Broken Family? God Is Still Working!

Welcome back.

Welcome back. Broken family? God is still working. What if the pressure you've been praying God would remove from you is also the place where He's forming something far deeper in you? What if the season feels unfair isn't evidence that God has forgotten you? It's easy to think that. What if the conflict you can't control? What if it's not stronger than the God who sees through the night? This past week in Genesis, we walked through one of the most emotionally honest stretches in Jacob's story. If you'll remember, Leah felt unseen. Rachel was striving. Jacob worked under unfair conditions. God called Jacob to leave. Laban pursued him. Conflict rose. Fear rose. Old attachments were exposed. And boundaries were set. And through it all, through it all, one truth kept coming back again and again. God saw. And God restrained. This isn't a small threat here. That's the covenant faithfulness of God moving through a wounded household. Oh, we can we can debate our own household all we want. This this place was a mess. These folks were a mess. So I'll ask you right here in the beginning, because this is a real question, begs an answer. Where is God forming you right now? And that pressure that you just you wish he would simply just remove it. Where is God forming you? In the middle of all that. Maybe your story isn't clean. Maybe the pressure isn't outside the house, but it's inside it. Genesis doesn't look away from broken families, and neither does God. So the question isn't only how did this how did this family drama get so messy? Well, the deeper question is, what is God doing? What is he what is he still doing in the middle of that mess? Welcome back. Hello, Robert. Good Sunday to you. And for all of you listening on playback, uh whether on audio or or however, however you're listening to it in the 20, 28 or 29 different places that we broadcast to. Welcome. Welcome back. Glad to have you. So welcome back to this is true word faith for life with Dr. Sean, but this is Through the Bible in a year, walking the story of God. I'm Dr. Sean, and this is our Sunday summary and uh deepening episode. This is where we gather the last week's readings and and and our lessons, and we we step back from the daily pace, and we watch what God has been teaching us through the larger movement of his word. This week we we walk from Genesis 29, 31 all the way through Genesis 31, 55. You might say, oh, that's not very much. The point isn't, this isn't a race. This is depth. This is connecting the ancient Near Eastern language, culture, and context, the true meaning of scripture, true word. And we're structuring it in such a way, maybe different than you've ever seen through the Bible in a year. Just different because we wanted to bless your life. Yeah. We saw Leah's real pain. We saw Rachel's inevitable and a little bit ironic envy of Leah. We saw Jacob's hard and profitable labor, profitable for Laban. We saw Laban's repeatedly evil manipulation. We saw God's look, he was evil. Dude was evil. Know anybody like that? We saw God's indescribable and miraculous provision. We see I look, I wore glasses, and it was impossible to miss God's clear call to return. We saw it, we read it. It was, we don't even need these. Remember, Esau. Back home, Esau's waiting. Esau said, I'm gonna kill you. And Esau's a dude who could. Messy, dangerous home. Some of you are living in it right now. Messy and dangerous home. Look, we saw God restrain, and we saw the confrontation that we saw God restrain this confrontation that finally Jacob had no control over it. By the way, my second book, true word, faith for life. It's a true word, faithforlife.com. It's gonna help you. It's written to help you stop surviving on religious fragments and start walking in the truth of God's word with courage, clarity, and faith for real life. So take a deep breath if you need it. Here's the question for your heart today. Why are you asking where? Hey, I can ask it all I want. I've answered this question a million times. Where are you asking God to change your circumstances? While He may also be asking to change you inside of them. So before I go on, I want to say thank you very much to the uh Virginia Creek Ministries family at Virginia Creek Campground. I was privileged to uh visit there today and uh be present for the first of uh eight, I think eight consecutive days of revival. Old tent revival. They got a big old tent and Pastor Russell Wright and Miss Kathy and and Joe and so many are there. Uh I don't know how he does it. He's the energetic but it was beautiful. It was beautiful. It was a neat thing to see. The weather was nice, and uh it was a blessing. Those people are amazing people, and if you're ever in um Surf City, Topsail area of North Carolina, it's uh coastal eastern North Carolina, southeastern, I would encourage you, go. They're such sweet people. They are such sweet people, and we love them. So we we uh we're praying for them in revival, and uh we want we want this to be strong. And we want God's, we know God's word is going to be preached. The sermon this morning was fantastic, and and uh you could tell the fellow that preached it, boy, he's he's seasoned, he knows what he's doing. The lesson of the Lord is in here. So, what a blessing. So the first thing we saw this week was Leah. My heart goes out to Leah. Genesis 29, 31 reads thus, When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

Wow.

