SPEAKER_00 0:03

Somebody saying praise the Georgia. You can be seated in the presence of the Lord. Hallelujah. Broken. But blessed. Hallelujah. The Bible describes the life of Jacob. And how he had his name being a trickster or supplanter. How he had tricked Esau out of his birthright. Esau gave up his birthright. Or morsel, amen, or being sold. Your birthright, your inheritance is more important than anything in the world. Amen. The promise that God made us eternal life is more important than anything or anybody in the world. Amen. And so he rose up and he goes to present himself to Esau and he brings all these gifts because he's afraid of Esau, because he knows what he did. He was a trickster. He knew how to trick, to manipulate, and to deceive. God now wants to change us. The change that God wants to do in our lives is not at times immediately. Sometimes the changes take time. But as long as God is changing me, I am submitted to follow him in the name of the Lord. Hallelujah, little by little. The Bible declares that he went and he had all these things. He went to seek him out. The Bible says in verse number 22 that Jacob arose up that night and took his two wives. And y'all know the story why he had two wives. Because as he was a trickster, amen, and how he went out and deceived, it came back on him. And Laban tricked him out of the woman who he really wanted, and he had to get her sister. And then he had to work, amen, seven more years so he could be able to get who he really wanted. Amen. Yes, what goes around comes around. It says it like this: you reap what you sow. There's some things that we do to folk, it has to come back on us. That doesn't mean that God doesn't necessarily love you or care for you, but the Bible, the principles of the Bible cannot be broken. That if you reap good, you're gonna sow good. If you reap bad, you're gonna sow bad. But thank be to God that when we sow bad, God didn't let it destroy us. God has given us another chance. Give everybody another chance. To God be the glory. Amen. And he took his possessions, his two women's servants, and his eleven sons. Amen, which would later be amen, the twelve tribes of Israel. And they passed over the Ford Jabuk. Now, Jabuk means the pouring out or the rapid flowing of water. And so he made haste and he took his family, those things that were dear to them, and he took them over the brook. And as he took them, he sent them over the brook and sent over all that he had. He knew this was a time of separation. Esau was on his heels. He was afraid for his life. And he asked God, God, please intervene and help me out. Have you ever asked God in a time of your desire that God, I need you to help me? The church needs help. The people need help. Yes, the world needs help. Our government needs help. Our leaders need help. Oh, yes, this is the time that we need help. Anybody need help in here on today? Yes, God help us. Uh God, hallelujah. And he sent his, what he had over. And the Bible says in verse 24, and Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the break of day. There's some times when God's got to get you alone. To change your nature and who you are. Yes, we're in Genesis 32 and verse 24. He has to change you and take things away from you. And there's times when we try to figure out why God is taking this away. Why? Because God wants to get you alone. And he was left alone there in a place. And the Bible says he wrestled with a man until the break of day. And there wrestled a man with him. I want you to note here that Jacob didn't institute the wrestling match. God Almighty. The man instituted the wrestling match. Yes, yes, at times we've got to get down on our face and we've got to talk to God and we've got to wrestle with the Spirit till God gives us what we need. Yes, God got him alone. And he instituted the wrestling. Some of us are wrestling here on today. We're wrestling within our souls, wrestling within our minds, and we need God to help us on today. You can't fight this fight by yourself. Your help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Too many self-help churches today. Oh, just say this and just do this. No, our help comes from the Lord. We need the Lord Jesus Christ. We need Him not only in the morning, we need Him in the noonday. We need Him in the evening. How many of y'all know we really need the Lord? I need the Lord Jesus. Amen. He wrestled with a man until the break of day. Jacob, there's a word for you. There's a word for you. I want you to write it down. I want you to remember it. Jacob was persistent. He was persistent. When you need something from God, you must be persistent. You cannot give up in the middle of the struggle. You must seek God and be persistent that what you need from God and believe that God's able to do it. This is how the enemy defeats most of us. We don't have the spirit of persistence. Yes. I'm gonna stay right here. I'm gonna believe God till God give me the victory. Oh, I wish I had three of you that got a persistent spirit this morning, that refuse to move, that know and believe that God is able to do it. Oh, yes, I wish I had about three of you that really had your mind made up, that become hell of hot water. Yes, I'm gonna do the will of God. I'm gonna be persistent in my faith, my servitude, and my belief in the living God. Yes, yes. The church is like they're persistent in prayer, in fasting, and in church yearning to know God in the fullness of who he is. We've said other things in our lives that make us depend on them. God never designed it like that. He said, Who should ever will, let him come. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart. Lean not to your own understanding, but acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your path. Hallelujah! He will tell somebody, he will direct your path. Yes, he will do it. Don't put your trust in people, in things, put your trust in the living God. David says it like this: some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but I will trust in the name of the Lord, for the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it, and they are safe. Let me tell you something. You are safe in the master's hands when you put your trust in God. Yes, you're in a safe place. In a safe place. Put your trust in God. Glory to God. I feel the spirit of eternal God in here. You're in a safe place when you put God first. Not the world, not self-help gimmicks, not churches that just want your money, but churches that will tell you the truth. That'll preach the word of God in sincerity and honesty. See, I don't get paid for preaching. I don't get a salary. I don't want a salary. I'll get my reward when the Lord comes back. Y'all hear what I'm saying? Every money that we get, we do it for outreach, for the upbuilding of God's kingdom. That the work of God get done. We're living in a different time now, a different space now. Amen. But I heard the Lord keep telling me to keep going. Keep doing what I tell you to do, keep preaching the word of God. Amen. I'll add more to the church to help you out. I'll bring people in that are hungry and thirsty after righteousness. Yes. The Bible said he wrestled. A man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. And when the man saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. And Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. Can you imagine wrestling all night long? Wrestling. Wanting something. See, when you really want something from God, you'll wrestle with your flesh and put your flesh under subjection. When you really need something from God, you don't mind staying up all night seeking the Lord. When you really want something from God, you don't mind amen turning your plate down and fasting. You don't mind amen going and getting something from God. You don't mind going without so God can bless you. Is anybody really hungry for the word of God? Yes, you got to be hunger and fasting after righteousness so God can fill you up. Yes. You're not gonna make it. You're not gonna make it. You're not gonna make it without having a determined mind to be persistent. You're not it's not gonna happen. It's not gonna come to pass until you get on your face and refuse to let God go. He had to get Jacob off of him. And he put Jacob's thigh out of George As he rustled with him. And the man said, Let me go. For the day breaketh. And he said, In his brokenness, I will not let you go except you bless me. In his brokenness, he refused to let the man go. He refused to give up. Let me tell you something. Some of us lose it in the struggle. Some of us lose it in the wrestling match because we're not persistent enough. But he refused, even though he was broken. Some of us are broken in here today, but we refuse to let anything go until God bless us. And I come today to let you know that God can bless you in your brokenness. God can bless you in your searching for him. He can bless you in your seeking for him. I don't know about you, but I refuse to let the Lord go until He blessed me. Yes, I'm broken, but I'm looking for a blessing. I need about three of you who are broken but looking for a blessing from God. My life is broken, my heart is broken. Everything is upside down, but I'm not gonna let the Lord go until He blessed me. Yes, I'm looking for something from God to bless me. Yes, I need about three of you to give God a handicap of praise. Some of y'all can get what you need from God. Listen to me. Because when the wrestling match starts, y'all give up too soon. You give up too soon. When things don't go your way, you throw in the towel, you throw a pity party, you get amen weak. Because it's not turning out the way you want it to turn out. But here this man is with a broken thigh saying, I'm not gonna let you go until you bless me. We've got to hold on to the Lord till God bless us with what we need. Yes, I need some persistent people that refuse to give up. That refuse to give up in the struggle. Some of y'all has ever the devil told you to throw in the towel to give up. It's not gonna happen. It's not lining up the way you want it to line up. So give up. Yes, Jacob said, oh no. Oh no. Even though I'm broken. The Holy Ghost had talked to somebody even though I'm broken. Even though my heart is broken, even though my spirit is broken. I refuse to let him go till I get my blessing. Yes, I'm broken, but God's gonna bless me with something. God don't bless anybody with something in here. Your faith in God must be greater than your struggle. Yes. Your faith in God. I don't care what your struggle is. I don't care if it's personal, if it's identifiable, if it's an addiction, I don't care what it is. God is able to bless you and give you the victory through it. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. I watched my sister Natalie, who was addicted to alcohol and cocaine. I watched her come to the altar, wrestle with her flesh, to get on that altar and call on the name of Jesus. Till God filled her with the Holy Ghost, broke alcohol and drug addiction off her instantly. Yeah? Somebody say instantly. Why? Because she was persistent. And she didn't let the name of Jesus Christ go till he blessed her. No 12-step program. No recovery program. Just one touch from the master. And he set her free. Somebody say hallelujah. All you need is one touch from the master. Yes. He'll break off of you what you think you can't get broken off of you. But you've got to get into the presence of God and stay in the presence of God. Yes, you must be persistent. Oh, glory to God. Do me a favor, because y'all look like y'all weighing now. Do me a favor. Go slap somebody and tell them you've got to be persistent. Slap your hand, don't slap the face. You must be persistent. You're gonna have to leave some stuff behind. You might have to lose some people. You might have to lose some folk. But you gotta decide it in your mind. Even though I'm broken, I might as well hold on to the blessing. Oh yeah. Even though I'm broken right now, I might as well hold on to the blessing. And so he wrestled. And he said, get ready to be daybreak now. You got to let me go. He said, Oh no. You've already broken me. I've already hurt it. I struggled all night. I might as well keep holding on until you bless me. So he realized, Jacob realized that who he was wrestling with, y'all watch me now, had the ability to bless him. Oh glory. There's only one that can bless you. Oh glory. I think what they really want to do, what they really want to do is run. But uh they don't want to run because y'all visitors. And they don't want to see them running, but they really need to run, is what they really need to do. Amen. Because if you know who the one that's gonna