WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.560 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.399 Well, good morning, Awakening Church. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:24.079 Great to be with you. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:25.600 My name's Ryan. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:28.800 We're absolutely thrilled that you would join us today. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:35.280 Alright, man, you guys really got into the whole uh greeting time. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:36.560 Well done. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:42.240 Um hey, well, here I just want to show you something that happened uh this week. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:45.840 Uh this happened on Friday. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:55.039 Yeah, now if you now if you don't know that person in the middle, that is Wardell Stephan Curry. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:58.159 The greatest, did you say oh? 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:06.239 Like the greatest point guard who has ever graced this planet. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:07.200 Absolutely. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:09.519 Amen by myself. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:14.239 Now let me give you the backstory uh of how this moment happened. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:23.519 Uh the two young men next to Wardell, Steph and Curry, on the left is my son Miles in the gold jersey, and on the right is Ryder. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:33.680 Miles friend Jacob um posted on his story that Steph was doing a promotional for his new sports energy drink, Plessy. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.920 This is not a commercial, but I heard it was good. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:39.519 Uh Plessy, and he's doing it in San Jose. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.280 He's gonna do an appearance at a Safeway and a Costco. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:44.560 Safeway is at 9 a.m. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:46.079 Costco is at 11 a.m. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:49.760 Uh his friend Jacob gets up at 4 a.m. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:52.640 to go to Safeway, to stand in line. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:57.439 You gotta get a Plessy, and then you get a picture with the great. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:02.480 Yeah, Miles' alarm, I think, didn't go off right right at the time he had hoped. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:09.599 Uh he and Jenny get to Safeway at 8, and the line has wrapped well around the building. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:10.479 It's massive. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:13.919 Jacob says, hey, not everybody's guaranteed to get a picture. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.759 You should probably go to Costco. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:23.439 Jenny, Miles, then eventually Ryder gets in line, and they're in waiting in line in Costco. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:26.240 And then that happened. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:33.199 I asked my boys, like, what was it like meeting Steph, you know? 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:37.120 And one of them said, he's majestic. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:43.759 And I probably would say the exact same thing. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:52.719 Now, what I I didn't expect, Jenny was telling me about the experience and people in Costco, as you can imagine, there's this buzz around, everybody's Steph's here, Steph's here, Steph's here, right? 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:53.759 There's this buzz. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:03:00.800 And the thing they were all talking about, Steph, he's so beautiful. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:02.400 I didn't expect it. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:03.120 I didn't know that. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.719 His eyes, dreamy green eyes. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:11.520 In fact, one of my voice said it's as if he was AI generated. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:15.840 That's how good-looking he was. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:22.400 Now, none of this moment would have happened if it wasn't for Jacob. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:33.120 Jacob, who posted, that's how Miles knew, and then gave him the inside intel to not wait in line at Safeway to go to Costco. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:43.520 And I do have to tell you the end of the story, unfortunately, for Jacob, he got to the front of the line and they shut it down. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:44.960 I know. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:46.879 So sad. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:52.560 And I'm so glad for our boys, but I'm so sad for you know Jacob. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:03.120 Not sad enough that I wouldn't show you this picture, but John Oberg writes this in the life you always wanted. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:10.639 We tend, we all tend to live in the direction of the voices we believe the most. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:12.960 Let me ask. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:17.120 Whose voice do you believe the most? 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:20.720 Maybe said another way. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:25.680 What's the loudest voice in your life? 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.560 I think for many of us, sometimes the loudest voice in our life may be shame. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:38.480 Loudest voice, so it can violate, might be this drive to be better, to do better. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:44.399 Or that you have to be perfect to be acceptable. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:48.319 Maybe the loudest voice is your damaged good. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:52.399 If people really knew you, they wouldn't like you. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:55.759 God couldn't love you. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:56.720 Why try? 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:58.160 Why show up? 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.959 It's the voice that keeps whispering. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:05.199 Never let your guard down. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:12.959 We all tend to live in the direction of the voices we believe the most. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:17.199 How do you break free from the voices that are holding you back? 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:25.199 The voices that are on repeat and directing the course of your life. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:28.319 We're in a series called The Dysfunctional Family of God. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:33.759 In it, we've been journeying through the very first book of the Bible called Genesis. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:38.560 It's the origins of God's redemptive story for all of humanity. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:44.480 And the thing about the Bible, and I love this, is that it's incredibly honest. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:53.040 The heroes of the faith are really messy, really broken and dysfunctional. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:06:08.800 And the invitation for us is to actually see God's redemptive thread, God at work in the midst of humanity's messiness and brokenness, which means God is at work in the midst of our messiness and brokenness. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:19.360 And at the same time, as we read, identify dysfunctional patterns, generational sins, that God wants to bring healing and wholeness for our lives. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:27.040 Today we come to the story, the life of Jacob, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:34.720 Jacob, God chose one family from all the nations, from that family would bless every other family and nation. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:38.079 The title today is Your Name Matters. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:39.920 Would you go ahead and say that to your neighbor? 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:41.519 Your name matters. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:46.720 Who's the voice that you believe the most? 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:49.360 How do you break free from the voices that are holding you back? 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:52.160 We pick up the story of Jacob in Genesis 25. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:58.639 His early life, we could rightly say, simply sum up in this sentence, living out his name. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:05.279 His parents, Isaac and Rebekah, they struggled with infertility, which actually is a theme throughout Genesis. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:14.160 That this promised family who would be a blessing to all families, yet every single generation struggled with the deep pain of infertility. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:23.120 Isaac prayed, God answered their prayers, and Rebecca gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:39.680 Now, Jacob was the secondborn, and I have twin older brothers, and you might think because they're twins, it doesn't matter the birth order, and I gotta tell you, one minute makes a big difference, and a lot of arguments in our home about who was oldest. 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:51.920 Now, Jacob was the secondborn, Esau was the firstborn, and the text tells us so Esau's born, and then Jacob is born, and he's grasping the hill of Jacob. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:58.639 Now, in the ancient day, they would name them after character qualities and traits and just who they are. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:05.759 So Esau came out, he was really hairy, ready, uh, or reddish looking, and so they named him Esau, which just means hairy. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:17.120 Uh, and then they named Jacob this way, and Jacob's grasping the hill of his brother on the way out, and so they named him, yeah, hill grabber. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:20.800 Like, aren't you glad we don't name kids that way anymore? 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:21.920 Hill grabber. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:36.159 But unfortunately, as well, hill grabber uh is an idiom which means deceiver, manipulator, trickster, and he was living out his name, deceiver. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:42.320 Now that he was raised in a divided home, and we get to see the dysfunctional family stuff here. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:45.840 Jacob really preferred and favored Esau. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:55.519 Esau was an outdoorsman, he was a hunter, uh, and you know, he Jacob really resonated, uh, or Isaac really resonated with Esau. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:59.440 Now, Jacob, they also say his skin was smooth. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:02.159 It just tells us that. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:02.879 I don't really know why. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:04.159 Do with that what you want. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:06.399 Um, but he was a homebody. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:16.879 He loved to be home, and Rebekah favored him, and we see the destructive force that favoritism plays in in a family. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:30.960 Well, Jacob's living out his name, and we first see it when Esau comes back from hunting and he is famished, and Jacob has a stew on the fire ready, and Esau goes, Give me some of that food. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:33.039 I'm about to die, I'm about to pass out. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:34.960 And Jacob says, Give me your birthright. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:41.279 Now, in the ancient day, the birthright was the eldest son got two-thirds of the inheritance, the younger son got a third. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:45.200 It's a big deal of all that your parents had. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:49.759 And he says, Give me your birthright and I'll give you some stew. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.120 And Esau's like, What good is my birthright if I'm dead? 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:54.720 Give me the stew, you can have it. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:57.679 So he manipulates Esau for the birthright. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:12.080 And then later, even though God had promised Rebekah that he was gonna use Jacob, Rebecca, she works together with uh Jacob to manipulate their father Isaac. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:22.559 And they devised this really elaborate plan to manipulate Isaac into give uh into giving Jacob the blessing. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.159 In fact, this is what Esau said of his brother. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:29.519 He said, Isn't he rightly named Jacob? 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.240 This is the second time he's taken advantage of me. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:36.080 He took my birthright, and now he's taking my blessing. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:43.519 Forced to flee for his life because now Esau is so angry he wants to kill him. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:54.159 The core theme for uh Jacob's early life Jacob hustles for blessing through deceit, living out the broken identity spoken over him. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:58.639 Now, for us, here's here's it here's where it matters. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:10:59.039 Come on. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:06.879 We pretend to live into the names spoken over us. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:09.600 Names are powerful. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:20.480 Now we again we don't name people today based on character traits or qualities or these sort of things, but people speak words into our lives. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:29.600 You maybe had a parent that spoke a word into your life, you maybe had a boss that said something, a coworker, a mentor, a coach, a friend. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.000 And those names are powerful. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:40.480 We tend to live into, we tend to live out the names that are spoken over us. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:46.960 We live out the name like you're nobody, you're worthless. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:53.200 We live out the name that you have to perform in such a way to be approved. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:01.840 Live out the name that you're only as good as your last performance. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:05.440 Live out the name, hey, nobody really likes you. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:10.159 It's interesting. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:17.120 Negativity is actually the negative names stick way more than the positive ones. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:21.039 Um scientifically, uh, is Dr. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:29.440 Rick Hansen writes this the brain is like velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:40.559 He notes that at least two regions of the brain, the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex, work harder when processing criticism and keep the brain from doing much else. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:51.759 Positive experiences have to be held in our awareness for more than 12 seconds in order for it to transfer from short-term to long-term memory. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:58.720 And it takes five to ten positive experiences to counteract one negative experience. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.919 Negative names are far more sticky than positive ones. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:07.519 That's why that one comment by that one person has stuck with you for so long. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:14.960 You know, there was a name as a kid for me that just kind of stuck with me. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:18.639 And it was it was lazy. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.759 I got called lazy a few times and it just stuck with me. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:39.279 And and like the most generous explanation is like, okay, there's some really good intent hearts of intention of like, hey, we see potential, but we really want you to grow, and and it actually just like made me not want to do anything of that, which made me look lazier. 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:46.559 Um but then I spent the next decade and a half trying to prove that I wasn't lazy. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:50.399 So I worked harder, worked harder, and you know what I did? 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:52.799 It's interesting, it seeps into our conversation. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:53.600 You can hear it. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:57.600 We can hear one another's names we're living out if we listen carefully, by the way. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:12.080 If we're talking, I'd always have to tell you how early I got up, how long I worked, how much I accomplished, so that you knew I wasn't that name. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:20.159 Let me ask you what names are shaping your life? 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:23.440 What is that name? 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:32.720 Maybe it's the name you've been running from, the name you've been trying to prove wrong, or the name you feel is inevitable of this is just who you are. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:37.360 And parents a word to us. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:42.399 Oh, let us be so wise with our words. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:54.639 Be so wise in the what we speak over our kids because we tend to live into the names spoken over us. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:59.039 Jacob's early life, he was simply living out his name. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:01.200 Then we see exile years. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.159 We would rightly call it the school of hard knocks. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:11.679 Esau seeks to kill Jacob, his mom devises yet another plan, sends Jacob to relatives in Haran to find a wife. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.639 This would be Jacob's exile years. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:17.840 Twenty years away from home. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:23.519 As Jacob's on the run, he stops to sleep, and the text tells us that he's just going. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:32.559 It got dark, he had no plans, didn't know where he's going to stay, and so he's in this remote place and he sleeps, he just goes to sleep. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.600 Now I know you're like, well, don't we all do that? 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:36.799 But not like this. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.200 He used a rock as a pillow. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.519 I'm like, come on, you that doesn't sound very comfortable. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.480 Even back then, I don't think that was very comfortable. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.000 You could come up with something else. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:54.159 But he uses a rock for a pillow, he sleeps, and God meets him in the wilderness. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.559 God meets him on the run. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:01.919 God meets him when in the middle of his active deception. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:13.440 It's where we get uh the stairway of heaven where God meets him and confirms and reconfirms his covenant both with Abraham, Isaac, and now him. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.919 And this is what Jacob says when he wakes up. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.960 He says, Surely the Lord was in this place, and I was not aware of it. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:25.840 We're gonna circle back to that in just a moment, but I want to continue on with Jacob's story. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:31.600 When he gets to Haran, he he falls head over heel in love with his uncle's daughter, Rachel. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:37.360 So uh Laban, his uncle, says, Work for me for seven years and you can marry Rachel. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:41.120 Now, the deceiver now becomes the deceived. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:57.200 Laban begins a series of deceit against uh Jacob here, and he deceives uh he deceives Jacob, and in the ancient day, and some cultures still today, the wedding uh lasted about a week. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:12.559 It was a big party, and then there was the wedding night in the midst of this week, and there was lots of celebration and probably lots of drinking, and you're like, there's a little bit of how the text breaks it out. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:14.400 It leaves us to go, okay, what all? 