Camels Build Character | Holly Furtick

Do any of you know the story of Rebekah in the book of Genesis? So Rebekah was the wife of Isaac, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Remember another sermon series that my husband did on Jacob called Death to Selfie? That was years ago. I don't know how many of you were here for that. When he talked about the bowl of beans. And I love that series, too. See, I told you. They're all my favorite. Okay, so what you might not know about Rebekah is the way that she came to be the wife of Isaac. Now, I don't know about the men, but, ladies, we like to hear how people got together. You know, say, so how'd y' all meet? If you asked Rebecca that question, she would say, well, it all started with some camels. Isn't that interesting for you? I want to read to you part of Rebecca's story found in Genesis, chapter 24. So in this chapter, we have Abraham. So you have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so Abraham was the father of Isaac, and he wanted a wife for his son from among his own people. They were living in the land of Canaan, and he did not want his son Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman. So he went to his servant, and he said, I'm going to send you back to my people to find a wife for Isaac. Okay? So we find In Genesis, chapter 24, Abraham's servant has set out on a journey, and he's taken along with him 10 camels. Here's where our camels come into the picture. And when he finally arrives into the town of Nahor, he prays this in verse 12. Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, please let your jar down, that I may have a drink, and she says, drink, and I'll water your camels, too. Let her be the one that you have chosen for your servant, Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master. So here comes Rebekah with her jar, and the servant approaches her, and. And he says, please, give me a little drink from your jar. And what does she say back to him? Drink, my lord, she said, and quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, I'll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink. So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough ran back to the well to draw more water and drew enough for. For all of his camels. Now, you're probably thinking, I don't know what this story about Rebekah and camels and this weird tradition of sending someone off to find a mate for. I don't. What does this have to do with integrity? Okay? It has everything to do with integrity, because how many did you catch? How many camels he had with him? He had 10, okay? This man has just made a 500 mile journey with 10 camels, okay? Watering his camels was not a small task. These are not puppy dogs that you just put a little bowl down for, okay? Listen to what I read this one man say about this event. He said, a gallon of water weighs eight pounds. A thirsty camel can drink up to 30 gallons of water. There were 10 camels. You do the math, okay? This man was not important to. To Rebecca, okay? She did not know that her future husband was. Was riding on these camels, okay? Literally. But she had integrity. Integrity is who you are when you don't think anyone is looking, okay? And God blesses integrity in Luke 16:10. One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, a verse that has really ministered to me throughout my adulthood. It says, one who is faithful in the little things is also faithful in much. And as I was studying for this message and thinking about that verse, and I started reading it over and over again, and I had this revelation. See, I had memorized that verse wrong. I thought that the verse said, he who is faithful in the little things will be made faithful over much. But that's not what it says. It says, one who is faithful in little things is also faithful in much. I was reading the verse like a promise, you know, okay, God, if I'm faithful in the little things, then you will entrust me with more. But this verse is not a promise. It's a principle, okay? A promise is, I will never leave you nor forsake you. There's nothing contingent on it. I will never leave you and nor forsake you. God tells us. But God doesn't make if then promises because he will never allow me to reduce him down to a formula. God doesn't work that way. It's not like, okay, God, if I water these camels, you're gonna bring me my man. I mean, wouldn't that be nice if we could just reduce everything down to an if then? This is a principle. And because it's a principle, it. It can become my pep talk. Okay, so it sounds like this Holly, if you can't do the small things, then you'll never be able to handle the big things. So I wake up every day and I hear my kids fighting in the kitchen for the, like, one millionth time. And I think, here come my camels. Well, I care for my household. If no one else ever thanks me because it's my calling, I don't need to be acknowledged every time I unload the dishwasher, I mean, if that's what you're waiting for, you're going to die waiting. Okay, but can I just do these simple things that God has called me to because he's called me to them, not because I'm waiting for somebody else to pat me on the back and say, good job, Holly. No, that's not. God is so into integrity. What I'm doing when nobody else. When I think nobody else is watching, you never know who's watching because the servant was watching Rebecca the whole time. Can I do the project at work without needing my name to be put on it? Can I give my best to something that I know my name's never going to go on? Can I study for the name European history test? That seems like I don't know when I'm ever gonna need this. Why don't I just cheat? No, because integrity matters. Camels build my character. Okay, now, when I say that Jesus values integrity over importance, it doesn't mean that. I don't mean to say that it's bad to be important. It doesn't mean that it's wrong to desire a promotion. What I'm simply saying is if you don't have the character, you won't be able to hold the promotion. Jesus ministered to important people and unimportant people all the time because it wasn't a thing of who's important or who's unimportant. He could see past their exterior and into their hearts. And in our passage, Jesus is saying to the disciples, he, hey, guys, beware of those who seek the seat of importance, because that will never make you happy, that will never fulfill you. I wish that you could hear the Holy Spirit speaking through me, whispering to you today, this one thing. Little things don't lead to bigger opportunities. Little things are the opportunity. That's my opportunity right here. This person right in front of me that God has put in my path. This is my opportunity. Hey, thanks for watching. I hope that that encouraged you today. Make sure that you subscribe so that you don't miss out on other videos like this, and I'll see you back here next.