Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Equipped 2026: "Jacob and Laban (Gen. 29-31)" by Tyler Alverson

Transcript

Equipped 2026: "Jacob and Laban (Gen. 29-31)" by Tyler Alverson · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good afternoon, it is so good to be together this afternoon.
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I appreciate the opportunity to be here with you at the Equip Conference.
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So thankful for the Cumberland Trace Church that meets here and all the effort that's
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put into this weekend, making it so successful and making it so beneficial for us.
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Also appreciate all of those who have traveled some distances to be here, to grow in your
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faith, to love God more, to draw closer to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
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What a blessing it is for us to be together this afternoon.
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If you have your copy of God's Word with you, I'd love for you to turn with me over to the
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book of Genesis.
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As we study together over the next few moments, we're going to be looking at Genesis chapter
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29, chapter 30, and chapter 31, is the passage that's been assigned to me.
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So if you have your Bible, I'd invite you to get it out.
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Turn with me over to Genesis, the 29th chapter.
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We'll begin there in just a few moments.
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As we study over the next few minutes in Genesis 29-31, we're going to be looking at two men
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named Jacob and Laban.
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When we think about them as individuals, and especially when we see their interactions
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with one another, I believe there's so many life lessons that we can learn from them.
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When we read and study through these three chapters, there's so much that we can learn
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about God, how much he loves us, and how involved he is in our lives.
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There's so much that we can learn about our relationships with one another, especially
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when those relationships get a little bit rocky, when there's a little bit of turbulence
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in those relationships.
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And I think there's so much that we can learn about ourselves, how we can better serve God,
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how we can better love him with everything that we have, and love our neighbors as we
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love ourselves.
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Now obviously in the time that we have together this afternoon, we don't have the time to
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cover every single word of every single verse, or to cover every single principle that would
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be applicable throughout Genesis 29-31, but I do want us to look at five lessons from
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Jacob and Laban, five lessons from these three chapters that I hope will be encouraging and
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helpful and edifying to each and every one of us.
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The first lesson I think we need to see from Jacob and Laban is a lesson about the providence
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of God.
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A lesson about how God is at work in our lives every single day.
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Now if you go back just a little bit to Genesis chapter 27 and verse number 43, Rebekah, who
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is Jacob's mother, is giving him instruction,
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Arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran.
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His father Isaac fills in some gaps there, helps us with that.
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To understand a little bit more about that in Genesis 28 verses 1-4,
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When Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him,
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You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
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Arise, go to Padon Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take as your wife
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from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.
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What Isaac is doing for his son Jacob is exactly what his father did for him back in Genesis
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24 verses 3-4.
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And so we see Jacob at the beginning of Genesis chapter 29 verses 1-13.
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He's making this journey.
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He's doing what both his mother and his father had instructed him to do.
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And I think we're able to see the hand of God working.
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That as he travels, he comes to a well.
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And it just so happens there were some shepherds who were hanging around there.
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As Jacob approaches the shepherds, he asks them the question, where are you from?
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Well it just so happened they were from Haran, which is exactly where Jacob was going.
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Exactly where Jacob had been instructed to go.
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He asked them, do you know Laban?
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Guess what?
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It just so happened that they knew Laban when you read in verses 1-13.
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And so when Jacob asked for a little bit more information, is everything well with him?
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Is everything okay with him?
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It just so happened that one of his daughters, his youngest daughter in particular named
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Rachel was coming to that well at that time to water her sheep.
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When Jacob sees that, he ends up watering her sheep, kissing her, weeping loudly, telling
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her who he is and why he's there.
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She goes back to her father Laban, informs him on all of those details, and Jacob is
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invited into Laban's house.
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Jacob is welcomed with great hospitality, at least initially, into Laban's house.
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Can you see how all that lines up?
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He came to the well and it just so happened shepherds were there.
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It just so happened that they were from Haran.
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It just so happened that they knew Laban.
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And as they were having conversation, it just so happened that one of Laban's daughters,
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Rachel, was coming to the well at that exact moment.
