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Why Jacob Wrestled With God? God commanded Jacob to go back to the land of his fathers and promised Jacob that he was going to be with him ( we read about it in Genesis 31:1-2).We have to remember that Esau had set in his mind that he was going to kill Jacob for taking his blessing. You can go back to genesis 27 and read the account. Genesis 27: 41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you
So for Jacob this is a monumental moment in his life because he knows what may be awaiting him , possible revenge from his brother. Scripture Tells us in Malachi 1:2-3 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”.
And in genesis 32 , we’ll see a glimpse of this complacent love the Lord poured on Jacob. See video
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0:00
hello good morning this is taiva
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taves.com
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and today we are going to be looking at
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genesis 32
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and the title of the study is why did
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jacob wrestle with god
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now this is a familiar story for many
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people we've heard about jacob
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struggling with god
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a lot of people have made a painting out
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of it and what i wanted to do today was
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i wanted to dive into the story
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the account and piece it uh one verse at
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a time
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trying to see why this
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account is recorded for our sake why did
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god
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put that in the scripture so we need to
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study that
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so let me give you a quick background
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and then we're gonna go from there
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so the background now
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god told jacob to go back to the land of
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his fathers
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and he promised jacob that he was going
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to be with him
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and you could read about it in genesis
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31 verse 1 to 2.
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and also we need to remember that esau
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had
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said in his mind that he was going to
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kill jacob because jacob
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pretty much stole his blessing and then
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if you go back to genesis 27
1:06
you can read verse 41 to 42 he says
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now esau hated jacob because of the
1:12
blessing
1:13
with which his father had blessed him
1:15
and esau said
1:16
to himself the days of mourning for my
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father are approaching
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then i will kill my brother jacob but
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the words of esau her older son
1:25
were told to rebecca so she sent and
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called
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jacob her younger son and said to him
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behold
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your brother esau comforts himself about
1:34
you by planning to kill you
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so this is the background a little bit
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so jacob
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fled and and then he goes to
1:42
laban and he had two wives and they have
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a bunch of children now he has about 12
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children
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i think i don't know if benjamin was
1:49
born at a time so now god tells jacob go
1:52
back to the land of your fathers so this
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is the circumstance
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under under which jacob was traveling
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back
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so for jacob this was like a monumental
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and pivotal time in his life
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because he knows what may be awaiting
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him death
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because possible revenge from his
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brother esau
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but scripture tells us in malachi 1
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verse 2-3
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i have loved you and and god is talking
2:16
to the people of israel
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and scripture says i have loved you says
2:20
the lord
2:21
but you say meaning the people of israel
2:23
how have you loved us
2:25
and god says is not esau jacob's brother
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declares the lord yet i have loved jacob
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but he saw i've hated i've laid waste
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his ill country and left his heritage to
2:36
jericho's
2:37
of the desert so this is a scripture
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that people
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don't like because god says jacob i love
2:43
esau i hate it
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and most of us don't understand it this
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is why we say we don't like why god will
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hate somebody we don't truly understand
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what this means but in genesis 32 what
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we're going to see is we're going to see
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a glimpse of this complacent love
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the lord lord and jacob so that's what
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we're going to be studying today to
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understand
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how god loved jacob and he hated esau
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i'm not gonna go into all the particular
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details but we need to know how god
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loved jacob and that's what we're going
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to study today
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so let's jump into uh we're gonna do
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i usually read the entire portion and
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then i go verse by verse
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but i'm not gonna do that today i'm just
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gonna start with verse one to five and
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we're gonna go
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one verse at a time one portion at a
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time
3:27
so we're gonna read verse one to five
3:30
now jacob went on his way
3:32
and the angels of god met him and when
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jacob saw them he said
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this is god's camp so he called the name
3:39
of that place
