Hello everyone. It's been a while since I posted a bible story and I apologize for that. Today I want to tell you a little about how Israel was born. Now Israel was born from the descendants of a man named Abraham. He had eight kids that I have found in the Bible. (Gen 25:1 for the others besides Isaac and Ishmael). These kids went on to found many nations. Now Isaac had two sons named Jacob and Esau through a lady named Rebekah (Gen 25: 24-26).
The Lord actually changed Jacob's name to Israel. As many of you know, especially back then, Israel was the Lord's special chosen people. Jesus would ultimately come from that people. Israel is still special to God but when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we get adopted into the family. Here's another great thing about our God - He doesn't differentiate between someone who was born into the family and someone who was adopted. He is Love and he loves all of his kids just the same.
But let me tell you a story about the founder of Israel that you might find very interesting. He was a liar and a cheat He even stole the right to be the founder of Israel from his brother Esau. Does that shock you? It did me when I first read it many years ago. So here's what happened.
The first thing that Jacob stole from Esau was his birthright. This birthright included inheritance rights from their dad (see Heb 12:16). Here's how it happened. Esau was a hunter. He was Mufasa, the Lion King. He went out to the fields and hunted wild game, etc. for the family to eat. Now Jacob was the kid who always hid behind mama's coat tails. He didn't go out much. He kept to himself and just sort of hung out. But he was always a schemer.
So one day, Esau comes out of the fields from hunting and he is about to starve to death. Esau was the first born and he was the one who would rightfully have the inheritance from his dad. Jacob sees this as a golden opportunity to "steal" Esau's birthright. He tells Esau that he can have some stew if Esau gives him his birthright. Esau figures that his birthright doesn't matter much if he is dead so he agrees and gives it to Jacob. (Gen 25) One thing I never really understood was why Esau just didn't take the food from Jacob.
Anyway, you would think that was enough because he got the inheritance but it wasn't. Jacob also wanted to get his father to bless him. This was the other part of the inheritance not included in the birthright. Now his dad tells Esau to go out to the field and hunt some game. Esau is supposed to prepare the food and bring it to his dad who will bless him.
While Esau is gone, his brother Jacob goes into action again with the help of their mother. This is sort of a messed up family. Esau's mom was plotting against him. I think she probably needed therapy but I'm not sure Dr. Phil could have fixed that mess. Anyway, while Esau is out in the field, their mom, Rebekah, convinces Jacob to go get a couple of goats to prepare as food for their dad. Then Jacob puts on a disguise and pretends to be Esau. Now their dad, Isaac, is really old and his eyesight isn't very good. So Jacob and his mom, get the food together and Jacob takes it to their dad.
Their dad realizes that something isn't quite right. At first, Isaac asks Jacob how he got the food so quickly. Jacob lies to him and says that God gave him the food (lie number one in this exchange). Dad is still not convinced and he asks Jacob to come close so he can touch Jacob. Well good ol' Jacob is wearing a disguise and it works. Dad asks Jacob if he is really Esau and Jacob says yes (lie number two in this exchange). So Jacob feeds his dad some food and after his dad smells the disguise (a total lie on Jacob's part), he gives Jacob his blessing (Gen 27).
Now let me ask a question. Have you ever watched one of those old movies where some guy is selling people some magic potion that he claims will do all sorts of stuff but it won't? Or have you watched one of those movies where someone is trying to cheat someone out of something? Those types of people are normally bad people because what they do hurts others. I don't normally like those kinds of people. The come across as bad people and those are not the kind of people I like to hang out with.
Well, that is exactly the type of person that Jacob was at this point in his life. Can you imagine God choosing this loser to be the founder of His chosen people, Israel? Well that's exactly what God did. However, by the time Jacob's name was changed to Israel, he had changed a lot. When he became Israel, he was following God and guess what? He worked for a guy who ran a con game on him a couple of times.
