Redeemer Community Church

Joel Brooks: 00:00

If you would, open your bibles to Genesis chapter 29. Genesis 29, and we'll read the whole chapter. Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field. And behold, 3 flocks of sheep lying beside it.

Joel Brooks: 00:27

For out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large. And when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. Jacob said to them, my brothers, where do you come from? They said, we are from Haran.

Joel Brooks: 00:51

He said to them, do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? They said, we know him. He said to them, is it well with him? They said, it is well. And see, Rachel, his daughter is coming with the sheep.

Joel Brooks: 01:06

He said, behold, it is still high day. It is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go pasture them. But they said, we cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well, then we will water the sheep. When he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep for she was a shepherdess.

Joel Brooks: 01:31

Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, And Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman and that he was Rebecca's son. And she ran and told her father. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house.

Joel Brooks: 02:09

Jacob told Laban all these things and Laban said to him, surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. And then Laban said to Jacob, because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be? Now Laban had 2 daughters.

Joel Brooks: 02:31

The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel's were beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel, and he said, I will serve you 7 years for your younger daughter Rachel. Leben said, it is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man. Stay with me.

Joel Brooks: 02:59

So Jacob served 7 years for Rachel. And they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my wife that I may go into her for my time is completed. So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah brought her to Jacob and he went into her.

Joel Brooks: 03:24

Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to the daughter Leah to be her servant. And in the morning, behold, it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, what is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?

Joel Brooks: 03:43

Laban said, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the first born. Complete the week of this one and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another 7 years. Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.

Joel Brooks: 04:15

So Jacob went into Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban for another 7 years. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, because the Lord has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me. She conceived again and bore a son and said, because the Lord has heard that I'm hated, he has given me this son also.

Joel Brooks: 04:54

And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son and said, now this time my husband will be attached to me because I have born him 3 sons. Therefore his name was called Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, this time I will praise the Lord. Therefore, she called his name Judah.

Joel Brooks: 05:21

Then she ceased bearing. Pray with me. Lord, we thank you for your word. I pray that it would go forth now with clarity and conviction and power. May dark strongholds in people's lives be broken down in this moment.

Joel Brooks: 05:42

The deep hurts that are there, may they be healed. The hidden sins, may they be revealed. May there be repentance. Whatever idols we are holding on to, may we see them as worthless and cast them aside and cling to you. This is only possible, Lord, if you speak.

Joel Brooks: 06:05

Not if I speak, but if you speak. So I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain. May they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.

Joel Brooks: 06:21

Amen. For the past few weeks, we've been looking at the life of Jacob. Jacob is really a case study on God's sovereignty and his grace. A case study of God overcoming even the most evil person and flooding him with grace and love. Jacob, as you've seen over the last few weeks, simply is not a good person.

Joel Brooks: 06:53

Jacob is no better than Esau at any point in his life. He is never more deserving than Esau, and yet God, from, from the moment Jacob is born, has chosen to bless him. In order to display his sovereignty, in order to display his grace. It is really remarkable as you go through this and you see how God keeps on blessing and promising things to Jacob despite, all the sins he has. Last week, we we looked at the story about how God appeared to Jacob in a dream and gave him this vision of a stairway into heaven.

Joel Brooks: 07:31

And then the Lord came down and and blessed Jacob and said, hey I'm gonna give you land. I'm gonna make you famous. And I'm gonna even do something I never promised to Abraham, I never promised to Isaac, but I'm promising you that I will never leave you, ever. I will I will always be with you. And Jacob, he responds by saying, Great.

Joel Brooks: 07:53

And then he prays for the first time and he says, okay, Lord, if if you do this, if you give me property, if you do bless me, if if you do make me powerful, if you are with me and protect me wherever I go, if you do all of these things, then God I'm gonna give you a whopping 10% of everything I get. It's just this amazing prayer of, God, you've got to do all of this and then I'll give you a little bit. And yet God is still gracious. He is treating Jacob with just remarkable, remarkable patience. I mean, can you imagine God doing this to someone like Job?

