Wrestling with God: Finding Grace in Our Struggles

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[00:02:41] Thank you.
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[00:04:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
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[00:04:57] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:05:26] Amen.
[00:05:27] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:05:54] Amen.
[00:06:02] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:06:31] Amen.
[00:06:32] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:07:00] Amen.
[00:07:08] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:07:31] Amen.
[00:07:35] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:07:59] Amen.
[00:08:23] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:08:39] Amen.
[00:09:02] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:09:31] Amen.
[00:09:45] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Well, good morning, Back Creek Church.
[00:10:36] It's good to be here this morning, and how good it is that we serve a God that does not deal with us according to our sin, but rather Christ's righteousness, which is imputed to us.
[00:10:45] Let's stand this morning, prepare our hearts this morning in song.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Come on let's praise the Lord this morning church!
[00:11:48] Praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, now and forevermore, my heart confess, Christ is all my righteousness, Christ is all my righteousness.
[00:12:16] All these sins that I have done These I know and thousands more Behold my God, He knows not one Praise the Lord Oh my soul, praise the Lord
[00:12:36] Christ is all my righteousness Christ is all my righteousness
[00:12:56] And when I stand before the throne They're dressed in beauty not my own Oh, then Lord, shall I fully know Not to that day how much I owe Come on, sing it if you believe it this morning Oh, praise the Lord Oh, my soul, praise the Lord
[00:13:28] Christ is all my righteousness Praise the Lord, O my soul, praise the Lord For now this sinner's heart has found its rest Christ is all my righteousness Christ is all my righteousness

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
And all of God's people said, Amen.
[00:14:08] You may be seated.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
I want to also welcome you.
[00:14:17] What a blessing it is to be together as God's people in His presence for His praise.
[00:14:24] We really believe here that
[00:14:28] The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is the only hope for people in this world and for eternity.
[00:14:35] When we just sang, this sinner's heart has found its rest.
[00:14:42] Christ is all my righteousness.
[00:14:44] That truly, God's call, His command, His invitation to us today as we gather to worship Him is to rest in Him.
[00:14:57] At the top of our bulletin it says to all who are spiritually weary and seek rest, to all who mourn and long for comfort, to all who struggle and desire victory, to all who sin and need a Savior, to all who are strangers and want fellowship, to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and to all who will come, this church opens wide her doors and offers welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:15:25] Amen.
[00:15:27] Amen.
[00:15:30] Amen.
[00:15:47] Let's pray.
[00:16:11] I do want to mention that...
[00:16:37] The Welcome Team is going to be launching on February 1st.
[00:16:42] One of our strategic priorities as a church is welcome.
[00:16:44] We want to cultivate our capacity to welcome one another authentically and to go deep with one another in relationship, but also to welcome our neighbors.
[00:16:55] And so Welcome Team is a part of that strategy to help welcome our neighbors into our building, onto our campus, in a way that reflects the welcome of God to people.
[00:17:07] and so if you're interested in that then there is going to be a brief meeting following the service on January the 25th to discuss details about the welcome team and I would just highly encourage you whether you're already talented in welcoming others or you know that's an area that you need to grow we need people to serve on the welcome team and so please make plans to be at that meeting to find out more details it doesn't commit you to being on the team to show up for the meeting
[00:17:36] We have the opportunity to provide dinners for our students.
[00:17:40] Our student ministry is growing and that's really exciting.
[00:17:44] We want to feed them every week that they meet for youth nights.
[00:17:48] That is a great opportunity for us as a church to serve the next generation.
[00:17:53] Please check out the opportunity to sign up for youth meals.
[00:17:57] There are several events for women that are mentioned here in the bulletin.
[00:18:01] Also, just want to mention that as you came in, hopefully you received this journal.
[00:18:06] If you didn't, you can let us know and we'll make sure that you get one.
[00:18:09] But this is going to help.
[00:18:11] Hopefully it has the text from the book of Genesis, which we're going to be picking back up again today.
[00:18:17] And you can use it to take sermon notes and just to keep throughout our series.
[00:18:21] And hopefully that will be a helpful resource for you.
[00:18:24] And lastly, I do want to mention Men's Breakfast, and I want to invite Chad Turner to come and give the invitation for that.

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning, Back Creek.
[00:18:40] Thank you, Matt.
[00:18:42] As you said, I'm Chad Turner.
[00:18:43] I've been blessed with the opportunity to facilitate going on now two years of Men's Breakfast.
[00:18:49] We're going to be kicking off 2026 next Saturday.
[00:18:53] We've decided to continue setting it on the third Saturday of every month.
[00:18:58] I'm appealing to the men of this church.
[00:19:02] There's 60 to 80 men in here right now.
[00:19:06] I'm also appealing to if you have a spouse to your spouse to encourage slash support your husband to be a part of this.
[00:19:14] The Lord put this on my heart probably about three and a half years ago to do to
[00:19:20] Bring the men of Back Creek together so that, number one, they grow in Christ so they therefore can lead their families, so they can therefore go out into the world and make disciples of all men.
[00:19:31] It's a great opportunity.
[00:19:33] I have a group of gentlemen who, for the most part, come and help us cook a hot breakfast.
[00:19:39] We begin at 8 o'clock to eat.
[00:19:42] We break bread, fellowship, and then
[00:19:45] We're going to be going over, starting 2026, this book, The Law of Rewards by Randy Alcorn.
[00:19:51] The church has graciously purchased books for everyone, and I would just ask that you pray about it, consider being a part of it so we can grow as a church.
[00:20:01] Thank you.
[00:20:05] Thank you, Chad.

