1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,240 And I got to all right, so I know some of you guys know this, 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:06,040 but there are three types of wrestling. 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:10,000 You have wrestling and wrestling is what you see on Saturdays. 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,400 You see people jumping off of ropes and hitting each other and 5 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:15,560 heads with chairs. It is the most entertaining 6 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,960 thing. We call WWE soap opera for men, 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,800 right? So you ladies might have like 8 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,920 your soap operas and your Love Island and all that good stuff, 9 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,000 but we have WWE and that's our soap opera. 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,040 So don't yell at us when we watch it. 11 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:36,280 And then we have wrestling, which is like the Olympic style 12 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:38,360 wrestling, the three, two-minute rounds. 13 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,840 You get points, you try to pin your opponent. 14 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:46,120 But then my favorite is lucha libre, and lucha libre is 15 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,040 Mexican style wrestling and it is out of control. 16 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,000 I mean, people are jumping off robes doing flips. 17 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,280 I mean, it, the storylines are even crazier. 18 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,200 It, it's, it's incredible. I love watching lucha libre. 19 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:05,560 And one of the things with lucha libre is the worst thing that 20 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,000 you could do to an opponent is remove their mask. 21 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,720 So when two people are wrestling and the storyline gives that, 22 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:16,840 and then it's one of those like the loser has to remove their 23 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,560 mask and show their identity to the world man. 24 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,280 Like when that happens or when they're fighting and the person 25 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,200 starts to take their mask off, the crowd goes crazy. 26 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,080 The crowd is like, don't do it. No, leave me mask at us alone. 27 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:32,960 Like they like leave them alone. Don't do it. 28 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,320 And then when the mask comes off, the person whose mask came 29 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:39,400 off, they're all ashamed and they're they're trying to cover 30 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,000 their and run out of the arena. And they're like all worried and 31 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,680 concerned. And then the victor stands in 32 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,080 the middle of the ring and he's holding the person's mask in the 33 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,360 air. And what we're going to look at 34 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:56,160 today is that tale of the take, because you know, we're doing 35 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,200 Fight Club. On one side you have Jacob 36 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:03,480 Surprise, 61200 and 30 pounds, 97 years old. 37 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,120 Then on the other side, you have God Almighty. 38 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,400 I can't describe him. All I know is that he could 39 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:16,280 probably kill Jacob like that. And what we're going to watch 40 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,200 today is that they go at it. There is a lucha match, there is 41 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,760 a wrestling match that goes down. 42 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,440 But here's the thing, Jacob wins because God pins them. 43 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:35,760 And when we wrestle with the things of God, nobody ever talks 44 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,640 about like we wrestle with our faith, we wrestle with some of 45 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:41,240 the beliefs, we wrestle with some of the teachings and 46 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,360 scripture, but nobody ever talks like what do you do when God 47 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:45,960 wrestles you, not you wrestle with him. 48 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,360 And Jacob is going to get find himself in a wrestling match. 49 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:56,720 And the way that Jacob comes out successful is that his mask is 50 00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:02,400 removed and God is standing there and God's like, man, I'm 51 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,280 so glad you finally gave up. You win. 52 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,560 It's so backwards because when we talk about wrestling, like 53 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:12,720 now we got to pin them, we got to fight them, and we don't want 54 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,720 to submit. And it's like, no, but by the 55 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,880 way that you win when God wrestles with you is that you 56 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,200 submit. And when you submit and you give 57 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,280 in to what God is doing, you win. 58 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,560 And we're going to look at what this looks like to us. 59 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,680 So let's fight. So before we dive into the text 60 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,480 room in Genesis chapter 32, we're only look at 10 verses. 61 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,600 We're starting verse 22. I need to catch us up, right? 62 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:39,480 Because this story is not going to make too much sense. 63 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,760 So we don't understand Jacob. So for you guys that don't know 64 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,200 and Genesis, you have Jacob. Jacob is Esau's brother. 65 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:48,800 And when they were born, Esau came out first. 66 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,400 And the Bible says that Jacob grabbed his heel. 67 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,840 So we already know what kind of person Jacob's going to be. 68 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:01,240 You know, when Livia was born, that girl came out screaming. 69 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,120 Like all the nurses looked at me and they're like, she got some 70 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:08,160 pipes on her. And I was like, Nah, man, she's 71 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:09,760 not going to be that loud. It's just a baby. 72 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,120 They write. She got she could yell like she 73 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,279 had some pipes on her. Girl likes to sing like it is 74 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:18,959 like. So we see it early on. 75 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:22,760 Jacob comes out of the womb holding Esau's heel. 76 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,120 So we know the type of guy that Jacob's going to be. 77 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,320 He's a schemer. He's always trying to hustle. 78 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,480 He's always trying to find out ways that he could get the one. 79 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,640 Like he's, he's going to hustle people like that's what he does 80 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,240 in his life. Then later on we see Jacob, he 81 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,080 goes to his father Isaac, and he steals his brother Esau's 82 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:45,600 birthright because he schemes it, right? 83 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,640 He hustles his brother. He he steals the birthright. 84 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,080 Esau's like, no, you didn't. And then Jacob's like, yes, I 85 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:53,200 did. And Esau's like, I'm going to 86 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,680 kill you now. So then Jacob takes off running. 87 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,520 He goes to Lana Heron. When he gets there, he works 88 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,840 under his uncle. He falls in love with a girl 89 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:05,400 named Rachel because all Rachels are beautiful. 90 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:12,160 I know you're watching, girl. All right, So what the uncle 91 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,160 does, the uncle schemes them. He's like, well, if you want to 92 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:16,120 marry Rachel, you got to work for me for seven years. 