Tragedy and Triumph: Week 3

Good morning, Welcome to Church at the Crossing. My name

is Andrew, and how many have you been watching the Olympics. Yeah,

I'm a fan of the Olympics. I especially enjoy the

Winter Olympics. And I learned something new this round that

there are some teams, even in Team USA, they have

alternate team members. Like I was watching the speed skating relay,

the men and women's relay, and there was one teammate

she just kept falling and there was something wrong with

her skate, and she kept falling down, and so the

coach just pulled her in the middle of the race

and put in a fresh alternate team member. Like I

didn't know you could do that. Even curling has an

alternate team member. There's four people that play on the ice,

but there's one or two backup reserve in case somebody

gets injured, in case somebody gets hurt. Well, today we're

doing something similar because this message today in this series

called Tragedy and Triumph. Today's message is supposed to be

delivered by our senior pastor James, but obviously I'm here.

James's home sick. In fact, he doesn't have a voice,

and so we spoke and he asked if I would

step in as an alternate, and so he studied this message.

He's prepared this specially. He did the research and I

know he's disappointed that he can't share it with you today.

He shared it on Thursday and it was just a

blessing to that group on Thursday. And so if you,

if you love this message, let James know. And if

you just if it wasn't hitting it for you, let

James know. I'm just the mouthpiece today. But seriously, we

believe in the power of God's word. Amen. When we

gather here, it's not because of a personality, it's because

of the power in the word of God. And I

believe that this message is meant for to day for

us right now. So let's pray and then we'll turn

our hearts to God's word. Father, God, we thank you

for your grace and your presence, and God, we pray

for Pastor James that you would bring healing to his body,

bringing back to us soon. In God, today we submit

ourselves to your word. We submit our attention, our thinking,

our hearts. Would you give us ears to hear and

hearts to understand what you have for us? And we

pray all of this in Jesus' name and men. On

the summer of nineteen twenty one, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was

at the top of the world at that time. He

was thirty nine years old, and he had been educated,

He was wealthy, he had good connections, and he was

kind of making his rise in American politics at that time.

You see, FDR, he was born into privilege in a wealthy,

successful family in New York. He was educated with elites,

and he really kind of spent his life walking through

doors that he didn't need to open, they were just

opened for him. And remember his uncle was former President

Theodore Roosevelt. So Franklin kind of had this pedigree of

success and confidence and ambition and independence really came naturally

to him. But in nineteen twenty one, while he was

on vacation, Roosevelt fell ill and violently ill, and within

days his legs weakened and he didn't have control and

function of his legs. Pain spread throughout his body, and

the doctors were trying to treat him until many days

later the diagnosis came. It was polio, and for the

rest of his life Franklin would suffer the debilitating and

disabling effects of polio in his nervous system and in

his legs. Almost overnight, everything changed for him. The future

president of the United States had to rely on other

people to help him, to support him, to lift him,

to even help him in and out of a wheelchair,

or to strap on those braces on his legs. You know,

something as simple as putting on his shoes required assistance.

You know, he once walked proudly into rooms, confident, and

now he depended on other people. And for years he

would try to regain the strengthen his legs therapy and

painful exercises, and in this process Franklin learned something that

he had never needed to learn before, and that is,

sometimes a person can't get back up on their feet

without some help. Sometimes we need help to get back up.

And this lesson that Franklin learned, it went deeper than

just his body and his legs. It went into his

heart and into his leadership style. You know, polio didn't

just humble him physically, It reshaped how he became a leader.

After polio, people near Franklin noticed a change, and biographers

have documented this that Franklin listened differently. He noticed weaknesses.

