Good morning. Happy 4th of July week, weekend, all that stuff. We've got lots of folks traveling and stuff. It's good to see you guys here today.

Before we dismiss our children this morning, I want to quickly, I don't get a chance to say to everyone just because I'm not on social media and I don't know all that.

I probably could or should know because I'm not on social media, but that's kind of a good thing anyway.

But I do know that today, and I try not to miss the ones that are on Sunday, today is De Ivory's birthday, right? Is that today?

Yes, yes. De Ivory is 29 years old. Yeah? Is that right, De Ivory? 28. You ain't afraid to say it.

You go, girl. You go, girl. So before we dismiss the kids, all the children are going to help us sing.

We're going to sing Happy Birthday to De Ivory. De Ivory, you have to stand up. You have to stand up. Oh, yeah. That's the way we roll.

Yeah. Yeah. Stand up. Your mama just said, stand up. There you go. There you go. Okay. One, two, three. Happy Birthday to you.

Smile like you love it. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Yay!

Now, De Ivory, you want to come make a speech, right? No. De Ivory just passed out. There we go.

At this time, we want to go ahead and dismiss our children, K-5 through fifth grade.

If you guys will follow, who are we following today? Mr. Taylor? Mr. Taylor? Oh, Emmy.

Thank you, Ms. Pauline, for the announcements today.

And again, yes, I want to say thank you to everybody who came out last Sunday and celebrated our fifth Sunday.

It was a lot of fun.

It's good to see everybody having fun on the water slides and everything and just the kids having fun and all the celebration that took place.

And if you missed it, we'll try to do something on fifth Sundays.

But I'm not going to mention any names because it's not really all that important.

And besides, I don't want to embarrass anybody other than De Ivory because it's her birthday.

But I had a sweet lady come up to me during the Sunday evening, fifth Sunday.

And towards the end of the evening, she came up and she said,

Hey, Brother Curtis, I just want you to know that I've been visiting here for a little while, but I'm going to be making this my church home.

She said, I just want you to know that my family has been really coming back and they're blessed by the by the worship and by the teaching.

And we just love the heart of this church.

And I just want you to know that I've been in this community for a long time, but this is this is going to be our new church home.

And I just I'm so blessed that God's moving on people's hearts to say that God's doing something here.

And we just really want to be a part of that.

And I just really want to be blessed by that.

And so I give praise and glory to be encouraged to know that that your heart is being seen and felt through many people in this community as well in this community faith.

And again, happy Sunday.

So we will we took a break last week because we had fifth Sunday this week.

We will get back into Genesis.

We're in Genesis chapter 30, Genesis chapter 30 this week.

The next two weeks I need to make a little announcement.

The next two Sundays I will not be here.

I will not be here.

I'm going to be on vacation one week and then the next week I'm going to be.

You know, this is on me.

This is on me.

But if you if you are leading your family and you have not had a chance to take your family on a family vacation, do something.

It doesn't have to be exorbitant amount of money.

That's on me.

This is I've we've taken a couple of days here and there over the years.

But it's been 10 years since I've taken my family on a family vacation.

And that's my fault.

And so I know.

Right, Cherise?

There you go.

And so I'm looking forward to just getting away for a few days.

But next week, Brother Joe is going to bring a word.

Joe always does a tremendous job.

Joe always includes food in his sermon.

So you'll be blessed and enriched, blessed and enriched by that.

And I'm excited.

Brandon Grant, who leads our helps to lead our home group ministry and does a lot here in the life of our church and our hospitality.

And he's going to talk, I think, about discipleship.

And you'll be blessed to hear his heart as well.

Just kidding. David's like, what? So, chapter 30. Chapter 30. Today's message is entitled, Continued Dysfunction. Continued Dysfunction. We have had a lot of dysfunction here as we have gone through Genesis, these last few chapters. Anybody seen any of that? Noticed any of that? It's some absolute crazy stuff is taking place. And today, at the end of the service, we're going to be celebrating communion.

And you might be thinking, you know, well, Genesis chapter 30 and communion, they don't really go together. How does that go together? If you know anything about this chapter at all, it's a chapter about a dysfunctional family. It's a chapter about a family who's full of superstition. And they try to take these magical plants called the mandrakes to help them procreate.

