We are celebrating our 11th birthday this week! Not only that, but this is the moment we take to remember what God has called us to, and to partner together in that mission.
The party happens at the Gilmer High School gymnasium at 10AM, and YOU have a part to play! What is your group doing with your $25 gift card this weekend?
Did you know you can RSVP and choose your own seating option? If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and let us know how we can provide for you.
On Sunday, February 9 we’ll start a deep dive into the book of Romans. It will be an expositional study of “the greatest letter ever written.”
I am really looking forward to digging in and wrestling with who God actually says He is. I think this will be a real deepening for all of us!
Amy tells me we have 48 binder notebooks available at the church… If you don’t already have a way to keep notes, let me invite you to grab one of these… When we complete this study, you’ll have a pretty extensive personal application commentary on this incredible book!
Another note-taking option is a good journaling Bible… Crossway makes a very nice one, available in seven different covers. The least expensive is on Amazon… The rest are on Crossway’s website. Have a look!
Jacob Wrestles
What kinds of messages does our culture send about the power of self and the need to be self-sufficient? Where are these messages the strongest?
Have you ever wrestled with God? What were the circumstances? What questions did you ask God during that time? How do you remember feeling in the midst of that experience? What was God trying to teach you?
(On Tuesday, my group did not have a great answer for this… Do we actually wrestle with God? Have we actually heard him give us a directive for our lives? Have we actually listened to His voice? Is it possible that we don’t really pay Him enough attention to wrestle with him?)
God desires to make us into the image of His Son, but this cannot happen if we are intent on living by our own strength and pursuing our own satisfactions, as Jacob was. This week’s Scripture passage from the life of Jacob is a vivid picture of the extent God will go to in order to teach us dependency on Him and the sufficiency of His grace.
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. 23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.
24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket.
Genesis 32:22-25 NLT
There is a lot we don’t know about Jacob’s experience here, but we do see that this encounter was a mysterious event for Jacob on a dark night. This also wasn’t a dream… While it was a spiritual experience, Jacob physically limped away from this experience.
Why did God engage Jacob in a wrestling match? What was the purpose of God injuring Jacob?
Has God ever forced you to confront conflict after you have continually tried to avoid it? Describe the experience.
Do you really think God could not overcome Jacob? Why, then, did God allow the wrestling to go on so long?
Jacob’s encounter with God at Peniel marked a turning point in his life. In this wrestling match, God clearly proved that Jacob wasn’t in control after all… That even though Jacob had his own view of who God really was, and what position God held in Jacobs life, it was Jacob who needed to be broken and changed… Not God.
Do you agree that we primarily trust in ourselves until forced to do otherwise? Why or why not?
What is so appealing about self-reliance? Why is it dishonoring to God?
How does our predisposition to self-reliance affect the way we see God? How does our self-reliance force God into our little control box sometimes?
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 “What is your name?” the man asked.
He replied, “Jacob.”
28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.
“Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
Genesis 32:26-29 NLT
A dislocated thigh didn’t prevent Jacob from further engagement in the struggle. But Jacob agreed to release his opponent only if the man would bless him. Jacob must have suspected that his adversary was no ordinary man, because Jacob demanded something he couldn’t provide for himself. Jacob’s plea arose out of his sense of desperate need and his knowledge that he was in the presence of the One with power to meet that need.
Why do you think Jacob didn’t want to give up?
God asked Jacob for his name. I know we talked about this on Sunday, but why is this significant?
How does Jacob’s new name reflect both who Jacob was and who he would be in the future?
Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” 31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. 32 (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)
Genesis 32:30-32 NLT
When Jacob left Canaan, he had a dream. He named the place where he dreamed of the ladder Bethel, meaning “house of God” (28:19). Likewise, Jacob named the place where he wrestled all night with God Peniel or “face of God.” He had seen God face to face. Jacob had encountered a human manifestation of the divine. Jacob survived his wrestling match with God but he came away from it a changed person. His experience resulted in both a new strength and a new weakness.
Explain the significance of Jacob’s statement that he had seen God’s face, yet his life was spared.
How should each of us respond to seeing God for who He really is? Who changes? Him, or me?
How does that work? How is this a gospel process in our life?