TOTAL SURRENDER | JABIN CHAVEZ | BC CONFERENCE 2025

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

I'm so, uh, so privileged to, um, be able to be here tonight. I, I love this church so much and it played such a huge role in the formative years of my life. And, uh, I'll always be just forever grateful to. Uh, pastor Marshall and Cindy. And, um, all of the teachings that, um, that I received in this house, uh, sneaking in on Tuesday night Bible study and hearing the word of God taught, uh, just line upon line principle, bond principle, precept upon precept that, uh, totally transformed my life. And so, uh, thank you so much Pastor Marshall. And, uh, it was an honor to be here this morning. And, um, I'm excited to be here tonight and just honor, uh, 40, 45 years of doing anything, uh, especially pastoring. Oh my god, I've done it for seven and I'm tired. And, uh, so thank you for just putting the flag in the ground for 45 years. I love you guys so much. We honor the founding pastors of Believers Center. Come on, put your hands together for Marshall and Cindy Townsend. And I'm so excited about the future of this house. We go from glory to glory. We go from strength to strength. We go from faith to faith. We're going higher y'all. And, um, I believe just right on time, um, it is truly, uh, the right time. You know, God's a god of seasons. He's a God of people. He's a god of generations. And, uh, right on time, I believe it is David and Jordan's time, and I believe. Uh, this next season of the church is gonna be the best season of this church, the most blessed season, and I believe God's grace and favor is on them for such a time as this. And, uh, just to watch, um, them grow to watch. Uh, God's hand on their life. And, um, I can't wait to see, uh, all that God's gonna do in the years to come. So I love and honor you so much. Can we thank God. Come on for our pastors. I'm gonna go right to Genesis 32. Genesis 32, um, and we're gonna look at a few verses together. I do bring greetings from Vegas. We planted a church seven years ago. City Light church, and, uh, it has been a wild ride. It has been such a joy and, um, we're so grateful, uh, for, uh, all that God is doing, uh, right now in Vegas. And so next time you come to Vegas, and I know y'all do like to come to Vegas to, you know, witness to people ministered to the blackjack dealers, and. Praise God. Hallelujah. Uh, but you know, people, people come to Vegas. I know that.'cause people come up to me every Sunday go, you told me at my church if I come to Vegas to come to your church and I'm here hungover, but I'm here. No, they don't say that part. They don't say that part. I can just tell. Uh, geez. Uh, but honestly, if you're ever, if you're ever in our city, please come to City Light Church. We'd love to have you. It would be so grateful to see you. Genesis 32. Uh, I'm gonna preach a word that's on my heart, a word that God used to change my own life, and, uh, I think it's gonna do the same for you today. The Bible says, so Jacob was left alone and a man this is, this is God Almighty, wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched. As he wrestled with the man, then the man said, let me go for it is a daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Can we all say that line together, everybody out loud? I will not let you go unless you bless me. The man asked of, what is your name, Jacob? He answered. Then the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel. This is Prince of God or Overcomer with God because you have struggled, you've wrestled, you've, you've struggled with God and with man, and have overcome youth. You've both dealt with the God issues in your life and the people issues in your life. You've, you've faced vertically and you've faced horizontally, and you've overcome, and I just declare over every person in the house tonight, you're an overcomer in Jesus' name, you've, you've faced God and you've faced yourself. Amen. Yeah. Jacob said, okay, I told you my name. What is your name? But he replied, why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place penile. This means face-to-face because I saw God face to face, yet my life was spared. The sun rose above him as he passed penile, and he was limping because of his hip. And I wanna talk tonight about total surrender. I wanna talk about living a life of surrender to Jesus. Really, our life is going to be a series of surrenders. Not just a one time surrender at youth camp or one time surrender, uh, giving your life to Christ at a, at a service. But it's, it's a daily yes to Jesus. And the more God can get a yes out of you, the more he can do in you, the more he can do for you, and the more he can do through you. So I wanna talk about surrender today. We're all gonna pray this prayer As we get started, everybody say, my heart's open. My heart's open. Speak to me Lord, to me Lord, in Jesus' name. Come on, everybody said amen. Amen and amen and amen. Um, we find Jacob here in the text that he's on the run. He is running from his brother Esau. He's running from his father-in-law, Lavin. He is running ultimately from his own decisions. He's running. Uh, really from himself. He's running from his family. He's running from God. He's being hunted by both of these men. Both of these men want to kill him for different reasons. We find Jacob now on the run. If you kind of want Jacob, what I want, if you're like, who's, who's Jacob in the Bible, let me give you Jacob in a verse. It's Genesis 31, 31. I rushed away because I was afraid, right? Not a great life verse. Not exactly Ephesians three 20. Amen. But, um, that's Jacob on the move. Discontent, unsettled, rushing away, fearful. Always, always running from conflict, never facing conflict. And it's here though. It's here at Jacob's lowest moment that God meets with him. Oh, this is good news. Yeah, this is good news that God did not beat Jacob at his best day. Him. God did not meet Jacob at his highest moment. And I, and I thank God for the mountaintop and I thank God for the good days. And I thank God, uh, I, I thank God when the sun is shining, but I also thank God that God can find me at my lowest place. God can find me in the valley, not just on the mountain. He's the God of light. But he can also. Find me in the darkness that even if I make my bed in hell, there he is with me. He is the God of my strength and he's the God of my gift, and he's the God of my anointing, but he's also the God of my weakness and the God of my secrets and the God of my curses and the God of my issues. He's, he's the God that, yes. Can find me at my highest place, but he can also find me at my lowest place. And it was here that God found Jacob. Maybe you feel like you're at your lowest place. God can find you tonight. God has your address tonight. God is calling you tonight. Not at your best, but at your worst. It's called grace. There was a third man chasing. Not. He saw to kill him, not lavin to kill him. There was a third man