And then you end up with Jacob. And then you end up with Jacob. He's stripping off a whole bunch of pieces of wood from the from these sticks. And he sets them in front of animals, thinking that's going to help them be fertile.

I mean, it's a bizarre chapter. It's absolutely bizarre. And so what in the world does it have to do with communion?

And as I thought about it a lot, and I thought, well, this is going to be a big stretch, but really not so much. I think actually I can see it as the more I ponder it, because it seems to make sense.

Because it's a story of a dysfunctional family. It's a story of a dissatisfied worker. It's a story of a greedy employer. All of this.

The first 24 verses is about Jacob's home life. Then the last from verse 25 to the end of the chapter is about Jacob's work life. And it's a mess. This whole chapter is a mess.

It's a story of opposition. It's a story of superstition. It's a story of oppression. But it's a story of redemption. It's a story of redemption.

While you have faulty, frail, fickle man on this earth, continuing to make stupid, yeah, I said stupid, the S word in church, stupid and foolish decisions, making those choices, you have a sovereign God in heaven who's enacting his perfect will in the midst of our dysfunction.

And you know what? He still does it today. In the midst of our dysfunction, God is still enacting his sovereign will.

And so you might say that chapter 30 is about a God who functions in the dysfunction.

And this family is a mess. And there's a God in heaven who, again, superimposes his perfect will while man is making all these crazy and foolish choices here on earth.

But you know what? That shouldn't surprise us. We're taught to pray that way, right?

Jesus says, when you pray, pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on what? Earth as it is in heaven.

That's how we're taught. So prime example of God's will is being enacted on earth from heaven while people down here, and he's doing it through a bunch of losers like us.

We're the losers that get to carry out God's will. That's kind of exciting, though, in a way, right?

I'll be a loser for the Lord any day. But I love that. I love that about this chapter for that very reason.

I love the fact that that the Bible tells us the truth about the heroes of the Bible.

It really is very forthright with this. It doesn't paint this pretty little biography and embellish who Jacob is, who's this great patriarch of the faith and, you know, with Israel.

It tells us the truth, and it shows us the truth in the midst of all that about how God powerfully works in the midst of our failure.

God powerfully works in the midst of my failure on an ongoing basis. He continues to work in the midst of your failure.

And that brings us, and it will bring us, all the way up to the cross of Jesus Christ.

It brings us to the cross.

You know, the worst event in all of history would be what? Putting God to death.

The worst event, you know, the worst thing that could happen, you know, putting God to death.

But God's will was still being worked out.

Even in that, that was the worst event ever.

But God's will was still being worked out through Pontius Pilate.

God's will was being worked out through all these other players.

Peter will even say, according to the scriptures, according to the scriptures, in the midst of worse.

God is still sovereign. And so, just a little bit of recap for where we are as we jump back into chapter 30. If you remember, we got into chapter 29 and some crazy things that happened. Jacob finds the love of his life. And he says to Laban, you tell me your wages and I'll do it. That's the girl, Rachel. She's the one. She's the one. And Laban says, well, what are you going to give me? And Jacob says, I'll sign my wages.

My life away. I give you seven years. He worked seven years to get Rachel. It was the wedding night. And boom, something magical happens. And he wakes up in the morning. It wasn't Rachel. It was Leah. And so, we already went through, how can that, how can that bozo miss all that? Okay. But it was easy to do back then. But so, it's Leah. He got Leah. She's the older one. And Laban says, don't you know that we don't give the younger one until the older one's married already? You should have read the fine print, Jacob, but you didn't. You were a little bit, a little bit crazy with the gusto.

Love blinded you. You didn't ask enough questions. So, let her have her week. And I'll give you Rachel if you work for me another seven years. So, okay. He works another seven years. So, now, he's got a mess here with all these ladies.

And when you get to chapter 30, verse 1, you read about a man who not just is going to have two wives. He's going to have four wives. He's going to have four wives. Okay.

You think he gets Leah and Rachel, but he's going to get Bilhah, the maid. And he's going to get Zilphah, the maid of these two women. And they're going to bear him children.

And let me just say, without causing a lot of problems and getting in trouble with my wife, if you had to live and take care of four women and make all four women happy in your household, whoo!

That's why polygamy is not going to work, because someone gets jealous. I don't care how much you say, oh, it's just sister life. No, it's not.

No, it's not. Somewhere along the line, someone's going to get mad. And we see this happen.

