February 14, 2024 • 44 mins
In this thought-provoking episode, we explore the intricate theological implications surrounding Esau's Blessing. Through an engaging dissection of Biblical teachings, the sermon offers profound insights into the inherent elements of deceit, sin, and covetousness that encompass the complex relationship between Jacob and Esau.
From the circumstances leading Jacob to lie to Isaac to the theological reflections on blessing sinful behaviors, we offer a riveting discourse that emphasizes truthfulness and the importance of upholding Biblical principles. This episode calls upon listeners to learn from Scriptures, resist worldly pressures and stay true to God's path.
Drawing on the compelling stories of Isaac, Esau, and Jacob, we delve into the intriguing realities of their choices and the unexpected repercussions. The sermon emphasizes that only God retains the power of bestowing blessings, and walking a path of deception can lead to unforeseen consequences.
As we explore Jacob's turbulent life marked by struggles, deceit, and loss, we illuminate the inherent repercussion of sin and the undeviating law of sowing and reaping. Yet, in the face of these life-altering revelations, the sermon brings forth a message of hope and redemption, advocating for sowing seeds of love, peace, and kindness, over deception.
Bridging the gap between historic Bible stories and present-day applications, this episode challenges popular interpretations while highlighting the purity and fairness of God's blessings. Sharing personal stories of unanswered prayers turning into disguised blessings, we emphasize the need for total trust in God's leadership and plans.
This deep and powerful sermon concludes with a heartfelt message of self-acceptance and restoration. Inviting everyone to discard their false identities and embrace their unique individuality, this episode affirms that everyone is crafted by God for a specific purpose. Find your new identity in God, shedding past burdens, and open your heart to the godly life intended for you.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It to me that I may eat, that my soul may, repeat after me, bless thee.
Bless thee before I die. Skip down to verse 19.
And not Esau, but Jacob.
And Jacob said unto his father, I, Esau thy firstborn.
(00:25):
He lied to the man of God.
Happens all the time, bless God. He polite lie to the preacher.
He said, I am Esau thy firstborn. I have done according as thou badest me. Nope, that's a lie too.
Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison. Third lie right there in that statement.
That thy soul may, everybody say it, bless me.
(00:50):
Simple thought preaching to to you tonight on Esau's Blessing.
Everyone say, Esau's Blessing.
That's the title. Lord, speak to us. Let us have ears to hear what the Spirit saith unto the church.
And God, once again, let it not be Joel who preaches this message.
I don't want it to be Joel Reveley who speaks.
(01:10):
I want it to be the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks.
I want it to be the Holy Ghost who speaks to me. And God, have your way,
have your will, accomplish your purpose, do your tasks.
Here in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nevada Metropolitan, and with joy let us all draw
waters out of your well of salvation.
May we all submit to you and do your will. We all say in Jesus' name, amen.
(01:32):
Clap your hands unto the Lord as you are seated at Gospel Lighthouse Church.
In the Ten Commandments, we are told very plainly, thou shalt not covet.
Here, about 500 years before the Ten Commandments were ever actually even given,
though we have, in my opinion, the clearest example of somebody coveting. Say covet.
(01:58):
Now, to covet means something real basic. It means you want something that belongs to someone else.
You see your neighbor's car.
You see your brother's house. You see your brother's spouse.
And you say to yourself, if I had what he had, I'd be doing okay.
(02:20):
Well, Esau had some things that Jacob did not have. have. Jacob coveted.
Esau was the firstborn by a hare.
Jacob was not. Esau was a man's man.
Jacob, not so much. Esau had the favor of their father Isaac, and Jacob did not.
(02:45):
Esau was a hunter enter by trade, and Jacob was not.
And finally, Esau was about to receive the blessing, we believe,
at the hands of Isaac, and Jacob was not.
And before I get any further with this sermon, let me make something very crystal clear here tonight.
Do not confuse the birthright with the blessing.
(03:08):
The birthright of Esau is totally different from the blessing of Esau.
The birthright of Esau, Jacob purchased that birthright for one morsel of meat, remember?
And what was that birthright? What was that rite of birth? That birthright actually predates Esau.
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Esau's birthright even predates Isaac.
That rite of birth was passed down from Abraham, down through Isaac,
down, it was supposed to go to Esau, but that birthright even predates Abraham.
It even predates Shem, Ham, and Japheth on the ark, and it even predates Noah.
It predates It's Methuselah and Lamech. It goes all the way back to the book
(03:55):
of Genesis. Did not give you this verse, media team.
But look up Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 15.
In the garden of Eden, God spoke to a man named Adam and to his wife named Eve
that one day a descendant of man would be birthed that would bruise the head of the serpent.
(04:17):
You are reading the first Messianic prophecy in the Word of God, and this prophecy about,
a birthright, a right of birth that would be passed down from son to son to
son, that one day a descendant of Adam would bruise the head of the serpent.
That birthright was talking about our Savior and our Lord. What is His name, church?
(04:40):
Jesus! Say that name again!
Jesus! Jesus! I love to say that name of Jesus.
Jesus quenches the fire of sin.
Jesus stops the mouth of the enemy.
Jesus overcame death and was our sacrifice and opened the door of salvation
(05:03):
to every soul and every life.
Whosoever will, let him come and drink of the water of life freely.
Say His name one more time.
Jesus, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
So this was a prophecy that God himself spoke to Adam.
And that prophecy of the covenant, that birthright, that right of birth,
(05:26):
was passed down Adam all the way down that lineage, down to Abraham, down to Isaac.
And Isaac was going to pass that birthright, that right of birth, down to Esau.
But when Esau sold his birthright for one morsel of meat, now it wouldn't be
Abraham, Isaac, and Esau. Now it would be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the lineage
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of Jesus. And that's how it happened.
Read it for your own in Matthew chapter 1.
Jacob is in the lineage of Jesus, and Esau is not. That's why.
The rite of birth. So Jacob already had the Messianic birth rite.
He already had that great honor of being in the lineage of the coming Savior of the world.
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But as King Solomon wrote 3,000 years ago, the eyes of man are never full.
He had that. He had the birthright. But that was not enough,
because Esau was still the favorite of his father, even though Esau was sinning.
See, Esau was sinning during this passage.
Let me prove this to you. Genesis 26 in verse number 34.
(06:36):
Genesis chapter 26. I want to read the last two verses of the 26th chapter of the book of Genesis.
I read it as follows.
Esau was 40 years old.
Old enough to know better.
When he took to wife, two women at the same time, two wives,
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two women at the same time, Judith and Boshamoth, which, by the way,
it's called bigamy, and it is technically illegal in the state of Nevada,
and everybody say, I hear you, preacher.
I don't want that breaking out of Gospel Lighthouse. Hallelujah.
Be my last revival. Bless God. I don't want anybody getting any weird ideas here.
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It was a bad idea for Esau to marry those two women at the same time. It's wrong. It's sin.
It's anti-marriage covenant, and it's illegal right here. Hallelujah.
Esau was sinning. He was making mistakes.
Even if they weren't, even if he wasn't marrying both of them at the same time, they were Hittites.
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They were not one God people.
He was marrying outside the faith, and when somebody is marrying outside of
the faith, they are making the wrong decisions in their life.
They're on the wrong pathway.
He was headed the wrong direction. He was bound for the wrong destination.
He was doing wrong, and mom and dad knew it.
(08:09):
Verse 35, When he did this thing, this was a grief of mind unto Isaac and to
Rebekah. Mama and Daddy knew he was messing up.
Isaac knew that Esau was doing wrong. It grieved Isaac's mind that Esau was doing all that.
That's the last verse of chapter 26.
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Very next verse is chapter 27, verse 1. That's when Isaac calls for Esau and begins to bless him.
