Sermon Summary: Genesis 49

Andy’s sermon focused on Genesis 49, the chapter where Jacob, nearing the end of his life at 147 years old, blesses his sons and prophesies about the future of their tribes. The sermon explored the themes of God’s grace in using flawed individuals, the importance of looking to God for deliverance, and the significance of waiting patiently for God’s timing.

Andy began by reflecting on how words spoken to us, especially in our youth, can profoundly shape our lives. He connected this to the Genesis passage, where Jacob’s words to his sons would define their destinies. He noted that while some blessings were influenced by past actions (Reuben, Simeon, and Levi), others, like Judah, contained prophetic statements about the coming Messiah.

The sermon highlighted the contrast between the initial blessings, which were shaped by past negative actions, and the later ones, which contained prophetic hope. Andy pointed out the prophetic statement about Judah: “The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” He explained that this refers to Jesus and the future day when all nations will bow down to Him. He also noted the extensive blessings heaped upon Joseph, pondering if this indicated continued favoritism or recognition of Joseph’s role in saving God’s people.

A central theme of the sermon emerged from Genesis 49:18: “I look for your deliverance, O Lord.” Andy described this as a pivotal moment in the chapter, a prayer for times of desperation. He likened it to the simple, heartfelt prayer, “Oh God, oh God, oh God, help,” emphasizing that such prayers are valid and necessary, especially when facing challenges and uncertainties. He stressed that Jacob, even while giving these grand pronouncements, recognized the future challenges and weaknesses of his descendants, and the need for God’s intervention.

Andy then elaborated on four key aspects of this phrase:

1. A Prayer for Times of Desperation: Andy emphasized that this prayer is relevant to our current times. He encouraged the congregation to cry out to God for help, whether for personal struggles, the future of the church, or the well-being of their children and grandchildren. He reiterated that Christians are not “goody-goodies” but flawed individuals whom God uses. He stressed that the good news of Jesus is that God loves to use people who are “messed up” and “screw up”. He stated that God has come to us, taking the initiative through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and that our response is to acknowledge and rely on Him.
2. A Foundation: Andy described this phrase as a bedrock statement that should undergird everything we do. He drew a parallel to Jesus’ parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27), emphasizing the importance of putting God’s words into practice. He urged the congregation to make “I look for your deliverance, O Lord” a central part of their lives, a constant reminder of their dependence on God, regardless of whether things are going well or poorly. He asked the congregation to consider what their driving force in life is, and to place this phrase at the center of their lives.
3. Looking and Waiting: Andy acknowledged the difficulty of waiting, contrasting it with the instant gratification promoted by modern society. He reminded the congregation that God’s timing is different from ours, referencing the story of Abraham and the long wait for his descendants. He challenged them to consider investing in things they might not see come to fruition in their lifetime, echoing Jacob’s prophetic words about the Messiah, which he would not witness. He quoted several Psalms and a passage from Romans about waiting patiently for the Lord: Psalm 37:7 (“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him”), Psalm 40:1 (“I waited patiently for the Lord”), and Romans 8:25 (“But if we hope for what we don’t have, we wait for it patiently.”). He warned against the pitfalls of trying to force things to happen or becoming discouraged and abandoning faith. He used the analogy of police horse training, where the horse is trained to stay focused and not be distracted, to illustrate the importance of building practices into our lives that keep us focused on God. He referenced Hebrews 12:2 (“Fix your eyes on Jesus”).
4. All Points to Jesus: Andy concluded by emphasizing that Jesus is the ultimate source of deliverance and salvation. He reiterated that humanity is cut off from God due to sin, but Jesus came to pay the price and reconcile us to God. He stressed that Jesus delivers us not only from the consequences of our rebellion but also from the pain, hurt, trauma, and negative reactions that result from it. He called on those exploring Christianity to recognize Jesus’ central role in salvation.

In his closing prayer, Andy led the congregation in a time of reflection and confession. He invited them to consider areas in their lives where they needed God’s deliverance, including healing, the effects of negative words, destructive behaviors, a lack of focus on God, and a desire for immediate results. He also prayed for those considering making a first-time commitment to Jesus. He concluded by asking God to “come and have your way” in their lives.

