"Just Jacob" - Pastor Raymond Woodward

a long time but everybody say just Jacob just Jacob I want to pick up the story of one of the most unique characters of the Old Testament he's one character who had a name change and when God gives you a name or changes your name it's very significant it happened to more than him in fact it happened to his grandfather Abram whose name was changed to Abraham but but this guy he had a dramatic life change and name change and we're gonna pick it up kind of way into his story at a very critical point in his life story Genesis chapter 32 and verse 24 the Bible says and Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day some theologians think that's God pre-incarnate before he robed himself in flesh others think it's an angel the angel of the Lord and and of course angels of the Lord can appear in a form that looks human has face and features and so that that's kind of what I think they're wrestle with him an angel will say and you can believe what you'd like about that the wrestle with him a man until the breaking of the day and when he saw that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with this angel and Jacobs said and the angel said let me go for the day breaketh and here's Jacob's answer and he said I will not let you go except thou bless me and then the angel says to Jacob what is your name now that's an odd question and he said my name is Jacob and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and you have prevailed and so because you prevailed because you struggled through and you wrestled through you get a name change God's going to look at you differently and you're going to beat differently would you just pray with me for one moment and let's ask God speak tonight that's the most important facet of Bible study not media or lectures or scriptures or sermons or whatever it's that God would speak to us so could you join me out loud in a sincere prayer right now Lord Jesus I thank you for this people I thank you for this night I thank you that we have the privilege of gathering together and study in your word but studying your word just gives us more head knowledge unless it translates to a heart experience so God I'm gonna try to give the right sense of the scripture I'm trying to explain the scripture and I'm going to try to teach some things that will be helpful but God what I'm asking you to do Jesus is if you would take it from head knowledge and if you would give us a hard experience help us make the journey from head to heart from from knowledge to experience help us make the trip tonight from just a Bible study service to a life-changing encounter with you that will change our days and our experience from this moment forward and we pray it in Jesus name everybody said amen amen god bless you in psychology there's something called the Johari Window and if you've been in university and studied some psychology you're probably familiar with this the Johari Window is named after its founders its inventors Joseph luff Joe and Harry Ingram so Joe and Harry Johari Window and it's a little psychological model and it helps us understand how we communicate and interact with one another but deeper than that it helps us understand the nature of human relationships one to another and it has four quadrants or like four panes of a window hence the name Johari Window and I I've studied that before I've actually used that in teaching before but I came across the diagram that I like better because it doesn't put it in window panes it puts it in rooms and I thought wow that's just so much more clear and and it really helps us to see ourselves from four different angles now this isn't a psychology course this isn't one class that you're auditing to get your credit this is Bible study but this will help us in just a so this is the Johari Window diagrammed like four rooms here are the four rooms four dimensions of our identity it helps us look at ourselves as we see ourselves as other people see us and this isn't psychology but as God sees us there are four rooms in this setup four rooms in this scenario there's the open self there's the hidden self the blind self and the unknown self that's the Joe Hardy window those terms are familiar to psychology but but let me try to put a spiritual spin on it to set the foundation for our lesson about Jacob tonight the first room the open self if you notice this little person he can see into this room called the open self he can look through the window and he can see what's in the room called open self but also all of his friends can look into that room and so everybody can see what's in the room called the open self and that consists of things you know about you and things that all the rest of us know about you this is who you are when everybody's looking this is who you put forth as a public persona this is the you that all of us know and love or we think we know and we think we love this is the open self there's a second room though and it's over there and it's the room called the hidden self and the thing about this room is you can see into that room but nobody else can this is the hidden self it's things that you know about yourself but nobody else on this planet knows maybe not even your spouse or your children nobody else knows these things about you that's the room of the hidden self this is who you are when nobody is looking this is who you are after you get past polite small talk and surface talk this is who you are once you get past the superficial and you dig down where others can't see it's a facade it hides all your deep disappointments of your past it it sometimes hides hidden dreams that you've never realized you're a little bit frustrated or it even put it in a spiritual sense he could even hide secret sins that are be setting you in troubling you and keeping you down and holding you back and and other people might be puzzled as to why you struggle but only you know that it's because of secret sins that are in this room of the hidden self this is the person that you are that you know but nobody else knows it's the room of the hidden self and only you see into it everybody sees into the room of the open self only you see into the room of the hidden self and then there's this interesting room it's over here it's the room of the the blind self and if you notice what's unique about this room is that you can't see into it but everybody else can see into it now you this wouldn't be you of course but it could be some of your friends the the room of the blind self is this this is things that other people know about you but you don't realize about yourself I thought it would get quiet there it's not because of the psychology either other people know things about you this