Crosstown OKC Sermons

After 20 years of trouble and success, now comes the call of God for Jacob to return to Canaan. Many similarities are apparent between this return and the call to Abraham; between this flight and the exodus from Egypt. The passage focuses on God keeping his part of the covenant, Jacob’s faith in God, and Laban’s foolishness. God shows himself faithful once more.

Jacob arrives in Haran confident of God's presence with him. The next two decades of his life are spent in this foreign land, and they are anything but easy. Jacob is tricked and cheated by his uncle. Although Jacob starts a family, there is plenty of turmoil within his family, too. Still, God does not abandon him, and only because of the faithful presence of God with Jacob does Jacob receive everything that God had promised to him.

Rebekah and Jacob devised a scheme to trick Isaac into giving his deathbed blessing to Jacob rather than to Esau. The scheme succeeds, and Esau is furious, requiring Jacob to flee for his life. As Jacob is running away from Esau he unexpectedly encounters God for himself and is amazed at just how close God has been to him all along.

As Abraham's heir, Isaac is entrusted with the same promises that God had given to his father. But he, too, struggled to believe that God would bring those promises to pass. When he succumbed to the same fears his father had, his life brought conflict and tension to the world. But when he sowed seeds of peace, God made plenty of room for him to flourish and for those around him to enjoy the blessing of God as well.

Prayer may be a felt instinct, but it must be learned and taught. The Lord’s prayer is a model prayer that teaches us how to pray with a view of who he is, what his purposes are, how his kingdom is manifested, and we can corporately together adopt a life of prayer for God’s holiness and our sanctification.

The Genesis story moves on from Abraham to the life of his grandson, Jacob. It is Jacob who will become the ancestor of the family that God will choose to bring salvation to the world. This choice will result in a great struggle, a struggle realized even while Jacob was yet in his mother's womb, as the nations of the world refuse to submit to God's choice without a fight.

Ponderings on the Prodigal

At Jesus's dedication, Joseph and Mary met two individuals who had been waiting their whole lives for this encounter. Simeon and Anna both recognize Jesus as the one who is bringing Israel's long story to its promised end. But in spite of the hopes Jesus inspires, the reality is that those who believe in him will need to persevere in their faith through many challenges that Jesus will generate for them in the world.

When the shepherds came to see the newborn Jesus, their report of what they had been told about the child caused Mary to ponder the meaning of what was happening. Twelve years later, Jesus's words to her after they found him in the temple had the same effect. Because of Mary's reflections on her young son's life, she was the first to truly comprehend the message of Christmas.