In Christ Realities – Part 3 Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue
In Christ Realities Part 3 with Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue. In this episode of Grace For Today you’ll learn how Jacob changed his identity and how you can do it too.
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In Christ Realities Part 3 Transcription
Friends, I’m so glad that you tuned in to be with us today. We’re gonna be talking about the favor of God and the blessing of God on Jacob, who became Israel, and how he changed his identity from a deceiver to “As a prince you have power with God and with men and have prevailed,” and when we begin to get that identity of favor, it will lead to the blessing of God in our lives. Don’t miss this broadcast, blessings. Friends, we’re so glad to have you on the broadcast with us today, and I have my son, Aaron. We’re gonna be talking about Jacob. All this week, we’ve been talking about the value of identity, and we begin talking about Moses and the 10 spies in Numbers 13 and how the way that they saw themselves determined how other people saw them, and ultimately, what they possessed. You know, the people that thought they could, Joshua and Caleb did. And the people that thought they couldn’t, didn’t. And you know, you gotta see yourself the way God sees you if you wanna possess what he wants you to possess. And then we talked about a change of identity is necessary for a change of destiny in Genesis 17 with Abraham, and how God change his name from Abram to Abraham. And today we’re gonna talk about Jacob, another change of name, where God changes name from Jacob, supplanter or deceiver, to Israel, as a prince, you have power with God and with men and have prevailed. And it’s so important for each of us to begin to take on the identity that God has for us to believe what you God says we are, that we can do what God wants us to do, go where God wants us to go, and be what God wants us to be. And we’re gonna really be looking primarily here in Genesis 32 where Jacob, after he’s been gone from the Promised Land for about 14 years, or a little over 14 years, and working for his father-in-law, and now he’s coming back into the Promised Land and he’s really dealing with some fear because his brother was threatening to kill him. He ran and he ran. He really didn’t have much, maybe a loincloth, and he met God and he made a covenant with God and God promised to bless him and now some, over 14 years later, he’s coming back into the Promised Land, but he’s dealing with some fear because he’s somewhat afraid of Esau and he meets with God and God changes his name and he realizes that it’s not in his human strength, it’s not in his human ability, but it’s only really through who God said that he is that he can possess what God wants him to possess. And I think we all need to realize that. You know, there are visionary people in the world that can do great things, but the Bible says that God hasn’t chosen the wise of this world or the mighty, that he’s chosen the base things to confound the wise. And really, when we begin to realize it’s not about our strength, it’s about His strength. It’s about Him. Paul said this in Philippians 4:13, he said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” but Jesus said this, and they’re both focused on Christ. He said, “Without Me, you can do nothing,” John 15:5. And really, I’ve had both of those scriptures really come to life, but I believe that mentality that without Him we can do nothing is a stronger place because we realize it. It’s absolutely through the strength of Jesus that we overcome. And so let’s read here in Genesis 32. Aaron, why don’t you read in verse one.
Okay. “So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, ‘This is God’s camp.’ And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, ‘Speak thus to my lord Esau, thus your servant Jacob says, ‘I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female servants, and I’ve sent to tell my Lord that I may find favor in your sight.’ Then the messengers returned to Jacob saying, ‘We came to your brother Esau and he is also coming to meet you and 400 men are with him.'”
Small army.
Yeah, so Esau probably was planning on wiping out Jacob. He’d been waiting for this moment for 14 years to finally avenge himself and I had 400 men coming for Jacob and Jacob probably knew that in his own strength he wouldn’t be able to knock out 400 men.
And so, it’s really interesting. Jacob’s coming back into the land and the angels of God meet with him. But when he left, right, running for his life back in Genesis 28, the angels of God met with him. And I want you to share just a little bit, Aaron, from Genesis 28, the end of the chapter about Jacob’s vow, so on and so forth.
Yeah, so it says in a Genesis 28 that, you know, this is when Jacob was initially running away for his life from Esau after he had deceived Esau and had stolen the blessing for that was meant for the firstborn. He kind of swindled Esau also out of his birthright, the double portion that’s reserved for the firstborn.