93 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:18,600 And he's like, I could do that. She's worth it. 94 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,120 Works for him seven years. The night of their wedding, he 95 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,160 switches him out and he gives Jacob Leah. 96 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,080 Now Leah's not as cute, but she has a great personality. 97 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:30,680 I'm joking. All right. 98 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:35,600 So he gets with Leah and then Jacob's like, hold on a second. 99 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:37,120 I wanted Rachel like I work for her. 100 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,760 And then he's like, well, you got to work another seven years 101 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,640 if you want to marry Rachel. And he goes, I'm going to do it. 102 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:48,040 So he works another seven years. Now Jacob, he is grown. 103 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,120 Now he he has Leah. He's married to Leah and Rachel. 104 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,120 The Bible says that he has eleven children at this time in 105 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:02,920 his life. 11 children, 2 wives, 2 concubines, lots of land, lots 106 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,560 of property. He has a whole bunch of stuff. 107 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:11,040 20 years has passed since his incident with Esau and God is 108 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,240 now calling him back to Canaan. And God's like, I want you to go 109 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:19,280 back to your brother. And Jacob is terrified. 110 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:21,920 Jacob is like, this dude is probably going to kill me when 111 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,560 he sees me. So Jacob is obeying the Lord and 112 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,760 I, and as I'm reading this, I'm like, man, that's a long span of 113 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,200 time. But if you look at Jacob's life, 114 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,560 he's married now. He has more responsibility now. 115 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,280 And I just felt the Lord. Just point out a few things that 116 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:40,800 maybe for some of us, the season we're at versus the season where 117 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,680 we're going to all it is the difference is you need to grow 118 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:48,640 up. You need to mature and Jacob in 119 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,960 this season of his life, now he has more responsibility. 120 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,520 He has wives, he has he has things that he has to overlook. 121 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,440 And now God is like, OK, now I need you to move to Canaan. 122 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:01,920 It's time for you to go back to Canaan. 123 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:04,840 And Jacob's like, man, but I got my brother wants to kill me. 124 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:08,560 Still, for 20 years, Jacob has carried this with him. 125 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,760 So what does he do? He starts sending gifts to his 126 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,240 brother. He sends them camels, he sends 127 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,440 them all this livestock. And he's, he's kind of like 128 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,720 lowering the blow. And God comes to Jacob and says, 129 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:23,600 I want you to go reconcile with your brother. 130 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,800 And Jacob is terrified, but God has a bigger plan. 131 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,520 So Jacob goes, and this is where we live off. 132 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:39,000 So Jacob that night, verse 22 in chapter 32, that night Jacob got 133 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,800 up and took his two wives, his two female servants, his eleven 134 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:44,720 sons and a Partridge and a pear tree. 135 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,080 I'm joking. That's the message version. 136 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:53,720 And crossed the Ford of the jabuk after he had sent them 137 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:58,040 across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 138 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,560 Now don't miss these two verses. This, these two verses say a lot 139 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:06,440 when we look at the story of Jacob right here, right? 140 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:11,080 So at night, remember at night if you're underlining something, 141 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,240 go back to 22 for me. If you're underlining something, 142 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,760 remember at night, because what we see in the scriptures is 143 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,400 throughout Jacob's life, God comes to him at night. 144 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:24,320 God comes to Jacob when he's all alone. 145 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:29,720 God speaks to him in dreams, kind of like his son Joseph, 146 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:33,480 God. This is the way that God kind of 147 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,000 works with Jacob. And then Jacob, he gets up and 148 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,320 he takes he now listen, he's following what God is telling 149 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,480 him to do. He is in obedience to God. 150 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,600 And we see that because it says that they crossed the Ford of 151 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:50,000 Jaboka. I can't even say that word. 152 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,320 And he crosses the Fort. Now we have to look. 153 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,000 Whenever there's a name or a title of a city or a place in 154 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,240 Scripture, you got to pay attention. 155 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:01,560 All right, So this is a stream, right? 156 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:05,480 It's 60 to 65 miles long. It's east of the Jordan River. 157 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,040 It flows into the midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead 158 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,880 Sea. What is this telling us? 159 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:18,000 Listen, Jacob is going, and now he has his back to this stream. 160 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,240 There's no retreat. There is no running away. 161 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,880 He's obeying the Lord. He's doing what God's told him 162 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:27,960 to do. If Esau was going to do a 163 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:32,000 surprise attack, Jacob was like, man, this is the spot that he's 164 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,360 probably going to do that. And if Esau comes with all of 165 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,040 his people and all his army and all his boys to take Jacob out 166 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,400 and all his people and all his family, they are stuck like 167 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:44,320 Chuck. There is no going anywhere. 168 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,600 Jacob put himself in a position where there's no retreat and 169 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:50,600 listen. When it comes to our obedience 170 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:56,160 with God, many of us look at obedience with I need a safety 171 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,480 net and I need a way to get through it and listen. 172 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:01,440 With obedience, there is no safety net. 173 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:06,200 God is our safety net. His calling on what we're trying 174 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:12,280 to do is our safety net. So we go in fearlessly, but 175 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,800 there's an issue. So he sends everybody across. 176 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:18,960 He sends all the positions across. 177 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:23,800 Listen, this is a demonstration of faith because Jacob left 178 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,600 himself to no retreat. My family's over there. 179 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,360 My positions are over there. There is no turning back now, 180 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,480 Lord, I am doing what you have called me to do. 181 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,240 And listen, Jacob had a lot of responsibility. 