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00:00:00 so good morning everybody uh the sermon outline is out there next week we have Pastor Louie uh this is interesting because he represents the Filipino service in our midst and I wonder how many of you actually know that we have a Filipino service meeting downstairs he'll be preaching on passing it on because he's moving on with his life and there will be uh the ministry has to go somewhere okay uh that's how I can see them you Pastor joash will take on L the Lord is my shepherd and then in the youth never where where all your youth
00:00:37 that's all your kak there you know and then John Lee will say happy are those whose transgressions are forgiven from Psalm 32 uh Peter talked just now about um the co I want to ask a question did covid change you how many of you say Co changed you raise your hand hands it changed me yeah right how many of you said Co changed you for the better how many of you say Co changes for the worst it's not such a simple question right you ask me Co changed me for the better and also for the worst I I I went
00:01:23 to very difficult time business I remember in 2022 when it started and I I couldn't believe it and I went on for a walk in my condo and I and then I just wish it would just go away very soon and here we are um 2022 we still have it we have a war it's been very long isn't it uh the years were hard for me for the first time in my life I lost money in my business when my staff left me I was very happy it's difficult it changes you you know there's a saying that says bad times makes you bitter or better the Journey
00:02:03 of life is interesting right because uh before covid the Journey of life was very stable it was very sure it was very clear then suddenly bam something disrupted everything and so sometime things just hit you and you wonder how that change makes you and the question I want ask you is that change is sometimes forced upon you and I have to you have to ask this question does it make you bitter or better can you tell the difference another saying from where famous humanist philosopher nature says whatever doesn't kill you will make you
00:02:35 stronger what he didn't tell you is that uh along the way you will you really stress you up and when they say make you stronger it simply means you put walls around you so this is a difficult topic to talk about and we are closing this two chapters about souring on this particular topic and the idea is that we're going to look at Jacob and what Jacob went through he was forced to go on the road and this is what he says at the end of his journey the days of the years of my soing are 130 years but is the next line which is very
00:03:17 telling few and evil have been the days of the years of my life he doesn't say full are the days few it's a daunting remark to make by the patriarch at the eclipse of his life as he looks back and he makes a remark like that and so today I want to take us through what happens when life becomes hard how do you journey through and it's a difficult sermon to do now what we going to do instead of the usual I'm going to give you three points the way to appreciate the sermon I think is you need to put yourself in the shoes of
00:04:03 Jacob so I'm going to take you through Jacob as he goes through his journey as he leaves bashah and last week we found out what happens when he comes back to bashah so we're going to go through many chapters today I will keep to the time but you got to feel him as he goes now why does he have to leave basiba because his brother wants to kill him and so the the mother concocts a plan the mother's very good at doing this and mother basically tells the father you know he's got to go find a wife for me back in padam Aran
00:04:38 which is right up north in Mesopotamia and he tells the son you just go for a few months few years then you come back little does the mother know she will never see the son again and this journey will take 20 years it's a painful story but very telling if you're going through a difficult life so here's the thing he is now imagine this as we start the journey he's now going on a road trip let's pray Lord we ask as we put ourselves in the shoes of Jacob we will Lear learn to feel what he's going through and how that Journey changing
00:05:17 and we ask ourselves for some of us who are going through difficult times whether it makes us bitter or better and better for who for ourselves or for you and in Jesus name we say this let's start off with the prologue okay and Esau says your Isaac says this your brother came deceitfully and taken away your blessing Isa say is he not rightly named Jacob has cheated me this two times he took away my Birthright and behold he's taking me my blessings and Birthright and blessings in Hebrew is bakara baroka
00:05:52 is the same word meaning this guy he's scum you know he's a douchebag he and he's actually quite old man by now that mean he live his old Life as a manipulator he's a schemer so the narration the biblical of STS off before his journey as he starts the journey this guy he's not a nice man now he's not a nice guy all right so let's go there and so he goes he starts off from BBA and he moves to a place called Batel but in this time isn't called Batel it's called the city of loose in those days cities are just comp
00:06:28 where people gather and so he goes and old man with a staff and he walks and as he drive there God speaks to him Jacob let bash went towards haran that's where Pam Aran is he came to certain place and stayed there because the sun is set taking one of the stones of the place he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep and he dreamed and behold there was a leather set up upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and of course Jesus picks this up in the Gospel of John when he talks to
00:06:56 Nathaniel and behold the angels of the Lord was sending descending on it and behold the Lord above it said I am the Lord and this one I want you to hear the god of Abraham your father and the god of Isaac God of Abraham God of Isaac God of Jacob the land on which you lie I will give to you in your Offspring your Offspring will be like the dust of the earth you shall spread across to the west to the east to the north to the South and here's the key point I want to emphasize in you and your Offspring
