This is the transcript of Restitutio episode 574: Pursue Your Blessing with Sean Finnegan This transcript was auto-generated and only approximates the contents of this episode. Audio file 574 Sean Finnegan - Pursue Your Blessing.mp3 Transcript 00:00 Hey there, I'm Sean Finnegan. And you are listening to restitutio, a podcast that seeks to recover authentic Christianity and live it out today. 00:12 It's easy for complacency to set in on our walk with God. It's easy to settle into apathy with respect to spiritual growth. It's easy to stop dreaming about what God can do in our lives. Today, we'll hear another message from revive earlier this year, this one from your. 00:29 Truly, we'll consider 3 examples of people who pursued blessings from God, Jabez, Rahab, and Jacob. This episode should nicely round out our four part series on walking with God that Bob Carden started and that we carried on through Garret Bova and now my own message. 00:50 On pursuing your blessing and stepping out in faith and being courageous for God in our time, so here now is episode 574. Pursue your blessing. 01:10 We're going to start in first chronicles, Chapter 4, verse 9. 01:16 And my goal with you tonight is to cover three people, talk about three people, all from the Old Testament, who pursued a blessing. And so the title of my sharing is pursue your blessing. Simple. Pursue your blessing. 01:38 And really, I want to emphasize the word pursue. 01:43 Cause it's not sit and wait for your blessing. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about an earnestness and activism, a pursuit of your blessing. 01:55 And so I want to look at Jabez Rehab and, Jacob, those are my three, Jabez, Rahab and Jacob. And see what lessons we can learn from these individuals. I'm sure many of you heard that. You shouldn't seek selfishly you. Maybe you even feel. 02:15 When you. 02:16 Pray. 02:17 That you shouldn't pray for yourself. You should just pray for others and I understand that kind of wisdom, that kind of mentality, especially for those of us that are more naturally self focused and self obsessed, right. It's good for us to be other focused love, God, love. 02:37 People, but there's still is something there that we're leaving on the table. If we only focus on others and we don't seek anything for ourselves. And that's not really biblical. 02:52 As we'll see with Brother Jabez here. 02:56 Now it says in first chronicles 4 verse 9 this is going to be quick, so don't miss it. 03:02 It's only 2 verses, it says in first chronicles 49, Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. 03:09 And his mother called his name Jabez, saying because I bore him in pain. 03:16 Ouch. 03:18 That is not a blessed name. 03:22 As it turns out, the word Jabez, if you look at it in the Hebrew and the word pain are very similar. 03:31 She literally called the boy. 03:35 A word that sounds like pain. 03:38 In Hebrew, most words are three letters, so the second and the 3rd letter of pain and Jabez are just reversed. That's the only difference between these two words. The word for Jabez and the word for pain. We don't get it in English. 03:51 This is the sort of thing. 03:52 That would follow you in life. 03:55 And it's not a flattering name, it says in verse 10, Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying ohh that you would bless me. 04:05 And enlarge my border and that your hand might be with me and that you would keep me from harm. 04:12 So that it might not bring me pain. 04:16 And God granted what he asked. 04:20 This is a bad start, I don't. 04:21 Know what your. 04:23 Friends names are what you know. Maybe like some people have really tough last names. That's unfortunate when that happens, but. 04:31 Ancient people worried a lot about names, especially in the biblical culture. In Israel, they they really focused on names. 04:40 Moses, his name has to do with being drawn out of the water. 04:46 Samuel means he heard God remember as a boy. He heard the voice of God and he went to Eli and. 04:51 He said. Did you? 04:52 Call me remember that he heard God. That's what Samuel means. Shmuel. 04:57 And Abraham and Sarai have both of their names changed to Abraham and Sarah, and that was important. 05:04 Jabez could have been cursed for life. 05:09 With a name like that. 05:11 Ralph Klein wrote. One's name is usually one's destiny, Norman as omen. 05:18 That's a nice little Latin phrase for you. Norman is stoneman's. Name is omen. Right. Omen is an English word. We don't need to translate that, but it's like the idea of your name as determining your future. 05:31 Hmm. 05:32 And that was a common belief in in the culture. 05:35 Simon Sherwin in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible background commentary of the Old Testament, said. 05:42 ZBCOT in the ancient world, almost anything that could possibly happen, including many things that could not, was considered to be portentous. 05:52 Consequently, action was often taken to avert a threatening evil. Sometimes this could be quite elaborate, involving a specialist magician Jabez's name, potentially deliberate mispronunciation of the word for pain held evil, foreboding. 06:12 The means of averting this was not some elaborate magical ritual, but prayer to the God of Israel. 06:18 No. 06:19 Now, here's what Jabez didn't do. He didn't just say my name is Payne, and I'm just gonna. 06:27 Live into that truth. 06:29 He didn't say that. He didn't. He didn't accept how many people today. 06:35 Would blame their parents. 06:38 Or do blame their parents? 06:40 Or their childhood for how they are today. 06:44 But your past doesn't have to define. 06:47 You. 06:49 It can absolutely can, but your past doesn't have to define you. 06:55 You have something extra. 06:57 Possible beyond the average person. 07:02 There is a God in heaven, so whatever your parents said, whatever your sibling said. 07:09 Whatever you were stereotyped as. 07:12 That can change that can change, and Jabez had the guts. 07:18 To initiate that change in this prayer, the simple prayer we read in verse 10 to God. 07:25 Because a blessing from God is the best way to reverse a curse. 07:30 If your problem is that you have this curse hanging over your head. 07:37 Like Jabez felt. 07:40 Every time somebody meets him, they're thinking. 07:45 You caused your mother a lot of pain, buddy. When you were born. 07:49 That's what they're thinking, she said. His name is Jabez because. 