The Blessing Is Hidden In The Struggle| The Garden, The Flood & The Promise | Chad Narayan

0:00 Hey, welcome everybody to another week here at Zoe Church. It is a Father's Day edition. Happy Father's Day to everybody out there. And to everybody who gives, we just want to say thank you so much for your generosity. Thank you so much for your obedience to give and to tithe. And for everybody who gives offerings, we cannot thank you enough. We're jumping into part eight of our series entitled The Garden, The Flood, and The Promise. For any information you're looking for, feel free to go to our website, zoechurch.org. Here we go. We're continuing on in a series we've been in entitled The Garden, The Flood, and The Promise. The Garden, The Flood, and The Promise. And we've been doing a study through the book of Genesis, a study through the book of Genesis. And we've looked at the garden, Adam and Eve, eating the apple, disobeying God, and sin entering the world because of the decision that they made to go against what God had said.

1:03 Then we looked at the flood, Noah and the ark, all the animals on the boat, all that stuff, right? So we looked at the flood. And in the last couple of weeks, we've been studying the promise, the promise of God that comes through Abraham, Abraham, his son Isaac, and today the life that we're going to look at is Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now there's four major themes that we've been looking at through the book of Genesis, four major themes. The first one is that God is creator. He is sovereign. There is no God like our God. Somebody say amen. There's no God like our God. And Genesis starts that theme to let us know that the God that we serve is unlike any other. The second thing is that you and I are created in his image. His DNA is in you and I. He has called you.

1:56 He has given you a purpose. He has given you identity. He has spoken that over your life. You are created in the image of God and you are created to rule, to partner with God in the advancement of his kingdom here on earth. So that's the second one. The third one is because of Adam and Eve and because of choosing something that God had said to not do, sin has entered the world. It has fractured our design. The thing that God had intended for our design has been fractured because of sin. Sin, evil, shame, condemnation, they all exist in the world because of sin. But good news, the fourth theme that we see in the book of Genesis is that God has a rescue plan. And his rescue plan is Jesus. That if you, as the Bible says, would confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart, you will be saved and you will have eternal life.

2:58 That's some good preaching. How many of you think Riley just should have stayed up here? Riley, come. No, I'm just playing. You can have the notes, man. They're right here for you. But those are the major themes found in Genesis. As we look at the life of Jacob today, Jacob is by nature a deceptive man. His name means heel catcher or supplanter. He is deceptive. He is conniving. He is cunning. That is who Jacob is. And here's a highlight reel of some of the deceptive things that Jacob does in the book of Genesis, as we see right here. He first, he manipulates his older brother Esau for his birthright. So we looked at this last week.

3:51 He manipulates his older brother Esau for his birthright. The second thing that he does is he deceives his father for the firstborn blessing. What was meant for Esau, Jacob comes in and steals away from his older brother. Not only does he do that, he avoids taking responsibility for the decisions that he's made and he runs off. And as we will see in the book of Genesis, Jacob runs off to stay with who will become his father-in-law. Now his father-in-law Laban is an interesting, interesting guy because for a couple of chapters here between the life of Jacob and his father-in-law Laban, it is a chess match of who can be more deceptive. And Jacob finally meets his match in these chapters where there is a guy who is just as, or even more deceptive and cunning than him. And then as we see here with his father-in-law, he uses selective breeding with his flock to take them and to take them away from his father-in-law.

4:51 So you might be thinking, man, this guy, Jacob, why are we looking at his life? Jacob's life is, have you ever heard the saying, why do bad things happen to good people? You ever heard the saying? Jacob is the opposite. Why do good things happen to bad people? Why is he called? Why is he chosen? Why does God show him favor? And the main point of Jacob's life and what we will study today is that Jacob is the unlikely choice to receive God's grace, God's calling, his blessing, but God's grace is bigger than anything that you and I can do. His grace is for us. His grace is with us. And God doesn't play by human rules. So Jacob's life is a picture.

5:44 We're not supposed to walk away from Jacob thinking, I want to be like Jacob. Rather, you're supposed to look at Jacob's life and say, there's some Jacob in me. I know that there's some Jacob in me. It's lurking. You know, as we always say with Proverbs, Proverb a day keeps the fool in me away. There's a little bit of Jacob in all of us. There's a little bit of Jacob that's lurking. We don't know when it's gonna come out. We don't know what's gonna maybe spark it. But there's a little bit of Jacob that's in all of us. And as we look at his life, we are supposed to look at it as a mirror of God's grace, that God chooses people, God works through people that we may write off. God works through people that we may say, there's no way, there's absolutely no way that God could choose that person, give them calling, bless their life and work through them.

