Day: January 10, 2014

I Will Not Let Thee Go

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

I Will Not Let Thee Go…

Genesis 32:24-32

1.  Jacob was born grasping the heel of his brother Esau (25:25-26).
2.  Jacob’s name means “supplanter” which is a deceiver, schemer plotting and planning his own course in life (27:36)
3.  Jacob runs to Padanaram to escape from possible death by Esau’s hand (27:41- 28:2).
4.  Jacob meets God for the first time at Luz; he names the place Bethel [House of God] (28:10-22).
5.  He gets to Laban’s home, meets Rachel, is in a fight with Laban for twenty years for what is his.
6.  God calls Jacob to return to Canaan (31:11-13).
7.  Jacob fears meeting Esau; spends night wrestling with a man; earnestly contended for blessing; received blessing.

 

I.  THE BATTLE WE FACE AND CONTINUES THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES (Eph. 6:10-12).

II.  THERE ARE FEARS THAT WILL BE FACED IN THIS LIFE (Psalm 56:3, 11).

III. WE WILL BE CALLED ON TO CONFRONT WHO WE ARE; JUST AS JACOB DID (vv. 27-28).

IV.  WHEN WE HAVE A HOLD ON GOD DO NOT LET HIM GOD WITHOUT HIS BLESSING.

V.  KNOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN BEFORE THE FACE OF GOD (vv. 29-30).

VI.  THERE WILL BE EVIDENCE OF YOUR BREAKING BEFORE GOD (vv. 31-32).

 

Application
i.  Face the battle of everyday life with faith that God will bring you through it.
ii.  Recognize your fears, confess them, forsake them, and trust the One who fights your battle for you.
iii.  Remember that God knows the ending as well as the beginning.
iv.  Rejoice that God in His grace has brought us before His face.
v.  Take the time each day to really spend time with God [wrestling] in prayer and His Word.

-Tim A. Blankenship

This is sermon points from a sermon preached January 2011

Elijah, Elisha and Jesus

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

“Ye will surely say unto Me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Thy country.'”  And He said, “Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.”  ~Jesus (Luke 4:23-27)