This sermon focuses on the journey of Jacob, highlighting his struggles, schemes, and encounters with God. Jacob learns the importance of surrendering to God's authority, facing his fears, and praying with the right motives. Through Jacob's story, we see the significance of living under God's grace, seeking divine retribution, and ultimately finding strength in weakness through God's promises.

Let's pray. We can't assume because you've been with us in the past that you will be with us in the future. With your blessing, you want us to continually come to your door and knock, to seek, not to ask. Once again, we ask for your blessing, ask for the Holy Spirit to open up our hearts to truths, ask you to rebuke the enemy away from us, pray for captives to be set free. Lord, I pray in a special way. If there'd be someone here needing to be saved, that the Spirit of God would open up their eyes to just look to Jesus, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth. If they would just see that, Lord Jesus, you did all to them and your arms are open. You say, come unto me, all of ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. So draw them to thyself, Father. You're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You're not willing that anybody here go to hell or anybody on this earth. You died for all. You said, if I'd be lifted up, you would draw. And now, Father, draw. Now also, God, help us to learn from the life of Jacob some more truths. Pray for strength. We've been going several hours today, so we'll just commit this time to you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. One girl come back there and encouraged me. Thank you for that. Again, my not having enough time to prepare ahead of time. I've got about 30 pages to go through, maybe 90 or something, usually about six, seven pages as a sermon. And so we're going to cover now Jacob's life and try to move through, but don't get too many bunny trails and get off. I suspect they're washing my hands, and it's like the Lord said, yeah, all them bunny trails have taken up a lot more time. But I believe God uses those things to teach us divine retribution. This is titled the law of divine retribution, the 20-year discipline. The Lord loves his disciplines. And so here's the theme of God's grace in Jacob's life while learning to live under authority. Again, no man's ready to be in authority until he's learned to be under authority. And so he didn't do too good at home. And so now he's going to learn it under Laban. And it's also God can use him. And so I left something back at the house I wished I had. It was a whole outline, detailed outline that would have kept me on track a little bit better. But you know the story now. He's going to go. And I'll just roughly say that he's going to go. And I had some neat things here. It's not a bunny trail. It's in the notes. But the blessing, the pinpoint accuracy of God in his life, he went to the right well. He got to the right place, just like the servant of Abraham. He hit the right family. And we think he had the right daughter. Why didn't God send Leah out? Have you ever realized how many of the secondborns were put in and how few the firstborns? Moses, secondborn. Jacob, secondborn. Just go down secondborn, secondborn. The law of the land was the firstborn. The law of God is whatever he chooses. So God is precise in his timing. And if we stay under authority, we see God's preciseness. You know, Joseph's brothers were a real blessing to him when they threw him in the pit and they sold him off. He didn't look at that as a blessing. But looking back, he said, wow, where would we be if my brothers had not done that to me? Joseph was a man put in authority because he was a man that lived under authority with his father. I don't know why some of us have to be such a rebellious, of a rebellious nature. So Joseph being sold, there's the timing of Moses' cry with the baby, Ahasuerus' sleeplessness, and Mordecai's reward, and all the timing of God. You know, back in the old days, cars would get out of timing. Now the timing belt just breaks, but they still... Timing is very important, isn't it? Especially with some things. You bake something, you know, if you don't set your timer to right, you know, you have a burnt offering for supper and all this. But God's, God's... Did I ever tell you about the time I made donuts? It's a money trail. Back, Dad got the house remodeled back in the old days, and he'd added on a den and added on a bedroom for me back there. Anyway, we had one of these electric, and they really get hot. I'm going to make some donuts, so I put some grease on there. I didn't know about things, you know. It got really hot. It busted into flames, and I'm just a teenager, and I didn't know, you know, you should just let that get so hot, and then you put your donuts in. And so it busts into flames. Oh, what do I do? So I grabbed it, and I threw it in the sink, and there was water in the sink. So because I didn't understand enough things on making donuts, you know, Mom comes into the kitchen. This is a brand new kitchen. Birch cabinets, everything. She grabs me, takes me to the front door, threw me out of the house. It was only about $125 worth of damage, smoke damage. So in cooking, it's important for timing, isn't it? And we know other things. So here is God's timing in Jacob's life, just the right will, the right place. I don't know about the right daughter