Living By Faith

And it's always a great privilege to have the representation of the camp here.

And, you know, as planes, we've been woven into the fabric there at the camp some.

And it's been a privilege to get to know Brother Josh and Brother Jeremy and his family.

They serve faithfully down there at the camp and make things possible for things to happen.

You know, the Lord uses them to get those things in place and prepared for what's to come.

It's been a privilege to know Brother Josh and to get to know his heart for the ministry

and what God has laid upon his heart for those children and those kids that come through.

You know, it's a great impact.

And it makes a difference.

And we want to continue to do that.

And so we want to promote that.

But we ask Brother Josh to come and preach for us this morning and share God's word with us.

And so, Brother, why don't you come and share with us.

God has a word.

Thank you so much, brother.

All right.

Well, good morning.

As always, it's a pleasure to be back.

I consider planes like my second home church.

I really do.

And you took the words right out of my mouth.

I was thinking about how our relationship is just now woven.

It's intricately woven.

When you started to attend our ministry about six years ago, I want to say,

and now your church supports us.

Your pastor, who I consider a great confidant to me, and Brother Lou is also on my board.

Both these men served with me to help accomplish the mission of the camp.

And so you're committed.

So, you know, you have fallen prey to my evil plans.

You can't get rid of me.

So I hope that's a blessing to you.

Let's get into the Bible.

I'll give a report during the Sunday school lesson about what we're doing this coming year for the camp ministry,

what our goals are, what we believe God's going to accomplish there at Amazing Grace,

which is not too far, only three hours south.

If you've never been there, I want to encourage you to take a trip

and come see the ministry that you are investing in.

This last year, we had 50 decisions for salvation, many more decisions for spiritual growth.

And so we could not be more excited about what God's doing at your camp.

And so you've got to come and experience it.

We're thankful for David and Kira for serving as missionaries.

And we're praying for them as they have a baby.

They're planning to have a baby like the week we start camp.

So that I cannot believe.

Last year, they got married the week that we started camp.

And I said, well, you know, it's kind of tough.

I think you'll be okay.

Then they said, we're going to have a baby just the week before.

Like, you're not making it easy for yourself.

But I think they're going to do just fine.

And we're really encouraged that they serve with us.

If you would, turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter number 32.

This will actually segue this morning's message into kind of a report that I'll give for the camp.

For the Sunday school hour, I'll give a little bit of a testimony about what God did in my life this last year in 24.

I'm going to state at the very beginning that the goal of this morning's message

is to encourage you to live by your faith.

Now, that could be a Christianized cliche.

It's easy to say, yes, you need to live by your faith, by God's grace.

But what do we really mean when we say, hey, let's be living by faith?

Well, first of all, it implies that you must be a person of faith.

A person of faith is a Christian.

They're born again.

They have received the Holy Spirit.

Which is a little bit different than what we're talking about when we're emphasizing living by faith.

See, when you get saved, you receive God's Spirit.

And now that you have received His Spirit, you are also to be filled with the Spirit.

Which means you are to be yielded to God where He has control over your life.

This is the enabling power of God.

So you cannot live by faith until, first of all, you are a person of faith.

Now, you may be a person of faith, but that does not mean today that you are walking by faith.

So we're not only wanting to be a person of faith,

but we also want to move into this situation in 2025

where we are empowered by the Spirit of God to walk by faith.

Now, to see this illustrated, we're going to look at the life of a man

who's considered a patriarch of faith, the man Jacob.

And specifically at a time when he was wrestling God.

So let's read our text.

It starts in verse number 24 of chapter number 32.

Now, let me give you a little context before we begin reading

because this chapter is very, very special.

You see, Jacob had been living up in the Syrian region with his uncle

who also became his father-in-law.

And God called him to go back home down south into the land of Canaan.

And so Jacob gathered his family.

He packed up his bags.

And after a contentious goodbye with his father-in-law,

he's now about to cross over into the territory of Canaan.

Now, God wants Jacob to know that he's pleased with his obedience.

So in the beginning of the chapter,

he sends two angels to escort Jacob back into the land.

And I interpret that to be God's affirmation for Jacob

for choosing to follow God and doing what's right.

And I'm happy to tell you that God wants to give you affirmation

when you obey and when you follow him.

Now, maybe he sends an angel and it's unawares,

or most likely what we know is that the affirmation of God

is the presence of his Holy Spirit

as he guides, as he directs, as he prods, as he convicts you.

I think also an affirmation is our fellow believers,

those that also have the Spirit of God living within them,

and they can observe in your life when you're doing what's right

or when they need to confront you when you're doing what's wrong.

