In this sermon, the preacher shares his personal experience of working as a preacher and the challenges he faced. He talks about how he was initially focused on preaching sermons from behind the pulpit, but realized that his actions and responses in everyday circumstances were equally important in representing Jesus. He shares a specific incident where he was assigned to work on a hay truck and how he changed his attitude towards the job, which led to a positive response from his coworkers. The preacher emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God and allowing Him to have control over every aspect of our lives, even if it means sacrificing our own desires.

And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince thou hast power with God, and with men, and hast prevailed. Now can that be said of us tonight, that we have power with God, power with men, and we prevail with God. Wouldn't that be a wonderful testimony that God says about us. You know folks, our opinion about ourselves will not amount to a hill of beans. It's what God knows and what God says about us. As one brother has said, we need our AUG degree. Preacher, I've never heard of that kind of degree. What kind of university do you get that from? The University of the Holy Ghost. It's called approved unto God degree. Amen. Notice what else happened. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask me after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face. Now when's the last time we saw God face to face? And my life is preserved, my life is saved. Notice this encounter with God was so transforming that the very direction, the very motive, the very empowering of his life took a complete turnabout. His life that was in jeopardy, that had always been in a struggle, suddenly because he was broken before God, his life was saved. And he said, I've met God face to face. You know, when you have meetings with God, it's a good indication. Make a name for that place, you'll never forget it. Maybe some of us here tonight would have to name this place Peniel because I've seen God face to face and my life has been preserved. My family's life has been preserved. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him. Now that's a good statement. And the sun rose upon him and he halted or limped on his side. Notice his encounter with God altered even the way he walked. He limped. You know, I'd rather have a limp in life and have power with God than walk like other men. Wherefore, the children of Israel, eat not the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh until this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. You know, this is a strange title for the message. Obviously, after this kind of encounter with God, we say, and God blessed him there. You know, it could be in this meeting that the very thing you're running from is the very thing you need to meet up with. You know, the greatest blessings that I've had in my life, and if you want to be honest, the greatest blessings you've had with your life have been those intense strugglings with the Holy Spirit when He's put a great conviction on us and we hear these testimonies how God's breaking in and we know we're holding out on God, but boy, we just cannot give in to God. Why? Because pride and self doesn't want to come clean of the true report. We're always the kind of people in this world that always like to put our best foot forward. Amen? And God blessed him there. Jacob had to admit that for a whole lifetime, he had not been rightly related to God, even though he had had temporary encounters with God. You know, folks, you can have, be in the presence of God, you can know the truth of God, you can know the facts of God's truth and even be a child of God and still not get in on the real blessings that God wants us to have until we let God break us at the point of our strength. You see, they hollowed the thigh to the Israelis and the thought at that time was the strength of a man and he had to be broken at his very strength before he could have power with men and power with God and prevail in the spiritual realm. Now today, in our 20th century culture, we have a misconception of what spiritual victory is. Most churches think it's nickels and nos. If you have a beautiful building, a wonderful pastor that's polished, it never makes anybody upset. Wonderful organist, a great pianist, a great choir, and beautiful soloist that ain't seen highly in the open pond. Big offerings, tremendous board, all kind of recreation. And have a wonderful evangelist that comes in and motivates people to do better for Jesus, that's success. God says success is when an absolute Lord over every area of your life and most people don't want that. Why? Because you don't have a say so in anything. We lose all rights to be right. Most folk don't want that. Why? Because it costs us what our selfish heart wants. Amen? Now, tonight I got four very simple points. The past, the place, the prevailing, and the purpose. First of all, the past, why Jacob had never been blessed before. Okay? Now, I believe you can identify with some of these points. Number one, he wasn't blessed because of his heredity. You see, his father was Isaac, his mother was Rebekah, Rebekah was barren, Isaac prayed, and she became a mother of twins. His brother's name was Esau, his name was Jacob. And they were born into a family where Isaac loved Esau. Why? Because Esau was a man's man. Had hair all over him, he killed deer, could stew up deer stew, make his father, he loved Esau. But it said Jacob was a man of the plains and he lived in tents. He's a city boy, the other boy's a country boy. And said, amen, and mama, and he was a mommy's boy. And the other one was a daddy's boy. And they were high on love and low on discipline. And you know what happened? Both of them grew up being favorites. And because of that heredity, there was a problem with the character of Jacob. Now, what kind of warning do we have along that? Sometimes because of our past encounters with sin, because of