The Leah Lesson

Genesis chapter 29 verse 30 it says I'm gonna be picking up here where it says

Genesis 29:30

he also loved Rachel more than lay up and he served layman still another seven

years now I'd like to skip to chapter 49 and verse 29 then he charged them and

said to them this is Jacob speaking I am to be gathered to my people bury me

with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of that from the Hittite verse

31 there they buried Abraham Sarah his wife there they buried Isaac and Rebecca

his wife and there I buried lay up I'm gonna preach for a few moments a word

of encouragement I've entitled the laya lesson the laya lesson let's pray father

I thank you for all that you have done in this place today father your presence

that we feel so strongly you have visited us once again and we are grateful

we cherish what we feel right now God I ask God that as we enter into your word

that you would speak to us God that you would comfort us encourage us God

challenge us if need be deal with us speak to us God anoint the ears and the

hearts of everyone that is in this place that are watching online today God an

anoint my lips of clay God and fill my mouth with your word not mine your

wisdom not mine God so that your name will be glorified today and that your

people be edified father we ask this in the name of Jesus amen everyone say

amen man you may be seated in God's presence Jacob worked for Laban a total

of 14 years to marry his daughter Rachel and she was for all intents and

purposes the girl of his dreams her stunning beauty charm spirits stole his

heart one day Jacob was smitten and he couldn't fathom life without her Rachel

the apple of his eye but as the story goes there would be some unexpected

twist along the way and the first twist came the morning after Jacob's wedding

when to his shock and dismay he woke up to Leah instead of Rachel now the

custom in Bible times was for the eldest daughter to marry first so Laban kind of

pulled the fast one on Jacob by swapping his daughters on their wedding night and

this switch was anything but an even exchange it was not because Leah and

Rachel were total opposites in every sense of the word they were completely

different both on the outside and the inside both externally and internally

they were two completely different young ladies Rachel the Bible says of her

physical appearance was very attractive very lovely very pleasant on the eyes

whereas lay up the Bible says that she had tender eyes that's the Bible being

nice okay and saying that she was not very attractive Rachel her name means one

with purity sounds like a nice name whereas Leah her name means weary kind of

sounds like a red flag if I'm being honest today one with purity and and the

connotation there of one with purity is not just speaking of an internal a

spiritual purity but just a pureness about the way she looked her her overall

persona whereas lay up her overall persona was one of weariness and that

weariness is not just tiredness like how your weary are tired after a long

days work it's more it's deeper than that it's a it's a spiritual weariness

it's something that that that goes beyond just being tired on the physical

there was a despondency maybe even a depression about her a loneliness and so

when Jacob woke up that that morning to realize that he had in fact been hitched

to the wrong woman I could imagine that he felt cheated on that day he must have

thought to himself this is not the agreement that I had with my father in

law this is not what I signed up for this is not what I envisioned my life to

be not what I expected and I think that when he woke up that morning he felt

like he got the short end of the stick this is not what I expected this is not

a problem I expect I know that that marriage wasn't always going to be easy

I know that marriage wasn't always going to be you know just peaches and cream

but but surely it wasn't going to start like this is not the kind of problem I

expected to have on day one but this is exactly where he found himself this was

not the sacrifice that he expected to make this was not the kind of deal he

expected to have but this in fact was the reality that Jacob woke up with

whether he liked it or not whether it was what he thought life would be or not

this was the hand that had been dealt to him and I want to tell you today that in

life it would be nice if we always got Rachel and what I mean by that is if we

always got what we wanted when we wanted how we wanted it wouldn't it be nice if

that were the case can I get an amen today but we all know that that's not

the case and we would like to however live the dream all the time and have our

picture perfect situation have everything ideally set up for us and have

the things and the light that we want and and that's what we work for that

that's what we hope for that's what we pray will happen for I mean I don't know

how you pray but but that's how I pray I pray that God would give me the desires

of my heart how many of you are praying like that today man I mean there's not

the Bible says to delight yourself also in the Lord and he will give you the

how many of you got desires in your heart take come on talk to the pastor

today how many of you got some desires in your heart today we got some desires

I was kind of weak I said how many of you got some desire come on wake up today

folks how many of you got desires in your heart today and how many of you would

like to see those desires come to pass so what happens when they don't and what

happens when it seems like you know the wrong packets got delivered to your

house huh oh there must have been a mix up somewhere in the post office this is

not what I prayed for there must have been a mix up at UPS it must have been a

mix up at Amazon because this is not what I was praying for this is not I asked

for a job and I didn't ask for this job I asked for for the house but this is not

