Sermon Cloud

[Jacob & Esau]

[Genesis 25-33]

INTRO: This morning I wanted to share a story Jared & Edward Kingson, two brothers I read about from the metro Atlanta area

PICTURE 1

1. Jared & Edward.... “Eddie” were close in age & spent their growing up years side by side with one another

▪ family was wasn’t just wealthy...very wealthy...

--Dad in the telecommunications business when cell phones took off....road the wave of technology to huge sums of money

Because of father’s wealth, neither Jared nor Eddie lacked for anything, enjoyed their childhood years with advantages that many children never experience

2. As the boys grew older, however, it became apparent that they were nothing alike

--Jared was the smarter of the two...

--Eddie loved & excelled at sports

Eddie was blessed with great talent, and his dad’s resources allowed him to receive training, coaching, and practicing that others did not.

--Excelled at two sports: football and baseball

--Eddie named an all american in high school football program, but many said he was just as talented in baseball, although he never received the same recognition

Jared—on the other hand—hardly ever participated in sports

--it was as if he knew that was Eddie’s area....

--Jared hit the books, learning & studying, and he excelled in the academic side of life

3. it wasn’t too long before their high school days were over...

--Eddie had several athletic scholarship offers...

--had to choose between football & baseball

He loved baseball.....could make more money....didn’t pose the risk of injury that football did

▪ but...Eddie knew that his dad really loved the game of football, so he took a scholarship to Univ of Maryland

▪ the Terrapins were glad to have a high school all american with such agility, coordination, & strength

(Coach Ralph Friedgen FREE-jun)...what position to play!

PICTURE 2

4. Either coincidentally, or providentially, Jared chose to go to school in the same Baltimore / Washington DC area at GWU

--enrolled in the School of Business, where he quickly impressed his professors as much as his brother impressed the coaches

--Jared did so well...that he also caught the eye of several congressmen....was approached about becoming part of their staff

--even led to Jared’s accepting a position on the staff in a congressional office, while being enrolled at GWU....a feat that not many young men could boast about

--looking back on their story, others commented about how Jared had a tendency to use his natural intellect to manipulate situations & people, always willing to cut a few corners if it would be to his advantage

5. What really put these brothers on a collision course, however, was not their different interests......their father’s money!

--Jared & Eddie’s father had them late in life, so he was quite elderly when the boys went off to college

--he had been working on transferring his wealth to his boys...

--but a mistake his father made was that he relied upon Jared to set up the accounts, legal paperwork, and the various stock & investment transfers....which totaled in the millions of dollars

6. Jared told his father that since he and Eddie weren’t too far from one another in the Washington DC area....that he would get with his brother....

--no reason for them to travel to Atlanta...

--no reason for elderly dad to make 700 mile trip...

7. Jared left word for his brother to come see him during a busy time of the football season

--Eddie could only come late, after practice...

--in a cunning & calculating move, Jared asked Eddie to met him at the congressional office, a setting that would demonstrate his success and apparent superiority to his football-playing brother

8. So late one night in the fall of the year, the two brother meet in a quite office in Washington DC....

--Jared explained the paperwork to his brother, purposefully using legal jargon & financial terms that Eddie did not understand

--having become the master manipulator with an intellect that his brother couldn’t match....Jared tricked & cheated his brother out of his inheritance

Jared told his brother about the risk of the stock market and investment portfolios.....and he convinced his brother that a cash option of a little more than a million dollars would be better.

--Eddie, who was completely hoodwinked, took the million dollar cash option....not knowing that his brother Jared was going to get the balance of the estate, estimated around 16 million

9. Once the paperwork was completed, their father was astounded that such a deal had been made

--he was enraged at Jared for having cheated his brother...

--realized that Jared had manipulated him as well as his other son

▪ Reports say it was late—after practice again—on a Wed night when Eddie’s father got word to him about what happened

--Eddie realized immediately that Jared had cheated him

--anger boiled up inside of him, hatred for his brother began to drive him....a thirst for revenge started to control him

10. Eddie left the greater Washington DC late that night, headed to Atlanta with a gun in his possession....looking for his brother

--he drove the 650 miles through the night, getting to his parents home where Jared was staying...as quickly as he could

Eyewitnesses stated that it was sometime after 9:30 the next morning when Eddie’s vehicle pulled into the family driveway, and then the front law....crashing into a decorative fountain that stood in his way

He exited the vehicle while it was still running....leaving the driver’s door open while walking toward the house with some type of handgun in his right hand

Eddie was so angry & thirsty for revenge, that once he climbed the staircase to the front door...he simply used his powerful physique to kick in the front door...

--all the time screaming for his brother to show his face

--there was fire in his eyes & hatred in his heart

--was determined to settle the score in that Atlanta neighborhood right then & there

11. Jared, however, staying one step ahead of his brother...

--had left a few hours earlier for Hartsfield-Jackson airport, where he used a first-class ticket to fly out of the country...

...escaping his brother’s wrath....

......starting a new life with his millions & millions dollars

Do you remember reading about that story?

--I read about it NOT in AJC or some other newspaper...

--read about it in pages of Scripture

JACOB & ESAU

the story of Jared & Eddie is simply the modern version of the story of Jacob & Esau

--Gen 25 – 33

--Jacob was a calculating, manipulating mastermind...

--deceived & cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright & blessing

Needless to say....Jacob & Esau were not the best of friends.

Gen 27:34-36

So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

Gen 27:41 (NKJV)

Before he could keep his promise, Jacob fled to a different land...

--there he would start a new life, would marry & children

--most importantly....would escape the vengeance of his brother Esau

FAMILY CONFLICT

Has there ever been any conflict in your family?

As seen in Jacob & Esau:

 Sibling rivalry

 parental favoritism

 dishonesty, deceit

 anger, hurt, unforgiveness

BUT: The best part of the story is the last part of the story!

--Jacob & Esau meet once again….

LESSONS FOR FAMILIES

1. Forgive the past

--Gen 33:4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept

2. Release the past

--Gen 33:9 But Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."

3. Refuse to be a prisoner of the past

--Gen 33:12 Then Esau said, "Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you."