brother. Thank you. Good night. Wasn't that tremendous tonight? I've always liked young people even when I was one. And man, the older I get the more I really love them and appreciate them. Isn't that tremendous? I don't know that you can go to another meeting and get any more singing quite like this with all these young people and God using them. And boy, just stirring our soul. And of course there are so many that sing, too, and are a blessing. So, thank you so much. My heart certainly has been blessed by every song and every word that's been preached. A couple of things I need to deal with first. About my, the pastor last night, Brother Finney, Tony, Brother Tony Finney, he said something about me. So, I need to confess, no, I'm not 198. Well, after eating like I have today, I think I went over just over 200. Maybe 201 or 202. So let's just get that straightened out right up front. And then I'd like to ask you a couple of questions tonight. It won't work tonight, will it? It won't work. You'd stonewall me tonight. respond and so, so anyway, but that's, that's okay. I'll take these meals and everything else. We have a conference. I know something about what goes into having something of this magnitude takes a lot of work, a lot of work. And sometimes it's a lot of work by a few people. Sometimes it's a lot of work by a lot of people. And just from what I can tell, looking around here, there are a lot of people involved in this meeting and your church, you have a lot of people in the church involved. It's not just two or three. are doing it. And that is so commendable. You know it really is to have a church that enjoys and appreciates a meeting so much until they all want to get in on the hard work aspect of it, whether it is cleaning the buildings and fixing meals. And I have certainly enjoyed all the meals. Just like this morning I was so appreciative of that meal and even the sausage. My essential oil is sausage grease. I can go between bacon grease or sausage grease, either one, whatever is available. And so I got my essential oil this morning. And so I'm really feeling good about that. And so anyway, it's all, it's all so good. And I want to say how much I appreciate, you know, I, this morning with this, this preaching, of course, brother Feeney last night, that was just tremendous, man, got to get those Kings out of the way. And these were man-made Kings and you know, earthly Kings and all different types. And, well, he just developed that. and preached us all under conviction again. And yet there were so many joyous moments in the message. Thank you, Brother Tony. And so that was tremendous. And this morning, Brother David Phillips and Genesis 1-1, I told him afterwards, I said, this needs to be preached in every university in America. Wouldn't that be something, man, if he could get an hour in every university across this country? and preach Genesis 1, 1, and have the working of the Holy Spirit in that. You know, it wouldn't just be Brother David saying that. If the Holy Spirit would take it and apply it, not everybody would believe it, but some might. And so, anyway, that was tremendous. And then, of course, Brother Alan Kirk's message reminding us preachers and all of us who are in the service of the Lord just to stay under the load. Stay under the load. It's a temptation in the mind to want to get out from under the load. And whether you've done it or not, the temptation will come from time to time to just lay that load down and just get on with life. And that's true, not only of us preachers, that can be true of preachers' wives and children and others in the service of the Lord. And so stay under the load. And then Brother Stephen Alters just got us to Jesus this morning. and to the Lord's mercy. And I'll tell you what, it doesn't get any better. Now, you may go somewhere, I say it even in our conference, somebody will get up and preach. And Brother Jerry, you know, and you've preached there. Somebody get up and say, later, well, bless God, it's just going to get better. And I mean, the guys just preached and took us to heaven. My glory came and spilled all over the place. And he says it's going to get better. I'm thinking, man, I don't know this side of heaven how it could get better sometime. I don't know how it can get any better than that this morning. But what I like to say at home, but we can get more. We can get more. Now, it will get better up there. But we're not quite there. But we can get more. And if we can get more of what we heard last night from him and then this morning, I'll tell you, we'll be in good shape. we'll be in good shape. So I'm, I'm certainly praying for more and these men, uh, blessed me and I know there'll be others to come to preach and, um, and, and, uh, it's just going to be great. So brother, um, brother Joey, y'all are, you know, this church has a great tradition in this meeting as a great heritage here in all of that. And you've had some great meetings over the years and, uh, we praise God for that. It just continues right on. Thank you, brother Joey. for just following in the Lord's will and just carrying on with this. I saw him here last year and of course his first year to direct the conference. And Brother Rusty was here. I saw how