[SPEAKER_00]: What I want to do to kick things off is actually ask you a question about your identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: If someone were to ask you to describe who you are going beyond your name, what would you tell them?
[SPEAKER_00]: And to make it a little bit more fun, I just want you to turn to somebody near you next to you and let them know.
[SPEAKER_00]: What would you say to them about your identity beyond your name?
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, that's probably enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't need that much of your identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what are the most interesting things you heard?
[SPEAKER_00]: Child of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good answer in church.
[SPEAKER_00]: Way to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's close and prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Any other interesting things you heard?
[SPEAKER_00]: My identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: It definitely depends on who you're talking to, but based on the people that we're talking to you, what did they tell you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't have to be that interesting, but what did you hear?
[SPEAKER_00]: My identity is sheep.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another good church answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apparent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's part of our identity, what else?
[SPEAKER_00]: Spouse.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I heard work, maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't sure if it was work or warrant, but we'll go with work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just to be safe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Any others?
[SPEAKER_00]: Grandma, child, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are all parts of our identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want us to think about our identity today.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about a man named Abraham, and this is the wrapping up of his life's story.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been following Abraham's story for eight weeks now, and today it comes to a close.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in a way, his story lives on in all of us and in our identity, because a part of your identity, the Bible says, is as a child of Abraham,
[SPEAKER_00]: and an heir to the promises of God to Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is a part of your identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not something we think about every day, but it's a part of who we are.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul says in Galatians chapter three, and now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are the true children of Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are his ares and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that is a part of your identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Paul and he's writing this, by the way, is not writing to Jewish people.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a Jew, but he is writing to Romans, Greeks, and probably Gauls, who are all in that Galicia area.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he is saying that part of your identity is that you are children of Abraham, even if you are not biologically children of Abraham, even if you're not descendants of him genealogically spiritually, he says the true children of Abraham and airs to the promise.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to let that identity soak in, because we're gonna explore the ending of the life of Abraham in the transition to his son,
[SPEAKER_00]: and as grandson's today in chapter 25, and then we're gonna come back to that idea of your identity, and it's gonna have a powerful truth for us that helps us to understand some of the struggles that we're gonna see later in the chapter.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you have a new identity as a child of Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Genesis chapter 25, starting in verse one, says Abraham married another wife, whose name was Katura, she gave birth to Zimran, Yokshen, Medan, Midian, Ishbach and Shua.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yokshen was the father of Shaba and Daedan, Daedan's dissentance, with Asherites, the Latushites, the Leumites.
[SPEAKER_00]: Midians, sons were AFA, AFA, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldah, Aves were all dissentance of Abraham through Katura.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Abraham has a whole second family after Sarah dies.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sarah just passed away in the previous chapter.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now Abraham marries again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Does anyone want to guess how old Abraham would have been?
[SPEAKER_00]: At least how old he was when he got married to Katura.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody know?
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it discussed today in TLC?
[SPEAKER_00]: How old?
[SPEAKER_00]: at least 137 years old because Sarah dies at 127 and Abraham was 10 years older and so some time after that he marries Katura and he has a whole other family.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, 38 more years until he dies by the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he has a lot of time in this life with Katura and he has kids with her.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then as he's nearing death and verse 5 we read this, Abraham gave everything
[SPEAKER_00]: to his son, Isaac.
[SPEAKER_00]: But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east far away from Isaac.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anytime I'm reading these passages, one of the things I'm looking out for is, what are the interesting questions that people like to know
[SPEAKER_00]: and pastors like to skip over.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are the things that were like, oh, I don't want to touch that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to go somewhere else, because those are the things that actually interest me and I know they interest some of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's interesting to me that Isaac out of,
[SPEAKER_00]: eight total sons gets everything that his father owned.
[SPEAKER_00]: And why is that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why would he get everything?
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're called the sons of the concubines.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why, first of all, why were they called the sons of the concubines?
[SPEAKER_00]: Earlier, Kateruah was called a wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: And secondly, why did they just get some gifts and were sent away?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, there are a couple of reasons for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk first about the first foreign privilege that
[SPEAKER_00]: that Isaac had.
