Wrestling with God: From Restless Fear to a New Name

foreign hey welcome to Journey Church hey if we've not had the privilege to meet my name is Keith I'm the founding Pastor here and I've got to say what an honor that we get to spend some time together if it's your first time or you've been here for quite a while God is up to something really really special right now I'm in awe of what he's doing in fact last week was man one of those memories that I will never forget we had 37 people baptized last Sunday

[Applause] there there's a a move of God happening right now that I don't want you to miss I don't want you to miss what God's doing he wants you to be a part of it it's not for someone else it's for us God wants to speak to you he wants to work through you God wants you to know who he is so that you would be a part of what he's doing in this generation and we get to be a part of that and I'm just so glad that you're here today and you know God's going to continue to do even more on Sunday nights we moved it to Pursuit nights where we're just pursuing the Lord through song through prayer through communion and it's been absolutely incredible people have been getting saved we're actually watching God do signs and wonders people are being healed physically it's absolutely

incredible and so if you haven't been to a Pursuit night this is your invitation join us on Sunday nights at 5 PM right here in this room where our sole goal is to pursue the Lord and I'll tell you when you do that the Bible says when you go after God he's already gone after you so when you go to meet with him you're going to realize he's actually right there he's not as far as you think and so I want to just make sure that you don't miss that and be a part of what God's doing today well today I have a message for you I really do believe this is a message for someone in this room today this is for that person that maybe right now you're feeling down and out this is for that person that maybe has made such a big mistake that you're wondering if God could still use you you know what you've done you've replayed it over and over I want to talk to someone today who particularly in your childhood something

was said about you that you've replayed in your mind over and over it was probably a parent that said it to you I don't know what it is it's going to be different for different people maybe you were told you were stupid you were ugly you were fat you were no good you're not going to amount to something and you don't really share it with anyone but it's still in your mind many years later I want to talk to someone here today who has lied you fooled people you've tricked people you've deceived people and you know that you haven't told the truth but but this is something that's just between you and nobody else even knows you've lied I want to talk to the person that has stolen something you've taken something that's not rightfully yours and you know it I want to talk to someone here today that needs the grace of God

that's really the person I want to talk to today so I just want to ask this is a participation here if you want to receive something from God today would you just raise one hand nice and high keep it up there keep it you want to receive something from God all right now keep the hand up keep the hand up if you're going to be blessed today put the other hand up if you're going to be blessed today Lord you see our hands surrender to you we want to receive a blessing we want to receive the word that you have for us so I ask now on the powerful name of Jesus Christ would you please speak lord I can't do that you know every heart in this room so I ask that your Holy Spirit would you would have your way your almighty God so I ask that your living words would speak to our hearts today in Jesus mighty name if you're in agreement shout amen amen God's Gonna honor that today he's going

to give you a blessing well the title of today's sermon is restless wrestle with God Are You Restless in your life right now if there's something in your life that you're just you're not satisfied with if you're living in fear if you've got some worry if you if you've got some uncertainty if you don't know what tomorrow holds I'm going to give you the solution through God's word today you need to wrestle with God we have a God that's for you we have a God that wants to change you and transform you we have a God that wants you to know who he is and he's working today and in Psalm 100 verse 5 we read for the Lord is good everyone Shout good our God is good and his steadfast love endures forever that phrase steadfast love is a significant one in the

scriptures you'll see it over and over it's the Hebrew word said it could be translated loving kindness our God is so kind in the way he extends his love to us not today but it will be for eternity and then the author says and his faithfulness to all generations do you believe that this is to all generations this is for you this is for our kids this is to say God we want you we want to experience you now and always we're in a study looking at the Book of Genesis everyone shout out Genesis Genesis it means beginning it is the first of 66 books that make up the Bible and the word means beginning it is the

book of Beginnings it teaches us that our God is the creator there's nothing that God can do you he created all things and whatever God creates it is good this book tells us about Sin Sin entered the story through Adam and Eve they rebelled against God and ever since that point sin has impacted every person from that point forward including you you wonder why you have problems in your life it's because of sin the Book of Genesis lets us know lately we've been looking at some of the great influencers of faith we spent some time looking at Father Abraham he's called Father Abraham because he's the father of our faith the Bible says that Abraham was counted as righteous because he believed God this is so important that you see this Abraham was counted as righteous

because he believed God it was not because of the right things he did it wasn't because he was religious it's because he believed God which means that every one of us today can be righteous you just need to believe in Jesus it's not something you earn it's not something you're born into it's not something you get by going to church you get your righteousness by believing in Jesus Christ Abraham was a person that believed God when God said go he went God gave a promise to Abraham it's called The abrahamic Covenant that out of him would come forth a great nation problem is Abraham and his wife were of an age that they were long past the child bearing years but our God is faithful nothing is impossible with God he fulfills his promise and so we see

Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac Isaac would be a foreshadow of Jesus Isaac is a picture of God's one and only son Isaac would eventually grow up and he would marry a woman named Rebecca and they too would have children Rebecca got pregnant with twins it's in this place that we pick up in the stories we've got a Bible turn into Genesis chapter 25. we're going to start looking at Genesis 25 Rebecca is pregnant with twins and we're told in chapter 25 verse 25 the first of the twins came out red all his body like a hairy cloak so they called his name Esau afterward his brother came out with his hand holding

Esau's heel so his name was called Jacob Isaac we're told was 66 years old when Rebecca bore these twins come on some of you thought you started late with kids Isaac is fulfilling the promise that God gave to Abraham out of you would come this great nation now Isaac has these twins and their names some interesting names the first child that came out is Esau which is a combination of just two Hebrew words it simply means red and hairy that's what his name means red and hairy names in the olden days had much more significant meanings that today it often

reflected your character often reflected something your parents were going through it's what your parents would see in you and so here Esau this first kid that comes out he's just he's just named red and hairy he would end up being a reflection or or the leader of of Edom and you might have heard of the before and and Esau would be the beginning of a Nation called Edom the second of the twins comes out holding the heel of his brother so they gave him the name Jacob Jakob now Jacob simply means heel grabber it's not quite as significant in our day but this is a a Hebrew idiom for for a Deceiver a trickster he was trying to pull back

his brother and get ahead that's what the younger one typically tries to do he he's a deceiver so he got the name trickster deceiver heel grabber so we have of these two boys a picture of what they would end up fulfilling in their lives because what's often said of you that's that's what you think that's what you you fulfill in your lives and they would end up growing up verse 27 continues and says when the boys grew up Esau was a skillful Hunter a man of the field while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents Isaac the father of the two he loved Esau because he ate his game

men just love meat you give me a good tri-tip I'm gonna fall in love but Rebecca the mother she loved Jacob we learned so much in just a short period of time between these these two Esau and Jacob one is a hunter one is not one is Harry one is not one spends time Outdoors the other in the kitchen one is close to his father one is close to his mother these two could not be any more different than they actually are we see this wrestling between these two siblings something that still happens

today we actually see it at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis chapter 4 between Cain and Abel and culturally speaking normally the oldest gets the birthright in the family they they get the biggest blessing in the family and the younger one gets the smaller blessing they they don't get the Legacy the lineage of the family but we're going to see a tension between these two brothers and Rebecca was told this when she was pregnant when she was pregnant these kids were having a wrestling match inside of her womb and she wasn't having it and we go back to Genesis 25 verse 22 it says the children struggled together within her and she says if it is thus why is this

happening to me sometimes you find out you're pregnant and you celebrate until that baby grows and you're uncomfortable and you think why is this happening to me I can't sleep I have to pee all the time this hurts why is this happening to me Rebecca said so she went to inquire of the Lord and in verse 23 and the Lord said to her two nations are in your womb and the two peoples from within you shall be divided the one shall be stronger than the other and the older Shall Serve the younger the Lord knew exactly what was going to happen to these two twins sometimes we receive a promise from God and we have no clue how it's going to be fulfilled we hear a promise from God that maybe you're going to do great things you're

called by God or whatever the promise might be sometimes you don't know when it's going to happen you don't know how it's going to happen you don't know what's going to happen when it happens and Rebecca is told a great big promise from God listen two nations are coming out of you that's a big promise and the young the the older is actually going to serve the younger something we see similar in chapter four when Cain is so jealous of his younger brother Abel because his offering is accepted we've got to be careful when we want something that's not ours we can go to any length to get that which we don't have when someone else has it we think I won't be happy unless I get this and we will see this fulfilled in

