Two Did Build | Paul McGee
by Paul McGee
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Ruth 4:10-12

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/paul-mcgee--two-did-build
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

------------------------------------------------------------
Can we give a hand clap to the Lord right now? God is great and greatly to be praised in this house. We love him and appreciate him. You may be seated tonight. And there has been many many years as he said uh that I I have still cassette tapes, maybe a few eight tracks, I don't know, brother Carpenter preaching uh from years gone by of camp meetings attended as a young man. Uh it's probably been I know it's been in excess of 35 years that I can think of. And no no no disrespect to Sister Ericson, but I think back in the day when uh she was a baby and they kind of had that name pinned on her, a facula, she's going through a biting stage and uh so a lot of waters cross and hopefully that doesn't happen anymore, but you know, a lot of waters cross under the bridge since then. Matter of fact, I was thinking I was coming here today and uh we we never I I never had the opportunity to go to Mcinley Street when this church was on Mcley Street. Uh but did when it was on the hill and uh probably when it was not even maybe half full on the hill. And I remember when Sister Ericson first started playing the piano >> and visiting and now this and that has just spread to her mentoring so many other people uh in doing so. And so this is a tremendous family. I give honor to pastor and sister Carpenter and pastor and sister Ericson and brother and sister Hammond and the other Carpenters as well. Amen. Can Yeah. Can we give a great hand of appreciation to your pastoral staff and team and this great family. Amen. Love and appreciate them. I thought after hearing him preach this morning, I was trying to find a good enough tree in Dell and Rachel's house that I could just chop off a limb and just come out here swinging it. And I thought we'd just keep the fire burning. That would probably just be sufficient. Wasn't that tremendous this morning? Amen. We need that. And I want just in case the camera catches this, I I need to bear exclamation a little explanation from my Bible tonight. It's got flowers on it. And we came on this trip and I wasn't really expecting to still be here tonight. And so I just brought my daily reader, which is a different version. I try to read a different version of the Bible every year. So it wasn't in the King James. So I got my daughter's Bible tonight. All right. I think it's important that you know that that I got her Bible here this evening. Amen. And amen. If we turn to the word of the Lord, we're going to go to the book of Ruth, chapter number four. And uh it's good to have my family with me. Of course, my my mother-in-law and and Anthony and Dale and Rachel, all of them are here, but I'm glad to have my family. Uh Trevor's somewhere with his uncle Dale. I don't know what they're up to, but they're probably he wanted to check out how things ran. My daughter's here and my wife. Appreciate my wife. Not long ago, we were on an anniversary trip in November and I heard someone say something that I typically only hear my wife say and we were checking out. She was shopping. I joined her as far as a tag along and uh the lady said, "I appreciate you." Rather than appreciating the service or what was done and that just clicked because that's what my wife always does. If she if you help her in any way or anything's done, she always says, "I appreciate you." She never says, "I appreciate it." She always appreciates the person more than the service. And that is that is the stamp of my wife. She appreciates you. And I love her for that. Love her for that. Ruth tonight, the book of Ruth, chapter number four. And I want to start, if you will, in verse number 10. The Bible says, "Moreover, Ruth the Moabitis, the wife of Malone, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." This is Boaz speaking. That the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place. Ye are witnesses this day. and all the people that were in the gate. And the elders said, "We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is to come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel. Do thou worthily unto Epherta, and be famous in Bethlehem, and let thy house be like the house of Forz, whom tomorrow bear unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. I'd like to draw your attention again to to this prayer or this blessing that the elders here at the gate has bestowed upon Ruth Aobitis that says in verse 11, "The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel." the help of the Holy Ghost. Tonight, I'd like to minister this on this Sunday evening, the last Sunday evening of this year. Two did build. Two did build. Very different ladies here found in Rachel and Leah, but it was the two that did build the house of Israel. Can we go right now to the Lord in prayer? Father, I thank you tonight. God, for every song of Zion, Lord, that has been sung in this place. The anointing of the musicians