Torn But Trusting

these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona, Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it. Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot Com. Let's go to the message the Lord. Let me the Genesis chapter thirty two for our lesson today. I want you to find that on your phone and your Bible

or look on the screen. I want you to see this with your own eyes. I've been reading through the Book of Genesis with Elijah and Kelsey and it's been so fun. We're going real slow we figured out if we read the Bible this slow, it'd take us four years to get through it. So we're cool with it because every day we're looking for a lesson. And when we came to this passage, I knew I would preach it soon because he grabbed me in a new way.

Been years since I've preached about this passage. And we're going to see this Bible character, Jacob in a wrestling match, and I reckon, this is my reaction to reflect got around all those women, and I'm want to preach a wrestling message or something like that. And I was watching Jordan Burrows when that seventh Championship the other day. That was cool. Did you see that? You didn't see it? It was cool. Look at Genesis chapter thirty two one.

Let me reado kind of from this this transitional verse. So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. That night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabakh. You see, they're kind of how the ford that he has to cross kind of sounds like his own name and it's a picture that what he's going through externally

is really secondary to what he's going through internally. And so when we focus on situations that we've got to get through, sometimes we miss the point. Because God uses situations to deal with issues in you. And if all you want God to do is get you through the situation, you'll miss the main thing that God wanted to do, and then you'll recreate the situation that you get through because you didn't deal with the issue that caused it in the first place. That's what's happening in thirty two.

And I know that because Jacob is about to have a wrestling match, which is the same thing he was doing in his mother's womb. His mother, Rebecca, when she found out she was pregnant with twins, she knew it because she felt them fighting inside of her. And so these two boys, Jacob and Esau are we're going to see both of them in this passage, mainly Jacob, but they had been fighting each other now for ninety seven years. Ninety seven years, that's how old they are during this

wrestling match. So but it's not Jacob and Esau here. You would think that Jacob is getting ready to meet up with his brother Esau, because he's trying to get back home. But watch what happens as he's preparing to meet with Esau. It says in in verse twenty three, after he had sent them all of his sons and servants and wives, after he had sent them across the stream, Rachel and Leah and all the different things that he had ready to make peace with Esau, he sent over

all his possessions. So Jacob verse twenty four, Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. And when the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched. Now, I got to say, it's a miracle. He got to age ninety seven, and this is the first hip trouble that he had to begin with. But it took him this long, so he really did pretty good. But his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

He still don't know who the man is yet. Probably at this point he might think it's one of these river devils that they believed in in the Transjordan. They thought that when you're crossing a body of water, there were spirits that would come up and fight you. So he probably thinks he's wrestling one of these devils. And he's in the middle of wrestling his hip goes out of socket. And then the man said, verse twenty six,

let me go, for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. I'm gonna grab you with these arthritic hands and hold on to you. I'm white knuckling this thing. You are not going till you bless me. And the man asked him, what's your name? Jacob? He answered. Then the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. And Jacob said, please tell me your name. But he replied,

why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him. There So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying it is because I saw God face to face Pineo means face of God. I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared. Somebody shout I survived. I survived. The sun rose above him as he passed Pinnel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip

was touched near the tendon. And Jacob looked up and there was Esau coming with his four hundred men, so he got nervous, divided the children among Leah, Rachel, her there are two female servants, and put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead, bowed down to the ground seven times as

he approached his brother. Because Esaul was a skilled hunter and Jacob was a skilled cook, and that's how Jacob got him to eat his beans and trade his birthright, and that's why he Sau got so mad he wanted to kill him. So when he's a skilled hunter and you're a skilled cook, you bow down and say, man, can we just get this worked out through our words? There's really no need for us to fight. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Wasn't expecting that.

He threw his arms around it neck and kissed him and they wept. Wow, isn't that crazy? What he was staying up all night worried about God had already worked out when he got there. How many things in your life have been like that? When you actually did it, it wasn't as bad as you thought it was going to be. But the verse I want to preach from is very simple. Is in verse twenty nine. It says, then he blessed him there. That's what I wan I preach to you about today. And the title of this

message is trusting through the tearing. Trusting through the tearing, or if you want to stay in the flow of what I've been preaching the last few weeks about God's got your back, you could turn to your neighbor and tell them God's got you in between, in between, in between, tell somebody else God's got you in between. You may be seated. What an amazing story, What an epics story in that incredible Bible story. Let's put our hands together

for the Bible. That's amazing. You are leaving already, I'm just starting, all right, see it? Well, I guess they got the most important part. They got the scripture. I honestly didn't want to bring this up because it sounds so superficial and the text that I read was so deep. But it was so hard for me to figure out what to wear to preach today because somebody gave me this a couple of years ago, and I saw it the other day. I was like, I never wore that. I like it. I want to wear it this week.

