1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:05,160
Speaker 1: Hello Evams, especially our West Coast family. We have an

2
00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:10,600
Speaker 1: announcement for you, Elevation Nights twenty twenty two West Coast.

3
00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,920
Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? October twenty fifth through November third,

4
00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,400
Speaker 1: We're coming your way so exciting. You can get your

5
00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,160
Speaker 1: tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot Com. It's gonna

6
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:26,400
Speaker 1: be me Holly, Elevation Worship. It's gonna be amazing, unbelievable

7
00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 1: these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona,

8
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:35,840
Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San

9
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:41,200
Speaker 1: Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want

10
00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,239
Speaker 1: to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it.

11
00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,479
Speaker 1: Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot Com.

12
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,839
Speaker 1: Let's go to the message the Lord. Let me the

13
00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,120
Speaker 1: Genesis chapter thirty two for our lesson today. I want

14
00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,480
Speaker 1: you to find that on your phone and your Bible

15
00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,000
Speaker 1: or look on the screen. I want you to see

16
00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,840
Speaker 1: this with your own eyes. I've been reading through the

17
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,319
Speaker 1: Book of Genesis with Elijah and Kelsey and it's been

18
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,200
Speaker 1: so fun. We're going real slow we figured out if

19
00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,440
Speaker 1: we read the Bible this slow, it'd take us four

20
00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,920
Speaker 1: years to get through it. So we're cool with it

21
00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,560
Speaker 1: because every day we're looking for a lesson. And when

22
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,520
Speaker 1: we came to this passage, I knew I would preach

23
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,640
Speaker 1: it soon because he grabbed me in a new way.

24
00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,960
Speaker 1: Been years since I've preached about this passage. And we're

25
00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:34,640
Speaker 1: going to see this Bible character, Jacob in a wrestling match,

26
00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:41,080
Speaker 1: and I reckon, this is my reaction to reflect got

27
00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,080
Speaker 1: around all those women, and I'm want to preach a

28
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,679
Speaker 1: wrestling message or something like that. And I was watching

29
00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,360
Speaker 1: Jordan Burrows when that seventh Championship the other day. That

30
00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,600
Speaker 1: was cool. Did you see that? You didn't see it?

31
00:01:52,920 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 1: It was cool. Look at Genesis chapter thirty two one.

32
00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:07,480
Speaker 1: Let me reado kind of from this this transitional verse.

33
00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:09,680
Speaker 1: So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he

34
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:13,120
Speaker 1: himself spent the night in the camp. That night, Jacob

35
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,080
Speaker 1: got up and took his two wives, his two female servants,

36
00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,080
Speaker 1: and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabakh.

37
00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 1: You see, they're kind of how the ford that he

38
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,560
Speaker 1: has to cross kind of sounds like his own name

39
00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,119
Speaker 1: and it's a picture that what he's going through externally

40
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,760
Speaker 1: is really secondary to what he's going through internally. And

41
00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,320
Speaker 1: so when we focus on situations that we've got to

42
00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,560
Speaker 1: get through, sometimes we miss the point. Because God uses

43
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:45,679
Speaker 1: situations to deal with issues in you. And if all

44
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:47,760
Speaker 1: you want God to do is get you through the situation,

45
00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,399
Speaker 1: you'll miss the main thing that God wanted to do,

46
00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:53,960
Speaker 1: and then you'll recreate the situation that you get through

47
00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,320
Speaker 1: because you didn't deal with the issue that caused it

48
00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:01,040
Speaker 1: in the first place. That's what's happening in thirty two.

49
00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,520
Speaker 1: And I know that because Jacob is about to have

50
00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,320
Speaker 1: a wrestling match, which is the same thing he was

51
00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,960
Speaker 1: doing in his mother's womb. His mother, Rebecca, when she

52
00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:12,919
Speaker 1: found out she was pregnant with twins, she knew it

53
00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:16,000
Speaker 1: because she felt them fighting inside of her. And so

54
00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,600
Speaker 1: these two boys, Jacob and Esau are we're going to

55
00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,200
Speaker 1: see both of them in this passage, mainly Jacob, but

56
00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:27,880
Speaker 1: they had been fighting each other now for ninety seven years.

57
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,079
Speaker 1: Ninety seven years, that's how old they are during this

58
00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,400
Speaker 1: wrestling match. So but it's not Jacob and Esau here.

59
00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:38,760
Speaker 1: You would think that Jacob is getting ready to meet

60
00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,400
Speaker 1: up with his brother Esau, because he's trying to get

61
00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,000
Speaker 1: back home. But watch what happens as he's preparing to

62
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:47,880
Speaker 1: meet with Esau. It says in in verse twenty three,

63
00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,080
Speaker 1: after he had sent them all of his sons and

64
00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:56,080
Speaker 1: servants and wives, after he had sent them across the stream,

65
00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:58,360
Speaker 1: Rachel and Leah and all the different things that he

66
00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,760
Speaker 1: had ready to make peace with Esau, he sent over

67
00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:06,320
Speaker 1: all his possessions. So Jacob verse twenty four, Jacob was

68
00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:12,640
Speaker 1: left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

69
00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:17,400
Speaker 1: And when the man saw that he could not overpower him,

70
00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,160
Speaker 1: he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his

71
00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,760
Speaker 1: hip was wrenched. Now, I got to say, it's a miracle.

72
00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:27,719
Speaker 1: He got to age ninety seven, and this is the

73
00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,960
Speaker 1: first hip trouble that he had to begin with. But

74
00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,719
Speaker 1: it took him this long, so he really did pretty good.

75
00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,800
Speaker 1: But his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

76
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:38,880
Speaker 1: He still don't know who the man is yet. Probably

77
00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:40,960
Speaker 1: at this point he might think it's one of these

78
00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,279
Speaker 1: river devils that they believed in in the Transjordan. They

79
00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,240
Speaker 1: thought that when you're crossing a body of water, there

80
00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,359
Speaker 1: were spirits that would come up and fight you. So

81
00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,000
Speaker 1: he probably thinks he's wrestling one of these devils. And

82
00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:54,600
Speaker 1: he's in the middle of wrestling his hip goes out

83
00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,680
Speaker 1: of socket. And then the man said, verse twenty six,

84
00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,960
Speaker 1: let me go, for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied,

85
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,000
Speaker 1: I will not let you go unless you bless me.

86
00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,919
Speaker 1: I'm gonna grab you with these arthritic hands and hold

87
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,320
Speaker 1: on to you. I'm white knuckling this thing. You are

88
00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,080
Speaker 1: not going till you bless me. And the man asked him,

89
00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,400
Speaker 1: what's your name? Jacob? He answered. Then the man said,

90
00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:17,719
Speaker 1: your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because

91
00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:24,480
Speaker 1: you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.

92
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,320
Speaker 1: And Jacob said, please tell me your name. But he replied,

93
00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,160
Speaker 1: why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him.

94
00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,919
Speaker 1: There So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying it is

95
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,479
Speaker 1: because I saw God face to face Pineo means face

96
00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,599
Speaker 1: of God. I saw God face to face, and yet

97
00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:50,919
Speaker 1: my life was spared. Somebody shout I survived. I survived.

98
00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,240
Speaker 1: The sun rose above him as he passed Pinnel, and

99
00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:57,920
Speaker 1: he was limping because of his hip. Therefore, to this day,

100
00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,160
Speaker 1: the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the

101
00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,520
Speaker 1: socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip

102
00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,040
Speaker 1: was touched near the tendon. And Jacob looked up and

103
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,960
Speaker 1: there was Esau coming with his four hundred men, so

104
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,600
Speaker 1: he got nervous, divided the children among Leah, Rachel, her

105
00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,560
Speaker 1: there are two female servants, and put the female servants

106
00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,400
Speaker 1: and their children in front, Leah and her children next,

107
00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,240
Speaker 1: and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went

108
00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:30,479
Speaker 1: on ahead, bowed down to the ground seven times as

109
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,960
Speaker 1: he approached his brother. Because Esaul was a skilled hunter

110
00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,279
Speaker 1: and Jacob was a skilled cook, and that's how Jacob

111
00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:38,320
Speaker 1: got him to eat his beans and trade his birthright,

112
00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:40,040
Speaker 1: and that's why he Sau got so mad he wanted

113
00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,599
Speaker 1: to kill him. So when he's a skilled hunter and

114
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:44,920
Speaker 1: you're a skilled cook, you bow down and say, man,

115
00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:46,880
Speaker 1: can we just get this worked out through our words?

