"Cross the Jabbok" Sermon 2025-10-19

In Christ we are reconciled to God. His call to reconciliation is a call to wrestle with Him in prayer, to trust, and to follow.

Jesus taught “The Parable of the Persistent Widow (Lk 18.2-8) so that we might learn “. . . always to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1, ESV) That’s a big deal because sometimes, like Jacob, we can do deceitful things. (see Gen 27) Even though we know that “all Scriptures is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Tim 3.16) even though we know that “God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose,” (Rom 8.28) we can tremble, like Jacob, when the Lord gives us an opportunity for reconciliation. But it’s especially in these moments of “wrestling with God” and His Word (Gen 32.22-30) that we really come to know our need for Christ and His forgiveness. It’s in those moments when we really learn to “fear, love and trust in God above all things.” (1st Commandment explanation)