what I asked for I asked for for for for things not realizing that this is what I

was gonna get and say God are you playing some kind of a trick on me Lord and

if we're honest sometimes that might be how it feels at least for a moment that

that maybe a life is playing a trick on us and this is not what I expected but

here's the reality sometimes we end up with a layup we end up with an

unattractive situation where there is no easy fix no easy fix no no peel you

can swallow to get rid of it I'm here today to talk about the layup situations

in our life the kind of situations that one little prayer at the altar is not

gonna fix you gotta understand something about this light that we live even as a

Christian there are some things in life that an altar call is not gonna fix just

one ultra call I know some of you didn't want to hear that because you just want

to go up to one ultra call and just you know like the pastor just kind of waves

his hand and my problem is gone now isn't it nice when that happens but

that's not the way it always works there are some situations in life that we've

got to work on things that we've got to go back home to attitudes that we still

have to confront oh you're only gonna help me today people that we still got

to deal with situations that are so waiting for us when we get back home

when we clock in to work tomorrow morning when we get back to the ground can

I hear an amen today there's still some things that are come on still some bills

that have to be paid come on now so some debts that we have to pay off so some

things that we've got to deal with so some layers some unattractive situations

for some things that there is no easy fix there is no one-size-fits-all no

magic pill you can swallow no no magic verse you can read nothing no no no

sermon you can hear no song you can sing that's just gonna magically wipe this

thing from your life so you better learn how to deal with whatever that thing is

in a graceful godly spiritual way so that instead of it destroying you it can

develop you into being the Christian that God has called you to be come on and

clap your hands and give God some praise today now the Bible doesn't hide the

fact that Jacob loved Rachel Moore which makes his dying wish when he was

setting up his end of life care and responsibilities and obligations such as

where family members would be buried who would be buried with whom it makes his

dying wish all the more interesting fascinating and even a little puzzling if

you ask me because his dying wish was to be buried not next to Rachel who was

quote-unquote the love of his life but next to Leah when you bury me don't

bury me next to Rachel the one who stole my heart the one whom I found madly in

love with the one who I wanted nothing more than to build a life with but at

the end of Jacob's life he said the one that I want to be buried next to is the

one who I didn't even want to marry in the first place is the one who for seven

years or longer I question why I was stuck with her the one whom all of those

times and all of those nights and all those moments and all those mornings and

days I thought to myself how did I end up here that's the one I want to be

married or buried next to why didn't Jacob choose to be buried with Rachel

what happened what changed between I do and the burial between the wedding and

the burial what changed in Jacob what happened why is Leah given this final

honor somehow I believe that through a process of breaking and molding and

teaching Jacob things something that was ugly or unattractive or unlovely

became beautiful over time I want to tell you some things today about the

Christian life that I hope will help you not just today because we got to get to

a place where we don't just shout about things on Sunday and live and defeat on

Monday you've got to carry this word with you into the workplace into wherever

you go and learn how to deal with the laos in your life and if I could

someway somehow transport Jacob back to this place today if I could bring this

original job not talking about this Jacob talking about this Jacob over here

if I could bring him here today and he can offer us some advice and say pull up

a chair church and let me talk to you about how to deal with the laos in your

life I think and I'm just supposing here the first thing he would probably tell

us is this never underestimate the power of staying put never someone say stay

put come on say it again say stay put never underestimate the power of saying

now why do I think Jacob would say this because during the layers of life the

thought of quitting gets more and more enticing especially when it feels like

nothing you're doing is working especially when it feels like you're

