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Guest (Male): Pastor Thom Keller, quoting a friend, challenges us to pray. If your life can be explained in natural terms, there isn't anything Christian about you yet. He didn't say you're not a Christian. He said the evidence isn't there. When we have God working in our lives, there are things that happen that are out of the natural.

There are supernatural encounters, there are divine appointments, there are things that happen that are just out of the natural. This happened to all of you in different ways and different times, different situations, different circumstances. It's one of the evidences that God is working and moving and acting in your life. But that happens through prayer.

Guest (Male): Prayer, one man said, is the most essential part and yet the most neglected part of the Christian life. So what will it take to get us to pray? Well, today's study of the word with Thom Keller will help to answer that critical question. In Genesis chapter 32, Jacob finds himself in desperate straits.

So he prays. And as he wrestles with God, he becomes for us today a classic example of prevailing prayer. It's a very encouraging historical account providing hope for us today that God will hear our prayer. Let's look at it now, picking up in Genesis chapter 32 and verse 21. Here is Pastor Thom.

Pastor Thom Keller: "So the presents were sent on ahead, and Jacob spent the night in camp." Actually, Jacob doesn't follow until the next day. And that probably was part of the strategy, to let Esau meditate on this that night, to think about these nine groups, each man saying, "These are from your servant, Jacob, for his master, Esau."

Verse 22: "But during the night, Jacob got up and sent his two wives, two concubines, and 11 sons across the Jabbok River. After they were all on the other side, he sent over all his possessions. This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn." Let's just talk about what he did.

It's interesting he would send them all across the river—his possessions, his wives, his concubines, all of his children. Because that would have left them in a position where they couldn't retreat. They kind of had their back up against the wall, up against the river, and would have made it easy pickings for Esau, had Esau come with a design to kill.

He allows this time to be alone with God. He needs to think. He needs to pray. He needs to be alone. And again, there's a lesson there for us. We need time to be alone. I've said this many times before. I don't know about you, but when my day starts and the bell goes off, it's fast activity from bell to bell. Isn't it?

If you let your day get started when the bell goes off... some days I just look like a little chipmunk on a treadmill. You're going so fast that if you don't take the time in the morning before all of that, if you don't set time aside to listen to God, it's rare that I hear him during the course of the day like I do in the morning.

We need that time—time in the word, time in prayer, time in listening. The time in the word is what prepares a ministry within you. It's through learning the word that God develops a ministry in you. But it's through your time in prayer that God will call you to specific ministry for that day.

Being in the word prepares you for the ministry. Being in prayer that morning allows you to hear God calling you to ministry that day. And without those two aspects, without the preparation for ministry and without the calling for ministry on a day-by-day basis, we just miss it.

Then it says something interesting. Verse 24: "This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn." This man was no doubt Jesus. Again, Jesus was in existence prior to his incarnation. Throughout the Old Testament, Jesus did appear before men. And this is no doubt one of those instances.

"When the man saw that he couldn't win the match, he struck Jacob's hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. Then the man said, 'Let me go, for it is dawn.' But Jacob panted, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.'" What do you picture? Is this like a barroom brawl—chairs flying and glass crashing? Or is it a wrestling match where they start in the position, go, and they go down?

What do you picture? Wrestling. A human wrestling God. And it says verse 25: "When the man saw that he couldn't win the match, he struck Jacob's hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket." Now, is it that Jesus couldn't win this match? Is it that God couldn't win? Of course not. God could have won. That wasn't the purpose of the exercise.

The purpose of the exercise was to allow Jacob to prevail, to pursue, to show how much he wanted God's blessing. He lived for 20 years with the guilt of having stolen a blessing that he didn't deserve. And now he's face to face with God and, more than anything, he wants God's legitimate blessing on his life.

You can just feel this man's hurt. The desperation, the fear that his family is on the other side, his brother's coming with an army of 400 men. The blessing that he stole means nothing. All of his possessions mean nothing right now. I want more than anything else—God, I want your blessing and I'm not going to let go of you until you give it.

It's the only way I can get it. I tried it my way. It's the only way I can get it. I'm not letting go. And God honored that. Even when he knocks his hip out of the socket, Jacob is still hanging on. It says he knocked his hip out of the joint at the socket. Verse 26, then the man said, "Let me go, for it is dawn."

His hip's knocked out, he's still hanging on. But Jacob panted, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." "What is your name?" the man asked. He replied, "Jacob." "Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "It is now Israel, because you have struggled with both God and man and have won."

What does it mean, both God and man? Well, he struggled with God here, but he struggled with Laban for 20 years. He pursued, he lived a righteous life that whole time. He really did. Laban abused him. He took advantage of him. He kept cutting his pay. He kept trying to steal from him.

And yet God blessed him and Jacob responded in a Christ-like way all the way through that. So God changes his name. Remember, Jacob means heel-grabber or grabber. And now he changes it to Israel. The word Israel is a compound of two words. The first is "Sarah," which means to fight or to struggle or to rule.

