All For A Bowl Of Beans

Hebrews chapter 12. Take my opening text for today. I want to preach about, "All for a bowl of beans." I even brought a bowl of beans with me, still in the can. All for a bowl of beans. Hebrews 12 verse number 14 — I'm going to be reading from the New Living Translation here, for a little bit of clarity today. It says: "Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord." Now, anybody confused with that statement there? And the writer Hebrews, who I personally feel as Paul — he's writing, is saying, if you can, you know, live in peace with people — and I think he knew the nature of humanity, because there are some people that no matter what you do, they're just not going to be peaceable. But he says, if he can live a peace, live a holy life, "for those who are not holy will not see the Lord." That should be something sobering there, gets our attention: if I want to see the Lord, I have to do this. You guys drawing this parallel, this connection there. The verse number 15: "Look after each other, so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many." Or 16: "Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as a firstborn son for a single meal." Verse 17: "You know that afterwards, when he wanted his father's blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears." All for a bowl of beans.

My feeling in the last few weeks — and, and many of you have picked up on this, in fact, a few of you have even commented about my statement — my feeling is this: we are not as serious about God as God is serious about us. I'm going to say that again: we are not as serious about God as God is serious about us. You know, we, we are not as serious about abiding in him as he is about abiding in us. And it makes me nervous. Makes me, makes me very, very nervous. I feel that we are not as serious about growing the kingdom, both in our lives and in our community, as he is serious about growing his kingdom in our lives and in our communities. And now, and, and with, with all that we are facing, I feel like there needs to be a wake up. Wake up. Daily, you and I have moments where we're making decisions, small ones and big ones, that make an impact on how serious we are about Jesus. Now, do not misunderstand me. For those of you who have been around me any length of time, you should know that I like to have a good time, and I enjoy laughing. I feel like laughter is a gift from God, and it helps out in so many situations. So I'm not saying that, did you, you can't have a good time, and you can't laugh. But I am saying that we need to be sure that we're living on purpose and intent, with growing ourselves in the king, and growing his kingdom. Charles Spurgeon has a quote, and I have it here for you. Says, "If you give up your soul to any earthly, whether it be wealth or honor or pleasure of this world, you might as well hunt after the mirage of the desert, to try to collect the mist of the morning, or to store for yourself the cloud of the sky, for all these things are passing away." And that is true. Things are passing away. There's a, there's a historical story that I want to use to lay out the foundation here today, before I go back and visit with the scriptures. So if you give me just a minute to tell the story — some of you will be familiar with this story. It wasn't really all that long ago. On December the 11th, 1936, a royal scandal of epic proportions erupted in Britain, one that stunned the world, with even more so than even the, the thing that's been going on with Brexit lately. In a worldwide radio broadcast, the king of England, Edward VII, announced his abdication, after reigning for less than a year. He gave up his title as king of Britain and the entire British Empire, which at that time included over 500 million subjects, so that he could marry twice divorced American woman, Wallace Simpson. He had fallen deeply in love with her prior to his ascent to the throne, and were upon the death of his father, George V. At that time, the Church of England was completely against and opposed to the remarriage of divorced people, if their spouses were still alive. And when Edward abdicated, not only were both of Simpson's husbands alive, but she was still married to the second, when Ernest Simpson. The fact was, she was an American also, did not help him in the eyes of the British people. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin was against this unorthodox marriage, would have resigned if King ever would have gone through with it. Edward had a decision to make: not to marry for love, not to marry the love of his life, to marry against the wishes of the Prime Minister, or to abdicate. And he chose to abdicate. I believe we have a picture. I don't know if they showed it yet, a picture of the king. May see him there. Once Edward abdicated, his younger brother Albert took over his king. And for the rest of his life, Edward would be reduced to having to ask for an allowance from his brother. Edward essentially went to work, went, went from king to beggar overnight, all because of a passion he couldn't resist. He and his wife lived in exile in France, and he returned to England only in a casket. What a sad story, that a man went from a king to a beggar, all because he could not control his passions and his desires.