Again, it's dysfunction junction right here where we're meeting these guys. And so, Jacob's got four women in his household, and Jacob stinks at interpersonal relationships.

Well, he's a good chef. He's a good cook. He's a good conniver. He's a good con artist. But he's poor at interpersonal relationships.

And so, remember, his wife, Leah, the not-so-good-looking one, not as good-looking as Rachel, she's fertile myrtle. She's popping out babies.

Okay? She's having these kids right and left. And last time we met, she's already boring four kids.

And Rachel, the one he loves, she's got nothing. I got nothing right now.

And so, now we get to Rachel's desire. We got a lot of ground to cover here this morning.

I need to shut up and start reading. Okay, here we go.

So, verse 1, chapter 30, when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister.

And she said to Jacob, Give me children, or I shall die.

Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel.

And he said, Am I in the place of God who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?

And you wonder where some of these people get these advertised.

Fruit of the womb, that's where they get them from.

They steal it from them. No, they really do. They steal it.

We're going to hear some other stealing. Do you think I'm joking? I'm not. Okay?

But here we have, this is Rachel's desire.

I mean, all her life, Leah has been in the shadow of pretty sister.

All her life.

But, you know, Rachel's gorgeous, this and there.

But Leah is dominating the matriarchal status of the family because she's been able to give birth to four boys right here, mentioned in chapter 29.

And, but she's given him these four boys.

But listen carefully.

Children wasn't what she wanted all along.

That's not really what she wanted.

What she wanted was her husband to love her.

Remember, she thought every time I had her child, now he'll love me.

Now he'll honor me.

Now he'll this.

Now he, she knows, she reads between the lines.

You really wanted Rachel, but you got me.

But now you'll love me.

Now you'll do this.

You know, every human being craves to be loved and to be appreciated.

Especially in a marriage.

A woman seeks to feel that feeling of security.

Chuck what was the last time jan told you stop telling me you love me

Never yeah, that'd be never okay. She will not punch you in the face

If you tell her you love her over and over and over again that fuels that fuels the love account

That fuels that security in there. Okay children they seek they seek to get that love and acceptance from their parents

Just the acceptance from a mom or dad a while back. I was handed

A prayer card when we had our old prayer card. Someone slipped it to me and gave it to me

And it was a little boy. I won't say any names or anything

Obviously, but a little boy had written on the prayer card. Would you please pray that my daddy would love me?

That's what he wanted

That's what that's where that's where these ladies are

That's where leah was. I just want you to love me and so

That that's what that's what she says

So rachel says give me kids or i'll die

Give me kids or i'll die and and jacob says i'm not in god's place

Am I in god's place? Okay, i'm not the one in control of your genetic structure your inability to have kids

Obviously, it ain't me leah's popping out kids

Don't look at me talk to god. He's the one that shut shut everything down. No problems with me

right

So that he's having this conversation

And god's withheld the fruit from your womb in there verse 3

Then uh, then she said here's my servant bilhah going to her that she may give you give birth on my behalf

That even I may have children on my behalf birth on my behalf

Just keep that in mind as we as we keep reading have children through her so she gave him to her

uh, servant

Bilhah as a wife and jacob went into her that little phrase on my behalf or maybe some of your verse some of your scriptures say on

uh on my knees

Is an ancient expression that speaks of adoption?

and what this is is that you know, although

This child

This child it would

As though this child is going to be my own in other words, you know, um, you're going to have this child

But this child will be placed on my knees

So we placed on my care on my behalf. Okay, I will I will adopt her you're going to have her but I she's going to be mine

All right eight about 800 years

Before moses ever was around there was a guy who codified it a law in the ancient, uh near east and his name was

Hammurabi and you might have heard of the code of Hammurabi

And it was a codified in writing that governed the people from persia to the caspian sea from the mediterranean ocean to the euphrates river in the code of

Hammurabi

It stated that if you were if you were a husband and your wife was unable to have a child

And you could have a servant step in and have that child her servants to step in have that child and that child would become yours and hers

And so that was the code and it was just accepted as everyone's doing it

Everyone everyone's living this way

And this is a law that abraham and sarah were living under as well, too

When hagar comes into into the picture and they and they and they and they you know, they have they have

uh, um ishmael and so everyone's doing it everyone's going by this code and so, um, at so, um, not not only is everyone doing it

But my grandpa did it, you know, grandpa abraham did it and everything turned out fine there, right?

