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Genesis chapter 29 verse 30 it says I'm gonna be picking up here where it says

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he also loved Rachel more than lay up and he served layman still another seven

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years now I'd like to skip to chapter 49 and verse 29 then he charged them and

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said to them this is Jacob speaking I am to be gathered to my people bury me

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with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of that from the Hittite verse

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31 there they buried Abraham Sarah his wife there they buried Isaac and Rebecca

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his wife and there I buried lay up I'm gonna preach for a few moments a word

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of encouragement I've entitled the laya lesson the laya lesson let's pray father

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I thank you for all that you have done in this place today father your presence

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that we feel so strongly you have visited us once again and we are grateful

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we cherish what we feel right now God I ask God that as we enter into your word

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that you would speak to us God that you would comfort us encourage us God

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challenge us if need be deal with us speak to us God anoint the ears and the

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hearts of everyone that is in this place that are watching online today God an

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anoint my lips of clay God and fill my mouth with your word not mine your

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wisdom not mine God so that your name will be glorified today and that your

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people be edified father we ask this in the name of Jesus amen everyone say

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amen man you may be seated in God's presence Jacob worked for Laban a total

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of 14 years to marry his daughter Rachel and she was for all intents and

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purposes the girl of his dreams her stunning beauty charm spirits stole his

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heart one day Jacob was smitten and he couldn't fathom life without her Rachel

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the apple of his eye but as the story goes there would be some unexpected

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twist along the way and the first twist came the morning after Jacob's wedding

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when to his shock and dismay he woke up to Leah instead of Rachel now the

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custom in Bible times was for the eldest daughter to marry first so Laban kind of

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pulled the fast one on Jacob by swapping his daughters on their wedding night and

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this switch was anything but an even exchange it was not because Leah and

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Rachel were total opposites in every sense of the word they were completely

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different both on the outside and the inside both externally and internally

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they were two completely different young ladies Rachel the Bible says of her

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physical appearance was very attractive very lovely very pleasant on the eyes

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whereas lay up the Bible says that she had tender eyes that's the Bible being

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nice okay and saying that she was not very attractive Rachel her name means one

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with purity sounds like a nice name whereas Leah her name means weary kind of

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sounds like a red flag if I'm being honest today one with purity and and the

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connotation there of one with purity is not just speaking of an internal a

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spiritual purity but just a pureness about the way she looked her her overall

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persona whereas lay up her overall persona was one of weariness and that

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weariness is not just tiredness like how your weary are tired after a long

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days work it's more it's deeper than that it's a it's a spiritual weariness

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it's something that that that goes beyond just being tired on the physical

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there was a despondency maybe even a depression about her a loneliness and so

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when Jacob woke up that that morning to realize that he had in fact been hitched

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to the wrong woman I could imagine that he felt cheated on that day he must have

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thought to himself this is not the agreement that I had with my father in

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law this is not what I signed up for this is not what I envisioned my life to

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be not what I expected and I think that when he woke up that morning he felt

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like he got the short end of the stick this is not what I expected this is not

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a problem I expect I know that that marriage wasn't always going to be easy

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I know that marriage wasn't always going to be you know just peaches and cream

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but but surely it wasn't going to start like this is not the kind of problem I

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expected to have on day one but this is exactly where he found himself this was

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not the sacrifice that he expected to make this was not the kind of deal he

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expected to have but this in fact was the reality that Jacob woke up with

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whether he liked it or not whether it was what he thought life would be or not

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this was the hand that had been dealt to him and I want to tell you today that in

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life it would be nice if we always got Rachel and what I mean by that is if we

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always got what we wanted when we wanted how we wanted it wouldn't it be nice if

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that were the case can I get an amen today but we all know that that's not

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the case and we would like to however live the dream all the time and have our

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picture perfect situation have everything ideally set up for us and have

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the things and the light that we want and and that's what we work for that

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that's what we hope for that's what we pray will happen for I mean I don't know

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how you pray but but that's how I pray I pray that God would give me the desires

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of my heart how many of you are praying like that today man I mean there's not

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the Bible says to delight yourself also in the Lord and he will give you the

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how many of you got desires in your heart take come on talk to the pastor

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today how many of you got some desires in your heart today we got some desires

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I was kind of weak I said how many of you got some desire come on wake up today

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folks how many of you got desires in your heart today and how many of you would

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like to see those desires come to pass so what happens when they don't and what

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happens when it seems like you know the wrong packets got delivered to your

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house huh oh there must have been a mix up somewhere in the post office this is