In Genesis 25, we find a story with themes similar to the king of king Edward VII's, but to me, with much more dire and even more tragic consequences. It's the story of Jacob and Esau, twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca, grandson of Abraham. And it's a story that's fraught with complications from the very beginning, because we'll see here in just a second, these two brothers were fighting in their mother's womb. Isaiah 25 and 22: "But the children struggled together within her, and she said, if all is well, why am I like this? So she went and inquired to the Lord." Esau and was the firstborn of the set of twins. He was, he was older than his brother Jacob by just a few minutes. And his brother Jacob had it settled with being the second born. Now, in our world today, we don't always put a whole lot of stock into birth order. Kevin Lehman has a great book called The Birth Order Book. And if you come from a family where you have siblings, it's a, it's a pretty good read. In fact, it may help you understand things a little bit better. May help you understand the middle child. It may help you understand the youngest child. It may, may help those of us who are the oldest children, have to bear the brunt and carry the weight for the entire family, always to know what we're dealing with. Any firstborns in the room? You know what I'm talking about. In any middle, any middle children in the room? I know you're always overlooked. We're sorry for you. Any babies in the room? Yeah, yeah, look at you. See how boldly they put their hand up, because it's always about them. Any only children in the room? Bless you. Don't even have a clue. The birth order matters, especially in biblical times. There was a thing that was referred to as the birthright. It was the Hebrew custom that, that right would be placed upon the oldest male child. And it was something that was of significant importance. In this case, it involved something of supreme importance. It involved a covenant that God had originally made with Abraham. It was the passing down of this covenant through the family line. So the birthright included not only money, not only the livestock, but it also involved being a part of the lineage of the Messiah. There was a spiritual aspect that was at play also. Abraham had given it to Isaac. Ishmael was the firstborn, but he was not born from Sarah, not born from the free woman, but of the bond woman. So that disqualified Ishmael. But Isaac had the birthright, and in like manner, it was going to be passed on to Esau as well. The birthright made him the priests of the family. It made him the spiritual head. God said, and this covenant went along, that "I will bless them that bless you, and I will curse them that curse you." He was what God had always intended. Esau, even though he had the birthright, we pick up in this story that he didn't appreciate what had been given to him. It was not something that he had to purchase. It was not something that he had to work for. It was simply a gift that was passed down. God, in his good and gracious way, had bestowed this upon his grandfather, and said, "I want to do something special through you and through your family." And Esau, for whatever reason, didn't think a whole lot about what had been handed to him.

I, I find that oftentimes, in my life spent in the church, and watching what's happening here, specifically in the apostolic church, we see that Esau was simply three generations away, removed from the covenant being handed down. And Esau had very little value placed on what had been given to him. I see the same thing oftentimes take place in second and third generation apostolic individuals. Not always in first generation. First generation remembers the encounter. First generation coming into this understands where God brought them from. First generation oftentimes have, have an amazing stories about God doing miraculous things in her life. And as they begin to try to pass up and sit on their kids, and their grandkids, and try to protect them, often times they, they don't always convey the importance of hanging on to the important things of God. And what I see more often than I like to see it, the second and especially third generation apostolics, they don't, don't appreciate the value of the good thing that's been handed to them. They treat it as something that's common. They treat it as something that's just casual. They don't often think about how important what has been handed to them has been. It, it, it was the difference between Esau and Jacob. If you think about this with me for a minute: Jacob and Esau had the same mom. They were born about the same time. They were brought up in the same family. They had equal opportunity. Yet they were different in how they thought about the birthright. Esau, the birthright belonged to him, and we see here he didn't think much about it. Jacob didn't have any right to the birthright, but it seems as we read about his story, it was on his mind. It was a constant thought. There was, there was something that, that wasn't there for him. It belonged to his brother, just simply by the matter of a few minutes. It was on Jacob's mind. Esau, there was a big difference. Esau was a man of the field. He was a hunter. He was, he was earthly. He was not, not, not, not only but having a physical appearance, but he had the very attitude he manifested, was just different. Jacob, however, was a dweller in the tents. Jacob was always associated as being close to his mom. He stayed close to home. He was the steward of the house. Instead of spending all day running around, he loved to stay home and keep the books , and 10 of the sheep, and nourish the young ones in a very gentle way. Jacob was not perfect. We see that he made his fair share of mistakes. He's, his very name indicated that he was a sir planter, or a deceiver. And in the first part of his life, he lived up to his name. That was Jacob. Two boys, two brothers, two twins. Same ancestry, yes. Same, same home, yes. Same mother and father, yes. But there was so much different between these boys, the difference between day and night. Esau, he had a lot of things going for him. He was physically strong. The Bible describes him at birth basically like an Ewok. If you get down into the literal interpretation of the words there, he was, he was, he was hairy and red, fur covered. Sounds like an Ewok to me. He was a great hunter. In fact, his father loved it so much, his father asked him on his dying bed for him to fix some venison for him, because Isaac loved it so much. Still, we see he was a man who had no respect for the things of God. He would not hear things the way he should. They would simply go in one ear and right out the other side. He wasn't listening to the stories of faith that his grandfather Abraham had experienced. He wasn't listening to what his father would tell him, Isaac, as he would talk about the time that his grandfather took him on the mountain and bound him to the altar, and was about to kill him, when, when he not only was spared, but he heard the voice of God himself. For whatever reason, Esau didn't take these stories to heart. They simply became things that were a part of the family. There were stories that were out there, and, and, but for whatever reason, he became very dismissive of what God had done for him. He treated it very casual.