Bible References:

• Genesis 49
• Hebrews 11
• Matthew 7:24-27
• Psalm 37:7
• Psalm 40:1
• Romans 8:25
• Hebrews 12:2

Transcript

Freedom, freedom.
Good morning everybody.
Good morning.
Good morning guys, 146.
If you’ve got a Bible, if you want to turn to me to Genesis chapter 49, we’ve almost made it.
Yay!
18 months now of working through Genesis and we’ve almost made it.
I was chatting to Sheila on Thursday, Sheila Wingrove.
So if you don’t know, Sheila Wingrove has produced this amazing display in the foyer, right?
I know we all rush into church because we want to be here, so we rush past it.
But please take your time to study that and be amazed.
It’s a fantastic piece of work and we need to figure out how we keep it for posterity because it’s such a beautiful thing.
She was chatting to me on Thursday saying she’s got no room left, so I’m not allowed to say anything this morning.
Because there’s no space to put anything.
Good gospel here.
But amazing, you know.
So just two weeks left and then we’re all itching to see how we’re going to do services that only last an hour and a half.
Two on a Sunday.
I don’t know how we’re going to do that, but we’ll see.
Easy.
Easy.
So Genesis 49, I don’t know about you, can you remember stuff that perhaps your mum or your dad said to you when you were younger?
Anybody remember things they used to say?
Good things?
No hands.
Bad things?
A few hands.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We remember, don’t we?
I can remember.
Is this me?
Do I need to stand still?
That would be good.
I’ll try and stand still.
I can remember mum used to say, you know, when I was a lot younger, wait till your father gets home.
Anybody have that?
We’re a generation, aren’t we?
My dad always used to say when I’d done something well, he’d always say, nine out of ten, because there’s always room for improvement.
And things like that.
But perhaps a teacher, you know, you remember what your teachers used to say to you, you know, must try harder.
Could do better.
And things like that.
And those words can kind of stick, can’t they?
Yeah, sorry about that.
So those words stick with us, don’t they?
And they kind of can shape our lives.
But, you know, most of us have had things spoken to us that did that type of thing.
In fact, we had that fantastic Good Friday service that those guys did standing up here.
And they talked about some of those things that had affected their lives.
And they talked about, remember, they flipped those cards over and they talked about how Jesus was dealing with those things.
In exactly the same way we’ve heard Evie describe the same thing this morning.
In exactly the same way I responded to some of the stuff that my parents had said.
You know, we don’t want to be men and women who let those things restrict what God has in store for you and for me.
And so here we are, we’re reaching the end of Jacob’s life.
And as we’ve seen throughout Genesis, it’s a significant moment when someone dies and they pass on this blessing to their children.
We’ve seen it from Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob and Esau, remember all of that.
And now here we are with Jacob himself doing it.
And Cornelius taught us last week how he did it to his grandchildren first, Joseph’s kids.
And then we come to this chapter and he does it to the rest of his sons.
So I’m just going to read it, if that’s okay. I might read quite quickly because it is quite long.
But I think it’s good to read the Word of God at times.
So Genesis 49.
Then Jacob called for his sons and said, gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
Imagine your dad saying that to you.
That would be an amazing moment.
Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to your father Israel.
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength.
Excelling in honor, excelling in power, turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel.
For you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
Simeon and Levi are brothers, their swords are weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly.
For they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger so fierce and their fury so cruel.
I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
Wow.
Judah, your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies.
Your father’s sons will bow down to you.
You are a lion’s cub, O Judah.
You return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness.
Who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet
until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch.
He will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes will be darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk.
I’m not quite sure what that means.
Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships.
His border will extend towards Sidon.
Issachar is a royal bone donkey lying down between two saddlebags.
When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.
Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path.
It bites the horse’s heels so its riders tumble backwards
and look for your deliverance, oh Lord.
Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
Asher’s food will be rich, he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
Naftali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring whose branches climb over a wall.
With bitterness, archers attacked him.
They shot at him with hostility, but his bow remained steady.
His strong arms stayed limber because of the hand of the mighty one of Jacob,
because of the shepherd, the rock of Israel,
because of your Father’s God who helps you,
because of the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
blessings of the breast and the womb.
Your Father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-hold hills.
Let all of these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.
In the morning, he devours the prey.