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
It was our joy.
[00:20:13] To worship God this morning.
[00:20:14] It is God who calls people to worship Him this morning from Psalm 105.
[00:20:21] Oh, give thanks to the Lord.
[00:20:23] Call upon His name.
[00:20:25] Make known His deeds among the peoples.
[00:20:28] Sing to Him.
[00:20:28] Sing praises to Him.
[00:20:30] Tell of all His wondrous works.
[00:20:32] Glory in His holy name.
[00:20:35] Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
[00:20:39] Seek the Lord and His strength.
[00:20:41] Seek His presence continually.
[00:20:44] Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered.
[00:20:49] Oh, offspring of Abraham, His servant, children of Jacob, His chosen ones.
[00:20:55] Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
[00:20:58] Lord our God, it is our aim and our most eager desire this morning to give thanks to you.
[00:21:08] Lord, to call on your name.
[00:21:10] And Lord, to remember your mighty works in history.
[00:21:16] Lord, it's our goal this morning to meet with you and to be transformed by you, to have us meet you through the means that you have appointed through word and through prayer.
[00:21:27] Oh Lord, as we seek to pray your word and sing your word and preach your word and hear your word preached and we read your word, oh Lord, would you speak to your people?
[00:21:36] We thank you for your faithfulness to your promises.
[00:21:39] We thank you for the way that you have worked in our individual lives.
[00:21:42] Lord, we thank you most of all for the gospel of Jesus Christ that sets us free, that has given us once and for all forgiveness for all of our sins, that has reconciled those who were once enemies to God.
[00:22:01] He's given the gift and the privilege of adoption so that we are not merely stewards and servants of the Lord, but His very children who bear His name.
[00:22:13] That you, our God, have come to live in us, Holy Spirit, to empower us to new life in Christ, to live as those who belong to God.
[00:22:25] and to worship as those whose lives have been changed forever to worship as those who have been loved and therefore love in return the Lord our God with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our mind and all of our strength and so Lord I pray that you would enable us to bring the fullness of who we are now before you our minds our hearts our souls our bodies
[00:22:52] our burdens and our brokenness and our sorrows and our sufferings and our sins Lord let us bring all that we are before you knowing that in Christ you receive us and you take great pleasure in our worship and that you use it Lord in our lives in ways that we don't always see but Lord we know
[00:23:18] That you are doing the work of transformation in our lives week after week as we gather in your presence and as we receive your word.
[00:23:26] So do that work now in us, your people, O Lord, that we might make known among the nations what you have done.
[00:23:34] We ask these things in the name of Jesus.
[00:23:36] Amen.
[00:23:37] Stand together and worship the Lord in song.

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me Let me hide myself in Thee Let the water and the blood
[00:24:11] From Thy wounded side which falls Be of sin a double cure Stay from wrath and make me pure By the labor
[00:24:41] All of my hands can fulfill Thy law's demands Could my zeal no respite know?
[00:25:04] Could my tears forever flow?
[00:25:08] All for sin
[00:25:11] God atone Thou must save and Thou alone Nothing in my hands I bring Simply truth
[00:25:50] Look to Thee for grace, Foul light to Thee, Fountain of life, Wash me, Savior, before I die.
[00:26:26] Let me hide
[00:26:56] Let me hide myself in You.
[00:27:01] Let me hide myself in You.
[00:27:42] I am self-sufficient, married, shining like the sun A fortune I inherit by no work I have done My righteousness I'll forfeit at my Savior's cross
[00:28:11] We're all sufficiently did what I could not In love He condescended eternal now and time
[00:28:38] Life without a blemish The Maker made to die The Lord could never save us Our longings missed at one Until the poor inspired
[00:29:03] The Word of the Lord.
[00:29:35] I lay down my garments in the empty host Good works now all corrupted by the sinful host I rest in my Lord Jesus of crimson robe
[00:30:05] In the year of judgment His righteousness is mine It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe Painful, unsufficient
[00:30:34] It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient.
[00:31:08] Sing Hallelujah His righteousness is mine Sing Hallelujah All sufficient merit Firm in life and death
[00:31:37] A joy of my salvation shall be my final bread And when I stand accepted before the throne of God I'll gaze unto my Jesus and thank Him for the cross
[00:32:13] It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient, married now my own, it is done, it is
[00:32:37] For dead are you, hidden from all sufficient, Married now my own, is married now my own, God you're married now my own

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
O sufficient merit O sufficient merit Shining like the sun A fortune I inherit By no work I have done

[00:33:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
My righteousness I forfeit at my Savior's cross.
[00:33:47] We're all sufficient merits in what I do now.

