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God uses flawed folks - Uplifting Sermon- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Minsed with scales. Not fish scales, but the kind of
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  Speaker 1: scales that tell you how much you weigh. I've stood
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  Speaker 1: on the scales and stared at the number and said, no, no,
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  Speaker 1: you can't be right. You can't be right. You're inaccurate,
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  Speaker 1: you're over weighing me. I'm not that heavy. You're wrong.
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  Speaker 1: But the scales never reply, They never argue, The scales
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  Speaker 1: never defend themselves. Does no good to argue with scales
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  Speaker 1: about your weight? Did you already know that? Does no good?
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  Speaker 1: To argue with the mirror about your appearance. I've done
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  Speaker 1: that too. Some years ago, Deanland commented, thank you honey,
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  Speaker 1: on my bald spot. Apparently it was spreading on my
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  Speaker 1: scalp years before I noticed it, But thanks to my wife,
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  Speaker 1: I'm ignorant no longer. I hurried to the bathroom mirror,
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  Speaker 1: and I held up a hand mirror so I could
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  Speaker 1: see the back of my head. There it was, sitting
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  Speaker 1: on my scalp like a yamica, spreading like an amoeba.
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  Speaker 1: There it was. You've seen monks who have a saucer
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  Speaker 1: sized circle on their heads. Well, I qualify I could
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  Speaker 1: be a monk. I follow my complaint with the mirrors.
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  Speaker 1: You must be incorrect. No reply. They like the bathroom
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  Speaker 1: scales are impervious to objections, so is the radar gun.
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  Speaker 1: You're laughing because you've argued with the radar gun, haven't you.
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  Speaker 1: That can't be true. Officer I was not speeding the
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  Speaker 1: radar gun says otherwise. End of discussion. Case closed, no
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  Speaker 1: rebuttal allowed. It's hard to deny the facts when the
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  Speaker 1: facts skit stare you square in the face. In the
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  Speaker 1: story of Jacob, God gave him a faith full of
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  Speaker 1: facts in a distant land by the name of Haran.
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  Speaker 1: You'll need to make note of that because this is
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  Speaker 1: where Jacob is going to be for a while. Haron
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  Speaker 1: h R A. N. You'll find his twenty years sojourn there.
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  Speaker 1: One of the most curious, intriguing, and entertaining stories in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible. Can a man actually marry one woman all
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  Speaker 1: the while thinking he's marrying someone else? Would a swindler
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  Speaker 1: ever be outswindled by another swindler? Genesis twenty nine offers answers.
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  Speaker 1: Before we follow Jacob up to Haran, can we just
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  Speaker 1: review the storyline we're in Lesson number five of a
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  Speaker 1: twelve part series on the life of Jacob, and we're
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  Speaker 1: seeing that God is shaping Jacob. From the top of
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  Speaker 1: Jacob's ladder. God spoke to him, and he said, in
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  Speaker 1: your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
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  Speaker 1: So Jacob has a royal responsibility. He's a player in
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  Speaker 1: Heaven's highest quest, the deliverance of Jesus to Earth. God
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  Speaker 1: had high plans for Jacob, but Jacob had deep flaws.
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  Speaker 1: His rap sheet included words like cheater, trickster, drifter, grifter,
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  Speaker 1: but God kept him on the team. Oh. I know,
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  Speaker 1: because when you read the story of Jacob, he really
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  Speaker 1: seems more at home in a Las Vegas casino than
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  Speaker 1: a church sanctuary. He's a bit of a mess, this Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: And aren't we all? If you're not, I harken back
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  Speaker 1: to the opening paragraph of the opening message and say again,
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  Speaker 1: then this story is not for you. If your halo
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  Speaker 1: sits like a tiara on your royal head, if your
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  Speaker 1: doubts are non existent, then you're going to find Jacob
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  Speaker 1: to be a flop. The rest of us find Jacob
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  Speaker 1: to be a friend like him. Our spiritual walk seems
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  Speaker 1: to follow this crooked path. Our spiritual cheese keeps falling
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  Speaker 1: off our crackers. Our bad habits have a way of
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  Speaker 1: scuttling our good intentions. And we wonder sometimes we wonder,
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  Speaker 1: don't we all wonder? Does God have a place for
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  Speaker 1: someone like me? The answer, through Jacob is God uses
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  Speaker 1: flawed folks. He uses flawed folks. He keeps us on
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  Speaker 1: a team. He will use us, but He needs to
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  Speaker 1: shape us in order to use us. Indulge a couple
