WEBVTT 00:00:00.170 --> 00:00:01.929 This morning we're going to be asking ourselves 00:00:01.929 --> 00:00:04.250 a very important question, but I think it's one 00:00:04.250 --> 00:00:06.570 we should ask more often than we do. And the 00:00:06.570 --> 00:00:10.589 question is this, what are we living for? You 00:00:10.589 --> 00:00:13.890 ever ask yourself that question? What am I living 00:00:13.890 --> 00:00:17.550 for? Before I got saved, I had a moment in the 00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:19.429 parking lot at Long Beach City College where 00:00:19.429 --> 00:00:22.149 I sat there and I was a brand new baby Christian 00:00:22.149 --> 00:00:24.989 and I was like, God, what did you make me for? 00:00:26.469 --> 00:00:29.350 Like, why am I here? You know, like... What's 00:00:29.350 --> 00:00:32.710 the point? And it's a question I think Christians 00:00:32.710 --> 00:00:37.250 ask. We maybe should ask often because self -review 00:00:37.250 --> 00:00:39.250 and reflection and all that stuff is a really 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:42.310 important thing to do in our lives. Years ago, 00:00:42.369 --> 00:00:47.049 I worked as a dove releaser for funerals and 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:49.229 weddings. You guys ever heard of that? I worked 00:00:49.229 --> 00:00:51.030 for this company called White Dove Release, of 00:00:51.030 --> 00:00:52.950 all things. I'll tell you a secret. They're pigeons, 00:00:53.070 --> 00:00:56.490 not doves, but they're white. And I would have 00:00:56.490 --> 00:00:59.469 to dress up in a suit, and I would go to mostly 00:00:59.469 --> 00:01:01.450 funerals, but occasionally we did weddings and 00:01:01.450 --> 00:01:03.670 other stuff. And I was the guy that got to, you 00:01:03.670 --> 00:01:05.689 know, grab the bird out of the box and give a 00:01:05.689 --> 00:01:07.790 little spiel about the symbolism and then open 00:01:07.790 --> 00:01:10.250 the box and let them all fly into the sky, right? 00:01:10.849 --> 00:01:14.230 And it was a great job. It was very regular. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:18.439 But often when I would get to the cemetery or 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:20.500 the place where the, you know, graveside was 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:23.659 going to be, families were late, which that just 00:01:23.659 --> 00:01:25.659 happens with funerals. The procession wouldn't 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:28.459 get there when I was told they would be there. 00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:29.859 And so I would either sit there in the truck 00:01:29.859 --> 00:01:31.519 or sometimes I would get out and just kind of 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:35.000 walk up and down the rows where the gravestones 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.599 are at. And you just look at all these different 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:39.840 gravestones and, you know, you'd see things like 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.420 beloved mother and, you know, dear father. And 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:46.019 sometimes you'd see. you know, tragic things 00:01:46.019 --> 00:01:49.079 like a baby or something like that. But, you 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:51.640 know, these are people, and I'd often think, 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:54.959 these are people who had lives and families, 00:01:55.019 --> 00:01:58.859 and some of them maybe were well -known in their 00:01:58.859 --> 00:02:03.340 social circles. But now, as I'm walking here, 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:07.680 in many cases, they're just, they're nothing 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:11.669 but a fading memory on this headstone. I would 00:02:11.669 --> 00:02:14.069 think, wow. And it would often cause me to reflect 00:02:14.069 --> 00:02:19.349 on life and whatnot. That story came to mind 00:02:19.349 --> 00:02:21.129 as I was studying this chapter because Genesis 00:02:21.129 --> 00:02:25.710 36 really is a cemetery of names. It's names 00:02:25.710 --> 00:02:28.870 that were lived. Our lives that were lived, it 00:02:28.870 --> 00:02:32.150 was people who laughed and loved and died. And 00:02:32.150 --> 00:02:35.250 this chapter as we study it today, if you've 00:02:35.250 --> 00:02:36.729 already looking at it, you'll notice that it's 00:02:36.729 --> 00:02:39.229 one of those genealogy chapters that people like 00:02:39.229 --> 00:02:41.810 to skip, right? You go through the Bible and 00:02:41.810 --> 00:02:43.969 you're like, wow, exciting story, exciting story. 00:02:44.110 --> 00:02:46.330 And then you're like, a thousand names I could 00:02:46.330 --> 00:02:48.389 barely pronounce, right? What am I going to get 00:02:48.389 --> 00:02:50.729 out of this? And so you want to skip past it, 00:02:50.770 --> 00:02:55.340 right? That is always the temptation, but biblical 00:02:55.340 --> 00:02:58.879 genealogies are just like walking through a cemetery, 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:02.500 right? They're like walking through rows of unfamiliar 00:03:02.500 --> 00:03:05.159 names and just kind of wondering who they were 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:08.000 and what they did, but in Scripture, when it 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.039 comes to Scripture, every letter, every dot, 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:15.620 every space, every piece of grammar is there 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:19.539 for a reason. It's important. God included it 00:03:19.539 --> 00:03:23.439 for a purpose, and so this chapter, like many 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:26.120 other chapters that are just genealogies of names, 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:30.580 they're meant to make us pause and to ask ourselves 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:35.979 the questions, what am I living for? What will 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:38.639 I be known for when I leave this earth? What 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:42.960 will my name stand for when I'm gone? Those types 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:45.539 of questions are the exact questions that Genesis 00:03:45.539 --> 00:03:49.340 36 answers for the story of one man in particular, 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:53.400 Esau. This whole chapter is the genealogy of 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:57.300 Esau's family, a man who seemed to have incredible 00:03:57.300 --> 00:04:01.539 success in life, great, great wealth, great money, 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:05.340 fame, political power. His family became a nation, 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:09.159 but yet the reality and the application for us 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:12.319 is he had nothing. when it came to what really 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.280 mattered. And so we're going to be talking about 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:16.680 that today, but first we're going to worship 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:19.199 the Lord and spend some time together raising 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:22.720 up our individual voices as one voice to praise 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:26.680 Almighty God. Because it is Him that everything 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:29.540 is about. It is Him that existence and life is 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:31.540 about. He is the only one that matters. He is 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:34.839 the most important thing. His will, His way is 00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:38.540 all that is going to matter and continue. And 00:04:38.540 --> 00:04:40.970 for all of us in these lives, whether we whether 00:04:40.970 --> 00:04:44.250 we end up leaving this world with a name that 00:04:44.250 --> 00:04:48.810 is recognized or just a dash in between our birth 00:04:48.810 --> 00:04:50.649 date and our death date that nobody knows anything 00:04:50.649 --> 00:04:56.170 about, if God knows your name, you're alive forever. 00:04:56.430 --> 00:05:00.350 Amen? Let's pray. God, we love you. We thank 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:07.110 you. We praise you. Lord, this whole life we 00:05:07.110 --> 00:05:09.800 live here on this earth, Lord, is... is a process 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:12.860 of knowing you more, God. For those of us that 00:05:12.860 --> 00:05:15.180 have come to know you as our Lord and Savior, 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:17.199 Lord, we want to know you more and more that 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.779 we would be more and more like you. God, the 00:05:20.779 --> 00:05:23.939 deeper we come to know you, the more we come 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:26.620 to realize that the things of this world are 00:05:26.620 --> 00:05:30.259 meaningless in the big picture. And so, God, 00:05:30.339 --> 00:05:34.000 we want to read your word today and study your 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.019 word today and look at... Lord, what on the surface 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:40.220 is a boring list of names, but to learn from 00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:43.459 this record of Esau's family that we would be 00:05:43.459 --> 00:05:46.459 encouraged to do the right thing in our life 00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:50.839 as Christians, Lord. So, God, I invite you here, 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:53.000 and I know all of us invite you here, Lord, to 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.800 bless us, to minister to us, to speak to us. 00:05:57.579 --> 00:05:59.639 Lord, we even invite you here to challenge us 00:05:59.639 --> 00:06:02.160 and rebuke us if that's what we need, God, because 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:05.449 Lord, we know that you discipline those that 00:06:05.449 --> 00:06:08.769 you love, that as your children, God, you will 00:06:08.769 --> 00:06:11.410 correct us when we need it. And at the same time, 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:16.850 Lord, we just want to step back and just praise 00:06:16.850 --> 00:06:20.310 you. You're so worthy. You're so worthy, God. 00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:22.670 And so, Lord, as your body here this morning 00:06:22.670 --> 00:06:24.990 lifts up our voices together, God, we just pray 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:26.769 that you would have a smile on your face, God, 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:29.189 that you would be blessed as your children give 00:06:29.189 --> 00:06:32.009 you the honor and glory that you are due. And, 00:06:32.050 --> 00:06:33.889 Lord, that we would do it from hearts that love 00:06:33.889 --> 00:06:35.629 you. We would do it from hearts of gratitude 00:06:35.629 --> 00:06:38.350 for all that you've done in our lives, all that 00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:41.110 you're going to do, and, Lord, ultimately, the 00:06:41.110 --> 00:06:43.689 hope of heaven. God, if there's anybody here 00:06:43.689 --> 00:06:45.629 in our sanctuary this morning or watching online 00:06:45.629 --> 00:06:47.589 that does not yet know you as their Lord and 00:06:47.589 --> 00:06:51.720 Savior, God, I pray that even now they would 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:55.120 sense your presence, to know that the God who 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:58.519 created this entire universe is looking at them 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:02.480 right now, not with anger and judgment, but with 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:06.379 love and compassion. That, Lord, they would sense 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:09.180 your almighty eye upon them, knowing that you 00:07:09.180 --> 00:07:11.839 know how many hairs are on their head, you know 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:15.720 everything about their life, God. And that, Lord, 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.860 that they would come to understand today That 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:20.699 the most important thing to live for is you. 00:07:22.420 --> 00:07:24.379 Because, Lord, you are the only means of salvation. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:26.399 You are the only means of heaven. You are the 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.899 only means of hope. And so, God, we ask you to 00:07:29.899 --> 00:07:33.220 do that work today. So, God, let your children 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:35.660 praise you. We love you. It's in Jesus' name 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:39.480 we pray. Amen. We are in Genesis chapter 36. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.620 And, you know, there's a harsh reality of life 00:07:44.620 --> 00:07:48.899 that every single one of us deals with. And it's 00:07:48.899 --> 00:07:52.500 something that is affecting people now. It's 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:55.519 something that has likely affected all of us 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:57.660 at some point, and it will directly affect us 00:07:57.660 --> 00:08:01.540 one day. And that's the reality that we will 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:05.759 all one day physically die, that death is going 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:08.220 to come for all of us. And, you know, biblically, 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:11.759 we know that that is a result of sin. That in 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:13.740 the beginning, the way God created the heavens 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:15.579 and the earth and paradise and the Garden of 00:08:15.579 --> 00:08:19.000 Eden is that Adam and Eve were intended to live 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.339 forever in paradise with God. And yet, because 00:08:22.339 --> 00:08:25.220 they disobeyed God's command, the Bible tells 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:28.420 us that death entered the world. Physical death 00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:31.579 is what we experience physically, but then there 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:34.299 is the second death, as the Bible talks about 00:08:34.299 --> 00:08:37.600 it, which is a forever separation from God. It's 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.460 an eternity in judgment for sin. And that is 00:08:41.460 --> 00:08:45.379 why God did everything he did to solve that problem 00:08:45.379 --> 00:08:48.659 for us, that although this physical body will 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:50.759 pass, that we would have the opportunity for 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:54.179 eternal life through forgiveness of our sin in 00:08:54.179 --> 00:08:58.320 the work of Jesus Christ. And so, you know, for 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:00.659 many of us, our whole life, every deed, every 00:09:00.659 --> 00:09:02.980 accomplishment, every success, and every failure. 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:08.019 will one day kind of be represented by nothing 00:09:08.019 --> 00:09:10.240 more than that dash that's on our headstone, 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:13.600 right? Because as time goes on, as memory fades, 00:09:13.779 --> 00:09:17.559 as the people who knew us immediately go on or 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:22.100 pass on themselves, the memories get farther 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:25.200 and farther in between. There's a reason why 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:28.480 we have these representations of names and people 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:30.799 who we don't recognize, whose names we don't 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.200 know, whose accomplishments we have no idea what 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.480 they are. There's a reason we have these in Scripture, 00:09:35.659 --> 00:09:38.960 what we call genealogies, because we read these 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:41.460 things and it's just a list. Like I said in the 00:09:41.460 --> 00:09:44.120 intro, it's just a list of names as if you're 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:45.399 walking through a cemetery and you're going, 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:47.539 I don't know who that is, but they were alive 00:09:47.539 --> 00:09:53.769 at one point. Genesis 36 is that list, that genealogical 00:09:53.769 --> 00:09:57.090 record of Esau, who is Jacob's brother, the firstborn 00:09:57.090 --> 00:09:59.710 of Isaac. And this genealogy here in Genesis 00:09:59.710 --> 00:10:03.190 36 is given from a secular point of view. And 00:10:03.190 --> 00:10:05.049 it's very interesting because it's in Scripture, 00:10:05.289 --> 00:10:08.029 but from the secular point of view that it's 00:10:08.029 --> 00:10:10.230 presented, we see that this man was incredibly 00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:13.990 successful. His family became very rich, very 00:10:13.990 --> 00:10:16.529 powerful. But from the biblical perspective, 00:10:16.929 --> 00:10:19.250 it's a really sad illustration of what Jesus 00:10:19.250 --> 00:10:22.850 said in Mark 8, verse 36. And this is what he 00:10:22.850 --> 00:10:25.769 said. For what does it benefit someone to gain 00:10:25.769 --> 00:10:29.679 the whole world and yet lose his life? You see, 00:10:29.700 --> 00:10:32.200 I titled this study, When Success Misses What 00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:38.419 Matters. And Esau is a sad story of a life that 00:10:38.419 --> 00:10:41.740 had great success but missed what mattered most. 00:10:41.940 --> 00:10:44.820 And it's here for a reason, God included it, 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:46.299 that we would learn from it. And so we're going 00:10:46.299 --> 00:10:48.299 to study through this chapter and this list of 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:49.940 names. If you'll start with me here in verse 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:52.960 1, it says these are the family records of Esau. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:58.049 That is Edom. Now, we've met this man Esau before 00:10:58.049 --> 00:11:00.769 in our study of Genesis. He is the brother of 00:11:00.769 --> 00:11:04.870 Jacob. We met him first in Genesis 25 when he 00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:07.629 was born, right? And we read that he came out 00:11:07.629 --> 00:11:10.649 first, but Jacob was grabbing his heel. And we 00:11:10.649 --> 00:11:13.350 read that in that chapter, he ended up selling 00:11:13.350 --> 00:11:17.590 his rights as the firstborn to Jacob for a bowl 00:11:17.590 --> 00:11:21.529 of stew. In Genesis 27, we saw the story where... 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:25.429 Jacob and his mom kind of were conniving to steal 00:11:25.429 --> 00:11:28.029 not just the birthright that he'd already stolen, 00:11:28.070 --> 00:11:30.289 but the family blessing as well. And so Jacob 00:11:30.289 --> 00:11:33.210 dressed up like Esau and pretended to be him. 00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:37.009 And Esau then lost the blessing as well. Now, 00:11:37.070 --> 00:11:39.830 there in Genesis 27, we had read that Esau was 00:11:39.830 --> 00:11:42.409 so mad at his brother that he wanted to kill 00:11:42.409 --> 00:11:45.970 him. And that caused Jacob to have to flee north 00:11:45.970 --> 00:11:47.929 to the homeland of his mother. And then that 00:11:47.929 --> 00:11:49.950 was the last we heard of Esau until we get to 00:11:49.950 --> 00:11:53.690 Genesis chapter 33, which was 20 years later. 00:11:53.830 --> 00:11:57.190 As Jacob is coming back from the north, back 00:11:57.190 --> 00:12:01.830 to the land of promise, he is met by his brother 00:12:01.830 --> 00:12:05.080 Esau. Now, Jacob on his way back home after 20 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:07.059 years was still afraid. His brother was so mad 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:09.340 he wanted to kill him. And so, you know, he sent 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:12.220 all these gifts forward to kind of appease his 00:12:12.220 --> 00:12:14.399 anger and then, you know, really to find out 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:16.620 that if he indeed was so angry that he wanted 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:18.480 to slaughter everything, that hopefully Jacob 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.080 would have time to flee. Well, there we read 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:24.799 that Esau met him with love and forgiveness. 00:12:25.769 --> 00:12:28.669 And mercy and grace and kindness instead of all 00:12:28.669 --> 00:12:31.529 of the anger. And so we see, you know, this side 00:12:31.529 --> 00:12:34.549 of Esau that he wasn't a complete jerk, you know. 00:12:35.350 --> 00:12:39.110 Now, back in Genesis 25, Esau is described as 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:42.039 what we would call the man's man. The rugged 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:46.460 man, the outdoor man, the guy with the big beard 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:49.539 and the broad shoulders and wearing the flannels. 00:12:49.740 --> 00:12:51.980 Back when we studied this, I said, hey, he reminds 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:55.320 me of Pastor Rick. Then I got a lot of flack 00:12:55.320 --> 00:12:57.700 for that because Esau is kind of a bad example 00:12:57.700 --> 00:13:02.320 in Scripture. Likes and interests reminds me 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:05.639 of Pastor Rick. Character, not at all. That's 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.759 on record now. But he was this dude that was 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.740 just strong as an ox. And, you know, he had a 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:14.480 bow on his back and laughter in his voice and 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.159 a deer slung over his shoulder. And, you know, 00:13:17.179 --> 00:13:19.480 this is who he was, just a powerful man with 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:22.320 a powerful presence. But underneath all of that 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.100 rugged charm, there was a very tragic shallowness 00:13:25.100 --> 00:13:28.700 that was Esau. He was a man who lived by his 00:13:28.700 --> 00:13:33.000 appetites, that if he saw it, he wanted it. And 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.649 if he wanted it, he took it. That he was the 00:13:35.649 --> 00:13:38.509 type of man that right now is what matters most. 00:13:38.629 --> 00:13:42.570 The tangible, the physical is what is most important 00:13:42.570 --> 00:13:46.129 to me. His immediate pleasure, his immediate 00:13:46.129 --> 00:13:49.830 satisfaction were his motivators. And so, you 00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:52.610 know, the idea was, is I'm hungry now, I want 00:13:52.610 --> 00:13:55.389 to eat. I'm sad now, I want to do what makes 00:13:55.389 --> 00:13:57.889 me happy. You know, there was no sense to him 00:13:57.889 --> 00:14:01.049 of future and what was before him. And that's 00:14:01.049 --> 00:14:04.830 how he lost his firstborn rights to Jacob. Because 00:14:04.830 --> 00:14:07.049 he was out in the field hunting and working and 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:08.850 he comes in and he's tired and he's sweating, 00:14:08.909 --> 00:14:12.029 he's hungry. And Jacob had made his favorite 00:14:12.029 --> 00:14:14.149 meal, right? And so Esau's like, give me some 00:14:14.149 --> 00:14:17.769 of that stew. And then Jacob says, only if you'll 00:14:17.769 --> 00:14:21.769 sell me your birthright. Right? And that birthright, 00:14:21.909 --> 00:14:25.419 it was everything. That represented his status 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:28.379 as the firstborn of the family. That he was supposed 00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:31.419 to inherit a double portion of the inheritance. 00:14:31.580 --> 00:14:34.820 And he was supposed to get the leadership role 00:14:34.820 --> 00:14:37.519 in the family. And that carried a lot of weight. 