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mahanayim and jacob sent
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messengers before him to esau his
3:44
brother in the land of sea
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the country of edom instructing them
3:49
thus you shall say to my lord esau
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thus says your servant jacob i have
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sojourned with laban and stayed until
3:56
now
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i have oxen donkeys flocks male servants
4:00
and female servant
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i have sent to tell my lord in order
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that i may find favor
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in your sight so
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god told jacob that he was going to be
4:10
with him
4:11
and god reassured him by bringing a host
4:14
of angels
4:15
alongside jacob and jacob was very well
4:18
aware of that
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hence why he said this is the kemper of
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god
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but jacob kicked in his engineer's
4:24
skills
4:25
to third gear let's not forget that he
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had just been
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he had just seen the angels of god he
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just saw them there was a manifestation
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he saw the angels of god and he himself
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says
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this is the king of this is the kemp of
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god so he knew the promise
4:39
that god had given him i would be with
4:42
you god said it
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yet he was taking matters in his own
4:45
hands by concocting the plane
4:47
to appease his brother esau he sends
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basically messengers ahead of him with
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specific instructions
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he is hoping that his gifts and
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offerings will somehow soften
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the heart of his brother esau and this
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is why he said now i'm sending
5:03
this message to my lord that i may find
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favor in your eyes
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so you clearly see what jacob's
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intentions were
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he was trying to take matters in his own
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hands and this is what he
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we see in verse one through five now
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let's go through
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from verses to eight and see what
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happens there i'm gonna read it again
5:22
and the messengers returned to jacob
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saying
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we came to your brother esau and he is
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coming to meet you
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and there are 400 men with him then
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jacob was greatly afraid and distressed
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he divided the people who were with him
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and the flocks and herds
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and camels into two camps thinking if
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esau comes to the one camp and attacks
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it
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then the camp that is left will escape
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so fear kicks in and rightfully so
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the messengers met with esau but i think
5:54
jacob's gift
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did little to appease him for he was
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coming with 400 men to meet him
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to confront it so i think as soon as
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esau heard
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the name jacob he became exceedingly
6:07
angry
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and said to himself now is my time to
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take my revenge
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so he rushes he rushes to encounter his
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brother jacob
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and jacob devises a plan to prepare for
6:16
their possible assault
6:18
from his brother which we see he's now
6:20
separating the group into two
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and he's so he's again he's been an
6:24
engineer and meanwhile keeping the back
6:25
of your head that he had met the angels
6:27
of god
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and he had been told by god go back so
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god is the one that told him to go back
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but jacob here is like basically trying
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to figure this thing out saying
6:36
i need to figure out what to do so keep
6:38
that in the back of your head
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now verse 9-13 and jacob said
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o god of my father abraham and god and
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my father isaac
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o lord will say to me return to your
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country and to your kindred
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that i may do you good i am not worthy
6:55
of the least of all the deeds of said
6:58
fast love and
6:58
all the faithfulness that you've shown
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to your servant for with only my staff
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across the sea and now i've become two
7:06
camps
7:07
please deliver me from the hand of my
7:09
brother from the hand of esau for i fear
7:12
him that he may come and attack me
7:14
the mothers with their children but she
7:16
said i will surely do you good
7:19
and make your offspring as the sand of
7:20
the sea which cannot be numbered for
7:22
multitude
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so now you know verse 13 so he stayed
7:27
there that night and from what he had
7:29
with him he took a present for his
7:30
brother esau
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so after devising his plan which we saw
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in the previous verses jacob goes to
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prayer
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so his prayer came after he concocted
7:43
the plane so he didn't go to prayer
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first
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so now let's remember in verse 1 he was
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met by the angels of god so god
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was with him and the presence of god
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wasn't invisible
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it was manifest the angels so jacob
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prays
7:58
and recognizes that god is the one who
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commanded him to go
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back to his fathers he also acknowledges
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the provision and the protection of god
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through his prayer he said it you've
8:08
been the one you've been with me
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okay and the one thing that caught my
8:12
attention is verse 10.