6:43 Jacob is a picture of the grace of God. And Jacob is a picture of you and I receiving God's grace, receiving the grace of God. Where we are in today's portion of scripture is Jacob is about to undergo a massive transformation in his life. He's about to go through a massive transformation and it's going to happen through a WWE cage match style with God. Genesis 32, it says, So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. You thought I was joking when I said the WWE cage match. Cage came down and all, man. Here we go.

7:24 And a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 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. And the man said, let me go for it is daybreak. Notice, Jacob is wrestling not with him, not just for one minute, not just for 12 rounds. It is happening until daybreak. Through the night, Jacob is wrestling with this man. Let me go for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Some blessings take you holding on to the promises that God has given you to say, I will not let you go until you bless me. I will not let you go until I receive this answered prayer. I will not let you go until I see you move in my life.

8:18 I will not let you go until I receive that word. I will not let you go until God, I see you move in my life. So he holds on. He says, I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you go until you bless me, until you bless me. The man asked him, what is your name? Jacob, he answered. Then the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. Jacob said, please tell me your name. But he replied, why do you ask my name? Why do you ask my name? Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, it is because I saw God face to face and my life was spared. My life was spared. The title of today's message is the blessing is hiding in the struggle. The blessing is hiding in the struggle.

9:14 Say it with me. Say the blessing is hiding in the struggle. The blessing is hiding in your struggle. Nobody wants to struggle. It's not fun. Nobody wakes up saying, you know, today it's sunny. I got some great coffee. church is good but I'm not struggling enough I wish I could struggle more nobody says that nobody wakes up and is like man I wish I could struggle more but the blessing is in the struggle the blessing is in the struggle why do we talk about blessing the life of Jacob I want to I want to show you this the life of Jacob is about calling and blessing, calling and blessing. Jacob is first called by God and then he is blessed by God. So you got to look at, you got to look at the progression of that. You are first called before you are blessed. So calling versus blessing. Look at this. Calling is an invitation from God.

10:16 Blessing is favor from God. The ability to move forward and what God has called you to do, right? So first you are invited from God to walk in the calling of your life. As you begin to walk in it, that's when you receive his favor over your life. The second thing is purpose-driven. So God will call you, God will give you purpose, and he will put you on a path to walk in that purpose. The blessing is overflowing. Oh man, this is so fun. I got the blessing, all this kind of stuff. It's overflowing, right? Calling, it can involve struggle. It can involve wrestling, right? Blessing, it often includes joy and reward. You ever waited for something for so long, and it's like, man, you finally get it, and you're like, yeah, I feel the joy and the reward of the waiting. The joy and the reward comes in the blessing. A calling, it's personal and communal.

11:15 It's personal and communal. Your blessing is always relational and generational. So the blessing of God is not for you. The calling of God is for you. But the blessing of God that you receive is not just for you. It's for the others around you. It's for your family. It's for the generations that will come after you. It's relational and generational. The last one is this identity-based. God calls you and he says, this is what I've called you to. the blessing is decision-based. It's when God chooses to bless you. It's when God chooses to say, hey, I'm going to bless you in this way. Jacob's story zooms in on how God is sovereign and how he often does things that are counter to what we think he will do. And so he calls Jacob the deceiver, the deceptor. and not only does he call him, he blesses him.

12:15 He blesses him. I wanna encourage you with four things today around calling and blessing. If the blessing is hidden in the struggle and I'm called by God, what is it that I'm working towards? What is the difference between calling and blessing? What are we supposed to take away from the life of Jacob? The first one is God does not call the qualified. he qualifies those who are called.

12:43 So the Bible talks about in Jeremiah that you were knit together in your mother's womb, that God knows what he has called you to. You didn't submit a resume to receive your calling. You didn't work through Indeed. You didn't work through a recruiter. Before time began, God knew your calling and he knew your purpose. And so with your calling, he will speak that to you, but then he will qualify you along the way. He will teach you along the way. He will work in you. He will sanctify you. He will train you to be able to walk in your calling so that your calling does not crush you. Maybe this is a word for you today. You're called to great things. Maybe you don't know that about yourself. Maybe that wasn't spoken over you. allow me to speak that over your life and remind you of what the Bible says and what God says that you are called to great things.

