Crazy Love

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

You know, at CCW, we have a saying that we like to use a lot around here.

Maybe you can finish it for me.

God's not interested in our past.

He's interested in our future.

He's interested in our future.

And God's got a fantastic future for you.

And this morning I wanted to take you into Scripture in Genesis chapter 28 to a guy who has a real past.

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

To a guy who has a rough past, a past where his name meant deceiver.

This guy was a betrayer of his family.

He had a sibling who hated him.

He had a father whom he tricked.

And in his story, there's an unexpected twist that takes place where he has a divine encounter with God and his love.

The idea of this message, the title of the message is Crazy Love.

And the idea on the outside of Crazy Love is that there's this relationship with our God.

And inside the story, we'll be looking at this love story with Jacob and these few women in his life.

But all my life I've heard people say, God loves you.

And the older I get, the more insane that statement must be.

To say that the eternal creator of all things, the one that holds the universe in his hands, is in love with me.

Scripture says it this way who is man that you are mindful of him.

Scripture says that he knows the number of hairs on our head.

There's a response that should take place in a believer to that love.

If you really understand what God has done for you, let me explain.

We just had a celebration of Christmas, and many people received gifts, and I received some gifts from my wife, and uh I got a pair of boots, and I got some other things, and as I'm opening these gifts, it brings a response.

I'm thinking, girl, you must love me.

Yeah.

And uh for some of you, your spouse or somebody in your life could do as little as share a few words, a compliment, and man, you'd be on cloud nine.

You know what he said after all these years.

You know what he said.

You know what she said to me today?

And it would put you on cloud nine.

You say they love me.

Listen, God loves you and spared not his own son to prove it, scripture says.

That's crazy.

So we're gonna talk about the message crazy love this morning.

I want you in Genesis chapter 28 to start with me.

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

And point number one, if you're following your outline, if you got a worship guide, you can hold it up.

Anybody in here not get a worship guide on your way in?

You can raise your hand up.

We got one in the middle up here.

Anybody, two?

Want to make sure that you have those and we'll be following along.

But point number one this morning about the crazy love that we're looking at is number one.

God's love directs us in Genesis chapter 28.

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

We're gonna read a few verses here, so follow along as I read Genesis 28 and start in in chapter 28, verse 10.

It says, Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set, and he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.

Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven, and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants.

Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth, you shall spread abroad to the west and east, and north and south, and in you and your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep, verse sixteen, and said, Surely the Lord is in this place.

I hadn't known it.

And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Then Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and he poured oil on top of it, and he called the name of that place Bethel.

But the name of that city had been called previously Luz.

And so the first place that we see that God's love directs us is to a pillar of a monument.

God's love directs Jacob to this place where he makes a pillar of a monument.

And a couple of things that a pillar is.

Number one, a pillar is a place of vision.

Foster says, I'm not sure that it was a ladder, as we think of ladders that Jacob saw in his dream.

It appears to be derived from a verb which speaks of that which is set up, which rises upwards.

It may well be that what he saw was not at all a literal ladder, but some kind of causeway joining earth and heaven.

His stone the next morning symbolized for him what he had seen.

In any case, John 151 shows us quite clearly that whatever the ladder looked like, its spiritual counterpart is Christ.

Christ set up the great means of communication between heaven and earth.

CCW, are you hearing me?

Jesus is the great causeway between heaven and us that Jacob was dreaming of.

This was set up on earth at a place called Bethel.

The significance of Bethel is that there is a place on earth which is holy the Lord's.

And it's God's house.

He was seeing the church.

Of course, the whole world is God's, but peculiarly the church is his.

It is a place for him.

He is supreme, and all his rights are recognized through the church.

And I'm not talking about this building, I'm talking about the inhabitants, the people he inhabits.

And so the work of God goes through the church and it goes up to heaven and back through the church.

And this is the dream that he's having.

It's not one of many ladders, which may be found from various places.

Jacob's eyes were open to discover the house of God.

Everything goes up from here.

It's possible for us in this life to do a lot of work and activities here, there, and everywhere without much of it going up to God.

Because it has to be wrapped in Jesus in you.

And so the whole point of Bethel is to insist that service must be inhabited with Jesus.

You can come to this church and serve and it not be going up to heaven and back through you because it's wrapped in you.

It has to be wrapped in Jesus.

And so Jacob, at this point, this monument that he builds is a monument of Jacob can't do it Jacob's way.

I can't do it Rick's way and it go to God.

The Bible says that it's uh it's vain that we work, the labor can be in vain.

That would be worthless.

And so in 2018, I think the point for us is that we can't keep doing it our way.

God's love has to direct us.

And so the pillar is a place of vision, but it's also a place of promise.

See, Bethel is a place where Jacob receives the promise of God and makes a vow.

How many married people are here?

Raise your hand up.

Y'all came to the place where you had to make a vow, right?

Did that vow not change everything?

Am I right?

Are y'all with me?

Before that vow, things were different.

It changed the direction of your life.

