Wrestling With God

1. When I was a child I watched the wrestling matches on TV and was shocked when I found out that they were not real.

2. There is real wrestling as born out in The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

3. There is also an even more serious wrestling match we are called to – wrestling with God

4. Genesis 32:24-25

I. Initiated by God

A. A Similar Scenario to Job

B. Could be the Playful Action of a Father and Son

C. Could be the Training of the Inferior by the Superior

[When our military trains on US soil in the familiar so that when they are deployed they can act in the unfamiliar environment

II. Up Close and Personal

A. Personal Faith in Our Personal God – Genesis 32:30

B. Personal Commitment

III. Physical Action with a Spiritual Purpose

A. This is not Arbitrary, God is Fulfilling His Will

B. We are a Unit – Each Part Affects the Rest

1. Personally

2. As a Community

3. Image of God

4. The reason the widows needed food in Acts 6 – the physical affects the spiritual

5. Why we are living sacrifices – Romans 12:1-2

C. God Prepared Jacob to Meet Esau

1. Had been fearful

2. The presence of God gives us courage

3. The antidote for fear – 2 Timothy 1:7

IV. Demanding a Blessing

A. Jacob’s Deceptions

1. Esau’s Birthright

2. Esau’s Blessing

3. Esau was undeserving

B. This was No Deception, it was Confrontation

1. A picture of the blessing of God in proportion to strength; courage; persistence of Jacob

2. A picture of God’s grace – He could have crushed Jacob but He was trying to make him better; us, too!

C. The Blessing of a New Name

1. Abram and Sarai got new names – so does Jacob

2. Jacob = Supplanter/Heel Grabber; Israel – Strives or Rules with God

3. Challenging for him to live up to the new name

4. We get new names, too – Revelation 2:17; 3:12

1. God is training us and strengthening us for our great conflict (Ephesians 6)

2. One way He does that is to challenge us to wrestle with Him

a. How much do you want the blessings?

b. How persistent will you be? Luke 18:1-8

c. How persevering will you be? Luke 11:5-13

d. How bold will you be? Hebrews 4:16

3. Jacob wrestled with God and received a blessing; Jesus wrestled with God in Gethsemane and became a blessing

4. Jacob’s Limp was a reminder of the source of blessing

5. Are you up for a match?