This is the problem. Coming down here with y'all for this part.
See, here's the biggest problem with this passage. Isaac knew Esau was wrong,
and he was still going to bless his sin. That's wrong.
See, Isaac didn't have to bless the sinful lifestyle of Esau.
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He could have said, I don't agree with you, son. I can't bless this,
dear Esau. But that is not what he said.
He said, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless all the bad mistakes you're doing.
I'm going to bless all the wrong routes that you are partaking in, and it's wrong.
Jacob never messed up until Isaac blessed the sin of Esau.
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Hear me, every single Isaac here at Gospel Lighthouse, you can save Jacob. You can save your sons.
You can save the next generation. Every Isaac, you can save your children.
But the requirement of saving Jacob is you cannot bless the Esau lifestyle.
You cannot You cannot bless the sin-sick world decisions.
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You cannot bless alternative lifestyles. You cannot bless world wackiness that is anti-Scriptures.
If it's wrong, tell your kids it's wrong!
I ought to hear a hallelujah from every soul right here at Gospel Lighthouse Church.
We do not conform to this world.
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We are transformed by the Holy Ghost renewing our mind.
I am not led by culture. I am not led by politics and politicians.
I am led by the Word of God.
God determines our morals. God determines our direction.
God determines my framework of thinking.
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God steers the vessel.
I can't okay a sinful lifestyle. Once again, I might get demonetized.
I don't care, because truth is truth.
If I get in trouble, then I'll get in trouble for telling the truth. This is a house of truth.
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Anybody watching online, this is a pulpit of truth.
This is a church of truth. We will not lie to you.
We will not edit the truth for content or tickle somebody's ears.
We will tell you what this book says and how it applies in this modern time.
We will tell you what What 66 books of this one book have to say for you and
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for your future and for your household.
I need this book too. I need the truth to guide my life.
Clap your hands to God right now.
See, Isaac didn't do any of that. Isaac didn't do that.
Isaac okayed Esau's sin, and when Isaac okayed Esau's sin, that's when Jacob snapped.
(11:31):
I'm convinced, Brother Randy, that some folks backslide because certain places
and certain people say, eh, that's okay.
You can do that. Is that too controversial for Monday evening?
I'm going to get even more controversial here in a few minutes. Hallelujah.
Some people have departed from the faith. I feel the Holy Ghost in this,
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because they've heard somebody who was attempting to okay their sin-filled lifestyle.
Even though I'm not trying to be mean, I'm not trying to be cruel,
I must be a truth-teller.
Whatever the Scriptures say, whatever the principles are in this book,
that is what I I must proclaim, I will give an answer one day for every sermon I have preached,
(12:18):
and every doctrine I have pronounced, for every counseling word I have given.
I will stand before the judgment seat of God and tell him I didn't change it or I compromised.
It'll be one or the other. Either I watered it down or told it like it is. Which category am I in?
Which category are you in tonight?
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Truth is still truth. In 2024, Isaac watered it down.
Isaac let go of some stuff.
Isaac told Esau, I can bless that. He was going to bless him.
Then Jacob just snapped.
A generation was lost because of that.
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Jacob then deceives. See, I don't see Esau lying necessarily.
This is the the funny part. You see, Esau, find me one place where Esau tells a lie.
Esau had sin, but that wasn't his sin.
Esau messed around with worldliness and dated the wrong girls and married the
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wrong things and worshiped false gods.
But you see, once you okay one
wrong choice, a whole buffet of other wrong choices get okayed with it.
It'll go further than you ever realized. God's got me in a vein right here.
God's hitting something, and God's hitting several somebodies right now.
I'm going to preach on here in
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a few minutes, but let me spend 60 seconds right here in this gold vein.
Somebody, God is telling you, don't fall away.
Don't compromise with this world. I don't care if somebody says it's okay.
If the Bible is against it, then I want to be against it.
I want want you to hold the line. Even if other churches okay it, that don't make it okay.
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Even if online world wide web preachers okay it, that still don't make it okay.
This is the moral absolute of the universe.
I must follow it. Hallelujah.
Jacob cheated. Jacob deceived. Jacob tried to to pretend to be Esau, wore Esau's clothes.
(14:31):
Esau was a hairy man, so he put goat skin on his hands, on the smooth of his neck.
They even prep an imitation meal, and mom gets involved. Rebecca gets involved with that.
You see, it'll always involve more people than you realize.
Your sin is never just a you issue.
(14:52):
I want to kill that devil right here and right now. Sin is not a one-man problem.
It'll always metastasize. When David had an affair with Bathsheba,
he sent to the army and had the head of the army, Joab, have the whole front
line pulled back from Uriah.
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Now it's involving all the courtiers.
Now it involves everybody he
had sent to Bathsheba. Now it involves the whole front line of the army.
Now it involves General Joab. Sin will always involve more people than you ever anticipated.
Rebekah got involved too. Jacob goes in to talk to Isaac.
(15:34):
He can change the meal.
He can make the meal smell and taste like Esau's venison that he would have hunted.
He is attempting to deceive every sense and sensation, all five senses.
Smells like that food that Esau preps. Tastes like the venison that he hunts.
It even feels like Esau's arms and neck to the touch.
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There's one sense he cannot deceive. Now, what it is?
Hearing. Verse 22, Isaac says it. He even tells Jacob, the voice is Jacob's
voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
And see, there he has a decision.
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Backsliding is a decision. Leaving the route of the Lord is a decision.
I can blame somebody else. I can say they taught me into it,
but at bottom, I choose it.
Choices are all involved in this intermixture.
Jacob had a choice. Esau had a choice. Rebekah had a choice, but so did Isaac.
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Isaac could choose to go by what he heard or by what he felt.
You know, Pastor, seven times to seven churches in the book of Revelation,
there's this sentence in my Pentecostal mind that God spoke to John, he that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
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Would Isaac go by what he felt in his flesh?
You see, fleshly feelings will lead you astray.
If you make decisions by what you feel in the flesh, feels like Esau,
then you'll make the wrong decision.
But what you heard, thus saith the Lord, what you heard in the Bible,
what you heard in the pulpit, what you heard preached.
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God will not trick you. God will not deceive you. God is prompting somebody.
God is convicting hearts and souls and lives right now not to ignore the voice
of Christ, not to ignore the voice of the pulpit, not to ignore the voice of
the Bible, not to ignore the voice of Scripture tonight.
Will you listen to what you heard, or will you you'll be led by feelings.
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If I'm led by feelings, I'll become an apostolic bipolar person.
I'll have a good day and a bad day. Now you understand why certain camps have certain problems.
They're going too much by their current emotional conditions.
You know, sometimes I don't feel like preaching, but I preach anyway.
Sometimes I feel too tired to worship, but I still get my my Pentecostal self up in worship.
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Sometimes I don't feel like singing, but I still do it because I'm not led by fleshly feelings.
I'm led by God.
I think the elders call that a sacrifice of praise. Hallelujah.
When you're going against what your flesh wants you to do, but all the same,
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you're going to worship.
You're going to sing. You're going to be in God's house.
You're going to do God's will. You'll keep plowing on ahead and spotting your
flesh because God matters more.
Hallelujah.
Isaac had a choice. He chose to go by fleshly feelings.
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And therefore, Isaac gave to Jacob that which was supposed to go to Esau,
led by fleshly feelings, ignoring what he heard, and with compromised vision.
Verse 1 says his eyes were dimmed. With those three things, he gives to Jacob,
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what I call Esau's blessing.
Quick straw poll. How many of you have heard this chapter preached at least one time before?
Have you heard the story of Jacob and Esau preached at least one time?
You have. Most of us have.
I've heard it preached. I've heard it preached, thou shalt not steal,
and you shouldn't steal.
