Refuge Audio Podcast

God has a wonderful plan for your life…even though life is full of suffering and sorrow at times. It’s just that suffering and sorrow is not the end of the story.

You see, the story—the epic poem—that God is writing with your life includes high highs and low lows.

The question is, are you going to trust God and obey God through the lowest lows and the highest highs…just like Joseph?

Our study in Genesis now turns to this young man. His life is a practical and productive study with real life application for our lives with God here and now—and so much more.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

Have you ever felt like God was done with you? Maybe you feel that you’ve sinned too many times. Or you feel that you’re too old or not relevant.

If you are in Jesus, that feeling isn’t based on fact. It’s not true. God is not done with you! Feelings, although real and tangible, aren’t always the greatest communicators of truth. Sometimes, feelings just straight up lie to you.

So where can we go when we have those fleeting feelings that God is done with us? To the place where God speaks. Where He dwells. We can go to the scriptures and see God interact with people like Jacob. A man with many sins and many years…and yet, God still speaks to him. God still uses him.

In Genesis 35, God tells Jacob to go back to the beginning…back to the place where He began speaking to Jacob. Back to Bethel. Back to the “House of God”. There, God gave Jacob a gift of grace…a gift Jacob didn’t deserve and could never earn.

It’s the same gift God longs to give to you. He is not done with you!

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

When Dinah was raped, her father Jacob acted indifferently. When her brothers heard about what happened, they were more concerned with revenge than her welfare. And when the dust had settled from the aftermath of even more darkness and brokenness, it seems like Dinah was an afterthought.

But not to God.

He saw her and what happened to her. He cared about and for her. Even though Dinah’s earthly father wasn’t involved, her Heavenly Father was. Even though Dinah’s older brothers schemed revenge, her eldest Brother (Jesus) was advocating for her.

The darkness and brokenness that surrounds us is not God’s best for us. God Himself is the goodness He longs to give us. He is the best Father—who cares about the brokenness in our lives. He is the best Brother—who shines brightly to destroy the darkness—not to expand it.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace from Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

Home can be a difficult place at times, can’t it? Especially if you’re coming home to a mess that you have made. Like Jacob coming home 20 years after he left his family in the middle of a mess of his making—lying to his father, cheating and stealing his brother’s blessing…and then running away to avoid revenge.

Now 20 years later, God gave Jacob 2 things to help him make the difficult decision to make the difficult journey home—an aggravating father-in-law, and a promise. But he still had no idea what would happen when he got there. He hadn’t heard from his family this entire time he’s been gone.

It’s unfortunate that in this life, home is not always a safe place. Thank God that our Heavenly Home will be one of eternal safety and security, free from strife and stress. But as for Jacob in Genesis 32, we see the stress play out as he leads his family and pleads with his God—then a thrilling reunion with his brother in Genesis 33.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org

If you are wondering why God is not speaking to you now, it might be that you are right where He wants you to be.

God spoke to Jacob when he was not where God wanted him to be and when it was time for him to move—there is nothing recorded in-between those times.

Think of it this way…children might ask their mother if they can play outside. “Yes,” the mother would say, “but only where I can see you in the yard.” When the children would go outside to play, the mother would have not reason to speak to them unless they were moving in a direction that she does not want them to go—like in the street. Then she would speak to them and call them back to the yard.

If you have a hard time hearing God lately, it may be that He has not been speaking. It may have nothing to do with you or your sin. It may just be that you are exactly where He wants you to be.

We hope you’re encouraged by this edition of Strengthened by Grace with Pastor Dominic Dinger of Calvary Chapel Saint Cloud. Learn more and find downloads of messages at CalvaryChapelSaintCloud.org