August 22, 2021 - The Story of Jacob: Problems and Promises // Genesis 32

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] hey welcome to summit online if this is your first time joining us i just want to say welcome we're really glad that you're here in fact go ahead and pull out your phone and text the word welcome to 33933 so someone from our team can connect with you summit online is a platform that aims to reach people with the gospel and help them take their next step with christ so let me tell you some ways to watch and engage with us option one you can join the live chat on sunday mornings at live.summitchurch.com come connect with other online viewers engage with the message and even pray with a live host option two join or host a home gathering and watch on demand on our youtube channel for resources on hosting your own home gathering visit summitchurch.com next steps and click on service resources and of course our end goal for you is that you'd be investing in a local church near you if you live in the raleigh-durham area be sure to check out all of our locations at summitchurch.com locations or if you don't text welcome to 33933 to connect with us and we'll help you find a church near you service will begin in just a moment so grab your bible and notebook and get ready to worship with us today we're really glad you're here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] welcome to summit online let me start by saying hey to all of our first time guests we would love to get to know you better so do us a favor and pull out your phone and text the word welcome to 33933 it will actually ask you for some information and then someone from our team will reach out to say hey we're really glad that you're joining us today and for those of you that watch someone online faithfully then we're already family right so you've probably heard me say by now that i'm getting married soon well i have some good news that day is finally here if you're watching on sunday august 22nd it's our wedding day so i of course couldn't go without introducing you to my future husband joey yeah i'm so excited hey simon i serve on staff here at the summit on our production team so i'm used to being in the background and behind the scenes and now i'm marrying somebody who's very much not that you know i've gotten stopped in public more times than i can count actually being asked if i was your fiance just to you know give you a heads up on that it's a fun time i love that but i mean the people need to know you too that's fair so perfect and let's all just take a moment to thank all of the people who work behind the scenes to serve the lord each week amen you guys are seriously the real mvps yeah exactly but kels today is not just our wedding day it's also the start of a really important week for our church oh what's up it's the start of our week of prayer which is happening from today until august 28th you can actually sign up to receive daily prayer prompts by simply texting prayer to 33933 or you can visit summitchurch.com prayer and join us there awesome we may be going on our honeymoon but i actually signed up to receive those text prompts so we can start our marriage off right amen well summit as we begin our time of worship together we know that god has created all of us not to really find our joy in each other which is beautiful but really to find our joy satisfaction and happiness in him psalm 90 14 invites us to pray that god would satisfy us with his steadfast love so before we sing would you take a moment to pray this verse over your heart whatever you're praying for longing for that you think will offer life peace and joy pray that god would turn you away from the things of the world and towards himself pray that his love would cause you to rejoice and be glad in him [Music] forever [Music] so when the sun comes up [Music] is [Music] let's think together with the person of jesus pouring out his life from us rescue us [Music] sin on jesus christ [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] passed [Music] satisfied us with your love so teach us the lord to number our days on earth and give us some more wisdom in the secret heart as you display amazing grace jesus christ [Music] amazing grace in jesus christ [Music] before the day has passed us by [Music] is [Music] [Music] before the day has passed by [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] with [Music] god of abraham you're the god of covenant a faithful promise [Music] steadfast [Music] great is your faithfulness to me great is your faithfulness to me from the rising sun to the setting same i will place your name great is your faithfulness to me [Music] though the earth may pass away your word remains the same your history can prove there's nothing you can't do you're faithful and true though the storms may come and the winds may blow out remain steadfast [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] i put my faith in jesus [Music] faith in jesus [Music] i put my faith in jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] great is his faithfulness his salvation his word his presence it's enough to proclaim his goodness and faithfulness yeah amen and another reason to celebrate his faithfulness is all that he's done through our family ministries we were actually able to host both kids and student camps this summer and we saw countless students and kids come to christ which is phenomenal you were able to go and help with production at the student camp right yeah i was and it was actually a lot of fun you want to see how awesome it was i really do all right then check out this quick recap video [Music] [Music] [Music] every day [Music] oh man that video looked awesome i wish i could go down that water slide that looked amazing yeah it was a lot of fun yeah and what's even sweeter is that all of those students and kids heard the gospel and responded i just love it i know it was really really cool to see i know that we have viewers from all over the world who may not have the opportunity to plug into our church's family ministry but before we head into the sermon for our second week of our series on prayer let's practice the message on prayer by starting with prayer would you join us in praying for not only our kids and students but yours too [Music] okay [Music] [Music] [Music] summit family at our different campuses around the triangle and those of you that are joining us now at home i know that most of your campuses