The second is "El," which means God. It could mean he who struggles with God or he who rules with God. But it probably means more closely, "God rules." And so God changes his name to Israel. From this point forward, he's referred to as both Jacob and Israel. But Israel is the name that God has given him from this point forward.

He says, "because you have struggled both with God and man and have won." More literally, it says this: "Thou hast had power with God and with man thou shalt prevail also." Charles Finney was a great evangelist in the mid to late 1800s. He said this: "I have found myself having more or less power in preaching and in personal labor for souls—in other words, sharing Christ with people—just in proportion as I had the spirit of prevailing prayer.

I have found that unless I kept myself or have been kept in such relations to God so as to have daily and hourly access to him in prayer, my efforts to win souls were aborted. But that when I could prevail with God in prayer, I could prevail with man in preaching, exhortation, and conversation."

What Charles Finney said: the only way you prevail with man is by prevailing with God. How about you? Are there some people in your life that you're not prevailing with? Are there some people in your lives that you're not making a difference in? Not affecting, not influencing? We don't seem to be prevailing with them.

Maybe it's that we're not prevailing with God in prayer in advance of that. It's what he said about Jacob here. John Dresser is a friend of mine, a mentor, and he said this: "If your life can be explained in natural terms, there isn't anything Christian about you yet." Now listen to that again.

"If your life can be explained in natural terms, there isn't anything Christian about you yet." He didn't say you're not a Christian. He said the evidence isn't there. When we have God working in our lives, there are things that happen that are out of the natural. There are supernatural encounters, there are divine appointments, there are things that happen that are just out of the natural.

This happened to all of you in different ways and different times, different situations, different circumstances. It's one of the evidences that God is working and moving and acting in your life. But that happens through prayer. It doesn't happen as an automatic, not typically.

E.M. Bounds said this: "God's promises lie like giant corpses without life, only for decay and dust, unless men appropriate promises by earnest and prevailing prayer." The promises of God lie here in the word of God. But they have no value, no worth, unless we appropriate them through prayer.

What's interesting, too, in verse 29, Jacob then says, or Israel then says, "What's your name?" "Why do you ask?" the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. Why didn't he give his name? I always wondered about this. A commentary made an interesting point.

It said in all probability, it could have led to idol worship. Remember, Jesus had not come back in the flesh. He did not come back incarnate until he was born of the virgin. For him to reveal who he was this early on could have caused the people to start worshipping some image, some likeness of that figure, which would have been wrong.

It would have been premature, it would have been out of place. Makes a lot of sense. It says in verse 30, Jacob named the place Peniel, face of God, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared." The sun rose as he left Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

That is why even today, the people of Israel don't eat meat from near the hip in memory of what happened that night. Chapter 33: "Then in the distance, Jacob saw Esau coming with his 400 men." The nine groups have gone ahead, and now it's showdown. Esau is coming with his 400 men, and Jacob is leading the group.

Verse 2: "Jacob now arranged his family into a column with his two concubines and their children at the front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last." He's still already at this point showing his favoritism, which is going to lead to Joseph's being sold by his brothers into Egypt. Rachel and Joseph last.

You think the other children didn't notice that? That Rachel and Joseph were last? "Then Jacob went on ahead. As he approached his brother, he bowed low seven times before him. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him affectionately and kissed him. Both of them were in tears."

It says that Esau ran to meet Jacob. Didn't say Jacob ran to meet Esau. Says Esau ran to meet Jacob. Can you imagine that? Jacob in the front, this line of servants and family behind, and he sees these men and his brother coming. He walks tentatively up toward his brother, and his brother comes running toward him.

What would you think? What do you do? His brother comes with open arms, and he kisses him. He bows seven times. It says more literally that Esau fell on his neck. And what probably happened was that as they embraced, Esau laid his head on the neck of Jacob on both sides and just held him.

And it says they both wept. Now, there's been conjecture about this, debate about what Esau's intent was from the very beginning. Was it really to come in peace, Esau? Or was it that Jacob sending these armies ahead did appease him? Or could it have been that God spoke to Esau the night before, a couple of nights before, saying, "Do no harm," like he did to Laban?

Remember, God spoke to Laban and said, "Look, be careful what you do to that man. Don't injure him." And then Laban backed off. Could it be the same thing? I think in all probability, not. Because if Esau would have lived with bitterness and anger for 20 years and God told him just a couple of days before to cool it, it's hard to imagine him running up, kissing him, and crying at this reconciliation.

It's a sign of great affection and vulnerability to place your head on someone's neck. It's his only brother, his twin. Let's go on. "Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him affectionately and kissed him. Both of them were in tears. Then Esau looked at the women and the children and asked, 'Who are these people with you?'"

I can almost see these two brothers now, arm in arm. "These are the children God has graciously given to me," Jacob replied. Then the concubines came forward with their children and bowed low before him. Next Leah came with her children, and they bowed down. Finally Rachel and Joseph came and made their bows.

