 In 1 Corinthians 15-14, Apostle Paul tells us that our faith is based under a resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, our faith is empty and our preaching is empty. Many times people say that Christian faith is based on the Bible. And we have a lot of young guys today who go to universities and they hear from professors, you know, guys who study the Bible and who say, well, the Bible is nothing short of just a compilation of different books, it has different mistakes in it and you should never place your faith in the Bible. Actually, as a Christian, your faith is not in the Bible. Your faith is an event that the Bible documents. And that event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That means that the whole Christianity hangs under miracle. Apostle Paul is saying if that miracle doesn't exist, we have no basis for our faith. For those of you who sit here today and maybe say, well, Bible is an old book, it has a lot of contradictions, for a moment let's imagine it does. It doesn't shake my faith, not a bit, because my faith is not based on the Bible. It's based on an event the Bible documents. What is that event? Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That event is a miracle. Now, for example, I have a birth certificate. A birth certificate documents my birth. A birth certificate is not my birth. Let's imagine for a second my birth certificate has a spelling error. Does that mean I don't exist? Let's imagine for a second Bible does have contradictions, does have things we don't understand. There's bloody things in the Old Testament. People are like, I just cannot wrap my mind around it. Let's imagine you can't wrap your mind around it. That still doesn't change the fact Jesus rose from the dead. Your faith as a Christian rests on the miracle of His resurrection. Our faith doesn't rest on dogmas, even doctrines. It rests on the event that the Bible documents. Now, I don't believe Bible has errors. I don't believe Bible has contradictions. When I was some 20 years of age, my cousin, Ina, was invited to a Muslim mosque somewhere, or a Muslim little gathering in Kennewick, and she was afraid to go there by herself to judge her, and she asked me to go with her. So we went there with her. They were doing the whole deal of prayers to Allah. They were praying. It was a very closed and kind of dark place. The window was sealed off, and I was sitting there, and my cousin went to another room where the women were worshiping. And so as I was sitting there, they were worshiping on the curtain, and they were doing their deal. They gave me a Quran to read as I was sitting there and watching their behavior. Well, I did not know that you could never put Quran beneath your waist. So as I was seated, I read a little bit of Quran, and I dropped it on the floor. And I thought 9-11 will happen right there, again. I was so, everything stopped. The whole prayer stopped. I was surrounded by guys with long beards, and they surrounded me, and they started just hammering me with questions and hammering me, just screaming at me, how dare I defy their book. If I would have been in their country, my head would be cut off. But because we're in America, I was spared from that. And so they start attacking my faith, and they say, you know, your faith, you don't know what you believe, and everything. And I was like, man, you guys don't even know what you're talking about. I just told them few little things that I learned in the church. I walked out, I'm like, man, these guys are so lost. And then I came home, and I started to have doubts about God and faith. I went on Google, which is not a best thing to do if you have doubts about your faith. I went on Google, and I started to type contradictions in the Bible. And lo and behold, the first Google search came out, 50,000 contradictions in the Bible. I was like, that's not possible. So I downloaded the book. It was free PDF. It's funny how those things come very free. Other things you have to buy to clarify those contradictions. So I buy the 50,000, get the downloaded, the 50,000 contradictions. I started reading them and comparing them, and I said, oh my goodness, there is contradictions in the Bible. I didn't get through maybe 50, and my faith was completely, I felt like shattered. For three days, I'm walking like a zombie. I was like, everything I believe in is false. Am I even, and I'm even preaching this. I was like, what am I going to do now? Am I going to betray my faith? What am I going to do? I remember I called a pastor and said, pastor, you know, what do you do when you struggle with faith? I didn't tell him I struggled with faith. I was talking about someone who was struggling with faith. And pastor told me something. He says, each person has to go through that in their faith. Three days later, I Googled again, and the guy wrote a book where he clarified all 50,000 contradictions. And he explained each single one of them, how they were not contradictions, they were complementary things. For example, let's say I went to Starbucks. I said, I went to Starbucks. In one text, I said, I went to Starbucks. In another text, I said, I went to Starbucks with Lana. I went to Starbucks and I