Title: Preparing To Meet God
Text: II Cor 5:10; Gen 32:22-32
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Introduction:
Several centuries ago, a Japanese emperor commissioned an artist to paint a bird. A number of months passed, then several years, and still no painting was brought to the palace. Finally the emperor became so exasperated that he went to the artist’s home to demand an explanation. Instead of making excuses, the artist placed a blank canvas on the easel. In less than an hour, he completed a painting that was to become a brilliant masterpiece. When the emperor asked the reason for the delay, the artist showed him armloads of drawings of feathers, wings, heads, and feet. Then he explained that all of this research and study had been necessary before he could complete the painting.
- God is in the business of preparing all people, but not all want to be prepared.
- This morning we are going to focus on how to prepare for the Lord’s coming.
- And to do this, the Lord has lead me to Gen 30-32 as we look at a couple of key verses that will teach us how to prepare for the Lord’s coming or too encounter the Lord face to face.
- Jacob was prepared to have an encounter with the Lord because he lived 3 great truths.
- Jacob’s encounter was in Gen 32:22-31 where he wrestled with the Lord
- All of us need to have an encounter with the Lord here on earth, but one day we will encounter Him face to face, and my question is are we prepared?
- Can we ever be fully prepared to meet the creator of all things?
- As we see, Jacob was not a perfect man, but it was his desire to be blessed of the Lord.
- God knows all of our weaknesses, weaknesses meaning sinful nature, but in spite of them all He still blesses us.
- Why? Because of God’s mercy, but also we are a people who want to be blessed of God.
- God knows we are not perfect, that’s why Jesus came and died on the Cross for our sins.
- God does not overlook our weaknesses but rather works with us to see us change into His likeness. We can’t change into Christ likeness if we are not striving to be blessed of God, like our example Jacob.
- In Gen 30 we read about the weaknesses of the family of Jacob,
- The whole chapter shows that God worked to accomplish his ultimate purpose, despite weakness, struggles and blemishes in the family.
- Despite Jacob’s shortcomings he still developed in himself that relationship that made him prepared to speak to God and to hear from Him.
- Scripture is not clear as too what Leah and Rachel wanted, but we do see glimpses of there hearts.
- There desire was for the temporal things, rather then Heavenly things. We need to be careful that we don’t get caught up in the same trap.
- We see that by the way they acted.
- They was jealousy, envy, manipulation, selfishness all fueled by power for control. We will get into that later on in the message.
- There hearts were on other things, rather then the blessings of God.
- But despite all the weaknesses that the family went through, God still blessed them and produced through them, what we know as the 12 tribes of Israel.
- So what are the keys to being prepared to meet God or to having an encounter with God, as this family did?
- I want to give you 3 points that will challenge you to seek after the blessing of God rather then the temporal things of the world.
- Because we all know the world has nothing to offer us, only God is our true source for everything.
Point 1: Learn To Be Humble With God
- When you look at the character traits of Jacob, he was a trickster.
- That’s what his name meant, trickster. He tricked his father for the birth right and manipulated his brother to sell his birth right for a bowl of stew.
- He was a sneaky guy, but God had a plan for him.
- Before the big encounter with God in Gen 32:22 Jacob developed a relationship with God.
- Whenever we develop our relationship with God we normally have to humble ourselves before Him.
- How do I know this to be true about Jacob?
- When he is criticized by people. Gen 31:1-3 which says, “Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father. And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. Then the Lord said to Jacob, God back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
- To be wrongly accused of something is very hurtful, and can make us angry, but Jacob turned to God as his source and the results of this is he heard from God and God gave him direction.
- I believe it hurt Jacob, but he heard from the Lord, meaning there is a relationship in place.
- And if there is a relationship in place, then Jacob humbled himself and sought the Lord to hear and learn His voice. Listen to this story that helps explain what I am saying:
Advice from Dr. Mitchell’s life: Someone in his congregation pointed out several faults in him and his preaching. Instead of retaliating, or trying to defend himself, he looked at the woman and said, "If what you say is true, would you mind praying for me?"
- To respond in that manner takes developing a relationship with God and learning from Him. Turning the other cheek is never an easy thing, especially when it involves words from family and friends
- One way we can prepare for God’s return is to remain humble, so that we can hear His voice and direction for our lives in the situation.
- If you are filled with hurt and bitterness because of what someone else did to you, you need to develop a closer walk with God and understand that Jesus went through criticism and rejection, so Jesus knows what we go through and shares our pain.
- The lesson we learn from Jesus is to pray and forgive those who hurt you and cause you pain.
- We need to humble ourselves and learn from our experiences, but that will only happen leave the past behind and submit to God alone and rise above our hurts and circumstances.
Point 2: Jacob Learned To Trust In God
- How do I know this, by his actions.
- Look with me in Gen 30:29-32 (read)
- God was Jacob’s supply not man. Laban new this all to well and so did Jacob.
- God was the one that prospered Jacob and Jacob acknowledges that very truth in Gen 31 verse 9 which says, “So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.”
- So Jacob learned to trust God in the area of money and new that God had prospered him.
- Let me encourage the ones that are going through financial troubles, learn to trust God and do things His way.