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:40.360 It was very important. Plus, it also had to tie 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:43.340 into with God's promise on the family. That as 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:45.419 God covenanted with Abraham and then it went 00:14:45.419 --> 00:14:47.919 to Isaac, now those promises were supposed to 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:51.799 go down to Isaac's sons. And so Esau, as the 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:55.289 firstborn, was... naturally the one to inherit 00:14:55.289 --> 00:14:59.649 all of that. But the problem was, is a delicious 00:14:59.649 --> 00:15:04.549 stew that would satisfy his hunger now was more 00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:07.389 valuable to him than these future promises of 00:15:07.389 --> 00:15:11.529 God. Than this intangible stuff like, yeah, this 00:15:11.529 --> 00:15:14.289 is God I can't see, and he's made some promises 00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:17.029 to our family, but whatever, I'm hungry now. 00:15:17.649 --> 00:15:20.730 I want to satisfy my physical needs now, and 00:15:20.730 --> 00:15:24.039 so... That's who Esau was. He lived for now, 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:28.659 not for eternity. Now, when he sold his birthright 00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:32.139 in Genesis 25 -34, it told us very specifically 00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:36.940 that Esau despised his birthright. Now, that 00:15:36.940 --> 00:15:39.600 word despised doesn't mean he hated it, right? 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:42.360 What it means is that he treated it as nothing 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:46.559 special, that it was no big deal. It didn't really 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:51.740 have any value to him. And so, What Esau's life 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:54.620 has been characterized by in everything we've 00:15:54.620 --> 00:15:57.720 seen so far, specifically in the beginning, is 00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:01.840 that the things that were holy, the covenant 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:06.220 promises of God to his family, he treated those 00:16:06.220 --> 00:16:10.460 things as common, regular. It's not special. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:15.759 There's nothing special to it, and it's a danger 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:18.620 that we could all run into. where we could find 00:16:18.620 --> 00:16:22.879 ourselves treating what is holy as common, right? 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:26.379 Like when we gather together as the body, this 00:16:26.379 --> 00:16:30.700 is a holy time. It really is. This is a moment 00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:34.019 that we set aside time to come together to not 00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:36.899 only worship God, to hear his word being taught, 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:39.539 but it is a time for us to fellowship and support 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:42.539 one another. It's a time for us to use the spiritual 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.120 gifts God has given us to pray with someone, 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:48.480 to give them a hug, to give them a word of encouragement, 00:16:48.580 --> 00:16:53.080 whatever it may be. But a lot of Christians treat 00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:55.840 this moment of gathering as common. That's no 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:58.759 big deal. I'll sleep in today. I can miss this 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:01.960 week. I'll go back next week, you know. And I 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:04.220 understand that there's times where we can't 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:06.700 make it on a Sunday and stuff. But when the attitude 00:17:06.700 --> 00:17:09.519 is, that's no big deal. I'm going to go worship 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.400 God with my church. Eh, that's treating what 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:16.680 is holy is common, you know. And we have to be 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:18.480 very careful of falling into that. And we're 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.460 going to kind of learn how that happens through 00:17:21.460 --> 00:17:24.599 Esau's life. So verse 2, it goes on to tell us, 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:26.680 Esau took his wives from the Canaanite women. 00:17:27.069 --> 00:17:30.990 Adah, daughter of Elon the Hethite, Oholibamah, 00:17:31.009 --> 00:17:33.369 daughter of Anna and granddaughter of Zibion 00:17:33.369 --> 00:17:36.589 the Hivite, and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael 00:17:36.589 --> 00:17:41.609 and sister of Nebaioth. Adah bore Eliphaz to 00:17:41.609 --> 00:17:45.710 Esau, Basemath bore Ruel, and Oholibamah bore 00:17:45.710 --> 00:17:50.730 Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau's sons 00:17:50.730 --> 00:17:54.500 who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Now, 00:17:54.539 --> 00:17:57.279 I have no idea if I'm pronouncing oh -holy -bama 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:01.079 correctly, okay? And I told someone I was going 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:02.460 to tell this joke today, and they said, please 00:18:02.460 --> 00:18:03.880 don't, but I have to do it because it's like 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:05.460 the best dad joke I think I've ever written, 00:18:05.539 --> 00:18:07.799 is that I know that some people still consider 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:10.480 Obama holy today, but this is not where that 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:13.559 comes from, okay? This is some other person that 00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:16.500 has nothing to do with him, but I'm pronouncing 00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:21.319 it oh -holy -bama, okay? But it opens up here 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:24.200 with his marriages, right? Who he married and 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:27.619 the children born to that. And what we see is 00:18:27.619 --> 00:18:30.660 the same story that we already know about Esau. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:34.180 Instead of saying God made promises and God told 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:36.599 us to only marry, you know, within God's chosen 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:38.940 people, I'm going to go outside of that and marry, 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.859 you know, Canaanites and Hethites and Hittites. 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:46.180 Instead of following God's commands, instead 00:18:46.180 --> 00:18:50.369 of valuing what God said as important, did whatever 00:18:50.369 --> 00:18:54.569 he wanted to do. He did what was important to 00:18:54.569 --> 00:18:57.309 him. And it might be because these women were 00:18:57.309 --> 00:18:59.509 beautiful and appealing. It might be because 00:18:59.509 --> 00:19:00.990 there was something about them that was more 00:19:00.990 --> 00:19:03.390 valuable to him than following God's word. But 00:19:03.390 --> 00:19:06.049 he marries these women and, you know, it tells 00:19:06.049 --> 00:19:08.329 us and it reminds us that he even married someone 00:19:08.329 --> 00:19:10.970 from the family of Ishmael. Like you couldn't 00:19:10.970 --> 00:19:13.089 get more outside of the covenant than the son 00:19:13.089 --> 00:19:15.450 who was the one outside of the covenant, right? 00:19:15.509 --> 00:19:18.880 Abraham, Isaac. Ishmael was the brother that 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.660 was like, nope, that's not the one that the promise 00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:22.900 is going to come from. And yet he still takes 00:19:22.900 --> 00:19:26.400 a wife from Ishmael's family. And all of these 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:28.779 people, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Hittites, 00:19:28.900 --> 00:19:30.920 you know, all the ites, right? These are people 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:34.400 in Scripture that worshipped pagan gods. They 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.660 rejected the God of Israel. They rejected the 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:40.859 one true God. They worshipped pagan idols. This 00:19:40.859 --> 00:19:43.150 is what they were all about. And it told us that 00:19:43.150 --> 00:19:45.650 when Esau took these wives originally, that their 00:19:45.650 --> 00:19:50.450 marriages made life bitter for his parents. That 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:54.230 his mother was like, please make sure Jacob doesn't 00:19:54.230 --> 00:19:56.690 marry somebody outside the family because, man, 00:19:56.730 --> 00:19:59.190 Esau did that and it's horrible. And it just 00:19:59.190 --> 00:20:03.150 shows that Esau had a disregard for his spiritual 00:20:03.150 --> 00:20:05.509 heritage. He didn't care, right? He didn't care 00:20:05.509 --> 00:20:07.910 about the spiritual heritage. And again, it showed 00:20:07.910 --> 00:20:12.849 that self -pleasure, convenience. covenant and 00:20:12.849 --> 00:20:16.230 calling in his life. So, you know, it's sad how 00:20:16.230 --> 00:20:21.690 easily believers, Christians, can trade spiritual 00:20:21.690 --> 00:20:25.450 legacy for temporary fulfillment, right? It's 00:20:25.450 --> 00:20:27.509 just, it's sad. You know, we might have a desire 00:20:27.509 --> 00:20:31.339 or... an appetite or an impulse or a relationship 00:20:31.339 --> 00:20:34.539 that is outside the will of God. And we won't 00:20:34.539 --> 00:20:36.960 let that go and we won't give it up. And we won't, 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:41.400 you know, because it holds more value to us than 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:43.880 God's word and God's promises and God's way. 00:20:44.099 --> 00:20:46.819 And, you know, Esau's life teaches us that the 00:20:46.819 --> 00:20:49.440 danger in not letting those things go and the 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:53.980 danger in devaluing what is holy is not necessarily 00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:59.059 that we will hate God's blessing. but simply 00:20:59.059 --> 00:21:01.259 that will stop treating it as something special. 00:21:02.740 --> 00:21:05.380 And I think that's a pandemic in the church today. 00:21:05.900 --> 00:21:09.980 A lot of people that come to church, and they're 00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:11.980 Christians, they're saved, they've professed 00:21:11.980 --> 00:21:15.180 faith in Jesus Christ, but their walk is pretty 00:21:15.180 --> 00:21:19.339 shallow, right? And outside of Sunday, they might 00:21:19.339 --> 00:21:22.299 be generally good people, but... They still actively 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:23.900 do things they know they shouldn't. They still 00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:25.279 say things they know they shouldn't. They're 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:27.539 still engaged in activities that they know they 00:21:27.539 --> 00:21:29.339 shouldn't be, and they're going, you know, and 00:21:29.339 --> 00:21:34.460 they justify it somehow. And that's one of the 00:21:34.460 --> 00:21:38.319 things we start doing when we're people who are 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:41.500 living really outside the will of God and taking 00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:43.539 what's pleasurable, what's physical, what's now, 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:46.960 what's tangible, and putting that above what 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:50.769 is holy. as we've made what is holy, like, it's 00:21:50.769 --> 00:21:52.869 there, but it's not that important to us anymore. 00:21:53.009 --> 00:21:57.990 And so, verse 6. Esau took his wives, his sons, 00:21:58.029 --> 00:21:59.730 his daughters, and all the people of his household, 00:21:59.890 --> 00:22:02.230 as well as his herds, all his livestock, and 00:22:02.230 --> 00:22:04.910 all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and 00:22:04.910 --> 00:22:07.190 he went to a land away from his brother Jacob. 