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  Speaker 1: of big words here that Theologians use to describe this process,
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  Speaker 1: justification and sanctification. Justification happens when we give our lives
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  Speaker 1: to Christ. We are justified. Sanctification happens as we grow
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  Speaker 1: in our relationship with Christ. We're in the process of
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  Speaker 1: being sanctified. Justification is a one time, irrevocable event, entirely
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  Speaker 1: God's work, perfectly complete. At the moment it happens, you
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  Speaker 1: cannot be more justified than you already are. It's the
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  Speaker 1: same for all Christians. Sanctification, however, is the process of
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  Speaker 1: being turned into a saint. Sanctification We are being sanctified,
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  Speaker 1: increasingly made holy, and this process continues throughout life. Every event,
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  Speaker 1: every encounter, every experience is God's way of sanctifying us,
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  Speaker 1: and it requires our participation. This work has never complete
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  Speaker 1: this side of heaven, and it's greater in some than
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  Speaker 1: it is in others. So the terms are simple. Justification
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  Speaker 1: is God's work for you. Sanctification is God's work in you. You,
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  Speaker 1: like Jacob, or a part of God's team. You're a
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  Speaker 1: part of his courier delivery system of hope. You, like Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: have a few areas in your life that are a
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  Speaker 1: bit rough, and so he pulls out, excuse me, the
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  Speaker 1: sandpaper and helps us deal with our foibles, helps us
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  Speaker 1: deal with our flaws. Paul said, So God is at
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  Speaker 1: work in you, where in you both to will and
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  Speaker 1: to work his good pleasure. This is rehiter reiterated in
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  Speaker 1: a book called Hebrews, where the writer says that God
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  Speaker 1: will equip you with everything good that you may do
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  Speaker 1: His will working where church in you that which is
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  Speaker 1: pleasing in his sight. It really helps you to know
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  Speaker 1: that God is working in you. And sometimes this work
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  Speaker 1: is a blessing. Sometimes this work feels like a burden.
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  Speaker 1: But you are being shaped just as Jacob was. You
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  Speaker 1: are being shaped every event. Every day, God takes you
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  Speaker 1: into his workshop and he works on you and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: he will take us to our version of Harn. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Jacob's version of this dis country sat some five hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty miles from southern Israel, where our story begins,
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  Speaker 1: and in order to reach Iran, he had to travel
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  Speaker 1: east across the Jordan River north toward Damascus, east to Tadmore,
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  Speaker 1: and then make a sharp north for the final leg
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  Speaker 1: of his journey. It took him over the Euphrates River,
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  Speaker 1: landing him in what is today the southern portion of
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  Speaker 1: Turkey Mesopotamia. Excuse me, His mother came up with this
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  Speaker 1: plan of sending him to Ran. Does anyone remember his
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  Speaker 1: mother's name, Yes, Rebecca. Her plan was simple, send Jacob
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  Speaker 1: to a safe place where he could stay with her brother.
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  Speaker 1: His name, her brother's name, you'll need to know as well,
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  Speaker 1: was Laban Laba in Laban. She wanted to send Jacob
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  Speaker 1: there for just a few months so that Esau's anger
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  Speaker 1: could subside. And while he's up there, you never know,
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  Speaker 1: he might meet a pretty sweet young thing and come
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  Speaker 1: home with a wife. So Jacob thought he was going
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  Speaker 1: to Huran to hang out with Laban and maybe meet
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  Speaker 1: a wife. God, however, sent Jacob to Hurran so that
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  Speaker 1: Jacob could step on the scales. It was time for
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  Speaker 1: him to look in the mirror. It was time for
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  Speaker 1: him to read the radar gun. It was time for
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  Speaker 1: Jacob to face the facts about Jacob. Turns out Jacob
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  Speaker 1: had not a bald spot, but a blind spot. So
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  Speaker 1: here's what happened. The first thing that Jacob saw in
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  Speaker 1: Huran was a well, and the well was covered and
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  Speaker 1: protected by a large stone, a stone so large that
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  Speaker 1: it required at least three men to move it. Three
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  Speaker 1: shepherds stood near the stone. Jacob asked the shepherds if
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  Speaker 1: they knew a man by the name of Laban. They
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  Speaker 1: said they did. Well. Jacob was in conversation with them,
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  Speaker 1: Rachel came up with her father's sheep. She was the shepherd.