I'm preaching specifically to a generation that I'm worried about, treating the things of God very casual. Into our, in our day, we are very blessed people. We are very affluent people. We, we live very comfortable lives. They didn't, often we're having to beg for God to be, to be a provider for our next meal. Oftentimes we find ourselves praying about things that really have no real, real value to the kingdom. A relationship with God is not where it needs to be. In my, my worry and my fear is that, when it comes down to it, we will end up trading away what is so important, for something that is seemingly worthless. All for a bowl of beans.

Jacob was listening, though. Jacob heard the stories. He longed to receive the blessing of God. He looked for an opportunity to get the favor of God in his life. And oh, what a great day it would be, if he would have been the firstborn, if he would have had the birthright. He seemed how, how casual and how cavalier his brother handled the position. And, and then the opportunity that was afforded to him. But not Jacob. Jacob didn't think about it the same way Esau did. He didn't look at those things. To him, it was important. To him, it was something he craved for. He wanted the blessing in the favor of God on his life. He was like the psalmist David, in Psalms 42-1: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, our God." A lot of people in this world today that we're living in, have little to no respect for God. And so sadly, I'm afraid it is creeping in the back door of the church, where I find people who call themselves followers of God, having very little respect for God and his commands and his teaching. When it's convenient for them, they'll buy in. When it's convenient for them, they'll do what they're supposed to do. When it's Sunday, they'll live in a way that they're supposed to. When it's Wednesday night, they'll show up, and talk about the things of God. But the rest of the time, they live for themselves. The rest of them times, it's just, if it, if it is convenient for me, I'll pay lip service to God. And what I find more often than not, it's the second and third generation apostolics who treat God this way. And my spirit is being grieved, because I'm afraid we're not nearly as serious about things as we should be. We're not as nearly as serious about God as God is serious about us. He's a very serious God. He, he means what he says, and he's very intentional and purposeful for how he lays things out in this world. But we treat it as casual. We treat it as commonplace. We say and acknowledge, "I know what the word of God says." But there is no conjunction there. There is no addition to it. It's just simply, what does the word of God say, and how can I apply it in my life today? It's not about me or my opinion. It's about what the saith the word of God, and how do I apply it into my life. When other things find precedent in my life, when, when I never consider what comes my way, to ask God what his, his intended purpose for whether that be blessings or trials — I simply don't ask his opinion. I just try to think to myself, what am I going to do with what I've been handed? That was an Esau approach to life. He was never thinking about where God fit into the equation. He was about himself. He's about what he wanted. He was about his appetites. He was about his desires. It's about what he, he wanted in the moment. He didn't give an opportunity for God to ever speak to him. And I'm afraid that we often times are no, no better off than Esau was, when we approach what God does.

How many of you has God blessed in the last 12 months? He's blessed you in some way. Yeah, because that's what God does. He's a good God. He blesses us. Now let me ask you again — you don't have to raise your hand, because I don't want anybody to be embarrassed — but I want you to think about this. How many of you who raised your hand, when that blessing came your way, before you ever did anything with it, you stopped not only to thank God, but to ask God, did he have a purpose and a plan for that blessing in your life? Because what happens more often than not, is we take the blessings of God, and we immediately consume them upon ourself. I know it gets quiet. But when we're casual with God, we're casual with his blessings. I'm afraid for often, more often than not, we end up missing his intended purpose and use for what he brings into our life. Esau, he had no craving for God. To me, it's a very beautiful thing when somebody in this world has a spiritual appetite, instead of only a physical appetite.

Let me show you why I mean what I say here. Genesis 25 and 29: "And Jacob cooked a stew." Now, for those of you who don't know — and I'll give you this version, but I encourage you, go back and read Genesis 25. Just read the whole chapter, because it goes from the death of Abraham, to Isaac and Rebecca, and then we get down to the birth of these two boys. And basically, we find out about the birth, and then the next thing we read is this. So they've been born. We have no other storyline between their birth and this. This is where we pick up the story now. "Jacob cooked a stew, and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, please feed me with the same red stew, for I am weary. Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, sell me your birthright as of this day. And Esau said, look, I'm about to die. So what is this birthright to me? Then Jacob said, swear to me as of this day. So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. Then he ate and he drank, and arose, and he went his way. Then Esau despised his birthright." Those are very sobering, very troubling words, that he despised the very covenant that God was passing down through the family. He treated it with contempt. It's hard for me to understand. I don't, I don't know all the particulars in here. I only have what is written, and only have what, what the spirit leads me to glean from this message here today, as I read from these words that are here. Why did he despise it?