we just had a prayer time about our family ministries giving god thanks for what he's done over the summer and praying for things that are ahead but i just wanted to continue us in that spirit for just a moment uh we know that what is happening over in afghanistan is an unmitigated disaster and uh that there are so i mean there is a small fledgling church there that is trying to gain roots and while we grieve anything happening for anyone over there our hearts especially are with our brothers and sisters in christ as many of them are are now especially in harm's way um summit we have people that are in that region all around that area in countries that are ministering to people that are fleeing and that are speaking into this and i wanted us to take a moment and just lift them up lift the country up and i want us to pray i want us to pray like we would if it were happening to us or to our children these kinds of things sometimes it's easy to leave these things overseas and just say well that's a deal overseas but especially for our brothers and sisters in christ this is our family that is going through this and we are praying that god would um have mercy so would you buy your heads again at all of our campuses and if you're there at home would you bow your head right there and um let's just lift our hearts for just a moment just there before i i before i lead you in prayer would you just pray for mercy and pray for this to relent pray for for those that seek to kill and steal and destroy that they would be stopped and that there would be peace and father we pray for the church that is there we pray for believers in christ that they would be strengthened we pray that they would be protected god you protected daniel in the mouth of the lion's den you protected shadrach meshach and abednego in the fiery furnace you can protect our brothers and sisters in christ we pray god that this would be an opportunity for boldness that they would overcome the enemy which is not the taliban it's satan and they would overcome him by the word of their testimony and because they don't love their lives even to the point of death god we're asking god for protection i pray that you would have mercy on the people of afghanistan we pray that this would relent protect them and preserve them and god not just physically protect them but grant spiritual eternal healing that can come to the preaching of the gospel god what satan means for evil and he does mean it for evil lord jesus may you turn it for good for your church all authority has been given to you in heaven and on earth nothing in this surprises you and nothing is beyond your control it's all under your authority so have your way lord jesus have your way we pray together in jesus name and all god's people said amen amen genesis 32 if you have your bible genesis 32 and ruth bell graham's book i have it right here uh called prodigals and those who love them by the way some of you asked last week about the book that i referenced um it was a book called prayers for your children uh it's by a local pastor named james banks um i've got a few other books that i'll be referencing today instead of blowing me up on social media which i always love to hear from you of course but uh just to save you the um the frustration we're gonna put them all out on social media right after our services um particularly for you parents let me suggest in addition to prayers for your children another one by the same author called prayers for prodigals um it's basically both of these books are 90 days of prayer for your kid particularly prayers for prodigals in their teenage years um and beyond there's one i'll put out there called come back barbara it's a little bit older of a book by it's uh by a pastor named jack miller who is one of the godliest pastors that i have ever read who himself had a prodigal prodigal daughter and he writes about how god overcomes your mistakes in the process of parenting sometimes showing you that you're every bit as much the prodigal as the kid that you are praying for um is and uh of course there's also my new book just ask which is available now at all of our campuses if you're interested in any of those again you can check out our social on our social media channels later and find out and not have to um not have to like what book was he referring to well again in her book prodigals and those who love them ruth graham who is billy graham's wife tells the story of waking up in the middle of the night and worried about one of her children i don't know if you know this but billy and ruth graham who arguably might be two of the most significant christians of the 20th century had prodigals in their family most notoriously their oldest son franklin who for many years ran from god hard she says about this night she says it was three o'clock in the morning and the name of someone i loved dearly flashed into my mind and i was wide awake it was like an electric shock she said like an electric shock instantly i was wide awake i knew there would be no more sleep for me the rest of the night so i lay there and i prayed for the one who was trying hard to run from god when it is dark and the imagination runs wild there are fears that only a mother can understand suddenly she said the lord said to me in my spirit quit studying the problems and start studying the promises that might be our theme for today quit studying the problems and start studying the promises because that's where true tenacity and prayer is inspired i've told you the bible is a book of more than 3 000 promises and effective prayer begins with unearthing each of these promises one by one and praying them back to god in your life today this weekend i want to talk about wrestling with god in prayer and refusing to give up we are going to look at one of my favorite old testament stories in genesis 32 the story of jacob wrestling with god but before we get there let me just point out how this was a central theme how much of a central theme this was in jesus's teaching on prayer so central that the gospel writer luke who who relays a lot of jesus's teaching on prayer summarize some of jesus's parables about prayer this way he said now he told them a parable on the need watch this for them to pray always and not give up that's what he's teaching he's teaching them to pray and not give up not stop asking and to illustrate this he tells the story about a widow who needed a judge to give her justice but the judge ignores