Tim:

Happy New Year. Somebody to give God some praise that we made it through 2022.

I'm a poet and didn't know it. We made it through in 2022. Man, I'm so excited to be here. If this is your first time here, we want to say welcome to Embassy City Church. If you're watch it online, our Vitamin E family. Thank you so much for being with us online and there are a lot of people that watch the service or listen to the service on our podcast and we wanna say, welcome wherever you're from. Thank you so much for making Embassy City a part of your spiritual journey. My name is Tim Rivers and this is my first day on the job

Congregation:

<laugh>.

Tim:

You ever seen those cars with the sticker on the back that says like, student driver,

I thought about getting the T-shirts like New Pastor <laugh> stay back 50 feet. No, I'm so excited to be here. I believe God is going to do some special things in this next season. Jenice and I, our family we've been praying for you. We're delighted to get the opportunity to serve you in this role, and I just believe that God is going to do spectacular things in the life of our church. And what that means is that he's going to do spectacular things in your life because the church is made up of many parts, and you and I are parts of this body. And so if the body is going to be healthiest because the individual parts are healthy, and I believe that God's going to do something special this year and somebody say, amen. Amen. This is a cool day because it is the first day of the first week of, of a new year. This only happens several years. The last time was in 2017, which interestingly enough was the first Sunday that embassy occupied this building as a permanent space.

Congregation:

Yeah,

Tim:

You can't make this stuff up. It's starting to get obnoxious. I'm like, God, stop it. This is not right, but it's, it's unique. It's an amazing opportunity to start the year off in the presence of God, and I'm so glad that you're here. You're joining us online. When I was thinking about this Sunday, I was like, man, I wonder who's going to show up. The turn up is real for some people.

Congregation:

You

Tim:

Know what I'm saying? I'm, I'll be praying. You know what I'm saying? Some people be like, I got one last day. Everything's going to change tomorrow. But I'm glad that you're here. So if you have your Bibles, let's go to Genesis chapter 32, the book of Genesis chapter 32. While you're turning there, let me make you aware of something that we're going to do starting next week. We're going to kick off on the ninth, which is a week from tomorrow. We're going to kick off 21 days of prayer and fasting. Oh, I'm excited.

Let me just real quickly tell you the significance of prayer and fasting. The disciples of Jesus went out and they did a couple things and tried to cast out some devils. The devils weren't having it. They came back. They said, Jesus, we try to do these miracles. It didn't happen. What's up? Jesus said, this comes not out, but by prayer and fasting. Yes sir. In fact, Jesus, you can read about this Luke four, before he stepped into the things that he was anointed to do, he went through a time of prayer and fasting. 40 days he prayed and fasted. What fasting does for us is it, it is us moving aside things that are normally distractions or conveniences of life so that we can take that time and focus in on the Lord. The reason why we're starting on the ninth is we want you to take this next week or so and really start praying and thinking about what God wants you to focus in on as you fast and pray for the next 21 days, and you can fast whatever. Think about what you're going to fast. You can be caffeine coffee, anything that's a distraction or that's pulling at your attention with the exception of you can't fast your kids

Congregation:

<laugh>,

Tim:

My kids be pulling at me. I'm going to fast them for 21 day. No, you can't do that <laugh>, you can't fast your spouse, don't even, I'm trying to remove all distractions. <laugh> fast something that means something to you. And take this next week, think about it, and then tune in with us online because every day on our social media accounts, we're going to post daily devotionals for 21 days that are going to be on a certain subject. We'll have prayer. It's going to be a really good time. And how many believe God's going to do something special?

Congregation:

Amen.

