Something's Gotta Give!

Genesis 32:28 (AMP)

28And He said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob [supplanter], but Israel [contender with God]; for you have contended and have power with God and with men and have prevailed.

The phrase, “something’s gotta give” has its basis in an older phrase ’give and take’ which is used to suggest flexibility in relationships between people and/or organizations, etc. If you take the inverse, that is, it has no ’give and take’ then the boundaries don’t move and there is no ’budge’. Moving on, if you have a very large object such as a boulder and you are trying to move it you might say ’it’s got no give or it won’t budge’. Imagine a tug of war with both teams pulling hard but no one is moving. You would say at this point ’that something’s gotta give’ meaning that either one of the teams will lose ground or the rope will snap (less likely)

"Something’s gotta give" means there is so much pressure that the pressure will find a release in some way. Just like a balloon that gets blown up too much and the only thing it can do is explode.

In the most common sense of the phrase it means that after several similar events happen, a different event is expected to happen sooner or later.

In other words, it means that a given situation cannot remain the same forever and will surely change.

I. Something’s gotta give in our circumstances—

a. we are not hopeless in our situations, we just need to change the way we are trying to remedy them. “Jacob didn’t need a blessing on his messed-up life….he needed a NEW life!” In v. 28 Jacob “struggled, strived, contended” with God before God blessed him.

b. “Jabbok” means “EMPTYING”. Jacob’s move was an emptying of himself. It went against his very nature to flee and deceive. He was making a choice to confront his issues head on. it is time for us to change our mindset…we must get to the point where we wrestle with God until we receive the outcome we are searching for—but we must stop wrestling in our strength and let God become our source of strength…..and sometimes the only way this can happen is for God to grab our attention (by knocking us out of joint)

II. Something’s gotta give in our worship—

a. Worship is NOT a spectator event! It is a personal communication between you and God. It is our gift to God! We don’t need more “good” church services. We don’t need predictable church services. I am sick of playing church! We need a God-meeting that leaves us with a limp! “I’m tired of coming home from church with nothing changed. I’d rather come back from an encounter with God limping instead of leaping—just so my destiny is different!”

b. “Never trust anyone without a limp” –T.Tenney Limps are the things in life that have happened to us to cause us to be “injured.” They can be caused by wrestling matches with God OR with man! (see v. 28) People with a limp make the best worshipers! Your sufferings are not to keep you down, but to change you into a vessel that God can use—he doesn’t want a perfect person because they do not understand his grace, mercy and healing. Only those that have been “disabled” can be a powerful witness for Him. “Only dead people can see God”………

III. Something’s gotta give in our outreach—

a. Where are the lost hungry souls that need hope? Why are there empty seats in our sanctuary? We are so “lost” or “caught up” in our personal problems or “in-house” conflicts that we are not able to be effective in our outreach. It is time for a CHANGE! It is time to re-vamp, restore, and re-vitalize our church body. It is time to be united in our purpose and our goals. We need to have a clear-cut destination that we are trying to reach and it should be out there….not in here!

b. Program evangelism and Presence evangelism—“Program” evangelism is the type of evangelism that we are all familiar with. It is where we make phone calls, mail out letters, and do media blitzes encouraging people to come and “check out” our church in an organized way to win souls for Jesus Christ. This is an effective type of evangelism and is needed in this community.

c. “Presence” evangelism (phrase coined by Tommy Tenney) is when Jesus is lifted up in all of his glory so that He can draw all men to Him! “We try to attract man thinking that is our job. The primary purpose of the Church is to attract HIM!! Read p. 152-153 (God’s favortie House-Tenny) about Duncan Campbell and the Hebrides Revival.

IV. Altar call

a. salvation b. personal deliverance from circumstances

c. anyone that will stand up and say, “God, you promised!”