Well, the problem wasn’t ultimately with Jacob, the problem was with Esau because Esau-
He didn’t value.
He did not respect his birthright, but Jacob valued that and you need to value the right things.
So it says, when he’s running away, that he dreamt, this is verse 12, “And behold, the ladder was set up on earth and its top reach to heaven and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, the north and the south, and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'” And it’s said in verse 17, Jacob said, “How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.” So he later names that place Bethel, which means the house of God, but I like that he said, “This is also the gate of heaven.”
[Pastor Perdue] Amen.
A lot of believers talk, you even sing songs about opening windows or gates of heaven, so I think this is really important. He’s saying that this is a gate of heaven. He saw these angels descending and descending, and it says in verse 20, “He made a vow saying, ‘If God will be with me and keep me in the way that I’m going,'” so he’s praying for God’s presence. “If God be with me,” he’s also praying for God’s protection. “Keep me in the way that I’m going and give me bread.” He’s praying for provision, “Tea and clothing to put on so that I come back to my father’s house in peace.” He’s praying for peace. I think those are four great things to pray for. I call ’em the four P’s, so God’s presence in your life, His provision, His protection and peace.
[Pastor Perdue] Yes.
I pray all these over my children whenever I pray over them, especially at night. Says, “Then the Lord shall be my God and this stone, which I have set as a pillar, shall be God’s house, and of all that you give me, I will surely give a tenth to you.” So at this time, he didn’t really have anything. He was just fleeing for his life, but he said, “God, if you protect me and provide for me, if your presence is with me, if I come back to this place, this Promised Land, I’m gonna be a tither.” And there’s a strong correlation in scripture between tithing and between supernatural provision.
Right, and he’s living under an open heaven.
Yeah. And we see God blesses him incredibly, even as he’s living in exile.
In Malachi.
Yeah, in Malachi. Malachi talks about-
God promises this promise to tithers that prove Me now with your tithe and see if I will not open the windows of heaven. And if you really want to experience all that God wants you to experience, you need to get involved in the grace of giving. And I also believe in tithing. I mean, Abraham gave a tenth to all. He gave it to Melchizedek, the Priest King of Jerusalem, a type of Christ. And Melchizedek blessed him before he tithed, but he tithed at the same way and he would not take anything from the King of Sodom except the food the young men had eaten. So Abraham tithed 400 years before the law and this is before the law. Now, I like something that you brought up, Aaron, when you were teaching on this, you brought up how Isaac spoke this blessing over Jacob and how Esau came and wanted that blessing and Isaac said, “I can’t take that blessing back.” And how that blessing could not be reversed. And that’s like the blessing of God in our life. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. And God, you know, the blessing that God’s spoken over us, God keeps that word. It is a spoken blessing. It cannot be reversed. And praise God, we need to realize that. And then, and just like Isaac spoke this over Jacob, and then Jacob spoke a blessing over Joseph. In fact, the scripture in Hebrews 11 talking about faith, you know, says that Isaac blessed Jacob and Jacob blessed Joseph and Joseph gave commandment concerning his bones. They were speaking words of faith. So just like we live by actions of faith, we need to speak words of faith.
There’s power in the spoken blessing.
Right.
Yeah.
There’s power in it and you talked about how this was like angel armies and we have a God of angel armies.
Yeah, Malachi 3:10.
Verse 10-12.
Talking about “‘I’ll open up the windows of heaven,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
Right.
The terminology used in this blessing for tithers in Malachi, it talks about the Lord of hosts. That word host means angel armies. Angels are actually in involved with provision.
Yes.
Hebrews.
Woo!
Hebrews talks about angels that they’re ministering spirits sent to minister to those who will inherit salvation. That God sent angels to take care of Jacob to provide for him, even though he didn’t have anything. When he came back to that same spot, he’s incredibly blessed. We see that in Genesis 32. He’s sending messengers to Esau, “I have many flocks, I have many, I have a great big family now.” Like he’s incredibly blessed.