13:42 There is a purpose and a plan for your life. Amen. And God is training you. He's working in you. Your calling is written in ink, but your character is written in pencil. Your calling is written in ink. It cannot be erased. That thing is Sharpie. That thing is written in a Sharpie. That thing can't. If it's written on a wall, it's not coming off. Your calling is written in ink, but your character is written in pencil. God is constantly erasing. He's constantly editing your character. He's constantly adjusting your life. He's constantly speaking to you. He's constantly working with you. Come on, give him a praise today. If you're thankful that God didn't give up on you, that his grace is sufficient, that he's working in you, that the things that you may see as, as shame and condemnation, the things that people may have said about you and written you off, God did not write you off and he's not writing off the person that's sitting to your left and to your right, but he's constantly editing.

14:48 He's adjusting. He's saying, no, we're gonna work on this little heart issue here. We're gonna work on this unforgiveness thing here. We're gonna work on this bitterness thing here. We're gonna erase this and we're gonna love and kindness and discipline and sanctity and pureness. We're gonna work on all the kindness, all these things into your life. so God will call you but he doesn't call you because you're perfect he doesn't call you because you're qualified rest assured today he calls you because he loves you and he's for you he's working in you Ephesians 2 says it like this, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things. Now check this out.

15:40 The good things he planned for us long ago. You are his masterpiece. And there are good things. There's calling and purpose that he spoke over your life, that he wrote into your life long ago. And he's working on you like a painter that's got the canvas. He's constantly working and adjusting and putting you into what he's called you to do. He hasn't given up on you. He hasn't forgotten about you. He's aware of where you're at today. He's aware of the struggle. He's aware of what you're facing, the circumstances, the storms. He's aware of what you've battled thus far in your life. The prayers that have not yet been answered, the sleepless nights, the tears when nobody is watching.

16:43 Maybe it's at work, maybe it's at your home. He's aware when you put your head down. He's aware when you sob into your hands. He's aware when you send desperate texts to friends. I need help. I need prayer. He's aware of the spiraling, spiraling thoughts that consume every single day. He's aware of it. He's constantly working. He's constantly with you. He's leading you beside still waters. he's walking with you i love that the bible says even in the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil your rod and your staff they comfort me you've prepared you've prepared a banqueting table in the presence of my enemies my cup overflows surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life amen so he's called you Come on, let's thank God that he's called us.

17:48 He's given us purpose. The second thing is that wrestling, unfortunately, wrestling is the language of transformation. it's the language transformation in your life. It only happens through the wrestling. It only happens through God working in that inner struggle with you in your life. Wrestling is the language of transformation. Look at it here in Genesis 24. So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak, till daybreak. Jacob's struggle ultimately came down to his identity, being second born, being behind his brother Esau, being overlooked.

18:44 And so he took matters into his own hands his whole life and he schemed and he used desperation and deception to try and get what he could get because he was overlooked. He didn't like his identity. He didn't like who he was. And so he had to take matters into his own hands. The word wrestle that's used here, check this out. The word wrestle is the Hebrew word abak, which means to wrestle, to be dust. It is the action of getting dusty during the struggle. Now, look at where it says elsewhere in Genesis, talking about the dust. Genesis 2, 7, it says, then the Lord God formed a man from the, what? the dust. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. God is not afraid of getting in the dirt.

19:47 He's not afraid of getting in the dust. He's not afraid of getting in your pain or your struggle or the dark parts of your life. He's not afraid of it. He actually welcomes it. He says, no, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. He's not afraid of it. The God who created you with his hands and who scooped up dust and created Adam is not afraid to wrestle in your dirt and in your dark times and in the things that are shameful, in the sinful things. He's not afraid to get into those details with you. Because why? Because he's trying to wrestle that out of you so that you can walk in the calling that he has for you and so that you can walk and become more and more like Jesus. He's not afraid. He created you out of the dust.

20:39 And good news, he's not afraid to get into the dust. Amen? I brought this Bible here today. This Bible is my grandfather's and you can kind of see it. it's kind of frayed. See the pages and, oh yeah, we got it right here. You can see all of the markings and it's taped and my grandmother got it rebound.

21:11 That's a hard word. Rebound years ago. And you can kind of see it. It's just, it's all marked up. This is what wrestling looks like. it's not a cage match, it's not walking, you know, hand-to-hand combat, it's right here.

21:31 This Bible, you know, when it talks about your blessings are generational, I'm living in the blessing of my grandfather who was a first-generation Christian who wrestled some demons, who wrestled out some things in his past, who wrestled out generational curses. When we talk about the Zoe Devo, we talk about getting into the word of God to wrestle out those things that the Bible calls the flesh. Your spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And we gotta get into the word of God. We gotta get into prayer. We got to, like Jacob, say, I'm not gonna let go until you bless me. I'm not gonna let go until I get the word. I'm not gonna let go until you heal me. I'm not going to let go until you restore me. I'm not going to let go until those generational curses are broken. I'm not going to let go until I'm healed, restored, set free.

