Stolen Blessing Genesis 27

Sermon Nuggets Mon Sept 3 The Stolen Blessing

Verses :Gen 27

We had an interesting dilemma occur in the politics of India when I was there. There was a modern day Robin Hood, a criminal and his band of merry men who would give food and material goods to the poor, while robbing the rich. As a result in the woods and forests around the area people would protect him from arrest from the government officials. While I was in Bangalore he kidnapped a very popular movie star which started rioting in the streets. The people were faced with a dilemma. Shall we turn him in for kidnapping our movie star, or not because he provides us with goods? Because he does some good, shall we go ahead and let him continue to do evil?

We are all faced sooner or later not so much always as what is right or what is wrong, but what is the lesser of two evils. Does the ends justify the means?  I know of evangelists who knowingly tell false stories in their sermons in order to convince people they need salvation. Since pe00ople get saved is it okay for him to tell false stories?

I know many Christians and churches that will be dishonest with people in order to raise and get money for various projects they think are important for the advancement of ministry. Some pastors will manipulate and misrepresent their beliefs in order to get a church call.  I am sorry to say I know of some of our own conference denominational leaders who purposely mislead in order to be in positions of political power.

I wonder if they don’t take Jacob and Rebekah as their examples instead of Jesus Christ. I wonder if we aren’t more tempted to do good things in bad ways because it seems to work instead of the way God wants us to follow him.

When you study Romans 3 sometime make a close examination of verses 7-8. In those verses Paul condemns those who say, "Let us do evil, that good may come." He is saying that doing wrong does not make things right.

That is the setting for our story today from the Bible as we look at the interplay of deceit among Isaac’s family and the passing on of the blessing. We will look at the problems. 

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Tues Sept 4 Our Will

Gen 27: 1-7 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

“Here I am,” he answered.

² Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. ³ Now then, get your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. ⁴ Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back,⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.

The Problem with Seeking to accomplish Our wills

Let me remind you of three important incidents from Isaac’s life as we now begin to look at the life of Jacob. First, God's intent was that the older son, Esau, would serve the younger son, Jacob. Genesis 25:22-23

            Secondly, Isaac loved Esau because of the venison he prepared, because he was a man’s man, because he was an outdoorsman and Isaac favored and loved Esau more than his twin brother Jacob. Likewise, Rebekah, the mother, loved Jacob, who became sort of a Mommies boy growing up. Favoritism breeds discontent in every family. But don’t be manipulated parents because every kid believes another is treated better than he or she is. That is part of human nature.

Thirdly, Esau despised his birthright and because of hunger sold it to Jacob. Jacob took advantage of Esau in order to gain the benefits of the birthright. Under God's plan, the birthright would be Jacob's. But Jacob went about getting it the wrong way.

Now recognizing those key elements we know that Isaac knew what God’s will was. Rebecah knew what God’s will was. God revealed the heart of Esau when he willingly gave up spiritual thing for a bowl of stew.

            Isaac is old when this occurs. He is probably 137 years, the same age at which his half-brother Ishmael died. Here he is taking to bed, complaining of his coming death and willfully determining to pass the blessing to Esau his favorite son, in spite of Gods’ earlier announcement that it should go to Jacob. Isaac was conniving to keep secret from his wife and youngest that he would go against God’s will in order to accomplish Gods’ blessing by doing it his own way.

           

Normally the blessing would have been given before the entire family because it was, in reality, an oral will which legally determined the distribution of goods and responsibilities. In spiritual homes there were also prophecies given in certain incidences.

Normally the birthright belonged to the eldest son. This entitled him to a double share of the property in addition to the privilege of assuming the father’s position of headship in the family. For the descendants of Abraham it determined the one through whom the covenant blessings would be given. But here, Isaac and Esau wanted to do this official blessing without the presence of Rebekah and Jacob because what they were seeking to do was wanting God to bless their wills rather than obey God’s will.

            Isaac wanted God to bless what he wanted, not to obey what God wanted with his eldest. Does that every happen to you? Do you pray asking God to bless your marriage without first seeking a godly spouse? Do you ask that God take care of your possessions without seeking if what you have is honoring to the Lord and being faithful steward of what He has allowed you to have? Some people pray more about getting a deer or a fish than seeking to win a neighbor or loved one to Jesus Christ. Some will ask prayer for their sports team to win and be faithful in attendance, but do very little to help in the church to assist in local ministry or seek to advance God’s Kingdom in missions? Do you want God to bless your will and wants, instead of obey his will and wants?

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Weds Sept 5 Our Ways

Gen 27: ¹¹ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I’m a man with smooth skin. ¹² What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”

¹³ His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”

¹⁴ So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. ¹⁷ Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

¹⁸ He went to his father and said, “My father.”

“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.”

²⁰ Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”

²² Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. ²⁴ “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.

“I am,” he replied.

²⁵ Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”

²⁷ So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
²⁸ May God give you of heaven’s dew  and of earth’s richness—
    an abundance of grain and new wine.
²⁹ May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers,
    and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed  and those who bless you be blessed.”

Seeking to Accomplish God’s will by Our ways

Esau knew that what his father was requesting was taken from him many years ago when he for a bowl of portage sold his birthright. Esau thought he could pull a quick one over on his brother and receive God’s blessing also. He went to get the wild game and cook the delicious meal and sneak one past his brother whom he didn’t like much anyway.

The final and compelling evidence of Esau’s disqualification for spiritual headship is his marriage to two Canaanite wives:And when Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite (Genesis 26:34). That was totally disdaining spiritual purity, Esau did not hesitate to intermarry with the Canaanites. God’s purposes for His people could never be achieved through such a person.

            Have you noticed how no one in the household trusted anyone else? Isaac did not trust his wife, nor did she trust her husband. Jacob knew that his father would not trust him. Neither of the two sons trusted the other. And Rebekah is listening and watching through the keyhole as Isaac and Esau have a conversation. Rebekah is correct  in clinging to the promise of God. Isaac was willfully rejecting that promise in favor of Esau, but she failed to trust God to bring the blessing to Jacob in his own time and His own way. So they were clearly illustration of doing God’s work in Man’s way instead of Gods’ way.

