Voice of the Nazarene 12-28-25

Voice of the Nazarene 12-28-25

Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

I coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene a week by week. Venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray La Salle and the voice of the Nazarene.

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:18

Want to call your attention to Genesis 32 and verse 24 a character named Jacob left all alone, and there wrestled a man with him unto the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him, and he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince, Hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And my thought is this, simply as we're moving into a new year, I wonder what God wants to do in you and in me, a guy got up every morning and he would read the obituary column that will bless you. Some of you read the comics and all of that area, but most of us don't even have a newspaper. I quit taking it when it wasn't enough paper to light the fire. But he'd read the obituary column, and one day, to his surprise, that was his name that he had died the night before. So he checked his pulse and felt for a heartbeat, and he thought, I think I'm alive. So he got upset, and he dialed the local newspaper office and he said, You made a horrendous mistake. You put me down in the obituary column that I'm deceased and I'm very much alive, and I want you to make a retraction. And the Secretary responded, since 1947 ever since we existed. It's our policy to never make a retraction. We're not going to retract it. But the good news is we can put you in the birth column, and you can have a brand new start. And when I think of New Year's, I think it's a brand new start. Old year's over and New Year's begun, and we can begin again and New Year, although we cannot go back and actually make that brand new start, we can begin right now and make a brand new end. Somebody asked me here a while back, do you set up on the New Year's evening and watch the new year come in, not as a rule, but I have set up to watch the old year end. Have you ever had a year that you just wish would end? Things that happen and turmoil and difficulties and heartbreak and anguish. If you could just end it, you'd end it early. You wouldn't wait for December 31 just end it quickly. But New Year it says, I can begin again. Lamentations, 322, it is the Lord's mercy that we're not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new. Every morning, Great is thy faithfulness. And then second, Corinthians, 517, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away. And behold, all things are become new. Then revelation 21 five says God makes all things new. All things new. I'm convinced that a lot of people just hang on to their guilt. A lot of people just hang on to grudges. A lot of people just hang on to their grief. Don't grieve forever. It'll scar you, and of course, some folk will. They'll hang on to their glories, the few good things that have happened, and they'll just reminisce on them over and over. But I'm convinced that God wants us to move forward, because in Philippians, 315 brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but there's one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before me. Now let me tell you something. Kind of like driving a car. Right up on the windshield is a rear view mirror, and if you spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror, you're going to crash. There's a reason why the rear view mirror is small and the windshield is large. Don't spend your time in the past. Let it go. Let's move forward into a brand new future. We can reflect on the scars, or we can reach for the stars, and God doesn't want us to live in the past all the time. Now, I know we've all made mistakes. You haven't, of course, but me and whoever else have and we all have our regrets, but those are behind us. God's trying to tell us that we have a future. Now, there's a man in the Bible by the name of Jacob. I don't want to talk to you about him on this last Sunday of 2025 he wasn't a young man any longer. He's well past his middle age in life, he had blown a lot of things, and he had messed up, but God wanted to do something wonderful, a transformational change in him. Do you know that God's got a good plan for your life, just like he did Jacob, and that God has a purpose that He would like to fulfill in our lives, and God can transform us and do something wonderful in you, and he wants to. He's no respecter of persons. God loves us all equally. And I want you to see this man named Jacob, how God did something in him. And four things I want to I want you to see about Jacob that I saw over the close out of this last week. First of all, the crises. Let me explain who Jacob was, in case you've forgotten, basically, his character wasn't very good. He had deceived his brother, he had deceived his father, he had lied to his dad, and he had taken from his brother his brother's birthright, what rightfully belonged to Esau. He had outmaneuvered him. He was mama's boy. He and Mama kind of knew how to get their way behind the scenes. They just kind of pulled it off on the old boys, and he didn't have an outstanding character. But what happened? He had lied to his father, deceived his brother, and now 20 years has passed, he had run away from home and away from the brother that would have killed him, and