116
00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,360
Speaker 1: There's really no need for us to fight. But Esau

117
00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:57,920
Speaker 1: ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Wasn't expecting that.

118
00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,520
Speaker 1: He threw his arms around it neck and kissed him

119
00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,599
Speaker 1: and they wept. Wow, isn't that crazy? What he was

120
00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,680
Speaker 1: staying up all night worried about God had already worked

121
00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,680
Speaker 1: out when he got there. How many things in your

122
00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,160
Speaker 1: life have been like that? When you actually did it,

123
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,080
Speaker 1: it wasn't as bad as you thought it was going

124
00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,440
Speaker 1: to be. But the verse I want to preach from

125
00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,640
Speaker 1: is very simple. Is in verse twenty nine. It says,

126
00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 1: then he blessed him there. That's what I wan I

127
00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:33,600
Speaker 1: preach to you about today. And the title of this

128
00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:44,040
Speaker 1: message is trusting through the tearing. Trusting through the tearing,

129
00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:46,240
Speaker 1: or if you want to stay in the flow of

130
00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:48,800
Speaker 1: what I've been preaching the last few weeks about God's

131
00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,560
Speaker 1: got your back, you could turn to your neighbor and

132
00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:58,200
Speaker 1: tell them God's got you in between, in between, in between,

133
00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,920
Speaker 1: tell somebody else God's got you in between. You may

134
00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:08,200
Speaker 1: be seated. What an amazing story, What an epics story

135
00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,280
Speaker 1: in that incredible Bible story. Let's put our hands together

136
00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:18,280
Speaker 1: for the Bible. That's amazing. You are leaving already, I'm

137
00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:25,760
Speaker 1: just starting, all right, see it? Well, I guess they

138
00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:30,880
Speaker 1: got the most important part. They got the scripture. I

139
00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,199
Speaker 1: honestly didn't want to bring this up because it sounds

140
00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:35,600
Speaker 1: so superficial and the text that I read was so deep.

141
00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,440
Speaker 1: But it was so hard for me to figure out

142
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:44,800
Speaker 1: what to wear to preach today because somebody gave me

143
00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,000
Speaker 1: this a couple of years ago, and I saw it

144
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,320
Speaker 1: the other day. I was like, I never wore that.

145
00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:50,079
Speaker 1: I like it. I want to wear it this week.

146
00:08:51,000 --> 00:09:01,840
Speaker 1: But in the South, seasons are tricky, and we're always

147
00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:06,319
Speaker 1: talking in our family, what's your favorite season? Graham says

148
00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:14,320
Speaker 1: that spring is off brand fall. That's his theory. Holly

149
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:17,920
Speaker 1: and I love fall because when we go on our walks,

150
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,720
Speaker 1: we're so boring in a way, but we love it.

151
00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:25,120
Speaker 1: We embrace it. One of our favorite things to do

152
00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:27,040
Speaker 1: is just crunch leaves and see who can crunch the

153
00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,400
Speaker 1: lead the loudest, and we're like, we have crunch of

154
00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,240
Speaker 1: the day competitions when we go on our walks. It's

155
00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,240
Speaker 1: very simple. It's a cheap date, by the way you

156
00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,360
Speaker 1: want to use it, and we'll do that. We walked

157
00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,160
Speaker 1: out the other day, Holly was all bundle up in

158
00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,800
Speaker 1: a hoodie and I'm laughing. I'm in a tank top

159
00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:46,640
Speaker 1: because I know our driveway is kind of long. So

160
00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:50,319
Speaker 1: when we were in the shade of our driveway, she thought, oh,

161
00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,800
Speaker 1: it's fall because football is on, so it's fall. Soon

162
00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:55,760
Speaker 1: as we got out of the shade, she's peeling that

163
00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:58,160
Speaker 1: hoodie off and we look at each other and we laugh,

164
00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:03,320
Speaker 1: and she goes. Fake fall. Fake fall is something you

165
00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:05,800
Speaker 1: may not know about if you aren't in the South.

166
00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:13,559
Speaker 1: It's when you go outside. It's fifty nine degrees. Everything

167
00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,600
Speaker 1: tastes like pumpkins in every restaurant. But no, sooner do

168
00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,640
Speaker 1: you go back inside to grab that cute cardigan that

169
00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:25,559
Speaker 1: you've been saving all summer and waiting for the fall.

170
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,400
Speaker 1: Then you walk back outside. It's ninety six degrees now

171
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,320
Speaker 1: in Charlotte, and it's only been five minutes, and it

172
00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,120
Speaker 1: can be refreshing because it can feel hot one moment

173
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,920
Speaker 1: and then God will just blow an air condition like Gabriel,

174
00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:42,760
Speaker 1: just blow in your face and you'll say fall. I

175
00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,200
Speaker 1: feel you welcome fall. But don't be deceived. Do not

176
00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,080
Speaker 1: be fooled, do not be dismayed. It is only fake fall.

177
00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,040
Speaker 1: So make sure you pack at least three different outfits

178
00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,880
Speaker 1: when you leave in the morning. It's fake fall. Oh yeah,

179
00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,360
Speaker 1: football is on, but it's not fall yet. It's fake fall.

180
00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:01,840
Speaker 1: We walk back these people the other day crunching leaves,

181
00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,920
Speaker 1: and this guy says to us in a very northern accent,

182
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:06,640
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna impersonate it because it might be

183
00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:08,880
Speaker 1: offensive because I can't do it that good. But he's like,

184
00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,040
Speaker 1: how about this fall weather? And Holly turns to me

185
00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,640
Speaker 1: and goes northern or fake fall? He do no, don't

186
00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:17,400
Speaker 1: tell him, don't tell him. No small it for him.

187
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,640
Speaker 1: He thinks it's just gonna stay like this fake fall.

188
00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:24,200
Speaker 1: You'll know what I'm talking about. Fake fall. So I

189
00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,320
Speaker 1: didn't know whether to put this on today because it

190
00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,840
Speaker 1: feels like fall to me. The kids are back in school.

191
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:38,600
Speaker 1: Chick fil A has this autumn spice milkshake, but I

192
00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:43,800
Speaker 1: don't know really if it's it's it's an in between season.

193
00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,480
Speaker 1: It's in between seasons. I'm standing in my closet. I

194
00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:51,400
Speaker 1: can't figure out which one to grab because I've been

195
00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:55,000
Speaker 1: waiting to wear this. But it might be now. We

196
00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:57,600
Speaker 1: keep it fifty seven degrees in the auditorium at elevation

197
00:11:57,679 --> 00:11:59,560
Speaker 1: Valentine to keep y all awake, so I'm not worried

198
00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:02,679
Speaker 1: how it's going to be in the room that's mandated.

199
00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:11,640
Speaker 1: Is that a prayer request? I could turn it up

200
00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:13,400
Speaker 1: hot and preach about hell, and then we'll see what

201
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:20,520
Speaker 1: happens you feel the flame, baby. But to me, there's

202
00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:26,800
Speaker 1: nothing trickier than in between seasons. One thing to figure

203
00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,080
Speaker 1: out what do I wear? I mean, I could take

204
00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,480
Speaker 1: this off if I chose wrong. But there are other things,

205
00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:37,319
Speaker 1: other things in life, the in between things that can

206
00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:44,679
Speaker 1: leave you feeling irritable, unstable, uncertain, like you're having an

207
00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:49,080
Speaker 1: identity crisis, like you really don't know which one to

208
00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:53,640
Speaker 1: go with. In between things. The Bible says, and we're

209
00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,400
Speaker 1: fond of quoting in Romans eight twenty eight, that all

210
00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,960
Speaker 1: things work together for the good of those who love

211
00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:07,800
Speaker 1: God and are called according to His purpose. All things.

