We're going to go to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 32. God called me to be an evangelist when I was 14 years old. really zealous for soul winning and listened to different messages. We'd have evangelists come twice a year to our church for revival meetings, and God really used them in my life. And at 15, I surrendered to that call to be an evangelist. And as I've, of course, grown in the Lord and grown in my call, there's certain burdens, there's certain passions that God has placed upon my heart, and certainly a very big passion in my heart is for revival. And yet so often when we think about revival, you know, you say, well, I'd really like to see revival. That way, you know, my situation would change. You know, maybe things would happen different in California. Maybe things would change in America. So that's why we want revival. And, you know, that's fine. But is there a higher motivation for revival than just that? You know, I think of some preachers, they might say, you know, we really want revival because, you know, we need higher bus attendance, we need greater love offerings, and all of that is a fruit of revival. So often we are pursuing revival for all the wrong reasons. We pursue all the gifts of it, but not the person of it. What's the goal of revival? God himself. Psalm 85.6, wilt thou, that's God, it starts with God, revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee. The goal of revival is God himself. I am not in a rut. Of course, I've been in a band for 12 years, but I hold life so loosely, and just the privilege to preach. I don't know when my last time's going to be. It could be tonight. I mean, I'm thinking about that. I'm like, Lord, if this is the last time, Lord, help me to preach as Richard Baxter said, preach as a dying man to dying men. I don't know when the last time is going to be. Maybe I'll have another 20, 30, 40 more years in ministry. I don't know. But I want to treat this as if this is the last time. And I hold life very loosely, and I hold the revival meetings loosely, and I'm not in a rut where, okay, I'm just going to preach these certain messages. No, I really want to see God work. And I'm open to whatever He desires to do in the meeting. And if He wants to change things, wants to lead in a different way, I often think of myself as a glove in God's hand. A glove is dead. A glove has no will of its own. It just lies there. There's no life without that hand. But when that hand comes in, now the glove moves once when the hand moves. And I want to move when God moves. And I want to be sensitive to the Lord as to what He wants. And sometimes we think, okay, we're just going to go through the motions of another revival meeting. But what if God wants to do more? What if God wants to do more in your life? What are the things that you've been praying for for this meeting? And God may want to do something even greater than you can even think, because God is a box breaker. He says there in Ephesians 3 and 19 and 20 that He's able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power of the work of thinness, unto Him be glory. in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Why would He do the exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think? It's so that He would receive the glory. And we do want God to revive us. And my passion is for revival. And we're going to go to Genesis chapter 32. But before we read the passage, we're going to pray. And I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer unto the Lord, which is this. Would you pray this prayer unto the Lord? Lord, whatever it is that you speak to my heart about tonight, by your grace, I will do it. You say, well, what are you gonna preach about, preacher? It depends on what you're gonna preach on, then I'll pray that prayer. Well, right there, it reveals to your heart, and of course, that you're not surrendered. You're holding on, you're holding back. And before we even begin this message, let's just say, okay God, I'm surrendered. Open hands, whatever you want to do in my life tonight, or whatever it is you speak to my heart about, by your grace I will do it. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I thank you. that you are a God that answers prayer. Lord, you have answered so many prayers today. Lord, you have blessed, you have worked. Lord, you have done so many things in my mind that have been exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask or think, and I thank you, Lord, for that. But Lord, you've given us now this service tonight. You're giving us at least this one more time to hear from your word. And Lord, I, along with these others, I pray, whatever it is that You speak to my heart about tonight, Lord, whatever it is, Lord, by Your grace I will do it. Lord, I set my feet towards obedience. Lord, I place myself upon the altar. Lord, whatever You want to do with me, and we come before You in essence with a unity of surrender. to say, God, we need you. Lord, we take this time right now tonight to confess our dependence upon you. Lord, I am absolutely helpless, you know, and I need you to help in delivering this message, and we all need your help in listening and obeying what it is that you have for us tonight. So Lord, draw us closer to you. May, if there's any here that does not know Thee as Savior, I pray that they would see their desperate need for Thee before it is eternally too late, that they would come to a saving knowledge of You. I pray that You would change someone's eternal destination tonight. Lord, may You get the glory that is due to Your holy name. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Genesis chapter 32. Genesis chapter 32. We come to a place of Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord in verse number 24. Genesis chapter 32 and verse number 24. Jacob has heard that his brother Esau is going to be coming the very next day, and the last thing Jacob knows is that Esau is wanting to kill him. And so this night is really a matter of life and death. And we pick up the story in verse 24 of Genesis 32. It says, And Jacob was left alone. And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the 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 should be called no more Jacob, but Israel. We know that name. For as a princess 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 dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Pineal. For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and the sinew that shrank. There is an aspect of revival. As I look at revivals, I read about them, of course, experience personal revival. There are some aspects about revival that are always the same. Now, every revival is different. Whether it is a mass revival, a corporate revival, or whether it's a personal revival, there are some things that are different. But there are some principles that are always the same. And we find here in Genesis 32 a principle that is always the same, whether it is a corporate revival, a massive revival, or whether it is a personal revival. And that aspect is the aspect of brokenness. There has never been a revival without brokenness. The title of the message tonight is, Brokenness, the Beginning of Revival. Brokenness, the Beginning of Revival. Number one, we'll see Jacob got alone with God. Number two, Jacob was broken by God. And then number three, Jacob got honest with God. For you and I to have revival, we must be broken. Now, Jacob comes to this second crisis, great spiritual crisis in his life. The first one, at Bethel, he saw the ladder. But here at Jabech, he saw the Lord. At Bethel, he became a believing man. But here at Jabech, he became a broken man. At Bethel, he became a son of God. Here he becomes a saint of God. At Bethel, he came away with a new spring in his step, but at Jabech, he leaves with a lasting limp in his walk. At Bethel, he died to his sin, but here he dies to himself. Now, Jacob divides his company into two different categories so that if Esau meets this part of his family and his flocks and herds and kills all of them, at least he'll have a remnant that remains. But he gets alone. We see, number one, Jacob got alone with God. Before he ever meets Esau, he gets alone with God. Verse 24, it says, And Jacob was left alone. All the distractions had been removed. Aren't you glad we live in a day and age where there's no distractions? Oh, there's tons of distractions. We have so many things that are clamming for our attention. It was Ian Bounds that said, with the invention of trains, I'm afraid that we live in such a fast-paced society that has affected our prayer life. What would he say now? He lived in the 1800s. What would he say now? With planes and cars and cell phones and all these things, how much it has taken us away from God, from where he would want for us to be. I remind you that God has not called us to American Christianity. He's called us to biblical Christianity. So often in my life, I've been a thermometer instead of a thermostat. Thermometer just goes with whatever the temperature is. The thermostat sets the temperature. The gift of the evangelist to the church is to set the temperature. It's a thermostat gift. And those first couple of years, God began to convict my heart, Tim, you're being a thermometer. I haven't called you to that. I've called you to be a thermostat. You know, in our day and age in America, God hasn't called us to be a thermometer with American Christianity. He's called us to be a thermostat. And this time that we have, we have so many things that distract us and take us away from spending time with the Lord and having, as Psalm 46, 10 says, be still and know that I am God. I'll be exalted among the heathen. I'll be exalted in the earth. When's the last time you got alone with God? I'm not asking you when's the last time you came to church. I'm not asking you when's the last time you went out soul-wondering. I'm not even asking you when's the last time you read your Bible. I'm not even asking you when's the last time you tried to pray. I'm asking you when's the last time you got alone with God? That you met with God? That you listened to what He had to say? And that when you prayed, you got a hold of the ear of God? You can have your devotions and go through the motions of devotions, but not meet with God. But not actually seeking His face. Psalm 27.8, When thou sayest, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. We have people that know their Bibles, but don't know their God. I don't know what I'm all going to be preaching on this week, but I might as well take it. The Lord's reminding me of things now. I remember being at Ambassador Baptist College and listening to Dr. Childs, one of my teachers, last class I ever had with him, and one of the last classes he taught. And he said all the different times that he had read through the Old Testament and all the number of times he read through the New Testament, and it was hundreds. And I remember him picking up his Bible and he says, it doesn't matter how much I go through this book, what matters is how much this book goes through me. He says when you learn about the doctrines of soteriology, which is the study of salvation and redemption and justification, this ought not just to be in your head, it ought to go down to your heart and out into your life. It ought to excite you, it ought to drive you closer to God when you learn these different doctrines about God and His Word. So often we go through the motions and we're not seeking God. Mark 4.19, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things entering in, choke the word and becometh unfruitful. Are you jealous and protective of your quiet time with the Lord? Years ago, when Meg and I were dating at Ambassador Rapids College, I'm thankful for all the rules that we had, and I remember, again, she was the first girl that I ever dated. The very first night that we were gonna have alone was at a Sunday night supper at the school, and I was looking forward, it was just gonna be her and I. Now we're a dating couple. And so we get our food, I pray, and there was another one of my friends, she comes over to us, and he begins to talk to us. And I remember what it was like when some of my friends started dating, and I was kind of liver-mush. Tim, go away. Get out of here. I want to spend time. And so I'm like, you know what? I'm not going to be that way. I'm just going to kind of be friendly. And so I asked him, I don't know, one or two questions. And this guy liked to talk. And talk is what he did. I mean, he just kept talking and talking and talking and talking. I'm thinking, when is this guy ever going to be quiet and leave us alone? And he, would you believe, he talked the entire time that we had there that Sunday night at supper. Now, we were limited in the amount of time we could spend together, and so all of a sudden he looks up and he says, oh, it's curfew. We've got to get back to the dorm. And Megan and I never had a conversation together. Now, how do you think that made me feel? Do you think I was excited about that? No. I was very upset. And from then on, I'm like, you know what, I'm going to protect this quiet time that I have with Megan. Do you protect your quiet time with God? Does it bother you when things interrupt you to where you're not able to spend that time with the Lord? Does it even bother you? Jacob got alone with God. When's the last time you got alone with God? But then number two, Jacob was broken by God. We see in verse 24, it says, And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Now this wrestling match, wrestling means to contend by grappling with and striving to trip or overthrow an opponent or throw him down or throw him off balance. If wrestling isn't the most difficult sport in the world, it's one of the most exhausting. To succeed at the highest levels in wrestling, you need a combination of physical power, speed, technical skill, mental toughness, and endurance. Your whole life, your whole body is required in wrestling. Jacob is wrestling with God. But this wrestling isn't happening because he has to get a hold of the ear of God. He's not wrestling because he's in supplication for somebody else. The reason why he is wrestling is because he's fighting against God. This is a stubborn fight against God. Maybe there's something God is wanting you to do, but you're resisting Him. There's some sin God is convicting your heart about, and you just continue to hold on, and you continue to push off the Holy Spirit's conviction upon your heart, and you are fighting against God. You know in your heart of hearts that you're not broken tonight. That there's some pride and arrogancy that you're holding on to. What causes the need to be broken? It's pride. It's pride. And oh, how prideful we can be. I grew up shy and quiet. You say, oh, so you're a pretty humble person. Oh, no. Oh, I've looked down on people. I remember one time the Lord was working in my heart. I was just in a deep time of prayer with the Lord. We were in a revival meeting, and it was a Tuesday night, and there's times where I'll ask God, you know, be thorough with me. Like, I'm not wanting to just sweep things underneath the rug. I'm wanting to pick it up, like, clean it out. I'm not asking you to get cleaner. I want you to clean. Like, I want to be thoroughly right with you. Dig deeper, God. And there will be times that, I mean, those confession times are, you know, I mean, 30 minutes, an hour, sometimes two hours. I was in one of these that day, and the Lord was just really working in my heart. And we're driving to the church, and I'm just, you know, quietly praying as I'm driving. I said, Lord, is there anything else And the Lord says, yes, you think you're better than some of the people you're about to preach to tonight. Wow. It's true. It was true. I thought of myself here and some of the people that I was about to preach to here. What does the Bible say? Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Oh, my quiet, shy personality has a lot of pride in it. There's a lot of selfishness in it. God's got to rip out that pride to get me to become a preacher and things of that nature as well. But, oh, there's so much pride that comes into our hearts. So at Jeremiah 48 and verse 29, we have heard the pride of Moab. He is exceeding proud. His loftiness, his arrogancy, his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart. In Proverbs 16, 18, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. I don't get to quote Obadiah too often, but here's Obadiah. 