Tim:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Even as I'm talking about I feel the presence of the Lord, I really do. Cuz I believe that by the end of this fast, it's going to be spectacular. It's going to be miracles, signs, wonders, healings, all types of stuff happening. So if you're going to join in on the fun, say amen. All right. Genesis chapter 32, verse number 22. It says the same night, somebody say night, night, night, he rose and took his two wives and his two female servants and his 11 children and crossed the Ford of J Buck. He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had, and Jacob was left alone. At least he thought he was. How many know that even when you feel alone, God's still there? Woo. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, let me go for the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Some blessings are worth fighting for. Amen. Sometimes you gotta get in a wrestling match with God even while you're hurting, even while you're in pain, even while alone, even when you're suffering

Sometimes you can't let go of God until he blesses you. Amen. And he said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. Then he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, please tell me your name. But he said, why is it that you asked my name? In other words, none your business, <laugh>, touch your nose, mind your own business. And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place penile saying, for I have seen God face-to-face and yet my life has been delivered. Woohoo. That's powerful. Check this out. The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel limping because of his hip. Therefore, to this day, the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh. And somebody say, amen. For the next little while I believe that God is going to speak to somebody. And I'll just be honest with you. I feel like preaching. There are times when you like, oh, I'm just feel like teaching a little bit, have a stool and a cup of coffee, whatever. But today I just feel like preaching, preach because I'm going to preach to you. I'm going to preach to me, I'm going to preach to heaven, I'm going to preach to hell, I'm going to preach to the atmosphere. And this is my title. It's a new day.

Oh Lord, no matter what you came through yesterday, no matter what your year was like last year, it could have been the greatest year you ever had. It could have been the worst year you ever had. Either way, as Sarah said, God has been with you the whole time. But today, on the first day of the year, I just wanna preach that it's a new day. Let's pray. Heavenly follow. We thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy. We thank you that you have brought us through 2022. And Lord, as we step into this new year, we consecrate this day and the rest of these days to you. Do what only you can do. Move in us as only you can move, touch our ears that we may hear the hearts that we may receive in our minds that we may understand. Speak to us through your word in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen. Amen. Somebody touch your neighbor and tell 'em it's a new day. New. I'm going to say it with conviction. It's a new day. It's a

Congregation:

New day.

Tim:

So there are certain things about God's creation that I find perplexing like the creation of mosquitoes <laugh>. Anybody ever wonder why did God create mosquitoes? And inevitably somebody is going to message me and say, actually mosquitoes are very important to the ecosystem. <laugh> because they're actually pollinators and only 30 out of the 400 species actually feed on human blood. You're like, why does he know that? Because I know somebody's going to message me. <laugh>.

Another thing though that I find perplexing about something that God created is time. Time is very interesting because when we look at the characteristics of God, there are certain things about God and his character that reveal his divine nature and a few of those things is that he is omniscient, which means that he knows all things. He's also omnipotent, which means that he has all power. Isn't that a comforting thing to know that God has all power, that no matter what you go through, no matter what you face, he has all power. He has power over sickness, death, hell and the grave. He's got power over your drama. He's got power over your trauma. He's got power over your mama.

He's got all kinds of power. He is also omnipresent, which means that he is everywhere at all times. He feels all of space and time and he's also eternal, which means that he has no beginning and no ending. He has always been he was is and will be. He was before you were. Yes, he was. Before Abraham was, he was before creation. He was before there was ever a star in the sky. He was before there was ever a moon, he was before there was ever a son. He was before you ever went through what you went through. He was while you were in your sin, he was now that you're a saint, he was. Even if you're a sinner, he was. He is. And he always will be. God is eternal. Yes. What's interesting though is this God who is omni mission omnipresent and is eternal and stands outside of time, has in creation created time.

And you can read about this in Genesis chapter one because the Bible tells us that God begins to create. And after every day of creation, there's this phrase in Genesis chapter one that gets repeated and it says, and there was evening and there was mourn the first day and there was evening and there was morning the second day and there was evening and there was morning the third day on and on to six days of creation. And then on the seventh day the Bible says that God rested from all that he had done the previous six days. And he looked back at what he created and he said, it's all good now. Finn is real good. And then he rested. So God not only created the moon, the stars, the sky, the humans, the animals, but he also created time itself. Now for centuries, since God created time, mankind has been trying to figure out how to understand time.

