Tomorrow Needs You - Yesterday Has Forgotten You

We have one back to the today, and I'm so excited to celebrate. You stand and worship our Lord and Savior with me. One day to the light. One day to the place to hide is wind. There's no more words. I tried with all my mind, but I just can't win the fight. I'm slowly drifting, but back on. Just when I ran out of rope, I'm not a man I didn't go. And he told me that I was not alone. You pick me up, you turn me around. You face my feet on solid ground. I make a master, I make a savior. Because you feel my heart, you change my name. Forever afraid, I'm not the same. I make a master, I make a savior. I think that's possible. Isn't that tonight what I see? Got no choice but to believe my doubts are burning. My gosh, it isn't me. Throw love to my own words. Burning and bitterness, you can't just keep moving. Now you ain't welcome here. Don't tell I want this thing to go. I'll sing around, you'll save my soul. This way we're in one that's bound to wait back on. You pick me up, you turn me around. You face my feet on solid ground. I make a master, I make a savior. Because you feel my heart, you change my name. Forever afraid, I'm not the same.

I make a master, I make a savior. I make a... I make a master, I make a savior. I make a master, I make a savior. Come up to another one, I am free. I am free, I am free. Come up to another one, I am free. I am free, yeah, I am free. Hell lost another one, I am free. I am free, yeah, I am free. Hell lost another one, I am free. I am free, come on, I am free. Hell lost another one, I am free. I am free, yeah, I am free. Hell lost another one, I am free. I am free, yeah, I am free. Hell lost another one, I am free. Are you free today? Yeah, I am free. Hell lost another one, I am free. I am free, yeah, I'm free. You turn me around. You face my feet on solid ground. I make a master, I make a savior. Hell, you feel my heart. You change my name. I am free, yeah, I am free. I make a master, I make a savior. I think I... I think I...

I think I... (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ I know a name ♪ ♪ That can silence the rolling waves ♪ ♪ I know a name ♪ ♪ I can empty out a grave ♪ ♪ I know a name ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer, risen and ringing in power. Something comes out of the grave, every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior, worthy of glory forever. Something comes out of the grave, every time I call you will see. I have a key, with so many an overhead, and we hold the key, and his holy male scarlet is the hill. I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you sailor, risen and ringing in power. Something comes out of the grave, every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you sailor, worthy of glory forever. Something comes out of the grave, every time I call you name, chains, break, dry bones, wake, every time I call you name, chains, I call you name, chains, break, dry bones, wake, every time I call you name, chains, break, dry bones, wake, every time I call you name, let's make hell angry with this, okay? And we're all great, you're victory, and we're all death is now your sin, and we're all great, you're victory, and we're all death is now your sin, and we're all great, glory, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus, death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus, death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus, death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus, I call you, I call you healer, misery, and ringing in power, something comes out of the grave, every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior, worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave, every time I call you name, chains, break, dry bones, wake, every time I call you name, Savior, this should help me, every time I call you name, death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive,

Death things come alive, death things come alive Death things come alive in the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus I call you Jesus I call you, I call you here Prison and ringing power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory from heaven Something comes out of the grave Every time I call your name Church, can we praise the name of Jesus? We worship you Jesus Name above all names, amen The reign of darkness now is ended In the kingdom of light In the kingdom of light Forever under your dominion You're the king of my life You're the king of my life You reign above it all, you reign above it all Over the universe and over every heart There is no high in me Jesus, you reign above it all

On the cross the world was finished God, you poured out your life Just to give us a new life Now from the lips of the forgiveness He ran out of our eyes 'Cause he is a show of life She reign above it all, you reign above it all Over the universe and over every heart There is no high in me Jesus, you reign above it all You're the king of my life You're the king of my life You're the king of my life There is no high in me Jesus, you reign above it all Oh, you reign Over it all You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave Now seated alone in glory And thrown on the highest praise You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave Now seated alone in glory And thrown on the highest praise You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave Now seated alone in glory And thrown on the highest praise You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave Now seated alone in glory And thrown on the highest praise You sent the darkness

