Untitled Sermon (11)

Now I’m Ready!

Genesis 32.24-28

Intro:

Leading question:

What is your reason for telling others about Jesus?

What is pushing you to tell others your testimony about Jesus’s impact on your life?

(Pause)

God commands us to be responsible for telling others who God is…..(Great Commission)

(Pause)

Who are you telling?

(Pause)

In order to Go and tell others about God……we must first encounter God.

Look at it now….

32.24 (read)

1. Separate for Impact

- Jacob encounters God when he is alone.

a. Sometimes we are strategically separated so God can deal with us.

(Jacob is separated from his family at the river of Jabook)

(Pause)

b. We must conquer our fear of loneliness.

- If we pay attention we will notice that we are never truly alone.

(Jacob is not by himself………..Jacob is just separated from his family for a moment to be impacted by God.)

(Pause)

Because the bible says….

“A man wrestled with him until daybreak.”

(Pause)

Wrestled – Hb – To get dusty

….and so the question becomes……

Can we handle the process of separation long enough……..for God to deal with us?

(pause and expound)

Look at it now…

32.25 (read)

2. Stop losing ordinary battles

According to the text……

This angel or representation of God was unable to throw Jacob down in an ordinary wrestling match……

….because the bible says that………

“The MAN”…………saw that he could not throw him down……

(Pause)

God’s representer…………was fighting Jacob with ordinary approaches……….and when he discovered that he was not winning against Jacob with ordinary approaches………

……..that’s when he decided that he needed to use more than an ordinary approach……..

And the bible says that….

“He struck the hip of Jacob to dislocate it!”

(Pause)

- There are some things that are beating us……..and its not because they are necessarily stronger………at this point of the fight….

o We’re just not fighting with everything we have……..

 There’s more in you than that………….

 There’s more push in you than that……

 We should not be losing………in the Ordinary

part of the fight!

(Pause)

Biblical barrel –

The woman with the issue of blood touches Jesus in the ORDINARY phase, and Jesus feels her touch in the EXTRAORDINARY………….

(Pause)

Notice that she does not gain the attention of Jesus because of the ISSUE………..but she gains the attention of Jesus because she refused to lose her “ORDINARY BATTLE!”

(Pause)

Church family…..

Issues cannot stop us when we decide…………..to FIGHT!

(Pause and Expound – Man please……..you must be out of your mind if you think I’m about to lose this battle………this is ordinary)

(Pause)

But notice in the text we are reading today……..

…….that I don’t believe this is a battle to hurt Jacob….

…..I believe that this is a fight to see if he is finally ready……

(pause)

Key –

Some battles are not to break us……….but to build us!

(Pause)

Look at it now….

32.26 (read)

The bible says that the angel tells Jacob to…..

“Let me go” or release me from your grip…….

(Pause – Now I hope you see this…)

….because Jacob has to be in pain……..but according to the text Jacob is still pressing his way through the pain….

(Pause)

You would think that Jacob should be the one asking for mercy……….but its not Jacob asking for mercy in the text…..

(Pause)

Jacob has an excellent excuse to stop…………

But………there was something greater than his excuse……..motivating him to “HOLD ON!” (Expound)

(Pause)

But Jacob said,

“I will not LET GO………………….until you BLESS ME!”

(Pause and SHIFT)

I want to deal with what happens when we really encounter God………and decide to PRESS!

- Anybody can quit….

- Anybody can become stagnant and stop….

(Slight pause)

But it takes somebody special to get in a FIGHT………..and have every reason to stop…….

…..but instead make the decision………to say

“LORD……….I will GO!”

(Pause)

1. Perseverance ARISES from suffering.

a. Romans 5.3 says…..

“And not only this but we also exult in our tribulations, , knowing that our tribulations bring about perseverance.”

(Pause)

The writer is saying……

…..in continuation from verse 2, that not only do we praise God in the good, but also through all of the bad [affliction, sufferings, trouble] we have to go through.

(Slight pause)

Because we “UNDERSTAND/KNOW” that our afflictions give birth to what’s called……FORTITUDE, Patience, Steadfastness…..

(Pause)

And so…..

- Going further in our life is attached to going through suffering in our life.

o And this means that every trial we face is not purposed to stop us……….but if we can use it right……….we can RISE up after the FIGHT!

(Pause)

Church family there are 3 options in our Suffering….

1. Stop

2. Train

3. Arise

{Pause/Expound}

2. Perseverance Builds and Demonstrates Christian character.

a. James 1.4-5 says…

“And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

(Pause)

The request that is being made in the text is that……..

We would allow the ENDURANCE process to work in/on the life……

To PERFECT it or COMPLETE the work/purpose of fully developing us.

(Pause)

And so……….in order to fully develop…………we must ENDURE our way through the sufferings…

(Pause)

And so…….

If there is NO suffering………..then there is NO opportunity for endurance….

And……

If there is NO opportunity for endurance……..then there is NO possibility of full development....

(Pause)

Let’s call these………….GROWING PAINS…….

(Pause)

Church family….

Nothing………..can develop without growth…………and nothing will grow without some pain! (Expound- Ask a pregnant woman!)

(Pause)

And once Jacob perseveres………..he is redefined in the text because of his endurance…

(Pause)

32.27-28 (read)

JACOB………….you will now be called………….ISRAEL

(Pause)

Jacob was going through DEVELOPMENT……

- He struggled with Esau in his mothers belly…..

- He struggled with Laban for a wife he was promised……

- And now in the text…….he has wrestled and struggled with an angel….

(Pause)

Jacob is DEVELOPING………….and his early struggles were preparing him for this struggle…..

(Pause)

And the bible records the angel telling Jacob……

“…….You have PREVAILED!”

In other words……

Your strength has surpassed my strength…..or…….You were stronger!

(Pause)

And what I hear the angel saying in my spiritual imagination is……

“Jacob……….NOW your’re ready!”

(Pause)

And you see…..

Nothing can hold you back or keep you from “GOING” once you have “PREVAILED”

(Pause)

That’s why we have to push/press through the “STRUGGLING.”

……..because if we stop in struggle, we never get to the point of PREVAIL……

(Pause)

But if we ever get like Jacob……..

……and GRAB……..what grabbed us!

(EXPOUND)

- Demand to turn struggle into something greater.

o “Not until you bless me”

 I will not be broken without a blessing

(Pause)

If Jacob stops he never prevails……..

(Pause)

…..BUT NOW……..

YOU tell me………..who’s crazy enough to get in Jacobs way now……

(Pause)

And when you prevail after this struggle……………..

When its time to “GO and tell somebody about the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for you….”

(Pause)

After all you have gone through…………..to develop………..

(Pause)

What’s going to be bad enough to STOP YOU……………

…….AND even if you have to get into a FIGHT………..through a MIDNIGHT EXPERIENCE……..

(Pause)

You can declare……………

“NOW………..I’m READY!!!”