212
00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:12,600
Speaker 1: Somebody say things, then it says a little further down

213
00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:14,760
Speaker 1: in the Book of Romans, and I think the thirty

214
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,920
Speaker 1: first verses says, what shall we say in response to

215
00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:22,839
Speaker 1: these things? That God has predestined us, that God has

216
00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,560
Speaker 1: called us, that He has justified us, and he has

217
00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,560
Speaker 1: glorified us. All of that. In Romans chapter eight, I

218
00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,920
Speaker 1: am all of those things. I am called by God,

219
00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:39,280
Speaker 1: I am justified by Jesus, I am glorified with him.

220
00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:42,760
Speaker 1: I am joined together. I'm a joint heir with Jesus

221
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,559
Speaker 1: Christ me and him hooked up and I got everything

222
00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,040
Speaker 1: that he has for me. When I called on his name,

223
00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:50,200
Speaker 1: he said he'd come live in me and be with me,

224
00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,800
Speaker 1: and would leave me or forsake me. So I'm all

225
00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,160
Speaker 1: of those things. Whatever he said I am. That's what

226
00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,000
Speaker 1: I am. Whatever he calls me, That's what I'll be

227
00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,400
Speaker 1: whatever he calls me too. That's what I'm walking toward.

228
00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,920
Speaker 1: Whatever he labels me, that's what I live by. I

229
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:14,920
Speaker 1: am all those things called justified glorified, and yet their

230
00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:18,600
Speaker 1: context of Romans Chapter eight is interesting because it talks

231
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,760
Speaker 1: about the groanings that happen on the inside of us

232
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,560
Speaker 1: as we wait for our adoption and eagerly expect to

233
00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:27,480
Speaker 1: be brought into the fullness of what we have the

234
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:32,120
Speaker 1: first fruits of it is Paul's way of saying, we're

235
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,960
Speaker 1: in between things that we know we're called, but we're

236
00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:40,080
Speaker 1: often confused. That we know we're justified, but we often

237
00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,920
Speaker 1: deal with guilt. That we know we're glorified, but we

238
00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:51,640
Speaker 1: often feel gritty because I'm in between things. I'm all

239
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:56,640
Speaker 1: those things called justified glorified because Christ said I am.

240
00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:01,720
Speaker 1: But I'm some other things too. Sometimes I'm some other things.

241
00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:06,800
Speaker 1: I can be selfish, I can be rude, I can

242
00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:11,600
Speaker 1: be ignorant, I can be compulsive. I'm getting depressed right

243
00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,400
Speaker 1: now as I think about the other things. And the

244
00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:21,440
Speaker 1: truth is, I'm torn. I'm torn. I was torn to

245
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,360
Speaker 1: figure out what to wear to church today. I was

246
00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:26,760
Speaker 1: torn to figure out what's to preach to you today.

247
00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:30,040
Speaker 1: I'm torn in this very moment as I stand before

248
00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,400
Speaker 1: you and try to tell you that I'm all these

249
00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,720
Speaker 1: wonderful things in Christ, with all of the reminders behind

250
00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:37,640
Speaker 1: me of all the ways that I fell short of

251
00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:42,120
Speaker 1: the glory of God this week. The truth is I'm torn.

252
00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:49,640
Speaker 1: That's one of the things about being between things is

253
00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:54,120
Speaker 1: that you can feel kind of torn. I mean, just imagine.

254
00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:58,200
Speaker 1: I'm not going to demonstrate it. Two big, strong guys

255
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,200
Speaker 1: standing on either side of me today, and one is

256
00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,880
Speaker 1: pulling me here and one is pulling me there. And

257
00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:10,240
Speaker 1: here I am in between two things, in between my

258
00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:18,160
Speaker 1: heavenly calling call justified, glorified, right with God, and then

259
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:25,720
Speaker 1: my sinful tendencies, lazy self pity. I can be very.

260
00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,280
Speaker 1: I can be very. I can be a very convincing

261
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:33,960
Speaker 1: victim as their fault they didn't they should have can

262
00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:39,680
Speaker 1: I can be a lot of things I'm torn. I

263
00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:41,560
Speaker 1: knew that starting to sermon this way would be kind

264
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,400
Speaker 1: of interesting, because I think what people are looking for

265
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,080
Speaker 1: when they come to church is for me to talk

266
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:52,520
Speaker 1: about certain things and then to leave other things for

267
00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:57,320
Speaker 1: Monday through Saturday. Problem with that approach to ministry is

268
00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:03,800
Speaker 1: it's what happens in between our Sunday meetings. In between.

269
00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:10,760
Speaker 1: It will not be sufficient if you write down everything

270
00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,080
Speaker 1: I say today and live none of it out until

271
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:17,040
Speaker 1: the next time I see it. It will not be

272
00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,879
Speaker 1: sufficient for us to get a Bible lesson today that

273
00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:22,720
Speaker 1: for a few moments maybe tickles our intellect or enlightens

274
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:25,119
Speaker 1: our senses, or helps us to know something grammatical or

275
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,560
Speaker 1: historical about the Word of God. It is what we

276
00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:31,560
Speaker 1: do in between. I'll prove it from the Bible. Faith

277
00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:35,119
Speaker 1: comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. But

278
00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:40,080
Speaker 1: faith without works is dead. So Jesus said, a sower

279
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:42,879
Speaker 1: went out to sow. He started sowing. Some of the

280
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,760
Speaker 1: seed before it even hit the soil got snatched up

281
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,640
Speaker 1: by the bird. Can that really happen? Of course it can.

282
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,240
Speaker 1: In between the release of the seed of the Word

283
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,719
Speaker 1: of God and the fertilization in the soil, even before

284
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,000
Speaker 1: it could hit the soil, let alone Germany, beneath the soil,

285
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,040
Speaker 1: before it even had the opportunity to be what it

286
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:02,480
Speaker 1: could have been, what it should have been, and what

287
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,840
Speaker 1: it really was on the inside, something snatched it in between.

288
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,080
Speaker 1: So you have to be very careful about how you

289
00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:13,359
Speaker 1: spend the first thirty minutes after you hear a sermon.

290
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,960
Speaker 1: You have to beat back birds the first because the

291
00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:22,600
Speaker 1: enemy knows the enemy of your soul. The devil Satan,

292
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,639
Speaker 1: O slew foot Lucifer, that old devil, that old devil

293
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:27,919
Speaker 1: he had. Don't pitchfork devil. He's a little bird. He's

294
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:29,919
Speaker 1: a cute little bird comes up in just as a

295
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,199
Speaker 1: distraction snatches it in between. You can't even get to

296
00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:35,320
Speaker 1: the car and hold on to what has been said,

297
00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,199
Speaker 1: because we don't know how to be bored anymore. We

298
00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:40,680
Speaker 1: don't know how to sit with anything anymore. We can't

299
00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:42,840
Speaker 1: think about a word, we can't get out of search

300
00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:45,240
Speaker 1: and reflect on it for a minute. So we can't

301
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:49,760
Speaker 1: germinate because you don't meditate because they got snatched in between.

302
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,400
Speaker 1: How many feel convicted that we just run from one

303
00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 1: thing to the other and nothing in between. So now

304
00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:01,800
Speaker 1: I have so many any games, and so many apps,

305
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,800
Speaker 1: and so many distractions on my phone that I have

306
00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,320
Speaker 1: no time for any creativity. How could God remind me

307
00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,879
Speaker 1: of anything? I gave him no space to set up

308
00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:17,680
Speaker 1: in between my appointments. And our lives are very crowded,

309
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,639
Speaker 1: because even the Bible itself is full of amazing things

310
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:26,120
Speaker 1: that happened in between. Think about that. If we took

311
00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:31,360
Speaker 1: out everything in the Bible that happened as the characters

312
00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,280
Speaker 1: were going somewhere else, we would have removed some of

313
00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:38,639
Speaker 1: our best Bible stories, and we would have neutered some

314
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:45,400
Speaker 1: of our best Bible characters, like Moses the burning bush.