Genesis chapter 25 verse 29 it says once when Jacob was cooking stew if you immerse yourself in the story you can smell the stew it's delightful I mean there's all sorts of vegetables there's there's carrots and there's chunks of onions and there's spices and herbs and it's just it smells so good this big pot of stew over the fire do you smell it come on there's some Rosemary I just oh there's he was cooking stew on this particular day in the kitchen and his older brother Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted everyone say exhausted exhausted it's something that will happen to all of us at some point you will be exhausted it will usually be from work but at some point you're going to get exhausted and I want to challenge you based on this text

never make a decision in your exhaustion never make a big decision in your exhaustion it's interesting that when you're exhausted you often want to make a decision and there have been some terrible decisions made in exhaustion what I mean by that is late at night when you're in a fight that's not the time to make a big decision when you're going through something in your life I'll tell you we saw this a lot the last few years people got exhausted well I'm gonna go move I'm going to quit my job do not make a big decision in your exhaustion so so we see with Esau the case is he he comes in with exhaustion he tells his brother and by the way even big manly strong men can be dramatic

we try not to be but the truth is we can be some of you are like you're not the big manly man I'm speaking on behalf of my brothers all right and there's times when even grown men get dramatic and Esau if you continue the story in chapter 25 he says I'm going to die of hunger a little dramatic Esau he said I'm going to die of hunger give me some of that stew now Jacob's going to fulfill his name remember he's a trickster he's a heel Grabber he's he's a little trickster so he tells Esau listen brother I'll give you some of my stew which doesn't that smell good okay I'll give you I'll give you some of

this stew if you sell me your Birthright give me your birth right which is the bigger of the blessing it's the double blessing it's the double portion he's going to be blessed by the father he's going to get a greater inheritance he's going to get the honor of the family name so Jacob says you give me that I'll give you some stew and Esau says well what good is my Birthright if I'm dead I know it sounds dramatic but we've all been there before I hate you for this reason and that reason no you're just exhausted go take a nap and come back and let's let's have a sober-minded conversation when things are okay

so be careful if you're exhausted not to do something that you're going to regret Esau sells his Birthright for a bowl of stew some of you think I would never do that some of us have done Dumber things in our lives by chapter 27 a great deal of time goes by Isaac now is getting older if you didn't think he was old at 60 when he had kids he's getting older says eyes have grown dim the scriptures say he's now blind he could barely hear anything and it's at the end of his life and he knows this is at the end so he tells Esau listen I'm going to die soon I want to give you this blessing While I'm Alive would you go get me some game would you go hunt something good go go get me a good steak before I die after I

eat that steak I'm going to bless you Rebecca is listening in on the conversation he she hears what happens so she runs to Jacob and says listen your brother's about to be blessed I love you you deserve the blessing you should get the blessing so here's what we're gonna do go get a goat we'll pretend like it was game that your brother had hunted you're gonna pretend to be Esau we're going to make a meal give it to your dad and he's going to bless you that sounds like a plan no wonder Jacob is the trickster his parents are tricksters Jacob says it all sounds great mom but there's one big problem Esau's Harry I am not she says there's nothing duct tape can't

fix we're going to duct tape some goat hair on that's what we're going to do she said we're going to put some goat hair on you that way if he touches you it's going to feel like you're hairy so they go through with this plan they make a meal with some meat they bring it in to Isaac and as they bring it into him Isaac gives him a blessing you don't sound like Esau but you brought me meat let me see if you feel like Esau yep you're nice and hairy you you must be Esau Isaac extends the blessing and right after the blessing wouldn't you know it like a Hollywood film Esau storms them saying I did it I hunted down something good dad come on

here we go goes into the kitchen makes up a meal comes to his father and says Dad give me your blessing and Isaac says who is it he says it's me Esau the firstborn and his dad says oh no I've already given away the blessing see this isn't something you just take back there are no takebacks the blessing's been given Esau is livid he yells out a Cry he's absolutely angry Rebecca can see the anger in her son's eyes and so the only solution is run get out of here before your brother kills you as some of us have done the same things in our lives things don't go the way we

planned which by the way sometimes we get the very thing that we want and it doesn't fulfill us have you ever got something you longed for all you needed was that relationship all you needed was that job all you needed was that place and then you get the very thing you wanted and it actually doesn't help you it only makes things more complicated Jacob is now living a complicated life and that he gets the blessing from his dad but now he's going to go on the run and he's going to live a life of fear and if you've ever wondered if the Bible is relevant the Bible speaks to your life when you are restless when you are worried when you are living in fear that's speaking to someone today the Bible tells us how we should live our lives