            Rebekah could easily have met the job requirements for a position with the CIA. She served as a counter-spy in the service of her son. She posed as the faithful, loving wife, but under all of this she sought to further Jacob’s interests going against her own husband. Rebekah, not Jacob, was the true mastermind behind the mission of outwitting Isaac and obtaining his blessing for Jacob. The text tells us that she “was listening.”

When you stop to think about it, the plan was an incredible one. How could Jacob whose whole personality, disposition and physical appearance so different from Esau manage to convince his father that he was his older brother?

Jacob can be praised for at least valuing spiritual things more than his brother,  But when you see how he operated I am disappointed. Now you might think he was only  submitting to his mother’s scheme. But he was no child. He adds to the scheme by lying and dragging the name of God into the deception.

People will often do things and not do things on whether it works more than whether it is right. Too many Christians are of the mistaken belief that if it works then it must be of God. That is a lie. “If it works God must honor it.” Not if it isn’t right. Not if it is inconsistent with the Bible. Because some churches are full of people doesn’t not necessarily mean they are in God’s will.

           

Notice how the sin progressed the more they got involved. First, he clothed himself in the skin of a goat. Then they stole the robes of Esau. Jacob lied with his lips and betrayed his father with a kiss just like Judas.

            Perhaps Jacob never intended this lie to become as big as it did, but nevertheless, it grew bigger and bigger with every statement he made. It began with the words “I am Esau your first-born” (verse 19). From this, lie began to be piled upon lie: “I have done as you told me” (verse 19); “eat of my game” (verse 19). In response to Isaac’s penetrating question, “Are you really my son Esau?,” Jacob replied, “I am” (verse 24). However, the lie that concerns me most is found in verse 20:And Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me.”

            Jacob invokes the name of God in his own deceit. That happens a lot. People will sound holy, all the while doing wrong. God never allows for unholy ways to further His own holy purposes. Jacob excused his sin by claiming that God was his partner. That is certainly using the name of God in vain.

We frequently say, “The Lord led me to …” when often it is something we have always wanted to do and we have finally worked up the courage (or the folly) to go ahead with it. “The Lord told me to …” “The Lord has blessed us by …” Be careful with such statements. They may be evidence of the same kind of thinking that caused Jacob to tell his father God had prospered him by giving him a goat rather than wild game. With what pious words we seek to conceal our sin!

Too often we think God needs our help to get His will done. He uses us to be sure, but how often do believers get ahead of God. We go places he hasn’t led us and make decisions we are sure are right without prayer. We have seen far to many churches apply church growth principles instead of dependence upon the power that comes from above.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Thurs Sept 6 – Results of Waywardness

Gen 27: ³⁰ After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. ³¹ He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

³² His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”

“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”

³³ Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”

³⁴ When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”

³⁵ But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

³⁶ Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

³⁹ His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be  away from the earth’s richness,  away from the dew of heaven above.
⁴⁰ You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”

⁴¹ Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. ⁴³ Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. ⁴⁵ When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”

Consequences of our Waywardness

            This is such a sad story as the results of seeking blessings turns into a broken and dysfunctional family. They each went their own way instead of the way of the Lord. They each sought to go a different route than how God would have go. But hindsight is better than foresight.

The first thing Rebekah should have done was to speak honestly and forthrightly to her husband about his contemplated sin. Under God he was suppose to bless Jacob, but instead wanted that birthright blessing to go to his eldest and favorite. Submission to authority never includes silence toward evil. We are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), even to those in authority over us (cf. Acts 16:35-40). Having fulfilled her responsibility to warn her husband of the consequences of the evil he had planned, Rebekah should have been content to leave the disposition of the matter to God, Who is all-powerful and all-wise. But her actions betrayed her lack of faith in the sovereignty of God.

If God is God, then let Him act on His own behalf, particularly in those times when we are unable to act in a way that is consistent with His Word.

The good that Rebekah tired to do was not accomplished. The blessing did go to Jacob which God would have arranged anyway, but the price was 20 years of unexpected exile for Jacob. Rebekah loved Jacob deeply, perhaps more than Isaac. She sought his success even with deception and deceit. But the consequence of her actions cost her separation from her son, which appears to have lasted for the rest of her life. So far as we can detect, once Jacob left for Haran he never saw his mother again. Rebekah underestimated the consequences of this sin, for she thought that Jacob would only need to be gone for a short time—until the death of Isaac.  But Isaac lived for a good forty years more until he died.

Jacob faced the inevitable results of sin also. He experienced an alienation from his father. He now had a brother who despised him and who looked for the day when he could put him to death (verse 41).

One Sunday School teacher asked her class if there were any commandment in the Bible as to how to get along with your brothers and sister. One boy thought and answered, “I know..Thou shalt not kill.” Well that is exactly what Esau proposed to do in his mind. He was so embittered and Jacob suffered the threat of his life.

And worst of all, everything he had gained in a material way he was unable to enjoy because he had to leave it behind to flee for his life. Sin does not pay!

If you are not trusting in God and are trying to do your own will instead of Gods or even God willing your own way, learn that the plotting of sin never work out and the paths of disobedience always has consequences and broken relationships with God and others.

           

But do you also remember what happened in actuality with Jacob and Esau in later years.  The blessing that Jacob stole said that he as to be lord over his brother and that the sons of his mother were to bow to him. Yet before Esau called Jacob his lord, Jacob thus saluted him in chp 32 and before Esau ever bowed to Jacob, Jacob bowed low before Esau Gen 33.

The of the conspiracy of Isaac and Esau are seen sooner. Isaac had sought to give all to his favorite son. Instead, he gave all to Jacob at Esau’s expense. Isaac set his heart on that which was contrary to the revealed will of God, and because of this his world came crashing down upon him when God’s purposes prevailed. Esau despised spiritual things and thus sold his destiny for a dinner. Then he attempted to get it back by renouncing his solemn oath and conspiring with his father to dishonestly regain what he had lost through his own profanity. Esau learned that there comes a point of no return in every man’s life when regret cannot bring a reversal of past decisions.

Indeed, all who have rejected Christ as Savior will live in eternal regret and remorse, but this will not overturn the consequences of living with their decision to live in independence from God .

           

Esau is taken by bitterness, Isaac by disappointment, Rebekah by loneliness, and Jacob as an exile. All because they want to do man’s will man’s way instead of God’s will God’s Way.