00:07:24 shall all the families of the earth be blessed and then he goes very personal with Jacob behold I am with you I will keep you wherever you go Jacob you're going a road trip I'm traveling with you and I'll bring you back to this land I will not leave you until I have done what I promised to you so Jacob starts the journey with Assurance God walks with him where have you heard these words at the end of his journey he's leaving BBA now when he comes back to BBA what are the words we read this last
00:07:53 week I myself will go down with you to Egypt I will bring you up again is an echo of Genesis 28 he starts his journey with God saying I will be with you as he ends his journey he remembers the word of God before he goes to Egypt and he assured God goes with him and so he prays early in the next morning Jacob took the stone he plac on his head set it as a pillar and P all on top of it ask yourself why he does that right he called that place battle to the city used to be called loes then Jacob made a
00:08:26 vow this is his first prayer if God will be me wash over me on this journey I'm taking it will give me food and eat and clothes to wear not asking for too much yeah I'm asking for just a simple life I just want a wife I want kids I want money in the bank I want good health the prayer like a lot of us right I will come to church every Sunday maybe I'll do some ushering I'm not asking to conquer the world I just want a simple life it's a conditional prayer then the Lord will be my god wow you do this for me I do do this for you
00:09:01 and this Stone I set as a pillar will be God's house meaning I will set a church for you and all that you give me I will give you a 10 he'll put money every Sunday when he comes to church does it not sound familiar he's like any Christian I come to church I do this I'm not asking too much you know God I'm not asking too much yeah I'm not asking May me millionaire I just want I just want to I just want to save life is that too much God I think I'm entitled to that isn't it is like us the prayer is like
00:09:32 us let's see what happens after that and so he moves and now he go from Battle to pan Aran and you can see from the map that time no grab he walks on the star and takes a camel and from pan Aram which is Mesopotamia he crosses the euph river to a place called haran it's a very long journey for an old man so when he arrived there Jacob continue the journey came to the land of Eastern people Jacob after the shepherd my brothers where are you we are from haran then he meets the woman of his dream Rachel fall in love then Jacob kissed
00:10:13 Rachel and wept aloud of course finally found happiness after such a long journey so sad I have arrived and Jacob told Rachel he was a father kissman he was Rebecca and she ran into her father and this is the second love story of the Bible I I preached was on the first Love Story the second one Jacob Lov Rachel and he said I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel basically she's hot she's like a super model she's gorgeous you know Lan say yeah I'll give it to you but we really
00:10:42 know this guy's bit of a scumbag also I won't give it to any other man stay with me so Jacob all you young people listen to this all you man now Jacob served seven years of Rachel they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her young man learn something so he says I arve God's with me he has blessed me you know things are looking better actually not true God's going to teach him a lesson he gets a taste of his medicine and of course as you know the father-in-law gets gets him drunk
00:11:19 and puts his older daughter who isn't that very pretty he's called weak in the eyes the term is that mean not very good-looking morning came behold It was Leah so Jacob said to that means he sllep with the wrong woman what is he done to me I serve you for Rachel dinner I and here's the classic I I underlining why have you deceived me wow the deceiver telling other one you're a deceiver and then laba replied that it's interesting not a custom here to give you the younger daughter before the older one then the rest of the cor goity
00:11:53 daughter's bride blah blah blah for seven days so Contracting for 14 days it's almost like I heard a story sorry know that back in BBA you cheated your older brother now you come and Taro me because I give you my older daughter he's actually you know he's rubbing it in like hey you you have no right to call me a hypocrite you cheated your older brother so I give you my older daughter fair so he's getting a taste of his medicine so what God does with him with the first pain God is trying to tell him you know what you're
00:12:27 a con man and then he does something even worse his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah and I really one day want to do a sermon on Leah the Forgotten wife and Leah spends the rest of her life trying to get the love of the husband is tragic for a woman she goes to a grave without the love of the husband the story says that you know and it causes disharmony both sisters fight Rachel doesn't have kids he tells Jacob give me children all I die and Jacob say you think I am God the problem with this this came from their
00:13:03 parents so parents listen to One Thing uh about favoritism the consequences can be very deadly so what happens after that he goes on a run from leban you know why because Laban is the con man but Jacob is the master conman so leban changes his salary five times they fight they fight takes the the sheep and the Goat speckled them whatever Indiana he does what he's very good at doing when confrontation he runs this guy's a runner he ran instead of confronting isau he and then now he runs from leban when lean has gone to share
00:13:40 his sheep riches stole her father's household Gods she saw the the kunam up there and all the F so think she going supp the whole thing you see then Jacob deceived laan that's the same word again by not telling him he was running away he fled with all his ha crossed the euph river and headed for the Hill Country of Gilead he's up there coming down so this gu a runner he doesn't face his problems now whenever he got problem he runs that's the point of the story he's like a lot of us don't talk don't talk he walks away