is the room of the blind self you don't see it but other people see it this is where you have to have some friends who see your potential and they challenge you not to waste your life or waste your time or bury yourself in trivial temporal pursuits and they challenge you to be more than you could be this is the room of the blind self you don't see the potential in you but your friends can see the potential and that's why you need good friends that are living for God and go in the same direction you're going and they believe what you believe on your best day but on your worst day they can challenge you to live up to the person you should be this is the room of the blind self this is also where you need friends who have the courage to confront you when you need to change I thank God for people that don't always tell me things I want to hear I thank God for people that can look me in the eyes and say this is an issue this is a problem you need to change you're not doing as good as you should and you need friends like that you're hopefully your spouse is a friend like that hopefully you have a church and a pastor that they'll look at you and tell you you're not always doing quite so perfectly that's a wonderful thing if you don't but you really need more than just a pastor who stands in a pulpit you really need some people up close that can speak to you openly and honestly because if you don't have that your blind spots will never change and great people can have great blind spots and so these are the rooms so so you've got this this room that everybody sees the open self and you've got this room that only you see and it's the room in the hidden self and then you get this room over here the room and the blind self everybody can see it but you everybody else knows you have a problem I don't want to make you paranoid and if paranoia is your problem this is going to make you paranoid but there are some things that we all know about you that you don't know about yourself and and you notice that we all go to this room when you're not around and we have interesting discussions about you and your issues partly joking okay and finally we have the fourth room and you know what's unique about this fourth room and and I like this this diagram of the Johari Window because to me it's more clear than than just doing boxes this is amazing you notice what's this fourth room the unknown self you notice what's unique about that room there's no windows in it and so nobody sees into the unknown self you don't know these things about yourself and other people no matter how close they don't know these things about you this is the room and and Johari they weren't trying to set this up psychologically they've got other things that they write about this but I'd like to twist this into a spiritual application because these are things that only God knows and sees about you you don't know them about yourself and others don't know them about you only God knows these things about you nobody else god knows some things that are in your future and only he knows the potential you have and even your friends can't see it only God knows what he's going to call you or use you to do for his kingdom only God knows the trials and temptations and tests and trouble you're going to face and God He alone rules this room this is why the holy ghost God's Spirit living in you plays such a vital role in your life you need more than good smarts you need more than good friends you need more than good advice you need the Holy Ghost in you leading and guiding challenging and changing you and this is where the Bible comes into play this is why we come to Bible study because the Bible is the Word of God and every once in a while the Bible will bypass all these other rooms and take us straight into a place where God's Word is spoken to us and we don't just hear the preacher we don't just hear the scripture reference we don't just hear the sermon notes or see the media on the screen God speaks to us and that's what we need to reach for strive for believe for and worship toward every time we come together the reason we don't do Bible study first and then sing is because we want to open our hearts before we open up a book and start to talk and really that's what worship is about it's about getting in a place where God can speak and this room this room of the unknown self this is where God reveals to you why you are so important to him this is where you begin to see yourself through God's eyes and unless you get that kind of experience with God you'll never see what He desires for you and that unknown room remains closed now here's the point because this isn't just a little lecture the point is other than this one room the room of the open self all the other rooms have some kind of hidden Asst some kind of mask some kind of facade for our hidden self we need to learn to be honest with others for our blind self we need others to be honest with us and for our unknown self we need God's direct divine intervention to speak to us and guide us and help us make good decisions because three out of the four rooms all except this one they all have some dimension that we don't really see clearly if at all you were created in the image of God every human being was so if you really want to find yourself that's a big mantra today I just want to find myself people leave home and jobs and family and friends to go find themselves but if I could tell you on the authority of the word of God if you really want to find yourself don't go looking for yourself go looking for God and that's how you find yourself go looking for God and that's how you find your greatest potential that's what's missing from so many people's lives today because if you ignore God really what you've done is you've ignored yourself because God created you in His image so you ignore God's will you've ignored the best potential of your life if you ignore God if you never get to that room you will always in some ways be a stranger to yourself but if we dare to take off the masks and if we dare to pull down the facade and if we dare to tear down the walls then God can speak to us and we can discover our god-given identity and our god-given destiny I didn't come here to talk to you about two psychology professors I came here to talk to you about a Bible character with a whole boatload of damaged dysfunctional psychology he lived under the weight of his name all of his life Jacob the name means he'll grabber supplanter schemer shady scammer sham shyster swindler and now as we open the Bible in this particular passage like everybody else who lives a lie Jacob eventually ends up feeling all alone because when when you live a lie you end up alone every time he's alone because he's