chasing Jacob, God almighty. Not to kill him, but to bless him. Not to break him, but to bless him. Not to curse him, but to bless him. And God has a way of chasing us down. I just, I just wanna remind you in case you're looking at me, um, my, my testimony is not a testimony of my strength, my goodness. My, my, my, my, me, me, me. No, it's actually none of that. It's like somehow God has just run faster than me, and I've never been able to outrun him. And he just always has a way of finding me even at my weakest moments. This is, this is the God that we serve. Our testimony is not a testimony of all that we have accomplished. Our testimony is a testimony of all Jesus has accomplished in our life. Anybody grateful for that today? Can we, can we thank God? And when God chases you down, all you have to do is say it. So, how do I surrender to God? How do I live a life of surrender? Well, firstly, you have to stop running. You, you gotta stop running. Jacob was left alone. Now again, if you, if you read the scriptures, you're gonna find out Jacob was never. Jacob is always around people. He's, he's running after his daddy's approval and daddy's blessing. He's always hanging around Mama. He's the first mama's boy in the Bible. He's running after Esau's blessing. He's chasing Lavin and his daughters. Jacob's always on the run. Jacob is never alone because if you ever get a loan, if you ever slow down, you're actually gonna have to face some issues. By the way, that's why uh, nights like this are so important. That's why like conference nights, like this, revival nights, whatever we want to call them, this is why it's so important because we break out of the normal rhythm of our life and for a couple of days we can't do it Every night. Every night of the year we would die, but a couple of nights a year. Amen. We, we change the flow of our life and we change the flow of our rhythms. And we don't just go home and turn on the TV and eat dinner and, and, and just kind of continue to push things off. But for a couple of days, we get in the presence of the Lord and we worship God, and we open up our hearts to God and we face God. And I found that most people don't ever want to get alone with God because if they get alone with God, they're gonna have to deal with themselves. Right. I found that so many people replace fruitfulness for busyness. That's good, man. If I'm tired and if I'm busy and if I'm miserable, I must be holy. But it's only when you slow down that you can actually face God. Amen. It's only when you get in the presence of the Lord that you can finally wrestle with some of the issues that are going on in your life. And man, people love to keep moving so they don't have to wrestle. Amen. Oh, you watch it all the time. Again, I've only been pastoring seven years. I'm a rookie. Um, but you, you watch people, they just, they just jump from issue to issue. Job to job. I live in Vegas, spouse to spouse. Amen. City to city. You know, pastor, we just, we gotta, we gotta get to Nashville, pastor. Amen. You know what I found out? Um, wherever you go, there you are. Amen. Right. Get married. Praise God. But you still, you? Yeah. Man. Go get that better job. I know your boss is evil. I know, I know. Whatever. You're still, you at the new job. Go to a new church. You still, you, you ain't gonna like that pastor in six months too. Why? Because maybe Jacob, man, have the kid. That. That's really terrifying.'cause then you have a kid and you look at'em and ah, it's you. They start, I got an 8-year-old that acts like me. I'm like, dang, you're a brat. Oh, I'm a brat. You're spoiled. No, I'm spoiled. So wherever I go, there I am. So maybe it's not changing the circumstance, maybe it's wrestling with God. So Jesus offers us something better. He offers us repentance. That's right. He says this, he says, repent of your sins, Matthew four 17. Now, now, I think a lot of people are okay with that, especially if you have any kind of religious background. You're like, yeah, man. I'm a, I'm a terrible person, and I, and I got a lot of, I got a lot of junk in my life that that's not actually the power. The power's in this second little line turn to God. That's right. That's right. Only, only Jesus can change us. That's right. Right. You don't, you don't turn, you don't repent of sin or even hate sin. There, there's, there's not a lot of power in that. The only power is when you turn from something to someone. Jesus says, turn to me. Turn to God for the kingdom is here. In other words, I'm close to you. I'm here. I wanna offer you something internal and eternal that is not just ticking a box. I got, I went to church, I'm a better person. I gave in the offering. I'm a better person. I, I'm not cussing as much. Maybe I'm becoming, no, no, no, no, no. Turn to God. Because the power is in turning. Only Jesus can change a soul. It's turning from something, but it's turning to a greater someone. Re repentance is not simply remorse. It's replacement. Paul's gonna give us an, a better, even a better explanation of what we just read in Matthew when he says this in Ephesians five. Don't get drunk with wine. Now here's a, here's a funny little word that we'll miss in the King James, but it's actually so beautiful in excess. Here's all Paul's saying, it'll never be enough. That's right. Right. What? Whatever it is, will never be enough. Amen. Whatever you're getting drunk on, inebriated, on high, on wherever you're trying to fulfillment out. Whenever you're trying to find fulfillment outside of the kingdom of God, it will always lead to excess. You will need more. Yeah, that's right. The, the wine will never get you drunk enough and the drugs will never get you high enough and the sex will never be good enough, and your husband will never be nice enough and the kids will never act right enough, and your wife will never be hot enough and the house will never be big enough and the car will never be fast enough and the bling will never be blingy enough and the sun will never be sunny enough. Then I could go on and on and on, because anytime you're trying to get inebriated on a world system, it's never gonna be enough. That's right. So, so, so, but Paul doesn't end there. Don't get drunk you sinners. Praise God. Hallelujah. What does he say He's saying? He's saying you're missing out on real joy, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. In other words, anything the enemy is offering me is a fake. Cheap Timo version. Y'all got temu here of the real thing that only Jesus can give you. Come on. I'm talking about a wine that is not of this world. I'm talking about a joy that the world can't take away. I'm talking about a peace that passes understanding. Oh, can we thank God for something internal and eternal, but I gotta stop running. Because what I,'cause, what I really need is God, what Jacob really needed is God. You know, you read about Jacob, he had money, he had, he had camels and flocks and donkeys and cattle and y'all. He had wives,