mistakes of our parents, we can have certain strongholds, just like Brother Neal brought out. Isn't that beautiful how God did that, brought that out? Brought up in a family, and I can identify with that, Brother, because I have a father that never really said, I love you, son. And in my marriage a number of years ago, my wife said, why can't you say you love me the way you did when we were court? Isn't that awful? We men have a terrible habit of doing that, ladies. God needs to smite us with conviction, amen, because you women need to hear words, amen, don't you? And I figured out, and God brought to my mind within a few months that my problem was because my daddy never taught me how to properly, showed me how to properly love my mother and us. And I had to break through that stronghold, amen. You know what happens sometimes when you have favoritism? You have kids that compete with one another. And bitterness is formed, and selfishness is formed. And what happens, because of that heredity, he never learned how to get away from selfishness. Now, I think we ought to raise our kids up to treat all of them equal, and love them equally, and care for them equally, amen? And that's difficult to do, especially if one does something better than the other and pleases you. I can see old Esau going out in the woods, and he said, Daddy, I got a great big buck. A 12-font buck, and I got you some stew stewing, and here's old Jacob coming up, and he said, Daddy, I want to show you this painting I drew. Mom said, Oh, that's lovely, honey, what else have you done? You want to learn to play the piano? Amen? Can you identify with that, folks? Now listen, we need to understand that in our heredity, some of us have strongholds because maybe we were pampered, or we had too much harsh discipline, or we were taught to say that we're no good, and that can teach us how not to yield to God, God's way. Number two, he was headstrong. What do you mean, preacher? Well, he was a selfish individual. Everywhere I look at, Jacob on his way. Selfish. Number two, he was scheming. He was a master manipulator. Oh boy, he manipulated his brother like this. He manipulated with the birthright. He manipulated with the cattle. Do you know people that are great manipulators? Churches are full of them. Amen? I had several good ones. In fact, I had one gal in the church I pastored in Hagerstown. She was my female Jacob. She was a master manipulator, and she had a physical infirmity. She had a mild case of cerebral palsy, and she limped a little bit, and she was a brilliant lady, and she used that to her advantage. How? She got ladies to clean her home up for her, and they bought her a microwave, and people gave her money, but she really had a bank account about that deep. Amen? She had a daughter that she put on a pedestal and promoted. And the third week I pastored, took over this church, she made an appointment to meet the new preacher. Well, amen, I thought that was wonderful. One of my members is going to come to the office to meet me and get to know me. And she sat down, and she had a notepad about like this, and said, Well, Pastor, I've got some things I want to talk about. It's going to take about two or three hours. I said, Well, I've only got 20 minutes. Well, Pastor So-and-so, let me have as much time as I could have. I said, I'm not him. I said, How about giving me the first two, and we'll talk about the other two later. In fact, I said, Dear sister, I heard you're a pretty spiritual lady. Probably you and Jesus could work it out quicker than I can help you. Boy, that girl tried to manipulate me. I mean, son, she was like a snake. What did you do? I prayed much. What did you pray? Lord, get her out or get her out. Amen? Do you know what she came to me one day? She said, Preacher, I visited my parents in Florida, and my health is so much better in Florida. Do you think it's God's will for me to move to Florida? I said, Amen, sister. Amen. And during the satyric crusades, when she went to the prayer room night, she got on her knees and filled out one little prayer card. She was writing something down to impress, because she hadn't met God. If she had met God, she would have come clean of this. And the man of God from the Canadian Revival Fellowship, Doug McIntosh, read her card and tore it up in front of her face and said, Dear sister, it's obvious about what you wrote on this card. You didn't meet God. I suggest you give Him your knees and come clean. I didn't hear a peep out of her the rest of the meeting, Brother Neal. He was scheming. Let me tell you something else about old Jacob in this headstrongness. He was settled in his ways. Do you know he was 70 years old when he stole the birthright? Here we have a man that had been crooked half a life. Now, folks, the older you get, the harder it is for you to change. Listen to me, teenagers. You ought to cultivate a tender heart when you're young, because the older you get, the more you think you know, the less you know. Do you know the hardest people there are to get revived, my brothers and sisters? Those who've seen it before and know it all. People who think they know it all don't know anything the Bible says. Amen? Amen? I heard about a man. I think they said 90 years old or 110. I forgot his age, but you know, once you get about 90, all of it fits the same. Amen? You know, when you get to be that old, you're lucky to be around. But this fellow had a prayer list 21 feet long, and he would pull it out every day and get on his knees and crawl down through his prayer. He was in a revival conference, and I heard Bill McCloud tell this story. And guess who was the first one that came up during the invitation? This fellow who prayed through a 21-foot prayer list every day. He said, Brother Bill, pray for me. I don't want my heart to get hard. I want my heart to be so soft that if a leaf touched it, it would break. And yet we have these dear brethren that you couldn't get their attention if you hit them with a 10-foot 2x4. And they said, I won't come back to