           

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Fri Sept 7 God’s Way

Verses- Heb 12: 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. ¹⁶ See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. ¹⁷ Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

Remembering God’s Way

      After seeing mans way of trying to accomplish God’s work and promises, we have the opportunity to see the whole story as presented in the Scriptures. God redeems. God forgives. God keeps his promises. Even when mankind by his efforts fail and face consequences, God continues with his larger plan and program. Don’t lose sight of the redemption that will happen. God takes what is and carries out his will bringing about reconciliation to himself and eventually to one another.

 God’s grace is evidenced in man’s sinfulness. The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9).Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the LORD, it will stand (Proverbs 19:21).

This is not to say that God makes man sin in order to achieve His purposes. Nor is it even to imply that God regards disobedience any less sinful because He turns evil into good. The sins of each party in this chapter are not glossed over or excused. No one has passed the responsibility for their actions on to God. No one can place the burden of guilt on God because of His decree. Sin is due to man’s depravity.

Sin always produces separation. It separates men from men, and men from God. Although he received the blessing, it did not make things right. Jacob had to flee for his life, and he ended up being deceived by his father-in-law. It wasn't until Jacob finally humbled himself before his brother that things were made right.

            God had only two to pick from -Esau and Jacob, and which one would you pick? The one who was careless about Gods’ grace because he was too wrapped up in hunting and fishing, sports, and entertainment, or one who wanted the birthright so badly he would deceive, misrepresents, manipulate, and lie to get it?

            Like so much of Scripture this true story is also a prophetic story that involves us all, not just Esau and Jacob. Heb 12:15-17 uses these brothers as an illustration of the salvation by grace giving by God. Although God is exceedingly gracious and is forever tempering justice with mercy there are nevertheless choice in life that cannot be undone and consequences of sin that are thereafter unavoidable. If you reject the grace of God in Christ now, who knows that you will ever again experience a spiritual melting heart and have an opportunity to turn to Him? If you reject the revealed Word of God and do what you know to be wrong,  you may never have a chance again to make it right.

            Tears mean nothing. Esau wept, but his tears were of frustrated selfishness and not repentance. For repentance is turning from sin to do what God desires, stop doing man’s will and mans way, but the will of God becomes the will of man and the ways of God become in obedience and faith the ways of man, therein his true blessing both in the end and in the means. God desires to show Himself faithful.

            The point is Gods’ sovereign will is done in spite of our and any other persons’ opposition to it, or even misguided will or ways or wisdom. God accomplishes his will in spite of the workings of sinful people

           

Margie Haack writes in World Magazine of her story. Her husband’s grandmother died and his grandfather remarried later in life. The woman moved into his home sold her house, gave her money to her children. But when Grandfather died his wife quickly sold the house and had an auction to sell all the things including his stuff that should have gone to his children and grandchildren. It was at the auction that Margie and her husband bid to get some Red Wing Pottery, stoneware of the last century. It was an appreciation piece given to customer who traded at his great grandfather small town store. Now they were rare collectibles. And these were promised as an inheritance to them. But as they bid on their items an antique dealer with more money kept the price higher than they could afford and with deep hurt feelings they didn’t get any of the items which was their inheritance.

           

1 Peter 1:4 says, There is an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for us. No one can steal it. No one can trick us out of it. It is glorious All the pottery and all the material goods of Jacob or Esau are paltry, but the promise represents a greater inheritance from God that points to a family of God comprised now of Jew and Gentile, Black and white, rich and poor, and all the tongues of the earth. It was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross and it is offered to you and to me to receive by faith. That is God’s will that is Gods’ way. That is grace even that overcomes all our sin.

            Is your name written down to receive this inheritance from above? We’ve seen the problems of men doing things mans’ way. Now go God’s way and see how He works in your life and in he world.

Pastor Dale

Following Abraham's Footsteps Genesis 26

Sermon Nuggets Mon August 27 

Gen 26: ³ Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 

Following in Father’s Footsteps                                

            One young father left his house to walk to the bar. It was winter time and he left his footprints in the snow. He heard a noise behind him and turned around only to find his son placing one foot after another in his dad’s footprint.  ‘What are you doing?’ he asks his pajama clad youngster. “Daddy, I’m following in your footsteps.”

            The dad told him to go back into the house. As he continued on the way he realized where those footprints were leading and wondered if that’s where he wanted his son to be. He returned back into the house mindful that parents do lay down paths for kids to follow whether we mean to or not.

                       

                        Search institute reported from a survey conducted in the Braham High School. It has identified 40 positive assets and values that are important in developing character and adjustment as a meaningful member of society.. Kids with over 30 of the 40 assets do very well in adjustment to society as a responsible citizen. The results of this survey showed some sobering statistics. There were many positive signs among some students, but many concerns that are exhibited as well. As we talked there was an agreement among the pastors that there were no fast and quick answers. We needed the power of God and commitment to pray together for our community. I hope that you feel burdened to pray for our young people.

            What also became apparent to us was that we have more of an adult problem than a kid problem because much of what we see demonstrated stems from home and family life. We have witnessed parents cursing their children, telling them they are no good. Only 20 % of those surveyed feel as if the school cares. Only 48% say they have a significant adult role model. What we see happening is that we are slowing seeing the results of a society that has little time for God and what He says will make a blessed and happy life, and trading it in with lies from the world.

            11% of the sixth grade class last year admitted to either having tried or seriously considered suicide.  Dear people we need to look inward and ask God what part we as a church, community and parents play in being an example. We need to confess where we have done wrong and seek Gods’ help in changing.

As we look at Isaac’s life now we see how much he followed in the footsteps of his father Abraham. We look at the importance of the footprints we leave behind.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Tues Aug 28 

Gen 26: Now there was a famine in the land —besides the earlier famine of Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. ² The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.³ Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴ I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, ⁵ because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws. ” ⁶ So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

Footprints Resting in the Will of God-  

            In the passage we read God gives Isaac a direction and revelation of his will. The account begins with a famine similar to the one which induced Abraham to leave the land of Canaan and go to Egypt.

Let’s face it regardless of how good things go there will be hard times that come upon us. Famine is one thing over which we have no control. Famine examples in the Bible is frequently associated with faith, at least figuratively. In fact, you cannot be a man or woman of faith and not have famines or dry times in your life. There are times when, for no particular reason that you can think of when things begin to go wrong-you feel barren and fruitless, feel that God is not accessible, that he does not care. Everyone goes through these times. It was true in the life of Abraham, and true in the life of Isaac.

