How Does God Bring His People Home?

Well, today's Scripture reading is actually coming from Genesis

30. It's on page 22.

If you have the Bible under your chair, there are a couple of

prints out there, so it might be a couple of pages off.

But page 22, we're looking at Genesis chapter 30.

Genesis 30 · chapter mention

I'll give you a second to turn there.

We're going to pick it up in verse 25.

Genesis 30 verse 25 says this. As soon as Rachel had borne

Genesis 30:25

Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me a way that I may go to

my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children

for whom I have served you, that I may go for you know the

service that I have given you. But Laban said to him, If I have

found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that

the Lord has blessed me because of you.

Name your wages and I will give it, Jacob said to him, You

yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has

fared with me. For you had little before I

came, and it is increased abundantly, and the Lord has

blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for

my own household also? He said, What shall I give you?

Jacob said, You shall not give me anything.

If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock

and keep it. Let me pass through all your

flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep

and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the

goats, and they shall be my wages.

So my honesty will answer me for later when you come to look into

my wages with you. Everyone that is not speckled

and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if if

found with me, shall be counted stolen.

Laban said. Good, let it be as you have

said. But that day Laban removed the

male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female

goats that were speckled and spotted, and everyone that had

white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the

charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three

days journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob pastor the rest

of Laban's flock. And then Jacob took fresh sticks

of Poplar and almond and plane trees and peeled white streaks

in them, exposing the white of the of the sticks.

And he set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the

flocks in the troughs, and that that is the the watering places

where the fox came to drink. And since they bred when they

came to drink, the fox bred in front of the sticks.

And so the fox brought a fourth striped, speckled, and spotted.

And Jacob separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks

toward the striped and all the black in the flock of the of

Laban. He put his own droves apart, and

did not put them with Laban's flock.

And whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would

lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock,

that they might breed among the sticks.

But for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there.

So the feebler would be Laban's, and the stronger's Jacobs.

Thus the man increased greatly, and had large flocks, female

servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, Jacob has

taken all that was our fathers, and from what was our fathers,

he has gained all his, all this wealth.

And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.

And then the Lord said to Jacob, Return to the land of your

father's, and to your kindred, and I will be with you.

So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where

his flock was, and said to them, I see that your father does not

regard me with favor as he did before, but the God of my father

has been with me. You know that I have served your

father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and

changed my wages 10 times. But God did not permit him to

harm him, to harm me. If he said if he said the

spotted shall be your wages, then all the flock bore spotted

and if he said the stripe shall be your wages, then all the

flock were were were striped. Thus God has taken away the

livestock of your father and given them to me in the breeding

season of the flock. I lifted up my eyes and saw in a

dream that the goats that mat that made it with the flock were

striped, spotted and malted, modeled.

And then the Angel of the God said to me in the dream, Jacob

and I said, here I am. And he said, lift up your eyes

and see all the goats that mate with the flock are stripped, are

striped, spotted and modeled. For I have seen all that Laban

is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where

you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me.

Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of

your kindred. And then Rachel and Leah

answered and said to him, Is there any portion or inheritance

left to us in our Father's house?

Are we not regarded by him as foreigners?

For He has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money.

All the wealth that God has taken away from our Father

belongs to us and to our children.

Now then, whatever God has said to you, do so Jacob arose and

set his sons and his wives and camels, and he drove away all

his living, his livestock, all his his property that he had

gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired

in Pat and Aram to go to the land of Canaan, to his father.

Isaac Laban had gone, had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel

stole her father's household. Gods.

And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him that

he intended to flee. He fled with all that he had,

and rose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face

toward the Hill Country of Gilead.

And when he was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had

fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven

days, and followed close after him into the Hill Country of

Gilead. But God came to Laban the

Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, Be careful not to

say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.

And Laban overtook Jacob. And now Jacob had pitched his

tent in the Hill Country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched

tents in the Hill Country of Gilead.

And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done that you have

tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the

sword? Why did you flee secretly and

trick me and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away

with mirth and songs, with tambourine and liar?

And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughter's

farewell? Now you have done foolishly.

It is in my power to do you harm.

But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying Be

careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.

And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for

your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?

Jacob answered and said to Laban.

Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your

daughters from me by force. Anyone with whom you would find

your God shall not live, and in the presence of your kinsmen

point out what I have that is yours, and take it.

Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

So Laban went into to Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and

into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find

them, and he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in

the camel saddle and sat on them.

