Faithful One Part 2

Matt Larson

Faithful One • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Genesis 32:22–32

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Many times we focus on our own ability to have faith or be faithful. It is my prayer that this series will teach you that the focus of faithfulness is upon Jesus, the Faithful One. He is the one who is the author and perfecter of our faith. I believe the more we focus in on His faithfulness, the more we will see our faith grow and our faithfulness rise. Let me remind you of the scripture from last week.

The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), .

Sometimes faith require a fight.

This week we have been moving into the house that we are renting. As such I have been getting things out of storage. It is kind of like Christmas. I am finding things I forgot I had. And today I brought my prayer bats. When you see my prayer bats you might find you need one too.

It all started when I told some people that sometimes when I pray, I like to walk around with a big stick and kind of wave it around in the air. It get’s my juices flowing a little in prayer. So my friend found this bat, The Big Thumper and gave it to me to use. I dubbed it my prayer bat. So then I was preaching and showing people my prayer bat, when another friend, Greg, decided to turn me a bat on his lathe. Now this bat is ready to go, with the words Pastor Matt’s Prayer Bat inscribed into the side.

I love this scripture

The New International Version (1984) Final Greetings

Colossians 4:12

12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

I bet Epaphras had a prayer bat. He wrestled in prayer for his fellow believers from Colossae that they would stand firm.

The struggle of faith is a battle to hang on to the gift of God.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

10 Finally, ebe strong in the Lord and in fthe strength of his might. 11 gPut on hthe whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against ithe schemes of the devil. 12 For jwe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against kthe rulers, against the authorities, against lthe cosmic powers over mthis present darkness, against nthe spiritual forces of evil oin the heavenly places

sometimes we wrestle in prayer against forces that have set themselves up against the Kingdom of God. An author by the name of Gormon that I was reading this week, referred to this as Shalom -Warfare.

There is a struggle to have the complete pease of God active in our lives and reality.

I want to draw your attention to a famous wrestling match in the Bible.

The New International Version (1984) Jacob Wrestles With God

Jacob Wrestles With God

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 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. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,a because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,b saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,c and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

This epic wrestling match was the culmination of a life that was contending with God and men.

Even before e was born Jacob was wrestling.

21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

23 The Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you will be separated;

one people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.b 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.c Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them

b Esau may mean hairy; he was also called Edom, which means red.

c Jacob means he grasps the heel (figuratively, he deceives).

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), .

Jacob might have considered himself more of an opportunist than a trickster. There came a time when Esau came in from hunting so hungry that Jacob used the opportunity to acquire the birthright that Esau despised.

23 The Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,

Genesis 25:29–34 NIV84

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

and two peoples from within you will be separated;

one people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

Now Jacob was more of a momma’s boy. And Isaac loved Esau, especially the meat that he would hunt. When it came time to give his blessing, he told Esau to go hunt something for him to eat, and then Isaac would bless Esau.

b Esau may mean hairy; he was also called Edom, which means red.

c Jacob means he grasps the heel (figuratively, he deceives).

Rebekah heard Isaac talking to Esau and while he went hunting, Rebekah sent Jacob in with some freshly grilled meat and fresh bread to receive the blessing in Esau’s stead. She was smart to cover his arm with goat skin and clothed him in Esau’s smelly clothes. Isaac was blind and though he was a little unsure in fact blessed Jacob.

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), .

When Esau returned and found out Jacon had stolen the blessing, he vowed to kill his brother.

Genesis 27:41 NIV84

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

So Jacob ran.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NIV84

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), .

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