had a lifelong conflict with his brother Esau Jacob has lied and he's cheated and he's swindled to get just about everything in his life and not everybody's happy about it especially not Esau Esau is not happy at all and now after all these years of being estranged and distant and all these years of anger Jacob has just learned that Esau is on his way to meet him he didn't get any other information just Esau is coming and he's got a lot of people with him and Jacob is scared he's so scared that he's divided his big family all the children and grandchildren and servants he's divided them all into two camps so that if he saw attacks one group at least maybe the other group can escape and he sent multiple messengers one after the other ahead of them to Esau all bearing big expensive gifts all basically little bribes to say hey please forgive me I didn't mean it I shouldn't have done it it's it's just bribes please don't hurt me because I hurt you so many years ago and Jacob he's all alone his guilty conscience fears the worst but he ends up in the best place he could be he ends up in a place where he is alone with God and he ends up wrestling with the angel of the Lord now that's not so strange to Jacob that be strange to us it's not so strange to him because if you read scripture Jacob has been wrestling since before he was ever born to his mother Rebekah he's always been a fighter here's the passage and when her days this is his mom when her days to be delivered were forfeit fulfilled she's already said just a couple verses before you know what's going on there's all this movement and all this strife in my womb what is going on with me and here's the answer when our days to be delivered were fulfilled behold there were twins in her womb and the first came out red all over like a hairy garment and they called his name Esau red Edom same same root word and after that came his brother out and and here's Jacob being born and he's second born but he wants so bad to be first he's coming after but he wants so much to be before and so his brother comes out of the womb and his hand his little chubby baby fist reaches out and literally grabs hold of his brothers heel as if to say I should have been first I wanted to be first I wanted to be ahead of you and his name was called Jacob which literally in Hebrew means heel grabber or he who grasps the heel and it came to mean supplanter or deceiver or con-artists basically we would say because Jacob always got everything in his life by grabbing and grasping and trying to take something that didn't belong to him and the Bible says his name was called Jacob and Isaac was 60 years old when she bare them and the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter a man of the field and Jacob was a plain man he dwelt in tents and Isaac the dad he loved Esau because he ate of everything that Esau went out and killed but Rebekah she loved Jacob because he helped her around the house that kind of thing and so you've got these two boys Jacob we know from before he was born he came out of the womb grasping for what was not his he always wanted what somebody else had now the eldest son Esau in this case the eldest son of a Jewish family was promised not one but two special inheritances first there was the birthright and the birthright would make him the next head of the family after dad died and it would also give him a double portion of all of his father's possession his wealth his estate everything that was the first thing the first privilege of the firstborn was the birthright and then the second privilege of the firstborn was the blessing which was literally a prayer prayed by his dad before his dad passed and that blessing passed to the eldest a certain spiritual authority and a special covenant relationship with the Lord both of those things belonged to Esau but his heel grabbing brother his conniving shady con artist brother Jacob he swindled him out of both of those both his birthright and his blessing no wonder Esau is now angry and no wonder Jacob is now terrified of what Esau might do to him and we read the passage it's really heartbreaking on Esau part Genesis 25 if you go back in time from this moment when Jacob wrestles with the angel just go back a little bit and and you'll read this Esau comes in from the field one day and and he's a big burly man the Bible says he's covered with hair like a garment so he's a man's man he's a he-man he's like a grizzly bear of a man but he's a drama queen and a lot of men that are that big are quite that whiny especially if they happen to get sick I told Beverley not very long ago I said I had a head cold I think it was and I said you know if if you would just be sympathetic with me just imagine childbirth and that's what I feel like right now she wasn't all that sympathetic so there's big burly man he comes in from the field and he says drama queen here we go behold I'm at the point to die and what profit shall this birthright the double inheritance and and and be in the head of the family what goods that gonna do me cuz I'm gonna drop dead this afternoon because I haven't had anything to eat and Jacob said you swear to me this day and he swear to him and he sold his birthright unto Jacob and so Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils he gave him some bread and some stew and he ate and drank and rose up and went his way and the Bible simply says thus Esau despised his birthright now we're here to talk about Jacob but boy there's a lesson here in what Esau did can I tell you that Esau gave up what he wanted most for what he wanted now can I back that truck up again Esau gave up what he wanted most for what he wanted now what a lesson there in that little story for us because so often the devil will put what you want now in front of your eyes and if you're not careful you'll take the bait and sell the birthright of blessing the birthright of later the birthright of destiny the birthright of God's will and what you're doing is you give up what you need and what you want most for what you think you need and want right now don't do that don't give up most for now that's what Esau did many people make that mistake today in a moment of weakness Jacob was able to take advantage of his brother Esau and now years later Jacob fears that he saw is going to come and get his revenge on that he'll grabbing little brother you could say that Jacob was just an opportunist Esau comes in he's acting like a big drama queen he's hungry and you could say well you know that's really not Jacob's fault he was just an opportunist he saw an opportunity and he took it and he tricked Esau out of his birthright now you might be able to say it about that day but you certainly couldn't say he was an