The pillar is a place of a vow.

And that vow can change everything.

Let me give you a promise illustration.

I use a lot of positive reinforcement with my children.

Okay.

And uh ever since we took the Dave Ramsey financial courses and Heather, they have two, I'm not being mean, they have two people, the free spirit and the nerd.

Heather classified more as a nerd.

Okay, so she's not a nerd, but she is a nerd with money.

And so, since she took over, my kids can get all kinds of money from me because I'm not even thinking about money anymore.

And I'm like, I'm positively reinforcing everything.

So if we're playing a game, or the other night we were playing the game Sequence.

Anybody ever played this game?

Okay, this game called Sequence.

And uh we were partnering up.

I I had Wyatt, she had Callie, and uh so we were going back and forth and played a couple games, and then I said to them, let's play me and mom against you two kids, and they weren't having it.

No, that won't be fun.

And so I started trying to reinforce it with some, I said, Well, let's make a deal.

Because they like deals, you know, because usually dad's deals has to do with a couple dollars or something.

I said, let's make a deal then.

And White's like, okay, I got one.

You give us$20 if we win, and I'll scratch your back.

And I'm like, it's a terrible deal.

And he goes, he kept going on.

I'll scratch your back for five minutes.

I'm like,$20 for 10 minutes, he says.

I'll scratch your back for the rest of the night.

He said, I'll scratch your back for two days.

He said, he kept going, he said, five days.

He said, I'll scratch your back forever.

And I'm like, he doesn't understand.

He's not a good back scratcher.

You know, I'm like, this is not a good deal.

By ways of physical, material things.

My kids have very little to offer me.

What in the world kind of promise do you think we have to offer Jesus?

What the Bible tells us?

What God wants.

He says, I want your love.

I want your trust.

I want you to be like my son.

And Micah, this question was being asked.

I want to take you there just for a second and hold your place.

Micah chapter 6.

Micah 6 · chapter mention

They were asking, what would how shall we come before the Lord?

What promise do we have to give in Micah 6, verse 7?

Micah 6:7

Or we'll start in verse 6.

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings?

With calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams?

Ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression?

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

And verse eight, the one we all know.

He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what to do.

The Lord requires of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Listen.

Except for his love.

I want him to love me.

It's not enough, church, to talk about what we'll do, but what is our action?

Jesus says, Jacob, I want you.

That's what I want.

I want you.

By the way, this is shocking to me.

Y'all, I know some people are wondering in here.

Callie and Wyatt took us into that game.

They're laughing and acting goofy, and they straight up beat us.

Okay.

We told them, and I told them, I said, we're going to play this game.

And listen, this is a hard knock life.

I'm not trying to be easy on kids and let them win nothing.

I'm just, look, this is life.

Okay, you have to learn the hard way, and you have to take your beating.

I said that I said, you all are gonna lose, and it's gonna be bad, but at least you will have played the game.

And they listen, me and Heather halfway through the game, we're looking at each other like, what is going on?

They're laughing, having a good old time.

And I'm like, we are trying.

I wasn't trying to let them, they won the game.

Listen.

Look, God, God wants you.

That's what God wants.

I'm telling you, that was hard for a 36-year-old mind to take.

God wants you.

But God's love directs you to the second thing.

Look at verse 20 and 21 of Genesis chapter 28.

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

He took him to a pillar, a place of a monument, a place that would remind him.

But then 21 and 22.

Look at what happens.

Or 20 and 21, he says.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and keep me in this way, that I'm going, I'll give me bread to eat and clothing so that I come back to my father's house in peace.

Listen to this.

Then the Lord shall be my God.

God's love directs us to a profession of faith.

That's the second thing there, the profession of faith.

A public acknowledgement.

He says, The Lord shall be my God.

Listen, God is Lord.

You can believe it or not.

You don't make him Lord.

You hear sometimes make him the Lord of your life.

You don't make him anything.

He is already the Lord of life.

It's whether or not you receive that gift that he was trying to give Jacob.

Okay?

It's whether or not you receive it.

He is Lord.

You don't make him anything, but you can make a public acknowledgement.

Now it's not baptism.

Baptism is when you come before the church and you share publicly, but a profession of faith is when you say before, they use that scripture all the time.

He who confesses me before the Father or confess others before him, the same will confess him before the Father.

And so it's a public acknowledgement.

He has a profession of faith.

The moment of salvation should be a moment when your life took a turn.

I spent a lot of time with teenagers, and many of them will raise their hand and be saved every week.

They'll throw that hand up.

I say, listen, has your life changed?

It's not about some prayer.

Has your life, you were walking down this road over here, like Jacob.

He was a deceiver.

He had a pass.

He had people with him.

He was walking down this way and had an encounter with God, and his path changed.

God's love directed him to a new place.

And it never went back to that place.

Is that what God's love has done for you?

You say, Well, how do you know he got saved of that?

Listen, the third thing there, God's love directs Jacob to the promise of giving.

Look at verse 22.

