River Church NOLA
Wed Feb 4 The Promise that Changes Everyting
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  • Gen 28 is a low point in Jacob’s life. tell some of his story
    Genesis 25:20–26 NLT
    20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. 22 But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked. 23 And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.” 24 And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! 25 The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau. 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
    It was on nearly from the beginning…
    He trick Esau into giving up his birthright
    He tricks his father into blessing him instead of Esau
    Esau threatens to kill him…
    Jacob works for Uncle Laban for 14 years to get Rachel as his wife and then longer to build up his herd.
    He leaves and is confronted by God once again - wrestled with him and God changed his name to Israel…
    He mets Esau and they make peace…
    Joseph is sold off as a slave to Egypt and he grieves that loss.
    He is reunited with Joseph in Egypt where he dies… and was buried back in Canaan where Abrajam and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Leah were all buried.
    But in our passage we are looking at today, Jacob is leaving home… really running from Esau who promised to kill him.
    He’s running from home, fleeing the consequences of his own deception, uncertain about the future, and alone in the wilderness. He has no temple, no altar, no priest… only a stone for a pillow and a lot of fear in his heart.
    But it is here in this desolate place, when he is alone, afraid and uncertain, that God speaks one of the most powerful promises in the Bible through a dream.
    Genesis 28:13–15 NLT
    13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
    This passage reminds us that

    God often meets us not at our best moments, but at our weakest ones.

    Even when it feels unstable and the future is unclear, God’s promises, presence, and purpose remain firm. God appears to Jacob in a dream. Jacob wasn’t seeking God. He wasn’t worshipping. He wasn’t praying. He was sleeping. Often time, God appears when we least expect Him to.
    Write this down…

    1. You may feel alone, but you are not.

    Jacob was alone, isolated and afraid. He is running from Esau, who wants to kill him for stealing his birthright.
    Jacob is leaving his home, his family, everything that he knew. He didn’t know what was ahead for him. Maybe you have felt that way… I did when I left home… But in our passage, God assured him that even though he was leaving his family, friends and everything familiar to him, He was not leaving God’s presence.
    Genesis 28:15 “What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.””
    This promise echoes across scripture.
    To Moses - I will be with you
    To Joshua - As I was with Moses, I will be with you…
    Jesus to His disciples - I am with you always…
    When my daughter was little, she would sometimes wake up crying afraid fo the dark. I didn’t go and turn on all the lights in the house, I would sit on the edge of her bed and say, Im right here… it’s ok. That’s often all she needed.
    The room didn’t change, but the fear changed.

    God doesn’t always change the situation, but His presence changes everything.

    Jacob was out in the wilderness, all alone and fearful and the wilderness didn’t disappear. God just showed up in it. It shows us that God’s grace is not earned. Jacob had done nothing to deserve God’s grace. His presence doesn’t depend on our perfection. Jacob was far from perfect. God speaks to us when we are spiritually unaware.
    Jacob knew about God, but now he has met God personally… and that changed everything. Some of the most life-changing encounters with God will happen when we feel undeserving, unprepared, or even unaware.
    You may be walking into uncertainty, but you will not go alone. God will be with you.
    Here is another truth from this story.

    2. Your past has not disqualified you.

    Jacob had a dream where he encountered God.
    Genesis 28:13–14 “At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.”
    He is reaffirming the covenant . The covenant God made with Abraham and Isaac and now with Jacob involved…
    land - ground you are lying on belongs to you
    descendants - Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth
    Blessing to the nations - all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants
    Jacobs failures in his past did not cancel God’s promise. Here God is telling Jacob that He is not done with him yet.
    I want you to notice, God didn’t say,
    if you behave better …
    if you prove yourself…
    if you fix your past…
    God simply restated His covenant.
    Just like he does in this and many other stories from the bible, God will use all of our failures and flaws to complete His perfect will.
    The cracked bowl - An old cracked bowl leaks water every time it’s carried. It looks useless. But then along the path where it’s carried each day, flowers grow… watered by the water that leaked out.
    What looked like failure was still being used. God uses cracked people… everything for his glory and our good.

    God can still bring beauty from broken places.

    Jacob had a lot flaws but his flaws didn’t stop God’s flow. Why? Because God’s promises rest on His character, not yours.

    3. Your future is secure in God’s Hands.

    Genesis 28:15 “What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.””
    Jacob’s journey wasn’t easy. It will include
    Hard labor - he had to work for his father in law to earn his wives…
    Betrayal - His father in law betrayed him giving him the wrong sister.
    Loss - Rachel, his favorite wife died… Joseph is lost…
    Growth - After his encounters with God, he is renamed Israel
    But God brought him through it all.
    I don’t know if you have ever driven across the Causeway or any road in heavy fog. I can remember barely being able to see past the hood of my car. I couldn’t see the other side of the lake and the only reason I could keep moving was trust… trust that the bridge was there and would continue support me.

    Faith keeps us moving even when our vision is limited.

    Jacob couldn’t see his future, but God already did. God will not remove all the obstacles, but he will always be with you guiding and protecting you.

    4. God is not finished with you yet.

    Genesis 28:15 “What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.””
    God promises to finish the work. God is saying, that He finishes what he begins.
    We may feel like a failure when we look at our lives, but God doesn’t see us that way.
    When you or I look at a house under construction with wires sticking out everywhere, exposed beams and pipes, we see a mess, but a builder says, He is not done yet.
    God is not done with you yet.

    Don’t judge God’s work while it’s still in progress.

    Jacob’s life looked incomplete because it was. God wasn’t done with him yet. Your life may look like a mess and incomplete, but God is not done with you yet either. God is not finished with you yet. Your story is still being written.
    Closing
    Genesis 28:16–22 NLT
    16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!” 18 The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz. 20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, 21 and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. 22 And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”
    Note in the pocket - A soldier deploys for battle with a note from home in his pocket. He doesn’t read it every hour, but he knows it’s there and it brings him comfort and gives him strength.

    When Jacob laid down, he thought he was alone. When he woke up, he realized that God had been there all along.

    If you are tired… God is with you.
    If you feel unqualified… God still has a plan.
    If the journey feels long… God has not let go of you.
    Jacob went to sleep with a stone under his head, a symbol of hardness, fear and exhaustion. But when he woke up, he didn’t carry that stone with him.
    He set that stone up as an altar and poured oil on it. What once supported his fear became a marker of God’s faithfulness.
    There may be some of you that came in here tonight carrying a stone…
    of worry
    of a painful memory
    a sense of failure
    a season of loneliness
    questions about the future
    You don’t have to leave here with that stone. You can leave it at the altar tonight, not because it’s suddenly easy, but because God promised you that he will be with you and never leave you.
    If you need to lay something down tonight - fear, anger, regret, exhaustion, uncertainty, this altar is simply a place to say, “ God I trust you with what I can’t carry anymore.” Just as Jacob marked the place where God met him, let this be a moment where you mark your trust in God’s promise.
    Jacob didn’t leave Bethel with all the answers, but he left knowing God was with him. And that was enough.
    Altar time
    Lord let us lay down those things that have weighed us down. We trust your presence, your promises, and your faithfulness. Meet us here like you met Jacob and help us to leave changed.

      • Genesis 25:20–26NKJV

      • Genesis 28:13–15NKJV

      • Genesis 28:16–22NKJV

River Church NOLA
robert@riverchurchnola.com
504-578-8317
https://riverchurchnola.com
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