opportunist on the day he took Esau's blessing Jacob connived and plotted and schemed against his brother and his own father to con Esau out of the eldest sons blessing you got to imagine that on this night when he's wrestling with the angel and the angels gonna ask Jacob what is your name you've got to imagine that when the angel of the Lord wrestling with Jacob said what is your name you got to imagine that Jacobs mind went back to this moment in his life because it's not the first time he'd ever been asked that question the first time he heard that question it wasn't an angel asking it was his own father asking here's the passage and he came in this is Jacob he's dressed up like Esau he came unto his father his father's old his eyes are weak he's feeble and he said my father and he said here am I who art thou my son what's your name which one are you and Jacob said unto his father and he lies I'm Esau thy firstborn I've done according as you madest me arise I pray thee sit and eat of my venison that thy soul may bless me his mother helped him prepare this venison it Isaac doesn't really understand how in the world he got this done so fast that he went out and hunted this animal and cooked it and now he's here and that's what he says Isaac said unto his son how is it that you found it so quickly my son and again Jacob wise he said because the LORD thy God brought it to me he ran that animal right across my path it didn't take me long to find him and Isaac said unto Jacob come near I pray thee that I may feel thee my son well he's already thought of that he's smooth skin but he's put animal skins on him and again his mother has helped him and so he feels like this hairy elder brother Esau come near that I may feel thee my son whether thou be my very son Esau or not and Jacob went near unto Isaac his father and he felt him and he said even though his ears and his hearing are fading he said this is strange that voice sure sounds like Jacob's voice but these hands that I'm feeling these hairy rough hands they're the hands of Esau and he discerned him not because his hands were hairy as his brother Esau his hands and so in this moment this is when it happens this isn't an opportunist taking advantage of something that came randomly across his path this is a scheming conniving deceiver this is the supplanter this is the heel grabber trying to take something that he knows rightfully belongs to his older brother and so this is the moment Isaac reaches out those gnarled agent hands and lays them on his son's head and thinking it's Esau the eldest and thinking he's doing the will of God he blesses Jacob and he asked one more time art thou my very son Esau and he lies again and he said I am you see the first time Jacob was asked what's your name who are you here's what he said I'm Esau that's what he said a bold and brazen deception and it Kolak alkylated to deceive his father and defraud his brother and it worked Jacob got that blessing but can I tell you something when you try to pretend to be something you're not and you try to pretend to be someone you're not you might get a blessing for a little while but Jacob only kept that blessing for a few minutes of time because the minute Esau returned and the minute Esau found out what Jacob had done the heel grabber suddenly became a fugitive technically yes the birthright and the blessing were now his but he couldn't even enjoy them because for the next 20 years he would spend his life on the run running from Esau and his dad's grief stricken when Esau comes into his father and Isaac realizes the deception and Esau says I'm ready father here's the meat that I killed it's all prepared and I want you to eat and I want you to bless me Isaac is shocked and he says thy brother came with subtlety and he's taken away your blessing and Esau said is he not rightly named he'll Grabber is he not rightly named deceiver supplanter is he not rightly named con-artist because he supplanted me these two times he took away my birthright and behold now he's taken away my blessing and then he begs his dad have you not reserved a blessing for me and Isaac reaches out that gnarled age at hand one more time and he prays for Esau but he knows and he saw knows that it's not the same Scripture and history will bear out the blessing that was left over was not the same Jacob got the blessing but Jacob lost himself in the process of getting the blessing Jacob learned the hard way over 20 years please hear me that God can't bless who you're pretending to be God can't bless you when you're fakin God can't bless you when you're pretending God can't bless you it may look good on the surface but he can't bless you when all we've got is a little facade a little mask a little image and you're in hiding and nobody else really knows the details God can't bless who you're pretending to be you could pretend to be the best Pentecostal in the world you can pretend to be the most godly righteous holy person in the world you can pretend to be the most powerful worshipful person in the world but if all it is is a pretense God can't bless who you're pretending to be jesus said it this way what's a man profited if he gains the whole world you can get your blessings but if you lose your own soul what does a man give in exchange for his soul don't lose your soul don't lose your soul it's not worth it to pretend to be okay out here when you're dying in here you need to get right and get real because the only thing that matters one second after you die or one second after the rapture is what was really going on in here not how it looked not how everybody thought not what your image was not what your reputation was but what was going on in here where nobody could see God cannot bless who you pretend to be as Jacob wrestles with the angel his thigh is put at a joint he will forever walk differently with a limp not just a little limp from an ankle wound he'll walk with a limp from his hip he'll forever walk it'll be painful to watch him walk for the rest of his life just to watch it let alone do it it is a single encounter with God that wrestling match it's one single encounter with God that has lifelong effects I'm thrilled to announce to you that one single encounter with God today can still have lifelong effects that's why we have church service that's why we have Bible study that's why we sing and preach and worship and pray that's why we still have a because one little encounter with God can change the rest of your life and all of your eternity it's a moment for Jacob when all the lies and all the excuses are stripped away it's just Jacob and God and that moment will impact all the moments to come and the angel finally after they've wrestled for hours the angel says let me go and