315
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:51,919
Speaker 1: If Moses had had data on his phone, he wouldn't

316
00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:56,000
Speaker 1: have seen the bush burning, because all he was doing

317
00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:57,600
Speaker 1: was trying to go to Horror with the sheep for

318
00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,239
Speaker 1: his father in law, Jethra, and then he was going

319
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,879
Speaker 1: to go back to Midian. And in between, this bush

320
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,480
Speaker 1: catches on fire, and God says, by the way, you're

321
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,159
Speaker 1: about to lead a nation out of slavery. That happened

322
00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,520
Speaker 1: as he was going to do something else. Now that

323
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:17,359
Speaker 1: had been me, I'm very sure that I wouldn't have

324
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,919
Speaker 1: looked at the bush, because I'd have been right here

325
00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: looking at something else. The enemy is good at filling

326
00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:28,200
Speaker 1: the in between spaces, so you don't even see God.

327
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,480
Speaker 1: I see this in the Life of Moses. I was

328
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,240
Speaker 1: thinking about. I guess my favorite Bible story because it's

329
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,520
Speaker 1: the first one I ever preached. How Peter walked on

330
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,280
Speaker 1: water to Jesus. You know that happened just as they

331
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,040
Speaker 1: were trying to get from Jesus. Jesus didn't set up

332
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,359
Speaker 1: a water walking seminar that day. All they were trying

333
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:51,960
Speaker 1: to do is get from the eastern shore to the

334
00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,440
Speaker 1: western shore. And they were going to the western shore

335
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:56,880
Speaker 1: to do miracles. But they had to leave the eastern

336
00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:58,680
Speaker 1: shore to go to western shore. Along the way, here

337
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,280
Speaker 1: comes a storm, and in the middle of the storm,

338
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,639
Speaker 1: here comes Jesus and comes toward Peter. Peter's like, I

339
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:06,680
Speaker 1: want to come toward you, And Peter comes toward Jesus.

340
00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:08,640
Speaker 1: He falls down. Jesus picks him up, takes him back

341
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:09,800
Speaker 1: to the boat, and they say, truly, you are the

342
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,240
Speaker 1: Son of God. And we love that story. But it

343
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:18,480
Speaker 1: happened in between. It happened in between. You think Mary

344
00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,840
Speaker 1: wanted to give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. You want

345
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,480
Speaker 1: to give birth to Jesus, away from your doctors, away

346
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:29,000
Speaker 1: from your hometown. They were there for a census, and

347
00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,320
Speaker 1: the Savior of the world was born. I'm just trying

348
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:36,800
Speaker 1: to say that some of the best stuff happens in between.

349
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,240
Speaker 1: I want to remind you of that, some of the

350
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: best things in your life while you're so focused on, Oh,

351
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,200
Speaker 1: when I get through this, when I get through that,

352
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 1: Oh when I just get I just want to get

353
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,760
Speaker 1: to the end of twenty twenty two. You've been saying

354
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,280
Speaker 1: that for the last forty seven years. About this time

355
00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,640
Speaker 1: every year, you start thinking, if I could just get

356
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,480
Speaker 1: through the year, I'm just waiting for a new year,

357
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,200
Speaker 1: and here it is fall. Okay, just a few more months.

358
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: If I could just get through twenty twenty two, If

359
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 1: you could just get through twenty twenty two, you were

360
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,199
Speaker 1: gonna take twenty twenty you into twenty twenty three, and

361
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:20,679
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two ain't gonna kill twenty twenty you. I

362
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:22,320
Speaker 1: got stuck in the trap at one point in my

363
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:26,480
Speaker 1: life of just surviving between Sundays as a preacher, and

364
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,800
Speaker 1: at that time we were doing Saturday night services. I

365
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 1: haven't forgot about Jacob. I'm setting this up. Okay, I

366
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,199
Speaker 1: haven't forgot about it, but I'm gonna tell you something

367
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 1: in between. I read my scripture. Now I'm gonna illustrate.

368
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:40,959
Speaker 1: Then I'm gonna go back to Jacob. I used to

369
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: just think, if I could just get to Sunday and

370
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:50,639
Speaker 1: get another sermon, study, pray, beg plead, offer my children

371
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:55,360
Speaker 1: on the altar. What do you want? And a scary thing.

372
00:22:55,560 --> 00:23:00,399
Speaker 1: It's a scary thing. Y'all's expectations are really high. It is,

373
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 1: y'all really do have high expectations. Be serious, be funny,

374
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:10,040
Speaker 1: be youthful, be wise. You want a lot, speak for God,

375
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:16,480
Speaker 1: keep it real. Torn. I'm so torn. If you can

376
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:21,280
Speaker 1: see me right now, I mean I might be holding

377
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 1: together on the outside, but on the inside. So I

378
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,200
Speaker 1: just try to get to Sunday, and then I think,

379
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,200
Speaker 1: if I could just get through Sunday. So wait a minute,

380
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:36,760
Speaker 1: your whole life is getting too and getting through and

381
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:44,159
Speaker 1: you are missing so many things in between. Oh, if

382
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,840
Speaker 1: I can get this degree, what do you think that

383
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,760
Speaker 1: degree is gonna do? What do you think that degree

384
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 1: is really gonna do? It's gonna open doors? What's on

385
00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 1: the other side of a door? What do you think

386
00:23:57,359 --> 00:23:59,359
Speaker 1: is on the other side of the door, a massage table.

387
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: You think it's a beach on the other side of

388
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,160
Speaker 1: the door. The degree open the door. Then you gotta

389
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 1: do the stuff that they taught you to do. That

390
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:09,600
Speaker 1: isn't really what you gotta do, because they don't really

391
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 1: teach you in school what you gotta do. What do

392
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:19,920
Speaker 1: you think that degree is gonna do for you? Somebody

393
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 1: shout I'm in between. You didn't shout it convincingly because

394
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,679
Speaker 1: it's not sexy. Oh watch this, Watch this, somebody shout

395
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,679
Speaker 1: I made it. You see how much better you did that.

396
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: Shout this, I'm gonna do it. Come on, shout it

397
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 1: from your chest. But that in between things you didn't

398
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:47,200
Speaker 1: say that too good. Won't practice that. We don't practice

399
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 1: that in between. We don't really know how to be

400
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 1: in between. We really don't know how to be in between. Oh,

401
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:57,280
Speaker 1: we definitely know how to think about the future, just

402
00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,880
Speaker 1: we know how to in our minds. I Jacob, he's

403
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,320
Speaker 1: going to meet with Esau. He's like, okay, Now when

404
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,199
Speaker 1: you get there, you give him a first gift, and

405
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:08,880
Speaker 1: then you give him a second gift. So it won't

406
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: kill me. You give him a third. He's out there

407
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,800
Speaker 1: in the future. He's really good at sending stuff ahead.

408
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,359
Speaker 1: He's sending everything ahead, so he thinks it'll be all

409
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: right when he gets there. He's sending everything ahead. By

410
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 1: the way, He's come a long way. He just got

411
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,960
Speaker 1: back from Mahinim, where the angels of God met him,

412
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 1: where the angels of God attended to him, where the

413
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,120
Speaker 1: angels of God show up. So he's seen a lot

414
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,800
Speaker 1: of wonderful things behind him. But now we see Jacob

415
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: in a very interesting place. He's not in Shechem yet

416
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,400
Speaker 1: where he's going. But he can't go back to Laban's

417
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 1: house either. That's his uncle who he's been living with

418
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,119
Speaker 1: for twenty years. An angel of God tells him, you

419
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 1: got to get up, you gotta go, You gotta move

420
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,719
Speaker 1: right now. You don't have time to think about it,

421
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 1: you don't have time to strategize it. The only problem

422
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,400
Speaker 1: is if he leaves Laban, he has to deal with Esau,

423
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,879
Speaker 1: and the last time he saw Esau had blood in

424
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 1: his eyes. Now we meet Jacob in Genesis chapter thirty two,

425
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 1: and the Bible says that the angel of God begins

426
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 1: to wrestle with him at night and wrestles with him

427
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 1: all night, all night long. Jacob is struggling with something

428
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: that he doesn't know what it is. But this is

429
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,080
Speaker 1: nothing new to Jacob. You see, he's been practicing this

430
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,879
Speaker 1: since the womb. He's been manipulating situation since he was

431
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,880
Speaker 1: old enough to calculate. He's been moving here and moving there,

432
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:34,879
Speaker 1: and doing this and doing that, and scheming things and

433
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 1: plotting things. Not only did he steal his brother's birthright,

434
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,520
Speaker 1: he stole his blessing to by pretending to be his brother.