I think that's affirmation of the Lord.

And so God is honored with Jacob's decision.

He wants Jacob to know it to motivate him to continue forward.

So Jacob is escorted by these two angels,

and then immediately he's confronted with a big challenge.

He sends his messenger to go tell his brother Esau,

which they have never been on good terms, right?

He says, tell my brother Esau I'm coming back

to announce that he can meet me or whatever he wants to do.

And so the servant does.

The servant comes back with a report,

and he says, hey, we saw your brother Esau,

and the good news is he's coming to meet you.

The bad news is that he's bringing 400 men.

And Jacob goes, oh, that sounds like an army.

I think he's going to take me out.

And then Jacob does what Jacob always does.

He begins to revert into his old man tendencies,

where he has to figure out his own problem.

You see, Jacob was always a person of faith,

but Jacob has to solve his own problems apart from God.

He's strong in the flesh,

and this is something that needs to change with him.

So that gets us to our text in verse number 24.

It says, and Jacob was left alone,

and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day.

Now, this was no ordinary man,

because we're going to see that this is God,

a pre-incarnate appearance before Jacob.

And when he saw, that's the man, that's God,

when he saw that he prevailed not against him,

that's Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh,

and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint

as he wrestled him.

And he, the man, said, let me go for the day breaketh.

And he, Jacob, says, I will not let thee go,

except thou bless me.

And he said unto him, what is thy name?

And he said, Jacob.

And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob,

but Israel.

Now, watch this, watch this,

because this is what we receive

when we choose to live by faith.

When we're empowered by the Spirit of God,

then it will be with us that thou hast power

with God in men and hast prevailed.

You know what the word prevail means?

It means you win.

It means that you're an overcomer.

And I don't know about you,

but I'm ready to put 2024 in the past.

And I'm ready to look forward to 2025 as a winner,

as a conqueror, as an overcomer,

because I'm empowered by my faith.

Now, if we're going to get to this place

where we're living strong by faith,

then we must address this one particular issue.

What do you do when God wrestles you?

You see, you can't be strong in faith

until you resolve the matter of wrestling God.

So let's talk about that this morning

and put some principles into application.

Lord Jesus, thank you so much for this time

where we can gather together and worship you.

I pray that if there's anyone here wrestling with you,

that they will just yield to you.

Maybe someone needs to get saved today.

They're wrestling with life.

They're wrestling with their sin.

And it's time to put that in the past

and to be a child of God.

And I pray that they would get saved.

But I would imagine many of us here

that have come to worship you freely,

that we need to be strong in faith,

that we need to be yielded by your spirit.

We cannot be an overcomer.

We cannot prevail until we let God have his way

and where he's first in our life

and all the decisions that we make.

And I pray that this morning's worship time

that you would get all the glory, we pray,

in the name of Lord Jesus Christ,

and God's people said.

Let me ask you a question.

Is it a good thing for you to wrestle God?

Should you, at times in your life,

go toe-to-toe with God?

Is that a good thing?

I mean, Jacob did.

Should we?

Well, let me make a case for you

that wrestling God is not a good thing.

And you should not find yourself,

periodically, going toe-to-toe with God.

Because God came to wrestle Jacob,

to confront him, to change him,

to move him off of his ordinary path

into the path of God's will and God's purpose.

And Jacob needed to make some specific changes in his life.

I want you to observe three things about God wrestling Jacob.

And maybe observe this as if you feel that God is wrestling you.

Why did God wrestle Jacob?

Well, number one, I want you to notice

that God had to confront Jacob.

He confronted him through wrestling,

and specifically, he was confronting him

about the area of self-reliance.

See, Jacob, though, being a person of faith,

had become pretty dependent upon himself

to solve his own problems.

Now, to get some background information

and some context,

we've got to go all the way back

to the beginning of when Jacob was born.

You see, Jacob was born the second of twins,

Jacob and Esau.

And he came out of the womb

clinging to the heel of his brother.

His family was amazed at what they saw,

and they said,

you know what?

We'll call him Jacob,

which means to supplant.

It means to get an edge on somebody else.

It looks like he wanted to take out his brother.

So they couldn't believe him.

They gave him this name, Jacob.

Now, God had a special plan for these two boys.

In fact, the plan was that

the older would serve the younger,

and that we should interpret as

Jacob would be the one to receive the birthright.

Now, in Bible days,

the firstborn son is the one

that would receive the birthright,

which is a greater portion of the inheritance.

It also means that they would be

the patriarchal leader of the family.

