Did you know that you could be
a new creation in Christ Jesus?
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The old will be gone
and the new will arise
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when you have a
personal encounter with God.
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Join us today on Issues
and Answers and see how Jacob's
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personal encounter changed him.
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Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn
and once again we welcome you to
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Issues and Answers and
once again we are welcoming
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the return of Paul
Ratsara, Dr. Paul Ratsara who is
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a pastor, he's
also the president of
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The Southern Africa
Indian Ocean Division of the
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Seventh-Day Adventist
church but more than that
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he is a child of God, who is
a man of prayer and he practices
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the presence of God
daily, moment by moment.
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Paul, thank you
so much for returning
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Very happy to be
here. - Oh, I am so happy,
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and you know I love you and I
love your precious wife Joanne.
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- Yes. -It is just a
joy to have you here.
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Well, we just have to dive into
this because I am enjoying this
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study so much.
Today we're talking about
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Jacob's encounter with
God and how it changed him.
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So we are in Genesis, chapter
28, if you would like to get
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your Bible, you will find
as I am finding that Paul is
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leading us...sometimes my eyes
will stray down a little bit
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to the next scripture and I
am seeing things that I really
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hadn't seen before.
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I am enjoy this so much.
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Yeah, yes, you know the
word of God is so amazing,
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that is why it is the
"Living Word of God" every time,
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every time we read the Bible.
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God just gives us insight so
that we can continue to grow.
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This is the "Living Word of
God" and the chapter that we are
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studying, Genesis
chapter 28, is very much living.
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And when you read the
verses, we can see the
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" Power of the Word of God".
- Yes. And the power of God
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to change lives. In Jacob
for example, when we studied
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in the past, that he was
really in a very bad condition.
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- Yeah, he was kind
of a scoundrel wasn't he?
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Yeah, he cheated his
father, he cheated his brother,
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and because of that, he
was in a difficult situation,
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he had to leave, he
had to leave the home...
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That is the only solution
that the parents knew and
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because of that he had
to run away from his brother
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and he felt that God
was no longer with him.
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He was kind of rejected by God,
he has done something too bad.
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But the good news is that there
is no such thing as a situation
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that God cannot reach.
There is no thing that is too
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bad, that God cannot mend.
There is no one that is too
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low that God cannot reach
and you can see that here in the
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life of Jacob. He felt
alone and then God showed him
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the ladder and the engines
and himself and God renewed
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His covenant and that was
his personal encounter with God
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and he met God personally.
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In the past, God was just a
God of Abraham and God of Isaac.
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But now God is the God
of Jacob as well. -Amen!
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And we too, we must
have God as our personal God.
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In the presence of God...you
know when God is our personal
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God, that means He is present
in our lives. We are aware of
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His presence and that presence
is key when it comes to our
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journey, our spiritual journey.
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Because that presence
in an encouraging presence,
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that presence is a sanctifying
presence and that presence
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removes fear in our heart
and anxiety and that presence
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the building presence, to build.
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And I'm just impressed to
say there are some who recognize
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God's presence from weekend to
weekend when they go to church,
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but there are many people who
think they leave God at church
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and they leave either
the Sabbath Day or perhaps
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if the keep Sunday...It's
like when they go to work
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suddenly they compartmentalize
their lives and God is
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the weekends, but now they
try to face the week without Him
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and not recognizing He is
with them all the time, just as
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as Jacob...Yea, it is said
here and actually the promise
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given to Jacob and we can even
read that, it is so encouraging
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because here in verse 15:
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"Behold I am with you and
will keep you wherever you go."
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Wherever you go, not
only during the weekend.
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Wherever you go and I will
bring you back to this land and
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he said until you have
done what I have spoken to you.
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"I will be with you wherever
you go." Wherever we go,
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and whatever we do and
wherever we are, God is there.
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God is there and that is
our personal God. He is there
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as our Father, He's there as
our King and He's there as our
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Savior as well. So that
was the experience of Jacob.
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What was the impact of that?
The impact of this encounter
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with God. First of all,
that changed the life of Jacob.
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That changed the life of Jacob.
When you read the remaining
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chapters after this, this was
the turning point in the life
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of Jacob. God just
changed him, even his name
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was changed to Israel.
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You remember the experience
he had that later on you see...
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even before that when you
reached the destination and
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he worked with Laban
and he was cheated there,
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but God protected
him, God blessed him.
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- Yes. So God was
truthful to what He said.
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When God said I'll
be with you always,
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and when God says
something, you better believe it
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because God, God is faithful.
