← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
Loading summary
Transcript15 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Are you guys ready for the Word this morning? Well, we have been in our series on Jacob, and we're going to get right into it. If you got a Bible, go to Genesis 29. Genesis 29. Come on, Jesus. I want to title the message in this series on Jacob. It's complicated. Tell the person next to you it's complicated. If you were to ask Jacob, what is his love story like, it's complicated. What we're about to find is that Jacob has one of the most dysfunctional love stories in the Bible. But the thing I love is that God chooses dysfunctional people. God chooses to work through dysfunctional families. God chooses the foolish things to confound the wise. He chooses the weak things to confound the strong. Come on. I'm preaching before I'm preaching. The story of Jacob is a story of scandal. It's a story of deception, a story of manipulation. I mean, like, if you. If you're looking in the Bible thinking this is just a book of virtuous people with great virtues to follow, like, that's not the Bible. The Bible is a book of stories of very flawed people. Liars, cheaters, adulterers, stealers. That's just the first book of the Bible. Genesis, murderers, Cain and Abel. We're talking about all kinds of scandalous people, dysfunctional families, broken homes. And when you start to follow it, you're like, man, how am I supposed to like what. This is the beauty of the Gospel, that Jesus would show up, a perfect savior would come for sinners like that while we were still sinners. Come on. The book, like the Word of God is not a collection of perfect people's stories. It's a collection of broken people in need of a savior. And so when we look at the story of Jacob, I want to look specifically at his love story. In verse 16, he meets a man named Laban. Now, Laban was. He was a con man. And Jacob was going to meet his match with Laban because Jacob, too, was also kind of a con man. He had conned his dad into blessing him instead of blessing his brother Esau. He had deceived his dad, and now he's about to be deceived, which tells us something. That what goes around comes around. You reap what you sow. And if there's one thing we learn about Jacob's life is that you don't just commit a sin. Sin commits you, and sin commits you to a lineage of some brokenness that's connected to it. It wasn't just Jacob that sinned with deception. He had a dad that also sinned with deception, who had a father, Abraham, who also sinned with some deception. And when you start tracing it back, this whole family dealt with some deception. But the beautiful thing is that God is still going to work through them. Now, Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah. Everybody say Leah. And the name of the younger was Rachel. Everybody say Rachel. In verse 17, it says, Leah had weak eyes. Now, in my Bible, there's like a little. Little footnote right here. Like, go to the bottom. And so I looked at the bottom, and it meant fragile eyes, delicate eyes. And you think they're talking about, like, a comparison of sight. But it says, but. Everybody say, but. And you would think maybe they're going to talk about Rachel's eyes. Like, she could see things from a far off distance. They're not talking about that. It says, but Rachel had a lovely figure. Like, Rachel was beautiful. She was gorgeous. But Leah had weak eyes. They're basically. They're not talking about how Leah looks. They're talking about how Leah looks. They're not talking about how Leah's eyesight is. They're talking about how she looks in the eyes of others, which is so sad and so, like, funny at the same time. Like, who wrote this? Moses did. He got it from stories that were passed down, probably from Jacob, who was describing the situation. Jacob was like, leah, Rachel, Leah, Rachel. You know what I'm talking about. Okay, next verse. So Jacob was in love with who? Rachel. And this is the part where everyone focuses. They're like, oh, he is so in love with her. He's gonna do anything for her. This is gonna be beautiful. He's gonna work for seven years. Years. He is so obsessively in love with this girl. He's going to do anything for Rachel, right? He says to Laban, I'll work seven years. And that's where Laban, I think, saw the weakness. Laban. Laban realized that Jacob's kryptonite was Rachel. Laban knew he'll do anything for Rachel. And so I think Laban starts scheming in his mind because he's thinking, I got two daughters that are on my payroll, and eventually I gotta get both of them off the payroll. And one of them's not very attractive in the eyes of men. And so all of a sudden, Laban starts thinking, I'm gonna get r both of them through this. Obsessive, romantic Jacob. So watch what happens. Laban says, it's better that I give her to you. Than to some other man. Stay here with me. Notice that he doesn't say, I'm gonna give you Rachel. Always read the fine print. So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel. But they seemed like only a few days. Everybody go, ah. Like seven years felt like a few days. This is what love does to a man. Love can make a man do anything for a girl, right? Love can drive him. He's gonna serve seven years. But it felt like a few days. Cause his whole attention was on this girl. He was so in love with her. And finally, Jacob comes to Laban. He says, I did my seven years. Give me my wife. My time is completed. I want to make love. We'll talk about that another week. But Jacob was ready for it. He was like. Everybody said, he's ready. He was like, I don't want a long engagement season. I want the wedding. I want it now. I'm ready for my honeymoon. So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. And normally, weddings would last weeks. Normally they would last, you know, 14 to 15 days. But when evening came, Jacob was like, I'm ready for this. And I think he had drank a little too much, because during those weddings, they would drink a lot of wine. And the reason we think he drank too much because he had a. I don't think he knew what was going on here. As he's, like, preparing for marriage, he's so excited, he's probably a little bit drunk. And Laban sneaks a fastball on him. Laban sneaks Leah into the tents, brings her to Jacob. And Jacob makes love to Leah, thinking that it's Rachel. He's sleeping with one woman, thinking that she's another woman. His body is in this bed, but his eyes are on somebody else. And Laban gives his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant. So all of a sudden, Laban's like, I tricked him, right? But watch what happens when morning came. Everybody say, when morning came, there was Leah. There's an exclamation mark right there. Like, this is how I imagine this. Like, he's. I mean, he's jolted. And Leah always comes in the morning. I almost titled this message, leah always comes in the morning. Because the truth is, at some point in your life, you wake up thinking something was gonna be one way, and it's not what you thought it was. We all wake up with Aaliyah, and the truth is, we all wake up as Leah to somebody else. I'll never forget when I was raising our oldest, who's 12 now. When he was younger, I was like super daddy. I was Superman. I was. I was