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That's not just happenstance, is it?
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That's not just coincidental.
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Those things are not just happening.
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Can you see the hand of God working here?
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And it's awesome because when you read through verses 1-13, you don't read about God explicitly
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doing anything.
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The text nowhere says God did this or told this person to go there, but you see the hand
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of God directing these events so that this conversation is able to take place.
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Look at the providential hand of God at work.
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We not only see it at the beginning of Genesis 29-31, I think we see it throughout the entire
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story.
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In fact, if you were to skip just a little bit ahead to chapter 31, verses 5-13, Jacob
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is at the end of his time with Laban.
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He spent two decades there.
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He spent 20 years there.
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And as he's talking to his two wives, Leah and Rachel, who we'll talk more about in just
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a moment, he talks about how Laban had mistreated him, but yet how God had always been involved
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and God had always been there.
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You look at verse number 5.
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He says,
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Your father Laban, he doesn't regard me with favor as he did before, but the God of my
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father has been with me.
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He says in verse 7,
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Your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him
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to harm me.
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He talks about how God is the one who took the flocks of Laban and gave them to him as
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a wage, gave them to him as a reward.
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You think about the providence of God throughout Jacob's couple of decades in Laban's household.
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Maybe he didn't see it in the moment.
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And when you read throughout Genesis 29-31, again, you don't find a lot of explicit
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statements about God doing this or God is working in this way or God said this to this
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particular individual.
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But as he looks back in hindsight, he's able to see it so clearly.
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What did he see?
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God was with me.
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God never left me.
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God was always there for me.
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He was there constantly working all things together for good to the point that he makes
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this statement in verse 42 of chapter 31,
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If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had not been on my side,
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surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed, but God saw my affliction and the labor of
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my hands and rebuked you last night.
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Can we learn a lesson from Genesis 29-31 about the providence of God?
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How God is working behind the scenes?
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As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8 and verse 28,
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We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who
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were called according to His purpose.
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A promise, meaning not that everything that happens in our lives is good, but God takes
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the good, the bad and the ugly in order to produce something that's good, in order to
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produce something that is beneficial and ultimately for His glory.
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Now you might not be able to see it so clearly in the present moment.
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You might not be able to see it right now, and I think when we talk about the providence
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of God, we need to be like the Apostle Paul in the book of Philemon, or the individual
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Mordecai in the story of Esther, we need to use words like maybe and perhaps, that maybe
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God is doing this, or perhaps God is working in this way.
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But here's something we don't have to say maybe or perhaps about.
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We know that God is working.
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We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
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It's a lesson about the providence of God.
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Isn't it awesome to know the same God who worked in Jacob's life over the couple of
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decades that we read about in Genesis 29-31, He's the one who's working in our lives too.
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He's working in your life, He's working in mine every single moment of every single day.
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If you've been a Christian for some amount of time, maybe you can do what Jacob did in
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verse 42.
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Even when people were standing against you, even when people were harming you and cheating
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you in various ways, you can put your finger on a moment and say, if God had not been there,
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if God hadn't been with me, if God hadn't been blessing me, if God had not been working
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in this moment, then I would have been consumed, I would have been devoured, I wouldn't have
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made it, I wouldn't be where I am today.
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But thanks be to God that He continues to work.
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It might not always be obvious to us, but thanks be to God that He continues to work
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in our lives behind the scenes.
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The first lesson is a lesson about the providence of our God.
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I think the second lesson that we can learn from Genesis 29-31 is a lesson about honesty.
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A lesson about honesty.
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If you've studied about the character of Jacob up to this point in his life, then you know
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that he's a deceiver.
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It goes all the way back to the moment that he was born.
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In Genesis 25 and verse number 26, he was born holding on to his brother Esau's heel.
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That's why he was given the name Jacob, which means heel grabber or deceiver.
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He was holding on to Esau's heel when he was born, and I would suggest to you that he didn't
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let go as they went throughout life.
