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We're talking about wrestling 
with God tonight. 

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Like I said earlier, Jesus 
wrestled with God in the garden 

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and prayer and the struggle was 
so great that he was literally 

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sweating blood. 
It's a scientific phenomenon. 

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It's been observed before under 
extreme stress, capillaries in 

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the skin can burst and blood 
comes out with the sweat. 

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And that's the degree of stress 
and strain and struggle that 

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Jesus was engaging in in the 
garden before he was ever 

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arrested. 
Knowing what was coming. 

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Knowing the pain he was about to
suffer, The physical pain, the 

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emotional and relational pain of
being betrayed and abandoned by 

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those whom he had known and 
loved. 

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And the spiritual pain of 
knowing that He was about to 

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bear not just the sin of all 
humanity, but God's wrath 

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against the sin of all humanity.
The cup that He spoke of when he

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said, let this cup be passed 
from me is a cup that is 

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referred to in multiple places 
in the Old Testament. 

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And it is the cup of God's wrath
that God had said He would make 

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His people drink to the dregs 
when He poured out his wrath 

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upon them. 
And that was the cup that His 

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Father was asking him to drink. 
And Jesus said, if this cup can 

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pass from me, Father, let it 
pass from me. 

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Your will not mine be done. 
Before we get into any more of 

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the wrestling, though, oh, I 
want to talk about this business

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of being faithful in a system 
stacked against you. 

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I, I, I think that it doesn't 
take too much looking at the 

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world around us to see that we 
live within systems that are 

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vast and powerful. 
Political systems, economic 

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systems, philosophical systems, 
educational systems, religious 

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systems that are far beyond our 
power to influence in any 

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meaningful way. 
I'm all for voting. 

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I vote often. 
But as good as it is to vote and

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is is the blessing that is that 
we live in a society where we 

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have a vote to cast in elections
for our leaders and for policies

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and and laws and those sorts of 
things. 

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As good as that is, a single 
vote in the United States in a 

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national election, even a single
vote in a statewide election is 

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not a lot of power, is not a lot
of power. 

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And, and, and every year almost 
50% of the people in the country

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have someone and gets elected 
that they didn't want elected. 

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Well, every four years for the 
president and different times 

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for other offices. 
But there's a lot of a lot of 

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things in this world that are 
simply beyond our control. 

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Economic forces, again, 
political forces, military 

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forces. 
There are things that happen 

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that we think, my goodness, I, 
this shouldn't be happening. 

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But what can we do about it? 
We see women and others rising 

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up for freedom in Iran. 
What can we do about it? 

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We heard of Christian brothers 
and sisters in various places in

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Africa being slaughtered simply 
because they're Christian. 

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And what can we do about it? 
We look at the world around us 

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and, and it, it's kind of goes 
in waves. 

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I'm in one of those points in, 
in, in the wave and in my life 

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where I'm meeting a lot of drug 
addicts. 

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Don't know why that happens, but
it goes in waves in my life that

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I find myself encountering and 
meeting a lot of folks that are 

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either recently given up or are 
actively engaged in, in, you 

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know, chemical abuse. 
And, and there's, there's so 

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little to do about the drug 
crisis in the United States, the

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human trafficking problems, you 
know, as as the Epstein files 

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continue to make the news and 
and they become political to a 

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political tool for one side to 
beat up the other side with we 

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should not forget that the 
children were abused for profit 

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and pleasure. 
And what can we do about it? 

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What can we do about it? 
There are so many 

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extraordinarily difficult and 
challenging things in this world

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and and sometimes the best we 
can do is just tread water. 

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How do we stay faithful in those
kinds of systems? 

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How do we live faithfully in a 
world where you can't buy a 

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phone or a wireless electric 
drill or tool or a laptop 

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without participating in the 
slave trade? 

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Because that's where some of the
stuff comes that go to make the 

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batteries, particularly the 
cobalt, 70% of it comes from the

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Congo. 
Good portion of that is mined by

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slaves. 
What do we do? 

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How do we live by faith when the
clothes that we buy. 

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Thank you Walmart and Timu. 
When the clothes that we buy are

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almost all at some level of the 
manufacturing process made by 

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folks that are slaves or in near
slave labor conditions and these

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systems that are overwhelmingly 
large and powerful and beyond 

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us, how do we live by faith in 
those? 

