Wrestling With Me

You ever seen or heard someone talk about the monkey trap? Now, you can Google it if you want and read about it, but it basically talks about how easy it is for you to trap a monkey. That they've been doing it for years. And I'm sure this story is not new with most of us. They'll find an area that has a high concentration of monkeys. And monkeys are naturally curious animals. They pay attention and watch all that's going on and they'll find a place where there's a high population of monkeys and they'll take and they go to a tree or they'll find something where they can bore a hole in there that's just big enough for the monkey to get their hand in and they'll take and they'll stick something in that hole, a shiny object or something because the monkeys are always watching and they'll place it in there and the hole is just big enough for a monkeykey's hand to go in. But once it grabs a hold of whatever's inside the hole, once they make a fist, their arm is too big. The fist is too big for it to come out of the hole. And then all they have to do is go down where the monkeyy's at because the monkey will refuse to let go of what it has because it wants it. It'll scream and it'll thrash and it'll frail around and you don't have to be in a hurry.

You can just walk right up and literally put a noose around its neck and take it captive because it refuses to let go of what it has in its hand. Wonder how many times the enemy >> has done that to you and I >> where we have been no smarter than the monkey. >> We have found a shiny object there that has captured our attention and because of our desire for what we have we become entrapped. I was thinking about this brother Rimer as I was walking through the woods and God began to kind of spin some stuff through there. There are moments in the scripture where God shows up and he transforms individuals. Moments where God doesn't ask if you're ready. He doesn't say, "Hey, are you free today? Is your schedule clear because I'd like to do something." there are times when God just acts like God, >> like he's in control, like he knows everything, like he is all powerful and all knowing, just being God. Sometimes he shows up and he rearranges our life because we've caught oursel in a monkey trap. I don't know about you, but I'm so thankful that he shows up when I've caught myself in a trap. >> Now, maybe I'm alone in the room today, but I've been plenty of times when I've been no better than that monkey. >> In Genesis 32, it's one of these moments where God is going to spring Jacob from his lifelong monkey trap.

Jacob has spent a lifetime wrestling with everything and wrestling with everyone. He wrestled his brother in his mother's womb. He wrestled his father for a blessing. He wrestled Laban for 20 years. He's wrestled through circumstances and schemes and outcomes and consequences. He's a guy who's always two steps ahead. He's a guy whose natural ability has always been able to think his way through the problem to be able to look at what was going on and to assess the situation and come up with the best possible scenario given what he had to deal with. There's a lot about Jacob that I find myself identifying with. And now on this night, we're going to read about God comes to wrestle with the last person Jacob has never surrendered to, and that is Jacob himself. This isn't just a story about a man wrestling with an angel. It's a story about God wrestling the Jacob out of Jacob. Because there comes a time in some of our lives where God has to wrestle the old man out of us because we refuse to let him go. Scripture shows us something remarkable. Jacob begins the night wrestling, but he ends the night clinging. And God blesses the clinging, not the fighting. So, let's walk through these scriptures together. Genesis 32 and 24 reads this way. Then Jacob was left alone. Everybody say alone. >> Alone. >> And a man wrestled with him unto the breaking of day.

God waits until he is alone. He has in his mind come up with the best case scenario. To give some background on this story because I'm sure there may be one or two individuals in the room that maybe you don't know the full story of Jacob. Is an interesting beginning. He literally is coming out of his mother's womb grabbing a hold of his brother's heel. about you, but that makes for an interesting delivery room experience. From that moment forward, there was just something about him. It's always like he was having to fight. He's always trying to work. He was always trying to strategize. He's always trying to figure out how he could get ahead, how he could make things and make life work according to his plan. Anybody identify with that? Yeah. Always trying to work the system. Always trying to find a better way. always trying to figure out how you know better than everybody else or how you can take advantage of what someone else is not thinking about. That was Jacob. That was his life. So, we find him in the moment in Genesis 32 where we pick up this story that he is he's in a bit of a situation because when he left home, he had robbed something from his brother. And his brother said, "I'm going to get you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to take care of what you have done.

