I am Pastor Nathan, and today we're going to
be in Genesis chapter 31, seeing what it looks
like when we grow in grace. This chapter is a
story of Jacob's departure from the northern
side of Mesopotamia back down to the Promised
Land. This story of his departure or his exodus,
if you will, it's not an isolated event. It's
not a singular departure story in Scripture.
Rather, it's one of the many departure stories
in the greater arc of redemptive history which
covers or goes through the entire Bible. Here
in Genesis already, if we look back before Genesis
31, we see that Jacob's exodus back to the promised
land mirrors that of his grandfather Abraham.
as Abraham lived in Ur in Mesopotamia and was
called by God to leave to a land that he would
show him, wherein he did. He left in obedience
to God's call and brought his family and all
his possessions towards that area, took a brief
stop in Haran, and then proceeded down into the
Promised Land. Here in Genesis 31, we're going
to be seeing the story of Jacob's departure from
Paddan Aram, where he again brings his family
and all his wealth back down towards the exact
same promised land. And then looking forward
in Scripture, we're going to see that Jacob's
exodus prefigures the exodus of Israel from Egypt,
like Jacob fleeing from Laban. Here in the future,
we see Israel fleeing from Pharaoh. Like Jacob's
family plundering Laban, we're going to see later
that Israel would plunder the Egyptians. And
like Laban being forced by God to let Jacob go,
we're going to see later on in Scripture a Pharaoh
being forced to let Israel go. And all of this,
of course, is pointing towards Christ, our great
Redeemer, who is the protagonist of the greatest
Exodus story of all time, where he, being an
Israel, if you will, God's people, entered into
the place of bondage, which is the world, the
place of sin. And then he took everything from
the powers of darkness as he died to pay the
price for all of our sin, defeating the power
of sin and death permanently, and then offering
the opportunity and leading his people. ultimately
from sin into the promised land, which is the
greatest point and the greatest arc of the story
of God's redemption. But the reason we have these
stories throughout Scripture, not only to prefigure
and point to the ultimate exodus found in Christ,
but God wants us to see our lives in the same
light. That your life and my life, we're not
just some random beings existing on an earth.
subject to a random set of events that happens
through a random life that ends in just a random
death that has no meaning and no purpose in the
greater story of the universe. We're not just
people wandering without direction. In fact,
our story, just like Jacob's, fits within the
greater story of redemption that the Bible gives
us. The trial you might be walking through this
morning, the hard decision that you're... having
to make, or that obedience that God is calling
to you that is very difficult to step out in,
they're not isolated random events. They're not
just chance happenings. But instead, they are
particularly part of a great story arc in your
life, in my life, and the greater story of everything
that happens in this universe of how God saves,
how God delivers, and how God glorifies his own
people. But really, the big... big application
of today's word that we're going to be getting
into is that even when you don't see the big
picture, God does. Because he's omnipotent. He
sees everything. And you can rest in that because
the author of history is also the author of your
life. But first we're going to spend time worshiping
our Lord and Savior because he is worth it. He
is worthy of all the praise. Just knowing that
he is watching our life, guiding our life, directing
our life, that he is the God we can turn to in
all things. Gosh, why wouldn't we praise him
every moment of every day, right? Let's pray.
Father, we love you so much. We're so grateful,
God, for who you are. Lord, you are so amazing.
You are so awesome. You're so almighty. You are
love. You are light. You are everything we need.
You are the point and the purpose of all existence,
God. And Lord, the fact that you love us, the
fact that you see us and pay attention to us,
let alone die for us and adopt us into your family,
God, is just bigger than we can understand. And
yet, Lord, we receive it and we thank you for
it. God, knowing that our lives are a part of
a greater story of redemption, that you are working
in this universe, God, It just makes life so
much more meaningful, Lord, that we're not just
an accident of evolution. We're just not an accident
of just existence, Lord, but there's a purpose
for our life, and that purpose is to know you.
That purpose is to be with you, God. And the
entire story from beginning to end is one of
how you save, you deliver, and you glorify. So,
God, as we get into your word today, Lord, and
we see... your work in Jacob's life, we see,
Lord, his growth in the grace, in walking in
grace, God, that we would be encouraged, Lord,
of our place in the story, where we fit into
the great story of redemption, Lord, because
you love us. God, if there's anybody here today
that doesn't know you, I pray, Lord, that they
would see your great love for them this morning,
that they would see, God, the separation that
sin has wrought in their life. they would see,
God, their need for salvation. And, Lord, that
you would draw them to yourself today. Lord,
we love you. We thank you. We want to worship
you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We are
in Genesis chapter 31. And just to recap where
we're at, Jacob, who is the son of Isaac, the
son of Abraham, he's been on this very long journey
of personal development in his life. About 20
years prior to the text we're looking at this
morning, he had to flee his home because he lied
and he cheat and he stole his birthright and
the blessing that belonged to his older brother.
His older brother Esau, who as a result of Jacob's
stealing and deception wanted to kill him. He
was so angry, he wanted to murder his brother.
And so Jacob ends up fleeing from his home in
fearful self -preservation. But on the way north,
his mom said, hey, why don't you go north to
my family, find a wife there, but get away from
the family right now because Esau is very upset.
He had this vision, this wonderful vision in
a place he named Bethel where he learned that
God was with him and that God would be with him
wherever he goes, whatever circumstance he finds
himself in. That because Jacob was God's person,
that he was one of God's people, that God wanted
to reinsure him. I'm with you. No matter what
happens, I am always with you. And so as a result
of that, he poured oil on the stone that he had
used as a pillow because he left so quickly,
he didn't even have supplies for the journey.
And he made this rock a memorial to this moment
that he had with God where he made vows that
he would respond to the Lord's promises. And
then he went on for 20 years after he arrived
to his family's... family's place in Haran. For
20 years, he served his uncle Laban, who was
a very deceitful scoundrel. He made Jacob the
deceiver look like Jacob, the most honest person
in the world. And so for the first seven years,
as he worked for his uncle Laban, it was to win
the hand of Rachel in marriage. It was his wages,
if you will, his dowry to... purchased the right
to marry her, and then, of course, he had to
work a second seven years after that because
his uncle swindled him, tricked him into marrying
Leah, his eldest daughter, and so after 14 years,
Jacob now ends up with both of these women as
his wives and a large family growing, and at
the end of that, he ends up working six more
years developing his own flocks of sheep and
goats from his uncle Laban's herds. Now, over
this time, God has been with Jacob just as he
had told old Jacob he would be, and Jacob had
prospered well because of the Lord. So much so
that Laban's sons had begun to resent Jacob's
success, and Laban, the uncle who had been so
deceitful and so eager to take advantage of Jacob,
was now starting to get really upset himself.