Running out of an empty grave Now seated alone in glory And thrown on the highest praise You sent the darkness running out of an empty grave [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] It's so incredible to think about the God, the creator of the universe has given us a Savior in Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that He loves us. God loves us. Each and every one of you in this room, wherever you may be joining us from, God loves each and every one of us so much that He sent Jesus to provide a way for us to have access to Him. It's incredible to think about how Jesus forgives us. How Jesus calls us to leave our past behind us and to walk in new life with Him. We can bring everything, whatever you're struggling with, whatever your pain is, whatever hurt. God calls us through Jesus to lay those burdens, the things that we're carrying, the things that are heavy to lay those at His feet. It's even more incredible to me to think that when we do that, when you lay your burdens at Jesus' feet, when you put your trust, when you believe that Jesus is who He says He is, when we do that we put that trust and surrender in Him. Things begin to change. Things begin to change. Our situations may not change right away, but we can begin to walk in relationship with Jesus and know a name. No matter what, you know a name. There's someone you can call on in every season, whatever age you are, whatever stage of life you're in. We can walk with Jesus, because God has provided Him as our Savior. The Bible also says that Jesus was the payment for our sin, for our imperfection. Jesus came as a sacrifice so that we can walk in that new life. If you came in this morning, you have some communion elements. You may have them with you. If you're joining us online from somewhere, we're going to take a moment and just pray together. And then when you're ready, you can take those communion elements together as a remembrance that we have a Savior. And His name is Jesus. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we thank You that You reign above it all. That You're over everything that we face. And that through Jesus we can find forgiveness. Through Jesus we can find healing. Through Jesus we can find new life. God, release brokenness in this room. God, I pray for breakthrough as we remember Jesus today. Thank You that Jesus gave Himself freely so that we can have payment for our sin. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] What's up, Fantano? I'm Jonathan, and I'm so pumped you're here. We believe changed people are connected people. Life's just better when we're not doing it alone. When we connect with God and with each other, we grow. We get encouraged, and we start looking more like Jesus. Maybe you're new and you want to meet people. Maybe you're ready to level up your faith. Maybe you're just trying to figure out what's next. Wherever you're at, we've got a spot for you. On campus, swing by our next steps after service. Say hi, ask anything, and find your place here at Fantano in our community. Joining online, hey, fill out a connect card on our next steps page. It's quick, it's easy, and it keeps you in the loop on everything happening here at Fantano. And follow We Are Fantano on social media. You'll get event updates. You'll get some behind-the-scenes stuff, some cool moments, some encouragement. And you know, a few things that'll make you probably laugh. Last weekend was baptism week across all of our campuses. And we are blown away by what God is doing in Tucson, in Benson, and beyond. People from all walks of life are getting baptized and publicly declaring their faith in Jesus.

If you're ready to take that next step and go public with your faith, we'd love to celebrate you next. Head to next steps and schedule your baptism today. Oh, and speaking of celebrating, man, let's give it up for the 60 baptisms we had last week. Whoa, yeah, oh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Our mission is to love people to Jesus and launch passionate difference makers. And your generosity helps make that possible. Every gift creates opportunities for people to encounter Jesus, families to find hope, and lives to be transformed. When you give, you're investing in what God is doing through Fantano across our campuses, throughout our city, throughout our community, and around the world. To give, simply drop your gift in our giving box, give online, or text give to 46356. Thank you for your faithful generosity and for being a part of all that God is doing through Fantano. Come join us from 6.30 to eight for our not so Halloween Halloween party. We will be having trunk or treating, food trucks, games, music, and just so much fun. If you're a student in grade six or 12, you're invited to come in your best costume for free candy and also be ready to have a blast. We'll have award prizes for the best costumes and the best trunk themes.

Head to next steps to get all of your information for our mountain campus and our Benton campus. Thanks again for joining us. We're so glad you're here. (laughing) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Well, here there, Fantano, how we doing? We doing all right? (cheering) Man, it is good to see y'all good to be with you. Hey, we've got people with us each and every week online. We've got a whole family from Luke Air Force Base with us right now. We've got people all over the globe with us. We've got people at our Benton campus, people at Gospel Rescue, people at prisons all over the United States. Excuse me, favorite, would you welcome all of them in? We're so glad you were here. (applause) Well, today we started a brand new series called Tomorrow Needs You. Now, I wanna tell you a little bit about this series before we get into it. And he's actually going to be here in about three weeks to close out this series. I need you to promise me, okay? Everybody raise your right hand for me right now. I will be here for the last week of this series, say it. Some of you guys said, "I'm going to have a burrito after this service."