But in the South, seasons are tricky, and we're always talking in our family, what's your favorite season? Graham says that spring is off brand fall. That's his theory. Holly and I love fall because when we go on our walks, we're so boring in a way, but we love it. We embrace it. One of our favorite things to do is just crunch leaves and see who can crunch the lead the loudest, and we're like, we have crunch of the day competitions when we go on our walks. It's

very simple. It's a cheap date, by the way you want to use it, and we'll do that. We walked out the other day, Holly was all bundle up in a hoodie and I'm laughing. I'm in a tank top because I know our driveway is kind of long. So when we were in the shade of our driveway, she thought, oh, it's fall because football is on, so it's fall. Soon as we got out of the shade, she's peeling that hoodie off and we look at each other and we laugh,

and she goes. Fake fall. Fake fall is something you may not know about if you aren't in the South. It's when you go outside. It's fifty nine degrees. Everything tastes like pumpkins in every restaurant. But no, sooner do you go back inside to grab that cute cardigan that you've been saving all summer and waiting for the fall.

Then you walk back outside. It's ninety six degrees now in Charlotte, and it's only been five minutes, and it can be refreshing because it can feel hot one moment and then God will just blow an air condition like Gabriel, just blow in your face and you'll say fall. I feel you welcome fall. But don't be deceived. Do not be fooled, do not be dismayed. It is only fake fall. So make sure you pack at least three different outfits when you leave in the morning. It's fake fall. Oh yeah,

football is on, but it's not fall yet. It's fake fall. We walk back these people the other day crunching leaves, and this guy says to us in a very northern accent, and I'm not gonna impersonate it because it might be offensive because I can't do it that good. But he's like, how about this fall weather? And Holly turns to me and goes northern or fake fall? He do no, don't tell him, don't tell him. No small it for him. He thinks it's just gonna stay like this fake fall.

You'll know what I'm talking about. Fake fall. So I didn't know whether to put this on today because it feels like fall to me. The kids are back in school. Chick fil A has this autumn spice milkshake, but I don't know really if it's it's it's an in between season. It's in between seasons. I'm standing in my closet. I can't figure out which one to grab because I've been

waiting to wear this. But it might be now. We keep it fifty seven degrees in the auditorium at elevation Valentine to keep y all awake, so I'm not worried how it's going to be in the room that's mandated. Is that a prayer request? I could turn it up hot and preach about hell, and then we'll see what happens you feel the flame, baby. But to me, there's nothing trickier than in between seasons. One thing to figure out what do I wear? I mean, I could take

this off if I chose wrong. But there are other things, other things in life, the in between things that can leave you feeling irritable, unstable, uncertain, like you're having an identity crisis, like you really don't know which one to go with. In between things. The Bible says, and we're fond of quoting in Romans eight twenty eight, that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. All things.

Somebody say things, then it says a little further down in the Book of Romans, and I think the thirty first verses says, what shall we say in response to these things? That God has predestined us, that God has called us, that He has justified us, and he has glorified us. All of that. In Romans chapter eight, I am all of those things. I am called by God, I am justified by Jesus, I am glorified with him.

I am joined together. I'm a joint heir with Jesus Christ me and him hooked up and I got everything that he has for me. When I called on his name, he said he'd come live in me and be with me, and would leave me or forsake me. So I'm all of those things. Whatever he said I am. That's what I am. Whatever he calls me, That's what I'll be whatever he calls me too. That's what I'm walking toward.

