Him We Proclaim

Matthew 27:51-28:20: Summary: Jesus is risen!

Genesis 30:25-31:55: Summary: Jacob intends to return to Isaac with his family in tow. Laban can't afford to let this shepherd go. Jacob can name his price. On grounds of revelation, Jacob offers to serve for his wages in an eclectic flock. Laban cheats Jacob and his family by removing such sheep from Jacob's care. But God's care for Jacob conquers in this case. As Jacob labors, God sees to it that the sheep match the description of his wages, and the stronger over the weaker at that. In this way, God cripples Laban and increases Jacob. Laban's sons take issue with the loss of their endowment, which forces Jacob, on God's Word, into a season of leadership among his wives. Their preservation and increase has come from the Lord. Rachel and Leah cast their lot in the direction of the inheritance. Secrecy now abounds. Jacob means to flee, Rachel steals and hides false gods, and Laban is left judged, impoverished, and impotent. All he can do is enter covenant with Jacob, but it's not a covenant of living faith. It's a covenant set in blood and table that the Lord will judge between them, if ever one does harm to the other. But can there be such honor among thieves? Thank God for the Man, Christ Jesus, Who died between two thieves in order to save the one that would be!

Sermon Outline:

Our faithful God as the Sovereign Who separates the swindlers. (30:25-43)

Our faithful God as the Deliverer Who separates the deceivers. (31:1-13)

Our faithful God as the Truth Who separates the tricksters. (31:14-42)

Our faithful God as the Witness Who separates the wayward. (31:43-55)

Genesis 29:31-30:24: Summary: Laban and Jacob are the perfect pair, but not to be outdone by Laban's daughters. Jacob may have his father's blessing, but he has much to learn about following the God of Abraham and Isaac. Rather than a blessing and a means of fulfilling God's mission, marriage becomes a tool for sibling rivalry. As Leah and Rachel compete for his affection, we see what truly rules their hearts. God, through this episode in Genesis, paints a picture of familial brokenness as a backdrop for his immeasurable grace and mercy towards sinners like you and me.

Sermon Outline:

God's provision for a divided house

God's design in the midst of our schemes

God's activity revealed

Acts 17:16-34: Summary: A sermon on global missions.

Acts 11:19-26: Summary: This passage chronicles the rise of a church in Antioch. Those who fled during the persecution of Stephen continued to be evangelistic. Some of them went on to preach the Lord Jesus to Gentiles in Antioch. A church was planted that became a display of God's grace. Seeing it, Barnabas, sent by a sister church in Jerusalem, is gladdened, urging them to continue in what grace had begun. They're to be constant in their newfound allegiance to Jesus. As they are, and as Christ continues to be preached among them, many are added to the Lord. Barnabas invites Paul to join this remarkable event. It's at Antioch that these disciples of Jesus, called a church, are identified as Christians. The One to Whom they belong is unmistakable, which makes them instrumental in God's hands for the conversion of those around them. When He is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself. In the cause of missions, a church can do no better than precisely that.

Genesis 29:1-30: Summary: The chosen son obeys his father's commission. He journeys to another land in search of a specific bride. God is with Jacob in his pursuit. Providence has ordained swift success. A well surrounded by flocks of sheep stop Jacob in Haran, home to Laban and his daughter, Rachel. Adding it all up, Jacob helps in the shepherding task and reveals his identity to Laban via Rachel. Laban asks a harrowing question: what shall your wages be? Jacob only wants Rachel as his wife, for whom he's willing to labor seven years. Once he's fulfilled his end of the terms, Laban arranges a wedding that turns sinful and sideways. When Jacob awakes on the first morning of his honeymoon, it's Leah, and not Rachel, to whom he rises. Upon inquiry, Laban offers Rachel also, but only if Jacob labors seven more years, and Jacob agrees! The deceiver is deceived. Jacob is Laban, and vice versa; and in the process of dealers making deals, two women, two sisters, are caught in the crosshairs. Leah in particular is loved less than her younger, more beautiful sister, and her neglect amid the sins of her father and husband leave us wanting the faithful Son sent by the Father to be the Savior and Lover of His Bride.

Genesis 28: Summary: God's purpose of election continues with Jacob and not Esau. The distinction of His love is revealed in His pursuit of Jacob, who is no more deserving of it than his rebellious twin. Jacob has heard the blessed word from Isaac, his father, but to hear it from the Lord Almighty is still another thing entirely. Jacob sleeps and dreams, and the dream becomes the avenue, at this point in redemptive history, for God's revelation. The revelation consists of a ladder that bridges the activity of Heaven to earth. The Lord stands above it and confirms Isaac's word. Jacob is the heir of Christ to the nations, and God Himself will see that what He's promised will come to fruition. When Jacob awakes, he responds: the Lord is surely there, awesome in majesty, at the very gate of Heaven and house of God. But has Jacob come to terms with the truth of the Gospel? Like a bargain-hunter, he appears to condition his relationship with God on God's Word-plus. So the wrestling seems to begin, that the cheater's heart become, as it must, the beggar's heart.

Genesis 27: Summary: The seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15 once again comes to a crossroads in the book of Genesis.  The offspring of Abraham has twin sons, but God has already promised their mother that the older twin would serve the younger twin.  The patriarch Isaac is getting older and his senses are dimming.  Thinking his life is near the end, and despite the promise of God given to Rebekah, he calls for his elder son Esau to go hunt and prepare delicious food that he loves that he may bless Esau.  But in spite of sin on the part of all 4 members of this family, God sovereignly acts to keeps his promise and has mercy on whom he will have mercy.

Sermon Outline:

Paternal Blindness Sets a Family Up for Failure (v. 1-4)

Poorly Led Matriarch Attempts to Correct Her Husband’s Failure (v. 5-13)

Poorly Led Descendents Respond as They Were Taught (v. 14-40)

Poor Mess of a Family When a Father Fails to Lead (v. 41-46)

Colossians 3:1-17: Summary: Paul desires Jesus to be honored in the local church by the unity and harmony that He died and lives to enable and establish. Concerning this harmony, the exalted Christ is the sovereign root, His reign adorned is the functional fruit, His love exercised is the commitment that binds, and His worship true is the exhortation that brings us back to the root. These are the notes that produce the harmony that glorifies the Person and Work of God in Jesus. And in the end, that harmony sounds like this: Christ. Is. All. And. In. All.

Job 3: Summary: A righteous man in the fire of intense suffering laments and curses the day he was born. He asks the question that many ask today: if we're destined for such suffering, why does God create us and bring us forth from our mother's womb? Today, this is one of several justifications for treating certain persons as disposable. Those persons are infant human beings in utero. 'Who wants to bring a child into this broken world? Isn't it a mercy to prevent their suffering by terminating their life altogether? Isn't death better than dying, ignorance more blissful than knowing suffering without purpose? Ought we not to take the matter of their lives into our own hands?' So the miserable man meditates. Why, why, why, why, why? Sometimes, only God knows. But what we know is that God gives and takes away, and that our suffering has a place in God's redemptive purpose for humanity. Far from being a justification for taking away someone's life, pain is a present part of being and becoming what God desires every person to be in life: humbly and faithfully human, like His Son. In the end, every human life, rooted as it is in the creative will and definite purpose of God, is worthy of the protection that allows it to be lived.