There are many times during our Christian walk where we experience challenges from the enemy. During these tribulations we can find strength in God that is promised by Him.

<p>There are many times during our Christian walk where we experience challenges from the enemy. During these tribulations we can find strength in God that is promised by Him.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Eric Walsh

Gaining Strength

I want to get right into the Word today, and we're going to be reading primarily from the book of Genesis, the 32nd chapter, dealing with the story of Jacob.

So if you have your Bible, you may want to turn to Genesis chapter 32.

And I'll read the first few verses before we pray.

The scripture says, And he arose up that night, and took his 2 wives, and his 2 women servants, and his 11 sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

And he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had." Verse 24 says, and Jacob was left alone.

Now you have to understand that Jacob really was never designed to be alone.

So in essence, Jacob should have always had a companion.

He was born with Esau and the scripture tells us that even at their birth, they struggled in the womb to be the first to come out.

Jacob tried, it seems, even as a newborn to try and weasel his way past his brother to get out first.

And this Conflict continues between Jacob and Esau for all of their lives, all of their childhood.

And it is compounded by the fact that the parents take favorites.

The father favors Esau because the father, as the spirit of prophecy says, was a meek and lowly shepherd.

And so he really enjoyed the excitement of the hunt.

And when Esau would come home with these great stories of conquest and bring these great beasts back that he had slain in the wilderness, His father really liked that.

The mother really enjoyed the timidity and reserve of Jacob.

And I think from the lesson, from its inception of this Bible story, you have to take, especially if you're a parent or will be a parent, you have to take that, you have to be careful to treat your children with the same fairness that God treats us.

The whole story is almost predicated on familial dysfunction, something that especially as Adventists often, we don't like to talk about.

The fact that it is the home that must serve as the first sanctuary, that the father must be the priest.

And if that is broken, then you will raise children who, despite the best diet and the best teachings, have real emotional problems and, as they now describe it, will have low emotional quotients and inability to deal with difficulty and challenge if they have been so spoiled and favored or neglected as children.

It's an interesting story because again, Jacob really should never have been alone.

He shouldn't have been alone because when he had to leave because he stole his brother's birthright, tricked his father, and was aided and abetted by his mother, he ran to his uncle and his uncle, it turns out, turns out to be more of a shyster than he is.

And so all of his crookedness comes, as 1 famous leader said, his chickens came home to roost.

Because now his uncle gets him by having him marry the older, less attractive, I won't use the word ugly, the older, less attractive sister.

When in fact he was in love with the younger sister and so instead of working 7 years to pay the dowry to get his bride, He winds up working 14 years and in fact 1 of the interesting things about the story is when he marries her he's supposed to be given the value for them to start their family but in fact he is never given the money so all of his trickery really comes back to get him.

He's not supposed to be alone because not only does he have 2 wives, he has 11 children from 4 different women.

As we move into the story, Genesis chapter 28, verse 11, takes us back a little bit in the story.

After Jacob has had to run away from his family and he's running to his uncle.

Genesis 28 and verse 11, the scripture says, and he lighted up upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set.

And he took up the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.

And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." Jacob reaches out and gets to a place where he has to rest, And he has to use stones for his pillows.

But God in his infinite mercy has to remind him of his future, although his future at the moment is completely bleak.

And so in this dream he gets to see what he calls the gateway to heaven.

As angels ascend and descend upon it, and God makes this great promise to him, a promise that goes on in verse 14 where God says, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth." At this time, he's single.

Yet God promises him not just his children, but his children's children for generations while he is at the most unlikely place to ever have a family.

But a crowd of young people in school sometimes desperate to hurry up and get into a relationship But let me tell you as I think God is trying to tell Jacob, you can take your time and not rush in because fools rush in.

Verse 15 says, And behold, God is speaking to him now, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places, whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land.

For I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

A powerful promise, but what you've got to get to set this story up is that God's promise to Jacob, it seems to never be enough.

