RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH SERVICE

           Subject:  Genesis 47:13-27

I would love to give the Pastor of this predominantly black church in Virginia three cheers. 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.

 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...