435
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 1: And now he's got to face the one that he

436
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 1: pretended to be, who wanted to kill him the last

437
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 1: time he saw him. But I can't stay with Laban,

438
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: but I can't deal with Esau. I'm standing here needing

439
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,359
Speaker 1: the help of God. And so God comes not to

440
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:05,440
Speaker 1: help him, but to wrestle with him. And it's interesting

441
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,439
Speaker 1: to me that it didn't happen when he got to

442
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:16,680
Speaker 1: Esau the fight. Esau gave him a hug, and God

443
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 1: gave him a broken hip. I'm confused. I thought you

444
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 1: asked God to bless you, Jacob, and he said bless me,

445
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,480
Speaker 1: bless me. I'm not letting go to bless me. Let's

446
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 1: read the text again. This is Wow. Wow, this is

447
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,399
Speaker 1: just unbelievable. For everybody who's in between right now, for

448
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,359
Speaker 1: everybody who's torn between what you believe that God has

449
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 1: spoken that you really are and what you feel like

450
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,640
Speaker 1: from time to time. Everybody who's torn right now, how

451
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 1: many of you are in a seasonal shift in your life?

452
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 1: Was very difficult for you to comprehend where you're at

453
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 1: because I'm forty two. How many y'all think that's young?

454
00:27:55,440 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 1: How many y'all think that's old? I'm torn. I'm torn.

455
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:09,679
Speaker 1: I'm torn. Graham's hand went up so high when I said, oh,

456
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 1: and half this section, I don't know what's going on

457
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: over here in this section, y'all said it was really young.

458
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: I'm torn. I don't know which one to believe. Life

459
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:26,399
Speaker 1: is tricky because life will intersect in betweens. So you

460
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:34,400
Speaker 1: raise teenagers, but you're also a tween ager because he's

461
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,639
Speaker 1: about to turn fifteen. I'm close to turn of fifty.

462
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 1: Both of us are in the middle of something and

463
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm in the middle of and

464
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 1: he doesn't know what he's in the middle of. And

465
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: so now I'm trying to raise somebody as I walk

466
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 1: through something that I haven't seen the end of yet myself.

467
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 1: And look back at what he's in the middle of. Well,

468
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: I'm in the middle of mine. And tell him about

469
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: the middle of his and bring him safely through it

470
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 1: and don't get him killed. And he's stubborn. So when

471
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 1: he wants to learn how to drive, watch this. He

472
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: doesn't have enough money to afford a car, but he

473
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: doesn't have enough humility to listen to me when I'm

474
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 1: teaching him how to drive it. I'm just kidding, Graham,

475
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 1: You're still perfect. He's gonna be a great driver. I prophesied,

476
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 1: I declare it, i'd decree, I plead the blood. But

477
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,880
Speaker 1: that's what I mean by in between, is Jacob knowing

478
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 1: I can't stay with Laban where he met his his

479
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: wife Leah and his other wife Rachel, and he married

480
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 1: one and thought he was marrying the other. This dude

481
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 1: has a lot of problems at night. Jacob needs to

482
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 1: put a nine pm curfew on himself because he gets

483
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: in trouble at night. He went and slept with the

484
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: wrong sister at night, woke up. The Bible's so funny.

485
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,360
Speaker 1: The Bible says he thought he laid down with Rachel

486
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: that's who he wanted to marry. He commits to her father,

487
00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,440
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work seven years so I can marry Rachel. Okay.

488
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 1: At the end of seve in years, the father Laban

489
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,800
Speaker 1: slips in Leah, the other sister who has what we

490
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 1: say the good personality. Leah has a good personality. Jacob

491
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 1: goes to bed thinking it's Rachel, wakes up and there

492
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: the Bible says, there was Leah. So funny, this is

493
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 1: kind of like that because everything in the text. Watch

494
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 1: this is what drew me to the text when I

495
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: was thinking about being in between things. Nobody's calling me

496
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: the young pastor anymore, but nobody thinks I'm an old

497
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 1: sage either. Oh God, what am I? I am not

498
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,960
Speaker 1: a spiritual Bible quote and tongue talking Christian all the time.

499
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: But I'm not trying to cuss people out either and

500
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 1: start fights because I've learned too much to be ugly

501
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 1: all the time. And no, I'm gonna have to clean

502
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: up messes after I make them. So I'm too saved

503
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: to be angry and too fleshly to be perfect. And

504
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: I'm stuck in the middle feeling like ah Tar because

505
00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 1: I could handle it if I had this self control

506
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 1: to just pray for people, that would be one thing.

507
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: If I was just worldly and I knew jiu jitsu,

508
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:11,680
Speaker 1: I could handle it that way. But it's in between,

509
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:17,600
Speaker 1: so it's nighttime. Jacob is heading to what he thinks

510
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 1: is his appointment. He's leaving what has been his refuge,

511
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: and God meets him in between. The Lord said to

512
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 1: tell you today, he's trying to meet you in between,

513
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 1: and he's got you in between for a reason. He's

514
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 1: got you in between for a reason. Jacob never could

515
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 1: have known when he was sending his wives and his servants,

516
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,520
Speaker 1: and his donkeys and his camels and his gifts across

517
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: the Jabak to meet with his brother Esau, that God

518
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 1: was leaving him there, stripped of all of his appointments

519
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 1: and all of his acomplishments, and all of his affiliations,

520
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 1: so that he could show him something he never could

521
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 1: have known. That. He never could have known while he

522
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,240
Speaker 1: was wrestling who he was wrestling with. He never could

523
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 1: have known while he was wrestling what the outcome would be.

524
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,960
Speaker 1: But he wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let go. He

525
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 1: held on for dear life. And when the angel, the

526
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:28,160
Speaker 1: Angel of God, who theologians would say is a pre incarnate,

527
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 1: a pre incarnate revelation of Jesus Christ himself. When Jesus

528
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: came to wrestle with Jacob, Jacob held on so tight

529
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 1: that the angel said, boop, I'm going to put your

530
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:57,640
Speaker 1: hip out of joint so you can see who I am.

531
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:02,160
Speaker 1: That's not very nice, that's not very christ like. But

532
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: it's Christ. I'm torn. This doesn't seem like something God

533
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 1: would do. Usually, when we hear about God touching someone,

534
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:15,479
Speaker 1: something good happens. After God touched the blind man, his

535
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 1: eyes were open. Holly preached about that Friday night. Well,

536
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 1: what about poor Jacob. Jacob's eyes didn't open, he didn't

537
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: get a testosterone boost, he didn't grow hair back in

538
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:28,240
Speaker 1: a bald patch. None of this happened when God touched him.

539
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,040
Speaker 1: The Bible says something interesting. It said he touched the

540
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 1: socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched

541
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,120
Speaker 1: while he wrestled with the man. And go all the

542
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:47,480
Speaker 1: way down to verse twenty nine. He said, please tell

543
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: me your name, but he replied, why he asked my name?

544
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:55,440
Speaker 1: Then he blessed him there. That's important. He blessed him

545
00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 1: there where in the place in between where Ja had

546
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,040
Speaker 1: left and where he was going. I'm trying to get

547
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 1: you to see that God puts the blessing in the

548
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 1: in between moments of your life, and if you are

549
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:14,160
Speaker 1: so focused on Esau in the future or Laban in

550
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,440
Speaker 1: the past, you will not receive what you need to

551
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:21,880
Speaker 1: receive in between that will strengthen you for what's ahead.