Scientists and physicists have spent centuries trying to understand how time and space moves. In fact, one of the most famous scientists by the name of Albert Einstein tried to tap into understanding time and space when he developed the theory of special relativity. And although there's not much that we know some about time, but we don't understand time and its fullness. And now scientists call it space time, we don't understand it completely. But what we do know is that time is consi is comprised of three things, the past, the present, and the future. And I believe this is why God created time. I believe God created time so that we can enjoy the present, having made it through our past and look forward to the future. Every one of us have a past, everyone have a present, and every one of us have a future. I know that you're dressed up and you look nice today, but you didn't look this way yesterday. I know you are in a suit today and everything's good and you and you a saint. But for a lot of us, we got a story about our yesterday. We weren't always saved. We weren't always speaking in tongues. We weren't always dancing in the church. Some of us were. We were dancing in the clubs every night. We were getting drunk every night. But somewhere in our journey, God intersected into our present and said, I'm removing you from your past. I'm bringing you into the present and I'm giving you a new future.

So every one of us have a past, the present and the future. And this man named Jacob was no different than us. And I love the story of Jacob because when we read the Bible, we have context. We can look at his past, his present, and we can see what his future was like. But in order to understand, truly understand the significance of a new day in Jacob's life, we have to go back and understand his yesterday. In order to understand his today, we have to look back and see what brought him to today. What was his yesterday?

So when we look at the story of Jacob, what's interesting about Jacob is that he was, he's named as one of the patriarchal fathers along with his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. But just because he is mentioned as one of the patriarchal fathers does not mean that his upbringing was ideal. Can I tell you, you can have the promise of God on your life. That does not mean that you get to escape suffering. In fact, if anybody tells you that once you become a Christian, your life will be perfect. They lying. Right? In fact, this is why Jesus said, if you going to follow me, take up your cross and follow. Why do you need a cross? Cause you about to get crucified. It ain't for optics. No, that's good. Right? Right. That's why Peter said, he said, think it not strange, the fiery trials which are to try you as though some strange thing has happened. When you become a Christian, you become a threat to the kingdom of darkness. And the devil don't like threats. So he's going to come after you.

Congregation:

Right? What's the

Tim:

Word? You're like, I'm just trying to be saved. I know. That's why I'm coming at you. So Jacob before he is even born, this is the first mention of Jacob. God speaks to Rebecca and he says, Rebecca, you are pregnant. And within you there are two nations and two people groups. And these two nations are at war at with one another. One's going to be stronger, the other's going to be weaker. The older is going to serve the younger. It's going to be kind of out of the context of what life is normally like. Usually the younger would serve the older, but God said it's going to be turned around. So when Jacob and Esau are born, the scripture says that Esau comes out first and Jacob is born grabbing onto the heel of his brother Esau. So from the very introduction of Jacob into the world, he is already in conflict.

And then the Bible says that Isaac and Rebecca named their sons one Esau, which means Harry, which is a weird name to have. And the other Jacob, which means deceiver or cheater or supplanter. So Jacob as an infant is called a cheater. Now imagine you're Jacob, we have context, but if you're Jacob, you're born, I guarantee you this, joker was trying to find some other name that he could go by cuz everybody, no matter where he went, was calling him a cheater. When they called him Jacob, they were calling him a deceiver. When they called him Jacob, they were calling him a sub platcher. When they were calling Jacob, they were saying, Hey, by nature, by your name, you're a cheater. So you can't play Uno with us

Congregation:

<laugh>.

Tim:

Before he could ever cheat on Monopoly and hold back money, the other kids were already calling him a deceiver. For some of us, we get called an identity that doesn't belong to us. It's just that we grew up in a certain situation or we've been associated with certain people that people will try to put an identity on you that God didn't put on you. Some people will say, oh, you're a liar because your daddy was a liar. Oh, you're a cheater because your mama was a cheater. You're always going to have this problem because your family is always have this problem. You're always going to end up in this situation because everybody that goes to this school never graduates. Everybody that

Congregation:

Come on now.

