say the other way if you knew me and know my mom i wouldn't dare say that that's up for dispute but if you knew my mom you'd have a sense amen and the bible tells us that esau was was every father's joy he was a man's man rough and rugged he was out there he became a hunter a particular day he came back he didn't catch nothing didn't kill anything the deer outran his arrows the birds fluttered their wings at the wrong time and they pray took off and so he came home for long and disappointed and he smelled you know i wonder if that was some strategic planning on jacob's part and bible doesn't say so but you know us preachers we like to think about stuff and wonder about stuff and and and so so so jacob is just stirring the pot and esau comes home and he said man that smells good i want some of that well yeah you can have it for a price hello and you know the story sold his birthright disdain and despise his destiny for a bowl of porridge bowl of soup rather oh don't be so hard on esau at least the soup was hot you sell yours for cold water soup hello this was fresh soup you three four day old soup flies buzzing over it that's what you're selling your yourself for amen soul to birth right then comes the father knowing that his time was short and he had to depart and it was customary for the father now to pass on the mantle of leadership to the eldest son a double portion of the father's goods so there in this blessing that was about to unfold at a latter date now was pride and power and position and possessions all bound up in this blessing jacob's mama said boy go get you some go get you an animal put the skins on and you know and lure the octaves in your intonation to sound like your brother try that he would daddy say skin feels like esau but the voice you know the story and again jacob whose name means supplanter deceiver was living out his name to the fullest and so for the second time taking this sibling rivalry to new heights and raising and engaging his brother's eternal hatred stole his birthright and the blessing and as a result of that he left home he was on the run for the next 20 years count the course be sure you're willing to pay the price for your deeds or misdeeds this sibling rivalry gave birth to two nations the are the descendants of esau the israelites are the descendants of jacob and for the next 900 years the sibling rivalry takes on new tones and takes them into places and causes animosity to mature so much so that there was hatred between what obadiah refers to them as brethren not first cousins he wasn't trying to be politically correct he was being historically correct but he was speaking to something more and something larger and something greater than what was apparent and so by the time obadiah begins to write he is now telling them that the the current conditions this current rivalry and animosity that has reached maturity is not according to god's will or wisdom but you know what the problem was that i studied this book the problem with the with edom and the were two sins number one pride do you realize that the two missed two most disturbing and damaging words in all of the universe have one thing in common the word pride has in the middle of it the letter what i and the word sin has in the middle of it what i the two things that god hates and despised the most have one thing in common i that's why when you read ezekiel 9 28 and and in ezekiel and isaiah where it talks about satan look at the the repetition of the personal pronoun i i will arise i will exalt i will be like the most high i would i i if we look at what's going on in god's church today we find the same disease or we can inoculate you with a vaccine to help with covet but we cannot develop and will never develop a vaccine that can handle pride or inoculate us from self-hatred and hatred of others the song says what can wash away my sins nothing nothing but the blood of jesus and that's why throughout his ministry jesus had no problems with the sinners jesus was comfortable with the adulterers and with the thieves and with the liars so much so that they said about him he eats with sinners you see because sin has kept it real his problem was with those church folk those religious prognosticators those purveyors of falsehoods he at one time called them whited sepulchers full of dead men's bones these are the religious elites but the bible tells us the bible tells us and our time is fleeting so i got to get i got to get to it because i got some good stuff here hello if you don't enjoy it i'm going to enjoy it all by myself i've been enjoying it all last week and week before hello is it because if the message don't bless the preacher so you have a restaurant but every time they see you you get hungry you go across the street to eat hello and so the bible tells us that now now edom has the upper hand the live and dwell in mount syria it's a mountain fortress for those of you who saw one of the episodes of indiana jones while they were going through this very narrow place with walls on each side that's real that was a depiction of where the dwelt and so it gave them a sense of false security they were high in the mountains a very narrow pathway to get there and so they felt themselves secure invincible beyond the reach and yet when you read what god says through his servant obadiah he tells them that one day your mountain fortress will fall they were on the trade route the king's highway they had a mass a fortune in gold god says one day all of that will be taken from you and be stripped but in their pride and haughtiness they fail to hear