you're not God you can't take this on and on this run on this journey Jacob needs to go to sleep and one night is getting dark and there's not time to go pitch a tent and so he gets a rock and he takes this rock as a pillow and he he lays down to go to sleep you can read the story and and Genesis 28 and he lays his head down and he goes into a deep sleep and Jacob has a dream I believe God wants to give all of us a dream and in this dream he sees a ladder with angels going up and down up and down it's an odd dream but if you've ever heard the phrase Jacob's Ladder it comes from this scripture Jacob has this dream of this ladder with angels Earth that God doesn't want us just to live in the things of this Earth God wants us to

experience the Divine God wants us to experience who he is on Earth not just one day but today and here he has this dream and the Lord speaks to Jacob and says behold you will be a great nation and God tells Jacob the same blessing that he told his grandfather Abraham that you've not messed up too much I know you've deceived I know you've lied I know you've stolen what else has he done he's done quite a few things foreign but I'm still going to use you Jacob wakes up from the dream and says this is none other than the house of God Beth L and He blesses that place he takes this pillow and he uses it as an altar and he pours oil on it

it's a picture of anointing that God has just begun but even when God puts a dream in your heart he doesn't fulfill it right away so he continues on his journey and Jacob ends up seeing a woman and he falls in love with her her name is Rachel he falls in love with Rachel and he asks her father's hand in marriage he says sure I'll give you Rachel as your wife if you work for me for seven years and it's in this place that Jacob works for seven years for for Rachel's father Laban and something happens to Jacob he gets duped just like he duped his brother he gets deceived just like he deceived his brother and on that wedding night when the bride's head was covered Jacob

goes into his wife and he celebrates their first night and he wakes up and he looks over his wife and is not Rachel it's her sister Leah now here's why this is significant Leah was older the Bible says she has a lazy eye so she looked different than everyone else and everyone knew it and Jacob goes to label and says you tricked me you gave me Leah instead of Rachel he says I know this is how it works you got to give the The First Daughter first so if you want to work for me for another seven years you can also take Rachel as your wife and so he goes through with it and works another seven years and now he has two wives you think your family is complicated the Bible's full of dysfunctional

families so he finally marries Rachel and we start to see the significance of names once again if you look at the Hebrew Leah simply means cow they name their daughter Cal if your name is Leah we can change that today let's come up with a new meaning for that name but at the time of this it could mean weary so literally they looked to her and they said she looks like a weary cow then Rachel comes along and they name her Rachel which means you e-w-e which is a female lamb it's a it's the picture of sensitivity and Beauty it's a picture of Purity she's like a

white lamb we're gonna call you a pure lamb so weary cow and pure lamb we could see the tension already in this family and as they go to start a family they go to they go to have kids and wouldn't you know it the only one that could have kids is the cow Leah has kids and Rachel can't have kids and you can imagine the tension not only in this family and in this marriage but in this family and and as they go on their Journey we start to see the the restlessness of this world wait a second remember that dream you gave me God remember all the promises that I got from my father Isaac about my grandfather Abraham when are

these things going to happen and in all of this Jacob has looming in the back of his head fear Esau is not only going to kill me he's going to kill my family he's constantly living in fear fear will stop you from living in faith and it will cause you to be restless it will cause you to go on the run and here Jacob is on the run with his family he eventually gets away from his father-in-law Laban and by Genesis chapter 32 we see a grown man with lots of kids and don't you know when you grow up you still have those things from your childhood those things that were said about you when you were younger hey you're a deceiver you're trickster you're a liar this is who you'll always be

if you have fear as a child that fear does not go away just by growing up there's a lot of things that I thought would happen when you grow up I mean I just thought naturally when you grow up you're just going to be the person you thought you'd be as a child then you grow up and you look in the mirror and all you are now is just tired but you still have all those things that you had earlier if you don't deal with them and that's where we pick up in Genesis 32 verse 24 and it says Jacob he he divided his family just in case his brother would find them Jacob was left alone Matt just stopped there because some of you have felt alone for a long time we're living in a generation of teenagers that feel alone their their

entire adolescence has been a pandemic and they've been told what to do they've been told how to do it and some of you have felt alone you've gotten divorced or you you lost a spouse or a loved one you're living alone your isolation is not where God's going to leave you your isolation is an opportunity for God to do his transformation so where you are is not where God's going to leave you your isolation is an opportunity for transformation Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of the day out of nowhere there's this wrestling match in the middle of the night I I just wonder what happened

was he laying down and a man jumped on him and started wrestling with him was the sun starting to set and they see each other they make eye contact and they just start wrestling there's a lot of details we don't know in this story but let's keep reading when the man saw that he did not Prevail against Jacob he touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with them then he said let me go for the day has broken so now he's saying the sun's coming up what's going to happen if the sun comes up does the wrestler melt what happens but Jacob said I will not let you go unless you bless me and he said what is your name and he said Jacob then he said You shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel for you have striven with God and with men

and have prevailed then Jacob asked him please tell me your name but he said why is it you ask my name and there he blessed him so Jacob called the name of that place peniel the same for I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been delivered the sun rose upon him as he passed pineal limping because of his hip we have here one of the most wonderful and weird stories absolutely awesome for we see a transformation happen in just one moment God can change things in just one moment if you would be willing to surrender your all to God to to wrestle with God if you would be willing to hold on to