Tim:

So Jacob here is dealing with an identity that's put on him, which he hasn't even worked out. Jay. Yeah, I'm talking about his yesterday. Yeah,

Congregation:

Right.

Tim:

Okay. So then Jacob, he gets a little older, and after being called a cheater and a deceiver for so long, he finally starts to believe that he actually is what they say he is.

It's way you gotta be careful who you around and what they call you. Because here we see Jacob. Now he apparently is the good chef, a great cook, and he's out in the middle of the fields cooking because he knows that his brother has been gone hunting for a while. So Esau is on his way going back to camp, and he's passing by Jacob and he smells this porage, potage, these lentils, whatever it is. And he walks up to Jacob and he's like, Jacob, let me have a little bit of this suit because I've been gone for a few days. I caught nothing and I am starving. And Jacob's like, I got you fam. I got you a bowl. In fact, I'll give you two bowls. And he starts like, yes, thank you, brother. And he's like, but it's going to cost you something. So he says, all right, just name the price, man. I'm starving. I, I'm willing to pay for it. He says, all right, it's going to cost you your birthright. This ain't even, this ain't apples to apples. Well, let me just stop and say this. This is why you gotta be careful. The decision that you make when you're hungry,

When you're hungry and you're desolate and you're empty, you will try start trading off blessings that God's put on your life for momentary satisfaction. You will start trading eternal blessings for temporal blessings. So Jacob cheats his brother out of the birthright. And Esau doesn't think anything about it because Esau, this was Esau's rationale. He goes, what good does a birthright do if I ain't even going to live to enjoy it? This is the kind of warp thinking, we start having it when we hungry. So this is the first act, recorded act of Jacob now taking on an identity of being a cheater and a deceiver. And once he does that, it's a slippery slope because now he's gotta get one more thing. He's gotta get the blessing, he's got the birthright, but now he needs the blessing. So his mom starts scheming with him. And while Esau is, again, it's hunting, trying to get his dad some food. Isaac is in there. He's in his final days of life, and Rebecca's like, Hey, let's go in here and I'm going to put goat skin on you so that it's going to feel like you're, first of all, how hairy do you have to be?

Congregation:

<laugh>

Tim:

To get confused with goat's hair? That stuff is prickly. Yeah, yeah. It smells bad, but somehow it worked. Isaac, I mean, Jacob goes in there, Isaac feels them. He says, you feel like Esau, you smell like Esau. This food tastes like Esau, but your voice don't sound right. And Jacob's like, it's me dad. So he eats of some more meal that Jacob makes, and then he blesses Jacob. So now Jacob has the birthright and he has the blessing. He has what belonged to him in the first place, but he went about it trying to get it in his own power. Can I tell you that it doesn't matter how good the prophetic word is that you got at that conference, there's nothing that you can do to make that word come to life in your life. Anytime you try to do the will of God in your own power, it will backfire on you because this whole act of getting the birthright and a blessing didn't really work in Jacob's favor because as soon as he got it, he had to go on the run. Because Esau said,

When daddy dies, I'm going to strangle you and kill you, and I will make it my life's mission to destroy you. And Jacob is so scared that he takes off running toward his Uncle Laban's house. And while he's running, the scripture says, he is so tired that on his journey, he finds a place to rest and he makes a stone, his pillow. How tired do you have to be to confuse a stone with a pillow? He falls asleep in exhaustion, and while he is asleep, the Bible says that the heavens are open and a stairway comes down outta heaven, ascend. Angels are ascending and descending, and the voice of God speaks from the top. And he says, Jacob, I am with you. I'm going to bless you and I'm going to make all the things that I promised you. I'll make it happen. And Jacob is here having this euphoric experience, this amazing dream, and he wakes up and this is what he says, surely God was here and I didn't know it. How many know that even while you're running, God will meet you

<laugh>, even when you're exhausted and you're running away from your problems and you're trying to fix it on your own, God will show up and still say, I got you. All I need you to do is trust me. But Jacob doesn't do it. Jacob gets up and he leaves. I'm talking about his yesterday. So he gets to layman's house and he meets the woman by the name of Rachel, and it's his cousin, but he thinks she's fine. So he's like, yo, what I got to do to get with this girl? So he talks to Lavin her dad, he says, look, I will do anything to get this girl. And layman's like, I got you. I need you to work for me for seven years. Now, what kind <laugh> of girl is this? Now I would work seven years for my wife for sure, but it's your cousin fam

Congregation:

<laugh>.

