POINT OF CONTACT: Open the lesson discussing brothers and review for a few moments the first brothers in the Bible, Cain and Abel. Discuss how, often times, one brother is different from the other. One likes to hunt and fish, the other likes to cook and do things around the house. One favors being around dad, the other favors mom's company.

I. FACTS ABOUT THESE BROTHERS
     A. They were twins. 25:24.
     B. Esau was a hairy baby and Jacob was a "slick" baby. 25:25.
     C. Esau loved hunting and the outdoors; Jacob the indoors. 25:27. Perhaps, Jacob sun-burned easily...and didn't like the outdoors.
         1. Some men like to work outdoors - construction...
         2. Others prefer business professions indoors.
         3. Often times, physical make-up leads one into a profession

ILL: Very tall men become basket-ball players. Small, short-built men become horse jockeys...

     D. Each was favored by only one parent - 25:28.
         1. The parent favored the boy that favored what they favored
         2. Parents should develop a good, strong relationship with each child, regardless of areas pursued by them.
         3. Children should seek to please both parents, not just the one who's interests are the same!
Boys should seek to please their mothers as well as their fathers.
            (a) Mothers can teach what fathers often don't take the time to teach: cooking, washing, cleaning, love for simple things in life...
            (b) Fathers can teach what mothers often don't - How to get and keep a job, how to support a family, how to protect a family...
            (c) Anything not taught will have to be learned later.
            (d) If you cannot do something for yourself, you must depend on others to do it for you.
            (e) Learn from both father and mother to be a complete person!

II. AREAS OF STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES OF EACH 25:29-31

ILL: If you don't know any thing about auto-mechanics, when your car breaks down, you are at the mechanics' mercy! Same with any areas!

         4. Learn and know things in many areas.
         5. Be the kind of man that can do or fix any thing!
         6. Be around different kinds of people, even if you don't like what they are doing. Esau didn't like cooking... If he had spent some time around his mother, he wouldn't of been at Jacob's mercy!
         7. You will probably have the opportunity to use most of what you learn from others.
         8. You will get burned in areas where you are weak and pay a dear price, as Esau did.

III. THE MISTAKE OF ESAU'S LIFE 25:32-34
     A. Esau had a physical need.
     B. He let that need control his thinking.
     C. He traded temporary fulfillment of that need for his future!
     D. He sacrificed his future on the alter of the present!
     E. The temporal satisfaction of a physical need was not worth the price Esau paid for it!
         1. He traded the family priestly rights - Spiritual leadership in the family.
         2. He traded his double portion - the first born was to receive double inheritance, twice as much as the rest of the children, at his father's death.
         3. He traded the right to be in the line of the Messiah! Jesus would of been in Esau's family tree, but he traded that for some red soup - One bowl of chili!
     F. He did not realize what he had done at the start, but never forgot it throughout his life!
     G. You will have to live the rest of your life with the decisions you make when you are young!