Well, hey everybody, I'm will I have the privilege on of being
on the preaching team. We're in Week 2 of Advent and
you're going to hear me quote quote a lot because I like kind
of how you tease some of this stuff up.
You have this like eloquent soliloquy.
See big words because I know that's what he likes.
You know, before before starting.
So what he said was every year we gather together to wait.
The word Advent is from a Latin word.
And that Latin word literally means coming.
And it refers to the fact that God's people in the Old
Testament had to practice in a posture of waiting for the first
coming of Jesus. And we need as a people who know
about the first coming of Jesus also need help waiting for the
second coming or second advent of Jesus.
So over the next few weeks we will be exploring the Advent
series sermon series. So last week Cole talked about
hope and this week I'll be speaking on Peace Man.
So now we got that, you know, kind of got everything teed up.
Thanks, Cole. I appreciate that we got a lot
to go over. Y'all know I like to talk a
little long so I was highly encouraged to keep it in 25
minutes. So I need to say we're going to
dive right into it. So stand if you're able, for the
reading of God's Word. All right, we are in Genesis 32
verse 6 and the messengers returned to Jacob saying we came
to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you.
There are 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid
and distressed one more time. Then Jacob was greatly afraid
and distressed. He divided the people who were
with him and the flocks and the herds and camels into two camps.
Thinking if Esau comes to the to 1 camp and attacks it, then the
camp that is left will escape. Already planning for worst case
scenario. And Jacob said, Oh God of my
father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, oh Lord, who has
said to me, return to your country and to your kindred,
that I may do good. I'm not worthy of the least of
all the deeds and steadfast love and all the faithfulness that
you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff I cross
to Jordan, and now I have two camps.
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of
Esau, for I fear that he may come attack me, the mothers of
my children. But you said God, you said
Father, you said, I will surely do good and make your offspring
as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for
multitude. So we stayed there at night and
from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother
Esaw. 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 Rams, 30
milking camels, their calves, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female
donkeys, 10 male donkeys. These he handed over to his
servants. Every drove by itself and said
to his servants, Pass on ahead of me, put a space between,
drove and drove. He instructed the first, When
you see Esau, my brother, he meets you.
He asked, To whom do these belong?
Where are you going? Who are these ahead of you?
Then you shall say they belong to your servant Jacob.
They are present sent to my Lord Esau and made over, and moreover
he is behind us. He likewise, he likewise
instructed the 2nd and the 3rd and all the followed droves.
You shall say the same thing that you saw when you find them,
and you shall say, moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.
For he thought if, if, if I can just appease him, send them,
send them with presents that goes ahead of me afterward, I
shall see him in the face and perhaps he'll accept me.
So the present pass on ahead of him.
And he himself stayed that night in camp.
The same night he rose and took two wives, two female servants,
his children, and across the Ford of Jabaka.
He took them and sent them across the stream and everything
else that he had. And Jacob was there by himself,
some random dude to him. That man, just a random man in
the middle of the night, came to Jacob and he wrestled him until
Daybreak. When the man saw that he did not
prevail, Jacob, he touched his hip socket, his hip was put out
of place, hip joint was put out of place, and as he wrestled
with Jacob took that out. Then he said, let me go, for the
day has broken. And Jacob said, I will not let
you go unless you bless me. He said to him, what is your
name? He said Jacob.
He then said, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for
you have striven or you have wrestled with God and with man,
and you have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, please
tell me your name. But he said, Why is it that you
asked my name? And there he blessed them?
So Jacob called the name of that place Pineo, saying, For I have
seen God face to face, and yet I've been delivered.
One translation says I have been spared.
The sun rose upon him as he passes Pineo limping because of
because of his hip. Therefore, to this day, the
people of Israel do not eat the sewing of the thigh that is on
the socket because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the
sewing line of his thigh. Dear Heavenly Father God, that
was a lot of reading in front of a lot of people right there.
Hey, thank you. Thank you for your grace and
your mercy through it. Father, we ask that you in the
midst of this, convict those who need to be convicted, encourage
those who need to be encouraged, and draw near those who've drawn
far from you. Father of Light, in this Advent
season we confess that we know the darkness too well, The
anxiety that tightens our chest, depression that clouds our joy,
the shame that whisper old lies, the hopelessness that makes the
future feel thin. Like Elijah under the broom
tree, meet us in our exhaustion. Like Jacob trembling on the road
to meet Esau, speak peace to our anxious hearts.
