The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: The situation that was trying to pin you to the mat, that you thought was working against you, was actually God working for you. God has given you the authority to determine how things will work out.

Guest (Male): This is the Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

There's an old saying, "Cheaters never prosper." But today Dr. Evans tells us about one cheater who did prosper once God took him through a process of challenge, change, and growth. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 32 as he begins.

Dr. Tony Evans: What you and I are witnessing today is not a lost generation. What we are witnessing today is the product of a lost generation. What we're witnessing is the transference of a curse rather than the transference of the blessing.

Today I want to talk to you, primarily men, but it will apply to all of us in various ways, about one such man who wanted to turn a curse into a blessing. In the Bible, in the Old Testament, when the Bible talks about passing on the blessing, this naming and determining the future, it would talk about God's covenant with His people.

And God would say, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Those three would always be patched together because that covered grandfather, father, grandson. I want to talk to you about Jacob. We find that Isaac had two sons. One son was Esau and the other son was Jacob.

The word "Jacob", the name Jacob means "trickster". He was a trickster. He was a shyster. He was a duper. He was the one who would manipulate things in order to make them work out like he wanted to. He was the one who used human methodology to serve his own ends.

But there was one thing Jacob wanted more than anything else, and that was the blessing. Because he knew what the blessing was. The problem, however, was that the older son got the biggest part of the blessing. The Bible says the older son got a double portion. Jacob wanted that blessing.

So he connived and schemed to trick his father Isaac into blessing him while making Isaac think he was actually blessing Esau. Now we don't have time to read the full story. You can go back and read it yourself in Genesis 27, but just to quickly summarize it, here's what happened.

While Isaac was old and couldn't see, he got dressed up like Esau, talked like Esau, acted like Esau, and walked in and said, "Father, it's time to bless me." He said, "Which son are you?" He said, "I'm Esau, your oldest." Isaac blessed Jacob thinking he was Esau.

Esau sold to Jacob his birthright for some Quaker Oats cereal, some porridge. Okay? He said, "Look, you hungry? I can cook. Will you trade me for your porridge, your birthright?" When he traded the birthright, Jacob went in and got the blessing.

The blessing said that as the dew falls down from heaven, Genesis 27 says, "So shall the goodness of God fall on you." He says, "And I will bless you." Remember, I said blessing always involves authority. He says, "So that others will come under your authority and you will lead.

Not only that, but those who bless you I will bless, and those who curse you I will curse, for I will be your God." In other words, "I am going to take care of your future." You want to know what a blessing is? It is when God goes ahead of you to take care of that stuff so that when you arrive, it's ready. That's a blessing.

Now the problem is, watch this now, Jacob has a blessing that his character is not ready for. He wanted the right thing, but he wasn't yet the right person. God will give you the blessing. In fact, if you are here, whether man or woman, and you have accepted Jesus Christ, you have inherited the blessing.

If you've accepted Jesus Christ, even if you didn't have an earthly daddy, you have a Father. For God calls Himself your Father and with the new covenant comes the blessing, every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. So every man in here who is a Christian has been pronounced by God to be blessed.

But it's possible to be blessed and not yet have run into your blessing. Just like God blessed Israel and delivered them from Egypt, but it took them 40 years to arrive to the blessing, which was the land of Canaan. Why did it take them 40 years from being blessed to being able to get the inheritance of the blessing?

Because it took development in the wilderness. In other words, God won't share His blessing until your character is ready to receive it. Genesis 32, verse 24: "Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

And when he saw he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh so that the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him." When God is trying to address our character, He will put us in situations that bring fear, frustration, defeat, loneliness.

It says, "While Jacob was alone..." But wait a minute, I thought you said, Pastor, Jacob was blessed. That's what chapter 27 says, that's what chapter 28 says. It says Jacob was blessed. But he's a blessed man on the run because he's a jacked-up blessed man.

Before God can unleash the blessing and reverse the curse, He's got to deal with the man. Because Jacob has defined manhood the wrong way. He thinks to be a man is to get over. He thinks to be a man is to be able to fool people.

He thinks to be a man is to walk a certain way and talk a certain way and have a certain image. He all messed up about what it means to be a man. So He puts this man into a situation he can't fix. What is all this about?

It is about the thing that every man has to go through who really wants a blessing, and that is brokenness. What is brokenness? Brokenness is where God strips you of your self-sufficiency. Sometimes God, men, has to dislocate things so we see we ain't all that. And God often has to create pain to reduce us in order to bless us.

The man who wrestles with him says in verse 26, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." In other words, the sun's coming up. But he said, watch this now, "I won't let you go until you bless me." All of a sudden, through this process of dislocation, through this process of being reduced, through this painful situation he can't fix, he discovered that there was a connection between his pain and God's purposes.

There was a connection between his problem and God's blessing. See, one of the problems men face is often we don't make the connection about the things we can't fix and what God's trying to say. God don't want you to fix it. That's why He keeps dislocating stuff.

