From Barrenness to Fruitfulness - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

From Barrenness to FruitfulnessSlide2

God has some very specific promises concerning barrenness

Exodus 23:25-26

So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. Slide3

Deuteronomy 7:13-14

And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock.Slide4

Isaiah 54:1-10

“Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD. 2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your

stakes… Slide5

…3

For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited. 4 Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood

anymore… Slide6

…5

For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. 6 For the LORD has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused,” says your God…Slide7

…7

“For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. 8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer. Slide8

God calls all of us in a barren state and even takes us through cycles of barrenness in our life before He brings forth His ultimate plan for our

livesSlide9

When you are in a state of

barrenness you feel:

Ashamed

Disgraced

Forsaken

or deserted

Grieved

in spirit (not comforted)

Refused

or rejected

AshamedDisgracedForsaken or desertedGrieved in spirit (not comforted)Refused or rejected

AshamedDisgracedForsaken or desertedGrieved in spirit (not comforted)Refused or rejected

AshamedDisgracedForsaken or desertedGrieved in spirit (not comforted)Refused or rejected

Ashamed

Disgraced

Forsaken or deserted

Grieved in spirit (not comforted)

Refused or rejectedSlide10

God wants to turn our

barrenness into…

Ashamed

Disgraced

Forsaken or deserted

Grieved in spirit (not comforted)

Refused or rejected

Ashamed

Disgraced

Forsaken or deserted

Grieved in spirit (not comforted)

Refused or rejectedAshamed

DisgracedForsaken or desertedGrieved in spirit (not comforted)Refused or rejectedAshamed

Disgraced

Forsaken or deserted

Grieved in spirit (not comforted)

Refused or rejectedSlide11

Fruitfulness!!!Slide12

Barrenness to Fruitfulness…

Sarah—The

Principle of Faith

Genesis 11:30

But

Sarai

was barren; she had no child.Slide13

Genesis 17:15-16

Then God said to Abraham, “As for

Sarai

your wife, you shall not call her name

Sarai

, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”Slide14

While we have unrealized promises,

we must:D

ie

to our own

schemes

C

ease

from

striving

and manipulation Wait for that which is from the LordMaintain faith and patienceSlide15

Hebrews 6:11-15

And

we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through

faith and patience

inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, Slide16

…“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so,

after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.Slide17

Barrenness to Fruitfulness…

Rebekah—The Principle of Prayer

Genesis

25:21a

Now

Isaac pleaded with the LORD for

his

wife, because she was barren…Slide18

Barrenness to Fruitfulness…

Rachael—The Principle of Pure Motivation

Genesis

29:31

When

the LORD saw that Leah was unloved,

He

opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.Slide19

Some of the wrong things in her heart included:

Envy

Idolatry

Blaming

Others

Bitterness toward God

Contention and

StrifeSlide20

Genesis

30:22-24 Then

God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The LORD shall add to me another son.” Slide21

Barrenness to Fruitfulness…

Samson’s Mother

—

The

Principle of Consecration

Judges

13:2-5

Now

there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, Slide22

…“Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5 For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”Slide23

Judges 13:24-25

So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at

Mahaneh

Dan

between

Zorah

and

Eshtaol

.Slide24

Barrenness to Fruitfulness…

Hannah—The Principle of Contentment

I

Samuel 1:1-2

Now

there was a certain man of

Ramathaim

Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham…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.Slide25

I

Samuel 1:16-19 Regard

not your handmaid as a wicked woman; for out of my great complaint and bitter provocation I have been speaking. 17 Then Eli said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him. 18 Hannah said, Let your handmaid find grace in your sight. Slide26

….So [she] went her way and ate, her countenance no longer sad. 19 The family rose early the next morning, worshiped before the Lord, and returned to their home in Ramah.

Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

–AmpSlide27

Barrenness to Fruitfulness…

Elizabeth

—

The

Principle of Timing

Luke

1:5-7

There

was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Slide28

….6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.Slide29

Luke 1:36-37

“Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”Slide30
Slide31

God delights in

bringing the barren

to…..Slide32

… a place

of fruitfulness!!!Slide33

From Barrenness to FruitfulnessSlide34