1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,680 Our scripture reading today is Genesis 31 verses one through 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:07,040 13. Jacob heard that Laban's sons 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,280 were saying, Jacob has taken everything our father owned and 4 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,040 has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father. 5 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,920 And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what 6 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,120 it had been. Then the Lord said to Jacob, Go 7 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,200 back to the land of your father's and to your relatives, 8 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,720 and I will be with you. So Jacob sent word to Rachel and 9 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,759 Leah to continue out to come out to the fields where his flocks 10 00:00:32,759 --> 00:00:35,320 were. He said to them, I see that your 11 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,720 father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the 12 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:41,640 God of my father has been with me. 13 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:44,520 You know that I've worked for your father with all my 14 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,480 strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages 15 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:52,040 10 times. However, God has not allowed him 16 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,520 to harm me. If he said the speckled ones 17 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,680 will be your wages, then all the flocks gave birth to speckled 18 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,080 young. And if he said the street ones 19 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,319 will be your wages, then all the flocks bore streaked young. 20 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,280 So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given 21 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:13,120 them to me in breeding season. I once had a dream in which I 22 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:17,520 looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were 23 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:22,160 streaked, speckled or spotted. The Angel of God said to me in 24 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,080 the dream, Jacob, I answered, Here I am. 25 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,440 And he said, look up and see that all the male goats mating 26 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,960 with the flocks or streaks speckled or spotted. 27 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,000 For I have seen all that layman has been doing to you. 28 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,960 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you 29 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:43,360 made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and 30 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,640 go back to your native land. May the Lord add His blessing to 31 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,080 the reading and the hearing of His Word. 32 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,480 Following God is a struggle. Following Jesus is a struggle 33 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,040 and there's no way around that. Jesus made it clear. 34 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,120 He was very explicit about it in this world. 35 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,520 He said to his followers, in this world you will have 36 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,480 trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. 37 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,080 He said it when he said things like if anyone wants to be my 38 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:19,200 disciple, they need to deny themselves, take up their cross 39 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:23,360 daily and follow me. This is the life that we've been 40 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:25,280 called to, the life that we've agreed to. 41 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:30,080 When we get baptized it it is. And when we give our lives to 42 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,760 Christ, it is a beautiful and wonderful thing to think about 43 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:38,080 eternity with Jesus in heaven. It is also part of what we are 44 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,880 doing when we make those decisions to give our lives to 45 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,400 Christ to be baptized. We are picking sides in a war 46 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,640 and we are signing up to be part of the struggle. 47 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:53,640 We can expect a life of faith to be a life of struggle, which 48 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:57,360 requires patience and perseverance as well as 49 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,120 accommodation from God for our our sake. 50 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,840 And so those are the things we're going to look at here this 51 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:04,080 morning. First, we're going to take a 52 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,720 little closer look at Jacob, Leah and Rachel's long struggle. 53 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,920 And it was a long struggle. Jacob was with Laban for 20 54 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:17,080 years, and during that time, Laban, his stepfather, who was 55 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,120 the head of that household, the patriarch to whom Jacob owed 56 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:26,000 allegiance, allegiance and loyalty, lied to him, deceived 57 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,680 him about the most important sorts of things, and cheated him 58 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,360 over and over and over again for 20 years. 59 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,040 And God did. God protected Jacob to be sure, 60 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:43,640 but God did not insulate Jacob from pain and struggle and 61 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:45,120 suffering. That was in his life. 62 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,280 And it wasn't a quick thing. It wasn't a I'll be here for a 63 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,160 week long thing or a month long or a year long. 64 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:58,160 It was 20 years, 2 decades of this Laban lying to him. 65 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,480 Jacob wanted to marry Rachel and Laban deceiving him by sending 66 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,720 his older daughter Leah in to be his wife and then saying, Oh 67 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,520 yeah, you can, you can marry Rachel too, but you got to work. 68 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:12,240 Another seven years, 14 years, Jacob worked to be married to 69 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:16,360 the woman that he wanted to be married to and now had to care 70 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:20,360 for others that he did not want to be married to, but now owed 71 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,720 them his protection, his care, his service. 72 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,800 And his and and Laban's daughters, Lee and Rachel. 