Purpose In Transformation

Anybody have problems in life? Anybody have problems with people in life? Everybody's got problems, right? But what if the problem was not everything around you? What if the problem is actually in you?

It's not everybody else. It's not everything else. It's actually in you. Have you ever prayed, God, transform this circumstance that I'm in, only to realize that God was actually trying to transform you instead, we pray God change this, change that, change this person, change this circumstance. But sometimes God does change our circumstances.

I mean, we've all been in those situations, right, where he opens a door that needs to be open, or he provides opportunities, he restores relationships, he makes a way when there's absolutely no way to be made. He does mighty and miraculous things. But sometimes he also says, before I change the things around you, I need to transform what is in you. You see, we can change locations in life without ever changing our patterns. We enter new seasons with all of the old habits that we had and find ourselves in the same exact situations because new environments cannot fix an unchanged heart.

And this is exactly where we find Jacob in our story today. So if you don't know who Jacob is, he's one of the patriarchs of Israel. We talk about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the Jacob that we're talking about. He's the grandson of Abraham.

And Abraham is the person who God's covenant promises were passed down through. Last week, we saw that Jacob deceived his father. He manipulated his brother. He ran away from the consequences of his choices. Jacob thought that his biggest problem in life was now the fact that his brother Esau was angry with him.

But Jacob was about to discover that he could run away from Esau, he could run away from his problems. But the one thing that he could not run away from outside of God was himself. He couldn't leave his character behind when things got difficult. He still was a deceiver. He still was a manipulator.

He was still trying to secure through manipulation what God had promised to provide through his grace. You see, Jacob believed he needed a new situation, but God knew that he needed a new identity. You see, I think some of us have spent years asking God to change all of the things around us or to change the people that we are in relationship with. When God really wants to transform what is inside of us, we ask God, remove this pressure. But God wants to develop our perseverance.

We ask God to remove a difficult person. But in reality, God is Trying to teach us how to love like Christ. We ask God to open a door, but God has not yet finished preparing you to walk through that door. We ask God to take us to the next level, give us that promotion, give us this next thing. But first he has to develop the character in us to be able to sustain us when we get there.

Because God is not only interested in getting you to your destination. God is not just in the end game. God is committed to transforming you all along the journey. You see, Jacob's transformation did not happen in one moment. And Jacob.

Genesis 20:8. Jacob was running away when God met him at a place called Bethel. If you want to go ahead and turn to Genesis 28, you can. In this place, Jacob was alone. He had no family.

He had no reputation to protect. He was alone, afraid. And he was so much alone that he was sleeping with his head on a rock. But Genesis 28:10 says, Then Jacob left. He went toward Haran.

He happened upon a certain place and spent the night there, for the sun had set. So he took one of the stones from the place and put it by his head and lay down in that place. This became the place that God would reveal himself to Jacob. Jacob thought he was in the middle of nowhere, that he was by himself. But when he woke up, he said, surely the Lord is in this place.

And I. I didn't even know it. You see, some of our greatest encounters with God come in places where we didn't know that God was going to be there, or in a place that we never would have chosen to be in the first place. You see, at Bethel, Jacob encountered God in a dream. Many years later, in Genesis 32, Jacob would. Would go to another place and he would wrestle with God.

Because an encounter can introduce us to God, but transformation requires us to be able to surrender to God. Jacob wrestled all night. He struggled, he resisted, he held on. And then God asked him a question. I think a question is very revealing if we're able to ask it of ourselves.

What is your name? God wasn't asking this for information, but he was asking because Jacob needed to confess. You see, years earlier, Isaac asked him his name. His father asked him his name. And Jacob lied.

And he said, I'm Esau. He lied and said that he was his brother. Now, in the presence of God, Jacob finally had to tell the truth. My name is Jacob. And everything that came along with that name.

When Jacob finally realized or acknowledged who he was, then God declared who he would be. He said, your name will no longer be Jacob. But it will be Israel. God did not merely change Jacob's circumstances. He completely transformed his life in this scripture.

And so the question that I want us to consider here today is what is the greatest thing that God wants to transform in your life? Does he want to transform your heart, your identity, your need for control? Because here's the reality. God loves us too much to let us reach the destination that he has prepared for us while we remain in the same patterns that have been destroying us. He loves us too much to allow us to continue the same patterns that have destroyed our life over and over and over.

