Now, I'm going to start tonight in Revelation chapter 12, the book of Revelation chapter 12. And I want to preach tonight on two wrestling matches in the Bible. How many like wrestling? Got two. Not real. You like real wrestling? Oh, you like the fake kind. I used to live next door to Rowdy Red Roberts. Have you ever heard of him? He wrestled all over the southeast, Rowdy Red. And Rowdy used to tell us, well, we'd be at the store, you know, the community store at the foot of the hill. And he lived next door and we lived up the hill. But he'd tell my dad, he'd say, well, I got to go rehearse. And so we knew a long time ago that wasn't real. But anyway. But now I've got a young man in my church who finished second in the nation wrestling, second place, NCAA championships, he finished second. And the reason he lost, he had a broke big toe, broke his big toe, and he wrestled with a broke big toe and finished second. And I told him, if we ever get in the scrap, I want you on my side, amen. Brother Jacob Stortenbacher. Now he's a missionary to the Jewish people. But anyway, I want to preach on two wrestling matches. And where we're starting doesn't seem to fit that, but it'll hopefully tie together eventually. Thank you again for everything. Thank you so much. Revelation 12.1, there appeared a great wonder in heaven. a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars." Now, listen, varying opinions on who the woman is, but I believe the woman is Israel, the nation of Israel. That's what I believe. And I could prove that with Scripture, but I'm not going to take time to do that. Verse 2, she being with child cried, trebating in birth and pain to be delivered. That leads some to think maybe this woman is Mary. We know Mary gave birth to the Savior. But also collectively, nationally, the nation of Israel gave us the Messiah. Out of the vine of Israel, God grew a branch. Read Psalm 80, a branch. And called him the Son of Man in his right hand and made him strong for himself. God brought that branch out of Israel and a rod out of Jesse. And you know the the passages that deal with that. So it's the nation of Israel. By the way, I believe the woman in Genesis 3.15 is the nation of Israel. You can believe what you want to. But the Lord said, I'll put in me between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed. And so anyway, you go to the book of Isaiah, our Lord is said to be a son born, a son given unto us, a child is born unto us, a son is given, Isaiah chapter 9. It's speaking of Israel collectively as a nation giving to the Son of God. God used that nation to bring the Savior into the world. Amen. And the book you have in your hand is a Jewish book. Forty authors. They say Luke was a Gentile. I have no idea where they get that because it's not in the Bible. I don't believe Luke was a Gentile. But anyway, and that's irrelevant. It really doesn't matter. But he was one of the writers of the Scriptures. Forty authors, Jewish book. Amen. and we're saved because of their rejection. God broke off those natural branches, grafted in the wild olive tree. Romans chapter 11, and so through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles. But someday God's going to graft them in again, amen. And that's the subject of prophecy in the Bible, the restoration of Israel and the great tribulation and all the things that's yet to come. Look at verse three, and. What's the word and in the Bible? Or in our language? It's a conjunction, it's a continuation. this, there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head. And look at verse 4 carefully, and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and it cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up unto God and to His throne." Now, we know the birth of Christ is covered here to the nation of Israel. And these passages even comprehend the ascension of Christ. It says he was to rule all nations, but was caught up to God in his throne. You know the kingdom has been postponed. He'll come again later to rule the nations. But in the meantime, he ascended back to heaven and became the great high priest. We know what all this is about. But there in verse 4, Satan tried to devour Christ when he was born. Remember how many, all the children two years old and under that were killed trying to kill Christ? Remember that? And there, and not only that here, I want to point out to you, at this, now this is what I believe. If you tend to disagree with me, this is okay. We'll disagree agreeably, okay? And if the pastor don't believe this, he'll straighten it out when I'm gone. It has nothing to do with, unsound doctrine, it would be a matter of opinion. But the Bible says His tail did draw the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the time element is the Incarnation of Christ. You see that. The time element is the birth of Christ, His Incarnation, His advent into the world. That's the time element here. And Satan was going to devour this child. And the child was called up to God. Well, that covers 33 and a half years. It's the Lord's life. But at that time when the Lord was born, a third part of the stars of heaven were cast down to the earth. Now, bear with me a minute. Just bear with me for a minute. We know the stars that are indicated here in Revelation chapter, we have mentioned here in Revelation chapter 12, are celestial beings. That's what they are. They're fallen angels. We know a third part of the angels fell. Now the disagreement comes where and when. I personally believe, this is my opinion based on these passages, that a third of the angels fell at the Incarnation of Christ. That's what I believe. Turn to Hebrews chapter 1 if you would, Hebrews chapter 1, the book of Hebrews chapter 1. And read with me if you will in verse 4, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 4. The Bible says our Lord here was being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, and again I will be to him a father, he shall be to me a son. And watch this, and again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world. Now what we just read about in Revelation chapter 12, we just read about the birth of Christ when the first begotten came into the world. So what did God command the celestial beings? Look at it. And let all the angels of God do what? Worship Him. So evidently there were some angels who refused to worship Christ in a lower form. He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. That's what he tells us later in the book of Hebrews. and so they refused to worship the Lord. And verse 6 says that, and so they rested pridefully and there created excellence above men, they refused to do so. Now you find this strange thing in the Gospels. Let me show you this now. I'm building my case. Turn to Luke chapter 4 verse 33. The Gospel of Luke chapter 4 and verse 33. And what you find in Luke chapter 4 verse 33 is the Lord encountering a fallen angel, a fallen celestial being. Now I know you know this, you've been taught this because your pastor I know is a Bible teacher. The seducing spirits and devils and those things that are described in the Bible more commonly called in modern terminology demons, and I don't use the word demon because it's not a Bible word. They're devils. They're called seducing spirits. Amen. And so I use the Bible word. And the Lord encounters one of these fallen celestial beings here in verse 33 of Luke chapter four. Watch this, read it with me. And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with a loud voice saying, let us alone. Now read that next phrase to the comma with me. Look at it. What have we to do with thee? Jesus of Nazareth. They wouldn't have anything to do with the Lord as a man. They refused to worship Him. Read on. Notice this, art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art. He knew who the Lord was. Thou holy one of God. You see that? What have we to do with thee? Now, I believe there's a reason for that, and I don't have time to deal with that tonight. It's another issue and another message. I believe there's a reason they refuse to worship him. And I'll just briefly say this. I'll briefly say this and move on. The Bible says that God's grace that's been shown to the church, the forgiveness, the love, the mercy, and the grace of God that's been shown to the church, It says that he might, to the intent that he might make known unto the principalities and powers, that's the celestial beings, the principalities and powers, might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Now let me explain that. God is using you and I to teach the celestial beings things that they would never understand without our example. He's teaching them the manifold wisdom of God. Listen, there's not one angel who understands mercy. There's not one angel who understands forgiveness. There's not one angel understands the attributes of God that's engaged in the redemption of mankind. Listen, the celestial beings understand the holiness of God. What are the seraphim doing in Isaiah chapter six? They're praising God's holiness. What are the cherubim doing in Revelation chapter four? Resting not day and night. They're saying, holy, holy, holy. Listen, I truly believe that those angels and Satan himself opposed the redemption of man. They opposed it. They, listen to me, they understand the omnipotence of God. When God created the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth, when those celestial beings saw God's omnipotence, the Bible says the morning stars sang together and shouted for joy. They understand the omnipotence of God. They've seen it, they understand it a little bit. And listen, they also, Not only that, but they know that God is, he's holy, he's righteous, he's powerful. They know that he knows everything. They understand he's an eternal being. But listen to me, they do not understand the moral attributes of God. God uses our example to show them his love, his mercy, his grace, and they desire to look into it, is what the Bible says. And I'll tell you something else about the celestial beings, the Bible tells us. Those seraphim and cherubim, that's a different class of celestial beings than angels. The seraphim and cherubim are strange creatures described in the Bible. I'll just briefly mention them. The seraphim, I don't know how many there are. The Bible doesn't give us a number of how many of those creatures there are in heaven. I don't know how many there are. But I know this. They have six wings. They're winged creatures. Now, you all know that regular ministering spirits called angels do not have wings. How could you entertain angels unaware? I mean, if somebody knocked on your door, man, he's standing there, got wings, first thing, angel. But how could you entertain one unaware? Angels in the Bible appear as a man. They always appear in the form of a man. And so listen to me tonight. The seraphims understand certain things about God, but God has to use the church to teach them. And God has to use the church to teach the ministering spirits about the moral attributes of God. They know his natural attributes. Why, the cherubim themselves. Now, I know the Bible mentions seven cherubs. There are two placed at the entrance of the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword. to keep Adam and Eve from entering back into the garden and eating of the tree of life. Right? You find a cherub in the book of Ezekiel who reaches under the throne of God and takes coals of fire and scatters them over Jerusalem, which is indicative of the destruction of Jerusalem. You find Four cherubim in Revelation chapter four, praising the holiness of God. So how many is that? Two in Eden, four in Revelation, that's what? Six. And there's an anointed cherub in Ezekiel 28, 14. And that's Lucifer, Satan. How many is that? Seven, that's all we know of those. But I know this about the celestial beings, they do not understand. I'll give you this, the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant was shadowed with what? Two cherubims beaten out of gold and their wings touched above the mercy seat, shadowing the mercy seat. And their faces, the Bible says face downward, They were like this, one on each end, if this were the ark. Their wings are touching and they're looking down. And those golden cherubim look down continuously. What are they looking at? What's on the top of the ark? What is the covering of the ark? The mercy seat. They're staring at mercy. Why? Because they don't understand. They oppose. They insist that God judge men. Satan insists that God judges men, that he judges them. Satan is an unmerciful being, and he insists that God, read the book of Job. Amen. Now straight a little bit there, but let me say this. If a third of the angels fell at the incarnation, that's a great host of them. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12 quickly. Let me lay my foundation here and it'll make sense hopefully. Hebrews chapter 12. and the Bible tells you in verse, beginning in verse 22, that we're coming to Mount Zion and under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and look at this last phrase, and to an, what's that word? Enumerable, company of angels. You know what enumerable means? Enumerable means that they cannot be counted. Now that doesn't mean that God does not know how many angels there are, but you and I could never count the number of angels that they are. We could never count them. They're innumerable. Now God could, I'm sure, in his great wisdom, but you and I couldn't. So they're said to be innumerable. So listen to me. Are you listening to me tonight? At the incarnation, one third of an innumerable company of angels fell. and refused to worship Christ as the incarnated Son. Now think about this for a minute. A third of them came into the world and they're devils and seducing spirits and they're the enemies of God and the enemies of the church. They oppose redemption. Are y'all listening to me? There are far greater adversaries in the church age and the gospel age than any other time in the Bible. Listen, in the Old Testament, spiritism consisted of about two forms. Number one, the spirit of divination. Balaam had that. The spirit of divination. Now, a diviner is called a seer. What the diviner did was he attempted to prophesy and give prophecies like God. You understand, you read Isaiah chapter 40 onward, God proves conclusively over and over that he is God by showing his knowledge of the future. Read it. In fact, the revelation tells us the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. He can tell the future. Well, I can show you in the book of Isaiah where God named a king, a pagan Gentile king, 156 years before he was born. I can show you in the Chronicles of the Kings where God, through a prophet, named the king of Israel 300 years before he was born. There's so many prophecies in the Bible. And they all come true. So the diviner tried to emulate the gift of prophecy. It's soothsayers. The second form of spiritism, by the way, the ability to bless and curse is solely the ability of God. And also the diviner claimed to have the ability to bless and curse. By the way, what did Balak hire Balaam to do? To curse the children of Israel. And every time he opened his mouth, he blessed them. And he said, have I any power to say anything at all? He was a false prophet who sometimes preached the word of the Lord. Listen to me. The second form of spiritism in the Old Testament is called necromancy. And necromancy had the people who attended to that gift, supposedly gift, were, if they were male, they were called a wizard. If they were female, they were called a witch. And God said, thou shalt not suffer. A witch, to what? To live. God forbade that stuff. Do you remember what Saul did? He went to the witch of Endor to communicate with a departed saint, Samuel? And so necromancy is trying to communicate with the dead. What that does is put you in touch with a spiritual world that's full of deception. You're not communicating with the dead at all, you're communicating with devils. And that's about all exists in the Old Testament. Would you find me anything else? But when you get to the New Testament, there's a woman with a spirit of infirmity that's been bound for 18 years. She has a devil, a spirit that's bound her. Mary Magdalene had seven devils. Seven. Don't you know she was a nice woman? I tell you, one woman with one devil is enough, amen? But a woman with seven devils? The maniac of Gadara, he had one main leading fallen being named Legion, but there were many who accompanied him in his torment of this man. And he cut himself with stones. You don't find that in the Old Testament. You don't find it. There's a man who has a son who's possessed by a devil. He's trying to cast him into the fire. It's a thousand fold more. The spirits our Lord dealt with are many, many, many more than they ever knew of in the Old Testament. I'm telling you tonight, my friend, we face far more enemies that are against God than any other age and any other time in the history of God's people today. Now with that in mind, turn to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. Are we all right so far? Ephesians chapter six. Verse 10 is where we will begin. The Bible says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. That's how he begins this section of verses, closing out the book of Ephesians. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. And then he gives you the reason. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And then he tells you why in verse 12. Four, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against, and now here's the celestial beings that are fallen, and this is the levels of the spiritual hierarchy that is in rebellion against God. Watch this, principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual weakness in high places. Y'all listen to me? Those are governmental terms. They are. You know where you find Satan himself the most active? In politics. Government. Read Ezekiel 28. God addresses the prince of Tyrus. When he becomes the king, God addresses Satan in him. Right? He's possessed the king. You know, Tyre is the center of the commercial world at that time that Ezekiel penned that. Read chapter 27. It tells you who all traded in the markets of Tyre. And they took their ships, the Phoenicians, you've heard of them. They took their ships. They carried those goods all over the Mediterranean. It was the center of commerce in the