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.
[00:33:59] You may be seated.
[00:34:06] It's good news that we have powerfully sung about and proclaimed.
[00:34:14] I think maybe sometimes we might wonder, well, if it is true that Jesus once and for all has removed all of my sin and given me all of his righteousness, and it is true, then why
[00:34:31] Why would I need to confess my sins again and again?
[00:34:35] And the reality is that we sin again and again.
[00:34:44] And not only that, but that acknowledging our sin is our way of apprehending the amazing reality of God's great love for us.
[00:34:59] In our redemption through Christ.
[00:35:02] And so we, when we gather for worship, we don't come as people who say, well that all happened in the past and we don't have to think about it or worry about it anymore.
[00:35:10] We don't come as a people who minimize the ways in which we continue to go our own way.
[00:35:19] Become as a people humbly and contritely before a God who has done everything necessary for us to be reconciled to Him and to have eternal life.
[00:35:28] We confess our sins openly and we receive forgiveness completely.
[00:35:35] So we're going to confess our sin this morning publicly.
[00:35:40] And I will warn you, it's a bit of a long one, but honestly, if we are regularly confessing our sins, we find ourselves speaking to God for a long time.
[00:35:50] So let's go to the Lord's together in confession.
[00:35:54] Our holy and merciful God, we confess that you are righteous in all your ways and we are not.
[00:36:02] You have revealed your will as good, pleasing, and perfect.
[00:36:06] Yet our hearts want what is lesser, broken, and self-serving.
[00:36:11] You call us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
[00:36:17] But we often want our comfort more than your commandments, our preferences more than your purposes, our control more than your wisdom.
[00:36:28] You desire that we walk in humility and trust, but we want recognition, security, and power.
[00:36:36] You invite us to rest in your providence, but we anxiously desire outcomes you have not promised and resent paths you have wisely chosen for us.
[00:36:47] You command us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
[00:36:51] We confess that we want convenience over compassion.
[00:36:55] Silence over truth and judgment over mercy.
[00:36:59] We excuse our impatience, justify our bitterness, and withhold forgiveness from others, even as we are daily dependent on your grace.
[00:37:10] You delight in holiness, truth, and obedience from the heart.
[00:37:16] We confess that we often settle for surface-level commitment, religiosity without repentance, and worship with our lips while our hearts remain far from You.
[00:37:28] We want the blessings of your kingdom without submitting to you, our King.
[00:37:34] Gracious Father, we acknowledge that our sinful wants do not lead to abundant life.
[00:37:40] They distort our loves, divide our loyalties, and draw us away from the joy you desire for your children.
[00:37:49] Have mercy upon us, we pray, not because we deserve it, but because you are faithful to your promises and abounding in steadfast love toward us.
[00:38:00] Lord Jesus, forgive us all our sins, those we know and those we have forgotten, those done in thought, word, and deed, and those done by what we have left undone.
[00:38:15] Renew us, Holy Spirit, that our wants may be reoriented to your word, our hearts reordered by your love, and our lives conformed to your will.
[00:38:26] We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with the Father and the Spirit, be all glory, now and forever.
[00:38:36] Amen.
[00:38:37] To all who are looking away from themselves and to Christ Jesus alone for the forgiveness of sins, for reconciliation with God, and for eternal life, hear the word of blessing from God.
[00:38:50] Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
[00:38:56] Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit.
[00:39:03] Amen.
[00:39:05] I want to invite one of our elders, Cliff Cooksey, to come and lead us in a prayer of intercession.