yet. You know where he wanted to, who was buried with him? Leah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Leah was in that. Isn't that interesting? Who gave him most kids? I don't know. Just anyway, he wanted Rachel, and he loved them. They loved each other. The love story goes. So he gets there with Jacob, and he's with Laban, and he's going to make some arrangements. He's going to make some agreements. So the schemer is going to make some agreements with the other schemer. It's going to be interesting. So these four agreements, three of submission, he's willing to work seven years for Rachel, and so he does. And so they have the wedding, and Laban does his deal. He throws in the firstborn, and they're in the dark. He doesn't see nothing. So he got deceived. So this is the law of divine retribution. I'll read over some of these things to you a little bit. So he serves another seven years for Rachel. You're going to have her on credit ahead of time anyway. So he's deceived. And so he made that agreement. That was his first agreement. His second agreement is 2926-30 of Genesis. So we'll go there. We'll pick up a verse every now and then. Genesis 2926-30. And Laban said, it must not be done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn, fulfill her weak. And so he does it. That's his second agreement with it, and we reap what we sow, basically. And so his first lesson, his second lesson, then he comes in here. The way of the transgressor is hard, and it's just going to be there. This is the law of the divine retribution in life, and that's the one lesson we want to learn here. Jesus said, Luke 638, for with what with the same measure you meet measure with all that shall be measured to you again. Well, that's good. I remember one time I knew a man that would give $200 every week into the offering, and I happen to know that that man did not have that kind of money coming in. And I asked him about that one time, and he said, well, he was putting that in because that's what he wanted God to give him back, the proportion of 200 to tithe on $2,000. And I thought, I don't know if this has got to work like that. And it didn't. It's trying to manipulate God like that. So, and things didn't turn out too good financially in that area. But the law is there. Saul threw a spear at David to pierce him, and he died being pierced on the sword. This is the law. It goes through the Bible, the law of divine retribution. Another lesson here, just picking this up, if you refuse to submit to a right authority, then you will learn to submit under a harder authority. So, it may not just be the easy. Another lesson in this, Jacob would not respect the rights with Esau as the firstborn. He will now have to respect the right of the firstborn with Laban and Leah, the law of divine. So, what we sow, you know, you sow wheat, you're not going to get a corn crop. You sow weed, you're going to get weed. You don't have to do that. They'll work up naturally there. But the fifth lesson, I had in verse 27 of this passage, 29-27, fulfill our weak, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with thee yet another seven years. So, he would not wait on God with Esau. He will wait on God with Laban for Rachel. It's the law. It goes through here. And so, this is the principle of divine retribution. Verse 30, and when he went also into Rachel, he loved also Rachel more than Leah and served him yet another seven years for her. And so, this is the payback, the vengeance, the payback, the correction. It's God's prerogative to throw back to us. If we do wrong, wrong will come back. And so, it'd help us to be more careful maybe, wouldn't it? You're shaking your head over there. You've done some mistakes, I take it. All right, man after my own heart, we'll travel in the same car and have wrecks together. Job 4.8, they that plow iniquity of the self-will will sow wickedness, reap the same. The law of divine retribution going through here. Listen to these things. This is the law of divine retribution because so, we better be kind if you want people to be kind to you, be generous to people, be generous to you. If you're hard, they'll be hard back to you. Pharaoh drowned babies and all his army was drowned. Korah caused division and God divided the earth for him. Haman prepared gallows for Mordecai and Mordecai hanged on the gallows. Saul stoned Stephen and he was stoned. Laban deceived Rachel and then Rachel deceived him. Jacob, Jacob's mother took the skin of goats and his son took the blood of goats. That's this. If we deny him, he will deny us. And so, you heard a speed reading, this is going to be speed preaching. I told the girl back there, six, seven pages I told you is a sermon and I'm going to go through a bunch of them here. Leah had to go along with the deception because she was a submissive girl. She's one of these that was just drawn into the thing. She wasn't really loved, but she was really lovely. And God blessed her. God opened her womb and Rachel's room was not opened up, but she had to submit to this. Jacob's home life at home was not good with the deception, so his home life at Haran is not going to be good. It just goes back and forth. The sixth lesson I wrote down here, life and out from under authority under Isaac is going to be rougher under Laban and that's what we're learning in this principle. Jacob in wanting leadership position, not being ready for leadership position, is