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I've been reminded again here 
recently of, of the words and 

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writings of a, of a gentleman 
that I've, I have not ever met 

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face to face. 
I, I actually got a chance to 

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interview him on a back during 
COVID. 

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I was doing a sort of podcasty 
thing and I interviewed him on 

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that. 
His name's Emmanuel Katangale. 

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He's a a native ethnically, a 
native of Uganda. 

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His parents fled Uganda before 
the genocide and he was raised 

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most of his life in a 
neighboring country in Africa. 

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And now he's a professor in the 
United States, was a professor 

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at at the seminary at Duke, 
which is a United Methodist 

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seminary. 
But I think he's moved to a 

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different university since then.
And and so having grown up in 

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the shadow of the genocide of 
Uganda and the horrors of that, 

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those particular political and 
religious systems that led to 

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that awful destruction that so 
few could do anything about, he 

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had these things to say. 
He said, as we're well before I 

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read the quote, he said as as 
we're trying to be faithful in 

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these systems, as we're trying 
to live out the values and and 

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the principles of the Kingdom of
God, as we're trying to follow 

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Jesus. 
What is essential is that we do 

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these things according to God's 
ways, not according to the 

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world's ways that we really 
cannot do the work of the 

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Kingdom of God using the world's
tools. 

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We need to use God's tools and 
Kitangale, he pushes against the

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stream of of every major church 
growth, church leader, large 

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church pastor, all of the folks 
that that that have the the 

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large growing, thriving 
churches. 

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He pushes directly against what 
they teach and what they say, 

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which is strategic planning, 
strategic planning, strategic 

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planning. 
And Katangale says strategic 

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planning is for the powerful. 
Strategic planning is for for 

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boards to gather or politicians 
to gather or, or economic 

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leaders to gather. 
And they sit down and they set 

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clear achievable goals. 
They might be ambitious goals, 

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but they're achievable goals. 
And they do all of their 

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research and they do all of 
their planning so that they can 

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have as few variables as 
possible and, and as few things 

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happen that are not predicted 
and not predictable. 

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And that's how strategy works. 
It's from position of power, 

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when you can, when you can 
control the variables or have at

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least a larger degree of control
of the variables, where you can 

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predict, where you can plan and 
you can, you know, get results 

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that you plan and predict. 
Strategy is the posture of the 

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powerful, says Katangale. 
It sets goals and commits to 

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measurable outcomes. 
It is not comfortable with 

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uncertainties but always 
accounts for them as a 

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predictable variable. 
Strategy is always realistic, 

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even when it's ambitious. 
It lays out a step by step 

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process for moving with 
predictable results from where 

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we are to where we want to be. 
On the other hand, he says 

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tactics are the tools of the 
week. 

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They are the wisdom of the week 
about how to survive in a world 

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they do not own. 
I love that phrase. 

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How to survive in a world they 
do not own. 

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Tactics assume that the system 
we live under cannot be reformed

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or reorganized. 
It's an in its entirety. 

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Instead, the tactics plot to 
subvert the reigning system of 

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those at those places where it 
is weak. 

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Tactics are worked out on the 
fly and passed on in the jungle 

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under the cover of night. 
Like strategy, they are 

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realistic, but tactics do not 
pretend to know for certain what

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will happen in the future. 
Tactics depend on the art of 

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improvisation. 
When situations change, tactics 

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change with them. 
So over the course of Lent, as 

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we're talking about being 
faithful in a system stacked 

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against you, we're going to be 
looking at tactics. 

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Tactics for being faithful in 
worlds and in systems that are 

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designed not to help us be 
faithful to God, that are in a 

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very real sense designed to help
us not be faithful to God, to 

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discourage that. 
And that's the kind of systems 

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we live in. 
We, we live in that kind of 

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system. 
And, and when we decide that we 

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want to be faithful, when we 
want to give generously, when we

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want to care for others, we want
to love sacrificially, when we 

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want to make faith a priority, 
it, it, it's, it's then when we 

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make those decisions that we 
discover just how much of the 

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inertia of the world around us 
pushes US against that and 

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pushes against us as we try to 
do that, Whether it's, hey, 

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don't give too much, you need to
save and prepare for your 

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future. 
Hey, hey, we know faith is a 

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priority, but you've got this 
thing to do at work and that 

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thing to do at school and that 
thing to do with sports and this

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thing to do with clubs and these
things to do with this. 

