God Renews His Promise

I have twin sisters and their names are Sherrie and Carrie, and you can probably tell by their names that my parents were into the idea matching outfits and everything. My sister are not identical twins, they are fraternal and you might say that their birthday is one of the only things that they have in common.

Carrie is more blond, Sherrie is more brunette

Carrie is taller, Sherrie is shorter

Carrie was a bookworm, Sherrie was an athlete

Carrie was Computer Science Major, Sherrie was an early education Major

Carrie is older, which makes Sherrie younger...but not by much

But there were times when that little bit made a big difference.

“Mom! How come Carrie get’s to do that and I don’t?”

Carrie response “Because I am older”

And Sherrie would reply, “Yeah by like 2 minutes”

“Still, I am older”

They mostly just joke about these days, but there are implied privileges with being the older sibling and even though they were born at almost the same exact time, Carrie felt justified in claiming those privileges.

Tension

We are continuing this morning in our teaching series from the book of Genesis, and the reason I bring my twin sisters up is because we are looking at the first recorded birth of twins in the Bible. The drama of last weeks love story between Isaac and Rebekah, gives way to the birth of their twins boys today. My parents were less convinced of the privilege that Carrie thought were present in her birth right, but that was not true for Isaac and Rebekah.

In ancient Biblical times the first born son recieved something called the “Birthright” and it came with privileges that were recognized by everyone in the family. Your birth order played a very important part in the role you would play in the family.

one of the babies being born stretched out his hand first, so the Midwife tied a red string to that babies hand. That particular baby came highlights an emphasis on birth order thJacob and Esau, and

we are particularly looking at this book and all of it’s historical stories through the lens of the Gospel. Today we will be tackling the story of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. This is the first mention of twins in the Bible and it gives us a picture into the heightened importance of birth order in the ancient world. The first born son recieved something called the “Birthright” and it camme with privelages and status well beyond anything that my sisters ever argued about. In fact, the birth order was so important in the ancient world that in about 10 chapters the Bible talks about the only other set of twins being born. In that episode, one of the babies being born stretched out his hand first, so the Midwife tied a red string to that babies hand. That particular baby came highlights an emphasis on birth order thJacob and Esau, and

Tension

The establishment of birth order was so important that later on in Genesis, in the only other mention of the birth of twins, one of those twins stuck his arm out first and the midwife tied a red string around his wrist. It just so happened that the little one pulled his arm back in and the other boy was brought out into the world first. But the boy with the string on his wrist was declared the first born. It was serious business, who was born first. It was serious business to possess the “birthright” in ones family. Yet in today’s story, the older twin grew up to consider his “birth right” of little consequence.

While there is little made of the privileges of birth order these days, many of us have experienced a time when we realized that we have not been treating some of the most valuable things in our lives as the most valuable things in our lives.

Most of us, at some point in our life had experienced a wake up call of sorts to the reality that we have not been treating the most valuable things in our lives as the most valuable things in our lives.

This wake up call, often happens in the midst of a crisis of some sort and we start to see how over the course of time we have started to take something that we would say were “Truly important to Us” for granted. We might start to question then what it is that we “truly value”, because what we “truly value” says a lot about who we are, doesn’t it? Wake Up Calls like this teach us that we can’t determine what we truly value just by what we say we truly value. So how do we find it out what is truly important to us?

Wake Up Calls like this teach us that we can’t determine what we truly value just by what we say we truly value. So how do we find it out? And we know that we can’t find what we “truly value” by just answeringThis is not something that can be determined simply by being asked about it. Those things that we “truly value” cannot be purchased by our words. We find out what we truly value in how we spend two other currencies:

You have probably heard the saying that there are two places to look when trying to find out what is important to someone: Their Calendar and their Checkbook.

Our Time and Our Money

It has been said that there are two places to look when trying to find out what is important to someone: Their Calendar and their Checkbook.

We don’t always treat the things that are the most valuable, What we truly value says a lot about who we are, and often times we can’t determine what we truly value simply by being asked. It is the decisions that we make that really determines what we value. Typically, we can find the answer to what we truly value by looking in two places: Our Calendar and Our Finances.

We each have an endless supply of words, but our time and money is limited. So if we want to know what is really important to us, that is where we have to look. The decisions that we make with the limited quantities of our time and our money will tell us what is actually important to us. What we truly value. “Talk” as they say “is cheap”.

