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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!
I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles this evening to Genesis chapter 32. Genesis chapter 32, beginning in verse number 1. It seems sometimes that we are a long time learning. Jacob had had one experience after another in which God had taught him through prayer that there were some things that could not be solved any other way than by praying. He was indeed, in his problems, a man that was a long time learning and a man who did everything but the right thing. Now in verse 32, finally he gets loose from this combination uncle and father -in -law and goes on his way. So 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 of that place Mayanaim. Not sure of my Hebrew here, but I think that's the same root word from which we get mayonnaise. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, unto the land of Seirah, the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau. Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now, and I have oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants, and I have sent to tell my lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that was with him and the flocks and herds and the camels into two bands, and said, If Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. Now Jacob and Esau were brothers. The last time they had seen each other, Jacob had done a good job of deceiving his brother, first out of his birthright and then out of his blessing. They had not seen each other from then. I can rather imagine that through the ensuing years, stories must have filtered into the camp about the hostilities and resentment that were being harbored in the heart of his brother. Now as he started toward the promised land, he had to go near the land of Seirah, and there lived his brother Esau. He could not go around the country. It was impossible physically. The mountains were high and treacherous. There were no roads. And he had to go right square dab through the middle of enemy territory where lived the feared Esau. He could not ignore him. He was his brother. He was an only brother. He was a twin brother. And he was an offended brother. And Jacob, fresh from that terrific experience where he had met God face to face and our Lord had spoken to him through prayer and he had caused him to realize that he was in the very presence of God and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. Followed by the obvious presence of God in his life that gave him the ability for 14 years to act out the best Old Testament expression of love, I think, to be found. And yet, schooled in the experience that God had given him, he was still a man who learned so slowly. If anybody in the Bible had had experience after experience with God in prayer and had seen the miraculous intervening power of the hand of God, it was this man, Jacob. And yet, when he faced his most awful experience of life, where he literally feared for his very own existence, not knowing that the overwhelming physical power of his brother would come militated against him with all of his armies and that he was surely destined to death. He does not turn to God in prayer and ask God to solve his problem and to help him and to fight for him and to plead for him. He does not do that. He concocts a variety of maneuvers. He attempts to do everything but the main thing. And I call him the man who did everything but the right thing. He should have prayed and I believe that had he fallen on his knees the very first time that this inner insurmountable object faced him and said oh God thou who art the God of Abraham thou who art the God of Adam and the God of Noah I know that thou art my God. He would pray later and so he knew to pray but with Jacob like so many of us prayer was a last resort. It was something to do only when everything else failed and he substitutes everything for prayer. Now tonight as we look back and remember what our Lord has done for us in these past days and weeks with great rejoicing and faith in the future, we not only as individuals have the same tendency to attempt to solve our problems with everything but God and always count on him only as a last resort but there is the subtle temptation that now we begin to walk by sight rather than faith and now we think we know how to do it now, now we have a staff, now we have some momentum, now we have some of those physical things that are very important and so we'll do it ourselves. But I want us to remember tonight as Jacob so soon forgot that everything God has done for us, everything that has happened good to us collectively as a church and yea in all of our lives as individuals has come directly from almighty God. And when a man does not pray and bow the knee and depend upon God and acknowledge God and experience God and honor God, then that man or that church's future is not long for this world. Billy Graham has said so many times, if God took his hand off of my life, my lips would turn to clay and I am but a mere man. Paul has said it so well, without love, without power, without God, man, and all of his preaching and all of his effort is just sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Now our God has made our faith sight in ever so many ways. But as Ben said when he drove in from his home this morning and through his neighborhood did not find two out of 200 homes where the people of God were going to church but were mowing the yard and picking up the newspaper and drinking coffee and doing everything while we rejoice in the little that has been done, we need to remind ourselves that we are living in the midst of a lost city and we are vastly further behind now than we were a year ago. More people are moving in. We're not even holding our own, catching up with the present growth rate. So what will we do? On what will we depend? Oh church, if we become more than anything a church of prayer, the power of God that comes and answer to prayer will be the thing that makes it continue to happen. I believe the reason so many were saved in Spirino was because for a minute one reason that last night when the people of God, you remember on Sunday before we began the following Sunday, went to different auditorium corners and prayed. And when well over a hundred of our men knelt in prayer that morning and lifted up that meeting in power, night after night the crowds came and the souls were saved. It was because of the fact that the people of God were in prayer. Now let's look at what he did. He makes just about every mistake that you and I make and that there is danger in our making in the future. And Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. Now that's far enough. The very first phrase says, and Jacob went on his way. No mention of God. No mention of consulting the Almighty. He just went his way. He just did his thing. There is a suggestion of independence in the action of this man when he just made up his mind what he was going to do because Jacob was probably the shrewdest Jew in the Old Testament. And when you