INTRODUCTION
Religious bondage makes people stop thinking.
That you are excited about this message does not mean you are free of religion. That you even accept it does not mean you are free. You are only free when it makes you think, question and appropriate it to your life.
Even though you think what I am saying is a revelation for the now or that it really makes sense, if it does not raise a personal quest in you to know more and critically think, it will make you depend on me for more revelations, waiting for another preacher to speak again and touch you like never before. That is another kind of bondage.
What you are hearing should make you say something like:
If this is like this, then I need to reflect Christ more
If this is like this, why is this happening?
If this is like this, what am I still where I am?
If this is like this, then the devil can’t hurt me no more. Etc.
It was from the questions of the Corinthian Christians that we learn from till today.
1 Cor. 7, 8, 16.
God always wants us to think deeply. Treasures don’t stay at the surface. You need to go deep to get it.
Because of laziness to think, we now push back to God what he created us to do with the common phrase “knows and controls everything”
It is wrong to think that whatever happens to us is the will of God.
Whatever happens to us is not necessarily the will of God.
Simply because God is Eminent and "All Knowing" does not mean He micromanages man.
The reason why he gave us his IMAGE and LIKENESS at creation is so that he doesn't have to micromanage us. What this means is with His Image and Likeness, we are complete.
This is what Adam lost, this is what Christ came to restore.
The title of my message today is: The Future
Being poor is more of a mindset than not having money.
That is to say, when you have a positive mindset, if you don’t have money you see it as a temporal setback therefore you plan and work to improve it but when you have a negative mindset, you see it as a permanent situation, you stop thinking and start looking for sympathy.
Because the state of your mind determines what you see, even how you understand the word of God.
Text: Gen 25:20 – end.
By our Character, actions and what we say, we prophesy to our future
This is the story of Esau and Jacob. This two kids came from God. The Bible said they are their father answered prayers.
So they both came from God.
God called them two (2) nations or two (2) people. In other words there are Esau nations and there are Jacob nations. There are Esau people and there are Jacob people.
1. The twins in this passage will have characteristics of two kinds of people or kinds of nations.
2. One relied on physical strength, the other relied on mental strength
Two different people, two different nations, one is relied on brute strength, the other relied on the wisdom of the mind.
One of the things that surprises me about Esau is that he goes to the field to hunt yet he came home hungry and asks food from the one who did not hunt. He is skillful, yet he came home hungry.
Esau provides Raw Materials
Jacob processes raw materials.
Jacob made a stew, where did he get the meat he cooked with?
This paradox represents nations today
The Esau nation have a lot of raw materials yet they are always hungry
The Jacob nations on the other hand do not have a lot of Raw materials but they are always satisfied.
The Esau nations speak this way: we have oil, we have cocoa, we have gold. Having natural resources in abundance does not mean you will have something to eat.
Esau goes out to the field every day to chase after animals, hunt them down, kill them and brings them home. But you know, if you kill an Antelope, you cannot eat it raw, they can never be eaten in their raw state. Therefore your ability to have raw materials will not guarantee your success in life.
Prov. 12:27.
He is a good hunter but after hunting he does not go the next step of processing what he got from the hunt, because if you want to eat meat, you must process it, you must add value to it, and it becomes consumable and also marketable – you will never eat it raw.
So Esau came back from hunting probably with an animal but he does not have the patience to roast it so he wants already made food.
If you don’t know how to turn your raw material into finished product, you will serve the Jacob.
He asked for food INSTANTLY. This will lead me to talk about the core attitudes in this passage that we will learn from.
1. INSTANT GRATIFICATION
Instant gratification is the desire to experience pleasure to experience pleasure or fulfillment without delay or determent. Basically, it is when you want it and you want it now.
Hungry people have intense need, exaggerate their issues and as such, close their eyes to the consequences of their actions.
Esau said ….”I want the food now, I am weary, I am hungry. He was throwing tantrums give me, give me, now, now, now. Now”.
Esau traded his identity for food. Like most of our youths that trade who they are for money in internet fraud (Yahoo Yahoo). Lack of patience. Lack of planning. Lack of thinking. Lack of creativity.
When people are desperate for instant gratification, that is great hunger; they have little patience for wisdom, tact and good judgment.
Most crimes arise from the allure of getting easy money, revenge or whatever else we want, without having to make long-term plan. In some cases, as in passion, the gratification is almost immediately, either way, crimes denotes a lack of desire to delay it.
We live an era that thrives instantaneous fulfilment of our most complex desires and temptations, one that reinforces the notion of “carpe diem” or seizing the moment.
The desire for instant gratification don’t let you think of the effects of your actions on your personal future, family and the society. For instance, a lecturer that collect money and passes students (sorting) just thinks about what he would make at the moment without considering what the effect would be in the next five years. This means that in the next five years we will have unproductive graduates. Now you see why Nigeria is so unproductive - Instant gratification.