This is so true about us, but the question that I want us to grapple with this morning is, “How do we determine what is truly important to God?” Do we check his calander or His checkbook? Over the past several weeks we have been looking at many aspects of the promises of God, so what happens if we apply that same notion that “Talk is Cheap” to God?

This is something that is never true of God. His Word is His action. There are not discrepancies between the two. We can always trust the promises, commitments, covenants of God because He is not limited in time or any other resource. God’s Word is His Action, and no matter how unusual his methods might seem, we can trust that he will be faithful in all of his promises. Let’s discover continue our

That is a question for everyone of us here today, but it is not a question for God. We can trust the promises, commitments, covenants of God because He is not limited in time or any other resource. This can make his ways hard to understand at times.

We need to be asking/ challenging ourselves in how we are spending our time and money. Do they actively reflect the values that we say we have, or have we allowed things like our appetites, or impatience, or distractions or other peoples expectations to govern how we live our lives.

We are fiercely trying to make every sale, hit every promotion, stretch out every retirement dollar in order to

All of us, no matter who we are are going to have times when we are tempted to set aside our true values in order to meet one of these other demands, and the question is what impact will our value confusion have on the promises that we have been given by God.

That is one of the things that we will take a look at this morning from our passage in Genesis, so open your Bibles to chapter 25 (p. 19), I’ll pray and we will learn from God’s Word together.

Things like the tyranny of the Urgent, where we run around trying to put out fires all the time instead of setting up our day according to what is most important.

I have a tendency to spend time and money on things that matter much less than they should, and those things that I would say that really matter to me do not get

Their calendar it boils down to how we spend the big three:

Time

Money

Energy

God follows through on his promises for his own honor, not to honor the behavior of the people who have recieved the promise.

Truth

Our text for today really begins in verse 19 of Chapter 25, but I wanted to briefly walk us up to this from the beginning of the Chapter. Chapter 25 begins with telling us the Abraham had another wife besides Sarah and besides Hagar Ishmael’s mother. We don’t know when this marriage occured, it could have been before Sarah even died as Abraham was very old, but that part is really not that important. What is important is how Abraham treated the sons from this other marriage. Just like he did for Ishmael, Abraham made it clear that the “Birthright” belonged to his son Isaac and that Isaac would be his heir. In fact, in the case of these sons, Abraham while he was still living sent them away so that their would be no arguing after his death over who was the rightful heir. He still shows a fatherly love for these sons, however, as he doesn’t send them away empty handed. He gives them each gifts to start a family of their own.

Our text for today really begins in verse 19 of Chapter 25, but I wanted to briefly walk us up to this from the beginning of the Chapter. Chapter 25 begins with telling us the Abraham had another wife besides Sarah and besides Hagar Ishmael’s mother. We don’t know when this marriage occured, it could have been before Sarah even died as Abraham was very old, but that part is really not that important. What is important is how Abraham treated the sons from this other marriage. Just like he did for Ishmael, Abraham made it clear that the “Birthright” belonged to his son Isaac and that Isaac would be his heir. In fact in the case of these sons, Abraham while he was still living sent them away so that their would be no arguing over who was the rightful heir. He appears to still love these sons, however, so they don’t leave empty handed. He gives them each gifts to start a families of their own.

Then the great patriarch Abraham dies, they didn’t write on tombstones then as we do know but if they had vs 7-8 would have been a fitting epitaph:

Genesis 25:7–8 ESV

7 These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years. 8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 25:

These final words are a fitting ending to what we have been reading over the bast many chapters. Abraham lived a long, strong, life and He died a contented man, ready to meet the LORD. I think we all would aspire to an ending like that. Then Abraham is buried next to his beloved wife Sarah.

Our text for today begins in verse 19 of Chapter 25, but I wanted to briefly walk us up to this from the beginning of the Chapter. Chapter 25 begins with telling us the Abraham had another wife besides Sarah and besides Hagar Ishmael’s mother. We don’t know when this marriage occured, it could have been before Sarah even died as Abraham was very old, but that part is really not that important. What is important is how Abraham treated the sons from this other marriage. Just like he did for Ishmael, Abraham made it clear that the “Birthright” belonged to his son Isaac and that Isaac would be his heir. In fact in the case of these sons, Abraham sent them away from the family while he was still living. He didn’t want their to be any confusion when he passed away, so instead of some sort of will being written up, he gave these son a gift from his fortune and sent them away, leaving Isaac as the heir.

Abraham’s death...

