Genesis 24 King James Version (KJV)
1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
3 And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
today I want to preach on the spirit of the bride.
Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac.
He did not want Isaac to have a bride from the canaanites, but from his own people, his own kindred…
His servant informed Abraham, that it would be easier if he could take to son with him…
Abraham said NO!
God will send an angel before you to pick the bride. Just do not take my son down there again…
Abraham said, my son has been there once…
It would be easy, to find a bride for a handsome man that is standing with you…
I need you to find a bride that will love him who has never met him…
There will be no miracles, signs or wonders…
There will be no fireworks or large arrows in the sky pointing at the woman…
The only thing going for you is that an angel will go before you…
Ive come to preach to you that, thats all we need…
If the spirit of God takes you out on a limb, that is the most secure limb you will ever be on…
You may not know how, you may not know when, but if you know who…
Worship
So off goes the servant, with only a vague destination, in search for a woman who would be willing to follow a stranger into a strong land to marry a strange man she has never met or seen…
So the servant took ten camels and some valuables of this masters and departed for Nahor.
When he arrived, he made his camels kneel by a well of water at the time that the women would come to draw water.
Nothing spiritual about that decision…
Your there to find a woman, go where you are sure to cross paths with a woman…
Then he prayed, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:
14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.
As he is praying, Rebekah comes up… She is one pretty woman, the servant saw her and was moved by her beauty.
Bible doesn't spell it out, but I know because of the reaction of the servant…
He ran to meet her…
There were many women there at that time of day, he ran past many to reach the fairest of them all…
he catches he breath and states…
Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.
And she said, Drink, my lord…
And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
2And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
This is where I wanted to get to tonight…
The spirit of the Bride will go beyond what is asked…
According to national geographic, a thirsty camel can drink as many as 30 gallons of water in about 13 minutes.
Ten camels could have drank 300 gallons… If her pot could carry 5 gallons per trip, that would have been 60 round trips from drawing water, transporting to the trough, pouring it out, and returning to draw the water…
Thats an impressive spirit of servant hood…
Im sure the servant of Abraham was dumbfounded…
When he gathered himself, he went to his luggage, reached in and pulled out a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold…
blessings come after getting beyond the minimum…
If Rebekah had done only what she was asked of she would have missed the blessings of being the bride…
Jesus is not coming back for a bride that is doing the minimum to get by…
Let me read Ephesians 5:25-27 inspired by the way some saints live for God…
25 Husbands, tolerate your wives, as Christ tolerated the church and withheld himself from her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her through minimal cost, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in mediocracy, with limited spots and minimal wrinkles or any such thing, that she might be ok and with a few blemishs.
Thats not what Jesus is expecting, Paul said it like this….
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
A minimal spirit may make you an tolerable employee
a tolerable friend
a tolerable travel companion
but it will make you a reject of the bride of Christ…
It will make effect your commitment…
We are seeing standard of holiness fall to the way side because of a minimum mentality…
We want to see how short we can get a skirt before it becomes a sin…
How low our neck line is before it becomes a sin…
We resist holiness and embrace a modernistic theology…
We need to resist a modernistic theology and embrace holiness…
Is it a heaven or hell issue?
Is it a salvation issue?
Maybe not, but it is a consecration issue….
When you are consecrated, you will go beyond what is asked…
Those that I lean on, go beyond the minimum…
Those I now I can count on, go beyond the minimum…
worship
When Rebekah saw the reward for going beyond what others would do. The bible states that she ran before him and lead him to her mother and brothers home…
The spirit of Rebekah may have been weary after she watered those camels, but when she was rewarded, she was uplifted…
Her spirit of servant hood is what drove her to please the man at the well…
You better hear me…
If the servant would have offered the reward up front…
“Hey, if you will come with me, a man you never met, travel with me to a place you have never been, marry a man you have never seen, I will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams!”
Most people would have found a way to “get in”…
But those would have thought that the bracelets and earrings were all there was…
But when you serve the master, it doesn't matter if you are rewarded or not….
Serving is reward enough…
The true bride is a bride that serves, that servants heart releases blessings…
2 Corinthians 1:21-22King James Version (KJV)
21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
That earring and bracelets were only the ernest of what was available…
verse 53 states that when Rebekah committed to the journey, that the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah…
Are you committed to the journey?
Are you ready to get committed?
Commitment service!