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And, and all of these forces and
factors come and push and push 

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and push. 
And we want to reach out to the 

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person who is alone and, and not
accept it and not welcome, But 

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we know when we reach out to 
them that the folks that are 

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going to reject them might end 
up rejecting us. 

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And, and all of these things are
happening around us and it's, it

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can be a grind. 
It can be just to survive as 

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housing prices go up and rental 
prices go up and cost of living 

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goes up and all of that is 
increasing at a higher rate than

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salaries and wages are 
increasing. 

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And, and, and kids in their 20s 
and 30s today going, I don't 

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know if I can ever own a home. 
Even with both of us working in 

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the family, These systems are a 
challenge to be faithful in, but

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that's what we're called to do. 
That's what we are not called to

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follow Jesus and be faithful to 
Jesus when it's easy and 

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convenient, but all the time, 
all of the time. 

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So the tactic we're talking 
about tonight then is wrestling 

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with God, wrestling with God. 
The first thing in being 

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faithful is is to is to commit 
to being willing to wrestle with

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God. 
You see, wrestling with God is 

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not a sin. 
Jacob is not condemned for 

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wrestling with God. 
Jesus certainly was not 

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condemned for wrestling with 
God. 

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They both did. 
Jacob who was told by God time 

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to go back home and Jacob 
knowing that is it was far as he

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know his brother still wants to 
kill him. 

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He's not heard any news from 
home to suggest anything else. 

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And he is about to cross back, 
cross the river back into 

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Canaan, go back to his his where
his brother's been living and, 

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and, and he has sent word ahead 
to his brother. 

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He sent servants out to tell his
brother, hey, I'm coming and I'm

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bringing my family with me. 
And the servants come back and 

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report, hey, your brother Esau 
is coming and he's bringing 400 

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men with him. 
And the last thing Jacob heard 

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from Esau was I will kill you. 
But God told him, go back home. 

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And so Jacob sends everything he
owns and all of his family 

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across the river ahead of him. 
He's alone by himself, and he's 

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wrestling with God. 
There's a lot of different takes

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on this from Jewish and and 
Christian scholars and 

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theologians and writers. 
Some see this as the the Jacob 

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had a literal wrestling match 
with a physical person that was 

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either an Angel sent by God or 
some people will say a, a Jesus 

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himself taking bodily form 
before being born as as the 

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Savior hundreds of years later. 
Others say that it's a spiritual

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wrestling match, that there 
wasn't a real physical 

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encounter, but it was a 
spiritual encounter, a vision of

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wrestling with God that Jacob 
has. 

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It's we don't know for sure, but
we know he was wrestling. 

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We know that God was calling him
to do something and to go 

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somewhere and to be someone that
he didn't want to go, he didn't 

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want to be. 
He didn't. 

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He was afraid. 
He was afraid for himself. 

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He was afraid for his family. 
He was afraid for his future. 

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And worse yet, he knew that he 
was afraid because he'd screwed 

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up. 
This was all his fault. 

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He's the one that conned his 
brother out of his birthright. 

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He's the one that stole his 
blessing from his father away 

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from his brother. 
It wasn't an accident. 

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It was 100% deliberate, 100% 
intentional. 

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And after 20 years of being lied
to and deceived and manipulated 

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by someone else, Jacob I think 
was going OK. 

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Or maybe I get why he's also 
mad. 

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I understand. 
But he's been told by God to go 

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back and he's afraid of what 
will happen to him and what will

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happen to his family, and so 
he's wrestling with God about 

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this decision. 
And he refuses to let go when 

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he's wrestling with God. 
Before we get to that though, 

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it's wrestling with God. 
It we and I, the one of the 

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things I preach and teach so 
much and I've I've heard it a 

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lot and I firmly believe in it, 
is surrendering to God that 

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Jesus's prayer, thy will not 
mine be done. 

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Is is so important that that I 
forget how important it is to 

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wrestle with God. 
This is a part of our 

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relationship with God too. 
It's not only not sin to wrestle

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with God, it's part of the way 
God forms us and shapes us as we

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push back against God. 
God forms and shapes us into the

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people that God wants us to be, 
the people we would not become 

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if we didn't wrestle with God. 
Think about literal wrestling 

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in, in, in, in, in high school 
or at other levels. 