73 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,840 This was no walk in the park for them, used and manipulated and 74 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:35,720 in their own words, sold by their father, who then 75 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,760 mismanaged things so badly that he squandered all of the wealth 76 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:45,000 that he should have gotten from selling them and had little or 77 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,040 nothing left to give them. In the end. 78 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,400 When God told Jacob to go back to his homeland, that business 79 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,160 of he invited Rachel and Leah out to the flocks to give them 80 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,360 this news. God has told me to return to my 81 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,560 native land. He he did that to get them away 82 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:04,600 from Laban. He got them out into the fields 83 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,040 away from Layburn, and then they all left without telling Layburn 84 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,280 they were going. Layburn found out and chased 85 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:11,720 after them. That's another story. 86 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,960 We're not even sure we're going to get to that specific 1. 87 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,600 The point here is, is that this was not quick. 88 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:24,680 It was not easy. It's conceivable that Jacob, at 89 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,120 some point in his life, imagined that his life would be charmed 90 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,840 and unendingly blessed by God, that things would be smooth 91 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,080 sailing for him throughout his life. 92 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,400 His mother was told before he was ever born that he, Jacob the 93 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:42,320 younger son, would rule over his older brother, that he would be 94 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,320 the inheritor of the promise, the covenant that God made with 95 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,680 Abraham and the God made with Isaac. 96 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:51,280 That he would be in charge, that he would be the ruler, that his 97 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:54,800 descendants would fill all of that land and all of that land 98 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:56,560 would belong to him and his descendants. 99 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,880 That all the nations of the world would be blessed through 100 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:04,360 him with those kind of promises coming from God being told to 101 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,040 you from the time that you were little. 102 00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:08,600 And it would not be surprised. We don't know for sure, but it 103 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:11,840 would not be surprising if Jacob had thought that, man, this is 104 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,600 going to be great. God is clear in the way, making 105 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,600 the pads straight, leveling the mountains, it's all going to be 106 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:19,800 wonderful. And then suddenly he's running 107 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:24,080 for his life and he spends 2 decades being lied to, cheated, 108 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,880 manipulated and deceived by his father-in-law before having to 109 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,640 go back and face his brother who as far as he knows, still wants 110 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:33,320 to kill him. We will talk about that. 111 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:38,880 Life was a long and hard struggle for Jacob. 112 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:46,160 And that's the way life is for anyone who was part of God's 113 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,640 purpose and God's plan, particularly for those of us who 114 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,400 say, I want to follow Jesus, I want to be a disciple of Jesus. 115 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,680 We are not asking for a life insulated from pain. 116 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:03,600 We are volunteering for a life that is filled with challenges 117 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:09,480 and suffering and heartache. We can expect that the long 118 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:14,000 struggle of faith requires patience and perseverance 119 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:17,120 through the pain, not insulating from the pain. 120 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,280 I, I, I saw a thing online recently and I agreed with it, 121 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:23,800 so I didn't bother to Fact Check it. 122 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,760 You know how that goes and, and I don't know if it's true or 123 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:28,600 not. It sounds true to me. 124 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,360 Makes sense to me. Didn't bother to Fact Check it. 125 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,640 I should Fact Check it and I probably will at some point. 126 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,680 You can Fact Check it for me if you want, but I think you will 127 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,800 probably hear what it's saying and it just intuitively makes 128 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,560 sense, at least to me. There was a guy talking about 129 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,800 how we treat children now versus how we treated children, you 130 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,880 know, as a society 20304050 years ago. 131 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,800 And he was looking particularly at playground equipment. 132 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,760 Now I the playground I grew up with at Bidwell Elementary 133 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:03,080 School, we had the 1213 foot tall metal slide with no guard 134 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,800 rails, right? You walked up and by the grace 135 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:08,880 of God, you didn't fall down and break your neck. 136 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,920 It was hot when the sun was out and and you didn't want to go 137 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:15,720 down it in shorts in the summertime. 138 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,560 We had the really good swings. The ones that that were again, 139 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:23,240 they were really tall and they were chains. 140 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,360 You had to be careful or you pinched your fingers if you 141 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,120 gripped the chains wrong. And when we, when I started in 142 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,480 elementary school, they changed them gradually while I was 143 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,679 there. We had the flat board seats. 