When God Asks You To Cross Your Arms — Sandeep Poonen

Hebrews 11, verse 20.

Jacob’s Life and the Faith God Commends

I want to show you a verse from Hebrews 11, verse 20. By faith Isaac gave to Jacob his blessing, which had in mind the things of the future.

Now, the story of Jacob is written in Genesis.

Jacob's story is written in Genesis.

And we read about Jacob all the way from his birth, all the way to his death. We read about Jacob even before he was born in his mother's womb, how he was twins with Esau.

And we read about Jacob's story even before he was born, when he was Esau's twin brother. And how the two children were fighting in the womb even before they were born.

There are many stories written about people in the Bible. But not many stories have stories all the way from the womb about a person all the way to his death. But Jacob, you can read about that and it starts in Genesis 25.

And then you see the story of Jacob and Joseph and he ends up dying in Genesis 49. So remember, the Bible is inspired by God. And God in his wisdom spent 24 -25 chapters about Jacob. Not all about Jacob, but Jacob and Joseph.

And God allocates to these people, Jacob and Isaac, more chapters in Scripture. 20 and something chapters. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is a chapter that talks about the faith of many people.

In Hebrews 11, we read what the Holy Spirit now in the New Covenant talks about Jacob and his faith. And Hebrews 11, verse 21 gives me the summary of Jacob in one verse. There are many things that happened in Jacob's life.

But in Hebrews 11, verse 6, it says it's impossible to please God without faith. So what the writer in Hebrew is telling me is, what did Jacob do by faith? There are over 20 chapters on all the things that Jacob did.

But now this writer in Hebrews is saying, what did Jacob do by faith? That's what I want to write down. And what we read in there is what he did by faith. So that's my first point. We can have many different things that happen in our lives.

As you can see in Jacob's life too, if you read Genesis, in his story, there are many things that he did which were not good and not right. Just because Jacob does it, doesn't mean I have to do it. He lied to his father.

He cheated his brother. He married multiple women. It's all in the Bible. That doesn't mean we follow what Jacob did. But when it comes to a person's faith, we can follow that. So dear brothers and sisters, you're going to have maybe a long life.

There's lots of chapters in the story of your life. What matters though is what's going to be written in the ultimate book, in the eternal book, is what we did by faith. It doesn't matter what job I had.

It doesn't matter how many kids I had. How much money I made. What did I do by faith? And in Hebrews 11, verse 21, it says, By faith, Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph.

He didn't bless all of his own sons. He blessed the sons of Joseph.

And I don't know if you know the story, I don't have to go back and look at it, but when Jacob was praying for the sons of Joseph, Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh was the older one, Ephraim was the younger one.

But when Jacob prayed for them, he put his right hand, which is a sign of greater blessing, on the younger child, and put the left hand on the older child. And Joseph tried to stop him and said, because Jacob was blind, he said, you got it backwards.

You got to have the right hand on the older son and the left hand on the younger son. And Jacob said, no, no, no, I've got it right. That's what Jacob did by faith. All of Jacob's life, he was so dependent on his own skills and his smarts and his own intelligence.

He got the birthright with his deception. He got so much more flock than even his own boss, which is his father-in-law, by deception. And he had so much skills that he was able to get so much wealth too.

Sorry. I just got back, so it froze for me. So Jacob got a lot through his deception. Not by faith. If he had gone with his intelligence, he would have said, put your right hand on the older son and your left hand on the younger son.

But at the end of his life, he had come to the realization that I'm going to listen to God, I'm not going to listen to my own logic. Some point that has to happen in all of our lives. At some point, dear brothers and sisters, there'll be a time where it can be said about me, by faith, Sandeep started to do some things.

The right hand is supposed to go this way, but by faith, it went like this. The whole world says go like this, but one day Sandeep realized to listen to God and go like this. Not to do it the way the world tells me to do it.

Not the way my feelings tell me to live it. Not to do it the way my family tells me to do it. God, I want to do it the way you ask me to do it. And even if other people protest saying, no, you're not supposed to do it, that's not the cultural way to do it, that's not the historical way to do it, God, you're asking me to do it.

And even if other people protest saying, no, you're not supposed to do it, that's not the cultural way to do it, God, you're asking me to do it.

This transformation of the way we do what God tells us to do, has to happen in everyone's life.

This is not about going to heaven or hell. That even many people who may end up going to heaven, don't live by. And once we have that mindset, that's what becomes most important to us. God, how do you want it to be done, not how do I think it should be done.