Laban felt all about the tent, and he did not find them.

And she said to her father, Let not my Lord be angry that I

cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.

So he searched, but he did not find the household gods.

And then Jacob became angry and berated Laban.

Jacob said to Laban, What is my offense?

What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?

For you have felt through all my goods.

What have you found all of your household goods said it here

before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide

between us. To these 2020 years I have been

with you, you're using your female goats have not miscarried

and I have not eaten the Rams of your flocks.

What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you.

I bore the loss of it myself from my hand.

You required it. Whether stolen by day or stolen

by night, there I was. By day the heat consumes me, and

then cold by night and my sleep fled from my eyes.

These 20 years I have been in your house.

I served you 14 years for your two daughters and six years for

your flock, and you have changed my wages 10 times.

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, in the fear of

Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent

me away empty handed. God saw my affliction and the

labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.

And then label Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters

of my daughters, the children of my children, the flocks are my

flocks, and all that you see is mine.

But what can I do this day for these my daughters, or for their

children whom they have born? Come now, let us make a

covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.

So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

And Jacob said to his kinsmen, Gather stones.

And they took stones and made a heap and there and they ate

there by this heap. And Laban called it Jagar

Siddarath, but Jacob called it Galid.

Laban said this heap is a witness between you and me

today. Therefore he named it Galid and

Mizpah. For he said the Lord watch

between you and me when we are out of the one another sight, if

you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives beside my

daughters, although no one is with us.

See, God is witness between you and me.

And then Laban said to Jacob, See this heap and pillar which I

have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the

pillar is a witness that I will not pass over this heap to you,

and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me to do

harm. The God of Abraham and the God

of Nahor, the God of their father, judged between us.

So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the Hill Country and called his

kinsmen to eat bread. And they ate bread and spent the

the night in the Hill Country. Early in the morning Laban arose

and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them.

And then Laban departed and returned home.

And Jacob went on his way. And the angels of God met him.

And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's camp.

And so he called the name of that place, Menhanaim.

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brothers in the

land of Seer, the country of Eden.

This is the word of Lord. What's going on?

Port City family and friends, you made it through that

scripture reading. Praise God we can do hard

things, you know, in the classroom.

I would say let's give Pastor John 2 claps on 2.

Y'all want to try it? So I'm going to say 1-2 and then

you clap twice. You ready 1/2 That was awesome,

y'all. We can do hard things.

We don't want you to take our word for it when it comes from

the Word. Hearing the word is the best

part of our gathering, y'all. Yesterday we had the opportunity

to play some kickball together. It was awesome.

I'm sore everywhere, y'all. What I love about a day like

yesterday is you had people, some of whom are a part of our

church, some of whom are not. There were all kinds of

languages being spoken. There are kids running around.

It is a little chaotic. It's like a family reunion type

vibe. And in a lot of ways, y'all, we

believe the Bible teaches that you were made to feel like you

were part of a family reunion and you are part of a mission

bigger than yourself, which is that we are a family.

We can mess stuff up. We can, you know, say we're

sorry to each other, have fun, compete all the things, be

silly. And then also we are meant to be

a part of something where we're aiming at something together,

which is the glory of God and the good of Norfolk.

OK. And so if you are not a part of

a local church community, that's what you're invited to here is

to be a part of a family where we're going to have your back

and we're not perfect. We're going to mess up

sometimes, but we're going to have fun together and we are

seeking the good of Norfolk together.

OK, so I want to pray over our time and then dive into the

insanity that we just had read, which is a true story and it

meant for our transformation. So let's pray.

Our Father, we love you. Thank you for your church that

you bought with your blood. God that we can be a

dysfunctional family on mission together bringing you glory.

God, I pray that our church will grow and reflecting Norfolk God

just in every tribe and tongue and language and nation that's

here God and we would we would just be reflective of that God

that we would be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

God you would get us outside of ourselves and we would be a

family on mission together. So what we know not as we come

to this text. Would you teach us what we have

not Would you give us who we are not Would you make us let the

words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be

acceptable in your sight and everybody agree with that said

Amen. We all I love the game Clue.

Anybody there's a bunch of versions of Clue.

And now I know that there are a lot of movies that are basically

the game Clue made into a movie. And all of the movies have, you

know, Knives Out series, the the murder mystery type.

It could be funny, it could be silly, it could be serious.

There's so many variations, but it's kind of the same thing.

