And by his strength he had power with God part 3

Yeah, so before we take a break, this is not a recap, it's a clarification of yesterday's

teaching.

So I can't do a recap of yesterday's teaching because it has to be part two and part three

together before we can recap it accurately.

But certain clarifications from yesterday's teaching.

One, it is easy for us to put everything into the wrestling ring, as in anything that happens

in our lives now, we might just say, oh, we are wrestling with God.

That's not true.

Be careful that you don't tolerate that which is ungodly or a sign to God, things that didn't

originate from him and say, no, this situation that's happening, I'm just, it's God wrestling

with me.

Make sure that whenever something comes that you know comes to steal, kill and destroy,

know that it is not something that God is sending so you can wrestle through it.

Whenever things have fear in them, anything that brings fear, know that it is not God

trying to have you wrestle through things of fear.

Whenever it is something that Christ paid a price for, like sickness or disease, God

is not sending you sickness and disease so he can teach you how to wrestle.

Remember to keep that in mind, eh?

Because otherwise we begin to assign everything to God.

So begin every day from this end point, and the end point is that, A, God is in charge

and in control of my today.

These are end points that I must begin from.

I must begin from the end point that today God is in charge of my day and he is in control

of my day.

Two, that he's a good father who delights in me.

That he's a good father who delights in me.

Three, that he has always had absolute authority and he always will continue to have absolute

authority.

And four, that I have permission to partake in the promises of God which are yes and amen

in Christ.

Guys, let me go over that again, eh?

And you have the ability to hear and understand what I'm saying.

So don't switch off because I said we're going for a break after this.

Because if we don't clarify this from last week's, last evening's message, we can lump

everything together and throw them into the wrestling ring and say, God's wrestling with

me.

If I have a sickness or disease come my way, no way I'm going to say, God sent this sickness

and disease for me to wrestle through and make me stronger.

God isn't my father.

If I have situations come into my life that frighten me and cause tremendous fear, I'm

not going to say, God sent this to me so he can make me stronger.

I'll still wrestle through but it ain't coming from my dad.

If I see things that are coming to steal, kill and destroy, I'm not going to say that

these things are coming from God and that he's teaching me how to wrestle.

Ain't true.

Jesus Christ said he came to give life abundant not to steal, kill and destroy.

And every day I start, I will start from this end point that my God is actually in

charge and in control of everything in my today.

Two that he's a good father.

Three that he has always had absolute authority.

Nothing happens just because powers may think it can happen, be they human or spiritual.

And fourthly that I have permission every day to partake in the promises of God.

I'm a divine partaker in the promises of God set and established in my life by the

new covenant, by the blood of Christ.

Once this is the end point you begin from, then you can wrestle into obedience, rest

and the strength of God.

If this is not the end of every day, then it is not possible for you to wrestle into

a place of obedience, of rest and of strength.

You won't be able to because you will assign to God what did not originate from him and

you will accommodate in your life that which God did not send.

So make sure that this is your starting point.

Only then can you wrestle into obedience.

You can wrestle into rest.

You can wrestle into his strength through solishness, through sin, through sickness,

through Satan, through systems.

You wrestle into what?

into obedience, rest and his strength.

But you always identify where things are coming from.

When things seem to be withheld, this was a question someone asked at the end of the

service yesterday.

When things are withheld, how do I know whether God is withholding it or whether Satan is

withholding it?

When things are withheld or when things seem withheld, operate by the proceeding word as

in go to God and say, father, I need to see why it's being withheld.

Help me see and help me stand so that I can press through in the correct way.

If Satan is withholding something, I have to combat it.

When God is withholding something, I have to humble myself and walk with him.

The proceeding word is supposed to show us how to see and how to stand.

So hearing is such a critical part of the Christian experience.

And every day we get to hear better.

Guys, persistence is not about saying, okay, God, I'm going to wear you out with my persistent

praying.

That's not how this works.

I was talking to a friend of mine, a wise friend of mine who said to me, listen, persistence

is not about wearing God out.

Because when we read the story about the persistent widow, we think it's about wearing God out.

But it's not about wearing God out.

It's about the persistence of God.

Because when we read the story about the persistent widow, we think it's about wearing God out.

Now persistence is not about wearing God out.

It's about only you can do this for me so I will cling to your faithfulness with my

life.

That's what persistence is.

That only you can do this for me, oh God.

You've already said you love doing this for me.

Only you can do this for me.

So I'm going to cling to your faithfulness with my life.

That is how you wrestle through.

So to answer the question, how do I know if something is being withheld by God or withheld

by the devil?

The answer is operate by the proceeding word.

Go and say to God, father, things are not working out.

I've been waiting.

I've been standing on promises.

What is happening?

Show me through ways that only you can show me how I should see and stand.

Do I combat?

Do I wait patiently?

Do I walk with you?

How do I wrestle into a place of obedience, rest and your strength so that be it withheld

by the enemy, I know how to combat that.

Be it withheld by God, I know how to humble myself and wait for you to appear.

