Jacob’s vow (Genesis 28:20-22) “And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set [for] a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Jacob was at the corner of his life, he was a refugee, away from home. His brother Esau hated him to death, for Jacob had cheated Esau of the birthrights, even Jacob’s father could not understand Jacob for having tricked him to give him the blessings which he did not deserve. For Jacob was not such a valiant man who could hunt and bring meat in the family like Esau yet now he had tricked his father and gotten himself the blessing of his brother. He did not deserve the mercy of nay man, for how could that be for a cheat like him? Therefore he set fleeing away from home where his life was at risk to a strange place where he was unknown to the people. Yet while fleeing away from his brother and reaching a place called Luz, the mercy of the Lord was manifested to him, when heaven opened and angels ascended and descended upon him and the lord spoke a comforting word to him promising to protect him!! Oh what a grace that can be to a man known to be a sinner, having no one to love him, now away from home going to a place unknown to himself, the future being oblique, not sure whether he will come to his people again?! So this was a situation Jacob was faced with and he made a vow to the Lord asking for basic things that a poor man could ask!! Before you read this sermon, let us pray. Most gracious Jehovah, the giver of everything that is good, the father of the fatherless, the creator of the universe and the savior thereof, we thank you for the gift of life that has made us to be what we are for the sake of your name, and we thank you for your precious son whom you offered to be hanged on the tree, taking the curse of sin from us and also taking our place who were lost and deserving the hell fire. Thou our God who has given us this grace of salvation through Jesus Christ our lord, we asked you to forgive our sins now and allow us to be worthy to be in your presence as we share the word of life through this electronic media. Take the glory at this time and bless this reading of the word, in Jesus’ name we pray: Amen. Rebecca, the mother of the twin brothers, Esau and Jacob had been barren for twenty five years in their marriage and when finally she got pregnant with the twins, she had trouble in her womb, having no peace at all: The children struggled together within her; and she said, If [it be] so, why [am] I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations [are] in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and [the one] people shall be stronger than [the other] people; and the elder shall serve the younger (Gensis 25:22-23). Two nations were in the sister, the Jacob and the Esau. Their struggle started from the womb and this culminated into the younger Jacob taking the blessing of the elder through false pretense or impersonation. Through deception and impersonation, imitation of Esau’s voice, outwitting their blind father Isaac, Jacob made their blind father to bless him instead of Esau whom Isaac loved for the sake of meat that Esau could give him. But we see that Jacob was destined for a blessing by God before he was born. He was of God by election not by the works. Esau was getting his blessings by works. He had to hunt to bring meat to his father, but Jacob was not such a hunter, he was a kind of mummy’s boy staying at home. No one would ever expect that such a man would be a great man before God. But he was for God does not see as man does. For us as human beings we see and judge according to our own understanding, yet God does not see things from the surface as we do. {1 Samuel16:7} But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. One would have expected Esau to be the one to be blessed by God, yet far from it. The lord had rejected him before he was born. Now Jacob getting the right thing that is blessing from a man rejected of God had to pay for it heavily. He was rejected by people around him and the only one who would stand and prove him to be the lord’s servant was Jehovah, whom no man can bribe. It is by election not by works. Election prides itself in the grace. For by grace we are saved not by works of the flesh!! Glory (Ephesians 2:8-9). Election had done it for Jacob, but he had to suffer persecution until he had no one to love him. In the tough times the friends are but few, but Jesus is the only friend that sticks forever. He is a compassionate friend who will not leave you when men have gone. When you are sick, he is with you, when you are alone, he said come unto me all you that labor and are heavily ladened I will give you rest: when you are dying, he will go with you to the grave, for he has been there and conquered the grave, came out on the third day , ascended into heaven, sat on the right hand of the majesty, not in the order of the Levitical priesthood but in the order of the great Melchizedec, interceding for us day and night, aware of the gravity of the trials that befall his children, being a high priest touched by the feelings of our infirmity, he is able to succor those that are tempted. Amen. This was so also with Jacob. He did not leave him, he did not forsake him, but