07:53 Of the pain. 07:55 In childbirth, that's what he carried with him. 07:58 Everywhere he went. 08:00 Well, he asked for a blessing from God. He said this is his prayer once again, verse 10. Oh, that you would bless me. 08:09 This is thinking outside the box. 08:12 Ohh that you God would bless me. 08:14 And enlarge my border and that your hand might be with me and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain. He prayed for four things. First one, he prayed for a blessing. 08:28 Second, enlarge my border 3rd that your hand might be with me and 4th protection. 08:36 That you would keep me from harm. Why did he pray these four things? So that it might not bring me pain. 08:44 He's trying to escape his name, his destiny. 08:49 He's seeking to undo it. 08:51 And Jabez pursued his blessing. He pursued it. He didn't sit. He didn't stay. He pursued it. 09:01 You have a tough day. 09:03 Or a tough month or a tough year. 09:06 What do you do? 09:08 Do you binge on TikTok? 09:11 A TV show to medicate yourself. 09:15 Do you buy something on Amazon? 09:19 Just to get that little dopamine hit. 09:21 When the package. 09:22 Arrives and it's like Christmas for five seconds. 09:26 And then you're like ohh dish soap. 09:32 We do this right, we medicate ourselves, we numb ourselves. We we satisfy ourselves with these different things. Not that. 09:39 You know, all things are evil or anything, but if if that is what we're what we're going to instead of God, that's a problem. That's a real problem. Do you use weed? Do you get drunk? Do you use other drugs or Xanax or whatever? You know what? What is your go to? 09:58 To solve your problems in life. 10:01 I'm suggesting to you to be like Jabez, go to the source, go to the hand that holds the world, see what can be done. See what can be done. And we blame others. 10:13 If you were married to my wife, you would be like this too. You would be so miserable. Ohh, if you were married to my husband. You haven't lived with him. 10:25 Ohh if you have my job. 10:27 Had to deal with those people. 10:30 You would understand, that's what we say we blame. 10:32 Others I love. 10:33 Blaming others? It's so it's so enjoyable, right? 10:37 Complaining and blaming. It's like my two favorite hobbies, right? 10:43 Well, where does that get us? 10:45 It gets us nowhere, right? We need blessing. 10:49 And you have to pursue that blessing. Try pursuing God's blessing, brother James said. You do not have because you do not ask. 10:59 We're sitting here singing songs about blessing. Have you asked God to bless you? 11:06 You ask him to bless your food. 11:09 Ask him to bless you and pursue that blessing. 11:13 And then he says, you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. 11:19 Jabez could have just been another name. Let's look at first chronicles, Chapter 4, verse 6. It's the same section. I'm just backing up a few verses. This guy could have been just another name. 11:30 It says in verse 6. 11:32 This is a bit of a. 11:33 Tongue. 11:33 Twister. 11:35 Bear with me. Naarah bore him a Husum Heffer to many and a hash tari. 11:43 He invented the first video game platform. 11:47 These were the sons of Nahara verse 7, the sons of Hila, Zareth, Ishar and Ethan. 11:54 Kohl's father Anub Zubaba, and the clans of Ahel, the son of Harem. 12:02 This is the context you want to know the context for Jabez. The verse 9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. 12:10 What? 12:12 We're in a genealogy here. 12:15 You. I I tell you, you read the first few chapters of chronicles, you get a lot of genealogy. This one, we got this one. We got this one. We got that one and his brothers and this and that right. We get to this part of the Bible. We're reading it and our and our eyes glaze over. 12:32 And we're and we're just like. 12:35 I think for Ezra, who I believe wrote first chronicles. 12:39 It was getting a little tedious writing it too. 12:43 Because this jabez. 12:46 Does not fit here. He's not a descendant of anybody. Look at it. 12:50 Look at it, verse 9. He just pops out of nowhere. 12:54 Who's his parent? 12:56 And then it ends in verse 10, right? With the prayer, and then in verse 11 we pick it right back up. Phillip, the brother of Shuha fathered Maher, who fathered Eshton. 13:05 What is this? 13:08 What is this? This is weird. This is a nugget, right? You don't find this? 13:13 Unless you're like reading a genealogy and then you find it's like and that's just like, you know, let me put Jabez, let's just spice it up. Let's put Jabez here. 13:22 Let's put Jabez in. 13:25 And Jabez wasn't just another descendant. That's the point. You're supposed to be listening descendants, and then you get to this guy. He's not even a descendant. I don't even think he was an Israelite. I think he was a key knight, which is another subject. 13:37 For another day. But. 13:40 Here he is in the middle of the. 13:41 Genealogy because he's exceptional. 13:44 He's not just another name. 13:46 He's a person with a bad name. 13:49 Who got a big blessing? 13:51 A bad name, but he pursued his blessing and I was looking in the Bible. 13:55 And I'm. 13:56 Like can I find anything else out about Jabez? 14:01 There's only one other verse in the. 14:03 Whole Bible about Jabez. 14:05 It's in first chronicles 255. 14:08 And I have it up on the screen for you. It says the clans also of the scribes who lived at Jabez, the terabytes, the Shimei athletes and the Societes. These are the Kenites who came from Hamath, the father of the House of Rehab. Simon sherwin. Again, in a country where many were illiterate. 14:28 The scribal profession was very important. 14:31 Did you catch that? 14:33 I know, I know. I'm going pretty obscure even for you. Like real. Like old school. Like, I've been reading the Bible all my life. Like this is this is I'm asking you to go out on a ledge here. I know. I know. I'm pushing you a little bit. 14:45 Look at that. The clans, also of the scribes who lived at Jabez. 14:53 Ohh wait, so now it's a place. 14:56 I thought this was a guy. 14:59 Well, he was a guy until God enlarged his borders. 15:04 You know what I'm saying? 15:07 I mean, how many of you just show of hands, have a street named after you, just a street. 15:13 All right, Stan. Cheap. God bless you. 15:14 Brother, that's phenomenal. 15:17 Lawrence. 