ARCC Sermons

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January 23rd

Our bible reading is in Genesis chapters 32,33,34.

Jacob and his large family and servants and cattle and flocks left the wilderness of Paddan Aram (northeast, in present-day Turkey) heading toward Canaan, the “promised land”, given by God in a promise to Abraham and his descendants...which included Jacob and his family.

Just a few miles into the journey, Laban and his sons and servants caught up with Jacob’s tribe. After an exchange of heated words and accusations, Jacob and Laban agreed to a friendly parting...confirmed by two piles of stones. In the days and years to come, when the children would ask about the stones piled up there, those that knew the story would tell of the promises that Jacob and Laban made to each other for the sake of their families.

The promises that were made between Jacob’s family and Laban’s...they were made and they were broken, many times, over many generations. We could say that the stones lost their meaning.

But there was a promise made and a stone nearby to testify to the keeping of it...a promise made by a young stonemason/carpenter in Judah years after Jacob and Laban died.

...a promise that was made and not broken...

...and there was a rather large stone that pointed toward an empty grave and the promise kept...for all who believed.

Jesus Christ said,

“I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me, though he should die, yet shall he ever live.” John 11:25

Obviously we can't say it any better than the very words of Jesus as recorded in John...But maybe... a few lyrics of a song by Dallas Holm, written in 1978, will help you, just like it has helped Bev and me, for 42 years, to remember this promise and strengthen your faith for the days to come.

“Go ahead, drive the nails in my hands...Laugh at me, where you stand. Go ahead and say it isn't me,

The day will come and you will see...

Cause I’ll rise...again

Ain't no power on earth that can tie me down...

Yes, I’ll rise....again,

Death can't keep me in the ground.

Go ahead and mock my name...My love for you is still the same...

Go ahead and bury me...

But very soon

I will be free

Go ahead and say I'm dead and gone...But you will see that you were wrong...

Go ahead... try to hide the son

But all will see... that I'm the One.

Cause I’ll come... again

Ain't no power on earth can hold me back

Yes, I’ll come... again...

Come to take my people back.

Thanks, Lord...Your cross and Your empty grave...promise made and promise kept so we are inspired to believe that you're coming back...just as You have promised...halleluiah!!!

Some introduction right?

But the rest of the story is too encouraging to pull up now.

Back to the text...Jacob and his family continued toward home. There should have been excitement, but instead, there was great fear. Jacob feared that his brother still held a murderous grudge against him...and perhaps against his whole family.

Now, look what God did.

A band of angels...God’s warrior host... met Jacob on the way. Jacob was encouraged. He even named the next place where they stopped for the night...

Mahanaim...” two camps “...ours and God’s together.

Did that take all the fear away? No, didn't seem to...

So...look what God did next...

God Himself wrestled with fearful, confused, desperate Jacob all night....bringing Jacob to the humble end of himself...touching Jacob’s hip...dislocating it for the rest of his days...causing a limp of continual repentance for pride and belief in God’s strength and promises. God wrestled with Jacob until Jacob admitted his need for God. God blessed him with a limp and a new name...Israel...from selfish deceiver to prince with God.

And guess what happened after that...that’s the rest of the story. Thanks for being on this journey of Bible in a Year.

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January 22nd

Our Bible reading for today is Genesis chapters 30 & 31.

At this time in biblical history, Jacob was a grown man in his early forties. He has been living near the city of Haran in the wilderness of Padann Aram for the last twenty years. His father Isaac sent him there to find a wife from the family of his mother. (Behind the scenes, Jacob’s mother was strongly suggesting the same trip, but with a slightly different motive: to hide from his angry brother, Esau, who vowed to kill Jacob because he stole His “firstborn” blessing.)

Well, Jacob made it to the region of his mother’s birth. He wound up working for his mom’s brother...and marrying two of his uncle’s daughters.

And so we’ve come to today’s reading.

At first, I thought...”Wow, this is ugly. Two sisters, sharing the same husband, at the same time, competing for his attention and devotion. And they use their children by Jacob to make their case for superiority in their separate relationships with Jacob. That had to be a dysfunctional situation.

“Me against you. Yours against mine.” How was all that going to work?

Answer: God...He was working His plan and using imperfect people to accomplish it.

I cannot help but see the sovereign activity of God in this portion of scripture.

Cutting to the chase, Jacob had 12 sons from his marriages to Leah and Rachel. From these sons would come the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. From those 12, God chose one tribe from whom the Messiah would be born.

Surely God would choose one of Rachel’s sons since Rachel was Jacob’s, first love. Surely God would choose Joseph since he was Jacob’s favorite son out of the twelve.