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:11.180 Now, this is likely, I believe, that Jacob had 00:22:11.180 --> 00:22:13.740 left Shechem, finally went to Bethel, and then 00:22:13.740 --> 00:22:16.180 he leaves Bethel and he's traveling back to go 00:22:16.180 --> 00:22:18.880 see his dad. And so this is likely Jacob has 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:21.599 gotten back now. He arrives with all of his wealth 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.059 and his herds and his family, and it's just too 00:22:25.059 --> 00:22:28.160 much. And so verse 7, it says, For their possessions 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:31.099 were too many for them to live together. And 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:33.079 because of their herds, the land where they stayed 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:36.720 cannot support them. So Esau, that is Edom, which 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:39.400 is another name for him, lived in the mountains 00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:43.839 of Seir. So Jacob returns to the land, comes 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:46.740 back home, and we're given this really kind of 00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:50.210 polite reason why Esau left. Right? They show 00:22:50.210 --> 00:22:52.269 up. They're like, oh, my gosh, you're rich. I'm 00:22:52.269 --> 00:22:54.910 rich. I have herds. You have herds. And really 00:22:54.910 --> 00:22:57.670 this land can't support both of us. It's just 00:22:57.670 --> 00:23:00.390 kind of too much. And so it seems like Esau's 00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:02.890 like, you know what, bro? I'll leave. It's okay. 00:23:03.509 --> 00:23:08.670 I'll step out of the way. But what we already 00:23:08.670 --> 00:23:11.430 know of Esau's character tells us that the whole, 00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:13.410 oh, too many herds, not enough space, wasn't 00:23:13.410 --> 00:23:17.869 really the reason. You know, like. He's leaving 00:23:17.869 --> 00:23:22.210 the promised land. And it's no big deal. I'll 00:23:22.210 --> 00:23:24.809 leave. And it tells us that he went to the mountains 00:23:24.809 --> 00:23:27.859 of Seir. I don't know if you remember the maps, 00:23:27.960 --> 00:23:30.779 but if you're picturing Israel, right? And, you 00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:33.319 know, you had the southern part of Israel, which 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:35.740 is the Negev Desert. That's kind of, you know, 00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:39.660 the area where Isaac was still living. And right 00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:42.980 next to that, underneath the Dead Sea, is this 00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:46.500 mountain range that goes from the southern part 00:23:46.500 --> 00:23:49.039 of the Dead Sea all the way down to the Red Sea. 00:23:49.420 --> 00:23:52.099 And it's called the Mountains of Seir. Today, 00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:54.599 if you look at a map, it is the border of Israel 00:23:54.599 --> 00:23:57.180 because right... On the other side of that border 00:23:57.180 --> 00:23:59.460 is the southern part of the nation of Jordan. 00:23:59.579 --> 00:24:02.259 So this is the area we're talking about. It was 00:24:02.259 --> 00:24:05.880 just outside the promised land. Now, that might 00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:09.200 be familiar to you because Lot did the same thing 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:11.720 back when Abraham and Lot's herds were having 00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:14.599 a problem. Except in that case, it was Abraham 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:18.359 trusting that I could give away this land all 00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:20.579 I want. God said it's mine. I'm going to have 00:24:20.579 --> 00:24:23.920 it. So Lot, where do you want to go? And Lot 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:27.410 could have chosen Israel. anywhere. He chose 00:24:27.410 --> 00:24:29.710 to go right outside the promised land, right 00:24:29.710 --> 00:24:32.349 outside the border, where then he ended up getting 00:24:32.349 --> 00:24:35.349 acclimated into Sodom and all of that that happened 00:24:35.349 --> 00:24:38.829 in his life. So what happened with Lot is he 00:24:38.829 --> 00:24:40.789 made these bad decisions because of what was 00:24:40.789 --> 00:24:43.109 good physically, what would be good for his business, 00:24:43.150 --> 00:24:45.970 and what would be good for, you know, his herds 00:24:45.970 --> 00:24:48.549 and all this stuff. And he ends up just kind 00:24:48.549 --> 00:24:53.130 of walking off the pages of salvation. Tragic 00:24:53.130 --> 00:24:57.059 story. Esau is doing the same thing. This is 00:24:57.059 --> 00:25:00.380 really the last we get of Esau here. After this 00:25:00.380 --> 00:25:03.000 chapter, Esau is not a thing anymore. His people 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:07.900 are, Edom. But we're going to learn the application 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:09.920 of all that. But I do want you guys to notice 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:14.200 here that as Esau, as it's given us this genealogy, 00:25:14.279 --> 00:25:18.000 it's telling us that he had so much that he left, 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:22.420 right? And as he leaves, it says, so Esau, that 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:26.019 is Edom, lived in the mountains of Seir. Important 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:30.299 detail because although Esau treated what was 00:25:30.299 --> 00:25:33.960 holy as common, really ignored God, really had 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:36.319 no concern for God and what the Lord wanted, 00:25:36.500 --> 00:25:42.809 God still kept his promise to Esau. That promise 00:25:42.809 --> 00:25:46.250 was back in Genesis 25 when they were still in 00:25:46.250 --> 00:25:48.750 the womb. And, you know, you remember their mother 00:25:48.750 --> 00:25:50.950 was like, oh, what's going on? You know, is it 00:25:50.950 --> 00:25:52.869 indigestion or what? You know, and these babies 00:25:52.869 --> 00:25:55.009 are fighting and fighting. And the Lord gave 00:25:55.009 --> 00:25:58.569 her a prophecy and said, two nations are in your 00:25:58.569 --> 00:26:04.130 womb. Not two kids. Two nations are in your womb. 00:26:04.190 --> 00:26:06.529 And that's why it's like, so Esau, that is Edom. 00:26:07.169 --> 00:26:09.849 which is the name of this nation that came from 00:26:09.849 --> 00:26:12.369 his people, started there in the mountains of 00:26:12.369 --> 00:26:15.069 Seir. And so, again, we've said this so many 00:26:15.069 --> 00:26:17.710 times over Genesis, but we just have to be reminded, 00:26:17.829 --> 00:26:19.369 and I think that's why it keeps coming up, that 00:26:19.369 --> 00:26:24.190 God is faithful to his promises. Even when we 00:26:24.190 --> 00:26:27.069 don't understand how and why, God is faithful 00:26:27.069 --> 00:26:30.569 to his promises. And it's because he made them. 00:26:32.669 --> 00:26:35.109 Esau's life is a picture that if God made a promise 00:26:35.109 --> 00:26:37.009 to a faithless person, would that promise still 00:26:37.009 --> 00:26:38.869 come to pass if it was blessing and prosperity? 00:26:39.130 --> 00:26:42.369 Yes, because that's what happened in Esau's life. 00:26:44.089 --> 00:26:48.549 And so what Genesis 36 shows us again, too, is 00:26:48.549 --> 00:26:52.529 that God is the one who makes nations rise. Esau, 00:26:52.529 --> 00:26:54.329 godless man, that's what Hebrews tells us he 00:26:54.329 --> 00:26:58.069 is. Yet a nation, Edom, rises up from this family 00:26:58.069 --> 00:27:00.920 line, and God is the one who does that. But only 00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:04.240 one nation carried his name. And that was the 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.500 line of the covenant. That was the line through 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:09.019 Jacob and his 12 sons. But, you know, we got 00:27:09.019 --> 00:27:11.019 to be very important, you know, in our world, 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.519 you know, with all this stuff going on. And we 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:16.259 could get caught up in politics. And it's fine 00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:18.420 to be involved in politics. I think we should 00:27:18.420 --> 00:27:20.559 be involved in politics. We should be involved 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:25.160 in voting. But we need to be very careful to 00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:29.519 not cross the line. That says, that implies God 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:34.579 isn't working. That, you know, yeah, but there's 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:36.779 corruption in the courts. Yes, there is. Do you 00:27:36.779 --> 00:27:39.000 think God has a problem with that? Like, that 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:43.859 he can't work despite corruption? Yeah, but these 00:27:43.859 --> 00:27:46.079 people are going to get into office. Well, vote. 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:49.980 But if God allows that person to get into office, 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:52.440 Romans 13 told us that God allowed them to get 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:56.109 into office. Well, why would God put evil people 00:27:56.109 --> 00:27:58.750 in office? Sometimes he does that to judge the 00:27:58.750 --> 00:28:00.930 nation. We see that with Israel over and over 00:28:00.930 --> 00:28:05.130 again. Sometimes it's we don't know. It's in 00:28:05.130 --> 00:28:08.490 God's providence. But the idea here is that God 00:28:08.490 --> 00:28:11.029 is the one who raises up nations. God is the 00:28:11.029 --> 00:28:13.970 one who takes them down. And so we can't necessarily 00:28:13.970 --> 00:28:16.569 look at one or the other and go, that means God 00:28:16.569 --> 00:28:18.950 is with us, and that means God is not with us, 00:28:18.990 --> 00:28:21.359 and that means... Blessing, and that means not 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:25.660 blessing because that's all God's business. God 00:28:25.660 --> 00:28:28.500 told us as His people that vengeance is His. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:31.420 We talked about that. God told us as His people 00:28:31.420 --> 00:28:34.019 to live peaceably with all people. Peaceably. 00:28:35.619 --> 00:28:38.299 He told us that we're to obey the government, 00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:41.000 no matter who it is, because He put them there 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:44.799 and we go, oh. But then at the same time, we 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:46.599 learn through Scripture that there is a place 00:28:46.599 --> 00:28:50.000 where we resist. As soon as the government starts 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.500 to say it is illegal for you to worship your 00:28:52.500 --> 00:28:54.859 God, well, then we just pull a Shadrach, Meshach, 00:28:54.859 --> 00:28:57.440 and Abednego on that one, right? I'm like, sorry, 00:28:57.559 --> 00:29:00.099 bro. You're not going to tell me not to worship 00:29:00.099 --> 00:29:02.180 God. You don't have that authority. I don't care 00:29:02.180 --> 00:29:05.859 who you are. But until that time comes, right, 00:29:05.940 --> 00:29:09.099 the Word gives us instruction. Why? That our 00:29:09.099 --> 00:29:11.960 peaceable lives would be witness and ministry 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:14.180 to the world around us to say, look, all this 00:29:14.180 --> 00:29:16.940 stuff is temporary. I'm able to live peaceably 00:29:16.940 --> 00:29:18.940 even in the midst of this difficulty because 00:29:18.940 --> 00:29:22.420 I trust a God who is true and who is in charge, 00:29:22.579 --> 00:29:25.299 right? And then it's all meant to come to that 00:29:25.299 --> 00:29:29.079 place where we introduce people to a God who 00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:31.180 dealt with the problem that causes every political 00:29:31.180 --> 00:29:33.630 problem, and that's sin. and dealt with the problem 00:29:33.630 --> 00:29:35.470 that causes every personal problem and relational 00:29:35.470 --> 00:29:38.230 problem and workplace problem. It's sin, right? 00:29:38.349 --> 00:29:47.329 That's the idea here. And so Esau just shows 00:29:47.329 --> 00:29:50.190 us in that just quick phrase that God is the 00:29:50.190 --> 00:29:52.609 one who raises him up as a nation. Now, the next 00:29:52.609 --> 00:29:55.630 21 verses are going to give us wave after wave 00:29:55.630 --> 00:29:58.640 after wave of names. Okay, and we're going to 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:00.279 see sons, and we're going to see chiefs, and 00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:03.019 we're going to see clans, and it's all very impressive, 00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:06.960 right? But again, you know, these are just names 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:10.740 you may or may not recognize, and yet it's here 00:30:10.740 --> 00:30:12.519 in the Bible. So I'm going to read through it, 00:30:12.579 --> 00:30:14.839 okay? No guarantee I'm going to pronounce them 00:30:14.839 --> 00:30:16.559 right, but just follow along with me. So verse 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:19.359 9, these are the family records of Esau, father 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:23.640 of the Edomites in the mountains of Seir. Verse 00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:27.720 10. These are the names of Esau's sons. Eliphaz, 00:30:27.859 --> 00:30:30.920 son of Esau's wife Ada. Reuel, son of Esau's 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:35.180 wife Basemath. And the sons of Eliphaz, so that 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:39.259 first son of his, starts with Taman, Omar, Zepho, 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:44.019 Getam, and Kanaz. Now, just an interesting detail. 