You're trying to like who did it, who done it right?

And it's awesome and it's entertaining In today's text,

we've kind of got that type vibe.

OK, we've got a chess match between Laban and Jacob going

on, and we've got just some dynamics and we know things as

the observer that the characters don't know while they're in it.

But the difference between watching those movies and

playing that game and reading our text here is this is not for

our entertainment. The reason this text was written

is that the people of God starting in Moses's generation

that left Egypt, they would be telling each other this story.

So they're in the wilderness post exodus, post slavery from

Egypt, and they're reminding themselves that no matter who is

set against them and how much power they think they have, like

a Laban, we can trust our God who won't even let the Laban's

get a hold of us when we make rash dumb vows and all the

things that go on in the story. Does that make sense?

So the main character in our story isn't Laban, it isn't

Jacob, it's God. OK, So what I want to do is

similar to the Exodus generation that would be learning from the

text. We, the church, are in the

similar moment in history. We are on our way home, which is

heaven with Christ, new heavens, new earth.

God does not extract us, He keeps us in a broken place with

the Laban's of the world. OK.

And we have to learn how to trust Him, walk with him day by

day and not take advantage of His Providence and how he does

all things, but trust it as we take step after step after step.

Are you all with me? So what we're going to look at

is the way God brings his people home is he leads them, He

protects them, and he delivers them.

If y'all are ready, let me hear you say I'm ready.

Point #1 Let's talk about this pilgrimage pattern.

Let's talk about this pilgrimage pattern.

God leads In chapter 30, verses 25 and 26.

We read this as soon as Rachel had born, Joseph Jacob said to

Laban, send me a way that I may go to my home and country.

Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that

I may go for, you know, the service that I have given you.

OK, So they concoct this plan. He's like, OK, and what's your

wages? They have this discussion.

We'll talk about that. And then in chapter 31, verses

one through 3, we read now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban

were saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our fathers

and from what was our fathers, he has gained all of this

wealth. And Jacob saw that Laban did not

regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob,

return to the land of your father's and to your kindred, I

will be with you. OK, so there are two details in

the text. I know there's a lot of

explaining a long story that's going to be going on.

I'm going to do it as seamlessly as I can.

You'll stay with me. You're doing awesome.

The two Nuggets of the pilgrimage you've got to see are

the geography and the time. So let's start with geography.

The geography in this story is telling a story.

OK? So when he says, send me home,

I'm going home. And then God says go home.

We now know by the end of the story, I think that Jacob's

saying, I want to go, Laban's saying name your wages.

They do the goat stuff, the speckled spots.

And Doctor Seuss must have been reading that before you wrote

every book he ever wrote. The speckled spots in the lambs

with the spots with the speckles somebody, well, I think that

interchange is about 6 years because he says I worked for

you, 7 for your first daughter, 7 for your second, and then six

for the flocks. So I think God then saying go

home is 6 years after Jacob saying I want to go home.

Does that make sense? But what matters is home.

OK, let me show you this map. Let me show you this map.

OK? What Jacob did is he was born in

the promised land, which is down to the left.

Think Jerusalem, modern day Israel.

OK, where Laban lives is the top right.

It's Haran. OK, so he's been living for 20

years in Haran. He says send me back home.

God says go back home, which means to go back where he came

from. Are y'all with me?

If y'all see that, give me a thumbs up.

You see it? OK, you can put that down.

Here's what you need to understand.

You can write down Genesis 1131. When God called Abraham, he was

in Haran. When God called Abraham, he was

in Haran. Which means that her Haran to

Jerusalem or Haran to the Promised Land was the first

journey of trust ever, the first pilgrimage ever by the people of

God in the person of Abraham. Abraham's trust of God was to

make that journey. Now Jacob had been kicked out of

his home because he was a schemer and he was in exile by

going to Haran and told to go get a wife from there.

OK, so he leaves and goes there. So now he's going to retrace the

steps that his grandfather Abraham once did.

Y'all with me? So think about it, on his walk

back home, every single square inch that his foot steps on is

based on the faithfulness of God to his grandfather Abraham.

Do y'all see that literally the soles of his feet, every ounce

of dirt that road had been walked by his grandfather who

was a barren 75 year old man that got told you going to be

the one through whom all nations on earth will be blessed.

So we've got to remember the story and the location are

linked kids. It'd be like if I told you about

Pride Rock and I started talking about Pride Rock.

You would have images of Lion King and scar and things of that

nature. Are you with me?