These things need to be clarified from yesterday.

I just want to pray for you before we take a break.

Father, the reason I'm praying right now is because you want to increase Acts 29's capacity

to handle things in the spirit.

One of the disadvantages of COVID and Zoom or live stream is the luxury of switching

off our ears, our minds, our spirits, turning off the switch that shifts us from being students

and participants to non-students and non-participants.

I just feel prompted to pray that all of us here in this studio right now, where we are

live streaming and all of us at home, are being told by you, Holy Spirit, that you want

to increase our capacity.

Not in terms of time.

We're not going to go extra time today.

But in terms of being able to handle weighty matters, you want to increase our capacity.

And so I say, Oh God, increase mine, increase everybody in this studio right now so that

no one in the music team or the tech team or the sound team switches off because a certain

portion of the event is done.

No one at home affords the luxury of switching off.

Father, at the end of the day, they're not switching me off or my voice off because if

I'm saying stuff off you, then we are turning ourselves off from you and that doesn't do

us any good.

This is not negative psychology or something, Father, reverse psychology, sorry.

This is just a statement you're making.

Please ask Spirit of God for an increase in our capacity right now for the days ahead

in the name of Jesus Christ, even though we've had two evenings continuously and we've arrived

at the third evening.

Come, stay the course, stay the course.

I'll increase your capacity in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Let's go on a break.

I've seen the King of glory Coming round the clouds

With light Of all earth's shades

Of all earth's shades

I see his love and mercy

Watching over all I see

The people sing

The people sing

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation

Rising up to take their place

With selfless faith

Selfless faith

Not seeing me revile

Staring as we pray and seek

We're on our knees

We're on our knees

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna in the highest

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things I see

Show me how to love like you

And love me

Break my heart for what breaks the earth

Everything I have

For your kingdom's cause

As I walk from earth into eternity

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna in the highest

Oh, Dan, I'm in the highland.

Oh, Dan, I'm in the highland.

Oh, Dan, I'm in the highland.

Oh, Dan, I see your name.

In my face in a night.

Because I don't know you.

I don't know you.

I don't know you.

Don't know you.

Okay guys, before I teach we'll just sing the one verse and chorus of the song that

kind of describes the teaching that we've been doing about Jacob at Peniel. So just

set the teaching up with part of the song and then I'll go straight into the teaching,

okay? So why Jacob can't you go straight into the teaching? Why do a song before going to

the teaching? I'm not too sure why but yeah.

We seek your promise, we speak your words, we ask for nothing but what your heart desires.

Christ our foundation, Christ our reward. The boldness to contend comes only from knowing

your goodness, oh Lord. We seek your promise, we speak your words, we ask for nothing but

what your heart desires. Christ our foundation, Christ our reward. The boldness to contend

comes only from knowing your goodness, oh Lord. There's nothing I have but what you've

given. There's nothing I have but what you've given. But I have everything I need in a

day. We seek your promise, we speak your words, we ask for nothing but what your heart desires.

Christ our foundation, Christ our reward. The boldness to contend comes only from knowing

your goodness, oh Lord. May this be a penny hell moment. May we not let go till you bless

me holding fast for a new name and promise. Your word shapes the course of eternity. May

this be a penny hell moment. May I not let go till you bless me holding fast for a new name and promise. Your word shapes the course of eternity.

May this be a penny hell moment. May I not let go till you bless me holding fast for a new name and promise. Your word shapes the course of eternity.

May this be a penny hell moment. May I not let go till you bless me holding fast for a new name and promise. Your word shapes the course of eternity.

We seek your promise, we speak your words, we ask for nothing but what your heart desires. Christ our foundation, Christ our reward.

The boldness to contend comes only from knowing your goodness, oh Lord. The boldness to contend comes only from knowing your goodness, oh Lord.

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do

do

do

.

,

.

.

There's someone watching this who has a yellow t-shirt on and it's almost like one of those

t-shirts with the word cheers written on it like the old show.

And God wants to say to you that He knows that you've reached the end of your rope and

that your habits that you have begged, pleaded, lost again and again and again, God is going

to deliver you out of it in a flash.

It's like going cold turkey on the spot.

But this is a sin, a habit that you struggle with.

It's almost addictive, not almost addictive, it is an addiction.

And you struggle with it for years on end.

And you have these brief moments of success and during those times of success, you and

God are so thick, you can't understand why you slip back into it again and again.

And as you listen to this, you'll be shocked at how this addiction breaks in a flash.

It's like the kind of deliverance that only God can bring.

And as it happens, it sets you free for the rest of your life so that you can run after

the one who you've always longed to run after but this had always gotten in the way.

So just thought I'll share that with you.

Okay, Hosea chapter 12 verse 4, that's what we said we'd talk about Hosea chapter 12 verse

Hosea 12:4 Hosea 12:4

4.

And here's what it says in the KJV and the NKJV.

This is what it says.

Yes, he, as in Jacob, had power over the angel and he prevailed.