So, Tristan Osoros, what you can do is go to true wordfaithforlife.com, trueordfaithforlife.com slash contact. Feel free to send me a message and I will answer that directly. This is not a question and answer message. This is not a question and answer channel. We answer questions, but that's how we do it for the most part. So welcome. I know I've seen you your comments before in other places, so I kind of know what you're up to. So this sentence, when the Lord saw that, this Genesis 29.31, when Genesis 29.31 says, when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren, but Rachel was barren. He opened her womb. He opened Leah's womb. That sentence is it's tender, it's heavy, and it's holy. The Lord saw. Saul. I see you. Leah wasn't invisible to heaven. She may have been unloved. Well, can I say may have? Initially, I think she very much was unloved. I think maybe Jacob came to love her, but in the very beginning, no. She was the trick. And by the trick, I don't mean prostitution, but sorta. Laban treated his daughter Leah. The unseen, the unloved one, more or less as a prostitute. It's crazy. What a crazy story. What a crazy, crazy, terrible, terrible man. Laban. She may have been unloved in Jacob's household, as most certainly she was absolutely unloved in her own father's household. And sadly, most sadly, her own father's heart. She may have lived in Rachel's shadow, which we know she did. She may have carried the ache of being present, but not preferred, which we know she did. But God saw her. And in the ancient Near Eastern world, this mattered so deeply. Marriages. I don't know. Marriage. It wasn't, you know, as I've said a million times, marriage wasn't merely romance. It wasn't. It was household security, lineage, labor, inheritance. It was covenant continuity and it was future survival. Children were tied to legacy, protection, and honor. So Leah's pain wasn't only emotional. It was social. It was relational. It was household deep. She named Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah out of the ache and the movement of her soul. You might find this interesting. With Reuben, she says, the Lord has looked upon my affliction. And with Simeon, she says, the Lord has heard that I am hated. Can you imagine? Maybe, maybe you feel that way. Maybe you feel that way. Maybe. The Lord has heard that I'm hated. Maybe you feel hated. With Levi, she still hopes Jacob will become attached to her. Hey, I'm giving him all these sons. I really, really want. I I I want him to love me. Maybe eventually he'll love me.

The Lord has heard that I am hated.

Maybe you're sitting there wherever you are right now. You're feeling like you're hated. With Levi, she still she she still hopes Jacob will become attached to her. She does. She does. She still she holds out hope that Jacob's gonna love her. I've given you all these sons. I've given you all these great hairs. Are you gonna look at me and ever look at me with love? Real love? Like you look at Rachel. But you see, with Judah, it changes. Something shifts. This time, this is what she says. This time, I will praise the Lord. This time I will praise the Lord. That's one of the great turns of this past week. Not because Leah's pain disappeared. It didn't. Not because Jacob suddenly loved her the way she longed to be loved all of her life by anyone. She wasn't. Not because the household was suddenly fixed. It was repaired. No, it wasn't. But because Leah's focus moved from human preference to divine faithfulness this time. This time I will praise the Lord. That's a decision. Some of you know Leah's ache. You live in it. You know what it feels like to be reliable and trustworthy and dependable, but not celebrated. You're useful but not cherished. You're present, but not preferred. You know what it's like to wonder whether anyone really sees the overwhelming, relentless ache behind your enduring yet seemingly unending faithfulness. Man, amen. Can't get me 990. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen.