Amen.
And you know, he gives hundreds upon hundreds of camels and donkeys and livestock to Esau, which is.
Amen.
You know, probably million dollar gift he give Esau trying to pacify the situation. Ultimately Esau accepts it.
Praise God, you know, I love what you were saying. I’ve raised some money, paid off two churches here in Colorado Springs and we got great deals. God blessed us, he helped us, but when we were getting the first church we got here on Elkton Drive and building that out, the Lord gave me a song, and I did it at this church too. I sang the same song and I’d say, ♪ I sing “the money comes” ♪ ♪ And say “the money comes” ♪ ♪ I’ll shout and sing and say “the money comes” ♪ ♪ In Jesus name the money comes ♪ ♪ Angels go and the money comes ♪ ♪ Money, money, money, money comes when it comes to me ♪ And that fits in with what you’re saying. The angels are connected in this realm of giving and receiving a financial increase. Praise God, that’s why I started laughing.
[Aaron] That the Lord hosts, the angel armies.
I didn’t beg. I hardly even told people the need. You know what? I didn’t whine, I didn’t complain, didn’t even talk about a building fund hardly at all. I don’t think I talked about it at all. And God brought in the money and we paid these two properties off. And this one’s worth something like three times what we’ve paid for it and the money we’ve invested in it. That’s supernatural. You know, God brings a supernatural blessing. My house is worth about three times what I have invested in it. That’s the blessing of God. So blessed.
I love, you know, we’re gonna talk about how Jacob’s name is changed Israel so he’s no longer a supplanter, deceiver. He has this angelic provision in his life. You know, when Jesus called Nathaniel.
[Pastor Perdue] Right.
Said, “I saw you sitting under the fig tree,” and just had a simple word of knowledge and Nathaniel thought, “Wow, this is a big deal.” And Jesus said, “You are one with whom there’s no deceit.”
Praise God.
He’s a descendant of Israel.
Amen.
And Jesus said, “If you think this is big, you’re gonna see angels coming up and down from heaven.” And Nathaniel got to see that, he got to see supernatural provision working through Jesus.
Hallelujah.
He saw Jesus multiply just five loaves and two fish and feed the 5,000.
Walk on water.
He saw more than just a simple word of knowledge. He saw that.
You know, some people are so willing to believe and other people see great miracles and they still won’t believe. It’s just crazy. We are believers at our heart, in our spirit, and we are created to believe. And when you’re born again, you’re a believer, so praise God. We’re gonna take a short break. We’re gonna be back right after this, but come back and stay tuned. You’re gonna get some good stuff. I believe it’ll help you walk out God’s plan and purpose as you understand who you are in Christ. Friends, I’m so glad you’ve been watching. Today we’ve been teaching on the subject of redemption and who we are in Christ. This is some of my best teaching. In fact, I got a revelation of this over 40 years ago in Andrew Wommack’s meetings when I was just a child and it revolutionized my life. And I believe if you get a revelation of who you are in Christ and what happened in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, it will literally transform your life and so we have a lot of great teaching on redemption, what Jesus did for us in his death, burial and resurrection and who we are in Christ. I encourage you to get this teaching. I believe just like it transformed my life, it will transform your life. So get on the internet, give us a call. We’d love to hear from you. Thank you so much and God bless you richly as you live His word first place. Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed tuned. We are in Genesis 32 and we’re gonna continue in this story about how Jacob is coming to meet his brother coming back into the promised land and he’s afraid. It says, “When these messengers returned to Jacob and said, ‘We saw your brother Esau,'” in verse six, “And he comes to meet you with 400 men.” It says, “Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the peoples and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands.” And you know, this is kind of natural thinking, right? If he kills one group, at least other group will get away and, you know, somewhere God’s gonna protect me and my children, so on and so forth, but after he does this, after he does this natural thing, he begins to pray to God in verse nine. And he said, “Oh God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac and the Lord which said to me, ‘Return to your country and your family and I will deal well with you,’ I am not worthy of the least of all these mercies of all thy truth which you’ve showed to your servant for with my staff, I passed over this Jordan.” He’s remembering, you know, he’s coming and how he met God and I saw this ladder going into heaven and these angels going up and down and he made this covenant with God and so God’s multiplied him exceedingly, just like he did for Abraham. “And now I’ve become two bands. He says, ‘Deliver me, I pray you from the hand of my brother, the hand of Esau, for I fear him unless he will come and kill me and the mother with the children.'” “And you said,” he begins to remind God of his word. “I will surely do you good and your seed is the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude.”