wrestling with him. I was always, like, in a good mood. But when he turned about three or four, he started noticing that I wasn't super tad. One morning, he came and jumped in the bed. He may not remember this. Jumps in the bed to, like, play with me and Ashlyn. I just was not in the mood. I was like, not right now, Liam. He was like, come on, daddy, let's play. I was like, not right now. And he gets right up in my face, and he goes, daddy. And I go, liam. He goes, oh, your breath is terrible. It smells so bad. At some point, you wake up to Leah. The superheroes that you admire let you down. At some point, you realize every marriage can become aaliyah. I mean, every job, every career. At some point, you realize every idol in your life can become aaliyah. Every idol can turn into a disappointment. You know, I think about how people get their eyes excited about something, like, oh, I'm gonna do this job, and it's gonna be amazing, and I'm d this guy, and it's going to be incredible. Marriage is going to fix all my problems. And then. And then this career is going to be everything. We're moving to Hawaii, and it's going to be gorgeous and beautiful. But eventually all the shine wears off, and you wake up in the morning at some point and you go, it's not what I thought it was going to be. I'm a little bit disappointed. In fact, if you were just going to label who is Rachel in the story and who is Leah? Rachel equals the prize. Leah equals the disappointment, Right? Rachel was the prize whom Jacob loved, but he's gonna find out. Even with Rachel, there is also disappointment, because Rachel is not all that she's cracked up to be. You could be beautiful on the outside, but barren on the inside. You can be gorgeous in the. You could stop the traffic. You can make everybody pay attention to you on the outside, but be beastly on the inside. See, right now, the beauty and the beast that Rachel is beautiful and Leah is the beast. But what we're gonna find out through the story is that they both have a beast inside of them. Even the beauty has a little bit of a beast. And even the beast. Even the beast. Even the beast has a little bit of beauty. Are you tracking with me? So go back to verse 25. Watch this. So Jacob says to Laban, what is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel. You tricked me. You. You. You tricked me. Watch what he says. Why have you deceived me? Now, this word deceived pops up in Genesis 27 when Jacob's dad looks at Jacob after Jacob has tricked his dad, pretending to be his brother Esau, because Jacob knew that his father loved his brother more than him. Jacob says these words, why have you deceived me? And it's almost like the words jump back in his face. He's like, hold on. I've heard these words before. I was on the other side of these words when my dad looked at me. What goes around comes around. You reap what you sow. And it's almost like Jacob realizes I had this coming to me eventually. And so in the next verse, Laban says, it's not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. So he says, finish this daughter's bridal week, then we will give the younger one also to you in return. By the way, everything Jacob did for Laban made Laban rich. Laban knew that everything Jacob touched prospered. Jacob had this anointing to multiply stuff. Jacob had this anointing to prosper. Can I tell you? We are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You and I are destined to increase. We are not destined to decrease. We are not anointed to go backwards. We are anointed for multiplication. We are heirs of the same covenant of the promise that God gave to Abraham. I will bless you in, through you all the nations of the earth. Come on, I'm talking to a blessed church, blessed men, blessed women. You are not broke. You are not impoverished. You are the mighty people of God, and you are anointed to prosper. But it's not just for you. It's for people through you. So Jacob is actually prospering Laban, even though Laban is deceiving him. God will use even the deception of other people, the people that use you. He will use that area in your life to draw you closer to him and to remind you he is your source. At the end of the day, Jacob worked for Laban, but really, Jacob was working for God. So he works altogether 14 years for Rachel. And finally, when he finished after the week with Leah, Laban gives him his other daughter, Rachel to be his wife. And Laban gives his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. By the way, I know some of y' all in the room are like, this is like polygamy. Is he gonna call this out? Yes. Jacob was not signing up to have multiple wives. He really only wanted to marry Rachel. But Laban put Leah in there too. And in the middle of all of this, in the brokenness of this, God still shows up. God loves them. Jacob makes love to Rachel also. And his love for Rachel, this is really important here, was greater than his love for Leah. So Leah feels unloved, she feels rejected. She feels like she's being used. Her body is being used. But her husband, the man that she's. And by the way, she also feels rejected by her own dad. Her dad got rid of her and put her with a man that didn't even love her. And Jacob works for Laban another seven years just for Rachel. The whole time, Leah is just watching Jacob's eyes, always on Rachel. When Jacob saw Rachel, he lit up. Whoo, there's my girl. And Leah is just the other sister on the side. Like, what about me and Jacob when he. You don't know what rejection feels like until you watch the person you want light up for somebody else and shut down around you. And so Leah feels the pain and the sting of being the sister that wasn't loved. But watch this. When the Lord sees your rejection. Rejection is not your final chapter. I want to talk to some unloved Leah's in the room. You might feel rejected by man, but you are accepted by God. Just because people don't invite you to the party, just because people don't include you in their friendship group, just because people ignore you and overlook you and they don't see your talents and they don't promote you, God sees. God sees. And God chooses who the world rejects. So the Lord. Leah didn't even call out on the Lord. The Lord was watching her in her brokenness. The Lord sees us in our brokenness, saw that Leah was not loved, and he enabled her. God's about to open things up for you. God's about to open things up for you that no man could open up. And when he enabled her to conceive, Rachel, who was the loved one by Jacob, remain childless. Beautiful on the outside, but barren on the inside. Ugly on the outside, but bountiful on the inside. Everybody has a problem. Everybody has something good in their life and something that needs to be fixed in their life. Nobody is perfect. Tell the person next to you nobody's perfect. Lord, I pray that you would speak to us today. Let us leave changed, refreshed, reminded of your word, God. And I pray, Lord, that we would be challenged to become who you've called us to be in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you so Much worship team. We'll call you back up in just a little bit. How many on this room grew up watching the chick flicks, the rom coms, all of those movies? And I grew up with two older sisters. We