[00:39:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Good morning.
[00:39:22] Pray with me please.
[00:39:23] Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity we have this morning to come before you and pray for your church and intercession.
[00:39:32] As we lift up this church and community, give us confidence in your promises to turn over our anxiousness and worry, knowing your blessings and grace are more than sufficient.
[00:39:43] As your servant Matt shares the message you have placed on his heart this morning, I pray that you clear our minds to receive this message
[00:39:50] Help each of us to apply that in our lives, sharing your good news throughout the coming week.
[00:39:55] Father, we live in a messed up and broken world.
[00:39:58] So much of what we see and hear takes our focus away from you and puts our focus on our own selfishness and desires to be right, trying to create our own truth.
[00:40:08] I pray for humility in each of us to clearly see that our only hope is in you and the sacrifice of your Son.
[00:40:16] I'm grateful this morning that we have the opportunity to come to you in prayer, sing your praise, and hear your word preached.
[00:40:23] I pray through all things we are strengthened with faith in the coming year and carry that out into everything that we do.
[00:40:29] Father, I lift up our church staff, Matt, Adam, Kelly, Frank, and Dawn, for all they do day in and day out to serve you.
[00:40:37] I pray that each one of them is encouraged and blessed and strengthened by you.
[00:40:43] Father, also be with our new deacons and elders in the coming year.
[00:40:47] Thank you for each of them and their willingness to serve you and care for this church family.
[00:40:52] I pray for the volunteers as well.
[00:40:54] I pray you contend to add to their numbers in supporting all the ministries of this church.
[00:41:00] For all those in harm's way around the world, give them protection, and I pray for your prevailing peace where there's conflict.
[00:41:07] I lift up all our local and state and world leaders, give them godly wisdom, and I pray for their decisions
[00:41:13] and their actions that are glorifying to you.
[00:41:15] I lift up those in this church and community who are struggling with illness and I pray your healing hand on them.
[00:41:23] Be with family members and friends who are caring for loved ones and give them strength and give them grace.
[00:41:30] Comfort those who have recently lost loved ones.
[00:41:33] Help us to see their needs and come alongside them as they grieve in support.
[00:41:38] I lift up those serving in the mission field
[00:41:40] Around the world, for World Witness, Bridge Europe, and all the teams that are faithfully carrying your good news throughout the world, give them provision, support, and prayer.
[00:41:50] Open doors and opportunities and hedge them in your protection.
[00:41:54] I do pray for Josh and Libby Hoyers as they return from Prague.
[00:41:58] Give them rest and bless their time as they reconnect with family and friends and as they look into the next season of their ministry and missions.
[00:42:06] I lift up Josh Grimm and RUF in the coming spring semester this week.
[00:42:10] Continue to give him opportunities to reach students at such a critical time in their lives.
[00:42:16] Be with all of the local missions as well and for those in our congregation who faithfully serve in this community.
[00:42:22] I pray they continue to be a blessing to those they serve.
[00:42:27] Father, we are grateful for the abundance of your provision in our lives and as we take up our offering this morning, I pray we give with glad hearts.
[00:42:34] Knowing that all we have comes from you.
[00:42:37] I pray all these things in your son's precious and holy name.

[00:42:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Amen.

[00:43:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Let his handiwork say I am his, I am his Creator owns creation See what power there is in the song
[00:43:32] The Lord is a holy King The Judge rules from heaven His wrath He will surely bring On the man who rebels O my sin, O my sin How can I be forgiven?
[00:44:01] Give His justice in Him, His the mercy as well.
[00:44:21] I am a gracious King for those who believe Him His Son is an offering for their sins to atone I'm redeemed, I'm redeemed by grace I have received Him
[00:44:51] I have peace at His throne The Lord is a faithful King He never will leave us His children will ever sing Of His glorious love
[00:45:18] O my soul, O my soul Is safely bound in Jesus All His virtues extol For the Lord reigns above
[00:45:49] Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
[00:45:59] Praise Him all creatures here below.
[00:46:08] Praise Him above ye heavenly host.
[00:46:18] Amen.