constantly battling upstream uphill especially when it feels like your

prayers are bouncing off the ceiling especially when it feels like no matter

what you do no matter what you say you're not gonna wiggle your way out of

this one especially when it feels like somehow you have found you fell out of

favor with God or out of favor with man the mind begins to wonder if we're

just gonna be honest today and this message is gonna require a healthy

dose of honesty from us today and the mind begins to wonder and the mind

begins to drift if we're being honest and start to think what's the point

anyhow why continue going through the motions why continue trying when my

trying is not producing any fruit why continue a striving day after day why

continue enduring hour after hour a year after year I'm sure there were some

sleepless nights when Jacob you know found himself thinking about how easy

it would be just to pack his bags and move out and slip out in the middle of

the night and leave a nice little letter and a flower for Lea saying I'm sorry

it just could not work out how easy it would have been and maybe nobody would

have even pointed a finger at Jacob probably they would have felt like he

did the right thing and said Jacob I'm surprised you hung him there for as long

as you did my friend I'm surprised you even hung him there for 12 for 12 days

let alone seven years I'm surprised you did that I'm sure there were many times

where Jacob thought he probably even fantasized about how his life would be

if he just went over there in the middle of the night and knocked on Rachel's

window and say honey why don't the two of you the two of us just elope and get

out of here and start the life that we want to live how enticing it must have

been for him to think about that but yet the Bible says that he subjected

himself to the harsh requirements of his unrelenting father-in-law who said no

if you want to marry her you've got to work another seven years and he stayed

put in a moment where it would have been easier to quit I've come today to tell

somebody that there's going to be times in your life when you're with a Lea in

your life and everything in your flesh is telling you to give up and to move on

everything in your mind and every voice you're hearing is telling you that you're

wasting your time and it's not worth it but I've come today to tell you that the

devil is a liar and if you will simply put your foot down and say this is where

I belong come on somebody preach with me here today if there's somebody that

needs to hear this one well God sent me here this afternoon to tell you there is

a power in staying put

there's a power in not moving someone say stay put he could have demanded an

omen to he could have said layman we had a deal and you broke it I'm officially

done but instead Jacob stuck it out stuck it out he didn't run someone say he

didn't run he didn't run he stayed put and there's somebody today I feel it in

my spirit and I and I feel like there's a little resistance today I don't know

I'm not sure what it is but but but there's something because there's my

there's a spiritual battle somebody right now is teeter-tottering somebody

right now has got running on your mind you haven't even told your friend you

may not even told your spouse yet you may you're you're afraid to admit that

you've got maybe one foot out at least mentally out of where you belong in God

and it would be so much easier just to run and and just start over or just run

and just leave things undone and just run and let someone else clean up after

your mess or let someone else deal with it but I've come to encourage you I've

come to stop you from doing that and tell you you better stay right where you

are in the Lord you better stay right there in that trial because if you run

from this one you're gonna keep running for the rest of your life you're gonna

keep you're gonna live a life of running and you're never gonna find

yourself planted and you're never gonna find yourself rooted and you're never

gonna find yourself producing the kind of fruit that only comes when you stay

put where you are long enough so that God can do what he wants to do in your

life somebody say amen

stay put when the urge to quit outweighs the pleasure of staying can I

tell you is one of the most underrated or underestimated and even

misunderstood steps of faith I'm gonna say something that sounds kind of

controversial but hear me out somebody might need to hear this today for as

much as we celebrate the one who left and come back and we ought to know when

saying that we ought not to celebrate those who left and came back everyone

loves a comeback story amen we all love a comeback story but you know what I also

