The sermon, titled 'The Pilgrim's Life,' delivered by Robert Hartley, explores the concept of believers as pilgrims passing through this world, with a heavenly home awaiting them. Using Genesis Chapter 26 as the foundation, the sermon delves into the life of Isaac, a pivotal biblical figure, highlighting his journey as a man of faith and obedience amidst challenges. Despite living under the shadow of his father Abraham and son Jacob, Isaac is presented as a miracle child and a man who was blessed by God due to his faithfulness. The sermon emphasizes the transient nature of earthly life, urging believers to focus on their spiritual journey and the eternal blessings promised by God. Isaac's struggles, particularly his conflicts over wells with the Philistines, symbolize the ongoing spiritual battles believers face. The speaker reassures that while the pilgrim's life is not devoid of difficulties, the presence of God, His promises, and His blessings provide the necessary strength and guidance. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to remain steadfast in their faith, drawing parallels between Isaac's experiences and the modern believer's journey, underscoring the importance of obedience, spiritual nourishment, and the hope of an eternal home.

The book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 26. Genesis chapter 26. Once look at verses 12 through 25 this morning. Now dial this message morning to a pilgrim's life. Pilgrims life.

That's what we are. We're just pilgrims, passing through. We're going to see as we go through this message, this is not our home. It may feel like home now, and this is all we know is home. But those of us that know the Lord, those of us that belong to Him, we know, and we can know without a doubt that we have a heavenly home waiting for us you know when this life is over that is our hope that is our hope so hopefully a child of God Let's read these verses and then let's dig in and see what these verses have to say to us this morning about the pilgrim's life.

Just to chapter 26, I want to read verses 12 through 25 and try to just jump right in. I don't like to just jump right in, but it's kind of hard not to sometimes. You just have to jump in. We'll go back and we'll catch up a little bit on what's prior to this. We'll jump in and read verses 12 through 25.

Then Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great. For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him. For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped him and filled him with earth. And the Memelach said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much higher than we.

And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Bizarre, and dwelt there. And Isaac did again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped him after the death of Abraham, and he called their names out the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found a very well in the spring of water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's hermit, saying, The water is ours.

And he called the name of the well Asaic, because they strove with him. And they did another well, and strove for that also, and he called the name of it Sitlum. And he removed from this and did another well, and for that they strove not. And he called the name of it Rehoboth, and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. And he went up thence to the Sheba, and the Lord appeared unto him the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham, thy father, fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.

And he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there and there Isaac served, digged a well. So as we look at this man Isaac this morning, in the little bit of his life, we want to see that he was a pilgrim, just passing through. Now Isaac's name, name that means laughter, I don't know why that's the word Isaac means, from what I can find out. But we see that this patriarch, he kind of lived in the shadows. We don't have a lot about him in the Bible.

His life is living under the shadow of his great father Abraham. And then there comes his son Jacob. And he's kind of under the shadow there. As we look at our Bibles, we study our Bible, we see that Abraham, he's the hero, he's the star of some 14 chapters of the book of Genesis. And Jacob, he's the main guy for another 12 or so chapters.

But Isaac, he's only featured just a handful. It's only here in this chapter, chapter 26, that we kind of get a glimpse into the lives and work of this man. Now remember who Isaac is. That's one thing we need to remember first. He's Abraham's son.

He's Abraham's son. You would call him the miracle child. And why would we call him a miracle child? Well, Abraham was 100 years old when Najib was born. Sarah, she was 90 years old.

There's a miracle. He was a miracle child. But some of the things that we have learned about him, he was a man of faith. We can see that in verses 2 and 5. We want to take time to go back and read that.

We'll see a little bit of background. It'll take time when you have an opportunity to go back and read. It's a very, very interesting story to read about his life, things he'd done. In fact, over in the book of Hebrews, he's listed among the great heroes of all the faithful. You know, we hear so many times, the father of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac, We hear that so many times.

But we can also see here in these verses that he was a man like the rest of us. He was just human. He was far from perfect. If you Go and read verses 6 through 11, you'll see that, because when he went into the land there, he told the Philistines there that his wife was actually his sister. If you remember the story of Abraham and Sarah, when Abraham went into the strange land, that's the story he told people too.

That his wife was actually his sister. They were scared that people would take his life and then they would have his his his sister or what made his really his wife. So it was a little bit scared Abraham Isaac both. You know, he was he was really guilty of committed some of the same sins that Abraham did. Another thing we can notice about this man is the fact that he was a pilgrim.