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College, Olympics, maybe WWE, 
who knows? 

246
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:11,040
You know you get better by doing
it, right? 

247
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You can't learn to wrestle by 
reading a book. 

248
00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,040
You can't learn to wrestle by 
watching a video. 

249
00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:20,840
You might be able to learn some 
of the basic maneuvers and 

250
00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:23,880
stances and those kinds of 
things, but you'll never be good

251
00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,280
at it until you do it. 
And it's the act of doing it 

252
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that allows you to become better
at it. 

253
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You gain strength, you gain 
understanding, you gain muscle 

254
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:37,640
memory, you gain confidence, you
gain hope, you gain skills, You 

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00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:44,440
gain tactics by wrestling. 
You get shaped and formed into a

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00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:50,200
wrestler, and this is part of 
how God shapes us as we struggle

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and wrestle with God. 
And, and in that struggling and 

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00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,280
in that wrestling, Jacob refused
to let go. 

259
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,640
He refused to submit. 
He refused to tap out. 

260
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:07,400
Even after God, the Angel, 
whoever was you who had knocked 

261
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:11,079
his hip out of socket, Jacob 
still refused to tap out. 

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He refused to yield. 
I don't know if anyone's been 

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00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,920
watching the Night of the Seven 
Kingdoms. 

264
00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,920
It's not a kid friendly show, 
but it's, you know, there's 

265
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:27,160
there's there's combat in there 
in an arena trial by combat. 

266
00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,360
And I'm not going to spoil if 
you're watching, I won't spoil 

267
00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:31,760
anything. 
In the lattice episode, the hero

268
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,440
and the villain, we're fighting 
each other and and one of them 

269
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,600
forced the other into a position
where they either needed to 

270
00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:43,000
yield or they would be killed. 
I won't tell you who it was. 

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00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:44,280
You'll have to find that out 
yourself. 

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00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:52,560
Jacob refused to yield. 
He refused to surrender even 

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00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:56,600
after God knocked his hip out of
joint, even after God wounded 

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00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:01,200
him in that struggle, Jacob 
refused to yield. 

275
00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:09,440
That seems strange as an act of 
faith if faith is just 

276
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:11,800
surrendering to God. 
But faith isn't just 

277
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,680
surrendering to God. 
Part of the process of 

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surrendering to God is 
struggling. 

279
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,960
Ultimately, Jacob did what God 
wanted him to do. 

280
00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:23,080
He went back home and he faced 
his brother. 

281
00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:24,560
And we'll look at that on 
Sunday. 

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00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,840
But the struggle is part of it. 
It's part of the faith. 

283
00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:31,680
Faithlessness would have been 
walking away. 

284
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:35,080
Faithlessness would have been 
like Jonah, You want me to go 

285
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,000
there? 
I'm going to go there instead. 

286
00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:44,480
The willingness to struggle with
God and wrestle with God is part

287
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,080
of faith. 
Richard Foster is is another 

288
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,680
wonderful writer and he's 
written a lot of books about 

289
00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,120
spirituality and spiritual 
growth and spiritual 

290
00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:54,480
disciplines. 
And in one of those, and I can't

291
00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:57,880
remember which one, he talked 
about gathering in prayer some 

292
00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:01,680
folks from church and there was 
a a child that was sick, that 

293
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,920
was very sick, bordering on 
death. 

294
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,800
And, and Foster got there and 
they were getting ready to pray 

295
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,800
and there were other people that
were already praying. 

296
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,880
Well, God, you know, and you 
know, we would like him to be 

297
00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:21,520
healed, but your will be done. 
And Foster said to that group of

298
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:29,200
people, no, no, we will pray for
God to heal this child. 

299
00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,960
Foster, I refuse to believe it's
God's will for this child to 

300
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,400
die. 
We will pray for this child's 

301
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,240
healing. 
We will pray for the parents, 

302
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,080
we'll pray for the doctors, 
we'll pray for the nurses, and 

303
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:49,200
we will insist that God heal. 
Foster was willing to wrestle 

304
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,760
with God in prayer on that 
occasion. 

305
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,720
The child was healed. 
It doesn't always turn out that 

306
00:19:55,720 --> 00:20:02,160
way, but there are people in 
situations in our life. 

