Pastor Samuel Sharing

Brother William Sharing

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. Today let us look at Genesis chapter 29. This chapter describes the scene just like any ordinary person would have gone through. It evolved with an ordinary person who traveled to another place, married, and gave birth to several children. He settled down in a place and worked for his uncle. This happened to Jacob, and it seemed like he was cheated on by his uncle. We could not understand Jacob's reaction toward the unfair treatment of his uncle.

Faith requires endurance

Many people preaching the message from this chapter would say that it is a cycle of cause and effect. They would state that Jacob cheated his father Isaac, and now he was cheated by his uncle, Laban. It sounded so right, but we must ask ourselves, what was the message from the bible trying to tell us? Genesis chapter 29 was giving us a topic about faith; the faith enduring 14 years. If your faith only lasted for one minute and how can your faith grow? If your faith only lasted for a few days and disappeared, your faith delivered absolutely nothing.

Only the faith that endures for 14 years would build up a character of a person, just like Jacob. I would encourage everyone to take Jacob as their role model. Jacob held on to his faith and molded his character. Finally, Jacob reached his destination and met the youngest daughter of his uncle, Rachel. Suddenly, Jacob burst into tears and began to weep loudly. We could not imagine the hardship Jacob was going through on the journey to his uncle's place though the bible did not mention it. Probably, Jacob was traveling about 100 kilometers. Even today, if we traveled 100 kilometers by car on the highway, it would take us about a few hours. Don't forget that Jacob traveled with his feet. Can we imagine everyday walking more than 20 kilometers? On the journey, he needed water, food, and rest in the wilderness, watching out for wild animals. It was a terrifying journey traveling by himself in the wilderness.

From that day, Jacob had a dream, and God told him that he would be with him. If God was with Jacob, was he supposed to go through these hardships? If God was with him, did you have to suffer this kind of hardship of traveling several 100 kilometers every day and looking for food? Most probably, by the time he was traveling, he would run out of food and water. He would pluck some fruits from the tree for survival. Having gone through the ups and downs of the journey, he finally reached his uncle's house and met his uncle's youngest daughter Rachel and then he felt a sense of relief.

A man of faith has character

Am I making sense to you? If you are a man of faith, you need to go through hardships. These hardships will shape your character, just like Jacob. Jacob wept when he saw Rachel, but he did not cry during his journey. You might not believe he did not weep aloud on the journey. He was enduring day by day. Are you with me? Did you see this kind of character? Do you have this kind of character? This kind of character was built on the foundation of faith. The foundation of faith is not on how to acquire money, enjoy good food, enjoy the pleasure of life or go to places for enjoyment. No!

Faith is exercised when you go through hardship. Jacob was a spiritual person who looked down upon everything in the world, including everything he went through in his life, because he had faith in God. God had spoken to him and told him that He would be with him. This is the kind of life you are looking for; God will be with you.

Many Christians do not understand that some hardship may be caused by the curse, and some hardship was training your faith. As we can see in the bible, Jacob had gone through many difficulties in his life. The story of Jacob was very colorful and interesting. You had never heard Jacob murmuring or complaining to God. God, why was my life full of bitterness? Where were you, God? Are you really with me? Why was I cheated on by my uncle?

What an amazing man Jacob is! His endurance had suppressed his feelings. After suppressing those feelings, holding on to his faith in God, and he did not complain. He never questioned God why I had to go through the hardship? God, you promised to be with me, but where were you? His endurance brought him to his uncle's place, and he burst into tears, weeping aloud, thanking God that he was still alive and not being eaten by a wild animal. He was grateful that finally, after traveling 100 and 100 kilometers, he reached his destination and met his uncle's youngest daughter.

The centerpiece of the character is faith

During the journey, he endured hardship and did not want to cry. Finally, his journey had reached its destination. He started to cry as he could put a full stop to his journey. He cried aloud, and that character of endurance should be applauded. Probably some young people are listening to my bible study, and I encouraged you to be a person of good character. The centerpiece of the character is faith. Do you want to be a person who goes through hardship no matter how tough the situation can be? Do you want to be a man or a woman with this character? This kind of character is the evidence of your faith.

Jacob stayed in his uncle Laban's place for a whole month. The bible did not mention in detail what Jacob had done during the whole month, and he lived with his uncle and family. At the end of the month, Laban had observed Jacob's abilities in tending the flocks. He was a very hardworking man, a good worker, and a very smart man. He was a problem-solver and had the capabilities to deliver good results. A Man of faith is not someone lazy.

Can we visualize if Jacob was having a good time living with his uncle, treating his uncle's place as a holiday destination? If Jacob was walking around to visit places of interest, having delicious food, and chatting with people, do you think Uncle Laban would ask Jacob to work for him? No, I do not think so. That one whole month was Jacob's probation period. Do you understand what probation is? Probation is a process of testing whether you are qualified to do the job or not qualified to do the job. Jacob was not a lazy person. When he saw Rachel, he rolled over the stone. Let me tell you that a spiritual person is not a lazy person. A lazy person can never be spiritual.