3 and 4, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Sin is always deceitful. It over promises and under delivers. He says, The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the cleft of the rocks, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as an eagle, and though thou settest thine net among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. He warns us in 1 John 2.16, for all that is in the world, the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. This wrestling match is going on because Jacob is resisting God. Are you resisting God in some area of your life? Is there a wrestling match that's going on between you and God because of some pride that you're holding on to? Of course, all sin can be boiled down to the root of pride and also the sin of unbelief, they go hand in hand. And as Jacob's wrestling with God, this is a long time wrestling, he's going throughout the night, and I wonder at what point Jacob realized it was God that was wrestling with him. You know, sometimes we go through our day, and maybe we have some things that come up, and just one frustrating thing happens after another, after another, after another, after another. Could it be that God is resisting you? James 4, and verse 6, But he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Could it be that God is seeking to get your attention? That there is pride in your heart? That you are, as it says there, resistant to waging a war against? That you are fighting against God? Sometimes we wrestle a long time before we realize, no, it's God that's seeking to get our attention. It's God that is wrestling with us. I was reading a book on brokenness by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and she had several characteristics between a broken person and a humble person. I'll read a few of those. Proud people have a critical, fault-finding spirit. They look at everyone else's faults with a microscope, but they view their own with a telescope. Broken people are compassionate. They have a kind love that overlooks a multitude of sins. They can forgive much because they know how much they've been forgiven. Proud people are especially prone to criticize those in positions of authority. Their pastor, their boss, their parents, their teacher, their husband. And they talk to others about the faults they see. Broken people encourages reverence and lifts up those that God has placed in authority. And get this, they talk to God in intercession rather than gossiping about the faults they see in others. Proud people are self-conscious. They worry about what others think of them. Broken people are not preoccupied with what others think of them. Proud people try to control the people and the circumstances around them. They are prone to manipulate. Broken people rest in God and trust in Him and they're able to wait for Him to act on their behalf. Proud people tend to deal in generalities when confessing their sin to God. Dear Lord, please forgive me of my sins. Or, I need to be a better Christian. Broken people acknowledge specifics when confessing their sin. What did you really do? What does God call your sin? Lord, I agree with you that I love myself more than I love my spouse. I confess that I'm addicted to television. I'm neglecting God's Word. I have a critical spirit, or I am an angry mother. Proud people are blind to the true condition of their hearts. Broken people walk in the light and acknowledge the truth about themselves. Proud people have a feeling conscious or subconscious that this ministry is privileged to have me and my gifts. They focus on what they can do for God. Broken people have a hard attitude that says, I don't deserve any part in this ministry. They know they have nothing to offer God except the life of Jesus Christ flowing through their broken lives. Last summer, and this summer as well, with the girls group, I gave them all a three-by-five card, and I said, I want you to write down the things that you're good at. I said, just go ahead and write them all down. Put your name at the top. And all of them, of course, music. They play the piano, different instruments. And so some of them are great at babysitting, whatever it might be. I said, just write it all down, things that you're good at. And so we went and wrote through all those things down, and I said, now cross out your name and put God. Because anything good in our life is of God. He's not impressed with your abilities. He's the one who gave them to you. I think of J. Vernon McGee that said, an old radio Bible teacher, he said, if you really knew me, he says, you wouldn't want to listen to me. He said, but then again, if I really knew you, I wouldn't want to waste my time. And he went on to talk about how if there's anything good in us, it's of God. He's the one that gets the praise. Proud people don't think they need revival, but they're sure that everyone else does. In fact, right about now, they're making a mental note of all the people that should hear this list. I was reading through that, and I was thinking, you know, I need to share this with so-and-so, and so-and-so, and so-and-so, and then I got to that, and sure enough, I got hit with that. Broken people continually sense their need for a fresh encounter with God and for a fresh filling of His Holy Spirit. Here is Jacob, he is wrestling against the angel of the Lord, verse 25, and it says, and we prevailed not against him. This is God not prevailing against Jacob. Now, God is limiting his strength, but then it says here, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. Do you know how little it would take to bring us to our knees? Just that touch of God, now Jacob can no longer wrestle. Now, that touch brought about brokenness in his life. Roy Heshin wrote the book, The Calvary Road, said, brokenness is the requisite for revival. To be broken is the beginning of revival. He went on to say, brokenness in daily experience is simply the response of humility to the conviction of God. Now, please get that. Brokenness and daily experience is simply the response of