"And what were all the flocks and herds I met as I came?" Esau asked. Well, he knew. They told him. He wants to hear from Jacob. Jacob replied, "They are gifts, my lord, to ensure your goodwill." "Brother, I have plenty," Esau announced. "Keep what you have." "No, please accept them. For what a relief it is to see your friendly smile."

20 years. "It is like seeing the smile of God. Please take my gifts, for God has been very generous to me. I have more than enough." Jacob continued to insist, so Esau finally accepted them. It's interesting when he says he accepted them. In Eastern countries, if you present a gift to a superior and it is accepted, you can then rely upon that person's friendship.

So really, it was a pretty wise strategy on Jacob's part because it was a clear way of knowing in a moment whether Esau accepted him. Because by accepting the gifts, it meant friendship. If you gave a gift to a superior and they would not accept it, you grab your caffe latte and head for the hills.

Because if you offered a gift and they didn't take it, you were in deep trouble. Get out of there. And it's also interesting, isn't it? God blessed Esau. I mean, he says, "I have more than enough." Esau had a right heart and God blessed him. Where do you sense a resentment or a sense that he had been cursed anywhere along the line?

You know, it's interesting you study the Old Testament, sometimes some of the bigger men, some of the men with the stronger character, take second-place roles. It's interesting here, Esau—think about it. He foolishly sold his birthright for a pot of stew. But from there on out, what did he do wrong?

Look at David and Jonathan. If you study the lives of those two men, which one was a more amazing man? Surely Jonathan. From my perspective. God's perspective, David was above all. But it's just interesting. Esau was an interesting man. Let's read the rest of this.

Verse 12: "'Well, let's be going,' Esau said. 'I will stay and lead the way.' But Jacob replied, 'You can see, my lord, that some of the children are very young, and the flocks and herds have their young too. If they are driven too hard, they may die. So go ahead of us. We will follow at our own pace and meet you at Seir.'

'Well,' Esau said, 'at least let me leave some of my men to guide and protect you.' 'There is no reason for you to be so kind to me,' Jacob insisted. So Esau started back to Seir that same day. Meanwhile, Jacob and his household traveled on to Succoth. There he built himself a house and made shelters for his flocks and herds.

That is why the place was named Succoth. Then they arrived safely at Shechem in Canaan, and they set up camp just outside the town." It's interesting that Shechem is Sychar, if you go back to John chapter 4, the woman at the well. That happened at Sychar, that's Shechem.

"Jacob bought the land he camped on from the family of Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100 pieces of silver. And there he built an altar and called it El Elohe Israel." I'd like to make a closing application. It was 20 years that they lived in this bitterness. 20 years. How long has it been for you?

How long has it been for you? You know, it's interesting they found that bitterness causes cancer. Did you know that? And one of the reasons is that bitterness works at destroying the immune system. Bitterness and unforgiveness has a greater effect in our lives than any of us would ever understand.

Did you know that unforgiveness is a primary reason that we doubt our salvation? Many times when someone really questions whether they were ever saved, it's really because of something they have not let go of, someone they have not forgiven.

Because the Bible says clearly that if you don't forgive those who sinned against you, God won't forgive you. And so it causes that question, that lingering doubt of salvation. Is there something, is there someone in your life that God wants you to forgive? Is there someone he wants you to be reconciled to?

Guest (Male): We're studying Genesis right now with Pastor Thom Keller on Study the Word. You can hear this message again by going to ccleb.com. Again, we're at ccleb.com. There are many other messages for your growth and edification there too. Or call and request a CD copy at 717-507-7862.

That's 717-507-7862. Thanks for remembering that Study the Word is a listener-supported ministry. We look to listeners like you to help us provide these Bible studies on your station every day. Here's where to write: Study the Word, 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 17046. Or call 717-507-7862.

Thom Keller is a senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Lebanon and if you're in the area, we hope you'll come by for a visit. For directions and service times, go to ccleb.com. When you get a chance, download our free Android app. Search Calvary Chapel Lebanon in the Google Play Store. To lead us in prayer once again, here's Pastor Thom.

Pastor Thom Keller: Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for these examples, what the Bible calls ensamples to us, to teach us, to instruct us, to guide us. And I pray now, Holy Spirit, that you would convict us. That you would convict us of an issue or area if there's one in our lives.

And then we pray, Holy Spirit, you would convince us that the right thing to do is to be reconciled. And so we pray, Father God, if there's something in our hearts right now, if there's something you've been bringing to our minds even if we've been trying to push it aside and say it's not really there, it's not really an issue.

I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would convict us and convince us that it is the right thing to do. And that you'd be with us, that it could end in a way that would free us, that would set us free, that would allow us to come before you again with joy, knowing that nothing is between us because nothing is between us and another person.

For your word says: how can we love God whom we have never seen if we cannot love our brother whom we have seen? I pray, Holy Spirit, you'd not let us off the hook on this one. Dog us, remind us, so that we could be set free. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks for studying the word with Pastor Thom Keller. We'll get back into Genesis with Pastor Thom next time. We hope you can join us.