Whatever he labels me, that's what I live by. I am all those things called justified glorified, and yet their context of Romans Chapter eight is interesting because it talks about the groanings that happen on the inside of us as we wait for our adoption and eagerly expect to be brought into the fullness of what we have the first fruits of it is Paul's way of saying, we're in between things that we know we're called, but we're often confused. That we know we're justified, but we often

deal with guilt. That we know we're glorified, but we often feel gritty because I'm in between things. I'm all those things called justified glorified because Christ said I am. But I'm some other things too. Sometimes I'm some other things. I can be selfish, I can be rude, I can be ignorant, I can be compulsive. I'm getting depressed right now as I think about the other things. And the truth is, I'm torn. I'm torn. I was torn to

figure out what to wear to church today. I was torn to figure out what's to preach to you today. I'm torn in this very moment as I stand before you and try to tell you that I'm all these wonderful things in Christ, with all of the reminders behind me of all the ways that I fell short of the glory of God this week. The truth is I'm torn. That's one of the things about being between things is that you can feel kind of torn. I mean, just imagine.

I'm not going to demonstrate it. Two big, strong guys standing on either side of me today, and one is pulling me here and one is pulling me there. And here I am in between two things, in between my heavenly calling call justified, glorified, right with God, and then my sinful tendencies, lazy self pity. I can be very. I can be very. I can be a very convincing victim as their fault they didn't they should have can

I can be a lot of things I'm torn. I knew that starting to sermon this way would be kind of interesting, because I think what people are looking for when they come to church is for me to talk about certain things and then to leave other things for Monday through Saturday. Problem with that approach to ministry is it's what happens in between our Sunday meetings. In between. It will not be sufficient if you write down everything I say today and live none of it out until

the next time I see it. It will not be sufficient for us to get a Bible lesson today that for a few moments maybe tickles our intellect or enlightens our senses, or helps us to know something grammatical or historical about the Word of God. It is what we do in between. I'll prove it from the Bible. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. But faith without works is dead. So Jesus said, a sower

went out to sow. He started sowing. Some of the seed before it even hit the soil got snatched up by the bird. Can that really happen? Of course it can. In between the release of the seed of the Word of God and the fertilization in the soil, even before it could hit the soil, let alone Germany, beneath the soil, before it even had the opportunity to be what it could have been, what it should have been, and what it really was on the inside, something snatched it in between.

So you have to be very careful about how you spend the first thirty minutes after you hear a sermon. You have to beat back birds the first because the enemy knows the enemy of your soul. The devil Satan, O slew foot Lucifer, that old devil, that old devil he had. Don't pitchfork devil. He's a little bird. He's a cute little bird comes up in just as a distraction snatches it in between. You can't even get to the car and hold on to what has been said,

because we don't know how to be bored anymore. We don't know how to sit with anything anymore. We can't think about a word, we can't get out of search and reflect on it for a minute. So we can't germinate because you don't meditate because they got snatched in between. How many feel convicted that we just run from one thing to the other and nothing in between. So now I have so many any games, and so many apps, and so many distractions on my phone that I have

no time for any creativity. How could God remind me of anything? I gave him no space to set up in between my appointments. And our lives are very crowded, because even the Bible itself is full of amazing things that happened in between. Think about that. If we took out everything in the Bible that happened as the characters were going somewhere else, we would have removed some of our best Bible stories, and we would have neutered some of our best Bible characters, like Moses the burning bush.

If Moses had had data on his phone, he wouldn't have seen the bush burning, because all he was doing was trying to go to Horror with the sheep for his father in law, Jethra, and then he was going to go back to Midian. And in between, this bush catches on fire, and God says, by the way, you're about to lead a nation out of slavery. That happened as he was going to do something else. Now that had been me, I'm very sure that I wouldn't have looked at the bush, because I'd have been right here

looking at something else. The enemy is good at filling the in between spaces, so you don't even see God. I see this in the Life of Moses. I was thinking about. I guess my favorite Bible story because it's the first one I ever preached. How Peter walked on water to Jesus. You know that happened just as they were trying to get from Jesus. Jesus didn't set up a water walking seminar that day. All they were trying to do is get from the eastern shore to the

western shore. And they were going to the western shore to do miracles. But they had to leave the eastern shore to go to western shore. Along the way, here comes a storm, and in the middle of the storm, here comes Jesus and comes toward Peter. Peter's like, I want to come toward you, And Peter comes toward Jesus. He falls down. Jesus picks him up, takes him back to the boat, and they say, truly, you are the Son of God. And we love that story. But it

happened in between. It happened in between. You think Mary wanted to give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. You want to give birth to Jesus, away from your doctors, away from your hometown. They were there for a census, and the Savior of the world was born. I'm just trying to say that some of the best stuff happens in between.

