[0:00] Let's read the other half of the 18b to the end. So Jacob has left home, and he met with God on his journey to Paddan Aram, and there he meets Rachel for the first time, and Uncle B.
[0:16] After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, stayed with Uncle Laban, Laban said to him, Should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.
[0:27] Now Laban had two daughters, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel, and said, I'll work for you, sister Rachel.
[0:42] Laban said, It's better I give her to you than to some other man. So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his life.
[0:53] Laban said to Laban, Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make... Brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah.
[1:05] Jacob made love to her. And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her... There was Leah. So Jacob said to Laban, What is this you have done to me?
[1:18] Why have you deceived me? Laban replied, It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter... Finish this daughter's bridal week, then we will give you the younger one also.
[1:32] In return... And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel... ...to be his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant.
[1:43] Jacob, who made love to Rachel, was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years. Well, let's just ask for the Lord's help as we try and make some kind of sense of what's happening in these verses.
[1:58] Lord, we thank you for the way in which you have given us your word, preserved it down through many centuries. People indeed have language in their own tongue. And as we turn to it now, we come to it as the living word of the living God.
[2:11] And we pray, Father, that you would speak to us as a congregation and as members of this church, but also as individuals. Lord, even in our thoughts this evening, we pray, Father, that you would speak to us.
[2:22] And we pray that you would draw our heart and adoration. So help us towards that end, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Many of you know, I've traveled around various parts of the UK.
[2:36] One of the good things I've liked about that is they have different ways of speaking, different customs, different things that's important to them. I was thinking of endearment that we have for each other.
[2:47] We talk about calling somebody hen. And I think it's over on the west coast, it's chicken. So some kind of poultry direction for people.
[3:00] But usually when you're in Scotland as well, if you go to Glasgow or if you go to Edinburgh, there will be the way the Scots speak. And this is what they mean. Here is Yorkshire. Where there's a common saying.
[3:12] Some of them I can hardly speak. Number seven. I think it says something like sit yourself down. Look at that as well. E by gum. Number ten. Number two.
[3:23] Where there's muck, there's brass. Then brains. I don't know if you know some. I wonder if you know what number one is. This is number one.
[3:34] This is what number one says. There's no so queer as folk. Now whether we don't really know. I wonder. I kept thinking, is it really true? But this next time he shows you, you get mugs and t-shirts.
[3:46] That must be fairly true. That must be a very common saying in Yorkshire. I heard it a wee bit time in Derbyshire. And it's probably unexpected. We're queer as folk. And that is so true.
[3:56] Even the best of us, we say. And people are the weirdest bunch. We get things wrong. And so when we're looking at this story of the life of Jacob, and it's good for us to step up.
[4:12] God created the world. And the world rebelled itself against God. And we were cast. And God drew up a great plan. We take this for granted. But you imagine if he never did this. He drew up a great plan.
[4:24] We himself. To restore us back to the Garden of Eden. Where there'll come a day where we will walk with him and talk with him. There'll be no more tears. And he's working towards that end. So from Genesis early on, he chooses one man.
[4:37] He makes a descendants. All the nations of the earth will be blessed. We read Acts chapter 3 this morning. And we start. It says, through your offspring, all the descendants of the earth will be blessed.
[4:51] That is that God has a desire to bless the nations, the people of Scotland. You, maybe members of your, his desire to do this. And he's going to do this through descendants, through people, through ordinary great.
[5:06] And that's a staggering thing. The materials he has to work with are not the best. Think, forget mankind. Just go straight to your son. What he's going to do in such a way, through using flawed individual plans, his ultimate plan is to glorify his name by salvation, saving the world.
[5:25] He's going to do it through the Bible. And that is really what this is about. So in some ways, it's not a study of Jacob. It's a study of God. Wisdom. His providence. And so forth.
[5:36] And that's what we're going to look at just now. If you've not been on the job, spoken to Abraham, given him promises. He reiterated them again to Isaac and Jacob. And you think, who is going to be next?
[5:49] And the way that God works, and as you see this, left with no doubt that if the world is to be saved and to be blessed, it will only be by God, his wisdom and the way that he will do it.
[6:00] He chooses barren women. If you're going to have many descendants, you don't. God does this for a specific reason, whether it's Abraham's wife, Isaac's wife, and as we will see later as well, Jacob's favorite wife.
[6:14] They can't bear children. And therefore, what screams out of this is the grace won't be by human effort, but be by his grace. So we've looked at this over the past few weeks.