and to adhere to the word of god see the beautiful thing about my god is this remember when we studied amos some weeks ago 3 chapter 3 and verse 7. it says this remember god says i will do nothing before and unless i first reveal it to my servants the prophet my god is not in the gotcha business oh no the stakes are too high the outcomes have eternal consequences and so god says i'm going to give you every opportunity he says matter of fact when i first conceived of hell i didn't have you all in mine he says hell was created for the devil and his angels but because some of y'all insist on going there hell is going to be enlarged but it was never god's plan or purpose that human beings should end up in that place let's see what bible tells us i got to skip through this thing quickly here's what the bible tells us a false sense of security why they trusted in their wealth they trusted in their alliances you see money can buy you companionship and alliances it can't buy you friendship some people learned that the hard way and so they they had a false sense of security based on their wealth and based on their alliances and the wisdom that they possess and were renowned for you remember when job's friend showed up the adventist i mean the the other fellow he was a edomite yeah and he came to comfort job because the were not only renowned for their wealth and their alliances but for their wisdom but also they trusted that their armies were invincible they bought the the strongest wisest and most experienced soldiers and so they were smug and secure in their particular domain but you see obadiah says he says whether you make your home where the eagle's nests are in other words in very high and secure places guess what you're not beyond the reach of god um so here's what happens i'm skipping through some stuff but i it it it's so it's so powerful this message so what were they guilty of let me give it to you in bullet points number one number one number one pride number two indifference you see the were positioned so that when the enemies of israel would attack they could have been a buffer they could have provided support but what did they do they just folded their arms and when the israelites sought to make escape they would point out their hiding places to the invaders indifferent it's one of the worst places to fall into to become indifferent there are people in the church who have become indifferent oh it ain't my problem oh it doesn't bother me oh it doesn't affect my household it doesn't come on the pew where i sit so not my problem indifference but you see indifference leads to complicity you see because here's a question you've got to ask yourself what do i know when did i know it and what did i do about it hello you see in in modern christendom we focus on one type of sin and that's the sins of commission but from god's perspective we are equally guilty and comfortable with god for sins of omission jesus said it you pay tithe of men anders and cumin but you've left out the more radiant matters of the law he says this you ought to have done but not leave the other undone commission omission to him that knoweth to do good and do it it not because of indifference to him her its sin that's what god says not pastor jack and so the had fallen into this mindset of pride of indifference and so from god's perspective became complicit with those who were invading attacking disturbing disquieting the people of god here's what the bible tells us so god sent obadiah with a message and obadiah's message can be some summed up in three bullet points number one obadiah said to israel and he says to edom rather three things he's saying to them both know your enemies hello if you're a child of god living according to the word of god abiding in the will of god you've got enemies yes oh i ain't got no help in the house today i see that some of y'all are still living in la la land some of you are still walking around with make-believe if you are a child of god living according to the word of god abiding in the will of god walking in the ways of god you have enemies but hold up now let me unpack that bag for you because there are two kinds of enemies there are enemies within which are as damaging and deadly as the ones that are without matter of fact and more often than not the enemies from within are more dangerous well what are these enemies i'm glad you asked let me give you at least three number one number one fear fear the very first human emotion that was expressed i heard your voice and i was afraid god did not intend nor did he equip us to handle fear the bible says fear hath torment and jesus spent his entire ministry and repeatedly fear not fear not fear not fear not he kept rehearsing reciting regurgitating fear not because where fear is active faith is idle fear or i want to say something but i'm afraid they don't think of me this way oh i want to do what's right but i'm afraid i'm going to upset oh oh i know i know what they're saying is it's not right but but you know i won't get told off i don't want to get disinvited i don't want my name taken off the a-list i don't want to be cast out of the club they may they may take back their cap and t-shirt so fear paralyzes fear secondly secondly frustration i can't go back down there no more i'm done with them that's the last time frustration too many of us on the cusp of success when god's blessing is just a prayer away we allow not only our fears but life's frustrations to take us out of the race to cause us to quit to cause us to throw in the towel because we're frustrated it didn't