Podcasts about uncle laban

In week three of A Series of Sermons , we t u r n t o Genesis 32:1-12 and see a great return. It's been nearly 20 years since Jacob left home with nothing but a staff in his hand. He ended up in his Uncle Laban's household by God's providence. While there, the Lord greatly blessed him.Now, after years of growth in both his family and his wealth, God is calling him back home. Jacob returns to fulfill the promise made to his father, Isaac, and grandfather, Abraham, and to play out his role in God's redemptive story. Website:www.experienceredemption.comFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/experienceredemptionInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/experienceredemption

Continuing our Genesis series, we explored Genesis 29, where Jacob, fleeing from his brother, arrives at his destination and falls for Rachel. But instead of a love story without complications, Jacob is deceived into marrying Leah first, showing that the trickster has met his match in Uncle Laban. Yet, even in this mess of deception and polygamy, God is at work. He uses Leah, the overlooked sister, to continue the lineage of Jesus through Judah, showing that God loves and The post Genesis 29 – The Greatest Wedding Prank Ever appeared first on Island Pond Baptist Church.

 This is the famous dream: “Jacob's Ladder.”  As he was on the way to his Uncle Laban's place, he spent the night.  He had a dream in which he saw a ladder with divine messengers (i.e. angels) moving up and down the ladder.  God then spoke, reiterating the promise of numerous descendants and the gift of the land.  Jacob commemorated the occasion by converting a stone which he had used as a pillow into a pillar, upon which he poured oil.  He also responded to the dream by acknowledging God's presence.  He called the place “the house of God” (=Bethel).  He also made a vow to God.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that he prefaced the vow with a disturbing “if.”