And we become more obedient by default, by just more and more habit. And it doesn't bother us that we used to do this for many years like this, but then now God is saying, do it this way, we say, ok, no problem, we'll do it your way.

It isn't an argument, no, no, no, I really feel I should do it this way, we become so surrendered that God, you want us to do it this way, we'll do it this way. By faith. And that's what God said, I want to write about that for all eternity.

And now you see the second half of that verse. And worshipped leaning on the top of his staff. And that expression, leaning on the top of his staff, tells me about when that transformation happened. Jacob was not leaning on the top of his staff because he was an old man.

No, he was leaning on the top of his staff because God touched his hip and dislocated his hip. And because of that, from then on, Jacob started limping. When he was still very strong, God broke him to where he started limping, and that's why he's leaning on his staff.

Jacob’s Prosperity Could Not Transform His Heart

So we can turn there to Genesis chapter 32. But dear brothers and sisters, this happened in Jacob's life after many wonderful things that had happened to Jacob. But what God needed to do was to change Jacob's way of thinking.

As I said, the story of Jacob begins in around Genesis 25. And now we are in Genesis 32. So let me give you just a quick couple of things of what happens, good things that happen to Jacob, between Genesis 25 and Genesis 32.

Even though it comes by deception, Jacob gets the birthright and the blessing of Isaac. Now, you could say that was a very bad thing, but it's a good thing that Jacob got the blessing, even though he got it by deceiving his father.

So he won in that case. He beat his brother. He fooled his father, but he got what he wanted. Then he runs away. And he's running away, and he's sleeping in a town, and he has a vision of angels going up on a ladder from heaven to earth and back and down.

I mean, that's a good thing. And God spoke to him. You can read about that in Genesis 28. I mean, if we had that happen to us, believe us, we'd be traveling all over Romania, talking, people would be inviting us to speak in their church.

Then he goes to his relative's place, and he meets this beautiful girl, Rachel, and he wants to get married to her, and he ends up getting married to her and her sister. And Laban fools him into marrying Leah, but then he ends up getting Rachel, too.

And he's working for his father-in-law, so Laban is his boss, and he ends up becoming richer than his boss. His flock is more than his father-in-law's flock. So Jacob's winning. You can say he's being blessed by God.

He got the blessing. He sees a vision of God, and God speaks to him. He marries the woman of his dreams. He's even richer than his own boss.

I mean, life's going really well. So you could say life's going really well. No.

That's the story until Genesis 32. He's having trouble, but God, he's having prosperity on every level. God says, I need to break you. And God says, I need to change your mindset from going like this to going like this.

Even though everything in your mind says go like this, I need you to be so happy to go like this. So even though everything may be going really well in our lives, like Jacob was going, that doesn't mean that we are living by faith.

We haven't gotten touched by COVID, maybe. Our family's doing well, our business is doing well, even amongst COVID, maybe. But like Jacob in Genesis 32, God says, I need to break you. And Genesis 32, from 24 onwards, you may know the story, is where Jacob wrestled with a man, I don't know if it was an angel or God or somebody.

Genesis 32, from verse 24, Jacob wrestles with a man, I don't know if it was an angel or God or somebody. And I'm going to read from verse 24 to 28. Genesis 32, 24. But Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until the sun rose.

Seeing that he could not resist, this man struck him at the end of the rope. So the end of Jacob's rope was tightened when he wrestled with him. That man said, Let me go, until the sun rises. But Jacob answered, I will not let you go until you bless me.

That man said to him, What is your name? Jacob answered him. Then he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but you will be called Israel, the one who wrestles with God. Because you wrestled with God and with people and you were victorious.

In verse 24 and 25, we see that Jacob wrestles with a man, with God or with an angel.

And when nobody's winning, the angel touches Jacob's hip or thigh and dislocates his thigh. So let's say these are his two legs. One of his legs goes like this. Now it's like just dangling, right? That the whole thigh, all the way from the hip, all the way down, that whole leg is just dangling like this.

There was no connection between them. I don't know if you can picture this scene.

When you wrestle, you need both legs.

Now, all of a sudden, you can't put any weight on this. It's not going anywhere on this one leg. But then you see what the angel says in verse 26. I thought the wrestling match is over. No, but look at the angel saying, let me go.