he's about to have an encounter with his brother, Esau. And he knew Esau was a better man in battle than he was, and he thought he'll kill me, he'll maybe take the life of my wife, and he'll destroy my family. And he's at an all time low. He could have never been any more low than he was at this point. And you come to it there in verse 24 and Jacob was left alone. He's by himself. He's low. He's on his face. You know, many times God has to put us flat on our back so we'll look up. I had a man call me when I lived in Brownsburg, Indiana. He said, I'm at the Methodist Hospital. Well, I said, you need to look up. He said, I'm flat on my back. Where do you think I'm looking? Well? I said, look at more than just the ceiling. Look to God. And sometimes God has to deplete us of everything so that we realize that God is our source. No other person can be our source. No relationship can be our source. Our finances can't be our source. We have to depend on him. And there's three times when people change. Three times Maxwell's thoughts on this, we change when we heard enough that we have to You'll never change until you heard enough to where you have to the city slicker trying to talk to the old mountaineer and his hound dog just sat there and howled and howled and how finally said, What's wrong with your dog? He said he's probably sitting on a cocklebur well. He said, Why don't he move over? He said he probably finds it more convenient just to set now, and you're never going to change until you heard enough that you have to change. Some of us have children. So. You know what our problem is. We want our children when our children are hurting, and sometimes God is allowing things to happen in their life till he can bring them back. But we've got to outmaneuver God, and we jump in and we make things easy for them. The hardest thing you can do for your children is not to do anything and let God work out his plan, sometimes good preaching, and you deserve the best moving along while you're shouting happy. There's a second time that we change, and that's when we learn enough that we want to change, and a third time is to receive enough that you're able to change. Now. Verse 24 Jacob wrestled with a man as I preached this morning. I'm looking out across the audience, and no doubt there are people in here who are wrestling. You may be wrestling with your marriage, I don't know. The years closing out you may be so lost in your finances and struggling and you're trying to put it together how to keep from losing the home. Others may be struggling with your job. You don't know if you'll have a job next year. Some of you may be struggling with addiction, struggling with your health, struggling with the past, struggling with guilt, struggling with mental issues or grudges You can't let go of, or you won't let go of. And just as this man is wrestling, many of us can wrestle and struggle with life, but when God wants to change us, he brings us to a point of crisis. Sometimes a point of desperation brings us to a point of dependence and deliverance. And many times when God's going to bring change into our life, there has to be a crisis, and Jacob is left all alone, all alone. Now I've noticed in my own life, every time anything good has really happened, not that I liked. I'm just talking about for my good. There was a crisis, a crisis backed up against the wall. My abilities insufficient, couldn't work my way out if I tried. And isn't it amazing? The last thing we do, we think, well, maybe I ought to pray about it. Would have been a great idea to start it with. And so you're at wit's end, and the second step is commitment. In other words, I'm going to learn from this crisis, and then I'm going to make a commitment. Look at Verse 26 Jacob's wrestling with the Lord, and he says to him, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. He's committed to that. Do you know every name in the Old Testament has a meaning to it? Do you know the meaning of the word Jacob? The name Jacob means con artist, means liar, means deceiver. It means swindler. Now I believe a lot of people had given up on on Jacob. I know his Dad, did? I know Esau? Did? I know his father in law? Layman had but God never gave up on Jacob. I don't know if Jacob had given up on himself. I don't know, but God will never give up on you. He's got a plan for your life. And no matter what's happened, God doesn't give up. And when you reach that crisis moment, just make a commitment. You say, Well, Pastor, I don't know if I can make a commitment. I don't know if I could commit all next year. Well, then just commit for a month. Well, I don't know if I could commit to one month. Well, then commit for a week. That's longer than I have the will power to do. Well, then commit to a day. I don't know if I can do it for a double do it for a moment, but make a commitment and stay with your commitment. Bear Bryan, maybe you've heard of him. Was a great football coach. He was coaching for Alabama at the time, and then he or Texas A and M he would go to Alabama, and it was the last game, and they're winning, and they're playing against Arkansas, and they're winning six to zero. So Coach Bryant said to his quarterback, just run the clock out. Just waste time. Just hit your knee three times. Just work that clock. We're ahead. Don't take a chance. One touchdown and all, and we're going to be in trouble. And so the quarterback