My suggestion for you all is to create a measurement chart and start recording your day in and out on what you did every day? After recording for a month, you can count on the tasks you have performed. I would like to highlight to you that someone lazy and only interested in doing daily nitty-gritty things, aimless and with no goal in your life andyou are not going to be a spiritual person. This kind of behavior will bring about sicknesses, illnesses, and other problems in your life.

If you were to ask me, I am proud to tell you that I am a man of character. You might ask me, are you boasting about yourself again? Among the people I know, I am one of those who worked extremely hard. You can call me a workaholic, and this comment may not sound like a good comment. I worked very hard and produced a huge number of results. If you want me to list out the tasks I have done daily, you will see I had plenty of tasks to tackle and never wandered around.

Jacob is our role model

Jacob was a spiritual person, and he is my role model. He had endured 75 years to get his firstborn rights. He had endured the journey traveling by foot for about several 100 kilometers, probably without any food or drink, and had to pick any edible food he could find. He most probably had to figure out where to get water for his consumption. He traveled several 100 kilometers, estimated to be taking him for about 1-2 weeks if he walked over 20 kilometers every day. Every day after resting, he woke up and continued his journey by walking 20 kilometers and another 20 kilometers till he reached his destination. If he walked 20 kilometers a day, in about half a month, he would be walking about 300 kilometers. During this half a month, Jacob was not murmuring or complaining. He did not ask God, "God, where are you? "

If you are a spiritual person, you will not be a lazy person and will not be murmuring or complaining. I have never been a person who complained about things. There were many people who had gone through some hardships and started to ask God, "Where are you?" Are you someone like that? If you are a young person, I encourage you to be a man or woman with a character like Jacob. This character will pave the path to a blessing life.

Faith builds character

If you want to be blessed, then you need to be a person of faith. Jacob had gone through the hardship without complaining: "I will endure because this is the training from God. Oh God, thank you for the training."

When I was growing up in my hometown, my neighbor had twin brothers. Do you know what happened? The twin brothers were very skinny, and the parents had spent a huge amount of time looking after them. When the wind blew, they had a cough, and when the weather became colder, they got a fever. When the twin brothers grew up, they became very skinny and could get sick easily.

The problem was that the mother only loved the younger son, so she sent the elder son to the army to serve. After two years, the elder son, who had gone through the tough training, came back from the army; he became a man with character and a man with a strong body. But the younger son, who stayed home and was well looked after by his mother, did not have to do anything and did not have to worry about anything. It was just like feeding a pet, so the second son became a weak person and was still very skinny.

Now, the question is, which one is more blessed? The elder son, who was sent to the army, is more blessed. The one who had gone through the hardship would get a lot of wonderful stories, and his life was very colorful. You can tell your next generation and your friends about your stories. And to be honest, I got plenty of stories to share with you. I don't like lazy people because a lazy person is someone who can never get any results.

Although Jacob was born into a wealthy family, he was a smart guy and knew how to work. Jacob stayed in his uncle Laban's place for months, and he had done a lot of work; he would take action and deal with the problems as they arose. When a sheep was sick, he would investigate, and somehow the sheep were healed. If God is with you, then the miracle will be going with you. But for a lazy person, the miracle will stay far away as God cannot be with you.

If I run a company, I don't want to hire Christians because they like to leave everything for God to handle. They become very lazy and even let God decide what to wear and what to do daily. This is not the kind of Christian I want to be. They would say: "Oh, I am waiting for God, and I won't do anything." When they encounter difficulties, they will start murmuring and complaining.

Blessing is a confusing word because people would treat this as a blessing and treat that as not a blessing. But Jacob treated everything as a blessing; he had gone through the hardship and was never empty-handed. We may weep aloud, but we will wipe away our tears during the hardship and march forward until we overcome all the difficulties. Do you want to be someone like this? Jacob did not get paid for the first month; his uncle Laban only gave him free food for his services.

Characters of spiritual people

Jacob did not have to work so hard because he could just play around. At the end of the month, do you know what Laban would do? Laban would tell Jacob: "Get out of my house! You are like trash in front of me." But at the time when Laban looked at what Jacob had done, he said: "Oh wow! This is a good worker." If you cannot perform well in your workplace, then you don't need to tell me that you are a spiritual person. If you want me to train you, I will train you to be a person who can perform in the workplace. If you cannot perform well in the workplace, you are not qualified to love the world, and you will not be qualified to love God at all. You don't have the ability, and that's a problem. I am sure that if you want me to do something to bless you, I will trim off your bad habits.