God and not let go everything can change in just a moment Jacob we've got to remember is running for his life and he goes from running for his life to fighting for his life he's running from fear but now he's fighting for his life and Jacob ends up wrestling with a man this is called a christophany it's where we see Jesus in the text before Jesus is ever born we see that this is no ordinary man because Jacob says I've seen God face to face undoubtedly before the sun rose this picture of Jesus he says I want to get out of here before you see me I want to get out of here before other people pass by I want to get out of here because Jesus shows up on the scene he is one person of the Trinity we have one God

and three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and Jesus is eternal and we see a picture of Jesus meeting with Jacob in his fear on the run and his restlessness he meets with him right here in this place it's a dark place it's night time he's all alone and it's in this place that I want you to know that your Breaking Point when you think you can't take it anymore your breaking point is actually an opportunity for your breakthrough place so you've been wondering why God's allow you to go through all that you've been through that transformation is going to be more significant now than it would have been earlier you thought in your childhood if my childhood was normal then I wouldn't be the way I am right now but there's no such thing as normal in your childhood

God let you go through that trauma so that through your transformation you would see more clearly who he is so you're wondering why am I still at this place as an adult because God's about to break through and reveal who he is in your life this whole time you've been running in fear this whole time you've longed for a blessing the blessing was never meant to come from your parents the blessing was never meant to be through financial means the blessing was never meant to be through the identity of who you are is not about a title it's not about what your parents called you when you were young it's about who God says you are and in chapter 32 verse 25 when it says the man when he saw he did not Prevail some of you need to start doing what Jacob did don't stop wrestling with God don't give up keep going Hold On Tight

God's going to do something and when he saw that he wasn't going to give up he touched Jacob's hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him he was dislocated may I just say your dislocation might be the location where God's going to do something great you've been wondering why you're in so much pain you've been wondering why God's allowing you to go through pain God actually is teaching you a dependence on who he is this is this is so important because it could just be a matter of perspective and sometimes it takes maturity to get perspective I want to get personal I wasn't going to share this but I'm going to share this just in case well I'm just going to share this I woke up on Friday morning with no

voice I was up all night and my kids were just so gracious that they shared a plague with me and I woke up Friday morning with no voice and it usually for me that will happen going into the weekend I was so frustrated and has this happened numerous times with me and I was doing my thing and God has shown up to me before when I've done that I've had no voice coming into a Sunday morning and then I have a voice to preach and then the voice goes away again totally a God thing so I said okay God you're gonna do it again but I'll tell you I was full of anxiety Friday Friday anxiety anxiety anxiety and then come Sunday morning I was just telling the Lord like why would you do this to me this is going to be a really good message like I was really frustrated and you know the

Lord was so gracious I actually got to spend all day with the Lord which is really rare in our house we've got three kids my wife was at the if Gathering all day by a miracle of God every single kid said I'm gonna go spend time with friends and some of them had to go to work I literally got to spend all day with the Lord I was in the spirit all day long and you know the Lord told me that what I thought the devil gave me because I was like why would the devil do this Devil's going after me God's actually saying I'm giving you an opportunity trust me it's just hitting me right now when I see the dislocation of the hip I'm actually giving you an opportunity to see that this has nothing to do with you but it is a sovereign God who is all-powerful that can allow a limp in your life so that when you walk away different you don't forget

because we all have spiritual Amnesia where God shows up he speaks to you and then a day or two later you totally forgot that God spoke to you which I'll come back to my message which this point is your pain can actually be used for God's purpose your pain could be used for God's purpose this happened to Paul in the New Testament he he experienced the tremendous Wonder of God it actually says in second Corinthians 12 he speaks in the third person he's like there's this guy that got to go up into heaven but man what a trip but he's actually talking about himself he got to see Heavenly things but he also got to experience a lot of pain and suffering and he prayed to the Lord please remove this Thorn In My Flesh something physical was happening in his life but Jesus said to him in second Corinthians 12 but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you this is Jesus