I know what you said. I need you to be here because Naim's got an incredible story. Now, he wrote another book called "X Muslim." He actually grew up in Kuwait, was a Muslim found. Jesus is now playing at a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the most amazing churches in the country. And so you don't want to miss Naim when he's here in a couple of weeks. He's become just a really good friend. And I know you are going to be blessed by him being here. But he wrote this book, and we were sitting down talking about it. And it's rooted in complete scripture. And he's going to share more of his story about this book when he's here. But we literally lean into this. And I want to start with this. I kind of have a confession. I'm a man with regrets. Anybody have regrets? You ever seen that tattoo that says no regrets? That's a regret. You know what I'm saying? I should have read that one through a little bit. Now, I'm not talking about like deep regrets. Like, we'll get there. But I'm talking about like the dumb regrets. You ever have dumb regrets? I think of a regret. My wife and I are very first anniversary. Here's one of my regrets. We thought it was a good idea for a one-year anniversary to go camping together. I immediately regretted that decision.

Not because I regretted her. We both regretted the decision. First of all, we borrowed a friend's boat. We got it out in the water. It wouldn't start. And then it started to rain, and it wouldn't start, and it kept drifting. And I'm not talking a little boat. I'm talking a big boat. I grew up with boats. I grew up in the Chesapeake Bay. Like I know how to run a boat, but the boat wouldn't start and had a big outboard engine on it, and there was one ore. And I had to row a bass fishing boat. People were coming in because it was raining, and they were like, "You good?" And I'm like, "Yeah, we're great." Immediately regretted it. Then we put our tent in this spot, and it was on like a little incline, and about -- well, first of all, it was 1,000 degrees outside. Who camps in that? We did immediate regret. We were like, "You know, we'll go to bed early. It's dark. That's probably what you do. That's what the pioneers probably did when it got dark. You went to bed. We went to bed. The bugs were horrific, and then it started to downpour at about two in the morning. I was like, "When did we buy a waterbed? I don't remember this." It was running under the tent, and you could feel it.

So immediately we got up, and we were like, "We got to get out of here." I was like, "Baby, we got to go." We got out. We took the tent down. We just threw it in the back of the car. We didn't even put it in the truck. Just in the car, soaking wet. We got in, and we were like, "We're not camping people, are we?" That was when we made the decision, "We are resort people. We like resorts. We like pools. We like beaches. Everything that doesn't involve us in a tent, or rowing a boat with a motor." Like immediate regret. I don't know if you've had little regrets in your life. Now I met people that looked me in the eye and go, "I have no regrets." Like, really? I ate pizza last Friday night and had an extra, I had three, I had five extra slices, and I immediately regretted my decision. Like, I have regrets every day. I'm sure you do, too. Like, small regrets are easy, though. Small regrets are easy. They make good stories at dinner and from stage. But I carry the other kind of regrets, too, the kinds you don't tell at dinner. I carry those regrets. Like the words you can't take back, the decisions, like I would give almost anything to do over. You ever have those? And here's what I've learned about myself. When I don't deal with those, they don't just stay in my past.

They follow me. They follow me everywhere I go. Like they get a vote in how I lead and how I love my family and what I believe God thinks when He looks at me. Like, it's crazy to me. I can stand up here in front of thousands of people a week and talk about the grace of Jesus. And I can get in my car and drive home and I can rehearse my failures from, like, ten years ago after I've told you to not live in them. You ever play that little game? See, I know what it is to be standing in today and living in yesterday. And some of you are living there, too. I don't think I'm the only one. I think this room, I think every campus that we're at, I think all the people watching online, if we're really honest, this is probably the best. Maybe for you it was a choice you made. Maybe it was a choice somebody made for you. Maybe it was a marriage that ended that you look back and you're like, we could have probably worked on that. Maybe it was a kid you were too hard on for a season of life. Maybe it's a season you can't talk about. Maybe it's a version of yourself you hope nobody ever meets. And yet you run into them every day. See, we link ourselves to a memory and without ever deciding to, we start living chained to that memory. And then we try to do something.

We try to bury it, don't we? And we try to bury it in weird ways. Like, we'll bury it under success. If I'm just successful enough, nobody will ever talk to me about that thing that I've never told anybody else. Or maybe we bury it under busyness, you do this one. I'll just stay busy and then I don't have to deal with that thing in my past that I've never actually dealt with. Or maybe you do this one. This is a big one, right? 'Cause we're in church. We bury it in religion. Well, we'll bury it in religion. Hoping that if we serve enough, show up enough, God might go, okay, you're good, we're even. We might not admit it that way, but that's what we do. And so today we start the series, Tomorrow Needs You. And the subtitle of Naim's book is this. Seeing beauty when you feel hopeless. Seeing beauty when you feel hopeless. Now, here's what I'd like you to do. I'd love you to grab a copy of this book before he gets here. You can go to amazon.com. My favorite store on the planet Earth. That little truck pulls up my driveway. I'm like, hey buddy, good to see you again. I wouldn't care. He'll probably bring someone who comes, but I encourage you to go read this alongside of this series