Jacob says I won't let you go not until you bless me I refuse to leave here the same I'm tired of faking it I've been pretending all my life and I am done pretending I've lived with the curse of envy and jealousy I've spent years bound by fear I have anger issues with God and anger issues with man I'm consumed by bitterness but hear me I've been holding on to Esau's heel all my life but right now I'm gonna let go of all of that and I'm only holding on to one thing from here on out god I won't let you go until you bless me I'll let go of everything else I'll let go a reputation I'll let go of riches and wealth and friends and anything I want to lose it all but I'm tired of grabbing that and not getting a hold of you so God if you give me that well and good but I'm gonna lose all that just so I can get hold of the magnificent God that I serve and that I know I'm gonna let go everything else God I'm tired of grabbing heels I'm gonna grab hold of the holy God Paul said in Philippians but what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yayyyy doubtless I count all things but loss Paul didn't just say I count sinful things about loss I'm gonna walk away from sinful things so I could have God he said no I'll walk away from good things to get God I'll walk away from things that everybody else approves of to get God I'll walk away from things that my flesh desires and that really there's nothing wrong with them but if it comes down to that or him I'm gonna walk away from that and I'm gonna get ahold of him what things were gay I counted them all lost I put them on the negative side of the accounting balance sheet of my life and I said God there's just one sum over here in this column and that's Jesus price and over here is everything else and if God chooses to move those over in this column so I get to have them and enjoy them I will have them and I will enjoy them but if it comes down to choose between column number 1 the world and column number 2 Jesus Christ Jesus I want you to know I count this entire column it's a negative it's a loss it's over it's done with for me just so I could have you I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord they said Jesus for you I've suffered the loss of all these things but you know what I'm not upset I lost a few things to serve you because I count them but dung they are the refuse of an animal to me they are a dung heap just so I may win Christ only one thing matters what's unique about this particular moment this night this momentous occasion in Jacobs life is this time he's not trying to be Esau he spent his whole life trying to be esau jealous of esau trying to deceive people but this time Jacob's willing to just simply be himself and finally be honest with God so this time when the angel says what is your name for the very first time in his whole life he says I'm just Jacob I'm not Esau I'm not the image everybody else sees I'm not the guy who everybody says well he has the blessing and he has the birthright he said no I'm just Jacob if I'm gonna have you god I know I've got to be honest he says angel God I got a blessing years ago pretending to be Esau but today I need a blessing as Jacob because I finally figured it out I've spent 20 years on the run having a blessing and a birthright in my back pocket and still being a fugitive and still having anger issues and still having Envy issues and still have all kinds of fear and worry issues I've spent 20 years with the blessing and the birthright in my hip pocket and it's not doing me any good because God can't bless the pretend me God can only bless the real me God can't bless to pretend you God can only bless the real you see the angel wasn't just there to reveal God to Jacob the angel was there to reveal Jacob - Jacob sometimes we need a moment with God so that we see ourselves as we really are Isaiah had one of those moments he said woe is me I'm a man of unclean lips Here I am a prophet I'm commissioned and called to speak for God but when I look at me in the face of God and when I see a holy God and an unholy me I just say even though I'm called to speak for God I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the middle of a people of unclean lips we're just all messed up God and so god I'm not pretending I need you to come down here and take a coal and put a coal from your altar on my lips and cleanse my tongue and my lip and some my words and my hearts God you've got to do it because you can't bless the pretend me you can only bless the real me today God I need a blessing not as Esau I need a blessing as Jacob as soon as Jacob decided to get honest he got blessed and his name was changed from Jacob the heel grabber the supplanter the deceiver to Israel which means God wrestler or Prince with God or triumph with God can I tell you God didn't call the pretend you God didn't call you to be a Pentecostal phony God didn't call you to be a good-looking church member God didn't call you to be an image of something that looks Christian God called the real you not to pretend you you say but the real Me's got all kinds of problems that's exactly why God called you because if you think your problems are some big surprise or some big challenge to the Almighty they're not God didn't call you so we could pretend to be a little club of the perfect for the rest of our lives this is not an institution for perfect people this is a hospital ward for broken people and the more we exalt Jesus the more we're gonna see our brokenness that's why some people they're very reserved when the Spirit of God gets moving you know why because they don't want to let go because if they ever let go it shows their brokenness in God's presence so they want to keep this reserve like I'm in control I'm religious I'm Christian I'm Pentecostal I do everything you do I'm just not gonna let go I'm gonna keep in control but there's something so precious and so powerful about not caring about your image only caring about his glory not caring about your reputation only caring about worshiping him there's something about coming into the presence of God and saying god I don't know about anything else but I know this I've spent too much of my life holding on to cheap temporal worldly things but God I don't throw it all away if I can just get a hold of you for five minutes in this service you don't even have to give me the whole ninety minutes give me five minutes God five minutes of your glory we'll fix everything that's wrong with me Paul said you see your calling brethren we don't like this first by the way this is one of those verses that we don't like in the Bible not many wise not many mighty look at this crew God not many noble not many of those kind of people are called you know why because