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For instance, you go to Genesis 25, verses 29-34, and you have this story where Esau's
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coming back in from the field, and he's exhausted.
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He thinks that he's nearly at the point of death.
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Jacob tricks him, give me your birthright, and I'll give you this bowl of red stew.
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That's one of the worst trades that's ever been made, that Jacob is able to take advantage
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of him by deception.
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In Genesis 27, verses 2-4, Isaac is planning to bless Esau, to place a blessing on him
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before he died.
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Go and hunt some game, prepare it for me like I like it, and then bring it back to me so
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that I can bless you before I die.
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Well when Rebekah hears about it, remember she favored Jacob, while the text tells us
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Isaac favored Esau.
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She takes Jacob, puts Esau's clothes on him, puts skins of the young goats on his hands
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and the smooth part of his neck, because Esau was a hairy man, Jacob was not, and Jacob
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pretends to be his brother Esau.
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He goes into the presence of his father Isaac, and takes advantage of his old age, takes
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advantage of his bad eyesight.
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When Isaac pushes back a little bit and says, are you really my son Esau?
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He answered and said, I am.
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What is that?
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That's a lie, that's deception.
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But in Genesis 27, verses 27-29, Jacob ends up receiving that blessing from Isaac in place
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of his brother Esau.
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When Esau comes in and he figures out what's happened, in chapter 27 and verse 36, he asks
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the question, is he not rightly named Jacob?
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For he's cheated me these two times, he took away my birthright, and behold now he has
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taken away my blessing.
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Up to this point in Jacob's life, he's been a deceiver, he's been a hill-grabber.
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When you step into Genesis 29, verses 13-30, and you find the deceiver being deceived.
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He's welcomed into Laban's house, he tells Laban, I'll serve you seven years if you'll
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give me your youngest daughter Rachel, and Laban agrees to that.
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Jacob works throughout the entirety of those seven years, but you look at what happens
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in chapter 29, in verse number 22, Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made
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a feast.
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This was the week-long marriage festival that was supposed to be, at least Jacob thought,
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for himself and Rachel.
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But look at what Laban does there in 23, in the evening he took his daughter Leah and
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brought her to Jacob and he went in to her.
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Of course Jacob, he wakes up in the morning and he's surprised.
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He actually goes to Laban and asks him the question in verse 25, why then have you deceived me?
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Laban says it's not our custom to marry the youngest daughter before the oldest daughter
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and so finish the marriage festival with Leah, then I'll give you Rachel if you'll work for
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me for another seven years.
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Can you see what Laban has done?
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He's deceived him, not only into marrying both of his daughters, but also for working
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for him double the amount of time that was originally agreed upon.
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You keep reading, into chapter 30, verses 25 through 43, Jacob is tossing around the
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idea of leaving Laban's house and going back to the land of Canaan, oftentimes called the
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land of his father's, Laban says to him, name your wages and I'll give it to you.
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And so if you look in there in verse number 32 of Genesis chapter 30, Jacob says, let
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me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and
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every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats and they shall be my wages.
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In verse 34, Laban agrees to that, good, let it be as you have said.
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As soon as those words come out of his mouth, Laban goes through all the flocks, he pulls
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out the animals that would have went to Jacob, that would have benefited Jacob.
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He entrusts those animals to his sons and then puts a three day journey between those
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animals and Jacob, making it virtually impossible for him to get anything.
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Do you see the deception there?
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Now more than likely, Jacob uses a practice from superstition as he's breeding the animals
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in order to gain success.
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We know that his success didn't come from the superstition.
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If you go to chapter 31, it was God who ended up giving Laban's flocks to Jacob.
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But you think about the deceit that we mentioned a few moments ago in chapter 31 in verse 7,
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where Laban cheated him and changed his wages ten times.
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You look at the deceit that's even mentioned by Laban's two daughters in verse 15, that
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he regards them as foreigners.
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He sold us and has indeed devoured our money.
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You look at the deceit from Jacob in verse number 20.