Speaker 2: 16:32

but he didn't have

Speaker: 16:33

God.

Speaker 2: 16:33

That's right.

Speaker: 16:35

And what Jacob was missing was God. It, it reminds me in, in the book of Genesis, uh, God is creating in Genesis, he's, he's the creator in Genesis, and he, he does something very interesting. He creates dirt and then he tells the dirt produce. So the dirt starts producing flowers and trees and grass and plants and all these, all these things, all these seed bearing plants. That's why whenever you remove a tree from the dirt, the tree dies because the tree needs the dirt because the dirt is its life source. So gentlemen, when you buy your wife beautiful flowers this week just outta nowhere, just to be sweet, lemme me help your marriage right now. Amen. They're, they're, they're gonna be, they're gonna be beautiful for a couple of days, right? And they're gonna walk down into the kitchen and they're gonna be dead. You go, oh, the flowers that I, they were already dead. They were already dead because we removed them from their life source. Okay. A after he does that, he creates water, not fish, water, not fish, water. He creates water and then he tells the water, make fish. And like straight outta Moana, two. That water goes, yes, sir. And the water starts producing fish. Sorry, I have an 8-year-old. Okay, my bad. I know we're supposed to be boycotting Disney, but I'm still a work in progress. Don't judge me. So, so the water produces the fish. That's why when you remove a fish from the water, it dies. Why? Because the water is, its sourced. The water is, its, we could almost say is its God, it, it, the fish can't live without water. The tree can't live without dirt. But when God created you, when God created me, when God created Adam, he didn't talk to the dirt. He didn't talk to the water. He didn't even talk to oxygen or atmosphere when God was creating us, he had to talk to him himself. Come on.

Speaker 3: 18:39

That's good. Woo.

Speaker: 18:41

I felt that in my bones. Sorry, I am a little Pentecostal. It shows I try to hide it, but sometimes I can't. And he said, for this creation, for our chief creation, let us father, son, and spirit make man in our own image. What am I saying? I'm saying a tree needs dirt and a fish needs water and we

Speaker 3: 19:03

need God. And anytime we try to live this life outside of our life source, God. Yeah, we just gonna look like a flopping fish, like a dead bouquet. We're missing out on the real

