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

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  Speaker 1: With scales, not fish scales, but the kind of scales
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  Speaker 1: that tell you how much you weigh. I've stood on
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  Speaker 1: 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. Scales never
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  Speaker 1: defend themselves. Does no good to argue with scales about
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  Speaker 1: 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, Dean Lynn commented. Thank you, honey.
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  Speaker 1: On Facebook. my bald spot apparently was spreading on my
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  Speaker 1: scalp years before I noticed it but thanks to my
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  Speaker 1: wife I'm ignorant no longer I hurried to the bathroom
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  Speaker 1: mirror and I held up a hand mirror so I
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  Speaker 1: could see the back of my head there it was
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  Speaker 1: sitting on my scalp like a yarmulke spreading like an
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  Speaker 1: amoeba there it was You've seen monks who have a
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  Speaker 1: saucer-sized circle on their heads. Well, I qualify. I could
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  Speaker 1: be a monk. I filed my complaint with the mirrors.
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  Speaker 1: You must be incorrect. No reply. They, like the bathroom scales,
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  Speaker 1: are impervious to objections. So is the radar gun. You're
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  Speaker 1: 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 stare you square in the face. In the story
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  Speaker 1: of Jacob, God gave him a face full of facts
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  Speaker 1: in a distant land by the name of Haran. You'll
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  Speaker 1: need to make note of that because this is where
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  Speaker 1: Jacob is going to be for a while. Haran, H-A-R-A-N.
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  Speaker 1: You'll find his 20-year sojourn there. One of the most curious, intriguing,
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  Speaker 1: and entertaining stories in the Bible. Can a man actually
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  Speaker 1: marry one woman all the while thinking he's marrying someone else?
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  Speaker 1: Would a swindler ever be out swindled by another swindler?
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  Speaker 1: Genesis 29 offers answers. Before we follow Jacob up to Haran,
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  Speaker 1: can we just review the storyline? We're in lesson number
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  Speaker 1: five of a 12-part series on the life of Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: And we're seeing that God is shaping Jacob. From the
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  Speaker 1: top of Jacob's ladder, God spoke to him. And he said,'
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  Speaker 1: In your seed, all the families of the earth shall
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  Speaker 1: be blessed.' So Jacob has a royal responsibility. He's a
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  Speaker 1: player in heaven's highest quest, the deliverance of Jesus to earth.
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  Speaker 1: God 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. Odd, 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 hearken 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 to
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  Speaker 1: be a flop. The rest of us find Jacob to
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  Speaker 1: be a friend. Like him, our spiritual walk seems to
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  Speaker 1: follow this crooked path. Our spiritual path 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: his 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. Justification happens when we give our
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  Speaker 1: lives to Christ. We are justified. Sanctification happens as we
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  Speaker 1: grow in our relationship with Christ. We're in the process
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  Speaker 1: of 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're being sanctified, increasingly
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  Speaker 1: made holy. And this process continues throughout life. Every event,
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  Speaker 1: every encounter, every experience is is God's way of sanctifying us.
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  Speaker 1: And it requires our participation. This work is 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, are 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, as Paul said. So God is
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  Speaker 1: at work in you. Where? In you, both to will
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  Speaker 1: and to work his good pleasure. This is 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 Haran. Now
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  Speaker 1: Jacob's version of this distant country set some 550 miles
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  Speaker 1: from southern Israel where our story begins. And in order
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  Speaker 1: to reach Haran, he had to travel east across the
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  Speaker 1: Jordan River, north toward Damascus, east to Tadmor, and then
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  Speaker 1: make a sharp north for the final leg of his
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  Speaker 1: journey that took him over the Euphrates River, landing him
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  Speaker 1: in what is today the southern portion of of Turkey, Mesopotamia.
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  Speaker 1: Excuse me. His mother came up with this plan of
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  Speaker 1: sending him to Haran. Does anyone remember his mother's name? Yes, Rebecca.
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  Speaker 1: Her plan was simple. Send Jacob to a safe place
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  Speaker 1: where he could stay with her brother. His name, her
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  Speaker 1: brother's name, you'll need to know as well. was Laban, L-A-B-A-N.
