Forrest: Well it was this time last year that the world was watching the next heir in the royal bloodline have a coronation.
Forrest: King Charles, as Queen Elizabeth II's firstborn after her passing, became the new king of England, fulfilling what was promised to him at his birth in 1948, his birthright, because he was the firstborn.
Forrest: There's a whole industry out there that is just dedicated to following the dramas of the royal family.
Forrest: Tabloids and articles and different influencers and different journalists that are all looking at who's upset at who, who's in, who's out, who's fighting, what positions and titles are being passed on, who's next in line.
Forrest: And birthright and blessing is an integral part of the family dynamic in the Bible.
Forrest: See, we're in this series called Family Feud.
Forrest: And we're looking to forge families that are fit for the fight, to come against the enemies and the evil that would try to conquer us and take over and destroy and take, take, take captives of our family, but instead for us to be fit for the fight, a spiritual war that is being raised in and around our homes and our families.
Forrest: And so if you're new here today, welcome.
Forrest: I'm Pastor Forrest.
Forrest: Nice to meet you.
Forrest: I hope that you already have felt at home and welcome.
Forrest: Just be relaxed.
Forrest: We would love to connect with you more, but grateful that you are here.
Forrest: And over the next few weeks, we're going to be looking at one of the most dysfunctional families in all of the Bible.
Forrest: And there's a lot of them.
Forrest: There's a lot of them.
Forrest: The title of my message today is Passing on the Past.
Forrest: See, the family that we're looking at has a bloodline from a covenant that God made with the grandfather Abraham.
Forrest: This grandfather that was promised by God to be blessed, to be a blessing, to be made in this mighty nation called Israel, the people of God.
Forrest: And over and over and over and over again in the Bible, God refers to himself in introduction, and God is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Forrest: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Forrest: But there's one problem.
Forrest: It was supposed to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau.
Forrest: Not Jacob.
Forrest: Just a little participation here for a moment, just a quick show of hands.
Forrest: Easy question.
Forrest: Who in the room today wants to be blessed?
Forrest: Show of hands, who in the room wants to be blessed?
Forrest: Yep, just about everybody in the room wants to be blessed.
Forrest: You come to church and say, hey, you know what?
Forrest: I'm coming to church this morning because I want to receive a blessing.
Forrest: I want to be blessed in my life.
Forrest: But here's what's true: that everybody wants to be blessed, but not everybody wants to do what it takes to get the blessing.
Forrest: See, there's a reality that we have to leave behind the baggage of our past to be able to move forward in the blessing that God has for us.
Forrest: So put it like this: you've got to leave the old you behind, receive the you that is blessed in the future.
Forrest: See, the family that we're talking about today is the family and the children of Isaac and Rebekah.
Forrest: Isaac, the son of Abraham.
Forrest: And Isaac and Rebekah, they had twin sons.
Forrest: These twins, Esau, who his name means red because he had red hair.
Forrest: And then Jacob, which means heel grabber or deceiver.
Forrest: But Esau was the older of the two that were born.
Forrest: Now, I don't know if you've ever known any twins, but I grew up with uh some friends that were a set of twins, and they were obsessed with which one was older, okay?
Forrest: Even just about like one minute, because one of them was like one minute older, and he'd always be saying to his brother, respect your elders, listen to your elders.
Forrest: And then even though it was like one minute of time, they they they were all about it.
Forrest: And here's the thing: the who was the oldest was important even in the Bible and in this story, because the oldest son was the one that would receive the birthright.
Forrest: Everybody say birthright.
Forrest: See, what the birthright was was that when the inheritance came, when it was time for the inheritance, and the inheritance was being split up, that the one, the oldest son who had the birthright, that he would be the one that would receive a double portion.
Forrest: He would see receive a double portion of whatever the inheritance was.
Forrest: Not only that, but then as having the birthright as the oldest, he would then become the judge of the family.
Forrest: Not only that, but he would receive the blessing.
Forrest: And what this was in the Old Testament was literally that the father would place a hand on the son and would transfer the blessing of God over his life for their family to the next generation.
Forrest: But there was an issue with the brothers.
Forrest: Jacob, the younger son, he wanted to steal the birthright.