00:30:44.259 --> 00:30:46.779 Like later on in the book of Job, you know, you 00:30:46.779 --> 00:30:49.559 guys know the story that Job was a godly man 00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:52.119 and the devil said, he only worships you, God, 00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:54.250 because you bless him. And God said, okay. I'll 00:30:54.250 --> 00:30:57.650 let you take away the blessing. And the devil 00:30:57.650 --> 00:31:00.009 did, and Job lost everything. And then three 00:31:00.009 --> 00:31:01.730 of his friends come along to try and convince 00:31:01.730 --> 00:31:04.289 him that you must be in sin, dude. Like that's, 00:31:04.289 --> 00:31:08.890 you know, if God's blessing you, then that's 00:31:08.890 --> 00:31:10.329 because you're doing everything right. And if 00:31:10.329 --> 00:31:11.829 God's not blessing you, that's because you're 00:31:11.829 --> 00:31:15.650 in sin and done something wrong. And Job exists 00:31:15.650 --> 00:31:18.849 to say, no, that's not how it works. But one 00:31:18.849 --> 00:31:20.549 of his friends, if you remember, was Eliphaz 00:31:20.549 --> 00:31:25.279 the Temanite. And so it's very likely that Job's 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:27.339 friend Eliphaz came from this region, that he 00:31:27.339 --> 00:31:31.019 was from the line of this son named Teman. He's 00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:34.039 a descendant of Esau's line, which I just think 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:36.160 it's an interesting connection that it's the 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.940 godless family that comes along trying to convince 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:43.180 the godly man that you're the one that's causing 00:31:43.180 --> 00:31:46.420 this because you're a sinner. So anyways, we 00:31:46.420 --> 00:31:49.549 go on. Verse 12, Timnah. A concubine of Esau's 00:31:49.549 --> 00:31:53.829 son Eliphaz bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are 00:31:53.829 --> 00:31:57.049 the sons of Esau's wife Ada. These are Reuel's 00:31:57.049 --> 00:32:01.609 sons, Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizah. These 00:32:01.609 --> 00:32:04.950 are the sons of Esau's wife Basemath. These are 00:32:04.950 --> 00:32:07.569 the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter 00:32:07.569 --> 00:32:10.789 of Anna and granddaughter of Zibion. She bore 00:32:10.789 --> 00:32:14.539 Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Edom. These are the 00:32:14.539 --> 00:32:18.400 chiefs among Esau's sons. The sons of Eliphaz, 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:21.539 Esau's firstborn, chief Teman, chief Omar, chief 00:32:21.539 --> 00:32:24.759 Zepho, chief Kenaz, chief Korah, chief Gatham, 00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:27.440 and chief Amalek. These are the chiefs descended 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:30.579 from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the 00:32:30.579 --> 00:32:33.839 sons of Adah. Now these are the sons of Reuel, 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.700 Esau's son, chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief 00:32:37.700 --> 00:32:40.720 Shammah, chief Mizah. These are the chiefs descended 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:43.430 from Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the 00:32:43.430 --> 00:32:46.589 sons of Esau's wife, Basemath. These are the 00:32:46.589 --> 00:32:49.829 sons of Esau's wife, Aholibamah, chief Jerush, 00:32:49.869 --> 00:32:53.150 chief Jelam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs 00:32:53.150 --> 00:32:55.650 descended from Esau's wife, Aholibamah, daughter 00:32:55.650 --> 00:32:59.069 of Anna. These are the sons of Esau, that is 00:32:59.069 --> 00:33:03.269 Edom, and these are their chiefs. So we start 00:33:03.269 --> 00:33:06.450 out here with just this list of who gave birth 00:33:06.450 --> 00:33:09.829 to who. And we have some names here that are 00:33:09.829 --> 00:33:11.930 listed. Like, oh, Holy Bama is the daughter of 00:33:11.930 --> 00:33:14.069 Anna and granddaughter of Zibion, right? We go, 00:33:14.170 --> 00:33:15.730 so what? I don't know who any of those people 00:33:15.730 --> 00:33:18.029 are. And, you know, and all these other people. 00:33:18.109 --> 00:33:20.650 But what we see here in this first section, the 00:33:20.650 --> 00:33:22.210 reason this is here is what we're being told, 00:33:22.309 --> 00:33:25.970 is these weren't just sons of Esau. These were 00:33:25.970 --> 00:33:28.890 men who became chiefs of their tribes, right? 00:33:29.210 --> 00:33:31.670 Kind of in a mockery of what the 12 tribes of 00:33:31.670 --> 00:33:34.359 Esau were. Israel were supposed to be, but they 00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:37.380 become rulers. That word chiefs there means men 00:33:37.380 --> 00:33:40.200 of authority, men of power, right? So it wasn't 00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:42.140 just that his family spread out in the area, 00:33:42.299 --> 00:33:45.799 but they became powerful people in this area. 00:33:46.380 --> 00:33:49.700 And then in the second half of verse 19, it switches 00:33:49.700 --> 00:33:53.619 to this line of Seir. It says, these are the 00:33:53.619 --> 00:33:57.220 sons of Seir the Horite. Now again, it's like, 00:33:57.299 --> 00:34:00.339 who is he? It says, the inhabitants of the land. 00:34:01.179 --> 00:34:03.779 Remember, he went to the mountains of Seir. You 00:34:03.779 --> 00:34:05.460 know why they were named the mountains of Seir? 00:34:06.619 --> 00:34:11.860 Because Seir lived there. Right? Mountains of 00:34:11.860 --> 00:34:14.260 Seir. This is where Seir and his people are. 00:34:14.739 --> 00:34:16.960 But the idea, the reason this is including here, 00:34:17.059 --> 00:34:18.000 and we're going to read through it right now, 00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:20.079 is because they were already there when Esau 00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:22.139 and all his people got there and started to populate. 00:34:23.659 --> 00:34:26.099 So these are the inhabitants of the land. Lotan, 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:34.809 Shobal, Zibion, Anna. These are the chiefs among 00:34:34.809 --> 00:34:37.130 the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of 00:34:37.130 --> 00:34:41.349 Edom. The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman. 00:34:42.610 --> 00:34:46.190 Heman, right? I was like, is that where that 00:34:46.190 --> 00:34:49.809 name came from? I have no idea. But I didn't 00:34:49.809 --> 00:34:51.590 notice it until first service, and now I'm like, 00:34:51.590 --> 00:34:54.389 I'm all nostalgic for Heman. Okay, Timnah was 00:34:54.389 --> 00:34:57.630 Lotan's sister. These are Shobal's sons, Alvin. 00:34:58.789 --> 00:35:02.190 Manahath, Ebal, Shepo, and Onam. These are Zibion's 00:35:02.190 --> 00:35:05.809 sons, Aya and Anna. This was the Anna who found 00:35:05.809 --> 00:35:07.710 the hot springs in the wilderness while he was 00:35:07.710 --> 00:35:10.590 pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibion. And 00:35:10.590 --> 00:35:13.670 you go, what's the point of that for us? Now, 00:35:13.670 --> 00:35:16.130 the people that originally got this letter, as 00:35:16.130 --> 00:35:18.789 it was written by Moses, some of these names 00:35:18.789 --> 00:35:22.809 might have still been... Rememberable, right? 00:35:22.869 --> 00:35:24.789 Oh, yeah, I remember that story and stuff. But 00:35:24.789 --> 00:35:28.130 again, Zibion, we just read that earlier in the 00:35:28.130 --> 00:35:31.190 line of Esau. And Anna, we've read that earlier 00:35:31.190 --> 00:35:33.170 in the line of Esau. And so what we're being 00:35:33.170 --> 00:35:36.150 told here is that Esau didn't just go to the 00:35:36.150 --> 00:35:38.329 land and populate. He went to the land, populated, 00:35:38.389 --> 00:35:40.809 and continued to intermarry with pagan people. 00:35:41.869 --> 00:35:45.670 So these are the children of Anna, Dishon and 00:35:45.670 --> 00:35:48.239 Aholibama, daughter of Anna. We've already read 00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:51.659 about her. These are Dishon's sons, Hemdan, Eshban, 00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:55.480 Ithran, and Chiran. These are Ezer's sons, Bilhan, 00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:58.980 Zavan, and Achan. These are Dishon's sons, Uz, 00:35:59.179 --> 00:36:02.159 and Aran. These are the chiefs among the Horites, 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:05.059 Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibion, Chief 00:36:05.059 --> 00:36:08.760 Anna, Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishon. 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:11.139 These are the chiefs among the Horites, clan 00:36:11.139 --> 00:36:15.039 by clan, in the land of Seir. So we're told Esau's 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:18.900 family as it develops. And then what was already 00:36:18.900 --> 00:36:21.219 there was this whole other line of people that 00:36:21.219 --> 00:36:23.760 were outside the promised land. There's a few 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:25.619 names in there where we say, oh, this is where 00:36:25.619 --> 00:36:28.780 Aholibama came from. And so there was this intermarriage. 00:36:28.780 --> 00:36:30.780 And what we're seeing here is intermarriage for 00:36:30.780 --> 00:36:33.840 Esau led to assimilation, right? They got further 00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:36.480 separated from being a distinct people of God. 00:36:37.070 --> 00:36:40.110 He chose to leave the Holy Land. He chose to 00:36:40.110 --> 00:36:42.829 devalue the holiness of God in his word. And 00:36:42.829 --> 00:36:46.250 what it led to was him becoming less and less 00:36:46.250 --> 00:36:49.090 holy and eventually, as Hebrews calls him, an 00:36:49.090 --> 00:36:53.730 ungodly man. That it's his attachment, his identity 00:36:53.730 --> 00:36:56.409 as a part of the family of God is disappearing 00:36:56.409 --> 00:37:00.880 as he just mingles into other cultures. The Edomites, 00:37:01.019 --> 00:37:04.619 the nation of Edom, is mentioned some 130 times 00:37:04.619 --> 00:37:07.239 in Scripture. They were a very important neighbor 00:37:07.239 --> 00:37:11.880 to Israel in a lot of ways. When Israel was finally 00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:15.159 coming out of Egypt and they get through the 00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:17.019 wilderness and they're coming into the land here, 00:37:17.139 --> 00:37:20.400 they actually asked Edom, the nation, can we 00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:22.719 pass through your land to go up to the promised 00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:27.079 land? Because at that time, Edom was an incredibly 00:37:27.079 --> 00:37:30.000 powerful and prosperous nation. Some of the major 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:32.179 trade roads that went all the way to the east 00:37:32.179 --> 00:37:35.019 went right through the nation of Edom. And so 00:37:35.019 --> 00:37:37.940 they controlled some of the major roads. They 00:37:37.940 --> 00:37:40.079 controlled a lot of the wealth and all that. 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:41.960 But they refused that. They said, Israel, get 00:37:41.960 --> 00:37:44.619 out of here. Which forced Israel back into some 00:37:44.619 --> 00:37:48.550 other problems down in the Negev region. 