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not what I prayed for there must have been a mix up at UPS it must have been a

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mix up at Amazon because this is not what I was praying for this is not I asked

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for a job and I didn't ask for this job I asked for for the house but this is not

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what I asked for I asked for for for for things not realizing that this is what I

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was gonna get and say God are you playing some kind of a trick on me Lord and

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if we're honest sometimes that might be how it feels at least for a moment that

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that maybe a life is playing a trick on us and this is not what I expected but

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here's the reality sometimes we end up with a layup we end up with an

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unattractive situation where there is no easy fix no easy fix no no peel you

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can swallow to get rid of it I'm here today to talk about the layup situations

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in our life the kind of situations that one little prayer at the altar is not

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gonna fix you gotta understand something about this light that we live even as a

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Christian there are some things in life that an altar call is not gonna fix just

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one ultra call I know some of you didn't want to hear that because you just want

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to go up to one ultra call and just you know like the pastor just kind of waves

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his hand and my problem is gone now isn't it nice when that happens but

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that's not the way it always works there are some situations in life that we've

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got to work on things that we've got to go back home to attitudes that we still

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have to confront oh you're only gonna help me today people that we still got

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to deal with situations that are so waiting for us when we get back home

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when we clock in to work tomorrow morning when we get back to the ground can

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I hear an amen today there's still some things that are come on still some bills

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that have to be paid come on now so some debts that we have to pay off so some

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things that we've got to deal with so some layers some unattractive situations

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for some things that there is no easy fix there is no one-size-fits-all no

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magic pill you can swallow no no magic verse you can read nothing no no no

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sermon you can hear no song you can sing that's just gonna magically wipe this

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thing from your life so you better learn how to deal with whatever that thing is

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in a graceful godly spiritual way so that instead of it destroying you it can

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develop you into being the Christian that God has called you to be come on and

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clap your hands and give God some praise today now the Bible doesn't hide the

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fact that Jacob loved Rachel Moore which makes his dying wish when he was

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setting up his end of life care and responsibilities and obligations such as

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where family members would be buried who would be buried with whom it makes his

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dying wish all the more interesting fascinating and even a little puzzling if

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you ask me because his dying wish was to be buried not next to Rachel who was

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quote-unquote the love of his life but next to Leah when you bury me don't

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bury me next to Rachel the one who stole my heart the one whom I found madly in

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love with the one who I wanted nothing more than to build a life with but at

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the end of Jacob's life he said the one that I want to be buried next to is the

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one who I didn't even want to marry in the first place is the one who for seven

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years or longer I question why I was stuck with her the one whom all of those

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times and all of those nights and all those moments and all those mornings and

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days I thought to myself how did I end up here that's the one I want to be

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married or buried next to why didn't Jacob choose to be buried with Rachel

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what happened what changed between I do and the burial between the wedding and

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the burial what changed in Jacob what happened why is Leah given this final

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honor somehow I believe that through a process of breaking and molding and

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teaching Jacob things something that was ugly or unattractive or unlovely

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became beautiful over time I want to tell you some things today about the

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Christian life that I hope will help you not just today because we got to get to

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a place where we don't just shout about things on Sunday and live and defeat on

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Monday you've got to carry this word with you into the workplace into wherever

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you go and learn how to deal with the laos in your life and if I could

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someway somehow transport Jacob back to this place today if I could bring this

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original job not talking about this Jacob talking about this Jacob over here

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if I could bring him here today and he can offer us some advice and say pull up

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a chair church and let me talk to you about how to deal with the laos in your

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life I think and I'm just supposing here the first thing he would probably tell

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us is this never underestimate the power of staying put never someone say stay

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put come on say it again say stay put never underestimate the power of saying

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now why do I think Jacob would say this because during the layers of life the

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thought of quitting gets more and more enticing especially when it feels like

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nothing you're doing is working especially when it feels like you're

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constantly battling upstream uphill especially when it feels like your

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prayers are bouncing off the ceiling especially when it feels like no matter

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what you do no matter what you say you're not gonna wiggle your way out of

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this one especially when it feels like somehow you have found you fell out of

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favor with God or out of favor with man the mind begins to wonder if we're

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just gonna be honest today and this message is gonna require a healthy

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dose of honesty from us today and the mind begins to wonder and the mind

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begins to drift if we're being honest and start to think what's the point

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anyhow why continue going through the motions why continue trying when my

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trying is not producing any fruit why continue a striving day after day why

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continue enduring hour after hour a year after year I'm sure there were some