they're too busy grabbing on to the wise and the mighty and the noble things of this world and so God said it's great if you have wisdom and nobility it's great if you have those things it's great not a problem but for so many people they grab hold of that and they don't grab hold of God and that's why not many wise not many mighty not many noble are called and then Paul says something that stings he says but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and God has chosen the base things of the world he's even chosen things that are despised and things that are not everybody else looks at them and just discounts and discards them things which are not things that have no reputation things that are looked at by the world as the offscouring the dirty the filthy things that the world doesn't even want to touch because they're too foolish and they're too base and they just don't even want to touch them it's not a bad thing to be weak if God is your strength it's not a bad thing to be foolish if you're trusting in the wisdom of God and Paul said God's even chosen things he's not talking about things like in your house things he's talking about you he's talking about people God has chosen things which are not why to bring to nought things that are because someday everything on this side of the list is going to perish and fall but everything on God's side of the list is gonna last for all eternity God has chosen some of us that don't have a whole lot to offer to bring to nought things which are why why would God do that why would God choose a disproportionate number of weak people to be in his kingdom why would God choose a disproportionate people who don't have a whole lot of the world's wisdom to be in his kingdom why would the numbers always be in favor of the weak and the not wise the unwise why here's why that no flesh should glory in his presence I think we need to work as hard as we can and we do I think we need to do things with excellence and we do I think we need to put our best foot forward for the kingdom of God and we try to do that with all of our might but at the end of the day we can plan we can do media we can organize and strategize we can practice and rehearse and do key changes and light changes and we can do all of that and we'll keep doing it for the glory of God but if it ever gets in the way of the glory of God that goes out that door and the glory of God is welcomed here because we can't do anything for a drug addict by doing a mood change with the lights but I'll tell you what can help a drug addict here's when the glory of God shows up in the people and in the presence of God's people and the glory changes everything our music I love it I thank God for our singers and our musicians they are so anointed and they do things with such excellence and they make us proud but we're not proud because we're prideful we're proud because they represent Jesus very well and they know how to sing and bring the Holy Ghost into a room and they know how to worship and bring the anointing of God into a church service that's why we're proud of them we're not proud of them and some worldly sense we're proud of them in a sanctified way because they know how to lay aside the key change every once in a while and everybody just lose yourself and worship and every once in a while while pastors try to prepare and try to preach and try to make sense and try to be coherent every once in a while yeah we get a little bit emotional somebody came up to me the other day I thought I was really good that day it was Father's Day I was so collected in palm and concise and excellent and the media never glitch and the music was fine and somebody came up to me and said my goodness you're loud and I look back at him they were visiting it wasn't their fault they're not used to any kind of anything with life and church in the same sentence it's fine I just said yeah I'm loud in fact we're all loud because God's been really good to us and and he deserves our praise it didn't offend me it didn't even set me back I just thought yeah I'm loud I thought I was quiet that day and I thought you guys were dead that day I thought I thought we had really behaved ourselves well that morning let me finish her I'll get in trouble now for the rest of his life this is unusual just like the Word of God it's amazing for the rest of his life Jacob although his name has been changed to Israel his name has been changed from heel grabber deceiver supplanter his name has been changed to Israel God Ressler prints with God triumphs of God although his name has been changed for the rest of his life Jacob will still be referred to in Scripture by both names sometimes Israel sometimes Jacob why well because just like you sometimes Jacob acts like Israel and sometimes Jacob acts like old Jacob but because Jacob decided to be honest with God and he decided to repent before God and he decided to say God I'll let it all go everything I've grasped my whole life I'll let it all go if I can just get a hold of you because of that his struggles even though he still has struggles his struggles can no longer derail his destiny just because God has given you a new identity in Christ doesn't mean you'll never struggle again it simply means I've given up the life of a heel grabbing schemer for the life of a god wrestling Prince that's the difference many many years later the nation of Israel will be enslaved and their fate will rest in the hands of another man who also has many faults and many weaknesses and God will reveal himself to that man who also has many faults and many weaknesses but despite his faults and weaknesses God intends to use that man just like he used Jacob and God appears to that man at a burning bush and God said unto Moses here's my name since you asked I am that I am and he said Moses here's what you say to the children of Israel you tell them I am hath sent me unto you don't you go in your own name Moses don't you go in and tell them what you can do for them because what you can do for them it may be good but it's not enough to overthrow the might of the Egyptian Empire Christians can I tell you something don't you go to somebody and tell them what you can do for them or even what your church can do for them because this church is a great Church but it can't do anything eternal for anybody but when we preach Jesus and the I am that I am shows up all of a sudden all bets are off all rules get broken and God can turn around impossible situations for his own glory so don't tell them what you can do don't tell them what we can do tell them what Jesus can do Moses you go in and you say I am sent me to you oh and Moses one more thing here's what you say to the children of Israel the Lord God of your father's