love I love a staying put story y'all don't you weren't ready for that you

weren't ready I'm gonna give you another chance I think that we ought to make a

habit out of celebrating those who didn't leave but stayed put now what do I

mean by celebrate throw my big party no I just think that we are a value and a

appreciate those who had every reason to walk out but they stayed put come on

now somebody every reason to leave God every reason to leave the church every

reason to leave their family every reason to leave their marriage but they

stayed put come on somebody ought to give God some prayer ah we gotta thank

God for those in fact some of you are here today because there was one in your

family or one in your church that made a decision they're gonna stay put I'm

here today because of someone who didn't leave I love a comeback story and we'll

always celebrate those that come back yes we will the particles absolutely but

there's something to be said hallelujah about staying put sadly we don't

appreciate those who stay put but I have great respect I have great respect

for any mother father husband who may have every reason in the flesh to want

to leave push the quit button on your marriage put the quit button on your

family push the quit button on your ministry who says no I'm gonna stay put

and God will honor that fate it takes just as much faith hear me now to stay

put if God tells you to stay put as it does to move on when God tells you to

move on it takes just as much faith to stand right where you are and say this

is where God has me somebody give the God a hand praise today amen hallelujah I

think Jacob would also tell us that our pain has a way of drawing us closer to

God our pain has a way

victories don't teach us how to pray

pain teaches us how to pray hmm some of us would not know God the way we know

him today had he not allowed that trial in your life because what that trial did

was bring you to your knees it was Leah can I tell you not Rachel who kept

Jacob more focused on God out of the two it was Leah who was the more spiritual

than Rachel Rachel had the outer beauty but Leah had the inner beauty because

within her there was this constant effort to not only do the right thing but

eventually her heart was completely changed to just praising God in fact the

Bible says that out of the two sisters it was Rachel Rachel was the one who

stole and hid her father's idols not Leah it was Rachel it was Rachel then it

wasn't until later on when God called Jacob to build an altar at Bethel God

was working in Jacob's life God was developing his faith God was taking him

from glory to glory making him to be the patriarch that he was destined to be

and in that process he was building an altar God said I want you to build an

altar in Bethel but before you do he said you got to clean up your house and

part of the house cleaning he had to do was get rid of the gods and the idols

not that Leah brought over but that Rachel brought from her father's house

huh so we got to be careful how much we want that Rachel because some of us are

asking for things they're actually gonna lead us further from God ah you want to

thank him he doesn't give you that job sometimes oh you all don't want to hear

me you want to thank him he doesn't give you everything that you want because

God knows that there are some things that if he lets you have it it'll draw you

away oh come on away from the word away from prayer away from the house of God

so watch watch what what happens in Genesis 35 and verse 2 he says put away

the foreign gods that are among you he told his family we got to get rid of

these things that we've allowed into our life but the question is who allowed them

there well it started with Rachel it started with Rachel and she allowed these

idols she took the idols and the gods of her father the images of her father and

when and when the Lord was warning to consecrate Jacob he said you got to get

rid of some things and I've come to ask have you allowed have you allowed any

idols in your life what things have you prioritized over God what are you

struggling to let go of from your old life I wonder if the spirit of Rachel

has got a hold of some people and you're still you know what you you still got

some idols from your old life you got baptized amen but you came up with your

idols and you've been holding on to them still and you're hiding them and of

course you you know you don't post your idols on on Instagram and all that well

some people do nowadays but you know oh my gosh but but you've got some idols

over here you got some idols over there and they're hiding there you know they

they're stuck between the you know the the mattresses at your house and their

head they're in a hidden cupboard I'm not talking about physical idols today I'm

talking about the ones that are in our hearts I'm talking about the ones that

are in our minds and in our spirits and the things that we allow and and God is

saying look I'm trying to develop you but in order to really develop I'm gonna

have to let layer just in your life a little more let this uncomfortable

situation because the more uncomfortable I make you it seems that the more

uncomfortable you get the more you're drawn to prayer the more you're drawn to

clean up the things that are in your life that are blocking and hindering your

relationship with God maybe it's time to clean up our spiritual houses scripture

says watch this I'm gonna be just a few more moments hallelujah but I wasn't

here last Sunday so I'm gonna preach two messages say is that all right no I'm

just kidding I'm just gonna go a little longer praise God someone say go ahead

amen because I'm not done I got some stuff to say today watch what scripture

says and and now in verse 4 of Genesis 35 so they gave Jacob all the foreign

gods which were in their hands and the earrings all the jewelry which were

there in their ears and Jacob hid them under a terribith tree which was by

Shechem he got all these idols and the in the jewelry and all these things they

weren't supposed to have as the people of God and then they buried them under a

tree and so that they would never be found again let's get rid of these things

once and for all and what I see there is a picture of the cross because the

bearing of all these old idols and gods under that tree is a picture of us

bearing our whole life under the tree of Calvary oh hallelujah the cross how

many of you are thankful for the cross today I've come to tell somebody if

you've got any of those things in your heart bury them under the cross today

and let's get a hold of that layer and let's get a hold of the spirit and let's

move on come on and clap your hands and give the Lord some praise this afternoon

come on somebody lift up your voice today if you want to get closer to God

lay the unlovely situation and Jacobs life was not guilty of hiding any God

she was not emotionally or spiritually attached to these things because once

again her beauty was not physical but spiritual and there are some ugly

situations in our life there are some ugly things that will come some of you

came you came to church today with some of those things you came in here today

feeling sorry for yourself about layer will passers you know you know if you

only saw the layer situation I have in my life if you only knew how bad I had

let me tell you something huh there's not a person in this room that gets a free

pass huh not a person in this room that gets a free pass we all suffer we all

go through things we all have layers that we have to deal with from time to

time but instead but instead of cursing your layer you want to praise God through