182 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,320 He had all his family, all his people, all his stuff. 183 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:45,560 Man, he could have died 1000 deaths of busyness and sometimes 184 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:49,960 it takes God getting you alone so that way you could listen to 185 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:54,200 him. Jacob was doing what God told 186 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:55,960 him to do. He was on the move, but there 187 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,880 was something else that God needed from Jacob. 188 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:02,680 So look what happens. Look at the next verse. 189 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:06,280 So Jacob, he was left all alone, right? 190 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:09,680 So this is usually I believe that Jacob was by himself 191 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:13,520 purposely so he could be in prayer with God based on maybe 192 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:15,680 he was worried about what was coming. 193 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,000 So he was in prayer with God. And look who shows up, it says a 194 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:25,800 man wrestled him till Daybreak. Now who's this man? 195 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,080 Well, based off Hosea 12 verse four, we know that this is an 196 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,800 Angel of the Lord. We also see this in in Exodus 197 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,320 chapter 3 verse 2. It says an Angel of the Lord 198 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,960 showed up. But what a lot of scholars are 199 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,480 saying is that this is what we call a Christophany. 200 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,240 So this is like an Incarnate image of Christ that shows up on 201 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,000 the scene. We see this in the book of 202 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,400 Daniel when Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego get thrown 203 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:57,240 into the fire. And then like the king is like, 204 00:11:57,240 --> 00:11:59,320 hold on. There's like a like the a son of 205 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,480 a gods in there. Like there's another person in 206 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:03,960 there. That's what we call a 207 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:08,960 Christophany. So think about this as Jacob is 208 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:13,080 praying, asking the Lord, he gets a single leg takedown. 209 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,680 Somebody shows up, Sweet Boom, probably suplexes him. 210 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:22,880 But I also want us to see something. 211 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:26,560 The Bible doesn't say that Jacob wrestled with God. 212 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,840 The Bible says that this man that that God wrestled with 213 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,880 Jacob. There's a big difference here. 214 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:39,920 And for many of us when we look at our lives and we start 215 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,920 noticing like man, there's some weird stuff like like God, I, I 216 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,320 feel there's something in my life and listen, it's not you. 217 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:52,040 It may be God trying to get something out of your life 218 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:56,600 because he has something for you and he knows that you will not 219 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,560 surrender it. He knows that you're not going 220 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:02,760 to come to him in submission. So for some of us who are hard 221 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:06,040 headed and some of us who are prideful and some of us who are 222 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,080 self-sufficient, God has got to wrestle you down and yank that 223 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,160 sucker out of your life so that way you can listen to Him now. 224 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:19,520 And for many of us, it's very painful, it hurts, it's hard. 225 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,200 And God is there and He's and there's a purpose for this 226 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:27,320 battle. So Jake, Jacob is left alone and 227 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:31,200 God wanted something from him. And what God wanted Jacob to 228 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,520 sacrifice was all his his proud self-reliance and his fleshly 229 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,600 scheming that we see all through his life. 230 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:44,000 Jacob was about Jacob. And I want us to understand this 231 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,040 because a lot of us can do the right thing, but do it the wrong 232 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,240 way. And many of us do the right 233 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:52,560 thing thinking that we're doing good. 234 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:54,400 But listen, not everything good is from God. 235 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,400 Be careful. So we're trying to do the right 236 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:00,480 thing. And as I was studying the text, 237 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,880 I was like, man, God has something so a big for for 238 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,360 Jacob, it goes beyond reconciliation with Esau. 239 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:14,480 But God's like before I do this for you, I need I need you to 240 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,480 surrender to me. I can't give you this blessing 241 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,280 until you until there's something I take out of your 242 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:23,840 life. And for Jacob it was his 243 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,320 self-reliance, his fleshly scheming. 244 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:29,360 And God came to take these from him. 245 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,320 And God came by force necessary because God understood the kind 246 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,960 of man that Jacob was. Jacob was hard headed. 247 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:37,720 Jacob liked to control everything. 248 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,280 Jacob was self reliant. He wasn't just going to 249 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,480 surrender that to God. So God said, OK, bet, boom, 250 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:47,320 let's fight, it's time to go, let's go. 251 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,440 And God is there wrestling with Jacob. 252 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,360 And I started thinking about this because there's a 253 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,000 difference between being led and being driven. 254 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,360 And when you're being LED, you're being led by the Lord. 255 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,960 So when you're being led by the Lord, that means that there is a 256 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,400 that, that the Lord, the Spirit is leading you. 257 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,560 So if God is leading you, that means that God determines the 258 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,160 place, but also the pace of things. 259 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,920 So when God, so when you're operating in obedience to God 260 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,800 and you know that it is the Lord who's leading you and you're 261 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:28,760 following God, the pace of things makes sense and the place 262 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:33,640 of things makes sense and things are working as they should. 263 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:39,600 God is breathing on it. But some of us walk in obedience 264 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:44,840 to the Lord, but we're being driven by something else, and 265 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:48,840 that's Jacob. Jacob was not being led by the 266 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,960 Spirit of the Lord. Jacob was being driven by his 267 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:56,360 dysfunctions. And many of us do things in 268 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,440 obedience to God where God tells us, this is what I want you to 269 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,560 do, this is what I'm calling you to, But you're not being led by 270 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:04,840 the Spirit, you're being led by your dysfunctions. 