And every time you think it's connected, He disconnects it. And every time you think it's fixed, He re-breaks it. And every time you think you've gotten through the situation, something else goes wrong. And every time you think things are right on the job, somebody else goes off on you.

And the same time you think that everything's going to be all right, somebody else throws something at you, and you go year after year without making the connection that it's God dislocating stuff. See, one of our problems is we mistake the hand of God for the hand of man because we don't make the connection.

So he is in the struggle of his life and he discovers God was in the struggle. Verse 27: He says, "I'm not going to let you go until you bless me." He says, "Okay, what is your name?" Now this is a weird conversation to be having in a fight. Because in the Bible, names aren't just names.

Names have to do with your identity. Names have to do with your character. That's why when God wanted to do something different with a person, He'd change their name. In other words, Jacob, who are you? "I'm Jacob. I'm a trickster."

You want a blessing? Watch this now. You got to change your name. He says in verse 28, "Your name shall no longer be trickster. You don't operate that way anymore. That's not who you are. Your name shall be Israel. Israel is the one who struggled with God."

You know what's a wonderful thing to know as a man? That the one you thought was against you was actually God for you. The situation that was trying to pin you to the mat, that you thought was working against you, was actually God working for you.

So in getting rid of that problem, all you did was delay the blessing because God was going to use that to bless you. And so, "God, show me if it's you. Because if it's you, even though I got a dislocated hip, I'm not going to let you go until you leave your purposes with me for the future."

Guest (Male): When Dr. Evans continues our message in just a moment, he'll tell us more about how we can stop delaying our blessing and start becoming the people God wants us to be. But first, I want to tell you about a popular book from Dr. Evans that goes hand-in-hand with what we're learning today.

It's called Kingdom Heroes. In it, Tony takes you inside the Bible's Faith Hall of Fame, showing how ordinary people accomplished extraordinary things by simply trusting God at His word. It's a powerful reminder that your past doesn't disqualify you from God's blessings, and your future isn't limited by your failures.

For a limited time, we're packaging Kingdom Heroes together with all eight full-length messages from Tony's current series, It's Not Too Late. It's our way of saying thanks for your support of this ministry. Just visit us at tonyevans.org where you can find the details on how to receive this exclusive offer right on the homepage.

Or call us at 1-800-800-3222, where our resource team members are available to assist you any time of the day or night. Well, Dr. Evans will return with part two of today's message right after this.

Guest (Female): There's something about the rhythm of the ocean that quiets the noise of everyday life. Step away from the rush and into rest and renewal on a seven-day Caribbean cruise with Dr. Tony Evans. Set sail February 28th to visit beautiful destinations in the Bahamas, all while enjoying powerful Bible teaching, meaningful worship, and time to reconnect with God and others. Experience renewal for your body and your soul. Find out more at tonyevans.org.

Dr. Tony Evans: In verse 29, it says, "Then Jacob asked him and said, 'Please tell me your name.' And he said, 'Why are you asking me my name?' And he blessed him there." "Who, what's your name?" He said, "Why are you asking me my name?" What kind of answer to that question is that question?

In other words, if you know who I am, you just said who I am. You just said who I am. I just told you your name is Israel. What did I tell you when I told you your name? Your name is Israel. What does Israel mean? One who just strove with God.

You asking me my name? Guess what? To know my name, watch this now—don't miss this—to know my name, all you got to do is say your name. To know my name, all you got to do is say your name. Because your name means the one who strove with God.

So just keep telling you who you are, and you know who I am. Because I just shared my name with you. And now you got a new name, and He blessed him there. In other words, He was bringing forth the blessing that He had promised.

Men, you can't keep your name and have God and His blessing. You can't keep your way of operating, your way of doing things, your way of defining maleness, your way of defining the role of a husband, your way of defining a role of a father, your way of handling stuff. You can't keep your name and then get on your knees and ask for His blessing. His blessing comes with His name.

Oh, it gets interesting. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face-to-face, yet my life has been preserved." Oh, this is sweet. "I just saw God, thinking I was looking at a man." We were told he was wrestling with a man, but actually, he was looking at God because God was working through what we call in theology a theophany, a visible manifestation of God.

God was working through a visible manifestation of a man to actually just put Himself on display. Since God is invisible, He works through visible things in order to display the invisible God in a visible way. He said, "I have just seen God and my life is still preserved." In other words, "I'm still here."

Look, the text says that the man touched the socket of his hip and disconnected it. Okay? Now let me explain something. If God wanted to get rid of homeboy, He didn't have to touch his hip. He just could have done this and disconnected a valve.

And homeboy wouldn't have been around. When the sun rises after sweating and fighting all night long, here's Jacob. He's limping, right? He's limping. He's limping because he's dislocated. So he's hurting to walk.

If God's going to touch you, He's going to create something in your life that makes you limp. He's going to put something in your life you can't—to remind you, every time you move, you can't make it on your own. See, Jacob couldn't take one step without remembering me and God were fighting.

