February 19 2017 Getting A Grip On Change

GETTING A GRIP ON CHANGE

Genesis 32:22-32

Verses 24-30 – Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until 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 daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared.”

Four Steps To Change

1. The crisis phase.

Prov. 18:12 – Pride ends in destruction (discomfort.) Humility ends in honor.

LESSON: We don’t change until our fear of change is exceeded by the pain we’re experiencing.

2. The commitment phase.

Verse 26 – The man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

LESSON: God often allows our problems to continue long enough to see if we really mean business.

Gal. 6:9 – After while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.

3. Confession.

Verse 27 – The man asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, “Jacob.”

LESSON: He will never change us as an individual until we honestly confess our faults and sins.

Prov. 28:13 – He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

4. Cooperation.

Verse 30 – So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face.”

Verse 28 – “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel.”

II Cor. 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.

July 21 2013 Trusting God When It's Hard To Hear Him

Trusting God When It's Hard To Hear Him

Ver. 9 - But they did not listen to Him.

INTRODUCTION:

What I know about discouragement:
1. Everyone gets discouraged.
2. Is contagious.
3. Keeps us from being effective.
“Neither God nor man can use a discouraged person.”
Mary McLeod Bethune
4. It comes from a loss of perspective.
5. Often comes before God’s blessings.

Why did the Israelites feel so bad?
1. Their situation seemed hopeless.
Ver. 1 - For with a strong hand He will let them go.
2. They hadn’t experienced God’s deliverance personally.
Ver. 3 - May name Lord.
3. Their problem had lasted many years.
Ver. 5 - Egyptians keep in bondage.
4. They were exhausted.
Ver. 9 - They did not heed Moses because of anguish of Spirit.

Un-listened to Lessons of Exodus 6
1. God hears us when we’re hurting.
Ver. 5 - Moreover I have heard the groaning of the Israelites.

Four Reasons We Often Fail To Sense God’s Help:
(1.) We may have a pain problem.
(2.) We may have a timing problem.
(3.) We may have a attitude problem.
God chooses what we go through.
We choose how we go through it.
(4.) We may have a faith problem.
Unbelief puts our circumstances between us and God.
Faith puts God between us and our circumstances.

2. Helps us to respond to God in a greater way.
Ver. 3 - I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob as God
almighty, but my name , The Lord, I did not make myself known to
them.

God is God, but at different places in our journey, He reveals
Himself to us in new ways. Most of these revelations come a
difficult times in our lives.

We off God our problems and He offers us Himself.

Closing Comments:
1. Look and listen for what God is teaching you.
2. Choose to make this difficult time in your life a time for
growth.
3. Focus on God, not your problems.
4. Take action now!