2 Cities Church Podcast Jeff Struecker

Big Idea: Stories from yesterday, trusting tomorrow.



I. Testify to marvel at Jesus

Mark 5:20 So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.



II. It’s like a pillar of faith.

Joshua 4:6-7 In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ you should tell them, ‘The water of the Jordan was cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s water was cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.



 III. Testimony is loving apologetics.

1 Peter 3:15 ...but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.



Next Steps: 

Believe: I need to start a relationship with Jesus today. 

Become: I will live an active faith that impacts others this week.

Be Sent: I will share my testimony with 1 person this week. 



Group Discussion Questions: 


Has anyone helped you learn how to share your testimony?
Is there part of your story that all people can benefit from hearing?  Explain your answer.
Is it possible for another person to refute your sincere testimony?  Explain your answer.
Name a pillar of faith that impacted what you believe about Jesus.
Are all personal testimonies equally supernatural?  Explain your answer using Scripture. 
Is there a difference between making Christ Lord and declaring him Savior? 
Pray for the opportunity to share your personal story of faith with 1 person this week. 

Big Idea: God gets more glory when you trust Him than when you get revenge.   



In the Beginning: Jacob

Genesis 34: 1-31



I. Ignoring evil won’t make it go away.        1-10

Leah’s daughter Dinah, whom Leah bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area. When Shechem—son of Hamor the Hivite, who was the region’s chieftain—saw her, he took her and raped her. He became infatuated with Jacob’s daughter Dinah. He loved the young girl and spoke tenderly to her. “Get me this girl as a wife,” he told his father. Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent until they returned. Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob. Jacob’s sons returned from the field when they heard about the incident. They were deeply grieved and very angry, for Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by raping Jacob’s daughter, and such a thing should not be done. Hamor said to Jacob’s sons, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. Live with us. The land is before you. Settle here, move about, and acquire property in it.”



II. Don’t use faith as a weapon.  11-17

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I’ll give you whatever you say. Demand of me a high compensation and gift; I’ll give you whatever you ask me. Just give the girl to be my wife!” But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah. “We cannot do this thing,” they said to them. “Giving our sister to an uncircumcised man is a disgrace to us. We will agree with you only on this condition: if all your males are circumcised as we are. Then we will give you our daughters, take your daughters for ourselves, live with you, and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”



 III. Deceit is more dangerous than the sword.   18-23

Their words seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father’s family. So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city. “These men are peaceful toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and move about in it, for indeed, the region is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters as our wives and give our daughters to them. But the men will agree to live with us and be one people only on this condition: if all our men are circumcised as they are. Won’t their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let’s agree with them, and they will live with us.”



IV.      Riots don’t accomplish revenge.    24-31

All the men who had come to the city gates listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all those men were circumcised. On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went away. Jacob’s sons came to the slaughter and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled. They took their flocks, herds, donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. They captured all their possessions, dependents, and wives and plundered everything in the houses. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.” But they answered

Big Idea: God’s church is marching toward home. 



In the Beginning: Jacob

Genesis 33: 1-20



I. Worship is a weapon of warfare. 1-7

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slave women. He put the slaves and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept. When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.” Then the slaves and their children approached him and bowed down. Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.



II. Your property is temporary. 8-11

So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met?” “To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered. “I have enough, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what you have.” But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from me. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God’s face, since you have accepted me. Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.



III. Pitch your tent before pagans. 12-20

Then Esau said, “Let’s move on, and I’ll go ahead of you.” Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing flocks and herds. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die. Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.” Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.” But he replied, “Why do that? Please indulge me, my lord.” That day Esau started on his way back to Seir, but Jacob went to Succoth. He built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth. After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at Shechem in the land of Canaan and camped in front of the city. He purchased a section of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. And he set up an altar there and called it God, the God of Israel.



Next Steps: 


Believe: I need to be adopted into God’s family today. 
Become: I will live for eternity this week. 
Be Sent: I will invite someone far from Jesus into my life.



Group Discussion Questions: 


What is the longest you’ve ever been away from home?
Do you find it difficult to keep your focus on eternity? 
Do you believe it’s okay to build wealth and success here on earth, knowing it’s just temporary?
Can you have an equal hold on here and heaven simultaneously?  Explain. 
Christians are accused of being too much like everyone else (don’t care about heaven) - or not care at all about everyone else (don’t care about here).  How did you do on that spectrum this week?
Did you live out your faith before someone far from Jesus this week? If so, explain.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you focus more on eternity tomorrow. 

Big Idea: That’s going to leave a scar.



In the Beginning: Jacob

Genesis 32: 24-32



I. You don’t have to fight for what Jesus already offers you. 24-29

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied. “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he answered, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.



II. You don’t have to fear what Jesus has already conquered for you. 30-32

Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.” The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel—limping because of his hip. That is why, still today, the Israelites don’t eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because he struck Jacob’s hip socket at the thigh muscle



Next Steps: 


Believe: I need Jesus to change my heart today.
Become: I have let fear come between me and Jesus.
Be Sent: I want people to see that I’m a person who has been with Jesus.

Group Discussion Questions: 


Do you have a regular habit of spending alone time with God?
If God wants a close relationship with people, why can’t we see his face and life?
If Jesus has all the power, why couldn’t win the wrestling match?
Do you have to wrestle with God to get his blessing?  Explain your answer. 
When was the last time that you struggled with God?
Does your family have an important tradition influenced by faith?
Pray for the Holy Spirit to shape us into Christ’s likeness this week. 

Big Idea: Desperation makes you let go of everything else and hold on to Jesus with both hands.



In the Beginning: Jacob

Genesis 32:1-23



I. Jacob can’t change his past 1-8

Jacob went on his way, and God’s angels met him. When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim. Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the territory of Edom. He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.’ ” When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you—and he has four hundred men with him.” Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, herds, and camels. He thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.”



II.Jacob can’t change his character 9-12

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. Indeed, I crossed over the Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps. Please rescue me from my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children. You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to be counted.’ ”



III.Jacob can’t change his consequences 13-23

He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, “Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds.” And he told the first one, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you?’ then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.’ ” He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.” So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night. During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two slave women, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.



Next Steps: 


Believe: Today, I’ve become desperate for Jesus for the first time.
Become: I need the Holy Spirit to work on my character this week.
Be Sent: I will walk with someone desperate this week.



Group Discussion Questions: 


Did you ever avoid the consequences for something you did wrong?
When were you most desperate?
Did you have anyone to walk with you in the middle of those circumstances?
Why is desperation fertile soil to grow your faith?
Can you change your character without external help?  Explain your answer. 
Since we can’t undo our past, what’s the best way to handle our mistakes and failures?
Pray for God to meet us in our desperation this week. 

Big Idea: They don’t erect statues to the critics. 



In the Beginning: Jacob

Genesis 31: 22-55



I. You don’t have to defend yourself when you’re living for Jesus 22-30

On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself!” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his relatives also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war! Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres, but you didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly. I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Watch yourself! Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s family—but why have you stolen my gods?”



II. Turn the relationship over to Jesus 31-42

Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols. So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two concubines, but he found nothing. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing. She said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols. Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime?” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me? You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us. I’ve been with you these twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock. I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night. There I was—the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. For twenty years in your household I served you—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times! If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and he issued his verdict last night.”



III. Let God be the Judge 43-55

Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the children, my children; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne? Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.” So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker. Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound. Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed. Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed and also Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each o