[6:26] We've looked at Becca, Esau, and Jacob. Each of them flawed. None of them are very impressive. They all have carrying and so forth, struggling to receive God's blessing.
[6:37] And you know what happened? The older will serve the younger, but he, because of their shenanigans, he has to leave because his brother's going to. Mom comes up with a plan along with Isaac.
[6:49] Go, take a wife from up there, not like your brother who married women here. And then last time he left home. He left the promised land, the land that a few verses God had said to Isaac, stay here.
[7:00] Jacob has to leave. And you're left wondering. He must have wondered, wow, what about here? What about staying here? What about the land God's given me to Haran? And that is what we're looking at.
[7:12] So last time we saw the predicament thrown, and he's moving with a stick and so forth, and that's all he's got. And he's on his journey 50 miles into his God. And very simply, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, now becomes his God.
[7:27] He gives him promises. He offers him protection and provision. He will be with him. He will lead him. He will guide him. And it's symbolized by this ladder, this connection between earth and heaven.
[7:40] It's all happening there. And Jesus, as you know, if you're a Christian here, Jesus says that the angels of heaven would descend on him. Today, between us and heaven, we don't need to see a physical ladder.
[7:52] This week, we already have Jesus, and God is busy in our life. Angels or whatever, we don't fully know exactly things in our life. Every day, as Piper says, 10,000 things, we might be aware of about three of them.
[8:06] God is very much involved. Stories are. God is very much involved. And God promised him that he would be and so forth. The plan is still in course. The nations are still going to be blessed through him, through his descendants.
[8:19] 28, verse 15. I am with you. I will watch over you. Wherever you go, I will bring you. Until I have done what I have promised you. Six times. If you're a Christian here, you can apply that to yourself.
[8:32] Four. When the Lord knew you in your mother's womb, he has singled you out. He loves you. He will not fail life. And to draw close to you and strengthen you and be to you what you need as well.
[8:43] The promises are still ours as well. The response was, if God will be with me, then he will be my God. And so forth. So armed with his promises. Armed with the presence of God.
[8:54] The protection of God. He will watch over him and bring him back. And the provision is close to where Jacob sets off on this journey. 500 miles.
[9:05] London to Fort William. Another 450 to go before he gets right up to the very top, up at the land of Haran. As we read here, we are told right at the very start here, then Jacob contained the land of eastern people.
[9:20] The actual words here mean that Jacob lifted up his feet. Kent Hughes actually means he walked with a lighter step. Kent Hughes in his commentary says this.
[9:31] I like this. Yellow bricks spread out before him as he sang, I'm off to see my people. And I quite like that. And that's what happens when you encounter God.
[9:42] You can have a bad Monday. But when you know God is you in a cold, wet Monday morning in the middle of whatever month. And you know that you're on your way with a spring in your step.
[9:54] And that's basically, we don't get the sense here, but that's what it means. God, it's not just the God of his father Isaac. God has spoken to him personally. The promises, he goes in the strength of this.
[10:06] And we are told he comes to the land of the eastern peoples. It's a strange, it's anything east of the Jordan, eastern peoples. It's a bit like the Scots and the rest.
[10:18] Anything east of the Jordan is the eastern peoples. And that's where he comes to. And his life, now you're about to discover that in many ways, Jacob is some piece of work.
[10:31] But he's also a work in progress. And this is a very important principle that we don't often want to make a confession of faith. Repent, believe, confess, become a Christian, pray the prayer.
[10:44] And so, and we say, that's you saved, justified by faith. You're on your way to heaven and glory. God will be with you. But we don't always emphasize that the work in us. We are all a work in progress, always.
[10:55] God molds us and shapes us, wants to knock rough edges. It's very much a theological term. But it's not just justification, and it ends there. Sanctification then kicks in.
[11:07] And that is basically what's happening to Jacob. He's about to go through a time of education, equipping, the completing of him as a patriarch. And he will eventually become the father of twelve tribes.
[11:22] It's so, so important. And it will be a painful journey that he will confess himself before he dies. My life has been few and difficult. The years of my life have been few and difficult.
[11:36] Now, how does this come about? It comes about through the sovereignty of God, but also human responsibility. That God works in every, this ladder that he was shown earlier.
[11:48] God is now on his case. Things are going to be happening in his life. He'll be with him wherever he goes. Angels descending. God working. But at the same time, he will be left to act naturally, Jacob.
