I might add a word by me to the thought of the Emmaus work. Now there's a lot of people who are not conversant with how much is done with the Emmaus correspondence courses. There's a tremendous amount of work being done. Reaching out to places you never thought of. I had a letter from a friend of mine a few weeks ago saying that last Summer, I think it was, the fall of the year he was doing a Mediterranean cruise, nice to the riches, doing a Mediterranean cruise. He called in the island of Malta, and there's a very, very small assembly in Malta, because it's strong Roman Catholic, and he was spending a day or two with some of the Christians. The man said to him, I'll let you hear some tapes. He says, we make use of tapes here. It's about the only ministry we get. They put a tape on. He says, who do you think I had to listen to? But he says, Bill McNeil, the hell in the morning. They hadn't seen me for a long time. So it's amazing where they reach. A lady I know is responsible for what the... I think I've got the name right. They call it the Lady's Circle, Study Circle. It's in the Methodist Church. You do Methodist, you take this. And she wasn't too sure how to conduct her class, but she sent to Emmaus and got the tapes I made for them on introductory lectures on Matthew. And so they used these. They listened to one of the little introductions, and then that forms the basis for the study for the rest of their meeting. And if they're not sure, they put it back again and listen to it again. So a lot of the work from Emmaus is reaching places and reaching people that you never thought of. Take an interest in it, encourage it. And if you read that book, you'll see why they need to be encouraged. I've had the privilege of doing Matthew and Hebrews and James, which was one of the most difficult, I suppose. But they're there and those other brethren have done others. If you can't sit down and do one of their correspondence courses, you could still have the introductory lectures that you could sit at home and listen to these either on the real to real date or in these new modern things they call the cassettes. You can get them one way or the other, sit at home and listen to them. Now let's continue with our study in the life of Jacob. Last night we saw him in the house of order. Tonight we're going to take a period of his life covering about twenty years. I like to call this the house of discipline, or if you like, his years of training. And during twenty years he's going to learn three major lessons and he's going to major in these lessons. I didn't know what this meant for a while. People told me they were majoring in this or majoring in that. Jacob majored in three great lessons, and we'll find out tonight what they are. So let us look at chapter twenty-nine, first of all. Genesis chapter twenty-nine. And Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east. And he looked, and behold, a well in the field and lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks, The great stone was upon the well's mouth. Now, it was here that he got contact, first of all, with Rachel. Now, let us read down at verse twelve. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, that he was Rebecca's son, and she ran and told her father. They came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. He told Laban all these things, and Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh, and he abode within the space of a month. And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for naught? Tell me, what shall thy wages be? Now look at verse eighteen. And Jacob loved Rachel and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy younger daughter. Verse twenty. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to her. Verse twenty five came to pass that in the morning, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, what is this thou has done unto me? Did not I serve with thee for Rachel? Wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? And Laban said, it must not be so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. Verse thirty. And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. Now let's turn over to chapter thirty and read it verse twenty five. Chapter thirty verse twenty five. And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph that Jacob said unto Laban, Send thee away that I may go unto mine own place and to my country. Look at verse forty three. The last verse of the chapter and the man increased exceedingly and had much cattle and made servants and men servants and camels and assy. And he heard the words of Laban's son, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers, and of that which was our fathers, has he gotten all this glory. Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not taught him as before. The Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, unto his flock. From there on he had quite a conversation with both of them. And I look at verse fourteen. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any fortune or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he has sold us and has quite devoured also our money for all the riches which his God has taken from our fathers and his ours and our children. Now then. whatsoever God has said unto thee, do. And Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives upon camels. They carried away all his cattle and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting which he had gotten, Pernarim, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. Laban went to shear his sheep. I want you to notice this next statement because if has a very, very severe bearing on the life of Jacob in later years. And Rachel had stolen the images that were her fathers. May the Lord bless to us the reading of these verses tonight. Now let us recall the background thus far. Jacob had a very poor start in life. A father and a mother who were at variance, a father who appeared to be in a backslidden condition, and a mother who was a canaver, slick, clever, could he have her own way carried out no matter the cost. And for a brother he had one that the Bible calls a profane person. you'll admit with me he had a poor start in life we saw him raised up in that house the house of disorder and naturally he became a deceiver took that from his mother of course he learned a lot of things from his father as well that was one of the things he got from his mother he learned how to deceive played the hypocrite deceived his old father stirred up hatred in the house and he had to run for it. Never forget this, God had his hand on Jacob. Before ever he was born, a lot of folks don't like that, but the Bible says so. All who were born, God had his hand right on Jacob. And then we saw him in chapter twenty eight coming right to Bethel, the house of God. Now here God shows them something just the same as God took Moses up to the mountain and showed Moses a pattern of things in the mountain. It seems to me at Bethel God says to Jacob this night, I'm going to show you a pattern of things Jacob, something you've never thought of before. You know Jacob, back in that old house you've just left, there was no thought of guidance from God, was there? Now I'm going to show you how the angels take their guidance from God. They get their orders up there and they come down and carry them up. Back in that old home where you've left Jacob, there was no such thing as communication with heaven. That was out of the question. Everybody was doing that which was right in their own eyes. I'm going to show you Jacob the pattern of things. There's a ladder set up from earth heaven. There's such a thing as communication with heaven. Back there, Jacob, in that old home, nobody wanted to serve. Everybody wanted to be served. I'm going to show you how that the very angels are prepared to serve. They're the servants of God. God showed them these things in a pattern at the house of God. But that doesn't mean that he learned it all at once. You know, you've heard of the little boy that went to the school. First day at school. I wonder how many of you can remember the first day you went to school. I remember the first day I went. go. It's just as clear in my mind as if it were yesterday. I can still picture that little old lady who was in charge of the infant class. See, where I came from, we had to go to school when we were five years of age. Now they just go when they're six or seven and sometimes just as a lie, doesn't they? We had to go when we were five. And if you weren't there, you had to take a line the next day to say why. And if you were late in getting there, you soon knew the reason why. Every teacher at our school had a big piece of leather they called the strap, cut up the middle of what they called the taws, and they knew how to swing it. Many a time I had my hand blistered. Even if you didn't do anything wrong, you're just late in getting in. They call that being hardy now. At our school you were late if you weren't in when the bell rang. Even now they're not tardy. It's just the school class began before they got there. That was all. But now we were late. We knew about it. I remember the Thursday I went to school. But I was saying the little boy went to school. Came home and his mother said, What did you learn today? He says, I learned it all. A lot of folks think that. A lot of folks think they've learned it all the moment they're saved. They've made the grade now. Have they? Now, most of us here tonight have been long enough on the road to know that we did not learn it all the day we were saved. And we didn't learn it all the first year we were saved. In fact, I try to get this truth over to most people that I minister to that we'll never know it all. May God have mercy on the man or the woman who thinks they have learned it all. In the Christian life there's always something more to learn. Well Jacob didn't know it all because he had that great experience in bed. For twenty years God is going to work with him. He's going through the house of discipline, the house of training if you like, and God is going to train him. And during his years in the College of Discipline, he's going to be taught three major lessons. There may be a lot of side issues, lesser lessons, but the three major lessons are these. He'll be taught a lesson on service. That's why I emphasized all the times that service and serve were mentioned down chapter twenty-nine. After learning his lesson on service, he shall be taught a lesson on order. A very necessary lesson. And then he will be taught a lesson on guidance. What did he know about service back in the house of disorder? One thing and one thing only. His mother no doubt had told him that it was decreed that the elder would serve the younger. So Jacob, you can rest assured, Esau is going to serve you. You're going to be served. You're not going to be the servant. You're going to have the