Speaker: 19:20

life that we can experience when we try to live this life removed from our source. I need, God, I gotta stop running. I have to remind myself every day I need God. Marriage is better than it's ever been. I need God. Church is doing great. I need God, love my family, but I need God have amazing friends, but I need God. Have a little bit of money. I still need God. I love my house, but I still need God. Like I need God more today. I'm more comfortable in some ways than I've ever been, but I need God more today than I've ever needed God. And how foolish of me if I try to do what I'm doing right now outside of my sores. So I gotta stop running. And once I stop running, I now. Face to face with the Almighty. I have to admit that I have issues. What is your name, Jacob? He answered. Now, names in the Bible mean a lot. They don't mean as much today, but they mean a lot in the Bible. And names were usually given to a child based off of the pregnancy and off of the birth and off of the season of the birth of that child. And really the name was a prophecy. The name was a declaration. This is who you're gonna be. So Rebecca is pregnant with two sons. Esau leaves the womb first, but as Esau is leaving the womb, the scripture says that Jacob reaches out and he grabs the foot of Esau. And when this happens, Rebecca says, oh, be careful. Here's our heel, grasper or, or supplanter, or. Deceiver. Here's, here's the one that's gonna knock you off balance. We gotta be careful. This is our little black sheep. This is gonna be our little problem child. Keep an eye on Jacob. That's what Jacob means. And she declares something over her child that he became, he became a deceiver, he became a heel grasper. He be, he became a manipulator. And so when God says, what is your name? Jacob is having to get honest. You know, the last time someone asked Jacob his name, Jacob said, I'm Esau. That was good. Come on.'cause if we're not careful, we will. Oh, oh, Jacob, Jacob put hair on his arm, but we, we wear masks in church. Hallelujah, brother. Glory to God. Praise God. How are you doing? Blessed. Yeah. Blessed. Add an extra B to it. So blessed, doing good. Wonderful. Hallelujah. I, I pe I, I asked the guy one time, how you doing? He went, amen. I went, that's not an answer. I was like, bro, that's the most word of faith thing I've ever seen in my life. I was like, whoa, that, like, I was like, amen is not an answer. I was like, go ahead, tell me how you're doing. He's like, all right. Okay. Okay. It was so funny. And I am word of faith. Amen. So I'm just, I'm just telling you, it was just a shock. How you doing brother? Amen. What? Amen. Lemme tell you something about faith. Faith is not denial. Jesus didn't say deny the mountain. Jesus didn't say, just act like it's not there. There's no mountain. There's no mountain. There's no mountain. There's no mountain. There's no mountain. There's, that's not faith. Faith is admitting there is a mountain. But I know a name that's greater than the mountain. So I'm gonna talk to the mountain in the name of Jesus and I'm gonna tell it to go in Jesus' name. Amen. It's not, it's not a denial of reality. It is knowing there is a greater reality called the kingdom of Heaven. So when God says, what's your name? See, here's what I want to get at. Jacob could have, he could have lied again like he did earlier, but he could. He could have said, oh, I'm. I'm Abraham's grandson, Esau's brother. I'm Isaac's boy. I'm one of Rebecca's sons. I'm one of Laban's son-in-laws I'm, he could have said a lot of things that would've been kind of true, but wouldn't have dealt with the root issue in his heart. And so when God says, what's your name? He finally admits, I'm Jacob. I, I, I have become what Rebecca said about me, and that has been a real part of my journey. But now I'm bringing that to Jesus and I believe he can change my name, change my story. He can change something in my life, but he can't change the fake me. It'll only change the honest me. So I actually have to get honest and real enough with God to bring it to God, to, to then let God do something miraculous with it. You know, it reminds me of John eight. There's a, there's a verse in John eight where Jesus says, whom the Son sets free is free. Indeed. That's a big one. I mean, we know that one. A lot of people know that. We sing songs about it. We, we put it on our screen, said, we know that, you know, when Jesus said this. The Bible said, he said it to a group of believers and he says, you can become one of my disciples and I can set you free. Think about this. You can be a believer and not yet a disciple, but Jesus is calling them into discipleship. And he says, he says, I'm calling you to become a, a disciple of me and I can set you free. And they did not say hallelujah. They did not say, pull out a a, a recording device. We gotta, we gotta write a song about this. This is gonna be a banger, this is gonna be a No. They didn't do that. They said in John 8 33, we are Abraham's children and we've never been slaves to anyone. Anyone. Did they, did they not watch the Prince of Egypt? Anyone, Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, uh, Rome. They