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Alright, we're here in Genesis chapter 32 and give me one second And we're not going to finish the entire chapter here today I know I've Genesis 32 there's a famous story at the end where Jacob is wrestling with God and we're going to cover that next week I feel like it deserves its own sermon But there is kind of a theme going on before that in Genesis chapter 32 and the name of the sermon is Jacob's fear of Esau Jacob's fear of Esau and notice what it says in verse number one and Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him and when Jacob saw them He said this is God's host and he called the name that place Mahanam and Jacob sent messengers Performed to Esau his brother under the land of Seir the country of Eden and he commanded them saying thus Shall you speak unto my lord Esau thy servant Jacob saith us I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now and I have oxen and asses flocks and men servants and women servants I've sent to tell my lord that I may find grace in my sight the messengers returned to Jacob saying we came to my brother Esau and also he come with the meaty and 400 men with him and obviously it's been a very long time since Jacob has seen his brother Esau and the last time he saw Him Esau wanted to kill him now. I've never been in this exact situation I'd imagine if somebody was actually talking about murdering me whether a decade had passed for two decades had passed I'd be very cautious Right, and there's no way to avoid this meeting So it is what it is, but he sends people ahead of time to just kind of find out You know what's gonna it's kind of like when countries will go to battle sometimes they'll kind of send you know small little groups to discuss beforehand figure out what's going on or whatever and Jacob sends people and then all of a sudden he finds out that Esau had 400 men with him And so it's going through Jacob's head is and maybe Esau is preparing for battle He doesn't really know and the the servants that he sends out to check it out They're not really sure themselves now. I personally do not believe Esau had any bad intentions whatsoever I believe his anger and his wrath is completely appeased over a couple couple decades. I don't believe that Jacob wrestling with God Prevents or changes, you know Esau from wanting to kill him did not want to kill him I have heard people that have that interpretation and I'm okay with that, but I don't think that's the case I think that Esau is just also being smart and saying hey I haven't seen my brother in a long time. We ended on bad terms Who knows what's going on? He's also sending out a group. So I think they're both kind of having the same attitude I don't think Esau still has any you know anger towards his brother Jacob I think he's forgiven him and you say well, why would he forgive him? Well, he was so upset at Jacob because the blessing was stolen. But what you see is Esau is financially very rich I mean, it's not like you know, he's living a poor life He was very poor then maybe he would still have that bitterness toward his brother But at this point, I don't think he really does anymore in my opinion. And so in verse number seven it says then Jacob was greatly afraid and Distressed and point number one. We see Jacob's fear of Esau. We see panic We see panic setting in from Jacob about Esau and what panic is It's kind of like sudden fear as the Bible uses that phrase Well, basically a situation comes up that's kind of scary and all of a sudden you're thinking oh man What am I gonna do where it's like extreme fear or sudden fear that kind of comes on and then out of nowhere Jacob is really afraid and he's distressed. He's panicking. What am I gonna do? What's gonna take place? He doesn't know and he divided the people that was with him in the flocks and herds and the camels into two bands And let me just point out something from verse seven this isn't that important but It says then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people that was with him Now one thing you notice with our King James Bible is Sometimes the way the grammar is kind of changes from back then to what it is today because in our world today You would not say that was with him. You'd say that were with him. That would have been proper English here, though It says that was with him. It's not a problem in the Bible though It's just a matter of the fact that grammar changes over hundreds of years in our modern day We would say that were with him but we don't need to change the Bible because once you start going down that road saying well, we're gonna change was to were and Believeth to believes there's like no into it, right? Not that there's really anything different between believeth and believes but it's like I'm perfectly fine with the Bible. It's completely understandable It's not like this is such archaic language that we don't understand what the Bible says, you know It's perfectly fine the way it is written Then it says in verse 8 and said if Esau come to the one company and smite it then the other company which is left Shall escape so we see this panic or extreme or sudden fear from Jacob go to Proverbs chapter 3 Proverbs 3 I'm sure all of us can think of many situations where we panic, you know, some Situation comes up and we're scared We're fearful and you know, we don't know what to do and in oftentimes when you panic