because I really believe all of us probably ought to dig in. But here's the claim underneath this entire series, and I need you to hear this. You were not an accident. You're not too extra for everybody else. God created you on purpose. He puts you here with a purpose. He puts you here because there are people in your tomorrow that need you to show up today. That's why you're here. And here's what you need to hear more than anything else as God sees you. He absolutely sees you. He's not forgotten you. He's not neglected you. And I want you to hear your pastors say this too. Our church sees you too. We see you. Now, some of you can't receive a word like that because yesterday is too loud in your life. That's why you're struggling to receive it. So we have to start there. Like when you entered, you were given one of these, you should've been, everybody got one of these, take it out. Now some of you guys are like, are we doing a huh? No, we're not doing that. So you're like, what do we do with the sticks? Some of you guys are like, should we, nope, don't do that. But I do need you to grab it. I want you to hold onto the stick, okay?

Just grab it, hold onto it. Some of you have already lost it. I know. Your spouse is like, I've got it. It's right here, it's fine. And you're gonna do something with this afterwards. But right now, literally for the rest of our time, I just need you to hold this. Get to know, get to know your little stick. Hang out with it. Spend some time with it. It actually will signify some things for you that you're gonna do with it later. But I wanna say this as we get a little lean in. And you're gonna hear this to the point, you're gonna be able to regurgitate this. But tomorrow needs you so yesterday can't keep you. Let me say it again. Tomorrow needs you so yesterday can't keep you. If you got Bibles, we're gonna go dig into the very first book of the Bible. Hey, extra credit. Who knows what the name of the first book of the Bible is? I'll see. Look, you already know some Bible, good job. Genesis, first book of the Bible. And so if you go to Genesis, there's a man in the book of Genesis, his name is Jacob. And Jacob's trouble starts on the day he is born. Jacob's a twin.

Genesis 25 actually describes the delivery of these twins. It says, the first one was very red at birth and covered with thick air like a fur coat. You know how weird that is? You imagine giving birth to that baby? Like we had a Sasquatch. That's what we had. Got a Yeti rolling around in our house right now. That's a weird way to describe your baby. My baby's got a lot of hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau. Then the other twin was born with his hand gripping Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Now, some of you in your Bible, there might be a footnote that says that Jacob sounds like the Hebrew word for deceiver. Deceiver. "Hey, deceiver, time to eat." (congregation murmurs) "Hey, deceiver, better get your chores done." Like, literally, his name means deceiver. And here's the tragedy. Jacob will live down to his name. He will live down to his name. Like, he talks his starving brother who's been out hunting and gathering. He talks him out of his birthright for a bowl of stew. Now, you're thinking a big deal. Birthright, bowl of stew, if you're hungry. Birthright was everything.

Birthright was inheritance. And then he deceives his father. He puts on his brother's clothes, so he would smell like his brother, and he walks into his blind father's tent. And when his father asks who he is, he put hair on his arms from animal skins. That tells you how hairy he saw his, by the way. He put animal skin hair on his arms, so he would resemble his brother. And he walks into his blind father to get his birthright. And he literally deceives his father. And his father says to Jacob, "Who are you?" And Jacob says, "It's Esau." Your firstborn son. And he steals his blessing. And here's what it costs Esau. It costs him his family. It's gonna cost him his family. Listen to what it says, "From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because her father had given Jacob the blessing, and Esau began to scheme. Said, "I will soon be mourning my father's death, then I will kill my brother Jacob." That's what it's gonna cost Jacob. So when Jacob hears that, Jacob does what any deceiver would do when your brother wants to kill you. He goes on the run.

And he stays gone for two decades, 20 years. He goes to work for his uncle Laban. And then he builds a family and he builds wealth. He builds a life as far from that tent as he could get. He goes as far away from that deception in that tent as he can get in his life. But here's what I know. You can change your address without changing your name. Like you can change your location, but here's what I know. You go everywhere, you go. So if you don't deal with what was over here, you know what happens when you go over here? It goes with you. You can change your address, but you can't change your name. And that's what Jacob's doing. And Jacob can form to his fear instead of being transformed by God's love. That's what an unhealed yesterday does. It doesn't stay put. It packs up and moves with you. Like no matter what it is that you've done, it goes with you where you go. That's why it's funny to me when people church hop. You ever met those people? They're like a church king guru. And every six months they're at a different church. And usually when they come here and they're like, yeah, we used to go here and then we went here and then we went over here, but now we're here.

