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He hurt me to help me

Scripture Reading: Gen 32 : 24 – 31

INTODUCTION

Let me start this way, when I was a little girl and I acted up I
got a whooping, anybody knows what I’m talking about?
There weren’t all these time-outs like me have here today.
There wasn’t all these grounding like we have today!
They weren’t all these rules and restriction in the in
government, that said you can’t beat your child.

Back in the days, sister, and brothers the mind set was if you
spear the rod, you will spoil the child. Am I right?

o So, when you disobey your parents, you got a whooping.

o When you lie to your parent, you got a whooping.
o When you talk back to your parents, you got a whooping.
o When you didn’t clean your room, you got a whooping.
o When you didn’t do your homework or brought a bad
report card you got a whooping.
o When you played in church, you got a whooping.
o When you disobeyed your teachers you got a whooping,
back in those days I remember getting whooped in school.

In remember being English class on day in form 1, 2nd level

here, there were 25 students in that classroom with no air
conditioner, it was noisy and no listed.
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My English teacher stood up and said that enough, go get me

“the cooler” it was a wipe

We have an experience of this whooping in Jacob story in the

bible.

24So Jacob was left alone,

and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he
touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched
as he wrestled with the man.
26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but
Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans
and have overcome.”
29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed
him there.
30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw
God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was
limping because of his hip.

The bible begins by saying “so Jacob was left alone”.

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Now, I want to suggest that being left alone may not always be
physical proximity from other people.

It may mean that there are other people around you, but you feel
alone. you have people all around you, but they don't know
what's going on in your life.

You feel all alone!

You have people around you, but you have nobody to talk to and
identify with what's happening in your life.

Jacob is left alone!

The Bible says, “he wrestles with a man until the banking of
day”

The bible doesn't tell us who the man is!

Many theologians and writers including Ellen white has

suggested and I concur that this man was God.

So, in Genesis 32 we have “Jacob wrestling with God”.

picture that!

Jacob physically wrestling! physically fighting, with God, but not

only that God, initiates the wrestling match!

Now! If we keep it real, there are some of us who have had

struggles with one another.

Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking, tell the truth
shame the devil. It's another thing to have a struggle with
God.

But I've learned in my life, that whenever God is working on us,

whenever God is trying to do something in our lives, whenever
God is trying to get our attention there must be a struggle.
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Let's be real!

o Has anyone today ever, struggled with God?

o Has anyone today ever wrestled with God?
o Has anyone today ever had a pow-wow with God?
o has anyone ever had an experience where you said, “God, I
know you're doing something, but I really don't know what
you're doing?

Let’s go to verse 25. In 24 he's left alone.

Let’s go to verse 25, the Bible says, “5When the man saw that he
could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so
that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.”

now don't misunderstand the text; Jacob didn't prevail in his

wrestling against God; Jacob didn’t beat God!

Jacob does not have as much power as God!

God is all powerful, and the maximum of our power is a joke

to the minimum of God's power.

The Bible says, “that God touches Jacob”, God had to touch his
hip to bring his flesh back into submission with Gods spirits.

Here's the punchline; whenever brothers and sisters, your flesh

begins to prevail over the spiritual requirements in your life, that
you need to go through, God will hurt you in order to help you.

Now, let me say that again! I said, “whenever your flesh begins
to prevail over the spiritual requirements in your life that
you must go through God will hurt you to help you”.

Let me remind someone today, all our hurts are not render upon
you by the devil.

All our hurts do not come from the devil folks. All our hurts dose
not comes from Satan and his hemps.

Sometimes and I’m a witness, God must knock you down you
down, that you might look up, for which cometh your help.
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Because, when you're lying on your back all you can do is

look up.

Sometimes God will hurt you to help you!

because God knows that if you're ever going to get in your

purpose.

If you're ever going to be where you need to be sometimes,

God has to hurt you so that you will realise the spiritual
purpose in your life.

The bibles clear that “God chastise those who he loves.

So, let's be real, have you ever been there? struggling with God.

o You pray but you can pray, struggling with God.

o Let’s keep it real, you try to sing but you can't Sing,
struggling with God.
o You come to church, but you are just here. struggling with
God.
o The sermon means nothing, the music means nothing, the
fellowship means nothing, you're just numb. Struggling with
God.

So, what then do you do when God comes into your life, and you
end up wrestling and nobody understands.