Tim:

So he worked seven years and then they have the wedding. And it was tradition that at that time, the women would wear a veil over their face. You couldn't see them until the next morning because they didn't have lights, they had fire. And that fire went out at night because they were doing what they need to do. Hopefully I don't need to give more flowery commentary there. He wakes up the next morning, turns over, it's about to kiss Rachel, but he meets Leah's face and he's like, ah,

Congregation:

Who is this?

Tim:

Now, here's how the scripture describes Leah. It says that she was weak on the eyes. Hey, I don't know what that means, but it don't sound good. You, yo, either she is weak on your eyes or she got weak eyes, <laugh>. Either way it don't sound good. In fact, it was so ratchet that Jacob said, listen, whatever I gotta do, <laugh>, do it again to get the right one. So layman's like, all right, work together seven years. And Jacob was like, bet I'll do it. So he works another seven years for Rachel. Now the cheater is getting cheated.

Now the deceiver is getting deceived. I'm talking about his yesterday. So now Jacob has been working for 14 years. He's got two wives, but he has nothing for his possessions. So he says, Labban, what I gotta do to get some possessions to get outta here. Labban says, work another seven years. So Jacob having nothing, he's like, you know what I, I'm willing to work another seven years. By this time, we realize that Jacob is trying to live an honest life. He's trying to earn the right to be a respectable man because he knows yesterday he cheated his brother out of a birthright and he cheated his brother out of a blessing. So now he's working. He's worked for 20 years to try to earn respect. And it still is getting him nothing. You cannot in your own power, earn what God has for you. I'm talking about his yesterday.

So all of this stuff happens, right? And Jacob now says, you know what? I'm done with it. I've got my possessions. I've got my wives, I've got my servants, I've got my kids. I'm going to make my way back home. And you know what? I'm going to go face Esau, and hopefully I can send some sermons and soften the blow. Maybe we can make up, maybe I can tell him I was young, I made mistakes, I did some dumb things and just maybe he'll forgive me and I'll share some of the blessings. So he's on his way to go meet Esau. He sends some of the sermons ahead and his servants come back and say, listen, I know you sent gifts and stuff, but it only provoked Esau Moore. He's coming with 400 trained soldiers. So now Jacob finds himself at a place called the brook of Jbo, and he sends his servants and his wife and his kids and livestock ahead. He's there all alone by himself.

Between his past Laban's coming to get his stuff and his future, Esau's coming to get his stuff. He is in the present between his past and his future. This is what scientists and physicists called the Minkowski space. It's the intersection of the future and the past. You're right in the middle. And Jacob finds himself there. And now he is at a place called Jbo. And it's significant that he's at this place called Jbo, because Jbo and the original actually means emptiness. And it's a brook that RHS for about 60 miles, and it empties out into the river of Jordan. But it's called emptiness because it's literally emptying out into the river of Jordan, which is called the river of God. And it's significant that God meets him at his lowest point at night in the dark when he's empty, and he has no hope for the future.

He has no hope in the past. He just wants to be free of where he's at. Come on man. So God meets him there and begins to wrestle with him. And as they wrestle, they wrestle all night long. And as the wrestling, the scripture says that the day begins to break. In other words, somewhere in the horizon, light starts showing up and God says, Hey, won't you let me go because the day is breaking. Yesterday is about to come today and tomorrow's about to come today, and I need you to let me go. So you can go live your life as you've always lived. But Jacob in that wrestling match with God says, listen, God, I am sick and tired of dealing with my yesterday's and letting my yesterday's haunt me. I don't know what my future holds, but what I do know is I'm not about to walk into tomorrow the same way that I was walking yesterday.

