R12 Christian 2: Wrestling with God; the Story of Jacob... Toward Blessings!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today we continue our journey of Becoming a R12 Christian. Not being conformed to the world but being TRANSFORMED.
Romans 

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,^[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.^{[b] 2} Do not be conformed to this world,^[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.^[d]

We will study the life of Jacob and how he changed and his name changed. It is about wrestling with Esau, God and men.

Jacob came into the world wrestling with Esau. He tricked Esau out of his blessing. He fled to Laban and was tricked with Leah and then received Rachel. He was blessed and prospered. He fled from Laban and his family only to make a covenant with Laban in Gen 31 and then continue on to meet Esau.

He tries a number of things to make Esau aware of a change in Jacob's life. But before he comes face to face with his first wrestling partner, Esau, he wrestles with God.

Gen 32:
 ²² The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,^[e] and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. ²⁴ And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[f] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,^[g] saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

We want to look at the change that happened to Jacob over the years that made him tenacious, as the women in our Gospel lesson who is persistent in pursuing justice with the unjust judge. What happened that made Jacob be tenacious to wrestle all night and request or demand a blessing even though he was injured. His hip was out and yet he holds on to hear the response. The Lord blesses him and gives him the name Israel which means "strives with God and wins" or "prince" or "God's Fighter." God is faithful to the blessing Isaac gave to Jacob. He is faithful in giving Jacob a new name because he wrestled with God and Man.

This Jacob was not a saint by earthly standards. He was a weasel! He tricked his brother, he tricked his father, he tricked his father-in-law with his flock management, (Laban was a not much better when it came to dealing with Jacob over Rachel by substituting Leah to get 7 more years of work out of Jacob) He could not fool God. He had a history of fleeing.. from Esau, Isaac, and Laban.

So when he meets with the Angels and wrestles with God things have changed. He is not running away. He is not trying to take the easy way out and the tricking of others. He is heading home with his family and possessions ready to face Esau.

As we are striving to become R12 Christians by no longer conforming to the world but being TRANSFORMED we will wrestle with the World, our Sinful Nature, God's will and Satan.

The question for us is will we flee or stand? Will we be tenacious like the widow and persist? Will we pray and hear God speak? Will we surrender our will to HIS Will?

Will we know the power of Prayer and Listening as we surrender to the Lord's will?
Listen to our Gospel lesson:

Luke 18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

May we be a people who know we are God's People who belong to HIM. HE as our Father has given us our identity and we are obedient because of who we are! We are part of the Kingdom where we have been given authority by our King and we walk in HIS power! May we know we belong, trust or believe in our Lord's faithfulness and become more like HIM each day!

Look forward to worshiping our Lord and Savior tomorrow!

Love in Christ,
Pastor Bryan

R12 Christians: Reformation to Transformation 1: Ruth October 13, 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Two weeks ago we had God-Sightings for the sermon and last week Lydia's Baptism was the Sermon. Today we begin our new series on being "R12 Christians." We are looking at our journey of discipleship from reformation to transformation. We will look at the response of Ruth to Naomi and the total sacrifice and commitment she has to God. This is the journey we want to go through in our Quest to become R12 Christians. Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,^[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.^{[b] 2} Do not be conformed to this world,^[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Have you ever felt empty, alone, deserted etc... This is Naomi whose husband had moved his family from Bethlehem to Moab on the other side of the Dead Sea, because of a severe famine in Judah. They moved into Moab and then his two sons married Moabite women. This was allowed during the time of the Judges because Moab was the descendents of the incestuous relations between Lot and his daughters. This land was on a plateau and not suffering from the famine. Unfortunately all the men die leaving Naomi, Orpah and Ruth widows. This means they are in a really bad position. Naomi must feel as though the Lord has abandoned her. She decides to go home.

She tells her daughter-in-laws as they come to the Jordon River and she realizes that they will be foreigners in Judah. Naomi tells them to return to their mother's homes and they can get husbands and have children. They resist and weep but Naomi convinces them and Orpah leaves after again weeping. She respects Naomi and does what she is asked to do. Ruth on the other hand clings to Naomi and makes a huge sacrifice and shows total commitment in her poetic response and repentance (180 degree turn from going home) by saying:
 
¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

Instead of being totally alone and abandoned Naomi now has a companion, which is one translation of Ruth.

When we feel abandoned we might want to give up but it at that time that we are encouraged by the Apostle Paul to present our bodies as a living SACRIFICE, holy and acceptable to God. This is the true repentance and response to God's call through the Holy Spirit. We are to be "ALL IN" by the mercies of God. We are to experience total sacrifice and surrender into the Arms of our loving Father. May we respond like Ruth, clinging to our Lord and trusting that he has great things for us!

May our repentance lead to a confession of faith like Ruth's so that we can walk not only as people who have gone through correction and reformation but we want to be truly transformed and renewed. We hope all of us know the truth that Naomi knew even when she felt empty and alone she still belonged to Judah and to God. She believed and trusted that God would provide and she became an inspiration for Ruth to sacrifice her identity, her god, her family and stay with her. 

We know that Ruth will be part of King David's family tree and then of course part of our Lord's earthly line. May we have the faith to present ourselves as living SACRIFICES each time we worship and respond to our Lord. He wants us to belong to Him, Believe and trust in HIM and Become more like HIM each day. This is the R12 Christian.

Join us on this journey!
Love in Christ,
Pastor