[12:03] He won't be robotic. God will work through the difficult times of life, the struggles to mold and to shape him. And at the same time, unfolding God's plan for him.
[12:15] I liken this to a bit like children, isn't it? We, if you've ever had your, if you remember your children working with you, if you're a mom, maybe making cakes and your son or daughter was helping you make cakes.
[12:27] Or you're a dad and you're fixing your car and your five-year-old is holding the spanner. And they've helped you do a wee bit. They've handed you things and you, you, they've tried to tighten up the nut and you come behind them and think, I better tighten that up.
[12:40] From their perspective, they'll tell their friends, I did this. I made the cake. I fixed the car. But behind them is mom and dad doing all the rest of the stuff, perfecting which they have done.
[12:53] In many ways, that's a bit like you and I. We go through life thinking that we are the center of our own universe. Only for God to be working in the background, molding us, shaping us, tweaking us here and there so that his will is done in our life.
[13:07] But we're left to be ourself. We're left to make mistakes. We're left to get things badly wrong. I don't know about you, but I love a God who's sovereign enough to be able to do that and make, despite the fact that you fail and you're down and you're downcast and you've got all sorts of aches and pains and all sorts of things, but God is still on your case.
[13:29] These angels going up and down. That picture, God is still on their case. And it can be painful. So let's look at three things very quickly this evening as we look at this. I want to just race through them.
[13:41] Here we see how God worked in his life. First of all, providence and provision. Armed with the universal promise of God that God would bless him and his descendants and through that the world and that God would look over him, he comes to the well.
[13:57] He comes to this well, verse 2, there when he saw a well in the field and flocks and so forth. And what is happening here is history repeating itself. If you know your Bible, this is very similar to the servant of Abraham.
[14:12] Same place, go to the same place and find a son for Isaac where he would find Rebekah ultimately. And Abraham was anxious that his son didn't marry anybody, so sends his servant and the servant goes there.
[14:26] He comes to the well as well. And this is history repeating itself. Jacob comes to the well. And he too finds shepherds there as well.
[14:37] This is where Abraham, or eventually Rebekah, Jacob's mother, would meet Isaac and so forth. And this is history repeating itself.
[14:50] And the servant of Abraham acknowledged this. He says, before he'd finished praying, he's saying, Lord, give me success in this. Rebekah comes out. That's what happened years previous with Abraham's servant.
[15:03] The girl was beautiful and so forth. And the man bowed down, worshiped the Lord, and thanked the Lord that he had led him on his journey to the house of his master's relatives.
[15:15] Jacob, on the other hand, doesn't pray for guidance, a bit like the Abraham servant did, who prayed, Lord, show me what I have to do. Jacob is doing his own thing in many ways. He doesn't specifically pray for guidance.
[15:27] He just says, the Lord will be with me. And off he goes. And he sees the well. If you just scan verses 3, 4, and 5, the flocks were there. The shepherds were there. And he asks them, brothers, where are you from?
[15:38] We're from Haran, they replied. Do you know Laban, Neor's grandson? Yes, we know him, they answered. But he doesn't rejoice and give thanks and say, great, I'm finally, I'm here, and so forth.
[15:51] Indeed, verses 6, 7, 8, and 9, you're given the impression, it's hard to try and figure out what he's trying to do here, but you get the impression he's trying to send them off so he can be alone with Rachel.
[16:03] But they are saying, no, it's no time, we have to, we can't quite do that, it's unless somebody moves away the stone. But here we see that Jacob's main goal here, his ultimate goal, is not so much at this time thinking of Rachel, he's more thinking of Uncle Laban.
[16:18] Look at how verse 10 is worded. So here in one verse, the daughter of this guy, the mother's brother, Uncle Laban.
[16:36] It's centered around the uncle, and he's trying to hopefully ingratiate himself with his uncle at this time. But what the writer to Genesis wants us to note is that the fact that the stories are so similar, that God is in this, God is leading Jacob the way that the servant of Abraham was led, and that he really is the next in line, is one of the patriarchs, which you will hear throughout the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
[17:10] It is such an important thing. And the truth is this, God is a God who cares for you and for me. He looks after us, he leads, the promises never to leave us nor forsake us are very real.
[17:25] They're very real promises. He desires to bless us, to be a part of his family, but he still works in and through us. So we see that in his life.