her because she doesn't have enough money to hire a lawyer and he's kind of a jerk who doesn't really care about doing the right thing just because it's right and so jesus says this woman camps outside his house and every time this judge goes anywhere to the work uh to the grocery store to the gym she pesters him about her need watch this it says for a while he was unwilling he was unwilling he was unmoved but later he said to himself even though i don't fear god or respect people yet because this widow keeps pestering me i will give her justice so that she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming then jesus says that's how you ought to pray to god now jesus's point of course i've told you is not to compare compare god to an unjust judge but to contrast him with one and what he's saying is if even an unjust judge will respond to persistence by a poor widow how much more will your heavenly father respond to the persistence of his beloved children you see in contrast to that poor widow you and i have a heavenly father who loves to hear from us who is so in touch with us that he knows when a single hair falls from our head the bible says who values us so much that he sent his son to die for us who has put our sins as far as the east is from the west but some blessings jesus says even in that relationship some blessings god only grants the persis persistence in asking today we're going to look at one of the clearest pictures of that in the whole bible the story of jacob wrestling with god by the way i've heard um always heard that everything you really need to know about god can be found in the book of genesis every core doctrine every beautiful truth every essential christian practice it's all in the book of genesis the rest of the bible just basically expands on the themes that are introduced in that first book that is certainly true of what we're going to look at today prayer is a major major theme in the book of genesis it appears in in the most dramatic of ways again and again they don't always call it prayer because it's almost like that whole concept hasn't really been developed among bible writers but you'll see it over and over and over and over again and i don't want you to miss the significance of that in the very first book of the bible the book that's going to allow the foundation for all the rest of the bible god establishes the primacy of prayer for how he works in our lives genesis 32 let me set the background for this story so you understand what's happening in in genesis 32 jacob who is our story's main character so to speak is in quite a pickle his brother esau is about to kill him and this is going to be the culmination of a 30-year grudge jacob you see had been a jerk for most of his life most significantly he had cheated his twin brother esau out of his birthright the birthright in those days was the right to officially carry on the family name it came with two-thirds or more of the father's wealth and it always went to the oldest son esau and jacob were twins but esau was older by by a couple of minutes here's how it went down esau and jacob though they were twins were very very different esau was tough he was macho he was the man's man kind of guy the text tells us that he was hairy and he liked to hunt today he would be the kind of guy who loves football drives a ford raptor and has hair poking up out of the top of his shirt that kind of guy jacob however was more of an indoorsy kind of guy the text tells us that he had smooth skin and he liked to cook which means today he would probably watch the bachelor drive a mini cooper and have a pinterest account okay you get the image one day when they're teenagers esau comes in from hunting and he's powerful hungry jacob had just finished cooking a pot of stew and so esau asked him for some stew jacob's sensing a moment of opportunity says well well i'll trade you something for it how much you give me for for a pot of stew and esau said like what and jacob said well how about your birthright which is an insane ask but esau being a teenager and thinking impulsively as teenagers are prone to do not having a what well-developed frontal cortex as they say he said sure i mean what good is my birthright going to be if i die of hunger right now so just give me the soup so they they shook on it and jacob says no take backs and esau effectively relinquishes his birthright well a few years pass and their dad isaac is about to die and so isaac who probably did not know about anything about the deal and would have ignored it as a dumb teenage thing if he had known wants to formally confer the blessing onto esau so he asked esau to go out and hunt him up some venison and prepare it so they can eat together and he can formally confer the blessing on to him and so esau leaves to go hunt now isaac by this point is old um oh he can barely see or hear any more the the genesis tells us so so jacob thinks my dad is very old this is the moment he can't see he can't hear he thinks here's my chance now one thing i forgot to tell you esau was isaac's favorite and jacob was his mama's favorite so jacob runs and gets his mom rebecca's help and she says genesis 27 verse 8 now my son listen to me and do what i tell you go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats and i will make them into a delicious meal for your father the kind that he loves then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies then rebecca took the best clothes of her oldest son esau goes to the closet gets esau's best clothes and had their younger son jacob put them on she put the skins of the young goats that she'd killed on his hands and the smooth part of his neck by the way i'm not sure what that says about esau that to look and smell like him you tied pieces of a dead goat to your neck and your arms but at any rate for 17 then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son jacob and jacob takes it back there into isaac disguises his voice and presents himself as esau well somehow they pull it off and isaac converts the blessing on to jacob and in those days once a blessing had been formally bestowed you could not take it back so when esau gets home from hunting he finds out jacob has heisted him and so he vows to kill jacob well jacob is scared of esau anyway and so he he flees and is gone for 30 years jacob turns out to be pretty resourceful and through a combination of hard work and more trickery he becomes really wealthy his name jacob by