I want to remind you of that, some of the best things in your life while you're so focused on, Oh, when I get through this, when I get through that, Oh when I just get I just want to get to the end of twenty twenty two. You've been saying that for the last forty seven years. About this time every year, you start thinking, if I could just get through the year, I'm just waiting for a new year, and here it is fall. Okay, just a few more months.

If I could just get through twenty twenty two, If you could just get through twenty twenty two, you were gonna take twenty twenty you into twenty twenty three, and twenty twenty two ain't gonna kill twenty twenty you. I got stuck in the trap at one point in my life of just surviving between Sundays as a preacher, and at that time we were doing Saturday night services. I haven't forgot about Jacob. I'm setting this up. Okay, I haven't forgot about it, but I'm gonna tell you something

in between. I read my scripture. Now I'm gonna illustrate. Then I'm gonna go back to Jacob. I used to just think, if I could just get to Sunday and get another sermon, study, pray, beg plead, offer my children on the altar. What do you want? And a scary thing. It's a scary thing. Y'all's expectations are really high. It is, y'all really do have high expectations. Be serious, be funny, be youthful, be wise. You want a lot, speak for God,

keep it real. Torn. I'm so torn. If you can see me right now, I mean I might be holding together on the outside, but on the inside. So I just try to get to Sunday, and then I think, if I could just get through Sunday. So wait a minute, your whole life is getting too and getting through and you are missing so many things in between. Oh, if I can get this degree, what do you think that degree is gonna do? What do you think that degree is really gonna do? It's gonna open doors? What's on

the other side of a door? What do you think is on the other side of the door, a massage table. You think it's a beach on the other side of the door. The degree open the door. Then you gotta do the stuff that they taught you to do. That isn't really what you gotta do, because they don't really teach you in school what you gotta do. What do you think that degree is gonna do for you? Somebody shout I'm in between. You didn't shout it convincingly because

it's not sexy. Oh watch this, Watch this, somebody shout I made it. You see how much better you did that. Shout this, I'm gonna do it. Come on, shout it from your chest. But that in between things you didn't say that too good. Won't practice that. We don't practice that in between. We don't really know how to be in between. We really don't know how to be in between. Oh, we definitely know how to think about the future, just we know how to in our minds. I Jacob, he's

going to meet with Esau. He's like, okay, Now when you get there, you give him a first gift, and then you give him a second gift. So it won't kill me. You give him a third. He's out there in the future. He's really good at sending stuff ahead. He's sending everything ahead, so he thinks it'll be all right when he gets there. He's sending everything ahead. By

the way, He's come a long way. He just got back from Mahinim, where the angels of God met him, where the angels of God attended to him, where the angels of God show up. So he's seen a lot of wonderful things behind him. But now we see Jacob in a very interesting place. He's not in Shechem yet where he's going. But he can't go back to Laban's house either. That's his uncle who he's been living with for twenty years. An angel of God tells him, you got to get up, you gotta go, You gotta move

right now. You don't have time to think about it, you don't have time to strategize it. The only problem is if he leaves Laban, he has to deal with Esau, and the last time he saw Esau had blood in his eyes. Now we meet Jacob in Genesis chapter thirty two, and the Bible says that the angel of God begins to wrestle with him at night and wrestles with him all night, all night long. Jacob is struggling with something that he doesn't know what it is. But this is

nothing new to Jacob. You see, he's been practicing this since the womb. He's been manipulating situation since he was old enough to calculate. He's been moving here and moving there, and doing this and doing that, and scheming things and plotting things. Not only did he steal his brother's birthright, he stole his blessing to by pretending to be his brother. And now he's got to face the one that he pretended to be, who wanted to kill him the last time he saw him. But I can't stay with Laban,

but I can't deal with Esau. I'm standing here needing the help of God. And so God comes not to help him, but to wrestle with him. And it's interesting to me that it didn't happen when he got to Esau the fight. Esau gave him a hug, and God gave him a broken hip. I'm confused. I thought you asked God to bless you, Jacob, and he said bless me, bless me. I'm not letting go to bless me. Let's read the text again. This is Wow. Wow, this is

just unbelievable. For everybody who's in between right now, for everybody who's torn between what you believe that God has spoken that you really are and what you feel like from time to time. Everybody who's torn right now, how many of you are in a seasonal shift in your life? Was very difficult for you to comprehend where you're at because I'm forty two. How many y'all think that's young? How many y'all think that's old? I'm torn. I'm torn.