That an opportunity came for Jacob. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. Esau had been out trying to find something to kill. He was having a bad day. How many hunters in the room have come up empty sometimes? Yeah, nobody likes that, right. Nobody wants to go in there. If you prepare, you get up early, goodness, you should at least come home with something. Esau to come home with nothing, he's having a bad day. Everything seems to be going wrong. Everything's not the way it should be. He probably asked, why did it even get up early? He's going back now, "I'm just going to go back to bed, just forget it." Esau was a skillful, cunning hunter, but that day he had nothing. He had no meat. He come dragging in about the time that Jacob is stirring up a good old pot of pinto beans. I don't know how all the details, but I'm telling the story, so we're going to go on my version. It was a cast iron pot. I don't even know if they had cast iron then, but they had to have something close, roasting over the fire, smell coming in hot. Because he said it was bread, for me it has to be cornbread. I mean, we're in the South, right? Cornbread and pinto beans. Anybody's mouth watering right now? Anybody like, "Pastor Kevin, you need to hurry up, I'm hungry." So, just, just get this, all right. I know I got a, I got a simple organic light red kidney beans. Boy, that's bad, isn't it? Just imagine this is a bowl of pintos. There's, there's, there's hot, hot cornbread right there, some chow chow put in there. Anybody feeling the spirit move right now? So he comes in, he's tired. He'd gotten up before daybreak. He'd been in the deer stand. It was cold. In my mind, it's a little drizzly outside. So he comes in, cold, tired, and hungry. And then the opportunity presents yourself. He walks in the door. He can smell — in my mind, he smelled it in the field. He's walking, "What is that? Boy, something smells good." Closer he gets to the house, he's like, "Man, man, somebody's — maybe mom's got something going on." And he gets in there, and Jacob's got these pot of pintos cooking. Now, now listen to his words, for he comes in and says, "Hey, give me a bowl of beans, because I'm about to die." Was he about to die? Does anybody believe that? Does that not sound like maybe he's exaggerating just a little bit? Yeah, I feel like he's exaggerating, because he's a skillful hunter. I mean, we do that sometimes. I'm guilty of saying I'm about to starve to death. Well, I just ate four hours ago. I'm not going to starve to death. I may be hungry, but I'm not gonna starve to death. That's what I feel like is going on here with Esau, is he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's not fully engaged in the rest of what's going on. He's very caught up in what desire and need he has in this moment. That's a very dangerous place to be, when you tune everything else out, and you only focus on your appetite and your desire in a moment. You guys okay? Far too many people find themselves giving away things that make no sense whatsoever, making a trade that they, that they would never trade before. If someone was sat down and said, "You're about to do this," there's no way I'll do that. But when they get caught in a moment, and they pay more attention to the appetite, and they pay more attention to the craving, and more attention to the desire that's inside a moment, they'll end up giving it all away for a bowl of beans. There's no way, if you would have took Esau to side and say, "Listen, buddy, let me, let me tell you about what you're fixing to do. Let me tell you, I know you're hungry, and I know, I know this is — you got all the aroma, you got everything, and it's appealing to your flesh right now. It's appealing to your desires right now. It's appealing to, to — listen to me — appealing to God-given appetite right now. But don't you get so distracted in this moment, that you don't realize what you're about to trade off. I, I know it's a, I know it's a strong desire. I know you're really hungry, and I know you're caught up in all these things. But you're about to make one the worst deals of your life. Don't be so short-sighted in a moment, that you trade off the covenant blessing of God that your family has been blessed with, because you need to have a bowl of beans right now."

