Genesis 33 Victory By Family

All right, Pastor Tim, would you open us in a word of prayer? Sure. Father God, thank you so much that we can come and gather in your name.

Thank you for the rain. Thank you for all the blessings that you pour out on us. I pray that we would reflect upon those blessings and even the hardships that we have in our life, that we're building our character and conflicts and things that happen in this human life and the tribulations that we have to enter the kingdom of God.

We say thank you for all that, and we're just so happy that you're good and so good to us and kind to us.

And I pray for Pastor Jeff now that he opens up his word and teaches us even more about that. So we thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. So we live in a day and age where there is a great conflict within our own society.

And that is between the secular humanist left and the

Christians of the country holding two separate worldviews. And you wonder what's going to come of this.

Back in the 1860s, the divide between North and South in the country resulted in what?

A civil war. It got to the point of a civil war. In our day and age, our victory,

I think, will come not by bullets, not by a civil war, but by something that the other side doesn't see coming.

And that is families. I think Christian families and the building up of the

Christian family bodes well for the future of the church in this secular culture, and it also means the end of secular humanism.

Secular humanism has ultimately become a culture of death. Think about the things that they advocate.

Abortion, which kills their own. Recently, after Trump was elected president, there was a movement that gained some traction, although I think it was more of like an online fad kind of thing, where women were swearing themselves off of marriage and of having children and even relations because they were so angry at men for voting for Donald Trump.

But the women who saw the world through that worldview didn't value children. They didn't love children.

And so when we look at that and say, all right, here are some liberal women who are going to train their children in secular humanism, right, for them to say, we're not going to have any babies,

I can't say I'm losing sleep at night because of that. Their culture of abortion, of exalting singleness, depopulation, because they say that global warming is going to end the world and therefore we have to limit the size of our families.

They think that there's overpopulation in the world, when in fact the opposite is true. We're not able to even replace ourselves because the birth rate has fallen so low in so many countries.

Some of them, like South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and most of the

Western European countries are so far below the replacement level that if it weren't for immigration, the countries wouldn't be able to support the jobs that they have.

And so what's happening though is they're relying on immigration from other countries to replace the population, but it doesn't bring with that immigration the same cultural values.

So really what's happening in America, and everybody has said this, is there is a culture war. One side a culture of death and the other a culture of life.

So this culture war won't be solved with guns and bombs. And I think in America we're blessed because we have so much mobility that there's not a divide between North and South or East and West.

My family's in Florida, but I'm a New Jersey guy, right? So there's no sense in which geography would pit us, although you can kind of see the

Northeast is a big blue block and the West Coast is the left coast and most of Heartland America is red, but it's still, we have so much family interspersed in the

States that it's not moving towards a civil war in my view. What's happening in America is a culture war that will be solved over time when

Christians come back to family values. All we have to do to win is to have a lot of babies.

Yeah, and, right, so we're looking at you Tim, you're still in the game. Yeah, he's starting, he's got one in the oven.

Have a lot of babies and then hold on to those babies, meaning train them in the wisdom and admonition of the

Lord, train up a child in the way he should go, that they would hold on to the faith and do the same. It won't take but a generation or two to completely vanquish the culture of death because they kill their babies.

They encourage one another not to have babies. The victory will be by family as we as a

Christian church and not just the young couples having kids, but the women in the church training the moms to love their husbands and their children.

That's what Titus chapter 2 tells women to do, to be an encouragement to the young moms, to help them where we can.

So Jacob's family in Genesis 33 journeys to the promised land and I want to say that it is a picture of the church's journey, at least typically, meaning there's a type here, something that we as a church can learn from in our journey through this godless world.

And what we see here is godly families are the key to victory. Jacob is going to win a great victory in Genesis 33, but it is really in how he leads his family.

Remember in chapter 32 he's gotten himself right. I think early in chapter 32 he's a little bit off in his thinking.

He's just dividing the two family lines, Leah and Rachel, into two parties in hopes of escaping.