[SPEAKER_00]: As the firstborn of the legitimate wife, Sarah, Isaac was supposed to get a double portion of whatever inheritance the children of Sarah were going to get.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so typically what would happen is all of the kids of Sarah there'd be a division of the inheritance and Isaac should get a double portion of that because he is the firstborn.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that may seem strange to some of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you are first born with some siblings?
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody of your first born, but you've got your own son, it's okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: It makes perfect sense to us.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have four younger siblings.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand how the first born is basically the test kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the kid that the parents got to test out their moves on before they figured things out with kids two, three, four, five, whatever happens to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the one that was the built in babysitter.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the guinea pig.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the part-time parent who's still a kid yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it kind of makes sense that you get a double portion, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's with me on this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Any first forms?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: I deserve that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need that affirmation.
[SPEAKER_00]: So to us, it kind of makes sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is something more going on with the first born typically getting the double portion getting a bigger inheritance than that is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this culture, the first born, not only in herit's more resources, they inherit the responsibility.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're the first born, you now take on patriarch status and responsibility even for your younger siblings.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if they need help, if they need caring for, if something happens, it's your responsibility to come to their aid.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is still true today in some parts of the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Several years ago, I was in Bethlehem, talking with an Arab man who was born and raised in Bethlehem still lives there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he pointed out a business to me and showed me how, in their culture, this still often happens, where the first born will inherit the business and the resources of the father.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the expectation is that they then care for their younger siblings as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there was an instance where we drove by this business and he pointed out yes, there's a business that this first born son inherited and there's a younger daughter and a younger son as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he has a sister and a brother.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the sister is off at medical school.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the brother is learning to be an engineer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the first born well, it looked like he got all of this good stuff in reality.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is helping to launch his other siblings out into the world who one day will likely make more money than him and have a nicer life than he does, materialistically speaking, because he not only got the bigger inheritance, but he also got a bigger responsibility.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even a bit of sacrifice that he's expected to go through.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what happens when it works well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So even if it seems unfair, there is a good reason that it worked that way culturally speaking.
[SPEAKER_00]: But of course Isaac doesn't have any siblings from his direct mother.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a brother through Hagar and there are these six sons of Katura.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's more going on here and that is revealed to us by that clue of the word concubine.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we hear a concupine, we have certain connotation that comes to our mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit different for the Hebrew, the Hebrew word is Pilegash.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Pilegash means secondary wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not necessarily concupine the way we think of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a legitimate wife, but it's a secondary wife, not a common thing in our culture, which is a good thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, back then it was a fairly normal thing for wealthy men or men and power to have multiple wives, but there would be one wife who was the wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was the primary wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there were secondary wives, these P-Liga sheen, who would also be there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was not a bad arrangement oftentimes for those secondary wives.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this day and age, it was actually a very good thing, a better thing in many cases, to be the secondary wife in a wealthy man's home than to have to make ends meet and not have as many resources.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was not necessarily viewed as a negative thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may remember that,
[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham actually when hit part of his deceit throughout his life was to basically offer his wife as a secondary wife to other powerful wealthy men by claiming she was really his sister.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what happened is she would become like a secondary wife to those other men that was ill-evised, but that's what they did.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Katura was a legitimate wife of Abraham, but she was a secondary wife and Moses uses this word Pilegash because he wants us to know that there's a reason why her kids are not getting a normal share of the inheritance.
[SPEAKER_00]: The rightful air of the full thing is actually Isaac, but Abraham gives them all gifts, sends them away so that they don't interfere with each other and they'll just get along from afar.
[SPEAKER_00]: and also we know that each of these kids end up growing very successful prosperous families and becoming nations of their own.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it gives us all of that context.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then it says in verse 7, Abraham lived for 175 years and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bucket list right there.
[SPEAKER_00]: 175 years, anybody up for that?
[SPEAKER_00]: He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.
[SPEAKER_00]: His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Macpala near Memre in the field of the Aphron Son of Zohar, the Hittite.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites and where he had buried his wife, Sarah, after Abraham's death.