He had more compassion. He understood what it meant to

rely on on others, not just as theory, but like

in daily life. There's one biographer who said that polio

gave Franklin a heart. Another author says that it stripped

away his arrogance and it made him into the leader

that we now remember from history. So when that Great

Depression hit and the economy collapsed and Americans are without work,

Roosevelt he didn't view struggling Americans without a job as

lazy or bums or beggars. No, he saw them as

fellow Americans who needed a little help to get back

up on their feet. And so Roosevelt understood that sometimes

standing isn't about standing alone, it's about somebody helping you

stand back up after you fall down. And so what

he did in the Great Depression was he created the

New Deal. He believed that American citizens and the government

needed a new deal in order to move forward. You know,

the old deal is that the government would enforce the

laws and protect national interests. But there was no program

to help people who were struggling. There was no program

for those who were elderly and aging. Many of them

just died in poverty without care, and so Roosevelt the

side of that the government and the people needed a

new deal. And so here's what the deal was. Basically,

the government would help people create jobs, help with social security,

some aid in times of trouble, and in return, the

American people promised to work hard, to trust the government

with their money and not withdraw their money in panic

from the banks like what led to the Great Depression

in other economic crisis. The people trusted Franklin because of

his leadership. In fact, people loved him. Did you know

he was elected four times? This is before the constitutional

amendment limiting presidential terms to two. He was elected four times.

And then in America's greatest hour, those young men and

women who grew up in the Great Depression, who were

hardened and toughened in the Great DEPRESSI were deployed overseas

to fight in World War Two. The Greatest Generation, as

they're known, was shaped largely by Franklin Roosevelt, by a

man who had been humbled through pain and disease. See

Franklin's character shape the character of our country. He formed

the resilience that was needed in our nation to defeat

evil and turn the tide in World War two. I mean,

we have no idea what the world would be like

today if Franklin had not been humbled and changed by polio.

It made him the leader that he is remembered for.

You know, he was the same man, he was a

different person, a different leader. And now here's why I

mentioned that story from history. It's because this is a

pattern that we see in the Bible. We see this

pattern in the Bible where God uses something in someone's life,

a tragedy, a painful moment, to reshape and reform their

heart and their life. Because God he wants to use us,

and he wants to use us at our best ability,

and sometimes that require some change. God often allows weakness

to teach us humility, and humility opens the door to compassion, reconciliation,

and change. And that's why today we're gonna look at

one man named Jacob. Would you say, Jacob, We're gonna

learn from the life of Jacob today. What we see

in the life of Franklin Roosevelt is a pattern that

we also see in Jacob's life. Before God changes the

situation around us, he often changes what's within us so

he can use us and that's what we see in

Jacob's story. You'll find Jacob's story in Genesis, the first

book of the Bible. And when we first meet Jacob,

he's really not an easy person to like. Jacob is

very ambitious, he's very proud, he's very self reliant. He's

even a little bit manipulative. His name kind of tells

you all there is to know about his character. The

name Jacob, in some translations, means deceiver. In others, it

means heel grabber, literally someone who is tripping up others

to get ahead. And if you read his birth story,

Jacob has a twin brother named Esau, and when the

boys were born, Esau was delivered first from their mother's womb,

but Jacob emerged after Esau, holding on to Esau's heel,

trying to get ahead, trying to overcome his brother. And later,

when these boys are young men, Jacob takes advantage of Esau.

Esau comes back from a hunting trip and he's exhausted

and he's tired, and he's starving, and he's begging his

brother Jacob for some food, and Jacob sees an opportunity

to manipulate Esau, and he trades Esau a bowl of

stew for Esau's birthright to inherit property and inheritance from

their father. Later on, when their father is near death,

their father's eyes have grown dim he cannot see well,

and so Jacob deceives his father. He puts on goat's

hair on his arm to imitate his brother Esau, who

had really hairy arms. So then when he went to

see his father, who's blind, his father feels his arms,

he thinks it's Esau, and he blesses Jacob instead of Esau,

and he steals the blessing from his brother, lying to

his father when this happened, this is kind of the

last straw for Esau, Scripture says in Genesis twenty seven.

Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which

his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself,

the days of mourning for my father are approaching. Then

I will kill my brother Jacob. He doesn't beat around

the bush well. When Jacob learns that his brother is

going to kill him, his brother has a bounty out

on his head. Jacob runs away. He gets out of town,

and he runs away to a far land to his

uncle Laban, and he lives with his uncle Laban. And

Laban is a farmer and he raises cattle and livestock

and sheep. And so Jacob strikes a deal with his uncle.