552
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,560
Speaker 1: For the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen

553
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,479
Speaker 1: short of the glory of God. But the Bible also

554
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 1: says that all things work together for the good of

555
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,840
Speaker 1: those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Now,

556
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 1: at certain points in your life, that verse will be

557
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,879
Speaker 1: tested as to whether you believe it's true. You will

558
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 1: experience moments in your life where Romans eight twenty eight

559
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 1: appears to be a flat out lie. So now you're

560
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,480
Speaker 1: trying to hold on to a truth that you're read

561
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,560
Speaker 1: in the Bible that all things work together for the good,

562
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:57,279
Speaker 1: and you're being held by something in your life that

563
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,840
Speaker 1: is dragging you into a place of doubt, being dragged

564
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:04,600
Speaker 1: all around standing there in between. But in these moments,

565
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,719
Speaker 1: God wants you to know that in the in between

566
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 1: moments of your life the truth that you've heard, the

567
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:14,239
Speaker 1: truth that you've received, the truth that you believed, and

568
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: the tearing that you've experienced. These are not always bad places.

569
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,720
Speaker 1: These are not always moments that God wants to deliver

570
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 1: you from. Sometimes the in between place is the blessed place.

571
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 1: And if all your focus is on getting through, getting to,

572
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,400
Speaker 1: getting through and getting too, you will miss the blessing

573
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 1: that God has in a place called there. By the

574
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: time he got to Esau, it was already done. You

575
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 1: can keep your camels, you can keep your gifts. Doesn't

576
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,320
Speaker 1: need any of it, because that's not where God met

577
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:58,759
Speaker 1: Jacob to reveal himself. He met him in between. This

578
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 1: is a word. I said, A wouldn't do it. But

579
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 1: come here, chunks, come here, buck. This is a word,

580
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:04,879
Speaker 1: both of y'all. I don't have time. I don't have time.

581
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,080
Speaker 1: You gotta hurr, you gotta hurry, but I gotta show you.

582
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 1: This is a word. Now, don't pull me too hard,

583
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,239
Speaker 1: don't pull me too hard, but I'm gonna hold you.

584
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:13,000
Speaker 1: You go that way, you go that way. This is

585
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: a word. Go the other way, Buck, go the other way.

586
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:16,399
Speaker 1: This is not too hard, not to art, not too hard,

587
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,759
Speaker 1: not too hard, to shoulder. I'm forty two. Man, you

588
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 1: can't pull too hard. This is a word when you

589
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,440
Speaker 1: feel torn. This is how you've been feeling lately. Not

590
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:32,360
Speaker 1: always stand still, y'all being too tense. This is a word.

591
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 1: This is a word not only when you feel torn

592
00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 1: between good things and bad things, because that happens. Oh,

593
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:40,920
Speaker 1: the devil's telling me to do this, but God is

594
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,040
Speaker 1: saying do that. A you haven't been torn between two

595
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 1: things that are both good. People make stuff sound so

596
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,360
Speaker 1: simple when they tell you advice. Oh, man, just focus

597
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 1: on your kids. Which one? Because they don't really get

598
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:00,400
Speaker 1: along together. So now I got to be with one.

599
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,640
Speaker 1: I'm at a time which one? Somebody told me one time.

600
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:07,400
Speaker 1: Just great parenting advice. Don't miss any of your kids' games.

601
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,400
Speaker 1: But then guess what happened. Graham had a game and

602
00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:15,560
Speaker 1: Abby had a game, both on Saturday, and the coach

603
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,440
Speaker 1: didn't call me and say, now we'll be okay, because

604
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 1: I know you got to preach on Sunday. Can we

605
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:22,719
Speaker 1: put it? How many of y'all expect when you come

606
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:25,239
Speaker 1: to church that I studied the Word of God and

607
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:28,799
Speaker 1: prepared something to say to you. Would you be cool

608
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: if I got up here and just wing it. Would

609
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,400
Speaker 1: you feel good about that if I said, speak Holy Spirit,

610
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,360
Speaker 1: and that's the first time I looked at my Bible. No,

611
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,839
Speaker 1: you expect me to be a good pastor. So here

612
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 1: comes the pull every week. All right, Lord, I need

613
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,520
Speaker 1: to study and get something ready. But guess what my kids.

614
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 1: My kids expect some things too, and they should. They're

615
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 1: my priority. They're my priority. So now I feel pulled.

616
00:37:55,800 --> 00:38:01,319
Speaker 1: I'm not torn between do I abandon my family or

617
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 1: abandon my church. I'm trying to do both of them well,

618
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:05,680
Speaker 1: and I'm torn. Just move a little bit, move a

619
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:13,759
Speaker 1: little bit. Ah ah, And I don't know which one.

620
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:18,080
Speaker 1: If I knew which one, you know, there's a simple

621
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 1: solution to this. It's right there in the text. It's

622
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,600
Speaker 1: what the Angel said to Jacob after he wrestled all night.

623
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:32,400
Speaker 1: He said, uh, let go, Now, this is simple. You

624
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,080
Speaker 1: ever think we'd be holding hands in front of thousands

625
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:38,080
Speaker 1: of people. We've been through a lot together, come back,

626
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:46,320
Speaker 1: the angel said. The Angel said, let go. It's that simple,

627
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:50,279
Speaker 1: Just let go, Just let go. So now I'm gonna

628
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: illustrate that and show you why it's not that simple.

629
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 1: Which one do I let go of? I'm torn. Just

630
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:06,359
Speaker 1: trust God. God trosted the Lord? How with all your heart?

631
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:13,480
Speaker 1: That's not what I'm talking about. I'm asking do I

632
00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 1: give money to my church or put money in my

633
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 1: kid's college fund, because I think God wants me to

634
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 1: do both. I'm torn just a little bit. What I'm

635
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 1: torn like this? And if I let go, something is

636
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 1: gonna fall apart. And I've been preaching to somebody all

637
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 1: week in my spirit. I don't know who you are,

638
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,960
Speaker 1: but the Lord showed me you've been torn, and not

639
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:41,279
Speaker 1: because you don't love the Lord, and not because you

640
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:45,439
Speaker 1: don't believe all things work together. The thing about it

641
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:49,239
Speaker 1: is you are between two things and you don't know

642
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,880
Speaker 1: which one to let go of, which one to grab

643
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 1: hold of, and you're torn, so you're stressed, so you

644
00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 1: can't sleep, So you can't ask people for advice because

645
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 1: they oversimplified and they say, oh, just trust the Lord.

646
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:14,760
Speaker 1: But I'm trusting the Lord, but I'm torn. I don't

647
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:22,520
Speaker 1: know which one let go and let God? Which one

648
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:29,839
Speaker 1: is God? Because Jacob doesn't know who he's wrestling with.

649
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:33,200
Speaker 1: It's happening at night. Stay there, let me preach at

650
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:38,399
Speaker 1: night at night? Why did the Angel wrestle with him

651
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:45,000
Speaker 1: until the break of day. Why until the dawn, because

652
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:52,200
Speaker 1: the dawn is not exactly night. But it's not exactly

653
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:58,920
Speaker 1: morning either, is it. He's not exactly in a nighttime,

654
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 1: he's not exactly in a morning time. And God blessed

655
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:10,799
Speaker 1: him there. He's not home yet. He hasn't made it

656
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,680
Speaker 1: to shock him yet. He's not back in his family's

657
00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:18,799
Speaker 1: covering yet. He's in between in the Transjordan. It's not

658
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:23,279
Speaker 1: a holy place, it's not an unholy place. It's somewhere

659
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:28,480
Speaker 1: in between. And the Bible says that God blessed him there.

660
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 1: He's not in Laban's house anymore. He's not in his

661
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 1: father's house either. He's somewhere in between. You haven't graduated

662
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:41,720
Speaker 1: from it yet. You haven't quite beat the addiction yet.

663
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 1: You haven't quite got it behind you yet. You hadn't

664
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,320
Speaker 1: quite deleted it yet. He hadn't quite left you alone yet.

665
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 1: You'll quite have it under control yet, you'll quite have

666
00:41:50,239 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 1: a mess forget, you'll quite have it down yet. And

667
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:59,200
Speaker 1: you are torn because I'm free, but I still like it,

668
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,640
Speaker 1: because I'm beating it, but it's still breathing down my neck.

