Jacob Part 2

Lupé Lopez

The Patriarchs • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented a month ago

Jacob and Esau make peace

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Jacob's repentance toward Esau was characterized by humility and contrition. Recognizing the rift he had caused in their relationship, Jacob approached Esau with genuine remorse and a desire for reconciliation. He offered heartfelt apologies and sought to make restitution for past wrongs, demonstrating a commitment to repairing their bond. Through their encounter, Jacob's repentance paved the way for healing and restored harmony between the brothers.

Notes

Transcript

I would like to thank everyone who came out to support our Mexico Mission Trip Yard Sale, and all those who dedicated their time to volunteer, and donated things.

I know Alan and Debbie aren’t here this weekend as they are traveling.

But, recently Alan has been suffering from some back pain.

He said that he was using some medication that really worked, but it is no longer sold.

- Missing Key Ingredient

So he has to go with an alternative that isn’t as good.

The revised product they are selling in place of the original pills don’t work as good as the original stuff.

It appears they have removed a key ingredient for whatever reasons, and the new product doesn’t work as good as the original

Yadi, has suffered all last week with an excruciating migraine again, as most you all know, she is a victim of chronic Migraines.

She is already under a neurologist’s care, but it still gets the better of her at times, and this past week was debilitating.

She mentioned that she had a conversation with someone here about a certain over the counter medication she used to take but, there again, they removed a key ingredient and guess what,

It didn’t work anymore!

It’s important to have the key active ingredient in things in order for them to work isn’t it?

In today’s mainstream Christian churches, we see a lot of big fancy churches, boasting thousands of attendee’s

but if you actually listen to some of their teachings and beliefs.

Many of theses so called Christian Churches, although they are doing well financially, and numerically, they aren’t working in the lives of their follower’s

The reason is because they changed one ore more of the key ingredients,

Replacing the original Word and the intent of the Word for a watered down, or more palatable substitute,

You know, the kind that are more “Inclusive” Or - “Seeker Friendly”

But guess what, those substitutes don’t work!

Because many are missing the key ingredient to God’s Word.

Repentance!

You can come to God all you want, and tell Him how great He is and how blessed you are and so on

But unless there is true repentance, you don’t get it

The promises of heaven are available to each and every one of you, right here right now,

But it requires a necessary ingredient or it won’t work for you.

This is why many over the years have found themselves in the throws of life’s travails, and have found there way

to a church seeking some kind of relief from God

But because they lack repentance, they are left disillusioned by the things of God, and they walk away from God worse than they were than before coming to God.

It’s because they were either never taught about it or refused to commit to repentance.

The Bible tells us that in order for the better version, the renewed version of you, or even the repaired version, of you to take effect in your life

Is for the old version to die.

The old self cannot occupy the same space.

The old self and the new self are mutually exclusive,

There is not one while the other exist.

Either you will continue to be your old self, or you will be your new self, not both.

Jesus explains this in

Slide #2

Matthew 9:16–17 (CSB)

16 No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. 17 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Paul further expands on this concept of change within oneself when he speaks of this changing in

Slide #3

2 Corinthians 5:17 (CSB)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

Slide #4 Theme

The only way this change happens is if there is a true repentance in a persons heart.

Plain and simple

The word repentance doesn't just mean you’re sorry, but rather sorry and won’t be the same

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Repentance)

REPENTANCE A change of attitude and action from sin toward obedience to God. The concept of repentance differs slightly in the Hebrew and Greek minds, but an emphasis upon right behavior is consistent throughout

There is no actual word in the Hebrew for Repentance but is rather expressed in other ways,:

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Repentance in Hebrew)

demonstrated by:

• a public display of mourning over sin, such as weeping (Ezra 10:1), tearing garments and/or hair (Ezra 9:3), and wearing sackcloth (Joel 1:13)

• making restitution for wrongs committed (1 Chr 21:22–26)

• abasing oneself before the wronged party (Gen 33:3)

In both Hebrew and Greek, the english word repentance is expressed in ways that mean a complete change in direction.

A complete turn around.

- Have You Repented?

So, in light of that information, I’ll use this time to ask each and every one of you all who claim to be a follower of Christ,

Have you completely turned direction since you’ve accepted Christ?

Are you now a new person, or are you trying to live as a Christian while continuing to be unchanged?

Have you tried to make things right?

Have you died to your old self, and become reborn in Christ?

Slide # 5

Galatians 2:20 (CSB)

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Slide #6 Theme

That is what it’s going to take for all of the blessings and promises in scripture to become yours

A true repentance!

- Peaceful Separation

Continuing in the life of Jacob, we last found him parting ways with his greedy uncle Laban.

