The Struggle Israel

We're going to continue today, I'm going to invite

you to the Word of the Lord, Genesis chapter

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

22. And I'll be concluding the series that we

began a few weeks ago called Battles That Build

Us. God's been speaking to us about the various

struggles and battles that we experience in our

life that ultimately develop who He has called

us to be. And Genesis chapter 22, excuse me,

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

32 and verse 22. I would invite your attention

to the most iconic scenes in Scripture, the Old

Testament and the life of Jacob and a moment

that forever altered the course of his destiny.

It reads as follows, and he arose that night

and took his two wives and his two female servants.

and his 11 sons and crossed over the ford of

Jabbok. And he took them and set them over the

brook and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was

left alone. You know, something's good. Sometimes

good things happen when you're left alone. I

know we don't like, some of us, you know, we

fear being alone sometimes. But sometimes there

are some things that God's got to get you alone,

you know. And a man wrestled with him until 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, 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. I'm going to speak

for a few moments on this thought. The struggle

is real. Someone say the struggle is real. I

did a little spin on the word is real. Hopefully

that all. comes together for you. Why don't we

pray? Father, I thank you for your presence that

we feel so palpably in this place, so powerfully,

Lord. We know that you have come to meet us.

Come let us reason together. And that's what

we're doing, Lord. And I pray, God, that you

would speak to us now in this moment, God, that

you would anoint the ears and the spiritual hearing.

unlock our understanding, God, to receive your

word and anoint my lips of clay that every word

that comes out of my mouth would be seasoned

with salt, would be your words and not mine.

For this next phase of this service, God, we

want you to just have your way and speak to our

lives. Challenge us. Transform us. In Jesus'

name we pray. Everyone say amen. Amen. You may

be seated in God's presence. The struggle is

real. Someone say the struggle is real. Come

on, say it like you mean it. The struggle is

real. We know that's a fact, right? Life is not

a straight, unbroken line. It often comes with

these inflection points that can alter the course

of our future. Crossroads that demand a decision,

a choice, but arriving at these crossroads usually

comes at a cost. Reaching these pivotal places

often requires that we reach. The end. Of ourselves.

And this is exactly where Jacob found himself.

As he sat at the edge of the. Jaybok River. Alone.

Desperate. Tired. He's very tired at this point.

He's tired of running. He's tired of the games.

He's tired of. The fear, he's tired of playing

cat and mouse with God. He's tired of a lot of

things. He's tired of the act that he's been

having to put up. And to this point, Jacob had

lived up to his name. And I'm not very fond of

it for obvious reasons. But his name means supplanter.

or heel grabber. That's an interesting name to

name your child in its original setting. Supplanter,

heel grabber, or deceiver. And he had lived his

life living up to his name for the most part.

But he had finally reached the end of himself.

The end of trusting his own savviness, his own

wit. The end of scheming his way through life.

And at last, the game was over. At last, he had

reached the end of the line. The jig was up.

This was it. This was a make it or break it point

for him, confronted with the reality of having

to face his lifelong nemesis, his rival, which

was his twin brother Esau, on the next day, whom

he had deceived out of his birthright. Jacob

is now out of tricks. He's got no more tricks

up his sleeve, no more rabbits to pull out of

a hat, so to speak. There's nothing left now

that he can resort to. Things that he had done

throughout his life, he had finally run out of

those schemes. And this was the moment where

he was finally going to have to face his... His

demons, so to speak. He was going to have to

face his past and deal with things in his life

that he had evaded very elusively throughout

the course of his life. But before facing his

enemy, Jacob would have to face himself and God.

Facing your enemy is one thing, but facing yourself,

is another. And I would argue today that the

latter is actually more difficult than the former.

Amen, somebody. You may not believe what I'm

going to tell you right now, but it's actually

easier to face the enemy. It's actually easier

to face the devil than it is To face ourselves.

Can I tell you today? Someone say, go ahead.

It's easier to call the devil a liar. Some of

us are very good at that. Devil, you're a liar.