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sleepless nights when Jacob you know found himself thinking about how easy

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it would be just to pack his bags and move out and slip out in the middle of

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the night and leave a nice little letter and a flower for Lea saying I'm sorry

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it just could not work out how easy it would have been and maybe nobody would

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have even pointed a finger at Jacob probably they would have felt like he

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did the right thing and said Jacob I'm surprised you hung him there for as long

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as you did my friend I'm surprised you even hung him there for 12 for 12 days

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let alone seven years I'm surprised you did that I'm sure there were many times

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where Jacob thought he probably even fantasized about how his life would be

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if he just went over there in the middle of the night and knocked on Rachel's

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window and say honey why don't the two of you the two of us just elope and get

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out of here and start the life that we want to live how enticing it must have

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been for him to think about that but yet the Bible says that he subjected

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himself to the harsh requirements of his unrelenting father-in-law who said no

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if you want to marry her you've got to work another seven years and he stayed

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put in a moment where it would have been easier to quit I've come today to tell

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somebody that there's going to be times in your life when you're with a Lea in

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your life and everything in your flesh is telling you to give up and to move on

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everything in your mind and every voice you're hearing is telling you that you're

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wasting your time and it's not worth it but I've come today to tell you that the

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devil is a liar and if you will simply put your foot down and say this is where

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I belong come on somebody preach with me here today if there's somebody that

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needs to hear this one well God sent me here this afternoon to tell you there is

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a power in staying put

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there's a power in not moving someone say stay put he could have demanded an

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omen to he could have said layman we had a deal and you broke it I'm officially

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done but instead Jacob stuck it out stuck it out he didn't run someone say he

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didn't run he didn't run he stayed put and there's somebody today I feel it in

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my spirit and I and I feel like there's a little resistance today I don't know

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I'm not sure what it is but but but there's something because there's my

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there's a spiritual battle somebody right now is teeter-tottering somebody

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right now has got running on your mind you haven't even told your friend you

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may not even told your spouse yet you may you're you're afraid to admit that

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you've got maybe one foot out at least mentally out of where you belong in God

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and it would be so much easier just to run and and just start over or just run

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and just leave things undone and just run and let someone else clean up after

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your mess or let someone else deal with it but I've come to encourage you I've

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come to stop you from doing that and tell you you better stay right where you

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are in the Lord you better stay right there in that trial because if you run

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from this one you're gonna keep running for the rest of your life you're gonna

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keep you're gonna live a life of running and you're never gonna find

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yourself planted and you're never gonna find yourself rooted and you're never

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gonna find yourself producing the kind of fruit that only comes when you stay

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put where you are long enough so that God can do what he wants to do in your

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life somebody say amen

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stay put when the urge to quit outweighs the pleasure of staying can I

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tell you is one of the most underrated or underestimated and even

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misunderstood steps of faith I'm gonna say something that sounds kind of

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controversial but hear me out somebody might need to hear this today for as

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much as we celebrate the one who left and come back and we ought to know when

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saying that we ought not to celebrate those who left and came back everyone

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loves a comeback story amen we all love a comeback story but you know what I also

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love I love a staying put story y'all don't you weren't ready for that you

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weren't ready I'm gonna give you another chance I think that we ought to make a

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habit out of celebrating those who didn't leave but stayed put now what do I

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mean by celebrate throw my big party no I just think that we are a value and a

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appreciate those who had every reason to walk out but they stayed put come on

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now somebody every reason to leave God every reason to leave the church every

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reason to leave their family every reason to leave their marriage but they

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stayed put come on somebody ought to give God some prayer ah we gotta thank

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God for those in fact some of you are here today because there was one in your

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family or one in your church that made a decision they're gonna stay put I'm

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here today because of someone who didn't leave I love a comeback story and we'll

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always celebrate those that come back yes we will the particles absolutely but

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there's something to be said hallelujah about staying put sadly we don't

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appreciate those who stay put but I have great respect I have great respect

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for any mother father husband who may have every reason in the flesh to want

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to leave push the quit button on your marriage put the quit button on your

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family push the quit button on your ministry who says no I'm gonna stay put

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and God will honor that fate it takes just as much faith hear me now to stay

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put if God tells you to stay put as it does to move on when God tells you to

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move on it takes just as much faith to stand right where you are and say this

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is where God has me somebody give the God a hand praise today amen hallelujah I

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think Jacob would also tell us that our pain has a way of drawing us closer to

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God our pain has a way

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victories don't teach us how to pray

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pain teaches us how to pray hmm some of us would not know God the way we know