Jacob's still holding on, even though he's just got one leg. The wrestling match is not over. Jacob's still holding on to the guy. He's being dragged along by the angel. He's like, I'm not letting go.

The wrestling match is not over. And Jacob says, I will not let you go until you bless me. I don't care if you've dislocated my hip. My leg is dangling, but you've got to bless me. And the angel says, what do you mean, bless you?

You saw God, you got the woman of your dreams, you've got all the money, more than your boss. What do you mean, bless you? What do you mean? What do you mean? Jacob says, I know, I got all of this. Here's the problem.

My name Jacob means grabber.

But here's the problem. I know, I know, you gave me all of this, but look, my name means thief. And this thing in me, that I like to steal, I like to grab, grabber, grab.

There's something much deeper than all the prosperity in my life. There's a nature, there's a mindset that is a grabber and a deceiver that's still in there. Everybody looks at my life and thinks I'm a success.

I'm invited to every church and I talk about my visions with God and how God spoke to me. I've got the woman of my dreams, I've got more money than you can imagine. But everything about me in my name is grabber.

I need something deep to be changed in me. And he's like, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. You dislocated my hip for the rest of my life. I'm going to walk with the limp and walk with the cane.

But I need you, I'll do whatever it takes. I need you to bless me. I don't need new sheep. I don't need more sheep. I don't need a woman, a wife. I don't need all the visions of God. I need a name change.

I don't want to be a grabber and a deceiver anymore. That's what he got. This is Jacob with one leg dangling down, holding on to this man after he's broken and saying, God bless me with a different nature.

Surrendering Our Logic to God’s Will

And God changed his name there. This is where Jacob said, sure, let's switch the hands. No problem. I'm done doing it my own way. I'm not grabbing for this situation or that situation. God, you want me to switch the hands and bless the younger child?

No problem. But it began here in Genesis chapter 32. Where he wrestled with God and God broke him down to his hip. He says, God, I don't care what you do. I don't like to be a grabber anymore.

God, I don't care what you do. I don't want to be a grabber and a deceiver anymore. And now towards the end of his life, the Hebrew book tells us that he bowed down to the top of his head.

That's what he did by faith.

He doesn't mention the woman of his dreams anymore.

He doesn't mention about all the money he made, more than even his own boss. But he worshipped God, even though God had broken him. Because here's what Jacob did after God broke him. And after God dislocated his hip, what did Jacob do?

That's key. This is what Jacob did. I won't let go of you until you bless me. After he had his hip dislocated. That's when Jacob showed that he really wanted it. He didn't complain. He didn't throw a big fit.

God, why did you break my hip? I want a name change. I don't want to be a grabber anymore. Many times when God allows us to go through difficult situations, we can complain to God. Jacob could have complained.

He didn't complain because he wanted the blessing more. He wanted the nature of Jesus Christ. And he said, I don't know what it takes. Look, we have to see God that way. God will do literally anything to make us more like Jesus.

Just look what he did to Jesus himself when Jesus was on this earth. He allowed Jesus to be killed for our sake. He will do anything it takes to make us more like him. He is that committed. If you don't think he's committed, just look at what he did to Jesus on the cross for you and for me.

That's how much committed God is to making you like him. That's what the cross means. Whenever we see the cross and we see what Jesus did, Jesus happened on the cross. Because that is the best thing that can happen in our lives, that we become more like him.

And God is saying, look what I did to Jesus on the cross for you, so that you can become more like me. And here is the other truth related to that. God will only allow that thing that will make us more like Jesus.

So that job that you really want to get? That girl you really want to marry? The only thing that God matters is, what can it take to make me more like him? So if your business doesn't work out, if you don't get married to that girl, one thing we can know for sure.

God will only allow that thing that will make us more like Jesus. Only. So if I have a healthy child, it is because God said, I'm going to use that healthy child to make you more like Jesus. If God allows some sickness in one of your children, we should know that without any doubt.

And if the child gets sick, we should be sure, without any doubt, that God can heal that sickness. And we will pray, maybe many times a day, with full faith that God will heal that child.

But if he doesn't heal, and there are definitely situations where God does not heal, according to his wisdom. We are 100 sure that God did not heal, because he wanted me to become more like Jesus, because of that sickness, or through that sickness.

That is the only reason why that sickness is still there. Not to punish me, not to punish my children. But only because God says, I want to make you more like Jesus. This is not a punishment. And if you don't think I'm serious about making you more like Jesus, just look at what happened on the cross.