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  Speaker 1: The moment Jacob spotted Rachel, daughter of Laban, his mother's
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  Speaker 1: brother saw her arriving with his uncle Laban's sheep. He
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  Speaker 1: went and single handedly rolled the stone from the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of the well. You can chuckle a little bit here,
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  Speaker 1: and he watered the sheep of his uncle. Then he
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  Speaker 1: kissed Rachel and broke into tears. Oh what a moment.
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  Speaker 1: Let's imagine Rachel with dark hair that is gathered at
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  Speaker 1: the nape of her neck with a scarlet string. She
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  Speaker 1: has eyes the color of chocolate and shaped like almonds.
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  Speaker 1: Her chin has a slight cleft. She shepherds this flock,
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  Speaker 1: waving a willow branch and walking in grace. Oh, she's
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  Speaker 1: a portrait of charm. This Rachel and Jacob would have
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  Speaker 1: agreed one side of her. And did you see what
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  Speaker 1: he did? He ripped open his shirt, exposing the s
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  Speaker 1: on his chest, and he flexed his pecks, and he
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  Speaker 1: pressed his shoulder against the stone, and he gave it
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  Speaker 1: a heave, and one man did what three men were
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  Speaker 1: needed to do. The stone gave way. And then he
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  Speaker 1: did what no one hang on to your hat, what
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  Speaker 1: no one imagined he would do. Then he kissed Rachel,
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  Speaker 1: and he broke into tears. Now, the commentaries I read
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  Speaker 1: to prepare for this message agree that this was probably
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  Speaker 1: a respectful and expected peck on the cheek. I disagree.
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  Speaker 1: I see more passion in this moment. I see him
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  Speaker 1: cupping her beautiful face in his hands, and him planting
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  Speaker 1: a kiss on her like it was their wedding day.
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  Speaker 1: And then he broke into tears. He buried his face
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  Speaker 1: in her neck, and he wept. He wept at the
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  Speaker 1: thought that the journey was over. He wept at the
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  Speaker 1: possibility that the wife was found. He wept that he,
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  Speaker 1: Jacob ever, the grifter and drifter, the cheat, the swindler,
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  Speaker 1: would be given a woman this beautiful. The name Rachel
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  Speaker 1: means you, not y oh you, but ewe as in
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  Speaker 1: you lamb. The moment Jacob saw her, he said, I
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  Speaker 1: want you. Y'all don't know how long it takes to
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  Speaker 1: think these things up. He immediately asked her father, what
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  Speaker 1: was his name, Laban? If he could marry her. Here's Laban.
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  Speaker 1: Prepare yourself part p T. Barnum part Bernie Madoff both
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  Speaker 1: circus promoter and Ponsi meister. The guy could put his
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  Speaker 1: arm around your shoulder and slip the wallet out of
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  Speaker 1: your hip pocket and you'd never know it. He wore
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  Speaker 1: a silk shirt unbuttoned all the way down to the navel,
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  Speaker 1: and a gold chain around his neck and gold rings
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  Speaker 1: on each pinky. He had grocery store hair dye. The
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  Speaker 1: color of his hair didn't match his sideburns, and he
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  Speaker 1: gave Jacob squeeze, Oh, Rebecca's boy, We've been waiting for you.
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  Speaker 1: You will come to my tent. You will live in
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  Speaker 1: my house. You will want for nothing as long as
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  Speaker 1: you are here. Within an hour, Jacob was lounging on
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  Speaker 1: a carpet with his uncle, eating olives and drinking wine
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  Speaker 1: and discussing Laban's daughters. Jacob, who had moved the stone
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  Speaker 1: to impress Rachel, was willing to move heaven and earth
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  Speaker 1: to marry her. What would you take in exchange for
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  Speaker 1: the hand of Rachel. Laban put his hand over his heart. Oh, Rachel,
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  Speaker 1: m I could never give up my precious Rachel. I'll
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  Speaker 1: work for her, Jacob said, Oh, I could never accept
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  Speaker 1: the labor of my sister's son. I'll tend your flocks
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  Speaker 1: for a year. Oh, but Rachel, she is my special daughter.
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  Speaker 1: I'll serve for three years. But Rachel is just so beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: Four years, back and forth they volleyed, until finally Jacob
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  Speaker 1: agreed to work seven years for only room and board,
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  Speaker 1: if only he could marry Rachel. Remember this is Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: Remember he's the grandson of Abraham, who was a wealthy man,
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  Speaker 1: maybe the wealthiest in the Promised Land. And here he
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  Speaker 1: is working for free. Either Rachel was dropped dead gorgeous
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  Speaker 1: or Laban with Charlotte and Shrewd I suspect both were
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  Speaker 1: the case. Some of the Bible's most poetic language was
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  Speaker 1: used to describe the romance between Jacob and Rachel. Still
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  Speaker 1: your beating heart as you read this. So Jacob served
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  Speaker 1: seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few
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  Speaker 1: days to him because of the love he had for her.