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Jacob tricked Laban by not telling him that he intended to flee.
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If you live a life of deceit, do you think that's only going to impact you?
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Or do you think that's also going to spread to those who you're close to?
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It spreads, doesn't it?
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It's contagious because you look at verse number 35, going back to verse 19, when Jacob
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and his family left Laban's house, Rachel had taken Laban's household gods, but Jacob
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didn't know it.
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And so as Laban, in verse number 34, is looking for these idols, looking for these gods throughout
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the tents, it says,
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Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them.
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In verse 35, she said to her father, Laban,
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Let not my Lord be angry that I can't rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.
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Again, what is that?
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That's a lie.
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That's deception.
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I can't get up because the way of women is upon me, when in reality, she didn't want
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to get up because she was concealing the household gods that she had stolen.
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And so you look at Rachel, but primarily at Jacob and Laban, what do you see?
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You see constant deception.
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You see constant lying, trying to pull the wool over one another's eyes.
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What are we able to learn from that?
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We're able to learn to be honest, be genuine, be sincere.
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I think we need to hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 5 and 37.
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Let what you say be simply yes or no.
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Anything more than this comes from evil.
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So often we think we can pull the wool over people's eyes, and oftentimes we try to do
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it for our own benefit.
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We try to gain at somebody else's expense.
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I'm going to make an agreement and then break that agreement.
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I'm going to make a promise and then not fulfill that promise.
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I'm going to lie to this individual so that I can get several steps ahead.
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Can I tell you, when you look to the Scriptures, deceit actually never gets you ahead.
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It only puts you behind from a spiritual perspective.
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It kills our relationships with God and our relationships with other people.
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That's why the Apostle Paul would say in Ephesians 4 and 25, that as we live out our new life
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in Jesus, the new life He's given to us, we are to put away falsehood and speak the truth
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with our neighbors.
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As a Christian, people should be able to wholeheartedly trust every single word that comes out of
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your mouth.
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Every single word that comes out of your mouth, people should be able to trust.
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If you say that you're going to do something, then do it.
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If you make a promise, then fulfill that promise.
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If somebody needs to be told something, then tell them.
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Don't try to pull the wool over their eyes.
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If your answer is yes, let it be yes.
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And if your answer is no, then let it be no.
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I think we can learn a lesson.
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When we look at so much deceit going back and forth between Laban and Jacob in their
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lifestyles, how they're treating one another, you and I learn a lesson about honesty.
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May every word that comes out of our mouths be defined by honesty.
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Here's the third thing.
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I think we can learn a third lesson about God working in and through messy, broken families.
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You look at Genesis 29 and verse 30 through chapter 30 and verse number 24, you read about
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Jacob with Leah and Rachel and their family expanding, them having children, particularly
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having sons and one daughter that we read about through this passage.
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When you look at chapter 29 and verse 30 through chapter 30 and verse 24, I'm telling you,
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it's messy.
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There's broken relationships there.
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Let me show you what I'm talking about.
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The text begins there in chapter 29 and verse 30 by talking about how Leah was hated.
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She has four children, four sons by her husband Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
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And she has those sons just hoping that her husband will love her.
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Just hoping that she can gain or deserve the love that her husband should already be giving
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to her.
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When Rachel sees that at the beginning of chapter 30, how does she feel?
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She's envious of Leah.
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And so she does what Sarah did back in Genesis chapter 16.
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You remember that?
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She gives her servant to Jacob to have children through that servant.
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And that servant ends up bearing two sons, Dan and Naphtali.
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But not to be outdone in this type of competition that's happening, when Leah saw that she wasn't
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able to bear children, her womb had been closed, she ends up giving her servant to Jacob who
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has two more sons, Gad and Asher, in chapter 30 in verse 11 and also verse number 13.
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When Reuben, who was Leah's firstborn and Jacob's firstborn, he was bringing in mandrakes
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from the field which were thought to promote fertility in the ancient world, Rachel makes
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out a deal with Leah.
