After a long and complicated life Jacob (also called Israel), has reached the end of his days on earth. His sons are summoned to his death bed to receive a final blessing from their father. Curiously, he does not speak the same thing to each son. Instead, he is honest about their character, good and bad, and reveals that those who have upward loyalty to authority and ultimately God’s authority are more blessed because blessing flows downward from those in authority to the people under their authority. This is a crucial spiritual principle that is nearly altogether ignored in our culture of rebellion, folly, and entitlement. Lastly, the stage is now set for Jesus Christ to enter history as the King of Kings through this family.
Trusting God in Troubled Times
Sermon #41 – What is the Key to Being Blessed by God?
Genesis 49
3 kinds of blessing:
- Internal (knowing that God loves and forgives you, a clear conscious)
- External blessing (physical gift, such as finances)
- Eternal blessing (stored up in heaven)
2 Laws of blessing (Psalm 133:1-3):
- Loyalty
- Blessing
God likes to bless unity. Blessings flow down.
Big Idea: Loyalty is to go up, blessing is to go down.
- When loyalty goes sideways it creates factions which is what happens with Joseph’s family.
- Leadership starts by dealing with variety.
- Jacob distributes his blessing to his sons according to their character. They do not each receive an equal blessing.
- Sometimes a blessing is someone who brings you reality.
- God doesn’t believe in entitlement, he believes in blessing people and character matters.
- Anyone like Judah and repent and become loyal to God and receive blessing.
- Sometimes God gives us prophetic words to speak over someone else. This is what Jacob does to his sons.
- You never know what God is doing through your legacy.
- Children are a blessing.
- Joseph gets a greater blessing because greater loyalty upward leads to greater downward blessing.
- Many people want to be blessed but few want to be loyal
- God is the giver of blessing
- Focus on God, not your enemies
- Sometimes the hardest thing is to be successful.
- Kids are different, parent them relationally not with a formula
- You can’t blame your family for you character
- It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you decide to do about it that determines your character
- Your family doesn’t determine your destiny, it is your decisions that determine your destiny
- You don’t need an excuse, you need a plan
Big Idea 2: Your last day is your more important day
- Sometime rebuke and correction is a blessing
- It is never too late to repent and turn back to God
- Good endings help new beginnings
- Lamenting is a great theme of the Bible; lamenting is when you feel so you can heal.
- It is time with God that heals wounds
- Jesus’ number one emotion recorded in the Bible is compassion
The point of this family is to bring Jesus Christ. The hope is in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus is coming through the family line of Judah. Jesus is our king.
Revelation 19 – They were awaiting the first coming of Jesus. We are waiting for his Second Coming.