And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house, and all of that you give me, I will surely give a tenth to you.

A proof of his profession.

Listen, there ain't no lost people giving their money to Jesus.

This is the first time in the Bible that you see the idea of a tithe, and it came from Jacob.

Now, do you think a guy whose name meant deceiver would start giving his money to God if he hadn't radically been changed?

God's love directs Jacob to the promise of giving.

He begins giving.

Now listen, it continues in chapter 29.

The next thing God directs Jacob to is to people in need.

Verse 1, it says, So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East.

And so Jacob is changed by God.

He has a new path, and all of a sudden, he's walking towards different opportunities.

And he finds Uncle Laban.

We're going to see these are key components of this story.

Uncle Laban and Rachel and Leah.

And Uncle Laban is a person in need because Jacob falls into him and he needs someone to work for him.

And he begins working for Uncle Laban for a long time.

And we'll see some things about that story.

But he goes the way God tells him to go when he's directed.

And I fear sometimes, church, God's calling his own people's life.

And he's called and directed.

And we just don't want to go.

We get to that pillar place and we get to a place where we can set up a stone and say, God saved me.

And then he starts taking your personality and the things about you, and he wants to mold them and make them in your life experience.

He says, This is what's next.

And we say, But God, I've got a good job.

God, I'm making good money.

God, but if I move my kids out of school now, God, God, I was I was working on the 401k.

This is gonna mess these things up, God.

You want to talk about someone willing to make a grave life change?

You talk to Dave and Amanda Roper.

My soul.

Man who is a lawyer.

It's now leading a home at King's Home.

Listen.

He's willing to go on the mission field.

There's others, listen, but are what about you?

Has God called you to something?

Some people in need?

I'm not saying you gotta leave the country.

I'm saying use what you got where you're at.

There's people at your work, there's people in your family.

But God's love directs us to people in need.

You see, the gospel starts with go.

Where and to what does God need you?

The next thing is God's love directs Jacob to passion-filled living.

Now I want you to go to verse 8 of chapter 29 through verse 11.

And listen to what happens in the scripture.

But they said, We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well's mouth, then watered the sheep.

Now, while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.

Now, if you read it just like that, you would miss the whole story in this.

Okay.

Jacob is walking around and he's going to a well and he sees a girl.

Alright?

There's a vision of a girl, a girl named Rachel.

And the girl has sheep.

The guy's in the house, this is like a back then, this is like a good-looking girl with a nice ride.

Okay.

Jacob goes up there and he sees her.

And you understand verse 10.

Immediately his wheels start spinning because he's thinking about the first impression.

And all my guys in the crowd know this, right?

The first impression is vitally important because if you're going to fool her, it's going to happen on the first impression, right?

If she's going to think something of you, okay.

And so Jacob is 70 years old at this time, and he had been talking previously before he saw Rachel.

How do we get this well open so we can feed water?

Okay.

And the men are like, we've got to wait for all the shepherds to come in, and then together we're going to move this heavy stone.

So 70-year-old Jacob sees Rachel, and he goes over to the stone and hoists up this gigantic stone on his own and pushes it out of the way.

Why do you think he would do such a thing?

This first impression.

Okay.

He flexes his 70-year-old muscles and he's like, fellas, which way should we roll the stone?

Now listen, this was Jacob, not Esau.

Remember, Jacob liked his garden growing up.

And he probably had a lot of pampered chef products.

Esau was hairy and manly and hunted.

And Jacob is over here flexing.

Well, it doesn't end there.

Verse 11, he goes up after he does that and he kisses her.

Man, you talk about I the tiger.

Whew, he went right in, rolled the stone, saw what he liked, and then he went over there and kissed her.

Okay.

Now I know that might have been custom, all that, but he puts it on her.

Okay.

Boy, got the eye.

Mmm.

But verse 11 didn't stop there.

Then he weeps.

Jacob is still Jacob.

Okay.

He's still got his Pampered Chef products on hand.

Probably hurt his back from the stone.

He's over there weeping.

Kissed her.

And that's gonna kiss her.

So beautiful.

I saw this on the notebook a moment like this.

It's just Oh, Rachel starts weeping.

Now it would all be good and fine.

It would be a love fairy tale if it ended right there.

But after that, God's love directs Jacob to disciple him.

And we're going to look further in chapter 29 how Jacob is discipled and sanctified through God's love, and how he becomes a man of God that would lead.

And so look at chapter 29, look at verses 15 through 20.

He didn't just meet up with Rachel.

Okay.

Then Laban said to Jacob in verse 15, Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing?

Tell me what should your wages be?

Now Laban had two daughters.

The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

Leah's eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance.

Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.

And Laban said, It's better than I give her to you than I should give her to another man.

Stay with me.

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.

And so God's love disciples him, but sometimes, you understand, church, God's love will disciple you through physical labor.

And that's the next thing under God's love's discipling through physical labor.

You see, Jacob is smitten.

He's smitten, but there's two girls in this story you need to hear about.