were currently under Roman occupation talking about we're free. Is this okay? Caesar, are you good with this? See you. You have to be able to get honest enough with God to say there's some Jacob at me. And I'm bringing it to you because, because by the way, when God says what's your name, it's not like God doesn't know. That's right. Right. God never asks you a question'cause he doesn't know the answer. He is trying to get you to a place of revelation. That's right. So he says, can you, can you get honest with me or are you gonna lie to me like you lied to your daddy? Watch out. And he said, I ain't gonna lie this time, I'm Jacob. And God goes, I can do something with that. So now that I'm here, now that I'm honest with God, now that I've stopped running, here's the last thing I have to do. The last thing we have to do to, to surrender to God. We gotta hold on to God. I will not let you go unless you bless me. It is an interesting text because God, it, it feels like to me. Yeah, God shows up, picks a fight with Jacob, and then immediately tries to tap outta the fight. And he's like, all right, I'm done, I'm done. I'm done. No more. And Jacob's like, we just got started. No, no, I wanna wait a minute. And I'm convinced that God was actually testing Jacob. Right. God. God was actually asking Jacob. All right. Do you wanna just run away, like you always run away, or do you want to actually deal with what's going on in your heart? But if you wanna run, I'll, I'll, I'll tap out. You are good. You can run Jacob. You can run like you've always run. You ran from your parents' house, you ran from your brother, you ran from your brother-in-law. You've currently been running from your wife and kids. Go ahead and run. Go ahead and run for me. Like you, you're always on the run. Go ahead and run or you can wrestle. Hear me friends, you can run or you can wrestle. You can't do both. And eventually something in you has to say, you know what? I wanna run, but I'm not going to, I want to quit, but I'm not going to, I, I, I, I wanna walk away, but I'm not going to because nothing will change if I just keep running. But something can change when I finally face God. This is, this is the power, by the way, of the life you want. It's gonna be on the other side of a wrestling match. Like, let me, let me tell you how you lead a church for 45 years. You want to quit and you don't. That's how you lead a church for 45, at least 45 times, at least once a year. At least once a year. And then if you're dramatic like me in seven years, it's 70 times seven. Amen. I Isn't that a scripture? Okay, nevermind. Um, my, my, my point is, you, you just stay, even when you want to quit, you just stay, even when you're discouraged, you just stay, even when, even when people walk out, you just stay. You just, you just hold on to God and go, I ain't letting go. I could. But, but there's no reward in that. I could walk away, but there's no reward in that. I could, I could, I could just go try to repeat this cycle. So, but there's no reward in that. So God, I'm not letting go. That is the power of not just a faith-filled life, but of a faithful life. And I, and I do think it would be appropriate one more time to just honor our founding pastors. Just one more time for, just, for just staying, for just, I'm just not going anywhere. Right, because God, you called me here. So here we're about 18 months ago. I tried to quit. I tried to quit. Not on my wife, not on God, but on my church. And so, um, here we go. Let's get real. Uh, I walked downstairs super dramatic, and I walk into our freezer. I, I open up the freezer and I pull out a half gallon. A half gallon, not a pint. A half gal and a Blue Bell ice cream. And um, and I'm just being real dramatic. I'm trying to pick a fight with my wife, y'all know what I'm saying? Throwing stuff. I grab the blue be and then I go, uh, David, I dunno if Jordan has this, but my, my wife has this like. It's like a vase of like a, like a bouquet of, uh, utensils we're not allowed to use. They're from Williams Sonoma. You can't touch'em. It's a cheese grater. Can't touch it. Jail. If you touch it, it's a slotted spoon jail. You can't touch it. Yeah, it's a really beautiful, like, I don't know, dough Roller that you can't touch it. They're just there. We use the ones from Target. Those are just there for decoration. And I wanted to fight with my wife'cause I was in a bad mood. So I went and grabbed one of the good spoons and I, and I had my half gallon ice cream, and I had my big spoon, like literally like I'm a 4-year-old and I said, I quit. Not on you, not on God, but on this shirt I'm done. So if you wanna be the pastor, you can be the pastor of women's ministry. Amen. Praise God. Go for it or call a friend. I don't know. I'm done. And I turned around. And I started walking up the stairs with my half gallon and my big old spoon, and my wife was doing the dishes and she just screams through the house. Screams through the house. No, and I'm telling you, I got chill bumps down my spine, my hair stood up, and I turned around and I immediately protected the ice cream. Amen. I went, it's, it's