And God says,

it's not going to go to Esau.

I want it to go to Jacob.

And the reason why

is God was teaching a lesson to all of us

that it's not by our pedigree,

it's not by our privileges

that earn favor with God.

No, we get favor with God

because he chooses to give it to us.

So Jacob is a picture of God's grace.

And let me tell you,

that's good news for all of us here today.

Because in the New Testament,

Paul reemphasizes this important truth

by using the example of Jacob and Esau.

You see, folks,

Jacob didn't deserve God's grace.

He didn't earn God's grace.

Yet because God wants to be gracious

in whom he wants to be gracious to,

then that means for each and every one of us,

we too can receive the grace of God.

You don't have to earn it.

You didn't have to grow up in church.

God's grace is free for all people,

especially for the Gentiles,

as much as it is for the firstborn son,

the Jews.

Oh, isn't that a wonderful truth?

So Jacob is now a picture of God's purpose

for all people.

He's a person of faith.

Now, we don't know what happened,

but somewhere along the way,

the family decided

that they would ignore God's plans.

And Isaac, the father,

was going to give that birthright

to Esau, his firstborn.

Now, Jacob begins to panic

and he gets with his mom

and they come up with a plan

to deceive his ailing blind father

to receive that birthright.

Of course, that makes a lot of drama

in the family.

Esau wants to kill Jacob

and so Jacob has to flee for his life.

And this is the pattern.

This is the disposition.

So why does God confront us

when he has to wrestle us?

Well, for Jacob and possibly you,

God has to confront the area

of self-reliance.

And why?

It's because it's a weakness

for all of us.

It's so easy to live

and depend upon ourselves

and our flesh.

God says you've got to be yielded

to the Spirit of God.

You want love, joy, peace,

long-suffering?

You want that fruit

to come out of your life?

Then you have to be filled

with the Spirit of God.

If you're not,

then you're full of the flesh

and the outcome

is completely different.

Boy, it's murder,

anger, theft, adultery,

all kinds of sins

that will pour out of your life

if you're filled with the flesh.

So God says,

Jacob, you have to be

a Spirit-filled man.

You need to be broken

of this weakness

in your life.

And so he decides

to come and wrestle him.

It was his weakness.

Now watch this.

Hold your finger here.

I want you to see

how Jacob's faith

was a little shallow.

Okay?

Go to chapter 28,

just a few pages back.

When Jacob fled from Canaan

to go to Syria,

God came to meet him

in a place of Peniel.

And look at verse number 20.

This is Jacob's vow.

God appears to Jacob.

He repeats the covenant to him.

And Jacob says,

in verse number 20,

and Jacob vowed a vow,

saying,

now watch this,

if God will be with me

and will keep me

in the way that I should go

and will give me bread to eat

and raiment to put on

so that I come back

to my father's house in peace.

Then,

do you see that?

It's if and then.

You know,

some Bible commentators

will say,

well,

the word could be since.

You know,

God's given me this promise

and since that's the case.

But if we are to take this

at face value,

it seems

that his faith

is conditional.

You know,

a little quid pro quo

with God.

Hey God,

you give me something,

I'll give you something

in return.

And let me just tell you something.

A lot of people

are living their Christianity

this way.

You know,

there's some reciprocal benefit

for me if I follow God.

Let me tell you,

we follow God

because we love God.

That's why we follow him.

So Jacob's got this shallow faith

and now he's always

one foot in with the faith

and one foot in with the flesh.

And this dichotomy of his life

is just stressing him out.

It's creating a lot of drama.

You know what?

This is a real weakness

in his life.

Hey,

this could be a real weakness

with you.

You know,

you come to church,

you're happy to be here,

you're ready to worship God,

you sing the songs,

you say amen

and then on Monday

it's like,

man,

my life is a mess.

I gotta figure this out.

I can do this apart from God.

Let me tell you,

that's a real weakness.

And God says,

it's time to change.

Now look in this chapter.

Watch this.

In verse number nine,

chapter 32,

we're back here,

Jacob is confronted

with the news

that his brother's coming.

And so what does he do?

Well,

as a person of faith,

he's gonna do

what a person of faith does.

Well,

we'll pray about it.

And so verses nine

through verses 12,

he starts to pray

and it's pretty good.

He says,

God,

you called me to do this.

I'm not worthy

to receive your mercies.

I need deliverance.

In verse number 11,

verse number 12,

let me remind you,

you promised to do me good.

So God,

I really need you to show up.

And let me tell you,

that's a really good prayer.

That's a great prayer

for a Christian

when you're backed up

against the wall.