He wept and made supplication unto him.

He found him in Bethel and there he spoke with us, the Lord God of hosts.

One more time, Hosea chapter 12 verse 4.

Hosea 12:4

Yes, he had power over the angel.

These verses are so not fitting together and yet they're all strung together.

So it says, yes, he had power over the angel, as in yes, Jacob had power over the angel

and he prevailed.

But in the very next part of the verse it says, he wept and made supplication unto him.

And then it goes on to say, he found him in Bethel.

But we're talking about Jacob at Jabok and suddenly the verse switches to, he found him

at Bethel.

That happened in Genesis 28, not in 32.

And there he spoke with us, the Lord, the God of hosts.

So those are the verses we'll examine.

So this is the third part of the series and by his strength he had power with God.

By his strength he had power with God.

So let me set the scene up that we've been following over the last two days.

Jacob is distressed.

Jacob is fearful of Esau.

Jacob is fearful for what might happen to his family because Esau has 400 men coming

with him.

And Jacob reminds God of the promises that God had given him at Bethel where he saw that

stairway going into heaven.

He reminds God of those promises.

And he's alone at Jabok having sent his wife and his property ahead of him.

He's alone at Jabok and in the middle of the night the angel of God comes, only the angel

of God comes to fight him.

That's the scene, that's the setup.

And even though he's at the bottom of a dark river gorge at midnight, Jacob sees the face

of God, which is why in Genesis 32, verse 20, he says, I will call this place Peniel

Genesis 32:20

because I have seen God face to face.

Which then kind of dismantles the theory that God wanted to leave in the morning because

he didn't want Jacob to see his face because daybreak was coming.

Jacob already saw his face, man, and how he managed to see the face of God in the middle

of the night in the dark ravine is pretty amazing in itself.

I don't know if you've seen real darkness.

I was once with Dano and Eddie in the middle of the bush in South Africa.

And after having lived in a city, man, when things go really dark, darkness has a strange

kind of darkness because there are no lights, there are no lights around.

You can't see city lights out in the distance.

It's completely dark.

You see what Abraham saw in terms of stars.

There are thousands and thousands of stars out there.

It's just that you don't see them in Vancouver, partly because of the clouds, partly because

of the lights.

And in a very dark place, both in terms of his soul and in terms of his physical environment,

he begins to fight the angel of God and he knows that he has to call the place Peniel

because he has just seen God face to face.

Guys, there's a certainty that God wants to bring to us, bring to me that cannot come

except through face to face wrestling.

There are promises that we can trust.

There is his faithfulness we can trust.

There are words and prophetic words that we can trust.

But there is a certainty that comes that God wants to bring to me by saying, hey, Jacob,

can I have you engage me in face to face contending with certain issues so that you know me like

in no other way?

wrestling is one sport where people are in such close contact, there's no other sport

like it.

No other sport like it.

So here's a question we have to ask.

How come Jacob, it says, had the power over the angel and prevailed?

How come Jacob had power over the angel and prevailed?

How come the angel of God, how come this person that Jacob meets and realizes, ah shucks,

this is God himself, how come that it says in scriptures that Jacob bested the angel

of God or Jacob had power over the angel and prevailed?

How did that happen?

And yet, shortly after, the angel just touches the inside of the hollow of Jacob's thigh

and Jacob is incapacitated.

So how come Jacob had power over the angel and prevailed?

Guys, the thing is, when God wrestles, when God wrestles, when God wrestles, he humbles

himself, he humbles himself, when God wrestles, he humbles himself to meet me on my terms,

he humbles himself to meet me on my terms, he humbles himself to meet me on my terms,

he humbles himself to meet me on my terms, for the purpose of bringing me, for the purpose

of bringing me to the end of my strength, to the end of my strength and the beginning

of his.

I love this line.

I've seen God do this so many times with people, with me, with us, where he humbles

himself, when God wrestles with you, or when God contends with you, or when God wants to

bring to pass something dramatic or earth-shaking in your life, he humbles himself to meet me

on my terms, so that I can dialogue with him, I can argue with him, I can contend with him,

as if I were doing that with another man who had the power to release something to me,

that I can demand things of, that I can point out things from the word, that I can contend,

argue, he allows it.

This is the king of the universe, who if he holds his breath, the entire earth collapses.

If he lifts his finger, planets fly out of orbit.

That same God has the ability, when he contends with man, to humble himself to meet me on

my terms, and what's the purpose?

The purpose is to bring me to the end of my strength and to the beginning of his, to bring

me to the end of my strength.

That's his purpose.

So even with Jacob, that's what's happening.

Okay, I'll fight with you as a man fights with another man, but my intent at the end

of the day is to bring you to the end of your strength and to bring you to the beginning

of mine.

So he was okay with Jacob winning.

He does this with Abraham, he does this with the Syrophoenician woman, contends with them

on terms that they understand.

And like I said earlier, it is in these kind of face to face encounters, wrestlings, contentions,

fighting, that you get to know with a degree of certainty certain things about God that

will never leave your life, never leave your life.