went to Starbucks with Lana. These things don't contradict, because both of us went to Starbucks and I went to Starbucks. These things complement not contradict, so they started to explain different things. And my faith got established more, but later on I discovered my faith is not based on a document. It's based on the event document documents. And that event is the resurrection over Lord Jesus Christ. Because anybody who says I'm God, and who says I will die, and three days later, I will come back. I will follow him. He's the only one who did it. And that Bible documents that event, and that's what our faith is based on. Can somebody say amen? Which simply means, if your faith rests in the miracle, it's common sense for your faith to see miracles all the time. It makes sense. If my faith rests in the biggest miracle, and that's what my faith hangs on, Paul says our life should also exemplify that. Exemplify that every single day. Can somebody say amen? Let's go to Genesis chapter 25. We will take our proof text today, and we will talk about the Holy Spirit. Genesis 25 verse 29 and down. Now Jacob cooked a stew, and Esa came in from the field and he was weary. And Esa said to Jacob, please feed me with the same red stew, for I am weary. And therefore his name is called Edom. Edom is red, if you can go on. But Jacob said, sell me your birthright as of this day. And Esa said, look, I am about to die, so what is this birthright to me? Then Jacob said, swear to me of this day. And he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esa bread and stew of lentils, and then he ate and drunk, rose and went his way. Thus Esa despised his birthright. And if we go a few chapters later in Genesis, we will see when Esa misses his appointment with his dad, and if you can put that up. In chapter 27 verse 34 it says the following. When Esa heard the words of his father, he cried with exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, bless me also, oh, my father. Most of you probably are familiar with that story, and if you're not, you should familiarize yourself with the story because Jacob is actually a name for Israel. He is the founder of this nation that we know Israel, where the whole history of the future of the world is going to be around. The future is not going to be around New York, not Los Angeles, and not Hollywood. The future of the world is going to be around one small country called Israel. That's where all the wars, the anti-Christ, Jesus Christ coming back on this earth is going to be around this nation. And this is the guy where everything started with. His name was Jacob. So the story goes like this. Esa was born first, and because he was born first, he was born with special privileges, special rights given to him by his birth. And at the particular time when he was hunting, he became very hungry, and he became very weary. He comes back home, and instead of preparing himself a lunch, or instead of asking his mom to prepare a lunch, he already sees his brother has already prepared a lunch for himself. So he comes to his brother, say, hey, can I take some of your soup? And Jacob being clever says, of course you can, at the price of your birthright. And Esa's like, ah, what is my birthright to me? It has no value to me right now. I'm dying anyway. He exaggerates his hunger and Jacob tosses him the soup, piece of bread, some drink, and Esa gives him verbally his birthright. And Jacob says, yes, but Jacob's still hungry. Jacob's like, I don't care about my stomach and my food. I'm going to go get myself another breakfast or lunch, but I'm going to have a birthright. A few years later, down the road, the father begins to bless the first born. He schedules a meeting with Esa and says, Esa, prepare me the meal. Now father doesn't know that Esa already despised his birthright, sold his birthright. So he prepares everything and Esa gets tricked by Jacob because Jacob goes in the first, gets the blessing, and then the whole story goes on that God begins to use and bless Jacob. When you were born again, when you came to the Lord Jesus Christ, when you gave your life to Jesus, when you got saved, you received a birthright, a privilege, a gift that was given to you free of charge. You didn't ask for it, you didn't beg it, you didn't earn it, you didn't work for it. This gift is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is your birthright. What the birthright is to Esa, the Holy Spirit is to you. It comes with your birth, second birth, your salvation, it comes for free, it is yours. Let's write a few points down. Whoever honors the birthright is chosen for the blessing. Not whoever has the birthright is chosen for the blessing. See Esa thought, if I have a birthright, I will be blessed. Like many people today think, if I have the Holy Spirit, I'm going to have great things in my life. But I want to remind you today, every Christian, every person who has given their life to Jesus, I want you to listen up. Having the Holy Spirit does not make you a blessed person. It's not he who has the Holy Spirit. It's he who honors the Holy Spirit. See Esa had a birthright, but it was Jacob who wanted the birthright and honored the birthright. See Jacob