Laughlin Community Church

Jacob’s Poem of Blessing Concludes 13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon. 14 Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags. 15 He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his…

Introduction One of the greatest fears in medicine is a condition that looks healthy on the outside but is actually life-threatening on the inside. A person can appear fine while a silent disease is destroying them. James says something like that: There is a kind of faith that looks real. It sounds Christian.…

Yehudah. 8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 9 Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart…

Introduction Every culture has an invisible ranking system. We may pretend we don't, but we do. I often call it our Bias nature We rank people by education. By income. By success. By appearance. By influence. By political agreement. By race. By social media followers. By whether they can help us. Sometimes…

Introduction Most people own at least one Bible. Many own several. We have study Bibles, phone apps, podcasts, YouTube sermons, commentaries, Bible studies, conferences, and endless Christian content. Yet America has never had more access to Scripture while looking less like Christ. James asks a very…

Yaaqov’s Blessing on His Twelve Sons We're gonna move into Genesis 49 now, and this is the moment where Yaaqov is going to bring together not just Yoseph and his sons, but all of the tribes. We are moving into part two of the center of the third and final act of the Yoseph story. And this chapter is…

Introduction One of the oldest questions people ask is this: "Why did I do that?" Have you ever found yourself saying: "I knew it was wrong." "I promised I'd never do it again." "I don't know what came over me." Whenever we fail spiritually, we naturally look for someone else to blame. Adam blamed Eve.…

Ephraim and Manasseh In verse 10 of chapter 48, about how his eyes are not working very great, he can't see very well. And you're like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute." So we're recalling Isaac's nearly blind eyes. He was in his tent, he thought he was about to die. And this is the moment where Yaaqov…

James 1:5-11 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not…

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons We are about to get to the center of the final act, which is where we're gonna find a bunch of blessings and even a curse. And what we're gonna do is set the stage for the blessings at the center here with matching stories that are on either side of them, which is about Yaaqov…

Introduction Today we begin a journey through one of the most practical books in all of Scripture. The Book of James has often been called the Proverbs of the New Testament because it deals with everyday Christianity. It addresses suffering, temptation, wisdom, speech, favoritism, prayer, money, and…

Joseph Leads Egypt Through a Famine 12 And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s family with food for their dependents. 13 But there was no food in the entire region, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted by the famine. 14 Joseph…

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt We just finished the second act of the story of Yoseph and his brothers. The brothers have reconciled. The seven rounds of hostility in the Genesis scroll have been inverted and reconciled with this scene that we just read in the previous session. Remember the plot conflict between…

Introduction We live in a culture built on dissatisfaction. Advertising constantly tells us: You need more. You deserve better. You are missing out. Happiness is just one purchase, promotion, relationship, or experience away. Yet despite having more than any generation in history, people are often anxious,…

Reconciliation of the Brothers The long speech of Judah that we just read is going to be matched by a long speech of his brother Yoseph. And that speech is gonna begin the final third of the second act. In Joseph's speech, he's going to talk about how, "Hey, I think Elohim was, like, behind all of this…

Judah’s Offering 26 When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him. 27 He asked if they were well, and he said, “How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?” 28 They answered, “Your servant our father…

The Crisis Nobody Is Talking About There is a mental health crisis in our world today. Depression. Anxiety. Burnout. Hopelessness. 1 in 5 adults in the United States will experience a diagnosable mental health condition this year. And the church — our church — is not exempt. People are sitting in our…

The Brothers Return to Egypt We are gonna walk into the center of the center of the story of Yoseph and his brothers. This large section is the center of the center of the story of Yoseph and his brothers. It consists of three larger units ( Gen. 43:1-15 , 43:15-44:13 , and 44:14-34) designed as a symmetry.…

How many of you still remember a song from Vacation Bible School? Maybe you remember the motions. Maybe you remember a memory verse. Maybe you remember the cookies, the crafts, or the awkward skits. But for many people, VBS became much more than a childhood memory. For some, it was the first time they…

Jacob’s Lost Sons We're just gonna pick up in verse 21 and a whole new network. Think what happens after the test in the Eden story? Think through the sequence in early Genesis stories, and then the sequence of what's happening here. 21 Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished…

This year marks an historic moment in our nation’s story. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a declaration was signed that changed the course of history. A group of men declared that liberty was worth the cost, that tyranny should be resisted, and that human rights came not from government, but from our…