God's Plan through Imperfect People | Genesis | Full Experience

Hey church, welcome, we're so glad that you're here. If you can, if you're able, would you stand to your feet? We're gonna worship together. We've got Junior High in the room with us today. It's gonna be awesome. Let's give God praise. Let's remember that he's faithful, that he's good. And we can find our contentment and joy at home in him and him alone. Let's sing together, come on. ♪ I feel you in the sunrise, the heat upon my skin ♪ ♪ I see you in the night sky, when the stars are golden blue ♪ ♪ I hear you when the wind blows, the leaves are rustling ♪ ♪ There's nowhere that I could go, but you have me here ♪ ♪ But you have me here ♪ ♪ There's nowhere that I could go, but you have me here ♪ So we sing holy, holy all together, come on. ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I can't help but to sing it ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ I can't help but believe it ♪ ♪ Take a look around, look at all you've done ♪ ♪ God, it's always been enough ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, if this was it then that's enough ♪ ♪ I'll find you in the deep days, with everything I pray ♪ ♪ Your presence, oh Father, that's closer than a friend ♪ ♪ In the crying of a baby, laughter of a kid ♪ ♪ There's nothing that I couldn't find, you are already here ♪ ♪ There's nothing that I couldn't find, you are already here ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I can't help but to sing it ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I can't help but to sing it ♪

♪ You alone are worthy, I can't help but believe it ♪ ♪ Take a look around, look at all you've done ♪ ♪ God, it's only been enough ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, if this was it then that's enough ♪ ♪ You're enough Lord, it's enough, cause you're enough ♪ ♪ I've seen it worth believing, I've seen enough ♪ ♪ It's enough, cause you're enough ♪ ♪ I'm living in the promise of what's to come ♪ ♪ It's enough, cause you're enough ♪ ♪ I've seen it worth believing, I've seen enough ♪ ♪ And it's enough, cause you're enough ♪ ♪ I'm living in the promise of what's to come ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy, I can't help but to sing it ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy, and I can't help but believe it ♪ ♪ Take a look around, look at all you've done ♪ ♪ God, it's always been enough, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ If this was it, then that's enough, yes, we believe it ♪ ♪ If this was it, then that's enough, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ If this was it, then that's enough, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ If you come and find me in the valley, could you make a way for me? And I've heard that you can heal the broken And my mind's been buried deep So would you come and be the great physician? Could you do a work in me? We call on the name of Jesus together, we sing Jesus, I need you like nothing else, nothing else Jesus, only you and nothing else, nothing else And I've heard that you can walk on water And my mind's a raging sea So would you come and calm the storm within me?

Would you walk the waves with me? Jesus, I need you like nothing else, nothing else Jesus, only you and nothing else, nothing else Nothing else but you, Jesus Nothing else, nothing else Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you He's thankful, he's trustworthy Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus Jesus, I need you like nothing else, nothing else Jesus, only you and nothing else, nothing else Jesus, I need you like nothing else, nothing else Jesus, only you and nothing else, nothing else Would you bow your heads with me as we pray together? Heavenly Father, we come to you, worshiping you We bow to you and to you alone, Lord Thank you for Jesus, thank you for the cross Thank you for salvation, for forgiveness Would you make us more aware of your presence? Make us more aware of your love and your kindness and your mercy We love you, Lord, it's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. You're welcome to take a seat at this time. Amen. My name is Sam, and I get to serve as one of the pastors here at our Peoria campus. And what I've begun to learn about in my current season of life is that, well, there's nothing quite like a kid's birthday party. You never really know exactly what's gonna happen,

but there's some common themes between every single one of them. Like, you know, right when you step in, it's just gonna be immediate chaos. You cross the threshold of the door and a football is flying in the air, a kid's crying in the corner, another kid is coughing over the cake and nobody cares. The music is way too loud, and the noise level alone in that entire space is enough to send your body into fight or flight mode. And you start to wonder, is this really how I want to spend my Saturday morning? You look at your spouse and you realize, this is exactly how I want to spend my Saturday morning. Let's do this thing. And so you step in, but every single kid's birthday party, it ends the same exact way. Everyone crowds around little Timmy as he opens up gift after gift after gift. And he finally gets to the last gift. He opens it and he sets it down to the side. And he looks up to his mom and dad. He said, all right, what's next? And they go, well, that was the last one. And for just a moment, you catch a glimpse of sadness in his eyes. And as I've watched this happen over the past couple of months,