He was not punishing Jesus for something Jesus did. He was helping me when he put Jesus on the cross. He said, I want to make it so that you can become like Jesus too. So whether it's a job win or a job loss, it will always, God is so focused on making me like Jesus.

He may break my hip. One thing that we should never ever doubt, God wants to make me like Jesus, and he will only allow that thing that will make me more like Jesus.

And one thing that I should never doubt is that God will help me become more like Jesus through these things. Let's read Isaiah chapter 40. From 28 to 31. Yes.

28. God does not become weary or tired. And you cannot, his last word, his understanding, you cannot figure out God. Sorry? You cannot understand God. You cannot explain God, but the way he works is unexplainable.

So I do not know why God had to break Jacob's hip, I can't explain it. But he will not get weary or tired. He will infinitely be interested in making me more like Jesus. I can't explain how he does that in my life and your life.

He may give sickness to one child, he may give a billion dollars to another brother or sister, he may give 10 children to one, he'll give no children to another. I can't explain it, I can't understand it, but he's committed to making all of us like Jesus.

Why he gives money to some, why not to others, why a child gets sick or not, I can't explain this. But still, he wants us to become like Jesus. Who will live with this God? Who will be able to keep up with this God who will make me become like Jesus?

Verse 30, youth will get tired and these furious young men, these strong men will fail. So who's going to win? Who's going to be able to keep up? Verse 31, those who wait for the Lord. If I would use the picture of Jacob, those who never let go of God.

And when? After he broke his hip. Even then you've got Jacob clinging on to God saying, bless me, I don't care what to do. Such people who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up, they won't just run, they'll fly like eagles.

Where young strong men are failing, people who wait and don't give up on God, they get new strength. This is the word of the Lord. This is so important for us to have this attitude towards God always.

These are the people who will make progress towards God. Leaning on the staff, we can worship God like Jacob. The world tells us to go like this, God tells us to go like this, we say sure. Let us wait and never give up on the Lord.

Becoming Like Jesus Through Suffering

Let us cling to the Lord even when he dislocates our hip. Lord Jesus, I don't want my name to be Sandip, I want to be younger brother of Jesus, I want to be just like you.

Whatever it takes. It doesn't matter what cost I have to pay. Even if it happens that one of my children dies, Lord, just so I become like Jesus.

Or if you have to give somebody cancer, or you have to give me cancer, I know you'll only allow it and not heal it, because you want to make me more like Jesus. God does not get tired. He is so eternally committed to making us more like Jesus.

This is how good a God we have. He is such an infinitely loving Father. You may not believe this all, but the best thing that can happen to our lives is that we become like Jesus. And God is saying, I am committed to it.

Many people in the world are complaining against this good Father, and criticizing this good Father, and upset with this good Father who is so good. Dear brothers and sisters, let's eliminate all complaining against the completely good Father.

Yes, tough things will happen in our lives, like it happened in Jacob's life. But God has only one purpose in mind. Make us more like Jesus. Let's close in prayer. Father, we pray, Lord, that this truth may go deep within our hearts.

Light these truths, Lord, into a fire by your Holy Spirit. The devil hates when we talk about the goodness of God. The devil hates it when we expose his lies. We want to bind all the forces of darkness, Lord Jesus, that cause us to think that you are not good.

Start a new fire, Lord Jesus, in us, that will never get extinguished. That will, 24, 7, 365 days a year, we will believe and hold fast that God is altogether good.

24 hours out of 365 days, Lord, we will believe that you are good.

Bless these dear brothers and sisters, and everybody who hears this message. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. That word Amen means not may it be so, but it will be so. That's the word of faith. So may that be true in our lives.

God bless you.

Whether God Can Override a Christian’s Will

I have a question, Dan. I have one question. God is very dedicated to make us more like him. That's the message of this evening. He is always dedicated. So, God is committed 100 to become like Jesus.

Yes, he gave examples, including that he can cure diseases, cancer and other diseases in our lives, so that we can become more like him.

To become like Jesus. To work. Only if it will get us to become more like Jesus, yes. Question now.

This thing, just a second. These things can take place over our will. For example. If the Christian is not willing to become like Jesus, but can God trespass his will to make this Christian like Jesus?

No. No.

I mean, what do you think would have happened if Jacob, after he dislocated his hip, just walked away? Nothing. Good. You will search, you will find me when you search for me and seek for me with all your heart.