And in the deal is that they would work together

to raise these sheep, but any of the sheep that

had spots or blemish on their wolf, for Jacob would

keep those animals well. Jacob carefully controls the flocks breeding

using selective practices, and he ensures that the strongest and

the majority of the flock have spots and blemishes, so

he gets more than his uncle Laban. You see, the

whole pattern in Jacob's life is that he doesn't trust

God to provide. He trusted his own ability, his own manipulation,

and it works for a little bit of time. If

you read a story, Jacob grows wealthy, he becomes successful,

his herds multiply, his family grows like from the outside,

he looks very successful. But Jacob's success is built on control,

not on trust. He is strong, he is capable, he

is resourceful, but he's also manipulative. He also selfish, he's calculating,

he's conniving, and he uses cleverness to get over on

other people. And he lives like this for several years

until one day Esau comes back, the brother who swore

to kill Jacob, and Esau is bringing an army with him,

four hundred men. Now, all of a sudden, Jacob's confidence disappears.

This guy who's always had a plan realizes he doesn't

have a plan to outmaneuver his brother. His wealth can't

protect him, his strategies can't fix this problem. His strength

doesn't feel so strong anymore. And when we look at

Genesis chapter thirty two, it tells us that before Jacob

faces Esau, Jacob will have to face God. And this

is the encounter that we're gonna look at with Jacob

and God. In this encounter with God, Jacob's cleverness will

not be rewarded, is his strength will not be affirmed.

In fact, those things will be confronted in Jacob's life

for the first time in his life. Jacob is about

to deal with something he can't control, the God of

the universe. God's about to touch the very thing that

Jacob has relied on his entire life, his own strength,

and Jacob's gonna walk away changed, not because he planned better,

not because he had a strategy, not because he worked hard,

but because God humbled him. So we're gonna pick up

this story in Genesis chapter thirty two. Look at verse six,

when Jacob first hears this news, it says he saw

his coming to meet you, and he has four hundred

men with him. Okay, that's not a welcome party, that's

a that's a war party. Jacob knows what he's done,

he knows the vendetta, he knows the grudge between he

and his brother, and instead of trying to make it right,

he ran away. And I also want you to notice

in verse three that the actual place where Esau is

from where he's been living all this time. It gives

us a window into what's going on in Esau's heart.

Look at verse three. It says his brother Esau lived

in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. Now

Seer was a place that Esau had conquered. He was

a mighty warrior, so he conquered Seir, and Seir means

harry one. Remember he had harry arms. He was a

hairy man, and Edom means a man of outdoors or

a hunter. So the place that Esau conquered and lived

and built his success was literally called the Harry Hunter. Now,

when I was looking over these notes, remember James wrote

this sermon. I thought, the only reason James included this

is because he wanted he wanted to he wanted to

reflect himself. If you've noticed, James has really long, thick hair,

and he is an outdoorsman. He he he is a hunter.

But what it shows us here is that Esau hasn't

forgotten that he's been in exile, that he's been had

to live on his own without the father's blessing, that

he's got of Vendetta. Esau hasn't forgotten. And now Jacob's

past is walking straight towards him. Confrontation is coming, and

so Jacob does what he's always done. He strategizes, He calculates,

he schemes, he plots, and here's what he does. Jacob

divides his family into two groups, Group A, Group B.

He separates his possessions, half of his herds, half of

his livestock, half of his laborers and servants. He breaks

him up into two and we read in verse eight

Jacob thought, if Esau comes and attacks one group, the

group that is left may escape. And then he sends

gifts ahead of him to try and appease Esau. And

here's what we read in verse twenty one. So Jacob's

gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent

the night in the camp. That night, Jacob got up

and took his two wives, his two female servants, and

his eleven sons and cross the four of the Jabbok.

After he had sent them across the stream, he sent

over all his possessions. Look of verse twenty four, so

Jacob was left alone. Jacob sends the women, the men,

the children, the animals all ahead, and he stays behind.