the revival meeting because I felt bad when I came back. Settled in their ways. They don't have a need of God. They don't want to be broken. Number four, in this headstrongness, he strived against God. What'd he do? He'd meet God. Guess what happened? He'd break his promise. He'd meet God at Bethel. He'd meet God at this other place. He'd make God a promise, but he was not changed because his character wasn't changed and his walk wasn't changed. Friends, we can go to the prayer room 10 million times, but until we meet with God and God breaks us at that point, at that key ground, you will not change and you will not have power with God and with men. I've seen people in revival crusades repent on a lower level. What do you mean, preacher? They know what God's dealing with them with, but in order to save face, they write something on the prayer card or they come down and say, Well, I got right with God, but they never changed. What do you mean? We had a pianist in the church that I pastored. The piano was her kingdom, and nobody messed with her kingdom. He would be banished. And my wife was the music leader that led the choir and this lady didn't like my wife, and she wouldn't submit to my wife's authority even though I gave my wife authority. The only person she'd act like she was submitting to was me. And during the crusade, God smoked her with conviction and went to the prayer room, and she didn't repent over being bitter at my wife and rebelling against authority and manipulating and controlling people with her nonsense. She said, I'm letting my husband do all the soul winning for me. I need to be a better soul winner. And we had a meeting where all the leaders got together and one at a time, we got before each other and admitted the griefs we had against one another, and guess who didn't show up? She got conveniently sick. I wonder if there's anybody here not striving against God. Won't come clean on the ground because you're afraid of being found out. That was the past, his heredity and his headstrongness. Number two, the place where God met him. He said Jacob was left alone, and it was actually at the fort of Jabbok, and the place where God met him was this. He had to get Jacob alone. And the very word Jabbok means emptying. Isn't that significant? The place you meet God when you're alone is the place where you empty yourself and get full of God. You see, he schemed. He said, well, Esau's coming, and at least I can save half my cattle. He said, half over here, half over there, and see if it's going to get anybody, get me. I can escape from talking out of it. You know, in his very scheming, God used that to get him alone where nobody could help him out of his mess. Do you know what we'll conveniently do, folks, if we're not careful? God has somebody boxed up to himself, and because we feel pitiful for him, we try to help him out of a box. God's got me. I've seen this happen. That's why I told my folk, when I started saying, somebody will come to the altar, and you have a bunch of ladies crying around. Amen? Oh, God bless you. I hope everything gets okay. Let them stood in conviction a day or two. They might come out of that mess. Amen? Oh, but it hurts me to see them hurting. You ought to see how God hurts if you don't let them get to God, and how much they're going to hurt later. See, we don't see the true spiritual value of God breaking somebody down to the point where they got so sick of their sin, they don't want that slop anymore. We used to say, where I come from the South, we break them from sucking eggs. You know what that means? You know those dogs who suck on eggs? Someone has said, to be left alone with God is the only way of arriving at the true estimation of self. To be left alone with God is the only way of arriving at the true estimation of self. You know why some of you have been struggling and having a hard time? Because the Holy Spirit has isolated you where God's spotlight is on you, and you can't wiggle out of it. It's like a dagger is stagging in your soul. It's like, man, I'm getting shaken up, and you're trying to think about this thing, and God's got you locked up to circumstances, and locked up to difficulties, and locked up to all kind of stuff, and that's His love upon your life, trying to get you alone enough so you can listen to what He's saying. We're in such a rush, rush, rush, go, go, go, do, do, do, instant generation, we don't have time to be still and know that He's God. Number two, the place He was at made Him afraid. In chapter 32, verse 7, then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. And what did God do? God gave him word that Esau was coming. He said, Esau, last time I saw him, said, he's going to kill me. And I guarantee you, when he was alone that night, and that angel of God got on him, that shook him up too, amen? Can I tell you this? God, at times, will put such conviction on us that we'll have a fear come on us. Now, let me kind of update this to why was he afraid. He was afraid of his past dealings because he knew he had been crooked. Do you know why some of you here are afraid? Because you're crooked, and you know where you're crooked, and you don't want to come clean. Because it's going to cost you something. What? Pride. Your spiritual position. That's why folks are hiding out in this meeting. The spotlight's pretty bright. Digging a little deep. And don't you let this crowd fool you. You say, well, it's just too rough for me. They're just letting you know they don't want Godfrey, and they want a bunch of spiritual slobs. And they want to be spiritual midgets or remain lost and go to hell. Don't let anybody fool you. Preacher, why do you preach that message so hard Sunday morning on counterfeit Christians? We just smoke rat out of a hole. What do you mean? If you're shooting a hole, rats come out. Amen? Amen? Amen? Real crowd sticks it out. The counterfeits go home. You just pass the word on. Give them something else to talk about. But Preacher, one of my loved ones is sitting at home. Then it just gives