15:19 He's poor. He might be poor. 15:20 In spirit, but he's rich in street, you know. 15:23 He's rich in street. God bless you. 15:27 How do you get? How do you get a town? How do you get a town? Right? You gotta you gotta do well. You gotta have succeeded. You gotta have had a blessing from God or some sort of advantage if this is. 15:39 I mean, this is literally the only other instance of the word Jabez in the entire Bible. So I'm making a little bit of a connection here. You have to judge if it's legit or not, but they're living in a place. 15:48 Called jabez. And they are scribes to be a scribe is not normal. To be a farmer is normal, to be ascribed is kind of exceptional. Which is why, as we've mentioned it here when he said the clans, also of the scribes who lived at Jabez. 16:06 Simon Sherwin says in a country where many were illiterate, this tribal profession was very important. Full scribal training was lengthy and covered a wide curriculum. Frequently certain cities became known as centers of scribal learning and places where there was a scribal school. 16:22 In Mesopotamia, for example, Nippur was the scribal city par excellence, from the mention of the name here, it appears that Jabez may have been one such center in Israel, although nothing else is known about it. 16:37 Now look in ancient Israel. What? What does scribe do? Well, we know. Scribes copy books. That's what ascribe does. They don't have printers, they don't have digital. So they have to have somebody draw the letters. 16:51 Right. That's what the scribe does. And maybe they have some government contracts, some like official documents. They had to keep alive. But a big part of scribal activity in in ancient Israel in the context here was, guess what? Preserving the scriptures. 17:07 Because if you don't have somebody copying the scripture every generation, you lose it the parchment. 17:15 Falls apart. It rots. It Withers away. You would lose the words of God that he has spoken and that have been written. So you need to have people to preserve it. 17:28 Jabez, whose name says that he's going to be a failure in life. 17:33 Pursues a blessing, becomes a town, preserves the scripture. 17:41 That's incredible. 17:43 That's if he just like, had a good life. It would. 17:45 Have. 17:46 Been good, but this is epic. Let's look at another example. Let's look at rehab. 17:52 Go with me to Joshua Chapter 2. 17:55 Moses had brought Israel out of Egypt. Joshua was in charge of leading the people into the promised land. The first came to a place they first came to a place called Jericho. You guys with me? You remember Moses? Let my people go. Eventually the 10 plagues, right, they they they leave this 40 years just like going around. 18:16 Hey, 40 years. 18:18 We get to the lands. 18:20 There's a couple of kings, hog and sahan. They defeat them, and now they're poised at the edge of the promised land. And they're and and they're looking over and the city they see is Jericho. That's the city they see. That's where Rahab lives. It says Joshua 2, verse one. And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from. 18:40 The team as spies saying go view the land, especially Jericho and they went and came into the House of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. 18:51 Well, we've got more questions than answers about that one. There's, there's definitely a sermon in there somewhere. But my point, my point is simply this. 19:02 Rehab is a prostitute. Rehab lives in Jericho. 19:08 That is a city God has decreed and commanded his people to destroy. 19:13 And Rahab is an outsider. She's a Canaanite. She's not an Israelite. She has no access to the God of Israel. She has no advantage in this situation. She is triply ruined and in trouble. Cursed. If you want prostitute foreigner living in a city that's about to be destroyed, that's three strikes. 19:33 And you're out. 19:36 And so. 19:38 The King of Jericho sent to rehab, said bring out the men who have come to you. They have come to search out the land, Rahab says to the king. 19:48 They left. 19:50 They went over that way. They're they're out of here. You go. Go look over there. Meanwhile, she's got them hiding on the roof of her house. 19:59 It says in Joshua Chapter 2 verse 8, before the men lay down. 20:04 She came up to, you know why she did that? You know why she. 20:09 Protected them. 20:12 She heard something. She heard the rumors. She heard about the God of Israel. She doesn't worship the God of it, but she heard about the God of Israel, this God called Yahweh. 20:20 Like what? Tell me about this. 20:23 People had heard about the plagues in Egypt. She had heard about the splitting of the Red Sea. She had heard about this horde of people. 20:30 They were just. 20:31 Migrating through the land and they had this powerful God that just defeated Pharaoh. 20:38 She's heard about it. 20:40 She wants in. 20:42 She's not afraid. 20:43 To do something, either look at this Joshua 2 verse 8 before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men I know that Yahweh has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea. 21:02 Before you, when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the kings of the. 21:06 Amorites. 21:08 Who were beyond the Jordan to Sahan and a whom you devoted to destruction. 21:13 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted and there was no spirit left in any man because of you. For Yahweh, your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. 21:28 Man, you can't find an Israelite that that does that like, passionate about Yahweh is the true and she's a Pagan foreigner in a cursed city that's about to be destroyed. Working as a prostitute. 21:41 OK. 21:43 Verse 12 now then. Please swear to me, she says to these spies swear to me by Yahweh that as I have dealt kindly with you, you will also deal kindly with my father's house and give me a sure sign that you will save a life. My father and my mother and my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death. 22:02 That's a big ask. 22:05 Like I know you're that you're coming here. You're going to conquer the city. I already think. 