Sermon Summary: A Wrestling Match with God Bible References: Genesis 32 Key Themes: Encountering God: Jacob's encounter with God in the night is a powerful reminder of God's personal involvement in our lives. The Power of Prayer: Jacob's honest and heartfelt prayer demonstrates the importance of seeking God's help in times of trouble. Surrendering to God's Will: Jacob's wrestling match with God symbolizes the need to submit to God's sovereignty and trust in His plan. The Transformation of Character: Through his encounter with God, Jacob experiences a profound transformation, moving from a life of self-reliance to one of dependence on God. Sermon Overview: Jonathan begins by introducing the context of Genesis 32, where Jacob is preparing to meet his estranged brother Esau. Despite the fear and uncertainty, Jacob recognizes God's presence and seeks His guidance. The sermon delves into Jacob's prayer, highlighting his humility, honesty, and reliance on God's promises. Jonathan emphasizes the importance of praying with both faith and humility, acknowledging our dependence on God while also trusting in His character. A significant portion of the sermon focuses on Jacob's wrestling match with God. This encounter symbolizes the struggle between human will and divine purpose. Jacob's insistence on receiving a blessing from God before letting go underscores the transformative power of encountering God personally. The sermon concludes by emphasizing the importance of submitting to God's will and trusting in His plan. Jacob's experience serves as an example of how God can use difficult circumstances to shape our character and deepen our faith. Additional Points: The Role of Fear: Jonathan discusses how fear can motivate our actions but that it's essential to trust in God's provision and protection. The Importance of Reconciliation: Jacob's desire to reconcile with Esau highlights the significance of forgiveness and restoration in relationships. The Power of God's Name: The change of Jacob's name to Israel signifies a new identity and a deeper connection with God. By exploring these themes, Jonathan encourages listeners to seek God's presence, trust in His promises, and surrender their lives to His will. Transcript Good morning everyone. Still going through Genesis and today we're going to be looking at chapter 32 of Genesis. Now I'm reading from modern translation, Genesis' first book in the Bible, so it will be fairly early on if you're looking for it. But this version I'm reading from is the New Living Translation, so don't hold it against me. Verse, chapter 32. As Jacob started on his way again, angels of God came to meet him. And when Jacob saw them he exclaimed, This is God's camp. So he named the place Mahanaim. Why can't this give it just a place like, you know, sort of our house or, you know. Never mind, it's another story. It means two camps anyway. And Jacob sent messages ahead of his brother Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom. He told them, Give this message to my master Esau, humble greetings from your servant Jacob. Until now I've been living with uncle Laban, and now I own cattle and donkeys and flocks of sheep and goats and many servants, both men and women. I've sent these messages to inform my Lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me. After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, We met your brother Esau and he's already on his way to meet you with an army of 400 men. Jacob was terrified at the news. Yeah, I bet he was. He divided his household along with the flocks and herds and camels into two groups. And he thought, If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape. Then Jacob prayed, O God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you told me, Return to your own land and to your relatives. And you promised me, I'll treat you kindly. I'm not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I own nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps. O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau. I'm afraid he's going to attack me along with my wives and children. But you promised me, I will surely treat you kindly and I'll multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore, too many to count. Jacob stayed where he was for the night. Then he selected these gifts from his possessions to present to his brother Esau. 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 female camels with their young and 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 30, oh sorry, 10 male donkeys, that's my eyesight. He divided these animals into herds and assigned each to different servants. Then he told his servants, Go ahead of me with the animals, but keep some distance between the herds. It's going to be like the 12 days of Christmas this you see. He gave these instructions to the men leading the first group. When my brother Esau meets you, he'll ask, whose servants are you and where are you going? Who owns these animals? You must reply, they belong to your servant Jacob, but they are a gift for his master Esau. Look, he's coming right behind us. And Jacob gave the same instruction to the second and third herdsmen and to all who followed behind the herds. You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him and be sure to say, Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us. Jacob thought, I'll try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. And when I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me. So the gifts were sent on ahead while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp. During the night, Jacob got up and he took his two wives, his two servant wives and his 11 sons and crossed the Jabot River with them. And after taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions. This left Jacob alone in the camp and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he wouldn't win the match, he touched Jacob's hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, Let me go, for the dawn is breaking. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. What's your name? The man asked. He replied, Jacob. Your name will no longer be Jacob, the man told him. From now on, you will be called Israel because you have fought with God and with men and have won. Please tell me your name, Jacob said. Why do you want to know my name, the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. And Jacob named the place Peniel, which means face of God. For he said, I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been spared. The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. Even today, the people of Israel don't eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob's hip. You don't have to win every fight or every argument to be a winner. See, Jacob had this uncanny knack of making people angry. It was something that had happened throughout his life. In the last chapter 31, we saw how angry his Uncle Laban had got with him and why he'd left in such a hurry. He'd left without saying goodbye. He'd wanted to get out of what had been a pretty abusive relationship for 20 years, where this Jacob, who'd arrived as a con man himself, who had been conned and tricked for 20 years by his Uncle Laban into working for this guy, not being paid properly, not being looked after properly, everything that Laban did to try to trip him up, God seemed to bless Jacob. He said goodbye. Well, he hadn't said goodbye, he just rushed off. But Laban had caught up with him and he said, look, we scarpered because I was scared of you. Thankfully, he kind of resolved his relationship with his uncle, but it was now out of the frying pan and into the fire, because he was going home in obedience to what God had asked him to do. You read that in the previous chapter. But in doing so, his past was going to catch up with him. He was returning to a place where things had gone wrong. He wasn't anymore escaping from a problem. He was going to have to face it face to face. God had promised him this land that he was returning to, but that promise included challenges as to how he would rebuild relationships that had been broken. We read in Genesis 27 that Esau, his brother, hated Jacob. Why? Well, you know, our family issues can be really challenging for all of us, can't they, at times? You know, family breakups. It's marvelous. And there's nothing that causes more problems in a family than a will. And when a will doesn't work out that somebody doesn't get something that they expected and the other person has got it, well, what had happened is Jacob basically, with the help of his mum, had conned his brother, his elder brother, out of what was rightfully, as far as the way society worked, his. He'd done it by guile. He had received a blessing, you know, by default. He basically conned his way into a blessing rather than actually received it graciously and willingly and openly. He'd actually made something happen. Esau was so cross about this. He said, I'm going to kill him. Read the inscription. I'm going to kill him. Mum got word of this. Mum of both Esau and Rebecca. And she said these classic words that you can read in Genesis 27. She's told him to go to his uncle Laban's and she sent off with this message. She says, stay there with Laban until Esau cools off. And when he calms down, I'll send for you. Now 20 years have passed and she hasn't asked him to come home. He's had 20 years away from home and he's not had a message from Mum to say it's all right now. You can come home. Everything's fine. He's calmed down. But God's told him to go back. In the midst of this family breakup, what do you do to mend a broken relationship? How do you build that reconciliation back? You know, Esau felt he'd been fiddled out of what was rightfully his. But God says, you've got to go home and you've got to face the music. Jacob may have grasped a blessing that was not necessarily his to receive. Isaac had meant to give it to his son Esau. It hadn't been given willingly or knowingly to Jacob. And Jacob really lived up to his name. The word Jacob means deceiver or displacer or supplanter. Somebody who takes something that's not necessarily theirs. What was Jacob going to come home to? A fight or a friendship? I desperately wanted a friendship. And he knew he couldn't actually change the past. The past is gone. You can't actually, you know, we're not time travelers. We can't go back there and undo what we've done before. He just knew that he had to do something about this situation. He sorted things out with Laban. He now needed to sort things out with his estranged brother. And he was face to face with his crisis. And what did he attempt to do? Well, Jacob was always quite cunning, crafty, had good ideas. He had cunning plans, a bit like Baldrick. He was that kind of person. And he attempted a strategy of appeasement, as we read in this chapter. Groveling and gifts, basically, I've called it. It's the way he was going to try to win it over. He said, I'm hoping I can get around Esau. I can buy his friendship. I can buy my way back into his good books. I can say the right things and do the right things that will make him friendly towards me again. And then he gets this report that Esau was on his way to meet him, but with an army of 400 men. Now, you know, that's quite a big army in the context of this. This passage is quite interesting because fear is a major motivator in Jacob's actions, in his prayers and in his plans. There's no doubt about it. And he seems to have forgotten something that started right at the start of this passage. Because when he actually obeyed the command of God, knowing what he was about to face with his brother, potentially, he has another one of these wonderful experiences with God, which, I mean, Jacob had so many of these encounters with the supernatural, it's amazing, where he suddenly sees a great host, an army almost, of angels on the road. And he says, because this is a great place right at the start of the chapter. This is a place of two camps. My camp's here. God's camp of angels is here. It's as if God's saying, come on, Jacob, you can do this. I'm with you. You can do the right thing. I'm alongside you. I'm there for you. I'm with you. And he recognized it. He had discernment. He understood that God's presence was there too. And it didn't stop him from being afraid. And Jacob's response is so typical of us as Christians, and I include me in this. We face a challenge. We wrestle with it. We struggle to find a solution or a plan or a way of getting out of it. We make our plans to try to make the best of a bad thing sometimes, and we fear in the worst. And yet all the time we're also praying. We're praying on the basis of what the Bible says, what God says, you know, the promises of God. We believe this because God has said this. Lord, you've said this. We can trust you for this. We're doing that. We kind of like pray on the basis of our great need. We say, help, Lord. God, deliver us. God, help us. God, be in this for us. While we're still doing our plans, we pray on the basis of God's character. You're kind, you're loving, you're all these things. And then we return to our plans. If you want to use a term that's often used in the House of Parliaments these days, now being used of Labour, was used at the Tories beforehand, he's flip-flopping. He's going from planning to praying to planning to praying to planning to praying. And he's, you know, he's caught in the tension of this fear of Esau and the consequences of going back there and thinking I'm going to lose everything. We're going to be massacred. You know, my family's going to be destroyed. Everything's going to go down. I need to split the camp into two. So if he gets one half, the other half at least can survive. He's got that at one side and the promise of God. I'm not going back. I'm not going back to Labour. I'm not going back to what was. I'm going forward into what God has called me to do. I'm going forward into the promise