That’s awesome.
So he prays really, somewhat out of a sense of fear and I don’t believe that fear is the greatest motivation. I believe faith is a much higher motivation, but at the same point in time, he did pray.
Yeah, he really valued the blessing of God. We see this in verse 24. He valued the blessing so much, that’s why he really wanted Isaac’s best blessing, his father’s best blessing, but in verse 24, he really wanted God’s blessing in his life and he wasn’t gonna let go of it. Too many people let go of God’s promises way too easily.
Yeah, what God has for ’em. Now, before verse 24, Aaron, he brings these gifts for Esau. Do you know these gifts that he gives to Esau may not look like a lot to you. It’s well over a million dollars. So he makes this covenant with God when he’s running from his brother, but he’s got the blessing on him. And he says, “God, if you’ll bless me and be with me, I’ll give you a tenth of everything.” And then he comes back and he gives his brother just a simple gift of over a million dollars. He puts some camels, he puts some donkeys, he puts some cattle, he puts some sheep, he puts some goats and he puts people with him and each, a little space between each of them. And he sends servants say, “This is a gift.” Man, a gift brings favor. And each gift I believe softened his brother’s heart towards him and then he met God. So you can begin to talk about here verse 24, go forward.
So it says, “Jacob was left alone.” So he was actually all alone in this place. And it says, “A Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.” Most translations, that word Man is capitalized ’cause people see this as something more than just a normal human. Verse 25, “Now, when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him and he said, ‘Let me go for the day breaks.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.'”
I like it here in the King James. It says, “As a prince, you have power with God and with men and have prevailed.” Aaron, for years I’ve taught a series on the favor of God and I learned a confession from Patsy Cameneti. She was a missionary in Italy at one time. She’s a pastor’s wife, brother Behrman’s daughter. But I heard this testimony from her here years ago when she was a missionary in Italy. She had a five-year-old daughter that was going into school and the teacher called Patsy in, said, “Hey, your daughter is the bottom of the class. We gotta do something.” So Patsy took her daughter home and had her speak every day, you know, before she went to school early in the morning, “I have favor with God, I have favor with man, and I have a good understanding.” And then every afternoon when she came home from school, she’d say, “I have favor with God, I have favor with man, and I have a good understanding.” Every evening before she put her in bed, she’d have her say, “I have favor with God, I have favor with man, and I have a good understanding.” And in 30 days, the teacher called Patsy back in and said, “I don’t know what you’ve done, but your daughter has went from the bottom of the class to the top of the class.” Now I’ve taught that in Chicago, I’ve taught that here in Colorado Springs. I’ve taught that all around the nation and even in other nations, and you know what? People have got a hold of it and as they’ve spoken it, they’ve seen their kids go from the bottom to the top by a confession of the favor of God.
That’s awesome.
Hallelujah, this is one thing I’m gonna put in our new curriculum is the favor of God. We’re gonna talk about Esther. We’re gonna talk about Jacob, or Daniel. We’re gonna talk about Joseph, these people and how they had favor in their lives. And do you know what? We have favor in our life today.
[Aaron] That’s awesome.
And so that prayer, “I have favor with God, I have favor with men, I have a good understanding,” is connected a lot to this blessing on Israel. Every time you say the name Israel, you’re saying, “As a prince, you have power with God, you have favor with God, you have favor with man, and you have prevailed.”
That’s awesome.
