Wrestling with God Mountain Life Church Life Pack Isaac & Israel series August 28, 2011
Wrestling with God Sermon Notes August 28, 2011 Write any notes from the week here Genesis 32 I. Going Home A. Jacob sends out scouts to find Esau The scouts find Esau coming with 400 men B. Jacob prays and strategizes Jacob reminds God of His promises The gift for Esau Dividing the camp II. Wrestling With God A. Jacob wrestles with an angel all night A picture of salvation and transformation A marked man from that day forward A name change to show the transformation B. We must all wrestle with God Pushing into God until He blesses us Refusing to let go - we are usually too passive! There is REST in wrestle They will know I ve wrestled with Him because I will be marked (It will be obvious)! We all need a Peniel (A place where we see the face of God). 2 19
Table Talk Teens Meal One: As a family read Genesis 31-32, then ask these questions In Genesis 32:1-2, Jacob was on his way to meet Esau. The angels of God represent a magnificent display of God s care for Jacob. God allowed Jacob to see that he was not traveling alone. Describe the difference between being lonely and being alone. Describe a time when you felt lonely. When you are alone, who do you turn to? Meal Two: In Genesis 32:9-12, Jacob prayed for God to deliver him. He did not pray in generalities, instead he named his specific concern. Based on God s proven character and His promises in the Bible, do you trust God with your prayers? Share a specific example. III.Steps to Wrestling with God (Dan Schaeffer) A. Get Desperate When tempted to disengage and push God away, it s a time to grab hold of God and not let go Hold on... to experience God s favor and transformation B. Get Brutally Honest Can I trust Him with the truth? Why do I try to tell God what I think He wants to hear? Am I trying to manipulate Him? C. Give up Control Am I trying to control the outcome of my life? Will I allow God to transform me so I can walk God s path? D. Live by Faith I experience and know that God is good and I can trust Him The purpose of my life is all about reflecting His glory The depth of any relationship will be determined by the level of conflict we re willing to journey through. Meal Three: In Genesis 32:24-32, Jacob wrestled with God. Jacob s experience with God physically changed him he limped. The experience also had a spiritual impact on his life. How has your relationship with God changed and impacted your life? 18 3
Life Group Questions for August 28, 2011 Isaac & Israel Series Message = Wrestling With God Ice Breaker: Tell about one of the greatest challenges you ever endured. Read Genesis 32: 24-32 1. What observations do you see about this passage? 2. If the angel could simply touch Jacob s thigh and cause him to limp, do you think the angel was holding back when he wrestled Jacob? 3. In the Jewish mind, the servant was a direct emissary of his master. The way you treat the servant is the way you would treat his master. Therefore, the angel in the Hebrew mind IS God (even though he is a messenger). What do you think is going on in Jacob s heart if he is wrestling with God? 4. Have you ever wrestled with God, pushing hard into Him, expecting not to release Him until He blessed you? Tell about it. 5. What pictures come to your mind when you think of wrestling with God today? 6. What part does honest conversation play in your daily prayer time? Are you comfortable being brutally honest with God? If not, what holds you back? Elementary Table Talk Genesis 32 Day 1 Read Genesis 32 : 1-21 together as a family. Divide this amongst the readers in the group (don t forget to count this reading toward any school reading logs!). Discuss how Jacob is feeling about meeting with his brother Esau. What does it mean to pacify someone? Day 2 Read Genesis 32 : 22-32 together as a family. What do you think it would be like to wrestle with God himself? Talk about the symbolism of this wrestling match. Day 3 Stage a wrestling match! Treat this as a time to bond with your child(ren). As you wrestle (be sure to follow Mom s rules), discuss with your children what it might have felt like to be Jacob. If you wrestle for 15 minutes, point out that Jacob wrestled the entire night! If you have a personal experience of wrestling with God over something in your life, share that with your child. Pray for each other 4
Table Talk Preschool & Nursery: Genesis 32-33 covers several different topics for children. You might want to tell or read to your child small sections at a time and talk with them about the meaning. For example traveling, separating the sheep and goats, gifts for Esau and wrestling with God. Where was Jacob going? Why was Jacob afraid of his brother Esau? Why did Jacob send a gift to Esau? What did Jacob do after he divided the animals into groups? Who wrestled with Jacob? What was Jacob's new name? Bible Verse: Then the man said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. Genesis 32:28 Prayer: Help me to remember that all good things come from you, And help me always to be thankful. Help me to be a blessing today. Use me to bring happiness to those you love. Activity: Encourage your child to make a decision that might be difficult for them yet simple. For example do they want vanilla or chocolate ice cream or do they want to read a book about cars or birds. Use their wrestling with choices to illustrate Jacob wrestling with God. Personal Devotion Pages The following pages are designed to help you enjoy a regular time alone with God. We have divided up the curriculum to