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:23.440 I don't know how this worked out, but Laban gives his older daughter Leah to Jacob that night to be his wife. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:27.519 It wasn't until the morning that he woke up that he realized he was with the wrong one. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:28.400 I don't know. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:29.920 You fill in the blanks. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:33.680 But he woke up and he realizes he got deceived. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:39.599 And Laban says, Hey, work another seven years and I'll give you Rachel as well. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:57.920 And what we step into here is he marries Rachel's, then there's rivalry and hurt and pain between the sisters, and they give uh Jacob their maidservants for having more sons, and then builds a large, dysfunctional family. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:05.680 And we see these exiled years is filled with struggles of family rivalry, jealousy, competition between the wise. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:09.680 And the core theme here is Jacob reaps what he sowed. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:17.119 Deception begets deception, and yet at the same time, God meets him in the wilderness with grace. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:21.200 I want to return to Jacob on the run and in his encounter with God. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:28.640 He says, This surely God was in this place, and I was not aware of it. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:34.880 Now, the ancient uh Celtic Christians had this concept of thin space. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:44.000 Thin space was this place where the boundary line between heaven and earth was especially thin. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:48.559 It was a place where you would encounter and have an encounter with God. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.359 It just felt like where heaven and earth met. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:19:07.200 And perhaps it could be a sacred place like a church or a cathedral, but more often it was like maybe it's the ocean or the mountains or the redwoods where you go and you just your heart, you're like, I just meet God there. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.960 Jacob's thin space. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.000 Jacob was on the run. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:21.440 Jacob was living in deception. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:32.400 Jacob was in the wilderness, and that was the thin place where the boundary line between heaven and earth met him. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:41.440 You see, there is no place where God's grace cannot break in. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:47.440 There is no place where God's grace cannot break in. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:51.119 And when some of us, we may be in the wilderness of broken dreams. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:55.759 We may be in the wilderness of disappointments. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.079 Maybe you're running from God. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:03.440 Maybe you're filled with doubt or anxiety or loneliness or failure. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.759 Maybe you're in the wilderness of past mistakes or disillusionment. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.799 There is no place where God's grace cannot break in. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:14.319 So let me ask you this. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.200 When do you feel far from God? 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:20.960 Not where. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:23.279 But when. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:25.440 Maybe you feel far from God right now. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:31.359 When do you feel far from God? 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:34.079 In that moment. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:43.680 See, the truth of the gospel is though you may feel far from God, God is not far from you. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:48.640 That moment. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:51.599 And those are the moments, right? 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.519 Those are the moments when we feel far from God, what do we do? 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:01.359 We think God is far from us, or we get farther from Him. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:04.640 For Jacob, you know what it was? 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:06.400 Thin space. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:09.279 Come on, some people. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:18.559 What if when you are far from God is actually the thin space God wants to meet you, his grace wants to break through? 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:20.640 What if instead of running? 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:22.319 What if instead of putting up walls? 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:28.960 What if instead of just somehow going, God doesn't want me, you recognize it is thin space moment, and his grace is waiting to break through? 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:36.000 The way the apostle Paul would say it is where sin abounds, grace superabounds, his grace is breaking through. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:40.480 And here's what Joseph said surely God was in this place, and what? 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:42.480 I wasn't aware of it. 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:48.319 Could it be that God is in that place and he's with you? 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:49.519 You're just not aware of it. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:54.640 What if thin space is just becoming more aware of what God is doing right where you're at? 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:02.960 Where do you feel? 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:04.559 Far from God. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:14.799 What if that's the very place where his grace is waiting to break through for you? 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:18.640 Early years, Jacob's living out his life. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:20.559 Exile years. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:29.839 Exile years, he begins to encounter God along the way, but he experienced the school of hard knocks. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:37.279 Well, after 20 years of living with Laban, he had worn out his welcome. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:44.640 He actually pulled an Irish goodbye, leaving secretly, which did not go over well at all. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:46.640 Laban catches up to him. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:50.319 It could have gone real poorly, but things work out. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:59.279 And we see the next phase of Jacob's life, the return home, which the pinnacle for him was wrestling with God. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:01.759 Twenty years had passed. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:03.839 He's returning home, still afraid of his brother. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.680 On his way home, he's figuring out a scheme as he's heading down. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:13.599 He's, you know, sending delegates ahead of him, trying to somehow, you know, appease Esau. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:21.440 He's, in fact, dividing up his family and property in such a way so that Esau, you know, takes out one, he won't take out his whole family. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:28.160 One night, after doing all this, he sends his wife and kids ahead of him and he's alone. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.640 And this is where we pick up the story. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:38.640 So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled him till daybreak. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:39.920 This is a strange story, by the way. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:40.799 Let's just call it out. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:43.440 He's alone, and then a man wrestled him. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:52.799 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:56.240 Then the man said, Let me go, for it is daybreak. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:02.000 But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:05.440 The man asked him, What is your name? 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:11.200 Now, we're gonna find out that this isn't just a man, this is the angel of the Lord, this is God. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.640 He was not asking Jacob, What is your name? 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:16.960 Because I have no idea what your name is. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.240 What does Jacob's name mean? 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:23.440 Hill grabber, deceiver. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:28.079 He's asking him, Who are you? 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:30.720 Who have you been? 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:35.680 What's the identity that you've been carrying and that you've been living out? 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:37.279 What is your name? 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:43.519 See, the truth is God cannot heal what we disguise and what we cover up. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:45.519 God can only heal the real you. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.039 What is your name? 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:51.599 Jacob. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:55.680 Deceiver, manipulator. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:58.640 That's what I've been doing since a kid. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:00.400 It's the identity I've been living out. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:04.240 It's my name, it's my identity, it's it's everything. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:11.200 And the man says, Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:17.519 Because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.279 Your name is no longer Jacob, it's no longer deceiver. 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:24.799 I'm giving you a brand new name. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:28.960 It's one who struggles, who's wrestled with God. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:37.359 We're gonna land on that in just a second, but I want to give you the rest of something that's really beautiful that happens in the text. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:49.519 What we find is after 20 years of vitriol, of hatred, 20 years where Jacob's returning, afraid for his life with his brother Esau, we see the impossible happen. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:53.119 Reconciliation between Esau and Jacob. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:26:04.720 By the way, there is probably a relationship that you have that you feel is irreconcilable, impossible, a family member, a friend, a coworker. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:10.640 When God is in the mix, reconciliation is always possible. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.839 Doesn't mean it's always going to happen. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:20.160 But we discount the work of God and we shut it out when we give, there's no option. 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:27.279 He returns to Bethel, God renews his commitment, God refers, reaffirms his covenant and promise in his new name. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.640 He becomes the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:40.960 Core theme here: God gives Jacob a new identity, no longer a deceiver, but one marked by grace, dependence, and covenants. 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:48.799 Last theme, season of Jacob's life, is wrestling with God. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:53.039 This moment changed the very trajectory of his life. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:55.119 Here's what I want us to see. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:59.359 When we wrestle with God, he gives us a new name. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:05.519 When we wrestle with God, we actually are given a new name. 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:08.559 God is in the business of giving us new names. 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:10.559 That's what he does. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:19.920 Now, fundamentally, when you put your faith in Christ, you are bestowed and given a brand new name and brand new identity. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:28.319 The problem is, is we constantly live out our old identity, our old name, even though we have a new family last name. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:35.839 Wrestling with God is how he removes our old identity and gives us a brand new name. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:36.960 I want you to see this. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:37.680 This is good. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:41.119 Jacob came out of the womb, he'll grab her, right? 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:42.880 Clinging. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:45.920 Getting his new name. 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:47.519 What was he doing? 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:49.599 He was clinging. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:56.079 Like the very thing that started off that was distorted, that was dysfunctional, that was broken. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.640 And God says, I'm gonna redeem that, I'm gonna renew that. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:02.400 And when you cling unto me, I'm gonna give you a brand new name. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:06.240 No longer heel grabber, but one who clings to God. 00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:08.240 One who holds on to God. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.599 See, when you are clinging unto God, you cannot cling on to your old identity. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:17.440 He's like, I'm just clinging unto you. 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:19.440 I'm holding on to you. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:21.440 I love Psalm 63, by the way. 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:24.400 It starts off in a dry and weary land where there's no water. 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:28.319 My soul, you quench my soul, my soul thirsts for you. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:32.720 But then it says this my soul clings to you. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:39.359 Because sometimes the only thing we can do is cling. 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:44.000 The only thing we know to do is, I don't know where to go. 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:44.799 I don't know what to do. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:45.759 I don't know anything more. 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:49.359 But God, I'm just gonna hold on to you. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:52.720 Wrestling with God, by the way, is not resisting God. 00:28:54.160 --> 00:28:55.599 See, that's where some of us are at. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:56.480 We're resisting God. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:57.440 We got stiffed arm. 00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:59.680 We're like, hey, I don't want anything to do with you. 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:01.359 I don't mess with my life. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:03.839 And we're we're we got arms stretched out like this. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:06.000 This is our God, and like, hey, I'm wrestling with God. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:07.920 No, you're not, you're resisting God. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:15.519 Wrestling with God is about engaging God with your whole self. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:22.480 Engaging God with your questions, your disappointment, your pain, your longing, your desperation. 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:31.119 It's refusing to let go until he speaks, until he blesses, until he gives you a new name. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:36.079 Let me ask you. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:42.559 Where do you need to wrestle with God? 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:50.000 Where do you need to wrestle with God? 00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:02.640 Maybe today simply the very beginning point is God's asking you, what is your name? 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:06.480 What is your identity? 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:13.200 Whose voice is loudest in your life that you have been living out? 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:17.279 And you just begin to name it. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:21.839 Man, my name has been addiction. 00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.319 My name has been despair. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:35.759 My name has been failure, but in Christ I am more than a conqueror. 00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:38.319 That is my new name, more than a conqueror. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:40.960 My name has been unworthy. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:46.079 I don't feel worthy, and in Christ I am worthy. 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:48.720 My name, I feel like damaged goods. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:52.400 I feel invaluable, but in Christ I am valuable. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:00.480 I am so valuable that God stepped into time, space, history for me, took on flesh, and went to the cross for me. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:06.160 How valuable are you for Him to come and die for you? 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:08.079 That's how valuable. 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:11.519 There is no one who is invaluable. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:15.359 What's the name you've been living out? 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:24.319 Where do you need to wrestle with God? 00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:31.920 I think some of us are wrestling with God because we came and we have this longing to have a personal relationship with God. 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:34.079 We long to know God. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:38.000 And yet there's this internal battle of the wills. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:44.000 Because we recognize to know God there is a surrendering to God, and I don't want to do that. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:48.240 And the Holy Spirit's actually speaking and drawing you right now. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:50.319 And so there's this like internal tug-of-war. 00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:51.839 Will you surrender to him? 00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:53.200 Will you go, God? 00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:58.240 I long to know you and long to have a relationship with you through your son Jesus. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:00.400 Would you come into my life and make me new? 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:06.960 And you're wrestling with God, and in this moment, would you wrestle and go, God, I'm gonna cling to you until I hear your voice. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:12.880 Some of us were wrestling, it's a surrender issue. 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:21.839 Maybe you've been so you've you you've wandered far from God. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:30.160 And you're like the Spirit of God's got drawing your voice, come back, come back, come back, come back. 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:30.799 And you're wrestling. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:32.480 Do I want to surrender? 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:36.000 God would today I want to return to you. 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:47.200 With God. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:50.079 Just gonna give us a moment. 00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:55.839 But you take time. 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:03.359 And with Jesus, would you identify the name that you are living out? 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:10.000 The voice that is loudest in your life. 00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:19.519 And in this moment, would you uh invite his voice to be louder than that? 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:23.839 To speak louder and loudly to you. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:38.000 The truth of who you are in him, that you would cling to that until it resonates of this is who you are. 00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:44.880 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:49.519 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:51.759 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:57.839 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.