Isaac followed the precedent his father Abraham set. He started to go to Egypt. It seemed the thing to do. There were resources in Egypt, for, unlike Canaan, Egypt was not dependent upon rain. Its economy was based on the annual flooding of the Nile, and often Egypt had supplies of grain when no other part of the Near East could feed its people. So Isaac left the land.  It seemed the reasonable thing to do to meet needs, but it wasn’t God’s will for his life.

God tells us that he is going to supply our needs according to his riches in glory. But when a time of pressure comes, when famine strikes us, immediately we begin to look around for an alternative to faith, and we forget that God is true to his word. Now God gives again to Isaac what his will is. He was to stay in the land and trust the Lord to provide. He was given the same word already promised to Abraham. Now obey, like Dad.

While we were traveling one summer we listened to audio books in the car. One book was one of C.S. Lewis' novels, The Silver Chair, from the Narnia series. Many of you are familiar with they way he weaves in Biblical theme through the mystical land of Narnia as various characters symbolize the spiritual warfare going in the Bible. In this story two children were commissioned by Aslan, the lion, to seek to find the son of King Caspian who had been lost for some years. Aslan gave the kids four signs to follow which would lead them to the prince. It was very important that they do exactly what they had been told.

“But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly; I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters."

Well, they did have trouble following the will of the lion just like we do now. We have the revealed word of God. We have the fellowship of believers. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but we live in a world which is satanically full of smog. The air is thick in the valleys of Narnia. And it is easy to forget the truth which is revealed in a clear and unmistakable way on the mountain. Therefore we need to go back again and again and again to the promises-rehearse them, remember them, cling to them. "Remember the signs...nothing else matters."

Isaac forgot the signs, and he fled away from the promised land toward Egypt. So God gives him a clear direction of his will.

“Isaac I told you once this is the land I have for you. Now stay here and I will bless you.” Gerar also was a place of his childhood home. Abraham and his family were close to the royal family, and it was from a former Abimelech (which appears to be a title, like Pharaoh or Caesar) that Abraham received the deed to certain parcels of land near Gerar, and the right to dig wells and maintain them. So Isaac had the right to settle there, and felt comfortable with these people.

Now Isaac could rest in the will of God. He could have peace that every thing would turn out alright because he had a promise from God and He was in God’s hands. That is the solution to our famines. Go to the word and trust and believe that God will do what he says he will do. In that will we will have peace.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Weds Aug 29 

Gen 26:7-10 ⁷ When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister, ” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

⁸ When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹ So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? ”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”

¹⁰ Then Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

Footprints Reacting in the Fear of Man-   

We realize that just like his father Abraham, Isaac is now following in the same footsteps that are led by fear instead of faith, of selfishness instead of purity. Just like Abraham, a number of years earlier, told the older Abimelech that Sarai was his sister, so now Isaac is telling he people under the leadership of Abimelech the younger that Rebekah is his sister.

Those women are very beautiful. I am impressed that both women are older, but real knock outs. Both husbands feared for their lives believing that if the Philestines knew they were their wives they would be killed so they could take these women as their own. Can you imagine the danger these husbands put their wives under? That certainly is not faith. He is not taking the responsibility to love, cherish and protect.

Even when you are walking in the will of God you can still fall back in other areas in the flesh and in fear.  The things you say you will not do you end up doing. Even though Isaac was in the place God wanted him to be, he was not living like her should.

That fear was seen in his father. This is a sobering thought for those of us who are fathers: our children will face fears, and commit mistakes and be sinful just like we were because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Even as Christians we will sin and should not be surprised when our children will learn the lessons the same hard way we do.

Abimelech saw clearly that had any man taken Isaac's wife, he would have been guilty of adultery. We often think of the Israelites as living in an island of morality surrounded by a sea of gross immorality. But that was not always the case. Many times in Scripture we find people outside of Israel rebuking the patriarchs for their moral failures.

I wonder if Abimelech didn’t also learn this from his father. His father had a very great regard for Abraham and his family. He no doubt heard the stories about how his God provided and protected and blessed and they wanted a good relationships. He no doubt also got from his father, how you should take another’s wife and He made that a law.                            He learned Rebekah was Isaac’s wife when he observed their private moments. He knew brothers don’t treat their sisters in that romantic manner and therefore confronted Isaac and warned his people, as God once again protected the women from danger.

            Why do we have such a hassle when it comes to a judge putting up the 10 commandments in his courthouse? Why does the nation rise up and scream this is wrong. Does not Scripture teach us that even when the ungodly follow the ways of the Lord in life, even if they do not accept Christ, it will still go better for them?

           

As we have been seeing in the film series “Speechless” being shown during Sunday School reactions in our political correct society will attack any public reference to God or the moral teachings from the Bible. The homosexual coalition has put pressure on companies, like Chick-fil-a to be quiet about their support for traditional marriage, and pressure other companies, like Home Depot to give large donations to their cause. People that express disapproval against sin soon  must find themselves the object of ridicule and harassment. We see the television programs continually being replaced by vulgar and offensive shows. The increase in the last couple of years of nudity on prime time TV has increased over 400%. In spite of voices of  parents protesting in favor of censorship and want trash off the air the network officials claim freedom of speech allows and even promotes the rights of views of lewd behavior to be broadcast. There is something amazingly confusing that Hollywood can censor people who stand up for moral behavior, but promote violence, explicit sex and say we must be broad minded about this. There used to be a national respect for things of God even though people were not Christians, No more. It is an offense to our society, and we are paying the consequences and people are wondering why.

Isaac was  reacting to the fear of men. It is about time we stand up and be ridiculed for righteousness sake, and repent of our sins of silence and indeed of even participating in evil and calling it good, because we do not want to offend anyone. Our job is it to save our society. For to say no more is also an act of love.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Thurs Aug 30 

Verses Gen 26: 12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15 So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.

16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

Footprints Reaping in the Blessing of God- 

           

Just like God protected Sarai from harm, so God protected Rebekah from harm. Both father and son in their respective generations were rebuked by the Kings for their lying. And they go back to live life the way God intended and get this; God blesses them for returning to faith. There is blessing on the way back to God.