And like Job, who cursed the day of his birth, Let your joy rise
stronger than our despair. Like Adam and Eve hiding in
their shame clothes, clothe us with your steadfast love.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, you alone are the light in this
present darkness. Hope where we feel deserted,
peace where we feel undone, joy where we feel broken.
And love where we feel unworthy. Make us a people stubborn of
stubborn gladness. Not by ignoring our wounds, but
by encountering you in them. The light that refuses
annihilation. Amen.
You may be seated. I told you all we had a lot.
Look, are you 6 minutes? Are we got to get going?
No. All right.
So sum this up to get this going.
Jacob is on his way home after being gone for 20 years, 20
years. He sent his messages to fill out
his brother Esau. He sent them animals, sent them
servants, sent them the whole shebang.
Like man, maybe if I do this right I can I can get favor from
my brother. You see in verse 6 through 8, we
see that his messengers return to him and we tell them and tell
them that hey, your brother Esau is on his way to meet you again
after this 20 years, this 20 year hiatus that you bounced.
And he also has 400 men with them.
Jacob is immediately shook. Shooketh in the biblical way,
you might say. Now he immediately goes into
panic mode. He divides his camp into two
with the mindset, well, if Esau snaps, if Esau just attacks, at
least at least the back half can get away.
Now some of you might not be familiar with the relationship
between Jacob and Esau and you might be a little confused as
like why the heck is Jacob immediately jumping to
catastrophe and conclusions about his brother and why is he?
Why is he even freaking out like this?
And why would Esau want to do all that in the 1st place?
Well, Jacob and Esau are not only brothers, but they're
actually in fact twins. Twins with a very complicated
history to say the least. They've been going back and
forth literally since they were in the womb.
It was so bad that their mom, it's like something is going on,
something is wrong. I feel these two babies
wrestling in here and it is not cute.
So also to continue to set the stage when it comes to Jacob, he
is also known as the certified scammer in the Bible.
He is a deceiver, He's a hustler, and he's the person
that's going to find his way to get his.
And Esau has been his perfect dupe throughout this process.
So the first way you can see this is in Genesis 25, verses 29
through 34. Initially, Jacob is cooking
Stew. Esau just came from the field.
After grinding and working really hard, he is freaking
exhausted. Esau sees Jacob and he says,
hey, let me or let me get a let me get a bowl of that Stew.
Let me get let me get some of that.
I'm I'm on my deathbed. I am a white Jacob again, the
the hustler. The scheme was like, well, you
are the first born. So how about this sell me your
birthright and I'll give you this Stew.
He saw was like well I'm I'm about to die what the heck can I
use the birthright for if I'm about to die from starvation?
And Jacob was like no swear to me now I will give you this if
you give me your birthright. So he sold his birthright to to
Jacob. Jacob then gives him bread and
some Stew. He ate, drank rolls and went on
his way. Thus he saw then despise his
birthright then so initially with that again, knowing his
brother was exhausted, hustled his brother out of his
birthright. Genesis 2728, verses 28 through
29. Jacob then tricked his father
into giving him Esau's blessing. There you you see that his
father says, hey, may I Oh yeah, appreciate it.
I ain't trying to catch on fire. I appreciate that.
That's love right there. Unless it's a sermon
illustration. No.
Yeah. Not over here.
I bet not. Catch on fire.
I know I'm just. But May God give you the dew of
the heaven, all the fatness of the earth, Plenty of grain,
plenty wealth. And people serve you.
Nations bow down before you. Be Lord of your brothers.
And may your mother's sons bow down to you.
Cursed by everyone who curses you and blesses everyone who
blesses you. Took Esau's blessing then
Genesis 2736 and 41 we learn how Esau felt about all this he
felt. So how can I say this to his
kids in here? How'd you say angry?
You know, I can say piss tivity he was he was mad.
He was highly mad, so mad, so vengeful, literally out of his
words. In 36 he says he, Jacob has
cheated me now two times. He is taking away my blessing
and now you father don't even have any no blessing or anything
to give me. Then in 41 he says the days of
mourning my father are approaching because their dad
just died. Isaac is gone, but once I'm done
mourning my father, once this is over with, I will kill my
brother Jacob. So Fast forward, Jacob finds out
about that and that's why he's been gone for 20 years.
That's why he took a 20 year sabbatical.