The same God that met Jacob at Bethel was the same God that he would wrestle with at Peniel. You see, at Bethlehem, Jacob learned At Bethel, Jacob learned that God was with him. At Peniel, Jacob learned that he could no longer remain the same. There's two realizations that we have to come to. One, that God is with us, and two, that we can never continue doing what God has created us to do if we remain the same.

And the message is true for us today. God meets us where we are, but he loves us us too much to leave us there. Our purpose don't merely flow from where we're going. Our purpose flows from who we are becoming in Christ. Because purpose becomes clear only when our identity is transformed into the character of Christ.

Jacob's story will teach us that transformation often begins when God meets us in the very place that we feel most alive. The very place that we feel most insecure. Let's go back to Genesis, chapter 28. If you have your Bibles turn there. If you have your phone, you can open it up as well.

Jacob enters into this place very uncertain about his future. But he's about to discover that God is already present in his circumstances. Verse 12 says this. He dreamed. And all of a sudden there was a stairway set up on earth and its top reaching to the heavens.

And behold, the angels of God were going up and down. Now can you imagine that Jacob is in this place and has this dream and he sees a stairway or a ladder going from earth all the way up to heaven. I mean, can you just simply imagine what that would have looked like in a dream? I mean, I wish sometimes that the writers of the Scriptures were also illustrators, so they could have illustrated the way that some of these things looked as well. But if you've ever felt alone, if you've ever doubted that God was there in your presence, if you feel isolated in life, let me reassure you that God cares about you.

God cares deeply about what happens to you. He is concerned for you. He hears you, he sees you. He does not shut himself away from you, but he is actively working in your life to accomplish his will and your reconciliation. You see, not only was heaven a real place, as Jacob saw, but it was also an accessible place.

You see, we have access to heaven not through a ladder that goes back and forth, but through the person of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus made it clear in John 151 that this representation that Jacob saw in the dream was actually Jesus himself. He is how heaven comes down. He is how people ascend to the throne. It says he is the link between heaven and earth.

Jesus bridges the immeasurable distance between God and humanity. The Bible tells us this. Jesus said, most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open. The angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Jesus is the way to heaven.

He does not merely show humanity the way. He is the way. He said of himself, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. How can Jesus make this claim?

How can we believe that Jesus can make this claim? Because he is the only begotten Son of the Father. He is the second Person in the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He was crucified, buried, raised from the dead.

And the Bible tells us that he is now at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. Jesus doesn't say this to shut people out, because he alone lived a sinless life that we couldn't. He died a death that we deserved. He is not a way amongst many. The Bible is very clear that he is the only way to the Father.

And so when we approach the throne of God, we approach it through the person of Jesus Christ. Genesis 28 goes on to say, at the top of this heavenly ladder stands God the Father. Surprisingly, God was standing on top of it. You see, what's interesting about this is that this is the first time that God has introduced himself to Jacob. We know that Jacob had heard stories about the God of Abraham and the God of his Father, Isaac.

But we don't have record of God actually communicating personally with Jacob until this point. You see, the blessings of God had flowed from Abraham to Isaac, and Isaac blessed Jacob. But Jacob had never been in relationship with God personally until this point. Because it was this night that God met with Jacob in a real intangible way. Jacob had learned that the God of Abraham and Isaac could become even the God of Jacob.

And that still holds true for us today. No matter how far you think you are, no matter how messed up you think your life has been, God can still be your God and still be in relationship with you. I know that because he's in relationship with me. The Bible tells us as he said, I am the Lord your God, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give it to you.

And to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the land, and you will burst forth to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you all families of the earth will be blessed. And in your seed, behold, I'm with you. I will watch over you wherever you go.

I will bring you back to the land, for I will not forsake you until I've done what I promised you. The promise now belongs to Jacob. A land, a nation, an eternal blessing in Christ. But that's not where it stopped. You see, this blessing went even farther than it did for Abraham and isaac.

So Philippians 1:6 says, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it. Until the day of Jesus Christ, God will continue to work in you, just like he promised he would in Jacob until he completes his purpose. All the blessings before paled in comparison to the fact that in the midst of Jacob's isolation in the wilderness that night, God made several promises to be with him in the present, to go with him in the future. Not only to go with him, but to remain with him. That God would also bring him back to the land that he promised, and even more, that he would not leave him, which means that he would not leave him or forsake him.