            There are people Satan wants to believe that when you have blown it and failed that God is done with you. You’ve had your chance now there is no more. If there is anything you see the in Old Testament stories it is the patience and long suffering of God who wants us to come back to reap his blessings.

            Now if I were a preacher of wealth and health this would be a key passage I would point everyone to and say blessings dear people mean that God will make you wealthy. Look what happened to Isaac when he repented and returned to the Lord. Repent and turn to the Lord and you will find more money than what you know what to do with.

            When we look at the Word we want it to say what it says not what we want it to say. What does it say? Isaac did his part. He worked the land, got the seed, planted the crops- blessing doesn’t just fall on our laps, without responsibility to show our faith and our part in depending on God. What we don’t have control over is how fruitful the crops are going to be, how cooperative the weather. How the machines stand up with appropriate maintenance. I don’t know how wealthy Isaac got, but with wealth comes power and influence and that is what concerned the people living around him. Jealousy crept in and they didn’t want him around. They tried to outdo Isaac and it didn’t happen.

            Now there was vandalism done to the wells, and no doubt racial slurs that happen with jealousy. The complaints came even from the King who should have known better, but it was clear- It’s time to leave.

            There is a hymn we sing. Count your many blessing name them one by one. Count your many blessings and see what God has done.

            Isaac lived in a culture where wealth was a sign of divine blessing to the people around. I am wondering if that wasn’t why God gave materially, with crops, and servants, and hired hands- so the people could see the work of God in his life.

            Although Abraham was a warrior when it came to protecting his rights, he gave up his rights to Lot and his family when there would be a family quarrel and tension among the servants. Isaac now finds these very wells are becoming a problem once again only this time with his neighbors who are jealous of his wealth.

In the first case his herdsmen found a well that belonged to Abraham, removed the dirt and debris from the well, and found a fresh spring. And it was theirs. These wells belonged to Isaac. He had every right to these wells. Abraham had secured them through a treaty with Abimelech, and Isaac bore the title deed to these wells and the parcels of land which went with them But Abimelech's herdsmen quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, so Isaac abandoned the well.

Well digging in that part of the country is no insignificant task. Water lies 40 or 50 feet beneath the surface, and usually the digging is through many feet of hard rock. So it is one thing to find a well which already has been dug and remove the dirt. It is quite another to dig a new well. Isaac did not know if he could find another well, but he abandoned this one. He called it "Esek", meaning, "injustice. He could have kept it--either by force, or by insisting upon his rights--but he did neither. The account also says that Isaac was stronger than the Philistines. He could have taken these wells at any time and held them. But he chose not to. They were his by right, but he chose not to defend his rights.

He moved about fifteen miles away in the valley of Gerar and dug another well. The Philistines contested this one, too, so he called it "Sitnah" or "adversity". Our word "Satan", or "adversary", comes from it. He did not fight over this well, either; he left it and went to another place and dug another well. By this time he was about 25 miles away from Gerar, and the herdsmen of Abimelech left him alone. He named this well "Rehoboth," "broad place"--"because," he said, "at last the Lord has brought us into a broad place, has made room for us." He could have fought for his rights, but he did not; he laid them aside. He let the Lord fight for him, and the Lord brought him into a broad place.

While Isaac may not have realized it for some time, it was the disputes over the ownership of the wells he dug or reopened that served to guide him in the direction of the land of promise.

Notice up to this time Isaac’s decision as to where he should stay was based upon the finding of abundant water and the absence of hostilities. But now we are told that he moved on to Beersheba, with no reason stated for this move.  Beersheba was the first place that Abraham had gone with Isaac after they came down from the “sacrifice” on Mount Moriah God had been guiding him back to the land of promise, back to those places where Abraham had walked in fellowship with God. The decision was shown to be the right one, for God immediately spoke words of reassurance: vs. 24.

Notice especially the order in which Isaac set up residence in Beersheba: First he  built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, secondly he pitched his tent there; and lastly his servants dug a well v25.

Previously the touchstone for knowing the will of God had been circumstances—in particular, Isaac stayed wherever he dug a well, found sufficient water, and was not opposed. Yet in this verse the sequence of events is reversed. The place for God’s people is the place of God’s presence. The place of intimacy, worship, and communion with God is the place to be. Material needs are thus considered last, while spiritual needs are primary. But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

We have rights, legitimate rights which often are taken from us by oppression and injustice and adversity. And if we fight for them and insist upon them, we create havoc, and destroy relationships in the process. We may get what we want, or at least partially what we want, but what a wake of wreckage and destruction we leave behind! Isaac did not fight for his rights, and God supplied his needs.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Fri Aug 31

Verses: Gen 26:26-34²⁶ Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.²⁷ Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”

²⁸ They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”

³⁰ Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.

³² That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” ³³ He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵ They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

Footsteps Revealing the Work of God

God supplied Isaac's needs out of his riches in glory. The people saw how Isaac reacted. Instead of fighting he was willing to leave things up to God and God continued to bless in such a way the people realized it was God’s doing. They came to ask forgiveness and make amends and form a treaty of peace. Should Isaac forgive or not? What would you do? Isaac signed the treaty and the peace was greater than just not fighting anymore.

            Jesus said it, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  If the Lord forgives us our debt of ten thousand talents, we must be willing to forgive our fellow-servant his debt of a hundred pence. If any of you have had a squabble with any other remember the rights that are given over to God. And the forgiveness that is granted. How can you do otherwise having received blessing and grace of God in your lives? 

If you are going to pick friends the best ones to pick are those who are friends of God. Abimelech was not dumb. He reasoned “If God is with him, I better be too.”

I believe that God has much to teach us by observing that Isaac’s life as he followed in the footsteps of his father. Both rested in the will of God, reacted in the fear of man, received the blessing of God, released rights to God, and realized their witness to others about God. The similarities seem to go on and on.

There is a process, a long and extensive one, which God uses to bring a person first to Himself and then to maturity. It began for Abraham and Isaac in a covenant relationship with God. For Christians today it is the new covenant instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ when He shed His blood on the cross of Calvary in order to provide for our forgiveness of sins and for our salvation: This new covenant is in Christ’s blood by death.