[SPEAKER_00]: God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beir la Heiroi in the negative.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's interesting to me that these two sons, although there was a contentious relationship at times, were able to get along and come together and bury their father together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's really neat.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what's also interesting is that Moses lets us know Isaac decided to settle in Beirah, La Heiroi, and you probably remember that name, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, maybe not.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the name given to the place where Hagar had her encounter with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: She called it Beerla Hyroye.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the well of the living one who sees me.
[SPEAKER_00]: She said, it's the God who sees me.
[SPEAKER_00]: What a special thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is where Isaac ends up making his home.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he knows this.
[SPEAKER_00]: This got passed down from person to person.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why we know about it today.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he knew this is the place where Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, had an encounter with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the whole place he lived was named after the place where Hagar had a direct encounter with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty neat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the next several verses give us a list of the descendants of Ishmael's family.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not going to go into that in detail.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of really interesting names in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I encourage you to read through it later.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do think there are a few things that are worth knowing from this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is that the Assyrian texts show us that Ishmael's sons were the fathers of the Arab tribes and nations.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we see the history there recorded by the Assyrians
[SPEAKER_00]: came from Ishmael's sons.
[SPEAKER_00]: That means that the ethnicity came from the union of a Semite Abraham and an Egyptian, which is Hagar, and that's where that whole people group comes from.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you might remember that God told Hagar her son would live at hostility with his relatives.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that proved true not only for him,
[SPEAKER_00]: before his descendants going on for a long, long time all the way down till today.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the book of Judges, we see Ishmael's descendants, these different tribes and peoples that would become known as the Arabs, constantly raiding the Israelites.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were periods of time where they different pockets got along, but most of their relationship was characterized by contention and raids and stealing things and destroying their crops.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just Israel was harassed by these children of Ishmael, the descendants of Ishmael.
[SPEAKER_00]: almost constantly.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting that genetics studies show that there is a common y-chromosomal marker among Arabs and Jewish men.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there's enough indication there that tells us that those people groups had a common male ancestor in the not too distant past, which aligns with what we learned from the Assyrian text and from the Jewish records.
[SPEAKER_00]: and from the Islamic records, Muslims have records that trace Muhammad's ethnicity back to a man named Adnan who was a descendant of Ishmael as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they all kind of agree this all comes from Ishmael.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's important to acknowledge not all Arabs and not all Muslims are always in contention with Israel.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it is often the case and you look at a lot of the hostility that exists today in the Middle East and people groups that don't get along and you just wonder, wow, why is there so much hatred between these people and it's gone back thousands of years in many cases and their parents didn't get along and their parents didn't get along and their parents didn't get along.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's just this deep, seated rivalry that exists between them and it really goes back to biblical times.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now the rest of chapter 25 covers the other side of the family, Isaac's side of the family.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to focus our time on there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last week, Kyle taught about the dating process for Isaac.
[SPEAKER_00]: How he recorded and found a wife, which was basically he did not get to date or court to find his wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: a servant went and found her brought her back and he just got what he got.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I guess it worked out for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was very happy when he saw her.
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't have to worry about any blind dates or pain from meals or any of that stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: She just showed up and boom, it was all figured out worked out great.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where we pick up the story in verse 19.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says this is the account of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, the era man from Paton era, and the sister of Laban the era man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord answered Isaac's prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant with twins.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am amazed at how often infertility plays a role in the challenges and scripture.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see it with Hannah and Samuel.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see with Elizabeth and John we saw it with Sarah and Isaac and now here is Rebecca and she's unable to have kids and it is devastating.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now a few verses later, we'll read that when the twins are born, Isaac is 60 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: Does anyone remember how old he was when they got married?
[SPEAKER_00]: 40 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's close to 20 years that they struggled with infertility.
[SPEAKER_00]: We only get one verse on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's hard to pick up on that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's how long they wrestled with this heart-breaking issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually love the fact that these details are included for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because many people today struggle with that, you know, it's
[SPEAKER_00]: It's incredibly difficult.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can see that, oh, wow, this is nothing new and they had to wrestle with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Make it even more challenging.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know about the promise.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know that they're supposed to have this great nation that comes in these descendants.