[00:46:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
You may be seated.
[00:46:33] And if you're a child second grade and younger, you're welcome to stay with us for the message.
[00:46:39] But if you and your parents agree, then you can be dismissed right over here through this door for kids worship.
[00:46:47] You'll return as we're responding to God's Word in song.
[00:47:16] In 2020, remember 2020?
[00:47:19] We started our journey through the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and we worked through the first 11 chapters and we called that series Origins because those chapters tell the beginning of the one story that
[00:47:37] God created the heavens and the earth They show us the origins of all of our troubles Our rejection of the Creator that brought death and destruction and darkness and despair
[00:48:07] They show us the beginning of our redemption, the origins of our redemption from God's promise of a rescuer who would crush all evil and restore what was lost.
[00:48:18] To God saving Noah from the flood of his judgment.
[00:48:23] To God's promise to a man that he would be his God and God to his children as well.
[00:48:28] That he would make him into a great nation and ultimately through him to bless all the families on earth.
[00:48:35] In 2023, we came back to the Genesis narrative as it zooms in from the cosmic level to this family of this man named Abraham.
[00:48:49] We call him Father Abraham.
[00:48:51] And from Genesis chapter 12 through 25, we saw God's commitment to redemption through his good promises to Abraham and his faithfulness to keep them.
[00:49:03] Well, it's 2026.
[00:49:04] So we're back to Genesis to check in on Abraham's family, his son of promise, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob.
[00:49:14] Abraham was far from a perfect man and his flaws were on display in his story, to be sure.
[00:49:23] But these two take it to a whole other level.
[00:49:26] especially Jacob who we're going to spend the most time with.
[00:49:30] They're not the spiritual heroes or the sterling examples that we might expect of the patriarchs of our faith.
[00:49:38] Their stories are complicated and messy and disappointing.
[00:49:43] There are moments where you might wonder in this story, why am I even rooting for this guy?
[00:49:50] And man, that gives me so much hope.
[00:49:56] Because a lot of the time, Isaac's and Jacob's stories show their walking with God looking more like wrestling with God.
[00:50:09] And a lot of times that's what my walk looks like as well.
[00:50:12] I'm complicated, messy, and disappointing.
[00:50:18] I'm not the model disciple that I want to be or the accomplished patriarch.
[00:50:23] In Isaac and Jacob, I see so much about myself that I wish was not true.
[00:50:32] Like Isaac and Jacob, I am loved and chosen by God.
[00:50:38] In Jesus, I receive His yes and amen to all the powerful and precious promises that He made to them.
[00:50:45] Like Isaac and Jacob, God is tenaciously committed to me and to my eternal good, and He invites my wrestling with Him as a means to the blessing of deeper connection with Him.
[00:51:01] Wrestling is unavoidable when finite and sinful creatures in a fallen and broken world are engaging with their infinite and perfect Creator.
[00:51:13] And we're going to see through Isaac and Jacob how God uses that reality of unavoidable wrestling ultimately to bless us.
[00:51:23] Wrestling is not always good.
[00:51:29] But it's not always bad either.
[00:51:32] And there are at least two reasons we find in these stories that we don't need to be afraid or discouraged when we find ourselves wrestling with God.
[00:51:42] The first is, if you find yourself wrestling with God, your wrestling with God is evidence that there is already a relationship.
[00:51:51] Wrestling with the Lord might make us feel like our faith is struggling or failing, but actually it shows that we believe that God is there and that we're pressing into who He is and what He has said.
[00:52:04] If you didn't have faith, if you didn't have a relationship, then you wouldn't have a wrestle.
[00:52:15] Second, God always wins.
[00:52:20] You can wrestle with his character, but God is always righteous.
[00:52:25] You can wrestle with his plan, but God is always right.
[00:52:29] You can wrestle to get away from him, but he will never let you go.
[00:52:32] God always wins, which means that though we lose, we always still win because God only ever does what is for our ultimate and eternal good.
[00:52:50] So this series is going to be called Wrestling with God and we'll pick up where we left off three years ago at the end of Abraham's story Genesis 25 verse 7 and we'll read to the end of the chapter Genesis 25 verse 7 through 34 if you're able I'd invite you to stand in honor of God's word
[00:53:19] These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 175 years.
[00:53:25] Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
[00:53:32] Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre.
[00:53:40] The field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites, there Abraham was buried with Sarah, his wife.
[00:53:45] After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son, and Isaac settled at Bir Lahai Roi.
[00:53:52] These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar, the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham.
[00:53:59] These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth.
[00:54:03] Nebaoth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Keter, Adbil.
[00:54:07] Mibsam, Mishma, Duma, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jeter, Naphish, and Kedema.
[00:54:14] These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names by their villages and by their encampments.
[00:54:18] Twelve princes according to their tribes.
[00:54:20] These are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years.
[00:54:24] He breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people.
[00:54:27] They settled from Havalah to Shur which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria.
[00:54:32] He settled over against all his kinsmen.
[00:54:36] These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son.
[00:54:39] Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban, the Aramean, to be his wife.
[00:54:50] And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren.
[00:54:53] And the Lord granted his prayer.
[00:54:55] And Rebekah his wife conceived.
[00:54:57] The children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is thus, why is this happening to me?
[00:55:03] So she went to inquire of the Lord.
