A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: We all want to know God's will. But the real tension is, after we know God's will, do we do God's will? Pastor Greg Laurie offers perspective. Perhaps God's been leading you to do something and you have simply refused. You're unwilling to break up that bad relationship that's dragging you down spiritually. Or you're not going to give up that vice that is hurting you. Or you're not willing to take that step of faith. What's going on? You are wrestling with God.

Song: This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace how sweet the sound. Can you hear what the angels are singing? This is the day the day when life begins.

Greg Laurie: God gave us free will. And what a risky gift that is. Well, sure it's fine when the biggest choice is coffee or tea, sneakers or sandals. But what happens when our will collides with God's will? Today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie takes on the danger of saying, thanks God, but I got this. He'll walk us through the story of an Old Testament character who wanted things his way in his timing, and even wrestled with God.

Song: This is the day the day when life begins.

Greg Laurie: If you are wrestling with God, you're going to lose. As it has been said, your arms are too short to box with God. But actually, that's a good thing. Because you don't want to win in a wrestling match with God. You want to submit to His purpose and His plan for your life.

But we all know what it's like to pray for something and wonder why the answer has not come. Maybe you've prayed for months, maybe even years for your unsaved mate to come to Christ. Or you've prayed for your prodigal child to return to the Lord. Or you've prayed for that healing touch in your life or in the life of someone that you love. Or maybe you're single and you've prayed that God would bring a mate to you. Or you're praying for a door of opportunity to open for you to serve the Lord. Or you're praying that the pastor's sermon will finally end.

I don't know what you're praying for, but it's a good thing to pray. In fact, the Bible encourages us to bring our needs and our requests to God. The Bible tells us don't worry about anything, pray about everything. And then we're told also to pray, and the reason we haven't received an answer to our prayer could be because we have not asked the Lord. You have not because you ask not. And Jesus says ask and it shall be given, seeking you shall find, knock and the door will be open.

But often we, maybe not often, but sometimes we find ourselves praying and nothing is happening. God is not budging. What's going on? In effect, you are wrestling with God. Or perhaps God's been leading you to do something and you have simply refused. You won't let Him have access to a certain area of your life. Or you're unwilling to break up that bad relationship that's dragging you down spiritually. Or you're not going to give up that vice that is hurting you. Or you're not willing to take that step of faith. Jonah comes to mind. God said, go preach to the city of Nineveh, and he flat out refused and went the opposite direction. God said, go. Jonah said, no. God said, oh, he was wrestling with God.

But wrestling with God is not necessarily a bad thing, for before us in scripture is a story of a man who did just that. His name was Jacob. He got into a wrestling match with what he thought was an angel, and it turned out to be the Lord Himself. And ultimately, he submitted to God's will, and it started with him resisting God and it ended up with him resting. And he actually said to the Lord, I won't let you go until you bless me.

President Abraham Lincoln reflecting on the Civil War once said, and I quote, "My concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." End quote. See, that's the whole objective of prayer. It's not to get God to do what I want Him to do. It's to get me in alignment with His will because His will is better than my will.

Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer to say, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus said if you abide in me and my word abides in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done to you. So if I get into an alignment with God's will and pray accordingly, I will see my prayers answered in the affirmative. Offering a little commentary on Jacob's wrestling match with the Lord, Hosea 12 says, before Jacob was born, he struggled with his brother. Then he became a man, and he even fought with God, and he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him, and there at Bethel, he met God face to face, for God spoke to him.

So we're in this series that we're calling Jesus in you. We've done the New Testament edition. Now we're looking at the Old Testament where Jesus appears many times in what we call Christophanies. Now, some people would say, well, Jesus isn't in the Old Testament. Well, of course He is. He's in the Old Testament concealed, He's in the New Testament revealed. And there are so many types and pictures that point to Christ. We looked at one last time with Abraham taking his son Isaac and offering him, and a last minute reprieve was given, but it was a picture of what happened at the cross, when God the Father and God the Son in perfect cooperation with the Holy Spirit went through with it, but no last minute reprieve was given. And the judgment of God came upon His own son who died in our place, but it was pointing to Christ.

