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Speaker 1: Let us pray, and Jacob said, swear to me this day,

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Speaker 1: and he swear unto him, and he sold his birthright

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Speaker 1: unto Jacob Genesis twenty five thirty three. Dear Lord, through

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Speaker 1: the eyes of this text, thank you for opening my

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Speaker 1: eyes to ways of being that could derail my future.

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Speaker 1: I declare that I will be mindful, to cherish and

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Speaker 1: to honor the inheritance you have for me as your child.

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Speaker 1: I decree that I will not settle and sell myself

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Speaker 1: short for the things in life that offer temporary pleasure

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Speaker 1: and relief. Like Esau, help me, Lord to stay mindful

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Speaker 1: and sober when it comes to the schemes of the enemy.

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Speaker 1: I will guard my future and my promise with wisdom

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Speaker 1: and wise counsel. I will not compromise my stance or

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Speaker 1: my value use when opportunity is within reach. Instead, I

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Speaker 1: will hold fast to that which belongs to me, for

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Speaker 1: I know that you are my provider, Heavenly Father. Man

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Speaker 1: can only give what you allow. From this moment on,

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Speaker 1: I guard what's mine. I stay alert at all times,

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Speaker 1: and I wait for my promise to come to pass.

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Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, Amen, thanks for making prayer a priority

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Speaker 1: in your life to hear the Bible come to life.

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Speaker 1: Stay tuned for the Bible in a Year, brought to

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Speaker 1: you by Bible in a Year dot.

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Speaker 2: Com Esau's Birthright before this story, we learned about Sarah

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Speaker 2: passing away and God's faithfulness to continue his promises through Isaac.

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Speaker 3: He provided Isaac with a wife, Rebecca, and the two

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Speaker 3: loved one another deeply. Now we will learn about the

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Speaker 3: passing of Abraham and Isaac and Rebeccah's sons, Jacob and Esau,

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Speaker 3: as inspired by the Book of Genesis.

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Speaker 4: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the

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Speaker 4: Bible in a Year podcast. In our previous passage, we

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Speaker 4: learned of Sarah's passing and Abraham's quest to find a

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Speaker 4: wife for Isaac, his son, a woman to help him

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Speaker 4: carry on the family line and fulfill God's prophecy regarding

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Speaker 4: Abraham's descendants. Today we come to the end of Abraham's life.

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Speaker 4: Far from being a perfect man, he was full of contradictions,

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Speaker 4: faith and failings, trust and trepidation. God has been with

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Speaker 4: him through it all, however, never wavering in his promise.

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Speaker 4: Now his legacy is established, Abraham is ready to go

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Speaker 4: to the heavenly Father. How as he knows his time

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Speaker 4: is nearing, Abraham continues to lead his family, seeking to

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Speaker 4: establish for them a future and a fulfillment of God's plan.

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Speaker 4: You'll hear how two brothers, Isaac and Ishmael, come together

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Speaker 4: for the sake of honoring their father. We'll then hear

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Speaker 4: about Isaac and Rebecca in a story that in many

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Speaker 4: ways echoes that of Isaac's father and mother, the struggle

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Speaker 4: to bear children, the patient waiting on God until finally

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Speaker 4: God grants their greatest desire, but not just one child.

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Speaker 4: God gave them twin boys. And as you probably have

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Speaker 4: come to expect by now, when brothers are involved, strife

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Speaker 4: is not far behind. Today's passage is no different. But

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Speaker 4: listen as the struggles start before Rebecca even gives birth.

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Speaker 4: This will not be a harmonious relationship, but it is

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Speaker 4: made even worse by the parents who each choose a favorite.

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Speaker 4: The seeds are being sown early for a difficult relationship

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Speaker 4: and a conflict it divides a family. This theme of

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Speaker 4: close family conflict is one that keeps getting repeated, and

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Speaker 4: it's one that many of us know all too well

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Speaker 4: from personal experience. What can we learn from this story

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Speaker 4: to help us in our own situations with our own families.

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Speaker 4: Let's listen to today's passage and see.

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Speaker 3: In the last years of Abraham's life, he was married

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Speaker 3: to a woman named Katura, a young woman who bore

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Speaker 3: him six sons. Abraham was blessed in his final years,

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Speaker 3: getting to see more of God's promises unfold before his eyes.

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Speaker 3: When he knew the time was near, he gathered gifts

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Speaker 3: for his wife and sons and commissioned them to the

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Speaker 3: east to be fruitful and start their own families. Yet

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Speaker 3: Isaac was to remain in his land with Rebecca. Abraham,

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Speaker 3: the father of nations and God's chosen inheritor of the Covenant,

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Speaker 3: departed from the earth at age one hundred seventy five.