I've begun to ask myself, do I do this in my life? Let me make the question a little bit clearer. Have you ever been dissatisfied by the gift that God has given you because it's different than what you wanted? Last week, our senior pastor, Ashley Woldridge, asked a question that has been bouncing around in my head all week long. If I never get blank, will God still be enough? We just sang a song saying, Jesus is all I need. I need him and nothing else. But we're too quick to fill in that blank with literally everything else. And Jesus is all I need and the recognition. Jesus is all that I need and that relationship. But Jesus is all I need and the healing and the breakthrough and the next gift. And we so quickly forget the truth, the important truth that Jesus is the gift. It's not about what he gives. It's not about what he fixes or even the situations that he changes in our lives. It's about himself. Jesus is the gift because in him and in his sacrifice, can we only find hope? Can we only find a life? So each week here at CCV, we set aside some time in our service to take communion and to remember that the greatest gift that we have ever received

and will ever receive is Jesus. Will you pray with me? Father, thank you that, man, you just gave us the greatest gift of all time when you gave us your son, Jesus. We're so lost without him. So Father, I thank you for your love. I thank you for an opportunity where we get to worship together tonight. We pray this all in your name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. There's a lot going around in our state right now. We have some cool things going on. We got the Waste Management Phoenix open. I mean the Super Bowl is tomorrow. We got a lot of great things happening. But one of my favorite things that is happening is what's happening here today and that's our takeover weekend. We got our junior hires in the room. Give it up for our junior high. What's up guys? Man, good worshiping with you. You always bring the energy. We love it. We love y'all. Man, my daughter probably asks me one question about a thousand times throughout the year

and it's always this, Dad, when's Daddy Daughter Date Night? When is it? When is it happening? And last week I got to say, well, it's happening next week. This week, Wednesday and Thursday, the 11th and the 12th will be our Daddy Daughter Date Night here at our Peoria campus. Man, it is so special because it's an opportunity to put aside our phones, to put aside our work and to solely focus on our daughter. The thing I hear most is that time moves fast. And as I hear that, I want to make the most of every moment that I have to be with her, to spend time with her and to have intentional time with her. This is the perfect opportunity for that. And so if you have not registered yet, I'd encourage you to go to ccv.church backslash daddaughter. You can find our times that we'll be hosting those on Wednesday and Thursday at our Peoria campus and get registered there. And if you're joining us online, please go and check that out as well and find a campus near you so you can create a memory with your daughter as well. Well, this week we also are celebrating and having our night to shine here at our Peoria and our East Mesa campuses. This is one of our favorite events that we do all year. We love it because we get to hang out and we get to spend intentional time with all the teens and adults that may have disabilities within our community. It's a great outreach where we get to live out how all are welcome. And so if you know any teens or adults with disabilities, please invite them to join us for this evening. It is special. They're going to have the time of their lives because they get a red carpet entrance, they get dinner, and they get to dance like the best dancing I've ever seen in my whole life. I can't even explain it to you.

It is amazing. It's fantastic. It is so, so fun. So please pass that invite along if you know anybody. Now we know there's a lot of cool, fun things that are happening around, but we also know that life does happen and things can get challenging from time to time. And if that's you, if you're walking through something or you're processing a decision and you're looking for prayer, we're here for you. Our prayer team will be up at the front of the stage immediately following this service and they would love to pray with you and to pray alongside of you. You can go ahead and take out your Genesis booklets or whatever it is that you're going to use to take notes as we jump into week six of our series, Genesis. All right. Last week, Ashley mentioned at the close of his message that he was going to get to play in the Waste Management Pro-Am the day before the tournament started. What a thrill and also what pressure. I know that a number of you all went out to watch that. I couldn't be there, but I had a lot of friends that were capturing on video some of the special moments and I think it's kind of fun to see your lead pastor as a real guy and to see him enjoying his hobby and also being salt and light out there in the community. I have put together a 70-second compilation of some of the clips that were sent to me. Watch these SportsCenter highlights. Almost got his name right. Handles the pressure perfectly. That's a 40 foot birdie putt that he drops right there. He's on fire. This might be the stadium moment. There it goes, there it goes, and we won't show you the rest of it, OK? All right?