We have to learn to do what Jacob did!

And say, “God if we are going to wrestle, God if we're going to

struggle, I'll not go until bless me!

o I'm not moving,

o I'm not leaving the church,
o I'm not going anywhere,
o I’m going to stay right here,
o I’m not going anywhere until you bless me.
o I know the daybreak, I know the down of a new day is on
the horizon, but I'm not going anywhere until you bless me.
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We have done verse 24 and 25 skip 26 and go to verse 27.

Now in verse 27 God asks Jacob “27The man asked him, “What
is your name?”
Anytime God asks you a question, you must be careful. what am
I talking about!

Here is God omniscient all-knowing God!

In Jeremiah 1:5 “before I formed you in the womb I know you,
before you were born I set you apart.

But he's asking question. God, He knows every hair on our head;
but he's asking a question.

Jacob what is your name? Jacob says, “my name is Jacob”.

Now, remember Bible scholars, in Hebrew culture your name was

symbolic of your character.
So, your behaviour defends your name.

o Joseph means God will give increase.

o Moses meant to pull out draw out of water.
o Samuel meant; God has heard.
o David meant beloved.
o Jesus’ name was the translation of the word Yahushua
which means Jehovah saves.
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Your name was symbolic of your character. Your behaviour

defined your name.
what would your name be, if your behaviour defines your name,
if your past defines your name, what would your name be?

I'm not talking about what your mamma name you.

I'm not talking about what your daddy named you.

If you look back over your life, what would your name be.

Jacob says to the Lord, “my name is Jacob.

Jacob means:
o Supplanter
o Trickster
o Get over
o Hustler
o Gamer
o Deceiver
o Player-player
but as a result of his wrestling with God his name has changed.

what's the lesson for us.

Sometimes you got to wrestle with God to experience a change.

you will experience some tough times, some dark days to
experience a change.
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You got to shed some tears to experience a change; you got to go

through some stuff to experience a change.
And then when your life has been changed, it doesn't happen
right away, it doesn't happen overnight, it's a process.

Because if we're honest with ourselves today, the first time we

heard God's voice many of us didn't come. we wrestled with God,
and if you never wrestle with God you'll never understand what
you're supposed to be.

you'll never understand your purpose; a lot of folks who are

doing things because that's what other people named you.
they named you preacher, they named you teacher, they name
you doctor, they names you layer, they name you engineer, and
what happens here is because people named you set your mind
on a particular field or career and then you realise that while you
study for it or why you're doing it every day you don't have
completeness.

that's not sure purpose.

so, you're frustrated, you're making good money, you're doing
well, but you're not in your purpose and your frustrated because
you let people tell you what to do and when to do it.

You are supposed to do this, you are supposed to do that, and

because you felt pressure there you are doing this and doing that
yet it's not what God called you to do.
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There comes a point in your life where you got to say God name,
there is a and a purpose for your life and no devil in hell can
interrupt or stop God's plan and purpose for your life.

If you don't believe me, a Red Sea couldn't stop God.

A fiery furnace couldn't stop God.
A lien den couldn't stop God.
God will quicken who he will, when he will, where he will and
how he will.
God is God. God is sovereign let God name you.

So God tell Jacob your new name is not what it used to be, your
name is no longer Jacob, that's what everybody else calls you,
but that name has too much baggage in your past, your new
name is Israel.

Israel means chosen.

you see after you wrestle with God, God says I'll choose you, God
says, “you're the head and not the tail”.
you're above and you're not beneath.
You’re the Linder and not the borrower.
you are on top not on the bottom.
I had to wrestle you and I remained you and when I remain you, I
chose you.
Jacob days of trickery all over.
Jacob the days of games are over.
Jacob the days are getting over are over.
I didn't choose you for you I chose you for me.
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The is not so much we chose God, but God chose us. I don't
believe in that song is a good song with a good beat I'm running
after you no matter what I’ve got to do I like the song, but the
theology is a little wrong with that because the fact is we were
never really running after God, God has always been running
after us.

We serve a seeking God, in the garden of Eden with Adam and

Eve, it was God who said, “Adam where are you”.
God says, “I didn't choose you for you I chose you for me”.
I choses you that I might get the glory.

People runaway from struggle, people fear attention, people don't

want drama.
But you can't clean clothes without agitation.
You must irritate an oyster, before it becomes a Pearl.
You must shake a bottle of medicine for the healing substance to
take effect; that's why the doctor tells you shake it before you
take it.