I'm torn. Graham's hand went up so high when I said, oh, and half this section, I don't know what's going on over here in this section, y'all said it was really young. I'm torn. I don't know which one to believe. Life is tricky because life will intersect in betweens. So you raise teenagers, but you're also a tween ager because he's about to turn fifteen. I'm close to turn of fifty. Both of us are in the middle of something and I don't know what I'm in the middle of and

he doesn't know what he's in the middle of. And so now I'm trying to raise somebody as I walk through something that I haven't seen the end of yet myself. And look back at what he's in the middle of. Well, I'm in the middle of mine. And tell him about the middle of his and bring him safely through it and don't get him killed. And he's stubborn. So when

he wants to learn how to drive, watch this. He doesn't have enough money to afford a car, but he doesn't have enough humility to listen to me when I'm teaching him how to drive it. I'm just kidding, Graham, You're still perfect. He's gonna be a great driver. I prophesied, I declare it, i'd decree, I plead the blood. But that's what I mean by in between, is Jacob knowing I can't stay with Laban where he met his his wife Leah and his other wife Rachel, and he married

one and thought he was marrying the other. This dude has a lot of problems at night. Jacob needs to put a nine pm curfew on himself because he gets in trouble at night. He went and slept with the wrong sister at night, woke up. The Bible's so funny. The Bible says he thought he laid down with Rachel that's who he wanted to marry. He commits to her father, I'm gonna work seven years so I can marry Rachel. Okay.

At the end of seve in years, the father Laban slips in Leah, the other sister who has what we say the good personality. Leah has a good personality. Jacob goes to bed thinking it's Rachel, wakes up and there the Bible says, there was Leah. So funny, this is kind of like that because everything in the text. Watch this is what drew me to the text when I was thinking about being in between things. Nobody's calling me the young pastor anymore, but nobody thinks I'm an old

sage either. Oh God, what am I? I am not a spiritual Bible quote and tongue talking Christian all the time. But I'm not trying to cuss people out either and start fights because I've learned too much to be ugly all the time. And no, I'm gonna have to clean up messes after I make them. So I'm too saved to be angry and too fleshly to be perfect. And I'm stuck in the middle feeling like ah Tar because I could handle it if I had this self control to just pray for people, that would be one thing.

If I was just worldly and I knew jiu jitsu, I could handle it that way. But it's in between, so it's nighttime. Jacob is heading to what he thinks is his appointment. He's leaving what has been his refuge, and God meets him in between. The Lord said to tell you today, he's trying to meet you in between, and he's got you in between for a reason. He's

got you in between for a reason. Jacob never could have known when he was sending his wives and his servants, and his donkeys and his camels and his gifts across the Jabak to meet with his brother Esau, that God was leaving him there, stripped of all of his appointments and all of his acomplishments, and all of his affiliations, so that he could show him something he never could have known. That. He never could have known while he

was wrestling who he was wrestling with. He never could have known while he was wrestling what the outcome would be. But he wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let go. He held on for dear life. And when the angel, the Angel of God, who theologians would say is a pre incarnate, a pre incarnate revelation of Jesus Christ himself. When Jesus came to wrestle with Jacob, Jacob held on so tight that the angel said, boop, I'm going to put your hip out of joint so you can see who I am.

That's not very nice, that's not very christ like. But it's Christ. I'm torn. This doesn't seem like something God would do. Usually, when we hear about God touching someone, something good happens. After God touched the blind man, his eyes were open. Holly preached about that Friday night. Well, what about poor Jacob. Jacob's eyes didn't open, he didn't get a testosterone boost, he didn't grow hair back in a bald patch. None of this happened when God touched him.

The Bible says something interesting. It said he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched while he wrestled with the man. And go all the way down to verse twenty nine. He said, please tell me your name, but he replied, why he asked my name? Then he blessed him there. That's important. He blessed him there where in the place in between where Ja had

left and where he was going. I'm trying to get you to see that God puts the blessing in the in between moments of your life, and if you are so focused on Esau in the future or Laban in the past, you will not receive what you need to receive in between that will strengthen you for what's ahead. For the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But the Bible also says that all things work together for the good of

those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Now, at certain points in your life, that verse will be tested as to whether you believe it's true. You will experience moments in your life where Romans eight twenty eight appears to be a flat out lie. So now you're trying to hold on to a truth that you're read in the Bible that all things work together for the good, and you're being held by something in your life that is dragging you into a place of doubt, being dragged

all around standing there in between. But in these moments, God wants you to know that in the in between moments of your life the truth that you've heard, the truth that you've received, the truth that you believed, and the tearing that you've experienced. These are not always bad places. These are not always moments that God wants to deliver you from. Sometimes the in between place is the blessed place.