the way means grasper because when he and his brother were coming out of rebecca's womb i told you esau came out first but right after esau comes out of the womb jacob's little hand comes out and grabs a hold of his heel as if to say get back in here i wanted to come out first so his parents called him grasper but the name jacob can also mean deceiver and so those two words grasper and deceiver are pretty well going to sum up jacob's life if your name is jacob here i greatly apologize okay well somewhere during those 30 years god started to work in jacob's life and in chapter 31 god appears to jacob verse 3 chapter 31 and says to him go back to the land of your ancestors and to your family and i will be with you make a long story really short jacob gets right with god and he obeys and so jacob begins the long journey home but as he's getting close to his birthplace a place remember that he has not been for nearly 30 years he starts to wonder what esau is going to say is he's all still mad as he saw you know is esau what's it what what's in esau's heart right now and suddenly he gets word that esau has come out to greet him with 400 armed men which is not the kind of group that you bring when you're bringing a welcome party it's the kind of group that you bring for a massacre so jacob plunges into despair and so he prays genesis 32 9. oh god of my father abraham god of my father isaac oh lord who said to me return to your country you said to me return to your country and to your kindred that i may do you good by the way you hear what you hear what he's doing we've seen this haven't we in the last several weeks he's holding up god's words in front of him god you said you said return to your homeland and i will do you good so now god i'm expecting you to make good on the promise that you made i am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant please deliver me from the hand of my brother from the hand of esau just in case you forgot who my brother was for i fear him that he may come and attack me but you said see there it is again but you said i will surely do you good and you said i'll make your offspring like the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude y'all again for the second time he's holding up god's word in front of him and saying god you promise jacob keeps praying to god like this all through the night and sometime in the middle of the night verse 24 a man by the way notice the capitalization of of man there a man came and wrestled with jacob until dawn verse 25 when the man saw that he could not win the match he touched jacob's hip and knocked it out of joint out the socket by the way do you know how painful that would have been you ever had your finger or something pulled out a joint if i raise your hand if you've ever had something pulled out of joint on your body i'd never have but people tell me it is unbelievably painful and the largest joint in your body is your hip and this guy just touches it with his finger and knocks it out of joint so the question you should ask is this if this strange man has the power just to touch jacob's hip and knock it out a joint how in the world does he lose a wrestling match to jacob verse 26 then the man said let me go for it is dawn again this guy is so powerful that he can just touch jacob's hip with his finger and knock it out of socket but he's let himself get pinned by jacob and has to ask him for permission to leave what in the world is going on but jacob panted i will not let you go unless you bless me imagine how much pain jacob is in his hip is out of socket but he won't let go i will not let you go until you bless me verse 27 what is your name the man asked he replied jacob first how do you wrestle with somebody all night and not even know their name had this heavenly man just been out looking for a random fight when jacob walked up right and this heavenly man is not who are you anyway of course not he knows jacob's name he just wants jacob to admit his name say your name my name is jacob it means liar and deceiver verse 28 your name will no longer be jacob liar and deceiver the man told him it is now israel which means literally you have wrestled with god and prevailed because you have struggled with both god and men and you have won verse 29 and what is your name jacob asked him why do you ask the man replied uh i don't know maybe you because you just snap my hip socket out a joint and change my birth name to a different one and it'll be really helpful when i'm conveying this story later if i could at least tell people who you were verse 29 then the man blessed jacob there never tells him his name by the way in the next few verses jacob goes on to meet esau and god changes esau's heart when he sees his brother his heart melts and instead of killing his brother he lays down his weapons and runs to embrace him and they stand there weeping in each other's arms for a long time jacob goes on from this not only to be reconciled to his brother but also to father the jewish nation his 12 sons would become the 12 tribes of israel and from one of those tribes the tribe of judah jesus himself would be born now again i read stories like this and i just say so many questions first who is this strange man that jacob wrestles with some commentators say it was an angel most theologians however believe it is god himself taking a human body and that's because of what jacob says in verse 30 verse 30 jacob named the place pineal which means face of god for he said i have seen god face to face yet my life has been spared and so it's very safe to assume that this person that he is wrestling with is some incarnation of god himself so then the question becomes if jacob is wrestling with god how does god not win again the guy is clearly strong enough that he whip jacob whenever he wants with the flick of his finger he knocks jacob's hip socket out of joint yet he lets himself be pinned what you see in this is that god is teaching us something really important about prevailing with him in prayer many of the blessings of god are released into our lives only through persistent unrelenting wrestling prayer he wants you to pin him so to speak but that raises another question and that is god had clearly promised these blessings to jacob he told him go back home and i'll bless you so why does jacob have to wrestle all night with god in order to obtain the blessing write this down if you're taking notes many of the blessings of god are released into our