[SPEAKER_00]: It got passed down by Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they're thinking for close to 20 years, come on, God, let's do this thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: When are you gonna fulfill this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you think God made them wait that long?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why am I, we're just theorizing here.
[SPEAKER_00]: But why do you suppose God might have said, by the way, you're going to be a great nation, there's going to be many, many descendants as outnumber the sands on the beaches, out the stars in the sky, and yet he makes him wait almost 20 years to even get pregnant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you think that is?
[SPEAKER_00]: Trust?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I want you to trust me, faith in him.
[SPEAKER_00]: preparation, maybe they weren't mature enough to have kids yet, that could happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, some people probably should wait till they're 60, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they needed to learn to rely on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that if they had had kids right away, it would be easy for them to say, all right, we're doing our part, God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at this brood.
[SPEAKER_00]: made eight of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here you go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, our quiver is full.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look what we're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is great.
[SPEAKER_00]: But instead they had to go for many, many years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just saying, we think God's gonna do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know God's gonna do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We trust God's gonna do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Isaac is there pleading with God, saying, Lord, would you please heal her finally so that we can actually have kids?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it was Isaac.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaac's opportunity to humble himself before God and recognize that we are powerless to fix this problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have God's promise, but we are powerless to make it happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what was the issue that came up over and over again?
[SPEAKER_00]: in the Bible and with Abraham and Sarah, God made a promise, but we're gonna help it along.
[SPEAKER_00]: God made a promise, but we're gonna go try to figure out a way with, hey, Garanish Mill, to sort of make this thing happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: And God's like, it doesn't work that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to fully rely on me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Isaac and Rebecca learned, they had to fully rely on God in this situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we have to learn so often as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now Rebecca is pregnant.
[SPEAKER_00]: She has twins.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then she starts to feel something a little bit strange.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's amazing to me when you can start to feel the baby in the tummy, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, women feel that first and then, you know, the husbands eventually can put their hand on the belly and they feel a kick or something like that and oh, wow, it's so crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's life in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's such a magical, wonderful thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Rebecca's feeling something different.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says the two children struggled with each other in her womb.
[SPEAKER_00]: They struggled with each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: So she went to ask the Lord about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why is this happening to me?
[SPEAKER_00]: She asked, it was strange.
[SPEAKER_00]: These two kids were having a boxing match and Rebecca was the arena.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she probably didn't like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was probably a little bit uncomfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, ladies that have been pregnant will talk about how the kid likes to,
[SPEAKER_00]: bump up against a certain organ or something and make him feel real uncomfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine these two babies fighting inside there like that is just bizarre.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord told her, the sons in your womb will become two nations.
[SPEAKER_00]: From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals.
[SPEAKER_00]: One nation will be stronger than the other.
[SPEAKER_00]: and your older son will serve your younger son.
[SPEAKER_00]: So here we go again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two kids are gonna become two different nations and they're not gonna get along.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tail is all this time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 24, when the time came to give birth, Rebecca discovered that she did indeed have twins.
[SPEAKER_00]: No ultra-sounds to confirm back then.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they came out and she's like, yep, that's what I felt those two kids fighting.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they named him Esau.
[SPEAKER_00]: I asked AI this week to give me a realistic photo of a newborn baby with red skin and red hair like a fur coat.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you are just gonna have to use your imagination.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping esaws heel, so they named him Jacob.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born.
[SPEAKER_00]: That test of Isaac and Rebecca's faith paid off.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have two baby boys, but they know that they're not always going to get along.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we see an example of that right away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 27.