I don't wanna go back to being a cheater or a liar or a deceiver. I don't want to go back to yesterday on what I used to do and how I used to talk and how I used to walk and what I used to think about and who I used to be around. I'm ready to let go of that stuff and I will die trying to get to tomorrow. So there he is, wrestling with God. And this is amazing because God then starts wrestling with Jacob. And the scripture says that God touches the hip of Jacob and pulls his hip outta socket. He dislocates his hip, which happens to be one of the most painful dislocations that you could experience in your body. Can you imagine your hip has just been dislocated? I would've just quit right then. I would've said, all right, enough is enough.

You win. I tapped. I'll go back to tomorrow. I'll go back to how things were. But Jacob was so desperate because he saw a new day coming up and Jacob said, I'm not about to walk into this new season, into this new horizon, into this new today, into this new tomorrow walk in the same way that I walked yesterday. So do whatever you gotta do. God, break me, shake me up, wrestle me to the ground, dislocate my hip. Do whatever you gotta do. Kill me if you need to. But I'm not going into my future hanging on to my yesterday.

Congregation:

Woo.

Tim:

So God breaks and dislocates his hip. So now in pain and an agony and in suffering, he's still wrestling with God. Can I tell you that you gotta wrestle with God even if it hurts, even if it's dislocating your hip, even if it changes the way you walk, even if it changes the way you feel, you gotta still keep wrestling with God because God's tests in you.

Congregation:

Woo.

Tim:

And it's significant. It's significant. It's significant that God dislocated his hip because what's the number one result of a dislocated hip? You cannot run?

Congregation:

Come on,

Tim:

I gotta get my hanky on this one.

God said to Jacob, Jacob, for the last several decades, all you've been doing is running. You ran and you got your birthright. You ran and you got your blessing. You ran When I'm visited you, you ran to your Uncle Lab's house. You ran for seven years to get Leah. You ran seven years to get Rachel. You ran another seven years to get some livestock. Now you running from label. Now you now running over here to esop. You've been running all your life. If you want to change your today and walk different in tomorrow, I gotta break some habits up off of you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He said you've been running. But if you are going to get your name changed, and if your destiny is going to be different, it's going to be you walk into tomorrow a little different. Hey, because here, here's the habit that Jacob had a running habit. So if he would've faced Esau and Esau would've come, what? He would've just reverted back to what he has always done. Oh, Esau coming. And God said, before you walk into tomorrow, I gotta break some habits of yesterday. So I'm going to deal with your yesterday so that I can change your tomorrow. And it's after he dislocated his hip that God said to Jacob, Jacob, what is your name?

Congregation:

Yes sir. Come on now.

Tim:

You mean the God of the universe? This eternal God, this omnipresent God, this omniscient God, this, this God who knows all things and is all powerful and stands outside of time. Doesn't know this man's name now. No, no, no. What God was trying to demonstrate to Jacob is Jacob, before I can change your name, I need you to come to grips with who you've been for the last several years because I can't change you until you deal with tomorrow. Yesterday. I can't change you tomorrow. If you don't deal with you yesterday, you gotta say goodbye to yesterday. So you can say hello to tomorrow.

Congregation:

Yes, word.

Tim:

Oh Lord, have mercy. I'm going to have go back and watch my own message. And so what God does in that moment, he says, Jacob, your name was Jacob and your name has been deceiver. And it's been cheater and it's been supplant. But that was yesterday. Because I look and I see that the sun is coming up. I see a new day.

