Give Me Children

Genesis 30:1 & 22-43

Our scripture this morning begin with a desperate plea for children. It was such a consuming thought to Rachel that she said she would die if she did not have children. Now in a sense that was correct. While the name and lineage came down through the paternal side often you will find in scripture that so and so was the son of and it will list the mother’s name. This would not happen and she would soon be forgotten after her death, not only that there might not be anyone to take care of her when she became old.

Either way it was extremely important to Rachel to have children. The fact that Leah had already had several made matters even worse. Finally we find in verse 22 that God remembered Rachel. Does that mean he had forgotten her before? Well lets look at it a little closer. Notice first what it does not say. It doesn’t say that God forgot Rachel, nor does it say that Rachel remembered God. It tells us that God remembered Rachel. The phrase, “God remembers,” is found 73 times in the Bible, it’s meaning is that God will act for someone according to his covenant promises. Look at these references,

· Genesis 8:1 “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged

· Genesis 9:16 “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth”

· The next book of the Bible tells the story of God's people groaning in their slavery and then says that God "heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So God looked on them and was concerned about them." (Exodus 2:24–25)

·

I don’t think that God one day said, “Oh Noah’s out there in that big old boat I better go see how he is doing” Or “Did those children of Israel just say they were in slavery I forgot they were carried away.” No! I think when the Bible says that God remembered we can safely conclude that he is going to act according to his promise. One wrote, “When he remembers, God will surprise, stun, overwhelm, and lavish unexpected and undeserved goodness and grace on his people. …..When God remembers, it's not just mental activity; it's redemptive activity.” It doesn’t hurt to remind him of His promises either. God has not forgotten us Praise the Lord!

· So back to Rachel and her problem, she did not have and desperately wanted some posterity, felt it was a matter of life and death. Let’s leave Rachel for a few moments and move down to Jacob and his problem.

· Jacob wanted to leave Laban, Laban wanted him to stay and offered him a salary. Jacob accepted and his choice would have been the rarest and leas likely to be produced. Jacob would have to do something in order to actually get paid. I don’t find where Jacob prayed about it but it seems that could we say, God remembered Jacob. This would have to have been an act of God, being these were pure colored sheep and cattle and they were expected to bear multicolored offspring. Yet it worked. Whether or not Jacob’s little conniving worked or not I don’t know, It was believed that colors sheep and cattle would see would determine the color of their offspring. I don’t know that this was the answer or not, but I hope I could help us to get a taste of Rachel’s desperation and Jacob’s determination in soul winning.

· 1. We need some spiritual conceivers. Some people that God would remember and that would bring forth some offspring. Someone to;

· A. Travail - (bear the burden) Go thru the pangs of giving birth. Now I was there when my wife gave birth to both boys. With Travis she had an epidural and didn’t show much sign of pain at all until it wore off, While on the other hand with Corey we were too late for any medication. I watched helplessly as the labor pains increased and seen as she brought new life into this world. Oh God give us some travailers to bring new life here. O God make me a travailer.

· 1. It will take more than just a passing thought,

· A. Can I ask as kindly as I can, “How many times this week, did you think about how much you would like to see someone saved today?”

· B. How much did you pray to see someone saved?

· C. God give us a hungering and thirsting

· B. We need someone to pay the cost -

· 1. Spend time in earnest intercessory prayer

· A. Like Fox, “Give me Scotland or I die”

·

· C. We need someone with an Evangelizing Spirit.

· 1. Some people don’t even know that we exist.

· 2. I am a product of someone inviting someone to church

· A. Grandpa

· B. Mom and Dad

· 3. The Foolishness of preaching

·

·

Some math- If every Christian adult would bring another person to church that would be another 14 people. Now I want to talk more about souls than about numbers but I just want us to see some math. If ever couple would bring some one that would be approximately 7 people. If we could do this every week we could have an attendance of anywhere from 30- 50 people. Is this a possibility? I think so with lots of prayer and lots of work.

Some soul winning tips - Not because I am a great soul winner but because I want to be.

· Take a soul at a time.

· Pray EVERYDAY for them

· Place a memory jogger somewhere so you will think and pray about them often throughout the day

· Visit them occasionally, send a card, call, or email, something to let them know that you are thinking and praying for them.

· Don't be discouraged when things start to look worse. The devil will begin a massive defensive attack when he knows that a saint of God is after one of his people. And people have their own wills we can't make them come to Christ as much as we wish we could. "You can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink, but nothing says you can't feed them salted peanuts"

·