ancient world. Tyre and Sidon. And brother, where the activity is, where the most activity is and money and influence, that's where the devil works himself. You know, tonight, you and I have probably never personally dealt with Satan himself. But there's so many other principalities and powers, there's a third of them fail, that every one of us could have personal devils that are our adversaries that we deal with. I'm telling you, there's certain things happen in my life at certain times, and I'm not gonna tell you what they are, but they always come at the same time and in the same form. And I know it's a spiritual battle. You can't see this world, but it exists. And we wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but we're wrestling against these beings. Amen. Now y'all listening to me? When armies fight, ancient warfare was fought along two protracted lines, right? and they just clashed and usually whoever had the most nerve is the ones that won. That's the way the Civil War was fought. And of course, later on, guerrilla warfare was considered to be a crime. It was considered to be a crime in the rules of warfare. But here's the way I see it. If you're in a battle and you're, kill your enemy any way you can. But I'm telling you, my friend, this is not a protracted line of offense or defense with fortifications and troops embedded, you know, waiting on the charge from the enemy. Oh no, my friend, this is a wrestling match that's up close. It's hand to hand. Oh, it's close and personal. Amen. And I'm telling you, my friend, are y'all listening to me? Without the strength of the Lord and the power of His might, write it down, you will be pinned. You'll lose. There's no one that's ever faced these fallen entities. No one has ever faced them and won on their own. Your moral character, the strength of your moral character, your resolve, listen, your New Year's resolutions, none of them will work against these foes, none of them. The only thing, my friend, that will protect you is the armor God has provided for you and your offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That's the only way you're gonna be able to stand. Amen. And every one of these pieces of armor, I'm not gonna preach on all these pieces of armor, I'm just bringing attention to the wrestling match. Listen, every one of these pieces of armor are put on literally by the word of God. It's the shield of faith. Where does faith come from? God's word. The helmet of salvation, where does that come from? And by the way, you go read the book of Isaiah, the Lord wore this armor first, so it's not like Saul's armor that hasn't been proved. This armor's been proven by the captain of our salvation, amen. We have a heaven of salvation. Where does our salvation come from? Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed. By the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. First Peter 1, 23. Amen. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Our salvation, our shield of faith. Every, all of these pieces of armor are related to the word of God. You've got to put on that armor. You've got to be immersed in this book. Amen. You mentioned John Wesley. John Wesley said, you've got to preach out of an overflow. And they ask him, why do many crowds, so many come to hear you preach? He says, I catch on fire with God, and then they come to see me burn. At power with God. You, this enemy, Listen, we are given a supernatural power in this gospel age to stand against these adversaries. And it's one person. It's the Holy Ghost. Amen. We're given a weapon. And our Lord has already laid down the pattern in his temptation. When Satan comes, or any of his devils come with him, or any of those fallen beings come to try to hinder you in your race, or hinder you in your life or your work, or draw you away from us, you answer them with this book. It is written. And I'm telling you, my friend, they cannot, they cannot abide Within the truth of this book, they can't do it. Well, this book even says if you draw night of God, he'll draw night of you, and if you'll resist the devil, what will he do? Flee. The reason the devil flees is because you're drawing night of God. Amen. You're not gonna be a victorious Christian if you don't spend any time in this book And let me tell you something else. There's more than just reading the Bible. Listen, you thump the King James all you want, but when are you gonna start doing what the King James says? Amen. Don't just be hearers of the word, but a doer of the word. Amen. The devil, listen, he cannot abide this book. You preach this book, you'll keep the devil preached out of your church. Now, he'll try to get in here and there, devils, seducing spirits, all this. They'll try to get in here and there, but you keep preaching this book, you stay with this book, my friend, and I guarantee you, they won't abide long. Amen. Well, listen, I've had a revolving door church for all of my ministry. Are y'all listening to me? Listen to me tonight. Listen to me. I have had more to leave than stayed You say, well, Brother Wood, you failed in the ministry. I think the Lord had more leave than stay. Did he not? Was he a failure? And many of them went back and walked no more with him. Why, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? I tell you, if a truth from this book can run you out of the church, hit the road jack. That's what I've told them for 48 years as a pastor. I ain't changing this book to keep you or nobody else. I love you. I'll pray for you. I'll do anything I can to help you, but I am not changing this book for you. Let me tell you something. Had five divorces counseling, trying to get young families through divorces at one time, five. You wouldn't believe how many family members trying to get me to take sides. And I tell you the devil spun a web in our church. That's the way the devil is. He's just strand everywhere. He spun a web in our church and you would think every one of them is wanting you to deal with their part of the web, their strand and do it like they want you to do it. And I said, I'm going to do it like God said to do it. Are you all listening to me? By the