firstborn's place, so to speak. The blessings will be yours, and your brother will serve you. That's what Esau. God taught him at Bethel that the angels were servants. Now when he goes to the house of Uncle Laban he is going to be taught a lesson on service. Let me suggest to all our hearts tonight that this is one of the hardest lessons to learn in the Christian life. A lesson on service. For example, let me remind you of the Apostle. Out of all the disciples, the followers of the Lord, the Lord chose twelve. And these twelve he called apostles. They were a little nearer to him than the others. He taught them things, perhaps, that he didn't teach the others. They were closer to him. They heard things from his lips. They were with him on special occasions. These were the twelve that he first sent out to preach the gospel of the kingdom. And after they had been with them for a given time, they were traveling one day towards the city. And they didn't all travel in a group, you know, they'd be traveling two and two or three or four, little groups. And the Lord seemed to be in the front, and he knew they were talking back there, and unknown to them he knew what they were talking about. They were talking about service. Were they? But not about who was going to serve, but who's going to serve me. Who's going to be the greatest among us? Who's going to have the first place? I wonder what positions will we have? And let me remind you at that time, these apostles didn't know anything at all about the church, as you know it today. All they knew was this, the Lord had said, I will build my justice. That's all. They didn't know how nor when. They didn't know what it would be. All they were thinking about was the setting up of the kingdom. And if this Jesus, whom they were following, was really the Christ, the Messiah, then he was going to set up his kingdom. And we're going to be the twelve administrators in the kingdom. But I wonder, what positions will we have? They were always thinking who was going to be greatest. And he had a little talk with them about it. And he showed them how wrong this was. Then you'll remember that two of them, whether they hadn't the courage to ask him, but they got their mother to come and ask. And she came and made their special request. that in the kingdom that her two boys would be given the chief seats. Will you grant that one of them will sit on the right hand and the other will sit on the left hand? They were going to have the chief seats. The two advisors, see? Then you remember the answer that she got. Now that just shows you what was in the minds of even the apostles. Now get them into that upper room. And in that upper room that night, when they went in, you remember it was an upper room that was furnished. Now part of the furnishings of that room was something that would be down in a corner. A thing like a huge bowl or a huge basin. And there would be a big jug there with water. And if they did it then the way my mother used to do it, the towel would be over top of that big water jug. The preachers used to stay with us. In the days before you had hot water systems in the house, our hot water came from the fire, from the hob with a kettle. These preachers were away. They got the best room in the house. They used to want to watch. The little room that never was used, and that's where preachers are strangers coming. And preachers were put in there, and the old washstand was there, with this big basin of water. a big basin with a jug of water and the towel. And in the morning, you had to go through and take the kettle of water through to them. I wondered why they got hot water. We had to wash with cold on them. But there they are, and they got the hot water to shave and wash up. That was the way, I suppose, in the East, and it was down there. Now, who was supposed to use that, the servant? And when the guests came in and reclined on their little couches round the table, the servant would go and get the basin, put the basin under your feet and pour the water over your feet to wash the sand off. See, they didn't all wash their feet in the same basin, you know. They didn't put the water at the basin, they put your feet in and swill them around, no, no. And then pass the dirty water onto the next one. They didn't do that. Your feet went over the basin, and they would pour the water from this vessel over your feet and wash the sand out of your feet, and then wipe them with the towel. That was the servant's job. But these twelve men went into the room along with the ward, and they sat around, and not one of them went to get that basin and that vessel with the water. Well, they weren't going to serve. And sometime during the meal, during the supper, He arose from the table, took off his outer garment, laid it aside, he took the towel, bound himself up with a towel, took the water and the basin, then went down and washed her feet. What was he doing? Taking the servants' place. Now says Paul, writing to the Philippians, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation? He took upon him the form of a servant. A servant. A servant is one who serves. I wonder how long it takes us in our Christian experience to learn to serve. It seems to me that most of us want to be served. Very few of us want to serve. However, do you remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians? First Thessalonians chapter one. Ye turned to God from idols. What to do? To serve the living and