We say it like that, too, with attitude. Satan,

you are a liar. Get under my feet, right? I mean,

we know how to call him a liar. And we ought

to because the Bible says he's the father of

lies. But it's a lot harder to look in the mirror

and say, you're a liar. I just lost you right

there. It's a lot easier to put the blame on

the devil and face him. But in this text, we

see. Jacob finally, after years and years of

shifting blame the other direction, pulling schemes

and getting one over on people, shifting blame,

he has finally come to a point where he has to

face the facts about his own decisions, his own

life, and come to terms with the man that he

has allowed himself to become. 20 years had passed

since Jacob's unforgettable night at Bethel.

Another remarkable moment where, as you might

recall, he saw the ladder from heaven down to

earth with the angels ascending and descending

upon that. And this moment was powerful. He had

an encounter with the presence of God, and he

even confessed himself. He said, surely the presence

of the Lord was here, and I did not know it.

But therein lies the problem of that Bethel experience

that he had, which was that despite the fact

that he had this moment in God's presence and

he was affected emotionally, it did not change

who he was. Can I tell you today that you can

be in God's presence and God's presence not be

in you? You can have an encounter with the presence

of God so much so that it brings tears to your

eyes, chills down your spine, have you speaking

in other tongues, and still walk out of this

place the exact same person you were when you

walked in. Jacob had an encounter with God. He

had a vision of a lot of angels. I mean, it doesn't

get more glorious and more supernatural. It doesn't

get better than that. And still he had not learned

his lesson. And so he leaves that moment unchanged,

which is what happens to many, many people. And

so God still has to work on us. And during those

years, Jacob got a taste of his own medicine.

He was tricked into marrying. Leah instead of

Rachel. There's a whole saga behind that one.

Woke up next to the wrong sister. Endured years

of family tension. I mean, unending family drama

and politics and tension and just toxic things.

And eventually he separated from. Laban, which

was his father -in -law, under the messiest of

circumstances. But now Jacob sits at the Jabbok

River on the eve of his greatest test, facing

his brother. But before that, he's got to face

himself. And before the sun would rise, he would

experience one more divine visitation from God.

But unlike Bethel, where it was all dreams and

visions and ladders and angels, this would be

much different. This would not be an encounter

of a dream, but of a struggle. And I see this

struggle occurring in three stages today that

I want to, for the next few moments, share with

you what God revealed to me. There is... Three

stages. There is a brawling stage, a breaking

stage, and a blessing stage. Amen. And I believe

that this is the same method that God uses to

transform us. Let's deal with the brawling stage.

The brawling stage. I want to tell you that the

brawling stage shows us that God brawls with

those he calls. Let me say it again. God brawls.

Someone say he brawls with those he calls. He

fights. And as Jacob lay alone on the muddy banks

of the Jabbok, the Bible says that a man wrestled

with him until the breaking of day. The word

man there is significant, is capitalized, and

refers to a divine being or... a visible manifestation

of God. This was not just any spirit being that

Jacob was wrestling with. This was God himself

stepping into his world and jumping him in the

middle of the night. You think you had a bad

night last night, huh? Or the night before. Man,

I couldn't sleep. This is categorically a bad

night. You're minding your own business. You're

trying to get some shut -eye over... The night

of what is to be one of the most tense and pivotal

moments of your life. And all of a sudden, this

shadowy, unknown, mysterious figure comes and

jumps on you without warning. No warning shot.

They didn't do a weigh -in like they do with,

you know, boxing matches. There was no sizing

up of the enemy. No, he's just sleeping and he

gets tackled by this mysterious being. And he

realizes through the course of this fight that

he's not just fighting any man, but that there

is something godly, there's something heavenly,

there's something supernatural, divine. And he

recognizes that this must be God. But we see

Jacob finally in another, he's in another wrestling

match, and he'd been wrestling all of his life.

Jacob had been wrestling even in the womb. He

was wrestling with his brother. The Bible says

that they struggled together in the womb of their

mother, Rachel. At birth, he even grabbed the

heel of his brother. As the first was being delivered,

being born, he grabbed his heel. And throughout

his life, Jacob had been wrestling and grabbing

at heels and trying to get ahead through any

means necessary. The ends justify the means.