In the evening, he divides the plunder.
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel,
and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them,
giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
Then he gave them these instructions.
I am about to be gathered to my people.
Bury me with my fathers in the cave of the field of Ephron the Hittite,
the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in Canaan,
which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite along with the field.
There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried,
there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried,
and there I buried Leah.
The field and the cave in it were brought from the Hittites.
When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons,
he drew his feet up onto the bed,
breathed his last,
and was gathered to his people.
That is the way to go.
That’s what I want to do.
Definitely.
Jacob at this point is 147 years old,
and as we’ve seen over the last weeks and months,
what a life.
You know, struggling at birth with his brother,
grasping his ankle as they’re born,
wheedling Esau out of his birthright
and deceiving his dad to obtain the blessing,
having to flee the family home,
having to work for his uncle for 14 years
so he could marry the woman of his dreams,
being tricked into marrying a different woman in the meantime,
and all that kind of stuff,
and then his uncle deceiving him back as well
and having to flee his uncle because of what happened,
the meeting with Esau to try and patch things up
and then never seeing Esau again,
and then outliving his wives.
This really bad family example we saw of having favourites amongst his kids,
not a good idea,
and thinking Joseph was then dead all of these years
to finally be deceived by his own sons,
and then having to leave the land of God’s promise
and come to Egypt.
What a life.
What a life.
But at the same time,
what we have also seen is God at work in this man’s life,
and God in his grace,
choosing to fulfil his own plans and purposes
through the life of Jacob.
And that is a weird one for us, isn’t it?
Because what it says is that God is about using people
that are messed up, that screw up.
The Bible calls it sin.
We might have other language.
But he loves to take those people
and use them for his glory and for his purposes.
And that’s such a repeat theme through this whole book,
and I know I said it probably the last five times I’ve spoken,
but it is such an important theme that we grasp that
because we have to help people understand
that people who are Christians are not goody-goodies.
They’re bady-baddies, right?
We are bady-baddies, right?
You know, we screw up.
We mess up.
We don’t like to talk about it, and we don’t own up.
But we develop masks and other approaches to hide that.
But we are screwed up, and we’re shafted,
if we’re brutally honest.
And the reality is God has come,
and he loves to use people that are exactly like that.
And that’s the good news of Jesus.
So it’s so important that we grasp that.
And so, yeah, here we are at the end of Jacob’s life.
He’s speaking about the future and about defining his sons,
what their families will become
and what the tribes that come from those families will become.
And it’s interesting, and we’re not going to go into all of them
because time does not permit,
and I’m not quite sure what I say about some of them,
but it’s interesting because those opening ones,
that Reuben, Simeon, and Levi,
their blessing is dictated by what they have done in their lives.
That’s how Jacob speaks to them.
What they have done, the bad things that they have done in their lives,
has an immediate repercussion on the so-called blessing that he gives them
that’s going to shape how they will be.
Interesting.
Then we get to Judah, and it’s completely different.
We begin to see in what he says about Judah
the prophetic statements about a Messiah coming.
We’re in Genesis. We’re in the beginning.
And we still see, we begin to see here,
there’s an inkling in his eye.
There’s a twinkling in the distance.
There is something happening that is going to happen.
And we read this beautiful statement that the scepter,
the government, if you like, will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler star from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs.
He’s talking about Jesus.
And the obedience of the nations will be his.
There is coming a day when the obedience of the nations
will belong to Jesus, and all nations will bow down to him.
There is coming a day.
And Jacob, right here in Genesis,
he doesn’t understand it, as Hebrews 11 tells us.
He doesn’t get it, but he’s prophesying it.
He’s speaking it out in faith.
He’s certainly not going to see it in his few hours he’s got left.
But he’s speaking out in faith because he sees that happening.
And so there’s this amazing prophetic statement in Judah.
And then there’s the one about Joseph near the end.
There is so much blessing that he oodles on Joseph.
He makes you think, is he still thinking that Joseph is his favorite here?
Is that what’s going on?
Because he’s really ladling on thick the blessings on Joseph.
Or is it perhaps because actually Joseph is the one out of all those brothers
that has rescued them and actually is part and parcel of the purposes of God
to help God’s people survive through this period of famine
and obviously we saw through the whole story of Joseph how God used him.