you an indication of what you need to pray for, folks. What else can we be afraid of? We fear God. Well, He'll say to us. That's why people stay at home. What's God going to say to me next? If it's bad enough Sunday, who am I? Hey folks, it's a miracle God even wants to talk to people like us. I like for God to talk to me. That's my Father. And Him talking to me, even in rough terms, means that God's got some good things in store for me. Amen? Amen? Man, if you're saved and filled with God and love the Book, hey, the harder the preaching, the better. Shut the corn, amen. That's what these old boys down south, he's learned something over there. I had a crowd used to follow me around when I preached. I'd get hot and preach. They'd say, shut the corn, Preacher, that's good. Then it seemed like an old bullfrog on a pond letting loose. Amen? Amen? What else are we afraid of? What will He do with us when He's got a hold of us? You know what He just might do? He just might tell us that everything we're doing is absolutely a mockery to Him, and we've got to rearrange our schedule and get on the schedule of God. And we don't want that, why? Because God's got everything figured out. We're comfortable. We like comfort. Don't bother me, God. I want my ticket to heaven and blessings. Everybody's sucking on their spiritual bottles. They haven't had the preacher birth them to keep them in church. What else are we afraid of? We are afraid of dealing with our sins. We're fearful of being found out as a hypocrite. We're fearful of getting right with God. That's the place, you know. I was telling Brother Jules, I was in a revival conference close to ten years ago, and, you know, I really love Jesus, but I was on another level that God wanted to get me off of. See, there are levels of growth we'll talk about probably tomorrow night, of spiritual growth, and it's good to know where you're going, because nobody here has arrived and thinks you have. Friend, you're deceived. If you're satisfied where you're at spiritually, you're probably lost, because the saved person really can never be satisfied where they're at with God. And God railroaded me in this revival conference, and after two days, I wanted to go home. I just like that crowd over at home. I just want to go home. Why? Because God had pointed out that it was all me, not Him. And I told this big preacher of this revivalist, he said, what do you think about this conference? I said, I think the devil's in this thing. I feel awful. That's what I said. And he said, what you going to do? Just going to listen to one more sermon? I'm going to get on my plane. I'm going to get my plane changed and go home. I'll miss my wife. Boy, that morning's conviction came on me, and God ripped the cover off of me and showed me how much was me. And I remember trying to motor across that gravel parking lot, and all I did was fall down on an iron chair, and said, God, most of what I've done has been the flesh burned to dust. And that night, God had me enrobed in front of the whole crowd and let them know how big a hypocrite I was. What happened? The Odyssey of Walking with God really began. But boy, why was I afraid? Because just the week before, I'd been on a nationwide TV program and told America everywhere I went, a revival was going to break out, and I was going to bring a million souls to Jesus. And here's God telling me that was a bunch of flesh. And I had to go back to the school and tell that crowd that I was in the flesh when I said it. What did it do? It didn't make the school I went to very happy, but it pleased God. Amen? They wrote me off. I ceased to be a young champion, but at least I started being a servant for a change. Amen? He was alone. He was afraid. But this place, he suddenly became aware that something was going on that he didn't like. What happened? All of a sudden, out of nowhere, somebody leaped on him. And started wrestling with him. Hey, listen, when God starts wrestling you, friend, you can't be at ease inside. When God turns the heat up in the kitchen, friend, you cannot sit there and be dead as a stump. It shakes you up. I wonder how many people here tonight are aware of God's dealings in their life. You know what most people do, brother pastor? When God starts dealing with them, they swear up and down, it's the devil. They go, he's learned the signal. That means amen. Listen, when my car broke down, and all hell's broken loose in my family, and my job's running bad, my husband and I are fussing, that might not be the devil. It might be God trying to get your attention. He was aware of God's dealing with him. Now, that's the place. Now, let's talk about the prevailing when God blessed him. See, out of nowhere, the angel of God wrestled with him to the breaking of day. Now, let me tell you about three things about this wrestling or struggle. Number one, it was an initiated struggle. God started it, he didn't. Jacob was going to try to scheme his way. God said, I'm tired. I think I'm going to help Jacob out. I'm going to break him. Jesus, in a Christophany, actually, came down in the form of a man and wrestled with this old boy. You know, God started it. Can I make a statement that you'll never forget? I've never forgotten. I didn't think this up. I heard a fellow at a revival conference say this, Our biggest battles are not with the devil, they're with God. And God started that struggle. God latched on to him like one of these professional wrestlers. Put a hammerlock on Jacob. It was an initiated struggle, but it was an inescapable struggle. The boy couldn't get out of it. The more he struggled, the harder it was to get out of it. I remember when I was in college, I took a wrestling course. I thought it was a crip course in college. That was back in my hippie days. You know, I was kind of long-haired, and I always wanted to try to get the easiest class to get out of college the quickest. I didn't realize all the football teams took the class. And I was the only hippie in there, and all of them weighed at least 170 pounds. And