That's not strategy, that's fear. He sends the innocent people

in front of him and he hides behind them. And

he hopes that all of these gifts and possessions sent

to his brother would pacify as brother. Verse twenty says

he thought, I will pacify Esau with these gifts I'm

sending on a head, and later when I see him,

perhaps he will receive me. Now, this word pacify in

Hebrew is the word kapor, which means to wipe the

face or to wipe away sin and transgression. So he's

literally hoping that these gifts would be like a sacrifice

to wipe away his brother's anger and his brother's hatred.

And so Jacob puts the most vulnerable peace in front

of him and he hides behind them. You see, he's

still trying to manage the outcomes. He's still trying to

have some kind of control. And you notice what we

read in verse twenty four. It says that Jacob was

left alone. That wasn't by accident. That's not just a

little detail. That's a setup. That is a moment, because

when Jacob is all alone, that's where God meets him.

You know, when you're all alone in your life, where

you feel like you might be at rock bottom or

there's nowhere else to turn, sometimes that's where God can

meet you and transform you. Let's keep reading that night

Jacob is all alone. The next morning he would have

to face Esau and in that loneliness, God comes down

and meets Jacob. Some scholars think that it was an angel.

Some say it might have been a preincarnated Jesus coming

to visit, but however, it was a representative of God.

God's presence was there, and this individual fights with Jacob

all night long. They wrestle, they wrestle, all night long.

And Jacob he's been a farmer, he's raised herds, He's strong,

and he puts up a hard fight. Now why did

the Angel of God come and wrestle with Jacob? Well,

if you look back into Jacob's life, there was a

time where Jacob was desperate and he called out to

God for help. He reminded God that he had promised

Jacob to be the father of a great nation. But

even after that prayer of desperation, Jacob's heart had not

been transformed. Jacob was not yet broken. You know, you

can be desperate and not broken. You can be in

despair and not broken. And I want to tell you

that God specializes in using broken people. God loves to

use broken people more than anyone else. And so that's

why the angel wrestles with Jacob, because Jacob needs to

be broken. God knows that for Jacob to truly become

the man that he needs to be, he needs to

be broken. And so God decides to move Jacob beyond desperation,

not just asking for God's help, but moving him to

dependence where he depends on God for everything. Genesis thirty two,

verse twenty five says when the man saw that he

could not overpower Jacob. He touched the socket of Jacob's

hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled

with the man. See, Jacob doesn't fully understand who this

is at first. He doesn't understand that this is God's representative,

God's agent. But this is an encounter with God, and

Jacob wrestles all night long. This is not a quick prayer.

It's not a calm devotion reflective. This is a fight.

This is a wrestle. This is an exhausting existential crisis

in Jacob's life because Jacob had spent his whole life

wrestling with people, manipulating his brother, manipulating his father, sling

with his uncle, working out deals and scheming, and now

it's all caught up to him and he's having to

wrestle with God. And for the first time, Jacob can't win.

Only God can win. And so God touches Jacob's hip.

It goes out of joint just like that one touch.

God doesn't overpower Jacob with force. He doesn't break Jacob

into a million pieces. He doesn't shatter Jacob. He doesn't

kill Jacob, he doesn't crush him. But he touches him,

He disables him so that Jacob can be broken. And

now Jacob has a limp, and that limp is not

a punishment. That limp is not rejection, it's not condemnation. Actually,

that limp is mercy because Jacob he could have walked

away proud and unchanged, but instead he walked away limping,

broken and transformed, completely dependent on God. So God transform

into the man that God wants them to be. Crawford

Lorence said this, once we exist for the intent of

the king and his kingdom, and complete dependence on God

is necessary. So he breaks us. God broke Jacob so

that Jacob would depend completely on God. Now here's where

we need to be a little bit careful. When we

talk about being a broken person a person that God

can use. We need to be really careful because there's

a difference between being wounded and being broken. You can

be wounded and still self reliant. You can be wounded

and still bitter. You can be wounded and still try

to prove something. So you can be wounded and not broken.

God wants to use broken people. History shows us examples

of people who are wounded and not broken, people who

live out their wounds. I mean, one example is Napoleon Bonaparte.

I mean, he's an infamous person, controversial person in history.

He was one of the most successful military leaders of

his time. He rose from out of nowhere to be emperor.