But in verse number 13,

we see Jacob deciding

to solve his own problem.

He came up

with his own plan.

He had his own scheme.

And so what did he do?

Well,

he took his family,

which was quite large,

with his livestock.

He decides to break them up

into three different caravans.

And they would go

across the river

and as Esau

would begin to meet

each visiting group,

they would say,

hey,

we're from Jacob's family

and here's a gift.

And then he would go

to the next family.

He said,

here's a gift from Jacob.

Jacob's right behind us.

And then the third caravan.

And then he would

eventually meet Jacob.

So this plan

is he's hoping

to pacify Esau.

In fact,

look at verse number 20.

He says,

in the middle of the verse,

he says,

for he said,

this is Jacob,

I will appease him

with the present

that goeth before me.

And afterward,

I would see his face.

Peradventure,

he will what?

Accept me.

So he's so concerned

about the rejection

from a man,

from his brother.

He wants to be accepted.

I just want him

to like me.

I just want to avoid

the problems.

I want to be accepted.

You know what we call that?

We call that the fear of man.

The Bible says

the fear of man

brings a snare.

It puts you in a mental,

social,

spiritual,

psychological trap.

But who shall put

his trust in the Lord

shall be safe

is the promise.

And you know what?

A lot of times

we make decisions

whether it's to do right

or do wrong,

all because we're afraid

of what somebody else

might think of me

as opposed to

what God thinks.

And here he says,

you know,

I'm going to please him.

I'm going to appease him.

People pleasing.

Let me tell you,

if you are at the whims

of another person,

you're going to stress

yourself out.

You're going to have

a lot of drama

in your life.

And let me tell you,

it's a weakness.

Watch this.

Self-reliance

is also a weariness.

You're going to just

get worn out.

You're going to get fatigued.

Look at verse number seven.

When Jacob heard the news

that Esau was coming,

it says that Jacob

was greatly afraid.

All right,

now there's fear.

Okay,

I'm afraid.

I'm a little scared.

And then there's

greatly afraid.

This means he's collapsing.

He is panicking.

He is stressed out

of his mind.

It says he's greatly afraid

and distressed.

Hey,

listen,

when you have to solve

your own problems

and the world revolves

about you

and you're selfish,

I'm going to tell you,

you're going to wear yourself out.

You know why?

Because you're not God.

Only God is self-efficient.

Only God exists outside of time.

You are a creation of God.

You are limited.

You are frail.

You have a beginning

and you have an end.

Only God supersedes

all of that

being omnipresent,

omnipotent,

all-knowing God.

So why are you trying

to fill his shoes?

It'll never happen.

So why don't you stop

getting worn out

on your own self-reliance

and get God-dependent?

That's what he needed

to be confronted in.

So God came to wrestle him,

to confront him

in the area of self-reliance.

Watch this.

He wrestled him

to challenge him

in his sincerity

of his faith.

The real sincerity.

You say you believe in God?

Then why don't you

demonstrate it

with your life?

Why don't you prove

that you really believe

and rely on God?

So God used

a physical demonstration.

It starts to wrestle him.

And by the way,

this is an incredible story.

I mean,

this has never happened

to anybody else

as far as we know,

where God wrestles him.

And I see three areas

of the challenge, right?

To prove and to test him

in his sincerity.

First of all,

he tested him in his hands.

All right?

And that's going

toe-to-toe with wrestling.

I mean,

they're just grappling.

Now, wrestling

is pushing

and pulling

against one another.

So that's why we know

this is not a good thing

for Jacob

because God is resisting him.

He's pushing him back.

He's trying to stop him.

So he's wrestling him

with his hands,

which we should interpret

as this is his raw flesh.

Hey, you say you got it, Jacob?

Okay, well, let's go.

You say you got it

all figured out.

You say you really

don't need me.

You got all these plans

laid out.

You know,

this caravan

and this gift.

Oh, you think it's going to do it?

Why don't we wrestle about it?

So in his raw,

physical form,

which Jacob was a strong guy.

Remember,

as a baby,

he came out of the womb

grabbing onto the heel

of his brother.

Now,

I don't know much

about baby strength,

but I would assume

it's nothing.

They're just full of fat

when they come out.

And here,

this dude is clinging

onto the heel.

I don't know if he's

shadow boxing inside the womb,

but the guy was strong.

And by the way,

he had some real stamina.

Remember,

they wrestled

to the breaking of day.

That's incredible to me.

The guy was just unstoppable.

And here,

God says,

stop it.

Now,

are you saying

that God thought

he was losing to Jacob?