I've heard it preached, thou shalt not lie, bear false witness,
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and you shouldn't. I've heard it preached, thou shalt not covet,
it, and you shouldn't covet.
I've even heard it preached wrong. I've heard the birthright and the blessing
both confused, and they are not the same quantity.
There's one thing I've never heard anybody outside my family talk about.
When Jacob lied, when Jacob cheated, when Jacob worked so hard to deceive his
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father and stole Esau's blessing, what in the world did he actually get?
Anybody ever ask that question? When Jacob got Esau's blessing,
what did he actually receive?
Here it is. From the very moment he said, I'm Esau, he was instantaneously transformed into a criminal.
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He became an outlaw. He was at variance with his own family.
Even his brother wanted him dead or at least severely beaten.
His life's in danger. He takes off on the run for his his life to a foreign country.
He's no longer welcome in his father's house. Are you sure that you really want to be Esau?
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In that foreign land, he does spy a beautiful young woman, her and her older
sister, Rachel and Leah, and he sees Rachel, and he says to himself, hmm.
Know what I'm saying? I want to make her Mrs. Jacob.
He goes to her daddy. Laban asks permission. He's doing things the right way.
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Laban says, you must work seven years. Laban was a tough father-in-law.
He was a tough father-in-law.
There's in-laws and there's outlaws. I better move on right there, God bless God.
Laban made him work seven years. He does it.
Ladies, you want to know what us men will do when we're in love? Stupid stuff.
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Dumb stuff. All ladies say, hello. If you can't say amen, say oh me.
Seven years. Seven years he works.
Finally, finally, the wedding night comes.
On the wedding night something really crazy
happens father-in-law laban pulls
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an ancient world switcheroo now i'm
coming down here now i'm gonna talk to you see this is crazy he marries the
wrong sister he marries leah instead of marrying rachel i'm just talking to
you here i think i would have checked underneath that veil if it was me i would
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have looked underneath that veil.
Yes, I do, but I do to who? And who in the world are you?
Maybe he was just happy to be getting married. I get it. I'm single too.
Maybe he was sinning. You know, he was lying, and so I must entertain the possibility
that perhaps he was inebriated. Maybe, maybe he was not in full possession of his senses.
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He was making bad decisions, and he had lied to his father, so I must broach
the possibility he may not have been sober, possibly.
But whatever the explanation, in the morning, it was Leah. He was upset.
He was mad.
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He storms off out of that tent and goes over to Laban.
How could you do this to me?
How could you lie and cheat me?
Me. Well, ain't that a turn right there,
because he had just lied and cheated his father, and now his new father-in-law
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on the wedding night has lied to him and cheated to him. What did King Solomon say?
Cast your bread on the water, and after many days it shall return unto you. Right. light.
And Jesus in the gospel said, God is not mocked.
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. You didn't get away with it.
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They didn't get away with it. The people who have done you wrong, it's a spiritual law.
Call it sowing and reaping. Call it bread on the water.
But whatever you have sown out there into the wide, wide world.
God saw that, and that is the harvest one day I will reap.
And so I encourage you, I implore you, and I challenge you to sow love,
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and sow kindness, and sow mercy, and sow peace, and sow patience.
Sow the fruit of the Spirit wherever you go, and show somebody the light of
heaven, so that they will also want to receive The infilling of the Holy Ghost.
Laban tricked Jacob. Laban told Jacob, it's not so in our country to give the
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younger daughter before the elder daughter. You can't do that kind of stuff around here in Haran.
He told him that he couldn't marry the younger before the elder in his country.
It was a custom. Full time out?
Not true. I took world history. That custom is nowhere found in world history. Laban made it up.
Laban was backed into a corner, and so he did what all pathological liars and 99% of politicians do.
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He made up something on the spot.
He lied. He made up stuff. He made up fake statements and fake laws.
He cheated and deceived that man.
Seven more years. He's got to work now. And he does. He works seven more years.
He must have really, really, really loved Rachel.
He does it. Fourteen years. Finally, he marries her.
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But she struggles to bear children. She struggles. She has trouble bearing sons.
Leah is very productive. Leah has several children.
Rachel has struggles in childbirth. But finally, she births one son named Joseph.
And in childbirth with the second son, Benjamin, she dies.
They have a quick marriage, only a couple of kids. And she was the love of his
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life. She was his lifelong love.
He worked 14 years for this woman. and he's grieving her passing.
He's endured all this pain. His father-in-law is a dirtbag.
He's being cheated. He's being lied to. He's being worked to death.
He has a hard taskmaster.
And when I tell you all this story like this, be honest with me.
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Would you say that's a blessing?
And I wouldn't either. So, I always thought of this for years as Esau's blessing,
but when I encountered this, I had to go back to the original chapter.
In the original chapter, Genesis chapter 27, I look closely,
and I try and find anywhere that this is called Esau's blessing,
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and I do find where Jacob and Esau both believe that Jacob received Esau's blessing from Isaac.
I do see in chapter 27 and chapter 28, where Isaac and Rebekah both interpret
Jacob as receiving Esau's blessing.
But there's one person in the Bible who never calls what Jacob received Esau's blessing.
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Do you know who that one person is who never said Jacob got Esau's blessing? That one person is God.
God never said that Jacob got Esau's blessing. And Gospel Lighthouse Church marked Mark this down.
It does not matter what anybody else says. It matters what God says.
It does not matter what anyone else's interpretation is. It matters what God speaks to you.
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God's voice is the only voice that matters.
God's vote is the only vote that counts. God has majority rule over all of creation.
God can open doors that man cannot shut. God can speak a word that the world cannot take back.
God's voice and God's vote and God's word is all that matters.
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And God never said it was a blessing.
Now, I didn't grow up in Michigan or Nevada. I grew up in Tennessee.
In Tennessee, we have a Tennessee Southern word that does describe what Jacob got.
In Tennessee, we would not call this a blessing.
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In Tennessee, we call this a whoopin', W-H-O-O-P-I-N apostrophe. Say whooping.
That's what he got. See, he thought Esau's messing up. Esau's marrying Hittites.
Esau's a polygamist, a bigamist. Esau's doing bad stuff.
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How can God bless that? And I bet God was saying, I'm not going to bless that.
I'm about to whoop Esau. Get out of the way, Jacob. But Jacob couldn't stop himself.
He said, I want to be Esau. I want to be Esau. I want to be Esau.
And I bet God said, you want to be Esau? Here you go.
Here's Esau's whooping. He thought Esau was going to be blessed.
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He made a permanent decision based on temporary observation.
There were two theological mistakes that Jacob made.
The first theological mistake that Jacob made is Jacob thought that Isaac controlled blessings.
Jacob thought that Isaac dictated the blessings, but Isaac doesn't dictate blessings.
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Isaacs of your life don't dictate the blessings of your life.
Blessings come from one place and one place alone. They come from God.
They come from His throne in heaven above.
They come from our Maker, the ruler of all that is, and the creator of the universe.
I love how the Apostle James put this in James chapter 1 and verse number 17.
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James said, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from where?
And cometh down from the Father of lights. Light has a Father.
That is a creation reference.
In verse number three of the Bible, there was a voice that said,
let there be light, and that same voice has been bringing light to this dark
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world for all the eons of time.
God is still making light come into existence.
He said, I am the light of the world. He said that We are salt,
and we are light, and everywhere that you carry the Holy Ghost,
you are lighting up the darkness all around the rooms of your life. God is light.
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In him there is no darkness.
He is the Father of light. He is the source of every good gift and every perfect
gift I have ever received.
Every good day, every positive sentence, every good compliment bestowed upon
me, It was an outflow of the abundance of God himself.
Everything good I have ever experienced, it came from God.
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Clap your hands to him right now. This is your first mind change.