00:14:10 he moved the job is bad he moved the church is bad he moves FBC L tomorrow I go Kingdom City Kingdom City no good maybe I go to Holy Trinity bromton was no good I go to DMC that's what the story is telling you he's a runner he doesn't like it when things are bad he's not confrontational and so he runs and he comes on this way and God meets him again you see God's very gracious this guy is a douchebag you know but God meets him when he's starting to run off from BBA and now he's running again God meets him again
00:14:40 you see the narrative and the angels of God meet him when Jo said Jacob S he said this is the camp of God so he named the place Mahan so where are we he just crossed the river up there he came down he's now right down at Mahan and he says Ah God is with me me and then Laban catches up with him God allows Laban to catch him because God is trying to train Jacob to face your problems he managed to settle with Laban and Laban initiates the truth not Jacob no Laban want say look no you better treat my daughters
00:15:15 right blah blah blah blah blah blah so now he's a rich man now he went up there broke you know he only had a staff by the time he come back now the guy millionaire got BMW got blue chip shares he's got a few properties properties he's on the road but he's loaded very rich so now he says okay now got money I think I did bad with my brother I better go and settle La now that's not too bad he's changing a bit so Jacob sends messages before him to Esau's Brothers in the land of sea instructing them then you should
00:15:49 sell to my Lord Esau they say your servant Jacob I have soldier with lean estate now I have blue chip chairs I have money at the bank I even have non fungible tokens I mean you you know what I'm getting with this basically he trying to tell you brother I got a lot of money I know I cheated you before let me write you a check that's what he's saying I sent to tell my law in an order I might find favor in your sight he's trying to do what he's trying to buy his way out of the problem sounds like us
00:16:20 right you feel bad about it Ani yesterday about refugees okay next week better go y last week Stan next I see him I just shake his hand he's a guil trip thing but God's going to change him the messenges returned to Jacob saying we came to your brother Esau he's coming to meet you with 400 men wow 400 men not exactly a welcome party and here's the key word Jacob was greatly afraid and distress he went into anxiety he divided the people and the flocks thinking Esau came to one Camp tax it the camp is left to escape you
00:16:53 see he's the always the master schemer whenever he's got problem his trigger response is I'm going to ski my way and rigle my way out of it so he plans it now I have two camps if one go the other side will survive I mean his a strategist then he sends wave of wave of gifts to his brother the idea that you know it's like it's like corruption I I know election come I give you $50 for 50 don't have 100 R 100 give a bit more so little bit but littleit then main the brother will rud a bit he's a strategist
00:17:24 he put his right the back and everybody go in front and so he's very troubl but Jacob remembers God's promise to him and Jacob said he prays you know now compare this prayer to the earlier prayer oh God my father Abraham who said to me return to your country of Kindred of may do you go he remembers the promises of God and then now from a conditional prayer he goes to a prayer of Grace see the change I am not worthy of the least of the Deeds of the steadfast love and the faithfulness you have shown your servant earlier on
00:18:01 now is that God you do this I do this for you now no more it's Grace we only my staff I crossed this Jordan and now I have become very loaded and very rich please deliver me from my hand for my brother the hand of Esau I fear him he may come and attack me no mothers of my children but you said I will do you good he remembers the promise make your Offspring like the sand of the sea who cannot be numbered and there is a lot to say here about dealing with anxiety so where are we are he is now there in
00:18:31 Mahan and he moves down to the river jab is strategic because as a f is hard to cross and then he positions his family he's a strategist you know and God in his grace meets him again notice every time he cries out to the Lord in his journey Gods there that same night he arose took his two wives his 11 children crossed the for of jauk he took them sent them across the stream everything was Hadad and Jacob was left alone God wanted him alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day and
00:19:07 that was God and he wrestled and he said your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel your striving with God and man have prevailed and what God is trying to tell you in your journey in life you have to wrestle with him over your fears you got to God if your heart is right and you say Lord I'm having anxiety now I don't know what's happening in the future I'm very scared I don't know but Lord your Bible says you know you will find a way out for me you say you will not test me beyond what
00:19:39 I'm able you tell me in scripture I'm really scared the Lord will meet you I'll tell you he will meet you but when he meets you you better wrestle with him and he will want to know whether you can Prevail because this is the turning point of Jacob the runner what happens from the river jab he wrestles to God and he moves to a place called panel and Jacob called the place penel because I saw God face to face and yet my life was bad the sun rose above him as he passed pel he was limping because of his hip hey why will God put you in
00:20:19 the limp I mean why will God limp you God push his socket out you know so that he walk P you know you must understand one thing about the narrative he's a runner when I make you Pik what does it mean sorry I can't me you're you cannot run God's closing the back door on him I want you to face your fears to make sure you can face your fears I'm going to you God's really tight on him so what does he do for the first time in his life Jacob stops running and Jacob lift up up his eyes and looked and behold Esau was coming
