Pastor Samuel Sharing

Introduction

Hello everybody, today we will look at Genesis 31. This chapter is wonderful and gives us a good picture of Jacob. We have to know that in Genesis, there are 4 main figures: Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, and Jacob. The son of Abraham is Isaac, the son of Isaac is Jacob, and Joseph is the son of Jacob. All of these people had clear minds and very strong character. Their character could draw God's presence, and God was with these four people.

God's presence is priceless

A lot of times we do not know that God is with us, and God is with me.You'd better mark this down in Chapter 31, "God is with us. " God is the most valuable thing ever in life. Do you know how much it's worth? Can you give a price for it? God being with you is the most wonderful thing in life. It can not be measured by money. There is no price you can name for it.

A lot of times, we don't know how much it's worth. For example, Jacob's twin brother, Esau didn't know how much it was worth. We don't either. That's why Esau took other things so seriously and neglected one thing: God's presence. In this chapter, it's clearly stated that God was with Jacob, and God was his protection, his asset, his everything. This was the logic and philosophy Jacob was living with.

We have to ask a question: why was God with Jacob? Before we talk about that, let's talk about how much it's worth of God's presence. This chapter talks about God being with Jacob. But how much is it worth? You see that Jacob's uncle, Laban, changed his wage ten times. But God took everything from Laban and gave him all the wealth. It was not because of his Biology science or Genes, and it was because of God's miracle.

One day, Jacob had a dream. In his dream, when the flock was mating, he saw that they gave birth to the speckled young, the ones with streaks. It was not Biology science or Genes. If we are children of Almighty God, we have to change our philosophy. Our foundation is not the science, it's about God, about his doctrine, it's about theology. It's God's work. He has done wonderful things. He took all of the wealth from Laban and gave it away to Jacob. Can God do this? Yes, he can, he can do everything.

But the problem is that sometimes we don't think God cares about this. But God surely does. God is so rich that he can do anything. He can easily give us wealth, then the problem of property, the problem of assets, and the problem of wealth are all addressed. Don't ever believe that God will make us poor. Don't ever believe that God doesn't want us to own any property. No, our God is rich. Our God will make us rich, and our God will make our name great. He will make our nation a great nation. He will make us a blessing to many people. God will set us above, not underneath.

In this chapter, we can see that God had made Jacob rich. When he came to Laban's place 20 years ago, he was empty-handed. But now he was so rich. How rich can he be? Later on, you will read that he wanted to give a gift to his brother Esau. The gift was a lot, but it was still a tiny fraction of all his wealth. Now you know that God was with Jacob. But you have to know what kind of character and belief Jacob had. You need to study what was in his heart. Then you and I can attract God's presence. You must have this kind of character, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Don't critisise Jacob, the man of faith!

You know a lot of theologists and preachers have different ideas when they come to this chapter. They criticised Jacob, and they see a different thing from me. In my mind, I'm saying that Jacob was a wonderful person. But some other pastors always criticised that Jacob cheated, so he got cheated. They don't see the fact that God was with Jacob. But it is clearly stated in the Bible. A person attracted God's presence, but he was criticised by today's pastor. I will not criticise Jacob, and there are plenty of things for us to learn.

Do you know what happened to Jacob? For 20 years he did a good job. He carried a good attitude. Now I am going to talk about the character of Jacob. You know how Laban had changed Jacob's wages 10 times. They agreed that all the speckled and striped sheep belonged to Jacob, and all the white ones belonged to Laban. But you will see that one day Laban came to look at the flock, and they were all speckled. Laban might say: the speckled ones are mine. Then he changed his mind. If all the sheep were stripped, Laban would say: the striped ones are mine. But God took a lot of wealth and gave it to Jacob. Every time Laban changed his wage, Jacob, a man of faith, believed that his God was with him.

Even after Laban left, Jacob continued to take care of all the flocks. For the first 14 years, he did a good job. He suffered the heat of the day, and the cold of the night and no animal had a miscarriage. If someone came to steal the flock, he fought for it back whether it belonged to himself or Laban. Jacob has fought lions, animals, and all these things. He took care of all the flocks quite far away from Laban's place. That was a wonderful character.