Jacob was a person who could do all kinds of work. If you are a man of faith, people will not treat you like trash. Jacob knew that he had to perform well in the workplace, and he did a great job. Never be a Christian who doesn't do anything and just leaves everything for God; never be a Christian who just lies down on the bed or sofa and becomes very lazy. The rephrase of laziness is the faith, but the faith doesn't look like that. Enduring is not just enduring the hardship of several hundred kilometers; Jacob also tried to look for the problems even though there was no job assigned by his uncle Laban. Are you someone like that? If you are not, then you better be a person like Jacob, especially for those young people among us.

Laban said to Jacob: "You are a good worker, and I am going to offer you a job and tell me what your wages should be. I did not find any other workers who are more competent than you. "you are an asset." Recently, there has been a Chinese word called "Tang Ping/躺平." I don't know where this word came from. Tang Ping means lying flat doing nothing. Is that what a Christian is supposed to be? But to be honest, I know a lot of Christians somehow misunderstood what a blessing is.
Laban provided a job to Jacob, and Jacob had passed the probation. Then Laban offered Jacob a job and asked him the wages.

Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel." Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. (Genesis 29:18-20)

For a person with character, it was not a big deal to endure for a few years. Time flew, and seven years passed, the day finally came, and Jacob was going to have a wife. At this time, Jacob was about 82 years old. Jacob did not send any message to his parents to come and celebrate the wedding. It was just a simple wedding. But on that day, Jacob found his uncle Laban had deceived him. I am talking about Jacob's reaction. If you were the one who got cheated, what would you do? You could be emotional and start to complain about God and say: "God, you have promised that you are going to be with me. I thought you said I would lie on the stone, and you told me that you would be with me; you will bless me, and you will protect me. Is this the protection that you are going to bless me?"

When Christians encounter problems, they think God is not in control. Jacob was a man of character and a man of faith. God said to him: "I will be with you." Within the seven years, the number of sheep, camels, and donkeys had grown up significantly. God blessed everything Jacob did. Laban was thinking: "This guy is a top talent, and he is working here for free. I only have to give him my daughter. This is a wonderful deal." Laban also told the neighbors in the village: "I got a top talent! When my sheep got sick, Jacob was able to manage and heal. When the sheep conceived, sheep would never get aborted. Everything was so wonderful." But one thing which went wrong was when Jacob woke up in the morning and realized: "Oh my God, this is not the one I love. This is Leah, the one with weak eyes.

When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?" (Genesis 29:25)

Jacob never said something like: "Oh God, are you in control? God was in control because God had a purpose as he promised to Jacob: "I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore." And this was how it worked. Jacob worked for his uncle Laban for another 7 years; Jacob was a man of faith who had endured for a total of 14 years. If you are stingy and calculative, you will not be able to receive this kind of blessing from God. Is this a blessing? You may disagree with me, but I need to let you know that this is a blessing, and this is called God is with you.

As God was with Jacob, God also blessed Jacob's uncle Laban. During the 14 years, Jacob got nothing but only two wives, and that was all he got. "Oh my God, I have nothing after 14 years. I have worked for free for my uncle. Oh God, how come it was like that?

If you are someone who loves money, you won't do this, and you will not endure for 14 years. endurance and perseverance are the typical characteristics for a man of faith to have. If you want to be a person with faith, you need to have perseverance and endurance. Some schools even put it on as a banner. Fourteen years for a man who was at the age of 70 years, can you imagine how many years of life? And Jacob got nothing after 14 years. What do you think? Jacob did not know what it would be like in the future, whether he would be wealthy and whether he would be given some of the properties. A man of faith does not live by sight but lives by faith. Let me tell you what Jacob was thinking. Jacob looked down on all these things, and he never considered these things important.

God will turn nothing into plenty of wealth

He didn't even think that was important. Money is not important. Nothing is important, I have nothing, but God wants to give me wealth. Jacob never begged God for any money, never, but do you know what's in his mind, Jacob? The man of faith looked at himself and said, "I am an asset of God, not a liability. God is with me. I am an asset to him, "this is how Jacob was thinking. I want to tell you, young people, to make yourself an asset. If you're not the asset, your assets are gold, sheep, donkeys, and camels. But can you manage all of them? No! If you are the asset, and even though you have nothing, you can always make something. You are never in a rush, and you will never have anxiety about the future, with a skill I develop in 14 years. And with a blessing, God will turn nothing into something. He will turn nothing into plenty of assets. It's not a big deal.