[SPEAKER_00]: As the boys grew up, Eastabi came a skillful hunter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament preferring to stay at home.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't it amazing how two kids from the same family can be so different from each other?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have three kids, and each one of them are incredibly unique.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very, very different from each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though the same parents, the same household, the same basic upbringing, but wow, their likes are different, their interests are different.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have different temperaments, different personalities.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what we see with Jacob and Esau.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this can cause a lot of friction in a family.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it causes even more friction when the parents pick favorites.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like this one, because they're nicer to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And parents aren't supposed to have favorites.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all know that, but depending on the day, sometimes we're like, oh, that kid is very happy with what they're doing right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaac and Rebecca took this to an unhealthy level, and they had all-time favorites.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaac, the Bible says, loved Esa, because
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of a lame reason, but I'll depending on how you look at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He enjoyed eating the wild game, Esau brought home.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's your rationale.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, yeah, I like the food you bring me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the veneison.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, veneison's good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't get me wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like some veneison too, but he picked his favorite kid over it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Rebecca loved Jacob, which probably went back to him having a quiet temperament.
[SPEAKER_00]: He preferred to stay at home.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was maybe a little bit of a mama's boy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just enjoyed being around his mom, and so she enjoyed having him around.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems that he probably liked cooking with her, and just being around her, so they formed these relationships.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, one day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness,
[SPEAKER_00]: exhausted and hungry.
[SPEAKER_00]: He saw said to Jacob, I'm starved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give me some of that red stew.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is how he saw got his other name, Edom, which means red.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not because he was born with red skin, not because he was born with a thick coat of red fur, because of some red stew.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how he got his thick name old red.
[SPEAKER_00]: So old Red became the name for all of his descendants.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may have heard of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Edomites who lived in the area that is now southern Jordan.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you've ever heard of the city of Petra, that city was not built by them and it's current form.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the Nabateans who came later.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they forced the Edomites out.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was the Edomites, the Red people, that was Esau's nickname, that took over that area for a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they were all called that because of this instance right here with this Red stew.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Jacob has the stew, Eastaw wants the stew.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a little surprised that Eastaw has the rough outdoorsmen, isn't like, get out of the way, give me that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just gonna take it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for some reason, he respects Jacob's cooking, and here's what happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Jacob said, but trade me your rights as the first foreign son.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've already talked about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Eastaw has the right to a double portion.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has the right to more resources, more responsibility.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jacob wants it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So E-Saw says, what good is my birthright to me now?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's dying of starvation, he says.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Jacob said, first you must swear that your birthright is mine.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, no, no, I don't want you to just casually say it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need this like in an actual oath.
[SPEAKER_00]: So E-Saw swore by an oath.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're by selling all his rights as the first born to his brother Jacob.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew.
[SPEAKER_00]: Esau ate the meal, then got up and left.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the thing I really want to focus on.
[SPEAKER_00]: This last sentence is what really stood out to me this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of stuff we could get into here.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's more we could talk about the firstborn, the hunger, the fact that Jacob's out there
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps even in a location strategic on Esau's trip back, Esau is still far enough away from home that he feels like he has to eat now where he's gonna die.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Jacob went out along the way, maybe to set this kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of stuff we could talk about here, but this last sentence, he showed contempt for his rights as the first form.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an analysis that Moses makes of what's going on in Esau's mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: when he's willing to give up his first-born privileges and rights and identity because of the desire for some food right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: He showed contempt for his rights as a first-born.
[SPEAKER_00]: He pushed his identity aside because of the desires that were right in front of him.
[SPEAKER_00]: That really stood out to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's set out to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I started to think about that and the contrast between how Esau responded to his identity
[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham responds to his identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then suddenly it made me think of the book of James.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've preached on James before, so you can go back and get a lot more detail on this passage if you wanna look it up on our website, go to the series on James.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's what James says in James chapter four.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you?
[SPEAKER_00]: You want what you don't have?
[SPEAKER_00]: So you scheme and kill to get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you fight in wage war to take it away from them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you want only what will give you pleasure.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's talking to people that he calls brothers and sisters here.
[SPEAKER_00]: You adulterous.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?
[SPEAKER_00]: I say it again.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And get this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning?
[SPEAKER_00]: They say that God is passionate, that the Spirit He has placed within us should be faithful to Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is some very harsh language from James.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is some very caustic wording, as he calls them adulterous, and enemies of God, because they are fulfilling their evil desires.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I really, I don't know if I ever caught this before this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't until reading Genesis 25 that I saw this in verses four and five.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a reason
[SPEAKER_00]: Why James is so upset here?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just that they're giving into their evil desires, it's that they are pushing their identity aside and giving into their evil desires.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are trading their birthright for a cup of stew.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're pushing aside their identity as children of God to pursue their evil desires.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their earthly desires were competing with their God-given identity
[SPEAKER_00]: Reapers five again when he says, do you think the Scriptures have no meaning?