Forrest: This is kind of how it began in Genesis chapter 25, verse 27.
Forrest: The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country.
Forrest: While Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents, Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Forrest: Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.
Forrest: And he said to Jacob, Quick, let me have some of that red stew.
Forrest: I'm famished.
Forrest: This is why he was also called Edom.
Forrest: And Jacob replied, First, sell me your birthright.
Forrest: Look, I'm about to die.
Forrest: Esau said, What good is the birthright to me?
Forrest: But Jacob said, Swear it to me first.
Forrest: So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
Forrest: And verse 34.
Forrest: Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.
Forrest: He ate and drank, and they got up and left.
Forrest: So Esau despised his birthright.
Forrest: Now we look at a story like this.
Forrest: You have Esau who is coming in from hunting, and all he's got on his mind, he just got a one-track mind of like, I've got to have something to eat.
Forrest: And he's being completely controlled by this mindset of his desire.
Forrest: And he comes into the house and he asks for Jacob to give him some of the stew that he was making.
Forrest: And Jacob, the cunning deceiver, conniving schemer, thought, this is my moment.
Forrest: This is my moment.
Forrest: And he said, Well, sell me the birthright for this bowl of stew.
Forrest: And Esau said, Okay.
Forrest: And now, thousands of years later, we all look at this story and we all think the same thing.
Forrest: That is so dumb.
Forrest: You just gave up your entire birthright, a double portion, you gave up all that for a bowl of soup.
Forrest: Who does that?
Forrest: And the truth is, we all do.
Forrest: We all do at times.
Forrest: See, the reason why we have dysfunctional families is because at some point somebody chose to choose drugs over their family.
Forrest: Someone chose to choose a fling of a affair over their family.
Forrest: Somebody chose an unhealthy habit or chose a career of workaholism over their family.
Forrest: And I don't know about you, but I think personally in my life and the family that I have, and I think about the addictions and the different brokenness and challenges that are just in my family alone.
Forrest: And I think to ourselves, and I think to myself, that all of us at times we're prone to taking the shortcut, aren't we?
Forrest: But when we take it, we cut off our future.
Forrest: See, Esau gave up his future.
Forrest: And in doing so, he despised it, is what the scripture says.
Forrest: He despised it.
Forrest: The future that he was supposed to have.
Forrest: He hated it.
Forrest: He destroyed it.
Forrest: And for us, we we we don't need to destroy our future by being controlled by our desires.
Forrest: Here's the thing.
Forrest: We don't need to get trapped or captured by fleeting sin over a fruitful future with the Lord.
Forrest: See, Jacob, he wasn't quite finished living up to his name as the deceiver.
Forrest: He had another trick up his sleeve.
Forrest: He wanted the blessing too, and he was willing to deceive his father and his family in order to get it.
Forrest: But he had help.
Forrest: He had help from his mom, Rebecca.
Forrest: His mom, Rebecca, helped him, not just because she loved him more, is what the scripture said.
Forrest: He was a bit of a mama's boy.
Forrest: But also because in Rebecca's past, with her husband Isaac, earlier in the story of their family, there had come a time where Isaac actually deceived some people into thinking that Rebecca was not his wife in order to save their skin, the same thing that his grandfather Abraham had done with Sarah at one point in the past.
Forrest: And so there was this past of deception in their family.
Forrest: There was a past of lying, of trickery.
Forrest: And so Jacob and his mother devised a plan that they would deceive.
Forrest: Not too long ago, somebody who was in my who was uh in our church and in a group that I was hanging out with said something that struck me so strongly, and I haven't been able to forget what they said, but we were they were talking about the people that you hang out with, your friends, your family, the the environment that you're in, and the statement was said this you will be what you see.
Forrest: You will be what you see.
Forrest: Here's the thing we have the opportunity to change our examples, to change our circles, change our role models.
Forrest: I think about just in my own life and some of the things that just in my own family.
Forrest: And I think, Lord, please help me to be able to have some other examples and different examples for the future of my family.
Forrest: I think about my grandfather who I never met because he took his own life.
Forrest: I think Lord, help me to change that example for the future for my own family.
Forrest: See, Jacob and Rebecca, they devised this plan of deceit to trick Isaac.