happen fast enough it didn't happen soon enough uh it didn't happen with her or him frustration i'm through with men that last joker i'm done with all y'all all of y'all are woof oh y'all don't know what that means shall i interpret dogs y'all slow this morning so i'm done i'm gonna make every other woman that comes my way they're gonna pay for what she did frustration jane walks out hello joan johnny dogs you out hey bill keep it moving do not allow yourself to become bogged down there's still good people in this world ladies every brother ain't a dog guys every woman ain't a gold digger matter of fact all you got is copper so she really ain't looking for gold you ain't even there yet hello fear enemy within frustration and fatigue i'm just tired i'm done then i wore you down and you are tired watch out for the enemies within but then you got some enemies from without who are they i'll tell you who they are they are those who are convinced by the truth but not converted to the truth who are they they are those who profess but do not practice who are the enemy from without they are those who declare but do not demonstrate who are they they are the ones who exhort but never exhibit the enemy jesus said it ellen white confirms it that in these last days the greatest enemies that you and i will face are the ones who profess but don't practice the ones who exhib exhort but don't exhibit the ones who declare but don't demonstrate the love of god hello she said that it's former members who will become the fiercest opponents of god's people in the last days in other words they are sellouts they are snitches in the house of god oh i know some folk listening right now say yeah you go again i told you all he was one of them mean preachers he don't talk about love that's love hello the bible says whom god loves he chastens you see the rod and the staff comforts because the rod serves two purposes protection and correction ah praise the lord so the enemies the enemies within the enemies without but the text tells us here about victory the israelites are on their way to babylonian captivity for seven years but god sends over dire to let them know that ultimately victory is theirs revelation 12 verse 11. you know what it says here's what it says and they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony y'all know what that means the blood of the lamb is the power of not only a christ that was crucified but a christ who was raised and the word of their testimony means what that we've been there and we know what god has done shadrach meshach and abednego our god is able but if not if he chooses not to move in the way we think he should we're going to remain confident knowing he's working it out all together for his glory and my good oh praise god i'm saying to us today that victory if not immediate ultimate i told you that's what i do every so often that's what i was doing last week when the clouds were hanging low i had to go to the back of the book and remind myself how the story ends you see because when you and i are in the crucible of the crisis when we are caught up in the here and now we have to learn how to navigate and to remove ourselves from the here and now to the there and there i told you my story i'll tell you again little boy upstairs in this room daddy walks by and all that he can hear him saying is if you only knew what i know hey son after a while daddy said my son losing it he went upstairs son what's the problem for the last half hour all i hear you saying is if you only knew what i know he smiled and he said oh dad i was reading my favorite novel i was reading about my favorite hero the sheriff who cast every outlaw out of town but one day an outlaw came into town who was quicker and faster so it appeared but he said dad i became so discouraged he said dad i began to look at my hero with jaundice eyes dad i was about to throw away the book and turn my back on my hero he said but just then that a thought came to me and the thought was go to the back of the book and read how the story ended hello so he went to the back of the book and read it and what he discovered was that one day the sheriff was able to throw the outlaw out of town so he went back to the place in the story where the outlaw was strutting around like he owned the place and he kept saying if you only knew what i know if you only knew what i know saints of the living god like god's people israel who were on the cusp of captivity for 70 years and the were rubbing their faces in it obadiah says to them in verse 17 he said right there on the hills of zion god is going to bring victory the very place where you were defeated and dislocated the very place where it appears that god had turned their back he says one day ultimate victory will come right then and there and so he says know your enemy but then he tells us to do what focus on victory but then finally finally finally we must understand our ultimate destiny this is good this is good we must learn to navigate the immediate through the prism of the ultimate you see god answers us three ways i've shared this before i'm only repeating myself and i'll repeat it again god answers us three ways one immediately anybody have i had a prayer the few of us that didn't hear anybody had a prayer that god answered immediately hello so so three weeks ago you all know i was on this program with pastor byrd and pastor snell they were interviewing the pastors of the large churches and berean happens to be one of the three largest churches in north america and certainly among the black work and so they ask us to come i