WEBVTT - The Blessing Of Letting Go 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:06.280 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.360 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:10.000 Be sure to. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:13.720 Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:19.840 I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:22.480 I do want to just take a moment and say 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.759 to each and every one of you, you know that 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:30.760 I don't wear a red hoodie for just anything. Fall season, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:34.360 holiday season. God is going to give us a very 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:36.760 strong end to this year. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.159 How many are believing for that? How many you. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:42.760 Got some catching up to do because this has been 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:47.080 a really weird year so far. We're gonna believe God 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.800 that every blessing that you haven't received that you're supposed 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:52.839 to receive this year, God would compress it into these 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:57.200 next few weeks for you. I'm believing that He's going 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:02.800 to give you supernatural guidance, wisdom, his reflexes, his response. 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:04.839 In fact, that's what I want to preach about today. 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.400 I want to preach about the blessing that God wants 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:09.959 to give you. And sometimes these things do come in 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.000 unexpected ways, So prepare for it and just tell your 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:17.560 neighbor real quick, get ready for it, Get ready for it. 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:21.520 I want to share some time with you today in 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.680 Genesis chapter thirty two, and remain standing for the reading 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.960 of God's word greeting to all of our campuses and 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.600 our epham around the world. Let's thank God for all 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.280 who are joining us today that they would receive the 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:37.280 flow of this anointing right where they are. Come on elevation, Valentine, 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:46.080 put those hands together. Let's welcome our worldwide Epham. 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:47.560 Genesis chapter thirty two. 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:51.440 Had a hard time deciding how much of this to 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:56.440 read to you, but I decided that we should go 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:01.520 from at least verse seven. So buckle in, and this 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:07.960 passage of scripture. Wow, it's really for those of you 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:13.919 who are wrestling with something and you've been struggling because 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.760 you're wrestling. You've been struggling to rest in what you 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.920 have and who you are because of what you're wrestling with. 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.920 That's who I'm preaching to today. Genesis chapter thirty two, 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.359 verse seven, the Bible says, in great fear and distress, 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.000 Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:37.120 and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:42.320 if Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:45.720 is left may escape. Now, for everybody who is kind 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.640 of a control freak you can relate to this. You 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.000 start making all of these plans and backup plans for 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.880 your backup plans, and all of these ways that you 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:55.960 start working and out. 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.080 You know. But Jacob is doing that because it said. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:03.400 In verse eight that Esau was coming to attack him 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.519 his brother. But look at verse nine, this kind of 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.720 a turning point in the passage. Then Jacob prayed, so 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:18.680 watch this verse eight, he thought. Verse nine, Then Jacob pray, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.079 You know, the devil shouldn't have let you get here 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.400 today because he's had you in your head and you've 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:28.640 been thinking about the attack. But the moment that you 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.799 started braising God today and lifted your eyes to him, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:36.200 come on, I declare a level. 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:37.400 Change in your situation. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.440 Then Jacob prayed, Oh, God of my father Abraham, God 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.240 of my father Isaac, Lord you who said to me, 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.120 go back to your country and your relatives, and I 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.840 will make you prosper. I am unworthy of all the 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.640 kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.119 only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.880 I have become two camps. Save me, I pray from 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.400 the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.680 that he will come and attack me, and also the 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.320 mothers with their children. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.680 But you have said, but you have said. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:23.680 I will surely make you prosper and will make your 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:27.600 descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted. 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.040 He spent the night there, and from what he had 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.440 with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau. 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.040 I'm gonna read you the whole list, all right, just 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.080 so you can see how blessed Jacob was. Two hundred 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.600 female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred us and 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:47.320 twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows, 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:48.680 and ten bulls. 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.760 Oh boys, doing pretty good, he said a few verses ago. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.159 I started with just a staff, look what God gave him, 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.120 and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 0:04:57.680 --> 0:04:59.120 He put them in the care of his servants. 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.279 Each heard by his health, and said to his servants, 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.480 go ahead of me and keep some space between the herds. 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:06.400 He instructed the one in the lead. 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.200 When my brother Esau meets with you and asks who 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.919 do these belong to? Where you go and who owns 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.400 all these animals in front of you, then you are 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.760 to say they belong to your servant, Jacob. They are 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:19.839 a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.160 coming behind us. He also instructed the second and the 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.600 third and all the others who followed the hers. He's 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:28.920 covering all his basis for this thing that he's got 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.839 to deal with. The next day, you are to say 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:32.479 the same thing to Esau when you meet him, and 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:33.960 be sure to say your servant, and Jacob. 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:34.520 Is coming behind us. 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.000 For he thought, I'll pacify him with these gifts I'm 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.440 sending on a head later when I see him, perhaps 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:44.159 he will receive me. So Jacob's gifts went on ahead 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.880 of him, but but. 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.960 He himself spent the night in the camp. 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.760 That night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.599 his two female servants, and his eleven sons that would 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.720 keep you up all night, all of it, the eleven sons, 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.800 the two wives, all of it that would give me indigestion, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.040 and then saw me they don't make a little Nesta 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.080 strong enough for the situation, and your brother might want 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:13.479 to kill you. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:14.520 This is what he's dealing with. 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.160 He took all of that and crossed the ford of 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.560 the Jabe. After he had sent them across the stream. 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:27.200 He sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:31.400 and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. And when 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:33.839 the man saw that he could not overpower him, he 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.479 touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.560 was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. And I'll 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:47.880 stop here for now. Then the man said, let me go, 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:54.200 for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not 0:06:55.760 --> 0:07:02.520 let you go unless you bless me. I want to 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:06.720 speak to you today on the subject the blessing of 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:13.840 letting go, the blessing of letting go, And let's pray 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:18.280 one more time. Father, Your word is eternal. It produces 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.880 what you send it to produce. It accomplishes what you 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.920 intend for it to accomplish. May it be so we 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.640 call it done in the lives of these your children. 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.840 And today, when the harvest comes from this word, will 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.480 give you all the praise because. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:33.920 You deserve it. 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:38.600 In Jesus' name, Amen, on your way to your seat, 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:44.080 tell your neighbor, yes, I'm blessed, Yes, I'm blessed. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:46.360 Say it convincingly. 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.640 Now that first time you sounded like you were saying 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.240 it under compulsion. You sounded like I sent you to apologize, 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:54.000 like your mom. 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:55.320 Made you say that I'm sorry. 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.640 I just won look at them like you need to 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.520 sell something to eat tonight and say yes, I'm blessed, 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.720 because I mean, even the most basic reading of this 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:11.840 Bible story is confusing. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:14.520 You don't even have to get. 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.360 Into all of the nuances of wait a minute, God 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:18.960 broke a guy's hip. 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.040 You don't even have to get into that to be confused. 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.600 You could be just confused. Okay, there's one verse in that. 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.000 This one verse is confusing just by itself, the one 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:32.200 that I stopped on where Jacob says to this guy 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.840 who turns out to be like an angel of God 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:37.840 or an appearance of God, but he doesn't know that 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.640 at the time, because it's not always obvious that it's 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:46.000 God when you're going through things. I said, it's not 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.920 always obvious that it's God when you're going through things. 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.920 Sometimes you will give the devil credit for something that 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:58.520 God is actually doing, so you'll be like, the Devil 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.800 is testing me, No, God is you, And at the 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.000 very end of the passage we'll find out that it 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.440 was God with Jacob. But the confusing thing and I 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:10.760 want to know if it confused you to is that 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:17.360 after reading that whole list of rams, bulls, goats, donkeys, 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.280 all of those things that God gave Jacob, he turns 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:22.480 around and says to this. 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:26.760 Whatever he's wrestling with, that he doesn't really know what 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.240 it is yet. He says verse twenty six, I will 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:38.160 not let you go unless you bless me. Isn't he 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:46.120 already blessed? Just asking the obvious? How many donkeys was it? 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:48.000 Were you counting them? I wasn't counting them. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.840 There were so many donkeys I lost count so much livestock, 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:55.560 I mean Hebrew culture, the proof of blessing was life, 0:09:55.640 --> 0:10:00.120 so having eleven sons which would later go on to 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.880 be the tribes of Israel. Benjamin isn't born yet, but 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.120 after Benjamin, it completes the roster, the starting lineup for 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.320 the nation of Israel, and all of that is traveling 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.880 with him, and he's blessed. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.079 If you were to ask Jacob is he blessed? He'd 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:16.600 say yes. 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.360 He even said to God when he was praying, you 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:22.719 know you've done so much for me. I don't deserve it. 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.800 I'm looking at a life that I couldn't imagine, and 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.080 now I'm living in something that I never would have 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:35.839 imagined through the lens of my past. It reminded me 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.040 of a conversation that I had with a great entrepreneur. 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:41.800 He was sharing with me about the pressure that he 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.760 faces on a daily basis, and his solution was, I 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.680 just need to be more grateful. God has given me 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.920 so much, I just need to be more grateful. And 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.199 we went through a list of some of the accomplishments 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.079 that he had seen, and at the end of him 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.680 talking about how he felt so guilty because he wasn't 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.760 more greatful. Ask him a question, and it's a helpful 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.000 question that I want to ask you as well. 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:08.439 I said, you keep saying. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.640 That you're not as grateful as you should be for 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.560 everything that God has given you. But I wonder if 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.959 what you're calling a lack of gratitude in your life 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:22.040 really isn't just the load of pressure that you feel 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.079 because of the blessings that God has given. 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.760 And so I don't think it's necessarily. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.000 That you aren't grateful for everything that you just listed 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.240 that you know God has given you. I think it's 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:41.720 that at times you realize that, yes, I'm blessed. But 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.120 and so look at your neighbor again and say yes, 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:52.560 I'm blessed, but say it in that little high voice 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:58.280 like that. Look at him again, look at him again, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:08.480 say yes I'm blessed. But I wanted to call this message. 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:17.360 Yes I'm blessed, but because when you came to church today, 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:23.760 you brought your blessed but sympathy laughs, come on, its 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:24.559 pastor appreciation. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:24.880 Mine. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:33.480 It's amazing to me how Jacob could be so blessed 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.920 that God has done so much, that God has given 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:42.040 so many things. But the Bible says he was terrified, 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:47.880 he was threatened, he was uncertain, and on the same 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.760 prayer that he's telling God, you promised me that you're 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.000 going to create something great out of my life, he's 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:59.439 reminding God that he has a brother named Esau who's 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.800 about to kill. So he looked up one night and 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.120 he saw all of the blessings God had given him, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.040 But he also saw Esau. Not physically now, but he's 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.760 imagining this brother. 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.920 Do you know about Esau. Esau is the brother who 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:22.040 was the first born of Isaac, who was supposed to rightfully. 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.840 Carry the birthright to bring forth the nation of Israel. 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:31.040 But Jacob tricked his father into giving him the birthright 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.559 and the blessing because Isaac was going blind. 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.880 So Jacob dressed up like he was Esau. 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.960 It was his mom's idea to do it, and she's like, 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.960 I got some of his clothes, I can make some food. 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.960 We can take it into Isaac and Isaac. 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:49.719 Won't know the difference, and we can get him to 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.880 bless you instead, because she kind of liked Jacob and 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.240 Isaac kind of liked Esau, and so they switched it 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.960 up and bamboozled Isaac to get Jacob bless And that 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.600 is the background of this story, is that Jacob is blessed, but. 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:14.760 Blessed. But it's been twenty years since he's seen. 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.120 He saw, He's been a lot of places, He's seen 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.440 a lot of things. He lived with Uncle Laban for 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.080 most of those twenty years in a foreign land. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:26.120 He got two wives. 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:30.680 He read about that in the text, Rachel and Leah. 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.760 Rachel was beautiful, Leoh. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.480 Was had a good personality. And now he's going back 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.680 with everything that God has blessed him with. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.160 But I'm gonna preach this. I'm gonna preach this. I'm 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:48.840 anapreach this because I feel it. He's blessed, but. 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:56.000 He's got a thousand reasons to be thankful. He's got 0:14:56.200 --> 0:15:01.800 a thousand reasons to be confident. He's got Exhibit A, A, B, C, D, E, F, 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:07.240 G H, I JK that God keeps his promises. But 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.600 he knows the story how God told his father, well 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:16.240 not his father, his grandfather Abraham, I will bless. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.040 You and you will be a blessing. 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.160 He knows all of that so well that he can 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.240 rehearse it in a prayer back to God in perfect 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.680 prose and remind God of how far he's come. It 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:30.080 is not wasted on him what God has done for him. 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:31.960 He's very blessed. 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:38.720 But it is important for us to realize as we 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:41.120 bring God our praise for. 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:42.720 The blessings that we have received. 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:44.840 And I need all the blessed people to take a moment, 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:45.680 clap your hands. 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:51.040 And thank God that He blessed you, because. 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.080 If He hadn't a blessed you. 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.440 You probably wouldn't be here. Three people, If. 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:00.880 He hadn't blessed you, kept you, fed, you led, you sown, 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:05.680 you crowned, you clothed, you walk you through you wouldn't 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:06.840 be here if you. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.880 Weren't so blessed. High fire. Somebody say, yes, I'm blessed, 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:26.560 but but i'm blessed. I'm blessed. God gave me kids. 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.760 We struggle through infertility for three years. God gave us kids. 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.400 I'm blessed. Children are blessing. 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.040 But can't talk to you about this in church. We 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.280 talk about it later, talk about later. In fact, I 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:41.760 don't talk to anybody about it because. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:42.800 I don't want anybody to. 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.320 See my butt. You cain't talk about my butt. I'm 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:47.960 gona cover my butt. I'm gonna show you my blessing. 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.080 I'm'a cover my but I'm gonna post my blessings. I'm'a 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.440 cover my butt all up on Instagram. It's all my blessings. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.600 You will see my butt on Instagram. 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:54.960 Now. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.440 The thing about the passage that I need you to realize. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:06.920 Is that the presence of the blessing does not mean 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:15.720 the absence of pressure. Sometimes we get confused about the 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.280 things that we feel. Sometimes we get confused about the 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:24.119 thoughts that we have. Because I'm blessed, and I know 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:25.880 that I should trust God, because I know that I've 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.399 seen him come through before. I am blessed. I have 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.600 seen so many times that He came through for me. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.399 But I'm waking up lately at three in the morning, 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:41.720 and it's not just because of my liquid intake. I'm 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.360 working through scenarios right now that I can't figure out 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:45.399 how to sort. 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:46.120 I'm blessed. 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:49.560 I mean, don't get me wrong, man, I'm not in 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:53.520 here to complain to you. I'm blessed. But I got 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.720 to go back to the doctor next Wednesday. And he's 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:02.680 my healer. God is my Jehovah rapha. But I still 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.879 kind of wonder what this doctor is gonna say to 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:07.639 me when I go see them on Wednesday. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.840 I'm describing scenarios. These aren't my scenarios. These are just 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.680 these are the butts. 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:19.520 You brought to church, the man who told me, I'm 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.800 so grateful that God will allowed me to open this restaurant. 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:23.439 But I've got this pain in my shoulder right now, 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:25.600 and I'm coming in and I'm getting here at four 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:27.720 in the morning, And will you pray for me, pastor, 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:29.800 because I trust God, but my shoulder. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:32.560 And God has. 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.399 Blessed me with so much, but this hurts. I'm waking 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:37.320 up with this pain in my body. I'm not able 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:38.960 to sleep at night. Would you just pray for me? 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:43.280 Because I love God, I trust God. I'm blessed, and 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:49.240 don't get this confused. The load that I carry does 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:54.320 not mean that I don't love God, nor does it 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:58.240 mean that I doubt his love for me. I'm blessed. 