had no birthright, but Jacob had an honor for the birthright. We have many people who have the Holy Spirit, but they have no honor, no respect, and no passion for the Holy Spirit. Therefore their life remains the same. Holy Spirit doesn't move in people's lives in those who have him. He moves in those that honor him. You can speak in tongues 300 miles per hour, but if you don't honor the Holy Spirit, your life will be the life of Esa. Nothing will be of that. All Christians have the same Holy Spirit, but not all Christians honor the Holy Spirit the same. Some Christians honor the Holy Spirit just a little bit. When they come to church and they realize they're keeping with their boyfriend or their girlfriend, and the Holy Spirit convicts them and they say, hmm, I need to get married. And their way of honoring the Holy Spirit is saying I will get married three years down the road. Some Christians honor the Holy Spirit in such a way where they sacrificed their life for him. Where they honor him in seeking him in the morning. Where they honor him in their finances. Where they honor him like Jacob. They're willing to push the soup and say I will honor the Holy Spirit. Some honor the Holy Spirit in this way where they're saying, you know what, my soup, my lust, my pleasures, my sin is more important than the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is going to be always there, but see, I'm really hungry right now. I am at this point, I'm a young man, and I need to party it up, you know? And they despise the Holy Spirit like that. We have to understand the Holy Spirit will give you the blessing, not because you have him, but because you honor him. When you honor him, that's when the blessing will come. Point number two. Whoever neglects the birthright will miss the blessing even though he will be in the line for it. Esau had everything lined up to get the blessing. He neglected his birthright. He neglected the Holy Spirit. In other words, symbolic to us. He was in line to the blessing. Actually, the father already had an appointment scheduled. The father already said, I will bless you. Esau went to get the meal. He had everything in line. He was one step away from the blessing. But see, a person who despises a birthright, though he wants the blessing, pursues the blessing, chases the blessing, next in line with the blessing, has connections for the blessing, he will always miss it. God will make it on purpose. The those who don't seek him won't find the things they seek. It always happens like that. But those who seek him like Jacob, he honored the birthright and we see Jacob mining his own business and mom comes to him and says, do you know what your father is doing tonight? Have no idea. Do you know he's going to bless your brother? Oh, really? Hey, I'm going to cook you the meal. You go to your father. He says, I can't do that. That's not for me. That's for him. I don't have the connections. I'm not, I don't have the birth certificate. He says, let me worry about that, son. You go do what I say. Okay, mom, you go get blessed, son. He goes in there and he fakes this whole story. Why? Because his mom told him to do so. How is a man who is not looking for the blessing ends up getting blessed and the man who's chasing it misses it. It's not who chases the blessing. It's who honors the birthright. Everyone in here chases a blessing. Let me decode blessing for 21st century. Happiness. What are you after? You say, I want to be fulfilled, happy. When you're really looking for a good wife, for a good girl, you're not looking for a skeleton and a skin stretched over it. You're looking for someone to make you happy. When you're looking for a big salary, it's not really the money that you want in your hands. It's the fact you believe that money will make you feel important, give you things you don't have, and make you feel more happy. You're really in life all about one thing. Happiness. Even when you do drugs, it's after happiness. Even when we smoke, drink, go partying, it's still after happiness. It's one thing that we seek is happiness. And see, we seek this, but when we neglect the Holy Spirit, we will have everything in line for our happiness. We will have the degree, we will have the good-looking person that we are in love with, we will have the core and everything, and you will always see this within your life. You will be so close thinking, this will make me you happy, and you will fall always, always short of it. Mark the words that are coming out of my mouth. You will always be short. And it will be always like Isa crying, taking tablets and saying, what is wrong with me? I have everything. Why do I always miss it? I'm going to give you a secret. It all starts, not that you're not passionate for happiness. It's that you are passive for the Holy Spirit. God doesn't give happiness to those who seek it. He gives happiness to those who honor His Spirit. That's why you will see people who don't seek happiness, but they seek to live in harmony with God. They are more happy than those who seek happiness. Happiness is not meant to be sought. It's meant to seek you. God wants happiness to chase you around, not you to chase it. Chase Holy Spirit, His