We'll have mercy on him. But this is a chip from about 20 yards away. And I'll just shut up. Yeah, you can clap for that. Is that unbelievable? I mean, he might quit his day job if he plays like that, right? But Ashley would tell you that the best part was that his younger daughters, Kenna and Ava, each caddied for him for nine holes each. And they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. That's Jamie on the far right that looks like another daughter. But that picture is fitting because today we're gonna be talking about family. And maybe you heard about the man who commissioned a detailed investigation into his family heritage. And as the research progressed, he got so excited, he invited a group of guests to a big dinner party where the findings would be revealed. Now, there was just one problem. In the middle of the study, the historians uncovered information about his great, great, great, great grandfather, Isaac Jones. And Isaac Jones was a scoundrel. He had so many enemies. He committed so many crimes that he actually ended up in federal prison and died in the electric chair. Unfortunately, the invitations were already sent.

The man was nervous and didn't know what to do, but the historian said, hey, just trust me on this. Everyone gathered for the dinner. The host was on pins and needles all evening. Finally, the moment came and the historian began to read. He said, Isaac Jones occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties. His death came as a real shock. Now, the truth be known, we all have some cousin Eddies and some Isaac Jones in our heritage. And I, please accept my apologies if you are at a CCV campus and your name just happens to be Isaac Jones, all right? Now, there are some branches of our family tree of which we're incredibly proud. And there are plenty of others that are more like knotholes or sucker roots. And every family has them. And if you're thinking right now, well, no, no, Dave, I really don't think we have a crazy wacko relative that everyone is embarrassed by. Hate to tell you, it's you. Throughout life, we have all had our own moments, right? And we will see some today as we continue to look at the family tree of Abraham, Isaac, and this week, Jacob. And we'll see how God can redeem situations through His grace.

Now, we all have things that we're ashamed of. Maybe it's a startup company that failed or flunking out of school or missing the shot in the big game, or that risky investment that cost your family so much. Or maybe it's something that's much more significant. It's that addiction that everyone knows you can't control or that sexual sin that you still are reaping the consequences from or that temper that flares up at unpredictable times. So what do we do with those public failures or those private moments of embarrassment? And we've been walking through the book of Genesis and we've been revisiting some origin stories like Adam and Eve and Noah and the flood and Abraham, the father of our faith. Today, we're gonna take a look at where the nation of Israel came from. In fact, did you know Israel was originally the name of a person who we will learn about today? God originally gave him the name Israel, but his mom usually called him Jacob. His dad was Isaac, who we talked about last week, the long awaited son that Abraham and Sarah had in her old age. And today we're gonna cover three chapters in Genesis that you might not be familiar with what unfolds in each chapter, but it's going to reveal that there's some skeletons in the closet that our heritage,

our faith family tree has within those branches. So let me begin by summarizing Genesis. 27 with this phrase, a father's blessing. Here in Genesis 27, we find that Isaac is on his deathbed. His beloved wife, Rebecca, is by his side. His twin boys, Esau and Jacob, are grown men now and sadly are still vying for their father's attention. Esau was his father's favorite, a rugged outdoorsman, hairy and manly, while Jacob was more of an indoor guy, mastering the culinary arts. He couldn't compete with Esau out in the field, but Esau couldn't compete with Rebecca, his mom. You know, moms have a way of getting their way and mom's favorite was Jacob. And in Isaac's old age, his eyesight is gone and before he enters into eternity, he prepares to give his blessing to Esau, the older twin, older by just a few seconds. Back in ancient times, the firstborn, this was a really big deal, all right? And Esau is his older son and favorite son. Isaac's wife, Rebecca, knows that this blessing is about to take place and she quickly schemes to secure the blessing for the younger Jacob, also known as Israel. In a little bit, we'll talk about why Rebecca did this. But she has Jacob disguise himself with goat skins and Esau's clothing so that Isaac, who's blind, will mistake him for his hairy older brother. I know this sounds really crazy.