That's the way he lived his life, always wrestling

and always heel grabbing. But this wrestling

match at J -Buck was one for the ages. There

he learned, Jacob learned that when God wrestles

with you, and this is what you and I must learn

today, he's not trying to destroy you. He's trying

to change you. Somebody say amen. Someone say

he's trying to change me. Come on, say, he's

trying to change me. I want to tell you that

there are seasons in our life where God begins

to deal with us. God begins to wrestle with us.

God begins to engage with us on a level that

perhaps we have never engaged with him before.

God begins to enter into our world and via either

through... A very direct approach, wrestling

with us in our spirit or simply allowing things

to happen in our life that wrestle, that cause

us to wrestle within ourselves. God will begin

to deal with us usually when we are on the verge

of experiencing His greatest move in our life.

And God will engage us in these ways to prepare

us to see whether or not we are truly ready for

the blessing that we so desperately want to receive

in our life. God will engage with us like he

did with Jacob. He begins to deal with us. And

I know I'm talking to some people here today

who, if not right now, you know at some point

God began to deal with you. And you know God

is dealing with you when you can't find that

normal rest that you're used to finding. You

know God is dealing with you when you've got

that unsettling in your spirit. Something is

just not quite settled. Something isn't quite

the way that it was. Something seems to be a

little bit off. Something is not. Business as

usual. Something has got you kind of off your

game. Something's got you kind of in a funk or

in a weird cycle mentally or spiritually. You

kind of know that God is dealing with you when

things aren't happening the way that they normally

would happen. When things are starting to shake

in your world and things are starting to move

around. You know that God is wrestling with you

when you start to lose. Lose control of the things

that you normally have under control. You know

that God is starting to wrestle with you when

the stuff that you're usually able to manipulate,

maneuver, control, dictate, you're no longer

able to do that with as great as ease as you

once did. Be it your financial life, be it your

spiritual life, your relationships, your family,

the roof over your head, all sorts of things

start to come unglued a little bit. And I want

to tell you that when you find yourself in those

situations, it's not always that the devil is

messing with you. It's not always that the devil

is fighting you. It's not always that hell, the

gates of hell have opened up over your life.

Sometimes it's God that is trying to wrestle

you and move. in your life and struggle with

you in a way so that he can ultimately form and

frame and develop you into the man or the woman

of God that he is wanting you to be. Somebody

say amen today. Now I understand that we don't

like this. Nobody wants to wrestle with God in

the way that God wrestled with Jacob on that

day. But you need to understand that there are

some levels in God. There are some levels in

Christian living. There are some dimensions in

walking with him. And in this journey of life

that can only be experienced, only be known.

There is some honey that can only be tasted.

There is some milk that can only be drank. When

you have gone through a process of God wrestling

with you to the point that something changes

in your mentality, in your spirit, in your behavior,

in your life. And this is going to be the make

or break moment. And God, hear me today, church.

I feel this in my spirit today. God has assembled

us here right now. God has assembled us here

right now in this place because he, like he did

with Jacob, has been dealing with some of you

in your spirit in the late night hours. You've

been feeling God begin to tug on you. And some,

even in the form of a greater call in your life,

you feel the call of God, the heaviness, the

weight of that call to go to a deeper place in

him, to serve him in a greater way. And there's

a rest. between you and that call between your

flesh and your carnal man and the spirit man

that God is trying to awaken in your life and

I have come today to encourage you tell you not

to give up I've come today to tell you that what

you feel is the hand and the movement of God

in your life and you've simply got to keep wrestling

with him and get to that place in him where you

You say, God, I don't want you to let me go until

you have completely done what you need to do

in my life. Hallelujah, somebody. And this is

what separates. This is what separates the sleepy

saints from the. From the fiery saints, from

the awake saints. This is what separates the

lukewarm from the hot or cold. This is what separates

the saints from the ain'ts. This is what separates

the contenders from the pretenders. Are you hearing

me today? Because up until this point, Jacob

was a world -class pretender. There's too many

pretenders nowadays, brother. Too many people

pretending to be apostolic. Oh, I'm going to

say it. Hallelujah. Too many people pretending

for the pastor. Pretending to worship. You know

what God showed me? Hear me. Everybody, give

me your attention. You know what God showed me

recently? Some of us worship, we sing the songs,

and we don't even feel the Holy Ghost when we're

worshiping. But because we're so programmed to

do these things, we do them instinctively, automatically,

but we're not even worshiping him in spirit.