will and His call for your life, and you will always be looking behind you and seeing not your past catching up to you, happiness trying to catch up to you. Somebody wants that in their life? Can somebody say amen? Do you want happiness to chase you? I want to encourage each one of us, including myself, not to chase the things God wants to chase us. Chase the Holy Spirit, honor the Holy Spirit, and those things will chase you. Can somebody say amen? Right down point number three. Actually before that, C.S. Lewis said, if you live for the next world, you will get this one in the deal. If you only live for this world, you will lose them both. How true that is today, in the 21st century, where the main goal of every high school student is to get a highest diploma, where the main goal of every college student is to party it up while they're in college, where the main goal is to live your life to the fullest, and people end up in the same place. They lose both worlds, the one in heaven and the one on earth. But if you aim for the world that's next, I know it doesn't make sense, it's scary, it's risky, you won't lose my life, you won't lose anything, you will actually find your life. Every person I meet today, the one question is, I'm trying to find myself. Jesus gives the answer 2,000 years ago, and he says, if you lose yourself for my cause, you will find yourself. If you try to find yourself, you will lose yourself. But if you honor the Holy Spirit in your life, you will find yourself. Point number three. The question is not, will you sacrifice, but what you will sacrifice? It's interesting that both Jacob and Esau sacrificed. Jacob sacrificed a bowl of soup, so he can get a birthright. Esau sacrificed a birthright, so he can get a bowl of soup. People who walk around and saying, you know what, I don't want to tithe, I don't want to live sacrificially, I don't want to live for the next world. I don't want to bring people to Jesus. I will come only to church when my schedule permits. I don't want to do anything for God that will cost me my comfort. If following Jesus means I can't sleep with my growth, and guess what? I'm gonna follow Jesus when I get married. If following Jesus means that I have to not do parting, but I have to do praying. You know what? Let me leave that behind. I'm good with believing in Jesus, but I don't want to follow him, because following him costs everything. Believing in him costs nothing. Following Jesus, see, believing in Jesus will bring you to heaven. Following Jesus brings heaven to you. Many people believe in Jesus, and they walk around and say, I believe in God. Newsflash. Demons believe in God too, and they're going to hell. Believing in God is not what really matters here. What matters Jesus didn't just call people to believe, he always called people to follow him. You may believe in God, and your soul might be saved, and you're going to heaven. Praise be to God. But one thing is sure, if you're not going to follow Jesus in this earth, you will live in hell. Life will be hell. Marriage will be hell. Health will be hell. Soul will be hell. Why? Because only Jesus is the one who fills our life with the presence of heaven. He's not trying to bore us, or ruin us by asking us to follow in his paths. He's trying to save us, protect us, and bless us. And most of us at the age of 25, we found out what we thought was fun turned out not to be so fun. And some of us who made a decision to follow Jesus and what we thought was torture was protection. I remember when I was younger in Ukraine, I was 10 years of age. You know, we always wanted to have Coke in our house. Coca-Cola. We didn't know it was Coke. We called it Coca-Cola. I remember I envied all of my friends who had Coca-Cola at their house every single day. It was such a luxury. We only had it on Christmas and Easter. And the second thing that I always wanted to have in my house was a TV. I saw all my friends, a lot of my non-Christian friends, they had TVs, and we were Christians and a little bit broke. And so we didn't have a TV in our house, and I envied that. And I was like, man, I wish. I was like, man, we're suffering for Jesus. No TV, no Coke. We're just drinking that water, drinking that juice, eating those organic foods from the backyard, drinking the milk that actually comes from the real cow that doesn't eat some weird stuff. But it's the grass we give it. We eat the pork, our pork, the pig that we feed. And so I just wanted to have that kind of the other life. Until I came to the United States and I saw kids who had the other life, most of them were overweight. They looked at me, they're like, why are you so fit? I was like, if you wouldn't have an idea what I had to eat for 13 years of my life, I think if I eat for the rest of my life, the junk food won't affect me. Because of the things that I was put into my body that I thought was boring. And today I look back, I'm like, praise God I didn't drink Coke. Praise God I wasn't addicted to that TV. Praise God we didn't have that because as a kid I became athletic. As a kid I went with my friends. As a kid I had a life, not just knew all the video games. And that's how it is with God. When you start with God, sometimes