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If you give me those mandrakes, then I'll let you sleep with Jacob tonight.
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And so you look at verse number 16, how sad is this, of chapter 30, Leah went out to meet
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her husband and said, you must come into me for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.
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Can you imagine a wife having to say that to her husband?
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You have to sleep with me tonight.
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You have to come into me.
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You're under obligation to do this because I have hired you to spend the night with me.
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And God blesses that union with another son named Issachar.
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Leah conceived again and bore another son, Zebulun, verse 20, and then a daughter, Dinah,
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in verse 21, and then in verse 22, God remembers Rachel, her womb is open, and she's able to
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have a son named Joseph.
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We know that later on she actually dies in childbirth, giving birth to Benjamin.
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But you look at what we just summarized in Genesis 29 in verse 30 through chapter 30
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in verse 24, isn't it so messy?
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Isn't it so broken?
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This is not the picture of an ideal family.
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And one thing I love about the Bible is the Bible never tries to clean these things up.
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Within this family, there's hatred, there's bitterness, rivalry, competition, envy.
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The list could go on and on, but what is God doing?
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God's working.
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He's working in this family.
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You read through this passage, the Bible talks about how God is the one who opened up and
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closed wounds.
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God is the one who gifted these relationships with children.
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God's not just working in this family in the moment, but we know that God's going to work
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through this family in powerful ways.
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Jacob receives another name, do you remember what it is?
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Israel.
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The twelve sons that come from him roughly become the twelve tribes of Israel.
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God enters into covenant with the nation of Israel in Exodus 20 at Mount Sinai, and it's
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through that covenant that Jesus Christ is born into the world.
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It's in the midst of that covenant that the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us.
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It's through Jacob and the descendants of his twelve sons that the Savior is born.
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God works through this messy, broken family in order to bring about our salvation.
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This messy and broken family existed so that you and I can be right here in this moment
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saved and washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ.
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Sure, this is a messy and broken situation.
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This is a messy and broken family, but we see God working in this family.
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We see God working through this family.
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Now that gives me encouragement.
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That gives me hope.
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That gives me comfort.
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Do you know why?
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Because there's not a family on this earth that's perfect.
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Even though sometimes we might try to pretend to be, there's not a family in the Lord's
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church that is perfect or sinless or flawless.
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To varying degrees and in different ways, all of our families are messy.
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All of our families are broken.
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And we might be discouraged.
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We might be tempted to think, because my family looks this way, or because this particular
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event happened within my family, God's done with us.
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There's no way God could work in us or through us.
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God must be finished with us.
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Or in our pride and arrogance, we look down on some other family, well look at what's
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happened to them.
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They don't have this.
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They're not able to do that.
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They don't live here.
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God can't do anything with them.
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This passage presents a very different message.
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God is able to take a really messy and broken situation.
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He's still able to take messy and broken families to work in them and through them for His glory.
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The gospel is able to advance through messy and broken families.
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You and I don't have to be perfect.
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Our families don't have to be perfect in order for God to work through us.
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I think this is the third lesson that we can learn from this passage.
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A lesson about God working in and through really broken situations.
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Here's number four.
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A lesson about following God's guidance.
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A lesson about following God's guidance.
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We've mentioned that tensions have been growing between Jacob and Laban and Laban's household.
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And so you look at chapter 31, in verse number 3, the Lord speaks to Jacob and says,
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Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred and I will be with you.
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How does He respond to that?
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We mentioned it a few moments ago.
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He takes His wives into a private place in the field where they could have a conversation
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and He tells them about a number of things.
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One of those things is a dream that He had.
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Where an angel came to Him and gave Him a message from God.
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You see it there in verse 13.
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I am the God of Bethel where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me.
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Here's the command.
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Now rise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.
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How did Jacob respond to those two commands?
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Those two commands that are telling him to do the same thing.
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I want you to leave here, go back to the land of your fathers.
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Oh, he didn't hesitate.
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He didn't procrastinate.