And God says, I think somewhere else, seek for me and you will find me and I will be found by you. The rich young ruler too, in Jesus' time. Here's what you got to do. The rich young ruler walked away.

God didn't override the rich young ruler's will. Now God didn't give up on the rich young ruler. Maybe there were more opportunities through Peter and Paul. So there's hope even if we feel like we've been like the rich young ruler in the past.

God has hope for us till the day we die. Then God says, then there's the judgment. Hebrews 11 or Hebrews 10. Once a person lives, there's lots of hope, infinite hope. But then a person dies, then God says, now I have to judge you.

So until then, God's constantly trying to reach us.

God has all kinds of opportunities to become like this, but after he dies, then there's the judgment. He made a clear distinction between Christians who will be Christians, who don't have a life like this, and they will still be in hell.

Which means that there's an important desire, and besides the fact that God has this purpose, we have to assume that purpose so we can get there. Otherwise, we remain like this. We enter, we don't enter, we stay.

So it's like this, in insecurity. Yes. Andrei said that in heaven will be people who assume this life of Jesus and the other. You said this, that in heaven will be people who didn't live according to the standard of God.

That they will be saved, let's say, by the hand of God, without having had a life in which to desire, or to do from the purpose of Christ. Was not to become like Jesus.

Yes. So what I'm saying is, they did not live that life with that mindset fully. Yes. You know, you can read about this in Revelation chapter 14. It talks about a group of people, and it gives a specific number, 144 ,000, who have very specific characteristics of them.

And it says about them that they followed the lamb wherever he went. Now, in Revelation 7, it talks about a different group of people, all who are in heaven, and it talks about them as being multitudes that cannot be counted.

And in Revelation 7, it talks about another group that cannot be counted. So, there is a multitude of people that cannot be counted in heaven. And there is another category, a smaller group that followed the lamb wherever he went.

Now, here is the warning.

If you seek to be in this smaller category, you will definitely make it to heaven. If you don't want to be like that, and you want to be just in the general category, I can't be as confident. You might make it.

There seems to be people who made it. You might make it into that bigger category of people. It is possible that you will make it into the bigger group, this multitude that cannot be counted. But I can't have that confidence because there is more debate whether I will even make it to heaven.

Because there are many warnings and many stories of people who were lukewarm, who lost their first love, who had a name that they were alive and they were dead. And God's warning is pretty clear. I will spit you out of my mouth, repent or I will remove you.

There are some pretty strong warnings. So, I can live with strong, full confidence that I am protected by God. But that's only if I seek to follow God wherever He goes.

I hope that helps. What is very important that I want to tell you is that it is very important that we will desire this purpose for us.

Offering Our Little to God’s Miraculous Work

Yes, thank you. This is very important.

Like that boy with five loaves and two fish. Five loaves and two fish are nothing.

But God needs those little things to do a miracle. So we have to give them what we have. But we should also know, no chance of that small thing doing anything if God doesn't do something with it. So then we never become proud of the five loaves and the two fish.

All we have, but the need is to feed 5 ,000. The problem is to feed 5 ,000 and my five loaves and two fish is not going to do that. So I give it and then I say, but God, you have to work the miracle. This is the story, throughout the stories in scripture you see that.

You pour the water into the wine. You pour the water, I'll turn it into wine. I told you, hey, can you give me a cup of water? Yeah, you go get me the cup of water. Turning water into wine, no chance.

That's how so many of the miracles of God happen.

God Works All Things Toward Christlikeness

Can we take everything that is happening in our life like a purpose that God will make us more like Jesus?

Only if I have this purpose, Romans 8, verse 28 and 29 gives me 200 ,000 confidence. If we love God and we are called according to that purpose, He'll work all things. He works everything for good. And what is the good is described in verse 29.

Everything means everything, little or big.

Good and bad. Good or bad.

From our point of view, good or bad.

When people misunderstand me, when I get wrongly accused for doing something I didn't do. Not easy to know that that came from, that was allowed by a good father. And the devil will come and try to tell me, good father is not behind this.

And I know he'll do that because he did it to Jesus. After Jesus was baptized, he heard a voice from heaven saying, I am well pleased with you, you are my son. You are my beloved son. Then he goes into the wilderness and the devil says, you are the son of God?

Even though he heard a voice from heaven just a few days back. The devil had the guts to tell Jesus, I don't know if God is really your father. How much more will he try to do that to you? So we have to be prepared.