You will never doubt again in those areas.

Not because you have extra faith, but because you have seen the beginning of who he is.

Desire this.

It's not some kind of selective experience that is meant for a few.

Only parents could begin to do this for their children as they draw them aside and on one

hand come to terms, come to the terms with their children, but it's not so that you can

have a friendly discussion, but so that you can bring the child to the end of their strength

and the beginning of something new that you know because of the experience you already

have.

That's a different topic.

When God wrestles, it is never to defeat me.

When God wrestles with me, it is never to defeat me.

When we wrestle, it is defeat or winning.

When God wrestles, it's never to defeat me.

God wrestles me not to defeat me, but to spend me so that I can have a friendly conversation

so I can replenish, but to spend me so I can be replenished, so I can be replenished, so

I can be replenished with something I cannot provide for myself.

So I can be replenished with something I cannot provide for myself.

I cannot provide for myself.

God wrestles with me not to defeat me, but to spend me so I can be replenished with something

I cannot provide for myself and I have to cling to him.

I have to cling to him.

This is in a sense what Matthew 5 verse 3 says from the message where it says, blessed

Matthew 5:3

are you when you have reached the end of your rope because now there is less of you and

more of God.

So one of the reasons he wrestles me is not to defeat me, but to bring me to a point where

I have spent myself and I'm so empty that I now need to be replenished not with something

that I can provide for myself.

This is exactly what happened to Jacob.

He realizes there's nothing left.

Now he has to be replenished with something else that he cannot provide for himself and

so he clings on to God.

One of the things, these things can only happen when we step into things that are far greater

than us.

As long as you remain in a secure or relatively risk free corner, you can always manage the

outcome.

You can always manage the outcome.

It's a question we must ask ourselves as a church and as individuals constantly.

The advantage of a low risk environment is that you can always manage the outcome.

Spend means to exhaust, empty.

The advantages of a low risk environment is that you can always manage the outcomes.

These things can only happen when you're caught in Jabok.

So sometimes it doesn't matter where the threat is coming from, whether it is orchestrated

by God or whether it is orchestrated by the enemy.

Being in places like Jabok and throwing yourself helplessly into the arms of God will bring

you into a place where you will have face to face encounters, but it has to be risk

prone.

For me, yeah, all my life guys, I say this with tears not with pride, all my life God

has made sure, either through my own thirst or through his orchestration, that there isn't

more than two or three months where I'm not risking something and stepping into shoes

that I cannot fill.

But it is the only way, it is the only way for a Christian.

And now we're taking on a thing that's going global and we don't have what it takes.

But to be able to go out and speak it, to declare it, to boast about it, to not hold

back on it, puts us into a place where we're either failures, frauds or we are in a place

where God will prove himself again.

God wrestles with me not to defeat me, but his intent is to expend, his intent is to

have me expend every ounce of strength, every ounce of strength, his intent is to have me

expend every ounce of strength to lay hold, to lay hold of the high calling of Christ.

It says so in Philippians 3.13, that I strain forward, reaching out for that with Christ

lay hold of me.

I restrain forward, reaching out for the high calling of Christ upon my life.

That's what Paul says in Philippians 3.13.

So his intent, God's intent through times of wrestling is, hey Jacob, as I wrestle with

you can you lay hold of that which I'm inviting you to take hold of?

Can you lay hold of that which I'm saying you want it, come take it?

Can you lay hold?

It's like that game, I forgot the name of the game where you put a handkerchief in the

center of the field and you go running and you start circling and someone has to grab

the handkerchief and run and you've got to be quick on your feet, grab the handkerchief

and run.

That is what I'm talking about.

God is saying, hey here it is, but I'm not going to let go of that that easily.

I mean you can imagine that night where he has just told God about the promises that

God guaranteed him at Bethel and he sees a man coming towards him and he thinks perhaps

this is something that God is sending his way.

But as the man comes, the man like in multiple battles in the ancient Middle East, comes

and says, okay put your fists up because I'm contesting you.

I'm contending with you.

And Jacob is thinking, really?

When I need help, this is what you're coming up with?

God's intent is, hey Jacob, can I expend every ounce of your strength to lay hold of the

high calling of Christ?

I want you to expend.

Spend is exhaust, expend is invest.

Can you expend?

Can you invest every ounce of strength that you have to lay hold of that which I'm inviting

you?

But I'm not going to give it to you just because you said a simple prayer and sang a song.

I'm going to give it to you because you want it so badly that you will sell all your treasures

to get the pearl.

That is how much I must want something that is precious.

I must want something that is precious in the eyes of God.

There is something to do not throw your pearls before swine.

Only may you not be the end of the sentence.

And in the process if you thought I called you pig, I didn't.

God wrestles me not to defeat me.

God wrestles me not to defeat me, but to have me acknowledge my old name.

God wrestles me not to defeat me, but to have me acknowledge my old name.

God wrestles me not to defeat me, but to have me acknowledge my old name.

