1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,400 Welcome to Ocean Water. We hope you feel refreshed by the living water of Jesus Christ as we help people receive drinking water from the ocean for free. 2 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:15,480 Thanks for joining us for this weekend's message, and if you enjoy it, please share it with a friend. 3 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,240 Hi, I'm Ryan with Ocean Water. I'm here today in San Clemente, California where I live. 4 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:31,240 I don't know about you, but I'm really ready for the summer to actually start, for it to be sunny, for the waves to be good and the water to be warm. 5 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,240 We'll have to wait for that. Welcome to this week's Beach Talk. 6 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:41,240 Now we've started four different Bible reading groups that we'd love to have you be a part of. 7 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:47,240 Really exciting time, new groups, new leaders, new disciples, new churches. 8 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:54,240 This is really the hub of how we do everything at Ocean Water, so we'd really like you to participate in that. 9 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,240 If you'd like to do that, just message us. We'll get the material to you. 10 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,240 So today we're in Genesis chapter 27. It says, 11 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:08,240 One day when Isaac is old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and he said, 12 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,240 My son, yes, Father Esau replied, I'm now an old man. 13 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:22,240 Isaac said, I don't know when I'm going to die, so I want you to take your bow and your quiver full of arrows and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 14 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:32,240 Prepare my favorite dish and bring it here for me, and then I'll pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die. 15 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:37,240 But Rebecca, his mom, overheard what Isaac had said to his first son. 16 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:42,240 So when Isaac left to hunt for the wild game, she said to her younger son, Jacob, listen, 17 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:49,240 I overheard your father say to Esau, bring me some wild game and prepare a delicious meal. 18 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,240 Then I'll bless you in the Lord's presence before I die. 19 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,240 Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. 20 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:04,240 Go out to the flocks and bring me two fine young goats, and I'll use them to prepare your father's favorite dish. 21 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:09,240 And take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies. 22 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:17,240 But look, Jacob replied to his mother, Rebecca, my brother Esau is a hairy man and his skin is smooth. 23 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,240 What if my father touches me? 24 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,240 He'll think that I'm trying to trick him, and then of course he'll curse me and I won't get the blessing. 25 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,240 But his mother replied, then let the curse fall on me, my son. 26 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:29,240 Just do what I tell you. 27 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,240 Go out and get the goats for me. 28 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:36,240 So Jacob went out, he got the young goats for his mom. 29 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:43,240 Rebecca took them, prepared a delicious meal just the way that he liked. 30 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:49,240 Then she took Esau's favorite clothes, her older son, which were in the house, and gave them to her younger son. 31 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:55,240 Jacob, she covered his arms, the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats. 32 00:02:55,240 --> 00:03:01,240 Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread. 33 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,240 So Jacob took the food to his father. 34 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,240 My father, he said, yes, my son. 35 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,240 Isaac answered, who are you, Esau or Jacob? 36 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,240 Jacob replied, it's Esau, your firstborn son. 37 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,240 I've done as you told me. 38 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:15,240 Here's the wild game. 39 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,240 Now sit up and eat so you can give me your blessing. 40 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:24,240 Now Isaac asked, how do you find it so quickly, my son? 41 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,240 He said, the Lord your God put it in my path. 42 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:35,240 Then Isaac said to Jacob, come closer so that I can touch you and make sure you're really Esau. 43 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,240 So Jacob went closer to his father and Jacob touched him. 44 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:43,240 The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's, Isaac said. 45 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:49,240 But he did not recognize Jacob because Jacob's hands felt hairy just like his brother Esau. 46 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,240 So Jacob prepared to bless Jacob. 47 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,240 He said, but are you really my son Esau? 48 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:55,240 Yes, I am. 49 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,240 And Isaac said, now my son, bring me the wild game. 50 00:03:58,240 --> 00:03:59,240 Let me eat it. 51 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:01,240 And then I'll give you my blessing. 52 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:05,240 So Jacob took the food to his father and Isaac ate it. 53 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,240 He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. 54 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:14,240 Then Isaac said to Jacob, please come a little closer and kiss me, my son. 55 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,240 So Jacob went over and kissed him. 56 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,240 And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced. 57 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,240 And he blessed him. 58 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:30,240 And he said, ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the Lord has blessed. 