Glory to God. Welcome to Zell and welcome to Can't Get Me 990. Glad to have you. God bless you and welcome. We treat each other real kind here in the in the uh hey Scott. How's it going? Good to see you. We treat each other real well here. We treat each other with respect and kindness and dignity. No profanity, no Satanism, no anti-Semitism. I'm gonna roll that way. No anti-Catholic and anti-this and anti-that. I do lots of teaching on all those things. This isn't. We're focused. We're focused. Genesis tells you something stronger than sentiment. God sees the overlooked. God hears the unloved. And God can write redemption through the person other people treated like an afterthought. Hello, Miss Collins. Because Judah comes, look, I'll do the math here. Judah comes, from Judah comes David, and from Judah comes Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, our Redeemer, our Savior, and our friend. God wrote the royal line through Leah. Through Leah. I'm going to tell you. The overlooked woman was not overlooked by God. Well, keep that one. Keep that one in the back of your mind. Genesis thirty brought us into striving. Striving. Striving is tough. Rachel sees that she's born Jacob no children. And she envies her sister, and that word matters. She envies her sister. Envy. Doesn't simply see another person's blessing. Hi, Mary, Mary, Mary. Thank you for joining us. God bless you. Welcome. Envy doesn't simply see another person's blessing. Envy interprets another person's blessing as your rejection. Rachel cries out, give me children or I shall die. So she cries out to God. She says, Give me children or I shall die. That's not just sadness. That's identity collapsing into one desired outcome. One. Look, without this, I'm not enough. Without this, I'm not whole. Without this, I have no future. We may not be bargaining over children and concubines in a patriarchal tent, but the the wound is painfully current. Painfully. Without the marriage, I'm not enough. Without the platform, I'm not enough. Without the promotion, I'm not enough. Without the relationship changing, I'm not enough. Without the breakthrough, I'm not enough. That's the voice of striving. Rachel gives Bila to Jacob. Leah later gives Zilpa. The household becomes a place of rivalry, of bargaining, comparison, mandrakes, wounded speech, and desperate attempts to produce what only God can give. Yet God is still working. That is the tension we must hold carefully. God is building Israel through his household, but he's not blessing the dysfunction as good. He's saying I don't know where you are right now. I don't I don't know. You know, I never know people's lives unless I know you. Right. And I want to know you. For sure. I don't know your life. Jealous. God is not ever saying jealousy is holy. He's not saying it here. He's not saying it in your life. I don't know who that word is for, but He's not saying manipulation is wisdom. He's not saying rivalry is faith. He's showing us that his covenant faithfulness is stronger than human chaos. That matters. Hello, Pedro. Welcome. By the way, those of you joining us via YouTube, True Word, Faith for Life with Dr. Sean channel, if you don't mind, click on subscribe, click on the little bell for all notifications, click on the like, thumbs up, share it. I'd love for you to do that. It'd be awesome. It's free. Look, he's showing us that covenant faithfulness is stronger than human chaos. That matters. Look, many people, God can only work when everyone is emotionally stable, spiritually mature, and making wise decisions. But you know what? That is the um, that's the shocking fact. Believe me, thank God, thank God, thank God that He works with people who aren't emotionally stable, who aren't spiritually mature, who maybe are in the middle of terrible, unwise decisions. People think God can only work when everybody is emotionally stable, spiritually mature, and making all wise decisions. But if that were true, Genesis would already be over. We'd never even get to this chapter. We wouldn't even get to it. That's reality, folks. Genesis would have already been over, but God, through his Bible, tells the truth about people. It tells the greater truth about God. Rachel strives, Leah strives, Jacob reacts. The household aches, but God remembers Rachel. God listens to her. God opens her womb. Joseph is born, and the lesson isn't strive harder. The lesson is what God gives cannot be forced. It can only be received. Come on, take a breath on that. What God gives can't be forced, it can only be received. Hi Janet, welcome, welcome. So good to have you. Then Genesis 30, 25 to 43, good lands, turns our attention to Jacob's labor under Laban. Woof, this guy. Jacob wants to return to his own home country, to his own home. Even though there's so much there that he left. Laban even says, I have learned by divination. Remember, he's a pagan. I've learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Oh, well, okay, that's good news. He's trying to trick. Amen, Mary, Mary, Mary. God's there especially, especially when you have a hard time. He is a very loving and concerned and present Father who can do everything to protect you. God bless you. Amen. Look, Laban says, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Oh, that's one of the strangest confessions in this section. Laban is spiritually mixed. You know, he's in both worlds. Pagan and oh, you're God. He's manipulative of all get out. He wants the blessing and the benefits of the Lord. He look, he he wants the benefits of the Lord's blessing without covenant. He he doesn't, he wants all the blessing and the benefit of the Lord. He wants the Lord's blessing. Catch this. Without covenant surrender. Without covenant surrender to the Lord who gives it. Do we know anybody like that? Sometimes. You know, and if you're a mature Christian, you've been you've been in the church for a long time, you know all the buzzwords, you know how to dress, you know all the stuff, the things to say and when to say them, you might look back at people that they don't look. They look like you looked before you came. Sometimes we want the blessing without the surrender. I'll tell you, it's a crazy thing, isn't it? It's a crazy thing. Oh, do we struggle? We struggle against the the word surrender we hate. He recognizes blessing on Jacob, Laban does. But he tries to control the man God has blessed. That's Laban, that's who he is. He speaks with family language, right? You've heard that before. But he calculates with self-interest. It's all about Laban. It's all about Laban. Hello, Andrew. Very good to have you. Jacob asks the question every faithful worker eventually understands. He asked this, Jacob asked this. When shall I provide for my own household also? That question carries weight. Jacob has built Laban's wealth. Jacob, the son-in-law, he built Laban's wealth. Laban's sons that knew squat. You know it and I know it. You'd know it if you joined with us during the week, tomorrow morning, 7 a.m. We get after it. If the Lord opens my eyes in the morning, I will be here. I will be here. I hope you will be too. It's free. Same place. Right here, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. It's a great group, too. They're really awesome people. I hope all y'all join us. You can listen on playback too. All of my lives, I don't delete them after. They're in there. But something's fun about being in the live, you know. But I understand. We have one lady, dear, dear lady. She lives on the west coast of the United States and she listens. She wakes up at 4 a.m. Well, she doesn't wake up at four, she wakes up before 4 a.m. because she's here when we turn this sucker on. So we'd love to have you. Look, we we can understand. Look, if you've been a faithful worker, if you've been a person who you just get after it and look, you you understand. You really understand. Well, thank you, Mary, Mary, Mary. That's all that's that's awesome. Thank you for saying that. Mary says you have a very calm presence and very nice music. Thank you so much. I will definitely come back. Thank you. This is my first time finding you. Well, how how blessed we are that you came. We'd love for you to do that. When shall I provide for my own household also? Man, that's heavy. He's worked. I mean, he's Laban is wealthy. Jacob has worked. Jacob has served. Jacob endured changing terms repeatedly. Look, he's lived inside a system he didn't control. Oh, how many of us know that? How many of us know that? Yet God blesses him. He blesses him there. Don't miss that. He blesses him there. Look, not because Laban is fair. We can't get it twisted. Laban is. Laban is not remotely fair. And it's not because the terms are balanced, because it's for sure not. Not because the environment is healthy either. Because it's not. It's so jacked up. Can you imagine the stress in that house? I I I would I'm gonna say that it had to be such a stressful existence. He must have aged so much during such a brief period of time. Fourteen years. Not so brief. Look at Jacob asked this question: when am I going to work for my family? God blesses Jacob when he didn't change Laban. He changed Jacob. That's a word for somebody today. God may not change your laban, but he can change you if you let him. Unfair conditions don't cancel divine provision. Oh. Unfair circumstances, people can people can try to manipulate and control, dominate. Nah. When God's hand is on you, manipulative people aren't sovereign. The system may control the wages, but God controls the increase. That doesn't mean you stay forever in a place God is calling you to leave. Look, somebody's putting your hands on you, putting their hands on you. Don't stay in a dangerous situation. God is sovereign over that. And Jacob leaves. Jacob leaves. That doesn't mean injustice is acceptable. It isn't. 100%. Not saying that at all. Doesn't mean you ignore manipulation. No, no, no, no. Jacob names it. But it does mean unfairness isn't stronger than God. There's lots of unfairness. But it's not stronger than our God. Jacob works faithfully. He acts wisely. He tends the flocks. He makes decisions. But the deeper witness of the passage, especially in the light of Genesis 31, is that God gives the increase. Work matters. Wisdom matters. Stewardship matters, but your effort is not your savior. Your environment is not your Lord. Your obstacle is not your God. God can bless inside pressure. While he's preparing, while he's preparing you to move beyond it. God bless you. God bless you. She is wise. God bless you. What a what a massive, massive thing. Reverted to Islam from Christianity. I wonder. I wonder. Yes, that was a huge decision. But I wonder. I wonder what influenced that.

