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Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast.

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This is where you can find audio from Sunday morning, messages and more.

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Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss future episodes.

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And thanks for listening.

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Well, good morning again.

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If you got your bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in Genesis.

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Chapter 25 is where we're going to continue on in our study.

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It is good to be back.

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I want to thank Dave for filling in and for preaching last week.

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Last weekend, Joel Van Ham did a wonderful job for our youth of planning a ski retreat weekend for them.

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And Aaron and I have the wonderful opportunity, along with a lot of other adults, to get away and go get on a mountain for a weekend with a group of teenagers and ski with them and get to know them better and invest in them.

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And I just want to share with you guys a story of an observation.

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I like to observe people, all right?

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And I noticed something.

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Number one, this group of kids were phenomenal.

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Phenomenal.

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They were where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there.

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They were doing what they're supposed to do.

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Their attitudes were positive.

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But then there was us adults.

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And I think when we all started serving in the youth ministry, we were in a certain age range.

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We're not in that age range anymore.

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And so Sunday morning, we had been out on the mountain.

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Saturday, we've been skiing all day long.

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Beautiful day.

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It probably snowed 75% of the time that we were out on the mountain.

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Big, giant snowflakes falling down.

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And so we're all out there.

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There were some of us adults that were learning how to ski for the first time.

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And then there were those of us that have been skiing for years, and just all on that mountain, just moving around on that mountain.

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And then Sunday morning happened, and we're eating breakfast, and Lisa Van Ham comes.

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Down into the room where we're all eating breakfast.

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And I see her going over to every adult and, like, handing them some.

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Stuff, and I'm like, oh, Lisa got some special snacks.

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What we got, and I went over there, noticed that every single one of us was getting a wonderful handful of ibuprofen because we were a little bit tight, a little bit sore, but it was good.

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Jason Bush asked me.

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He's like, how you feeling?

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I was like, I'm going to be honest with you, man.

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I can still feel it in the hamstrings a week later.

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But just a wonderful, wonderful time to be away.

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And so, Dave, thank you for speaking.

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And church, just thank you for giving us an opportunity just to form some.

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Relationships and invest in the life of these students.

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Next week, during our 09:00 hour, we've got our new studies that are going to be starting on the 17th.

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But next week we're doing something a little different.

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So there's kind of a week that falls in between for us adults where we don't have studies that are going on, okay, but we still have children's ministry that are going on.

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We still have adult ministry, I'm sorry, student ministry and kids ministry that are still happening at nine.

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So what we've decided to do is to do something a little bit different during that 09:00 hour for us, for adults.

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So what we're trying to avoid is for you to feel like, well, I just don't need to go that day, all right.

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No, we want you here.

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We want you at 09:00 we want you to be a part of a discipleship.

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And what we're going to do during those in between weeks is what we'll gather in here way more informal than what we do during this worship hour.

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And we're going to have different seminars where we talk about different topics.

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Now, I'm going to lead the first one starting next week, and I think this is really interesting.

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Sometimes we'll cover theological topics.

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Sometimes we'll cover maybe something in missions, sometimes we'll cover something in outreach or maybe something specific to our church that we want to talk about with vision.

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But for this one, over the last several months, it's kind of become more and more a conversation that I'm having with people who are visiting our church.

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But sometimes I feel if people are visiting our church are asking these questions, then maybe there are some of you who are a part of our church that also have these questions.

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So we're going to sit for maybe 30, 40 minutes and just talk about the fact that we're a Southern Baptist church.

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All right.

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If you're surprised by that, I'm sorry.

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We talk about that a little, not a lot, but we are a Southern Baptist church.

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And what does that mean?

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What does it mean that we're Southern Baptist?

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And so for about 30 minutes, what I want to break down and help us all understand is what Southern Baptist means is that we have an opportunity to cooperate with fellow churches that are aligned theologically and missionally for the global.

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Work of Jesus Christ and the gospel.

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That he's called us to.

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And what that does, I know sometimes we can have a bad experience with a church or multiple churches that are.

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Falling to a denomination.

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But what that leverages us to do to work together is beautiful in the.

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Story of what God is doing.

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Okay?

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And so if you feel like, man, you know what it's about to be Southern Baptist and you don't need to be a part of this, I would encourage you, maybe come and just be a part of it anyways and maybe you'll learn something.

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All right.

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As I'm continuing to do my research as a guy that's been employed at Southern Baptist churches for my entire ministry life, there are things that I'm learning of what it means and the beauty and the privilege of what we have of being a Southern Baptist church.

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So come and be a part of that with us.

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And then also really super excited about secret church that you heard on there.

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We did this last year.

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This is our second year going to be working through the book of Ruth with David Platt.

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He won't be here in person, but it's a live stream event.

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It starts at 07:00 p.m.

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Last year we got done about 01:00 a.m.

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All right, so this is not for the faint of heart.

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We want to encourage you to be a part of this.

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It is a free event, but we need you to register because our spaces are unlimited.

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So make sure if you're interested in this, that you register so that you can be a part.

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And then lastly, because there is not a group of volunteers that we want to do this to, there is no childcare because we don't want to be responsible for having your kid up at 01:00 in the morning.