the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob he's the one who sent me unto you and God said Moses you tell them this is my name forever this is my memorial unto all generations hmm the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob it's everywhere in Scripture and that's really amazing because that is definitely not the way that should have been written down in Scripture first of all it should have been the God of Abraham Isaac and Esau because he saw was the firstborn and he should have had the birthright and the blessing but he didn't value them so God allowed them to be taken from him now Jacob did value the birthright in the blessing but not for good reasons for totally the wrong reasons if Jacob had never had that all night wrestling match with the angel if Jacob had never finally become fully honest before God if Jacob had never finally admitted who he really was maybe God would have just left that alone the God of Abraham Isaac and Esau but there's a second reason that doesn't fit in Scripture if it's not going to be the God of Abraham Isaac and Esau at least it should have been the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel because that's his new name that's the name that God changed him to Jacobs new name represented his good side instead of his bad side Jacobs new name represented everything God had done to help him instead of everything Jacob had done to hurt himself Jacobs new name represented his future instead of his failures and yet you read it everywhere in Scripture never never not one time is it the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel it's always the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob why in the world is that the case maybe it's because just like Jacob walked with a permanent limp for the rest of his life maybe it's because God wants his people to always remember that we have a tendency to revert back to our old habits and our old ways and our old schemes and we have a tendency to pick up those old masks and put them on again unless we remember the moments that we actually wrestled with God and came out totally changed unless we lay down our old identity and live out our new identity in Christ maybe that's why God allowed it to be that way I'm the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob remember Jacob yeah that's the guy he was before I changed him that's the guy he was before I got into his life story that's the guy he was when he was left to his own devices trying to pull himself up by his own bootstraps that's the guy he was when he spent his whole life pretending and he spent his whole life wearing a mask he spent his whole life just putting on an image so maybe God left it that waste because he wanted to give us a a billboard in big 10 foot high letters flashing like a neon sign I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because I want to remind you that no matter how bad you've messed up or how long you journeyed outside of my will or how badly you mangle your destiny I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob I'm not just the god of your good days I'm the god of your bad days I'm not just the god of your successes I'm the god of your failures I'm not just the God who's with you and everything is bright I'm the God who will wrestle with you through the darkest night and we will come out the other side and here's how you get out the other side you say God I'll let everything else go but I'm not letting you go I will let you go until you bless me I'm the God of Abraham Isaac and the worst day of your life I'm that god I wish somebody lift up your hands pastors like seconds from being done but I wish you'd get your voice in the air and say god I thank you that you're not just the God of my perfection you're the God of my imperfection you're not just the God when everything is looking good you're the God when everything has come crashing down you're the god of my midnight not just my noonday I thank you God I thank you God I thank you god I thank you Jesus I thank you Jesus Ryan come back and help me for a second I'd like you to lift up that praise or that prayer or that worship or whatever you got lifted up to God for one moment I'm not asking for response to Pastor I'm asking for acknowledgement to God that he's here in this room and for some of us this week needs to be a wrestling match between us and God for some of us it needs to be tonight for some of us it was yesterday or it was Monday night for some of us it's gonna be tomorrow but here's what you got to make up in your mind god I am NOT gonna spend my life grabbing on the things that don't mean anything in eternity you are my soul does you are my greatest possession you are the Pearl without price you are the lover of my soul and God I'm gonna get a hold of you and nothing else matters Jesus was having a debate always a debate with the religious leaders they were arguing over the resurrection and he said have you never heard what God said I'm the God of Abraham and the god of jacob and the god of i the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob have you never heard that said and then he puts the punchline in god is not the god of the dead he's the god of the living he was making a point that although those guys all went in the grave there is a resurrection because all those guys are still alive and God wouldn't call himself the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob if they were gone and they were history he's calling himself the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because there is a resurrection and they will all live again that's Jesus point can I just pull this one little concept out of jesus answered Abraham oh great father of the faithful but he had faults and flaws and fenders Isaac a great son to Abraham but he had mistakes missteps but Jacob he takes the cake compared to Abraham and Isaac his grandfather and his dad Jacob is an absolute unmitigated disaster he's born grabbing and conniving he's born scheming and lying he spends most of his life consumed by envy and jealousy and consumed by anger and fear and bitterness and he's always grabbing for something that's not even his and he's always content just to play always content just to pose always content that if everybody else thinks I'm a good guy if everybody else thinks I've got the blessing and the birthright then that's good enough with Jacob it's all about image he never dares to go in the room where only God sees him he never dares to spend much time in that place where God can talk to him if I could pull Jacob into the 21st century he goes to church but it keeps his guard up he goes through worship service after worship service but he has a strange reserve he'll