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:05.080 Yes I'm blessed, but this addiction is kicking my butt. 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.639 Yes I'm blessed, but I still can't understand why I 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.040 emotionally eat, and so every diet that I try, it 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.679 fails because there's something driving me back to that eating 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.560 and I don't even know what it is. 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:21.280 And yes, I'm blessed, and I'm not. 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.600 Complaining because I know that there's somebody somewhere who doesn't 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:26.880 even have food to eat. So I'm not comparing myself 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.199 and saying that I don't appreciate what God gave me. 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:31.640 And I know that overeating is kind of like an 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.600 American blessed people problem anyway to have, but I still 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.280 have it. I'm blessed, but I can't control this and 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.119 I don't know how to control it because I'm wrestling 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:47.040 with something I can't see. And I'm forgiving of my sin, 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:51.359 but I don't feel free from it yet. I know 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.919 that it's under the blood, but it's still going on 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:59.679 in my house. And I can say the right words 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.119 to you, when I can sing the right songs with you. 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:06.479 I'm blessed, but but you probably want to hear about this. 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:11.680 I'm blessed but and this is what I feel sometimes 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:12.399 when people. 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:17.040 Say, boy, it must be wonderful to know that God 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.280 uses you to help thousands of people through your preaching. 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:29.520 That must be a blessing. It is a blessing, y'all. 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:30.640 Don't want to hear about that. 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:33.760 No, it's just the Holy Spirit just flows and I 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.040 just let him say what he wants to say, because 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:41.000 it's his work, not my work, and it's his way 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:42.520 not my way. 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:47.080 And I believe that. But sometimes I want to get 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.760 up and say what I said last week, do it 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:56.080 and walk off the stage. You like that, Lord, I 0:20:56.160 --> 0:21:01.120 like that. The Lord said he liked that. Now about 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:02.000 this wrestling match. 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.240 Let me give you another verse that to me, it's 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:08.080 not confusing, but it just really shows what Jacob is 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:12.040 going through in this passage. It says that when verse 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.479 twenty four comes around and he's, you know, sent everything 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:16.600 across the stream because he's got to deal with Esau, 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.280 and he thinks Esau is the enemy that he. 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.440 Has to face. And so what happens is he has. 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.119 A fight that he didn't plan for as he's getting 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:26.840 ready for the fight that he's not going to have 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:27.919 that he thinks he's going to have. 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:31.280 This is kind of what worry does to you. 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:35.720 It gets you fighting battles that probably aren't even going 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.040 to happen, to deplete you of the strength that you 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:44.240 need to do the things that you can do to 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.200 affect what you can affect, to impact what you can impact. 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.800 But the Bible says that after Jacob was separated from 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:57.680 all of these blessings, donkeys, camels, what else did he 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:03.720 have use and Rachels and Leah's and Simeon's and Levi's 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:08.080 and all of these tangible expressions of blessing After those 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:11.159 have all gone, it says in verse twenty four. So 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:16.480 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:17.679 till daybreak. 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:19.879 Now, I have been in an. 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:25.120 Nostalgia hole all week watching nineteen ninety one, nineteen ninety two, 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:29.680 nineteen ninety three wrestling matches. I don't mean the kind 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:32.800 where they compete on a collegiate level. I'm talking about 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:37.520 the Four Horsemen. And I'll be honest, I even went 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:39.720 past because I quit watching wrestling when I was about 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:42.679 thirteen or fourteen. I even went past when I stopped 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:45.280 watching wrestling, and I watched when Hulk Hogan became a 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:47.840 bad guy, and that was heartbreaking because when I was 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:49.720 growing up, he was telling me to eat my vitamins 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:51.600 and say my prayers. And I had a little Hulk 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:54.120 Hogan workout cassette tape and I listened to that thing 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:57.760 and to watch hul Hogan Hulk Hogan look at the 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.160 crowd and say shove it. I'm like, shove it. You're 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:03.960 our guy, You're our hero. How could you do this 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:06.720 to me? I was watching it all week long, but 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.199 I was watching it in the lens of Jacob. I 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:11.199 was trying to figure out what that had to do 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:14.280 with Jacob, and I realized it right here. It's because 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:16.720 you know, they have a lot of arguments about is 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:20.600 wrestling fake or is it real? Is it fake or 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:23.320 is it real? And I heard one wrestler say something, 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.160 He's like, let me slam you, and then you can 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:30.360 see how real it feels or how fake it feels. 0:23:30.760 --> 0:23:33.520 So when the Bible says that he was wrestling, and 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:37.040 he was wrestling alone, it lets me know two things. 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:41.000 One is that no one else got to see how 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:50.480 he struggled. No one else saw this struggle. And number two, 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:55.240 he wrestled at night, which means that even he couldn't 0:23:55.280 --> 0:24:01.280 see what he was struggling with. And is that the 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:05.600 nature of the real things we wrestle with. I'm not 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:08.000 talking about where the issues show up in our lives. 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:09.960 I'm talking about. 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:13.119 The source of the issue, and the source of the 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:18.480 issue determines the strategy for the battle. So if you 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:23.200 live your whole life thinking, oh, well, I'm wrestling against them, 0:24:23.560 --> 0:24:27.280 I'm fighting against them, I need to convince them if 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:29.560 they would just appreciate me, you are. 0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:32.200 You are making them the source of your struggle. 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:36.200 If they are the source of your struggle and they 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:39.960 are a person, if they're external, if it's an issue, 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:42.920 if it's the source of your struggle, then the source 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:46.879 of your strength is also external. Because the source of 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:50.320 your struggle will determine the source of the strength. 