271 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,240 And God needed to RIP that out of us, and He needed to RIP that 272 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,240 out of Jacob. Because when you're being led by 273 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,920 your dysfunction, then that means that your dysfunction 274 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,160 determines the pace and the place of things. 275 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,280 That's why when you're trying to work in obedience, you're just 276 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,840 stressed out all the time and burnout creeps in and nothing is 277 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:25,880 working. Why? 278 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,040 Because you're being led by your dysfunctions and not by the 279 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,800 Spirit, but you're doing it in the name of the Lord. 280 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,240 And many of us do this. Listen, man, we are all broken 281 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:39,800 people, man. We have insecurities that lead 282 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,880 us. There's some performance 283 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:45,800 orientation issues that we have in our lives, man. 284 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,040 There's some self-image issues, there's some control issues, 285 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:52,080 there's immaturity issues. There's some stuff that we all 286 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:55,040 grew up with. Maybe our parents grew us up in 287 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,800 a certain way and those things bleed in. 288 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:02,880 Let me say it better this way, because a lot of us also follow 289 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:05,000 the Lord and we try to do things for God, but we want 290 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,839 affirmation. God, I'm doing what you've 291 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:10,680 called me to do, but God, I want to applause as well. 292 00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:13,240 I want the platform, I want the lights. 293 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,960 I want my name to shine right next to your name. 294 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:22,680 And we do this for affirmation. Many of us grew up with this 295 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,200 whole idea of the only way I'll get a hug is if I jump through a 296 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:31,560 hoop. So we go through life looking 297 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:34,600 and we're being led by our dysfunctions. 298 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:37,840 And Jacob was in obedience to God. 299 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:42,560 But the thing that led Jacob in obedience to God was not God 300 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:45,200 himself. Jacob had some things inside of 301 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,960 his life that he was fighting with, and they were this whole 302 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,200 like scheming self. Like, what can I get out of it? 303 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:54,560 I took my brother's birthright. God was going to bless me 304 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,240 regardless. Why did I take my brother's 305 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,520 birthright, Man? Because you're selfish. 306 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:02,280 And many of us lead out of that place. 307 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,600 So instead of God using you for ministry, you use ministry to 308 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:13,400 try to use God for you. That's a hard thing to take. 309 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,200 Like they say, if you can't say Amen, you better say Ouch. 310 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:20,200 Like, like, man, when the guy reveals to me, I was like, man, 311 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:24,440 that that's like, man, I've done that before as a pastor, as 312 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,200 somebody in ministry. Like I've fallen into this trap 313 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:32,080 where because we want to use ministry for ourselves, we end 314 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,560 up eating off the church and we take from the church and we 315 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,640 become consumers of the church and listen. 316 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:42,240 And we disguise our selfishness and our pride with a ministry 317 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,920 wrapping paper and a big fat bow that says service. 318 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,960 And at the same time, we're doing all these things for God. 319 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,680 But in the back of our minds we're like, no, no, but I want 320 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,720 some of that too. I want some of that glory and 321 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,640 God's like I've called you to this, but the only way that 322 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:00,960 you're going to be able to truly accomplish what I've called you 323 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:03,640 to is that you're going to have to surrender some of this stuff. 324 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,600 And for some of us, we're like, heck, 9 surrendering you crazy. 325 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:12,280 That's who I am. Like I said, like some of us, 326 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,440 like bone thugs N harmony me no surrender, right? 327 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:17,760 I mean like like like we're that's kind of where we're at. 328 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:19,880 Like now. I ain't weak. 329 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,800 I'm surrender to no, but I don't tap out like I'm, I'm, I'm 330 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,000 prideful. I'm a man and guys like, OK, 331 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,920 well, I, I have a calling I have in your life. 332 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,440 And in order for me to accomplish what my purpose is, 333 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:35,800 I'm going to have to RIP that thing out. 334 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,520 You know, I was look at this as I was looking, I mean, as I was 335 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:45,360 looking at Scripture, you know, even before Jesus started his 336 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:49,560 earthly ministry, Jesus goes to John the Baptist, he gets 337 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:53,360 baptized. This is before Jesus did 338 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:54,560 anything in his earthly ministry. 339 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,640 He was 30 years old. And as he becomes baptized, the 340 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,840 Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. 341 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:06,600 And God says this is my son, my beloved son, whom I'm well 342 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:10,080 pleased Jesus didn't do one thing. 343 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:17,320 And God says I affirm him. See, Jesus is doing ministry out 344 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:22,640 of affirmation, not for it. Many of us do ministry because 345 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:24,520 we want it. We want the affirmation. 346 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:29,360 We want people to praise us. And if you're not emotionally 347 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:34,720 healthy and you're not in good standing with God, you're going 348 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:38,120 to end up doing ministry out of affirmation and not gratitude. 349 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,680 And God is going to have to RIP some of that stuff out because 350 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,560 he has a great plan for you and he has a great plan for us. 351 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:51,640 And when that happens, sanctification starts to look 352 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,800 like moralism. Sanctification is US 353 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,840 transforming and conforming to the image of Christ. 354 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,680 So for many of us, it's like, man, God changed my life, but 355 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,840 now I'm not a liar anymore. I don't steal anymore. 356 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,720 I don't make up stories anymore. I don't sleep around anymore. 