He conquered much of Europe. Kings feared him and respected him.

Armies followed him, men wanted to follow him. And he

really believed in his own brilliance, in his own destiny.

But in eighteen twelve, Napoleon made a really catastrophic decision.

He wanted to invade Russia. It's never gone well for

anybody who's tried to invade Russia, That's what history tells us.

And the Russian winters, the Russian violence, the tactics he employed,

it just exhausted his soldiers. His resources were depleted, his

army was ravaged, and he couldn't find a strategy to win,

and his pride eventually defeated him. His forces were decimated,

his reputation was shattered, and eventually he abdicated his throne.

He was wounded, humiliated, and embarrassed, and so Napoleon was

exiled to the island of Elba. And this could have

been a moment a transformation moment for Napoleon in exile

on that island. He could have looked himself in the mirror,

he could have humbled himself. He could have transformed. But

instead his pride grew, his wound deepened, his bitterness grew.

He wasn't broken, and in his woundedness, he eventually escaped,

and he returned to France with something to prove. He

rallied the troops because he's a charismatic leader. He tried

to conquer Europe again, not because it was needed, not

because it was wise, but because he wanted to prove something.

You see, he was wounded, but he wasn't broken, and

that decision ultimately led to the Battle of Waterloo. And

history tells us that at Waterloo, thousands and thousands of

napoleon soldiers died needlessly. Young men lost their lives, not

because of a new vision, not because of a nation's interests,

not for justice, not for a just cause, but because

one person, at his vanity and his pride and his woundedness,

wanted to prove something. And so Napoleon's refusal it didn't

just cost him personally, it costs families that we can

France a prolonged suffering in Europe, and once again he

was defeated, and this time he was exiled to a

different island, where he lived out the rest of his

days in obscurity. You see, the problem for Napoleon isn't

that he was wounded. It's that he refused to be broken.

He refused to humble himself. Being wounded didn't humble him,

it hardened him. It's a danger to be wounded and

not allow the Lord to bring healing, and the Lord

to use that wound for brokenness. You can be wounded

and still bitter. You can be wounded and still drive

to prove something. You be wounded and still cost others deeply.

But brokenness is different. Because brokenness says I don't need

to prove myself. Brokennes says, I don't need to prove myself.

It releases control because brokenness trusts and depends on God.

There's only one path that leads to a transformed life.

Brokenness leads to true transformation. And that's what we see

in Jacob's life. That Jacob is transformed. That night when

he wrestles with God and God touches his body, he's

broken and he's transformed. Look at our text in verse

twenty eight. Then the man said, your name will no

longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with

God and with humans and have overcome. So God gives

him a new name, gives him a new identity. He

transforms Jacob, this deceiver, this controlling, manipulative person. He gives

him a new name. He names him Israel, the leader

of the Great Nation of Israel. It's a reminder that

his life is no longer about grabbing heels or chasing

to overpower. It's about trusting in God. And Jacob leaves

with a limp, a reminder of his brokenness. That limp

keeps him dependent, that limp keeps him humble, and that

limp keeps him usable in the hands of God. Once

theologian said this, a limp is the posture of the saint,

walking not in physical strength, but in spiritual strength. Don't

you want to walk in spiritual strength. I don't want

to live my life just on my own wits, on

my own merit, on my own aptitude, like I want

to live in spiritual strength. I want to walk in

supernatural strength. Brokenness is not weakness. Brokenness is God confidence.

You see, humility is not a lack of confidence, is

confidence in God rather than yourself. And here, as Christians,

we have to understand this, that this is the foundation

of our faith. The foundation of our faith is the

Gospel of Jesus. It's the cornerstone, it's the beginning point.

And if we don't understand this, then we're not going

to be transformed. We have to understand that there is

nothing within me, no merit, no worthiness, that I can

bring to God to justify myself. Have to believe and

understand that the foundation of our faith is that we

need a savior to rescue us. That humility is not

the lack of confidence is it is God confidence, not ourselves.

If I come to God and say, look at what

I've done, I go to church, I believe this, I've

memorized this, I've given money to this. It's because of

what I've done. Then we've missed it. We bring nothing

to the table. It's only because of what Jesus has done.