say that, you have said something and he here concocts the best variety of maneuvering in all of the bible he could handle this one surely his brother was coming but he was educated he was experienced he was old he was wise he was many more than 90 years of age now he was 85 and another 7 and 92 about 93 years at least years of age when this experience happened and so in his wisdom and his maturity and his shrewdness and his education and all of his self -sufficiency he just starts off in life to handle his problem not knowing that the most difficult problem that he was yet to face was one that could not be handled by man at all because he was facing a brother that was militating all of the wrath and anger and judgment and all of the forces the superior armies that were his to cut him to shreds josephus the historian says that had not an intervening hand of god come in that when a man's birthright had been stolen was one thing but when his birthright and his blessing had both been stolen that the ensuing wrath of his brother was enough to bring in one fell sweep all of the the power of the enemy army upon him and he said he would not have done the courtesy that was the oriental normal thing of even sending a declaration of war but just swept down in the darkness of night he didn't know how bad off he was he didn't know how nearly he became the late great jacob but he was educated he was experienced he was wise and so he starts off in life he's self -sufficient now the bible says to whom much is given much shall be required and if we prayed and if we trusted god and if we realized our own inadequacies when we were not as strong as we are now then dear church it is a vastly much more importance that we pray and depend on god now than a year ago or two years ago or five or ten or ever before in our history because as we stand on the threshold of what may be the end of the world and the coming of christ as god is looking for men and groups and people and churches to trust in a great program i believe of world evangelism before god comes down and says that's all gentlemen it's closing time then if we must ever depend on him it is now and so he depends on himself and substitutes his own self -sufficiency for prayer southern baptists have the most affluent and educated ministry in all of the world we have more degrees and no more high -sounding words than any clergy in any denomination in history the world's three largest seminaries are all southern baptists and are all here in our own beloved south land and yet there are more liquor stores than churches in the average american city yet we go farther and farther and farther and farther behind because there is a difference in knowing hebrew and shebrew and greek and knowing a lot of words and knowing about god and in knowing god and his power i would not for one moment be little education oh how we all need more of that but i suggest to you that knowing and enlightening ourselves and arming ourselves with new intellect and new power and new mental prowess will never do one thing to win this world of christ we have worshiped as a nation at first one shrine and then another why is the jesus movement alive why is the spirit finding it so easy to move into hearts why as one philosopher has said is everything that's nailed down coming up because our nation has tried science it has tried education it has tried so -called freedom and sex and dope and materialism and our whole society is blowing apart and we're beginning to wake up and realize there's no hope for us except in god and it is much easier now than ever before to win people to christ there is an uncanny instability in everything that was once stable and we can have all the answers and learn all of the solutions and all of the words and then analyze and contemplate it and and understand our problem but there must be a power to solve that problem a fine christian psychologist said to me in oklahoma city we can take them apart but we can't put them together again we know the problems but the power to reorient that human personality and reintegrate that split personality is ultimately and exclusively in the hands of God. That's the mystical power that only God has. And so, depending on himself and knowing and knowledge and experience and substituting for prayer, he strikes out totally. Well, he goes as do drastic men from one extreme to another. Next, in verse number three, the Bible says Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother. Now, he sends out these messengers to attempt to sue for peace and to say to Esau, I want peace, I'm sorry. And he sends messengers to do the job. And I raise the question, why messengers? Why not a messenger? How many men does it take to carry a letter? But you see, this man Jacob would impress them with his size. He sends out a half a dozen runners and they all go and surely Esau will be overwhelmed with the magnitude of his numbers. You'll see how many he has. And he attempts to substitute size and numbers for prayer. And what happens? They come running back to him and said, behold, we came to Esau and behold, he cometh to thee and 400 men with him. We went out there to impress him with a half a dozen. Man, he's got 400. You see, the world can outstrip us every time with its methods. We have something, an untapped power this world knows nothing about in the power of God that is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. And I am concerned that it shall never be said of us as someone said of Southern Baptists in 1954 when we first became the largest Protestant denomination in America and had a numerical slogan, a million more than 54. Well, Southern Baptists are many, but they ain't much. Numbers, numbers, numbers. I have a quest for numbers. God believes in numbers. He kept numbers. He kept statistics. In fact, he named one entire book of his Bible, numbers. But numbers numbers are no substitute for power. And people that are merely empty people will not be people that are God's people and the salt of the earth. And so he tries to solve his problem. He tries to conquest, bring conquest in his situation by becoming larger and bigger. And I want us to become larger and bigger, but it is never a substitute for the power of God. I'd rather have Gideon's 300 to 300. I'd rather have 10 deacons, 10 teachers, 10 men that knew God and knew what it meant to pray down the power of God than 2010 who did not. Well, he makes another mistake. Verse number four, and he said, now here's what we're going to do. He commanded them to go to Esau saying, thus shall ye speak. He attempts to substitute a plan for prayer. He's hit upon it. He has an idea. Now here's what we're going to do. And plans and methods are good. I don't know how many times I've spoken at conventions and in one of those rare things where the power of God comes, not as I was speaking particularly, many times when others were speaking. But it was one of those things when a whole state convention had come together for two days, for a year, out of a whole year, these two days, and prayed for revival and preached for