Verse 17, you hear about the older sister, Leah.

Now, Leah, the Bible sometimes goes to great lengths not to go great lengths.

Okay.

Her descriptor is that she has delicate eyes.

Has anybody here ever heard two guys at a table talking?

And they're like, mmm, what I need.

I need me that girl with them soft eyes.

You never heard that conversation?

I don't care what she brings to the table, as long as them eyes is delicate.

Okay.

I don't, I've studied and looked at that scripture, and it there's there's a lot of interpretation to what her soft eyes meant.

Okay, and I'm not gonna hit them, but it says she has soft eyes, and it goes to great lengths not to explain much else.

But then it goes on to great lengths to describe Rachel in verse 18.

Let me read it for you again.

Now Jacob loved Rachel.

He said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel.

And it said uh previously to that, now Rachel in verse 17 was beautiful of form and appearance.

So Rachel was the bomb.

Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.

Girl had it going on, and it made me think of listen, my wife, we were talking last night.

Heather has not aged in 20 years.

She'll roll her eyes at me right now and stuff.

But she had she, we were looking at her graduation pictures.

Her face has not aged.

She looks like she looked, and I'm like, wow, you know, she was, and I knew at college there was some work cut out for me.

Okay, I'm gonna have to put on everything, you know, and I didn't start out doing so well.

Okay, I had to pick up some heavy stones.

And so, um, but luckily for me, she got them lazy eyes, and she thinks something about me that ain't really true.

I'm just kidding.

Okay, but listen, I understand, I can picture what's happening here, and and Jacob, he's smitten with this girl.

It says that he is willing to work, verse 20.

It says the most romantic phrase, probably in the Bible, right?

If you ladies heard this from your husband, he said, to work for her seven years was like seven days.

Right?

I'm like the man toiled and worked and labored, Darren.

He was out there getting it, doing constraints.

He was working, it was like seven days for her beauty.

It was nothing for her.

He was willing to work.

Listen, if you want to be discipled by God, listen, you got to be willing to work.

You hear me, church?

You gotta be willing to work.

Christianity is not a free ride.

The Bible says some things that prove that I am crucified with Christ.

It's not I, but Christ that lives within me.

Matthew 16, 24 says, if in our body our sin would be done away with, that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

Listen, anyone who follows me has to be crucified in the flesh with its passions and desires.

2 Corinthians 5.17 says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation.

The old things are passed away, and all things are become like new.

Does that sound easy?

No, that's work.

You've got to be willing to work.

We got to get some people that start liking work again.

Listen, I like to work.

I like the challenge of work.

To be disciple takes work.

Listen, Bonhoeff said this.

When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.

He said this following in his book, The Cost of Discipleship.

When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.

It's work.

Bible says to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

I'd be wondering if in my salvation there were no working.

If there were no working out of it.

Okay?

If in my salvation I wasn't being challenged, if I wasn't being pushed, if God wasn't calling me to more.

I'm just saying, if it were me, I'd be wondering, was I ever really saved?

Did I go down that road and just pray?

Or did I really change?

Did God direct my life to something new?

Because if God's supposed to do these things and I'm not seeing a whole lot of working out, did I get it?

I'd be wondering about that.

And so I didn't say it takes work to get saved, because that's a free gift.

But your salvation should continue a work.

We have to learn to like work.

If you love something, listen.

If you receive this relationship and it's a love relationship, we heard this on our winter retreat.

Listen, we we don't have any problem talking about what we love.

We don't have any problem when the scripture says it's our reasonable service to give our bodies a living sacrifice unto God.

We don't have a problem.

It's reasonable to us to do things for what we love.

I don't have a problem talking about my wife.

I don't have a problem.

I love to go on dates with my wife.

If I can get a minute, a moment, if we can do something together, I do that because I love spending time with my wife.

And I love a few things in this life and I'll talk about them.

You got there's things that you love.

You'll be talking about your dogs and cats to people.

You'll be talking about the football team.

You'll be talking about things that you love.

Your conversation will show what you love.

Listen, if you don't love God, it probably doesn't come off your tongue very often.

You don't love him.

Well, how do you love him?

Do you have a daily walk with him?

Listen, it's not enough to come on Sunday and be motivated by somebody else who loves God.

You've got to do it every day for you.

And if you don't have that daily walk with God, you're not gonna love him.

You're not gonna be discipled.

You have to be discipled, you have to love him.

And so we're discipled through physical labor.

And the second thing under discipling us, we're discipled through pitiful circumstances sometimes.

The story continues.

Look at verse 21 through 25.

Jacob had worked those seven years, they were nothing.

Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled that I may go into her.

And all the men in the cross said, Yep, that's biblical.

And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.

Now it came to pass in the evening that he took Leah, listen to this, his daughter, and brought her to Jacob.

And he went into her, and Laban gave his maid Zilpa to his daughter Leah's maid.

So it came to pass in the morning that behold, it was Leah.

Y'all see that?

We talked about a beautiful circumstance.