it seems like, oh, it's just so hard, it's just so hard until you start getting a little bit further and you're seeing your friends who are supposedly having fun. And then you scoop a little bit inside of their life and you begin to see, oh, actually I am having a big fun. And your fun is not fun at all. You will play now and pay later. Or you will pay now and play later. But you will always pay. Because somebody say, man, we choose sin says this, have pleasure now, pain tomorrow. God says this, have a little bit of pain right now and pleasure tomorrow. And most of us are like Issa. We push away the pain. We push away a little bit of discomfort. Waking up a little bit earlier. We push away a little bit of the whole. Oh, this is just too painful. Oh, this is just too hard. I cannot remember meeting with young man and I was telling him that the moment I got married, I was a virgin. He thought he saw an alien right in front of him. He said, how did you do it? And I was like, it was normal? Just lived for Jesus? I mean, was it hard? Yeah, it was very hard. Especially when I was engaged to a beautiful girl. It was very hard. But I was like, well, with God's help, it's possible. He's like, there is no way. He's like, I cannot go for one week without it. And I was like, you can go for one week without it. If you will push away the plate, push away your sin and accept Jesus, it will be painful for just a moment. And then the Holy Spirit's power kicks in and it becomes easier. But when you accept sin, the demon power kicks in and it becomes painful. Because somebody say, man, we will sacrifice. I want to challenge each one of you. Don't run from sacrifice like from a plague. Don't run from, we have a generation today that is, they think of a sacrifice as some kind of a virus. The moment sacrifice, their heart skips a beat. Their palms get sweaty. Like when we challenge, especially when we challenge all of our leaders, morning prayer in our church is for your good. The challenge is most of us, we want to pray, we want to see God's face. And the whole idea, I pray at home, 90% of people don't do it. They don't pray at home. This is how the prayer goes. While they're eating, checking the Twitter, there's an Instagram on the phone and see, oh, Father God, the name of Jesus, please forgive me all my sin. That is not prayer. That's what the criminal prayed when he was on the cross. You shouldn't be having that. You're a healthy person. You should spend a quality time with God. And to do that, you got to wake up a little bit early. Oh, sacrifice. But if you sacrifice, you will honor your birthright and the blessing will begin to find you. Not maybe in the next day, but it will find you. Your life will be blessed by God. Your life will be filled by the Holy Spirit. And even if there will be challenges, Holy Spirit's presence will be on your side. Same thing applies to our giving. I want to challenge each person if you come to church. If you serve Jesus Christ, put Jesus first in your finances. Don't play games with God by professing to be Gloria, Gloria, Gloria. And then when it comes to your finances, you hold on everything in your pocket. Put Jesus first. God doesn't look at how much you give to God. You know what he looks at? How much you have left after you give. Because if I give a hundred bucks and I have a thousand bucks, and if you give a hundred bucks and you have ten thousand bucks, my a hundred bucks in God's eyes is weighty. Your a hundred bucks in God's eyes is light. When Jesus saw a woman who gave few coins, the Bible says he was moved. People who say God doesn't care about your money. Why was Jesus pay attention to how much you gave? God pays attention to what you give. Most of us think God pays attention only when we pray. He also pays attention when the offering goes on. And for some of us, he has nothing to pay attention on. And you may say, well, I'm just young and broke. If you keep being greedy, you'll be old and broke. It's not because you're young, you're broke. It's because we in America in the 21st century, we don't honor God. You can be there in Russia, in Ukraine, in Mexico, but if you honor God, God's blessing will be upon your life. Can somebody say amen? God looks at your sacrifice. He doesn't much look at your money. He looks at the sacrifice for that woman when she brought two coins, Jesus, Jesus' heart was moved. You know why his heart was moved? Because her heart was moved. Why was her heart moved? Not because of how much she gave. It's the fact when she gave, she had nothing left. That was radical. That goes against common sense. Why would anybody give? A widow. She's a woman. She doesn't have a husband. Nobody will pay for her. She gives everything. That is radical. That is not wise, you may say. Jesus says she gave so much and moved the heart of God. If your offering doesn't tweak and doesn't mess your heart, it's probably not going to really move God's. Be honest with yourself. Don't be like Isa. Don't be the person who says, I know the Holy Spirit is with me. I speak in tongues. The Holy Spirit is with me. I have my Bible. I have my little joy smile devotional. I listen to little podcasts. I have the Holy Spirit. But