What Jesus did on that cross, when he died in

my place, when he took on my sin, when he

was my substitute, suffering my punishment, and he rose from

the dead to save me. It's all because of him.

You see, the foundation of the Gospel is humbling ourselves

before God. And let me tell you this, there is

no limit to what God can do in the life

of a man or a woman who is completely broken

and humble before God. When we truly humble ourselves before God,

then it becomes easier to humble ourselves before other human beings.

That's where humility begins. It's where the Gospel starts. And

so this brings us back to Jacob's story. He wrestles

with God all night, he's been touched by God, he

has a limp, and the next morning he's supposed to

face his brother Esau with the vendetta. And so we

turned in Genesis chapter thirty three. Jacob looks in the

distance and he sees Esau coming. He's got four hundred

warriors coming with him. The moment that Jacob has feared

has finally arrived. There is an account to be given,

but there's a difference in Jacob's posture. Jacob, who wants

ran away, he now walks forward. Jacob, who wants to

try to manipulate, now submits and listen to this Jacob

who once stood proud. Now bows, he bows seven times?

He bows. Look at verse thirty three. He himself went

on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times

as he approached his brother. Now this is not a

casual greeting, because in the ancient Middle East, a respectful

bow would be like to bow at the waiste, you know,

to show respect. But here Jacob, he's not just showing respect.

He is prostrating himself. He's bowing to the ground, putting

his nose in the dirt, and he does it seven times.

Now think about this. Just the night before he'd been

in a wrestling match and his hip dislocated. How painful

for him to get up and down seven times. Here's

what I want to ask you to do. Would you

close your eyes with me for a moment. I want

you to, in your mind's eye, picture yourself watching this

scene unfold. Imagine Jacob, this proud man with a full beard,

with a cane or a crutch limping forward. Now imagine

the pain on his face as he's struggling to kneel

down at it and bow. Can you see the difficulty

has holding onto that crutch, trying to stand back up

and then bow again? Seven times. Think about how his

family reacted, and your mind's eye, can you can you

picture the look on his son's face. This is their

proud father, their strong father, humbling himself. Can you imagine

the soldiers with Esau. You know they're preparing to fight,

and they're they're looking at each other surprised. Now, think

about Esau, this guy who's had a vendetta, this guy

who's had a grudge, watching his broken brother struggle to

get up and down, bowing up and down. Jacob's not posturing,

he's not negotiating. He is he's repenting. There's no more

hiding here. You can open your eyes. This is what

brokenness produces. Brokenness doesn't remove courage. Brokenness redirects How courageous

of Jacob to walk out to meet his brother, How

courageous of Jacob to lay down in a prone, vulnerable position.

You see, brokenness redirects courage. How does Esau respond? Look

a verse four. Esau ran to meet Jacob and embrace him.

He threw his arms around his neck and kissed him

and they wept. This is reconciliation. This is transformation, and

it comes from what happened to Jacob the night before

when he allowed God to break him. Jacob didn't change Esau,

God changed Jacob. That's what God does in our lives.

There is no limit to what God can do with

a man or a woman who is broken and completely

surrendered to the Lord. So how do we stay broken? Practically?

How do we stay broken? How do we not stay

crushed and defeated? But how do we stay dependent on God? Well,

here's a few practical things living in brokenness. Number one,

let others speak into your life. Broken people don't isolate.

Broken people allow trusted, wise people to speak into their life.

Give permission to people to speak into their life. I'm

so thankful for the people that God's put in my life.

Pastor Tim here, I've known Pastor Tim I think man

for twenty years. And Pastor Tim is one of those

persons that has permission to speak into my life. And

I can remember one time where I was irritable and

cranky and and and Tim just he said, hey, man,

you're not really yourself today, you know why why don't

you take the day rest of the day off? Like

he has that permission to point out what he sees.

Another one is Christine. She's a member of our staff.

I've known Christine for over a decade. We have done

youth ministry together, and Christine is very soft folks. She

doesn't she does not raise her voice, she does not

speak up very often. But there's been one or two

times where Christine's noticed something in my life and she says, hey, hey,

you know that's out of character, that's out of line.