you make dumb decisions now We don't really see that from Jacob here But I would just say that when you get into a very scary situation Oftentimes you end up, you know doing something that's kind of foolish, right? And I don't know if this is the best example that you know, but it's just kind of what popped up in my head I was just I was thinking of like fighting and like mixed martial arts where like if somebody's like punching you in the face and they're on top of you kind of like your natural reaction is to just Kind of like try to turn over quickly get out of it But then you just get choked out or you'll see guys that are you know? Losing a fight and they're kind of getting hurt and they could just kind of weather the storm and allow themselves get hurt and finish The round but they try to quickly rush out of there and then someone catches their arm in an armbar or whatever And it's like you're better off just kind of sticking through it rather than just panicking and doing something foolish Proverbs 3 verse number 24 when thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid ye thou shalt lie down on my sleep shall be sweet Be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh And the Bible says be not afraid of sudden fear The idea is sometimes situations are going to come up that seem very scary and the average person would be extremely afraid of it As God's people though, we should not be afraid of the situation I've used the example before when I was on a plane one time and there was really really heavy turbulence I remember just everybody was afraid But I was not afraid and the reason why I was not afraid is because I really knew that I was right with God at That time and as someone who's a soul-runner loving God I really just felt like God is protecting me and I can honestly say at that moment I was not afraid although the plane was like really really shaky Right when brother Raji and I flew recently actually told him the turbulence was actually pretty bad compared to wasn't the worst I've had but it might have been the second worst of any time and it's like whenever you saw that cloud coming all of a Sudden you saw that shaking. It's like I don't really fully understand clouds, but it's like once you go through that cloud It's like man, it's like get ready for another, you know, rocky ride or whatever But the idea is that you know what? There's gonna be a lot of situations in your life that come up where you can just immediately be afraid and the Bible says You know what? Then if you're right with God God can God has not given us the spirit of fear The Bible says go to Matthew 10, Matthew chapter 10 Matthew chapter 10 One of the great examples is And I'm not going to go there for sake of time But if you remember the story of Elisha in the Bible We're basically, you know him and his servant wake up and there was this great host surrounding them basically wanting to arrest or kill him and Basically a servant comes home and he just says, you know, what shall we do? What are we gonna do in this situation? It's like they want to kill us. How how are we gonna deal with the situation? I mean, he's very scared and then Elisha says, you know, basically that nothing to be afraid of He says for that they that be with us are more than they that be with them And he said open, you know open mine eyes that I may see you know we sing that song and there was like this this host of angels that are basically protecting him and We don't see this in 2022 Right, I mean we don't see the hand of God's protection physically we don't see those angels We don't see you know, whatever God is doing, but we have to realize it's there. I My wife and I were talking last night about you know So winning and it's like if you go so winning through the years and through the decades You realize that you've knocked on the door pretty much every type of person under the Sun. I Mean, I fully believe I've knocked on the door of murderers before Not that I knew that but I'm just saying if you knock a lot of doors you talk to a lot of people You're eventually gonna run into a lot of strange characters I mean, obviously all of us have probably knocked on lots of doors of people that turned out to be pedophiles weirdos and I can think of weird situations out so many just ones where it's like Someone who just really was like kind of scared me like who is this person? I remember this one time and I have a lot of stories and I don't want to go into too many of them But I knocked this door This guy answers the door and he's got this it's dark inside the house. He's got a weird look on his face He's got a knife in his head and he's got blood Now I'm I'm pretty sure that he was like, you know, I don't know cutting an animal but I was just like, you know It's a scary situation Right. It was just like, you know, what is especially because he was acting frantic and I don't believe that there was anything You know actually going on cuz actually during the daytime, but it's just kind of dark I think it was like cutting in the animal or whatever like for but he's just acting kind of skittish, but it was weird I remember other times I've knocked on doors and you just the person was was you know, just very strange We were talking about when we lived in Sacramento There was a famous serial killer in the US that got caught a couple years ago while we were in Sacramento at Verity He was actually the