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All right, but if you need some help, we can see what we can do, but want to encourage you to.

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Be a part of that.

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All right, we're continuing on in our Genesis 25 or in our Genesis study.

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And as we get into Genesis 25 that we started a couple of weeks ago, as I was studying this week, God kind of laid on my heart a series within a series.

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And sometimes when you have a book of the Bible that you go through that's lengthy, like Genesis, you can do that, where you can kind of build some thematic connections throughout this.

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And so over the next several weeks, we're going to be working through the same theme.

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And here's what this theme is going to be.

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All right.

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Building a godly family culture.

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Building a godly family culture.

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And here's what I want to say to that right now.

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If maybe you feel like you've passed those seasons on and, well, this series isn't for me, or maybe you're early on and you're single, I would say whatever your family looks like, whether that is 15 people or one person, building a godly family culture within the context of your family is essential to the health, the stability, and the consistency in your walk with the Lord.

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And so what we're going to do over the next several weeks is we're going to look at this in Genesis 25 26 and on, and we're going to look at and draw from some things that are done correctly.

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And we're going to look at and we're going to draw and we're going to learn from some things that are done incorrectly.

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Because here's what I can tell you.

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Here's what I know about me and my family.

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Whether it's intentional or unintentional, you're building a culture right now in your family.

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Whether it's positive or negative, you're building a culture within your family.

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Whether it's godly or ungodly, you are building a culture in your family.

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When I began to study about this and pray about this this week and examine my own life and the life of others, I think there are some common mistakes that we make when it comes to building a godly culture within our family when it comes to faith.

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And that's what we're specifically going to be looking at when it comes to faith.

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I think so a handful of these before we get into 25.

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Number one, we want to go ahead and lay out and move past is, number one, we fall into the lie that we make our faith private, that our faith is private.

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Somewhere in our mind, historically, in the life of a lot of christians, we begin to think and buy into this concept that your faith is private, and no one should ask you about your faith.

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And you definitely shouldn't have to talk to anyone about your faith, because your faith is personal, which it is, but your faith is private, which it is not.

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Every instance with Jesus and every time we see in the Bible, it's go and tell, go and make.

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And it is astonishing to find the number of individuals, even within their own family unit.

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Of parents who've never talked to their kids about the gospel, of spouses who's never prayed with or for their other spouse.

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And so we want to look at what it means to have this godly culture of faith.

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Number two, we want to understand that our faith, the lie that we've been bought into is that our faith becomes event based, not process driven.

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The lie that we've bought into is our faith becomes event based and process driven.

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So here's what that means.

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I show up and things are done, and I'm a part of them, and then I leave, and that's all that I need.

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And I can come back in, like, we go and put gas in our car and go to an event and get all the Jesus that I need, all the Holy Spirit that I need, all the God that I need, and then I can leave.

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And I don't need to go back into any of that until I feel that needle begin to drop on my spiritual fuel tank.

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Instead of understanding that faith is process driven.

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Jesus is alive on Monday morning just as he is alive on Sunday morning.

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And he works and he moves in.

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Those days just as much as he moves in the events that we go to.

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So we love events.

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We love the gatherings.

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We love the pieces that we can have.

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But they're sparks.

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They're tools that are used to continue to fuel the process on, not just.

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To fill up and go.

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We begin to fall into the trap of our faith being stale.

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Not our faith being fresh.

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Not our faith being fresh.

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And so we view what we do.

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In here as the piece that I need to give.

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But then I go, and over the course, I begin to plateau in my walk or decline instead of using it to grow.

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The last that we want to go ahead and discuss before we get into.

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Genesis 25 is we make our faith grace heavy.

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Listen to me on all this before you get mad at me.

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And truth light or truth heavy.

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And grace light, we find what we want, and we cling to that without understanding the grace and truth of Christ and that they're good and they're needed and they're equal and they're together.

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Right?

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So let's start reading and see what we can begin to draw from with this.

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Genesis 25, starting in verse 19.

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These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son.

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Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethul, the Aramaan, the patarim, the sister of Laban the emerim, to be his wife.

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And Isaac prayed to the lord for his wife because she was barren.

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And the lord granted his prayer.

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And Rebekah, his wife, conceived the children, struggled together within her.

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And she said, if it is thus, why is this happening to me?

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So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within.

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Your womb, from within you shall be divided.

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The one shall be stronger than the other.

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The older shall serve the younger.

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Here's what I'm talking about when it becomes being, setting a godly culture of faith in your family.

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Number one, be a family or be a person of intentional prayer.

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Of intentional prayer.

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Here's what I want to encourage you to do.

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Set during your day, pray all the time.

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God's word says pray without ceasing, be in continual conversation with the Lord, but.

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Also set times of intentional prayer.

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Evaluate what you're facing and going through in your world and bring it to God.

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What are you wrestling with?

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What are you dealing with?

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So many times I find that in.

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My prayer life and probably in yours, it can be the routine and the repetition of the things that we say all of the time, instead of wrestling with and being intentional about the prayers and the struggles that we're facing in our life.

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I love this.

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It says that Isaac prayed for his wife.

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Now, the word here for prayer is not just a simple saying.

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It's not the speaking of words.

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But this word for prayer, used in.