And the fact that it is unsuitable or no longer appropriate, paving the way for a new name.

God wrestles me not to defeat me, but to have me acknowledge my old name.

Its unsuitability, thus paving the way for a new name.

And with a new name, for a new name.

And with a new name comes new responsibilities, new domain, and new enemies.

That's what God does with Jacob too.

In the heavenlies, Acts 29's name is changing.

Which doesn't mean we are going to go and change things in Ottawa, but as it becomes

clearer we'll know what our new name is.

And our new name then begins to define the course that we take, it defines the new enemies

we deal with, it defines the new territory that's been given.

God wrestles me so that once I've wrestled God face to face, I will prevail with men.

God wrestles me because once I've wrestled God face to face, I will prevail with men.

You see this in Jacob's statement in Genesis 32, verse 30.

Genesis 32:30

He says, and the New King James puts it this way, I think there's a deliberate reason for

it.

He says that I, he called the place Peniel because he said I have seen God face to face

and my life is preserved.

And my life is preserved.

Many scriptures, many versions put it this way, I have seen God face to face and yet

my life was spared.

They always put the word and yet.

In the King James and the New King James it puts it this way, I have seen God face to

face and my life is preserved.

I would like to suggest to you that what he's saying there is I have seen God face to face

and he's already saying that it doesn't matter that I'll be meeting Esau, if I have been

delivered here, I'll be delivered there.

That this will preserve me there.

He's talking about what he's sure of.

He's not saying yet I have been spared.

He's saying I have seen God face to face, I have wrestled him, now as I go meet Esau,

I know my life will be preserved.

It's odd how Jacob wanted a promise, he wanted comfort, he wanted reassurance.

He got instead contention and a fight, but the end of the fight and the contention, he

still is absolutely sure that he will be preserved.

You see the end result is exactly what you wanted, but the process is usually not what

you want.

And therein lies our struggle, right?

Give me my results the way I don't finish everything.

So, sorry, that was just something that happened internally.

People are just eating while I'm talking and they're just finishing everything.

So God wrestled so that once I wrestled God face to face I will prevail with men.

Jacob realizes this when he says my life is preserved because he knows he will be delivered.

At the end of the day the results are the same, the process is different.

Any questions that are coming online, Brandon?

So here's another question that I would think we need to ask.

Why did God wrench Jacob's hip?

Why did God wrench Jacob's hip?

Because that puts such an odd spin on the story.

Why did God wrench Jacob's hip?

Why did he dislocate Jacob's hip?

So let's go with the very obvious answer which is right there in the scriptures.

He wrenched Jacob's hip because the Bible says he realized, as in God realized, that

he would not prevail against Jacob.

Remember the first point we made that when God wrestles he humbles himself to meet me

on my terms for the purpose of bringing me to the end of my strength and the beginning

of his.

So God lowers himself to do that.

I've seen him do it so many times.

There's so many times when I've gone to argue with him and I'm sometimes scared of arguing

with him because I think to myself what if I get rude?

What if I accuse him of things that aren't right?

And so many times when I argue with him in prayer or contend with him I tell him listen

at any point if I get rude can you please have your Holy Spirit point it out because

I really don't want to be rude to you.

I don't want to accuse you.

I don't want to suspect you.

But I do want to have a healthy argument with you.

So can you be like a lawyer I'm putting in the dock?

Let me now argue.

And he brings himself to that level which is what fascinates me.

We are so different from the Old Testament guys.

In the Old Testament God was nebulous.

No one dared say anything about him.

You would always have to conclude every argument with the simple scripture.

His ways are higher, his thoughts are higher and that was the end of it.

And God is so different now where he allows me to contend with him.

He invites me to contend with him.

Isaiah 43 I think or 42 it says come contend with me bring your arguments.

And so why did God rent Jacob's hip?

Because the first reason is he realized that he would not prevail against Jacob.

So I remember when I used to play ping pong with my dad and initially when I was getting

better he would let me win and then he would have this strange serve where he would throw

the ball up in the air and do something funny.

But every time he served that serve I could never return it.

It was like his special sauce or like turbo serve and he does that you can't return it.

That's how he used to win.

Just when I thought I had him at my mercy he would do those three serves and he'd win

the game.

Like Tooni does with all these boys except me.

So the point being Tooni is scared to play me.

And if he beats me he'll be in probation for eight months.

So God realizes that he cannot prevail against Jacob.

So he touches the inside of Jacob's hip tie and Jacob's hip is wrenched.

The second reason that God wrenches Jacob's hip is to help Jacob realize that this time

around, that this time around, that this time around what he sought, what he sought he would

not get by his own strength.

Guys what we don't realize in this story is that when Jacob initially goes into wrestling

he thinks he's wrestling a man and the reason he went into it with the degree of confidence

that he had was because Jacob was an extremely strong man.