00:20:57 and 400 men with him he's still intelligent he divided the CH Le Rachel and the two female servants he put the servants the children in front Le the children Rachel Joseph last of all but what's interesting is he himself went on before them last night he put himself at the back you know he put himself in the front that means if he is the one at the front the first person to die is him that's the point of the story you know what I'm going to face my fears God cannot this I cannot be honest they will
00:21:31 I will lose my job God I cannot go up to the elders and say this you have to it's not my character I'm soft I cannot go and tell my boss I cannot go to my father and law and do this if I say that I may lose my job I may do this and so he says you know what if I die I die I will honor God it's turning point he goes in front and he bows down seven times seven times his holy number you know why he's saying Esau I'm wrong that's very powerful because in your journey of Life hardship changes you and it reaches a
00:22:15 point after you wrestle with God he will make you a new man and this is the beginning and that's the first challenge for us and of course we know the story Esau Embraces him they they make their peace goes well he now moves from panel to a place called shacham and here you realize one thing about the story the story is a roller coaster is like every time things go good uh I've arrived some bad things happen there's a stronger word for you something hits the ceiling you know you know in simple words
00:22:49 excrement hits the ceiling goes good again excrement hits the CE things go good so now he says you know what I'm a new man my name is Israel I have been part by my brother I got my stocks in the bank I got everything life is good I'm going to shaum what happens at shaum Jacob came to the city of shum with the land of canum and from the sons of ham he bought a 100 pieces of money a piece of land which PES land because things are good I've arrived I'm not going to build my Bungalow with a very nice
00:23:24 swimming pool at the back plays for my BMW KTV laun and nice dining area and I invite church members over for makan that's what he's saying I'm settling down I don't need to run anymore he doesn't know more excrement is going to hit the ceiling and then his daughter gets raped now Dina the daughter Le born to Jacob went not visit wom lemon and shum son of ham the ruler area the D the tanri of the ruling party there raped her very powerful ma because the sister didn't have been defiled Jacob's son
00:24:04 replied deceitfully and after that you can read the rest they conco a plan they conco a plan where do you think they learned this from they learned this from the Father the father was a manipulator now his sons have picked up the traits of the father and they take it and they take it to a level of murder on the third day when they were saw because all the circumcised Simeon and Levi din but took their sauce came to city and killed all the males they killed H and Sonam took Dina out the home then Jacob said to Simon Levi you
00:24:41 have brought Trouble On Me by making me stin to inhabitants of the land my numbers are few I shall be destroyed then they said shall he treat of sister like a prostitute he gets worried because you're now in Canaan land the amorites the parasite they find out you Slaughter some people they are going to come after you they're going to wipe you out and you know what happens after this God meets him again you see God's grace in his journey God meets him again and God tells him this all right don't worry you
00:25:13 shum move the better God I'm halfway building my Bungalow no my foundations are up there you know I put a down payment on the land you know you go to battle this time he doesn't run he goes from running to going where God tells him to go and this is what the story God says to Jacob arise go to battle and dwell there make an Al there to the god appeal to you where you fled from your brother Esau so Jacob said to his household all of him put away the foreign gods among you and purify and change your garment let us arise and go
00:25:43 to battle I want you to hear this I'll make an altar to God answers me the day my distress and here's the word has been with me wherever I have gone so they gave to Jacob all the kunam and all the F and all the Jade and all the pwa and all the things to go find all the pantang things and they buried it at the terban tree that was near shum they are saying if I trust God I don't need to have if I trust God I don't need to have the kunam out there if I trust God I don't have this thing that brings
00:26:19 me luck all of this I'm now going to honor God fully you see the change that's happening from him he wrestles with God first he gives away his fear and now at this point I will follow you fully and here's something very powerful as they Journey a terror from who from Jacob no from God fell upon the cities so nobody went after them and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob compare this to the last text when we read he says I shall be destroyed they gather attack me and so God protects him and so from batt he now moves to mamry
00:27:04 again a roller coaster right God has saved me now I'm going back to mamy my dad's there things are going to be going fine what he doesn't realize along this way his mother died the funny the text in the Bible after this event the mother disappears from the scene know he just died so he arrives and memory things should go good right now now things are f i obeyed you right so give me good things what happens in mria firstly he loses his wife they move on for battle when they steal the like e Rachel begin to give birth had great
00:27:38 difficulty she was having great difficulty me said don't dispay another son she breath her last she was dying first he loses his wife Israel Move On Again P to stand Beyond imid eager is was living there his son sleeps with the maid with the wife forc upon him to have children and everybody hears about it you think that's bad enough when Jacob came home to his father Isaac where Abraham he bre he L and died so what happen when he comes to mam he lost his mother he lost his wife he lost his father and his sons are such douchebag