And this is what I always tell them. Hey, we're so glad you're here. Could you give me a favor? If you got issue with your last church, did you go deal with that first? And they're like, well, hi, we're home. Yeah, but you're gonna bring all your dirty laundry over here and ours is clean. And we don't want to deal with your dirty underwear and our clean laundry. You know what I'm saying? See, that's what happens. Sometimes we just transplant our pain to all these other places. But if you look at Jacob, God speaks to Jacob. Jacob himself tells us what God said. God says return to your own land and to your relatives. That's what God tells Jacob. Now catch this, don't miss this. The word repentance in Hebrew. Not New Testament, Old Testament. The word repentance in Hebrew, it literally means to return. That's what it means. So to repent and the Old Testament was to return. So God doesn't tell Jacob, hey, forget it. Forget that you deceived your whole family. He doesn't tell him, hey, if you just keep running further, you'll outrun it eventually. He tells him, you know what, you turn around, you walk towards a thing that you've avoided for two decades.

Why would God tell him that? Because tomorrow needs you so yesterday can't keep you. Here's why, God has a nation inside of Jacob. Now he is supposed to be the father of nations. There's a nation inside of Jacob, but Jacob cannot carry forward the calling of God while yesterday still has him by the heel. And some of you are living like Jacob. You're doing the same thing. You're making today and tomorrow be paid for by yesterday. So Jacob heads home. He starts his way home, takes his entire family, his entire livelihood. And word comes back that Esau is on his way to meet him with 400 men. Not on about you, but if your brother threatened to kill you, Esau's headed out here with 400 dudes. Are you thinking this is ending well? Are you like me? This is going to be amazing. I can't wait. Haven't seen you in a while, Esau, it's going to be awesome. You look carrier. Jacob's terrified, rightfully so. And for the first time in a long time, the schemer starts scheming. The deceiver stops deceiving and you know what he does, he starts praying. And I just want you to hear what he says. He says, "I'm not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown me your servant, talking to God. When I left home and cross the Jordan River, I own nothing except a walking stick."

And he says, "Now my household fills two large camps. Oh Lord, please rescue me from the hands of my hairy red brother Esau." Okay, I added that, that's not there. I'm afraid that he's coming to attack me along with my wives and my children. Did you catch what he left home with? A stick. That's what he left with originally. The stick was all he had. If you listen to the honest prayer that he gives, there's no spin in the prayer, is there? There's no angle that he tries to work. He just says, "I'm not worthy and I'm afraid." That was it. Like this is where healing starts. I just need you to understand this. As God won't force healing on what we refuse to bring to him, he's not going to force healing on your life. If you're not willing to bring it to him, he's not going to come in and force something into your life. Finally, Jacob, for the first time gets really honest, he's like, "God, I'm not worthy and I'm afraid." You know how raw and honest that prayer is? In that prayer, what he's saying is, "I can't let tomorrow define me anymore." So that night, Jacob does something. He sends everyone across the river. And for the first time in two decades, he's completely alone by himself. And scripture says, "A man came and wrestled with him until dawn," like spiritual WWE going on right here. And somewhere in the long night, Jacob realizes this isn't an ordinary man. Now, some scholars would tell you that he was wrestling with Jesus, someone would tell you that it's God the Father, but he's wrestling with God.

Let's just leave it there, okay? He's in a full-on wrestle with God. And afterwards, after they get done wrestling, Jacob's response is, "I've seen God face to face." That's what he says. "I've seen him face to face." Now, in the middle of this, his hip gets wrenched out of socket. So now he's got a limp. He's wrestled all night with God, and he's got a limp. But Jacob said this, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." This is what he says to God. Now, don't miss this question. Here's the question that God asks, "What's your name?" What's your name? And he replied, "What's he say?" "Jacob." Not a trick question. Your name will no longer be Jacob. This is what God says. For now on you will be called Israel because you've fought with God and with men and have won. Now, here's a weird thing. Why would God ask his name? Like, why would God ask his name? God's not short on information. God wasn't like, "Man, maybe I've wrestled with the wrong God tonight." Man, I feel bad. I should have asked his name first. Now, here's why he asked his name. He asked because the last time Jacob wanted a blessing and someone asked him who he was,