This is your first mind change, I ask of you.
I challenge you and ask of you
to now believe that blessings are not controlled by anybody else but God.
Not Isaac. Not your boss. Not your enemy. Not your ex-wife. Nobody. body, only God.
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Second theological error that Jacob made, Jacob thought that God would not be fair.
We're afraid to admit that. We're all afraid to say that.
But in our private moments, in our quiet hours, we see financial prosperity in the lives of others.
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We see others who have have a nice Cadillac Escalade, driving down the highway
blaring F-bomb rap music, and we're hearing old beat-up jalopy,
and our Southern Gospel album won't even have play for our broken CD player,
and the AC just went out.
The tire warning sign came on, and now the check engine light isn't on. It's blinking.
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Doop, doop, doop, doop. That means it's real serious, and we say,
God, is that fair? How can they have that?
And I have this. So, to anybody who has ever questioned or wondered about the
fairness of God, this part's for you, and that includes me.
I want to prove to you, scripturally speaking, for once and for all, that God is fair.
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Genesis chapter 36 and verse 1. I'm going to prove the fairness of God in a
chapter filled with genealogies.
Now these are the generations of Esau who is Edom.
Remaining verses describe his wives, his kids, his grandkids.
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Cliff Notes' version of this chapter is Esau had everything beyond his wildest dreams.
Esau had health, he had wealth, he had wives,
he had stuff, he had children, he had grandbabies, he had cattle,
he had herds, he had land, he had had so many things, that he had to found the
new country of Edom, E-D-O-M,
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just to contain all of the wealth that God gave to him.
And when you're reading about all these blessings that Esau received,
do you realize what you're actually reading?
Jacob's blessing, blessing because they swapped. Remember, if Jacob got what
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Esau was going to get, a whooping, then Esau, therefore, got what Jacob was supposed to get.
Esau got everything beyond his wildest dreams, this miracle faith outpouring, all these blessings.
That was going to be Jacob's, and all that can be yours if you don't veer off
the course of the Lord, if you stick to the path and stay the course and continue
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steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.
If you don't take the exit ramp when life gets tough, but say,
I'm going to keep living the apostolic life.
I'm going to keep coming to the church and worshiping and praying.
I'm going to keep believing. I'm going to keep walking by faith.
I'm going to keep my giving up. I'm going to keep my praising up.
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I'm going to do everything that God says I must do in my life.
I will not backslide. I will not become an almost saved man.
I will continue on in the Lord's way all the days of my life,
and I believe by faith and around the corner somewhere, beyond some next open
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door up ahead, that God will bless me.
God is just, and God is fair.
Hallelujah. God will be fair.
I'm going to wrap this up quickly here. To make this punch point plain,
I'm going to tell you two quick stories.
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I'm going to embarrass myself publicly.
All right. I'm going to tell you two personal stories about myself from years ago.
I want to illustrate this sermon. See, all of us have been Jacob.
All of us have had envy at some point that we have had to repent of.
When I was a teenager, 14, 15-year-old Joel, I was at a youth rally in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Now, at those youth rallies, those young men are all looking around,
and 15, 14-year-old Joel, I spied over across the sanctuary,
and I saw this young woman who was a wonder to behold.
15-year-old Joel said to himself about the same thing Jacob said when he saw Rachel. Rachel.
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I thought, I want to make her mine.
And I prayed that prayer all secretly. All those boys prayed those youth rallies.
I prayed, God, will you make her mine?
God did not answer that prayer. It's okay. Got over it. Got over her. It's all right.
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About 10 years later or so, I saw her again. And this time when I saw her,
once again, 10 years later, I was moved to pray once more.
And I prayed, God, thank you.
I dodged a bullet. I didn't know what I was asking for.
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About that time, the lyrics of the old gospel song from Reverend Garth Brooks came to mind.
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Everybody say hallelujah. I better go on.
Years later, I was working a job, and I had a promotion offered to me.
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And I'm not ashamed to say that I badgered God in prayer for this promotion.
It was a bump up in salary. It was a bump up in prestige.
It was an increase in every area almost of my job, and I was excited to get
that promotion and that increase in salary and that elevation at higher position, and I just begged God.
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I said, God, give me that job. God, give me that job. Give me that job, God.
Give me that job. I want it. I want it. I want it. I want it.
I want it. I want it. I want it. I want it. God came through.
God gave me that job. God answered my prayers.
It was awful. I hated that job. I was working so many hours.
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I was working like 80 plus hours a week, and I learned an employment financial truth.
An increase in prestige means that you got to solve everybody else's problems.
Now they're bringing their stuff they can't fix to you.
I was worn out. I was tired.
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I was strung out, mad. I even got mad at God for a hot minute.
And I was driving home from work one day, and I was praying, and I got upset.
I got angry. I said, God, how could you do this to me?
I felt the Lord respond, you asked me for this.
You begged me for this. See, I thought God was denying me, but in actuality, God was defending me.
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And so, receive ye this revelation.
God is not denying you. God is defending you from obstacles and dangers and
potholes on the road of life.
When God is navigating you and deterring you, He is helping you avoid mountains
you'll never have to climb and obstacles you'll never have to encounter.
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I just have to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not to my own understanding
and in all my ways acknowledge Acknowledge him that he shall direct my paths.
Stand with me. Hallelujah.
Now, I told you the theme of this revival is restoration.
I want to explain how this plugs in to that socket.
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See, if we have covetousness, if I have envy, I won't get restored.
If I'm trying to be somebody else, restoration is impossible.
One of the first ground-level principles and precepts is you have to accept
that God called you to be you, not her or him.
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You are the only you that that God made in the cosmos.
You are the only you in the universe. God made you special and unique.
You have giftings that the kingdom needs.
But if I, Jacob, am over here trying to be Esau, if I'm over here trying to
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be Esau, then I can't live in the Jacob life and blessings that'll help somebody else.
Because, you see, your life will touch other lives, and your ministry will bless
other ministries and your prayers will cover someone else and your intercession
shall be heard at the throne of God and touch someone else's life.
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Yes, Jacob, you are called to that area for such a time as this.
So if you find yourself that you are Jacob and you've been trying to be Esau
for many years, I'm going to boil this down to one thing.
Genesis 35 and verse 1, God told
Jacob to leave where he was in Genesis 35 and 1 and go back to Bethel.
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Genesis 35 verse 1, God said unto Jacob, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.
Do you know what Bethel means in Hebrew?
The house of God. Go back to the house of God and dwell there.
What was the final statement of Psalm 23, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.
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God is calling souls to come back to Bethel, back to your place of blessing.
You've lived in Haran maybe 30 years or 20 years. You've been trying to be somebody else.
You've been trying to be something that you're not, trying to be Esau,
and God called you to be a Jacob.
As the music comes, I'm going to open these altars right now.
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I'm going to ask every soul that will to come make their way to the front.
And as you do find a place
of prayer and i want you to make this resolution to
say i'm not going to try and be somebody else anymore i
want to be who god called me to be some of the reasons why we struggle to be
restored is we think that restoration means that i'm going to be esau at his
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full power that's not what god asked you to do god asked you to be jacob,
Here's the final blessing. When Jacob finally said, I'm Jacob, I'm not Esau.
When Jacob wrestled with God and God touched the hollow of his thigh and he
said, my name is Jacob. God changed his name, didn't he?
To Israel. See, the blessing, if you'll really accept the lifestyle God has
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for you, the apostolic life, is God will change your name.
You're not going to be Jacob or Esau. You're going to be Israel.
Prince has power with God. Royalty in heaven. When you accept that God has called
you, you to be in his kingdom, then God's going to give you a brand new identity.
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You're going to become a new man or a new woman of God.