I don’t know which it is.
But it’s interesting he calls him prince amongst his brothers.
But what I want to do just briefly is hoe him.
There’s a little verse I read in the middle which kind of leaps out
because it’s out of context of everything else that’s going on.
He’s giving his blessings to his people, to his kids,
and he’s telling them what’s going to happen.
And right in the middle in verse 18 we get this little phrase,
I look for your deliverance, O Lord.
That’s a bit weird, isn’t it?
You think he’s on a roll.
He’s on a train.
I’ve got 12 sons to get through.
He’s 147.
Can’t I remember all their names?
I forgot the right one with the right name.
And all that sort of stuff.
You think he’d be concentrating on getting all of that out.
And then right in the middle, I look for your deliverance, O Lord.
Or a different translation says, I wait for your salvation, O Lord.
And why does he do that?
It’s almost like as he thinks about the future
and as he thinks about the children of God and the people of God,
that maybe God is showing him something about the challenges that lie ahead.
And that he himself is aware of the struggles and the challenges they’ll face
and the hardship of God’s people being true to him
and not being overwhelmed by their enemies,
not being led astray by other nations or other societies,
or not having their faith and their trust in God diluted
by what is going on around them.
And he cries out in the middle, God, I look for your deliverance, Lord.
Unless you do this, Lord, it isn’t going to happen.
Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builder’s labor in vain.
God, unless salvation comes from you, there’s no hope, no matter what we say.
And so four things quickly.
Number one, this is a prayer for times of desperation.
And there’s no time like now for a time of desperation.
Right in the middle of blessing his kids, he cries out.
It reminds me many, many, many years ago of listening to John Wimber talk about
when you’re going to pray for someone for healing
and you’ve not seen it before and you’re not used to it
and you have no idea what’s going to happen
and you want to pray for it and you’re going to step out.
We go in a room and we pray, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, help.
That’s all you need to do.
If you’re struggling with praying, I want to encourage you.
You haven’t got to pray great long prayers and quote loads of scripture
and shout to the ceiling, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, help.
It’s right where it starts.
And that is what is happening here.
That’s what Jacob’s doing.
He’s explaining that out and it’s like as he blesses his children
and he thinks about their future and the future of the tribes of Israel
that despite such big statements he’s making over their lives,
he sees something of the challenges.
He sees their weaknesses.
He sees the likelihood of them being influenced by society around them.
He sees the frailties of their own heart.
And so he cries out, God, you have got to come if this is going to work.
Lord, if you are going to have a people that are yours,
if your Messiah is going to come through Judah as he’s just prophesied,
then God, you have got to come and do this.
Maybe even he’s reflecting on his own life,
his own awareness of mucking things up.
And perhaps after all these years,
he could now stand with a little bit of integrity
and understand he’s only where he is because of God delivering him
and the salvation of God coming to him.
So as you think about your future, whatever age you are this morning,
as you think about your future, let’s get a hold of this as a phrase to say,
God, we need your deliverance.
God, I need your deliverance and your salvation.
As we think about the future of the church here,
and yeah, we might get excited, at least for a little bit,
while we do two services and a major building project
and see people saved and more people getting baptized
and people saved and added and more groups starting in the church
and the impact on the community growing and growing and growing.
We need to come back to, oh God, we need your deliverance.
It is you, Lord. It is you.
As we think about our children, our grandchildren,
oh Lord, I look to you for your deliverance, Lord.
I look to you for your salvation.
It’s a great prayer in times of desperation
because for his kids it’s not their skills, it’s not their character,
it’s not their efforts, it’s not even the prophetic word that he brings,
but it is God who is the deliverer.
It is God who is the bringer of salvation.
And that is what is so special and unique about Christianity.
And you might not be a Christian this morning,
you’re just exploring it and trying to understand it,
and you might be chatting to some of your friends,
but what does it really mean and what is it like?
And you come along because you’re just dipping a toe in the water.
And I want to just labor the point that the uniqueness of it
is that God has come to us, not the other way around.
You can look at what goes on here this morning
and I think our singing and the rest of it is kind of us
trying to make ourselves right before God.
Because it can look like that, and it does look like that,
but that isn’t what’s going on.
