WEBVTT 00:00:00.179 --> 00:00:00.861 I mean, you can be seated. 00:00:00.861 --> 00:00:01.544 Good morning everyone. 00:00:01.544 --> 00:00:04.290 Man, I love baptisms, don't you? 00:00:04.290 --> 00:00:05.793 That's so great. 00:00:05.793 --> 00:00:24.885 I leaned over to Per and I just we were talking about rituals earlier in between gatherings these things that we do shape who we are, and so just know that the things that you do in life are actually impacting you in ways you probably don't even know and the unconscious or the subconscious, and so your habits, your rhythms, they begin to shape who you are and the kind of people you are. 00:00:24.885 --> 00:00:34.372 And so this is why we do things like confession and forgiveness and communion and baptism, these kinds of things, because they shape who we are. 00:00:34.372 --> 00:00:38.216 And so, yeah, so I love it, I just love watching those. 00:00:38.216 --> 00:00:39.436 So, way to go, you guys, it's great. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:43.841 Okay, we are in our sermon series with how did we get here? 00:00:43.841 --> 00:00:45.423 Oh, let me get the sign out so you can see it. 00:00:45.423 --> 00:00:46.466 Look at that baby crying. 00:00:46.466 --> 00:00:51.412 Oh, you're fine, you're fine. 00:00:51.412 --> 00:00:53.155 Yeah, how did we get here? 00:00:53.759 --> 00:01:04.128 And so we're going through the book of Genesis, which I love this book, and it's a book about all kinds of things, and it's sort of like this origin story for the people of God, the people of Israel and the Hebrew people. 00:01:04.128 --> 00:01:06.081 And how did they get where they were? 00:01:06.081 --> 00:01:09.831 And we talked about how Exodus opens with them enslaved in Egypt. 00:01:09.831 --> 00:01:11.968 And the question that's raised is how did we get here? 00:01:11.968 --> 00:01:16.046 So to understand that we have to rewind all the way back to Genesis, chapter 1. 00:01:16.046 --> 00:01:23.251 And Genesis 1 through 11 is this preamble to the main character in Genesis, the story of Abraham and Sarah. 00:01:23.251 --> 00:01:29.368 And God makes a covenant with Abraham and Sarah because up until then things were spiraling out of control. 00:01:29.368 --> 00:01:30.352 You remember from the story. 00:01:30.352 --> 00:01:32.225 And so God's like what am I going to do? 00:01:32.225 --> 00:01:34.287 So he chooses Abraham and Sarah. 00:01:34.287 --> 00:01:38.370 He's like I'm going to bless you so that you can be a blessing to all whom you encounter. 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:44.727 I'm going to give you a whole bunch of children and grandchildren and so on down the line and bless them In and grandchildren and so on down the line and bless him. 00:01:44.727 --> 00:01:51.194 In fact, you saw this morning the beauty of, uh, family and legacy and passing down the faith one generation after the other, and uh, it's wonderful. 00:01:51.194 --> 00:01:54.040 It's a beautiful picture of kind of what I think the bible is sort of calling us to do and be. 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:56.546 And so he blesses abraham and sarah. 00:01:56.546 --> 00:02:04.251 And none of these folks are superheroes when you read them, their, their faults and their, their, uh, shortcomings are quite evidently visible. 00:02:04.251 --> 00:02:11.723 So they're all just a bunch of normal, you know, shenaniganizers like you and me, and so it's good news for us, and so he blesses them in order they'd be blessing. 00:02:11.723 --> 00:02:15.542 So then, abraham and sarah have a in their old age, have a son called isaac. 00:02:15.542 --> 00:02:23.164 Isaac means laughter in the hebrew, because when they were super old they had no idea that god, she was barren for a long time and that god would bless him. 00:02:23.164 --> 00:02:27.973 And when it happens, like, what are you going to do when God sort of just shows up in that wonderful, miraculous way? 00:02:27.973 --> 00:02:29.082 They just laugh about it. 00:02:29.082 --> 00:02:32.350 And they have a son named Isaac, and from there God. 00:02:32.350 --> 00:02:50.332 Then, later, in this really weird story that I don't love, but now I love it, god asks Isaac to sacrifice, or God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but in doing so he flips the script, because the end of that story reveals that God this God anyway is not a God like all the other pagan gods who asks us to sacrifice our young ones, thank God. 00:02:50.332 --> 00:02:53.750 And so God provides in this beautiful, wonderful way. 00:02:53.750 --> 00:02:55.807 So you have Abraham and Isaac. 00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:58.468 Isaac has two sons named Jacob and Esau. 00:02:58.468 --> 00:02:59.685 You heard about them last week. 00:02:59.685 --> 00:03:04.771 One's a smooth-skinned mama's boy who loves to be at home, who's favored by his mom. 00:03:04.771 --> 00:03:14.628 The other's a hairy, outdoorsman, rugged you know he's like a Ted Nugent with sandals on that kind of a guy and he's favored by his father and his dad loves him. 00:03:14.628 --> 00:03:17.628 And these two have this sibling rivalry. 