generally i'm going to confess to you generally i shy away from that stuff i generally do that's just my nature but my good friend whom i respect one of our leaders elder dana edmunds you we all know him at berea and love him because he's a powerful man of god and he has blessed that congregation through preaching and helping our board with his uh leadership workshop he's coming back in june and so forth anyway he asked me to be on there so i forgot that we were on eastern time but he was in central time so i'm on line an hour before the program was due so he started laughing he said jack you're early man computer is working fine i'm telling you the story about how god answers immediately so the time rolls around and now it's five o'clock central time and the program begins and i think i made one comment and the computer just went crazy pat's there she can tell you she was sitting right there so i i got off the computer i went on my phone now he and i were chatting back and forth half hour prior to the program starting and everything's good and all of a sudden the computer went crazy and those of y'all who know me know i'm technically challenged so i jumped on my phone and all kind of static and buzzing i said pat let me borrow your phone i borrowed her phone and the virus that was in my phone jumped into her phone and so now her phone is buzzing and that's how it went i'm frustrated i need a computer how about the phone rings call pat i got a computer brand new don't need it do y'all want it can the pastor use it yeah i'm i'm i'm telling you that the god we serve answers immediately but that's not how he he's got more weapons in his arsenal so there are times he doesn't answer immediately he answers gradually that's when we said venice get on god's case and say why don't you just hurry up why don't you speed this thing along why don't you turn the dial forward but god answers immediately he answers gradually and he answers eventually i'm i'm closing up know your destiny so obadiah is telling israel who are looking down the nose of a 70-year sentence hold on y'all and you go read jeremiah and and some some pastors come along who were preaching smooth things to the people and telling them that what they heard was a lie don't believe it y'all they're telling you that i i i i'm prophesying over you that your stage won't be short and jeremiah come and say don't believe the lie marry you some wives make you some babies build you some houses and chill 70 years but god says after 70 years you're coming out sibling rivalry it started in the womb and it followed a 900-year odyssey of war and conflict of division of strife of animosity of hatred of indifference of complicity do y'all think it's over it ain't over here so the arabs were raised up by god who attacked the strongholds of the and displaced them and they moved from the mountains now and they're now dwelling in the in the valley in the plane but it was so wealthy and powerful and had political connection that they continued on for many more years until now here's where we go and here's where we're going to end here's the ultimate here's the ultimate sibling rivalry here it is it's sweet it's good here's what the bible says and so it was around the time when the messiah was to be born and wise men came from the east y'all know that story y'all ever heard that story before huh and the wise men came from the east and what did they ask where is he that is what born king we got a problem because some years before the who also called it means by the name of herod the great bought the kingship of jerusalem so we got a problem we have the born king in conflict with the bought king are you up please i'm going to enjoy it all by myself i'm a high-five myself i'm saying that the ultimate sibling rivalry is now unfolding between the born king and the bored king so israel now is all a stir all israel is worried why because the king who bought his kingship ain't about to give way to the king who was born king so he said get all the boys that are two years on under and i'm gonna kill them all i'm the only top dog here in town the ultimate sibling rivalry played out by a gripper the great great great great great grandson of esau and by jesus the greater greater greater great son of jacob sibling rivalry oh yeah calvary the cross is the ultimate outworking of sibling rivalry between the sons of light and the sons of darkness between the religious and those who had relationship wow and so the bible tells us the bible tells us the bible tells us for 900 years this rivalry went on until until after 80 70 you hear no more about agrippa herod the great wasn't about to have any competition this great great great great great grandson of esau was not going to let this great great-great-great-great-grandson of jacob once again supplant his kingdom oh no i'm going to show you who the top dog is and then his son his son was the one who took the head of john the baptist oh yeah oh yeah we're not gonna have any competition and so for a momentary fleeting possession he gave up any hope of eternal everlasting possession you see that's what pride does pride causes us to sacrifice the ultimate for the immediate pride does not know anything about delayed gratification pride says i want it now i want it right here so tell me salome after you put down that dance that had my buddies woo and while it what do you want i'ma give you half my kingdom get me the head of john the baptist and the idomian the edomite the son of esau says john got to go you talk about sibling rivalry it's deep it's wide and so we got problems