lives only through persistent unrelenting prayer god had promised this blessing to jacob yet jacob had to wrestle with god all night to get it only after a full night of wrestling does god give himself god himself let himself be pinned and give the blessing friend this is prayer do you remember martin luther's definition of effective prayer that i gave you effective prayer means catching god in his words well this story is going to add another dimension to that sometimes you wrestle with god for a long time in order to get those blessings by the way just so there's no confusion i'm not talking about salvation i'm not talking about the holy spirit's presence in your life i'm not talking about the things that god has promised to do the moments you put faith in him what i'm talking about is the release of his goodness and his blessing in the different parts of your life now you say you say well why does god why would god do it that way why would god only release some of these things after a long unceasing unrelenting prayer and i always turn here you can almost if you've been here for a while at the summit church you can predict me going there i always turn to the words of martin luther who compares it to the father who has something in his hand that his kid wants but he won't let it go at first to test the child's resolve to see how badly his kid wants it he resists his child to test the kid's strength and to test the kids resolve to get it and god does that with us luther says he holds this blessing in his hand as we wrestle with him and he asks how desperate are you for this or how quickly are you going to give up on me do you really believe that i'm good do you really trust me by the way a few weeks ago i asked you i said why does god sometimes make us persist in asking and not just give us what we ask for the first time we ask it and i paused for a minute and i was like i don't know and you laughed and that's partially true i don't know all the specific reasons in each situation that god delays but i do know i do know based on stories like jacob's what his purpose is for us in the waiting because scripture tells us he does so to purify and perfect our faith do you really trust me do you really believe that i'm good do you really believe that i'm the only one who can give this are you already hatching a plan b in case i'm not really good and don't come through you're really thinking like hey if i if you don't come through for me i might just go out and get another army and go out and attack esau myself jacob's in a place where he says i don't have any other resources literally i have nothing else left and if you don't come through for me i got nothing else to go on god's saying are you going to give up and are you going to assume that i don't care or maybe assume that i don't even exist if i don't answer immediately like you want me to write this down our belief in the goodness of god is measured by how long we will persist in prayer when the answer doesn't come that's how you measure your belief in the goodness of god and prayer of that kind i will tell you often leaves you with a wound like jacob received where god drives us to the end of ourselves where we exhaust all of our abilities and lose any confidence that we can do anything have you been there have you been there where you just feel so desperate about something there's some change you want to see in your life or somebody else's life or situation and you despair and at some point you find yourself screaming at god i can't do it i don't have any other alternatives you're the only one who can do this you're the only one who can give this blessing and i won't let you go because i have no other alternatives and from that point on we spend the rest of our lives walking with a limp reminding us of when god brought us to that point of despair and we clung to him because we had no other alternative this is what the bible teaches us effective prayer looks like we press through what looks like god's unwillingness to lay hold of his promises and don't just think this is a one-off teaching from the book of genesis i could use example after example from the life of jesus i've already shown you how he taught this principle of persistence and asking in some of his parables but you'll see the same pattern again and again and again and how he performs his miracles he here's one mark seven a syrophoenician woman a gentile comes to jesus to get healing for a daughter and jesus a woman it's just not right that i take the children's bread the bread intended for the children and give it to the dogs because she's a gentile not a jew he just called the woman a dog i i've read a number of commentators they're like yeah but the word he used means small dog to which i want to say yeah but it still means dog it's not a flattering term in any culture what is he doing he's resisting her right he's resisting her but what does she do she presses back yes lord yes lord that is true when it comes to worthiness i'm a dog but even but in a rich man's house even the little dogs get to eat whatever falls off the table there's so much grace on your table that there's enough even for a dog like me that's her version of wrestling you're acting like you're trying to get away but i won't let you go until you bless me and what happens jesus turns to her and he says wow i have not seen faith like that anywhere in israel and he gives her the blessing think of it like this instead of doing what he originally said he would do jesus did what the woman believed he could and would do jim symbolic pastor of the book and tabernacle who wrote one of the best books on prayer i've ever read called fresh way and fresh fire he said the great battle of our spiritual lives is will you believe it's not it's not can you make yourself worthy it's not um it is squarely a matter of believing that god will do what only he can do and then you pray and pray and wrestle and don't give up until god gives the blessing i know that i'm talking to a lot of people this weekend who are waiting on god to answer your prayer and you say why has god not answered my prayer i'm not even sure this prayer thing works maybe god doesn't even exist let me give you four reasons gleaned from this story and a couple other places in the bible that god may not have answered your prayer yet okay number one number one maybe maybe you aren't yet pursuing his will maybe you're not yet pursuing his will it's significant that this wrestling