So we need some kind of production or something

to make us feel something emotionally that only

the Holy Ghost can produce. Some of us pretend

to give. We bring our phone out, and we tap it

on the thing, and we didn't even give our tithe

or offering. Pretending. Some of us don't even

do that. Pretending. We pretend to submit. And

this is where God, I don't know, I just feel

to say this in the Holy Ghost. I may not get

through all my notes, amen, but even there's

preachers who pretend to preach. You know why?

Because they preach what ChatGPT gave them to

preach. God help us from that. A couple weeks

ago, I think Brother Caleb told me after one

of the Sundays, I just closed my Bible and I

preached what God gave me. He said, Pastor, that

was not an AI message. Can I tell you, church,

there's a lot of things I cannot promise you

here. I can't promise you that it's always going

to be a nice, you know, 65 degrees in the church

like it's not right now. I can't promise you

that we're always going to have the latest technology.

I can't promise you we're always going to sing

the most current song. I can't promise you we're

always going to do things with the total professional.

But here's one thing I can promise you. It's

never going to be artificial. Come on now, somebody.

I can't promise you anything else, but I can

promise you that the anointing cannot be artificial.

It cannot be replicated. It cannot be duplicated.

There's only one God. There's only one spirit.

There's only one Holy Ghost. And we need that

Holy Ghost to get a hold of us in this hour so

that God can raise up that church. Raise me up,

God, in the anointing of your spirit. I can't

promise all of that, but I can promise you this,

it won't be artificial. But Jacob at this point

had been living with artificial spirituality.

Faking it. Someone said, you got to fake it till

you make it. No, no, no, no, no. I don't want

to fake nothing. I want to make it. Even if I'm

barely, I'd rather be barely making it than faking

it. Come on now, somebody. I'd rather limp across

the finish line than run with all the issues

and the devils and the things in my life that

I haven't dealt with. I'd rather limp across

that thing and say, man, I barely made it here.

We got to get to the point when we come to church,

we say, pastor, I barely made it to church. My

back gave out on me. My car, my flat tire gave.

I barely, but I'm here. Come on, somebody. Somebody

say, but I'm here. I'm here. We got to get back

to that. It's not always, you know, the stars

are not always going to align, brother. It's

not always going to be like that. And we got

to get this in our spirit. And so God begins

to wrestle with us and brawl with us. But in

the brawling comes the breaking. Number two,

the breaking. God breaks us. Why? To remake us.

Because some of us, we've been made, but you

know what the problem is? We've been made in

our own image. We've been made in the image of

our employer. We've been made in the image of

the friends that are in our life that we so desperately

want their approval. And so we're made in the

image of their opinions and what's right of culture.

We've been made in the image of what other people

have told us that we're supposed to be. But God

has to break us in order to remake us into his

image. I feel this in the Holy Ghost today. So

the Bible said that he touched the socket of

his hip and the socket of Jacob's hip was out

of joint. What I love about the irony of this

is that Jacob has spent his whole life grabbing

and wrestling, and finally the grabber got grabbed.

God said, uh -uh, boy, not this time. You got

away from me last time. I don't know if you ever

been in a little fight with somebody, maybe a

brother or sister. You know, they sucker punched

you or they took off. When I get you, I'm not

going to. You know what I'm saying? And you finally

get up. Come on, brother. You know what I'm talking

about? You finally get up. I'm not letting you

go until you learn your lesson. Come on, someone

say amen. Huh? And I know, brother David, because

I was the younger brother, so I got the beating.

You were the older brother, so maybe you did

the beating. And so I'm not going to let you.

Until you learn, right? Man, they break you down,

don't they? And finally the grabber got grabbed.

The Lord said, not so fast, buddy. No, this is

not going to be easy for you. This is not just

going to be some quick little thing where, you

know, you just keep, you get what you want and

you keep on moving on and nothing changes about

you. No, I got to deal with you. And so the Bible

says he touched the socket of his hip. And let

me tell you that that spiritual transformation

and growth, we've overcomplicated it. Let me

make it real simple for you. I'll make it simple

in this way, in this illustration. It comes down

to heels and hips. Heels and hips. Heels. Heels.