No

You know, but it's a classic case of conforming your character to the behavior of the world

And what does romans tell us not to conform to the world not to conform but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds

And you know where to think differently, but but see here's here's the big point in all this is that the consensus of the group

Should never determine your morality

It should never determine your morality well the whole world's doing it the whole world's living together the whole world's sleeping together

The you know, shouldn't shouldn't we shouldn't we have the freedom to why is why is christianity so restrictive?

Why does it keep me from all the fun?

You know now you're letting the world determine your what's right and what's wrong and that is a very dangerous place to be

Very dangerous. It's a huge mistake. It's going to be a huge mistake for her, but yet god is still superimposed

Then Rachel said, God has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore, she called his name Dan. Dan means judge. Danielle means God is my judge. Alright? In that sentence. But this is where the tribe of Dan comes from. Verse 7. Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, with mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and prevailed. So she said,

She called his name Nephtali. And when Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilphah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's servant Zilphah bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, good fortune has come. So she called his name Gad.

So read through here at this beginning. These two ladies are starting the first baby boom. You know, this is nuts. You know, I have one. I have one. I have my servant. She'll have one. She'll have another. And one's trying to outdo her. Do the other. The other one just wants to gain her husband's love. Gain his affection and all this. But, but, you know, all again, all of this is going on.

But Rachel's going through all these, these shenanigans as well, too. Because it was seen as great disfavor if you couldn't bear children.

It was seen as a great disfavor. God was disfavoring you if you, especially if you couldn't bear a son.

But if you couldn't have any children at all, that was seen back then. It was like, oh, that's just, you've been cursed.

We know that not to be true. But that's how it was seen back then.

Verse 12.

Husband, would you take away my son's mandrakes also? Rachel said, then, then he may have, then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.

Okay.

So basically she's saying, I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal tonight.

You can have your husband for tonight and sleep with him for exchange of your, your son's mandrakes.

This shows me also that, that Jacob had stopped having relations, intimate relations with Leah at this point.

And Rachel is in firm control of her husband at this point.

And so now they're, they're swapping a deal.

What's a mandrake?

What's a mandrake?

Now, for some of you who've, I've never read the books or seen the movies, but you get, what is it?

The Harry Potter?

Yeah.

Harry Potter has the mandrakes where they had the, they pull up a plant and it's like, look like a little person.

They're screaming.

They have to put what earmuffs on.

Isn't that right?

And that's where the man, that, it wasn't J.R.

Tolkien's imagination.

He stole it from Genesis, the mandrakes.

All right.

But the mandrakes were a, a plant that you would pull up and it sort of looked like a carrot

stalk and like it had the body of a human being and it had these roots that came and went out

that had arms and legs.

And so it looked like a little person.

Okay.

That's where they get the name mandrakes, but it was thought that it was an aphrodisiac that

made, that helped them with their sensuality.

And it opened up the womb of women so that it would, it would make your husband want you

more and help you have babies.

Not so, but they believed it.

Okay.

This is, this is what the whole, the whole mandrake was.

And so they're, they're trying, they're following the super superstition.

And so they're like, Rachel's like, you know, she got the mandrakes.

I need the mandrakes.

I'll make you a deal.

You can have Jacob for tonight.

All right.

I want the mandrakes because I want, I want, I need some love my way.

That's some kids my way.

I guess I should say, I need to watch how I throw that love out there when all this is

going on.

Here we go.

Verse 16.

When Jacob came in from the field that evening, guess what?

Leah runs out to meet him.

You're mine tonight.

Guess what?

We hadn't been together for a while, but tonight Leah went out to meet him and said, you must

come into me for I have hired you.

How would you like to say that to your husband?

I've hired you.

I've hired you with my son's mandrakes.

So he lay with her that night.

Okay.

So this is a, I told you it's a weird chapter.

We're going to get to communion here in a minute.

Okay.