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The original language, is to cry to the Lord for deliverance.

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Here's the setting they've been facing for 20 years of marriage, the battle of infertility.

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And I don't know if you've ever.

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Walked that journey, but as a family who has not for 20 years.

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But it is hard.

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It is grueling.

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It is difficult.

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And what I love in this is what I see from Isaac, is not bitterness or anger.

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It's not resentment or separation.

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It's not blame.

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It's a desperate cry for the Lord to work and move.

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It's a mark of a mature faith, a culture of prayer.

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I know in my life and I know in the life of so many others, when we walk through these difficult seasons, when our faith is shallow, when the culture that we're driving toward is shallow, we don't run and fall before the Lord to our knees like we should.

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Instead, we stand and shake our fist at him and say, how would you allow this to happen?

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Take out infertility and put any battle that you've walked through in your life, the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, a spouse that is left, a child that has rebelled.

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When there's a culture of prayer that is rooted in your home and more importantly, in your heart, the standing there and shaking your fist at God, why would this happen?

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Isn't there.

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Instead, it brings you to your knees.

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And so God answers.

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And God answers with twins.

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Raise your hand if you're in the room, if you are a twin or are the parent of a twin or multiples.

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Let's go with multiples.

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Anybody?

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Yeah, I got my wife.

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Leave them up.

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I want to see everybody that's over here.

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All right.

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There's a handful of us.

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All right, let me talk about that struggle.

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Aaron and I battled through infertility issues and miscarriage and a lot of things.

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That a lot of you have battled through as well.

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When we lived in Sumner, South Carolina.

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And we had this secretary that was.

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At our church, and her name was Joyce.

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And I'll never forget when we found out that Aaron was pregnant.

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We were so excited to have a baby.

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We had been through so many battles, so many things, so many journeys, so many tears, so many moments of crying out to the Lord and just being honest and open with you guys, and so many moments of sinfully shaking our fist at him.

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And the day that we found out that we were having.

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And notice my words, a baby was so exciting.

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Well, Erin's second doctor's appointment that she went to, I had to go somewhere for work.

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I had to come up to.

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So she went, and she came back.

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I think your dad went with you.

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No.

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By yourself.

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By yourself.

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So Aaron went to the doctor by herself, and she called me, and I was on that beautiful stretch of 378 where there is absolutely nothing in between Columbia and Sumter.

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I'll never forget this conversation.

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She said, what are you doing?

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I said, I'm driving.

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What are you doing?

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I just got home from the doctor.

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Okay.

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She said, you need to pull over.

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And I said, something wrong?

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She said, you need to pull over.

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And I said, okay.

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And she said, well, God didn't just bless us with a baby.

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God blessed us with two.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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And God and I talked the rest of the way.

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You know what I mean?

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But God knew.

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God had a plan.

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Back to Joyce.

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I love Joyce.

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Joyce was the prayer warrior of our staff.

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We would sit in there and have prayer time together, and that woman could pray.

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And not only could she pray when she was in the room, but she would pray all of the time.

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And if you had something you wanted somebody to pray for, you'd go to Joyce, and she'd pray for it.

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And then she'd ask you about it later.

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Like, she'd come up to you months later and say, remember when you asked me to pray for this?

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I've been praying.

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What's God doing?

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It wasn't just that.

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Sure.

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Being polite.

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Maybe they will, maybe they won't.

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If you told Joyce to pray about something, Joyce prayed about it.

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I love Joyce.

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Next staff meeting, I'm there.

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I said, guys, I want to tell you what God's done and how God's blessed.

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And I told the story.

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There's not a baby.

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There's two.

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And I see a smile come across Joyce's face.

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And I said, joy, thank you for being Joyce.

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Thank you for being happy for us.

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And she said, bo, I think it was like, 18 months earlier when we went through our miscarriage.

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She said, I began praying then that God would bless you with twins.

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And I just said, joyce, in the future, could you just run these by me?

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So as I'm reading this, I feel the moment in here of the answer of God.

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The crying out was like, we never thought that all of the difficulty that it was to have twins, we didn't understand all of the beauty of the blessing that God would give us in that as well, we didn't understand.

267
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But God answered, and God answered them with twins.

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But we see in this.

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This pregnancy was difficult.

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Now, if you raised your hand as being the mother or father of twins dads, we think we know what our wives went through.

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But, ladies, you know, we have no clue.

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No clue.

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And I love the verse that it said, the children struggled together within her.

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And then she said this, if this is because of God, why is this happening to me?

275
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Is what she's saying, right?

276
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Like, this is the battle.

277
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So she went to inquire to the Lord.

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She went to inquire to the Lord.

279
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And this is why we talk about the culture of what we see, of faith, of intentional prayer.

280
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There are struggles that they face, and their solution is to turn to God.

281
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There are struggles they face God, why are we battling?

282
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Infertility.

283
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I'm going to come to you.

284
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There are struggles that she faced in her pregnancy, of what's going on in her posturing, her culture.

285
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Her heart is to come to the Lord, to inquire of him and to see.

286
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And God answers.

287
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And God answers.

288
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I want to ask you this, with.

289
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What you're battling and what you're facing, right?

290
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Are you listening to the Lord?

291
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Are you listening to the Lord?