and I'm going to I'm going to pay you back for what you've done to me. So, he leaves home. Now, I don't have enough time today in the message to go through all the things that transpired in Jacob's life, but I'll give you the flyover version. He left home. He had nothing in his hand, but a staff, clothes on his back. That's all he had. Somehow, he managed to find his way to a place where he found a wife. Not just one, he got a buy one get one free. I don't have enough time to go into that story, but I encourage you to go read about how he was marrying one and ended up with a sister instead. Crazy stuff. You don't have to go online. Get in your Bible. That was free. So, through his marrying of sisters, God blesses and he has children and his father-in-law is trying to take advantage of him. And again, Jacob's always trying to figure the system out. and he's always trying to trying to trying to find the advantage, trying to find the edge. And he ends up working out a an agreement with his father-in-law about working and taking care of his livestock and that he was going to take the blemished ones and the spotted lambs and he was going to he was going to take the stuff that's not of much value. At least that's the sales pitch he makes.

God's blessing what Jacob has going on to reaches the point to where he realizes it's time for me to go. It's time for me to leave where I'm at. It's time for me to step out from my comfort zone. Maybe it's time for me to address the relationship with my brother. Now, he's a little worried about this because remember when he left home, his brother said, "I'm going to get you. I'm going to take care of you." But again, his mind is always working. He's always thinking through the process in the situation. So, he finds himself at the river's edge and he knows he's already got word that his brother's coming to meet him. his brother has caught wind that he's coming back home. So when the word gets back to Jacob that his brother's coming, all of a sudden a little panic sets in. Oh god, what am I going to do? So he decides to put together a parade. After all, who doesn't love a parade? I'm in the book. Go to Genesis 32. He puts together a parade. He starts sending off all of his livestock, put them together with his herdsman, saying, "Hey, you know what? you get this bunch and you organize it this way and you march towards my brother and when my brother meets you and he asks what is all this? You just say that your brother Jacob is sending a gift because he knows I don't want to present it all at one time.

I'm going to phase my way in again. He's thinking. He's thinking how can I how can I possibly disarm him so I how can I maybe gain some favor with him so he doesn't hate me so he doesn't want to kill me. So he puts together a livestock parade. It's like something you'd see at the county fair. the parade, all these thousands of animals marching towards Esau. And then he puts his family together. He breaks them into sections and said, "Well, I'm gonna have a family parade." And he has his family head that way. He gives them all directions. When you run into Esau, you tell them that this is a gift from his brother. Until we find Esau, where we pick up there our story where he crosses back over the river and he is left alone. All of his worldly possessions he has placed in his mind. He's like, I'm willing to pay everything I have in order to maintain the favor that I think I need in order to control the narrative and be the one who's the author of the situation. And when he's left by himself in that moment of vulnerability, as he's still thinking, I hope this works out. I hope I'm able to plot this story the way I want it to go. While he's doing that, all of a sudden, God shows up. Because God's timing is always perfect.

Always perfect. Some of you know exactly what it feels like. You've been wrestling through circumstances and fears and wrestling with other people. And the real issue is that God wants to address is the one staring back at you in the mirror. >> If I look at this story, the wrestling begins there. The Hebrew word that is used in this story talks about that it is a struggle. It is a grappling. It is it is kicking up dust. This is this is not just a hug. >> It's not just an embrace. It's a fight. >> But who's he fighting with? He's not fighting with a man. Now, Jacob doesn't know what's going on to start with. Now, imagine you're sitting alone. It's dark. You're caught up in your thoughts and something grabs a hold of you. What do you do? You probably scream like a girl. When you realize something has a hold of you, do you just sit there and hug it back? >> No. You fight. I >> mean, you don't fight a little bit. I mean, you fight. >> This ain't a dignified fight. You're not worried about what you look like. >> This is I'm going to get you off of me no matter what it takes kind of fight. >> Anybody ever been in a fight like that? >> Anybody ever had a wrestling match like that? Or if you're from Tennessee, a wrestling match. Speak good southern rrestling. We don't wrestle, we rrestle.