Then the Author of Genesis, probably Moses, gives us what is called in the ESV the “generations of Ishmael”. I believe in the NIV it says “The Account of Ishmael” and I wanted to stop for just a second and explain a little of the importance of this word here. The word in Hebrew is the word “tol-e-dote” תּוֹלֵדוֹת and we find it throughout the book of Genesis as a linguistsic introduction of sorts, it points the reader to the life and contributions of the particular person mentioned.

Take a look at the list: The Tol - e - dote of

The heavens and earth (2:4-4:26)

Adam (5:1-6:8)

Noah (6:9-9:29)

Shem, Ham, Japeth (10:1-11:26)

Terah - Abraham’s Father (11:27 - 25:11)

Ishmael (25:12-18)

Isaac (25:19 - 35:29)

Essau (36:1-37:1)

Jacob (37:2-50:26)

It is interesting to note that in a list like this, Ishmael would have his own ‘tol - e - dote” his own significant introduction. Ishmael, remember was the son of Abraham and Sarah’s Egyptian maid servant, Hagar. When they saw that they were getting old, instead of trusting that God was setting things up for a miracle, they decided to take matters into their own hands and did what the culture of that day said was acceptable. It is by far the shortest “tol e dote” and simply lists Ishmael’s 12 sons, 12 princes that began 12 different tribes just like Abraham’s line will eventually do through Isaac.

But why would we need to know this about Abraham’s other son, couldn’t we just forget about him? He is not the heir of the covenant promise so why does he get one of these elaborate introductions to his broken branch of the family tree? Because God made a promise concerning Ismael and this is the record of the fulfillment of that promise. Looking back at chapter 17 Abraham is asking that God allow Ishmael to be his heir and God refuses, as he is yet to send Isaac. But God does recognize Abraham’s love for Ishmael and he gives him a promise:

Ishmael, remember was the son of Abraham and Sarah’s Egyptian maid servant, Hagar. This listing shows us that Ishmael had 12 sons, 12 princes that began 12 different tribes just like Abraham’s line will eventually do through Isaac. But why would we need to know this about this other son, this son that was not the heir of the covenant promise? Because this was the fulfillment of another promise. Looking back at chapter 17 Abraham is asking that God allow Ishmael to be his heir and God refuses, as he is yet to send Isaac. But God does give Abraham a promise for Isaac:

Genesis 17:20 ESV

20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

God is a promise maker and a promise keeper, so Genesis records the fulfilment of even this lesser promise, showing that every promise of God will be fulfilled. This should be an encouragement to us. Even if, for whatever reason, we feel like the black sheep in God’s family, as Ishmael certainly did, we can know that God is faithful to keep his promises to us.

And these 6 short verses on the “Tol - e - dot” of Ishmael really wrap up the story of Abraham, and we are introduced to the next “Tol e dot” or generation, and that is where our text formally starts for today

Genesis 25:19–22 ESV

This passage is included to be the fulfillment of another promise that God made to Abraham. As

Genesis 25:19–28 ESV

19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” 24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Genesis 25:

Congratulations Rebekah, you are having twins! Now I did not have chance to talk to any mothers of twins on this, but I imagine that whatever a mother endures in moving, kicking and squirming for one child would have to be at least double for two if not more. It has to be, because it is a lot more crowded in there, but there appears to be more going on here than just the typical baby movements. Rebekah sensed that something was different, something was off, so she “went to inquire of the Lord”.

Remember she was barren for 20 years, not as long as Sarah but certainly long enough to be concerned that it might not happen. So Isaac prayed and they knew that this pregnancy was an answer to that prayer. It was an answer to this very specific prayer, but then it didn’t feel right.

Have you ever experienced something like this? You pray for something and it seems that God has answered your prayer and then…things don’t seem right. Something doesn’t feel right and you start to get concerned. Maybe this isn’t the answer we thought it was. Can this still be God’s plan? Especially because, we assume that any time that we ask God for something that it comes with an unwritten clause that says that the answer to this prayer will not cause any problems for us in the other areas that are currently going just fine. Right? God’s answer to our prayer should not caushe us any extra stress, difficulty or pain anywhere ele. It can’t be an answer to prayer if includes any additional need for prayer, can it?

We pray that our children will grow up to know, love and worship Jesus even in the storms of life and then their teenage years bring a tsunami into our home! Is that an answered prayer?

We pray that God would do whatever it takes to bring our friend back to Him, and then we get that call to come to the hospital. Is that an answered prayer?