What has happened is Jesus has taken the initiative
and he has come 2,000 years ago.
He died on a cross for the sins of the world,
including your sins and my sins, to put us right with God
and he has taken that initiative,
and three days later God has raised him from the dead.
And now death is no longer the finality that it once was
in our thinking because Jesus has broken that.
He has taken the initiative and come to us,
and what we do in a meeting like this,
I hope in the morning, is we are responding to that.
We are not trying to make our way to God,
but we are responding to what he has done to us
and for us and his love for us.
So number one, it’s a prayer in times of desperation.
Number two, I look for your deliverance, O Lord.
It’s a foundation.
It’s like a bedrock statement that undergirds everything that we do.
Jesus told that parable, didn’t he,
that the wise man built his house upon the rock.
And he told us that not so that we could learn a little song,
but he taught us that because he says,
what, the wise man is what?
The one who hears these words of mine
and puts them into practice.
Exactly. He puts them into practice.
And so this statement is exactly like that.
We need to figure out how do we put this into practice
that we look to God for your deliverance,
that we wait for your salvation.
It’s like a statement that needs to be brought front and center to our lives,
whether we are struggling with things,
whether things are going well as the church moves forward
and as we make changes about what’s happening,
as we make greater inroads with the gospel in the life of the community here,
and perhaps as we even think, dare to think,
oh, this is going quite well, or whatever.
It’s a reminder not to get smug, not to get complacent,
but to come back and say, you know what?
I look for your deliverance, Lord.
I wait for your salvation.
And we need to bring that front and center of our lives
and not let it compete with other statements and other things.
You know, what is it that ultimately drives you forward
and drives me forward?
What makes you tick?
If you could have one sentence over your life, what would it be?
And whereabouts would this fit in that context?
What is it that, despite everything, we need to return to time and time again?
What is it we wait for?
Is it our paycheck?
Is it our benefits landing?
Is it the next holiday?
Is it the next thing?
Or do we wait for your salvation, Lord?
Do we look for your deliverance?
You see, Jacob can prophesy amazing things,
but what is it he puts right in the middle,
like the pivot of which all of these things are commenting on?
Things can go well.
What does he return to?
Some of those blessings are good things, but what does he come back to?
Things can go pear-shaped.
What does he come back to?
We can make all the changes we want as a church,
but what do we return to?
We look out for your deliverance, O Lord.
And we need to be men and women grappling with getting that
in the front and centre of our lives.
And as we think about Jordan thought and Baitmore
and the edges and the surrounding area, God, we look for your deliverance.
We wait for your salvation.
We can try all the programmes, all the groups, whatever we want to,
but unless God moves, there is nothing there.
It is not going to happen.
And because we are caught up with the plans and purposes of God,
we’ve got to come back to this.
Lord, it is your deliverance we are looking for.
Turn your eyes towards Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow straight deep in,
in the light of his glory and grace.
Absolutely. Hope you knew that in 146 as well.
It’s so true, you know, and we need, the more we can come back to that,
I think the better place we will be.
The third thing about this statement is, you know,
it’s about looking and it’s about waiting.
Anybody enjoy waiting?
There’s no hands here.
We don’t do it, do we?
You know, try telling a toddler to wait.
We went to Yorkshire Wildlife yesterday and our granddaughter was with us
and, you know, I want a biscuit now, now, now.
I want a drink now, now. I want this now.
You know, try telling a toddler to wait.
It just doesn’t work, does it?
But then, actually, I’m not sure how much better it gets as we get older.
Because we want the result, don’t we?
We don’t want the waiting bit.
We want the result at the end.
That is what we’re looking for.
The whole of the advertising industry that we are all succumbing to
is geared on giving you a result as fast as possible.
Have this and it will change your life.
Have this and it will make your life better.
Instant success, instant access, et cetera, et cetera.
Whole of technology, you know, on our phones, on our watches.
It’s all about instantaneous stuff all the time.
And so the idea of waiting is kind of drifting away from life in general
and the stuff that we have to wait for becomes a real pain.
Well, if we get ourselves in a position where we say,
waiting for your salvation of God is a real pain,
then we’ve lost the plot along the way.
Because God wants to work in our hearts and sift our hearts
to cause us to become many women who learn what it is to wait for Him.