They represent speed, right? Speed, agility.

But your hips represent strength. Strength. Real

transformation is not found when your heels feel

something. It's found when God touches your strengths.

Oh, my God. Real transformation is not because,

you know, we live in an instant gratification

world. Right. We live in the age of the drive

through. How many of you like the drive through?

Especially when you need that Starbucks. And

thank God there's a drive through because I don't

have to get out of the car. And then and then

now they got mobile order. Praise God. I order

it when I'm two blocks down. I felt something

right there. By the time I step in, brother,

it's already ready, huh? I don't even have to

talk to anybody. Introverts victorious. Now,

some of you, you like to order when you get there.

Why? Because you like to ask the cashier how

their day's going and, you know, what their name

is. I'm not interested in any of that stuff.

I just want my drink and I want to get out of

there. Right? Mobile order, we live in the mobile

order society. And the problem is, you know what

we want to do? We want a mobile order with God.

When I get there, man, I want it just to be ready

for me. I want to grab my blessing and head out.

Pastor better not go five minutes over today

because we got reservations. I just messed with

somebody right now. And you're watching the clock.

God, I need you to move, but you better move

within 30 minutes. And you see the constraints.

And it's the constraints we put on God. Why?

Because we want things our way, right away. Like

they used to say about Burger King, right? Your

way, right away. They give you a little crown

they can put on your head. Well, I've got news

for you. You're not the king. You're not the

queen. It's not your way right away. It's not

mobile order. God's saying, if I'm going to really

bless your life, then you need to let me get

a hold of your head, get a hold of your heart.

But better than that, get a hold of your hips

so I can break you in the place of your strength.

And you can know that I am really Jehovah Jireh.

You can know that I'm really your God. You can

know God. I got to break you. So he touches him.

It's hips. You say, what about the hips? What's

so important? The hips are the steering wheel

of the body. They represent the strongest weight

-bearing joint, and it engages all of your muscles.

That way, when your hip goes out, man, it don't

matter how big your biceps are. It don't matter

if you got the legs of a track runner. If your

hips go out, you're down for the count. It's

right. It holds everything together. And so God

touches that one area. Let me tell you, God will

break what you depend on so you'll learn how

to trust in him more. God will. break on whatever

it is that's steering your life in whatever direction

and whatever thing comes next or whatever thing's

got your attention, God will touch that area

of your life so he can finally get your attention

and say, ah, now I've got you exactly where I

want you. Oh, I feel like I'm preaching to somebody

here today as the musicians get ready. Brother,

come to the keys. I feel like God has come to

tell somebody today, I've got you right. Right

where I want you. Don't you move. Don't you try

to wiggle your way out of this one. Woo, my God.

Don't you try to squirm your way out of this

one. I've got you right where I want you. And

unlike before, you're not going to evade this

process. You've got to let me do everything I

need to do in your life so that you'll see that

I am the great I am. suffer. God, why'd you let

my home come under affliction so that you and

I would know that it's not your health care provider.

It's not Kaiser Permanente. It's not your dentist

provider. It's not your insurance plan. It's

not your benefit plan. It's not your COBRA plan.

But it's the Lord Jehovah Rapha who is you. Is

anybody knowing that's a healer in the house

of God? I can. I wonder, do you know him as your

healer? Come on, is there anybody? Do I got five

witnesses in the house that say I know him as

a healer? Once I was on my back and I couldn't

get up, but it was the Lord that touched my body

from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.

He healed me. Come on, you ought to give him

praise right now. He broke me in my health. So

I would know that he's the doctor of a doctor.

He's more than a doctor. He's a healer. Someone

shout, he's a healer right now. In fact, right

now, in the name of Jesus, I come to declare

healing over somebody's body right now. I come

to declare healing over you. over your heart,

over your lungs, over your diaphragm, over your

kidneys, over your liver. Oh, I come in the name

of Jesus. The devil is a liar. I've come to tell

you God broke you so he could bless you. God,

touch my body. God, touch my mind. Is there anybody

here that says, God, I need Jehovah Rapha right

now? Come on, somebody. I need Jehovah Rapha.