I weighed about 145 back then, and they had beat-up hippie day every time I went in there. I mean, this was not championship wrestling. I'm talking about college wrestling. And I remember getting down in this stance, and this guy got over me, and suddenly he said, get out of the hole before you know it. This fellow had me flipped over, had some kind of figure four-leaf grapevine hold on me, had me choking on me, you know, and I'm struggling. And you know, the harder I struggled, the more he had me, and after ten minutes, after about two minutes, I was so exhausted that I almost passed out. I never want to mention that class. Talking about feeling rejected. Now listen, some of you here today, and even people that are home, are in an inescapable struggle because once you've been saved, my friend, God never quits dealing with you because He whips those He loves and disciplines those He loves. Quit fighting with Him and give up. In fact, now listen, the very Greek word there for God chastens those He loves, now this would put the fear of God in you. Either God will straighten you out here where you'll live right, or He'll straighten you out on the stretcher and take you home. You buck up on God long enough. I saw a man in the church I pastored, I wouldn't say this, I won't call his name, but in my spirit and a few other people's spirits, he walked out of junior church one day and said, I don't like what's going on, I'm not going to serve anymore. It wasn't two years folks. He was in his early fifties. He got one of the rarest heart diseases. His heart literally turned to stone and just quit functioning, and he dropped dead within two years of that day saying, I'm not going to do it. You buck up on God, friend, you're bucking up against somebody you don't muck with. There's no fear of God in the church, that's why the church sins can get by with it, brother pastor. We're not afraid of God. I had a daddy I knew better than the cross and wine because he'd fry my eye. In a good way. Right? I'll tell you something else about this struggle. It was initiated, it was inescapable, but it was intense. I mean, all night they wrestled. All night they wrestled. You know how people get out of conviction? They talk their way out of it or make jokes about what God said. Hello? Most people I've noticed like to hang around white people. Never talk about anything serious, brother. Hello? He's too serious. Too intense. Every time we come there, he's talking about having God move on the scene and brokenness and living life and being full of the Spirit and praying and giving all you've got. Let's go down here to Ichabod Baptist Church so we can feel good. They have better music down there. He preaches 30 minute sermons and you know a preacher can say as much he needs to do in 30 minutes. This thing is 45 minute hour sermons all night. That just means the old boy doesn't have anything to say. That's exactly what backslidden, backbiting Christians say when God's got them under conviction trying to slip out of the noose. Can I get amen from the peanut gallery? Amen. That's exactly how backsliders do it. They get so angry. It's the last time I'm coming back. An intense struggle. It's getting hotter. It's getting hotter. Preacher, cut it off! No! Hunter, pull it on! It's intention struggle. An intention struggle. There was intention behind the struggle. God doesn't lock up with you in conviction for the purpose you're slipping out. He wants to get you somewhere. What? He wants to get you to admit what He knows about you. He chastened His pride. He challenged His plans. He crushed His will so He could confess His pollution. How do you know He broke through? He said, What's your name? And for the first time in His life, Jacob said, My name's Jacob. And the very Hebrew word means I'm a schemer, I'm a supplanter, and I've been crooked. That's when God made me a blessing, when He came clean of what was really deep down in His heart. Someone said, when revival comes, it's like taking the top off a trash can and showing you the garbage in your heart. When a person gets right with God, it has never been painless to me, but the pain always brings me to a process that brings me to God's pleasure and God's blessing. He admitted a lifetime of failure. He agreed with God. He saw His true state of affairs. He came to Himself. He was brought to the end of His resources. He said, Listen, I can't go on like this. And now that I've called myself Jacob, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. I'm tired of not being blessed. You know what some of you need to do now is flat get so aggravated that the devil will cheat you out of blessing and you've been blind and say, God, I'm not getting off my face until I've got something on me that's going to last for a lifetime. We call that waiting upon God or what some of the old folks said is struggling through till you get a blessing. This is the easy crowd that says, Well, I've just got everything in Jesus. Yeah, you do, but my friend, God's got to get everything out of you and I before we can get to what we all got in Jesus. And that's a process. I feel like I have liberty to tell you this, how God got me like Jacob. I pastored a church right out of seminary in Martinsville, Virginia for two and a half years and it was an interesting ministry. I took a church that God didn't start. Had a bunch of folks mean as snakes. I mean, they were good, but they were mean as snakes. They were the kind of folks that were successful and they wanted a pastor to make them successful and after about a year, they figured out I wasn't that kind of guy. You know, because when people came in, they either got glad or mad. And most people don't like that. They want everybody to be just fine, everybody talking fine, no trouble, tip-toe through the tulips, have a good crowd, have a lot of money, and make me feel a good preacher and I'll be a happy church member. And yes, the devil likes that too, folks. And, you know, they got a little upset with me and we got through that ministry