The point I want to leave you with is this. You don't have to be perfect for God to use you. As a matter of fact, He already knows all of your imperfections before He chooses you and He still loves you completely. So if you aren't perfect, don't worry about it. Just give your self over to him and watch what a miraculous person he turns you into.
That's another of the Minion's Bible Stories
The Lord actually changed Jacob's name to Israel. As many of you know, especially back then, Israel was the Lord's special chosen people. Jesus would ultimately come from that people. Israel is still special to God but when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we get adopted into the family. Here's another great thing about our God - He doesn't differentiate between someone who was born into the family and someone who was adopted. He is Love and he loves all of his kids just the same.
But let me tell you a story about the founder of Israel that you might find very interesting. He was a liar and a cheat He even stole the right to be the founder of Israel from his brother Esau. Does that shock you? It did me when I first read it many years ago. So here's what happened.
The first thing that Jacob stole from Esau was his birthright. This birthright included inheritance rights from their dad (see Heb 12:16). Here's how it happened. Esau was a hunter. He was Mufasa, the Lion King. He went out to the fields and hunted wild game, etc. for the family to eat. Now Jacob was the kid who always hid behind mama's coat tails. He didn't go out much. He kept to himself and just sort of hung out. But he was always a schemer.
So one day, Esau comes out of the fields from hunting and he is about to starve to death. Esau was the first born and he was the one who would rightfully have the inheritance from his dad. Jacob sees this as a golden opportunity to "steal" Esau's birthright. He tells Esau that he can have some stew if Esau gives him his birthright. Esau figures that his birthright doesn't matter much if he is dead so he agrees and gives it to Jacob. (Gen 25) One thing I never really understood was why Esau just didn't take the food from Jacob.
Anyway, you would think that was enough because he got the inheritance but it wasn't. Jacob also wanted to get his father to bless him. This was the other part of the inheritance not included in the birthright. Now his dad tells Esau to go out to the field and hunt some game. Esau is supposed to prepare the food and bring it to his dad who will bless him.
While Esau is gone, his brother Jacob goes into action again with the help of their mother. This is sort of a messed up family. Esau's mom was plotting against him. I think she probably needed therapy but I'm not sure Dr. Phil could have fixed that mess. Anyway, while Esau is out in the field, their mom, Rebekah, convinces Jacob to go get a couple of goats to prepare as food for their dad. Then Jacob puts on a disguise and pretends to be Esau. Now their dad, Isaac, is really old and his eyesight isn't very good. So Jacob and his mom, get the food together and Jacob takes it to their dad.
Their dad realizes that something isn't quite right. At first, Isaac asks Jacob how he got the food so quickly. Jacob lies to him and says that God gave him the food (lie number one in this exchange). Dad is still not convinced and he asks Jacob to come close so he can touch Jacob. Well good ol' Jacob is wearing a disguise and it works. Dad asks Jacob if he is really Esau and Jacob says yes (lie number two in this exchange). So Jacob feeds his dad some food and after his dad smells the disguise (a total lie on Jacob's part), he gives Jacob his blessing (Gen 27).
Now let me ask a question. Have you ever watched one of those old movies where some guy is selling people some magic potion that he claims will do all sorts of stuff but it won't? Or have you watched one of those movies where someone is trying to cheat someone out of something? Those types of people are normally bad people because what they do hurts others. I don't normally like those kinds of people. The come across as bad people and those are not the kind of people I like to hang out with.
Well, that is exactly the type of person that Jacob was at this point in his life. Can you imagine God choosing this loser to be the founder of His chosen people, Israel? Well that's exactly what God did. However, by the time Jacob's name was changed to Israel, he had changed a lot. When he became Israel, he was following God and guess what? He worked for a guy who ran a con game on him a couple of times.
The point I want to leave you with is this. You don't have to be perfect for God to use you. As a matter of fact, He already knows all of your imperfections before He chooses you and He still loves you completely. So if you aren't perfect, don't worry about it. Just give your self over to him and watch what a miraculous person he turns you into.
That's another of the Minion's Bible Stories
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