292
00:24:02.270 --> 00:24:08.300
Now, sometimes we want to hear God, right?

293
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Like I speak and you hear me, someone calls out your name and you audibly can hear them.

294
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And we want this to be.

295
00:24:23.110 --> 00:24:32.820
But I think, more times than not, we pray to God, and God answers our prayers, but we don't hear from God.

296
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And so the question is, why aren't we hearing from God?

297
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I think number one is we're not listening.

298
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We're not listening.

299
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We're so busy to give our request time and time and over and over again and in repetition.

300
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But yet we're not taking the moment to sit back and to wait and to listen.

301
00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:06.910
When we come to God, we come to him like a five year old bringing their list to Santa.

302
00:25:07.330 --> 00:25:08.126
Here's what I want.

303
00:25:08.148 --> 00:25:08.766
Here's what I want.

304
00:25:08.788 --> 00:25:09.406
Here's what I want.

305
00:25:09.428 --> 00:25:10.046
Here's what I want.

306
00:25:10.068 --> 00:25:10.654
Here's what I want.

307
00:25:10.692 --> 00:25:15.570
Now I gotta go and do my life instead of listening.

308
00:25:16.630 --> 00:25:18.580
Number two, we aren't looking.

309
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We aren't looking.

310
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Not only is it listening to God, but it's looking at God.

311
00:25:24.328 --> 00:25:26.290
Where is God working in your life?

312
00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:28.082
Where is God moving in your life?

313
00:25:28.136 --> 00:25:29.726
What is God doing around you?

314
00:25:29.768 --> 00:25:33.046
What is God doing in the lives of the people who are with you?

315
00:25:33.148 --> 00:25:34.918
What is God already doing?

316
00:25:35.004 --> 00:25:38.618
And he's saying to you that what you are praying for, I'm already working.

317
00:25:38.704 --> 00:25:40.986
I'm already moving, I'm already doing something.

318
00:25:41.088 --> 00:25:42.314
You're just not looking.

319
00:25:42.432 --> 00:25:44.022
You're just not noticing.

320
00:25:44.166 --> 00:25:48.620
But I'm here, so just look, wait and see.

321
00:25:50.370 --> 00:26:11.090
Number three, we stop asking, we stop asking, we stop being people who make it a priority to come in obedience, in repetition and bring them to the Lord.

322
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Keep praying, keep waiting, keep listening, keep looking.

323
00:26:21.370 --> 00:26:28.150
And then lastly, we don't hear from God because we start blaming.

324
00:26:28.750 --> 00:26:31.850
We start blaming God.

325
00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:35.500
I prayed about this and you didn't do anything.

326
00:26:37.070 --> 00:26:38.700
God, how dare you?

327
00:26:39.390 --> 00:26:40.800
How dare you?

328
00:26:42.770 --> 00:26:43.998
God's working.

329
00:26:44.164 --> 00:26:45.280
God's moving.

330
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Sometimes we don't always know how or when, but we can trust that he is.

331
00:26:52.770 --> 00:27:01.394
And instead of blaming God, maybe our heart should be that we try to align with God.

332
00:27:01.592 --> 00:27:04.130
Because I don't want you to miss this about prayer.

333
00:27:04.550 --> 00:27:12.600
God's not a genie in a bottle that we can rub the bottle and he's going to come out and grant us any of the wishes that we then give for him.

334
00:27:13.770 --> 00:27:17.560
We're not the sovereign ones and we're not in control of him.

335
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But God's going to work and move.

336
00:27:19.772 --> 00:27:21.186
And a beautiful thing of what prayer.

337
00:27:21.218 --> 00:27:36.094
Does within us is as we go before him and pray before him, the spirit of God that dwells within side of us, as we seek his face, as we seek his will, as we seek his glory, he does something that's pretty awesome and pretty cool within sight of us as he begins to change our heart.

338
00:27:36.132 --> 00:27:38.222
And when he begins to change our heart, you know what he can do?

339
00:27:38.276 --> 00:27:40.480
He can even change our desires and our wants.

340
00:27:41.650 --> 00:27:50.320
And so our prayers change and they more in line with him with what he's saying and with what he's doing.

341
00:27:50.930 --> 00:27:54.410
But it begins in prayer begins in prayer.

342
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So.

343
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So be a person.

344
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Be a family.

345
00:28:00.828 --> 00:28:04.550
Build an intentional culture of prayer.

346
00:28:04.890 --> 00:28:05.958
Number two.

347
00:28:06.124 --> 00:28:09.500
Number two, be a family of trust.

348
00:28:10.030 --> 00:28:11.500
Be a family of trust.

349
00:28:13.790 --> 00:28:28.670
So Rebecca prays, and in verse 23, the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided.

350
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The one shall be stronger than the other.

351
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The older shall serve the younger.

352
00:28:38.950 --> 00:28:41.300
Well, I'm going to be honest with you.

353
00:28:42.550 --> 00:28:44.226
I don't really know that this is.

354
00:28:44.248 --> 00:28:48.466
The answer to prayer, that Rebecca was looking all right.

355
00:28:48.648 --> 00:28:49.702
I think she was.

356
00:28:49.756 --> 00:28:55.320
Maybe it's some indigestion, but that's not the answer she gets.