time all of that sorted out, I lost 65 church members. We were cut in half, more than half. Some of them preachers. I'm just about like Brother Jones. Brother Jones says, when a pastor is between churches and starts coming to my church, I tell him, give me your ordination papers. You ain't going to need them while you're here. And when you leave, I'll give them back to you. I'm the pastor. You're not. And you're not going to pastor from the pew. I'm the pastor. Amen, Brother Decker. If you ain't careful, they'd be going. Somebody asked me one time, brother, Dave, how many churches you planted? Now I had to replant in two churches God's allowed me to plant, but in reality, we've planted a whole lot more than that. They get mad about something, go down the road and start another church and call it unity. Down where we're at, we got unity number ones and unity number twos. They leave and keep the name and just put a one or a two on it so you know which congregation they are. And you can't pastor those people. They don't want a pastor. They're their own God. Amen. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. We're wrestling against these fallen beings that opposed our Lord Jesus Christ when he came into the world. They refused to worship him. Why in the world do you think they're interested in worshiping him now? And I'll say, I'll go a step further and say this. To refuse to worship Jesus Christ is the sin of devils. So you need to get busy worshiping him, amen. Now I'm telling you, brethren, there's fiery darts in this chapter. And there ain't but one thing can quench them. Are you listening to me? That's the shield of faith that comes from this book. It's a shield. It's a shield. Amen. By the way, you have one offensive weapon. Every piece of this armor is for your protection. Your head, your breastplate, your loin skirt with truth, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You have one offensive weapon. You know what it is? It's not a butter knife. You know what a lot of preachers have done? They have dulled the edge of this sword. A sword's not made for spreading butter and it's not made to soothe everything. A sword is made for cutting. Amen. Just remember, this is the character of that book. It's a sharp, two-edged sword, piercing, piercing, dividing asunder the soul and the spirit and the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4.12. It's a living book. Listen, every bit of this stuff in the Ephesians comes from this book. Every bit of it. You wanna let the devil or devils in your church? Cut the corners of this. Amen. I'm gonna move on to the second wrestling match here in a minute. And it's important because of this one. Now the next wrestling match you need to lose. But this one you need to win. But you'll never win this. And if you don't lose the second one. Not long ago, I saw now I'm not a Facebook or I'm not a social media person. But I do I use Facebook marketplace. Let me know what that is. That's the only reason I'm on Facebook. I'm not a Facebooker, I don't take friend requests, don't send me one. If you discover who I am, I don't even have my real name on there, so if you discover who I am, don't send me no friend, I'm not accepting it. Don't care who you are. But every once in a while, I saw a preacher not long ago in his pulpit that another pastor built this church, and it's a large church, and he never did anything to build that church, he just assumed to pastor it. But anyway, It's all a big promotion. And he's in the middle of it. But anyway, I saw him, he was preaching without a tie. Now say what you want. I don't think you have to wear a tie to preach. But he was preaching without a tie. And I put in there, the slide has begun. Pretty soon you'll be preaching in a golf shirt and your jeans. They're already singing the music. The music's already sliding. So I just thought I'd remind him, the slide has begun. And before you know it, it'll be a contemporary church. You ever read over there in Isaiah 33 where they couldn't raise the sail, they couldn't tie off the mast, they couldn't raise the sails? I'll just tell you this right now, that ship won't sail. you'll be paddling it by your own power. You'll be using the oars, not the sail. Amen? All right, now, turn with me to Genesis 32, 27, the second wrestling match. Now folks, tonight there's a wrestling match you need to win, and there's one you need to lose. I think you know which one you need to win, right? What about the one you need to lose? Look here in chapter 32 and come down to verse, let's see about, am I in the right place here? Yeah, let me get to my place here. Genesis 32, and come down to about verse 24. The Bible says, and Jacob was left, what? Alone. I don't, I've got a problem with someone who always has to be entertained with something. I'll just be honest with you. I used to have a friend that ran a gun shop. Every time I'd go in there, he'd have the music going. I said, how come you always got that music going? He said, it's always that way at my house. Everywhere I go, I've got to have something in the background. I said, what's wrong with silence? Let me tell you what's wrong with silence. Sometimes when it's silent and all the noise and din of the world is pushed out, you can hear the voice of God. And he didn't want to hear the voice of God. If you've got to always have some kind of racket going, you young people, if you've always got to have some kind of music in the background, and you can never just let it be silent, and with your own thoughts, get in that book, get along with God. In fact, the Bible pronounces woe on people that join field to field and house to house, that's subdivisions, till there be no place where they may be found alone. in the midst of the earth. Togetherness has gotten us away from God. There's times when you need to be alone with God. Why, you think God told you to go into a closet and shut the door? Amen? Enter thy closet, shut thy door. Pray to thy Father in secret. He's left alone. There's no comforting wife. There's no loving children. He's not looking at all of his flocks of sheep and goats and all of his possessions, but he's alone