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:52.680 That you need to defeat that struggle. I'm going to 0:24:52.720 --> 0:24:53.400 make it plain in. 0:24:53.400 --> 0:24:56.199 Just a moment when I'm fighting with something that I 0:24:56.240 --> 0:24:59.199 can see, I need to fight with things that I 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:03.080 can see. If I'm fighting against something that is visible, 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:06.480 I need to fight with something that is visible. But 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:09.359 what do I do when the fight is happening at night? 0:25:13.160 --> 0:25:15.199 What do I do when the fight is happening in 0:25:15.240 --> 0:25:18.280 a place in me that I can't even really tell. 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:18.480 You about it? 0:25:18.480 --> 0:25:20.000 And I'm not even really sure you want to hear 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:29.720 it anyway? Because I'm blessed, but I'm thankful, but. 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:36.680 I've come so far. But and I told God. 0:25:36.480 --> 0:25:39.600 I didn't want to preach this message to you because 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:43.000 the yes, I'm blessed thing works so much better on 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:47.760 Sunday without the plot. But when you come to this church, 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:51.840 as long as I get to be the pastor, you 0:25:51.920 --> 0:25:58.000 can bring your bliss. But in this church every single Sunday, 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:01.000 what does that mean you could come I'm in confused? 0:26:01.320 --> 0:26:04.239 What does that mean? You can come in conflicted? What 0:26:04.280 --> 0:26:07.040 does that mean? You can come in crying? You can 0:26:07.119 --> 0:26:09.919 leave crying. You don't have to shout, you don't have 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:11.800 to clap, you'll have to say men. 0:26:12.080 --> 0:26:13.960 You don't have to have a highlighter. You don't have 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:15.480 to know thirty five scriptures. 0:26:15.680 --> 0:26:17.920 You don't have to know how to quote the apostles creed. 0:26:18.200 --> 0:26:20.159 You don't have to be born in the right place 0:26:20.520 --> 0:26:21.440 at the right time. 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:30.760 You can be conflicted and still come in this church. 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:35.880 You can bring your blessed, but you can come in 0:26:35.920 --> 0:26:39.919 here with questions and not even leave with answers, but 0:26:40.119 --> 0:26:42.680 throw up your hands and say, I'm. 0:26:42.480 --> 0:26:46.480 Met with God fresh and the Angel told me it's 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:54.119 gonna be ay. 0:26:55.080 --> 0:27:01.320 You're blessed, but you're blessed, but you struggle. You're blessed, 0:27:01.720 --> 0:27:06.119 but you wonder. You're blessed, but you're still not completely 0:27:06.200 --> 0:27:10.240 healed from it yet. It happened fifteen years ago. I'm blessed, 0:27:10.400 --> 0:27:12.480 but there's a part of me that still can't forgive 0:27:12.520 --> 0:27:15.040 what they did to me. I'm blessed, but I still 0:27:15.080 --> 0:27:17.960 replay it in my mind. I'm blessed, but I still 0:27:18.000 --> 0:27:20.600 run back to it when the pressure's on. I'm blessed, 0:27:20.760 --> 0:27:23.400 but I still can't make sense out of it. I'm blessed, 0:27:23.560 --> 0:27:25.240 but I still don't feel ready for it. 0:27:25.400 --> 0:27:28.040 I'm blessed, but I still feel exhausted when I go 0:27:28.160 --> 0:27:29.440 to it. I'm blessed. 0:27:29.640 --> 0:27:32.000 God has given me so much, but I spend so 0:27:32.119 --> 0:27:33.679 much time wondering can. 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:34.320 I keep it up? 0:27:34.440 --> 0:27:36.840 Because God gave it to me, but I can't keep 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:37.200 it up. 0:27:37.359 --> 0:27:38.600 But here's the good news. 0:27:38.960 --> 0:27:43.120 If he started it, then the pressure is on him 0:27:43.160 --> 0:27:48.400 to finish it. You need to remember that the source 0:27:48.600 --> 0:27:52.840 determines the strategy, and if the blessing comes from you, 0:27:53.240 --> 0:27:55.040 then it's on you to keep it going. 0:27:55.520 --> 0:27:57.000 But if it comes from God. 0:28:03.280 --> 0:28:05.480 So I learned this in my life. When I give 0:28:05.560 --> 0:28:12.359 Him praise, it takes off pressure. Somebody said to me, 0:28:12.640 --> 0:28:17.320 y'all praise God at Elevation Church very externally and very openly, 0:28:18.080 --> 0:28:21.119 and it's kind of shocking. And I'm like, why is 0:28:21.119 --> 0:28:28.439 this shocking? The world is crazy externally and verbally. So 0:28:28.680 --> 0:28:32.280 if it's crazy externally and verbally, then when I'm fighting 0:28:32.320 --> 0:28:34.440 back against the craziness. 0:28:34.119 --> 0:28:37.880 I need to fight it externally and verbally. 0:28:39.560 --> 0:28:41.760 So if the devil is telling me Esau is gonna 0:28:41.800 --> 0:28:44.000 kill you, I need to speak back and say to God, 0:28:44.160 --> 0:28:47.719 you promised I have your word on this, I have 0:28:47.840 --> 0:28:48.960 your assurance on this. 0:28:49.680 --> 0:28:51.960 I'm in the middle of your purpose. 0:28:53.120 --> 0:28:55.160 And so Jacob, who I love, the story is so 0:28:55.280 --> 0:29:01.080 amazing because Jacob, all of his life has been blessed 0:29:01.160 --> 0:29:02.800 by grabbing on. 0:29:03.160 --> 0:29:08.120 To what he wanted. Oh, he's a go getter. Jacob 0:29:08.160 --> 0:29:10.600 sets his mind out to do something. This is how 0:29:10.640 --> 0:29:12.080 ambitious Jacob is. 0:29:13.800 --> 0:29:18.920 When he was born, Esau was coming out first, and 0:29:19.040 --> 0:29:20.920 he came out. 0:29:20.600 --> 0:29:22.840 Y'all, don't run the punchline for me. Oh, your bible nurse. 0:29:23.880 --> 0:29:27.600 He came out grabbing the heel of his older brothers 0:29:27.640 --> 0:29:28.480 so he could be first. 0:29:29.920 --> 0:29:31.280 And so they saw him doing. 0:29:31.120 --> 0:29:32.760 That, and they're like, we need to call him Jacob 0:29:32.960 --> 0:29:41.840 because Jacob means heel grabber. What amazing creativity. And then secondly, 0:29:42.560 --> 0:29:45.640 what an amazing picture of the way he lived the 0:29:45.640 --> 0:29:48.400 rest of his life and the way so many of 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:57.440 us do, grabbing for something that God wants to give him. 0:29:57.680 --> 0:30:00.400 And you be honest with you, we live in a 0:30:00.400 --> 0:30:03.880 time where it's very easy to confuse. 0:30:05.160 --> 0:30:07.320 Christianity with discipline. 0:30:10.360 --> 0:30:12.479 To be a good Christian in many of our minds 0:30:12.480 --> 0:30:14.760 means that this is how much I'm gonna read the Bible, 0:30:14.800 --> 0:30:15.760 this is how much I'm going to pray. And I 0:30:15.800 --> 0:30:17.560 hope that you read the Bible and pray a lot 0:30:17.680 --> 0:30:19.560 and more and more every day. And I hope you do, 0:30:19.600 --> 0:30:20.880 and I hope I do, and I hope we all do. 0:30:21.040 --> 0:30:25.040 That isn't what makes you a Christian. That isn't what 0:30:25.080 --> 0:30:28.360 makes you a better Christian. That isn't even what makes 0:30:28.360 --> 0:30:31.720 you a strong Christian. Just by how much you pray, 0:30:32.520 --> 0:30:36.400 how much you read the Bible. That is not how 0:30:36.440 --> 0:30:42.240 to be blessed God's way, the Gospel way. And the 0:30:42.280 --> 0:30:44.120 reason that I know that in my life is because 0:30:44.160 --> 0:30:49.800 I've spent too many of my years thinking that the 0:30:49.800 --> 0:30:52.960 blessing of God was something that I had to hold 0:30:52.960 --> 0:30:59.560 on to or it would get away from me and 0:30:59.600 --> 0:31:02.200 for all of the Christian control freaks, which is an oxymoron. 0:31:04.800 --> 0:31:06.960 Because God, I give you my life as long as 0:31:06.960 --> 0:31:09.520 I'm married by age twenty three. God, I give you 0:31:09.560 --> 0:31:12.240 my life as long as this job opportunity opens up 0:31:12.240 --> 0:31:13.840 in the right market. And I like the climate as 0:31:13.840 --> 0:31:18.920 well as the school educational scene. God, here's our children. 0:31:19.040 --> 0:31:22.560 We devote them to You. And Lord Jesus, I believe 0:31:22.600 --> 0:31:25.080 that she would make a great worship leader in the church, 0:31:25.240 --> 0:31:28.000 just like that girl Tiffany. And she's just sing just 0:31:28.080 --> 0:31:29.800 like that. And I know she's not blonde, but will 0:31:29.840 --> 0:31:31.240 dye her hair. Lord, and she could be just like 0:31:31.360 --> 0:31:33.960 that girl Tiphany, And that would be wonderful, but I 0:31:34.000 --> 0:31:39.680 give them to you Lord. And so the interesting thing 0:31:39.680 --> 0:31:41.440 for me has been in my life how to have 0:31:41.480 --> 0:31:47.440 a real commitment to Christ without trying to control His 0:31:47.600 --> 0:31:52.160 will in my life. 0:31:52.880 --> 0:31:56.000 How to be serious. 0:31:57.320 --> 0:32:02.080 About my relationship with God whilst being surrendered to the 0:32:02.080 --> 0:32:05.440 God who I'm in relationship with. This is not as 0:32:05.480 --> 0:32:09.800 easy as it seems, because you will find yourself often 0:32:10.640 --> 0:32:14.360 really really committed to trying to get God to bless you. 0:32:15.000 --> 0:32:18.440 Committed to I'm really gonna get my life together, committed 0:32:18.480 --> 0:32:20.760 to I really want to be free from these patterns. 0:32:21.200 --> 0:32:22.800 Committed to. I want to be an. 0:32:22.720 --> 0:32:25.000 Example, make a difference, have an influence, make a mark, 0:32:25.040 --> 0:32:32.440 fulfilled purpose, really committed to that. But then commitment becomes control, 0:32:34.600 --> 0:32:42.960 and you cannot follow Christ and have control. I'm sorry. 0:32:43.760 --> 0:32:47.040 I want it to be where you can. I want 0:32:47.080 --> 0:32:51.440 it to be where Jesus lets you code him, where 0:32:51.440 --> 0:32:53.239 you get to give in the commands and you get 0:32:53.280 --> 0:32:53.920 to give in the thing. 0:32:54.000 --> 0:32:56.080 But every time I read in the Bible, He's given 0:32:56.080 --> 0:32:56.760 the commands. 