But it didn't happen like that. God chose Leah and her fourth-born son, Judah.

Listen to the Messianic Psalm 78...

“God rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves” (vv. 67–68).

God chose...God elected...God sovereignly determined the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Go back with me...Before Jacob left home, his dad blessed him...told him of his God-given destiny. “God chose you, to be the son of the promise given to Abraham...through you, a great nation will come forth...You will have the land God promised your grandfather.”

Did you see it? Did you hear it? God chose Jacob, not Esau. That choosing came before the twins were born. That declaration...that prophetic decree... that the older will serve the younger...was made by God long before the boys could have been shaped by their experiences. God elected and chose the path and the people that He would use to fulfill His sovereign purposes.

And Jacob’s dad, Isaac, ....most surely told his son...” my brother Ishmael came before me...but God chose me to be the son of the promise that God gave my dad...a promise about a great nation and a great land...and now it has passed down to you...Jacob...you’re the chosen....and some nights in Haran 20-30 years later....yes dad...dysfunctional family and all.”

God promised that Jacob would become a great nation...and he did. God promised that from that people all the families of the earth would be blessed...and they have been through the coming of Jesus Christ...his life, his death, and his resurrection...unto eternal life for all who believe Him.

Enjoy the rest of the story.

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January 21st

Our Bible reading today is Genesis chapters 27,28,29.

These three chapters are full of “Important Characters” in the story of God’s work of redemption for a world of people who would believe God...until they didnt...until they did again.

There’s old Isaac. There’s zealous Rebecca. There’s careless Esau. There’s wimpy Jacob. There’s deceptive Laban. There’s selfish Leah. And there’s patient Rachel.

I want us to think back a couple of chapters (and 20 years) where pregnant Rebecca converses with God and more importantly, God talks to her. She was having twins. Rebecca told God that the twins seemed to be fighting in her womb. God said in a prophecy, “The two boys represent two competing nations.

“And the older will serve the younger.”

Now back to today’s reading... (when the twins were in their early twenties)...where we listen to a conversation between Isaac and his firstborn, Esau. Dad told the “son he loved” to go hunting...then prepare my favorite meal...bring it to me...we will feast together...and then I will bless you before I die.

Over the years, I've wondered if Rebecca was more in tuned to God’s will than her husband, Isaac. It was certainly a possibility.

We could all tell the story of a wife and mother who proved to be wiser in spirit than her husband. I'm not so sure that’s the case here.

But Isaac was the “son of promise” to his parents and a coming great nation that God would raise up through his descendants.

Surely he was aware and spiritually alert to God’s will for one of his sons to be the “son of the promise”

that God had given Abraham for a great blessing....on a great nation...that would prove to bless all the families of the world...which was and is Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Apparently, from our story today, Rebecca was worried that her husband was about to make a big mistake. So she took things into her own hands.

“She” would make sure that God’s prophesy came true...that the older would serve the younger and not the other way around.

That would mean (to Rebecca) that Isaac’s intention to bless his oldest had to be changed...even if Jacob had to lie.

So she convinced Jacob to go along with her deceptive scheme. Together they would trick Isaac into blessing Jacob instead of his firstborn, Esau.

**By the way, young Jacob did voice a concern to his mother before her plan was put into action. “But mom, what if dad recognizes that I'm not really Esau...then instead of him blessing me, he will curse me.” Rebecca answered, “if that happens then the curse is on me...don't worry...everything is going to be fine...do what your mother says.”

Rebecca’s plan worked...she and Jacob deceived Isaac into giving firstborn blessing to Jacob instead...both averted the curse.

Or did they?

The son Rebecca loved had to run and hide from Esau for 20 years. Esau had vowed to kill his brother for stealing his birthright blessing. Rebecca never saw Jacob again. The curse was upon her, at least partly.

And the son that Rebecca loved, did he get away scot-free? Not hardly. He had to leave his home and parents. He had to hide in a foreign land. ...Every day, wondering if his angry brother and his friends would find and kill him. And most of all, he had to leave the promised land that was tied to his achieved blessing.

Hearing Rebecca say “The curse is on me”...” everything is going to be fine”...she couldn't pull that off. Jacob had to bear his own. This is where Jesus is completely better. He bore the curse of our sin upon Himself and died on the cross so we wouldn't have to pay for our sins and have eternal life instead.

Friends, there is so much more to the story. Enjoy the rest of it.

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January 20th

Our Bible reading for today is Genesis chapters 25 & 26.

Let’s jump right in.

Abraham married again after the death of his wife, Sarah. Sarah died at age 127. Abraham would have been 137. Three years later, their son Isaac married Rebekkah. And It was after that wedding that Abraham married again.