and the leaders, Lord, I pray, oh now, God, we stand, Lord, in need of that anointing, God, to permeate this house, Lord. God, your word's already anointed. I pray, oh God, let it just be what it needs to be, God, for our lives, Lord, for our church and for your kingdom, Lord. will not fail to thank you God for what you accomplish in this place in the lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ that I pray. Hallelujah and amen. Can the church say amen? >> Amen. You may be seated tonight in Jesus name. The book of Ruth the book of Ruth is a very very short book but there's much contained in between its pages. As a matter of fact, the book the book of Ruth closes much differently than than it opens. It begins in chapter 1 with about three different funerals. And there's a dark cloud of of grief that's being cast and uncertainty that's being cast up on this family that have went to Moab. But in the end of the book, it it concludes with a a wedding and with the birth of a child. It's it's much more jubilant in the end than what it begins with. In our scripture text tonight, Boaz is meeting with the elders of the city and many other people that has come to the gate of the city. And he is going there because he has some business he he wants to contract there. And there's been a kinsman for redeeming Ruth and Naomi and the land that their family had had that was nearer than himself for acquiring the land of IMC and and and Naomi's two sons, Chilean and Malone. The Bible says though they come to the city gate because it was the city gate where all land acquisition and all dealings of of legal matters took place at the city gate. And so they were going to go there and they he was going to see if he could secure the hand the hand of Ruth in marriage and if he could buy and be a redeemer of the land of Naomi and and her sons. And so this nameless kinsman redeemer, the Bible tells us he he refused to redeem the land and he refused to take Ruth's hand in marriage and to raise a seed unto her deceased husband. But the Bible says that Boaz gladly did this. It says moreover that Ruth the Moabitis, the wife of Malone, he says, have I purchased to be my wife. This is important, I think, tonight to understand that this wasn't just an Israelite, amen, purchasing another Israelite by any means, but this was an Israelite that was purchasing a Moabitete woman, a Moabitete wife who had proven her loyalty to God. As a matter of fact, some historians even say that during this time frame that the Moabites were hated by the Israelites throughout most of their history. So, this this isn't this isn't Boaz just taking a another individual of his culture and of his kind that he's purchasing to be his wife, but this is taking someone of that Moabitete clan to come and be a part of his family. And this isn't happening in a corner somewhere. This this isn't happening under the shade of a roof outside of a outside of the the public eye. This is happening at the city gate. there there's all types of people that have gathered on this day that have their own business that they need to contract at the city gate. And so it's not just the elders that are standing there. It's it's other people that has their business to do as well. So there's all type of witnesses that are there that that are going to hear what is heard in this moment. Amen. In front of the elders though, Boaz is making the plea with these men. The Bible doesn't necessarily say that they were older men, but they were elders in the sense they were people who served Israel and they were leaders and they were judges and they were arbitrators of justice within the community. These these were men that were known to be men of wisdom and men of understanding and integrity and experience. These were men that knew what they spoke of. As a matter of fact, these are the men that as they stand there and they hear the different things that take place at the city gates, they're going to be the ones that if there's any question about what happened, what took place on that particular day or or what type of agreements were made, people would be able to go to these men and they would be able to say, "I was there." And I I remember whenever that was contracted or or that there that that's a legitimate thing that took place in front of the city gates, it it would prevent any any future disputes over what happened and what was agreed upon. They they would make sure that it was known that I stood there that day. I heard with my own ears and this is the agreement that was made. This this is a a a caliber of men that that had integrity. And these were people that understood Israel's past. And they're looking to safeguard Israel's future. And in all of this, the elders standing there hearing the agreement of Boaz taking Ruth as his wife and going to take the land, if you will, of Naomi's sons and of her husband. Just a part of a a legal affirmation for Ruth and what was taking place. almost a prayer as it were upon them. They state those words, "The Lord make the woman," speaking of Ruth, "That is to come into thine house, Boaz's house, like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel." Amen. We