But.

know but you know so i trusted in the lord and so uh here here's here's this god isn't doing what i

asked him to do so i'm going to help him out i mean it's exactly what what abraham and sarah did

right when bringing in hagar and that's what she's thinking so it says so he laid with her tonight

so that shows me right there when he just laid with her it says that so he laid with her that

night that shows that that marriage this is a sad place but the marriage had just gotten down to a

contractual behavior i'll just fulfill these things yeah verse 17 is that where we left off

and god listened to leah and she conceived and bore jacob a fifth son now the writer of genesis moses

he wants you to know that it's because god did it that they had another child had nothing to do with

mandrakes or anything else he's painstakingly reminding you god is still in control and

god listened to her prayer and she has another son verse 18 leah said god has given me my wages

because i gave my servant to my husband so she called his name issachar and leah conceived again

and she bore jacob a sixth son then leah said god has endowed me with a good endowment now my husband

will honor me because i have bore him six sons so she called his name zebulun afterwards she bore a

daughter and called her name dinah dinah uh dinah which means judgment you know and it was very

difficult for a woman in these days and just a little bit of insight if a woman was about to give

birth they would bring in singers they would bring in dancers they brought musicians they brought in the

wine it was going to be a party okay a big party they were all ready and when the child come comes

if it's a boy man they had a big throw down a big party but if it's a girl if you gave birth to a girl

wrap up the party congratulations but we'll save all the all the uh condiments for uh for the boy

that's kind of how it was back then that's that's what's taking place so she's competing with her

sister though she's winning right six to zero she's up in baseball game that's a good score right there

six to zero and so and then she has a daughter her daughter's mentioned but she gives her daughter

the name of judgment judgment but here's the highlight verse 22 then god remembered rachel

and god listened to her and opened up her womb now so it was after all the mandrake mess it didn't work

god's not going to work on the behalf of your your uh superstition he's going to wait for that

superstition thing to pass now i want you to see where i'm where i'm working well now i want you to

see what i'm doing the mandrake stuff didn't work so she prayed she started trusting the lord

she leaned on him and the lord opened up her womb verse 23 she conceived and bore a son and said god

has taken away my reproach and she called his name here we go joseph saying may the lord add to me

another son now we'll get to joseph later on because he dominates the last 11 chapters of genesis

and he's the one who ends up being sold out of jealousy okay and and he's in potiphar's house and

he eventually becomes the the prime minister in egypt and saves the world from a famine but his name

is interesting because it's really a prophecy it says the lord will add to me yet another son she's

going to have two children the second son whose name will be benjamin okay but that's going to happen

much much later much later but joseph her one and only son now by natural uh childbirth is here

and so far it's this is just a sad picture it's a dysfunctional family a family that never really

you could see all the conflict that's going on between the sisters and now you get you have to

if those if those sisters are having the conflict you have to know that some of it spills over into the

kids right and so all of this is just a byproduct of a family that's never learned how to solve

conflict they've never learned and these children are placed in the middle of this war that has taken

place with the adults and i just wanted you to think about this for a minute as i was

just

you

some people resolve conflict by not resolving it they don't deal with it we don't we don't we don't talk about it you get the cold shoulder honey what's wrong nothing i thought dude nothing's wrong i said you know how that goes what's going nothing's wrong it's really tough to cuddle a polar bear i'm telling you you know when when when people are acting that way and so but many others try to resolve but by uh they're they're not going to deal with it they're just they're just going to let

let it lie some people let it simmer i'm just going to let it simmer i'm not where you know we've got to be very passive and they're going to let it simmer and it simmers a little bit more and a little bit more until finally they explode like a volcano and takes out half the house and you wonder really what in the world is going on you're mad about you mad because i ate your last oreo no really it was it was eight months ago when remember when you wreck the car and you

you know yeah i never got over that i never got over that yeah others they placed their children in the middle of the conflict i've seen it happen you know and if that ever happens if you place your children in the middle of conflict don't be surprised that your children grow up to handle conflict the exact same way you modeled it to them it will happen and you know what if you use children like these two ladies did okay as weapons you know it there's it's

It's a mistake, pitting one against the other.

I see it happen a lot of times when marriages disintegrate as well too and divorce takes place.

Other parents, they go about worshiping their children.

And we are to love our kids, but it's all about the baby.

It's all about the kid.

The whole life is around that.

And so what happens is once those children grow up and you become empty nesters,

you've made it all about the kids and also we're empty nesters.

Now you look at your significant other and guess what?

You're like, what do we have in common?

Why are you still here?

Why am I still remaining?

You spent no time nurturing that relationship and you spent no time settling conflicts and all that stuff.

The best way to settle a conflict, I'm going to give you this for free.