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Speaker 3: His life was filled with riches and woes, peaks and valleys,

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Speaker 3: faith and failure. His life was a beacon of hope

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Speaker 3: to all those who follow God, and proof that the

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Speaker 3: Lord keeps his promises despite our foolishness. After Abraham had passed,

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Speaker 3: Ishmael returned to his brother Isaac, and the two buried

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Speaker 3: him together beside Sarah. The God of Abraham looked to

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Speaker 3: Isaac and became the God of Isaac. The promised covenant

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Speaker 3: given to Abraham was passed to Isaac, and he would

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Speaker 3: bless Isaac and his descendants as he did with his father.

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Speaker 3: Twenty years of marriage had passed for Isaac and Rebeccah.

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Speaker 3: The two lived in the love of the Lord and

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Speaker 3: one another, expanding their land and influence. Yet Rebeccah, in

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Speaker 3: twenty years, was unable to have children. The two found

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Speaker 3: themselves in a similar situation as Abraham and Sarah once did.

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Speaker 3: Yet they waited on the Lord and trusted in him

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Speaker 3: to provide. They came before God daily, waiting for him

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Speaker 3: to move. They knew he would, and he did. When

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Speaker 3: Isaac and his wife Rebecca had reached twenty years of marriage,

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Speaker 3: Isaac prayed to God that she would become pregnant because

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Speaker 3: she was unable to bear children. God blessed Rebecca and

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Speaker 3: answered Isaac's prayer. That is when Rebecca became pregnant with

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Speaker 3: twin boys. Lord, what is happening to me, she prayed.

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Speaker 3: The Lord responded, you have the makings of two nations

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Speaker 3: inside you. Two people groups will come from the children

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Speaker 3: in your womb. One will be stronger and the older

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Speaker 3: will serve the younger. As the Lord had promised, Rebecca

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Speaker 3: became pregnant. A few months into pregnancy, Rebeccah felt a

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Speaker 3: wrestling in her womb. Concerned, she asked the Lord what

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Speaker 3: was happening to her. The Lord prophesied over her and

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Speaker 3: told her that she was having twins. He said, you

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Speaker 3: have the makings of two nations inside you, two people

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Speaker 3: groups that will be divided. One shall be stronger than

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Speaker 3: the other, and the older will serve the younger. Rebecca

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Speaker 3: kept these things close to her heart, for she would

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Speaker 3: watch them unfold as her children grew older. When Rebecca

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Speaker 3: came to term and gave birth to her twins, she

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Speaker 3: was surprised to see the oldest baby was red and

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Speaker 3: his whole body was covered in hair. She named him Esau.

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Speaker 3: The second child came out grasping the heel of his

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Speaker 3: brother Esau. They named him Jacob, which means heel grabber.

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Speaker 3: Isaac was sixty years old when Esau and Jacob were born,

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Speaker 3: and the two children grew up together in the promises

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Speaker 3: of God. Esau grew up to be as skilled hunter.

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Speaker 3: He was a man of the field, strong and filled

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Speaker 3: with dignity. He often left for weeks to find meat

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Speaker 3: for the family and became skilled in the craft of

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Speaker 3: hunting and killing. Jacob grew up to be a mild

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Speaker 3: and quiet man, spending most of his time with his

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Speaker 3: mother among the tents away from the elements. Esau was

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Speaker 3: loved by his father because he was a provider and

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Speaker 3: hunted wild a game, and the first born son, therefore

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Speaker 3: he was the inheritor of Isaac's birthright. Jacob was loved

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Speaker 3: by his mother. Yet Jacob's mildness was not to be

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Speaker 3: mistaken for weakness. Jacob was a man of ambition and wit.

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Speaker 3: His clever tongue and opportunistic attitude would be overlooked by

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Speaker 3: his father and brother, to both their humiliation. Esau once

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Speaker 3: returned from weeks out in the wilderness. He was hunting, traveling,

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Speaker 3: and running towards the point of exhaustion. Starvation had led

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Speaker 3: him back home and near the point of death. He

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Speaker 3: stumbled his way back to camp. Jacob was awaiting his

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Speaker 3: brother with a fresh pot of stew simmering on the fire. Esau,

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Speaker 3: gasping out of starvation, groveled towards Jacob, saying, let me

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Speaker 3: eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted Jacob,

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Speaker 3: with a sly grin that can barely be seen through

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Speaker 3: the smoke of the fire, said sell me your birthright.

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Speaker 3: Confused and exhausted, Esau said, what use is a birthright

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Speaker 3: to me? If I am about to die? Swear it

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Speaker 3: to me, Jacob said swiftly. So Esau swore over his

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Speaker 3: birthright to Jacob and ate of the stew. Jacob prepared ravenously,

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Speaker 3: devouring the red stew. Esau was the first victim of

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Speaker 3: Jacob's ambition. He ate and drank, and then went his way.