got to understand the house of Israel wasn't always what we knew it to be later as some great great nation of a great people of this precious treasure of God that he seemed to hold in his hand. Amen. Israel at one time was more feeble than she was at this moment. E Israel at one time had an eager beginning. It it just came as it would seem from a single family. It it it arose from Abraham and struggled during times of uncertainty as a single family. It came through the loins of Isaac and through the loins of Jacob and and come to a place where there's finally Joseph that's entering into Egypt. And the Bible says there's only 70 souls of the family that enter Egypt. But whenever we read that they came out with a high hand and that there was deliverance, the Bible says that the nation of Israel came forth from that Egyptian bondage. When when they exited, they were a whole lot grander and bigger and more powerful than what they were when they started. But when Israel started, she didn't even have a government. She she didn't have a central government. She she just had leaders of of the patriarchs like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and and later they had tribal leaders and they had judges and and all of these things. But when we read in the book of Ruth, it it's during the time of the judges, they've came to a place of a little better government even than what they had before. When we talk about Israel in its infancy that that there's not much land that the the children of Israel really own. The Bible talks about in Abraham's day, he didn't have so much as even to put the sole of his foot on. Amen. He had a burial plot, the Bible says, of MP where he would bury his loved ones. But he knew that Canaan was promised to him. It just wasn't possessed yet. But by the time of Jacob's family eventually settling in Egypt, they're far from the promised land. They're strangers. And the Bible even tells us later in the days of Joshua that Israel finally took possession of Canaan and they distributed among the 12 tribes of Israel. It started just a Abraham don't even have a place to put his foot. But when it's said and done, we we have a lotments for the tribe of Judah and one for Benjamin, one for Zebulun and one here and one there. It's grown so much. It has really become a great nation. God just started out with a covenant with one man. But when it's all said and done, we have a nation numbering in the millions. Amen. A covenant with them, a worship system with them, a God that they adored. Israel really came to be something. >> That's right. So, as the elders are standing there and they're looking back over Israel's history, upon Ruth they say, "Let her be like Rachel and Leah who did build the house of Israel." When he says, "Let it be like the house of Rachel and Leah," it's not just talking about what each of them bore concerning their children, the children that they bore and the contribution they made from their womb, but it goes a little bit deeper than that because Rachel and her maid, the Bible says they brought forth about four heirs for the nation of Israel, but Leah and her maid bore about eight heirs for the nation of Israel. 12 tribes, yes. Great population, yes. But there's something that's happening that goes beyond biology >> that the elders are referring to wanting Ruth to be like Rachel and be like Leah. It's amazing to me as we read in I'm getting there, folks. It's amazing to me as we read in scripture, the elders are not saying, "Ruth, let you be like Abraham and Sarah." Matter >> of fact, Isaac is not even not the even Isaac or Rebecca are mentioned as benchmarks here. It it would seem like that would be ideal examples. The great the great forefather of the nation of Israel. Perhaps Abraham should be the one. No, he says, "I want these two women to be who Ruth should be like." And whenever you look at the lives of Rachel and the lives of Leah, you have a representation in those two ladies that it's not always prim and proper. It's not always celebratory times and jubilant times and highkicking times, but in the lives of Rachel and Leah is the messy and the painful and the complicated. Oh, I I wish I could tell someone tonight that it's always going to be the rainbows and it's always going to be pink elephants and Skittles and all those types of things. But when we look at the history of the nation, even of the nation of Israel, she's been built on some complicated times. She's been built on some painful times. She's been brought there's been things brought and people brought into her legacy that didn't have it all together. There's Someone say amen. >> That's good. >> See, ju just walk with me here for a little bit. You You would understand the reference if you remembered that Rachel was Jacob's first choice. The Bible says that Jacob loved Rachel. 