I need to know, God, that my faith is not in

medicine. Come on, somebody. My faith is not

in scientific breakthroughs. My faith is not

even in the hand of the surgeon. My faith is

in the great physician. My faith is in Jehovah

Rapha. My faith is in greater is he. My faith

is by his stripes. I feel the Holy Ghost Oh God

why'd you let my friends walk out on me why did

I get my heart broken huh why did I get my heart

torn into pieces why would see that I'm a friend

somebody say he's a friend I'm a friend that

sticks closer than a brother I let him walk out

on you I let him betray you so that in the midnight

hour when you call my name you would know I'll

never leave you somebody ought to give him praise

I'll never leave you I'll never forsake you I'll

never turn my back Jesus, somebody give him praise.

Somebody give him glory. Somebody bless his holy

name. Come on, was he there when you needed him?

When everybody walked out on you, was he there

when you needed him? You ought to give him 30

seconds of glory, 30 seconds of praise. Thank

you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Why'd you let me

lose my job, Lord? They're talking layoffs coming

next month. That market looks bad. God said,

I'll let you get touch in your workplace so that

you would know that your employer is not your

God. So that you would know that your company

doesn't own you. God said, I want you to know.

That it's not your company that pays you. God

said I'm the one that pays you. And I use your

company to do it. God said your company doesn't

pay you. I pay you. And I use your company to

process the transaction. That's it. So the next

time you say I don't know if we can make it.

Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah Jireh. The Lord, my provider.

Anybody know him as a provider? You want to run

around this place. You want to jump up and down.

When you were down to your last dollar, it wasn't

Uncle Sam. It wasn't the president. It was the

Lord God Almighty who opened up the treasures

of heaven and said, I'm going to bless you in

spite of Your education. It's not your network.

It's not who you know. It's not what you know.

But it's because you're my son. You're my...

You say, but pastor, why is the enemy coming

against me? Why am I being attacked on every

side? On Monday is this attack. On Tuesday is

that attack. On Wednesday, I'm being attacked

from behind. On another day, I'm being attacked

from up front. Everywhere I turn, I'm... god

said i'm letting you be attacked so that you'll

know that no weapon formed against you because

you would never know that no weapon formed against

you would be able to prosper if he didn't let

you get attacked god said i'm not trying to destroy

you i'm trying to cripple your carnality i'm

trying to weaken your dependency on your flesh

so you'll know that i am your god and beside

me there is no other hallelujah i feel the holy

ghost oh this ain't no cheap blessing this some

of you are right on the verge of God blessing

your socks off and you're still not praising

him like you ought to you're right on the verge

of seeing the greatest revival in your life that

you've ever seen and you're still playing games

and just give god a praise in the middle of your

breaking oh hallelujah hallelujah yes lord yes

lord oh his name is jesus yes it is yes it is

jacob cried i won't let you go unless you bless

me god God said, I've gotten a hold of you. How

many of you know he's gotten a hold of you? Say

yes. But God said, it's not enough for me to

get a hold of you. You've got to learn how to

get a hold of me. Some of us are getting a little

too old for God always having to get a hold.

Come on, what do you say in the spirit right

now? I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. I feel

the Holy Ghost. Come on, if you have the Holy

Ghost, let the Spirit of God flow through you

right now. Come on, let His Spirit, let His Spirit

flow through you right now. Let his spirit flow

through you right now. The devil's been trying

to tell me since like May or June. The devil's

been trying to tell me, Brother Jose and Brother

David, the devil's been trying to tell me, Pastor

Jacob, don't waste your time this summer because

churches don't have revival in the summer. Nobody's

getting saved in the summer. He said everybody's

distracted in the summer. Too many vacations

and too many this and too many that. And I almost,

I confess to you, I said, maybe the devil is

right. Maybe nothing's going to happen. But then

I remembered that on August 9th, we're going

to fill up those walls. I reminded the devil,

devil, you're a liar. Even in the midst of a

dry season. your children to be saved it's time

for your marriage to be saved it's time for