00:03:17.628 --> 00:03:21.510 By the way, the Bible's full of sibling rivalries and this is one of them. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.731 And Jacob the trickster steals his brother's blessing from the father when the father's going to die. 00:03:29.731 --> 00:03:36.231 He sneaks in there, pretends to be somebody's not, acting like something he's not, in order to get the blessing from his father he's so deeply and desperately craves. 00:03:36.231 --> 00:03:36.961 And it works. 00:03:36.961 --> 00:03:48.727 The father isaac gives him this blessing because the blessing in the ancient world was more than just oh, god bless, it's something substantive, it's this thing that can be stolen or given or not taken. 00:03:48.727 --> 00:03:52.830 And so Isaac gives it to the wrong son and he can't take it back. 00:03:52.830 --> 00:04:02.944 And so Jacob has this blessing now and Esau finds out and is livid, like I'm sure you would be as well, and he vows I'm going to kill you. 00:04:02.944 --> 00:04:04.629 Once dad is dead, I'm going to kill you. 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:14.207 And so Jacob takes this as a subtle hint that now is a good time to leave town and he rolls out and he goes into hiding for many, many years, with the help of his mom. 00:04:14.207 --> 00:04:15.611 Again, his mom helps him. 00:04:15.611 --> 00:04:28.425 She provides like a soft landing spot for him with his uncle, laban, laban's, her brother, and so Jacob, like many of us do, when we screw things up, he just rolls out and he goes into hiding. 00:04:28.425 --> 00:04:40.163 But here's the thing you can't hide from yourself, can you, like they say in AA, wherever you go, there you are and it turns out, jacob's the problem, not everybody else who maybe he's blaming or, you know, has bitterness towards. 00:04:40.163 --> 00:04:42.446 It's his deal and his doing so. 00:04:42.446 --> 00:04:44.528 On his way out of town he stops for the night. 00:04:44.528 --> 00:04:49.875 He's going to travel a long way to this place where Laban is, and on his way out there he takes a nap. 00:04:50.456 --> 00:04:56.259 One night he goes to sleep and in that night, in this certain place the text tells it's this certain place. 00:04:56.259 --> 00:04:59.564 It's actually just an ordinary place in which God seems to show up. 00:04:59.564 --> 00:05:04.653 By the way, god always seems to show up in the most ordinary, mundane places. 00:05:04.653 --> 00:05:10.612 I love this about the story of God, which means in that you don't have to wait to come here to hear from or receive from God. 00:05:10.612 --> 00:05:14.309 God can show up in your life in the most ordinary, random moments. 00:05:14.309 --> 00:05:20.028 I was telling Ben the other day that God spoke to me dramatically in the Kung Fu Panda movie about a decade ago. 00:05:20.028 --> 00:05:22.242 That is a true story, by the way. 00:05:23.024 --> 00:05:26.793 And so here God is, or or Jacob, in this certain place, and God shows up. 00:05:26.793 --> 00:05:33.872 He falls asleep and has this bizarre dream there's a ladder and angels going up and down and these divine beings are called the Elohim and it's like what the heck? 00:05:33.872 --> 00:05:43.324 But then he wakes up and he says this, which is oftentimes our maybe lament when we realize that God has shown up in this most ordinary place. 00:05:43.324 --> 00:05:49.701 He says God, surely God was in this place and I didn't even know it. 00:05:49.701 --> 00:05:50.442 You ever been somewhere? 00:05:50.442 --> 00:05:51.363 And God has shown up. 00:05:51.363 --> 00:05:54.408 You're like, oh, god was always here, I just didn't know it. 00:05:54.408 --> 00:06:01.036 It's like Jacob suddenly is awake to God's presence in his life in this moment, and so he makes this vow with God. 00:06:02.483 --> 00:06:05.524 Here's what it says in the text Go ahead for me, sarah. 00:06:05.524 --> 00:06:12.762 It says God says to Jacob, after he wakes up and has this moment of like, this divine encounter, says I'm with you and we'll watch over you wherever you go. 00:06:12.762 --> 00:06:15.829 Remember that Jacob's running for his life. 00:06:15.829 --> 00:06:17.680 Esau's going to kill him. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:27.428 He left everything and everybody he knew he's by himself has nothing to show for it, except for this blessing that's sort of there that he stole and he's a trickster, a liar, and he's out there. 00:06:27.428 --> 00:06:31.233 And this is what God says to him I'm going to be with you and I'll watch over you wherever you go. 00:06:31.233 --> 00:06:32.673 Why would God do that? 00:06:32.673 --> 00:06:33.394 He doesn't deserve it. 00:06:33.394 --> 00:06:35.637 And I'll bring you back to this land. 00:06:35.637 --> 00:06:39.482 Uh-oh, he's going to have to come back. 00:06:39.482 --> 00:06:42.528 I will not leave you until I have done what I promised to you. 00:06:42.528 --> 00:06:44.992 God tells Jacob that's a powerful moment. 00:06:44.992 --> 00:06:47.725 And then Jacob says this Go ahead for me, sarah. 