We pray that God would help us to get our aging parents into a great care facility where they will love and care for them, and then God shows us our guest room - Is that an answered prayer?

We ask God to help us to get our aging parents into a good home, and instead of being thankful for all the work we put into it we are hated by them.

We pray that God would draw us closer to him, but we assume that this means that He will step in and do something difficult, not that he will ask us to. help us to do something that is difficult.

This brings us to our fist theme for this week, that

God’s promises are kept in Unusual ways ()

We might not see how this

Sometimes, looking back on the events of our life we can see how God was working through it all, but it is a lot harder to see when we are in the middle of it. We ask, “Is this an answered prayer?” and just like Rebekah we say if it is then “why is this happening to me?”. This can’t be right, but she inquired of the Lord and He gave her an explanation:

Genesis 25:23–26 ESV

23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” 24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

Genesis 25:

Apparently the uncomfortable tensions that Rebekah was experiencing in the womb would not end after the boys were born. Hey boys would never be on the same page - they would stand “divided” all their lives. Even at birth the differences between these two “twins” were many.

Can we just be honest and say that Esau must have been an unusual looking baby, right! I am always surprised when I show up in the hospital to meet a new baby and they already have full head of hair, but Esau was hairy and red all over. That sounds a little creepy. This was such a dominant aspect of his appearance that he is even named after bring “red” and “hairy”. Sounds like a comic book character or something.

On the other hand we don’t get anything of Jacob’s physical description, except that he was holding onto the heal of his NOW older brother. Jacob to was named after his first appearance because his name means “heel” or more pointedly it means “one who grabs a heal from behind” The play on words here is that this “Jacob” would be such a schemer that if he did trip you up, you would not see it coming. Two twin boys, one older by just a heel, and as the boys grew up their differences become even more evident:

Genesis 25:27–28 ESV

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Genesis 25:27–29 ESV

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.

Genesis

Parents. It never goes well when we have favorites....??

Parents, we have got to be careful about this. The playing of favorites never turns out well! It is not that Isaac and Rebekah didn’t love both their boys, they just loved one more than the other. This caused so many problems, as we will see in the upcoming weeks, but for today the differences between these two twins was so strong that it even divided up their parents.

the division between them even caused their as these boy didn’t have anything in common. They even divided up their

Sometimes it’s hard to relate to the personality types of the people in the ancient world, but the differences between these two brothers seems a common enough story.

On one hand you have Esau. Today we might call him “A Manly Man”. This guy was a skilled hunter, kind of an appropriate weekend to be meeting Esau isn’t it. He probably had broad shoulders and bulging biceps and a beard he has been growing since he was about 11. But as you picture this burly and strong man, don’t forget to include the downside that we often find in men of action like this. They are often prone to action before they have really thought things through.

And then their is Jacob. We go from Wild to Mild. Jacob appears to be more of a homebody, sticking close to the tents of home. We might be tempted to see him as a bit of a “mamma’s boy” - and he was her favorite - but the quietness of Jacob did not mean that he was horribly shy or unmotivated. Jacob was also very skilled - just in a different way. The word “quiet” there can also be translated “well-behaved, civilized, orderly, complete”. Compared to Esau the barbarian, Jacob was refined and mannerly, understanding the many needed administrative dealings of a large household like Isaacs. He knew how to run things, and I am sure from his perspective all Esau would do is ruin things.

We see this duo all the time

Simon and Simon

Magnum PI

Lethal Weapon

So Jacob had a problem. His barbaric brother was the firstborn, but just a heal, so he would be the next leader of the family…unless…Jacob used what he had to get what he didn’t:

, compared to Esau the burly, “out of my way” bruiser. A planner. One might say a schemer. He Probably was much more familiar with the day to day tasks that were needed to administrate the many dealings of a household as large as Isaacs. But Jacob had a problem. Since his brother was the firstborn, he would never get to be the next leader…unless he used what he had to get what he didn’t:

But Jacob had a problem. Since his brother was the firstborn, he would never get to be the next leader…unless he used what he had to get what he didn’t:

Genesis 25:29–34 ESV

29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 25:29-

There are so many things that are messed up between these two bothers in this story, but the first thing that I want us to remember is our second theme for this week:

God’s Promises are given to Unworthy People ()

Genesis 25:27–28 ESV

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Jacob was ruthless. He could not have manipulated this scenario into place so he must have just always be looking for an opportunity like this. As his name implies, He is so sneaky. He is such a scheemer, such a weasel even. He knew that his brother was the kind of person who made most of his decisions on the spot without thinking too far ahead and he took advantage of that knowledge to get what he wanted. Jacob was ruthless, but that doesn’t excuse Esau for being so reckless.

