Keith Battle - Don't Let Go

Genesis 32:26 is where I want to focus: «Then the man said, 'Let me go, for the dawn is breaking, ' but Jacob said, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.'» Before you sit down, I want you to tell a couple of people around you, «Don’t let go! Don’t let go! Don’t let go!» You may be seated. Don’t let go! Don’t let go! Don’t let go! Don’t let go! I don’t know who you are; I don’t know where you are, but I’m on assignment to tell somebody three simple words today: «Don’t let go.» Your miracle is connected to your holding on. Don’t let go! Everything I’m going to tell you today comes down to three things, three words. Jacob did not let go of everything God blessed him with, and everything he received on the other side of his struggle was because he refused to let go. I don’t know who you are, but I’m on assignment to preach to somebody who feels like giving up. The Lord’s grip of faith is slipping out of your hands. People around you don’t even know it. You’ve been thinking about quitting; you’ve been considering walking away—walking away from the church, walking away from the faith. You’ve been thinking about giving up. I don’t know who you are, but He gave me this word to tell you: Don’t let go! You can’t let go! Don’t you dare let go! I need you to fill the chat up with that—put it in the chat: «Don’t let go! Don’t let go!» I need you to elbow somebody because you might be sitting next to the person right now who’s been thinking about giving up on their faith. Elbow them and say, «Don’t let go! Don’t let go!» If I have to hold on for you until you get yourself back together, do not let go! You’ve got to keep fighting; you cannot quit! You can’t! The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, but the violent take it by force! You can’t quit! What would happen if you didn’t let go? I told you last week that there was a story in the message, «God of the Dark.» I said that God was doing everything for the nation of the Israelites on behalf of a man named Jacob. It is this Jacob that we are focused on today—a man who, when we come to this story, was not a man of great character. He did not have an honorable reputation; in fact, his name Jacob actually means supplanter. It means deceiver; it means trickster. Be careful what you name your children because he surely lived up to his name. And it is this Jacob who is coming out in chapter 31 of one mess, and he’s walking into another one. The mess he is walking out of in chapter 31 is the mess of a relationship with his uncle named Laban. After decades of working for an uncle who was trickier and more deceitful than he was, he is finally free to move about with his life. Now he faces the skeleton in his closet named Esau. I’ll explain it in a moment in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, but he has come out of this mess and is now facing another one. The reason why he was even in his uncle Laban’s life and the reason why he is trying to pacify his brother Esau by calling him «Lord, ” by calling him „Master, ” saying, „I’m your servant, ” and by sending him gifts and trying to appease him is that he had mistreated his brother. In fact, it goes beyond mistreatment; he had robbed his brother of what was rightfully his. Not only did he do it, but his mother Rebecca was in on it as well. Rebecca had twins, Esau and Jacob; they were twins, but his mother loved Jacob more than she loved Esau. She actually connived and worked a plan with her son Jacob to steal Esau’s right as the firstborn. As the firstborn, he was entitled to the majority share of his father’s inheritance. His mother tricked him and his brother Jacob out of that birthright. In addition to that, Esau went hunting at his father Isaac’s request, and Jacob came in at his mother’s direction and pretended to be Esau. He didn’t look like Esau; he didn’t sound like Esau, but he put fur on his body to make himself hairy. You’ve got to read the story! By the way, if a producer was looking for a family to do a scandalous reality TV show, this is the family right here! If you read Genesis 25 to 32, it will blow your mind how scandalous this family was. This mother plotted along with him, saying, „I want you to act like you’re Esau. Your father’s about to die, and he’s about to extend his final blessing.“ Now Isaac is about to die; he has lost his vision; his eyes are dim. He says, „You sound like Jacob, but you feel like Esau.“ Jacob said, „No, it’s me, Esau!“ and he distributed his final blessing over Jacob that was supposed to go to Esau. When Esau got back home, he told his father, „I’m Esau! I’m here!“ and his father said, „Your brother just tricked me!“ When Esau found out about it in Genesis 27:41, he said, „When Dad dies, I’m going to kill you.“ How about that for direct communication! So when his mother realized that her older son Esau, the oldest twin, was going…