Another thing Genesis teaches us is that God’s time and timing is not ours.
Remember when God first spoke to Abraham,
however many months ago it was,
and gave him the promises that your descendants will be as numerous
as the sand on the seashore.
Here we are, 232 years later,
and his descendants are 66 that have gone to Egypt.
232 years.
That should cause us to think a little bit about,
we want to see God at work,
we absolutely look for God’s deliverance and salvation,
and we want to pray and play our part in that,
but maybe the great things that God is going to do
are going to be after we’ve gone and been with Him,
after we’ve hooked our legs onto the bed
and gone to be with our fathers.
Maybe that’s when it’s going to happen.
That speaks, that’s a challenge to me,
because I think, what do I want to invest in
and put my time in that I actually won’t see?
It’s a challenge, isn’t it?
But he teaches, here’s Jacob prophesying about the coming Messiah
thousands of years later that he isn’t going to see.
Psalm 37 verse 7 says,
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
Do not fret when people succeed in their ways.
That’s a good statement, that’s a good one to put over our doorways, isn’t it?
Do not fret when people succeed.
Psalm 40 verse 1,
I waited patiently for the Lord.
He turned to me and heard my cry.
Well, Paul writes to the church in Rome in chapter 8 verse 25 says,
But if we hope for what we don’t have, we wait for it patiently.
Waiting and patience is a fundamental part of following Jesus.
Hope, you know, we have to get a hold of that.
And the impact of the world around us on that is that we don’t like doing that.
And so we need to bring that front and centre.
And I guess there’s two pitfalls, you know,
one is we try and make it happen because we don’t like waiting.
So we end up a bit like Abraham having Ishmael,
we’ve done it ourselves but it wasn’t the right thing.
Or we get so bored waiting we forget about it and go off and do something else.
I remember when I was a child,
I went to what is now called Urban Saints,
had a less politically correct name in those days.
But we went to see the police horse training centre in Manchester,
because that’s where I lived at the time.
And it was interesting because you imagine a group of like 11 and 12 year olds,
spotty 11 and 12 year olds,
and we were all given flags way bigger than this and whistles to blow,
whistles to blow, big flags to wave like this.
And there’s two lines of kids down like that.
And then this guy, policeman comes along on the horse
and the horse just, we’re all looking,
blowing the whistles and all that.
And the horse just calmly straight down because he’d been trained to do that,
because they used them in riots and football crowds at the time
and all that kind of stuff.
And it was fascinating to see, although it’s still etched in my brain.
But that is what it is, it’s a little bit like,
we’ve got to build things into our lives
that stop us being distracted from this call of God
to wait on him patiently and to pursue him patiently.
Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Otherwise these distractions will come in.
And finally, fourthly, this all points to, this is all about Jesus.
He is the one who brings deliverance.
He is the one who brings salvation.
So we wait for him and he brings that deliverance.
If you’re not a Christian this morning, then again I want to say,
we’re cut off from God, that’s our starting place.
Our sins have cut us off from God and we ignore him
and we act as if there is no God and we act as if, you know,
he’s certainly not going to be angry with us when we do things that are wrong
and that we’re under his judgment and we’re only of his anger.
And yet Jesus has come and paid that price for you and for me,
the ultimate cost and that great exchange has taken place
and what we deserve he gets and what we don’t deserve we get
has taken place.
He’s paid that price for you and for me and to unpack that.
Therefore Jesus is not only the one that does that,
he is the one who brings deliverance or salvation
from the effects of that rebellion against God in our lives.
The pain, the hurt, the trauma, the rejection,
the impact of all of that on our character and our lives,
he is the one.
So we look to him for deliverance, for salvation.
You know, as Evie beautifully explained this morning,
that’s what she was describing, how Jesus and the Word of God
has brought about a change in our life, things he used to listen to.
Actually, she’s bringing the Word of God to apply to trump that
because that’s what it does.
The love of God trumps that and we need to be men and women
that are constantly coming back to that.
So Jesus is the one who brings deliverance to those things
but he also brings deliverance from the reaction we have
of those things that have affected us,
those negative things that lead us to turning in on ourselves,
to shutting others out, to putting on masks,
to taking addictive substances, to abuse that we do
or that is done to us.
And so he is the one that we look to for deliverance
and for salvation this morning.