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He didn't try to argue with God.
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He didn't ask God any questions whatsoever.
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God tells him to go and he goes.
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He follows God's guidance.
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He follows God's leadership.
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You can see that with Laban too.
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Jacob packs up his family, packs up his possessions.
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They leave without even telling Laban.
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And so in chapter 31, in verse number 24,
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the Bible says that God came to Laban in a dream by night and said to him,
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be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.
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That's the instruction from the Lord.
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Well, look at what happens in verse number 29.
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When Laban tracks down Jacob and overpowers him
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and begins to have a conversation with him,
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he says, it's in my power to do you harm.
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In other words, I could hurt you right now.
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I could harm you, but why don't you?
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The God of your fathers spoke to me last night saying,
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be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.
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And so you look at both Laban and Jacob.
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They are following the commands that God had given to each one of them individually.
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Following God's leadership, following God's guidance.
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You know, the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8, verse number 14,
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all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
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You and I have not just the obligation and the responsibility,
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but we have the privilege to follow the leadership
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and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God.
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You and I have the privilege to follow the guidance and leadership of our Creator,
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the One who has created us the first time, but also created us anew in Christ Jesus.
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You and I don't get to decide where we're going or how we get there.
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As we live our lives on a daily basis, we don't get to decide,
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what is my final destination and what path am I going to take?
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No, instead, we follow the guidance and we follow the leadership of our God.
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We follow the guidance that He's given to us in the Scriptures.
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Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
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I've stored up Your Word in my heart so that I might not sin against You.
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When you and I read and study the Scriptures, we're coming into interaction.
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We're coming face to face with the guidance and leadership of God.
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The question is, are we willing to follow it?
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Are we spending time with our Bibles?
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Are we reading and studying the Word of God?
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And then are we applying what we read and study?
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But then maybe sometimes we find ourselves in different situations,
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different circumstances, where maybe we're having to make really important decisions
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and we wonder, am I following God's guidance in this?
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Have you ever been there?
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I want to be sensitive to how God is leading me and guiding me by His Spirit,
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but how can I be sure that this is the direction God wants me to go?
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I want to give you four questions just to think about and wrestle with.
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These questions are not original with me,
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and I don't think they're the end-all and be-all,
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but I think they get us thinking down this track.
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Am I following the guidance of God?
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The first question is, is it biblical?
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God will never guide you in a direction
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that contradicts what He's revealed in the pages of His Word.
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And so if I feel like I'm being led or guided in a certain direction,
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but it doesn't line up with Scripture, I dismiss it immediately.
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Number two, is it loving?
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God will never guide us in a direction that is unloving,
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that doesn't match the description of love.
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1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-7. Why?
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Because God in His very nature is love.
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1 John 4 and verse number 8.
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Question number three, is it Christ-like?
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When God leads us and guides us, it's for the purpose of Romans 8,
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us being conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
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And so if I'm being led in a direction
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and it's not helping me to become like Jesus,
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I need to spend more time questioning that.
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And then number four, is it full of opportunities for service?
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When God leads us and guides us, it's not just about us.
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So often that's all we think about.
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But it's not just about me.
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It's not just about how I can advance or how I can gain, how I can benefit.
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When God is leading me and guiding me by the power of His Spirit,
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I need to spend time thinking,
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what are the opportunities in this to serve other people,
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to love other people, to share the Gospel with other people?
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How is this going to open up doors for me to better serve God
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and to better love my neighbor?
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And so like I said, that might not be the end-all and be-all.
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There might be other things to consider here,
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but I think that at least gets us started in thinking,
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am I following God's guidance?
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Am I following the direction that He's giving to me?
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And then finally, number five, I think in this passage,
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we're able to see a lesson about working through conflict.
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All of us have conflict.
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All of us have different individuals who we have been in conflict with.
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I think the last half of Genesis chapter 31,
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it gives us four steps to work through that conflict.
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I believe the Holy Spirit in that passage, Genesis 31, verses 25 through 55,
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He gives us four steps that have to be present
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in order for me to work through the conflict that I have with another person.