So now we're fast. We're we're in the time now
Jacob's messengers come back informing him that his brother
is approaching with 400 men. Now I can only imagine that at
that time his measures come back and be like, hey, your brother
is coming and quickly approaching you with 400 men.
I can just, if I was in Jacob's situation, if I can, if I could
just put myself there knowing that my brother, who I cheated,
who despised me, the last words, the last time I heard him utter
my name was a mention of him killing me.
I just know at that moment, all of his past transgressions
against his brother started flooding in his mind.
The stealing of the blessing, the conning of his birthright,
probably every sibling squabble they ever had, every angry
argument, every fight. He was absolutely struck with
anxiety at that moment, a fear of panic, of what's to come.
Verse 7 even emphasize this saying that Jacob was greatly
afraid and distressed at the idea of his brother come to see
him with 400 people men. Then we see in, in verse 9 to
12, after his initial panic, Jacob prays and actually his,
his, his prayer and that being his response is, is actually
pretty, pretty vulnerable and actually even pretty noble at
that time. I'm freaking out, I'm panicking
and the only person I can go to right now is God.
And he prayed about it. And in essence, he's, he's
saying, father, I'm, I'm doing what you asked me to do.
I'm going back to this land that I'm already terrified to go back
to. And I know I'm not worthy of all
the love, the faithfulness, the blessings and the favor you have
given me. I left 20 years ago with just a
staff and and now I have two camps yet I feel my brother's
fee seeking vengeance due to my past deeds and and would take
away all the blessings my family that you're giving me.
Yep. God, you promise if I come here
that you would do otherwise. Amen.
And he leaves it at that. In this prayer, in this moment,
the real root of his anxiety of of why he's panicking is
revealed. I know that it's it.
It seems that it could be that. Well, yeah.
He talks about his brother taking the blessings and the
gifts and the favor that God bestowed upon him.
But but that's not really it the the real source of his anxiety,
the real crux of it all is the feeling of unworthiness.
See his brother Esau coming to kill him and taking everything
away. It's just a it's just a symptom
of the root because if he was worthy, if he felt he was worthy
and that God was was truly here to bless him.
I assure you the life he's already lived, he would have No
Fear of man. And we'll we'll see that even
later, later as we read. But anyway, the anxiety, the
sources, unworthiness. He grew into two camps.
He was blessed with wealth, sons, everything he could
possibly have wanted and asked for.
But he's unworthy because he feels he's unworthy because
these blessings were stolen. He deceived his father, wronged
his brother and and one can only assume was he at the as he's
praying this and as he's feeling this unworthiness and he's
thinking of his past transgressions is where these
blessings that that I stole finally going to be restored to
who they really belong to? Am I going to lose it all And
then you you even hear the tone of now I deserve to lose it all.
A commentary says in verse 10. The spiritual transformation has
taken place in Jacob. He submits to Esau and and
acknowledges his wrongdoings and then he recognizes his
unworthiness before God. Jacob riddled with anxiety,
riddled with anxiety. Now, there are different ways
people react to anxiety. There's a the fight or someone
tries to fix it. There's a, a flight or there's a
a freeze. These are these are kind of
your, these are your, your main, your your typical 3 of
reactions. There are definitely some
nuances in between those, but these are the main ones that
we're going to focus on today. So when it comes to fights or
you're, you're fixing. A fighter or a fixer in the mix
of anxiety obsesses on trying to do everything in their power to
control every detail, action, reaction, etcetera to prevent or
to ensure an outcome. A flight or FLIR tries to avoid
the situation altogether by any means necessary.
They sweep it under the rug or throw it into the pocket
dimension as if it doesn't exist anymore.
Then you have some freezers. This is when you're so
overwhelmed that you do nothing. You're paralyzed with fear and
you just mentally spiral. I can honestly say I've I've
done all three. I have tried to fix and control
every detail as if I was God and I failed miserably and then
lashed out at others who didn't do and submit to what I thought
was the right way of doing things.
I've tried to avoid situations and cast them away and just for
them to come back in my face and explode into an even bigger and
greater issue. And I've been so overwhelmed
that I could do nothing but sit, think and spiral into despair.
But God Amen. But God Amen.
That was a call back. Some people remember that.
So let's see actually what Jacob does verse 13 to 21, as you see
the as you see here and as he's planning, hey, I'm going to
give, he saw all these gifts. I'm going to send all this stuff
here so I can, I can appease him.