And there's a difference. He was wrestling. God didn't initiate. God initiates the fight. God started this. But why? Because Jacob has one final stronghold. He believes life's blessings depends upon his ability to fight for it. So God meets Jacob on Jacob's terms with a fight. God's like, "You want to fight? Let's fight. I don't know about you, but I don't want to fight with God. I'm going be honest with you. I just don't want to fight period. But I sure don't want to fight with God because I know how that works. I know who's losing. I know who's going down. But Jacob puts up a good fight. He fights back because Jacob thinks it's just another enemy. Have you ever wrestled God thinking that he was the obstacle when he's actually your answer? >> How many times have you fought against what God's trying to do in your life? When God's trying to bring your attention to something and you're trying to pray away what God's trying to use to bring you back into his alignment and his purpose and his plan for your life. See, somewhere along the way, Jacob had convinced himself if it's ever going to happen, it's going to be because Jacob does it. Because Jacob pays for it. Because Jacob figures out. Because Jacob knows the strategy. Because Jacob gets the advantage. Because Jacob knows how it works. And God says, "I want you to know, Jacob, it's not about you.

It's not about what you think you can figure out. Jacob, you got a problem. So, you want to fight, Jacob? Then let's fight. You think you're strong? You think you know how to do it? You think you got this one figured out? Let's just see who wins the fight. Jacob wrestles all night, resisting and pushing and straining and fighting off the very one who came to bless him. Then comes the turning point in the story. Verse number 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. Now I need to explain this. This does not mean that Jacob is overpowering God. Like he got I got you in a headlock. I got you, God. What are you GOING TO DO? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO, GOD? I GOT YOU NOW. I GOT YOU OVER BARREL. Do you think for a minute that was what was going on? No. No. What was happening is because he was trying to resist what God was doing. He was trying to give it all he had. He was still trying to control the narrative. God says, "I'm tired of you trying to do this your way. >> I'm trying to you trying to do this by your might and by your power and by your strength.

So, I'm going to take the very core center of your power and your ability." Boom. All of a sudden, his hips out of socket. All of a sudden, he's lost his source of power and strength and his ability to control. When your hips out of socket, you're not a very good wrestler. It's really hard to pivot and to control when your hips not where it's supposed to be. This is a powerful moment. This is a powerful moment in Jacob's life. This is a powerful illustration that Israel would never forget. In fact, if you buy kosher meat, that actual tendon, that sciatic tendon they remove because of how much it made a difference in their life to understand that God was trying to get Jacob's attention. Jacob, this is not about what you can do. You've been doing that your whole life. You've always been trying to work it out your way. You've been trying to control it your way to how you think is best. But Jacob, I have news for you. This is not in your power anymore. Jacob, you've had a problem your whole life. You've always been trying to make everything about you, Jacob. It's not about you anymore. So, he takes his ability to control the narrative. Now, what's interesting in this story is how things all of a sudden twist and turn. With one touch, Jacob collapses. The wrestling match is over.

Jacob can't fight anymore. God doesn't defeat Jacob's strength through force. He ends it with a touch. Because God will often break what you've been leaning on so that you'll finally learn to lean on him. >> I'm going tell you right now, some of you have been leaning on your job too long. >> That may be why you lost your job. Because God doesn't want you dependent on the job. >> He wants you dependent on him. Now, you can cast stones and throw stuff at me, but I'm here to tell you God is more worried about where you're finally end up >> than your moment of comfort and convenience right now. >> And the enemy tries to let you know that comfort and convenience is only the sign of how God has blessed your life. When everything works out according to your way and your plan, Jacob, it's not about you. Jacob had all the riches. Jacob had all the family dynamics. He had everything he needed. And like when he crossed over that brook, in fact, you can go in there and read by his own words. When he finally comes to realization what God's trying to do, he tells God, when I crossed this brook the first time, all I had in my hand was a staff. And now I've crossed back over this brook and I got a whole parade of livestock and animals and blessings and things that you've placed in my life." But he still wasn't happy because he knew there was much more to life than just stuff.

Ladies and gentlemen, there's more to life than stuff. >> You know, I have a little bit of stuff. I like my stuff. Don't take my stuff. But my stuff doesn't bring me the joy that sustains. >> At some point, you got to realize it's what God desires for you in your life, what he wants for you. Because God will often break what you've been leaning on so that you'll learn to lean on him. The Apostle Paul learned this when dealing with his own weakness in prayer. He cries out to God to take what he termed as this thorn in his flesh from him. I've been dealing with he said three times I asked God and then God finally answers him and says this in 2 Corinthians 12 verse number 9 and he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness therefore most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak then I am strong. Sometimes God doesn't want your strength. He wants your surrender. >> I'm gonna say that again. God doesn't want your strength. He wants your surrender. >> And too many too many times we are all guilty of trying to operate from our source of strength.