And that's where we pick things up in Genesis
chapter 31, verse 1. Read with me. It says, now
Jacob heard what Laban's sons were saying. Jacob
has taken all that was our father's and has built
this wealth from what belonged to our father.
And Jacob saw from Laban's face that his attitude
towards him was not the same as before. The Lord
said to him, go back to the land of your ancestors
and to your family and I will be with you. So
after these 20 years of being taken advantage
of and tricked, these 20 years of Jacob growing
in his own faith and these 20 years of God molding
Jacob's character, the time had finally come.
That God, who is the author of his life, the
architect of his life, was now directing Jacob.
It was now time to leave this place and go back
to the land of promise. Now his deal, his arrangement
with his uncle Laban, if you remember where he
said, Uncle, I will work for you, and what I'm
going to do is I will take the ugly sheep as
my payment, and you will get to keep all the
beautiful and pristine and pretty sheep. And
the uncle said, Yeah, that's great. Do that.
He tried to trick him again, but this whole arrangement
had been very, very fruitful for Jacob. He had
become very wealthy because of this, and it was
very unfruitful for Laban. And so the time had
come. Laban's attitude had changed. Maybe Laban
was about to be violent. Maybe Laban was tired
of things not working out for him, even though
he was scheming and all that. And so God said,
it's time to go back to the land of your ancestors
and family. But I do find it interesting that
God reiterates there at the end of verse 3, and
I will be with you. See, how many times does
God have to remind us of that? Right? It's like
God saying, I will be with you, and then the
parentheses that he doesn't say is, just as I
have been with you this whole time. Just as I
have been with you since the promise I made at
Bethel and even before that. But just in case
you forgot, I'm going to remind you again that
I will be with you. So verse 4, it says, Jacob
had Rachel and Leah called to the field where
his flocks were. He said to them, I could see
from your father's face that his attitude towards
me is not the same as before, but the God of
my father has been with me. You know that with
all my strength I have served your father and
that he has cheated me and changed my wages ten
times. But God has not let him harm me. If he
said the spotted sheep will be your wages, then
all the sheep were born spotted. If he said the
streaked sheep will be your wages, then all the
sheep were born streaked. God had taken away
your father's herds and given them to me. When
the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that
the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were
mating with the females. In that dream, the angel
of God said to me, Jacob. And I said, here I
am. And he said, look up and see. All the males
that are mating with the flocks are streaked,
spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that
Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of
Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker
and made a solemn vow to me. Get up, leave this
land, and return to your native land. So we see
the life that Jacob has been living, right? Where
the original agreement was, look, all the ugly
ones I'll take. And then Laban, as he started
to see that the ugly sheep were growing in number
and the pretty ones weren't, he changed the deal.
Okay, you can only have the spotted ones. But
then only spotted ones were being born. Well,
never mind, you can only have the streaked ones.
And only streaked ones were born. This is how
God works in this situation here. But I believe
that if Laban said, you can only have the ones
that are tie -dyed, there would only be tie -dyed
sheep born to the herds, right? God was just
doing a miracle here. But the bigger issue here
is we see something about Jacob. We see that
Jacob has grown spiritually, how he has grown
in grace as God's people. He is finally responding
in faith. to God's call. There's no hesitation
on his part. There's no scheming on his part.
It's just faith, right? Basically, what he's
saying here is, hey, wives, God said go. We need
to go. No question. right? He's just ready to
be responding in faith, and it says he calls
his wives there, and it's kind of an interesting
thing because, you know, we've talked a lot about
the culture where the patriarch was the head
of the family, and he kind of had absolute authority
over the family, including life and death, and
so why couldn't he just leave on his own? Well,
There have been archaeological discoveries that
we know, like the Code of Hammurabi, which was
one of the earliest sets of civic law that was
documented, and it was in the time, around this
time and prior to this time, but it was... in
Mesopotamia, which was this whole feral area
where they were at. And in the Code of Hammurabi,
we have learned that even in this culture in
this time, women did have specific rights. They
had very specific rights that helped them navigate
their roles as daughters, wives, and mothers
within the culture. Well, one of those rights
in the Code of Hammurabi that we have seen and
discovered is that if a husband came into the
country and married a woman, He could not take
her out of her home country without her consent.
That was one of the rights that women had in
the time. So he had to bring his wives together
to convince them to get their consent to leave
their homeland according to what we see in the
Code of Hammurabi. And so Jacob calls them together.
It says he meets them out in the field where
the sheep were. And that's simply because he
doesn't trust Laban. Laban has spies everywhere.
So let's go and have a private meeting, wives.
And then he goes on to tell them about what has
been taking place. This whole recounting of what
we just read is a review of Laban. Laban's deceit
and what God did about it. You'll notice that
multiple times through that, Jacob finally is
not saying, and I was so smart and I was so clever
and I was so this. He keeps saying, and God was
with me. And God did this. And God was with me.
And that's where we see his growth. This whole
breeding program, even that he was stripping
sticks and all that, he finally saw in a dream
that it was like God was the one saying, I did
this to him. And so this is what he's telling
his wives. He even recalls the original promise
all the way back to Bethel where God reaffirmed
his promise and Jacob made the vow there. And
essentially what Jacob's doing in these verses
with his wives, he's going, look, everything
that has happened up until this point, everything,
our family and the growth of our family, the
growth of the herds and our wealth, all of this
is God's doing. And that's a big step of growth
for Jacob because up until this point, Multiple
times it had always been about his cleverness.
It had been about his lies. It had been about
his own manipulation of the situation. But he's
finally starting to get it. God did it all. And
he's giving God the credit here. And so his conclusion
is, since God is the one who did all this, we
have to obey God. And God said it is time to
go. So verse 12, it says, then Rachel and Leah
answered him. Do we have any portion or inheritance
in our father's family? Are we not regarded by
him as outsiders? For he has sold us and has
certainly spent our purchase price. In fact,
all the wealth that God has taken away from our
father belongs to us and our children. So do
whatever God has said to you. Finally, for once,
Rachel and Leah are in agreement. They're seeing
how their father not only has treated their husband,
but they say here, they recognize that their
father has treated them with the same contempt,
right? Are we not regarded by him as outsiders?
