1
Samuel 1:1-7
Now there
was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his
name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham,
the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 And
he had two wives: the name of one was
Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah
had no children. 3 This man went up from his city yearly to
worship and sacrifice to the Lord
of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests
of the Lord, were there. 4 And whenever the time came for
Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to
all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he would give a
double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival
also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So
it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore
she wept and did not eat.
Genesis 30:25-43
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that
Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my
country. 26 Give me
my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you
know my service which I have done for you.”
27 And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your
eyes, for I have learned by
experience that the Lord has
blessed me for your sake.” 28 Then he said, “Name me your wages,
and I will give it.”
29 So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your
livestock has been with me. 30 For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to
a great amount; the Lord has
blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own
house?”31 So he said, “What shall I give you?”And Jacob said,
“You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again
feed and keep your flocks: 32 Let me pass through all your
flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all
the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats;
and these shall be my wages. 33 So
my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my
wages comes before you: every one that is
not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be
considered stolen, if it is with me.”34 And
Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” 35 So he
removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female
goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then
he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of
Laban’s flocks.37 Now Jacob took for himself rods of green
poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and
exposed the white which was in the
rods. 38 And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the
flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink,
so that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 So the
flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked,
speckled, and spotted. 40 Then Jacob separated the lambs, and
made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of
Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with
Laban’s flock.41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger
livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the
livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But
when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them
in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus
the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male
servants, and camels and donkeys.
I.
THE DESIRE FOR PROGRESS IS INATE WITH THE HUMAN
SPIRIT.
1.
We all
desire to be ____________.
2.
We all
desire honor.
3.
We all desire _____________
II.
GOD IS PRO PROGRESS.
2 Corinthians 3:18
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a
mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from
glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Peter 3:18
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Psalm 115:14
14 The Lord shall increase you more and more,
You and your children.
John 15:16
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the
Father in my name, he may give it you.
III.
KEYS TO GETTING UNSTUCK.
1.
Sometimes
when you are stuck it requires supernatural intervention (occasionally).
a.
Cultivate ______________ trust in God.
b.
Get free
on the inside.
c.
Learn to
rest while you wait.
d.
Make sure
you are doing all that’s ______________of
you.
2.
Sometimes
when stuck it requires natural intervention (Majority).
a.
Take ______________ ________________
for where you are.
b.
Realize
it’s choices that created habits that are responsible.
c.
Take
inventory of the __________- _____________ (Track the Habit).
d.
Decide the
new needed habits.
e.
Make a 3
to 5 year _______________to do the new
habit.
3.
All the
time when you are stuck you must want to get un-stuck.
Psalm 37:4
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the
Father in my name, he may give it you.
Mark 11:24
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye
desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
James 2:17
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead,
being alone.