It takes tension to change, the struggle is necessary, the

wrestling is necessary, the battle is necessary.
I've got to hurt you God says, to help you.
I've got to break you to bless you.
I've got to change your name change your name, It means that
God will change you from the inside out.
He changed Abram to Abraham.
He changed Saul to Paul.
He changed Jacob to Israel.
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Somebody knows he change your name from sinner to the Saints.

he changed you from a drunker to a Deacon.
He changed somebody else from a convict to a Christian.
He changed somebody from an alcoholic to an Adventist.
He changed womaniser to fisher of men.
He changed a mess to a miracle, won't he do it.

Now, let me be real I know there are some of you, who has people
who like to remind you of your past.

They will call you everything but a child of God, because of your
past, but let me be clear church; everybody up in here lives in a
haunted house.

there are some ghosts, from our pass, that none of us like to talk
about.
There are some skeletons, some bones, in all our closets, that we
all know we try to keep hidden.

But I’m so glade today, that the word of God says, “if any man be
in Christ he is a new creature that old things are passed away,
that all things become new”.

I'm so glad that the word of God says, “if we confess our sins he
is faithful and justice to forgive us from our sins and cleanses
from all unrighteousness.
I'm so glad today to know that God will change your name; He'll
pick you up, He will turn you around alleluia!
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One last point

Ellen white says “In patriots and prophets chapter 18, “on the
night of wrestling, she says, “ Jacob had to know that the
unknown wrestler was more than human”, because she said “ no
single touch from a human would have had the power to leave
him permanently crippled”.

which means sometimes, God will deliberately give you a

deformity, to create a divine dependence.

Let me put it this way, people who walk around acting like they
got it going, brothers and sisters, they don't have any sin in their
lives, or any problems in their lives, let me tell you something
these are people who have never really met the Lord.

Their front and fake, they’re not keeping it 100, like we young
people say.

because when you really meet the Lord, you're going to be in

touch with your own human condition, you will really see
yourself in the mirror.

You see self-righteous folks, always with Bible in hand, Sabbath

school lesson in hand, dress to the nine, shirts, ties, bow ties,
who know how to walk and talk to talking and every word out
their mouth is praise the Lord and happy Sabbath.

let me tell you something, I've learned that somebody's folk are
the biggest sinners in the world.
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because it's not always the demons on the outside, that are the
problem but sometimes it's the pretentious, fake angels on the
inside who have skeletons in their closets.
Jacob character has been changed, God allows Jacob lead in the
struggle, but God give Jacob permanent evidence of the struggle.

look at first 25 again quickly, “25When the man saw that he

could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so
that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man”.

God touched Jacob hip; God touched Jacob hip.

God intentionally crippled him; God purposely deformed him.

the bruise in his thigh is symbolic of his rebellion against the will
of God, so God deliberately leaves Jacob with a deformity; to help
Jacob’s ego, because ego is the acronym for easing God out.
so, God has hurt him in order that he might help him.
Jacob has been self-sufficient you can tell Jacob a thing.
Jacob was bull-headed, Jacob was strong will.
Jacob was stubborn.
Jacob had an answer to everything.
Jacob always had a way to get around the system.
but now he leaves this experience with a limp and this limp will
become a permanent memorial of his dependence on God.

you see without the limp Jacob, would have said; “I prevailed,
and I've got it going.
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Jacob would have said, “I'm all that”. Buy God give Jacob a limp
in his flash, so everybody now he's in his purpose but he has a
limp in his flesh.

he's anointed but he has a limp.

he's gifted it but he has a limp.
he's talented but he has limp.
He can preach but he has a limp.
He can sing but he has a limp.
a limp in his flash which means then he's got to now depend on
God, and that's all I want to leave with you today.

all of us in here from the back to the front, all of us in here have
been purposely left with a spiritual deformity.

a spiritual limp so we don't get the big heads.

I don't care how well you can preach.

I don't care how well you can teach.
I don't care how well you can sing
I don't care how well you can plan and organise.
I don't care how long have you been in this church.
All of us up in here have a limp in case you have forgotten let me
tell you what a limp is.