[SPEAKER_00]: They say that God is passionate that the Spirit has placed within us should be faithful to Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like you say, look, you're a child of God, but you put that on the shelf and you're not living like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're a member of God's family, but you push that aside and you're allowing sin to control you, you are redeemed saints, but you've taken off that label and you're living like sinners right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: You adulterous, he says.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you realize this makes you enemies of God?
[SPEAKER_00]: Later in the chapter, he calls them brothers and sisters.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here he says, you're adulterers, and you're like enemies of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you are pushing your identity aside to pursue your desires, your desires have overcome your identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, God is passionate, but that spirit within you is faithful to Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: but you are choosing to do the things your Creator hates.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we reject our God-given identity and we let our earthly desires govern our lives, we become enemies of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not with regard to our salvation, but with regard to our relationship with our Creator.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if that's the case, and this is something let's be honest, that we all struggle with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every day, I struggle with this.
[SPEAKER_00]: that go against what my Creator wants me to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And go against the way I'm supposed to live as his child, that's a part of my identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: So how do we let the identity win and not our desires?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because those desires are strong.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we do that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Abraham actually gives us a really good answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Abraham's story.
[SPEAKER_00]: ends in verse 7 of chapter 25 says Abraham lived for 175 years and he died at a ripe old age having lived a long and satisfying life.
[SPEAKER_00]: He breathes last and joined his ancestors in death.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he lives a long and satisfying life and we know we've covered it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has some mountains.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has some valleys in his life.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have seen his mistakes.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not a perfect man, but let's look at a recap of his life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a man who God says he's got big plans for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: and God delivers and then some.
[SPEAKER_00]: God told him to leave his family behind and Abraham obeyed and followed what God said and God blessed him so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: They had so many resources and so much wealth that the kings around him said surely God has blessed you.
[SPEAKER_00]: God told Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: a man who could not have kids, his wife could not have kids, he said, you are gonna have children.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, they're gonna become numerous and many nations will come from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And not only did he have one son, but he ended up having eight sons.
[SPEAKER_00]: Incredible, God tested him with the sacrifice of the one promised son and Abraham passed that test and then God said, you know what?
[SPEAKER_00]: I am going to make it so that all the nations of the world are blessed through you and that was an understatement.
[SPEAKER_00]: if you know what happens with the descendants of Isaac that leads down to Jesus Christ and the difference that he makes all over the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: God told Abraham at one point, send Hagar and Ishmael away and the Bible says this was a painful thing for Abraham to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: He actually loved Ishmael.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wanted him to stay there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was his son.
[SPEAKER_00]: He cared about him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he did his God commanded and then God says that he's going to make Ishmael a great nation as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what?
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't just make Ishmael a great nation.
[SPEAKER_00]: He made many nations.
[SPEAKER_00]: out of Ishmael's descendants.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what struck me this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was to out to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time Abraham leaned into his identity as a man of the promise of God, as a special one that God cared about, he trusts that God is gonna take care of.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time he leaned into that, God's generosity overflowed.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can go back through the stories and see how every single time he embraces identity as a follower of God and he was faithful and committed to God.
[SPEAKER_00]: God delivered even bigger than he promised.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now one son but eight sons, not just getting by but incredibly wealthy, not just one nation but many nations, not just famous and victorious descendants but then descendants who are going to impact every nation on earth and not just physically but spiritually as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: redemption to the world and the possibility of an eternal family and a eternal life we've got for people that aren't even natural born descendants of Abraham.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what this tells me.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are so foolish to choose our earthly desires, thinking they will satisfy us when the alternative is to embrace our identity as children of the creator of the
[SPEAKER_00]: The generous God who does and gives more than we could ever ask for it has incredible blessings and stores.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes they take a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we don't see them right away.
