Sermon Central
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Another Promise Kept Series
Contributed by Mark Schaeufele on Sep 1, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: God has promised to prosper His people, but we must appropriate it by keeping His word
Another Promise Kept
Text: Gen. 30:25-43
Introduction
1. Read Gen. 30:25-43
2. Jack was out jogging one day and as he passed a cliff, he got too close and fell. Grabbing hold of a branch he was stranded. No way up and certainly no way down. He began to scream, “Hello up there can anyone hear me.” He yelled for hours and was about to give up when he heard a voice.
“Jack, Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Yes, I can hear you I’m down here.”
“I can see you, Jack, are you alright?”
“Yes, but...who are yo and where are you?”
“I am the Lord Jack, I am everywhere.”
“The Lord? You mean God?”
“That’s me.”
“God, help me, I promise that if you get me down from here, I’ll stop sinning. I’ll be a really good person and serve you for the rest of my life.”
“Easy on the promises, Jack. First let’s get you down, then we can discuss those.”
“I’ll do anything, Lord, just tell me what to do, okay?”
“Okay, let go of the branch.”
“What?”
“I said, let go of the branch. Just trust me, let go.”
PAUSE
“Hello, Hello, is there anybody else up there?”
3. God is a promise keeper. We’ve heard that and we say we believe that, but are we willing to trust God to do it.
4. God has promised to prosper His people, but are we willing to let go of the branch?
Proposition: God has promised to prosper His people, but we must appropriate it by keeping His word.
Transition: To understand this we must see that...
I. God’s Promises Are Kept (25-34).
A. The Lord Has Blessed Me
1. When Jacob was at Bethel, the Lord promised to bless him, and in this text we shall see that He kept His promise.
2. Jacob has been living with his uncle Laban and has served him faithfully for fourteen years as a dowry for his two wives Rachel and Leah.
a. God has blessed him with children (11 so far)
b. God has also blessed the work of his hands
3. Now Jacob figures that his work there is done and it is time for him and his family to go back to where he came from. So he asks Laban’s permission to leave.
a. In their culture, a woman with no children could be discarded and her only protection was her family, which is why Jacob waits until after Joseph is born since he was Rachel’s first child (Walton, NIV Application Commentary, 589).
b. Since technically Jacob’s wives were considered as Laban’s property he needed Laban’s permission to leave.
4. Jacob reminds Laban that he has fulfilled his vow to him and it is time for his to go. In verse 26 he says "Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee."
a. Notice that he uses the word serve several times.
b. "Serve," "Service," and even the phrase "which I have done thee" all come from the same Hebrew root (Hamilton, NICOT - Genesis 18-50, 281-82).
5. However, when Laban hears this from Jacob he gets a little nervous, because he knows that God has prospered Jacob soo much that he too was getting blessed.
a. When Jacob first came, Laban had hardly anything.
b. Now because God had blessed Jacob, he had a "multitude" of livestock.
c. Laban was trying to look out for his own interests.
6. He says to Jacob, "I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake."
a. However, Jacob is interested in what Laban wants; he just wants to go home.
b. Not to mention the fact that Laban has already weaseled another seven years of service out of him.
7. Laban still doesn’t want Jacob to get away, so he says "name your price."
a. Jacob doesn’t want anything from Laban.
b. He knows where his blessing was coming from: the Lord.
8. So Jacob says, just give me all of the spotted or speckled goats, and all of the brown sheep.
a. In the Mediterranean world, sheep are normally white and goats are black (Hamilton, 282).
b. So all he is asking for is the rejects.
c. But Jacob know that God is able to take even the rejects and bless him through it.
B. God Is Able
1. Illustration: "If God is able to place the stars in their sockets and suspend the sky like a curtain, do you think it remotely possible that God is able to guide your life? If your God is mighty enough to ignite the sun, could it be that he is mighty enough to light your path? If he cares enough about the planet Saturn to give it rings, or Venus to make it sparkle, is there an outside chance that he cares enough about you to meet your needs (Max Lucado One Incredible Moment (Nashville, TN. Thomas Nelson; 2002) 63.