speaking to Paul my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness when you let God be God you get out of the way and you get his grace and God's going to do something through you that you could never do on your own so Paul says in that Revelation therefore Paul says I will boast more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ May rest upon me Paul's simply saying everything I've ever experienced in my life was not me was actually God so I'm going to give God the glory that even if I'm going through pain even if I'm weak even if I'm going through trials to God be the glory he's going to do something and if anything he's going to give me Grace to get through this and so now you have a wrestling match between Jacob and this man in the middle of the night and we're told that Jacob says listen I'm not

going to let you go until you bless me until you bless me maybe it's time for us to just ask God I'm not going to let go until you bless me as the sun was Rising Jesus saying listen you got to let me go we can only speculate that someone's going to see what's happening and Jacob said I will not let you go verse 26 unless you bless me I see a man here desperate for blessing when you are desperate for blessing you're going to do things you ordinarily wouldn't do I really pray there are some desperate people here today because in your humility when you ask God for what he alone can give it's amazing he'll actually meet you in that

place verse 27 says and he said to him what is your name now can we just pause here for a moment they're in the middle of a wrestling match Jacob declares in a headlock I'm not letting you go until you bless me and right there the man looks up at Jacob and says what is your name now you're going to ask his name at the end of the wrestling match I can't help but go back to my childhood that he's actually given him an opportunity to have a much cooler name than heel Grabber I want you to now go by Jake The Snake because you're not bad at this wrestling thing you're gonna you're gonna have a new idea what's up with him asking a name he asked him his name now we know Jacob's history he's a deceiver he's a

trickster when when the man asked Jacob his name this would be a great chance for Jacob say my name is honest now we know he's lying because we're reading the story but that's what he could have said he could have said my name is strong my name he could have come up with all sorts of things but instead he says Jacob to go back in the days he would have said I am called Jacob this is what they call me deceiver this is what they call me liar this is what I grew up hearing my entire life is you are Trickster you're up to no good that's what I've heard over and over and over again Jacob gets honest with this guy to receive the blessing and some of

you need to know that you're not going to get the blessing of God until you get honest with them you've got to surrender it you got to go back to the beginning you got to give God everything not just what you did last night not just what you remember right now you've got to get honest with God and say I'm so messed up right now because this was passed down to me I'm still holding on to Esau I'm still afraid of what he's going to do because of what I did to him I have a fear in my life but when you get honest with God God's going to get honest with you and some of you are still running from Esau today you're still running in fear you're restless and when this messenger of God ask this question what is your name he's asking what is your identity what is your character what do you want

to be known by who are you some of us are going to be like Jacob today we're saying I'm a Loner I'm a loser I haven't amounted to what I wanted to amount I I am who people have said I am this this is what I am I'm broken you can fill in whatever label you want there but what we see in this particular story is who you were is not who you can be what others have said about you is not what God thinks about you who you were does not determine what God says you are and so it's really important that you know who you are so that when God actually asks you a question you can come back and give him an honest answer and this will be the place that I want

to speak to parents for one moment because it's so important what we say to our kids because they will believe it they will believe it and and at some point we've got to acknowledge that we are just flawed human beings that created human beings and sometimes we will say things we should never say but you should acknowledge that because if you have said things that you shouldn't say you need to come back to them even if your kids are adults even if you have grandkids and you need to ask for forgiveness you need to ask for restoration you didn't acknowledge what was done and let me just give you a few examples maybe a child does something that's absolutely stupid and you say something like this I am ashamed of you the psychology of what was just said is who you are makes me ashamed now the

parent would say it was the behavior that I'm ashamed of but what you've just said is I'm ashamed of you you've just created an identity in their mind that they're going to replay and you move on and forget that you even said it because you were just trying to correct their behavior but at the end of the day you have just created a psychological problem that's going to carry on for Generations this is true in every way we pass on generational problems and we can call this whatever you want to call it generational curses we can call it send ties we we can call it whatever you want to call it some of you you're angry that's because your mama was angry you you carry your bitterness because your mama was bitter some of you your fathers were so filled

with lust and now you have lust in your heart and you don't know why you do the things that you do but that's because your daddy was full of lust and your grandfather was full of lust so many times we pass on who we are you know Jacob's called deceiver but you know his his father Isaac was a Deceiver Isaac was so afraid because he had married Rebecca and she was beautiful that he lied and said that she was a sister that's pretty messed up now did you know Isaac didn't learn that he saw in his father Abraham Abraham did the exact same thing with Sarah but he didn't do it once he did it twice Abraham said this is not my wife now let me just tell you