00:28:22 characters sleeps with his concubine boy he's really got a fantastic family man and so he s gives up more ways than one Jacob Liv in the land of his father soldiering and the land of Canaan and what does he do verse three now Israel Love Joseph more than any of his sons where are we hearing this before never change this guy and what happens about the sons they hated him of course love if you can kill a whole village sleep with your father's concubine your sons are messed up you want a very good father will you and so
00:29:08 now we see two sins colliding the first is the sin of favoritism and we all know how this story ends right they take Joseph sell him to slavery and then basically take the Rope dip it in blood bring it to the father and the father believes it and he goes into depression you can read it now I want you to see whether you hear what we call Full Circle how did Jacob deceive his father Isaac he took on the clothes of his son he took a dead animal and cooked it how do the sons of Jacob deceived the father they
00:29:56 took the robe of the favorite son isau was a favorite son and they took a dead animal and they deceived him and if you check the records They around the same age this is full circle what is worse H you think you lost your son or the fact that your other Sons tricked you and so your favorite son to slayy I don't know which is worse you know you saw a say like what the peep is going on what did I do to deserve it didn't I wrestle you God didn't I change why why is my life so bad and you know what is what is worse
00:30:37 after this you know what happened covid occurs famine and when the famine happens they have to go up to Egypt to meet a strange man and this strange man knows a lot about them and this strange man takes another son on him call Simeon and then demands Benjamin and what happens Jacob the father says you have bered me my children Joseph is no more Simon is no more you come and take Benjamin all this have come against me and so Ruben tries to be hero and says no no no no no he said no you're not going to take
00:31:14 Benjamin your brother is dead he's the only one left and here is one the probably the most painful words recorded in scripture if harm should happen to him on the journey that you make me you would bring down down my gray heads with sorrow to sh it's like wow you don't get more painful words than this it's like he's at Breaking Point like God what more could you do with me and so when we hear these words can you understand why I didn't give you three points life was very very hard for Jacob but there's one more Journey
00:31:59 and that is from BBA to Egypt and we know from mamry he hears the story and he at BBA Jacob let BBA and they went and he went to Egypt what happens in Egypt he discovers he's alive he's alive so they went to Egypt to Canaan and Joseph is alive and Israel said it is enough Joseph my son is alive I will go to see him before I die I want you to hear this better you see the echo he is alive Because He Lives I Can Face tomorrow in Egypt because Jesus Lives you and I Can Face Tomorrow this is a story of Jacob let me now give you
00:33:01 three points one you either Journey alone in life or your journey with God and how do you do that you have to practice Desiring the presence of God daily they always say prevention is better than you know uh whatever they call it I for God now but what Jacob does is that he has a habit and is a ritual of always ensuring God's with him so when bad things happen he navigates it easier let's see what he does first God initiates because it's God's grace it's always Grace behold I'm with you Genesis
00:33:43 28 Genesis 31 I will be with you Genesis 46 I myself will go down with you promise number one God tells him you don't worry I will be with you number two I'm going to bring you back to this land go back to the land of your fathers I'll bring you up again the second is scripture first is presence the second scripture so here's one first thing if you're going through a difficult time the what we are learning here is to always every day have this practice of saying Lord I want to dialogue with you
00:34:19 what does your word say right now I'm worried I might lose my job my business is bad I have stage two cancer My Mother Does doesn't talk to me my marriage is on the Rocks I don't know where it's going to end but I'm going to make a practice every morning wake up I'm going to talk to you I'm going to wrestle God that's what the text is saying but you see when he wrestles with God he does something else you know and this is the pattern I'm going to show it to you what's the pattern there I highlighted R everywhere he goes He
00:34:51 names that place for God he called it ble he called it mahim he called it panel he called it Israel he called it El betel what is he saying he's claiming the presence of God in all his journeys God your rule will with me now that's lesson one I want you to pause on this now I tell you how this leads to another point he's doing this by dialogue with God this leading to another Point here's the second one which was very telling to me during the last two years last two years I really struggled you know but God did
00:35:33 certain things to me and if it's anything you take home today is the second point is this is this you see we always big about saying we are sinners and we very big about big sins it's the small sins that's going to kill you you know he going to kill you in wrong run what are the two sin he have number one the guy is a schemer I mean I didn't even have space to write it he's a schemer his mother was a schemer his father was a schemer his grandfather Abraham lied Isaac lied Jacob took it to a new level his mother
00:36:09 was a liar his uncle leben was a schemer his wives became schemers he's got this DNA is like a virus that goes out everybody around him schemes and of course the climax of it is the son scheme him and tell him your son died the ultimate scheme that breaks his heart and why that happens because of the second sin he plays favoritism and that he learned that from Abraham favoritism you ask anybody here they say small matter scheming who businessmen don't scheme let me tell you another one like me I tell you what God revealed to me