You don't have to come to any counseling after church with me today, okay?

Is look each other in the eye.

Get a mediator if you need to, okay?

Maybe a counselor.

Maybe a pastor.

Be somebody who's skilled at biblical counseling.

Someone who's skilled at that.

And put your heart on the table.

Be honest.

Deal with it honestly.

And then guess what?

Move on.

Have someone standing there with you to help you build a bridge and get over it.

These people never did this.

And we're going to see how this dysfunction comes about because I'm mentioning all this because all these other sons come about and Joseph is born.

And guess what?

They hate Joseph.

They hate Joseph.

All these other kids were born to other people other than Rachel, right?

There is something to be said for that.

There's a reason why this is all taking place, why this is happening.

All right.

The second part of this whole chapter deals with the workplace.

He works for Uncle Laban here.

And watch what happens here.

Verse 25.

As soon as Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, send me away, that I may go to my own home and country.

Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go for you know the service I have given you.

Yeah, you bet.

14 years.

14 years of service.

15 years of service.

18 years of service.

It just shows us that Laban was superstitious.

And the idea that omens and signs could predict the future and that they believed in the pagan world that evil forces ruled the world.

Don't be fooled by him, you know. He's not interested at all in Jacob's God. He's only interested in the blessings that will come from Jacob's God. He's not interested in knowing him. Jake, Jake, things are better when you're here. Stay, man. Come on. It's all good here. It's all good. And it's a beautiful principle. It's a beautiful promise that's being fulfilled because God had promised Abraham that his descendants would be a blessing to the world, right?

That through you, you and your offspring, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And it's a wonderful, it's a wonderful, and it's being, it's being fulfilled right here. And isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful when God blesses other people because of you?

Ah, I hope you've had that happen in your life. That God is blessing other people because of you. It's a wonderful thought, isn't it? That you could be the reason that other people are being blessed.

That's not to prop yourself up. Giving glory and praise and honor to the Lord that he would use you and allow you to be a blessing to other people. That's huge. It's huge. It's humbling as well, too. It happened with Isaac, and we won't need to get into it, but Isaac and King Abimelech, all that stuff.

Later on in chapters 40 and 41, Joseph is going to be down in Potiphar's house. And he's going to realize, Potiphar's going to realize, I'm being blessed because of Joseph's sake. I need to keep him around.

And that's what Laban's seeing. Everything is good while Jacob's here. I need him to stay. If he goes, everything could go south in a hurry.

All right, let's get through this here. 29. Is that where we left off?

Jacob said to him, now see, Jacob's not going to fall for this again. Last time he said, oh, just tell me your wages. He goes, seven years. I'll give you seven years.

He's like, I've been down this road. And these two con artists, they really don't trust each other either. They both know they're con artists.

Jacob said to him, you yourself know that I have served you, and how your livestock fared with me.

For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have turned.

But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?

That shows us right there that Jacob doesn't, I have no interest in staying here.

We're going to create our own place. We're going to make our own way on our own household here.

31. He said, what shall I give you?

Jacob said, you shall not give me anything, for you will do this for me.

I will again pass you your flock and keep it.

Let me pass through all of your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep, every black lamb, every spotted and speckled among the goats.

And they shall be my wages.

So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you.

Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, you shall be counted stolen.

Laban said, good, let it be as you have said.

You know, again, these are two con artists facing each other, and they really don't really trust each other.

But basically, Jacob's saying, Laban, here's the deal.

All the pure bread, all the blue ribbon stock, all the best of the best, it's yours.

You take it.

You know, I'll take the leftovers.

All I want is an opportunity to build my own flock.

You know, I may have had a big part in what's the blessing you have here, but it's all yours.

I'll take the speckled, spotted.

I'll take all the worst of the worst.

Verse 35.

But that day, Laban, he didn't let Jacob remove, and Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and the female goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons.

And set him a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock.

So, you know, again, Laban's like, yeah, I don't trust you, Jacob.

I'm not going to let you go and pick them out myself.

And he puts them in a flock by themselves, and he separates them so that Jacob, Laban, can go back there and check the flock and make sure that Jacob hasn't stolen anything.

And so he's keeping a close eye on him.

And so if you thought this was all weird up until now, now it gets weird.