And there are times when God steps in and says, you know what, just a touch, just a touch. So all of a sudden things don't work out the way they used to work. All of a sudden, I can't move like I used to move. I can't walk like I used to walk. Some of you think that's just the fact that you're middle-aged. God touches him. So, we see this interesting moment. This is where God began to speak to me there in the woods because we read this story in Genesis. It tells us what happened that night. But Hosea 12 tells us how Jacob responded. So, the story gets told in another book. The old prophet shows up and he picks up the story and he pulls back the emotional curtain. Hosea 12 verse number three. Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother when he became a man. He even fought with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. Look, listen to this. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. This is the real turning point. The moment Jacob stops resisting and starts clinging, he stops trying to stop what God's doing and he grabs a hold of God and don't want doesn't want to let go. It's not about fighting anymore. It's about hanging on. Hey, you've changed something inside of me. I feel like a loss of power right here.

I'm not able to do what I once was doing. I thought for a moment maybe I was going to prevail against you, but all of a sudden you've touched me and now I'm different. I don't have the source of power and strength that you've changed the dynamics, God. And I realized, >> I can't do this without you. >> God, I can't do this without you. Why does God have to bring all of us to that point when we've got our hand caught in the monkey trap and we're frilling around and we're screaming and crying and God saying, "Hey, dummy, let go." Maybe he just only talks to me that way. His hips out of socket. He can't wrestle anymore, but he can still hang on. So he grabs a hold of what is holding him. And he wept and he pleaded. This is not domination. This is desperation. It was it was it was at first Jacob wrestled to escape. And now Jacob clings because he refuses to let go. This is not victory through power. This is victory through brokenness. Through brokenness. Too many times we misunderstand the brokenness because God couldn't get your attention any other way because you're stuck with your hand in a monkey trap. And the problem is you won't deal with you. You'll deal with everybody else. And God knows we can point out everybody else's faults, right? Some of the that's your spiritual gifting.

My primary spiritual gift is stupidity. But here he is hips out of socket. And the language changes. I encourage you go back and study. Go back and study Genesis 32 and then go to Hosea 12. Now look at read the Hebrews. Study the language. There's a dynamic change and shift inside of him from him wrestling to him clinging in this moment after the after he's touched his hip socket. All of a sudden, he went from trying to resist to hanging on and refusing to let go. >> God >> because there's a realization of I've been trying to do it by myself and I'm too weak. I'm too broken. There's no way it'll ever work out the way that I thought it should work out. God had to remind me of who's really in control. And now that I've come to that understanding, I'm not trying to resist you anymore. I'm hanging on to you and I refuse to let go. >> The change he wept. He pleaded. He stops fighting. God off and starts pleading for grace and for mercy. And that very moment Jacob shifts from fighting to clinging is where the blessing begins. Because God will never bless what you pretend to be. He will bless the moment you finally admit who you are. I'll say that again. He'll never bless who you pretend to be because God knows it's not right. It's not real. It's not true.

You may fake everybody else out. Jacob, you may have everybody else convinced. Jacob, you may try to convince your brother that you got it all together with your big parade that you PUT TOGETHER, BUT GOD KNOWS WHO you are, >> and he's not going to bless you being fake or what you pretend to be. But he will bless the moment you finally admit who you are. Somebody needs to start admitting who you are today. Stop hiding behind the facade. Stop trying to pretend that you got it all figured out. The reality is you don't. Most of us don't. >> If you're smart, you'll grab a hold of God and stop fighting him. Cling to him. Stop wrestling him. Hang on to him in desperation. >> He says, "I will not let you go until you bless me." He's not bargaining from strength. He's pleading from his weakness. He finally realizes and God has reduced him to dependence. And Jacob finally realizes, "I have to have you. that my identity doesn't come to me by manipulating Esau or deceiving Isaac or outsmarting Laban or strategizing my way through life. My identity comes from you, God, and you alone. I'm done wrestling against you now. I'm going to hang on to you and refuse to let you go until you bless me. >> Are you willing to hang on? That's when God asked the question that changes everything. God asked Jacob in verse 27 of Genesis 32.