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And He said here, He promises,
He said: "I will not leave you
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until I have done
what I have spoken to you."
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You see, we have so
many promises in the Bible.
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We need to
personalize those promises.
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The voice of God spoken to
us in the Bible...We need to...
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In fact, I would like to
challenge all of us just to
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try to find the promises
in the Bible and try to count
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them. How many promises
do you have? -Thousands.
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A lot and half this experience..
when you read the promise,
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let's internalize that and let's
believe that God, God says it.
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It is not just written, because
the Bible is the spoken word
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of God to us. -Yes. -
So when you read the Bible,
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we need to read it in
such a way as God Himself
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is speaking. He is present
and He speaks, and He talks.
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- Yes, and He says My
work does not return to me void
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but it will accomplish every-
thing for which I sent it.
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God watches over His Word to
perform it so every one of these
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promises...You know, I believe
very strongly in praying them
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back to God and
thanking God for this promise
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and making it
personal using first pronoun...
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you know. Thank you Lord that
this is what you are going to do
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in my life. And he then...when
we have the faith to accept it,
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He's watching over
His word to perform it.
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So, He is a God of His word.
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Yeah, we don't lack promises,
there are many promises.
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Even His, even His Command-
ments... Yes! Are promises of
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what He will do in our
life. Definitely, definitely.
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So we don't just have to
look at it and say it has to be
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something that just jumps off...
Any time He tells us we need to
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do something, if He's
telling us not to lie,
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He is going to give you the
power not to lie when you are
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in covenant
relationship with Him.
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Definitely, that is true.
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So Jacob, through this
encounter, personal encounter
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with God, God became his
personal God. That changed his
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life forever. He became so
mature and he found time to
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entertain this relationship with
God. You can see that through
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the Book of Genesis... the
change of name, which is very
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important. But God
Himself give him the name.
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- Spiritual name, Israel.
-Yes, spiritual name, yes you...
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I will call you Israel. And
you see throughout the Bible,
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the nation that God, God
has called is named after Him.
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He said Israel, and even
now we can still have Israel.
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So Jacob, for him, it
was finished that night
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or the day before that night and
that night for him it was over.
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But God said "NO", it's not
over, this is just the beginning
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it's a new
beginning for you if you want.
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So for us, God is willing
to have always a new beginning
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- Yes. -There's no
final thing in God with us.
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He said it's final as long as
we accept to be molded by God,
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to be changed by God as
our potter, we are the clay.
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- In Lamentations chapter
3, He says His mercies are new
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every morning. -Yes. - So
even if we fall flat on our
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face today, as did Jacob,
we don't have to run from God,
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all we have to do is to
come back to Him and say Lord
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forgive me, and I thank
you that your mercies are new
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every morning and empower me
today, fill me afresh with your
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Holy Spirit.
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- When you think of that love,
God is really a God of love.
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Many times we don't
have time to think of this.
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We need to be
intentional in thanking God,
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and think of His love.
We need to have every day
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a dose of love. You
know, it's like a...like food.
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We need not to be starved
of love because we have enough
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supply of the God of
love. We need to have that love.
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and we need to
meditate on the goodness of God,
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the blessing of God. Take
time, take time to reflect
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upon what He has
done in the past.
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Let's count the
blessings of the Lord,
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many times we tend
to count all our trials,
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we need not to
count all of these trials,
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we need rather to
count our blessings.
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- Yes. -Your trials, yes,
that the trials I call to prayer
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so that the trials will
be changed into testimonies,
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but we need to
learn how to praise God.
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But we don't praise God
enough. We praise many things,
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praise human beings, but it
appears that we are so rare,
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so scarce in praising God.
We need to train ourselves,
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we need to ask God, let me...
God count the blessings that
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you have done.
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So Jacob, Jacob was blessed
by God and he as you know
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he went to Egypt and
joined his son Joseph
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with the brothers, and
this simple man like Jacob...
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Jacob...Joseph said to his
father when they reached Egypt,
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father, let's go and
visit Pharaoh, so they went
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and Pharaoh was the most
powerful man on earth then
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and look what has happened.
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When you read the Bible,
Jacob was not intimidated
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by the presence of this powerful
king because he knows personally
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the King of the universe
and once he reached that place
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Jacob blessed
Pharaoh, he blessed Pharaoh.
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A simple man, a very ordinary
man now became an extraordinary
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even blessed the most powerful
king on earth during that time.