The flocks bred in front of the sticks, so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. Okay? So now you're thinking, what on earth is going on? You know, I don't know. I don't know. You know, there's some different explanations in here. Some say that it's selective breeding and Jacob's making tallies so he can keep certain rods or certain wands so he can keep marks of them.

But most people think that it's just like the mandrakes were a superstitious thing, that these rods were superstitious by Jacob. And they did nothing at all, at all, based upon the embryo. Okay? They thought, well, they had this superstition that if they were mating or just mated, whatever the animals saw, if they saw something weird or whatever, it affected the embryo.

So Jacob's trying to make them all have spots and speckles and stripes so he can keep them all. Okay? But God's in charge of all of this. You would think it's somewhere along the line, Jake, wake up! You know? Have you not seen the sovereignty of the Lord?

But that's what he's doing. But God's in control of the flock. Here's the result. And we'll finish this up.

And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the stripe and all the black of the flock of Laban.

He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban's flock.

Whenever the stronger the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in front of the troughs before the eyes of the flock so that they might breed among the sticks.

But for the feebler of the flock, he would lay them there so the feebler would be Laban's and the stronger Jacob's.

Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants, male servants, camels, and donkeys.

Okay?

So you read all that.

And so the result is that he's blessed greatly.

And we know that.

We know it's going to happen because in chapter 28, the Lord appears to Jacob as he's on his way to Uncle Laban's house.

And he says to Jacob, I'm the Lord God who's going to bless you.

I'm the Lord God who's going to be with you wherever you go.

And I'm going to bless you and I'm going to be a blessing to others.

So all God's doing here is he's simply fulfilling the promises that he already told him earlier.

And many times we have to learn to just read between the lines and see God is fulfilling what he's promised us to do.

But he's doing it his way and his timing, right?

His way and his timing on all this.

And so how does all this fit into communion?

As we go again, we're going to celebrate communion here.

You know, this guy's life was a mess.

His work situation is a mess.

It's an utter mess.

But in the midst of that mess, God is superimposing his will.

And he brings about a great blessing out of what maybe is the worst family in here.

He's bringing about the best blessing.

And what could that best blessing be?

It would be the Jewish nation from whence the Messiah will come.

That's the best blessing he's bringing out of all this.

All the nations of the earth will be blessed.

All of us will be blessed because Messiah comes.

And he comes through this whole process.

You know, why would God ever bless a bunch of folks who are a bunch of weirdos?

I mean, come on.

Mandrakes and stripping wood and all this stuff.

And it's going to affect the flocks and everything else.

Eating all this stuff.

Trickery.

Conniving.

You know, what a horrible family.

And yet God blesses the most unlikely.

He blesses the most.

You know, he's going to take the very worst and make the very best out of it.

Again, what a prime example of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Taking the very worst and making the very best out of it.

That's how we can come to the communion table, okay?

You know, the worst event in human history, any history, any perspective, would be to kill God.

You know, what a horrifying thought.

It was a travesty of justice.

It was a breach of justice, but God was behind it, working behind the scenes,

because out of his son's death, he would save all human beings who would believe in him.

What looked like a travesty.

You know, let's just suppose you were the devil, okay?

For some of you, it's a stretch.

Others, it's not, okay?

I'm just going to say, okay?

But let's just suppose you're the devil this morning, okay?

But, however, God has this ridiculous weakness of creating and loving human beings.

And you think, ah, that's how I'm going to get at him.

That's how I'm going to get at him.

So now what you're going to do is you're going to take hostages.

And you're simply going to try to get some of them in the world.

And I'm going to bring as many of them to hell with me as I can.

Okay?

I'm going to have them all out.

And so when God sends the prophets to enlighten the people, I'm going to kill the prophets.

That's what I'm going to do.

And then God does the most foolish thing of all.

He sends his only son into the world to play by the rules of the world.

He's doing what?

He's going to play by the rules of the world.

And you say to yourself, I can't believe.

This love thing must have addled his brains or something.

He's like whack.

He's gone whack.

And so all this stuff.

And so all you have to do is you have to inspire your agents like Pontius Pilate, like Herod, like Caiaphas, like the Roman soldiers.

And get him crucified.

And that's what you do.

And what do you think?

Once he's crucified, what do you think?

I'm victorious.

It's done.

Okay?

He hangs there on the cross.

He's forsaken by man.

Seemingly forsaken by God.

He's bleeding to death.

And he cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And what do you think?

It's the devil.