help us grow wherever we are at in our relationship with God and in our knowledge of His Kingdom. LEVELS: Since we are a Colorado church, we use skiing imagery to communicate the different levels of intensity and time involved in relating to God. BEGINNER: If you are new in your relationship with God, we encourage you to try the exercises under this symbol: INTERMEDIATE: If you have walked with God for some time and would like a little more challenge and more time involvement, try the exercises under this symbol: ADVANCED: These exercises are for people who have walked with God for some time and display maturity in their relationship with Him. These exercises provide a practical way to encounter God and His truth on a regular basis. There are no rules here. Please don t hurry through the process. Slow meditation and memorization seems to soak in better than cramming. Enjoy! 16 5
Day One 1. Take some time to praise the Lord for who He is, and enjoy thanking Him for what He has done in your life lately. 2. Read Genesis 32 slowly and think about what you have just read. 3. Each of Jacob s wives thought God was more on her side than on the other wives side. Have you ever thought God was more for you than someone else? What do you think the truth of scripture is regarding this? 4. Pray for God to show you what needs He would like to provide for you this week. Take 5 minutes and pray for your family for whatever comes to your mind. Memorize MaXhew 7: 7 Take 10 minutes to pray for your family, and 10 minutes to pray for people in your life who need the Lord. Memorize MaXhew 7: 7-8, 11 Take 10 minutes to pray for your family, and 10 minutes to pray for people in your life who need the Lord. Take whatever time you have left to pray for your church leadership. Memorize MaXhew 7: 7-11 So, was a limp the only blessing God gave Isaac after wrestling all night? Wrestle with God so you can get a limp and a new name, and that s it? The answer comes in this statement, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. (Genesis 32:28) I believe this statement shows us that when Jacob sees his brother, Esau, there will be reconciliation. It doesn t say it in black and white, but God blesses Israel with 1.) a changed character, and 2.) a reconciled relationship with Esau. Notice how Israel s character changes! Israel will forever be a changed man after this wrangle with the angel. God will forge in him a faith and integrity that will change him forever. Read on a liele bit and see how God has gone before Israel and already changed Esau s heart! When the two of them meet, Israel is in defensive mode, but Esau bear hugs him and weeps. God has already brought about forgiveness in Esau s heart! Is your heart heavy with difficult relationships? Push into God and don t let go until He blesses you! He invites you to do it! Day Five 6 15
Day Five 1. Take some time to praise the Lord from your heart. Enjoy Him thoroughly before moving into a time of thanks. Thank God for all the good things He s done for you lately. 2. Meditate slowly on Philippians 4: 4-13 today. Ask God to help you to seek Him with all your heart. 3. Ask God to teach you about submission today. Is there an authority (boss, teacher, parent, etc) in your life who is difficult to respect? Tell God that you will choose to respect that person, even though they are not very respectable in your eyes. Write their names here. Day One This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn. ~Genesis 32:24, NLT. Conflict has become a regular part of Jacob s life by now. He left Canaan because he ripped off his brother and had to run away before Esau could kill him. He has spent twenty some years working for a crooked, deceptive uncle who makes Jacob s deceptions look like child s play. After leaving the uncle, Laban has pursued him with the motive to do him serious bodily harm, but after a brief confrontation, the two depart from one another with a treaty. Jacob was married to four wives, and the text shows us the continual competition and squabbling between them... Everywhere in his life, Jacob deals with complicated relationships. A couple decades before this, God revealed himself to Jacob in a dream. Since that time, God has shown Jacob that He is a life giving, loving God who propels Jacob forward, not chaining him down. Yet the rest of Jacob s relationships have caused him considerable angst. This angst reveals itself when he wrestles with the angel with a relentless persistence. It s as if he s crying out, God, life is so complicated! YOU VE GOTTA DO SOMETHING! 4. Finish your Bible memorization today. What stands out about Jacob is that he is willing to wrestle with God. For many of us, we throw our hands in the air and declare religious theologies about God s sovereignty, and give up. But we miss out on the blessing! Push into God today, and don t give up until He blesses you! 14 7