when we passed down that sin it will continue to be practiced until it stops how does this stop you wrestle with Jesus it changes Who You Are Abraham was a deceiver Isaac was a deceiver now Jacob is called The Deceiver this is who he is and I wonder today do you know who you are because I can stand before you confidently today and say I am who God says I am if you know who you are you can gladly say who I was is not who I am and that does not determine my destiny God does that when when I go before God I realize that my family lineage stopped with Jesus many of you are still fulfilling those generational issues but today it can stop

whatever happened in your life if it was rejection now you're going to use that for God's Direction if it was lying if it was stealing if it was lust if it was anger if it was addiction today you're going to surrender it you're going to get real with God because when you do look at verse 28 then he said to Jacob your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed the name Israel means to wrestle with God to strive with God not to give up this is now what you will be known for we now know this is the greatest nation that's ever existed it's still around today because this is God's plan and Jacob would be a fulfillment of God's plan

that you will not be who your parents said you are you will not be the deeds and the mistakes that you made you will be who I say you are and when I say something my promises are always true [Applause] and today you could declare I am who God says I am some of you still have an Esau in your life you still have a family that paralyzes you in fear you're worried about a text message you're worried about an email you're worried about the next family gathering but may I just say in Jesus name God's going to do something new in your life you've just got to wrestle with Jesus some of you need to wrestle and not stop somebody need to hold on not give up somebody need to ask God bless me and

I'm not going to give up until you do unless we think that somehow we can have both you can't you can't have some of your old life and the new life God has planned for you in Proverbs 3 5 and 6 some of my favorite scriptures the writer says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him and you you need to you need to in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths look at verse 5 again do you know what trusting in the Lord is not leaning on your own understanding your own understanding goes back to past

behaviors your own understanding goes back to what you know but trusting in the Lord is complete surrender it's complete faith it's giving it all to God and what verse 6 says is when you do that God's going to make a way he's going to direct you and blessing becomes a reality when you trust in God you surrender all to God you say God I'm giving you my pain my heartache my past my childhood it's all yours and when you do God says great I'm giving you a new name now you're my child now you're forgiven now you have a new Destiny ahead of you now you have a new way and when Jacob tries to play the same game with God look at verse 29 Jacob

says please tell me your name but Jesus says why is it that you ask my name and there he blessed him listen your calling is so high that you're not going to understand it all you're going to have some questions you ask God and God's gonna say uh you can get real with God God's not going to give you everything he's going to give you what you need and sometimes some of you just need to bask in God's blessing today he says you are blessed this is who you are this is what you will be known by when God told Abraham he says you will be a blessing and you will be blessed I will bless those that bless you and you are so blessed by God

he wants you to know this today because the Bible actually says that we are children of Abraham that's why he's our father of faith the Bible says we are children of Jacob Isaiah 43 Verse 1. it's a fantastic chapter God speaks through the prophet and says but now thus says the Lord he who created you if you don't know who created you you won't wrestle with him because he knows you he made you and I'm here to tell you today God never makes a mistake if you ever have a suicidal thought that's a thought of Satan is not of God he loves you he made you he created you and he's got a great plan for you you rebuke that thought in Jesus name you go back to the beginning and say God created me but now thus says the Lord he who

created you o Jacob everyone say Jacob Jacob so this is who you were he who formed you o Israel say Israel Israel so who I was as not who I am fear not God says for I have redeemed you I have called you by name you are mine you're no longer who you were you are who God says you are and you are redeemed and if you are redeemed you're no longer the same you may have thought you were trash but God turned you in and he made you a treasure you thought you were just a mess he says no you're going to be my messenger God is just getting started with you go read the entire chapter but Verse 18 says remember not the former things nor

consider the things of old this is a message of God today don't keep going back to the old don't go back to the old Jacob don't go back to the old you don't go back to the old things of the old past it's time to see what God says in verse 19 behold everyone shall behold behold I am doing a new thing now it Springs forth do you not perceive it I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert this is a promise of God and you can believe it you may not know how God's going to do it you may not know when God's going to do it but hold fast to the promises of God he's going to make a way he's going to bring water where there was no water he's going to bring life where there was no life we have a God that's in the resurrection business so no matter how far you think you've gone from God you