God is looking for someone like Jacob

If you work in the company, what do you do if your boss has a different idea about the project? What if he mistreats you? What if he changes your wage? Are you going to continue doing a good job? I hardly see anybody like that. If your boss mistreats you and you still do a good job, God will be with you. God is looking high and low for someone who has the character of Jacob. And then after God found Jacob, he was with him. Even if Jacob's uncle changed his wage 10 times, it could not stop Jacob from becoming rich because God was with him. This guy did a wonderful job. Later, even if Laban wanted to hurt him, God stopped it.

God is a wonderful God, and he is looking for someone with a character like Jacob, like Isaac. And when God finds him, he will take it as a treasure and says, "This is the most valuable thing I have found." If you study the New Testament, God is looking for treasure. But whether you are a treasure or not, it's your choice. That's why I'm making this Bible study. I want people to be treasured in the eyes of God. If you are not doing a good job, you are a problem. The biggest problem is not about money, and it's about God's presence. It is about whether God is or not going to be with you.

Last night, I talked to a sister whom I used to go to church with. She told me that she had not seen a pastor like me. I did a very good job as a pastor. A lot of other pastors work very hard. But I do not know what they are doing, or why they are so busy. Are they looking after their flock, their sheep? When their sheep get sick, nobody cares.
This sister is in a church that I used to go to. She got cancer 2 years ago. Nobody bothered, and only a few just felt sad. But if you got cancer in my church, I would take it very seriously. I would be concerned because it is not a good disease. I look after the sheep and flock that God has given to me, and I know that working hard is good for your character.

In our church, the sister's elder brother got a skin problem. He listened to sermons and prayers, and he also listened to our courses. And then his skin problem disappeared! He also had a friend whose family member had committed suicide in the house. After the dead person was sent away, the living one had a spiritual problem. When I heard all of this, I sympathised with them. People don't have spiritual eyes. Some people need to understand how the spiritual world works.

Probably some of them are Christian, but I do not see many pastors paying attention to this kind of thing. The pastors also feel helpless and do not know what to do. I have the character of Jacob. I search for the truth whenever I face a person suffering from all these things; I'm searching high and low in the Bible. How am I going to solve their problems? I'm a problem solver. I'm not trying to explain this and that but never resolving any problems. Just explaining why it happened is no use at all! Do you know what I got? I got a comment from this sister. She said, "pastor, you have the character of Jacob !" I like to hear this comment.

I do have the character of Jacob. People of this character perform due diligence in their work area. Are you ministering to a person and paying attention to the problem?

Be trustworthy in what God has entrusted to you

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?> Luke 16:11-12

Let's look at Luke 16, Verse 11 and 12. If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches? Are you with me? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? Are you with me? Not many people explain this, was it? I explained it very well. I have not been hearing anyone interpret this verse well. If you're trustworthy with Laban property and flock, you will be given your own flock. If you have been trustworthy in handling the worldly wealth, God will trust you with true riches. Are you with me?

So for church, let me share with you. We need a church today. The church doing the shepherding job, taking care of the sheep, taking care of the flog, taking care of the church members, and bringing the church member into the power of the growing. They are getting stronger and stronger.
You got to know that we are entrusted. The last night I was talking to my coworkers about the changes in my mind. You know there are all kinds of people in churches. I thought I better take care of people who love God in the old days, but now I have changed my mind. Now I take care of everyone who walks into the church, no matter whether or not they love God, whether or not they are worldly people or godly people or spiritual person. It is my job to pay my due diligence and be a trustworthy person. As long as they are in my church, I take care of these people, make them grow, and make them knowledgeable of the spiritual truth. Regardless of whether they change or not, it is not a problem with me right now.

Two clever wives

I have been changing because the words of God are working in me and everything I do. I'm trying to find biblical support from Bible. Let's continue this chapter. You know that Jacob had two wives. They got eleven children. Jacob was telling his wives the story about how God made him rich. The two wives are the daughters of Laban. For the two wives, one side are their husband, and the children, on the other side is their father. If you are Rachel or Leah, then what will you do? These two women are clever woman. They had been fighting with each other in the old days. But when it comes to Genesis chapter 31, they are in agreement with each other. "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's assets? No, they don't belong to me. And our father has sold us and has used up what was paid for us. And you know God had taken away from our father and made it belong to us and our children, so do whatever God told you to do." This is their response, and then finally they reached a good agreement. When it comes to money, people are so serious now. These are two clever women. You better know that what belongs to your father belongs to your father and what belongs to you belongs to you. So what belongs to your father may not belong to you, and belongs to you may not belong to your father. You are an individual. And sometimes we got to know that father normally works for the children but children were not for the father. So as for me I do not know whether I should accumulate rich for myself or I should accumulate rich and wealth for my spiritual children.