22:08 You're going to win. 22:10 So can you protect my household? My family bring them all into the house here. You're gonna protect them. 22:19 Swear. Swear by God. You're gonna protect me and my family. This is a bold woman. She's not timid. She's not like. Well, you know, if it's OK. Can I also bring my can? I also bring my sister? No. She's like, I'm gonna bring the whole clan. We're gonna pack him in. 22:37 And you swear right now. 22:40 Verse 14 and the men said to her our life for yours, even to death. Hallelujah. If you do not tell this business of ours, then when Yahweh gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. Then she let them down by a rope, through the window, for her house was built into the city wall so that she lived in the wall. She wasn't going to sit idly by. 23:01 And wait for Jericho to be destroyed. She acted. She did something. She sought the God of. 23:08 She wanted to be associated with the God of Israel. There were two people that came to town. She she did everything she could to help them, to misdirect everyone else. Never mind the ethics of this Pagan woman and what she did. Alright, that's a separate subject. Just look at her heart for a moment. Look at her motives. Look at her actions. 23:28 She is seeking to associate herself with Israel and the God of Israel. 23:34 And she got all her family, and she brought him into her house. I imagine she was had somewhat of a forceful personality. Seems like that to. 23:40 Me. 23:42 You have a sibling like that a sister or a brother. It's just like, no, you're gonna. 23:46 You're gonna do Thanksgiving. 23:47 At my house. 23:48 Right. 23:50 And then in Joshua 625, we read. So they come in, they destroy the city and they protect her. And we read about this and Joshua 625 and says but Ray have the. 23:59 Prostitute. 24:00 And her father's household and all who belonged to her. Joshua saved a life. Well, that's a bless. 24:07 Missing. 24:08 When you're living in a city that's about to be destroyed, to be saved alive, and she has lived in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Josh was sent to spy out Jericho. But wait, there's more. 24:24 Rehab didn't just start to live among the Israelites. 24:30 She got respectable. 24:33 She found a man. 24:35 And she married him. She got married to an Israelite named Salman and and she was enfranchised as a covenant member of the People of Israel. 24:46 This isn't a time where God says. 24:49 To Joshua, I mean this is they, they call this the Canaanite genocide for a reason like he's he's supposed to be going in there and killing all these people. She's one of those people who's supposed to. 25:00 Be. 25:00 Killing. And now she's married in an ex prostitute and she she's married to Salman and she has a son. 25:09 Named Boaz. 25:13 You wonder why when Boaz meets this foreign Moabite woman named Ruth. 25:18 Why is he kind to her? Well, his mother was an ex prostitute, Kane tonight. 25:24 Yeah. 25:25 So Boaz, Mary's, Ruth. They have a son called him Obed. 25:31 And then he has a son called Jesse. 25:34 Whose son is? 25:37 The Great King of Israel. 25:41 Rehab is the great grandmother of the King of Israel, David. 25:49 You wanna talk about a blessing? 25:51 You want to talk about a blessing? That's unbelievable. She's the great, great grandmother of King David. And then there's even more because David is an ancestor of O Jesus Christ. 26:04 Rehab is an ancestor of Jesus Christ, and Matthew ain't afraid to say it. You read Matthew chapter 1. It's just like this one. We got this one. We got this one. 26:14 We. 26:14 Got rehab this one, we got this. 26:16 One, we got it, David. 26:19 Then to Jesus. 26:22 You may feel like the cards are stacked against you, your genetics, your friends, your social. Whatever your your hang up is right and look, we all have flaws. We all have disadvantages. So all the more reason to pursue your blessing all the more your name is in pain. You're not a prostitute. You've got 2 huge. 26:42 Advantages over these two? 26:45 So you can pursue your let's look at the last one, Jacob. 26:49 Brother Jacob. 26:51 You know the name? Jacob means his name means heel grabber. 26:55 Yeah. 26:59 That's a terrible name. 27:01 That's a terrible name. Can you imagine being born twins? 27:06 And your brother comes out first and you. 27:09 On day Zero, accidentally grabbed his heel. 27:14 And you came out and you're holding his heel. 27:17 And now your whole life is defined by some moment. You something you did is you didn't have any control. You weren't even conscious yet. 27:26 Ohh, there's heel catcher coming in from the field for dinner. 27:31 He's defined by this. 27:34 In Genesis Chapter 32, we'll pick up the story with Brother Heel catcher. He's always following Esau, Esau's, the older brother. Of course they're born within minutes of each other. 27:46 But yet Esau was the first born. He came out first, and my dumb hand was catching his heel. 27:54 Jacob decides he's going to be #1. 27:58 And he does not do it in a godly way. 28:01 Jacob is the kind of guy that by hook or by crook, he's going to succeed. He's got drive. He's motivated. 28:08 And so he cons his brother out of the birthright. 28:12 When his brother is hungry. 28:15 And then he cons their blind father out of the blessing by pretending. 28:20 To be his brother. 28:21 This is not. 28:23 Behavior that I hope you were going to emulate in your lives. 28:28 And then he so angers his father and his brother. Well, actually, his brother says I'm gonna kill you. That's it. He'll catch her. You're gonna catch. You wanna catch my heel? Ohh. I'm gonna kill you. That's what he said. So Jacob runs away, he goes to Labin. 28:48 And Laban is twice the con man of Jacob. 28:53 And and there's Jacob over there in this foreign country and and Laban he sees, he sees her, his daughter. He's ohh. My goodness, love Rachel. Ohh. He loved her so much. And he said, can I please can I please marry your daughter? And Levin says to him. 29:09 Hmm, yes you can. How about seven years, labor first. 29:17 That's ridiculous. Seven years labor. I mean, I'm sure she was fine, but. 29:24 Like, that's just way out of support. He's he's working, Jacob. He's doing to Jacob. What Jacob did to everybody else. It's just he's more experienced at it. 29:34 And then he finally gets to the wedding night with Rachel. But in the morning, behold, it was Leah. 29:43 In the morning. Behold, that's that's a moment. 29:46 That's a moment right there in the morning. Behold, it was Leah, and he runs to leave. And. 29:50 He says I I served you 7 years for Rachel. 29:54 He said seven more years. This is not our custom, you know, to give the younger before the older we had to give you Leah first, but another seven years. 