being made ready for leadership position. You see, to get that blessing that he took to take from Esau, he had to be ready for that. Neither one of them were ready for his ectos and maybe just because Isaac was hungry. I don't know, he wasn't ready to die. The flesh can jump in there. And so, in all of our chasing, God is going to do something in our life. You know what he's going to do? He's going to bring us out of bondage and into freedom. You can tell when something's in bondage, it struggles, right? Are you struggling with something? God is in the process to bring you free. Just like the little kid, he found a cocoon and he saw the struggle going on there and so he thought he took his little pen knife and he opened it up so he could let that butterfly free. Timing. And of course, the butterfly died. He needed that struggle to develop his strength. Isn't that interesting? A worm will go into a butterfly. Who was it in the Bible referred to as a worm? Jesus. He was a worm. And so all of this, and so Jesus died for us. God is bringing us out of bondage into the blessing. A third agreement that Jacob made with Laban, it brings us to a seventh lesson. Don't worry if you have trouble following my outline. I do too. When we disobey God, we dishonor his word and we go our own way and we follow our own reasonings. There will be a divine restitution. Let me say that one again. When we disobey God, we dishonor his word. And when we dishonor his word and we go our own, you know, God gave us this amazing thing. We have the writing of God, divinely inspired of God given to us over a process of what, 1,500 or so years with all these different authors and it all works out to be an amazing book. We don't have a Koran with one author supposedly hearing from God that he didn't hear from God. And with all the commands they have in their Koran, it's confusion. If you ever go through one, it's really something else, but this makes sense. And so God says for us to follow. Eighth lesson I see in here for Jacob. You know, he come to the point after all these years, 20 years with him in 30, if you want to go there in 25, to where he'd had enough. 30, 25, he comes to Laban and he's changed his wages. He said all these 10 times. And so finally in 25, it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away. I have had enough of you. I want to get out of here. He's getting homesick. I want to go home. Send me away that it may go unto my own place, into my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee. And let me go, for thou knowest my service to which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. And so God's grace was on him. And so the lesson here, living under grace and God's authority, we have God's blessing. Living outside of authority, we'll get some grace as he got it, but the hard way. We can get God's blessing the easy way or the hard way. Some of us are hard skinned, hardened, you know, we're just stubborn. Be careful what you take from an unsaved man. He took from an ungodly man. You need to be careful what you take from an unsaved man. I saw an evangelist one time, somebody gave him some money. He turned around, got rid of that as soon as he could. He knew that man had demonic problems, didn't want anything going on to him. So we need to be careful what you take from the ungodly. Always try to get everything from God. Give him room. When we went into the second church and I went in my wife's hometown, there was another pastor that needed a church too in the area. And this church, we'd gone through all kinds of stuff and everything to get there. But I just stayed back. I wanted to let him have that church if he wanted. Matter of fact, that place was a mess. They had four problems in there. And two of them I knew about. It had a charismatic split and they were in debt. And we did go in there. God said, go in there. And this is where we had a revival in 85 in this church. But then I found out the bad stuff. I mean, they're in debt for $65,000. They hadn't paid a penny on it in a year. The interest alone was $8,000. Which through prayer, God gave that to us miraculously. And the other problem is that they'd grown real fast and the charismatics had slipped in there. And then when the pastor found out what they were trying to do to kids, get them to speak in tongues, so to say, they had a big blow up. And so a few folks left the little building. Then I got in there and found out while the pastor left, he had an immoral relationship with a Sanskrit teacher. And then the main deacon, when I went in, moved out, proceeded to divorce his wife. And so that's what we went into. And God was able to do things. He had grace on us. So you need to be careful, though, of what you take and make sure God is on it. Somebody said the devil will offer you his best before you can get to God's best. How many girls have ruined their lives because they wouldn't wait on God? How much of our life is arranging things for our benefit and not God's? These things, it's just the heart is the Jacob, the heart is deceitful. That's what it means, that Hebrew word, the heart is a Jacob. It's deceitful, but desperately. So he has some more years with Laban, though. Sometimes you just can't get out of things as easy as you'd like. And so he said in 29, thou shalt serve thee. In 31, he said, what shall I give thee? And Jacob said, thou shalt not give me anything. He learned a little something there, didn't