But I see so many people in our day and age — I'll be more specific, I see so many apostolics who get caught up in a moment. "It's not such a big deal. It's just a bowl of beans." So is there anything wrong with the bowl of beans? No, there was nothing. Listen to me, because people, they come back to this — please understand my heart, and please understand the seriousness that I have, in the urgency in my spirit. People come back and they'll say, "Pastor Kevin, there's nothing wrong with this," whatever the thing is. "No, there's — that in itself, there's nothing wrong with it." All right, I get what you're saying. "No, I can't pull out chapter and verse and say that you can't do that one thing." But you're being very short-sighted right now, because the issue is not the one thing. The issue is not the bowl, the beans. The issue was never about the bowl of beans. There was nothing wrong with the beans, and there was nothing wrong that he was hungry. It was a God-given appetite. What was wrong is what he was willing to trade out, for a temporary answer to an appetite, a temporary moment of fulfillment, a temporary desire being met. What you're willing to trade off for a bowl of beans. Think about what you're doing. He saw, no, the bees aren't bad, but you're willing to trade off eternity for a bowl of beans. To me, it's a reminiscent of a scene that started the whole fall. It's reminiscent of what happened in Genesis chapter 3, verse 6, to the Garden of Eden: "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eye, and the tree desirable to make one why, she took of the fruit and ate it. She also gave to her husband with her, and they ate it." You're short-sighted. You're in the moment. There's nothing wrong with pleasant things. There's nothing wrong with, with a lot of stuff out there, inside itself. But what are you forfeiting in the moment? Please hear me. Please listen to me. I feel the Holy Ghost so strong right now, that there's so many of you, so many of you second and third generation apostolics, you're flirting around with a lot of stuff in a moment you shouldn't be messing with. And know inside itself, and not necessarily wrong, but what are you, what are you weighing out in the balance? What's the long-term effect on your present moment decision? Because it's not about the beans in the moment. It's about what are you forfeiting? What are you wagering? What is it that you're using as your currency in that moment? What is your bargaining chip? Are you really going to wager that chip over a bowl of beans? Or you really willing, we're wanting to take the birthrighty, so surely you've got some money, a new pair of sandals, a nice bow, something that you have that's an equal value to the beans, not the birthright. It doesn't add up. We know the consequences that happen when you have appetites that run out of control. For Esau, it's so sad, is he has no remorse what he's just given up for in that moment. He's been satisfied. The appetite has been fulfilled with a bowl of beans. The bowl of beans in a moment will make everything okay, for a moment. But that moment is fleeting, and that moment doesn't last. There's way more life ahead of you, Esau, and you've given away this one thing that you should have valued the most. You gave it away, oh, for a bowl of beans. Esau and Edward VII were cut from the same cloth. Both were willing to forego a kingdom that was rightfully theirs, for a fleeting indulgence. Both had contempt not only for their position, but also for their parents. And just like Edward VII begged for re-entry into Britain, but was refused, Esau begged for his father's blessing, but was rejected. Both lived to regret their mistake, long after that mistake had happened. Why, why is that story in the Bible? Why is it there? Why do we have a story of regret in the Bible? I'm glad it's there, because it's so typical of what people are still doing today. There are people who will sell their birthright for a bowl of beans. There are people who would take the treasures of God and play with them like they're nothing, like they're nothing, all for a moment of convenience, all for a moment. And again, some of these things — not all — some of these things, they're, they're inside themselves, there's nothing wrong with it. It is just a bowl of beans. It can be just an innocent bowl of beans inside himself. But it's never just that. The enemy never leaves it with just that. It was never about the beans. It was always about the birthright. But he saw short-sighted, couldn't see the long play that was there. He was too hung up in the temporary moment of now: "I needed. I got to have it. Everything says it's okay. Nobody's here to tell me any different. What purpose does the birthright have, if I'm going to die?" You're not going to die. You're too emotional in this moment. You got to go back to something that's anchored and true. You're misreading the facts. He saw, you're acting like a child who doesn't understand full consequences. Esau was like this: he sold the birthright, and along with it, there went the headship of the family. There with the priesthood of the family. There went the covenant blessing of Abraham. There went all hope of ever being in the ancestry of the Messiah, the promised Redeemer. He traded it all for a bowl of beans. The Bible says that he went away, and thus despised his birthright.

So I'm asking you, ladies and gentlemen, what are you selling your birthright for? Because I see this phenomenon repeated, and it breaks my heart. I've watched too many who claim to follow Jesus Christ, give up their birthright for a single meal, choosing the desire to satiate their appetite now, over the amazing promises that God has for them, to get so comfortable in the world they're in right now, and disregard things that are important. I'm gonna take it even a little step closer. Disregard things that, that are, that are true to who we are, as, as being identified as the people of God. When I talk to people who struggle, and they're about to throw the towel in and give in to temptation, I try to help them see that the life's just a vapor. It's just a mess . It's just here, it's just there, it just goes quick. You get a song, I'll tell you — I don't know what troubles you're facing with, and I'm not going to minimize anybody's problems here, because I haven't walked in your shoes, okay. So it's not fair for me to say what it is, all you should absolutely do, 100 time. I'm not, I'm not there. But I will tell you this: far too many people say, "Well, I've just been living with this for far too long. I don't know what else to do, and I just give in. I'm just going to get it. I'm just going to take it. I'm tired, I'm tired, I'm tired, I'm tired. I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry." And they give it away for just a bowl of beans. And I've been doing this long enough now — I've been in this long enough now — to see those same people, they've walked away from so many things, that I've been able to walk up to them, and I've asked some of them, been bold enough in the Holy Ghost to say, "I just want to know, is life better now?"

