Genesis 30:25-30(NLT)
25 Soon after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Please release me so I can go home to my own country.
26 Let me take my wives and children, for I have earned them by serving you, and let me be on my way. You certainly know how hard I have worked for you.”
27 “Please listen to me,” Laban replied. “I have become wealthy, for the LORD has blessed me because of you.
28 Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”
29 Jacob replied, “You know how hard I’ve worked for you, and how your flocks and herds have grown under my care.
30 You had little indeed before I came, but your wealth has increased enormously. The LORD has blessed you through everything I’ve done. But now, what about me? When can I start providing for my own family?”
Genesis 30:43 (NLT)
43 As a result, Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, male and female servants, and many camels and donkeys..
Genesis 31:1-3(NLT)
1 But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob has robbed our father of everything!” they said. “He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.”
2 And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him.
3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.”
Genesis 27:41 (NLT)
41 … “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.”
Genesis 31:14-16 (NLT)
14 Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway.
15 He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us.
16 All the wealth God has given you from our father legally belongs to us and our children. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you.”
Genesis 31:20-21 (NLT)
20 Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving.
21 So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River, heading for the hill country of Gilead.
Genesis 31:24 (NLT)
24 … “I’m warning you—leave Jacob alone!”
Genesis 31:55 (NLT)
55 Laban got up early the next morning, and he kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
Genesis 32:5-9 (NLT)
5 … I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.’”
6 … “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!”
7 Jacob was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups.
8 He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O LORD, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’
Genesis 32:11-12 (NLT)
11 O LORD, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children.
12 …you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”
Genesis 32:20 (NLT)
20 … Jacob thought, “I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me.”
Jacob gets into a wrestling match with
.
Genesis 32:22-32(NLT)
22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them.
23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.
24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break.
25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.”
28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”
31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.
32 (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)
God wants to change Jacob’s life and Jacob wants his life to be changed…he wants God’s
.
God wants Jacob to
who he is again… “I’m Jacob the Deceiver.”
Now God can change his name to
… “…You will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
Jacob is limping because you can’t encounter God without being
.
TIME TO GROW:
God wants to
with us so we can be changed.
Isaiah 65:1-2 (NLT)
1 The LORD says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.
2 All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.
Matthew 23:37 (NLT)
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
God can easily beat us into
but He doesn’t.
Romans 2:4 (NLT)
4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
God wants us to take hold of Him for the blessing of His
in our lives.
God wants to give us a new
.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NLT)
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,
10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Revelation 2:17 (NLT)
17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
Know who God is…His
.
Matthew 16:13-16 (NLT)
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
God’s name is
, our Savior, the Rock of our Salvation.
Acts 4:12 (NLT)
12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
to God!
Hebrews 12:9 (NLT)
9 …shouldn’t we submit…to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?