He said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." God wasn't asking for information. He was asking for a confession. God knew his name. He wasn't asking him for his government official name. He was asking for him to confess. What have you been living up to, Jacob? Who are you, Jacob? What is your identity, Jacob? My name is Jacob. That name meant deceiver, suppler, manipulator, heel grabber. The man who sneaks and schemes and steals to survive. Jacob has spent his lifetime living up to his name and now he's facing Esau and he's terrified because he believes Esau is coming to kill him for who he has been. But God has a different agenda. God had to stop him. It took him being alone by him getting rid of everything, all the noise, all the distraction. Just like me walking through the woods and all of a sudden God's like, "Now that nothing else has been interfering with me, I'll talk to you." >> Verse 28. And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel. For you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed." Why? Why? Because the old man had to be confronted. The old man had to be wrestled down and stripped of his strength before the new name could be placed on him. Jacob didn't just wrestle with an angel in the night. Jacob wrestled with Jacob.

He wrestled with himself. It's like all of a sudden there alone beside the riverside, he woke up and realized all that he had really become. The man who was always able to figure it out, who was always able to come up with the plan and have the ability to work out any scenario the way he wanted to be. He was smooth. He was savvy. He was smart. He was structured. He was always able to make it work according to his plan. Even if it went wrong, it didn't stay wrong for long. He's always able to turn the corner or turn the page or make it make it a little bit different until now. Now facing his biggest fear in his life because I promise you at some point you'll come to a fear. You live long enough, you'll face a fear that'll rock you to your core. So he did what he's always done is he sat down and he tried to figure out the best plan. I'll put together a livestock parade. I'll present my family. I'll overwhelm him with all of my gifts so that it will disarm him so that he won't maybe he will forget about how I cheated him. Maybe it'll work to my advantage. And as he sits there alone in my mind, this is just my mind. You preach it your way when it's your turn. I feel like as he's thought through the whole scenario, I've already sent all my possessions, all my families, everything I have of value.

And I in my mind, this is just me. I think he's sitting there thinking, you know what? If he crosses the river and he still has hatred, I still have the ability to run. See, I feel like it's in that moment, and this is just me, okay? I can't take the word of God and say this is how the word of God says it. This is just me. But I feel like in the moment he was thinking to himself, I sent the livestock and I sent the finances and I sent my servants. I sent all my workers and I sent my family and I got them all cleaned up and I got them all dressed right and I got them all presentable. Surely that'll work. But just in case just in case, I got to have a backup plan. If I see him trying to cross and he looks like he's ready to kill me, I'll run. And in my version of the story, that's when God showed up and said, "Oh yeah, let's wrestle and he touches the hip and he takes away his backup plan." Cuz then and only then was Jacob out of options. For some of us, I put myself in this category. For some of us, as long as I have options on the table, I tend to lean on my own strength and my own ability. Jacob, you've been deceiving and conniving, been robbing and stealing your whole life.

As long as you think you can make those techniques work from you, you're never going to back away from them. Even when you know they're not right, Jacob, you still use them in a pinch. Even when you know they're wrong, you know, you know I don't approve of them. If your back's against the wall, you'll default back to the old man. WE'VE GOT TO KILL THAT OLD MAN OFF, JACOB. And the only way I know how to do it is to take away your ability to run. Boom. To rob you of your source of strength. God takes the identity Jacob earned. You heard me say that right. Jacob earned that identity. He lived up to that name >> and he replaces it with the identity that God intended. Jacob, the one who grabs from behind, becomes Israel, the one whom God fights ahead. The blessing was not merely a promise. It was an identity shift. God took away Jacob's old nature through breaking and bestowed a new nature through naming. Israel means God's fights. God prevails. are one who wrestles and strives with God. The essence of this is Jacob's identity shifts from the cheat to the contender. From the cheat to the contender. Oh, I may not look like much. I may look like I'm just an old man limping around. But I'm telling you what, you don't want to mess with me because God's with me now.

>> This ain't about what I can do. It's about what God can do. >> >> They used to call me a cheat because that's what I did. They used to call me a liar. That's who I was. But I'm not those things anymore. My name is >> Israel. The only one I'm striving with is God because he's constantly working on >> me. Though I may not look like much. I may look like an old man limping around, but if I was you, I wouldn't tangle with >> me because God's with me >> now. Oh, I'm reaching for somebody this morning. You've been trying for too long to do things on your own. Listen to me, Jacob. Stop wrestling and give up and SURRENDER TO WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO. WRESTLE THAT OLD MAN TO THE >> GROUND. Israel was not the name of a perfect man. It was the name of a broken man who refused to quit on God. Jacob's story isn't the only place that God gives someone a new name. Revelations 2 says he'll give you a new name. A name written, a name spoken, a name known only between you and God. Isaiah 62 says, "You shall be called by a new name." In Jesus Christ, the old identity is not just forgiven, it's replaced. Peter said it well in 1 Peter 2:9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous life.