0:32:58.320 --> 0:33:00.920 Every time in my life he brings me into something new, 0:33:00.960 --> 0:33:04.680 he takes me through something scary. Every time in my 0:33:04.720 --> 0:33:07.120 life he sets me free from something that I don't 0:33:07.120 --> 0:33:09.479 want to give me something that I do want. I 0:33:09.560 --> 0:33:14.000 cannot reach toward what He's giving me without letting go 0:33:15.080 --> 0:33:15.880 of what I held. 0:33:17.320 --> 0:33:18.680 And there are a lot of us who. 0:33:18.640 --> 0:33:21.680 Are not going to get what we need from God 0:33:21.720 --> 0:33:25.760 in this season until we let go of what we 0:33:25.880 --> 0:33:30.880 held to in the previous. There are some blessings that 0:33:31.000 --> 0:33:35.000 only come through holding on. I'm telling you sometimes you 0:33:35.040 --> 0:33:37.720 have got to get around a promise from God and say, 0:33:38.080 --> 0:33:40.360 I don't care how many things blow against it. 0:33:40.720 --> 0:33:42.920 I don't care how many things shake it up. I 0:33:42.920 --> 0:33:45.840 don't care how many years pass. I am holding on 0:33:46.000 --> 0:33:47.560 to what God said. 0:33:49.120 --> 0:33:53.560 There are blessings that only come from holding on. That's Jacob. 0:33:53.760 --> 0:33:56.680 He's like, no, you're not leaving until you bless me. 0:33:56.960 --> 0:34:00.800 I need a blessing. I got a fresh battle, resh blessing. 0:34:01.000 --> 0:34:03.680 I got a fresh test. I need a fresh blessing. 0:34:03.960 --> 0:34:07.520 You are not leaving. I am not going to let 0:34:07.560 --> 0:34:10.600 you go unless you bless me. 0:34:12.640 --> 0:34:18.200 And then God says, but I cannot bless you unless 0:34:19.040 --> 0:34:30.799 you let go, let go of the way you thought 0:34:30.840 --> 0:34:36.080 it was supposed to go. Let go of your comparison 0:34:36.120 --> 0:34:39.240 to other standards that have nothing to do with who. 0:34:39.120 --> 0:34:41.360 The sovereign God called you to be let go. 0:34:42.760 --> 0:34:45.760 Of the expectations of perfection that you have for yourself 0:34:45.760 --> 0:34:47.759 that can only be satisfied through the perfect work of 0:34:47.840 --> 0:34:50.040 Jesus and has already applied to your account. 0:34:50.120 --> 0:34:50.480 Let go. 0:34:52.320 --> 0:34:55.880 There are some blessings that you can get by holding on. 0:34:57.000 --> 0:35:01.480 Oh yeah, Jacob was blessed. His blessed him. He got 0:35:01.480 --> 0:35:05.480 the blessing of the firstborn, double inheritance, the blessing of 0:35:05.520 --> 0:35:09.040 the firstborn, the naming rights of the children, the patriarchy 0:35:09.040 --> 0:35:13.960 of the whole nation. He got blessed by Isaac. But 0:35:14.040 --> 0:35:20.040 he didn't get blessed yet. Ask who he really was. 0:35:22.320 --> 0:35:25.400 So you say, wait a minute. You read me a 0:35:25.440 --> 0:35:28.520 scripture and you said that the key to being blessed 0:35:28.600 --> 0:35:33.759 was holding on. And sometimes that's true. But I want 0:35:33.800 --> 0:35:35.560 you to read just a little bit further in this 0:35:35.640 --> 0:35:37.919 passage and see what the real blessing that God wants 0:35:37.960 --> 0:35:40.279 to give you in this season. I believe God has 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:42.120 a blessing for you in this season that your eyes 0:35:42.160 --> 0:35:44.600 haven't seen yet, that your ears haven't heard, that hasn't 0:35:44.680 --> 0:35:45.399 entered into your. 0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:48.000 Hearts, that you will be speaking about for years to come. 0:35:48.040 --> 0:35:48.600 But watch this. 0:35:50.080 --> 0:35:55.239 There is a blessing that comes from holding on persevering. 0:35:56.120 --> 0:35:59.520 There's a blessing that comes through tenacity. Then the man said, 0:35:59.640 --> 0:36:02.920 let me go, for it is daybreak, but Jacob replied, 0:36:03.800 --> 0:36:08.319 I will not let go unless you bless me. 0:36:08.360 --> 0:36:08.920 Now, watch this. 0:36:09.880 --> 0:36:12.360 On the surface, so far, it seems like that Jacob 0:36:12.440 --> 0:36:15.320 got this blessing the way that he got every other blessing. 0:36:15.600 --> 0:36:17.400 And maybe right now you're trying to do it like 0:36:17.400 --> 0:36:20.160 you always did it and it's not working. And you're 0:36:20.160 --> 0:36:22.359 trying to face it like you always faced it and 0:36:22.400 --> 0:36:23.160 it's not working. 0:36:23.239 --> 0:36:25.520 But watch what the angel said, and this is. 0:36:25.480 --> 0:36:29.840 The turning point in this trans transformative experience for Jacob 0:36:29.880 --> 0:36:32.520 and for you. But Jacob replied, I will not let 0:36:32.520 --> 0:36:32.839 you go. 0:36:32.920 --> 0:36:36.080 Unless you bless me. And the man asked him, what 0:36:36.520 --> 0:36:42.000 is your name? Jacob? He answered. 0:36:43.200 --> 0:36:47.120 Then the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob, 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:52.480 but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with 0:36:52.680 --> 0:36:54.920 humans and have overcome. 0:36:57.440 --> 0:36:59.040 When he said what is your name? 0:37:00.120 --> 0:37:04.720 It reminds us of twenty years ago in Genesis twenty seven, 0:37:05.800 --> 0:37:08.799 when Isaac called his son to bless him. He thought 0:37:08.840 --> 0:37:12.239 he was talking to Esau because he was blind, and 0:37:12.280 --> 0:37:15.960 he said, who are you, And the voice came back saying, 0:37:16.520 --> 0:37:18.680 I am Esau. 0:37:19.040 --> 0:37:21.680 But it wasn't Esau, it was Jacob. 0:37:22.600 --> 0:37:26.320 In two days there will be enraged Christians on social 0:37:26.400 --> 0:37:30.359 media arguing about Halloween. Is it right or is it 0:37:30.440 --> 0:37:33.200 not right to celebrate Halloween. We will not discuss that 0:37:33.800 --> 0:37:36.759 in this pulpit today. That is not the purpose for 0:37:36.840 --> 0:37:39.480 which God sent me. But I will tell you one 0:37:39.520 --> 0:37:43.120 thing that God is very concerned about. Anytime you dress 0:37:43.200 --> 0:37:51.880 up as something that you're not, come on church. Anytime 0:37:51.920 --> 0:37:56.560 you start putting on clothes, anytime you start putting on personas, 0:37:57.000 --> 0:37:59.799 anytime you start putting on something that doesn't come from 0:38:00.120 --> 0:38:03.560 God made you to be. Anytime you start dressing yourself 0:38:03.960 --> 0:38:09.160 disguising yourself trying to gain the acceptance or the approval 0:38:09.680 --> 0:38:11.719 is always a trick, and. 0:38:11.800 --> 0:38:13.080 It's never a treat. 0:38:13.560 --> 0:38:17.040 And God says, I don't need you to be Esaul 0:38:17.200 --> 0:38:21.160 to bless you, because when I bless you, I'm gonna. 0:38:20.920 --> 0:38:28.600 Bless you the real you, the short you, the tall you, 0:38:29.840 --> 0:38:32.520 the old you, the knew you. 0:38:34.160 --> 0:38:34.759 Godsend. 0:38:34.880 --> 0:38:38.759 When I bless you, you won't have to pretend about anything. 0:38:39.080 --> 0:38:39.840 You'll get dressed. 0:38:39.920 --> 0:38:44.480 Brace me, He goes the source of your strict and 0:38:44.680 --> 0:38:49.440 the strength of your life. 0:38:49.520 --> 0:38:52.080 High five three people say yes, I'm blessed. 0:38:53.680 --> 0:38:54.720 Yes, I'm blessed. 0:38:55.960 --> 0:38:59.279 And so Jacob was already blessed, but he didn't know 0:38:59.320 --> 0:38:59.960 who he was. 0:39:00.840 --> 0:39:03.799 And God said, after all I've done for you, do 0:39:03.920 --> 0:39:05.719 you still not know who you are? 0:39:06.160 --> 0:39:10.440 You're my child, You're the heading off the tail. You're blessed, 0:39:10.880 --> 0:39:14.120 you are redeemed from the pit. You are blessed. You 0:39:14.160 --> 0:39:17.360 are chosen in love, that's the apple of his eyes. 0:39:17.680 --> 0:39:21.560 You are blessed. You are an overcomer, you are blessed. 0:39:21.880 --> 0:39:25.279 You are the purchased of God. You are blessed. You 0:39:25.360 --> 0:39:29.080 are blessed. You are blessed to be a blessing. And 0:39:29.239 --> 0:39:30.319 now sound like you. 0:39:30.400 --> 0:39:37.160 Know who blessed you, because when you know who bless. 0:39:36.840 --> 0:39:40.200 You, you know who to go back to when you 0:39:40.280 --> 0:39:41.279 need some thought of it. 0:39:41.880 --> 0:39:43.600 Thank God, here's to me. 0:39:44.320 --> 0:39:47.680 Here's your boy, here's your daughter, here's your sap. 0:39:48.120 --> 0:39:49.080 I need you. 0:39:55.000 --> 0:39:58.880 I five eleven people say yes, I'm blessed. Not bragging, 0:39:58.960 --> 0:40:03.120 but I'm blessed. I'm not perfect, but I'm blessed. I'm 0:40:03.120 --> 0:40:05.880 not one hundred percent honest all the time, but I'm blessed. 0:40:06.480 --> 0:40:07.640 Let me, just be real with you. 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:12.640 He has blessed me with every blessing his spiritual places. 0:40:12.880 --> 0:40:15.680 I got it into heavenly realm. Now I just gotta 0:40:15.719 --> 0:40:17.400 bring it in my life. 0:40:18.239 --> 0:40:22.399 The Bible says he blessed him there in the place 0:40:22.440 --> 0:40:25.239 of his real name. You know what God wants to 0:40:25.239 --> 0:40:28.479 give you today, a surrender of who you thought you were, 0:40:28.760 --> 0:40:31.840 so you can receive who you really are. I wonder, 0:40:31.920 --> 0:40:40.360 is anybody ready to receive who you really are? I 0:40:40.400 --> 0:40:43.200 got warn you, See, man, I gotta warn you. It's 0:40:43.200 --> 0:40:45.759 not like changing your name to Hollywood Hogan. It's not 0:40:45.920 --> 0:40:48.359 like changing your name on wrestling. It's not that kind 0:40:48.400 --> 0:40:52.600 of wrestling match. Sometimes, oh God, this is so difficult 0:40:52.640 --> 0:40:54.719 for me to communicate to you, but I hope that 0:40:54.800 --> 0:41:00.040 you can hear it. Sometimes it is a letting go 0:41:00.160 --> 0:41:08.319 was like death, but it's really a blessing. And I 0:41:08.360 --> 0:41:10.320 confer upon you today and impart to you in the 0:41:10.400 --> 0:41:16.040 name of Jesus Christ, your Savior, the blessing of letting go. 0:41:18.200 --> 0:41:24.719 Letting go not when you're driving home. That's not the 0:41:24.760 --> 0:41:27.480 time to let go. That's the time to drive a car. 0:41:29.920 --> 0:41:32.560 And I will say that there's some of us in 0:41:32.600 --> 0:41:36.160 here that are saying, I won't let go till you 0:41:36.200 --> 0:41:36.680 bless me. 0:41:36.719 --> 0:41:38.719 God, I won't let go till you bless me. 0:41:38.960 --> 0:41:41.880 I hear the Holy Spirit saying I can't bless you 0:41:43.400 --> 0:41:44.959 until you let go. 0:41:46.440 --> 0:41:47.759 You hear it, You hear it, you hear it. 0:41:48.080 --> 0:41:50.360 When God showed me that, it was like, oh, I 0:41:50.360 --> 0:41:52.560 don't want to really admit that that's the way it works, 0:41:52.600 --> 0:41:55.880 because this goes against my control free Christianity that I 0:41:55.920 --> 0:41:57.480 invented that is nowhere in the Bible. 