[17:35] We see it in our lives, the providence of God. You know God's care for you. You know the way God's provided for you. If I brought you up here one by one and gave you 60 seconds to talk about the providence and provision of God, you could all say what that is.
[17:50] The promises to Jacob are the promises in that way are for you as well. But secondly, we also see in this punishment and pruning. And the ultimate aim of God is always to bless us and to work for us in terms of promises and provision, but also to work in us, as I said earlier, sanctification, to change us.
[18:15] And this can sometimes take the form of punishment and pruning. So secondly, punishment and pruning. And this is what Jacob is about to learn. He's about to learn this here.
[18:26] That although the promises are true and the love of God and all this is true and God will work in his life, he lets things take their natural course. And often in the decisions that we make and so forth, we often reap what we sow.
[18:44] Nevertheless, we are not outside ultimately of God's will. He can still bless us. And from this point on, Jacob's life is going to be a struggle.
[18:57] His working life is about to be a struggle. Remember the plan? Go there for a bit. I don't know what his mum had in mind, whether it was one year, two years, three years, six months. Don't know. When your brother calms down, I'll send word for you and bring you back.
[19:10] Well, he'll be away for 20 years. But in this point, just in his work life alone, he's going to be there for 14 years. This is basically where we would have ended up in chapter 29.
[19:21] 14 years working for the same uncle and so forth. His whole life will become one of a struggle. His working life, his love life. We'll see this next week when his two wives start kind of using him as a kind of football.
[19:35] And he came around and sleep with me, no, he sleep with me and so forth. And the poor guy's just heads wasted, really, in the midst of it. And we'll look at that next week just in this messy, really messy.
[19:47] And this is how the 12 tribes are going to come around. It's just, it's quite something. But his family life will also be a struggle and his relationship with God. Ultimately, God will wrestle with him.
[19:59] And his whole life will be one of wrestling. But here we see his love life and his working life. And this is where the two accounts differ. Abraham comes and he's wanting to find a wife for Isaac, who is basically Jacob's mom, Rebecca.
[20:18] And, but the situations could not be more different. Abraham's servant comes and says to Uncle Laban, The Lord has blessed my master abundantly.
[20:33] This is chapter 24, 35. And has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle and silver and gold and men servants and maid servants and camels and donkeys.
[20:44] And my master's wife, Sarah, has borne him a son in her old age. And, quote, has given him everything. So I'm here to find a wife for this guy who's got everything.
[20:56] So Uncle Laban, doesn't it take much persuasion really to say, Yes, here is Rebecca. You can have her. And he's festooned with all these gifts and so forth.
[21:07] Marrying into wealth and so forth. Jacob is very different. He turns up with a donkey and a stick. And he's running from home. Situation is not so great for him.
[21:18] So he's not going to release his favorite daughter or his beautiful, handsome daughter to this guy. So he's thinking, Wait a minute. This isn't quite the same deal as the last time.
[21:30] I'm going to, what's in it for me? So crafty Uncle Laban is going to have Jacob working for him. And you know the story very well. So we read here, verse 14.
[21:44] Laban said to him, You're my own flesh and blood. After Jacob has stayed with him a whole month. Just because you're a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be. And Laban, Jacob appears generously.
[21:57] I'll do it for seven years or whatever. More than enough, really. And he'll work for his daughter, Rachel. And we're told here something interesting.
[22:09] The two of them, the older one was Leah, verse 16. The younger was Rachel, verse 17. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.
[22:21] No wonder he fancies Rachel. But here is weak eyes. Here is an image of one of a Bollywood. Big eyes in that part of the world where that's what you want.
[22:34] Bigger the eyes. And I think she's passed away now, this woman. But basically you could say maybe that's what Rachel looked like. He's big, gorgeous eyes. And that's the one that he falls in love with.
[22:47] Anyway, back to the other slides. So you don't have to keep looking there. In case you're anxious about it. What's my eyes like? As you're sitting there thinking, I think my eyes are like that. So anyway, Jacob decides, I'll work for you.
[23:02] Verse 18. For seven years in return for your daughter. And he agrees to this. And what Jacob is about to get here is a taste of his own medicine.
[23:13] The deceiver is about to be deceived himself. And so he serves for seven years. But it seemed only a few days.
[23:24] I wonder if your husband or wife would say that about you. It seemed only a few days. Worked for him for seven years. It's a bit better than you met them in a pub. And then a couple of months later, he went out.
