Sermon Notes: Genesis 27 and 28 (Jacob)

These are some sermon notes that will help you begin thinking ahead to Sunday's sermon.

Genesis 27:1-4, 15-23 and 28:10-17 God's Purpose in All Things
God's ways are not our ways, so one solution to "figuring out" God is to give up and not even try to understand him. This leads to some severe misunderstandings.

• Some look at God's will and ask questions about how we can ever understand or know it.

• many look at God's will improperly, either as a "health and wealth" scenario, in which nothing bad will happen to those who claim to follow God (whether their lives actually line up with biblical principles or not); or as a very narrow path that is difficult to find and even trickier to stay on.

• Others assume that God rewards exceptional Christians, and the rest of us who are not able to live up to the images of those "exceptional" Christians we see at church are just on our own.

But God's will is seen in how he guides history and his people to fulfill his promises. God uses imperfect people to accomplish his will of blessing all nations.

• Jacob's story
• Not the heir, but through trickery and deception becomes the heir (27:1-4, 15-23)
  
  • Is sent away for his own safety (27:41-44)
  • The dream (28:10-17)
  • As a result, Jacob learns God (28:16-17)
  • In this dream, we see both God's intent to keep the promise made to Abraham and God's personal commitment to Jacob
  • the promise comes (past)
  • to an imperfect person (present)
  • and the promise will be fulfilled (future)
  • this is how God works!

In the gospel, the same promise and commitment is made to us!

• In our story this morning, the stairway represents access to God. Angels ascended and descended from the earth to heaven, mediating the presence of God to Jacob. In John 1:50-51, Jesus picks up on this idea but describes *himself* as the stairway! HE is the one providing access to God! God is known through him! He is the Savior of the world!
• In the gospel, the promise is fulfilled--redemption is offered, and God's people will be enabled to be a blessing to all nations through and as the body of Christ.
• Christ's death provides us access to God and his resurrection vindicates him and defeats all enemies, all sin, all barriers existing between us and God...we have pure access to God.
• In Christ, we have access to the Spirit of God...which is his pledge, his commitment to us made manifest by his own Spirit. We come to know God through Christ.

Know God, be encouraged by God's plan and his faithfulness to both his plan and to his people, and stand firm!