357 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:13,280 And you're trying to throw your identity based on what you used 358 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,720 to do and not do. But no, it's not about a title 359 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,560 of what you used to do not do. Sanctification is like, I have 360 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:22,600 Christ in his spirit living in me. 361 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,280 And because I love Jesus and because Christ in the Spirit 362 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,760 live in me, I no longer want to sin. 363 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:31,960 I don't care anymore. Like this stuff doesn't please 364 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,040 the like this doesn't please me anymore. 365 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,080 Sanctification is looking more like Christ, not looking more 366 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,440 like moralism. There's more to it. 367 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:45,680 So we have to be careful. And the only way that we achieve 368 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:49,720 this is that we address our brokenness, which leads me to 369 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:54,040 point number one. We got four of these things that 370 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,400 your vadnais. You being bad is always driven 371 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,360 by brokenness. Some of us are like Rick, I 372 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:02,560 can't change. I'm trying to change. 373 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,680 I'm trying to do stuff like my addictions are too strong. 374 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,560 I can't, I can't change stuff like I can't change the way I 375 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:09,600 act. It's who I am. 376 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:11,640 It's I'm a product of my environment. 377 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,840 Listen, your vadnais is not because of your past or where 378 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:16,560 you're from. Your vadnais is because of your 379 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,000 brokenness. And until you address the 380 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,160 brokenness in your life, until God changes the heart, until God 381 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,840 does something that no man can do, which is the forgiveness of 382 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:31,840 sin and the repentance of your life, and He gives you a heart 383 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,040 of flesh and he changes for a heart of stone. 384 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,320 Until you have that, you can't address the behavior and the 385 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,240 vadnais that you are bleeding out. 386 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:45,240 Listen, Jacob, even in his obedience to God had some 387 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,760 brokenness in him, the way that he acted, the way he treated 388 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:53,240 people, the way he used people, that Vadnais was not coming out 389 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,280 of who he was, that that was coming out of a brokenness in 390 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,400 his life, and God had to address it. 391 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,960 And what does God do? God wrestles him to the ground. 392 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,840 In order to fix our Vadnais, we got to fix our brokenness first. 393 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:10,920 God could fix the heart. Man can't. 394 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,440 And if you're not going to surrender, you're going to 395 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,800 struggle like I'm just being honest. 396 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,640 I've been there. If we don't surrender to Christ, 397 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:26,080 there's going to be a struggle that ensues in our lives. 398 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:28,080 And look what happens. Look at the next verse. 399 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,200 Look at verse 25. He says man, when the man saw 400 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,960 that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's 401 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:40,120 hip so that his hip was wretched as he wrestled with the man. 402 00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:43,840 And then 26 And then the man said, let me go for his 403 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,400 Daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not 404 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:52,000 let you go unless you bless me. Oh, this is crazy. 405 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,520 So think about this. They're wrestling, they are 406 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:56,720 struggling. They're on preparing. 407 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,720 I could just picture on the floor, single leg takedown, arm 408 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,480 bar, ankle lock, all this stuff. You go tap. 409 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,000 No, I'm not going to tap. Flip some. 410 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:05,720 They're just going. And listen, I don't know if 411 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,600 y'all have ever wrestled before. It's exhausting. 412 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,440 I don't know how this 97 year old man did it. 413 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,040 I could barely last three minutes and I've done wrestling, 414 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:16,440 I've done judo, I've done all that stuff. 415 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,040 And listen, you got to be in some physical shape. 416 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:21,120 You got to be in some tip top shape. 417 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,800 I love what Dan Gable said. Dan Gable is an Olympic gold 418 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,800 medal wrestler and he has a famous quote that says once 419 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,240 you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy. 420 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,280 It's difficult. So he's wrestling. 421 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:37,720 And here's what's amazing with Jacob. 422 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,200 Jacob Hung in there with him. It says when the man saw that he 423 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:46,000 could not overpower him, he touched Jacob's socket, his hip. 424 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:51,560 So what are you saying? Like Ricky, like Jacob was able 425 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:55,160 to wrestle with God. He hung like his, like, no, no, 426 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,280 no, hold on, like don't get ahead of ourselves 'cause God 427 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:00,760 could have easily ended it like that. 428 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:08,440 But you know what God does? He will be there with you until 429 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:12,080 you finally wear yourself out and you find yourself holding on 430 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,360 for dear life. That's exactly what happened to 431 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:16,680 Jacob. Jacob did not win this fight. 432 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:22,160 God did. So our determination to have our 433 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:28,560 own way is actually us trying to win over against God. 434 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:31,480 So we're fighting. We're like, no, it's my way, 435 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,720 God, my way, God, my way, God. And God is there wrestling with 436 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:36,480 you. And he's like, uh huh, OK. 437 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:38,360 Yeah, all right. Uh huh. 438 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,720 Yeah. You're like, no, God, my way, my 439 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:41,600 way. It's all about me. 440 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,960 It's my stuff. And God is there just pulling 441 00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:46,320 and pushing, and he's there wrestling with you. 442 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,560 And I truly believe that God allows us to struggle. 443 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,200 So that way we find ourselves at a place where we are just 444 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,720 holding on for dear life. And look what God does. 445 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,040 You know what he does? He touches the socket of Jacob's 446 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,720 hip. And I started thinking I was 447 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:04,600 like, man, that's kind of smart. Because if anybody knows 448 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,360 anything about wrestling, the two most important components of 449 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:11,760 wrestling in the human body are your hips and your abs. 450 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,800 And I started looking at it. I was like, man, why are the 451 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,800 hips so important to a wrestler? Listen, it says, the hips are a 452 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:20,640 key source of power for wrestlers. 