They were still in his household. They were still
under his household. Their husband was working
for their father, and yet they had been treated
like strangers and foreigners in their own house.
On top of that, all the money that Jacob had
earned for Laban as a dowry to marry them, they
said that their father had spent. You see, in
the time when a dowry was given to the father,
that purchase price was to buy the right to marry
the woman. And what was supposed to happen is
that dowry was then supposed to be put aside
in case the wife ended up abandoned by her husband
or widowed if her husband died. And what that
dowry was meant to be for is, okay, here you
have money to live. You have money to continue
to survive. It's kind of like life insurance
if you think of it that way, right? But Laban,
instead of setting that money aside, blew it
all. And so they're like. Look, everything that
God's taken from him and given to you, it belongs
to us anyway, so do what you want. Husband, we're
ready to follow you, right? So let's go. Now
again, Jacob had grown a lot here. He's giving
God all the credit for the blessings. He's giving
God all the credit, and he's taking none of it
for himself. It's how he was in his early life.
Look what I did. Look at how clever I was. And
now it's all, look what God did. If you want
to look into your own life and see spiritual
growth, am I growing spiritually? Or someone
you're discipling and you're just like, God,
what can I see in their life? Among other things,
one of the huge signs of spiritual growth is
being quick to give God all the credit for every
blessing. And the question for yourself is, are
you quick to give God all the credit for your
blessings? Or do you still take some of it for
yourself, right? wow, God did this amazing thing,
but I mean, it was my idea. God blessed me so
much in this thing, but it was my hands that
did the work, and so, wow, God, thanks for partnering
with me. Spiritual growth, spiritual maturity
comes to the place of saying, everything in my
life is because of God, and he gets all of the
credit. You see, when you see all of your life
as a gift, all of your life, every breath, every
heartbeat, everything, the very fact that you
could stand up and use your hands is a gift from
God Almighty. It produces humility. It produces
gratitude. It produces peace. And we have to
be very careful as God's people to not take too
much pride in what we've done or any pride for
that matter. Wow, I came up with this great idea.
Who gave you the brain to think of the idea?
God did. Look what I have built. Who gave you
the hands to build it? God did. So it's easy
for us to start thinking, you know, it's because
of us, it's because of us, it's because of us.
No, no, no. It's because of God. God did this.
God blessed this. God grew this. And I am just
so humbled to be the vessel through which God
did this thing. And that's what we're seeing
in Jacob's life right now. And so now with his
wives on board, God's call clear in his mind,
his agreement from them, he picks the most opportune
time to go in verse 17. So Jacob got up and put
his children and wives on the camels. Modern
paraphrase, he loaded up the minivan, okay? He
took all the livestock and possessions he had
acquired in Paddan Aram, and he drove his herds
to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel
stole her father's household idols. And Jacob
deceived Laban the Aramean, not telling him that
he was fleeing. He fled with all his possessions,
crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill
country of Gilead. So it's time to go. Wives
are on board. Let's load up the camels. We're
out. Should have been a clean break, right? Because
what this story is a picture for us is as Laban
is leaving, Jacob is leaving Laban, it's a picture
of his exodus from a place of bondage. It's a
picture of his exodus from the place of the power
and control and influence of sin, right? As I
said, we saw this prefigured in Abraham's life,
and then it's a picture of what happens in the
future when Israel leaves. Egypt. Biblically,
we know that Egypt is a type of the world, right?
We're going to talk more about that. But he's
trying to make a clean break here, and that's
what God calls us to do with the world, clean
break. And it would have gone well, except for
the fact that Rachel stole the household idols.
Now, it tells us there that Jacob deceived Laban
in verse 20. not telling him that he was fleeing,
and we think, oh no, is this still Jacob, the
deceiver, right? Is his flesh still with him?
It could be. Because how many of you as Christians,
your flesh is still with you? Oh, nobody raised
their hand, right? Y 'all liars. That's proof
your flesh is still with you, all right? Nobody
wants to admit it. I'm a good Christian, right?
Our flesh is still with all of us, and it still
tempts us, and it still comes at us to do the
wrong thing. And so, yeah, it's possible that
Jacob, as he's grown in grace and growing with
the Lord, still has this little edge. That's
possible. But the word deceived there, specifically
in the Hebrew, simply means that he was sneaky.
It's like the word shrewd, right? In the Gospels,
we have a story of the shrewd manager. And he
was clever, not in a deceitful way. He was just
clever in a way of getting what he needed while
avoiding the difficulties of the situation. And
this is what Jacob is doing here. He cleverly
found the right time to leave and to take his
family away. And his cleverness was simply he
didn't tell Laban he was fleeing. Maybe he called
in sick that day. We don't know. But Laban had
no idea Jacob was leaving. But Rachel stole these
household idols. We go, why'd she do that? Why
did she need to take these idols? These are gods.
These are little figurines that represented the
gods that Laban worshipped, the gods that he
worshipped, that he gave honor to, and that he
did that with his family and all that. And so
why would Rachel take these? She's been living
here for a very long time. She's spent at least
13 years as Jacob's wife. Seven years before
that, watching him live, they've seen these things
happen. I'm sure Jacob has talked about the God
of his father and all this. And now Jacob's finally
at this point of saying, God has done all these
things and God is calling us to live. Why does
she go and steal these idols? It doesn't tell
us. So we just kind of have to guess or surmise.
And there's a few things that are possibly here.
One. Again, going back to archaeological discoveries,
there's these things called the Newsy Tablets
that kind of give us a lot of law and code from
the time back in Mesopotamian culture. And in
those tablets, there's a suggestion that the
possession of the household idols made one's
claim of inheritance much stronger. So it could
be... That although she was in this place of
saying, oh, God said go, she seems to be more
like, I want to leave because I don't like my
dad, and less I want to leave because God said
so, right? But she's going to be following her
husband. So it could be that she stole these
idols because if things don't work out, even
though dad spent all of the inheritance, she
would have a claim, or her dowry, she would have
a claim to her inheritance when her father died.
That could be one option here. But it's just
funny to me because the gods of Laban are so
small that she could steal them and hide them,
and that kind of makes its own point, right?
