WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:02.879 Welcome to our podcast. 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:09.119 We hope this powerful word from City Center Church transforms your mind and grows your relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:19.280 Be sure to check out our website at CityCenterCurch.com for all of our sermons, outreach events, and the opportunity to partner with us to advance the kingdom of God through your generosity. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.480 Thank you for joining us, and let's get into the word of today. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:29.679 So we're excited to welcome Pastor Bobby Antoya Gorley, the City Center Church, very soon. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:43.359 I had the honor of uh having a few conversations with him, getting to know his heart, seeing his love for all of you, hearing and sensing his love for all of you already, even though he hasn't met you yet. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:48.320 And most importantly, his love for the Lord and for the Capital C church. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:49.039 Amen. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:55.359 We're all looking forward to serving alongside him as we step into this next season together. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:00.399 And we'll have much more to celebrate when during this month when they actually officially arrive. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:05.840 But today is uh a significant day in the life of City Center Church. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:12.319 Um and while, yes, getting to meet our new lead pastor is a huge, huge win. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:23.200 Um I believe the ultimate win is that through every season, through every chapter that we've given through every change that we've been through, Jesus has remained the head of his church. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:23.920 Amen. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:29.040 The Holy Spirit has continued to lead this church, and the mission is still the same. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:32.319 We're still here to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.400 We're still here to grow disciples that reflect Jesus and transform the world. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:37.280 Amen. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:41.200 And maybe that's what makes moments like this so significant. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:47.680 Sometimes God will bring you to a place where you know you're moving forward. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:54.640 But before you can actually step into what's ahead, God wants to do something inside. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:04.799 Sometimes the biggest thing that God does in a new season isn't changing what's around you as you step into that new season. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:14.240 Sometimes what he's doing is it, and what's the important thing, it's about changing who you are inside of yourself as you walk into that new season. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:22.159 So today we're gonna look at a lot of the life of a man that God confronted and in one night changed his life. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:30.560 So we're gonna jump in and land right in this well-known moment of this well-known man's life and hear what the Lord wants to speak to us today. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.759 So turn your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 32. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.479 And we're gonna go through uh quite a bit of scripture today. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:45.599 So if you're taking notes, just jot some of those down because we're actually gonna uh take a journey through Genesis. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:54.400 Um we're gonna go through chapter 25, chapter 27, um, chapter 30, 31, 32, 33. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:57.919 Um so we're gonna be here for a while. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:58.400 Amen. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:02:59.919 Come on, I'm just kidding. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:01.840 We'll start in Genesis 32. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.360 Read the rest when you get home. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.080 Uh we'll start, we'll jump in in verse 22. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.240 Genesis 32, 22. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:19.439 It says, During the night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabak River with them. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:26.000 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:29.599 This left Jacob alone in the camp. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:34.960 And the man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:41.680 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob's hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:45.120 Then the man said, Let me go, for the dawn is breaking. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:50.240 But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.280 The man said, What is your name? 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:56.400 And Jacob replied, Jacob. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.800 The man says, You will no longer be Jacob. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:08.240 From now on, you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men, and you have won. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:14.560 In this moment in scripture, Jacob was actually scared of what was waiting for him on the other side of that river. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:23.920 And that night, while Jacob was alone, God didn't just deal with what was waiting in front of Jacob on the other side of that river. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:29.199 He that night he confronted what had been living inside of Jacob. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:32.319 And if we're honest, there's a little bit of Jacob in all of us. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:36.560 So today I want to preach from this thought, the Jacob in me. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.000 The Jacob in me. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:39.199 Father, I thank you for your word. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:41.040 I thank you for the season that we're in. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.000 I thank you for our new lead pastors, Lord. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:56.160 I thank you for what you've done in this season over these last few years in the hearts of everyone in this place as we prepare to walk into what you have ahead for us as a church. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:02.800 I ask you today, Lord, to speak to every heart according to your perfect will. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:09.199 That we receive not just information from word your word, Lord, but that we leave transformed by your word. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:10.639 In Jesus' name. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:11.519 Amen. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:12.720 Amen. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:19.680 Growing up in Los Angeles, California, LA, I was I was bad. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:21.680 I was bad. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:23.680 And it's just a rap. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:28.800 I think if you come from LA, people just think you're you're not you're you have a past. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.279 Um I don't really know why. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:32.160 I I was bad. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:34.319 I I had actually had a good upbringing. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.480 My parents weren't thieves or cons. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:42.639 I didn't, it wasn't like I inherited some kind of family business of criminal activity. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:51.759 But being transparent with you all, I've I've I've been arrested more uh more than once. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:55.120 I've been arrested more than twice. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.399 Okay, I've been arrested more than three times. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:02.319 I was on house arrest for a few times as well. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:08.399 I remember jumping in through my window one time because that thing was going off and I and I had I locked myself out. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:14.079 And if I didn't get in there and and and blow into that machine to prove that I was there, the cops were gonna come. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:16.639 I I I I've I've been through some stuff. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:22.000 I won't go into details as to why today, because I want to keep my job as the new lead pastor comes. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:26.800 If you're watching Pastor Bobby, forget all that I just said. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:34.879 I'll tell you that one of those occasions was uh actually a result was that I ended up on probation for 14 years. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.000 I was on probation for 14 years of my life. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:41.839 So, yes, just like many of you, I have a past. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:43.120 I have a past. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:50.560 And all that came to mind while I was beginning to write this sermon because I started trying to remember when when some of that started. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:52.319 Like what happened? 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:58.000 Like, what's the earliest memory that I have that that maybe caused me to take a turn? 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:13.519 And and in my mind, I went all the way back to as far as I remember, um, the first time that I did something that I wasn't supposed to do, and and that was in fifth grade, in fifth grade, and and and my teacher was was with Miss O'Donnell. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:19.120 And and my my dad had had just bought me a brand new Super Nintendo. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:24.319 And I was in the middle of binge playing The Legend of Zelda, a link to the past. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.839 If you don't know that, look it up, that'll change your life. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:40.000 So so as I was binge playing The Legend of Zelda, uh naturally, in my fifth grade mind, the reasonable solution to be able to keep playing this game, I had to stop going to school. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:47.279 So so after ditching class for for about a week, I eventually had to go back. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:52.079 And obviously, I needed to explain why I had been absent for so long. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:08:03.759 So I showed up to school after about a week with a note written by my dad excusing my absence. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:05.120 And I remember Mrs. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:12.800 O'Donnell looking at me and looking at the note and asking, Tommy, did did your dad write and sign this note? 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:18.800 I said, Well, of course, Miss O'Donnell, whatever do you mean? 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:21.120 Why would my dad not sign this note? 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:23.279 Who else would sign and write this note? 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.160 And she asked me again, and I gave her the same answer. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:30.160 And she looked at me for a moment and finally said, Okay, all right, and life went on. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:38.799 I had recess, I had lunch, I survived the day, I'm packing up everything to go home, thinking I've successfully navigated another day in the life of fifth grade. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:42.480 When suddenly I get called to the principal's office. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:46.559 I walk in and my dad is sitting in the office. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:53.360 And then Miss O'Donnell, Miss O'Donnell, if you're watching Miss O'Donnell, I have not forgotten this moment. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:57.200 She walks in with a note in her hand. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:00.240 And now she changes her question. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:04.799 She asked me in front of my dad and in front of the principal, she just straight up confronted me. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:07.759 She said, Tommy, did you write this note? 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:09.759 I think I blacked out. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.679 I don't remember what happened next. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:15.279 She probably handed the note to my dad. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:17.840 I'm sure my dad looked at me, just stared at me, confused. 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:21.440 He has this look, and I was gonna show a picture, but I decided not to. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:28.240 And I'm sitting there thinking, like, what kind of secret agent is Miss O'Donnell? 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:29.039 Like, how does she know? 