0:42:00.800 --> 0:42:04.160 I want to achieve this thing. I want to earn 0:42:04.239 --> 0:42:04.759 this thing. 0:42:07.040 --> 0:42:09.720 And that's why God gave us the New Testament example 0:42:09.719 --> 0:42:13.720 of Paul, because he said, man, I was stacking stuff 0:42:13.760 --> 0:42:18.200 that I did. I was stacking successes and a spiritual 0:42:18.520 --> 0:42:22.440 religious realm that amounted the status that you wouldn't imagine. 0:42:22.480 --> 0:42:24.719 A Pharisee of pharis Hees, a Hebrew of Hebrews, of 0:42:24.760 --> 0:42:27.239 the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day, I 0:42:27.280 --> 0:42:33.800 studied under Gamelia. What all these things I count as lost? 0:42:35.080 --> 0:42:40.520 And yet, in order to balance these great revelations that 0:42:40.560 --> 0:42:43.439 God gave me, I was given a thorn in the flesh, 0:42:43.440 --> 0:42:44.840 A messenger of Satan sent. 0:42:44.680 --> 0:42:46.200 To buffet me. 0:42:48.360 --> 0:42:52.799 You'll always have a buff but to buffet you, and 0:42:52.840 --> 0:42:55.720 the bigger the blessing, the bigger the buffet. 0:42:57.800 --> 0:43:01.680 To keep it in balance, so you know where your 0:43:01.719 --> 0:43:02.200 source is. 0:43:03.600 --> 0:43:06.080 As a matter of fact, Paul said, I had this 0:43:06.120 --> 0:43:08.000 storm in my flesh, and three times I asked God 0:43:08.000 --> 0:43:10.600 to take it away. Three times I asked God to 0:43:10.640 --> 0:43:13.080 do it. You've been asking God to change something in 0:43:13.120 --> 0:43:14.560 your life, and he won't do it. This is your 0:43:14.600 --> 0:43:20.200 verse right here, Tewod Corinthians twelve nine. But he said 0:43:20.239 --> 0:43:24.000 to me, Paul, the great apostle, who took the mission 0:43:24.000 --> 0:43:24.759 of Jesus. 0:43:24.520 --> 0:43:27.440 Christ to sites that had previously. 0:43:26.840 --> 0:43:30.759 Seemed to distant, who spoke with eloquence and yet simplicity, 0:43:30.840 --> 0:43:32.640 Christ crucified, but did it in a way that the 0:43:32.680 --> 0:43:36.279 philosophers were confounded. Paul said, I was given a thorn 0:43:36.320 --> 0:43:39.320 in my flesh along with all my blessings. I'm blessed, 0:43:39.400 --> 0:43:41.719 don't get me wrong. I saw Jesus on the road 0:43:41.719 --> 0:43:45.719 to Damascus. I preached with such power that people were converted, 0:43:45.760 --> 0:43:48.400 that people that cities went into riot. I was so 0:43:48.560 --> 0:43:51.400 blessed to be able to do that. Yes, I'm blessed, 0:43:51.480 --> 0:43:55.759 but I had a thorn, and I asked God to 0:43:55.800 --> 0:43:57.279 take it away, and he said. 0:43:57.080 --> 0:44:04.000 No, but my grace is sufficient. 0:44:08.600 --> 0:44:13.680 That's the blessing of letting go of the way you 0:44:13.760 --> 0:44:17.240 thought it was supposed to be, is that you get 0:44:17.360 --> 0:44:22.600 the grace to accept what it is. And that's where 0:44:22.600 --> 0:44:27.239 the transformation is. That's where the power is, that's where 0:44:27.280 --> 0:44:34.080 the revelation is. What is your name? He said, Jacob, 0:44:34.320 --> 0:44:37.440 I'm not pretending to be something else anymore. I'm not 0:44:37.640 --> 0:44:41.120 striving to be something anymore. I'm not gonna dress up 0:44:41.160 --> 0:44:43.880 like anything anymore. For all of you that think you 0:44:43.920 --> 0:44:46.759 need approval from a person, you don't need approval from 0:44:46.800 --> 0:44:50.000 a person. If the person gives it, the person. 0:44:49.719 --> 0:44:50.319 Can take it. 0:44:50.600 --> 0:44:52.919 But if you get it from God, it can never 0:44:53.040 --> 0:44:55.879 go away. Let them say what they want, think what 0:44:55.920 --> 0:44:58.600 they want, do what they want, write what they want, 0:44:58.800 --> 0:45:02.360 take what they want what they want. I'll never be alone, 0:45:02.640 --> 0:45:05.719 not when God is with me. I might look alone, 0:45:06.000 --> 0:45:10.399 but I'm not alone. 0:45:11.200 --> 0:45:15.960 The blessing of letting go is grace. 0:45:16.640 --> 0:45:21.279 Can you imagine all your life like Jacob, you have 0:45:21.360 --> 0:45:24.040 been running to chase something that you thought. 0:45:23.840 --> 0:45:26.200 You needed to be to be successful, that you thought 0:45:26.239 --> 0:45:28.040 you needed to be to be whole that you thought 0:45:28.080 --> 0:45:30.000 you needed to be to be worthy, that you thought 0:45:30.000 --> 0:45:31.799 you needed to be because your father didn't give it 0:45:31.840 --> 0:45:33.520 to you, that you thought you needed to be, because 0:45:33.560 --> 0:45:34.839 nobody ever spoke it over you. 0:45:35.080 --> 0:45:37.680 Can you imagine the moment of release when the Angel said, 0:45:37.960 --> 0:45:39.880 all I. 0:45:39.239 --> 0:45:45.919 Want is you. What's your name? And when you say 0:45:45.920 --> 0:45:55.360 your name, When you say your name, you receive his nature. 0:45:57.360 --> 0:46:00.279 Today I came to call you to some and it 0:46:00.320 --> 0:46:06.080 isn't awfully popular in pulpits where the message is hold 0:46:06.120 --> 0:46:11.279 on and you'll be blessed. I came with a little 0:46:11.280 --> 0:46:15.040 different twist for some of the things that you're staying 0:46:15.080 --> 0:46:18.400 up at night about, for some of the esaus that 0:46:18.440 --> 0:46:22.640 you're facing. The only way God can really bless you. 0:46:25.200 --> 0:46:30.719 Let go. Let go quit trying to live out your 0:46:30.760 --> 0:46:34.640 high school quarterback career through your kid. Let go. He's 0:46:34.680 --> 0:46:35.760 good at video games. 0:46:35.760 --> 0:46:40.640 You can make money on that now, because I'm gonna 0:46:40.640 --> 0:46:42.719 show you in the text something that you never expected 0:46:42.719 --> 0:46:43.200 to see. 0:46:43.320 --> 0:46:45.319 You're up all night worrying about it. You're up all 0:46:45.400 --> 0:46:47.839 night thinking about it. You're devising different ways to get 0:46:47.840 --> 0:46:48.279 out of it. 0:46:48.400 --> 0:46:50.680 You got lists on list on list on lists, and 0:46:50.719 --> 0:46:52.600 if it does that let's do that, and you're all 0:46:52.600 --> 0:46:53.120 in your head. 0:46:53.280 --> 0:46:55.560 And then he prayed, and guess what happened when God 0:46:55.600 --> 0:46:56.440 blessed him. 0:46:56.840 --> 0:46:58.640 Verse thirty three says he got up the next morning 0:46:58.640 --> 0:46:59.920 he saw Esau coming toward him. 0:47:00.040 --> 0:47:01.960 He thinks he's gonna kill me. Now. Oh, I hope 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:02.640 that prayer worked. 0:47:02.640 --> 0:47:03.000 I don't know. 0:47:03.040 --> 0:47:05.719 I hope that sermon worked. That pastrophretic preached, I mean 0:47:05.760 --> 0:47:07.959 he preached real hard. He preached as hard as he could. 0:47:08.160 --> 0:47:11.719 I hope it works. And Genesis thirty three, verse four, 0:47:12.200 --> 0:47:14.160 I want you to see this will help me illustrate this. 0:47:14.560 --> 0:47:18.400 Here's Esau, the one he was so intimidated by, the 0:47:18.440 --> 0:47:20.960 one who for twenty years he's been thinking, if I 0:47:21.000 --> 0:47:23.840 ever see Esau again, he's gonna kill me. The guilt 0:47:23.920 --> 0:47:26.920 you carry, the shame you carry, the hypotheticals that you 0:47:26.960 --> 0:47:29.479 build out in your mind, everything that you worry about 0:47:29.520 --> 0:47:29.879 at night. 0:47:30.200 --> 0:47:36.160 Watch what God did while Jacob prayed. Verse four, Esau. 0:47:36.239 --> 0:47:46.000 Ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Wow, the thing 0:47:46.040 --> 0:47:53.080 that he was afraid of was waiting to embrace him. 0:47:53.360 --> 0:47:56.200 He threw his arms around his neck first time, like 0:47:56.239 --> 0:47:59.360 he's slow violin, and we're not gonna act all this 0:47:59.400 --> 0:48:04.319 out and worry, but. 0:48:04.360 --> 0:48:05.240 You get the picture. 0:48:08.960 --> 0:48:11.239 And Jacob said, hey, he saw he bowed down on 0:48:11.239 --> 0:48:13.759 the ground seven times, putting on a big show. All 0:48:13.840 --> 0:48:15.720 the things we do to try to make the situation 0:48:15.800 --> 0:48:18.920 better that God never told us to do, all the 0:48:18.920 --> 0:48:21.520 ways we wear ourselves out when we could really just 0:48:21.560 --> 0:48:27.080 worship twenty years. He worried about this moment, and yet 0:48:27.200 --> 0:48:30.520 Esau says something very powerful. Go to overs five, Jacob said. 0:48:31.520 --> 0:48:34.919 Esau said, what's all this stuff you brought? Jacob said, oh, 0:48:34.960 --> 0:48:37.920 this is my kids that God graciously gave your children. 0:48:38.000 --> 0:48:44.359 Probably should have stopped at ten. And then Esau looks 0:48:44.400 --> 0:48:49.160 up and he sees all this stuff for six, for six, 0:48:49.360 --> 0:48:51.239 have female served their children inproach and bowed down? 0:48:51.320 --> 0:48:51.760 For seven? 0:48:52.640 --> 0:48:54.600 And lean her children came about down last all Joseph 0:48:54.600 --> 0:48:57.279 came Rachel did they two bowed down? Jacob put the 0:48:57.320 --> 0:48:59.719 pretty wife behind the other one. 0:49:00.000 --> 0:49:02.439 I don't know why I did that. Look at verse eight. 0:49:02.440 --> 0:49:07.279 Now this is the point. We could edit this out later. 0:49:08.640 --> 0:49:09.759 What's the meaning of all this? 0:49:09.840 --> 0:49:11.719 Flocks and herds said, what's all this stuff you're trying 0:49:11.760 --> 0:49:15.040 to do to make peace with me? To find favor 0:49:15.080 --> 0:49:17.120 in your eyes? My lord, he said, and watch this. 0:49:17.440 --> 0:49:24.400 Esau said, oh, hold on. But Esau said, here you 0:49:24.440 --> 0:49:29.759 have letty brother keep what you have for yourself. Esau 0:49:29.840 --> 0:49:34.359 was already blessed. If he would have spent twenty years 0:49:34.360 --> 0:49:36.160 in bitterness, he wouldn't have been. But he said, you 0:49:36.200 --> 0:49:42.960 know what, I let go, and you can't too. Now 0:49:43.000 --> 0:49:46.879 bring it in, bring it in, bring it in, bring 0:49:46.920 --> 0:49:50.600 it in. Let that thing go, Let that thing go, 0:49:51.480 --> 0:49:53.760 Let that thing go, Let that thing. 0:49:53.680 --> 0:49:57.160 Go, Let it go. God is not against sheep. Let 0:49:57.160 --> 0:50:00.319 it go. He's fighting for you. Let it go. He's 0:50:00.320 --> 0:50:03.480 not abandoning you. That's him you're wrestling with. 0:50:04.280 --> 0:50:07.120 You're coming forth stronger, You're coming forth staple. 