true God. And to wait for his son from heaven. Now the turning point was the point of conversion. waiting for his son from heaven when the Lord comes out of your translation going up to be forever with the Lord but there's a time in between if we're not going to use that time to do something if we're not going to serve far better have you taken us home to the glory the day we were saved and better for us we've been a better place and better company he's left us here to serve Jacob you'll have to learn how to serve And I want you to notice it was not Jacob who introduced the subject. Not in the least. It was Uncle Laban. When Jacob arrived, my his uncle embraced, and they took him in. He says, I'm just here for a few days. My mother says, I have to stay here a few days, and then she's going to send for me. So I'm just here. Well, it's all right. If your nephew comes for a few days, you'll get the bed fixed up for him. And you'll cook for him. And you'll look after your nephew for a few days. But I suggest to you, if those few days get into a month, you're going to have a little conference. And you're going to be saying, John, it's about time you were speaking to that nephew of yours. You know, he came here for a few days. We've kept him for a month. And he's never done a handstand since he came. Never even washed a dish. He's never gone out to the fields. He's never done a thing with our sons. If we're not careful there's going to be trouble in this home, you better do something about it. Well, we better watch him not offend him. It would be awful to offend him. However, Uncle Laban was just as clever as Jacob. You see, Jacob got a lot of his cleverness from this line through his mother. So Uncle Laban called him aside one day and had a little conference with him. He said, you know, because you're related to me, he calls him here his brother, because I was my brother. He was his naturally. You know, I don't think it would be fair, Jacob. I don't think it would be fair for me to ask you to serve me for nothing. Who had talked about serving? Jacob had me even asked a job. But his uncle says there's a job for you here, Jacob. But I don't think it would be fair to ask you to work for nothing. Now, let's come to an agreement, lad. As long as you're here, I'm going to pay you for what you do. So what are you going to do, and what's the wages to be? Man, that must have been an awful blow for Jacob to learn that he had to work. I look at some of these fellows a day, and I think a good hard day's work would be the death of them. It's up in Canada two years ago. on a tour, going around the top side of those lakes. Beautiful scenery. But the thing that surprised me, I said to my wife, I never saw so many bombs all my life. They hadn't had a haircut for about a year. I doubt if they'd had a bath for three months. I didn't know whether they were boys or girls. dressed to life, looked to life. Some of them were lying at the side of the road with their heads down on their bundles and they're doing it. I said, you know, if you were to stop for these folks, you'd have to pick them up and put them in the car. They're so lazy looking. Work. It's the last word in their vocabulary. It's not going to work. Not as long as dad sends them the check. Not as long as mom's going to shed a tear and say, my boy. See? They're not going to work as long as they get it the way they're doing it. However, Jacob, you're going to starve. Jacob learned it. And might I say this, he learned his lesson and learned it well, as we'll see before we leave the history of Jacob. For twenty years he served in Uncle Laban's house and there wasn't one charge to be brought against him. After twenty years of service he learned to serve and he served well. He says I'll serve you for Rachel. I'll serve seven years for Rachel. That was a long time. You know some folk can hardly wait seven weeks. Never mind seven years, they meet at the summer conference, Greenwood Hills or Bristol or mountaintops, lookout mountain. They meet at the conference and they're married at Thanksgiving. And then they're looking for some counselor to help them the next spring. They're in trouble. My wife's not here, so I can say it, I quoted her for seven years. I knew what I was getting. And we've been married now for thirty-two years. We've gone on finding. She keeps the purse. I just tell her what we need and she goes and gets it. Oh, there are ways in getting on together, isn't there? Of course there is. Jacob. He says, I'll serve for seven years and he served for seven years for Rachel because he loved her. You see, here is the driving force in service because he loved her. Might I remind all of us here tonight if we're going to serve the Lord, it's to be the service of love. If it's the love of Christ that constrains us, we won't give up. A lot of Sunday school teachers gave up their work as Sunday school teachers just because they grew cold at heart. They were doing it to please the superintendent or they were doing it to please the parents. They had been serving the Lord, they would have carried on. A lot of preachers gave up. Because, and I'm not going to say why. Perhaps you know why. If they'd been trusting the Lord, they would have kept going on. They'd been serving the Lord. I serve should be the motive. I serve the Lord. I serve in love. If we're serving because of our love for the Lord, we'll go on. He was serving, and this was the motivating force of love. Now