453 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,240 They enable them to perform explosive movements and change 454 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:29,840 direction quickly. Your hips also serve as takedown 455 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,040 defense. So when somebody shoots at you, 456 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,640 you lock your hips and they can't take you down. 457 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:39,720 Isn't it interesting that the thing that God ruined for Jake, 458 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,040 the thing that got hurt and Jacob was the very thing that 459 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:47,160 gave Jacob power to rule over his life? 460 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:53,160 Because all through Jacob's life, Jacob had the ability to 461 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:57,600 make some explosive decisions. He had the ability to change 462 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,400 direction quickly. And what God does is God hits 463 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:06,640 you not where it hurts. God hits you where it works. 464 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,040 And for many of us, we think, oh, God's going to hit me where 465 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,000 it hurts the most. No, no, no, no. 466 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,440 Because the depths of your heart reveal that the things that you 467 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,320 care about, you make things work even if it's not good for you. 468 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,280 And God knew, like Jay, it always lived Jacob's life. 469 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,000 It always worked for him. He was a schemer. 470 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,320 He always got stuff from people. He always hustled people. 471 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,520 He was able to do these things. And God hit him right where it 472 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,480 works. So God touched his hip. 473 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,960 Now Jacob can't wrestle no more. He's out. 474 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,680 So there goes a self-sufficiency right there. 475 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,200 He can't move now. God hit him where it works. 476 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,840 Now Jacob probably felt drained. He probably felt defeated. 477 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,640 In verse 26 it says the man said, hey, let me go. 478 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:57,520 It's Daybreak man. We've been going at this all 479 00:27:57,520 --> 00:27:59,600 night. But look what it says. 480 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,360 It says I will let you. I will not let you go unless you 481 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:06,120 bless me. That means that Jacob was 482 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:10,040 holding on for dear life. Jacob is waiting for the referee 483 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:14,080 to ring the bell. And if you ever watch boxing, if 484 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:16,320 you ever watch a heavyweight fight where somebody's 485 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:17,680 exhausted, you know what they do. 486 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,640 They just hold on. It's the most annoying thing in 487 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,080 the world. When you pay for pay-per-view, 488 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,320 you're like bro, the next 5 rounds you're just like hugging 489 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:30,240 each other. Brother is holding on for dear 490 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:34,000 life because he knows if he lets go, he's going to hit the 491 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,680 canvas. Same thing with UFC, same thing 492 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,560 with any combat sport. You get to a place where you 493 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,360 know that you're losing and you don't want to get pinned or 494 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:45,560 embarrassed. So what do you do? 495 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,360 You hold on. But I think that there's 496 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,080 something important for us to understand here because he says 497 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:54,960 I will not let go unless you bless me. 498 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,680 And listen, I think there's a lesson for us because if you 499 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,600 want God to bless you, you need to be in proximity with him. 500 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,200 You need to be holding on tight. You need to be holding on close. 501 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,320 And many of us want God's blessing, but we want to be far 502 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,760 away. God bless my life, bro. 503 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:13,120 You're not even in the ring with him. 504 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:15,320 You don't, you don't even know him. 505 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:19,440 So if you want to receive, if you want to see what God can do, 506 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,600 you need to hold on. And I love what Jacob does here 507 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,640 because Jacob says, Lord, I ain't letting go until you bless 508 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:30,240 me. This is a sign of defeat, not a 509 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,920 sign of victory, because he's holding on. 510 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:35,960 It doesn't say that Jacob continued to wrestle. 511 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,360 He's given up. And what he understands, and 512 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:42,480 what I think we need to understand is that, listen, we 513 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,920 can't conquer much of anything unless you let the Lord conquer 514 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,680 your heart first. Many of us want to do big things 515 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,360 for God, many just want to follow him and a jump in his 516 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,120 calling. But there's some things in our 517 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,240 lives that you have not surrendered and you have not let 518 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,880 the Lord conquer first. Some of us, I know we don't like 519 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,320 that language and we talk about this a lot like man, I don't 520 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,400 like the word surrender. I don't like man as a man that 521 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,520 makes me feel a certain way. Listen, it's King Jesus, He is 522 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:14,880 worthy of those words. So you surrender to him, you bow 523 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,520 your knee to him, you, you submit to him. 524 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,440 Because when you do that, you win. 525 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,840 I love what happens here He goes. 526 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:28,440 I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me first. 527 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,040 Then I'll let you go. And listen, this wasn't Jacob 528 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,000 dictating terms with God as like God needed his permission. 529 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:42,120 When God overcame Jacob and Jacob was exhausted of wrestling 530 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:46,880 and he's tired, he finally realized, OK, God, I'm at my 531 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,440 wits end. I'm holding on for dear life. 532 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:51,920 Can you just, can you bless me now? 533 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,160 I'm ready. See, in the past, Jacob, he's 534 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,960 always sneaky and clever. He's always willing to do all 535 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,680 these things and listen. Surrender is not a bad place to 536 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,040 be. Which leads us to #2 what's the 537 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:06,840 second point of all this? Listen. 538 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,720 And struggling with God. The only way to win is by losing 539 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,120 and not giving up until you have lost. 540 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:19,560 What The only way? And when you're struggling 541 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:23,600 wrestling with God, the only way that you and I will win is by 542 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,240 losing. But also in losing, you don't 543 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:28,920 give up in the process of losing. 