of God and going forward into what I've been asked to do. You've promised me God that, you know, my descendants are going to live. They're going to multiply. You've promised me a future and a hope. And yet he's struggling with the tension, isn't he, of the reality of a problem and the truth of what he believes about the God who is bigger than all those problems. It's this tug of war. And it's a tug of war that we all face at times. A tug of war that goes on in our hearts and our minds. And I think, you know, it reminds me of the dad of a very troubled lad that we read about in Mark chapter 9 who came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, you know, if you believe, everything's possible. And this guy said, well, I do believe that anything's possible. But help me overcome my unbelief. It's one thing to think God can do something. God will intervene. God will support me. God will protect me. God will do this. God will heal. God will deliver. God will strengthen. God will rescue. It's another thing when you're in the challenge of the battle itself to believe God will do it for me. We can believe, all of us can believe that God can. The issue is God will, will God. Jacob is wrestling with real doubts and fears before what he anticipates to be a struggle with his brother Esau. I just want to go back briefly to this prayer that's in the middle of this chapter, I think verse 9 onwards, isn't it, or something like that. Because I think it's just a lovely prayer. Despite all his struggles, there is something about the honesty and the rawness of Jacob's life. I think God wants from all of us. He's basically saying a very real way, an honest way. He says to God, look, you told me to come here. I'm here in obedience. I'm obeying you. I'm kind of trusting you in this. I'm here because you've made a promise to me about this land and about my descendants and about this being the place you want me to be. I'm doing what you're asking me to do and I'm trusting you for that. I've not run away from it. I've not fled from this conflict from 400 armed men. And it's also prayed not from a place of entitlement, but a place of humility. I'm not worthy, he says, of all your unfailing love and faithfulness. Now I just want to say something about unworthiness or feeling not worthy. It's a great thing to be humble before our God. It's what God wants us to do, what humbly before him. It's an unhealthy thing to have an unworthy attitude that says, I am not worthy of the grace, the mercy, the favor, the love of God. Many of us miss out on what God wants to do in our lives because they think, well, we're not good enough. We'll never make it. We'll never get there. And there's a balance here in Jacob's prayer. He recognizes, yes, the grace of God. I am unworthy. I have messed up at times. But he understands something that God doesn't just look on our unworthiness. He is a God of grace and mercy and loving kindness towards us, which is totally undeserved. He prays with humility. He prays on the basis of his act walking in obedience and in the God's promise. And he also acknowledges the blessing of God on his life. He's saying, thank you. Without God, he said, I'd have nothing. All I'd own, he says in verse 10, is just my walking stick on my staff. That's all I'd have. And the irony you will see at the end of this chapter is that will become a mark of what God is going to do in his life. It's the one thing that will be a reminder to him of when everything else is stripped away. He's got something to lean on. Someone to lean on. And in the midst of this raw prayer, he's praying for rescue. Lord help, I can't do this. This is beyond me. And he's not just praying for himself. He's praying for his family, his kids, his wives. But he goes straight back afterwards. Flips, like so many of us to say. If I pray my cards right, this is not what in the Bible. If I play my cards right, I'm going to salvage something out of this. I can make something at least. I can get something out of this. He's still trusting God, but not totally trusting God. It's almost like the limited partial faith that we all have. The Bible says walk by faith, doesn't it? I think most of us limp by faith, but not because of what we're going to see happen with Jacob. But we struggle to actually put faith into practice in our lives. Jacob is wrestling with this problem and night falls. But he can't sleep. We know that because in verse 2 it says during the night he got up. He's tossing and turning, wrestling with the problem. What's going to happen tomorrow? What's going to happen when I see Esau? What's going to happen with my family? What's going to happen with my goods? What's going to happen to me? How is Esau going to treat me? And he gets up and he sends his family and his possessions that are with him to the relative safety across the river. And he's left alone with his thoughts considering what the next day is going to bring. But of course, he was never alone. God's camp was just up the road. He wasn't alone. God was there. You know, often we feel we're just alone in this problem that you face. There's people in this room think you're alone in the problem you face. I think God wants to say to you this morning, you're not alone. You're not alone. See, God was there. And God finally wants to get to grips with Jacob. Jacob had spent his whole life struggling and striving from birth with Esau, then with Laban, trying to get ahead of the game using his cunning and his wits. And tonight he was going to learn a wrestling move. He was going to learn to submit. I used to watch the wrestling on the TV, not this American stuff, you know, but the old ITV Channel 4 o'clock. Some of you are old enough to remember it, you know. And the next round, eight rounds, eight four-minute rounds, two submissions, two falls or a knockout. And in one corner we have Big Daddy. God, and the other one we've got, you know, like conniving little so-and-so, like Jackie Paolo, you know. So we've got Jacob in one thing, the Jackie Paolo, and we've got the Big Daddy God in the other one, and there's going to be a wrestling match. Submission. Jacob, well God knew that actually, Jacob needed to meet him before he met Esau. And God made it happen. God wants Jacob to submit to him, to learn what it is to lean heavily on him, to learn what it is to cling to him, to learn what it is, not to hang on to his own achievements and his own abilities, but to hang on to God, to know that this would be the place of real blessing in his life. A blessing that would be graciously given, not taken by guile, that would be given freely by God himself. After wrestling with God all night, Jacob could no longer rely on his own strength to fight his battles because God broke him, crippled him, if you like, dislocated his thigh. And for all of you who've ever had dislocations, and I'm not one of them, you'll know how painful it is, won't you Leslie, and others. You know, this is before the days of hip joints and all the rest of it. This guy was left powerless and helpless to continue his struggle with God. Jacob, as he was going through this wrestling match, knew that he wasn't wrestling one of Esau's men or even Esau himself. And the more the struggle continued, the more Jacob's determined that this is God, and God's blessing on my life. He gets the point after his hips put out, you know, he's clinging on, clinging on, one leg, clinging on. You know, a bit like in a boxing match where they go into, you know, the hold. So just trying to have a breather, but he's clinging on to God. And he's saying, I will not let go unless you bless me. And all that mattered to him at that point, remember, he started this evening not being able to sleep worrying about Esau. Now all he's concerned about is that he encounters God in a way that he would know God's blessing upon his life. Suddenly Esau doesn't matter anymore. What really matters is his relationship with God and what's happening there and then in his life with God. He's no longer consumed by these thoughts that he was wrestling with, he's wrestling with God himself. The night had begun with him wrestling with his fears, wrestling in his mind about what he's going to do with Esau, and it ended with him having wrestled with God. And it was a night that he would never forget, because he realized in the darkness, he had been face to face with God. God leaves the scene before dawn breaks. There's this phrase in the Old Testament, no one can see God and live. And there's almost the grace of God in that, in actually withdrawing before the light comes. But you've got this little phrase that's used in the Bible that says, you know, about the sun rose. I think it says on one version of the Bible that we use, one translation. The sun rose upon Jacob. It's a new day. The lights dawned, and he limps away, not thinking about Esau, saying, I've met with God a changed man, because he submitted to God. Hosea has these words to say about this incident in Hosea 12 verses 3 to 6. Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother. And when he became a man, he even fought with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. And in Hebrews 11 verse 21, that chapter of these champions of faith, we read of Jacob. That it was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and bowed in worship as he leaned upon that walking stick, that staff. Jacob is a changed man. He's broken, he's bowed, and he's blessed. And as a result, or as in the past, he's not been a particular blessing to his family. He's now able to bless others. He's changed physically, but he's also changed spiritually. He not only leans on his staff now for support, but that is in itself a constant reminder that he needs to keep leaning on God. His limp is a constant reminder of his encounter with the living God. I was told years ago by someone, I can't remember who, always trust a man who walks with a limp. I was talking in spiritual terms. I think that means always trust somebody who leans heavily on God. Someone who's vulnerable. Someone who's aware of their own weakness. Someone who doesn't come across as some sort of super saint that's got everything sorted. And he's empowered and powerful and, you know, the super saint stuff that people are drawn to. The person who has encountered God, who walks with a limp, is broken and bowed in terms of humility and in terms of worship and blessed. And there's a character change comes out as a result. You see, the name of a person, particularly in Genesis in the Old Testament, actually meant something. And this is a mark of God's grace upon his life. No longer you are going to be called the heel, the displacer, the deceiver, the supplanter, whatever this word Jacob means. Now you are going to be known as Israel, the God persevera, the God striver. You have changed. You're a changed man. You're a changed person as a result of meeting me. You see, I always say this character really matters. And for all the great experiences that Jacob has had to this time, you think about it, Bethel and all the rest of it. There's amazing things that have happened in his life. There's still a lot in Jacob until this moment, which is all, I'm going to sort this out myself. I'll try to make it this work. I can do it in my own strength. You know, I believe in God. Thank you, God. Please help me, God. Please rescue me, God. But really, I'll try and wangle my way through it as I've done in the past. At this point, all he can do is that he's going to be limping towards his brother. He's not going to be going there with 400 armed men. He's going to be walking towards an army like this. You read what happens in the next chapter as a result at that time. And I come to a close. What I love about the stories in Genesis is that they're very real, thousands of years old, but they go to the heart of the human condition, the character of who we really are, the real us, the ones that aren't just turn up on Sundays and say our prayers and do our singing and say all nice things at the front, but the reality of life with the struggles that we face and encounter and how we live. And we are so much like Jacob. Well, if you're not, maybe not, but I am. Wrestle. We wrestle with life. We have struggles with life. We wrestle with people. We wrestle with our families. We wrestle and struggle with what God's will is in our lives. Doing the right thing in the right way. Many of us in this room have known and are aware of God's promises and have had encounters with God and visions and dreams and words and experiences. I mean, I have. I'm sure you all have. But yet it doesn't stop us at times thinking. I'll try and plan this one out and God please help my plans. I'll try and work this out in my own strength. I'll still do that. You know, we start at the place where we ask God to bless what we're doing. And we try to get out the scripts we get into and the problems that we've made ourselves, you know, asking God's help in it, but we try to do our bit as well. The example of Jesus at Gethsemane is an example of brokenness, a bowedness and a blessedness. Not my will, but yours be done. God's will, you see, is not always going to be easy for us. At times it may be painful. But it is the way that we become a blessing to others. And we may know his blessing for ourselves. I finish with this, James 4 verse 7 says, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Andy used to often say in the leadership team to me, it's not about you. I never did think it was about me, to be honest. Remember, it's not about you. But I want to say, it's not about you. Politely. It's not about the leaders. It's not about Nick. Not about Erica. Not about Andy and not about any of us in this room. Not about me. It's about him. It's about him. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will. But your will be done. A meeting in a garden at night that Jesus had. An encounter at night that Jacob had with God. History changed. God bless you. Amen.