walk to the altar and he'll bow his head he never gets very intense he's a good guy other people describe him as solid and consistent but see they can't see in all the rooms of Jacob's life for so much of Jacob's life it's image I'm not convinced that all his motives are bad you know I'm not convinced that everybody's motives are bad for putting on a facade sometimes they just don't want to burden us with what's really going on sometimes they feel like other people are dependent on me so I just need to be strong even though I'm dying inside I just need to hold it together one more service but can I tell you [Music] but that is no way to live and that is no way to get to heaven God can't bless to pretend you he can only bless the real you Wednesday night Bible study just after camp meeting for head pastor came here to just challenge you somebody you need to get alone with Jesus and you let need to let Jesus get alone with you say I've messed up I fail I'm Hrodna see that's humanity we're either going to pretend we've got it all together or we're gonna pendulum to the opposite extreme and we're gonna tell everybody it's all falling apart and the truth is in the middle the truth is death set in the middle on any given day at any given moment I'm seconds from it all falling apart because I'm human one heartbeat could shatter my life one text message could mess me up for the rest of my life I could get bad news that would destroy my emotions in my hope and my joy but the reason I'm still standing has nothing to do with Jacob it has everything to do with God and so when everything seems like it's falling apart I wrestle with God until God I lost that I don't like that I lost that that hurt I don't like that that hurt they betrayed me that makes me feel like a failure and I'll let that all go if I can just have you it'll be hard to let it go but I'll let it go because nothing compares to knowing you in the power of your resurrection and in the Fellowship of your suffering we are people of extremes we are all in our weak moments drama queens we all either want to have it so together that nobody can see a in our armor or a crack in the mask or we just give up we just tell everybody god's forsaken me God's demand of me it's just terrible we are people of extremes we pendulum but if you could stop and if I could stop and if we can stop just flipping from side to side and crisis to crisis and trauma to trauma and just stand still and see the glory of the Lord because it's not you holding you together it's Jesus holding you together it's not you blessing your own little life I don't care how much money you made last month it's not you blessing your own little life it's Jesus bless in your life he's worthy of all the glory and the only thing you can give Jesus is the real you don't waste his time or your time giving him your best impression of a Pentecostal don't waste his time or your time or our time giving him your best all together professional church member mask just be real we've all been there it won't shock us and it sure won't shock him he said you know God said I'm the God of Abraham the god of Isaac you'd expect that but God said I'm the God of Jacob Jesus said can I tell you he's not the god of the dead you might think Jacob was a failure and washed up because he spent most of his life being a deceiver and a conniver and a cheat and a liar but God wouldn't be the god of the dead see Jacob after that wrestle match with the angel he wasn't dead anymore he wasn't a liar anymore he wasn't a conniver anymore he wasn't a cheat anymore cuz he finally said god I'm done with pretending you can't bless the fake me but here's the real me I know you can bless that you can't change the fake me but God I know you can change the real me and so God look down from heaven and said Jacob you're not gonna be called heel grabber anymore I'm gonna call you God wrestler because when you get in trouble we just wrestle it through we just work it through we just work it out and I'd rather be a god wrestler and wrestle with God about things I don't understand and be a heel grabber any day somebody say just Jacob it's not very much God that's all I god it's not the prettiest but it's real is sure not the greatest but God if you could use Jacob you can use me if you can change Jacob you can change me if Jacob could have a destiny my goodness I could have a destiny if Jacobs life could count until he's in the actual eternal name of God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob my goodness I can sure have a place and a part in God's eternal Kingdom he's not the God of the Dead he's the god of the living guess what devil in your face I used to be dead but I'm alive I used to be that but now I'm this I used to go there but now I'm here and I'm here to stay cuz I'll let all that go but I won't let God go until his blessing flows through my life I wish you'd stand at the end of Bible study and I wish you would lift your hands as high as your physical strength allows you to lift them and I wish you'd get your voice in the air that's exponentially more powerful and potent than your hands and I wish you would lift up a praise a praise your praise hi mojo so Mandela beaucoup yamaja I love you Jesus hola chica loca rocket ships [Applause] I worship You Jesus hello yes [Music] since we've all been Jakob at one time or another and since some of us might be wrestling with that old Jacob even tonight nobody will be whatever would you just reach over to anybody near you and let's pray together as family doesn't matter if you know their name family to family men to man ladies the ladies would you reach over and get a hold of somebody and let's pray together let's pray for each other and with each other right now Thank You church Thank You church terrible whoo yes yes Sabah ocotilla bus I worship you Jesus thank you for the opportunity of Correction thank you for the opportunity of instruction thank you for the opportunity of heart surgery done by the scalpel of your words thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus l otoko she's a battery-operated ah ba ha grab a piece of a politician [Music] I worship you come on I worship You Jesus soul ABBA dedicate she's about the cushion [Music] Thank You Ryan we're good for just a sec would you just let your voice just kind of roll out in this sanctuary this pray Church so beautiful the presence of God in this room right now

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 13,056

Rating: 4.8571429 out of 5

Keywords: pastor, raymond, woodward, preaching, preach, sermon, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, just, jacob

Id: EzK_WTElBRU

Length: 65min 43sec (3943 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 04 2018