He's operating in fear and he's sending all these gifts. Whether that was wise or unwise is debatable.

As John taught last week, the commentaries can't quite tell whether that was wisdom or fear dictating, but in either case he needed an all -night wrestling match with the

Lord. And coming out of that struggle, that prayer time, where he encountered God, he comes in, and I think in Genesis 33, leads well.

So Rick, would you read for us Genesis 33, 1 -3. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,

Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel, and the two female servants.

And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

When he sees Esau in the distance with four hundred men, what does that look like to him?

That looks like danger, reason to be concerned. Remember, his fear is that Esau is still the way he was when he last saw him.

And the reason he left the promised land in the first place was, Esau wanted to kill him.

And he was comforting himself with the thought of killing him. So Jacob had gone to a faraway land to seek refuge from his brother.

Now he sees him in the distance. This could be war. I think you can tell a little bit of favoritism in the way that Jacob aligns the family.

Who is his most beloved? Rachel. Rachel, yeah. Leah is kind of second place.

And then there's a servant, quote unquote, wives. They're not quite wives. They're servants of his actual wives.

But he's having children by them. So here he's willing to put them in the front. Jacob himself, though, will be the first to meet him.

I think that it's incumbent on the man of the house to be the first to face danger.

When we talk about male headship, there are some men that think of it in terms of, go make me a sandwich.

Honey, get in the kitchen. And he becomes very domineering towards her, thinking that headship means that he should boss her around.

What does headship actually mean, according to Ephesians 5? Nailed it.

Love your wife as Christ loved the church. And how did Christ love the church? Fully.

And by laying himself down for her, being willing to sacrifice for her, to give himself.

So in a marital situation, godly headship means the man will be the first to take the bullet.

The man will be willing to bear into himself the wounds and not be thin -skinned, not be aggressive towards his wife.

But to see her as a weaker vessel means what? That she's more vulnerable, that she's more fragile.

She needs to be protected, not trampled upon. I can joke around with Tim, like on the basketball court or something like that, and make fun of him in ways that guys make fun of each other in a different way than I would joke around with my wife.

Right? We hope so. Yes. Because guys and girls are different.

The man of the household here is responsible to be the first to face danger. And I think

Jacob is the first to show up here. Let's look at verses 4 to 7. Barbara, if you would read it for us.

Awesome. So if you look back in verse 3, who is in the front? Yes, the women are organized by parties there.

He's got them separated out. But if you look at verse 3, he himself, Jacob, went on before them.

So Jacob is the one who goes first into the danger. He's willing to face danger in the same way that a man would be the first to go into war.

You wouldn't put the female soldier on the front line. It shouldn't be at all,

I think. But the man should be willing to go and face the danger. The Marines, the

Navy SEALs. These should be men who are willing to face danger for their country.

How much more a husband protecting his children and his wife? Jacob models that.

He steps up. Now, let's look at the other side of that. How do the women, and this is an odd situation because he has more than one wife, but just looking at that kind of set to the side because God's overlooking it at this point in time.

How do the wives do in their role? The women in this are submissively following Jacob.

Did you ever think about this? All they ever knew was

Haran. And where were they not, Haran? Where did

Jacob meet them? Their hometown. Was it Haran? Yeah, Padana Ram or something like that, yeah.

Very good, yeah. You get extra points, Padana Ram. That's what they knew.

And Jacob is leading them to a land that they've never seen. Not every woman would follow her man to a distant country where they do not know.

Nowadays, women are encouraged not to follow the lead of a man.

They're encouraged to be the leader, but these women are following him and then there is the third component in the family.

You've got a husband who's facing the danger. You've got a wife following the lead.

And how do they regard the children? As little burdens to bundle up and take along with them or?

Look at verse five, yeah, go ahead. Gracious gifts. Yes, Jacob said when asked, who are these?

The children whom God has graciously given your servant.

Children are a blessing from the Lord. Candy, would you mind reading off the notes there?