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him today had he not allowed that trial in your life because what that trial did

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was bring you to your knees it was Leah can I tell you not Rachel who kept

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Jacob more focused on God out of the two it was Leah who was the more spiritual

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than Rachel Rachel had the outer beauty but Leah had the inner beauty because

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within her there was this constant effort to not only do the right thing but

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eventually her heart was completely changed to just praising God in fact the

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Bible says that out of the two sisters it was Rachel Rachel was the one who

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stole and hid her father's idols not Leah it was Rachel it was Rachel then it

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wasn't until later on when God called Jacob to build an altar at Bethel God

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was working in Jacob's life God was developing his faith God was taking him

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from glory to glory making him to be the patriarch that he was destined to be

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and in that process he was building an altar God said I want you to build an

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altar in Bethel but before you do he said you got to clean up your house and

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part of the house cleaning he had to do was get rid of the gods and the idols

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not that Leah brought over but that Rachel brought from her father's house

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huh so we got to be careful how much we want that Rachel because some of us are

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asking for things they're actually gonna lead us further from God ah you want to

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thank him he doesn't give you that job sometimes oh you all don't want to hear

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me you want to thank him he doesn't give you everything that you want because

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God knows that there are some things that if he lets you have it it'll draw you

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away oh come on away from the word away from prayer away from the house of God

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so watch watch what what happens in Genesis 35 and verse 2 he says put away

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the foreign gods that are among you he told his family we got to get rid of

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these things that we've allowed into our life but the question is who allowed them

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there well it started with Rachel it started with Rachel and she allowed these

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idols she took the idols and the gods of her father the images of her father and

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when and when the Lord was warning to consecrate Jacob he said you got to get

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rid of some things and I've come to ask have you allowed have you allowed any

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idols in your life what things have you prioritized over God what are you

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struggling to let go of from your old life I wonder if the spirit of Rachel

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has got a hold of some people and you're still you know what you you still got

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some idols from your old life you got baptized amen but you came up with your

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idols and you've been holding on to them still and you're hiding them and of

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course you you know you don't post your idols on on Instagram and all that well

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some people do nowadays but you know oh my gosh but but you've got some idols

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over here you got some idols over there and they're hiding there you know they

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they're stuck between the you know the the mattresses at your house and their

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head they're in a hidden cupboard I'm not talking about physical idols today I'm

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talking about the ones that are in our hearts I'm talking about the ones that

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are in our minds and in our spirits and the things that we allow and and God is

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saying look I'm trying to develop you but in order to really develop I'm gonna

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have to let layer just in your life a little more let this uncomfortable

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situation because the more uncomfortable I make you it seems that the more

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uncomfortable you get the more you're drawn to prayer the more you're drawn to

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clean up the things that are in your life that are blocking and hindering your

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relationship with God maybe it's time to clean up our spiritual houses scripture

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says watch this I'm gonna be just a few more moments hallelujah but I wasn't

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here last Sunday so I'm gonna preach two messages say is that all right no I'm

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just kidding I'm just gonna go a little longer praise God someone say go ahead

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amen because I'm not done I got some stuff to say today watch what scripture

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says and and now in verse 4 of Genesis 35 so they gave Jacob all the foreign

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gods which were in their hands and the earrings all the jewelry which were

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there in their ears and Jacob hid them under a terribith tree which was by

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Shechem he got all these idols and the in the jewelry and all these things they

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weren't supposed to have as the people of God and then they buried them under a

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tree and so that they would never be found again let's get rid of these things

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once and for all and what I see there is a picture of the cross because the

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bearing of all these old idols and gods under that tree is a picture of us

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bearing our whole life under the tree of Calvary oh hallelujah the cross how

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many of you are thankful for the cross today I've come to tell somebody if

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you've got any of those things in your heart bury them under the cross today

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and let's get a hold of that layer and let's get a hold of the spirit and let's

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move on come on and clap your hands and give the Lord some praise this afternoon

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come on somebody lift up your voice today if you want to get closer to God

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lay the unlovely situation and Jacobs life was not guilty of hiding any God

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she was not emotionally or spiritually attached to these things because once

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again her beauty was not physical but spiritual and there are some ugly

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situations in our life there are some ugly things that will come some of you

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came you came to church today with some of those things you came in here today

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feeling sorry for yourself about layer will passers you know you know if you

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only saw the layer situation I have in my life if you only knew how bad I had

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let me tell you something huh there's not a person in this room that gets a free

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pass huh not a person in this room that gets a free pass we all suffer we all