biggest serial killer that had not been caught in the United States of America probably the world in terms of Fame the Golden State Killer was the main name of the person and it was something that we are aware of that He was like, you know There's kind of they've been trying to track him down for a long time actually caught him over there I was I was thinking we've knocked that neighborhood. I mean someone at our church Knocked the door of the Golden State Killer Right. I don't know that that was me, but it's just like but here's the thing though Am I afraid of that? No, because as we're going out soul-winning God's gonna protect us Hey in general we go out in a group we go two by two, especially, you know, let's say you're going to You know, let's say an East and eat or whatever. You can't see what's going on We use wisdom about this stuff as best as we can we try to be safe about stuff like this But I do believe that God is going to protect us because sometimes you might accidentally find yourself in a situation that you're not expecting We're gonna be a brother done Say we're going so winning recently and we went down an area and it was one of those where you couldn't see if there's a house And it kept leading you down this path He was telling me afterwards that he thinks that there was like drug dealers there and it totally went over my head When I'm preaching the gospel, but I was wondering why all these people are bouncing around It was a weird area and it's kind of like but we weren't intending to do that. We just want to knock every door It's like we didn't try to get in that situation We got to be safe if we see situations like that, but God protected us Right, even though a guy, you know was was, you know threatening to beat me up and everything It's like there's a lot of weird situations that take place, right? But yet we've been so winning, you know as a church God's protected all of us, right? And I know of situations of people getting bit by dogs out so any but honestly, I don't know of situations of like major major Problems that took place out so winning and I do believe that God is protecting us as we go out and we preach the gospel Even when we go so winning in Astro Park, the reality is there are some weird characters in Astro Park Especially at that one section on the end and here's the thing All of us have gone to that section to preach the gospel to people and we realize some of those people are probably less likely To get saved but we still give them a chance and you know What some people you run into that they might be kind of sketchy or whatever but yet God protects us Right, and I do believe God's hand of protection is a promise but the Bible says be not afraid of sudden fear Matthew 10 verse 26 fear them not therefore for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known What I tell you in darkness that speaking in light and what you hear in the ear that preachy upon the housetops and fear Not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell This is the same chapter as he sends them out to preach the gospel Very famous can remember the end of Matthew 9. It's like, you know, the harvest truly is punchiest But the labors are few then in Matthew 10 He's sending them to preach the gospel and it segues toward the end times here in Matthew 10 But it also talks about basically, you know what I tell you in darkness that speaking in life Basically saying preach the truth don't hold back and it says and fear not them which kill the body Now we don't really live in a time period or at least a location Where we really have to fear about people killing us for our stand for the Word of God Perhaps, you know you get in trouble for maybe your job or for your family or friends get mad at you and stuff like that We're not really in a situation We don't live in a Muslim country We don't live in a Buddhist country. We don't live in a Hindu country And you have praise the Lord for it Now if we lived in a Catholic country hundreds of years ago, then you know what it would be a pretty scary situation But in 2022, we are very blessed here in the Philippines be able to freely preach the gospel We don't have to worry. But what if we're in that situation where basically our lives could be at risk for serving God You're not that's what the Bible says and you know what, of course, that's easy to say when we're not in that situation But the reality is those that are in that situation they should have the attitude fear not Even if my body could be killed they can't kill my soul as a safe person. I'm gonna go to heaven I mean all they can do is martyr me and give me more rewards in heaven Now, of course, none of us want to die in that way. I want to live a long life I want to have grandkids and see you know, have a family full of soldiers kind of like the dream You know as you get older, but the bottom line is fear not them which kill the body that's what the Bible says and Then he says in verse 31 fear you not therefore you're more value than many sparrows and kind of like the song we sing His eye is on the sparrow right first John 4 verse 18 go to first John 4 And You know a sermon like this I think is helpful because of the fact all of us are gonna find ourselves afraid from time to time and You know what? I don't believe that we should be afraid because the Bible says fear not other than fearing the Lord But the reality is all of us get afraid