And if all your focus is on getting through, getting to, getting through and getting too, you will miss the blessing that God has in a place called there. By the time he got to Esau, it was already done. You can keep your camels, you can keep your gifts. Doesn't need any of it, because that's not where God met Jacob to reveal himself. He met him in between. This is a word. I said, A wouldn't do it. But come here, chunks, come here, buck. This is a word,

both of y'all. I don't have time. I don't have time. You gotta hurr, you gotta hurry, but I gotta show you. This is a word. Now, don't pull me too hard, don't pull me too hard, but I'm gonna hold you. You go that way, you go that way. This is a word. Go the other way, Buck, go the other way. This is not too hard, not to art, not too hard, not too hard, to shoulder. I'm forty two. Man, you can't pull too hard. This is a word when you feel torn. This is how you've been feeling lately. Not

always stand still, y'all being too tense. This is a word. This is a word not only when you feel torn between good things and bad things, because that happens. Oh, the devil's telling me to do this, but God is saying do that. A you haven't been torn between two things that are both good. People make stuff sound so simple when they tell you advice. Oh, man, just focus on your kids. Which one? Because they don't really get along together. So now I got to be with one.

I'm at a time which one? Somebody told me one time. Just great parenting advice. Don't miss any of your kids' games. But then guess what happened. Graham had a game and Abby had a game, both on Saturday, and the coach didn't call me and say, now we'll be okay, because I know you got to preach on Sunday. Can we put it? How many of y'all expect when you come to church that I studied the Word of God and prepared something to say to you. Would you be cool

if I got up here and just wing it. Would you feel good about that if I said, speak Holy Spirit, and that's the first time I looked at my Bible. No, you expect me to be a good pastor. So here comes the pull every week. All right, Lord, I need to study and get something ready. But guess what my kids. My kids expect some things too, and they should. They're my priority. They're my priority. So now I feel pulled. I'm not torn between do I abandon my family or

abandon my church. I'm trying to do both of them well, and I'm torn. Just move a little bit, move a little bit. Ah ah, And I don't know which one. If I knew which one, you know, there's a simple solution to this. It's right there in the text. It's what the Angel said to Jacob after he wrestled all night. He said, uh, let go, Now, this is simple. You ever think we'd be holding hands in front of thousands of people. We've been through a lot together, come back,

the angel said. The Angel said, let go. It's that simple, Just let go, Just let go. So now I'm gonna illustrate that and show you why it's not that simple. Which one do I let go of? I'm torn. Just trust God. God trosted the Lord? How with all your heart? That's not what I'm talking about. I'm asking do I give money to my church or put money in my kid's college fund, because I think God wants me to do both. I'm torn just a little bit. What I'm torn like this? And if I let go, something is

gonna fall apart. And I've been preaching to somebody all week in my spirit. I don't know who you are, but the Lord showed me you've been torn, and not because you don't love the Lord, and not because you

don't believe all things work together. The thing about it is you are between two things and you don't know which one to let go of, which one to grab hold of, and you're torn, so you're stressed, so you can't sleep, So you can't ask people for advice because they oversimplified and they say, oh, just trust the Lord. But I'm trusting the Lord, but I'm torn. I don't know which one let go and let God? Which one is God? Because Jacob doesn't know who he's wrestling with.