Find a place of prayer right now, standing, kneeling, or seated,
whatever is most comfortable, and talk to the Lord.
I want you to lay down all of your Esau prayers. prayers.
I want you to lay down all the prayers where you're trying to say,
God, make me Esau. Trust me, you don't want to be Esau.
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I've tried it too. I lost eight years of my life because I tried to do something
that God didn't call me to do.
I've lost time before myself, but God is asking you to lay down these burdens at the feet of the cross.
Hebrews 12, let us lay Lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us.
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But weights are before the sins. There are some weights you've carried.
Oh, you've been trying to drag the weight of being Esau. I want to be this and I want to be that.
When God is telling you, stop it. Just be you.
Just be who I've called you to be.
Say yes to the Lord. Say, I'll agree with the Master tonight.
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Find a place, pray, worship, talk to Him right now, and resolve,
I will be whatever God has called me to be.
I'll do what He's asked me to do.
Music.
It to me that I may eat, that my soul may, repeat after me, bless thee.
Bless thee before I die. Skip down to verse 19.
And not Esau, but Jacob.
And Jacob said unto his father, I, Esau thy firstborn.
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He lied to the man of God.
Happens all the time, bless God. He polite lie to the preacher.
He said, I am Esau thy firstborn. I have done according as thou badest me. Nope, that's a lie too.
Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison. Third lie right there in that statement.
That thy soul may, everybody say it, bless me.
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Simple thought preaching to to you tonight on Esau's Blessing.
Everyone say, Esau's Blessing.
That's the title. Lord, speak to us. Let us have ears to hear what the Spirit saith unto the church.
And God, once again, let it not be Joel who preaches this message.
I don't want it to be Joel Reveley who speaks.
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I want it to be the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks.
I want it to be the Holy Ghost who speaks to me. And God, have your way,
have your will, accomplish your purpose, do your tasks.
Here in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nevada Metropolitan, and with joy let us all draw
waters out of your well of salvation.
May we all submit to you and do your will. We all say in Jesus' name, amen.
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Clap your hands unto the Lord as you are seated at Gospel Lighthouse Church.
In the Ten Commandments, we are told very plainly, thou shalt not covet.
Here, about 500 years before the Ten Commandments were ever actually even given,
though we have, in my opinion, the clearest example of somebody coveting. Say covet.
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Now, to covet means something real basic. It means you want something that belongs to someone else.
You see your neighbor's car.
You see your brother's house. You see your brother's spouse.
And you say to yourself, if I had what he had, I'd be doing okay.
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Well, Esau had some things that Jacob did not have. have. Jacob coveted.
Esau was the firstborn by a hare.
Jacob was not. Esau was a man's man.
Jacob, not so much. Esau had the favor of their father Isaac, and Jacob did not.
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Esau was a hunter enter by trade, and Jacob was not.
And finally, Esau was about to receive the blessing, we believe,
at the hands of Isaac, and Jacob was not.
And before I get any further with this sermon, let me make something very crystal clear here tonight.
Do not confuse the birthright with the blessing.
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The birthright of Esau is totally different from the blessing of Esau.
The birthright of Esau, Jacob purchased that birthright for one morsel of meat, remember?
And what was that birthright? What was that rite of birth? That birthright actually predates Esau.
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Esau's birthright even predates Isaac.
That rite of birth was passed down from Abraham, down through Isaac,
down, it was supposed to go to Esau, but that birthright even predates Abraham.
It even predates Shem, Ham, and Japheth on the ark, and it even predates Noah.
It predates It's Methuselah and Lamech. It goes all the way back to the book
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of Genesis. Did not give you this verse, media team.
But look up Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 15.
In the garden of Eden, God spoke to a man named Adam and to his wife named Eve
that one day a descendant of man would be birthed that would bruise the head of the serpent.
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You are reading the first Messianic prophecy in the Word of God, and this prophecy about,
a birthright, a right of birth that would be passed down from son to son to
son, that one day a descendant of Adam would bruise the head of the serpent.
That birthright was talking about our Savior and our Lord. What is His name, church?
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Jesus! Say that name again!
Jesus! Jesus! I love to say that name of Jesus.
Jesus quenches the fire of sin.
Jesus stops the mouth of the enemy.
Jesus overcame death and was our sacrifice and opened the door of salvation
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to every soul and every life.
Whosoever will, let him come and drink of the water of life freely.
Say His name one more time.
Jesus, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
So this was a prophecy that God himself spoke to Adam.
And that prophecy of the covenant, that birthright, that right of birth,
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was passed down Adam all the way down that lineage, down to Abraham, down to Isaac.
And Isaac was going to pass that birthright, that right of birth, down to Esau.
But when Esau sold his birthright for one morsel of meat, now it wouldn't be
Abraham, Isaac, and Esau. Now it would be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the lineage
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of Jesus. And that's how it happened.
Read it for your own in Matthew chapter 1.
Jacob is in the lineage of Jesus, and Esau is not. That's why.
The rite of birth. So Jacob already had the Messianic birth rite.
He already had that great honor of being in the lineage of the coming Savior of the world.
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But as King Solomon wrote 3,000 years ago, the eyes of man are never full.
He had that. He had the birthright. But that was not enough,
because Esau was still the favorite of his father, even though Esau was sinning.
See, Esau was sinning during this passage.
Let me prove this to you. Genesis 26 in verse number 34.
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Genesis chapter 26. I want to read the last two verses of the 26th chapter of the book of Genesis.
I read it as follows.
Esau was 40 years old.
Old enough to know better.
When he took to wife, two women at the same time, two wives,
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two women at the same time, Judith and Boshamoth, which, by the way,
it's called bigamy, and it is technically illegal in the state of Nevada,
and everybody say, I hear you, preacher.
I don't want that breaking out of Gospel Lighthouse. Hallelujah.
Be my last revival. Bless God. I don't want anybody getting any weird ideas here.
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It was a bad idea for Esau to marry those two women at the same time. It's wrong. It's sin.
It's anti-marriage covenant, and it's illegal right here. Hallelujah.
Esau was sinning. He was making mistakes.
Even if they weren't, even if he wasn't marrying both of them at the same time, they were Hittites.
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They were not one God people.
He was marrying outside the faith, and when somebody is marrying outside of
the faith, they are making the wrong decisions in their life.
They're on the wrong pathway.
He was headed the wrong direction. He was bound for the wrong destination.
He was doing wrong, and mom and dad knew it.
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Verse 35, When he did this thing, this was a grief of mind unto Isaac and to
Rebekah. Mama and Daddy knew he was messing up.
Isaac knew that Esau was doing wrong. It grieved Isaac's mind that Esau was doing all that.
That's the last verse of chapter 26.
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Very next verse is chapter 27, verse 1. That's when Isaac calls for Esau and begins to bless him.
This is the problem. Coming down here with y'all for this part.
See, here's the biggest problem with this passage. Isaac knew Esau was wrong,
and he was still going to bless his sin. That's wrong.
See, Isaac didn't have to bless the sinful lifestyle of Esau.
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He could have said, I don't agree with you, son. I can't bless this,
dear Esau. But that is not what he said.
He said, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless all the bad mistakes you're doing.
I'm going to bless all the wrong routes that you are partaking in, and it's wrong.
Jacob never messed up until Isaac blessed the sin of Esau.
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Hear me, every single Isaac here at Gospel Lighthouse, you can save Jacob. You can save your sons.
You can save the next generation. Every Isaac, you can save your children.
But the requirement of saving Jacob is you cannot bless the Esau lifestyle.
You cannot You cannot bless the sin-sick world decisions.
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You cannot bless alternative lifestyles. You cannot bless world wackiness that is anti-Scriptures.
If it's wrong, tell your kids it's wrong!
I ought to hear a hallelujah from every soul right here at Gospel Lighthouse Church.