1 Samuel, 00:37:48.769 --> 00:37:51.750 we read that Edom at that point is now subject 00:37:51.750 --> 00:37:54.949 to Israel under King Saul, but they eventually 00:37:54.949 --> 00:37:58.289 become independent. And that was according to 00:37:58.289 --> 00:38:03.170 prophecy. If you go back to Genesis 27, when 00:38:03.170 --> 00:38:08.309 Jacob steals the blessing, Esau comes into his 00:38:08.309 --> 00:38:11.309 dad and he's like, Dad, come on, he's a big jerk. 00:38:11.900 --> 00:38:13.400 He already stole the birthright. Don't you have 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:14.900 a blessing for me? And he's like, I'm sorry, 00:38:14.980 --> 00:38:16.880 son. I gave the blessing away. And he's crying 00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:18.860 and he's begging, please, dad. And dad's like, 00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:21.699 bro, this is all I got for you. Life's going 00:38:21.699 --> 00:38:23.559 to be hard, and you're going to serve your younger 00:38:23.559 --> 00:38:28.360 brother. But you won't always serve him. I paraphrased 00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:31.840 all of that, but it was a prophecy because King 00:38:31.840 --> 00:38:34.440 Saul and Israel eventually subjugated Edom, and 00:38:34.440 --> 00:38:36.780 then Edom rebelled and regained their independence. 00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:39.579 And so we see that this prophecy his dad gave 00:38:39.579 --> 00:38:42.980 him came to pass. Now, again, there's several 00:38:42.980 --> 00:38:46.000 of the prophets of Israel spoke against Edom. 00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:52.139 Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, he prophesied extensively 00:38:52.139 --> 00:38:56.380 that Edom would be brought to nothing. And, you 00:38:56.380 --> 00:38:58.800 know, that's kind of the truth of exactly what 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:01.340 happened. If you go to the area of Edom today, 00:39:01.500 --> 00:39:04.619 which, again, is in South Jordan, it's pretty 00:39:04.619 --> 00:39:07.699 much a wasteland. There's nothing there. There's 00:39:07.699 --> 00:39:10.420 towns. There's people there. But it's pretty 00:39:10.420 --> 00:39:13.400 much a wasteland. And then the people of Edom 00:39:13.400 --> 00:39:16.280 are no more. There's no nation of Edom. There's 00:39:16.280 --> 00:39:19.019 no Edomites. They're gone. They've disappeared 00:39:19.019 --> 00:39:24.500 from the pages of history. But in the time, they 00:39:24.500 --> 00:39:26.760 were of major importance. Notable on the list 00:39:26.760 --> 00:39:29.699 is Amalek, right? We're familiar with the Amalekites. 00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:34.059 They become the first super villain against Israel, 00:39:34.139 --> 00:39:36.659 the first major enemy of Israel in the wilderness. 00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:41.000 Again, what we've seen so far here is that there's 00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:43.699 this growth, that Esau was so rich he had to 00:39:43.699 --> 00:39:45.920 leave. He chose to leave the promised land. He 00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:48.480 devalued what was holy, yet his family still 00:39:48.480 --> 00:39:51.139 flourished, and his family became rulers and 00:39:51.139 --> 00:39:53.559 chiefs, and then they intermingled with this 00:39:53.559 --> 00:39:55.360 whole other people group that was there, and 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.320 there's chiefs from that, and it was just this 00:39:57.320 --> 00:40:02.480 big nation coming out of Esau's life. And if 00:40:02.480 --> 00:40:04.619 we look at Jacob's life and where he's at right 00:40:04.619 --> 00:40:06.559 now in Esau, it kind of looks like Esau's winning. 00:40:08.230 --> 00:40:12.150 Like, Jacob has wealth and stuff, but his kids 00:40:12.150 --> 00:40:15.630 can't stop fighting. And yet Esau is becoming 00:40:15.630 --> 00:40:19.829 a nation. Material success, secular success, 00:40:20.150 --> 00:40:22.050 although in and of itself there's nothing wrong 00:40:22.050 --> 00:40:25.329 with that, we can't think that that equals God's 00:40:25.329 --> 00:40:28.670 blessing. It never does. Right? When you pour 00:40:28.670 --> 00:40:33.750 clean water into a muddy well, the mud doesn't 00:40:33.750 --> 00:40:36.570 clear up. It's the clear water that gets muddy. 00:40:38.920 --> 00:40:43.800 Right? And Esau's family, this genealogy, it 00:40:43.800 --> 00:40:46.679 just shows us that they gained the world. They 00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:49.079 really did in their time. But they lost their 00:40:49.079 --> 00:40:53.440 distinction. They lost their identity. They devalued 00:40:53.440 --> 00:40:55.239 what was holy to the point where it just kind 00:40:55.239 --> 00:40:57.440 of seeped all out of them and they became completely 00:40:57.440 --> 00:41:02.619 corrupted people. Now verse 31. This highlights 00:41:02.619 --> 00:41:05.190 this. These are the kings who reigned in the 00:41:05.190 --> 00:41:07.329 land of Edom before any king reigned over the 00:41:07.329 --> 00:41:13.030 Israelites. Before Jacob's family got it together, 00:41:13.210 --> 00:41:15.909 before they became a nation, before there was 00:41:15.909 --> 00:41:19.190 any king, anything positive going on over there, 00:41:19.530 --> 00:41:23.710 Esau's family already had kings because political 00:41:23.710 --> 00:41:27.159 power and nations had rose. Bala, son of Baor, 00:41:27.159 --> 00:41:30.579 reigned in Edom. The name of his city was Dinhabah. 00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:33.739 When Bala died, Jobab, son of Zerah from Bozrah, 00:41:33.840 --> 00:41:36.659 reigned in his place. When Jobab died, Husham 00:41:36.659 --> 00:41:38.800 from the land of the Temanites reigned in his 00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:42.139 place. When Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad, 00:41:42.360 --> 00:41:45.119 Bidad reigned in his place. He defeated Midian 00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:47.380 in the field of Moab. The name of his city was 00:41:47.380 --> 00:41:51.480 Aveth. When Hadad died, Samlah from Masraqa reigned 00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:54.980 in his place. When Samlah died, Shal from Rehoboth 00:41:54.980 --> 00:41:57.039 of the Euphrates River reigned in his place. 00:41:57.320 --> 00:42:01.000 When Shal died, Baal Hanan, son of Akbor, reigned 00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:04.360 in his place. Now Baal there, it's a reference 00:42:04.360 --> 00:42:07.159 to the Canaanite god Baal. So you can see where 00:42:07.159 --> 00:42:11.050 the religious... spirit of the nation has come 00:42:11.050 --> 00:42:13.570 by this point that people are naming their kids 00:42:13.570 --> 00:42:15.969 after pagan gods, and that kid is now becoming 00:42:15.969 --> 00:42:19.929 ruler and king over the land. When Baal, Hanan's 00:42:19.929 --> 00:42:22.289 son of Akbor, died, Hadar reigned in his place. 00:42:22.949 --> 00:42:26.909 His city was Pow, and his wife's name was Mehetabel, 00:42:27.150 --> 00:42:32.969 daughter of Metred, daughter of Mezahab. And 00:42:32.969 --> 00:42:35.590 so, through this intermarriage, through this 00:42:35.590 --> 00:42:38.289 commingling, the kingdom of Edom was built. And 00:42:38.289 --> 00:42:40.550 it was built with chiefs initially. Then it was 00:42:40.550 --> 00:42:43.989 built with kings. And kings meant like wealth 00:42:43.989 --> 00:42:47.670 and riding camels and herds and trade and conquering 00:42:47.670 --> 00:42:49.789 cities, right? It keeps telling us that the capital 00:42:49.789 --> 00:42:53.369 city of the nation kept moving around. And this 00:42:53.369 --> 00:42:56.650 was all while Jacob's 12 sons are still squabbling 00:42:56.650 --> 00:43:01.849 in tents. Who's winning? Looks like Esau, right? 00:43:02.639 --> 00:43:05.360 Before Jacob's sons and even their descendants 00:43:05.360 --> 00:43:09.079 ever even had a nation, Esau's family had kings. 00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.840 What this means also is that while Jacob's sons 00:43:13.840 --> 00:43:17.980 were slaves in Egypt, Esau's sons were building 00:43:17.980 --> 00:43:23.380 cities. Comparatively, it truly looks like Esau 00:43:23.380 --> 00:43:27.940 is truly the blessed between the two. And it 00:43:27.940 --> 00:43:30.300 often looks like the ungodly are succeeding. 00:43:31.179 --> 00:43:33.739 When we see them profiting and their businesses 00:43:33.739 --> 00:43:37.199 are being very successful and they're succeeding. 00:43:38.699 --> 00:43:40.360 And that's one of the things that Christians 00:43:40.360 --> 00:43:43.880 could wrestle with, right? Why is this horrible 00:43:43.880 --> 00:43:47.500 person being blessed and I'm trying to follow 00:43:47.500 --> 00:43:52.099 the Lord and yet I can barely pay my bills? Why 00:43:52.099 --> 00:43:55.380 is that guy who cheats on his contracts, his 00:43:55.380 --> 00:43:58.820 business profiting, while mine's almost on the 00:43:58.820 --> 00:44:05.820 verge of bankruptcy? We can't forget that God's 00:44:05.820 --> 00:44:08.860 timeline runs deeper than the headlines of the 00:44:08.860 --> 00:44:13.760 day. We can't even forget that our entire life, 00:44:13.820 --> 00:44:16.480 if we just saw evil reigning our entire life, 00:44:16.579 --> 00:44:25.780 that time is a blip on the timeline of God. And 00:44:25.780 --> 00:44:28.480 so we have to go back to trusting the Lord and 00:44:28.480 --> 00:44:31.500 saying, God, this is your business. I'm going 00:44:31.500 --> 00:44:33.360 to do what I know I'm supposed to do today and 00:44:33.360 --> 00:44:35.420 the things I don't understand. Please help me 00:44:35.420 --> 00:44:37.920 trust you. Please help me leave that in your 00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:40.840 hands. Because you tell me you're going to judge 00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:44.800 the wicked. Right now, it doesn't look like it. 00:44:44.980 --> 00:44:48.500 But that doesn't mean you're not going to. It 00:44:48.500 --> 00:44:50.400 just means for right now, there's some reason 00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:54.139 in your wisdom that it is happening right now. 00:44:54.219 --> 00:44:56.239 And I just, I have to step back and trust that. 00:44:56.280 --> 00:44:58.159 I'm going to stand for righteousness and stand 00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:01.260 against ungodliness. But I can't lose faith in 00:45:01.260 --> 00:45:04.440 you. I can't go, you know what? That must be 00:45:04.440 --> 00:45:07.139 the right way. God must be blessing them because 00:45:07.139 --> 00:45:08.719 look at all their material wealth. Look at all 00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:11.780 their secular success. That must be, you know, 00:45:11.780 --> 00:45:14.099 because that equates blessing. And it doesn't. 00:45:16.340 --> 00:45:18.880 The Edomite dynasty flourished very early and 00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:23.980 burned out very early. That's what we know archaeologically 00:45:23.980 --> 00:45:26.960 in things. You know, the world may crown its 00:45:26.960 --> 00:45:29.739 kings long before God ever crowns his saints. 00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:34.380 But the only crown that lasts forever is the 00:45:34.380 --> 00:45:41.260 one God gives. The Edomites are gone. They don't 00:45:41.260 --> 00:45:45.380 exist as a people and a nation anymore. In fact, 00:45:45.460 --> 00:45:49.719 the only people who even know the names of these 00:45:49.719 --> 00:45:55.860 people Our Bible scholars and you when we teach 00:45:55.860 --> 00:46:00.880 through Genesis 36. And then it's only a warning. 00:46:03.159 --> 00:46:08.719 There's no story of whatever name in here, a 00:46:08.719 --> 00:46:15.039 holy mama, teen ass. But guess whose name is 00:46:15.039 --> 00:46:19.980 in the news almost every day? Israel. God's people. 00:46:21.230 --> 00:46:23.170 who have been known from them until now will 00:46:23.170 --> 00:46:28.869 be known all the way to the very end. So, don't 00:46:28.869 --> 00:46:31.010 envy the ungodly and their early success, their 00:46:31.010 --> 00:46:34.130 power, their rule, their success. It's but for 00:46:34.130 --> 00:46:38.809 a season. God's people will rule forever and 00:46:38.809 --> 00:46:41.530 have peace forever. And so verse 40, these are 00:46:41.530 --> 00:46:43.650 the names of Esau's chiefs according to their 00:46:43.650 --> 00:46:45.610 families and their localities by their names. 00:46:46.010 --> 00:46:50.079 Chief Timnah, Chief Alva, Chief... Jetheth, chief 00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:53.579 Aholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinnon, chief Kenes, 00:46:53.579 --> 00:46:57.699 chief Taman, chief Mibzar, and chief Magdiel, 00:46:57.860 --> 00:47:01.139 and chief Iram. These are Edom's chiefs according 00:47:01.139 --> 00:47:02.920 to their settlements in the land they possessed. 