[00:55:06] And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided.
[00:55:12] The one shall be stronger than the other.
[00:55:14] The older shall serve the younger.
[00:55:16] When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.
[00:55:20] The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau.
[00:55:26] Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob.
[00:55:32] Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
[00:55:35] When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
[00:55:41] Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
[00:55:46] Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.
[00:55:51] And Esau said to Jacob, Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted.
[00:55:55] Therefore his name was called Edom.
[00:55:57] Jacob said, Sell me your birthright now.
[00:56:01] Esau said, I am about to die.
[00:56:03] Of what use is a birthright to me?
[00:56:05] Jacob said, Swear to me now.
[00:56:07] So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
[00:56:09] Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way.
[00:56:15] Thus Esau despised his birthright.
[00:56:18] The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
[00:56:21] Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
[00:56:24] Lord our God we thank you that you have given to us your word that is true and trustworthy and that by your spirit transforms our lives and so we ask now that you would expose us through your word that we would can be convicted that you would bless us through your word that we might hear what you have to say to us and Lord empower us through your word and by your spirit that we might live out your call on our lives we love you Lord and we thank you for this good gift to us in the name of Jesus amen may be seated
[00:56:57] One of my favorite musical artists' name is Drew Holcomb, and he has a song called, You Want What You Can't Have.
[00:57:05] And some of the lyrics go like this.
[00:57:08] Some people want a house at the top of the hill.
[00:57:11] Some people want people to pay all their bills.
[00:57:14] Some people want to move on.
[00:57:16] Some people want to go back in time.
[00:57:18] Some people buy everything they want.
[00:57:21] Other people don't have a dime.
[00:57:23] You want what you can't have.
[00:57:25] Since the Garden of Eden, it's been like that.
[00:57:28] You can't tear down the tree or pull all the weeds, spend your life looking for the greener grass.
[00:57:34] You want what you can't have.
[00:57:36] Even fortune tellers can't go back.
[00:57:39] You can't wake the dead or change what you said.
[00:57:41] You want what you can't have.
[00:57:46] And I think that's an insightful take on the human condition.
[00:57:50] And we see in this passage, and if we're honest, we see in our lives how our wants can drive our wrestling with God.
[00:58:01] Our wants, which again, wrestling with God is not either always good or always bad.
[00:58:06] Also, our wants are not always good.
[00:58:10] Sinful.
[00:58:11] Sometimes, many times in fact, our wants are good.
[00:58:14] Nevertheless, our wants can drive our wrestling with God.
[00:58:18] And we see that in at least three ways here in this passage.
[00:58:23] The first way is that our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's plan.
[00:58:29] Our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's plan.
[00:58:35] How many times in your life
[00:58:36] Have your plans so lined up with God's plans that you got exactly what you wanted when you wanted it?
[00:58:48] Right?
[00:58:49] Maybe once or twice?
[00:58:51] I can say that's happened for me a few times, but of course, over the whole of my life, it's very unusual.
[00:58:58] There are times when I haven't gotten what I want at all.
[00:59:02] And that's been a huge wrestle for me.
[00:59:05] and I'm able to look back on that.
[00:59:07] There's times that I didn't get what I wanted.
[00:59:09] I really wrestled with God over not getting what I wanted and realize and thank God that His wisdom is so much greater than mine that in the end He gave me better than what I had actually wanted.
[00:59:22] There are other times where what I wanted wasn't something that I was ready for at the time and the Lord's plan was for me to wait which was another huge wrestle for me because I don't like to wait.
[00:59:35] And there are other times where I have wants and desires that I know are good things, but they don't seem to be part of the Lord's plan for me.
[00:59:44] And that's especially a difficult kind of wrestle.
[00:59:49] And it's the kind of wrestle that it seems Isaac and Rebecca were going through in this passage.
[00:59:54] They wanted something that is really, really good.
[01:00:00] They wanted a child.
[01:00:02] They wanted to be parents.
[01:00:04] They wanted it probably as individuals before they ever met each other.
[01:00:08] They wanted it when they got married and Isaac was 40 years old.
[01:00:15] And there probably were a few years of expectation and disappointment followed by a few years of intense wrestling with this longing.
[01:00:25] And then a season of grief for what they surely thought would never come.
[01:00:34] And then two decades had passed by.
[01:00:37] Isaac was 60 years old and it hadn't happened.
[01:00:45] I know that some of you are experiencing the unique pain of this wrestle.
[01:00:52] And I'm so grateful for the testimony of God's Word that all throughout
[01:01:00] That whether God answers that longing and that prayer in the way that you want, that He sees you, that He loves you, and that He will meet you in the pain and the grief and the difficulty of this season, even if it lasts until we see Him.
[01:01:22] We'll see different kinds of wrestling with God in this series and even in this passage.
[01:01:26] But here, Isaac and Rebekah model for us a righteous wrestling with God's plan.
[01:01:33] They don't give up on the Lord for not giving them what they want.
[01:01:37] Instead, they press into intimacy with the Lord through prayer.
[01:01:42] Scriptures tell us Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren.
[01:01:49] When our wants lead us to wrestle with God's plan, we pray.
[01:01:55] When our wants lead us to wrestle with God's plan for us, righteous wrestling looks like prayer.
[01:02:04] The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, what is prayer?
[01:02:08] Prayer is an offering up of our desires.
[01:02:13] What a beautiful invitation.
[01:02:15] Prayer is an offering up of our desires for things agreeable to God's will in the name of Christ with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of His mercies.