[23:35] Seven years he worked. But only a few days. He loved her. And it appears that Laban's quite slow at fulfilling his part of the bargain. Verse 21. I couldn't help but when I read that thought of my own son-in-law coming.
[23:50] I thought, he doesn't, he don't come to you like this. Anyway, Jacob says to Laban, give me my wife. My time is complete. I want to make love to her. Well, that's not the way you speak to your future father-in-law nowadays, is it?
[24:02] But that's, he's obviously, Laban's dragging his feet with us. And that's the impression you get there. He has to come and say, look, seven years. I've been timing it on the calendar. There it says, Rachel. And it's all planned.
[24:15] It's plan B. He was never intending, really, this just to happen as easy as this. You think in the whole seven years, he would just, we don't give the younger before the oldest one.
[24:25] And, and really, he should have seen schemed. Here's her brother. And a chip off the old block as well. And the two of them, he's from the same pod.
[24:37] He should have seen it coming. Crafty old Uncle Laban is going to have him work for us. It's worded in verse 25. They have this big party and so forth. Leah's handed over. And then in the morning, it's like a magic trick in it.
[24:50] Ba-boom, there was Leah. It's just, just this big shock. And I couldn't help but imagine if Esau had heard this story. He'd have been rolling up.
[25:01] Yes, if I wanted that to happen to anybody, I want it to happen to my brother. He did the same thing to me. He deceived me. Edison, there is a lesson here in life. We will go through life, and the Lord will mold us in shape what we sow.
[25:16] And sometimes when we get things wrong, there are consequences for that. It can affect our fellowship with the Lord. And often in life, we get a taste of our own medicine. I don't know if you've ever had this pride in yourself.
[25:29] And the Lord puts you in front of somebody who's prouder than you, who's better at being proud than sometimes humble you. Maybe if you're prone to gossip, that you maybe tell tales or something.
[25:41] And then it tells tales in you. And you get a taste of your own. This can happen quite a lot in life. That sometimes the way to us in some way. It can happen very often.
[25:52] We think we're getting away with it. And God loves me, and it doesn't matter. But sometimes you reap what you sow. God is not mocked. We reap what we sow. And this can often be the case.
[26:03] And our own principles. The Lord says, well, I'm going to do this, but I'm going to let you go. You'll get your fingers burned. I still love this. Jacob gets a taste of his own medicine here in every way.
[26:14] The deceiver. He is deceived by his own words. That was what was said of Jacob. My brother deceived me. His dad said that. Jacob deceived me. Now he is deceived.
[26:25] And that's a principle in life. That we do well to learn. So before we think we can say something and get away with it, it may come back to us through another individual. Treating us the way we have perhaps treated others.
[26:39] So Laban now explains the situation. And I will give the younger, verse 27. In return for another seven years of work. So Jacob sees the first week out.
[26:51] And then doesn't have to wait another seven years. He just waits another week. And he's given Rachel. And we're not told whether the next seven years were as easy as the first seven years.
[27:02] We're not told because they probably weren't. Fourteen years. Quite difficult. He has a difficult working life. A difficult love life. And it won't get any better.
[27:14] He's married to two sisters. And it won't all be sweetness and light. Verse 30 is quite a sad verse in many ways, isn't it? But Jacob made love to Rachel also.
[27:25] And his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. It's a sad thing. Do you have that recorded in the scripture, isn't it? He's married these two women. And you get the impression, I'm really not interested in Leah.
[27:37] But I love Rachel. She's big eyes. Beautiful form. Everything. I'm not really that keen on you. And as you'll see next week, and how the Lord blessed Leah.
[27:47] Really blessed her. And all the time, all she's wanting is the love from her husband. And it never really comes. He really just loves Rachel. Not easy. But he's a product of his upbringing.
[28:00] Favoritism. His mom and dad had favorites. And he is a favorite. It's amazing how our upbringing can cause us to do this. And we need to be aware of this. But here is the principle of punishment in many ways.
[28:14] And the Lord sometimes does this. He does it with us, doesn't he? Don't have you forgotten the word of encouragement. Hebrews says in Hebrews 12, 5. That addresses you as sons. My son, do not make light the Lord's discipline.
[28:27] Because the Lord disciplines those he loves. He punishes everyone he accepts. When you become a Christian, I don't think we take this seriously enough. Once you become a Christian, the Lord relates to us different.
[28:38] As he would relate to his people. In Amos 3, 2, it says this. You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your sins.