I know it sounds really extreme, but the Bible even specifies in detail Esau's appearance when he was born, Genesis 25, 25. The first to come out was red and his whole body was like a hairy garment. So they named him Esau. So in order to get the birthright and blessing, Rebecca velcros goat skin onto Jacob's arms in order to trick her husband. Look at Genesis 27, verses 21 through 24. Then Isaac said to Jacob, come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau. So Jacob went closer to his father and Isaac touched him. Hmm, the voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's, Isaac said, but he did not recognize Jacob because Jacob's hands felt hairy, just like Esau's. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. But are you really my son, Esau, he asked. Yes, I am, Jacob replied. The Bible could say there, Jacob lied. Isaac is suspicious, but he couldn't deny how the skin felt and as a result, Isaac blesses Jacob with promises of prosperity and dominion. And shortly after, Esau comes walking in and he learns of the deception that's taken place. Esau weeps bitterly and he vows to kill his brother, Jacob. This is gonna get ugly. Esau is begging his dad to reverse the blessing and to give it back to him. But their custom was that the father can't change it

once the father has given it. Wow, you talk about deception and dysfunction. Rest assured that there will be no extended photo shoot for the family Christmas card that year. And Rebecca, the mom tips off Jacob and says, hey, you had better hightail it out of here and head for the hills until your brother cools off. She says, go to my brother Laban's house, Uncle Laban, go there far, far away in Haran. This is the height of deception and it hurts even more when it comes from a friend or even more so when it comes from within a family. At some point, you have probably felt betrayal from a close friend or a college roommate or a family member. I experienced something similar to Esau a number of years ago. I was about to turn 50 and I was really excited. I'll tell you why. Because my wife gives the greatest birthday gifts. And I'm thinking, 50? I mean, this is a milestone birthday. I cannot imagine what she's gonna get me. I came home from work that day and Beth excitedly was waiting for me at the door. She said, are you ready? Are you ready for it? And I'm like, yes. I said, what is it, what is it? She said, well, I've got you set up

and 30 minutes from right now, guess what? I'm like, what? Tell me, tell me. And she got this big smile on her face and she said, for your 50th birthday, I'm getting you a back waxing. And I didn't know what a back waxing was. But she was so excited and she was so happy about it that I got it. about it, happy about it, and so I'm pumped up, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I just didn't know what it was. She said, hurry, we gotta get back in the car, we gotta go, they're expecting us. We got in the car, so I'm pumped up. We drive there, I'm thinking, this is gonna be incredible. We came walking in the place, my wife makes eye contact with this little lady, she nods at her, we start walking past this group of women in big, fluffy chairs, they're getting massages. Their feet are in little buckets of water, and I mean, I'm like, man, have I died and gone to heaven? And then the little lady took the two of us back to this room that had a padded table, and she said, take your shirt off and lay down. And I thought, man, I might fall asleep during this. And I actually was thinking of back waxing, I'm picturing she gets some giant candle, and she's just going to roll it back and forth gently over my back, but my first clue that I had misinformed myself

was when my wife leaned over and said, do you wanna hold my hand? But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. This sweet little woman, who I thought was a Christian, poured burning hot lava onto a small section of my back. I would have screamed, but my respiratory system had shut down. And just as the wax cooled and my body had stopped convulsing, this gentle woman suddenly became Attila the Hun, and she riffed off a field of hair follicles. And despite my agony, she repeated the process again and again, and even though I was face down, I sensed that the entire time the two women were smiling at each other. And so when I read Genesis 27 of this betrayal, I can relate to the pain of Esau, for I too was a hairy man who was deceived by a close family member. And the real deception, let's be honest, this was not a gift for me, this was a gift for her, right? Now, when you read this in Genesis 27, you're thinking, okay, well, how did things get so haywire? How did this mom do this? How could she even orchestrate such a lie? But in fairness, you have to go back many years before Isaac and Rebekah get pregnant. Isaac prays to God because Rebekah is unable to conceive. The Lord answers, but her pregnancy is unusually painful. The twin babies are struggling within her,