match didn't happen until jacob had stopped his life of swindling and was on his way back to the promised land god will not pour blessing into your life when you are living in open rebellion to him the psalmist says if i regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me psalm 66 18. peter says to husbands that if they are mistreating their wives you're not respecting your wife you're not taking care of your wife you're not putting her needs first then their prayers will be hindered that's why some of you men haven't had a prayer answer since the day you got married all right and all god's lady said amen right multiple other places where jesus says open sin cuts us off in the blessing of god listen if you've never surrendered yourself to the lordship of jesus god puts himself under no obligation to hear your prayers he still might do it but he's under no obligation to do it because you're not yet his child and so none of the promises of prayer not one of them belong to you i do not say that to be mean in fact in fact the opposite of me you could become god's child right now today in this moment you just repent of your sin right now and receive his free offer to forgive and save you he died on a cross to wipe away all your sin and he offers it as a gift whenever you want to receive it but until you do that none of these promises of prayer are yours now maybe you have done that maybe you're a christian who has received christ but right now this weekend you're living with some kind of unconfessed willful sin again if i regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me your sin has put a block between you and god that scripture says may keep your prayer from being answered is that true in your life is the holy spirit putting his finger on something in your heart right now so it might be it might be that you're not yet pursuing his will you're not on your way back to the promised land now i want to give one caveat here because specifically i found in the case of children who have walked away from god many parents will hear that and just assume that it's some sin in their lives that's made their child wander the author of that book prayers for prodigals he says he said when we parents when we parents are are not getting an answer to our prayers to bring our prodigal children back we look for someone to blame and we don't have to look very far more than one parent of a prodigal son or daughter has found themselves asking is god punishing me through my child for something i did in the past the author of this book says emphatically no ezekiel 18 20 says clearly that in the new covenant god will not punish the children for the sins of the father the better explanation is john 9 where there's a man that's blind and the disciples ask if the man's blindness is because of his parents sin or his sin and jesus says john 9 3 neither this man nor his parents sin this came about so that god's works might be displayed in him in other words god was creating a situation where he got to show off his power and grace so in other words parents let me make this very clear hear me it is not your fault the father in jesus story of the prodigal son who wandered away had not done anything wrong per se there's nothing in jesus story that indicates that the young son left because of failures and the father you cannot blame yourself they get to make their own decisions god had god only created two human beings directly adam and eve and both of them rebelled so it's not necessarily a failure in your parenting they're not being punished for your failures god has just created a situation where you have to press into his grace the wrong thing to do in the situation of a prodigal is to blame yourself the right thing to do is to pray that god's great works would be displayed in him or her but to return to the main point if you're not experiencing an answer to prayer you at least need to ask am i pursuing his will am i pursuing god's will and all the ways that i know once you are satisfied that you are well then you can proceed to number two number two maybe he's got a better plan maybe he's got a better plan we have to acknowledge that with our limited knowledge we can't know everything and sometimes god overrules us in love in fact doesn't jesus teach us to pray by begin every prayer by saying your will be done right on earth as it is in heaven no less than the apostle paul was told by god in answer to one of his persistent prayers paul stop asking that because i'm not going to remove this storm from your flesh like you asked because i've got a better plan and in the meantime my grace will be sufficient for you and your affliction quite often god is up to something better in our lives that we just can't see it yet sometimes we say around here tim keller says it this way sometimes god gives you what you would have asked for if you knew what he knew but you don't know what he knows and so you don't always know what to ask and so he doesn't withhold it from you because he's lacking love for you he withholds it from you because he loves you and he's doing something better again i could give you hundreds of stories in the bible i'll give you just one okay and there literally are hundreds you remember the story where zachariah at the beginning of the gospel of luke is in the temple and gabriel appears to him and tells him that he is going to have a son the son that will turn out to be john the baptist to you know precedes the messiah i saw something in that story the other day that i had literally never seen before when the angel first appears to zachariah what does he say to zechariah luke 1 30 appears in the temple luke 1 13 he says do not be afraid zachariah because your prayer has been heard your wife elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name him john the first thing the angel says is god heard your prayers but here is the thing how long ago had zachariah stop praying that prayer for a kid the reason i ask is because the text says specifically that zachariah and elizabeth were very old not just old but very old ancient as in so old that an all-nighter for him meant not getting up and going to the bathroom we're so old that if you said something to zechariah about getting lucky he just assumed you meant finding a good parking spot at the grocery store you following me old like like late 70s early 80s is what commentators say it would have implied i can see zachariah and elizabeth maybe praying to get pregnant