30:02 You can have Rachel too. 30:04 Is it 2 better than one? 30:06 So he does another seven. He gets Rachel, he does another seven years now. He's 14 years working, has no money. 30:13 Because he only worked for the women. 30:15 He didn't get paid, so he's just living as as a, as a worker. And he says to Laban, you know, I like to get paid now. 30:23 And Laban says. 30:25 We think six years, yeah, six years and we'll, we'll get you paid during that six years, he says that Laban changed his wages 10 times during that six years. 30:39 He is getting a taste of his own medicine in a big way and he's really suffering a lot during this whole process. We read about it in Genesis Chapter 32, so he finally escapes. He's got his wealth, he's got his two wives and all the kids and he's he's leaving and he decides to send a message to Esau because the last thing he remembers. 30:59 20 years ago from Esau was I'm going to. 31:02 For you. 31:03 So he wants to find out, you know, how's brother. He saw it doing. Alright. So Genesis 32, verse 3. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother in the land of Seer. The country of Edom, instructing them thus you shall say to my Lord Esau that's good. Respect. Respect your brother. 31:23 Like that. That's nice. You know, my little brother's here. You can call me my Lord Sean. Anytime. I won't. You know, it's. 31:29 Fine. 31:30 Thus says your servant Jacob. I have sojourn with Laban and stayed until now. I have ox and donkeys, flocks, male servants and female servants. 31:39 I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight, says the message he gave and then in verse 6 we read and the messengers return to Jacob saying we came to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you. 31:54 And there are 400 men with him. 31:59 Not good. 32:02 You don't want your brother to show up with 400 men. 32:08 4 is good enough, right? Bring the Bros with you. Alright. Come on, guys. Go on a trip. Right. 404 hundred. You're looking to do some serious damage. 32:19 It says in verse seven that Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two camps, thinking if he saw it comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left Will. 32:32 Escape. He's greatly afraid and distressed. Have have you ever been there? Have you ever experienced true fear where it just cuts you right into your into your chest like a lightning bolt and you had? 32:46 That. 32:47 400 men. What am I gonna? 32:50 Do you know that intense fear that he's got? He's terrified. 32:56 So, like Jabez, he prayed. 32:58 It says in verse 9 and Jacob said Ohh God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac. Ohh Yahweh, who said to me return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. 33:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of Stephan's love, and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 33:22 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau, for I fear him that he may come and attack me. The mothers with the children. But you said. 33:32 I love this. 33:32 Part you God, you said. I will surely do you good and make your offspring as a sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude Jacob. 33:43 This is a. This is a lesson in prayer. Take advantage of this. 33:47 Jacob reminds God of what God had said. Jacob reminds God of God's promises. He says. Look, you're the one that tell me to go. 33:54 Back to the land. 33:56 It was rough with Uncle Laban. 33:58 But I was alive. 34:00 You told me to go back to the land. You said you're gonna do good to me. You're gonna make me my. 34:04 Descendants like the sand of the sea. 34:06 OK, I'm doing it. 34:08 Help. 34:10 I got 400 guys on their way here. 34:14 Now I've he's got servants, he's got his his wives, he's got a bunch of little kids. He's got a lot of animals. 34:21 He has no fighting force. 34:23 He has no trained men, he has no. 34:26 Significant defense against 400 guys. 34:32 So he sets to work, he decides you. 34:36 What? 34:37 I'm going to appease Esau and so he sets these different droves of animals up and one will go and and it will be as a present for Esau it will be a gift to Esau and then another one will come and it will be a it is five droves of or groups of these animals. Here's a list 200 female goats. 34:57 20 male goats, 200 used 20 Rams, 30 milking camels, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, 10 male donkeys. That is 550 animals. 35:11 He's not cheaping out on this gift. He's gonna buy esau's good favor. 35:19 I looked it up. 35:21 I had to. 35:22 I looked up on the Internet. 35:25 How much is a female goat? 35:28 I looked up how much is a male goat? I looked up how much is a is a female sheep a male sheep? How much does a camel go for? Of course, in America they're very expensive. So I look for Egyptian camels are a lot cheaper. So I I figured I'd use the. 35:41 Egyptian prices you. 35:43 Know. 35:45 You know how much money I came up with? 35:47 $190,000 is what he's sending over to Brother Esau. 35:53 This is huge. This is like a massive gift that he's gonna give to Esau and it says in verse 17. 36:05 Look down at verse 17, he instructed the first when he saw my brother meets you and asked to whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you? Then you shall say they belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my Lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us. 36:23 So you you get the scene, right you. 36:24 Get one group. 36:25 Of of animals and they're they're kind of making a a bunch of noise. It's probably dust as they're trampling along the 400 men of Esau. Come they're like. 36:33 Hey, who were you? 36:35 Ohh, we are a gift for you. For you. You're my. You're Jacob's Lord esau. You this is this is this. Who are you? Where yours. Where? Where your present. 36:45 And there's another one behind us. So then he saw his men keep going. 36:50 Who are you word present for you. What? 36:52 Do you think what do? 36:53 You mean who we we got some milking camels over here. You want some milking camels? You want some camel milk? Come on. 37:01 Saying I could use a little drink before I go to the next, you know? So the Esso goes to the next one, the next 5. Five of these, $190,000 worth of animals. Not to mention all the trained people that are caring for the animals. 37:14 And that's Jacob's genius plan. 37:18 Full moon. 37:19 It's a bold move, yeah. 37:22 But it but is it really of God? Is it really gonna work if he saw us bent on destruction? 