357
00:28:55.690 --> 00:28:57.442
Look at the words that are used.

358
00:28:57.596 --> 00:29:02.010
Two nations are in your womb.

359
00:29:02.910 --> 00:29:04.490
Two peoples.

360
00:29:05.230 --> 00:29:07.690
From within you shall be divided.

361
00:29:08.910 --> 00:29:11.760
The one shall be stronger than the other.

362
00:29:12.850 --> 00:29:16.670
The older shall serve the younger.

363
00:29:17.330 --> 00:29:19.166
So a couple of things out of.

364
00:29:19.188 --> 00:29:24.450
This real quick that we see from right here is he says, there'll be two nations.

365
00:29:25.270 --> 00:29:36.120
So these two boys that are going to be born, they will achieve a level of leadership and greatness, but one will be greater than the other.

366
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But then what God says, he says, the older shall serve the younger.

367
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Here, God makes the choice to break the accepted pattern of the day.

368
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If you have multiples.

369
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One of the things that's common within multiples, and we see this in the life of our twins, is they've got the same birthday, right?

370
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They're the same age.

371
00:30:12.210 --> 00:30:15.410
Their birth, in our case, was separated by a minute.

372
00:30:17.110 --> 00:30:35.750
But there's great pride for that 1 minute I saw on there, there was two girls that had their high school senior pictures taken, and one said, I'll always be the younger by a minute.

373
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And then the older's picture said was the best minute of my know, there's this competition of what's there between, and.

374
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Grayson is the older one.

375
00:30:49.870 --> 00:30:57.134
And if, you know, if you remember all the way back from when they were little, it was like, there's Grayson and there's know.

376
00:30:57.252 --> 00:30:59.326
And about 6th grade, he caught up with her.

377
00:30:59.348 --> 00:31:04.086
7th grade, he passed her best day of his life when he realized he was taller than his sister.

378
00:31:04.138 --> 00:31:08.130
We would go places, and people would say to Emma, is that your little brother?

379
00:31:09.190 --> 00:31:10.626
And we felt bad for him.

380
00:31:10.648 --> 00:31:12.740
And Grayson said, I'm older than her.

381
00:31:14.390 --> 00:31:15.878
So there's that piece.

382
00:31:16.044 --> 00:31:17.720
Then there's Emma's piece.

383
00:31:18.170 --> 00:31:27.160
If there's any part where Grayson's trying to impose onto her, he will say to her, well, you know, I'm the older one.

384
00:31:27.690 --> 00:31:31.050
And she wants to argue, but it's only by a minute.

385
00:31:31.470 --> 00:31:32.746
But in here, I told her this.

386
00:31:32.768 --> 00:31:34.902
The other day, Emma, it's biblical.

387
00:31:35.046 --> 00:31:36.102
You are younger.

388
00:31:36.166 --> 00:31:37.514
This is what we see.

389
00:31:37.712 --> 00:31:40.140
So God gives this information.

390
00:31:41.790 --> 00:31:44.670
Here's the battle I'm going to take.

391
00:31:44.740 --> 00:31:46.480
God says, what is the norm?

392
00:31:47.170 --> 00:31:50.350
The norm would be for the younger to serve the older.

393
00:31:51.010 --> 00:31:56.466
But God says, in your case, if there's not enough conflict already of two.

394
00:31:56.488 --> 00:32:01.890
Nations, the older will serve the younger.

395
00:32:02.950 --> 00:32:21.290
The question is, when we get news, we get information in the plan of what God has, do we question, wrestle, plead and seek?

396
00:32:22.670 --> 00:32:23.900
I think so.

397
00:32:25.150 --> 00:32:28.220
God, why is this happening?

398
00:32:29.390 --> 00:32:36.960
We question God, let me wrestle with what you're telling me because I don't understand it.

399
00:32:37.490 --> 00:32:39.246
God, let me plead with you that.

400
00:32:39.268 --> 00:32:40.800
You could do something different.

401
00:32:41.890 --> 00:32:46.740
God, help me seek to understand what you're doing.

402
00:32:47.430 --> 00:32:54.980
I think we do those things, but after that is, I think, where we begin to fall off.

403
00:32:55.350 --> 00:33:01.682
And the question comes in our questioning and our wrestling and our pleading and our seeking.

404
00:33:01.826 --> 00:33:03.222
Does what come out of us?

405
00:33:03.276 --> 00:33:06.840
A heart of doubt or a heart of trust?

406
00:33:09.630 --> 00:33:11.660
Why would God do this?

407
00:33:12.670 --> 00:33:14.154
Do you remember what I told you?

408
00:33:14.192 --> 00:33:17.260
Whether it was infertility or anything else that you were going through?

409
00:33:18.430 --> 00:33:23.920
I bet you've asked God, why would you do this?

410
00:33:25.970 --> 00:33:29.886
And I wish this morning that there.

411
00:33:29.908 --> 00:33:31.934
Was something more to answer away.

412
00:33:32.052 --> 00:33:38.580
All of that and give us something clear and something cute and something easy.

413
00:33:39.430 --> 00:33:43.298
But as we've just said, we're not the sovereign ones.

414
00:33:43.384 --> 00:33:46.520
He is and he's in control.