That's who you are. >> Thank you, Jesus. Do you understand the implications of what I just read you? That you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. I just had this conversation with somebody this morning. How amazing is it that God chose you and I to live today? >> That you and I get to be a part of the last days. That he thought enough of us to let us live now when the end of days is coming. when God's doing his final work before he comes back that you and I get to be a part of. But he didn't call us to sit on church pews. >> He didn't call you to wrestle with things that you're not supposed to be associated with. He didn't call you to wrestle with you. >> He called you for kingdom purposes and plans. >> Verse 31, just as he crossed over panil, the sun rose. He's heading into the sunrise of a new day. It says he limped on his hip. God didn't heal it. God didn't hide it. God didn't remove it because the limp was his receipt. I'm different. I'm different. I'm not the same. I'm not the same man that I was. The evidence that Jacob had finally surrendered to the only one worth worthy of surrendering to. Some wounds are not meant to be healed. They're meant to be reminded of who you were before and who you will never be again.

>> He limped out there the sun rising. I'll never be Jacob again. I'm Israel. And this limp is a reminder every day of my life that I'm a different man. So there's some things that God brings you through that change you on purpose. >> You're different because of it. You'll never go back to being the same because you were never intended to be that person that you were when God got a hold of you. Your decisions and the decisions of other people had led things to come into your life beyond your control. Or sometimes it was decisions that you made that caused there to be consequences in your life. But then God shows up one day and he begins to wrestle with you and all of a sudden he begins to reveal to you the very thing that you're not supposed to be leaning on because you're supposed to be leaning on him. And he takes that source of power away from you. Why? Not because he wants to hurt you. It's because he's helping you. He's helping you come into your new identity. Quit being identified by the old man. Wrestle it to the ground. And when you do, I promise you'll walk away different on purpose. Jacob walked into the night as a man shaped by his past, his family story, his failures, and his fears, and his manipulations, and his reputations. But he walked out with a new name, a new identity, into a new day, with a new walk because God met him in his moment of desperation.

Matthew takes the entire theme of wrestling and surrender and places it on the shoulders of Jesus himself. I read you from Matthew 26, but you can go to Luke and Mark and John. This the count's all recorded in the garden is there. Matthew 26 and 36 says, "Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. I go over there and pray. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me." And he went a little further and he fell on his face and he prayed, saying, "Oh my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Jacob wrestled because he wanted his own way. Jesus wrestled because he was surrendering his will to God's way. In Gethsemane, scripture says Jesus was sorrowful. He was deeply distressed. He was agonizing. He was sweating as great drops of blood falling to the ground. In the garden, Jesus wrestles not with God, but with the weight of what he was about to carry on. And then he prays the prayer that changed everything. Not my will, but your will be done. In other words, I won't wrestle against you and I won't resist your plan.

I'll submit myself. I will surrender. I'm telling you, the most powerful moment that you will ever have in your life, the most spiritually powerful moment you will ever have in your life is when you simply say to God, I surrender. Amen. >> That's what it takes for you to be filled with his spirit is you come in before him repentant and surrendered. Are you surrendered with God? Are you surrendered with him? Are you open to whatever he asked for you to do? Or is there always still something that you hold back? Some way that you control the narrative? Some way that you keep just a piece back just in case? some plan B that's always in your back pocket. As long as you do that, you give life to the old man. As long as there's always an escape plan is there. Now, God, I'm with you. I'm good. But just in case, just in case maybe you don't have it all figured out, God, I got another plan in mind. As long as that is your attitude, the old man still lives. for someone in this room today. And I feel this deep inside of me. God started speaking to your pastor in the woods a few days back because there's still an option that you're leaving open on the table and he's been wrestling with you and you've been wrestling back. He's been trying to get your attention, but you're not listening.