It's a new day, it's a new season, it's a new moment for you. Your life is going to be different. Your life is going to change. And guess what? The first thing I'm going to change is I'm going to change the way you move and then I'm going to change what you're called. That's why God said, I can't get you to walk into tomorrow being called the deceive and a s planner, but I'm going to walk you into tomorrow being blessed by God. Why? Because you went through yesterday. You wrestle with God today. Now I'm going to change your name to Israel, which means having favor with God and with men. And that's the name that I choose to build an entire nation out of. It ain't the nation of Abraham. It's not the nation of Isaac. It's the nation of Israel. Can I tell you that whatever you dealt with yesterday, God's about to break it. Whatever you dealt with this past year, God's about to dislocate him. Whatever kind of sorrow, whatever kind of grief that you came through, today is a new day.

Congregation:

New

Tim:

Day old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. The latters grave shall be greater than the former reign. Good and greater things are still yet to come.

Congregation:

Yeah, preach work.

Tim:

I don't know what you came in here, was it? I don't know what 2022 was like. I don't know what you faced. It could have been the greatest year of your life, or it could have been the worst year of life. You could have gone through a bad breakup. Maybe you went through a terrible relationship. Maybe you had to separate yourself for some people. Maybe you lost your job. Maybe your car broke down. Maybe you had to separate yourself from family members. Maybe you had a lot to deal with. Maybe you had to get away for some fake Christians. Maybe you had to redefine your definition of who God is. Maybe you had to go through some deconstruction. Maybe you had to call some people. Maybe you had to dislocate yourself from some people who knew your location. Maybe you had to unfriend some people. But whatever it is, I'm telling you right now, if you wanna walk into a new day, you gotta look yesterday in the face and say, yesterday, I'm leaving you cuz I'm heading to tomorrow. I'm not going back to the old way of thinking. I'm not going with to the old way of my habits. I'm not going to my old relationships. My old,

I'm getting rid of my boss and I'm going to get a new boss. Woo, my Lord.

Congregation:

That is word mercy. <laugh>.

Tim:

I feel like preaching. Oh Lord have mercy. Because some of us we're still thinking about, oh man, I got Laben on my heels right now, man. He about to come get my stuff. But also I'm unsure about my future. I don't know what Esau's going to do. But Jacob said, you know what? I don't care what layman's about to do and I don't care what Esau's about to do. He said, I'll walk into the future if I have to with a limp, but I'm not going to run anymore. And this is the amazing part cuz the scripture says this, that as the resting matches over and Jacob is walking to meet Esau, the Bible says that the son rose upon his face. Some of us have gone through some stuff and God's had to break some stuff in our life. But you're walking into this new day with the sun shining on your face because you don't have to hide

In the dead of night. You don't have to go through nighttime wondering what your future's going to look like and what your past is going to do to you. When you let go of that stuff today, God will redefine what your tomorrow, tomorrow looks like. The reason why I'm preaching this message on the first day of the first week of month of a new year is because this is the perfect season and time for you to say, God, I'm not walking into 2023 the same way that I was walking in 2022. I came through 2022 and I'm walking into 2023. Somebody touch your neighbor and tell 'em it's a new day.

Congregation:

New day.

Tim:

I gotta close out with one. I gotta close y'all

Congregation:

Lord

Tim:

Mercy, I gotta close aims. Where you at there? Thank you man.

Congregation:

<laugh>.

Tim:

Give the people some hope, brother, I gotta tell you one more story, Dawn. And that's the story of Israel. Israel leaving Egypt. So Israel, they leave Egypt. They've seen all kinds of miraculous things happen. God does amazing things. Their midst, they leave Egypt, they're on their way to the Promised land as they leave Egypt and they come out of the city and everyone's happy. Cuz the Bible says that as they're leaving, there are no halt or layman. In other words, everybody who was sick when they came outta Egypt were being healed. Read. You read about it in the scripture. So they're on their way to the promise land. They get to the Red Sea, and when they get to the Red Sea, they're like <laugh>. Not even sure what my future holds, but this don't look good. So they're in a panic. There's a million people. They're looking at Moses like Moses, what's up with you fam? Did you bring us out here only to die by being drowned? Now, you may look at the scripture and think there was no reason for them to accuse Moses. But let me give you a little bit of context. Moses was raised in the household of Pharaoh. Yeah.