That's what we'll be looking at this morning. He moved from place to place, Kind of like his father. He moved from one place to another, didn't own the place where he lived. But in his role as a pilgrim, as we see him as a role this morning as a pilgrim, we get a picture of someone else. We get a picture of Jesus Christ himself.

We get a picture of the child of God. You know, I'll remind us again this morning that the Bible teaches us that it's very clear that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. The word strangers means a stranger, a farer, one who lives in a place without the right of citizenship. The word pilgrim means sojourned in a strange place, or you could say one who sojourns on earth. But the Bible tells us that every saved person is a citizen of heaven.

We're just passing through. Amen. And God's people need to understand that, that we are just passing through. This time that we have here on this earth is short. But most people, and sadly to say, most so-called Christian people, They put everything they have into this life.

And we don't think as much as we should about the life that's to come, the home that we're going to have, our heavenly home. We struggle day to day in this world, this sinful world. We fight against the things that the devil puts out in front of us. And sometimes we say, well, Lord, just help me make it through this day. Things sometimes get so bad.

Amen. And we don't look ahead. You know, when trouble comes our way, We get upset and we worry about it. When things don't go the way we want them to go, we're upset about it. We're putting too much importance in this life.

This life. The Bible teaches us that a child of God, we're supposed to live for him. We're to put him first. We're gonna say it's not an easy life. It's not easy at all.

So today as we look at this life of Isaac the Spilberdome, we're going to see that some of the problems that he encountered and some of the things that he dealt with, the struggles that he had, the experiences that he had, we have them too. We have them too. Things does not change. You know, as King Solomon said, you know, there's those of you under the sun. Things don't change.

People don't change. God changes them. We're not going to change on our own. God has to do that. But we'll see in the life of Isaac, did he encounter daily problems just like we do.

He had his struggles just like we do. But he had one thing that a lot of people don't have today. He had the right relationship with God. He had faith in God, faith that God would take care of him. He was obedient to God.

But as we walk through this world, as we make our journey through this world, we have struggles. We have struggles, and we have a lot of them. But Walking under the child of God, having faith in God, believing and trusting Him, makes our life different. It made Isaac's life different. Now, I know as we talked about Isaac this morning, you're probably thinking, well, I know this about Isaac, that he has two sons, he had Jacob and Esau.

We know the story of Jacob and Esau. The Bible tells us that God loved Jacob and he hated Esau. I always try to figure out why he loved Jacob. I said, why did he hate Esau? What did Esau do?

You have to put the whole story together. Why did Esau have to serve his younger brother Jacob? We said, Jacob the kind of man he was. He listened to his mama. He deceived his father.

He stole Esau's birthright. He stole Esau's blessing. He pretended to be Esau. His mother put him up to him. We can see as you read this story, you'll see that Isaac, he loved Esau.

But Isaac's wife, She loved Jacob. She put him up to what he did. She said, this will be on me. He said, I don't want to do this. She said, I'll take the blame.

This will all be on me. But once Isaac blessed Jacob thinking he was Esau, he couldn't take that blessing back. He couldn't take it back. And that put him into the life that he had that life that he had to live but we're told here we look at verses 12 and 14 we say that God provided for a firm he provided for you know he took he returned he didn't have much when he started out when he went into this land he didn't have much But the Lord blessed it and it grew. His wealth grew.

He became a very rich man, a very powerful man. And the thing is, really one of the things that's so interesting about this, he did this during the time of famine. But he grew and he prospered. His herds grew, he prospered. When others just couldn't hardly make it, you know.

While everyone around him was going broke and starving to death, Isaac prospered. His crops flourished while the crops of others dried up, his flocks and herds grew while the flocks and herds of others starved and died of thirst. It seemed like Isaac had the golden tugs. But what was the source of Isaac's blessing? Who was the source?

It was God. Some people may have called it good luck, that He was just a lucky person. Others may have looked upon Isaac and wondered how he did it. But the fact of the matter is this. God was just blessed in Isaac because he was obedient to him.

He done what the Lord told him to do. He told him he'd stay here. I'll take care of you. I'll bless you. It wasn't that Isaac was a better farmer that he knew how to do what the farmers didn't know how to do It wasn't that.

It was because of God. It was because of God. He had the advantage. He knew God. And therefore God blessed his life.

While the others were facing defeat during this bad time, he was prospering. But when this famine started I think he wanted to go he wanted to move on but the Lord said no you stay here you stay here so look at verses 2 & 3 I read these verses the Lord dear to him and said go not down into Egypt This is where Isaac wanted to go because of the family that's taking place. Isaac was going to run away. He wanted to go down into Egypt, well in land. But then in verse 3, the Lord told him, says, sojourn this land and I will be with thee and will bless thee, for unto then and to thy seed I will give all these countries and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father.