he honored Brother Rusty last year. And that was so refreshing. That was so refreshing to see him do that and just honor that previous pastor had done so much here. And then he walks in and inherits a lot of good things. And I saw that last year, and obviously this year, as you've been here now for over a year and have just stepped up, and it's obvious, it's obvious it was last year, but it's obvious who the pastor is here. And that God has given him that. And a lot of preachers have their name on the sign, but they never really become the pastor, but it's pretty obvious who the pastor is here, and that's a blessing. Thank you, Fundamental Baptist, for following him, blessing his family, and just don't do something stupid now and mess all this up. Man, it is almost too good to be true, Brother Joey, so don't do something stupid, somebody, and mess this up. Man, just, boy, thank God for it. Enjoy it, experience it, be the church right here in this community God wants you to be, and have you a hallelujah time. Okay, I could say a bunch more stuff, so let me say turn to Genesis 32 in your Bibles, and so pray for us there at the Unity Baptist Church, in Ripley, Mississippi. Our conference is like a Sunday in November. If you're interested, let me know, and we'd be glad for you to come. Some have been. The Alexanders came, man, back in the 90s. They came up. Maybe some others have been, but I know they came. And good night. It's time for them to come again, and a bunch more of you. And I remember, of course, I was just a child back then, but I do remember them being there, Brother Josh. I want to say I appreciate the ministries out of this church, too. Brother Waddington and them, Brother Michael Adams. Brother Michael understands under the weather tonight somewhat, and so we miss him, but we appreciate them. Brother Josh and them have been in our church numerous times, so this church has great outreach. I'm probably leaving somebody out, but anyway, okay. Genesis 32, breakthrough, breakthrough. Now, last night we gave you some introductory remarks even chapter 25 maybe and then chapter 28 and just kind of setting the atmosphere. So for the sake of those that are here tonight that were here last night I won't re-preach that. I won't re-preach it. But it did help us to see I think some things about Jacob and his purpose. There was a problem. He didn't have a problem with God's purpose for him. but his problem was he just wanted to do it his way instead of God's way, and God's purpose was that the elder would serve the younger. Jacob liked that, but he said, in other words, let me do it my way, Lord, and created a lot of problems. Then there was a plan. We talked about that, the procedure and some promises, so I'm not going to re-preach that. Let me just shuffle that right out of the way here, and we'll go to Genesis 32. where after years now dealing with Laban, his father-in-law, he's moving on from Laban. God told him, said, go back to Canaan, go back to your home. And so, but now he's got to deal with Esau. And so, does it feel that way to you sometimes? About the time you get one door closed, kind of a negative, then whoa, there's another one. And this Esau situation was in his past, but he's got to deal with it. And we were talking about looking at the past a while ago, and thank God it's under the blood and all of that. But sometimes there are things that just kind of like an old dark cloud hang around, Brother Tony, and we have to get them reconciled or get them fixed, whatever the right word is. And so this situation with Esau is going to work to get Jacob to the place where it needs to be. The last thing that Jacob heard from Esau was after he had deceived his old father Isaac and he stole, Esau basically deceived him out of his birthright and then out of the blessing from Isaac. So Esau comes to his dad and says, now go ahead and bless me. And Isaac says, why can't I done blessed? your son, your brother. And so he got angry and he said, boy, y'all named him right. That's in your Bible. He said, you named him right, daddy. He is a supplanter. He is, wow. And he got angry and said it out loud, I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him. It's in your Bible. And so Jacob's mama told him, she said, you better hit the trail, buddy. And you can come back one day, but right now you better, you better get out of here. And so for some time he's gone and he comes to Bethel. There he sees the ladder in that dream and some good things happen there. Some of even, he likened that to his salvation. I don't know, some of this is a little bit cloudy. It's hard to, you know. He said last night, he mentioned that voice, a post moved. And it's really not clear whose voice that was, but it was a powerful voice. powerful voice. So, he's got to get back now and face Esau. So, this is really going to be used to his advantage. So, as we get into this and we are looking for breakthrough in Genesis 32 he said in verse 23, and he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had. Verse 24, and Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Now, somebody said, I wonder who that man was. Well, that's why you read on. That's why you read on. And verse 25, when he saw that he prevailed not