sometimes and let me show you this verse in first John 4 verse 18 There is no fear in love But perfect love cast about fear because fear hath form it he that fear is not made perfect in love now a lot of religions You know Buddhism is one of the big ones they want to basically get rid of all fear in your life But they take it to an extreme because they they don't believe you should fear God or fear hell or anything like that That's what they basically teach now. Here's the thing though if you're a safe person and you are perfectly right with God Let's say theoretically You're not doing anything wrong. You're not really afraid that God's gonna punish you or harm Right. It's like you know what we Spank our children, you know, at least Zeph and in Christabel if they do bad, but if they're doing good They really aren't afraid that we're gonna spank them Because they know that they're right It's like if I'm reading the Bible and going soul winning and my mind and heart are clear and pure I'm not worried of God's wrath coming down on me And what you also find is this you're not fearful of situations out in the world where you're right with God The truth is when you're serving God you have boldness you have confidence. You're just not afraid but here's the thing. I don't have perfect love You don't have perfect love and because we don't have perfect love and we're not perfectly right with God we are gonna be afraid sometimes Right and the truth is that you know what I find myself sometimes Afraid and the reality is that if I was more right with God, I probably wouldn't be afraid But all of us are gonna have panic and fear set in from time to time go in your Bible to Genesis 32 The Question is what do you do when you panic? What do you do when you find yourself in a fearful situation? You say brother Stuckey? I get what you're saying. I shouldn't be afraid of certain things that come up I should just be serving God and not worried and trust that God's gonna provide I shouldn't be worried about something going bad with my my you know, my health or my job or whatever But I do find myself afraid sometime like we all do. What do you do when you panic? Well, what you do is you pray When you're in a situation of extreme fear sudden fear or panic, you know what you should do You should be driven to pray to God Take it to the Lord in prayer right take that burden think of the song I must tell Jesus all of my burdens take that panic Take that fear and then bring it to God in prayer and talk to God about it Genesis 32 verse 9 and Jacob said Oh God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac The Lord would set us on to me return on the country to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth Which thou has showed unto thy servant with my staff. I passed over this Jordan and now I'm become two bands deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my brother From the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he will come and smite me in the mother with the children And so he's just open and honest to God saying God I'm afraid I'm fearing and I'm sure Jacob knew I shouldn't fear someone who could kill my body, but I do I'm afraid there's nothing wrong with going to God in prayer even if you have a fear that you should not have in fact, you should go to God if You find yourself in a situation where you're afraid and you're fearful What you should do is go to God and just take it to him in prayer Let me give you a list of verses that talk about this go to Psalm 6 Psalm 6 Psalm 6 And I'm gonna give you a list of verses of basically praying to God in times of panic or fear And you know we sing those songs in the hymnal and sometimes they seem almost cliche like you know Take it to the Lord in prayer, but the reality is when you're panicking and you take it to God in prayer, is it not true that you have a peace that comes over you and It's like without taking that burden to God It's like you're just really afraid like what am I going to do? But then you take it to God and it's like you just feel that sense of relief Anyway, sometimes God might allow us to go through very, you know fearful or panicky situations why because oftentimes we don't really rely on God and And we we should just every day just rely on God for everything say God just protect me help me with everything and yet I'll be honest I don't always do that and it's like sometimes I believe God allows us to go through difficult situations Why because it's the only way that it can actually get us to rely on him as opposed to relying on ourselves It says in Psalm 6 verse 4 and 5 Return o Lord deliver my soul. Oh save me for thy mercy sake for in death There is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee. Thanks here The psalmist is afraid and he says that God saved me. He's like in death. There's no remembrance of thee I mean if I die, you know I'm not going to be singing praises to you or giving you thanks and he says I'm afraid save me help me Go to Psalm 7 Psalm 7 Verse 1 Psalm 7 verse 1 Oh Lord my God and me I do put my trust Save me for all them that persecute me and deliver me lest he tear my soul like a lion Rending it in pieces while there is none delivered. He says God help me. I'm trusting in you save me Help me go to Psalm 18 By the way, these verses should show us something, you know Most of the time when you see the word save in the Bible, it has nothing to do with