669
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:18,600
Speaker 1: I'm torn It blessed him there at dawn. It's not day,

670
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:23,000
Speaker 1: but it's not night. It's not home, but it's not ran.

671
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 1: It's not where he came from, it's not where he's going.

672
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: It's in between. It's in between. And Jacob held on.

673
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:38,840
Speaker 1: He said, you ain't going nowhere. You're not going anywhere.

674
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:45,160
Speaker 1: And he just said, oh yeah, whoop, and watch, I

675
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,680
Speaker 1: got this. I got this revelation out of this verse.

676
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:53,640
Speaker 1: I can't believe I never preached this before. Forgive me

677
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:56,720
Speaker 1: for never preaching this before. Y'all. This is so tender,

678
00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:00,319
Speaker 1: so powerful, but it slips right by you. He says

679
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:05,840
Speaker 1: that after God blessed him where where? Okay, clean up

680
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:08,080
Speaker 1: your life. I'll bless you get your act together. I'll

681
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:10,760
Speaker 1: bless you figure it all out. I'll bless you get smarter.

682
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,960
Speaker 1: I'll bless you read three books. I'll bless you memorize

683
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,359
Speaker 1: a couple verses. I'll bless you get to the place

684
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 1: you're going. I'll bless you get through the hard time.

685
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,480
Speaker 1: I'll bless you get through twenty twenty two. I'll bless

686
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: y'all if you make it to twenty twenty three, you

687
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,120
Speaker 1: shall be. It shall be in twenty twenty three. That's

688
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:31,920
Speaker 1: a stupid New Year's sermon. I won't preach it because

689
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:38,000
Speaker 1: the Bible say that he blessed him where Now watch

690
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:42,600
Speaker 1: what I never saw In verse thirty two, it's said therefore,

691
00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:44,920
Speaker 1: to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon

692
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:50,360
Speaker 1: attached to the socket of his hip, because the socket

693
00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:57,799
Speaker 1: of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon. Put your

694
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:00,480
Speaker 1: hand on your tendon. I'm not doing this illustration. You

695
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,400
Speaker 1: can do the owner. He used to be a physical therapist.

696
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 1: Which tendon did the Angel touch? I've been thinking about

697
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:13,680
Speaker 1: it all week, y'all. I thought, was it the it band?

698
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:22,160
Speaker 1: Was it the gloodiest tendon's another one? I mean, all

699
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:26,640
Speaker 1: that tissue that it could have been. And the Bible

700
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:33,000
Speaker 1: says that he touched near the tendon. You know what

701
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:36,920
Speaker 1: that spoke to me that sometimes God will touch a

702
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:40,120
Speaker 1: place that anybody can tell you. If the ball came

703
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,160
Speaker 1: all the way out of the socket of Jacob's hill,

704
00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:48,319
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have ever walked again. But if the ball

705
00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:51,600
Speaker 1: came out of the socket of Jacob's Hill and the

706
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:58,879
Speaker 1: tendon tore, he could still walk, but he would walk

707
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:13,880
Speaker 1: different from now on. I love preaching to y'all. And

708
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:16,240
Speaker 1: you know why y'all are shouting over an anatomy lesson,

709
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 1: because God's been touching your tendon. He touched your tendon.

710
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:29,359
Speaker 1: When he touched Jacob's tendon, it didn't mean that Jacob

711
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 1: wouldn't get there. It just meant that he would get

712
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:39,680
Speaker 1: their limping. Somebody in this room today has been torn

713
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 1: by life's challenges, and it wasn't always what the enemy did.

714
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:53,640
Speaker 1: The Bible says that the angels saw that the only

715
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:58,560
Speaker 1: way to overpower Jacob was to touch near the tendon.

716
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:01,440
Speaker 1: And God that has had us in a season of

717
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:05,920
Speaker 1: our life where you had to touch the tendon. The

718
00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:08,719
Speaker 1: tendon is the tissue that holds it all together. The

719
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 1: tendon is what connects the muscle to the bone. If

720
00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:14,240
Speaker 1: the tendon is torn, it may not have any strength

721
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 1: to it. But God said, you can still get there.

722
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:21,759
Speaker 1: You will have to limp from now on. That's not

723
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 1: a bad thing. See Jacob's tendency. What's to run his tendency?

724
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:40,160
Speaker 1: What's to run his his tendency? Oh oh oh, I

725
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:42,680
Speaker 1: want to retitle the message. I want to call this

726
00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:49,200
Speaker 1: message a trickster learns to trust Because Jacob tricked his

727
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:51,600
Speaker 1: way all the way to this place, and his like,

728
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 1: oh bless me, I'll pretend to be Esau. Oh bless me,

729
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,480
Speaker 1: I'll give you some beans. Oh if you're mad at me,

730
00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 1: I'll run and start all over. That's been so of

731
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:05,040
Speaker 1: you all your life. You have been running from you

732
00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:09,320
Speaker 1: all your life. Not he saw you for the Bible

733
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:13,319
Speaker 1: said that when God blessed him, he renamed him. His

734
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:18,200
Speaker 1: name was Jacob, but his name was Israel. Which one

735
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:25,840
Speaker 1: was it? He's torn One means trickster, one means prince.

736
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:30,759
Speaker 1: Jacob means he'll grabber because when he was born he

737
00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:35,040
Speaker 1: was grabbing his brother's heel trying to get out burst.

738
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:40,120
Speaker 1: So he's not grabbing heels anymore. Now his hip has

739
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:43,720
Speaker 1: been touched. And God said, I'm gonna make you Israel

740
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:49,480
Speaker 1: a prince. Israel means prince, y'all, he gonna be a prince.

741
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 1: Tell somebody next to you, you're gonna be a prince.

742
00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:59,680
Speaker 1: Princess madifaya be inclusive? Everybody be inclusive is twenty twenty two.

743
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:06,120
Speaker 1: But you're gonna be Watch this, Watch this. You're gonna

744
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:12,440
Speaker 1: be a limping prince because you're gonna be reminded for

745
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:16,439
Speaker 1: the rest of your life. That you can't outrun God's plan.

746
00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:21,399
Speaker 1: You can't outrun God's book this. If you make your

747
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,439
Speaker 1: bet in Hell, he's there. If you make your bet

748
00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:27,120
Speaker 1: in the depths of the sea, even there, even there,

749
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 1: even there, his hand will lead you, and his right

750
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 1: hand will hold you up. I'm Jacob, I'm Israel. Which

751
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:40,960
Speaker 1: one will I be? That's what you're deciding every day

752
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:43,920
Speaker 1: you wake up. That's what you're deciding every situation you

753
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 1: walk into. Am I gonna walk according to my new

754
00:48:47,239 --> 00:49:01,200
Speaker 1: nature or my old name? And up here holding hands

755
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:05,440
Speaker 1: with two big, grown, strong men, just to illustrate how

756
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:09,240
Speaker 1: you have felt in this season of your life, Torn

757
00:49:10,239 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 1: but trusting, Torn but trusting. Jacob lived with this limp

758
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:22,920
Speaker 1: the rest of his life. Do you know how I know?

759
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,839
Speaker 1: Look at Hebrews eleven twenty one. The Bible says, by

760
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 1: faith Jacob, somebody shout, by faith Jacob, that in itself

761
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:36,840
Speaker 1: is a miracle. The one who's spent his whole life

762
00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:39,400
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out, the one who's spent his

763
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,560
Speaker 1: whole life running from stuff that he couldn't bear to face,

764
00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:45,440
Speaker 1: the one who's spent his whole life trying to pretend

765
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 1: to be something else. By the end of his life,

766
00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:53,719
Speaker 1: the Bible says, by faith, Jacob, Jacob isn't running anymore.