Speaker 2: 32:09

okay. It is. Okay, baby mama's mad. It's okay. She'll stop yelling

Speaker: 32:15

soon. It's okay. Mama's okay. And I went, what? And she said, you are not quitting. And I said, yes, I am. She said, no you're not. She said. So go eat your ice cream and pray. And have a pity party.'cause when you wake up in the morning, you're still gonna be the pastor of City Light Church. And I went, I'll pray about it. And I walked upstairs and I ate a half gallon, a blue Bell ice cream. I repented to God and I'm still the pastor of City Church. One of my heroes, pastor Tommy Barnett, said, Javin, be encouraged when you want to quit. I said, why would I be encouraged when I want to quit? He said, because then you have something to quit. He said, A lot of people don't have anything to quit. At least you can quit if you want to quit. But then you just be encouraged that you could quit, but you're not gonna quit'cause you have something to quit and then you don't quit and then you just keep going. I went, I like that so much of of the life you want is just saying, nah, I'm not letting go. God, you gave me a promise. I'm not letting go, God. You put a dream in my spirit. I'm not letting go, God. You, you gave me a word. I'm not letting go and I'll have the, I'll have the team come. I just, it, it's, it's in this moment, by the way. It's in this moment that Jacob realizes this isn't a man. This is amazing to me.

Speaker 2: 33:51

He goes, um. He goes, I think this is God.

Speaker: 33:58

And he says, I, I told you my name. Can we play that? That song about surrender that you all were singing. I don't know what it was called, but it was so good. Or make one up, you know, whatever you wanna do. Was there a song about surrender? Like a great chorus about surrender? Yeah. I'm not losing my mind, right? I'm like, I'm not crazy. Right? He goes, he goes. I, I told you my name now, would you tell me your name? Who are you? Who are you? God boy. It's a, it's a question you should be asking. Jesus. Would you reveal yourself to me? Like who are you? Moses asked that in Exodus three. David asked it in Psalm 18. The disciples asked it in Matthew eight. Peter had to answer

Speaker 2: 34:51

this in Matthew 16. Paul would ask this in Acts chapter nine, Lord, who are you?