307
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:08,720
Where where we need to grab hold
of God's coattails and say I'm 

308
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:14,880
not letting go, God, until you 
make this right, I'm not letting

309
00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,040
go. 
I love this person. 

310
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,440
I love those folks. 
I love this community, I love 

311
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:24,160
this country. 
I'm not going to stop praying 

312
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,240
for these people. 
I'm not going to give up on 

313
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,520
them. 
My grandmother was like that for

314
00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,680
my uncle. 
Both of them are past now and I 

315
00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:37,440
can talk about him, but one of 
my uncles had again, drugs and 

316
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,440
alcohol. 
You know, he, he got enough Duis

317
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,120
that he was eventually sent to 
prison, not jail, but prison for

318
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:47,400
DUI. 
And he was sent to, I can't 

319
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:49,800
remember which one it was, but 
you might know the name of it. 

320
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,280
It's the, it's the prison in 
West Virginia you don't want to 

321
00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:57,040
get sent to. 
And, and that's where he was 

322
00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:02,160
sent. 
By this point, his mother, my 

323
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,800
grandmother had passed. 
She had died and she prayed for 

324
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,880
my uncle every day, even after 
he would lie to her, even after 

325
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,800
he had cheated her, even after 
he tried to steal from her, even

326
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:15,760
after he done all of these awful
things. 

327
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,800
She prayed for him and prayed 
for him and prayed for him and 

328
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:21,520
prayed for him and refused to 
stop praying for him. 

329
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:25,240
And she died with him still an 
active addict. 

330
00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:30,160
But it first night in prison, 
another inmate got in his face 

331
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:31,800
and said you're going to be dead
by morning. 

332
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:37,120
My uncle stayed up all night 
praying and he never took a 

333
00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:40,880
drink again. 
Fear can help sometimes too. 

334
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,280
I'm all wouldn't give up on him.
She wouldn't surrender. 

335
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:57,960
She wouldn't let go. 
She kept hold of God and it hurt

336
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,560
her. 
It's painful. 

337
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:03,920
And that's what happened to 
Jacob. 

338
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:09,240
God wounded. 
Jacob, God wounded. 

339
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:12,600
When we hold on to God like 
that, when we wrestle with God 

340
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:14,760
and say God, I am not giving up 
on this. 

341
00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:17,480
I am not giving up on this 
person. 

342
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:19,920
I am not giving up on this 
situation. 

343
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,400
When we hold on to God like 
that, it's like grabbing a tiger

344
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,320
by a tail or the bull by the 
horns. 

345
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,400
We will get hurt. 
We will get hurt, but that's 

346
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:34,160
part of the struggle and that's 
part of life too. 

347
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,640
And that's part of faith too. 
And I heard an old preacher once

348
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:42,320
say years ago, Jacob walked 
differently after he met God. 

349
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,760
And he did. 
He walked with a limp the rest 

350
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:52,040
of his life from that wound in 
his hip given to him by God as 

351
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:58,160
he wrestled with him there. 
And I think Jacob's a beautiful 

352
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:03,520
example of a strategy, a tactic 
when we're wrestling with God. 

353
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,920
God's blessing comes through 
your strengths and your 

354
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:12,560
weaknesses came through Jacob's 
strength. 

355
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,200
He refused to let go. 
It's very interesting. 

356
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,000
The Bible says that the man he 
was wrestling with couldn't 

357
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,400
overpower him. 
All commentators, Jewish and 

358
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,520
Christians, say this is 
hyperbole, that that God 

359
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,000
certainly could have overpowered
Jacob, but God willingly 

360
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:34,080
restrained himself. 
What it speaks to is Jacob's 

361
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:38,000
persistence. 
There was a strength in Jacob 

362
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:43,160
and that I will not submit even 
to God without a struggle. 

363
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:49,600
I won't do it. 
I'm holding on until God gives 

364
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:56,960
me this blessing that I need. 
And in that strength, Jacob 

365
00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:02,320
received that blessing, but it 
was also in his weakness and God

366
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,040
hid him in his strength to turn 
it into a weakness. 