544 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:32,880 There's a difference between losing and quitting. 545 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,040 And sometimes we hear teams say this in football like, man, I 546 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:39,440 didn't. They didn't win. 547 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:47,360 I lost because I quit. And many of us quit before God 548 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,280 is able to do a work in US. I remember watching like and 549 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:53,200 many of us saw like the first Rocky. 550 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,080 You know what nobody talks about is when Rocky fought Apollo at 551 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:04,520 the end, Rocky lost everybody like the whole scene of the 552 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:08,360 movie Apollo 1. But Rocky lasted with Apollo. 553 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,400 And then everybody's rushing the the ring and they're cheering. 554 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,080 They're like, we can't believe. Listen, Apollo won the fight, 555 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:19,640 but Rocky won the battle because that changed his life forever. 556 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,640 And for some of us, when we surrender to God and when we let 557 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:28,920 God win, listen, God won the battle and he won the fight, but 558 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:32,480 he changed your life forever. Your life is forever changed, 559 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,680 but it's going to take us for God. 560 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:40,760 It's going to take us to win by letting God. 561 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,000 It's going to take, I'm sorry, it's going to take God for us to 562 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:49,920 lose and let God win. So that way we end up winning. 563 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,000 A little bit of a tongue twister there. 564 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:58,400 So how does God bless him? Says then the man said, your 565 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:02,440 name will no longer be Jacob but Israel because you have 566 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:07,560 struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. 567 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,120 I love this because God didn't allow Jacob to cover up his 568 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,840 name. God went right after Jacob 569 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:20,760 because Jacob's name reflected his true nature. 570 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,040 God didn't ask Jacob what your name was because God wanted to 571 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,240 know. I'm God, I made you. 572 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:32,080 God is like, what's your name? And instead of Jacob hiding and 573 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:35,760 instead of Jacob scheming and instead of Jacob like flipping 574 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,240 things around and and changing up the conversation, he comes to 575 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:41,760 God and he says, my name is Jacob. 576 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:44,880 And God says, no, I'm going to change your name. 577 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,560 Your name no longer is Jacob, but it's Israel because you've 578 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:52,840 struggled with God and with humans and you have overcome. 579 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:58,720 Listen, struggle is something that Jacob has always done. 580 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,880 If you look at his life, struggle is the dominating 581 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:10,040 characteristic of Jacob. In Genesis 25 through 27, he 582 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,719 struggles with Esau. Genesis 27 is with his dad 583 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,320 Isaac. Genesis chapter 29 through 31 584 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,159 it's with his father-in-law. Genesis chapter 30, it's with 585 00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:27,080 his wives and now in verse 28 it's with God and God's like I'm 586 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,960 going to start changing your name is going to be changed now. 587 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:34,560 Now I love the word the the name Israel is so important. 588 00:34:35,639 --> 00:34:39,520 The name Israel is Sarah. If we look at the Hebrew, Sarah 589 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:44,320 means fight, struggle, or rule, and then L means God. 590 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:49,199 So the name Israel really means he who struggles with God, he 591 00:34:49,199 --> 00:34:54,080 who rules with God. However, in the Hebrew names, 592 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,440 the Hebrew language, God is not the verb, but he's the subject. 593 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:05,880 So really Israel means God rules not he who struggles, but God 594 00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:09,320 who rules over his people and God. 595 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,920 But look at this, think about, I think about Jacob. 596 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,840 Jacob's name went from heel catcher and deceiver to God's 597 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:19,680 fighter and he who struggles with God. 598 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,880 How does God bless Jacob? God blesses him because he goes 599 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,240 from Jacob to Israel. He goes from a heel catcher to 600 00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:32,040 one who struggles with God. He goes from a deceiver to the 601 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,760 people of God. He changes his name, but he also 602 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:39,280 changes his outlook in life. He changes his purpose in life 603 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,360 and he changes the directory of his life. 604 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:46,680 Jacob is actually going to be the birth place of the people of 605 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:49,600 God. Oh, and don't forget that Jacob 606 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:53,880 is going to have all these kids and one of those kids is going 607 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:59,160 to save Jacob's family because the seed of Christ is coming 608 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:04,520 from Israel. Jacob, there's a big situation. 609 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,360 There's a bigger meaning. This is bigger than 610 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:10,400 reconciliation with Esau. God has a massive plan here. 611 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,240 And then look what it says the next verse Jacob said, please 612 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:16,400 tell me your name and he replied, why do you ask me my 613 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,120 name? Then he blessed them there. 614 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:23,280 So Jacob called the place Pineal, saying it is because I 615 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,720 saw God face to face and yet my life was spared. 616 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:31,440 And then the sun rose above him as he placed Pineal, and he was 617 00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:41,000 limping because of his hip. Excuse me #3 point #3 is that as 618 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:45,040 Jacob is walking, as Jacob is going through this, there's two 619 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:49,760 memorials that Jacob takes with him, his name and his hip. 620 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,800 So Jacob gets a name change. He doesn't just get Israel put 621 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:59,440 on him, but also Jacob changes the name of the place. 622 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:01,520 And the name of the place is called Peniel. 623 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:06,800 And for centuries and four years later, this place will always be 624 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:12,080 known where Jacob struggled with God and lived to tell about it. 625 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:15,000 And God shows up to Jacob and everything is great. 626 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:17,760 But how do you know that you've struggled with God? 627 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:22,840 There's a little bit of a limp in your step. 628 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,040 Now. Why does God give Jacob a limp 629 00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:28,680 for the rest of his life? Because every step Jacob takes 630 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:33,720 is going to be a reminder of the day that God changed his life. 631 00:37:33,720 --> 00:37:36,880 Many of us in this room walk with a little bit of a limp. 632 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:40,760 But limps and scars are the same things because they both tell a 633 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,120 story. And when people see you limping, 634 00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:45,680 the first thing they ask is what what happened? 