00:06:47.745 --> 00:06:48.927 Jacob makes a vow back to God. 00:06:48.927 --> 00:07:03.091 He says, hey, if God will be with me and watch over me on this journey that I'm taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, sustain me, give me life flourishing, that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God. 00:07:03.091 --> 00:07:10.502 Remember, he's from the promised line Abraham, and then Isaac and then Jacob, and so he's like one of the ones that God will bless the whole world through. 00:07:10.502 --> 00:07:17.461 And he's saying, hey, if you do take care of me, god, then you'll be my God and I'll be yours and we'll do this thing together. 00:07:17.461 --> 00:07:18.422 And he goes on. 00:07:18.422 --> 00:07:19.723 And now here's the deal. 00:07:20.242 --> 00:07:29.728 A whole bunch of time passes and decades later, jacob comes back to this spot where he has this dream. 00:07:29.728 --> 00:07:36.432 He calls it Bethel, which means the house of God, because God was there and dwelling in this place and he didn't even know it. 00:07:36.432 --> 00:07:43.516 He comes back decades later and when he does, he's like I want to build something to remind myself of this story. 00:07:43.516 --> 00:07:57.601 So he grabs some rocks that he finds nearby, I imagine, and they were perfectly squared, like these ones that I got from Home Depot. 00:07:57.601 --> 00:08:03.589 He's like I'm going to build something just to remind myself, like a memorial, a pillar, because these kinds of things in the ancient world were important. 00:08:03.589 --> 00:08:23.209 This moment, he wants to remember this house of God, this dream he had, and this promise, this covenant he makes with God, and he takes these stones, maybe like the ones you have in your hands, and he builds this thing, this pillar, and it becomes this altar, the place where God was, this certain place that he calls Bethel. 00:08:23.209 --> 00:08:23.108 God had two more. 00:08:23.108 --> 00:08:22.285 It's going to be big. 00:08:22.285 --> 00:08:23.932 The place where God was in a certain place that he calls Bethel. 00:08:23.932 --> 00:08:24.353 God had two more. 00:08:24.353 --> 00:08:30.545 It's going to be big and I imagine now, at this point, it's decades later and he shows back up. 00:08:30.586 --> 00:08:31.528 He's got a family now. 00:08:31.528 --> 00:08:35.400 He's got a couple of wives, some kids, and I imagine those kids are like Dad. 00:08:35.400 --> 00:08:36.644 What are you doing? 00:08:36.644 --> 00:08:39.221 If they're like my kids, who are like Dad? 00:08:39.221 --> 00:08:40.062 What are you doing? 00:08:40.062 --> 00:08:40.764 What is dad up to? 00:08:40.764 --> 00:08:43.990 Again, right, dad, what's with the rocks? 00:08:43.990 --> 00:08:47.701 He's just oh, dad's such a crazy man, he's building all these rocks. 00:08:47.701 --> 00:08:53.504 And I imagine that Jacob begins to tell them the story of why he builds these rocks there. 00:08:53.504 --> 00:08:55.706 Well, here's what happened, kids. 00:08:55.706 --> 00:09:05.352 He probably says to them many years ago, I ran from your uncle Esau and Jacob runs and for decades he's gone. 00:09:05.352 --> 00:09:20.104 He goes to live with his uncle Laban and while he's there, the craziest thing happens that changes his life forever, which maybe happened to some of you young men. 00:09:20.124 --> 00:09:20.565 Jacob falls in love. 00:09:20.565 --> 00:09:21.989 They actually make this into a Hallmark movie many decades later. 00:09:21.989 --> 00:09:24.115 And just kidding, this is way too good for a Hallmark movie. 00:09:24.115 --> 00:09:26.301 Decades later. 00:09:26.301 --> 00:09:28.644 And just kidding, this is way too good for a Hallmark movie. 00:09:28.644 --> 00:09:30.427 Just kidding, that was also a joke. 00:09:30.427 --> 00:09:34.561 But he falls in love and, look, this changes everything for Jacob as often as the case for many of us. 00:09:34.561 --> 00:09:39.282 I would never encourage a young man who has some wayward ways or tendency or is a liar or trickster. 00:09:39.282 --> 00:09:41.988 I'd never encourage them to get married to fix their problems. 00:09:41.988 --> 00:09:44.212 But sometimes it does work. 00:09:44.212 --> 00:09:46.076 Just ask my wife. 00:09:46.076 --> 00:09:50.827 So Jacob Jacob falls in love and he's like I want to marry her. 00:09:50.827 --> 00:09:52.451 And so he makes a deal with Laban. 00:09:52.451 --> 00:09:53.240 It's Laban's daughter. 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:54.845 And he makes a deal with Laban. 00:09:54.845 --> 00:09:59.841 He's like hey, I'll work for you for seven years if I can have the marriage, the hand of your daughter. 00:09:59.841 --> 00:10:00.984 And he's like cool, cool. 00:10:00.984 --> 00:10:02.846 So he works for seven years. 00:10:03.527 --> 00:10:09.774 And on the wedding night, jacob the smooth-skinned lying trickster. 00:10:09.774 --> 00:10:13.784 He's tricked and he gets his just desserts. 00:10:13.784 --> 00:10:17.985 When Laban tricks him and gives him the wrong daughter, he never indicated which daughter. 00:10:17.985 --> 00:10:19.301 So Laban just gives him a daughter. 