John K. Jenkins Sr - Re-Digging Stopped-Up Wells

I want to take a look at this particular passage in Genesis; it has really resonated with me and spoken powerfully to me. I've been waiting for God to release me to preach this message - a word I've been pondering and wrestling with for quite a while. I never felt released to share it until today; it was just all in my spirit and I couldn't get it out. It is about Isaac . You know the story of Isaac: Isaac is the long-awaited son of Abraham and his wife Sarah. It is Isaac who is born when Abraham is about 99 years of age; he is the son that had been promised. Isaac is the son that Abraham takes up a mountain to sacrifice to God, and it is this same Isaac whom God stops Abraham from slaying. It is this same Isaac who now finds himself in a position of being grown; his father has died, and now he is on his own. He 's living in a land and experiencing famine-he is living in a place where there is famine. As a matter of fact, verse one of this 26th chapter says there was a famine in the land. Somebody say, "There was a famine in the land!" There is a famine in the land, and verse 12 tells us a very interesting and powerful thing . Verse 12 says, "Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold," and the Lord blessed him. That 's a powerful verse right there. Here 's what it says: in the midst of a famine, when there is no food, no water, and no resources to be found, God raises up this young man, Isaac, and he prospers. He 's blessed, he's favored, and he's reaping; as a matter of fact, he's reaping a hundred times what he sowed. I needed to talk about that. The scripture says , in verse 13, that the man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous . That 's a lot of "prosperous" in that verse right there! He began to prosper; he continued prospering until he became very prosperous. Somebody ought to say "Amen" behind that point right there. Ain 't that what you would like? Wouldn 't you like to start prospering and keep on prospering until you become very prosperous? Y'all might as well say "Amen!" You know you want it; nobody's signing up for poverty in this camp. Nobody 's giving up stuff; everybody wants to prosper. The problem with today's culture is we want to prosper with minimum investments. We want a million-dollar return on a dollar deposit , and that's why y'all be standing in line playing the lottery. Come on, talk to me for just a second; if y'all all say "Amen" together, nobody will know I'm talking about you. But Isaac learned something that a lot of folks today realize they don't know . Verse 12 gives us a very profound insight- it says that Isaac sowed. Somebody say, "He sowed!" He sowed. Matter of fact , the scripture says he sowed in that land. Did your Bible say "that land"? He sowed right where he was. You see, some of us feel like we have to wait until we get to prosperity before we sow, wait until we have some extra money before we sow. But you can never get to prosperity unless you sow! Come on! You can never get to prosperity; you can never reap a harvest unless you sow. We have people who want to go to the field to rake in the harvest, but they have not sown any seeds! Yeah, this is going to be a tough sermon if y'all can't say "Amen." But in spite of the famine, Isaac sows and reaps in spite of it. Some of us will never prosper because we're stingy; somebody on your row is very stingy. Look down your row and see if you can figure out who the stingy people are . Do you not know that the best time to sow is in tough times? Now, let me-I see some of y'all getting tight; I see you getting tense . I saw some women grab their purses. I'm not taking up another offering; I'm not after your money; I'm after your heart. I'm trying to get a hold of your heart. I'm not going to take an extra offering, so don't think I'm leading up to that. I'm challenging you today that if you want to be able to be like Isaac , who in the midst of famine, we have to teach our kids how to sow- teach them how to plant. You have to learn how to not be stingy; he reaped a hundredfold. Here 's what I discovered: if you learn how to sow, if you learn how to plant, if you learn how to make a deposit, no man on earth can stop what God wants to do for you. As a matter of fact, the text says-I love this-in verse 12 it states, "He sowed in that land and reaped in the same year." Look at your neighbor; say, "You still got time to get a miracle this year." Tell your neighbor; matter of fact, tell yourself. Tell yourself, "I got time to reap a harvest this year." Yeah, I'm not going to be stingy and keep on holding on . I want to be in a position to prosper and continue to prosper, and I want to become very prosperous-and I still have time !