can never be too far that he can't save you he loves you so much he wants to release you of your sin he wants you to let go of your past and look forward to the future hope that you have in him God is doing a new thing today I want to finish with a scripture in Philippians the writer Paul penned these words and he did so from prison I don't know if you think your situation is bad but if you would just be chained up and surrounded by prisoners and surrounded by the smell of feces wondering what your future holds that that was this guy that writes these words Jacob got everything he longed for and he was still miserable some of you think if I just did this I would be happy no you won't

this guy is happy and he's in a jail cell look what he says Brothers I do not consider that I've made it my own here's one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus he says whatever God has planned for you it's going to be good I'm gonna do what God's called me to do now he tells us though not everybody's going to get this let those of us who are mature think this way and if in anything you think otherwise God will reveal that also to you today I pray that God would reveal this to you

have you experienced a new identity here's what this means and I genuinely mean this a new identity in Jesus says I am loved I am forgiven I am a child of God I am redeemed that's your new name some of you are still holding on to the past I believe right here in this room there are some of you that are still holding on to what was done in your childhood I'm going to ask you right now this is not an altar call asking you to be saved but this is this is a call to you saying if you need to release something from your past I'm not asking you to say what it is this is between you and the Lord if you need to release something from your past would you stand up right now in a position of surrender to the Lord you're saying yes to the Lord you say I'm giving it to you right now

you were molested you were emotionally abused somebody said something to you that you've never even told anyone else today you're saying I'm releasing my past maybe it was a divorce maybe it's just something you keep holding on to you think it's your identity was at any point that I'm talking if you need to stand up I'm just going to say you be bold and get before the Lord right now because if you're not honest with God you cannot receive the blessing of God I'm not trying to trick you I'm not trying to manipulate you but I'm calling you to action right now that you start wrestling with the lord it's going to start right now it's going to continue this day I want to just pray with you Lord you see all of those children of God that are saying yes to you here's what they're saying they're saying Lord I cannot carry this burden anymore we're asking for blessing in Jesus mighty name

your word promises us that we receive every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ and so we want to do that right now we release to you our past and we receive the promise of our future we release what others said about us and we receive the promises of God in Jesus name today we receive who we are we are children of God we are more than conquerors through him who loved us and today we're going to walk in a new light A New Path a new Destiny we're going to leave here more freed today our past does not define us you do Lord so although we may have blamed you may we may have been confused today we say in Jesus name we receive our new identity is Who We Are we're children of God marked by the blood of Jesus Christ this is Who We Are Lord I I speak against any demonic right

now that is lying that that's not true to the person that's tried this before and they keep coming back to their old past I rebuke that in Jesus name you have full authority over our lives and I declare that in Jesus name you're the head of this body we are the head not the tail so today we take that Authority that's found in Jesus Christ we bind that right now here on Earth just as we know in heaven we're going to be your children we receive that today Lord we receive it so today may we walk in a new Authority anger is gone today in Jesus name it's replaced with joy today fear is gone today in the name of Jesus we replace it today with joy with peace peace I prophesy peace over every person that stands up today a new peace that you've never had before the Prince of

Peace is blessing you with Shalom his perfect peace we receive it today Jesus we love you Lord and we thank you for what you've done in your name we praise will be an amen amen well you can have a seat praise be to God I want to now just before we finish our service I need to ask you today if you've never surrendered your life to Jesus today is your day now is your moment listen you can go to church your whole life and never fully surrender and believe in Jesus if you want the righteousness of Jesus it's yours but you have to believe it you have to confess it with your mouth you have to start trusting the Lord once you believe in Jesus you're forever saved he gives you the gift of God himself the holy spirit in your life one just to ask with with every eye closed right now I just want to ask if

that's you today you want to say yes to Jesus would you throw up your hand right now nice and high praise God praise God praise God all over the place praise God praise God you are never too young to give your life to Jesus yes praise God praise God amen anyone else you're saying yes I want Jesus I want him to save my from my sins I want the gift of eternal life anyone else praise God you can put your hands down I'm so proud of you well just ask if you doing that for the first time that those who have done this before we do those who have gone from Darkness to light we're going to pray out loud together it's real simple prayer it's not the prayer that saves you it's Jesus so say these words with me Lord Jesus forgive me of my sins today I trust you I receive the Holy Spirit and I follow you

it's in Jesus name I pray amen amen amen amen can we celebrate what God has done today he is doing a new thing he is the god of new beginnings if you're able to just stand to your feet As we sing one last song together