into their 40s maybe they were even bold enough to do it into their 50s and keep praying that but now she's in her late 70s or early 70s that's a prayer they had to have long ago stopped praying they just assumed that god had said no or that he wasn't listening yeah when the angel shows up 20 30 years later the first thing the angel says oh no no god heard you he's had a better plan one you had to wait for and when you could not have comprehended had he tried to explain it to you see i read that story and my friend what if when we get to heaven we see there was something like this for every supposed unanswered prayer in our lives ruth bell graham who i started the sermon with or sort of the message with says it this way when i'm dealing with an all-powerful all-knowing god i as a mere mortal must offer my petitions not only with persistence but also with patience someday i'll know why number three number three maybe you're approaching god without confidence in his goodness james says this james 1 5. now if any of you lacks wisdom he should ask god who gives all generously and ungrudgingly my favorite word in those whole verses because it means he doesn't lag the finger at you and blame you for being so dumb that you got yourself in a situation that you needed wisdom he just he says no no grace you know i'm not punishing you for your sin i'm glad you asked it will be given to him but let him ask him faith without doubting for the doubter is like the sergeant see driven and tossed by the wind that person should not expect to receive anything from the lord being double-minded and unstable in all of his ways in other words you got to believe that he is good and that he will provide it you have to be certain of his goodness and his willingness this is not name it claim it theology name it claim it theology is when you believe you know more than god and and and he is obligated to give you what you need that god is like a pinata and faith is a wacky stick and if you hit him just right then he has to give you the candy that you're asking for what james is talking about is not that he's talking about approaching god with certainty about his character and his promise of goodness even if you are uncertain about his plans and so you say jesus i know that you're good and i know you're listening you're because you're just like i see you in the gospels just as attentive just as move with compassion you were the same yesterday today and forever and so i am confident that you are hearing me and that you're going to answer me now i believe james's promises about asking for wisdom would apply to anything else we ask for also when we ask we have to be certain of the goodness and the character of jesus or like james said we will receive nothing from him that person should not expect to receive anything from the lord he said so let us say as we pray jesus i know you're good and i know you're listening i know you're able to help just like i see you in the gospels remember the the great battle of our spiritual lives is will you believe it's not even going to try harder when you're going to be a better parent when you're going to get all the stuff right can you make yourself worthy the great battle of our spiritual lives is squarely a matter of believing god will do what only he can do this leads me to number four the fourth reason you may not have an answer yet maybe you have not yet prayed long enough maybe you've not yet prayed long enough maybe there's a little bit more of that night of wrestling ahead don't give up friend hold on to that heavenly man and say with jacob i will not let you go until you bless me y'all remember martin luther's definition of effective prayer effective prayer means catching christ in his own words and then wrestling with him until he fulfills it hold on to god cling to him in desperation to the darkest hour of the night saying god why aren't you doing this yet god you promised god you said you were going to be good to me you said you were going to to be kind generation after generation you said that you're going to use me to be a blessing to others you've said god that you're going to multiply the seed of the gospel through me god why aren't you doing it yet you know listen god feeling distant is just an illusion he's testing your faith in his goodness he's seen if you're going to give up on him he's seeing if you're going to turn away to him from him to something else or maybe conclude that he doesn't exist i can promise you he's giving you a wound at the place of your brazen foolish self-confidence that caused you to wonder into a life of grasping and deceiving and through this time of waiting on him he's going to create in you a limp a limp where you learn to lean on his strength and not yours anymore and for the rest of your life i promise you that you're going to look back on this and say that is the most blessed wound that i ever received to press on press on my friend some answers are only given after a night of painful wrestling don't give up after all we're praying to the god who went through the darkness of gethsemane and the pain of golgotha for us i can assure you he's listening if he didn't turn away from you in the darkness of gethsemane or in the torture of golgotha i can assure you he's listening to you now do you feel like he doesn't care about your broken marriage you feel like he doesn't care about your unsaved husband you feel like he doesn't care about your wayward child or your lost friends he does the distance is just an illusion keep praying and if you push with persistence and you get past the resistance what you'll find is not indifference what you're going to find is intimacy here's a story that i tell and just ask tell the story there of a book in the book of the 19th century evangelist and orphanage founder george mueller who committed to pray every day for five young men to be saved he was a young man himself two of which were one of his best friend's kids he said he prayed for 18 months before the first one came to christ which is a long time to pray daily for something that's 540 days i guess have you ever prayed for the same thing every day for over 500 days before seeing an answer you ever done that when that first young man was saved george muller wrote in his journal that he praised god for this one but there were four more left so he kept praying after another five years the second one came to christ so he kept praying about another six more years the third