Deuteronomy 31:8 says, the Lord, he is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you. Do not fear. Do not be discouraged.

Hebrews 13:5. These promises are laid all throughout the Scripture, from the beginning to the end. Keep your lifestyle free from the love of money. Be confident, content with what you have. For God himself said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

That means that there's nothing that this world can provide that will replace the promises that God has in your life. And then Jacob wakes up. And he woke up. And he said, undoubtedly, the Lord is in this place. And I was unaware.

There's many circumstances, many situations in life that we enter in, and we don't realize that God is already there, moving and working in Our lives. Don't discount your situation. Don't discount your circumstances, because there's a very good chance that God is already there. He has brought you to that place for a specific reason and a purpose. You just didn't realize it.

And that's okay, because I've experienced that many times in my life as well. I had no idea what God was doing, and I didn't even realize it when I got there. But I could look back and say, God was with me. And so he says he was afraid. And he said, how fearsome is this place?

This is none other than the house of God. This must be the gate to heaven. And early in the morning, Jacob got up. He took a stone which he had placed by his head, set it up as a memorial stone, poured oil on top of it. He called the name of the place Bethel, which means the house of God.

And then Jacob made a vow, saying, if God will be with me and watch over me on the way that I'm going and provide food and clothes to wear, I will return in peace to my Father's house. And then the Lord will be my God. And so this stone, which I've set up as a memorial stone, will become God's house. And of everything you provide me, I will definitely give you a tenth. So Jacob had a dream, wakes up early in the morning.

He has this new praise, this new purpose in his life. Where Jacob was once far off and separated and felt alone because of sin and wickedness in his life, he was now brought close to God and into God's house. And so Jacob set up this. This public sign, this stone that everyone that passed by would know. This is the place where God met with Jacob.

This is a place where God is. And so let me ask you this question. Have you set up pillars? Have you set up memorial stones in your own life, like in your faith journey? Can you look back to a particular point in time and say, God did this there.

God freed me from this here. God moved in my life there. God saved me there. God filled me with the spirit. God moved.

God did this. God did that. We all have pillars. We all have memorials in our lives. So then when.

When we go back and look at it, we can say that God is surely in this place.

This is also the place where Jacob realized for the first time that God truly was with him. No longer was it just stories that he had heard from his grandfather and from his father. He realized for the first time that God was truly with him. Him, wherever he went. That's got to Be a load off.

That's, that's got to be a great thing to understand for the first time. I remember the first time that I realized that God was with me, that God would redeem me, that God had reconciled me to himself. And so this is the same thing that Jacob realized that day. So he continues on with his journey. You can read from Genesis 28 to Genesis 32 and see all the things that happened in, in his life.

And man, it was a lot. He learned a lot of lessons, A lot of the things that he did in life. He learned a lot of lessons on why you shouldn't do that anymore. And so I don't want to go into all of that, but I would encourage you to read just a few chapters, Genesis 28 to Genesis 32. But what we do see here is that God meets us where we are, but he loves us too much to leave us there.

Just because God met Jacob of that day in the dream did not mean that he was finished with him, because he had more plans for him. Chapter 32, verse 25 says, so Jacob remained all by himself. What happened was he had left his father in law's land a very, very wealthy man. He had children, he had wives, he had all kinds of riches. So much so that his father in law was jealous.

So he leaves there and is going back to his father's land. But on the way, he learns that his brother Esau is coming. You remember the last thing that happened with Jacob and Esau is that Jacob took everything from Esau, even though Esau didn't really want it at the time. I think he came to realize how much that blessing and that birthright meant. But Jacob tricked him of that, right?

And the last time that he saw his brother, his brother wanted to kill him. So this is years later. And not only does he here that his brother is coming, but his brother and 400 men are coming towards Jacob. And so Jacob sends all of his cattle, all the sheep, all of his family, all the people that traveled with him. He sends them on across the river to go towards his prom, towards the promised land.

And he waits for his brother. Verse 25 says, so Jacob remained all by himself. And then one of the most random lines in all of scripture, I think then a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. Super random, right? He's by himself and then all of a sudden there is this man that is wrestling with him.