So these two women finally reached agreement and they got a clever idea about what belonged to them and their children and what belonged to the father and the father had other sons. And then what can they inherit now? So they fled away with Jacob, and just run away. They didn't even bother to go back to their father's place. They didn't even say goodbye to their father. If they said, they would not be able to flee anymore. Later Laban was told and he chased after Jacob. And this is the time for Jacob to tell Laban, what you have been doing for me? You have been mistreated me so many times, but I still do a good due diligent job because of this God is with me. Pay attention to this verse,

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. (Genesis 31:42)

Pay Due Diligence in Ministering

Because God has seen my affliction and how you have been mistreated me, that's why God protected me. You better know that if God is with you, no one can hurt you. If God is with you, no one can take away the wealth from you. If God is with you, God will take away other people's wealth and make it belong to you. How wonderful can that be, right? But we got to remember that we need to have the character of Jacob. We need to take care of the sheep and the flock. If God entrusted you all to me, I better look after that. If I'm not doing my good due diligence job, I'm not trustworthy. How can God be with me? How can God make me rich? How can God give me the true riches? Are you with me? I'm so rich and have such true riches in the spiritual world that many spiritual children are with me. That is so wonderful. Every time I see our other brothers and sisters grow in spiritual knowledge, every time I see our brothers and sisters set free from bondage, and grow step by step, I am so happy? No matter how low they are, I'm entrusted with all people given to me. I was really thankful to God. And I believe one day I came to God saying, "God, I had been trustworthy, for what you have given to me, I have been doing a due diligence job.

Do you know how much cost is what we have been developing? No, we've developed a huge amount of training courses with a huge amount of content for our people to consume. We have accumulated rich spiritual food to feed the sheep and the flock God has given to me. I know God will make me rich and give me true riches. Do you know how valuable it is that Got is with me. It is really priceless. You cannot even name a price for that I live for. That's why the doctrine I found I called the Doctrine of Destiny. But I give a better use of a Chinese word called Mingding. Minding is a much better word than destiny. Although it is invented or translated in Chinese, I believe that it eventually will be recorded into the Oxford Dictionary. Mingding is a much better word. It is what I live for, what I die for, and what I survive on.

If God is with you, he will make you rich

And in 20 years you see. After Laban chased after Jacob for seven days and finally reached the place, he caught Jacob. God gave Laban a dream and told Laban, "you better be careful. Don't say good and bad. Don't do anything to Jacob. Jacob belongs to me." You know after they get met each other and Jacob told Laban,

"I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you." (Genesis 31:38-42)

Can you see that? It's really a hard job. Hard work. what I want to tell you is whether or not you are a trustworthy person? Are you a trustworthy person? Are you doing a good due diligent job for those entrusted by God to you? So if you are a person like Jacob, I'm sure one thing will happen. God will make you rich, and God will give you all the things. Probably belong to others. Can God do all this? Yes, God has taken away the Laban's wealth and gave it to Jacob. How difficult? How difficult can that be? God is the God of miracles.

If you say the streaked belong to you, and the new born become streaked. If you say the speckled belong to you, the newborn becomes speckled. So may the God of Abraham be with us. May the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob be with us. May all of us behave like Jacob, may all of us carry the character of Jacob, and may all of us have the same thinking like Jacob, dealing with the flock which belong to Laban, belong to someone else, like your employer and your bosses, and you still do a good due diligence job. That is a good character.

And from then onward, Jacob overcome one barrier and another. The next chapter is even more exciting. You know, Laban thought he had the capability to take away all the wealth and his daughters by force because they belong to him. But what Laban thought is not important. What you think is important and what God is thinking about is important.

God is still in control of our life, so I encourage all of you don't be lazy. I Encourage all of you to do a good job. And I got to tell you that I used to be an employee working in a local firm. Everything given to me, any task and job, I'm doing my due diligence job over those days. I work pretty hard and study pretty hard. I learned a lot, and today all those skills accumulated become very useful for today's teaching, right? May the Lord bless you all. And I really hope all of us understand Jacob better and inherit his character. Thank you very much and with you next week.