Psalm 127 verses four and five. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. The civil war had to be fought with bullets, right?

We are in a culture war in the United States of America and the bullets that we carry are not ammo, but children.

They're the arrows. They're the ones in the quiver. What does that mean?

What do you think this verse means? Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

What do you think that means? How are kids like arrows?

They're their strength.

Yep. I was listening to A .D.

Robles online do this podcast and he talked about his four sons. And he said, they're this tall right now.

You know, they're just little ones. And he said, I, A .D.

Robles giving his own testimony. I used to be raised by the world, public schools. I came up and he gave his testimony about doing drugs and being involved in all these worldly things.

And then late in life, you know, in his 20s, not having been raised in the faith, but in his 20s, he came to saving faith.

And the Lord so took hold of his heart that now he's preaching the gospel, bringing people to faith and fighting against all the nonsense in the church and in the world.

And he said, that's what the Lord did with me. How much more a problem are these four going to be for the world?

He pictures them as these mini soldiers coming up in his home. And if God could even make him a soldier, wait till they get a load of them.

Because these kids are not going to be raised by public school and the ethics that are being taught in the public school.

He's going to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. He's going to raise them up and send them out.

That's what's meant here. The raising of a child is like this. And the sending them out is like that.

Where you release the bow. You shoot it out into the world. And they're going to war. The picture here, like arrows in the hands of a warrior, are children.

The idea here is you don't picture them as forever vulnerable. They're vulnerable when they're little and you're raising them and they're nurturing them.

But you're raising little warriors. And those sons will be on the front line of the battle. And those girls will grow up to be moms.

And this will multiply. They will add more warriors themselves. And this is the pattern that God has built in.

You see how we win the victory by raising children. Now, don't miss what's happening here.

These 12 are the tribes of Israel. This is the kingdom of God on earth until Christ comes and brings this kingdom to the ends of the earth.

These are the 12 sons. These little ones. Who are these? Who are these with you?

And Jacob rightly answers, the children whom God has graciously given your servant. Church, we need to get back to valuing children.

Encouraging women to love their children, to focus on having as many children as possible.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is what? Full. Full of them. Our desire, now, my wife and I, we lost some babies to miscarriage.

We started late in life. Marrying once my wife was in her 30s.

The Lord gave us two. Those two arrows are gonna be a problem for the enemy.

But then we also look for opportunities to help someone like Rachel and others in our lives over the years.

Marielle and Gabriel. We just saw one of them come back to faith. You're a youth pastor.

The desire to pour into other children, even once your children are grown, your role has not ended.

All of us have a role in loving children and valuing children. This is the future.

Not just for what they can do for the war, because these are the future leaders of the country and of our church, but for the value of them themselves.

Each one is precious in the sight of the Lord. Remember how Jesus regarded children. Did he have a higher view or a lower view than his apostles did?

Come into my arms. Yeah. I love you. The apostles were, shoo, fly, don't bother me. Right?

Get away from him. He's the master. He's the teacher. And Jesus is like, don't hinder them. Let the children come to me.

For of such belong the kingdom of God. This is the mindset we should have. Every woman should be encouraged, however much the

Lord would grant this. And some women are not able to bear children. That's no slight on them. The desire, though, should be to have children and to raise them in the fear and admonition of the

Lord. Okay. So, yes, Bob. Yes.

And he spoke. He didn't wear any shirt or anything. I didn't know what he was. What an explosion he was.

He was a good arrow. Yeah. We were at, Andy Kim was there trying to promote abortion after the

Dobbs decision. And this country had eliminated Roe versus Wade. And Andy Kim came to Mount Laurel to the town hall and tried to persuade people toward a national abortion law and statewide legislation.

And he didn't know that we would have two thirds of the audience was from our church. They knew who

I was. They wouldn't let me speak. I stood in line. They never called on me. But they called on the little boy across the room who turned out to be my son, my arrow.

