In episode 47 of the "No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe" podcast, host Greg Ryan transitions from a brief reflection on the story of Gideon and his own experiences with self‑doubt to an in‑depth exposition of Genesis 25‑27, focusing on the twin brothers Esau and Jacob. Ryan outlines the biblical narrative: Rebekah’s prophetic pregnancy, the older son Esau selling his birthright for a stew, Rebecca’s scheme to secure Jacob’s blessing, Isaac’s blind blessing of Jacob, and Esau’s bitter reaction. Throughout, Ryan emphasizes the theological point that spoken words—blessings and curses—carry irrevocable power, likening them to a rock once thrown. He draws contemporary parallels, noting how modern people (including himself in real‑estate work) often break their word, contrasting this with the ancient seriousness of covenantal speech. The episode concludes with a call for listeners to recognize and respect the potency of their own words, encouraging them to live out the biblical truth that God’s word is timeless and that spoken blessings, when sincere, are effective.
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Welcome to episode 47. You know how it begins.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ.
Here's Greg. Welcome to episode 47. I finished up yesterday with Gideon. I, I kind of made a quick work of Gideon, but I just— it's a great story, like a lot of those stories, but it, it kind of fits, in my opinion, to kind of some of the things that may be going on with our— my life, and maybe your life if you're listening, and if you've ever had— if you've struggled with a little self-doubt or like the punk is constantly berating you and that voice inside of your head telling you you're worthless and you're no good. So I just wanted to bring Gideon out that it's not, there's nothing, Solomon said there's nothing new under the sun. So Satan's got the same playbook that he keeps going over and over and over again, but he's just condemning and he's just berating you mentally. And it sounds like if you're anything like me, It sounds like it's you speaking to you. So it's like your thoughts in your head telling you you are worthless. Now I'm not saying you are. I'm just saying the thoughts that come on in my head and all of the condemning and all of the— and it's still going on. And I've been doing this, this podcast for a while, but I still get, you know, a bunch of self-doubt and a bunch of who are yous and all of that stuff. So I just quit listening to it. But I want to thank you for being a part of this. I am going to move on to the story of Esau and Jacob. And I want to— and again, we're going to talk about a great story, but this was, this was two brothers, and actually they were twins. And I want to pick up the story in Genesis 25, and it, it was in 21. 25:21. Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren. 21. And the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22.
But the children struggled together within her; and she said, If all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23. And the LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb; two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. Now, and this is a word from God. And it's telling Rebecca, God told Rebecca that, hey, your younger son, and again, they're twins, so when you say younger, it's the one that comes out second, if that makes sense. The first one's coming out, and Jewish tradition is the older or the eldest child, the firstborn, gets all of the, gets more rights than all the other children. So the firstborn was very significant back in the day. And I would argue that our— my mom's firstborn got more stuff than I got. And she— we'd had that discussion multiple times. But my brother, you know, she would test things, she would go do things with him and then figure out that she didn't like doing it. And then when I wanted my turn, she was like, oh heck no, we ain't doing that again. So anyway, that, that's a side note and a rabbit that I had to chase, but I just trying to remember Mom, she made me laugh all the time, but I was the second child, so they're still significant in being the firstborn, but God said in his word that the two nations are in one womb and the older shall serve the younger. So that's pretty significant and that's a word straight from God. And then as you read on, life starts happening. Esau and Jacob, and Esau was the older one and Jacob was the younger, And Esau was the— oh, it was the huntsman. He'd go out and hunt. He was the outdoor guy. He was the fisherman, probably the hunter, the gatherer. He liked being outside. And, and Jacob was more conniving. He was kind of a— for lack of a better— he was kind of a mama's boy. He kind of stayed around there and, you know, manipulated. And then we, we see that, you know, that Esau sells his birthright to Jacob because he come in, he got too hungry out there, and, and told, you know, and Jacob said, you know, he had something cooked, and Esau come in starving, and he said, please feed me. And then they, you know, then Jacob, you know, because he's a little conniving, and he, he took, he took, uh, Esau's birthright. And that, you know, Esau freely gave it to him for a you know, a pot of stew. So Esau, in my opinion— and I don't know, we'll see when we get to heaven— he probably wasn't that smart. Maybe he was more— he was more physical-minded. He was outdoor, and he, you know, he may did everything with his hands and didn't— probably didn't think a lot about the consequences, just reacted. So I mean, it's kind of my mental picture of Esau. And Jacob was more in his mind, kind of conniving, and, you know, probably played things out. He probably would have of the two, uh, Jacob was probably a better chess player, you know, playing 4 or 5 moves ahead. And then we get to where Jacob is going to be blessed. Now remember Abraham, where God told Abraham he was going to be the father of many nations. And, and we've already talked about Abraham and, and how he kind of messed up with Ishmael and, you know, kind of did his own thing and really didn't seek God. But the promised child was Isaac. So now Isaac— we got Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob, if you know the three patriarchs of Israel. But what happened was Isaac was now getting old, and so he was losing his sight, and it was time. And the reason I'm doing this with the power of your words is I just want you to see how powerful the