he? He wasn't going to take from Jacob. Now he's from Laban, like he did from Esau. And so then he goes through the process with the flocks and getting the cattle to go the way he wants to go and all of that. So after God chastens his child, he'll pick them up and he'll get them out. So what he's going to do through the next few years, he's going to make them very wealthy. Laban would have sent them out a poor man. So he's going to go out rich. And so he's learning to bear the cross. He's learning to bear the reproach of Christ and the results and the blessings. He's moving into that area. Going into chapter, we're in chapter 30. Let's see if there's anything else. Let's go on to 31, the fourth agreement. This is a good one. He's making an agreement to separate from Laban. And sometimes after we've suffered quite a bit, it's just a time to move on. And so this is chapter 31. Wherefore, come out from among them and be you separate, said the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. So the higher, Watchman Nee said, the higher the authority, the greater the separation. And so Laban was a pretty authoritative man here. And so the greater the separation need to be between them. He needs to put some space between him. And so chapter 31 and one through 21, we have him returning. He's turning back. He's going back in verse three. We'll just pick up here in one. And he heard the words of Laban's son saying Jacob had taken away all that our fathers is. So strife is getting in there and 33, 30, verse three, the Lord said unto Jacob, Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. And so this is it. He's planning to move out. That was a sweet word to him. Verse 11. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream saying, Jacob. And I said, here I am. Here am I. And he said, lift up now thine eyes and see all the rams which speak upon the cattle, which leap upon the cattle, the rinsed and speckled and grizzled. For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar and where thou vowest a vow unto me. Now arise, get thee out from this land and return unto the land of thy kindred. Amen, Lord. I've been waiting to hear those words for 20 years. It's time to move on. This old guy, Laban, I think I met my match. And so it's a sweet word unto him. It's a sweet word. And so the Lord says, return. He says, I'll be with thee. And, uh, uh, unless God's presence goes with you, uh, you just will go from one set of problems into another one until we make contact with God. He wants us to walk with him. There was a song we used to sing in the rescue missions. I preached in the rescue missions for four years in Omaha and another couple of years out in Denver when I went to another school out there and graduated out there. And it was, we'd sing this song, uh, how long will you run from God? Ever heard that song? I mean, you want me to sing it? That's good. That's good. You're a smart bunch here. I'm not going to sing that song, but how long will you run from God? The fugitive talked about being a fugitive. And, uh, it's really a pretty good song. And it would really, I learned in the rescue missions, how to get to these guys. I learned God taught me how to get to their heart and break them. And they weep. When I began to preach about the family, they're drinking, they're gambling and all that it costs them. I mean, there'd be doctors, lawyers, engineers, whatever. And God would use that about the family to break them for their rebellion. So how long will you run a fugitive from God? So he says, return, I will be with thee. And, um, so he's going to go back to his meeting with God. Isn't that neat? God said, I am the God of Bethel where thou knowest the pillar. God didn't forget that. And you don't forget those times when you meet with God. And so, uh, he's going to head back and he's going to leave Laban. He's going to go back in 18. Listen to what he says. And he carried away all his cattle and all his goods, which he had gotten the cattle. Of course he had to sneak off at night. Of course, you know that Laban wouldn't let him go, uh, which he had gotten in Padana around for to go to Isaac, his father in the land of Canaan. You know, if you've wandered from God, it might be time for you to wander back to the father, back to his position with his father. He wants to get back home. He's the prodigal son. You know, the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. Uh, that's just the typical way of the rebellious. We end up in the pig pen and whatever. But when the, listen to this, when the son came home, the father was watching and the son never received one rebuke from his father. It had one bitter, bitter brother back there, envious and jealous and whatever. But the father was waiting and just welcoming back. There's a type of Christ waiting. So all our moves should be in the will of God, in the blessing of God and with the presence of God. He's learning these things. He says 13 arise, that word arise, sweet words. And so then he takes off in 31 and 22, but oh, Laban heard about it. And so he's going to go after him 24. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said unto him, take heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Do you think that was necessary? Yeah, I think so. He was probably a pretty rough guy. And so, uh, he's being covered. God's grace is covering him from behind. And here's the thing, the devil, once he traps you and gets you in, he's not going to let you go easy. There's going to be a fight because he's after souls. He's after lives he wants to destroy. And so Jacob goes, he goes, uh, over his 30 years with Laban. He has this meeting and he said, listen, we're going to do this. You change my wages here. And this is, you know, you're just like me, like I used to be. And so the fourth agreement in 43 through 55, they have this final agreement and, um, and, uh, 44, I think it is. Um, now, therefore come down, let us make a covenant. I and thou let it be for a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar. And Jacob said it to his brethren, gather stones. And they took stones and made and heap. And they did eat there upon the heap and Laban called it Jigashadathah. Right. But Jacob called it Galid. And Laban said, this heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Gilead and Mizpah. For he said, the Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent the one from another. And so this is, he's finally done with old Laban. It's a covenant of peace. It's proposed as ratified by a sacrifice commemorated by a feast. And, um, it's a covenant of peace. And so he's finally done with Laban. Boy, that was a hard 20 years of there. And so, um, we'll move into, uh, 43 and this interesting thing, verse 43 there about Laban. When he leaves Laban and I shared this, I think last Sunday in that church, um, is it 43, listen to this Laban, all these lives. And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, these daughters are my daughters. And these children are my children. And these cattle are my cattle cattle. And all that thou seest is mine. And what can I do this day unto these, my daughters unto their children, which they are born as therefore come, let us make a covenant. And he already said in 42, except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the fear of Isaac had been with me. Surely thou has sent me away empty. So Laban, you know what Laban really got Laban excited years ago when the servant that showed up is when he saw the jewelry, he was a covetous man. He was a covetous man was Jacob covetous. Yeah. But now he's learning like Abraham, uh, had, had learned to lift up his hand to God and, uh, don't take from a ungodly man. And so here he is. And, uh, these, these wasn't all Laban's, all that cattle wasn't his, he'd worked for it all, but he didn't let it go easy. So we had the, the four lessons of life, the decisions, the desire of the heart. We saw the desire of the heart. We saw the details of his life and the circumstance when his desire was, uh, to, to get that actually his mother propelled that into him, the direction from the word of God and his life meeting with the Lord and then his getting into bondage and the deliverance and all of that. And the principle here, if we won't be comfortable living under proper authority, God will make us uncomfortable under wrong authority till we have a desire to go home. The lesson keeps coming back and back again. And so now he's got the desire to go home and, um, the great lesson in his life, his greatest need was really to meet God and to get to know God. That was his biggest need. And so in bringing us to the cross, one of the most severe trials is when it seems that God himself is against us, but actually the Lord is really blessing us. Watchman Neve said the Lord was not primarily concerned with the cross. He was occupied instead with doing God's will. When we're interested in God's will, then we'll be interested in God's way. And if God's way is the cross, we'll say, be it unto me. There's probably nobody that suffered as much with shame as Mary, the mother of Jesus being considered a harlot. And so doing God's will, the crucifixion was tremendously important, and it still is, but it cannot substitute for God's will. So to be crucified with Christ cannot be separate with us doing God's will. And it has to be a surrender of our will and a giving up of our life. And so the first place he met God, at God's house, and the second place he met God's host, and third, he will meet God face to face. We come to verse 30. And now, though thou wouldst these be gone, because thou store longest after thy father's house yet, wherefore is thou stolen of my gods? Now we go over to, I guess maybe that was 30, where he's going to see God face to face. I'm jumping ahead a little bit. And Jacob called the name of the place Penal, for I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Now, this is the thing. God is wanting us to come into fellowship with him. And we've got to go through this process. I've talked with somebody how there's some children that are real compliant and real easy to get along, and then some are just the other way. And I don't know why it is, but God's interested in both coming into his presence. Now, your past affects your future, and your present state reflects your standing with God. So how are you? This is all good about Jacob and everything, but we've got to come back and put the rubber to the road. How are you with God? When you leave these meetings, I hope you leave better than you came, you know? Me too. You guys are a real blessing to me. You know, many times with my men, when I'm sitting there, when I'm done sharing, I want them to feed me back. I said, what God say to you? What God say to you? And sometimes one of them will come up and say something, I want to be fed too. And so it goes back