This message was preached by Colin D' Cruz at Word of Grace Church Pune, on the 12 th of January 2014
Happy New Year to all . Which Bible character who has a great father , a great son and grandson but is not often spoken of ? He is also a son of promise. YOU are a son of promise too.
To listen to the AUDIO please CLICK HERE
I want to talk about
someone in the Old Testament who often gets over-looked. His father was very
famous and great, his son and grandson were great. You can get lost when you have such a great
heritage. Who is he? Isaac.
1 Cor. 10:11, Gen 12.
The old testament is there
for us as examples and warnings for us. There is much benefit in studying the
lives of these men of God.
What was special about
Issac – there were great promises spoken over his life just as they were to his
father. All nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham.
Abraham had great
promises. The problem is that he did not have a son. The promise was there but
not the fulfillment. Then, there was the son of the promise- Isaac. Genesis 17:16,
19- Here is a promise to Sarah: Mothers of nations, kings will come through her.
The promises were spoken before he was born. He was blessed.
Even with us- promises
were spoken over us before we were born because we are sons of Abraham because
of our faith in Jesus. We need to know, believe and receive it. Your future is
bright. Our ancestor is Abraham the friend of God.
Genesis 25: 19- You would
think Issac should have it smooth sailing because he is the son of promise.
Here is the funny thing; Issac’s wife was also barren. Isaac has great promises
on his life but he has problems. His wife was barren. God gives us promises but
there is a battle to be fought- with faith and perseverance we will have our
inheritance. There are many promises God has given us personally and as a
church. Inheriting the promises is not a cakewalk – we need faith and perseverance.
Q.
How did Isaac persevere? His wife was barren. That was only
one of his problems. How did he overcome? He prayed.
Isaac prayed on behalf of
his wife. How long did he wait? It’s one verse after the other.
In verse 26 we see that he
waited 20 years.
Sometimes, we have to
wait. We need to hold on. Do you have problems?
God can move mountains. But we need to pray. Then Isaac is blessed with
2 sons but there are other issues.
In Chapter 26, there is a
famine in the land. But the Lord told him to stay and not go to Egypt and he
obeyed. In verse 12, God blessed him as he promised. However Isaac also feared
man. So, he faced famine, barrenness, and fear of man in the face of these
promises. This is true for all of us. We
face problems, just like Issac. He took hold of God’s word and he did
something.
Q.
What did Isaac do?
He planted crops and God blessed him a 100 fold. We can in the mean
time plant deeds of kindness, prayer, sow into the kingdom and we will see
fruit.
In verses 17-22: though he
was the son of the promise, he faced challenges..Today many preach that health,
wealth, good relations is a must for Christians. Is it true?
As he prospered the
Philistines fought with him about the wells. Don’t we face this? So even though
a son of the promise he faced challenges.
Here we have an example of
how they had to persevere to get the promises.
How many times God speaks
to him and reminds. Take hold of God’s promises, repeat them and keep them
before you and believe them because we have so many other voices challenging
those promises.
V26 : The table turn. V28
his enemies realized that God was with Issac. In verse 28 Isaac’s enemies
realized that God was with him. God will come through for you- in your office,
etc. Isaac’s life changed from fear to
favor.
There
are great promises, but they do not mean that we do not have problems because
we live in a fallen world. We have to hold on and push through
in faith and prayer. We need to plant something – something we have to do in faith
and God will overturn the situation where you have the favour of man and of
God. We can plant three things – prayer, fast , give.
As we do this, we will
reap a 100 fold.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log ontowww.wordofgracechurch.org.
English Language Service Sundays at 10am. Please check google maps for directions!
No comments:
Post a Comment