Wrestling with God

ME

THE SWEDISH KILLER

When I was a senior in high school, my buddies convinced me to join the wrestling team. 

They said it was fun and I thought I might as well try something since I was a senior.

So I went up to coach Kirby (who coached my brother in the 80's... dude had been their FOREVER) and asked if I could join the team.  He let me join, and then the pain started....

From 3:30-5:30, five days a week, we would practice in this old garage with wrestling mats from wall to wall.

Now, I worked out a lot back then and thought I was tough, but wrestling broke me.

We would do things like alligator crawls, running in the halls, wrestling drills like circuits, where one person would stay on the mat and wrestle against 3 different people in 6 minutes, switching out every 2 minutes. 

Let me tell you... 6 minutes doesn't sound like much, but they felt like an ETERNITY during those drills.

But the worst drill I can remember is one day we got in trouble for something (probably smarting off.)  So we had to do fireman's carries.

(find a volunteer)

So we would have to hold someone on our shoulders like this until coach said to stop.

I had to hold Greg Cooper on my shoulders. Greg was in the heavyweight class. I was in the 145 class. Those aren't great odds...

But I didn't want to punk out, so I held this big dude on my shoulders.

One minute passed.

Five minutes passed.

And about 20 minutes later, Coach Kirby finally remembered to release us from our misery. (Actually I think he enjoyed making us miserable.)

I never forgave Greg Cooper or Mr. Kirby for that day (just kidding!)

I never was a great wrestler because I only did it for one year... but I was strong for my size and hard to pin. I finally got to start one week because the guy at 160 weight class got hurt.

So here I am, on a Saturday in our 9th grade gym, wrestling 15 lbs out of my weight class, going against the undefeated, two time state champ from Tullahoma, TN: Matt Sweeton. (Show pic)

This guy was only 5'6. But he was literally a BRICK WALL. Stronger than any dude I had seen all year no matter the weight...

I had NO CLUE what to do with this dude, but I just went out and had fun.

I scored 2 points in the match.

The problem is, you wrestle until you get to 15 points or you get pinned.

So old Matt Sweeton beat me 15-2 in 3 minutes.. but I scored 2 points! Because he let me get up twice...

Matt went on to a 42-0 record and won state again that year... I went on to working in a cafeteria. #Goals

After the match, the team congratulated me on NOT DYING, and then Tony Anetrella, (Show pic)

who was a BEAST at 180lb weight class and now has a legendary mustache, gave me the name that has stuck to this day:

"THE SWEDISH KILLER," ...because I survived against the legendary Matt Sweeton.

So from now on, instead of Pastor Kyle, you shall refer to me as "THE SWEDISH KILLER." (Ok not really but put some respeck on my name!)

WE

Maybe you didn’t wrestle in high school. But we all struggle with different things in life.

Who we should date, what friends we should hang out with, what team or club we should be a part of.

Where we want to go to high school or college, or what career we want to go into.

And with all those decisions, there come problems.

You break up with that person you’re dating, your friends hurt you or you hurt them.

You hate your school or you’re too scared to go after that dream career.

Your parents divorce. A loved one dies.

The struggles keep coming in life and we may even question why God allows bad things to happen in our lives.

Did you know that God is big enough for every question that you have?

He already knows you have them, and He wants you to ask them!

“Unanswered questions open us up to the bigness of God. When we offer pat answers to complex questions, we shrink God down to our level. We’ve gotten rid of all the mystery. Don’t be afraid of mystery.”

Morgan, Brock. Youth Ministry in a Post-Christian World: A Hopeful Wake-Up Call (p. 89). The Youth Cartel. Kindle Edition.

God wants us to wrestle about the hard things of life because He wants us to grow.

GOD

Let’s check out the story of Jacob, a guy who LITERALLY wrestled with God and lived to tell the story...

Genesis 25:19-28

(PK PARAPHRASE)

(Recap story of Abraham leading up to Isaac)

25:19-21- Isaac and Rebekah got married right after his mom died. Then they tried to have kids for 20 years. Desperate, Isaac prayed that they could have children, God answered, and she became pregnant with twins.

21-23: The babies fought inside their momma's belly, and Rebekah was like: "what's up with these kids God?" God told her that two nations were inside her.

