Spiritual Leadership: Jacob

September 8, 2020 / Ryan Brown

Genesis 31:22-32

Spiritual Lesson #1: Sinful Habits are and

  • We do not inherit sin, we learn and adopt it
    • Ezekiel 18
  • Our children do not repeat our sin because they are like us, they repeat our sin because they look up to us
    • Our idols become their idols, because they learn to worship what we worship
  • Jacob Learned to and
    • Stole the birth right and blessing – Genesis 25, Genesis 27
      • Learned from: Abraham and Isaac both lied when in exile in Egypt about their relationship with their wife (Isaac learned from Abraham, Jacob from Isaac)
    • Schemed against Laban
      • Genesis 30
  • Jacob Learned Marriage and Sex was
    • Married Leah, then Rachel
      • Both Leah and Rachel gave Jacob their servants to produce children
        • Genesis 30
    • Learned from: Abraham, Sarah, and Haggar – Genesis 16
  • Jacob Learned to Authority
    • Disregarded Isaac
    • Disregarded Esau (whom had birth right/blessing over family)
      • Stole birthright/blessing
      • Learned from: Isaac “stole” Ishmael’s birthright
      • Gave Joseph birthright above brothers
    • Disregarded Laban
    • Disregarded God
      • Notice all the conditions, all the “Ifs” – Genesis 28:20-21
  • Jacob Learned to Play
    • Favored Joseph
      • Moses speaks against both Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Deuteronomy 21:15-17
      • Learned from: Abraham with Ishmael, Isaac and Rebecca with Essau and Jacob

*What habit do your children see more than a habit of worship and service to God?

-If your children see you drunk more than they see you read your Bible?

-If your children see you stay home for football more than going to church?

-If your children see you work on your truck more than they see you work for God?

-If your children hear you cuss more than they hear you pray?

Spiritual Lesson #2: Real Faith requires God to  Us

  • Jacob wrestled with and (vs. 24-26)
    • Faith SHOULD be a struggle
      • For concrete faith, we must wrestle with it.
        • Nominal Christians: Adopt a concept, but never reach their own conclusion (never wrestle), therefore, it is not real
        • Tradition and culture DOES NOT equal faith
    • God shows loving patience with our faith
      • When God realized He could not overpower him, He simply touched Him causing pain
        • Ex. Wrestling with Kids
    • If we wrestle with God, God will conquer us, and that’s a good thing
  • Jacob had to admit who He was:
    • He was in a mess, and thus far successfully conquered his brother and father-in-law, but God also met him.
      • Up until this point, Jacob advanced by pretending to be everything he was not.
        • God did not bless him until he admitted Who and What he was
        • God then redefined him: “Israel”- “one who wrestles/rules/reigns with God” OR “God rules/reigns”
    • Jacob “overcame” his tension with God by being and made
      • 3 In the womb he [Jacob] grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God.4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. (Hosea 12: 3-4, NIV)
  • Once God became than Jacob, He became Jacob’s
    • And he set up an altar there and called it “God, the God of Israel” ().
      • Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac…” ().
      • If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed… ().
      • Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly’ ().

*Before Jacob wrestled with God, God was only the “God of Abraham and Isaac…”, but not Jacob/Israel

*How big is God to you? Has He conquered you, or only parts of you (Surrendered)? Have you had an honest struggle with faith or simply adopted the idea or concept? Do you weep and beg for God’s blessing or try to “earn” it?

Spiritual Lesson #3: If God is your , you make God the of your Environment

In response to Jacob’s encounter and subsequent defeat by God, Jacob began to lead his family where he failed

  • Then God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.’ So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no-one pursued them . (Genesis 35:1-5)
    • Jacob actively Idols in his family- “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you”
      • Genesis 31:34 – Rachel held onto family idols
      • Idols have become more spiritualized in our culture, in their culture, an idol/god existed for every inclination (Lust = Aphrodite, War = Ares, Love/women = Athena, etc.)
    • Jacob actively Led his family to – “Purify yourself and change your clothes”
    • Jacob actively removed all of idols- “gave Jacob the rings in their ears”
  • Joseph:
    • Jacob his son’s spiritual gifts
      • 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
    • Jacob actively for his son’s purpose
      • Genesis 49:22-26
    • Both of Jacob’s “good” sons were from the same : Rachel
      • Joseph and Benjamin

*Do you actively pray to recognize and encourage your children’s spiritual gifts? Do you pray for the faith of your children? Do you actively combat idols within your life, your wife, or your family? Do you allow opportunities for idols to exist?

 

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