00:36:50 last few years and I I I am I'm very brutal with my words I I will tell you I I apologize for that I have no hold B you trigger me wrong day I'll tell you exactly what I think of you no ho B it's a deadly sin because of that I Hur people and it's very hard for me to change so I'm going to tell you what the second thing comes out for you it could be something else let me tell you something don't like some people are L you know don't like to hear that right you flip some people here are control freaks some people are here just one
00:37:26 their way these are all what you call minor sins you know but what I thank God the last two years is God brought some people to me who will just tell me off and they tell you off very nicely in the car they tell you all very nicely in the dinner of course having a wife helps a lot but if you don't know your small sins or your reactive you know when people kind tell me you are very reactive what's the first thing say wrong if I can't tell you I think you need to stand up to something you say no no no no I don't need to do if I tell
00:37:59 you your favoritism you say no no no no no no no no no no no no no but what the text is telling you is the small sins that will kill you so here's the next thing that comes up with a habit the first habit is the dialogue with God you know what's the second habit is the dialogue with church people and I I want to I want to say this I think this is a thing where we very much lack in FBC you know we always like to quote Matthew 18 why do you think nobody practices it I think like Paul trip says because we don't
00:38:30 have a culture of hard conversations so you will see Arnold or you see someone say I think his character like that you going and tell him I don't tell him until we reach a point in FBC where we able to sit down and talk and not feel judged every sermon you hear is coming from a place of guilt I can tell you about Stefan tomorrow you shake his hand I done my job but what God is doing with Jacob is changing his heart and to change your heart you need to face certain things so here's the point we are all
00:39:09 Runners it's very hard to face your fear and wrestle and the only way you do that is because the holy spirit is with the church because Jesus died for our sins and he's brought Victory and is empowered Us by the spirit is that you need people in your midst and they may not even people close to me I remember one conversation I had I was in the car with somebody not very close and just talking certain thing he said no maybe you shouldn't do this I was going wow that sounds quite offensive but when says you know what
00:39:38 maybe there's some truth in it so let me ask you a question can you name your small sins the text is telling you this for purpose 1 Corinthians 11 these things are written when he talk the history of Egypt so that you do not repeat them and Simon does the same thing the book of Acts the Hebrew writer says this this thing are written so you remember last one be constantly reminded the Journey of life isn't primarily about you and let me end about this you know you sort of think this guy had a hard life I'm going to challenge you on
00:40:14 that because he starts off by being a stealer of blessings he now Ends by being a giver of blessings and I tell you when you read the last few chapters of Genesis 14 47 He blesses Pharaoh He blesses Ephraim man and He blesses the T Sons Jacob is at his Peak here's one lesson H never too old to change never tell people I cannot change because when you say that you know I telling people you want everyone else to change never say that so let me now give you the story in context imagine this old man with a
00:40:55 tonat you know he's a refugee we coming for last week he's going to meet the most powerful man in the world faroh he's not in Egypt so he enters the court the first thing he does he bless farro hey hello brother you're meeting the most powerful man the world oh you should postrate yourself you know he say he says oh great faraoh made the rivers of the Euphrates overflow in abundance to you hey not your place to do that you should postrate you're a refugee you know so faroh get very curious he said how many are the days of the
00:41:30 years your life you look very old you you you do intermittent fasting right you eat lot of salmon you must be on a vegan diet why is the secret to your long life you tell you tell Fara I do Pilates I do mindfulness meditation I I learn to control my stress instead this fellow going tell the days of the years my soing 130 years few and evil been the days or years of my life hey hello you don't tell that to to the king you know so here's the context he's not saying that in shame he saying that as
00:42:05 Pride how do we know that because the next line they have not attained to the days of the years of the life my fathers for the days of surgery you know what Pharaoh I suffered so did my dad and so did my granddad and then he closes the chy phoh going and bless faroh another time you know and if you know The Narrative of Joseph anything happens in two duplets is the hand of God there are two Dreams by Joseph there are two Dreams by faraoh there's a cup Baker and and a cook when they are duplas is the hand of God read
00:42:40 the entire story of of Joseph they are always in dupas when they two blessings he does it and then the cheeky fellow walked out let me ask you this story who is the more powerful person is Jacob the text is telling you this old man who went to hell in his life is more powerful than pharaoh and he's trying to tell you you know my days are evil but I'm going to bless you for the things of God are not the things of the world and God takes the foolish things to shame the wise he will take the weak things to face to
00:43:17 shame the strongest and the most powerful man in the world acknowledges the strength of a old Refugee that's the power of God why let me read this as we close we notice this that he builds altars you know have you noticed one thing you know where he builds altars he doesn't build it uh in PanAm Aran he doesn't build it in haran he doesn't build in Egypt if you follow the story carefully Abraham builds altars Isaac build altars Jacob builds altar I'll give you the map of it you know where all of these