Circumstance, look at my wife, is what circumstances, why's been fourteen, it's been fourteenth, it's been four.

I don't know what kind of drinking would have to go on for a man to be dreaming and dreaming about one lady and do what he did and wake up the way he woke up.

But he wakes up and he looks at Rachel.

Man, I want you to look at your wives right now.

All right, he woke up with Leah.

Man, look at your wife right now.

If you got a wife, and say, Baby, I'm glad I got you.

Baby, I'm glad I got you.

Okay.

He woke up and looked at her.

Listen what he says next.

Look at what he says next.

He says, What is this thing that you have done to me?

What is this thing?

What?

And there's soft eyes sitting over there with soft eyes.

I don't know what she.

I wish we could know what Leah thought and all this.

I don't know if she even liked Jacob at first or whatever.

Dad just told her.

I understand that what happens later as Laban explains it, that the custom is the older daughters to be married first and all this stuff.

But no, all we know is that Jacob says, What has happened here?

What have you done to me?

Now listen, the deceiver who stole his brother's birthright and tricked his father has been deceived.

And it hurt.

The Bible says this, church, that you reap what you sow.

And that does not go away because you become a Christian.

You reap what you sow.

That principle will be the same.

And so now we got to be discipled and we got to hear these scriptures that are hard because some people here had the hardest year of their life.

Scripture says count it all joy.

How, God?

It says tribulation brings patience.

But 2017 was tough.

It says testing is for betterment.

Romans 5, 3 through 5 says this not only so, but we also glory.

Glory in our sufferings.

Because we know that suffering produces perseverance.

And perseverance, character, and character hope.

Listen, I know how to read it.

I don't always know how to live that.

When I'm expecting one thing from God and life isn't the same way that I expected, it's hard.

And God disciples me through pitiful times.

I'm telling you, the beginning of this year was the roughest beginning of any year.

I think I've lived.

We were burying people in our families, and it was just hard.

But listen, I know, I know through those times now that the church has a purpose.

Listen, I know that because I've experienced it.

The Bible says to bear one another's burdens in love.

Man, I I don't know through some of that stuff if we didn't have CCW.

Some of you people were the most encouraging people, and watching you encourage others who are struggling.

Because we we we bear one another's burdens.

We couldn't take the pain away, but we were there.

Galatians 6:1 says, Brethren, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest you be tempted.

Galatians 6:1

So we've seen some people fall and marriages start to struggle, and we go in and we fill the gap.

So we're discipled through pitiful circumstances.

You see, Jacob goes back to Laban.

He has to work seven more years, and he gets Rachel.

And it'd be great if we just said, well, that was the end.

So then Rachel and Leah are in his household and they go back and forth playing the comparison game.

And listen, ladies, men, comparison game is never a fair game to be played.

God made you on purpose with a purpose.

You are you, and you're the best you that you are.

You ain't gotta be nobody else.

You are not somebody else.

So don't play that game.

Rachel and Leah.

Rachel was beautiful and formative appears, but she couldn't have babies for a long time.

And she's watching Leah, who's having all these children, she's getting jealous and she's getting disgusted, and this game goes on and their marriage.

It's already, I listen, I'm not trying to pretend like I understand Old Testament cultures.

Because if you told me I had to have, listen, he he had two wives, but he had four women he was sleeping with and 12 children.

You want to tell me it, of course he had trials.

You're trying to keep four women happy and 12 kids?

Lord of mercy.

Okay?

And Jacob was a jerk.

Okay, so all the women like, well, what about Jacob?

He was the mess.

He was.

Let me tell you a story about commitment.

I read this the other day.

I'll just read the first names.

Matt and Kelly.

Matt's shoulders dropped and his back ached from another physically demanding day of construction.

He opened the front door and he speculated who would be there to meet him.

He knew he'd be greeted by his two kids, but he was never sure.

Listen, if he would be welcomed by his wife, Kelly.

Would she be there, or would it be Susan in a rage, or Kathy withdrawn and silent, or Linda obsessing over imperfections?

You see, Kelly had started a battle with multiple personality disorder, and it'd been years.

Friends and family saw a woman who had lost her sense of reality and drifted away.

Listen, listen.

But Matt saw that radiant bride.

Every day Matt reminded Kelly that God loved her.

He stubbornly held on to hope.

One day at work, a friend asked, How long are you going to endure this hopeless marriage?

Matt replied with determination.

When I exchanged vows, I committed to God and her in sickness and health.

And I will honor that commitment till it's seen through.

Kelly, today, through prayers and Matt's steadfast hope, recovered and teaches other women how to overcome guilt, shame, and regret.

And Kelly tells them that her marriage is better now than it ever was before.

You see, pitiful circumstances sanctified their marriage.

It made it better.

It was even better.

And I want you to understand, I don't like difficulty.

I don't ask for difficulty, but I know this that God wants to disciple you through difficulty.

So that number three, his love will drive you.

Number three, in our story, God's love drives us.

Look at Genesis chapter 32.