The great thing about now versus where Esau was then: we still live with grace. And I'm thankful for God's grace in my life, because I need it. But I will tell you, there are still consequences that come with selling off the bowl of beans. I try to use this scripture, because I think it's important. I think it sums it up. Paul talking to the church at Corinth, II Corinthians 4 verse 16, says — the reading from the New Living says: "This is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles — you hear this — our present troubles are small, and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that is vastly outweighs them, and will last for you." I know what you're saying: "Well, Paul, what are you saying? You don't know, you know what I deal with." I mean, you're right, Paul is dead, so no, he doesn't know what you deal with. But he has a pretty good rap sheet of things he went through. Yeah, you can go read about it. Dude with shipwrecked, beat several times, left for dead, stoned. I mean, he didn't have, he didn't have a glamorous, you know, preacher life. So when I read about all that Paul went through, how many times he was left for dead, and then he says these words, that, that our present troubles are small, I don't know about you, but it makes me want to keep my mouth quiet about anything I face. Because even though sometimes you guys can be sharp with your mouth, none of y'all have thrown a rock at me yet, and I would love to keep that record. "So we don't look at the troubles that we can see now. Rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen." Verse 18: "For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." To me, and I read this verse, it's just like a healing bomb. It's like a sav for the soul. Hey, I, I'm not minimizing where you are, okay. I know, I know there are times that the appeal for the bowl of beans, it's a big deal. It's a big deal in the moment. But there's way more at play than the moment you're in. There's so much more that is there. Matthew Henry's commentary says this, and I give you the quote: "The gratifying of the sensual appetite is that which ruins thousands of precious souls." In our opening scripture I read to you, it said, "Is he moral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal?" It's dangerous to take God's grace for granted. It's dangerous. Don't, don't be one who grieves the spirit. I don't want to live my life challenging God at every turn, by staying simply on the edge of sin. You know, someone I love very much, we were having a discussion just, just not very long ago, and we were, we were talking through some of our apostolic identities, and working through these things that make us distinct in who we are, and how we present ourselves to our God, following the biblical pattern that is there. I know the world, the world thinks we're crazy. And here's the deal, mainstream Christianity thinks we're faint, we're crazy too. What I love about it is this — and you know, I'm not meant to offend anybody that's in the room — is, is mainstream Christianity has come to it, and they, they've taken over our music. They have. They've taken over Jesus name baptism, because you can't prove it any other way in the Bible, except Jesus name baptism. If you can prove it any other way they were baptized besides Jesus name, I'll eat the Bible in front of you, know every, the cover and all. You can't. They've come to us now with our worship. They've come to us now speaking in tongues. They haven't figured it out yet, that the power and the miracles and the things that happen in there is because we're distinctly set apart as his, or his, we belong to him. To me, it is not legalistic. "Somehow so legalistic, what you do, it's not legalistic. You're just, you're just bound up, all this." I'm not bound by anything. I'm a free man, with a conscious to do whatever I want to. I know this: the word of God says, "Be holy, for I am holy." The word of God says, without holiness, I'm not going to see him. So whatever holiness says, you better figure it out. Now, I don't know how you dive into the word of God and come up with holy, but when I do it — and I've spent the majority of my life diving into it, so I feel like I'm a little bit qualified to talk about it — it means you don't look like the world. Not that you don't act like the world, it means you don't look like the world. Now, they're apostolics who are rotten inside, yes, and some of them are in this room. "I can't believe you said that, Pastor Kevin." I'm Pastor. Sometimes you got to call it like you see it. Not everybody that looks apostolic is truly apostolic.