144 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:35,919 Those are the best 'cause you can jump from those. 145 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:38,200 I hated the curvy hugging your hips. 146 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:41,360 It's hard to jump out of those. We we'd swing as high as we. 147 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,440 Our goal was always to see if we could flip over, which as I 148 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,200 understand now is not physically possible to do that on your own 149 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:49,760 power. But that was our goal. 150 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:51,920 And we would jump out and we would sail through the air and 151 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,960 land on gravel. Gravel on a good day, not wood 152 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,200 chips, not little rubber chips, gravel on a bad day. 153 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,320 It was mud. I never liked the mud. 154 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:04,680 So I didn't jump from the swings on the bad days. 155 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,800 And the slide was on pavement. We fell off. 156 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,880 We were going to land hard on the pavement And, and, but we 157 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,720 did. We played and, and by somehow I 158 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,760 managed to not get injured doing those things other folks did. 159 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:23,200 I got injured in other ways. But then he, you know, went 160 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:27,240 through that and then he showed pictures of modern playgrounds 161 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:31,520 where where nothing is taller than that, you know, and, and 162 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:37,160 they are designed primarily so that no one can get hurt and sue 163 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,080 the people who are managing the playground equipment. 164 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,440 And he made this point and this is where the fact checking, and 165 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:44,920 I think this is worth fact checking. 166 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:50,880 I need to do it at some point that children need danger. 167 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:56,440 They need to be in situations even at a young age that we 168 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:59,200 don't want them to die. We don't want to, you know, 169 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,760 cover the playground with broken glass and, and, and, and rusty 170 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,440 nails. We don't want them to die, but 171 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,000 they need danger. They need to learn at a young 172 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:15,400 age how to recognize a dangerous situation and work through a 173 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:20,040 dangerous situation. Children need for their own 174 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:26,080 development to suffer, to experience pain, that broken 175 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,960 bones and injury and those kinds of things help children at a 176 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:34,960 young age learn how to work through injury and pain and 177 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,960 suffering. And that insulating our children 178 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,080 from all possible suffering and all possible pain doesn't help 179 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:46,000 them. It in the long run hinders them. 180 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,080 Now again, I didn't look up his data. 181 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,720 I don't know. Intuitively that makes sense to 182 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,800 me because that seems to be how God has designed this world. 183 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:02,200 It is not safe. There is ample opportunity for 184 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,600 pain. There is ample opportunity for 185 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:09,640 suffering, and the suffering and the pain and the persevering 186 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:14,400 through that are part of life in general for most people, but 187 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,600 especially part of the life of faith for people who choose to 188 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,280 be followers of God, followers of Jesus Christ. 189 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:27,160 Paul compares the life of faith to athletic competition, to 190 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,840 training for a race or training for a boxing match or a 191 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,400 wrestling match. That to go into training, to do 192 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,960 the training, to do the competition requires patience 193 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,440 and perseverance and suffering to get yourself in a position 194 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,720 where you can compete to win that prize, that trophy, that 195 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,720 crown. Now we're right in the middle of 196 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,480 the Winter Olympics right now. So we got lots of examples of 197 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,680 this full confession. I have not watched even a single 198 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:55,480 minute of the Winter Olympics. I used to watch the Winter 199 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,560 Olympics like crazy. For whatever reason this year, I 200 00:11:57,560 --> 00:11:59,640 haven't tuned it in. Nothing against the Winter 201 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:02,040 Olympics, just hasn't been on my radar much this year. 202 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,200 But I've read and I've seen a lot of cool stories and I love 203 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:08,520 the back stories for the Winter Olympics and the pain and the 204 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,200 because for every gold medal we see, for every race, one, for 205 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:18,760 every record set, there's, there's hundreds, thousands of 206 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,880 falls and hurts and bruises and breaks and injuries and 207 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:28,440 disappointments and failures and mistakes and, and everyone I 208 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,440 love that, that the half pipe is one of those amazing things to 209 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:33,600 watch. You couldn't pay me enough money 210 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:35,680 to drop into one of those things. 211 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:40,120 For every beautiful flip and twin and spist twist that we see 212 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:43,760 on a halfpipe with a gorgeously graceful landing, there's been 213 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:48,120 100 falls by that same person where they've smacked and banged 214 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:52,360 and bruised and broken stuff. There's a story. 