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:34.720 I took the time, I even crumbled up the paper, I folded it the right way to make it look like this is real and legit. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:50.159 And then she she finally tells me, Tommy, if you're gonna pretend to be somebody else, if you're gonna sign somebody else's name and essentially take somebody else's identity, you should probably learn how to spell that name correctly. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:55.120 I misspelled my dad's name, his name is Thomas. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:58.720 You see, Thomas in the Bible is T-H-O-M-A-S. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:03.200 But my dad, for some reason, he's the one who misspelled his name because it doesn't include an H. 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:04.559 It's just Thomas. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:07.759 I misspelled my own dad's name. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:10.240 And I've learned something since fifth grade. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:18.720 When somebody who already knows the answer asks you a question, they're usually not looking for information. 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:21.919 What they're looking for is they're looking for honesty. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:26.799 And that brings us right back to what we just read in Genesis chapter 32, verse 27. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:32.480 This mysterious man looks at Jacob and asks him a question, what is your name? 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:35.840 See, God didn't need information about Jacob. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:45.519 And what makes that question even more interesting is that this wasn't even the first time Jacob had been asked about his identity. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:51.120 So before we continue from verse 27 and chapter 32, we've got to go back about 20 years. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:55.679 We've got to go back about 20 years to Genesis chapter 27. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:06.320 And to understand what happens in Genesis chapter 27, you need to actually know something more about Jacob and take us a little back even further to the day Jacob was born. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:08.240 You see, Jacob was a twin. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:09.919 Jacob was a twin. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:11.840 Esau came out first. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:20.399 But Genesis 25 says Jacob came out holding on to Esau's heel. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:27.440 His Hebrew name, Ya'akov, is connected in the story to the word for heel. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:29.120 Heel, Akev. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:39.759 So while Jacob doesn't uh literally mean liar or deceiver, as many people have preached before, what began as a picture at his birth became a pattern in his life. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.320 So Jacob was always trying to grab. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:55.919 He grabbed for Esau's heel, he grabbed for Esau's birthright as the first son, and later, when Rebecca's help, he grabbed for the blessing Isaac intended for to give to Esau. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:04.639 But there's something that we can easily miss if we begin Jacob's story with looking at his manipulation and his deceiving character and his deception. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:11.039 He spent his life grabbing for something, listen, that God had already decided to give him. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.720 God had already spoken over Jacob. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:22.960 Before Jacob and Esau were ever born, before Jacob's character as a deceiver emerged in Genesis chapter 25, verse 23. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:23.759 Look at this. 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:26.480 The Lord told her, Rebekah, she went to pray. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:28.320 She had gone through a difficult pregnancy. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:34.159 And he said, The sons in your womb will become two nations from the very beginning. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.559 The two nations will be rivals. 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:39.039 One nation will be stronger than the other. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:44.159 And here's the prophecy over Jacob, and your older son will serve your younger son. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:51.759 In other words, God had already declared that he was going to do something unexpected through Jacob, the younger son. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:53.200 What am I trying to say? 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:57.919 That Jacob didn't have to manipulate God into having a plan for his life. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:03.360 God already had a plan for Jacob's life, and God already had a perfect plan for your life. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.600 You don't need to spend it trying to grab stuff for yourself. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:12.080 Jacob, you see, didn't have to deceive his father to get God's attention. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.360 God had already spoken before Jacob could speak. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:21.840 He didn't have to grab his way into the purpose of God because God's purpose preceded Jacob's desire. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:30.159 And I wonder how many times we've exhausted ourselves trying to manufacture something that God told us to trust him with. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:38.480 We pray about it, God speaks to us, and then because we think he isn't moving quickly enough for us, we decide he needs our help. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:44.000 So we start trying to force doors open and manipulate all the outcomes. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:54.960 Sometimes the greatest evidence that I don't trust in God isn't that I've stopped believing in his promise, it's that I've started to try to accomplish his promise without him. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.039 Jacob believed in the blessing. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:02.879 His problem was that though he thought he had to grab it for himself. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:14.320 So by the time we get to Genesis 27, Isaac, Jacob's dad, he's old and can barely see it, and he's getting ready to give Esau, the older son, the blessing. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:17.360 He sends Esau out to hunt and prepare his favorite meal. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:21.600 But Rebecca, their mom, overhears the whole thing and comes up with a plan. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.399 She tells Jacob, go get me a couple of goats. 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:25.919 I'll make the food really fast. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:29.919 You take it to your dad, and you get the blessing before your older brother gets back. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:31.120 There's deceiving there. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.000 Jacob replies, look in Genesis 27, 11. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:37.840 He says, in essence, mom, Esau is hairy. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:40.399 But I am a man with smooth skin. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:44.240 What if father touches me and finds out that I'm deceiving him? 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:46.720 Instead of blessing me, he'd curse me. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.240 You see, Jacob's response, I want you to notice that because it's interesting. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.559 He doesn't say, Mom, we can't do that because that's wrong. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:57.919 He didn't say that's that's lying and deceiving. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:01.519 His concern was, what if I get caught? 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:08.559 There's a difference between being convicted and simply being afraid of the consequence. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:15.600 There's a big difference between being sorry for what you're doing and being scared somebody is gonna find out what you're doing. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:25.200 So Rebecca, she makes the food, she puts Esau's clothes on Jacob and covers his hands and neck with goatskin so he's hairy, like his brother. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:34.879 And think about this: Jacob walks into that room, dressed like somebody else, smelling like somebody else, trying to convince his father that he's somebody else. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:43.440 And Genesis 27, 18 says, He walks in, and Isaac his father asks him, Who are you, Esau or Jacob? 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:44.799 Because he couldn't see that well. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:51.120 And in verse 19, Jacob replied, It's Esau, your firstborn son. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.840 He doesn't just lie about what he did. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.799 Jacob straight up lied about who he is. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:58.879 He lied about his identity. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:03.120 Isaac, his father becomes suspicious, and something might be off. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:04.000 So let's keep reading. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:07.840 So after Jacob went out to hunt, his mom quickly prepared the meal. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:14.240 He returns in verse 20, he goes in and Isaac asks his father, How did you find it so quickly, my son? 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:16.720 So he knows something doesn't sound right. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.120 And Jacob takes the deception even further. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.159 He says, The Lord your God put it in my path. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:40.240 Now he's using God to validate the lie, and that should confront every single person in this place because there is a dangerous place that we can get to where we become so determined to have what we want that we start attaching God's name to things that God never told us to do. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:44.480 But we we can want the right thing and still pursue it the wrong way. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:53.600 We can even convince ourselves that that because the destination looks like something God promised, that He must approve whatever road we take to get there. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:58.399 We praise God and say, God opened the door, God, God worked it out, God made a way. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:04.319 Just because it worked, church, just because it worked out, doesn't mean that God told you to do it. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:09.119 Be careful of putting God's name on decisions that he never told you to make. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.400 Isaac still isn't convinced. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:17.759 In verse 21 and 22, he tells Jacob, Come closer, come closer so I can touch you. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.200 And I really want to know whether you really are Esau. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:22.400 So Jacob gets close. 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:30.640 Isaac feels the goatskins on his hands and says, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:35.519 He even asks him one more time in verse 24, Are you really my son Esau? 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:37.759 And Jacob answers, I am. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:45.759 So Isaac eats, he drinks, he smells Esau's clothing on Jacob, and then he gives Jacob the blessing. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:53.119 Jacob walks out of that room carrying the blessing, and then his brother Esau walks in right after. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:18:01.599 And when Esau discovers what happened, Genesis describes his response as an exceedingly great and bitter cry. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:10.640 His anger, Esau's anger eventually turns murderous, and he decides that after my father Isaac dies, I'm gonna kill my brother Jacob. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:21.279 So so Jacob, who grabbed what he wanted, what God had already promised him, by the way, now has to run from the consequences of how he grabbed it. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:23.680 So his mom tells Jacob he needs to leave. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.480 She sends him to stay with her brother Laban until Esau cools off. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:30.799 Jacob won't come home for 20 years. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:37.920 And there's an irony in those 20 years that is almost impossible to miss if you read those chapters. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:48.640 Jacob, the man who deceived his father, arrives in the household of Laban, and suddenly the deceiver, Jacob, discovers what it feels like to be deceived. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:50.079 Read it when you get home. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:56.640 Jacob works for seven years, believing he's gonna marry Laban's daughter, Rachel, the pretty one. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:06.799 And on the wedding night, Laban tricks him and instead gives him Leah, her sister, the daughter the Bible says, that had no sparkle in her eyes. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:09.279 Making this stuff up. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.400 It said, Leah had no sparkle in her eyes. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:13.839 JD said it last week. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:15.440 Leah was ugly. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.839 That was JD, that wasn't me. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:26.960 Jacob wakes up the next morning and realizes that somebody has done to him what he had spent years doing to other people. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:29.200 Laban had deceived him. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:33.119 So those 20 years in his life aren't easy. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.440 Laban changes Jacob's wages. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:41.519 There's constant tension between them, but but but through all of it, God takes care of Jacob. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:49.200 Jacob builds a family, becomes wealthy, and eventually in Genesis 31, verse 3, God tells him, Okay, it's time. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:52.480 Return to the land of your fathers and to your family. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:54.960 And he promises him, I will be with you. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.680 So after 20 years, Jacob is going home. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:01.839 He left with almost nothing and returns with a family and great wealth. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:08.000 Jacob hadn't always been faithful, but God will always remain faithful to what he says. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:09.920 Can I get an amen right there? 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.880 God's word never comes back void. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:14.880 He is always faithful to what he says. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:17.920 So Jacob begins his journey back home. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:20.880 And remember why Jacob left in the first place? 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:23.440 Because Esau wanted to kill him. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:27.680 Jacob has no idea what 20 years have done to his brother. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:31.119 He's wondering, probably, does he still want to kill me? 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:35.039 So Jacob, I love that he I love his strategy and his mind. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.519 He sends messengers ahead to let Esau know he's coming. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.960 Kind of get a feel for where his brother is after 20 years. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:44.400 And his messengers return. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:46.720 Look at Genesis 32, verse 6. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:58.160 After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, We met your brother Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you with an army of 400 men. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:00.400 400 men. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:01.599 Can you imagine? 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:02.720 400 men. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:13.119 The Bible doesn't say specifically that Esau is coming now to kill him, but Jacob is terrified because the last time he saw Esau, that's exactly what Esau wanted to do. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:16.799 So immediately Jacob starts doing what Jacob has always done. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:18.880 Look at 32 verse 7 and 8. 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.599 It says, Jacob was terrified at the news. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:27.119 So he divided his household along with the flocks and herds and camels into two groups. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:33.279 He thought if Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:35.359 Do you notice what he's doing? 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:41.759 He's already strategizing, he's thinking, he's preparing for the possible outcomes. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:43.759 Then all of a sudden, it's like he remembered. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:45.119 Oh, wait, I gotta pray. 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:46.000 I gotta pray. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:46.960 So he prays. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:53.119 Verse 9 through 12, there's a prayer that Jacob says, but but let's let's jump into that prayer right in verse 11. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:58.559 He's saying, Oh Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:21:59.759 I am afraid that he is. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.440 Coming to attack me along with my wives and children. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:04.880 So it's a prayer there. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:09.920 But then Jacob gets up from praying and starts strategizing again. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:13.440 He starts sending gifts ahead to Esau. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:26.240 He says five, he sends 550 animals divided into separate herds and sends them in waves, each servant instructed to tell Esau they were gifts from Jacob, who was following closely behind. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:29.359 That's that's strategic thinking at its finest. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:34.559 And Jacob actually tells us why he's doing this in Genesis 32, 20. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:45.119 He says, Jacob thought, I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me, so that when I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:47.200 There it is. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:48.559 Maybe I can appease him. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:50.559 Maybe when he sees me, he'll receive me. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:54.880 Jacob prayed, but he's still trying to manage the outcome. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:23:00.960 And I know that we can give Jacob a hard time for that and we can judge him for that, but we do the same thing. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:03.119 We say, God, I trust you. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:05.359 You told me to do this, God. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:07.279 God, I put this in your hands. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:15.039 Then we say, Amen, and we spend the next 38 hours trying to figure out how to control everything we just told God that we gave him. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:20.240 See, some of us aren't tired because the devil has been fighting against us. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:24.640 You're tired because you won't stop trying to control everything. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.799 We're trying to control how people respond to us. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:32.079 We're trying to control how people think about us. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:35.039 We're trying to control what's gonna happen next in our lives. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.960 We're trying to control God's timing, we're trying to manipulate the outcome. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:48.400 We pray about it, but we're still arranging everybody into camps and spending gifts, sending gifts ahead because there's a Jacob inside all of us. 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:54.640 Somewhere inside of us, we're thinking, God, I trust you, but just in case, let me help you out. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:59.359 Jacob's been doing this his entire life. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:07.119 He grabbed Esau's heel when he was born, he negotiated for his birthright, he deceived his father, he survived 20 years with Laban. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:10.000 Jacob knows how to work a situation. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.519 But then we get to Genesis 32, verse 22. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:22.480 It says, During the night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servants, wives, and his 11 sons and crossed the Jabak River with them. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:27.119 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.559 This left Jacob all alone in the camp. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:32.640 Jacob was alone. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.160 Everything I just said was my intro. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:44.319 It was the context that I had to give you to what I believe the Lord wants to speak to us today. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.960 You see, everybody he could send ahead is gone. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.720 Everything he could arrange has been arranged. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:25:03.440 The wives are across the river, the children, it said he took them across the river, he took the servants across the river, and then he sent his possessions across the river, and now Jacob is alone. 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:07.599 And I think some of us we fight that place. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:11.759 We try to stay busy all the time. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:24.880 We keep working, we keep planning, we keep strategizing because when everything gets quiet, there are things that we have to deal with on the inside of us, and we usually push those things off to the side. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:30.319 But this is an important part of the story to me in my mind, if not the most important part. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:33.680 It wasn't the wrestling part that's about to come up here next. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.440 It was Jacob deciding to stay behind alone. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.519 Did you notice that God didn't ask Jacob to stay behind? 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:44.720 He told him, Go, go back to the land. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:48.559 It seems like it was Jacob's decision to stay behind alone. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:52.960 This right here, this moment right here, is the beginning of breakthrough. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.200 Some of you are in that place right now. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:02.079 And maybe you need to stay on this side of the river while everything else goes on ahead of you. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:07.599 Maybe you need to spend some time alone with God. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:14.880 And let me tell you, there's some things that God wants to do on the inside of you that He can't do through another person. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:22.480 There are things a sermon can point to and it can point out, but it won't fix for you. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:26.160 There are things your spouse will tell you but can't fix for you. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:31.920 There are things your friends can listen to you, but they can't pray away for you. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:35.599 Your therapist can't lead you out of uh of what you're going through. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:39.039 Your pastor can't walk it through for you. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:44.240 There are places in your life where you have to get alone with God. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:49.119 We just celebrated that we have a new lead pastor coming. 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:59.119 Let me tell you, he he he is gonna be a great pastor to this congregation and a great leader to this organization, but even he cannot do it for you. 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:02.160 You have to spend time alone with God. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:11.119 Sometimes your plan has to stop working, sometimes you have to reach this place where there's nobody left to call and nothing left to manipulate. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:20.400 Sometimes God allows you to reach a breaking point in your life so that you can finally stay alone and finally say, Okay, God, it's just me and you. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:30.079 I've been there, I've been busy working, working in ministry, giving my entire life to this. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:34.559 And things haven't happened the way I thought he said they would. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:36.000 Since I was 17. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:39.359 Since I was 17, I gave my life to this. 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:40.559 I've been serving you. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.200 These are things that come out of my heart when I talk to God. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.559 Why am I still stuck in the same place? 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:50.480 When I was 17, I said I was gonna serve you. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:28:01.119 I know that you as a congregation see me, or the other pastors up here and think, wow, what a man of God, what a what a preacher, what a teacher, what a worship leader. 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:06.000 But but none of you can see the inside, but God can. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:09.119 Oh, I've been upset at God. 00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:15.200 I I've gone days not talking to Him for days, for weeks, and I'm planning and things are not working out. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:21.359 I'm trying to keep things from from falling, and that's when I get upset and I go off alone. 00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:32.240 Not too long ago, I got on my motorcycle at night and I'm driving off alone, and I'm shouting at the top of my lungs, saying, You don't even care. 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.240 I've dedicated my life to this, and you don't care. 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:43.359 You promised me, and you don't care, and that's when God begins to confront. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:49.200 He stayed quiet while I was shouting. 00:28:49.440 --> 00:29:00.480 I didn't hear his voice while while I was screaming at him, but after I got it off my chest, oh, he started bringing these stories from scripture to my mind. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:03.599 And I remember the blind man from Bethsaida. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:13.599 Oh, the man that that that that was blind, and the Bible says that Jesus came to heal him, but but Jesus didn't heal him where he was. 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:21.039 Instead, he grabbed his hand and walked with him outside of the city for who knows how long, for miles away. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:30.000 And maybe it wasn't that God couldn't heal him in that place, maybe he just didn't want to give him vision until his heart was right. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:41.759 So so I see God taking this man walking with him away from the city that he was in, this man that was blind and Jesus had the power to touch him and heal him instantly. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:46.160 But maybe, just maybe, God wanted to spend time with this man. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:50.880 God wanted to remind this man while he was still blind, like this is who I am. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:52.160 I want you to hear my voice. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:55.519 I don't care what you're seeing in front of you, I want you to know who I am. 00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:59.519 I want to remind you that I'm holding your hand even though you can't see what's ahead. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:01.279 I want to remind you of my voice. 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:04.960 I want your identity to be found in my identity. 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:06.720 So he walks this man away. 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:19.039 And what impacts me about that story is that that man was not blind born blind, he had vision because when God touched him, God asked, Jesus asked him, Can you see anything? 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:23.440 And he said, I see what looks like trees. 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:29.440 How could this man know what trees look like if he hadn't seen it before? 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:37.519 He had to be honest, he had to say, Lord, I still see, but but things are blurry, I can't see clearly yet. 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:39.039 And then God touched him again. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:42.960 It was the honesty that brought the healing in this man's life. 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:50.160 I think about stories like Saul of Tarsus, who was doing things according to his mind, God's way. 00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:58.079 He was he was fighting for God, he was persecuting the church, but he thought he was doing it for God in the name of God. 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:08.799 And then Saul, before he was Paul the Apostle, is going to persecute the church, going to kill the church in Damascus, and he has an encounter with Jesus. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.880 And what happened? 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:13.440 He was blinded for three days. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:21.680 I just felt the Holy Spirit telling me, Tommy, you need to stop looking at everything around you. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:28.000 If I need to blind you, so you can look on the inside, then that's what's gonna happen. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:46.079 And I see Saul for three days blind because God wanted him to look possibly on the inside and see his heart and begin to adjust his heart to be able to step into what the Lord fully had for him to be the apostle Paul. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:56.799 Sometimes God has to interrupt the way we've been seeing things before we were ready to see what he's actually doing in our lives, and that's that's where I've been. 00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:04.240 There's been moments where I wanted God to explain everything around me, and instead he started confronting something inside of me. 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:17.599 I wanted answers about what happened, I wanted answers about people, I wanted answers about doors that that didn't open and things that I thought he had spoken, but I hadn't seen, and God kept bringing me back to me. 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:22.319 He kept bringing me back to the Jacob that's in me. 00:32:23.359 --> 00:32:25.599 Now believe that's what's happening with Jacob. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:27.759 He's worried about Esau. 00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:32.480 400 men are coming, and Jacob thinks that's the problem. 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:38.720 He thinks the thing he needs God to fix is waiting for him tomorrow on the other side of that river. 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:46.079 But God loves Jacob too much to let him spend his whole life dealing with everybody else while never dealing with Jacob. 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:56.720 God loves you too much to let you keep ignoring the things around you that have let you define you, but God loves you too much to leave you without transforming you. 00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:00.079 But to do that, he has to be alone with you. 00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:06.240 And now we arrive to this famous scene in verse 24. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:17.200 It says, This left Jacob alone, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:19.039 I want you to notice something here. 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:21.279 Jacob didn't start this fight. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:26.319 The text doesn't say that Jacob found a man and grabbed him. 00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:29.920 It says a man came and wrestled with Jacob. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:34.319