See, Jesus says — he's preaching his pivotal, foundational, inspirational starting message, the sermon on — the greatest message ever preached, hands down, period. There's not even one close to it. I don't care who you favorite preacher is. They fail compared to what he did in Matthews five, six, and seven, Sermon on the Mount. But as he's winding the message down, much like I'm winding my message down now, he's winding the message down in chapter seven, he begins to talk about a narrow way. It's there, this red letter word. You can argue with them, but you can argue with Jesus. He says, "Narrow is the gate." I don't know about you, but when I think what narrow is, narrow is not wide. Narrow is narrow. And then he says, "Few there be the final." I don't know how you interpret few. You can go look at the word yourself and pull it up. You know what it means. That means few. That means not a lot. So if Jesus is preaching his foundational message, and he says it's not broad and it's not wide, but it's narrow and it's few, I feel like that dude probably the same thing. Dude, Jesus knows what he's talking about. Forgive me, God, for saying that. I need grace every day, too. He knows what he's talking about. And guess, if Jesus said it's going to be narrow and few, guess what that means. And there are a few, yeah, a few that find it. So you need to be scratched in your head when there's a majority move in one direction, and Jesus says it's narrow and few. Then he goes on, for you theologians in the room, and he begins to say : "You can judge." "No, you can't. The Bible says no." Just, I know it says that. Right now, he said, judge. He says, you can judge a tree by its fruit. He says, a good tree can I bear bad fruit. It's impossible. And a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. It's impossible. It's right there. Narrow way. And then you and I are supposed to judge fruits, and the trees that bear them, to determine. That's what we're supposed to do. That's how we're going. And then, and then he says this, verse 21: "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father. Many will say to me in the day, Lord, Lord, we have not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." See you, ladies and gentlemen, not everybody that claims to be a follower is truly a follower. Not even the ones who have tremendous ministries, where miracles are being done, and prophecies are going forth that come true. "How can that be, Pastor Kevin? How can these things go on?" I don't know that I can explain all the how. All I can tell you is Jesus said, in the last days, there will be those who come to me and said, "I did these things in your name," and he's going to say, "Depart from me. I never knew you." If you get down and you really study this out — musicians can come, I'm going to wrap up — the term no, in the, in the Hebrew, in Genesis, and Adam knew Eve, and then they had a son. I think that's obvious what no means. I shouldn't have to draw that out any further. Adam new Eve, and then a baby king. Everybody okay? Good. Thank you for my help. But we're in the Greek. We're in the New Testament. So it goes to inflection. You should study this out. You go to the word, and you look at the inflection in the tense. What does it mean? It was there, and in this instance, it meant intimacy. This wasn't no like, "Oh, hey, I know you," like, you know, I know some people, right. I could rattle off somebody famous, like, "Hey, I know." I mean, do I know them? Well, I mean, yeah, I acknowledge that's who they are, that I can say that works. I know them. But do I know them? Jesus is saying, there have been many who will come and say this, and I'll look at you and say, "Get away from me. You were never intimate with me. Because intimacy brings closeness." Listen to me. Intimacy brings reproduction. You didn't reproduce in you what I am. You used my name as if you knew me, but you don't know me. Because if you knew me, you would bear the fruit I just spoke about. But you don't, you don't bear that fruit. So you use my name without permission, part for me. You were never intimate with me. Because here's what I know: the world misunderstands intimacy. "It's your body, do what you want." It is your body, and you can do what you want. But it's a broken, flawed way to think. Because here's the truth. Here's a reality. This is a, this is a, a struggle in our world today, is because people treat intimacy so casually. They don't know where to look for truth. Now you take this the right way, please don't be embarrassed, but I know this lady. I know what she likes, and I know what she doesn't like. I know what to say most of the time, and I know what not to say most of the time. I know how to put a smile on her face, and when she's having a bad day, I know when she's having a good day. Do you know why? Because we're connected the way it's supposed to be now. We still have moments when I'm a hard head, and every now and then she's a hard head. But we work through those things. We're connected, all right. There's the intimacy there that comes from the knowledge, from the know, the way God intended it to be. This is exactly what he's saying in this moment: "Depart from me, because you don't — if you knew me, if you knew me, you would, you would, you would be obedient to my commands. Is to know me, to love me, is to replicate me, is to reproduce me. But you're not reproducing me. Instead, more often than not, you trade off what I'm trying to give you for a bowl of beans." Because what he desires to give you is a crown of life.

You see, Esau — what happened to Esau? I'm ending. I keep saying that, but I actually mean it this time. What happened to Esau? Well, you keep going down the lineage long enough, you'll see that the ended up fighting with the Israelites. Brother against brother. They were hated. In fact, on the journey to the promised land, they kicked him out and tried to fight him. It's this whole thing that goes on. Because eventually, if you sell off your birthright, you actually end up hating the people that God wants you to love. But if you really want to know what happened to Esau, if you really want to know, I'll tell you. Go to Matthew chapter one. Start reading in verse number one, and go down to verse number 16. And you read the genealogy that is there. You read the family line. You read the bloodline that was there. You'll start off, and it goes all the way down through, from the very beginning, all the way until you get to Jesus. And what you find missing is Esau. Where Esau's name was supposed to be, when it should have been, "Isaac begat Esau," it says, "Isaac begat Jacob." Because for a bowl of beans, he said, he sold off being a part of the royal line. He traded a bowl of beans. He traded a crown for a bowl of beans.