The place has a story in it. So in our case when he says her

on and send me home, he'd be walking a journey that already

been walked in church. That is us.

We don't know where we're going, but this ground has been walked.

Are you with me? We need to trust and we trust

because we have a testimony. This road has been walked and

it's not God has been good to you.

Yes, through the temporal blessings that the good things,

the jobs, the degrees, all the stuff, but it's the blood of

Christ is what we standing on. We standing on business, we

stand on Christ business. So the goal is I trust forward

what I don't know because it's been walked by him.

Does that make sense? So this road has already been

walked. God has been faithful.

So I will trust the unknown based on what I do know, which

is that Christ shed his blood for me.

So even though we're not walking from Haran to home, we are

headed home on a road Jesus already paved.

We are just walking in it. Not just copying him and trying

to be good Christians, but we're literally standing in a victory.

Y'all are y'all with me? OK?

Secondly, the time tells the story.

The time tells the story I already mentioned to you the the

amount of time that had progressed.

But if you're wondering where I got that from, it was in chapter

31, verse 41 when he summarizes his time with Laban.

He says these 20 years I've been in your house, I served you 14

for your two daughters and six for your flocks and you have

changed my wages 10 times. Y'all 20 years.

He's been here 20 years, which helps us remember that his mom

Rebecca was barren for at least 20 years and Isaac was praying

that she would give birth and that his grandfather Abraham had

25 years post promise before he had Isaac.

Right? Time is sort of part of the

story with God. It just is.

The time is telling a story. That delay does not mean God's

not involved and we have to keep hearing that delay doesn't mean

he's not involved or whatever the conjunctions.

If I said too many knots, be gracious with me.

The delay doesn't mean he's not involved and we live in a

culture of now, like now. Now guys, I heard it said early

on in my Christian walk that God owns a crock pot and no

microwave. OK, what needs to be updated

about that? Illustrations.

Now we got air fryers, you know y'all, it used to take about an

hour to make some chicken Nuggets because you have to

Preheat the oven. You put the chicken Nuggets in

and then it take like 25 minutes from start to finish.

I could cook some chicken Nuggets in like 11 minutes in an

air fryer. That's insane.

I was even thinking, guys, life's life's more like a

marathon than a Sprint. But you can download an app

right now, couch the marathon in nine months and just follow the

steps. So even the hardest things that

take the longest have been systematized.

Rosetta Stone, 5 minutes a day. Like it makes us think

everything's in our control and it's just not y'all.

Walking with God is a pilgrimage of you don't know.

You don't control the factors, the biggest of which is time.

But God is faithful to his promises.

He was to Abraham, he was to Isaac, he was to Jacob, and he

is to you. And his promises are that he

will conform you to the image of Christ.

Does it ever feel like certain won't go away?

Does it feel like you're still battling with the same stuff you

were 10 years ago? Hello kickball tournament.

You know, I'm still just like it's the same things.

Like I got a journal from 10 years ago about certain things

and I'm like, I, I see less like a lower version of what I once

saw, but it's still some of the same dynamics, right?

Or your anxiety or your depression or your sadness or

the littlest set back just rattling you.

And you're like, I should be beyond this.

I should be able to trust God right here.

It just feels sometimes like we're still just as simple as

when we first started, but God is faithful, so we could trust

the Lord. We live in a culture of now, but

the whole idea is that God is leading through time and His way

for his purposes. We don't know how it's going to

go, but we know that we're standing on the faithfulness of

Christ. Amen.

And if you are not a Christian, they're going to be weeks here

where I'm going to speak. And the Bible speaks with very

clear authority that your life changes instantaneously when you

follow Jesus. And it is the abundant,

flourishing life. And it's better than you living

life your way, I can assure you that.

But let this story also be a testimony that doesn't make it

easy or quick or fast. We still are a crock pot people.

OK, so don't hear why I started following Jesus.

And I'm still sad this week. Yeah.

And you will be next week too. So don't hear us telling you

that life gets sanitized. Does that make sense?

We're we're dealing with the same circumstances you are,

setbacks, all the things. But just hear that life with God

is worth it, even though it's a pilgrimage and we're not in

control. OK #2 let's talk about the

Providence pattern. God protects, God protects.

So the dynamic here is you got Laban and Jacob, you got Jacob

and Laban, and then you got God and Jacob and Laban.

So I want to look at all three angles of that.

Let's start with Laban and Jacob.