367
00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:09,240
And, and, and that's, you know, 
that spot in the hip where we're

368
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,800
strong place in our body, our 
abdomen, our, our, our thighs, 

369
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,680
our upper legs, our quads, right
there in the middle of that 

370
00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,920
strength is where God hit Jacob,
where God wounded Jacob, where 

371
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:26,240
God weakened Jacob. 
And in his weakness he was 

372
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,440
blessed. 
It's our strengths and our 

373
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:33,800
weaknesses, not our strengths or
our weaknesses, but it's in our 

374
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,040
strengths and our weaknesses 
that God's blessing comes 

375
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:44,280
through. 
So as we're struggling with 

376
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,400
things in this life, in this 
world that are beyond our 

377
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,200
control, one of the one of the 
tactics we can have is wrestle 

378
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:54,440
with God with these things in 
prayer and do not submit, do not

379
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,360
yield, do not surrender, do not 
tap out. 

380
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,920
But there's another tactic we 
can have when wrestling with 

381
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:07,600
God. 
And that other tactic, well, I'm

382
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,400
going to skip that one. 
That other tactic is to yield 

383
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,800
because that's what Jesus did. 
Certainly Jesus is a good 

384
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,360
example to follow, right? 
All agree on that. 

385
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:29,520
And Jesus there in the garden 
saying, God, if there is any 

386
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,160
way, let this cup of your wrath 
pass from me. 

387
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,880
I do not want to drink this. 
God, I do not want to go through

388
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,640
this. 
I do not want to be publicly 

389
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,240
rejected, disgraced and 
humiliated. 

390
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:46,720
I do not want to feel the weight
of this sin in my soul. 

391
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:52,760
I do not want to experience your
rejection and your wrath. 

392
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,680
I do not want that. 
But Jesus tapped out. 

393
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:10,560
I surrender God Your will not 
mine be done what you want, God 

394
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:17,920
I will do. 
I wish there were an easy guide 

395
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:23,480
for when to tap out and when to 
not tap out, when to yield and 

396
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:28,080
when to hold on. 
But there is no easy or simple 

397
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,800
guide for that. 
There just isn't. 

398
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:37,600
We just have these two tactics 
presented to us both in the 

399
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,920
scripture of one person who 
refused to let go and was 

400
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,480
wounded in the process, and one 
who surrendered all and died in 

401
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,160
the process but got his life 
back again. 

402
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:56,000
And part of our walk as 
followers of Jesus is to kind of

403
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:58,200
have to figure that out as we 
go. 

404
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:06,320
It's the struggle, it's the 
journey, it's the process by 

405
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,080
which God is forming us, by 
which God is teaching us to 

406
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,520
depend upon Him. 
Whether we struggle, whether we 

407
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:16,960
hold on and refuse to let go, or
whether we tap out and yield to 

408
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:21,160
depend on God and put our hope 
and our faith and our trust in 

409
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:25,760
Him. 
This is the question that we 

410
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,480
have before us. 
To yield or not to yield? 

411
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,080
Father, if you're willing, take 
this cup from me, yet not my 

412
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,800
will, but yours be done. 
And being in anguish, he prayed 

413
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,160
more earnestly, and his sweat 
was like drops of blood falling 

414
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:44,960
to the ground. 
Sometimes in the struggle with 

415
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:50,400
forces beyond our control in 
this world, the best thing we 

416
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:56,800
could do is to yield. 
Yield to God and let happen what

417
00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,880
will happen. 
Sometimes the best thing to do 

418
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,920
is to refuse to submit. 
Refuse to yield. 

419
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:10,160
Hold on to God in prayer and say
God, I will go to my grave 

420
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:18,920
without surrendering this and 
God will show us. 

421
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,760
God will show us. 
Either way there's pain, either 

422
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:26,200
way there's suffering. 
Either way, there's wounding and

423
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:35,240
either way, God is faithful and 
our our task day in and day out 

424
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:40,120
is to sort out what can I hold 
on to in prayer? 

425
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,080
What do I need to surrender and 
let go of? 

426
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,320
And God will guide us through 
that whole thing, wrestling with

427
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:55,760
God, being faithful to God and a
system stacked against you and a

428
00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,800
system stacked against you. 
The first I think and most 

429
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:03,160
important thing we can do is to 
is to be willing to wrestle with

430
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:08,400
God as we pray our way and walk 
our way and work and worship our

431
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,000
way through these systems in 
life that we encounter, that we 

432
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,560
wrestle with God. 
And sometimes when we wrestle, 

433
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,680
we'll submit, sometimes we 
won't. 

434
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,200
But God will form us either way 
in Jesus name, Amen.