Advent Week 2: PEACE (Genesis 32:6–32)

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

Genesis 32:6

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

Genesis 25:29–34

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.

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.