37:30 Or is Esau going to be insulted? 37:32 Is he still gonna say you gonna? You're gonna buy my love. Who do you think you are? You left the house. You, you, you conned or blind? Father, you forced me to give me you the birthright. After I was hungry, I felt like I was gonna die. I was hunting all day. And you had that Stew. That lentil Stew. Delicious red Stew. 37:50 And you held me over over for that and now. Ohh, now you're gonna give me some milk and camels. OK? It could. Who knows what he saw's? 37:59 Gonna do? Who knows. 38:02 Jacob's. He's clever. You gotta give him that. He's a clever guy. 38:07 I don't think it's going to work. 38:09 I don't think it's gonna work just on its own. Verse 22 at the same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants. It's really 4 wives. 38:18 But you know that's another we can't get into that today and his eleven children and cross the Ford of the Jabbok he took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. He's got a moment. He's alone. Did he pray? No. Did he sleep? No. Did he sit there? 38:37 And with a stick in the ground drawn, an escape plan? No. 38:43 Now he wrestled. He wrestled at the Wrestle Verse 24, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 38:52 What? 38:54 Excuse me, what is this doing here? A wrestling match? 39:00 This guy is at his wits end. He just gave $190,000 to his brother. He has no idea if it's gonna work. The wives are probably fighting about something because. 39:08 You know it's it's. 39:09 A trip, right. And the kids are fighting with each other. You know? It's a trip. 39:14 He puts them all on the other side and he's just like I'm not. I'm not going home yet. I'm just gonna. I'm gonna stay on this side for a little while and some dude. 39:25 Some dude comes. 39:28 And they start wrestling. 39:31 This is the weirdest thing in the world. This is as weird as Jabez. In the middle of a genealogy of wrestler in the middle of this kind of narrative here, right? 39:41 And it says he he wrestled with the man until the breaking of the day. That's insane. I wrestled in high school. I was on Varsity wrestling it. I was big into it. I didn't just wrestle in the winter. I wrestled in the summer too. I wrestled in the fall. In the spring. My parents, you know, they, they, they signed me up for. 40:01 This camp and that camp so that you know, by the time the season started, I was good, you know what I mean? And I remember one match. 40:10 We wrestled against water fleet. High School was a high school versus another high school match and it was a tournament and I remember there was this one and the hard thing about wrestling is they always match you with somebody that's the same weight. 40:23 You know what I mean? You never, like, get to, like, wrestle some little dude. It's always somebody you're like, geez, he. 40:29 Seems a little big. 40:32 That's the way it always seemed like every time I came. 40:34 Out. I'm like, Are you sure he's my weight? 40:39 It's hard cause you're evenly matched, right? And I remember wrestling this, this, this one guy and we we could not defeat each other. I'd take him down. 40:47 And then he get. 40:48 Up and then he take me down and then I get up and and we wrestled. And there's two-minute periods. There's three two-minute periods in high school, wrestling total is 6 minutes in a. 40:56 Wrestling match, unless somebody gets pinned first. 40:58 After 6 minutes, you're dead. 41:01 You're dead. 41:04 I've seen guys seriously like just fall over after they finish the match, just fall over like I'm. I'm dead. I'm just gonna. I'm gonna lie here for a while. Cause I put everything I had into that, this one kid and I was so evenly. 41:16 Matched. 41:17 Got to the end of 6 minutes. It was a tie and wrestling. It's not soccer, no fence to the soccer fans. 41:23 There's no ties. 41:25 So we got overtime. 41:27 So now we're in overtime and it's going and there's like different technical rules about overtime we get to just about 8 minutes, which is like unheard of. I know it doesn't sound like a long time. This is absolutely the most epic match of my entire life. We're coming up to 8 minutes. The ref says alright, you get down. So he gets down like this. 41:48 Right. And this is his one job. Stand up. That's it. That's all he's got to do is stand up. That's the. 41:55 Technical way you do it. You, you, you. 41:57 Pivot the. 41:57 Just in case you ever wanted to wrestle somebody. 42:01 And he says to me, get on him. So I I go like this. I put my arm on his elbow. This arm goes right around the waist here. 42:08 And he says to me, hold him. 42:10 That's it. That's all. Literally all it was. It was double overtime. All I had to do. 42:16 Was hold him all he had to do was stand up, and whichever one did, that one. 42:22 And every ounce of our energy he's down there and he's pushing and he's. 42:26 Trying to get up and I'm pushing. 42:28 Him down and we're huffing and puffing. 42:31 We're wrestling. It's hard. 42:35 And he didn't stand. So I won. 42:44 He failed his chance, he. 42:45 Was too tired and I was just. 42:47 Laying on him, he was he was. No. 42:50 There was no grace in this moment. You know, it wasn't like anybody cheered. It was just like, finally, that one's over with these guys. A medic and some Gatorade shoot. 43:01 And Jacob's there, wrestling all night long. 43:07 How exhausted are you? 43:09 Doing anything all night long, just walk on the treadmill all night long. See how you feel when the sun comes up. He's wrestling with the guy all night. He doesn't even know what the guy he is. He literally doesn't know his name. 43:22 Because he asked his name and. 43:23 The guys like what do you want to know my name for? 43:27 Right. 43:28 He's totally wasted. We get to verse 25 when the man saw this is the man he's wrestling. When the man saw he did not prevail against Jacob. 43:37 He touched his hip socket. 43:39 And Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 43:45 What? 43:47 Come on. So now he's hip is injured, he's injured, he and he's still wrestling the guy. 43:56 You know, kind of like some of you guys on the ultimate Frisbee field. You're just like, I'm still playing. 44:03 He's injured and he's still wrestling the guy. His hip is at a joint or injured or whatever that means to me that's treating. I'm just gonna. I'm gonna call a spade a spade. Like you can't. You can't magic touch somebody's hip. 44:19 That's that move, right? Like, come on. That's not a thing. 