But it was the Lord Himself, I believe, that stepped in and told Abraham to not take the life of his son. A Christopphany. And we're going to look at another Christopphany as well. Why do I believe this is a Christopphany where Jacob was not actually wrestling with an angel, but with the Lord Himself? Because he says that he saw God or met God face to face, and he actually called the name of the place Peniel, which means the face of God.

So, Isaac was spared. So Isaac married Rebecca and they had two sons, Jacob and Esau. They were twins, they were womb mates. And there's an interesting passage about them in Genesis 25:23 that shows that God had a plan for both of them before they were born. Where we read the Lord said to Rebecca, there are two nations in your womb, and the older will serve the younger. Two nations. Is that interesting?

It doesn't say there are two lumps of tissue in your womb or two embryos or two cells, but two nations because at the moment of conception, we are made in the image of God and that is why abortion is such a horrible thing. Because you are destroying what God has declared precious. You're wiping out a story that God was writing before birth.

David spoke of this in Psalm 139. He says, You knit me together in my mother's womb and all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one came to be. Jeremiah said, before I was formed in the womb, you knew me and you set me apart. But even before they were born, you can already see the nature of these two boys. They could not have been more different. So they named them according to what happened at birth. So, the firstborn was Esau, which means hairy. H. A. I. R. Y. Why did they name him that? Because he was hairy.

Apparently, this kid was covered in hair head to toe. And they, oh, look at that dude. Let's call him Harry. Out comes his brother Jacob, hanging on to Harry's heel. Oh, let's call this one Heel Catcher, which can also be translated supplanter or deceiver. And so Harry and Heel Catcher. You know, parents give strange names to kids these days. Like, no one names their kids Greg anymore.

But I actually read these are names that parents have given to their children. I'm not making this up. Uh, one set of parents named their child, hashtag. Really? Hashtag. What's the middle name? Trendy? I mean stupid, come on now. And another set of parents named their child, this is for real, Facebook. Facebook? Oh my goodness. Here's the weirdest of all. A couple from New Zealand named their child, Number 16 Bus Shelter. What? Strange names. Well, Harry's not a lot better. Or nor is Heel Catcher. But, uh, pretty much they lived up to their names. Uh, Jacob was always manipulating and scheming and striving to get ahead.

Host: Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

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Greg Laurie: Well, today we're focusing on the story of two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Pastor Greg brings us the significance of the story.

Greg Laurie: Now, under normal circumstances, the firstborn would become the heir of the blessing of the father, which means that when the father passed, he would give the blessing to the firstborn, they would be the patriarch of the family, they would receive the inheritance, be the spiritual leader of the tribe and so forth. But in this instance, God clearly said that the second born was going to be the one who received the blessing. So God reversed the order, He said it ahead of time, which means God said this is going to happen, but old Jacob, he couldn't leave it in the hands of God and trust him to bring it about, so he thought he would help God out a little bit.

And but God had plans for Jacob, and one of those plans was to change his name from Jacob to Israel. Israel, which means a prince with God or one who rules with God. That happened after his little wrestling match with the Lord that we'll read about in a few moments, which reminds us that God doesn't just see you for what you are, he sees you for what you can become. See, we see ourselves for what we are. You look in a mirror, uh, you look in a magnifying mirror, uh, right? But God sees potential. You know, you look at yourself and you see the past, but God sees the future. You see sin, God sees restoration. You see a blank canvas, God sees a finished painting. You see an end, God sees a new beginning. You see a mess, God sees a message.

A story is told of the great sculptor Michelangelo who uh wanted to do a sculpture of King David, and I've seen this in person and it is unbelievable to see. He even in our modern day, you are just amazed at how a single man could sculpt something that magnificent and impressive out of a single piece of marble. So this piece of marble that David was sculpted out of by Michelangelo was actually flawed and it was rejected by other sculptors. But Michelangelo loved it and he was looking at it and walking around and said to the workers, do you see it? They said, see what? He said, I see King David. They said, we just see a slab of marble. But Michelangelo saw what it could become.