215 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:53,920 There's other kinds of suffering as well. 216 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,440 There were injuries that I I believe this guy is from 217 00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:58,840 England. I can't remember for sure. 218 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,120 He's one of the skeleton competitors, which you got to be 219 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:07,000 a little bit touched in the head to do the skeleton racing 220 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:11,960 anyway, going what, 80 miles an hour on a metal sled down an ice 221 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,880 chute. One of their competitors has 222 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:19,200 survived not once, recovered not once, but from two different 223 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,760 times breaking his back. He broke his back and it 224 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,160 initially ruined his Taekwondo career. 225 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:30,600 So he apparently decided, well I can't do Taekwondo anymore I'll 226 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,440 look for a safer sport and do skeleton. 227 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:38,360 And he broke his back again. And he's recovered from 2 back. 228 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,520 Literal back breaking injuries to be an Olympic competitor. 229 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,120 It was a woman and I believe it was cross country skiing. 230 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,880 A 10K cross country skiing, which again, how is that a 231 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,360 sport? I do not understand how anyone 232 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:57,240 enjoys cross country skiing. It looks like punishment to me 233 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:02,800 rather than joy. But this woman competed and I 234 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:06,720 believe meddled in cross country skiing when she took it, had 235 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:10,720 taken a bad fall the week before and had seriously bruised ribs. 236 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,280 I fell down my steps and I stayed in my easy chair for 237 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:16,920 three days. She went and did a 10K on her 238 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:23,040 skis. Suffering pain, heartache, 239 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:25,360 hardship is part of it. Have you heard about the German 240 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:30,080 ski jumper this year who literally afraid of heights? 241 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:34,440 He he needed psychological counseling and therapy to 242 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,000 because particularly on the higher jumps, there were times 243 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,280 when he just couldn't do it because he was terrified. 244 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,920 He's ski jumping. He's ski jumping. 245 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,080 And then of course, the perseverance and the pain and 246 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,120 the heartache of failure and disappointment. 247 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:58,600 Ilia, was it Melanin, the US figure skater who had won 14 248 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:03,360 competitions in a row and then fell, what, two or three times 249 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:08,800 in his long program? The perseverance and the pain 250 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,720 and the patients that he's going to need to, to come back from 251 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,360 that disappointment. When it's one thing when you're 252 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,160 the underdog, but when you're the one that's expected to win 253 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:25,240 and and you fall that hard, the perseverance, the patience, the 254 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:28,200 willingness to suffer. If you're going to compete at 255 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,240 that level, you have to be willing to suffer. 256 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,680 You have to now, I know we're we're a week out now from what 257 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:40,320 in my opinion is the most boring Super Bowl in history, but we're 258 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:41,840 a week out. I'm going to switch from the 259 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,840 Olympics to football then, because my favorite example of 260 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,160 perseverance in sports is not from the Olympics, but from 261 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:50,840 football. You remember Rudy Rudiger? 262 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,960 Remember that name? They made a movie about him 263 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:58,080 years ago called Rudy. And the the actor that you know 264 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,240 that Rudy was played by Sam Wise Gangi, which was an interesting 265 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:02,160 thing. He did a great job. 266 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,040 No one laughed at that at Chester either. 267 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,280 But you know, if you're a real nerd, you'll get the joke. 268 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:09,080 Look it up. It's funny. 269 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:15,080 Trust me, it's funny. But Rudy was an undersized, 270 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:19,440 under talented kid from Indiana who had a lifelong dream of 271 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,240 playing for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team 272 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:27,360 and, and he wanted that so bad. And everyone told him, you don't 273 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,920 have a prayer, Rudy, you're not big enough, you're not fast 274 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:32,320 enough, you're not strong enough. 275 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,880 And it's one thing if you've got friends and family saying that 276 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,800 to you when the coaches of the team are saying that to you, 277 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:39,520 it's really tough to get on the team. 278 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:41,920 He had another problem. He wasn't smart enough either. 279 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:46,880 He wasn't a good enough student to get into Notre Dame in order 280 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:52,800 to even try out for the team. But he worked and he worked and 281 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:54,880 he worked. And what he managed to do, he 282 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:57,200 got a tutor, he got help. He got his grades up. 283 00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:59,920 He got into the school and he got on the practice team where 284 00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:04,280 he got to spend 4 years getting the snot beat out of him by the 285 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:10,079 starters with not a single ounce of glory or praise or 286 00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:14,240 affirmation from the crowd. And that's what he did for four 287 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:16,720 years. Got the heartwarming ending. 