THE POWER OF THE GIFT
Notes
Transcript
Handout
THE POWER OF THE GIFT
THE POWER OF THE GIFT
Introduction
Introduction
Esau is coming and 400 armed men are with him
Esau is coming and 400 armed men are with him
Who/What is your Esau? Who or What is causing you fear, dread, anxiety?
Some of us have put off dealing with dysfunctional dynamics with family members, or some other relationship. Now it’s come back to bite us.
Some of us, like Jacob, have gone from the pot to the frying pan...
I. The Power in Giving Gifts—Activation
I. The Power in Giving Gifts—Activation
What was Jacob’s hope in giving gifts of reparations to Esau?
What was Jacob’s hope in giving gifts of reparations to Esau?
He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’ ”
He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”
The Offering of Gifts represent strategies and methods for Winning the Hearts of Others. Proverbs 19:6b says, “…every one is a friend to a person who gives gifts.” We offer a portion or ourselves (time, energies, possessions) in an attempt to win souls, make things better, make reparations, improve our relationships. Gifts reinforce our words and the intentions of our hearts.
The Lord revealed something to me about Jacob’s gift to Esau. There was a coupling of male and female among the goats, the sheep, the cows and the donkeys. Many more females, but just enough males to impregnate all of them to continuously increase. The proportion of male to female animals was arranged according to Jacob’s knowledge of the best ancient practices necessary for the purposes of breeding. Jacob’s gift was intended to build-up and enrich his brother.
The males held the seeds to activate the Gift’s Fullness. That is the Nature of Love—Love Activates the Gifts for Edification.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Love must be seeded into the words of every apology, every olive branch extended.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Jacob was demonstrating to his brother his love for him in seeking his advancement.
Pray for someone and you will bless them for a day. But Activate them—Teach someone how to pray and they will bless not only themselves, but their children and their children’s child. Demonstrate your spiritual gift and you will inspire someone, but Activate Them, stir up the gift that is within them and they will model to others the power of God as His chosen vessels—sons and daughters, kings and queens , priests leading their households out of darkness and into the marvelous light. As the church of Jesus Christ, are called not only to make disciples. We are called to Activate Disciples to become Disciple-makers.
Pray for someone and you will bless them for a day. But Activate them—Teach someone how to pray and they will bless not only themselves, but their children and their children’s child. Demonstrate your spiritual gift and you will inspire someone, but Activate Them, stir up the gift that is within them and they will model to others the power of God as His chosen vessels—sons and daughters, kings and queens , priests leading their households out of darkness and into the marvelous light. As the church of Jesus Christ, are called not only to make disciples. We are called to Activate Disciples to become Disciple-makers.
The Power from Receiving God’s Gift
The Power from Receiving God’s Gift
Jacob showed a great wisdom—a winning strategy—the Sandwich Dynamic. Here it is. Couple your human resources with God’s resources. Do all that is within your power and also call upon God’s power. The first thing that Jacob did when he heard that Esau was coming for him was to turn to God (Genesis 32:9-12). Then he prepared the offering of the impressive gift for Esau. And then he turned back to God with passion.
St. Augustine is quoted to have said:
Pray as though everything depends on God;
Act (work) as though everything depends on you.
Wrestle—Engagement with God. Jacob engaged with God as if everything depended on God.
Wrestle—Engagement with God. Jacob engaged with God as if everything depended on God.
Wrestling in HS was different from the other sports—track and field, football, soccer, basket ball, baseball, cricket.
Wrestling was very much a contact sport, continuous contact—holding, grappling, tugging, squeezing, pushing and pulling, feeling the breath and sweat of the person—contending for dominance.
Wrestling with a Team-mate was not the same as wrestling against an opponent.
Wrestling with a teammate had the purpose of improving and perfecting abilities, especially when an experienced champion wrestler was wrestling with a beginner. My first year of wrestling pitted me against teammates who had already become champions there Sophomore and Junior years. Here I was, new, trying to learn the sport. A couple of them were my best friends and they relished in punishing me. But I was determined to engage them every chance I got because I longed to become a champion…it was the price I had to pay—humiliation.
When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
The Mark of Humility—A Sign of Engaging with God
The Mark of Humility—A Sign of Engaging with God
I can relate to this. As I High School Wrestling Champion, my greatest opponent left his mark upon me. There is always the hurt, the bruise, the scratch, the pulled muscle, something as a reminder of the contest—personal body to body contact.
Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
Yeshua told the Parables of the Mid-night Persistence of a neighbor knocking on the door of his friend begging bread.
Yeshua told the Parables of the Mid-night Persistence of a neighbor knocking on the door of his friend begging bread.
Luke 11:8-9, 13
I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
When the Student is Ready, the Teacher will Come.
When the Student is Ready, the Teacher will Come.
For twenty years Jacob endured the shenanigans of his Uncle Laban—stressed out. It was only when desperation drove him to surrender all, that the Teacher came to wrestle with him.
For twenty years Jacob endured the shenanigans of his Uncle Laban—stressed out. It was only when desperation drove him to surrender all, that the Teacher came to wrestle with him.
Don’t Let Go of God Before He Blesses You.
Don’t Let Go of God Before He Blesses You.
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
…sincerely seek him
…diligently seek him
“Exert considerable effort and care in receiving God’s blessing—favor, breakthrough—His Holy Spirit”
The Gift’s Power:
The Gift’s Power:
A new name / identity. In antiquity it was believed that a person’s self was concentrated in his name.—Israel (God Fights). Jacob sounds like the Hebrew words for “heel” and “deceiver.”
Israel means “God fights.”
God fights for those who fight for God.
The Heart of Peace is a Heart Full of Love. Notice, it was the gifts that turned Esau’s heart to his brother (he even declined the gifts at first).
The Gift’s Power is in Doing what only God can do.
Only God’s Can Give Us a New Name
Only God Can Change the Hearts of Others