If you are complaining about having no money, that's a problem, and you are not worth anything. For example, this guy is worth a billion dollars, or this guy is worth 10 million, and people will measure your value by what you own. If I have one billion dollars in my bank and a lot of stocks, I'm a billionaire, I have 100 properties, and each one is worth 1 million dollars. Are you counting like this? No, this is not the way to count. In my mind, I know how much I am worth. That's why I'm not worried about how much money I have, I am an asset, and I am worth a lot more than the money in my bank account. I don't count money in the bank. I count how much I am worth. I can create value out of myself and count how much I have created in the past year. If you were to ask me, I created a huge amount. I am worth more than money. I hope all of you guys have the same understanding. Don't look at money, and look at yourself. You are worth more than money. That is why I am putting so much money into developing people. Where does the money come from? It comes from character, from the faith.

Jacob waited 14 years and finally yielded the result after another six years, probably even more, but later, Jacob accumulated a huge amount of property and assets, a lot of goats, sheep, camels, donkeys, and a lot of property. This came about from his value. For 14 years, his uncle cheated on him again and again. His uncle reduced his salary again and again in those 14 years, he worked for free, and for another 6, 7 years, his uncle also reduced his salary. Do you know what kind of person Jacob was? When Jacob talked to his uncle, his uncle said he would reduce his salary. Once I agreed to give him 10000 a month, but he could only give him 3000 dollars. But Jacob never bothered to ask him, even though he was cheated, and he never complained and kicked the sheep, "you stupid sheep, you stupid donkey," he never did that.

Be a great asset in God's eyes

Someone may do this: Walk to the table and smash your computer. What a stupid job, what a stupid boss, how can you treat me like this! If you are like that, then you are not Jacob. God only blesses people like Jacob. After work, you rush to your friends and start to murmur about your job, "Ah, stupid company, I'm going to resign tomorrow. I'm not going to work for this stupid company."
Any young people among us? Let me tell you, from a young age, I behaved like Jacob, I never complained, even if my boss gave me a very tough task, but I just happily took the task. I worked and did my due diligence. Do you know what happened? After working for 10 years, my salary increased 10x, and some of my co-workers, after 10 years, stayed the same or might have gotten a tiny raise to match inflation. Do you want to have a higher salary? My dream salary is 6 or 7 digits, a few billion? But you have to be worth that much, and then you'd better learn from Jacob, the man of faith. The centerpiece of character is faith, and the faith will draw blessing from almighty God. Are all these good things? No! But all these bad things are going to be a good training lesson for the man of God. Enduring is a part of faith.

Faith can endure for 14 or 20 years. It can also endure until the day we meet up with our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a man of character, you are an asset. Wherever you are put, you will be shining.
When I was working in the computer field, I solved a lot of problems. I lost my job. Someone will ask how you can lose a job. Luckily I lost my job, and then I decided to run and founded a church. I founded this church and today. I'm so happy to finally see the result of my endurance. I am going to bring the reformation of Christianity in this time. I took out a lot of false teaching in the conventional church. And I corrected many fundamental concepts in those churches, and I started the doctrine of destiny. ** Jacob is a man with a destiny, he knows what he is living for, and he also knows what he's going to die for.** He looked for eternal life and looked down on a lot of things. Jacob was a great asset in God's eyes. He was the apple of God's eyes.

Upgrade our faith

Do you want to reshape your character? Do you want to get rid of your bad character? Do you want to live by faith like Jacob? Do you want to have a destiny? Do you want to know what you want to live for and die for? Are you going to count the results you have had in the last few years? What kind of endurance have you delivered? What kind of character have you shaped? Do you want to be Jacob? Then shape yourself. Do you want to be blessed? Then you are worth a lot more than the money in your bank account. You are the asset. You are the greatest asset in the eyes of God. Wherever you go, God is with you, and God will bring you into the promised land, and he will deliver all his promises to you, so your face will be shining, and whatever you do, you will see the presence of God.

Never be lazy, be a problem solver. I challenge all of you, " How much have you done?" Are you an efficient worker? Are you creative? Are you solving the problem in a very effective manner? If you are not, try to be one, some people study, they want to get the result, but they do not want to go through hardships. They just want the fruit, but they do not want to plant the tree. What a funny thing! In 10 years, you plant a tree, but in 100 years, you shape a person. You build them up. I can not live 100 years, though. That is why Jacob went through Abraham, his father, Isaac. Then it came to Jacob. He developed his faith from his grandfather from his father. It's amazing. Jacob's faith is an advanced version, much more advanced than Isaac, much more advanced than Abraham.

Sometimes I look at myself, "I thank you very much, God, I have this character of Jacob, I want to be Jacob, I will upgrade my faith on top of Jacob, I will upgrade my faith on top of Jacob, Apostle Paul, and Christ." Our God in heaven is so happy, and I'm sure a lot of angels are clapping their hands. Angels are our cheerleaders. They are clapping their hands, they are shouting, they are celebrating, and the devil is being humiliated. The devil is left in shame. I will be glorified in the name of Jesus Christ all because I endure the hardships and overcome the obstacles, all because we have faith in my almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Lord bless you. Thank you very much!