8:13
i've become two groups so jacob say i am
8:16
not worthy of all the least of all the
8:18
deeds of steadfast love and all the
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faithfulness that you've shown to your
8:22
servant
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with only my staff across the jordan and
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now i've become two groups
8:27
for two camps so listen
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i would have said three camps because
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he divided his groups his entire group
8:36
into two
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but the angels of god also met him
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so he had not only the two groups but he
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also had
8:44
the camp of angels this is why he called
8:47
them
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this is the camp of god so jacob
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he prays to god and he asks for
8:53
protection he saw the angels
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but then he says i've become two camps
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which we know that's not
9:00
picture perfect because it's three camps
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basically but jacob is still again
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trying to figure this thing out on his
9:06
own yet he prayed
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but let's see what he does next
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verse 13 to 21 this is a longer portion
9:14
so he stayed there that night and from
9:17
what he had
9:18
with him he took a present for his
9:20
brother esau
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200 female goats and 20 male goat
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200 ewes and 20 rams 30 milking camels
9:29
and their calves
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40 cows and 10 bulls 20 female
9:33
donkeys and 10 male donkeys these
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he handed over to his servants every
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drove by itself and said to his servants
9:41
pass on ahead of me and put a space
9:44
between drove and drove
9:46
he instructed the first when his my
9:48
brother meets you and asks you
9:51
to whom do you belong where are you
9:53
going and whose are these ahead of you
9:56
then you shall say they belong to your
9:58
servant jacob
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they are a present sent to my lord esau
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and moreover he is behind us
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he likewise instructed the second and
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the third and all who followed
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the droves you shall say the same thing
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to esau when you find him and you shall
10:12
say
10:13
moreover your servant jacob is behind us
10:16
for he thought i may appease him with
10:19
the present that goes ahead of me and
10:21
afterward
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i shall see his face perhaps he will
10:24
accept me
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so the present passed on ahead of me
10:28
ahead of him and he himself stayed
10:30
that night in the camp so
10:33
jacob i just prayed to god for
10:35
protection and then we see that he
10:37
again sends more gifts ahead of him to
10:41
esau to pacify his brother
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now the question is was the sending of
10:46
the gift the plan
10:47
got implanted in jacob's mind or was the
10:49
was this jacob's own plane
10:51
i firmly believe that this was jacob's
10:53
own plane
10:55
and this pretty much lined up with what
10:57
humans do
10:58
we try to to win god's favor by offering
11:01
things to god so
11:02
you see he's trying to bother up his
11:03
brother he's trying to soften his
11:05
brother by sending all his gifts
11:06
ahead of him by doing our own works i'm
11:09
gonna give
11:10
god this i'm gonna do this and then
11:11
maybe god will accept me
11:13
this is basically uh a self-made and
11:16
self
11:17
he's trying to he's basically
11:19
self-reliant
11:21
we rely on our own abilities rather than
11:23
resting in god's care
11:25
and jacob was now resting in god's care
11:27
now understand this
11:28
i'm not encouraging inaction or laziness
11:32
but we know for the fact that the angels
11:34
of god
11:35
were there so why was jacob doing all
11:37
these things the angels were there
11:39
for protection the angels had been made
11:42
visible for protection yet
11:43
jacob still relies on his own little
11:46
engineer's skills he's trying to concoct
11:47
the plane
11:48
and he's doing all these things and he's
11:50
praying to god
11:51
by the same time he's doing something
11:53
else so you can kind of see the
11:54
double-mindedness there
11:57
and we also know that god is the one who
11:59
changes people's heart
12:00
okay those gifts did little they would
12:04
not change
12:05
and they weren't gonna change um esau's
12:08
heart it's only god that can do it but
12:11
he thinks
12:12
by sending all these gifts i'm gonna
12:14
soften his heart like esau was just as
12:16
rich he had everything that he needed he
12:17
had money
12:18
so why was he sending the gift those
12:20
were not gonna do anything
12:22
at all so i firmly believe that the
12:24
sending of the gifts
12:25
was jacob's own initiative he was trying
12:27
to do this he wasn't god that put that
12:29
in his mind say
12:29
if you do this thing you're gonna soften
12:31
his heart now that was jacob's own
12:34
engineering skills he was concocting
12:36
this plan and he did it on his
12:37
own yet the angels were there let's not
12:39
forget that i want you to keep that in
12:41
the back of your head
12:42
let's keep going so now this takes us to
12:46
the most interesting
12:47
portion of this account which is verse
12:50
22 to 25.
12:52
the same night he arose and took his two
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wives
12:55
his two female servant and his 11
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children so he had 11 children not 12.