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When we give our lives to God,
even though we are so common,
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even though we are so
ordinary, we are ordinary people
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but because of our God,
we cease to be ordinary,
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we become extra
ordinary because of God.
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So Jacob, he was
just an ordinary young man
00:15:05.47\00:15:08.64
but God transformed him
into an extra ordinary man.
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If we hand over our lives
to God, God will transform us.
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That does not mean that we
will not have challenges and
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problems, but we will overcome
them and we will navigate them
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because God is with us.
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Yes, Jesus Christ said in
this life you will find trouble
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and tribulations
but I am with you,
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and that was the experience
of Jacob because he had some
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challenges in his life through-
out, but all along God just
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helped him to go through this.
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Each one of his trials,
each one of his challenges,
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each one of his tribulations
actually became his testimony
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later, just as it did with
this rock that was the pillow
00:16:00.46\00:16:05.53
for his head, this
rock that became an altar.
00:16:05.56\00:16:09.16
Let's go to that now.
-Ok. Now, so first of all
00:16:09.20\00:16:13.84
when we encounter God
personally God changes us.
00:16:13.87\00:16:19.01
- Yes. -And that is so
clear, and the promise of God
00:16:19.04\00:16:23.85
is that we become new creature,
- Halleluiah! -we become new.
00:16:23.88\00:16:28.42
The Bible talks about
being born again, born again,
00:16:28.45\00:16:35.46
that means we start
afresh. You start afresh,
00:16:35.49\00:16:38.89
you press this start button on
the computer, ok, let's start.
00:16:38.93\00:16:43.00
Yes, let's start again. So,
um, this is like a new start
00:16:43.03\00:16:48.44
for Jacob indeed. So
God wants to start all over
00:16:48.47\00:16:53.44
again with us every
morning. I like that Shelley,
00:16:53.48\00:16:56.24
every morning God is
renewing His covenant with us.
00:16:56.28\00:17:02.18
Now, when we are with
God, even the things we do
00:17:02.22\00:17:09.79
cease to be ordinary.
Ordinary things can be changed
00:17:09.82\00:17:16.80
into extra ordinary.
00:17:16.83\00:17:18.17
Let's talk about the stone
now. - Sure. This stone, you see
00:17:18.20\00:17:22.10
chapter 28,
Genesis Chapter 28:11
00:17:22.14\00:17:28.64
said "and He took one of
the stones, one of the stones.
00:17:28.68\00:17:34.05
That means it was
just an ordinary stone
00:17:34.08\00:17:38.45
in the middle of an hour there
before Jacob touched the stone,
00:17:38.49\00:17:45.29
it was just
ordinary, there was no meaning.
00:17:45.33\00:17:48.50
Of course it was used by
him to be a pillow, that's all
00:17:48.53\00:17:53.54
but could have been another
stone because it was just one
00:17:53.57\00:17:56.67
of the stones of that
place and put it at his head
00:17:56.71\00:18:01.51
and he laid down in that place
to sleep. So ordinary stone.
00:18:01.54\00:18:07.48
Now, before Jacob met God,
that stone was just one of the
00:18:07.52\00:18:16.02
stones. But after his
encounter with God, let's see
00:18:16.06\00:18:22.00
the result of that.
00:18:22.03\00:18:24.37
Verse 18. Then Jacob rose
early in the morning and took
00:18:24.40\00:18:31.27
the stone that he had put at
his head. That simple stone...
00:18:31.31\00:18:38.18
one of the stones in the
desert and set it up as a pillar
00:18:38.21\00:18:42.72
so, that simple stone in
the hands of a child of God
00:18:42.75\00:18:49.46
becomes a pillar,
becomes a pillar and poured oil
00:18:49.49\00:18:55.50
on top of it. And then in
verse 19, and he called the name
00:18:55.53\00:19:01.04
of that place,
"Better", but the name of that
00:19:01.07\00:19:04.81
city had been losed producly.
00:19:04.84\00:19:07.31
Then in verse 22, the
same stone, and this stone
00:19:07.34\00:19:13.75
which have said as a
pillar, that is a... pillar
00:19:13.78\00:19:17.99
is already good enough.
00:19:18.02\00:19:19.89
Shall be God's house.
God's house, simple pillar,
00:19:19.92\00:19:27.80
simple stone became a pillar
and became a house of God,
00:19:27.83\00:19:35.07
God's house. What is a lesson
that we can draw from this?
00:19:35.10\00:19:40.41
You see, the very moment you
are with God, you are a child
00:19:40.44\00:19:47.22
of God. You cease to be ordinary
because you are special...