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So let's notice those together.
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Number one, if you want to work through conflict, go to the other person.
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Go to the person who you're in conflict with and begin that conversation.
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Can you see that in Genesis chapter 31 and verse 25,
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where Laban is pursuing after Jacob?
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Jacob had left without telling him,
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and so Laban pursues him and overtakes him
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and begins to have this conversation with him.
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If you want to work through conflict,
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you need to go to that person that you're in conflict with
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and begin the conversation.
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That's your responsibility.
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That's my responsibility.
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If you have wronged somebody else,
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Jesus says in Matthew 5, 23 and 24,
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you need to go to them and be reconciled to them.
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It's even more important than the worship that you offer God.
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If you're offering your gift at the altar,
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you remember that your brother has something against you,
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it doesn't say he's right.
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It doesn't say he's justified.
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It doesn't say he's validated.
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But if you're worshiping God
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and you remember your brother has something against you,
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what do you do?
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You don't even finish the worship service.
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First, go be reconciled to your brother,
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and then you can come back and offer your gift.
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Well, what if somebody has wronged me?
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Then the ball's in their court, right?
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Because they're the ones who hurt me.
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They need to come say they're sorry to me.
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If they want to start the conversation,
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I'll let them do that, but I'm not.
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What does Jesus say in Matthew 18 and 15?
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If your brother sins against you,
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go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
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So when I'm in conflict with another person,
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whether I'm the one who has been wronged
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or whether I'm the one who has done the wrong,
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it's my responsibility to go to that other person
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to get the ball rolling and begin the conversation.
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Here's the second step.
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Be straightforward about the problem.
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When you go to that other person,
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how are you supposed to talk to that person?
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Be very straightforward and allow the other person
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to be very straightforward about the problems that you have
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that have caused that conflict.
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That's what Laban does, verses 26-32.
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He comes to Jacob and he basically says,
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I've got two problems with you.
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First, you've taken my household gods,
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and second, you left my household,
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packed everything up without even telling me.
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You did it in secret.
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And Jacob responds to that in a very straightforward way.
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He says, I left in secret because I was afraid
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you'd take my family away from me.
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I was afraid you'd take your daughters back.
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And number two, I don't know anything
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about your household gods.
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We'll say more about that in just a moment.
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Notice how both of them are very straightforward.
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They're not beating around the bush.
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They're not ignoring the elephant in the room.
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They're not tiptoeing around the subject.
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Instead, they hit it head on.
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As Laban looks for his household gods,
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Jacob, beginning in verse 36, speaks from his anger,
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which might not be the best thing to do
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when we're in conflict with somebody,
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when I'm being straightforward about the problem.
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But he's just so fed up that it explodes.
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He tells Laban, here's how you've wronged me.
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And here's all the things you've done to me.
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But God was with me.
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And if God hadn't been on my side,
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then you surely would have devoured me.
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But God continued to bless me,
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and God continued to prosper me.
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You look at the conversation that happens
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between these two men.
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They're very straightforward
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about the problems that they have.
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If you want to work through conflict,
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go to the other person, begin the conversation.
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What does the conversation look like?
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Let's be very straightforward about the issue here.
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I don't know what you might be thinking.
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I don't know the problems that you might have,
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but I'm going to allow you to talk about it.
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And when it's my turn,
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I'm going to talk about the issues.
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I'm going to talk about the problems that I have too.
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Now, we need to be very kind.
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We need to be gentle.
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We need to be humble.
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But I believe based on this passage,
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we can also be very straightforward.
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We can be very intentional in saying,
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here's the issues that I have.
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I want to put that out on the table.
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And I'm going to allow you to put your issues
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out on the table too.
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Here's the third thing.
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Know the facts.
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Know the facts.
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We said in verse number 19
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that Rachel had taken the household gods,
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but Jacob didn't know it, the text tells us.
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And so when Laban says,
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where are my household gods?