hit his knee twice, but he got brilliant and thought he would out coach, the coach. And on the third time, he saw a chance to pass, and he dropped back in the pocket and threw a pass, and a safety receiver caught it, turned the game around. And that quarterback, big old boy, he's big enough to eat hay and dumb enough to enjoy it, he knew he was in trouble, and he took off himself after that safety and literally outran the fastest man on the field and brought him down. They later interviewed, of course, they won the game. Later interviewed Coach Bryant, and they said. Bear said, Did it surprise you that your quarterback was able to catch the fastest man out there on the field? He said, No, why not? He said, well, that safety guy, he was running for a touchdown, but he said, my quarterback was running for his life. Do you know what a commitment is? It's literally running for your life in Galatians, 69 it's saying I'm not going to be weary in well doing. I'm going to reap if I faint not, I'm going to hang in there. And if God's going to do anything, we have to reach a crisis point, and then we reach for a commitment, but it takes a confession. Look at Genesis, 3227 and he said unto him, God did, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob, What is thy name? Can you imagine God asking us what our name is? He knows everything. He's omniscient. Why in the world would He say to Jacob, what is your name? Well, you know what his name meant, con artist, say it. Admit it. Admit You're nothing but a liar. I want to hear it from your lips. I want you to the Bible says, unless we confess our sins, then he's faithful, and just to forgive, most of us don't want to confess him, do we? We're kind of like the guy in the three piece business suit. And a rescue mission came, and he stood in front of a male Trotter who had started the mission, and he said, you wanted to kneel down and pray. He said, why? Well, he said, You need to confess your sins. He said, I can't think of any well. He said, kneel down and guess at it then. And he said, Of course, he guessed it right off the bat. And most of us know what where we're at and what our weaknesses are. And he said, I want you to acknowledge you're a swindler. Tell us who and what you are, and all you've been has been nothing but a liar to cheat. Let me ask you something. What if God asked you today? What are you? Who are you? Would you admit to it? Would some of us have to say a gossiper, because that's that church up the street. Well, would we have to say we're we've got this inferiority complex and we never amount to anything. We're always moaning and groaning and whining and dining what would we say? Would we say we're unfaithful or deceiving or greed or lust? What's your name? And God is saying we've got to confront something, or we can't get past it. You say, Well, Pastor, how can I get past it? Well, here's how you get past us. It's called grace. Ephesians, chapter two, verse eight and nine. For by grace, are you saved through faith? Grace is a verb. It's the power of God working in us to help us to overcome. Now here's something that most Christians don't realize, but in James, chapter four, verse six, he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. When we're proud and we resist Him, we don't get more grace. But when we humble down and admit our weaknesses and who we are and what we are, and say, Lord, I need your grace. God gives us the ability to overcome. That's why B and C is the most perfect place for people who aren't, because we're going to love people for who they are and where they are, but we know that God loves them enough he doesn't want them to remain where they are, and through the power and the grace of God, people can change, and God's going to do something in my life this year, then usually begins with a crisis, and When we're forced to admit that we have a need, we confront it and confess it. And then there's this thing of cooperation. The Bible said we're laborers together with God. Do you ever stop to think about that? We're in this together? We're laborers together. And look at verse 28 he said, Thy name shall be called No More, Jacob, but Israel, you're a prince now, not a swindler anymore. You're not going to be a cheat anymore. You're not going to be a liar. And isn't it amazing how God can change us and change our lives and our outlook? He said, I'm going to change your name to Israel. Rule. What did that mean? Prince with God. And Jacob called the place paniall for he said, I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Do you know something people will change when they have a face to face encounter with God? That's the need of the hour. Face to face encounter, and God can do an amazing thing in our lives. And the Bible said, as they wrestled, the thigh socket was thrown out a place on Jacob. When that battle was over, he was so out of joy. Did you know The thigh muscle is the most powerful muscle in the human body. There's a message, right there. You get it. There's a message. I mean, it's very simple. When you can no longer handle it. God can handle situations in our life that are bigger than us. And the Bible said that he limped. He limped off. I believe that he limped the rest of his life. I was reading in Hebrews this morning, chapter 11, verse 21 and it said he's blessing his offspring. And the Bible said that he leaned upon the top of his staff. So