Forrest: At this point, Isaac is an old man.
Forrest: His eyesight is failing, he's in a bed and is ailing.
Forrest: He can't even see very well, and so they devised this plan to have Jacob to go in to be an imposter of Esau.
Forrest: There was a problem.
Forrest: Jacob and Esau didn't look alike.
Forrest: And Esau was again had red hair, but apparently the Bible said he was very hairy, and so they went out and got a goat and got some goat skin, and they put the goat skin on his arms and on his neck, and then Jacob went to his father's bedside and asked for the blessing, posed as Esau.
Forrest: And Isaac placed a hand on a Jacob.
Forrest: And he spoke over, and he gave to the younger son only one time transferable blessing, birthright of his family to the younger son.
Forrest: And then fireworks ensued.
Forrest: In chapter 27, verse 30, after Isaac had finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.
Forrest: He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father, and he said to him, Father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may uh give me your blessing.
Forrest: And verse 32.
Forrest: His father Isaac asked him, Who are you?
Forrest: I am your son.
Forrest: He answered, Your firstborn, Esau.
Forrest: And Isaac trembled violently and said, Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me?
Forrest: I ate it just before you came, and I blessed him, and indeed he will be blessed.
Forrest: And when Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me, me too, father.
Forrest: But he said, Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.
Forrest: Esau said, Isn't he rightly named Jacob the deceiver?
Forrest: This is the second time he has taken advantage of me.
Forrest: He took my birthright, and now he's taking my blessing.
Forrest: And then he asked, Haven't you observed any blessing from me?
Forrest: Which Isaac had not.
Forrest: And then Esau walked out of the room with a plot, a desire to kill his brother.
Forrest: He walked into this room expecting a blessing, and he walked out of the room with a new enemy.
Forrest: You know, in this story, we have both the deceived and the deceiver.
Forrest: And what is true about our lives is that we also, too, have an enemy.
Forrest: That in John 10, 10, the scripture tells us that this enemy, that the thief, that this enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy us, our enemy, Satan.
Forrest: But Jesus says, I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.
Forrest: See, Satan goes by several titles.
Forrest: Deceiver is one of them.
Forrest: His native tongue is lies, is what the Bible says.
Forrest: Lies like just take the money.
Forrest: You know, it's just a it's just a little white lie.
Forrest: Well, everybody else is doing it.
Forrest: Or God just wants you to be happy, not holy.
Forrest: See, we have an enemy who wants to come against our families and wants to destroy us, wants to take us down.
Forrest: And I think about a room this size, and I know that just in past stories, that there are people in this room that at one point or another have been deceived by somebody else.
Forrest: You've been sinned against in the past.
Forrest: It was just a few weeks ago that I was having a conversation with someone in our church and had just gone through a serious betrayal.
Forrest: Somebody that they trusted betrayed their trust and betrayed them, and we were having a conversation, and as the conversation was going, we were talking about what this person needed to do to try to mend the situation, try to have a conversation to address the betrayal.
Forrest: And this conversation ensued between us a few weeks ago where I was telling them, hey, you may talk to this person who's betrayed you, and you may you may never get an apology from them.
Forrest: They may never acknowledge the wrongdoing of what they did.
Forrest: But then I told him, but for the sake of your future, even though you may not get the apology, you can't for your own sake and for your future's sake walk in unforgiveness.
Forrest: See, because when we walk in unforgiveness, what the old adage says is that when we have unforgiveness or bitterness in our heart, it's like drinking deadly poison and expecting the other person to die.
Forrest: That even though that we've been hurt, we've been sinned against, because we have freedom in Christ and we have his forgiveness, that then we can, whether or not that person ever asks for our forgiveness, we can choose to forgive them so that we can walk with Jesus and we can be free.
Forrest: And sometimes this is very serious.
Forrest: And it doesn't mean that there isn't consequences to the sin.
Forrest: There isn't consequences to the betrayal or maybe the abuse.
Forrest: But in the meantime, you have to then receive the forgiveness of Christ that He's given you and extend it so that you can be healed.
Forrest: And I also know in a room this size, there are probably some people that at one point or another you have done something that you are ashamed of.
Forrest: Something that you feel guilty that happened and that you did in the past.