A limp is something that you will always struggle with in your

flesh, that's between you and God and God put it there so, you
will always depend on him.
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I know I've got some holier than thou pious, fake folk, who want
you to believe that they are not limping; but let me tell you
something, if you look at them preaching long enough, if you look
at them teaching long enough, if you look at them singing long
enough, if you look at them talking long enough, when they get
through preaching, when they get through teaching, when they
get through singing and talking, you will realise that they are
limping.

Paul said it three times, I've got a thorn in my flesh, and he asked
the Lord to remove it but God said, “my grace is sufficient for
thee”.

there is with all of us thorn in our flesh, there are people all
around the world on tv, on te-he internet, YouTube, radio,
preaching, teaching ,singing under the power and authority of
the Holy Ghost and they are anointed, but you don't follow them
home, because if you followed some of them home, you realise
they have a limp.

you need to understand everybody is sitting next to you,

everybody is sitting in front of you, everybody sitting behind you,
everybody around this church, everybody on this property, they
got a limp.

All have sin and come short the glory of God.

I don't care how much Bible you know.

I don't care how much spirit of prophecy you can quote.
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I don't care how much the manual you can recite, everybody up
in here has a limp; and God give you the limp so that you would
depend on him, God give you a limp so you would not walk
around with your head so big, your nose stuck up high in the air
that if it rain do you drown, your chest so stuck out that it
couldn't get through the door.

He hurt you to help you.

The Bible says, “ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is
because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

now anytime you see the name of a place in the Bible, believe it,
there’s always a meaning behind it.
now when Jacob offered up his son of Abraham offered up his
son Isaac he said I'll name this place Jehovah’s Jairo, because
it's on this mountain the Lord provide that's why the mountain is
named mount Moriah.
Peniel was amount, and peniel, had many different levels.

Jacob is on the mountain, but he is at the lowest point of the

mountain.

for somebody today, it's not that you aren't on the mountain,
you're just not at the point on the mountain where you want to
be.

But the good news is, you may not be on the point of the
mountain where you want to be, but praise God do not in the
valley anymore, praise God you are on the mountain.
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so, I may not be where I want to be, but praise God I am not
where I use to be.

the Bible says, “Jacob crossed over Peniel”.

Think about it church, we are smart people, we all need great

physical strength to climb a mountain, but how am I go to the
next level of the mountain, with a limp. How am I going to climb
a mountain, it's already tough enough to climb a mountain.

But I’m so glad my church family, that I’m limping by His grace.

Every level that I go to, I know it wasn't because of my own

strength, I know it wasn't because of my own power.
it was because of his strength; it was because of His power.

which means just because you've got a limp you can't go to the
next level in the Lord.
Just because you've got a habit doesn't mean you can't go to the
next level.
Just because you have an addiction doesn't mean you can't go to
the next level.
Just because you have a past doesn't mean you can't go to next
level. you just keep going by the grace of God.

some people talking about look what I've done, I've gone up the
corporate ladder, you better hush your mouth and tell the truth,
you limped up there.
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You better give God the glory.

When I think of the goodness of God and what he has done from
me my soul cries out alleluia.

the Bible says, “as Jacob is limping up the hill the sun is rising”.

which means he's going through brand new day and God told me
to tell somebody is going to be a new day for you now; I know it's
been rough; it's been tough but it's going to be a brand-new day.

God can still bring you out I know they call you by your problem
and not your name, but God can still bring you out.
there's no pass to troubled and no person up in here that God
can't bring you out.
He took a murderer named Moses made him a prophet.
He took a pimp named Abraham; it made him a father to many
nations.
He took a prostitute named Rehab, changed her professed
profession, and call her bless.
He took a Christian hater name Saul and made him a great
apostle great Paul.
He took up Jacob lier, a cheater, changed his name and he
blessed he seed and if God can do that for Abraham, if for Moses,
if God can do it for Rehab, if God can do it for Jacob, He can do it
for you and me.
Because there is no secret what God can do, what he's done for
others he can do for you.
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So, what if you got a bad pass, that's the problem you keep
living in your past, if you keep living in your past, you'll never see
your future.

don't worry what people will say about you, don't worry how
people will judge you, don't worry people will talk about you, you
just keep on limping.

Conclusion

Today, thank God that he loves people who has a limp, because if
it wasn’t for God on my side where would I be. I love you Lord,
but I've got a limp, I read my Bible, but I’ve got a limp, I study
myself school lesson, but I get a limp, I sing a church, I welcome
people in but I’ve got a limp.
Jesus I'm depending on you to see me through. Hallelujah