Sunday's Sermon

Sunday's outfit- "feeling 'spring-y'" Instagram picture

-Sundays passage was centered on Genesis 32:22-32; Exodus 3:15. The teaching started with Jacob's name change to Israel. He was so focused on getting a blessing from the Lord that he did not remember he was already chosen. 

-Many years of his life Jacob lived up to his name, he who grasps the heel, deceiver. He was working so hard to get the rights of firstborn that belonged to his older brother Esau. What he forgot was that God had previously made a pact with him in Genesis 25:23 “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

-A pact is a (legal) agreement between two parties. A key note that was presented was that emotions do not matter in a pact/ covenant. It does not matter if you are tired, sad, discouraged you still have to keep up your side of the agreement. 

-As the Lord made a pact with Jacob he made one with us as well. The day we invited Jesus into our hearts we committed to making Him our Savior, our everything. The good thing is that when we invited Jesus into our hearts He committed to loving us, helping us and always being there for us. As humans we do not have the capacity to maintain our part in the covenant, but He can. God's faithfulness is so unimaginably huge! 

- Back to Jacob. When the angel comes to visit him it is to change a few things in his life. God was reassuring his love for Jacob and his promise. As Christians we should not live like the person we use to be -like Jacob. We do not have to live our lives as we did before (lying, stealing, and cheating) We have to accept our new identity in Christ like Jacob's new name to take full advantage our the covenant. We have to remember that we have already been chosen. We already have a pact with the Lord. We do not have to fight for what is already ours. We do not have to be discouraged thinking we are failures because we slip. God's grace is sufficient! 

- Many people are still living like Jacob and the Lord comes to remind us who we are in Him (Israel)

- If we continue having the old (Jacob) mind set, that is exactly what you'll be. 

-In 1 Peter 2:9 it says we are chosen and holy people... We have to learn to live by what God has established for us.

- When we receive who we are in the Lord is when we will truly live a blessed and victorious life!

-Praise the Lord for the promises kept! Don't live like Jacob any more live like Israel!