It says,

look at it.

It says,

when he saw

that he prevailed not.

God felt like

he was losing to Jacob?

No,

no,

no,

no,

no.

God was done

playing games

with Jacob.

He couldn't teach

this old dog

new tricks.

If you're going to be

a stubborn mule,

then I'm done.

You're not going to learn

your lesson.

You say,

well,

how do we know that?

Because of what he did next.

He touched the hollow

of his thigh,

and now Jacob

is a cripple,

and he can't even move.

See,

in your raw flesh,

you're not good enough.

You're not good enough.

Neither was Jacob.

So,

he tested him

in his hands.

He failed.

He then tested him

in his heart.

You see,

something emanated

from Jacob

from the inside.

When Jacob

was now crippled

and he couldn't

do anything else,

Jacob realizes

at this moment,

this is no ordinary man.

This is something divine.

I'm wrestling

the angel of the Lord.

And so,

he realizes

that what he needs

is he needs

the power of God.

And so,

now he's clinging

not because of his flesh

but because of his heart.

He's recognizing

that the one thing

that he needs

in his life

is he needs God.

Hey, listen,

what does your heart

tell you?

What are the motives

of your heart?

What pushes you?

What drives you?

Hey, listen,

it ought to be God

if you're a Christian.

You want to be strong

by faith?

In your heart

are the issues of life.

And in your heart,

God should be

at the very center

of all things.

Now, this is like

two sides of the same coin

because he tested him

in his heart.

He's beginning

to pass the test.

Now, he has to be tested

in the area

of his honesty.

And that's when

he asks the question.

He goes,

well, if you want my power,

you want to depend upon me,

then let's get real.

Let's get sincere.

Who are you?

What are you?

Now, Jacob has to admit

who he is.

He says, well,

I'm Jacob.

I'm just a man.

I'm the deceiver.

I'm the supplanter.

I'm the one

that needs you, God.

I don't want to let go

until you bless me.

Hey, listen,

the sincerity

of your faith

is what drives

your heart.

And the only way

that you'll know that

is if you get honest

before him

about who you are

as you stand

before him.

That is the sincerity

of all of this.

Jacob wasn't

going to win this match.

God had it all

under control.

Reminds me of a time

when I was in college.

I finally came

to a point in my life

where I realized

that all the big sports

had passed me by.

You know,

eventually most of us

come to that place, right?

Now, in college,

there was one sport,

though,

that I felt like

I still had some

credibility.

And that was ping pong.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, in fact,

today,

you give me a paddle,

just give me a second

to get that rhythm,

and I'm telling you,

I'll feel invincible.

In college,

we had this big,

big dating parlor

where couples would go

and sit on couches.

And this was

a Christian college.

So you're not allowed

to touch each other

at a Christian college.

You just get really

as close as you can,

smell each other's breath,

look deep into their eyeballs,

you see the back

of their skulls,

and it was a real mushy place.

But the school

put a row

of 10 ping pong tables.

So me and my buddies,

we'd go up there

and we'd play

in the afternoon

between classes,

and boy,

I got really good.

Now, one day,

there was a guy

that came up

with his girlfriend.

His name was Matt Miller.

Now, Matt and I

went to high school together,

and Matt and I

were in college

at the same time.

And Matt was the guy

who was good at everything.

I mean,

he was handsome.

He was the best sports person.

I mean,

he was the salutatorian

of a school

of about 600 kids.

I mean,

the guy just had it together.

In fact,

today,

he's still better

than me at life.

He's a lawyer.

He's making tons of money,

and I'm running a camp,

which is not a problem.

But, I mean,

comparatively,

I mean,

Matt's just like

way up here.

And I'd never beat him

in any kind of sport.

One-on-one basketball,

Matt wins.

Any other type

of sports,

soccer,

Matt wins.

But ping pong,

all right,

we might have ourselves

a match.

So he comes up

with his girlfriend.

They're sitting on the couch

and said,

hey, Matt,

you want to play me

a round of ping pong?

And Matt says,

yeah,

I'll do that.

So we grabbed a couple

rental paddles

there in the dating parlor

and we began to play.

And sure enough,

man,

I was doing good.

I mean,

I had that rhythm

and I had a score

of 20 to 12.

It was 20 to 12,

which is a sizable,

comfortable margin.

So I felt really good

at this moment

that I'm going to beat

Matt Miller

in front of all his friends

and in front of his girlfriend.

So I'm feeling so good.

And you know,

by the way,

it's game point.

So you can't lose

on a serve,

right?

That's the real rules

to ping pong

in spite of what

teenagers today say.