against him, when who saw it? The man saw it. The Lord saw it. It's the Lord he's wrestling with. And when the Lord saw that he prevailed not against him, Jacob, then the Lord did what? of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with the Lord. And he said, let me go for the daybreak. Who said that? The Lord did. Let me go for the daybreak. And Jacob said, I will, now I've got a King James Bible, I hope you know that, I'm just trying to get this So, and he said, I will not, verse 26, Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what is thy name? Now, remember the last time he was asked that, he said, Esau. Now, we're making some progress. He has, he's been a very practiced liar. At least now he's getting honest. That's a good sign. And so he said, what is thy name? 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 of course, it goes on to say then in verse 31, as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him. He halted upon his thigh. He named the place Penelope, he said, for I've seen God face to face. This really is a breakthrough here. This really is. And it's going to be evident in the next chapters and all the way through the end of the book of Genesis. This was a real momentous breakthrough for him. There are a few times after this that he is actually not only called Israel, but a few more times he's called Jacob. Because there is no point of perfection this life. Oh Lord, I had 12 people fainted when I said that. They thought, well I thought I was perfect. Well you may be like me. My wife always tells me that. She says, you know Ronnie, she calls me Ronnie. She said, you know Ronnie, you think you're perfect. So, after a while I get to believe in it. What do you do? But no, we're not, are we? No, not until the Lord comes back and makes some real changes. So, he still called Jacob. He still called Jacob sometimes, and Israel sometimes. Words, the name. Brother Wampler preached a tremendous message up in Union County back a few weeks ago, there in Brother Doug Horton's meeting, and talked about those wagons, And how if we're not careful, we get focused on the wagons. And that becomes the revival. And it's really not about the wagons, but instead of the substance and instead of the Lord. But even in that text, Brother Joey, it said the spirit of Jacob revived. And then the very next chapter and verse said, and then Israel. And so it's used interchangeably. So, you know, we have a strange mixture, don't we, brethren and sisters, in our Christian walk of the flesh and faith? I mean, we just might as well admit it. We have a strange mixture of the flesh and faith. The fact is, we still have, those of us that are saved, two natures. We have dual natures. You have that old Jacob nature, but if you're saved, thank God, you have a Jesus nature. And most of us still have too much of Jacob in us. Now, I saw a lot of Jesus here tonight, right here on this stage. I saw a lot of Jesus. And yet, all these young people need to understand and the possibility of Jacob in their lives. And so I would say that to our young people here tonight. It's a struggle along the way. Read Romans 7. Even the great Apostle Paul talked about his own struggle with the flesh. So we have a strange mixture of the flesh and of faith. So as he moves from Laban to facing Esau, but this is a very significant time now in what I'm going to call this breakthrough. He said the breaking of day in verse 24. He said in verse 26, let me go for the day breaketh. And then as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him. There was a breakthrough. I want to talk about this breakthrough and try to make some practical applications to us. Maybe you need a breakthrough tonight. It's easy when you're sitting around talking, if you're talking about spiritual matters, if you will, to think about some things that have happened that really, really, really was a breakthrough. And we were sitting there, a few of us, tonight after supper and just talking, and a couple of things came up, and we said, that was a breakthrough. You may have had more breakthroughs than you realize. And I know in preaching this and studying this over these months, thinking about in my own life, in the life of our family, in the life of our church, some experiences and some things that happened, and it could only be explained by God. I mean, God did it. It wasn't something I could have done. I couldn't, you know, it's got to be bigger than what you can do, and it's got to be bigger than what I can do if it's going to be a real breakthrough. See, and it's something that God does. Now, this may not help everybody. This may not be appreciated by everybody. But some are sitting here right now, and you've got something going on in your mind, and even heavier than that, it's on your heart. And you may not have worded it like this, but you may have, and you may have said to your spouse, you may have said to some of your children, you may have said to your pastor, you may have said to a workmate, a schoolmate, you may have said, I tell you this, if we don't have a breakthrough, there's gonna be problems. If God doesn't do something, if we don't have an intervention of God, So if you're doing well tonight, don't discount the fact that that person sitting right beside you may be dealing with a situation where they really need a breakthrough. I don't have all the answers. I'm not the expert. I'm coming to you as one who, thank God, has experienced some of this, and I want more of it, and I want to pass it on and just say there are some principles here, and I'll begin by saying breakthrough will come when there are prayers to God in the crisis. Now, that's really fundamental. I know that. But Brother David preached on that foundation this morning. And so we don't need to get too far from the foundations. Well, we cannot see them. Now, what is that? Well, prayers to God in the crisis. What is this crisis? He's leaving Laban, but he's facing Esau. Look what happened in chapter 32 to back up to verse 9. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, Jehovah, which sayest unto me, return unto thy country unto thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy, Jacob says, of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee. Is he praying? Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him. This is a crisis for him. So he says, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And thou sayest, Lord, you said I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitudes. So he lodged there that night. So this crisis is what's going to bring him to this place there at Pinal. But in this crisis, he does the smart thing and he prays. That's always the smart thing to do. Now you don't have to have a crisis to pray, but a crisis should drive you to prayer. And if you think you can handle the crisis without praying, then boy, you fixing to find that that crisis is going to be magnified, and then finally we'll get around to telling God, Lord, we need you. So the first smart thing to do with your crisis, whatever it is, And he thinks at this moment Esau is his crisis. Esau is not really his crisis, but Esau and his fear of him is what's going to drive him to his knees to pray. And one man said, anything that makes us pray is a blessing. Anything that makes us pray in a strange form is a blessing. It's a blessing. And sometimes we just, we very carefully pray. Sometimes we casually pray. And sometimes, buddy, we really critically pray. Have there been times when you prayed and you were more serious than you were at other times? That's not a trick question. I'm not trying to trick you anymore. I'll tell you, and that's very logical and understanding. I don't believe there's ever been a greater prayer warrior on this planet than the Lord Jesus. And if you'll read the book of Luke, the other gospels as well, but Luke, who emphasizes the Son of Man, emphasizes the prayer life of the Lord, I believe more than anybody else. And over and over he talks about the Lord praying. Sometimes he'd pray all night. It was in Luke 11 where he was praying, disciples saw him and said, Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to pray. There were times that we know that he prayed. He always prayed sincerely. He always prayed earnestly. He always prayed righteously. But he didn't always pray and had drops of sweat that was blood. There were times he prayed with more intensity than he did at other times. And certainly that night before the cross, when he was under the burden of all burdens, when he was under the crisis of all crisis, I'm talking about when the weight of the entire world was upon him, the souls of all humanity. I said it, the souls of all humanity. was upon him that night. I can't imagine that burden. I got a few people I pastor up in the hills of northeast Mississippi that weigh me down sometimes to get me to where I just, I can't handle that. I mean, it's bigger than that. And God hasn't asked me to die for him. He has asked me to live for him. But I'll tell you, God's son was here, not only to live for us, but to die for us. I cannot imagine. the weight that was upon him that night. Oh, hallelujah. And so his body, his body was revolting and his body was agonizing and his body was excruciating with the agony of what was being faced. And so prayers to God in the crisis. I won't deal with all that except to say there was a command to obey. He told him to go back. There was a promise to claim, right there in 32 verses 9 through 12, where he said, Lord, you said, Lord, you'd deal kindly with me, you'd deal good and well with me. And then there was just this crying out to God. And so prayers to God in the Christ. Now you know that. You know that. So if you're ever gonna have any kind of breakthrough, this is a good place to start. Prayers to God in the Christ. Then the second thing I wanna mention and talk about is that this is a God-ordained moment. In this crisis situation, in this breakthrough, it is a God-ordained moment. In chapter 32 and verse 24, Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. This is a God-ordained moment. When did it happen? Says when he was left alone. Sometimes God does have to get us alone, Now, I'll tell you, God can do it two different ways. He can get you alone in a crowd. I mean, He can single you out tonight in the midst of this, what do we have, 2,000, 3,000 here tonight? I mean, I wouldn't lie about something like that, but I mean, you know. He can get you alone in