How Laban intends for this to go OK in chapter 30.

This is how verses 25 through 28 describe it.

So Jacob comes to him and he's like send me away.

I've served you and Laban says him, if I found favor in your

sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has

blessed me because of you. Name your wages and I will give

it y'all. Jacob declares his intent.

I want to leave. Laban ain't no fool.

This is his cash cow. This is the guy that has brought

him everything. You're my workforce.

Everything that you touch goes well and I get a piece of the

pie so you can't leave. Are y'all with me?

Laban don't want to lose this man at all.

He don't really care about his daughters, but they're a part of

the package, you know? So he's like, I can't lose

Jacob. Name your wages.

So he frames it like what can I give you?

But in reality he is self-serving and he says I've

learned by divination. Do y'all ever have one of those

moments? Like it don't take a genius to

figure that out bro. I don't know what divination is,

but anybody can tell that it's because of him.

That's going well for you, but I guess divination did the trick

for you. Divination means some sort of

spiritual, religious ritual of some kind where he's seeking out

information. Laban will be very comfortable

in our spiritual but not religious climate of 2026.

Amen. Where we do spiritual practices.

But Laban is always in control, isn't he?

The fact that he has household gods, as we see in the story,

shows that Laban, the mindset of the ancient Near Eastern Time

period was that the gods were territorial, very superstitious.

If the flock is going well that year, you must be doing

something right? So whatever practices you're

sacrificing, whatever divination you're doing, just keep it

going. And it's all kind of string

together to create the system that you're in control of.

Does that make sense? And Laban was thriving in that

that headspace. But Laban's intent is to hold on

to Jacob Forever. We see in verses 34 to 36 it

says the second that they agreed on this verse 34.

Laban said good, let it be as you have said, let's do this

flock arrangement. But that day Laban removed the

male goats that were striped as spotted and all the female goats

that were speckled and spotted everyone that had white on it

and every land that was black and put them in the charge of

his sons. And he said a distance of three

days journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob pastor the rest

of Laban's flock. He said, hey man, I want you to

I want you to get a piece of the action.

I don't want to do wrong by you name your wages.

They make a deal and then he immediately schemes to make it

as awful for Jacob and prosperous for him as possible.

Laban is a manipulative, snake like deceptive figure in this

text. He's intentionally set up

against the Lord's chosen one. If you remember, the blessing to

Abraham was those who bless you I will bless and those who curse

you I will curse. The question of the book of

Genesis is are you for God's chosen one or against them?

And Laban is clearly just set up as somebody opposite of Jacob.

Now let's look at it from the Jacob and Laban angle.

What is Jacob doing all this time?

Chapter 30, verses 41 through 43.

Whenever the stronger the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay

the sticks on the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they

may breed among the sticks. But for the feebler of the flock

he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's

and the stronger Jacobs. Thus the man increased greatly

and had large flocks, female servants, and male servants, and

camels and donkeys. And later chapter 31 verses 4

through 9, he calls a family meeting.

So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where

the flock was and said to them, I see that your father does not

regard me with favor as he did before, but the God of my father

has been with me. You know that I've served your

father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and

changed my wages 10 times. But God did not permit him to

harm me. If you said the spot, it shall

be your wages, then all the flock bore spotted.

If you said the stripe should be your wages, then all the flock

blower striped. Thus God has taken away the

livestock of your father and given them to me.

Y'all, we named this series Saints and Scoundrels.

There's a Latin phrase that is coming to my mind.

I don't know how exactly to say it.

I'm sure Pastor John does. Is it simel, Simelist.

Simultaneously Center. Insane.

How do you say that? Anybody know the Latin phrase?

Somebody. Thank you.

What is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Some symbolist just as a precator.

It's the idea that you are simultaneously A Sinner and a

St. if you are in Christ. It's a it's rooted in the

Lutheran tradition. OK.

And Jacob, the is the perfect kind of example of that.

And this is once you are a follower of Jesus, that is true

of you, not before. There's some good and some bad

in you. That's not the doctrine.

It's this idea that you are saved, justified by the blood of

Christ, but there's still a lot of villain in you.

Does that make sense? And Jacob is the perfect

representation of this idea. OK.

And for those who have been following the story, Jacob has

shown some growth in today's text, but he's still got a long

way to go. Let me point some things out,

OK? I think that Jacob is being

contrasted with the servant in Genesis 24.