So I take the ball

and I toss it over

on his side of the table

and say,

well, Matt,

it's your serve

and you can't lose

on a serve.

He said,

okay.

He held the paddle

in his hand

and he flipped it

to the other hand

and he goes,

you know,

I think I'll play

with my dominant hand now.

And I went,

oh no.

I am such a fool.

Now,

the moral of the story

is more important

than the ending

of the story.

And needless to say,

Jacob was never

going to win

at a wrestling match

with God

and nor I

against Matt Miller.

He beat me.

Jerk.

All of this

for God to Jacob

is to break him

of his flesh.

Listen,

he had to confront him

in the area

of self-reliance.

He came to challenge him

with the sincerity

of his faith.

And then lastly,

God wrestled him

to conquer

his shortcoming.

His shortcoming

is that it was easy

for Jacob

to lean into

his own strength.

But what happens

when you don't

have that anymore?

What do you do?

God says,

I'm sufficient.

I am all

that you need.

When it comes

to your salvation,

friends,

God is all

that you need.

In fact,

you cannot earn

salvation apart

from God.

He is the way,

the truth,

and the life.

No man come

with the Father

but by him.

It's not by works

of righteousness

which we have done.

It's by the grace

of God.

It's by the blood

of Jesus.

It's by his power

on the cross

and his resurrection

that we receive salvation.

And when it comes

to walking by faith,

we need to be

God dependent.

I want to give you

two applications

on this thought

of letting God

conquer you.

Letting God win.

Well, first of all,

if you're going to

be conquered by God,

then number one,

you've got to let

God change you.

You see,

when he admitted

who he was,

God says,

well, now I'm going

to give you a new name.

You're now going

to be called Israel.

The word Israel

means God prevails.

And so what's going on

is that even though

God beat him

at the wrestling match,

he's telling Jacob,

if I win,

Jacob,

you win.

And that's the paradox

of faith.

When God wins,

I win.

That's the way

it should be.

So you need to allow

God to change you.

You need to relinquish

control.

You need to let

the Holy Spirit

have his way

in your life

and with your circumstances

and all your trials.

Let God change you.

Number two,

you need to let

God cripple you.

Now that's not easy

to say.

In fact,

that's easier said

than done.

To allow God

to cripple me?

You mean,

I need to let

God hurt me?

Well,

not necessarily.

We need to let

God cripple us

in the area

that we are strong in

but weak to faith.

And that needs

to be reversed

because I need

to be weak

towards my flesh

so that I can be

strong in my faith.

And here,

Jacob was so dependent

upon his own strength,

God taught him

a lesson to be

God-dependent

by removing

a lot of his strength.

I love this verse

in Psalms 147.10.

He delighteth not

in the strength

of the horse,

in the powerful horse

that runs.

He taketh not pleasure

in the legs

of a man.

God takes pleasure

in faith.

And if you're

a paralyzed individual,

you can still

be the best for God.

Will you let God

cripple you?

And what would that mean

if you do let him

cripple you

in the areas

that you are strong in?

You know,

I had to learn

this lesson

this last year.

In fact,

I learned it

in a very hard way.

On April 17th

of last year,

I got a pressure washer

out to clean

some of our camp buildings.

And I love it

when it comes springtime.

I mean,

we're all waiting,

right,

for winter

to be removed

and we're ready

for some warm weather.

Amen?

In fact,

I just saw

that the groundhog

just predicted

six more,

is it six weeks

or six more months

of winter?

Yeah.

Unbelievable.

They called him Phil.

Like,

be gone,

Phil.

I'm ready

for some spring weather.

Boy,

when that sun is out,

that temperature

is up,

I just can't wait

to go outside.

I tell Jeremy,

let me do all the mowing

and let me do

some pressure washing

because it feels good

to be outside.

So,

first day of spring

that felt good

was April 17th.

And so,

I decided to clean up

some of our buildings.

I pressure washed

the outside of the front

of the dining hall.

I did the stone house.

I did the front

of the daisy building.

And I was making

really good time.

And so,

I thought,

you know,

I really need

to clean my house.

It's been a while.

I haven't pressure washed

this yet since we built it.

So,

let me just go up there

and I think I can

knock it out

before we have dinner time.

And then church

was later that evening

on Wednesday.

And so,

I got all my equipment.

Richard,

my father-in-law,

he pulled it up there

and I had a system

ready to go.

We'd get the ladder out

and I would start

from the north side,

which is the front

of the house,

and then move east,

south,

and then I would wrap up

on the west side

of the house.