He and Keturah were married 35 years and had six sons.

Some have said that Keturah was Hagar by another name. But there is no biblical evidence of that.

In the Chronicles, Keturah is called Abraham’s concubine. So the Genesis record refers to Keturah as Abraham’s wife and the Chronicles, a concubine. I'm stumped too. But background study of the times makes it clear that men had a primary wife, that they lived with until death. But men could also legally have a secondary wife for childbearing.

My educated guess is that’s where Hagar came in. And perhaps Keturah was like a secondary wife per custom whom Abraham married after Sarah died.

I want to believe that maybe Sarah got sick and Abraham needed help caring for her...and that Keturah was promised a lifelong commitment from Abraham should Sarah die before Abraham did. And I want to believe that Abraham kept himself pure unto Sarah and only had relations with Keturah after Sarah died and they became husband and wife.

I suppose we will understand it better bye and bye.

Abraham died at age 175.

Before Abraham died, he did some interesting things.

First...Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.”

That meant that Isaac became the head of the family...spiritually, financially, politically, and business-wise. And with this revelation, any thought that Abraham’s 1st son, Ishmael, by Hagar, might just be in the covenant picture going forward....that thought was dashed when Isaac took the keys from his father.

He owned the land and all that was on it...final decisions about family matters were his...and when his Dad wished to bless Isaac’s 7 brothers with gifts from the family wealth, Isaac would have had to sign off on it...(and apparently he did).

Now...let’s look at the “second interesting thing” Abraham did right before he died.

Since two sons, Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham next to Sarah his wife in the cave of Machpelah...

“Abraham must have worked to bring the young men together”...

...to ask them to oversee his burial.

Abraham had plenty of loyal servants and friends that would have seen to every detail of Abraham’s burial and funeral. But in Abraham’s last days, it wasn't pomp and circumstance that was on his mind...it was FAMILY.

Whatever it was that separated the family...it must be overcome...whatever it was, that separated these brothers, pride or prejudice or anything else...it must be dealt with and put away forever going forward. Good dads want that for their children.

**Now just me thinking out loud...Maybe Abraham was trying one more time to make sure both of these sons shared their father’s faith with the assurance of eternal salvation.

“Good job, Abraham.”

One more interesting thing that Abraham did before he died...

“He gave gifts to his 6 sons by Keturah and sent them away to the land of the east.”

Why? Only an educated guess. Midian was one of Abraham’s sons by Keturah. The Midianite people came from Midian. And guess who spent 40 years in exile in the desert of Midian....the same guy that married the daughter of the priest of Midian...Moses...and Zipporaha led Moses to faith in the Lord of Abraham. God was preparing the way for Moses...to know God and be used of God to deliver Israel from Egypt. Wow!

And from Israel?...guess who came...our Jesus...our Savior and God...in whom we believe...and God set that up too

Praise His name...Enjoy the rest of the story.

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January 19th

Our bible reading today is Genesis Chapters 22 23 & 24.

***Is there anything in the lives of the characters in today’s reading that I need in my life?

Chapter 22...Abraham believed/trusted God again in a big way. “Lord, help me to trust You in specific ways today.”

Chapter 23...The Hittites helped Abraham in a big way. “Lord, like Abraham, help me to not be afraid to ask others for help.”

Chapter 24...God answered Abraham’s servant’s prayer in a big way. “Lord, always remind me of this servant’s prayer...to the point and detailed.”

Thanks, Lord for using these fellow believers in You to help me/us grow in our spiritual lives.

***Is there a clear picture of God’s activity in the lives of His people in the pages of our bible reading today?

Yes...and that activity?...

GOD PROVIDES...FOR HIS OWN! That is how God is active in the lives of His children. And so where do we see it today?

1. God provided a lamb for Abraham and Isaac.

2. God provided a burial place for Sarah.

3. God provided a wife for Isaac.

We are in for a treat in the bible reading for today.

But before we continue in the text, let me tell you how I envision a personal interview with Isaac in heaven one day.

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January 18th

Our Bible reading for today is Genesis 19,20,21.

when I read the Bible, I'm always looking for “God activity”....” what God is doing,” in the text.

That revelation of God’ s activity not only adds to my knowledge of the magnificent will of God....

but it also teaches me His ways so that I can relate what is happening in the world around me to Him....to His divine rhyme and reason..... that fulfills His ultimate purposes for me, mine, and the world at large.

So what is God doing in this part of the story? He is doing what He does so often...He is rescuing His own. And should that rescue benefit others, to God be the glory.