So if tonight you want to go read Genesis 24, how the servant

of Abraham handled Laban is how you're supposed to handle Laban.

I don't know if you remember this, but Abraham says, go get a

go get a wife for my son from this family.

And it happens to be Laban's family.

And this servant who has no name goes and shows up, meets Rebecca

and dictates terms to Laban at every term.

He says, hey, I need to tell y'all something, come eat first.

He says, I'm telling you now because God told me to tell you

now. And he goes, OK.

And he has such resolve. He speaks, Laban listens.

And then when it's time to go, Laban says, stay another day,

stay another 10 days. And he goes, I'm leaving now.

So I think that what that servant did is being contrasted

with Jacob who says I want to leave.

And he goes name your wages. And he goes, well, I guess I'll

take some flock. And six years pass.

Then the Lord gives him a dream and says go.

Then he goes, So it's like Jacob would still be in Haran if the

Lord had not intervened miraculously.

Are you all seeing that? The idea is that God got his

brother out of there as we going to talk about in a second.

But the good news is, so just to be clear, with the whole

speckled spots, flotted flocks, whatever, nothing Jacob did did

anything. I just want to be clear.

There's no like eugenics trick. They thought that in that time

period that he could control. But everything I've read says

God miraculously turned the flocks from Laban to Jacob.

But on the front end, I do think Jacob was scheming a little bit.

Does that make sense? But then when he has the family

meeting six years later, what does he tell them?

He says, thus God has given me the flocks and taken them from

your father. So that's what I mean by the the

simultaneously center and St. He's blowing it and he knows

it's God doing it. So like he's struggling, but I'm

seeing some growth. Are you all with me?

The other thing I noticed in Jacob is at the end when Laban

corners him and says, Why'd you leave?

Why'd you leave? This is his opportunity to say

what? Because God told me to leave and

God is this good because of my grandfather?

Do y'all know what he says? Let's find it.

Chapter 31, verse 31. Look at this.

So why'd you do it? Why'd you do it?

Why'd you take my God? Jacob answered and said to

Laban, Because I was afraid for I thought that you would take

your daughters from me by force. So at his moment where he could

say because God is good, because even though I'm a bum, he's

great. He said because I was afraid.

So we see some struggle in Jacob.

He just doesn't quite have it. But thankfully he's the chosen 1

and God's going to do it anyways.

OK, so let's look at this from the angle of God and Laban and

Jacob. Oh, God moves this story forward

through dreams telling Jacob to go through the flock

intervention. Then as Laban has I'll intent

towards them, he gives Laban a dream that says don't do

anything, neither good or bad. Even if you think it's good,

don't do it. I think that's his way of saying

Laban stop. OK.

He intervenes with the dream to protect him as he had done at

other times in the book of Genesis so far with the the

Pharaohs and the the the wife scandal stuff that was going on.

God is all up in the story ensuring that it keeps moving

despite Jacob's struggle. Are y'all with me despite

Laban's I'll intent y'all, which is why I'm using the word

Providence. I love John Piper's definition

of Providence is purposeful sovereignty.

The idea is it's moving it forward on purpose for a

purpose. It's not just general power.

It's in a direction, and he's not moving this forward because

Jacob is handling everything well or because Labia is just a

bad guy. It's for his covenant purposes.

And we have told you over and over and over in this story that

sovereignty is not a concept. And we get into philosophical

discussions. It's who God is as a person.

You can't contain this God. You can't put him in a box.

He does what he wants to do. He's free and he has purposes

for which he will move things. And he is providing for Jacob.

He is intervening. He is the most powerful person

in the story, y'all. And what I want you to hear is

that this God is your God. If you're in Christ, y'all, all

of heaven's armies are at your disposal.

All of the riches everywhere. As Paul would tell the

Corinthians, one day he would say all things are yours.

The Corinthians were arguing over some of us follow Peter,

some of us follow Paul and he's like what are y'all talking

about? Y'all got King Jesus.

Everything's yours, everything's his, so it's yours.

The idea is, could God bless you?

Does God want to bless you? Is God blessing you?

Yes and the material nature of this text leads us to ask the

question how does God bless you listen to me and the Old

Testament was primarily a common see era of showcasing how when

Yahweh is your God, things are different than the other nations

where it's tribal warfare and it's the gods are blessing us

because I did these sacrifices and it was just chaos.

OK, so the clarity provided was through the anointed people of

God, through their living of the law, which would eventually come

through Torah, the 10 commandments, that this God is

unlike any other and you could just tell by how well they have

it off. OK.