Now,

my house is built

into a hill.

Okay,

so you had to be strategic

in how you place

the ladders.

So,

the tall extension ladder

for the top of the gables,

I would be very careful

to make sure

it was rooted real good

because I have

a healthy fear

of heights.

Amen?

And I don't want to fall.

So,

I made sure

that that ladder

was just right.

Then I had a four-foot

step ladder

for the middle part

of the house.

So,

the top of the gable,

I got with extension.

The four-foot ladder,

I'd climb up

and do the middle part

of the house

and then on the ground

I could just

take care of the rest.

And boy,

I was moving,

I was doing pretty good.

The north side,

the east side,

the south side,

which really

is probably the hardest

because it's got

the tallest part

of the house.

Now,

I'm on the west side

and it's getting

close to dinner time

so I gotta really

push it here.

So,

I'm moving quickly,

still very careful

with the extension ladder

but the four-foot ladder,

man,

I would just grab

that set up

and walk up,

spray the house down,

get down,

move that extension ladder,

grab the four-foot ladder,

come to the top,

spray it down

and I wasn't careful

and I set the four-foot

step ladder

on kind of an odd

angle of the house

and as I was coming

down from the top,

the ladder shot out

from under my feet

on the downward slope

of the house.

Now,

I got this pressure

washer hose

and I turn around

and it was so fast

and bam,

I hit the ground.

Now,

I knew I did something wrong

because it hurt

and I'm wallowing

on the ground.

My son McKinley

was eating popcorn

watching me

on his room

and then he says,

oh,

mom,

dad fell off the ladder.

She goes,

what?

And so,

they come out

and I'm just moaning

and groaning

and rolling on the ground.

I thought I broke

my shin bone.

Just the way I fell

and it hurt so bad

and I thought,

oh no,

if I see a bone

sticking out of my skin,

I'm going to throw up.

So,

I touched without looking

and everything seemed

to be in place

and I thought,

oh good,

I don't think

I broke my bone

and so I thought,

all right,

well maybe I'm just

bruised up a bit

and I limped over

to the garage.

I tried to calm down

and I told Jacinda,

I said,

I think I'm okay.

I said,

let me go

take a baking soda bath.

I'll see if I can calm it down

and that felt good

but as soon

as I got out of the bath,

I'm telling you,

my knee swelled up

like a big melon

and it hurt so bad.

I said,

I better go to the ER.

I'm on blood thinners

so I got to be careful

with injuries

and so we go to the ER

and what do you know,

I broke my fibula

on the back part

of my leg.

The orthopedic thought,

I also tore my ACL

because the bone

like chipped or something

and it separated.

Thankfully,

that was not the case.

I just broke my bone

but it's April 17th.

Do you know

when the most stressful

time of the year

for a camp director is?

Let me tell you,

it's on April 17th.

You say,

why is that?

Well, listen,

summer's not stressful to me

because summer's just raw energy.

I'm ready to go by summer.

I have some pretty good stamina.

I don't mind late nights,

early mornings.

I can handle that.

It's the springtime

because I'm still trying

to get all the uncertainties

in order

and let me tell you,

that just stresses me out.

I got to get the program together.

I got to get workers.

I got to figure out

all this kind of stuff

and let me tell you,

I get very stressed

in the spring.

In fact,

I'll tell you,

a typical day for me

around that time of year,

I get up in the morning,

I read my Bible

and then I'll go spend

some time in prayer

and let me tell you,

I really pour my heart out

before God

and last year,

boy,

I had a lot of things

that were not in order

so I would go into my prayer time

with the Lord

and I would say,

God,

I need you.

Here's a list of things

that need to get accomplished

before we start

the summer season

so if you'll just look

at this list,

I'll talk with you about it.

I'm sure you already know

because you're God

but let's just talk

I need you to show up here.

And so,

then I would pray,

I would say amen,

I would feel pretty good

and then I would go

and I would try to accomplish

everything on my list.

I'd get on the phone,

I would try to make things happen,

I would try to get

the program in order,

I'd try to get these workers

and you know what?

The problem wasn't solved that day.

So what happens?

The next day,

I go back to that prayer closet

and I'm like,

Lord,

here's this list again.

I don't know if we covered

some of these details

but let's talk about it again.

And then I would leave

and I would just try

to will it all together

and I'd go back to the next day

and I'd be like,

God,

it's still not done,

I really need you.

And so God decided

to answer my prayer

by making me sit down.

Isn't that the paradox?

I came home that first night

from the ER

and I tried to go to bed.

Oh,

it was so uncomfortable.