415
00:33:47.610 --> 00:33:53.400
And just like we teach the little kids to sing, he's got the whole world in his hand.

416
00:33:54.490 --> 00:33:55.480
He does.

417
00:33:56.250 --> 00:33:57.240
He does.

418
00:33:57.630 --> 00:34:06.330
He holds it and he's sovereign and he's in control and he is good and he is loving.

419
00:34:07.310 --> 00:34:12.880
Apostle Paul talks about this situation in Romans, Romans nine, starting in verse ten.

420
00:34:13.810 --> 00:34:35.410
He says, not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.

421
00:34:35.770 --> 00:34:39.670
She was told, the older will serve the younger.

422
00:34:40.090 --> 00:34:46.550
As it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I hated.

423
00:34:48.670 --> 00:34:55.900
And what we see is the sovereign choice of God in this moment.

424
00:34:57.790 --> 00:35:10.880
And the question is, when all you know is what God is doing, do you choose to trust that God knows what God is doing?

425
00:35:11.890 --> 00:35:22.530
Sometimes in scripture, God gives us glimpses into his reasoning with Noah and the flood.

426
00:35:22.950 --> 00:35:26.054
We saw this in Genesis 69, says.

427
00:35:26.092 --> 00:35:27.810
These are the generations of Noah.

428
00:35:27.890 --> 00:35:31.634
Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.

429
00:35:31.762 --> 00:35:33.398
Noah not walked with God.

430
00:35:33.484 --> 00:35:36.150
We know why God chose Noah.

431
00:35:36.810 --> 00:35:39.066
No one else was Noah was.

432
00:35:39.168 --> 00:35:40.650
God chose Noah.

433
00:35:41.710 --> 00:35:45.222
We know why God chooses Isaac over Ishmael.

434
00:35:45.286 --> 00:35:46.474
We understand the reason.

435
00:35:46.592 --> 00:35:48.278
Isaac, the son of the promise.

436
00:35:48.374 --> 00:35:50.194
Ishmael is the son of the compromise.

437
00:35:50.262 --> 00:35:57.518
We know, but not oftentimes do we know, and do we understand why God does what God does?

438
00:35:57.684 --> 00:36:00.030
If that's why did God choose Abraham?

439
00:36:00.930 --> 00:36:07.666
Abraham was pagan, from a foreign land, but God chose him.

440
00:36:07.848 --> 00:36:10.500
We don't see the reason, but we trust.

441
00:36:11.430 --> 00:36:14.962
So we see in these, and we're allowed into these.

442
00:36:15.016 --> 00:36:20.726
But sometimes we have to hold to the simple truth of what we teach our kids to sing.

443
00:36:20.828 --> 00:36:34.410
That he is good, that he is right, that he is loving, that he is working, and he's got it all in his hand, and you and I are trying to hold on to it like water coming out of the lake.

444
00:36:36.030 --> 00:36:37.580
But he's in control.

445
00:36:39.710 --> 00:36:50.960
And sometimes God lays out the events and circumstances of your life in mine, and they fit together.

446
00:36:52.050 --> 00:36:55.460
Oh, that's so good.

447
00:36:56.230 --> 00:37:00.770
But sometimes he lays out the events and they just don't.

448
00:37:01.590 --> 00:37:04.100
It's a circle bumping into a square.

449
00:37:05.370 --> 00:37:17.510
And we've got to say, do I trust God when God does what I want or do I trust God, period.

450
00:37:19.710 --> 00:37:24.394
Romans nine teaches us that God.

451
00:37:24.592 --> 00:37:33.600
That God works all things for his purposes, for his glory, and for our good.

452
00:37:34.130 --> 00:37:36.400
And that's what we have to cling to.

453
00:37:36.930 --> 00:37:38.334
Romans 828.

454
00:37:38.372 --> 00:37:48.050
And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

455
00:37:49.110 --> 00:37:50.340
That's trust.

456
00:37:51.510 --> 00:37:52.740
That's trust.

457
00:37:53.590 --> 00:38:05.640
So when you get the answer that you don't want, the question is, in that moment, who are you trying to make God, you or him?

458
00:38:06.410 --> 00:38:08.460
Lastly, we'll close with this.

459
00:38:08.830 --> 00:38:11.980
Be a family of unified love.

460
00:38:12.590 --> 00:38:14.282
Be a family of unified love.

461
00:38:14.336 --> 00:38:15.980
Verse 24.

462
00:38:17.070 --> 00:38:22.510
When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.

463
00:38:22.930 --> 00:38:29.070
The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak.

464
00:38:29.410 --> 00:38:31.710
So they called his name Esau.

465
00:38:32.550 --> 00:38:40.530
Afterwards, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob.

466
00:38:41.030 --> 00:38:48.694
Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them, like I was 29.

467
00:38:48.892 --> 00:38:49.800
You know.

468
00:38:50.890 --> 00:38:52.200
Verse 27.

469
00:38:52.730 --> 00:39:03.930
When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents.

470
00:39:04.590 --> 00:39:08.940
Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game.

471
00:39:09.470 --> 00:39:11.470
But Rebecca loved Jacob.

472
00:39:12.850 --> 00:39:15.614
Be a family of unified love.