13:00
so benjamin wasn't born
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and he crossed the father of the jayback
13:04
he took them
13:05
and sent them across the stream and
13:07
everything else
13:08
that he had and jacob was left alone and
13:11
the men
13:11
wrestled with him until the breaking of
13:14
the day
13:14
when the man saw that he did not prevail
13:16
against jacob he touched his
13:18
his hip socket and jacob's head was put
13:21
out a joint as he wrestled with him
13:24
so now this is the observation now jacob
13:26
again does what every human being will
13:28
do
13:28
he comes up with a good plan to protect
13:30
his family and he's left alone to face
13:33
his brother
13:34
and that is commendable because he that
13:37
i believe
13:38
okay that's the right thing fear kicks
13:39
in i'm i'm not gonna chance it so you
13:41
say you know what let me just put my
13:42
family here
13:44
so so far jacob has been double minded
13:47
okay he's been
13:48
going from praying to god to doing his
13:49
own thing he prays to god and he's doing
13:51
his own thing
13:52
okay this has been like basically subtly
13:55
resisting god and then the wrestling
13:57
that takes place
13:58
all night is the climax of this subtle
14:01
resistance
14:02
because he's been doing this like for a
14:03
while now resistance
14:05
praying resisting and praying doing his
14:07
own thing and praying okay
14:09
and then the wrestling is almost like
14:11
this is the culmination of
14:12
all that has been taking place all day
14:15
long okay
14:17
so god has been all along going after
14:19
jacob
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yet jacob continues to resist god okay
14:23
and we've seen how he has resisted god
14:25
in the verses above
14:27
he hasn't let god be god but he has
14:29
tried to make to take
14:30
matters in his own hands okay that's how
14:33
he resisting
14:34
he's resisting by trying to take matters
14:36
in his own hands
14:37
so we've seen that god has been showing
14:39
him all along that i've been with you
14:40
the entire time
14:41
i told you to go back and i told you i
14:43
was going i was going to be with you
14:45
i sent you angels which you saw with
14:46
your own eyes and you acknowledge the
14:48
presence of the angels
14:49
yet you continue to try to figure this
14:52
thing out on your own
14:54
so finally the men in the fight are stay
14:57
wrestling he dislocates
14:58
uh jacob's hip in final display of his
15:02
power
15:03
and all he did was touch it and then the
15:06
heat went on a joint
15:07
so we need to see what happens next and
15:09
this is important
15:12
so verse 26 and 27 then he said
15:15
let me go for the day has broken but
15:17
jacob said i will not let you go unless
15:20
you bless me
15:20
and he said to him what is your name and
15:23
he said
15:25
now here's the thing the man was god we
15:29
all know
15:30
okay because jacob said later on i've
15:33
rest with god and my life was spared
15:35
okay so jacob through the fight he said
15:38
something profound when
15:40
when god said okay this is daybreak i'm
15:42
living jacob said i will not let you go
15:45
until you bless me or unless you bless
15:47
me
15:49
now the question that we have to ask
15:51
ourselves is this what blessing was
15:53
jacob after
15:55
because jacob was surely rich beyond
15:57
measure he had a large family he had
15:59
everything that any man could desire so
16:01
what exactly
16:02
was the blessing jacob was after he had
16:05
money
16:06
he had cuddled he had everything that he
16:08
needed so what was the blessing that he
16:11
was
16:11
asking god here's the question
16:15
and god said what is your name
16:19
and that question what is your name
16:20
gives us a window into jacob's
16:22
heart see in genesis 27
16:26
jacob pretended to be esau when isaac
16:29
confronted him i i succeed
16:33
he basically what jacob did was he put
16:36
you know issa was hairy
16:37
and jacob put goats on his skin and he
16:40
went and pretended to be his brother
16:41
so when did when the father said is this
16:44
my son's esau
16:45
jacob say yes he pretended to be esau so
16:48
he lied
16:49
in order to steal his brother's blessing
16:51
now in this case
16:53
god was asking him again
16:56
what is your name now he was face to
16:58
face with god
16:59
so when god said what is your name god
17:02
is testing what are you going to do now
17:03
jacob
17:04
are you going to pretend again and jacob
17:06
did not lie
17:07
he said my name is jacob
17:10
so the questioning what was the blessing
17:13
jacob was after because this is critical
17:15
and we're going to see that in the next
17:17
um verse 28
17:20
god says to him then he said which is
17:23
god
17:23
your name shall no longer be called
17:25
jacob or israel
17:26
for you have striven with god and with
17:29
men and have prevailed
17:31
so basically we need to understand what
17:33
jacob's
17:34
name means jacob means supplanter
17:36
supersede
17:38
