The Steward Of The House

Genesis 15:1-2 KJV After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. [2] And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

l. ELIEZER

-The Bible states that Eliezer was the steward of Abraham’s house. Obviously as the years passed by and there was no heir born to home of Abraham, Eliezer began to look around and assess the holdings of Abraham. One of these days. . . . . All of this will be mine. . . . . He was to be the heir of it all.

-He lost every bit of it on the day that Isaac was born.

• I wonder how that he felt on the day that Isaac was born?

• I wonder how that Eliezer felt when he noticed that Isaac had gotten sick?

• Did he want him to die?

• I wonder how well things went when Abraham instructed him to teach Isaac how to handle the flocks and the herds?

• I wonder how instructive and supportive that Eliezer was in doing his best with Isaac? Especially knowing that Isaac was the one whom would gain everything that once was going to be his!

A. Selecting the Bride

-Then there came a day that he is the one that’s called upon to get Isaac a bride.

-If most of us would have been Eliezer, we would have gone out and tried to find the ugliest girl in the world. Snaggle-toothed, and what teeth that were left were crooked as a dog’s back leg and black. We would have looked for the hunch-backed, bow-legged bride. She would have been the finest in the land, about like the Possum Queen that comes from Wausau every year. That is what we would have looked for.

-Eliezer proved his true colors when he was sent on this assignment by Abraham. What a man - he selects the finest woman he could find!

-The instructions given to Eliezer: Don’t make Isaac re-walk everything I walked - this is why Abraham wouldn’t let Isaac go get his own wife in Ur of the Chaldees.

PAINT THE PICTURE: The dusty desert. The weary ride. The ill-temper of the camels. Days on end in the saddle. Very hot days and very cold nights. He could have looked in the very first village that he stumbled across. He could have been satisfied with much less. However, Eliezer refused to do so. He looked until he found the most beautiful bride in the land. He found Rebekah.

B. The Bride Will Cost Everything, She Is Very Expensive

-Brides are very expensive - They will cost you everything - as preachers, as ministers, as leaders, the Bride will cost us everything.

2 Corinthians 11:2 KJV For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

-Anyone who is involved in ministry is a presenter of the bride!! Don’t present to him less than he paid for. . . . and what a cost that was required for the Bride of Christ. That is why I refuse to just let anything go. To have an apathetic approach toward ministry. Any minister who is worth his calling is going to be very concerned with the Bride that he is presenting to the Groom.

-For a minister to present a Church, it will cost him everything.

ll. THE OX

Isaiah 1:3 KJV The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

-The only characteristic of the ox is his ability to work. He cannot be trained to do tricks. That is not what the ox is meant for.

-The ox had two purposes in Old Testament:

• Primary means of harvest

• He was used as a peace offering. Anytime there was trouble between God and his people, the ox was sacrificed on the altar.

-The ox lived his life between the plow and the altar! What a place to live your life, between a place of production and a place of death.

-The ox never knew which one would be the order of the day, but he knew his owner - and trusted him. There is an incredible education that comes from the yoke.

Matthew 11:29-30 KJV Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

-It is an education that you will not get in a seminar, nor a classroom, or even from a book. This education comes only from submitting to the hand and purpose of God. If you fight against the yoke, you will never be what God desires for you to be.