The Story of God - City Alive Church

God reveals himself in fire to Moses in a tree on a mountain, and that random place becomes a holy place. Over the course of Israel's journey in Exodus, God will continue to manifest his presence as fire. God also reveals to Moses his Name: YHWH / I AM. And he commissions Moses to rescue his people.

Before Moses parted the Red Sea, encountered God on the mountain, or brought down the 10 Commandments, Moses had to make a choice: was he going to be an Israelite or an Egyptian? Moses decides to get out of Egypt, but in the wilderness God gets Egypt out of him. He was looking ahead to a better city, whose Builder and Maker is God.

Jacob's large family in Egypt has become a small nation. God's promises to the patriarchs are coming true. Pharaoh enslaves the Israelites, but his plans are no match for the promise of God. The more he oppresses them, the more they multiply. And God's response is to raise up a deliverer who will rescue his people.

Joseph has been cast down, but God raises him up. Joseph learns that his calling is bigger than he is, and that God has positioned him to prepare for a coming famine. In the middle of terrible evil, the Sovereign God has been working all of it for good. Joseph's redemptive suffering rescues his people and saves many lives.

Joseph is his father's favorite son. He has a colorful robe and big dreams. But instead of rising up, his life takes one downward turn after another. He goes down into a pit, down to Egypt, and down into prison. And yet through all the "downs", the loyal love and presence of God was with Joseph.

Jacob returns home after 20 years. The night before he is about to see Esau again, he is left alone until a mysterious stranger comes to wrestle with him until daybreak. Jacob has been the heel grabber from the womb, but the real person he was wrestling with throughout his life wasn't his brother Esau or his uncle Laban, it was the Lord. And this wrestling match with God changes his life and his name forever.

In exile for 20 years working for his uncle Laban, God continues his deep transformative work in Jacob's life. The deceiver is himself deceived, but God's plan to redeem the world is at work through this growing family.

Jacob goes on the run, fleeing from Esau's wrath. When it seems like he has lost everything, he is met by God in a dream where heaven and earth come together. Often in life, it's in our darkest moments that God reveals himself to us the most.

In our world, talk is cheap. But here Jacob deceives his own aging father to receive a blessing, a blessing that will alter the course of his life and his family for generations. Isaac, though wrongfully deceived, is carrying out the purposes of God. Like Isaac we are caught up in a story much bigger than we are, a story where God uses all things to move forward his story with the world.

The brothers, Hairy and Heel, are at it again. Jacob takes advantage of his brother in a moment of need and Esau trades his birthright to gulp down a bowl of soup. Who would trade their rich inheritance in God for a single moment of pleasure? Sadly, we all do it all the time. But in Christ, we are offered a better meal, one that satisfies our hearts forever.