Jacob was fleeing from his home, traveling to his Uncle Laban's place in Haran. Officially, he was going to find a wife, but he was also fleeing from his brother's anger. He stopped for the night under the stars, with a stone for a pillow, and as he slept, he had a dream. In his […] The post Jacob Meets Laban appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

After Jacon and family left Laban secretly, it’s little wonder that Laban did his best to ctach up with his fleeing family. The text of Genesis 31:22-55 tells the story of how Laban caught up with Jacob, the difficult conversation thjat followed and the fruitless search for the household gods he valued so highly (that […]

Are you committed to Christ but searching for guidance? In this new reflection, Jonathan Youssef explores the gripping Biblical story of Jacob—a tale of struggle, transformation, and divine engagement. Jonathan connects his own experiences with Jacob's journey, offering insights into the challenges of perseverance, the power of repentance, and the profound ways God works in our lives. Listen and deepen your understanding of spiritual growth and how our trials can lead to profound blessings. This is a must-listen for anyone seeking inspiration and guidance from God. To ask Jonathan a question or connect with the Candid community, visit https://LTW.org/CandidFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/candidpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/candidpodTwitter: https://twitter.com/thecandidpodTRANSCRIPT:This transcript recounts Candid Conversations with Jonathan Youssef Episode 255:  Wrestling with God: Jonathan YoussefIn seventh grade, I joined my middle school wrestling program. For two weeks, we ran and did all kinds of exercises, and then we would wrestle each other for the rest of the time we were there. And I did not like it. I lost to a guy who was younger than me. I lost every day. I was terrible. And I was tired of losing, and I lacked perseverance. There is little more humiliating than being wedged under the fat arm of a sweaty teenage boy, and I thought, This is as low as it gets.Well, our reflection today is about wrestling and persevering. I've always been intrigued by the biblical story because it has so many layers. It's multifaceted and multidimensional. And it's a little bit dangerous, meaning that there is potential to miss the main point of what the text is saying and to misunderstand or misrepresent it. Over the years, I've reread it, read commentaries, listened to talks, and consumed all I can to try to understand it better. I want to know what is taking place at this really important moment in salvific history. We have this man, Jacob. He has been at odds with his brother since birth. Even in the womb, he and Esau are wrestling with each other. He is at odds with his father over who is the favored son. He is at odds with who should be blessed. He's at odds over who had the birthright in the family. He's used trickery and deception to achieve his purposes. He's at odds with his Uncle Laban, a master trickster himself. But in Genesis, we begin to see the undoing of this character, Jacob. He's being undone, and he's being changed and transformed through these middle chapters of this book. He's served his crooked uncle/father-in-law for twenty-some-odd years, and in many ways, he's echoing the prodigal son here. Having come to himself, he's leaving Laban here, and he's coming home, you might say, to the homeland of his father, to his older brother, and although God has begun to work in him, although he is a new man, as it were, spiritually, it becomes clear that God is not finished with Jacob yet.And so this chapter unfolds with three dramatic pictures. First, in verses 1 through 21, we have the picture of Jacob returning. God has been working in his life, as we just noted. God has also been working in the lives of Jacob's two wives, Leah and Rachel, and now Jacob has sent word to his brother, Esau, the brother who swore that he would one day kill his little brother in a very Cain and Abel-type fashion. So Jacob sends the word, “Hey! I'm coming home.” He's really only able to do this because the Lord has told him, “The day will come that I'm going to bring you back to this land. And I am promising that I will do you good, that I will prosper you, and that I will be with you.”If you remember the account of Jacob's ladder, where Jacob falls asleep, and he envisions this ladder coming down from heaven, and the angels ascend and descend upon the ladder, the Lord tells him, “I will be with you. I will bring you back to this land. I will give it to you and your offspring. And the whole earth will be blessed through you and your seed.” And, of course, it reminds us of the very same promise given to Abraham. He promises to keep and return him to that land, and now that day has come. In verses 1 and 2, we read that the angels come and meet Jacob. It's confirmation that the Lord is with him. He names the area Mahanaim, meaning “two camps.” Now, perhaps he's referring to the fact that it's his camp and the Lord's camp; the Lord's camp will be his shield and protection. Because he's going to need it. And the report comes back, “Hey, Esau's coming to see you. He's got four hundred guys with him. It's going to be great, right?”Okay, either Esau is rolling out the red carpet for his little brother, or Esau has come for his vengeance, and he has not forgotten 20 years of anger and hostility. Verse 7 says, “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.”Now, when it comes to our fears and the Lord, do we find that the way that the Lord enables us through our fears is by removing the fear, removing the obstacles? Or do we find that He gives us greater reasons not to fear than to fear? Here is Jacob, and he's stuck in a difficult situation. He cannot return to his Uncle Laban; he's terrified to go forward to his brother, Esau, and the unknown. What's he going to do?Well, he's a different man now. He probably would have used skill and trickery to weasel out of this in his past life. He would have found a crafty way to save himself, even at the cost of his own family. But he's a different man now, and Jacob perseveres despite his hesitancy, fear, and distress—unlike my illustrious wrestling career. And then we see Jacob do something we've never seen him do in Scripture. He gets on his knees, and he pleads with God. He's praying for God's help in his dreadfully fearful situation. And Jacob prays the longest prayer in the book of Genesis. And the prayer shows us that he now belongs to the Lord. It's evidence that the Lord is working in your heart, is it not, when you begin to call on His name, and it's not just, “Lord, I'm in a mess. Help me out of this,” but rather, it's “God, you promised to be with me. You promised to protect me. And so I'm coming to you, claiming on those promises.”And that's what Jacob does, “Lord, you said that you would do good to me. Fulfill your promise to me.” You notice it's not a panicked prayer, “God, get me out of this bind, and I'll build a hundred churches for you.”No. Instead, you have a man at the end of his resources, holding onto God's promises to bless him, and then he patiently sits, trusting that the Lord will act. Then, we see another change in Jacob: a repentant heart. It's an attitude of repentance. That's what's happening with this whole procession going out to Esau. He sends the people and the animals and tells them to give a message to Esau: These gifts are from your servant, Jacob. Now, he's scared, yes, but he's coming behind us. He's indebted himself to you. Do you want a sign of a changed life? Do you want a sign of a repentant heart? You are prepared to go to the person you have offended, and you say to them, “Because of what the Lord has done in me through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, I can come before you and serve you.”Think of Zaccheus, “A wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. In the British version, it says, “And Jesus said, ‘I'm coming to your house for tea,'” because they all drank tea back then. But what does Zaccheus do? Does he just say, “Lord, I'm sorry. I was bad. I did wrong. Forgive me, Lord,” and then just move on?No! He gives four times back. He repays his debts. It's evidence of a changed man. And that's the other thing that Jacob is doing, right? He's gifting these 550 animals. He's saying, “Brother, I stole your blessing. I used deception and trickery for my own advantage, and now I'm giving it back to you” because I understand I need to be made right with you.”It's more than just feeling sorry in a moment. In Scripture, repentance is God's work of grace in my heart. I am sorry for my sin and find His forgiveness, but I'm also working towards restoration, repairing whatever damage I have caused.The story is told of a machinist or factory worker in the Ford Motor Company in Detroit who had, over several years, borrowed tools and equipment, but never returned them. The machinist was thoroughly converted and was baptized. He wanted to put his faith into practice, so he came back to work to his boss, to the foreman, and he brought all the tools he had stolen and all the equipment he had taken, and the foreman didn't know what to do. And he's repenting, and he's confessing what he's done, and so the foreman, impressed by this, cables Henry Ford and says, “You're not going to believe this. This guy's come back, and he's brought everything with him,” to which Ford cabled back, “Dam up the Detroit River and baptize the whole city.” That's what's happening here with Jacob. He's bringing the blessing back. The blessing that the Lord has poured out on him, he's giving it back. Jacob returning. Then we have a second scene, which I'm sure we're all a little more familiar with, and this is the scene of Jacob wrestling. He's not only sent his possessions on, he's sent his whole family ahead. Verse 22 states, “He took his wives and servants and his eleven children, and they crossed over the Jabbok at night.”And then, in verse 24, he's all alone, and a man grabs him in the darkness and begins to wrestle with him. My seventh-grade self's nightmare because I didn't like wrestling. That was the allusion to that if you're following along.Who do you think Jacob thinks he's wrestling? It's most likely that he thinks he's wrestling with the man who swore to kill him, the man that all of this procession and all this fuss is about. At this moment, Esau is who Jacob thinks his most significant conflict is with. The one I have to wrestle with is my brother, it's Esau. But that is not who he wrestles with in the night, as we find out later in this passage and as we read in Hosea chapter 12, which is a little brief commentary. We find out that Jacob is, in fact, wrestling with some manifestation of God in the flesh, a pre-incarnate Christ. And so then we're left to ask the question, What will God gain from this, from wrestling with Jacob? He's already sent all his possessions on ahead. Surely, God is finished with Jacob. He's repentant, he's confessed, he's done it all. There is no box left to check. But you see, Jacob has given all he has back, but the most important thing is that he has yet to give back. Do you know what it is? It's Jacob. It's Jacob himself. And Jacob may think that Esau is trying to get what is his, which is to take Jacob's life, but the reality is that God is wrestling with Jacob to take what is His—which is Jacob! And this wrestling, it's like a father with a child. You know there's a way I'm not a good wrestler, as we've illustrated, and you're trying to catch up with me on this. But there's a way for me to wrestle with my children while they're young, though my son is getting to the age where I can't keep up with him. But there's a way for me to wrestle with them, which keeps them engaged for a long time in which I never lose, and they never lose. That's sort of what God is doing with Jacob here.But then He does this thing where He touches Jacob's hip, and now Jacob has this dislocated hip, and you need your hip as a pivot to wrestle, so now he's got nothing, he's zero. And he's clinging to God, and God is saying to him, “Let me go. Let me go,” and Jacob says, “I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me.”Here's the context of these situations: The lesser is always blessed by the greater, so Jacob acknowledges that he is holding onto the greater being. I imagine he's still not sure who he's wrestling with, but he's holding on, and he sees by the power that's rendered his hip inoperable that he's holding on to a greater being. And he's saying, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”If you go back and look at Jacob's life, you know what you'll see? Jacob is immensely blessed. Everything he does is blessed, right? That's what God promised to do, and that's what he's receiving. Everywhere he went, every person he interacted with was blessed, just as God has blessed us immensely. If only we had eyes to see, we could have blessing upon blessing in our lives and still miss the main point. The main point is not the blessings, plural, but God's blessing. And what is God's blessing? It is that He has every part of us. And how Jacob enters into this blessing is obvious: God says to him, “What is your name?” And the response is one word: Jacob. Jakob. What's in the name? Twister is the etymology of the name Jacob. Twister, deceiver, heel-clutcher. And now God has gotten to the bottom of the issue: it's a confession. I am unrighteous, I am a sinner. My identity was in who and how I could trick them.God is going right for his heart, saying, “Give me your heart, Jacob. That's what I want.” You see that God is prepared to dislocate Jacob's hip to have Jacob's heart. That may be what God is saying to you, that the way to your heart is by the divine dislocation of something you take pride in, which is a source of great strength for you. Maybe you notice He's touched the very thing in which you have depended on for your life, and He's taken it away from you. That's what's happening to Jacob. The Lord draws him in to say, “Jacob, it's not all the things in your life that I want you to give me; it's yourself that I want.”But you see, there's a third scene, a beautiful scene. Jacob returned, Jacob wrestled, and now Jacob was limping. In the next chapter, chapter 33 of Genesis, we see Jacob return to his brother Esau, but he's not at the back of the caravan as he was before with his plan. He's at the front now and prepared to take it all. But we're told that he's doing two things. One, he's bowing down seven times, and the other is using the language of “I am the servant, and you, Esau, are the lord.” But I think if you were there that day to watch this encounter, those would not be the two things you would have paid attention to. I think the thing that would have captured your attention would have been this: his limp. Why is this significant? Because, beloved, this is a picture of the Christian life. Men and women who have been dislocated to different degrees because of the work of God in their lives and caused to limp, humbled under His sovereign, mighty hand; caused to limp, caused to be conscious of this for the rest of their lives of their weakness and their dependence on the Lord. Dependent on His forgiveness, dependent on His power—moment by moment, day by day. But the sun has risen upon them. I wonder if you've come across one of these people. And it doesn't always have to be a physical variation of this; sometimes it's unseen, the wound, the dislocation. But when we were in Australia, there was a young man. He was in our Bible study, and he looked like he had been in a fire. He had an autoimmune disorder, and he received a bone marrow transplant from his sister, but the transplant caused his body to fight against itself. And so his body was covered in sores and blisters everywhere, and ulcers filled his mouth. Walking was difficult; eating was difficult. As I said, he was in our Bible study, and so when I asked him his story, he said to me that he was a great swimmer. When he was in high school, he was actually training for the Olympics for the Australian national team. Then he started feeling strange, and his swim time started getting slower and slower, and that's when all the medical issues began in his life.And he told me, he said, “You know, before, I was a good kid, but I was very full of myself. I was arrogant. But God reached in and dislocated a part of me, taking away things I loved doing.” And even through his anger, frustration, agony, and pain, he never left the Lord, and the Lord certainly never left him. He would testify to the goodness of God, despite what everybody saw physically with their eyes when they encountered them. His faith and his dependence on the Lord remained until the Lord called him home a few years ago. This is how the Lord said to him, “I want every part of you. I want your heart.” You see, this is not just a principle of spiritual usefulness for Jacob and for us; this takes us to the heart of the gospel. For you see, there would be another night, centuries later, where two wrestlers were engaged, but this time a Son with His Heavenly Father, as He said, “Let this cup pass from me.” And there is an equality in the wrestling. “Let this cup pass from me, and yet, I will not let you go despite what is coming, the agony and the shame that will be borne on the cross. I will not let you go, Father, until you bless them,” which is why He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And so He, as Paul says, upon that cross became a curse so that the blessing may come to us. Where are you today? Perhaps you're on your way, like Jacob, and you're walking through repentance and forgiveness. Are you willing to give up a little but not the whole? Perhaps you're wrestling with God over these things at this moment, and you give a little, but then you fight for others, and it's a give-and-take relationship, and it's very back and forth. Perhaps you want to let go, or perhaps you have let go in the past, and the Lord keeps re-engaging with you in this wrestling match, and He's waiting for you to say, “Don't let me go. I will not let you go, even if it means me having a limp for the rest of my life.”Do you have a limp? Do you have a dislocation? May the Lord be gracious to us as He pursues our hearts. 