spiritual salvation it has to do with physical salvation and The book of Psalms it's like often he's saying save me save me save me deliver me It's like but it's clearly in reference to physical salvation and many times in the Bible You know, it's referencing physical for example the famous one he that endureth unto the end the same shall be saved That appears three times in the Bible for slightly different warning But the same, you know reference all of them are in reference to the end times and the context about people physically dying So enduring on to the end you shall be saved What's that saying if you endure through that great tribulation, you're going to be saved from physical death How by a rapture that's the context of that and the thing is the context shows you it has nothing to do with getting to heaven It has nothing to do it clearly has to do with Physical and in Matthew 24 is the most clear I think to see that because that's the most famous passage But it's clear from the context. I think it's in verse 9 is when it says Basically, you know the physical death and then in verse 13 He then girth on the end the same shall be saved if I'm remembering correctly the exact verses It's clearly in reference to physical salvation saying if you don't physically die You are going to be raptured if you endure through that great tribulation Psalm 18 It's clearly we don't believe you have to endure on the end to be spiritually safe All right, we're not Calvinists and the context of that though is clearly physical salvation. Psalm 18 verse 47 It is God that avengeth me and said do it the people under me He deliver with me from mine enemies. Yea thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me That was delivered me from the violet man Therefore will I give you thanks unto thee O Lord among the heathen and sing praise unto thy name once again He's talking to God and just giving his burden to him. Go to a couple more places Psalm 25 Psalm 25 Psalm 25 verse 19 Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruel hatred. Oh keep my soul and deliver me Let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in me Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee. Go to Psalm 27 Psalm 27 and then we'll head back to Genesis. Psalm 27 and it's all throughout the book of Psalms I just kind of pick various verses that show this Psalm 27 verse 11 teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies Deliver me not over unto the world mine enemies for false witnesses are risen up against me and such as breathe out cruelty I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living What you're seeing in the throughout the book of Psalms is a lot of scary situations Sudden fear that comes and we see the psalmist taking it to God in prayer now turn in your Bible to Genesis 32 Now I haven't really had a lot of times where I felt like my life was like I was worried about my life I mean there's been Very, you know rare situations where you have this sudden fear You're really afraid of major physical injury, but in general that hasn't really come upon me But you can think of other situations where maybe you get afraid right, you know, for an example would be, you know Let's say you know raising children right, you know as you raise your children, you know There will be you're trying to do the best you can to raise your kids But none of us do a perfect job and you know We don't have an immediate proof of our success as parents because as you're raising kids, my kids are very young Right, so I don't have an immediate proof of how good I'm doing of whether or not they're gonna be a soul winner I mean if my kids aren't even safe, you know, they're too young for that point And you know what as a parent sometimes, you know, you kind of get afraid in my am I really doing a good job raising my kids? You know and the thing is that's something you can take to God in prayer There are various situations where you're fearful you're saying I'm trying to do a good job Anytime you have any sort of fear that comes upon you The best thing you can do is just take it to God in prayer and he can help you out and you can take away That burden what he can also do is kind of show you through his word as you read the Bible and hear sermons Basically, you know what you can do and what would be helpful in that situation, but we also see a promise Genesis 32 verse 12 Genesis 32 verse 12 and now said as I will surely do thee good and make thy seed is the sand of the sea which Cannot be numbered promoted to and what Jacob basically says is you know what God I'm fearful. I'm scared I'm taking it to you in prayer and Remember God you promised right? Basically promise that I can't die here right and part of it I think is trying to confirm it with himself to give himself more confidence But part of its reminding God of this promise and here's the thing This is the same chapter where basically Jacob wrestles with God and I believe that's kind of an answer to Jacob's prayer Which obviously that's not going to happen in your life in 2042 but what this does show you is it is actually okay to tell God various promises that he's made Like for example as I talked about raising kids I try to do the best I can raising my kids, but I admit sometimes that I make mistakes I know I'm not a perfect father, you know, I'm trying to do what the Bible says But I know I can make some changes Anyway, I pray to God