A god that you can carry in your pocket is not
a god who can carry you, okay? But she steals
them, and it's more than just petty theft here.
There's something significant taking place because,
as I've said, what was supposed to be a clean
break Jacob's obedience to God, his doing what
God had called him to do, separating from that
life, is now marred by hidden sin. And this is
Rachel carrying these idols. See, this clean
break from life is something God calls us, or
old life is something God calls us to do. God
calls us to him, we get saved, and he says, okay,
now I want you to separate from the world. I
want you to make a clean break from the world.
I want you to leave the world behind, the old
ways, the old gods, the old methods, because
you're a new creature. You're a new creation.
And yet what we see here is Rachel is still trying
to bring the old idols into her new life, the
life where she's departing. And again, the why
is unclear. It could be the Newsy tablet thing.
It could be because she had some lingering belief
in them. It could be that she just had contempt
for her dad. But either way, these idols represented
her old life, her old way of living. And this
is a danger that we face as well in our lives.
You know, we get saved. God says, break from
the world. And outwardly, we might be obeying
God and moving in the right direction. And we're
growing and we're learning in grace. And this
process here of growing sometimes, We still want
to inwardly bring the old things with us. Inwardly,
we want to bring the old comforts with us, the
old sins. We're like, okay, I'm leaving to a
new life, but I still want this. I still want
this habit. I still want this thing that has
no place in the life of faith. And we take it
with us. It's like trying to run a race with
a backpack full of bricks. You might be on the
right track, but you're not going to finish very
well. You might be in the right race, but you're
not going to succeed the way you want to because
you're being slowed down by something you shouldn't
be carrying. And that's a question that I have
for myself and the church today. What idols are
you carrying? What idols are you secretly carrying?
What things from your old life are you still
hanging on to in your walk with Christ? You got
saved. God said, clean break. You're like, yes,
hallelujah. But are you still carrying on to
or hanging on to approval from others? Seeking
what is just pleasurable, whether or not God
says yes or no to it. Security, control, addictions,
just self -worship. What is it? What is the idol
that you might be hanging on to this morning?
Something that you've hidden so well nobody knows
about it. But God knows. And God is like, why
are you carrying that thing from your old life
still? All it's doing is slowing you down. All
it's doing is putting you in danger. You don't
need that thing. You see, the gospel is not just
about leaving the world. As we said, this is
a story about Jacob's exodus from his old life,
his old family, the old way of doing things.
Israel's exodus was from Egypt, which is a picture
of the world in the gospel. It's not just about
leaving the world. It's about leaving the gods
of the world behind. That's the gospel. We're
going to see later that in the plagues of Egypt,
God was attacking each one of the gods of Egypt.
He attacked the Nile. There's a god of the Nile.
He attacked the animals. There's a god of the
animals. He attacked... He just, because he's
trying to say these gods are powerless. They're
meaningless. And that's what the gospel is. Don't
just leave the world, but leave the gods of the
world behind. Christ delivers us not only from
the place of bondage. He delivers us from the
power of bondage. And in that salvation, the
message is you don't have to carry those things
anymore. You can let those things go. You have
the power to do so through the Holy Spirit. Why
are you still hanging on to Him? Why? If you
say, God is everything I need, then why are you
hanging on to this thing from your old life that
you know has no value, has no power? What is
it? And God may be speaking to you this morning
about that very thing, and He's asking you, what
is it? Because whatever it is you think that
old idol is doing for you, it's a lie. It's destructive.
It's harming you. You need to let it go. Now,
verse 22. It says, on the third day, Laban was
told that Jacob had fled. So he took his relatives
with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook
him in the hill country of Gilead. But God came
to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. Watch
yourself, God warned him. Don't say anything
to Jacob, either good or bad. So when Laban overtook
Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill
country, and Laban and his relatives also pitched
their tents in the hill country of Gilead. Laban
said to Jacob, what have you done? You've deceived
me and taken my daughters away from me like prisoners
of war. Why did you secretly flee from me and
deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent
you away with joy and singing, with tambourines
and lyres, but you didn't even let me kiss my
grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted
foolishly. I could do you great harm, but last
night the God of your father said to me, watch
yourself. Don't say anything to Jacob, either
good or bad, and that's why I'm saying all these
things right now. I just added that part. Now
you have gone off because you long for your father's
family. But why have you stolen my gods? Laban
wasn't happy. Right? There's words used here
like fled and pursued and overtook and pitched
tents. Right? These words are all military terms.
What it's telling us. is that Laban wasn't going
after his daughters and going after his granddaughter.
Oh, family, why are you leaving? He was going
after enemy combatants. That was Laban's mindset.
That he was going in pursuit of an enemy to defeat.
He even accused Jacob, you took my daughters
away like prisoners of war. Right, that tells
us the mindset of Laban towards Jacob right now.
That also tells us what Laban might have had
in mind to do, to conquer that enemy, to slay
that enemy and reclaim what he believed was his.
But God intervened. God was with Jacob. God would
keep Jacob just like he said he would. Now, it's
interesting here. It calls Laban, Laban the Aramean.
This is the second time we've seen this. He's
never been called Laban the Aramean before. He's
just been Laban or Uncle Laban, right? Why the
difference? It's highlighting the divide between
these two men, but it's highlighting the point
that Jacob is separating from these old people
into a new life, that Jacob is separating from
the Arameans, and he's going to become the Jews.
He's separating into a new people, and this is
what is being highlighted here. Now we see Laban
is still trying his own tricks, right? I would
have sent you away with celebration. Why are
you being so mean to me? Yeah, right, Laban.
And then when that didn't work, he turns to threats
of harm. I could do you great harm. But your
God said, don't even talk to you as I'm talking
to you, right? Laban is all messed up. But I
want you to notice what's most important to Laban
here. He's trying to be the... the wounded father.
You took my daughters. You didn't even let me
kiss them and my grandkids goodbye. It's like,
I didn't take your daughters. I took my wives,
who I worked 14 years for, and my children, whom
I've had with my wives. But Laban's like, oh,
my daughters, and okay, fine, you're leaving,
but why'd you take my gods? That's what's important
to Laban, his gods. Now, I was like, okay, what
is the big deal here? What is Laban saying? And
I believe this is what's going on here. Jacob,
for 20 years, you've worked for me. For 20 years,
I've heard stories about the God of Isaac and
the God of Abraham. I know about the God of Abraham.