0:50:08.160 --> 0:50:12.879 Let that thing go. Hug at least three people say 0:50:12.960 --> 0:50:17.759 let that thing go, Let that thing go. This is 0:50:17.800 --> 0:50:23.960 your day of grace. This is your moment to let go. 0:50:24.960 --> 0:50:27.439 And when you let it go, lift your. 0:50:27.360 --> 0:50:30.680 Hands and expect a blessing that you will not have 0:50:30.800 --> 0:50:31.960 room enough to receive. 0:50:33.080 --> 0:50:35.960 I declare the blessing of peace coming to your house 0:50:36.440 --> 0:50:38.800 in the place of the shame that Christ took away. 0:50:39.560 --> 0:50:45.840 I declare new relationships, new favor, new opportunities. 0:50:45.239 --> 0:50:48.279 In the place of your let go. Here comes the 0:50:48.320 --> 0:50:53.560 grace of Almighty God. Yes, I'm blessed. Yes I'm chosen. 0:50:54.080 --> 0:50:57.560 Yes I'm sealed, Yes some anointed. 0:50:57.600 --> 0:51:03.200 Yes I call Let's gives, Yes praise, we gave it 0:51:03.320 --> 0:51:03.879 all day. 0:51:04.560 --> 0:51:18.920 Yes I'm bless Yes I'm yes I am. 0:51:19.000 --> 0:51:22.919 Aren't you so afraid of if you got angels? This 0:51:22.960 --> 0:51:24.239 is the blessing of let go. 0:51:26.560 --> 0:51:31.000 I pray that this, this letting go today for you 0:51:32.160 --> 0:51:37.120 would take you into a place of freedom tonight when 0:51:37.160 --> 0:51:40.440 you lie down to sleep, your sleep will be sweet 0:51:42.880 --> 0:51:46.520 because God is dealing with Esau, because you have met 0:51:46.520 --> 0:51:51.719 with him God. God's given a word to somebody right now, 0:51:51.719 --> 0:51:53.040 How do I deal with it? How do I deal 0:51:53.080 --> 0:51:55.000 with the anxiety? How do I deal with the panic? 0:51:55.080 --> 0:51:55.759 How do I do it? 0:51:55.800 --> 0:51:56.120 Okay? 0:51:57.320 --> 0:52:00.600 Every time, God says, every time you think about what 0:52:00.680 --> 0:52:02.480 you've got to deal with that you can't get over. 0:52:03.480 --> 0:52:10.959 Every time you think about Esau, pray to me. Every 0:52:10.960 --> 0:52:16.400 time you think about bills, pray to your provider. And 0:52:16.440 --> 0:52:20.120 then when you pray, expect him to direct you to 0:52:20.280 --> 0:52:24.200 the next step. Every time you feel the hurt, every 0:52:24.239 --> 0:52:27.760 time you feel the old offense, you pray and thank 0:52:27.840 --> 0:52:32.000 God for his forgiveness for you, and that person, and 0:52:32.040 --> 0:52:34.920 you open your arms because for what God has for 0:52:34.960 --> 0:52:38.080 you in the future. You cannot afford to hold a grudge. 0:52:38.400 --> 0:52:42.360 You cannot afford to carry around guilt. It's too big 0:52:42.520 --> 0:52:51.720 for you to be burdened. Yes, I'm blessed, And because 0:52:51.760 --> 0:52:55.799 I'm blessed, I expect God everywhere I go. 0:52:57.239 --> 0:53:03.080 And because I'm blessed, I accept up every space in between. 0:53:04.680 --> 0:53:08.240 So no, now, Lord, we come to you, the blesser 0:53:08.960 --> 0:53:15.360 of our coming, the blesser of our going, the blesser 0:53:15.440 --> 0:53:18.359 when we rise up, the blessing and we fall down, 0:53:20.200 --> 0:53:27.520 the blesser of our in between. We declare now that 0:53:27.600 --> 0:53:33.239 your face is turning toward your children. I know that 0:53:33.239 --> 0:53:35.200 for some today this will be a good reminder. 0:53:36.120 --> 0:53:41.279 For others, it will be a life changing revelation. Let go, 0:53:42.960 --> 0:53:46.840 let go, God says, it's me. 0:53:48.200 --> 0:53:51.720 I'm here with you. You're not alone, Jacob. I'm changing 0:53:51.760 --> 0:53:55.080 your name, I'm changing your life. 0:53:55.760 --> 0:54:03.040 Let go. Yeah, I like that. L j ah. 0:54:04.360 --> 0:54:07.879 Sorry, that's good. 0:54:07.920 --> 0:54:08.359 That's good. 0:54:08.400 --> 0:54:08.879 That's good. 0:54:08.960 --> 0:54:09.680 That's good. 0:54:11.239 --> 0:54:27.440 I sirreander, oh I sorreyor oh. 0:54:26.560 --> 0:54:38.080 Mm hmmm, oh h. 0:54:40.960 --> 0:54:45.799 Hey you Jesus, let go, he's got it. 0:54:45.880 --> 0:54:47.480 Let go, Let go, h. 0:55:02.520 --> 0:55:21.719 Out with your heads about your eyes closed. I want 0:55:21.760 --> 0:55:23.279 to give an invitation for those who need to give 0:55:23.280 --> 0:55:25.880 your life to Jesus Christ. You will never get to 0:55:25.960 --> 0:55:28.280 him by climbing. You will never get to him by trying, 0:55:29.080 --> 0:55:30.600 only through receiving His grace. 0:55:31.560 --> 0:55:35.520 Right now, in this moment, I think there's probably a lot. 0:55:35.400 --> 0:55:37.080 Of you who need to make this your day to 0:55:37.120 --> 0:55:40.120 receive God's grace for your life, to turn from your sin, 0:55:40.200 --> 0:55:42.040 and to realize that there is a God and you 0:55:42.080 --> 0:55:45.760 are not him, that there is a Savior standing ready 0:55:45.800 --> 0:55:48.120 and willing to forgive you cleanse you give you a 0:55:48.160 --> 0:55:50.399 brand new life. So right now we're going to pray 0:55:50.440 --> 0:55:53.520 as a church family those online as well. And if 0:55:53.560 --> 0:55:55.399 this is your moment, and you know this is God 0:55:55.480 --> 0:55:58.360 calling me, Pastor Stephen, while you were preaching, I realized 0:55:58.400 --> 0:56:00.640 I need to let go of my life my way. 0:56:01.160 --> 0:56:04.440 I need to receive this gift of salvation through Jesus. 0:56:04.560 --> 0:56:06.160 Right now, I want you to pray with me, and 0:56:06.160 --> 0:56:08.560 we're going to pray as a church family out loud 0:56:08.920 --> 0:56:11.120 for the benefit of those who are coming to God 0:56:11.160 --> 0:56:14.280 for the first time or back to God in this moment. 0:56:14.640 --> 0:56:15.400 Now, pray with me. 0:56:15.480 --> 0:56:17.239 If you mean it, God will hear you, and this 0:56:17.280 --> 0:56:20.440 will be your new beginning. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father. 0:56:21.719 --> 0:56:26.200 I am a sinner in need of a savior, and 0:56:26.360 --> 0:56:31.160 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 0:56:32.040 --> 0:56:36.560 and the savior of the world. And today I make 0:56:36.760 --> 0:56:41.040 Jesus the lord of my life. I believe he died 0:56:42.000 --> 0:56:46.160 that I would be forgiven and rose again to give 0:56:46.239 --> 0:56:47.680 me life. 0:56:47.760 --> 0:56:53.560 I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. 0:56:54.239 --> 0:56:55.960 On the count of three, shoot your hand up if 0:56:56.000 --> 0:56:58.960 you prayed that one, two, three, I'm celebrating with him. 0:57:00.000 --> 0:57:06.600 Now, that's amazing. That's amazing, man, that's amazing seeing God 0:57:06.640 --> 0:57:07.040 sees you. 0:57:08.400 --> 0:57:10.600 Come on till we thank God for everybody who just 0:57:10.680 --> 0:57:12.759 made that decision to. 0:57:12.840 --> 0:57:22.160 Let God, to let God. Oh man, beautiful, beautiful. 0:57:22.240 --> 0:57:24.120 Let's thank God one more time for the great work 0:57:24.120 --> 0:57:24.560 he did in. 0:57:24.520 --> 0:57:25.280 Our lives today. 0:57:26.560 --> 0:57:36.400 Amen, Ron. So all of our campus pastors, you can 0:57:36.400 --> 0:57:38.480 take it right now. They're gonna close. Can I bless 0:57:38.520 --> 0:57:41.080 you here at Valentine? You stick with me for just 0:57:41.560 --> 0:57:49.200 ninety more seconds. I want to bless you because you've 0:57:49.200 --> 0:57:50.720 been saying I don't know if I can hold on 0:57:50.840 --> 0:57:55.600 much longer. God says, you don't have to you weren't 0:57:55.600 --> 0:57:57.720 the one who grabbed me to begin with? 0:57:59.320 --> 0:58:00.480 I got a script for you. 0:58:00.520 --> 0:58:03.840 This is a Valentine nine point thirty only special. Nobody 0:58:03.840 --> 0:58:07.840 else will see this. Y'all fight through the parkin you 0:58:07.960 --> 0:58:09.200 get the cherry on top. 0:58:12.080 --> 0:58:15.600 Let me tell you how blessed you are? You ready 0:58:15.600 --> 0:58:16.000 for this? 0:58:17.120 --> 0:58:20.200 Oh, great googlymoglie, You're not ready for this. 0:58:21.640 --> 0:58:22.680 Praise be to the. 0:58:22.600 --> 0:58:24.960 God and Father of our Lord, Jesus. 0:58:24.600 --> 0:58:27.120 Christ, who has blessed us. 0:58:27.200 --> 0:58:31.160 Somebody say, yes, I'm blessed in the heavenly realms with 0:58:31.280 --> 0:58:35.160 every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he shows us in 0:58:35.280 --> 0:58:37.720 Him before the creation of the world, to be holy 0:58:37.800 --> 0:58:41.200 and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us 0:58:41.240 --> 0:58:46.240 for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with 0:58:46.400 --> 0:58:50.280 his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace. 0:58:50.920 --> 0:58:55.440 Everybody say, glorious grace, which he has freely given us 0:58:55.480 --> 0:58:58.080 in the one he loves. In him, we have redemption 0:58:58.280 --> 0:58:59.439 through his blood. 0:59:00.080 --> 0:59:01.880 Giveness of sins, in accordance with. 0:59:01.920 --> 0:59:05.520 The richest of God's grace that he lavished on us. 0:59:05.920 --> 0:59:09.200 With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us 0:59:09.280 --> 0:59:12.520 the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, 0:59:13.040 --> 0:59:16.200 which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect 0:59:16.600 --> 0:59:19.760 when the times reached their fulfillment, to bring unity to 0:59:19.800 --> 0:59:24.240 all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In Him, 0:59:24.600 --> 0:59:30.360 we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the 0:59:30.400 --> 0:59:33.320 plan of Him who works out everything. 0:59:34.200 --> 0:59:38.520 Oh, he's working it out right now, take a nap today. 0:59:38.920 --> 0:59:42.960 He's working it out in conformity with the purpose. 0:59:43.080 --> 0:59:48.600 Oh, He's will everybody shall. Yes, I'm blessed. You're dismissed. 0:59:48.640 --> 0:59:50.560 I see you soon, Pap the Blest Week. 0:59:51.640 --> 0:59:55.360 Yes, I'm blessed, and I hope you enjoyed the podcast, 0:59:55.440 --> 0:59:58.000 And if you did, make sure to share it and 0:59:58.080 --> 1:00:00.640 subscribe so we can get you all of these new 1:00:00.680 --> 1:00:03.680 messages as soon as they're available. I also want to 1:00:03.680 --> 1:00:05.680 take a moment and thank all of you who are 1:00:05.680 --> 1:00:09.200 a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially, or 1:00:09.400 --> 1:00:12.920 serve with us, or just share these messages, it's because 1:00:12.960 --> 1:00:14.400 of you that we're able to reach. 1:00:14.200 --> 1:00:17.240 People all around the world. And if you want more 1:00:17.280 --> 1:00:20.440 information on how to be a part of Elevation, click 1:00:20.560 --> 1:00:23.600 the link in the description. Thanks again for listening. Make 1:00:23.600 --> 1:00:26.760 sure to leave a review share the message and subscribe. 1:00:27.120 --> 1:00:34.520 God bless you.