he had another lesson to learn. He had to learn the lesson on order. Back in the house of disorder, well, there was anything but order. There he didn't know the name, didn't know anything about order. Everything was disorderly. But God showed him that night at Bethel there was such a thing as order. He's going to learn it now by experience. Have you ever thought of this, my friend, that God is a God of order? Have you ever taken note of God's order in creation? Everything in God's creation is in perfect order. You'll give another study to Genesis chapter one. And watch how everything that God did on each day was in perfect order. What God did on the fifth day, you couldn't take that and put it in the first day. What God did on the second day wouldn't do if you put it in the sixth day. Everything is in perfect order. Scientifically in order. And when God brought man onto the earth and placed him there, everything was prepared and ready for man, the crown in peace. But take God's creation as we have it today. Isn't it in perfect order? I'm going to be very frank with you. Very frank. I do not know how these men figured it out. How they could send a rocket up from Cape... Kennedy I think you call it now it used to be Cape Canaveral how they sent a rocket up there and how they knew when to change its course how they knew again how to change it away somewhere out in outer space I don't know how they figured this out for it to land at the very place on the moon where it landed and I don't know how they figured it out to bring it back from there and how the ships could be out there ready for it coming down. And they could tell you the time it would come down. Well, they can hardly get a Greyhound bus to leave New York and tell you it'll be in Washington. You know that? You get a plane in Atlanta and it's supposed to come into Gainesville and, well, it's not always on time. But these men figured this thing out. Now let me say this. If God's creation had not been set according to some order by which these men dealt with this and considered it and came to a conclusion on it, if God's creation was not working to some kind of order, they could never have worked this thing out. At least that's my finding. They must be working this out according to some kind of method, whereby they know exactly every movement of the Earth and every movement of the Moon and the exact distance and so on. Otherwise, they could never have worked it out. They're working, I suggest to you, according to the principles of an orderly creation. Otherwise it couldn't be done. And these men above all men should know that God is a God of order. Unfortunately they don't all know that, but they should. Have you ever thought of God being a God of order in connection even with this body of ours? I think it was Dr. A.T. Pearson in one of his books who points this out. If you take even a hand, four fingers and a thumb, There's not two of them the same length. Why didn't God give us us with fingers all the same length? Why didn't he give us fingers all the same length? He gave us this sum. The strange thing, you know, how you can grip things with that hand. You bring it together just like a little cup. You bring it in. And they all meet together right there. And if they were all the same length, they wouldn't meet like that. It's an amazing thing how the human hand is so set in perfect order. Think of the eye. I suppose doctors today who study the eye, they make it a lifetime study. All the intricacies of this eye. Who made it? Our God. So in the human body we see God as a God of order. When the children of Israel were passing through the wilderness, everything had to be in order. Even when they were cast or tents had to be set in order. When they were on the march, they had to march in order, as God dictated. But listen, when you come to the New Testament, Paul wrote to a church there and said, Let all things be done decently and in order. Our God is a God of order. says Paul to Timothy, I am writing these things to you, Timothy. That you may know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. God is a God of order. Now in these days in which we live, it seems to me they've taken order and they've thrown it right out of the window. Nobody has any right to give any orders today. Nobody has any right to set up the order today. We'll please ourselves what we do. We'll do our own things. We're not going to do that. It doesn't please us. So we're seeing an awful lot of rebellion today, which is disorder, flouting of the law. Jacob, you'll learn the law of order. Back in your own home, you did your own thing. Your mother helped you. Your father was against you, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Now, Jacob, you're in the house of discipline. He served seven years. Now, the end of seven years, he says, now, Uncle Laban, I've served well for seven years and given me my life. They had the celebration that night. I don't know whether Jacob took too much or not. I think he did. It seems like it's a lot of wine drinking that night. And of course they didn't have electric lights the same as we had. They would have little dim lights in those tents of wherever they lived. And in the morning it was Leah. He wanted the beautiful daughter and he didn't get her. He got Leah and he was furious, angry. He goes back at your uncle, leave and he said, you've deceived me. Why have you done this to me? I served you seven years for Rachel and now