Everyone must begin his relationship at this very place, the place of personal relationship with God through acceptance of the covenant He has offered. And from this beginning we embark upon a spiritual voyage that is, in many ways, very similar to that of Abraham and Isaac. When we are able to look back over our lives from the vantage point of eternity and see the footprints we leave I wonder how much they are in the imprints left by our patriarchs. Times of fear, times of sin, times of renewal, times when in maturity we give our rights to God

The way we can best help our own children is by making certain that our footsteps are such that we would want our children to walk in them. If Isaac’s experience was, to some degree, a reflection of his father’s life, what a frightening thought that is. If our children’s lives are to mirror our own, what an awesome responsibility we have as parents to walk a path of obedience and submission to the will of God.

 The root sin, as I perceive it, was unbelief or lack of faith. In each case of deception, Abraham and Isaac lied out of fear. This fear was the result of an inadequate concept of God. They did not grasp the sovereignty or the omnipotence of God in such a way as to believe that God could protect them under any and every circumstance.

God’s desire is blessing dear people. It is not that you will be wealthy necessarily in the things of this world. Too often those things keep our focus off of God and our ourselves. Often His intent through the famines and through the oppositions make us more dependent upon Him that we might be usable for His service as a witness to others of the greatness of our God. And that our children follow us in that blessing.

In time in all of life we can see the work of God in his grace, love, discipline and mercy.

Pastor Dale

Grandchildren of Abraham Genesis 25

Sermon Nuggets Mon Aug 20, Grandchildren

Gen 25: 1-5 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites.⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

   ⁵ Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. ⁶ But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

Grandkids, the next Generation                                            

            One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes. She noticed several strands of white hair sticking out from her dark hair. She asked, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?” She replied, “Well every time you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.” The little girl thought about this for a while and said, “Momma, how come all of grandma’s hairs are white?”    

As most of you know Judi and I are grandparents and have the delight to regularly have Madelyn overnight. She is under a year so it is a treat to have her want to climb on our laps and give hugs. There is a special bond between many grandparents and grandkids.  Many grandparents will say “If I knew that having grandkids was so much fun I would have had them first.’ Someone told me why grandparents and grandkids tend to get along so well. They have a common enemy.

            Even though we are looking at the life of the patriarchs now in our series on Genesis, we come now to the death of Abraham and the stories of his son Isaac and grandson,  Jacob.

            Remember the main promise God gave to Abraham  Gen 18:17-19? All children are blessings from God to parents, but more so a blessing to Abraham because the promise of descendents was given to Abraham and Sarah. We saw the anguish of Sarah when she was childless. We saw how desperate Abraham and Sarah were to fulfill the promise of having kids by using Hagar the slave woman to give birth to a son. But when the Isaac, promised son finally came to them, they rejoiced with laughter in their old age. 

            Notice at the end of Abraham’s life there are two sons representing two nationalities as we see the Old Testament unfold- the Arabs and the Jews. However you might be surprised to find Abraham had others sons. As we look at the passage we see that God gave more children to Abraham than just the two. Those who are mentioned here would have had to have been born to a man at least 140 years old if Abraham married Keturah after Sarah died and Isaac was married to Rebekah. These children listed in verse 3 would have been more of a miracle than Isaac.

            Some people wonder why she is referred to as a wife in verse 1 and apparently a concubine in verse 6.  I Chron 1:32 also identifies his concubine as Katurah. A concubine held a position somewhat above that of a slave, yet she was not free, nor did she have the status or rights of a wife.

            Now different people will speculate. One says Abraham had a concubine on the side during all this time and now she and the children are mentioned at they end of his life. Hardly seems to fit the context when Ishmael was born and God sternly rebuked their lack of faith and renounced their sin and disobedience. Ishmael, the first born of Abraham was his delight. And afterwards this couple waited for the promised one. 

            Another side of the argument asks the obvious. Why would the Bible make such a point of  Isaac being born long after reproduction was dead in the body. Paul referred to Abraham as being “as good as dead” (Romans 4:19) so far as bearing children was concerned. Wouldn’t it be more so if Abraham was not only 100 but 140 years old when he started having another family with another wife?

            Some speculate that God preformed more miracles by letting Abraham have children up to his death of 175 years old with his a slave woman that he treated as his wife, though she was a concubine, or mistress. That’s possible, but it seems odd that Abraham is applauded more for his faith in later years than early ones and completely ignore God’s desire for purity.

I agree with those who suggest was probably the slave that took Hagar’s place, but as a foreigner she was not from the heritage of Ur like Rebekah and Sarah were. Therefore Katurah and her sons were not looked upon as proper heirs- so even though she was legally Abraham wife, in a sense they were illegitimate, not in the sexual sense, but in the divine line for they were of a different race. 

            However you want to interpret these verses the fact remains that the prophecy of God came true that as you look at those lists other nations came about in his descendents.

Ishmael the father of Arab nations; Esau the Edomites, Jacob the father of the Jews, or Israelites, And these grandkids were identified as beginning Midianites, and Letushites, and Asshurites. Indeed, Abraham was the father of many nations. Thus the promise to Abraham in Genesis 17:4 was fulfilled: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.”

After a rich and full life Abraham died at the age of 175. This, too, was in fulfillment of the word of God to Abraham: “And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age” (Genesis 15:15).

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Tues Aug 21 Physical Blessing

Gen 25: ⁷ Altogether, Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸ Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. ⁹ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelahnear Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, ¹⁰ the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. ¹¹ After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

          ¹² This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. ¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps.

            17 Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.

There is a Physical Blessing

I am seen many pictures where grandma and grandpa are sittingin the middle of a group of people comprised of their adult children, their spouses, and dozens of kids who are their grandchildren and great grandchildren. The comment is often made that from those two came generations of people. With a glow people not only point out how they are related but the blessing of family.

Families tend to gather for weddings, funerals, and family reunions. Ishmael did return to bury his father in cooperation with Isaac. They buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field that Abraham had purchased for Sarah, himself, and their descendants.

           

Now the point of this passage is the result of physical blessings promised by God. Having kids and grandkids is a gift from God. The Bible tells us no one is an accident. No one is a mistake. Each birth is a creation of God, but to Abraham this blessing is especially meaningful because he is not only way to old for having children, but when most are dying Abraham is demonstrating the promise of God in personally beginning the descendents of the nations.