44:23 And Jacob still won't quit. 44:26 Verse 26. Then he said the guy who I would say cheated said let me go for the day has broken. But Jacob said I will not let you go unless you bless me. 44:41 Jacob's pursuing a blessing. 44:44 It's a weird place. 44:49 But I think you can use some of this tenacity. 44:52 In your life. 44:54 Jacob is not letting go. He's got this guy in a hold. His his his leg is flopping around, but the his arms are still working and the guy says let me go and Jacob says no you bless me, I'll let you go. 45:11 He's still in the fight. 45:13 Jacob told not. 45:15 Verse 27 and he said to him. 45:18 What is your name? 45:20 Now they're gonna do names like they're wrestle all night. The guys injured, he wants to go do whatever he wants to do. He's like, alright, so let's call it a draw, right? No, bless me and I'll let you go. Alright. What's your name? 45:36 And you know what he says to them. 45:39 My name's heel catcher. 45:44 That's what he says to him. It's embarrassing. Ridiculous name. My name is heel grabber. 45:53 And verse 28. 45:55 Your name shall no longer be called Jacob. 45:59 But Israel? 46:01 For you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. 46:07 Hello. 46:10 You know what Israel means. 46:13 Wrestles with God. 46:18 This is unbelievable. Verse 29. Then Jacob asked him. Please tell me your name. Ohh, let's do names. OK. But he said. Why is it that you asked my name? And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Pennell saying for I have seen God or a God face to face. And yet my life. 46:36 Has been delivered. The Jewish Publication Society translation says. I have seen a divine being face to face. I think that's a better translation than I've seen. It wasn't really God, it was a it was a guy. 46:49 But it wasn't not a normal guy either. 46:53 And we learned from Hosea 12/4 that it was an Angel. 47:00 Brother Jacob. 47:02 Wrestled a messenger from God who teated. 47:08 And still wouldn't let him go because he perceived that this one was greater and that he could bless him and what Jacob needed right then wasn't a clever plan to make Esau his friend. 47:22 He needed a blessing. 47:24 Because a blessing from God can change everything, a blessing from God is huge. That's the biggest thing. This guy's an Angel. A divine being. Whatever you want to call him, he's somebody that's not human. 47:38 So he can bring a blessing and Jacob says that's what I. 47:41 Want. 47:43 Verse 31. The sun rose upon him as he passed penuel limping because of his hip. 47:49 So now what's the situation? Jacob didn't sleep at all. He's been up all night. He's exhausted. They don't even invent Gatorade yet, much less prime or Celsius. So whatever the heck the kids are. 48:00 Drinking. 48:01 Right. They don't have any of that. He's just. And he's lived, he's injured, he's limping now he's gotta. 48:06 Deal with Esau. 48:09 He's got no sleep, he's injured, he's exhausted. 48:14 And he's going to deal with Esau. But he's got something better. He's got a blessing. He's got a blessing. He's got a blessing. A blessing is better than a clever plan to manipulate somebody to. 48:26 Do what you want. 48:29 When you have God's blessings. 48:31 You're good. 48:34 You can be exhausted. You can be injured and you could still win. 48:38 If God is blessing. 48:41 How much hardship did Jacob go through? And yet he kept going. He wrestled and wrestled, and he kept going, and he kept going. I want you to apply this to your life in the area where you need a blessing in the area where you need a breakthrough in the area where you feel held back and stuck. And you're like, I know, but I've tried that and it didn't work. 49:00 That you need this tenacity. 49:03 Forget about a city. 49:06 Jacob gives his name to a nation. 49:09 Israel. 49:11 That's a blessing. That's a blessing. He's like the David Goggins of the Old Testament. I'm just gonna go ahead and. 49:17 Say it. I mean, he's just holding on. 49:21 Unbelievable. 49:24 Crazy thing is when he met Esau. 49:27 Esau was genuinely happy to see him. 49:31 And Esau said to him. 49:33 What's with all the? 49:33 Gifts. Come on. 49:36 I don't want to. What are you doing? 49:39 And Jacob said Ohh no no, God bless me. I really want to give to you and he's like. 49:43 Fine, alright, whatever. Like he saw, he's fine. He like he's hooked up already. He's got his own flocks. He's got his own milking camels. He doesn't need Jacob's milk. Now you got too many milking camels, you know you. 49:53 Can drink all that milk, right? 49:55 None of that. None of that is really what you need. What you need is God's blessing. That's what he needed. 50:01 What about you? 50:03 What about you? Are you pursuing God's blessing? Because I think what we do as Christians is we is is we sit down, we sit down and. 50:14 We're passive and we say God's got this. 50:20 I'm just going to sit here and wait. 50:25 And maybe there are sometimes if that's the right thing to do. 50:28 But there are other times when you need. 50:30 To get up. 50:31 And you need to pursue. You need to do something. You need to start moving. You need to. You need to listen to the voice of God as he's guiding you and do something. Activate. Take steps. 50:43 There's nothing I've ever done in life that I've ever accomplished or you've ever accomplished that you did because you sat around and waited for it and hoped that God would drop it. 50:52 In your lap. 50:53 That's just not how life works. I'm glad. 50:57 Because what kind of world would that be? 50:59 God sets it up to be a certain way. Do you need a blessing at home, at work and your health and your influence and your relationships with your spouse, with your children, with your neighbors? Where do you need a? 51:11 Blessing. 51:12 Pursue it. 51:14 Don't you say I really want to preach the gospel to my neighbors and just, you know, have that be in your prayer time. 51:20 Me. 51:21 Here's an idea. Go talk to them. 51:24 Yeah, it's going to be awkward cause nobody does it anymore. But you're not. Everybody else. Don't be just another name in the genealogy. Be like Jabez. Ask God to expand your borders. Be like rehab. I know I got all these strikes against me, but I just I I want in. I want in. I'll. I'll. I'll do whatever it needs to be done. I'm. I. I'm sold. 51:44 I want in with the God of Israel, I think. 51:46 He's really great. Think. 