Day Two 1. Take some time to quiet yourself before God and thank Him for all He s done in your life lately. Then praise Him for who He is. 2. Read I Timothy 6: 6-19. 3. After reading the above passage in I Timothy, do you think you are genuinely content? 4. Take time to pray for friends, loved- ones, and co- workers who don t know the Lord. Ask Him to bring people into their lives who will boldly live and speak the grace and truth of God into their lives. Ask God if you are one of those people who should be investing into their lives Day Four Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. ~1 Peter 5:6, 7 Peter commands us to humble ourselves before God. Yet, how do you truly define humility? Peter goes on to give us at least one definition of the word. Did you notice the comma after the command to humble yourselves? It then says,...casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for You. One way to see humility is casting our worries on Him. As a fisherman, I know that a cast is always about geeing the line away from me, and into the water. Casting my worries on God is all about throwing them away from me and into His lap. As Jacob wrestled with the angel in Genesis 32, he was actively casting his worries on God. His actions shouted, I will not let go of you until you bless me! The angel, whom I believe was holding back, then touched Jacob on the hip and blessed him. How is forever causing someone to limp a blessing? Great question. It was a lifelong reminder to Jacob that he was no longer Jacob, the deceiver. No. He was now Israel, God strives. The angel says it like this, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed (Genesis 32:28, emphasis mine). 5. Continue memorizing and meditating on the scriptures for this week. Once you have truly given your cares to God, you will be a marked person. Everyone will be able to see it! 8 13
Day Four 1. Take time to praise God for who He is and then thank Him with a grateful heart for all He has done for you lately. 2. Meditate again on I Timothy 6: 6-19. Based on this passage, what constitutes needs in Paul s mind? Day Two God wants to turn your test into a testimony, and your mess into a message ~Rick Warren Jacob has returned from the land of Laban as a wealthy man (he spent 20 some years working for his uncle, Laban), but worn down from years of squabbling and competition between his wives, and continual aggression from his deceitful uncle. His heart yearns for peace, but a possibly insurmountable obstacle stands between him and peace. He deceived his brother many years ago and ran away before Esau could kill him. Revenge waits for Jacob to return. They say "revenge is a dish best served cold." Esau's bitterness has had many years to fester in the fridge of isolation. 3. Ask God to speak to you today, in a simple or maybe even a profound way. Give Him permission to say whatever He wishes to say to You. We must not overlook Jacob's faith at this point. God has commanded him to return to the land of Canaan, the land God gave to his grandfather. On one hand, it must have felt like a relief to leave Labanville, but returning home meant facing his brother. Jacob was willing to obey God even if it meant he would possibly be murdered by his brother. The pressure cooker of difficult relationships pushed Jacob into desperation with God. I can't help but think that God used all the difficult relationships to funnel Jacob into confronting God, which brought about character change. 4. Continue meditating on and memorizing the scripture for this week. Confronting difficult relationships is a Biblical thing; in fact, Jesus practiced it and commanded it! For so many of us, we would rather run away like Jacob ran from Esau. At some point, we must return and face our Esau s. Take time to face your bitterness and difficult relationships. Allow the Lord to bring peace where there has been pain. 12 9
Day Three 1. Take some time to praise God for who He is, and then thank Him for what He s done for you lately. 2. Take just a few minutes to ask God to remind you of any true need you ve ever had that God did NOT meet for you. If there is one, ask Him to give you His wisdom as to why He did not give you what you needed. 3. God delights in giving us what we need. Write down in this space your genuine needs, and believe God for them. 4. Ask God to show you someone to show kindness to as you go through the day. 5. Continue meditating on and memorizing the verses for this week. Day Three When you take an in depth survey of the scripture, there are many instances of people encountering angels. In almost every instance, people have one response: they get real scared! That s why the common first words out of the angel s mouth is, Fear not! Then there s the story of Jacob on the banks of the Jabbock River. The self avowed Mama s Boy doesn t get down on the ground in humble awe. No, he goes after the angel with a Half Nelson (that s a wrestling move for all you non-wrestling types)! Jacob has so much built up angst that he wrestles with the angel for the entire night. Dawn is approaching when the angel finally says, why don t we quit this. First, let s look at the significance of the setting for this wrestling match. It occurred while Jacob was alone on the banks of the Jabbock. Jabbock is an ancient word that means, poured out. Jacob was pouring out all his angst against God. Though his struggles have been with people, Jacob can t help but feel some frustration with God. He needs God to do something! He has become rich in this world s goods, but in the midst of it, he is not nearly satisfied or content. His relationships on every side have become difficult and complex, and his inner frustration is expressed toward God. Does this sound familiar? We dig ourselves into a lot of holes and can t understand how God lets us do it. Somehow, our frustrations with others get us crosswise with God! We really don t want God to control our lives, except when things go south. Then we expect Him to do something to make people around us behave. Meanwhile, He is busy being faithful, kind, and trustworthy. The truth is, we all need the Jabbock. We need times of pouring out our hearts before God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. ~Psalms 62:8 10 11