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  Speaker 1: All would have gone well had Laban been not been
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  Speaker 1: such a back room dealer. How many of you knew
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  Speaker 1: that he had another daughter, and she was older than Rachel,
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  Speaker 1: and she was not quite as pretty as Rachel. Scripture
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  Speaker 1: describes her. The language is a bit cryptic. Leah's eyes
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  Speaker 1: were delicate. Leah had delicate eyes, but Rachel was beautiful
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  Speaker 1: of form and appearance. The implication is her eyes didn't
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  Speaker 1: have that sparkle. They were soft. They weren't a resting
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  Speaker 1: and dynamic like Rachel was. Whereas the name Rachel meant
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  Speaker 1: does anybody remember you? The name Leah meant please, don't
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  Speaker 1: get mad at me. The name Leah meant cow, So
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  Speaker 1: you have you and move? Was this a reflection? I
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  Speaker 1: just made that up. It's not even in my notes.
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  Speaker 1: The first service didn't get the U and move thing
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  Speaker 1: was this a reflection on her appearance. I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. What we can say with certainty is
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  Speaker 1: that Rachel was heading to the wedding altar while her
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  Speaker 1: big sister was not. Laban had other plans. I do
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  Speaker 1: not know how to say switcheroo in Hebrew. But Laban
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  Speaker 1: pulled off the biggest one in the Bible. Are you ready?
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  Speaker 1: The day of the wedding arrived. Seven years of labor
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  Speaker 1: was completed. Jacob was a man in love, Rachel was
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  Speaker 1: a bride to be, and Laban gathered together all the
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  Speaker 1: men of the place and he made a feast. Laban
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  Speaker 1: he invited everyone, the brickmakers, the goatherds, the shepherds, the
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  Speaker 1: grain growing farmers, the camel riding merchants, everyone king. Now
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  Speaker 1: this name translated feast is literally drink fast, drink fast.
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  Speaker 1: Wine flowed like water that day. Everyone drank, Everyone danced.
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  Speaker 1: There was hand clapping, music, making, joke telling, fact slapping,
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  Speaker 1: drum beating, meat eating, feet kicking, sandals, stomping, And just
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  Speaker 1: when they thought they could drink no more, they did
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  Speaker 1: just that. Meanwhile, the women prepared the bridal tint. They
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  Speaker 1: covered the ground with carpets. They perfumed the air with incense,
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  Speaker 1: and they placed lamps, ever so dimly lit on the table.
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  Speaker 1: The sunset, and when the sunset, the stage was set
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  Speaker 1: for the magic moment. The stars were diamonds on velvet.
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  Speaker 1: Laban fetched the bride and led her to the tent.
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  Speaker 1: She had been kept out aside all day. By the
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  Speaker 1: time it was time for Jacob to consummate his marriage,
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  Speaker 1: he was so drunk he could hardly see what he
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  Speaker 1: was doing. At least that's the explanation that makes the
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  Speaker 1: most sense to me for what is about to happen.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning, with the fog cleared from his brain
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  Speaker 1: and the wine flushed out of his system, he rolled
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  Speaker 1: over in bed, expecting to see his lovely Rachel and
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  Speaker 1: holy cow when he was blind on wine, blinded by night,
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  Speaker 1: blinded by lust, and blindly in love. Number two Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: who begrudged and resisted the tradition of the firstborn going first,
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  Speaker 1: fell victim to Laban's explanation that it was wrong to
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  Speaker 1: give the younger before the first born. Number three. When
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  Speaker 1: Jacob filed his complaint with Laban, he said, why did
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  Speaker 1: you what's the word cheat? Me, using the very same
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  Speaker 1: word that Esau used, Jacob has cheated me these two times.
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  Speaker 1: He took away my birthright, and behold he has taken
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  Speaker 1: away my blessing. Remember how Jacob inveigled the birthright from
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  Speaker 1: his firstborn older brother. Remember how Jacob deceived his father Isaac.
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  Speaker 1: Remember the phrase a taste of your own medicine. Jacob
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  Speaker 1: was handed a spoonful, knowing that Jacob would AGREEA been
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  Speaker 1: offered to let Jacob marry Rachel as well. The condition,
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  Speaker 1: what seven more years of labor Verse twenty eight is
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  Speaker 1: as terse as Jacob's expression must have been. Jacob agreed.
