Wrestle With God: Claim Your New Name

If you are saved and you've been forgiven by God, you have no record. Quit living like you got a record. Quit praying like you got a record. Quit telling Jesus to others like you got a record. Some of us don't share Jesus because the enemy's coming and reminding you of your record. It has been expunged. If you look on the database of heaven, there is nothing there washed by the blood of the lamb, paid in full by Jesus Christ. Stand to your feet and praise God for all he's done. [01:40:01] (37 seconds)  #WashedAndForgiven

And as Esau staring, the man who robbed his inheritance, his heart breaks because he sees somebody somebody who's been broken. He sees somebody who's walking with a limp. And the Bible says, Esau runs to him and hugs him. They embrace, and all is forgiven. Tell your neighbor, walk with that limp. Church, imagine if we were the church of not the religious. What if we weren't the church who walked around pretending like we got it all together and posting on Facebook and thus saith the lord, oh, wait till you start seeing the prophecies after this weekend. Everybody's asking chat GPT right now. What should I prophesy? [01:42:21] (51 seconds)  #WalkWithYourLimp

Imagine if we, instead of pretending when people see us like we don't have a limp, what if we came into this world walking with a limp? Say, you know what? All the mess you went through, I went through just like you. But God, he changed my name. I wrestled with him. All things have passed away. Behold, everything becomes you. All of a sudden, you have a world saying, I want what you got. Because every person in this room right here, all of us walk with a limp. All of us. All of us. And God's called us to go into the world, not to be of it. To go into the world. What for? To show our limp. [01:43:25] (43 seconds)  #ComeWithYourLimp

And so here he is and and we've gotta be careful that we understand that God is not afraid of you. God is not afraid of your questions. He's not afraid of your disappointment. He's not shaken by your frustration. He's not worried or nervous about your doubt. In fact, in this passage, God initiates the altercation, not Jacob. Some of you are wondering why do I keep hitting a wall? What if it's God trying to wrestle with you? See, for some of us, our our faith cannot survive any real difficulty because we've never wrestled it out with God. [01:09:56] (43 seconds)  #GodWelcomesQuestions

And the reason why our faith can't set put us or help us bring victory in every area of our lives is because it's not our faith. It's your grandma's faith. It's your mother's faith. It's your dad's faith. It's the pastor's faith. It's what you were told to believe, and you've never wrestled it out for yourself. And when we live on borrowed faith and that borrowed faith gets tested, it collapses because we never really believed it in the first place. It was religion and it wasn't relationship. [01:10:39] (40 seconds)  #OwnYourFaith

Bible tells us over in Genesis 32 when God asked Jacob, what is your name? I believe he did this because the last time Jacob was asked what his name was, he lied and said his name was Esau. And there's some of us, we are lying about our identity. When people ask you what your name is, and we're given an identity that does not trust in God. See, he Jacob lied about his identity and being Esau. He lied because he didn't trust God to provide. So when God asks you today, what is your name? What he's really saying is, are you finally ready to admit who you are right now? [01:24:43] (48 seconds)  #OwnYourIdentity

And the moment he says, my name is Jacob, the moment he is honest with who he is, God says, you will no longer be called Jacob. You shall be called Israel. See, Jacob meant deceiver, manipulator. Israel meant one who wrestles with God and prevails. See, we have a God who is in the name changing business. Come on. Can we praise God for that? Abram, who was whose name meant exalted father became Abraham, father of many nations. Sarai, which meant princess, became Sarah, mother of nations. They were barren. They had no children. [01:28:03] (41 seconds)  #GodChangesNames

Don't you understand what salvation means, church? It doesn't mean God swept it under the rug. It doesn't mean he pretends like it never happens. It means he removes it. He doesn't re relocate it. He doesn't postpone it. He erases it. He cancels it. Your record is expunged. And I feel this so much right now. There's some of us here, you're living like you got a record. Some of you go to God in prayer like you got a record. Oh, God. Oh, Jesus. I know all the bad like you go to him and and and the enemy's reminding you of your shame and all that old stuff and you feel like you can't pray those dangerous prayers because you feel like you got a record. [01:38:43] (49 seconds)  #RecordExpunged