[SPEAKER_00]: We may not see them in this lifetime, but the God who is so rich and generous and gives so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet we will put that on the shelf for a cup of stew, for the thing that's sitting right in front of us that looks so good, that feels so good, that we have a desire for, that we want to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: we need to embrace our identity as children of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we do that, faithfully, God promises to bless with generosity that overflows.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that may look different for different people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes in our churches, in the EFCA, and in a lot of other churches, we're very careful to avoid what's called prosperity theology.
[SPEAKER_00]: Prosperity theology is very popular on some TV,
[SPEAKER_00]: preachers, TV channels, the idea where if you have enough faith, and if you send in money, and if you do certain things, then God is going to make you wealthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to make you healthy, and that is God's promise.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're very careful to stay away from that because we believe that's a misapplication and a misteach in the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes in the process, we sort of side step how God does say, I'm a generous God, try me out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to give good things to good gifts to my kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to do good things for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a promise that all of your life, all the time is going to be awesome and wealthy and healthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: We certainly don't see that lived out in scripture.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we do have to recognize the character of our God as he's a good, gracious, generous, loving God.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you would say that at times in my life, and I mean this is a legitimate question, raise your hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: If it times in your life, you would say, God has blessed me beyond what I could have imagined.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody feel like that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, wow, I had a moment like that this week, where I just was praising God going, and I don't deserve this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, God.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't it incredible?
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a generous, gracious loving God, and I went through scripture this week, and I looked at all the different ways where God says, hey, I am generous.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love blessing my kids, I love doing wonderful things from, I'm not gonna put it on the screen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just listen to this, let this fill your minds for a minute and think about the God that we serve.
[SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 235 tells us about His character.
[SPEAKER_00]: David says, you prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.
[SPEAKER_00]: You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
[SPEAKER_00]: My cup overflows with blessings.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was David's experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: Malachi 310, God is speaking to the Israelites.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there will be enough food in my temple.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you do, says the Lord of Heaven's armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will pour out a blessing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So great.
[SPEAKER_00]: You won't have enough room to take it in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Try it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Put me to the test.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the only place for God says, go ahead and test me on this one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other times, he's not so happy about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here, he's like, no, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: You just wait and see if you're giving generously, doesn't result in you actually getting more than you are giving up.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how God works.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke 6 says, given, you will receive your gift will return to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over and poured into your lap.
[SPEAKER_00]: The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's Jesus talking, and in several different statements saying, give and you won't believe what God will do in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a generous God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He loves to give more and more and more.
[SPEAKER_00]: John 10, 10, the thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how Abraham's life was described.
[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 832 says, since he did not spare, he even his own son but gave him up for us all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he also gives us everything else.
[SPEAKER_00]: First Corinthians two nine says, that is what the Scriptures mean when they say, no, I has seen.
[SPEAKER_00]: No ear has heard and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't even imagine the blessings that God has in store for those who love him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Second Corinthians 9-8 says, and God will generously provide all you need.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the intended experience of the New Testament church that Paul was telling them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ephesians 3 says, now all glory to God who was able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think glory to him in the church and in Jesus Christ through all generations forever and ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Second Corinthians 9, 10 and 11 says, for God is the one who provides seed for the farmer, and then bread to eat in the same way, He will provide and increase your resources, and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Philippians 419 says,
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: These promises do not always take the form of material goods, or financial resources, or healthy bodies.
[SPEAKER_00]: But our God is a generous and gracious God who loves to give us a rich and satisfying life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there are people whose blessings from God and their cup running over with blessings from God does not amount in a fat bank account, but it amounts in a wonderful rich and satisfying life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are other people who God's blessings have overflowed in material blessings, but not so they can just hoard it and keep it for themselves and have lots of nice luxury goods but so that they can be generous to others and be gracious and giving and have a gift of giving.
[SPEAKER_00]: God loves to be generous, he loves to bless those
[SPEAKER_00]: Him and our faithful to Him and love Him and live out their identity as his children.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is good.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is generous.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're his child, then you need to make sure that your identity doesn't get put up on the shelf for the cup of stew that's right in front.