would go to Blockbuster on Friday nights. Rip Blockbuster. And we would walk in there, we would pick out a movie, and my mom would let the boys pick out a movie. We would normally pick out, you know, something funny or something adventurous. We would pick out something action packed. And our sisters would always pick out, like, Sense and Sensibility or My fair Lady or Pride and Prejudice or you've Got mail or Sleepless in Seattle or While you were sleeping or Runaway Bride. I mean, it felt like we were always watching the chick flicks in our house. One movie that came out in college, I remember, was called he's just not that into you. And I think about that story when I think about Jacob and Leah. Cause Leah's like. In fact, when God opens Leah's womb, she starts trying to get Jacob's attention. She's like, well, she starts overanalyzing. Maybe he's not calling me back because he's busy. Maybe he's not texting me back because he's really working hard right now. He's working hard with Rachel. But Leah keeps convincing herself, at some point, I'm gonna get this man's attention, and he's gonna love me the way he loves Rachel. But he's just not that into you. And when you look at the movie and the story of the movie, it's this idea that you need to stop chasing people who don't actually value you. You deserve to be with someone who is as excited about you as you are about them. Don't settle for someone who treats you as an option. And so here Leah is. She's stuck in a marriage with a man who doesn't really love her. And she has no way out. She's like, I can't get out of this. There is no other man that's gonna love me. And so I've gotta try to win his approval and his love. And we watch this whole competition play out between Leah and Rachel. It's kind of crazy. If you read the rest of Genesis 29 and Genesis 30, they start having kids. And then it's all at this battle to try to win their husband's approval, his attention, his love for Rachel. She's made children an idol. She actually says these words, I will die if I don't have kids. I will wilt and die. You don't know what an idol is until you say the words, I will die if I don't have to. This one of the biggest things from this story is idolatry. The idolatry of romance, like in Jacob's mind, is if I get married to Rachel, all my problems will be fixed. Can I just give you some myths about marriage for a second? The top myths about marriage. The top myths. Just for a second. Let me read these off to you because I did a little study on what are the top myths out there about marriage. One of the first myths is that marriage completes you. This is the Jerry Maguire mindset where Tom Cruise looks at Renee Zellweger and he goes, you complete me. No, she does not complete you, and you don't complete her. The truth is there is no person that can complete you. If you enter into marriage incomplete, you bring an incomplete vibe with you the rest of the marriage. And you try to place on a person what's not actually possible. You have a hole the size of God in your heart, and no woman, no man will ever be able to fill it. What's crazy is that Jacob has a well in this same town where he finds two wives that end up being broken wives and broken sisters, and he ends up having a broken family. But there's this well that stays there, Jacob's well. It's mentioned in the New Testament. And Jesus walks past this well in John chapter four, meets a woman, a Samaritan woman who's been married five times and divorced five times. And Jesus is talking to her at Jacob's well, and she's living with a man that's not her husband, trying to fill this void because marriage completes you. And Jesus says, you're not going to find it in another man. I'm the one you're looking for. These cracked cisterns hold no water at all. These husbands you keep, you can run to another husband and another wife and another job and another thing, but it will never be another. Enough. Never be enough. Because you're trying to squeeze out of a person what only God can give you. The second myth about marriage is that marriage solves all your problems. No, my friends, marriage reveals all of your problems. Marriage reveals all of your spouse's problems and your problems, and they multiply. Falling in love is easy, but staying in love takes hard work. Marriage myth number three is that the first year is the hardest. No, every year requires work. Marriage is not about just trying to get past the first year. If you talked with Al and Pat Richardson, who've been married for 71 years. The only way marriage makes it is by every single year choosing to forgive and love and serve and work through the stuff. It's not just hard in the first year. And then the fourth myth of marriage is that happy couples don't fight. Can we just for a second, take off the church mask? See, we only bring our Rachel selves to church. We try to appear all pretty, but the people around you, they see the Leah in you. They see the ugly side in the minivan on the way to church. They wake up with Leah in the morning. They wake up to the bad breath. They wake up to the. In our house. And I was raised by a good mom and dad, and they loved each other, but they were not perfect. And there would be times where they would have conflict. And this is how conflict was handled in our house. My dad would walk outside and he would start raking leaves on the driveway, except for there were no leaves to rake. He was just scraping the driveway. And I'd go outside. I'd be like, dad, are you okay? And he's like, he sounded like the robbers on Home Alone. I was like, are you cussing under your breath? He was like, no, I'm speaking in tongues. I was like, what are you speaking in tongues? He's like, I'm surrendering your mom to the Lord right now. And then I go into the kitchen, and there my mom is, burning pancakes and flipping and flapping stuff. And I'm like, what are you doing? She's like, I'm surrendering your dad to the Lord right now. And I was like, I guess they're just both surrendering each other to the Lord. Happy couples fight. Conflict is part of life. You don't escape. You could pretend like it's not there at church. You could put on the Rachel side and act beautiful. But you go home with Leah, it's always Leah in the morning. Tell the person next to you, it's always Leah in the morning. Marriage myth number five is that love is enough. And while love is essential, lasting marriages require more than just love. They require commitment. And in the Bible, it's called covenant. Covenant between you and God and your spouse. Marriage myth number six. Your spouse will always know what you need. No, they will not know. I still don't know what Ashley needs. We've been married for 17 years. This year, she still doesn't always know what I need. And I'm a pretty predictable person. We didn't marry mind readers. We married humans that are flawed, just like us. Marriage myth number seven. Marriage is a 50. 50. Deal. Nope. You heard it from Al earlier today. Marriage is 100%. And by the way, you don't keep score with your spouse. You don't go, I'm giving 100, and you're giving nothing. I'm giving 80, and you're giving 20. The best marriages are led by husbands that are willing to serve as Christ served the church. I'm preaching to myself, y'.