14 years of his life was spent trying to get and earn Rachel's hand in marriage. Anoints to him those first seven years he was working for Leah. Leah was given to him by deceit. The Bible says that Leah was hated or loved less or prioritized lesser >> than Rachel. She was the one, if you will, that was fruitful in the house of Jacob, while Leah was the one that was barren in the house of Jacob. When you read in the scripture concerning Rachel, it describes her, and you you got to pay attention because scripture don't lie. It describes Rachel as being beautiful and wellfavored. But when it describes Leah, it describes her as the tendery. or the weak eyed, a little plain, a little less striking than what Rachel was. But within the elers's mindset, this glorious nation, this unfaltering kingdom was built not by one. It wasn't just built by everything that was lovely, by everything that was well favored, by everything that was desirable. But this nation had a mixing and a muddling of that which was favored and that which was unwanted, that which was pleasing and that which was weak. He said it was built on two. Someone say amen. the kingdom of Israel. It wasn't a Rachel only product. Amen. That's the narrative that some want to spin. It's the kingdom of God. There's no problems. There's no turmoil. There's no pain. I'm here to tell you there is pain. There is turmoil. And there's also times of celebration. But the church is set squarely on the Yes. Israel didn't exist just because what was loved. >> It strided into its future because there were also some things that were hated. We'd ask anybody today say, "Hey, hey, how do you how do you describe what what the nation of Israel has achieved in terms of numbers and in terms of their government and in terms of all the spiritual fame that they have? Tell tell me tell me what it was that brought her to be what she would be." If you would get the pulse of some without any biblical background, they would probably tell you, "Well, they just got everything just right." They would probably tell you in order to have the nation of Israel as the nation of Israel stood then you you got to surgically remove the unwanted parts. You you got to dis discard oh everything that's plain and everything that's weak. That that's that's when you'll boil it all down and get the good stuff. >> Oh, someone say thank you Jesus. But that was not these wise elders opinion. They said it requires both. She they saying listen Rachel struggled. Rachel struggled with barness for years and Leah seemed to bear children quickly and repeatedly. He said this is the warp and the woof of God's kingdom and God's house. There's times when it's barren and there's times when it's fruitful. This is the moments of a Leah and a Rachel type of kingdom. Rachel is saying, "Give me children else I die." And Leah's over here praising for the children that's coming from her womb. It's time of pleading with God and it's time of praising God. It's built on them. B. Look now this home, these two Jacob's wives is filled with rivalry, some jealousy, some emotional imbalance. God says that be my foundation for the kingdom. >> Can I tell you tonight, if you stepped in here and everything's just not so so in your life, All right. >> If you're not a 57 model Christian and you weren't born on the pew and put pick the gum underneath the pew and then cut your teeth on the back of a pew, that's all right. God has the ability of redeeming the unwanted, the ability of redeeming the weak eyed, the And he says, I'll take that and put it next to that and I'll build my kingdom. I'll build my church the unwanted, the savory, the likable, the unl >> God's fleshing out his purpose here. >> He's taken the brokenness of a family and he's turned it into the birthplace for a nation. is these two build the house of Israel not just in quantity but in quality. >> Man, I love I love God's people. >> I love the passion of God's people like Rachel that says, "Give me some children." >> I I love the times when we come together and we dance. I said something to my wife this morning. I seen all these young younger young men and young women over here. I said, 'Th that's awesome. And they just start filing up there and just doing their thing. I love to be a part of that. I love to be a part of the shout. I love to be a part of somebody that has a pursuit in their life, but I also I also want people who will marry themselves to the duty of walking. Rachel had a tremendous desire >> and Leah's over here just attached to being faithful to duty. >> Someone say amen. >> It takes both >> because there's not always going to be the high water moments. >> It's not always a run. Some days it's a walk. >> My personal opinion, whenever Jesus went to the wilderness and he was tempted of the enemy, Bible says whenever he came from there, he returned in the power of the spirit. But when he was in the wilderness and they're saying, "Son of man, Satan is turned these stones into bread." The Lord did not do it. Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. whenever he took him to the pinnacle of the temple and he said, "Son of man, cast yourself down. You know, you know you'll be protected." The Lord told him, he said, "No." He said, "You You're not going to tempt me. You're not going to I know the angels could raise me up if so were I would not even dash my foot against a stone. I know, but I'm not going to do that. This this is just personal opinion as I read scripture. It's after these episodes, brother Na, that he would begin to call some disciples, Matthew and Peter and Bartholomew, and he didn't need to start a ministry with those folks, think it was all about just the miraculous, >> all about just sensationalism, >> no, no, no. He needed them to understand there's just ordinary times >> and there's ordinary days >> where you're just faithful. You walk with God. No stone is becoming bread. >> No miracle is looming over here on the sideline, but you're just in love with the duty of service and adoration. Everybody doing all right. You answer me this this evening. What made the Apostle Paul who he was? Let's just take a little trip if you will through New Testament scripture. Was it the healing of the lame man at Lististra? Was it casting out the evil spirit in Philippi? Was it the healing of Publius's father in Malta? Maybe it was that he survived that vimous snake to come out of the fire that Brother Carpenter was talking about this morning. Or perhaps it was all the numerous attempts on his life. Amen. That he got out of. Or perhaps it was whenever Uticus fell from the third story and was taken up as dead and Paul went down there through the uncction of God and that man was brought back to life. Or maybe it was from the handkerchiefs that were taken from his clothing that was used to drive out unclean spirits and heal those that were diseased. Or maybe it was all the epistles that he wrote in the New Testament scripture. Perhaps that's what made Paul Paul. All right. >> But there's another place in scripture a portfolio is written of him that he also had some ordinary labors, >> stripes, being beaten, shipwrecked, hungry, thirsty, cold, nakedness. What I'm saying is what made Paul Paul? All those great moments and lovely moments >> are the same parts of his life that he also was unwanted and hated to him. >> Can I tell you what made Paul Paul was the time someone got healed and the other time he had to lead someone back because he couldn't be healed. It was the times he was shipwrecked and it was the times someone was brought back to life. The good, the bad, the lovely, the ugly, the hate. >> Two two did build. >> Everybody doing okay. If we divorce the weak eyed Leah, the unwanted Leah from the equation, Brother White, then you must take along with her the sons >> that she gave birth to. Yes. >> If you take out Leah, you got to remove Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun. Let's put it in other terms. If you want to remove the unwanted Leah, >> then there goes Levi, the priesthood. >> You want to get rid of Leah, you got to take Judah out of the picture. Praise is waning somewhere without the unwantedly. >> You got to take Judah out of the picture. If you take Leah out, you got to get rid of of Issachar, the one who understands the time. >> Someone say amen. If you get rid of of Leah, you got to get a rid of these things. You got to get rid of Zebulun. The Bible who says was an expert. Amen. In war and in the instruments of war, you got to get rid of the fighting power. >> If you get rid of Leah, >> they got to go. But equally, if you want to get rid of Rachel, Benjamin and Joseph, if you get get rid of Rachel, you got to say goodbye to Joseph, >> of whom a good portion of Genesis was written about, who in a time of need will not Not only Egypt, but the then known world connected close to Egypt could have been erased from the map had it not been. >> For Joseph, who Pharaoh said, "I don't know anyone more wise and whom the spirit of God is with than you. I'm going to set you over the grainy and you do what you want." And by the advice of Joseph's voice, not just Egypt, but his family, the nation of Israel was spared. But if you want to do away with Rachel, you're removing the protector for the kingdom. >> Someone saying, "Okay, thank you, Jesus." We don't need, Amen, to separate one from the other because they both have their own contribution. We need the priesthood. We need people to understand the times. Uh we need praise. Uh we need a preserver, if you will, of the kingdom. But the only way that's possible is I need both a Rachel and I need to be have a Leah. Rachel will sustain Israel through some hard times, but Leah will consecrate and sanctify Israel that is preserved. God for then and now doesn't only use the Rachel moments even of your life. Beautiful celebrated seasons. I got I got a couple right now sitting on my church pew back home that two Easterers ago walked into the church were not foreign to the church but have been backslid from the church for about 24 years. They walked in on Easter and shambles with the marks of the 24 years of their life apart from God. They walked in Aaliyah. >> They could tell you 24 years of the unloved, 24 years of the unwanted, 24 years of things they wish they could just erase from life and ignore and have no more. But Sister Carpenter, just this past candle light service, one of them was reading scripture for us and another one was singing that night. In just a couple of years, why God says, "I'll take those 24 years. I'll take those 