My hip hurting because me and God were at war. I'm hurt because me and God—so you would see Jacob walking and say, "Oh man, something happened to this man." Jacob would say, "Let me tell you, I've been blessed. Yeah, I'm limping, but I've been blessed.

Every time I walk and every time I limp, it's because I've been blessed. Because I'm only limping because I ran into God, God ran into me. He blessed me, and I got a limp to remind me I've been blessed." But the limp is also to remind me, "You better not try to do this on your own, because you do have another hip. I can come around this side. So you better remember."

So here's the choice, men: Do you want to be a blessed man with a limp or a cursed man who can just keep walking? See, you can keep doing all this stuff and walking and have no limp and have no blessing. Or you can limp, but be blessed because you have been with God and you will not let God go until He does something.

His limp was his claim to fame. If you hang in there with God so that He can address your character, you will discover your problem was Him all the time. In the New Testament, in Hebrews 11:21, it says, "By faith, Jacob in his old age, while leaning on his walker, his staff, blessed his grandsons, the two sons of Joseph."

Now we don't have time to go into it, but in—he's referring to chapter 48 of Genesis, because in chapter 48 it talks about him blessing his two sons. Guess what you find in chapter 48, when he's getting ready to die and his blessing is about to happen, passing it on.

Because remember, a blessing always passes on to the future. It always involves a legacy. It always involves the transfer of divine favor. See, that's why a lot of this stuff on prosperity theology is unbiblical. It's unbiblical because it talks about blessing me, and it never talks about the legacy of the blessing of me.

If there's no legacy attached to it, it's not a biblical blessing. Biblical blessing always has legacy that outruns you, although you get to enjoy it, too. Well, he says, "I'm going to—I want God's divine favor." And he begins to bless.

Now let me tell you what God did in the blessing. He restored his family to him. Now he had some wild sons. He had some rapists, he had some incestuous sons, he had some fools. But God turned that thing and worked that thing because remember, he been blessed.

And God restored that family so that Joseph could say, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." He turned that thing around. Let me close by telling you the legacy piece. Remember, a blessing always involves the future. Okay?

That's why it involves your sons, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's passed down. It involves tomorrow. And the reason why our tomorrow is in jeopardy as a culture is because fathers are not pronouncing a blessing upon their children.

And you got a generation of men around here looking for a father because they're looking for a blessing. Because when there's a generation that has been blessed, it overcomes the curse. Now you say, "But wait a minute, Pastor. You don't understand my background.

You don't understand my mess. You don't understand my addictions. You don't understand my daddy. You don't understand all the stuff that's messed me up." Our series is called It's Not Too Late. When you come before God with your sin, your circumstances, and He can reduce your character and dislocate your convenience, He's ready to bless you in a biblical way.

I was flying back from Raleigh, North Carolina. As we approached Dallas, the pilot came over the loudspeaker and said, "There are storms over the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and the airport has shut down." He said, "We have been rerouted to Abilene, Texas, because there's too much stuff over the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and we can't land. So we gotta be rerouted to another location."

While in Abilene, Texas, on the tarmac, there was a passenger who said, "I was supposed to make a connection in Dallas for a flight to Abilene. I was supposed to get a connection in Dallas for a flight to Abilene. But I'm in Abilene! So I want to know where you let me off here? I know this wasn't the way I was supposed to get here, but since I am here, I want to know where you let me off here?"

I looked out the window and here's this passenger with their two babies getting off of the back of the plane, walking to the terminal, because they were home. They wasn't the way they had planned to get home, it wasn't the way they had prescribed to get home, but due to a diversion, because there was so much mess in the air, something got turned away that took them—God is so good.

He can hit the turbulence in your life, veer off, and still take you home and make it look like that was the plan all the time. God is able to take it, turn it, twist it, and use it and still get you home in your old age. I want you to know it's not too late. I want you to know that God can take a mess and make a miracle. He can hit a bullseye with a crooked stick right now, where you are. Change your name.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans, explaining how God used a deceiver like Jacob and how He can use us, too. Today's message is part of Tony's encouraging series, It's Not Too Late. And all eight full-length lessons are available as our thank-you gift when you support this ministry.

And right now for a limited time, that collection also includes Dr. Evans' popular book, Kingdom Heroes. Together, these resources will help you see how faith in God can turn even difficult chapters into meaningful new beginnings.

You can make your donation online and get information on these and any of our other resources just by visiting tonyevans.org. That's tonyevans.org. Or call 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by to help with your request day and night. That's 1-800-800-3222.

And one final note: outside the pulpit, you can hear Dr. Evans bringing biblical insight into conversations with special guests on his Unbound podcast. You can listen any time on his YouTube channel or on your favorite podcast platform.

Whenever everything around you is falling apart, will you follow the crowd or follow the Kingdom? That's the question Dr. Evans addresses tomorrow as he takes a look at a less-than-perfect lady who God turned into a role model for faith. I hope you'll join us.