00:10:19.301 --> 00:10:21.865 He's like yo, sorry man, you never said which one, I'll just here's one. 00:10:21.865 --> 00:10:27.532 And Jacob, I'm sure, is livid, but also probably like ugh, got what's coming to me, didn't I? 00:10:27.532 --> 00:10:33.788 And so Laban's like listen, dude, I'll make a deal with you, work for seven more years and I'll give you the one that you want. 00:10:33.788 --> 00:10:37.041 Meanwhile, the other daughter's like oh God, what am I? 00:10:37.041 --> 00:10:39.725 Chopped liver, you know. 00:10:39.725 --> 00:10:41.369 And here's what happens. 00:10:41.408 --> 00:10:55.951 In the meantime, jacob, the trickster liar, the one who's hiding out from everybody, who's ashamed of himself probably at this point he begins to grow up, he falls in love, he commits himself to a task. 00:10:55.951 --> 00:10:59.696 He works hard for now 14 years and even years beyond that. 00:10:59.696 --> 00:11:01.390 He begins to build a relationship. 00:11:01.390 --> 00:11:02.609 He has a couple of wives. 00:11:02.609 --> 00:11:18.394 Now they have children, he's raising a family and Jacob, the innocent, little, naive mama's boy trickster, begins to grow up and he fulfills his covenant and he's transformed from a little boy and he becomes a man. 00:11:18.394 --> 00:11:20.057 I love it. 00:11:20.057 --> 00:11:24.811 So he comes out of this whole thing with wives and kids and his wealth begins to grow. 00:11:24.811 --> 00:11:31.909 He's got all kinds of things now and lots more goats and coin, maybe some blessing from Laban and these kinds of things. 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:34.664 And it transforms Jacob. 00:11:34.884 --> 00:11:39.414 And then God says to him hey, buddy, it's time to go home. 00:11:39.414 --> 00:11:41.019 Here's what he says in the text. 00:11:41.019 --> 00:11:43.133 He says, hey, go back to the land of your fathers. 00:11:43.133 --> 00:11:45.687 Remember he told them he'd call them back there that night. 00:11:45.687 --> 00:11:48.115 He had that dream at Bethel and he's like, hey, you're going to go back. 00:11:48.115 --> 00:11:52.556 And so he calls them back to the land of your fathers and your relatives. 00:11:52.556 --> 00:11:56.553 And then God tells him I will be with you. 00:11:56.553 --> 00:11:57.917 Now here's the deal. 00:11:57.917 --> 00:11:59.692 What's waiting for him back there? 00:11:59.692 --> 00:12:20.951 He has to go back to revisit the past, his past mistakes, the wounds he's given and even the wounds he's received, his own shortcoming, his stealing of the blessing from his dying father, the shame that the whole family now probably has for him, and even his own brother who's vowed to kill him. 00:12:20.951 --> 00:12:30.356 I know it's 20 years on or so, but he's vowed to kill him and God wants him to go back to face all of that. 00:12:30.356 --> 00:12:37.475 He's got to face it Because unconfessed guilt is one of the most tragic things in life. 00:12:37.514 --> 00:12:37.975 Are you with me? 00:12:37.975 --> 00:12:44.557 I encourage this morning, if I could, if you have unconfessed guilt, find somebody to confess it to. 00:12:44.557 --> 00:12:45.625 It's tragic. 00:12:45.625 --> 00:12:48.351 It's why the book of which book is it, sarah? 00:12:48.351 --> 00:12:48.732 Remind me. 00:12:48.732 --> 00:12:49.695 There we go, james. 00:12:49.695 --> 00:12:50.537 I couldn't remember for a second. 00:12:50.537 --> 00:12:53.714 James says confess our sins to each other. 00:12:53.714 --> 00:12:55.412 It's really a gift to be able to confess. 00:12:57.845 --> 00:13:00.370 And so now Jacob has a chance to go back home and, I guess, to maybe make things right. 00:13:00.370 --> 00:13:12.947 See, this is what it means to be a flourishing, mature adult, to not let the past define you but to revisit it, to get healing and to seek a new way forward. 00:13:12.947 --> 00:13:14.129 And it isn't easy. 00:13:14.129 --> 00:13:15.994 Jacob knows what's at stake. 00:13:15.994 --> 00:13:17.056 His own life is at stake. 00:13:17.056 --> 00:13:19.129 But he has to go back there and revisit it. 00:13:19.129 --> 00:13:26.712 He has to allow God to transform his wounds because if not, jacob undoubtedly will transmit those wounds to others. 00:13:26.712 --> 00:13:28.076 And you and I are no different friends. 00:13:28.076 --> 00:13:34.626 Like the great Franciscan priest says, if we don't let God transform our past wounds, we will give them out to other people all the time. 00:13:34.626 --> 00:13:35.629 Maybe some of us have done that. 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:43.509 If we don't let God transform our pain and our wounds and our sorrows, we will transmit them to other people if we're not careful. 00:13:45.032 --> 00:13:56.871 So Jacob packs up his things his new life, his family, his wives, his kids, all his wealth he's amassed over the last couple of decades says goodbye and he goes back home. 00:13:56.871 --> 00:13:57.552 What's back there? 00:13:57.552 --> 00:13:58.475 Well, esau home. 00:13:58.475 --> 00:13:59.176 What's back there? 00:13:59.176 --> 00:14:03.450 Well, esau's brother's back there, ready and waiting for him. 00:14:03.450 --> 00:14:05.515 So Jacob knows what's going to happen. 00:14:05.515 --> 00:14:08.731 He's going to probably try to come out and I'm sure Esau will take his life. 00:14:08.731 --> 00:14:10.336 He's owed that. 00:14:10.336 --> 00:14:10.879 He told him. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:11.660 He swore an oath. 00:14:11.660 --> 00:14:12.606 He's I'm going to kill you. 00:14:12.606 --> 00:14:15.653 So Jacob's like what can I do to soften the blow? 00:14:15.653 --> 00:14:16.735 Ever the angle man. 00:14:16.735 --> 00:14:26.067 He sends word to esau and said uh, send some gifts to him and try to like pacify esau a little bit, try to help him soften this blow. 00:14:26.067 --> 00:14:28.188 And esau hears about it. 00:14:29.191 --> 00:14:35.477 And esau comes to meet jacob with 400 of his homies. 00:14:35.477 --> 00:14:44.471 Yeah, uh-oh, as they say it's on, or as I say, it's on like popcorn. 00:14:44.471 --> 00:14:46.557 Thank you, thank you. 00:14:46.557 --> 00:14:53.596 Thank you for that laughter of encouragement and my daughter would say Dad, nobody says it like that anymore, dude, but it's on right. 00:14:53.596 --> 00:15:07.177 Like he comes out, him and his 400 of his gym bros come out there to meet Jacob, all gym broed out, with the weight belts on the knee sleeves, the headband, the glistening tan Am I right? 00:15:07.177 --> 00:15:08.519 You know some gym bros? 00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:13.708 It's like my son, but with a spear and some creatine. 00:15:13.708 --> 00:15:17.106 It's on, it's go time. 00:15:18.590 --> 00:15:30.229 I mean, if revenge is a dish best served cold, this one's ice cold 20 years on, and we're looking at a fight that's like a two-hit fight, like just esau hitting jacob and jacob hitting the ground. 00:15:30.229 --> 00:15:31.071 It's that kind of a fight. 00:15:31.071 --> 00:15:37.052 The odds are not good, not in jacob's favor, 400 plus one against Jacob and his family. 00:15:37.052 --> 00:15:44.730 But he goes back and here it is, this mama's boy against the hunter. 00:15:44.730 --> 00:15:48.096 Jacob goes to meet him and he's terrified. 00:15:48.096 --> 00:15:49.597 Of course he would be. 00:15:49.597 --> 00:15:50.299 He's frightened. 00:15:50.299 --> 00:16:00.245 The text says he was greatly distressed and afraid because Esau, his brother, is going to kill him, because Jacob stole what didn't belong to him. 00:16:00.245 --> 00:16:02.629 So again he sends these gifts. 00:16:02.629 --> 00:16:05.296 Hopefully had him to pacify Esau. 00:16:05.416 --> 00:16:12.268 Or one time years ago, when I was just out of high school, I was at a party actually Katie was there and uh almost got into this huge fight. 00:16:12.268 --> 00:16:13.533 It would have been a disaster for me. 00:16:13.533 --> 00:16:20.296 But uh, I'm there, like maybe five, six, seven of my friends and then this whole group of dudes that wanted to fight, and I'll never forget. 00:16:20.296 --> 00:16:23.335 We're there, we're trying to look all tough because we don't want to get intimidated. 00:16:23.335 --> 00:16:31.566 And my buddy Will I hear him as we're trying to be tough and look tough and promote this image of just tough guys, my buddy Will goes. 00:16:31.566 --> 00:16:34.289 He says to this guy across the way that wanted to fight us. 00:16:34.289 --> 00:16:37.934 He goes hey man, why don't we get some hot cocoa and go inside and talk this out? 00:16:37.934 --> 00:16:40.818 Shut up, dude, what are you talking? 00:16:40.818 --> 00:16:41.760 We're trying to be tough guys. 00:16:41.760 --> 00:16:44.972 Now, he was a Canadian, so that makes sense. 00:16:44.972 --> 00:16:45.676 That does make sense. 00:16:45.676 --> 00:16:48.004 Ever the pacifist? 00:16:48.004 --> 00:16:48.566 Well, shut up. 00:16:50.109 --> 00:16:54.645 So Jacob tries to pacify, tries to soften the blow to allow Esau to let him have some grace. 00:16:54.645 --> 00:16:58.176 And they're going out there and the confrontation's coming. 00:16:58.176 --> 00:17:01.909 But before he gets there, to where his brother is, there's a river blocking the way. 00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:02.894 It's the Jabbok River. 00:17:02.894 --> 00:17:05.573 And so Jacob camps there. 00:17:05.573 --> 00:17:19.195 He sends his family, his wives and his children and all their stuff across the river, this mythical river, this boundary that now is blocking him from his homeland, his brother, reconciliation, all that's in the past. 00:17:19.195 --> 00:17:23.394 There's this mythical river that he has to go through to get to it, and he sends everyone across. 00:17:23.394 --> 00:17:35.016 Now this is the river, this is the Jabbok River, and it's in the Near East and it's a prominent river in this part of the world and it connects with the Jordan River about 20 miles north of the Dead Sea. 00:17:35.016 --> 00:17:36.571 So you can imagine where that is in Israel. 00:17:36.571 --> 00:17:39.770 And to get across this was no easy feat. 00:17:39.770 --> 00:17:45.634 You had to find a shallow place when the river was low, you could walk across some stones or you could put some timber across it and walk across it. 00:17:45.634 --> 00:17:47.528 It was dangerous, especially at night. 00:17:47.528 --> 00:17:57.057 So Jacob sends them all across and he stays on this side of the river and he spends the night and camps out at the edge of the river. 