Ishmael was the father of twelve princes who settled vast territories and founded cities. He lived in defiance of his relatives, refusing to be put down, despite his impoverish beginnings. Abraham had always had a special place in his heart for his first son Ishmael. Only with reluctance and under great pressure did Abraham send this son away. Abraham would have been content for God’s purposes and promises to have been fulfilled in Ishmael. He petitioned God to look with favor upon this boy. God refused to substitute this child of self-effort for the child of promise, but He did promise to make him a great nation. And this passage shows the physical blessing.

In this verse one more promise is shown to be fulfilled, the promise God made to Hagar years before: “And he will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.” So this foreknowledge of God was demonstrated as it came about. They fought and rebelled and did not get along.

           

Now the Bible talks about physical blessings we receive from the hand of God. Children are a physical blessing, grandchildren are a physical blessing. The food we eat the air we breathe, the work of our hands, the houses and clothes, and wives and husbands, the lands we own and the inheritances we accumulate are all referred to in Scriptures as good things. But for some people then and now the physical blessings is all the want. They do not want God. As long as they are having pleasures, and families, and money and jobs they have not need for God being first place in their lives. Most of the world experiences the physical blessings of God to various degrees, but there is something more than God wants to tell the world and chooses to do so through the testimony of his personal relationship with the Israelite people. They are to be his people and He is to be their God with no other gods before Him.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Weds August 22 Spiritual Blessing

Verses: Gen 25: ¹⁹ This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

  2 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord  answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

²³ The Lord said to her,“Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
    and the older will serve the younger. ”

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁵ The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. ²⁶ After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

 There is a Spiritual Blessing

The Spiritual blessing came to Isaac. God said he would have the line of Jesus Christ coming through the lineage of Isaac, but also they would on again and off again worship and obey God.

            God chose Isaac. He married the woman God intended for him. He knew that God’s promise and blessing was to him. So when Rebekah was unable to conceive, Isaac prayed that God would open Rebekah's womb.

            I suspect there were lots of questions from well meaning family members. "Don't you think it's about time to start raising a family?" They probably got more advice than they desired. But God had promised that he would bless the descendants of Abraham and Isaac was the legal heir and his wife was from the race God wanted to use as his illustration of blessing and faith. So faith was demonstrated when Isaac interceded with God on Rebekah’s behalf, and she became pregnant in answer to his prayers.

            During her pregnancy Rebekah was perplexed by the intense struggle that took place within her womb, so she inquired of God to determine the reason. And the Lord informed her she was to give birth to twins. Each of the children would be the father of a nation of people. Of these two nations, one would prevail over the other. Normally, the first-born son would have been the heir through whom the covenant blessings would have passed. While the father could designate a younger son to be the owner of the birthright, this was the exception, not the rule.

Here again we find similarities between this couple's story and that of Isaac's parents. The grandkids of Abraham was more than a physical blessing this was a spiritual blessing. Jacob and Esau would be 15 years old before grandpa would have died. He would have seen them and held them in his arms. He would have offered sacrifices of thanks to God who keeps his promises. These twins were a delight to Grandpa because of what God was doing through Sarah’s son.

Esau was born first, and he came from the womb red and hairy. The Hebrew word to describe the color of Esau sounded similar to Edom and may have prepared the way for his nickname as it was decided in verse 30. The name Esau somewhat resembles the sound of the word meaning ‘hairy.’

           

Jacob came forth from the womb grasping the heel of his brother Esau. Jacob’s name was suggested by the Hebrew word for ‘heel.’ Later events, such as the barter of the birthright in verses 27-34, indicate that the name, taken in its negative sense, referred to Jacob’s grasping and conniving nature.

When you are looking for spiritual blessing faith is involved in believing God and waiting for Him to accomplish what he wants in you life. A personal relationship with God is what he desires and that is only possible by putting your faith in Jesus Christ, the promised one all these stories point to. He is the one who died for your sins. He is the one who went without physical blessings so that you and I might have spiritual blessings, eternal blessings. God provides for us a gift, not based on our goodness, but on his.

           

Spiritual blessings continue to come after salvation as we exercise our faith by trusting God for the direction of our lives. When we turn to God for help we must trust His timing as well as His ability. Twenty years is a long time to wait to have kids after marriage, but that was what Isaac did and God proved faithful to his promise. He does not promise all couples they will have kids, but that was Isaac’s promise.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Thurs Aug 23 Prophetic Blessing

Verses Gen 25: 23-28  The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other,  and the older will serve the younger. ”

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁵ The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. ²⁶ After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

There is a Prophetic  Blessing

The prophecy in vs. 23 begins to be carried out in the rest of the chapter. It speaks of divine election. Before the birth of the children God determined that it would be the younger child who would possess the birthright and thus be the heir of Isaac so far as the covenant promises were concerned. The older, Esau, would serve the younger, Jacob. Now this had nothing to do with works. This was spoken when the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad. God wanted to use their lives and births to teach us all lessons about God. It is a prophetic blessing.

Indeed Jacob connived to take the birthright away from his older brother, but God wanted to show in lots of ways in the Bible that the first plan doesn’t work. God has a second plan up his sleeve which is better. We see that in the stories of Cain and Able, Ishmael and Isaac, law and grace, Esau and Jacob. Adam and Jesus Christ.

While we must acknowledge that God in His omniscience knew all of the deeds of both these sons from eternity past, Paul says in Romans 9 that this was God’s will.

            In addition to the election and even the circumstance surrounding the birth of the twins, three factors played heavily in the relationship of the two boys which involved some of the choices that they made as well as their differences. Esau seems to have been a masculine, outdoor-type man who loved to do the things a father could take pride in. He was a skillful hunter, and he knew how to handle himself in the outdoors. In our culture I believe Esau would have been a football hero in high school and college. He was a real macho man, the kind of son a father would swell with pride to talk about among his friends. Whereas Jacob was entirely different.

While Esau seems to have been aggressive, daring, and flamboyant, Jacob appears to be just the opposite: quiet, pensive, more interested in staying at home than in venturing out and making great physical conquests. Not that he had no ambition to get ahead, quite the contrary; but Jacob couldn’t see the sense in tracking about the wilderness just to bag some game. In the solitude of his tent Jacob could mentally reason out how to get ahead without getting his hands dirty and without taking dangerous risks.