In the New Testament era, God's plan is different.

It's in Christ you have everything you need and every

tribe, tongue, people on earth, race, ethnicity, whether you're

in South Sudan or South Norfolk, you have Christ and that's all

you need. And he is so valuable and he so

alters the value system of your soul that actually you will give

up all to have him. So those who have much now give

it up for him. All of his apostles end up dying

with very little to their name. So don't hear me saying in the

Old Testament he was pro physical resource and now he's

anti. It's a reorientation of what the

physical is for. Does that make sense?

So yes, God wants to bless you and you are blessed in Christ.

I just want to be clear that the blessing is Christ.

He is the treasure. He is the one we chase.

He is the one that we're after. And God is not anti money and

anti prosperous stuff, but that is not why He exists to give you

that. He is the treasure.

And the church glorifies God by leveraging our treasure to make

much of Him instead of leveraging God to get a bunch of

treasure. Do you see how that works?

So I just want to be clear because when we read the Old

Testament Saints, sometimes we can be like, why?

Why does Job? Why is part of the evidence that

God loves Job? At the end of the book, He gives

them back flocks and daughters and sons.

Are you all with me? That is part of how you restored

His favor upon them and their kindness.

But if yours is not increasing, that does not mean God is

against you. We live in an era where the

value of God is displayed in and through and sometimes despite

your prosperity circumstances. Does that make sense?

You all with me? OK, so God provides for His

purposes, which in our day and age is to exalt Christ.

You are a part of the people of God from all across the globe

and He is getting glory right now from South Sudan all the way

to South Norfolk. Amen.

Somebody. OK, third pattern, this is the

dopest stuff is the deliverance pattern.

The deliverance pattern. Let's talk about this.

I'm going to try to narrate it. We're running a little lower on

time, but y'all just think about the dynamics in this text.

You've got somebody living in a foreign land with a ruler who

says you will work for me. Then once he leaves, the ruler

thinks I just lost my cash cow, let me go chase him down.

Hello, Hello. Hello.

The 1st is the exodus pattern. Y'all, It's this idea of a

foreign oppressive ruler taking advantage of the servant they

have. And the only way that that

system was broken was through God's intervention.

You know, this is the Exodus pattern that Moses and his

people would have just walked through with Egypt, right?

In Egypt they're under an oppressive ruler and God does

the 10 plagues and miraculously gets them out through the shed

blood of a lamb. Hello.

They pass through the Red Sea, they walk through, and then part

of that is that Pharaoh realizes he's losing out and he schemes

to go get them back and God intervenes and they are washed

away and the people of God walk through.

Y'all, the Exodus pattern isn't just for Jacob with Laban.

It isn't just for the people of God in Egypt, y'all.

This is for us. The Exodus pattern is the

pattern of the Bible, y'all. Let me tell 2026 secular people

like you and me the most offensive thing I could ever

tell you. You ready?

You are not a free agent. Let me explain to you what I

mean. You have a master.

You either follow Jacob's God or Laban's false gods.

Let me get more plain. There is a Laban at work in our

world. We are not slaves in Egypt.

We are not slaves to Laban you all.

The story of the Bible is that to be fallen is to be sinful.

You are going to die. That is evidence of our slavery.

It is undefeated, right? Except for one, we are held

captive by sin, death and Satan. That is so hard to tell people.

But the story of the Bible is that there is a great deceiver,

a great person who is against us, who does not want your

welfare, who is taking advantage of you.

And you might not think of yourself as a Satan servant, but

the idea is if you're not with the Lord, that's sort of the

side you're on. That is so offensive.

I understand, but what happens as you hear the story of

scripture over and over and over is y'all the the big deceiver in

the world is not a political figure.

It is not the right or the left. It's not some world government

power. Everybody's got a bad guy in

their story, right? Everybody think there's some

villain either in your life, maybe it's a boss or it's it's

bigger than that. It's someplace.

I'm telling you there is a villain, OK?

It's sin. It's Satan and his death.

That's the villain, OK, The story of the world, the story

that your soul knows to be true, and this is like historical

stuff, is that there is a battle of good and evil, and it's been

won. And the way it was won is

through this exodus pattern that Jesus stepped into time to

deliver us from those powers that hold us captive, from sin,

from Satan, from death. And the way he delivers you is

by walking the road that you fail to walk.

He is the truer and greater Jacob.