We do not conform to this world.
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We are transformed by the Holy Ghost renewing our mind.
I am not led by culture. I am not led by politics and politicians.
I am led by the Word of God.
God determines our morals. God determines our direction.
God determines my framework of thinking.
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God steers the vessel.
I can't okay a sinful lifestyle. Once again, I might get demonetized.
I don't care, because truth is truth.
If I get in trouble, then I'll get in trouble for telling the truth. This is a house of truth.
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Anybody watching online, this is a pulpit of truth.
This is a church of truth. We will not lie to you.
We will not edit the truth for content or tickle somebody's ears.
We will tell you what this book says and how it applies in this modern time.
We will tell you what What 66 books of this one book have to say for you and
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for your future and for your household.
I need this book too. I need the truth to guide my life.
Clap your hands to God right now.
See, Isaac didn't do any of that. Isaac didn't do that.
Isaac okayed Esau's sin, and when Isaac okayed Esau's sin, that's when Jacob snapped.
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I'm convinced, Brother Randy, that some folks backslide because certain places
and certain people say, eh, that's okay.
You can do that. Is that too controversial for Monday evening?
I'm going to get even more controversial here in a few minutes. Hallelujah.
Some people have departed from the faith. I feel the Holy Ghost in this,
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because they've heard somebody who was attempting to okay their sin-filled lifestyle.
Even though I'm not trying to be mean, I'm not trying to be cruel,
I must be a truth-teller.
Whatever the Scriptures say, whatever the principles are in this book,
that is what I I must proclaim, I will give an answer one day for every sermon I have preached,
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and every doctrine I have pronounced, for every counseling word I have given.
I will stand before the judgment seat of God and tell him I didn't change it or I compromised.
It'll be one or the other. Either I watered it down or told it like it is. Which category am I in?
Which category are you in tonight?
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Truth is still truth. In 2024, Isaac watered it down.
Isaac let go of some stuff.
Isaac told Esau, I can bless that. He was going to bless him.
Then Jacob just snapped.
A generation was lost because of that.
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Jacob then deceives. See, I don't see Esau lying necessarily.
This is the the funny part. You see, Esau, find me one place where Esau tells a lie.
Esau had sin, but that wasn't his sin.
Esau messed around with worldliness and dated the wrong girls and married the
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wrong things and worshiped false gods.
But you see, once you okay one
wrong choice, a whole buffet of other wrong choices get okayed with it.
It'll go further than you ever realized. God's got me in a vein right here.
God's hitting something, and God's hitting several somebodies right now.
I'm going to preach on here in
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a few minutes, but let me spend 60 seconds right here in this gold vein.
Somebody, God is telling you, don't fall away.
Don't compromise with this world. I don't care if somebody says it's okay.
If the Bible is against it, then I want to be against it.
I want want you to hold the line. Even if other churches okay it, that don't make it okay.
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Even if online world wide web preachers okay it, that still don't make it okay.
This is the moral absolute of the universe.
I must follow it. Hallelujah.
Jacob cheated. Jacob deceived. Jacob tried to to pretend to be Esau, wore Esau's clothes.
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Esau was a hairy man, so he put goat skin on his hands, on the smooth of his neck.
They even prep an imitation meal, and mom gets involved. Rebecca gets involved with that.
You see, it'll always involve more people than you realize.
Your sin is never just a you issue.
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I want to kill that devil right here and right now. Sin is not a one-man problem.
It'll always metastasize. When David had an affair with Bathsheba,
he sent to the army and had the head of the army, Joab, have the whole front
line pulled back from Uriah.
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Now it's involving all the courtiers.
Now it involves everybody he
had sent to Bathsheba. Now it involves the whole front line of the army.
Now it involves General Joab. Sin will always involve more people than you ever anticipated.
Rebekah got involved too. Jacob goes in to talk to Isaac.
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He can change the meal.
He can make the meal smell and taste like Esau's venison that he would have hunted.
He is attempting to deceive every sense and sensation, all five senses.
Smells like that food that Esau preps. Tastes like the venison that he hunts.
It even feels like Esau's arms and neck to the touch.
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There's one sense he cannot deceive. Now, what it is?
Hearing. Verse 22, Isaac says it. He even tells Jacob, the voice is Jacob's
voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
And see, there he has a decision.
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Backsliding is a decision. Leaving the route of the Lord is a decision.
I can blame somebody else. I can say they taught me into it,
but at bottom, I choose it.
Choices are all involved in this intermixture.
Jacob had a choice. Esau had a choice. Rebekah had a choice, but so did Isaac.
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Isaac could choose to go by what he heard or by what he felt.
You know, Pastor, seven times to seven churches in the book of Revelation,
there's this sentence in my Pentecostal mind that God spoke to John, he that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
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Would Isaac go by what he felt in his flesh?
You see, fleshly feelings will lead you astray.
If you make decisions by what you feel in the flesh, feels like Esau,
then you'll make the wrong decision.
But what you heard, thus saith the Lord, what you heard in the Bible,
what you heard in the pulpit, what you heard preached.
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God will not trick you. God will not deceive you. God is prompting somebody.
God is convicting hearts and souls and lives right now not to ignore the voice
of Christ, not to ignore the voice of the pulpit, not to ignore the voice of
the Bible, not to ignore the voice of Scripture tonight.
Will you listen to what you heard, or will you you'll be led by feelings.
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If I'm led by feelings, I'll become an apostolic bipolar person.
I'll have a good day and a bad day. Now you understand why certain camps have certain problems.
They're going too much by their current emotional conditions.
You know, sometimes I don't feel like preaching, but I preach anyway.
Sometimes I feel too tired to worship, but I still get my my Pentecostal self up in worship.
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Sometimes I don't feel like singing, but I still do it because I'm not led by fleshly feelings.
I'm led by God.
I think the elders call that a sacrifice of praise. Hallelujah.
When you're going against what your flesh wants you to do, but all the same,
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you're going to worship.
You're going to sing. You're going to be in God's house.
You're going to do God's will. You'll keep plowing on ahead and spotting your
flesh because God matters more.
Hallelujah.
Isaac had a choice. He chose to go by fleshly feelings.
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And therefore, Isaac gave to Jacob that which was supposed to go to Esau,
led by fleshly feelings, ignoring what he heard, and with compromised vision.
Verse 1 says his eyes were dimmed. With those three things, he gives to Jacob,
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what I call Esau's blessing.
Quick straw poll. How many of you have heard this chapter preached at least one time before?
Have you heard the story of Jacob and Esau preached at least one time?
You have. Most of us have.
I've heard it preached. I've heard it preached, thou shalt not steal,
and you shouldn't steal.
I've heard it preached, thou shalt not lie, bear false witness,
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and you shouldn't. I've heard it preached, thou shalt not covet,
it, and you shouldn't covet.
I've even heard it preached wrong. I've heard the birthright and the blessing
both confused, and they are not the same quantity.
There's one thing I've never heard anybody outside my family talk about.
When Jacob lied, when Jacob cheated, when Jacob worked so hard to deceive his
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father and stole Esau's blessing, what in the world did he actually get?
Anybody ever ask that question? When Jacob got Esau's blessing,
what did he actually receive?
Here it is. From the very moment he said, I'm Esau, he was instantaneously transformed into a criminal.
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He became an outlaw. He was at variance with his own family.
Even his brother wanted him dead or at least severely beaten.
His life's in danger. He takes off on the run for his his life to a foreign country.
He's no longer welcome in his father's house. Are you sure that you really want to be Esau?
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In that foreign land, he does spy a beautiful young woman, her and her older
sister, Rachel and Leah, and he sees Rachel, and he says to himself, hmm.
Know what I'm saying? I want to make her Mrs. Jacob.
