Power Religion - Jacob is on the move again. After 20 years of exile, he is on his way home. Ready to meet him are Esau and 400 men—not exactly the welcoming committee Jacob hoped to find! The night before he confronts his brother, a strange man...

Going Home - Genesis 31:1-55

After 14 years of labor, Jacob has two wives, eleven sons, and one daughter. It is time for him to return to the Promised Land, but he has nothing to bring back with him except his family. This week, we turn to the strange story of Genesis 30 and the...

You might think that after receiving a vision from God and hearing God reiterate the covenant promises first made to his grandfather Abraham, Jacob’s life would have evened out—that everything would have been smooth sailing for him. That was not...

Mercy, Mercy

Jacob Believes - Jacob is on the run: away from his brother’s murderous rage, away from the family he has deceived, away from the promised land, away—it seems—from everything he worked so hard to get. At his lowest point—literally between a...

Grace to Sneaks, Thieves, and Liars - The comforting irony of the gospel is that God is most gracious to those who least deserve it. That grace is on display in the story of Jacob stealing Esau’s blessing from his elderly father, Isaac. Every...

Genesis 26 gives us our main impression of Isaac—and he doesn’t come off looking so good. He tries to flee the Promised Land because of a famine; he lies to a pagan king about Rebekah, his wife; and he is expelled from his own land. Isaac’s...

God's Promises Carry On

This Sunday, we will use the title for our summer sermon series through 1 Thessalonians as the title for our last sermon, for in these final verses of his letter, Paul tells the church exactly what they are waiting for: Jesus. I told someone recently...