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I believe you've taken them.
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He says, I don't know anything about that.
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And he makes a very presumptuous statement.
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If anybody with me is found with your household gods,
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then they shall be put to death.
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What would have happened
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if Laban would have discovered
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that Rachel actually had his household gods?
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Is it possible that she could have been put to death
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because Jacob didn't know all the facts?
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I think whenever we're working through conflict,
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we need to do all that we can
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to make sure that we know all the facts.
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Now, sometimes you can't help what you don't know,
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but we need to spend time with questions like these.
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What am I missing?
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What am I overlooking here?
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What are my blind spots?
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What am I not seeing in the midst of this conflict?
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Somebody else might really be able to help you with that.
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Go to the other person.
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Be straightforward about the problem.
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Make sure you know all the facts.
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If you don't know all the facts,
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there can be some very serious and negative consequences.
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And then number four,
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pursue a resolution that promotes peace and honors God.
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Now, more than likely, Laban in verses 43 through 55,
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he's speaking from a place
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where he's kind of tucking his tail,
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he's saving face just a little bit
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because he knows he's been bested by Jacob.
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That's what a lot of commentators would suggest.
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But Laban makes the suggestion,
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let's make a covenant with one another.
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And in this covenant, we're going to promote peace.
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Here's how they did it.
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They drew a line in the sand and said,
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you don't cross over it to come to me,
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and I won't cross over it to come to you.
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That's how they would promote peace in this relationship,
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in the midst of this conflict.
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But notice that their resolution also honors God.
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It puts God at the center of it.
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May God watch over us when we're apart from one another.
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It talks about God judging between them
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and witnessing between them.
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So when you're in conflict with somebody,
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why would you go to that other person?
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Why would you be very straightforward about the problem
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and allow that person to be straightforward about the problem?
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Why would you do the work and the thinking and the reflection
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to make sure that you know all the facts?
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It's because ultimately you have this goal, number four,
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of pursuing a resolution that promotes peace.
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Now, it's going to look different
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depending on the situation,
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depending on the type of conflict,
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depending on the person that you're in conflict with.
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But I want to find a resolution in this specific circumstance
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where peace is going to reign,
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but that can't be the extent of it.
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You and I could dream up peaceful resolutions
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that don't honor God,
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that are not centered on the will of God.
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And so once we think of a peaceful resolution,
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let's take a step forward to ask,
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does this honor God?
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Does this honor God's will?
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Does this honor what God wants and what God desires?
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So ultimately, when we're working through conflict,
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this is the goal.
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I want a resolution that will, number one, promote peace,
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but a resolution that also honors my Creator.
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Now, I know that there's a lot of other things
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that could be said from Genesis 29 through 31.
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It's a rich passage of Scripture.
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There are other points that could be made.
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There are other principles that could be drawn out.
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But I hope that these five are really encouraging to us
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as we've studied together over the last few moments.
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Number one, a lesson about God's providence.
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Leave here knowing, even if you don't see it right now,
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God is at work in your life.
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A lesson about honesty.
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Let's not be like Jacob and Laban,
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interacting with people through lies and deception.
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Instead, let your yes be yes and your no be no.
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A lesson about God working in
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and through messy, broken families.
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Maybe you look at your own family
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and you feel discouraged about some things.
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God's not done with you.
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God can still use you for His glory.
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A lesson about following God's guidance.
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Wherever God leads, that's where I want to go.
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I want to follow His direction.
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And then finally, a lesson about working through conflict.
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Who is that person that you're in conflict with right now?
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What do you need to do with these four ideas,
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verses 25 through 55, to work through that
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and come to a resolution that promotes peace
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and honors God?
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My prayer is that these lessons from Jacob and Laban,
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Genesis 29 through 31, they'll help us to love God more.
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They'll help us to be more like Christ
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and to better serve those who we're around on a daily basis.
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Thank you so much for your time.
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Thank you for your attention.
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Thank you for being here and prioritizing spiritual things.
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God bless.