Instant gratification has eaten so deep into our society that it is almost accepted as normal. It is in every sector, security, education, politics, religion etc. it needs to STOP! And it can only stop with me and you.
First of all, stop any form of instant gratification in your life then share the message.
2. CONSUMPTION: Esau people are the “forever living Consumers”. They consume and consume until they come to stagnation. They consume even things they should not. They love already made things.
The Jacob kind of people always provide what the Esau’s consume.
What are consuming today. Is it time? “If you lose money you can get it back but if you lose time, you are losing part of your life”
3. BE FUTURISTIC:
Do not live in the now. Always thing about the future.
…and Jacob says “fine, I will give you food you want today but in exchange I want what you will have in the future.
Esau says, when man is hungry you are talking about “birthright”
The birthright is that which will come upon every first child, the principle here is that double portion of blessing is given to the first born.
This birthright is in the future. You get it when your father is dead. It is on a “yet to be” issue. Can’t be seen at the moment.
The food on the other hand is not in the future. It is there right now, it can been seen and can be eaten right now.
While the Jacob of this life are negotiating what they will become, Esau’s of this life are relieved by the pleasures of today.
Every choice Jacob made was futuristic.
The people who make significant progress in life are the people who have the Jacob attitude, they always ask questions about the future. And God says that Esau kind of people will always serve the Jacobs.
4. DO NOT EXAGGERATE YOUR SITUATION
They exaggerate their problems just as an excuse to keep consuming. They say something like; “We can’t survive without this”
Esau exaggerated his problems, thinking…”if I don’t eat this food right now I will die, then what is the need of a “birth right”. But you know what, he wouldn’t have died. Exactly what we do when we desire instant gratification, we think don’t have any more options.
Esau’s of this life negotiate when they are hungry
Jacobs of this life negotiate when they are full
That is why when hungry Nations negotiate, they end up in deeper crisis.
Don’t ever negotiate when you are hungry.
Even if you are hungry, don’t let it show: when you want to borrow money from someone, be dignified about it, appear as if you want extra. Or you can be sold very cheaply.
Always understand that your present situation is temporal. You are in transition. Don’t behave as if your present position is the end of your life.
Have ever seen a hungry man negotiate before?
We should be very careful particularly when we are HUNGRY...everything looks good when we are HUNGRY
5. EXCUSES:
When you plan, you don’t have time to make excuses, for you will busy executing your plans. But if you don’t have a plan you will also be busy building excuses why you don’t. And remember, that you can explain why you are poor or when the poverty started does not mean you now succeed.
Excuses are good examples for bad results.
Do not give excuse of no capital – whatever you have in your hands right now is enough for you to start something. Take a step. That step you need to take will lead to another. You will ask how?
First articulate that business plan, right it down. Now instead of looking for Capital, go look for partners or investors.
ACTION:
1. PLAN: Without Vision, I diminish. “7 habits of highly effective people” teach us that
“All things are created twice: the mental or first creation, and the physical or second creation. The second creation follows from the first, just as a building follows from a blueprint.”
In planning,” begin with an end in mind”. Beginning with an end in mind will make you responsible and reactive to events in your life.
Always start your plan with the things you can control.
Illustration: if you want to publish a book, but you don’t have any money. In your planning the first issue should be to get a paper and a pen and start writing, not to start going about saying you need money to publish. Publish what?
Plan what to do with money before it comes. Money is very hard to manage in the presence of it. If you want to manage money well you must do that in its absence, so that when it comes you can handle it.
Some years ago I thought what I needed is money, I got it, yet I don’t have it now…little did know that what I need more than money is a direction, a plan , a vision, so that if the money come I can now put them in this things.
2. FIRST LOOK FOR TREASURES WITHIN BEFORE YOU LOOK OUTSIDE
Isaac asked Esau to get him something to eat. Rebeca heard and went to Jacob. Jacob goes to the backward picks two goats, makes the stew and presented it. Isaac eats it and can’t tell the difference between what came from the backward and that which came from far away.
You waste a lot of time when you always look far away.
That is to say, Esau have not developed the strategy of not always going to the same place to hunt. I am sure when he went, the Antelopes were running around all over and he was chasing them all over and was delayed.
See, what you learn is not as important as what you do with what you learn. The wisdom you do not apply is foolishness. Start using what you have learnt so far, you learnt so mush. Stop waiting for the pastor that knows how to teach to come into town, stop waiting for that life changing revival, stop waiting for that next big programme. Start looking for the treasures within. Start looking at the things God had given you.
Understand what Christ in you means. It means that all Christ is, is also available to you. If Christ is wise, wisdom is available to you. If Christ is excellent, excellence is available to you. If Christ is great, greatness is available to you. If Christ is all powerful, power is available to you.
Understand your spiritual identity so you can maximize your potentials and secure your future.