a crowd. Yes, He can. Or He can really get you alone. He can get you alone, it's just you and Him. And that seems to be the case here, that He was literally left alone. And so this God-ordained moment, and that's a good sign that a breakthrough is possible when we find ourselves in a God-ordained moment. We have not necessarily orchestrated this thing ourselves, but God in His providence has kind of made this come to pass. And so when? When he was left alone. Why in this God-ordained moment could this happen? Well, it was a time when he was now desperate. He's in a desperate condition. Sometimes God has to get us in our desperation. And then it's amazing what he may do from there. Old Dr. Vance Havner said, we're in a desperate condition. He said this years ago. Well, what do you say about now? He said, we're in a desperate condition, but he said, people, the problem is people are not too desperate. And so if we are really in a desperate condition in this country, then we ought to show some desperation. And it'll manifest itself in different ways for sure, but he is desperate. He's in the darkness. It may be in the dark moment when that breakthrough comes and it's coming. It's coming right here. We have the privilege to see it and experience it right here with Jacob. And so that when and why and where? Well, it says there in verse 24, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. It's amazing how God is geographical. It's amazing how God will take certain places and make that place special. Ask Elijah. Ask Elijah. God told him, he said, after he preached to old Ahab and Em, he said, now you go down to the brook of Cherith, and he said, and the ravens will feed you there. So right there, you'll have water to drink, and you'll have the ravens. The ravens. I like to think of it as being maybe 12 of them. 12 disciples, 12 apostles, 12 Hebrews. I can't verify that, but I like to think of it. One of them's name was Ralph. One of them's name was Rex. One of them's name was Robbie. One of them's name was Ronnie. Of course. I mean, it's my sermon. So I don't know, but I know this, those ravens had a destination. And the Lord The Lord told those ravens, He told them where to get the food. I don't know. They may have got it off of Ahab's table. I mean, he had plenty to eat. A lot of people didn't, but Ahab probably had plenty to eat. And, you know, obviously He told them, just get the kosher food now. Don't mess with that other stuff. Get the kosher food. You know, rib-eyes. Is rib-eyes kosher? It is in my world. And so he fed them. But he had to be there, didn't he? He had to be there until God said, go somewhere else. And later, God did say, go somewhere else. Did it get better? Well, no. He told him, he said, go to a widow woman. And by the way, it's about over for them. You go on down there. It'll be all right. And so he did. There. Do you have a there? Do you have a there? Now, I have a there where I got saved. Now, they destroyed the building, but here and here, it's still there. It's still there. I could go within a few feet of it, up until they destroyed the church building a few years ago, I could take you to the spot. So I have a there where I got saved. And so I'm glad to have that. And then I have a there, I got two or three theres, maybe more than that, but two or three There were times when God really met with me in a special way to get me where. So sometimes we have to get there to get us where. Well, where are you now? If you're in the will of God and serving God right now, it's probably because there was a there in your life. Missionaries tell about being in a mission conference and God called them to a mission field. He called them to the ministry and then maybe later he showed them a there where he wanted them to be. Do you have a there in your life? I'm interested in the lives of great Christians and reading about them and missionaries and people who have really been used of God in a special way. And not only were they saved, but a lot of them had a there in their life after they were saved in their journey. You know, Dwight L. Moody had a time. You know, people have argued about this, the different terms of it, some call it where they had a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, I believe the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost happens the moment we're saved. But some of the old timers used it as a filling or something of that nature. But Dwight L. Moody talked about having some type of unusual experience like that. And God really done something special in his life. I have the books of a great preacher by the name of Stephen Olford who is with the Lord now. I heard Dr. Olford tell about when the Lord really, he calls it, filled him with the Spirit and really anointed his life and how he went down to, it was like a little bed and breakfast thing in Wales. And he spent a week there with the Lord. And he said, I was on my face and on my knees. He said, I had every book that I could lay my hand on, on the Holy Spirit. And I read that and studied that and I pleaded with God just to fill me and use me and anoint me. Now you may be critical of that if you are. You know I wouldn't tell people publicly and show my ignorance like that. But I'm