I just could not

get into a position

where I could just let it ease

and so finally,

I went out in the living room

and I sat down on my chair,

propped up my legs

and it's dark inside the house.

I got one little night light

over by the stove in the kitchen

and it's just quiet.

It's just me and God.

And I was like,

God,

what's going on?

I asked for help

and now,

I can't even move.

This,

this does not make sense

to me at all.

You know,

the Lord taught me

probably one of the greatest

lessons of my life

that when I need Him the most,

He doesn't need me.

And if I would just let Him

have His way,

He could move mountains

while I rest in faith.

See,

that's what it's all about.

Let me tell you,

God moved in incredible ways

last year.

Ways that I never saw possible.

In fact,

He solved Jacob's problems too.

You see,

after God wrestled Jacob

and Jacob finally yielded,

the next day,

Jacob gets himself ready to go

as he's limping

with a walking stick.

And so,

the caravans

are on their way south.

Esau is headed up

towards the north

and they're now going to

confront each other.

So,

Esau comes with his 400 men.

He sees the first family group

and he comes

and he says,

hey,

I'm Esau.

And they say,

oh,

we're from Jacob.

Your servant,

Jacob.

Oh,

by the way,

here's a gift for you

with a note.

He's just right behind us.

So,

Esau is like,

whoa,

I don't understand that.

Well,

whatever.

Put the livestock in the back,

boys.

Let's go.

So,

they're marching on

to the second group.

Same thing happens.

Oh,

here's a gift

from your servant,

Jacob.

He's right behind us

and Esau's scratching his head

thinking,

wow,

you know,

something's off here

because it sounds like

Jacob doesn't even want to fight.

Oh,

well,

boys,

put the livestock aside.

Let's go.

And so,

they go to the third group.

Same thing.

Same message.

Jacob's right behind us

and Esau is just flabbergasted.

He doesn't know what's going on.

He says,

let's keep going.

We got to find Jacob.

And as he sees far in the distance,

he sees one lonely individual

limping along on a walking stick.

And as he sees this gap

begin to close,

Esau begins to think within himself,

you know,

not only does Jacob

not want to fight,

that old boy

cannot even fight.

And as the distance encloses,

God does something amazing

because when they finally greet,

they hug on each other.

They're kissing on each other.

They're weeping.

Don't you get it?

God not only solved

Jacob's problems,

he apparently solved Esau's as well.

If you let God have his way,

everything works out.

You know what one of my themes is?

It always works out.

It always does.

Have you ever had a moment in your life

and it didn't work out?

When you live by faith,

it always works out.

So what are you going to do, friends,

if God's wrestling you?

Can I challenge you today

to let it go,

no matter what the circumstance,

no matter what you're facing?

Could you just release that today

and let God have his way?

It's only a baby step today.

Say, Lord,

I have this area of my life

that I've been wrestling with,

with you,

and I just want you to have it.

And by the way,

tomorrow you're going to have to pray

the same thing

because it's not all about crisis moments.

It's one step at a time.

But would you at least take

that first step of faith

and say, God,

would you just take this burden from me?

Would you just have your way?

I just need you

and I can't do it all on my own.

Would you be sincere with God today about that?

Would you pray openly

and admitting,

God, I don't have all the answers,

but I know that I have you

and you have all the answers.

Would you be willing

to be sincere about that?

And then would you be willing

to let him,

no matter what the decision is,

to conquer you

and prevail

and let him have his way with you.

Let me tell you,

that could be a hard thing to do

if you're clinging on to something

that's your own strength.

You might need to let it go.

But if you will,

God will help you be a winner.

Would you bow your heads,

close your eyes.

Let me give you that chance right now

to respond to the Lord.

How's he speaking to you, friends?

What are you facing?

This is an opportunity for you

to step in the right direction.

It could be in 2025.

This is exactly what you need.

You need God to have full control.

Would you allow him to do that?

I'm going to ask the piano to play.

And as she plays,

this is going to be a moment

of quiet prayer.

I want to invite you

to do business with the Lord.

Maybe you need to come

and kneel down at the altar.

Maybe you just need to do business

at your seat.

But as she begins to play,

would you pour your heart out to God?

Would you yield in this matter

of whatever it is

that needs to change?

There's a strength in your life.

God wants it to become a weakness.

You know, Paul said,

later in his life,

he goes,

most rather would I glory

in mine infirmities

that the power of Christ

may rest upon me.

He says,

when I'm weak,

weak in the flesh,

then I'm strong,

strong in faith,

strong in the Spirit of God.

Let him have his way with you today.

Amen.