[01:02:28] Righteous wrestling with God's plan looks like prayer and we see that in Scripture when Moses wrestles with God over his plan to destroy his people over their idolatry.
[01:02:40] We see it when David is suffering and he cries out, How long, O Lord?
[01:02:46] We see it with Hannah who had this same wrestle of infertility.
[01:02:51] We see it with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before the cross as he is wrestling mightily in prayer over God's plan for him to die for our salvation.
[01:03:05] Moses and Hannah received the wants that they wrestled for.
[01:03:10] David got temporary reprieve but spent most of his life dealing with opposition and suffering.
[01:03:17] Jesus yielded to God's will over his want out of love for us.
[01:03:23] We offer up our desires to God.
[01:03:25] We wrestle with his plan through prayer with the goal of connecting and communing with God so deeply that his desires become our own.
[01:03:36] In this case, Isaac wrestles with God in prayer.
[01:03:39] And after 20 years, God grants Isaac and Rebekah's desire and they conceive.
[01:03:46] And apparently, Esau and Jacob's competitiveness begins in the womb.
[01:03:53] It says that as they conceive and they have these babies and she experiences what they used to call the quickening and the babies begin to move that they are, the scriptures say, struggling.
[01:04:02] You can translate this wrestling.
[01:04:04] Literally, they are smashing against each other in there.
[01:04:09] And Rebecca is concerned that they may lose the thing that they have wanted for so long, what finally seemed to be in God's plan for them.
[01:04:18] So she gets back in the ring with the Lord.
[01:04:21] And she wrestles through prayer.
[01:04:24] And the Lord answers that she will not have one baby, but two babies.
[01:04:31] And they are wrestling even in the womb, and they're going to wrestle all their lives.
[01:04:36] As a symbolic reminder of this prophecy, the boys are competing even as they are born.
[01:04:42] Esau narrowly escaping first, but Jacob holding onto his heel.
[01:04:48] The Lord knows that we will wrestle with His plans because His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways.
[01:04:56] As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are the thoughts and ways of God above ours.
[01:05:02] He has graciously invited and commanded us to wrestle with Him in prayer.
[01:05:07] And prayer is one of the means by which God accomplishes His will on earth.
[01:05:17] God commands us to pray because He uses our prayers to accomplish His will in our lives.
[01:05:22] It was God's will for Isaac and Rebekah to pray for a child and it was God's, it was the prayer, it was the means by which God provided them what they had wanted and longed for.
[01:05:33] But it is even more importantly,
[01:05:39] A means of deepening our communion and our connection with God and being conformed to Him and to His will.
[01:05:46] When our wants lead us to wrestle with God's plan, we pray.
[01:05:54] Our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's plan.
[01:05:55] Second, our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's provision.
[01:06:00] Our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's provision.
[01:06:02] How amazing and generous is God that when Isaac and Rebekah wrestled with Him in prayer, He answered them with a double blessing.
[01:06:11] Not one baby, but two babies.
[01:06:14] Has God ever provided for you above and beyond what you expected or imagined?
[01:06:21] That's what happened here.
[01:06:23] And how do Isaac and Rebecca respond to God's good, excessive provision of two sons?
[01:06:33] They pick favorites.
[01:06:37] Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game.
[01:06:41] And everybody knows that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
[01:06:46] But Rebecca loved Jacob.
[01:06:49] In the first act, Isaac and Rebekah leaned into intimacy with God.
[01:06:56] They wrestled with God righteously.
[01:06:59] In the second act, after they received God's provision, they're both dissatisfied with half of it.
[01:07:09] Isaac wanted Esau.
[01:07:12] He could do without soft Jacob.
[01:07:14] Rebekah wanted Jacob.
[01:07:16] She could do without sweaty Esau.
[01:07:19] This reaction to God's provision is going to lead to all kinds of family dysfunction as mom and dad, instead of wrestling with God through prayer, wrestle against God by trying to take matters into their own hands to provide the outcomes that they want.
[01:07:35] We'll see more of that later on in this narrative, but I think this is an area where we might often find our wants leading us to wrestle with God, this area of provision.
[01:07:46] Let me just ask you, where are you tempted to see God's provision for you as not enough?
[01:07:53] Materially?
[01:07:55] Financially?
[01:07:55] Relationally?
[01:07:58] Physically?
[01:08:03] Spiritually?
[01:08:06] Where are your wants leading you to wrestle with God or even against God?
[01:08:15] At the end of the day, the question really becomes, is God himself enough?
[01:08:24] Even if we don't think that God has provided for us in any other ways, that's not true.
[01:08:33] God has provided for us in all kinds of ways, ways that we're not even aware of.
[01:08:38] But we can find ourselves in a place sometimes where we think, God hasn't provided anything that I need or want.
[01:08:44] But even if that's the case, we can know for sure that He has provided Himself to us.
[01:08:54] The good news about Jesus is that God has given himself to us.
[01:09:02] That he has made ultimate provision for us in himself.
[01:09:05] Jesus, we just came through the Advent season where we sing a song, O come, O come, Emmanuel.
[01:09:15] His name shall be called Emmanuel.
[01:09:17] Why?
[01:09:17] What does it mean?
[01:09:18] God with us.
[01:09:22] We went our own way.
[01:09:25] We rejected our Creator.
[01:09:27] We deserved His condemnation, and yet He came for us in love.
[01:09:32] He came to be with us.
[01:09:34] He came to redeem us, and He did so.
[01:09:36] The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who became fully human while remaining fully God, and did so in His life and His death and His resurrection for the undeserving, for the needy, for the sinner like me.
[01:09:51] God has once and for all given to us Himself.
[01:09:55] And the question for us is when we feel like God hasn't provided anything that we need or anything that we want, is provision of Himself enough?
[01:10:07] And this is an invitation to wrestle with Him until He is our all in all.
[01:10:14] That we see Him as the ultimate and all sufficient provision and the only thing that we need.