he lied. He gave the wrong name. Do you remember that? His father was like, "Who are you?" And he's like, "I'm Esau, your hairy red son." He lied the last time he got asked his name. This time, God says, "Tell me your name." He says, "My name is Jacob." This time he tells him, "I'm the deceiver. I'm the heel-grabber." Exactly who they said I was. And the moment he owns his old name, God gives him a new one. Like, did you catch that? The minute he owns his past name, his past deception, his past heel-grabbing of life, the moment that he owns that, God goes, "Okay, now I'm going to give you a new name." And God didn't rename him while he was pretending. God didn't rename him when he came out of the desert, away from the tent. God renamed him when he finally came clean. That's when God renamed him. See, God's not going to bless the edited version of you. He wants the real version of you so that he can make you new. See, we spend a lot of time trying to deceive ourselves, trying to deceive others, maybe even thinking we can deceive God. The Jacob walks away from that night with a limp and a new name. Like he's got a little bit of weird swagger to him. Comes out of the woods like quasi-modal with a new name. You know what I'm saying?

It's kind of a cool moment if you look at it. Cinematically, he comes out of the woods. I bet you it was in slow motion. There was smoke and some really cool music. That'd be a great name for a movie, a limp and a new name. And then comes the moment he's dreaded for 20 years. Genesis chapter 33, if you got Bibles, flip over there. Says, "Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his 400 men." So Jacob said he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and his two servant wives. He put the servant wives and their children to the front, Leah and her children next. Then Rachel and Joseph last, I can't get into the nuance of that, but you should go study just that alone. And then Jacob went on ahead. I mean, he's ready to die. That's what's about to happen in his mind. As he approached his brother, he bowed to the ground seven times before him. And then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and threw his arms around his neck and kissed him and they both wept. What a beautiful moment. Now, I'm inquisitive. I just figured, oh, he bowed seven times. That's a biblical number. He must have been doing something biblical. No, actually, what he's doing when he bows before Esau

is culturally at the time. If you were to meet a king, you would bow to the ground seven times. So he's bowing to say, hey, you, you are the one that's deserving. And then there's this moment after he bows 'cause he's bracing for the sword. He's ready to die. Esau ran to meet Jacob. And then Jacob says, let me pay you off. Let me give you gifts. You know what he's doing when he tries to give him gifts? He's trying to give him the blessing back. He's trying to say, I did not deserve your blessing. I stole your blessing. So he's trying to give him the blessing back. He's basically saying, I was wrong, Esau. And I love Esau's response. He's like, my brother, I got plenty. I'm good, bro. Do you see what's happening? Like the yesterday Jacob had been running from what was not chasing him anymore. It wasn't chasing him anymore. Esau had moved on. I love that he's like, bro, keep your stuff. I'm good. I got plenty. The only one still living in that tent from 20 years ago was Jacob.

For 20 years, he made himself pay for his past. And Jacob says something stunning. He says, what a relief to see your friendly smile. It's like seeing the face of God. Now, why does that matter? Because if you back up one night, remember when he was wrestling? Remember when he was wrestling with God? Do you remember what he said to God? He saw God's face in the wrestling match. And the next morning, he sees it in a restored relationship. So he wrestles, sees the face of God, restored relationship. He recognizes the face of God in the restoration. Now, one more detail. The text tells us who's standing at the back of the line, Rachel and Joseph. Let me ask you how many of you have heard of Joseph before? He had an amazing Technicolor drink coat. You know who I'm talking about? If you're a Broadway fan, you got that. All right. But this little boy, Joseph, watched his father limp forward and bow. He watched his uncle run and forgive. Years later, that boy would go into a man that's going to be betrayed by his brothers. He's going to be sold into slavery. He's going to be put into prison. Then he's going to come into power in Egypt.

He's going to have the opportunity to destroy his brothers. And you know what he does instead? He forgives them. I don't think that's a coincidence. That that little boy that stood and watched his dad bow with a limb to an uncle that ran and embraced him. We'll probably remember that in that moment. And here's what you need to understand. Pain that is not transformed gets transmitted. If your pain is not transformed, can I promise you, you will transmit that to your generational line. So the way that you respond to your past in front of your family will determine how they live in that as they move forward. But here's what else gets transmitted. Healing gets transmitted too. Like your kids are at the back of the line of your life and they are watching what you do with your yesterday. Don't be surprised when they keep living in theirs. When we let it define who we are and who we're becoming, don't be surprised when our kids see that too. But the other side of that's true too. When you heal, you transmit healing to your generational line. That they don't have to live in yesterday. They get to live for tomorrow where people need you. And Jesus, he takes this so seriously, that he actually puts it ahead of your worship.

