Wrestling With God (2)
Notes
Transcript
Good morning.
I would like to 1st and foremost thank Ebenezer Baptist for allowing me the honor of preaching today.
I would also like to thank you all for your support of Celebrate Recovery.
Vashti
Vashti
Speak about Vashti.
Peniel Recovery Ministries, Inc.
Peniel Recovery Ministries, Inc.
God gave me a vision of a men’s Christ-centered residential recovery home a few years back.
OUR MISSION is to provide a free, safe place where men and one day women, Lord willing, can go to be shown the love of Christ as they learn to be sober through Biblical teachings and the 12-steps.
OUR PURPOSE is to love on these individuals and walk with them through their mess, discipling them with the tools to gain long term sobriety.
OUR GOAL is to commission each individual to enter back into society with the tools to stay sober and most importantly, a relationship with Jesus.
Through the power of Jesus Christ, we will see real life reconciliation, captives set free, chains broken, and families reunited in Christ.
Why the name Peniel?
That is the exact question I hope to be asked by each loved one that brings someone through our doors.
We find the story of Peniel in Genesis chapter 32.
Jacob like myself, didn’t get much right in life.
Maybe you know the story.
After a life of bad choices, he comes to a place where he has no choice but to wrestle with God.
In this meeting with God, he is made to limb and given a new identity.
Jesus causes him to never walk the same and gives him a new name, Israel.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
So my hope and prayer for everyone that has to bring their lost and hurting loved one through the doors of Peniel is that this will be a place where they will meet and even wrestle with God. And through this they will leave with a new identity in Christ and never walking the same, leaving their addiction behind.
So far, we have seen God give us a building.
A van.
On September 28th, the city of Vienna approved special zoning of the land we were looking at purchasing.
And the land itself.
10 acres on 215 right off the interstate between the library and DFACS.
On September 25th, we voted to purchase the land. As soon as I walked out of that board meeting, a gentlemen approaches me and goes on to tell me that he and his wife will be sending a check for the entire amount of the land purchase. Bare in mind this is more than most people make in a year. Praise the Lord.
God has blessed Peniel with a phenomenal board of directors.
Hey, as we move forward with construction of the property, there will be many opportunities to get involved.
I would ask you to prayerfully consider how Union Baptist might come along side us in this ministry.
This will take the entire community coming together on a continual basis to accomplish.
This morning God has placed a special message on my heart to share with you.
I’ve titled it, “Wrestling With God!”
I’ve titled it, “Wrestling With God!”
We have all had those moments in life when God has placed a burden on us that we find ourselves wrestling with.
I can think of a few wrestling matches I have had with God. One such wrestling match led to my salvation.
On January 10th, 2019, I made a decision to get sober.
I came to a place where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.
I was going to church, just to check off the boxes.
I was also cohabiting with Natalie.
I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. To be honest, I didn’t know Him.
Rhetorical question: How many of us are going through the motions. We come to church. We tithe. We may even serve. But we don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Hang on to this question. Wrestle with it. We’ll circle back around to it in a little while.
This morning we are going to look at a man named Jacob.
One of the heroes of our faith, Jacob didn’t get a whole lot right in the beginning.
This morning, if you have your Bibles please turn to Genesis, chapter 32, we’ll start in verse 22 and read through verse 31.
The very name Jacob means, “taking hold of the heel, supplanter, layer of snares.”
Merriam-Webster defines supplant as this: to supersede (another) especially by force or treachery.
Jacob came out of his mother’s womb holding on to his brother’s ankle.
We know that Jacob manipulates Esau out of his birthright. Then he manipulates his father for Esau’s blessing.
Jacob escapes his brother’s wrath and runs off to his uncle Laban.
This is where he meets his two wives, Leah and Rachel and eventually makes a mess of his and Laban’s relationship and runs, yet again.
Jacob finds himself really with no where to go.
Laban is on one side and his brother Esau is on the other side.
Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.
This is where we’ll pick up this morning.
If you are willing and able, would you please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word?
22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok.
23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had.
24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.
25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.
26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”
27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.”
28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.
Father, In the Name of Jesus, Speak Lord, Speak. For Christ’s sake, Amen.
Thank you. You may be seated.
This morning I hope to show you how God meets us when there is nowhere left to turn and how wrestling with Him will give us a new identity and cause us never to walk the same.
Oswald Chambers wrote, “The confession has to be made; there is no palliation. Jacob had to get to the place where he willingly confesses before God the whole guilt of usurping the birthright. This is full and profound and agonising repentance.
This place of having no where to turn could be referred to as hitting rock bottom.
It is that place where you have exhausted all resources. You are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Does this sound familiar to any of you this morning?
Sometimes/most times this is exactly where we must find ourselves in order to look to the only One who can save us.
That brings us to my first point.
When there is nowhere left to turn, God will meet us.
When there is nowhere left to turn, God will meet us.
We see verse 22 and 23 that Jacob sends everything he owns including his two wives and his 11 sons. It was when he was finally alone that a Man came to him and they wrestled.
