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Introduction: We are living in a world where people are chasing after money, riches, wealth, and property. People go any length to attain prosperity in life. Do you know that is exactly what God is offering his people? Your prosperity God’s priority. It is his promise for you.
We are in a study on the life of Jacob. God promised that he would bless Jacob. When we see the life of Jacob, it is so striking that he grew prosperous in the tough years of life in Haran.
Genesis 30:43 The man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys. Jacob grew exceedingly prosperous. He had 11 sons, 1 daughter, wealth, flocks, and herds.
How did Jacob get his blessings? We saw how Jacob had to leave his home in Beersheba as a result of his deception and go to Haran. There Jacob married Laban’s daughters Leah and Rachel and in the bargain ended up staying in his father-in-law’s house for 20 long years.
Living in his father-in-law’s home, he got back deceit for deceit. Jacob reaps through his father-in-law’s deceit and the rivalry of his wives. That is not all, uncle Laban’s deception and manipulation did not stop with his daughters, Jacob’s wives, but extended into his wages. At every turn, Laban took advantage of Jacob. How interesting that Jacob thought he had escaped an unhappy and competitive home but ended up with one of his own.
See what Jacob tells his wives: Genesis 31:6-7 6You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. Every time Jacob seemed to be getting the better end of the deal, Laban would change the rules regarding the flock. Back then, money and wealth were measured by cattle. We can assume that uncle Laban used every trick in the book to keep Jacob down.
Having lived with and worked for Laban for some 20 years, there soon came a time in the life of Jacob where he could not take the injustice and wanted to leave. Genesis 30:25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland.” It is obvious that Jacob has had enough of Laban and he is ready to venture out on his own.
Laban offered to help Jacob. Genesis 30:31 “What shall I give you?” he asked. “Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. Laban wanted to freely offer Jacob goodies. Jacob did not want to be in debt to anyone.
Laban then asks Jacob to stay and set his own wages. Jacob responds by making the worst possible deal for himself. Jacob agreed to supervise Laban’s flocks for only those unborn animals that would be spotted.
The dominate color traits of Laban’s flocks were the solid color animals. To make things even more generous for Laban, Jacob would not receive spotted or speckled animals from those few that were presently of that variety. His future wages would be those spotted and speckled animals that were born to the solid color pairs! It would be entirely up to God as to how many animals would become Jacob’s.
This was such a good deal. Laban quickly took Jacob’s offer. Just for insurance, Laban put all the spotted and speckled animals under the care of his sons and moved them a three days’ journey from Jacob. You see, Laban is doing the best he can so that Jacob won’t prosper. If God decides to prosper you, no one can stop it.
Jacob is getting on with his life, accepting what has happened to him and making the most of the present situation. Jacob is not trapped in the past or the present, he is looking to the future!
It requires a level of maturity not to get sidetracked by life’s hard knocks and injustice. The apostle Paul expressed this in Philippians 3:13-14 13But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. We cannot live in the past and claim the future. We cannot live in 2017 and at the same time hug to the hurts of 2016. Instead, we must learn from the past, we must come to terms with our past, and press on!
Jacob has placed his success and failure in the hands of God. He has been given a bad deal but he does not sit idle. He did his research about cattle. Jacob uses methods known at the time to either encourage certain animals to breed or alter the color trait of their offspring.
Faith requires action on our part. While we are living in dependence upon God, we are not to be idle. There are some things we must do. Someone said that we should believe as if everything depended upon God, and act as if everything depended upon us!
Finally, Jacob decides to move back to his father’s house. Genesis 31:3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
Genesis 31:17-18 17Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
Jacob is going home, back to Canaan, and he does so under a veil of secrecy. He goes without the knowledge of Laban. Why? Jacob is afraid that Laban will prevent him from doing so.
On the third day when Laban was told that Jacob had fled, he took his relatives and pursued Jacob. Laban caught up with Jacob on the seventh day because he traveled light and wanted to confront him. The Lord came to Laban in a dream and asked him not to say anything good or bad to Jacob.
You see, when you are with God and when God blesses you, no matter who is against, it is God who protects you. People who mean harm to you cannot even touch you, you are protected.
Jacob and Laban enter into a peace agreement. They end their feud by making a covenant between them, calling on God to be a witness. The agreement is followed by the usual sacrifice and feast. Laban and Jacob part in peace.
Now see the blessings of Jacob in the process of 20 years in hardship
Genesis 30:43 The man grew exceedingly prosperous.
Genesis 32:10 I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
Living in the house that Laban built has been good for Jacob, he has grown but the deal has not been pleasant. The truth here is that we grow more in our lives when life is unpleasant, than when we are comfortable.