00:19:47.25\00:19:53.36
In Peter it is said
that you are special people,
00:19:53.39\00:19:59.13
special, we are special.
Yes, we can even read that,
00:19:59.16\00:20:04.23
we can read, it is so
beautiful because that really
00:20:04.27\00:20:11.44
reflects what God
plans to do for us,
00:20:11.47\00:20:18.45
and that is 1 Peter 2:9,
verse 9 and 10 said 1 Peter 2:9,
00:20:18.48\00:20:31.59
and you can read also verse 10.
00:20:31.63\00:20:34.30
"But you are a
chosen generation."
00:20:34.33\00:20:38.07
Chosen, it is good to be
chosen, chosen generation.
00:20:38.10\00:20:42.57
A royal priest who
is chosen and royal.
00:20:42.60\00:20:47.08
That is special, and not
only that, a holy nation that is
00:20:47.11\00:20:52.18
separate, separate, set apart.
00:20:52.21\00:20:55.18
His own special people,
four words just to describe us,
00:20:55.22\00:21:00.96
you see here, it said you
chosen, royal, holy, and special
00:21:00.99\00:21:08.26
people that you may
proclaim the presence of Him
00:21:08.30\00:21:13.13
who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light.
00:21:13.17\00:21:18.64
- And this goes back to
what you were saying earlier,
00:21:18.67\00:21:21.08
that we don't praise
enough. God has taught me...
00:21:21.11\00:21:23.24
You know when you look at
thee order of worship in the
00:21:23.28\00:21:27.35
sanctuary...Enter His
gates with Thanksgiving,
00:21:27.38\00:21:30.05
and into His courts with
Praise. So as I am praying,
00:21:30.09\00:21:33.56
I always begin with thanksgiving
and praise and the interesting
00:21:33.59\00:21:37.99
thing is sometimes I may start
to pray and I may be down in the
00:21:38.03\00:21:41.96
mouth, I may be
feeling poor pitiful me,
00:21:42.00\00:21:45.03
but when I start with
thanksgiving and praise,
00:21:45.07\00:21:48.40
it takes my eyes off my problem
onto the Lord and His power
00:21:48.44\00:21:53.91
and everything He has
done in my life, and suddenly
00:21:53.94\00:21:56.64
I'm coming to Him. It increases
my faith and here's what
00:21:56.68\00:22:00.65
He says. We are all of these
things that we may proclaim
00:22:00.68\00:22:03.59
the praises of Him who
called us out of darkness. -Yes!
00:22:03.62\00:22:06.62
So when we meet God,
when God is our personal God,
00:22:06.65\00:22:11.86
then we are special, we are
special because, because of God
00:22:11.89\00:22:17.40
not because of us, but
because of God and that means
00:22:17.43\00:22:21.60
we need to live accordingly.
00:22:21.64\00:22:25.11
Whatever we do, it
should be for the Glory of God.
00:22:25.14\00:22:30.98
- Yes. -And ah, even the
car we drive. It might be...
00:22:31.01\00:22:35.88
It is actually an ordinary car,
the same cars as other people
00:22:35.92\00:22:40.69
drive, but because it belongs to
us, it belongs to God as well,
00:22:40.72\00:22:45.69
especially it belongs
to God and it is special.
00:22:45.73\00:22:49.26
Our spouses must be special,
our children must be special,
00:22:49.30\00:22:55.64
they, they...we need to treat
them as special because of this
00:22:55.67\00:23:02.14
relationship with God.
So our job for example,
00:23:02.18\00:23:05.71
we may have a job, the same
job description as maybe our
00:23:05.75\00:23:11.35
workmate but because that job is
done by us, by someone chosen by
00:23:11.42\00:23:17.06
God is special, that
job is no longer ordinary,
00:23:17.09\00:23:20.86
it becomes an extra
ordinary job, we have then
00:23:20.90\00:23:25.43
an extra ordinary life.
00:23:25.47\00:23:27.97
Let me compute with a story if
I may, just to illustrate this,
00:23:28.00\00:23:36.21
as a response to this.
00:23:36.24\00:23:39.51
Come with me to
France, it happen in France
00:23:39.55\00:23:44.69
and it happened in a classroom
with children age thirteen,
00:23:44.72\00:23:52.09
fourteen. There was a
boy there who was special,
00:23:52.13\00:23:57.57
so special that the teacher,
a lady, was so surprised by
00:23:57.60\00:24:04.24
his behavior. So one day
she said to this particular boy,
00:24:04.27\00:24:12.48
she said listen, after class
I really would like to talk
00:24:12.51\00:24:16.38
to you because I have
something of a question that
00:24:16.42\00:24:20.26
I want to ask, so
please stay behind.
