Church at the Cross - Sunday Messages

Scripture: Genesis 33

+ When we yield the throne to God, He transforms our fear

+ When we yield the throne to God, He transforms our relationships

+ When we yield the throne to God, He transforms our priorities

Scripture: Genesis 32

Is there more to life than this?

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there's something greater out there for me? ... I mean this can't be what it's all cracked up to be. I mean I've done it. I'm 27. And what else is there for me?" - Tom Brady

Genesis 32:4

Genesis 32:11-12

Genesis 32:24-25

Genesis 32:28

Genesis 32:30

Genesis 32:11 

Genesis 32:20

+ Jacob fears being in the hands of his brother, but he finds himself in the hands of God.

+ Jacob fears seeing his brother’s face, but he finds himself face to face with God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 

2 Corinthians 8:9 

+ Jacob fears being rejected by Esau but finds himself accepted by God.

Romans 8:1

Scripture: Genesis 29-31; Lamentations 3:19-24

+ Covenant: God to Abraham 

Nation 

Land 

Blessing(s) 

+ God will use the blessings that He provides to shape us into His character. 

Genesis 29:25 

Jacob says, “WHY HAVE YOU DECEIVED ME?” 

+ Big Idea: Your sin will find you out. You reap what you sow. 

+ God doesn’t require your help. God requires your surrender, trust, and obedience. 

2 Corinthians 1:18-22 (NIV) 

Scripture: Genesis 28

 "From about half-past ten in the evening until about half-past twelve, FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars. Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace. God of Jesus Christ." – Blaise Pascal, November 23, 1654. 

+ An Encounter with God is always by the Grace of God

I am the LORD God and I will be your God…  

I will include you in my deepest purposes…  

I will always be with you, and I will never give up on you…  

Philippians 1:6 NIV

+ An Encounter with God creates the Fear of God

Jeremiah 10:7 NIV 

Psalm 112:1 NIV 

Jeremiah 5:22 NIV

+ An Encounter with God leads to Transformation by God 

John 1:49–51 NIV 

Scripture: Ephesians 6:1–4

+ From a Child-Centered Home to a Christ-Centered Home 

+ From Outsourcing to Owning.  

“All this that we here suffer is through you: you should have taught us the things of God, and did not; you should have restrained us from sin and corrected us, and you did not; you were the means of our original corruption and guiltiness, and yet you never showed any competent care that we might be delivered from it...Woe unto us that we had such carnal and careless parents, and woe unto you that had no more compassion and pity to prevent the everlasting misery of your own children” – Richard Mather, cited in Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were by Leland Ryken. 

+ From Controlling to Cultivating  

Proverbs 13:24 NIV

Proverbs 19:18 NIV

Philippians 2:13 NIV
+ From Moving Them Out to Sending Them Out. 

Psalm 127:3–5 NIV

Scripture: Ephesians 4:29-5:2

+ De-skilling = unlearning or never learning basic relationship skills

 + 5 Directives:

• Communicate Constructively

• Stay In Step With The Spirit

• Take Out The Trash

• Commit To Kindness

• Freely Forgive

Directive #1: Communicate Constructively

Proverbs 12:18 NIV

+ What you speak to people, over time, they will start to live up to, or down to. 

Directive #2: Stay In Step With The Spirit 

+ Challenge: Pray for your spouse.

Directive #3: Take Out The Trash

“Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontation still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back; in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”  - Fredrick Beuchner

Directive #4: Commit To Kindness

Directive #5: Freely Forgive

Scripture: Acts 13:1–5

Acts 1:8 NIV

Acts 8:1–3 NIV

Acts 8:4 NIV

Acts 11:22–26 NIV

+ Gifted by the Spirit

+ United in Jesus

Acts 11:26 NIV

+ Vibrant in Worship

+ Attentive to the Spirit

Acts 14:21–23 NIV

Romans 15:14–20 NIV

Acts 14:26–28 NIV

Scripture: Genesis 2:15–25 

“So, in the one-flesh union of marriage... the married couple comes together completely, as long as they both shall live. In real terms, two selfish me’s start learning to think like one unified us, building a new life together with one total everything: one story, one purpose, one reputation, one bed, one suffering, one budget, one family, and so forth. Marriage removes all barriers and replaces them with a comprehensive oneness. It is this all-encompassing unity that sets marriage apart as marriage, more profound than even the most intense friendship.— Ray Ortlund, Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel.

+ Relational Oneness: A Superlative Love

“A husband must do his best to see that no one know his wife’s faults but himself and God. He should be unwilling to voice them to anyone but God, to pray that she may be pardoned for them and reformed from them. Likewise, a wife must do her best to keep her husband’s struggles and sins to herself, as matters of prayer and not gossip. Neither spouse should be surprised by the sins of the other, for each of them is well aware of their own sins. Can it be helpful to uncover faults in public and fling mud in each other’s face? Will this help a husband reform or a wife to repent? And which is more displayed in such a case, the spouse’s faults and weaknesses or the gossip’s unkindness, indiscretion, backbiting, and folly? Does not the family dog behave better than this when it barks at strangers but not at members of the family?” – Joel Beeke, Purtians on Marital Love. 

+ Spiritual Oneness: A Spiritual Love

Hebrews 3:13 NIV

Hebrews 10:24 NIV

“…especially to be helpers of each other’s salvation: to stir up each other to faith, love, and obedience, and good works: to warn and help each other against sin, and all temptations: to join in God’s worship in the family, and in private: to prepare each other for the approach of death, and comfort each other in the hopes of life eternal.” – Richard Baxter 

+ Physical Oneness: A Sexual Love

Matthew 12:20 NIV

Proverbs 5:15–20 NIV

Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:1-5

Acts 20:29–30 NIV

2 Corinthians 11:4 NIV

+ Marriage is Proof of the Goodness of God.

+ Marriage is a Picture of the Gospel of God.

Companionship

Procreation

Sanctification

Proclamation

Ephesians 5:22–32

Marriage is a Covenant not a Contract.

Marriage is a Covenant of Grace not Works.

Colossians 3:12–13 NIV

Scripture: John 5:21–29
+Jesus gives Forever Life.

Acts 17:31 NIV

+ Jesus gives Full Life.

John 11:25–26
Ephesians 2:4–5 NIV
John 17:3 NIV
John 3:36 NIV