In today’s reading, God rescues Lot and his family from the judgment of God upon Sodom.

Sounds a lot like a rescue mission that God pulled off for Noah and his family in the midst of a “flood” of judgment.

The Bible says that a great outcry against the people of Sodom and Gomorrah rose to heaven. Where did that outcry come from?

Remember the scripture that revealed the outcry of the blood of righteous Abel after he was murdered by his brother Cain?...and how that cry rose to God’s attention?

Remember the scriptures that described the outcries of God’s people living in Egypt as they were terrorized and brutalized by the Egyptian authorities and Egyptian people? And how those cries rose up to God?

Moses said that the sin of the Sodomite people was great...indicating that there was more than sodomy that oppressed the ever-widening community for years. And the cries of the innocent in and around Sodom and Gomorrah rose to heaven.

So Like God telling Abraham that the sin of the Amorite was not over yet, implying that there would come a day of judgment but not now.

God was saying that the day of Sodom’s sinning was over. God was going to destroy those cities, their entire populations, and the surrounding peoples that made their living from the wicked Sodomites.

No telling how many times prophets of God came to the city gates and cried out against the rampant wickedness. The text today says that Lot was sitting in “the city gates” of Sodom when the two angelic messengers from heaven came to rescue him.

What was Lot doing there? Well, many did business there. Maybe Lot was doing business there. City leaders made speeches there. Maybe Lot had become one of the city leaders, because of his great wealth.

I can't help but remember the prophet Amos, the doomsday prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. He prophesied the coming judgment of God. And he did this in their city gates. Amos was rebuffed and rejected by city leaders.

I wonder if Lot heard the prophets in the city gates of Sodom. I wonder if Lot was one of the leaders that turned away prophets from the gates. I wonder if his conscience burned at their message to repent. I wonder...“what in the world was Lot doing there in the first place”.

Answer: Getting ready to be rescued.

After doing some of the things I did in shadowy places in High School and College, You might very well ask, “What in the world was he doing there in the first place?” Lot’s answer fits me too...”Getting ready to be rescued by Jesus Christ...even when I was not looking for Him He was seeking after me! Good News indeed!

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January 17th

Our bible reading today is Genesis 16,17,18.

Yesterday’s reading introduced us to the faith of Abram....(Can't wait until we read the record 35 yrs in the future when God honored his heroic faith...like few others down through the years.) But Today’s reading introduces us to his unbelief. Yesterday’s reading showed us promise and hope for the future. Today’s scriptures show us anxiety and misguided initiative.

One day Abram is full of faith. Ten years later, he is not. One day he is listening to God. Ten years later, he is not. One day he is waiting on God. Ten years later, he is not. One day he is influencing his wife to believe God’s promise. Ten years later, he’s not.

It has been ten years since God gave Abram the promise of great blessing. And being familiar with God keeping His promises to His people, I'm certain that God was actively involved in Abram’s life with many blessings in those 10 years...some recognized....but some probably not.

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, had become anxious about her not being able to conceive. So instead of believing God’s promise given to her husband, she sets aside her faith in God’s plan and comes up with one of her own. “Here honey, take my servant, Hagar, go into her and have a son for us...the heir that God promised.”

Now her impatience with God was not good. Her unbelief in God’s words was worse still. And suggesting that her husband take another woman to conceive his heir...that wasn't just desperate, that was shameful. (On this side of the story, we would have certainly counseled Sarah to wait on God’s timing and trust His power for conception.)

So...when we are inclined to rag on Sarah, saying, “That was just wrong sister...you knew better than that...then we read something worse.

Abraham listened to his wife...

(instead of God) ...

and bought into her plan...

...bedding Hagar, instead of telling his wife...

“Absolutely not!”...we will wait on the good promise and perfect timing of God.”

Abraham defaulted to the easiest path...forget God...forget morality...forget confronting your wife...and forget your husband/responsibility to lead your wife spiritually.

Ten years ago, faith was full in Abraham’s life and marriage. God was big and could be trusted. Now ten years later, faith was just about on empty. And God was small and insufficient to meet their needs.

Today in heaven, Sarah is only laughing at herself... and would eagerly remind us of the angel’s message to her so long ago..”Is there anything too hard for God?”

Wow...O how her message points us to our Savior Jesus...”Was death and burial too hard for Christ...no, his resurrection proved that”. Friends in Christ, “were all of our sins together too many for him to save us from?...No...our changed lives prove that.

Enjoy the rest of the story!

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January 16th

Our reading for today is Genesis chapters 12,13,14,15.

