Sunday Faith Blog

This was sent to me this week and I thought it might make a good Sunday Faith Blog:

RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE STIMULUS SERMON
Genesis 47:13-27

I would love to give the Pastor of this predominantly black church in Virginia a hug and a high five. This guy is obviously a leader.
Perhaps we should each decide who our real leader is...It is amazing to see that very little has changed in 4,000 years.
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Good morning, brothers and sisters; it's always a delight to see
the pews crowded on Sunday morning, and so eager to get into
God's Word. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will to the 47th
chapter of Genesis, we'll begin our reading at verse 13, and go
through verse 27.
Brother Ray, would you stand and read that great passage for us?
....(reading) ...

Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray... So we see that
economic hard times fell upon Egypt , and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh
nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses
that he had built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a
great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And
this went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again.
So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their
livestock -their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey -
to barter for grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through
the end of that year.

But the famine wasn't over, was it? So the next year, the people
came before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except
their land and their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight
of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before
your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh." So they surrendered their homes, their land, and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain. What can we learn from this, brothers
and sisters?

That turning to the government instead of to God to be our provider in hard times only leads to slavery? Yes. That the only reason
government wants to be our provider is to also become our master?
Yes. But look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters!
Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt , in the land of Goshen .. And they gained
possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly." God provided for His people, just as He always has! They didn't end up giving all their possessions to government, no, it says they gained possessions! But I also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous
one. We see the same thing happening today - the government today
wants to "share the wealth "once again, to take it from us and redistribute
it back to us. It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken
control of education, and ration it back to us, and when government
rations it, then government decides who gets it, and how much, and
what kind. And if we go along with it, and do it willingly, then we will wind up no differently than the people of Egypt did four thousand years ago - as slaves to the government, and as slaves to our leaders.
What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no different from what
Pharaoh's government did then, and it will end the same. And a lot of
people like to call Mr. Obama a "Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah?
A savior? Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his slaves,
"You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to
Pharaoh"?

Well, I tell you this -I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of mine;
and Mr. Obama is no Messiah! No, brothers and sisters,
if Mr. Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh.
Bow with me in prayer, if you will.

Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You alone.
We confess that the government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will be.
We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people
of what a ruler would do, where it says "And in that day you will cry out
because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but
the LORD will not answer you in that day." And Lord, we acknowledge
that day has come. We cry out to you because of the ruler that we have
chosen for ourselves as a nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray
for revival, and we pray for deliverance from those who would be our masters.
Give us hearts to seek You and hands to serve You, and protect Your people
from the atrocities of Pharaoh's government.
In God We Trust...(end of email)

Z: "What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do." Isaiah 46:11. Here's to a 2010 during which people will wake up like the good pastor's sermon might have awakened his congregants.....we can only hope. And pray. As some say "Can I have an AMEN?" :-)
z