And God sees the same for each of us. Now, Jacob and Esau couldn't have been more different. At first glance, Esau almost looks like the more impressive of the two. He's an outdoorsy kind of a guy. We would call him a man's man, hunting wild game, preparing meals out of it that his father really favored, where Jacob, he kind of liked to stay home with mom and help in the kitchen. You know, if they subscribed to magazines, uh, Esau would subscribe to Field and Stream, and Outdoor Life, and Sports Illustrated. Jacob would subscribe to Good Housekeeping and Martha Stewart Living, and maybe Bon Appetit, right?

So, Esau would be out in the field hunting, and Jacob would be making avocado toast and charcuterie with mom, you know? So, he was, he liked to hang out at the house, that's all there was to it. And clearly, Isaac favored Esau, and Rebecca, his wife, favored Jacob. And by the way, it's never good to favor one child over another child because they will know. They'll know who mom's favorite is or who dad's favorite is.

And my own grandchildren have asked me, Papa, who's your favorite grandchild? Well, you're all my favorite. No, who's your favorite? And three of them have broken into my phone and contacts, and now when they call me it just comes up as your favorite grandchild. But three of them do it, so I'm thinking, what favorite grandchild is it? Right? Never good to favor one child over another.

But actually the Bible gives us a profound insight into Esau. It says that Esau was a profane man. The word profane means without God. It doesn't mean overtly wicked, it just means he was godless. He was common, he was worldly. The Bible calls it a natural man. First Corinthians 2. The natural man doesn't understand the things of God. And there are people like this. They just don't get it. It's like, why go to church? I could stay home and sleep in and watch a game. You know, why read the Bible? I'd rather scroll TikTok. I why pray? Why not just go out and get it done? You know, I mean, they just don't understand spiritual things, and there's nothing you can do to make a natural man believe, except pray that God would prepare their heart. And I say natural man, I mean natural woman as well, just a person without God. That was Esau, a natural man, a godless man.

So one day, he's out in the field, didn't catch anything that day. He was really hungry. He comes in and there's brother Jacob whipping up a nice little feast and he smells it and says, hey bro, can I have some of that stew? And Jacob says, oh, you hungry, are you? Oh man, I'm starving to death. Oh really? How much would you be willing to pay me for this stew? I don't know, what do you want? How about your birthright? He didn't need to ask him for the birthright. God was going to give it to him. How about your birthright, says Jacob. Birthright, Smurfright, says Esau. I'm paraphrasing obviously.

I, he's a natural man. I don't care about a birthright. What do you wanted you can have it. Here's your stew bro. He eats the stew. Man, that was a bad mistake, just showing he did not understand how important that birthright actually was. And then later it got even worse. Isaac was ready to give the blessing. Even though God said it should go to Jacob, he was determined to give it to Esau. He said, boy, go out there and get me my favorite kind of venison. You know how to make it, bring it in here, and I'm going to give you the blessing. So meanwhile, Rebecca's eavesdropping. She goes, Jacob, go cook up something. And serve it to your father before your brother gets back and he'll give you the blessing.

So Jacob does that and he literally covers himself in animal skins. Now, Isaac was losing his eyesight at this point. So, Jacob is covered in animal skins and he tries to imitate the voice of his brother, who I imagine was deeper, hey dad, how are you doing? Instead of whatever his normal voice was, I here here's here's the food you asked for. And Isaac says, that sounds a lot like Jacob, not Esau. Then he feels his arm, he goes, oh, you're hairy like like that. And let me smell you. Oh, yeah, you smell like him. And he eats the meal and he gives the blessing to Jacob that he intended to give to Esau.