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go through things we all have layers that we have to deal with from time to

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time but instead but instead of cursing your layer you want to praise God through

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your layer the problem the reason why the situation hasn't changed is because

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you haven't changed well hallelujah

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I'm gonna say hallelujah we're waiting on the situation to change and God's

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waiting on you to change and I have come to realize that when I change it

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doesn't even matter if my situation changes sometimes it may never change

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huh but if I change in my attitude and my spirit and my mentality changes if I

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change as an individual then God can still be glorified and most of all I

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have gained something spiritually oh God oh Jesus

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Paul said if I lose everything but I gained Christ I've gained it all huh he

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said I count all things as loss that I might gain that eternal reward life might

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look like Leah sometimes life might not become it's not always going to be

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pretty but Leah was a living reminder to Jacob that the most valuable things in

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life are not tangible but intangible the most valuable things of life can I

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tell you let me just speak frankly with you today the most valuable things in

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life are not what make you feel good come on I need somebody I said the most

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valuable things in life are not the things that make you feel good they're

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the things that make you godly

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and you'll find come on help me out you season say you know that some of us

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will be walking with Jesus for a long time you know this to be true and you'll

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find that more most often more times than not it's the things that make us feel

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good that tend to lead us astray but the things that make us uncomfortable like

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what pastor like sacrifice like trouble like submission like obedience like

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pain like all the things affliction but this is what I know the psalmist said

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many are the afflictions of the righteous but God delivers them out of them

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all and whether that deliverance comes today or tomorrow blessed to be the name

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of the Lord whether that deliverance comes tomorrow or in a year from now

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blessed to be the name of the Lord whether that deliverance comes in this

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life or the next life blessed be the name of the Lord come on and stand with

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me and give God a hand praise here this afternoon hallelujah come on give God

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some praise today your burdens let me tell you finally your burdens will

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birth your blessings again I wondered why Jacob chose to be buried with Leia

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over Rachel why would he do this why would he choose to be buried next to

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quote-unquote the worst nightmare you know the worst scenario why at the end

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of his life what changes how did he go from despising this to loving this

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Jesus oh hallelujah in the same way that you you learn the value of friend after

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you've been betrayed you learn the value of God's faithfulness when others have

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been unfaithful you learn the value of joy when things have been taken from you

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and yet you've still got a smile on your face you learn to appreciate peace a

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peace that surpasses all understanding but here's the thing what helped

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convince Jacob at the end of his life to be buried with Leia over Rachel you

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know it's it's kind of sad what happened to Rachel I kind of feel bad for the

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sister because she got buried somewhere kind of on the side of the road reach

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a Bible it's kind of sad what happened to her I'm not here to dance on her grave

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don't get me wrong I feel bad she's still got the promise Joseph came through

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her at Benjamin K so she's got her place but Jacob said bury me next to Leia and

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I think that one of the things that that just impressed Jacob about this woman is

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that she wouldn't give up and she kept producing someone say produce she kept

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producing she had one son and then she had another son she had Rupert and then

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she had Simeon and then she just she just kept bearing children until finally

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she gets to Judah and the name Judah as many of you know means praise and after

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she had Rupert and after she had Simeon and after she had Levi she gets to

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Judah she says you know what I'm tired of trying to win this guy's favor I'm

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just gonna focus everything on the Lord and she said I'm gonna praise him now

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oh my god I'm gonna praise him now and so she begins to praise God and I think

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Jacob saw that and said you know there is something about this woman there is

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something about this lady right here there is something special about her she

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just keeps on going he must have stood back and admired her faith and said if

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she can keep going so can I if she can make this work so can I and the Bible

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says that she birthed Judah and why is that significant I'll tell you why

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because when the Lord decided to come and dwell among us and God manifests in

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the flesh when God decided to come and he looked at all the tribes of Israel

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come on and help me somebody and he looked at all the tribes you look at the

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tribe of Rupert and he said maybe I'll come through that tribe and then he

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looked at the tribe oh I need some help right now let's let's kick this thing up

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a little bit hey man and he looked at the tribe of the tribe of Simeon he

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said that's a nice tribe maybe I'll consider that as an option and then he

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looked at the tribe of Levi and all the other good tribe I like that one right

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there but he said nah but there's something about that tribe of Judah right

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there's something about that tribe of Judah and so when the Lord of Lord and

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the King of Keem stepped in he said I want to come through that that tribe of

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Judah yeah God I want to come to that tribe I want to come to that tribe that

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tribe of Leah