1. Self-Sufficiency
A couple of years ago in the Rocky Mountains a bighorn ram approached the home of a man named Ed Bailey while he was watching football on television. The bighorn stopped suddenly, seeing its reflection in a plate glass window. Thinking it was another ram, the bighorn bowed its head, ready to charge. He backed up and immediately saw that the other ram backed up too. Every time he moved, his reflection moved. Finally after a three-hour duel, the ram shook his head and charged full force into the window, knocking himself unconscious.
That bighorn ram reminds me of a few people I've known through the years. What is there in some people that causes them to walk around ready to butt heads with anybody they meet--even though in the long run they are the loser for their negative attitude?
They are like a character in a silly joke I read sometime back. Two cowboys are talking about a third cowboy. "He's a real tough hombre," one of them says, "and quick on the trigger. He can shoot before his pistol clears his holster." His friend was impressed. "That is fast," he says, "if he can shoot before his pistol clears his holster. By the way, what's his name?" His friend answers with a smile, "Footless Frankie."
I guess all of us have shot ourselves in the foot by being too quick to criticize, too quick to condemn, to confront, to challenge, to chastise. -- From a sermon by King Duncan in DYNAMIC PREACHING, http://www.sermons.com. Copyright 2000 by Seven Worlds Corporation
Too often we think we are in total control and unaffected by our actions.
Laodicea – Revelation 3.15-17
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
2. We are dependent on many people, not to mention God
Telephone/cell phone companies
Internet Connections
Computer programmers/operators
Electricity/Water/Food/Garbage Collection
March of 1981, President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. , and was hospitalized for several weeks. Although Reagan was the nation’s chief executive, his hospitalization had little impact on the nation’s activity. Government continued. On the other hand, suppose the garbage collectors in this country went on strike, as they did in Philadelphia not long ago. That city was not only in a literal mess, but the pile of decaying trash quickly became a health hazard. A three-week nationwide strike would paralyze the country. Who is more important—the President or a garbage collector?
3. Our Dependence on God is more than often taken for granted
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry. Psalm 146.5-7
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46.1
I. God Our Help
A. God of Jacob – Jacob was Always in Need of Help
1. Tricked Isaac/Esau – had to leave home
2. God took care of him (for HIS name, not so much for Jacob) – even brought him to a happy reunion with Esau
3. God took care of him in spite of his disobedience; trickery; manipulation; Fear; selfishness
4. Me, too
B. God of Jacob – Qualities
1. Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22-23)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
2. Fulfills his purposes – Rescues Jacob and preserves the 12 tribes
II. God Our Hope
A. We Can Quit If We Lose Hope
A man approached a little league baseball player during a game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, “Eighteen to nothing---we’re behind.” “Boy,” said the spectator, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.” “Why should I be discouraged?” replied the little boy. We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”
B. Hope
1. Is Not Blind Optimism
2. IS a Certainty
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6.19-20
3. Is Based on the words of God
a. God made promises (words) to Abraham and Descendants
b. That gave hope for Jacob
c. Just like the 12 Disciples (Peter)
d. Learn from God’s words:
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” Albert Einstein
III. God Is Our Happiness (Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob)
A. A Paradox
1. Seek Happiness – Lose it; Seek God – Gain it
2. In following Jesus – Matthew 10.38-39
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
B. A Portrayal –
1. “Asher” – Blessed/Happy
2. Level/Straight/Go Forward/Prosper
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD! Psalm 119.1
On September 24, 2000, Laura Wilkinson achieved what had looked to be impossible: she won the coveted gold medal on her high dive in the Olympics in Sydney, Australia. And she did it with a broken foot.
Laura broke three bones in her foot during a routine dry-land training session only twelve weeks before the team trials. She thought her Olympic goals were crushed as well, but before she knew it she was in Sydney as a member of the U.S. Olympic diving team. With her foot in a cast, Laura couldn’t train in the pool. Instead, her coach critiqued her as she stood on the diving board, made arm motions, and went through the dives in her head.
Laura had this to say about her training, “When I broke my foot, I lost my focus. I wanted to be back in the water. But ‘pretend diving’ helped me remember how much I loved what I did.” Laura, her doctor, and her coach together designed a special shoe for her to wear when climbing the high-dive ladder. Before every dive and practice, Laura recited her favorite Bible verse, “I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). This verse had been her theme through her growing up years. In eighth grade she had even “lived” in a shirt with that verse printed on it.
In her final rounds of her Olympic competition Laura rose from eighth place. In the fourth round, she suddenly faced overwhelming fear! Her coach said to her, “Laura, do this dive for Hilliary,” a close friend who had been killed in a car accident. Laura took the focus off her-self and decided, “This is for God. This is for all my friends. Suddenly it wasn’t so scary anymore. She limped in pain to the top of the ladder, where she took off her “handicapped” shoe and threw it down to her coach. She balanced on the ball of her broken foot, prayed her silent prayer, then jumped and completed the dive that won the first U.S. gold medal in over thirty years in the ten-meter platform dive in Women’s Olympic competitions.
Her first words to a reporter after she won were the words from Philippians that had kept her so focused: “I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me.”
As a Christian your hope is not dependent on what the world does to you. Your hope is dependent on what you do in the world as you live in response to God’s great love