I mean, goodness. When he came to find a wife
for his son Isaac and all his riches and stuff,
I was like, oh, wow, I've heard all about that.
And you've been talking about God, and as you've
grown in years, I imagine Jacob got a little
less deceiving, a little more pro -God, and God
did this and God did that. And he's like, all
this stuff, I thought you believed in Yahweh.
Why'd you steal my gods? I thought you were a
Christian. But then you took my gods. You see,
now even though Jacob wasn't the one that took
them, Rachel did, what happened here is Jacob
looked like a hypocrite. I've told this story
before, but when I was growing up in high school,
I wasn't saved. Preface, was not saved. And the
best parties were the ones thrown by kids from
the Christian schools. I knew that. In high school.
I'm not going to name any of the local schools.
And I don't know how they are today. But when
I was in high school, if it was a party that
we'd heard about and it's like, oh, that's a
such and such school party. If it was a Christian
school, it's going to blow away every other party.
More drugs, more alcohol, more this, more just.
It was insane. And we knew that. And that's a
sad testimony of some of the kids. It's not every
Christian school. It's not every kid in the Christian
school. I grew up seeing Christians do and be
worse than the worldly people were, and that
contributed to me going, why do I want to have
anything to do with your God? You're no different
than me. In fact, the only difference between
me and you is we both do the drugs and we both
drink the alcohol and we both part and we both
do all the things, and you have guilt and I don't.
That's the only difference between us. Why would
I want to go to church with you? And this is
how Laban is viewing Jacob right now. Why'd you
steal my gods? You've been telling me for 20
years that your God is the only true God and
da -da -da -da -da, and yet you're going to take
mine? You can have your God. I don't want anything
to do with your God. Now, verse 31, Jacob answered,
I was afraid. For I thought you would take your
daughters from me. So the first question, you
took my daughters and my grandkids, and he's
like, look, I know you, Laban. You would take
them from me by force. That's what kind of gives
the indication that Jacob expected or was expecting
Laban to come with violence. But verse 32, if
you find your gods with anyone here, he will
not live. Before our relatives, point out anything
that is yours and take it. Jacob did not know
that Rachel had stolen the idols. So Laban went
into Jacob's tent and Leah's tent and the tents
of the two concubines, but he found nothing.
And when he left Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's
tent. Now, Rachel had taken Laban's household
idols. She put them into the saddlebag of the
cannibal and sat on them. Laban searched the
whole tent but found nothing. She said to her
father, don't be angry, my lord. I cannot stand
up in your presence. I'm having my period. So
Laban searched, but he could not find the household
idols. Yes, the Bible talks about these types
of things. So Jacob's like, I took my wives because
I knew who you are. And I'm expecting violence
from you, but you're stupid household gods. Are
you kidding me? Right, Jacob is coming from a
place of. bold, righteous anger here, and rightfully
so. He doesn't know his wife took these idols.
But he's like, look, I'm an open book. Search
wherever you'd like. If anybody in my group took
your stupid idols, let them die. Death penalty.
He was very, very sure of his innocence. And
as far as he knew, he was being honest. And honesty
does that to us. Right? I'm an open book. I can't
tell you how many times over the years That I've
been in a situation where there's a couple and
the other one says, they won't let me see what's
in their phone. And I'm like, why won't you let
them see what's in your phone? There's nothing
there, right? And in situations where there's
truly nothing there, but they won't let you see
the phone, just the fact that you're hiding it
is suspicious. That's why I tell couples, you
should have the passwords and full access to
both devices on either side of the aisle. Why?
Because when there's honesty there, you can say,
look at everything I got. There's nothing here
I need to hide from you. And this is where Jacob's
at. Now, he doesn't know his wife stole these
idols, but he's standing in righteous innocence
in his mind here. So Laban storms through everybody's
tent. He doesn't find the idols. And then we
have this weird story of Rachel, right? First
we ask, why did she steal the idols? And then
we come to this story, and it kind of fills in
a couple more blanks of why she might have stolen
the idols, right? But we do see that in Rachel's
life, even though Jacob is being called to make
this clean break to his new life, and he's taking
his wives with him, the family culture of manipulation
is still alive in Rachel. She hides the idols
in the saddlebag, she sits on them, and she says,
I'm sorry, I can't stand up, Dad. I'm on my period.
Now, Laban at this point is almost... Crazy with
suspicion. Tearing apart the tents. His daughter
says, I can't stand up. Now why would he not
say anything about that? You gotta understand
that the gods to these people in these times,
they were gods. They worshipped them. They put
so much faith into them. And so the idea that
his daughter would be sitting on these idols.
in this state of uncleanness. That's what was
considered in the time when a woman was on her
cycle, that she was unclean, that she was, you
know, contaminating, that you couldn't touch
her or be around her. You know, it's this idea
of this uncleanness is even in the law that when
a woman was on her cycle, there were certain
laws she had to follow because it was considered
impure. I mean, the idea of the impurity and
the uncleanness of that even comes through into
the symbolism where God says, hey, I want you
to understand, people, that your good works,
the best, most noble good work you can possibly
do as a human, in comparison to the goodness
of God, what he says in the Bible is your good
works are like a filthy rag. The word filthy
rag, it means menstrual cloth. So the idea of
that uncleanness, right, is even used symbolically.
And so the fact that his daughter would sit on
the household idols during that state was just
so, such a sacrilegious concept to him that I
don't think you'd even think she would do it.
But she did. Now, was she really on her period?
Was she not on her period? We don't know. Some
people go, yes, she was. And if she was? What
she was doing was communicating very loudly,
very clearly, her contempt for her dad's gods.
Because how disrespectful, how demeaning to sit
upon those gods in such a condition. It also
could be that she was just lying about her condition.
But again, either way, it's showing contempt
for her father, that she would want to communicate
that, oh, I'm sorry, you know, I can't stand
up because I'm on this, knowing that she's sitting
on her dad's gods. And so, again, when we look
back to why did Rachel steal the gods and all
those reasons, it seems to be more likely that
she was just mad at her dad and really hated
him for who he was and all that. So, but this
act of her sitting on them, whether she was or
wasn't on her period, even if it... Either way,
it was such a dishonoring thing. It was to treat
these idols as worthless. It was to treat them
as worthy of contempt, unworthy of notice. This
sitting on the idols, even under the thought
that she would be on her period, was a radically
huge sign of disrespect for these old gods. When
we're on the road of faith and our journey of
faith and growth and we're maturing in God, one
of the things that happens as we grow in our
faith is we begin more and more to see the idols
of our old life as worthless, as contemptible,
as not worthy of notice, not worthy of anything.