He goes on the saved and make his seed to multiply and he will bless him. And God did. God blessed him and he was obedient. He stayed where God told him to stay. That it wasn't an easy life.

But he stayed there in the midst of all that family and God honored his obedience so this pilgrim Isaac you see is in this land he moves from one place to another we see he's moving around he's moving around we'll see as we go on through But I reminded something this morning to everyone to ever believe it this year. It's in this room this morning. You know God. In a personal way. If He is truly the Lord of your life, He's going to provide for you.

Amen. He will provide for you. Amen. You know, sometimes we look at the way our situation is today. Say, well, you may be looking at your situation today and you say, well, brother, You know, I'm saved.

I'm saved. But it don't seem like I'm returning. I'm getting a lot in return for the investment I've made from the work that I do. I'm saved and I'm following the Lord trying to be with you. But I lost just about all I had, a flat broke.

Everything's falling apart in my life. When I say to you, if anybody ever has those feelings, if anybody ever tells you they feel that way. God didn't promise us he was going to give us a new roll of Royster Drive every day, did he? He didn't promise us he was going to give us this, give us that. He's not going to pave our way through this world that we're walking through as a pilgrim.

He's not going to pave that way with diamonds. But that don't mean He is blessing you. I'm never thinking he's not. You know, you have to look at it this way. You may have it as bad as, might even have it worse, as some people that you know, the lost, worldly people.

The Lord is just, it's the same like that one blessing after another is being poured out of the pot. They just, everything they want, they have. Well, I will promise you something this morning. If you're a child of God, you have something they don't have. You have something more than important than what they have.

If you have a personal relationship with God, think about what that gives you. Think about what that gives you. And I made a list of five little things, and I could have made a list and spent all my time scornin' on the things that God gives us. Here's five little things. They're not little things.

What does God give His people? He gives us eternal salvation. What does that mean? It means when He gives you that salvation, you're never lost. You never will be.

What else does God give us? He gives us the presence of Himself in our life. That means that we are never alone. Jesus said, I will never leave you, never forsake you. I've left him.

I've forsaken him in my life. He never left me. I was never alone. Even when I thought I, you know, he's back, he's back and I left him behind. God wasn't behind.

He was still watching over me, taking care of me. Just like we do sometimes with our wayward children, don't we? We're always there. We're always watching over them, always praying for them, always doing what we can to take care of them. Look at them.

How much more does our Heavenly Father love us than we, His earthly fathers can love our children. Amen. He loves us more. Then we have something else at the Lost No-Hound. We have the power of God working in us.

His power. So that means there's never a situation that comes that we're hopeless. And then God's people have the promise of God. That means that we're never without hope. Then we have the Word of God to guide our lives.

So that means that we're never without direction. We can always look into God's word and find the direction that he wants us to go. We can find God's will in his word. If you ever heard somebody, well, I just don't know what God's will is for my life. You may be don't know what to say, but I'm going to tell you what to say.

Read God's Word. If they don't know what God's will, read God's Word. That's where it's at. That's where it's at. So it's a list that goes on.

But you think about it. If you're saved, think about the blessings that you have. Would you rather have a lot of money and be blessed that way? Or would you rather have the Master? If you were, would you rather have God, the Creator, the Sustainer of this world?

Or do you rather have things of the world? Well, that's simple too. If you have the Master, He's going to give you everything that you need. He's going to take care of the things that you need in your life. You know, as we see here, Isaac enjoyed the great blessings that he did because he was obedient to the command of God.

The same thing holds true for you and me. If we will put God where he belongs first, then he'll take care of our lives. What does Matthew 6 and 33 say? Jesus done told them, he said, don't worry about these things. He told the cyclists, don't worry about this.

You know, the birds are there, they don't have to worry. I'll take care of them. He goes on and tell them, I'll provide for you. And when he gets down to verse 33, he says, see he first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So what are we seeking today?

Isaac, he sought to be obedient to God, and God blessed him. That's what we can see. No one and nobody, nobody, especially God, didn't tell us that we would have an easy life. He never told us that. In fact, His Word teaches us right the opposite.

Right the opposite. But we need to understand that those of us who won't God they don't the God is in control you know as this world looks to us today, if you don't look bad to you, you can't look. I mean, every time you turn on the TV, there's a mass shooting somewhere. A woman's killed her baby. I mean, just not gonna spend time on it.