473
00:39:15.812 --> 00:39:17.230
Let's look at Esau.

474
00:39:17.970 --> 00:39:20.750
Firstborn, the older.

475
00:39:22.470 --> 00:39:24.770
Red headed and hairy.

476
00:39:25.590 --> 00:39:27.460
That's where his name comes from.

477
00:39:28.390 --> 00:39:33.218
Outdoorsman, hunter, man of the open country.

478
00:39:33.304 --> 00:39:35.060
Is what the Bible tells us.

479
00:39:35.770 --> 00:39:38.834
And there's Jacob, the Secondborn.

480
00:39:38.882 --> 00:39:48.566
The younger grabbing at the heel of his brother, which was a phrase that would have been used during that day, that meant deception.

481
00:39:48.758 --> 00:39:52.390
If you're a deceiver, you're a heel grabber.

482
00:39:52.550 --> 00:39:54.378
That's where his name comes from.

483
00:39:54.544 --> 00:39:55.194
Thanks, mom.

484
00:39:55.232 --> 00:39:56.090
And dad.

485
00:39:57.790 --> 00:40:00.774
Says he's a quiet man, dwelling intense.

486
00:40:00.822 --> 00:40:08.640
I want to talk about this for a second, because sometimes this passage of scripture is taught like, here's the manly guy and here's the not manly guy.

487
00:40:09.010 --> 00:40:10.800
And I don't think that's the case.

488
00:40:11.970 --> 00:40:17.874
This word quiet has been translated oftentimes to make us think that.

489
00:40:17.912 --> 00:40:23.714
But when you look at the meaning of quiet here, what it brings with.

490
00:40:23.752 --> 00:40:28.630
It is a meaning of being complete, of wholeness.

491
00:40:30.010 --> 00:40:38.650
So within him there was great levels, probably, of artistic capabilities, of academic capabilities.

492
00:40:39.070 --> 00:40:41.414
Of even outdoor capabilities.

493
00:40:41.542 --> 00:40:47.322
And so I think the picture is one was this and the other was.

494
00:40:47.376 --> 00:40:50.140
More of what we see.

495
00:40:50.690 --> 00:40:55.706
But what we do see is we see two brothers, two different personalities, two different giftings.

496
00:40:55.818 --> 00:40:57.040
And what happens?

497
00:40:58.130 --> 00:41:02.270
Daddy chooses his and mama chooses hers.

498
00:41:03.330 --> 00:41:06.180
And we're going to see this conflict play out.

499
00:41:07.270 --> 00:41:10.770
When we talk about this.

500
00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:15.182
What we see is this concept of unified love.

501
00:41:15.336 --> 00:41:18.242
Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his gain.

502
00:41:18.306 --> 00:41:19.078
It's what it says.

503
00:41:19.164 --> 00:41:22.550
But Rebecca loved Jacob.

504
00:41:22.970 --> 00:41:32.060
What we do with love, whether it's in our family or the people that we encounter, is we choose.

505
00:41:32.830 --> 00:41:38.220
I'm going to show one person more love than I'm going to show others.

506
00:41:39.390 --> 00:41:48.014
And what I want us to build in with not only this family, but within our own individual families, is a.

507
00:41:48.052 --> 00:42:10.134
Unified love where it's not those that we're more naturally drawn to, that we love, but it's all of those that God puts in our path that we love, just not the ones that we deem to be cleaner and easier and more receptive of our love, but it's those that we choose to give everyone love to over and over and over again.

508
00:42:10.252 --> 00:42:13.000
Because that's what Jesus did for us.

509
00:42:13.930 --> 00:42:21.818
That when he brought us into the family, that what he did was not set a hierarchy of what's there.

510
00:42:21.984 --> 00:42:27.018
It's not, well, here's the pastor, here's the missionary, here's the others.

511
00:42:27.104 --> 00:42:32.490
It's not, here's the people that struggled with these sins versus the people that struggled with these sins.

512
00:42:32.570 --> 00:42:42.942
It's not this race versus this race, this socioeconomic class versus this one, this level of intellect versus this level of intellect that Christ brings us in.

513
00:42:42.996 --> 00:42:47.074
I said to the girls who were getting baptized today, I said, you're going to hear me refer to you as something.

514
00:42:47.112 --> 00:42:53.234
Today you're going to hear me refer to you as our sisters, because that's who you are.

515
00:42:53.432 --> 00:42:56.258
And there's no divide in the family of God.

516
00:42:56.424 --> 00:43:00.310
There's no gift for one that's going to be better than the gift for the other.

517
00:43:00.460 --> 00:43:04.742
There's no blessing for one that's going to be better or less than for the other.

518
00:43:04.876 --> 00:43:08.502
And so what we see here, Paul writes about this in Ephesians, chapter one.

519
00:43:08.556 --> 00:43:14.266
We're going to close with this passage of scripture, is what this unified love looks like for us in Christ.

520
00:43:14.368 --> 00:43:25.358
And then for us to take this love, whether it's in your family, whether it's with your friends, whether it's at work, no matter where God has you, and making sure that there's unity and love.