just saying are you saying that's a bad thing? Are you saying that'd be a bad thing to get along with God somewhere for a week and read and study your Bible and books about the Holy Spirit of God? I think that'd be a good thing for any of us if we could do that. So he came out of that. tremendous way. There he is with the Lord now. You mentioned Adrian Rogers a while ago. I heard Adrian Rogers tell this I guess probably on a tape years ago. And he said he was a teenage young man and just wanting God's best for him. And he had started home one night from wherever it was and walking as a teenager. And he walked across the field. And he goes something like this, he said, I just wanted to I just wanted to be used of the Lord. He said, that's all I wanted. He said, I had surrendered my life to the Lord's service and to the Lord's will. And he said, I just wanted the very best, all that the Lord had for me. And he said, I was telling the Lord that going across that field that night. And he said, it was like the Lord said to me, Adrian, son, you're not low enough. So he said, I got down on my hands and knees. And he said, Lord, I just want, you know, I just want Lord to be, and he said, it's like the Lord said, Adrian, you're not low enough. And so he said, I got down on my face, and I just laid down, belly on the ground, and prayed, Lord, I just want to be. And he said, Lord, said, Adrian, you're just not low enough. He said, I took my hands, my fingers, and I dug out a place in the earth right there. And he said, I buried my face and said, Lord, I want you to use me. Now I really don't care what you think of Adrian Rogers, but I would say God used that man. He's one of the greatest preachers, IMO, that's been in this country. What I'm asking is, do you have a there? Are you interested in a there? Has there ever been a God-ordained moment in your life where God's really just done something very unique and special? That's part of the breakthrough. That's part of the breakthrough. Thirdly, even in this text, we discover that in the breakthrough, obstacles are seen as an opportunity to believe God. Obstacles. Now forgive me for my lack of alliteration, but I'm just putting these things out as I've seen them come, and I hope that something will resonate with somebody. And I've preached this numerous times, I just can't get, I keep coming back. And the Bible says there that verse 25, when he saw that he prevailed not against him and he touched the hollow of his thigh, there's this wrestling process. So all of this presents itself as an obstacle. But this obstacle becomes an opportunity to believe God. And in the process of wrestling with God, wrestling with God, have you ever wrestled with God? Bible says things about wrestling. As believers we wrestle not against flesh and blood. And so we are in a spiritual warfare. We are wrestling and we are in a battle. We are in a fight. That is pretty close contact, the wrestling process. But with all the tricks that Jacob knew and he is using them all, no doubt. He is a heel catcher. You know in wrestling if you can get the opponent, get his heel up off the ground, then you can maneuver him around pretty much where you want to. Get him down, pin him down. That's a good move. But this obstacle, this wrestling that's got to take place is going to be an opportunity. You see the obstacles that are in front of you right now, gives you an opportunity to trust God, to believe God for a victory. The Red Sea was an obstacle. They can't even get to the wilderness, much less the promised land, if this obstacle of the Red Sea is not removed. And so there's pressure coming from behind from Pharaoh They're in a crisis situation. So here's this big obstacle. So what are they going to do? It's an opportunity for them to trust God. The walls of Jericho. When they cross, finally cross Jordan. Then they've got to get through Jericho. And we know in Hebrews 11 that those walls came down how? By faith, that's what he said in Hebrews 11. By faith, the walls of Jericho. Now, sometimes faith will lead you to do things that the world may be standing back and shaking their head and say, that's the dumbest thing I believe I've ever seen in my life. And so, you know, God told them, said that first day, you go out and you go march around that city and then you come back one day. And so maybe some of them are thinking, man, the walls are coming down, but they didn't. And so by faith, they get up the next day and they do the same thing again. And by faith, they get up the next day, they do the same thing again. And so they did that for six days, and nothing has happened. And now the seventh, he tells them, not only do it again, but you're gonna go around it seven times. How foolish does that look to the world? Don't be surprised, child of God, if something God calls you to do, or leads you to do, or is your destiny, so to speak, in the Lord, and the world laughs at it, the world shakes their head at it. Don't be surprised if sometime even your fellow church people Well, not get it. They won't understand why you wanna go to the mission field. Why do you wanna give your life up to that? Or why do you wanna serve God? Why do you wanna do this and that? And so obstacles come, and the only