Dove Creek Bible Church's Podcast

Everyone experiencing pain and heartache must eventually answer the same questions. Will I trust God with my pain and heartache…my doubts…my fears or will I turn away in bitter confusion? Today we find fear gripping Jacob’s heart…how will his faith respond? Will his faith finally unite with hope and become trust? Let’s see…

In the 1970’s it was popular for a while for Christian guys to give their Christian girlfriend’s Mizpah Coin necklaces. The Mizpah Coin was split in two with the idea being your girlfriend would wear one-half of the coin on her necklace and then you wore the other half of the coin on your necklace to remind you both that you were one half of a whole whenever you spent any time away from one another. The Mizpah Coin concept was based upon the passage we cover today. In the 1970’s the idea was “the Lord watch over you and me while we are away from one another” in a romantic sense. However, as originally designed the Mizpah was a way that Jacob and Laban came up with to say the Lord watch between us, not because they care about one another (as in Lord please watch out for my good friend Laban while we are away from each other) but because they don’t trust one another (as in Lord keep an eye on that thieving liar Laban while he is away from me).

In the movie, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Lawrence Jamieson, played by Michael Caine, is a cultivated, suave master con artist who operates in the deluxe hotels along the French Riviera. Steve Martin plays small-time American hustler, Freddy Benson, who invades Jamieson’s territory and the two con men begin sort of a “con-test” for dominance as the master con artist of the area all the while ruthlessly sabotaging each other. This is the kind of relationship that Jacob and Laban have with one another. The events of which we’re about to read depict two cons, each trying to out-con the other. In the grace and providence of God it will be Jacob who comes out the winner, but for reasons completely different from those which he expected.

Is sibling rivalry more pronounced among brothers or sisters? Studies show that sibling rivalry is caused by a great many different things, but having said that, gender does seem to play a role in the severity and nature of sibling rivalry. Still, these studies are not conclusive, and they recognize that there are a great many other causes of sibling rivalry. Family conflict is not a recent phenomenon. It has been with the human race since the fall of man. If you have ever seriously studied the Bible for any length of time you may have noticed in your studies that many of the men and women of the Bible grew up in a setting of unhealthy family traditions. Jacob’s family is one such family for he has married two sisters and their sibling rivalry greatly affects Jacob's circumstances.

We tend to like poetic justice: We like to see liars lied to, we like to see con men get conned, we like to see bullies bullied, and so on and so forth. We like to think that the scales of cosmic justice somehow hang in balance…that there is a reaction to every action…or as the Bible puts it…we reap what we sow. This is why when we get to Genesis 29…no one really feels sorry for Jacob when the deceiver, finally gets a taste of his own medicine.

Jacob is a manipulative schemer who has had to flee his family home because of the mistrust, secrecy, and manipulative deception going on. His understandably angry brother, Esau, wants to kill him and yet in His grace, God has a plan to work in Jacob’s life. However just like when God works in our lives there is not always an immediately visible change…it seems we find transformation is a process and in today’s text we find Jacob on the cusp of this process of transformation for with any transformation, there is always that first step of change and that is what we see today…God for the first time makes Himself known in a very personal way to Jacob.

In this story we discover four extremely self-willed people…each is determined to do things their own way and each learns a lesson that there is a price to pay when we do things our way. The story begins with the conspiracy between Isaac and Esau to avert God’s revealed will. This story illustrates the fact that we cannot frustrate the purposes of God. What do you have when you stand back and take this story as a whole? What you have is a dysfunctional family that is barely holding together. In the end, the family collapses under the weight of deception and dishonesty.

Jacob is devious and deceptive; he is crafty and conniving. He lies and he manipulates. He becomes a man who has the audacity to wrestle with God. Jacob lacked many fine qualities, but lack of ambition was not one of them. Jacob continually claws his way to the top by hook or crook…not appearing to care about whomever he has to step over to get there. The hero of our story is a heel…in fact, a heel grabber…and that makes him fascinating.

Lyn Fasulo discusses the spiritual origins of the Christmas Song "White Christmas" and its applications to us.

Paul's final remarks to Timothy and to the world. It has been said that when a person is about to die their life flashes before their eyes. What do you think will flash before your eyes? I think you will find when you get to the end of your life there are only three things which will matter: your faith, your family and your friends. The Apostle Paul is at the end of his life…he reflects on the present, the past, and the future of his faith journey as well as the friends who have encouraged him and the ones who have disappointed him.

The Bible has come under renewed attack. The critic presently receiving the most media attention is Dr. Bart Ehrman who has taken his questioning of the Scripture straight to the New York Times bestseller list. It seems both advocate and adversary are biased and have hidden agendas so how can the truth ever be known? In today’s text, Paul basically presents what he considers to be the best evidence that the Bible is credible.

"Mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days" (2nd Timothy 3:1). What is the reason for these terrible times? It all comes down to distorted affections beginning first and foremost with people being "lovers of themselves">

One of the reasons a Christian should strive to be a workman approved when it comes to the word of God is so that they can be better used according to the purposes of God. An informed, well-grounded but humble believer will be of more use than an ignorant, belligerent, and opinionated false believer or carnal believer, but the mystery and surprising thing is the false or carnal believer may still be of some use which is what the text discusses today.

In essence, Paul makes two main points today: There is a way to use the Bible as a club that is unproductive, divisive, and leads one away from true godliness. And there is a way to use the Bible as a tool that is deserving of recognition and approval because it builds unity and leads to spiritual maturity.

Most scholars believe this text contains an ancient creedal statement a baptismal candidate recited before baptism. Today's sermon explores what they said, what it meant, and why they said it.

Many Christians view grace primarily as a gap filler meaning they believe they are supposed to work as hard as they can and then grace will fill in the gaps of their insufficiencies. Yet God wants grace to be our sole source of strength not a gap filler, so Paul encourages Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

Paul writes what is essentially the last will and testament of his gospel message. If you should know one day when the end of your life is near…time for you will become a most precious thing…you will want to use it wisely. You will want to remind those you love one last time of what’s really important in life. Whatever life lessons you have learned you will want to pass on. Paul had spent a good many years building his life into a young man named Timothy…the closest thing he would ever have to a son.

In this text, Paul exhorts Timothy to flee, follow and fight. What is he to flee from? What is he to follow after? Whom and how does he fight?