00:47:03.179 --> 00:47:07.889 Esau was the father of the Edomites. So the chapter 00:47:07.889 --> 00:47:11.309 ends again with chieftains, right? Eleven rulers 00:47:11.309 --> 00:47:16.010 of regions in this nation with land and power 00:47:16.010 --> 00:47:19.269 and influence. And yeah, God allowed Esau and 00:47:19.269 --> 00:47:24.789 his line to flourish materially. Yet by the time 00:47:24.789 --> 00:47:28.110 of the prophets, this nation Edom had become 00:47:28.110 --> 00:47:31.829 a sworn enemy of Israel, God's people. Like I 00:47:31.829 --> 00:47:35.739 said, the entire book of Obadiah, it's God. declaring 00:47:35.739 --> 00:47:38.019 judgment on Edom. And you know why he declares 00:47:38.019 --> 00:47:40.440 judgment on them? Because when Jerusalem got 00:47:40.440 --> 00:47:43.940 sacked and Jerusalem fell, they celebrated. Edom 00:47:43.940 --> 00:47:46.159 celebrated that Jerusalem fell, God's holy city. 00:47:46.440 --> 00:47:50.659 And God's like, nope, you're done. And they're 00:47:50.659 --> 00:47:53.900 gone. They're gone today. Now, historically, 00:47:54.219 --> 00:47:57.780 we know through archaeology and stuff that the 00:47:57.780 --> 00:48:00.019 Edomites eventually migrated north and west, 00:48:00.199 --> 00:48:03.179 and they kind of settled in what would be the 00:48:03.179 --> 00:48:06.289 promised land. And they became known as the Idumeans. 00:48:07.449 --> 00:48:12.329 Idumean is the Greek word for Edom. And so, if 00:48:12.329 --> 00:48:14.510 that sounds familiar to you, this is why. Because 00:48:14.510 --> 00:48:17.949 during the time of Jesus, one of the Roman provinces 00:48:17.949 --> 00:48:21.670 within the boundaries of Israel was named Idumea. 00:48:22.650 --> 00:48:26.389 And the people from there were called Idumeans. 00:48:27.409 --> 00:48:31.570 Now, at the time, there was a king in Judah. 00:48:32.489 --> 00:48:35.710 who was a very arrogant person, and there was 00:48:35.710 --> 00:48:39.010 a moment where these wise men came to him and 00:48:39.010 --> 00:48:44.289 said, hey, king of Judah, the king of the Jews 00:48:44.289 --> 00:48:46.190 has been born. Can you tell us where he's at? 00:48:47.570 --> 00:48:52.070 And Herod the Great, who was an Idumean, a descendant 00:48:52.070 --> 00:48:56.070 of Esau, then went on a slaughter rampage and 00:48:56.070 --> 00:48:58.489 did an edict that said, every baby two years 00:48:58.489 --> 00:49:02.570 old and under, every baby boy, kill them. And 00:49:02.570 --> 00:49:05.289 so even then, we see the ungodly line of Esau 00:49:05.289 --> 00:49:09.309 coming against the promise of God that came through 00:49:09.309 --> 00:49:15.730 the line of Jacob. Now, this genealogy here, 00:49:15.909 --> 00:49:20.349 you know, a long list of boring names, it teaches 00:49:20.349 --> 00:49:22.690 us a few things. If you pay attention, right? 00:49:22.769 --> 00:49:25.349 One, his genealogy shows us that a great family 00:49:25.349 --> 00:49:29.869 doesn't equal a blessed one. It doesn't. Esau's 00:49:29.869 --> 00:49:34.150 wives were fruitful. His sons were strong. His 00:49:34.150 --> 00:49:38.010 home was full, but God was absent. God was absent. 00:49:38.190 --> 00:49:42.530 And, you know, success without the Spirit is 00:49:42.530 --> 00:49:47.090 failure. Because guess what? They lived and they 00:49:47.090 --> 00:49:50.429 died. And all their stuff and all their accomplishments, 00:49:50.610 --> 00:49:54.650 gone. Like I said, nobody remembers their names. 00:49:54.710 --> 00:49:59.570 Nobody's speaking of them today. And it's just 00:49:59.570 --> 00:50:03.289 an encouragement again for parents. You know, 00:50:03.329 --> 00:50:05.809 you have a sacred duty. And then church, as we 00:50:05.809 --> 00:50:08.030 surround the parents, and we have children's 00:50:08.030 --> 00:50:11.030 church and things like that, we have a sacred 00:50:11.030 --> 00:50:16.389 duty to teach our children to valuable the intangible, 00:50:16.550 --> 00:50:21.650 to value the unseen God and His promises. You 00:50:21.650 --> 00:50:24.469 know, my grandson is into monster trucks right 00:50:24.469 --> 00:50:27.969 now, and he calls them momster trucks. It's adorable. 00:50:28.650 --> 00:50:31.610 And so I bought him these little monster trucks, 00:50:31.690 --> 00:50:33.550 right? And he just runs them all over the house. 00:50:34.150 --> 00:50:37.449 And then one of his grandparents bought him like 00:50:37.449 --> 00:50:40.389 a bigger version of the monster truck. And he 00:50:40.389 --> 00:50:42.510 was just like amazed, right? Oh, my goodness. 00:50:43.369 --> 00:50:46.250 And then the other day, his other grandma bought 00:50:46.250 --> 00:50:48.570 him a bigger monster truck. The wheels are like 00:50:48.570 --> 00:50:51.789 that big around. He's just over the moon, right? 00:50:52.409 --> 00:50:54.429 And so he, like, leans on this car and runs it 00:50:54.429 --> 00:50:56.630 all over the house, and he likes to play bad 00:50:56.630 --> 00:50:58.550 guys, right? Like, I'll take one of the cars, 00:50:58.610 --> 00:51:00.349 and I'm the bad guy car, and he'll want to get 00:51:00.349 --> 00:51:03.849 the bad guys. But if I put my hand on that big 00:51:03.849 --> 00:51:09.690 monster truck, I've committed the unforgivable 00:51:09.690 --> 00:51:14.309 sin. That's my monster truck, okay? You're the 00:51:14.309 --> 00:51:19.079 bad guy. And, you know, Nobody has to teach us 00:51:19.079 --> 00:51:21.119 how to be possessive and how to value physical 00:51:21.119 --> 00:51:22.639 things, right? We're kind of born with that, 00:51:22.699 --> 00:51:24.800 right? Kids go through that phase where it's 00:51:24.800 --> 00:51:26.119 mine, mine, mine, and we have to teach them to 00:51:26.119 --> 00:51:30.260 share, right? But it's the intangible things 00:51:30.260 --> 00:51:33.900 that have the value. It's the intangible things 00:51:33.900 --> 00:51:37.940 that are more than the immediate. things, the 00:51:37.940 --> 00:51:42.840 instant gratification that it's, no, God made 00:51:42.840 --> 00:51:45.579 promises that are not yet and are probably, you 00:51:45.579 --> 00:51:48.039 know, you might not experience them for decades 00:51:48.039 --> 00:51:50.079 into the future of your life, but those are more 00:51:50.079 --> 00:51:52.599 important than I'm hungry right now and I want 00:51:52.599 --> 00:51:55.599 this right now and I need this right now. And 00:51:55.599 --> 00:51:58.059 we have that sacred duty to teach them that. 00:51:59.400 --> 00:52:01.820 Because yeah, we want our kids to be successful. 00:52:02.079 --> 00:52:03.880 I think every parent wants to do that. You want 00:52:03.880 --> 00:52:06.699 to set your kids up to be successful in life 00:52:06.699 --> 00:52:09.739 and achieve all that. But what's more important 00:52:09.739 --> 00:52:13.500 than raising successful kids is raising worshipers. 00:52:14.679 --> 00:52:17.500 People who value what is holy above everything 00:52:17.500 --> 00:52:21.199 else. Esau's genealogy shows us that material 00:52:21.199 --> 00:52:23.739 prosperity doesn't equal spiritual prosperity. 00:52:24.739 --> 00:52:26.579 And again, some of us are like, well, duh, I 00:52:26.579 --> 00:52:32.059 know that. But are you living that way? Are you 00:52:32.059 --> 00:52:34.880 putting the spiritual things before the material 00:52:34.880 --> 00:52:36.340 things? I mean, we've got to work. We've got 00:52:36.340 --> 00:52:38.639 to pay our bills. There's nothing wrong with 00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:41.000 saying, hey, I have a car I really like. There's 00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:43.820 nothing wrong with that. But material prosperity 00:52:43.820 --> 00:52:46.179 is not the indicator that God is blessing you. 00:52:50.320 --> 00:52:52.920 Spiritual prosperity is the most important thing. 00:52:52.980 --> 00:52:54.820 Esau, he was incredibly rich, but he was spiritually 00:52:54.820 --> 00:52:58.340 bankrupt. And the danger of material prosperity 00:52:58.340 --> 00:53:02.159 is that it dulls our hunger for God. Right? We 00:53:02.159 --> 00:53:05.039 have the parables about that. God says it's easier 00:53:05.039 --> 00:53:08.880 for a camel to go through the eye of the needle 00:53:08.880 --> 00:53:12.679 than a rich man to enter heaven. Why? Because 00:53:12.679 --> 00:53:14.659 when you're so materially blessed, you're like, 00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:17.019 I have need of nothing. And guess what that means? 00:53:17.119 --> 00:53:20.260 You never ask God for anything. You stop praying. 00:53:22.239 --> 00:53:26.289 Now, again. God says material blessing is fine, 00:53:26.489 --> 00:53:28.650 but I want you to be outrageously generous, and 00:53:28.650 --> 00:53:31.230 that's the point of those things. But they're 00:53:31.230 --> 00:53:35.090 not the indicators of spiritual prosperity. So 00:53:35.090 --> 00:53:37.949 don't let spiritual prosperity dull your hunger 00:53:37.949 --> 00:53:40.909 for God. And the inverse, don't let the lack 00:53:40.909 --> 00:53:44.650 of prosperity cause you to think that God is 00:53:44.650 --> 00:53:47.030 cursing you or God is judging you or God is against 00:53:47.030 --> 00:53:49.369 you. It's quite the opposite. Go read the letter 00:53:49.369 --> 00:53:52.510 to Smyrna in Revelation. Hey, you guys can't 00:53:52.510 --> 00:53:55.090 work. You're being persecuted. You're being like 00:53:55.090 --> 00:53:57.730 physically beat. The whole city is against you 00:53:57.730 --> 00:54:01.849 and all that. And you know what God says? Good 00:54:01.849 --> 00:54:07.110 job. And you're like, whoa, what? He says, endure. 00:54:09.230 --> 00:54:11.349 And he doesn't say endure like, well, I hope 00:54:11.349 --> 00:54:13.190 you endure. He goes, endure because you can because 00:54:13.190 --> 00:54:15.389 I'm with you. And all of this doesn't matter 00:54:15.389 --> 00:54:18.590 anyways because you have a reward in heaven. 00:54:20.400 --> 00:54:22.480 Now, if you're in a time of suffering and stuff, 00:54:22.559 --> 00:54:26.239 I pray that God gives you that heart to go, I 00:54:26.239 --> 00:54:29.980 can't endure this on my own, but I can endure 00:54:29.980 --> 00:54:32.460 this because God, the God who created the universe 00:54:32.460 --> 00:54:37.260 is with me. Esau's genealogy shows us that political 00:54:37.260 --> 00:54:39.840 power doesn't equal power with God. We know that, 00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:42.760 right? Esau's descendants, they had kings long 00:54:42.760 --> 00:54:45.480 before Israel had any, but it was only Jacob's 00:54:45.480 --> 00:54:49.199 line. Regardless of when, That would produce 00:54:49.199 --> 00:54:54.559 the king of kings. You can have all the influence 00:54:54.559 --> 00:54:58.260 possible here on earth. All the power, the riches, 00:54:58.320 --> 00:55:00.659 the fame, the political, you can have all that, 00:55:00.719 --> 00:55:02.920 but if heaven doesn't know your name, who cares? 00:55:05.519 --> 00:55:10.019 Who cares? And then his genealogy shows us that 00:55:10.019 --> 00:55:12.679 temporal fame does not equate eternal recognition. 00:55:14.019 --> 00:55:17.349 Right? In his day, Oh, Esau's family was well 00:55:17.349 --> 00:55:19.869 -known. Chiefs, leaders, kings, political power. 00:55:20.289 --> 00:55:22.670 But like I said, nobody knows their names today 00:55:22.670 --> 00:55:24.510 unless you're in Bible college or here at church. 00:55:27.050 --> 00:55:30.989 Meanwhile, Jacob's name Israel, every lip knows 00:55:30.989 --> 00:55:34.650 that name. God is the one who writes history, 00:55:34.789 --> 00:55:38.369 not man, not his accomplishments. It's God. He 00:55:38.369 --> 00:55:40.090 is the author. He is the orchestrator of all 00:55:40.090 --> 00:55:44.179 things. The book of Hebrews, I said a few times, 00:55:44.280 --> 00:55:46.880 it calls Esau godless. And it wasn't because 00:55:46.880 --> 00:55:49.079 he was this wicked, cruel, evil man. It's because 00:55:49.079 --> 00:55:52.500 he valued the temporal, the material, the physical, 00:55:52.639 --> 00:55:54.619 the instant gratification. He valued those things 00:55:54.619 --> 00:55:57.219 more than God and his word and his promises. 