- [22:04]
B
All.
- [22:04]
A
I need this as much as you do. Marriage myth number eight is that children strengthen the bond. Hey, I love my kids. Ash and I, we got five kids. They are awesome. But kids do not strengthen the bond. Kids can create even more stress within the bond. And you got to keep going to the altar. If your marriage started at an altar at the wedding, you got to keep it at the altar if you want to stay together. Marriage myth number nine is that living together is a good idea, a good test before marriage. No, this is a cultural myth. The biblical way is that you're going to choose to get in covenant before you get in bed. And so here's how we. How we understand how marriage works. Not just by cohabitation. That doesn't guarantee a future success. By the way, if you want to marry the person you're living with right now and you want to do it God's way, come and talk to me after church. I will marry you for free in this church. We'll do the vows, we'll do the wedding, we'll sign the contract. But let me tell you something. When you bring God into your marriage, it's not just a contract. It's a covenant. The ring doesn't mean anything if you're not committed to God's covenant in this. And so marriage has a lot of myths in our society. There's this myth that marriage is boring. It's not boring. Marriage is dynamic. Marriage will keep you growing. And then the last myth is that your spouse should be your everything. And they can't be. They won't be. It's a recipe for disappointment. Back to. Back to Jacob's journey. In Genesis 28, Jacob's dad actually points him towards marriage. He says, listen, you need a wife. Like, this is going to help you, Jacob. You deceived me. You cheated me. You conned me. So get yourself a wife. You know, he's like, maybe a wife can fix you, Jacob. Maybe a woman can solve your problems. Maybe marriage is the right path for you. And so Jacob goes and he says. And his dad says, I want you to find a wife. Not among our Canaanite Women. But I want you to go to Haran. I want you to go and find someone from Laban's household. And when you go there, you'll be blessed and you'll get married, and it's all going to work out. Now go to verse 10. So Jacob leaves his dad and he heads out for Haran. Everybody say Haran. Haran first is mentioned in the Bible. Can we do a Bible study this morning? Okay. Genesis 11, verse 26 is the first time you hear the name Haran. Haran was the name of Abraham's brother. Haran was the son of Abraham's dad, Torah. Torah had three boys. We always follow the story of Abram, who became Abraham, who had Isaac, who had Jacob. The story of faith, right? We forget that he had a son named Haran. Now, if you keep reading, in Genesis 11, Haran dies a premature death. In other words, his dad has to bury him. As a dad of five kids, I don't want to have to bury any of my kids. I want my kids to bury me someday. That's the way it's supposed to go. When my father died a premature death, my grand. Grand came over to me. And she said, paul, this is not the way it's supposed to go. Moms are not supposed to bury their sons. Sons are supposed to bury their moms and dads. And so Abram's father deals with heartbreak because he buries his son Haran. And if you follow the journey, Abram's father, Terah was on his way to the promised land. But he stops. He gets stuck in a heartbreak. I remember hiking with my kids through the forest. And we were hiking, and we were jumping on rocks. And one of my kids goes, dad, I'm stuck. I'm stuck. I can't take another step. And me and the other two boys kept hiking. He says, you're leaving me behind, and I'm stuck. So I come back to him. I go, you're not stuck. You just stopped. He said, no, I'm stuck, Dad. I can't move. You guys are bigger than me. You got bigger legs than me. You, like, jumped over rocks. I said, put your foot here. He goes, okay. Can I trust you, dad? Is this rock gonna move? I said, no. I said, now put your foot here. I said, now put your foot here. And he goes, dad, I'm not stuck anymore. I said, you were never stuck. You just stopped. And so many people stop in heartbreak. So Abram's dad stops in Haran. He actually names the town after his premature death of his son. After he buried his child, he never moved on. It's like he buried his heart in the same place that he buried his child. He died in the land of heartbreak. You could call Haran Heartbreak Hotel. The place of heartbreak, the place of disappointment. Now, this is important because this is where Isaac says to go. He says, go here because you're gonna find a wife here, and a wife is gonna fix everything for you. What Jacob doesn't know is that he's headed towards heartbreak. And not only is he headed towards heartbreak, he's a heartbreaker himself. He's about to break Leah's heart and make her feel the same rejection he has felt from his own dad. To be the one that wasn't loved. Jacob knew what it was like to be the one that wasn't loved because his dad loved Esau more than he loved him. You say, where's that in the Bible? That's in Genesis 25. It says Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob. And now Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah. Jacob is projecting on Leah what he has felt his whole life. And he's headed to Haran to fix all of his disappointment, not knowing that this is the land disappointment. We have this American dream that America, once you fulfill this wonder, you get a house, you get a spouse, you get a car, you get a job. You're fixed except for you're not. Because in the morning, America is still Leah in the morning. No matter what president you vote for. It's still Leah in the morning, no matter what governor you vote for, no matter what husband you marry, no matter what wife you marry, no matter what church you attend. Pretend it's still Leah in the morning. You say, what are you saying, Paul? I'm saying every single person will disappoint you at some point. There is not a perfect church, there's not a perfect pastor except for Jesus Christ himself. There's not a perfect wife, there's not a perfect president, there's not a perfect husband, there's not a perfect mayor, there's not a perfect governor, there's not a perfect job, there's not a perfect career, there's not a perfect house, there's not a perfect car, there's not a perfect spouse, there's not a perfect you. It's still Leah in the morning. And so while Jacob is headed towards Haran, he stops along the way and he falls asleep in this one area. He stays the night and he puts a stone under his head. And while he's asleep, he starts dreaming. And every time Jacob dreamed, God was