Biblical, Expository, and Christ-Centered Sermons

This world is not friendly to God’s people. Because this world hates God, the world also hates us. The world has raged in war against God and God’s anointed since the beginning: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set...

When Jacob left Canaan, he demonstrates a paradoxical pattern in life. From one perspective, Jacob sought after the things of God in a way that his brother, Esau, did not. From another perspective, Jacob was brash, arrogant, and unscrupulous. To his credit, Jacob...

What if God were only faithful to us to the degree that we are faithful to him? Certainly, all believers understand that God acts more faithfully than we do. What we do not always appreciate, however, is the infinite degree to which God’s faithfulness extends beyond...

As we arrive at Genesis 29, Jacob’s story balances on two paradoxical factors. On the one hand, God has promised to bless Jacob with the blessing of Abraham and Isaac. On the other hand, Jacob has behaved with cunning manipulation rather than faith. He exploited his...

Up to this point, Jacob has been a taker. With two meals, Jacob took his brother’s birthright (Gen. 25:29–33) and blessing (Gen. 27:1–25). In this, Jacob’s fault has not been what he has wanted, since the text of Genesis places most of the blame on Esau, who “despised...

There are no role models in Genesis 26:34–27:46. Esau, the man of the field (Gen. 25:27), sets his mind entirely on the things of this world from the beginning by taking two Canaanite wives. Isaac, whose own father explicitly forbade Isaac from taking Canaanite wives...

When we hear God’s promises to bless his people, our minds tend to think of those blessings in one-dimensional terms. If we encounter comfort, peace, and prosperity, then we understand those experiences as blessings. On the other hand, if we encounter pain, trials,...

Like Abraham, Isaac did nothing to earn the favor of God. God chose to establish his covenant with Isaac before Isaac was even born (Gen. 17:21), counting Isaac—rather than Ishmael or the sons of Keturah—as the son through whom Abraham’s offspring will be named (Gen....

In the second half of Genesis 25, we turn the page from the life of Abraham to the lives of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob. These new generations will deal with many of the same problems that Abraham faced. Indeed, the narratives of Genesis deliberately portray the...