In Genesis 29:1-20, so many of the promises of God that Jacob heard at Bethel began to be confirmed. No wonder he wept. He was aware of the goodness of God toward him, not only leading him to the place he set out for, but also providing for him a potential wife in Rachel. It […]

JACOB AND LABAN (Genesis 29:1 to 30:30) As we study Jacob, we see a man who is confident and sure of his ability to handle anything this world can dish out.  Jacob knows God, and God has promised to be with him at all times.  Yet, Jacob has not learned to be led by God.  Instead, Jacob is leading and expecting God to back him up. That is the way many believers treat God.  When times are good, they choose the way they want to go, and what they want to do.  Yet, just as soon as things turn bad, they turn to God to get them out of whatever mess they have gotten themselves into.  They never think to ask God to lead them; they never ask God to choose the path they will go down, and they never humbly surrender their life to the will of God.   In today's study, Jacob will find himself deceived by his Uncle Laban, trapped in a job he wants to leave, caught in the middle of a battle between two wives for his attention, and ultimately with 13 hungry kids looking at him for food and provisions.  Sounds like a normal day in one of our own lives, doesn't it? That is what makes the study of Jacob interesting, because Jacob is a story about us.  Think about your own life, are you retired but forced to work a job to meet your financial needs, are you stuck in a job you feel taken advantage of in, are you having marital problems, do you feel deceived by those you should be able to trust, or do you have hungry kids, sometimes adult children and their kids, looking at you for dinner and a house to live in? Do you ever ask yourself, how did I get myself into this mess?  Do you ever ask yourself, and honestly answer, did God lead you, or did you lead God?   As a believer, God has promised to always be with you, and He always will be, wherever you drag Him, but the real question you need to ask is, have you totally surrendered to the will of God in your life?  Are you following God as He leads you, or is God following you as you lead Him?  Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says “God is my copilot”?  Listen, if God is your copilot, then you need to move over and let Him be Captain.  God is to lead you.   Click on the link below to hear a message on the importance of living a life fully surrendered to God. This is a live recording of The Master's Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

In this Podcast, we deal with the story whereby Jacob, who would be renamed subsequently Israel, acquired four wives from his mother's extended family in Mesopotamia. Ironically, Jacob only wanted, and loved, one wife. But because of his Uncle Laban's duplicity, he ended up not only with Rachel, but with her less attractive but elder sister, Leah. As wedding presents, both sisters were given maids: Bilhah and Zilpah. Jacob ended up with thirteen children by these four women, twelve sons and one daughter. The story itself revolves on the rivalry between Leah and Rachel to attract Jacob's attention, thinking that bearing children was the way to his heart. In a patriarchal culture, it is both ironic and humorous that both women orchestrate not only events but Jacob himself.

This week, we have the classic Sunday School story of Jacob's Ladder and it's a little darker than normally taught to the kids.  Jacob comes from a very messy, dysfunctional family and flees because his brother Esau literally wants to kill him.  His mother Rebecca schemes and misrepresents the situation to her husband Isaac.  Isaac in turn sends Jacob away- Jacob who longs for a relationship with his father is sent away- to Uncle Laban to take a wife.  Bible scholar Bruce Waltke describes the situation so well: “Back in Beersheba, Esau lies in wait like an angry lion.  Ahead in Haran, Laban waits with his spider web to trap and suck the life from his victims.”  Jacob is between a rock and a hard place!  Then, Jacob has a dream that changes everything.  Come to New King on Sunday to see what happens!

Our Bible Reading of the Day is Genesis 28:10-22. Jacob undeservedly receives his father's blessing—he and his offspring will dwell in the land of Canaan. As Isaac's life approaches its end, Jacob rightly fears for his life. Following the urging of Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob sets out for the house of his Uncle Laban. Along the way, Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching to heaven, with the Lord Himself standing at the top. The preincarnate Christ repeats God's promise to give this land to Jacob and his descendants.

"Saints & Villains" is our sermon series through Genesis. "Jacob's Family" is the twenty-first sermon in this series. Jacob arrives in the land of his Uncle Laban and falls in love with his daughter. After a long series of events, Jacob ends up with four wives, twelve sons, and an abundance of wealth. Through it all, God is faithfully working his sovereign plan. If you made the decision to trust Jesus, or God challenged you in a specific way during this sermon, please let us know by contacting us at hello@newheightswv.com, so that we can celebrate and pray with you!

Pastor John Ryan Cantu brings this week's message, “The Struggle." Links: Give to PNEUMA Church Key Verses: Genesis 32:22-28 NLT “During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions. This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob's hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”” Genesis 32:3-8 NLT “Then Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother, Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom. He told them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Jacob. Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform my Lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.'” After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!” Jacob was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups. He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”” Sermon Topics: Struggle

Jacob leaves home to find a wife where his Uncle Laban lives

Jacob meets his Uncle Laban who manipulates and tricks him just like he did to others.

Join us as Pastor Kevin teaches through the account of Jacob's time with his Uncle Laban.

Genesis 32 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 As Jacob started on his way again, angels of God came to meet him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, “This is God's camp!” So he named the place Mahanaim. 3 Then Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother, Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom. 4 He told them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Jacob. Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, 5 and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.'” 6 After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!” 7 Jacob was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups. 8 He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.” 9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O LORD, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.' And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.' 10 I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! 11 O LORD, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. 12 But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.'” 13 Jacob stayed where he was for the night. Then he selected these gifts from his possessions to present to his brother, Esau: 14 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 15 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. 16 He divided these animals into herds and assigned each to different servants. Then he told his servants, “Go ahead of me with the animals, but keep some distance between the herds.” 17 He gave these instructions to the men leading the first group: “When my brother, Esau, meets you, he will ask, ‘Whose servants are you? Where are you going? Who owns these animals?' 18 You must reply, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob, but they are a gift for his master Esau. Look, he is coming right behind us.'” 19 Jacob gave the same instructions to the second and third herdsmen and to all who followed behind the herds: “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.'” Jacob thought, “I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me.” 21 So the gifts were sent on ahead, while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp. 22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. 23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions. 24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him [...]

Phineas going along the beach that night, in the early moonlight, towards his home, saw a little figure crouched in the shadow of a low building beside the wharf. It was shaking with violent sobs. He went up to the child, and took its hands down from its wet face, with a comforting expression of pity. Then he started back in surprise. It was Joel! "Why, my child! My poor child!" he exclaimed, putting his arm around the trembling, misshapen form. "What is the meaning of all this?" "Uncle Laban has driven me away from home!" sobbed the boy... #story #kidstories ✝️❣️

Jacob arrives safely at his Uncle Laban’s house so it would be natural to assume that the worst is behind him. Yet, to those who know what to look for, today’s text is a foreboding tale of the story to come. Be sure to share this with anyone who you think might be interested in […]

Jacob arrives safely at his Uncle Laban’s house so it would be natural to assume that the worst is behind him. Yet, to those who know what to look for, today’s text is a foreboding tale of the story to come. Be sure to share this with anyone who you think might be interested in […]

Jacob arrives in Haran and gets a lot more than he bargained for, from Uncle Laban and from God, in Genesis 29. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/patwachapter/message

Just when Jacob has escaped the clutches of Uncle Laban, Jacob goes out of the frying pan and into the fire, with Esau, the jilted older brother, coming straight for him. Pastor Ryan unpacks for us how, when God gets involved, this moment of reckoning turns into an unprecedented reconciliation.

Uncle Laban has tricked Jacob into marrying both of his daughters. Life gets complicated. God has blessed Leah with a child, and Rachel is jealous. So she concocts a plan to get her servant pregnant, but God intervenes and opens Rachel's womb. Jacob makes preparations to leave Laban and God appears telling him to go back to his homeland.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Discover life-giving keys to making peace with difficult people; from the story of Jacob and his trickster - father in law - Uncle Laban.

Trickery or as some would call it flat out deception seems to be a familiar theme surrounding Jacob. Genesis 28-30 is centered around Jacob and his Uncle Laban. Where deceive or be deceived may be a fitting title to describe Jacob's family mantra. When Jacob made it to Paddan Aram, he met his Uncle Laban along with his daughters Leah and Rachel. Now we are going to explore the events of this “Family Reunion”. This week we also feature a special guest, Daniel Bellamy. Be Blessed and enjoy! Please follow, like and share our podcast with a friend or family member!

Jesus never leaves us unexpectedly. We know He came to save us. We know He had to leave for the Holy Spirit to come. We know He will return, and, in the meantime, we should be working, watching, and waiting. And we know that in the end, He will be victorious. In today's message, Pastor Bill encourages us to be this courteous to those around us. Be Jesus to them. Don't just leave or walk away from someone forever, like Jacob tried to do with his Uncle Laban. Forgive and reconcile. Love them and be kind.

Jacob knows that it is time to leave his Uncle Laban and return home. That will mean facing his brother who had wanted to kill him 20 years earlier. It seemed that God had told him to go home, but would God protect him?

Jacob knows that it is time to leave his Uncle Laban and return home. That will mean facing his brother who had wanted to kill him 20 years earlier. It seemed that God had told him to go home, but would God protect him?

Jacob knows that it is time to leave his Uncle Laban and return home. That will mean facing his brother who had wanted to kill him 20 years earlier. It seemed that God had told him to go home, but would God protect him?

The dueling deceiver saga continues. Jacob realizes that he must escape the clutches of his Uncle Laban. Jacob gets insight into the heart of God in these circumstances.

Jacob had been a deceiver most of his life. Now he has met his match in his Uncle Laban. God has told Laban that he is blessed because of Jacob, but still Laban deceives Jacob. When have you had to deal with a schemer?

Jacob had been a deceiver most of his life. Now he has met his match in his Uncle Laban. God has told Laban that he is blessed because of Jacob, but still Laban deceives Jacob. When have you had to deal with a schemer?

The dueling deceiver saga continues. Jacob realizes that he must escape the clutches of his Uncle Laban. Jacob gets insight into the heart of God in these circumstances.

Jacob had been a deceiver most of his life. Now he has met his match in his Uncle Laban. God has told Laban that he is blessed because of Jacob, but still Laban deceives Jacob. When have you had to deal with a schemer?

The dueling deceiver saga continues. Jacob realizes that he must escape the clutches of his Uncle Laban. Jacob gets insight into the heart of God in these circumstances.