If we were just to have Esau’s words in this story then we might think that he made a wise decision. He used the word “exhausted”, which can mean that someone is tip toeing at the edge of death, but I would like to suggest to you a different word to describe Esau’s state - Exaggerated. Where do I see this? Well after the deal is done, the abrubt sequence of how Esau ate this stew gives no indication that the consumption of this stew stayed him from the edge of death. Verse 34 basically reads: He ate. He drank. He got up and left. That does not sound like the response of someone who narrowly escaped death by eating a bowl of stew.

We might think that reality is that Essau might have been telling the truth. His life very well might have been dependent on being able to get some nourishment quickly, but the way that the account reads makes us believe that he might have just been really hungry and not tip toeing near the edge of death. Some of where we get this is in how verse 34 reads. It is a very matter of fact sequence that seems to indicate that their was little value to the entire incident in Essau’s eyes. He ate. He drank. He Got up and took off. That was it. And the text condemns Essau not Jacob.

Secondly, the text condemns Esau not Jacob. “Thus Esau despised his birthright”. It doesn’t say he did what he had to do to survive, so his argument that the birthright is worth nothing if he is dead” is not a valid one. He did not value his birthright as he should have. He despised it.

Isn’t that interesting? Jacob clearly took advantage of the situation but he didn’t really deceive anyone (at least not this time). This time he simply offered a transaction at an opportune time and Esau went along with it. It was simple capitalism, supply and demand. It was dirty capitalism at best, this is his brother we are talking about. But the text doesn’t say anything to Jacob.

Even the New Testament condemns only Esau in this story. We read in Hebrews

Hebrews 12:15–17 ESV

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

That seems curious doesn’t it? What does sexual immorality have to do with the story of Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of soup? Two words: Uncontrolled Appetite

The Uncontrolled Appetite of Esau caused him to make a reckless decision where he traded something of great value in the future for something of little value right now. He traded his birthright, something that would benefit him his entire life, for a bowl of stew, something that satisfied for 3 or 4 hours tops.

There is a powerful lesson in this for us isn’t there? So often we allow our appetites to have uncontrolled rule over our lives. We knowingly trade something of great value to us in the future for something of little value right now.

We trade our ability to one day be financially sound, for the instant gratification of a Credit Card purchase today.

We trade our ability to have an intimate trust filled marriage, for the instant gratification of impure images on our computer or phone today.

We trade our ability to have a healthy and active life in the future, for the instant gratification of that comfort food now.

Our uncontrolled appetite says that we need that product now, (sweater, tv, computer, gear whatever it is) we need it now, so we throw the bill on top of a mound of dept that we know it is going to limit our financial well being in the future.

These things are literally destroying our families, communities and our country right now. The statistics are mind blowing on how we are constantly, continually and committedly destroying our lives in our abuse of Credit Cards, Impure Websites and Comfort Food. Even completely secular sources are identifying these things as some of the biggest dangers to our civilization right now.

Maybe somehow you have escaped the trap of these three but for you it is something else. Is their anything that you are tempted to sacrifice in the long term just to get a little bit of satisfaction from it right now?

There is a lesson here. And understan

There is a striking lesson here for us isn’t there. I couldn’t help but think that God is in the timing of this message as we get to get together this week with the relationships and the food of our Thanksgiving celebrations, followed by the purchasing pressures of Black Friday. Is it possible that we need to beware this week of the pressence of “Uncontrolled Appetites”?

Maybe this week would be a great place to start when looking for places of Uncontrolled Appetites. Most of us are getting together with family, that is a good time to remember how important pure minds really are. We will probably be eating food…that is kind of rough for the pastor to be mentioning controlling our appetites when a Thanksgiving Feast is upon us. And then there is the purchasing pressure of black friday and all our Christmas shopping as a whole. Maybe we should consider doing things a little different this year - keeping a tighter reign on our “appetites”

You fill in the blank for you. Which one of the things that you “Truly Value” are you the most tempted to trade in for a smaller value in a present moment? There is a striking lesson here for us isn’t there. I couldn’t help but thing that God is in the timing of this message as we all go into the relationships and the food of our Thanksgiving celebrations, followed by the purchasing pressures of Black Friday. Where might we see our “Uncontrolled Appetite” strike this week?