The second factor which tended to separate the two sons was the divided loyalty between their parents. Isaac seems to have been the outdoor-type himself; at least he had an appetite for the wild game that Esau brought home. Esau was the kind of son that Isaac could proudly take with him wherever he went. Rebekah, on the other hand, favored Jacob. She probably thought Esau was crude and uncultured. Jacob was a much more refined person, gentle and kind, the type of son a mother would be proud of. Besides, Jacob probably spent more time at home than Esau did. Each parent seems to have identified too much with a particular son, thus creating divisions which would be devastating. This favoritism also brought about disharmony between Isaac and his wife in their later years. Favoritism as parents is not good.

The third factor was the underhanded means by which Jacob wrested the birthright from his brother. While Esau had been out in the field, Jacob had been at home preparing a stew. Weary and famished, though hardly at death’s door, Esau was enticed by the fragrant aroma of the meal. Esau greedily pled for some of “that red stuff.” Rather than showing kindness to his brother, Jacob saw this as an opportunity to gain the advantage. Here Jacob’s greedy, grasping disposition rose to the forefront. Without a hint of shame Jacob bartered, “… First sell me your birthright”. With this Esau’s carnal nature emerged, “… Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” Now I don’t think Esau was starving to death on his death bed. He was impulsive wanting what he wanted now and not wait to cook up something himself because he was hungry and willing to exchange his destiny for a dinner.

Jacob made him swear a solemn oath declaring the sale of the birthright. This done, the meal was served, and Esau went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright” So it is that the writer to the Hebrews can speak of Esau as a man who has no appreciation whatsoever for spiritual and eternal things.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Fri Aug 24 Birthright Blessing

Verses: Gen 25: ²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright. ”

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

There is a Birthright Blessing

Now here is a prophetic blessing to Jacob through the Birthright. To understand the significance of this bargain you need to know what a "birthright" meant. You would receive double the inheritance of all others. You would be the leader of the family. You would be the one through whom the promises of God would pass. Esau has a choice: should he take the food and give up the birthright, or should he hold on to this most valuable possession and go and try to find food somewhere else? Esau chooses to live for the moment and swears that the birthright now belongs to Jacob. Esau gives up all these benefits for a bowl of stew! Haven't we been known to do the same things?

Some choose the pleasures of passion over the purity of marriage. Some choose the applause of our friends rather than stand true for the Lord. Some choose what is easy over what is right. Some indulge their appetite for more stuff over the wisdom of financial responsibility. Some choose to fill their minds with garbage rather than devote their minds to the Lord. Some choose to hoard what they have rather than to reach out to the needy.

Esau had to choose between living for the moment and living for eternity. That same choice faces each of us. Every day we must choose between temporary pleasures and holiness before the Lord. Esau reminds us to keep our focus.

 The word shows us the foreknowledge, election and choice all in this one statement. Esau sold his birthright because Esau “despised his birthright”. Like Isaac, the world in which we live prefers the Esaus and dislikes the Jacobs. We are going to find later what a stinker Jacob is also. He is a sinner, selfish, conniver. But he wanted what God was offering, which was grace. Esau didn’t. I think this is also a type of embracing the birthright we have explained in the New Testament. John 1: 11-13  “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

As we witnessed awesome accomplishment by athletes of the world competing in the Olympics some were asked, “If you were offered a banned performance-enhancing substance, with two guarantees- you will not be caught, and you will win would you take it?” 195 said yes, 3 said no. Then asked,  “if you are offered a drug knowing you will not be caught and you will win every competition you enter for the next 5 years then you will die form the side effects would you take it?” More than half said yes. The desire for the immediate pleasure, fame and goal to which they all had been working is like selling your birthright for a pot of portage.

Yet sports, movies, sex, drinking, drugs, pleasures are so attractive to our society and the things of God have no draw. In spite of your sins will you give it up and go with God? Most say no. God uses this to teach us lessons. What does it profit you if you gain the whole world, gain all the gold medals, make your business flourish, become the riches person in your school, have the most popular boy or girl friend, or car whatever and lose you birthright to heaven?

I believe that just as Abraham attempted to convince God to choose Ishmael for the heir of promise, Isaac hoped that God would change His mind concerning Esau. He struggled at this point with God’s will, but don’t we all in some areas of our lives too?

Now you may not agree with me on this, but hear me out. God’s blessing to the one son still left the other to make choices for or against God. We cannot condone Jacob’s sins just because God chose to favor him. He still was wrong in some of the things he did. But he did want the gift of God and Esau didn’t. And it was a gift not based on works but based on God’s will.

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We dare not discriminate against any nation, Jewish or Gentile. We should bless the Jews and the nation Israel, but this does not necessitate our condoning that which is clearly sin. Let us remember that at this time in Israel’s history as a nation they are rejecting God and Christ, Jesus the Messiah. As a whole the Arab nations have rejected the God of the Bible for a moon god redefined by Mohammed. Many Jews and many Arab folks embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. The witness to the people of all nations is in our hands.

While we may commend the bravery of the Jews and their intestinal fortitude, let us not call evil good, or inadvertently discriminate against the Arab peoples. Some will blindly endorse every action of the nation of Israel which must be always first be questioned on biblical grounds. Without getting political there is no other country in the Middle East that honors freedom and democracy. We value that highly and there are also other reasons to make alliances.

Finally as Christians do not use shrewdness, but that is only a euphemism for unethical practices. Jacob had good ends, but did not use good means. As a believer in Christ be a person of integrity and not follow Jacobs example here. Ends do not justify the means. Jacob was one who valued the birthright. Some believers are so committed to causes they can kill abortion doctors for instance, or lie to cult members, or launder money to Christian ministries because the goal is so important. The goal is never more important than godliness  (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 4:15). Jacob was to learn that blessing resulted from prevailing with God, not prevailing over men.

We have a wonderful birthright granted to us by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is not by works we are saved. Even when we fall short, God keeps his promises. We do not lose our salvation. But seek to live up to the calling. Honor him with our hearts as well as with our minds, hands, and feet. As children of God we have a birthright. We have a blessing that never ends.

Pastor Dale