51:48 He's better than my God. I'm switching gods. 51:51 God sees that he. 51:52 Says I can work with that. 51:54 I went to Bible college down in Georgia. 51:57 And I met a guy. 52:00 And I said to him, how are you doing today? 52:03 And you know what he said? 52:05 Blessed and highly favored. 52:08 And I said. 52:10 What? 52:13 Is this guy? Is this guy like the Stuart Smalley from SNL who looked in the mirror and said I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me. 52:25 That's what I thought to myself. I said this guy is just. 52:28 He's a wacko. He's he. He's just. He doesn't know what he, you know, he's just saying stuff. 52:34 But now that I'm rethinking it, I'm thinking to myself. 52:40 Maybe that's a better answer than the answer I give when somebody says, how are you and I. 52:45 Say. 52:46 I'm fine, I'm good. 52:50 Cool. 52:51 Right. Like, what do you say? I don't know. You don't say? Blessed and highly favored. How are you? 52:58 And that guy, did you remember this guy, Ruth? I don't know if you remember that, but there was one of these guys that like, every time you asked him. Boom, he didn't have to think about it. It was just, like, blessed and highly favored. 53:10 You want to live your. 53:11 Blessing. 53:13 Own it. Believe in it. Live it out. Don't sit around and hope God. 53:17 Is. 53:18 Gonna bless you. 53:20 Be like Jabez. Be like rehab. Be like Jacob. Be like these people. 53:24 Who went after? 53:25 It. 53:25 Pursue your blessing. Amen. 53:37 Well, that draws this sermon to a close. What did you think? Come on over to restitutio.org and find Episode 574, pursue your blessing and leave your feedback there. If you enjoyed today's message in last week's and your young adults, I hope you'll join us for revival. 53:53 5/20/25 which is going to be January 3rd, 4th and 5th. It's a high energy weekend designed for college age and young professionals. People in their 20s and 30s. You could be 18 or 19 if you have graduated high school. You're in college now, that's OK, but it's not really for. 54:14 High school age. 54:15 People and it's a time of worship. We have some amazing music. Each year at this event we have a phenomenal band that we put together for it. Combining multiple churches and their team members to put together something really spectacular. And we also have sports available for those of you who. 54:36 Like me like to get out there even in January and run around a little. 54:40 Of it. And we also have crafting and coloring pages and just hang out time to get to know people. So it's a really wonderful events. We've been putting it on for many years and some folks have even met at this event and then gotten married as a result. 55:00 And look, I get it. If you're a biblical Unitarian. 55:04 And it's not as easy to find somebody who is compatible with your beliefs and yet revive is a great place to meet other young adults that believe. Similarly, we hold this event revive at a Christian retreat center. It's actually run by the Episcopalian church, and it's a really nice place, actually. 55:24 Fairly new. It's called Christ the King center. You can look it up online. It's in grey. 55:28 In which not to be confused with Greenwich, which is what you call Greenwich in New England. But on the border of Massachusetts in New York State, we call it Green, which I don't know why. Anyhow, that's about 45 minutes drive from the Albany airport. So if you're flying in, it's easy to get you out there and get you back to your flight. 55:48 On time, the registration covers food and lodging for the weekend. You can get more details at LM dot. 55:55 Org if you're not a young adult, I realize many of my listeners are not young adults. Many of you are middle-aged like me, or you're older, or some of you are even younger and you just aren't old enough to go to revive whatever. Tell the people that you know that are in this age bracket because we do want them to find out about it. Now we do have other events. 56:15 Coming up for people of all ages, so don't feel too left out. We have a men's conference coming up. If you're looking for an opportunity to travel to New York, we did meet a couple of. 56:25 First timers last year at the men's conference, people who had heard about it through the podcast. So I definitely want to mention that. And then we also have a women's conference that my wife Ruth puts on in the Albany, NY area. And it's a great time for the ladies to gather. And there's other events throughout the year as well. But anyhow, the main focus right now is on the young adults. 56:46 And this exciting event called Revive. Please let folks know who might be. 56:52 Now, as it turns out this week, I'm actually in the Philippines visiting churches in Manila and Davao, so I'm not able to respond to comments that came in on previous episodes. So if you are someone who believes in prayer, I do ask that you pray for me. 57:12 My team I'm here with Will Barlow and Sean Kelly. 57:16 And we are seeking to encourage to teach, to help out the churches here, encourage them, help them to strengthen in their confidence in the Lord, and to reach out, to evangelize, to make disciples of all nations in their own nation, as we are also trying to do in our nation. 57:38 So yeah, if you don't mind, pray for us not only for safety, but for stamina, for strength. And that's we would be a blessing to the people that are here and that we would be a blessing to the people. 57:49 That are here and I just want to say hi to you from the Philippines. Even though I'm recording this at a time and I'm not actually in the Philippines right this moment. But by the time you listen to this, I will be so. Hello from the Philippines. So hello from the Philippines. Next week we've got a special episode up from a fellow podcaster. 58:10 Named Casey Fletcher. And she's done a really interesting, really cool podcast that I personally listened to and benefit from called a more beautiful life collective. 58:22 And so stay tuned for that next week. Well, that's it for today. Thanks for tuning in. If you'd like to support us, you can do that at restitutio.org. Restitutio is a registered 501C3 nonprofit Christian organization. So any donations that are made are tax deductible. We send out an e-mail. 58:42 Statement at the beginning of January so that you can use that for your taxes if you wish. 58:50 Thanks, everybody. We'll catch you next week and remember the truth. 58:54 Has nothing to fear.