00:55:57.699 --> 00:56:01.519 And some of us are struggling today. You came 00:56:01.519 --> 00:56:03.000 to church and you're struggling. It's not because 00:56:03.000 --> 00:56:06.719 God has abandoned you. But maybe it's because 00:56:06.719 --> 00:56:11.219 your own sin nature keeps sapping away the spiritual 00:56:11.219 --> 00:56:14.679 life that is supposed to carry you. Maybe God 00:56:14.679 --> 00:56:16.219 is speaking to you today and you're like, yeah, 00:56:16.260 --> 00:56:18.980 you haven't denied God. You haven't, you know, 00:56:19.019 --> 00:56:21.380 but maybe you've devalued it and you've put other 00:56:21.380 --> 00:56:25.099 things as a greater priority for you and you 00:56:25.099 --> 00:56:27.519 kind of feel this separation and you feel like, 00:56:27.519 --> 00:56:29.760 you know, your spiritual walk is dull and all 00:56:29.760 --> 00:56:35.690 that. It's reverse course. What do you do? You 00:56:35.690 --> 00:56:37.190 know, I was praying. I'm like, okay, God, boring 00:56:37.190 --> 00:56:40.730 name list. What's the application? And I say 00:56:40.730 --> 00:56:42.369 boring because, yeah, it's hard to read, but 00:56:42.369 --> 00:56:45.550 God's word is beautiful, right? So what do we 00:56:45.550 --> 00:56:47.070 do? What do we pull from this? And I was like, 00:56:47.130 --> 00:56:49.670 well, this is about Esau. This is about his life. 00:56:49.750 --> 00:56:53.130 And so, you know, if you're struggling in a sense 00:56:53.130 --> 00:56:55.909 and you think, oh, it's because I'm struggling, 00:56:55.989 --> 00:56:59.750 God's not with me, reject that idea. Take an 00:56:59.750 --> 00:57:02.550 inventory of your life and maybe find the red 00:57:02.550 --> 00:57:05.010 stew in your life and you need to fast that for 00:57:05.010 --> 00:57:09.889 a week or so. The thing in your life that is 00:57:09.889 --> 00:57:14.630 the immediate instant gratification, right? For 00:57:14.630 --> 00:57:18.190 some of us, it's like, man, I need to be entertained 00:57:18.190 --> 00:57:20.070 right now so I'm going to go watch TV or watch 00:57:20.070 --> 00:57:22.349 a movie or play video games. Nothing wrong with 00:57:22.349 --> 00:57:23.989 either of those things depending on the content, 00:57:24.030 --> 00:57:28.989 of course. But if you're doing that, Because 00:57:28.989 --> 00:57:31.789 spending time in the Word and prayer is not that 00:57:31.789 --> 00:57:33.449 big of a deal. You've got a problem. That's why 00:57:33.449 --> 00:57:34.650 you're suffering right now. That's why you're 00:57:34.650 --> 00:57:39.829 feeling what you're feeling. You know, sometimes 00:57:39.829 --> 00:57:43.570 people have to miss this gathering on Sundays 00:57:43.570 --> 00:57:45.949 for one reason or another, and there's birthdays 00:57:45.949 --> 00:57:48.190 and important things, and that's all great and 00:57:48.190 --> 00:57:51.789 all, but if you'll miss church in a heartbeat 00:57:51.789 --> 00:57:55.469 because your team is playing at 10 a .m., where's 00:57:55.469 --> 00:58:00.860 holiness on the importance scale for you? If 00:58:00.860 --> 00:58:04.019 you'll miss fellowship, miss a prayer meeting, 00:58:04.099 --> 00:58:07.480 miss that because, well, I'm hungry. Where's 00:58:07.480 --> 00:58:11.619 holiness for you, you know? Part of the reason 00:58:11.619 --> 00:58:13.719 we fast in preparation of our prayer meetings 00:58:13.719 --> 00:58:16.019 is because it's that hunger that's supposed to 00:58:16.019 --> 00:58:18.360 go, oh, yeah, I'm supposed to pray. Man, I'm 00:58:18.360 --> 00:58:20.420 hungry, pray, right? That's what fasting does 00:58:20.420 --> 00:58:23.780 to us. It drives us into this really good place 00:58:23.780 --> 00:58:26.519 of being with the Lord and all that. But whatever 00:58:26.519 --> 00:58:29.900 that is that's drawing you away, fast it. Parents, 00:58:29.900 --> 00:58:33.800 families, re -aim your household. Right? The 00:58:33.800 --> 00:58:36.320 reality is nothing ultimately matters unless 00:58:36.320 --> 00:58:40.920 it's for the glory of God. And so as you're working 00:58:40.920 --> 00:58:42.679 in your kids' lives and teaching and training 00:58:42.679 --> 00:58:45.739 and discipling and raising and success is good 00:58:45.739 --> 00:58:49.400 and all of that, but don't forget about the intangible 00:58:49.400 --> 00:58:53.929 things, the unseen God. To teach them that we 00:58:53.929 --> 00:58:56.090 do right because we want to glorify him, right? 00:58:56.289 --> 00:59:00.530 And just keep that going. Re -aim the family. 00:59:04.329 --> 00:59:08.190 At the end of Genesis 35, we read how Jacob and 00:59:08.190 --> 00:59:10.989 Esau were both together at their father Isaac's 00:59:10.989 --> 00:59:13.510 funeral, and they buried him together. But here 00:59:13.510 --> 00:59:16.230 at the end of Genesis 36, Esau walks off the 00:59:16.230 --> 00:59:20.909 pages of salvation history. One line leads to 00:59:20.909 --> 00:59:24.230 Bethlehem, to Christ, to glory. And the other, 00:59:24.329 --> 00:59:27.929 though powerful in their time and famous in their 00:59:27.929 --> 00:59:31.030 time, they're nothing more than a silent dash 00:59:31.030 --> 00:59:34.010 between the start and the end of a man's life. 00:59:35.889 --> 00:59:39.489 The question to ask ourselves today, what are 00:59:39.489 --> 00:59:44.789 you living for? What am I living for? What will 00:59:44.789 --> 00:59:48.869 my name, my memory stand for when I'm gone? Am 00:59:48.869 --> 00:59:51.409 I going to live for the stew? Or am I going to 00:59:51.409 --> 00:59:56.789 live for the Savior? Am I going to be great and 00:59:56.789 --> 01:00:01.550 well -known on earth but unknown in heaven? Or 01:00:01.550 --> 01:00:03.309 is nobody going to know my name here on earth 01:00:03.309 --> 01:00:07.030 but I'm in the Lamb's book of life? God knows 01:00:07.030 --> 01:00:11.590 who I am. You see, this last week I had a member 01:00:11.590 --> 01:00:15.849 of our church and a friend who passed away. And 01:00:15.849 --> 01:00:18.820 it was sudden. And it's one of those situations 01:00:18.820 --> 01:00:22.519 that's incredibly difficult. And some of you 01:00:22.519 --> 01:00:26.719 know him, some of you don't. But he was a man 01:00:26.719 --> 01:00:31.119 who had a hard life, a difficult life. And yet, 01:00:31.199 --> 01:00:34.860 the last part of his life, the testimony was, 01:00:35.059 --> 01:00:37.440 is he had turned to Jesus Christ as his Lord 01:00:37.440 --> 01:00:41.039 and Savior. And he had served Jesus Christ here 01:00:41.039 --> 01:00:45.960 in our church. And he had the opportunity to... 01:00:46.349 --> 01:00:52.329 lead his ex -wife back to the Lord. And when 01:00:52.329 --> 01:00:54.329 you look at a man's life like that and you go, 01:00:54.469 --> 01:00:57.670 well, it was his name on a building? No. Right? 01:00:58.210 --> 01:01:05.150 Did he cure cancer? No. But he did the most important 01:01:05.150 --> 01:01:08.150 possible thing with his life. That it wasn't 01:01:08.150 --> 01:01:12.489 about material or secular success. He had the 01:01:12.489 --> 01:01:15.239 most greatest success in what matters. That was 01:01:15.239 --> 01:01:17.780 knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and 01:01:17.780 --> 01:01:20.539 Savior, to live in service for him and then to 01:01:20.539 --> 01:01:25.719 tell others about him, to be an example to them 01:01:25.719 --> 01:01:27.719 of who he was. Not as a perfect man. None of 01:01:27.719 --> 01:01:31.579 us are perfect. But he did what matters. And, 01:01:31.659 --> 01:01:35.300 you know, if he was here with us today and we 01:01:35.300 --> 01:01:36.840 asked him the question, hey, what did you live 01:01:36.840 --> 01:01:41.039 for? I could tell you he'd be like, Jesus Christ. 01:01:42.889 --> 01:01:46.110 What do you want to be known for? Telling others 01:01:46.110 --> 01:01:48.110 about Jesus Christ and leading them to know him. 01:01:48.190 --> 01:01:50.230 There's no greater truth, no greater meaning 01:01:50.230 --> 01:01:57.110 in life. That's what it's all about. Because 01:01:57.110 --> 01:02:01.150 nothing else in this life matters. Mark 8, 36. 01:02:02.489 --> 01:02:04.449 For what does it benefit someone to gain the 01:02:04.449 --> 01:02:08.630 whole world and yet you lose their life? And 01:02:08.630 --> 01:02:10.590 it's not talking about the physical death. It's 01:02:10.590 --> 01:02:12.650 talking about the eternal separation from God. 01:02:13.150 --> 01:02:15.510 What good are the riches? What good are the cars 01:02:15.510 --> 01:02:17.489 and the houses? What good is the fame? What good 01:02:17.489 --> 01:02:19.789 is the, you know, well, I got to eat stew every 01:02:19.789 --> 01:02:22.489 time I was hungry. What good is all of that if 01:02:22.489 --> 01:02:27.710 it results in a forever separated from God? I 01:02:27.710 --> 01:02:30.170 believe that is why God gives us this genealogy 01:02:30.170 --> 01:02:34.929 here in Genesis 36. To see the life of an individual 01:02:34.929 --> 01:02:37.550 who on the surface has everything any of us would 01:02:37.550 --> 01:02:41.329 want. And yet the point is, at the end, it meant 01:02:41.329 --> 01:02:44.929 nothing. Because he didn't know the Lord. Let's 01:02:44.929 --> 01:02:53.349 pray. Father God, we're so grateful to you. We're 01:02:53.349 --> 01:02:58.949 grateful for brothers like our friend Lord Robert 01:02:58.949 --> 01:03:07.199 who knew you. trusted you, and shared you with 01:03:07.199 --> 01:03:13.119 people, Lord. To take that truth to the people 01:03:13.119 --> 01:03:15.360 he loved most, to understand that the thing they 01:03:15.360 --> 01:03:20.820 need most is God. Lord, sometimes we don't understand. 01:03:20.900 --> 01:03:22.679 Lord, we look at a life like Esau and we say, 01:03:22.719 --> 01:03:24.900 why was he so rich and so powerful and so prosperous 01:03:24.900 --> 01:03:28.539 and so, you know, just all these wonderful things, 01:03:28.699 --> 01:03:32.300 Lord. And then we would look at a life of another 01:03:32.300 --> 01:03:34.340 and say they struggled and they had difficulty 01:03:34.340 --> 01:03:39.599 and they lost people and God doesn't the one 01:03:39.599 --> 01:03:41.179 mean you're with them and the other means you're 01:03:41.179 --> 01:03:43.820 not and Lord that's not at all what your word 01:03:43.820 --> 01:03:50.900 teaches us. We know you're in charge. We know 01:03:50.900 --> 01:03:52.920 you're God almighty and yet Lord in that we're 01:03:52.920 --> 01:03:58.659 called to trust you. To not question you Lord 01:03:58.659 --> 01:04:01.659 because you're God. And you're good. And you 01:04:01.659 --> 01:04:03.800 only do and you only allow what is good. And 01:04:03.800 --> 01:04:05.780 Lord, even when we don't feel it, that is true. 01:04:09.840 --> 01:04:12.900 And so God, may we be people whose lives are 01:04:12.900 --> 01:04:16.900 for you. To know you, to trust you, to take the 01:04:16.900 --> 01:04:19.199 opportunity to love people and to minister to 01:04:19.199 --> 01:04:22.219 them, God. Even in the difficult times, Lord, 01:04:22.280 --> 01:04:27.849 that we wouldn't look. At tragedy and loss, Lord, 01:04:27.889 --> 01:04:32.670 as opportunities to curse you, God. And then, 01:04:32.690 --> 01:04:34.630 Lord, we wouldn't look at prosperity and everything 01:04:34.630 --> 01:04:36.809 as, well, they must be doing right, God. But 01:04:36.809 --> 01:04:38.489 we would simply understand that you are God. 01:04:39.429 --> 01:04:42.230 You allow what you allow. And it is always good, 01:04:42.289 --> 01:04:47.550 even when it doesn't feel that way. Lord, may 01:04:47.550 --> 01:04:52.739 our lives not be Esau. Lord, we would all love 01:04:52.739 --> 01:04:55.519 to be prosperous and powerful and political influence 01:04:55.519 --> 01:04:59.480 and all of that. But Lord, to do anything, to 01:04:59.480 --> 01:05:02.480 do any of that that isn't for the glory of God 01:05:02.480 --> 01:05:05.960 is pointless. Lord, we know you raise up people 01:05:05.960 --> 01:05:08.260 to do those very things, but they do it for your 01:05:08.260 --> 01:05:10.179 glory. And God, we pray that you would give them 01:05:10.179 --> 01:05:13.239 strength and protection. Lord, we pray for those 01:05:13.239 --> 01:05:15.300 that are in our government that know you, God. 01:05:15.360 --> 01:05:19.500 They're not perfect people. And that doesn't 01:05:19.500 --> 01:05:21.699 justify sin, but I pray, God, that, Lord, you 01:05:21.699 --> 01:05:23.619 would be glorified as they try and serve you 01:05:23.619 --> 01:05:25.659 in those places, Lord, people with money, people 01:05:25.659 --> 01:05:28.920 with businesses and power. But, Lord, you're 01:05:28.920 --> 01:05:31.480 the same God in the lives of those of us who 01:05:31.480 --> 01:05:34.599 are wondering if our SNAP benefits are going 01:05:34.599 --> 01:05:37.739 to come through this month. You're the same God. 01:05:39.420 --> 01:05:44.780 And so, Lord, help us. Help us to understand 01:05:44.780 --> 01:05:46.960 that you are true no matter what the situation 01:05:46.960 --> 01:05:49.019 is, that you are God no matter what the situation 01:05:49.019 --> 01:05:51.579 is. And Lord, rich or poor, it doesn't matter, 01:05:51.679 --> 01:05:53.539 Lord, that we are called to be people who live 01:05:53.539 --> 01:05:55.820 for your glory because you're worth it. You're 01:05:55.820 --> 01:05:58.199 just the only one worth it because you are so 01:05:58.199 --> 01:06:05.739 pure and so loving and so just. And God, even 01:06:05.739 --> 01:06:09.199 if nobody on this entire planet ever remembers 01:06:09.199 --> 01:06:15.329 who we are, Lord, may we know that you know what 01:06:15.329 --> 01:06:19.070 our name is. May we know that you know who we 01:06:19.070 --> 01:06:21.369 are because we've put our faith in you and we've 01:06:21.369 --> 01:06:26.289 trusted in you for our salvation. Lord, may the 01:06:26.289 --> 01:06:29.969 only thing of value be to us really that which 01:06:29.969 --> 01:06:33.510 is holy, to know you, to serve you, to glorify 01:06:33.510 --> 01:06:36.809 you, to see you work, to see lives changed because 01:06:36.809 --> 01:06:41.269 of your gospel. All the rest of it, Lord, it's 01:06:41.269 --> 01:06:46.269 just circumstantial icing on the cake. Lord, 01:06:46.349 --> 01:06:49.170 be glorified in our lives. We love you. We thank 01:06:49.170 --> 01:06:54.329 you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.