We know what the world offers. We know what's out there. But God's in control. God's in control of that. He's allowing these things to happen.

So we can say, well why? It's God's business. I don't know why he allows it to happen. Except for what little I can understand about the Bible. All things happen for his glory.

He'll get the glory out of it. I don't understand that because his ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are greater than my thoughts. I don't know. I don't know why God does some of the things that he does, but I do know he is in control.

So we have to look at the life that we live, every little thing that we call disaster, we have to look at it and we have to find the blessing in it. If we'll just look, we'll just look. But we can see in these verses, 14-22, that I think he had a life, he had a lot of problems. He had a lot of opposition. His life wasn't filled with just blessing and glories.

He had to fight some real battles just like we will if we serve God. A couple of things he fought was and his verses talk a lot about Wales. Problems with the world. You see in these verses in the Bible, there that the Bible teaches that the Philistines were jealous about them. Why were they jealous?

Well, they could see that God had blessed them. They could see that God's hand was with Isaac. God's hand was leaving Isaac. They could see this. They didn't have that.

Remember, this was the time of famine. Now to think about where they was at would get that in just a minute. The place where they were living. But Isaac, he was prospered while they were struggling. You know, because they were jealous, they tried to make his life harder.

They did that by trying to fill up the wells that his father had dug. They told Longin to run across the well that Abraham traveled through here too, and he had dug a well. Well these little things, when they seen that Isaac was prospering, the Lord was blessing him, they started going around and filling up the way, taking the water away from them. You see there in these verses, the king there he kicked it he kicked out of that his country you know just as it was Isaac the Lord's people should never expect to be accepted understood by the world and we're not. The world does not understand God's people.

They don't have a clue. They just don't understand. But the fact of the matter is this, the Lord tells us clearly that those who live for Him will be persecuted as they pass through this world. And so the same tactics that Philistine used against Isaac are still being used against God's people today. They can't, they look at us and they can't see the peace and joy.

They can't understand the things that God is doing for us. They just don't understand. They don't have a clue. And they will not have a clue as long as they're lost. The Lord don't say they'll never understand.

But their minds have been blinded by the God of this world. They can't understand. They can't see. So they try to take blessings away from God's people. And we're not careful with that.

We'll give in. We have to walk through this world as Isis did, trusting in the Lord. You know, God's Word tells us when these same bad things happen, we go through trials and temptations. The Bible teaches us to rejoice when these situations come in our lives. So when things like the world is against us and it is, we don't have to be surprised, we don't have to get upset.

What we need to do is rejoice in the Lord. It might make them worse, that's okay, but it will be obedient to God and rejoice in the things that God is doing for us, we will be honoring him and he will see us through. In verse 17 through 23, let's look at these whale problems for just a minute. We already know that the Philistines had filled up the wells of Adaman. But they even thought with Isaac over the new wells he was digging in the wilderness.

You say, well, what's all this fascination with wells? What's the Bible teaching us that's talking about wells so much? Well, there are a lot of reasons. But the primary one is the fact that men and animals must have water to drink, have to have water to survive. Without water, we can't make it.

And in that country, remember where they had in that country, it was like semi-desert country. Water was available, water then was, in this country was available as old as it is today. We know what that, what our old process and everything is doing to us. It was bad. In those days, all wastelands were called God's land.

If any man could live in a desert place, provide for his family plots and open a well, then that land was considered to be his land. In other words, a well was a statement of ownership. To fill any well was an act of war. That's what these Philistines were doing, going around filling the wells with dirt, filling them back up. These little stings hated Isaac so much that they declared war on him by trying to take his land and drive him away.

That was which the Lord had blessed him and gave him. So he had to fight. He had to work. Verse 18 tells us he had to clean out the old whales. You know, when his father had come through many years before, he had dug these whales, and he had dug the He adored these whales and he adored the whales to meet the needs of his day and to meet the needs of the people that would come along after him.

The Philistines, they come along and they fill them up. They did it to keep Isaac from using them. But notice here, the Philistines didn't want these wells from the sailors. They just wanted to fill them up, to keep Isaac from using it, because the Lord was blessing him. They didn't want him to have him.

So he had to take time, he had to go and open up these wells again. When you think about this, these old wells speak to us of the spiritual resources that were uncovered and proclaimed by our spiritual fathers. The days gone by. If we're not careful, the world will destroy everything that we have been given. Many of the wells from which our fathers drank have already been stopped.