And when Esau heard about this, he was just absolutely ticked off and said, I'm going to kill that brother of mine. And so mom says, you better head for the hills. Go visit my brother Laban. See, here's the problem is Jacob wasn't waiting on the Lord for his timing and his purpose. So now he's going off to a far country, leaving his home. And why he's on his way, the Lord gives him a vision of angels going up and down a ladder. God was effectively saying to Jacob, I can accomplish this on my own. You need to just trust me.

And it reminds us that we are in a spiritual battle. And angels are actively involved in our life. The Bible says you don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual might. And so we need to put on the armor of God. But Jacob is trying to do everything in his own way. God was saying, I've got this. I don't need your help. But Jacob didn't want to wait on God's timing. And I relate because I don't like to wait. If I get a pizza and I'm bringing it home, half of it will be gone by the time I arrive.

And by the way, eating pizza on the road is not easy because it kind of, you know, comes over your hand and it has grease on it and you're trying to eat it, and then for me, I'll burn the roof of my mouth out because I don't want to wait for it to cool down. If you've ever been on the freeway and you see someone weaving in and out trying to get ahead, that could be me. I'll avoid a line at all costs. The other day I said to my wife, let's go try out this new little restaurant. I read a good review on it. So we drive over, long line. I said, let's go somewhere else. And we went to a place that wasn't even that good, but there was a line. I didn't want to wait in the line.

I went to pick my grandson up the other day from school and there was a long line getting out of the school, so I went the opposite direction. I said, I'm going to take an alternate route. Then I hit a light, and I turned, hit another light, hit another light. About 20 minutes into this, my grandson says, Papa, where where are we? I said, I'm not really sure. It added at least 20 more minutes to the trip because I'm impatient. But the Bible says, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So wait, the Bible says, on the Lord.

Song: This is the day.

Host: Good encouragement today here on a new beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie with his message called wrestling with God. And there's more to come in this study. As we've learned today, a life lived in harmony with God's will is the most satisfying and the least stressful. And it all starts by having a relationship with the Lord.

Pastor Greg, someone can enter into that kind of relationship today, can't they?

Greg Laurie: They can, and it's so simple. And I think because it's so simple, people think, oh, it can't be that easy. Well, look, Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He carried the cross for you. He died on that cross that He carried. This isn't about what you do, it's about what He's done. But here's what the Bible says. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So, let's just say that you're caught in a rip tide out in the ocean and you need help, and there's a lifeguard at the stand, and they see you. You've got to call out to them and let them know you need saving. And the same is true when it comes to eternal life. Jesus is ready to save you, will you call out to Him?

You say, well, okay, how do I do that? You do it through prayer. And prayer is just talking to God. So, listen, I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you pray this prayer after me, I believe God will hear it and answer it and Christ will come to live inside of you. Thousands of people have prayed a prayer like this over the years that we've been doing this radio broadcast and have seen their life change. There's no power or magic in a prayer. It's all about your commitment to Christ. But this is a way to call on the name of the Lord in this prayer. So, if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that big hole in your heart, just pray this prayer after me.

You could pray it out loud if you like, pray it in the quietness of your heart, but pray these words if you would. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin. I am sorry for my sin and I turn from it now. And I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my savior and my Lord, be my God and my friend. Thanks for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer in Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that God has heard you and has answered it. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. That you may know. It's yours now. God has given it to you because it's the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

Host: Yeah. Yeah, that's right. And listen, we want to help you get started in this new relationship with the Lord. Would you let us send you something? It's free of charge. It's Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It features an explanation of key biblical terms in language you can easily understand. Literally millions of people have read this edition of God's Word. New believers love the study helps written just for them, and they appreciate that it's in an easy-to-understand translation. We'll send it to you today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can call anytime, 1-800-821-3300. Or write a new beginning Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God.

And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially. Those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We're definitely a listener-supported ministry. It's the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs. So, if you've partnered with us, thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us, well, I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us. You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write a new beginning Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300.

Well, next time, more from Pastor Greg's series where we're exploring the appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament, a series called Jesus and you. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.

Song: This is the day the day when life begins.