767
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 1: Jacob can't run from himself anymore. Jacob can't run from

768
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:01,000
Speaker 1: his calling anymore. Neither can you. God has brought you

769
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:04,160
Speaker 1: to this place, and he's put you in between, and

770
00:50:04,239 --> 00:50:07,320
Speaker 1: he stuck you where you are, and he's not letting

771
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:13,160
Speaker 1: you go until he blesses you. You hear me, he

772
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,560
Speaker 1: won't let go. It's not you holding on to God,

773
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:26,960
Speaker 1: it's God holding on to you. God's gonna get some

774
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:29,719
Speaker 1: of you. A little boot blessing this week, a little

775
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:33,040
Speaker 1: boot blessing this week, a little booty blessing with a boot.

776
00:50:33,239 --> 00:50:36,040
Speaker 1: He said, don't run from this. You stay right here.

777
00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:40,200
Speaker 1: You receive your calling, you receive your inheritance. You are

778
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:46,080
Speaker 1: short hair. With Jesus, you are that thing. I'm telling

779
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:52,040
Speaker 1: you what Jacob, by faith put my verse back up

780
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:56,680
Speaker 1: he Brews eleven twenty one. By faith, Jacob, when he

781
00:50:56,920 --> 00:51:01,720
Speaker 1: was dying, what he's standing in between life and death,

782
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,400
Speaker 1: And what's what he did in between his life and

783
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:09,560
Speaker 1: his death. He blessed, he blessed, he blessed, he blessed,

784
00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:13,520
Speaker 1: he blessed. You see the transformation. He's saying, bless me,

785
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:17,080
Speaker 1: But by the end of his life, he's saying, be blessed.

786
00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:23,800
Speaker 1: That's what God touch his tiken so he could walk different,

787
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:30,440
Speaker 1: think different, talk different. Can I keep going? Just a

788
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:34,360
Speaker 1: few more words, Just a few more words? By faith Jacob.

789
00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:38,800
Speaker 1: He's standing between the portals of eternity and the time

790
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,840
Speaker 1: bound frame of his humanity, and he starts blessing. Ready,

791
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:47,479
Speaker 1: Joseph's sons. Who's Joseph, the son who was thrown into

792
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:50,640
Speaker 1: a pit, the son he thought he'd never see again,

793
00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:54,040
Speaker 1: the son he thought was as good as dead. His

794
00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:58,880
Speaker 1: heart was torn, his coat was torn. But God wasn't

795
00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:03,160
Speaker 1: through with Joseph. I came to the clare. It's not over.

796
00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:16,080
Speaker 1: You're just in between. Hollelujah, Bye, Thank Joseph. By faith

797
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:22,280
Speaker 1: Jacob blessed Joseph's boys so he never thought he'd see again.

798
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:24,640
Speaker 1: This a miracle, This a miracle, This a miracle, This

799
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:34,400
Speaker 1: a miracle, and worshiped as he leaned on top of

800
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:41,040
Speaker 1: his staff. He never quit limping, but he never stopped walking.

801
00:52:45,640 --> 00:52:51,520
Speaker 1: Look looking, You're gonna get there, You're gonna get there. Shout, shout,

802
00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:58,840
Speaker 1: You're gonna get there. Shout, shout, You're gonna get there, limping, limping.

803
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:04,600
Speaker 1: Everybody's tissue is torn, everybody's hip is out of socket,

804
00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:07,439
Speaker 1: all of suddenings falling short of the glory of God.

805
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:13,680
Speaker 1: Everybody that's leaving this church today is limping in some

806
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:18,799
Speaker 1: area of their life. Everybody is torn. This is a

807
00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:25,000
Speaker 1: fragmented world, This is a fallen world. We are we

808
00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:31,680
Speaker 1: are dust. But in these earthen vessels we have the

809
00:53:31,719 --> 00:53:39,440
Speaker 1: treasure of God's glory. And I want to leave you

810
00:53:39,520 --> 00:53:43,040
Speaker 1: with this. I want to leave you with this. Even

811
00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:49,799
Speaker 1: in his dying breath, his name was still Jacob. He

812
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:57,000
Speaker 1: never quit limping. Even as he blessed the grandsons of

813
00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:00,200
Speaker 1: the boys who would be the nation of Israel, he

814
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:05,399
Speaker 1: never stopped being Jacob. So you know what the Lord

815
00:54:05,440 --> 00:54:08,480
Speaker 1: told me we have to do. We have to trust

816
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:13,680
Speaker 1: through the tearing. When life feels like it's pulling you

817
00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:15,879
Speaker 1: in two different directions and you're not doing very good

818
00:54:15,920 --> 00:54:19,160
Speaker 1: at either, how many have said this week in your life, man,

819
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:21,000
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm doing good in any of

820
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:23,839
Speaker 1: these areas of my life. I'm not doing good at home,

821
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:26,239
Speaker 1: I'm not doing good at work. I'm spread so thin.

822
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:28,560
Speaker 1: I've been so busy. Oh if I could just have

823
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 1: one thing, Oh I could just hold onto that one thing,

824
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:33,200
Speaker 1: I could just be that one thing. But yet the

825
00:54:33,239 --> 00:54:35,440
Speaker 1: reality of life is not that, is that, It's this,

826
00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:40,879
Speaker 1: It's this. So the Lord said, you got to learn

827
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:47,720
Speaker 1: how to lean in the places that you're weak by faith,

828
00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:56,439
Speaker 1: he blessed while leaning on his staff. Lord, we lean

829
00:54:56,480 --> 00:55:01,800
Speaker 1: on you today, not our own understanding or our predictions,

830
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:08,440
Speaker 1: not our own pictures, not our own preferences, but by faith, Jacob,

831
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:14,799
Speaker 1: and by faith we I speak to everybody who has

832
00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:20,879
Speaker 1: filed of distracted this week, and I speak the peace

833
00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:24,719
Speaker 1: of God over your life. To know that God allows

834
00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:29,200
Speaker 1: these tearings in our lives sometimes, whether it's the tearing

835
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:32,520
Speaker 1: of your tendon, whether it's the tearing of a relationship.

836
00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: We use physical analogies, but we're dealing with spiritual realities.

837
00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:42,760
Speaker 1: The terring usually isn't limited to the physical. The fact

838
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:44,360
Speaker 1: of the matter is some of you are learning how

839
00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:48,120
Speaker 1: to trust God down a path that you've never traversed

840
00:55:48,120 --> 00:55:53,400
Speaker 1: yourself before. God said, that's why he gave you a

841
00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:56,680
Speaker 1: staff to lean on and a word to hold to.

842
00:55:58,600 --> 00:56:02,600
Speaker 1: This is how it feels to be between. It's not

843
00:56:02,719 --> 00:56:06,359
Speaker 1: quite fal it's not quite summer. I'm not quite here.

844
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:10,239
Speaker 1: I'm not quite there. I'm not quite holy, but I

845
00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:16,000
Speaker 1: really want to be. God said I got you in between.

846
00:56:18,840 --> 00:56:23,600
Speaker 1: You're gonna get there. You're gonna do it. Come on,

847
00:56:23,719 --> 00:56:25,279
Speaker 1: I'm speaking to you. I don't know who you are,

848
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:27,680
Speaker 1: but you've been on my heart. You're gonna get there,

849
00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:34,960
Speaker 1: but you won't be strutting. You're gonna be a limping prince.

850
00:56:36,800 --> 00:56:39,040
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to learn how to submit these things

851
00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:41,319
Speaker 1: to the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying God won't give

852
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:43,719
Speaker 1: you victory. I'm not saying some things won't leave your life.

853
00:56:43,800 --> 00:56:46,080
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you're always gonna deal with depression on

854
00:56:46,120 --> 00:56:49,600
Speaker 1: this level, but there will always be the mark from

855
00:56:49,640 --> 00:56:54,399
Speaker 1: where he touched your tendon, so that when you get there,

856
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:58,759
Speaker 1: you will know it was him. It was him. It

857
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:02,560
Speaker 1: wasn't me, it was him. It was him that did it.

858
00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:08,359
Speaker 1: It was him, it was Grace, it was bye. Well.

859
00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:10,480
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of

860
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:14,200
Speaker 1: things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,

861
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:17,480
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach

862
00:57:17,520 --> 00:57:21,360
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give

863
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:24,600
Speaker 1: and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.