Joel Brooks: 08:34

Someone like Job, in which Job has his family taken away. Job has his property taken away. Job has his health taken away. And yet Job never sins verbally, never sins with his mouth, still remains faithful. Can you imagine Job going to the Lord, hey Lord, if if you give me back my family, and if you give me back my health, and if you give me all this, then you know I might praise your name still.

Joel Brooks: 09:07

Worlds apart. Jacob is an evil man. Jada is having to really work grace and love in his heart. This process of changing his heart takes time. And in chapter 29, we see this process continuing.

Joel Brooks: 09:31

Chapter 29 begins by saying, then Jacob went on his journey. Literally in Hebrew it says, he lifted up his heels. There was a spring in his step. Like dancing. Spring in his step.

Joel Brooks: 09:44

Music here. He feels he feels lighter. I mean, he just had this vision. He just had the promise that the lord is going to be with him, the lord's going to take care of him. And so there's a spring in his step.

Joel Brooks: 09:57

And so now he's got to be feeling, alright everything's gonna be alright. Everything's gonna be okay. But it's not. Having a relationship with the Lord, even though this isn't, you know, a super tight relationship with the Lord at this moment, having any relationship with the Lord doesn't mean that everything turns roses. And you're gonna have smooth sailing and you're never gonna get hurt again.

Joel Brooks: 10:19

That's not the case at all. When you came to know the Lord, I don't know what was promised to you, but it shouldn't have been a life of comfort. We're gonna see now that more and more troubles are gonna come to Jacob. And actually, this hole in his heart still is not fixed. It's not fixed overnight.

Joel Brooks: 10:41

You're gonna see the bitterness is still there. A desperate need for love is still there. Maybe that happened to you when you came to know the Lord, you thought, okay, now all of a sudden depression's gonna be gone. Now all of a sudden, all my anger is gonna be gone. And he came to know the Lord and yes, there was change, but you still carry this baggage with you.

Joel Brooks: 10:57

It it takes time. God's gotta start working those things out of your life. That's what he does here. He will begin disciplining now Jacob like a father disciplines his son. Jacob's been promised all of these things, but he has no idea what the Lord's gonna have to do to him to accomplish those promises.

Joel Brooks: 11:23

He's about to meet Laban and he's gonna meet his match and deceitfulness. He's going to be stuck in this awful relationship with Laban for the next 20 years. He was probably hoping to only be there for a month or maybe 2 and then been able to return, but he will be there for 20 years. And then when he finally does return, God's going to show up and attack him in the night and he's going to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. When Jacob reaches his uncle Laban and he stays with him for a month, look at what happens in verse 15.

Joel Brooks: 12:01

Then Laban said to Jacob, because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me what shall your wages be? So Laban says you shouldn't work for me for nothing. You shouldn't you shouldn't have to do this. And this actually already kind of tells you the kind of person Laban is because normally if a relative came to stay at your house, you don't make them work.

Joel Brooks: 12:27

But he's already been making Jacob work. And now he's saying, well you probably shouldn't have to work for nothing for me. So, so now we'll name some wages. If you remember part of the blessing to Jacob was that others would serve him, but he's serving others as a common worker. But he he says this, he goes, this is what I'll do.

Joel Brooks: 12:52

I will work for your younger daughter, Rachel. For 7 years, I will work for her. And then we quickly see, when he says this, we we quickly see from this, that Jacob still has this enormous hole in his heart that he's trying to fill. And he's trying to fill it with Rachel. Up to this point, the only person who's ever really loved Jacob has been his mother.

Joel Brooks: 13:27

His His father didn't care for him, but his mother did. And she still occupies all of his thoughts. You can see this in verse 10 alone. But just look at verse 10. It's almost comical if it wasn't so sad.

Joel Brooks: 13:45

Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. You have three times he's mentioning his mother. Three times he's making all these connections is how they connect to his mom. You don't have to be a psychologist to understand that there's things going on here. And and then he sees Rachel and immediately he weeps, he kisses her, and he breaks down weeping just at seeing Rachel.