Forrest: Maybe it was a way that you deceived someone, or you let somebody down, or you were the one that betrayed.
Forrest: And make no mistake.
Forrest: The deception, what's happened in your past.
Forrest: But that doesn't have to be your future.
Forrest: Last Sunday, when we started this series, we we we talked about a passage in the scripture that says, let's not get tired of doing what is good, but at the right time, you'll reap a harvest.
Forrest: But there's more context around that passage that I want to share with you today.
Forrest: See the verses before it say.
Forrest: Don't be misled.
Forrest: This is Galatians 6, starting in verse 7.
Forrest: Don't be misled.
Forrest: You cannot mock the justice of God.
Forrest: You will always harvest what you plant.
Forrest: Those who live only to satisfy their sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.
Forrest: But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.
Forrest: So let's not get tired in doing what is good.
Forrest: At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.
Forrest: And then a statement was made if you do the right thing right now at the right time, you will reap a reward.
Forrest: And for those that choose to not walk in the spirit, but walk in the sinful nature, you're trading a future and a blessing that God so desperately wants to give you.
Forrest: Just like Esau, who traded his destiny for a bowl of soup.
Forrest: See, all of us have messed up in some way or another in the past.
Forrest: We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
Forrest: We've all sinned.
Forrest: We've all done things that we aren't proud of.
Forrest: Done things that we maybe even feel guilty for and ashamed of.
Forrest: Here's the truth.
Forrest: Jesus wants to fully forgive you today so you can walk into your future.
Forrest: Jesus wants to completely blot it out.
Forrest: I'll put it to you like this.
Forrest: It was uh when we first uh moved to Frankfurt, and I was getting around town, and and uh and what ended up happening was it was kind of a misunderstanding, and I ended up with a minor traffic ticket, okay?
Forrest: And this this minor traffic ticket, I knew that this was a misunderstanding, and I'm like, okay, I I've got to figure this out.
Forrest: Like, I've got a I'm I got a court date, so I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go to court, and so I went up to the courthouse and I'm standing at the big long line of people, and I've like got my tie on and everything, and it's my time to go in front of the judge.
Forrest: And so the judge gets my folder and opens up the case, and he asked me what my testimony was, and so I was telling him my side of the story, and there was some some some legalese back and forth, and he's like, Are you you know wanting to take this further?
Forrest: And and and I was just kind of like, I don't really know what's going on, but no, I didn't do this thing, and then he just said, All right, case dismissed, closed the folder, handed it to the person, and I got out of there as fast as I possibly could.
Forrest: And in the same way, for your future and for your future family, the things and the mess-ups that are in the past, Jesus looks to you, and not only does he forgive you, but the Bible says that he tosses those sins as far as the east is from the west.
Forrest: And so he looks at you and he doesn't just say, Oh, well, oh, oh, okay, well, well, here's some, here's some, here's some of this, and here's some of that.
Forrest: He looks at you and he says, You're forgiven, it's dismissed.
Forrest: You're forgiven, you can walk freely forward in your life as you walk out the change that God has called you to give.
Forrest: The case is dismissed, the baggage is gone, the briefcase is gone, it's dismissed.
Forrest: And so do not be deceived like Esau to despise the future that God has for you and the destiny.
Forrest: Do not be deceived, and trade your destiny hating what's in the future.
Forrest: Can you just just imagine with me for a moment?
Forrest: I know there's some of you in the room that there's family dynamics, there's things that have gone on at generations in your family, and you're wondering, God, what if I carry that same baggage on to my kids or my grandkids or a future?
Forrest: But what if, what if, what if from right now you begin to write a better story for your future and your future family?
Forrest: What if from right now you take the Jesus that the Bible calls the author and the perfecter of our faith, and you allow him with you and walking with him to write a better story for your future?
Forrest: Is there anybody in the room who wants to write a better story for their future?
Forrest: If that's you saying, I'm writing a better story.
Forrest: Because here's the thing.
Forrest: What are we passing on?
Forrest: What from our past are we passing on?
Forrest: Are we passing on the dysfunction?
Forrest: Are we passing on the brokenness?