I can lighten the lighten the load.
And this way I can get the outcome I desire.
It appears that Jacob is a fighter or a fixer again, he's
if I sent, he saw the best of the best, all these presents by
droves again, this will soften them up, soften them up just
enough. Well, maybe my family and I will
be safe. Verse 22 and 23 that night after
he sent off his gifts and his servants, he then sends off his
family and now he's alone. And this is when something crazy
happens in verse 24 through 29. This is when the the famous
wrestling match happens. Now before we really dive into
this, I am not a wrestling coach or a wrestler like a like our
boy Cole. So the the nuances in the in the
passion around the around the physical aspects of wrestling.
If y'all was expecting and ready mentally for education around
there, you Google by yourself after a service.
OK, but anyway, in the middle of the night, while he was by
himself initially a random man start to wrestle with Jacob
until the sun came up until the sun came up.
But Jacob in this situation you got to know that he he knew
something was off 1. Jacob is known for being a very
strong man and in some of his past he has some incredible
feats of moving boulders that took multiple men to do so.
The fact that one a man is is wrestling with him and lasting
this long till the sun comes up is already like a a red flag to
him. But then what?
What definitely sets it up as a as a something crazier.
The man just touches his hip and dislocates it.
At that moment, at that very second, Jacob knew he was
wrestling the divine being. This is no mere mortal Jacob at
his wit's end. Now has his strength gone that
he that he relied on. He knows that his brother is is
approaching only now, in a couple hours, because it's
daytime now. He's about to lose everything.
He's about to lose everything he already has, has planned it,
already has seen it already, has spiralled about it, already, has
tried to mitigate it, but knows that it's over.
Now he's exhausted now he's hurt.
He doesn't even have the physical strength to fight back
anymore. But he knows if I hold on to
this man, if I hold on tight, I'm going to get a blessing, and
this blessing is going to be my blessing.
The man then reveals that he is God.
Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.
For you have wrestled with God and with the man and have
prevailed. And there he blesses Jacob and
wrestling with God. He think about this, he hasn't
been back home for 20 years with the fear of his brother killing
him, but he was obedient and went in the midst of this, when
he sees that his brother is coming with 400 people, 400 men,
he prays, God, I am freaking out and I don't see a path out of
this. I don't see any good coming of
this. But you said you got me.
And even then, he still, as we do, tries to rely on his own
strength and, and mitigate his own situation.
And throughout his whole his life and in those 20 years of
being gone, he he dealt with many of men trying to scheme it
out with him as well. But in this moment, God blesses
him. And this isn't a continuation of
a blessing from which he stole from his brother.
And this wasn't by feet of his own strength, because with that
touch of the hip, his strength was gone, not by anything he
did. A contrary says that though
Jacob is apparently a man of considerable strength, the Angel
of the Lord accommodates his strength to Jacob.
God dislocates Jacob's hip. The wrestlers pivot of strength.
Having previously depended upon his wits, his strength, Jacob's
natural powers are now crippled. All this future steps will
remind him of his dependence upon divine grace.
So now he has a future reminder. But I'm here to tell you that
even in the past he depended when he thought he was depending
on his wits, when he thought he was depending on his strength,
it was still God's grace and his promises and his sovereignty
that he was still elevated and blessed and chosen.
Despite his schemes and treachery, Tamaki says Jacob
kept fighting and scheming for a blessing and inheritance that
God had already promised him while he was in the womb.
He then references the statement made by God in Genesis 2523 that
while in the room, God knew that his nation would come from
Jacob, that Esau, the older brother, would bow to the
younger brother. He knew every event in his life
how it would turn out. God knew who his wife was meant
to be. Leah and as Leah endured,
endured Jacob's discontentment, he still blessed her and gave
her sons. And when she stopped hoping to
gain her husband's love and stop focusing on her husband, but
focus on God and gratitude towards him, he gave her Judah.
And from the tribe of Judah comes the reason we have Advent
Jesus. Amen.
Jesus is our Prince of Peace.
Isaiah prophecies about him in verse Chapter 9, verse 6.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.
The government shall be upon his shoulders, His name shall be
called. Wonderful, wonderful counselor,
mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This is the reason for Advent. Amen.
All right, we're on the Tom Crunch.
Look, I'm look, I'm already dwindling.