and his two families are divided somewhere else. He's going to face Esau. And the last time he saw Esau, Esau was gonna kill him. And now he's alone. And let's notice what happens. And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, wherefore is it that thou doest ask after my name? And he blessed him there, and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Now, the story of Jacob is a, you could preach a long time about that. But you know the story of Jacob's life. Amen. And I'll just say this. We learn from this story that there's nothing as essential or necessary than power with God. I said power with God. The blessing of verse 29, if you look at it, and he blessed him there, what's the blessing? What's the blessing? He's blessed with power with God. And notice what the Lord says to him in the end of verse 28. For as a prince hast thou, what's those next three words? Power from God? No. power with God and with men. You see that? You're not gonna have lasting spiritual influence with men apart from the power with God. What possession could be more valuable than God's power? What would you give for it if you could buy it? And you can't. Now the Bible says the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Psalm 24 one tells us that. And Isaiah 66 one, thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. The earth is God's possession and footstool. and Jacob has received all of the blessings from the footstool. Listen. Thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau. Thy servant Jacob said thus. I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen and asses, flocks, and men's servants and women's servants, and I have sent to tell my lord that I may find grace in thy sight. When David sends a messenger, or I should say, Jacob sends a messenger to Laban, or I'll get this straight in a minute. Esau, when he sends a message to Esau, he mentions his possessions. I'll tell you the next time the devil's gonna come and wrestle you, just show him your house. That gonna help you? Show him your bank account. He shows him his possessions, hoping to impress him. Now he went down to Laban's with only a staff. And you know what a staff is? A staff is a stick. That's all it is, is a stick. And I got a message on that on Moses. God, a man, and a stick. Everything Moses did with that rod. But anyway, he crosses the brook Jabbok with a stick and now he's coming back and this is what he says, I'm not worthy of the least of all the mercies of all the truth with thou shalt and thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I'm become two bands. That's his family. So he has all these great possessions. He returns loaded down with the wealth of his uncle Laban. Do you know every time that Jew is scattered somewhere and he goes home, he goes home loaded down with the wealth of the nation that he lived in? Probably one of the richest countries in the world per capita is probably citizens of the nation of Israel. Now, I couldn't prove that. I just assumed that because the diminishing of the Jew riches of the Gentiles. He returns from his uncle Laban. He's loaded down with his wealth. By the way, when those Jews went out of Egypt, they went out with enough gold to do all of the work in the tabernacle and all of that stuff. Y'all remember that? They went out loaded down with their wealth. Amen. There was 120 pounds of gold in the candlestick. 120 pounds. Figure that by $16 an ounce and 16 ounces in a pound. Figure that up and that'll tell you what just a candlestick is worth in modern times. Gold's hitting 2,500 now. 16 times 100 and 16 ounces in a pound time, 120 times 2,500. Figure it up. But they carried all that stuff out of Egypt. So he'd already received the material blessings. He had flocks, he had herds, he had wives, he had children in abundance. He's got it all. He has received the blessings of the footstool, but he's missing one of the most important singular blessings that anyone could ever receive. And it's not money, and it's not material possessions, it's not even your health. In fact, his health was affected to have this power. Remember what that angel did? He touched his thigh and his hip was out of joint. His leg was out of joint and his hip and he walked with a limp. He goes away a prince but he's limping. Amen. What greater singular blessing could you have from God than to have, I'm not talking about power from God, power with God. Do you know there are people in the Bible that had power with God? One time God was going to destroy the children of Israel. God was going to literally destroy them and told Moses, I'll make of thee a great nation. And Moses stood in that breach and became an intercessor. And you know what God said to him? Let me alone. Now how do you think it would be to have so much influence? Power with God is influence with Him. How would you like to have influence with God to a degree that you stand in a breach and God's wanting to do something and He can't do it because you're standing there and He's saying to you, let me alone. Now I don't know about you, but that's a pretty influential person, wouldn't you agree? Amen. There's a few people like that in the Bible, not very many. Amen? That's in Exodus chapter 32 verse 10 where the Lord says that, let me alone. You know, this is what the Bible says about Jacob. Listen to me carefully now. I'm fixing to bring this to a close. It's 18, 19 minutes to eight. Hebrews 12, three, or I'm sorry, Hosea 12, three, he took his brother by the heel in the womb. That's indicative of the kind of person that Jacob's gonna be. When his brother's born first, he reaches out and grabs him by the heel and he's trying to pull him back in so he can be born first. Jacob made a supplanter. That's someone who's gonna take your place. And it ain't gonna bother him. He's always gonna be first. Amen? It's just by his strength, he had power with God. Now, do you think the angel of the Lord who wrestled with Jacob here, do you think the angel of the Lord that wrestled with Jacob, do you think that he could not overpower Jacob. Not for a minute. He could have flattened him just like that. But what he did is he wrestled