you've given me Leah. Uncle Laban says to him, now my boy, just take it easy. Don't lose the head now. Keep your calm. There's one thing you forgot, Jacob. What is that? That's not the way we do it in this country. What do you mean? We have a law of the house here. It's against the law of the house to give the younger before the elder. Oh, it's just someone. Why couldn't have told him that seven years before? How could he? Someone might have come along and taken Leah off his hands before then. Nobody did. She's still there. It's not according to the law of the house, Jacob. You'll have to take Leah at first. Poor Jacob had to submit as long as he was going to be in Uncle Laban's house. He had to submit to the law of the house. Let me suggest to all our hearts tonight it's about time we were telling people when they come into local church fellowship that they don't come in there to change things, that they don't come in there to tell you how to do things. They come in there to be submissive to the law of the house. God has an order. And it's just about time that some people were being told that God expects us to submit to his order. Not to what we think. But his order comes first. Jacob, there was no order in your home where you were brought up. But you saw at Bethel that God has ordered. And his servants go up and they come down and they carry out his bidding. Now you'll learn this as long as your renouncement for Laban's house. You'll learn of the law of order and you'll have to submit to the order. And you know, the sooner we learn to submit to God's order, the better it will be for all of us. He had to be taught another lesson, a lesson on guidance. This is a difficult lesson to learn. There was no guidance back there in the old home. His mother said, now my boy, you listen to my voice. And the father says to Esau, come in my son. I want you to do this and so on. There was no guidance. There was no seeking the Lord's face. There was no asking the Lord, what will thou have me to do? Jacob's got to be taught this lesson on guidance. Didn't you have to be taught that lesson too? I had to be taught that lesson. It's sometimes a hard lesson. It took Jacob a long time to learn it. because he was a clever man. He could work out his own destiny, you know. He would do it his way. He would achieve his own objective. He would be a self-made man. You've heard all those terms. I want you to notice there came the time when he had a desire to do something. It came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away that I may go unto my own place and to my country. There was nothing wrong with that. For you will remember that his mother said, Go away for a few days, and I'll send for you to come back. And at this time, over fourteen years have passed, and she hasn't sent for him. That's a long time to wait. Fourteen years. His mother hasn't sent for him, and when he gets home, I don't think there's any mother there. You never hear of her again. She's gone. Never saw her. There was nothing wrong with the desire. He had the desire to return to his own place, to his own country, to his own people. There was nothing wrong with the desire. It may be that you have a desire. There's nothing wrong with the desire. David had a great desire. He desired to build a mighty temple for God. Nothing wrong with the desire. It was good that it was in his heart to do it. But it wasn't in God's purpose for him to do it. I believe that some of you sitting here tonight in this meeting and years ago you had the desire to go to the mission field, hasn't you? Who hasn't if you were saved young? Nothing wrong with having that desire. A friend of mine told me once he had the desire. He was going to go to the mission field. He was getting ready for it. He says, you know, Bill, it never opened up for me. I never got to the mission field. He says, sometime back there I was kind of chastising myself and thinking I had lost out in my life. He said, until all of a sudden I realized there are five missionaries in the field today that I was instrumental in leading to the Lord. At home. See, God kept them at home and he won others and five of them went to the mission field. Nothing wrong with having the right desire. But having the right desire is not everything. Jacob had the desire. However, Uncle Laban says, just stay on. And if you work with me again for six years, here will be the bargain. So they made a bargain what his wages would be for six years. And at the end of six years, he increased exceedingly and had much cattle and maidservants and men's servants and camels and asses. God blessed them and blessed them and blessed them again. during those six years, until he has become a rich man. And if you read down through the chapter where we left out, all through chapters, when the nine and thirty, you'll find he had this family. And when he left, he left with eleven sons and one daughter, and all these camels and asses and servants and so on. But watch this. And he heard the words of Laban's son saying, Jacob was taking away all that was our fathers and of that which was our fathers as he got in all this glory. And Jacob looked, he beheld her faces. Behold, the face of Uncle Laban was not taught him as before. It's all right when he came. His Uncle Laban was out and hugging them and kissing them and taking them in. Now it's changed. It's just looking at his face. Something wrong here. I'm not wanted here. They don't want me here