[SPEAKER_00]: But your desire for that thing in the moment does not overcome the way you know you're supposed to live as his child.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't choose not to do the bad thing just because you don't want the consequence.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you don't choose the good thing just because it's the good thing you do it because it's who you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are a child of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is part of your identity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he wants you to live up to that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what that looks like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I know saying that means nothing if we can't give some practical ways that you can live that out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Be loving when you desire to insult, be joyful when you desire to soak, be peaceful when you desire revenge, be patient when you desire to hold a grudge.
[SPEAKER_00]: Be kind when you desire to gossip, be good, when you desire to cheat, be faithful, when you desire to give up, be gentle, when you desire to hurt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Be self-control when you desire to give in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did anyone notice anything about the order of those statements?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the fruit of the spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kim, you're on fire today.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is who you should be because of your identity as a child of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we have to remember that and embrace that and be willing to give up those personal earthly desires to live out who God made us to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you buy your heads and prayer with me right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord Jesus, you are the one.
[SPEAKER_00]: who has made it possible for us to live this out.
[SPEAKER_00]: We couldn't do without you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We could not have the fruit of the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: We could not show love, joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and faithfulness, and goodness, and self-control, gentleness, if it weren't for what you have done for us by making you a part of your family.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we now have your Holy Spirit living inside of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have this identity as your children, and as your image bearers,
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I pray that you would convict us now of the ways that we have not been living that out, where we have been choosing our earthly desires over our identity and you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where we have maybe two casually at times with our families or in our workplaces or at school, or wherever, put our identity on the shelf for a little bit because we felt like doing this in the moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe it's hurt other people,
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's just stuff we've allowed to live on our thoughts, holding a grudge, bitterness, whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, we turn that over to you now.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a time of confession.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we prepare to take communion together, we remember your sacrifice on the cross, Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is our time to just bring our sins before you and confess.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've thought things we shouldn't, we've said things, we've done things that we shouldn't, Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: In some cases, we haven't done things we should have.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we knew better.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I chose my desires over my identity and you and I don't want that to happen this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want it to happen again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us, Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give us guidance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to choose the right thing to embrace our identity and you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's in your name we pray, amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: In a couple of minutes, you're gonna have a great time to just spend some time with your Heavenly Father.
[SPEAKER_00]: and pray and talk with him about what we have just talked about.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to pass these trays through the rows and there are two cups.
[SPEAKER_00]: The bottom cup has the bread.
[SPEAKER_00]: The top cup has the juice representing the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we pass these out, it's here time to just have a time of confession with the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: And talk with him about maybe areas that you need to give up those earthly desires and embrace your identity and him.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you need gluten-free wafers that are available in the middle tray and just take a moment now as we distribute these to spend time with your Heavenly Father, save those cups and we will come back together in a couple of minutes to take them together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe everyone has been served at this point, so I'm gonna read a passage from First Corinthians, and we're gonna take the bread together first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul says, I pass on to you, what I received from the Lord himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood, do this in remembrance of me.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've had a pretty, probably convicting message for some people today, and it may seem a little bit discouraging.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what we just did is commemorate the thing that wipes all that away.
[SPEAKER_00]: all of the things that you've done in your life for your ashamed of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you feel like, oh, I have so much regret over those things.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many times I've given in to my earthly desires when I should have embraced my identity as a child of God, you know what?
[SPEAKER_00]: the beauty of what we just acknowledged is that the sacrifice of Jesus covers all of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so you now have to live, excuse me, you have to live as if the gospel is true, because it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to embrace not only your identity as a follower of God that should not give into those earthly desires anymore,
[SPEAKER_00]: but also a forgiven, redeemed, healed child of God that is not the person you once were, because all of that stuff is forgiven and washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you believe,
[SPEAKER_00]: in what we just did.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you believe that Jesus died for your sins and if you believe that He rose again and is your advocate before the Father today, then you also must believe that all of your past mistakes and giving into those earthly desires, that stuff is forgiven.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is no more.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a part of who you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: So embrace your identity as a child of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let's all stand and worship and praise God for what He did for us now.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can live today.