with him all night and toward the end of the morning before the dawning of the day, Jacob is no longer resisting. He's clinging and he says, I will not let you go. There's no longer resistance but a clinging. I'm sure when they first started, He was making his moves, and he had some physical strength. But I tell you, as the day was about to dawn, he's clinging, and he's saying, I'm not gonna turn you loose until you bless me. Amen. So the Lord said, I'll give you a real blessing, let me fix your hip here, let me fix your thigh. You know, Paul gloried in his infirmities because he said that's how the power of Christ resteth upon me. It says he had power over the angel and prevailed. That's not talking about his physical strength. That's talking about his plea before daylight. Please bless me. I'm not gonna turn you loose till you bless me. The Bible says he wept. and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel. You know what Jacob, the first time Jacob encountered God at Bethel, he had a dream with that ladder. You remember that? And even as he walked away from there, his service to God was conditional. If thou wilt bless me, there's none of that here, friend. In fact, he renames the place. You know what he renames it after this experience? El Bethel. He said Bethel, this is the house of God. He named it El Bethel, the God of the house of God. Jacob goes away from this experience with something, my friend, that'd be the most valuable possession that you could ever have. And he gained it because he wept, he made supplication, and he wrestled with God till he got it. He said, I'm not turning you loose until you bless me. He had power with God. He wrestled for the blessing. And in Hosea 12, he set forth, God sets him forth what he obtained from God in light of their unfaithfulness. And they were encouraged to repent by the example of Jacob. Amen. He was made a prince. He had power with God. Y'all listening to me? I'm about done here. I know I have known people in my life that were very imminent men of God. They were very imminent. And what I mean by that is they were an anomaly. among a group of preachers, they would be an anomaly. They'd be different. They were different. They were imminent. I've known them. Now, y'all ain't going to believe what I'm fixing to say, but my wife will vouch for it because she was there. I saw an evangelist that had power with God. And he was preaching in a revival service that had been going on for weeks. And there were 60 people saved. They poured out gallons and gallons of liquor. People left cigarettes, books, clothes, all kinds of things on the altar. They brought it and put it on the altar and we cleaned it out and burned it just like they did in the book of Acts where they burnt all those people that held their stuff that held curious hearts. We burn it. Sixty. That night it came a thunderstorm and when that preacher would make his point with the most conviction, lightning would strike. I ain't kidding. Brother Decker, that thunderstorm accompanied that man's preaching. Believe me or not, I don't care. I was there, my wife was there, and I saw it, and I can get other people to testify to the same thing. And it got down to the invitation, and when he gave the invitation, lightning struck close enough to knock the power off in the church. And this was a little church with about this many pews, and there you couldn't see carpet. There was so many people there. There was people outside that couldn't get in. It was divided into two rows. And when that power went off, there was no emergency lights. All you could see is the flash of the lightning that would illuminate the church for a few, just a brief second. But I'm telling you the most convicting atmosphere I've ever been in my life. The conviction of the Holy Ghost fell on that church and people literally they could not see. You know what they did brother? They crawled under the pews to get to the altar. I've never seen anything like it in my life. That man had power with God. They say an evangelist cannot bring a revival. But I'm going to tell you right now, I never had that evangelist that we didn't have revival. He had power with God and with men. And I'll tell you how he got it. He wrestled with the angel. Y'all ever hear of Brother Don Green? My son's married to his granddaughter. I'll tell you something I learned from Brother Don Green. I learned how to intercede for others. I went to see Brother Green. I was preaching a meeting for his son, Brother Jim, at Parker Memorial where Brother Green pastored all those years. And I went to preach a meeting. Brother Green was still alive. They bring him into the church, sit him in a recliner. They have to get him in there. And Brother Green, first time I ever met him, he said, Brother Wood, he's such a Christian gentleman, straight as a gun barrel, but one of the most Christian gentlemen you'll ever meet. He said, Brother Wood, he said, I've got a problem now that I've met you. And I said, oh, what is that? He said, now I have to pray for you. Now I have to pray for you. This man thought that he had to pray for everyone he ever met. And he did. He didn't have a prayer list. Oh no. I went to see him at lunch. He wanted me to eat lunch with him. I went over to his house. And here this man is confined to a wheelchair and he's got up that morning and he's dressed himself up in a suit and a tie. He cut grass in a suit and a tie. But anyway, he says, I'm going to dress like a preacher, whatever I do. And people would make fun of him because of his convictions. But Brother Green, I went in there and sat down by him, and he had a stack of books about this high. They were notebooks that you can, you know, add pages to, you know what I'm talking about, like I got up here. He had a stack of notebooks that high. I said, Brother Green, what is that? He said, that's my prayer list. I said, your prayer list? Man, he had the missionaries in one, evangelists in one, church members. He prayed for the man, didn't know his name. He prayed for the man I invited to revival who didn't come. He prayed for that man for 40 years, didn't even know his name. And I was