Interesting.

I'm not gonna argue with you. If you you went to Islam, you used an interesting word, reverted. Well we wish you better.

This is the turning point. This is the turning point.

The tone changes. Laban's sons. They accuse Jacob and then isn't it interesting that this is the first time we hear about Laban's sons? They're off conniving. Letting Jacob do all the work. Reaping all the benefit. Laban's attitude isn't what it was before. Something changed. And then God speaks return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you. Says this. He says this to Jacob. Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you. That's the center. Not only return, I will be with you. This is covenant language. Years earlier, Jacob met God at Bethel while running from Esau. God promised land, offspring, blessing, and presence. And now after years in Huron, God calls Jacob back toward the land of promise. So let me interrupt myself here. And if you truly are the faithful in Islam, give that a read and you'll see what awaits you. I hope you'll turn. I hope you'll turn your eyes upon Jesus. Because what awaits you, it isn't the beautiful thing that you've been promised. So isn't uh isn't it ironic, not so ironic, that you found this channel and you happen to find an internationally known expert on Islam. I've consulted all the way. No, Imams. We often think they memorized the Quran, but they didn't. Many Imams are actually illiterate, still today. Their own people. They don't know. They don't know that they're illiterate. So I won't argue with you with it. You've made a choice. Choices have consequences. Choices have consequences. I'd encourage you to follow. Follow this. See what it brings to you. See what the Lord brings to you. I'd love for you to see the light. So now, after years in the Quran, God calls Jacob back toward the land of promise. The place is changing, but the promise is not. The season is shifting, the presence remains. That's how God leads his people. He doesn't always give every detail. We don't always have every answer. We don't hardly ever see around the corner. He gives enough light for obedience. He gives enough promise for the next faithful step. Come on. He gives his presence, and his presence isn't a decoration. His presence is the difference between panic and obedience. Oh, we can panic. We can panic. We can. There's a difference between panic and obedience, and that is the presence of God. Jacob gathers Rachel and Leah in the field. He doesn't go in the house, because that's Laban's house. Gathers them in the field, and he names Laban's manipulation to the daughters that were both part of a trick played on him by their own father. He says Laban changed his wages ten times. This is the first time we're hearing this ten times. But he also says God did not permit him to harm me. That is mature sight. That is mature sight. Jacob sees what Laban did, but he also sees what God restrained. He sees what he did. He sees, look, we see, we see what the suffering, we see it. We see what we're going through, we're living through it. Oh good lands. Sometimes we're living through it just barely. We think that we're all alone. But we're not.

Isn't this something how God did not permit him to harm me?