We needed somebody to come defeat Laban.

And as the way the great Pastor John Sheets might say, be a

Laban without becoming a Laban. We need somebody who can beat a

schemer without being a schemer. Jesus came and defeated Laban.

Did you y'all listen? Did you notice that Jacob, when

he gets his moment with Laban, he rattles off all the ways he's

innocent. He gets his moment on trial and

he says I'm innocent. This is your fault.

And we know he's guilty and his wife's got the gods.

Y'all Jesus, when his moment came and he stood on trial

before the ones who had the power but didn't really have the

power to kill him, what did he say?

Not a word, though he was innocent.

No, just do you sense the resentment in Jacob?

20 years built up? Y'all, we serve a king who

ransoms us from sin and Satan and death, not by showcasing how

he was perfect and then whining and demanding that you give him

what he's owed, but who dies as if he was the schemer.

That's the gospel. That's the Exodus pattern is

that there's somebody who enters in and takes what we deserve,

who takes the scheming death, who takes the the just the pain

and the brutality that are just failing to walk what the Lord

deserves. That's the story of the Bible.

It's not going to be a good person is that a rescue has

occurred that you don't have to serve sin and Satan and death no

more that you can be liberated from that.

I understand it's offensive to be told you are serving them.

God bless you, but it's true and it's liberating to hear the

truth that there is a kinder master that you are can serve

and follow and know and you don't get to just trade sides.

He brings you over through his shed blood.

It's a gift. That's the Exodus pattern.

Second pattern in the text is the from and to pattern.

I just want to be clear that God isn't just saving you from

something, but to something. He's saving you from sin and

Satan and death to himself. I love how the the covenant goes

down. They eat food, fellowship,

breaking bread. Chapter 32 Jacob went on his way

in the angels of God met him and when Jacob saw them, he said

this is God's camp. I love that this idea that God

isn't just delivering you from sin and Satan and death.

He's drawing you to himself. He's drawing you to himself on

the cross, y'all. What Jesus is doing is he's

defeating the powers that hold us so that he can have

fellowship with us. Are you with me?

There's a line out right now by our guy KB.

He's got this song where he says because, you know, Laban is like

the Satan figure in this text. As I was telling you, he says

Satan had a plan, didn't work out how he intended to.

Jesus took the wheel, must have had his hands at 10 and two.

OK, the idea isn't he so good? He's great.

The idea is that Jesus defeated those powers by taking the

defeat on the cross, and he's drawing us to himself.

He's like, they're mine, not yours.

God wants to pull you away from the Laban and draw you into

fellowship with himself. He wants intimacy with you, a

relationship with you, life with you, and believers in the room.

God wants to bring you home. He wants to finish what He

started. If the Spirit indwells you, He's

going to bring you home. He's drawing you to Himself.

His victory is finished. Do not give up.

All the powers of heaven are on your side.

And if you are not in Christ, hear this more than God wants to

be able to say you're on team Christian or put you apart of

something like what he wants is to deliver you from these powers

that hold us all and bring you into relationship with himself

so that you can walk with him all your days and then he brings

you home. Y'all, the best days are yet to

come. Always with the Lord, always the

future is better. We've got billions of years to

go, friends, billions. You believe that?

It's called eternity. That's the truth.

And the goal of this era is that God might convince you that he's

right and that he wants to deliver you so he can walk with

you. You made it through this long

story. Praise God.

Will you pray with me? Our Father, we love you, God.

Help us to see the truth in this God that you want to deliver us,

that you want to walk with us, that you want to provide for us,

that you want to protect us. Yeah.

We are not a free agent. We didn't make ourselves.

Nobody in here made themselves God.

You made them and you are the rightful master and king and

God. In our sin we just default into

a way of thinking normal where we're our own God and we run

things and we think we're calling the shots.

But behind that there is a puppet master and sin and Satan

and death are at work. God, I pray for anybody who

doesn't know Jesus. God, I pray that the offense of

that would settle in as true and they would be liberated.

God, that you would save somebody, that you would bring

them to the other side through your shed blood.

God on the cross. God, that this is the testimony

of, of how far you were willing to go to make things right.

And God, we praise you that the best is yet to come for those

who are in Christ. So I pray for anybody who's just

struggling today, help them to know that you will lead them.

You will protect them God, and you will bring them home.

That you're going to finish what you started in us.

God, we need your help. Be glorified in this time.

Work in our hearts. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.