You know you need to address that. You gotta let

people speak in your life. Number two, stop pretending that

you've got it all together. Brokenness shows up when you

admit your limits, when you ask for help. You know,

God struggles to use people who look strong and put

on a good front, but man, God loves to use

people who are broken. God loves to use people who

are honest about their shortcomings, honest about their need. You know,

I've been open before that I consistently see a Christian counselor.

I've seen a Christian counselor probably for twelve or thirteen

years regularly, and early on in going to counseling, I

really didn't want anybody to know that I what's a counseling?

You know. I was grateful for the therapy, but I

really didn't want it. I was reluctant for that to

be wide knowledge, and so early on, and when I

would preach as a preacher, sometimes I would say things

like a friend of mine once said, or I heard

somebody say, and I would share something that I'd learned

in counseling, but you know, hiding or reluctant to share

that I was seeing a counselor. But then just at

one point, the Lord just he showed me like, man,

if I want to be transparent, if I want to

be vulnerable, if I want to help other people, like

I gotta be transparent, and I got to be vulnerable.

You know, That's what I love about Celebrate Recovery. We

have Celebrate Recovery here on Tuesday nights and it is

a place for imperfect people, people who are broken, which

is all of us. By the way, we have a

saying it Celebrate Recovery, that there are two types of

people in the world, only two people. You fall in

one category. Two types of people, people who are in

recovery and people who need to be in recovery. We're

all recovering from something. And there's a stigma that you

know that recovery is for those who have addictions, or

substance issues, and of course that's true, but it's it's

for all of us, whether we've got grief, whether we've

got anger issues, whether we've got character flaws, like we

are all recovering from something and that celebrate recovery every Tuesday.

The leaders, whoever is giving the lesson or doing the teaching,

always introduces themselves in the same way we say, I'm

a grateful believer in Jesus. Jesus, I'm in recovery for addiction.

I'm in recovery for bitterness. I'm in recovery for self contempt.

And my name is Andrew. That's how everybody, all the

leaders introduce ourselves because God works with people who are

not trying to hide someone. Number three. Talk about your

pain in a way that points to God. Talk about

your pain in a way that points to God. You know,

broken people don't deny what hurt them. They don't sugarcoat it,

but they don't care. Camp there you know the key

to this point. Talk about your pain in a way

that points to God. I've been around a lot of

people who are wounded, and they talk a lot about

their pain, but you can hear the tone of bitterness

you can hear the tone of guardedness. You can hear

that that resentment. Maybe when God brings healing, we can

talk about that pain in a way that glorifies him,

that honors him. Remember that brokenness is not a season

that you graduate from. It's a posture that you maintain.

It's a posture. Jacob limped for the rest of his life.

His posture was changed. That Limp reminded him of his testimony,

reminded him that he depends on God, and that's what

makes him usable to God. It's not strength alone, it's

not success alone, but it's a life touched by God. Friend,

Don't you want to be touched by God? Don't you

want to be marked by God? When people saw Jacob limping,

they knew that's the man that wrestled with God. That's

the man who is transformed by God. Don't you want

your life to be marked and touched by God in

a way that those around you see that person is

marked by God. That's a man of God, that's a

woman of God. Don't you want to be touched by God?

And so here's how we're gonna end today. There's a

prayer that'll be on the screen, and we're gonna take

some time to pray this prayer to say, God, I

don't want to walk in my own strength anymore, so

keep me dependent on you, shaped by you, and usable

for your purposes. And then there's a couple of prompts,

show me where I'm relying on myself, help me walk

humbly with you, and is there someone I need to

reconcile with. We're gonna keep these on the screen, and

would you just take a moment to turn to God

in prayer to reflect on this prompt and then I'll

close us together. Father God, I thank you that you

use broken people. You specialize in using broken people, and

so got to pray that whatever you've revealed us, whatever

you've put on our hearts, that you would give us

the courage of the faith to live out We would

take that step. We'd obey you, and God teach us

to trust you, one step at a time, to depend

on you and not on our own abilities and our

own resources.