And he spoke about the value of every life. He said, how do you know that one of these babies you're aborting wouldn't be the next

George Washington? And Kim was like, oh, that's a good point, son. But then an angry politician in the back actually stood up.

He was some council person from Lumberton and started berating the child, saying, you know, like just ranting and raving about how hate -filled this was.

This adult ranting at a child. Incredible. But that's the culture war. And thank you for reminding me of that because that's the point.

Like arrows. That's our real arrows. Right, right.

Yeah. So when I hear Tim sing on Sunday morning, he's serving the

Lord with the voice that God has given him. And who knows how the Lord will keep blessing that.

But all of us should try to raise up as many arrows as we can to fire off into the world.

So Bob, could you read for us then? Are you good with the amount you read or do you want to read again? Well, you already read for me

Psalm 127. Should we kick it on to Bob? Okay. This is

Genesis 33, verses 8 to 11. He said, what do you mean by all this company?

Which I... But Esau said,

I have plenty, my brother. Let what you have be your own. But Jacob said, no, my hand.

For I see your face, as one sees the face of God. And you have received my gift, which because God has, and because I have plenty, thus he urged him and he took it.

Our victory in the culture war will come by family. Godly husbands, loving wives, loving their children, raising up this army.

The tribes of Israel, the kingdom of God, taking possession of the earth. The church now grafted in and part of this kingdom advanced.

But our defeat will come through the breakdown of family.

Either we will have godly strong families that represent well, or the enemy will attack at the place where we are most vulnerable, the family.

This is where the real battle is. We look at the culture war and you see the shenanigans of the left.

They're trying to put boys and girls locker rooms and swimming pools and you think, this is outrageous.

And yeah, we've got to fight that politically, change the laws and all that. But if the enemy worms his way into our own home and divides us, we lose.

If we hold together, if husband and wife are tight, the kids held together, it doesn't matter what the world throws at us.

We feel strong. Isn't that true? When we have our wife and we have our home in order, praise

God. But when that falls apart, your whole world falls apart. That's where the real battle is.

So here's the question. How do you keep your family strong? Do you want to know the answer?

Wouldn't it be great if a short phrase could sum it up? There is one. All right, let's hear it.

It comes from the Lord Jesus, although he never said it in the gospel. It's not recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.

So how do we know that Jesus said it? Well, this one wasn't there as a witness.

I think it's by revelation, but it could have been by oral tradition. In fact, it was recorded when the book of Acts was written, recounting a journey that happened before the gospels were put down.

So this was all oral tradition at this time. Paul learned it by hearing that the

Lord Jesus said this, or it could have been a direct revelation. The answer is this, Acts 20 .35.

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way, and just as an aside, he's talking about the man providing.

He was working as a tent maker, and Paul was modeling good, hard work. The man that doesn't work should not eat, right?

Forget about handouts. Be responsible. Work hard. Earn your keep. But here's what he says.

This is the part for the family. We must help the weak remember the words of the

Lord Jesus. Paul's quoting Jesus, but it's not found in the gospels, and here's the answer.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. If every husband takes that attitude with his wife, and every wife takes that attitude with her husband, there will be harmony in the marriage.

Picture Jacob and Esau. Remember when they were at loggerheads? Esau wanted to kill Jacob because Jacob was a deceiver.

What did Jacob want to do to Esau? Take from him. Take his blessing. Take his birthright. Deceive him.

Take, take, take. Each one wanted for themselves. How about that stew? That's all Esau wanted in the moment.

Later he wanted the birthright back. They were trying to get for themselves, and it brought conflict as each went for their own interests.

But now, look at how this has turned on its head. After Jacob has met with the Lord, obviously

God has changed Esau's heart to some level, probably not salvation. But toward Jacob, he's now gentle.

Jacob and Esau are debating each other over what? Gifts. Gifts.

And are they trying to get for themselves or to give? To give. Look what they say.

Verse eight. What does all this mean? I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.