And so just by way of response, as I finish,
in Hebrews 11, the writer of the Hebrews says this,
he says, by faith Jacob, when he was dying,
blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshipped
as he leaned on the top of the staff.
And talks about how Jacob, along with all those other
old patriarchs of the faith, as they’re called in Hebrews 11,
were looking for God’s deliverance, for God’s salvation.
They didn’t see it in their lifetime but they were looking for it
and its completion is found in Jesus.
I wonder if I could stand please, I’d just like to pray.
I’m not sure how well I’ve done this but I mean,
the chapter is about a blessing on 12 guys
but right in the middle is this key pivot point
that actually it is God we need to look to
for our deliverance and for salvation.
And as I think about it, I just want to be really practical here
and I just want us to pray together.
I thought of a few things where we need to perhaps
be applying that to our own lives.
One of these might be relevant for you.
I just want you to be honest as we stand here before God.
Maybe it’s healing.
Jesus commands us to pray for the sick.
He doesn’t command us to heal the sick.
That’s his business whether he does it or not.
He asks us to pray for the sick.
And there can be a tendency for us as God’s people
to wane from praying for the sick for various reasons.
So maybe you’re here this morning
and maybe there’s something physical,
something mental, something emotional
that you are healing for.
We look to you for deliverance, Lord.
This chapter is about the prophetic words
that Jacob speaks over his sons
that then describes how their lives
and their families’ lives would pan out.
For some of us this morning,
negative words have been spoken to us
that we still carry, that still shape us
and still prevent us from entering into
all the goodness that God has for us.
We look to your deliverance, Lord.
For some of us, those words have shaped our identity.
There was a food bank visit over the road from here
and while I was just talking to the lady,
I chatted to the girl who was about 8 or 9 years old.
We were talking about school and she said,
I’m no good at school because my mum says I’m stupid.
Yeah, exactly.
But for some of us here this morning,
words like that have impacted us deeply
and are keeping us away from the good things
that God has in store.
We look to you for your deliverance, Lord.
For some of us, our reaction to those bad things
that have happened in our lives
is that we have ourselves embraced destructive
and negative patterns of behaviour or addictions
or other things that have harmed us or harmed others.
We look for your deliverance, Lord.
For some of us, perhaps the thing that God is highlighting
is that you’ve stopped looking at God
as the thing that needs to be front and centre.
You’ve stopped looking at God
as the thing that needs to be front and centre in your life
and you’ve allowed other things to creep in
and nudge that off centre.
And this morning God is saying,
hey, what about bringing me back?
Bringing me back front and centre.
We look for your deliverance, Lord.
Maybe for the first time,
maybe you’ve been coming along for a while
and you’ve never made that decision to say,
yeah, I want to submit to Jesus
and I want to go for it with him
and I want to invite him into my life.
We wait for your salvation, Lord.
And for some, the desire in our hearts, if we’re honest,
is still for immediate results, even in the church,
even in our Christianity.
We want the next thing, the next thing and the next thing.
And today God wants to do a work in your heart.
We look for your deliverance, Lord.
We wait for your salvation, Lord.
Father, we want to pray, Lord.
We want to thank you, you treat us so gently,
with such love and such care.
And Father, as we stand before you this morning,
you know the state of our hearts, you know the issues,
you know the things that are going on, you see it all.
And Lord, we stand here honestly before you
and just pray, Father, come and have your way.
Come and have your way in our lives, Lord.
Lord, we’ll do a work in our hearts
as we stand here this morning.
We want to say, Father, we look for your deliverance, Lord.
We look to you.
We don’t want to look to other things.
And we want to say, Father, we wait for your salvation.
We don’t want to try anything ourselves.
But we call on you today, Lord.
We call on you, Father, for your salvation in our own lives,
in the lives of our families, in the lives of our children,
in the lives of our grandchildren, Lord,
in the lives of our neighbors,
in the lives of the homes around here.
Father, we call on you for your salvation.
We call on you, Lord, for the lives of the people
that are in the schools in this area.
And Father, we pray, God, Lord,
help us to keep our eyes fixed on you.
And Father, we wait for you.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you, Andy.
Thank you, Andy.
Thank you, Andy.
Let’s, I just feel in the four instances…