words are and the belief that these people had back then. And it's still true today. I think what we've lost in the church, and another reason number 28 why I'm doing this, is we have lost our belief that our words have power. I mean, we'll break our word at the drop of a hat. I'm in real estate, and there, there'll be people that say thing and even sign contracts, and not everybody, and very few But there's some that, that write something down and they don't no more mean that than the man on the moon. If it works out to their advantage, they'll go through with it, and if it doesn't, then they just break their word. And that was unheard of back there in, in the Genesis, in, in chapter 27. In Genesis 27, we're going to read, and, and it's probably going to be a lot of scripture, but I want you to get the idea that that Jacob is, is going to take Esau's blessing. And some of y'all may be going, well, that ain't that big a deal, but it was a big deal. And it, and it shows if you read the Bible and see how it played out, those words that, that Isaac spoke over Jacob, and he spoke them thinking that it was Esau, but because Esau gave up his birthright, then it kind of put him in the first position So, and, and I don't think Isaac knew that, that Esau gave up his birthright. But, you know, God saw— God sees the end from the beginning, so he knew all this was going to— nothing takes God by surprise. And he saw this would happen. And let me read in 27, Genesis 27. We're going to start in 1. Now it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, my son, And he answered him, here I am. Then he said, behold, I am old and I don't know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out in the field and hunt game for me, and make me savory food such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat and that my soul may bless you before I die. Now he, he talked to Esau, his older son, because he wanted to give his oldest son the blessing. Because remember, Rebecca— God talked to Rebecca, so I don't guess he told— you know, God didn't tell Isaac, hey, you know, I'm gonna put Jacob ahead of Esau. So anyway, so Isaac doesn't know about this, but Rebecca does. And in verse 5 it says, now Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. So Rebecca spoke to Jacob her son, saying, indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, bring me game and make savory food for me that I may eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death. So the words— this was going to happen today. And so Rebecca had to, you know, she jumped into action. And I'm not going to read the story, but I'm going to get to the blessing and then what happens after that, because I just want you to see how powerful these words are and how they, they took the word when they spoke the word out, how, how powerful it was and what everybody in this deal believed. Now Isaac was older and he couldn't see. He was, I guess he was blind. So he was, he's called, and now he's thinking it's Esau. And in 22, this is, this is in 27:22. So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And so he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. Then he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am." He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you." So he brought it near to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, Come near and kiss me, my son. And he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his clothing and blessed him and said, Surely the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of earth, and of plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nation bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you. So that, that's the blessing that, that Isaac gave to Jacob, thinking that it was Esau. So I know it's kind of hard to keep track of it, but you're gonna have to go and you can— the cool thing about the Bible is it's sitting there on your shelf probably, or on your coffee table. You can pick it up and read this story But what happened next is Esau comes in with game, and he cooked him up some dinner and was getting ready for the blessing. And that's what I want to pick up, because Esau comes in, and, and he comes in to get the blessing. And in verse 31, Esau gives his dad the stew. And then in 32, and his father Isaac said to him, who are you? So he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. Then Isaac trembled exceedingly and said, "Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate of it before you came, and I have blessed him, and indeed he shall be blessed." Now I want that just to sink in for a minute, and I just want you to think that if, if your dad or someone has blessed you or cursed you, do you even, do you really even believe that you are blessed or cursed? He trembled. Isaac. And then it says in 34, when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, bless me, me also, oh my father. But he said, your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing. Now I want you to just to be thinking on that. I want you to ponder that while you're going through your day today. Notice that Isaac did not do anything except speak the words over Jacob, and everybody's trembling and everyone's exceedingly cry bitter tears. This was, this was incredible. And I want you to see that, that it's like throwing— it's if once you let go of a rock, you can't unthrow that rock. And we had King David in the last episode where he threw the rock and it hit the giant's forehead. Once he let go of that rock, the rock was on its own path. So are these words. I want you to see the power of the spoken word, that once that word is out there, you can't unspeak it. And that is what— and that's the whole reason that I'm teaching on the power of your spoken words, that your words have power. And especially, and if you say and do not doubt, you shall have whatever it is you say. Isaac did not doubt what he was saying. And it came to pass. So I'm gonna leave you with that. This is going longer than I like. It's, I'm trying to keep it within 10 minutes, but I guess I'm kind of rambling on. But I hope you see the picture of the spoke, of the power of your spoken words and how back then they took this so serious. And it's the same today. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I'm gonna shut it down right here. And I just wanna thank you for being a part of this. Podcast, and I will see you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