speaking to him in his dreams. This runs in the family because Jacob has a son later on named Joseph who also has dreams. It's like dreams ran in the family from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph. And these dreamers were always, I'm telling you, this is a time for the church to dream like Jacob, to dream with God, to dream in a land of disappointment. To dream that God still has a plan, that he's not finished with America yet. That he's not finished with your marriage yet. That he's not finished with your kids yet. That he's not finished with your family yet. That you could dream even in a land of disappointment. So he's dreaming, and the Lord shows up and it says, it was like a stairway to heaven. This is the Eric Clapton song right here, Stairway to Heaven. And there was angels descending and ascending. Look at this. It's crazy. God shows up to Jacob and says, I am the Lord of your father Abraham and Isaac, and I'm bringing you to a land where you will prosper and you will take from the river to the sea, from the north to the south, all the peoples on earth will be blessed. Through you, Jacob, through you, the unloved son. I'm with you. I will watch over you wherever you go. I'll bring you back to this land someday. I'll never leave you. See, God made a covenant with his dad, and God keeps his covenants. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, in verse 16, he literally says, surely the Lord was in this place, and I didn't even know it. Surely the Lord was in this disappointment, and I didn't even know. Surely the Lord was in Haran, the land of my father's disappointment, the land of my grandfather's dis. See, some of you have been looking at a job, a season of your life, and calling it Haran. You've been calling it the heartbreak season, the disappointment season, the rejection season. You don't have to keep calling it what everyone else has called it. Jacob actually renames this place. He says, I didn't know God was with me even while I was sleeping in a land of disappointment. And then he says this. How awesome is this place in verse 17? This is none other than the house of God. Whoa. We just went from land of disappointment to house of God. And by the way, God wasn't the one that named this place. Jacob was the one who named this place. You don't have to wait for God to name your house a blessed house. You can walk into your house and say, this is the house of God. You can walk into your kids bedrooms where there's been porn addictions and dysfunctions and there's been drugs and there's been alcohol in the kitchen, and you can say, this is the house of God. You can walk into that job, you keep cursing with people that rub you the wrong way and it feels like sandpaper every Monday, and you can say, this is the house of God. This is a gateway to heaven. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice. I don't rejoice because I feel like it. I rejoice because I chose to. Jacob was saying, I can rename the place of disappointment. I can rename my business. I can rename my house. I can rename my kids. I can rename myself. Maybe you were labeled as an accident, a curse, the rejected one. Maybe you felt lonely in Tulsa. Maybe for you, Tulsa feels like Haran, the city of disappointment, the city of broken dreams. But you can rename it. Tell that person next to you, you can rename it. And it became what he named it. From that day on, it was called Bethel, the house of God. And so Jacob keeps moving. In chapter 29, verse 1, Jacob continues on the journey, and he sees a well in the open country with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. And there was a stone that stood over the mouth of the well, and the stone was large. It says in verse three, verse two, everything in the Old Testament is a type and a shadow of the New Testament. When you read the book of Hebrews and Romans, it says, reading the Bible is like this. The Old Testament gives us types and shadows, foreshadows what's going to happen in the New Testament. So when you read the story of Jacob, you're looking for the Gospel. And it says here that there was this large stone that covered the place where water and life came from. And the stone was too big to move. And he asks the people, brothers, where are you from? They said, we're from Haran. He goes, I know Haran. I know Haran. He says, do you know where Laban is at, where his house is at, where his family's at? They said, yeah, this is Laban's well. This is the spot. You're in the right place. While it was still high noon, the sun was still high, the flocks needed to be watered. And he says, we need to water the flocks. They said, we can't. The stone is too big to move. It takes a lot of guys to Move this stone. In verse nine, while they were still talking, Rachel comes walking with her father's sheep. And when Rachel was walking, her hair's blowing in the wind. Just perfect face, perfect jawline, perfect body figure. And Jacob's like, there she goes. There she goes again. Do not turn out. I don't know the rest of the song. But Jacob was in love. He was like, oh, my goodness. And when he saw her, look at this. His love was so strong that when he saw Rachel, he rolled the stone away. One man moved a massive stone because of love for her. And when. And when we get to the New Testament, there's another man who's so in love with his bride that when he's down in the tomb conquering death, hell, and the grave, and it's a stone that's too big to move, he rolls away the stone when he sets his eyes on you. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Come on. Do you see what I'm talking about? The gospel shows up in Jacob story. Jacob's love gave him supernatural strength to roll. He's still rolling Stones, friends. He's still rolling Stones. And so Jacob says, I want to marry this girl. And Laban says, okay, deal. Work seven years. And then he wakes up with Leah. I want the band to come out. What do you do while you're waiting? Jacob was waiting. He was single, he was working. And this is a word for all the single. Where's the singles at? I want to honor all the singles. Stand up if you're saying, come on, single, mighty men and women. Look around, check out the landsc. See who you need to check out and invite to dinner later this week. Come on. Some of you guys need to ask a girl out on a date right after church today. This is the best place to find a mate, is in the house of God. Surely this is the house of the Lord. Friends, when I went to Oral Roberts University, I went not just to get a degree, I went to find a spouse. And I had been, like, really, like, thirsty to get