Genesis 32 · chapter mention

Skip over a few pages.

You see, Jacob, a lot's gone on.

They've had children, they've had this back and forth, and Jacob, through this experience, has gotten closer to Christ.

He's still Jacob, but he's getting closer to God, and he's working through these things.

And in Genesis chapter 32, now he has left Laban, and there was a conflict there.

Genesis 32 · chapter mention

They got it resolved.

He's left Laban, and he believes his brother Esau is coming to kill him.

But in Genesis chapter 32, we see where God's love drives us.

Genesis 32 · chapter mention

Look at verse 24.

We're going to read down through about verse 30.

It says, Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him into the breaking of day.

Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip.

And the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him.

And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks.

But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

So he said to him, What is your name?

He said, Jacob, and he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob.

Deceiver no more, supplanter no more, but Israel.

For you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.

Then Jacob asked, saying, Tell me your name, I pray.

And he said, Why is it that you ask about my name?

And he blessed him there.

And so God's love will drive us.

God's love drives us to persistence.

If you see verse 25, it says that when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched his socket, his hip was pulled out of place, and he continued to wrestle with him.

The angel said, Let me go, and he said, I will not let you go.

This is the response that we should have to God's love.

We got to cling to it.

We got to persist for it.

Listen, in this life, verse 25 shows us that there's going to be, there's going to be some injuries.

Because of the discipleship, because of the circumstances that life had, there's going to be injuries.

But God didn't say that He would break you, but He did say He would bend you.

He wants to be able to do that in your life.

And so we we will have scars.

When I was 10 years old, I think.

I was sitting there playing with a BB gun and just messing around.

And I had it rested on my chin.

Not the best place to rest a gun.

And obviously I hadn't been through NRA training with my Red Rider Daisy.

And um I was just sitting there and playing around and I pulled the trigger.

Even worse, second step to take after resting your gun on yourself.

My little 10-year-old self, I had a panic.

I knew I had shot myself.

I ran through the house.

I said, Mom, mom, I'm shot.

I said, I shot myself.

And she's what?

What's going on?

And my mom got frantic.

I had blood coming out of it, you know.

And she started running back and forth from the kitchen to your room, and I'm like, I don't know what happened.

I started, it really scared me.

It wasn't hurting much, but I'm holding my, oh, I don't know what I did.

I shot myself.

My mom's running, getting stuff, and I'd pull and playing, and I and finally I had pulled the BB out, and I'm looking at it, and my mom's still going.

She's like knocking me over to get ready.

I gotta give this book to the doctors.

She's gonna hurt me getting ready.

And so, you know, and I stood there for a minute, and I'm like, I think I'm okay.

And I said, Mom, I got I got I I got it.

I got the BB.

I think I'm okay.

And she's like, What?

We gotta get you, and I'm like, no, I think I'm okay.

And so, but now if you looked at me, if you got close to me, I got a scar right here that looks the size of a BB that I'll keep forever, I guess, because I made a dumb decision.

Church, we'll have some scars.

Okay, life is just gonna give you some scars.

Okay.

And we don't just get to get rid of everything.

God gives us experiences so that we can be that person that he directs, right?

So that we can help people who went through that scar.

Somebody went through a divorce.

Guess who they can help?

Somebody who's going through a divorce.

Are you hearing me, church?

Somebody's lost a loved one.

Who can they help?

Somebody who's lost a loved one.

Somebody's been through an addiction, alcoholism.

Who can help that person best?

Somebody who's been through that scar.

But what we do is we make the profession, we hear God, and then we think, oh I don't know.

I don't know if I can do that, God.

God's love should drive us to persist like Jacob.

He said, I can't do it, Jacob's way.

I learned way back then when a member of a profession, it's not Jacob's way, and he said, I'm not letting go until you bless me.

He persisted.

See, Paul had a thorn.

He said a messenger from Satan that buffeted him.

He didn't get to get rid of it.

He persisted.

Now Jacob had a hip issue.

God didn't say you wouldn't have a limp.

You weren't going to walk around with a limp.

He didn't say you would be free of that.

He wants you to persist.

When you're broken, scarred, and don't know how to move forward, his love should drive you.

How you say.

Listen to 2 Corinthians 4, 8 through 9.

It says, We're hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed.

We're perplexed, but not in despair.

We're persecuted, but not abandoned.

Corinthians 12, 9 and 10 says, My grace is sufficient for you.

Galatians 6 9 says, Do not be weary and well do them, for in due season you'll reap if you don't faint.

Keep going, keep persistent, keep going, get make it another day, get in the word another day.

I know it's hard, I know it's raining in the storm.

Is there.

But he says, keep going, because in due season it's coming.

Due season's going to be around the corner.

And he says, 1 John 4, 4, greater is he that is in you than he does in the world.

If you persist, you can be blessed.

And that's what Jacob said.

I'm not letting go.

So rest until you're blessed.

He said, I'm not letting go.

The second thing under his love driving us is God's love drives us to new prosperity.