sometimes and you know what? sometimes you might say God you promised that if I raise my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and I put in the time that you know what when they grow up they will not forsake the way the Lord they're gonna love you and there's nothing wrong with just kind of Mentioning that promise to God and saying that hey God you promised that and basically just help me do a good job as a parent Help me do the right thing. Tell me do a good job as a husband How many do a good job, you know working my secular job or whatever you promised I work hard You're gonna provide for my family, you know, I'm scared though. I'm panicking on this I'm taking to prayer and you know, you can take that burden away from me Right. It's okay to tell God that promise and one thing it's going to actually do is help give you more confidence through your situation and You know what? That's what we see Jacob doing here in Genesis 32 verse 12 go to 2nd Kings 20 Obviously God is aware of the promises he's made But we see Jacob doing that and I would just say that in my life Sometimes that's the way you feel when you're going to God works like God, you know I haven't done a perfect job But you promised and I'm trying and when you're in that fearful situation pray to God he can take away that burden that you have Second Kings 20 is an example of this with Hezekiah now Hezekiah is a very interesting character in the Bible and he's one of the characters. I don't really understand Because he's such a good man And then he just doesn't seem to care about his kids at all, which I just totally don't understand Hezekiah But before that, you know, he's a pretty good character and in second Kings 20 verse 1 It says in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him and said unto him Thus saith the Lord set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live I don't think that's really the message people want to hear Right, you know, it's kind of like if you went to the doctors and they told you basically, you know You're not going to make you've got this terminal illness You've got just a couple weeks left or whatever and that does happen to people sometimes This is basically what's taking place to Hezekiah that he's sick unto death now, of course God is going to give him more years But let me just state this that I believe Hezekiah probably ate an all-organic diet Okay, because there's kind of like this big all-organic craze in 2022 And I do believe that there's truth to it because I don't believe that we should just put all these pesticides and stuff But the reality is people can go a bit overboard with this because Elisha is another example of someone who gets sick You know and it's like sick unto death and then Hezekiah here is gonna die If it's not for God stepping in and the thing is you can honestly have a perfect diet and exercise all the time and you Can still get some sort of disease, right? We don't fully understand or know the body or know why things happen and I would imagine Hezekiah probably had a Pretty all-natural diet, but that's no no guarantee And so sometimes people can go a bit overboard with like the all-organic craze And I think it's more of a craze in America Because a lot of it actually there's more food in America that has all these pesticides and stuff than I think in the Philippines But the reality is that you can get sick even if you have a perfect diet Right and it says in verse number two Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed that the Lord saying I beseech thee O Lord Remember now how I've walked before thee in truth and with the perfect heart and I've done that which is good my sight and Hezekiah wept sore and Hezekiah is fearful, which is understandable and he prays to God Which that's the right thing to do But he's also kind of reminding God, you know about basically, you know what God I've walked before thee in truth and it's kind of similar to Basically what Jacob said and he's like where I said I'm gonna make your seat basically what Hezekiah is saying is It's not really right that I'm dying Because I've walked before thee in truth. I'm too young to die. I've been serving you. I'm gonna keep serving you It's actually nothing wrong with him saying that that God honors the purpose of high verse number four and it came to pass before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court that the word of the Lord came to him saying Turn again and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father I have heard thy prayer. I've seen thy tears. Behold. I will heal thee on the third day Thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord Some of these stories, you know, you got to stop and think about and obviously Hezekiah is gonna be very excited I'd imagine Isaiah was pretty excited, too Right because you know if you find out someone who's a saved person is gonna die That's gonna be a very sad thing, you know Especially let's say they're a fellow church member or someone you care about love and let's say all of a sudden you find out You know what? Actually, they're gonna be okay I'd imagine Isaiah was pretty excited too to find out where basically he's walking away and It as a prophet Unfortunately, you have to kind of do the sad the hard jobs, right? He's not happy to tell Hezekiah he's gonna die all of a sudden. He finds out he's gonna live He's probably very excited to find that