Sermon Central
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You Can't Hide Series
Contributed by Rob Watts on Nov 6, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: You have to make peace with Esau
Genesis 32:19-24 (GW)
19 He also commanded the second servant, the third, and all the others who followed the herds. He said, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him.
20 And be sure to add, ‘Jacob is right behind us, sir.'” He thought, “I'll make peace with him by giving him this gift that I'm sending ahead of me. After that I will see him, and he'll welcome me back.”
21 So Jacob sent the gift ahead of him while he stayed in the camp that night.
22 During that night he got up and gathered his two wives, his two slaves and his eleven children and crossed at the shallow part of the Jabbok River.
23 After he sent them across the stream, he sent everything else across.
24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until dawn.
Comes a time in your life when you have to make peace with Esau
o Esau was the one that Jacob
o Had struggled with
o But never prevailed against
o His whole life
o Esau was the one that Jacob pretended to be
o To get what he thought he needed to have
o Esau was the one that even subconsciously
o And pre-Nataly had problems with
o He was predisposed to wrestle with Esau
o Before he had a conscious thought
o And now he’s 97
o And he’s preparing to meet with Esau
o There might even be a title above Chapter 32
o Where it says
o Jacob prepares to meet Esau
o Because there comes a time
o That no matter how much God has blessed you
o And no matter how much stuff you’ve accumulated in this world
o Or no matter how good your body looks
o Or how fit you are
o You cannot outrun your dysfunctional relationships forever
One of the greatest blessings that God gives
o One of the greatest gifts that God gives a believer is peace
o We ask for the Peace of God
o A peace that passes all understanding
o You can’t describe it
o You don’t understand it
o It’s hard to put into words
o But you just have a peace
o There is a peace
o There’s peace in the valley
o There’s peace in the storm
o There’s peace in the trial
o That only comes from God
o It doesn’t come from your wife
o It doesn’t come from your kids
o It doesn’t come from your husband
o It doesn’t come from your church
o It doesn’t come from the preacher
o It doesn’t come from anywhere but God
o There’s a peace
o It’s a gift from God
o If you want to pray for anything
o Pray for peace
o Now there will be some that will tell you
? Don’t pray for peace
? Because the Lord will teach you peace
? You should pray for strength
o While I believe that
o I also want His peace in my life
o Because if all I prayed for was provision
o All I would have would be the external stuff
o Without the internal infrastructure to enjoy what I prayed for
o So, I pray for that peace of God that passes all understanding
o The strength to make it through
o But the peace that passes all understanding
o Because the greatest blessing that God gives us
o Usually has little to do with the resources that He provides us with
o But more with the relationship that He restores
So, we’re looking at an Old Testament picture
Of a relationship in Genesis 32
Of Jacob
o Who has been able to pivot his whole life
o When he gets in trouble at home
? He runs to Uncle Laban
o When he marries Leah
? After serving Laban and God for Rachael for 7 years
? He pivots and gets Rachael anyhow
o When Laban begins to cheat him
? The Bible says that his heart turned against him
? Jacob was able to have the business sense to
• Devise a system to which he could stay ahead
o But Esau
o Esau is that enemy
o Esau is that thing that he’s been fighting against
o And fleeing from his whole life
o By the time he prepares to make peace
o With Esau
o He’s been hiding from him for 21 years
I want to ask a question
o What are you hiding from?
o It is the essential question of this message today
o I believe that it is a penetrating question
o If you’ll really answer it in your heart
o What are you hiding from?
o Because no matter where Jacob turned
o Or where he went