59 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:39,240 From the dew of heaven and the riches of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvest of green and bountiful new wine. 60 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,240 May many nations become your servants and may they bow down to you. 61 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,240 May you be the master over your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you. 62 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,240 All who curse you will be cursed. 63 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,240 All who bless you will be blessed. 64 00:04:54,240 --> 00:05:01,240 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and almost before Jacob had left, Esau returned from his hunt. 65 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,240 Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. 66 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:10,240 Then he said, sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing. 67 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,240 But Isaac asked him, who are you? 68 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:17,240 And Esau replied, it's your son, your firstborn son, Esau. 69 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:22,240 Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, then who just served me wild game? 70 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,240 I've already eaten it and I blessed him just before you came. 71 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,240 And yes, the blessing must stand. 72 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:35,240 When Esau heard his father's words, he let out a loud and bitter cry, oh, my father, what about me? 73 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,240 Bless me too, he begged. 74 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:41,240 But Isaac said, your brother was here and he tricked me. 75 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,240 He has taken away your blessing. 76 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:49,240 Esau exclaimed, no wonder his name is Jacob, for he has cheated me twice. 77 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:55,240 First he took my rights as the firstborn and now he's stolen my blessing. 78 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:56,240 There's a lot in this story. 79 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,240 Let me give you a little background. 80 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:03,240 Now, Isaac's pretty much become bed-fast and he's been blinded as the result of age. 81 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,240 He feels like death is approaching. 82 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:12,240 Isn't it interesting, the death doesn't come to Jacob until many, many years after this. 83 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:17,240 He'd spent 20 years in here and he came back and Isaac was still alive. 84 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,240 Now, I think that death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. 85 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:29,240 I think that when the body can no longer really function in its God-given manner and purpose, 86 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:37,240 when the body can really no longer express and you're confined to a bed almost blind for all practical purposes, 87 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:44,240 you feel really helpless, having to be waited on, and for the spirit just to remain in the body is a hard thing. 88 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,240 It's a hard thing for a person to just be lying there. 89 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:54,240 It's a hard thing for a person to have to take care of themselves when they can't. 90 00:06:54,240 --> 00:07:01,240 And many times in cases like this, as far as the person is concerned, it's much better to be absent from the body 91 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,240 and to be present with the Lord. 92 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,240 2 Corinthians 5, that's how people feel. 93 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,240 And to just have your spirit linger on in the body, why does the spirit do that? 94 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,240 Why doesn't God just release the spirit sooner from the body? 95 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,240 Well, I don't know. These are things that are in the hands of God. 96 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:26,240 It really isn't mind to question the ways of God. As long as you have some breath, you have a purpose. 97 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:31,240 But here's a man that loved God. Here's a man that was a servant of God. 98 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:39,240 And yet we find his body incapacitated and yet his life continuing for many, many years to come 99 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,240 in this state of kind of semi-invalidism. 100 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:49,240 And the feeling that he's going to die, he calls his son Esau to go out and get some venison to fix it up 101 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:55,240 and spice it up the way that he liked it, bring it to him that he might eat and give him a blessing. 102 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:57,240 He's being proactive. 103 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:01,240 Now earlier Esau had cared nothing about his birthright. 104 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,240 He wasn't interested in spiritual things. 105 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:08,240 He wasn't interested in the promises of God, the fulfillment of the promises of God. 106 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,240 He could care less about his birthright. He gave it up for a bowl of soup. 107 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,240 And he really isn't interested in the blessing that went with the birthright. 108 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:22,240 The blessing came upon the eldest son. Now he had that position, but he forfeited it. 109 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:27,240 He was still desiring of a blessing from his father, which leads us to this story. 110 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:31,240 Now indeed it was the purposes of God that Jacob should receive the birthright. 111 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:36,240 And it was also the providence of God, the choice of God, that Jacob received the blessing. 112 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:43,240 It's an interesting thing, before they were born, when they were striving and fighting with each other. 113 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,240 Actually inside of their mother's womb she couldn't figure out all of the activity. 