Sunday Worship Service February 12, 2023

Call to Worship Luke 6:38
Hymn JBC # 81 God, our Father, we adore Thee!
The Lord’s Prayer
Offering
Scripture Genesis 48:1~7
Prayer
Sermon “Israel rallied his strength”
https://youtu.be/pyeVkEXaW5I
Prayer
Hymn JBC #492 My hope is built on nothing less
Doxology JBC # 672
Benediction

The inheritance of Christians and Christian churches is the word of God and the promise of God.
The word of God and His promises are still being communicated to us through the words and stories written in the Bible.
God’s word and God’s promises encourage us, empower us, and make us grow in faith and spirit. It changes people. It can also be said that God’s word and promises are expressed through the believers who live believing in them.

We may not be able to (or we should not) measure or evaluate our faith growth.
But still—if I dare to speak for myself—since I decided to live my life believing in Jesus Christ as my Savior, I think my faith has been nurtured and has grown little by little through the guidance and grace of God.
I think it means that I have learned (and am still learning) to rely on God rather than on myself. That is, “the process of learning to believe that God has plans and thoughts far greater and more complete than my own thoughts and plans.”
God has the best and most wonderful plans and thoughts. If you can believe that, even if things often don’t go your way, you can say and believe, “God has a great plan for me.”

Or even in difficult situations, you can believe that “God will surely make me learn something from this. He will make me aware of my own weaknesses and sins, and help me grow.”
For that reason, more than before (than when I was younger), I find myself thinking, “God has better plans than my own thoughts and ideas,” even when things don’t always go my way.

There was a time when I was an employee for a company. While working as a member of the organization, I was sometimes surprised by the decisions made by people in positions of leadership, such as group leaders and presidents while looking at a broad perspective.
Those were ideas and decisions that I as a single employee could not make (or I personally could not do). There were several times when I felt that my thoughts were small and narrow.
However, no matter how good a boss or leader they, they are not perfect as long they are human. Humans will always make mistakes.
But, to use the words of Jacob in today’s passage of scripture: “God Almighty” = We are protected and guided by the Almighty God, who knows all things and transforms all things for good.
We are blessed to be able to live by believing in the plan and will of the Lord God, which is far greater than our own.

I believe that the man named Jacob in today’s passage of scripture was also a man who was greatly changed by God (by faith). A man who witnessed his faith grow.
Jacob had grown old and was now approaching death. Someone told his son, Joseph, “Your father is ill,” or to put it plainly, Jacob was in very poor health.
Verse 2 of today’s scripture says, that when Jacob (his God-given name is Israel) heard “Your son Joseph has come to you," he “rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.”
As Jacob was old and on the verge of death, an act of sitting up would have been a physically difficult task. But Jacob, with all his strength, sat up.
I have made this expression the title of today’s message, “Israel (Jacob) Rallied His Strength”—that’s how much Jacob’s behavior impressed me.

What was it that made Jacob muster up his strength and get up with all his might? It was Jacob’s desire to “bestow God’s blessings upon his son Joseph (and his grandchildren Manasseh and Ephraim, who were with him).”
Jacob once obtained the “birthright” (inheritance) from his brother Esau in exchange for giving Esau his favorite food and deceived his father Isaac to receive the “blessing” (which Esau should have received) by pretending to be Esau.
It can be said that this was a way of living with the mindset, “take what you want.” There is a saying, “勝てば官軍”(might is right; history is written by the victors). Jacob’s way of life was exactly like that when he was younger.
But now, on the brink of death, he had been transformed into a person who wished to “share his blessings with others” and actually does so, even if it means summoning all of his strength.

It was God’s guidance, a gift from God, that Jacob was changed in that way. Through various experiences, Jacob was transformed into a person who gives good instead of taking what he wants from others.

Jesus said in Luke 6:38:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Jacob was a man of the times described in the Old Testament. But I think it’s fair to say that he was able to change his way of life. Through his faith in God’s grace, he changed into a man who practiced “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Let’s listen to the words spoken by Jacob when he rallied up his strength and spoke to his son Joseph. Verses 3 – 4:
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me 4 and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’

When Jacob says here, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan,” he is referring to when he escaped the hostility (murderous intent) of his brother Esau and left his hometown.
At some point in Genesis 28, the Lord appeared to Jacob in a dream. I think I have quoted it several times before, but I will read it again here, Genesis 28:13 – 15.
13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

I believe that from that time Jacob have learned through his experiences of faith that the promised words of the Lord at that time were indeed true.
He learned to believe, “God is with me no matter where I go,” and “He has given me more than I could ever ask for.”
Jacob was forced to leave his hometown because of a conflict with his brother Esau, which he may actually have caused himself. But by the grace of God, although it took about 20 years, Jacob was able to reconcile with his brother Esau.

And Jacob was able to meet his son, Joseph, who he thought had been long dead.
A little after today’s passage, Jacob says:
“I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”

God is the one who gives us the greatest gift, beyond what we could ever ask for. That is the word of God and the promise of God that the Bible conveys.
What does “Almighty God” mean? The God of the Bible, the God of Jesus Christ, can do anything and nothing is impossible for Him. But that doesn’t mean that God always does exactly what we want.
Just as I said at the beginning, God is the one who leads us to the best outcome in a big plan that far exceeds our thoughts and ideas.

God makes us stronger and provides growth even through trials and tribulations. Life can be tough sometimes. We experience heartbreaking and painful experiences, like losing loved ones and family members in this life.
In today’s passage, Jacob also mentions the passing of his beloved wife, Rachel. Perhaps at that time (when Rachel died), Jacob’s faith in God may have been shaken.
But God continued to favor Jacob and never let him go. In this way, we are always protected by God’s hand, and we can believe that “God will give us greatness.”
Such faith is what really, really makes us alive, and such a way of life is a happy way of living with God.
We believe in the word and promises of God that are conveyed to us through the Bible. Let’s share them, and lead a life of faith in the fellowship of encouragement, support, and prayers among believers who live in the same faith.
And whenever we are given the opportunity to testify and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others, let’s “rally up strength” to share the gospel.
It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that inspires and revives us all and leads us to true life and the truth. Let us take great joy in living the gospel and preaching the gospel.