way. If you share what God's doing to you. Matter of fact, when we had a revival in 85, many times we would open up for testimony at the time. And the powerful preaching of the word with the spirit anointed evangelist was really great. But sometimes the testimonies were more powerful than somebody who started weeping and break down when they would hear what God had done in their life. There'd be people making restitution and things like that. So it's good to share with somebody what God is doing in your life before you lose it. You know, if you got saved, you've given your life to Christ and you know you've been born again in these meetings or whatever, share that. Matter of fact, you need to do that. You need to do that, I think, right away. And so find God's grace. Find God's grace. Chapter 32, let's rumble over here. Is there anything in this chapter? By this one of the most important chapters in the Bible, I think, wow, this is neat. This chapter, here he comes back. Jacob went on his way and you know, he's going to end up face to face with God. And the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, and to the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them saying, that's how you're speaking to my Lord Esau, thy servant. Jacob said thus, I have sojourned with Laman and stayed there until now. I have seen, I have oxen and axes, flocks and man servants and woman servants. And I have sent to tell my Lord that I might find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to thy brother Esau. Also, he cometh to meet thee. It's good, isn't it? Should we read the next part? And 400 men with him. Oh, Jacob. God's got a little bit more to teach him, doesn't he? Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people. He's back to doing the scheme. And again, that was with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands and said, if Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company, which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, Oh God of my father, Abraham, God of my father, Isaac, the Lord, which says unto me, return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. Isn't it amazing how when you get in a jam, you become a good prayer warrior. You become a real prayer. I'm not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth, which thou hast shown unto thy servant. For when my staff passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands, deliver me. I pray thee from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And thou hast said, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered from multitude. Notice how he's been pressed into the corner to pray the promises back. You want to do some powerful praying, you pray God's word right back to him. Our men on, uh, we meet Thursday nights. We're praying through the Psalms. We're up into the seventies. We just take a verse and we pray that verse and we go on into our prayer time. In 13, he lodged there that same night and took of that which came to his hand, a present for Esau, his brother, 200 she goats and 20 he goats and 200 ewes and 20 lambs, 30 male camels with their goat. Do you know what we got at the house right now? We got a goat money trail. I mean a goat trail. That's just a baby goat. And we got two little, what are these dogs? Yorkies. One's a three legged Yorkie. But anyway, this little thing, uh, one of our families raises goats and this one was just, I don't know, a pound and a half or two pounds. It's just really little. They usually die. It didn't die. And the mother wouldn't take it. So brought it to church and we took it home. And so it's growing. Only problem is he thinks it's a dog. You're following these dogs. And so goats just reminded me of goats. You can have trouble if you have goats in the house, you know that. So anyway, he's got these goats. We've got to do something for the kids. They get stay tuned in with us a little bit. Anyway, he got this baby goat. It's time to go out. Anyway, he lodged there that same night, took of that which his hand for a present Esau and all these things to him. In 17, he commanded the four most saying, when Esau, my brother, meeted thee and asked you these saying, who's art thou and where goest thou? Who's are these before thee? Then thou shall say, they be thy servant Jacob's. It is a present sent unto my Lord Esau. Behold also he is behind us. Great leader. Where's your leader? He's back there in the back shaking in his boots. He's behind us. And so, um, commanded psychological warfare that he's got. And so commanded he the second and the third and all that followed the drug saying on this matter, shall you speak unto Esau when you find him and say ye more over behold, thy servant, Jacob is behind us. Our fearless leader, you know, he's coming for, he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me. And afterward, I will see his face peradventure. He will accept of me except as a word for NASA for lift up. He needs to be lifted up. He's in a low position. He cheated his brother bad and now divine restitution. He says, Oh, I dished it out and now it's coming. There's no way to escape. Sometimes the best way God can get something done in our life is there's no place else to look, but up, you look to your neighbor for help. You look to your banker for help. You look to a neighbor or a relative, whatever in God's. He just likes us to look to him. How many times have you done everything you