I am convinced that this is a pretty universal lesson for us here, even this week as we are getting together with the relationships and the food of our Thanksgiving celebrations, followed by the purchasing pressures of Black Friday. Maybe this week is a great week to be especially watching out for the presence of “Uncontrolled Appetites”.

So now that I have totally ruined your Thanksgiving plans, let me hit you with the good news again...

Our uncontrolled appetite says that we need gratification now, so we allow our mind to wander toward impure images and scenarios on our computer and phones, even though we know it is going to limit our relational well being in the future.

Our uncontrolled appetite says that we need that comfort food now, and so like Esau we trade our future health for the instant gratification of that sugar,

Our uncontrolled appetite says that we need to

The statistics on the debt among us is stagering!

We want to

It is a bit of a crazy sequence this week to have a day when we give thanks for those things that we “truly value” in this life to be followed up the next day with something that has become a day of living for those small instant pleasures. I remember those many year when I worked at the mall and the day after Thanksgiving was always the best sale day for our little story. People out enjoying getting their Christmas shopping done. I am not sure if that is the case any

So much so that we trade in those things that we would say are “Truly valuable” for those things that are

birth right gave him power, prestige and Property!

We give up big thing for small quenches of our appetite today.

God’s Promises are given to Unworthy People ()

This is Just as Esau was hurried to find satisfaction of his physical hunger, you and I can look to find our satisfaction to all kinds of different appetites. It is this big idea that someone would trade something that they truly valued for something that really wasn’t of much value at all...

God does not just keep his promises to those who are worthy of them. That is good news for me, I imagine that is good news to you too. We do need to reflect on and make changes where our “Uncontrolled Appetites” are threatening to ruin future blessings, but they can never ruin the Promises of God. Do you know why?

2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Because of Jesus, Unworthy people like us, can still trust in God’s promises for us. Promises like…

For Unworthy people like us, it is still true that...

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:17 ESV

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you want to

2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Romans 8:1–3 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

The many promises of God find their yes in Jesus, so we can trust them. Our last theme that we are looking into this week is that

God’s Promises are based on His unchanging faithfulness ()

Genesis 26:1–6 ESV

1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

Genesis 1

If you have been following along with us in the book of Genesis then these verses probably ring familiar. These promises are almost verbatim to what God promised Isaac’s father Abraham several chapters ago. God had not given up on the promises that he made to Abraham, but that doesn’t keep Him from charging Isaac to be like his father. That is the thrust of what God is saying here in verse 5. Abraham obeyed God, and God is now making the same promises to Isaac. And Isaac obeyed, not going on to Egypt but remaining with his battling sons in the land that God had promised his family.

given up on the promises that he made to Abraham, but that doesn’t keep Him from charging Isaac to be like his father. That is the thrust of what God is saying here in verse 5. Abraham obeyed God, and God is now making the same promises to Isaac. And Isaac obeyed, not going on to Egypt but remaining with his sons in the land that God had promised his family.

Gospel Application

Early on today we asked the question of whether or not we could determine what God “truly values” by how we see Him interact with time and his resources. Remember you and I might say that something is important to us, but like Esau our actions speak louder than our words. This is something that is never true of God. For God’s Word is His action. There is no division between the two. We can always trust the promises, commitments, covenants of God because unlike us, He is never limited in time or any other resource. God’s Word is His Action, and no matter how unusual his methods might seem, even Unworthy people like us can trust that he will be faithful in all of his promises.

Trading something of instant gratification now (small) for an eternity with Jesus!

Our “Birth Right” being born again into the kingdom of God!

Landing

If you have never taken hold of the promises of God for you then today would be a great day. Remember that all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Jesus. He died and rose again so that we can have access to our true “birth right”. Not one that has anything to do with our birth order, but one that God gives us in the name of His son Jesus.

John 1:12–13 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:11–12 ESV

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

This is what being “born again” is all about. Born into this world by way our earthly parents, but born again into the Kingdom of God by way of our Heavenly Father. If you don’t think this describes you, and you want to talk to someone about it, please do. Come see me or one of the Overseers or someone else that you know has taken hold of these promises of God. I know that we would all love to talk to you about it.

If you have taken ahold of these promises then I would just like to leave you with one verse this morning:

Hebrews 10:23 ESV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Let’s pray

Our “Birth Right” being born again into the kingdom of God!

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