He's deferring in verse nine to say, I don't need these gifts that you're sending me. But verse 10, what does

Jacob say? No, please. You can't argue with somebody who's saying something like this.

This is the heart of a giver. He's wanting to, and I think he's wanting favor from Esau, but at the same time, he's not so attached to those possessions that at the first suggestion, he's like, oh, okay, well then

I guess we're good. Nevermind, I'll keep the cattle. He says, no, please. If I have found favor in your sight, accept my present from my hand.

For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God. Not only is he giving him physical gifts, he's giving him what?

Honor. He's giving him honor. He's respecting him. He's building him up. His words are affirming and kind.

There's a godliness in the way he speaks. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.

Please accept my blessing that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me because I have enough.

Now who do you think ultimately relents in this? Verse 11. Esau. He's like, all right, if you twist my arm,

I'll take it. It's kind of like at the table when people are passing. Oh, no, no, no, no, my friend. I'll take it.

Someone's like, okay, fine. You go ahead. We want to be the one more often, you know, that's better to give than to receive, right?

And different circumstances dictate that as well. But here's the attitude. It's summarized in Acts 20, 35.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. If a husband, a wife, will treat one another that way and train their children in that, not to be greedy little monsters that are constantly trying to get, but trained by the words of the

Lord Jesus to be givers, better to give than to receive.

If we raise our children like that, then we have power and our family will hold together.

You can't out give one another, right? You just keep giving stuff back and forth to each other.

The conflict happens when the attitude is, I got to get mine.

So if you're having conflict in a marriage or with children, just remember it is better to give than to receive.

Be reminded by these words. Give all that you can. What if all you get back from that person is vitriol?

You may have to create some boundaries. You might not just keep throwing away money after someone who's greedy.

That's not the issue. Be responsible and be wise, but don't give back anger.

Don't return hatred for their mistreatment of you. Listen, this is so important.

I think it's Romans 12, might be verse 18, somewhere in there. Live at peace with all people as far as it depends on you.

As far as it depends on you. You keep doing what's right. You keep giving. Take this kind of attitude and more often than not, you'll get this kind of result.

Verses 12 to 14, Tim. Then Esau said, let us journey on our way and I will go ahead of you.

But Jacob said to him, my Lord knows that the children are frail and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me.

If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Let my Lord pass on ahead of his servant and I will lead on slowly at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children until I come to my

Lord and say it. This is a word to fathers. Fathers can become domineering.

By grace, fathers have hopefully matured in the Lord and are stronger than the children, stronger than their wife in various ways that God has made them a stronger vessel.

And sometimes men can creep into this mode of expecting others to be where they are at.

Not only is this a word to fathers, this is a word to pastors. This is a word to leaders of various companies or political leaders.

Anybody that could be regarded as a shepherd should learn from this. Jacob, Esau told

Jacob, keep up with us, we'll go back together, we're gonna travel together. But Jacob was a good shepherd.

He knew his flock. They had been traveling from Pananaram for a long time and the tribes, his people, were at the point of breaking and the cattle and the sheep would actually have fainted and died if pressed beyond that.

A shepherd needs to know the condition of his flock. Many pastors have grand visions for what they think their church should become.

Maybe some missional church or some new fad. And they go after this thing and they get so far out ahead of their church, they don't feel like people are following them, they start getting shot because the people behind them have mistaken them for one of the enemies.

If Jacob had run so far ahead of his people and pressed his people to keep up, he would have driven them to the point of death.

He would have created the conflict. All this to say, shepherds need to lead their flock, their people, at the right pace.

There are many Christian families that have disintegrated because the father has driven so hard that as soon as the child reaches enough autonomy, that person, that kid, will often leave the faith.

Sadly, I've seen this happen a lot in the independent fundamentalist Baptist world because they have so many legalistic rules and things that they've imposed that as soon as the kid gets old enough, he rejects it all because he felt like he lived his life constrained by things that weren't even in the

Bible. And I see this in Jacob, that he has wisdom. When a suggestion was given, you could travel with us, which will have more protection from enemies, there's appeal to it.