Hallelujah. Now, Jacob asked him and said, “‘Tell me I pray you,’ and he said, ‘What for do you ask after my name? Tell me your name.’ And he blessed him there.” So I believe he’s actually wrestling with Jesus, a pre-incarnate form, this angel with Jesus, that’s what I believe. I think that’s why Jesus won’t tell him his name. “And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. ‘I have seen God face-to-face and my life is preserved.'” So he received the blessing of God, but he also began to realize that this is not through my strength, it’s not through my power, it’s through the power of God, through the strength of God that we prevail.
That’s awesome. We need to have an identity of favor.
[Pastor Perdue] Amen.
A few years ago, I was in college and one of my brothers, Andrew, had a Netflix account and I didn’t wanna pay for my own subscription, so I asked him if I could have his password and login credentials for Netflix. A lot of young people do things like that so they don’t have to pay for their own subscription, but he gave me his login and his password and his password was something about “I have favor with God.” I think that password has changed now, but you know, he had an identity like it was even part of his password.
Amen.
He was favored.
Well, I have several of mine and they have grace and favor, so praise God. I’m constantly thinking about the grace of God, constantly thinking about the favor of God. Aaron, we couldn’t have done what we’ve done and we can’t do what we’re gonna do without the grace of God, without the grace of Jesus, without the favor of God, so thank God for the favor of God.
[Aaron] Amen. And I love it, you know, God took care of Jacob. He crossed over and God did what he promised him. God didn’t send Jacob there to go get slaughtered by Esau.
[Pastor Perdue] Amen.
God worked the situation out and Jacob went back into the Promised Land. Later on God actually called Jacob to move back to this very place Bethel.
Now, yeah, it’s beautiful. And you know, one thing you were talking about, we need to have a mentality of favor. You know, the children of Israel, the Israelites have this mentality, “I’m a covenant person of God and I’m blessed by the Most High God.” And you know, a lot of ’em just live in the blessing of God because they believe it. And if you start, the fact is, Aaron, we are the spiritual covenant children of God, any born again believer, and we have a right to these promises. It’s not only to natural Abraham, it’s to the seed of Abraham by faith. And if you read Galatians 3, which we’ll probably talk about in tomorrow’s broadcast, but if you read that, we need to get this mentality that we are the children of God, that we’re blessed by the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I have favor with God, I have favor with man, and I have supernatural increase, and when you begin to get that mentality, it’ll change your destiny.
Oh, big time. I’ve been to Israel just a few years ago and I’ve been right on the border, the northern border by the Golan Heights, so, you know, I’ve driven along the border of Israel and Lebanon and Syria, and you can see the difference just across the fence. On one side of the fence they have missiles pointed that way and just the land is desolate, just kind of wasted, desolate land. They grow opium there.
[Pastor Perdue] What a mess.
And then right on the Israeli side, there’s vineyards, it’s very well taken care of. It’s fruitful, tended to, and that mentality-
Praise God.
It affects what’s growing up in your life.
Amen. It happened in the DR. What’s right next to the DR? Haiti.
Haiti.
And Haiti is operating in a lot of-
Half the island, yeah, witchcraft.
They have poverty, witchcraft and the DR, the Dominican Republic operates in a lot of blessing. And a lot of it is our mentality. Our mentality affects what we receive. And so Jacob changed his mentality to, “As a prince, I have power with God and men and I have prevailed.” And he began to realize that this is not me, but this is the blessing of God. And it says when he came back in, he was limping as he wrestled with this angel and the thigh is your strongest part of your body and he began to realize this is not through the strength of my flesh, this is not through my personal ability, but this is through the ability of God with me. It’s not through our own might that we prevail, but we prevail through God with us.
Amen, that’s awesome.
Praise the Lord. Well, I thank God that you’ve taken time to be with us. If you need prayer, give us a call. If you wanna become partners, I believe there’s an anointing of increase on this ministry and I believe if you sow into this ministry, you will see increase in your life. So if you need prayer, if you wanna become partner, give us a call or just check us out on the website. Thank you so much and God bless you.
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