and God began to show me, after about two years, that He wanted to move me on. I had three doors open up at the same time and I resigned under good circumstances and we moved to Florida to go on staff of a church where I'll be youth pastor and live almost by faith and go to seminary and work on my doctorate. The president of this seminary, my wife's sister, married his son. And the dean of the seminary was the pastor of the church I went to and the associate pastor was the assistant professor of the seminary. And, you know, I had a lot of plans. Get my doctorate, meeting all these great men of God, get through my doctorate in about two or three years and from there launch out to successful ministry. But God had other plans. We bought a mobile home and moved it on the church property and after about two days of my wife being in that mobile home, she got sick. In fact, she got so sick that we had to move her out of there and take her back to Georgia to her mama. And I steam cleaned the carpets and put an air filter in it and ammonia bonded because it had a high content of formaldehyde. If you ever walked in a mobile home and your eyes burned, that's formaldehyde that killed you. And what had happened, unfortunately, her whole immune system was broken down by the formaldehyde. We knew this because her mother had a similar problem and she got so sick that when she came back, she got sicker. Middle of the winter time in Florida, it's the coldest winter they had had. We moved in a little travel trailer next to our trailer that was about 20 feet long with a brand new baby, Joel that was about three years old, a sick wife and me trying to strive to keep her there because I had my plans. She came to me after about a week. She was so sick. Her whole countenance changed. Her muscles ached. She got disoriented. Her breathing broke down. And she said, I've got to leave here. I'm going to die. And I suddenly saw how serious it was. You know, sometimes, husbands, we don't see how serious things are until a bit too late. Well, I went to that pastor and said, Brother, I've got to resign. My wife's sick. He got a little upset with me. And folks, I had to just pull it all out. I left there. We lost almost all of our furniture because the furniture made her sick. Almost all of our clothing because our clothing made her sick. Left there, everything we owned in the back of a 24-foot U-Haul and moved in with her folks in the mountains of Georgia. I called all my preacher friends up hoping they'd help me out. Not one of them would help me out. God hung them up. My wife got sicker. She got sicker. Then she leveled out. She couldn't wear makeup anymore. Her face was washed out. She began to get irritable because of the defective nervous system. I saw her personality change. And I stuck up there with my in-laws. Now, I have great in-laws that are saved, but that's not the best place to live. Amen? Preacher, how did you act the first two or three months up there? I liked the devil. I wanted to preach. I wasn't happy unless I was inappropriate. What's it worth? Bills coming in. I mean, stacking up like that. No money coming in. Used all of our money up. And I was just struggling. Couldn't read the Bible. I was irritated. I'd get snaffed at my kids. I was the kind of person who could never sit still. I mean, I thought sitting still was sin. And I sit on that porch. I said, there's nothing to do up here in the mountains of Georgia. I'm going crazy. What am I going to do? And just mean and mad and ugly and bitter and upset. One day my wife said, let's take a ride. I need to talk to you. So we took a ride outside this lake. And she said, I've got to say a few things to you, Charlie, because I need to share them with you because I feel like we're in trouble. I knew we were. You know what I thought was trouble? I said, you'd get well. In fact, I even told her, I think this is psychological. Ain't that awful to do that to you? You know, some men do that to wives to manipulate them. I said, well, if I find a church, you can try to make it. She said, I don't think I can go anywhere. I'm afraid I'm going to die, man. She said, I'm going to tell you some things that may hurt you, but I need to clear my conscience. Now, my wife is generally a prophetess. She'll tell you what she thinks. And she said, Charlie, if you were the man of God that you say you are, you wouldn't be pouting about not getting to preach. You would have been ministering to me and helped me out. You haven't done that, and it's hurtful. And she said, while I'm at it, if you were the man of God you said you were, you wouldn't be sitting around here waiting to get a church. You would have already gotten a job and quit living off my mom and dad. So, what did you do? I got mad at her. I looked at her like this, cranked that car off, spun the tires, and drove like a maniac back there just looking at her. Man, I was mad. Now, don't look at me, sir. You've gotten that mad before. Don't, don't, don't. Please don't look at me like you. I'm some heathen. You've gotten that mad before. That's why some of you are mad on the inside. You've been mad for years. You've never admitted it about how you got hurt. What did you do? I slammed the door and ran off up in the woods and there God made me. Such conviction that I dropped on my knees. I said, God, what's going on? I can't take it anymore. He said, everything she said was the truth and I'm going to tell you more preaching. Preaching is your God and you're your God. Because if you were satisfied with me, you could be happy in the mountains, not preaching. He said, you haven't ministered your life in purgatory and all you do is think about your goals in your ministry and how other people think. That's your problem. You worry about what your friends think about you more than what I say about you. I have never been, I've been under conviction, but I was under conviction and I stayed up there an hour crying and weeping and I asked God to forgive me and I came down off that mountain shouting the victory