It happens as we grow in the Lord. Now, we still
have these places where we're like, what idols
are we hanging on to, right? But as you grow
in grace, one of the signs of that is that you're
going to see these old things that you used to
worship as the worthless things they are. When
we know Jesus Christ, we could even see the things
that other people bow down to that aren't God
and go, why are you doing that? Why are you chasing
money like it is the salvation of your soul?
Why are you chasing material things? Why are
you chasing satisfaction? Why are you chasing
women and men? Those things have no value. Now,
when we were unsaved, We could remember when
we chased those things too because we thought,
oh, they're the end all to everything. But a
part of our growth and our walk with the Lord,
a part of the process of him taking us through
these things and molding us and shaping us is
that we grow more and more to be able to look
back on the old idols of life and go, you know
what? They are worthless. They are meaningless.
They don't have any power in our lives. And we
know that the world we live in worships these
things. They don't worship idols as we see them
in the Old Testament anymore. There's no worship
of Baal and Ashtoreth and stuff, but those things
have simply taken on new names. Money, sex, power,
fame, fortune, control. And we know the world
worships these things, and we're called to cast
those things down. We're called to treat those
things with contempt and say they have no value.
They're worthless. They can't do anything for
you. And so, yeah, and a part of our journey,
we're gonna be like, I'm still hanging on to
these things. I need to cast them off. And as
you do that, as you follow the Lord's leading
on those things, I'm not supposed to carry these
things into my new life. I'm so separate from
those things. Then you're able to see them as
the worthless things they are more and more.
Like I said, when the plague struck Egypt, each
plague was meant to humiliate one of the gods
of Egypt. The Nile, the sun, the animals, they
were all shown to be powerless before the God
of Israel. And Rachel's contempt for her father's
gods here kind of prefigures that moment. We're
the gods of the world or nothing. So why hang
on to them? Now, that just begs the question
of all of us again. What gods of the world need
to be cast out from your heart? You can't serve
both them and God. In Christ, you've been made
free from the power, the influence, the control
of these things. You don't need to bow down to
them anymore. You don't need to put them in your
life as the priority that they once were. You
don't have to be controlled by them. You can
and you should cast them off because Jesus Christ
is the one reigning in your heart as a believer.
Now, verse 36, it says, then Jacob became incensed.
and brought charges against Laban. What is my
crime, he said to Laban? What is my sin that
you have pursued me? You've searched all my possessions.
Have you found anything of yours? Put it here
before my relatives and yours and let them decide
between the two of us. I've been with you these
20 years. Your ewes and female goats have not
miscarried and I have not eaten the rams from
your flock. I did not bring you any of the flock
torn by the wild beasts. I myself bore the loss.
You demanded payment from me for what was stolen
by day or night. There I was, the heat consumed
me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled
from my eyes. For 20 years in your household
I served you. 14 years for two of your daughters
and six years for your flocks, and you have changed
my wages 10 times. If the God of my father, the
God of Abraham, the fear of Isaac had not been
with me, certainly now you would have sent me
off empty -handed. But God has seen my affliction.
and my hard work. And he issued his verdict last
night, referring to the dream that Laban had.
So 20 years of being taken advantage of finally
bubbles over, right? Jacob is finally speaking
his mind, and he angrily, he firmly declares,
you know why I left secretly, because I don't
trust you. And you have the audacity to accuse
me of stealing your stupid gods? You found nothing.
And you think I'm dishonest. You're the cheat,
right? He's just upset here. I faithfully served
you for 20 years. I endured loss. You've cheated
me over and over. I've done nothing to deserve
your pursuit. But still, he gives God the credit
for his deliverance. And this is a great picture
of both righteous anger and humble faith, right?
The evidence speaks for itself. Laban, you're
the cheat, but God defended me. God defended
me. God is the one. You know, there's a time
to speak up. There is a time to stand up. There's
a time to defend righteousness, but instead of
it being about your own honor and your own vengeance,
we're to speak in faith. We're to speak with
faith. We're to make the moment about God's grace
and God's power and God's testimony. That is
what the world needs right now in light of the
Charlie Kirk incident. Yes, we need to stand
up. Yes, we need to stop cowering. Yes, we need
to stand up and defend righteousness, but not
to defend our own honor, not to seek vengeance,
but instead to continue to proclaim the truth
of who God is, to proclaim the truth of what
God is, to give him the credit for everything
and say he is the one. He is the one who defends
us. He is the one who fights for us. He is the
one you stand before if you don't know him. He
is the one that'll judge. And you need him. That
is a picture of righteous anger. This is what
righteous anger looks like. I'm angry. I'm upset.
Like many of you, yeah, when the Charlie Kirk
thing, like I said, I heard about it and I was
like, I'm done. I avoid politics. So I'm done
avoiding politics. I'm done. I'm just like, no,
Lord, I can't do this anymore. And God's like,
what? We need to fight back. Yeah. And I'm doing
it my way and in my time. Lord, what do you want
me to do? You already know. Speak up, stand up,
absolutely. But make the moment about God's grace,
God's power, and God's testimony. Make the moment
about who God is and what he can do, what he
is doing. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. It's
not mine. I'd mess it all up. But God can perfectly
mete out justice, and we need to let him and
trust him to do that. So we see Jacob here just
like, what crime have I done? I mean, there's
the exasperation of, I've done nothing to deserve
your pursuit. But God saw my affliction. And
God issued his verdict. And God is the one who
has been with me. And if he had not been with
me, you would have totally taken everything I
have. You cannot defeat God. You will not defeat
God. And that is the message we're called to
carry, especially in times like this. Yeah, Charlie's
wife. when she gave her message, she repeated
this over and over. You can't defeat God. You're
not going to stop God. Now she did say, which
I was just like, yeah. You have no idea what
you have started. And I'm like, oh, yeah. Grace
and peace. Okay, yes, prayer. And this is what
we see here in Jacob's life, right? I mean, God
sees the affliction. God sees the trauma. God
sees the labor. And God defends his people in
his way. And one of the thoughts that came to
me this last week as I was praying about the
whole Charlie Kirk thing, I was reviewing these
notes. I'm like, people go, how did God defend
Charlie? He got killed. And I just had this thought,
and I'm like, he did defend Charlie. He took
Charlie out of this broken, sinful, disgusting,
hateful world into his presence, where he is
in eternity forever in the glory of God. Yeah.