married. I wanted to get married, like, when I was 20 years old. So I went to Oru. And I would be in chapel with one eye closed, one eye open, worshiping God, but looking at the ladies who were worshiping God, too. Yeah, I was. I was a creeper. And so I was like, which one of these ladies is going to be my wife one day? Which one of these ladies is Rachel? You know, and. And so I was thinking about all the Bible stories and all of that, and I would Go on. Get your roommate a date night. And it was like, none of it seemed to be fulfilling. Like, I just wasn't. I remember this one girl, I asked her out, like, seven times. She kept telling me, keep asking me out. I was like, what is going on? She was like, keep asking. And she would say no every time. Finally, I was like, I'm done. She's not that into me. So I remember. And then she circled back. She was like, I'm ready to date you now. I was like, I'm already over you. Okay. But the Lord told me, he said, paul, you're thirsty. You're. You're too thirsty for a girl. You're too, like. You're too focused on. You're trying too hard to find a girl. Find a spouse. And how you wait for marriage determines whether you are ready for marriage when it's time. How you wait is even more important than who you're waiting for. Because if you're waiting just searching for the one instead of becoming the one that someone actually would search for, then you got your whole focus mixed up. And the Lord really checked me. He was like, you need to focus on becoming the one, not trying to find the One. You need to focus on becoming the man I've called you to be. I made a T shirt. This is so ridiculous. I made a T shirt because I was reading the Bible, and I read the verse, david was a man after God's own heart. So I put M for man, A after G for God. O h, and it said mago. Mago. Man after God's own heart. And I put Lego my way go, which was woman after God's own heart. And I put Mago searching for a wago. And they were like, this dude is so thirsty. I was so cringy, y'. All. I was just walking around, I was like, where's my Wago? They're like, what's a way go? I was like, woman after God's own heart. Looking for a man after God's own heart. Lego my waygo. I thought it was cool. Anyways. God was like, take that T shirt off. So I spent the next couple years of college just choosing not to date. And I chose, honestly, to spend my Friday nights in Tim Kobarten, a building on campus where there was a piano, and I would sit and write songs. And God does his greatest work. During your seasons of loneliness, during your seasons of feeling rejected, during your seasons of feeling not worthy. Honestly, your Leah season of feeling like you are the outcast, the overlooked will become the season that produces your greatest joy. Those sorrows may last for the night. His joy comes in the morning. Those who sow in tears will reap a harvest of joy. There's something about bringing your tears to God, bringing your loneliness, bringing your brokenness to God. Just a few thoughts here for those that are single. Seven ways to be single with purpose. Number one. Live with a vision for your life. See singleness as a gift, not a curse. This season is a divine assignment. Paul says this is a season where you can focus on God instead of focusing on a woman or a man. So run after God's vision for your life. Become the person that one day you would want to marry. Focus on becoming the character, the growth inside of you. Number two. Serve others. Leverage your freedom for mission. Don't. Instead of using your freedom as a single to self indulge, use your freedom to serve in the church. Serve God, Serv. Serve in ministry. Develop a spirit of a servant's heart. Because I'm telling you, marriage is made like good marriages are made up of servant leaders. And you never waste time serving others. So. So Jacob served for seven years. Number three, Save your money. Because one day you will marry someone who will spend your money. So save your money. No, you're gonna marry someone. I'm so glad I married the right girl. I'm so thankful for my. My bride. I'm married. I got the prize. Come on. I don't know if I use that right. Number four. Make memories. Make memories. If you're single, you should be making memories. This is a season you'll never get back. Why is it that there are people that are married that want to be single and single that want to be married and, and, and. And there's this despising of your season. The Bible says, do not despise your season. Do not despise the age. Paul said it like this. Don't be wishing you were someplace else with someone else doing something else. Where you are is where God wants you to be. So live and obey and serve and believe right there. Make memories in this season. Make a bucket list. Do what? Do what's on your heart that God's stirring. Make a vision board of things you want to. Number 5. Get planted in the church. Stop dating the church if you want to have a healthy marriage one day. Practice a healthy relationship with the church. Stay in a church that offends you. Stay in a church that's not always easy. Stay in a church where people don't always remember your name. Stay in a church where you feel like you might get overlooked sometimes because your commitment to a local church will show up one day and your commitment to a spouse, get planted and stay plugged in. In a society where it's so easy to leave and just quit every relationship that's not fun and exciting and sexy and happy, like I'm telling you, there's something beautiful about just commitment. And number six, get married. Mentors. Get some mentors. Like people that have been married for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years in this church. There are so many mentors you can go and find and then be a student, take notes, watch, ask questions. Ask them if you can babysit their kids or their grandkids. Ask them if you can go out to lunch with them sometimes. And number seven, hope in Jesus more than you hope in marriage. So Jacob gets married and it's not what it was cracked up to be. And then he gets a second wife, and even both of them are mad at him. In verse 31, when the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive. But Rachel remained childless. She remained barren. Beautiful on the outside, but barren on the inside. Leah was ugly on the outside in the eyes of Jacob, but she was fruitful on the inside. I remember hearing this commentary when I was in college from a guy named Derek Kidner. He said this. The moment with Leah. We all face it. It's a miniature of our disillusionment experienced from the Garden of Eden