Joel Brooks: 14:22

And then he goes head over heels for her. I mean, he, he does these like man feats of strength, you know, to try to impress her. There's, There's all these shepherds around this well and he's like, why aren't you watering your sheep? And they're like, well we're we need somebody to move this huge stone. Here comes Rachel, and Jacob goes, you know, he just moves the entire thing himself.

Joel Brooks: 14:42

And he's showing off for her. Like For the guy who would like to stay intense, all of a sudden, you know, all these muscles come out to impress her. And then he goes way over the top and what he's willing to pay for her. He tells Labanee he will work 7 years for marriage. 7 years in order to marry Rachel.

Joel Brooks: 15:10

Now we know, during this time that you would have to pay the father some money if you wanted to marry his daughter. And we know this and usually it was around 20 shekels is what you would have to pay. Deuteronomy 22 actually puts a limit on it and says you should never ever pay more than 50 shekels for a woman. And no woman is worth more than 50 shekels. And so they cap it right there, and most men understand that and they're like, okay, we won't come even close.

Joel Brooks: 15:42

And the going rate was usually around 20. If she was really something, you might have to go up to 30, but it was always at 20 to 30. 50 was royalty. Let me do a little math for you. A shekel is what one would earn in a month.

Joel Brooks: 16:02

You'd earn a shekel in a month. And Jacob is a relative. We'll just give him the benefit of the doubt and say he made a shekel and a half a month. So instead of offering 20 shekels, he offers about 170. A 170.

Joel Brooks: 16:22

And he doesn't negotiate. Laban doesn't give the price. He says, I will have her at any cost. I will have her. He fixates on her early.

Joel Brooks: 16:42

He sees her and he just, it says that she is beautiful in appearance and form. That means she has a pretty face and she has a gorgeous figure and he is just overwhelmed with her and he's like, she's the one. I no longer have my mom. She's the one who's going to meet my every need, my every desire. She's the one who's finally going to bring blessing into my life.

Joel Brooks: 17:04

Which is what he has sought for all of his life. That sense of blessing. Let me tell you, when Laban hears 7 years to work for his daughter, I mean the moment he hears that he knows, I've got him. I have got him. And instantly, I mean instantly, he he his very next words, almost every commentary pulls us out.

Joel Brooks: 17:29

He chooses his next words very carefully. Look at verse 19. He says, It is better that I give her to you than I should give her to another man. And what I want you to notice is that he doesn't say Rachel and he doesn't say yes. He gives kind of a vague enough answer to where Jacob could hear what he wants to hear, because he knows he has them.

Joel Brooks: 17:58

Jacob's going to believe what he wants to believe and he is already under the spell of Rachel. And so he works for 7 years and, and has that nice poetic line, but they seem, but just, you know, a few days as he worked for her. And then the time comes for him to marry her and then you come to verse 21. Verse 21, Then Jacob said to Laban, Laban, give me my wife, that I may go into her, for my time is completed. I mean, even the oldest, oldest Jewish scholars have commented at how vulgar this is.

Joel Brooks: 18:42

He says, give me my wife so that I can have sex with her. It's exactly what he says. Blunt, to the point, vulgar. Because for the last 7 years, he has been fixating on this. And now is the time.

Joel Brooks: 18:59

He's like, give her to me now. Let me tell you. I mean, no woman can meet those expectations. No marriage can meet those expectations. No marriage is designed to.

Joel Brooks: 19:19

The wedding festivities begin. We all know the story. It's one of my kids' favorite stories. Laban dresses up Leah instead of Rachel, and, Leah would have been veiled. It would have been dark at night.

Joel Brooks: 19:36

There would have been lots of drinking, and so you could pull this thing off. Notice the poetic justice that's going on here, in which just as Jacob had given his dad a feast and had dressed up in another person's clothes in order to deceive him. Now the same thing is happening to him. And then we get this shock in the morning. One one commentary I read, I love it, it says, you cannot get anything more anti climatic in the Bible than the words, behold, it was Leah.