So who is this man? This man is the second person in the Trinity, the pre incarnate person of Jesus Christ. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. I know that's a lot, but God showed up and wrestled with him in the middle of nowhere. God wanted Jacob to realize something, that after that night, after 20 years from that dream at Bethel, when he saw that he had not overcome him, the Lord struck the socket of Jacob's hip.

So he dislocated the socket of Jacob's hip when he was wrestling with him. He said, let me go, for the dawn is broken. But Jacob said, I won't let you go until you bless me. They fought all night long. God was trying to teach Jacob a lesson here.

And so as the fight progressed into the early hours of the morning, it seems as if Jacob was evenly matched, right? I mean, you think you. You got these two guys wrestling, fighting, competing like wwe. I don't know if it was like bare knuckle box, I don't know. But they fought for a really long time.

Our family yesterday just did like Wii boxing for like five minutes. And I'm, like, out of it. So I can't imagine, like, trying to fight somebody like, all night long, right? But they're getting to the wee hours of the morning, and it seems as if they're evenly matched. This is God and Jacob.

And of course, God could have easily won. But sometimes it seems that we can easily contend with God, that a man or a woman in their own pride or their own rebellion can be even with God for a season. But the reality is that the match only seemed even in appearance only God allowed the fight to go on for his purposes, not because Jacob was able, but only for God purposes. It isn't hard to imagine Jacob working so hard, feeling as if he's actually getting somewhere. He's getting the best of his opponent, he's getting the best of God.

Until God immediately changed the reality of the situation. He touched the hip of his socket, dislocated his hip. But then he says to him this what is your name? God asked Jacob this what is your name? You can imagine Jacob's completely undone.

He's exhausted. He's in the presence of God. Jacob finally has to admit everything that he's been running from his entire life. I'm a deceiver, I'm a manipulator. I'm the one who spent life grasping, striving, trying to control everyone and everything.

Does that sound familiar today? Does that sound a little bit like each and every single one of us? Yet this is who he was. And Jacob finally had to admit it. God did not merely change Jacob's circumstances.

God wanted to transform Jacob's identity. And so as soon as Jacob could come to the realization of who he was, and in his heart realized that everything that he had built his life up to, up to this point did not mean anything. Because he was a deceiver, because he was a liar, because he was a trickster, because he was trying to control every situation then and then, only then was God able to transform his life. He said, your name will no longer be Jacob, but rather Israel. For you have struggled with God and with men, and you have overcome.

He didn't overcome God, but he overcame his circumstances. He overcame his. His pride. He overcame everything in life that attempted to draw him back to the person that he was. And his life was transformed.

Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but it shall be Israel. Broken Jacob became blessed Israel.

I'm going to read just a few scriptures here. The only way to win with God is by Lucifer. The only way for you to win anything with God is to lose. The only way to God is through Christ. Galatians 2:20 says this.

I have been crucified with Christ. That means I have died. I have laid down everything I have. I no longer live. Nothing in me lives, but it is Christ in me.

The life that I now live in, the body I live by faith. And the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The Bible tells us that we all have sinned and that we all fall short of the glory of God.

Our sin separates us from the very God that created us. But the reality is also this, is that while sin separates us, Jesus lived a sinless life. He. He lived and then he died in our place. He paid the penalty for our sins.

But that's not the end. Three days later he arose. He broke the grip that sin and death had on this world. And when a person turns to Christ and puts their trust in him and not themselves, the Bible tells us that God forgives that person then and there. Not only that, the whole spirit gives them a new life.

Amen.

You become transformed from the inside out. The Bible tells us that you are now a new creation in Christ. You want to go get the kids? Are going to join us from kids shirts here in just a minute as we baptize hank. But verse 30 of 32 says.

And Jacob asked and said, please tell me your name. And he said, what's this? You're asking my name? This is God speaking. Then he blessed him there.

And so Jacob named the place Peniel. For I have seen God face to face. And my life has been spared. And then the Bible says that the sun rose upon a different man. The sun rose up upon him just as he crossed.

Peniel, limping now because of his hip. I love the picture that the scripture paints here for us. Israel crossed over this river into a new day, but he crossed over into a new day as a new man. He's transformed from Jacob to Israel. He entered the night as Jacob.