Rachel had stolen her father’s little household gods, and he wanted them back.

After airing out their differences, Jacob and Laban peaceably parted ways.

Laban returned home, and Jacob headed towards his home in the land of Canaan.

- Facing Esau

But, remember, he swindled his brother Esau out of his birthright.

Last we heard of Esau, he was sweating blood planning to kill Jacob.

So, Jacob finds himself having to deal with the effect of doing his brother wrong.

Jacob knows his brother wanted to kill him, so he divided his assets into groups hoping to make amends to his brother.

By sending over multiple gifts, in the form of donkeys, cows, camels etc.

This was his way of trying to make things right with his brother,

and possibly all of these gifts will eventually soften his brothers heart against him.

Slide #7

Genesis 32:3–7 (CSB)

3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the territory of Edom. 4 He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.’ ”

6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you—and he has four hundred men with him.” 7 Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, herds, and camels.

Slide #8 Theme

He was still a smart thinker.

He figured if his brother still intended on killing him, he would have some sort of a heads up.

If not, then these gifts coming his way in waves, would help to soften him up, butter him up as they say.

Slide #9

Genesis 32:21 (CSB)

21 So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

Slide #10 Theme

Now, Jacob intentionally leaves himself all alone.

I guess, he figured, at least, if the gifts don’t work, and my brother kills me, my family won’t have to watch it.

But, while he is alone there in the wilderness, he comes across a strange character, that will literally change his life.

- Becoming Israel

Slide #11

Genesis 32:24–28 (CSB)

24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. 26 Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 “What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Slide #12 Theme

Jacob was struck in his hip, and he lived the rest of his life with a reminder of that encounter.

The Bible tells us the Israelites don’t eat the thigh muscle in the hip in honor of this event.

- First Be Reconciled

But what happened here?

We see that Jacob wrestled with the Lord, but The Lord wouldn’t bless Jacob until he admitted who he was.

Who was he?

He was Jacob, rightly named supplanter, con-artist, sheister, you fill in the blank.

But the Lord would not bless him until he came face to face, not with his brother, but with himself!

Once Jacob reflected on what and who he had become, he repented, at that moment he was freed from the sin he did to his brother.

He was no longer Jacob the con-artist, but Israel, he who struggled with God and men and prevailed.

He wasn’t blessed by the Lord until a change took place.

Brothers and Sisters here at Anna First, and around the world,

Just like Jacob,

Your life will not be blessed by the hand of the Lord until you come full circle,

And reflect on who and what you have become in your life, and all of the things you have done, and all of the people you have done it too,

and come face to face with yourself with who you really are,

Only then, will true repentance come.

And then you will be changed, you will no longer be (Point to some people by name),

You are now a child of the living God, called a Sons of God.

Then your blessings will come down as they were intended for all along.

Then you will see the bad decisions in your life, began to bare miraculous fruit in ways you could never have imagined in human terms.

Jesus talks tell us this in the New Testament,

Slide #13

Matthew 5:23–24 (CSB)

23 So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

Slide #14 Theme

Jacob needed to be reconciled not only to himself but also to his brother before the Lord would bless him.

In his heart, he had repented of what he had done to his brother, and he was trying desperately to make amends, but sending over all those precious gifts,

In same fashion, brothers and sisters, if you right now have anything against your brother or sister,

Go, and be reconciled to them, and yourself,

Then come back and seek your blessings.

In Jacob’s case, his fears were squashed when meeting his brother Esau, the Bible tells us that he was pleasntly surprised

Slide #15

Genesis 33:4 (CSB)

4 But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept.

Slide #16 Theme

Boy, wouldn’t it be great if all attempts at being reconciled went this way?

Unfortunately not all cases go this way.

In some cases, your brother or sister, may not want to be reconciled to you.

In those cases, the reconciliation is done in your heart, and also by making amends to best the Spirit of God allows you too.

They may not want to be reconciled to you, but you, in your heart have reconciled the issue with God, but only if there was a sincere

Repentance, as in Jacob’s case.

Shortly after this occurence, we learn from scripture that Rachel bore had another son to Jacob, or Israel now.

To which she died in child birth.

The child’s name was Benjamin, the 12th son of Israel.

The younger brother of Joseph of whom we’ll learn about later.

In the following years of Israel’s life in Canaan, we learned he not only lost Rachel but her sister Leah as well.

He and his brother Esau buried their father Isaac together.

And he stayed in the land of his father Isaac.

Until another great famine hit the land and forced Israel into Egypt.

Invitation to repentance.

Call Chelsea to prepare for wedding

Invite those who would like to stay for ceremony

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