Joel Brooks: 20:16

You've got to ask the question when reading this, you know, who or what is your Rachel? What is our Rachel? What is the, the thing we're fixating on saying that's going to fill this hole in my life? This is what I, I finally need to make me happy. Who are you counting on for blessing?

Joel Brooks: 20:36

What are you going to in order to find your identity? Fundamentally, at this most basic level, this is a story about idolatry. That's what it is. It's placing your hope and your affection and your identity in something that cannot satisfy. Something other than God.

Joel Brooks: 21:01

So is your idol, is it another person? Is it the hope of finding, maybe for those who are single, is it the hope of finding that one special person, that knight in shining armor who's gonna come into your life and also give you purpose. Marriage is not meant to bear that weight. Every marriage has a hint of sadness in it. Every one of them, even really good marriages, Marriages in which there's this deep mutual affection and love.

Joel Brooks: 21:42

Even those really good marriages have a hint of sadness in them. I would say that's true of my wife and I. We, we have a marriage that's full of a deep mutual affection and love. We have now been together for over 20 years. It's hard for us to remember our lives when we didn't know each other when we weren't at least dating one another.

Joel Brooks: 22:04

And I would say though, even now in our marriage, we we know one another better now than ever. We love one another now better than ever. I wouldn't trade our marriage for anything. Yet, as much as my wife knows me, she can never really know me. I mean, we've been together for over 20 years, yet my wife can't ever really know me.

Joel Brooks: 22:31

How can she know my my innermost thoughts? My innermost feelings? I don't even know what those are. And I can't expect her to. Marriage is not meant to bear that weight.

Joel Brooks: 22:53

Marriage was never intended to fill up that hole in my heart, the hole in the heart that only God can fill. Only God can know me like that. And I will be so frustrated, and I'll be so disappointed in marriage, if I put that expectation on Lauren that she has to know me like that and I have to be known like that. Because God has given both of us a longing that can never be met by anything here on earth. It's the same with being a parent.

Joel Brooks: 23:23

Being a parent cannot give me my identity. It cannot fill the hole in my heart. And I absolutely love my kids. I love them to death. They're so much fun.

Joel Brooks: 23:34

They bring so much joy. I love Georgia right now, anytime she thinks, you know, we're doing her wrong or something, she always goes, this is her insult, daddy, you are being so fair. Quit being fair. Because she doesn't know the word unfair. And so I love it.

Joel Brooks: 23:53

She's just, all the time, she's accusing me of being so fair. And just, you know, we're cracking up and it makes her even more angry. And I love Natalie. Last week she's dressed up like a ballerina and she's wearing a Darth Vader mask. You know what I'm saying?

Joel Brooks: 24:08

These are just priceless times. Caroline, for 30 minutes the other day debated with me as to whether or not Pluto is a planet or not. I love my children, but I also know that these times won't last already. Now they're growing up faster than I would like. They will not always be there.

Joel Brooks: 24:35

And if I place all of my hopes, all of my expectations, all my dreams in my kids, I will be disappointed. They were not meant to bear that weight. God is. No one can bless you like God. So who is the Rachel in your life?

Joel Brooks: 24:59

Usually there are many, and you always think that once you get her, you're gonna be happy. Once you achieve your ideal weight, once you get your perfect job, you're gonna be satisfied. But it will always be, behold, in the morning it's Leah. For some of you, I know that when you were in school, you thought silly thoughts like this. You know, when there's such urgency in the moment, you're like, if I could just make it through this semester, my life will be okay.

Joel Brooks: 25:37

And you get through the semester and then you graduate and you're like, if I only could realize what I need to do with my life, then finally my mind will be at ease. Then you figure out what you want to do. And then it's like, if only I could find somebody to marry, then finally I'll be happy. And then you get married and then it's, gosh, if we could just get out of our apartment and actually have a home, then finally, you know, we can rest and we can be comfortable. And then finally you get your home.

Joel Brooks: 26:07

And then if we could just have our own family, you know. And then I'll just bring such completeness to us, then we'll be happy. And it goes and it goes. And you don't realize it until your life is over. You've always been holding this carrot stick in front of you, saying, once I get this, finally I'll be happy.