20 I'll take Leah and I'll put her in a family alongside Rachel." >> Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost here right now. Sir, you're not a lost cause. Ma'am, there's still hope for you. Uh, sir, you've not done too much. Ma'am, it's not too ugly. I It takes two. When we stand before God someday and we're before the judgment seat of the Lord is the church, he's not looking for those that are perfect. He's looking for those that are redeemed. He's looking for those whose name his name has been placed upon them and his blood is covering them. It >> takes two. Got a little Got a little girl to spin. I say little girl. She's younger than me. however you want to interpret that. Started coming here a while back, part of like a halfway house recovery home that was about an hour away from the church. But on the weekends, when she gets leave, you know where she goes to church. In her nine months or so in that program, she's been baptized in Jesus name. She says, "Our church on a Sunday morning at the end of the sermon, I could see that the Lord was moving on her. My wife and I went back to pray with her and just a few moments, brother." She was speaking in other tongues. The spirit gave the utterance. She said, "I had received the Holy Ghost when I was 13 years old, years from where she was at that moment." She, me and my wife, just in the month of this December, drove that hour distance because she is graduating from the program. You know where she going to be going to church? First Apostolic Church, Mount Carmel. She's brought some of her friends, too. What is that? That don't intimidate me. I'd rather have a whole half a sanctuary filled with that because it takes two. I'm thankful for everyone that's been birthed and born in the church. That was me. But I also want somebody unlike me. I want I want somebody that doesn't know hero Israel. It doesn't know about baptism. It doesn't know about the infilling of the Holy Ghost. I >> He said that's what the kingdom looks like. You know what we need as individuals? Cuz there's going to be times Paul McGee loves up. There's going to be times I'm more of a Leah Lean than I am a Rachel. Maybe that's not your story, but that's my story. >> Well, you were born in the church. Yeah. And I was also born with the same flesh and blood >> that humanity was born with. >> And according what I yield myself servant to >> his servant I am. >> So I'm going to celebrate when I get it right. and those other seedings I'd wish to tuck away but no one knows. I'm still going to bring it in the presence of God and say, "God, can you do anything with this?" And he'll say, "Me, it's not just the Rachel portion of you I can use. It's the Leah portion of yours. I can intertwine that and make a tapestry." I'm convinced there's some people in this house that have a little Rachel and a little Leah in their history, but they stand today a part of the church, a part of the kingdom, sanctified. Get So the elders knew what they spoke of when they spoke that blessing over Ruth. Can I say it in this regard? Not even so much are they speaking into her future, but they're speaking to what they have already seen >> in Ruth. She's been around town for a while now, you know, and like Rachel, she's loved and favored by Boaz. Boaz honors her. Even when he first meets her being an outsider from Moab, he honors her. He said, "Don't don't you go don't you go harvesting grain in any other field. Don't do any more gleaning anywhere else. You stay in my field. I know you're a Moabitete, but you stay in my field." Favor was being put upon her. A desire was being put upon her, but she would have to wait for the timing of the Lord to bring all things to fruition. She's a Rachel. She has a desire for children. She has a desire for this thing to be, but it's just not yet. She going to have a boy that's going to be born from her and Boaz. She's going to have a boy, Oedabad, that's going to be the grandfather of David. She's going to have some enduring fruit, but right now she's just holding on to a desire and trying to be patient. But in this same Ruth is miring of Aaliyah, who to the greater mass of Bethlehem is probably looked upon as somebody that is overlooked >> out of covenant. unusual that her circumstances would even bring us here. Maybe a little socially marginalized, >> a Moabitis widow. She's loyal to Naomi. She's loyal to Boaz. and that loyalty that she had to Naomi and her obedience to God in that moment when she said, "Listen, Naomi, Naomi's telling her, I'm going back to Bethlehem, Judah. You need to go back to your parents. You need to go back to your family." It's that voice of Ruth that rose in her of loyalty that said, "I know that as a Moabitete where the land where you're going, I may be unwanted, but I'm going to go where you go. Your people's going to be my people. Your God's going to be my God. Where you die, that's where I'm going to die." There's something happening in this moment. There is inside of Ruth the character of a Ruth, the character of a Rachel and the character of Aaliyah that is coming upon Ruth. Both of their strengths and their weaknesses seem to