humility to the conviction of God. There are times in my life, like Jacob, that I have wrestled with the Lord, and there are some special, specific times that God has taken me through a breaking process. And then there's also the daily life, where I need to be daily broken before God, and brokenness and daily experience is simply the response of humility to conviction of God. I grew up in a Christian home, went to Christian school. I'm so thankful for all of that. God called me to preach and called me to go to Ambassador. I remember my senior year of high school, God, I went to a camp and God was working in my heart to preach my very first message. My youth pastor said to him, when God tells you to preach your first message, he says, I want you to let me know. And so I got back from camp and said to him, Brother Maxwell, I said, God wants me to preach my first message. He says, all right, you're on this Wednesday. And I didn't want to say that. You know, I'm thinking, well, wait till I get to Ambassador. Let me go at least a year of college and get some preaching class or something where I can learn how to preach. But all of a sudden, I mean, the butterflies enter in and I am just scared. I remember Jonathan Edwards, he prayed for three nights and praying and saying, God, give me New England. God, give me New England. God, give me New England before the Great Awakening happened. And so I thought, OK, right now I'm fasting. And I'm fasting. He says, you're on this Wednesday. I said, Lord, I'm going to fast from Sunday to Wednesday. And I wasn't praying God gave me to England. You know what I was praying? God help me get up there. God help me get up there. I had no clue how to prepare a message. I went to Matthew Henry's commentary first. I spent eight hours working on a message on John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. That Wednesday night, I remember getting there, and I was so scared. I think that my body thought I was going to do a good job because my knees were applauding themselves. They were knocking so bad, and butterflies in the stomach. I remember my youth pastor called me up, and as I'm walking up to come to the pulpit, the whole time I'm praying. And this is what I'm praying. God, I don't want to do this. God, I don't want to do this. God, I don't want to do this. But I'm only doing this because I love you. John 14, 15, If ye love me, keep my commandments. I wrote out everything I was going to say that night. And after preparing for those eight hours and fasting for those three days, and doing all of that, I looked up two times the entire time I preached, and I preached for a grand total of six minutes. That was it, six minutes. You say, oh, preacher, I would love to hear that message tomorrow night. Would you preach that six-minute message tomorrow night? And I remember going home that night, and I was devastated. I was just so broken. I remember going to my room, and I put on a message, and it was entitled, Please Be Patient, God Hasn't Finished Working on Me Yet. He talked about how you're a sculpture in the hands of God, and sometimes it has to dig in there deep, and it hurts. He says, but praise God, He's working on you. I said, God, it sure did hurt tonight, but I want to thank You and praise You that You're working on me. And God showed me that it's not going to be by my might or by my power. It's only going to be by His Spirit that I'll ever be a preacher, that I'll ever be an evangelist. It's got to be of Him. And God broke me that night. And there's many times in my life that God has given me some special moments and times where He gives me a glimpse of His holiness and I see my own sinfulness, my own nothingness, And sometimes I even wonder if I'm even gonna survive those times, and yet, even though they're difficult and they hurt, but oh, how precious those times are. I'm thankful for every time, because if I hadn't gone through the brokenness, I wouldn't be here tonight. Absolutely not. Psalm 51, verse eight, David said, make me to hear joy and gladness, the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. This is after his sin with Bathsheba. Leonard Ravenhill said, David had one of the most blessed experiences with the Lord and that he was thoroughly repentant of his sin. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. But he's there in Psalm 51.8, he says, my bones are broken. Was his bones physically broken? No. What was it? It was that intense inward pain that he was experiencing because of his pride. Oh, what caused us to be broken? It's our pride. And Jacob, he's no longer wrestling with God. And now that he's broken, you know what we find Jacob doing? Clinging. See, after you get broken, all you can now do is just say, God, I just want to hold on. No more fighting, no more resisting. God, I'm just gonna cling unto you. He says there in verse 26, he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. When God breaks you, you realize all you can now do is cling to him. I mentioned that I was a Royals fan, and I'll go to Surprise, Arizona sometimes for spring training, and all 200 Royals fans meet there. And I love to go and see other Royals fans, talk to them about the Royals. I love to get to do what I do here and be an evangelist and meet some people that, you know, Christians, that I don't even have to ask about their salvation testimony, you know, the spirit of self-awareness, our spirit, that we are the children of God. And I can just go and say, hey, brother, it's great to see you. I love to get to do and be around some Christians and also royals fans. What kind of people does God want to be around? What kind of people does God