Just think about it. There used to be a day when God's people drank deeply from the well of praise and worship. The world has stopped that. It's stopped that well by telling us that we should not be fanatics about Jesus. Our Father has opened for us the wells of Scripture, salvation, sanctification, service, of the great fundamental doctors of the faith.

But what's happened, the world has come along and tried to stop them. Liberalism has tried to change our beliefs. So we should be able to see the need right now for God's people to redig the wheels. And I'm not talking about physical wheels, I'm talking about the spiritual wheels, Marylawn. It's time for God's people to redig these wheels that the world is trying to take away from us.

We must contend for the old ways. And I say that as serious as I can. God's people and God's churches, if we don't start contending for the faith that was once delivered to the saints, We're going in the wrong direction, folks. We're going in the wrong direction. Church is down.

It used to be sound teaching this easy believism. Church is dated. It used to be sound. It's you and God. You do your part, God do his.

But I'm telling you this morning, God does it all when it comes to salvation. Amen. We don't have no part of that. That's God's work. Money needs to be repaid again too.

Tell them people that if you'll just do this, if you'll do that, if you'll live this way, if you'll do this, if you'll do that, everything will be right. God's a God of love. He won't send you to hell. When you take that out of the pulpit, you're taking God's Word out of the pulpit. God was the same today, yesterday, and He'll be the same tomorrow.

His Word don't change. So we see that Isaac, he had to go, he had to dig new ways. But Philistines tried to take that away from him, just as the world is trying to take it away from us. That's why I say it's the same as the truth of the world today. Look at the world.

You will see that they try to take everything that belongs to the people of faith. But we must contend for the faith, as Jude 3 tells us. If we don't, so I'm just talking about, what's the next generation going to do? If we don't stand for the truth of these Bible, of God's Word, of His Word, if we don't stand for that today, What's ahead for the next generation? Some of us here this morning can see things as changing.

We can see them changing over the years. And it hadn't been that long. Given in, given in and given up. Given in to the world and given up God's word. Turn on the TV and listen to them.

Listen to them. So I think you have one fight after another. And I can guarantee you this morning as a child of God, if you'll stand for God, live the life that you're supposed to live, you're gonna have one fire after another too. Remember, if you didn't tell us it was all gonna be easy. Think outside these walls this morning for a little bit.

Think about the lost. Think about the people that don't know Jesus Christ as their Savior. We have to fight for them. We have to fight for them. Every time that we reopen a well, the world is closed.

Every time we dig a new well for the needs of today. Every time we defend the wells we have, we're serving the Lord. Lost. Moons. Loans.

They fight now. They fight. Borships. Stand for God's word. Fight for their lives.

Fight for it. Their lives are worth something. And if we don't, it won't be long, we won't have nothing. If we don't defend God's Word, preach and teach God's Word. So we have to fight for what our Father believed.

We may have to fight for what we believe. But the Lord watches over the whole matter, and like He did for Isaac, He'll take care of us. He'll make a place for us. This life that we live as a child of God is not all bad. It has its blessings.

It really does though. It has its privilege. We can see here that Isaac enjoyed the Lord's provisions in his life, and he also experienced some problems in the will. But these last few verses when we look about it in our text let us in on the fact that the pilgrim life has its privileges. The Lord appeared to Isaac and renewed his promises once again.

We can see there in verse 24. There's no greater provision than a spiritual Lord presence and hearing his voice. We've been given his word to speak in our hearts. We've been given the Holy Spirit to guide us, to conquer us. He's not left us alone.

He told us He's turned. He told His disciples, He's out of the code. I won't leave you by yourself. I'm going to send a conqueror. He'll guide you into all truth.

He didn't desert us. He didn't desert us. He wanted to be with our Father. Why did he go to be with the Father? Why couldn't he just stay here on the earth and take care of his people?

Well, He sits on the right hand of the Father. He'll make an intercession for you and I every day if you're a child of God. When God looks at us and He looks at one of His, He sees nothing but perfection. He sees nothing but the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ, in us. That's all God sees because of Jesus, because of Him.

You know, it was God's voice that got the attention of Elijah. Remember the Elijah and his story? Oh, he felt so sorry for himself, he ran for his life, he was scared to death. But, Jezebel, God took care of him. And we're God's sheep when he speaks, we hear.

Sheep said, sheep hear my voice and they follow me. They follow me. So it's not hard for us today to look and see, to tell the sheep from the goats in this world. Not hard at all. In verse 25, we see the privilege that Isaac had of Enjoying God's worship.