He goes to her daddy. Laban asks permission. He's doing things the right way.
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Laban says, you must work seven years. Laban was a tough father-in-law.
He was a tough father-in-law.
There's in-laws and there's outlaws. I better move on right there, God bless God.
Laban made him work seven years. He does it.
Ladies, you want to know what us men will do when we're in love? Stupid stuff.
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Dumb stuff. All ladies say, hello. If you can't say amen, say oh me.
Seven years. Seven years he works.
Finally, finally, the wedding night comes.
On the wedding night something really crazy
happens father-in-law laban pulls
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an ancient world switcheroo now i'm
coming down here now i'm gonna talk to you see this is crazy he marries the
wrong sister he marries leah instead of marrying rachel i'm just talking to
you here i think i would have checked underneath that veil if it was me i would
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have looked underneath that veil.
Yes, I do, but I do to who? And who in the world are you?
Maybe he was just happy to be getting married. I get it. I'm single too.
Maybe he was sinning. You know, he was lying, and so I must entertain the possibility
that perhaps he was inebriated. Maybe, maybe he was not in full possession of his senses.
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He was making bad decisions, and he had lied to his father, so I must broach
the possibility he may not have been sober, possibly.
But whatever the explanation, in the morning, it was Leah. He was upset.
He was mad.
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He storms off out of that tent and goes over to Laban.
How could you do this to me?
How could you lie and cheat me?
Me. Well, ain't that a turn right there,
because he had just lied and cheated his father, and now his new father-in-law
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on the wedding night has lied to him and cheated to him. What did King Solomon say?
Cast your bread on the water, and after many days it shall return unto you. Right. light.
And Jesus in the gospel said, God is not mocked.
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. You didn't get away with it.
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They didn't get away with it. The people who have done you wrong, it's a spiritual law.
Call it sowing and reaping. Call it bread on the water.
But whatever you have sown out there into the wide, wide world.
God saw that, and that is the harvest one day I will reap.
And so I encourage you, I implore you, and I challenge you to sow love,
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and sow kindness, and sow mercy, and sow peace, and sow patience.
Sow the fruit of the Spirit wherever you go, and show somebody the light of
heaven, so that they will also want to receive The infilling of the Holy Ghost.
Laban tricked Jacob. Laban told Jacob, it's not so in our country to give the
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younger daughter before the elder daughter. You can't do that kind of stuff around here in Haran.
He told him that he couldn't marry the younger before the elder in his country.
It was a custom. Full time out?
Not true. I took world history. That custom is nowhere found in world history. Laban made it up.
Laban was backed into a corner, and so he did what all pathological liars and 99% of politicians do.
(25:11):
He made up something on the spot.
He lied. He made up stuff. He made up fake statements and fake laws.
He cheated and deceived that man.
Seven more years. He's got to work now. And he does. He works seven more years.
He must have really, really, really loved Rachel.
He does it. Fourteen years. Finally, he marries her.
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But she struggles to bear children. She struggles. She has trouble bearing sons.
Leah is very productive. Leah has several children.
Rachel has struggles in childbirth. But finally, she births one son named Joseph.
And in childbirth with the second son, Benjamin, she dies.
They have a quick marriage, only a couple of kids. And she was the love of his
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life. She was his lifelong love.
He worked 14 years for this woman. and he's grieving her passing.
He's endured all this pain. His father-in-law is a dirtbag.
He's being cheated. He's being lied to. He's being worked to death.
He has a hard taskmaster.
And when I tell you all this story like this, be honest with me.
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Would you say that's a blessing?
And I wouldn't either. So, I always thought of this for years as Esau's blessing,
but when I encountered this, I had to go back to the original chapter.
In the original chapter, Genesis chapter 27, I look closely,
and I try and find anywhere that this is called Esau's blessing,
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and I do find where Jacob and Esau both believe that Jacob received Esau's blessing from Isaac.
I do see in chapter 27 and chapter 28, where Isaac and Rebekah both interpret
Jacob as receiving Esau's blessing.
But there's one person in the Bible who never calls what Jacob received Esau's blessing.
(27:08):
Do you know who that one person is who never said Jacob got Esau's blessing? That one person is God.
God never said that Jacob got Esau's blessing. And Gospel Lighthouse Church marked Mark this down.
It does not matter what anybody else says. It matters what God says.
It does not matter what anyone else's interpretation is. It matters what God speaks to you.
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God's voice is the only voice that matters.
God's vote is the only vote that counts. God has majority rule over all of creation.
God can open doors that man cannot shut. God can speak a word that the world cannot take back.
God's voice and God's vote and God's word is all that matters.
(27:56):
And God never said it was a blessing.
Now, I didn't grow up in Michigan or Nevada. I grew up in Tennessee.
In Tennessee, we have a Tennessee Southern word that does describe what Jacob got.
In Tennessee, we would not call this a blessing.
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In Tennessee, we call this a whoopin', W-H-O-O-P-I-N apostrophe. Say whooping.
That's what he got. See, he thought Esau's messing up. Esau's marrying Hittites.
Esau's a polygamist, a bigamist. Esau's doing bad stuff.
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How can God bless that? And I bet God was saying, I'm not going to bless that.
I'm about to whoop Esau. Get out of the way, Jacob. But Jacob couldn't stop himself.
He said, I want to be Esau. I want to be Esau. I want to be Esau.
And I bet God said, you want to be Esau? Here you go.
Here's Esau's whooping. He thought Esau was going to be blessed.
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He made a permanent decision based on temporary observation.
There were two theological mistakes that Jacob made.
The first theological mistake that Jacob made is Jacob thought that Isaac controlled blessings.
Jacob thought that Isaac dictated the blessings, but Isaac doesn't dictate blessings.
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Isaacs of your life don't dictate the blessings of your life.
Blessings come from one place and one place alone. They come from God.
They come from His throne in heaven above.
They come from our Maker, the ruler of all that is, and the creator of the universe.
I love how the Apostle James put this in James chapter 1 and verse number 17.
(29:53):
James said, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from where?
And cometh down from the Father of lights. Light has a Father.
That is a creation reference.
In verse number three of the Bible, there was a voice that said,
let there be light, and that same voice has been bringing light to this dark
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world for all the eons of time.
God is still making light come into existence.
He said, I am the light of the world. He said that We are salt,
and we are light, and everywhere that you carry the Holy Ghost,
you are lighting up the darkness all around the rooms of your life. God is light.
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In him there is no darkness.
He is the Father of light. He is the source of every good gift and every perfect
gift I have ever received.
Every good day, every positive sentence, every good compliment bestowed upon
me, It was an outflow of the abundance of God himself.
Everything good I have ever experienced, it came from God.
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Clap your hands to him right now. This is your first mind change.
This is your first mind change, I ask of you.
I challenge you and ask of you
to now believe that blessings are not controlled by anybody else but God.
Not Isaac. Not your boss. Not your enemy. Not your ex-wife. Nobody. body, only God.
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Second theological error that Jacob made, Jacob thought that God would not be fair.
We're afraid to admit that. We're all afraid to say that.
But in our private moments, in our quiet hours, we see financial prosperity in the lives of others.
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We see others who have have a nice Cadillac Escalade, driving down the highway
blaring F-bomb rap music, and we're hearing old beat-up jalopy,
and our Southern Gospel album won't even have play for our broken CD player,
and the AC just went out.
The tire warning sign came on, and now the check engine light isn't on. It's blinking.
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Doop, doop, doop, doop. That means it's real serious, and we say,
God, is that fair? How can they have that?
And I have this. So, to anybody who has ever questioned or wondered about the
fairness of God, this part's for you, and that includes me.
I want to prove to you, scripturally speaking, for once and for all, that God is fair.