way you can ever have a breakthrough in these is an opportunity to believe God is there for you. We said last night, God's not interested in Jacob's plan. My plan, my ability, my personality, my strength, my will. God's not even interested in improving that. God's not interested in you saying, but Lord, this is my best. God's not interested in that. God wants you to believe Him. And Brother Aldrich talked about that this morning. And that man who brought his son to the Lord. And the one thing that the Lord required of him. Now the disciples couldn't get the job done because of their unbelief. And so the one thing required of this man when he said, Lord, would you help my son? God, give us mercy and help my son. And the Lord said, after he had been asked, Lord, canst thou? And then as Brother Aldridge so wonderfully explained that to us, when then the Lord turned it and said to him, canst thou believe? The father is saying, Lord, canst thou? and he said, Lord, help us. And the Lord says, can you believe? And he says, I believe. And then he said, Lord, help my unbelief. And I circled that in my Bible and I thought, Lord, oh God, that's me. Too many times. Yeah, I believe, but oh, brother, when you said what you said in explanation about that, and those of you that weren't here this morning, you need to hear this. I was listening. I was listening. And I thought, boy, you have nailed that. I have worn this carpet out going to the altar this week. Am I too old to be going to the altar? I don't think so. That's harder to get up and down than what it used to be. So he said, you know, it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, Lord, I believe you can do that, but I don't know if you can do that for me. There's the battle. There's the obstacle. There's the obstacle. That's as wonderful, Brother Aldrich, as I've ever heard it explained. I told him at lunch, because he said at the beginning, he said, I'm preaching my pastor's sermons. Well, I want to congratulate you. That was a great one. I mean, you've done well. What did he say last night? He's a liar. Oh, obstacles. We have an opportunity to believe. Let me hasten. Let me hasten. I want to say this. Not only prayer to God in the crisis, a God-ordained moment, obstacles are seen as opportunities to believe God, but then also you must hang on when it's easier to just turn loose. It would be easier to turn loose. Because see now, his wrestling turns into just lingering with his arms around him. You see, watch this. So in verse 25, when he, that is the Lord, saw that he prevailed not against Jacob, he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh. The hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And the Lord said, let me go for the day breaketh, but Jacob said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. So now he's not wrestling, he's just hanging on. He's just hanging on, he's just holding on. You ever done that? You ever done that, where you're just hanging on? Oh God, please. Maybe you've not ever been in a situation that desperate. Maybe you've not come to that point. Well, I'll tell you it's out there. And you can, brother Jerry. I remember when that storm hit y'all. The big Katrina. And you sharing with us all the stuff y'all lost in your house. And some things that was very precious to Miss Ramona. And I guarantee you, that was a time when you just, boy, you just clinging to him. You just hanging on to him. And you'll come to times like that You'll come to times like that. Now, what happens there with that? What happens with that? Well, in times, you just need to hang on when it's easier to turn, even through the pain. Now, I know that this was a painful experience, because the Bible said God touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. The wrestling was over. So now he's just hanging on, he's just holding. Maybe at this point, Jacob has come to a conclusion of who he's really wrestling with. And he's not somebody that I can wrestle with and defeat, but he is somebody that I can hang on to. Because if I lose this, I'm gonna win. The only way for Jacob to lose this was to win. If he wins this fight, he loses. If you win against God, you lose. If you really wanna win tonight, you gotta lose. You gotta surrender. You just gotta hold on. You just hold on. You hold on through the pain. Through the pain. And the pain may get real, and it will get real, and it can be extreme, but you just hang on. You hang on to God. You hold on to him. You say, well, God's holding on to me. I know that. That's not what I'm talking about. Please don't analyze this thing to death. Please don't take this little sermon and just shred it and make some kind of theological truth out of it. I'm not even trying to, I'm trying to tell somebody in a practical way tonight, and you're dealing with your battle, you're dealing with your struggle, your church, your church. If God doesn't intervene, you're gonna lose your church. If God doesn't come on the scene, you're gonna lose your marriage. I'm not talking about some theological dissertation of God's security of the believer. I know he's holding on to me. I know he's holding. But there have been times I've felt myself just hanging on to him. Oh God, I surrendered, I