114 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:52,240 She prayed to God and God said, there are two nations striving in your womb. 115 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:57,240 They're diverse from each other and before they were ever born God said, 116 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,240 the elder shall serve the younger. 117 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:08,240 This was God's declared will before they were born. That Jacob, in the sovereign purposes of God, 118 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:14,240 rather than the deservings of man, God, knowing in advance their character, 119 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:21,240 knowing in advance the Esau, wouldn't be interested in spiritual things and only wanted material things. 120 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:29,240 Before he were born, God knew their attitudes. That's why Jacob was chosen over Esau. 121 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:36,240 God's design, God's election, God's will. This is something that's hard for us to understand. 122 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:43,240 It's impossible for us to think as God thinks. I can't think with God's view of history. 123 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:49,240 I just can't do it. God does. It's impossible for me to put in my mind what's in God's mind. 124 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:55,240 To think as God thinks. And it's wrong for me to judge the way that God thinks 125 00:09:55,240 --> 00:10:02,240 and what God has designed and His will. Because when God thinks or looks at a situation, 126 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:07,240 He looks at it with His foreknowledge. Knowing already in advance what's going to be. 127 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,240 We don't have that capacity. We don't know that. 128 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:16,240 So when we say that God selects someone, we don't know what the outcome is going to be. 129 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:22,240 Say you had someone who came in for a job interview and the resume looks really good and looks great. 130 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:27,240 And you think, oh, they would just be the perfect fit. They're just the right person. 131 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:34,240 And this is the employee that we need. And they turn out to not work out. 132 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,240 And you look back and you think, wow, I just made the wrong decision. 133 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:42,240 If I had known what I knew six months after that decision, I wouldn't have made that decision. 134 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:47,240 I would have never hired him. I wouldn't have made that unwise choice. 135 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:52,240 Why do we do that? Well, because we operate with limited information. 136 00:10:52,240 --> 00:11:01,240 God operates with all the information. Because God is the only person who can see the past, the present, and the future. 137 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,240 That's why He's God and that's why we're not. 138 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,240 We just make the best decisions based on what God has shown us. 139 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:15,240 Now, if we had the capacity of foreknowledge, it would be unwise to pick someone that wasn't going to work out. 140 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:20,240 And we wouldn't be able to do those types of things. 141 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:25,240 So God asked foreknowledge and that's why He chose Jacob over Esau. 142 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:31,240 So it's not God's fault when He makes selections. God always makes perfect selections. 143 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:38,240 God always chooses just the right person. God always chooses just the right will. 144 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,240 And He makes His selection on foreknowledge. 145 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:45,240 So God knew in advance what was going to happen here. 146 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:51,240 And according with this knowledge that God had, He selected that the elder should serve the younger. 147 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:56,240 And that through the younger one, His promise is for a nation and the world would be fulfilled. 148 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,240 We don't always agree with who God chooses. 149 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:05,240 Jacob became aware of this. Of course, his mother knew it before he was ever born because she had prayed. 150 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:08,240 And God had said what was going on inside of her. 151 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:12,240 God had told her there are two nations inside of her. 152 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:14,240 The older should serve the younger. 153 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:20,240 So when Jacob came out, she knew that Jacob was the one that God had selected for the blessings 154 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:25,240 and for God's purposes through that nation of people. 155 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:32,240 The mother knew that from her. And knowing that, she favored Jacob. 156 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,240 That's hard. 157 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:42,240 God knew from the beginning the reason why Esau would reject her. 158 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:46,240 Now notice that this whole deceptive scheme is coming from Rebekah. 159 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,240 But she was putting Jacob up to it. 160 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:52,240 Now the thing is, was it God's will for Jacob to receive the blessing? Yes. 161 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:59,240 Did Jacob and Rebekah know that it was God's will that Jacob received the blessing? Yes. 162 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:01,240 But they made a mistake. 163 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:09,240 And that is knowing what God intended, endeavored to help God fulfill his purpose. 164 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:15,240 And they went into the deception, which is a ploy of theirs, to help God fulfill his will. 165 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,240 That's where we go wrong. 166 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:24,240 Why is it that when we think that God can't accomplish his work without our help, 167 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:29,240 why is it that we think that God is so dependent upon us to accomplish his purposes? 168 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:33,240 God can accomplish his purposes apart from our help. 169 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:38,240 God will accomplish his purposes apart from us if necessary. 