635 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,800 When people see your scars, the first thing they ask is what 636 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,680 happened. And for Jacob, the rest of his 637 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,720 life, whenever he's limping, he's going to tell the 638 00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:57,200 generations of his kids and his grandkids of the day that he 639 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,600 went to Pineal and the day that he that God changed his life. 640 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:03,840 Which leads me to the last one, man. 641 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,840 What I love about this is that this shows God's mercy and 642 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:10,240 grace. And listen, because of God's 643 00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:13,040 mercy and grace, you don't have to end up in a casket. 644 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,200 Your casket now becomes a classroom. 645 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:18,520 You don't have to walk in life dead. 646 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,440 You don't have to. This is not the end for you. 647 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:24,760 God wants to change your life. God wants to heal you and 648 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,200 restore you. And many of us were like ashamed 649 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,640 of our past, but God's like, hold on a second. 650 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:32,440 That thing that you're ashamed of, it's not going to bury you. 651 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:36,520 I'm going to use it to teach other people how not to do that. 652 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,920 Your greatest misery is going to become your greatest ministry. 653 00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:44,200 That's the beauty of our God. And Jacob, for the rest of his, 654 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,760 he's going to walk with a limb. But for the rest of his life, 655 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,400 he's going to be able to tell the story of when he met God, to 656 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,680 tell about it and how God didn't just change his name, but he 657 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,440 changed his purpose and he changed his life and he changed 658 00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:58,960 his family. You have a choice, casket or 659 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:00,360 classroom. Which one do you want? 660 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,960 God is wrestling with some of you guys in here. 661 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,040 He wants something from your life, and it's not because he's 662 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:09,360 angry with you. God is not angry with you. 663 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:13,880 God loves you and He gives grace and mercy and He wants to heal 664 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:17,280 you and He wants to use you for something so much greater. 665 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,600 He wants you to have a better life and He wants you to thrive 666 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,200 and He wants you to know Christ because in Christ is real peace 667 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:28,440 and joy and understanding. Genesis chapter 46. 668 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:31,400 Jacob is at the end of his life. The famine has come. 669 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:36,360 Joseph is now second in Egypt. God had a plan for Joseph to get 670 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:40,000 his family out of the danger of the famine so that way the seed 671 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,400 of Christ could come through the line of Jacob and Isaac. 672 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,760 Genesis 46. Check this out. 673 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:53,600 This is crazy. Genesis 46 verses 123 and four. 674 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:57,720 So Israel set out with all that he was his, and when he reached 675 00:39:57,720 --> 00:40:02,560 for Sheba, he offered sacrifices to God of his father Isaac. 676 00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:07,520 And God spoke to Israel, who's Jacob in a vision when at night. 677 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,920 Sound familiar? And he said, Jacob, Jacob, here 678 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,560 I am. This time God does not tackle 679 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:16,560 him. This time God reassures him that 680 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:20,560 I'm with you, Jacob, here I am. Listen, I am God, the God of 681 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:23,800 your father. He said do not be afraid to go 682 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:27,680 down to Egypt for I will make you a great nation there. 683 00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:31,480 And the great nation is not a people thing, is not a property 684 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:35,040 thing, is not a wealth thing. It's a Jesus thing because the 685 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:37,080 line of Christ is coming through Jacob. 686 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:40,240 He's the great nation. He's the one that we're looking 687 00:40:40,240 --> 00:40:42,080 for. And then verse 4 and I will go 688 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:46,480 down to Egypt with you and I will surely bring you back when 689 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:57,840 again and Joseph's own. And then it says in Joseph's own 690 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:03,840 hand. We'll close your eyes, man. 691 00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:13,200 Many of us need to hear this. You've wrestled with God, you 692 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:16,080 have fallen, you're in your sinful nature and you're seeking 693 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,080 things from the Lord, not because of him, but because you 694 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,800 want your own stuff. And God's like, I have a better 695 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:22,840 purpose for you and I can't, I can't let that happen. 696 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:24,680 So I'm going to wrestle these things out of your life. 697 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:27,200 And listen, for some of you, it's going to mean you hitting 698 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,600 rock bottom. It's going to be him, you 699 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,440 removing everything from your life, you losing it all. 700 00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:34,360 And listen, that's God's grace and love for you. 701 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,440 But like God tells Jacob, I'm going to bring you back. 702 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,240 I'm going to bring you back. And listen, I'm not just going 703 00:41:43,240 --> 00:41:45,200 to bring you back, but I'm going to bless you. 704 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:47,480 The blessing I have for your life is so great. 705 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,040 It's not because of the seed of Christ, but I'm going to bring 706 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,640 you back. And your own son, the one that 707 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:55,040 you thought you lost, is going to bury you. 708 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:59,440 You're going to be able to see your family grow and thrive and 709 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:00,560 strive. And you're going to be 710 00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:03,520 surrounded by the ones you love. It's going to be such an 711 00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,240 incredible end to your life. And listen, none of this 712 00:42:06,240 --> 00:42:11,320 happened unless he wrestled with God and he let God win and he 713 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,200 stood up and walked himself out of a limp. 714 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:19,840 And listen, God is going to bring you back. 715 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:22,840 Some of you guys are like, man, I have suffered too much, man, 716 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:26,280 I've done too many bad things. God is going to bring you back. 717 00:42:26,720 --> 00:42:30,800 God is going to bring you back. Let him surrender your life to 718 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:34,480 Him and let the Lord redeem you. Let God bring you back because 719 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:35,680 He has something so much greater. 720 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:38,200 You just have no idea yet, but He's going to bring it back to 721 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:38,320 you.