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Speaker 3: Ever since, Esau despised his place in life in bitterness

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Speaker 3: would be the bond between Esau and Jacob for years after.

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Speaker 4: We opened the story today with Abraham remarrying his wife,

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Speaker 4: giving him more sons. These will not be the men

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Speaker 4: who will make up the great nation of Israel, but

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Speaker 4: as sons they would be blessed and fruitful. Before we

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Speaker 4: move on to their story, I want to point out

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Speaker 4: something that happens when Abraham dies. Isaac does not bury

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Speaker 4: his father alone. He is joined by a familiar character

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Speaker 4: who we last saw wandering in the wilderness with his

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Speaker 4: mother after he mocked a young Isaac in jealousy Ishmael

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Speaker 4: returns and, together with Isaac, buried their father. This relationship,

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Speaker 4: which was so strained beyond repair, really is at the

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Speaker 4: very least able to be reconciled for a time to

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Speaker 4: lay their father to rest. You may be living through

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Speaker 4: a very difficult situation today, or having experienced one where

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Speaker 4: it seems there is no reconciliation possible. But with God,

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Speaker 4: all things are possible. And today we see these two

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Speaker 4: brothers who you may never have expected to speak again,

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Speaker 4: coming together to honor their father, Righteous Abraham, a man

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Speaker 4: who left each with a powerful legacy of faith in God.

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Speaker 4: And then there is this Isaac and Rebecca. Like Abraham

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Speaker 4: and Sarah, must wait for many years for a child,

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Speaker 4: but they remain faithful, and after twenty years, Isaac goes

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Speaker 4: to God and ask him to give Rebeccah a child,

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Speaker 4: and the Lord answers, so she becomes pregnant with twins. Early.

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Speaker 4: It's obvious that the brothers will be at odds even

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Speaker 4: in the womb they wrestle with one another. They couldn't

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Speaker 4: be more different. Esau, the oldest, is a powerful hunter,

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Speaker 4: a man of the land. Jacob is mild and peaceful,

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Speaker 4: not made for outdoor living. He is also cunning and

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Speaker 4: sharp witted, but the real problems arise because of the

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Speaker 4: attitude of the pair. Listen to what Genesis twenty five

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Speaker 4: twenty eight says now, Isaac loved Esau because he had

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Speaker 4: a taste for game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. Sibling rivalries

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Speaker 4: are common and maybe even expected, but when parents play favorites,

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Speaker 4: the results are disastrous. You shouldn't be surprised to see

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Speaker 4: now that Jacob tricks Esau, his brother, to give up

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Speaker 4: his birthright for a bowl of stew. This birthright would

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Speaker 4: have given Esau claim to a much larger portion of

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Speaker 4: his father's estate. This was his right as the firstborn son.

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Speaker 4: But in his hunger and exhaustion, and in his inattention

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Speaker 4: and in his self indulgence, he gave it all away

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Speaker 4: for something that lasted no more than a day, a

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Speaker 4: bowl of food. We should be very careful not to

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Speaker 4: give up the treasures of God for the pleasures of man.

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Speaker 4: Jacob took advantage of his brother, and his own selfish

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Speaker 4: ambition took hold in his heart. This was the first,

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Speaker 4: but certainly not the last, of his injuries to Isaac.

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Speaker 4: As the story goes on, these brothers would just as

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Speaker 4: God told Rebecca, being a lifelong struggle with each other.

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Speaker 4: It was a struggle with no real winners, and at

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Speaker 4: the center of this are two parents who chose to

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Speaker 4: pick a side and choose a child that they love

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Speaker 4: more than the other. We will continue to see the

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Speaker 4: downward spiral of this relationship and the explosive consequence of

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Speaker 4: Jacob's deceit in our next passage. Dear Lord, thank you

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Speaker 4: for this story that shows us how we can mend

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Speaker 4: relationships as in the case of Isaac and Ishmael. And

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Speaker 4: thank you for the story of Jacob and Esau because

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Speaker 4: it teaches us how we can avoid the danger of

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Speaker 4: favoritism among parents and the destructive effects of unresolved conflicts

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Speaker 4: among siblings. Help us to apply these lessons to our

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Speaker 4: own lives and relationships. In Jesus' name, Amen, thank you

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Speaker 4: for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm

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Speaker 4: pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Download Theprey dot Com

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Speaker 4: app and make prayer a priority in your life. And

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Speaker 4: if you have enjoyed this podcast, share it with someone

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Speaker 4: you love, because sharing this podcast can make a difference

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Speaker 4: in someone's life. And if you want more resources on

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Speaker 4: how to tap into God's power for your life, be

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Speaker 4: sure to visit Jack Graham dot org