This is a this is a this is an amazing, amazing turn here. Yes, he says Laban, their father, changed his wages ten times, manipulated I too, tricked, deceived, the whole bit. But he also says, God did not permit him to harm me. Oh, we come as we are, but we can't stay as we are. We have to allow the gospel of Jesus Christ to change us. Yeshua, Hamashiach, Yeshua, our Savior, our Redeemer, our King, and our relationship with God, Adolai. We've got to let it change us. Jacob sees what Laban did, but he also sees what God restrained. Then Rachel and Leah respond with surprising unity. And I've read through now, this is the 39th time, 40th. And I will tell you this surprises me every time. Whatever God has said to you, do. This is what Rachel and Leah respond with. Whatever God has said to you, do, can you imagine? This is a family turning toward movement here. But the movement, hey, it's not clean, it's still messy. Rachel steals the household gods. Wish she wouldn't have done that. The terrafima, wish she wouldn't have taken them. But she feels like I gotta take my pound of flesh. Look what this man has done to me. Look what he's done to my sister. I don't think we should judge her too harshly. It was stupid, but she thought like, ah, I'm gonna get him. I'm gonna tea, I'm gonna steal his gods. Remember, he's pagan. And Jacob leaves secretly. He doesn't go to Laban and go, you know what? I'm about tired of you. I'm about tired of you. We're gonna, Robert, I appreciate that. Uh, but what we're gonna do is we're gonna be respectful of uh of the Islamic sister who is here, who has converted to Islam from Christianity. We're gonna love her and we're gonna educate her, we're gonna give her um kindness. That's what we're gonna do. That's how we go. That's how we roll. Up and here, up and here. People get rude, they get bounced. Yeah. That's how we do. Look, Jacob leaves secretly, and I don't love that he did that, but I understand why he did it. I I don't think he was justified in it, but I can understand it. He he I I would have loved to have seen a scene that he gets in Laban's face and Laban's stupid son's faces. You people stink. You guys are terrible. You lied to me and you've tricked your own daughter, you pimped her out. You're a horrible person, right? I would have loved that. But that's not that's not what God had ordained here. That's not a polished religious exit either. It's a complicated family taking an imperfect step towards promise. Have you ever been there? You say, look, I don't understand all of this stuff. I don't understand it. Your family complicated. My family, complicated. And we have to take steps from very complicated, jacked-up families toward promise, covenant promise. Look, that is deeply important. Obedience is often messy at the beginning. People can leave the old land while still carrying old attachments, and that's what Rachel did. We understand that. They can move in the right direction while still needing deeper deliverance. They can say yes to God and still need formation. This isn't an excuse for compromise. It's a reminder that God's work is in us. That work that is in us is deeper than geography. He doesn't merely call us out of places, he calls old allegiances right on out of us. Come on, somebody. Laban pursues Jacob. The chase is on. I think he felt like he could, he would have. But there's one reason why he didn't. Let's see if you can figure it out. Without me telling you, but I'm still gonna tell you. Laban produces this pursuit gang. We're gonna get him. It's a passe, Paul. Laban pursues Jacob. He gathers his kinsmen, his people, he chases them for seven days. He catches up in the hill country of Gilead. This is pressure. This is pursuit. This is the old system coming after the one who left. Oh, don't those, doesn't that old system sometimes that you left when you came to Christ? If you've come to Christ, I'm gonna tell you in a few minutes how to do that. But let's say you did and you stepped out of that. Let's say you stepped out of a messed up, jacked up, dangerous family. Let's say you did. That old system comes after you. It comes after the one who left. Jacob can't control Laban. He can't. He has to recognize what he can control and what he can't, and he cannot. He cannot. He just can't do it. Can't control him. There's things that you can control, and there's things that you can't, and that's one of the things that you can't. Come on, somebody. Somebody's living that life right now. You're living that life right now. You can't control all the trouble that's all around you. You can't control, look, you can't control the people coming after you. You can't control all the jacked-up stories that are in your life from before you got to hear. And maybe you're on the ragged edge, the razor's edge of climbing out of that, climbing out of that danger, climbing out of that terrible, terrible mess. You hear about God. You've you've maybe heard a little bit about him before, but you're like, maybe I'm going to listen a little closer this time. I pray you do. You can't control the anger around you. You can't control the story of those around you. You can't. Jacob can't control Laban's anger. He can't control Laban's story. He can't control how the confrontation will unfold. He doesn't know. But God intervenes. God intervenes before Laban even reaches him. God comes to Laban in a dream by night and says, be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. Did y'all hear that? Somebody? Did somebody hear that? Come on, somebody. Somebody tell me, you heard, you heard that, you saw that. Somebody, listen closely. God says to a pagan. He speaks to a pagan. He says, be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad. God doesn't remove the confrontation. No, he sure doesn't. He restrains what the confrontation can become. That distinction matters because God, sometimes God, he doesn't cancel the meeting, that meeting you're dreading. He sets a limit on the threat. Sometimes he doesn't make the person disappear, the one you wish would disappear. Sometimes that person doesn't disappear. He restrains what they can do to you. Sometimes he doesn't spare you from facing conflict. He guards you inside that very conflict. Laban arrives and rewrites the story. He makes himself sound like the wounded, affectionate father who only wanted songs and celebration. That's narrative manipulation. The Bible is not naive about this. People can mistreat you for years and then act surprised when you finally leave. They can control, drain, pressure, and change the terms, then tell the story as if they only wanted peace from you. But Laban says the quiet part out loud. It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night. That's the whole scene. Laban had power. Oh sure he did. God set the boundary. Laban had intention. God intervened. Laban had pursuit. God had authority. Laban searches for his household gods. Rachel hides them. Jacob doesn't even know that Rachel has these terraphimes. The family is protected, but the hidden, the hidden attachments remain a problem. And again, Genesis tells the truth here. That's why you can trust the word of God. It doesn't whitewash a thing. God protects his people while he is still forming. While he's still forming them. Listen. Formation has pain. I'm sorry to tell you it does. Formation has pain. Doesn't mean there's nothing left to address. It means mercy is active. While formation is taking place. And sometimes it's hard. Then Jacob finally speaks. He names twenty years of pressure. Twenty. Oh yeah, add up the years. This man has gone through, and some to some degree, put himself through. Twenty years pressure, labor, changed wages, heat, cold, and sleeplessness. Remember, this is the wild, wild wilderness here of the ancient Near Eastern world. And he says, if the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. Oh, that sentence is powerful. Jacob doesn't deny the injustice. He doesn't pretend Laban was safe. He doesn't spiritualize the pain, but he also sees preservation. He can say, that was wrong. And God was with me. That's wisdom. That's not bitterness, that's wisdom. That's not denial. That's wisdom. My friends, we need a little bit more wisdom. We need a little bit more wisdom. So when we step back from this past week, the pattern becomes clear. God sees Leah in the rejection. God hears Rachel in the barrenness. God provides for Jacob in unfair labor. God calls Jacob out of Laban's house. God restrains Laban in the confrontation. That is one long testimony to God's active covenant faithfulness. But it's also one long testimony to human brokenness. Leah wants love. She wants love. Seems like the one thing she can't get. Rachel wants children. Leah can have all the children. Seems like. Popping them out like Pez Dispenser, but no. Rachel can't have children. Just can't do it. She she wants so badly to do it. Leah wants love. She wants love. Just love me. Love me for who I am. She has the one thing that Jacob wants and Rachel wants. The ability to have children. She came into this situation through a trick. She got pimped out by her own dad. Rachel wants children so bad. She wants that so bad because she feels she sees the connection between her sister, who she loves but resents, envies. Rachel wants children. Laban, he look, first of all, Jacob wants provision. Let's not get it twisted. Jacob is good at what he does. He's grown some crops up in here, up in here. Jacob, he wants provision. He is ambitious. Laban wants control. Laban just loves power and control. He loves it. And everyone here is aching somewhere. Everyone is tempted somewhere. And God isn't absent from any of it. Not one bit of it. That may be the deepest comfort of this entire past week. God isn't waiting for perfect households before he works. God isn't waiting for pain-free obedience before he leads. God isn't waiting for every motive to be healed before he keeps his promise. But he doesn't leave his people unchanged. You can come as you are, but you cannot. But you cannot remain that way. God forms them. God exposes false identities. He confronts striving. He blesses deep within unfairness. Still, he blesses. He calls people forward. He sets boundaries. He teaches trust. And he keeps moving the covenant story toward redemption. That's why the Hebraic worldview, the ancient Near Eastern Hebraic worldview, matters so much. Genesis is. Genesis isn't giving us some isolated moral examples. Genesis isn't saying be like Jacob in every detail, because we don't want to do that. Genesis isn't saying run your family like this. This right here, run your family like this. Genesis isn't saying copy every action