Jacob here was vindicated, credited everything
to God, honored God alone, and that's what we're
called to do. So verse 43, then Laban answered
Jacob, the daughters are my daughters. The children,
my children, the flocks, my flocks. Everything
you see is mine, but what can I do for these
daughters of mine or for the children that they
have born? Come now, let's make a covenant, you
and I. Let it be a witness between the two of
us. So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up
as a marker. Then Jacob said to his relatives,
gather stones. They took stones and made a mound,
and then they ate there by the mound. Laban named
the mount Jegar -Shahaduthah. but Jacob named
it Galid. Then Laban said, This mound is a witness
between me and you today. Therefore the place
was called Galid and also Mizpah. For he said,
May the Lord watch between you and me and when
we are out of each other's sight. If you mistreat
my daughters or take other wives, though no one
is with us, understand that God will be a witness
between you and me. Laban also said to Jacob,
look at this mound and the marker I've set up
between you and me. This mound is a witness and
the marker is a witness that I will not pass
beyond this mound to you and you will not pass
beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm.
The God of Abraham and the gods of Nahor, the
gods of their father, will judge between us.
And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.
Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain
and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they
ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.
Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his
grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them.
Then Laban left to return home. So here at the
end, exposed for what he was, Laban is now trying
to cover himself. He didn't find anything. It
was there. But for reasons known to God, God
didn't let Laban find them. Jacob's righteous
innocence was being defended here. So Laban,
he needed to do something. He had to save face.
So after huffing and puffing, these are my daughters.
These are my kids. These are my flocks. Well,
what can I do for these wonderful daughters of
mine? Let's make a covenant, right? False benevolence.
Let's make an agreement. And this agreement was
a big deal. Laban again is trying to make it
a private deal. Let it be a witness between the
two of us. And Jacob is like, uh -uh. You're
a liar. You're a cheat. The whole family is going
to witness this. Not just you and me. No more
of these private discussions that you could change
the details on. So they make this mound. They
stack it up. The Jegar Sahaduthah, that's Aramean.
And then Galid is Hebrew. They both mean the
exact same thing, heap of witness. But again,
we're seeing the divide that God is separating
Jacob from these people of the old way into a
new people by using the language separation here.
Mizpah means watchtower, which I just think is
funny. They also called it watchtower. Why? They
said, look, Laban's like, I'm drawing a line
in the sand. You stay on your side, I'll stay
on my side. Now, the whole idea here was because
I don't trust you out of my sight. May God watch
over you. Now Jacob didn't need a treaty because
God had already protected him from Laban. God
had already blessed Jacob, but this treaty would
officially and legally recognize before all of
these people that they were to be a separate
people. That God was using this moment and this
agreement, this covenant in front of all these
witnesses that Jacob was now recognized as a
separate, independent people. That they were
now being looked at as two separate ethnic groups.
God working his plan through all of it. Laban
seals the covenant by invoking every God he could
think of. God of Abraham, God of Jacob, the multiple
gods of Nahor, your father, this God, that God,
you know, Pac -Man, everybody we could think
of. And it's just, that's what pagans do. They
believe in all the gods because they believe
in none of them. They just believe in themselves.
So he tries to seal this by naming all these
gods. When he says the gods of Nahor, if you
go back into Genesis, you're going to find that
Nahor was the father of Terah, who was the father
of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Okay, so they were
all, the whole family was originally from Ur.
They primarily worshipped the moon god Nana,
but there was a whole pantheon of gods that were
worshipped there. And so Laban is just referring
back to the family history. I think it's his
last parting way to say, your God is nothing
more than all the other gods our family has worshipped
all these years. But Jacob, he rejects all that
nonsense. He swears by the one and only true
God, and he calls him the fear of his father
Isaac. That word fear there means that which
causes reverence. So he's like, I'm only going
to swear by the God that causes reverence in
my father. And I believe by implication there's
reverence in my heart now that he is God. He
is my God. Sacrifice to the Lord, last meal,
Laban leaves the next day, and I just think it's
funny that Laban kisses everybody but Jacob.
Kiss, kiss, kiss. Takes off. These men were not
on good terms, but Jacob was now free. He was
a free man, free to pursue God's promises for
his life. And that is what God wants in the separation.
That is why God calls us to separate. That is
why God calls us to do things opposite from the
world, to be different from the world, because
we're not of the world. That's why he'll come
into our life and go, hey, you're still carrying
those idols. You need to put them away. They're
worthless. See them as worthless. Know that they're
worthless and powerless, because he's calling
us to be a different people, a separate people.
But that means separation. Is there a Laban in
your life, a something or a someone that God
is calling you to separate from? A situation,
a vice, an entertainment, a relationship, and
God is saying, look, we're supposed to be making
a clean break here. Don't be like Rachel. Be
like Jacob. Make the clean break. And in these
separations, God doesn't necessarily say, oh,
separate because you hate them. It's separate
because you love God more. And you want to pursue
God, and you want God to be the one and only
in your life, and you want to be able to legitimately
say, God, you are my one and only. You are all
I need. And my life demonstrates that because
I've left aside all of those things. In fact,
I see them as contemptible. They're worthless.
Sometimes God calls us to separate, calls us
away from something. Because he wants us into
something better. He says, I want you to run
this race. And we're still carrying that backpack
full of bricks. And he's like, what are you doing?
I can't let them go, Lord. He's like, do this.
They're gone. I already cut the strap. Why are
you holding it together? Jacob left Laban's household,
left his family. Because God was calling him
into something greater, and he became the father
of a nation, a new people, just as God has promised.
You know, none of us know what lies ahead of
us. None of us know what tomorrow holds. I know
that Charlie didn't go into Wednesday thinking,
I'm going to die today. But I do know from his
testimony in his life that every single day of
his life, he was like, God, my life is yours.
I belong to you. Do with me what you will. I
read one article that said every time he would
go on stage to do the events like he was doing,
he would say, God, this is your event and I'm
your vessel and please use me to accomplish whatever
you want in these people's lives. That's how
we're called to live. We don't know the big picture.