22:29 I'm not going to let go until that grace heals that wound. I'm not going to let go. I'm clinging on. I'm clinging on to, God, what you've called me to. I'm clinging on to the blessing. I'm clinging on to the person of Jesus. I'm clinging on to your spirit, Holy Spirit. I gotta wake up every day and ask the Holy Spirit, speak to me. And it's not fun. I was wrestling this morning with God. I was wrestling this morning when I got up. I was wrestling with God on the way here. I was wrestling with God early. And it's a wrestle. Sometimes life is a wrestle. And it's not fun.

23:08 But God is wrestling out the dirt that's in my heart. the bible says in jesus says this in matthew 5 that blessed are the pure in heart for they will inherit the kingdom of god god is constantly working on my heart like a catheter we all know what a catheter is it's disgusting but it's pumping out the disgusting parts of my heart it's it's pumping out bitterness it's pumping out uh uh unforgiveness it's it is pumping out what doesn't need to be there because I can't walk in what God has called me to and I can't receive the blessing that God has for me if he's not transforming me through the struggle. The blessing is in the what? Struggle. It's in the struggle. It's in the struggle. And so he doesn't call you because you're qualified.

24:06 He qualifies you because he's called you and he's gonna wrestle those things out and he's gonna wrestle out those generational curses and he's gonna wrestle out those demons and he's gonna set you free. But there's a cost. There's a cost. Your calling has a cost. You know that saying, nothing good ever came easy? Thank you. your calling has a cost. There's a cost. There's a sacrifice saying, God, not my will be done, but your will. Jesus wrestled in the garden, didn't he? He's there and he's wrestling so much with God that he's sweating blood. I've wrestled with God a lot. I've never sweat blood before.

24:56 And what does he say? He says, if you can take this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. And he's wrestling with him in the garden. He's like, I don't, I can't, this is hard. This is a struggle. And he's wrestling and he's wrestling and he's wrestling. But he says, not my will be done, your will. Your will be done.

25:26 Jesus wrestled in the garden. we will wrestle. There's a wound. There's a wound that we receive. There's a wound. Jacob received it in his hip. He received it in his hip. Point number three, the worth, the worth is in the wound. It's in the wounds. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that it was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. calling involves a struggle and it precedes blessing but god's blessing often involves a wound because grace is not random it's not random god doesn't have a randomizer in heaven that it just starts scrolling it's like okay great nay doomlao grace today it's not randomizing names in heaven it's not it's not random it's just costly because the wounds that we receive oftentimes, again, it precedes blessing.

26:36 So oftentimes those wounds that we have, we gotta work through them because they're gonna bless others. They're gonna help set others free. They're gonna help encourage other people. They're gonna be a blessing to other people. And it's a pain and it's a struggle. But I love how Paul says it. He says, I prayed three times for this thorn in my side to be removed. And after the third time, God said, nah, fam.

27:07 My translation. He said, nah, fam. And Paul says, I stopped praying. And I realized that your grace, God's grace is sufficient. The wounds that we receive, they're not fun. they're costly but they help bless others and if and if god is creator again remember the themes if god is creator that means he exists out of time so he can exist out of time and create time and create you and i but that means because he exists out of time and he has written your story that means he has already been to your future. He's already been in your future. So when he speaks to you in the present, he's speaking a word that is a reality of your future. That if you would listen to him and you would heed his word, he's preparing you for what you're going to walk in, in your future, because he's already been here and he's already, he's already seen it and he's already written it.

28:21 And so there's that middle. I've received the word, but I've got to go through that middle, that faith, that there's this old song that I love. And it's in the song title. It's an old gospel song. It's called Completely Yes.

28:42 Sandra Crouch. And I love that song. It's so good. And what they sing is, my answer is yes, Lord. My answer is yes, Lord. From the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my heart to the depth of my soul, my answer is yes, Lord. It's yes, Lord, in the pain. It's yes, Lord, in the struggle. It's yes, Lord, when I don't want to. It's yes, Lord, when my feelings don't feel like it. It's yes, Lord, when those kids are screaming again. It's yes, Lord, at traffic. It's yes, Lord, to this rent. It's yes, Lord, to this mortgage.

