Character References: Jacob and Esau

Listen to the service here. Click the links to listen, or right-click + save link as… to download the audio file.

Listen to the sermon here.

Read the sermon here.

The ‘Character References’ series is also available via the TUMC On Air podcast. Subscribe here or wherever you get podcasts!

Worship Leader: Jana Lepp
Speaker: Michele Rizoli
Song Leader: Jeff Taylor
Pianist: Carmen Wiebe
Ushers: Tobi and Harold Thiessen
Tech Team (In-Person / Online): Ryan Janzen/ Ben Thiessen
Coffee: David and Sherry Nelligan
Activity Period: Laura Giesbrecht

Gathering music
Hymn: VT156: There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
Welcome:
Psalm 103
103 Let my whole being bless the Lord! Let everything inside me bless his holy name!
2 Let my whole being bless the Lord and never forget all his good deeds:
3 how God forgives all your sins, heals all your sickness,
4 saves your life from the pit, crowns you with faithful love and compassion,
5 and satisfies you with plenty of good things so that your youth is made fresh like an eagle’s.
6 The Lord works righteousness; does justice for all who are oppressed.
7 God made his ways known to Moses; made his deeds known to the Israelites.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, very patient, and full of faithful love.
9 God won’t always play the judge; he won’t be angry forever.
10 He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin or repay us according to our wrongdoing,
11 because as high as heaven is above the earth, that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.
12 As far as east is from west— that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.
13 Like a parent feels compassion for their children— that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.
14 Because God knows how we’re made, God remembers we’re just dust.
15 The days of a human life are like grass: they bloom like a wildflower;
16 but when the wind blows through it, it’s gone; even the ground where it stood doesn’t remember it.
17 But the Lord’s faithful love is from forever ago to forever from now for those who honor him. And God’s righteousness reaches to the grandchildren
18 of those who keep his covenant and remember to keep his commands.
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
20 You divine messengers, bless the Lord! You who are mighty in power and keep his word, who obey everything he says, bless him!
21 All you heavenly forces, bless the Lord! All you who serve him and do his will, bless him!
22 All God’s creatures, bless the Lord! Everywhere, throughout his kingdom, let my whole being bless the Lord!
Announcements
Giving with Gratitude
Scripture:
Genesis 32:1-21
32 Jacob went on his way, and God’s messengers approached him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp,” and he named that sacred place Mahanaim. 3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau, toward the land of Seir, the open country of Edom. 4 He gave them these orders: “Say this to my master Esau. This is the message of your servant Jacob: ‘I’ve lived as an immigrant with Laban, where I’ve stayed till now. 5 I own cattle, donkeys, flocks, men servants, and women servants. I’m sending this message to my master now to ask that he be kind.’” 6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went out to your brother Esau, and he’s coming to meet you with four hundred men.” 7 Jacob was terrified and felt trapped, so he divided the people with him, and the flocks, cattle, and camels, into two camps. 8 He thought, If Esau meets the first camp and attacks it, at least one camp will be left to escape. 9 Jacob said, “Lord, God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I’ll make sure things go well for you,’ 10 I don’t deserve how loyal and truthful you’ve been to your servant. I went away across the Jordan with just my staff, but now I’ve become two camps. 11 Save me from my brother Esau! I’m afraid he will come and kill me, the mothers, and their children. 12 You were the one who told me, ‘I will make sure things go well for you, and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, so many you won’t be able to count them.’”

13 Jacob spent that night there. From what he had acquired, he set aside a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He separated these herds and gave them to his servants. He said to them, “Go ahead of me and put some distance between each of the herds.” 17 He ordered the first group, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, ‘Who are you with? Where are you going? And whose herds are these in front of you?’ 18 say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s, a gift sent to my master Esau. And Jacob is actually right behind us.’” 19 He also ordered the second group, the third group, and everybody following the herds, “Say exactly the same thing to Esau when you find him. 20 Say also, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” Jacob thought, I may be able to pacify Esau with the gift I’m sending ahead. When I meet him, perhaps he will be kind to me. 21 So Jacob sent the gift ahead of him, but he spent that night in the camp.

Children’s Time- Doreen Martens

Hymn: VT150: Gentle God, when we are driven

Scripture:
Genesis 33:1-17
33 Jacob looked up and saw Esau approaching with four hundred men. Jacob divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two women servants. 2 He put the servants and their children first, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 He himself went in front of them and bowed to the ground seven times as he was approaching his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms around his neck, kissed him, and they wept. 5 Esau looked up and saw the women and children and said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children that God generously gave your servant.” 6 The women servants and their children came forward and bowed down. 7 Then Leah and her servants also came forward and bowed, and afterward Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed. 8 Esau said, “What’s the meaning of this entire group of animals that I met?” Jacob said, “To ask for my master’s kindness.” 9 Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what’s yours.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please, do me the kindness of accepting my gift. Seeing your face is like seeing God’s face, since you’ve accepted me so warmly. 11 Take this present that I’ve brought because God has been generous to me, and I have everything I need.” So Jacob persuaded him, and he took it. 12 Esau said, “Let’s break camp and set out, and I’ll go with you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My master knows that the children aren’t strong and that I am responsible for the nursing flocks and cattle. If I push them hard for even one day, all of the flocks will die. 14 My master, go on ahead of your servant, but I’ve got to take it easy, going only as fast as the animals in front of me and the children are able to go, until I meet you in Seir.” 15 Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.” But Jacob said, “Why should you do this since my master has already been so kind to me?” 16 That day Esau returned on the road to Seir, 17 but Jacob traveled to Succoth. He built a house for himself but made temporary shelters for his animals; therefore, he named the place Succoth.

Sermon
Hymn: VT604: Nada te turbe
Congregational Prayer
Hymn: VT170: Wonderful grace of Jesus
Benediction