any longer. I'll have to move. Circumstances now were beginning to press in on him. The desire had never lacked for to get home. The desire had remained with him. Now circumstances were beginning to move. He was being thrashed out of where he was and was only one thing for it. Get out and get home. Circumstances. Maybe, my friend, there's a lot of people who have had desires to do things, but the circumstances were stuck. that it wasn't right. I knew a young fellow that wanted to go out into full-time service for the Lord. He was sure the Lord was calling him. One night at the meeting with a number of men, he'd tell him and say, I feel the Lord's calling me to give up my work and go out into full-time service. Couldn't wait. That's a hurry. So much to be done. Men talked to him. One of the fellas got up and he said to him, Davy, Who's going to look after your children when you're away? A wife. He says, do you think your wife is capable of looking after those five children you have? He says, I have a good wife. My wife, the Lord gave me a good wife. She's quite capable of looking after those five children. This fellow said to her when I think you're wrong. She says, your wife's not keeping well. Your children are just at the age where they need a father. He says, I've only got two boys, and I tell you every night I come home from a work. The first thing I get is the report from my wife. And he says, I've got to use this hand fairly often. He says, I suggest maybe your place is at home with your wife and five children. He didn't like that. He wouldn't take that advice. He says, I'm going out, and he went out. Until he was picked up one night after midnight on the streets of a strange city many, many miles away from his home. The police gave him a bed for the night. It was better than nothing. And in the morning they gave him the price of his train at home. And he laughed. He was in the wrong place. Circumstances would suck. He should never be there. Please go. Let me remind all of you here tonight when it comes to this. That when we want guidance from the Lord. Desire isn't everything. The desire may be right. Are the circumstances such? and you feel it's the right thing to do. It was the last thing I wanted to do, and from one man go, the last thing I wanted to do was to give all my time to the work of the Lord. You know that? But I accepted invitations to go to certain places, and my wife said, how in all the world are you going to do it? I said, I'll just have to ask a week off my work, that's all. And by the time it came, I didn't need to ask a week off my work, I was off my work, giving it up. And it was easy for me to go. And at that time, you couldn't leave your job. You couldn't move in Britain. Everything was frozen. You had to do what you're told. Work where you're told, et cetera, et cetera. And things just suddenly changed like that. And I was released. And I was free to go. And I've never turned back after all those years. I've enjoyed it. Right from nineteen forty-five. When circumstances are such that it opens up and you realize what the Lord wants you to do. No doubt. But there's something else here. In verse three it says, And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. He had the command of the Lord. So the desire was there, and the desire was right. But the time wasn't. He had to wait God's time until circumstances were such that the circumstances pushed them out. He had to go. And then he had the word of the Lord. The Lord said, This is right. Do it. Do it. A lot of people want to do things and they haven't got the word of God for it. What they want to do is not the right thing. And if you haven't got the word of God for what you're doing, you better not to do it. But if it's according to the teaching of the word of God and you can show the word of God for doing it, then get on with it, get it done. We must close. There's just a fourth thing here. Before doing it, the desire was there, the circumstances were right. He had the word of the Lord for it. But he got Leah and he got Rachel together, and he rehearsed to them the whole matter. He pointed it all out to them, laid everything open and bare to them, and there was perfect agreement. Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, et cetera, et cetera, whatsoever God has said unto thee, you and we're with you. Perfect agreement with interested parties. Perfect agreement. When you have perfect agreement with interested parties, there's no trouble. That's the thing to do. You have the desire to do it. Circumstances are such as possible to get it done. You have the word of the Lord for what you're doing and you have perfect agreement with all who are interested. Makes it easy, doesn't it? And Jacob packs up. decides to leave. He's learned his lesson. He's learned the lesson on service. He's learned how to serve. He's learned the lesson on order. He knows how to obey orders now. He's learned the lesson on guidance. He can trust the Lord now, and the Lord will guide him in all matters if he puts his case in the Lord's hands. Now he sets out for whom. Our next study, God willing, tomorrow night will be something that happens on that homeward journey that I like to call the night of transformation. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you for another evening spent together. Bless now thy word to all our hearts. Help us to meditate still further on these things for the Lord Jesus' sake. Amen. Thank you.