288 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,280 True life that in like I think the last game of his senior 289 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,560 year, the coach put him in for one of the final plays of the 290 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:25,079 game and he got to make a tackle. 291 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:32,360 But he didn't get there without an incredible amount of pain and 292 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:37,000 heartache and suffering. And it was the physical pain of 293 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,520 the practice. It was the physical pain of 294 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:42,400 getting hit over and over and over again by people a lot 295 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:44,280 bigger and faster and stronger than him. 296 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:48,920 The emotional pain of having people not believe in him and 297 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,880 tell him you can't, you can't do it, you can't do it. 298 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:57,880 But he persevered. He did it for that one moment on 299 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:00,160 the football field where he got to make a tackle. 300 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,920 These Olympians do it for that moment of glory, for that medal 301 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:05,680 that they can win and they can hold up. 302 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:12,120 But Bible tells us Paul says the prize we are competing for is so 303 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:15,880 much greater eternity with God in heaven. 304 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:23,080 And if folks are willing to sacrifice and suffer and endure 305 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:27,480 and persevere for a crown or a trophy or a medal that they can 306 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,560 hang on their shelf, that that in, in, in, in, in a month or a 307 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:37,880 year or a decade will become insignificant and forgotten by 308 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,880 most of the world. If they're willing to suffer 309 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:46,280 that way for that prize, how much more should we be willing 310 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,760 to suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ, to persevere through 311 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:54,560 heartache and pain, to welcome? But Paul says, and I'm not here 312 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:56,400 yet. I'm not here yet. 313 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:02,760 Paul says he glories and rejoices in suffering, 'cause, 314 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,320 you know, suffering produces perseverance and perseverance 315 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,960 produces character and hope. And these I'm, I'm not there. 316 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:13,720 I just got to confess, there has not been one moment of suffering 317 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:17,040 in my life where I laughed and said, boy, this is so much fun. 318 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:24,440 But we can be willing, at least as followers of Jesus, to 319 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,920 acknowledge that however much we're suffering, Jesus has 320 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:32,960 suffered more, and to acknowledge that our suffering 321 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:38,440 is going someplace, that God is using that suffering to shape us 322 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:44,600 and mold us and make us. God is using that suffering in 323 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,600 ways that we might never even fully understand or comprehend. 324 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:55,640 This is the life that God calls us to. 325 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,000 But God doesn't leave us alone in it. 326 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,680 God doesn't leave us alone. He doesn't throw us off the 327 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,640 throw us into the deep end and then let us sink or swim on our 328 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:09,320 own through the long struggle. God accommodates our weaknesses 329 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,040 and our frailties. We hear a lot about 330 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,360 accommodation these days, particularly when it comes to 331 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:17,080 different kinds of of disability, weaknesses and 332 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,800 frailties that we as human beings have different sort of 333 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:23,320 accommodations for physical. Limitations. 334 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,480 And so, you know, new sidewalks, when they're put in now at the 335 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,640 edge, they'll have a ramp so that folks in wheelchairs can 336 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:31,720 get up and down on that sidewalk. 337 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:36,200 We have buildings being built need chair lifts or if they're 338 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:39,280 more than one Storey or elevators to accommodate people 339 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,760 that can't climb stairs, accommodations for folks with 340 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:44,520 mental health and mental illness. 341 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:48,080 We have lots of that in schools with Ieps and other things that 342 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,440 are there to accommodate human frailties in a world that 343 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:53,800 doesn't always take those frailties into account. 344 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,360 And the good news is this God does the exact same thing for 345 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:00,160 us. He did that for Jacob in this 346 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:01,680 story. We didn't read that part. 347 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:03,640 It was, again, it's a really long reading if you read the 348 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,360 whole story. But but Jacob went to Laban and 349 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:10,040 said, Hey, you know, I'm going to be leaving in a few years. 350 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,360 I want my wages. And then Laban, we heard a 351 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:15,840 little bit about that. Well, you know, you're, you're 352 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:17,560 in charge of the sheep and the goats. 