Joel Brooks: 26:29

Now I mean, most of us have grown up, you know, in church and we know that, okay, we know those things won't make us happy. God only makes us happy. We know that, but we don't know it. That's not how we live our life. We always live our life going after that carrot, thinking it's going to satisfy, but it's not.

Joel Brooks: 26:49

It's a Rachel. They'll never ever ever meet your deepest desire. Alright. Back to the story. Jacob wakes up in the morning and sees Leah.

Joel Brooks: 27:03

He's furious. Rightly so. I I've heard of some bad wedding stories, nothing like this. Lauren and I actually, when we got married, our wedding night, we show up at the hotel and they had given our room away to the group, Cocaine Anonymous. And I was like, we've dated six and a half years.

Joel Brooks: 27:26

We are waiting for this, you know, right, this moment here. This is a pretty big night for me. I need to tell you that. Like, I'm sorry, but, we've given your hotel room away. It's just kind of an awkward conversation for a while.

Joel Brooks: 27:39

And finally, I was like, you will, you will find us a place at this hotel tonight. And they found us a little room someplace, said, you want it? I said, fine. But you know, when I woke up in the morning, there was Lauren, so it wasn't that bad. Lauren was there.

Joel Brooks: 27:55

Lauren was there. I can't imagine something like this. Jacob, he rushes out of his tent. He, he, he runs to go see Laban and he's, he's like, what have you done? Why did you deceive me?

Joel Brooks: 28:09

Now Laban had to know that this moment's coming. He doesn't think, you know, Jacob's gonna wake up and be like, Oh well. You know, great. You know. He knows this is coming.

Joel Brooks: 28:21

And he's been planning this for 7 years. He's been thinking of his response for 7 years. So Jacob bust down the door. He is full of fury and then in a word, in a word he goes limp. Balloon popped.

Joel Brooks: 28:41

He comes in there all furious. And verse 26, Laban said, it is not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Translation, I don't know where you come from, Jacob, but here we put the older before the younger. Jacob doesn't say a word. I mean, he he goes from absolute fury to total defeat in that moment.

Joel Brooks: 29:23

And so God begins to discipline him. He begins to reap what he has been sowing. Laban tells him, hey, why don't you finish your wedding festivities? You know, wedding would last a week. And then you can marry Rachel, let's say, if you work another 7 years.

Joel Brooks: 29:45

Jacob agrees. He could have taken Rachel and ran, but he doesn't. His heart is absolutely defeated. This has got to be the worst week in Jacob's life. The only one having a worst week is Leah.

Joel Brooks: 30:05

Leah, who on her honeymoon, knows that her husband can only think about being with somebody else. At the end of the week, he marries Rachel. Look at verse 30. It says that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. It it it really shouldn't have been that way.

Joel Brooks: 30:28

Jacob had so much in common with Leah. I mean, I really wish she could have seen that. He had so much in common with her. If you look at Leah, Leah likely lived in the shadow of her beautiful sister who everybody noticed and everybody adored and he praises on, nobody noticed Leah. Just like Jacob longed to be loved, but was always in the shadow of Esau.

Joel Brooks: 30:56

We have only one description of Leah. It's found in verse 17 and it says that her eyes were weak. We really don't know what that means. Some people say it was a physical, defect. Some say it means that she just wasn't very beautiful.

Joel Brooks: 31:15

Some translated just that there was no life in her eyes. She just didn't have that spark. She just kind of lived a very defeated life. We're not really sure, but she was unattractive, and she had this beautiful favorite sister. Rachel could marry anyone, but the only person that Leah could marry had to be tricked into it.

Joel Brooks: 31:42

And the sad thing is she went along with it because she knew she could never get a husband any other way. She is desperate for love, just like Jacob. She's got a hole in her heart and she tries to fill it with her children. Man, there is an entire sermon here, and the naming of her children. If any of you really want to dig into this, go to a man named Ian Dugan.