521
00:43:25.444 --> 00:43:45.038
Paul writes, and he says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

522
00:43:45.144 --> 00:43:58.998
In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

523
00:43:59.094 --> 00:44:26.402
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purposes, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and on earth, and in him.

524
00:44:26.456 --> 00:44:43.302
We have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we, who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory in him.

525
00:44:43.356 --> 00:44:54.010
You also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.

526
00:44:55.150 --> 00:45:15.220
So all of those girls and you and me and the people down the road and on the other side of the world and everyone in between, we are different.

527
00:45:17.110 --> 00:45:18.530
We are unique.

528
00:45:19.510 --> 00:45:21.250
We have different passions.

529
00:45:22.070 --> 00:45:25.810
We look differently, we have different capabilities.

530
00:45:26.170 --> 00:45:31.926
But in Christ, in Christ, the beauty of that.

531
00:45:32.108 --> 00:45:35.650
Paul says, we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

532
00:45:35.730 --> 00:45:37.570
We've been chosen and adopted.

533
00:45:37.650 --> 00:45:39.602
We've been completely accepted.

534
00:45:39.666 --> 00:45:41.510
We've been redeemed from our sins.

535
00:45:41.590 --> 00:45:43.478
We've been given total forgiveness.

536
00:45:43.574 --> 00:45:45.558
We've been given the riches of grace.

537
00:45:45.654 --> 00:45:48.698
We've been given revelation and the knowledge of the will of God.

538
00:45:48.784 --> 00:45:50.970
We've been given an eternal inheritance.

539
00:45:51.050 --> 00:45:53.630
We've been given the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

540
00:45:54.850 --> 00:46:21.240
And so I pray that we wouldn't go from here and look at others and choose some to love and some not, that we would go and be a people of unified love, sharing the gospel, bringing into the family, seeing the kingdom grow.

541
00:46:23.130 --> 00:46:24.360
In just a moment.

542
00:46:26.250 --> 00:46:28.070
The band's going to come upstage.

543
00:46:28.650 --> 00:46:34.310
We're going to sing one last song, and then we're going to take the Lord's supper.

544
00:46:35.850 --> 00:46:42.720
And it's the beautiful representation of Christ, of what he came to do.

545
00:46:43.570 --> 00:46:53.778
Because whether you think that your sin was many or whether you think that your sin was few, here's what I can tell you.

546
00:46:53.944 --> 00:46:57.570
Your sin and my sin was costly.

547
00:46:58.470 --> 00:47:00.050
It was costly.

548
00:47:01.190 --> 00:47:20.860
And it costs the life of Christ to give of his body, to shed of his blood, so that we could be brought into this wonderful family that we just read about.

549
00:47:22.670 --> 00:47:26.330
Would you bow your heads as we go to the Lord in prayer?

550
00:47:27.950 --> 00:47:36.640
God, I thank you for the wonderful privilege of what it means to be a son and daughter of God.

551
00:47:38.370 --> 00:47:41.470
God, as I pray that as we prepare our hearts.

552
00:47:43.670 --> 00:47:46.754
To take this, to.

553
00:47:46.792 --> 00:47:56.870
Participate in communion, Lord, I pray under the leading and guiding of your holy spirit that we would examine our hearts.

554
00:47:58.170 --> 00:48:12.220
Lord, first we would recognize that this isn't just simply a religious duty, but it's an honor to be able to partake in for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ.

555
00:48:13.870 --> 00:48:38.580
Lord, may we think about the price that was paid on the cross of Calvary as perfection took on the depravity and the sins of the world and died and paid our price, paid our debt, so that we might have forgiveness in reception into the family of God.

556
00:48:41.510 --> 00:48:48.710
God, may we examine our hearts for any sin that we have that is unrepentant.

557
00:48:50.330 --> 00:48:52.870
Your word tells us to examine ourselves.

558
00:48:54.090 --> 00:48:58.714
And to confess them, to repent to you.

559
00:48:58.912 --> 00:49:08.586
And so, Lord, I pray that we do not partake in guilt, but that.

560
00:49:08.608 --> 00:49:14.720
We partake in righteous confession before you.

561
00:49:15.330 --> 00:49:19.280
Seeking your forgiveness for what we've done.

562
00:49:20.130 --> 00:49:31.634
God, I pray that if there's anyone whom we need to forgive, Lord, that we would seek to do that right now, whether they've asked for forgiveness or not.

563
00:49:31.672 --> 00:49:35.830
Lord, your word tells us to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

564
00:49:36.410 --> 00:49:41.030
We would not keep a record of wrong, but God, that we would forgive.

565
00:49:42.810 --> 00:49:43.174
God.

566
00:49:43.212 --> 00:49:44.534
I pray that if we need to.

567
00:49:44.572 --> 00:49:50.280
Seek the forgiveness of others, Lord, that we would seek that as well.

568
00:49:53.450 --> 00:49:55.480
God, work and move in our lives.

569
00:49:56.330 --> 00:49:58.310
By the power of your holy spirit.

570
00:49:59.050 --> 00:50:00.830
Listen, Jesus, and we pray.

571
00:50:01.170 --> 00:50:02.030
Amen.

572
00:50:06.290 --> 00:50:10.794
Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode.

573
00:50:10.922 --> 00:50:18.570
In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willowridge church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.