In verse 28, he said, Your name, listen, your name is no longer Jacob.

God wants to give you a new name, He wants to change you.

He says, Your name is Israel.

You're not deceived.

You're not defined by that past.

Here at CCW, we're not interested in your past.

We're interested in your future because God has a great future for you.

You're not that past.

You're not the choices that you made.

He gives an earthly blessing and a new nation called Israel.

Jeremiah 17, 7 through 8 says it this way.

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord whose confidence is in him.

They will be like a tree by the water that sends out its roots by the streams.

Doesn't fear when heat comes, its leaves are always green.

It has no worries.

In a year of drought, it never fails to bear fruit.

Listen.

When you can understand the discipling of God in life circumstances, even though there can be a year of drought, it doesn't mean that you won't be able to bear fruit.

God will still allow fruit.

And it may look different, and it may be a whole nother type of year, but God can still bear fruit through you.

He gives an earthly blessing.

He gives a heavenly blessing.

In 1948, a historic thing happened.

Israel was reinstated as a nation.

Prophecy from Isaiah 66, 8 that said a nation would be birthed in a day.

God's chosen people.

Where did this come from?

From Jacob.

The deceiver, the supplanter, right?

Not anymore.

A heavenly inheritance would be from Jacob.

Jacob would be driven to become one of the most prosperous people.

And listen, God wants to prosper you.

I'm not speaking prosperity.

God wants to prosper you in Jeremiah 33.

It says that.

He has a future for you.

He wants to prosper you.

He doesn't want to harm you.

John 10, 10 says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give you life and life more abundant.

That's for right now, living.

He wants us to prosper you.

God's love will drive us to prosperity.

And lastly, God's love drives us to preservation.

Verse 30.

So Jacob called the name of the place Neil, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

He saw God face to face.

Do you want that, church?

Do you want to see God face to face?

Listen, it's work.

It's not working.

You gotta like work to see God face to face.

But do you really want to see God face to face?

I alluded to it earlier, but I don't know, maybe seven or eight times now in Heather and my ministry.

We've had places, probably like this place, Peniels.

And on winter retreat with these students, God's presence was in that place.

You know how that happens?

I'm not completely certain, but I know it has to be a yearning, a wanting, a desperation.

Needy.

I think too much right now we get to where we're not needy.

We want that, but we're not needy for what's next.

I don't want to be directed by God because I got it.

I got a paycheck, Pastor Rick.

I got a nice house, and I'm not needy.

Listen, God wants to show you an abundant life and He wants to show you Himself.

The face of God, watching kids crying who don't even know it.

They don't know why.

Why am I weeping?

I don't understand this, Pastor Rick.

I'll tell you why.

The presence of God's in this place.

Why am I thinking about a sin I committed four years ago, Pastor Rick?

Just like Isaiah.

He said, Woe is me.

I'm weak and undone.

I'm a man of unconscious in the presence of Almighty God.

He was face to face wrestling with an angel of God.

Do you want to be face to face with God?

God's mark on your life preserves you.

It's the gospel.

Jesus' blood is what preserves you.

If you will let your love for Christ cost you something in this life, it will mean everything in the next.

I'm going to say that again.

If you will let your love for Christ cost you something in this life, it'll mean everything in the next.

I want to close with an illustration.

There was an Indian tribe suffering from the effects of a severe drought.

And with food being scarce and members of the tribe beginning to steal from one another in order to survive, the chief had to make a decision, a hard decision.

But the chief knew that it would be imminent death if he didn't make a decision at this point.

So he issues a law that the next person caught stealing food would be taken to the center of their village, they'd be tied to a pole, and they'd be publicly beaten.

So the next day, sure enough, a thief had been caught.

Everyone turned up to see who it was and witnessed the punishment.

To everyone's shock, it was the chief's own mother.

He thought, what am I gonna do?

He'd been a good chief.

And he had just made that law.

He thought, can I just cancel the law?

He had to be just, but this was his mother.

He took a day anguishing over the thought.

She was old and frail, and the beating would probably kill her.

He loved her, so how could he cause his mother to suffer?

He caught everyone together with tears in his eyes.

He looked at his mother.

And he said, take that thing.

Wrap her wrist up around the pole so the beating can begin.

He called the punisher forward to step out with whip in hand.

And before he commences orders for her to be beat, he stepped down.

And he said, commence with the beating.

And he covered her completely.

And he took all of that.

The town's full of thought, he's crazy.

As the cords of the whip fall, they fall on him.

And he absorbs the full brunt of her punishment because she stole.

Church, you understand?

That's what Jesus did for us.

We're guilty of breaking all of his laws.

And we know it.

Every one of us, and the things we can't stop doing, even though we know it's wrong.

The Bible is clear that sin earns a penalty.

And it has to be paid.

But it's also clear that God loves us and he doesn't want us to suffer.

And so he sent Jesus to take your beating and my beating.

He took it all.

He took those cords, he took those whips, he took those nails for you and for me.

