Before We Cross

ME/Intro:

Last week we ended a sermon series. In September we’re starting a new one

Theres somethings God has placed on the heart of our leadership concerning our church, our future, and the impact we want to have in this city.

As I prayed about what to preach in this moment… this in between moment. I felt lead to pause and prepare us.

Because maybe the most important thing we can do before stepping into what’s next… is to let God prepare us to carry it.

I believe before God does something collectively through us… He often begins by doing something individually in us.

So today we’re not launching a new series, we’re not making a big announcement… we’re preparing ourselves. It’s a moment to stop and ask “God is there anything in me that cannot go where You are leading us?”

We: Because all of us want to be apart of new things God is doing…

But few of us actually want to be emptied of what is old.

-We want new opportunities while holding onto old identities -We want new relationships while holding onto the patterns of failed ones. -We want new revival… but we want it be how it’s always been. -We want God’s promise… but we want to control how we Get it.

Sermon Title: Before We Cross

Because this tension is not new. It’s actually the story of a man named Jacob.

God: Jacob’s Journey

1. Jacob born with promise and a grasp

Genesis 25:21-26

V23 The older will serve the younger - Before Jacob was born… He had a purpose. It predated any performance, any manipulation, or anything he could prove.

V26 His hand on Esau’s heel. Jacob’s name : Heel snatcher, grasping, trying to take the place of another. As his life unfolds his name symbolizes deception, manipulation, and grasping for control.

2. Jacob lived according to his old name

Storytell: Esau selling his birthright to Jacob. Hungry and doesn’t think about what he’s doing… *Thing’s that you do or say that you think are small can sometimes have big consequences.

Now their father is dying and wants to give the blessing to Esau, tell’s Esau what to do… But Jacob has other plans.

Genesis: 27:18-24

His father asks “Who are you?” Jacob answers… with a lie.

In order to obtain the blessing, Jacob believed he had to pretend to be someone else.

Genesis 27:35—36 Esau touches on Jacob’s name.. He’s living up to his name.

Now he has to run away, he has to hide. He got what he wanted but it cost him his peace.

3. The deceiver became the deceived

Storytell: Jacob going to live with Laban, family.

Genesis 29:15-30 - Story tell while reading it. Leah/Rachel/Deception/Comparison

In the same way Jacob deceived his father… He is not being deceived.

His new family is being marked by competition, comparison, jealousy, manipulation… The problem is that Jacob left his old home but he had not left his old nature behind.

A change in your location cannot accomplish a change in your nature.

4. Jacob’s posture toward God begins to change…

He’s about to go home and encounter Esaeu… So he prays…

BUT… First we need to understand his first prayer YEARS PRIOR at Bethel when running from Esau - The Vow

Now 20 years later the prayer is slightly different…

Genesis 32:9-12

The man who grasped for everything is suddenly saying “Save me… I’m Unworthy… I’m afraid… “

V12… He remembers the promise of God and put’s his confidence in God’s promise… NOT HIMSELF.

He was afraid but he learned where to take his fear.

5. Jabbok: The place of emptying

Storytell: Jacob prayed but he’s still worried… he’s human. He prepares, calculates, send’s gift, and eventually ends up at a place called Jabbok…

Genesis 32:22-23

Jabbok was a river East of the Jordan. Jacob HAD to cross it as he traveled back home. The home and promise he left 20 years prior.

Jabbok - Meaning To empty / To pour out It’s associated with the image of something being poured out or emptied completely. And that’s what’s about to happen this night.

Genesis 32:24-26

Before Jacob could walk into what was next… God brought him to a place where everything he could rely on was completely gone. It was just him.

Before Jacob could continue geographically into what was next… God was trying to get him to do something spiritually… an emptying of himself

Before God moves you into what’s next, He often empties you of what cannot go with you

Genesis 32:27-28 - The ask

Why would God who knows everything ask him his name…

He asks him his name just like his father did when he grasped and lied. This time he says… “Jacob… heal snatcher… deceiever…”

For the first time Jacob doesn’t… Disguise himself Negotiate Send a gift to fix things Run somewhere else to hide He… gets honest with God.

He says… I’m Jacob… I’m the grasper I’m the one that manipulates I’m the one that tries to control things I’m the deceiver…

And God changes his name to Israel… because he has overcome.

I want to be clear… Jacob’s victory isnt that he “defeated” God. His victory is that he finally stopped running from God and held onto God.

Jacob starts his life grasping to his brothers heal trying to take what’s someone else… Now he’s clinging to God because he understands where the blessing truly comes from.

Storytell the rest

7. Consecration

What happened that night is actually a theological concept called Consecration…

Consecration: The act of setting ourselves apart completely for God. It’s placing our identity, our plans, habits, goals, future, all of it into God’s hands… “It all belongs to YOU”

Consecration DOES NOT mean you fix yourself. It means you surrender everything. And let God change what He desires… because change comes from a surrender

Generations later… Jacob’s descendents stand at another river… The Jordan. They are preparing to cross into the land God promised them… But before they cross Joshua the leader says this…

Joshua 3:5

Before God told them what they would accomplish… He told them to prepare. Before the crossing… You consecrate.

The same thing applies today…

You: What are you still carrying that God is asking you to pour out?

Before the plans. Before the serving. Before the building Before whatever comes next… There must be consecration. There has to be a pouring out.

What’s inside of me that I have to let go of before I cross this river?

-Is it…an identity about yourself you’ve believed for years? - A name someone else placed on you that God never gave you? - A habit you keep disguising? - A fear that you let control you every outcome? - A pattern that keeps following you into every new relationship?

Maybe today is your Jabbok… A moment where God says “Whats your name? What’s really going on? What have you been carrying? Let’s get honest and surrender

We: We’re being called into something new.

As a church we believe God is going to use us to have a bigger impact in this city. We’re believing God for something new.

But before that… It starts with us… Before the plans, the programs, the giving, or anything we might do… There must be a collective that says “Yes… I surrender anything holding me back”

Altar Call:

A consecrated church starts with consecrated people.

This doesn’t begin with the person next to you… this begins with you.

If this is your prayer… “God…Empty me of everything that cant go where You are leading me… Whatever it is it belongs to you God…” then I want to invite you to meet God at your Jabbok today.