It's happening at night. Stay there, let me preach at night at night? Why did the Angel wrestle with him until the break of day. Why until the dawn, because the dawn is not exactly night. But it's not exactly morning either, is it. He's not exactly in a nighttime, he's not exactly in a morning time. And God blessed him there. He's not home yet. He hasn't made it to shock him yet. He's not back in his family's covering yet. He's in between in the Transjordan. It's not

a holy place, it's not an unholy place. It's somewhere in between. And the Bible says that God blessed him there. He's not in Laban's house anymore. He's not in his father's house either. He's somewhere in between. You haven't graduated from it yet. You haven't quite beat the addiction yet. You haven't quite got it behind you yet. You hadn't quite deleted it yet. He hadn't quite left you alone yet. You'll quite have it under control yet, you'll quite have

a mess forget, you'll quite have it down yet. And you are torn because I'm free, but I still like it, because I'm beating it, but it's still breathing down my neck. I'm torn It blessed him there at dawn. It's not day, but it's not night. It's not home, but it's not ran. It's not where he came from, it's not where he's going. It's in between. It's in between. And Jacob held on. He said, you ain't going nowhere. You're not going anywhere. And he just said, oh yeah, whoop, and watch, I

got this. I got this revelation out of this verse. I can't believe I never preached this before. Forgive me for never preaching this before. Y'all. This is so tender, so powerful, but it slips right by you. He says that after God blessed him where where? Okay, clean up your life. I'll bless you get your act together. I'll bless you figure it all out. I'll bless you get smarter. I'll bless you read three books. I'll bless you memorize a couple verses. I'll bless you get to the place

you're going. I'll bless you get through the hard time. I'll bless you get through twenty twenty two. I'll bless y'all if you make it to twenty twenty three, you shall be. It shall be in twenty twenty three. That's a stupid New Year's sermon. I won't preach it because the Bible say that he blessed him where Now watch what I never saw In verse thirty two, it's said therefore, to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of his hip, because the socket

of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon. Put your hand on your tendon. I'm not doing this illustration. You can do the owner. He used to be a physical therapist. Which tendon did the Angel touch? I've been thinking about it all week, y'all. I thought, was it the it band? Was it the gloodiest tendon's another one? I mean, all that tissue that it could have been. And the Bible says that he touched near the tendon. You know what that spoke to me that sometimes God will touch a

place that anybody can tell you. If the ball came all the way out of the socket of Jacob's hill, he wouldn't have ever walked again. But if the ball came out of the socket of Jacob's Hill and the tendon tore, he could still walk, but he would walk different from now on. I love preaching to y'all. And you know why y'all are shouting over an anatomy lesson, because God's been touching your tendon. He touched your tendon. When he touched Jacob's tendon, it didn't mean that Jacob

wouldn't get there. It just meant that he would get their limping. Somebody in this room today has been torn by life's challenges, and it wasn't always what the enemy did. The Bible says that the angels saw that the only way to overpower Jacob was to touch near the tendon. And God that has had us in a season of our life where you had to touch the tendon. The tendon is the tissue that holds it all together. The

tendon is what connects the muscle to the bone. If the tendon is torn, it may not have any strength to it. But God said, you can still get there. You will have to limp from now on. That's not a bad thing. See Jacob's tendency. What's to run his tendency? What's to run his his tendency? Oh oh oh, I want to retitle the message. I want to call this message a trickster learns to trust Because Jacob tricked his way all the way to this place, and his like,

oh bless me, I'll pretend to be Esau. Oh bless me, I'll give you some beans. Oh if you're mad at me, I'll run and start all over. That's been so of you all your life. You have been running from you all your life. Not he saw you for the Bible said that when God blessed him, he renamed him. His name was Jacob, but his name was Israel. Which one was it? He's torn One means trickster, one means prince.

Jacob means he'll grabber because when he was born he was grabbing his brother's heel trying to get out burst. So he's not grabbing heels anymore. Now his hip has been touched. And God said, I'm gonna make you Israel a prince. Israel means prince, y'all, he gonna be a prince. Tell somebody next to you, you're gonna be a prince. Princess madifaya be inclusive? Everybody be inclusive is twenty twenty two.

But you're gonna be Watch this, Watch this. You're gonna be a limping prince because you're gonna be reminded for the rest of your life. That you can't outrun God's plan. You can't outrun God's book this. If you make your bet in Hell, he's there. If you make your bet in the depths of the sea, even there, even there, even there, his hand will lead you, and his right hand will hold you up. I'm Jacob, I'm Israel. Which one will I be? That's what you're deciding every day

you wake up. That's what you're deciding every situation you walk into. Am I gonna walk according to my new nature or my old name? And up here holding hands with two big, grown, strong men, just to illustrate how you have felt in this season of your life, Torn but trusting, Torn but trusting. Jacob lived with this limp the rest of his life. Do you know how I know? Look at Hebrews eleven twenty one. The Bible says, by faith Jacob, somebody shout, by faith Jacob, that in itself