It says in Genesis chapter 29 verse 8 and verse 10 that Jacob had gone to meet Laban

Genesis 29:8

and he's sitting there at a well and the well has this huge stone over it and he asks Rachel

and the women why is it that nobody is drawing from the well and they say we need the shepherds

to turn up because once they turn up we need a few of them to lift the stone before water

can be drawn from this well.

Then it says in verse 10 that Jacob went and just one man lifted up that stone instead

of waiting for the other shepherds to come.

This was a strong man eh?

This was a strong man and that's why one of the reasons God wrenches his hip is to help

Jacob realize that this time around what he sought he would not get by his own strength.

There's a question Brandon?

Yeah coming up shortly.

Third reason to see if Jacob would persist despite losing his foothold.

To see if Jacob would persist despite losing his foothold.

To see if Jacob would persist despite losing his foothold.

Now that his strength was gone would this man fold or would this man still persist to

receive what he knew that only this man who now he knows is God himself can give him?

Would he persist or would he say no you've hurt me now I can't win I've lost.

You know the resignation that you go through when things don't work out.

It's been two days you've stood on a promise you've done all the things that you need to

nothing is happening.

What happens to you?

You begin to resign you sometimes begin to slip into old sins because you think to yourself

this is useless let me go back into the way I used to do or you begin to attribute to

God what should not be attributed to him.

You give the devil more credit than you should give him.

You get resentful in your heart you get into places of self pity you come up with your

own theology to either justify hold on to or comfort yourself and through all this all

that we are doing is saying now that my leg is dislocated I am packing it in.

Instead this man even though he's a man of strength and has just lost his footing and

you lose your footing in wrestling there's nothing left you lose traction on any one

of your feet and you're done.

There's no wrestling anymore so what does he do?

He clings.

He just holds on for dear life.

I like my namesake at times like this.

Despite losing his foothold he now he could no longer stand and fight so what does he

do?

He weeps and pleads.

He could no longer stand and fight so what does he do?

He weeps and pleads.

That's why in Hosea 12 verse 4 it says yes he had power over the angel and prevail and

Hosea 12:4

he wept and made supplication unto him.

The same man who was wrestling now is weeping and pleading but the one thing he knows is

I will weep and plead because bless me for I will not let you go even though I know you

can easily break the hold I have on you.

I've seen what you did with my thigh.

I know that I'm clinging on to you and you can shove me away like one shoves a fly away

But I am weeping and pleading and I'm saying to you oh God bless me for I will not let

you go.

There's something about this man that God knew ahead of time but he didn't know and

God had to bring it out.

This is what I meant when I said that when God wrestles he humbles himself to meet me

on my terms for the purpose of bringing me to the end of my strength and the beginning

of faith saying Jacob now I knew you had that you didn't know it I've shown you thank you

let's go.

There is this breaking out of a cocoon that must happen in our lives on a regular basis

because whenever we make any progress in God what happens is that environment becomes familiar

it begins to wrap itself around you and you refuse to get out of this environment you

come up with excuses like I need some time to pray I need some time to prepare next time

maybe two weeks from now all kinds of things will come up and the cocoon just wraps around

you tighter and tighter every so often in the life of a believer sometimes two months

sometimes six months sometimes three years one needs to break out of that cocoon because

only then can God say look what I had in the seed but it was wrapped up all this time.

This is why sometimes they keep pushing you into places that you don't want to go.

I've only had mentors who were cruel to me in the nicest way they would just keep pushing

me into places I didn't want to go but what happens when they do is you escalate rapidly

what would take eight years you get to do in two or three years.

To answer the upside down inside out question are there modern examples of contending and

yes they are and rather than let me just go to the Bible itself to show pictures of contending

where there were others who wrestled there was a man who contended in the plains of

Mamre or the orcs of Mamre Genesis 18 where Abraham contends with God and he's contending

again usually a lot of contention was for other people and so Abraham is contending

in Genesis 18 and he says can we start with 50 can we start with 30 can we start with

20 can we start with 10 can we he just keeps arguing with God saying listen if you do this

they'll think this of you if you don't relent they what will they say about you being righteous

for the sake of 10 righteous what about your own righteousness will you destroy it is it

is borderline aren't you supposed to be like this how come you are willing to do this.

Wrestling and contending comes in different forms in Jacob's case it was actual physical

wrestling that was in Genesis 18 you go a little further and you find an 80 year old

leader refusing to lead his people if God didn't go with them that's in Exodus 33 verse

Exodus 33:15

15 here is a man who has seen God here is a man who used to talk to him like a man talks

to his friend and he's saying to God I just want you to know that if you do not go with us if you're

going to send an angel with it if you do not go with us I just want you to know that I'm

refusing to lead those people why because God has just said I'm gonna start a brand new generation

I'm done with these people they're stiff-necked I'll send an angel with them if they have to go

but Moses how about you and I we can start a new group of people because I will form my kingdom

and here is a man contending Exodus 33 15 if you do not go with us please don't tell me to go because