in the church today and why is that because we have the sons of esau and the sons of jacob occupying the same space sometimes the same pew sometimes the same committee and so we got rivalry in the church hello oh no i know y'all wanted me to stay back there and eat them yeah y'all don't want me to come down your block and park in your driveway but sorry no can do you see because when i stand before god see here's what i know that some of y'all don't know you see every night that i i say my now lay me down to sleep i pray lord my soul to keep y'all know that prayer any kindergarteners here anybody went to kindergarten some of you all cut kindergarten boy you all should shame on yourself y'all cut even kindergarten and you know by doing so you know what you did you miss the greatest lessons that will prepare you for the rest of your life because here's what we learned in crater rolls sister megan that's a living miracle right this yeah young lady where have you had megan that right there is a living miracle i'm not gonna tell a story we're gonna invite her back she's gonna tell her own story i'm talking about a living miracle right there a doctor a health provider megan you gotta come back one day when you're ready tell your story she gonna tell her story it'll blow you away but here's what here's what here's what here's what here's what kind of crater world bruce here's what here's what those who cut crater roll missed jesus loves me and this i know for the bible tells me so here's what you missed because you cut cradle roll and kindergarten with jesus in the vessel you can smile at the storm sibling rivalry it culminated in calvary but obadiah 21 verses shortest book in the old testament come on patrick y'all come on up come on i'm on your time now so the longer you take to get up here i'm gonna keep on preaching hello amen but the ultimate outworking of this sibling rivalry is when the sons of esau put the son of jacob on the cross oh gee patterson down there in memphis used to say he was hung up for my hang-ups bison get up every sunday morning watch og do his thing i mean you're talking about a preaching brother while he was on the cross we were on his mind they told him come down and we would believe we believe because he stayed up there sibling rivalry it's in the church and we have competing forces but you know ultimately god says ails you what affects you what afflicts you may not be resolved immediately but hold on it will be resolved ultimately you see because you and i are not smart enough to discern and distinguish between the sons of esau and the sons of jacob so here's what god says 30 seconds i'm done here's what god says he said at the end i'm going to send holy angels they're going to do the separating see y'all don't believe me do you so matthew 25. you all know about the virgins five were wise and five were otherwise y'all know them you notice that it wasn't until the bridegroom showed up that it was discovered and discerned who were prepared who was not prepared there was war in heaven why should we get discomforted and discouraged because war often erupts even among the people of god we've got competing spirits but one day god says at the same place where you were defeated zechariah says that jesus would bring the kingdom his feet would touch the mount of olives and it will claim and god's promise will finally be realized for god's people heads about eyes are closed sibling rivalry father god in heaven bless your people today speak to our hearts collectively but speak to us individually help us lord to realize father god that there are only two camps there are only two sides truth error light darkness god satan lord heal our wounds heal or divided hearts heal or misplace loyalties help us oh god to search deep within and ask ourselves with the aid of the holy spirit is this to glorify god or to gratify myself and father god give us the humility of heart to humble ourselves to be taught to be led to change and to grow in jesus name amen join us again next week for another installment of god's word god's blessing tell someone like us on facebook our website will tell you how you can reach out to us if you are interested in bible studies or someone to pray with you and contact you we look forward to being a part of your life your journey as we seek to make heaven our home don't worry when you feel just looking for some kind of sign to reassure you he's not forgotten he's in every way and the world you must face remember the angels of god surround you by his grace to carry you through i'm right here don't you ever give up he promised never to leave you alone hold that's our the message as we go throughout this week keep god with you we just want you to hang in there don't you throw in the towel stay in the race god promised he would never leave you gonna until we meet again god bless you that's what god wants you to do go with god until we meet again god bless keep the faith keep the faith and you just church in atlanta georgia your presence with us in spirit during this service we know has been a mutual blessing be sure to tune in each week to berea and seven of venice church tell a friend like us on facebook and we want you to become a subscriber please share this with your friends your co-workers and your neighbors that god is doing a wonderful thing here at berean and we want them to be a part of it until next week same time be blessed you

Channel: Atlanta Berean Church

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Id: LNlKCjHSxoI

Length: 118min 22sec (7102 seconds)

Published: Sat May 01 2021