and I walked up to my wife and said, honey, I got right with God, will you forgive me? She said, well, I'll forgive you, but I'm going to watch you for a couple of months to see if you need it. Because she knew me, I'm Jacob. What happened? The next day, I rode down that mountain going to get me a job. Going to be a preacher, going to have to get a job. First place I went was a peanut factory, third shift, shoveling peanuts, six bucks an hour. I went there thinking, I had a master's degree, they were going to put me in the personnel office, counseling people. He said, the only thing I got, preacher, shoveling peanuts, six bucks an hour. I said, I'll take it. But they wouldn't even hire me for that, so I was overqualified to shovel peanuts. I had a master's, overqualified, isn't that something? But there was a fella in that city that was a Baptist deacon that raised Hereford bulls. He had one bull worth a million bucks he bought from Kenneth. I'd sleep that cow, wouldn't you? A million buck bull. And he had a wife, and she's a boss lady, little old short lady, she's a boss lady, and they're building this big new house. She bossed me around for two weeks. Do that, brother, or you miss the spot up there where you're painting. Hey, brother, will you go over here and do that? Here I am, a master's degree, as a preacher, and here's this Baptist deacon telling me what to do. Four bucks an hour. Well, come to dinner, come on. Half an hour. I mean, I'll tell you, I was sorely tried to tell that woman to flat get right with God. well, two weeks passed. She came in one day, said, Brother Charlie, we got another job for you. I said, praise God, hallelujah, glory to the Lamb. A new job. Ninety-eight degrees, Georgia summer. Put me on the back of a hay truck baling hay. I'd never baled hay in my life. And two old boys in the front of that truck didn't like preachers. Heard I was a preacher, and I saw them, they sped that truck up about ten miles an hour faster, and those big hundred and fifty pound bales, hey, were dropping on me, falling on me. I mean, I was throwing them up there. I'd wore short-sleeved shirts and no gloves. Scratched up. And all of a sudden, now listen, folks, all of a sudden, for the first time in my life, I saw something. God said, Preacher, you're preaching a sermon. He said, this is your pulpit. And the way you're acting here is going to determine how those boys think about Jesus. And for the first time in my life, I saw it wasn't being behind the pulpit. It's how I respond in my circumstances in the glory of God that gets the job done. And I started, in my soul, started singing hymns in the glory of God. Got on the back of that truck, and I belled that hay, and I said, fellas, if you could slow down, I might do a better job. I've never done this. I was kind to them, and at lunchtime, I said, Preacher, we like you. He said, why? I said, you're the only preacher we ever seen like to work. I belled hay for four bucks an hour. Let me tell you, I was so satisfied belling hay, I didn't want to pulpit. God came to me and said this, Preacher, will you be satisfied never preaching again? But knowing you're the right person to me, the right partner to your wife, the right parents to your kids, and investing your life in the people I bring through by you belling hay, and everybody else thinking you're a failure, but knowing this is pleasing me, will you submit to that? And in three days, I said, yes, Lord Jesus. Then you promoted me, what? Digging up Christmas trees for five bucks an hour with a jack shovel. First day I slept, broke my glasses, blacked my eye, and I said, if God wants me to dig Christmas trees, I'll be satisfied. What happened, Preacher? God blessed me there. And when I got satisfied digging Christmas trees and belling hay, God opened the door to a church in Maryland at a place that was absolutely a wreck that had grown from zero to 410 in three years, and the pastor had done the moral trouble and had to leave. And somebody slipped my resume to them without me knowing it, and the stack of resumes that had high above them, they got interested in a preacher who was digging Christmas trees, preaching in mountain churches where they had ten roofs and outhouses, and ladies that when you got them stirred up, they'd go, whoo, glory! I mean, they'd shout. First time I heard one of those mountain ladies with buns on their hair, she just turned back and goes, whoo, glory! I stiffened up, and the old preacher put his hand on my leg and said, sit still, son, that's real. And from that place of preaching in those little old churches, God said, preacher, you're ready to take this church because I know that you're satisfied with me and me alone. You see, when that was in teaching, Jacob had to come clean. You know how to do it? And I've had to share that story everywhere. Why? Because I'm just letting you know how much of a skunk I am. And still can be. But once you've had that experience, folks, out of that experience, there's a purpose. There's a two-fold purpose in closing this message. What? You have a new vision of God and have new virtue with God. He's seen God face to face. You've seen God in a different revelation. Amen? And once you've seen God that way, my friends, you can't be the same. You are more than that God. This crowd that's sitting right here, passive, I've seen it all, I've been revived, I know it all, friends. They just don't know that God wants you to get more in tune with Him and more intimate with Him and go on into maturity. I like somebody that's got some steam in their locomotive and is heading someplace right in this crowd waiting around for the blessing. He said, you have power with God and with men. You know, His name changed. He wasn't Jacob anymore. He was Israel. Out of that boy's loins would come man of blessing. Guess what happened when God broke Him? He went ahead and Him and Esau got things right. Vortex of God's will. I mean, do you have power with God and with men? I'm not talking about knowing about Him, knowing about principles. I