00:17:59.164 --> 00:18:10.115 Now I imagine he makes himself a little fire and begins to reminisce about what he had done all those years ago and what it will mean to go and face his brother, his mistakes, his past and all these kinds of things. 00:18:10.115 --> 00:18:12.548 What now? 00:18:12.548 --> 00:18:13.392 What do you do now? 00:18:13.392 --> 00:18:15.471 How do you handle this? 00:18:15.471 --> 00:18:16.996 He's all alone. 00:18:19.805 --> 00:18:26.805 I believe, embedded in this part of the story is this invitation for jacob an invitation to die, to die before he dies with his brother. 00:18:26.805 --> 00:18:39.608 You know, this is what baptism really is baptism an invitation to die before you die, to let go of all the things that don't matter, things that we cling to so desperately for life, that cannot give us life. 00:18:39.608 --> 00:18:43.279 And Jacob is invited to die before he dies. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:45.749 Kent Dobson says this in his commentary. 00:18:45.749 --> 00:18:45.970 I love it. 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:49.346 He says this is an essential dimension to the human experience of seeking God. 00:18:49.346 --> 00:18:52.734 When we seek God, these are the moments we kind of have. 00:18:52.734 --> 00:18:54.445 So if you've had this, you'll kind of recognize it. 00:18:54.445 --> 00:19:01.338 We all have a dark night of the soul, a lonely, solitude, anguish, kind of a night where you wrestle with all these things. 00:19:01.338 --> 00:19:08.446 We have a past, we all have broken relationships, we stand alone on the shore and we all desire to come home. 00:19:10.750 --> 00:19:17.400 And then the text says some dude out of nowhere comes out and wrestles Jacob all night long. 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:19.268 Wait what? 00:19:19.268 --> 00:19:20.352 Here it is, I'll show you. 00:19:20.352 --> 00:19:20.813 It's in the text. 00:19:20.813 --> 00:19:21.394 This is crazy. 00:19:21.394 --> 00:19:25.192 This is one of the most bizarre stories we have in all of the Bible, I think. 00:19:25.192 --> 00:19:27.637 I think we have it, don't we have it there? 00:19:27.637 --> 00:19:40.528 It is Like what Out of nowhere, like, oh, just some dude comes out, like this is totally normal for the ancient near east. 00:19:40.528 --> 00:19:42.455 Some guy just hanging out by the river and he rustles, like happens to you when you go camping. 00:19:42.455 --> 00:19:43.839 Sometimes some guy just comes out and wrestles him until daybreak. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:44.080 I have some. 00:19:44.101 --> 00:19:46.007 We found some footage in these ancient, you know bible. 00:19:46.007 --> 00:19:48.571 Uh, yeah, you know, you know, here we go. 00:19:48.571 --> 00:19:50.175 Here's a picture of it that we found on. 00:19:50.175 --> 00:19:52.686 I think google earth found this one. 00:19:52.686 --> 00:19:56.153 Yeah, I have another one from this ancient bible. 00:19:56.153 --> 00:19:56.855 Yeah, look at that. 00:19:56.855 --> 00:20:00.307 Yeah, yo, what is going on in the story? 00:20:00.307 --> 00:20:01.393 We were having a bible story. 00:20:01.393 --> 00:20:07.215 All of a sudden, like a mortal combat episode, game broke out and they wrestle each other all night long. 00:20:07.215 --> 00:20:08.881 I love it, the bible. 00:20:08.881 --> 00:20:11.874 Actually in the original hebrew it's like they call it a dust up. 00:20:11.874 --> 00:20:15.407 In the original it's like this, like there's some kind of a scuffle all night long. 00:20:15.849 --> 00:20:22.435 And then the man, this mysterious being who came out of nowhere, who wrestles Jacob and we're never told really what's really going on. 00:20:22.435 --> 00:20:29.671 But this is what he says the sun's coming up and the man says this hey, let me go, for it's almost daybreak. 00:20:29.671 --> 00:20:31.236 Oh what? 00:20:31.236 --> 00:20:33.189 Like hey, the sun's about to come up, I got to go home. 00:20:33.189 --> 00:20:34.310 The sun's coming up, let me go. 00:20:34.310 --> 00:20:35.613 Like what is he? 00:20:35.613 --> 00:20:36.595 Some kind of a vampire? 00:20:36.595 --> 00:20:37.798 You can't be up when the sun's up. 00:20:37.798 --> 00:20:40.567 Or maybe he's a parent volunteer. 00:20:40.567 --> 00:20:50.045 At the all-night grad party on Thursday night down in Monticello, which me and Katie were a part of, I came rolling out of that place like at 4 am, just couldn't hardly walk my eyes. 00:20:50.045 --> 00:20:55.891 The sun's coming up, like Maybe he had a coffee meeting to get to at Dunbar's. 00:20:55.891 --> 00:20:59.174 But the guy's like hey, let me go, it's almost daybreak, I've got to go. 00:21:00.256 --> 00:21:04.941 And Jacob says this Jacob, the fair, smooth-skinned mama's boy. 00:21:04.941 --> 00:21:13.503 He says this hey, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. 00:21:13.503 --> 00:21:15.048 Remember, jacob? 00:21:15.048 --> 00:21:17.605 This is the guy that longed so desperately deep in his soul for his father's blessing. 