surrendered through the pain, through the process, through the process. It may be a process. It was until the breaking of the day. Maybe, maybe hours in this process. More than hours, sometimes the process may take 4,000 years of human history. And then finally, suddenly the Messiah shows up. For all these years, some people have been hanging on. Read your Bible. Down through the ages and down through the pages and down through the stages, it was always somebody that was hanging on. I mean, when you get to, I don't have time to develop all this, but when you get to the New Testament when he was born, old Simeon held him in his arms. He said, well, I can go home now. I'm not talking about going to the house, I'm talking about going home. I have seen the salvation of the Lord. I have seen the, yeah, been hanging on, been hanging on. There was a lady by the name of Anna, or Anna, and she'd been looking for a long time. But way beyond wrestling and struggling, just hanging on. Just hanging on. I know that makes it sound kind of feeble. We are feeble. We are feeble. I know that's not, that doesn't put us on the pedestal as strong and all. He doesn't want us strong, he wants us weak. The greatest preacher that I know anything about other than Jesus was Paul. And Paul said, when I'm weak, when I'm weak, then his strength comes. This breakthrough, this breakthrough, the process, all those years. Paul and Silas in prison, a little process there, but it worked out. John on the island of Patmos, part of the process, a lot of pain, but a breakthrough came. And we have the book of Revelation to show for it. Just all the way through the Bible, Joseph in Egypt. Boy, what a process. What a process. A man who got slammed several times. But the process worked out pretty good. There was finally a breakthrough. I mean, when he was in the pit, no real breakthrough. They just get him out of the pit and sell him into slavery. They take him to Egypt. Is it gonna get better? No, just things get worse. Even there's Potiphar's servant. Things just get worse. It's not getting better, it's getting worse. Winds up in prison. And the only thing he's there for is because, you know, he's done what's right. But there was finally a breakthrough. Finally, in God's ordained moment, that butler said, wait a minute, wait a minute. I remember a guy in the prison. that told me the dream. Pharaoh, he may can very well help you with your dream. Well, go get him. Breakthrough. And then he's at the right hand of Pharaoh. A process, a process. I must close. I must close. Finally, I just simply say, things will never be the same when that breakthrough comes. never be the same. Look in verse 28, 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. See, the only way for him to prevail was to lose. He loses the wrestling, but he lingers. He's hanging on. He's hanging on. And so, as he passed over Penuel in verse 31, The sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh. Things are never going to be the same. His name was changed. It's such a powerful name that the entire nation is now going to be called Israel. We don't call him Abraham, though he's the father. We don't even call him Isaac, we call him Israel. This man who experienced this great change. things will never be the same. It's a place he said where he saw God face to face. His walk, his walk, wow. The Bible said that he halted, he halted upon his thigh. Can you see him as he leaves here and later on years to come? And he's always got that halt with him. I believe it says there toward the end in Genesis and then in Hebrews it's recounted. Nolan, let me see your staff. Yeah, as he halted upon that thigh the rest of his life. You know God really works on you. You'll never walk the same again. Now you'll know it, but other people will know it. Other people will know it. You know Jacob wasn't nothing but a shepherd. I mean, just an old shepherd. But after this process with Joseph and all that, and so Joseph's gonna get his daddy and all his brothers down there. And so finally his brothers come before Pharaoh and they ask Pharaoh could they have some place where they could take care Well, okay, we're going to give you all Goshen." Then it says over in Genesis, then they brought Jacob in. They brought Jacob in as though those four brothers appeared first, or five, and then Jacob comes in. And the first thing it said, and this would be uncharacteristic of Jacob, but it said, and he blessed Pharaoh. I mean, and Hebrews tells us that the less is always blessed of the greater. That's something. You're talking about a breakthrough that affected that man's life and not only him, but all the world. I don't know if my breakthroughs can be that dramatic, but they'll make a change. And yours will, and yours will, and yours will when you when you just, instead of wrestling with God, you just learn to take a hold. Somebody here tonight maybe might need that, and you need a breakthrough. I got some people in my church that need some breakthroughs. I probably got a couple of situations I'm thinking about in my own life, let's see, that breakthrough, which is, it's just got God all over it, or it ain't happening. And when we get desperate enough and we know that only God can do this, then.