24-28: Esau (the hairy kid). and Isaac (the heel grabber) were born. Esau was first to be born and whole body was like a hairy rug. Isaac was second and he came out grabbing his big bro’s heel, trying desperately to catch up with hairy boy. (He never stopped trying to do that.)Esau was a hunter and dad's fav. Isaac was a homebody and mom's fav. This playing favorites game caused A LOT of problems later on...

In between the chapters 25-32...

Jacob eventually grows up and makes Esau REALLY mad... like he wants to kill him mad. So Jacob runs away and eventually finds his uncle's family.

Jacob grows up and wants to marry his cousin Rachael (it wasn't weird back then.)

Rachael's dad cons Jacob into marrying his other daughter Leah (also Jacob's cousin) Then Jacob finally gets to marry Rachael too. Jacob works for his uncle for 20 years before God tells him to get outta there. He runs away with a big crew of his family, servant and animals... but then Esau comes along and Jacob freaks out. So he splits up his people in hopes that Esau doesn't kill them all, and that's where we pick up this story in Genesis 32:22:

Genesis 32

22-24: Jacob sends his wife and sons off across the water and stays behind by himself. Then Jacob decided to have a wrestling match with a guy.

25-32: This guy that Jacob wrestles pokes Jacob's hip because he couldn't overpower him (which messes up that hip for life) then asked Jacob to let him go.

Jacob says: nah bro, not unless you bless me! Then this guys tells Jacob that his name is going to be changed to Israel, because he struggled with God and humans and survived. Jacob names the place Peniel (face of God)

Then Jacob meets his brother, who's actually DOESN'T want to kill him but is thrilled to see him, they catch up on life, and then keep moving on.

Jacob’s whole life was a struggle.. he struggled with his brother, his father , his father-in-law , and finally with God . Jacob has grown stronger and more stubborn through these struggles, so when he has this WWE match with God, he says: ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’.

This wrestling match gives us a picture of his whole life:

Jacob struggling for the blessing, struggling with God and with man. Jacob wants a blessing; but, the blessing is to be found in the giving of a new name.

Like Abraham and Sarah, the change in name comes as a result of personal— and spiritual—transformation.

Frederick Buechner has called this event The Magnificent Defeat.

It is a defeat because he has a permanent limp. It is magnificent because he survived. This was a “crippling victory” for Jacob, because he limped for the rest of his life, but He was given a new name.

He went from Jacob “heel grabber or deceiver” to Israel “you have struggled with God and succeeded.”

God changed Jacob to Israel, from liar to overcomer because Jacob was willing to get up-close and personal with God.

This moment changed the entire direction of this man’s life… and it changed everything for us, too.

You see, Israel’s kids became 12 tribes that made up the nation through which the Savior of the world would come.

He refused to let God go unless he blessed him, and God ended up blessing the whole world.

TO REALLY KNOW GOD AND ALL OF HIS PLAN, I MUST ASK AND SEEK WITH ALL THAT I AM.

YOU

God wants you to get up-close and personal with Him today.

He wants you to be honest with Him today.

What do you want to ask God?

What do you need from Him?

How are you thanking Him for all He’s given you?

What are the tough questions that you want to throw His way?

How are you hurting today?

“God never wastes a hurt.”

-Pastor Rick Warren

“You do not have because you do not ask God”

(James 4:2, NIV)

God wants to bless your life, but in order to have His blessing you must grow closer to Him...

as you’re honest with the questions you ask, and as you listen to Him through prayer and His Word for the answers, you will grow closer and closer to the God of the Universe.

There is no greater blessing than God’s presence itself.

So how blessed do you want to be? How close to God do you want to be?

TO REALLY KNOW GOD AND ALL OF HIS PLAN, I MUST ASK AND SEEK WITH ALL THAT I AM.

WE

What if we all wrestled with God like Jacob did?

What if we sought God’s presence with all that we have?

God would bless our church more than we can imagine.

Friends in our schools would see the what a true Christ-follower looks like- no fake, no fluff. Just living, breathing people who honor God with their whole lives.

And we would make an impact in our community that would bring life, light and hope in the midst of death, darkness and despair.

May we seek God, asking Him the hard questions and listening as He speaks words of life into us.

*PRAYER*