Joel Brooks: 32:15

Ian Dugan has got a book on the gospel and Isaac and Jacob, and he walks through these children, and it's fantastic. But Leah has a son and we'll just go through this quickly. Look at verse 32. She has a son, she conceived and bore a son and she called him Reuben, which means he sees. First of all, notice she names the child not Jacob.

Joel Brooks: 32:45

Very unusual, the father names the child. But you can already see that Jacob has distanced himself. And so she is given the naming rights. And so she names the child, he sees. And it's partially because, yes, the Lord has looked on me on my condition.

Joel Brooks: 33:03

But it's also, my husband will now notice me. I've given him a child, a male child. He's gonna notice me. When I walk into the room I'm no longer gonna be invisible. He's gonna look at me instead of Rachel.

Joel Brooks: 33:19

Reuben, he sees me, He doesn't. She names her next child Simeon. He hears because the Lord has heard her and now she hopes her husband will listen to her. That her husband will acknowledge her presence. But he doesn't.

Joel Brooks: 33:43

Her 3rd son, she names Levi, meaning attached. Meaning that she is hoping that her husband might give her that longing embrace, that, that embrace she has wanted her entire life. Now, 3 sons. Rachel's got 0. She's got 3.

Joel Brooks: 34:00

Certainly he's gonna hold me. But he doesn't. And then she does what so many of us in this room are guilty of doing. In this room are guilty of doing. She prays She does pray.

Joel Brooks: 34:23

But I want you to look at what she's praying for. Look at what she's praying for. She's praying, God, not that I want to find satisfaction in you. God, give me more children. That's the answer to the hole in my heart.

Joel Brooks: 34:42

Give me more children. God, it's not that I need more view in my life. God, can you give me another idol that I can go to and let that satisfy? God, can you give me more money that's gonna meet my needs? God, can you give me a good spouse so I'll meet my needs?

Joel Brooks: 34:57

God, can you give me all this? That's how we pray to God. Not God, you meet the whole in my heart. God, give me this to meet my whole in my heart. She's praying for idols.

Joel Brooks: 35:11

She's using God as a means to an end. I realized she's tortured. I realize that. I can't imagine how awful it would be to to know that no matter how good of a wife you are, no matter how good of a mother you are, no matter how much you try to please your husband, he will always love another. Notice what happens.

Joel Brooks: 35:40

Somehow, God uses all these things to change her when we come to verse 35. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, this time I will praise the Lord. There's no need for more. There's no need for more. There's no reference to Jacob here this time.

Joel Brooks: 36:27

It's simply, praise the Lord. She finally looks to the Lord to fill that hole in her heart. And there's actually something really quite profound going on here. If you read through the first chapter of Matthew, when you go through the genealogy of Jesus, you're gonna find the name Judah there. You're not gonna find a Reuben.

Joel Brooks: 36:48

You're not gonna find a Levi or a Simeon. You're not even gonna find a Joseph or you're gonna find Judah, this child. The messianic line will go through this child. Jesus was not like Rachel. Jesus was like Leah.

Joel Brooks: 37:11

That's who he was like. We read that at the beginning of the service in Isaiah 53 when it says, he had no beauty that we should look at him. Leah, and he works through the layers of the world. Leah, and he works through the layers of the world. Those who are broken, those who are hurting, those who the world despises, He comes to those who finally humble themselves before him, those who seek him and him alone finally for their satisfaction.

Joel Brooks: 37:47

That's who he comes to. That's the Jesus we serve. So I don't know whatever idols you are holding on to, but let me let me tell you, they will not last, and you will not find satisfaction in them. Nobody can satisfy you like Jesus. And I don't know how how weak in the eyes you feel, but it does not matter because God comes and he uses people like you.

Joel Brooks: 38:11

That's the Jesus we serve. Pray with me. Lord, there's a lot there. I feel like we just scraped the surface of chapter 29. But I pray that what we just mined would be a jewel.

Joel Brooks: 38:32

And in that jewel, you would reflect many, many, many graces that would pour into our lives. I pray, Lord, right now at this moment we begin finding our satisfaction in you and you alone. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.