October 23, 2022
Hey Jealousy
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
Do you believe in love at first sight, or do I have to walk past you again?
Meet-Cute is "a cute, charming, or amusing first encounter between romantic partners (as in a movie)." - Merriam-webster.com
Genesis 29:9-14 NIV
"While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherd. When Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, 'You are my own flesh and blood.'"
Genesis 29:16-21 NIV
Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, 'I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter, Rachel.'
Laban said, 'It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.' So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban, 'Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.'"
Genesis 30:1a NIV
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister.
Jealousy - A burning desire for something someone else has (synonymous with zealous, envious, or coveting).
James 4:1-3 NIV
"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
Genesis 30:1b NIV
"So she said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or I'll die!'"
Proverbs 15:1 NIV
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
Genesis 30:2 NIV
"Jacob became angry with her and said, 'Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?'"
Colossians 3:19 NIV
"Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them."
Genesis 30:14-16 NIV
"During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother, Leah. Rachel said to Leah, 'Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.' But she said to her, 'Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?'
'Very well,' Rachel said, 'he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes.'
So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. 'You must sleep with me,' she said. 'I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.' So he slept with her that night."
When we try to control God instead of seeking God, things often go awry.
Psalms 37:1-4 NIV
"Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
What if God has not answered your prayer yet because He is doing something better than what you are asking?
Genesis 30:22-24 NIV
"Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, 'God has taken away my disgrace.' She named him Joseph and said, 'May the Lord add to me another son.'"
God is fully committed to seeing his children through to the finish. Trust in Him!
Psalms 37:5-9 NIV
"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land."