Not every encounter with God is pleasurable. Sometimes we have a romanticized view of fellowship with God. But the famous story of Jacob wrestling with God offers us a more nuanced perspective. Sometimes God doesn’t come to us in order to encourage us, but to pick a fight with us. Jacob has been a conman….
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Having grown up in the church and having spent a lot of time with other pastors, I can testify that many people will be studying their Bibles this Sunday, but completely missing the gospel. Just because the church teaches from the Bible doesn’t mean it is clearly presenting the gospel of grace in the life,…
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We ALL feel the pressure to impress. I feel it. You feel it. We all feel it. In Genesis 27, Jacob felt the same. So much so he went to great lengths to impress his father. The method he used, is one we use frequently – whether or not we realize it is another issue. …
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In Acts 17:11-40, Luke records how three different people experienced the saving power of Jesus Christ. My belief is that Luke records them one after the other because he’s showing us how it is people come to saving faith. The bottom line: people get saved in different ways. The first is Lydia. Paul wanders down…
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Jacob is a prodigal. He’s on the run from God and his family. He’s burned bridges. He’s soured relationships because of his deception. He’s alone. God feels remote. And Jacob isn’t pursuing God. He’s not crying out to God. Some of you have been, are, or have someone in your life who is in a…
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I don’t know that any society has had more options available to them over the course of human history than we do in the U.S. in 2017. As I scan my home office where I’m writing this, I see a door knob (attached to a door), a backpack, my phone, the computer I’m writing on…
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God encouraged risk-taking. When you stop to think about what God was asking Abraham to do in Genesis 12, it really is unreasonable – according to conventional wisdom. God tells Abraham to leave home. Home represents everything that is familiar and comfortable. God says, “leave it behind.” That would be hard enough, but it gets…
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Do you know the book of Genesis? Below are some short video illustrations that will help give you a refresher.
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In the famous story of Noah, we are confronted with divine judgment which is a problem for many people. Modern people often find the notion of divine judgment distressing and even primitive. Miroslav Volf is a Croatian. As you can imagine, being from the Balkans, he is intimately familiar with injustice. Volf writes this, “Violence thrives secretly nourished by…
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