This message focuses further on the life of Jacob and highlights a season in his life when Jacob met his match. Laban was tricky, deceitful and cunning. God allows Laban a lot of latitude to provoke Jacob. In allowing this, God holds a mirror in front of Jacob’s face to show him that he also is a cunning trickster. The saying “What goes around comes around” is not an entirely unbiblical notion. The Apostle Paul put it a different way when he wrote, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” Because God is working to develop all of His children, we can expect some difficult lessons along life’s way. To the degree that we excuse our character flaws and sin, God will work overtime to rid us of these traits. And sometimes He places impossible people in our lives to accomplish this very work. In the process, two women, Leah & Rachel, have to endure what these two foolish men kindle. May God grant us all grace to overcome our personality and character trouble spots. May He never leave us alone until this is accomplished.
Lovestruck & Sucker-Punched
Genesis 29:15-30
April 13, 2014 • Jeff Lyle
The 179th Degree
July 27, 2014 • Jeff Lyle
100 out of 100 people living in this generation are going to die. The younger you are, the harder it is for you to mentally process this fact. You will die someday. Your heart will stop, your brain will cease to fire neurotransmitters across the synapses, your respiratory system will shut down and someone you do not know who has been educated in the medical field will official pronounce that your story on earth has come to its end. Encouraged yet? Death is not something we like to speak casually of and this message which concludes our study of the life of Jacob is no exception. The man whom God had destined for a 180° turnaround moves through that final 179th degree as his amazing life comes to a close. How would Jacob die? The taker became a giver. The one who stole a blessing leaves one and the same man who lived for his own glory now points us toward the glory of Another. He may have lived poorly at times but Jacob’s final moments reveals to us how to die marvelously.
From Drought to Downpour
July 20, 2014 • Jeff Lyle
Jacob’s long season of sadness and loss became a time of unexpected rejoicing and renewal, his drought turned into a downpour. When we last left Jacob he was standing in the shards of shattered dreams. He believed his favorite son to have been wrenched away from him through a heartbreaking death. What Jacob did not know - for 22 years! – was that Joseph was alive and had risen to prominence in another land. This message traces the astounding pathway that reunited a grieving father with a long-lost son.
Apparent Death of a Dream
July 13, 2014 • Jeff Lyle
By watching Jacob, we can learn how best to respond when we also experience the apparent death of our dreams. Jacob's long journey brought him back to the land of God’s promise. Now things could finally settle down. Too bad that Jacob’s sons decided to stir things up again. This scene in Jacob’s life is one of anguish as his favorite son, Joseph, is suddenly wrenched away from him. Jacob had been living in a season of great delight but had unknowingly been sowing seeds of hostility in his oldest sons. When they acted out in wrath on this particular day, Jacob’s life fell apart again. How would the aged patriarch respond to his renewed grief?