Sweet.

We've won.

I finally brought this thing.

There's triumph.

I'm vindicated.

But, of course, you couldn't be more wrong.

You couldn't be more wrong.

This supreme triumph is your supreme defeat.

And you don't realize it.

He has stuck his heel in your mouth and you bit it, but that blood has killed you.

Because that blood has now made a way for all who would believe in Jesus Christ to be saved.

You thought you had him when you bit his heel.

So the worst thing in history, what looks to be the worst thing in history as we look at the cross, is actually the best thing in history.

Right?

So couldn't that be true of lesser things that we go through in this world?

That relationship that is so hard.

That work relationship that is so tough.

You might have a difficult home life.

I don't know.

And you might be tempted like Rachel and tempted like Jacob to sort of descend to a lower level to get legitimate needs met at an illegitimate source.

Do you hear me on that?

Legitimate needs met at an illegitimate source.

That's the meaning of idolatry right there.

That's idolatry.

Getting your needs met at an unauthorized or an illegitimate source.

Instead of saying, Lord, in the midst of this mess, would you redeem it?

In the midst of what's going on, would you shape my life and make something wonderful out of this?

Only you can.

Only you can.

In my life.

My children's life.

For your glory.

You know, I was thinking, in Camp Rhema, they had their main verse was John 3.16.

For God so loved the world, right?

That he what?

He gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life.

God gave.

He so loved that he gave.

That's a gift, right?

He gave a gift to the world.

The gift of his son, Jesus Christ.

If you were going to give a gift to the whole world, let's think about this for a second.

A gift that would have an effect upon the whole world, what would it be?

Take Jesus off the table.

Okay?

Take Jesus off the cross.

If you were going to give a gift to the whole world that was going to, that was going to be suitable for the whole books, maybe books, so everyone have this great learning, many people can't read.

Right?

Yeah?

What about clothing?

Clothing.

Okay?

A lot of people need, well, there's different climates all over the world.

You can't do that.

What?

Food.

Food's going to be the thing we're going to give.

Well, you know what?

The thing about this is people have different appetites.

Appetites.

Different cultures eat different things, so you can't really do that.

Ah!

Money!

Cash!

Not every culture uses money the way America does.

And He made it the best thing in the world. And just as God is working that out through this dysfunctional family as we get through Genesis chapter 30, He continues to do it in your life and in my life as we go through struggles, as we go through hardships, as we go through whatever it is we want to put on the table on there on the paper. God is still sovereignly working His will out for those who call upon the name of the Lord.

He is sovereign. He is sovereign. He is sovereign. He is sovereign. He is sovereign. He is holy. He is righteous. He is loving. And God so loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son. And Jesus came into this world. And on the night that He celebrated the Last Supper, He told His disciples, I have longed, I have longed to celebrate this with you.

And during that dinner, He said, this is my body, which is broken for you. Broken for you. All of you. Take. Eat of it. And during the dinner, He took the fourth cup, the cup of redemption. And He says, I have a new covenant. A new covenant.

This is the blood of my covenant. This is the blood of my covenant. That I shed for you. And this blood gives life. It gives life. It covers sins. It cleanses. It makes all things new.

And blood is the life-giving force to all of creation. That's why His blood had to be shed for you and for me. And He took the cup and He blessed it. And He said, take each of you. Drink.

Drink. And this morning, we're going to give you the invitation to join us as the elders come up this morning and we serve you this morning. Come on up, guys.

And we serve here by intinction. And we ask you to just, we're going to, in a few moments, come on up, worship team.

In a few moments, we're going to have you come down through the center aisles.

And we're going to simply ask, come to the first station and they'll have a piece of bread for you.

And they'll break the bread off and place it in your hands.

You'll be encouraged that this is representing the body of Christ, which is broken for you.

And then you'll take that bread and you'll walk next to the cup and you simply dip it in the cup, the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you.

If you want to break your own piece of bread off, just simply, when you get there, just hold your hand right here and we'll let you take that off as well, too.

But here we have an open table here at the Lord's table.

You don't have to be a member of our church.

You just have to be a member of the body of Christ.

If you are a born-again believer, you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and you have placed your life in his hands, the invitation is to come to the table.

Come to the table and taste and see that the Lord is good.

Amen.

Amen.

In just a moment, we'll give you the invitation to join us.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen

Our room is open.