Jacob has a fundamental issue with self and with trust, and he always wants to pull a fast 1 on someone else.

In this case, watch what he does even to Almighty God.

After God makes this kind of promise, and you'd think if God appeared to you and made this kind of promise, it would be enough.

But look at what Jacob does, just a few verses later.

The Bible says, And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God." Jacob pulls an if-then clause on the Almighty God.

An if-then clause is a dangerous thing to do with someone who has all the power in the universe because you're literally challenging God.

Now remember we just read that God had made a complete commitment to Jacob and his seed basically forever because God knew and God was planning that the lineage of the very Messiah who would come to save all of our lives would come through him.

He would be 1 of the faith fathers of the lineage in Jesus And so here God is promising him because God knows the end from the beginning.

He has to say, look God, I tell you what, if you hook me up, I mean if I get the right car, you get me a wife that's pretty enough, if I, you know, if I have, if I can finish school with, you know, a C plus or better, you know, I'm not asking for too much here, Lord.

I don't need to be valedictorian at Loma Linda.

I just, you know, if you make sure I can eat And if you take care of me, Lord, I'll serve you.

If you can do for me, God, then I can do for you.

You cannot approach the almighty God with an if-then clause.

We trust God because he is God, Understanding that he knows better for us than we will ever know for ourselves.

In fact, this mindset has now permeated Christendom.

And I mean beyond Adventism, Christians all over the world, when I visited Southern Africa and the Caribbean and even Latin America now, you're finding that there is a new mindset in Christianity.

And it's a mindset that says, if I serve God, he had best to bless me.

It is now what we call the gospel of prosperity.

And I am surprised at how many are duped to believe that God is more in the business of making you financially rich on earth than making you rich in faith for eternity.

In fact, the scripture puts it like this, Perverse disputings of men, 1 Timothy 6, 5.

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of truth.

Supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw yourself.

The scripture says that when people come to you and say that you have no evidence of your Christianity or of your relationship with God because you can't show me your wealth.

I'll be called a few people by name, people like Creflo Dollar.

Much of what happens now on TBN, this is a twisted kind of truth because God's people are heading into a time of difficulty and trouble.

If you believe faith is in excess and having what you want, what happens when the time of trouble comes?

In fact, Paul goes further, 2 Corinthians 11, speaking about this gospel of prosperity, this idea that I'm supposed to just have whatever I want because I serve God, this unbelief.

Because the truth of the matter is, Christians are going to have struggles and troubles, just like the world will.

In fact, the scripture says, God will cause it to rain on the just and on the unjust.

2 Corinthians 11, 13 says, For such are false apostles preaching these kinds of doctrines, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works." We are living in a time when the people who will be probably the most vocal and visible Christian leaders, in fact, according to Paul, will probably not be angel or messengers of light.

They will in fact be the servants of the enemy.

They will be double agents committing spiritual espionage upon the people of the world.

As Jacob finally now gets to break away from his uncle and has his wives and his children, and by now, in fact, as the spirit of prophecy describes it, he has amassed for himself great wealth himself, and he's now got herds and cattle and servants, and he has to sneak away from the uncle.

3 days later, the uncle catches him and is upset with him, and this is where Jacob challenges him and says, look, actually, you should have paid me back the dowry I paid you, because that's the way it's supposed to work.

But they wind up agreeing to disagree because God actually takes such good care of Jacob.

That he gives a vision, a dream, to his uncle so that his uncle knows that he cannot harm Jacob.

So when his uncle reaches him, he reaches him really just to say goodbye to his daughters and his grandchildren.

God will turn your enemy into someone who is wishing you a bon voyage.

Because God, no sword, no shield, no weapons, and his uncle who was coming to do him harm, winds up making an agreement with him.

They say the mispa, and they separate, a stone, a monument is erected so that they know never to cross that monument with ill intent.

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Gaining Strength

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