He puts it ahead of your worship. Here's what Jesus said. If you were presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the temple, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, he says, leave your sacrifice and go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God. Did you catch it? He's like, if you're living in yesterday, go deal with yesterday. Jesus doesn't say, you know what? Why don't you just go sing over it a little bit? Just go sing over that moment. Now, he says, you know what? Why don't you go deal with it? Because your worship can't be true worship if you were still living in yesterday. See, tomorrow needs you so yesterday can't keep you. You can't let yesterday keep you. So you're sitting here going, okay, that's great, Trev, so what's my next step? Oh, I'm glad you asked. I need you to know that the past is too small for you to live in, but it's too powerful for you to live unreconciled. It's absolutely too small for you to live in, but it's too powerful. Like that little thing, your past, there's gotta be reconciled.

So I wanna give you three questions that I want you to be able to answer and be honest with God, just like Jacob was in that river. Like you heard him, right? Like I'm scared and I'm not worthy. That's pretty honest. So I'm gonna give you these three questions. You may wanna write them down. You may wanna take a picture on the screen, whatever you do to remember them, write them on your hand or something like whatever you gotta do. Here's the first question. Do you need to receive forgiveness from God? Start there. Do you need to receive forgiveness from God? Because some of you have never brought it to him. And maybe your attitude is, well, you know what? I did it, so I'm gonna have to pay for it. That you have to manage it. You have to hide it. You gotta work around it. Can I just tell you, you can stop doing that today. You don't have to do that anymore. And if you're far from God, I need you to hear me. He's not waiting far on the bank with 400 men waiting to slaughter you. It's just the opposite. Like in Jesus, he ran towards us. In Jesus, he embraces us. As we're bowing on the ground, he's like,

well, what are you doing? Come on, come on, let me hug you. Let's reconcile. Let's do this. Like, look at Second Corinthians 5, 17. It says, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a what? What's it say, church? A new person. The old life has gone, a new life has done what? Begun. You don't have to live in yesterday. Yesterday does not get to keep you. You can get a new name today. You don't have to keep the name. Like, that new name could be chosen. That new name could be reconciled. That new name could be transformed. Do you need to receive forgiveness from God? Some of you, I would say that that's what you've been running from. The second question, do you need to ask someone for forgiveness? Let me ask you, how many of you've ever caused a grievance against somebody else? Anybody? If you're not raised to your hand, wow. That's a grievance towards me. You should come talk to me afterwards, okay? Like, I know when I asked that, there was a name

that came to your mind. Maybe it was a brother, a sister. Maybe it's a son or a daughter. Maybe it's an ex. You're like, oh, don't go there, bro. Maybe it's a friend. Here's what I know, like Jacob bowed seven times. Here's what I know asking for forgiveness will do. It'll cost you something, it costs you your pride. You gotta lay your pride down. Can I tell you, it might take a phone call this week that you've avoided for years. Here's what I do, no, I can't promise you they're gonna run to meet you like Esau did, Jacob. Esau did, not everyone will. Here's what I know, your job is not to control their response. Jacob went towards Esau, not knowing what his response was going to be. You control it, you know what his job was? It's just simply obey and return. Go ask for forgiveness. Now let me say this, if the person you hurt or who hurts you is not safe. Returning does not mean walking back into harm. You don't have to walk back into harm, but it does mean handing the wound to God and to wise people who can walk with you through it. But maybe this week you need to ask somebody for forgiveness. Here's the third question. I think this is the one most of us rustle the hardest with.

Do you need to stop punishing yourself or what God has already forgiven? Let's just let that sink in for a minute. Because some of you asked God years ago, "God, take this will you forgive this." And you asked God, "You know what God did?" He was like, "Done." In fact, God's like, "I threw it as far as the east is from the west." I don't even know how far that is. Because once you start going east to find west, you start going west to find east, and I'm like, "Where's it up?" God's like, "That's the point." The problem is God forgave, and yet you keep reopening the case that heaven closed. You keep pulling the file back out. See, your yesterday has forgotten you. Why are you still living there? Why are you still living in it? I want you to take out your little stick again. Have you guys gotten to know it pretty well or less? Some of you guys have rubbed a little spot in the middle of it. You're so nervous right now. But this is what I'm going to ask you to do. Like this stick is your yesterday. This is your yesterday. In a moment, what I'm going to ask you to do is you're going to have to move a little bit. You've probably already noticed there's some tables down here. There's some tables up there. If you're at one of our campuses, if you're a Benson talk to your host, they're going to tell you what to do next. If you're online, I need to go grab a piece of paper. Just go grab a piece of paper.