170 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,240 When God is willed and purpose shall come to pass, 171 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:46,240 we can be the instruments through which it happens if we yield ourselves to him. 172 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:48,240 He'll work through us. 173 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:52,240 If we fail to yield ourselves, God will still do his work, 174 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:58,240 and yet have lost the reward and the benefit and the joy of being the instrument that he does it for. 175 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:03,240 But the work of God is never dependent upon our deception or our scheming. 176 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:08,240 We don't have to scheme and connive to get the work of God done. 177 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,240 Does God have blessings for us? Yes. 178 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:15,240 But how do you get them? By being patient. 179 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,240 Well, what kinds of blessings? 180 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:22,240 Food, water, clothes, housing. Most of us even have transportation. 181 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:26,240 Ninety percent of American products are cost by materialism. 182 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:30,240 We want more than we have, and we don't appreciate what we do have. 183 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,240 Or celebrityism. I want to be more famous. 184 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,240 No, you don't. What a headache. 185 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,240 You can't walk around as a normal person. 186 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,240 I have friends that are in this category. It's really not that great. 187 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:48,240 If you're not satisfied with the current level of popularity right now, 188 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:53,240 getting more popularity and fame certainly won't help the situation. 189 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,240 Or hedonism. We just want more pleasure. 190 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,240 We want more sex or alcohol or drugs. 191 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:01,240 We just want to go from one high to the other. 192 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:07,240 Life sometimes is very enjoyable, and sometimes it's just normal, and sometimes it's just work. 193 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:11,240 Enough pleasure is never enough. 194 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,240 The Bible teaches that we're supposed to be content. 195 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:16,240 Contentment is the key to happiness. 196 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:22,240 Our culture teaches us more material things, or more popularity, or more pleasure will make us happy. 197 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:26,240 This is really shallow, bad advice. 198 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:32,240 Contentment, the Bible teaches, is water, food, clothing, and housing, 199 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:37,240 and a purpose to serve other people here on earth. 200 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:39,240 That is what makes this happen. 201 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:41,240 How do we get God's blessings? 202 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,240 Well, we want to make sure that we're patient, 203 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,240 let God bring things to us, that's what they missed, 204 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,240 and let go of ungodly expectations. 205 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,240 So God is able to do his work independent. 206 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,240 He's never dependent upon us. 207 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:57,240 We're dependent on him, always. 208 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:02,240 So their mistake, or their fault here, was not a fault of believing God, 209 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:06,240 nor was it a fault of not believing the purposes of God. 210 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,240 They were both faithful, believing God, believing the purposes of God. 211 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:18,240 Their mistake was thinking that God couldn't fulfill their purposes without their help. 212 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:20,240 We might often say in our lives, I know what God wants to do, 213 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:24,240 I just don't see how he can do it without me. 214 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:29,240 So we try to get in there, and we work on things, scheme on things, we want to help God. 215 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:31,240 God doesn't need our help. 216 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,240 God can move mountains, move eras. 217 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:39,240 This ultimately just hurt Esau, and it hurt Rebekah, and it hurt Jacob. 218 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,240 It hurt everyone in this story when they tried to help God. 219 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:48,240 Now when Esau cried at the end of this story, he wasn't repenting. 220 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:53,240 He was sad, not about that, not about God's will. 221 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:57,240 He was sad because he wasn't going to get the money and the land. 222 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:01,240 He was crying about the fact that there wasn't going to be any wealth for him. 223 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:06,240 Had he really repented, then God surely would have done something for him. 224 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:13,240 God has said, a broken and a contrite spirit, he will never turn away in Psalms 51-17. 225 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:18,240 No man who has truly repented, God will refuse them. 226 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:23,240 In God's kingdom, the person who needs the wealth is the poor one, 227 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,240 and the person who helps the poor is the wealthy one. 228 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,240 It's the upside down kingdom. 229 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:34,240 But his was not a repentance of tears or remorse. 230 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:36,240 Don't feel sorry for him. 231 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:42,240 He was just weeping before God because he had missed out on the land and the money. 232 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:47,240 Now you read the story here, and the tears were not tears of repentance. 