He crossed over the river as Israel, but he had a limp. This doesn't look like victory to the world. This doesn't look like a great accomplishment to most people, because the world says victory means that we leave stronger, faster, richer, better, more impressive than we were before. But sometimes, actually many times the evidence that we've had a real encounter with God. It's not that we walk away stronger, but most of the time we become undone in his presence.

We realize how weak we are and how much we need Christ. That's why the Bible tells us that in our weakness, he is made strong. He walked away weaker in his body, but stronger in his faith. He was unable to move in the way that he once had, but he no longer needed to live as if he did. His limp became a daily reminder that God is with him.

Jacob's greatest problem wasn't the fact that his brother was coming to face him, but God knew that Jacob's greatest problem was already within him.

And perhaps that's where some of us are today. The greatest problem that we really have in life is in our own hearts. We're asking God to change people. We're asking God to change circumstances. We say, God, change my spouse, God, change my children, change the people who hurt me.

And all along the while, God is saying, before you cross over into this next season, before you go to this next place, I want to transform something in you.

Some of us want God to give us a new name, but we're still pretending and having the old patterns that we have. But God is inviting us to tell the truth today. God have been controlling God. I'm bitter. God, I'm unforgiving God, I'm living for people's approval.

God, I'm running for everything that I need to face in life. God does not ask us to confess so he can condemn us. He invites us to confess so that he can transform us. That's why he asked Jacob, what is your name? What is everything that you've been running for in life?

He gave Jacob an opportunity to confess. And then when he did, God declared not who he was. He said, you are no Longer any of that. You are now.

When you place your faith in Christ, you receive a new identity. The Bible tells us that you are forgiven. You're redeemed, you are adopted. You are a new creation. You still may have consequences to face, but that's okay because God is with you.

You don't have to continue living up to your old name. At Bethel, God told Jacob, I'm with you. At Peniel, God told Jacob, you are no longer who you were. It's the same thing that God's telling us today. God is telling each and every single one of us, I am with you and I'm transforming you.

I will not leave you, nor will I leave you as you are. I will walk with you. And not only will God walk with you, but he will complete the work that he began in you. Jacob's transformation was not perfect. He still had issues.

He still had things he had to work through. But the reality is that God is not only trying to get us somewhere. God's not trying to get us to this end destination. He's transforming the person that he created you to be. He's molding you, transforming you, creating in you the life that he desires for you to have.

So he. Here's a question. What are we still wrestling to control that God is asking us to surrender? If you will please stand with me because you got. You can stand up and sit down.

It doesn't matter.

I want to take just a moment. I want you to pray with and for the people beside you.

What are you still wrestling to control that God is asking you to surrender? Is it your future? Is it your family, your relationships? Or is it this fear that you have of what is waiting on the other side of the river? Whatever it is, God is already there.

Even though you don't realize it, God is there and he's waiting to transform you and change your life.

Most importantly, if there's anyone in this place that does not know Jesus, Jesus wants to be your Lord and Savior. All you have to do is trust in Him. That's it. You don't have to be perfect. You never will be.

You don't have to come to a place where you're acceptable in God's sight because you already are. Through Jesus. All you have to do is believe in Him. It's that simple. If you will bow your head and close your eyes as I pray this prayer, I want you to pray with and for the people beside you.

Father, we have spent so much time asking you to change everything and everyone around us. Today we Ask you to begin your work within us. Search our hearts. Show us the fear, pride, bitterness, insecurity, deception, our need for control that we've carried from one season into another. Give us the courage to answer honestly when you ask, what is your name?

We surrender the labels that people have placed on us. We surrender the names that people have called us. We surrender the identities that are built around our failures, our wounds and our past. Teach us to see ourselves according to who we are in Christ. Forgive us for wrestling against your will, for trying to manipulate what can only be received by grace.

Transform our hearts, renew our minds, change our desires, break our destructive patterns and teach us to depend upon your strength rather than our own. For every person facing an esau on the other side of the river, remind them that you are already with them, that you're preparing them for what is ahead by doing your work within them. Today, even though we may walk away with a limp, let us know that we also leave with a powerful testimony that we may leave this place still in progress, but do not. That we do not leave this place unchanged. Complete the good work in us that you have begun and make our lives reflect this new idea, identity that we have in Christ, the one that you have given us, because you have created each and every single one of us on purpose, for a purpose to impact your kingdom.

Jesus. Precious Holy name, we pray. Amen. And amen. God is good.