· A battle has been declared
Genesis 3:15 (KJV) – “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel”.
· The Call & God’s Proclamation to Abraham
Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV) – “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of
the earth be blessed”.
Genesis 12:7-8 (KJV) – “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed will I give
this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto
a mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai
on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord”.
·
A decree has gone forth concerning the descendants
of Abraham in Egypt
Genesis 15:12-13 (AMP) – “When the sun was setting, a deep
sleep overcame Abram; and a horror (terror, shuddering fear, nightmare) of
great darkness overcame him. God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your descendants
will be strangers [living temporarily] in a land (Egypt) that is not theirs,
where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years”.
·
The call of Isaac, God tells Abraham where the seed shall be called
from.
Genesis 21:12 (KJV) – “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called”.
·
The Prophecy that went before the birth of Jacob
Genesis 25:21-26 (KJV) – “And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was
barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled
together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are
in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy
bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the
elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered
were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the
first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name
Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on
Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob…”
·
Jacob steals
Esau’s Birth right / blessings
Genesis 27:35-36 (KJV): These verses tell us of how Jacob with the help of
his mother deceived Isaac to take Esau’s blessings.
·
The result? Hatred from
Esau. Brethren, you cannot help God in His work. You only prolong its
manifestation when you try to do this.
Genesis 27:41 (KJV) – “And Esau hated Jacob because of
the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father
are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob”.
The Call of Jacob who was on the run for his life from Esau
his brother
Genesis 28:12-22 (KJV) – “And he dreamed, and behold a
ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the
angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the
God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in
thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And,
behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,
and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said,
Surely the Lord is in this place;
and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this
place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took
the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and
poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place
Bethel (brethren
this is the same place Abraham had his encounter with God) but the name of
that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow,
saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and
will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my
father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: And this stone, which I
have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me
I will surely give the tenth unto thee”.
So if the Lord does not give him anything, he will
not give to the Lord (Trade by Barter? You give me then I give you).
·
The result?
Genesis 47:7-9 (KJV) – “And Joseph brought in Jacob his
father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh
said unto Jacob, How old art thou? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, the days
of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have
the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of
the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage”.
These will not be our portion or that of our men of
courage in Jesus name, Amen.
Jacob ended up a miserable man, fulfilling the call
of God for his life in sorrow.
·
What sort of man was Jacob?
· He was easily
persuaded because of lack of vision and focus. Genesis 27:11-14.
· An intelligent
man who was a pretender, lacked wisdom, a cheat, cunning in his ways and a supplanter.
Genesis 27:35-36.
· He did not have a
mind of his own / procrastinate a lot. He danced to Rebekah, Rachael and
Laban’s tunes. He did not care to seek God in all things.
· He was prayer
less ( a prayer less Christian is a powerless
Christian). Genesis
28:1-4.
· He could perceive
spiritual things but lacked courage and
understanding of them. Genesis 28:12-22.
· He took the call
of God over his life for granted. He took it for what to eat, what to wear;
perishable things. Genesis 28:20-22.
· He was too
forward, not sensitive to culture (at the well, thinking he could marry the
younger before the older).
· He wasted 14
years of his life serving for a woman (Rachael). His love for her jeopardised
his destiny to the extent that he could be hired with his son’s mandrakes for
sex. Genesis 30:16.
· He was
spiritually careless. His daughter Dinah was defiled under his watch and
Rachael was able to steal her father’s idols.
· The spirit of fear
was his master and not God (he was not living for God but himself).
· All the things
Jacob acquired in the flesh were all stumbling blocks to him.
Are you a man with a
call of God over your life? Or do your men of courage have a call over their
lives? You need to go and study the life of Jacob and learn from it.
·
The God of mercy and compassion looked upon Jacob and
he arose
Genesis 31:3-4 (KJV) – “And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers,
and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. And Jacob sent and
called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock”.
Genesis 31:17-18 (KJV) - “Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; And
he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the
cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his
father in the land of Canaan”.
Brethren we want to
rise on behalf of our men of courage by praying the following:
·
Lord our Father, You
know our weaknesses, our fears and You know our cares; please help us this
morning in Jesus name.
· You are the
potter; we are the clay, break us and mould us - this is what we pray.
· Lord, do not let our
years be like Jacob’s; old, few but full of evil and sorrow.
· Lord Jesus, help us!
Holy Spirit of God help us!
· Lord Jesus, help us
not to ignore or take the visitations of God for granted.
· Lord Jesus, remove
foolishness from our lives and thinking.
· By Your power,
mercy and grace over our lives, we will not fulfil our destiny in sorrow like
Jacob in Jesus name.
· Let every Jacob
in our lives become Israel from today in Jesus name.
· Our journey of
life will not be prolonged more than You have planned for it O Lord in Jesus
name (The Israelites in the wilderness).
· Take us back to our Bethel O Lord and help us fulfil Your
purpose for our lives in Jesus name.
· Lord, help us to walk with You like Jesus did.
· Lord, help us to trust You with our lives in Jesus
name.
· Thank You Lord for hearing our prayers for in Jesus
name we pray. Amen.