00:21:17.605 --> 00:21:22.337 He wanted to have someone look at him and say I see you, young man, I see you just as you are. 00:21:22.337 --> 00:21:23.339 I love you. 00:21:23.339 --> 00:21:24.824 You're unique. 00:21:24.824 --> 00:21:25.787 There's nobody like you. 00:21:25.787 --> 00:21:27.451 I love you for no reason. 00:21:28.855 --> 00:21:32.885 That kid now he wrestles this strange, mysterious being. 00:21:32.885 --> 00:21:34.089 He's like I'm not gonna let you go. 00:21:34.089 --> 00:21:37.339 He holds on for dear life, as it were. 00:21:37.339 --> 00:21:39.645 I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. 00:21:39.645 --> 00:21:41.490 He still craves this blessing. 00:21:41.490 --> 00:21:46.219 So this man who's sort of being defeated by Jacob. 00:21:46.219 --> 00:21:47.426 I got to get out of here. 00:21:47.426 --> 00:21:48.088 I got somewhere to go. 00:21:48.088 --> 00:21:51.196 I got a date with the Bible study crew at Denny's. 00:21:51.196 --> 00:21:58.637 In about an hour he touches Jacob in the hip and Jacob, it says, is permanently disabled. 00:21:58.637 --> 00:21:59.279 He can't walk. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:01.593 He limps from that day forward. 00:22:01.593 --> 00:22:04.894 So I imagine when folks would meet him like yo dude, why are you limping? 00:22:06.224 --> 00:22:16.087 He tells this story about wrestling this strange man by the side of the Jabbok River and this man says hey, I'm going to change your name, which in the ancient world was a big deal. 00:22:16.087 --> 00:22:18.912 And he said your name is no longer Jacob, which is a great name. 00:22:18.912 --> 00:22:19.993 Jacob's still back there. 00:22:19.993 --> 00:22:22.057 It means heel grabber. 00:22:22.057 --> 00:22:30.213 Your name is no longer heel grabber, your name is now going to be Israel. 00:22:30.213 --> 00:22:31.400 Yisrael, which means one who wrestles with God. 00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:32.265 And we begin to get a clearer picture. 00:22:32.265 --> 00:22:35.144 Who was this man that came out of nowhere? 00:22:35.144 --> 00:22:41.230 In one of the prophets it's called an angel, in this text it's called a man, but somehow it's maybe something like this guy. 00:22:41.230 --> 00:22:43.734 Jacob wrestles with God. 00:22:43.734 --> 00:22:48.530 What is it like to wrestle with God all night long. 00:22:48.530 --> 00:22:56.531 In fact, jacob seems to be winning and he won't let go until this man maybe it's God blesses him. 00:22:57.433 --> 00:22:59.537 The great Pete Enns says this about this story. 00:22:59.537 --> 00:22:59.897 I love it. 00:22:59.897 --> 00:23:07.512 He says this hey, whatever else this story means and the flow of the narrative, it's used to prepare Jacob for his inevitable meeting with Esau. 00:23:07.512 --> 00:23:12.173 He has to wrestle with this being before he goes to meet his brother. 00:23:12.173 --> 00:23:18.412 He's grown up in this struggle with God and now he acts like a man. 00:23:18.412 --> 00:23:23.453 Before his encounter with God, he was a coward who sends gifts to pacify his angry brother. 00:23:23.453 --> 00:23:31.055 Now he courageously moves from the back to the front of his entourage and he meets his brother face to face. 00:23:31.055 --> 00:23:38.753 And when he gets there, he bows before Esau seven times, a son of total submission known in ancient cultures. 00:23:38.753 --> 00:23:41.126 Now he's ready. 00:23:41.126 --> 00:23:46.518 He's grown up, he's wrestled with his past, all these things. 00:23:46.518 --> 00:23:48.828 He's ready to go and meet his brother Esau. 00:23:51.034 --> 00:23:52.337 What does it mean to wrestle with God? 00:23:52.337 --> 00:23:57.351 What is it like to be one who wrestles with god? 00:23:57.351 --> 00:23:58.693 I don't know. 00:23:58.693 --> 00:24:12.935 I imagine it means something like this wrestling with your past, these things back there that are lingering, that maybe you haven't dealt with past wounds that you've caused, or that you've received past lies. 00:24:12.935 --> 00:24:32.454 You've believed past relationships that have been broken, things that didn't work out the way they should have, maybe disappointments or fears or doubts or shortcomings these things we call sin, that keep tripping you up hurdles you can't get over, ways you keep failing again and again, ways you've been a disappointment, maybe to somebody in your life. 00:24:32.454 --> 00:24:39.169 It's wrestling, maybe, with even yourself, that shadow part of you that jung says like is this part of you that you just don't know about? 00:24:39.169 --> 00:24:47.676 What does it mean to wrestle with god and your past in order to cross that river and go back home? 00:24:50.040 --> 00:24:54.401 Like I told you last week, I was in a camping trip a year ago and out there. 00:24:54.401 --> 00:25:01.409 We were out there for five days in this wilderness area of Michigan and there was about eight of us and Kent Dobson was the leader of this trip. 00:25:01.409 --> 00:25:02.070 It was incredible. 00:25:02.070 --> 00:25:13.092 It's one of those thin places where you're exhausted, you're fasting, you're out in the woods by yourself, things get very thin and you can kind of experience the divine in these unique and powerful ways. 00:25:13.092 --> 00:25:20.915 And we were talking about it because at one point we had to go out into the woods and find a solo camping spot and I wanted to get as far away from everybody as I could. 