one came to christ he kept praying 36 years later mueller was now a very old man mueller wrote in his journal right before he died he wrote about those last two who were still unconverted and he said i don't have the intention to stop praying he said i continue to hope in god and i pray i pray on but then he died but just a couple years after his death those final two the sons of his friend they came to faith in christ he had prayed daily for those two young men in addition to the three others that had already come to christ he prayed daily for them for almost 45 years george mueller had taken seriously what jesus wanted to teach all of us when we pray right luke 18 1 that we ought always to pray and never to lose heart so don't stop don't give up don't ever give up i know that we've got some people here this weekend who need to hear that because you've been about to give up maybe you have given up [Music] i don't think it's that unusual anymore but i want to in it in a very specific way i'm going to ask some of our prayer team prayer counselors let's think of them i'm going to ask them to come up here and just line the stage at any of our campuses they're going to make their way up here if you're in a home group right now obviously they're you can't get here but but if you will just respond to what i'm saying by speaking into the chat somebody will will respond to you immediately i'm going to give three specific categories that i believe are represented here i believe there's some of you that you need to pray for a physical healing for yourself or for somebody else but right now what's on your heart is is is there's a desperation for physical healing and i'm not saying this name and claimant i'm not saying i know what god is going to do and you can guarantee what i'm saying is is you ought to bring that to a brother or sister up here and you ought to pray together and you ought to ask god to do what only god can do you ought to ask god for a miracle because jesus doesn't change for some of you number category number two it's a financial provision some of you are worried again maybe it's not for you maybe it's for somebody else but it's in that category of a financial provision i want to invite you to come up and just take the hands of one of these that are up here and i want you to pray with them number three category number three you're really burdened over somebody who needs jesus a prodigal son a prodigal daughter a friend a neighbor a parent a spouse i invite you to come up here or maybe there's something else that's really on your heart i know we all got things that we pray for but i know there's some of you that you need a miracle and yes it's a bold thing in a minute to actually walk down here at your campus i get that but the amount of desperation you feel calls for some kind of desperate posture and doing that actually might be it there's nothing special about coming down here but when you come together and say god i'm like jacob i'm not giving up i'm not giving up and i'm going to say i desperately need your goodness okay and what i'm going to do is we're all going to take some time to pray and you can pray there at your seat you can pray there with the person that's there i'll give you just a few moments to do that but when i stand you up if you're in one of those categories i want you to come and i want you to pray down down in front of one of our campuses okay and then the rest of us will take a moment just there standing where we are to pray together and then our worship teams will come to lead us so would you stand to your feet right now at all of our campuses stand to your feet stay on your feet as our worship teams come would you just step out right now just step out and come down and and take the hand of one of these brothers and sisters and say i can't give up and i need you to pray for me and and and take your request to god together okay you do that now you listen and obey the holy spirit the rest of us will just pray where we are and in a moment our worship teams will come to lead us [Music] summit fam out of today's message can i actually be vulnerable with you for a moment i know many of you are rejoicing with me and joey as we get married and i know some of you long to be married and it feels like the lord isn't providing or doesn't care i've been there i'm actually 34 years old and i can't begin to tell you how hard it was for me to wrestle with singleness to continue to believe god's word even when it didn't seem like god was showing up to stay pure and to continue to count the cost of following jesus but i found over and over again that god has given us everything we need for life and godliness in him that in his presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore yeah and i know some of you are wrestling with your own stuff and we want to pray with you if you're watching live you can click request prayer right now and a live host will pray with you for the rest of us though let's proclaim god's promises by singing together now [Music] [Music] let's be holding together [Music] of the king he the theme of heaven's praises hoped [Music] now the light of life has come look to christ you condescended he took own flesh [Music] he the perfect son of man [Music] christ the lord upon the trees [Music] see the price of our redemption [Music] grace [Music] he's [Music] the god of life but no of deliverance [Music] when he comes [Music] christ in power resurrect as we will be when he goes [Music] oh [Music] summit thank you for joining us today before you go we have a few quick things first if you'd like to give the summit church you can text give to 33933 or visit our website summitchurch.com give to set up a one-time gift or even a reoccurring tithe we're able to continue to offer someone online because of your faithful generosity yeah that's so true and for our members who already faithfully give you have the opportunity in a few weeks to vote on next year's budget and you can see an overview of that or submit any questions you have at summitchurch.com members yeah and don't forget to sign up for the daily prayer prompts for this week's week of prayer you can do that by texting prayer to 33933 or visiting our website summitchurch.com prayer well summit next time you see me i'll be mrs kelsey fowler i love the soundtrack summit you are set [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

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Published: Sat Aug 21 2021