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  Speaker 1: Laban she wanted to send Jacob there for just a
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  Speaker 1: few months so that Esau's anger could subside and while
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  Speaker 1: he's up there you never know he might meet a
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  Speaker 1: pretty sweet young thing and come home with a wife
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  Speaker 1: So Jacob thought he was going to Haran to hang
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  Speaker 1: out with Laban and maybe meet a wife. God, however,
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  Speaker 1: sent Jacob to Haran so that Jacob could step on
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  Speaker 1: the scales. It was time for him to look in
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  Speaker 1: the mirror. It was time for him to read the
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  Speaker 1: radar gun. It was time for Jacob to face the
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  Speaker 1: facts about Jacob. Turns out Jacob had not a bald spot,
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  Speaker 1: but a blind spot. So here's what happened. The first
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  Speaker 1: thing that Jacob saw in Haran was a water well.
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  Speaker 1: And the well was covered and protected by a large stone.
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  Speaker 1: A stone so large that it required at least three
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  Speaker 1: men to move it. Three shepherds stood near the stone.
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  Speaker 1: Jacob asked the shepherds if they knew a man by
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  Speaker 1: the name of Laban. They said they did. While Jacob
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  Speaker 1: was in conversation with them, Rachel came up with her
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  Speaker 1: father's sheep. She was the shepherd. The moment Jacob spotted Rachel,
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  Speaker 1: daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, saw her arriving with
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  Speaker 1: his uncle Laban's sheep, he went and single-handedly rolled the
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  Speaker 1: stone from the mouth of the well. You can chuckle
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  Speaker 1: a little bit here. And he watered the sheep of
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  Speaker 1: his uncle Laban. Then he kissed Rachel and broke into tears. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: what a moment. What a moment. Let's imagine Rachel with
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  Speaker 1: dark hair that is gathered at the nape of her
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  Speaker 1: neck with a scarlet string. As she has eyes the
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  Speaker 1: color of chocolate and shaped like almonds. Her chin has
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  Speaker 1: a slight cleft. She shepherds this flock by waving a
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  Speaker 1: willow branch and walking in grace. Oh, she's a portrait
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  Speaker 1: of charm, this Rachel. And Jacob would have agreed. One
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  Speaker 1: side of her, and did you see what he did?
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  Speaker 1: He ripped open his shirt, exposing the S on his chest.
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  Speaker 1: And he flexed his pecs, and he pressed his shoulder
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  Speaker 1: against the stone, and he gave it a heave, and
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  Speaker 1: one man did what three men were needed to do.
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  Speaker 1: The stone gave way. And then he did what no one,
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  Speaker 1: hang on to your hat, what no one imagined he
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  Speaker 1: would do. Then he kissed Rachel. And he broke into tears.
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  Speaker 1: Now the commentaries I read to prepare for this message
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  Speaker 1: agree that this was probably a response respectful and expected
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  Speaker 1: peck on the cheek. I disagree. I see more passion
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  Speaker 1: in this moment. I see him cupping her beautiful face
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  Speaker 1: in his hands and him planting a kiss on her
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  Speaker 1: like it was their wedding day. And then he broke
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  Speaker 1: into tears. He buried his face in her neck and
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  Speaker 1: he wept. He wept at the thought that the journey
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  Speaker 1: was over. He wept at the possibility that the wife
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  Speaker 1: was found. He wept that he, Jacob, ever the grifter
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  Speaker 1: and drifter, the cheat, the swindler, would be given a
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  Speaker 1: woman this beautiful. The name Rachel means you, not Y-O-U.
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  Speaker 1: but E-W-E, as in Ulam. The moment Jacob saw her,
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  Speaker 1: he said, I want you. Y'all don't know how long
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  Speaker 1: it takes to think these things up. He immediately asked
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  Speaker 1: her father, what was his name? Laban, if he could
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  Speaker 1: marry her. Here's Laban, prepare yourself. Part P.T. Barnum, part
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  Speaker 1: Bernie Madoff. Both circus promoter and Ponzi meister. The guy could...
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  Speaker 1: Put his arm around your shoulder and slip the wallet
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  Speaker 1: out of your hip pocket and you'd never know it.
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  Speaker 1: He wore a silk shirt unbuttoned all the way down
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  Speaker 1: to the navel and a gold chain around his neck
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  Speaker 1: and gold rings on each pinky. He had grocery store
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  Speaker 1: hair dye. The color of his hair didn't match his sideburns.
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  Speaker 1: And he gave Jacob a squeeze. Oh, Rebecca's boy, we've
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  Speaker 1: been waiting for you. You will come to my tent.