God does. And so every moment of every life,
we gotta be living that part of the picture that
we're in. It could be more than you can imagine.
God could be calling you to separate something
that's going to be beautiful and you're hanging
on to these things still. God's like, I can't
get you here while you're hanging on to that.
So Jacob's exodus from Paddan Aram, it's a testimony
to God's sovereignty amidst all the deception
and the betrayal and the lies and the conniving
and the theft and the anger. God was still at
work in all of it. because he was sanctifying
Jacob. He was sanctifying the man that was his.
He was doing the work of molding him and shaping
him, and God was at work through all of it, just
as he is in all of our lives. God is at work
in your life today. In the midst of whatever
you're going through, God is still at work. God
still provides in his way in his time. He still
protects in his way in his time. He still prospers
in his way in his time. And what we see at the
end of the story is that he shaped Jacob into
a man of integrity. And Jacob, because of God,
grew in grace. And that grace led to the exoduses
in his life where he walked away from the old
ways to pursue the new ways. And so, yeah, his
story foreshadowed the exodus of Israel, as I
said, but the most important thing is it foreshadowed
the ultimate exodus that is found in Jesus Christ.
Where Jesus came into this world, into the place
of bondage, lived here without sin, died the
death that is due for all the sin that is in
this world to set you free. He said, all you
need to do is believe in me, put faith in who
I am and what I did for you, and you will be
set free. You'll be freed from the power of sin,
you'll be freed from the power of death. You'll
have the hope of heaven knowing that one day
when you leave this vessel, this fleshly vessel,
you're going to have the ultimate exodus into
paradise to be with God forever in heaven. That's
what he's promised. All of us that are Christians
as we're living this life, our stories are a
part of the same story. That Jacob was a part
of. God is shaping us. He's delivering us. He's
pruning us. He's growing us. And you may look
at your life and you're like, yeah, I am far
from perfect just like Jacob. But God is making
you into a person of faith. Trust him. Don't
hide. Don't hold. Don't lie. Don't be dishonest.
Be the person that can say, here's my life, wide
open. You're not going to see all the things
that are hidden because I've thrown them away.
I want you to see God in my life. And when that
journey we're on feels too hard, just remember
that Christ already did all the work. He already
did all the work. He freed us from that power.
So don't hang on to the addles of your old life.
Don't keep carrying that backpack. You're not
going to grow that way. Let it go. so that you
would grow in grace, so that you would be the
person who's quick to give God all the credit
for the blessings in your life, not taking it
for yourself. That even in righteous anger, you'd
be able to stand up and say, this is not right,
but God will defend me. God will defend those
that believe in him. God is the one who will
bring salvation, bring wrath. It's God's business.
In the meantime, I'm not like you. I'm not going
to live that way. I'm not going to be that way.
I'm going to be the new creation that God has
called me to be. Let's pray. Lord, we love you.
God, you are at work in this world in ways we
can't even understand. Lord, we know that you
allow things that we don't understand. And yet,
God, you are sovereign. Everything you do, everything
you allow. is perfectly a part of the good. You're
working through everything even when we don't
understand, Lord. And God, every single one of
us that know you, we're on this journey where
you are sanctifying us, molding us and shaping
us, Lord. That God, the more holy we become,
the more wicked injustice will seem to us. And
yet, Lord, you're calling us out of the world
not to be like the world, not to react like the
world. God, we know you deal with those things
like what Rachel did. But we know that your grace
supersedes everything we do, Lord, as we've put
our faith in you. That where sin abounds, grace
super abounds. And Lord, we pray for those who
stand against you. We pray for those who try
and take advantage of your people. We pray for
those that want to harm your people, God. We
pray for safety, yes. We pray for protection,
yes. But Lord, your word said that no greater
love has manned than this to lay down his life
for his brethren. And Lord, we know that the
sacrifice that is Charlie Kirk's death has ignited
a flame around the world for you. And we celebrate
that, Lord. Not his death, but the fruit that
you are bringing through, that people would come
to know you. And we pray for the salvation of
those who don't know you. We pray for the labans
of this world, that they would be saved. We pray
for the evil in this world, that it would be
held at bay by your Holy Spirit until the time
where you're going to remove your hand. But in
the process, Lord, we pray that people would
know you, that are witness. that as peacemakers,
as those who turn the other cheek, Lord, those
who stand for righteousness, Lord, and Lord,
even when we have to express our righteous anger,
that we would still use those moments to point
to you and the grace and the forgiveness and
the mercy and the salvation that is in Jesus
Christ. Lord, help us as people of faith to grow,
to grow in the grace that you've given us. To
continue to walk the exodus that you've called
us to. To leave the old ways behind. To leave
the old nature behind. To leave the old idols
behind. Because we are a new people. We are a
new creation in Christ. And Lord, I pray for
just any of those that are in this room or listening
to this message at any time, God. That may...
because of circumstances in their life, they
may be considering extreme action like this young
man. Yeah, maybe they're considering hurting
somebody. That, God, they would know that there's
hope in you, that there's forgiveness in you,
that there's love that they can never understand
in you. And I pray, God, for those people to
come to know you, God. To not act out in the
violence that the world wants them to do, but
instead to receive the peace that surpasses all
understanding. God, we lift up your name. That
your name would be holy. And that God, for every
other martyr that's still to come, Lord, that
you would use their lives. as a catalyst as you're
doing with Charlie Kirks. Lord, that you would
work through all these people like Jacob and
Abraham and Isaac and all the believers in the
world today, Lord, to shine the light of the
gospel and nothing else. We love you. We thank
you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well,
if you're dealing with something today, then
you're here. and you are having the temptations
to do something extreme and violent, please come
up and talk. There's no condemnation. There's
no condemnation in the Lord. Get prayer. Come
forward and talk with the pastors or the elders,
because you don't have to do that horrible, violent
thing that you think you want to do. God could
change your life. God could change the path.
For the rest of us, we're surrounded by evil
in this world. Be a light. Shine brightly. Don't
live a life of hypocrisy. Don't hang on to the
things that are going to water down your witness,
but instead, cast those things aside. The world
needs Christians to be Christians more than ever.
We're not perfect, but we are forgiven. We're
not without sin, but we are full of the Holy
Spirit. Let God do a work in your lives. Amen?
All right. God bless you.