Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Always Confident

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

I. Introduction

A. “Always ”

B. Marriage doesn’t my problems. Marriage my problems!

C. Genesis 29:9-11 (NLT) ⁹Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd ¹⁰And because Rachel was his cousin—the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother—and because the sheep and goats belonged to his uncle Laban, Jacob went over to the well and moved the stone from its mouth and watered his uncle’s flock. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud.

1. Maybe Jacob thinks something like, “This is the woman who’s going to fill the in my heart.”

D. Genesis 24:29-31 (NLT) ²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, who ran out to meet the man at the spring. ³⁰He had seen the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man had said. So he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside his camels. Laban said to him, ³¹“Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the LORD! Why are you standing here outside the town when I have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels?”

E. Genesis 29:16-18 (NLT) ¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. ¹⁷There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face. ¹⁸Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”

F. Genesis 29:19-20 (NLT) ¹⁹“Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” ²⁰So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

G. Genesis 29:21-25 (NLT) ²¹Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can marry her.” ²²So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. ²³But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. ²⁴(Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.) ²⁵But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”

H. Genesis 29:26-27 (NLT) ²⁶“It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. ²⁷“But wait until the bridal week is over, then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.”

1. The con man is getting !

I. Galatians 6:7-9 (NAS) ⁷Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. ⁸For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ⁹Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

1. Love does not always shield you from !

J. Genesis 29:30 (NLT) So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.

K. Genesis 29:31 (NLT) When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive.

1. “I’m the one that doesn’t love.”

L. Genesis 29:32 (NLT) So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.”

1. “This baby is going to our relationship.”

M. Genesis 29:33 (NLT) She soon became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon, for she said, “The LORD heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.”

N. Genesis 29:34 (NLT) Then she became pregnant a third time and gave birth to another son. She named him Levi, for she said, “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me, since I have given him three sons!”

O. Genesis 29:35 (NLT) Once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I will praise the LORD!” And then she stopped having children.

P. Genesis 30:1 (NLT) When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She pleaded with Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

1. “If affects last longer than 4 hours—contact your physician.”

2. From Rachel and Leah’s “ ” is where we get the 12 Tribes of Israel!

3. This is actually a story about .

4. God always wants us to bring our most honest—most real—most wounded—most broken self—to .

Q. You are by .

1. When you bring stuff out into the light—that’s when begins to happen.

II. Conclusion