under conviction sitting there with the man. His prayer list there. I looked there on the top. It was Brother Terry Kendry, a friend, evangelist friend of mine, dear friend of mine. He'd just lost his wife. Miss Wanda had just passed away. And he said, Brother Terry's in a really dark time. He said, I've been praying for him. I took a picture of him. Sent it to Brother Terry. I said, the old man of God's praying for you. And he was glad because he knew this man could get an answer. If people wanted something from God desperately, they had to hear from heaven. You know who they called? Guess who they called? Brother Green. When Brother Green died, you know what the people's testimony was? You know what their testimony was? He was 90. His testimony is, who's going to pray for me? And I learned from his example to be an intercessor and pray for others. Amen. He was a blessing. He had power with God. I asked Brother Jones one time, I said, what made Parker so special? He said, that man had power with God. He said, I'd love to take his sermons and put them on the floor and just wallow in them like a dog does in the grass and hope some of it rubbed off on me. I've known men like that. Amen. Dr. Lee Robison. What? Would you say he was an imminent man of God? You know how he became that way, brother? He wrestled with the angel. He came to the end of himself. Amen. I've known so many. Brother Sammy Allen, Brother Stennett Blue, Dr. James Crompton, we talked about him earlier tonight. Dr. Crompton preached a message one time that changed the whole direction of my life. Literally one message. Brother Ralph Sexton, Sr., he's got a little pamphlet called, If You Don't Terry, You'll Commit Spiritual Harry Carey. That's the name of the book. and it documents the revivals in the mountains of North Carolina around Asheville, North Carolina and how many people were saved. Listen, you're going to laugh at me, but they had supernatural things happen in those revivals. And that man had power with God. There's so many like that. Brother Reno, Dr. Reno Davis, probably y'all never known him. Brother Reno, the last account I had of him, he was in his 90s, he was living on the border doing relief work in Mexico. He was a missionary, an evangelist missionary. This is what he said. He said, you can't preach the gospel to a man with an empty stomach. I gave him a bus one time. And he drove it all the way to Belize, to Central America, loaded with medicines and Bibles. drove it himself. He was 80-something years old and drove that bus to Central America. Brother Decker, by the time he got there, he said the hood was gone, the fenders was gone, the motor was just stuck out there by itself, but he said, we still had the body. You know what they did with that bus? They distributed that medicine to the doctors and nurses. They took those Bibles and gave them to the people and preached these people that he knew, these mission works. And they took that bus and made a hospital out of it. He was a missionary in Haiti, had an orphanage in Haiti. But I'm telling you that guy, I tell you when he died, I wish we could have took his brain and put it in somebody else. Brother Davis preached a message one time on being filled with the Spirit of God. He preached a whole week from the same text, the whole week. And the end of that meeting, I went down to the altar, I'll never forget it, and I said, God, I want what this man has been preaching about, and I want it desperately. And I tell you for the first time in my life as an understanding Christian, God filled me with the Holy Spirit of God. And I knew it. And I'm telling you, my life changed, Brother Smith. My life began to change. You say, do you have power with God? I don't know. I hope that I do. I wouldn't say that definitively I have, but I sure want it. Power with men? Power with men. It all comes down to influence. Can you ask God something and get an answer? Can you ask God for a need and get it? Don't ask my wife to pray. She prays for things she wants. She's praying we'd have our parking lot paved. This is about five years ago. Guess what? Guess what? Joe Biden gave us all $1,200 and we all throwed it in a pot and paved our parking lot and God answered her prayers. Amen. She said, we need new windows at the camp. I said, I am not fooling with those windows. You don't understand. These are windows in a corrugated metal building, you know, a commercial building. They're put in with screws and metal steel. How am I gonna get them out? I'd have to take the siding off. I ain't fooling with it. Guess what's in the camp tonight? New windows. Guess how much we owe on them? $10,000. Guess what we owe on them? Zero. Rose, would you pray God will give us a million dollars? That would be a real blessing. She gets her prayers answered and I'm thankful for that. You know who people call? You know who people in our church call if they want somebody to pray about something? They need something from God. They call my wife. Because she prays. She's just a woman. She's got her, listen, she's got her, just like me. We all got our problems. Every one of us, some kind. But she can get an answer from God. And that's a blessing. And I'm not trying to exalt her. It's just the truth. Can you get an answer? Do you have any power with God? Do you have any power with men? You heard about Brother Jack Wood being mentioned in our meeting. Brother Allen Jones said, I've never seen a man that could train and lead men like Jack Wood. That man had power with God and power with men. Those missionaries from Shady Acres go to the field and they might come home on a furlough, but everyone I've ever supported and known is still there. I'm talking about who left 45, some of them 50 years ago, they're still there. He trained men, and they stuck. You say, could I have that? If you're willing to lose this wrestling match, and if you don't lose this one, you'll never win the other one. Now that's the message. Now how to apply it to your life is going to be up to you because you know what your need is. I don't. But that's the message. And ever how you apply it, that's up to you and God. Let's bow our heads for prayer.