want to be close to? Psalm 34, 18, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and save as such as be of a contrite spirit. That's who God wants to be around. It's the broken, it's the contrite. Oh, and Isaiah 57 talks about that as well, that He's there to revive the heart of the broken, to revive the heart of the contrite. Jacob was desperate for God. He wanted what God had for him. You know, God wants to revive your heart this week. I don't know where you're at spiritually. Maybe some things have grown cold and callous. God wants to revive that in your life. He wants to do a reviving work in your heart, but are you willing to pay the price for revival? Are you willing to pay the price for personal revival? I'm asking, are you willing to do whatever it takes to get right with God? Now, you see, what happens is we get into a place of revival, God begins to convict our hearts, and yeah, there's pain and it hurts, and you know, instead of embracing the conviction, embracing the Spirit, embracing God, we begin to resist Him and push Him off. It's almost like, okay, God, if I can, or you'd say to yourself, rather, if I can just survive through Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, then I'll be okay. No, we need to not, instead of resist God with that conviction, come say, God, whatever you want. God, whatever it costs. You see, God wants revival more than you and I do. The problem doesn't lie with God, it lies with us. So much of my heart, I was preaching a Sunday night at a church. It was the first time we were there, and I was tired. It was a long drive that week. It was just a busy weekend, and we had about a three, four-hour drive back to the place where we were staying. You know what my attitude was? My attitude of that service, Meg and I many times will pray before we go into the services, and I was praying, and I was asking God to bless the service, but my attitude was, I just want to get through this. I just want to get it over, go home. I want to get to my bed. That's what my attitude was. And as I was praying, God was convicting my heart. And of course, he didn't speak godly, but he was impressing upon me, Tim, this is my service. This is my church. These are my people. What if I want to do more than what you're expecting? Tim, right now you're being lazy, you're being prideful, you're being selfish. And I went from praying with Megan to confessing my pride, my laziness, my selfishness. I said, God, I have a message that I think you want me to preach, but I'm open, whatever you want to do tonight. And that night, I don't even know all, I remember I went to James chapter four, but I didn't have a whole message prepared out of that. I don't all know what God had me say that night, but God worked in a great way. And they invited us back for some meetings. The next morning, I was praying and just thanking God for what he had done. And God began to reveal to me that, Tim, the hindrance of what I wanted to do last night was not the church. The hindrance of what I wanted to do last night would have been you if you hadn't gotten right with me. I do not want to know, but I wonder how many times I've been the hindrance. How many times, I'm the one that's holding back. What God wants to do in a meeting? Oh, are you willing to do whatever it takes to get right with God? Are you willing to pay the price for personal revival? Jacob got honest with God. Number two, he was broken by God, but now lastly, number three, he got honest with God. God asked him, he says to him, what is thy name? He said, Jacob, you ever been lied to? cheated, deceived. I'm sure we all have had things stolen from us. Here's Esau, he has his birthright and his blessing taken away from him. Now God had given Jacob, told him that he was going to be serving, or the elder was gonna serve the younger in Genesis 25, 23. But he took matters into his own hands. Now Jacob had tremendous character in some ways. He was very loyal, he was a hard worker. He was intelligent and successful in what he did, but he also had pride. And he had this deceitfulness, this trickery. Genesis 27, 12 says, my father perventure will fill me, and I shall see to him as the deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing. Well, that's what you're trying to do, Jacob. Yes, you are the deceiver. You are the one that's out for your own personal gain. You see, to himself, he appeared as someone that was spiritual. He was more concerned about appearance than he was integrity. Of course, you and I, we don't have that problem, do we? We're not more concerned about appearance than integrity. Well, yes, we are. So often we're consumed about what other people think about us instead of what God thinks about us. Oh, he stole that blessing, stole that birthright. And of course, with his father, Isaac, he asks him his name and Jacob says, my name is Esau. He lied. And he did that through his life, and he lies to his father Isaac, and he was able to fool his father Isaac, but he was not able to fool God. God knew exactly who he was. Some say, well, I sing in the choir, or I'm called to preach, I'm a pastor's kid, I can't be all that bad. I don't remember who said it, but he says revival comes when the best of Christians see themselves as the worst of sinners. See, unless we become honest before God, we'll never see personal revival. Are you trying to appear more spiritual than what you really are? You see, God could not bless Jacob who he was pretending to be. And God cannot bless you of what you're pretending to be. You see, you can be a fake at work. You can be a fake at a revival meeting. You can be a fake at church. You can be a fake even