Jacob was blessed with family, children, servants, cattle and wealth. So, what is the secret of Jacob’s blessings. What are the keys for growth?
Seven keys to growth.
1. Keys to growth: Blessings follow obedience.
When a person obeys the Lord Jesus Christ, blessings automatically follow him. Every promise of blessings and growth in the Bible is followed by a command of obedience to God.
Deuteronomy 28:2 And these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.
Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Condition: The Lord is our shepherd.
Genesis 12:2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. Condition: Abraham had to leave his country and father’s home to follow God.
The condition for blessings in the Bible is obedience. When a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ and obeys his word, he has God’s favour. God blesses him. No matter who is against you, what the circumstances, God blesses his people.
Others are blessed because of you. Genesis 30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”
Genesis 30:27 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been.” Your company is blessed because of you. Your unsaved spouse and family is blessed because you are a blessing.
2. Keys to growth: Have a desire to Succeed.
Genesis 30:30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?” Jacob is now having a renewed desire to do something for him, desire to succeed. Your desire for success should be greater than your fear for failure.
As much as God wants to bless us, we must have a deep desire and passion to grow. Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Don’t give up at trying circumstances. Don’t lose your passion to grow. If you have the desire, God will make you successful.
3. Keys to growth: Hard work pays off.
Proverbs 14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Proverbs 21:5 NLT Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
Nothing worth having comes easy. You only get out what you put into it. Dreams don’t work unless you do. God had promised that he would bless Jacob but Jacob had to plan and work hard to receive his blessings. Look at Jacob’s hard work.
Genesis 31:6 You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength.
Genesis 30:26 You know how much work I’ve done for you.
Genesis 31:40 This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
Jacob had great planning and worked hard for 20 long years and God blessed him.
4. Keys to growth: Be Honest.
God blesses an honest person.
Proverbs 28:20 A faithful person will be richly blessed.
Proverbs 13:11 Dishonest money dwindles away.
Genesis 30:33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Honesty will pay off in the future.
Jacob’s honesty: Genesis 31:38-42 38“I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”
Result of Jacob’s Honesty: Genesis 31:9 So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.
5. Keys to growth: Don’t move out of God’s provision.
The problem with many of us is that after putting a lot of years of hard work and persistence we easily move because of problem. You must understand blessings and favour fall where he has placed you.
Jacob had a lot of problems in the house of Laban but Jacob knew that is where he was blessed the maximum in his life. We grow more in our lives when life is unpleasant, circumstances are bad than when we are comfortable. So, do not be hasty in moving just because things are unfair, you may be moving out of the provision of God. God has kept you in a place for a season and don’t move out until God’s gives you a green signal.
We find many people leaving from the provision when God put difficulty in their lives. Abraham and Sarah moved to Egypt because of a famine in the land. Abraham risked his life out of the provision of God and he had to start all over agian.
Elimelech and Naomi moved out of Bethlehem because of a famine. God would have provided for them in the famine but they left to Moab and ended up losing God’s protection. Elimelech and his two sons died in the process.
Don’t move out from where God has placed you. Never move out of a Job, change your house, change the city or even change your church without God telling you to move. When you are in a place, there will be difficulties and opposition, and all the more before the breakthrough comes. When you move because of people, you don’t realize that you are moving out of the providence of God. Jacob did not move until he heard from the Lord. He stayed back even though he went through great injustice and shame in his in-law’s home.
Genesis 31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.
6. Keys to growth: Pursue Peace.
When then time comes when you have to part, part in peace.
a. Keep your family at peace with the move.
Jacob got consent from his family before he moved.
Genesis 31:4 So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were.
Genesis 31:16 Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
b. Set things right before you proceed. Settle in peace with your offender. Jacob made peace with Laban. Genesis 31:43-44 43Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? 44Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.”
Genesis 31:54-55 54He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. 55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
7. Keys to growth: Build a great relationship with God.
The vital key to Jacob’s growth and success was that he had a great relationship with God.
a. Personal encounter with God. Once Jacob had an encounter with God in Bethel, he kept his relationship with God. If you see Jacob’s life, time and again, Jacob prayed to God and God spoke to him through dreams. God spoke on his behalf to Laban. God once spoke to Jacob face to face.
b. Commitment to give to God. In Bethel Jacob committed to give one-tenth of his income to God. Genesis 28:22 Of all that you give me I will give you a tenth. Where did he determine to give? In the house of God, Bethel. Tithe has to be brought to God’s house.
How did Jacob give his tithes? He gave his tithes by building an altar to God. Genesis 35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
Genesis 35:3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”
Conclusion: God wants to bless you but most of the time we move out of the providence of God. The devil ends up getting into person wars with people and we lose our blessings. This morning I have given you seven keys to growth, you apply it and goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. Amen!
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