[01:10:23] Our wants can lead us to wrestle with God's plan.
[01:10:25] They can lead us to wrestle with God's provision.
[01:10:27] And lastly, our wants can lead us to wrestle with our position.
[01:10:33] Our wants can lead us to wrestle with our position.
[01:10:36] Jacob is not content with the position that God has placed him in.
[01:10:42] From the womb, he wanted to be first.
[01:10:45] He's wrestling with his brother, born grasping for position.
[01:10:50] He was born second.
[01:10:52] By just a few seconds, but in the ancient Near East, that meant that his rights and privileges were fewer.
[01:11:00] And his inheritance would be smaller by half.
[01:11:04] And as we're going to see continually, our man Jacob is a schemer.
[01:11:10] And he wrestles against his position by manipulating his brother.
[01:11:17] Esau is hungry and wants food.
[01:11:20] Jacob is a different kind of hungry and wants his brother's position and he has some delicious smelling stew.
[01:11:28] Instead of loving his brother and offering him what he had for what Esau needed, he instead puts him in a wrestling hold.
[01:11:39] You want some of this food?
[01:11:41] Sell me your birthright.
[01:11:44] Now God had already promised
[01:11:47] That the older son was going to serve the younger son.
[01:11:50] There's no doubt that Rebekah, whose favorite was Jacob, had whispered to him what the Lord had spoken over him.
[01:12:00] But that wasn't enough for Jacob.
[01:12:02] He wasn't just wrestling with his brother for position.
[01:12:05] He was wrestling with God for position.
[01:12:07] He was second, and he wanted to be first.
[01:12:12] Sounds like me.
[01:12:15] What about you?
[01:12:19] But Christians, those of you who are in Christ, hear this.
[01:12:24] In the kingdom of God, it doesn't work like that.
[01:12:28] In Matthew 20, Jesus says, The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.
[01:12:38] Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be great among you must be your slave.
[01:12:50] Our want for a better position in our family.
[01:12:55] Anybody not the golden child?
[01:12:56] I hope my parents don't watch the live stream.
[01:13:04] Oops.
[01:13:06] Love you, Mom and Dad.
[01:13:10] In our work.
[01:13:13] In our status.
[01:13:16] In our lives.
[01:13:18] Our perceived lack of position can cause us to wrestle with God and taking things into our own hands instead of trusting our good, good Father who always and only does what is best for us.
[01:13:35] Our wants can lead us to wrestle with God in fruitful ways like prayer and in harmful ways like trying to make His plan match ours or trying to manipulate outcomes for provision or position.
[01:13:49] The truth is, when we wrestle in these negative ways, it's not because our wants themselves are necessarily bad or because our wants themselves are too strong.
[01:14:04] C.S.
[01:14:04] Lewis famously said, It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
[01:14:14] We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea.
[01:14:35] Y'all, there are two things that my son says to me when I get home from work in the afternoon.
[01:14:43] Some days it's, can we play catch?
[01:14:47] And some days it's, can we wrestle?
[01:14:52] And I love wrestling with my boy.
[01:14:54] He's nine, so I usually win that one.
[01:14:59] For now.
[01:15:01] But why does he want to wrestle?
[01:15:05] Why does he want to get on the floor and grapple with me?
[01:15:13] There's only one reason.
[01:15:16] He wants more of me.
[01:15:19] And the reason I say yes is because I want more of Him.
[01:15:25] Y'all, our wants can lead us to wrestle with God and His plan, His provision, our position.
[01:15:36] But we're called as God's children to come before our Father
[01:15:44] When we need or when we want and say in full humility, want to wrestle?
[01:15:55] Let's pray.
[01:15:58] Lord, we thank you.
[01:16:00] Thank you that though we may wrestle with you and even against you, Lord, that you always win.
[01:16:08] Because your plans for us are so much better than our own.
[01:16:11] Your provision for us, Lord, ultimately is yourself.
[01:16:15] And so it's so much greater than any of these things that we might want to lay hands to.
[01:16:19] Lord, the position that you have put us in, please remind us through it, Lord, when we find ourselves low,
[01:16:28] That you give grace to the humble but oppose the proud that you use the weak things of the world to shame the strong and the foolish things to shame the wise and Lord when we are high would you remind us that those who want to be great and those who want to be first must become a servant to all and must take the last place.
[01:16:49] Lord our God, I pray that you would help us to wrestle righteously, that you would help us to lean into intimacy with you, to bring our wants and our desires to you in prayer.
[01:16:59] Lord, to give up
[01:17:01] are seeking to manipulate our circumstances and our outcomes.
[01:17:06] But Lord, to receive and to rest in you, in who you are, in what you have done, and in your good plans for us as your people.
[01:17:16] We love you, Lord, and we thank you that you are completely trustworthy.
[01:17:21] And so we throw ourselves before you.
[01:17:26] And we do so in the name of Jesus.
[01:17:28] Amen.
[01:17:29] Let's stand together and respond to God's word and song.

[01:17:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Come thou fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing thy grace Streams of mercy

[01:17:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious song sung by flaming tongues above Praise a mount I'm fixed upon, a mount of ivy

[01:18:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Here I raise my Ebenezer Here by Thy help I've come And I hope by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home

[01:18:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[01:19:14] Amen.
[01:19:18] Or to grace how great a debtor Dearly I'm constrained to Thee Lay Thy goodness like a fetter By my wandering heart to Thee Won't you wonder what I'm feeling Won't you leave the
[01:19:50] Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for my portion.
[01:20:03] Won't you wonder, Lord, I feel it, won't you leave me?
[01:20:11] Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy glory.

[01:20:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Thank you so much for gathering with us for worship today.
[01:20:29] It's good to be back.
[01:20:31] I do want to say thank you to Adam and to Josh for preaching God's word to y'all while we were gone.
[01:20:57] Amen.

[01:21:33] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[01:22:01] Amen.