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  Speaker 1: You will live in my house forever. You will want
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  Speaker 1: for nothing as long as you are here. Within an hour,
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  Speaker 1: Jacob was lounging on a carpet with his uncle, eating
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  Speaker 1: olives and drinking wine and discussing Laban's daughters. Jacob, who
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  Speaker 1: had moved the stone to impress Rachel, was willing to
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  Speaker 1: move heaven and earth to marry her. What would you
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  Speaker 1: take in exchange for the hand of Rachel? Laban put
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  Speaker 1: his hand over his heart and said, Rachel, I could
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  Speaker 1: never give up my precious Rachel. I'll work for her,
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  Speaker 1: Jacob said. Oh, I could never accept the labor of
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  Speaker 1: my sister's son. I'll tend your flocks for a year. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: but Rachel, she is my special daughter. I'll serve for
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  Speaker 1: three years. But Rachel is just so beautiful. Four years back.
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  Speaker 1: And forth they volleyed until finally Jacob agreed to work
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  Speaker 1: seven years for only room and board. If only he
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  Speaker 1: could marry Rachel. Remember, this is Jacob. Remember, he's the
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  Speaker 1: grandson of Abraham, who was a wealthy man, maybe the
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  Speaker 1: wealthiest in the promised land. And here he is working
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  Speaker 1: for free. Either Rachel was drop-dead gorgeous or Laban was
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  Speaker 1: charlatan shrewd. I suspect both were the case. Some of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible's most poetic language was used to describe the
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  Speaker 1: romance between Jacob and Rachel. Still your beating heart as
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  Speaker 1: you read this. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel
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  Speaker 1: and they seemed only a few days to him. because
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  Speaker 1: of the love he had for her. All would have
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  Speaker 1: gone well had Laban not been such a backroom dealer.
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  Speaker 1: How many of you knew that he had another daughter?
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  Speaker 1: She was older than Rachel. And she was not quite
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  Speaker 1: as pretty as Rachel. Scripture describes her. The language is
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  Speaker 1: a bit cryptic. Leah's eyes were delicate. Leah had delicate eyes.
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  Speaker 1: But Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. The implication
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  Speaker 1: is her eyes didn't have that sparkle. They were soft.
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  Speaker 1: They weren't resting and dynamic. like Rachel was. Whereas the
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  Speaker 1: name Rachel meant, does anybody remember? You. The name Leah meant,
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  Speaker 1: please don't get mad at me. The name Leah meant cow.
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  Speaker 1: So you have you and moo Was this a reflection?
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  Speaker 1: I just make... that up. It's not even in my notes.
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  Speaker 1: The first service didn't get the you and moo 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 men of
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  Speaker 1: the place, and he made a feast. Laban, he invited everyone.
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  Speaker 1: The brickmakers, the goatherds, the shepherds, the grain-growing farmers, the
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  Speaker 1: camel-riding merchants. Everyone came. Now, this name translated feast is
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  Speaker 1: literally drink fest. Drink fest. Wine flowed like water that day.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone drank. Everyone danced. There was hand clapping, music making,
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  Speaker 1: joke telling, back slapping drum, beating meat, eating feet, kicking sandals, stomping.
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  Speaker 1: And just when they thought they could drink no more,
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  Speaker 1: they did just that. Meanwhile, the women prepared the bridal tent.
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  Speaker 1: They covered the ground with carpets. They perfumed the air
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  Speaker 1: with incense. And they placed lamps ever so dimly lit
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  Speaker 1: on the table. The sun set. And when the sun set,
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  Speaker 1: the stage was set up. for the magic moment. The
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  Speaker 1: stars were diamonds on velvet. Laban fetched the bride and
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  Speaker 1: led her to the tent. She had been kept out
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  Speaker 1: of sight all day. By the time it was time
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  Speaker 1: for Jacob to consummate his marriage, he was so drunk
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  Speaker 1: he could hardly see what he was doing. At least
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  Speaker 1: that's the explanation that makes the most sense to me
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  Speaker 1: for what is about to happen. The next morning, with
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  Speaker 1: the fog cleared from his brain and the wine flushed
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  Speaker 1: out of his system, he rolled over in bed expecting
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  Speaker 1: to see his lovely Rachel and holy cow, when he
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  Speaker 1: was blind on wine, blinded by night, blinded by lust,
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  Speaker 1: and blindly in love. Number two, Jacob, who begrudged and
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  Speaker 1: resisted the tradition of the firstborn going first, fell victim
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  Speaker 1: to Laban's explanation that it was wrong to give the
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  Speaker 1: younger before the firstborn. Number three, When Jacob filed his
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  Speaker 1: complaint with Laban, he said, why did you, what's the word?
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  Speaker 1: Cheat me using the very same word that Esau used.