tell you folks, we can make a mistake by making principles our life rather than a person. And you be careful about people that are always giving you principles and they leave out the person of Christ. They're all about five minutes. What's the most dangerous clock? One that's off five minutes or an hour. The one off five minutes because you won't know five minutes for an hour and you'll recognize it. And there are men in movements around this country that teach you principles apart from the person walking with a person and you can get off face five minutes. Now you chew that up and smoke it in your spiritual pain. A wise man told me that and it saved me from getting involved with worshiping men in movements rather than the king. Because unless Dr. Dufunky says it, it's no good. Hello? Just because Dr. Dufunky says it, he or she may be off five minutes. Just because they said it, you better check it with the books and see if the person recognizes it. Because principles put you under bondage. A person, you can walk in freedom. That's what happened to revival. You got all these principles of revival. No, revival is a person you walk with and he changes you. The shackles just fell off somebody, but your light came on. I just saw it. Be careful when you make one man your spiritual guru. Even if God's blessing you, you be careful. You walk with Jesus, not a man. A new vision of God, new virtue with God. And it said, the sun rose up on that belly, walked to length. Some of you need to walk out of here at the length. God breaking you at the point of your strength. And God hasn't been dealing with you just tonight. He's been trying to get your attention for years, but you've been too hard-headed to recognize it's God. What? If you've had a... Listen, if you've had a long-term problem that's never been settled, God's been trying to get your attention about something deeper than the problem. My wife's healing was simply the platform for us to get to the presence of God. The problem hasn't left, but we've got to the solution, us. You know what I can do? Now, you don't think I can do this. I can sit on the porch, get in a rocking chair, take me on that right there, not feel guilty. I could go... Four years ago, I could finally go on a vacation, and after two days forget about that church because I knew it was God's, leave it in the hands of God and whoever was there and go back and they had a better time with me, gone. Now, the first time it made me kind of a mad preacher, but God says, it's my church, didn't I tell you I could do more with it so I could relax on vacation? I learned to relax. It doesn't mean I get and lose, but there are times in which you can relax in Jesus, amen? I mean, it wasn't... You're in a flow, but you like it for God to break you and get the strut out of you. L.E. Maxwell wrote in one of his books, if God could ever take the wiggle out of a worm, He could beat down mountains with that worm. Some of you got too much, we got too much Jacob in you. You're wiggling because the devil has access to your mind every time God tries to pin you up, he throws his fire with God and says, that's not the truth, he's lying to you. Boy, that's too much. The biggest place I'll always be is down in the prayer room getting right with God tonight because God's spoken clearly. What's God getting your attention over? God will give you a wayward son or daughter or just bring up what's wrong with your life. And you blame the devil on it. No, if you get right, you can get them back. At least have peace in the struggle, the battle you're fighting rather than striving. If you're striving, you're not in the Spirit because the Spirit's just a peaceful walk. It's war, boy. It's an absolute battle, but you can battle in His strength. Do you know what burnout is? Burnout is when someone sets a goal that's not God's goal and tries to fulfill it in the flesh or gets a goal that's God's and tries to fulfill it in the flesh. One or the other, you're not in His energy because I never saw a spirit-filled man in the Bible burn out. And the flesh always gives what? Openness to the devil to aggravate the condition. God's getting ready to bless somebody tonight. What are you going to do? Call your real name. God's going to say, you're a liar. There's somebody here, you've shaved the truth all the time because you're afraid of telling people the truth. There's some thieves in here but you cheated on things and you don't want to complain. Call your name to God. That's what He wants to hear. He'll bless you when you agree with Him. He forgives you when you agree with Him. He'll break you when you agree with Him. You don't have to leave here limping, you leave here leaping. God spoke tonight. Some of you need to repent of idolatry. What? Putting up a man or a movement ahead of God. That's why some people can't follow a pastor because Dr. Duflunkey is better than my preacher. God gives you a pastor to give you light, more light than Dr. Duflunkey because that's why God's authority works. But see, since you're listening to another voice, the devil can't deceive you because once you're out from underneath authority, you're in deception. I don't care what Dr. Duflunkey says. And God blessed him there. What an unusual place of blessing. He was alone, afraid. That initiated, intense, intention struggle brought him to a place to say, I'm Jacob. I'm coming clean. And some of you have wanted to do this for a long time, but you've been afraid what people think about you. Jacob didn't care. Once God knew, everybody else could know. In fact, God let the whole world know the Word of God. Revival begins when God's people get right with God on His terms. And revival is simply a fresh beginning of Jesus. That's normal Christian living. We're simply trying to get all of us back to what normal is. We're so abnormal, I mean, we're so subnormal that if anybody ever got normal, we'd think they're abnormal. The prayer room is available. Well, God bless you here tonight. It's up to you. Let's bow together in prayer.