onwards. That everything we want in this life, everything that we think is going to be a Rachel in the morning, is always Leah. No amount of sex or drugs or alcohol or vaping or binging or entertainment, euphoria, nirvana, any music, career, money, material wealth, anything always ends up being Leah in the morning. Look at the people around you. Every person's life is searching for something to try to fill that void. And as bad as life can get, we make it even worse when we make idols out of things like marriage or children. So Leah starts having kids. In verse 32, Leah becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a son. She names him Reuben, which means God sees me. She says, surely now, because the Lord sees me, my husband will see me. But he doesn't. He doesn't. He just uses her. Verse 33, she conceives again. He uses her body, but his eyes are on another woman. And she gives birth to this second son. And she says, now the Lord has heard me. So the Lord hears me, the Lord sees me, and now my husband is going to see me and hear me and God the whole time. Is like, I see you. I hear you. Stop trying to get out of Jacob what Jacob doesn't even give to him. Like you're trying to win a man's approval who doesn't even approve of himself. You're trying to win the love of a man who doesn't even love himself. The reason why Jacob is so mean to you is not because you're ugly. It's because he's ugly. He has an ugly side. There is a beast in Jacob that he has not dealt with, which makes me question, what is the beast in you? Because we all have a little bit of a beast in us. What is that room you don't want anyone to go in? When you think about the movie Beauty and the Beast, it was like that west wing. He's like, don't go there. Don't go into that one room. Don't touch that one place. For Jacob, it was the relationship he had with his dad and the broken relationship with his brother. For Leah, it was the feelings of being rejected by her own dad and now by her husband. For Rachel, it was the rejection of not being able to have kids. Watching her sister have kid after kid after kid. And Rachel's like, what is wrong with me? In fact, that's what she says in Genesis 30, verse one. Rachel grabs Jacob, pulls him in, and she's like, this is your fault. She was so jealous of Leah. She goes, give me children or I'll die. Jacob's like, this is not my fault. I've been having kids with other women. Verse 2. Jacob gets angry with her. Jacob gets angry with the girl. He loves the girl he worked 14 years. He looks at Rachel and he's angry. He's like, am I God? Am I supposed to fix something inside of you that I can't fix? And she said, here, take my servant Bilhah, sleep with her, and give me a baby through her. Jacob's like, fine. So he does it. Jacob now is just getting used by his wives. He was using them. Now they're using him. And you go, this is so messed up. This is so bad. I mean, that's the gospel. It's like, bad after bad after bad after bad. And then something beautiful happens. When you read the Old Testament, you're like, this is like, abuse, and this is slander, and this is adultery, and this is polygamy, and. And this is. I mean, this is murder. And there's all kinds of junk in this. And then all of a sudden, something good happens. Watch this. At the end of Genesis 29 Leah has one more baby. Watch this. In verse 34, she conceives a third time. She gives birth to this son, and she says, now at last my husband will become attached to me because I have borne him three sons. So she named him Levi. Did you know Moses came through the tribe of Levi? The deliverer for Egypt came through the tribe of Levi. While Leah is still searching to feel attached to a husband, God is working a redemptive plan in the earth through a broken. The girl that nobody wanted starts bearing the children that everybody needed. In verse 35, she conceives again. And when she gives birth to a fourth son. This is the part that I love right here. I'm almost done. This is it, she says, this time I would say, this time I will praise the Lord. She was saying, I'm tired of running to Jacob. It's time to start running to Jesus. I'm tired of trying to get something from a husband that only God can give me. You don't get to this baby. And she names him Judah, by the way she names him Judah. You don't get to Judah until you deal with the brokenness of your own heart. You don't get to Judah until you grieve the loss and the sting of rejection. You can't leave it until you grieve it. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Once Leah faced the ugly fact that her husband was never going to truly be interested in her, she had to realize it was time to stop. Stop running to men. She was only going to run to God. You will never have your Judah moment until you hit your breakdown moment. But once you have your breakdown moment, God's getting you ready for a breakthrough moment. You cannot birth a Judah until you have a funeral for your unmet expectations of what your wife was supposed to do, what your husband was supposed to do, what your kids were supposed to do, what your parents were supposed to do, what some boyfriend was going to do, what some girlfriend was going to do, what the economy of America was going to do, what the president was going to do. Everybody's going to disappoint you, but there is one who will never let you down. And from the lion of the tribe of Judah, from the ugly place, from the rejected place, God births a messiah through Leah. Now, this is where it gets crazy. This is the crazy part when Leah says, this time, I will praise the Lord. All caps. Everybody say all caps. Now look at that. There's two names of God in the Old Testament. There's Elohim, which just meant, like, God the creator, and there's Yahweh. This was personal, this was covenant. When she said Lord, she was saying, you are my covenant keeping God. You are my God. You are my God. You're not just Abraham's God. You're not just Isaac's God. You're not just Jacob's God. You are my God. In my brokenness, in my ugliness, when I feel rejected, when I feel like I'm a disappointment, you are my God who sees me. You hear me, you know me, and you embrace me. And so she births Judah. And later on, finally, Rachel gets pregnant and she births Joseph. And I'm like, joseph's the guy. I preached on Joseph. I've done a series on Joseph. And I'm like, that's it. Jesus came through Joseph. But he didn't. Because in Matthew, chapter one, verse one, it says, now this is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob and Jacob. And I'm thinking they're gonna say Joseph, because surely Jesus came