she's disturbed, the Bible says, she went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord gave her this revelation back. Genesis 25, 23, listen to what God says to her. Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other and get this, the older will serve the younger. So God directly reveals this to Rebekah prior to the birth. And that last line is the key. In that culture, the older son always had priority, they had inheritance, leadership, they had blessing, but God announced a reversal before either boy had been born, before either one had done anything good or bad. His choice of Jacob was sovereign and gracious, it was not based on merit. So when Rebekah pushes Jacob to receive Isaac's blessing in Genesis 27, she isn't inventing God's will, but she's using dishonesty and manipulation to force what God had already promised. But she goes farther than she should. And it leads to deceit and blatant lying. Oh, she trusted the prophecy. She just didn't trust God's timing or methods. And we do the same thing at times. Sometimes we think that, well, we just have to give God a nudge so that things get done the way we think

they're supposed to unfold. But God will unfold his will in his time, and it becomes a lesson in trust. We're not merely to do the right thing, we're called to trust God to do the right thing according to his timetable and not ours. Usurping God is always wrong even if your motives are right. And what Rebekah does is clearly a bad thing. And notice she lost her child over it. She advised Jacob to run away. And for the next 14 years, he will be in Paddan Aram. And to the best of our knowledge, Jacob never sees his mom again. And when you intervene and you play God, you endanger losing what you love. And when we try to speed up God's timing, we screw it up for ourselves. Well, the next chapter, Genesis 28, is less contentious and it's much more encouraging. Jacob finds himself on the run for self-preservation. He's making the long journey from Beersheba to Haran. And we'll summarize Genesis 28 into this short phrase, a mountaintop experience. And as Jacob is fleeing from his brother Esau, there are probably some sleepless nights and a lot of looking over his shoulder, expecting to see a posse of his brother and his brother's buddies with revenge in their eyes. You're not gonna lie to your father, steal your brother's blessing and get away with it.

And Jacob finds himself traveling alone. He's open, he's vulnerable. He stops for the night and he uses a stone for a pillow. And he has a dream that night. It's actually so vivid that it would be more of a vision than a dream. And he pictures and dreams of this huge stairway leading up to heaven, Genesis 28, 12. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending it. And at the top stands the Lord. And the Lord in this dream reaffirms to Jacob the covenant promises made to Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, to his dad, Isaac. And now the Lord validates them to Jacob, to Israel. He says them to him and he promises him numerous descendants and worldwide blessing through his offspring. Listen to Genesis 28, 13 and 14. God says, I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather, Abraham, the God of your father, Isaac, the ground you're lying on belongs to you. I'm giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth. They will spread out in all directions to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south. The Lord goes on to say that all the families of the earth will be blessed by your family. And the Lord promises his presence and protection.

Can you imagine this moment? The two things that Jacob desperately needed in the midst of this family turnover were God's protection and God's presence. And that's what God promises to him. How amazing it is to get to share, to testify of those mountaintop moments. And Jacob awakens and he says, surely the presence of the Lord is in this place. In order to commemorate this spiritual mountaintop moment, he takes the stone that he used as a pillow and he uses it as the foundation of a pillar. And he sets it up to the Lord and he pours oil on it and pledges to follow the Lord. And Jacob is so impacted that he declares this place to be called Bethel, which means house of God. Now, I don't mean to minimize this moment, but it's important for us to notice in a way, it sounds like Jacob is bargaining a little bit with God because of what he says next. It's kind of a conditional commitment to the Lord. Listen to how he kind of reviews the terms of the agreement with the God of the universe. Genesis 28, verse 20. Then Jacob made this vow. If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, if he will provide me with food and clothing, if I return safely to my father's home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar I have set up

will become a place for worshiping God. Oh, and I will present to God a 10th of everything that he gives me. So he kind of throws in tithing at the end, right? Just to add a little bit more weight to his case. I think sometimes our prayers sound a lot like Jacob's. Lord, if you'll save our marriage, if she gets accepted into that school, if the biopsy comes back benign, if I get the promotion, if I make the team, if you will find me my soulmate, if you will give us a child, if you will help me get clean, then certainly you will be my God. Can I ask you something? Do your prayers ever sound like you are negotiating a contract rather than kneeling before the king? Are you bargaining at the table rather than bowing at the throne? The audacity that we can display, the created trying to barter with the creator. But what if Jacob would have flipped it? And instead of saying, Lord, if you will, Lord, if you will, what if Jacob would have focused on, Lord, because you have, because you have. And he started calling out all the times his family had seen the faithfulness of God. Because you called my grandfather Abraham, because you have prayed for me. provided a ram in place of my father on Mount Moriah