Jacob had spent most of his life running, because of his poor choices.
It was when he was truly alone at his rock-bottom with no where to turn that God met him.
Shortly after getting sober, I started going to AA meetings.
It was at these meetings that I heard men and women say that their sobriety started with getting on their knees every morning asking, “God, please allow me to stay sober today.”
This was a prayer that they asked every morning.
Hey, if it works for you, it has to work for me too.
I found me a devotional and started a new routine.
Every morning I would start waking up and asking God to keep me sober that day. And then I would read this one page devotional.
It wasn’t long before God, through James Barry, confronted me about mine and Natalie's cohabiting.
This was perhaps my first wrestling match with my Creator.
You see, Natalie was a widow.
She received 1353 dollars a month and would continue to for the rest of her life unless she got remarried.
Long story short, I argued with God over this subject for several months asking Him to proof Himself.
In the summer of 2019, Natalie would get a new job in which she received a 10,000 dollar a year raise. Several weeks later, my dad gave me a 3 dollar an hour raise.
10,000 divided by 12 equals 833 dollars a month. 3 dollars an hour at 40 hours equals 520 a month. The grand total of that which I couldn’t seem to let go of. 1353 dollars a month.
The following Sunday, July 21st, 2019, I surrendered my life to Jesus and He radically transformed me.
In Jacob’s wrestling match, God blessed him.
In my rebellious wrestling match, might I add, that Jesus tremendously blessed me.
That brings me to my second point.
Wrestling with God will give you a new identity.
Wrestling with God will give you a new identity.
27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.”
28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
In Jewish culture, your name was revealed who you were.
It is important to point out that this Man, capital M, was called God by Jacob himself.
Confession time! Tell me who you are!
By telling the Man that his name was Jacob, he was confessing who he was on a more intimate level.
Who are you Jacob?
I’m a thief. I’m no good. I’m a manipulator.
Who are you Clay?
I’m a drug addict. I’m a felon. I’m a murderer.
I’m the very thing I see when I look in the mirror.
I’m all those lies that the enemy calls me. All those lies that I believe.
What do you see when you look in the mirror?
Maybe you see yourself as fat, ugly, not worthy, maybe you believe your not a good mother or father. Hey, maybe you think you’ll never succeed.
We label ourselves when we live in the past.
These are lies straight from hell.
We must replace these lies with God’s Truth.
If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, you are chosen, you are saved, you are redeemed, you are a new creation, you were bought with a price, you are a child of God, you are loved, you are a friend. Good night, you are an ambassador for Christ!
God looked at Jacob and said, “No more are you Jacob. No more are you a heel grabber. No more are you a master manipulator.
You are Israel! For you have struggled with God and men, and you have prevailed.
On July 21st, 2019, God made me a new creation. The old Clay died.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The old Clay was crucified.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
God has given me a new identity, just like he gave Jacob a new identity.
And with that new identity, I no longer have the freedom to live like the old Clay.
Which brings us to my final point.
Wrestling with God will cause you never to walk the same.
Wrestling with God will cause you never to walk the same.
31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.
Jacob’s limp became a symbol of his wrestling match with God.
God will meet us in our mess, but He won’t allow us to remain there.
During my 20 year addiction, I spent 8 years of those a pill junkie. I was an IV user.
Why am I telling you this?
The last few weeks of this past October, I sat with my dad as hospice had been called in and it was only a matter of time.
Every two hours we had to administer his pain medicine. I found myself going through the motions of my past addiction. I realized that in the pain of loosing my father, I had truly been delivered from my addiction.
I lost my dad on October 31st, 2023, and preached his funeral the following Friday.
There was a part of me that thought we had so much we had to do.
But the truth of the situation is that my dad got to see me sober and that was a gift to be appreciated.
That is true reconciliation.
Jacob reconciled with his brother.
Is that not what the Gospel is all about?
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
How beautiful is this picture?
This is the very purpose of Peniel Recovery Ministries.
Reconciliation.
Last week we had 11 baptisms.
During this baptisms a mother that had come home from jail was baptized along with her two sons.
Reconciliation.
God is raising an army of people that have broken the chains of addiction with the power of the Gospel.
I am praying for God to make a way to go full time ministry. I would ask that you be in prayer for this as well.
My brother Jim Toole has strongly encouraged me to step out on faith.
The day is coming.
Our God is a Way Maker.
He is calling His sons and daughters home every week.
Maybe He’s calling someone here today.
Remember my rhetorical question: How many of us are going through the motions. We come to church. We tithe. We may even serve. But we don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I leave you with Gospel.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
God created a perfect place.
He created us to be in relationship with Him.
Sin entered the world and separated us from God.
God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to this earth.
Jesus lived on this earth fully man for 33 years.
He willingly took all the weight of our sins with Him to the that old rugged Cross.
Everything you have ever done. Past, present, and future were nailed to the Cross.
He died.
Was buried.
In three days, He rose from the grave to conquer sin and death, so that whosoever believes may have eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Would you please bow your heads?