could to try to get out of your jam to get this situation fixed up. And then finally you get desperate enough to go pray all day or something, but he's desperate, but he still seems to have this scheming type of stuff going on. Doesn't he? You and I wouldn't do that. Would we? And so let me finish up. Here, so, uh, or either pick up on some lessons and then we'll come back and read some more. So, uh, he does want to get things right. And verse four, he said to find grace, that's the desire to get things right. He finally, you know, he had taken his weapon there with Laban for 20 years. Now it's time to face the music. You know where that came from? Face the music. I heard, I think it was a Chinese man that he had bought his way into the big orchestra or whatever. But then one day the King wanted everybody to come and play personally for the King. And so he killed himself rather than face the music. I heard that. I don't know if it's right, but I'd read that somewhere. But so it's time for him to face the music. And so what he gained, uh, the birthright by bribing does him no good in reality with Esau at this time. So Esau was his Lord. Uh, I had something where Esau was his Lord, um, by controlling his fears. Laban controlled his life back there, but Esau has controlled his life by fear. You had a fear, perfect love, cast out fear. You had something you were afraid of. Do you know that fear will be a controlling influence on your life more than Christ? He said, boy, now you're going to hit on something. You better believe I'm going to hit on it. We all got this fear of this and fear of that. And so fear is a controlling factor in it. Hmm. Wow. Ask God to deliver you from your fear because whatever you fear, you usually come near, you know, what we fear. Wow. And so what he gained by birthright by bribery does him no good in reality at this time. And so it's time to, um, face the music. And so he says, thy servant, Jacob, all of a sudden he's Esau's servant. How much it would have been different if he would have been Esau's servant from the first, but he wouldn't be Esau's servant because he wasn't really God's servant. He was self-service. And, uh, uh, actually what he did was his mother came in and she was an authority over his life. But if that authority was wrong, he should have appealed and went to the higher authority instead of submitting. He knew it was wrong. He was, this is the way the devil works. He draws us into these situations where we're sort of trapped. How many girls have been violated because they they're threatened, their life is threatened, they won't cry out. Bad situations happen. So thy servant, Jacob. And so he'd been living in fear in verse six, we saw that. And it's the old Jacob. He's back, but God's going to take him to the cross here. He's fixing to go there. And now he's been remembering the promises and, uh, got a principle here. If living in fear, we have to protect ourselves. But if we have no fear, God is our protector. And if we're living in, uh, under authority and in faith, God is our protector. So what do you have to fear? You know, Jesus comes to disciples, uh, you know, they wake him up in the boat and all these things and the storms are coming in and he looks, you know, what's wrong with you guys? And they go, what do you mean? What's wrong? We're fixing to drown. He's trying to teach him something. He brings the waves. He lets the devil bring the storms in. The Satan is trying to destroy him from another warfare thing, you know, but he's trying to teach him, Hey, I'm here. If you got God in the boat, you're okay. All right. I know that a lot of people begin to carry guns and to take care of themselves, defend themselves or whatever. I think if you got God with you, he can be a cannon. Uh, so first nine, the first real prayer from Jacob, he really praying now, my father, Abraham and Isaac. And so the faith of his father is being stretched to be his own now. And now, but actually being brought to Ephesians 6, 6 to apply the shield of faith and right back over. Boy, I've got a big thick notebook just on the armor. We'd be here for years. All right. The shield of faith is under authority. Being using the shield of faith is living under authority. Satan does drop your shield. Let's talk it over. Hit you just like that. And this resisting is being under authority. Obeying God is being under authority. Standing, not listening to the wiles of the devil is being under authority. You know, what would have happened to David if he put on Saul's armor to go out and fight Goliath? It had been a, uh, a dead duck, the arm of flesh and whatever. Boy, he just went out there with God. You know, God, you and I, we are not for that giant. You have a giant in your life that's been threatening you and scaring you and dragging you down and worrying you. Let God take them. You know, if he, if you got Saul's armor on your, you can't face the giants there. And there was a key thing here. He's praying the promises. This is the covenant relationship. God has him in to pray right. He's praying the authority of the word. And, uh, it's written. It is written. That's how Jesus dealt with the devil. You know, he has these definite promises and what God is showing him. I have this principle here. God is showing Jacob his weakness. He's trying to get it. Jacob, you're weak. Quit trying to be strong in yourself. He's showing him his weakness that he might finally get