he must have had a limp the rest of his life and had a staff to lean on, because God's teaching them every time he limped. You're only an overcomer because of me, not because of your own strength, not because of your own abilities, not because your own ingenuity. You're leaning on me now, and I'll be your crutch. But there's a second thing that I thought about as I read this account and looked at it and analyzed it for a little while, if you'll study on into the life of Jacob. Every time he did wrong, he took off and he ran. He ran from home, he ran from Layman and always when he let me tell you something, you can't just keep running from your problems, you can't always take off. You've got to deal with things. You've got to face things you've got to confront, the areas of your life. She was 14, he was 15. They were kids, got married and never even finished high school. You know what marriage is. It starts out as ideal, becomes an ordeal, and sometimes later, they look for a new deal, and four years later, three kids, she carted the kids off to her mom and dad's house and left no note. She just left he comes home that evening and had to face an empty house, and he called her folks, and then said, the kids are over here. And said, where is he? He said, I don't know. And she didn't come back and didn't come back. And the months passed and the few times when there was any contact with the kids, he'd try to get on the phone and beg her to come home and get trial on the phone line would die. He took all the money that he had and went to a private detective and paid him to try to find her. Finally, the man came back and said, I've located. She's in Des Moines, Iowa, in one of those little two bit hotels on a bad side of that city. She's on the third floor. Here's her room number. And he got on a bus and made his way across the plains of Iowa into Des Moines, and finally found that street and stood there looking up at that third floor and looking at that room with that number on it, trying to rehearse all that he would say to her. He thought he had it all down, and he made his way up the steps, and by the time he got to her room, when the door opened, everything he had rehearsed was gone from his mind, and all he could do was just stand there and sob. And he reached out and began to hug her, and she began to weep and hug him, and finally whispered, would you come home? She said, I've been waiting for you to come. Two weeks later, he said to her, I begged you on the phone and you didn't just hang up. Why didn't you come? She said, those were just words, but when you came, I want you to know something. He came to me when I couldn't go to him, and I had enough sin problems in my life and other issues, and I couldn't get past the crises of my life. I'm glad he came to me. We had a wrestling match. It, but I'm glad God sent His only son into my life, into the LaSalle clan, into your lives, into your homes, out across Ohio. I'm glad he found us where we were. I'm glad he came. They put him to death, and on the third day, the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead, and the same spirit that raised him can help you to rise above your difficulties and your issues and your problems. You said, I can't get above my addiction. Oh, yes, you can. I can't overcome loss. Yes, you can. I can't overcome the thoughts of my mind and the pull of my eyes. Yes, you can. He has the power. I don't think I can make my marriage work. He can restore the love for your spouse that died on you a long time ago. Yes, he can. You know something we're about to close out an old year, and we're looking forward to a new year. I don't even want to wait for the new year. I'd like to see all of us walk into victory out of this old year, and we can do it this morning. Bow your heads with me, father. I don't know every need in the house. I only know this the last Sunday of the year, and I'm concerned for people. I don't know what crises they may be in at the moment, but there's a great confrontation going on here today. We sense the Holy Spirit. We'd like to change some lives. You'd like to help us to cooperate together with you. You can literally turn us around. You can give us a fresh start on an old year, to help us to walk into the future with victory. We're through with a rear view mirror in the past and its failures and our weaknesses. We'd like to come to grips with issues, and so just for a moment, you can change our name and put a new name down in the book of life. And I pray just for a few moments while we're closing out this service, would you talk to some hearts? I'm not sure Lord whom the message may be for, but I'm convinced that you're dealing with some that need to pray, not like for us to stand together with our heads bowed, our eyes closed, and the Holy Spirit just whispering to us. Aren't you glad that he is? Are you struggling? Are you wrestling with your issues? Well, God would like to change things in your life. And what I'd like to do as a pastor is just open the invitation for you to come to the Lord and allow him to bring the change into your heart and life that needs to happen. We're going to sing just a verse of whatever you found. And as we sing, would you like to step out and come and pray?

Unknown: 28:24

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor. Ray La Salle for more information regarding B and C visit you. Cyrus, nazarene.org, you.