233 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:49,240 They were tears of anger. 234 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:51,240 They were tears of bitterness. 235 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:55,240 They were tears of a lost blessing that he wanted. 236 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:01,240 But it didn't have anything to do with the spiritual side or the purposes of God. 237 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:05,240 It had to do with the here and the now and the material. 238 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:09,240 You know, the Bible says that we store up our treasures in heaven. 239 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:19,240 That is where our investments lie, in making disciples, in making churches, and serving the Lord. 240 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:24,240 God looks at our heart and our intentions when he wants to give us his blessing. 241 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:29,240 So we want to line up our heart and our intention with his will. 242 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,240 Now later on Esau would actually plan to kill his brother. 243 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:36,240 That's the ultimate level of bitterness when you're thinking about taking someone else's life. 244 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:40,240 Hebrews warns us, don't let any root of bitterness into your life. 245 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:48,240 He became so hatred, hate-filled, and so full of bitterness that later on he would give birth to a whole nation. 246 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:52,240 And they would constantly be at war back to this story. 247 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:55,240 Because bitterness poisons relationships. 248 00:18:55,240 --> 00:19:00,240 Do everything you can to pray to God to get bitterness out of your life. 249 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,240 The Edomites, of course, have passed off the scene. 250 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,240 The last Edomite we know about is Herod. 251 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:12,240 And there we ended the Edomite race. 252 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,240 But of course God had preserved Israel to the present time. 253 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,240 He's finding comfort in that right now. 254 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:24,240 He's really mad, he's really bitter, and he's just comforting himself by his intention to kill Esau. 255 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:30,240 Now one of the things I love about Genesis is that the story mostly took place in the desert. 256 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:37,240 There's something about looking up in the desert skies that brings almost the consciousness, 257 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:44,240 like the nearness of how close we can feel to God with the knowledge of the vastness of the universe. 258 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:50,240 And there's somehow through the heavens, there's like a consciousness of the unapproachableness of God. 259 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,240 And you can go experience that in the desert. 260 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:59,240 His universe is so vast, looking up into the heavens gives us a true awareness at night in the desert, 261 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,240 and a consciousness of our relationship to God. 262 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:09,240 I'm so small when I look out into the universe and when I compare myself to all of the stars in the sky. 263 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:17,240 One of the smaller planets around, one of the smallest stars, is a small corner called the Milky Way Galaxy. 264 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:24,240 That has a billion stars in it, but the Milky Way is just one of the galaxies, of the billions of galaxies out there. 265 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:25,240 Think about that. 266 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:33,240 The heavens make us aware of the glory of God and the power of God and the greatness of God. 267 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:38,240 Somehow the viewing of the heavens like being in the desert makes us feel distant from God, 268 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:45,240 as though God is dwelling there in the heavens, and here am I, this little insignificant person down here. 269 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:50,240 But God actually wants to live inside of a human heart. 270 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:56,240 God actually wants to not live up in the sky and in the heavens, but inside of your soul. 271 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:02,240 That's why every week we end our time together with a simple prayer here at Ocean Water, 272 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:06,240 that we would open up our hearts to God, walk with God, and follow him in our lives. 273 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,240 We need God's help every day. 274 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:14,240 Would you pray this simple prayer with me and say, God, thank you for this day, a day to follow you? 275 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:20,240 I repent for my sins. I know I fall short. Help me to follow you today and this week. 276 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:27,240 Help me to listen to you each day through your word. Help me to serve you by serving others. 277 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,240 I put my trust in you. I take control of my life. 278 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,240 Give it to you in Jesus' name. Amen. 279 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:42,240 You know, in the next 12 months, we'll be doing work in four different countries with four different languages. 280 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:48,240 God always grows our perspective until it becomes global, just like his, because he's a global God. 281 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:53,240 So we always want to pray and ask God to put on our hearts what we can do to help all those people. 282 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,240 And we always want to do what God says. 283 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,240 You know, the more we have at Ocean Water, the more we can help. 284 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,240 Opportunity is on a global level for us. 285 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:07,240 Would you pray and ask God what you can do to help all those people? 286 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,240 It's an honor to speak to you guys every week on the beach. 287 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,240 I love you. Have a beautiful week.