Winning a Wrestling Match with God (The Weekend)

Ever wish you had a different name? Or what if you could determine your own nickname? 

When our youngest son, Aaron, was a little kid, he told me what he wanted for a nickname. He said, "I want my nickname to be Scamper." 

To this day, if I want to embarrass him, I remind him about his request. 

I never told him what I wanted to be called when I was a little kid. It would give him too much ammunition. I might tell you this weekend. I might also tell you what I would pick if I I could change my name now. 

This weekend we're looking at a story from Jacob's life found in Genesis 32. Jacob gets a new name, which is a really good thing since one of the meanings of his old name was deceiver. 

His new name is central in the story of God. 

But what's really interesting about this passage is how he gets it. He wrestles God for it on the night before he faces his greatest enemy and everything is in peril--his wealth, his life, and his family. Yes, he wrestles God for it.

If you ever find yourself wrestling with God about the future, a challenge you're facing, eminent danger of failure or even death, there will be some incredible take-aways from this week's sermon. 

Come and bring a friend. 

 

10 Tweets on “God’s Dysfunctional Covenant Family” (Genesis 27:1-40)

Here's last weekend’s sermon in 10 Tweets in our “The Story Begins (The Gospel Project)" series.

1/ Do you know how to bless someone, the kind of blessing that shapes the trajectory of another person's life.

2/ A blessing doesn't require great verbal ability or imagination, but it does require thought, reflection, and intentionality.

3/ God pours out His mercy on the broken, and we’re all broken.

4/ God prophecies the older will serve the younger, but Isaac is completely committed to defying God on this.

5/ The fact that we are all broken and every family is dysfunctional is not an argument for setting a low bar for yourself or for your family. 

6/ God wants to transform us. God calls us to live for his glory. Brokenness and dysfunction always lead to painful consequences. 

7/ Sin grieves God and that should matter to us.

8/ Brokenness has painful consequences, but they’re not consequences that God can’t redeem.

9/ Jacob craved for what his brother had. So he was willing to become someone other than himself, lie, and then blaspheme God to get it. 

10/ To bless, say what you see IN this person and say what you see FOR this person.

Watch last weekend's sermon below or here.