Turn the volume up if it's in the other room so you can keep hearing. And here's what you're going to do in a minute. You're going to come down to one of these tables. And whatever that identity that you've been holding on to that's kept you in your past is, I want you to write it on the stick. Maybe your word is a name that you were repeatedly living under. Maybe it's a year, a year that defines something in your life. Maybe it's a habit, an addiction. Maybe it's a label that somebody else gave you and you've never gotten out from underneath of it. Here's what I know. Whatever still has you by the heel, none of us are going to walk around and try to figure out what you wrote. Because when you get up here, what I want you to do, after you write it down, I want you to spend a moment with your past. And then here's what I want you to do. I want you to break it. And what I want you to do is just throw it on these tables and leave it. Walk away from it. If you're online, I want you to write it on that piece of paper or go eat a popsicle really quick out of your freezer. Okay. What are the two? I know there's a family right now like bomb pops. Here we go. I want you to drop it on the table or take that piece of paper and just throw it away. Because here's what I know. Tomorrow needs you and your yesterday can't keep you. Yesterday needs to be broken and thrown in the past. Paying to imagine what happens when thousands of people stop living in yesterday.

Imagine marriages where the old fight finally gets finished. Just imagine it. Imagine moms and dads whose kids watch them bow and limp and make it right. Imagine a church in Tucson and Benson and prisons and beyond. So full of forgiveness that someone far from God walks in and thinks maybe I can be forgiven too. Or they look at us and go, "If there's room for all of you, maybe there's room for me." That's who we want to become. And I need you to hear this before you leave. If you walked in here today wondering whether it matters that you're here at all, I need you to hear it matters a lot. God sees you. We see you. There are people in your tomorrow counting on you being in it. I know some of you walked in and you may be thinking, "I don't even know if anybody would care if I wasn't here tomorrow. I promise you we do." And if that feels heavy today, I don't want you to walk out alone. I want you to come find what it was. Come over to next steps, go to our prayer room, find somebody with a lanyard, and just talk to them about what it means to maybe step into tomorrow instead of living in yesterday. Jacob left home with nothing but a stick. You know it's great though he came home with a new name. So I want everybody, if you would just stand where you are, hold it in front of you like this." You guys are like, "That's so weird, just do it, okay?" This is your yesterday, and it's real. And I'm asking you to not pretend like it never happened, but I'm going to ask you to stop letting it hold you. When I tell you this, I know some of you guys are like, "I'm not going to a table, we're

out of here quick. We'll beat the parking." The problem is if you keep trying to beat the parking, you're still carrying your stick out of here. Like just take some space. And here's the deal. Once you bring it down, you write it down, break it, leave it, you're free to go. In fact, that statement has never been more true. You will be free to go. Free to go in the world and help other people. Find freedom too. I don't know what your name is or your word is. It's going to go on this stick, but I can promise you today. If you break it, leave it, and truly let it go, your today and your tomorrow will be significantly different. Here's what I know is tomorrow needs you, so yesterday can't keep you. So I'm going to pray and the team is actually going to come out and they're going to play a song. And the song is something needs to break. Something needs to break. And what needs to break is yesterday so that we can live for a better tomorrow and a better today. So again, I would say sit in this moment, don't rush out of here. And then when you're done, you don't have to go back to your seat if you don't want to, you can go right on out of here and then go live free. Because tomorrow needs you because there's people that need hope from you too. Let's pray. Father, today, God, I pray for every person that has walked in here, they can't get past their past. If they're living with a label, God, maybe it's addiction, drug addict, alcoholic, pornography.

God, maybe they're living under a label that somebody called them. Maybe they were called a liar. Maybe they were deceiver like Jacob. Maybe someone said that they would never be good enough, that there's no way someone like them could ever do anything good in this world, God, remind them that they don't have to live in that past. But today they can return home to you, waiting to embrace them. So God, let us live free today, God. We love you. We give you all the glory. We give you all the honor. God, we will give you our tomorrow so that we can let go of our yesterday. It's the powerful name of Jesus who pray, all guys, people said, amen. Love you, Church. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Something has to pray, something has to pray Something has to pray, right now in your name Something has to pray, yeah ♪ Oh, I'm ready for you ♪ ♪ I'm ready for you ♪

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