00:24:21.22\00:24:24.23
He said yes ma'am. So after
class the boy stayed behind
00:24:24.26\00:24:32.27
and sat next to facing the
teacher and the teacher said
00:24:32.30\00:24:39.01
you know, I have been
a teacher for many years,
00:24:39.04\00:24:41.94
I have a lot of experience,
but I have never seen
00:24:41.98\00:24:47.25
a boy like you. You are special.
00:24:47.28\00:24:53.69
You are not ordinary at all.
You see, I have never had the
00:24:53.72\00:24:57.99
problem with you, you behave
so well that I cannot even
00:24:58.03\00:25:02.63
believe it, you do your
homework's, you are doing
00:25:02.66\00:25:06.57
on time, your lessons
you know. What is this?
00:25:06.60\00:25:11.01
Can you tell me, what
is behind of all of this?
00:25:11.04\00:25:15.48
The boy looked at the teacher.
You know madam, as you can see,
00:25:15.51\00:25:22.62
I am not from this
country, I'm an immigrant.
00:25:22.65\00:25:27.76
Let me tell you more madam.
You see, I come from one of the
00:25:27.79\00:25:34.26
eastern European countries
and my father was the king
00:25:34.30\00:25:40.70
but when the Communistic
Regime came, they fought us
00:25:40.74\00:25:46.88
they conquered us, my
father did everything,
00:25:46.91\00:25:51.01
but one day he called us,
my mother and my siblings,
00:25:51.05\00:25:56.28
he said listen, I can see that
we are going to lose this war,
00:25:56.32\00:26:01.09
it's just a matter of
time, because they are stronger
00:26:01.12\00:26:07.86
than us. So I have a
plan, you must run away,
00:26:07.90\00:26:14.50
mother and the
siblings. I will stay here
00:26:14.54\00:26:18.04
and continue the
fight but you must run away.
00:26:18.07\00:26:22.68
We realize that that was
the only solution, it was hard
00:26:22.71\00:26:28.68
madam, but we know our
father, he is a wise man,
00:26:28.72\00:26:32.89
he loves us so
much and we accept it.
00:26:32.92\00:26:37.66
So he said, I made
all the plan then now go,
00:26:37.69\00:26:41.33
but when I went madam, just
a few steps, he called me back.
00:26:41.36\00:26:45.97
He said son, come here, and
he looked at me and he held my
00:26:46.00\00:26:50.61
shoulder and he said look
son, remember wherever you are
00:26:50.64\00:26:56.14
you are not common,
you are a royal. -Amen!
00:26:56.18\00:27:00.72
You are a royal, that why
madam, I behave like this.
00:27:00.75\00:27:06.22
I am royal, I am royal, I
am not common, I cannot behave
00:27:06.25\00:27:12.19
like them. I am different,
I am special and that is the
00:27:12.23\00:27:17.10
lesson. When we are with
God, when God is in our heart,
00:27:17.13\00:27:23.17
when we met God personally,
we are no longer common,
00:27:23.20\00:27:28.28
not because of us but because
of God and we need to honor
00:27:28.31\00:27:32.61
God in whatever we do.
We need to act accordingly
00:27:32.65\00:27:37.59
and God will
give us the strength.
00:27:37.62\00:27:40.89
Thank you so much Paul, once
again we've just enjoyed this
00:27:40.92\00:27:44.76
study and we are going to
get you to come back at least
00:27:44.79\00:27:48.00
one more time because
we are still not through,
00:27:48.03\00:27:49.70
but thank you for the time
and what you have shared today.
00:27:49.73\00:27:53.03
For those of you at home,
it doesn't matter what you have
00:27:53.07\00:27:57.71
done in the past. If you ever
think you are too bad for God,
00:27:57.74\00:28:01.78
all you have to do is
read the story of Manasseh,
00:28:01.81\00:28:04.65
Manasseh was such a
horrible sinner and yet God
00:28:04.68\00:28:09.38
brought him back and
restored the kingdom to him.
00:28:09.42\00:28:12.79
God wants to be your personal
God, He wants you to recognize
00:28:12.82\00:28:18.83
His presence in your
life day by day and He wants
00:28:18.86\00:28:22.86
personal encounter with you.
00:28:22.90\00:28:24.80