because you have given me a loving mother and powerful father, because you have graciously deviated from our custom and given me a promise above my brother. God's blessing isn't earned through bargaining. God's blessings flow from his character. But even though Jacob could have improved on his wording, don't miss this. This is still a powerful line in the sand moment, a spiritual epiphany, this pivotal benchmark when Jacob's relationship with God goes deep. And the top of his wishlist was just making certain that he would be safe from his brother trying to kill him. And God has promised him protection. This is a profound moment. It's a personal turning point in Jacob's spiritual journey. Can you think of some spiritual mountaintop moments like that? When through the power of the Holy Spirit, you felt God's presence in an undeniable way? Can I tell you two different times when I felt that and I saw that and it marked me? One, when I was in college, one summer I served as a faculty member at a week of high school Christian camp. And even though I wasn't a camper, it was one of those unforgettable weeks. In late one night, they had a campfire service and after someone shared a sermon,

we were all getting ready to stand up and leave and all of a sudden, one of the campers, a 16 year old kid, Charlie, walked up by the campfire and he immediately started getting emotional and tears started streaming down his face. And then he said, I felt like God is calling me to change the direction of my life. I mean, we sat there riveted. He said, I came with some pretty impure motives this week to camp. He said, the past couple of afternoons, I've been slipping away into the woods in the afternoons and doing some things that I shouldn't be doing. He said, but tonight, I'm going to turn my life over to Jesus Christ. And with that, he reached in his pocket and he pulled out a big bag of marijuana and we were all kind of caught off guard and he took the bag of marijuana and he threw it in the campfire. Well, the faculty quickly dismissed the kids to their cabins. We just kind of hung out there at the campfire. Some would say that the week had gone to pot. I choose to view that the evening was more of a spiritual high. No, you cannot get a buzz from the smell of marijuana, regardless of how hard you try. But all joking aside, can I tell you something? Charlie's confession and his demonstrative expression

of love brought about significant change in his life and spurred the same in the lives of others. Everything changed for him. How about for you? You ever had a moment like Charlie's? Do you need to have a moment like Charlie's that changes you when you're obedient and you just take that step of faith? A spiritual mountaintop time when you sense and feel the spirit of God in a deeper way than you ever have? Story number two. I was 14 years old. I was at a Christian conference for high schoolers. After a moving sermon later that night, we were all back in the college dorm room where we were all staying and five high school buddies and I don't really know how to explain it, but just something happened because this was so out of character for any of the six of us. And we just started repenting of things. And we cried and we poured our hearts out to God and we prayed until one in the morning. I mean, nothing like this had ever happened. But that night started us on a journey and we were there for each other and even though we went to different high schools, we leaned on each other and we kept our faith through high school and college.

We got together one night a month for preaching, pizza, ping pong, and prayer. And by the grace of God, because of that, our group stayed strong. And I know this is student takeover weekend and I just would say to the students who are listening, man, that could be your story. And that was 50 years ago. to go, and now the six of us are spread out in four different states, but you know what? This will sound crazy. We still get together every December for a dinner. And every one, every one of those six is still walking with Christ. And my point is that a mountaintop experience doesn't need to be a flash in the pan. If the Lord is invited and involved, then it can last for weeks and months and maybe even for five decades. And I could go around that table, and there's been a lot of pain in those five decades for every person, but we each have countless memories where we could say to the Lord, because you have, because you have. Well, if Genesis 27 is a Father's blessing, and Genesis 28 is a spiritual mountaintop, chapter 29 could quickly be summarized with the phrase, you will reap what you have sown. And Jacob arrives in Haran and meets Rachel, Laban's daughter, at a well,

and he falls in love with Rachel. And back then, you had to earn the right for a father to give you the daughter's hand in marriage, so Jacob agrees to work seven years for Laban in order to get the privilege of getting to marry Rachel. It's one of the most romantic verses in all the Bible. Look at Genesis 29, verse 20. So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel, but his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him just a few days. Wow. The Bible says that to Jacob, that time just flew by. On his bathroom mirror, Jacob had started a 2,555-day countdown until his wedding night, and his love for her caused time to fly by. But when the long-awaited wedding day arrived, evidently, her wedding veil was very thick, and evidently, there was a lot of drinking going on at the reception because Laban deceives Jacob, and he pulls the old switcheroo, and he slides in another one of his daughters, his older daughter, Leah, instead of Rachel, and she is in the tent where they spend their wedding night. And when Jacob wakes up the next morning sober and in the daylight, he sees Leah beside him in the honeymoon tent, and so he protests to Laban for switching the firstborn with the secondborn. Sound familiar? And Laban claims that local customs require that the older daughter should marry first.