29:36 It's yes, Lord, to all the friends that are asking me to move to other places and out of Los Angeles. It's yes, Lord, to being grounded in the calling that God has for me, it's yes, Lord. It's completely yes. It's completely yes to this wound. It's completely yes to this struggle. It's completely yes to this pain. God, I hate it. This is not fun, but this is faithfulness. And in the yes, Lord, I say yes, completely yes, to all that you have for my life. Moses wrestled with doubt. Moses wrestled with doubt.

30:32 David wrestled with identity. Elijah wrestled with depression. Peter wrestled with shame. Paul wrestled with weakness. And Jesus wrestled in the garden. The wound is worthy. and God is gonna do something in your life as he begins to heal you and restore you and wake you to his ever loving grace. Amen. Come on, let's clap our hands and thank God for his grace. The last thing to encourage you with today, and I'm gonna invite the worship team to join me, but the last thing today is God's grace overrides human rules. We see from the life of Jacob that his grace overrides human rules.

31:29 There's this interesting story after this, years later, Jacob has a family and one of his sons, Joseph, comes to Jacob and he says to him, dad, I'd like you to bless my sons. I'd like you to bless my sons. Jacob is on his deathbed. And so Joseph brings his two sons to Jacob on his deathbed and Jacob is lying there. And the oldest son, he puts right here under his right hand. In Hebrew culture, the right hand was a hand of strength and it was the strong hand. So that was where the blessing came from. And under the left hand, he puts the second born, the younger son to Jacob's left hand. Manasseh, older. Ephraim, younger.

32:33 and so joseph brings joseph brings his sons in and he lays them or he they kneel beside the bed that jacob is lying in and jacob does something that joseph doesn't expect he crosses his arms and so jacob puts his left hand on manasseh the older the deserving the firstborn and he puts his right hand on Ephraim the secondborn and Joseph sees this, and he's like, whoa, whoa, hold on, and he stops, he stops his dad, he's like, whoa, whoa, hold on, stop, this is not right, I know you're a little old, can't see very well these days, but let me, and he tries to reposition his hands, and Jacob says, no, my son, this is how it's supposed to be.

33:35 what began for deception in Jacob's life, what began as deception, I'm going to deceive my father for the firstborn blessing. Jacob now sees as discernment. Ah, I see what God is doing. And he crosses his arms.

34:00 And it's a picture of what God the father would do with Jesus. in that God the Father crossed his arms and with his left hand, he put his left hand on Jesus and said, my worst. And with his right hand, he put his right hand on us and he said, my best. Favor, calling, love, grace. And as Jesus went to the cross, It is a picture that he gave Jesus his absolute worst so that he could bridge the gap between sin and death, life, and he could give us his very best. Jacob realized this later on in life and he realized that God is a God who chooses the unlikely.

34:59 He's a God that chooses the broken. He's a God that chooses those who are not perfect. He's a God who says, these are my sons and my daughters in whom I'm well pleased. It is a picture of his grace and his kindness that leads us to repentance. It is a grace and a love that is afforded to us all. and he says, I will give my worst to my son, the perfect lamb of God. And I will give my very best to those who do not deserve it. The unlikely choice. You may be in a struggle today. You may be wrestling God. And if you're not, praise God. Just know what's coming. I'm trying to be as encouraging as I can. but God gave you his very, very best.

36:03 And when he crossed his arms like that, he said, I'm giving you my best and my healing, restoration, eternal life, calling and blessing. Today, you might be in a struggle. You might be wrestling with God. I want to encourage you, don't quit. Jacob's life shows us that the unlikely choice is the one that's chosen. But Jacob's life shows us that if you don't give up, if you don't quit, you win. Because God is there in the struggle. He's in the struggle. and ultimately what his life reveals to us is that the blessing is not the goal the blessing truly is Jesus and knowing him more and growing closer to him.

37:08 Jacob, at the end of it, at the end of it, he has to confess, this is who I am. The man asks, what's your name? And when he says his name, he's saying, this is me. This is who I am. I'm a deceiver.

37:29 I'm a schemer. And I've been deceiving people my whole life. And it was in that moment that God doesn't shame him, doesn't condemn him. He says, I'm now transforming you to Israel. And I'm giving you a new purpose and a new calling and a new life. But it starts with the confession. and today maybe maybe this week maybe today it just starts with God you are God and I am man you are creator and I am creation you are the potter and I am your clay you are the master and I am your servant amen come on let's stand to our feet hey thanks for listening to this week's message again if you're looking for more information on our church or ways to get involved you can go to our website at zoechurch.org. We love you.

38:23 Have the best week.