If you were going to rationalize, if were going to strategize to kill a people group, if you were Israel, wouldn't you think that possibly Moses wanted to get back in the good graces of Pharaoh and was like, Hey daddy, O, can I come back? And Pharaoh will be like, yeah, if you get rid of these people. So Israel is there and they're like, are you in cahoots with Pharaoh? Because Pharaoh is coming behind us. Our past is on his way to kill us, and our future is on the other side of what seems to be an impossible obstacle. And God says to Moses, Moses, I need you to tell the people something because what I did before I will do again. So God says to Moses to tell the people. In Exodus chapter 14, verse 13, the scripture says, and Moses said to the people, fear not. I know it seems impossible. I know it seems bleak. I know it seems like you ain't going to make it to the other side. I know your yesterday is chasing you and your future seems uncertain. But fear not. Stand

Congregation:

Firm's

Tim:

Beautiful. Don't run. Don't. Don't jog. Don't go anywhere. Don't mount a horse. Don't get on a donkey. Just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you. When to today for the Egyptians, the past whom you see today, you shall see. Then again, no more can I teach and preach somebody that I don't know what you came through in 2022. And I don't know the uncertainty that you are facing in front of you, but I'm here to preach and tell somebody, don't you fear tomorrow? Don't you fear what's about to happen? Stand firm because God is a God of tomorrow. He's a God that'll fix your yesterday. He's a God that'll fix your today we are going to step into 2023 for his vision with direction, with our eyes fixed on Jesus. Because whatever God does, he'll do it again. Whatever miracle he worked, he'll work it out. Again. Somebody give God some praise in this praise, praise. Oh, come on, somebody oughta really give God some praise, praise in this place. Come on, you oughta give him some praise that he brought you through yesterday. You oughta give him some praise that he brought you to today. You oughta give God praise that today is a new day. And now you better give him some praise for what's waiting for you tomorrow.

Hey, send me y'all praising like you still thinking about yesterday. I wanna, how many people going to give God praise for the tomorrow that God's got for you? Man, Laben is coming. Bump yeah,

Congregation:

You,

Tim:

Your yesterday. Can't destroy your tomorrow. Why? Because God holds your tomorrow. Oh Lord have mercy. I want the worship team to come out here because I think the best way, yeah, that we can start this year is to, we consecrate ourselves to the Lord through worship. Here's what I love about what Jacob experienced. He built an altar and he renamed the place that he was at. He no longer was defined by a name of his yesterday, but he was redefined by the name that God gave him for tomorrow. I don't know what you've been through. I don't know what you faced. I, there's some people watching online. They're like, man, I had the worst year. Maybe you had the best year. But today is a new day. It's a new season.

Congregation:

Thank you.

Tim:

So we're going to go into a time of worship. But before we do, I wanna open up these altars and I want to invite those of you that wanna start off the year, consecrating yourself, reating yourself. I want you come on up here. Yeah, I'm giving you some time. You can come on up because here's what's going to happen. Your tomorrow's going to look different because the decision that you made today, your tomorrow is not going to look like it did yesterday. Yes. This year is going to be different than it was 2022. There's going to be a new freshness, there's going to be a new anointing. There's going to be a new why that gets poured into you. So Father, as we stand in this moment before you, we lift our hands. We say thank you for all the things that we faced yesterday. Even the brokenness, even the weakness I give you, thanks for that. The things that I went through, I give you thanks for that. Because I will say, Paul, that even in my weakness, your strength is made perfect. I see the sufficiency of your grace when I see the frailty of my own power. And so right now, God, I just give you a name. The praise, the glory, the honor. I lift my hands and worship to you.

And I just wanna say it's a new season. It's a new day. Yeah. I'm stepping into a new anointing. I'm stepping into a greater anointing. I'm stepping into a new season. I'm stepping into favor. I'm stepping into fervor. I'm, I'm stepping into a newness today, changes my tomorrow.