[28:50] You don't expect the second bit. You've chosen me, so I'm just going to love you. Because I've chosen you, I will punish you. God takes the sins of his own people sometimes more serious than those who do not know him.
[29:02] We should know better. We don't sin against the law. We sin against love. That's very, that's more serious in many ways. So, the Lord disciplines us. And it shows that we are not illegitimate children.
[29:14] So, if the Lord is chastening you even this evening, that's a word of encouragement, Hebrews says. That you, it proves that you're a son, a daughter of God, a child of God.
[29:24] They, your father's discipline is for their good in many ways, but God does it that we might share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant, but painful. Later on, it will produce a harvest of righteousness for those who have been trained by it.
[29:39] So, there is that time of punishment, but also pruning as well. Pruning is that time of sanctification. Jesus said this, I am the true vine. My father is the gardener.
[29:49] He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful. Every day I look out my window, there's this rose bush, and it just flaps about, and I think, I'm going to have to cut that.
[30:06] I don't have a clue about gardening. I just think, at some point I'll cut that. I'll just take the big, chop it down, in the hope that it will shrink it and grow it bushier. No idea. You can discipline me afterwards, after the service.
[30:19] Really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to horticultural stuff. But pruning it so that it will produce more fruit. And the Lord does that with you and I. It can be punishment, or it can just be pruning.
[30:31] Do you want to knock these wee edges off you so that you'll be even more fruitful in the times when the Lord disciplines us and works in us. So, Jacob is about to learn providence, provision, punishment, pruning, and lastly, the plans and the promises of God.
[30:48] Here, we end another chapter in the life of this chosen yet flawed individual, this patriarch, one of the patriarchs. We've seen that God's plan is in course through the well, through the water, God's providence leading through the welcome as well.
[31:06] I'm going to give you a couple of W's here. Through the well, God's providence and sustaining and so forth, but also through the women themselves.
[31:18] God's plan will surely unfold through not just these two women, another two women, the concubines as well. As they begin to plan and try and score points with each other.
[31:30] And in this strange way that this will happen, Leah, unloved Leah, will produce Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, from where the line of the tribe of Judah will come.
[31:45] Issachar and Zebulun and one daughter, Dinah. Quite impressive for somebody who's unloved that you'll have six. Half the tribes will come from this one woman.
[31:56] Zilpah will give birth to Gad and Asher. That's eight of Leah and her attendant. Eight of the twelve tribes.
[32:07] And then Bilhah will give birth to Dan and Naphtali. Rachel will give birth to Joseph and Benjamin. That's the tribe, I think, that Paul came from, the apostle Paul.
[32:19] Through these four women, messy, messy, messy, unpleasant. And even through dodgy Uncle Laban. That God's plan to save even the people of Scotland in 2024 will all unfold.
[32:35] This is marvelous. This is quite something that God is able to do this. So take heart, brothers and sisters. When Monday comes, there is a lather in your life.
[32:47] He is Jesus. He is on your case. There is a link between us and the Father every single moment of every day. There is activity that we're not always aware of.
[32:59] But God's desire is to provide for us, to protect us, but sometimes to punish us and to prune us. But His plan and His promises are always sure they never fail despite our weaknesses.
[33:11] May we know this in our own life even this week. Let's stand and sing, O great God of highest heaven. O great God of highest heaven, O great God of highest heaven, O great God of highest heaven, O great God of highest heaven, Occupy my lowly heart, Own it all and reign supreme, Upper every rebel part.
[34:00] Let no voice our sin remain That resist your holy war. You have loved and purchased me Make me yours forevermore I was blinded by my sin Had no ears to hear your voice Did not know your love within Had no taste for heaven's choice When your spirit gave me life Opened up your words to me Through the gospel of your Son Gives me endless hope and peace Help me now to live a life
[35:00] That's dependent on your grace Keep my heart and guard my soul From the evils that I face You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and deed O great God of highest heaven Glory by your grace You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and deed O great God of highest heaven Glory by your name to me.
[35:51] Our loving Heavenly Father, we began our service by acknowledging that you are the great God of highest heaven, our great Creator God. Nothing, Lord, you can do all things, Lord.
[36:03] There is nothing that you cannot do. Father, we simply pray as we end our services today that you would glorify your name through us. Lord, help us to be those humble, obedient servants even as we walk into next week.
[36:17] Lord, walk with us and help us, Father, to walk humbly with our God. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, folks. Amen.
[36:47] Thank you, folks.
[36:59] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[37:12] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.