another especially by force or treachery
17:40
which we know he's been doing
17:42
he tricked his brother so jacob
17:46
the blessing that he was after is a new
17:48
identity
17:49
he wanted to be changed because he knew
17:51
how wretched he was
17:53
he understood i'm a wretched man because
17:56
as he wrestled with god all night
17:58
resisting god he realized how dead he
18:02
was
18:02
he kept resisting god until the lord
18:05
dislocated his hip and then his eyes
18:07
were
18:08
opened and he realized who he was he was
18:11
resisting
18:13
jacob wanted his identity to be changed
18:15
and he knew that unless
18:17
god changed them he wouldn't change this
18:19
is why he desperately said i won't let
18:21
you go unless you change me unless you
18:23
bless me
18:24
god said you've wrestled with god and
18:27
men and have overcome
18:28
but it is god himself who overcame
18:31
jacob's resistance
18:32
he wasn't the other way around god
18:34
overcame
18:35
jacob's resistance through his his
18:38
irresistible love
18:40
let me say that again god overcame
18:44
jacob's resistant resistance through his
18:47
irresistible love he said jacob i loved
18:51
israel i hated
18:52
see god's love overcame jacob's
18:55
resistance and i keep saying that again
18:57
and again because i want you to see the
18:58
picture
18:58
see dislocating his hip was probably the
19:02
best
19:02
thing that could have happened to jacob
19:06
he opened jacob's heart he softened his
19:09
heart
19:10
god overcame the heart and heart of
19:12
jacob and jacob in turn was saved by
19:15
god's grace
19:16
through faith by asking god to bless him
19:19
meaning to change his identity
19:22
see the love of god was displayed in the
19:25
touching of the heap and dislocated
19:27
god showed his power he overcame the
19:29
resistance
19:31
of jacob and jacob said
19:34
i won't let you go unless you bless me
19:36
it is god who works in us both
19:38
to will and to act according to his good
19:40
purpose i want you to see that picture
19:42
here
19:43
this is important god gets all the glory
19:46
because it was him who worked in jacob
19:49
through the circumstances
19:51
to will and act according to the purpose
19:53
of god which was to save jacob and to
19:55
change
19:56
his identity from jacob to israel
19:59
okay and this is important what can we
20:02
learn from this whole thing
20:04
this is a picture of how god overcomes
20:06
our resistance when we have preached
20:08
the gospel we resist it until god
20:11
softens our hearts okay he softens your
20:14
heart and my heart and that's why he did
20:15
he softened
20:16
my heart because i was resisting i grew
20:19
up
20:20
in a family i mean i was i was a nominal
20:22
muslim
20:23
i never really i knew there was a god
20:25
but i lived my life i just
20:27
thought i was a good person and somebody
20:29
asked me one time
20:31
if you die tonight where you going i
20:32
said well i try to be a good person so
20:35
hopefully we'll see
20:36
see and then i remember a friend of mine
20:39
telling me about the gospel and she told
20:41
me
20:42
you can only be saved through jesus that
20:44
he's the weirdest truth in life
20:45
and i was so furious i was so mad at her
20:48
told her you are crazy
20:50
to think that it's only through jesus
20:54
so i resisted it i resisted i didn't
20:57
want to deal with it until god softened
20:59
my heart to receive the gospel
21:00
see i didn't want god in my not in my
21:02
mind i'd
21:03
never wanted to and i don't want to give
21:05
you my experience because that's not
21:06
what this is all about
21:07
but i'm just giving you this to to try
21:09
to make a point here
21:10
see we come into the kingdom of god by
21:13
kicking and screaming until
21:14
god conquers our heart and heart it's
21:17
not like we
21:18
see god and we love him no we are born
21:21
with a sinful nature that hates god
21:25
we resist him and you saw it in jacob's
21:27
life he resists
21:28
because we want to do our own thing we
21:30
want to be our own god
21:31
and this is what we are all after as
21:34
people we are born with the propensity
21:36
to say we don't want god in our
21:38
knowledge we don't like him we want to
21:40
be our own god we want to be autonomous
21:43
he's given us free will but we want to
21:44
be autonomous we want to be god
21:47
and that's what every human being wants
21:50
and god
21:51
won't have it and to those whom he loves
21:54
he changes the disposition of their
21:56
hearts so that they can receive him as
21:57
lord and savior
21:58
it is not something that we can do on
22:00
our own it is god who overcomes our
22:03
resistance
22:05
now overcoming our resistance may be
22:08
painful
22:09
but guess what i like and i enjoy that
22:12
he does that
22:13
because i know that if he was up to me i
22:15
would never love god
22:16
so i'm thankful that he overcame my
22:18
resistance that he
22:20
overpowered my resistance that he
22:22
overtook my will
22:24
and he changed me so that i can receive