I don't know who I'm speaking to today, and today. I don't know what decisions you make, and I don't know what things you've been flirting around with. I don't want to stuff that you don't take serious. I don't know how much skirting you're doing. I don't know how much standing on the edge of scene you're doing. Up, here's the deal about fences, okay. People talk about fences and lines and stuff and strong. "I don't know why we have to do all this." And that's the best way I know to explain it. It's the best way I know to do, as pastor. Here's, here's the deal. I'm going to bring to you what the word of God says. I'm going to bring to you convictions God has laid on my heart for this church. Not my, not for me. God's giving me personal convictions. That's not my right, to preach my personal convictions in this pulpit. I preached the convictions for the church in this pulpit. But here's the deal, I'm gonna, I got, I gotta put a line, or I gotta, I gotta establish — so I gotta go back and talk about why these fences are put up here, why the fences put up here. But here's what I know about fences: you don't put the fence on the edge. You don't, you don't put the fan. If we're gonna put a fence, I wouldn't put the fence right here. Why would I not put the fence right here? Because if you come up and lean over, what happens? You can look over, and they think, we shouldn't be laying offense. Yeah, you shouldn't be leaning on the fence. But not everybody's obedient. There are people like me in the world who, who say, "Why is that fence there? What's on the other side of the fence?" I'm not saying you, there's people like me. I'm the guy who goes to the national park, and climbs over the fence. And Chastity just said I couldn't say that, so, but it's the truth. We went out to look at the volcano. Guess who goes over. But see, because they know, right, they know that there are limit pushers like, like me. So if they put it on the edge, and the limit pusher comes up, and he's like, "Hey, I want to see what's over there," you immediately fall. Now, you'll be like, "Well, that's what you get. You're the dum-dum who stepped over the fence." Foreign. But you're important. Thank God that I had a pastor who thought enough of me to put the fence back, so that when I stepped over, I was still on something solid. See, people say, "Well, why can't you do this, and why can't you do that? Are you telling me — if you do this, are you telling me, are you telling me that eating a bowl of beans is bad? Is that what you're telling me?" No, I'm not telling you eating a bowl of beans is bad. But what are you trading for the beans? Because there's always going to be somebody who's going to jump the fence. There's always somebody who's going to jump the fence. So there's got to be some grace, right. So, so pastor's never going to put it on the edge, and say, "This is what you absolutely have to do, because if you step over this, you're going to hell." "Am I going to go to hell? I just, I just — " That frustrates me. Is that heaven or hell issue, that like, I want to slap you if you say that. Just know inside, I'm battling hitting you, and you're making me to repent on the spot, because I want to hit you. Because what you're saying — this is what you're saying — you're saying, "What's the minimum I have to do to go to heaven?" That's what you're saying. "Well, is it heaven or hell?" You know, I used this example before, but when, when, when July 31st, 1999, over in the chapel, was the sanctuary of the end, and I stood up in front of our family and friends, I did not look at Chastity Dawn Hancock and say, "Hey, what's the minimum I gotta love you? Like, how many hugs do you need? Like, just, you know, like, about how much I need to spend? No need to buy a person things, like, can you just give me the minimum, like, that way I know I'm just making the minimum." I'm gonna tell you right now, there wouldn't have been a wedding that day. Because I know her. She's not, she's not a minimum kind of girl. But instead, I stood up and said, "Everything I have" — which wasn't a whole lot — "everything I have, I'm giving to you." When he went to Calvary, he didn't say, "What's the minimum I got to do?" But he gave. So for you to ask what a selfish, self-centered question to ask, "Is it heaven or hell?" Oh, be careful with that. So much more at play. So much more play. What are you willing to trade your crowned for? Is it just for a bowl of beans? "I never do that. I never do that." Be careful. Be careful, because there's moments every day. There's moments every day. There's moments. And in those moments, you're presented with things. And if you're not careful, if you're not tuned into what you're supposed to be tuned into, those appetites have a way of overriding your thinking. And without even really knowing what you're doing, you'll say, "What is that? What does that even matter to me? What does that crown even matter? I'm about to starve to death." And you'll trade everything away. A bowl of beans.

Will you close your eyes with me? God, I've delivered my heart today to your church. Or I'll turn this over to you. I pray, God, that your spirit will move upon us, that we would realize the areas where we're vulnerable, the areas will be contemplate, the areas where we sometimes compromise that we shouldn't, the places where we talk ourselves into and out of things we shouldn't, illuminate those right now in our minds. I pray that your spirit that draws, will draw us today, draws to an altar where we can make the changes we need to make. God, if there are some in this room that need to know you as Lord and savior of their life, God, I pray you would bring them to a place where you can fill them with your spirit today. Let us not be willing to compromise what should mean the most to us, for something that's so temporary. Jesus' name, this altar is open. I invite anyone who would come, to come to me. This is a message that involves some self-reflection, that's all, to make sure that we are living the life that we should, sensitive to the moving of his spirit in this place. It's open. It's prayer time.