through the beautiful side of Rachel. Surely Jesus came through Rachel. The beautiful side, the pretty side of your life, the accepted side, the chosen side. But no, it says, Jacob, the father of Judah. And I'm going, who bore Judah? Leah bore Judah. Which means that Jesus came through the ugly side of Jacob's family. Jesus came through the girl that nobody wanted. Jesus came through the girl that was rejected by man. Because rejection is just redirection. When man rejects you, God accepts you. God opens a door. Come on, stand your feet all over this place. The story of Jacob is a story like all of us. It's a story where we need redemption. We need acceptance. And for every Leah in the room that's ever felt rejected, I'm talking to guys and girls right now. I'm talking to young middle schoolers who don't get invited to the parties, who don't have a seat saved at lunchtime. I'm talking to the widows that are still grieving the loss of your husband that died. I'm talking to the men that buried your kids. And I'm also talking to the women who your husband left you for another woman. And for the son that grew up without a dad because he didn't think it was worth sticking around. See, the Bible says he's the God of the widow and the orphan. He's the God of Leah, he's the God of Judah. He's the God who sees you when no one else sees you, he's the God that births Judas in you. When everyone else walks away from you, Leah is sitting there weeping from the pain of a husband who doesn't even see her. And God says, I'm right here. I see you. I see you for you. You're accepted. You're chosen. You're loved. And I'm going to bring the Messiah through you. Would you just close your eyes? All over this place, I want to pray for every person in the room that's feeling lonely, that's feeling rejected, that knows the sting of someone that hurt you. I want to pray for the brokenhearted. I want to pray for those that are having a hard time trusting people because you have been deceived and tricked and you've been disappointed. The Bible says that Jacob put oil on the place that was called disappointment. I feel like today God wants to put oil on some areas in your life where there's been disappointment. God wants to bring his presence, his holy spirit power, his love to touch your broken heart, your broken places, with every head bowed, every eye closed. If God is speaking to you right now, would you just lift your hand all across this room from the front to the back, from the very back row. God sees you. He hears you in the front row. He sees you. He hears you. He loves you. He calls you by name. He has not forgotten you, Leah. He has not forgotten you, Leah. He loves you. I want to pray for anyone that just needs to surrender to Jesus today. You just need prayer. You just need to get to the altar. I want you to just leave your seat. If you raised your hand for either of those, would you come and join me right now? Let's just turn this into a house of God, a Bethel moment. Let's rename this season. Let's reclaim what the enemy meant for evil, what the enemy meant to try to destroy you, to break your heart forever. God's about to pick up all the pieces, Leah. He's gonna put it all together. If I could sit with Leah in the middle of her pain and say, leah, if you only knew what God was gonna do through your kids, I know you don't feel like you're wanted right now, but you are producing something that the world will one day look back and say, if it hadn't not been for Leah, if it had not been for her broken heart, we would never be in a place where we were celebrating the story of David killing Goliath or the story of. Of even after David sinned, that God gave him a son. Named Solomon. And even after Solomon's sins, that God would one day bring a king that was sinless, that was perfect, that would go to the cross for our sins, that through that broken, dysfunctional family, God was bringing the Messiah. He was bringing the healing in the brokenness, even in the broken places. God says, I'm gonna bless you. I'm gonna bless you in a land of disappointment. I'm gonna bless you even in a broken situation. I'm gonna bless you even when people curse you, even when people walk out on God says that rejection is opening the door for God's calling on your life. Come on, just bring it to the altar. Let's just worship for a moment. Just give it to the Lord right now.
- [53:01]
B
I trust in God, my Savior.
- [53:06]
A
He sees you. He's with you. He's for you. He's not against you. He calls you by name. He chose you. He chose you. You are not alone. You are not forgotten.
- [53:24]
B
My strength.
- [53:26]
A
This will be a season where God takes every disappointment, every failure, every rejection, and God begins to write a story in you. A story of redemption, a story of restoration, a story of healing, A story of soul healing.
- [53:43]
B
My Savior, the one who will never. We will never fail. I trust, I trust in God, my.
- [54:01]
A
Savior.
- [54:05]
B
The one who will never fail. He will never fail. I saw the Lord and I saw the Lord and He heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and He heard and he answered. I saw the Lord and He heard I that's why I trust him in this place I know the Lord God.
- [54:41]
A
Sees He loves you. He is for you and not against you.
- [54:46]
B
And he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him. That's why I saw the Lord he heard me in my brokenness. He heard me in my we. Why I trust him. That's why I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust, I trust in God, Jesus, my Savior, the one who will never.
- [56:07]
A
Fail.
- [56:11]
B
He will never fail. Cause I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and He heard. That's why that's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and He heard. Oh, I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and he danced.
- [56:56]
A
Just say this with me, Jesus, thank you for loving me unconditionally. Even at my worst. You love me. You died for me. For my sins and I receive your mercy. Oh, Jesus, I receive your grace, I repent, and I choose to forgive and to keep forgiving because I need your forgiveness. Holy Spirit, heal me from the inside out. Put all the pieces back together. Fill the void. Only you, God, are more than enough for my soul. You are Jehovah, Jireh, you are Yahweh, my God, and you keep your covenant, and I'm all yours. And I believe that you're not finished with me yet. And my best days are still in front of me. And I have victory in my life because Jesus lives in me. Come on. I want you to make a Judah shout of praise this morning.