He declines that because he knows the pace that his people can keep.

How do you calculate the pace of the flock? Ooh, that's a, I think being familiar, like let's say in a church situation, a pastor who is only ever in his office and never with the people, never having any conversations, he's kind of the mega church pastor in his ivory tower and he condescends on Sunday morning to the pulpit and he delivers the word of the

Lord. If he's not mixing with the sheep, if he's not shepherding and knowing them, he's not hearing feedback, he's not hearing exhaustion, he's pushing people to do more than what they're able to do at that time.

So yeah, I think just, that would be the case of the church, but also in a family. It's just being involved, it's caring enough to ask.

It's one thing for a father to bark out rules and instructions and he has to do some of that, but it's another thing for him to check in on his daughter and while driving around, ask how they're doing and ask about friendships and you know what

I mean? It's knowing the flock. Jacob knew, that's the big idea. Jacob said, my

Lord knows that the children are frail. You see that, verse 13? He knew the frailty of the children.

He's not treating them like men. He's not expecting them to be where he is. He could physically power through this, but he also knows, you know what?

Maybe what they need tonight is just to be able to go to bed and maybe

I shouldn't wake them up at five in the morning to read the Psalms because they're a teenager and they need to sleep 12 hours because they're in a growth spurt.

You know what I mean? Like parents need more wisdom in how to know the condition of the flock and not think that they're super spiritual because they're driving so hard.

Or maybe Jacob just had a limb and he didn't want to say. Yeah, yeah. He was self -protecting after the all -night battle.

Pulling his leg along. Like a pirate. All right,

Rick. Bring us up 15 to 17. So Esau said, let me leave you with some of the people who are with me.

But he said, what need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord. So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

But Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock.

Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. And Succoth means booths.

And the idea of a booth becomes so important in the festival of booths is a reminder that we're only sojourners in this world.

We're just passing through. It's a temporary shelter. Remember again, with Jacob deferring and not being so greedy to get, it's better to give than to receive.

Even when Esau said, let me leave some people behind to help you. Jacob said, no, no, take your men.

Just go with favor. That's all I care is that we're good. He cared about the relationship, not what he could get.

In verse 15, what need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord. And here my

Lord refers to Esau. It's a term of respect to him. As long as we're good, that's all

I need. I don't need your men. Please let's just go on. Verse 16,

Esau goes back to Seir. And by the way, that's the territory of the Edomites. This will become the

Edomite people, which they have a very bad future. We'll learn about in the prophets

Obadiah, the fall of Edom. All that they will do is look on their brother. When Israel is being ransacked by the enemy, they'll look on and they'll laugh and they'll delight in the fall of their enemy.

So ultimately Esau will not be a good brother to Jacob, not nationally, but here they're just partying in peace.

This will eventually fall apart and the two peoples will become enemies. So he goes back to Seir, but verse 17,

I think is where I'm keying on here. What we build in this world is only temporary, but can be important to the mission or even integral to the mission.

He stopped and built himself a house. Husbands need to work hard to provide a roof over the head of the family.

And even what else did he provide? Verse 17, made booths for what?

So they're not out there in the hail. They're not getting pelted with the rain and getting sick. And he's caring for his animals and he names the place

Sakuth, booths. They made booths for themselves.

They know they're not gonna live there long, but still in that temporary dwelling. In the same way, we as the church are in the world, we're fighting this war, but we ought to try to build and take ground, settle and even though we're only temporarily passing through, the church that purchased this land that we're standing on,

Rick was a part of it, right? Rick, you were in the school when you guys considered this land and bought it and then built this structure.

How well has this booth served for these 30 years? Yes, this temporary shelter.

It's temporary, right? Ultimately the rapture is gonna happen. Then this whole world is gonna be decimated by fireballs from heaven.

This building won't survive the tribulation, but it's a temporary shelter. In the same way, we should add on to it.