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  Speaker 1: Jacob has cheated me these two times. He took away
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  Speaker 1: my birthright and behold, he has taken away my blessing.
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  Speaker 1: Remember how Jacob inveigled the birthright from his firstborn older brother?
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  Speaker 1: Remember how Jacob deceived his father Isaac? Remember the phrase,
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  Speaker 1: a taste of your own medicine? Jacob was handed a spoonful.
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  Speaker 1: Knowing that Jacob would agree, Laban offered to let Jacob
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  Speaker 1: marry Rachel as well. The condition? What? seven more years
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  Speaker 1: of labor verse 28 is as terse as Jacob's expression
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  Speaker 1: must have been Jacob agreed he finished the seven-day honeymoon
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  Speaker 1: with Leah then he got married and set about the
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  Speaker 1: task of working seven more years something tells me the
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  Speaker 1: second wedding was a Chapter 29 ends with Jacob having
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  Speaker 1: sister wives. One wanted, the other unwanted. And seven more
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  Speaker 1: years of work to fulfill. And plenty of time to
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  Speaker 1: ponder a fundamental, reoccurring principle from Scripture. You know what
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  Speaker 1: it is? You cannot cheat God. People harvest only what
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  Speaker 1: they plant. You farmers get this. You gardeners get this.
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  Speaker 1: You plant a seed, you know what you're going to get.
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  Speaker 1: And that's true in life. God sent Jacob to Haran
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  Speaker 1: so Jacob could see what it's like to be Jacobed,
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  Speaker 1: to be cheated by someone else because Jacob had planted
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  Speaker 1: seeds of deceit He now harvested a crop of deceit.
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  Speaker 1: He fooled Esau. He fooled Isaac. And now he was
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  Speaker 1: fooled by Laban. Closing questions. Do you think God still
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  Speaker 1: sends people to Haran? Do we still reap what we sow?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think? Am I talking to anyone whose life
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  Speaker 1: right now feels like Jacob's must have felt? You're wondering
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  Speaker 1: how in the world you got here. Maybe you feel tricked, hoodwinked, swindled.
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  Speaker 1: You find yourself far from home, maybe far from hope,
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  Speaker 1: far from the life you'd hoped for your several semesters
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  Speaker 1: into the University of Hard Knocks. And you just don't
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  Speaker 1: see graduation on the calendar. If that describes you, I
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  Speaker 1: know you're tempted to blame Leah, to blame Laban, but please,
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  Speaker 1: maybe it's time to take a good long look at
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  Speaker 1: the mirror and ask the question, God, what are you
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  Speaker 1: saying to me? In what way are you shaping me,
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  Speaker 1: sanctifying me? Please, my friend, God did not intend for
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  Speaker 1: you to lead a life of misery. of chaos, of confusion.
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  Speaker 1: But if a season of misery is what it takes
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  Speaker 1: to get your attention, then pay attention. God left Jonah
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  Speaker 1: in the belly of a whale, Peter in the pit
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  Speaker 1: of regret. Saul did become Paul, but only after God
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  Speaker 1: knocked Saul off his high horse on the way to Damascus.
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  Speaker 1: Is God talking to you? Here's the question. What seeds
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  Speaker 1: are you sowing today? You want to have a bright future?
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  Speaker 1: Then sow good seeds today. You want to have a
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  Speaker 1: future full of hope? Then sow seeds of hope today.
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  Speaker 1: Do you want to have a future of blessings? Then
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  Speaker 1: sow seeds of blessings today. You determine the quality of
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow by the seeds you sow today. You determine. the
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  Speaker 1: quality of tomorrow by the seeds you sow today. Young people,
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  Speaker 1: can I talk to you for just a second? As
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  Speaker 1: you look around and you see old people like the
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  Speaker 1: one talking to you now, you see some people grow
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  Speaker 1: old in peace with joy, with hope. You know why?
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  Speaker 1: Because when they were your age, they sowed seeds of
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  Speaker 1: peace and joy. and hope. amen from the older generation
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  Speaker 1: you look around and you see people whose lives at
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  Speaker 1: this age are just disarranged chaotic splintered hardly a happy
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  Speaker 1: relationship in their world you know why Because when they
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  Speaker 1: were your age, they sowed seeds of deceit, dishonesty, and bitterness.