at home. But when you meet with God face to face in Penteel, there's no more mask. There's no more disguise. You're not meeting with your brother or your sister or your parents or boss or anything. You are meeting with God Himself. You can't even gaze into the sun, but just for a few moments before, you have to move your eyes away. What do you think you're going to do when you get in the presence of God? Jacob is asked that question, what is thy name? And I wonder if his mind races back to all those times that he deceived. all those times that he supplanted. Because that's what Jacob's name means. It means supplanter. Genesis 27-36, Esau said, "...is not he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He hath took away my birthright, and now, behold, he hath taken away my blessing." And when God asks him that question, Jacob then gets honest with him. And he says, my name is Jacob. I'm the deceiver. I'm the one that's out for my own personal gain. I'm the one that's been taking advantage of others so that I can benefit me. My name is Jacob. I wonder if God were to ask you your name, what would you have to say? Would you have to say, my name is bitter? Like Naomi. Naomi says, don't call me Naomi, pleasant one. You call me bitter. For the Almighty had dealt very bitterly against me. No, He hadn't. Naomi wasn't trusting God. She didn't see the big picture. But would you say, you know, my name is bitter? My name is music that God can't stand, listener. What would your name be if God were to ask you your name? You see, Jacob says, I'm done fighting God. I'm done pretending. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get right with God. He says, I'm willing to pay that price for personal revival. God broke him. But then he changes him. He says in verse 28, and he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. And oh, how we know that name. It started right there. For as a princess thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. Psalm 30, verse 5, for his anger endureth but a moment, and his faith for his life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Oh, when you get honest and open with God, now there's the intimacy. Now you can go and sing, there's nothing between my soul and the Savior. That I know that I am right with the Lord. Oh, what a wonderful, blessed place that is, as David spoke about there in Psalm 32. God is the God who heals our brokenness. And Jacob, no longer that strong man, now he's walking with his limp. And I wonder if Esau sees him off in the distance, and he sees Jacob, and Jacob's limping over to him, and he says, you know, that's my brother, but he's not the same man. He's not that strong, prideful, arrogant man. He seems to be broken as he's limping. You see, he didn't get strength with God through pride, but it came through submitting to God. It came through surrendering to God. In Hebrews 11.21, by faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff. That brokenness was there throughout his life. Reminding him of when he wrestled with the Lord. Verse 30. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." I've read different commentaries on this. They said, well, God is assuring Jacob that tomorrow is going to go well with Esau. And it definitely could be that. But I love what one preacher said. He said, I've seen God face to face, and He let me live. He let me live. All my friends, I am Jacob. God has taken this, if there was one person in the Bible, I'm like Jacob. That pride, that arrogancy. I even have a torn ACL. You know, God has taken me through that time of brokenness. And unless we are willing to pay the price for a personal revival, we'll never have revival. We'll never see it. We'll get to a certain spot. Oh, you know, we can have this week, but unless you're willing to say, God, I'm all in, whatever you need to do, whatever spiritual surgery you need to do in my life, whatever you want to do, now we can have revival, but if you hold on, you're gonna continue to resist God. I have never regretted open hands. Never have. No matter how hard it's been, I've never regretted obeying God. I've never regretted listening to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and responding in humility. I've never regretted when I've done that, but I always have regretted when I haven't. Are you broken before God? Oh, Jacob got along with God. When's the last time you met with God? When's the last time you spent time with Him? And then Jacob was broken by God. Are you broken? And Jacob got honest with God. Are you honest before Him? You see, there'll be no renewal until we once again let God break us and get honest with Him. Jacob prevailed not by fighting and struggling, but by yielding. to God. The power came when he yielded to God. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I thank you for all that you've done in my life, or the periods of intense brokenness, or I'm just in awe. Lord, they weren't fun, they weren't enjoyable, but Lord, I'm so thankful for them. And Lord, we asked you, we said before we began this, Lord, whatever it is that you speak to our hearts about, by your grace, we will do it. Lord, we've heard from you. Now, Lord, I pray that you give us the strength to obey. Lord, maybe tonight we need to spend some time with you. Amy, you need to get us alone with you, and we need to pray what David prayed, that, Lord, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Father, break us of our pride. Help us to be humble and broken before you, that you would draw near to us, so we would have that intimacy, that oneness with you. Have your way in this invitation time, we pray in Christ's name, amen.