your layer the problem the reason why the situation hasn't changed is because

you haven't changed well hallelujah

I'm gonna say hallelujah we're waiting on the situation to change and God's

waiting on you to change and I have come to realize that when I change it

doesn't even matter if my situation changes sometimes it may never change

huh but if I change in my attitude and my spirit and my mentality changes if I

change as an individual then God can still be glorified and most of all I

have gained something spiritually oh God oh Jesus

Paul said if I lose everything but I gained Christ I've gained it all huh he

said I count all things as loss that I might gain that eternal reward life might

look like Leah sometimes life might not become it's not always going to be

pretty but Leah was a living reminder to Jacob that the most valuable things in

life are not tangible but intangible the most valuable things of life can I

tell you let me just speak frankly with you today the most valuable things in

life are not what make you feel good come on I need somebody I said the most

valuable things in life are not the things that make you feel good they're

the things that make you godly

and you'll find come on help me out you season say you know that some of us

will be walking with Jesus for a long time you know this to be true and you'll

find that more most often more times than not it's the things that make us feel

good that tend to lead us astray but the things that make us uncomfortable like

what pastor like sacrifice like trouble like submission like obedience like

pain like all the things affliction but this is what I know the psalmist said

many are the afflictions of the righteous but God delivers them out of them

all and whether that deliverance comes today or tomorrow blessed to be the name

of the Lord whether that deliverance comes tomorrow or in a year from now

blessed to be the name of the Lord whether that deliverance comes in this

life or the next life blessed be the name of the Lord come on and stand with

me and give God a hand praise here this afternoon hallelujah come on give God

some praise today your burdens let me tell you finally your burdens will

birth your blessings again I wondered why Jacob chose to be buried with Leia

over Rachel why would he do this why would he choose to be buried next to

quote-unquote the worst nightmare you know the worst scenario why at the end

of his life what changes how did he go from despising this to loving this

Jesus oh hallelujah in the same way that you you learn the value of friend after

you've been betrayed you learn the value of God's faithfulness when others have

been unfaithful you learn the value of joy when things have been taken from you

and yet you've still got a smile on your face you learn to appreciate peace a

peace that surpasses all understanding but here's the thing what helped

convince Jacob at the end of his life to be buried with Leia over Rachel you

know it's it's kind of sad what happened to Rachel I kind of feel bad for the

sister because she got buried somewhere kind of on the side of the road reach

a Bible it's kind of sad what happened to her I'm not here to dance on her grave

don't get me wrong I feel bad she's still got the promise Joseph came through

her at Benjamin K so she's got her place but Jacob said bury me next to Leia and

I think that one of the things that that just impressed Jacob about this woman is

that she wouldn't give up and she kept producing someone say produce she kept

producing she had one son and then she had another son she had Rupert and then

she had Simeon and then she just she just kept bearing children until finally

she gets to Judah and the name Judah as many of you know means praise and after

she had Rupert and after she had Simeon and after she had Levi she gets to

Judah she says you know what I'm tired of trying to win this guy's favor I'm

just gonna focus everything on the Lord and she said I'm gonna praise him now

oh my god I'm gonna praise him now and so she begins to praise God and I think

Jacob saw that and said you know there is something about this woman there is

something about this lady right here there is something special about her she

just keeps on going he must have stood back and admired her faith and said if

she can keep going so can I if she can make this work so can I and the Bible

says that she birthed Judah and why is that significant I'll tell you why

because when the Lord decided to come and dwell among us and God manifests in

the flesh when God decided to come and he looked at all the tribes of Israel

come on and help me somebody and he looked at all the tribes you look at the

tribe of Rupert and he said maybe I'll come through that tribe and then he

looked at the tribe oh I need some help right now let's let's kick this thing up

a little bit hey man and he looked at the tribe of the tribe of Simeon he

said that's a nice tribe maybe I'll consider that as an option and then he

looked at the tribe of Levi and all the other good tribe I like that one right

there but he said nah but there's something about that tribe of Judah right

there's something about that tribe of Judah and so when the Lord of Lord and

the King of Keem stepped in he said I want to come through that that tribe of

Judah yeah God I want to come to that tribe I want to come to that tribe that

tribe of Leah