00:43:59 are in all of these places they are altars the Patriarchs built them you know what they're doing they are claiming the land as the kingdom of God and out of this the nation of Israel will come about because Jacob remembers your Offspring shall be like the dust of the earth you shall spread to the west east north south and all families of Earth will be blessed Jacob remembers the kingdom of God here is just a springboard and one day Egyptians Babylonians Chinese Indians all of us will worship God he recognizes the work
00:44:43 of a surgeoner is missions don't make your issues your life's journey God has a bigger purpose for you if you do that it will swallow you you up and I will tell you one thing in my life when I wake up early morning and sometimes you feel the whole world is crashing in on you I never suffered like Jacob but there are days where we say you know what this happened then that happened my mother is sick my father is sick business is bad my kid hates me and you have you felt like you're drowning and then what happens is what
00:45:21 the devil does is that your journey is just to fix your problems you know and I'll tell you you'll never get it fixed in his life there are two things one he holds to the hope that he Jesus is Alive one day he will go home meanwhile while he is on Earth he's got work to do and so do all of you so do all of you so let me just end with this challenge but here's what Revelation says they sang a new song you're worthy to take the scroll open the S because you were slain with the blood you purchased for God
00:45:58 persons from every tribe language and people and nation that is God telling all families of the earth will be blessed you have made them to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God they was rain on Earth during the very dark days of covid I reminded myself one thing I maybe it won't work for you I reminded myself one thing that my life is bigger than my problems and the moment I I did that and there were days where you just don't want to do things have you had a day where you feel Frozen you just don't
00:46:26 want to do anything but you tell yourself Lord I need to keep on moving and it's not just about me and so you come to church and you don't feel like talking to people but you talk not because you feel obligated you feel people hurt and you reach out and do you know when you do that God speaks to you you know when you don't make your life your problem and you give as Christ gave when he died for us he poured it out he does it and then I learned one other thing you don't walk alone and so be gracious with others on
00:46:55 their spiritual so Journey we all on the journey to know God and to know ourselves journey together because he lives you and I can face tomorrow let us pray Lord God as we just look at the Journey of Jacob and while we think is defeat his pain his suffering we realize at the end of his life is power his victory as he faces the most powerful man in the world the faroh and he tells him is because of my evil days I can bless you so I want to say if you said there and you feel very defeated maybe you're
00:47:45 in depression maybe you feel you're all weighed down and you cannot see anything else but your problem I want to say God has a bigger plan for you that that your life is more than your problems and if you lift your eyes up to there lift it Beyond The Hills you will find that Victory and how do you do that you journey together and I ask you right now I want I have a challenge I feel this is coming up very strongly a lot of you here Journey alone maybe with your wife or what but you do not Journey with people in the
00:48:20 church and I want to say God today telling you to take the Act of Faith to not run but faith face your worst fears and journey with someone in church and maybe after service talk to us wrestle with God turn the corner for your name is Israel you are the kingdom of God and together we will build altars on our journey and we'll call on the name of the Lord and sometime life is hard but we remember this because he lives we can face tomorrow God's people say amen would you rise As we sing this song as you just take us through
00:49:09 [Music] it I see God send his son God sent his son they called him Jesus he came to love heal and forgive he bled and [Music] Di to B my Parton and empty grave is there to prove my savior [Music] lives Because He Lives I Can Face tomorrow because he lives all fear is [Music] gone because I [Music] know he holds the future and life is worth the Living Just Because He Lives how sweet to hold a new born baby and feel the [Music] pride and joy he gives the greatest [Music] the [Music] Cur this sh can face un certain days
00:51:07 because Christ lives Because He Lives I Can Face tomorrow because he of fear of because I know he holds the future and life is wor the Living Just Because He Lives Because He Lives I Can Face tomorrow because he [Music] lives oh Fe is God because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he is because he lives we can face the future Because He Lives all fear is gone Lord those are the words we just sung those are the words our act of worship towards you we recall Jour Jacob in his journey
00:52:46 of fear and anxiety and right now in particularly I just ask for those here who just struggle and it's very hard to face their fears we ask oh Lord that you give them that strength that power that because you live oh Lord that anointing power is Unleased right now to us so in the quietness your heart I just ask you beat your hearts and say Lord this area I need to change I'm scared I want to run Lord May today be the day where I make a turning point and I face my fears that despite what goes on tomorrow
00:53:33 maybe more diseases maybe a lawsuit maybe family problems and this is something all of us will go through no matter what the world throws at us because you oh Lord died for our sins and Rose Victorious again we too one day will rise Victorious as we soen home to heaven but while we all here Lord we are tired we are dry we had it with and oh lord for some of us as we say Lord give us just a bit to see us true and we know as you do that you will pour out your spirit and you will Comfort us because you live oh