Im excited about the next days of Bible reading. The stories of God’s activity and Abram’s responses are extremely inspiring to me. Scripture teaches us that Abram was the Father of the “full of faith”. The apostle Paul told the Church at Galatia that they who believed in the Lord Jesus were sons and daughters of Abraham...for as Abram’s faith in the Lord was counted unto him for eternal righteousness, so our faith is counted unto us for righteousness...that is, a right standing before God. Wow...That’s good company!

Continuing in the text...God was getting His people where He wanted them...from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan. But Terah and his sons stopped halfway...at Haran...where they settled for quite a few years. Terah would die there. Then God spoke...to Abram...” Go from your country, your kindred, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

This is where the story of Abram’s faith begins. He said “yes” to God. That is where faith starts. Faith starts with a commitment to God’s words. Before He ever speaks to us, we have already said, YES. So whatever He does say, we believe it and we act upon it. That’s faith.

Did you notice, God didn't tell Abram the destination. Can you imagine telling your wife and kinfolk that you're leaving the homestead shortly...maybe forever...and when they ask you where you're going...you say, I'm not sure yet...God said He would show me. Now that’s the kind of faith I want to walk in.

I'm so impressed with how God spoke and Abram listened. I was told years ago by one of my spiritual heroes, Henry Blackaby, that hearing God speak (through His Word by the Holy Spirit) was crucial to my Christian life. So when I have hit the proverbial “spiritual wall” in my Christian life, I know that I must get back to listening....with open Bible and no deadlines and absolutely no conditions...just YES!

God spoke promises to Abram to build hope and greater faith in his heart toward God. The first promise mentioned in the passages that we’re reading today is God telling Abram that He is going to make of Abram a great nation. God says, “I'm going to bless you and make your name great. I'm going to make you a blessing to all the families on the earth. And I'm going to give your descendants a land.” And by the way, God has fulfilled all of those promises...just like He promised in Genesis 15 by way of the “blood path” ceremony...”I'm going to be Your God and you're going to be my people...And if I'm not faithful to you, you can kill me like the lamb whose blood covers this path. And if you and your descendants are not full of faith toward me, then you can kill me in the same bloody way the other lamb was slain.” (I'm going to be your God and you're going to be my people...**fast forward to the cross of Christ...” the blood path ceremony” prophesied in today’s reading...Jesus, the lamb of God that was slain for us... for our sin...for our unfaithfulness to God...that we who believe can have God’s eternal life.)

There’s much more to be heard in this reading. It’s the rest of the story...be encouraged by it.

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January 15th

We have come to the end of the biblical record of the patriarch Job... as found in the book by his name...Job Chapters 40,41,42.

We need to note some important God activity.

#1. God is straight forward about sin, especially in the lives of His faithful people. (People who trust in Him for their eternal salvation are His salt and light in the world. In The Lord, we influence others to believe and show the way in the darkness toward real-life...unconfessed sin only hinders that influence...that path showing.)

God told satan that Job was a righteous man, upright in all his ways. And, God told satan that Job would worship God for nothing. Early on in Job’s trial period, he proved God’s case very well. But after months and months of physical suffering, Job’s faith in God was shaken (not broken) and he began to question God and accuse God of wrong. And now it was God’s turn to speak. “

“Shall a “fault-finder” contend with the Almighty God? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” “ (So Job, You are now a man who argues with God...finding fault with God and His ways...)

“Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me and put yourself in the right?”

(So Job, you who championed my purposes for years, now you curse me?)

Perhaps Job had forgotten his angry outbursts at God. But God reminded him of his offenses and guilt...He humbled Job to the innermost part of his heart. (God doesn't play around with our sinning. He wants to get us to repentance... where God’s blessing flows.)

And that brings us to the second revelation of God that we need to hang onto.

#2. God responds with mercy and strength toward the repentant...Job confessed to God that he was wrong to disrespect and condemn the Almighty...”I was a man without knowledge....speaking without understanding...I heard of you with my ears, but now I have seen you with my eyes...therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Then what did God do?

He blessed Job with His trust...(Don't you know that Job wondered if God would ever trust him again?) He gave Job a great responsibility...to work with God in helping his three friends to get right with God...first he would forgive them for their hurtful accusations toward him...and then he could pray for them, for an outpouring of God’s mercy and grace...

And what else did God do upon Job’s sincere repentance for speaking and acting like he was God? God not only restored Job back to his wanted health but He..., well that’s the rest of the story...Job was once again under the spout where the glory comes out.

Great ending...but it pales in the light of what God does for those who change their minds and begin to believe Jesus...when He says, Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near you....saying: It’s me...follow me and I will forgive your sins and give you everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven....both now and forever!

Friends Have a great rest of your day.