You're not hearing what he's saying. You're not living yourself fully open. You don't like the alternative. You don't like the option. You don't like what he's saying. You know, I don't think it's coincidental that last week, Pastor Wes preaches about your Yes. And this has already been dropped in my spirit before I ever knew what that man was going to preach. I wasn't even supposed to be here last weekend. Somebody, you need to stop wrestling. Jacob wrestled until he surrendered. Jesus wrestled in order to surrender. And that's the posture that turns the entire story, Jacob's story and Jesus's story and our story around. The path of transformation has always been the path of surrender. Jacob's blessing came when his strength ended. Jesus victory came when he surrendered his will. Paul ties this all together in 2 Corinthians 5:17. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Did you notice that little three-letter word there? It says all. All, not some. Not some, but all. As I have said many times from this pullpit, he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. He has to be Lord of all of your life. Every area of your life. Every piece of your life. Your thoughts, your plans, your dreams, your finances, your talents, your abilities. He has to be Lord of all or he's not Lord at all.

He's not going to be limited by you or no one else. What he's looking for is surrender. And he loves you enough that he's willing to wrestle you for it. Did you catch that? He loves you enough that he'll wait for the right time to when you're trying to go back on your strength again and he'll meet you in that moment. Why? Because he's trying to get you to understand what you really need to wrestle is you. >> You need to give up you. You need to learn how to surrender. Jacob had to let the old Jacob die in the dirt. Jesus had to lay his will down in the garden. And now you and I come to an altar in just a few minutes so that the old man in us can finally fall away. What God did for Jacob, Jesus unlocked for you and I. Jacob's transformation required a breaking. And Jesus's surrender purchased our new birth. Jacob held on through weakness. Jesus yielded in obedience. Jacob received a new name. And Jesus gives us a new nature. And today, the Holy Ghost is offering you and I this same moment. a moment where the wrestling stops and the surrender begins. So, as I bring this to a close and musicians get ready to come, I feel like today the spirit of God is asking the same question that he asked Jacob. What is your name?

Or maybe I'll put it a little bit better way. This is the one that I really need you to stop for just a minute. I need you to think. I need you to think with me for just a minute. What is your identity? You may say, "Pastor Kevin, my name is fear. My name is anxiety. My name is addiction. My name is bitterness. My name is failure. My name is Jacob." But I'm here to tell you that Jesus is standing here today, arms wide open, saying, "Bring me that name. Lay it down. Lay down your will. Meet me in the garden. Surrender and rise to be a new creature with me." Just like Jacob, you've wrestled in the dark long enough. Listen, he's seen every tear. He's known every failure and every disappointment. He's known every bad mistake, every bad decision, every broken thing that you've had. He's seen it all. And in spite of all that, in spite of all those things, he still loves you. >> So stop with a disqualifying why this applies to you. Stop it. He loves you. And he loves you enough. He loves you enough to wrestle you down to the ground to show you that the real issue is you. Not what has been done to you, not what label they put on you, not your sum total of all the bad mistakes you've made. You're not defined by disease or sickness, >> by failures and frustrations, by brokenness.

No, none of those things. He's trying to get you to realize that you belong to him you are a child of the king. So just like Jacob, stop wrestling in the dark. It's time to cling to the one who can bless you. And if you're ready to stop resisting, if you're ready to stop managing your own brokenness, if you're ready to surrender like Jesus did and to cling like Jacob did and to rise like a newness that only God can give, then I'm going to pray a prayer in just about 30 seconds. And I'm praying for faith in this room to build, for you to have enough boldness to step up as I start to pray and to meet him in this altar today. For you to stop wrestling with you and start surrendering to him. Will you help me pray? God, I'm so thankful that you meet us in our most vulnerable of moments. that you love us enough not only to look past our mistakes and our failures, but you love us enough to get down in the weeds and the mess of our life, to meet us, to identify inside of us the very thing we need to change this morning, right now. Lord, in this moment, I pray for faith to rise. I pray Lord God that we would have the courage to take a step towards you in surrender. God, you know every situation and circumstance that's in this room right now.

You're aware of every detail. I pray Lord God that you would draw, that you would reveal, you would pull, that you would bring us to a moment where we can realize we're so desperately need you in Jesus name. This altar is open. I invite you to come. Come and meet the God who loves, the God who restores, the God who heals, the God who mens, the God who changes your name and will bring you in to a new day. It's prayer time.