00:54:27 Lord we can face tomorrow and then one day and then one day I'll cross the river our fight last one the w we pray and then there he way to W I'll see the light of Glory I know he lives and because he lives Because He Lives I Can Face tomorrow because he lives all feels is gone because I'm oh he holds the future and life is wor the living just because he live one last time we sing because he I can face [Applause] tomorrow because he all fear is gone because because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just
00:56:09 because he live and life is worth and love is worth the living just because he Liv please be seated we coming into the presence of God right now and uh uh we are going to have a time to remember the Lord's presence in our midst by crating Holy Communion the Eucharist the breaking of bread we have called it many things throughout history but for historical times the church has used this as a centerpiece of the service if you have not received this would you raise your hands if you're not a Believer we like
00:56:54 to urge you to uh refrain rain and please talk to us over this wherever Jacob went he called on that place and declared it to God he put stones and he ped all why because he remembered the presence of God it was a practice that reminded him on the presence of God two things will happen to you now either this is something you do every month and it has no meaning to you it's just a ritual just part of your religious obligation or you can take the next few minutes to say as Jacob this you remind yourself
00:57:34 God is here in our midst would you do that and as Jacob remembered the promises of God that God you will keep me safe and take me back God has said he will take you home meanwhile be useful as we remember this don't just remember the broken body remember the victory and think of Jacob an old man before pharaoh and He blesses other him would you be a blessing to someone today now let us take the emblems would you open your uh [Music] cups and we are going to take a moment to think of his body broken to
00:58:20 us as he hung on the cross he breath his last and he said it is finished and and as he did that the curtain in the temple T into Eden is open back again and so that power is not in you to be victorious Lord as we as we take the bread as we eat of you we ask that your presence be in our lives that the eating of you is a is a reminder we need you as we journey in life together shall we now take off the bread take off the [Music] bread as the bread enters nothing magical nothing Supernatural but it reminds you your
00:59:15 journey with God let us do a prayer Lord as we ask this practice this habit becomes a meaningful habit that right now we know you are in our midst and you're telling us to to walk with you and as Jesus hung there his sight was pierced his body broken for us blood poured out as Jacob came to basiba he offered a sacrifice but the blood of boot bulls and goats will not cleanse our sin only the blood of one untainted by sin by our Lord Jesus Christ wash us away our sins and Lord change is difficult we are right now as we take
01:00:08 off take off drink of the cup I ask you to remember and ask yourself what are your sins can you name them or are you defensive because if you are you are saying you want people to change and not you some of us us have a problem with our mouth some of us have a problem giving up control some of us are manipulative some of us play favoritism some of us are racist some of us are double double speaking people and most of us are cowards we run so Lord we go on the journey we drink of the cup we drink of the cup of
01:01:01 suffering that you give us your strength and as we drink Remember You empowers The Holy Spirit and we keep on going we keep on going we take baby steps to face our fears that you will change us to be as powerful as Jacob PA and we tell ourselves this never too late never too old to change shall we drink of the cup [Music] a moment of silence as God speaks to you in your heart the way God spoke to Jacob on his journey I'm going to give you a minute of Silence you open your heart that God speak to you
01:01:47 [Music] [Music] [Music] you know in this silence only two things happen either you are completely uncomfortable the silence and you say you know I don't know what the speaker is doing then I'll tell you one thing there's too much white noise in your life if you cannot take a minute silent you're not letting God speak to you if you're in that category I I urge you to go back and think think about where you stand before God but if you sat just now and you felt your stomach squirm God spoke to you and he's telling you today either
01:03:17 this just going to be another service you're just going to walk home and nothing's going to change or maybe today like Jacob God is making you limp so that he closes the back door like Jacob before Esau you face your fears postrate saying God I will go with your strength so right now we offer this for all those who just struggle and Lord there many in our midst some of us struggle with depression some of us struggle with anxiety some of us struggle with medical pain financial problems the worry of
01:04:07 losing somebody someone here has somebody in hospital and you just [Music] hurt so Lord as a church we cry out to you that this is a safe space we break as a body do not make this is a meaningless service and a ritual you go back break us where we sit oh Lord break us speak to us and our days may be few our days may be evil but make us a blessing as Jacob drew his sheets and breath his loss scripture tells us he lived his life to the fullness may that be our purpose so right now in the quietness of
01:05:07 the hall Holy Spirit Come anoint us move quietly to the through Us in the quietness heal us and I ask again after service any one of you want need to be talked to or prayed for we are here we are the body of Christ we are the church so now quietly as we see receive the benediction now may the god of Abraham the god of Isaac the god of Jacob the god of the Lord Jesus Christ watch over you as you journey through your life may he turn days of Despair and evil to days of joy and laughter may he give you perseverance to
01:06:06 go through another day may he give you that hope to cling onto and that comfort of people in the church who walk with you and may this be the song We Sing to our graves because he lives we can Face Tomorrow God's people say amen service is over God bless all of you
