Faith Building
Notes
Transcript
We see 3 men:
Isaac
Jacob
Joseph
These 3 sons all had faith building times in their lives:
Isaac - family
God provide a ram in place of himself as his father, Abraham, obediently was going to offer him as a sacrfice
God provide a wife for him by preparing Rebekah to meet his father’s servant
God provide with 2 sons:
Gen 25:21-23
And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated 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 inquire 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.
God used the favouritism of his wife, Rebekah, to follow through with the prophetic nature in which Jacob, the younger was to blessed, in the place of the elder Esau:
Progenitorship - a biologically related ancestor; a person or thing that first indicates a direction, originates something, or serves as a model; predecessor; precursor:
This would be fulfilled through Jacob, as the Messiah, Jesus, would be his descendant
Priest - He would take on a position of priest in the family
Property - Double portion of the inheritance - this was Esau’s primary concern
Gen 27:27-29
And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said,
See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed:
Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven,
And the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of corn and wine:
Let people serve thee,
And nations bow down to thee:
Be lord over thy brethren,
And let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee:
Cursed be every one that curseth thee,
And blessed be he that blesseth thee.
Gen 27:30-33
And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.
Gen 27:38-40
And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him,
Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above;
And by thy sword shalt thou live,
And shalt serve thy brother;
And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion,
That thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.
Jacob - tribe
God blessed him and all that he did
Gave him 12 sons
Received a blessing after wrestling with God
Saw God repair his broken relationship with Esau
Watched as God provided over and over again
Gen 48:1
And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Gen 48:16
The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Gen 48:20
And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
God would bless Ephraim - times where the 10 tribes of Israel is referred to as Ephraim because of the dominance of the tribe of Israel
Joseph - Nation
Saw 2 dreams
God blessed him while in potipher’s house
God blessed him while in prison
God put him second in command over Egypt
God used him to spare Egypt and his own family
God brought his family him
Gen 50:24-25
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
Each of these sons as there faith was built saw God do more and more. But how did their faith build?
The answer is found in:
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
God gives us faith to begin with:
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Muscle building
The steps to faith building:
Tribulation:
Rom 5:3
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
distress (state) n. — an oppressive state of physical, mental, social, or economic adversity.
Weight
Patience
steadfast endurance n. — the power to withstand hardship or stress; especially the inward fortitude necessary.
Lift the weight, but building the strength consistently and routinely
Experience
Rom 5:4
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
dependability n. — the quality of being proven to be dependable or reliable.
Knowing from experience that God is dependable
Knowing you can lift that weight
Hope
hope (feeling) n. — the general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled.
I will be able to lift that heavier weight
Rom 5:5
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Belief
2 Tim 1:12
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
I know God loves me. I know God’s Word is going to be fulfilled. I know God has my best in mind.
I know God can handle this, and this weight can be lifted!
Faith
And the cycle continues
Thank God for the tribulations as they are opportunities to faith build.
Understand that God knows exactly how much our faith can lift.
Faith building establishes opportunities for God to show Himself strong.
George Bernard Shaw is perhaps most renowned as a free thinker and liberal philosopher. In his last writings we read, “The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshipers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith.” Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God.
So many say they trust in science, and yet science has proven itself these days to be untrustworthy.
There is One that we can build a solid foundation of faith upon: Jesus Christ