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  Speaker 1: He finished the seven day honeymoon with Leah, then he
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  Speaker 1: got married and said about the task of working seven
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  Speaker 1: more years. Something tells me the second wedding was a
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  Speaker 1: little more subdued than the first. Chapter twenty nine ends
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  Speaker 1: with Jacob having sister wives, one wanted, the other unwanted,
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  Speaker 1: and seven more years of work to fulfill and plenty
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  Speaker 1: of time to ponder a fundamental, reoccurring principle from scripture.
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  Speaker 1: You know what it is. You cannot cheat God. People
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  Speaker 1: harvest only what they plant. You farmers get this, you
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  Speaker 1: gardeners get this. You plant the seed, you know what
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna get, and that's true in life. God sent
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  Speaker 1: Jacob to Haran so Jacob could see what it's like
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  Speaker 1: to be Jacob, to be cheated by someone else. Because
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  Speaker 1: Jacob had planted seeds of deceit, he now harvested a
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  Speaker 1: crop of deceit. He fooled Esau, he fooled Isaac, and
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  Speaker 1: now he was fooled by Laban. Closing questions, you think
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  Speaker 1: God still sends people to Haran? Do we still reap
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  Speaker 1: what we sow? Do you think am I talking to
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  Speaker 1: anyone whose life right now feels like Jacobs must have felt.
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  Speaker 1: You're wondering how in the world you got here. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: you feel tricked, hoodwinked, swindled. You find yourself far from home,
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  Speaker 1: maybe far from hope, far from the life you'd hoped for.
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  Speaker 1: Your several semesters into the University of Hard Knocks, and
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  Speaker 1: you just don't see graduation on the calendar. If that
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  Speaker 1: describes you, I know you're tempted to blame Leah, to
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  Speaker 1: blame Laban, but please, maybe it's time to take a
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  Speaker 1: good long look at the mirror and ask the question, God,
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  Speaker 1: what are you saying to me? In what way are
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  Speaker 1: you shaping me, sanctifying me. Please, my friend, God did
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  Speaker 1: not intend for you to lead a life of misery,
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  Speaker 1: of chaos, of confusion. But if a season of misery
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  Speaker 1: is what it takes to get your attention, then pay attention.
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  Speaker 1: God left Jonah in the belly of a whale, Peter
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  Speaker 1: in the pit of regret. Saul did become Paul, but
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  Speaker 1: only after God knocks Saul off his high horse on
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  Speaker 1: the way to Damascus. Is God talking to you? Here's
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  Speaker 1: the question, what seeds are you sowing today? You want
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  Speaker 1: to have a bright future, then sow good seeds today.
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  Speaker 1: You want to have a future full of hope, then
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  Speaker 1: sow seeds of hope today. Do you want to have
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  Speaker 1: a future of blessings, then so seeds of blessings today.
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  Speaker 1: You determine the quality of tomorrow by the seeds you
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  Speaker 1: sew today. You determine the quality of tomorrow by the
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  Speaker 1: seeds you sew today. Young people, can I talk to
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  Speaker 1: you for just a second. As you look around and
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  Speaker 1: you see old people like the one talking to you, now,
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  Speaker 1: you see some people grow old in peace, with joy,
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  Speaker 1: with hope. You know why because when they were your age,
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  Speaker 1: they sowed seeds of peace and joy and hope. Amen
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  Speaker 1: from the older generation. You look around and you see
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  Speaker 1: people whose lives at this age are just disarranged, chaotic, splintered,
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  Speaker 1: hardly a happy relationship in their world. You know why
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  Speaker 1: because when they were your age, they sowed seeds of deceit, dishonesty,
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  Speaker 1: and bitterness. Scripture is really clear on this that when
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  Speaker 1: we sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. So seeds
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  Speaker 1: of chaos, you're going to reap a life of chaos.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Or as the wise Man said, when you're kind to others,
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  Speaker 1: you help yourself. When you're cruel to others, guess what
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: you hurt yourself. You sow the seeds of tomorrow's life.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: I wonder did Jacob learn his lesson? Well, it's going
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: to take another few chapters for us to find the answer.
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  Speaker 1: This much is sure. God chose Jacob and chose to
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: use him, but he had to shape him to do so.
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  Speaker 1: He has chosen you, my friend, and me, but he
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: is shaping us so he can use us. One redeeming
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: detail to this sordid story that needs to be mentioned.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Remember Leah, remember the elder sister, Remember the unwonted sister.
