Trusting God With Your Future
Notes
Transcript
By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
A couple of years ago I started working with a company who specializes in helping people to protect their future. Our means of assisting people is to make sure that their income is protected in case something happens to them or other family members. Also, it's designed to assist you in having proper investments so that when your retirement comes you want just be depending on your social security and so you can continue to live the way you have been accustomed to living. Therefore, it surely true that the company is good at what we help people with which is their future, but they don't have anything in place to assist you with your eternal future. Now here on earth is good but beyond Earth one must trust God with their FUTURE. Because only God can take care of us; because he came from heaven to earth to make sure our future is secured and certain of where we will spend eternity by giving me a promise.
Charles Kettering said about the future: “We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.” So, yes, we should be concerned about the future. We should plan for the future. But as Christians we should not worry about the future.
And so, today’s passage focuses on three of Abraham’s direct descendants who’s future was secure with a PROMISE and gained by FAITH: Abraham’s son Isaac, his grandson Jacob, and his great-grandson Joseph. All three of these descendants of Abraham demonstrated their faith by trusting God with the future, even as they neared the end of their own lives.
These verses today commend Isaac’s faith in blessing both Jacob and Esau when he spoke of their future (Gen. 27:27–29, 39–40) and the aged Jacob’s faith in blessing the sons of Joseph (Gen. 48:15–20).
Both Isaac and Jacob showed faith in recognizing that God intended to give the greater blessing to the younger son, and they accepted God’s sovereign plans rather than resisting them.
Joseph showed his faith by giving directions concerning his future burial after the Exodus (see Gen. 50:24–25; Josh. 24:32). Believing in a future Exodus of Jews from Egypt involved considerable faith.
As different as these three men were from one another, each presented an example of faith. The ordinary Isaac, the scheming Jacob, and the exemplary Joseph showed a faith which death could not weaken or destroy.
I came to tell you my brothers and sisters that God Has Seen Your Future & Provided. When you first say or confess God’s promises (which might seem totally impossible), you may not believe it. Why? Because you can’t see it. But as you continue to confess it, you start to believe it. Abraham became “fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:21).
You are designed to believe what you see. And speaking it is involved in believing it. Most people don’t realize that you don’t see with your eyes, you see through them. You see with your mind, that’s why Satan comes to blind the mind.
Jerimiah tells us “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
He knows what you see you automatically believe. And what you believe can become yours. In fact, whatever you believe you become. (Proverbs 23:7).
Jesus teaches this same principle, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24).
Some people may think that if you say, “I believe that I have received it,” and “it’s” not manifested, you’re lying. But think about it this way, how can you lie saying what God said? God said, “By His stripes you were healed.” God said, “He gives us the victory.” God said,“ Let the weak say I am strong.” Now to develop faith you must say (exactly) what God said, “And you shall (eventually) have whatsoever you say.”
We don’t know a whole lot about Isaac from Scripture. We know that God appeared to Isaac and reaffirmed his covenant with Isaac and with Isaac’s descendants.
We know that Isaac married Rebekah, and that Rebekah was barren, just like Isaac’s mother Sarah was barren. We know that Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of Rebekah, and the Lord answered his prayer.
Rebekah became pregnant with twin boys. And when the time came for the twins to be born, Esau was born first with Jacob right behind him, grasping Esau’s heel as he came out into the world.
When Jacob and Esau were still in Rebekah’s womb, the twin boys jostled each other in such a way that Rebekah sensed something unusual. She went to inquire of the Lord about it, and God answered her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)
God in his sovereignty chose the younger son Jacob, instead of Esau, to carry on the promises of God made to Abraham.
However, we also read in Genesis that, as the boys grew older, Isaac preferred Esau over Jacob. Genesis 25:28 tells us that “Isaac . . . loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” (Genesis 25:28)
Isaac’s blessing was part prophecy and part prayer. The blessing was part prophecy in that the patriarchs also functioned as prophets. They spoke words from God to man, and so the words of prophecy they spoke would most certainly come to pass.
And the blessing was part prayer in that Isaac looked to God to provide the blessing. And so, the blessing was both a word of prophecy from God and a word of prayer to God. This blessing was so important. It would make a real difference in Esau’s life in the years to come.
Now, the blessing rightfully belonged to the older son, and so it was only natural that Isaac would seek to give the blessing to Esau rather than Jacob. But God had already said that the blessing should go to Jacob, and that Jacob, not Esau, would carry on the promises of God (see Genesis 25:23 above).