at Luz, he came to meet the lonely man, to give him support and comfort. He descended on the man Jacob with the best words the man in the state of Jacob, a man known to be a liar, a sinner, a cheat would long to hear!!! But the Lord in his great mercy looked upon Jacob at Luz, remembered his great promise to Abraham, seeing how the seed of Abraham was running from the power of men, and now just sleeping in the open desert with the stones for a pillow, annoyed by the state of the man of God , Jacob the liar; aware that this man Jacob was the one with the promise and inheritance, from the heaven above, the great Jehovah at the apex of the ladder that descended from the excellent glory where no man could approach, stretching his hand of mercy to Jacob, He roared from the heaven above to Jacob thus;,” I [am] the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I [am] with thee, and will keep thee in all [places] whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done [that] which I have spoken to thee of” (Gensis 28;13-15). Oh my God, how could the whole king of heaven come to him? How could such mercy be extended to such a sinner? Was God unfair to give him the blessing? No sir!! Oh God is not man. He is God, he does what is in his pleasure. The lord did not see the state of Jacob, but he looked and remembered his promise to Abraham. The promise is greater than our sins. For all things happen for good to those who love the lord. He chose Jacob, he loved him, he had chosen him before the foundation of the world. Although Jacob was now in the desert place alone, in the cold of the night, having nothing but the stones for pillows, the great Jehovah provided the stairs for him to see his glory!! Oh brother, oh sister, you need the stairs where the angels of the lord are ascending and descending and the great God at the end of the stairs or the ladder in your loneliness. He is a kind compassionate friend. He will visit you in your loneliness, he gives hope to the fatherless, he cares, he will never forsake you (Hebrews 13; 5,). Think about John the revelator, think of the grace that was extended to him, a man that had been thrown in the island of Patmos. When John was cast into Patmos, having no friend to talk to, having no one to preach to, so lost alone in his island of Patmos, in an isolation of this world, and one day John’s head was cast down, the man of God feeling so lonely because of rejection, all over a sudden, a strong hand touched him on his shoulder with a sweet voice he had never heard before; “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Revevelation 1:17-18). Oh glory!!! Let there be rejection sister, let there be trial sister, and Jesus Christ the son of God will not leave you. He will come to you. He came to Jacob in his Luz, he came to John in his Patmos of the ancient Rome. For God in his human theophany appeared to Jacob, that he could be seen of the reject, he appeared to John that comfort could be restored to a man in the cold, what was it?, but that grace may prevail over all the works of man, Jehovah in the flesh, that man could be viewed by the naked eye of a man came down: Immanuel with man. For this was Jesus in the flesh. Oh glory!! Jesus, everything to me and you sister, or brother, all of it came there. Why??? He is everything; Jesus does not give peace, but he is our peace (ephesian2; 14), he doesn’t give wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, he is all of these (1cor.1; 30). If we are hungry, he is the bread of life, if we are thirsty, he is the fountain of the living water, if we are lost, he is the way, if we are blind, he is the light of the world, if we are lonely, and he is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. If we are dying, he is the resurrection and life. Glory!!!! He is the way and what we find at the end of the way. He is the door and what we find the other side of the door. He is the fountain and the water that flows from the fountain. He is the cause of his own effects and the effects of his own cause. Jesus Christ. The same yesterday today and forever (Heb.13; 8). He is my lord, let there be the desert, let there be Luz brother, stick out your head for your salvation draws near, let there be Patmos, alleluia!!!, let there be banishment, Jesus will never change. He who came to Jeremiah in the dungeon (Jer.33;1-3), he who came to john in Patmos is here. He, who came to Jacob at Luz, will come to you right now!! Stand up , let out the pressure, Call unto his name now. Go free sister, Jesus has loosed the fetters, go free brother, the fetters have fallen. Glory, glory, glory!!!!!!! Oh Jacob, go free, go free now, go free now!!! Turn that place into the house of the lord now. Call unto his name now. Go free sister, Jesus has loosed the fetters, go free brother, the fetters have fallen. Glory, glory, glory!!!!!!! Lord Jesus, forgive me now. Give me a new beginning, Forgive all my past sins, Help me to be a new person, Fill me with your holy spirit, In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen Call evangelist on; +256 776 857 445, E-mail on, bensonokello@yahoo
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 08:53:42 +0000
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