I ain't going cancel the strip it's literally the message says the if you're not going the strip is

off just so you know these are guys who didn't know God like you and I did these are guys who

are in the dread of God because they only saw God in his anthropomorphic brilliant glorious form

you go further and you see in Matthew 15 24 a woman who has such feistiness about her and feistily

refuses to accept the exclusion of the Gentiles from the grace of God despite Jesus's derogatory

comments she reverses his decision and gets her request granted you should read that man it's

like I mean in any culture referring to someone as a dog isn't good particularly in Jewish culture

and even though she was a Syrophoenician woman she knows what that word means and it is being

said in reference to children and dogs and now listen to how it goes Matthew 15 verse 24 onwards

Matthew 15:24

Jesus answered begin with Jesus did not answer a word 23 so the disciples came to him and urged

him and it's not like she's deaf she can hear them saying send her away for she keeps crying

out after us he answered and now he's talking to her and the people who said send her away I

was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel the woman came and knelt before him Lord help me she

said he replied it's not to it's not right to take children's bread and toss it to the dogs yes it is

Lord she said even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table and Jesus said to a

woman you have great faith your request is granted I can't imagine the audacity of a woman in that

culture to go up against a rabbi who has a following and she's an outsider and yet has

the ability to refuse despite the derogatory terms used the exclusion of the Gentiles from

the grace of God because somehow she has a grasp of the kingdom that even his disciples didn't have

and she reverses Jesus's decision and grants her request that is what contending looks for looks

like or you go further and you see a man alone in a garden and he's sweating blood and contending

for the earth hey at one point he even turns to his father and says if this cup could pass and

then he immediately changes and says not not my will but yours be done he was alone too not the

river of Jabok not the not the gorge of Jabok but in a garden called Gethsemane I want to make a

point after having talked to you about these men and women here's the point that point one could

would not prevail be rephrased as chose not to prevail what's the what's point one

yeah you can rephrase that yes can we hear the first point explained again yeah why did

God rent Jacob's hip he wrenched Jacob's hip because he knew that he would not prevail against

Jacob that Jacob in his strength would keep wrestling he would not let go and so he knew

that Jacob would not let go he knew that Jacob would prevail and God has humbled himself lowered

a man and he's fighting with Jacob I said that point earlier when God wrestles he humbles himself

to meet me on my terms for the purpose of bringing me to the end of my strength unfortunately Jacob

was the kind who would not come to the end of the strength and therefore would not discover the

beginning of God's strength that is a cool thing that God does here he's doing Jacob a favor

yes so having mentioned these four people here's the point that I need to make which

I think if we learn it will be super useful in wrestling with God learn to wrestle with God

learn to wrestle with God and prevail from a place of meekness or in other words surrendered

strength and if you do you can walk in the blessing without a limp you can walk in the

blessing without a limp these four people that I mentioned be it Abraham in Genesis 18 be it

Moses in Exodus 33 15 be it the Sarah Phoenician woman in Matthew 15 or be Jesus in the garden of

Luke 22 you'll find that in all their cases the approach was one of listen if you please allow me

to if I may say another word I know that true children should be fed first but even dogs get

the crumbs and not your will not my will but yours be done if I may say so God show me a goodness but

I can't lead these people please if you don't go I'm not able to go with them it's always this

place of surrendered strength or meekness and even in your contention that this is why I was

giving you that example of how I contend with God I just go tell him listen I really want to

argue freely I don't want to be afraid but I also want you to know that you know my opening line

with every time I wrestle with God argued with him contended with him is this oh God I know you're

perfect you're fair you're good that you are always just there is no unrighteousness in you I may not

be able to see the situation that which is why I'm willing to take up your invitation to argue with

you but I want you to know that this is how I think of you and having established this if ever

during this argument I veer off I'll come and repeat this again and again because you are

righteous you're good you're perfect you're fair you're just you're a father and nothing

about that changes but now having said that can I argue freely

let me begin to end what a bad choice of words say let me begin to end never know what that means

Hosea 12 verse 4b it says he found him with Bethel he found him in Bethel and there he

talked with us Jehovah Elohim sabbaut or the Lord of hosts the Lord Almighty you know one of the

things about Jacob was he was so accustomed almost to angelic visitors you see that in

Genesis 28 where angels were ascending and descending and then in Genesis 32 shortly before

this incident at Jabok it says that he camped at a place called Mahanein Genesis 32 verse 1 & 2

Genesis 32:1

where angels visited with him don't know whether the angels said anything to him but he called

that the camp of angels but when he is wrestling he suddenly recognizes the one he is wrestling

with as Elohim sabbaut Jehovah Elohim sabbaut as in the Lord of hosts the Lord Almighty so it says

in the last part of Hosea 12 verse 4 that he found him in Bethel where he spoke to us or talked to us