Forrest: Or are we allowing God to enter in and to redeem and to write a new story and a new path so that you can walk in forgiveness and freedom with Him?
Forrest: But how in the world do you do that?
Forrest: Well, some of you need some new examples.
Forrest: Some of you need a new circle, not all of you, but some of you need a new circle.
Forrest: And here in this church, that's why we have relationships with teams and with small groups for you to get into a relationship with people that are here, and so you can maybe see a different way and a family that's done it differently, and you can have a new example.
Forrest: And so instead of passing on the hurt and the baggage, you pass on all that and you write a future for your family that you couldn't write yourself because you had the help of our Savior, the author, the perfecter to write it with you.
Forrest: See over the next few weeks.
Forrest: We're gonna be looking at this story.
Forrest: And praise God, this family didn't end in this spot.
Forrest: Jacob and Esau and their family, there's a redemptive arc that happens.
Forrest: They're gonna be that we're gonna be walking through with this family and this story from the scriptures.
Forrest: And I'm believing in faith that God is gonna bring a redemption story maybe to some of you that are in the room right now.
Forrest: The ones that say I'm I'm writing a better and a different and a more glorious story.
Forrest: Not that my life is gonna be free of trials.
Forrest: Not that I'm gonna be perfect.
Forrest: And he's gonna help me.
Forrest: See, because if we walk in the spirit, is what Galatian tells us.
Forrest: That as we walk with the Spirit, that in doing so, that He gives us everlasting life.
Forrest: That our story here on earth doesn't end on earth, but it's written right into the beautiful gates of heaven into eternity.
Forrest: And so right now, I hope that you would allow me, because I want to take a time to pray over every family and future family in the room right now and for our future.
Forrest: So if you would bow your heads, Father, I pray, God, right now, all across this room, every single person who's here, Lord, represents a family, a home.
Forrest: And God, I pray right now, Lord, that you would help us, God, by way of your help, to not be deceived, to not be a deceiver, but instead, God, to be delivered by your glorious power and might.
Forrest: So, God, I pray right now over each home that's represented in this place, that God from this home will become and be written a better story for children and children's children and children's children's children, a blessing by walking with you.
Forrest: Father, I ask right now to in this room, Father, if there is anyone who has not given over their life to you and not received your finished work of salvation that you purchased with your blood on the cross in our place, that today would be the day that they receive the redemption that you so desperately want to write into their story.
Forrest: That God, today that they would give over their life and their heart and their mind to you, receive forgiveness of their sin so they can be with you in heaven.
Forrest: And so, if that's you today, I just want to ask you right now to pray that to the Lord in a genuine way to say something like this Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross, that you rose again, and that you can save me.
Forrest: I give you my life.
Forrest: Forgive me.
Forrest: Help me to turn the page, to change, and to walk the new path with you.
Forrest: I give you my life as you've gave yours for mine.
Forrest: In Jesus' name.
Forrest: Nobody looking around.
Forrest: Today you prayed the prayer, you prayed that prayer that Jesus would write that better story in your life for your future, for your salvation.
Forrest: Today, you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin so that you can walk in right relationship with Him.
Forrest: I'm gonna ask you in just a moment to take an action.
Forrest: I want to see you, I want to pray for you.
Forrest: And so in the count of three, I'm gonna ask you if that was you who prayed that today, I want you to raise your hand high so I can see you, and so so I can lock eyes with you.
Forrest: If that was you, raise your hand in the count of three.
Forrest: Ready?
Forrest: One, two, three.
Forrest: Right here, the back.
Forrest: Yep.
Forrest: I see you two in the back.
Forrest: Keep your hand up, keep your hand up so I can see you.
Forrest: Lock eyes with you right here, right here in the back.
Forrest: Father, for those right now, God, that have hands held towards heaven.
Forrest: God, I pray, Lord, that God, you would seal it, the prayer.
Forrest: God, that you would seal the salvation for their heart, their soul, their mind.
Forrest: Father, that they would walk, God, in newness with you.
Forrest: That God, you would write a better story in and through their lives from now into eternity.
Forrest: And God, we thank you for it.
Forrest: We praise you for it.
Forrest: In the strong name of Jesus, everybody said, Amen, amen.
Forrest: Church, will you stand together as we sing?