revival and pled for revival. And then somehow the power of God fell and it was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And a wise, discerned man should have just forgotten the plan and the program and forgotten the schedule and who was supposed to preach and called everybody to prayer and revival might have broken loose in that state. Oh, but no, we couldn't. We had programmed ourselves out of revival. We'd planned ourselves out of the revival business and that would have gotten in the way of the plan and we had to stay on schedule and so the plan became the substitute for prayer. Ladies and gentlemen, we are the best planned and programmed denomination in the world. We have committees, we have departments and divisions and yet somehow we do not make genuine evangelistic advance. And in your own personal problems, to think, to devise, to scheme, to plan, is good to have a plan of attack. But when it becomes a substitute for the first thing which makes the plan function, the power of God, then it's a poor second. Well, old Esau just comes closer and closer and closer, and showdown is almost here, and his heart is in his throat. And so he says, I know what I'll do. Verse 5, he said, here's what you go tell Laban. Esau, you tell Esau that I have oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants, and I have sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy sight. You go tell him how many possessions I own. Go tell Laban how, Esau, how rich I am. And when he is impressed with all of my material wealth, he'll be so impressed he'll just roll over and give up. He tried to substitute possessions for prayer and money and wealth. We Southern Baptists had as our slogan once, endow or die. If we don't endow our institutions, they'll die. Well, some of them are endowed, and some of those very same ones are dying. Why? I don't believe in endow or die. I believe in prayer or die. I believe win or die. I believe evangelize or die. It is the power of God ultimately upon which the church of Jesus Christ lives. And not money in the bank, physical security. Our ongoing future is not dependent upon our financial solvency. It is dependent upon our truth and our honesty to the Word of God. And when we stay true to Him and do what He says, then He is obligated to meet our need. It's the way it works. It's not like any business in all of the world. He was depending upon his wealth and his possessions. Go tell them how many possessions I have. But old Esau, the enemy, was not impressed. He just came closer, closer, closer, and he got right down to him. And he finally hit on the ultimate church approach. Now, verse 7, then Jacob was greatly distressed. Not just a little bit. He was really into it. He was afraid and distressed. Now, listen to this. And he divided the people that was with him into flocks and herds and the camels into two bands. And he said, if Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. And all the time, and this is the time that he had this experience with his angel, he was about 15 miles behind the lines. Good thinking, Jacob. He divided the troops and he said, now half of you go this way and half of you go this way. And whichever way Esau comes, I'm going with the other bunch. Not bad. Not bad. You see, here's the whole problem. I'm not organized. If I ever get organized, I'll solve this problem. Oh, we are so very organized and well that we are. But problems are not solved and worlds are not won and conquest is not made in the name of Christ on the wings of organization as important as it is. It is made on the power of God, which exclusively comes in answer to holy living, the fullness of the spirit of God and time in prayer and nothing else. So Esau comes closer and closer and closer and now they are on toward the last hill and overcomes Esau. And this frantic, drastic man, desperate man who has tried everything, now remembers the experience of his youth and the lessons learned at the knee of a godly father. And he falls on his knees and begins to pray. Verse 9, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord would said unto me, Return unto the country and to thy kindred and I would deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all of thy mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother. Now he goes to God and prays. Forgive me, deliver me from the hand of Esau. I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. Notice in his prayer, if you will, that he was, first of all, very humble. His humility was showing. I'm not worthy of what you've done for me. I'm no good. He was repenting of his pride and his self -sufficiency, and he begged God for deliverance, and he acknowledged that he was scared to death. Deliver me from the hand of my brother, for I fear him. When God was able to detect the genuineness of that man's sincere dependence upon Almighty God, our Lord, like a tornadic and uncontrollable miracle, released his power in the heart of Esau. And within a moment, Esau's heart was transformed. He forgot all about the past. And look in verse 33, chapter 4. I'm sorry, chapter 33, the next chapter, verse 4. All the time Jacob was coming near to him, rehearsing his speech, rehearsing his apology over and over. Oh, Esau, forgive me, I'm so sorry. And they got close, and he did not know whether to expect wrath or reason or retribution. But all over the mountaintop came Esau, and the Bible says in verse 4, God had fallen on him. God had changed his heart. He had answered that prayer. Listen, and Esau ran to meet him. What would happen? Would he thrust the dagger of vindictiveness into his heart? No, and he embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. God, in five seconds, did what only God can do and went where only God can go, into the heart of human personality and transformed it and traded in exchange the hatred for love and the grudge for grace. And he didn't even remember how he'd been offended. All he remembered were those early boyhood days and the times they had played together and how he was his brother after all. And he fell on his neck and embraced them and said, Brother, I love you. And they kissed and wept and never even talked about the problem that had come between them. And two brothers lived and died, two happy old men, because one of them who learned so late, too late in many ways, but not really, that God is able to do in a second what men cannot do. In your business, in your home, in our church, organization, plans, know -how, self -sufficiency, numbers, knowledge, education, organization, they're all good. But that that changes hearts and changes situations and breathes life into death and resolutes answers into unsolvable dilemmas is the power of God that comes when men acknowledge God and humbly depend on him and in prayer turn to God. What's happening at First Baptist Church, I am asking it 10 ,000 times a year. I'll tell you what's happening, love is happening, Jesus is happening, the Holy Spirit is happening, prayer is happening, and church, it must always be first on the First Baptist agenda. May we stand and pray.