We don’t know whether Rebekah ever shared with Isaac God’s prophecy about Jacob, but if she did, then it is hard to see how Isaac was operating in faith here. Was he deliberately going against God’s prophecy and giving the blessing to his favorite son instead of to Jacob? Or was he acting in ignorance? The Bible doesn’t tell us, so we don’t know.
What we do know is that Satan, through deception, wants to keep us out of faith and operating in the sense realm where we have to “feel” or experience everything first before we are willing to say it or believe it.
And if he is successful, he will defeat us every time. It’s okay to “feel” things, but make sure your feelings follow your faith. Abraham didn’t feel anything concerning the promise of God. All he had was God’s Word. Think about it, that’s all we have, and that’s all we need. The scripture tells us “(Abraham) being fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he (God) was able also to perform” (Romans 4:21).
And yet Hebrews 11:20 tells us: “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.” So, in what sense did Isaac bless his sons in faith? Well, even though Isaac did not intend to give Esau’s blessing to Jacob, once it happened, he had no doubt that God would indeed fulfill the blessing in Jacob’s life. In fact, once he learned what had happened, he told Esau concerning Jacob: “I blessed him – and indeed he will be blessed!” (Genesis 27:33)
(Tell your neighbor I’M TRUSTING GOD WITH MY. FUTURE: AND IT LOOKS BRIGHT.
Isaac recognized that God had chosen to bless Jacob, and that he could not reverse or alter God’s plan. Isaac had already given the primary blessing to Jacob, and so he could only give Esau a secondary blessing. (Genesis 27:30-40) But even though Esau received the lesser blessing, Isaac still fully believed that God would fulfill this blessing in Esau’s life also. And indeed, God fulfilled both blessings in both sons’ lives.
In faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, and in faith Isaac accepted God’s will for his sons as expressed through the blessings.
FAITH is the way you access what is laid up for you in the spirit world. We know what is in the spirit world by the Bible, and only FAITH MAKES THE TRANSFER. And, virtually every good thing you can think of or possibly imagine, it’s already there. If He didn’t want us to have it, why would He put it there and then tell us about it in His Word?
By faith, either you’ll get the “thing” or you’ll get the money to buy the thing, one or the other. For example, by faith, Peter got money out of the fish’s mouth to pay the taxes. By faith, at Jesus’s instruction the disciples went into the city and got the donkey that was tied up and waiting for them to come claim it.
Someone may ask, “What do you do for a living? Oh, I work at the Post Office.” No, that’s what you do to serve people. In the Kingdom your labor is in the Word of God (Hebrews 4:11), which brings the faith that either brings to you, leads you to, or creates for you whatever you need or desire. The Bible says how we shall live, “For the just shall live by faith.”
Jacob was born tricking people to deceive but God built him a future, he became a champion of God
God chose us before the foundation of world.
Isaiah 43-1 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine.
(That mean God choose you He selected you for a great future
Isaiah used the word create. create means to select, as a formative process [your affliction or your problem is a formative process for God to get you where he wants you. Don’t let it keep you down, use it to raise you up to your bright future.
(He knew you had those issues those problems and everything folk trying to point out what’s wrong with you but God has a plan for that stuff and you and He is going to use it to shift you to your next level)
Joseph demonstrated many instances of strong faith in God throughout his lifetime. Joseph was sold into slavery at 17 by his brothers, He had resisted the seductive attempts of Potiphar’s wife. He remained true to God while imprisoned 13 years unjustly. His faith enabled him to interpret dreams on more than one occasion. He dealt in a godly manner with his brothers who had wronged him. God don't ask who He can build a future for He chooses who He want. That's why Joseph stated You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
God had to have formed Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph future. Because their mothers were barren, each had older brothers in which the blessing really belonged to them but customs, plus their brothers were angry with them, they all a wife that barren, and they all had to come through a famine.
They future was being created or Formed and formed means to put on a potter’s wheel and to mold and fashion, to determine what it becomes…..[God created their future and there is bright future for them all.
To call them by name means…….a mark or memorial of individuality…it implies honor, authority and character God called Jacob Israel, a Champion of God and said you have power with God and man and you have prevailed. Isaac means “one who laughs” or “one who rejoices.” Joseph is a Biblical name, meaning increase or addition. The name comes from the Hebrew name, May Jehovah, which means to add, give, or increase.
Place the names in order LAUGH - (Prince with God) CHAMPION - ITS INCREASE and ADDITION. GREAT FUTURE
Remember that! When Jesus suffered and died, He died and His precious blood paid for it ALL, our sins and our successes. “He giveth us all things richly to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Once again, only faith can make the transfer.