353 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:21,440 I tell you what, when whatever a speckled sheep is born or a 354 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,920 street sheep, you know, you can keep that one and and I'll keep 355 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,760 the ones that aren't. And Laban kept changing it 356 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,640 because the sheep and goats kept being born in the way that Laban 357 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,720 said Jacob got to keep them. So Jake Laban kept changing the 358 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,800 rules on it, But Jacob had a plan when Layman gave him that. 359 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,720 He had a plan because it was widely believed back then that 360 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:50,240 that if the whatever the female was looking at when she became 361 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:54,480 impregnated would affect her child. 362 00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:00,680 So Laban gots or Jacob got sticks and some of me stripped 363 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,280 bark off of them when it was strips. 364 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,560 So they were looking at striped sticks when they got pregnant 365 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:10,200 because that would make the baby striped or, or spotted sticks 366 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:12,080 because that would make the baby spotted. 367 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,840 Now we know that's nonsense, that that's not how it works. 368 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:21,680 But that was a widely held belief back then and, and Jacob 369 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:28,280 believed it and God was going, no, doesn't work that way. 370 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,320 Jacob, you don't understand genetics yet, but I do. 371 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:37,440 But God didn't scold Jacob for doing something that God knew 372 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,200 was silly and ridiculous and entirely unhelpful. 373 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,440 God blessed Jacob. God didn't reprimand him. 374 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,160 He didn't punish him any more than God punished Rachel when 375 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,320 she ate the Mandrakes, believing it would make her more fertile 376 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:56,040 so that she could have a baby. God accommodated their 377 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,120 weaknesses. They were doing the best they 378 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,240 could with the information and the resources that they had 379 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,360 available with him. They were doing the best that 380 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:05,000 they could. And God said, you know what? 381 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,280 I can work with that. I can work with that. 382 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:13,120 And eventually God made it clear to Jacob, your sheep and your 383 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:16,760 goats came out speckled and streaked because I did that, not 384 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:22,080 because your sticks did that. But that didn't happen until 385 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,800 after the fact. God knows that we're broken. 386 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,320 God knows that we're weak. God knows that that that there 387 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,400 are things that we believe now and are absolutely convinced of 388 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,360 that we're just as silly as mandrakes and stripe sticks. 389 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,400 But God says, you know what? I love them and I can work with 390 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,920 that. And they're doing the best they 391 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,840 can with what they have in order to be faithful to me. 392 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,720 And I can work with that. Rudy has that as part of his 393 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:53,720 story, too. We don't know it as well because 394 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,240 it happened after the movie, or at least after the events of the 395 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:02,960 movie ended. Rudy achieved his dream in his 396 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,880 senior year at Notre Dame. Everything he'd ever wanted, 397 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:10,080 everything he'd ever longed for, every goal, every dream he had 398 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:14,240 ever had came true. And then he had nothing left to 399 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,880 work for and strive for. And the bottom fell out of his 400 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:22,480 life. And within a few years, he was 401 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,600 not just broke, he was deeply in debt. 402 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,000 He was homeless, he was living in his car. 403 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:37,520 But God, God saw Rudy there. And Rudy's faith in God grew. 404 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,120 And Rudy gave his life to Christ. 405 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,200 And God helped him struggle through the poverty and through 406 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:47,480 the depression that afflicted him. 407 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:54,560 And he he got a new vision and a new dream to share hope and 408 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,560 motivation and encouragement with others. 409 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,680 And that's what he had spent the rest of his life doing. 410 00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:06,400 I think he's still alive. God knew Rudy did not have a 411 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,600 career as a professional football player in front of him, 412 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,800 and God knew that Rudy was going to crash and burn after he got 413 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,680 his dream that early in his life. 414 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:24,040 But God didn't give up on Rudy. God understood Rudy's frailties 415 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,880 and his weaknesses, and God accommodated that. 416 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,520 And God made a way for that. And God brought him back and he 417 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,960 does the same thing for us. He accommodates our weaknesses 418 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,120 and he makes a way for us to be faithful and follow even when we 419 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:41,200 mess up, even when we fall, even when we fail. 420 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:46,760 For every every landed triple Axel on the skating rink, 421 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:53,200 there's 150, maybe 1050 falls behind it. 422 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:55,160 And the same is true for our life of faith. 423 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:02,000 We are called by God and invited by God to be patient and to 424 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,120 persevere, and God will accommodate our weaknesses and 425 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:12,280 our frailties and make a way for our efforts to make a difference 426 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:16,440 in the Kingdom of God and in the lives of the people around us. 427 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,120 In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 428 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:21,040 Amen.