Summary: How do we wrestle with the realities and complexities of our family situations today? How do we properly sort through the blessedness and the brokenness? Is it worth it to dig up all the dirt in order to move forward? How do we identify and interact with our biological families and the world given that Scripture tells us that when we're united to God through Christ we become a member of a new family?Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit MosaicBoston.com.Man, it's hard to get up here and preach after Caleb and Pastor Shane pray, basically do a full sermon. Good morning. My name is Andy. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. If you're new to Mosaic, we're thrilled to have you here. In our bulletins, we have a connection card. We want to get to know you. We went to live in community with you and let you know about what we have to offer in terms of community groups, service groups. You can hand those in at our welcome center if you want a special gift.Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to you today with various family backgrounds. Lord, some of us come from brokenness. Some of us know blessedness very well. Some of us it's a mixed bag. Lord, we try to make sense of it of ourselves, and sometimes we identify ourselves too much by the brokenness, too much by the blessedness. We stray from clinging to who we are in you. Lord, we pray, please help us to define ourselves by who we are in your family through our faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to know how to face our families with our new identity, face the world with our new identity. Lord, we pray, help us to lean in to you, the true source of love today.Holy Spirit, please be with us as we dealt into some difficult, potentially painful topics for some of us here today. Let your Spirit comfort us. Let your Spirit guide us. Let your spirit keep our gaze on Jesus Christ, on the cross. Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.Today, we're continuing our series. It's called Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. Despite our personal preferences to choose a side of Jesus that we like, Jesus was a man who came and told us to love our enemy. If he turns and speaks against us or hits us, he told us to give the other cheek, but he was a man who spoke hard and firm truth. He was not one or the other. He split both sides right in the middle. He walked that narrow path in life.We've been talking on some difficult topics to breed resilience in ourselves as Christians. We're trying to give you all a vision for what it would be like if our society was filled with people just like Jesus, tough and tender. Today, we're making sense of our family origins and we're going to be asking how do we embrace the blessedness and face the brokenness. How do we face what's good in the right way, face what's bad in the right way as well?Why bring this up in this series? Why bring this up at this specific moment in history in Boston? First of all, at Mosaic, family or origin issues are the most common issue that comes up. I was in my residency role the past year, and just time and time again so many people come to me and say, "Andy, you don't know just what it was like in my family."We're a young congregation. A lot of us come from brokenness, and we're at the point where we're learning how to move forward from that with our new identities in Christ. Some of us are even scared that we have just those difficult family members, those influential family members, those shepherds of our past that were not good influences. We're afraid sometimes that we're appearing to be just like them.Some of us come from strong families with a good Christian heritage. As we're getting older, we're realizing that our parents are not perfect. The people that once fulfilled your every need that seemed perfect and indestructible, you realize as you come of age that they're not perfect.Even those of us who come from a strong background, a strong family heritage, a strong faith tradition or denomination, it can be even harder for us to see the brokenness in our situation. Today, we need to ... We all come from families. We all have brokenness that we need to deal with.We don't just need to talk about this because we're a young church. God is the creator of the family. There's a lot of therapeutic approaches, a lot of theories going around about how to help people to reconcile both the good and the bad of their past. The Bible is all about a family. God creates Adam and Eve in the garden, and he lives in perfect communion with then before they sin. They sin in Genesis 3, and for the rest of the book, all 66 books, it's a story about God trying to unite his family. Man sins over and over again. God keeps pursuing them, pursuing them, pursuing them. We need to turn to God to enter into this conversation.Just a lot of the therapeutic strategies out there, they harp on the past. They suggest delving into the past. If you take a look back at your life, you can learn more about yourself, and that can help you move forward. If you can find the deficiencies of your upbringing, you can figure out ways to address them and be stronger going forward. If you can shed the influence of your parents and the morality that they introduced to you, you'll finally be free to be great, the great and accomplished person that you were created to be.These approaches in which looking back, they're particularly attractive to those of us with broken family backgrounds. Since the garden, Adam and Eve, when they sinned, what did they do? God came to them acting as if he didn't know what they did, and he asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" They both hid. They're trying to hide the shame of their sin. They both point the finger at each other. They're trying to deflect the blame. The problem with some of these approaches that say look back, look back, look back to move forward is that it appeals to that fallen nature within ourselves to cover up, to point the finger, to blame others.Then on the other side, there's a way of looking back at the good things that's promoted using nostalgia. Andrew Abeyta, a researcher at Rutgers-Camden University published an article in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2015 about looking back to move forward. It suggest how one can use nostalgia as a psychological resource for promoting relationship goals and overcoming relationship challenges. It's an interesting article, and it seems that relying on nostalgia can be influential in helping us overcome challenges in relationships, and I think that captures a lot of those people who come from good backgrounds.When things in life get difficult, when we face challenges, when relationships break down, especially for the first time, we cling to the past. We go on saying if things could only be the way they were with my family, I would have peace again. If only I had success in this area, I would just have peace and joy. We're like Bruce Springsteen singing Glory Days over and over again, and we just keep trying to relive them. We go on trying to satisfy our lack of satisfaction in our hearts just by just pursuing and feeding our co-dependence, going to relationship to relationship, church community to church community, job to job, finding friends with whom we can pursue squad goals, but we never get ultimate satisfaction. We never grow substantially, and we struggle to engage in relationships and live in the present.Today, I don't want to argue about the dynamics of modern counseling approaches. I don't want to say don't go to counseling. If you are in a desperate situation, come talk to the pastors. Talk to people in your community group. Talk to pastors. We have our prayer team up here after the service as well. If you just during the week have nowhere to go, pursue that care. But I just want to point out these issues, these treatments, they're mainly forces of nursing. They're only treating minor internal issues. It's like putting a new kitchen in a house when the foundation is damaged.In Christianity, it's neither nature or nurture, nursing nor nostalgia that determines a person's direction in life. It's the nativity that makes people new. As fallen sinners, only faith in Jesus can fix our foundation.Today, I want to talk about in order to face the blessedness and brokenness of our earthly family like Jesus, we should embrace a new family identity, face family as a lamb, face family as a lion, face family with God. Obviously, I'm keeping, if you've been with us, with the lion and lamb imagery, but I promise that I won't have 10 sub points in this sermon. I really wanted to, but I want to sit on some of this other stuff today.Where do I get these instructions from? Embrace a new family identity, face family as a lamb, face family as a lion, face family with God. I get this from James 1:1 to 5. Please listen along as I read God's Word. "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 disciples in the Dispersion: Greetings. scattered among the nations: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."Embrace a new family identity. If any of you know the book of James, as I'm sure many of you do, and just listening to this text, you learn that this is not a book specifically about family. It's not about how to deal with your family brokenness and blessedness. Some of you might be asking, why are we here?What makes this text relevant is who James is talking to. Verse 1, "James, a servant of God," he's speaking to the 12 tribes of the Dispersion. That's he's speaking to the Dispersion. That's language in reference to just the Jews. They were spread throughout the region. He's calling them my brothers. He's writing ... James is the brother of Jesus. He's writing to Jewish brothers, Jewish Christians.Just what's so important to emphasize here is this audience. Like we think we have it bad in Boston. Like we face some intellectual persecution. It's hard to find a Christian date or partner, because there's so few Christians here. Raising a kid here, we think it's difficult, like fighting the squirrels away in the Boston Common. We think like we have it tough, but first century Jewish Christians had it really tough.This is something that a lot of us, it doesn't make sense. Christianity seemed to have taken off at Jerusalem, but you have to remember the Christians of this day, they were mainly in lands occupied by Roman pagan soldiers. These soldiers did not, and the rulers, governors didn't hesitate to rule with an iron fist if they didn't like someone, didn't like a group.But just with that lingering potential persecution, the Jews had to deal with persecution from other Jews. We think of the apostle Paul when he was Saul, just pursuing them jealously. But not just in public, but they faced persecution within their own families. You have to think like for a Jew to leave their family, a cult steeped in tradition, we're talking about people who knew their family heritage. They should state it orally going back hundreds and hundreds years. Like this, becoming a Christian in that day was the ultimate betrayal.We think of a Red Sox fan switching to the Yankees, Barcelona fans switching to Real Madrid, a modern Democrat switching to Republican. I'll stop. Juliet Capulet marrying Romeo Montague. Forgive my French. More seriously, like an orthodox Jew or devout Muslim becoming Christian today. These Jews were people that would've had to scrounge to survive. When they gathered for worship, they would have been on the lookout for zealots. They would have been on the lookout for the Roman authorities.Just scriptural support from this comes from Galatians 2:7 to 10. "On the contrary." This is the apostle Paul talking about some of his early interactions after his conversion. "On the contrary, when they," the church in Jerusalem, "Saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, and when James, and Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do."The poor that Paul's talking about in verse 10, these are Jewish Christians. When you read through the book of Acts and Paul's other writings, you find that you on his missionary journeys traveled across the region towards Europe to collect money, hundreds of miles of travel, and take it back to the Jews in Jerusalem, because in such a heavily populated Jewish area they were the poorest Christians. They were facing really difficult circumstances.Therefore, the book of James, it's not specifically about our earthly family, our biological family, but it's a book written by a pastor with a congregation full of people who had extreme family issues. If they weren't steadfast in their faith, they were always wavering over whether to continue to face the potential persecution and abandonment for the sake of Christ, or they could return to their families where they had heritage, they had peace, they had comfort.This is specific advice, and this begs the question, why would these Jewish Christians leave their families? Why would they risk this persecution and this abandonment? Some of them did choose to leave. Others were kicked out.Obviously, I mean most people are logical. They don't just leave something just because. They typically choose something because it's better than the previous option. Scripture talks about believers in Christ, they have a place in the kingdom of heaven. "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and tells all that he has and buys the field." These early Jews believed that, Jewish Christians.The early church heeded the words and took these words literally. "And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands for my name's sake will receive 100-fold and will inherit eternal life." They believed that, and following Jesus Christ they had a means of salvation of peace before God, but also an eternal inheritance.They also believed they're joining a new family with access to a father. Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also give him ... how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" They have a new heavenly Father that will never fail them.Finally, in Ephesians it talks about they're joining this line with all the faithful saints and prophets of old, united by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."These people, these are benefits that the early Jewish Christians just saw and they wanted to ... They took them up. They left for the better option, but they also would have known the scriptures. Just when you read through scripture, again it's about a family.I just want to take you through the brokenness presented in Genesis, and these Jewish Christians, they were the ones, not their families who stayed devout Jews, these were the ones who knew that Jesus was the Messiah. He was just the figure they looked for all along.You think of Adam and Eve. They immediately disobey God in the garden. Their firstborn kills his younger brother. Abraham and Sarah, who received God's promise, because of infertility, Sarah gives Abraham and concubine and then gets mad and jealous when she gets pregnant. Lot, Abraham's nephew, gets drunk. His daughters get him drunk, they seduce him, commit incest.Isaac and Rebekah, Isaac, Abraham's son, they play favorites with their twins, whose sibling rivalry becomes one of the worst in history. That's Jacob and Esau. Esau has no discernment, sells his birthright for a bowl of soul. He marries a Canaanite woman. Jacob, he manipulates Esau to give him his birthright. He shows extreme favoritism to one child, Joseph.Uncle Laban, he deceives Jacob at one point. He makes Jacob work for years and years and years to offer him Rachel, the beautiful daughter, but he gives him Leah. Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped by a pagan, and then her brothers go and kill a whole village. Jacob's oldest son Reuben can't resist his incestuous desires. He sleeps with his father's concubine, the mother of some of his brothers. Ten of Jacob's sons, they plan to kill their brother, but instead they decide to sell him into slavery.Judah, one of Jacob's sons, as a widower he frequents prostitutes. This is the one who's Jesus ... who started the line towards Jesus. This occurs frequently enough that his daughter-in-law Tamar, whom he had dishonored, knew that she'd disguise himself with one. He slept with his daughter-in-law and got her pregnant.That's Genesis, but the list just begins. It's blunder in the Old Testament, blunder after blunder by the priests. Lots of false prophets. King David, a man after God's own heart, commits adultery. Solomon, after David unites the kingdom, he unwisely marries 1,000 women.I'm going, I'm going, but you read the Bible and a lot of Christian traditions talk about the Old Testament figures as heroes, and in many senses they were heroes in the sense that they pointed to Jesus Christ, but it's a whole story of brokenness. For the Jews of Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians of the early days, they would have been starving. They had read the scriptures. They studied them. Jesus was the fulfillment. He was finally that perfect figure, the one who fulfilled the Law, the second Adam that did not sin, the Christ, the Savior to whom all the prophets ... about whom all the prophets spoke of.These Jews, they were standing on a rock. They had a foundation. Were they to dwell on what they left behind? Are we to dwell on what we leave behind? Do we dwell on the good things, the bad things?The apostle Paul just captures the spirit of the mindset that Christians are supposed to take as they go forward. Philippians 3, "But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained."2 Corinthians 2, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Colossians 3, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."I hope I'm getting redundant here. This is a little bit in counter to the movement, the tendency not just of our current day, but of our flesh to want to look back to find excuses for our state of trouble, our state of pain, our state of affliction. In Christianity, it's a forward looking mindset.A lot of Christians, they never grow. They come to faith. They love the gospel. It brings joy to their soul and peace to their hearts, but a lot of them are like the lead character of The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes, the lead character. He's unjustly framed and thrown into jail, a medieval jail, and he's there for years. He sleeps on a dirt floor, just in isolation for years. After several years, he escapes and he righteously comes upon a great fortune, a buried treasure. He buys himself a great estate with a mansion and he tries to create a new identity as the Count of Monte Cristo. He has everything he ever dreamed of while living in his jail cell, but he can't completely shake his old identity. At one point, his servant discovers that despite his lavish mansion and bedroom, despite the comforts, the count still sleeps on the floor at night.That's a lot like us. We come to faith in Christ. We're privy to God as Father. We're privy to forgiveness. We're privy to the means of sanctification and grace, but we're still sleeping on the floor. We aren't owning our new identity. We're defined by our family background, both good and bad.What did those members of the early church dwell on and meditate on daily to walk forward? What news powered them each day to face the hardship that they faced? They had family wounds lingering. They had temptation to go back to the comforts and the traditions.At the heart of Christianity is a Savior who is both born into both blessedness and brokenness. Jesus was conceived out of marriage in a day and culture when it was socially and religiously preposterous. When he was brought to the temple, his parents gave the payment that was paid by the poorest of the Jewish community. He could have let his circumstances and dishonorable nature and birth define him, but he didn't.Jesus could have swung the other way. He was after all the Son of God. He could have proudly used his prodigious knowledge of the scriptures as a means to build us his title within the community. As the chosen one, the son whom the Father sent, the Son of David, Jesus could have used his powers and authority to garner earthly acclaim. Could have denied the cup and established an earthly kingdom, but he didn't.Jesus had every problem to wallow, every reason to wallow in the brokenness or to cling and bask in the pride stemming from his gifts and calling, but instead was a man whose entire identity was built on who he was in relation to his heavenly Father. When Jesus said, "Into your hands I commit my spirit," he experienced ultimate abandonment, despair, excruciating pain at the hands of his Father. He relinquished ultimate power, pedigree, wealth, acclaim. He offered himself completely to God and his purpose. He knew that his Father had the love and power to redeem such a tragic moment. He's wiling to set aside all vendettas and potential momentary exaltation for our eternal exaltation.We need to follow in the steps of Christ. We need to embrace our new family identity. We cling to our family, this new family identity. If you're not, this is waking up each day grounding yourself saying, "Lord, I am satisfied in you."But how do we interact with our earthly family? Are we to leave them, to break all ties with them? Matthew 19:29, are we to literally leave houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father and mother? We don't take that part literal. In some cases, yes. If they resist us and prevent us from worshiping God, we might have to take those steps, but it's the principle. Trust in God first. Follow God first. Be willing to give all of your life, even the slowest relationships with the people closest to you to follow him.If we are to continue to interact with them, how do we face them? This is point two, face family as sheep. This comes from James 1:1 again. Sorry. My favorite preacher can do like an hour with two words. "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." We get this just face family as sheep just by thinking about who James is.James is a man who could have pulled rank. James is the brother, the earthly brother of Jesus. His parents, Jesus' parents were Mary and the Holy Spirit. James's parents were Mary and Joseph. Look what he calls himself here, "James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ." This word for servant, that's doulos, servant, slave. Like he's saying I'm a slave of God and Jesus Christ, my brother who I grew up with. James in that day, he could have pulled rank. He's the pastor of the church in Jerusalem.Then in verse two, he calls his audience brothers. James has a lamb mentality. Even though Jesus was his earthly brother, James knew that Jesus was the Savior, and that just humbles him.This is the part of the sermon where I really could just give you 10 practical points of how do we face our families as humble lambs, humble sheep, but I think ... and giving you those 10 sub points. But I just want to pause here. I don't want to be too firm, but I just want to ask some pointed questions. Some people come to church week after week for year after year. They're scribbling down the 10 sub points every week. They're at community group. They're giving faithfully, but there's heartache tied to family brokenness that they can ignore for decades.Just thinking about James, a man, a pastor, Jesus' brother, well studied in the scriptures, lots of wisdom, he shows his humility. He doesn't pull rank. He united himself with his congregation. I ask, who in your family could you pull rank on? Who are the people you're pulling rank on? By that I mean with whom do you have the high moral ground? Have you forgiven them? Have you pursued reconciliation?Who in your family has sinned against you? Who's that person that you're avoiding just because the history is too complex? Who are you tempted to blame for the many problems in your life? What are you doing to pursue that person's salvation? What are you doing to pursue that person's sanctification if they are a Christian?Colossians 3 says, "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."Luke 6:27 to 31. "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."A lot of Christians love these verses, and like a lot of you who will hear this, shake your head. This sounds great, but there's often that one person or those few people in everyone's life for whom we make an exception to these verses. The wounds, the bitterness that we carry from not pursuing reconciliation, from not forgiving, man, they're obvious to everyone but you.It doesn't have to be a family member. It doesn't have to be. It could be a friend, a schoolmate, a whole race of people. Who do you need to forgive? A lot of people when I counsel, I can sit with people and meet with them regularly for a year, and they try to act like I don't notice, but I can meet with them once a month for a year, I never hear about that estranged mother. I never hear about that estranged father.A lot of those people, you might be thinking, "You don't know my situation. You don't know what I've been through." Like that's ... you're right. I honestly knew I was born into blessing, born into a Christian home, raised in the church. I was trained to thank God for that. Like my compassion, I'm so thankful that I didn't have to deal with some of the trauma, some of the pain, physical and emotional, that a lot of you had. But I don't know it, but the Lord does. Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."Forgiveness, faces your family members as a lamb, it doesn't mean trusting the person. It doesn't mean becoming best friends with them. It doesn't mean letting them back in as if nothing ever happened. It doesn't mean that you don't put up boundaries upon reengaging. It certainly doesn't mean that you put up with physical abuse. At Mosaic, we do not support that. If anybody is experiencing that, if anybody is facing that, let us know. Let us know how we can help you do whatever you can to get out of your situation.Forgiveness means committing in your soul to leave a situation in God's hands, to trust that he will ultimately bring justice, and therefore that you won't hold a sin against the person anymore. You commit not to bring the sin up, not to dwell on it in your heart, not to let it fester and stir up bitterness and self pity. Some people who are victims of just traumatic assault and tragedy, you don't take on the burden for the wounds afflicted against you. We all born in the image of Adam are sinners. We have to turn to Christ in faith to deal with our sin, but we don't ... you are not responsible for that sin.Brandt Jean, a young African-American man, made an amazing courtroom statement a few weeks ago to a former white female police officer, Amber Guyger. Amber shot his brother. In the statement, Brandt told her that he forgave her. He wanted her to go to God with her guilt to ask for forgiveness. He told her that the best thing he thinks she could do was to give her life to Christ. He told her that he loved her as a person, told her that he didn't wish that she served time, and he wanted to hug her.That was just an extreme, beautiful example of forgiveness, but we don't have to use his specific language. We don't have to want to hug them. We don't have to wish that people don't serve proper and just legal time or face proper civil punishment. But we're called to be good stewards, not just of our finances as we learned last week, but good stewards of God's love and grace.1 John 3:16 to 18 says, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth." James is also famous for saying, "Faith without works is dead." If you know God's love, you're a steward. You share it. You give it to others.What's at stake when we don't cling to our new identity? What's at stake when we don't face our families, family members like sheep? We go back to James and talk about facing family as a lion. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."James tells his brothers to count it joy. That's what's at stake when we're not clinging to our new identity, when we're not facing our family as lambs. We're losing out on joy. Additionally, we're losing out on steadfastness that leads to perfection that leads to completeness that feels like we're lacking nothing, a perfect soul satisfaction.Throughout the book, again it's a book specifically about family, James lists many trying situations as tests, poverty, suffering, sickness. It also lists many good situations as tests of faith. Are you wealthy, healthy, in a new job, in a new city, in a position of authority? He's saying, "Surely you're going to face trials in this life," but we can apply that and say you are going to face trials in your family life.James kind of has a madman's mentality. We don't just ... A lot of people go through that honeymoon phase and you're just shocked when that first trial comes upon us, upon you. But he says count it joy. That trial, especially those within our family, that's a stamp of God's love on your life. We think of this as awful. Like the last thing that I want to do when I see my family is dig up the dirt, bring out the areas where there isn't reconciliation, bring out the areas that have just not been addressed for years.I heard a song on the radio somewhere in the low 90s, where you never know what you're going to get. It was a country song by Uncle Johnny and the Bullfrogs. No, it wasn't actually called that. I heard ... It was on like the scan mode. I heard one line, and it said, "You want the spark, but not the burn." That's a lot of us in relation to our families, and even in our Christian life. We want the good things.When I see my family, like I'm tempted to visit. I just want to visit nice places, eat, drink, turn on the TV, avoid, do all that I can to avoid those difficult conversations, reminisce, and avoid that conversation of, "Mom, dad, are you going to church? Mom, dad, are you pursuing your relationship with God? Siblings, where are you on your faith?" We want the spark. We want the good things, but we don't want the burn. If you do family right, in the church and in your nuclear families, like there should be some burn.That's the benefit of family. By your connection through blood, you have a naturally stronger connection. You can risk hard conversations. You can risk poking and nudging, and they are still tied to you, whether they like it or not. Of course, pursue them in gentleness, love, respect, but take advantage of the fact that your family, whether they disagree with you or not, like they have to stay connected to you. It's just that intimacy that you have just in being fully known yet fully loved that we experience in family that points to the love that's complete and perfect in God.Just in scripture, this 1 Corinthians 7, Paul tells his audience stay where you are in many situations. We need to ... The first instinct is to book it from our families, but we have to take advantage of the roots and connections we have with people. Show them you've changed. How can you convince the people in your life that you've changed through your relationship with Jesus if you're never around them, if you don't even know them beyond a shallow level?This is hard. When you're living far away, like many of us here, whether you're a single or a young couple living away from family, or whether you're parents here living away from your children or parents, it's really hard to do this from a distance, but you need to be creative. Be practical. How can you engage your family members? As a church plant, we really want you to stay, but we need you to invest.Why do we do this with our family? Why do we pursue them with zeal? It's out of response, out of love, out of gratitude for Jesus, for God who continued to pursue us and pursue us, pursue his people over and over again. I went through the Genesis sin trail just to illustrate man's brokenness. God pursues us as a good shepherd seeking that one lost sheep out of the 99.Why do this in our family? James 5:19 says it's good for them. "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from ..." This is the last words of the book. "If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."That family member that hurt you, just that person I asked you to think about or those few people, do you really want them to have eternal separation, eternal condemnation from God? When God pours out his wrath on the world, do you want them to taste that as Jesus once did?Also, why pursue our family with zeal? Why not just sit back and relax with them all the time? It breeds steadfastness, perfection, completeness. You learn it's more blessed to give than to receive. It's more blessed to be a blessing. Your tastes and desires change from things that you like to things that are good and godly. You go from drinking coffee with sugar to drinking black coffee, drinking soda to water. Do you really want full soul satisfaction? Pursue the salvation of those people around you, the people who you are most naturally connected to in this life to bring about salvation, to be used to bring about salvation as your earthly family.It's painful. Count it all joy when you receive kinds of various trials. I hate trials. In my own marriage, I hate when Joyce and I have a disagreement. It's not just an argument. Any form of disagreement I want to avoid, but by God's grace I've learned the benefit. I've learned the joyful part of it. She's often just like spewing truth after truth after truth at me, and I don't want to hear it, but in the back of my mind ... Sometimes I'm spewing out bitterness, saying, "No, no, no." At the back of my mind though, I'm learning to say, "Yes, yes, yes. This is rooting out the impurities of my soul. This is good for me. This is good for our marriage. We are growing here, and I want more of it."I'm calling you to face your family as lions. Facing family as a lamb, that's the heart that we have. Face your family as lions, pursue their salvation with the zeal of the lion going after its prey.Now, face family with God. We're not alone in doing this work. Clinging to your identity in Christ just daily, that's difficult. Pursuing those family members with the heart of a sheep, those people that you don't want to pursue and just being constant in it like a lion, it's tiring, it's confusing, often don't know what you want to do. James 5 gives us some comfort. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him."James wrote for this people about church problems, but we certainly need to ask God for wisdom in engaging our families. For many of us, we'll find satisfaction with the words that we can pursue God without reproach. He's a Father that's never going to tire of us coming into his presence to ask for wisdom, ask for discernment, ask how to navigate the situation.Why is that the case? Like there's a connection when we do that, when we humble ourselves to the point that we say, "God, I need you. I needed Jesus to go to the cross to die for me, to save me from my sin. I need your help right now in this moment to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. I need your wisdom to deal with this difficult family situation right here." That's a correction. That's a recalibration of who we are before God. That's the position we were originally created to be.Adam, his first relationship was not with Eve. It was before God, having peace with God. Adam walked in the garden, tilled the garden. He named the animals with God. He always needed God to guide him and to be submissive to him. We are creatures. God is the creator. When we're in this position properly, when we see our need for God, we're able to see our family situations properly. Just notice, if any of your lacks nothing at the beginning of the verse, like this is saying God offers us everything. We see family properly.Some of you are expecting too much from your families. Some of you place way too much pressure on your fathers and your mothers, whatever were those primary figures in your life, those shepherds. You want them to fill the ... those old shepherds to fill the role that only the one great and true shepherd could fulfill. Family is designed in this life to not fully satisfy. It's only when we're in relation to God, submitting to him, turning to him, being reliant upon him that we are in our proper place, that we can have full satisfaction, that we can have peace, that we can feel fully secure, that we can see, just understand, make sense of the blessedness that we've tasted, not make idols out of that, and make sense of the brokenness. God, how are you using this brokenness that I've experienced for your glory? It doesn't make sense, but I trust you.To close, I just want to read Isaiah 58:9 to 11. This is the prophet Isaiah. "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, 'Here am I.' If you do away with the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones. And you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."Do you want that? Just turn to him, position yourself properly before the Lord. You'll know how to make sense of your family situation. Please join me in prayer.Lord, we praise you that we don't have to be people that look back. We don't have to be constantly searching for a new identity. Lord, we have a sure foundation in you. You're a good Father that loves his children, and pursues them, and pursues them, and pursues them even when they sin against him, and yet you still offer eternal riches. Lord, we just pray that we would cling to you, cling to who we are through you, and that would give us a heart to pursue our families, a heart to pursue them with the proper heart of humility, with love, with grace, with gentleness, and also a zeal to be constant in the pursuit.Lord, we pray, help us to find rest, find peace, find completeness, perfection, full soul satisfaction when we pause to turn and gaze upon you and ask you for guidance as we just wait upon the day that you return. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Welcome to our discussion about VaYetze, where Jacob flees to his Uncle Laban's house and does some vivid dreaming along the way. In this episode, Aaron and Rabbi Bienenfeld discuss: How does Jacob's dream prepare him for life in exile?Do we believe in love at first sight?How sympathetic is Laban?How prepared was Jacob for encountering Laban?What is the deeper significance of Lavan's swapping Leah for Rachel?Please subscribe and like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Portion-1840699399318632/?view_public_for=1840699399318632