07Over the next three week’s, I am going to share with you a sermon that Reverend Jimmy Toney shared with our church, First Apostolic Church of Maryville. Last night was the first service of a revival Reverend Toney is preaching for us. It couldn’t have started off any better. I don’t believe I have ever heard a message quite like I did last night. I’d like to share with you some of that sermon in my own words. I truly believe that it will help someone. This series will be covered over the next three Monday’s. We hope that you enjoy this message on “Broken Beyond Repair” and that it helps you as much as it’s helped us.
Broken Beyond Repair – Part 1
(Click here to view the full service. Preaching starts around 1:15:36)
Genesis 32:24 “And Jacob was left alone; there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.”
II Samuel 4:4 “And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.”
Psalms 31:11 “I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.”
In Genesis 32 Jacob wrestled with the Lord and was out of joint. In II Samuel 4, Mephibosheth was dropped and was lame on his feet. David said in Psalms 31, “I am a broken vessel”. Brokenness is a real situation in our world. We can put on our nice clothes and a happy face and pretend everything is okay. But if we were to get honest there are things in life that have broken us.
Sometimes brokenness is brought to us by the hand of God. Other times it is a freak accident. Like being in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Brokenness may also come at the hand of others who have malice in their heart to bring about harm and damage. Regardless of the origin, broken is broken.
Many times as Christians, we want to tell everyone that it will be alright. We want to give hope no matter the situation. Even possibly at the expense of giving false hope. All because we believe wholeheartedly that God can heal anything and anybody. We will continue to teach that but the other side of that coin is that there is some pain, some hurts, that are so deep that we might need to hear the painful truth that would help us, more than a polished lie that hurts.
Broken by God
In Genesis 32 Jacob had to face a crisis. He was returning to Cannon in obedience to God. That meant that he would have to face his brother Esau. The same brother he cheated 20 years before. When we want to become obedient to the Lord, we are going to have to face the mistakes that we made even if they are from 20 years ago.
That’s why some people never truly tap into the real forgiveness and power of God. We want God to come down and miraculously touch us but we don’t want to have to deal with some of the mistakes we’ve made 20 years ago. God says “Wait a minute before I can bless you. Before I can change your name, and before I can give you an opportunity like never before. You are going to have to fix things with your brother, mom, and dad, whoever. You are going to have to let some things go.”
Jacob didn’t know how Esau would receive him so when his messenger came back and told him that Esau was on his way to meet him and he had brought 400 men with him. Jacob froze with fear. He prayed “Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.” (Genesis 32:11). Verse 24 says “and Jacob was left alone; there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.”
Before God could reveal himself to Jacob. He had to get Jacob to where he was all by himself. Before God would ever be physically engaged with Jacob, He had to get Jacob to the place where he was alone. Now most of us hate the “lonely period”. It starts at about 16 years old. We hate to be alone. We want to be married by 18 or by 20. The same thing in our spiritual lives. We hate being by ourselves. Therefore we hardly ever have an encounter with God because we hate being by ourselves. Someone once said that solitude is the audience chamber of God. When we are alone we can’t escape into other people’s thoughts or get distracted by other people. When we are all by ourselves we have to deal with some stuff.
Here is the good news. God meets us at whatever level He finds us in, in order to take us to where He needs us to be. Jacob spent most of his life wrestling with people, Isaac, Esau, Laban, even his own wives. So God came to Jacob as a wrestler. What Jacob didn’t know and what most of us don’t realize is that God sometimes helps us through situations that are actually hurtful to us. The hurt can bring the help.
What we want so many times in life is for God to remove our problem, defeat our enemies and take away all our pain but God doesn’t always do it that way. He can heal you, and He can touch you, but sometimes He’s not going to do that and He still wants you to live Him. He still wants you to love Him and He still wants you to trust Him.
God answered Jacob’s prayer for protection from Esau by wrestling with Jacob until He left him limping and broken as he approached his brother. This is significant because Jacob was a trickster. He was smart. He was always one step ahead of everyone. So his plan in Genesis 32: 7-8 was to divide the camp into two so that way if Esau was there to fight that he would attack one camp and Jacob could run off and escape with the other camp.
But now Jacob couldn’t run from Esau even if he tried because he is broken and God refused to repair him. God said, “I am going to leave that limp so you’ll quit running from everything that you need to face”. Because of that Jacob now had to become dependant on the Lord and face his past. God didn’t just knock his thigh out of joint just to show that him who was stronger. He didn’t knock his thigh out of joint just so He could laugh at the way he walked.
God said “I’m sick of you running from everything that you need to face. So I am going to take away your ability to run from it. I’m going to break you so that you can get to the place where you are 100% dependant on Me. Because your little tricks are not going to get you any further. Your little schemes are not going to get you any further. And your little lies and manipulations are not going to pull you out of this. So I’m going to go ahead and break some things in you and I’m not going to repair them. All so that you will quit running and come face to face with what I need in your life”.
If God breaks you then most likely He’s not going to turn around the next day and repair you. He broke you for a reason. Some of us need to do is just go ahead and embrace the break. Trust that God knows exactly what He is doing in your life.
Sometimes God says “Let me go ahead and break you and I’m not going to repair you. What I am going to do though is use you in a way I could have never used you before”. God can still anoint your brokenness. Maybe instead of focusing on getting our healing, we need to say “God I embrace my new destiny. I am not going to run from You anymore. I will not run from my past anymore”.
Many times like Jacob, we want to use God to help further our end. We say we’re depending on God but instead, we are using God. All of Jacob’s life he used God and he used people to get what he wanted for himself. God brings Jacob to the realization that he cannot continue to use Him for his own means. God broke him so that now all he can do is submit. When Jacob submitted, God blessed him and changed his name. All because he was broken beyond repair. If God blessed us before breaking us, we’d think that we did it.
We need to understand that there are some things that are not going to happen for us, without a break. God wants to teach us that whatever situation we find ourselves in, therewith be content. If you can handle the break and endure the pain, God has blessings on the other side. He endured the cross for the joy that set on the other side. Broken people can exhibit anointing like nobody else.
We are all like Jacob, we think the problem is all out there. The problem is our wife, our husband, our boss. The problem isn’t out there it’s us, our flesh. God needs to reveal to us how powerful our flesh is before he can break us away from it. We need to get to the place where we can pray like in Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Jacob was broken by God. Sometimes we have to admit that the devil didn’t do this. God did this. Anytime we see somebody with any type of issue, we think “the devil did that”. Disciples ran upon a guy that was blind and said: “who did sin, this man or his parents?” Jesus said “nobody sinned, the works of God are about to be made manifest in this guy’s life. I’ve allowed this to happen so my glory can be made manifest.”
If we truly believe that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and we truly believe that He is the author and the finisher of our faith, then we have to believe that God is in control. Jacob was broken by God and God refused to repair him. Yet He still used him. God broke you to better you.
Thank you so much for reading! We hope that you allow this post to change the way you look at your brokenness. Broken things are still beautiful and still used of God in mighty ways. Be sure to tune in next week for Part 2! Also, don’t forget to check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Youtube! If you enjoyed this, be sure to spread the word! Thank you again for reading and God bless!