You think you might've mentioned that earlier, right? You had seven years to tell me that, but you see what's happening here. The one who tricked his father into the blessing and birthright is now on the receiving end of a major deception. The deceiver has been deceived. It's poetic justice, but Jacob takes it in stride and then agrees to work for Laban another seven years in order to get to marry Rachel. I know this sounds more like a reality show than it does scripture, doesn't it? And notice that all of this happens on the heels of this mountaintop spiritual experience where the God of the universe makes a covenant with Jacob. So please hear me when I say, just because you've had a spiritual high doesn't mean that you're not going to experience some lows. Maybe you were baptized in the past year and then after a month on the mountain, you started to undergo spiritual attacks from friends or family or ridicule from coworkers. Please don't wimp out. Please don't blend in. Please don't clam up. The Christian life is not a game of survivor or the beast games where you can win immunity, all right? Jesus says in John 16, 33, in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

And some of the problems we have invited through our own poor choices. And God can forgive your past, but he probably won't undo your past. And Jacob's story is like a roller coaster of highs and lows with plenty of challenges. And God specializes in using unlikely messy stories of our brokenness to tell his story. Human failure cannot derail God's faithfulness. I didn't see the Grammys last week, but I did see on social media the acceptance speech of Jelly Roll. And I don't know if you all saw that, but it was quite amazing. He won in three different categories. He's in Christian music. He's also in country music, but he's had a rather checkered past. And boy, I want to have a boldness like he has. That's his acceptance speech. First of all, Jesus, I hear you. I'm listening, Lord, I'm listening, Lord. Thanks to my wife, if it weren't for you, I'd have ended up dead. I would have killed myself without you. There was a time in my life, y'all, that I was broken. There were days that I thought the darkest things. I was a horrible human, but there was a moment when all I had was a Bible and a radio the same size and I was in a six foot by eight foot cell.

And I believe that those two things, my Bible and my radio, could change my life. I believe that music had the power to change my life and that God had the power to change my life. And I want to tell you right now, Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by a music label. Jesus is Jesus and anybody can have a relationship with Jesus. Oh. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you watch that and you hear that, it sounds like at some point Jelly Roll had a mountaintop experience, but he just never came down from the mountain. He still is excited about Jesus. What an unlikely story. A former prisoner who wrestled with suicidal thoughts ends up holding out a small Bible and sharing his testimony in the Grammys with 16 million people and then millions and millions more on social media.

The category that he won the best album for was for his album named Beautifully Broken. Beautifully Broken. That's Jacob. That's us. That's me. That's you. So here's the takeaway. God uses imperfect people to carry out his perfect plan. And God wants to use even the embarrassing parts and the lowest sections of your story. God tells the stories, the best stories, and the most unlikely storytellers are the one who tell his story. He just wants you to trust that he's still writing your story. Hey, listen to me. Never allow Satan to place a period where God chooses to place a comma. Your story isn't over yet. If you're still breathing, then he's still writing. And here's the good news. He's still using imperfect people today. In fact, that's the only ones that he's got to choose from. God uses Jacob and his story to lead us to salvation through his descendant, Jesus Christ. And God wants to use your story to help lead someone else to salvation. Let's pray. Father in heaven, you are God.

Forgive us when we bargain with you. And Lord, we thank you for the same promise that you gave to Jacob that we've received. We thank you for your presence and for your protection. Your presence, you say, you'll never leave us nor forsake us. Your protection, you say, do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear God who can destroy both soul and body in hell. And so Lord, we have a reverent fear and appreciation for what you can do. And yet we thank you for your amazing grace that covers over all the mistakes that we make. Lord, may we be a bold witness for you and let the world know that Jesus is for everyone. It's in his name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next week.