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  Speaker 1: Scripture is really clear on this. That when we sow
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  Speaker 1: the wind, we reap the whirlwind. Sow seeds of chaos,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to reap a life of chaos. Or as
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the wise man said, when you're kind to others, you
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  Speaker 1: help yourself. When you're cruel to others, guess what? You
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: hurt yourself. You sow the seeds of tomorrow's life. I wonder,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: did Jacob learn his lesson? Well, it's going to take
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: another few chapters for us to find the answer. This
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: much is sure. chose Jacob and chose to use him,
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  Speaker 1: but he had to shape him to do so. He
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  Speaker 1: has chosen you, my friend, and me, but he is
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  Speaker 1: shaping us so he can use us. One redeeming detail
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: to this sordid story that needs to be mentioned. Remember Leah?
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  Speaker 1: Remember the Elder sister, remember the unwanted sister. Remember the
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: girl with the soft eyes and the unfortunate name. Well,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: guess what? She became the mother of a son by
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the name of Judah. And among her descendants were a
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: shepherd boy in Bethlehem by the name of David. And
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: then later, a carpenter in Nazareth by the name of Jesus. Yeah. Leah,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: unchosen by Jacob, was chosen by God to be the
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: mother of the bloodline of the king of kings. Oh,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: how the ironies continue. Gracious Heavenly Father, what would you
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: now have us to learn today From this lesson. From
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: this story. We bless you Lord. Speak to us please.
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  Speaker 1: Through the name of Christ we pray. And all the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: church said. Amen. Let's all be standing for a time
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: of prayer. Oh we cherish these stories. Aren't we glad
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  Speaker 1: that these stories. About real people with real struggles. or
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: in the Bible because we are real people with real struggles.
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  Speaker 1: And if God can use them, he can use us.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: If you would like to receive prayer, please, as we're
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: beginning this prayer time, just step out into the aisle
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: and come to the front. Maybe you're passing through a
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: time of physical affliction, financial challenge, maybe a relationship issue.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Maybe you're concerned for your family, for your friends, for
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: your future. then let me pray for you. Just don't
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: be embarrassed. Come to the front and we'll pray for you.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll use this time, all of us, whether we're
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: in the front or standing where we are or watching online,
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  Speaker 1: to turn our hearts toward our master, our heavenly father,
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  Speaker 1: the same one who helped Jacob is here to help us.
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  Speaker 1: Let's take a few, just a few seconds and let
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: everybody come to the front who desires to do so.
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  Speaker 1: Please speak words of mercy over this, your flock, O shepherd.
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  Speaker 1: Words of kindness over these, your children. Those in need
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  Speaker 1: of strength. Those whose hearts are broken. Those whose lives
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  Speaker 1: have been shattered. Those whose plans have been disrupted. Those
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  Speaker 1: whose sleep is seldom. Those whose health is fragile. Please
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: speak words of blessing. We really need supernatural help. In
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: these days in which there's so much anxiety, so much fear,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: so much polarization, would you, Heavenly Father, speak over your children, please?
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: In these next moments of silence, just tell the Lord
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: whatever's on your heart and receive what He says to you.
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  Speaker 1: Those of you watching online, we're praying with you. praying
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: for you, those of you watching from around the world.
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  Speaker 1: We pray a blessing on your country, upon your homeland,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: upon your faith. Lord God, we're united by our longing
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: for you. Thank you. And now as we're saying amen,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: would you say thank you, Lord? Let's just say it
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: out loud, shall we? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. We have officially left our burdens at the
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: throne of God. Just leave them there. They're gone. I
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: hope you feel a little bit lighter. And when you
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: reach up to take those burdens back, may the Spirit
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: tell you, oh no, I've got those. I've got those.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: He's gone ahead of you.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: You don't have to be new.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: I don't need to hold you near me.
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: Don't need promises to keep. Just the thought that you
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  Speaker 4: are breathing Somewhere in this world I 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 in knowing you still
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: glow I don't need.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: Forever I just need you to exist.
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me. You don't have
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: to feel the same just as long as you're still
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: out there.
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: Calling softly through my days.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: You don't have to look my way.
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: know you're living in a world I'm not alone. I
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: won't chase you through the distance. Won't disturb your chosen life.
• 39:57
  Speaker 4: I'll just keep you in my silence like a star
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: that shines at night. Through the dark and through the blue.
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  Speaker 2: I still think of you. You don't have to be
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: my home.
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  Speaker 1: It's enough to.
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  Speaker 3: Know you're living in a world I'm not alone.
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: I don't need to be your light I don't need
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: to cross your mind All I need is just the
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: to look my way.
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: You don't have to be my home It's enough to
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: know you're living In a world I'm not alone.