out. Then it says in verse 6 and I'll add on they days 15 years And I'll deliver the in the city out of the hand of the king of Assyria And I will defend the city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake now turn back to Genesis 32 I mean by no means was Jacob a perfect man. I mean, I've mentioned many things that he did that were wrong I mean not just very multiple women But just you know being a deceiver and things such as that but but at the same time he's a safe person I do believe that he loves God. I'm sure he got many people saved in his life and Basically, he's clinging on to this promise. God gave him of his offspring being blessed So whatever one we see the panic of Jacob point two We see that he goes to prayer as a result of the panic point three mentions the promise Point four we see a present point four. We see a present notice what it says in verse 13 He lodged there that same night And took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau's brother 200 she goes and 20 he goes 200 use and 20 Rams 30 milks camels with their colds 40 pine and 10 bulls 20 sheep What is she asses and 10 pulls And He mentions here that he gives a present to Esau his brother and you know what it makes sense that he's giving a present to Esau's brother because honestly what he did to Esau was wrong and He saw as far as he knows is still mad about it And so what he's doing is he's preparing a present to basically kind of pacify the anger of his brother The Bible says a gift in secret Pacify anger and a reward in the bosom strong wrath and the Bible says a gift in secret pacify of anger and sometimes when somebody's really mad at you one thing you can do to kind of get rid of their anger is just give them again and It doesn't have to be the most expensive thing, but it's kind of the idea. The thought is what counts Right, and here's the thing Jacob kind of owes it to Esau He should be giving him a present based on the fact of what he did now Obviously Esau wanting to kill Jacob is wrong. But if you're Jacob, it should be like yeah, you know what? I want to give this present. I'm asking for forgiveness. I did wrong verse 16 and he delivered them into the hand of his servants every drove by themselves and said unto his servants pass over before me and put His face betwixt drove and drove and he commanded the foremost saying when Esau my brother meeteth thee and asketh he saying whose art thou And whither goest thou and whose are these before thee then thou shalt say they be thy servant Jacob It is a present sent unto my lord Esau behold also He is behind us and so commanded he the second and the third and all that Paul the drove saying on this matter shall You speak unto Esau when you find him and say ye moreover behold thy servant Jacob is behind us For he said I will appease him with the present that goes before me and afterward I will see his face for adventure. He will accepted me So when the president will form in himself lodged that night in the company So we see the panic of Jacob we see the prayer of Jacob We see the promise that he gives to God about how God had promised him We see the present that he prepares for his brother We also see in this section in these next verses we see preparation we see preparation verse 22 and he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his eleven sons and Passed over the four Jake J Bock and he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had now Obviously later on in this chapter is the very famous story next week We'll spend one entire sermon talking about Jacob wrestling with God Which is an Old Testament appearance of the Son of God and I will talk about that next week And it's a very interesting chapter to where he gets renamed Israel But there's a lot of information in this chapter and I think in many ways actually this is Probably more practical perhaps even more helpful for us because the reality is all of us are going to have Situations where we have panic in our lives All of us are going to have fearful situations come up and when it comes to dealing with fearful situations Sudden fear that comes up or scary situations in our lives. There's kind of two aspects to this One of these is your relationship with God and this is the primary Okay, and you know what being right with God is going to prevent you from having so many scary situations now Nobody likes to be afraid right now I understand people do things like I don't know they play jokes on someone to scare them temporarily or whatever I don't like being afraid personally I never understood why people like horror movies, even when I was worldly watched all those movies I always hated every horror movie It's like I don't want to be afraid and then just like I'm looking, you know in my house afraid Somebody's gonna kill me or whatever. I don't understand why people like that. Maybe you did or whatever It's like that's not my cup of tea or whatever, but it's like, you know, it's like, you know You don't because the Bible says God I have not given us the spirit of fear It's actually not a good thing to be afraid of various things that come up other than actually Fearing God and fearing his judgment. Well, one thing that's gonna help you not be afraid so much in your life is simply You know being right with God Because when you're right with God God gives you boldness. He has not given us the spirit of fear Right, you know, he gives you