the issue is, do you honor him by making room for sacrifices in your life? Or are you like Isa? Or are you like Jacob? Who say, I have soup. But I can push that aside. I'm not against soup. I'm not against prosperity. I'm not against blessing in my life. But I want to put things aside to put God first, to put God above everything. And you will see. You will get your soup with the birthright. Can somebody say amen? Write down the last thing. It honors the Holy Spirit when you are hungry but not desperate, weary but not worried. It honors the Holy Spirit when you are hungry but not desperate, weary but not worried. The most important part that we see in this story is the fact that how did Isa sold his birthright when he was two conditions? Hungry and weary. Hunger was physical. Weariness was emotional. So here is the guy who is hungry and he is weary. And he betrays and disobeys and despises his birthright. And a lot of people who disobey God, they usually disobey God in these two emotional and physical categories. When they are hungry means when they are physical or some of the things in their life are missing. Basic needs are missing. Or emotionally they are worn out. And that's when they let themselves go and say, you know what, I have not been a church wine. I'm not feeling good. That's when you should be a church. I have not been coming to prayer wine. I'm just really tired. Prayer is not a sucker. Prayer is a giver of energy. Most of us prayer is a burden. No work is a burden. Watching movies is a burden. Facebook aimlessly is a burden. Prayer is not a burden. Prayer is a burden carrier. That's why when you're tired you gotta run to prayer. Why? Because it will lift you up. That's why people who spend time with the Holy Spirit they have the energy. You say, what red bull are you on? It's not real bull homidgee. It's called morning prayer at the Good News Church. Somebody say amen. Later on in his life, Jacob was tired from a journey and before going to sleep at night he found a rock. And the Bible says he laid his head on the rock. A rock is a very... It's not a pillow. It's not soft. It's pretty hard, right? So Jacob lays his head on the rock. He's really tired as he's laying. It's a really hard place. And during the night God begins to give his visions and God shows up and he sees a ladder angels going up and down. I mean this is incredible. God calls you by name and says, Jacob, you're just going to be used by me. I'm going to bless you and etc. Jacob wakes up and says, oh my goodness. This is not just a rock. This is God here. There was another man who was tired. His name was Samson. And when Samson was tired, he was weary because he had a little chicken in his life. Her name was Delilah. And she was wearing him out. And Samson was so tired that he spilled all of his beans, all of his secrets. And when he got so exhausted he laid his head on her lap. Her lap was very soft. He fell asleep feeling so good and woke up with the world's most expensive haircut. Because not only he woke up without hair he woke up without eyes. And right after that he didn't go to the altar to get married to Delilah. He was led straight into prison to go into circles. The question and the moral of the story is this, when you are tired where do you go? To the rock of ages or to the lap of Delilah? To the rock which is our God to prayer the Holy Spirit when you don't feel it when everything screams against you when your circumstances are against you when the devil has rose an army and you say, man, this whole thing is so hard that's when you need to find a harder place called the rock to lay your head on. Can somebody say amen? But see, many of us we're just like Samson when life gets tough when we are exhausted when we are tired we look for the lap of a nightclub. Oh, feels good. Oh, and it's so soft except when you wake up you wake up with the haircut. You wake up and then you don't have that peace no more. You wake up and you realize you're pregnant and you don't know who the father is. You woke up and you realize your wallet is missing. You woke up and you realize you got this thing called STD. You woke up and you realize that you're addicted to this thing called nicotine. Why? Because a lap of Delilah always leaves you with the haircut. But the rock of ages always leaves you with the revelation and with the vision. Next time you're tired next time you're exhausted next time life has wearing you down your friends are annoying you. Maybe your family are just sucking life out of you. Maybe every single thing. Listen, you have a place called a rock. Oh, but you say I don't like the rock. It's not soft. Well, every place you laid your head that was soft was not very soft at the end. Maybe it's time to lay your head on something that is hard and strong. And then we will have a soft and good life. Because somebody say amen. Nothing is harder and stronger than prayer and the Holy Spirit. Because that brings a blessing into our life. Is anybody here going to honor the Holy Spirit? Come on, put your hands together for Jesus. If you all can stand and come to the front. I want everybody to stand and come all the way to the front. We're just going to take a short time to pray.