- But not just financial troubles, but also emotional, physical and spiritual problems.
- God wants to be our source.
- We also see Jacob trusted God with His life.
- Gen 32:9-12 we see Jacob going back to his homeland, but learns that Esau is coming to greet him with 400 troops.
- Thinking the worst, Jacob turns to the Lord and declares the promises of God.
- He says in verse 9-12 of chapter 32 (read)
- This is man who trusted God with his life.
- We all have fears and pasts that we are not proud of.
- Sometimes they come back to haunt us in the form of Esau.
- But when we face them with God, God has a way of dealing with them and bringing deliverance and healing. (Gen 33:4)
- Sometimes the very thing we fear, is the one thing that will bring blessing to our lives.
- God is in the business of making us grow stronger in Him, we can’t grow stronger in Him if we are full of fear and are unwilling to deal with our past.
- Church my challenge to you is this, trust God to lead you in life.
- Don’t tell God what you can’t do, or what your past says you can’t do, but rather tell God how available you are to hear His voice and listen.
- Dealing with our Esau’s can be hard, but in the end they will be a blessing for us.
Point 3: Don’t Be Selfish With God
- The last thing we need to do in order to prepare to meet God is don’t be selfish.
- This is where Leah and Rachel come in.
- From the beginning of Gen 30 we learn about there character and mind set.
- They were full of jealousy vs 1, envy, manipulation, vs 15, selfishness Chapter 31:14-16 idol worship Chapter 31:19.
- There is a danger when one becomes selfish in there thinking like these women did.
- One doesn’t even know at times, that the way they think could be bringing harm to there Christian walk.
- So not only are the girls fighting because of jealousy, and thinking about money and themselves, God is not speaking to them.
- It’s hard for God to speak to His people, when the pleasures of this life and more important then God’s plan for there lives.
- It’s hard for God to speak to His people, when our sinful shortcomings are fueled by power for control.
- For Leah and Rachel, one can only assume that the pleasures of this world where more important then fellowshipping God.
- How do we know this?
- When Rachel stole the household gods, archaeological discoveries in that area show that the possession of those idols were thought to bring a double portion of the inheritance.
- Rachel and Leah felt cheated out of there inheritance in verse 15.
- So therefore Rachel took the idols, maybe not for the purpose of worshiping them, but for mere profit.
- So we find Rachel and Leah are not trusting in God, nor do we find them hearing from God, but rather what we see is an intense pursuit for the pleasures of the world.
- My encouragement to you this morning is to put God first ahead of yourself and all things present in our lives.
- And our lives are full, but we need to let God be God in our families, finances, and life in general.
- We need to think in terms of what’s in the best interest for the Kingdom of God?
- Not, what’s in it for me, or what I am going to get out of this if I walk with God in this area.
- Sometimes we do that, we haven’t developed trust with God or we haven’t humbled ourselves to develop our relationship, so therefore we rely on our own strengths and smarts to get us through life.
- This leads to selfishness and pride, the opposite of humbleness and trust.
Conclusion:
- I close with this story to sum up everything I have said thus far:
Every young student knows of Isaac Newton’s famed encounter with a falling apple. Newton discovered and introduced the laws of gravity in the 1600s, which revolutionized astronomical studies. But few know that if it weren’t for Edmund Halley, the world might never have learned from Newton. It was Halley who challenged Newton to think through his original notions. Halley corrected Newton’s mathematical errors and prepared geometrical figures to support his discoveries. Halley co-axed the hesitant Newton to write his great work, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Halley edited and supervised the publication, and actually financed its printing even though Newton was wealthier and easily could have afforded the printing costs.
Historians call it one of the most selfless examples in the annals of science. Newton began almost immediately to reap the rewards of prominence; Halley received little credit. He did use the principles to predict the orbit and return of the comet that would later bear his name, but only AFTER his death did he receive any acclaim. And because the comet only returns every seventy-six years, the notice is rather infrequent. Halley remained a devoted scientist who didn’t care who received the credit as long as the cause was being advanced.
Others have played Halley’s role. John the Baptist said of Jesus, "He must become greater; I must become less." Barnabus was content to introduce others to greatness. Many pray to uphold the work of one Christian leader. Such selflessness advances the kingdom.
- People in history were willing to pay the price to see others succeed.
- First we want to see the Lord succeed. We know that God does not need us for anything because He is all powerful, but God has chosen to use us to accomplish His purpose.
- We are God’s extended right hand.
- After we have developed in our minds and hearts to see the work of the Kingdom go forward, that mentality will spill over into people.
- We will now what to see people prosper and grow before us.
- Because this mind set is in us, God will begin to speak to us and give us direction just like He did with Jacob, despite all his weaknesses and failures.
- Jacob strived to live humbly, strived to trust in God and desired to put God first in all things, even above his own wants.
- How do I know he put God first above his own wants, because he obeyed and was preparing to go back to his home land.
- By going back to his home land he had to deal with a 20 year issue, Esau, and he willing did.
- When these attitudes begin to form our character, then we will be prepared to meet the Lord, but also our relationship here and now will take on a new meaning, we will grow in grace and understanding.
Lets Pray!!!