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Genesis chapter 36 and verse 1. I'm going to prove the fairness of God in a
chapter filled with genealogies.
Now these are the generations of Esau who is Edom.
Remaining verses describe his wives, his kids, his grandkids.
(32:56):
Cliff Notes' version of this chapter is Esau had everything beyond his wildest dreams.
Esau had health, he had wealth, he had wives,
he had stuff, he had children, he had grandbabies, he had cattle,
he had herds, he had land, he had had so many things, that he had to found the
new country of Edom, E-D-O-M,
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just to contain all of the wealth that God gave to him.
And when you're reading about all these blessings that Esau received,
do you realize what you're actually reading?
Jacob's blessing, blessing because they swapped. Remember, if Jacob got what
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Esau was going to get, a whooping, then Esau, therefore, got what Jacob was supposed to get.
Esau got everything beyond his wildest dreams, this miracle faith outpouring, all these blessings.
That was going to be Jacob's, and all that can be yours if you don't veer off
the course of the Lord, if you stick to the path and stay the course and continue
(34:06):
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.
If you don't take the exit ramp when life gets tough, but say,
I'm going to keep living the apostolic life.
I'm going to keep coming to the church and worshiping and praying.
I'm going to keep believing. I'm going to keep walking by faith.
I'm going to keep my giving up. I'm going to keep my praising up.
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I'm going to do everything that God says I must do in my life.
I will not backslide. I will not become an almost saved man.
I will continue on in the Lord's way all the days of my life,
and I believe by faith and around the corner somewhere, beyond some next open
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door up ahead, that God will bless me.
God is just, and God is fair.
Hallelujah. God will be fair.
I'm going to wrap this up quickly here. To make this punch point plain,
I'm going to tell you two quick stories.
(35:07):
I'm going to embarrass myself publicly.
All right. I'm going to tell you two personal stories about myself from years ago.
I want to illustrate this sermon. See, all of us have been Jacob.
All of us have had envy at some point that we have had to repent of.
When I was a teenager, 14, 15-year-old Joel, I was at a youth rally in Memphis, Tennessee.
(35:30):
Now, at those youth rallies, those young men are all looking around,
and 15, 14-year-old Joel, I spied over across the sanctuary,
and I saw this young woman who was a wonder to behold.
15-year-old Joel said to himself about the same thing Jacob said when he saw Rachel. Rachel.
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I thought, I want to make her mine.
And I prayed that prayer all secretly. All those boys prayed those youth rallies.
I prayed, God, will you make her mine?
God did not answer that prayer. It's okay. Got over it. Got over her. It's all right.
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About 10 years later or so, I saw her again. And this time when I saw her,
once again, 10 years later, I was moved to pray once more.
And I prayed, God, thank you.
I dodged a bullet. I didn't know what I was asking for.
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About that time, the lyrics of the old gospel song from Reverend Garth Brooks came to mind.
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Everybody say hallelujah. I better go on.
Years later, I was working a job, and I had a promotion offered to me.
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And I'm not ashamed to say that I badgered God in prayer for this promotion.
It was a bump up in salary. It was a bump up in prestige.
It was an increase in every area almost of my job, and I was excited to get
that promotion and that increase in salary and that elevation at higher position, and I just begged God.
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I said, God, give me that job. God, give me that job. Give me that job, God.
Give me that job. I want it. I want it. I want it. I want it.
I want it. I want it. I want it. I want it. God came through.
God gave me that job. God answered my prayers.
It was awful. I hated that job. I was working so many hours.
(37:41):
I was working like 80 plus hours a week, and I learned an employment financial truth.
An increase in prestige means that you got to solve everybody else's problems.
Now they're bringing their stuff they can't fix to you.
I was worn out. I was tired.
(38:02):
I was strung out, mad. I even got mad at God for a hot minute.
And I was driving home from work one day, and I was praying, and I got upset.
I got angry. I said, God, how could you do this to me?
I felt the Lord respond, you asked me for this.
You begged me for this. See, I thought God was denying me, but in actuality, God was defending me.
(38:28):
And so, receive ye this revelation.
God is not denying you. God is defending you from obstacles and dangers and
potholes on the road of life.
When God is navigating you and deterring you, He is helping you avoid mountains
you'll never have to climb and obstacles you'll never have to encounter.
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I just have to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not to my own understanding
and in all my ways acknowledge Acknowledge him that he shall direct my paths.
Stand with me. Hallelujah.
Now, I told you the theme of this revival is restoration.
I want to explain how this plugs in to that socket.
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See, if we have covetousness, if I have envy, I won't get restored.
If I'm trying to be somebody else, restoration is impossible.
One of the first ground-level principles and precepts is you have to accept
that God called you to be you, not her or him.
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You are the only you that that God made in the cosmos.
You are the only you in the universe. God made you special and unique.
You have giftings that the kingdom needs.
But if I, Jacob, am over here trying to be Esau, if I'm over here trying to
(40:00):
be Esau, then I can't live in the Jacob life and blessings that'll help somebody else.
Because, you see, your life will touch other lives, and your ministry will bless
other ministries and your prayers will cover someone else and your intercession
shall be heard at the throne of God and touch someone else's life.
(40:21):
Yes, Jacob, you are called to that area for such a time as this.
So if you find yourself that you are Jacob and you've been trying to be Esau
for many years, I'm going to boil this down to one thing.
Genesis 35 and verse 1, God told
Jacob to leave where he was in Genesis 35 and 1 and go back to Bethel.
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Genesis 35 verse 1, God said unto Jacob, arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.
Do you know what Bethel means in Hebrew?
The house of God. Go back to the house of God and dwell there.
What was the final statement of Psalm 23, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.
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God is calling souls to come back to Bethel, back to your place of blessing.
You've lived in Haran maybe 30 years or 20 years. You've been trying to be somebody else.
You've been trying to be something that you're not, trying to be Esau,
and God called you to be a Jacob.
As the music comes, I'm going to open these altars right now.
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I'm going to ask every soul that will to come make their way to the front.
And as you do find a place
of prayer and i want you to make this resolution to
say i'm not going to try and be somebody else anymore i
want to be who god called me to be some of the reasons why we struggle to be
restored is we think that restoration means that i'm going to be esau at his
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full power that's not what god asked you to do god asked you to be jacob,
Here's the final blessing. When Jacob finally said, I'm Jacob, I'm not Esau.
When Jacob wrestled with God and God touched the hollow of his thigh and he
said, my name is Jacob. God changed his name, didn't he?
To Israel. See, the blessing, if you'll really accept the lifestyle God has
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for you, the apostolic life, is God will change your name.
You're not going to be Jacob or Esau. You're going to be Israel.
Prince has power with God. Royalty in heaven. When you accept that God has called
you, you to be in his kingdom, then God's going to give you a brand new identity.
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You're going to become a new man or a new woman of God.
Find a place of prayer right now, standing, kneeling, or seated,
whatever is most comfortable, and talk to the Lord.
I want you to lay down all of your Esau prayers. prayers.
I want you to lay down all the prayers where you're trying to say,
God, make me Esau. Trust me, you don't want to be Esau.
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I've tried it too. I lost eight years of my life because I tried to do something
that God didn't call me to do.
I've lost time before myself, but God is asking you to lay down these burdens at the feet of the cross.
Hebrews 12, let us lay Lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us.
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But weights are before the sins. There are some weights you've carried.
Oh, you've been trying to drag the weight of being Esau. I want to be this and I want to be that.
When God is telling you, stop it. Just be you.
Just be who I've called you to be.
Say yes to the Lord. Say, I'll agree with the Master tonight.
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Find a place, pray, worship, talk to Him right now, and resolve,
I will be whatever God has called me to be.
I'll do what He's asked me to do.
Music.
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