22:26
him this is
22:28
love true love god discipline whom he
22:31
loves
22:32
he showed me the truth he opened my eyes
22:34
and he opened your eyes
22:35
the same way he opened jacob's eye to
22:37
say i am god and i'm here
22:40
to save you and jacob was overcome
22:46
you see in john 6 44 what does jesus say
22:50
no one can come to me unless the father
22:52
who sent me draws him
22:54
and i will raise him up on the last day
22:56
see no one can come this is the
22:58
prerequisite
22:59
no one can come unless the father will
23:01
send me drasm that's the prerequisite
23:04
unless god draws you you will never come
23:07
to jesus
23:08
so it is the work of god it is the work
23:10
completely of god the salvation
23:13
we take no part in it all we have been
23:15
given is god has granted us faith
23:17
to believe and the faith that he granted
23:19
us is from god
23:20
so god gets all the glory
23:24
so in other words unless god himself
23:27
enables you to love him
23:28
you can never love jesus or see in him
23:30
all that is lovely
23:32
desirable and cherishable ephesians 2
23:35
verse 89
23:36
says for by grace you have been saved
23:38
through faith
23:39
and this is not your own doing it is the
23:41
gift of god
23:43
not a result of works so that no one may
23:45
boast
23:46
you see we cannot boast about our
23:47
salvation what does john 1 12 say
23:50
but to all who did receive him who
23:53
believed in his name
23:54
he gave the right to become children of
23:56
god who were born
23:58
not of blood nor of the will of the
23:59
flesh nor the will of man but
24:02
but of god so basically
24:05
the lord is telling us unless god
24:07
himself
24:09
changes us it is impossible for us
24:12
to become his children so it is the work
24:15
of god
24:16
from the beginning to the end as it is
24:19
written
24:19
the righteous shall live by faith and
24:22
faith
24:22
comes by hearing and hearing by the word
24:24
of god so god
24:26
from the beginning to the end does all
24:28
the work now this
24:29
doesn't mean that we are passive people
24:31
because guess what you're not passive
24:33
because god works in you to want to be
24:36
like jesus he works and he will not let
24:39
that
24:40
faith without works is dead see god is a
24:42
god of action
24:44
and his word is a lie okay
24:47
so when god saves you there will be
24:49
change you will not be
24:50
passive you will not be passive trust me
24:55
he will work in you both to will and act
24:57
according to his purpose
24:59
so if you find passivity in your life
25:01
maybe you're not a child of god
25:05
maybe you're not so the scripture say
25:06
examine yourself to see if you're in the
25:08
faith
25:08
how do you know that you've come to know
25:10
him according to first john 2 somewhere
25:12
the scripture says we know that we have
25:14
come to know him when we obey
25:15
his commands because we know that we
25:18
can't obey god's commands
25:20
unless god himself enables us to obey
25:22
his command it is the work of god
25:24
and jacob's story shows us how god
25:26
overcame his resistance
25:32
go back to the scripture again and read
25:33
it and ask the lord himself to enable
25:35
you to understand what he's trying to
25:36
teach
25:38
i know there's a lot more things there
25:39
that i've missed but i just wanted to
25:41
use this one thing that i want you to
25:43
take away from this is this
25:45
god is the one who overcomes our
25:48
resistance
25:49
we cannot do it on our own because by
25:51
nature
25:52
we do not like
25:56
or love god and paul
26:00
uh paul on the assault on the rules of
26:02
damascus
26:03
shows us that again he was going
26:05
undermines against the will of god and
26:06
god transformed him
26:10
god overcame paul's resistance
26:13
this is the work of god for god's grace
26:17
for god's glory so
26:21
i just want you to just take that today
26:22
and hopefully this has helped you
26:25
and um i'm hoping that as i
26:28
say these things that you you young god
26:30
himself will uh
26:32
will testify through his spirit that you
26:33
are a child of god and if you are not
26:35
and you want to you and these words have
26:37
caused you to really
26:38
think about your own salvation i'm
26:41
praying that the holy spirit will lead
26:43
you to repent
26:44
because repentance is where it starts to
26:46
repent and say i've sinned against god
26:48
i'm a wretched man because unless you
26:51
understand your position before god
26:54
you don't understand the salvation that
26:56
you've received if you don't understand
26:58
how wretched
26:59
and how just dead you are in your sins
27:02
and trespasses
27:03
you will never see the gospel or you
27:05
will never understand it
27:07
it starts with a realization of how
27:09
wretched we are
27:10
because jesus said blessed are the poor
27:12
in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of
27:13
god
27:15
that's where he starts okay so have a
27:18
wonderful day and i'll see you next time
27:20
thank you