And when he was crucified, what he was doing was stepping in between those who are guilty.

And the justice of a father who had to see justice done.

He stepped in between that.

He absorbed the blows of all the punishments so we didn't have to.

Now, church, listen to me.

That's crazy love.

Crazy love, all through this message, you would probably start off thinking, I have to have crazy love in order to love God like this, to be directed.

That's not crazy at all.

That lifestyle should not be crazy at all to us.

It should be the only thing that makes any sense.

Giving up everything and sacrificing everything we can for the afterlife is logical.

Crazy is living a safe life and storing up things for this life while trying to enjoy our time on this earth, knowing that any millisecond God can take your life.

To me, that's crazy.

The crazy ones are the ones that live life like there's no God.

No, listen, it's God who in his infinite greatness has crazy love for you and for me.

He spared not his own son to prove it.

He loves you, church.

And in 2018, you know what he wants for you?

They asked him, what are the two great, can you tell us, Rabbit, what is the what is the greatest command?

He said, love God.

Why it can't make any deals that's gonna be any good for me?

Except love me.

Look, boy, that's love me.

Just obey me, looking out for you.

I'm trying to help you.

Love me.

Listen to my commands, love me.

And then he says, and love my people.

Church.

Get so caught up in little stupid things, arguing, fighting.

And won't you just love somebody?

We're good at hugging around here.

Keep on hugging.

Love somebody.

There's people hurting everywhere.

They're going through the pitiful circumstances.

Man, love them.

That's what Jesus said.

This is what you can do for me.

I gave my son, I spared not him, so that I could prove my love for you.

Won't you just love me back?

You got nothing you can give me.

I don't need your house, I don't need your car, I don't need your bank account.

I need you to love me.

And then love my people.

Everywhere you see it, he says, Love me, feed my sheep.

If you love me, feed my sheep, Peter.

If you love me, feed my sheep.

Prove it.

Show somebody else.

Heads bowed and eyes closed this morning.

Maybe this morning.

If you were honest.

If you took a real look in the mirror, you've never met Jesus face to face.

You've never come to that place and made a real profession of your faith and changed.

Listen, with a profession of faith comes change.

It's not one or the other, it's both and.

If you've been saved by God, you have to be changed.

2 Corinthians 5.17 said, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.

We can't hold on to that old life.

Listen, you may have prayed a prayer, you may be 60 years in here of age and prayed a prayer, but your life never changed.

You're not saved if you hadn't changed.

Jacob had to get to a point and place near his 70s.

Have you been changed?

Listen, if you're hearing this and the Holy Spirit speaking into your heart, you can pray a prayer simply like this, saying, Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner.

And I'm sorry.

Sorry for my sins.

I believe in you, Jesus, that you died on a cross, that you were buried and rose again from my sins.

I want to commit my life.

Last day of 2017, I'm committing my life.

My path is going to be directed a different way.

It's not going to be the way it was.

Committing my life to you.

There'll be anybody here, be honest between me, you, and the Lord, with heads bowed and eyes closed, that would lift your hand and say, Pastor Rick, I just prayed that prayer and I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord.

I accepted that gift.

Just raise your hand up right now.

Amen.

Amen.

Any others?

Amen.

Amen.

Seven, eight, nine, ten.

Any others?

Just raise your hand up.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's the power of salvation.

The Bible says that angels in heaven rejoice over one lost sinner.

If you meant that, listen, with all heads bowed and eyes still closed, all in this middle row and back rows, would you look up at me for just a second?

Nobody else, just those who prayed that prayer.

If you meant that, listen, if you meant it, young lady, if you meant that, young man, your life is about to be radically different.

If you meant that, if there's a change happening in your heart, sir, if you meant that, he will change you.

The direction of your life shouldn't look like it used to.

From now forward, there should be a change in you.

This is your temperature gauge, how you know that you really got saved.

Listen, you got to get in the word of God.

Got to get in this word.

We can't have a relationship with him, church, if we're not in the word.

Joshua 1.8 said that's the formula to success.

To not let this word depart from my mouth, but to read it day and night, and then I will have success.

I need it to have a relationship.

To have a good relationship with my wife, I gotta talk to her day and night.

To have a good relationship with God, you need it.

You need a church.

You need to pray.

Start talking to him.

Rest of the church here.

You know him as Savior, but what's been your response to his love?

Has God's love directed your steps in 2017?

Church?

He loves you.

He's crazy in love with you.

Have you been crazy in love with him too?

He's crazy for you.

Are you driven by his love?

Is working for him like seven years is like seven days?

It's no chore to get up and go to church.

It's no chore to love your brothers and sisters, no chore to be in the word.

Listen, it's okay if it is, because life happens.

I'm telling you, it's okay.

He loves you so much that today he'll offer you forgiveness and he'll set you on a new course.

You can have a clean slate.

If you only read the Word of God three times in 2017, you can have a clean slate.

It's a great thing about 1 John 1.9, he says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He'll remove it and make your life new.

Wouldn't you like that?

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.