boldness He gives you confidence and I can say this in my life when I find myself when I know I'm right with God and I'm Serving God. I really don't find myself afraid of too many things One of the big examples of this over the last couple years is this extreme panic in the world Right, and obviously, you know, especially when everything started it's a new situation People don't know what's going to take place and it's just like but at the end of the day Even if it was as dangerous as everybody said at the same day it's like I don't want it to wool and run my entire life and A lot of people have just been living in extreme panic and even now they're like so afraid of everything And I understand people have different opinions and stuff like this even in this room people have had different opinions My opinion has changed over time and everything But at the end of the day, I always thought even if I think there's an extreme danger. I Don't want it to run my life though because God hath not given me the spirit of fear. I Mean he's expecting me to you know, serve him and do right and look of course even as a church, you know We had caution on various different things. We didn't know what's going to take place in everything But at the same time there's certainly a difference between the average person Serving God and the average person in the world in terms of their amount of fear in the last couple years. That's a fact Because many people it's just like this insane level of fear And it's just it's it's just not realistic. It's like where is this coming from? As I said, I understand this is a bit of a sensitive topic and people have different opinions and that's why whatever your opinion is but the end of the day God hath not given us the spirit and When we're right with God, we're just not as afraid as when we're not right with God now all of us get afraid from time to time and I'm not saying that if you're afraid in the situation I get afraid sometimes too and that's fine But I'm just saying God does not want you to live your life just in fear of everything that might possibly go wrong He wants you to live your life with boldness and confidence and only have a fear of him right And look I'm not negating the fact that we should be cautious I'll give you an example, even though I believe God's protecting me I personally I've never liked to drive at like in the middle of the night, you know or be out late at night It's you know, I'm not that I'd have a reason to do this, but I wouldn't want to be walking in You know, I don't know Fields Avenue at midnight. Hey for a scary situation where there's bars or something like that It's just like it even though I believe God would protect me It's just like you want to put yourself in a dangerous situation. It's not a wise thing to do right when I was in college It's just like you know at nighttime It's like I didn't hang out late at night or for example on certain nights of the year Halloween time it's like a more dangerous time. I don't recommend people being out late at night It's like it's more dangerous on the roads. People are drunk and stuff like that But at the end of the day, so there's nothing wrong with being cautious But at the end of the day God hath not given us the spirit of fear the Bible says When you are afraid though you pray to God and that has to do with your relationship with God And you know what it is. Okay to plead with God for mercy and help your situation That's your relationship with God But you also see personal preparation here in this story that talks about the idea of being cautious and you know being smart Jacob prepares a gift or gives a gift or a present to Esau and he prepares for the situation what the Bible says is the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord and What that means is That although safety is of the Lord. You should still prepare for situations. That's kind of the balance Prepare for situations the best you can But then leave it in God's hands and God can help you and what safety is of the Lord if you're right with God and serving God Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints and I just believe that if I'm serving God and right with God God is gonna protect me and if for whatever reason he would allow something to happen to me You know what? That's his will but you know what? You're not him they kill the body but but he's not able to kill the soul I'll go straight to heaven the worst thing that could ever happen to you is you go straight to heaven Well, that doesn't really sound that bad because part of me wants to be in heaven right now anyway, right? I mean, it's like I'm in a straight betwixt two. It's like that's the worst thing that can happen What do we really have to fear? Just fear God and obey his commandments do his will. Hey, well, God is gonna protect us Let's close the word of prayer your Heavenly Father Thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word in this topic and ask you to help us To be able to handle situations of panic or extreme fear that come obviously we should you've not given us a spirit of fear But I realistically all of us are going to be afraid sometimes and things take place God ask you to help everyone at our church to serve you and do right and help us through dangerous situations and help us not To be forced to be in these situations in order to pray to you and rely on you But help us just to in our daily