in the story. Genesis instead is forming Israel's memory. Remember, he's writing this to Israel. Moses is writing this. Moshe is writing this to Israel. Moses gives Israel these stories so they can understand who they are. Who they are. And how covenant faithfulness works in the real world. Folks, Israel will need to know that God sees their affliction. They'll need that in Egypt. Israel will need to know that God hears groaning. They will need that in bondage. They'll need that in the wilderness and they'll need it in the land. Israel will need to know that God calls his people out. They'll need that in Exodus. Israel will need to know that God restrains enemies. They'll need that again and again and again. These stories aren't random family drama. They're not. They're covenant formation. They teach God's God's people. How to see history, how to see pain, pressure, and the promise under the hand of the Lord. And that brings us to Yeshua, Jesus Christ. We can't jump to Yeshua in a way that erases the original story. Leah was real. Rachel was real. Laban was real. The world, their wounds, their customs, their household structures and covenant, their covenant setting that matters. But the story, it moves toward Messiah. Every word in this book points to Yeshua. From Leah comes Judah. From Judah comes David. From David's line comes Yeshua. The overlooked woman becomes part of the royal line. Oh come on, somebody. Somebody out there, you're the overlooked woman, you're the overlooked man, you're the overlooked son or daughter. Maybe you're the overlooked husband or wife. Maybe you are. And I just don't know. I don't know. Thank you, by the way. Someone just sent a message, and they have they have access to my God bless you. Thank you very much. We're still praying. We will not stop praying until. So this family is full of striving. It's un un undoubtedly. If you if you you you look at scripture and you say, Well, I don't believe that Bible. Well, you can't say it's because the brokenness isn't displayed. You can't say that the messy story isn't told. Because it is, the family full of striving becomes the family, the family, through whom the covenant story continues. The God who sees Leah remembers Rachel. The God who provides for Jacob and restrains Laban is the God who comes near. In Messiah Hamashiach, Yeshua is the son of David, the lion of the tribe of Judah. The one who comes through a line marked by mercy, not by human impressiveness. And in Yeshua we see the fullest revelation of the God who sees the overlooked, calls the weary, confronts sin, breaks the power of striving, and brings peace deeper than circumstances. Oh, your circumstances may indeed be heavy. Yeshua can handle that. Our God can handle that. Trust him with it. The peace, the shalom, it is deeper than your circumstances. Yeshua doesn't invite us into religious performance. He doesn't. Yeshua doesn't invite us into religious performance. He invites us into the Father's house. He doesn't say force the promise. Force it. He says, follow me. Follow me. He doesn't say win the comparison. He says lose your life and find it in me. He doesn't say control every outcome. He says trust the Father. He doesn't say stay chained to the old house. He says, Come after me. So, what is the turn this week requires? We have to stop measuring God's faithfulness by ease. Listen. In the postmodern Western Evangelical Church, that's what's being taught. That's false belief. If I'm overlooked, God must not see me. If I am waiting, God must not hear me. If life is unfair, God must not be blessing me. If I have to leave, I must have failed. If conflict follows me, God must not be protecting me. Genesis refuses every one of those lies, but I'm going to tell you something. I want you to look at the suffering these people went through. We're going to learn. We're going to learn some powerful stories this coming Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. We're going to learn. Listen, I'm just going to tell you. The postmodern Western Evangelical Church says, look, all you have to do is pray this prayer and everything is easy. All you have to do is just run to this church and everything will be easy. Oh, I believe, I believe in the power of the of a good church. Oh my goodness. I believe. Forsake not the assembling of the saints. I believe in helping each other and caring for one another, protecting each other, lifting each other. Absolutely. Prayer is not asking for an easy journey, it's asking for a strong back. Leah was she was overlooked by people, but she was seen by God. Rachel waited and strained, but God remembered her. Jacob worked under such manipulation 20 years. But God provided. Leaving Laban wasn't failure, it was obedience. Conflict followed Jacob, but God restrained it. So the question isn't, is this season easy? The question is, what is God forming here? What is God teaching me here? I'm in pain. What is God teaching me? Is he healing the need to be preferred? I had that need. I want to be heard. I want to be preferred. Is he confronting envy? Oh, some of us know all about envy. Some of you know all about envy. You drive back to your house and you pass houses and you say, I wish I had that house. I wish I had that car. I wish I had that spouse. I wish I had those kids. Is he healing your need to be preferred? Is he confronting envy? Is he teaching you to stop striving so hard without him? Is he showing you that unfairness isn't sovereign? Unfairness doesn't rule over you? Is he telling you that it's time to leave? Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's time to say, hey, the Lord has called me out of this. Is he teaching you to set boundaries? Is he asking you to trust him with what you can't control? You can't see around that corner. He's telling you to go around. Here's the concrete step. Listen. Some will find this easier than others. Name your pressure honestly before God. Name your pressure honestly before God. Give it a name. Tell it. Tell the truth about it. Don't make it vague. Don't hide behind religious bumper sticker, theology, language. Say it plainly. Lord, I feel unseen. Lord, I'm striving here. I'm feeling like I'm working against the stream, against the current. Lord, I'm comparing. I'm looking at them and I'm looking at me and I. Lord, I know this season is changing. I know this season is changing. Lord, I'm afraid. I'm afraid. Say you're afraid. It's okay if you are. I'm afraid of the confrontation. Lord, I need wisdom to set a boundary. I look, we gotta set some boundaries, folks. There's some folks in your life. You gotta set a boundary. I set boundaries in the chat here. I set boundaries in in what I do. We got to do it. Boundaries have to be set. And most of the time, that takes some bravery and it takes some trust. Then I want you to ask one question: What is the next faithful step? Not the next dramatic step, not the next anxious step, not the next controlling step. I said the next faithful step. For Leah, it was praise. For Rachel, it was surrendering what she could not force. For Jacob, it was working faithfully and then leaving when God said, Go. For the conflict with Laban, it was walking in integrity and letting God restrain what Jacob couldn't control. What is your next faithful step? Somebody listening today. Somebody listening today needs to stop chasing the eyes of people. And praise the Lord. Somebody needs to stop turning someone else's blessing into personal accusation. Lord, why didn't you bless me this way? How come they have all this? Somebody needs to stop letting an unfair environment define what God can do. No limits, God. No limits. No limits with God. Somebody needs to stop confusing familiarity with faithfulness. Somebody needs to stop trying to control a conflict that belongs in God. Look, that conflict has belonged in God's hands, and it belongs in God's hands now. Somebody, oh, and I'm sorry if this hurts you. Somebody needs to admit that they've left the old house physically, that old way, that old pain. But you took the household gods with you emotionally. Old fears. Old control patterns, old bitterness, old survival habits, old narratives. You can't carry those into shalom. Can't God's promise isn't merely to move you to something new. His purpose is to make you new. Come on, somebody. I have for you today a challenge and a choice. Here's the questions. Where are you in the story this week? Where are you? Are you Leah longing to be seen? Are you Rachel exhausted from striving? Are you Jacob working under very unfair conditions? Are you Jacob again knowing it's time to leave? Are you Jacob and Gilead facing confrontation? You can't control this. Or are you carrying something from Laban's house that shouldn't be coming with you? And here's the choice. You can keep asking ease to prove God's love. Oh, come on, Lord, make it easy for me. Make it easy for me. If it were easy, I'd know it was the Lord. That open door, that whole thing, the Lord opens a door, you'll know it's Him. No, no, no, no, no. The devil knows how to open doors, too. Or you can stop asking for the easy path and you can trust God's faithfulness inside formation. You can keep chasing human eyes. Or you can rest under the gaze of the God who sees. You can keep striving, or you can surrender. You can keep worshiping fairness. You can say fairness. That's the that's the true God, fairness. Or you can trust the God above the system. Above the system. You can cling to familiar pain, or you can follow God into promise. You can try to control. Look, you can, you can control freaks out there. Look, I know I have been accused. I have been accused, unjustly, I feel, of being a control freak. Come on, somebody. Somebody. Anybody. Does that resonate with anybody out there? You can can try to control. Look, you can. Sure you can. You can you can try to control every confrontation, or you can walk in integrity while God guards what concerns you. This week's Bible readings, they're not asking you to admire Jacob's family from a distance. It's messy, it's dirty, sweaty, it's bloody. These lessons, they're asking you to bring your own household, your own wounds, your own comparisons, your own pressure, your own fear, and your own next step under the authority of God. Choose trust, choose obedience, choose surrender. Choose surrender. Choose the next faithful step. Choose shalom. And maybe maybe this is where all of this salvation talk becomes personal for you. Today, right here, right now. Maybe this is where. Because sin isn't the only rebellion that looks obvious from the outside. Or hurts, habits, and hangups. Sometimes sin is trying to save yourself through approval.