bless you and has the ability to bless you, you don't mind getting up and giving God glory, you don't mind saying, God, I thank you. You don't mind amen leaping for the Lord, you don't mind even running for the Lord. Yes, he's the one that can bless you. He's the one that can bless you. Yes, he's the one that can bless you. Too many people saying God blessed them with something, and when it falls apart, they fall apart. Well, the Bible said the blessing of the Lord make it rich and add no sorrow. So if you got sorrow with it, God didn't give it to you. Yes, it didn't come from God, it didn't come from God. Yes, don't say God gave you something and you're sorrowful with it. Yes, God gave you something, you're happy with it. Yes, good God Almighty. The Lord gave me my wife, and I'm happy with it. I'm happy with it, baby. I'm happy with you, baby. Y'all excuse me for a moment. The Lord blessed me with my wife, and I'm happy with you, baby. Amen. Okay, back to preaching. He said, I'm not gonna let you go. Except you bless me. So the church, because we are the church, we lose the blessing because we're not patient and persistent enough to hold on to the blessing. And oftentimes the enemy will make us think that we can do this on our own. Without prayer, without fasting, without coming to church, and without seeking God. Don't you know God has designed a church to feed you, to give you the word of God, to strengthen your soul, that you can hear the verse of God to edify you and to build you up? Yes. But we lose it in the struggle. Jacob said, I want something from God. The Bible says. He said unto him, What is your name? He said, My name is Jacob. The man who he wrestled with knew he had to change his name. His name meant supplanter, trickster, deceiver. And the only way your name can be changed is that the blesser has to touch your life. Says it's Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob. In other words, your past is gonna be your past. I wonder if anybody here is looking for a new future. Anybody looking for something new in God? Anybody looking for something different? And that's why it's important when you repent to turn from your old lives and turn back to God. Get baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ to take away your sins. And then God will bless you with his spirit. The only people that bring up your past is the devil. Yes, but once God forgives you and God changes your name, you got to make up your mind. I'm not going backwards anymore. I'm going forward in the Lord. Anybody going forward in the Lord? Your name should no more be called Jacob, but Israel. Jacob means trickster. Israel means he who wrestles with God. Wow. He who wrestles with God. Can't nobody out wrestle God. No. The purpose was that he hung on and was persistent to hold on to God till he blessed him. He was persistent not to give up till he blessed him. He said, For as a prince, thou hast power with God and with men, and had prevailed. See, when you hold on to the Lord in the midst of trouble, in the midst of trials, in the midst of things not going your way, then you will prevail. Let me tell you something. The Lord never told us that this was going to be easy. But, am I saying but be of good cheer? Because I have overcome the world. He never said that you, as Christ so suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise. He never said it was gonna be easy. But he did say you can have some joy. Why? Because I know in whom I have believed. And I'm more than persuaded that he's able to keep that which has been committed unto him. Said, I have power with God and with men. It has prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, your name. He wanted to know the man's name. Well, he was wrestling with. And he's already told him it ain't gonna be Israel. Because you've been wrestling with God. What? Yes, it's called a theophany. It's God manifesting himself in another way. But no man can see God in live. You've got to get down sometimes and you've got to call upon the name of the Lord. And you got to refuse to stop calling till you get what you need from God. Yes. Watch this. He said, I pray thee. Tell me, I pray thee thy name. He said, Wherefore is that you just ask after my name? Why you wouldn't know my name? And he blessed him right there. In the midst of the struggle, in the midst of his persistence, the eternal God blessed him right there. God is able to bless you right there. In the middle of it. Somebody say in the middle of it, he's able to bless you right there. But you've got to fight and hold on to the Lord until he blesses you right there in the middle of it. I'm not gonna let him go. I might let some people go. I might let some things go, but I'm not gonna let him go. He has the ability to bless me. I want everything that God has for me. Jacob called the name of the place Pineel. Pineel. Meaning I've seen God face to face. And my life is preserved. He passed over Pineal, and the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. As he got finished that night, he was left with a lip. He was broken in his thigh. But the lip was to remind him that I've got power with God and with man. He was left broken, but he also left blessed. You might be broken, but God wants to bless you. You're never too broken, not for God to bless you. God is able to do it. How many of God is able to do it? He's able to do it. Some of you, you might be broken in your finances, in your resources, in your relationships. But God is able to bless you in your brokenness. You just got to hold on to God. Who's determined to hold on to the Lord? I am determined to hold up. Tell somebody, hold on. Hold on. Tell me, bless you. Don't you give up? Tell me, bless you. I know you're broken. But God is anyone bless you. I'm broken. But I'm blessed. I'm blessed to be in the house of God. I'm blessed to hear the woman of God. I'm blessed with breath in my body. I'm blessed with a little bit of food I got on the table. I'm blessed with a little bit of hand. I'm broken, but I'm blessed. And when blessed people never can be blessed, they don't mind giving glory to the Creator. Glory to God. Glory to God. Broken but blessed. Lift your hands to the Lord. So I might be broken. But God has the ability to bless. And he wants to bless. Matter of fact, I am blessed. Can we be able to hear this word?