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RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE -STIMULUS SERMON
Gen 47:13-27
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 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...
Editors Note: This sermon was given by a
Pastor of
a predominantly black church in Virginia.