True story.

Some of us are people pleasers. And we seek the approval. Like a drug, the approval of others. Sometimes sin hurts habits and hang-ups. Sometimes that hurt habit and hang-up, that's envy. Because someone else received what you wanted. Sometimes sin is control dressed up as wisdom. Sometimes sin is despair that sounded an awful lot like realism. Sometimes sin is clinging to the old house because the Father's promise feels a little too uncertain. But Yeshua came for overlooked people. He came for striving people. He came for wounded people. He came for controlling people. He came for people who have been sinned against and people who have sinned. He came to rescue us from sin, reconcile us to the Father, and teach us to walk in the way. You don't have to force your way into peace. You don't have to force your way into shalom. No. You don't have to prove your worth. You don't have to carry the old gods. You can come home. Oh, come on. Prayer isn't asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. And if you've never placed your faith in Christ, I want you right now, right now, if you believe this, I want you to pray this with all of your heart. Change your life today, change your eternity today. Change your eternity today. Right here, right now. Seems like an unlikely place, doesn't it? Internet. Social media. There'll be a whole lot of people that tell you this is stupid. It might even be your family. Might even be your family. Might be your closest friends. Why would you want to do that? That's stupid. That's stupid. Why do you need this crutch? Why do you believe the fairy tales of the sky daddy? Hey, why'd you do that? Now you have to change everything. And the minute you don't end up being perfect, showing perfect. Oh, the wag it right in your face, that finger. All with Christian soldiers. You cussed. You got angry. You got resentful. You did the wrong thing. You made the wrong choice. Oh no. Prayer isn't asking for an easy journey because it won't be. It's asking for a strong back. I want you to pray this prayer with me. Be done with rejecting the Father. Turn your life over to him. Father, I know. Pray this. Pray it right to him, not to me, to him. Just talk to him right out loud. He's listening. He's been waiting for you to say this from your heart for your whole life. Pray this prayer. Father, I know I've done wrong things, and I need your mercy. I believe Jesus died for me, was buried, and rose again. Today I turn from my sin, my hurts, my habits, and my hang-ups, and I place my trust in Him as my Lord and my King. Please forgive me, make me new, and fill me with your Spirit. From this day forward, I want to follow you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Oh, glory to God. Your life, your eternity, your everything changed today, just now. If you prayed that prayer today, I want to welcome you into the family of God. As I said, it's the most important decision you'll ever make in all of eternity. You don't have to walk the road alone. I know it's tricky. There's a million questions. I get it. I'm here to help you. I've helped many take their first steps as followers of Jesus, of Yeshua, and I'd be honored to walk with you as well. If you prayed that prayer, maybe you still have questions. I'm sure you do. It's okay if you do. You want to know more? Reach out to me directly through true wordfaithforlife.com slash contact. I promise I'll personally connect with you. As soon as I receive the message, I will connect with you. However, it is you set forth the way to connect with you, and I'll help guide you in your next steps. Whether that's understanding the Bible more deeply, finding a community of believers, or growing in your faith day by day, every day. Thousands, some long, some short. Some really, really, really long, and some really, really, really short, but mostly meh. We have true wordfaithforlife.com. So our our uh YouTube is True Word Faith for Life with Dr. Sean, spelled S-H-A-W-N. You can contact me through that. Please click on subscribe, click the little bell, all notifications. Love that. Like, click the thumbs up. I'd love that. Share it with somebody. But TrueWordFaithforLi dot com, man, there's so many resources there. It's so cool. I mean to tell you, it's it's it's a pretty, pretty cool thing. We're here for you. We're here for you. You can't even imagine how many people I talk to every day. It's cool. It's cool to watch lives change. It's not always easy. Some of the stories are very, very difficult. Sean, you're most welcome. God bless you. I love how you spell your name, by the way. Love it. Love it. Hey Bill, welcome. Welcome. And Justin, I I do understand Latin and I know what that says. But thanks for joining us.