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  Speaker 1: Remember the girl with the soft eyes and the unfortunate name.
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  Speaker 1: Well guess what. She became the mother of a son
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  Speaker 1: by the name of Judah, and among her descendants were
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: a shepherd boy in Bethlehem by the name of David
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: and then later a carpenter in Nazareth by the name
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Yeah, Leah, unchosen by Jacob, was chosen by
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: God to be the mother of the block boodline of
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: the King of Kings. Oh, how the ironies continue. Gracious
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, what would you now have us to learn
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  Speaker 1: from this lesson? From this story? We bless you, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: speak to us. Please, through the name of Christ, we pray,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: and all the church said, Amen, Let's all be standing
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: for a time of prayer. Oh we cherish these stories,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: aren't we glad that these stories about real people with
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: real struggles are in the Bible because we are real
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: people with real struggles, and if God can use them,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: he can use us. If you would like to receive prayer, please,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: as we're beginning this prayer time, just step out into
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: the aisle and come to the front. Maybe you're passing
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: through a time of physical affliction, financial challenge, unch, maybe
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: a relationship issue, maybe your concern for your family, for
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: your friends, for your future. Then let me pray for you.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Just don't be embarrassed. Come to the front, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: pray for you. And we'll use this time, all of us,
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  Speaker 1: whether we're in the front or standing where we are,
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  Speaker 1: or watching online, to turn our hearts toward our master,
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  Speaker 1: our heavenly Father, the same one who helped Jacob is
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: here to help us. Let's take just a few seconds
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  Speaker 1: and let everybody come to the front who desires to
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: do so. Please speak words of mercy over this your flock,
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  Speaker 1: oh shepherd, Words of kindness over these your children, those
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: in need of strength, those whose hearts are broken, those
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: whose lives have been shattered, those whose plans have been disrupted,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: those whose sleep is seldom those whose health is fragile.
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  Speaker 1: Please speak words of blessing. We really need supernatural help
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: in these days in which there's so much anxiety, so
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: much fear, so much polarization. Would you, heavenly Father, speak
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: over your children. Please, in these next moments of silence,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: just tell the Lord whatever's on your heart and receive
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: what he says to you. Those of you watching online,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: we're praying with you praying for you. Those of you
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: watching from around the world, we pray a blessing on
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: your country, upon your homeland, upon your faith, Lord God,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: were united by our longing for you. Thank you. And
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: now as we're saying amen, would you say thank you Lord,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: let's just say it out loud, shall we thank you Lord?
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you Lord, Thank you. We have officially left our
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: burdens at the throne of God. Just leave him there,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: They're gone. I hope you feel a little bit lighter.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: And when you reach up to take those burdens back,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: may the spirit tell you, oh, no, I've got those.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: I've got those. He's gone ahead of you.
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  Speaker 2: And the fine.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you don't have to stay close. As long
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: as you're somewhere out there. That's enough for me.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: promises to keep.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Just the thought that you.
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: Are breathing somewhere in this world. Let see, even if
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: I'm not beside you, even if you never know, there's
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: a quiet kind of comfort just.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: In knowing you still glow.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: I don't need forever.
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: M I just need you to exist. You don't have
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: to stay with me. You don't have to be the same.
• 39:27
  Speaker 5: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly
• 39:32
  Speaker 5: through mondays. You don't have to look my way.
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: You don't have to be my home.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: It's enough to know where you're living in a world.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not alone.
• 39:50
  Speaker 6: I won't chase it through the distance, won't disturb your
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: chosen life. I'll just keep you in less silence, like
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: a star that shines at night.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Through the darkened, through the blue.
• 40:11
  Speaker 5: I still think of you. You don't have to stay
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: with me, you don't.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Have to feel the same.
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: It's just as long as you're still out there, calling
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: softly through my days.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: You don't have to look my way.
• 40:32
  Speaker 6: You don't have to be in my home.
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: It's enough to know.
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: You're living in a world I'm not alone.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: I don't need to be your late.
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: I don't need to cross your mind.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: All I need is just.
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: The truth that you're somewhere, still alive.
• 41:13
  Speaker 5: You don't have to stay with me, you don't have
• 41:17
  Speaker 5: to feel the same.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Just as long as.
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: You're still up the calling softly through my days.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: You don't have to look my way.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be my home.
• 41:34
  Speaker 6: It's enough to know you're living.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: In the world. I'm not alone.