Speaker: 35:00

And every time God answered and Jacob realizes says, I need God. Who are you? But here's the amazing thing that happens that's so unique from the rest of scripture. God did give him a name, right? So when he introduces himself to Abraham, he, he gives him a name. I am the Lord. I'm Yahweh God. The uncreated, pre-existent one. When he, when he meets with Moses, he says, I am that I am. When he meets with Paul, Saul Paul, he says, I am Jesus whom you've been persecuting. But when he meets with Jacob, and Jacob says, what's your name? He doesn't give him a name. He, he doesn't tell him who he is. He shows him who he is. That's good. Jacob says, who are you and God. Blessed him. This word blessing means to be the greater of two and to get down on your knees at the level of the lesser one, like a father and a child. And this word blessing means to get eye to eye, face to face with that little kid and put your hands on him. And speak words of affirmation and blessing over them. God wasn't breaking Jacob. He was blessing Jacob. God wasn't hurting Jacob. He was helping Jacob. Let me tell you what God was really telling Jacob. I'm not Rebecca. I don't curse my kids. I am not Isaac. I don't have just enough for your brother or for you. I got enough to go around. I am El Shada, the God of more than enough, the many breasted one, the one that has supply for every one of your needs, so you never have to be jealous of another person's blessings because God never runs out of blessing. He can bless everybody he wants to bless in this room at the level that he wants to bless them because this is the God that you serve. He is not limited like Isaac. He is not limited like Rebecca, he is. And he blesses him. And after he blesses him, Jacob's limping because God has now changed his name and God's changed his talk and now God's changed his walk. I don't, I don't trust anyone who doesn't have a limp. I'm talking about, I met God and I walked different. I met God and I talked different. I met God and I move at a different pace. I met God and he, he touched my strength only to reveal his strength. He, so, so, so he was running and then he was wrestling. And then he was limping. And then we get to Hebrews 11. Now he's dying. And in Hebrews 11, verse 21, it says this, by faith Jacob, when he was dying, watch this ev. Everybody in this room's gonna die, but you get to die different. Then you were born. You're born looking like your parents, you die looking like your decisions. Watch, watch what he's doing now. He's, he's dying and he's leaning. He's leaning on his reminder that he needs God and what's he doing? Not only is he dying, not only is he leaning, he's blessing and he's worshiping. Come on. The

Speaker 3: 39:31

man that was born stealing, blessing dies, giving away blessing. The man who was born a taker dies. A giver. The man who was born, fearful, dies. Generous. The man who was born under a curse dies under a blessing. He dies so radically different than he was born, and

Speaker: 39:53

he's

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now leaning

Speaker: 39:54

on his staff and Hebrew theologians, Tillis. That the staff was important because they would carve in the family history into the staff with special memories. So I think as, I think as Jacob's leaning on his staff, his son Joseph went, daddy, tell him about when you met God. Oh, I remember that.

Speaker 2: 40:25

It's right here. And he's now looking at his grandsons. And he says, well, my name, my name wasn't always Israel guys. It was Jacob and all of his grandsons would've went, yeah, I was a mess, but I met a God. I said, I met a God. Oh man. Has anybody met this

Speaker: 40:54

God that I'm talking about tonight? Has anybody met this name changer? Oh, has anybody, has anybody ever seen the goodness of God? And he says, he says, I, I met a God who changed my talk and he changed my walk and he changed my name, and he changed our life and, and, and, and boys. I thought there was only enough blessing for me or

Speaker 2: 41:14

Esau, but now I'm connected to a source. That's good. That can bless every one of you. I was so small and I was so scared, but I met God. I'll

Speaker: 41:38

tell you, that's my story. God can change your name tonight. God can change your life tonight. God can change your destiny tonight. It doesn't matter what Rebecca said about you. It doesn't matter what Isaac said about you. It doesn't matter. You are not your. Past you are not your mistakes. You are not what they told you. You are no longer your worst season. You are no longer your sin or your shame. Israel. You are who God says you are. You are loved, healed, a child of God, you are saved, redeemed from the curse, holy, forgiven, free, well supplied, protected, and promised you are no longer Jacob. You are Israel. Not because of

Speaker 3: 42:27

anything you've done or earned or deserved, but because of this beautiful gift called Grace. Oh, can we stand up on our feet? And thank God for grace, grace, grace. Mercy, grace, the God who finds us, the God who chases us, the God who wrestles with us, the God who won't let us go. Grace, can we sing something? Come on team. Seek something. Come on. Listen to our hands and worship the Lord tonight. Come on, let's worship all over this place.