00:25:20.915 --> 00:25:21.691 I wanted to be like totally alone. 00:25:21.691 --> 00:25:28.583 So I hiked way out into the and one of the people in the trip that she goes oh, I couldn't do that, I'd be too afraid. 00:25:28.583 --> 00:25:30.065 I'm like what are you afraid of? 00:25:30.065 --> 00:25:31.146 It's like like, well, what's out there? 00:25:31.146 --> 00:25:31.827 I go. 00:25:31.827 --> 00:25:33.671 Whatever's out there should be afraid of me. 00:25:33.671 --> 00:25:38.744 I'm a tough guy, remember. 00:25:38.744 --> 00:25:39.788 I'm not afraid of what's out there. 00:25:39.788 --> 00:25:41.152 Whatever's out there should be afraid of me. 00:25:41.152 --> 00:25:46.152 You break into my house, you should be afraid of me. 00:25:46.152 --> 00:25:47.576 And we all had a laugh and chuckled. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:26:03.186 Then later on we're talking and having this conversation and Kent and the people began to know my story, my story of growing up without a father and a single mother who raised me and getting involved in all kinds of shenanigans and things I shouldn't have been doing at a young age and kind of finding my way through life and just being a knucklehead. 00:26:03.186 --> 00:26:06.827 And, yeah, kent goes. 00:26:06.827 --> 00:26:10.728 We were talking and Kent was like mentioning this, he goes hey, good for you, ryan, good for you. 00:26:10.728 --> 00:26:16.071 They should be afraid of you out there, whatever's out there, they should be afraid of you. 00:26:16.071 --> 00:26:17.200 Because you did it, man, you got out of the house. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:19.223 The house you grew up in was on fire. 00:26:19.223 --> 00:26:20.467 Metaphorically it was on fire. 00:26:20.467 --> 00:26:20.907 You did it. 00:26:20.907 --> 00:26:23.093 Good job, good for you. 00:26:23.093 --> 00:26:28.284 You made it out of the front lawn, you survived and you built a little family out there. 00:26:28.284 --> 00:26:29.705 Good for you, buddy. 00:26:29.705 --> 00:26:43.180 But he says there's only one problem Little boy Ryan is still in the house and you have to go back in there and get him Start bawling. 00:26:43.180 --> 00:26:45.624 I'm sobbing again. 00:26:45.624 --> 00:26:46.967 What does it mean to wrestle with God? 00:26:46.967 --> 00:26:48.289 Something like that? 00:26:48.289 --> 00:27:00.846 The last year I'm not going to go into detail the last year year, I've spent time with my wife and my therapist going back into the house to find a little boy and to rescue him and to wrestle with God myself. 00:27:00.846 --> 00:27:06.726 My past, the wounds I've given, wounds I've received these kinds of things To die before I die. 00:27:08.361 --> 00:27:10.227 Years ago we hired Ben Carruthers. 00:27:10.227 --> 00:27:20.152 You probably know Ben and when I got his resume or his application, I did a little bit of Googling and it turns out that Ben, as he shared with you all very publicly. 00:27:20.152 --> 00:27:23.587 He made a huge mistake in a ministry job several years prior. 00:27:23.587 --> 00:27:27.522 That got him fired from this job and there were all kinds of consequences. 00:27:27.522 --> 00:27:31.221 Well, his resume comes across my desk, and this was right. 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:37.763 When I was taking over for Paul, it was like my first hire and I'm like I can't hire this guy. 00:27:37.763 --> 00:27:41.553 This would be a huge risk, the guy who had done these dramatically inappropriate things. 00:27:41.553 --> 00:27:44.147 But I owe him a call, you know. 00:27:44.147 --> 00:27:54.601 So I called Ben and interviewed him for about an hour or so and I was super impressed with him, but I had to tell him at the end of the interview I got I was super impressed with him, but I had to tell him at the end of the interview I got Ben. 00:27:54.601 --> 00:27:54.982 This was great man. 00:27:55.002 --> 00:27:59.305 I really feel like God has a calling in your life and you should explore it more, but you can't do it with me. 00:27:59.305 --> 00:28:00.865 I'm sorry, I can't hire you, dude, I just can't. 00:28:00.865 --> 00:28:01.467 He's like no, I get it. 00:28:01.467 --> 00:28:11.653 That's okay, man, I understand it's going to be a part of that. 00:28:11.653 --> 00:28:13.295 Well, I can't do it though. 00:28:13.295 --> 00:28:14.375 Man, it's my first hire. 00:28:14.375 --> 00:28:14.755 I can't. 00:28:14.755 --> 00:28:19.856 But listen, I'd love to interview you one more time with Sonia, just for you to have some experience. 00:28:19.856 --> 00:28:21.258 He's like, yeah, yeah, cool, cool. 00:28:21.258 --> 00:28:24.766 So we did another interview and called him back and we were done. 00:28:24.766 --> 00:28:29.063 We were both like, man, he's pretty great, maybe we should look more. 00:28:29.063 --> 00:28:35.554 And I called his references and, lo and behold, ben had done all the things he was supposed to do. 00:28:36.201 --> 00:28:45.607