We have a whole process going on right now. It's looking good for us to build over here in the field.

We're building to provide roofs over our head for the preaching of the word, teaching of scripture, prayer meetings, all of the work that we do.

We're in a war, but these temporary shelters that we build are good and important.

What Hamilton builds in Malawi or the handy evangelism Tim and Kathy Sheets build over in Lancaster, all of this is temporary, but it's integral to the mission.

Let's keep taking and building and growing, taking ground. Lastly, verses 18 to 20.

It's back to you, Barbara. It means

God, the God of Israel. El, God. Elohi, Israel, the

God of Israel. He's very God -centered in his thinking. He is there in the name of the

Lord. Did you know that when the United States of America was settled by especially the Puritans who came in on the

Mayflower, they dedicated this land to the advancement of the

Christian religion, to the name of Jesus Christ. The Anglicans who settled down in Virginia likewise had a thanksgiving even before the

Puritan thanksgiving, giving all praise to the Almighty, and it was always in the name of Jesus Christ.

Here we are. What we're doing in this land is making known that name that is above every name.

Our desire would be every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is

Lord. Here, you have Jacob arrive safely at Shechem. Does anybody know the story of Shechem to follow and how these young men turn out to be?

Ray being the daughter, one of the sister Dinah, we'll learn about that coming.

I guess we'll probably take a break, by the way, after this study because this is, yeah, it'd be too close to Christmas.

Yeah, we'll kick it back off in maybe the second week in January. So we'll take a little break.

But what got me thinking about that, in any case,

Shechem, yes. Shechem. We are to take ground and establish justice on the earth.

Oh, but do so by rightful means. So Jacob comes into this godless place of Shechem, right, and you're gonna turn out that these are horrible people.

He's here in the name of El Elo Yisrael, right? He's establishing justice on earth in the name of God, and so there's gonna be conflict.

Still, for his part, he doesn't just take the ground. What does he do?

God hasn't at this time commissioned holy war like with Joshua when the people's sin had reached full measure.

Here, how does he get the land? He bought it.

Yes, so as we take ground, it's by rightful means. We do all we can to obey the law.

We raise the money. We work hard. We pay rightful money in order to build a building. And then we enjoy it.

This is a parallel to where we are today. We're not in a holy war. We establish justice on earth, both in how we deal justly with everybody, but also in how we uphold justice in the world.

When you read the book of Micah and also Amos, it's about justice and the establishment of justice, that righteousness would flow like a mighty river, right?

Let the justice roll like Martin Luther King quoting from the Bible. We want to establish justice on earth here in the world.

What does that look like? As we circle back to conclude. Here in America, we're in a culture war against godless ideology, wicked, demonic doctrines of men that result in death and destruction of the family.

So what we need to do is uphold biblical ethics, Christian morality, and establish that by teaching those around us the ways of God, making known our

God, that the world would worship him and that ultimately the name of Jesus would be glorified.

And our secret weapon, the secret sauce that they don't see coming is our families.

It's not the political power, although we do try to elect the righteous governors and mayors and presidents and put in good laws.

What they don't see coming is that when our families grow, both in number and in depth and strength of character, the family unit of the

Christian is going to overwhelm what the left is throwing at us. Their culture of death cannot stand for much longer at all.

They even try to kill their older people with euthanasia. It is a culture of death.

Ours is a culture of life. So let's focus again on our families, doing everything we can to pour into the children, to build them up, and never forget, it is more blessed to give than to receive, even if it means turning the other cheek.

That's how it comes about. Tim, would you close us in prayer? Sure. Father God, thank you for this message, Genesis 33.

I pray that we would be more like people who would be able to give and do it, not out of compulsion, but that we would do it joyfully and that we would see it as a blessing and more blessed to give than receive.

So thank you for Pastor Jeff's teaching. I pray that we would go out from here and that we would be able to apply it to our lives and we would be able to love people and give to people generously as you lead,