So let me get back to Jacob and and how and how he got his peace
in this ancient situation. So in verse 30 through 32, he
sees and he says and seeing God face to face, even with all his
past transgressions, his deceit, his manipulation, his scheming,
he is not only spared by God but is giving a blessing from God.
A commentary says that Jacob's preservation during his face to
face meeting with the Almighty God anticipates his preservation
or his salvation during his imminent encounter with his
brother Esau, who is a mere human being.
He is finally at peace. He is resting in God's promises.
He has peace because he knows that God is with him and keeps
his word. God gives Jacob peace in the
midst of his anxiety. He has striving with God or
wrestle with God and wrestled with man and he has prevailed.
How does this apply to frontier when anxiety hits US?
First, I want to say that Cole, like Cole, I am an advocate for
therapy and again I feel like he articulated this very well last
week as well when he said what therapy does really well is that
it helpful. It is helpful when it gives
language and otherwise sub articulate emotion experiences.
Given language and naming things.
It is helpful and it has limitations giving language and
naming help. Giving language and naming
things help but does not solve it.
At the root you are a spiritual being designed to be in
communion with God. All of our problems are not at
the root of psychology problems. There are proximity problems.
You are a person who needs to be in the place in the presence of
God. That was fire bro.
So I had to reset it one more time.
All right. So Jacob was restless and
anxious and a mess until he was in the presence of God and
reminded of his promises and grace and is constantly not
reminded because of his hip, thus giving him peace.
God gave you, gave us frontier. Jesus gave us the gospel.
So if we are fighter or fixers, when anxiety hit, or even if we
are flight, go to flight mode, or even if we freeze and we
spiral, we are called to pray and remember the gospel.
Remember Jesus, pray and rest in God's promises.
This brings us to our big idea and it can be summed up as such.
Through prayer, repeating the gospel, and remembering God's
promises, you will find peace in any situation.
Through prayer, repeating the gospel, remembering God's
promises, you will find peace. Some of the promises in in
Joshua 1/5 he says no man shall be able to stand before you all
the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, I will
be with you. I will never leave or forsake
you. In Isaiah 4110 he tells us, fear
not, He is with us when we pray, when we pray, not if, when we
pray because Jesus had. Because of Jesus we have a
direct connection to the Father, direct connection to the throne.
When you pray, remind yourself of the gospel and of God's
promises and you will be at peace.
Paul tells us in Philippians 4627.
Do not be anxious about everything, but in everything.
Be in prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
Let your request to be made known to God and that the peace
of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
heart, your mind in Christ Jesus.
This peace isn't just a snap of the finger where all your
problems go away and he's a genie.
Can it be? Does it happen?
It can, but that doesn't mean that it will.
Jacob, even after receiving peace, being that peace be
reminded of God's grace through his hip, still had to meet his
brother, still had to face this issue.
It is a peace in the midst of a storm, a peace that surpasses
understand, all understanding because the world is going nuts
around you, but yet you are standing firm in that peace.
Some storms are so crazy. You have to remind yourself of
the gospel and his promises and pray moment by moment, minute by
minute. It's not always actually rarely
ever just a one time thing. That's something you have to do
and you're good. Lastly, got these applications
for you guys and then I'm I'm out of your hair.
You know me, don't you? Yeah.
Shocker. It is.
Read your Bible is the first one every time, man.
I, I we got to hit this. It is.
It is literally breathed words by God.
Read your Bible. You can't remind yourself of
God's promises if you don't know them.
I got you. I got you.
Read your Bible. You can't remind yourself of
God's promises if you don't know them.
Pray. Talk to Him constantly.
This will make it easier to rest and talk with Him in a storm.
Lastly, when you go through a storm, remember to pray.
Repeat the gospel and remember God's promises.
Also talk to a pastor. Talk to ACG leader.
We have deacons here. You can talk to elders.
There's a tons of people in Frontier that would love to pray
and walk through whatever storm you're going through with you.
And to those here that that may not be believers or not sure
where you're at, don't even know what the gospel is, there are
people here that would love to pray with you.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for
your son. Thank you for the peace in the
midst of storms. Thank you for a peace that
surpasses all understanding, Father.
We live in a broken, Dark World, and when we let Your light show
shine through US, people will be confused.
Sometimes we'll even be confused in the midst of it, but we ask
that you hold our hands through it.
Some people here in the sound of my voice, Father, are going
through some crazy storms right now and need you more than ever.
Please hold their hands, hold them tight and love them Jesus
every pray. Hey, ma'am.