Appreciate it.

All of you for joining today. King with no bling. Good lands. I like the sound of that. King with no bling. Sunshine. Look, you're not alone. All you need to do is ask. All you need to do is ask. I'll help you. Look, God saw Leah. God saw Leah. God remembered Rachel. God blessed Jacob. God called him forward. God restrained Laban. And God is still faithful in the pressure. Don't let the pressure ruin you. Don't let it get you down. Don't let it make you think then the enemy's going to try to make you think that this pressure, this is God's not with you in this. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Whoever told you that placing your faith in Christ is going to be some easy path. No, no, no. It's not. It will be one day. Sometimes the very people that come up against you and reject you and hurt your heart are people that once testified to loving you. Don't let rejection name you. Don't let striving exhaust you. Don't let unfairness shrink your faith. The world is unfair. God is not. Don't let familiarity become your prison. Sometimes you know you got to go. And you know God's calling you. Get out of that dangerous, dangerous situation. Don't let conflict convince you God is absent. The Father sees. The Father hears. The Father remembers. The Father leads. The Father protects. And through Yeshua, Jesus Christ, the Father brings his people home into Shalom. Hey, if this message today blessed you, if it helped you, send it to one person. One person who needs hope today. The easiest way to do it is through social media. Just share the link. Easy be easy free. The right word at the right time. It can help someone keep walking that feels like they're just gonna fall over on their face. Until tomorrow. Monday morning at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. This has been True Word Faith for Life with Dr. Sean. For more teachings, visit True WordFaithforLife.com. They're all free. They're all free. True WordFaith for Life dot com. Until tomorrow at 7 a.m. Shalom Bashem Yeshua. The shalom elakem. That means that's Hebrew. For peace in the name of Yeshua. And peace be upon you. Amen. Thanks for coming.