He prepared an offer went before his God and worship. This is really enjoyed by those who know the Lord and what an honor it is to be able to enter into his presence to worship him and love him. It's a great honor to be here this morning in the God's house and be with God's people to study his word, claim his word. It's a great honor. It's a great blessing that so many people look at it as nothing.

But when we stop and think of who we were and who we were, we think about our life before He saved us. Those of us that have been saved, We know what a blessing it is. We know. And then we also have the privilege of enjoying God's Word. As His pilgrim passed through, we can enjoy His creation.

He sent us here, the stewards, over His creation to look after it and take care of it. And we can enjoy this world that we live in, just as Isaac did. He was able to teach his tin in the place God had marked off for him, and he dwelt there. He was enjoying the blessing of God even while turning through a hostile land. And we can as we go through this world.

I think it's probably very clear to us that God's church, the Lord's church, is not really appreciated. It's really not wanted in this world that we live in. It's really not. This is not our home. And the people in this world like a lot of people being here.

But the Lord has a way of bringing his best into our lives that will travel on. All our hearts beat for heaven and our feet walk through the foreign land. Our Father tends our way with his blessings and he makes this life of pilgrims that we have. He will make it a glorious life. And then we think about there the privilege of joy and God's water.

Now I'm talking about the whales that Isaac and Abraham dug out in the desert. Talking about living water. Isaac and his servants dug a final well and enjoyed the water that flowed from it. After all the work on stopping Abraham's well and after all the fighting over the new wells Isaac is given their well of water as all is. Now remember God has a way of giving us exactly what we need.

You know when He gives it to us? He gives it to us when we need it. Does He give it to us sometimes when we want it? No. Does he answer our prayers all the time that we want him to?

No, but he answers our prayers. God operates in God's time. We have to learn to be patient. We have to do that. So God has a way of giving us what we need when we need it.

As we pass through this world, We have to look for our will. The Lord said that when He saved us, He placed a will within us. The spiritual will that will never run dry. What did Jesus tell the Samaritan woman? The strength of this water you will never thirst again.

That's drinking from the spiritual water. When we drink of the blessing that God has for us, we don't thirst and we don't hunger. So we have to take the time as we pass through this world to enjoy the spiritual refreshment the Lord has placed on easy and then easy reach for us. It's not that far we can reach these blessings. We can drink from that well.

I'm talking about the Word of God and prayer. Those two things will refresh your soul quicker than anything else. I don't mean anything else. So I ask you today, are you drinking that way? Are you drinking that way?

So I conclude this morning. Pilgrims, keep marching on, keep marching on. Keep headed toward that city that captured the hearts of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. One day, we will take the last father and step down here and we will set foot on the shore of Hama. We got to Hama.

Jesus told his disciples, he said he was going to prepare a place for them. And if he went to prepare a place for them, he would come again. That where he was, they could be there also. Folks, we got a home. And I've said it many times.

I'll say it when I have opportunity. Jesus told His disciples, His church, first members of His first church, He told them that He was going to prepare a place for them. I believe this was all in my heart. When that place is prepared, he will come again and we will be with him. We will go home.

We will go home and be with him. But until then, keep looking. We have to keep looking to him for our provisions. We have to keep looking to him for our provisions. We have to keep looking to him to take care of us.

We have to keep trusting him through all the problems that come our way. And we have to keep thanking him for all the privileges that we enjoy as his children. Thanking him. There may be days when the journey is rough, but there never will be a day when it's not worthwhile. So let us remember our miracles, our sufferings, our just killings, passing through.

Remember, child of God, This earth is not your home. Do like Isaac. Be obedient to God. Enjoy the blessing of God. Was his life always easy?

No it was not always easy. Will your life always be easy? No it will not always be easy. If you think you're facing too much, you think you have too many problems, think about Jesus. Think about Jesus.

Did he have too many problems? Was his life always easy? He told his disciples, you know, you're going to go through a worse of things than I did. How can that be? You're going to suffer just as I suffer.

How can that be? But we have to choose, don't we? Even the child of God, we have to choose where we're going to follow Him, or we're going to be satisfied. Just because He saved us. If you're saved, you're saved, you will always be saved.

But He didn't save us to do nothing. He saved us to drink from that well. He saved us. He gave us that living water. He gives us everything that we need.

Do we love him enough? Do we love him enough to be obedient? Do we love him as Isaac loved him? Will he bless us as he blessed Isaac? Yes, he will.

Yes, he will. He has. Thank you this morning for your attention. Let's be dismissed with pride.