Hosea 12:4

why is it that when Hosea is talking about Jacob wrestling which happened in Genesis 32 why does

he suddenly make a reference to Bethel oftentimes guys Bethel was the first place that God actually

appeared to Jacob in a very visible way where he sees where he's sleeping there in the place that

was called Luz and while he's sleeping he sees a stairway set up from earth to heaven and he sees

angels ascending and descending and he sees God and so oftentimes what you find oftentimes

oftentimes what you find what you find and hear in Bethel which is the house of God or the place

of God or the gateway of heaven oftentimes what you find and hear in Bethel is comprehended

is comprehended and realized in flesh is comprehended and realized in flesh only through

progressive wrestlings at Peniel I know the sentence sounds a little complicated but all

it's trying to say is hey many of the things that God shows you in a moment of worship or in a

prophetic word or when you got born again or when you were suddenly yielded and filled by the Holy

Spirit or in a dream whatever God shows you to bring it to pass to make it part of who you are

to comprehend and understand it the way God wants you to does not happen till you take what has been

said and wrestle with it repeatedly Paul puts it this way to Timothy at one stage hey remember the

prophetic word that was spoken over you and wage a good war with the prophetic word as in let the

word that was spoken over you now become your sparring partner wrestle with the word spoken so

that the word shapes you it's one of the things we don't necessarily do with the prophetic we hear

the prophetic we wait for it to happen and that's only one part of it the other part of it is to go

and wrestle with it be be be twisted by it inside and out so that your entire shape is changed by it

going over it every five days ten days repeat it put it up make a poster of it sing it read it speak

it boast about it that's how the word wrestles with you and so many of the things that you find

in here when you were fortunate enough to be at the gateway of heaven actually can only be understood

to the depth that they need to be understood or can only be realized in actual flesh when you go

through multiple progressive wrestlings with God and as you do God says now do you understand what

I meant by that now do you understand what I meant by that now do you understand what I meant by

that see I brought it to pass now do you understand now do you understand and all wrestlings include

some degree of faith it is impossible to remain in the shallows and wrestle impossible you cannot

go through this without risk when God says something impossible to you part of the reason

he says something impossible to you is so that your soul will wrestle to it and we lose hear me

again part of the reason God tells you to do something really impossible illogical stupid

with what you don't have is so that your soul will have to wrestle with it your thinking and

your emotions will have to wrestle with it your spirit knows it but your spirit hasn't been trained

to the point where the spirit is ruling everything and your emotions and your thinking just wrestles

with it and the intent is that it should lose and like I said a risk-free environment will

always produce manageable outcomes guys for us there is earth-changing legacy at stake for us as

a church and when I say as a church I so absolutely mean anyone who's listening and who's hearing and

believing there is earth-changing legacy at stake for us the weight of his glory is on our back like

I said yesterday the weight of his glory has the ability to straighten us not to break us there is

earth-changing legacy at stake there is the weight of his glory on our back and thousands of young

lives in balance across battlefields there is earth-changing legacy at stake there is the weight

of his glory on our backs and there are thousands of young lives in balance in the balance across

battlefields and what's God saying he's inviting you he's provoking you to wrestle with him and

even if your leg gives away don't let go of your grip why so that he can strengthen you he says

Jacob I know this is impossible church I know it's impossible acts 29 I know it's impossible but

come come wrestle with me on this I know you're helpless I know you don't know the next thing to

do you don't know the next move come wrestle with me don't stand at a distance don't pray don't sing

come get dirty get into the mud wrestle with me and as you do I will bring you to the end of your

strength and the beginning of mine and don't let go even if your leg gives way don't let go of your

grip even if your leg gives way don't let go of your grip even if your leg gives way Jacob don't

let go of your grip why so that I may strengthen you so that you may be a blessing to the earth

because thousands of lives are in the balance across battlefields because there's an earth-changing

legacy that is at stake and that is there is the weight of my glory on your backs I think there

are two questions what are they how do we wrestle from a place of rest in other words how do we

rest still or more likely how do those two aspects of our relationship with God interact yeah how do

you wrestle from a place of rest you can only wrestle from a place of rest you can only wrestle

God from a place of rest if you know who he is in terms of his fatherhood his nature then it is

possible it's the it's the points I made to clarify things earlier I must start every day

from this end point God is in charge and control of my today he's a good father who delights in me

that he's always in absolute authority that I have permission to partake in his covenant promises

once I know his nature once I know that he never wrestles to defeat me now that I know it my

wrestling comes from a place of rest because I am not anxious about the end right now as we speak

I'm involved in a situation where I have done everything I need to and I'm at absolute rest

it's a highly risky thing I was telling Heidi about it vaguely yesterday and yet I'm not looking

at my phone I'm not checking the next message why because once you know the character of your God

you know that only good can come out of this I do not need to be anxious I do not need to worry

about what to do next I do not need to know whether I should compromise not compromise whether I

should do this or not do this you can be at rest because you know that if God is inviting you into

something it is always to bring you to a new place in him not an old place in you we're not

rehashing Jacob all over again and calling him Jacob or Yakub we are changing his name man or

Yakub or Jake's or Jake-o-Coo no we completely changing the name Israel he used to be called

Yisra Jacob as in Jacob will rule now it is Israel as in God will rule through him