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Thank you. Just lift our hands for a moment. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.

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Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Would you sing that bridge? Would you sing that bridge? Thank you, Jesus.

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Thank you Jesus.

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Let's just wrestle with him for a moment. Let's just face him for a moment. Just face him as you behold His glory, he changes you from glory to glory. All

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my, I give you all

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you can have, all you can have, all you can have every weakness, every strength,

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every part of me I give for you. Jesus. I surrender all. All over again. I surrender all.

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Thank you, Lord. Praise God. Praise God. Let's just lift our hands one more time. Praise God. Thank you, Lord. Just tell him thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. I love you

Speaker: 47:19

Jesus. I wanna pray for just one group of people and, uh, maybe just a little light in the room. I just wanna see faces as we pray. But. Him, you know, every, every church has Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in, its in its church and, um, a lot of churches lose Jacob because he's young and wild and wiry and crazy and, you know. All my pastor friends, you know, they talk about their young staff sometimes. Oh man, they're, oh man. I'm like, do you not remember yourself? One, do you not? And, and two, can you just, thank God you didn't have Instagram when you were 20? Can you imagine the things who would've said, can you imagine our Twitter handles when we were 20? Because I was an expert. I was brilliant. I was a genius. I knew everything. These pastors didn't know nothing. I was smart. I mean, thank God that is not on the, thank God the internet wasn't there yet. Oh my God. So anyway, so now we're, we're Isaacs, you know, but we have a Jacob generation coming under us and a lot of times churches, they, they lose that Jacob generation because it's, it's young and it's, it's rowdy and it's, it can be hard to lead and. And yet every church needs that because it's, it's the young, the youngest generation in the room. That's the multiplying generation. That's the generation that multiplies. It's the generation that goes from two to 12 and on and on. That's the generation that becomes a nation. It's, it's the generation that turns a church from a community church to a, to a a region, nation, church. So you have to embrace that. So I just want to, I just want to say, I wanna, I wanna pray for Jacob tonight. I wanna pray for that generation. But I also want to, I want to talk to Abraham and Isaac. We desperately need you to help us love and mentor and disciple. And Pastor Jacob. So if you, if you come into this house and go, is it getting too young for me? No, man. This LED wall and these light, the light got in my eyes and I think I, I think I have a eye issue now. No, don't, don't let, there's smoke in the room. I don't know what's going on. Don't. David's humor goes over my head. He says things I don't understand. Don't. We need Abraham and we need Isaac. While Abraham and Isaac, as we reach Israel, as we reach Jacob, and most churches can't become three generation churches. But this is a three generation church. Come on. If you, if you told, if you asked me how, how has city like done what it's done is.'cause we're radically committed to Jacob and I, I'm talking about down to. For three years, my wife became the kid's pastor.'cause we needed one. So we just, she just went, okay. I, I get it. That wasn't part of the plan. Like just, and I'm not prophesying that over you. Jordan's like, Jamon. My, my point is like, we were just like anything to reach. So it's like, it's not about the, like how old, how old are you? 13. How old are you? 22. I won't ask your age. How old are you? 32 50. Why? I didn't want to ask. I was gonna say 41, 32. Old are you? 23. 23. Okay. So it's like, let me say this about like a 23-year-old.'cause you might like look on the stage and go like, ah, he's really young. It's almost not about her as much as it would be about her kid. Yeah, the 18 month old in the nursery right now. Like if you'll just, if you could think that way and embrace, that's good. Like for our, we're giving a cup of cold water to a baby that can never pay us back. But if I, but if I can give her a cup of cold water in his name, in the name of a disciple, if I can give her a cup of cold water, I won't lose my reward. And a and a church doesn't lose its reward when it keeps the water flowing to the children. Come on

Speaker 4: 52:45

up.