is a miracle. The one who's spent his whole life trying to figure it out, the one who's spent his whole life running from stuff that he couldn't bear to face, the one who's spent his whole life trying to pretend to be something else. By the end of his life, the Bible says, by faith, Jacob, Jacob isn't running anymore. Jacob can't run from himself anymore. Jacob can't run from

his calling anymore. Neither can you. God has brought you to this place, and he's put you in between, and he stuck you where you are, and he's not letting you go until he blesses you. You hear me, he won't let go. It's not you holding on to God, it's God holding on to you. God's gonna get some of you. A little boot blessing this week, a little boot blessing this week, a little booty blessing with a boot. He said, don't run from this. You stay right here.

You receive your calling, you receive your inheritance. You are short hair. With Jesus, you are that thing. I'm telling you what Jacob, by faith put my verse back up he Brews eleven twenty one. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, what he's standing in between life and death, And what's what he did in between his life and his death. He blessed, he blessed, he blessed, he blessed, he blessed. You see the transformation. He's saying, bless me, But by the end of his life, he's saying, be blessed.

That's what God touch his tiken so he could walk different, think different, talk different. Can I keep going? Just a few more words, Just a few more words? By faith Jacob. He's standing between the portals of eternity and the time bound frame of his humanity, and he starts blessing. Ready, Joseph's sons. Who's Joseph, the son who was thrown into a pit, the son he thought he'd never see again, the son he thought was as good as dead. His heart was torn, his coat was torn. But God wasn't

through with Joseph. I came to the clare. It's not over. You're just in between. Hollelujah, Bye, Thank Joseph. By faith Jacob blessed Joseph's boys so he never thought he'd see again. This a miracle, This a miracle, This a miracle, This a miracle, and worshiped as he leaned on top of his staff. He never quit limping, but he never stopped walking. Look looking, You're gonna get there, You're gonna get there. Shout, shout,

You're gonna get there. Shout, shout, You're gonna get there, limping, limping. Everybody's tissue is torn, everybody's hip is out of socket, all of suddenings falling short of the glory of God. Everybody that's leaving this church today is limping in some area of their life. Everybody is torn. This is a fragmented world, This is a fallen world. We are we are dust. But in these earthen vessels we have the treasure of God's glory. And I want to leave you

with this. I want to leave you with this. Even in his dying breath, his name was still Jacob. He never quit limping. Even as he blessed the grandsons of the boys who would be the nation of Israel, he never stopped being Jacob. So you know what the Lord told me we have to do. We have to trust

through the tearing. When life feels like it's pulling you in two different directions and you're not doing very good at either, how many have said this week in your life, man, I don't feel like I'm doing good in any of these areas of my life. I'm not doing good at home, I'm not doing good at work. I'm spread so thin. I've been so busy. Oh if I could just have one thing, Oh I could just hold onto that one thing,

I could just be that one thing. But yet the reality of life is not that, is that, It's this, It's this. So the Lord said, you got to learn how to lean in the places that you're weak by faith, he blessed while leaning on his staff. Lord, we lean on you today, not our own understanding or our predictions, not our own pictures, not our own preferences, but by faith, Jacob, and by faith we I speak to everybody who has filed of distracted this week, and I speak the peace

of God over your life. To know that God allows these tearings in our lives sometimes, whether it's the tearing of your tendon, whether it's the tearing of a relationship. We use physical analogies, but we're dealing with spiritual realities. The terring usually isn't limited to the physical. The fact of the matter is some of you are learning how to trust God down a path that you've never traversed yourself before. God said, that's why he gave you a staff to lean on and a word to hold to.

This is how it feels to be between. It's not quite fal it's not quite summer. I'm not quite here. I'm not quite there. I'm not quite holy, but I really want to be. God said I got you in between. You're gonna get there. You're gonna do it. Come on, I'm speaking to you. I don't know who you are, but you've been on my heart. You're gonna get there, but you won't be strutting. You're gonna be a limping prince. You're gonna have to learn how to submit these things

to the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying God won't give you victory. I'm not saying some things won't leave your life. I'm not saying you're always gonna deal with depression on this level, but there will always be the mark from where he touched your tendon, so that when you get there, you will know it was him. It was him. It wasn't me, it was him. It was him that did it. It was him, it was Grace, it was bye. Well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of

things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.