to the point where he sees God's strength. He's bringing them to the crucified life. He's bringing them to bring, to come into the Christ life. Like when I'm weak and I'm strong, you know, the Lord allowed this thorn in the flesh for Paul and he's struggling with it. He wants the Lord to take it away. And the Lord says, come on now, wait a minute. I gave you this thorn. If I take it away, you won't have grace. He said, my grace is sufficient for you. Oh, wow. Okay. I'd rather glory in my infirmities. I'll praise the Lord. I have this burden and shout because I'm going to have the power of God on my life. How many of you want to get rid of a burden of trial instead of let the grace of God bring his strength into your life? We work backwards. I'm right with you. You need to come sit down there with you. So God's showing his weakness that he might see God's strength. My grace is sufficient. There are two motives in his prayer. He's, uh, he's praying with the right motive, but he's not worthy. And so that's right. Finally, he's beginning to get into a good prayer life in verse 10. He says, I am not worthy. That's a good way to pray. I'm not worthy. And that's right. He's the, the principle here. I'm the humble man lives under authority to not do so as to become your own authority. Lowly praying is powerful. Lowly praying is powerful. Instead of Brecca, Rebecca taking charge, what would have happened if she would have went to God and said, God, we've got a real serious problem here, this and this anyway. And so he comes to verse 11. One, the motives here is to pray with right motive, not worthy. Number two, he says, deliver me for thou has says, he says, it's for your honor. He's getting on track. He's got fear, but he's getting on track with his prayers. He's getting on track there. And third, he said, and make thy seed for the children. You know, he, he says, God, this is all your deal. You're here. And, uh, that was said, I would surely do the good and 12 and make thy seeds as a sand of the sea. And if I get killed, this ain't going to happen to God. If he saw it takes me down. So God likes to bring us to the point to where we will be desperate for him, deliver me, make thy seed and this. And, uh, so this is his final scheme by the way, it's a good one. And it covers a lot of land here. It's his final one. And so he's got the women and the children going, what would he have done if he was on the Titanic? You'd say the Jacob would have been probably trying to squirrel his way in to be one of the rowers. Huh? I just listened to the Titanic. I tried to do different things with my brain, brain sometimes. So when I travel, sometimes I'll listen to something different. So I listened to the, to the actor, to an accurate story of the Titanic. It was amazing that things that went on on that thing, the amazing, the, I mean, some people got shot, different things like that for trying to get on with the women, shoot them. And it comes down to it. We want to say, well, number one, all right. The fear of man bringeth the snare. And so, uh, the president was okay in 13. He lodged there. He's going to send the president over, but the motive was wrong. The one under God's authority under God's perfection has no need to fear. And the one who isn't will fear. So God's going to do several things in his life here. Um, how'd he get in this jam? He had no respect for Isaac or for Esau. He listened to his mom talking him into this. He showed, he showed no confidence in God. And even though he just asked God to help him, he's still scheming. Look, he just prayed this and then he coming along with the scheme. We wouldn't do that. Let me God help me. Hey, would you help me? Hey, you think, uh, you know, God helped me get, I really had need helping. Uh, can you loan me $50,000? God, I need $50,000. By the way, what do you need $50,000 for? Yeah. And I'll just, so we do one thing with God, but then we show it. That's what he's doing here. You know, just to, so, all right. I think, uh, this would be a good time to stop. I hope to be done with his life so I could get on to some other things, but I'm going to just stop here because we're going to go into this encounter that he has with the Lord. And, um, tomorrow morning, Lord willing, we will come through this chapter 30 to 22 through the end of the chapter, which to me is an amazing, amazing, one of the key passages in the scripture. How you doing? You're getting bored. You're getting convicted. You're getting moved. I remember one black preacher, brother Fields. He went home. He says his wife, uh, would ask him this question. So he asked us all one time we were sitting there. He said, would you move? Would you move to the right? Now would you move to the left? Okay. He said, thank you. So when I go home, my wife asked me if you were moved. I can say, yes, you were moved. Let's stand. Do you have anything to say, Ezra? I'm going to pray about 15 minutes. Okay. Let's stand and have a closing prayer. Now, Lord, again, out of weakness, it's been delivered. And I pray that you just bless all the failure and all the poverty that's been here. But we just look into you, Jesus, to use this in our lives. There may be things you're giving us here that we say, I don't need that, but we might need it next week. Or we might need to meet a brother and sister going through a struggle. And we all have these fathers. So I pray that you bless your word in Jesus name. Amen.