be inside of Ruth. And those elders noticing that say, "Wait a minute. This is not a wrong move. This is not bunting the ball. This is not, if you will, a hit to the shortstop. No, there's something going on here. is exactly what Israel was built upon and it's going to be what carries Israel. All of the moments, all of the kinds, all of the types, it say glory. >> Israel, I'm not trying to sound like a broken record, but I will if I have to. >> >> Israel could not been built on Rachel's favor alone. And Israel could not have been built upon Leah's fertility. Alone. The church that I pastor when I look into the pews, it's a combination of love and rejection. >> That's right. >> That's right. It's a combination of some that are prominent and some just in a deep sense of humility to the place of almost hurt and shame to their selfworth. There's patience and there's faithfulness. And the crowd that I pastor and it's with those threads God says, "I'm going to make something lasting. I'm going to make something redemptive." If you'll stand with me this evening, God built Israel through the rivalry between sisters. >> God rebuilt hope through the grief of a widow. God birthed some kings like David. And ultimately in the Gospel of Matthew, the genealogy, Christ from a Moabitete convert, probably unwanted by most of the stencer, but God says, "No, this is what it's built upon." When I read then in that genealogy, there's Tamar that posed as a prostitute, and there's Rahab who took in the spies. And there's Basheba, the wife of Uriah, >> but the birth mom of what would become Solomon, which was the union of David and Bath Sheeba. >> And I see that leads all the way up to Christ. He says that's what it's built upon. But he don't hide Tamar's name. >> He don't hide Rahab's name. He don't hide Bashibba. And he's not hiding Ruth. >> Because two two did build. So, what are you saying, Pastor McGee, on this last Sunday night of 2025? If I could, I'd sit down and look straight in the eye, each one of you, and tell you this. Go on and embrace both your desired moments and your unwanted moments. Go on and embrace the victories that you have rallied around and the struggles you have dealt with because both matters in the planned of God. Listen to me. And he's not going to waste one moment of your life. >> Let me say that again. He is not going to waste He's not going to waste one moment of your life. >> I know there's things you wouldn't want to sit down with me and talk about from your history, >> but it's that very thread that's been woven with your bornagain thread >> that have made you who you are in this church right now. You say, "Well, brother McGee, couldn't God have done that without that?" Yeah, but we make choices and we go down paths. And the marvel of my God is he's not going to allow what was done out there be wasted for what he wants to do right here in and through your >> man. And I don't want one single person, brother Zach, to come to me and say, "Well, I'm not brother McGee. I'm not I'm not I'm not fourth generation Pentecost. I'm not." Because that that's me. And matter of fact, we looked a little more on my dad's side. He found out his his grandmother was Pentecost. So his is five generation. I don't want someone I'm not by generation Pentecost. So So I can't preach. I can't teach. I can't be a missionary. I can't be a usher. I can't clean a pew. I can't vacuum the floor. I can't do a toilet. I can't do anything in the event center. I can't I can't. No. No. No. No. No. No. You have just as much right. >> Leah was a lesser life wife to Jacob. >> And I feel the Holy Ghost. >> I'm asking for a response tonight through the word of the Lord that someone would come forth tonight. the mixing and the muddling of Aaliyah and Archel would come forth tonight and begin to say to God, "God, let your kingdom be built through me. I stand as a contrast of kingdoms." It would seem, Lord, there's been faithfulness and there's been unfaithfulness. There's been love and there's been rejection. There's been commendable things and uncommenable things. Build your kingdom cuz amazingly it's still comprised of two. He'll take your mistakes. He'll take your hopelessness. In the year 2026, watch what God does with the unwanted and the wanted, the lovable and the despised. See what God does at the first apostolic church. It too does build. Come on, sir. Ma'am, you need to throw up your hands right now. There might be certain aspects of your life you feel are unredeemable, but that is not the voice of God. He is a redeemer, and he can redeem and make all things new to the building. >> >> Come on, young person. You've made some errors in your teenage years. There's been some fallacies, but you've crawled back to God. >> And it's lovely again. God can redeem those moments for your future. >> God can redeem those moments for your destiny. Wonderful. Miracle of Jesus. How worthy, how precious, how >> Come on, sir. Come on, ma'am. He's reaching for you tonight. He's reaching for you tonight. Don't turn your back. Don't shake yourself away from here. He's interested in you. He loves you. He's making something of your story.